Liberating you from bad ideas about God
…if you don’t “Like” this post, it must be because you hate God.
I am kidding, of course. But every so often I see these sorts of posts come through Facebook and Twitter. “Retweet this if you love Jesus!” “Love God? Like this!”
So I laughed when I saw this comic.
When I learned Greek and Hebrew, I found it helpful to use mnemonic devices to memorize vocabulary. I would take what the Hebrew or Greek word sounded like, and take the English translation of the word, and then try to come up with a sentence that included both.
So, for example, the Greek word speiro sounds like “sparrow” and it means “to sow.” The mnemonic device I used was “I sow seeds the sparrows eat.” Another example is with the Greek preposition epi. It sounds somewhat close to “I pee” and means “upon, on, at, by” and so I used the mnemonic device “I pee upon, on, at, or by the tree.” It’s crude humor, but it worked for me!
One Greek word I always thought was somewhat ironic was the Greek word allelon. It means “one another.” The device I used to memorize this word is “all alone with one another.” I found this device ironic because you would think that no one can be all alone when they are with other people, but the truth is that some people are never more alone than when they are with others.
Some of the most lonely people I know are those who have the most friends and go to the most parties. They party as an attempt to fight back the encroaching loneliness that threatens to choke them every minute of every day. Their nearly manic efforts to always be with people and around other people are all because they feel loneliness taking over their lives. Though they are with people all the time, they are all alone most of that time.
The reason behind this is that although such people might be with others all the time, very few of those others actually know the person.
We were in the middle of packing up for our move from New York to Oregon.
There was chaos everywhere. Piles of stuff to pack. Piles of stuff to throw out. Phone calls to make. Errands to run. Landlords to deal with.
In the middle of all this chaos, we received a friendly visit from the the Jehovah Witnesses. My wife answered the door, and here is roughly how the conversation went:
Knock, knock.
Wendy (opening the door): Hello?
JWs: Hello, do you have a few minutes so we could talk to you about Jesus?
Wendy: No, we’re in the middle of packing up for a move, and everything is chaotic right now. Besides, we already know, love, and follow Jesus. Thanks, though!
JWs: Oh, your moving? Well, is there a time we could come back and talk?
Wendy: No. We’re moving out of state. Look, I have phone calls to make and boxes to pack. I gotta go.
JWs: Okay, but would it be alright if we gave you some literature for you to read and had someone call you?
Wendy: No, we’re moving. We don’t need more books, and definitely don’t need more phone calls. We already believe in Jesus and read the Bible. We’re good. Seriously, I gotta go.
JWs: Okay, well we just wanted to tell you about how to go to heaven, maybe if we could come in for just a minute…
Wendy (wisely interrupting): Look, my father died last year, and we know he is in heaven because he believed in Jesus. We know the same will be true of us because we also believe in Jesus. Now, goodbye.
And with that, she shut the door on them.
Later in October (if all goes well) I am going to start my life’s work.
I will be announcing on this blog what that work is, but it is something I have wanted to do since I was about ten years old, and I recently realized that pretty much my entire life has been preparing me to do it. I have fought against it several times, especially during the last decade, but have recently decided that I can fight it no longer.
I believe it is what God gifted me for, and when I am engaged in this work, I feel His pleasure.
Besides, if I wait too much longer, it will be too late. I did some rough calculations last week, and realized that if I maintain a somewhat “manageable” schedule, finishing my life’s work will only take 63 years.
Yeah…The chances are pretty good I will not finish…
Once I start, things might change on this blog somewhat. Here are a few changes that could occur:
How can you know if someone is a follower of Jesus?
Answers to this question have split churches, destroyed friendships, and divided seminaries.
Some believe that to follow Jesus you must only sign a creed or say a prayer. Others insist that following Jesus requires following a set of rules such as the Ten Commandments or a denominational Code of Conduct. Still others argue that following Jesus is best accomplished in a building at a certain time of week when certain activities take place, while others say that following Jesus means leaving our buildings and going to places where Jesus would go, such as to the poor and homeless.
Rather than take sides, let me suggest something different.
When it comes to the question of who is truly a follower of Jesus, I believe that everyone is following Jesus. Every man, woman, and child on this earth, whether they subscribe to some version of Christianity or not, is following Jesus.
No, I do not believe everyone is “saved” (whatever that means to you). I am not a universalist.
