Tag: God

Duck, duck, goose… the Loneliness of this Life and the Life to Come.

On By AaronIn Uncategorized1 Comment

“To belong to the Lord is to never have to say good-by forever.”

I have been working through the five foundational doctrines of the Christian faith and the next one that I should be commenting on is that of Faith in God.  However, I’m going to postpone those thoughts in favor of some thoughts on the resurrection of the dead.

I am a volunteer chaplain at our local police and fire department.  This morning I was dispatched to a death in which the mother of four who had been taking care of her elderly father awoke to find her father had died sometime in the night.  I arrived to find a grief-stricken woman who described a new level of loneliness at the loss of her father.  I wanted to tell her that her father was in a better place.  I wanted to tell her that she would see him again.  But I did not know either her or her father and so the truth is I did not know if those things were true.  I asked her if there was any spiritually significant person that I could call, a pastor, a counselor, or a priest, and she told me that she had not been to church in a long time.  I asked her where the body of her father was and where and how her children were responding.

Then I asked her if I could pray and she answered, “yes, I would very much like that.”  We bowed our heads, and the desire of my heart was to pray that God had received her father and remind this woman that she would see him again, but I did not.  Instead, I prayed for comfort, wisdom, and grace for this woman as she navigated this new reality with her husband and children.  As I concluded the prayer with an “amen” I saw a framed picture hanging on the wall that read, “To belong to the Lord is to never have to say good-by forever.”  That was encouraging.  Maybe she and her family knew Jesus.

“Apart from a future resurrection what hope do I, as a representative of Christ, have to offer?

Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says, “…if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain (1Cor 15:13-15).”  Apart from a future resurrection what hope do I, as a representative of Christ, have to offer this woman?  If it is true that all there is to this life is that which we see now, then her father is gone to her forever and she will one day be gone to her children as well.  “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied (1 Co 15:19).”

This is not an insignificant point.  It is connected to the doctrine of dead works.  If each of us is morally responsible for our actions and because all our good works can never cover for our bad works then all our works are dead.  But if our faith is in the work of Christ and its ability or sufficiency to atone for our bad works and that atonement is only sufficient for this life then what do we have?  At best we have a motivational poster.  A motivational poster that will motivate only until we die.

“What a hope!”

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive (1Co 15:20-22).”  What a hope!  Not only to be raised alive but to be raised alive and found righteous in the judgment to come!  But there is a rub; you have to be in Christ.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Joh 3:16).”  And that is why I could not pray a prayer of hope without the knowledge of this woman and her father’s standing in Christ.  To do so would have been to offer a false hope.  A false hope is a pitiful hope.  But I was encouraged by the words on her wall and my hope is that she, and her family, are in Christ.

As I spent the rest of the morning with this family there came a time when we were all in the back yard.  The body of her father was being moved and mom did not want her or her children’s last memory of her father to be of that move.  So, we moved the family to the back yard until her father could be removed from the house.  I watched as the four children played a game of duck, duck, goose in the small patch of grass that was their yard.  Dad shot hoops with kid sized basket balls and mom stood to the side on the phone with her sister and I could not help but note the tone of loneliness in her voice.  It was in that moment that I understood that in the center of her family this woman felt alone at the loss of her father.

The Christian hope is in an eternal resurrection founded on the resurrection of Christ.  One day, I will step into that eternity and Jesus will take my hand and welcome me home.  But who will we find in that home?  Hopefully, our loved ones and those closest to us are saved and what a blessing when we know that they are.  But as I stood in this family’s backyard it occurred to me that if they are saved, along with her family, I will recognize them and they will recognize me in eternity.  This is true because God, in His infinite wisdom, saw fit to cross our paths at this moment in time.  A moment of loneliness that when the Christian hope is realized will become a moment of eternal familiarity.

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day (Joh 6:35-40).”  Don’t wait… look to Jesus and live!  Share him with your friends and family that they might live too.  Live your life in such a way that you don’t hinder their acceptance of Him.  One day our loneliness will turn to an eternity of familiar communion with one another.

Before I sign off I do want to take this time to thank the first responders involved in todays encounter. It never ceases to amaze me at the kindness and caring that can come from some of the toughest people I know. They can hold the line toe to toe with anyone but it is their tenderness that is most impressive. Thanks for all that you do.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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Good Cop, Bad Cop, …and 28 Jelly Beans

On By AaronIn Stuff About Me2 Comments

The other day I had the privilege of taking my adorable wife to our local clinic so that she could be tested for gestational diabetes. And it IS one of the great privileges of this life to be able to enjoy it walking beside her. Often I will chuckle and she will ask me, “what are you laughing at?” And often I will answer, “just you.” It is not a statement of condescension but rather a statement of incredulity. I love her tremendously and yet we are so different it is hard to believe that she agreed to partner with me. That God has chosen her as my help mate is something that I will be smiling about for eternity.

Anyway, our trip was short and as she sat with her small bag of Jelly Belly jelly beans reading the flavors to me I started to realize that we hadn’t properly prepared for this appointment. The doctor had informed her that she would need to bring twenty-eight beans for this particular test. She has a few allergies and it would be important that we select the flavors that are least likely to contain anything that will trigger those reactions. Additionally, while I could just grab the first twenty eight beans that came out of the bag that is not in my wife’s nature. It came to me that we probably should have selected our 28 beans prior to our departure. This is the kind of decision that my wife would consider heavily not just in terms of which beans will trigger her allergies, but which flavors she would prefer, and which flavors would complement versus those that would distract from the others. The time required to drive to the clinic proved insufficient for making these decisions and, as we are living in the days of COVID, I had to leave her at the door of the clinic to proceed on her own.

Later, as she related her story, I learned that there were two nurses in the clinic who had assisted her in this process. She dutifully proffered her bag of jelly beans and clearly one nurse was sympathetic to Sarah’s plight while the other was less so; the good cop and the bad cop. As she told me the story I imagined the good cop holding out her gloved hands as she patiently received each of Sarah’s decided beans while the bad cop forcefully pronounced, “you only have five minutes to get this done!” The whole event culminating in the bad cop saying, “just put them all in your mouth” and Sarah resolutely doing as she was told. I chuckled again as my wife explained to me that she thought five minutes would be enough time to “enjoy” 28 jelly beans. Of course she did.

“How did I marry someone so different or more precisely how did I convince someone so different to marry me?”

As it turned out it was barely enough time to select them and then chew the whole mass into submission. As she asked, “what are you laughing at” I was amazed at her completely different understanding and conception of time than mine. Now please, this is not a moral judgment except in that she and I are different. I am an army officer and planner who trains army officers in the planning process. I once synchronized a one week collection plan down to two minute intervals. I would have plotted it down to the minute but Excel wouldn’t let me have enough columns and rows! How did I marry someone so different or more precisely how did I convince someone so different to marry me? And yet, her differences are so incredibly attractive to me and they never cease to surprise me in new and amusing ways.

Most of my family has heard that Sarah and I are expecting. But this may be new to some of my friends and I do apologize if you are hearing this news for the first time in this blog. We are in a high risk category and we are trying to temper our excitement with our desire not to “jinx” anything. Today, I find myself worrying about almost everything. I pray that our daughter is healthy, and smart, and beautiful. But most important I pray that Sarah and I are able to give her everything she needs to be prepared. Everyday, the world seems to be moving faster and things, often distant things, that I don’t understand have an impact on the very local nature of our day to day lives. Will I be able to prepare her for a world in which I struggle just to keep up? How will we prepare her for the times and the challenges that her generation will have? What will those challenges be?

This morning as I was reading through First Samuel I was struck by the story of Hannah and her son as contrasted to the story of Levi and his sons. Both Hannah and Levi were committed and devoted to the Lord and yet Hannah’s son grew up to be a man of character who understood the moral nature of his standing before God while it was written of Levi’s sons that they, “were worthless men. They did not know the Lord (1Sa 2:12, ESV).” Hannah had been barren and had prayed, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life…(1Sa 1:11)”. She prayed so earnestly and passionately that her lips moved through her silent prayer that Eli, the priest, thought she was drunk. Her prayers were heard and God answered with the birth of Samuel. Her prayer of response was, “For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord (1Sa 1:27-28).” In other words her prayer was that the Lord would raise Him. For another child I have prayed. A child that will soon arrive.

“I have no illusions that even if it were possible to be the “perfect” parent that the outcome is assured.”

I have no doubt that Levi prayed earnestly for his sons. I have no illusions that even if it were possible to be the “perfect” parent that the outcome is assured. But my prayer is that the Lord will use Sarah and I to raise His daughter that she will fear the Lord and come to love Him for what He has done for her. The salvation of her parents is assured I want her to know that, so that she will one day make a decision of her own will to place her trust in God for her salvation. What ever successes and failures that she has in this life, in those times that will be given to her, are insignificant in the absence of the one fact of her salvation.

“Why should Christians live obedient lives unto God?”

Adam Clarke, commenting on the worthlessness of Eli’s sons, writes, “These men were the principal cause of all the ungodliness of Israel. Their most execrable conduct… caused the people to abhor the Lord’s offering. An impious priesthood is the grand cause of the transgressions and ruin of any nation…” Why should Christians live obedient lives unto God? Because once our salvation is secure it is not about us anymore. Our obedience becomes a testimony before our nation and our world. Our obedience is about what everyone around us sees, that at the very best they would ask about our hope and our faith and at worse that we would not be the cause that brings anyone to, “abhor the Lord’s offering.”

I have learned much about God’s nature by trying to imitate Him within the context of my marriage. More often than not it only reveals not that I am a miserable husband but how much my flesh gets in the way of being the husband that I desire to be. I am confident that I will learn much about God’s nature as I struggle to be a father. It will probably reveal more ways in which my flesh will get in the way. But as long as I continue to persevere in my faith in God’s goodness towards the goodness that He has promised me He will not be ashamed to call Himself my God (Heb 11:16). And as one of His own my obedience will not hinder my daughter from drawing near to Him as well.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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The Eternal Moment and The Morality of Time

On By AaronIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Recently in our Bible study we were discussing universalism. The universalist, in short, believes that all mankind will be saved. One pro-universalist argument is that it would not matter how long it would take but eventually everyone would be made subject to God and eventually submit themselves to Him. No one who knew God’s love could resist Him forever. Another is that a good God could not punish someone forever for a finite infraction against his law. However, these universalist arguments are based on a flawed understanding of the relationship of eternity and time and an incomplete understanding of what it means to be good.

Eternity cannot be understood as billions more years after you have already existed for billions of years in an unending line of time.  If this were true, then time would have to extend eternally in both directions; both forward and backward in order to understand God as having no beginning and no end; the traditional understanding of God’s eternality.

In physics there is a distance, at the smallest level, in which you can not go any smaller without loosing the concept of distance.  The question of what is smaller than this distance can not be answered in terms of these distances and so can not be distance as we know it.  This is called Planck distance.  To go smaller something else, entirely other than distance, would have to exist.  The same is true of time; there is also a Planck time.  Before the beginning, something other than time existed, or exists, before time.   Therefore, eternity must be something other than time.  Perhaps, it is more precise, although imperfect because it is also being expressed in terms of time, to think of eternity as a single moment that exists forever.  I am not yet sure what that would be, but it would be different than what we currently experience as time.

On the way home I started thinking about what that eternal moment would be like and could we enjoy existing in it.  I am most fortunate because there have been moments in my life in which I would like to exist forever.  Maybe those moments are imperfect similes of the eternal moment.  One example of an eternal moment for me was the first hug between Sarah and I on my return from a deployment into a combat theater of operations.  I can still feel her presence in that moment.  Every curve of her body as she pressed hers into mine and I pressed mine into hers.  The smell of her skin the warmth of her breath…; I can remember it all.  I had not seen her and had been existing in a reality in which I might not have gotten to see her again.  I missed her and longed for her and in that moment of reunion I wanted to be fully in her presence and not for mere physical gratification but because I loved her and she loved me.

What made that moment eternally significant, or at the very least more significant than every other hug before or since, was the gratitude that came with the fact of this specific hug’s existence as contrasted by the real possibility of its non existence.  Our first kiss, the first time she told me she loved me, the moment her dad walked her to me down the isle at our wedding, the moment she told me she was pregnant, and the moment we found out together that she was pregnant again. All significant because they could not exist on the strength of my own will and had to exist in a context of gratitude towards something apart from me.  All moments I could live in forever.

But those aren’t the only moments of my existence.  If there are moments in which I could live forever aren’t there also moments that I would rather had never existed at all?  There seems to me to be two kinds of these moments.  Those in which there is pain inflicted on me, a recent trip to the dentist would suffice as proof of these, and those in which I inflict pain on others.  And not by accident but by intent.  That might be an oversimplification because I spend a lot of time at work not inflicting any pain that aren’t really painful in and of themselves but that are also not significant enough that I would think them worthy of living in forever or of eternal significance.  But there are some moments that are significantly painful enough or in which I know I have inflicted a significant enough of a wound that I would rather they had not existed at all.  I won’t list those here because the pain can be overwhelming and, well,  I would rather you not know the pain I have inflicted on others to my own shame.   It also seems to me these moments are defined by the justice owed or the justice demanded.  I demand justice for the pain inflicted on me and I owe justice for the pain I inflicted on others.

If our understanding of eternity as a single moment existing forever is more accurate then heaven could be thought of as existing forever in a moment of perfect love, held there by perfect power, in a state of perfect gratitude that the moment can exist inviolate of perfect justice despite who we were.  Hell would then be existing forever in a moment of perfect justice held by perfect power in the perfect knowledge of who you are.  One you would never want out of and the other you could never escape.

With this understanding of heaven and hell the argument that a good god would never subject a finite being to an eternal punishment starts to look more and more like a straw man.  Eternity simply is a binary in which you exist in one of the two states above.  The reality is that justice is demanded and if you demanded justice would your demand be satisfied by something less?  No, a good god would provide perfect justice or he would be a fraud.  If injustice is evil and justice is good then isn’t an appeal for justice an appeal to a higher good and if justice is denied isn’t that denial of justice just another injustice.  God’s goodness is tied to justice and in the face of injustice hell is required.  The straw man is only put forth in order to deceive ourselves into thinking that we might escape the justice that is owed, by a good god.  God’s mercy is appealed to at the expense of His goodness.

No, hell is necessary for God to be good in the face of the injustice of man.  Or more Biblically accurate hell is necessary for God to be good in the face of Satan’s injustice while hell is merely convenient for God to be good in the face of the injustice of man.  Heaven is not necessary it merely is as the abode of perfection.  Philosophically the existence of heaven and hell are not hard to work out.  However, until Jesus, bringing man into heaven was philosophically impossible.  Jesus as an eternal being sacrificed in a single moment is still sufficient for your injustice, even if it were only in a single moment. Your single injustice against an eternal God would still warrant an eternal justice.  That Jesus is sufficient and obedient is the mercy that saves you from the justice of God’s goodness without violating either His goodness or His love for us.

Anyway, I am more philosopher than physicist so don’t forget to remind me how I misused Planck’s ideas in the comments below. I am, however, confident in the sufficiency of Christ!

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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