I’m agnostic…

An anonymous person made the following comment recently…

The difference between placing your faith in worldly concepts and people is that more often than not there is some kind of observable evidence for that which you place your trust in. …there is currently no verifiable observed evidence that God- especially not your Judeo-Christian God- exists, and moreover that he gives anything approaching a damn about us. People do not have a "need" to believe; they have a need to fill gaps in their life…Which is fine, until they start trying to tell me I should believe as well. I speak this as a former believer. I am currently agnostic.

Many people are functionally agnostic, because they just are not sure and are looking for convincing evidence. Many who call themselves Christians can operate as unsure agnostics as well. So I’m not surprise when people slip back and forth between believing and not believing.

No question was asked but the question lingers in the statements. The author is looking for verifiable observed evidence for the existence of God and that He cares. Since none is found it leaves a question mark in the “God” space.

Faith, belief, and knowing are words that are not well understood. If we are looking for fact to prove God, then I would have to agree with the comments above. Let me take a moment to work through some classic logic that will demonstrate that we can’t compare un-similar items.

Facts (observable and verifiable things) are wonderful when we trying to verify the truth regarding gravity, crimes committed, and the balance of your bank account.

But when we want to know “Truth”, then we need different criteria than facts. Facts are cold hard evidence that can prove something. Yet there are great truth’s that are not proven, but believed. We also call them principles by which we guide our lives and our actions. We simply believe in them or we don’t. They are above facts.

Do we believe in something called “Justice”, or “Peace”? Is “Equality” or the great American ideal “Freedom” a high value in our lives? The declaration of independence begins with the statement; we hold these “truths” to be self evident. They are either believed or they are not believed. There are no facts or evidence for the validity or rightness that can be tested and verified.

If God were a rock we should use facts and observation to determine what is real about Him. But God is not a rock. For God to be observed and tested would mean He would have to be less than what the high principle of “first cause” postulates. There is only one kind of God that is worthy of consideration and that would be the all powerful, all knowing, and all present God which means that our ability to observe, and verify would be inadequate for such a test subject.

Fortunately there is more than one way to know something and someone. We can take some things on faith. This can be a very rational and well thought out faith, but in the end it has to be faith in a high ideal.

The coming of Jesus Christ purposed by the Bible is the attempt of God to reveal His nature, and His desires for us. That Jesus was an actual historical figure is beyond question by any serious historian. Most accept He was a wonderful teacher but some have a hard time accepting that He was the Son of God. The trouble with this position (which C.S. Lewis points out) is that He can’t be both a great teacher and make claims to be the Son of God. He was either God in the flesh, or He was certifiable nuts, which eliminates the great teacher role.

Jesus said of Himself that He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” The amazing claim He was making was that truth is not just a debatable philosophy but a person who has a will, and power of its own. That truth is going to exist whether we believe or don’t believe, but the only way to gain knowledge of that truth is to place our faith in that truth.

This is confusing because there are many Christians who are caught up in religion rather than faith. Religion is an attempt to appease or control God by our actions. Christ came to show us another way. He came to show us that it is only by faith that we can really know Him.

“Gaps” are good description of our lives and we all have them. We are all believers in something. Some believe in facts to lead them to reliable and predictable outcomes, but others doubt that facts can be trusted to that extent (e.g. René Descartes). Perhaps a fresh look at faith as a way of acquiring great “truths” and “principles” that have shaped all the great cultures is worthy of consideration.

What Happened to God? (Part 2)

Dear Kelly,

You asked, “What happened to God?”

I have asked that question, more than once. Where is He? Why does He let the bad stuff happen? Why does He seem so far away?

God is here, with us. I think you know that, but it may seem that He is not with us the way we are told by other people. He is not with us even in the way we want Him to be with us. But He is with us.

That can make us uncomfortable because we are sure how to talk to Him, or even if we ever really knew Him, or He us. You wondered if God even cared even though He knows your name.

What happened is that we get lost. Sometimes it's the fog of self absorption, and addiction. Other times we are lost in depression. Whatever it is, when the thing we are fighting, like alcohol, seems bigger than God, it’s because we are standing so close to it that we can’t see anything else. God is still there and bigger than the demons you fight.

I have no quick answer for you but I do have an answer. It always comes down to your relationship with Christ and learning to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit. I have shown many people how to do this, but there is no religious formula, just an exploration and development of an intimacy with the Lord.

If you have time, I can help you begin the journey back, free from the chains of addiction, and with a new reason to live, now and forever.

The enemy of your soul does not want you to be free so you are going to have to fight back and make the hard choices. He is there. He is ready to help, and is helping you find your way to those who can help you. You are close, so don't quit now.

I have several people in my congregation who can tell you how God set them free from what you know and worst. I would love for you to meet them and hear their stories.

So here’s hoping we will meet…until then my prayers are still with you.

Pastor John

What happened to GOD?

I recently received this post from "Kelly" (a.k.a) and I was truly touched by his comments. I have tried to reach him direct but was unable to get through. I am posting this hoping he will read my reply. I think you will be touched by his comments as well. So here is Kelly's question. My response will come soon. Please join me in praying for Kelly after you read his post.

Pastor John R.Wiuff

----------------------

Pastor John,

I have no clue how to start this.

I am in jeopardy due to issues in my life and at 63, confusion about my faith is more than I can almost endure. I have tried to come to your church and the other large one on your street but nothing brings me there. I get ready, buy cannot seem to get to either one of these places to worship.

I do not know anymore how to pray, what to think of a higher power I choose to call GOD when so much is happening to me and others. We have no control over what is happening.

What happened to GOD?

There is a country/western song that sings of: GOD is busy. Is HE that busy to remember me by name? Is HE that busy to hear me but not care??

I am an alcoholic since 12 years old. Nothing helps. NO meetings, groups, meds and I am about at wits end.

Tell me how you can help me please. My entire life has been stress and even in that, I work a 40 hour week, I am clean and keep up bills and my home and cat Annie. There is nothing much life can offer me anymore and I am tired of trying to find some solace, or peace.

Just to wait on death is a horrible place to be when others suffer to stay alive. Your bulletin today struck me hard as it is beautiful in green and words matter to me. A friend brought that to me early today, Sunday. Lovely and I will pray as best I can for those offered up in your bulletin.

Thank you Pastor and one day I hope to get to see you. Pray for me please to get the nerve to be in your church some one of these days.

For now let’s just refer to me as Kelly. That is not my name but I am afraid to be honest with anyone anymore.

Good Day to you Pastor John.

Are Baptists Christians?

Q: Are Baptists Christians?

This year I have been building on a single theme for all my sermons. I am looking at the difference between faith and religion. As a result an awakening is happening in our congregation as people are coming to realize the difference between the two.

In a small group I was recently asked this question by a new member: “Are Baptists Christians?” At first I found the question humorous. Represented around the table were people from many different brands of Christian. Historically these groups have been in conflict with each other over religious rather than faith issues. We spend some time talking about the differences between groups and why there are so many denominations.

Yet this is a great question, I want to be able to answer it in this blog.

A: No, being Baptists does not make you a Christian, believing in Jesus Christ by faith makes you a Christian.

Let me be quick to say that I believe most Baptists are Christians and they come from a noble like of Christian history. What I am pointing out here is that just because you belong to a church group, or affiliate yourself with a certain group does not make you a Christian.

A ancient and famous Christian writer once described the Church being two churches. In his book “The City of God” he described the city you see and the city you don’t see. He made the distinction that the city you see with your eyes is not often the real city. It is the inner city, within the walls where people live and work that the real heart of the city can be found.

When we look at the Church from the outside, not everyone we see associated with the church is really saved or Christian no matter how they act, talk or look. Within that church are the true believers.

So a Christian is a person who does not associate themselves first with a denomination (that is the act of a religious person) but one who has faith in Jesus Christ before any church group, or theological variation: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.

You may be one of those people who are struggling with the issue of faith and religion. You have been around religion your whole life and may not have seen much Christ like faith. I want you to know that is the one thing you are really seeking and to leave the religion behind. Find Christ and you will find others who are also faith filled.

The promise to you from God’s word is that if you will seek, you will find; if you ask, you will receive; and if you will knock, the door will be opened.

Are Spiritual Attacks and Evil Real?

Question: “Are spiritual attacks real, or are they just my imagination?”

A home discipleship group last week raised the issue of spiritual warfare. I asked the group whether the people they knew at work and at school believed in the battle between Good and Evil.

I was please to hear most people they knew believed that evil was real, but had questions about God who seem distant.

For most people that is the great question, despite the small minority of intellectuals who have been trying to convince us for decades that there is no Satan or God. They want us to believe that all our problems can be solved with drugs and therapy.

Answer: “Yes, they are real.”

Every person needs to be aware of the ability of evil to attack us in many ways and then find their defense in Jesus Christ and the power of His spirit.

Excellent authors have helped millions (e.g.: Neil Anderson “Bondage Breaker”). The reality of spiritual attacks eludes some while we blame psychology and biology for most of our problems. One famous author when asked if the issues they were experiencing was either psychological or spiritual. His response was to say: “It’s always both.”

Don’t expect to solve the attacks you experience with “holy water” and crucifix. Hollywood movies have given us sensationalized renditions of spiritual warfare in which the enemy is defeated through some physical showdown. That is rarely the case and does not describe the real nature of the battle we fight.

For now let’s get to the heart of the matter if you want to win. Jesus told us that we “shall know the truth and the truth will set us free.” He also told us that He was “...the way, the truth, and the life.” A living faith in Christ and the truth of His love is the only way to defeat real evil.

For more, check out set free ministries with Neil Anderson or contact me if you have a personal issue.

Pastor John

“Isn’t hope just delusional wishful thinking?”

Question: “Isn’t hope just delusional wishful thinking?”

Hope is as instinctual as breathing, taking your first step, or watching the weather. So it may come as a surprise that there are some who are loosing hope, and others who have thrown it out with the garbage after ripping it out of their hearts.

A person who has given up on hope said this:

“Hope is a disease, a fairy tale, the futile wish of a child praying ‘Make it not so.’ Hope is a sop. Hope is false promises. Hope is an empty fantasy. Hope is the deceit that allows the evils that exist to flourish. Hope is a mask for the horror that is at the core of all that which is real. Hope is a substitute for real planning, and rational assessment and analysis. Hope is unreason pleasantified. Hope doesn't cure diseases... science and hard work does. Hope doesn't grow food or raise children. Hope is the offering of empty hands. If the human race could only eliminate two concepts from its worldview, the best to be eliminated would be "hope" and "belief". To be precise... I try daily to expunge 'hope' and 'belief' and 'faith' and all those other anti-rational *inhuman* concepts from my existence.”

That may be hard for some to hear because we rely on hope so much – OR -- maybe that is the way you really feel sometimes and don’t have the courage or permission to say so. The challenge that comes from a person who is choosing a Star Trek Vulcan life (or Andromeda, Nietzscheans)

Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
Friedrich Nietzsche

It was the widow with the dead son that said to the prophet Elisha: “Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes'?" (2 Kings 4:27-29).

This is the observation of Solomon when he wrote...

12. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12

To kill hope, is to kill longing. To throw out longing is be rid of joy. The experiences of hope must dare disappointments. The experiences of love must risk hate; faith must risk doubt; and peace anticipates conflict.

Answer: “Is an attribute of God, woven into the fabric of everything He created.”

Sometimes the answer is so obvious, but not always welcome. Hope is not something we create but something that we have from our conception. It is greater and more persistent than we are because God created all things with hope. To say you are without hope is to say you are without God. Since Nietzsche rejected God in his “God is dead” movement, he had to logically reject hope. In this sense the great atheist of recent time is absolutely right. God and hope are intrinsically linked.

I would make the argument that hope, like God, is not a fairy tale wishful thought. He is not like Santa Clause that millions of kids will write to this year and ask for a special Christmas gift. Hope, like God’s nature, is all around us, and gives the light of love to every new born child, searching for eyes that love them back.

We are in a season where hope rises and disappointment threatens. We hope this year our family will get along with each other. We hope we won’t be alone and someone will be our friend. We hope that the coming year will be better than the last. Every year that feeling comes back and sometimes we resent the disappointment it may bring.

But let me ask you, between hope and no hope, which would you rather have? The promise is not that this fallen world will give us hope, but to put our hope in Jesus Christ, who in hope risked His life for you. This is a hope that does not disappoint, that Jesus loves us and will see us through and beyond the nightmares of this world, to the waking reality of His love.

...we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Romans 5:3b-5

Are we all going to go to heaven? What about hell?

Q: Are we going to heaven?

...and another related question is often asked:

Q: Will we be sent to hell? What will it be like?

Despite all the talk about a secular society, God still plays a big role in the lives of most Americans. We all seem to have a sense that there is an after life, and worry about the consequences of heaven and hell.

The popular notion of these two places is so far removed from the Bible as to be comical. There are great extremes as to what they are like. Some have rationalized the scriptures to the point of saying they don’t exist while others have turned them into a glorified Disney Theme Park.

First, heaven is not the state of living forever. If you are worried that won’t live forever, relax, everyone does. Christians and Jews have believed for thousands of years that all humans are created eternal, which means that we have a beginning and no end. Our bodies may die but our souls live on. Almost all world religions teach this in various forms. Heaven is not simply the state of existing, or you would be there right now.

Second, hell is not primarily a place of punishment and anguish. You have punishment and aguish right now and the Bible describes hell as something very different from this experience. Just as happiness is not heaven but one of the effects of heaven, so suffering is not hell, but one of the results of its experience.

So what is heaven and hell in the scriptures? Heaven is simply that place after life where we can live with God forever. Heaven is all about God and not about us. Conversely hell is primarily described as an eternal separation from God. Hell is all about us and has nothing to do with God.

If we could describe heaven and hell in these terms, where would you feel the most at home? I have heard people sit around describing heaven. They will say things like, “There must be golf in heaven. I love golf so much, I couldn’t imagine there not being a golf course in heaven. It just wouldn’t be heaven to me if I could play golf.” People who think of heaven as being a five star accommodation for their likes and dislikes would not like the real heaven. God is at the center of heaven and everything about it centers of the worship of God.

Answer: Yes we are all going to go to heaven. We all go there to be judged. Those who are known by Jesus Christ as one of His disciples will enter heaven forever and the rest will enter hell.

“What! How judgmental can you get! How can God be a loving God and send anyone to hell for eternity?”

Yes, yes, I know. I have heard it many times before but we completely miss the point. When God created you and me he created us eternal. That means we have a beginning and no end. Now, that is a great gift or a great curse, and the person who decides is you. You can choose to live for God, or you can choose to live for yourself. Which ever choice you make will sort you out in the end. All decisions are made final upon your death, for eternity.

There is no sin so great that can keep you from entering heaven, and no good work so wonderful to keep you from the pits of hell.

Why? Because our future is not determined by how good we are, because we all fail miserably. We enter heaven on the basis of the Grace of Jesus, His forgiveness. We get that by repenting, asking for forgiveness and learning to Love Jesus Christ. He will forgive any sin if we will love Him with our whole heart. There will be many people who had done good things who will be sent to hell because their goodness was all about them and not about a love for God.

Personally, I wouldn’t have it any other way. God tells me by this action that what I do on this earth matters for eternity. Every little thing matters and affects my eternal destiny. If there were no consequences to our actions, then what’s the point of this existence? I like this too, because it doesn’t put the emphasis on performance but on the sincere commitment and love of God. I don’t have to be perfect, just devoted while doing my stumbling best.

What do you think? Which eternal place would fit you better? With God getting all the attention, or you?