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The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength!
Dennis Edwards
“The joy of the Lord is your strength, Dennis. You’ve got to fight for joy.” So said my friend who asked me to call her when she noticed how down and discouraged I was after the death of my 45 year old son. I was suffering condemnation. I was under a cloud of darkness; a despondent depression was starting to grip me. I knew I shouldn’t feel condemned for my son’s death. Yet, I also knew his death might have been avoided had I been more a tune to his psychological condition. I never thought he would commit suicide. But he did, and it rocked the world of my family.
The attacks on me were constant and unrelenting from both flesh and spirit. It was your fault, the fault of the religious community you had been involved in, the fault of your poor parenting. You tried to save the world and weren’t even attentive to the condition of your own son. What kind of father are you? What kind of a Christian are you? Where are your priorities? It’s finally time to wake up and forsake that religious nonsense.
I knew those accusations weren’t true completely. But even lies have some truth to them or they would not be so easily believed. I knew I had missed the mark. I knew I hadn’t made that phone call that might have made a difference in my son’s final decision. I myself had avoided suicide because, as I prepared to drive my car off the bridge into the river below, I saw the face of my favourite aunt, Aunt Ida. She loved me. Therefore, if love existed, and I had felt it in Ida’s arms that summer as a confused disheartened 20 years old; if love existed, life must have purpose. I decided to continue my search for truth. If love existed, there must be something more. Ending my life by my own hand to stop the suffering I was experiencing at that time was not the solution. Ida’s holding me in her arms, reminded me that love was real. Had I called Mike, maybe he would have not made that decision.
Those were the thoughts running through my head constantly.
Why, God, why? Why Mike? He said he was searching for You and reaching out to You.
Why didn’t You keep him, Lord? How could You let this happen? Why didn’t You
let me know he was at that state? Lord, a second, son, lost. What have I done
wrong? Why have I failed so miserably?
That was the state I was in when my friend asked me to call her. So, I called. “Dennis, it’s not your fault. It’s the enemy who is trying to condemn you and cause you to be discouraged. But you need to fight for your faith. You need to fight for joy, because the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
When she said that about “joy,” it rang with my soul. It was like God was talking to me. I needed to fight for my faith by fighting for joy, because the joy of the Lord is what strengthen us. Without His joy I would be weakened and fall by the wayside of faith, like I had seen so many others do. When hard situations arose, they had lost their faith. They weren’t able to say with Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” I decided to fight for joy. Instead of walking around in discouragement, I would praise the Lord in spite of my not feeling happy. I would trust and praise the Lord.
What would others think if they saw me happy? Hadn’t my son died? Shouldn’t I be in mourning? Wouldn’t it be offensive to my family and disrespectful to my son that died if I walked around happy? I decided it didn’t matter what they thought. The enemy was fighting my faith and trying to extinguish it. I would fight back with praise and regain the joy of the Lord. I would not be passive.
Thirteen years before I had benefitted from doing Becky Harling’s 30 Days of Praise Challenge. Martin, my 27 years old son had died in a strange accident in the Bermudas where he had gone to work. It was Saint Patrick’s Day. He had celebrated with a few beers with his friends that led to some joints of hashish. For some reason he went down to the dock and jumped in the water. He left his clothes on the beach. The police asked me if it could be suicide. I didn’t think so. He had been preparing for a triathlon athletic event of running – biking – swimming. Maybe he went for a practice. Could it have been suicide?
At that point, once I got back to Europe, I came across Becky Harling’s 30 Day Praise Challenge. She had been diagnosed with cancer of the breasts. She called her friend and mentor asking her if she would do a 30 fast and prayer vigil with her for healing. Her mentor and friend responded, “Why don’t we do a 30-Day Praise Prayer Vigil together instead?” “I’ve just been notified that I have cancer and you want me to praise God for 30 days. I don’t feel like praising right now.” Her mentor responded, “But it might be the very thing God wants you to do. He says, “In everything give thanks.” Becky told her friend she would think about it and within a few days they were off on the 30-Day Praise Challenge together.
Becky has since written a book about the experience and made it into a 30-Day devotional program to follow. A 30-Day Praise Challenge. I had done the challenge when my son Martin had died those 13 years ago. A friend had put the 66 songs she had recommended on my new phone so that I was able to listen to it throughout the day and have those lovely praise song running through my mind. They did wonders to me, even more than the devotional readings and suggested prayers. By listening to the praise music, I fought through the discouragement I was feeling as a failure father. The songs of praise transformed my life and helped me to be more praiseful and thankful. I consider obeying the command “In everything give thanks” to be one of the keys to my being able to walk in victory today. I am thankful for my friend who bought an extra chip for my phone, downloaded the songs onto it, and placed it in it for me. Becky was thankful for her friend, also, and to Jesus who healed her supernaturally through praise.
God has done it again. I have redone the 30-Day Praise Challenge. I shared the individual devotional readings and suggested prayers and the 2/3 songs a day on a WhatApp group that I participate in. During that month of redoing the Praise Challenge, and posting the songs on my blogspot, I had some 24,000 visits. I usually have around 3-5,000 visits a month. There seems to be a vacuum for praise, or a need to hear those types of songs. “Let everything that has breathe praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.” [Psalm 150:6] I have also made a good friend of a woman who lost her two daughters in a car crash many years ago. God does work everything together for good, if we trust Him and are able to praise Him in spite of the seeming difficult situation.
The joy of the Lord is indeed our strength. God commands us
not to be dismayed or discouraged. The enemy is in the business of discouraging
us. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Joy is God’s presence with us. His
presence, His joy, gives us strength to face life’s difficulties with courage
and resilience. We can bounce back from devastating events because we are
trusting in Him. We are believing that He ultimately has everything in control
and therefore we can in everything give thanks. By giving thanks, we enter into
the joy of the Lord and are strengthened spiritually, physically, emotionally,
psychologically. “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your
strength.” [Nehemiah 10:8b]
Here are some more Bible verses to reflect on the importance
of joy, praise, and thanksgiving.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray
continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s
will for you in Christ Jesus.” NIV
Psalm 103:1-4 “Praise the Lord, my soul; all
my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the
LORD. My soul, and forget not all His benefits – who forgives all your sins and
heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with
love and compassion.” NIV
Isaiah 12:4-5 “And on that day you will say, “Give
thanks to the LORD, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the
people: make them remember that His name is exalted. “Praise the
Lord in song, for He has done glorious things; let this be known throughout the
earth.” NASB
1 Chronicles 16:34 “Oh, give thanks to the
LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!” ESV
Hebrews 12:28 “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom
that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so
worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming
fire.’”
Psalm 95:1-4 “Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout
joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence
with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him
with psalms. For the LORD is the great God, and the great King above all gods.”
NKJV
Philippians 4:4-7 “Rejoice in the Lord always.
I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to
all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every
situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present
your requests to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” NIV
Psalm 118:24 “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us
rejoice and be glad in it.” ESV
Colossians
3:15-17 “Let the peace of Christ
rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And
be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as
you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and
songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” NIV
Psalm 5:11 NKJV “But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You. Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.” NKJV.
John 15:11 & 16:24 “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be full.” NKJV
Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in
hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” NIV
Psalm 9:2 “I will be glad and rejoice
in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.” KJV
Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance:
against such there is no law.” KJV
Psalm 16:11 “Thou will show me the path of life: in thy presence
is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for
evermore.” KJV
Psalm 144:14b-15 “…that there be no complaining in our
streets. Happy is that people, that is in such a case; yea, happy
is that people, whose God is the LORD.” KJV
Psalm 145:2 “Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise
thy name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;
and his greatness is unsearchable.” KJV
Psalm 146:1-2 “Praise ye the LORD. Praise
the LORD, O my soul. While I live will I praise the LORD:
I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.” KJV
Psalm 147:1 “Praise ye the Lord: for it is
good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise
is comely (appropriate).” KJV
Psalm 149:5-6 “Let the saints be joyful in
glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of
God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword [Hebrews 4:12] in their hand.” KJV
Psalm 30:4-5,11-12 “Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his,
and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger
endures but for a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a
night, but joy comes in the morning. Thou has turned for me my
mourning into dancing: thou has put off sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be
silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. KJV
A Christian Response to a Viral Deconversion Post
By / August 25, 2023
https://natashacrain.com/a-christian-response-to-a-viral-deconversion-post/#more-18426
Social media has been a popular place to share deconversion stories over the last few years, and sometimes so many people resonate with those posts that they go viral to some extent (being liked and shared by thousands of people).
There’s one that’s being shared all over Facebook right now, written this week by a lady named Myndee Mack. At the time of this writing, it has 8,000+ likes/loves, 7,000+ comments, and over 3,000+ shares. Clearly, Myndee’s post is compelling to many.
I’d like to offer a response.
While it’s possible Myndee will come across this article, I’m not writing it primarily for her, but rather for the thousands of people who find her post to be a compelling assessment of Christianity and for Christians whose friends are sharing it and want to have a thoughtful response to share. The reason I say I’m not writing it primarily for her is that a one-on-one response would be more relational and personal in nature and tone—like a letter. My purpose here is to help those challenged by her words with a more direct response to the reasoning and theological clarity/accuracy of what she wrote.
Her words will be in bold italics. Mine will follow each section in regular font.
“I used to be Christian. I prayed without ceasing. I spent time in the word. I asked. I sought. I knocked until my knuckles bled. My heart was pure. My faith was at least as strong as a mustard seed. I went to Christian elementary school. I prayed the sinners prayer at 6 years old. I would beg my mom to take me to church. I had pages and pages of notes from sermons and from my own studies. I hosted women’s groups. I went to Bible college. I attended church retreats from childhood all the way through young adulthood. I taught at children’s church. I believed I was a sinner in need of a savior, and I accepted Jesus as that savior.”
Myndee sets up her post by making it clear she wasn’t a new Christian rejecting her faith. She wants us to know that she has spent many years involved with the church and presumably seeking God. We have no information on what kind of churches she was part of (certainly something I’d be curious to know about if I met her in person), but the main point here seems to be that she doesn’t want the reader to be dismissive of her.
And I think it’s important to not be.
Christians often are dismissive of deconversion stories, saying, “If they walked away, they weren’t truly saved anyway.” Regardless of your view of the assurance of salvation, this is not a helpful response. When people have genuine questions and struggles that they share, we should be ready and willing to offer answers both for them and for those looking on across social media.
That said, I can’t help but note a brief sentence in here that relates to much of what she goes on to write regarding the nature of sin: “My heart was pure.” From a biblical perspective, no one’s heart is “pure.” More on that shortly.
“I was also trapped in a vicious cycle of self hatred, shame, guilt, and repentance. Bible verses such as ‘your heart is deceitful and desperately wicked’ combined with ‘you are fearfully and wonderfully made’ gave me spiritual whiplash.”
It’s quite easy to pull any two verses out of the Bible and think they are in conflict if you aren’t looking at them in the context of the whole. The same could be said for virtually any book in the world. In this case, there’s a very important distinction that is missing between being fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) and having a deceitful and wicked heart (Jeremiah 17:9). The fact that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” is a statement about our design and value: We are not the process of blind, purposeless chance, but rather a purposeful creation who has been given value by our creator—even made in His very image (Genesis 1:27). The fact that we have a “wicked heart” is a statement about the moral choices we are inclined to make. Anyone who is a parent can look at a child and agree that they are both of extraordinary value and make bad choices. It’s the same with every human. This isn’t a matter for “spiritual whiplash” once you understand the crucial distinction between value and morality.
Furthermore, it’s likely that this conflation of value and morality led to the “vicious cycle” she felt of self-hatred, shame, guilt, and repentance. Knowing that you are inclined toward sin should not cause you to hate yourself. The Bible is clear on our value as image bearers. God so loved His creation that He gave His one and only Son to die for us. We should value ourselves as highly as God values us.
But God is also holy and just. When we sin—transgress a moral law—we rightly feel guilty because we are guilty. If someone intentionally kills an innocent human being, most people would say that person should feel guilty because they did something that is objectively wrong; guilt is not a bad thing, it’s a healthy thing that signifies a functioning conscience. It draws us to repentance, both to the person(s) wronged and toward God.
Therefore, sin, guilt, and repentance are not a vicious cycle. Sin is an ongoing reality in a fallen world, guilt is an appropriate response when we’ve done something wrong (against God’s standards), and repentance leads us back to God. As Christians, we should then accept that Jesus has forgiven us. Self-hatred is not a biblical part of that equation.
“I was taught Romans 8:38-39 and warned of the perils of backsliding all in the same sermon. The thought of somehow committing the unforgivable sin (blasphemy of the Holy Spirit) haunted my mind.”
Romans 8:38-39 is talking about how nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus. In context, Paul is saying that no one can bring a charge against God’s chosen people because it is God who justifies; no matter what happens on Earth, we are “more than conquerors” because nothing can separate us from the Lord. This is a statement about what’s true for those who are saved. While Christians have different views on the assurance of salvation, even for those who believe you can lose your salvation, this is not a contradiction with Romans 8:38-39. If you could “backslide” to a point where you have lost salvation, those verses would simply no longer apply to the unsaved person. It’s a different audience.
“Though I believed with every fiber of my being, I suffered from anxiety, self-loathing and a crippling fear of death. I longed to forge genuine connections with my church family but when I tried to open up about my fears and confusion, I was told I just needed to have more faith. When I had theological questions that made other leaders uncomfortable, I was dismissed if not outright ostracized.”
If it’s true that Myndee raised her fears and confusions with her church family and was met by dismissal, it’s incredibly sad. Certainly, I’ve seen Christians tell people who have questions to just have more faith, and that’s a terrible response. Biblical faith is confident trust based on who God is. If someone doesn’t understand why there’s good reason to be confident in the existence or identity of God, telling them to just trust more without giving them reason for a confident foundation from which to trust is not the solution.
I only say “if it’s true” because I do think it’s become a bit of a script for many who deconvert to say that no one would or could answer their questions. Did they ask one person? Five? Anyone outside their own church? Read books? There’s no way to know for any individual, but if you’re genuinely seeking truth, you should be seeking answers in many places. There are numerous resources available.
“My hunger and thirst for righteousness went unquenched. Those who claimed to be the hands and feet of Jesus showed me how they weaponized the Bible for their own gain.”
It’s impossible to know what she has in mind about weaponizing the Bible, but today people often claim the Bible is being weaponized any time a Christian shares truth people don’t like. For example, if you say that God made two genders (and you can’t change those genders), you will be accused of “weaponizing the Bible.” If the Bible is truly God’s Word, that’s not using it as a weapon. It’s sharing truth. (Of course, truth should be shared in a gracious way.)
However, it’s possible Myndee grew up in a church that truly did weaponize the Bible in an abusive sense. If that’s the case, again, it’s awful. However, we have to recognize that we can’t blame God when people misuse His Word. We must seek to know if the Bible is true regardless of those abuses.
“My traumas and mental health issues were blamed on the devil, and I was made to feel as though I wasn’t Christian enough because of my struggles that, ironically, stemmed mostly from Christian teachings.”
From a biblical perspective, mental health challenges can be part of both a spiritual and physical battle. There’s no way to diagnose this particular situation without knowing the specifics (and even if you knew some specifics, no one could definitively claim that x part is spiritual and y part is physical). But if her struggles were truly stemming from her response to “Christian teachings,” there are a couple of points that should be made.
First, how we feel in response to reality doesn’t determine what is reality. If we feel traumatized by the idea of hell, for example, that has no bearing on whether hell is real. So claiming trauma from biblical teachings is not inherently a statement about whether those teachings are true. Christians shouldn’t feel traumatized by a theologically accurate understanding of God’s judgment (there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus—Romans 8:1), but however a person does feel does not determine what’s true.
Second, sometimes people may feel the kind of trauma she’s talking about in response to a misunderstanding of biblical truth. If she felt self-hatred (as she mentioned previously) because she didn’t have a theologically accurate understanding of the value-morality distinction, that’s not the fault of what the Bible teaches. It’s a tragic misunderstanding on her own part that was never clarified by further study or other Christians.
“I was doing my best to maintain a good, close, loving relationship with the god of the Christian Bible. I wanted nothing more than that. To abandon myself. To die so he might live in me. What I was actually doing was denying my own compassion, my own intuition, which was objectively more righteous than a God who murders entire civilizations (the children too) and sends his own creation to hell for what can only be described as a design flaw. One the designer, the creator, is ultimately responsible for.”
This is quite the statement. She claims that her own compassion and intuition (moral intuition, presumably) are more righteous than that of the biblical God. She even states that this is objectively so! Yet where does she get the objective basis for her morality if God doesn’t exist? If there is no God, the universe is the product of blind, purposeless chance, and there is no such thing as an objective right or wrong. Without a higher-than-human moral authority and lawgiver, there is no objective moral law. The compassion she praises herself for is meaningless in such a world—it would simply be a function of evolutionary survival mechanisms, not of an actual moral nature (and therefore would not be praiseworthy!).
The same goes for the moral intuition she claims. If God doesn’t exist, that intuition is an evolutionary delusion brought upon the human species by time and chance. There is no objective morality to have moral intuitions about if there is no God. She claims her morality is objectively superior, but she has no objective standard if God doesn’t exist. And if a god does exist but hasn’t revealed himself, she still can’t claim to have knowledge of what objective standards this hypothetical god put in place—he didn’t reveal anything!
She then says that God “murders” entire civilizations. First, this isn’t morally wrong (as she clearly assumes) if there is no moral law giver. Second, she misses the distinction between murder (the unjustified taking of innocent human life) and killing (any taking of life). Most people recognize that killing in self defense is not considered murder. Some would say that killing in the context of a just war isn’t either. And some would say neither is the death penalty.
Not all killing is murder. For God to murder people would mean He was unjustified in taking their lives. When God commands the killing of people in the Bible, however, it’s clearly because of judgment that He, as the all-knowing and perfectly just God of the universe, had the knowledge, nature, and right to make.
She then goes on to again confuse creation with our ability to make moral choices. Free will is a feature, not a bug, in God’s design of the human being. If we didn’t have the ability to make morally significant choices, we would be robots incapable of being in relationship with Him, which was His purpose in our creation. If we use our free will to reject God and His offer of forgiveness for sin, we will be subject to judgment because He is a holy and just God. Just as it’s not loving to let criminals go free in earthly justice systems, it’s not loving to let moral law breakers (every human) to go free in the “cosmic” justice system. But in God’s love, He paid the penalty for us. We simply have to accept His gift of Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross.
“Then one day, I could deny and ignore it no longer. The Christian god delights in violence. The Christian church caused me more harm than good.”
If you read the Old Testament, God does not delight in violence. He is a patient God who seeks the heart and repentance of His people.
Also, harm and good are two terms that require an objective basis for meaningful definition. A person’s subjective feelings of what is harmful or helpful, good or bad, and right or wrong do not define what is objectively true.
“In getting away from it, I found the peace that passes all understanding. I am now immersed with love, with grace, with joy. I have found freedom in what others call “witchcraft”. I don’t worship the moon or my crystals. My Tarot cards are not a god to me. I respectfully utilize these things to help me connect to myself and to this beautiful world I get to be a part of and share with my fellow humans. I don’t care if Tarot or Reiki or Buddhism or Christianity is real. I care if it is helpful.”
This says everything. As I have pointed out multiple times here, nothing she has said so far has had anything to do with what is true or real. A skeptical reader might say that “of course” she had already decided that Christianity is false, and she’s just telling us more about her journey—that it goes without saying that truth mattered. But that’s simply not the case for many people today, and she says it explicitly here: “I don’t care…if Christianity is real.” The motto of so many people who have deconstructed or deconverted is what they subjectively find helpful. The nature of truth is rarely considered.
If you’re reading this and don’t know what you believe, please consider that what you find helpful may or may not be true, and believing what is false but subjectively helpful in your own estimation can have serious consequences for your life now and for eternity. I might find it helpful to my peace of mind if someone came and told me that I will never have a car accident, so I can drive however I want. But if that’s not true, it doesn’t matter how much peace and joy the falsity provided. I’ll die in a car accident if I’m not driving with care.
What’s real matters.
Additionally, if the “witchcraft” she does has an actual consequence in the world because she is tapping into the demonic, she should recognize that this, indeed, is real. And if witchcraft is real, that means the supernatural is real. And if the supernatural is real, that should point her to the existence of God and ultimately back to the Bible, which explains exactly who is behind the witchcraft (Satan) and the role he plays in reality.
On the other hand, if the “witchcraft” does nothing, there’s no reason to do it at all. But I’m guessing she finds it appealing because witchcraft gives a person methods for attempting to exhibit control over the universe. If she struggled with feeling a lack of control under the sovereignty of a God she believed to be murderous and horrible, it would make sense she would try to regain control in her next belief system. But again, if it actually does something, that should point her back to a supernatural worldview in which God exists.
“I don’t care what your doctrine is, I care what kind of impact you make on the world around you. I care more about your mental and emotional health than whether or not you believe the ‘right’ thing.”
Well, you might not care about what people believe, but again, this has no bearing on what’s true about the world. If there’s a God who created this incredible universe and every human being, then He is the only one with the rightful authority to say what matters and what doesn’t. The Bible is very clear from beginning to end that what people believe about God matters. There are right and wrong beliefs, and they have significant consequences. And when people do live according to right beliefs about who God is, who we are, what our relationship is, what’s required of us, and more, that flows into a true peace that surpasses all understanding.
This doesn’t mean a Christian won’t have any mental and emotional struggles, however. Counseling and sometimes medication are important for dealing with the kinds of challenges we encounter in this world. That’s a different question than whether or not doctrine matters.
“If being on the inside of Christianity helps you be a better, more whole human, I want that for you. I want whatever brings peace to your soul. Despite life’s turmoil, my soul is more at peace and I am a better human, both internally and externally, outside of Christianity.”
Again, it doesn’t matter what you want for someone. See answer above—the same logic applies. It’s what God wants for us. It’s how God defines what is better or worse. It’s who God thinks we are when we are most wholly human.
You might use your own definition of better to conclude you are a better human outside of Christianity, but if God disagrees, you’re in an infinitely worse place.
“Outside of Christianity, there is no more “us vs. them” or “wheat vs. chaff” for I see that we are all one under this universe. We are all made of stardust, here for a short time and instead of wasting my life dying to myself to try to please an angry, jealous god whose wrath could not be appeased outside the brutal murder of his own son, I spend my time building genuine connections and embodying love.”
If there is no God, she’s right that we’re made of material stuff alone, with no inherent value, and with no objective meaning of life. But if that’s truly the picture of the world we live in, she has no objective basis for claiming God is morally wrong, her “genuine connections” are with other groups of stardust with no actual value, and the love she is “embodying” is just a bunch of chemical reactions. Those are consistent truths with the worldview that we’re all just stardust and nothing more.
But it’s important to note that she simultaneously misconstrues the claims of Christianity here. Again, murder is the unjustified taking of an innocent human life. If you understand Christian doctrine, you know that the Trinity is God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—three persons, one nature. Jesus is God. He laid down His own life (John 10:17-18). Out of His love for us, He took the punishment for sin and offered us eternal life. Her description here is a complete mischaracterization and misunderstanding of this beautiful truth from our all-loving and perfectly just God.
“If you are worried about my eternal state, don’t be. If the god of the Bible is the loving god Christians claim he is, then will meet me where I am. He will allow me to walk the path that helps me be a better human and live a life without anxiety and self-loathing. That god will understand my plight and accept my inability to accept a doctrine that has caused me irreparable harm. And if you think the god you believe in will say to me ‘depart from me, I never knew you’ when my time on earth is through, that’s not a god I’d want to spend eternity with anyway.”
It’s quite presumptuous to assume that the God of the universe will “meet you where you are,” when by that you mean He’ll accept whatever decisions you make as right for you. If He has already given us a Bible to tell us what we need to know so that we can meet Him where He requires, that’s the standard to which we’ll be held. The Bible explicitly and repeatedly tells us not to be anxious (e.g., Matthew 6:27). And as I already explained, we aren’t to be self-loathing.
It’s truly sad that the theological misunderstandings she has about God have led her to hate Him so much that even if He were real and the Bible were true, she claims she wouldn’t want to be with Him anyway. Theology matters. It’s the difference between someone longing to be with the God who loves them and someone longing to reject the God whom they hate based on an errant understanding of His Word.
All of this begs the question of what is actually true. Unfortunately, the most viral social media posts are rarely about seeking truth. They’re about people’s experiences and emotional responses to those experiences. Experiences and responses aren’t unimportant; they’re part of life. But they don’t determine what’s true. That’s why it’s so important for Christians to have an understanding of apologetics (the case for and the defense of the truth of Christianity). In a world that no longer even asks what’s true, we have to be able to show that’s still the pertinent question…and then demonstrate the Bible is truly God’s Word.
For introductory apologetics and worldview resources, you can check out my books here.
Monday, August 28, 2023
The Secret to Overcoming: A Thankful Heart
I was doing a study on thankfulness and praise. I came across an interesting verse that suddenly opened up to me the dire importance of having a praiseful, a thankful heart. Apostle Paul had given us in his epistles two key principles for an overcoming and positive life. Number 1) “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus your Lord concerning you.” [1Thessalonians 5:18] Number 2) “We know all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose.” [Romans 8:28]
Those two verses had sustained me over my Christian life. The two principles Paul emphasizes are, thankfulness and a trusting faith that God is in control of our lives. If we continue to thank Him and walk in praise, in spite of the circumstances, God will work all the problems and difficulties in our lives for our good. He will deepen our Christian character and will make us a more useful instrument in His hands. If we can trust Him in those moments when it seems as if He has abandoned us, and not fulfilled His promises, He can transform those dark moments and bring joy from suffering, and beauty from ashes.
However, in his grief, Job is so discouraged he longs for death. “Oh, that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for. Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand and cut me off.” [Job 6:8-9] That is how we feel when a great calamity affronts our life. We long for the grave and the surcease of the pain and the suffering.
Moses was another prophet of God that asked God to end his life. We can read it in Numbers 11:10-15 NIV. “Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The LORD became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”
Because of Abraham’s obedience to God’s voice, even when it seemed like God was acting contrary to his own nature, God blessed him and promised to bless the world through Abraham’s seed. Abraham became the father of faith. Both Job and Abraham had faith. The Scriptures tells us, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” [Hebrews 11:6] What is faith but the quiet confidence that God is in control and will somehow work all things, all situations, together for our good, if we continue to trust Him. But if for some reason God doesn’t deliver us, or heal us, or save us, faith trusts and obeys no matter what happens.
On the cross of Calvary Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” [Matthew 27:46] Jesus may have been expressing the feeling that God had abandoned Him and not fulfilled His promises. If we have the feeling of abandonment like even some of God’s prophets have expressed, we would expect that Jesus experienced that abandonment. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” The sentence is written with a double negative. A double negative is a positive. Therefore, we can read the verse “For we have an high priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” Jesus is touched with the feeling of our infirmities which should translate in us into the faith to do what is written in the next verse: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” [Hebrews 4:16]
Jesus was actually quoting from Psalm 22 where David 1,000 years earlier prophesized on the death of the Messiah. The rest of verses one and two conclude that feeling of abandonment. “Why art thou so far from helping me, and the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the day time, but You hear not; and in the night season, and am not silent.” That’s how we feel in those moments in life where some tragedy has hit our life and it seems that God is silent. But the Psalmist doesn’t stay in that lamenting mood He rebukes his doubts and proclaims, “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel.” [Psalm 22:3] God lives within our praises, not our laments. We need to rise above our fears, doubts, and worries, and praise God in spite of our present uncertain circumstances.
Now let’s look at the verse that spoke to me so strongly when I was doing the study of praise and thankfulness. Romans 1:21, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful: but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”
If you are going through a period of testing, if God doesn’t seem to be answering your prayers and you are wondering if He really loves you and cares for you; don’t faint in your mind. Lift up those hands that hang down and straighten up your posture and begin to praise the Lord once again. Praise is the voice of faith and will lift you up out of the pit of discouragement and or bitterness into which the enemy wants to keep you. As long as you have breath in you, Praise the Lord. Praise is the victory and can bring the greatest victories out of seeming defeats. When Jehosaphat and the children of Judah began to praise the Lord, God went ahead and defeated the three armies that were coming against them. 2 Chronicles 20.
“It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other besides the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.”… “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. …And Jehoshaphat said, O Lord God of our fathers, art thou God in heaven? And do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not thou our God, who did drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gave it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever? …saying, If, when evil comes upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help…O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes upon thee. And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. …Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel in the midst of the congregation and he said, “Thus says the Lord unto you, be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. …Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.” …
And when Jehoshaphat had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endures forever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against their enemies which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy the other. And when Judah came….there were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped… Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the Lord. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. So, the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.
Maybe you feel like there are three armies coming against you. Maybe you have financial problems, our health problems, or problems in your family, or all of the above and you can’t see victory in sight. “Lift up your hands in sanctuary and praise the Lord.” [Psalm 134:2] Start praising the Lord no matter how you feel. God will come. He will answer. He will save. Let us review Psalm 100 together. “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. …enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” Use the weapon of praise and thankfulness and victory will come.
And when Jehoshaphat had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endures forever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against their enemies which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy the other. And when Judah came….there were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped… Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the Lord. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. So, the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.
