Are we the ones going and bringing God along?

I just heard a little homely about a man seeing his neighbor's children in the back seat of the minivan. The minivan was loaded with pillows, suitcases and such, so the man thought they must be going on a trip. He asked the children where they were going, but he didn't get an answer. He asked them, "where will you be staying?", and they didn't have an answer for that either. He asked them, "where will you eat?", but they didn't have an answer for that either.

Frustrated, he finally asked them, "who are you going with?"

The answered, "with mommy and daddy".

Now, this is interesting. I was thinking earlier about a scripture where Jesus says, "suffer the little children to come unto me, and do not hinder them. For the kingdom of Heaven is made for such as these". Little children just believe thier mommy and daddy will take care of them, no matter what happens in life.

Are we going and bringing God with us? Or are we going where God is going, trusting that he knows what he's doing and will take care of us?

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A case from now... A case from then...

This is one of the reasons I constantly exhort the doctrine of the fall of man and original sin. First, look at the link below, and watch the video if you can.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9778227/

Now, this is a real story, about real people and a seemingly impossible situation. A child that simply isn't growing up. It's not just the video and this story, because it can be looked up in more sources than just the internet.

However, this next link shows just how incredibly fallen human beings can be.

http://www.goldenempires.com/dc/blosxom.pl/Social/blue.brookegreenberg.html

They are saying that this is all a hoax. Can you believe this?

Now, this is how it should be reasoned out. Even if, out of billions of children born since the beginning of creation, no child was ever born that didn't grow, but stayed the same size year after year, no matter how crazy or far fetched it seems, you still have to note it as something that actually happened in history. To do anything else it to be a proponent of falsehood. I was think to myself as I read about this and watched the video that, after any given amount of time, after Little Brooke has passed on and all that's left are stories and maybe a medical file, people will read about it and say, "Nah, it never happened. It's impossible".

But the mere occurance has to at least be noted. Even if it only happens once.

The same is true For Jesus. Without going into faith in Jesus as the risen savior, just the fact that a Rabbi two thousand years ago died by crucifiction at the hands of the Romans and was raised from the dead has to be made note of. One can't just say, "Nah, it never happened". Even if, out of the billions of people who have died since the beginning of creation, every last one of the stayed dead, if even one person is raised from the dead, it still has to be noted as something that happened in real history.

Just like Little Brooke has to be taken seriously, so also does Jesus. Just because Brooke's story seems far fetched doesn't mean it's not true. And just because Jesus' story seems far fetched, doesn't mean his story isn't true.

Pass this on to any friends you have who say they don't believe in Jesus death and resurrection. This is the same kind of "reasoning" that cracks tough nuts like Adrian Flew and C.S. Lewis. The Holy Spirit always wins the argument.

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Tearing down my OWN high places

I'm tired.

Not tired tired, but rather spiritually tired. Not worn out, mind you, just tired. I've been neglecting my blog and my work I used to do on Christianity.com. I have been spending a lot of time on stuff away from the internet, which I should be counting as a good thing, and it is...

The reason I'm spiritually tired is because I'm having to put a lot of what I've learned in the last two years into my life. Not like personal application, but rather in teaching and discussing. I teach a class on monday nights, based on a ciriculuum called "the Bait of Satan", and it's been a chore keeping it from devolving into a "5 points to X" lesson program, because this ciriculuum is a lot like the Purpose driven life. There's very little content in it that's not already a retread of other lesson programs, and it comes across as "do this or you'll be in trouble" kind of preaching/teaching.

One thing I'm wondering here is, maybe, if I have "high place" involved here that I don't know about. The latest lesson, number 6, in a round about way asks the student to accept "gut instincts" as revelation from God. I'm not sure this is a biblical practice, and I know I'm going to have to address it during the class. I'm wondering though, if maybe I'm wrong about this, but the more I look at God's word the more I think this needs to be rebuked.

For one thing, it's protestant liberalism. Fredrick Schlaiarmacher, a Christian theologian/philosopher in the mid 19th century, began proposing that religious experience is rooted in the "internal", or in the heart. Along with this comes the idea of "personal revelation" being derived from sort of gut instincts, and saying that the Holy Spirit revealed this (whatever it may be) to us personally. This idea of "heart religion" or "internal" religion has spread through much of Christianity today, even into the Roman Catholic Church!

So when I see someone saying, "the Holy Spirit revealed to me", I have to question: What did he reveal? How does this stand up to God's Word? Did you search the scriptures and test the spirits to make sure that this revelation was true? Too often the answers are, "something pertaining to me (Job/family/finances)", "I don't know", and "no". So then Peter's statement about, "there is not personal interpretation of Scritpure" comes to mind... Well you get the picture.

But I'm growing weary of the fight, I think. I find myself correcting and exhorting a lot lately, asking people "what does scripture say", and "is this something that Jesus would agree with?" But most of the people around me here in florida are more interested in what the scriptures say to them personally, rather than what the scriptures actually say.

I'm tired. I pray that God will revive me.

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