Discovering the Real Jesus in Monroe

This picture is one of the lights on the side of our garage. We keep it on at night so that visitors can see the sidewalk leading from our garage to our front door.

In this life, is there a light to guide our way? Here’s how I think about this.

If there is no God, that is, if atheism is true, then no such guiding light exists. The atheist Bertrand Russell, in his essay “A Free Man’s Worship,” expressed it this way. Because God does not exist, our lives rest on “a foundation of unyielding despair.” He writes: “That Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins–all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain, that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. ”

In other words, if no God, then no light to guide our way.

But I believe there is a God. And that God has come to visit us in the form of a person, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5) John 1:9 describes the incarnation (God takes on “carne,” human flesh) as the moment that “the true light that gives light to every man has come into the world.”

I describe my own life as one that emerged out of darkness in light. That moment came when I embraced Jesus as God, Savior, and Lord. Now, 37 years after that emergence, for me the Light still shines.

When I was 20 years old and an undergraduate in college I would spend every Saturday night getting very drunk. I’d stay up all night, and when the sun came up I’d get my guitar and stagger to the Lutheran Church on the campus of Northern Illinois University and plug in and lead worship. For doing this, the church paid me $10 a Sunday. And whatever it was that I was doing for the $10, it was not worship.

I meet a fair amount of people who “go to church” on Saturday night or Sunday morning and basically live for self-gratification the rest of the week. I can tell you that, with what I now know, I would never do this again. It’s sheer phoniness and hypocrisy. For me, and many others I know, the whole “going to church thing” is behind us. Because “church,” in the Bible, is never, ever associated with a building. “Church” is people. “The church” is a movement. The “movement” is described as spiritual warfare. The task is: advance the Kingdom Jesus spoke of and exemplified.

Gatherings of the actual church are refueling stations. Jesus’ followers get empowered to go outside the walls of the building and walk in the authority and power Jesus gave them to heal people, set oppressed people free, raise the dead, and tell others about the Real Jesus. And “worship” forms the spiritual environment that permeates all they do.

“Worship” means, literally, “to kiss” (from the Greek word proskuneo). Worship is an expression of a love affair between God and his beloved children. If you get “bored” during “worship” then I think it’s either not actually worship or you are not a worshiper. Worship is a relationship, not something you do or definitely not something you go to, like “I’m going to the worship service today.”

Try this. God made you. For what? To worship him forever. You owe God. What? Your life. Why? Because… God made you. As for me, God rescued me out of a weak form of atheism that included a drug lifestyle. He rescued me from an alcohol habit that led me to think I could show up in a building on a Sunday morning, whip out my guitar, play some songs about God, collect $10, and continue to unrelate to God 24-7. What a pleasant shock it was to my soul to be eventually found by God and discover the glory of his relational presence.

Here’s a website from James Dobson giving thoughts about what Jesus-followers should do with “Halloween.”

Here are a number of articles and resources from christianitytoday.com.

eHarmony marriage now provides a way to get counseling for your marriage without seeing a live counselor. You can find the details here.

I filled out a portion of the data-collecting survey to see what it’s like. It looks good to me. And, Neil Clark Warren has a strong reputation in the Christian community as someone who understands and is able to help relationships.

After both husband and wife will out the survey, they get a portion of their Marriage Profile interpretation for free. After that, there is a fee. 

(I took this picture of Linda at the Huron House is Oscoda in July, on a three-night getaway for just the two of us.)

Today 138 Muslim leaders from around the world sent a letter to Christian leaders. The letter pleads, “If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace. The very survival of the world itself is at stake.” Personally, I tend to agree with that statement. In order to understand what is going on in the world today it is well to be deeply acquainted with Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

However, one of the leaders declared, “There will come a day when we will agree with one another.” I feel certain that this will never happen. And, it’s OK if it never happens. Unanimity over religious doctrines should never be the goal. Rather, there should be understanding and love. I think the Koran is deeply wrong about Jesus (see my previous blog entry on this.) Still, the Jesus-perspective is that we are even to love our enemies. I understand this to mean that I am to love Muslims, from the heart. Such loving requires heart-transformation. And, by the way, my wife Linda, whom I love more than anyone in this world, does not agree with me on everything, nor I with her.

More to come…

(I took this picture from a boat while crossing the Straits of Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey.)

Over the years I have been part of a lot of interreligious dialogue, interacting with religious leaders of all kinds. I have found that the most effective dialogue happens when differences are acknowledged. To many it is actually insulting to try to argue that, e.g., “all roads lead to the same place.” The radical Roman Catholic theologian Hans Kung tried that with the great Muslim scholar Sayyed Nasr many years ago and failed on a number of levels.

That being said, I not only disagree with what the Islamic Koran says about Jesus and the crucifixion, I think on this point the Koran is wrong. Let me explain.

When I was in the prairieland of Kansas I met the rancher of the 7000-acre piece of property that Prairie Fire 2007 was held on. He and his wife are followers of Jesus. He built three crosses on the crest of a hill that are very prominent. Linda and I took a walk up the hill and stood below these crosses. During the Saturday that we were there many people made their own pilgrimage to the crosses and stopped before them. For us, this kind of thing is a holy moment, for our lives are all about the Cross of Jesus.

It’s important to realize that no one during the time of Jesus would have ever thought of wearing a cross as decorative jewelry. That would be the equivalent of wearing an electric chair around one’s neck today. Or, it would be like driving through Jena with hangman’s nooses dangling from the bed of your truck for all to see. It would create shock and outrage.

The cross that was a sign of humiliation and disgrace now has become, for real Jesus-followers, something to embrace. Jesus once (again) shocked his disciples by telling them they needed to take up their cross every day and follow him. They needed to embrace the cross, and it’s implications. Which means: deny your own ego-driven self and give your life away sacrificially to bring freedom and healing and hope and life to other people.

The cross is the central Christian reality. For me “no cross” = “no Christianity.” This makes dialogue with Muslims very difficult, because the Koran clearly states that Jesus never died on a cross. (See Surah 4:156-159) Here’s a typical Islamic statement about this: “According to Islam, Jesus never died on the cross, nor ever wanted to die on the cross, nor ever was born to die on the cross. Muslims believe that Jesus was sentenced to death, and people thought that he got executed on the cross. The Holy Quran rejects this idea, and claims that it is a false one. Jesus never died on the cross, nor [did he ever] die for anyone’s sins.”

On that point the Koran is in error. With this kind of teaching, it will be profoundly difficult for followers of Jesus to make sense of Islamic claims to accept and/or respect Jesus and Christianity. For example, last spring I was on a panel with the Muslim Imam of Toledo. We spoke in Rocket Hall to several students about our individual religious beliefs. The Imam insisted that Islam is friendly and accepting of all religions. What I would want the Imam to understand is that the Koranic teaching that Jesus never died on a cross is unfriendly to someone like me because it denies the heart of my faith.

So, for Christians such as myself, the Koran is false on precisely our core belief. To a Muslim I would say that the historical evidence that Jesus was crucified is impressive. The Koran, on the other hand, is not essentially a historical document. The Islamic argument against Christianity’s central claim is that the Koran says the crucifixion didn’t happen. Then, Islamic defenders of this teaching go through some amazingly convoluted reasoning to attempt to show that this is what the Bible actually teaches!

Authentic interreligious dialogue means acknowledging disagreement where it exists. And loving those we disagree with.

Here’s a picture of a weed that once lived on the banks of the River Raisin. I am sure this weed never imagined it would be photographed and shown on the internet for two reasons: 1) weeds don’t have a mind and therefore can’t think anyway; and 2) weeds like this one are ignored and are low on the social status scale.

If people were weeds, then God sent His Son Jesus especially for them. Read Matthew/Mark/Luke/John to see the truth of this. It begins with the very way the Christ got incarnated into flesh - by being born in a cattle trough. Jesus has a heart for the lowly, the marginalized, the oppressed, the weak, children (who are all of the above), women (who in the time of Jesus were all of the above), the sick, the hungry, the demon-possessed, and the dead.

We see this in the song Mary sings in Luke chapter 1, verses 46-55. Check out the entire thing. Scholars have called Mary’s song an example of “The Great Reversal.” “God has brought down rulers from their thrones but lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.”

But doesn’t God love the rich, too? Yes. But so often the rich hoard their riches and get richer while the poor stay poor. Mostly, that’s the way it is today, too. Biblically, that is a phenomenally anti-God and anti-Jesus thing. Matthew 25 contains the strongest things Jesus has to say about those who do not help the poor, the homeless, the needy, what he calls “the least of these.”

If you’re a weed, rejoice. God has come to give you life, and life abundantly. Now give that life away to the other weeds growing around you.

We live on the river Raisin, and on the back of my property, on the river, some fisherman has put this old chair. There is something about this chair that I like. This chair was made to be sat in and has, I feel sure, been sat in a lot.

This chair in the woods calls forth in me the words of Psalm 46:10 - “Be still, and know that I am God.” In order to really know God it is essential, it is imperative, that you stop, slow down, sit. I have studied and taught the history of Christian spirituality for many years. One thing I can tell you is this: All agree that God cannot be known in the rat-race of life. You can’t fast-food relationship, and relationship is what knowing God and being known by God is really all about.

If, by chance or by providence, you are now reading this, I congratulate you for slowing down long enough to attend to something other than your long list of tasks (many of them truly meaningless?). I spend a fair amount of time sitting and walking and pondering and meditating. I’ve built that in to my life, and done it for over 25 years. So I suggest this if you want to not just believe there is a God but actually “know” God. Take five minutes today. Go to a place where no one will interrupt you. Open your Bible to Matthew 5, and begin to read. Slowly. Tell God this: “God, here I am. If you have anything to say to me I am now listening.”

Continue this 5-minutes-with-God exercise daily, weekly, monthly. When God speaks to you (and He will) write down what he says. That’s called a spiritual journal. Your relationship with the living God has begun.

And, if you want to try sitting in my chair on the river, let me know.

When we flew to Kansas Linda and I had to stop on Memphis. Now Memphis is where Elvis lived, and there’s Elvis music playing in the Memphis airport along with other Memphis blues-artists. And, there is an “Elvis” store.

You can buy Elvis clothes and Elvis bobbleheads and Elvis dolls and Elvis everything, including this Elvis poster that invites you to “Discover Your Inner Elvis.” This store interested me, because I am 58 years old and when I was a kid Elvis was god to me. Truly, I loved Elvis more than I loved God, and I believed in Elvis more than I believed in God. My parents, who believed in God far more than they believed in Elvis, had concerns about my Elvis-worship. After all, Elvis wiggled his hips on TV (!!!), something we definitely did not do in our own family.

Of course the truth is that none of us really has an “inner Elvis” (most will be thankful for that). But we do have souls. And these souls, from the Judeo-Christian perspective, have been created in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

You and I were made by God to live for God and his glory and purposes. I have found this to be a wonderful thing to discover. My inner Elvis got replaced by “Christ in me, the hope of glory.”

Linda and I returned from Kansas yesterday. Some of our worship team people were with us and I was one of the speakers at Prairie Fire 2007, 45 miles west of Wichita.

The event took place on a 7000-acre ranch that was just beautiful. There was a 100-foot rock bluff overlooking a river, and the view from this bluff was of who-knows-how-many acres of prairie grassland.

The two days we were there we had 30-40 mph sustained winds. There was no letup to this wind, and it created some interesting problems for the many musicians that were there.

That kind of wind is common. I was told that the prairie grass has roots that go 18 feet deep. No wonder they don’t blow away!

Just as these grasses have deep roots, so there are people whose roots go either shallow or deep. If a person has shallow roots, then when the winds of life blow they are emotionally and spiritually uprooted. For me, I agree with Psalm 1:1-4, which says this:

1 Blessed is the man
       who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
       or stand in the way of sinners
       or sit in the seat of mockers.

 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
       and on his law he meditates day and night.

 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
       which yields its fruit in season
       and whose leaf does not wither.
       Whatever he does prospers.

 4 Not so the wicked!
       They are like chaff
       that the wind blows away.