Friday, January 20, 2017
I am Persuaded
I
Am Persuaded
I am persuaded mountain lakes can be cold because I tried
washing my head in a Montana lake one spring and nearly passed out. I am
persuaded New England winters can be brutal because I have lived through them
for several decades; I have chipped ice off roofs, shoveled tons of snow and
shivered in the cold while trying to frame walls in January. I am persuaded cows are strong because, as a
teen, I wrestled the calves to the ground for branding and I saw spooked cows
snap off 8"x8" fence posts as if they were twigs. I am persuaded nail guns are dangerous
because I've been injured by deflected nails more than once. I am persuaded sunsets are beautiful because
recently I've taken the time to stop and enjoy them.
Life experiences have convinced me of many things. If I
were to read a book that declared that all lakes were warm, I would not change
my mind. If the Supreme Court were to
rule that New England winters were not wet or cold, I would laugh at their
ruling. If a dozen Hollywood stars were to tell their fans that cows are weak,
I would just consider the source. If I were to find out Ivy League schools
taught that nail guns were not dangerous, my opinion would remain. If all the
U.S. news outlets put out a bulletin saying sunsets were ugly, I would simply
feel sorry for them.
I think most readers would react the same way in my
situation. Most of us would not be so
intimidated by the aforementioned sources that we would believe them over what
we had proven in our own lives.
So why are we expected to cave in to popular or
politically correct fads and opinions on even more important subjects? Why is
it that good people with time-proven morals and values are pressured to sit
quietly and adopt opinions that violently conflict with the things that have
been proven true on many occasions? Why do the bullies of the world who make a
lot of noise about their opinions feel so free to berate others who have been
convinced and convicted about truths and values by living through the school of
hard knocks?
I wonder if anyone else is a little tired of being
labeled backward or prudish because they agree with powerful and time-proven
principles such as those found in Scripture?
Life and over thirty years of helping people deal with life's greatest
challenges have convinced me that:
- God is good
- Marriage can be the most powerful asset a person can have
- Telling the truth is not hateful or bigoted
- Dishonesty is wrong and hurtful even when society tolerates it
- Obeying the Ten Commandments could solve most of mankind's problems
- The Bible is the greatest book ever written
I am persuaded. If
you are persuaded, there is no good reason for you to adopt the views of people
who have not discovered these things for themselves. Maybe it is time to ignore all the noise from
supposed experts and test these things for yourself. Then, don't be ashamed to kindly let the
world know that you are persuaded.
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Unexplainable
I can just
see them: spellbound, wide-eyed, mouths gaping and minds whirring. People of varying occupations, ages, races
and socioeconomic backgrounds who had one thing in common - they had never
heard anything like they were hearing from the unkempt, long-haired mountain
man who was leaning back in his chair, gazing into space, describing a remote
mountain scene he claimed to have seen with his own eyes. He told of a place where the mud bubbled, the
air smelled like rotten eggs, deep blue-green pools of water nearly boiled and
streams of water unpredictably jetted higher than the trees - and all this
smack dab in the middle of frozen patches of ice and snow. At first his
audience was amazed, even mesmerized, but soon many became skeptical. Why? Because they had never seen anything of
the sort. It didn't seem plausible. It
was unexplainable.
Turns out
old John Colter was telling the truth.
His contemporaries inability to believe the explorer's tales in 1806, did not make the geothermal features
that would eventually become a hallmark of Yellowstone National Park
non-existent. Colter couldn't explain it at the time, but he could certainly
tell the world about it. Believers who have had personal experiences with God
can relate. It is real, but unexplainable.
Some things I, as a believer, can not explain:
- How He made this amazing planet with all its wonderful and varied life forms.
- How we can live forever.
- Why the almighty Creator would be so patient and forgiving toward those who arrogantly slaughtered him.
- Why God robed Himself in flesh and died for people who He knew would reject him.
- How Jesus raised himself from the dead and ascended into heaven.
- How God hears and answers the prayers of people all over the world, simultaneously.
- How and why a perfect God would forgive me and give me a full pardon for all my sins, without charge.
Some might argue that such questions are evidence that God is a
fictional character. Because they can't explain, they can't believe. But most people see how that flies in the
face of reason. That would be like
declaring that space shuttles do not exist just because there are people who
have never seen a shuttle and cannot fathom a machine that can circumvent the
globe and travel at speeds in excess of 17,000 miles per hour. The evidence is
everywhere:
- Billions of people who have had personal experiences with God.
- Millions of people who have been healed or raised from the dead.
- Thousands who have been so impacted by God that they have been willing to die for him.
For
believers, those unexplainable statements simply stand as evidence that God is
bigger than our minds can concieve. That
is extremely comforting when coupled with the Good News that He loves us in
spite of our limited knowledge and imperfect behavior. To be honest, I would not want a God who was
explainable. A God we can figure out is
probably a god of our own making. The greatest attribute of the Creator-God who
became our Savior is that He is unexplainable!
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