The following poem was written by C.S. Lewis, and is quoted in the book "Between Heaven and Hell" by Peter Kreeft:
"From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs give no sign, deliver me.
Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead
Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle's eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die."
Lewis is essentially asking God to deliver him from this world and from himself. The idea of asking to be delivered from oneself and all of one's own actions is one of absolute selflessness. For a person to make this request, he must have reached the realization that he can never be good enough, and thus become filled with the overwhelming desire to let go of everything and hand it over to God. That state of selflessness and Christ-likeness is one that all believers should strive for.
"Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?" - Matthew 16:24-26
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
TBN...the good and the bad
This week I had my first experience with the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Religious television....gotta love it, right? Honestly, I'm one of those people who flips to a different channel right away when I come across any sort of "religious" TV show.
A lot of the time, religious shows, specifically those that are Christian-based, become too dependent on donations from viewers. While there is nothing wrong with a donation-funded channel, I think there is something wrong with a show that professes to be teaching the Gospel, but is at the same time there is an advertisement on the screen that shows which hashtags to follow on twitter.....
This happened on the show, "The Potter's Touch." It features a man who is giving a sermon at a church. His sermons are very passionate and focused on appealing to the emotions of the viewers. Coincidentally, during the commercial breaks, there is an advertisement for a DVD series by the man who is giving the sermons, and there is a phone number that appears for people who desire to give a donation. In addition, those who make a donation are sent a magnetic, jeweled cross as a reward.
I love Jesus with all of my heart and soul, but honestly I don't understand how people can turn TV shows based on the spread of the Gospel into a way of conning people out of their money. While I'm sure that is not always an intention of the producers, I think it is something that tends to happen quite often.
The second show that I watched is called "The Way of the Master," and it consists of a small group of people who travel around the world, preaching the Gospel. In the current series, the group is traveling through Europe, preaching in a different country each day for 13 days. This particular episode depicted the time that the group spent in Germany, during Oktoberfest (huge beer party, essentially).
The group talked with random people on the street and asked them questions that led into a conversation in which they could tell that person about the Gospel. It was sad to see that many of the German people were deceived about the truth and grace of the Gospel. They said that they considered themselves to be "good people" and since God always forgives their sins, that they will end up in Heaven. The reality is that only people who truly give their lives to Christ, and put all of their faith, hope and trust in Him will go to Heaven. And that is only because Christ came and died for us: taking away all of our sins.
Ray Comfort, a member of the group, also did some open air preaching on the streets of Munich, Germany. He attracted people by talking while his friend tried to get himself out of a straight jacket. Ray succeeded in getting the attention of many people, and was thus able to create an opportunity to witness about the Gospel.
Often times, Christians are afraid to stand up and be witnesses for Christ, or they just choose to wait until an obvious opportunity presents itself. However, as demonstrated by Ray Comfort, sometimes the best witness opportunities are the ones that we have the courage to create.
A lot of the time, religious shows, specifically those that are Christian-based, become too dependent on donations from viewers. While there is nothing wrong with a donation-funded channel, I think there is something wrong with a show that professes to be teaching the Gospel, but is at the same time there is an advertisement on the screen that shows which hashtags to follow on twitter.....
This happened on the show, "The Potter's Touch." It features a man who is giving a sermon at a church. His sermons are very passionate and focused on appealing to the emotions of the viewers. Coincidentally, during the commercial breaks, there is an advertisement for a DVD series by the man who is giving the sermons, and there is a phone number that appears for people who desire to give a donation. In addition, those who make a donation are sent a magnetic, jeweled cross as a reward.
I love Jesus with all of my heart and soul, but honestly I don't understand how people can turn TV shows based on the spread of the Gospel into a way of conning people out of their money. While I'm sure that is not always an intention of the producers, I think it is something that tends to happen quite often.
The second show that I watched is called "The Way of the Master," and it consists of a small group of people who travel around the world, preaching the Gospel. In the current series, the group is traveling through Europe, preaching in a different country each day for 13 days. This particular episode depicted the time that the group spent in Germany, during Oktoberfest (huge beer party, essentially).
The group talked with random people on the street and asked them questions that led into a conversation in which they could tell that person about the Gospel. It was sad to see that many of the German people were deceived about the truth and grace of the Gospel. They said that they considered themselves to be "good people" and since God always forgives their sins, that they will end up in Heaven. The reality is that only people who truly give their lives to Christ, and put all of their faith, hope and trust in Him will go to Heaven. And that is only because Christ came and died for us: taking away all of our sins.
Ray Comfort, a member of the group, also did some open air preaching on the streets of Munich, Germany. He attracted people by talking while his friend tried to get himself out of a straight jacket. Ray succeeded in getting the attention of many people, and was thus able to create an opportunity to witness about the Gospel.
Often times, Christians are afraid to stand up and be witnesses for Christ, or they just choose to wait until an obvious opportunity presents itself. However, as demonstrated by Ray Comfort, sometimes the best witness opportunities are the ones that we have the courage to create.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Between Heaven and Hell...part 1
The book, "Between Heaven and Hell," written by Peter Kreeft, consists of a conversation between three prominent men in history, who all happened to die on November 22, 1963. These three men are C.S. Lewis, John F. Kennedy, and Aldous Huxley. There will most likely be a series of blog posts regarding the ideas discussed in this book, and this is the first!!
One concept that I believe is often never addressed is the idea of a "sage." A sage is sometimes referred to as a guru or a spiritual master. In this book, C.S. Lewis describes them as having three basic psychological characteristics:
One of the main points of this book is that C.S. Lewis is trying to convince the other two men of the divinity of Christ. Lewis uses the premise of the aut deus aut homo malus proof, which is that Jesus is either God or a bad man. Jesus claimed to be God (because he is), so either he was telling the truth, and thus is in fact God, or he was telling a blasphemous lie, and is therefore a bad man.
Lewis later expands on this argument, and shows that there are four possibilities of who Jesus actually is:
Since Lewis is the one who is trying to prove the divinity of Christ, it may surprise you that he is the man in this book that confesses that he once desired to be his own God. He explains that he hated the idea of a God who barges into our world and interferes with our lives and our values. Lewis hated the idea of anyone but himself being in control of his life. He stresses his belief that many people reject Christianity, because they do not want to believe in a God who is actively involved in our lives.
Lewis describes this concept as self-deception: rejecting something because you don't want it to be true, and not because the evidence proves it to be false. He then says that the first step toward being honest to yourself is just wanting to achieve honesty. "An honest will makes an honest mind."
There is surely more to come from this book, so stay tuned if you want to have your mind further enriched!
One concept that I believe is often never addressed is the idea of a "sage." A sage is sometimes referred to as a guru or a spiritual master. In this book, C.S. Lewis describes them as having three basic psychological characteristics:
- Unusual wisdom or insight into the human heart and character.
- Love, compassion and selflessness.
- Creativity; can't be put into familiar categories.
One of the main points of this book is that C.S. Lewis is trying to convince the other two men of the divinity of Christ. Lewis uses the premise of the aut deus aut homo malus proof, which is that Jesus is either God or a bad man. Jesus claimed to be God (because he is), so either he was telling the truth, and thus is in fact God, or he was telling a blasphemous lie, and is therefore a bad man.
Lewis later expands on this argument, and shows that there are four possibilities of who Jesus actually is:
- God
- A bad man (blasphemous or insane)
- A good man (a mere sage)
- An ordinary man
Since Lewis is the one who is trying to prove the divinity of Christ, it may surprise you that he is the man in this book that confesses that he once desired to be his own God. He explains that he hated the idea of a God who barges into our world and interferes with our lives and our values. Lewis hated the idea of anyone but himself being in control of his life. He stresses his belief that many people reject Christianity, because they do not want to believe in a God who is actively involved in our lives.
Lewis describes this concept as self-deception: rejecting something because you don't want it to be true, and not because the evidence proves it to be false. He then says that the first step toward being honest to yourself is just wanting to achieve honesty. "An honest will makes an honest mind."
There is surely more to come from this book, so stay tuned if you want to have your mind further enriched!
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