There are times when we all doubt the existence of God. Sometimes this happens when there is a loss in life-- family member, friend, job, etc... It may seem senseless to us that whatever it was that we lost was taken from us. Interestingly enough, though, it is in these times when we are closer to Christ than ever. Whenever we suffer, we share in the Passion of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. He knew what it was to suffer. He knew what loss was... He knew what betrayal was.
An easy mistake that we can make is thinking that God shouldn't allow good people to suffer. Suffering comes to each and every single human being. It is what we do with our suffering that makes the difference. Many times, it is the good who suffer the most because it will be the most effective way to help that individual on his/her road to holiness and perfection.
As we approach the end times (and let me stress that we do not know the day or the hour when it will come) God has to build up His army to fight evil. Suffering, really, is our Basic Training-- so to speak-- since it builds up our strength for when the ultimate temptations and suffering come to us. Then... and only then... can we not only stand strong ourselves but also bring others to the infinite love of God.
So, in essence, we should thank God for allowing us to suffer since that is what will make us better servants to Him and all of humanity.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
When Faith Turns Into Power
In the last entry, we saw that where there is a church that says that there is no way to God outside of it, then it breaks the First Commandment of the Decalogue. However, there is also a point at which the faith that God gave to all of us-- past, present and future-- becomes the sole possession of the institution, and thus the claim of 'the only way to salvation.' In the early Christian churches, i.e before the 4th century CE, there were individuals who were leaders in the church. They were the ones who had a great zeal for the faith and not only wanted to spread it far and wide, but also wanted to live by the Word-- the Truth-- and would even put their lives on the line for it.
As these numbers continued to grow, the Emperor Constantine saw that this was a formidable force that could be harassed. He placed a cross on his battle banner and all of the Christians in the kingdom joined him in fighting for the Cross of Christ. This was a ploy to increase his power, and in the power void after the fall of Rome itself, Constantine conquered many of the lands and became the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. He then appealed to all of the Christian Bishops at the time and tempted them with wealth and temporal power if they would follow him and become one with the state. The bishops would be treated like kings. Many of them took this offer and the first of which was the Bishop of Rome. Up until this time, the center of the Christian church had actually been spread out over a number of missions and Patriarchies. Once Rome became both the religious and secular center of the newly formed nation, the power was centralized. At this point, the once holy men who were full of zeal became naught more than an arm of the state. This structure still exists today in the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope is both a head of state and a spiritual leader, thus mixing temporal power with religious and moral leadership. The culmination of this power came in the First Vatican Council (1869-1870) which dogmatized the idea of Papal Infallibility. In this (even though it is only in a limited sense, it still exists) the Pope can speak on the level of God, thus making a human being EQUAL to God. This makes no sense and is NOWHERE to be found in Scripture. Even in the famous passage about Peter being the rock on which Christ will build His Church, it is not Peter the man, but the faith Peter showed at that point when he re-claimed the loss in his relationship with Christ because of his earlier three-fold denial. Immediately before Christ makes his statement about building his church, He asks Peter 3 times if he loves Him (in the Greek, each time it is asked the word for love is different and more intimate each time). It is this faith and love of Christ that the Church is built on... not the man himself.
So, is OUR faith and love of Christ strong enough that He can build His church on it?
As these numbers continued to grow, the Emperor Constantine saw that this was a formidable force that could be harassed. He placed a cross on his battle banner and all of the Christians in the kingdom joined him in fighting for the Cross of Christ. This was a ploy to increase his power, and in the power void after the fall of Rome itself, Constantine conquered many of the lands and became the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. He then appealed to all of the Christian Bishops at the time and tempted them with wealth and temporal power if they would follow him and become one with the state. The bishops would be treated like kings. Many of them took this offer and the first of which was the Bishop of Rome. Up until this time, the center of the Christian church had actually been spread out over a number of missions and Patriarchies. Once Rome became both the religious and secular center of the newly formed nation, the power was centralized. At this point, the once holy men who were full of zeal became naught more than an arm of the state. This structure still exists today in the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope is both a head of state and a spiritual leader, thus mixing temporal power with religious and moral leadership. The culmination of this power came in the First Vatican Council (1869-1870) which dogmatized the idea of Papal Infallibility. In this (even though it is only in a limited sense, it still exists) the Pope can speak on the level of God, thus making a human being EQUAL to God. This makes no sense and is NOWHERE to be found in Scripture. Even in the famous passage about Peter being the rock on which Christ will build His Church, it is not Peter the man, but the faith Peter showed at that point when he re-claimed the loss in his relationship with Christ because of his earlier three-fold denial. Immediately before Christ makes his statement about building his church, He asks Peter 3 times if he loves Him (in the Greek, each time it is asked the word for love is different and more intimate each time). It is this faith and love of Christ that the Church is built on... not the man himself.
So, is OUR faith and love of Christ strong enough that He can build His church on it?
Monday, August 18, 2008
Christ and Instutional Churches
This may seem like a no-brainer-- churches exist to bring people to Christ. However, what really was Christ's intention when He chose individuals to spread His word?
If we go back to Christ Himself, He chose certain individuals whose full-time job it was to follow Him through the 3 years of His ministry on earth. He then suffered and died for our sins, conquered death and hell, and rose again. He then sent the Holy Spirit and gave gifts to certain individuals to bring more and more people to Him. After this, these individuals were greatly successful and brought hundreds, then thousands, then millions to Him. After this first generation of believers, an institution began to take shape. This institution of human beings which began to make laws, rules and regulations throughout the centuries. At certain times, people would break away from the man-made institutions to serve Christ in a different way after seeing problems which developed. Then, many of these themselves fell into the same trap over time.
We must ask, then, what is faith and the Church (in the universal sense) really about? The answer is Jesus Christ. The fact of the matter is that the institutions-- more specifically the people who run them-- many times fall into the trap of thinking that if one is outside of the institution then salvation is impossible. Some have even said that whatever the leader says carries the same weight as the words of Christ Himself. This is simply not the case. If the institution states otherwise, it has broken the 1st Commandment that we looked at in the last entry on this site. It has made itself a false god. If the institution is about giving each and every individual what he or she needs to come to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ-- including the freedom to make mistakes and repent and still be there as a community of supportive believers-- then that is what is needed. THAT is a true Church.
So, if you are a member of a church you may want to take a look at what exactly that church is teaching and practicing. If it is anything other than a community of believers (perhaps with a leader of prayer) that is supportive of giving each and every individual (member or not) whatever is needed to find and love Christ, then it may be time for a change. If it is one where human beings have made themselves or the institution a false God, then a change is completely necessary.
Until next time...
If we go back to Christ Himself, He chose certain individuals whose full-time job it was to follow Him through the 3 years of His ministry on earth. He then suffered and died for our sins, conquered death and hell, and rose again. He then sent the Holy Spirit and gave gifts to certain individuals to bring more and more people to Him. After this, these individuals were greatly successful and brought hundreds, then thousands, then millions to Him. After this first generation of believers, an institution began to take shape. This institution of human beings which began to make laws, rules and regulations throughout the centuries. At certain times, people would break away from the man-made institutions to serve Christ in a different way after seeing problems which developed. Then, many of these themselves fell into the same trap over time.
We must ask, then, what is faith and the Church (in the universal sense) really about? The answer is Jesus Christ. The fact of the matter is that the institutions-- more specifically the people who run them-- many times fall into the trap of thinking that if one is outside of the institution then salvation is impossible. Some have even said that whatever the leader says carries the same weight as the words of Christ Himself. This is simply not the case. If the institution states otherwise, it has broken the 1st Commandment that we looked at in the last entry on this site. It has made itself a false god. If the institution is about giving each and every individual what he or she needs to come to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ-- including the freedom to make mistakes and repent and still be there as a community of supportive believers-- then that is what is needed. THAT is a true Church.
So, if you are a member of a church you may want to take a look at what exactly that church is teaching and practicing. If it is anything other than a community of believers (perhaps with a leader of prayer) that is supportive of giving each and every individual (member or not) whatever is needed to find and love Christ, then it may be time for a change. If it is one where human beings have made themselves or the institution a false God, then a change is completely necessary.
Until next time...
The Dawn of a New Age
If you are familiar with my other blog "It's Good To Know That LifeTeen is Dangerous" you will notice that this is a completely different animal. I have decided to make a blog completely and totally dedicated to Jesus Christ Himself, and to help point out where He is working in everyday life. I hope that this endeavour proves fruitful spiritually.
I begin today with a fact that we all are familiar with-- the world as we know it has developed some aspects that are quite alarming. It seems that everywhere, no matter where one lives, there is abuse on every level, murder, theft and so forth at alarming rates. This is on the news almost constantly, and for some of us, we or our families have been touched. Myself, I have encountered most of these in either my own life or the life of loved ones.
A temptation here is to ask "Where is God?" or "How could a loving God allow this?" or something along those lines. However, this is not the way that we need to be looking at these things. To be sure there are innocent victims, however, it isn't God who makes them the victims, but other human beings. God gave each and every individual free will. It is His desire that we use this gift to it's fullest potential-- which is choosing Him above all else and wanting always to follow in His ways. When this potent and precious gift is misused, however, this is when problems arise. People get hurt.
What, then, is the difference in the 2 ways of using free will? It all comes down to the 1st Commandment-- "I am the Lord your God,... and you shall have no other Gods besides me." (Ex 20: 2-3) When we use our free will properly, we acknowledge that God is the one who created all. With this in mind, we WANT to give EVERYTHING we are and have back to Him and put at His disposal. This is the ultimate use of free will choice. When we choose to use our free will for our own benefit... we make OURSELVES a god. A false god.
Let's take a look at abuse. In order to abuse another human being, the abuser must see him or herself as superior to the one being abused-- in effect making him or herself a god. The same is true with theft, murder, etc...
So, where IS God in these cases? He is at the side of the victim holding him or her in His embrace and he is awaiting the free choice of the perpetrator to finally use his or her free will properly. We always must choose freely... but more importantly, we must always choose Jesus Christ freely and keep in mind the inherent dignity of each person as a creation of and child of God. If we do this, we will keep marching toward Christ and His heavenly Kingdom, and make our time on earth a bit better as well.
Until later!!!
I begin today with a fact that we all are familiar with-- the world as we know it has developed some aspects that are quite alarming. It seems that everywhere, no matter where one lives, there is abuse on every level, murder, theft and so forth at alarming rates. This is on the news almost constantly, and for some of us, we or our families have been touched. Myself, I have encountered most of these in either my own life or the life of loved ones.
A temptation here is to ask "Where is God?" or "How could a loving God allow this?" or something along those lines. However, this is not the way that we need to be looking at these things. To be sure there are innocent victims, however, it isn't God who makes them the victims, but other human beings. God gave each and every individual free will. It is His desire that we use this gift to it's fullest potential-- which is choosing Him above all else and wanting always to follow in His ways. When this potent and precious gift is misused, however, this is when problems arise. People get hurt.
What, then, is the difference in the 2 ways of using free will? It all comes down to the 1st Commandment-- "I am the Lord your God,... and you shall have no other Gods besides me." (Ex 20: 2-3) When we use our free will properly, we acknowledge that God is the one who created all. With this in mind, we WANT to give EVERYTHING we are and have back to Him and put at His disposal. This is the ultimate use of free will choice. When we choose to use our free will for our own benefit... we make OURSELVES a god. A false god.
Let's take a look at abuse. In order to abuse another human being, the abuser must see him or herself as superior to the one being abused-- in effect making him or herself a god. The same is true with theft, murder, etc...
So, where IS God in these cases? He is at the side of the victim holding him or her in His embrace and he is awaiting the free choice of the perpetrator to finally use his or her free will properly. We always must choose freely... but more importantly, we must always choose Jesus Christ freely and keep in mind the inherent dignity of each person as a creation of and child of God. If we do this, we will keep marching toward Christ and His heavenly Kingdom, and make our time on earth a bit better as well.
Until later!!!
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