Second Guessing God ~ Ch 7

Remember, we are one week behind

in our reading and blog posts...

You should be reading Chapter 8 this week

and the blog post will be out at the end of the week...

If you are already ahead, not a problem...

I'll be there with a blog post before you know it!

The above picture is "Devil's Bridge" or "Arch Bridge" in Kromlau, Germany.

I found it quite fascinating when it came up on my laptop one evening and decided to save the picture on my computer.

Today, when I was putting together my thoughts for Chapter 7 - "Witness", I realized it represented something to me that this chapter highlights.

ALL of us will eventually die. That's not a morbid thought, that's a preparatory thought. As a board member of a Christian organization, I am assuming that you have placed faith in Jesus. So, despite our fear, you and I, as believers, have hope beyond this life.

Many illustrations have been utilized to explain the transition from this life to the life after here. They normally fall into the two categories that Brian speaks about in this chapter.

Heaven...

Hell...

I happen to like the thought that someday I will "cross over" to heaven, and although it isn't "Biblically correct", I imagine the passage over to the "other side", to be as beautiful as this bridge.

Maybe you have an image of what you think it will be like when you leave here and transport to heaven. For now, this serene picture represents all I hope it to be, beauty, a little adventure, and a finish that will make my last steps from here to there, just as peaceful and amazingly beautiful.

Enough of that, I'm sure Chapter 11 will be a place for more talk of heaven since Brian said he will attempt to describe it.

This chapter hits a different topic...Hell...

Brian has written a book on this subject if you wish to read it, it's entitled...

"Hell is Real: But I Hate to Admit It."

Brian's journey to a complete acceptance of Hell is played out quite vividly in this chapter.

A chapter I would contend is my hardest chapter to discuss.

WHY?

Because most people DON'T think of suffering as a tool for witnessing to others.

It even seems callous to mention it to another person...

But, then again, the timing of such a conversation is also critical.

So... Let's dive into some thoughts and get some traction for our time together.

My favorite phrase in the book is, "God wants us to communicate clearly what happens after we die, but not as if we enjoy it."

I've met Christians like that, I think that in my early days of ministry I could have been described as one who sounded like he was rooting for those "people", whoever they were, to get their just desserts. Or come-up-ins.

From homosexuals to drunks, each of them needed the "hell" scared out of them. And the tool to do it, was a blast them with the "truth" so they'd be attracted to Jesus and join us on our merry parade of Christianity.

Now, I do understand that every human needs Christ, but at one point I had a different opinion as to how much each of us needed Jesus. Thus, my judgmental, pharisaical attitude as a believer and my early years in my pastoral roles...

THEN...

I learned my father had relapsed into alcohol again...

Later he would tell me that he was arrested for attempted murder...

Then, as if I had scales pulled from my eyes, I now saw that any one of "those people" could have been MY family members.

Suddenly grace took on a different meaning, and I began to be more honest about my own sin. I would later preach a message to my church entitled "Gays, Drunks and other Sinners."

I "stomped and spit", a term for the type of preaching I was "trained" in, until I got a certain place in the message, then I told the congregation I was done with that type of condescendence...and I laid out my own family history...and...well, once I found out I wasn't from a long line of holy people (like any of us really are) I began to have a new compassion for people who were less than perfect.

And thus, the chapter's most difficult part, much more than the topic of hell.

Suffering...

NO ONE wants to suffer to be a better witness to others. It sort of grows on you. And I think Jesus knows that. And it explains his grace for those who are in the midst of great pain.

I really love this paragraph found on page 134...

"I've grown to the point where I really resonate with the last Written words of Martin Luther, the man who instigated the beginning of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Luther, by all accounts, is ardently one of the most influential Christian leaders and thinkers the church is ever produced, yet Luther's life is one long journey of affliction. Persecuted by the Catholic Church, tormented by personal demons, carrying the pressure of leading a newly emerging church movement – by the end of his life he was a broken man. Among the endless volumes of books, sermons, and letters this brilliant man left the church, Luther penned these poignant final words: "We are beggars: this is true."

No one and I mean no one signs up for what Luther and other reformers of his day endured.

But some of us, or maybe someone you know, have had life's fire pit on their feet most of their lives.

I doubt we have the burden of Luther, but I'll bet it was tiring. And I bet you'd have rather not faced it.

Until... You are able to see the clearing of the smoke, and the SONrise begins to shine in your pain.

Take a few minutes now and give me your thoughts about these assertions concerning the training for witnessing that pain enables...

~We become "Fellow Strugglers" (Page 130). When you were at your lowest, did your perspective include the notion that you were now aware of another person's pain and could relate to them better? How about after you got through that difficult part of your life?

~We have "Courage in the Face of Death" (pg 135). Do you currently feel "brave" concerning your own mortality? Does your answer, your faith level, mean you are a better or worse Christian? Better or worse than other believers?

I leave you with this thought...one which you may want to get out a pencil and paper and begin a list of names who fit Brian's definition of "witnessing"...

~"This explains, better than anything else, why God allows us to go through rough sketches in our lives. He knows that heaven and hell hang in the balance. He sees people humbling towards a Chrysler security and is furiously trying to capture their attention. Sometimes, inelastic ditch effort to draw their gaze away from the world, God will allow us to walk into a dark place so our non-Christian family and friends can see how we respond to it there's a reason for the trials and pain we go through, it is in a funny-sounding theological phrase but rather the names of people we know... They're watching us... This may be because people who are far from God intuitively since the only person who can show them how to truly live as a person who is not afraid to die." (pg 138-139)

Till next week...