"He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth.'"
And in Athens, Georgia, the snow obeyed.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
"The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
Matthew 26:41.
Last year, I did something called SPAM: Spiritual Preparation And Meditation. My goal was to get into the Word over a period of 46 days so that I could grow in my faith and in my relationship with Christ. As a side effect, I had hoped that it would also lead me to give up some time on the computer in order to devote more time to devotions and quiet time alone with God. I had been wasting time doing nothing productive before SPAM, and as I went through SPAM, I came to acknowledge that fact. But shortly after SPAM was over, although I definitely felt stronger in my faith, I returned to my old habits of mindlessly surfing the internet. I started a blog to help stay focused on God and to share my SPAM experience with others, but pretty soon, I was spending too much time on Facebook to type much of anything. Eventually, I just stopped trying to update my blog. So I started a new blog to share other thoughts, not just my thoughts from SPAM. That helped some, but then that started to slow down too.
But now, as SPAM 2011 approaches, I want to prepare instead of crashing headlong into SPAM without any specific plan.
Tomorrow marks the end of Christmas break for students at the University of Georgia, and looking back, I realize that I wasted my entire break. Sure, I read my Bible. I read devotionals. (I finished Max Lucado's Grace for the Moment, and now I'm reading Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening.) But I didn't take any time to really study the Bible. I read David Platt's Radical, and the last chapter gives a list of five things to do over a one-year time period to help develop a mindset of godly servanthood. One of the five points was to read through the Bible. So I started that, beginning in Numbers to get the "difficult" and "boring" parts out of the way first. I finished Numbers in under a week. My mindset has become one of getting through the entire Bible so I can say that I've actually read the whole thing. But the studying aspect was left out of it, something I'm sure David Platt didn't intend when he included his one-year challenge in his book.
I feel like I'm rambling, getting off track from what I originally meant to say, so I'll try to wrap things up. My plan, starting now, is to write something in my blog consistently—whether that's every day, every other day, or twice a week, all that matters is that I'm writing something on a regular basis. It can be a long Bible study or a simple, two-sentence prayer. My hope is that, by pushing myself to reveal aspects of my devotional life, God will convict me and bring me to long to spend more time with Him so that, through my own spiritual growth, God will speak to someone else and bring them to want to grow as well. (It will also help me to prepare for SPAM by giving me a feel for writing journal-type entries, which I will continue to do during SPAM, to be typed up after SPAM.)
Matthew 26:41 says, "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." So while I pray for God to "grant me a willing spirit to sustain me" (Psalm 51:12) and to help me "[run] in such a way as to get the prize" (1 Corinthians 9:27), I ask that you pray the same thing—not only for me, but also for anyone else who is seeking to know God more.
So until next time—tomorrow, which shouldn't be a problem, since classes are canceled because of the snow—God bless!
Michael
—————————————————————
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
Last year, I did something called SPAM: Spiritual Preparation And Meditation. My goal was to get into the Word over a period of 46 days so that I could grow in my faith and in my relationship with Christ. As a side effect, I had hoped that it would also lead me to give up some time on the computer in order to devote more time to devotions and quiet time alone with God. I had been wasting time doing nothing productive before SPAM, and as I went through SPAM, I came to acknowledge that fact. But shortly after SPAM was over, although I definitely felt stronger in my faith, I returned to my old habits of mindlessly surfing the internet. I started a blog to help stay focused on God and to share my SPAM experience with others, but pretty soon, I was spending too much time on Facebook to type much of anything. Eventually, I just stopped trying to update my blog. So I started a new blog to share other thoughts, not just my thoughts from SPAM. That helped some, but then that started to slow down too.
But now, as SPAM 2011 approaches, I want to prepare instead of crashing headlong into SPAM without any specific plan.
Tomorrow marks the end of Christmas break for students at the University of Georgia, and looking back, I realize that I wasted my entire break. Sure, I read my Bible. I read devotionals. (I finished Max Lucado's Grace for the Moment, and now I'm reading Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening.) But I didn't take any time to really study the Bible. I read David Platt's Radical, and the last chapter gives a list of five things to do over a one-year time period to help develop a mindset of godly servanthood. One of the five points was to read through the Bible. So I started that, beginning in Numbers to get the "difficult" and "boring" parts out of the way first. I finished Numbers in under a week. My mindset has become one of getting through the entire Bible so I can say that I've actually read the whole thing. But the studying aspect was left out of it, something I'm sure David Platt didn't intend when he included his one-year challenge in his book.
I feel like I'm rambling, getting off track from what I originally meant to say, so I'll try to wrap things up. My plan, starting now, is to write something in my blog consistently—whether that's every day, every other day, or twice a week, all that matters is that I'm writing something on a regular basis. It can be a long Bible study or a simple, two-sentence prayer. My hope is that, by pushing myself to reveal aspects of my devotional life, God will convict me and bring me to long to spend more time with Him so that, through my own spiritual growth, God will speak to someone else and bring them to want to grow as well. (It will also help me to prepare for SPAM by giving me a feel for writing journal-type entries, which I will continue to do during SPAM, to be typed up after SPAM.)
Matthew 26:41 says, "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." So while I pray for God to "grant me a willing spirit to sustain me" (Psalm 51:12) and to help me "[run] in such a way as to get the prize" (1 Corinthians 9:27), I ask that you pray the same thing—not only for me, but also for anyone else who is seeking to know God more.
So until next time—tomorrow, which shouldn't be a problem, since classes are canceled because of the snow—God bless!
Michael
—————————————————————
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
Saturday, January 8, 2011
"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.'"
2 Corinthians 12:9. Never have I needed the truth of this verse more than now. Last week I went with my mom to visit her childhood pastor. Now in his 80s, Pastor Fletcher has spent his life serving Christ since early adulthood. He has trained 35 current pastors, including at least one who went on to lead a seminary. It goes without saying that Pastor Fletcher is a wise, godly man. So when my mom told him that I was planning on being a missionary (never mind that I wanted to be a band director too), I couldn't help but accept the advice he gave me. Of course, the advice was directed at me as a future full-time missionary, rather than a full-time music teacher (band director, lesson instructor, etc.) who ministers through my teaching style and my personal life outside of my job.
Right now I am a Music Education major at the University of Georgia. This is my eighth year playing trumpet and my ninth in band, so obviously, I love making music. I have wanted to be a band director ever since I moved from Pennsylvania the summer before my freshman year of high school. My middle school band director had a huge impact on me, and I wanted to be able to have the same effect on band students in the future. I've had my mind set on what I wanted to do for a long time now. My college decision was a little bit less certain, but it was still pretty clear that UGA would be one of my top choices after I had attended music camps there three years in a row. When college application time rolled around, I applied to UGA and Taylor University, a private Christian college in Indiana, which is where my parents met. I was sure I would at least get into Taylor, and I was pretty confident that I could get into UGA, so I didn't bother applying anywhere else. Taylor would be my fall-back school if I didn't get into UGA.
But something happened during Christmas break last year, my senior year. A revival was started. Not a large-scale, national revival. A simple, local revival, and a personal one. God used several recent events—my grandfather's death; struggles with cancer and death in more distant relatives; and an incredible, late-night worship service at a church retreat—to reveal Himself to me and to show me my real purpose in life: to serve Him and to share the gospel and His love with those who have not experienced His presence.
Then, last summer I went to a camp in Andrews, North Carolina, called Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters. The last night of Snowbird was dedicated to missions. To make a long story short, the focus of the night was unreached people groups (or unreached nations, as the Bible would put it), and when I saw that India had the largest number of unreached people groups, something clicked inside me: God wants me in India. The Bible says that "every tribe and language and people and nation" will be represented in heaven (Revelation 5:9), and I wanted to be a part of the movement that takes the gospel to the nations that have never heard it before (and I still do).
My college decision, if pictured on a balance or a seesaw, was now almost perfectly level. Taylor was looking more and more like my future college. But when it came time to make my final decision and make the payments, UGA won out. Of course, God knew that would happen, and I know He still has a plan for me. Just because I went to a public college rather than a Christian one doesn't mean that God can't use me. God provided me with great Christian friends and awesome campus ministries like Freshley (the freshman ministry of the Wesley Foundation) and Team United (a coalition of three Georgia athletic ministries; at UGA, Team United counts marching band as an athletic program, which is awesome), and He has been using them to help me grow closer to Him in many ways. My faith is becoming stronger as I learn new things about the Bible, both in apologetics and in doctrine. And Freshley is even giving me a chance to go to Jamaica on my first mission trip during spring break. And that could be just what I need to prepare me for India later on.
But now I'm starting to look back on my college decision again. Is Taylor really where I should have gone? Well, of course, that decision is in the past now, but I'm starting to think that maybe God's plan for me includes transferring to Taylor. I can't really see myself sharing the gospel just by being a good band director. Public school teachers can't talk about religion (although I would argue that Christianity isn't a religion), but I don't want to teach in a Christian school because those kids have already heard about the Bible. I want to share the gospel with the unreached. But as far as I can see, that would mean leaving behind music as a career. I would have to go to a Christian college, something I was a little reluctant to do because it would mean being around other professing Christians, including some who really aren't Christians at all. And calling people out for not living in a Christ-like manner is not something I like to do. A public, secular college seemed easier because I could actually share my faith with non-Christians, a rare and hard-to-spot opportunity on Christian campuses. But now a Christian college may be just what I need, a community of students and professors who (by the Holy Spirit) can train me and equip me to do God's work.
Just about anyone who has had any Bible experience at all knows that Peter, among others of Jesus' disciples, was a fisherman. In fact, Jesus' first four disciples were all fishermen. When Jesus came along, they immediately left their nets to follow Him. The brothers James and John, whom Jesus nicknamed the "sons of thunder," actually left their father Zebedee in their fishing boat in order to to obey Jesus' command, "Follow Me."
When it comes right down to it, giving up something I've worked for for so long is not as easy as Peter and James and John make it look. Jesus told them to follow Him, and they dropped what they were doing. But I don't know what God wants for me. I'm praying and studying the Bible, trying to listen for God's whispering voice that will tell me exactly what to do, but I'm not hearing it. Is India really where He wants me? Will that require me to abandon music as a career in favor of going to a Christian college (and maybe even seminary) to be equipped to be a missionary? Or does He want me being a foreign missionary elsewhere? For example, there is a ministry in Ukraine called Music Mission Kiev that a good friend and one of the leaders at TNT (my high school youth group) introduced to me. Does God want me using the musical abilities He gave me to minister to others? Or does He want me at home as a band director, like I've been planning for years? Does He want me to teach in a way that is encouraging to young students, and then go out and share the gospel when I'm not teaching music? I feel like I'm standing on a fence between God's will and my will, and I can't tell which side is which.
I'm weak, and I know it. I don't know what to do. I have no control over my future; only God can claim that power. So I really need prayer right now. Please pray that I would know what God wants for me: if He wants me to set aside music as a profession in favor of full-time ministry, or if He wants me to continue with music and use that to glorify His name in some way that He will reveal later.
This past week, I went to visit my friends at TNT and at Etowah High School. I talked with two people who distinctly outlined my choices. Now that I look back on it, it seems clear that God has set these two paths before me, waiting for me to rely fully on Him to make the decision for me. The first person I spoke to was a friend from TNT; although we haven't really known each other for long, our desire to know God is all we needed to have in common in order to quickly become friends. When I asked what she wanted to do in the next few years, I was shocked when she told me that she wanted to spend a year in India after she graduates next year. Was that God speaking to me? Is India really where He wants me? I couldn't possibly go to India in just a year and a half, could I? In the middle of my college career?
The second person was my high school band director. Well, one of them. After the first director moved to a different school and the second retired, the one I'm referring to became the director my senior year. While walking back to Etowah from the intermediate school across the street, he suggested, somewhat jokingly, that I come be his student teacher when I get to my senior year. The joking nature of the suggestion seemed to fade quickly though when he asked if it was even possible for me to choose the school I student teach at. (Another related decision came up the other day when I visited my first high school band director at his middle school: I've been planning on being a high school band director, but being a middle school band director seems to have become slightly less frightening. But that decision can wait until after I get past this first decision between music and missions.)
The paths are clearly marked. There's no questioning that my decision is between being a band director and being a full-time missionary. But now the question is, Which path has God marked out for me?
"[When] I am weak, then I am strong." God, make me strong in my weakness, and help me make the right choice. In Jesus' name, amen.
Right now I am a Music Education major at the University of Georgia. This is my eighth year playing trumpet and my ninth in band, so obviously, I love making music. I have wanted to be a band director ever since I moved from Pennsylvania the summer before my freshman year of high school. My middle school band director had a huge impact on me, and I wanted to be able to have the same effect on band students in the future. I've had my mind set on what I wanted to do for a long time now. My college decision was a little bit less certain, but it was still pretty clear that UGA would be one of my top choices after I had attended music camps there three years in a row. When college application time rolled around, I applied to UGA and Taylor University, a private Christian college in Indiana, which is where my parents met. I was sure I would at least get into Taylor, and I was pretty confident that I could get into UGA, so I didn't bother applying anywhere else. Taylor would be my fall-back school if I didn't get into UGA.
But something happened during Christmas break last year, my senior year. A revival was started. Not a large-scale, national revival. A simple, local revival, and a personal one. God used several recent events—my grandfather's death; struggles with cancer and death in more distant relatives; and an incredible, late-night worship service at a church retreat—to reveal Himself to me and to show me my real purpose in life: to serve Him and to share the gospel and His love with those who have not experienced His presence.
Then, last summer I went to a camp in Andrews, North Carolina, called Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters. The last night of Snowbird was dedicated to missions. To make a long story short, the focus of the night was unreached people groups (or unreached nations, as the Bible would put it), and when I saw that India had the largest number of unreached people groups, something clicked inside me: God wants me in India. The Bible says that "every tribe and language and people and nation" will be represented in heaven (Revelation 5:9), and I wanted to be a part of the movement that takes the gospel to the nations that have never heard it before (and I still do).
My college decision, if pictured on a balance or a seesaw, was now almost perfectly level. Taylor was looking more and more like my future college. But when it came time to make my final decision and make the payments, UGA won out. Of course, God knew that would happen, and I know He still has a plan for me. Just because I went to a public college rather than a Christian one doesn't mean that God can't use me. God provided me with great Christian friends and awesome campus ministries like Freshley (the freshman ministry of the Wesley Foundation) and Team United (a coalition of three Georgia athletic ministries; at UGA, Team United counts marching band as an athletic program, which is awesome), and He has been using them to help me grow closer to Him in many ways. My faith is becoming stronger as I learn new things about the Bible, both in apologetics and in doctrine. And Freshley is even giving me a chance to go to Jamaica on my first mission trip during spring break. And that could be just what I need to prepare me for India later on.
But now I'm starting to look back on my college decision again. Is Taylor really where I should have gone? Well, of course, that decision is in the past now, but I'm starting to think that maybe God's plan for me includes transferring to Taylor. I can't really see myself sharing the gospel just by being a good band director. Public school teachers can't talk about religion (although I would argue that Christianity isn't a religion), but I don't want to teach in a Christian school because those kids have already heard about the Bible. I want to share the gospel with the unreached. But as far as I can see, that would mean leaving behind music as a career. I would have to go to a Christian college, something I was a little reluctant to do because it would mean being around other professing Christians, including some who really aren't Christians at all. And calling people out for not living in a Christ-like manner is not something I like to do. A public, secular college seemed easier because I could actually share my faith with non-Christians, a rare and hard-to-spot opportunity on Christian campuses. But now a Christian college may be just what I need, a community of students and professors who (by the Holy Spirit) can train me and equip me to do God's work.
Just about anyone who has had any Bible experience at all knows that Peter, among others of Jesus' disciples, was a fisherman. In fact, Jesus' first four disciples were all fishermen. When Jesus came along, they immediately left their nets to follow Him. The brothers James and John, whom Jesus nicknamed the "sons of thunder," actually left their father Zebedee in their fishing boat in order to to obey Jesus' command, "Follow Me."
When it comes right down to it, giving up something I've worked for for so long is not as easy as Peter and James and John make it look. Jesus told them to follow Him, and they dropped what they were doing. But I don't know what God wants for me. I'm praying and studying the Bible, trying to listen for God's whispering voice that will tell me exactly what to do, but I'm not hearing it. Is India really where He wants me? Will that require me to abandon music as a career in favor of going to a Christian college (and maybe even seminary) to be equipped to be a missionary? Or does He want me being a foreign missionary elsewhere? For example, there is a ministry in Ukraine called Music Mission Kiev that a good friend and one of the leaders at TNT (my high school youth group) introduced to me. Does God want me using the musical abilities He gave me to minister to others? Or does He want me at home as a band director, like I've been planning for years? Does He want me to teach in a way that is encouraging to young students, and then go out and share the gospel when I'm not teaching music? I feel like I'm standing on a fence between God's will and my will, and I can't tell which side is which.
I'm weak, and I know it. I don't know what to do. I have no control over my future; only God can claim that power. So I really need prayer right now. Please pray that I would know what God wants for me: if He wants me to set aside music as a profession in favor of full-time ministry, or if He wants me to continue with music and use that to glorify His name in some way that He will reveal later.
This past week, I went to visit my friends at TNT and at Etowah High School. I talked with two people who distinctly outlined my choices. Now that I look back on it, it seems clear that God has set these two paths before me, waiting for me to rely fully on Him to make the decision for me. The first person I spoke to was a friend from TNT; although we haven't really known each other for long, our desire to know God is all we needed to have in common in order to quickly become friends. When I asked what she wanted to do in the next few years, I was shocked when she told me that she wanted to spend a year in India after she graduates next year. Was that God speaking to me? Is India really where He wants me? I couldn't possibly go to India in just a year and a half, could I? In the middle of my college career?
The second person was my high school band director. Well, one of them. After the first director moved to a different school and the second retired, the one I'm referring to became the director my senior year. While walking back to Etowah from the intermediate school across the street, he suggested, somewhat jokingly, that I come be his student teacher when I get to my senior year. The joking nature of the suggestion seemed to fade quickly though when he asked if it was even possible for me to choose the school I student teach at. (Another related decision came up the other day when I visited my first high school band director at his middle school: I've been planning on being a high school band director, but being a middle school band director seems to have become slightly less frightening. But that decision can wait until after I get past this first decision between music and missions.)
The paths are clearly marked. There's no questioning that my decision is between being a band director and being a full-time missionary. But now the question is, Which path has God marked out for me?
"[When] I am weak, then I am strong." God, make me strong in my weakness, and help me make the right choice. In Jesus' name, amen.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
On Shirley Phelps Roper and the Westboro Baptist Church - Part 5
I was reading the WBC blog again, and came across another entry I had to respond to. So here's my fifth letter. Wow... Five already?
—————————————————————
Mrs. Roper,
You know, you and your church amaze me. And I have to admit, it's very rarely in a good way. I was reading your blog again when I came across the entry entitled "We Have A Hope," your reply to Caitlin's letter. As is the case when I read most of your other blog entries, I came away from this one with more questions than I had when I started reading it, but this particular case was more extreme.
When Caitlin mentioned the fact that none of us deserve mercy, you replied that you and the congregation of WBC "give all diligence to make our calling and election sure... [Because] we see mercy, and we have impulses upon our hearts to RUN to please our Great King, we have a hope. " But I get the feeling you're leaving out a couple very important verses. First, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." When Christ died on the cross, He took, not just our sins, but our sin nature, upon Himself. Yes, we still sin, but sin is no longer our master: God is. This means that, when we believe in Christ, we are freed from the chains of sin and added to the family of our Lord and Savior: "the elect." You say that obedience is the only way to be saved. I agree partially, but that's a very near-sighted view of the Way to heaven. Jesus says, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). Jesus is the only Way to heaven. Yes, obedience has a part in salvation because Jesus obeyed the entire Law perfectly, and we have to accept His sacrifice, but our personal fulfillment of the Law has no effect on our redemption. When a mother calls her child into the house after playing outside, the child continues playing and returns to the house an hour later; the fact that he returned makes no difference to the fact that he disobeyed by not immediately coming inside. It's the same with the Law of Moses: obeying the Ten Commandments now, after we've broken them many times in our past, will not make us any more righteous than we were before. The only way we can be saved is through reliance on Christ. Romans 8:3-4 says, "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Christ fulfilled the Law, and when we put our faith in Him—note: only faith is required, not strict adherence to the Law—God replaces our sinfulness with Christ's righteousness. Christ fulfilled the Law so that we wouldn't have to, so that our inability to fulfill the Law wouldn't condemn us.
Romans 10:4 says, "Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." Because Christ fulfilled the Law, the Law no longer has any power over us, whether we obey it or not. That is not to say that we shouldn't strive to keep the Law, but failure to keep the whole Law DOES NOT RESULT IN JUDGMENT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE PUT THEIR TRUST IN JESUS CHRIST. (Sorry for the caps lock, but I figure that, if you, as God's chosen people, can use it, then I should be able to use it without being judged for it.)
"Dude, shut up about us. It is NOT about us." Well, your response to Caitlin's letter seems to indicate otherwise: "Therefore, we must give all diligence to make [OUR] calling and election sure." What about everyone else? "But because [WE] see mercy... [WE] have a hope." Again, what about everyone else? "Get to the place God put his name and where he meets with HIS people!" Maybe I'm just crazy, but it sounds to me like you're claiming that WBC, and only WBC, is where God meets His people. Nowhere else, and with nobody else. That sounds pretty self-centered to me. Doesn't Jesus Himself say that His people will no longer worship in a specific place, but that they will worship "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:20-24)? I'm pretty sure you attend Westboro Baptist Church, not The Temple of God In Spirit and In Truth. Spirit and truth are present all over the world; therefore, God meets with His people all over the world. (Think of it this way: are you able to worship God while you are on the streets picketing, away from your church? By your logic, any worship you give to God while you are away from WBC should not even be considered as true worship. That's the claim you are making against the rest of the world for not attending WBC. That just doesn't make sense, now does it?)
Have you ever heard it said that a half-truth is no better than a lie? Then don't avoid giving a straight answer. Paul says in Colossians 4:6, "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." So please, kindly answer Caitlin's question(s): "Have you ever tried reading the Bible with an open mind? Tried wiping all beliefs from your thoughts and read it like any other book you might read? Or do you have special scriptures? Only speaking of God’s "Hate" for America and His creations?" Like Caitlin, I'm curious to know as well. Have you ever read the Bible as someone who has never even heard the name of Jesus before? Have you ever tried going back to the time when you first committed your life to Christ and tried to read through the Bible as if you were back where you started? I'm positive you would see the Bible in a different way if you did. You constantly tell your audience to "READ THE BIBLE" and "OBEY." But if you can't read with an open mind—willing to look for, find, test, and accept new ideas—that's really not any better than not reading at all. After all, it's not like you're learning anything you haven't heard already. The point of reading is to learn, wouldn't you agree?
Anyway, that's all I have to say this time around. But be prepared for more letters in the future. You can be sure that my last five letters (found here) will be followed by many more like them.
Thank you for your time. I apologize for anything I said that may have offended you. I look forward to hearing back from you to see what you have to say about the thoughts I have presented (more accurately, the thoughts I believe God has given me to present to you).
Again, thank you for reading, and God bless!
Michael Watanabe
"You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to You. Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry for mercy. In the day of my trouble I will call to You, for You will answer me." ~ Psalm 86:5-7
Monday, November 29, 2010
On Shirley Phelps Roper and the Westboro Baptist Church - Part 4
More on Westboro. "Re: Yes, Jesus Would Protest At A Funeral."
————————————————
Hello, Mrs. Roper.
Well, I'm sorry to bug you again so soon, but I was reading your blog again, and... well, I just had to say something. As the subject above says, this is in response to your reply to Lisa's letter, to which you said, "Yes, Jesus would protest at a funeral." I'm going to try to go in the order you wrote your response.
First off, you said that Jesus said, "Let the dead bury their dead." That's true, but He was saying this when he was calling people to follow him and one man asked to be allowed to bury his father before following Jesus. He then goes on in the next couple verses, saying that anyone who follows Him but chooses their family over Him when His commands are contrary to their views has sinned and doesn't really know what it means to truly follow Christ. The point of Jesus' comment here is that our heavenly Father comes before our earthly families, no matter what.
But even when we fail, there's still hope, as the woman in John 8:1-11 found out firsthand. The woman was caught in adultery, and the people were preparing to stone her, but Jesus said, "If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her " (John 8:10). Nobody stepped forward to stone her, and Jesus said, "[Neither] do I condemn you" (John 8:11). Not only does Jesus offer free forgiveness to anyone who will accept it, He even offered it to the woman who was not seeking forgiveness of sins at all, but only escape from death. All she had to do was accept it. God doesn't give up His children that easily.
And look at John 5:1-15. People were crowded around the pool in Bethesda, and Jesus approached one lame man who had no hope of getting into the pool to be healed. The man believed that the water in the pool had healing powers, and when Jesus came along asking if he wanted to be healed, all he said was that he had nobody to put him into the pool. Even when faced with Jesus Himself, the man still sought healing from a "magical" pool of water rather than from God, the only One who could heal him. But Jesus still chose to heal him. Why? If God hates sinful man, and not merely sin in man, then why did He heal the man who clearly had no intention of following Him?
Secondly, I would like to bring up the issue of judging people again, just like I did in my first letter. You said, "If you REALLY believed you shouldn't judge, you would not have written your Bible-hating email judging us." For one thing, the apostle Paul says in Galatians 6:1, "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently." Trust me, if I didn't think you might change your ways, I would not be writing you right now, and I wouldn't have wasted my time writing my other three letters (found here). And I believe Lisa had the same mindset. I dare you to find anything blatantly judgmental in my letters. Also, when the disciples ran into a man casting out demons in the name of Jesus—a man who was not physically following Jesus—they tried to stop him, but Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you" (Luke 9:50). Lisa and I are both trying to obey God. As you would say, we are not remaining silent but openly declaring your faults to you so that you would repent and obey. If that's not judging when you do it, then you can't blame either one of us for judging you. We would like to see you become true men and women of God who are relentlessly preaching the gospel to the world so that all people might receive salvation and eternal life.
Next, in the following paragraph, you said, "You're made in the likeness of Adam, Lisa. If you ever cracked a Bible you would know Adam alone was made in the likeness of God." But I have to disagree. Crack that Bible open one more time for me and read Genesis 1:26-27: "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." "Let us make man in our image... and let THEM rule..." "[Male] and female He created them." God created man(kind) in His image. Although Adam was the only one to be created by God (the rest of us are born according to God's will), we are all made in His likeness. That's why Jesus says, "Be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). If we were not made to be like Christ—in other words, made in God's image—we would not be able to be holy. And God Himself says the same thing in Leviticus 20:26: "You are to be holy to Me because I, the Lord, am holy." We are to be like God, hence the phrase, "in [His] likeness."
"Lisa, would Jesus start 2 big wars and murder hundreds of thousands of people in cold blood?" Mrs. Roper, would Jesus curse/swear/cuss? Would Jesus call anyone an idiot/fool? If I'm not mistaken, the only insult Jesus makes is calling people hypocrites. He never calls anyone a fool because they're His own creation, and by calling them stupid, He would be calling God Himself stupid. That's blasphemy, attributing to God a fault that does not exist. If you want people to obey God, I suggest you do the same.
Finally, about halfway through your second response to Lisa's letter, you bragged, "[He] has stood with us for 20 LONG YEARS EVERY DAY ON THE STREETS, NO TRAUMA TO US. NONE!" But Jesus says in John 16:33, "In this world you will have trouble." And in 2 Corinthians 12:10, Paul says, "I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." If you're just breezing through life, I'm sorry to say it, but I'm pretty sure you're doing something wrong. Hardships make us stronger and force us to rely more on God's power. That's why some of the strongest Christians in the world are those who have faced traumatizing experiences: untimely deaths, cancer, AIDS, severe persecution and torture, etc. I mean this in the least judgmental way possible, but I think that God is keeping you from trouble so that you would realize you're missing something and return to Him. It wouldn't do any good to put hardships on someone who may or may not already be on the wrong path.
I do have to say that I agree with the majority of the paragraph in which you say that this world has done the complete opposite of what God commanded. But despite that, there is still hope. And I don't have to tell you what His name is.
I apologize for anything I've said that may have offended you, and I hope to receive a reply soon. Please. I've been waiting for a response to my other three letters, and I've been disappointed to find every day that you still haven't written back. I would love to hear back from you.
Thank you for your time, once again. God bless!
Michael Watanabe
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" ~ Galatians 2:20-21
————————————————
Hello, Mrs. Roper.
Well, I'm sorry to bug you again so soon, but I was reading your blog again, and... well, I just had to say something. As the subject above says, this is in response to your reply to Lisa's letter, to which you said, "Yes, Jesus would protest at a funeral." I'm going to try to go in the order you wrote your response.
First off, you said that Jesus said, "Let the dead bury their dead." That's true, but He was saying this when he was calling people to follow him and one man asked to be allowed to bury his father before following Jesus. He then goes on in the next couple verses, saying that anyone who follows Him but chooses their family over Him when His commands are contrary to their views has sinned and doesn't really know what it means to truly follow Christ. The point of Jesus' comment here is that our heavenly Father comes before our earthly families, no matter what.
But even when we fail, there's still hope, as the woman in John 8:1-11 found out firsthand. The woman was caught in adultery, and the people were preparing to stone her, but Jesus said, "If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her " (John 8:10). Nobody stepped forward to stone her, and Jesus said, "[Neither] do I condemn you" (John 8:11). Not only does Jesus offer free forgiveness to anyone who will accept it, He even offered it to the woman who was not seeking forgiveness of sins at all, but only escape from death. All she had to do was accept it. God doesn't give up His children that easily.
And look at John 5:1-15. People were crowded around the pool in Bethesda, and Jesus approached one lame man who had no hope of getting into the pool to be healed. The man believed that the water in the pool had healing powers, and when Jesus came along asking if he wanted to be healed, all he said was that he had nobody to put him into the pool. Even when faced with Jesus Himself, the man still sought healing from a "magical" pool of water rather than from God, the only One who could heal him. But Jesus still chose to heal him. Why? If God hates sinful man, and not merely sin in man, then why did He heal the man who clearly had no intention of following Him?
Secondly, I would like to bring up the issue of judging people again, just like I did in my first letter. You said, "If you REALLY believed you shouldn't judge, you would not have written your Bible-hating email judging us." For one thing, the apostle Paul says in Galatians 6:1, "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently." Trust me, if I didn't think you might change your ways, I would not be writing you right now, and I wouldn't have wasted my time writing my other three letters (found here). And I believe Lisa had the same mindset. I dare you to find anything blatantly judgmental in my letters. Also, when the disciples ran into a man casting out demons in the name of Jesus—a man who was not physically following Jesus—they tried to stop him, but Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you" (Luke 9:50). Lisa and I are both trying to obey God. As you would say, we are not remaining silent but openly declaring your faults to you so that you would repent and obey. If that's not judging when you do it, then you can't blame either one of us for judging you. We would like to see you become true men and women of God who are relentlessly preaching the gospel to the world so that all people might receive salvation and eternal life.
Next, in the following paragraph, you said, "You're made in the likeness of Adam, Lisa. If you ever cracked a Bible you would know Adam alone was made in the likeness of God." But I have to disagree. Crack that Bible open one more time for me and read Genesis 1:26-27: "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." "Let us make man in our image... and let THEM rule..." "[Male] and female He created them." God created man(kind) in His image. Although Adam was the only one to be created by God (the rest of us are born according to God's will), we are all made in His likeness. That's why Jesus says, "Be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). If we were not made to be like Christ—in other words, made in God's image—we would not be able to be holy. And God Himself says the same thing in Leviticus 20:26: "You are to be holy to Me because I, the Lord, am holy." We are to be like God, hence the phrase, "in [His] likeness."
"Lisa, would Jesus start 2 big wars and murder hundreds of thousands of people in cold blood?" Mrs. Roper, would Jesus curse/swear/cuss? Would Jesus call anyone an idiot/fool? If I'm not mistaken, the only insult Jesus makes is calling people hypocrites. He never calls anyone a fool because they're His own creation, and by calling them stupid, He would be calling God Himself stupid. That's blasphemy, attributing to God a fault that does not exist. If you want people to obey God, I suggest you do the same.
Finally, about halfway through your second response to Lisa's letter, you bragged, "[He] has stood with us for 20 LONG YEARS EVERY DAY ON THE STREETS, NO TRAUMA TO US. NONE!" But Jesus says in John 16:33, "In this world you will have trouble." And in 2 Corinthians 12:10, Paul says, "I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." If you're just breezing through life, I'm sorry to say it, but I'm pretty sure you're doing something wrong. Hardships make us stronger and force us to rely more on God's power. That's why some of the strongest Christians in the world are those who have faced traumatizing experiences: untimely deaths, cancer, AIDS, severe persecution and torture, etc. I mean this in the least judgmental way possible, but I think that God is keeping you from trouble so that you would realize you're missing something and return to Him. It wouldn't do any good to put hardships on someone who may or may not already be on the wrong path.
I do have to say that I agree with the majority of the paragraph in which you say that this world has done the complete opposite of what God commanded. But despite that, there is still hope. And I don't have to tell you what His name is.
I apologize for anything I've said that may have offended you, and I hope to receive a reply soon. Please. I've been waiting for a response to my other three letters, and I've been disappointed to find every day that you still haven't written back. I would love to hear back from you.
Thank you for your time, once again. God bless!
Michael Watanabe
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" ~ Galatians 2:20-21
Sunday, November 14, 2010
On Shirley Phelps Roper and the Westboro Baptist Church - Part 3
Well, it's been almost four months since I sent my last letter to Westboro Baptist Church, so I decided to write yet another letter. So here it is.
——————————————————————
Hello once again, Mrs. Roper.
This is Michael, the same one who wrote you twice before, once with my cousin Eddie. I'm sure you remember seeing my ridiculously long letters. If not, feel free to review them here.
Unlike my last two letters, I will try to keep this one relatively short.
I was going through your blog when two particular conversations caught my attention. The first was your conversation with Jeff entitled "A Huge Media Bath Thanks To Weston, MO," and the second, "We Bind This Nation So God Will Destroy Them."
I would just like to start by apologizing for Jeff. Not that that does anyone any good, but I honestly felt bad for you the way he was criticizing you. I do have to admit that he had good reason to criticize, but his method of using insults was not justified.
And one more thing before I get to the main point of this letter: in your response to Jeff's letter, you said, "Now, I must get off email and go make myself presentable for Fox 4." This is kind of off topic, but doesn't Jesus say in Matthew 6:25, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?"? And doesn't God say in 1 Samuel 16:7 when Samuel is looking for the next king of Israel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart"? Sorry to throw that at you, but that just stuck out at me as I was reading your blog.
Now on to the real topic of discussion. In your response to the unnamed Jew who is beginning to attend church, you told the unnamed author that you are "binding this nation to the standards/commandments of God so that God will destroy them." But in Mark 2:23-28, when Jesus was confronted for failing to uphold the Sabbath, He explained to the Pharisees how David ate the consecrated bread that was only lawful for consumption by the priests. He told them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27-28). According to the Pharisees, Jesus had broken the commandment that says, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy" (Exodus 20:8). But they had forgotten the reason for the commandment: God had blessed the Sabbath so that we would not need to do work, not that we would not be allowed to do work. As stated here, the Sabbath was made to be a blessing to man, not a burden.
Similarly, the Law was not established so that we would follow it to gain salvation. It was put in place so that we would realize our inability to keep the Commandments and our need for a Savior. That does not mean we should not strive to keep the Commandments, but it does mean that we are not condemned if we slip up. (See Romans 7:7-13.) As written in Hebrews 10:1-4, "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." 1 Peter 3:18 says, "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." And in Romans 8:1-4, Paul says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Jesus died for us so that those who believe in Him would be freed from the power of sin, which is death, and "where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin" (Hebrews 10:18), meaning, once our sin has been forgiven, it stands forgiven permanently and does not need any renewal of forgiveness.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." Constantly the Bible reminds us that salvation is not through works, but through faith in Jesus Christ. (Admittedly, these words come from Paul; but if what we believe is true—that the entire Bible is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16)—then if Paul's words are taken as a lie, then the entire Bible is taken as a lie, and God is made to be a liar. To quote the verse you yourself referenced in your response to the unnamed Jew, "The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because He had pity on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked God's messengers, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against His people and there was no remedy." If you deny Paul's words, you deny the words of God Himself.) We are not saved by works, but unto works; we do not save ourselves by doing good things, but we do good things because we are saved. That's why Paul says in the next verse (Ephesians 2:10), "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." God presented the Law to us so that we would see our need for a Savior, and we strive to obey the Law because we are saved so that our salvation would look appealing to others looking in from outside the body of Christ.
As in my previous letters, I ask you again to reconsider your approach to spreading the gospel. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:13, "Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall." I believe this stands true for witnessing as well. If your method of spreading the gospel causes other Christians to develop hatred for you (breaking the Commandment against murder, according to Jesus), then you should strive to witness in a way that would promote love and curiosity from others. Paul became "all things to all men so that by all possible means [he] might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22).
I would encourage you to read through the book of Hosea. (Not that I think you haven't already. I'm sure you have, but please read it again. It's a great book, as I'm sure you know.) The Bible was not written merely as a history book. It was written so that we would see how it applies to our lives and so that we would strive to obey the words that we can consciously follow. Hosea is all about how God loves His people, even when we turn our backs on Him. He held His hand out to us, even when we tried to slap His hand away. He allowed us to drift into our sin, not because He gave up on us and turned us over to Satan, but in order for us to experience the consequences, in order to teach us and bring us back to Him. And when we come back, like the father of the prodigal son, He takes us back joyfully. As Jesus told the Pharisees in Luke 15:7, "There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."
So please, re-evaluate the gospel you are preaching. Put your message to the test: match it up against the Bible and see if it stands firm in the truth. The gospel is a message of love, of grace, of mercy; it's a message of before and after: who we once were, and who we are now; the path we were on, and the path we are on now.
I want to make it clear that I believe you truly are a woman of God. But I believe that you don't quite have all the facts straight. You may very well be on the road to heaven, but your message is not encouraging others to come to the Lord. Jesus told His disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19), and we are His disciples, sent out into the world to bring others to know Christ. We are not to throw people's faults in their faces, but to show them the Savior who can (and wants to) redeem them despite their faults.
I would very much appreciate a reply. I'm getting a little discouraged because I haven't received a reply to my previous letters, and I'd like this to be a two-way conversation, not a monologue.
Thank you for your time, once again. I hope to hear back from you soon. And God bless!
Michael Watanabe
"If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." ~ 1 John 4:15-16
——————————————————————
Hello once again, Mrs. Roper.
This is Michael, the same one who wrote you twice before, once with my cousin Eddie. I'm sure you remember seeing my ridiculously long letters. If not, feel free to review them here.
Unlike my last two letters, I will try to keep this one relatively short.
I was going through your blog when two particular conversations caught my attention. The first was your conversation with Jeff entitled "A Huge Media Bath Thanks To Weston, MO," and the second, "We Bind This Nation So God Will Destroy Them."
I would just like to start by apologizing for Jeff. Not that that does anyone any good, but I honestly felt bad for you the way he was criticizing you. I do have to admit that he had good reason to criticize, but his method of using insults was not justified.
And one more thing before I get to the main point of this letter: in your response to Jeff's letter, you said, "Now, I must get off email and go make myself presentable for Fox 4." This is kind of off topic, but doesn't Jesus say in Matthew 6:25, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?"? And doesn't God say in 1 Samuel 16:7 when Samuel is looking for the next king of Israel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart"? Sorry to throw that at you, but that just stuck out at me as I was reading your blog.
Now on to the real topic of discussion. In your response to the unnamed Jew who is beginning to attend church, you told the unnamed author that you are "binding this nation to the standards/commandments of God so that God will destroy them." But in Mark 2:23-28, when Jesus was confronted for failing to uphold the Sabbath, He explained to the Pharisees how David ate the consecrated bread that was only lawful for consumption by the priests. He told them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27-28). According to the Pharisees, Jesus had broken the commandment that says, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy" (Exodus 20:8). But they had forgotten the reason for the commandment: God had blessed the Sabbath so that we would not need to do work, not that we would not be allowed to do work. As stated here, the Sabbath was made to be a blessing to man, not a burden.
Similarly, the Law was not established so that we would follow it to gain salvation. It was put in place so that we would realize our inability to keep the Commandments and our need for a Savior. That does not mean we should not strive to keep the Commandments, but it does mean that we are not condemned if we slip up. (See Romans 7:7-13.) As written in Hebrews 10:1-4, "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." 1 Peter 3:18 says, "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." And in Romans 8:1-4, Paul says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Jesus died for us so that those who believe in Him would be freed from the power of sin, which is death, and "where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin" (Hebrews 10:18), meaning, once our sin has been forgiven, it stands forgiven permanently and does not need any renewal of forgiveness.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." Constantly the Bible reminds us that salvation is not through works, but through faith in Jesus Christ. (Admittedly, these words come from Paul; but if what we believe is true—that the entire Bible is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16)—then if Paul's words are taken as a lie, then the entire Bible is taken as a lie, and God is made to be a liar. To quote the verse you yourself referenced in your response to the unnamed Jew, "The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because He had pity on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked God's messengers, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against His people and there was no remedy." If you deny Paul's words, you deny the words of God Himself.) We are not saved by works, but unto works; we do not save ourselves by doing good things, but we do good things because we are saved. That's why Paul says in the next verse (Ephesians 2:10), "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." God presented the Law to us so that we would see our need for a Savior, and we strive to obey the Law because we are saved so that our salvation would look appealing to others looking in from outside the body of Christ.
As in my previous letters, I ask you again to reconsider your approach to spreading the gospel. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:13, "Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall." I believe this stands true for witnessing as well. If your method of spreading the gospel causes other Christians to develop hatred for you (breaking the Commandment against murder, according to Jesus), then you should strive to witness in a way that would promote love and curiosity from others. Paul became "all things to all men so that by all possible means [he] might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22).
I would encourage you to read through the book of Hosea. (Not that I think you haven't already. I'm sure you have, but please read it again. It's a great book, as I'm sure you know.) The Bible was not written merely as a history book. It was written so that we would see how it applies to our lives and so that we would strive to obey the words that we can consciously follow. Hosea is all about how God loves His people, even when we turn our backs on Him. He held His hand out to us, even when we tried to slap His hand away. He allowed us to drift into our sin, not because He gave up on us and turned us over to Satan, but in order for us to experience the consequences, in order to teach us and bring us back to Him. And when we come back, like the father of the prodigal son, He takes us back joyfully. As Jesus told the Pharisees in Luke 15:7, "There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."
So please, re-evaluate the gospel you are preaching. Put your message to the test: match it up against the Bible and see if it stands firm in the truth. The gospel is a message of love, of grace, of mercy; it's a message of before and after: who we once were, and who we are now; the path we were on, and the path we are on now.
I want to make it clear that I believe you truly are a woman of God. But I believe that you don't quite have all the facts straight. You may very well be on the road to heaven, but your message is not encouraging others to come to the Lord. Jesus told His disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19), and we are His disciples, sent out into the world to bring others to know Christ. We are not to throw people's faults in their faces, but to show them the Savior who can (and wants to) redeem them despite their faults.
I would very much appreciate a reply. I'm getting a little discouraged because I haven't received a reply to my previous letters, and I'd like this to be a two-way conversation, not a monologue.
Thank you for your time, once again. I hope to hear back from you soon. And God bless!
Michael Watanabe
"If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." ~ 1 John 4:15-16
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
A Modern Parable
I was walking back to my dorm from the School of Music (a thirty-minute walk) when I started coming up with a random parable. I guess God wanted to teach me something through it. He kept adding more and more to the parable as I walked, which is great because I had half an hour to think of new stuff to add to it. So here it is.
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The Christian life is like driving to a party at a friend's house. You get to the house, park on the side of the road, and go inside. A few minutes later, you realize you forgot something in the car, so you go back out to get it, only to find a cop standing next to your car with a parking ticket. It turns out you had parked next to a fire hydrant and hadn't noticed it. What's worse is that the cop is your father. Your father hands you the parking ticket knowing you don't have the money to pay the fine, so he pays it for you. Then you give the ticket back, saying, "Let me just stay parked here a little while longer," and then go back inside. Your father has no choice but to arrest you and have the car towed.
In a similar situation, the same thing happens, but you hop in the car immediately to move it out of the way. Unfortunately, the car won't start. So your father calls a towing company to drag the car to the auto shop, where he gets the battery replaced. You then drive home following your father.
The police officer represents Jesus, the fire hydrant symbolizes sin, and the car is your life, while your friend's house represents the world. We are to be in the world, but not of it; we are not to let worldly things consume us. Before the Law was introduced in the Old Testament, sin was undefined; so the Law had to be put in place so that we would know right from wrong (Romans 7:7-9). In the parable, the son/daughter parks next to sin and doesn't realize that it was sin until his/her Father points it out as sin. We then have to pay the price for our sin, which is death; but instead, knowing that we couldn't pay the penalty ourselves, our Father came to us in the form of the Man Jesus and paid the price for us, setting us free (Romans 6:23). God's judgment, the parking ticket, has been satisfied (1 Peter 3:18). But the son/daughter in the first scenario then takes that forgiveness and abuses it by doing nothing to change his/her life and returning to the world. That person is consumed by the world, caring more about the party (the momentary pleasures of the world) than moving his/her car (getting out of sin to benefit him/her in the long run). The price Jesus paid is then worthless to that person because he/she has essentially refused it (James 1:22, 2:17). That person's car (life) is then dragged off, and he/she is put in jail (hell) because he/she has broken the law, and there is no more remedy (John 15:6; Hebrews 6:4-6).
On the other hand, the person in the second scenario gets in the car to move it, making an attempt to get out of sin (James 1:21-22, 25). But he/she finds that it is an impossible task to do alone, so he/she relies on the Father (John 15:5b; Luke 18:27; Philippians 4:13). Only through the grace of God can we dig ourselves out of the hole that is sin. Then instead of being thrown into prison/hell, our Father leads us home to heaven (John 14:6; Psalm 23:6).
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I thought it was really cool how God kept throwing more and more comparisons at me as I thought through this parable, so I just had to share it. I hope this helped someone.
Until next time, God bless!
Michael
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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
———————————————————————
The Christian life is like driving to a party at a friend's house. You get to the house, park on the side of the road, and go inside. A few minutes later, you realize you forgot something in the car, so you go back out to get it, only to find a cop standing next to your car with a parking ticket. It turns out you had parked next to a fire hydrant and hadn't noticed it. What's worse is that the cop is your father. Your father hands you the parking ticket knowing you don't have the money to pay the fine, so he pays it for you. Then you give the ticket back, saying, "Let me just stay parked here a little while longer," and then go back inside. Your father has no choice but to arrest you and have the car towed.
In a similar situation, the same thing happens, but you hop in the car immediately to move it out of the way. Unfortunately, the car won't start. So your father calls a towing company to drag the car to the auto shop, where he gets the battery replaced. You then drive home following your father.
The police officer represents Jesus, the fire hydrant symbolizes sin, and the car is your life, while your friend's house represents the world. We are to be in the world, but not of it; we are not to let worldly things consume us. Before the Law was introduced in the Old Testament, sin was undefined; so the Law had to be put in place so that we would know right from wrong (Romans 7:7-9). In the parable, the son/daughter parks next to sin and doesn't realize that it was sin until his/her Father points it out as sin. We then have to pay the price for our sin, which is death; but instead, knowing that we couldn't pay the penalty ourselves, our Father came to us in the form of the Man Jesus and paid the price for us, setting us free (Romans 6:23). God's judgment, the parking ticket, has been satisfied (1 Peter 3:18). But the son/daughter in the first scenario then takes that forgiveness and abuses it by doing nothing to change his/her life and returning to the world. That person is consumed by the world, caring more about the party (the momentary pleasures of the world) than moving his/her car (getting out of sin to benefit him/her in the long run). The price Jesus paid is then worthless to that person because he/she has essentially refused it (James 1:22, 2:17). That person's car (life) is then dragged off, and he/she is put in jail (hell) because he/she has broken the law, and there is no more remedy (John 15:6; Hebrews 6:4-6).
On the other hand, the person in the second scenario gets in the car to move it, making an attempt to get out of sin (James 1:21-22, 25). But he/she finds that it is an impossible task to do alone, so he/she relies on the Father (John 15:5b; Luke 18:27; Philippians 4:13). Only through the grace of God can we dig ourselves out of the hole that is sin. Then instead of being thrown into prison/hell, our Father leads us home to heaven (John 14:6; Psalm 23:6).
———————————————————————
I thought it was really cool how God kept throwing more and more comparisons at me as I thought through this parable, so I just had to share it. I hope this helped someone.
Until next time, God bless!
Michael
—————————————————————
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
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