New York Missions Trip: We Are Family

            “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren…” (KJV)

            That is what John writes in the beginning of I John 3:14*. And we miss it.

            Badly.

            I recently went on a missions trip to Nueva York (New York) to a church that actually got it right. I went there and was astounded. They loved each other.

            For the next couple of posts, I’ll take a break from talking about the various world-views and focus on where I spent a week (and what I learned).

Whoa

            I grew up in a military home. We moved around a lot, so i was able to see many churches. They generally were the same. Come on Sunday, sing a lot, hear a lot (or a little), and leave (quickly). Afterwards I would observe people, and they generally made a b-line for the door. I always had a vague notion that something was wrong with this picture.

            It wasn’t until I went on this missions trip where my vague notion turned into a concrete belief.

            Churches in America have it wrong. We’ve missed the boat.

            Over the missions trip I kept thinking of I John 3:14. How do we know we are saved? Because we love each other. Love. Each. Other.

            For the first time I saw this in practice. I saw a church body that actually loved each other. They wanted to be around each other. They were a family. They lived this verse.

What Happened?

            America happened, really. We’ve been bred to be independent (self-dependent). The mindset of actually needing someone other than yourself is alien to American Christians.

            Contrast this to believers overseas. They need each other. Desperately. They need encouragement, support, food, water, teaching, etc. They love each other because they realized how blessed they are to HAVE family. For that is what they are, family.

            But in America, we keep everything compartmentalized. Never let weakness show. Never let people in on the pain and suffering in your life. Must. Never. Show. Weakness.

            How does this affect worship and the fellowship of Christians? We view each other with suspicion and estrangement. What’s in it for me? What can I get out of church and expending energy in friendships? You mean I have to invest myself in another person’s life? But that’s messy!

            Contrast that with Paul’s words to the Thessalonians (I Thessalonians 2:8):

            “So being AFFECTIONATELY desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were DEAR unto us.”

            If you read the Thessalonian epistles, it’s basically a love letter between Paul and the church in Thessalonica. He LOVED them, and it showed. “Affectionate” is a word we don’t use a lot anymore, but it evokes thoughts of “aww” and “thinking of you all the time” type words. “Dear” is another word we don’t say very much (though we write it) , but it has the same feel.

            Christianity in America is dying. We are becoming Europe, which took the plunge centuries ago. Reasons for this abound, but one of them is the fact that we don’t stand for each other. We don't stick together. We look at a fellow believer and ask, “What in the world is she wearing?” We see a fellow Christian and ask, “How’s the weather?”

            We don’t love. I see you and I should see a brother or sister. I should see someone that I need to protect. Defend. Fight for.

What Do We Do?

            1) We have to recognize that there is a problem. Humans love to ignore problems and hope they go away. No. In this case, the problem won’t go away. We will.

            2) Become involved in each other’s lives. Johnny has a soccer game? Invite some fellow brothers and sisters to watch. Going to the movies? See if anyone else wants to go (just try to avoid “third wheel” situations. Not fun). Just meet up with people for no other reason than just wanting to talk (yes, that came from a guy).

            This step is very practical. Get creative.

            3) Go on missions trips! See what we are blessed with so that when you come back, you’ll be changed.

            4) Pray and ask God to open up doors to those close to you. Sometimes it can be tough when you live a half hour from your church building, so see if there are Christians in your neighborhood (or interest group) and get together.

Conclusion

             I could’ve gone on forever in any of the sections above. I’m very passionate about this particular aspect of Christianity. “Double Back” by Flame (a Christian rapper) is the basic thought behind this post (if you can't follow the rap, here are the lyrics).

             The simple conclusion is that Christians do not love each other today. There are exceptions, but I’m not talking about those. I’m guilty of it, too. I don’t know how many times I’ve talked with other believers and viewed them as necessary evils (just deal with them long enough until I can do something else).

            The Father loves Jesus. Jesus loves us. We are to love others. A passage sums this up (John 15:12-13):

            “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

            “Greater love hath no man this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (KJV)

            Jesus loved us, and we are nothing of worth. Surely we can love those equal to us, right? The ultimate show of love is laying down our lives for our friends. We are family.

*The other part of the verse is “He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” I refrained from allowing myself to write about that section of the verse. I would’ve gone ballistic and things wouldn’t have been pretty. Just think of James 2:20, and my post would’ve resembled that tone the whole way through. With a few exclamation points.

Atheism: A Hopeless, Gray Worldview

  Ah, atheism. The religion that is sweeping the west. No God (supernatural, anyway), no absolute morals, just freedom.

            Yeah, uh, no. There’s a verse in the Bible (2 Peter 2:19) that talks about this “freedom”:

  “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.”

  (While this verse is talking specifically about false teachers, the truth behind it applies to atheism’s lies.)

  In that case, the false teachers are enslaved by the very “freedom” they think liberates them. In this case, proponents of atheism are enslaved by the “freedom” they think they enjoy.
            When you are free to do what you want (corruption), you really are not free because you were corrupt anyway. This freedom only leads to what you were before, just now with perceived impunity for the time being. 

  No, true freedom is found in christ. The freedom to break away from your old self, not embrace it. the freedom to do what you were made to do: glorify god.

  That is freedom.

How they explain the world around us

  They would say the world came from nothing. we are nothing but accidents. there is no higher purpose to life. the universe was a random accident; life was the result of luck. the typical evolutionary talk.

  Why is there good in the world? it is the result of biologically developed empathy. Somehow we learned to be good towards one another, like an ape will be good towards another ape.

  Why is there evil in the world? Well, it’s the result of natural selection and survival of the fittest. We kill because we have to (or want to). We rape because we have to (or... nevermind), etc.

Their belief in how the world started

  There was a singularity (the size of... nothing). This singularity then expanded into the universe as we know it. Eventually, gases condensed into the planets. Our earth was formed four or so billion years ago.

  Eventually, a pile of organic stuff was struck by lightning*. And the first cell was formed. But then a rock fell on it and the cell died.

  Just kidding.

  this first cell then reproduced and got more complex and yeah... here we are.

Their belief in how the world will end

  Eventually the universe will run out of energy. there will be no light. no heat. and some black holes (I think). everything will die.

  Cheery stuff, really.

their belief in what we should be doing in the mean time

  This is where things get a little inconsistent for the atheist. as i love to say, “Thank goodness atheists don’t live like atheists.” what do i mean by that? atheists don’t live like life is worthless, or absurd (as william lane craig puts it).

  atheists are often good citizens, good thinkers, and fine workers. if you ask them why, they’ll just say that they are like that because life is better when people are good. Or some variation of that.

  if an atheist was consistent, he would live like a dog. eat, drink, sleep, go to the bathroom, and procreate. Die, rinse, repeat.

  however, they don’t live like that, because they know there is more to life.

their differences from christianity

  Hmm, where to start. Christians hold to god. Atheists do not. Christians believe humans are more than animals. Atheists believe we are animals. Christians believe there is purpose and meaning to life, atheists do not.
            I could go on for awhile, but i'll stop.

conclusion

  i didn’t write near as much about atheism as i could have. The reasons for this is: 1) it would make for a very long post, 2) I will be writing a lot about atheism in the future, 3) i just went on an inspiring missions trip over spring break and I want to blog on that.

  atheism as a religion is completely hopeless. it’s so depressing if you really dwell on it.

  while atheists can be tough cookies to deal with when it comes to philosophy, there are ways to reach them. love them in ways their loveless religion cannot. acts of kindness speak volumes, even when their hearts refuse the philosophical/theological arguments for christianity. in the end, we have to live like christ even when they don’t listen to our “X, Y, and Zs” of why christianity is the truth.

*Another theory is life began on crystals... because of the abundance of evidence that points to it, you know?

Forgive Me

Forgive Me, I Will  Be EXPERIMENTING WITH DIFFERENT FONTS For THE  NEXT FEW POSTS :)