So it is almost the end of January 1st, 2014, and I have not given any thought to resolutions until this morning, when I did something I am not particularly proud of. So here is the deal: I should always try to be a better me. That's what I believe anyway. 

C.S. Lewis said, "These, then are the two points I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in."

The Apostle Paul said it like this in the book of Romans: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do... For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing...So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am!"

So the biggest problems I have, the habits that I find most unsettling about myself, are pretty well entrenched. They have all the best excuses for themselves, and pretty much have me convinced that they are the right way for me to behave. That I deserve to do them. They have triggers. When someone does something or says something, or when I am not given a thing which I feel I deserve, I hear these things call out to me offering me comfort and revenge. I would be more specific, but I am not using this as a platform to speak ill of anyone in particular, because the end problem is mine alone. The trigger occurs, and then I am left with a decision. Do what is good and right. Or do what I so long to do in my bones. 

Anyway, I don't wish to go on trying to make this clearer. I resolve to be better, I am just not sure yet in what way and how. I will be thinking about my resolutions in the coming days and weeks, and I will give them the proper attention they require.

One Key To Forgiveness

I was just taking a shower and thinking about this, so here it is.

The other day, a friend of mine reminded me of something hurtful I had said years ago.

This was in the midst of an argument, so emotions were already running high. I had two responses immediately present themselves. I could acknowledge the hurtful thing I said and try to seek forgiveness for it, or I could try to recall something hurtful that my friend has said to me.

Well I was genuinely sorry, so I just apologized and said that it was a horrible thing for me to have said. Perhaps you have said something to a loved one, that came out not only wrong, but hurtful, and probably should not have been said at all. But it leaves the mouth, and then has to be dealt with.

While I was in the shower, I was still tempted to recall something hurtful that my friend had said about me. I know for a fact this friend has said many things that have hurt me, but I still refuse to try to remember any of them. I will not allow myself to try to access those memories.

In "the love chapter", Paul makes this statement.."Love keeps no record of wrongs."

You may have heard a christian say that God forgets your sin when you ask him for forgiveness, but I don't think this is the case. I don't think God "forgets" anything, purposely or not. What the bible says is that "He remembers them no more." Have you ever "lost" your keys? What do you try to do? You begin to try to pull from your mind it's location by recalling and retracing your steps, because it's likely that your brain actually does know where the keys are, you just have to try to remember where you left them.

Forgetting is something that happens, remembering is something you actively engage in. So when you forgive someone for something they have said or done, what you are telling them is that you will not keep that thing in remembrance. You will not actively try to hold on or recall that thing for which you are forgiving them, and more importantly, you will treat them as if they have never done that thing.

Should Our Kids Just Obey Us?

...I was in the bathroom, and I was just thinking. When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He said, "...and lead us not into temptation...". To me, this seems to imply a few things. One being, that God can lead us into temptation (duh right?). Another being, it must be okay for God to not lead us into temptation (second duh), or why would Jesus have us ask God that.
So we see something about our relationship with our Heavenly Father, that I think we can in turn practice with our own children. Children are tempted to do bad things. We as parents, as we get to know our kids, become well acquainted with them and their desires. So then we are left with two main options in training/dealing with them. We can either remove the temptations from them so they don't even have to deal with them, or we can leave them there, and put them in the predicament of having to obey us rather than their own desires.
So what should we do? Both. Just like God does with us. If we as adults can not bear up under constant temptation, we should not expect our kids to. It's okay, and good, to remove certain things from out of their reach. If you do not, you are for one, being a hypocrite, and two, you run the risk of "exasperating" your kids, which we are commanded not to do.

Death is coming to us all. We know not when or how. So then what? Time will continue to pass after we die, but do we have some sort of immortal soul?

People were created with some unique abilities. One is imagination. We can imagine things that are real, and things that are not real. We can imagine things that are true, and things that are not true.

On a side note at this point, one sad fact is that people also have the ability to believe in their false imaginations. By believe, I mean they will act and shape their life based on a lie. Sometimes people believe their own lies, and/or the lies of others, and live their lives according to such.

So back to imagination. When we die, we can imagine that life just ends in the grave. But is it imagination to believe that our soul is immortal and will live on? Not according to God. He tells us that He has placed the idea of eternity within us [(Ecc. 3:11 http://bible.cc/ecclesiastes/3-11.htm). Also note, that this is not all He has placed within us. He has also placed the moral law inside us, Romans 2:15 http://bible.cc/romans/2-15.htm]. Jesus confirms this when He says "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die."(John 11:25, 26) However, Jesus also affirms that people who do not believe in Him, will also live eternally, but having faced the judgment of God on their own, will do so without Him, without God's goodness, and will face the penalty of their sin in eternal judgement in a place called Hell.

So the Bible says that God has placed eternity in our hearts, the moral law as well, but is there anything else He did? Romans 1:20 says For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (http://bible.cc/romans/1-20.htm). He has created the universe itself, in such a way, that although man may imagine silly nonsense about it creating itself and evolving naturally, that they will be without excuse when they stand before Him in judgement.

So, is it possible to believe something that is not true, and also, to know something is true, but choose not to believe in that truth, but rather believe in a false imagination? God says yes, that man can "suppress" the truth, and live a lie. (http://bible.cc/romans/1-18.htm)

You may have legitimate questions about God and the bible, and about Jesus, God the Son, my Lord, my Saviour. But ultimately those questions will not serve as a "get out of jail free" card when you stand before Him. You will be without excuse. You will stand alone, (http://bible.cc/ezekiel/18-4.htm), unless you have Jesus standing next to you, (http://bible.cc/1_john/2-1.htm).

If you have ever been, or are my friend, and I have failed to tell you of Jesus, or to live a life worthy of His name, you have my sincerest apology.

Don't let this day pass without considering your life, because you may not have it tomorrow. If you have questions about the christian faith, about the bible, about Jesus, please ask me, and don't wait. If I don't have the answer you need, I will find it, or direct you to someone else if you need a more "professional" answer, i.e., a Doctor of Psychology or of one of the natural sciences.