When is the last time you have had a conversation about God with someone – outside of church?
The Psalms encourage us to express what we are thinking and feeling about God.
But outside of church settings, it seems awkward or inappropriate to talk about God.
Some people bring up God in very unhelpful (pushy, judgmental) ways, but there are helpful ways to talk about God.
I think our spiritual health needs this, it’s good for us to talk about God.
Even sharing negative thoughts about God is good, its purging and healing.
The Spirit of God is stirring in every person, nudging us towards God and to His embrace.
As we share honestly about God, like the Psalms do, the Spirit makes us stronger on the inside.
If I suppress healthy God-talk, I am suppressing (resisting) the Spirit, and missing out on spiritual growth.
It’s not my business to convince or convert people, just get the God-conversation started, and see what God does with it!
Here are some thoughts on how we can have a healthy God-conversation:

(1) Don’t start with telling people, start with asking people how they experience God.
(2) Don’t feel the need to correct people, affirm what you can and thank them for their honesty.
(3) Don’t defend your views if people attack your beliefs, respond graciously and let God defend Himself.
(4) Don’t judge them in your heart, try to understand why they feel how they feel.
(5) Don’t critique other religions or viewpoints, share your own thoughts positively.
(6) Don’t ignore the little positive hints of faith that others express, they are seeds of spiritual growth.
(7) Don’t share doctrine about God, share personal experience of God (how you are impacted by the trinity).
(8) Don’t tell people how it should impact them, share with them honestly how it impacts you.
(9) Don’t hide your struggles, be honest and real, this will help them be honest and real too.

Any other ideas?

Laminin, God’s signature printed within you!
“Christ is the exact likeness of God, who can’t be seen. He is first, and he is over all of creation. All things were created by him. He created everything in heaven and on earth. He created everything that can be seen and everything that can’t be seen. He created kings, powers, rulers and authorities. Everything was created by him and for him. Before anything was created, he was already there. He holds everything together.” (Colossians 1:15-17)

According to Sam Harris, these are the only options.

I was reading about C.S.Lewis ‘trilemma’, where he says that Jesus is either “Lunatic, Liar, or Lord”.
Critics accuse Lewis of using questionable logic, ambiguous terms and false premises.
I wonder if they also accuse Sam Harris of questionable logic, ambiguous terms and false premises.
God is either impotent, evil or imaginary… Are these the only logical options?
Or the only ones he wants to consider?
His idea of ‘choosing wisely’ seems to be, limit the options, load the deck in your favour.

So what are the other options?
Not wanting to be simplistic (like Sam Harris is), suffice it to say that there may be a lot more information needed to help us make sense of these questions.
Huge issues like: what is God, what are humans, what is reality, what are catastrophes, what is good, what is evil, why do things happen at all, is there order or meaning or purpose, what does it mean to care?
Is it possible that the God that exists is wiser and more caring than we understand or appreciate, and that what doesn’t make sense to us does make sense in the bigger picture?
I think of soldiers on the battlefield, taking order from HQ by people who see and know more than they do.
What may not make sense to the soldiers (and may cause them to question the sanity or goodness of their commanders), may make sense in light of the big maps, and the secret strategies of the enemy.
Is it possible that God knows more than us, that even catastrophes somehow fit into that bigger story?
It certainly is possible… but I doubt Sam Harris wants to include that option.
Yes Sam, take your pick, and choose wisely!

You are good, and what you do is good. (Psalm 119:68)
I believe that behind the universe there exists a thoroughly good Being… God.
God IS good, and therefore God DOES good; whatever God does is good.
But this does not mean that everything that happens is good.
The reason: this good God created a universe managed by free humans capable of choosing good, or not.
Everything God does is good, but God does not do everything!
He does not rape, murder, steal, lie, cheat, abuse, vandalize, oppress, torture.
But He allows it, isn’t that the same thing?
This is God’s dilemma: He can either have free humans with the possibility of evil, or enslaved puppets with no choice.
If He were to intervene to prevent evil, He would have to get rid of all of us, or turn us into robots.
It’s the same dilemma we face: why have children when we know there is a good possibility that they will hurt us?
God chooses love, God chooses freedom, God chooses the best world possible, given this dilemma.
And through it all God inserts His goodness.
He shows us what love is all about, and reminds us of the seriousness and deadliness of evil.
He judges those who refuse to change for good, and He helps those who admit their need for mercy and help.
God is not the cause of evil, but behind it all His goodness is at work.
He allows His children to choose, but He also provides abundant opportunities to choose what is good.
He is good, and what He does is good!

In Mark 10:17-22, Jesus is addressed as ‘Good Teacher’ by a spiritual seeker.
‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good – except God alone.’ (Mark 10:18)
Christians claim that Jesus is God, so why did Jesus question His own goodness?
Two possible reasons come to mind.
First, Jesus is challenging a man who thinks that ‘goodness’ is based on what we do, our good deeds.
Jesus goes on to expose the selfishness that lies behind this man’s obedience of the law.
Jesus directs him to focus on God’s goodness, before which all of us fall short!
Second, although Jesus often refers to His divine origins, He never outright claims to be God.
He understands Himself as human, a servant of God, emptied of His God-power (Philippians 2:6-8)
I am not questioning His being the Word of God made flesh (John 1:14), nor that the fullness of God dwelled in Him (Colossians 2:9).
As to His eternal origin, He is the ‘I am’ that is before Abraham…’ fully God (John 8:58-59).
But as to His incarnate (human, in flesh) identity, He is the son of David, the son of Man, the son of God (like Adam was, Luke 3:38), a human being after God’s own heart… fully human.
Jesus as a human is doing what Adam and David would have/should have done: pointing others to God.
This is what we should do too: not point to our own goodness but point to God’s goodness.

C. S. Lewis once remarked,

“What do people mean when they say that they’re not afraid of God because they know that He is good? Have they never even been to the dentist?”

Yesterday as a church we reflected on the goodness of God.
We got so excited about the goodness of God that we started celebrating in the streets!
You can watch the video here (that’s me in the baseball cap and hoody).

OK, well maybe we weren’t as energized as this, but we could have been!
There is something contagious about the message and energy shown here.
If only these stiff dutch bones could flex and move like this!
Here is another song celebrating the goodness of God (thanks Karen)

God is good!

This is amazing, it’s definitely worth 10 minutes of your time, more!
You have heard of Oprah Winfrey, and Pastor Rick Warren, but maybe not of Nick Vujicic.
Well watch this video and you will know who he is, and his AMAZING message of hope!
According to Oprah, ‘this is gonna shut your mouth!”
The theme for the show is dealing with the cards you’ve been dealt.
Rick Warren talks about five cards (and of course, they all start with the same letter).
Your Chemistry (physical condition), Connections (relationships), Circumstances (life situations), Consciousness (thinking) and Choices (how you choose to respond)… this last card is a wild card!
But listen to them explain it, and you will get it.

It’s making me think again about my life, my challenges, my limitations, my excuses.
It’s inspiring me to look up, to focus on God, and to live my life for all that God created me to be!
Thanks Gord for sharing this with me!

As far as I can tell, these are the only options, and only the first one can inspire hope.
If God is weak, or if God is not good, or if God does not exist at all, then how can there be hope?
Some might say ‘what of it, so there’s no hope, suck it up and do the best you can!’
And some may succeed at this, but most of us find this deflating, demoralizing.
Why bother trying, why bother caring, why bother helping others, why bother pursuing a better world?
People all through history have sensed that there is hope, and that there is a God out there.
Not just any God, but a powerful God, and a good God.
Life is not hopeless, and my circumstances are not random or meaningless.
God is not the cause of evil, but neither is He a victim to it!
God is great, and God is good, and therefore we have “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow!”
What about you, what do you choose to believe?