"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to say. "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to."
Currently a student at Eternity Bible College in Simi Valley, CA. This is my brain vomiting thoughts on your screen while trying to make worship a way of life. Enjoy, and don't forget the bacon.
These come directly from my homework concerning the book, Life's Ultimate Questions by Ronald H. Nash.
The law of noncontradiction is this: “A cannot be both B and non-B at the same
time and in the same sense.” This law of
noncontradiction (as proposed through Aristotle) is important because, I feel, it’s
the foundation of all modern logic. If
anyone claims to believe in modern logic, and even goes as far as to use modern
logic to prove or disprove the existence of God or their sway in the theological mindset, then this law of noncontradiction must not be broken. If this fundamental law is broken, their
logic is flawed.
Personally, I believe that most of God, or simply a
higher power or being, falls and operates within the realms of human
logic. If one is to claim a universal
moral standard, the question can be raised on where that moral standard came
from. As far as God using the law of
noncontradiction Himself, I would argue that He does.
If God did not use the law of noncontradiction, then there would be no
classification of good or evil, for example, because the absence of that law
would argue for double standards (which God does not reside within). God wishes to make Himself known to people
and to use any way of revelation that no human can possibly fathom or
understand would be contradictory to His person. God is not completely outside the realm of
our understanding. There are parts of
God that we cannot fully begin to understand, but to say that there are parts
of God that we can begin to comprehend proves that God resides within the
boundaries of the logic within our minds.
Yesterday morning, Sam and I had the privilege to attend
Cornerstone Church in the morning as part of our Sunday. In my opinion, that is where it all
began. That’s the church that Francis
Chan pastored, and through that wrote “Crazy Love”. That’s the book that rocked the nationwide
church, and through that made its way into our church. That’s the book that our guys small group
chose to read, and through that started softening and changing my heart. That change is what eventually brought me to
where I am today. It’s neat to trace
back paths and see how everything comes full circle. I love the way God works.
“Lashes” A
storm is approaching
I know cause I called it on
I'll catch up lovers in my way
That I'll consumes and throw away
cause there's no woman I could love
More than myself
That's why I still sleep alone
Good God I feel empty now
but no one found out
and I never touched her
I'm trusting less in my defense
Cause there's no difference in
the things that happen in my head
and happen in my bed
Oh God
I'm shakin' like a leaf
I'm shakin’
For 27 years now I've been waiting
27 years now I've been keeping my end
But every single gift I ever gave you
is just a bribe so I could get you
to give me what I wanted
it's all kisses and silver
I never cared for innocence just the appearance
Find me and wash me
cause I can't see the stains
my God I'm so scared
Cause I'm so fractured but I don’t feel the breaks
have I loved too many daughters
to ever be whole
I'm ashamed that you love me
send grace for the hearts that I stole
For those of you unaware, I am currently reading through a One-Year-Bible. The goal of reading through this books is, obviously, to read the entire Bible in a year--something I have never done before. There are some morning that I wake up hungry for the words that God wants to speak to me through that day. Other days, I wake up and have to force myself to read the Bible--especially through some parts of the Old Testament and genealogies. It's a daily battle, but it's overall rewarding.
The other day, my Daily Bible took me to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians is one of my all-time favorite books that ranks up there with Romans, James, and 1 John. I simply love it, hanging on every word that God pours into my soul. Yesterday, we read in the Bible about "Expelling The Immoral Brother" in 1 Corinthians 5. To give a brief summary, Paul calls us to call out other brothers in Christ who are living like the world--living in sin--but how we can't call out the world who's living in sin because they don't live by the same standard that we do. Today, Paul neatly follows up that message with what we read this morning--one of my top-five favorite passages in the whole Bible. 1 Corinthians 6. I'll let you look it up and read it on your own because it'd be super long to copy and paste the whole thing here.
Okay, so a mere chapter ago Paul addressed conflicts within the church as far as calling other brothers in Christ out. Now he transfers cleanly to talking about lawsuits (Read: Disputes) between believers. As believers, we need to be careful how we address other believers. Continually in the gospels, Jesus calls us to be set apart which Paul reiterates in Galatians 1:15 and Romans 1:1. We are all called to be different than the rest of the world--set apart for Christ--which is why what Paul is addressing here is so important. When we have disputes with other believers, don't take it before a judge of this world because that looks bad. Judges of this world judge this world, The Judge of the next world will ultimately judge everything. Paul even goes as far to say, "I say this to shame you...", in verse 5.
That's not what stands out to me, though. It's verses 9-20 that lacerate my heart. I'll copy it here because I think it's so powerful, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 12 "Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"--but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." 17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body".
Paul just identified in the earlier passage the differences between the wicked--people who are unsaved--and Christians who have accepted salvation. Now he says, "Do you now know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?...And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! We were wicked, we were literally dead in our transgressions (Ephesians 2), but God called us out of death to life. Amazing. Can't get over that.
I just finished reading Ezra. In the very last chapter of Ezra we read that the Israelites are convicted for marrying outside of the faith. Basically, for whoring their identity out to the first buyer. Isn't that what we all do? We have this new identity, this life in Christ, yet we continually look elsewhere for our satisfaction. A few posts ago I talked about how my identity was in the world and I dwelt in sin and identified with that, but over and over again we read in Scripture how our identity is in Christ. We find whatever fixes us temporary and sell ourselves to that. We make a prostitute out of the grace of the cross, using it for our own pleasure. Paul even goes on to address this later in this passage in verse 15, "[addressing sexual sin] Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute [gives himself out to the pleasures of this world] is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh. (Gen. 2:24)" This is where it gets awesome, "He who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in Spirit. Flee from sexual immorality." Boom. Done. Roasted.
As part of my devotions lately I've been reading entries from Richard Wurmbrand's, "100 Prison Meditations". Such a great read, and I'd encourage everyone to pick it up (it's really cheap) and incorporate it into your studies as something to think about. This morning he analyzed the genealogy of Christ that we see in the beginning of Matthew. If you look at the genealogies portrayed between the beginning of Matthew and the beginning of Luke, you will find a difference in number. Matthew claims 42 names whereas Luke boasts more. The thing is, though, while Matthew claims to have 42 generations listed in the genealogy, it really only has 41 (Jeconiah is counted twice). So where is the other one? According to Richard Wurmbrand, and I'm only using this because I find it interesting and relating to this post, we--ourselves--are the 42nd name in the genealogy of Christ. Matthew 12:50 says, For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." To quote Richard Wurmbrand, "We can be mothers to Him, insofar as Jesus is conceived in us. His relationship with us will encompass that of son and mother, and we will be motherly toward Him."
To bring this full circle, let's look back at 1 Corinthians 6:17, "But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit." Christ's desire for us is to be spiritually in-tune with Him. He wants us to be one in spirit with Him and in step with His love for us. When we are saved we have an obligation that comes out of love to continually die to ourselves and live for Christ. We want what He wants. We hate what He wants. In that way, we are one with Christ. As Wurmbrand would say, "We will be motherly toward Him."
So these trivial little battles that permeate our day? These things that get under our skin? These temptations that Satan throws in our face like sand to blind us? These things that we continually prostitute ourselves out to? What if we actually cut ourselves off from them? If we become one with Christ, it will be completely unnatural to adulterate with worldly pleasures and sin.
By the way, check this song out. I feel like it speaks directly to this subject.
1 Corinthians 5 is one of those passages that always gets me. It always cuts to my heart, convicts me, and frankly, makes me uncomfortable when I look at my own life. It's a serious torch that Paul commands us to carry, but it's one that's so white-hot that we barely touch it. Judgment is something that, in our culture, is looked at as a heinous thing. The very word causes us to cringe. We live in a world that saturates itself in self-empowerment universalism. The message of the world is, "It's okay, it's who you are." The message of Christ is, "Your identity is in Me; live to glorify Me." So when Christians come out against such worldly-accepted issues as homosexuality (Chick-Fil-A) the world gets infuriated and words fly.
1 Corinthians 5 talks about calling out other Christians who are knowingly thriving in sin. One thing that I believe very strongly is that as Christians there's a huge difference to living with sin and living in sin. We're Christians, we're not perfect, we'll still have our struggles and we'll still battle daily with temptation. In fact, Romans talks about struggling with sin in Paul's famous, mind-bending play on words in Romans 7. In Romans 7:25 he even says, "Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin." As Christians, we will struggle with sin, but God always calls us to combat it. We fight against our sinful nature. Galatians 5 talks further about it and says that the, "Sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit...they are in conflict with each other." (5:17) Living in sin is completely different. Someone's sin--who hasn't been washed in the blood of Christ--is unpaid for. They are still carrying the weight of their sin on their own shoulders instead of accepting Christ's death and putting it on His cross. They are literally living in sin. The conviction isn't there because there is no law of grace and salvation residing within.
Going back to 1 Corinthians 5, we are supposed to call out those who are within the church. Those outside of the church live by a different standard--one that's not run by love for God. How can we judge them if they have different standards and live different lives than we do? We can't, which Paul says in 5:12, "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?" Instead, we are commanded in verse 11 to not even associate with Christians who are living in sin,
"But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat."
With such a man do not even eat. Wow. Even if we go back to the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 17:7; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21, 24; and 24:7 the Old Testament law had the Israelites killing and maiming other Israelites who were living in sin! I highly doubt that Paul is telling us to kill other brothers and sisters in Christ, but the brutal image is there. If there is someone within the church who is knowingly living in sin and living like the rest of the world with no conviction, we need to call him out.
There's a happy ending, though. The point of calling out our brothers and sisters is for reconciliation. We don't want to cast them out of the church to the streets and let the devil have his way with them. Our purpose is to cast the conviction and love of Christ in their hearts so that they'll realize what they're doing and turn back to Jesus. Therein we find the beautiful picture of reconciliation that Christ painted for us on the cross.
SoCal is so hot. It's crazy how much humidity plays into heat. I never really noticed it before. Back in Central PA the weather was always so humid and hot, but here in Simi Valley the weather is higher in temperature, but drier. I'm honestly not sure which is worse, but considering that the house I'm living at doesn't have AC, PA was a lot less grueling. It's almost like people plan their day out based around the weather. Gonna be a hot one? Get out of the house and go shopping or to the beach. Going to be a little cooler? Stay at home and get things done.
Life is amazing though, and God continues to bless me beyond any of my expectations. On the way down to Philadelphia the day before we flew out, I got a call from one of my roommates offering to find us a ride from LAX to our house. Done. We didn't have to pay $30 for a shuttle ticket. The house that we're living at? Phenomenal. Currently there's 7 guys and a couple living here. The other guys are all super chill and so much fun to hang with. They've been great tour guides as they've graciously shuttled us around the city, to the beach, from the airport, and to get groceries. The couple that owns that house that we rent from are a huge blessing to us. Rent is incredibly cheap for SoCal, and it also includes utilities. Pretty much the only thing we need to provide is our food, but there are also infrequent times that they'll feed us. Like tonight. Everywhere I look I see God time and time again coming through for us. Like today, we found two bikes on Craigslist and bought them. Sure, they're pieces of junk that make noises, clank, and rattle, but they're our transportation, and they were super cheap and had two wheels.
Today, I was in the mood for a bookstore and a thrift store so I looked them up on my phone, hopped on my bike and pedaled off. Unfortunately, I never ended up finding them. However, I ran across a store called 99 Cents Only which turned out to be a Godsend and a goldmine for future grocery trips. Thank you again, Lord!
Yesterday we went to Zuma beach in Malibu and just chilled for a while. It was awesome to be able to say that I have now been in two oceans! From what our roommates say, Eternity is crazy intense the first semester. We're still trying to decide if we should get jobs awhile or just wait a little bit.
To say that I'm enjoying living in SoCal would be a gross understatement. I'm loving it. Soaking every minute up. This opportunity is amazing, and to think that God would bless me with this life is an incredible thought. I have everything I need: Friends, a house and bed, food, transportation. God has provided everything.
Ways you can pray? Continued guidance as far as jobs go. Textbooks to pour in. And finally, good health.
