Born To Die

We caught part of Polar Express over the weekend.  The animation is great.  Towards the end of the movie the train conductor tells the boy that the meaning of Christmas resides within him.

How utterly sad.

How hopeless.

How depressing.

How humanistic.

I've been meditating on Ephesians 1:4-5 the past couple of days.  It was used in the Sunday sermon.
               According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
             of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
             him.
               Having predestinated [marked out beforehand] us unto the
             adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
             to the good pleasure of his will.

Absolutely none, not one twinkle of time as we know it is accidental.  No event in the life of any human is accidental.  Before the world was created, before time began God marked out [predestined] the redemptive story.  All of history, every single event, is part of the redemptive story and is therefore predestined by Him. 

That means that before time began the Godhead marked out Christ to die.

He was born for the express purpose of dieing.

The meaning of Christmas is found in Christ alone.

My heart leaps  for joy as I ponder that.  Thank God the meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with me.

Written by Nikki

Universal Truth

Venerable Bede Translating the Gospel of John, by JD Penrose

I'm starting a new book in my studies, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede.The following quote from his preface caught my eye.

     " For if history records good things of good men, the thoughtful hearer is encouraged to imitate
     what is good: or if it records evil of wicked men, the devout, religious listener or reader is
     encouraged to avoid all that is sinful and perverse and to follow what he knows to be good and
     pleasing to God. " 

It reminded me greatly of a quote from a book I read last year by Livy, The Early History of Rome.

     "The study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the
     infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find for
     yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things
     rotten through and through, to avoid." 

Isn't it amazing that two men separated by almost seven hundred years, thousands of miles and total different cultures and religions (one Christian and the other a pagan) can express the same thought?!  Isn't it amazing that God's Truth is so universal that even pagans can recognize it? 

Romans 1: 20,  " For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and the Godhead; so that they are with out excuse:".

A Clare Benediction

by John Rutter

May the Lord show his mercy upon you;

May the light of his presence be your guide:

May he guard and uphold you:

May his spirit be ever by your side.

When you sleep, may his angels watch over you;

When you wake, may he fill you with his grace:

May you love him and serve him all your days,

Then in heaven may you see his face.

To Lie or Not to Lie, That is the Question

     We had an interesting conversation recently with some friends.  The topic was ' Are there any circumstances when it would be acceptable to lie?'   Our friends said " No", but I disagree.  Can't you hear the choir of gasps?  " She thinks that it is acceptable to lie!!!"  Lying to cover up a sin or to destroy some one's reputation or harm them  is wrong but lying to save a life... can that really be wrong?

  In I Samuel 16, God commands Samuel to anoint David.  Samuel tells God that Saul will kill him if he hears what Samuel did.  God then instructs Samuel to take a heifer with him and say that he has come to sacrifice to God (which he did). 

In Exodus 1: 15-22, Pharaoh commanded the Hebrew midwives to kill all the baby boys. The Hebrew midwives disobeyed these instructions .  When Pharaoh asked the midwives why they had saved the babies, they said that Hebrew women deliver quickly and have no need of a midwife. The passage goes on to say,

" Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses."  Exodus 15: 20-21 

In our effort to live according to God's law, we attempt to make things black and white.  Christ frequently chastised the pharisees for living according to the letter of the law and not the Spirit of the law.  Any time we replace God's requirements, whether it is requirements for salvation or sanctification, we are living our lives legalistically.  Lying falls into this category.

The German pastor and martyr, Bonhoeffer, wrestled with this issue as he attempted to undermine the Nazi government.  He finally came to the point of believing ...

         "To be true to God in the deepest way meant having such a

          relationship with Him that one did not live legalistically by 

          "rules" or "principles".  One could never separate ones actions

          from ones relationship to God.  It was a more demanding

         and more mature level of obedience, and Bonhoeffer had

         come to see that the evil of Hitler was forcing Christians to

         go deeper in their obedience, to think harder about what

         God was asking.  Legalistic religion was being shown to

         be utterly inadequate." (Bonhoeffer:Pastor, Martyr, 

         Prophet, Spy p. 367)

Once Bonhoeffer came to this realization he became a double agent and entered the conspiracy to kill Hitler.  He was even willing to pull the trigger himself.


So, what do you think about lying?

Divided

Ken Ham recently wrote a book entitled Already Gone with some shocking statistics.  Nearly 80% of children coming through the Sunday schools and youth groups of our churches will leave and never come back.  The most shocking part is that they aren't lost in college!  Here is a great documentary entitled Divided explaining this loss.