Faith and Doubts

If you are a believer in Jesus, do you ever doubt your faith?  If you doubt, does that mean you don't really have a saving faith or that your faith is weak?

I've had this discussion a couple of times with my ten year-old son.  He has been raised in a Christian home.  He accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior when he was five.  This is young, but he has always been a very thoughtful boy and he was serious about this decision.  It was my blessing to be able to baptize him and a couple of years later his younger sister.

Now that my son is older, he's thinking more about his faith and what he believes.  Some things in the bible sound a little far out.  Once you learn that Santa Claus is just a nice story, you start to question other stories you've been taught, even ones you're taught in church.  So one night my son comes to me, with tears in his eyes, wondering if he can really be a Christian if he has these doubts.



I told my son, if he has doubts, he needs to seek out answers.  Like I said, my son is a very thoughtful young man.  I had to answer questions like,

Why did God create Satan if he knew he would rebel and be evil?

If I am saved and have the Holy Spirit in me, why do I still lose my patience with my little brothers and sisters and do mean things to them?

These are just a couple samplings.  I thank God for His Spirit to help me as a field these tough questions.  Amazingly enough, these types of questions will often come after I have studied a similar topic or listened to a teacherpreacher like John Piper talk about them.  I don't always give a great answer.  Piper makes answers to these types of questions seem so logical but they are much tougher when talking about them with your ten year-old son.

However, the best answer I gave my son was to take his doubts to God.  Read his bible, pray, but most importantly, remember what he knows to be true.  He has some great anchors of God working in his life to hold on to.  I wrote about one of these experiences this past spring.

My son is working out his faith.  He is so much further ahead of me than where I was at his age, in some ways, further than I am now.  It's scary for a father to watch his son work through his doubts?  What if he chooses not to believe?  All I can do is love him, teach him, lead by example, and be honest when I fail in my own faith.  God has to do the rest.  My son's faith is ultimately between him and God.

I was inspired to write this post because of a story I read about a man that has lost his faith.  You can read Dan's story here.  I don't believe anyone can snatch any believer from Jesus (John 10:28-29).  When I read Dan's story, it sure sounds like Dan had a saving faith, so how could he have lost it?  I don't know.  I don't know what was really in Dan's heart before and I don't know what is really there now.  Was he never really saved?  Or is he just now in a dark valley where he will eventually emerge more confident than ever in his faith?

That's not the point of Dan's story.  The point is how he claims his wife and his pastor have responded to his story.  The response he describes is tragic and it's not how Jesus would call us to respond.  I'm not assuming Dan's story is true and I'm not assuming it's false.  I don't personally know any of those involved.  However, it is a story we all need to pray about.

Pray for Dan and that while he believes he has turned his back on Jesus, that he learns that Jesus will never turn his back on him.

Pray for Dan's wife and their children.  Whether these accusations are true or false and whether Dan ever comes back to the Lord or not, this experience their family is suffering through is heart wrenching.

Pray for Dan's church and community, for those that know Christ can respond in love and those that do not know Jesus will see a response in love where it appears love has been lacking.

Pray for yourself and your family.  Pray that God will give you the faith and wisdom to not fear your doubts but to embrace your doubts as you work out your faith and seek Him who promises to answer (Luke 11:9-10).

Who is your neighbor?

Back in July I wrote a post expressing my frustration with myself for not loving my neighbor as myself.  Here is a follow-up post as I continue to work through this problem as I seek to work out my faith.

In my previous post I wrote about wanting to pray for a dying co-worker but in a short time forgetting about him as I got caught up in my own life again.

This is not an isolated incident. I often have great intentions of praying for others and serving those in need. However, in spite of my best intentions, my life is usually wrapped up around me. It’s hard to love your neighbor when you don’t even think of your neighbor.

It’s not a lack of desire. I want to love others. The problem is how I perceive love. Like most people, when I try to love others, I try to “feel” love for them before I “act” with love for them.

Jesus explained this to his disciples when he gave them a new command.

John 13:34 (ESV)

³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another

Jesus, the rabbi whom these men had given up all to follow for the past three years had just washed their filthy feet. This was a job for a servant, not a teacher, not their Lord. However, Jesus was teaching them and teaching us, how to love.

Love is serving others. Love is putting others needs before your own. Love is not merely an emotion although there may be no emotion stronger. However emotions are fickle, the action of love is real.

Calling my sick co-worker to check on him was nice. It was a step in the right direction but it was a very guarded step. When I asked if there was anything I could do for him, I was relieved when he said he did not need anything. Really, a dying man, whom I am fairly confident did not know Jesus, does not need anything?

I accepted his answer because I was afraid not to. Isn’t that one of the main reasons that even though we want to love, we don’t. Acts of love on our part often open our hearts to more than we dare let in.

We all know the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). I think we hear that story and we tell ourselves that if we come across someone dying in the street that we will stop and help. Well, people are suffering and dying all around us. Sometimes we have to cross the street (or the tracks) to find them.

You may not know anyone dying of AIDS, but they are there. You may not know anyone homeless and starving, but they are there. You may not know any scared unmarried teenage mothers or mothers to be, but they are there. They are there, waiting to be loved, fed, and comforted. Where are you?

You don’t have to wait to stumble across someone dying in the road. You don’t have to wait for a co-worker to get sick and die. The time to love your neighbor, your enemy, and the stranger is now. If you wait to “feel” the love, it will never happen. I know...

What made you choose Ethiopia?

This is a common question my wife and I are asked when we share with people that we are in the process of adopting.  I wonder sometimes if there is a question behind the question.  However, I'm sure in most cases it is really an inquisitive question.  Why choose an international adoption over domestic?  Why Africa instead of Eastern Europe or China?

The reason I often give for Ethiopia is that it's one of the poorest countries, so if we're going to help somewhere, why not where it is needed the most.  I then explain how there may be countries where the need is greater but that Ethiopia is also one of the more adoption friendly countries, at least for now (this can change at anytime with international adoptions).

However, as our family has studied more about Ethiopia, I've come to realize that I am really becoming enamored with this country.  It's a country with a rich Christian heritage to go along with it's great African heritage.  It's a country of great beauty as are many countries in Africa.  It's a country with a proud history of royalty dating back to King Solomon (yep - Israel's Solomon) and the Queen of Sheba.

A lot of countries have a great history and culture.  So why has Ethiopia's warmed my heart so much?

Because this is my son's country and his heritage.  That's why I love it.

I can't explain what has happened over the last couple of weeks.  But I've started to feel my new son inside of me.  I have an excitement growing as if my wife was pregnant (I know this feeling as we have four birth children).  We have not even been referred to a child, but I know God has him set aside for us already.  I can feel it.  I couldn't feel it when we started this process, but I can feel it today.

I have a new answer whenever someone asks me why we chose Ethiopia.  We chose Ethiopia because that's where our son is from.  Where else would we choose?

Remember the Refugee

A little boy is squatting with his brother and sister outside of the small hut-style home.  They are playing a local village game, laughing and giggling.  Suddenly their mother comes running over to them, "Come quickly! We must go now!  The soldiers are coming."

The children are confused.  Where is their father?  When can they finish their game?  When will they go back home?

What if this was your child?  What if this was your family?  What if you had to run and leave home, and leave everything behind?

We've seen this even in our own country after natural disasters.  However, we've never seen this where we had to leave because either the government or rebels where killing those that stayed behind.

There are around 11.4 million refugee's in the world today.  Most of these men, women, and children have been forced to leave their homes and possessions.  They have nothing but maybe what they were able to carry.  Many of them are in warehouse type camps where they have no rights and survive only on what compassion their host country or charitable organizations provide.  In many cases, they have no hope, as they have been displaced for years.  They are foreigners, but not by of their own choice.

Unfortunately, many of us are desynthesized to the plight of these people.  We quickly click through the news flashes if they get much coverage.  It's part of the fallen world we live in.  What can I do anyway?

You can get involved (from www.refugee.com).

• Sign up to receive our Bulletin


• If you represent an organization, endorse the Statement Calling for Solutions to End the Warehousing of Refugees


• If you are a refugee, write to share your experience of warehousing with us and others


• Link this page to your personal or professional website
  (http://www.refugees.org/warehousing)


• Donate to the Anti-Warehousing Campaign


• Write to Members of Congress to make the U.S. Millennium Challenge Account refugee-friendly!

Deuteronomy 10:18-19 (ESV)
¹⁸ He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹ Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Care for the refugees because if you are in Christ, you are one too in this this world.

Why I'm still on the right

In many elections it is not surprising how people vote.  There are usually one or two key issues that people cling to and that sets their political mind set.  There is nothing wrong with that.  The reality is that there are so many issues with no real right or wrong  perspective that very few of us can all agree on every issue.  That's why our party specific primary elections can often be divisive.

In past elections, many Christians have tended to vote more conservatively because in general (not in all cases) the conservative platforms include moral positions that more align with a biblical perspective.  However, I have noticed a shift in that thinking among some Christians.  It's not a shift away from biblical perspectives but more a shift in which biblical perspectives cause more conviction in their political view.

Here's my attempt of an analysis of this shift and why I haven't shifted.  I'm going to be speaking in general terms so forgive me if I appear to be using a brush that is too broad.  However, I want to keep this thought process simple.

As mentioned in my previous post, a couple of the major moral political issues today are abortion and government recognition of gay marriages.  These issues have tended to pull Christians to the Republican side of the political spectrum because many Republican candidates take the pro-life and pro-heterosexual marriage platform stance.  There are also other biblical perspective issues such as the sovereignty of Israel but that issue tends to be less divisive across political lines.

Today, I think these two moral political hot topics are starting to take a back seat to another important moral political issue, which is injustice.  Christians see the injustice of the poor and the persecuted and they want justice.  This is an important biblical perspective and valuable morally political issue to address.

This is where the political shift has started to occur for many Christians.  The Republican party is pro-business.  By that I mean it's overall position is that the market will keep business in check, there needs to be very little if any governmental regulations over business.

The problem is that the goal for most successful businesses is to make a profit.  Greed becomes the god of many corporations.  Success is measured by revenue growth.  This is obviously not a biblical perspective (Matt 6:24, Luke 16:13).  Over the past decade we have seen the results of this greed with the likes of Enron and others.

Another important injustice issue outside of economics is the real issue of prejudice.  The big areas of concern in our country today are racial prejudice and sexual orientation prejudice.  I think prejudice crosses party lines but unfortunately more openly prejudice groups are identified as "on the right" politically.

Christian conservatives are often labeled as prejudice against gay and lesbians because of their belief that the Bible clearly labels this lifestyle as a sin.  Unfortunately, this perspective of this conservative Christian viewpoint is again a stereotype because some Christians address this issue in a non-Christian and hateful manner.

The abortion issue has also started to give way to injustice perspectives.  It is not that Christians that vote for the democratic ticket want to see babies killed.  It's that the pro-life movement is often perceived as a "persecuting" movement against the woman in crises.

These are the shifts I see in the Christian political perspective.  However, I still find myself on the conservative side of the equation for the reasons to follow.  I may not be seeing these perspectives correctly so if you are a Christian on the more liberal side of the political spectrum, please comment on this post.

I too am very concerned about the injustices in this world.  I believe that as a follower of Jesus I should fight the battle against these injustices.  However, as the title of this post indicates, I have not shifted my political position to the left with some of my brothers and sisters in Christ that have the same passion against injustice as I do.

Why?

Because I do not think that a political party or any government can or will address the injustices in this world.  Jesus never called a political movement to address the injustices of this world.  He called us, His followers, to address the injustices.  When we depend on the government we end up with communism on the left and fascist dictatorships on the right.

You cannot address the injustice of the poor by trying to redistribute the wealth.  The injustice to the poor is the lack of compassion for the poor.   The injustice of the poor will not be addressed until hearts of those with the wealth are changed.

The problem with trying to regulate compassion is that those in power in the government are just as much sinners as those they are trying to regulate.  Why do we have our current financial crises in this country?  We tried to regulate compassion by providing housing for those that could not afford it.  However, those in charge of the program were greedy and sought their own wealth at the expense of the rest of us.

What is a Christian then to do politically?  Give up?  Never.  I believe as Christians we are to engage our world, so that means we have to engage politically.  My dilemma then is how do I choose between worldly (imperfect) ideologies.  I try to keep it simple.

Abortion is wrong.  God ordains life prior to conception (Psalm 139:13-16).  We have no right to terminate a life that God has ordained.  There are lots of deep arguments that could be made about rape and incest victims but that is not the political issue today.  President-elect Obama was quoted saying he would not want his daughters punished with a baby for making a moral mistake.  While this comment was off the cuff and maybe not how he really wanted to state it, that is the real issue.  Abortion is used today to undue a mistake, at the cost of an innocent baby's life.

As a Christian, I should actively pray and work for the women that find themselves in crises of a pregnancy and no means to support the child as well as pray and work to support those mothers and children when the child is born.  However, I cannot vote for a candidate that supports abortion as an option.

While Jesus never personally addressed the homosexual issue in the Gospels, Paul certainly lists homosexual actions along with other sinful actions (Romans 1:26, 1 Cor 6:9-11) .  Homosexual actions are also directly denounced in the Old Testament  (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13).

As a Christian, I should love my neighbor, including my gay and lesbian neighbors.  I cannot view their sin as any worse than my own sins.  However, I cannot condone their sin anymore than I can condone my own sin.  I cannot agree with a worldly political movement to condone the homosexual lifestyle as normal and God ordained.

As a Christian, I should give freely to those in need.  This is not just tithing to my church but giving wherever there is a need and not just money, but my time and my heart as well.  The government can't regulate this.  We know from our own welfare system and the socialist policies in many European countries that when the government tries to regulate giving (i.e. redistribution of  wealth) it does not fix poverty but creates dependency on the government.  Dependency on the government leads to an ever increasing size of government.

Christians in corporate America should live out their Christian faith.  They should work hard and voluntarily serve others in need with money and their time.  Government regulation can be a knee-jerk response to corrupt business practices that negatively hurts honest companies and the people that work for those companies.  Corrupt businesses will usually fail on their own in a free market.  In a government regulated market, corruption is protected (i.e. see Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac).

Make no mistake about it.  While Christ's Kingdom on earth has started, this physical world is still ruled by Satan (Matt 4:8-9, Eph 6:12).  Big government, either or the left or on the right, will never do the work that needs to be done by those that belong to the Kingdom of God.

There will be a government that will one day rule this earth with justice.  However, that ruler is Jesus when he returns.  Until he comes, I need to keep my spiritual passion deep and seek the Kingdom of God and it's justice, but I need to keep my worldly political perspectives simple, which for me if on on the right of center, rather than on the left.

Finally, once the votes are casts, God's will be done.  I congratulate President-elect Obama.  I will pray for him and our country and seek God's Kingdom regardless of which way our country's political winds blow.

Romans 13:1 (ESV)

¹ Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Election Victory Guaranteed

On Tuesday our country will elect a new president.  Some think that this election will be a landslide. Some predict a closer election and maybe even an upset.  Whoever wins, about half the country will be upset.

We live in a state between discontent and fear.  Discontent because gas prices are too high, stock prices are too low, and the war in the middle east has gone on too long.  Fear because change is not always for the better.

I once had a discussion with a co-worker over whether or not religion and politics should be mixed.  I think as a Christian, you cannot compartmentalize your faith and separate it from your political decisions.  More important than foreign and economic policies are the spiritual policies that matter to God.

This makes voting for a president very difficult.  As a Christian, you want a president that seeks God's heart but in American politics, the game is about rhetoric, not about things of the heart, especially things on God's heart.

There are political issues that Christians rally around, such as abortion and same sex marriage.  In that respect, many Christians vote for the candidate that takes a stand against these two practices.  Personally, I use this same litmus test, particularly in regards to abortion.  However, does a candidate's stand on abortion really mean they have more of a heart for God's heart than the other candidate?

My point is that a candidate's public stance on political issues, including political moral issues, is usually based on solidifying their political base.  A pro-life, pro-traditional marriage candidate may have no more desire to seek God's will than the pro-choice, pro-gay marriage candidate.  Only God knows their heart.

The good news is that while it is our duty to cast our vote and do our work as Americans and Christians, we don't really choose our next president.  God chooses.

Psalms 135:6 (ESV)
⁶ Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

On November 5, regardless of the election outcome (although we may not know the outcome for months if it is close), celebrate the victory.  Praise God who is sovereign over all.  God chooses the kings and God chooses the presidents.  Praise God but also pray for His mercy.  Pray for our country.  Pray for our new leader.  Pray of a Nineveh style revival (Jonah 3:6-10).