A Reasonable Faith

Recently, I have been facilitating a crash course on Apologetics. In this age, I am convinced that is no longer enough for Christians to know that they believe, but to know why they believe. The two common errors Christians can make in this arena are really two extremes. the first, is the non, or anti intellectual approach. This means that our faith is something spiritual, invisible, and cannot, and should not have to be explained, or examined in a reasonable, or rational way. The second error, is at the other end of the spectrum. These people will generally make the mistake of ruling out the “mysterious” elements of our faith, and rely completely on reason, hard science, doctrinal logic and even the senses, thus leaving no room for the trancsendancy of the Holy Spirit. My attempt, in bringing this course, is to give these new believers some real, tangible, and exciting facts, that can bolster their faith, and equip them to share the gospel in such a way as to entice people to not just make and emotional decision for Christ, but also an informed one.

In the course, I walk the students through a series of lectures and we cover many topics in our Q and A such as:

How can I know that jesus actually lived in History?

Is there evidence for the resurrection?

What about evolution?

What about all the other religions in the world?

How can I know the Bible is trustworthy?

etc. etc. etc.

If you are interested in hosting a seminar at your church please contact me: darrelllahay@gmail.com

I am available to conduct seminars ranging in length from 3 hours to two days. new beleivers, youth, seniors and students would all benefit from this fast paced and exciting course!

Words from Irenaeus

Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyons in the ancient Roman province of Gaul, is one of the early church fathers from the second century who’s writings still survive and hold relevance..

Here are some of his thoughts on “a life well spent”:

 ”The God, therefore, who does benevolently cause His sun to rise upon all, and sends rain upon the just and the unjust, shall judge those who, enjoying his equally distributed kindness, have led lives not corresponding to the dignity of His bounty, but who have spent their days in wantonness and luxury.”

what is worship?

William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (1942-1944)

I was listening to a podcast this morning by Christian author and apologist Ravi Zacharias (www.rzim.org) and he used a quote that I’ve heard him use a couple of times now. The quote is from William Temple, The renowned Archbishop of Canterbury, and it is one of the most thourough and honest descriptions of worship I’ve heared. I should like to commit it to memory:

 “Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose–all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable.”

food for thoughtful pilgrims|pastor darrell

www.darrelllahay.wprdpress.com

Let An Athiest Speak Into Your Life

Hey Pilgrims. As most of you know, I have taken a fresh interest in apologetics and evangelism. I have been devouring blogs and podcasts about the subject. Today, rather than give you my argument for the existence of God by sharing about the personal joy I know; I want to share with you the words of Julian Barnes, a professing atheist about his personal pain.

This is an excerpt from Julian Barnes’ book:

Nothing To Be Frightened Of:

“I don’t believe in God, but I have to say to you, I really miss him. I really miss him. The Christian religion has lasted because it is a beautiful lie. A tragedy with a happy ending. That’s what it is. Yet, I really miss God. The God that inspired the Italian painting and French stained glass, German music and English chapter houses, and those tumbled down heaps of stone on Celtic headlands which were once symbolic beacons in the darkness and the storm; I miss the God who inspired all of that. Now what do I believe? What is man anyway? Simply a mass of neurons. The brain is a lump of meat. And the soul is merely a story that the brain tells itself.  Yes I think about death, daily. Suddenly I am roared awake and pitched from sleep into darkness, panic. And a vicious awareness that this is a rented world, and I’m awake and alone, utterly alone. Beating my pillow with my fist and shouting; ‘Oh no!’ Oh no!’ Oh No!’ –in an endless wail. And the emptiness I have doesn’t go away.

Intellectual

I recently read one authors definition of an intellectual. He defined one as ‘a person who cares more about ideas than people’. This really struck me, and caused me to really examine myself. I constantly can find myself so busy with reading, researching, and personal study. My ministry job also affords me to be in many meetings , and it is tempting to be constantly scheming, strategizing, and even praying about kingdom work. New initiatives, improvements of ministry quality of care, improvement of style and relevance, perfecting doctrine and vision casting, etc.

As I read this very short definition, I asked myself the question, and I ask you: “Do you find yourself, investing more time and energy into ideas, rather than people?”

Shalom |pastor darrell

Orientation

 

I was listening to the CBC Radio last week. The reporter was talking about the 2010 Olympic Games. He made mention of the fact that the games would soon be coming to an end, and that many athletes, coaches, training staff, family and fans would be facing the possibility of suffering from POD. The reporter expanded on the effects and documented history of Post Olympic Depression. At first I was struck with the absurdity of the idea, but after thinking about it, I could easily see how such a climax of excitement can create a vacuum in someones soul.

That is the topic of this blog. I find my posts to be more and more apologetic. The fact that these people involved with the olympics, are driven to work, strain and strive with every resource available, to go to the Games, compete, and win. So much attention from the host city politicians, the media, the sponsors, sports fans, etc., leave an incredible sense of momentum, and leave the people involved with an unrealistic, almost impossible expectation. The point. Nothing on earth truly satisfies. Sports, opening ceremonies, closing ceremonies, winning, losing, winning the gold..nothing can satisfy us in the way we really long to be satisfied! God has allowed us to born with an “empty space” in which He is the only perfect fit. Olympics are truly exhilarating, a lot of fun, and amazing to watch. However, only God and a relationship with Him, is what truly can quiet our soul. We are designed to know God, and to know His will for our individual lives. A well-known psychiatrist, William Sheldon, made mention of this fact when looking back at his long academic career:

” Continued observation in clinical practice leads almost inevitably to the conclusion that deeper and more fundamental than sexuality, deeper than the craving for social power, deeper even than the desire for possessions, there is a still more generalized and universal craving in the human makeup. It is craving for the knowledge of the right direction — for orientation.”

 Only God gives us that knowledge.

Imago Dei

The Image of God (Hebrew: צֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים‎; tzelem elohim, lit. “image of God”, often appearing in Latin as Imago Dei) is a concept and theological doctrine that asserts that human beings are created in God‘s image and therefore have inherent value independent of their utility or function.

Although I have received Christ in faith, I must emphasize that it was not simply accomplished by blind faith. I had to make a logical, and an intellectually informed decision to give my life to Jesus. I have heard it said that you can still be a Christian without removing your brain. Some may argue that belief in Christ, or any religious notion, is unreasonable, and is some form of intellectual suicide. This is not true, belief in the existence of God, as an all-powerful, self-existing, and benevolent Diety is the most philosophically sound, and most logical explanation of reality the world has ever known.

Science, empirical science is good, but is, in its present dispensation, limited. Its limit is the human senses. Only things that can be touched, seen, heard, and tasted are held as valid evidence of our reality. Empirical science  limited to these senses only, and is, in most cases, ignorant to the idea that there is the potential for a reality that is invisible to our sight, un audible to our hearing, etc. This mental platform is as narrow-minded as those who thought the earth  flat, simply because they had not sailed around the distance of it. In blushing error, they decided that since their “natural exploration” of the earth had given no indication that it had an end, they assumed it simply went on for miles and miles, until it dropped off into a sudden abyss..

The point I want to make is an apology to the fact that humanity and consciousness itself, is one of many proofs of the tangibility of the transcendent. Humans are made in God’s image…..You are made in God’s image. The reason you feel, love, create, and think on the level that you do, is because you have been intentionally designed by a Creator who possesses those same attributes..

If you look around the earth, you will see that it is potentially, a perfect garden. Complete with a fine tuned atmosphere, a well oiled rock cycle, a delicate eco-system, a plethora of species of beautiful and strange flora and fauna, and a complex food chain. You and I are a part of that food chain. At the top actually. Every animal under us has some degree of “soulish” characteristics. (appetite, survival instinct, social behavior) but their intellect is limited to these base passions. They are subject only to  their animalistic instinct that is bent on surviving, and reproducing. Sadly, many naturalists and secular humanists have included the human “species” into that school. This is great error.

No other beast of the field or fish in the sea, or bird in the air shares the capabilities of  a human being. Here are some of the many things that make us “different” from the animals:

We love, we create art, we write symphonies, we contemplate our origin, we have cultures and morals built upon the foundation of the sense of the transcendent super-natural, we are political, we design cars, tools, trucks, space craft, jeans, egg beaters, jelly beans, microscopes, telescopes, computers, crayons, nuclear weapons, antibiotics, and tennis shoes…I think you see my point? 

To wrap this up, i want to remind you, that YOU ARE made in God’s image. you create, because He is a creator. You feel, because He is an emotional person. The greatest implication of this conclusion is that you have an inherent value. You are special and unique: made in His image, and made to be in a personal relationship with Him…

Genesis 2:7 ” And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

Shalom

The Holy Give and Take (part 2)

Check out this verse found in Daniel 3:67 . It’s the cry of the three youths in the fiery furnace. You think they’d be a little jaded, or at least a little disappointed that God would allow such a fate. here is what they said;

“Cold, heat, snow and ice; lightnings and clouds, winds and tempests; Bless the LORD, praise and exalt Him forever!”

Interesting response. Notice they didn’t bind satan, or rebuke their enemies. They didn’t try to conjure up more faith to pray for a miracle. they didn’t even pray for god to rescue them. it’s almost as if they just accepted what was happening with an enthusiastic attribution to God’s sovereignty. They did not desire that the circumstances would change, but only desired that God be exalted, and that they be submissive to what the terrible thing that was being exacted upon them by Nebuchadnezzar.

Below is a passage from some of the reading I’ve done. It’s some interesting food for thought;

The writer is describing God:

You are endowed with an infinite strength nothing can resist, but with us you do not use the absolute power of your sovereign authority. You treat us with extreme condescension and, adapting yourself to the weakness of nature, design to place each one of us in the best and most suitable situation for working out our salvation. You dispose of us with great favor as persons who are your living image and of noble origin and who, because of their condition, are not to be ordered in the voice of a master as if they were slaves, but with care and consideration as one who handles a vase of precious crystal or fragile pottery for fear of breaking it. When it is necessary for out good for you to afflict us or send us some illness or make us suffer some loss or pain, you always do so with a certain respect and a kind of deference. As a surgeon who has to operate on a person of importance takes extra care to cause him as little suffering as possible and only what is necessary for his recovery, or as a father unwillingly punishes a son he loves dearly only because he is obligated to do so for his son’s own good, so god treats us as noble beings for whom He has the highest regard, or as beloved children whom he chastises because he loves them.”

–TRUSTFUL SURRENDER TO DIVINE PROVIDENCE

Father Jean Baptiste Saint Jure- (1588-1657)

TAN publishers

I want to also leave you with the words of Job:

“The LORD has given and the LORD has taken away; as it has pleased the LORD so it is done. Blessed be the name of the LORD!”

 

The Holy Give and Take (part 1)

I’ve listened to Matt Redman’s song: “Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord” I love the line: “You give and take away..my heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be Your Name!”

I think the notion that God sometimes “takes away” is less than celebrated in church on Sunday morning.  I think we have lost some of our doctrinal bearings when we neglect this fact. No doubt, we have drifted, over years of church history, into subscribing to the erroneous idea, that when good (pleasant) things happen it is God’s doing, and when bad things happen (un-pleasant),  it is satan’s doing. Don’t get me wrong, it is imperative to hold to the fact that God is all together good, and wise and holy, and satan is of course, contrarily evil, and completely and fatally corrupt.

I’ve been slowly digesting some great 17th century writings of some of the early church fathers’ perspective on this very subject. When the church was reborn at pentecost, many new converts to Christianity were faced with harsh persecution, and in some cases death. AIn those times, martyrdom was looked upon as the most highest form of spiritual achievement. Martyrdom, although tragic, was celebrated as being the apogee of religious zeal. In those days, to sat “that guy is really on fire for Christ, would often mean “that guy is ‘really’ on fire for Christ.

After Christianity became legal under Constantine, martyrdom  was no longer a major issue in the Church. Naturally, other forms of devotion began to replace martyrdom. Many of them were extra-biblical, and overly religious such as monasticism, celibacy, vows of silence, passivity, poverty, even self-mutilation.

On the other hand, there were some very practical, and precious spiritual practices and disciplines that were practiced by our early church fathers that would serve us well to re-learn and observe again. For instance. Some early christians believed that piety could be achieved by practicing and mastering the art of forgiveness. Could you imagine, if we took the bible at face value, and went on to try with all our might to get really, really good at forgiving people? Another practice that was popular in earlier church history was to adopt an attitude of “complete submission to God’s providence” 

I see that this post is getting long..I want to continue this thought tommorrow…….In the meantime, in an attitude of complete submission to His providence (sovereign will) can you really join your heart with the song and pray: “you give and take away, my heart will choose to-day, Lord blessed be Your Name!”

salvation is:

salvation is an event

salvation is a process

salvation is a destination

“selah”

 

exodus from Egypt

pilgrimage in the desert

entrance to the promise land

“selah”

 

salvation has happened

salvation is happening

salvation will happen

“selah”

 

justified

sanctified

glorified

“selah”

 

Jesus

Holy Spirit

Father

“selah”

 

Abraham

Moses

David

“selah”

 

Yeshua Ha-Mashiach

Ru’ach Ha Chodesh

Avinu Shebasha Mayim

“amen”