2006-07-31T09:34:00.000+01:00

A beginning:

When you start, you can never know how it will turn out. May be after a few weeks, this blog may just peter out. Why should anyone have the slightest interest in reading what I write? Good question, may be they won't and this site will pass by unread and unnoticed. Most blogs probably do.

It must be quite obvious that I am a born again Christian. I made that choice at uni and have never doubted that I made the right decision. If you accept the Bible as God's Word, as I do, it follows that you believe completely in what it says and its message of redemption. I have placed Jesus at the centre of my life, I am nothing without Him dwelling within me. I am His disciple and follow his teachings as obediently as possible. I can't really describe the joy of being born again as a new creation in Jesus. This was not confined to my initial conversion and the baptism which followed. It is a joy that deepes as time goes by and my faith deepens. I see so much which is cynical and destructive on the internet and elsewhere. Christians are the butt of many unkind and inaccurate criticisms from many quarters. It is apparently open season when it comes to Christians as it is not for any other group. However, I would ask that anyone who has not heard the Gospel of salvation to open your hearts to it. Listen and think about it. Look at the evidence. Look at the options. I think once you have given it serious thought, you too will accept that Jesus is Lord and give your life over to Him. It is a decision you cannot regret.

My blog will not just be to evangelise, everything we do should be in part worship, but to express my views on a wide range of issues. Many will relate to Christian belief and in this you will not be surprised that my views will draw on the Bible as it is my guide, in fact my only guide, on behaviour and belief. But I hope to range further, so I will also comment on books that I have read, political events and my reaction to opinions circulating the internet and the media generally. In this I hope that someone out there may find something of interest. It not, I am sure he or she will move on...a ship in the night.

2006-07-29T04:51:00.000+01:00

No longer "born again".

Across the internet there are many sites, such as this, where people explain there relief at abandoning their religion and, in particular, there born again Christianity. Although I give that all Christians, whatever their denomination or lack of one, are by definition "born again" because access to the Kingdom of Heavean requires it, Jesus, Paul, Peter and John are unambigious on the point, the term applies to those of us who accept the Bible as the Word of God and the sole authority on belief and behaviour. Reading the accounts of the liberation of (apparently) previously devout and committed Christians is disturbing. Now I cannot say these people are not telling the truth because I have no reason to doubt their word. But I am puzzled how it has happened because these people are not those that might have accepted Jesus over hastily and not understood what the Gospel really means; they have been Christians and active church goers for years, sometimes for the whole of their lives. Something has obviously gone wrong.

When asked why I am a Christian, I answer that I started rereading the Bible after many years of neglect and realised that, in relation to the New Testament, I was confronted with the proposition that this was either true or an elaborate fraud; a fraud which involved many people and, if you believe in Bible prophesy, people of different ages who had no oppotunity to collude. Also it required the early apostles to witness their faith before an audience who had seen Jesus themselves and some of whom had seen Him after the resurrection; that is they were witnessing before eye witnesses. What really convinced me was the message itself which was even more remarkable it it were in fact to be a man-made construct. The message was radical, yet timeless. While expounding a belief in absolute truths, it radiates grace and love. It has to be admitted, even if you do not accept it, that it is a most remarkable message and quite without parallel. No other religion to my knowledge has the concept of forgiveness through grace, not works.

Now for a Christian to reject everything he or she once held dear is very troubling. I assuming that they were genuinely converted to Christianity in the first place. First they must reject the source of their religion, the Bible. This is being assailed on all sides. It is under constant attack. There is the inconsistencies arguement. The Bible is riddled with inconsistencies. This is in fact untrue. It is an astonishingly accurate and consistent document, even without making allowance for its age and that God's Word was transmitted through the agency of so many people. Taken as a whole there are very few inconsistencies and none that approach the heart of the matter. The Christian message is not riddled with inconsistencies either. Yes, there are any number of denominations and churches, but if you take it down to the essentials there is a very large area of common ground. The essentials are there: God's love for us; our sinful state; the consequences of it; our redemption through the mediation of Jesus as a result of his atoning sacrifice and resurrection. There is little dispute about the attributes which Jesus wanted us to cultivate. Nonetheless, the cancer of doubt probably starts here. It is augmented by apparently scientific arguments and, in particlar, the theory of evolution. This sells the idea we are the product of random events over a very long time. This cuts across the belief that we were created by God as man, not something that started as something else and over four and a half billion years evolved into man. Believers of the Bible are made therefore to look foolish. If you cannot trust Genesis what else can't you trust?

Then there is the pernicious doctrine of relativism. How do you know that yours is the only way to God? Surely there must be many ways. How can God condemn people for all time for making a choice, other than the one of accepting Jesus as Lord. It is not for us to argue. God tells us that it is so. But relativism opens up such an pleasant vista. You can tailor make a belief system which suits you. It is an attractive notion. I can have the best of many religions and beliefs. It would be relevant to the modern world and or multicultural societies. Yes, it would be more comfortable because Christianity does not offer comfort. Jesus came not to bring peace but division. We have to chose Him or the world, which is the devil. With the insistence of the propaganda, which is the subtle work of the devil, isn't it easier not to make those radical choices - live and let live. Of course it is, it is much easier. Personally I think chosing Jesus is an easier choice as it is the correct choice based on truth because he is truth. But it is not easier in the sense of the consequences of that choice. You are His, you are of the kingdom of heaven not of the world. It determines everything in your life because He is at the centre of it. I welcome it but it is a choice which requires discipline and, if necessary, suffering. But it brings real peace, joy and fulfilment. But a world of less committed choices offers greater ease. As C. S Lewis said the road to hell is soft under foot with a gentle incline. The temptation to take it is persuasive when everyone is telling you what you are doing is pointless because you have one life and that is that.

I think secular materialism and liberal tolerance also work to erode faith. We live in a world of ever increasing consumer choices. Consumerism is a way of life: shopping the most widely pursued activity. Yes, I grant you we cannot escape the materialism of this world, without taking the most radical positions - just as becoming a hermit or a monk. We all have a standard of living which greatly exceeds that of our forebears and more than we need, if we live in the developed world. The issue, however, is not our material welbeing but what we place at the centre of our lives. Money and possessions can crowd out Christ. The activities of modern life also crowd it out. It takes discipline and resolve to follow a cross-centred life.

Then there is a need to conform. This works both ways. In an old-fashioned, rural community that may mean conforming outwardly, at least, to Christianity. In the urban context in which most of us live it is easier to conform than to take a Christian moral stand on things. It is easier to live in a society like the one in Rome described by Paul. That places no demands on anyone. Obviously as an evangelical Christian, there are activities, however commonplace, that I know are against God's moral law. Much of television, entertainment generally and the media projects a life style that is contrary to God's teaching. So is sex outside marriage, lust, foul language, heavy drinking, provocative clothing and attitudes, in fact nearly everything that goes on after work on Friday and through the weekend. Why make a spectacle of yourself when you can give into the flesh and blend in at the same time? It is fun, isn't?

It is old-fashioned to talk of the devil and the relentless nature of spiritual warfare but that does not make it any less real. The devil is subtle and convincing. He can cunningly undermine the Bible with his alluring generalisations. He wants nothing more than for Christians to return to the world. He is a master at encouraging the wavering to see Christians in a ridiculous, but untrue, light.

Then I wonder what were your friends, the pastor and the elders doing as faith apparently slipped away. Did they do anything? Did they even notice? We are encouraged to keep Christian company. Were they indifferent to the calamity that was unfolding? How did a deepening personal relationship with Jesus supported by study, prayer and worship, suddenly hit a wall so to speak and die? Jesus told us that it was pointless if we looked back. We might as well not start.

Lastly, are you really convinced that you have made the right choice? There were many things that you held as absolute God-given truths. Have you jettisoned everything or do you still think back and say, "What if?" Forget the bravado, the apparent thrill of being released from obedience and discipleship. "What now?" What are your anchors in life? What is true - absolutely, immutably true. Or is nothing absolutely true and we are indeed rudderless and pointless outside our own short existences. Quite a daunting prospect. There's nothing out there. Surely no loving God would allow that.

gomakedisciples