spirit

Stereoscopic vision

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A few years ago there was quite a craze about magic-eye pictures. When you first see one of the pictures there are usually interesting colours and shapes, and you might like it just for that.

Then someone tells you that there is 3D picture of a train (or such thing) hidden in the picture.  You might respond with “don’t talk rubbish”, or you might look and look at the detail, turn it upside down, look at it in the mirror.  But you can’t find anything by yourself!

Your friend might give you some hints on how to find it.  You might follow their suggestion and still see nothing.  You challenge them that they are mistaken, but they insist that there is something there.  If you didn’t trust them or if they weren’t your friend then you’d give up looking.

But maybe you still trust them enough. You try harder, but that doesn’t work.  Then you just relax and gaze at it – and catch a glimpse!  Slowly you learn how to hold that glimpse and suddenly you can see there is a whole picture.  You learn to explore it, and see its wonder. Then something distracts you and it’s gone again.  But now you know…it’s waiting there for you to find next time.

We all see the wonder of the world, but we go through much of life not realising the big picture behind it.  We need someone to tell us it’s there, and to help us find it.  But we need to trust their intentions, and to be willing to feel embarrassed in our searching or else we will give up and perhaps even try to ridicule those who claim there is a God behind it, who claim that there is truth in Jesus’ teaching, that the holy spirit can guide and change our lives for the better.  If we are not ready to take the risk then we may dismiss the whole thing, but if we are ready to risk then perhaps we will indeed find something of great worth.

We need two eyes to see the magic eye picture.  If you look with only one you will never find it.  Perhaps we need two eyes to see the big picture of the universe:  The ‘material’ eye that sees the material world, the scientific discoveries, the wonder of life itself.  And the ‘spiritual’ eye that listens to the message of the love that God has for us through what he reveals to us, that discerns truth from falsehood, that sees another spiritual being in everyone we meet.

Message from Mozambique

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Here is a recent email from a Mozambican friend.  An example of Christ’s teaching.

Days ago, I was invited to visit some sick people in their houses here in Beira. My heart was so shocked with what I saw; most of them are HIV positive and widows. They have lost their husband because of HIV Aids.

Here in Africa, women are hundred percent dependents of their husbands to provide. When they lost their husbands, they lost hope as well, mostly if they find that are HIV Positive.

As we go where the person is living, and give him a hug, bring her water or medicines, or food for her young children, or take his hand, we too are making a bit of history: a powerful declaration of God’s love, a prophetic statement of his heart to people who often feel totally rejected by the church. The church cannot stay silent when faced with his issue.

Yes, there are still some churches here are rejecting HIV Positive people, still ignorant and a lot of stigma. 

I am a pastor; have to do it as an example to another brothers and sisters in Christ who are willing to do the same. 

An argument for, and definition of God.

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I have started reading Anselm; interesting stuff. Not sure I’ve really got my head round it yet, but nevertheless let me try to paraphrase my understanding of his argument so far in a modern context:

We are all aware that there are ‘non-material’ things: love, justice, purpose, hope, belief, to name a few.  An act of love is carried-out through ‘love’, and an act of justice is carried-out through ‘justice’.  If love did not exist then one could not carry-out an act of love. And it is through ‘goodness’ that we are able to carry-out an act of love; without goodness we could not carry-out an act of love, or of justice, or…  Apart from goodness, all other non-material things are carried-out through goodness, and therefore goodness is the ultimate non-material thing, or ‘essence’ and it exists through itself.

We can also perceive that some acts are express more love than others; there can be great love, or great justice, or great goodness.  And we can imagine that for any great goodness there could be a goodness that is just a little greater … until we reach infinite goodness.  And so everything that is good in any way is within that infinite, or supreme goodness.

Everything exists through something, and we have seen that of things immaterial everything exists through supreme goodness.  But everything must exist through one thing.  If we imagine that there were more than one thing, then either there would be one thing through which the more than one thing were able to exist – which would then be the one thing, or they might exist through a ‘power to exist through oneself’ – which would then be the one thing, or they would exist mutually through each other – which defies reason.

The universe exists, and so it exists through something. Non-material things exist, and they exist through supreme goodness.  Therefore either the universe exists through supreme goodness, or supreme goodness exists through the universe.  But can supreme goodness exist through the universe?  We can conceive that there are other universes, but it is inconceivable that those other universes exist without supreme goodness; being non-material supreme goodness cannot be constrained within a material context.  Therefore it is impossible that supreme goodness exists through the universe, but the universe must exist through supreme goodness, and there can only be one supreme goodness –  which we define as God.

Related posts

https://philhemsley.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/proof-of-god/

https://philhemsley.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/the-god-of-science/

 

If God is all powerful, why doesn’t he stop all the fighting?

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I wrote this when my delightful daughters were much younger; I hope that if they read this now it will make them smile ……

Parents can learn a lot from their children.

My children sometimes fight.  Sometimes one or other of them may exaggerate their wounds and try to get me to arbitrate as to who was to blame.  I hate to see them fighting and so have found myself drawn into trying to resolve and judge the issue.  However, I try not to blame one or the other because I love them both and recognize that it takes two to make an argument. However, it often ends up with both of them ‘hating’ me.  If I do arbitrate then the one who ‘wins’ soon forgets, but the loser then spirals into silent or vociferous anger and feeling of being unfairly treated.  As an arbitrator I cannot win!  Even as a peacekeeper I seldom win.  It is perhaps best to leave them to have their fight, and to be there to comfort whoever needs comforting.

Since we have free will, how can God intervene when he sees us fighting and causing suffering?  We would behave in just the same way as my children.  It would not be ‘fair’ if we were judged ‘against’, and if we were judged ‘for’ then we would simply accept the decision as our right, and go about our business.  He has given us the dignity of choice, but having done that he has necessarily limited the use of his power.

He lets us choose how to resolve the fight.  Jesus told us how to resolve the fight if we are prepared to listen.  Essentially – don’t worry about winning the argument – look for the plank in your own eye – think what you could have done better – be humble – turn the other cheek.  It’s not ‘fair’, but it works!  But when we ignore his advice then he’s still there to comfort whoever needs comforting.

Is it time to stop blaming God for all the things we do wrong to each other?  Instead, shall we recognise his love for us, and listen to his advice and find the fulfilment of living our lives as he intended?

A rational look at heaven

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A common view of heaven is that it is a reward for being good. Be good in this life and then you can go and have a ball in heaven – no longer having the restraint of having to pass the entrance exam. Indeed, some believe that when a martyr gets to heaven he is immediately met by seventy-two virgins and promised everlasting happiness.

Maybe our parents said things like ‘be nice or you won’t go to heaven’, in the same way that they might have said ‘do your homework or you won’t go to university’. Perhaps we grew up thinking that the final test will be to weigh our good deeds against our bad deeds, and if the scales tip the right way we get in.

I don’t know if you’ve seen the film ‘Meet Joe Black’. Joe is ‘Death’, come to claim a wealthy American who it seems has led a ‘good and honest life’. Joe takes a short holiday with the American before he takes him to his final destination. When it’s finally time to leave the American asks, “Do I need to worry where I’m going?” to which Joe replies, “A man like you…. No”. His reward is heaven. He got there by his own efforts and he deserved it!

Then there is Pascal’s wager. Put simply, if you believe in God and he exists then you get to heaven, if you believe and he doesn’t you simply cease to exist when you die – no negative consequences, so a safe thing to do. If you don’t believe in God and he doesn’t exist then you simply cease to exist when you die, but if you are wrong you suffer in hell – a serious negative consequence, not a safe thing to do. As I’ve written it there is the implication that if you believe in God you get to heaven, which some take as the ‘entry requirement’.

A friend likes to turn Pascal’s wager upside down and say something like, “If I don’t believe in God and find out heaven’s real then I get a double bonus as I haven’t had to do all the religious stuff and I get to heaven as well”

Then there is the ‘Christian’ view that we can all go to heaven because of Jesus dying on the cross; he has bought our entry, we don’t have to do anything.

But is heaven like any of these concepts? Let’s apply some reason to the question.

I don’t invite people to my house as a reward for them being good. I invite them because I like them.

I don’t feel I have a right to go to someone else’s house because I’ve been good. I only go if I have an invite, and because I want to get to know them better because I expect to like them.

Heaven is God’s house. Wouldn’t we expect a similar situation to apply to heaven? Isn’t it a cheek to expect to go to his house just because we’ve done good deeds? Isn’t it reasonable to only go if we want to get to meet God? Would we expect to treat God with less respect than we would treat our neighbours?

And what of this idea that once we get there we can just enjoy all the things we’ve given up to get there? Seventy-two virgins…. Yet I wonder if they would consider it heaven. And that’s really the point. Heaven is not set up for me as an individual to live in wanton pleasure to the detriment of everyone else. Heaven must be a place where everyone lives for the good of everyone else – otherwise it wouldn’t be heaven. When I helped in prison, the chaplain used to say ‘Sin can’t get into heaven’. If sin was allowed, it would be no different to here; it would not be heaven.

Therefore, if you or I want to hold on to our selfish ways, if we want to hold on to any of our ‘sin’ then we cannot be allowed to enter.

We need a transforming of our mind to be able to enjoy heaven; heaven would be ‘hell’ if we didn’t enjoy and thrive on being selfless and loving.

It’s not about ‘be good and go to heaven’. We need to be willing to undergo complete transformation of our way of thinking if we want to be fitted for heaven, we need a new ‘heart’. That’s what so much of Christ’s teaching was all about – how to be completely selfless and loving, putting others before oneself, preparing ourselves for heaven.

Feeling Gloomy? Breaking the spiral.

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Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you. (Psalm 55 v22)

It was shortly after Christmas a few years back, and I was feeling a little low.  I wrote the following:

“I remember writing before being a Christian that I didn’t feel like a sinner – but somehow now I feel more and more like one! I’m moody and irritable,  I’m gloomy, and when I’m despondent it’s hard for me to cheer up.  I selfishly want someone else to cheer me up for me – and I tend to sulk.  Then I realise this and think ‘well I’m not very nice am I!  I don’t deserve God’s love’  and then I get depressed – and I think, ‘I shouldn’t be depressed, God’s forgiven my sins’ and that makes it worse – because I haven’t!  and then I feel guilty about it – wallowing in self-pity!  Pathetic isn’t it.

And then I think, ‘this is all I  I  I  – what about other people.  Pull yourself together, and cheer yourself up’.  And then I think, ‘well isn’t this what God is meant to do?  Well my faith can’t be very good because I’m still miserable’,  and then I think ‘why do I have to keep thinking about these things – why can’t I just accept his love and let that be that.’

And how can I accept God’s love if I don’t do anything for him in return.  So I have to relearn that I don’t win God’s love through works – but through grace …..  and I’m back up a couple of paragraphs!”

I felt a bit better when my wife couldn’t stop laughing as she read this.  And then I prayed and ‘cast my burden on the Lord’.  I asked for His help.

And what happened?  Suddenly I found this conversation going on in my head – I was raising the points above, and instantly I’d get a reply! Something like

Me – “How can I accept your love?”

Reply – “Don’t be so stupid – you know I love you unconditionally”

Me – “But what do I do to deserve it?”

Reply – “Nothing – just accept it”

And so on for a little while, and then

Me – “is this me replying to myself or God talking to me”

Reply – “what do you think?”

Me – “but couldn’t I just have a little proof”

 And suddenly I felt a very brief but extremely powerful emotion – I can’t really describe it.  But suddenly I felt peaceful again.  And I know again that God’s there ready to pull me up out of the next trough.

 Thank you Lord for being so patient and so loving.