The most recent Time Magazine has an article about Mother Theresa. The article is based on various letters she wrote in confidence over much of her lifetime. In those letters she expressed doubts about her faith, felt that Jesus was not with her, and described how she experienced a sort of darkness of the soul for a good part of her life. I recommend reading the article because it gives some insight into what was apparently going on deep inside of this godly woman who devoted herself to doing God’s work. I have a few comments on Mother Theresa’s “darkness” and her doubts for your consideration.
First of all, I’m no shrink but it seems to me she may have been suffering from clinical depression. Being a devout follower of Christ does not, unfortunately, make us immune from the bad things that can happen. Many godly people have suffered from clinical depression, including Oswald Chambers, who wrote the devotional book My Utmost for His Highest among others. Descriptions of what earlier saints experienced seem to point to depression. Martin Luther is another example of a godly person who experienced depression.
Second, most, if not all, believers experience some sort of doubt about various aspects of their faith. That doesn’t mean your faith is weak, but that you have questions. For example, why does a supposedly “good” God allow bad things to happen to “good” people? Why is there so much suffering in the world? In addition to these practical matters, people have doubts about various doctrines: the Trinitarian nature of God, how Jesus can be both truly human and truly God, the nature of the Eucharist, heaven and hell (and how you get there), how can there be salvation by grace through faith. The list goes on.
I think everybody who has prayed for something feels that God hasn’t heard their prayers, God is absent, or God doesn’t care. Nevertheless, we are encouraged in the Bible to pray. Jesus prayed and exhorted us to pray, bringing our requests before God (Luke 18:1-8, the parable of the persistent widow).
Sometimes the answer God gives us is different from what we wanted, but it is still an answer. The Apostle Paul prayed to God to have his “thorn in the side” removed, and here’s what happened according to 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NRSV):
Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
Third, Mother Theresa witnessed terrible suffering among the world’s poorest. How can you be upbeat when all you see, day after day, is misery? Yet she continued in her grueling work, including a regimen of daily prayer, and that could only happen because of God’s supernatural strength working within her. Maybe she didn’t “feel” the Holy Spirit enabling her and empowering her, but he was there, upholding her. Otherwise she would have burned out or given up years ago.
Fourth, like many believers, I suspect she was trying to experience God through her feelings and emotions. I believe one of the reasons the Pentecostal churches are so successful is because they provide an emotional experience of God on a weekly basis. She experienced a “spiritual high” when Jesus spoke quite clearly to her early in her ministry, telling her that she was to give up teaching and go into the streets to care for the poorest of the poor (see Matthew 25:31-46). Nothing can compare to such a clear experience of the presence of God. In comparison, God seems absent on a day to day basis, even though God is with us continuously in the form of his Holy Spirit.
So don’t feel bad if you have doubts, questions, or sometimes feel God isn’t there. We are told frequently in the Bible to persist in the faith. There are unanswerable questions, there are tensions between the various attributes of God, and there are doctrines that make us uncomfortable. But that’s why it’s called “faith.” If it were easy, no faith would have to be involved, only logic or reason. I encourage you to do what God through St. Paul tells us in Colossians 2:6-7 (CEV):
You have accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord. Now keep on following him. Plant your roots in Christ and let him be the foundation for your life. Be strong in your faith, just as you were taught. And be grateful.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
First Amendment Update – New Book Out
In a series of postings in early July I discussed the First Amendment and how it has been misused and abused in the courts since 1947. I recently read about a book that has been published on the topic. It is called Ten Tortured Words: How the Founding Fathers Tried to Protect Religion in America ... and What’s Happened Since. The author is Stephen Mansfield, and below are some of his comments on the so-called establishment clause of the First Amendment:
Ten words from the U.S. Constitution have intensely impacted the freedoms of Americans: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.
“I find the history of this one sentence to be such an astonishing tale of folly,” said author Stephen Mansfield in an interview. “I also don’t think you can exaggerate the impact or the distortion of this sentence in modern America. In fact, I don’t think I know of another sentence that has proven as important to our country or is as wrenched from its original meaning and context. ... To put it simply, the Founding Fathers’ intended this sentence to tell the federal government that it could not build an official state church or prefer one religion over another in its laws. This sentence originally was not understood as a ban on religion in government. In fact, it didn’t even apply to the states. It was meant to contain the federal government only. Even then, though, it did not mean the federal government could not support religion in general. Early generations of Americans watched their government print Bibles, call for days of prayer and fasting, and even pay for missionaries to the Native Americans.
“It was Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, writing the majority opinion in Everson v. Board of Education, who made fashionable — and legally enforceable — the phrase ‘wall of separation between church and state.’ He took it, not from one of America’s founding documents, but a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to a group of appreciative Baptists — and, even worse, Black applied it out of context to suggest religion had no place in public life.
“I was a pastor for 20 years and worked in politics, so I knew about these trends. But what really moved me to write [this book] was that, as good as some of the books are out there on the subject, I couldn’t find any that tracked the story — from the Founding Fathers to the 1947 (Everson) case into the modern chaos — that were accessible to people, that were not intended to be written for lawyers.
“That’s why current (U.S.) Rep. Walter Jones is proposing a piece of legislation that would exclude churches from that IRS code, that would allow churches to address political matters if they want to.”
For a full, intriguing interview with Stephen Mansfield, visit http:// www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/a000005197.cfm. To visit his Web site and learn even more about the book and the author, link to http://www.mansfieldgroup.com
Ten words from the U.S. Constitution have intensely impacted the freedoms of Americans: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.
“I find the history of this one sentence to be such an astonishing tale of folly,” said author Stephen Mansfield in an interview. “I also don’t think you can exaggerate the impact or the distortion of this sentence in modern America. In fact, I don’t think I know of another sentence that has proven as important to our country or is as wrenched from its original meaning and context. ... To put it simply, the Founding Fathers’ intended this sentence to tell the federal government that it could not build an official state church or prefer one religion over another in its laws. This sentence originally was not understood as a ban on religion in government. In fact, it didn’t even apply to the states. It was meant to contain the federal government only. Even then, though, it did not mean the federal government could not support religion in general. Early generations of Americans watched their government print Bibles, call for days of prayer and fasting, and even pay for missionaries to the Native Americans.
“It was Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, writing the majority opinion in Everson v. Board of Education, who made fashionable — and legally enforceable — the phrase ‘wall of separation between church and state.’ He took it, not from one of America’s founding documents, but a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to a group of appreciative Baptists — and, even worse, Black applied it out of context to suggest religion had no place in public life.
“I was a pastor for 20 years and worked in politics, so I knew about these trends. But what really moved me to write [this book] was that, as good as some of the books are out there on the subject, I couldn’t find any that tracked the story — from the Founding Fathers to the 1947 (Everson) case into the modern chaos — that were accessible to people, that were not intended to be written for lawyers.
“That’s why current (U.S.) Rep. Walter Jones is proposing a piece of legislation that would exclude churches from that IRS code, that would allow churches to address political matters if they want to.”
For a full, intriguing interview with Stephen Mansfield, visit http:// www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/a000005197.cfm. To visit his Web site and learn even more about the book and the author, link to http://www.mansfieldgroup.com
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Why They Hate Us
In my last posting, I responded to the news that a Catholic Bishop in the Netherlands had suggested that we all refer to God as Allah to help relieve tensions with the Islamic world. That sort of begs the question, why do they hate us?
I’ve done a fair amount of reading on the subject, and it is quite complex. I think most Muslims just want to live their lives like anybody else, but then there are those fanatics whose lives are devoted to the goal of eliminating Christianity and western civilization. They view Christianity and Judaism as corrupted, with the evidence being the trashy culture being exported by western countries and their overall moral decline. Moreover, the Qur’an calls for a struggle against unbelievers, for them to be subjugated or converted (Sura 2:190-193, Sura 9:5, Sura 9:29, Sura 3:106 ff, Sura 4:101 among others). By fighting against the infidels, the jihadists are doing Allah’s will.
Whether we want to believe it or not, this is a religious struggle. In the Islamic world, culture, religion, and often government are frequently closely aligned. They view the West as Christian, and of course we do have a Christian history, although most of Europe is in the post-Christian era. Because this is a religious struggle, I suspect nothing less than conversion to Islam would satisfy the jihadists.
Other reasons for the enmity between Islam and the West are the Crusades, American foreign policy, especially our support of Israel, our having troops in Saudi Arabia (bin Laden’s pet peeve), western cultural hegemony that jeopardizes the purity of Islamic culture, and now, of course, the Iraq war.
If you are interested, there are a number of books out on the subject. This posting didn’t even scratch the surface, but I hope it gave you the desire to learn more about the main struggle of the 21st century. That way you can separate fact from fiction.
In addition, if you understand this to be a religious conflict as the Muslims do, then perhaps you will turn to God as I mentioned in my last posting. Why should we think God will protect us when we have ignored God and marginalized him in our society? God allowed his Chosen People to be captured by the pagan Babylonians because they continued to be unfaithful. Why should God spare us?
I’ve done a fair amount of reading on the subject, and it is quite complex. I think most Muslims just want to live their lives like anybody else, but then there are those fanatics whose lives are devoted to the goal of eliminating Christianity and western civilization. They view Christianity and Judaism as corrupted, with the evidence being the trashy culture being exported by western countries and their overall moral decline. Moreover, the Qur’an calls for a struggle against unbelievers, for them to be subjugated or converted (Sura 2:190-193, Sura 9:5, Sura 9:29, Sura 3:106 ff, Sura 4:101 among others). By fighting against the infidels, the jihadists are doing Allah’s will.
Whether we want to believe it or not, this is a religious struggle. In the Islamic world, culture, religion, and often government are frequently closely aligned. They view the West as Christian, and of course we do have a Christian history, although most of Europe is in the post-Christian era. Because this is a religious struggle, I suspect nothing less than conversion to Islam would satisfy the jihadists.
Other reasons for the enmity between Islam and the West are the Crusades, American foreign policy, especially our support of Israel, our having troops in Saudi Arabia (bin Laden’s pet peeve), western cultural hegemony that jeopardizes the purity of Islamic culture, and now, of course, the Iraq war.
If you are interested, there are a number of books out on the subject. This posting didn’t even scratch the surface, but I hope it gave you the desire to learn more about the main struggle of the 21st century. That way you can separate fact from fiction.
In addition, if you understand this to be a religious conflict as the Muslims do, then perhaps you will turn to God as I mentioned in my last posting. Why should we think God will protect us when we have ignored God and marginalized him in our society? God allowed his Chosen People to be captured by the pagan Babylonians because they continued to be unfaithful. Why should God spare us?
Monday, August 20, 2007
Call God Allah?
In the Sunday Poughkeepsie Journal I read in Kathleen Parker’s column (page 11A, August 19) about a Dutch Catholic bishop who suggested that we all start referring to God as Allah. He believes it would ease tensions with Muslims. What a ridiculous statement!
I’m sorry, but when I see such ignorance and naiveté from somebody in a responsible position, I can’t help but get incensed. I can see such a suggestion coming from a far left liberal Protestant, but a Catholic bishop? I wonder what the pope is going to do with this bozo.
What’s scary about such a suggestion is that its goal is to appease Muslims at the expense of Christianity. Now there is nothing wrong with the word “Allah” if you are Arabic-speaking. It is the Arabic word for God, and Arabic language Christian Bibles use the word “Allah” where our English language Bibles say “God.” But to suggest that non-Arabic speakers call God “Allah” is to put Islam above Christianity, saying, in effect, Allah is superior to God, and ipso facto, superior to Jesus Christ. Where does that leave Christianity, which is based on the uniqueness of Jesus who died for our sins?
Moreover, the Islamic concept of Allah is quite different from the Christian concept of God. As Ms. Parker pointed out in her column, Christianity and Islam are both monotheistic religions (along with Judaism) but they don’t necessarily worship the same God. So for non-Arabic speaking Christians to start using Allah is to essentially buy into the Islamic understanding of Allah and to deny the traditional Christian belief in the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the Qur’an Islam specifically rejects the Trinitarian understanding of the godhead (Sura 4:168-173).
Typically Westerners are naïve when it comes to enemies they don’t know or understand, and Bishop Muskens is a good example of this. Chamberlain took an appeasement approach with Hitler, and it led to the conquest of most of the continent by the Nazis. Appeasement doesn’t work, especially when you are dealing with fanatics whose sole reason for being is terrorism, conquest, violence, and power. Simplistic and naïve solutions won’t work because you are dealing with fanatics whose lives are devoted to destruction of the western way of life, who are coming from a position the God is on their side, who keep looking back to history to justify their aggression, and who are convinced their way is far superior. That is a dangerous combination, and compromising our own faith will do nothing except help their cause.
Perhaps we Christians should repent and turn back to GOD, the God we have been abandoning to our own detriment. Listen to what 2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us:
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. NRSV
If we turn back to our God, then God will be with us. If we don’t, then we may find ourselves in some sort of Babylonian captivity just as the people of Judah experienced because of their unfaithfulness.
I’m sorry, but when I see such ignorance and naiveté from somebody in a responsible position, I can’t help but get incensed. I can see such a suggestion coming from a far left liberal Protestant, but a Catholic bishop? I wonder what the pope is going to do with this bozo.
What’s scary about such a suggestion is that its goal is to appease Muslims at the expense of Christianity. Now there is nothing wrong with the word “Allah” if you are Arabic-speaking. It is the Arabic word for God, and Arabic language Christian Bibles use the word “Allah” where our English language Bibles say “God.” But to suggest that non-Arabic speakers call God “Allah” is to put Islam above Christianity, saying, in effect, Allah is superior to God, and ipso facto, superior to Jesus Christ. Where does that leave Christianity, which is based on the uniqueness of Jesus who died for our sins?
Moreover, the Islamic concept of Allah is quite different from the Christian concept of God. As Ms. Parker pointed out in her column, Christianity and Islam are both monotheistic religions (along with Judaism) but they don’t necessarily worship the same God. So for non-Arabic speaking Christians to start using Allah is to essentially buy into the Islamic understanding of Allah and to deny the traditional Christian belief in the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the Qur’an Islam specifically rejects the Trinitarian understanding of the godhead (Sura 4:168-173).
Typically Westerners are naïve when it comes to enemies they don’t know or understand, and Bishop Muskens is a good example of this. Chamberlain took an appeasement approach with Hitler, and it led to the conquest of most of the continent by the Nazis. Appeasement doesn’t work, especially when you are dealing with fanatics whose sole reason for being is terrorism, conquest, violence, and power. Simplistic and naïve solutions won’t work because you are dealing with fanatics whose lives are devoted to destruction of the western way of life, who are coming from a position the God is on their side, who keep looking back to history to justify their aggression, and who are convinced their way is far superior. That is a dangerous combination, and compromising our own faith will do nothing except help their cause.
Perhaps we Christians should repent and turn back to GOD, the God we have been abandoning to our own detriment. Listen to what 2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us:
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. NRSV
If we turn back to our God, then God will be with us. If we don’t, then we may find ourselves in some sort of Babylonian captivity just as the people of Judah experienced because of their unfaithfulness.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Salvation Through Faith – Part III
This is the continuation of an answer I gave to a friend’s email question about Christianity:
Now the question of what happens to people who are of other religions. What about the devout Muslim or Hindu? What about a villager in rural China who never heard about Jesus? Are they condemned because they haven’t received Christ as their Lord and Savior?
A strict reading of the verses I quoted above would say yes. However, we also know that God is merciful and abounding in steadfast love. Would God condemn a person who never even had the chance to make a decision for Christ? I don’t think so.
As a Christian, I believe that following Christ is the sure way to heaven. Everybody else is judged based on how they lived and honored God given what they knew. If somebody consciously rejects Jesus, that’s a different story. But for the villager in rural China and the devout Buddhist, I suspect God judges him or her on what light (revelation) he or she has been given, such as our God-given conscience, religious instruction, etc. See Romans 1:20, Romans 2:14-16, Romans 4:15, Acts 17:26-28. This is my opinion, and I know there are some who do not agree with me on this.
Now the question of what happens to people who are of other religions. What about the devout Muslim or Hindu? What about a villager in rural China who never heard about Jesus? Are they condemned because they haven’t received Christ as their Lord and Savior?
A strict reading of the verses I quoted above would say yes. However, we also know that God is merciful and abounding in steadfast love. Would God condemn a person who never even had the chance to make a decision for Christ? I don’t think so.
As a Christian, I believe that following Christ is the sure way to heaven. Everybody else is judged based on how they lived and honored God given what they knew. If somebody consciously rejects Jesus, that’s a different story. But for the villager in rural China and the devout Buddhist, I suspect God judges him or her on what light (revelation) he or she has been given, such as our God-given conscience, religious instruction, etc. See Romans 1:20, Romans 2:14-16, Romans 4:15, Acts 17:26-28. This is my opinion, and I know there are some who do not agree with me on this.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Salvation Through Faith – Part II
This is the continuation of an answer I gave to a friend’s email question about Christianity, especially as it relates to salvation:
If we don’t have faith in Christ in that we reject him and what he has to offer (eternal life), then obviously we won’t be spending eternity with him. Jesus said in Matthew 10:32-33:
“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.” (NRSV)
If you didn’t want to have anything to do with God or Jesus in this life, why would you expect to have anything to do with him in the next? Again, it’s not a matter of works, sin, or anything else. It is a matter of faith in Christ.
If you have truly turned your life over to Christ, you will be a better person. That’s because you have repented (turned your life around) and the Holy Spirit is working within you in the process of sanctification (improving you). We all still continue to sin, but it should be less and less so that eventually you are dead (unresponsive) to the temptations and allures of this world. As the bumper sticker says, “Christians aren’t perfect – just forgiven.” Since we aren’t perfect, the church is “full of hypocrites” but these “hypocrites” are hopefully striving for perfection, with God’s help.
Those who have decided to follow Christ will try to emulate Christ, who was the perfect man, and will also try to comply with God’s moral law as written in the Old Testament and confirmed in the New. Notice I said “moral law”. That concerns our behavior, but does not include the ceremonial or ritual law such as the dietary laws, animal sacrifices, etc. Jesus did away with all of them. But to glorify God and be pleasing to him, followers of Jesus are expected to live as God has directed in the Bible (not to earn our way to heaven, but to please God because we love God).
More of my answer to a friend’s question about Christianity in Part III.
If we don’t have faith in Christ in that we reject him and what he has to offer (eternal life), then obviously we won’t be spending eternity with him. Jesus said in Matthew 10:32-33:
“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.” (NRSV)
If you didn’t want to have anything to do with God or Jesus in this life, why would you expect to have anything to do with him in the next? Again, it’s not a matter of works, sin, or anything else. It is a matter of faith in Christ.
If you have truly turned your life over to Christ, you will be a better person. That’s because you have repented (turned your life around) and the Holy Spirit is working within you in the process of sanctification (improving you). We all still continue to sin, but it should be less and less so that eventually you are dead (unresponsive) to the temptations and allures of this world. As the bumper sticker says, “Christians aren’t perfect – just forgiven.” Since we aren’t perfect, the church is “full of hypocrites” but these “hypocrites” are hopefully striving for perfection, with God’s help.
Those who have decided to follow Christ will try to emulate Christ, who was the perfect man, and will also try to comply with God’s moral law as written in the Old Testament and confirmed in the New. Notice I said “moral law”. That concerns our behavior, but does not include the ceremonial or ritual law such as the dietary laws, animal sacrifices, etc. Jesus did away with all of them. But to glorify God and be pleasing to him, followers of Jesus are expected to live as God has directed in the Bible (not to earn our way to heaven, but to please God because we love God).
More of my answer to a friend’s question about Christianity in Part III.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Salvation Through Faith – Part I
A friend who lives some distance away is trying to come to grips with Christianity, especially salvation. Recently he asked me some questions via email, which I attempted to answer. Below is my response to him, which I hope will help you in understanding the uniqueness of Christianity and its views of salvation:
The question you asked gets to the heart of the Christian faith. What differentiates Christianity from other religions is Jesus Christ: that he was the divine Son of God, and that those who put their faith and trust in him go to heaven, guaranteed. No other religion makes such claims. As it says about Jesus in John 3:16-18:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (NRSV)
It also says in Ephesians 2:8-9:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God —not the result of works, so that no one may boast. (NRSV)
Again regarding going to heaven if you put your faith in Jesus, it says in Acts 4:12:
“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” (NRSV)
Jesus himself said in John 14:6-7 that he and the Father are one (meaning Jesus is divine, not just a human being) and that salvation (going to heaven) comes through him:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (NRSV)
So we are saved by faith, not by works. We can’t earn our way to heaven. We receive rewards in heaven for our works, but we don’t get to heaven by our works. A very important distinction. Put another way, our works are manifestations or outworkings of our faith. I believe those who consciously reject Christ can’t earn their way to heaven by their works either. “I’m a good person” isn’t a ticket to heaven.
This answer to my friend’s question continues in Part II.
The question you asked gets to the heart of the Christian faith. What differentiates Christianity from other religions is Jesus Christ: that he was the divine Son of God, and that those who put their faith and trust in him go to heaven, guaranteed. No other religion makes such claims. As it says about Jesus in John 3:16-18:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (NRSV)
It also says in Ephesians 2:8-9:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God —not the result of works, so that no one may boast. (NRSV)
Again regarding going to heaven if you put your faith in Jesus, it says in Acts 4:12:
“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” (NRSV)
Jesus himself said in John 14:6-7 that he and the Father are one (meaning Jesus is divine, not just a human being) and that salvation (going to heaven) comes through him:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (NRSV)
So we are saved by faith, not by works. We can’t earn our way to heaven. We receive rewards in heaven for our works, but we don’t get to heaven by our works. A very important distinction. Put another way, our works are manifestations or outworkings of our faith. I believe those who consciously reject Christ can’t earn their way to heaven by their works either. “I’m a good person” isn’t a ticket to heaven.
This answer to my friend’s question continues in Part II.
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