What does it mean to be religious?

In a recent opinion piece in the online CNN by Jay Parini, (a college professor, poet, novelist, and author of a biography of Jesus called “Jesus: the Human Face of God,”) Parini refutes a Gallup poll saying that Vermont is the least religious state in the union, with only 22% of the people there willing to call themselves “very religious.” (This is opposed to Mississippi where 61% of the people said they were “very religious.”)

In his piece Parini asks the question, “But what does it really mean to be ‘very religious’ and not just spiritual?” He says of himself, “. . . I've been keenly interested in the question of religion, having written a biography of Jesus and practiced Christianity as best I can for much of my life.” He talks about the contrast between traditional religion (churches and church services) in Vermont (struggling) and in Mississippi (every corner and radio station), and then warns about assuming an absence of religious trappings means an absence of spirituality (or vice versa, that religious trappings mean people are truly religious or closer to God).

He says, “Indeed, when I step into my local co-operative food store in Vermont, the bulletin board is crammed with listings for local meditation groups or yoga classes or panel discussions on ‘spirit and nature.’ The community spirit is strong in this state, and the value of helping one's neighbor is cherished here as much as anywhere. And these values include things like spending money on education, on good health care for all, and making sure that the land itself is responsibly used, with a keen awareness of environmental consequences. Indeed, Vermont was chosen the No. 1 greenest state in a recent poll.” 

Following that he shares how Mississippi, “ranks near the bottom in health care for low income people and environmental responsibility.”

Parini says that in his college classes his students are on a quest, asking questions about spirituality, and he leads them in discussions of the Psalms, ancient Taoist poems, Islamic writings, Christian poets, etc. Then, he adds something that is very bothersome to me from someone saying they try to “practice” Christianity and have written a biography on Jesus.

He says, “Jesus himself put forward the essential questions: What does it mean to live an ethical life? What is this mysterious thing called ‘spirit’ and how does it relate to questions about God? How do we live, as people of faith, in communion with each other as well as God? In so many ways, Jesus was the ultimate seeker, hungry for the deepest kinds of experience. He looked for, and found, astonishing answers, inviting us to follow him in our quest. . . . I would refer the good pollsters at Gallup back to the story of Jesus, who when asked by pesky Pharisees where the Kingdom of God could be found, said: ‘Don't say, look, it’s here or there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.’”

This to me epitomizes (or at least strongly implies) the lies the devil has sown within our culture. That to be “spiritual” or “religious” equates to being OK with Jesus. He has portrayed Jesus as a seeker, hungry for deep experiences, looking for answers. And this man is a college teacher with enough influence to write an opinion piece for CNN. I am not sure what “practicing” Christianity means if we neglect the foundation of Christianity—a Savior, Jesus, who died for our sin so we might be reconciled to God through Him. And, the Kingdom of God is the King's domain. It is where God rules. If you haven't surrendered your life to Jesus the Kingdom of God is not yours. Colossians 1:13 makes it clear that those who've received Jesus' salvation are those who are in the Kingdom when it says, "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

This is scary, and it is a path of deception that leads people to the pit. Jesus was not a seeker, and being spiritual doesn’t make us OK with Him. Ask the questions, but if they don’t end at Jesus—and not Parini’s Jesus, but the Jesus of the Bible who says He is the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him—then they may have fooled you or a loved one into a place of thinking that being spiritual is being reconciled with God. You can die “spiritual” and be eternally separated from God.

Jesus didn’t come seeking answers, He came bringing answers—and His are the only right ones. God says of Jesus, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3) Then, 2 Peter 1:3 tells us of Christ, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.” Colossians 1:15–17 makes the incredible statement about Jesus, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Sounds like He has the answers.

John writes of Jesus in John 1:1–3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” And, Jesus doesn’t say that when the Holy Spirit comes to us He will be along side us looking for answers as well, but rather that He will, “. . . guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13)

This is a very different Jesus than it sounds like Parini is portraying (at least in his opinion piece). It is the Jesus who is the beginning and the end, who is God and the only way to the Father, and who is coming back to execute the Father’s judgment. The Bible makes it clear that you are either saved by Jesus blood, or you aren’t, and there is no inbetween. All the “religion” in the world won’t save you or reconcile you to God. Only Jesus will. Being “spiritual” doesn’t cut it. And, Christianity isn’t a moral or ethical code to “practice,” on par with other religions or “green” lifestyles—it is God living in you, by faith in Jesus as your Lord for your salvation, living His life through your surrendered life.

My fear is that we have become a culture that has substituted things about God and religion for God. We are immersed in “spirituality” in whatever form we “feel” is OK, and being “spiritual” or “religious” we feel safe. We admire ourselves as “seekers” instead of humble ourselves as sinners. We pride ourself on our open-mindedness, when in fact Jesus was very close-minded saying that it is His way or no way. We worship the creation instead of the Creator, and we think a “good life” makes us Godly. These are dangerous lies, but they make us feel so good about ourselves and help us avoid confronting a surrender to the holy God of the universe who sent His Son to die.

Jesus is the way. And the Bible reveals the real Jesus. We need Him, not another biography about Him. He already revealed Himself and the whole Bible reveals Him. The title of Parini's piece is "Why Vermont is not Godless." We need to understand, being "spiritual" is not being Godly. If they don't have Jesus they are Godless. And that applies to all of us, whoever we are and whatever state we are in.

Already in Place . . .

I have been fascinated in the road of study God has taken me down lately, which it seems He keeps centering on the church's early 1800s collapse from believing a literal six-day Genesis Creation to believing alternatives like a gap theory or that the "days" of Genesis mean much more than a literal day (despite God saying there was evening and there was morning for them). I thought you might be interested in a brief summary of what I've learned so far . . .

Shoshone Falls area of Idaho. One of many places we saw
on our trip that now attribute the terrain to a short duration
catastrophic flood event instead of a gradual carving out
over long periods of time.

If you'd ask most Christians when the collapse of Genesis belief occurred my guess is that many would say it began with Darwin. The reality is that well before Darwin uniformitarian geology was gaining strength. This basically says that the present is the key to the past (change is uniform) so therefore, since we see earth changing so slowly now, to arrive at where we are now at this rate of change would take vast periods of time. In opposition to them were catastrophists who believe that the earth's surface was explained by a major (or multiple major) catastrophe(s) . . . i.e. a global flood.

Over the early decades of the 1800s it appears the catastrophists were shut out as the dominate voice, with a few "Scriptural Geologists" trying to hold the gates closed, but Christian leader after Christian leader collapsing under the pressure and assumption that the latest geological "evidence" was true. So, scrambling to find a way to "preserve" the inspiration and truth of Scripture these other theories surfaced that tried to reconcile the two, giving room for vast periods of time and Scripture to still be true.

By the time Darwin published his On the Origin of Species book in 1859 the church had already, for the most part, caved to old earth theories—"reinterpreting" Scripture to fit "nature" instead of interpreting nature in light of Scripture. At this point in the early to mid-1800s it seems to me that it is mainly geology and the earth that seem to be discussed, but then, along comes Darwin—strongly influenced in old earth gradual change theory—who publishes a theory of life that has man evolving from primitive life forms over ages and ages of time.

"Oh no! What do we do? Man made in God's image from apes! Death before sin! Heaven forbid!" I can assume many cries like that went up from Christians based on many of the responses to Darwin's book I've read about . . . but, it is the church who'd already put in place from their pulpits the two primary tenets needed to believe in evolution across species (the earth is vast periods of time old, and Scripture doesn't mean what it clearly says it means and confirms in other places in Scripture), and who'd already set the precedent of reinterpreting Scripture to "science."

Well, now the church has to explain how and why the rest of Scripture and God's promises and the revelations of God's character and nature are true when they've already put themselves as the judge and jury in arbitrarily declaring parts of it true and parts not. And, they have to explain in a way that doesn't keep "reinterpreting" Scripture, how death entered through sin if there was death before sin, how a brutal and self-centered killing idea of survival of the fittest could possibly be declared "as good" by God, why Jesus' genealogy goes to Adam, how sin entered through "one man," and so on and so on and so on.

I actually find it stunning in the inconsistency of a church submitting God's Word to purported "science" in the origins and age of the earth issue, but then standing adamantly against that same "science" that equally declares impossible or "false" things like resurrection from the dead, virgin birth, multiplying of loaves and fishes, miraculous healings, parting of oceans, walking on water, demonic and angelic activity, Heaven, Hell, etc. Is it any wonder the world gives us so little credit when we are so inconsistent and arbitrary?

Anyway, I found that insight into the early/mid-1800s compromise fascinating and eye-opening as it sheds light on why, when Darwin pops up, we fell so fast. Maybe it interests you as well. I believe that this issue is tremendously critical as the foundation of our faith in the Bible, how we interpret the Bible, and the foundation of what we submit as the highest source of truth are at stake. And, despite what the media and everyone else tells us, a little research will reveal multitudes of Ph.D. and other scientists who believe the evidence supports a literal young-earth Creation as recorded in Genesis.

Note: Today it is fascinating how many geological sites (some of which we visited on our Fall "Creation Trip" up into Yellowstone) now attribute significant terrain features to massive interior seas that breached in the past and carved out stunning canyons and topography on their way to the major oceans. Of course none of these sites attribute any of that to the receding flood waters of Noah's flood, or mention that these interior seas likely formed during the flood and subsequent Ice Age, but it is interesting to see the word "catastrophe" returning in different forms in secular geologic theories since it was so "taboo" to even hint at it for so many decades and possibly give Creationists and "Flood people" any chance of credibility.

New Glasses . . .

Do you ever find yourself needing new glasses? Or, sometimes you find you see better with an older pair you'd forgotten about. Well, I'd like to share about a couple of pairs of "glasses" you might be blessed by, or might have worn before and forgotten about . . .

Correction from God
Last night as I taught the youth group from Proverbs 3 we talked about correction/discipline from God. I cross-referenced Hebrews 12 which also talks about it. In both cases we are told not to despise it, but to embrace it, because it is the mark of His love for us and of our adoption as His children. In fact it says it is of a Father who delights in His children, and the absence of it is a mark of illegitimacy, that we are not His.

So often we can chafe against anything that keeps us from following our own ways and wants, and if we aren't careful we can see God's correction that way. We might even see it as punishment, but that is not the case because Christ bore the chastisement for our sins. It is correction, discipline, and it is for a reason:

For they [earthly fathers] disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Heb 12:10-11 ESV)

If we see it as punishment we might be tempted to say, "Well, I'm already being punished, might as well do what I want anyway." But if we see it as correction, and a mark of God's love, we can rejoice in it, and we can see that submitting to it (the sooner the better) is the best we can do. The very nature of correction implies it is for a purpose and it is lifted when its purpose is accomplished. I used the example of car wrecks I've been on in the fire department—if a car starts to drift toward the shoulder we "correct" our steering to get back on course. If we "over correct" we can cross lanes or flip our car. Correction is for a purpose, and when the purpose is met we stop.

Might it bless us as Christians to see God's correction through these "glasses"! God's correction is:
1. Evidence of His tremendous love for us and delight in us.
2. For a purpose, and the sooner we submit to it the easier it will be, and the sooner it will be lifted.

Dependence
That is an ugly word for most of us. Who wants to depend on anyone or anything? We want to control our lives and be "king" of our lives!

This morning in my quiet time I was thinking of all the things I am completely dependent on God for—health, rain to fill our water table and to bring us the grass we need, finances, His Spirit over the fellowship I pastor, etc. I was in that place where there were multiple things heavy and worrisome on my heart, and I had to confess to Him that I was (and am) totally dependent on Him.

Then it struck me anew what I'd said, "I am totally dependent on HIM!" Him, who breathes out stars! Him, who loved me before the foundation of the earth! Him who is not caught off guard by anything that happens in my life or around me! Him who measures the universe with the span of His hands! Him who died on a cross so He could adopt me as His son and live in relationship with me for all of eternity! Him who said He'd never leave or forsake me! Him who said to be anxious for nothing!

Through those "glasses" being dependent is a really, really good thing—because He is far more capable than I am to handle them!

Blessings to you all! Thanks for reading and sharing in my life and thoughts. May you have a wonderful Valentines Day and weekend.   —Erick

Greetings

Greetings to any and all who might read this! I know that I haven't posted since early December, but things have been really busy and I never want to force a post simply for the sake of posting. I hope that you had a joyous, God-filled Christmas and that this year is beginning filled with a deep sense of His love for you!

Dream and the girls in our "arena" with a metal cross we
were given when a neighbor passed away.

Happy girls!

Last year was a very good one for our family, but one in which were were heavily invested in, and surrounded by, many, many lives that were hurting very deeply. It was a year of seasoning in ministry that was probably one of the hardest, but most growing I've ever had. I feel honored and privileged to be used of God in other people lives, and I hope I never resent or grow weary of that. I found seasons in which I found religion deeply unsatisfying if in any form that it substituted for Jesus Himself. He alone is the deep well we must drink from and the life we must let flow through us. Anything that doesn't point us to Him, but substitutes for Him, will never satisfy or sustain. Yet . . . how easy it is to replace Him with things about Him, to let things meant to be a means to Him as the end become instead an end in themselves. Jesus—He is life . . . yet it is easy to miss that in the busyness of our world, or even in doing things about and for Him.

One of the neat things that happened for our family in the later days of 2013 (in addition to the amazing trip we were able to take that I've already posted about) was being given a horse. The girls named her "Dream" as she is their dream come true, and we are blessed by the instruction the couple who gave her to us have been giving us. She is about 8-years-old, and an Appaloosa pony. We are very excited to have her in our family, but desperately needing rain to get the grass growing we need to supplement her feed.

I look forward to sharing more of our life and some things God has been showing me with you in the weeks and months ahead, and I thank you for sharing in my life. The body of Christ is fully the body when it is interconnected one with another, and I love hearing from you as well. May God bless you in the coming months and may we all grow in a never ending awe of Him and His holiness, and joy at our adoption. Blessings   —Erick

Note: This blog began, and remains, as a place for me to share slices of my life, thoughts, things God is showing me, etc. If that description ever ceases to be something you are interested in please feel a freedom to unsubscribe using the link on your email. In this day and age of constant electronic bombardment in many forms we must be careful in what we choose to read and invest our time in, or one day we may find that while we are surrounded with things about God, we are empty and dry in God. If you enjoy hearing about our life, great! If my posts play some small part in drawing you closer to God or encouraging you, great! And if not, please have God help you find things in your life that better serve to draw you to Him. I understand, and encourage you in that direction.