How bad is it?

I previously tried to make the point that I think it is naive to believe that there is not an ultimate standard of right and wrong. I think our own personal decisions and even observing the history of the world brings us to a consistent concept of good and bad ( even if it is not followed). Now I will go into what I think is the state of humanity in relation to this moral code that I believe we are all subject and responsible to. 


To begin, I will say that I believe the ultimate standard of right and wrong is the standard set by the God of the Christian bible. I believe that scripture accurately depicts this standard and that Christ lived by and personified this perfect standard. Many of us recognize this code as being expressed by the 10 commandments, but my purpose in writing this is to show that its more than just those 10 sentences.


When Jesus said these words:


Matthew 5: 27-28

27 h“You have heard that it was said, i‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that jeveryone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

they were revolutionary as far as how "religion"  had worked long before he came to earth. The Jews who lived by this written code had become masters ( more accurately slaves) of the law and had learned it, but spent a great deal of effort trying to figure out how to live around it. They realized that they often would violate the things they had been commanded to do so in a very legalistic manner they would try to approach the law as documents and concepts that they were able to work around and kind of manipulate. But Jesus left no room for such a lifestyle or interpretation. He spoke to the heart issue. 
Why did you get in trouble over apologies as a child. If you were like me, you said what you were suppose to say. " I'm sorry for yada yada" but why weren't your parents satisfied? Your heart wasn't in it. They knew that your outward actions were designed to fulfill an obligation and not to do what was right. In the same way, the standard that Christ set was not just about " What you do" but about your heart.


I'm currently reading a book about sexual purity ( Every Man's Battle) and I made an observation while working through it. The book doesn't really talk about cheating on your spouse. This isn't because it condones it, but rather it approaches the heart issue that it feels leads to cheating. It focuses on things like " What do you look at? What do you think about"? If you're in a committed relationship I'd hope that we could agree that even if your spouse isn't physically having a relationship with someone, if they are looking and thinking about it, that is just as much a violation of your commitment to each other. In this same way, if we're going to measure how good or bad we are it has to be a heart issue. 


It's easy to say " Hey, I'm nice to people. I haven't killed anyone. I tell the truth." But if our hearts are filled with lust and hate and jealousy and selfishness ( even if we are too scared or don't get a chance to act these things out) we are still sinning.


So are we good people? How bad is it? For me personally, I am ashamed sometimes by the thoughts of my heart. I may be able to fool people, but fooling people isn't what God calls us  to. God's standard is holiness. To anyone who read the previous entries I posted, this all started with my reaction to how some guy said he wasn't a bad person for looking at porn. Well, I'll say this. Porn feeds lust and strips sex of its God given glory. It is one of many violations that speak to a heart after our own pleasure and not the will of God.


If such a heart is God's standard, then where do we stand? If you're anything like me, you're not in very good shape and in need of help or better yet a savior.

If it feels good, do it...?

     What kind of world would we live in if we all did what made us happy. Even in a strictly secular philosophical sense, is it a valid belief system that claims just because something " feels natural" to us, we can do it. Many people will argue that living a happy life is our utmost priority, and that happiness comes from doing things that make you happy. While I believe that God wants us to be happy, I do not believe satisfying our every desire is what we're put here to do. If every one was allowed to pursue their happiness by whatever means they felt were out there, what kind of world would that be?  When I talk about the origin of governments and civilizations with my students I always use this analogy:

Let's say that we were the first humans on earth. Let's say that we are peacefully co-existing until I realize that I want a deer, however, said deer is in your possession. So now we have a problem. I would be happier with this deer, but to make that happen I will have to get it from you  ( My method of choice would be clubbing you and  taking it).

All's right with the world right? Of course not, I would have done you an injustice by taking what was  yours simply because I wanted it. Now this may seem like a  dumb little story, but I believe bigger issues are at play. I believe we must acknowledge that wrong was done here. To me this acknowledgement of wrong is central to defeating the reasoning that we can do what we want to with no regard to an objective moral right or wrong. I believe, there is either an ultimate, objective right and wrong, or we must say that there is none and do what feels good. Moral relativism is defined by Stanford Ecylepedia as

"Most often ... associated with an empirical thesis that there are deep and widespread moral disagreements and a meta-ethical thesis that the truth or justification of moral judgments is not absolute, but relative to some group of persons."

Even people who would say they do not believe in an objective right and wrong, will often promote or execute some moral code. Their reasoning may be, that they don't want to wrong anyone, or they will do what causes the least problems, but if we take the approach that one should be able to do what they want to such limits shouldn't be placed.

So in a nutshell, I believe that it is evident from how history  has played out and how we reason while living our everyday lives, that there is some common standard which includes us limiting our actions and not doing bad.

With that said, my next question is " Is it really wrong to look at a world with so much bad, injustice, selfishness, hate, and hurt and to want better" My standard is the God of the bible, but even by humanistic standards, can we really look at the world we live in and say it's okay?

The Wrong Approach

I read this a while back and it really struck a chord with me. I know a few atheist and agnostics, and have a few friends in both camps. While there was a time when I was not sure about the spiritual realm, I am astonished by the pride and hostility this writer expressed towards  any potential God that may be out there and that calls his creation to follow his rules.

That said, here it is :

"I'm sorry. But I refuse to feel guilty for enjoying things such as sex, or seeing sex on a screen for visual stimulation. Immorality? Are you kidding me? What's moral about making others feel guilty, NEH, TERRIFIED of something that is more natural than the very clothes on our backs? Sex is a natural thing. And, therefore, is natural to crave. In fact, never to crave it, especially for those on the side of the human race with more testosterone, probably have a hormone imbalance going on somewhere.

I'm not a religious person. At all. But that doesn't mean that I'm not a good person. I'm generally nice, and respectful towards my fellow human being. I try to help where it is needed. And I live a happy life with those I cherish.

I don't believe that there is a "God". But I don't really care if others do or not, provided that they don't try to push such things upon me. What I take offense to is what I stated in the first paragraph. Making others feel guilty for natural things.

If your "God" is all-seeing, and all-knowing, then he or she will fully understand why I do not believe. And on the off chance that I AM wrong, and there IS a "God", and they don't let me into "heaven" merely because I didn't dedicate every last of my waking moments to serving their will, or apologizing for any little I do that occurs within nature, yet is frowned upon in your little book, then he/she is probably a ****And that's not a being I'd want to spend eternity with."

 Considering that the whole previous post was quite a mouthful, I will take several entries to give my thoughts on it. I will base my response on these 3 points:

1. Against our nature- What kind of world would we live in if we all did what made us happy. Even in a strictly secular philosophical sense, is it a valid belief system that claims just because something " feels natural" to us, we can do it.
2. Are we good?- For an evangelical Christian I am as humanist as it gets. I believe God created us "good" and there-in lies our potential. However, everything around us contradicts the claim that we are a bunch of good people. Especially when we are measure against the standard I believe we were created to live by.
3. With the ramifications at stake, and especially with the acknowledgement that there maybe a supreme spiritual being, do we really want to take the approach that if it doesn't meet our standard we will denounce it and write it off? Doesn't that seem kinda backwards. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to humbly approach the creator of the universe seeking to understand and execute its will for us?

So the next post will be my thoughts on acting against our nature. Hope somebody reads it!
Any thoughts let me know!

A Real Hero

Right now at Redeemer (http://redeemerjackson.com/) Pastor Mike is preaching a series on the last words of Jesus. Today's message struck a chord with me. " Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”I have always pondered  this verse. It is uncomfortable for me to see the perfect Son of Man crying out to the father like that, and especially to hear him crying out about having been forsaken. But it should make me uncomfortable. This leads me to the title of this post " A Real Hero".  In the past, I have been pretty susceptible to idolatry. I would see these " great persons" of the bible, and almost worship what I thought was their greatness as servants of God. As someone put in the proper perspective for me, I was so busy looking for Great Men of God, I was taking glory away from the great God of men. With today's sermon I was reminded of such thinking. I thought of Abraham and how his willingness to sacrifice his son was seen as his supreme sacrifice. He had longed for and loved this child and now was being asked to give him up. Though Abraham was willing, God saw his heart and spared him from the actual pain of sacrificing his son.


Fast forward to today's sermon. For my sins, God sacrificed his son. For my iniquities, he abandoned Jesus to the death, wrath, and condemnation that I have so selfishly and evilly earned. Even as I type this, I know that I have no idea how bad I am and how much of a tragedy and injustice that it was that Christ was pierced for my transgressions, but that's the heart of the gospel. Instead of trying to make sense of the fact that God would save a reprobate, helpless sinner like me, I can declare to the world that God saved a reprobate, helpless sinner like me. As we approach the celebration of God's redeeming love through the sacrifice of his son, I hope others will join me in trying to truly appreciate the lengths that God has gone through to save his people!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbnI_GGalU0