Silas, Tragedy, and One Fallen World

Permit me to break a bit from the format, won’t you?

Oh, don’t worry. I don’t mean that I won’t ramble endlessly. All I mean is that I’m not going to set up the rambling via a film or book or video game, that’s all. We’ll get straight to the point. Relatively speaking. Straight to the rambling? Yeah.

Unfortunately, the real Silas isn't terribly attractive, so I'm using this
photo of a child model instead, since attractive people deserve
sympathy more than uggos.
(Full disclosure: I lied. This is Silas. Isn't he a cutie?)

I want to talk about my first cousin once removed. His name is Silas. He’s the son of my cousin Kristen and her husband Harvey. Harvey is in the Navy and works on a sub and he would have hated my post about the short-lived TV show Last Resort because he cannot watch a show set on a submarine without nitpicking and missing the show entirely while critiquing the number of steps on that stairway leading from the bridge to the constabulary or the composition of the metal alloy used in hatch B3. He’s not the sort of guy you want to watch Hunt for the Red October with. Of course, it’s the same reason I can’t take Castle or Murder, She Wrote seriously. I mean, they actually have times in those shows when the police seem to resent the priceless input of writers into murder investigations! It’s preposterous. But I should stop this digression because my cousin-in-law’s failings as a television-watching companion are not terribly pertinent, and I don’t want to punish my first cousin once removed for his father’s shortcomings.

I am sharing this face swap of President
Obama and Chris Christie for two reasons:
1) My wife Shannon has an irrational love
of face swaps and I love to make her smile;
2) I cannot think of a better way to signify
my commitment to an apolitical blog than this.

And, honestly, Silas has enough problems as it is. In fact, the poor boy has had countless health problems in his three years of life. Questionable diagnosis has followed questionable diagnosis, and we’ve wondered at times if we would ever know for sure what precisely was wrong with him, and how to help him. But it looks like at least some of those questions may be answered.

It seems like all these problems may stem from incredibly rare genetic mutations. In fact, it’s looking like Silas may be the only person in recorded medical history to suffer from this particular variation of these diseases. The child is certainly unique, but this isn’t much to celebrate.

Unfortunately, to get the proper treatment and the accommodations in life that he needs, Silas requires pricey genetic testing to finalize the diagnosis. Although his father is active duty US military and Silas has their health insurance, Tricare will not pay for the testing. They’re looking at somewhere in the ballpark of $25,000 for the required testing. I almost want to type that I wonder how much it would have cost back before the US had affordable care enacted, but I really don’t tend to get political around here so I won’t go there.

So pray for Silas, Kristen, and Harvey, please. You’re good readers. I know you’ve got my back and I know you’ll have theirs. If you’re so inclined, there is a GoFundMe page set up where you can help them meet their financial needs through donations. Whether you give or not, sharing the page on Facebook or Twitter or MySpace or Google Plus could also be helpful. And if you have anything to give, my wife is putting together an online auction in which the proceeds go toward Silas’ needs. I’m kicking in e-copies of all my books, of course, and have reached out to other author friends to do the same. If you’re an author, this sort of thing is a no-brainer if you ask me. Ebooks don’t cost us anything, we get to help out, and it’s even good publicity. And, indeed, some of my author friends are helping out too. Anyway, if you’d like to donate anything to the auction—anything!—go ahead and e-mail me and I’ll put you in touch with my wife, so I can deal with any spam that arises from this and she doesn’t have to. I don’t know exactly when the auction is supposed to get going, but I’m sure I’ll announce it on my Facebook page when the time comes so there’s a plug for that. Oh, and since blog posts are timeless, I’m writing this in early April 2014 and so just bear in mind that, if you’re reading this in May 2088, you might be a bit late to

And, for our friends from 2088, here's a picture of the view outside
your window right now so you can feel all comfy and homey!
Art credit: paooo (http://fav.me/d471bob)

this party. February might still be okay, but May would definitely have missed the boat, as May is wont to do.

But don’t worry. The rest of this post won’t be nearly as time sensitive. Let me say first of all that all the problems my little first cousin once removed is having really suck. I mean, poor Silas is only three years old! I think it’s pretty fair to arrive at the conclusion that this isn’t exactly fair. Three year old boys should be running and jumping and playing in mud and peeing on inappropriate things and people indiscriminately and eating turtles and catching wombats and playing Doctor Who and all that (disclaimer: I’ve never actually raised any boys), not combating incredibly rare genetic mutations! It’s bullcrap!

And, for some people, it’s precisely this sort of thing that precludes their belief in or acceptance of a loving God. So let’s talk about that. Because the Bible does indeed explain why a relatively innocent child like Silas can be afflicted with a horrible illness. Of course, you can choose to reject what God has to say. You don’t have to like it or accept it. But please don’t suggest that the turmoil, violence, chaos, disease, and overall crappiness that afflicts this world is somehow inexplicable within the pages of Scripture. Rather, it fits perfectly.

I'm clearly not speaking to any concierges reading this.
If you're a concierge, you clearly can't help but suggest
stuff even if I tell you not to. But everyone else should stop.

More on that in a moment. First, permit me to briefly get scientific. I don’t do this very often given that, despite my high school career at the Battle Creek Area Math and Science Center—which was for advanced students, not those who needed extra help, thank you very much!—my mind is actually much more creative and inventive than analytical, cold, and calculating (that pretty much describes scientists and mathematicians, right?). The last time I really delved into a defense of biblical creation, it was really much more of a theological argument than a scientific one: God simply used His human author to word the Genesis account in such a way to completely preclude the possibility of defending millions or billions of years of evolution through Scripture. The six days of Genesis simply cannot be reconciled to modern evolutionary theory. God anticipated (of course) the latter and developed the text deliberately to contradict that. It is only by twisting the Bible and completely ignoring the author’s clear intent that anyone can bring the two concepts together.

But this much I do know: when we hear about someone having a genetic mutation, it doesn’t mean that Patrick Stewart is finally going to get to open his special school for mutants. That’s not real life. What’s going on with young Silas is much more in line with what genetic mutations have to offer in real life. They’re bad. When DNA is corrupted, we are looking at the loss or perversion of normal genetic material, not the invention of new, beneficial changes. It’s tragic. While again reiterating that I am not a scientist (truth be told,

If I ever buy a bowtie, of course, I'll buy a fez to go with it.
Fezzes are cool.

I don’t even own a bowtie), it’s my understanding that one component of evolutionary theory is the unproven mechanism of going from very simple, basic life forms to infinitely more complex ones due, in part, to billions of years of serendipitous, beneficial, new-material-producing genetic mutations. Poppycock. I can show you a special three-year-old boy and demonstrate how genetic mutation really plays out in our world. It’s not the creation, extension, or upgrading of life. Not at all.

All right. Enough of that. Back to the Bible. First of all, let me assure you that I am definitely praying for my FirCoz1Mov’d whenever he comes to mind (I decided to abbreviate it a bit, as first cousin once removed is a bit cumbersome). I care about the little guy and his family and hate to see them all suffer as they fight their way through this. I’m behind them completely, and obviously one of my chief purposes in writing this blog post is to spread the word about what they’re going through, to ask for prayers and donations. I believe I offered the sentiment earlier, but permit me to repeat myself: this sucks.

Yes, this sucks, but the Bible makes it very clear that suckiness will come. That doesn’t necessarily make it any better, but we at least can be confident in the fact that this of course does not take God by surprise. And we don’t have to start pointing fingers like biblical Israelites trying to ascertain which parent sinned for the child to be afflicted like this. This isn’t divine punishment.

Having said that, I reserve the right to alter my
position if fire and brimstone should start
raining down on the boy.

Oh, that’s not to say that sin is not involved at all. On the contrary, sin is at the very heart of the issue. We simply don’t have to be pointing fingers at individual sin in the life of Silas or his family members—but sin is still very much to blame. God made a wonderful, beautiful world for us to live in, and He is such an artist that it still retains so much of its majesty and splendor, but it has been ravaged by sin for tens of thousands of years. Sin touches everything. Yeah, we know it ruins lives and families and marriages and churches and friendships and communities. The human fallout from sin is well documented, and none of us have been immune.

But it goes deeper, to the point “that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Rom. 8:22). Jesus spoke of earthquakes, famine, and war as birth pains as well (Mark 13:8). We think of sin in terms of actions and consequences, and there’s truth to that, but sin as a cancer has infected absolutely everything this world has to offer. We cannot for a moment forget the fact that we live in a fallen world because that truth manifests itself daily in Chilean earthquakes, Ukrainian invasions, widespread corruption and, yes, rare genetic mutations. This world is broken. Disease, violence, and natural disasters are all symptoms. The groaning of creation will only increase until Jesus returns to restore all things; eventually, this world will be put out of its misery, to be replaced with a shiny new model (Rev. 21:1).

This is not to say that God does not intervene. We know that prayer is effective and we have countless biblical examples of His direct intervention as He wills (James 5:16-17). I believe entirely that He still performs miracles today. Why does He sometimes choose to stay His hand? I cannot begin to say. There comes a point where you finally realizes that He is so far beyond us that I have no right to question why He does what He does. I cannot see what is going to happen two minutes from now, and yet am I going to presume to know better than the One who knows and sees all? We know that He uses tragic circumstances and difficulties to mold us and give us opportunities to grow closer to Him (James 1:2-4). This may offer small comfort in the midst of our grief and fear, but even then we can have the comfort of knowing that He is

This doesn't have the slightest application to the post.
It's simply one of my wife's favorite face swaps.

unquestionably sovereign, undeniable in control, unassailably good.

Again, you don’t have to accept any of this. Faith can seem almost impossible when hope seems farthest and circumstances most dire. I understand that. But it’s true regardless. I will not be the one to offer empty platitudes to my cousin and her family, I assure you. Like I said: it sucks. God may well have a wonderful plan to grow them all and bring oodles of glory to Himself through this nightmare—indeed, I hope He does!—but where they’re at right now would still suck. So I won’t try to pretend that I know how they’re feeling; I won’t try to guess for them what God wants to teach them through this. Not at all. Rather, I’ll donate my books to the auction. I’ll pray—for strength, for comfort, for healing for Silas, for the cash to get the proper testing done. I cannot really have faith on their behalf, and yet I do believe with all my heart that God is not surprised by these developments; that He loves Silas, Kristen, Harvey, and Violet; and that He sees the whole picture whereas I can barely grasp what’s happening now. And I’ll ask for your prayers.

Oh, and I’ll link to the donation site one more time. I can’t do much, but I can do that.

Joy in the Crapshoot

Seems about right.

There’s a rather obscure made-for-TV Muppets movie called  The Muppets at Walt Disney World. In it, the Muppets visit—wait for it—Walt Disney World. My Mom must have recorded it on these black boxy things called VHS tapes back in the day because it was in our video library. Although it’s largely a big commercial for Disney World, I enjoyed it. It had some good jokes and some nice songs and Charles Grodin (y’know...from Beethoven) working with the Muppets again (which he had first done in the film The Great Muppet Caper).

And it had Waldorf and Statler. You know those great old guys. They’re like royalty amongst hecklers. And they’re at it again even at Disney World:

Why these guys didn't take over for Siskel and Ebert,
I have no idea.

“Hey, this place is pretty great.”

“Yeah. It’s clean, it’s fun...there’s nothing to complain about.”

“I hate it when there’s nothing to complain about!”

“Boo!”

“Hiss!”

“Close this dump down!”

 (For the Muppet purists out there, I should point out that this exchange is reproduced from memory, as I cannot find a YouTube clip of it. I assure you I got the gist right.)

Ever know anyone like Waldorf and Statler? Who aren’t happy unless they’re complaining? Oh, gosh I have.

Ugh. I just know this guy's gonna start whining.

Of course, sometimes whining and grumbling makes sense, doesn’t it?

Pain has not been kind to my family. We joke that my wife, at twenty-seven, has the physical problems of a much older woman: blood clot, back problems, hip pain and more. She has permanent stress fractures from her time in Army (after being misdiagnosed by Army docs) and a host of painful issues stemming from that.

I’m not in the same boat as her, but apparently the fact that I’ve already had two kidney stones by the age of thirty is kinda rare. The first one just hung out and caused pain so I needed laser surgery to take care of it. Laser surgery! Cool, huh? But in May of last year I got to step up to the daily pain club. I still don’t have a

good diagnosis, and the pain is in sort of a sensitive, manly area that we cannot discuss in mixed company, but it comes to visit on a daily basis. You learn to live with it.

My vacation home away from home.

We went on vacation last week, to Maranatha Bible and Missionary Conference on the shores of Lake Michigan. It’s sort of a special place for me, because I’ve been going every year for the past 26 years, with very little interruption. I got to sort of grow up there - one week a year anyway - and I’d love for my girls to have the chance to do the same. There’s good Bible teaching, great kids programming, wonderful praise and worship, exciting stories from missionaries about how God is working around the world and even an Olympic-sized pool on the beach! It’s a neat place.

Having been there so many years, I can assure you that it is a great deal more fun if you don’t have a boil. Yep, I said a boil. Now, I know what you’re thinking: wasn’t Job afflicted with boils? Yes, he was. Now, that doesn’t mean you should assume that I was also afflicted with a boil because of my rampant godliness (and humility) but I’m sure you started to wonder.

I could barely walk when I went into a med center near the resort and sitting was very painful too. I had heard of lancing boils in some context but had no idea if medical technology had advanced beyond what

Okay - this was too perfect not to share!

sounds like the most painful treatment imaginable. Spoiler alert: it hasn’t.

I didn’t get to see Lake Michigan again this vacation or attend the rest of the Bible teaching sessions. It was kind of a bummer. The good news is that I already had pain meds prescribed from my daily pain so all the doctor at the med center could do was prescribe...more portent pain meds! I’m glad I’m the sort of guy who brings along his XBox 360 to a place like Maranatha because all I could really do at that point was lie down on my side. Yes, I like to play video games on my vacation...but I honestly didn’t want to play them nearly that much!

But you know what? I’m good. Oh sure, I’m still disappointed, mostly that I didn’t get to play more down at the beach with my kids, or with my niece and nephew who came up for a few days while I was out of commission. I don’t get to see them very much. But at some point, as God’s been working on me and molding me more and more into the man He created me to be, He has taught me to choose joy above all.

Oh, I’m certainly not perfect on this score (or, um, any others). A few years ago, I encountered threats to my family and marriage that shook my smile in a way that I think very few could. But that was an extreme circumstance, and normal course for me now—despite the daily pain, despite the hiccups of life, despite living in a fallen world and having relationships with fallen people—is to genuinely enjoy life.

I wrote a skit called The Deep End when we were touring with our family drama ministry. In it, the character

This is pretty similar to my outfit for the skit.
I wore it better, too.

I played decided to deliberately take leave of his senses because he cannot make sense of a coworker who lives his life by the following mantra:

God’s still on His throne and I’m still going to heaven. As long as that’s true, nothing’s really that bad.

My character admires his coworker as he sticks to his philosophy through life’s bumps and bruises: car trouble and all the rest. It’s after the coworker’s wife dies after a lengthy battle with cancer that my character decided to embrace the crazy. He simply could not understand what in the world could give his coworker such peace, an underlying joy that persisted even as he grieved the death of his wife.

But we can know such a joy.

In fact, as believers, I would go further and say that we are commanded to choose joy in our lives:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Phil. 4:4).

I love how Paul anticipates his reader’s reaction, thinking it must be a typo or something. So he repeats himself. Not only is joy a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22), listed right after love, but the supernatural joy of the Lord gives us strength (Neh. 8:10). Joy is important. And in hard times? James instructs us to choose joy even (or especially?) in the face of trials and difficulties (James 1:2-3).

Yeah I'm a Christian. What's it to you!?

And yet I feel that joylessness is one of those little “acceptable sins” that we tend to ignore or even rationalize as believers. We’ve all met curmudgeonly Christians who seem to have chronic bad attitudes. Heck, you may be one of those grumpy bear believers.

None of us are perfect. But for a believer to remain joyless does indicate a problem. I’ve heard from some who believe it’s pointless to teach about the Fruit of the Spirit because the Holy Spirit will automatically fill the believer with those nine traits—but I’ve got too much experience to agree. We can block the Spirit from working in certain areas in our lives, stubbornly holding on to pieces of ourselves. I know this because I’ve done it. Ever heard Augustine’s famous prayer? “Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.”

Yes, I realize that women can struggle with lust.
Sorry about the stumbling block, ladies.

Even as we relinquish control to God, as we learn how to die to ourselves daily, we do not become perfect overnight. Each of us struggle with different things. I used to struggle with joy. For the most part, I don’t anymore. You may not struggle with lust (like, you might be female or something) but have a hard time with patience.

But I feel the need for us to call a spade, as they say, a spade. Anyway, someone would get offended if we call it a hoe or something. I think the healthiest attitude we can take as believers is to avoid justifying any sin, whether it seems like a “big one” or not. If I have a problem area in my life, I need to pray about it and take steps to be more godly, trusting God to take me the rest of the way.

So let’s out joylessness as a sin. Perhaps it doesn’t seem as nefarious as murder, adultery or being Canadian (one of those might not be a sin, actually), but it’s a mistake to turn the proverbial blind eye. Not only does sin separate us from God, but it inhibits our ability to be salt and light in this world—and a lack of joy can most assuredly be a problem.

Clearly having the time of his nine lives.

Plus, learn from my personal experience: Grumpiness isn’t something to stubbornly cling to! It’s making you miserable! Grant me chastity but not yet makes sense—sex can be lots of fun!—but I fail to see the appeal in holding on to a bad attitude. Of course, I also fail to see the appeal in smoking but millions of other people clearly do. Also: Honey Boo-Boo.

You’ve probably read this quote by Charles Swindoll before. At least, I hope you have. I hope everyone has. But you can read it again. It’s golden:

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.

Man, that’s a great quote. Every trial or temptation that comes our way is a chance to grow spiritually. You can only develop patience by being in situations where your natural inclination is to be impatient, such as driving or renewing your driver’s license. Similarly, you can only learn to be full of joy by being in situations

Between developing patience and not going on a homicidal
rampage, government agencies are a cesspool of spiritual growth.

where many people would grumble and complain. Since God wants you to be full of joy, that means that complainers should expect plenty of crummy circumstances which are God-sent opportunities to grow closer to Him. I’d rather get the point and maybe not have to go through the lessons so often!

Paul struggled with some sort of pain or burden. He begged God to take it away, but God said no. He was teaching a powerful lesson: “My grace sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). That’s such a profound lesson, isn’t it worth the pain?

Worth it.

If you enjoy my books or even my blog posts, thank the daily pain I’ve endured for the past fourteen months or so. The pain kept me up at night and, instead of tossing and turning, I took to writing. Staying up in a quiet house to write turned out to be the perfect solution for me. I’ve been working on The Savvy Demon’s Guide to Godly Living that whole time and maybe that seems like a long time, but it’s a big book. I can’t imagine how long it would have taken me to finish if God hadn’t sent me this pain.

So, Lord, thank You for this pain. I don’t know for sure what purpose it serves now that I’ve learned this new schedule, but I know without a doubt that Your grace is sufficient for me. And every time I receive a comment or a review about how much one of my stories has meant in somebody’s life? I know that this pain has been worth it, because it played a role in that and God is being glorified. Someday, the pain will be gone forever. For now, I will gladly endure it if it means I can have a greater impact for the Kingdom of the Lord.

I’ll endure it with a smile on my face, too.

And that’s called joy.

You Make Me Want to Watch a Better Movie

Needs a box for "Um, I sent me Son to DIE for you, didn't I?"

I was lying in bed, just sort of talking to God. Actually, I initiated one of those “state of the relationship” sort of chats. It really comes down to love, right?

Do You love me? I asked, but I wasn’t really asking. I knew the answer, because it’s been proven to me countless times. Yes, of course You love me, I answered myself. You love me a great deal. I actually lay there in the dark, looking up at the ceiling and grinning like a schoolgirl, I am not ashamed to admit. Thinking about my Savior’s love for me has that effect. It’s so wonderful, so strong, so steadfast and so completely undeniable. You could never make me doubt His love. Taylor Swift would sooner get back together with that one guy than I would doubt the love of my Savior and my God.

Well, since His devotion was not remotely in doubt, I turned my thoughts to me. I know I love You, I thought, and I meant it. Human love is so different, at least in my experience, to the love shared between a disciple and One he cannot see or feel or touch, at least in tangible ways. There was a time when I don’t suppose I knew much what it meant to really love God. I don’t think I could give you a great dictionary definition now, but a thought did come to mind.

Inhibiting Helen Hunt's
career since 1992.

“You make me want to be a better man.”

If you love movies about natural
disasters, you'll LOVE this film
about an misanthrope who's very mean.

That was the thought, and it’s a stolen one. You might recognize it from a movie that came out many moons ago (the Nineties, I believe) called As Good As It Gets. It was made at a magical time when someone thought that Helen Hunt might be a bona fide movie star if you could just get her away from Paul Reiser. Everyone really liked this movie, as I recall, although I didn’t think much of it when I finally saw it. Since I only saw the film once and thought it thoroughly meh, I’m trying to figure out why I’m so familiar with that quote. I believe that there may have been a trailer for the movie on a VHS movie that we owned, maybe Twister or something, and that may explain why that bit is so ingrained in my consciousness.

Quick! Name a Jack Nicholson movie from the past
twenty years where he does NOT play a grumpy old man.
Go ahead. We'll wait.

But back to the quote: “You make me want to be a better man.” Now, let me go and ahead offer the disclaimer that I may not have that quote down word-for-word. I don’t need any Jack Nicholson aficionados complaining in the comments section. But I think I got the essence right, anyway. I’m sure there were plenty of female viewers fluttering their eyelids and swooning at the thought of a grumpy old misanthrope striving to be a less grumpy old misanthrope for the sake of some blonde lady who might be a waitress, I think (I don’t recall). Without doubt, changing oneself to get other people to like you better is a popular concept, and is pretty much the entire message behind Grease. But it takes on a whole different element when it comes to our relationship with God.

I know that God loves me the way I am. I also know that He loves me too much to let me stay that way (is that a cliché? ah, well. . .). In MereChristianity, CS Lewis describes the changes that the God makes in the life of the redeemed:

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

I think that sometimes were tempted to think that these necessary changes are arbitrary, that they serve only the purpose of molding us into some sort of godly ideal, perhaps to make us fit for an eternity in heaven. I don’t believe that’s the case at all. Rather, I think that the process of transformation that makes us more Christlike is extremely practical. For one thing, take a look at the pain and sorrow in your life and try to figure out how much of it is the result of sinful behavior. Certainly, some pain—disease, accident, natural disaster—comes simply from living in this fallen world, but a great deal of suffering is also self-inflicted (the result of our own sin) and inflicted by others (the result of their sin). This devastating tragedy in Connecticut that has so rocked our nation was without doubt the result of sin. Sin has consequences. God gives us a plan not just for godly living but also for wise living. To follow His path is to escape many of the painful consequences of sin, although of course following in the steps of the Man of Sorrows Himself will not grant us a life free from all pain.

But living a Christlike life can also have a profound impact in the lives of others. Jesus listed the two most important commandments as loving God with all that you are and loving others as yourself (Matt. 22:37-40). Ultimately, to become more like Jesus is to be more filled with love for our Lord and for other people. In his book UnChristian, Barna Group president  David Kinnaman says that Christians “have become famous for what we oppose, rather than who we are for.” It’s true. In the New Testament, Christians were known for their association with Jesus Christ. In fact, when Paul was put on trial, he declared that the reason for the charges were because he believed in the resurrection of the dead (Acts 24:21), specifically because he taught the resurrection of one individual: Jesus. In fact, the very title Christians was all about Jesus. The believers were believers because they followed Christ and everyone knew it.

Now, I would argue that the term Christian has lost much of its original meaning. Most people associate the term with, just like Kinnaman says, with what Christians are opposed to. They’re anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion, anti-Democrat, anti-immorality and so on. Contrast this with Jesus words to His disciples: “By this will all people know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Notice that He didn’t say that love was how people would recognize Christians. He said that this is how the world would be able to recognize His disciples. Through love.

Godly living and a tasty fruit salad.

See, if I permit the Holy Spirit to transform me into a better man, what this means practically is that I will love more. You will be able to tell that I follow Christ not through how I vote or where I picket or how loudly I complain, but through a life that is categorized by sacrificial love. I will not be known by who I hate. I will not be known for what I am against. I will be known by the fact that I love the lost and strive to share the love of Jesus Christ with them. Look at the fruit of the Spirit, for example: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithful and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). These aren’t vague, ooey-gooey feelings or something. This is a description of how we are to treat other people. And just maybe they’ll see His light in us and glorify our Father in heaven (Mat. 5:16).

Dear Father, I am a selfish person by nature. I’m not saying that I’m always only looking out for myself, but that is surely what I default to. But You make me want to be a better man. You make me want to live a godly life that shines before others that You can use to draw them to Your arms. I know that is it Your influence in my heart that makes me even want these things. Help me, Father. Help me to live the sort of life that will impact others and draw them in. Help me to love the unlovable because of Your great love for me. Help me, Lord, to be a better man—because I surely can’t do it without you. And neither can Jack Nicholson. Amen.

Creation for Christians

The topic of Creation may not exactly qualify as the road less traveled, but I was inspired recently to blog about it. I don't have anything too new or revolutionary to say on the topic, but perhaps some readers will be presented with a position they hadn't heard before, or a new delivery on old material that makes one think. I know that I, personally, never think about anything before I first think about it and that everything I know is something I didn't know prior to having learned it, but that might just be me.

For us writers, one of the most crucial parts of what we do is being able to effectively and clearly communicate. It really doesn't matter how great the ideas in your head are if you can't put those ideas on paper in a way that the reader understands. I'm not saying that the picture in the author's head needs to mirror that in the reader's head precisely—imagination absolutely plays a part, and that's part of the magic of books—but, if the author is writing about a bank robbery but half the readers think that she's describing a night at the opera, you're going to have some very confused readers when the violinist makes off with $149 and a pack of Marlboros. There are times when an author can be deliberately obtuse, and some surely even write whole books in this manner, but most stories have basics that must be communicated fairly universally to the readers for the whole thing to make sense or to satisfy.

There can be no doubt that the Bible contains figurative language. Sometimes the authors of Scripture use estimates instead of precise numbers and figures of speech that are not technically, scientifically accurate (similarly to how we might say that the sun is setting, even though we know that the sun is stationary but the earth is moving). How can we tell which of passages are literal and which are figurative? I feel like it's usually (although not always) fairly obvious to ascertain what the human author's intent was and that the context helps a lot. I like to employ what I call The Desert Island Test: take fifty babies and raise them in isolation on different desert islands with absolutely no outside influences except nature and the Bible. Poll them about a given passage in Scripture to see whether they consider it to be literal or figurative or allegorical or whatever.

Okay, so I haven't actually done this test a great deal. A lot of parents don't like having their babies snatched for bizarre hermeneutical experiments, and this test wouldn't account for the context of the original human authors. But what it would do is take away all the bias that our own society would apply to text and probably get closer to the original intent. Someone might insist a certain miracle performed must be allegorical because their personal experience and worldview doesn't allow for such supernatural occurrences, but it seems fairly clear that the original authors were writing about something they believed had actually happened.

What does this mean for the Creation account found in the opening chapters of Genesis? You've probably figured out by now (especially if you've come 'round here before) that I believe in a literal six-day Creation (that's twenty-four hour days) that occurred thousands but not millions (or billions) of years ago. I think this interpretation withstands The Desert Island Test, and would, in fact, suggest very strongly that any doubt in a literal reading of Genesis originates not in a careful reading of Scripture, but rather in philosophies based in human tradition and understanding (see Col. 2:8). I think it's foolish to, when there is a conflict, rely on the ever-changing nature of science rather than the always-constant truths of God's Word. I'm not anti-science by any means. I simply think that the current theories are completely contradictory with what the Bible has to say. If one has to be wrong and the other right, I'm going to choose the Bible. Period.

But are the two really at odds? Some have gone to great effort to try to make what they think science has proven (which really isn't accurate) fit with what the Bible teaches. You're probably familiar with the various views. What they  all have in common is that they do not begin and end with God's Word; rather, they depend as much on current worldly theories as they do on Scripture. I'm not a scientist and I won't pretend to be able to know everything about that side of things (although come on. . .the Cambrian Explosion? Seriously?). I'm a writer, and, as a writer, I want to put the following question to Christians who try to force Genesis to fit with current scientific theories:

If God wanted to convey the message that He had created the earth in six literal days, what would He do differently?

Think about it before you answer. If His goal was to communicate clearly the Creation story, how could He have phrased it differently, so that all believers would take His Word over the opinions of man?

For my part, I think that the first couple of chapters are nothing short of brilliant. They seriously affirm my belief in a sovereign, omniscient God. I see how He refuted theories that would not be advanced for thousands of years, and think He did a marvelous job of communicating very clearly to those willing to learn.

 

To those who think that He isn't talking about literal, 24-hour days, He goes out of His way to say that He is: “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day” (Gen. 1:5); “And there was evening and there was morning, the second day” (Gen. 1:8). Six days of Creation are described, and six times, we are told explicitly that these are literal days with an evening and a morning (we might say morning and then evening, but this follows the Jewish reckoning of how days were counted).

In no other story would we take that information and try to look for loopholes.

Johnny awoke before his alarm went off on the morning of the third day. Everything—breakfast, coffee, the commute, work, lunch, dinner, American Idol—everything went by in a blur. When he lay down in bed that evening, he couldn't believe it, but  there was no denying the truth: day three was gone.

Raise your hand if you think I was trying to communicate that Johnny's day had lasted a million or so years. Now, those of you with raised hands, thwack yourself on the forehead because you are wrong. I was writing about a literal day, and even a semi-intelligent platypus would have understood that, assuming there wasn't a scientist reading over his shoulder and telling him he was wrong (that was snarky, but I was joking so it's okay).

I wonder what the original readers of Genesis thought when they saw that each of the animals reproduce “according to their kinds” (Gen. 1:24). Did they think much about it? “Of course they reproduce after their own kinds! What else would they do?” It sort of takes on new meaning in light of theories about Darwinistic evolution, doesn't it?

If God wanted to communicate that He created the world the way that He describes in Genesis, what could He have done differently?

For me, still, the most convincing biblical evidence for Creation comes far from Genesis. In Romans 6:23, Paul writes, “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Consistently, throughout Scripture, death is presented as a consequence of sin and the fall, and is even portrayed as an enemy defeated by Christ's work on the cross (1 Cor. 15:26, 55-57). Millions of years of life and death before mankind means that death existed before the fall, and that is a message very much at odds with the truth of Scripture. To suggest that God instituted death as an evolutionary device is so opposed to what the Bible teaches that it might be tantamount to blasphemy.

I read somewhere recently (I don't recall where) that anyone who deliberately chooses to reject any portion of Scripture cannot possible be saved. It's an interesting claim, and I can't refute it off the top of my head. Still, you won't hear me looking someone in the eye and telling them that they are not going to heaven because they deny a literal reading of Genesis. I just don't think that's my place, for one, and I don't see that requirement in God's gift of grace in salvation. But neither do I think that a biblical view and an evolutionary view can truly be reconciled (and I believe I've heard all the attempts to do so), and I wonder how one can follow Christ without believing what He has to say in His word.

If death is a part of God's design, then how can it be the consequence of sin? If sin and death are part of God's perfect design, then what does this mean about the cross?

For me, it just doesn't add up. If you have a different view, or would like to refute anything I've brought up, feel free to in the comments below. Differing viewpoints are welcome so long as everything stays civil."rs of Genesis thought when they saw thang over his shoulder and telling him he was wrong.

When Discipleship is the Focus. . .

I had hardly intended for the inaugural post in this blog to be a link to elsewhere, but I simply can’t resist. In any case, the subject matter is in line with a consistent theme in much of my own work (including The Book of the Harvest, the novel I’m currently working on and, to a lesser extent, Emaline’s Gift): personal discipleship.

If you’re going to come round here much, or read much of what I’ve published, you’re going to hear me go on so much about discipleship that you’re probably going to get quite sick of it. I apologize here and now for any future queasiness that this inspires, but I believe that the need is quite urgent. In my opinion, discipleship has long been neglected in countless local churches in the United States. I say this because of my own experience, visiting countless evangelical churches while touring with Stage Right Ministries, but also because this is the precise conclusion that researcher George Barna also came to in his book Growing True Disciples.

Jesus commanded His followers to make disciples. It’s in the Great Commission: Matthew 28:19-20. He issued this command after having spent the past three years of His life making disciples. He was investing in those twelve men throughout His entire public ministry: when He was healing the crowds, He was also investing in them; when He was doing the large group lecture thing, He was still investing in His disciples; when He was sparring with the Pharisees and Sadducees, seeking and saving the lost, evangelizing and praying, He was investing into the spiritual lives of the men who would take the reins of ministry after His ascension. They were the ones present when no one else was. When He instructed His followers to make disciples, everyone knew precisely what He meant. They had just watched Him do it, and the record of His methods are left for us in the gospels. The early church picked up right where He left off, and it was a time of unprecedented fruitfulness in ministry. Paul perhaps made the ultimate statement of discipleship when he invited the Corinthian believers to imitate him as he imitated Christ (1 Cor. 11:1).

At what point did Jesus’ primary method of doing ministry become so rare? At what point did we start thinking that ministry meant first doing a Sunday morning service and then adding programming to that? I suppose the show-plus-programming tactic would be more efficient if it were effective, but the evidence—both anecdotally by simply looking at the state of our once-Christian nation and also via the research results that Barna has compiled—points to a church in crisis, so often incapable of producing genuine disciples of Christ or make any impact in an increasingly godless culture.

I am convinced, first of all, that there is a serious problem. I think we’ve all seen the statistics that show that evangelical church attendees live no different than the rest of the world (if you haven’t seen this, I refer again to the Barna book). I think that personal discipleship is the solution to the problem. Before we look at more demographics and add more relevant music or iPad notes or whatever, I think we need to at least committing to try to do ministry using Christ’s methods before labeling them outdated. If I had to summarize the novel I’ve been working on, I’d say it’s about a group of believers who decide to take a serious look at their Christian lives, to step away from the nominal sedimentary mass that is American Christianity and to truly live for Christ. Making disciples is a big part of that. Of course, that’s a fictional work and I’ll admit that my theories have not been really put into practice in any real way (my wife and I let a discipleship group of young adults for a few months before moving to Indiana and it was a huge learning experience, but we also made a fair number of mistakes).

So that’s where the experiences of Jim Putnam and the churches that have been planted under his leadership come into play. Almost every word that comes out of his mouth lines up with the theories that have been rolling around in my head, and the results? Well, they almost seems like they come right out of the first few chapters of Acts. Without further ado, here’s the link. I recommend this article for every believer, and certainly all in professional ministry! Feel free to come back here to discuss in the comments, if you so desire.