Category: Christian Living

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Christian Living

Is My Physical Pain a Punishment From God For My Past Sins?

So the title above was the question I received from a friend a while back. The full question with some extra comments was posted yesterday. And I want to thank those of you who shared some of your responses with me.
a man holding his head in his hands, symbolizing pain - could such pain be a punishment from God?
It’s a serious questions, and one that many people wonder about. Here was my Response:
There is not much theological support for us having God continually punish us for past sins. Paul was a persecutor of the church, but when he repented, God used him greatly. He did end up having a “thorn in his flesh” to contend with, but God did not tell him it was because of punishment for past sins.

Yes, God does discipline His wayward children, but it is used to bring us to repentance and restoration. As you pointed out in the opening of your question, much of what we contend with in the areas of pain are simply consequences of our own making, which God allows us to experience.

A person who chooses to get drunk habitually may lose his family. This would be a consequence of his poor choice of behavior. But we also often are dealing with the consequences of someone else’s sinful behavior. For example, the person who loses his family to an accident caused by a drunk driver is suffering the consequences of someone else’s bad behavior. We live in a depraved, fallen world that makes life tough. That does not mean it is God’s punishment, but rather just the consequences of our inviting sin into this world which has caused continuous and growing damage.

In the same way, when Adam rebelled against God, he invited disorder into God’s perfect world. Sickness and disease have come to us due to this continued disorder and decay. And so we don’t typically look at the cancer that someone gets as being a direct punishment from God for a specific sin, but rather as a consequence of the decaying world that we (humanity) caused by our sin as a human race. So we find that our sin has even affected life on the cellular level.

Therefore, I wouldn’t look at an injury that is causing pain as punishment from God today for sins from your past. Rather I would look at the physical pain that you are experiencing as a consequence of living in a world that should have been pain-free, but is not due to our sin. Now we must live with pain while we long for the day when we can enter the eternal Kingdom where God will wipe every tear from our eyes.

Could God supernaturally heal us of the pain we are suffering in the here and now? Yes. And sometimes He does. But usually we are allowed to continue walking through the pain with our hand in His. Enduring the consequences of our own bad behaviors, the consequences of others’ bad behaviors that affect us, and the consequences of those “thorns in the flesh” – all of these help us learn as Paul did – that when we are weak in and of ourselves, we are able to find our strength in our relationship with Jesus.

And so to all who are struggling through pain or illness, may you place your hands in His, may you find your strength in Him, and may you continually look forward to celebrating together in eternity at having healed bodies and no more tears!

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Christian Living

Follow Up Thoughts on Persecution from Albert Barnes

In my previous post, I asked the question – If I’m not persecuted can I be a “good” Christian? Today, I want to have a short follow-up on this idea of persecution.
two goats butting heads - symbolizing standing against persecution
Albert Barnes helpful definition of persecution indicated that it comes in many forms, including ridicule, insults, or even simple exclusion from a group due to your Christian beliefs or behavior. Not only did he provide a defintion of persecution, but he also provided some practical thoughts about the issue:

(1.) Christians should prepare to be persecuted. One of the proper qualifications for membership in the church should be our willingness to bear persecution and to resolve not to shrink from any duty in order to avoid persecution (which included ridicule, insults, or even simple exclusion).
 
(2.) They who are persecuted for their opinions should consider that this may be an evidence that they have the Spirit of Christ, and are his true friends. They should remember that, in this respect, they are treated as the Master was, and are in the good company of the prophets, apostles, and martyrs; for they were all persecuted.

However,
(3.) If we are persecuted, we should carefully inquire, before we avail ourselves of this consolation, whether we are persecuted because we “live godly in Christ Jesus,” or for some other reason.
      For example, a man may embrace some absurd opinion and call it religion; he may adopt some mode of dress that is unbelievably ludicrous, and may call it conscience; or he may be lacking in his manners, and rude in his demeanor with others, outraging all the laws of social life, and may call this “standing against the world.” For these types of behaviors, he may be condemned, ridiculed, and despised. But let him not believe that he is to be enrolled among the list of martyrs for this exclusion. The persecution which will properly furnish the evidence that we are the friends of Christ must only be that which is “for righteousness’ sake.”
 
(4.) Let those who have never been persecuted in any way inquire whether it is not an evidence that they have no religion. It is easy for a professed Christian to avoid persecution, if he yields to others at every point in which his religion is opposed to the world. But he needs to consider that if he finds himself yielding at every single point, then he may not be entitled to the Christian name.

—Albert Barnes (from the mid-1800’s)

Are you standing strong for Christ where others would have you bend?

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Christian Living

If I Am Not Persecuted Am I Not A “Good” Christian?

The Bible indicates that Christians will be persecuted. And therefore, you will occasionally hear a pastor say that if you aren’t being persecuted, then you might want to consider how well you are living out your Christianity.
picture of a fist symbolizing the idea of being persecuted

This used to concern me, because I didn’t sense a heavy amount of persecution toward me. As much as it is possible, I strive to live at peace with everyone (Romans 12:18). I know other Christians who try to do the same. And that means not much persecution has come my way. So does that mean I’m a sub-par Christian?

I certainly don’t believe you have to be highly persecuted to prove your Christianity, but I do believe that if you faithfully live for Christ and speak for Him, then you will have people around you who will not always appreciate what you have to say. At the very least, those people will probably seek to avoid you. In those instances, we must be willing to remain true to our Christian beliefs and not shrink from them in order to win the approval of others.

In studying this issue, I ran across the following information from a commentary that was helpful to me in getting a better definition of persecution. It is from the 1800s, so I’ve tried to modernize the language to make it a bit more readable:

Devoted Christians who live as the Savior did and who carry out His principles will always experience some form of persecution. By persecution, we mean that a person will be subjected to a disadvantage on account of his opinions. This is more than just arguing with him about his opinions, it is inflicting some injury on him; depriving him of some privilege or right; subjecting him to some disadvantage; or placing him in less favorable circumstances, because of his beliefs.

This may be an injury to his feelings, his family, his reputation, his property, his liberty, his influence. Or it might be by depriving him of a position which he held, or preventing him from obtaining one to which he is eligible. It could be by subjecting him to fine or imprisonment, to banishment, torture, or death.

If, in any manner, or in any way, a person is subjected to disadvantage on account of his or her religious opinions, and deprived of any rights to which he or she would be otherwise entitled, this is persecution.

Now, it is doubtless as true as it ever was, that a man who will live as the Savior did will be subjected to some such injury or disadvantage. On account of his opinions, he might be ridiculed, or treated with neglect, or excluded from part of society. The person who lives as the Savior did may be shunned by those who might otherwise value his or her friendship.

These injuries and slights may be expected in the best times and under the most favorable circumstances; and it is known that a large part of the history of the world, in its relation to the church, is nothing more than a history of persecution.

—Albert Barnes (from the mid-1800’s)

So now that we have a broader (or better) definition of persecution, we realize that we do not have to be physically threatened to consider ourselves persecuted. Just the fact that some people exclude you because of your Christian beliefs falls into the category.

(But let’s also not mistake the fact that if we are arrogant or condescending about our beliefs, then that might be what is excluding us! So don’t get confused and indicate that you are being persecuted for your Christianity, when you are actually being persecuted because you are being a jerk to others. The label “persecution” only works if you are striving to be a good friend and yet you are still being excluded.)

So the follow-up questions after getting a better definition are: How should we respond to such persecution? How should we respond to being excluded because of our Christian beliefs and behaviors?

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Christian Living

Movie-watching Impacts our Thoughts and our Feelings

Paige and I love movies. Based on the amount of money made by movies each year, you probably do too. But movie-watching can be problematic, because what we put into our eyes and minds impacts our thoughts and feelings. Here are a couple of reminders of this truth:

Ravi Zacharias, points out that “A massive global assault has been launched upon us, and it is the arts more than any other single force that predominate as an influential agent, molding our character, our values, and our beliefs. This invasion bypasses our reason and captures our imagination.”

Andrew Fletcher’s original quote from the 1600’s has been reimagined slightly and is now stated as: “Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.” Which is pointing out that the arts (such as music and movies) can change people more rapidly than laws.

His original quote was actually: “I said I knew a very wise man…that he believed if a man were permitted to make all the ballads he need not care who should make the laws of a nation, and we find that most of the ancient legislators thought that they could not well reform the manners of any city without the help of a lyric, and sometimes of a dramatic poet.”

But if it is true that the arts have such vast power in shaping our understanding of life, then we need to be careful what we take in (and what we allow our children to take in).

Kevin DeYoung wrote two articles on this a while back. The first was I Don’t Understand Christians Watching Game Of Thrones

Two weeks after posting it, the article had 71,000 views & 354 Comments on the original blog (and that doesn’t include the number of views and comments from Facebook or other social media sites). The fact that many of the comments were highly critical of his take on the issue prompted Kevin to write a second article: One More Time On ‘Game Of Thrones’

Both of these articles brought out the point that there are some things we just need to avoid allowing our eyes to see and our minds to receive.

In connection with those two articles, John Piper provides a helpful article about our entertainment choices. (It was also related to Game of Thrones, but we need to ask the same questions about all of our Entertainment and Movie-watching choices.)

God tells us:
Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable — if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy — dwell on these things. (Philippians 4:8, CSB)

What we put in our minds makes a difference. Make sure you are dwelling on the right things.

Of course, this does not mean we have to eliminate all movie-watching or the intake of other entertainment, but I do think it means we have to be critical thinkers when making our viewing choices.

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Categories
Christian Living

What are you watching? And should you be watching that?

Like everyone else, Paige & I enjoy watching Television and Movies. But we all need to ask ourselves: Should I watch this?

Below I want to provide you with six questions for you to consider regarding movie watching. These questions were drawn from two articles:
3 Questions to Ask Before Watching A Movie, and
5 Questions to Ask when Watching Movies.

If you want more than just the brief summary below, I recommend you read both of those articles in their entirety – They are helpful.

1. Should I really watch this movie?
This is a good starting question.
Why are you wanting to see this movie?
What are other people saying about it?
Read some reviews such as pluggedin.com, commonsensemedia.org, and the parent’s guides for the movie at imdb.com.
There are some movies that you do not need to see. Some that you know will trip you up. Some that you know have material in them that isn’t healthy for your mind, your language, and your purity.

2. Where are the true and false depictions of reality?
Because movies are made for our entertainment, every movie has some true depictions of reality and some false ones. Let’s make sure that we can identify these. Often the morality that is presented by Hollywood is problematic. And they like to sneak stuff in on us. For example, because the ending of the movie The Notebook was so sweet and touching, we easily forget that the relationship started by a girl cheating on her fiancé. Are we willing for the person who makes a commitment to marry us to go enjoy sex with someone else to find out if that person is their “soulmate”? Of course not.

So we must be careful that Hollywood’s depictions don’t lead us down paths that have us holding to false beliefs about life or romance.
What themes or ideas within the movie are God-honoring, and which ones are unbiblical? What qualities in the characters imitate God and vice-versa?

3. What kind of hero does this movie really need?
Every movie has a hero. But the hero won’t be Jesus. The question is how can we use the hero in the movie to think more clearly about Jesus? In what ways is the hero flawed? In what ways is he like our great Hero?

4. How is this movie trying to teach me something?
There’s no such thing as a movie without a message. So what is the main point of the movie?
Similar to question 2 above, this question is about trying to determine what the main message of the movie is and whether or not you agree with it. To help determine the main message, Listen for key lines & Determine the main character’s goal.

5. How is this movie affecting me spiritually?
Usually the most important aspect of the movie is not the rating, but the message of the movie and how it will affect me spiritually.
Movies can and will affect your walk with Jesus. If, after checking the reviews, you think a movie will likely hurt your walk with Christ, then it’s probably wise to remove it from your “to see” list.

6. How can I use this movie to talk to my friends about Jesus?
Not everyone is a critical thinker when it comes to movies. But almost everyone watches movies. Therefore conversations about movies will take place all around you. So be willing to talk about movies and use them to change the conversations toward spiritual ideas that arise from the movies you see.

“Many non-believers won’t accept an invitation to come to church, but they will talk about a movie they’ve seen recently, so we want to turn that conversation into an eternally significant discussion.”

Part of disciplemaking is helping each other process information using a God-focused worldview instead of a secular worldview. Discuss movies and other media (TV, music, books, even commercials) with your family, children, grandchildren. Use every opportunity available as a disciplemaking moment. Ask your children some engaging questions after watching a movie or TV show together, such as:

  • What is it trying to teach us?
  • What was the main point?
  • Was there anything in it that reminds us of God – His character, word, or commands?
  • Was there anything in it that directly goes against God’s character or His word or His commands?
  • How can we use this film to talk to others about Jesus?

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