Which God is the Real God?

If there is a God and He wants us to know Him, then He'd have to do something pretty drastic to show Himself. It would have to be an outrageous and clear proof that it was Him. Maybe, something like raising someone from the dead. Not, that He's ever done that or anything.

Dear Ricky Gervais, Atheism is silly.

Though I would love to sleep in on Sundays, atheism grinds my gears. As a former atheist, I respect the right of people to not believe. People should be allowed to be wrong. It makes things more entertaining for those who are right. None of us is right all the time, but atheism is ridiculous. You don't have to believe in my God, but having no god is ignorance incarnate.

Ricky Gervais is funny, and he is an atheist. He shared about his unbelief in God in the Wall Street Journal. His next article is on the Tooth Fairy. I love The Office, and I enjoyed his movie The Invention of Lying. Mr. Gervais understands the weirdness and hypocrisy of humanity, but not the universe.

He says,“I don’t believe in God because there is absolutely no scientific evidence for his existence and from what I’ve heard the very definition is a logical impossibility in this known universe,”

He says religion is good as a "moral compass". That's true. Evangelical Christians give 9 times more then the average Britain. Giving to others is the sign that God is at work because it's His nature to give. And, Church goers are some of the happiest people.

As a math and a physics teacher, I believe in God for several "scientific reasons"

1. Stuff is Here

Everything here has a cause. Only the Federal Reserve can create things out of thin air, everything else comes from somewhere. My socks stink because my feet sweat. Eating too much makes me fat, and a chicken laid the egg. This universe has guaranteed that every effect has a cause. The question is not, "How could a god in this universe create it?" The question is, "Where did this universe come from?" What caused it? God did. He is the source.

2. Stuff is complex

Look around. The human body, the solar system, and the eco-system are complex. Complex things don't build themselves. Even simple things take work. The scientist who created synthetic DNA back in May took 15 years and truck loads of money to do it. They proved that it takes a lot of time, thought, and effort to make life. God gave us life.

3. Stuff isn't falling apart as fast as it should.

Everything is falling apart. Nothing lasts for ever. Everything is dying, species being extinguished and cars are breaking down. The second law of thermodynamics is the standard, and it takes a lot of effort to keep things together. I spent 3 hours today repairing a 4 year old fence made out of wood and nails. My 3 year old almost dies on a daily basis. Cars are money pits for a reason. The universe couldn't last without some help. God keeps it going.

These 3 thoughts form the foundation of my belief in God. Things need a source, things are complex, and they couldn't survive without some intervention.

Common Objections:

My answers may or may not suffice.

Who Created God?

God doesn't necessarily need a "creator" because He would have to have been from outside our universe before it was created. And, wherever He is "from" or "is" doesn't have to have the same rules as here. They may not need a cause for an effect. Think of it like another unimaginable land. Just like different countries have different laws, different places have different rules.

How could this place be so messed up if there is a God?

It sucks here because we have taken it out of His hands. I want you to hear this. God is God, and He is in control--but He is not making every decision here. He lets us make some. You are making some, I am making some, the weirdo down your street is making some, and the person serving in the homeless shelter is making some. Most of the evil here is either caused by us or not solved by us.

Why does the world suck?

The world sucks because there is an absence of God. Plain and simple. Good and evil are not opposites just light and dark are not opposites. You can turn a light on, but you can't turn "a dark on". Darkness is the result of an absence of light. Same with evil--it's an absence of good.

People who believe in God aren't perfect.

Sorry your holiness, either are you.

Where is God, and why can't I see Him?

He is supposed to be reflected in you and me. So, let's get with it.

Random Thoughts

Gervais lists some statistics about the percentage of atheists in prison being lower then in the rest of society. Well duh, they changed in prison. Everyone finds God there. He reveals His care exponentially to those who need it most.

You may be an atheist. I mean no disrespect. It's cool we can still be friends on FaceBook. You may be an agnostic. I really believe God is real. I think He puts a lot of time and energy into this place. I think He even put Himself into this place in Jesus Christ. It's not perfect, but I think that's our fault. 

I promise you this, If you seek God, you will find Him.

5 Ways to Fail @ Life in 2011

5. Don't Try

Why try anything? Good things come to people who do nothing. Watch TV all day, sleep-in, and wait for "it" to happen. Don't work towards anything. Hard work is for Lame-O's and Losers. Just wish upon a star, and all those great and amazing dreams you have will come true.

4. Don't Plan

Do you think someone actually planned out the pyramids? No way. A bunch of people just started cutting and placing stones and bam--a pyramid. You can't get that kind of precision with planning. Do you think professional sports teams have a game plan? Never, the best teams show up and play from instinct letting their natural talent run free. Always fly by the seat of your pants.

3. Give Up

If things get hard, stop doing them. Life is supposed to be easy. It only took Edison 3 trys to make the light bulb. Rome was built in a day. Don Shula's 347 wins, the most in NFL history, came with no losses and only 1 tie. The day he lost, he quit coaching. Following through causes people to succeed, stay away from it at all costs. Lay down and die.

2. Fly Solo

Do life alone. Don't let the people who care about you drag you down.  Batman, Ringo Star, Siskel, and Ernie are all people who could have been great had they not been hindered by Robin, The Beatles, Ebert, and Bert. You can do this. You don't need anyone. Behind every great man is the wife and kids he left. If you work with others, you won't get all the credit. Great people do things alone. Bask in your own glory.

1. Ignore Jesus

Do you really need a relationship with the Creator of the universe? I think not. You have to do this on your own. Don't rely on the One who will never stop loving you or ever let you down. You don't need that kind of reassurance. Remove your safety net. If the Bible holds the directions we need for life and Jesus is picture of what we should be, then you need to jump right into life without reading the directions or looking at the picture. You can figure it out by yourself. 

Every time your soul is softened by His beauty and grace, man-up and harden that heart. Don't let Him change you into a better person. You are already that awesome.

Honorable Mention

6. Over-commit

If you can't do one thing well, do 12 poorly.

Why to Tell Yourself to Shut-up

When I refer to my "self", I am describing that part of me that fights against the other part of me. I don't know what to call that other part.

For instance, I want to run a marathon and run a 5 minute mile. My "self" doesn't. When I set my alarm for 5:15, he wants to sleep.

I want to eat the right portions of healthy food. My "self" likes junk food. When chocolate cake is in front of me, he wants to eat all of it.

I would like to read a book a week. I think it'd be good for me. It would improve my vocabulary and all. My "self" wants to watch an episode of Pawn Stars I have already seen twice before. It's a great show.

I would like to pray an hour a day. Prayer works, and I would like to see my friends and family's lives changed. My "self" likes to look at random people's Facebook pages. My "self" can be a creeper.

My "self" is a jerk. He lies and pretends he's on my side. My "self" is greedy. He always takes more than a few minutes. A few minutes turn into an hour, and that makes him even more convincing in the morning when he points out the snooze button.

My "self" sucks at time management, and he is a terrible steward of resources. My "self" has actually eaten 2 whole cans of Vienna sausages and a sleeve of Oreos right before bed. That's like a million and a half calories.

So, what's the answer? It's a dirty word. The answer is discipline.

Paul says in 1 Cor 9:27

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Discipline is not easy. Taking control of your "self" has to be a God thing. We can't control "self". We have to recognize when "self" is up to no good, and tell your "self" to shut up. Then, we have to give ourselves to Him. 

When He has us, discipline is possible. He can turn us into something great. Try it. It works.

Why I Got Pregnant

Mary, Jesus' mother, was pregnant with God. That's pretty crazy, and it is almost impossible understand. But, God was living inside her. She had Him in her womb, and she gave birth to Him. This is offends many religions, but it's the basis of Christianity. Mary's life was wrecked. She would never be the same girl she was before the Holy Spirit overshadowed her. She would never even get a chance to be a regular wife and mother. She was always going to be different. Most people weren't going to believe her story. It was just plain ridiculous.
Being pregnant is no joke. It's hard on your body, and it's hard on your emotions. It changes eveything. It makes you smell things others ignore. You have the stress of someone living inside of you on top of life's normal stress. You have to do everything you did before and more while growing a person inside of you. It makes you tired. It rearranges your entire life.

Why would God go through all of that being born stuff?

God being born is an almost ridiculous idea. Why should we believe it? Sadhu Sundar Singh, an native minister in India during the early 1900's, spoke about the problem of pain and evil in the world. He said we should focus on the source of our problems, and not the symptoms. He spoke about not focusing on the pain, sorrow, or sorrow we see, but rather the reason there is pain, suffering, and sorrow.  He likened it to a broken bone. Don't treat the only pain, instead, treat the break. Once the break is set, the bones will heal, and the pain will go away.

The problem with our world is not pain, suffering, and sorrow. The problem is that creation's relationship with God was broken. Jesus came to restore that relationship. This is exactly what Paul preached in Ephesians 1:9-10 "He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ."

When everything is brought back into union with Him, this place will get better. It won't suck anymore. Pain, suffering, and sorrow will be gone. When John saw the end, he said in Rev 7:17 "For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

The world is not right. It needs God bad. We have to get pregnant with Him, and give birth to Him in our worlds. The story of Mary is our story. We need to be full of God, and let Him use us to restore that broken relationship.

That's why Paul says that "all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.  For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself... So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ." (2 Cor 5:18-21 NLT)

We need to get pregnant. We need our lives rearranged. We need them wrecked. We need to have Jesus living on the inside. We've got to get hungry. We need to see everything differently. That's why I got pregnant.

Loving "The Idiot"

Loving people is hard enough, but sometimes God chooses to bring a very special type of person across our paths, "The Idiot." Idiots are hard to ignore, and even harder to love. They have a way of getting under your skin and irritating you. They are the fiberglass of relationships. Something about whatever they said or whatever they did will get to you. Their words, their actions--and sometimes their existence--drives you crazy. They come in all shapes, but the most common size is the “Big Idiot.” If you've ever found yourself asking, “How does this guy even remember to breathe?" He's probably an idiot.

Idiots are at our jobs, schools, churches, and homes. Some think that Idiots are the sandpaper of character that Jesus uses to rub off our rough edges. Jesus doesn’t bring idiots across our paths to teach us things. He uses His Word for that. Jesus doesn’t use idiots to change us. He uses His blood and His Spirit for that.

Jesus has a much more diabolical plan. He sends us to the idiots so that we can love them. Jesus loves everybody, even idiots. He brings us across their paths because no one else will love them. God put us here for a purpose -- to love difficult people.

How to Love Idiots

Remember that God brought them across your path for a reason, and it’s not to punish you.
Ask for God’s love to flow through you because you can’t do this on your own.
Keep your mouth closed when you’re angry, but speak the truth when it’s the right time. Saying the right thing at the wrong time is still wrong.
Get used to it because there are lots of idiots.
Keep your relationship with God fresh, like we said, you can’t do this on your own.

Church Fights

THE FIRST CHURCH CONFLICT

The first conflict in the church concerned the distribution of food to widows.   In Acts 6:1-7, there were a group of Hellenistic Jews whose complaints drew the notice of the church leaders. They had to restructure the ministry so that the disenfranchised groups could get adequate representation and service. Here the precedent was set for church conflict to be solved. In Acts 6:2, “the Twelve gathered all the disciples together”[2], presented the dilemma, and involved the Hellenistic Jews, who felt discounted, in the rectification of the problem by allowing them to select certain individuals who they trusted to handle the distribution of food. They choose men who had evidence of being filled with the Spirit; in so doing, they were seeking the counsel of God in their judgment. The apostles then certified those who were selected with prayer and the laying on of hands showing their support for the choices of the Hellenists. This problem was not solved by one person, by one apostle, or even by a subgroup within the larger assembly. It was solved by the group of disciples in discourse and qualified by the church leadership.

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[1] Raposa, W.. An evaluation of the historical reliability of Acts based on Lucian's "How to Write History". Ph.D. diss., Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, In Dissertations & Theses: Full Text [database on-line]; available from http://www.proquest.com (publication number AAT 3411357; accessed November 23, 2010).

[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), Ac 6:2.. All scriptures are quoted from the NIV unless otherwise noted.‖

Weakness

Times of weakness come and times of weakness go. The most important thing to remember is that our strength is not what we feel. Our strength is in Christ. We can do all things through Him. Our feelings deceive us, our feelings are wrong because our feelings are not as real as He is. We are not strong when we feel strong.

We are not weak when we feel weak. We are always weak, and we are always strong. We are weak in ourselves, and we are strong in Him. The heart of the matter lies in finding ourselves in Him.

God's Voice

God wants all of us to hear Him. Moses got to hear Him frequently, and we have that same opportunity. God wants us to know Him, and hearing His voice is the center of knowing Him.

Hearing from God doesn't make you schizophrenic. It's possible to hear from Him, and the truth is those people who are doubtful of the actuality of hearing from Him have a better chance of truly experiencing His voice then those who think they hear from Him all the time. Pray for and expect the real thing. Don't fake anything or make it up. If you her Him acknowledge it, and if you don't the acknowledge that and wait for the real thing.

The last thing we need are more false prophets. We need real men and women who can hear God's voice.

Ex
7:89 Now when Moses went into the tabernacle of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice of One speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim; thus He spoke to him.

5 Things About His Voice

Things you have to know about God’s Voice
 
1. His Voice is Powerful
God created the world with His Voice Genesis chapter 1. He didn’t even have to use His hands
 
2. His Voice is Majestic
Jesus is the Word. Jesus is King. Therefore, the Word is King. God’s Word runs this place, and when we know it and live by it we walk in the Power of His Kingdom. (John Chapter 1)
 
3. His Voice Never Fails
Isaiah says His word never returns void, but it always does what it says it will.
 
4. His Voice Destroys His enemies
Psalm 29 says it flashes with lighting, and destroys even the biggest trees. In Revelation, John records that Jesus destroys Satan and all his army with His Word. You can’t mess with what God says.
 
5. His Voice is Full of Glory
That’s another way for saying God’s Voice is awesome. It’s amazing, and it show’s God’s amazing-ness. For reasons, see above. (Psalm 29)
 

We are to declare the glory of the Lord. The Voice of the Lord is powerful, majestic and glorious.

Following His Voice

In Acts, Paul walked everywhere. Distances were great. It is recorded in the book that he walked over 500 miles before being given clear direction of where he was going. That means he was walking for around 25 days before he knew where he was going.

He knew God said to go, and he went. God spoke through natural and supernatural means.This is the definition of walking by faith. Paul had every excuse to stop. Walking that far was arduous and costly. Paul's companions followed him. That takes a lot of faith and commitment too.

In Acts 16:9, Paul has a dream where a man calls him to Macedonia. He gets there and is greeted by women. Paul was not deterred. He recognized the voice of God. He was following the leading of Jesus.

How would we respond to this? If I have a dream about a man, I would expect to see a man. If I didn't I would think I missed. Somehow, Paul was shaken. His faith was strong. He kept going. He never stopped.

Sometimes when we hear God it doesn't always work out like we think it will. But, if we trust Him it will be ok. And, though the leading of the Spirit may not be as often as we'd like it, or as clear as we expect. God is leading us, and we will be victorious.

The Blood of Jesus

Leviticus says the life is in the blood. Jesus gave us communion as a way to remember His blood. Jesus wants us to feed on His life.

Blood does everything. It feeds us, heals us, keeps us warm--it does everything. There is nothing more valuable to a person than their blood. Jesus gave all that He is for us. He let us blood run for us. He gave us all of Himself. Communion is a way to remember Jesus life, and spiritually feed on Him.

Be where you are called to be

So, I realize that the best place to be is where God calls you. God called me to PB, and I am here. Things don't always work out the way we would like, but they always work out. If you are where you are supposed to be then you've done your best. God never fails. So, it will work out. Jesus was born in a small town before, my hope is that a great movement towards/with Jesus starts in another small town, the one I'm in.

It's hard to see so many Christians consumed with pointless junk. We get caught up in such temporal time-vampires and never seem to be thing eternally. We only have so many hours, why do we waste them?