It's Easter -- and I have questions!

This isn't meant to be a heretical kind of post
...unless asking questions is an act of heresy.
Honestly, it does feel like that sometimes. People in control hate having to answer hard questions or defend their stance with something more than -- that's just the way it is, or because I said so. It's so much easier if we just accept what we've been taught and move on.

But...
That's not me.
At least, not anymore.

In my faith deconstruction I pretty much examine and question everything.
At this time of the Liturgical Calendar I wonder about the death and resurrection of Jesus.
In Catholic, Protestant, and Evangelical churches forgiveness is a necessary part of salvation.
I get that, but we are also taught that one must seek forgiveness in order to be forgiven.
And I'm not sure that is true.

If I can forgive someone that isn't sorry, why can't God?
Evangelicals teach that you have to admit you are a sinner and ask for forgiveness, but on the cross Jesus said -- Father, forgive them. They don't even know what they're doing.
How did the church come up with something so opposite?

Did Jesus have to die?
Substitutionary atonement has become the main salvation theology over the past few hundred years, but it hasn't always been that way. Did his death pay the price for our sins? Was that the condition for forgiveness from a God that loves us unconditionally?
Do you see why I have questions?

Here's another one --
How necessary is the resurrection?
When Jesus surrendered his spirit and said -- It is finished --what was he talking about?
Was it like -- That's it! I'm outta here! -- or something else?
Was his death necessary for our salvation and now he was dead, so it was (is) finished?
And if it was finished, is the resurrection necessary for our salvation?
Or was it just a cool God thing, you know -- God can't die, so I'm back! -- kind of thing?

Reconstructing faith after a serious deconstruction can be messy business. It's like going through a hoarder's storage unit and deciding if there is anything worth keeping. You might not even know why you have most things to begin with. There are probably some important things mixed in with the garbage and you need to find those gems and remember their value while letting everything else go.

I sincerely hope that you don't come here for answers. As the title of this post indicates -- I don't have answers. I have questions. Asking challenging questions shouldn't be an act of heresy. It is an opportunity for somebody to offer reasonably thought-out and defensible answers.
Teach me.

For what it's worth -- I like the stuff Jesus taught.
I like the idea that everybody is my neighbor -- even the people that religions or borders say shouldn't be.
I like that we should take care of each other and help people that are in need of a little help.
I like that we should forgive people and send them on their way without the burden of guilt or weight of a debt to be paid.
I like that heaven is here. It is within us. It is around us. 
I like that I can see the spirit of Jesus -- the spirit of God -- in the lives of others.
And maybe that is what the resurrection is all about -- being able to recognize the Christ that lives on in each of us.

Do you have answers?
Let's talk.

John

The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand

I suppose there is nothing like the death of someone to get you to think about the afterlife or if there even is something beyond our human existence.
According to the gospels, this is what Jesus taught -- The kingdom of heaven is here; it's right now. It's at hand.
It's a little odd that we westerners tend to look at the teachings of an ancient middle eastern man from a western perspective rather than from an eastern or middle eastern one. Eastern religions and philosophies teach us to be present; to live in the moment. It seems like quite a shift for us westerners to grasp this idea of mindfulness, but could this be what Jesus was talking about? What if heaven isn't a place we go when we die, but it is where and how we are living now?
And is the same thing true for hell?

The simple truth that I've come to in my own personal journey of faith is that I really don't know and am not equipped to tell you what you should believe. That's a huge shift from being a Southern Baptist Evangelist or even just from being an evangelical Christian that believes he has all the answers about your eternal salvation. 
I'm interested in your beliefs and philosophies on life, death, heaven and hell, but I can promise you I will have questions if we discuss them. My questions aren't to contradict nor criticize, but rather to understand how you have arrived at your beliefs.

I realize this is a short and unfulfilling post about religion or religious beliefs, but it's all I can weave together this morning. There are lots of thoughts in my head that I just don't know how to write in words or if there really are words to adequately share them. 

Two life philosophies that I am willing to share --
Live in the moment (be present)
Love your neighbor (everyone is your neighbor)

John

Advent 2019: Christmas Eve, Day 24

Luke 24

The tomb is empty. Jesus is risen.
Jesus appears to the disciples, opens their eyes to the scriptures, and ascends into heaven.

At the beginning of Luke's gospel, he wrote that he had been following the events surrounding Jesus for some time. He had spoken with the eyewitnesses and checked out their stories. He wrote these things down and sent them to Theophilus so that he could know that the things he'd been hearing about Jesus were true and the things that he had been taught about the Messiah had been fulfilled in Jesus.

Mathematician Peter Stoner and some of his students worked to calculate the odds of one person being able to fulfill just eight of the messianic prophesies.You can read their results here.

I began this Advent series through the 24 chapters of Luke's gospel so that we could better get to know Jesus and decide for ourselves -- Is Jesus the Son of God? and Is Jesus worth following?
It is possible to answer the first question "I still don't know," and yet answer the second question with a "Yes!"
I truly believe that the more you follow him, the better you will come to know the character and love of God.

From the statistics provided by Google, I know that not many readers have followed along with this daily journey. My guess would be that the few that have are already believers. Whatever the case may be and however you choose to celebrate Christmas, I wish you peace, joy, and love.

Merry Christmas

John <><

What if...? Changing my way of thinking.

For a long time (nearly 10 years according to my Facebook memories) I've been using the simple statements of "God loves you," and "Jesus died for you," as a base for my preaching, teaching, and (hopefully) living.
I think it's time for a change.

Stay with me here. I've already been discarded to the heretic heap by many with far more theological education than me and most of you, but close-mindedness seems to be a consistent trait found in deeply conservative thinking whether it be conservative religion or politics. If you are open to a little reasoning and discussion, perhaps you'll see why I think I need to change.

Throughout my evangelical life, the emphasis has always been on the end game -- getting to heaven, salvation, the death and resurrection of Jesus. Evangelicals talk about discipleship, but really only as far as it helps to teach the message of salvation through trusting in Jesus as Savior.
What would happen if I switched my foundational statements to: God loves you, and Jesus lived for you?

The evangelical preacher in me wants to correct myself by saying "Jesus lives for you," because of the whole resurrection thing and he is still alive, but I'm referring to his human life. I'm talking about the Philippians 2 thing where Jesus sets aside the divine nature to become human. He lived (and died) as a human.

What would happen if we changed our way of thinking to focus on the life that Jesus lived rather than on the death that Jesus died?
What if we set aside the idea that we are concerned with eternity for others and just take care of their need to be loved now?
What if we leave it to God to be concerned with their eternal state of being and we simply follow the example of Jesus and love them as he loves them?
What if the whole point of Jesus living as a human wasn't just so that he could die as a human?
What if he lived as a human so that we would know how God expects us to live as humans?
What if heaven isn't a destination to be striven for but a state of being in which we can exist right now?

When Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand... ," what if he meant that we can choose to live in heaven RIGHT NOW?
What if we stopped thinking about the death of Jesus as a way to get to heaven and we started thinking about following the life of Jesus as a way to be in heaven?

Hmmm...
These are the questions I ask myself.

John <><

Teaching How to Think vs Indoctrination

I get to teach a high school class at church this week. We are looking at the topic of apologetics.
Last week was an introduction to the topic. This week's lesson is How can I know there's a God?

The point of my lesson isn't to prove to them there is a God, nor is it to defend my beliefs. The point is to equip them to examine and defend their own beliefs -- even if they differ from mine!

Looking over the lesson this morning has me thinking about how my own thinking on Jesus has evolved over time. I am really beginning to value the freedom of slowly leaving religion behind and simply following Jesus. I'm not sure when or how I came to the realization that religion (not just Christianity) tends to seek control, but God wants to set us free.

In evangelicalism, we always talk about Jesus delivering us from sin and the punishment from sin. We tend to ignore that Jesus said he came to set the captives free, give hope to those in poverty and release the downtrodden from their oppressors. Jesus didn't come to burden us with religion. He came to set us free from religion!

I'm finding this following of Jesus to be both freeing and uncomfortable at the same time. The difficulty is in becoming less religious and being okay with that. The voices and religions of the past still speak to me. All of them are not traditional religions.
Voices like, "Be a man!" and "Proud to be an American" are also semi-religious voices that seek to control our thoughts and behaviors. In the Bible Paul writes that in Jesus there are no national boundaries, no economic divisions, no gender biases -- just simple followers of Jesus. Everyone is welcome and everyone is equal.

It is this present philosophy of religion and following Jesus that makes me want to be very careful as I teach and preach the way of Jesus -- especially to young people. As much as I want them to know what Jesus said two thousand years ago, I also want to equip them to figure out what that means for them in 2019.
I don't want them to follow John.
I want them to follow Jesus.

The Old Testament has 613 laws for the Jews to follow.
I have no idea how many laws today's religious Christians have to follow.
Jesus summarized the 613 laws into two -- Love God and love people.
Then he said, "Follow me."

I can live with these three.

John <><

John, Chapter 11

John 11

In summary --

It is difficult to imagine that after raising Lazarus from the dead, there where still people that would reject the notion that Jesus was indeed the long awaited Messiah. But what we find is that the religious leaders (who are also the national leaders) aren't as concerned with seeking God as they are with protecting their place of local authority under Roman rule and their national status under Roman rule. The present consequence of recognizing Jesus as God (thereby denying Caesar as god) caused them more fear than the future eternal consequence of rejecting God caused.

My favorite verse --

Yeah, it's that one -- the shortest verse in the Bible.

35 Jesus wept.

Jesus felt the pain of  Martha and Mary. He knew the sorrow that surrounded them and understood their grief. He was troubled because they were troubled.

Something to think about --

Is there a fear that you may have to change the way you think, feel, or live if you decided to follow Jesus?
Does the thought of having to admit you were wrong keep you from following Jesus?
Or are you open minded enough to ask questions and learn from the answers and evidence?

If you would like some materials to read, if you wouldn't mind investigating the evidence for a Creator and Savior, drop me a note and I'll share some books that you might enjoy.

John <><

Political Apologetics

At the risk of great criticism, I'm going to combine religion and politics -- sort of.
My religious beliefs have already come under fire due to my political beliefs, so I have already had to endure some of that baloney sauce (bs). What I'm talking about here is using the same methods for talking about my religious views with people of differing beliefs in talking to people with differing political views.

I have to say that it takes great patience and I'm not sure if it will work well since politics seems to be a much more volatile subject than religion.

What I've found to work well in sharing my faith is to ask questions about their beliefs.
I don't criticize or object to their beliefs and I don't listen to respond with my own counter beliefs. I ask questions and listen. I may ask them why they believe a certain way or what the basis or source for a belief might be. I may even ask for a book or source so that I can better understand why they believe what they believe. As a rule, unless asked, I do not share my beliefs with them in an initial conversation.
I generally end an initial conversation by asking for some time to think about what they've said and permission to get back to them to discuss it further.

I don't know if that will work well discussing politics or if I'll be able to keep from pointing out a false source of information or debating the validity of the basis of their conclusions. As I said, politics seems to be more volatile. I guess we seem to agree that we can have differing religious beliefs because of the 1st Amendment, but it doesn't say anything about differing political beliefs! You can have different religious beliefs and still be American, but if you have different political beliefs you must be a traitor!

Condemning someone to eternal hell has never seemed to work well for me in expecting them to be open to listening to my religious beliefs. I don't think it works well in politics, either.
As a matter of fact, it's because we think that we are so far apart that we have nothing to discuss that we've gotten to the political polarity where we now find ourselves. A political party internally driven by extremists will no longer work with others. We are no longer fellow Americans with differing opinions on solving our problems. Political opponents are now un-American and we need to guard against them or take our country back from them.

I fear that we are nearing the point that we either begin meaningful conversations and work together for the good of all or we go all the way to the extremes and endure civil war or authoritarian rule.

In spiritual belief conversations, I generally want to know:

What do you believe?
Why do you believe it?
What if you're wrong?
and...
Can I show you another possible way?

We should also ask ourselves these questions -- about religion and about politics.

John <><

More on Believing in God

I just wanted to add a little bit to my simplistic reasoning in favor of believing in God.

In nature, nothing moves from chaos to an organized structure.  The opposite happens -- things that are organized become corrupted. Everything about the natural world around has has such a specific, and often complicated design. This design can't happen by random coincidence.

An argument that is as old as the Cosmological Argument is the Teleological Argument in favor of an Intelligent Designer. It simply says that anything with a design, must have a designer. The universe has design. Therefore, the universe must have a designer.

Again, it's a pretty simple view, but it makes good sense to me.
The Bible says that God has shown himself to man in the things he has created (Rom 1:20).

I should also say that simply believing there is a Creator or Intelligent Designer doesn't mean that there is a moral god or that this supernatural being cares about what happens to the works that have been created. That's an issue yet to be addressed.

At one time, the common thought was that the universe was eternal; that it has always been.
That would eliminate the Cosmological Argument since it deals with things that have a beginning. Science tells us that the universe did have a beginning; a singular moment in time when it began to exist!

I find it pleasing and completely natural that the very laws of nature would point us to something supernatural to explain its beginning!
I am also amused by people that refuse to look outside of science or nature to explain creation, but rather choose to say they simply don't know what could have been before that singular moment or what could have possibly caused it.
I truly believe that it takes way more faith to say the universe began, but we don't know how, than to believe in a Supreme Being that acted to create it.

Just rambling a bit this morning.
Have a grand day.

John <><

On the Outside, Looking In

A week ago I posted about organized religion and promised future posts that distilled my own beliefs down to a pretty simple, but un-organized set of beliefs.

I currently belong to a relatively small Southern Baptist church in southwest Missouri. That church belongs to an association of about sixty other Southern Baptists churches. Together we belong to the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) and to the larger international Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).  Although each individual church is autonomous, you can see that we band together and are indeed a part of organized religion.

I didn't grow up in a Southern Baptist church and am still not a dyed in the wool Southern Baptist kind of guy. That will sound odd to many. I am an evangelist in the Fellowship of Missouri Baptist Evangelists and I serve on the Administrative Team for our local association. There are many Christians that seem to hold their denominational standing in pretty high regard as if being (place your denomination or church name here) makes you a better standard of Jesus follower.

I have to say that I truly struggle in my own efforts to follow Jesus and would probably detract from anyone's standing if I were to associate myself with them or wave their banner in claiming to be a Christian. I often feel so far removed from the organizational standard that I sense I am on the outside, looking in.
Because my focus has been on walking with Jesus, I haven't learned how to be a good Southern Baptist yet. I'm still trying to figure out how to be more like Jesus.

But I'm rambling and out of order.
I really want to begin by saying that I am a theist -- I believe in God.
I do not believe in many gods. I believe in just The One God.
I believe that God is The Creator of all things.

Why I believe in God is a pretty simple matter.
It's way easier than believing in no god.

The Cosmological Argument for God is an old one.
It basically says that every thing that has a beginning, has a cause. The universe has a beginning. Therefore, the universe has a cause -- something or someone outside of the universe had to act to create it.
Science says the universe has a beginning.
There was nothing; then there was the universe.
There has to be a cause. And it has to be outside of the universe that didn't exist in the moment before it did exist. As crazy as it sounds, a supernatural being is just way easier to believe than everything coming from nothing!

That's probably not the deep theological reasoning you were hoping for, but it's all I have.

Maybe you have a better argument for why you do believe or don't believe in God.
...or why you believe in multiple gods.
...or why you believe that everything is god (may the Force be with you).

Geez...
Re-reading that sounds pretty lame.
I sure hope my future posts explaining my beliefs are better. I may have to stick to the organized propaganda that is put out by the organized religious people...

John <><

I Think I'd Make a Good Atheist

Yeah, I really do.
I just finished reading a book Save Me: An Atheist's Letter to the Christian Church by Barney Adler.

It's a good read. It is filled with the questions that every Christian should be asking about their faith. In the end, I think that the author truly wants to believe in God, but simply chooses not to. It really isn't that difficult.

Although there is ample evidence for the existence of a Supreme Being, there is also no hard proof. Proving that there isn't a God is just as difficult as proving that there is. From my perspective (as a skeptical Christian) the evidence that there is a God overwhelms the thought that there isn't a God.

And before you get all crazy about me calling myself a skeptical Christian, I say that because I believe that we should all be skeptics. We should all ask tough questions about the things that we choose to believe. Skeptics aren't people that doubt. They are people that question.

I once made the comment (in a Sunday School class) that I am a man of little faith. The pastor's wife turned to me and said, "John Hill! You are a Southern Baptist evangelist! How can you say that you are a man of little faith?"

I say that because the answers I've found to the questions I've asked lead me to the logical conclusion that my faith is believable and true. It is not a blind faith. It is a faith based on knowledge.
But even with that knowledge, if I choose to not believe in God I know that I could make a good presentation for why I made that decision. I also understand that Christianity goes beyond believing in God. It defines the character of God as a loving and just ruler that is willing to go to great lengths to provide for his creation and yet remain true to His holy nature.

Maybe I wouldn't make such a great atheist, after all. I'd probably a lot like this author and would end up missing this God that I no longer believe in.

My advise to you is -- question everything.
Carefully examine the evidence.
Choose well.
Choose truth.

John <><

Book Early, Book Often!

So as I begin the final week of my career as an air traffic controller, thoughts turn to the future...

As an evangelist/gospel magician, I've never been very proactive when it comes to booking engagements. I've generally had enough to keep me busy with my work schedule and even had to turn down events.

No more!

This is already an exciting year when it comes to advance bookings.
We're not even out of January.
I haven't been to any evangelism conferences.
And I've already booked events for spring, summer and fall!

I know that many associations are planning their summer camps.
I have served several associations as camp pastor for week long children's camps and youth camps. I have also just come in for a one night performance for camps or weekend retreats.

My new kids' program, Drugs, Strangers and Other Dangers, will be marketed to elementary schools next fall and would be a great program for children's camps this summer (or Summer School in late May/early June!).

I'm working on some new things in the way of magic shows and also as an apologetics teacher. I am so excited about what lies ahead.

Look on your calendars and start filling those dates where you need an evangelist for revivals, pulpit supply for vacations, entertainer for VBS kick off or closing programs, AWANA programs, Upwards Basketball, camps, banquets, outreach events or other engagements.

The dates are already on your calendars. Start booking your speakers!
NOW!

John <><

Another Grand Day at the Pulaski Association Evangelism Conference!

We are halfway through day three of the conference and I am having a great time. One of the best things about these conferences is getting to hear other evangelists preach, sing and share their stories. For the most part, we are all going in different directions and serving at different churches throughout Missouri and surrounding states and never run across each other's paths.

At conferences like this, we are showcased together for the local churches and are able to book events for the coming year. As much as these events encourage me, they also remind me that there is much work to be done.

And I also come away a little discouraged at the missing demographic--young pastors from predominately young churches.

I know that traditional revivals and crusades are a thing of the past to many of our Southern Baptist churches. However, the men and women that serve as evangelists are versatile enough to fit into the plans of any church and are gifted by God to reach the lost and motivate the church to do the work that God has set before them.

I feel particularly blessed to have a somewhat unique ministry with magic, but also feel that the call to preach is under utilized by both traditional and non-traditional churches. While I do love going to churches for events like VBS, Upwards Basketball, AWANA and other special days, there are many other ways to reach communities through simply sharing the truth of the Gospel.

In the future, I hope to be able to teach more on apologetics and help believers to become defenders of the faith. I think that there is a great need and calling for Christians to stand firm against the onslaught of criticism that we often face.

I hope that you know why you believe what you believe. I hope that your defense of your faith goes deeper than, "Well, that just what I believe!" I hope that you have settled in your own heart the questions of heaven, hell, good, evil and whether or not there is life after death. If you have questions, we have answers.

As always, feel free to send me a private message of give me a call. I serve at His good pleasure.

John <><

It is winter!

Early this morning, just before sunrise in the Midwest USA, the Earth crossed that point in its orbit around the sun and began its journey back towards longer periods of daylight and shorter periods of darkness (at least for us Northern Hemisphere people) each day.

I'm not a big fan of winter (and it always seemed a little weird that the shortest day marked the beginning of winter rather than the mid point), but winter is here, none the less. Weather on this first day of winter is trying to present itself as winter like with rain and temps hovering around the freezing mark. It looks like we will have pretty mild days for the week of Christmas.

Most of you that have been reading Out of My Hat for some time know that I marvel at the complex design of our universe. I love watching the regular celestial events and hearing of the irregular ones like solar flares and colorful auroras. I like reading about passing comets and asteroids and learning about new discoveries in deep space. It boggles my mind that there are people that also marvel at these things but deny the existence of a great Creator.

For me, the marking of the seasons and the passing of time are a reminder of the order of things and give evidence of a Creator. There is nothing random about the design of our world. It is too complex, too perfect to be accidental.

Happy Winter Solstice!
Spring (and baseball season) is just around the corner!

John <><

The Old Farmer's Almanac

I know that The Old Farmer's Almanac is one of those outdated publications that just keeps hanging on. I would guess that the information in the annual publication is available through the online site, but I've never been to their website.

On the one hand, they still have the hole punched in the upper left-hand corner of their printed publication so that you can hang it on a nail in your barn or gardening shed. On the other hand, they have mobile apps, a website and are on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Something for everyone!

I am perusing my 2013 traditional printed edition now. Although each year's Almanac comes out in the fall, my copy has been a stocking stuffer for more than twenty years. Over the past two decades I have managed to misplace a couple of editions but have most of them since 1991.

Even before 1991, The Old Farmer's Almanac was my source of information for finding the visible planets, knowing when the principle meteor showers were taking place, watching an eclipse or finding a particular star or constellation in the night sky.

Maybe it seems strange not to have the "app" or that I haven't "liked" them on Facebook or followed them on Twitter (Actually, it's more strange that I don't have a smart phone that can even get the app!), but I happen to like the old fashioned printed edition.

...And I like the information that it contains--the regular movement of the stars across the night sky, the predictability of the planetary dance within our solar system, the effect of the moon on the tides--this is science in its purest form. The Almanac contains valuable information on plants and their growing seasons, the climates they thrive in and the amount of sun, water and warmth that they need. It is full of information and experience that has been distilled over more than two hundred years.

It is funny how some can look to science and say, "See, there is no god. It's just nature." But when I look to the heavens, when I see the life on Earth, I say, "See, there has to be a God! This is no accident!"

In case you were wondering:
On Jan. 1st, the Earth will be at perihelion--that's the closest to the Sun in its slightly elliptical orbit. We will be just 91,402,639 miles from the Sun. On July 5th the distance will be more than 3 million miles greater at 94,501,041!
Spring comes early this year as the Earth reaches the vernal equinox at 7:02am EDT on the 20th of March. The first full moon of Spring is on the 27th, making Easter Sunday the 31st of March.

I'll keep you posted as more of 2013's celestial events take place.

John <><

"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings, not figures on a dial." --from an 18th century edition of The Old Farmer's Almanac

December Solstice

It's been almost seven hours since the Earth past that point in its orbit where the days (in the northern hemisphere) start to get longer and the sun begins to make its way higher in our daytime sky. Having friends, relatives and blog readers that are in the southern hemisphere, it occurs to me that the name "Winter Solstice" really only describes the event for half of the Earth.

It's funny that I've never really thought about that before now. I guess the internet and regular contact with those that live Down Under and in other cultures around the world does, in fact, give one an awareness of how others see the world. Just as we look forward to longer, warmer days ahead, our friends from the south might be looking forward to some cooler temps as the sun's angle increases, the temps start to drop and they move towards their fall season.

Unfortunately, that whole radiant heat thing takes a few weeks before we really start to feel the difference. So we still have a few weeks where temps will get colder and they'll still have to deal with their hottest temps of the year. Maybe that's why the solstice marks the beginning of winter (or summer, depending on your location). I reality, shouldn't this mark the mid point of our respective seasons with greatest angle to the sun marking winter's halfway point and the least angle marking mid summer?

I actually look forward to this day and can understand why ancient cultures of the northern hemisphere celebrated it. The sun is returning to its warmer place in the sky. Pagan, Christian or simply Deist, that's something that we can all celebrate.

Sure, some will simply call it an annual event that is dictated by the science of the universe. However, I see the hand of a magnificent Designer that set it all in motion long ago. The size and temperature of the yellow dwarf star that anchors our solar system, the distance and slightly elliptical orbit of our planet, the angle of the axis that provides us with seasons and regulates temperatures to make the Earth hospitable to life, the moon that orbits the Earth providing tides to clean the oceans and circulate the waters; these things are far too complex to have happened by accident.

Saying that today is the first day of Winter is a little depressing. I rather like the idea of celebrating the first day of days getting longer and the slow return of the sun to its rightful and majestic place high in the summer sky. It really is no wonder that ancient cultures saw the sun as a god.

But I'm humbled to know that their god had a Creator, my God.
And my God has provided a way to know Him personally through His son, Jesus.
It's a good time to celebrate that, too!

Merry Christmas and Happy Solstice!
John <><

Our Amazing Solar System

I'm a little bit crazy. I know it.
I'm the guy that took a day off work, pulled the kids out of school for a day, and traveled several hours to make a day trip to be within the path of total annularity during the annular eclipse of 1994.
I'm the guy that called home to wake everybody up to view the Leonid meteor shower of 1998 ...at 2 in the morning.
I'm the guy that people call to ask about night sky events. They call on their smart phones that can give them expert answers rather than the regurgitated information that spills from the trivia crowded brain matter in my head.

I find our solar system, our Milky Way Galaxy, our entire universe to be unbelievably fascinating. The order of our universe is complex, intricate and beautifully perfect.

This morning I set my alarm clock for 4 AM. I got up, brewed a thermos of coffee and headed out in the 20 something degree temps (F) to find a place where I could view Venus and Saturn rising in the eastern sky. They were just 0.6 degrees apart. That's practically on top of each other, astronomically speaking.

I get that it is not a visually stunning event to witness. And yet, it is a truly remarkable event. The simple science of the planets of our solar system orbiting the sun on the same plane makes these events possible. The order of the universe could not have happened by accident. Nature does not move from chaos to perfect order; it moves from order and deteriorates into disorder.

It is the perfect design of our world, from a single celled life form to the vast expanses of space, that gives testimony of a Great Designer. It is the teleological argument that says if there is a design, there must be a Designer.

I am awed and humbled by the creation of our God. In all of His vast creation, He cares about us; about me. He knows me. He loves me. I can't understand why, but He does.

When I consider your heavens, 
the work of your fingers, 
the moon and the stars, 
which you have set in place, 
what is mankind that you are mindful of them, 
human beings that you care for them?
Psalm 8:3-4

John <><

Who is Jesus? ...and Why Should I Follow Him? (2)

Is Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah?
Is He the appointed one?
The one whose coming is foretold throughout the prophesies of the Old Testament?

We've already looked at evidence that this Jesus really did exist (here). Though there are some varying accounts of the details of his life, there can be no doubt that he did, in fact, live and die in Israel around the time indicated by the gospels of the New Testament.

But is this same Jesus the long awaited Messiah?

There is much that has been written of the messianic prophesies, far more than I could ever read and written far better than I could ever write. There are more than 300 prophesies in the Old Testament that either promise a coming redeemer or tell something about the coming redeemer. Many of those scriptures can be found here.

Some might say that many of these are general in nature and could be fulfilled by any number of people. It many be correct that many people could fulfill many of the prophesies, but how likely is it that only one person is able to fulfill all of them.

Scientist Peter Stoner conservatively calculated the probability of just eight prophesies being fulfilled in just one person at 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. It has been said that if you covered an area the size of the state of Texas two feet deep with silver dollars and had one marked with an X; the odds of a blind man walking along and randomly stopping to pick up one coin and having it be the marked coin would be about the same!

You can see how Prof. Stoner arrived at these numbers here.

Also contained in the article by Dr. David R Reagan are other prophesies and probabilities and some oddities that point to divine revelation. Consider the following:

One of the most remarkable Messianic prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures is the one that precisely states that the Messiah will die by crucifixion. It is found in Psalm 22 where David prophesied the Messiah would die by having His hands and feet pierced (Psalm 22:16). That prophecy was written 1,000 years before Jesus was born. When it was written, the Jewish method of execution was by stoning. The prophecy was also written many years before the Romans perfected crucifixion as a method of execution.

Even when Jesus was killed, the Jews still relied on stoning as their method of execution, but they had lost the power to implement the death penalty due to Roman occupation. That is why they were forced to take Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor, and that's how Jesus ended up being crucified, in fulfillment of David's prophecy.

The bottom line is that the fulfillment of Bible prophecy in the life of Jesus proves conclusively that He truly was God in the flesh. It also proves that the Bible is supernatural in origin.

Though it would appear, even to a casual reader, that there is a great deal of evidence that supports that Jesus is the indeed the Messiah, each of us gets to decide for ourselves what we will do with the information. If Jesus is the Messiah; if he is the Son of God; if he is God--what then?

What does His life and death mean for us? What are we to do with this information? How can it be that a God that is great enough to create the whole of the universe cares about each of us as individuals? Or does He? Is our God a god that desires to have a personal relationship with His creation?

Those are questions we'll address in another post. For now, who is Jesus--to you?

John <><

Who is Jesus? ...and Why Should I Follow Him?

I suppose that it is fair to address those two questions before we ever get around to discussing the things that Jesus taught. If we are not first convinced that there was such a person as the Biblical Jesus of Nazareth, we certainly are not going to get very far discussing the teaching or authority of what is perceived as a fictional character.

It is fair to ask if there are any ancient texts other than the Bible that give evidence of the life of Jesus. The answer is a resounding, "Yes!"

Even without looking at specific texts, we know from the history of Rome that the followers of Jesus were slaughtered in the Colosseum as entertainment for Nero and the citizens of Rome. If this Jesus never lived, a lot of people died for nothing.

Okay, you can say that many people can be caught up in false teachings and false prophets and these delusional Christians truly believed in the imaginary Jesus. After all, still today there are many that think of God as imaginary.

So, is there evidence outside of the Bible that testifies that Jesus was a real person and did the things that the Bible (and His followers) claims He did?

Fortunately, once again, the answer is yes.

Probably the earliest writing (and the best preserved writing) is from a Jewish slave to a Roman officer and later servant of Caesar Dominitan. Flavius Josephus wrote Antiquities of the Jews and is considered to be an authority on Jewish history. In addition to this writing, there are nine other (ten total) non-biblical texts from non-Christians written within 150 years of the life of Jesus. By comparison, there are only nine that mention the Emperor Tiberius.

The Quran, written 600 years later, also refers to Jesus. But the Muslims do not believe in the divinity of Jesus, only that he was a prophet to the Jews to direct them towards the future prophet Mohammed.

Lee Stroebel's A Case for Christ and Norm Geisler's and Frank Turek's I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Athiest are two good reads that cover evidences of Jesus and his fulfillment of Biblical prophecies.

The evidence is strong that the person of Jesus existed and even that he performed many miracles.
Next we'll take a look at the divinity of Jesus.

John <><