Brainwashed by the Church Discussion Continues

The person, who wrote the discussion forum post that asserted that Christians become Christians through environments that are orchestrated to entrap non-believers' mind and keep them in the faith through isolation from the secular world, is at it again. He posted the following:

PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE CAUSED BY CHRISTIANITY

Guilt and Regret

Guilt and regret are probably the two most debilitating emotions a human being can experience. Since guilt and regret are so powerful, they are at the core of the efforts to ensnare and control the Christian. Since these two emotions are used as a brainwashing and conversion tools and could easily be discussed in the brainwashing techniques chapter of the manifesto, but it is more suitable to discuss them now because of the long-term psychological damage both can create.

Guilt and regret are feelings that everyone has experienced at least at one point in their life. Usually individuals who are diagnosed with or are going through a period of depression experience feelings of guilt or regret, and in many cases, periods of extreme depression are caused by these two emotions. Since guilt, regret and depression coincide with each other so often, many people consciously or unconsciously link them together. It is not uncommon for one to reflect on a horrible period in their life and remember strong feelings of guilt and/or being regretful about something.

Christian leaders know the powerful, negative impact guilt and regret can have on an individual and have become very tactical in the use of these emotions. Christian leaders use a cycle of reminding believers of the things or events in their life that they should feel guilty about and then afterwards reminding them that only Jesus can save them from their guilt (sins) and regrets. It is a cruel game they play with your emotions.

They way Christian leaders toy with your motions can be compared to a doctor who purposely makes you ill and then later on gives you the medicine needed to cure your illness, and then repeats the process over again and again and again. Disturbing analogy, but that is exactly the psychological method that used to keep you coming back to and dependent on church.
What the Christian leader uses to make you feel guilty is the brainiest part of the psychological war he wages on the believer.

The Christian leader makes you feel guilty about fulfilling your natural human desires, the desires that all human beings possess and have little control over. You are made to feel guilty about having sex, thinking about sex, masturbating, putting your needs above others and God, desiring or thinking about something more than you desire or think about God, enjoying music that is not focused on God, dancing, drinking alcohol and socializing with nonbelievers.

By labeling natural desires as sins, there is no escape from continuingly sinning and perpetually being in a state of guilt, which is the goal. This is the goal because if you are always sinning or feeling guilty, you will always need to go to church and repent.

To make matters worse, the Christian leader will try to convince you that it is possible to change your "sinning" nature by getting closer to God. So logically, if getting closer to God and prevent one from sinning, the individual who can't seem to get him or herself to stop sinning will think they are not close enough to God. Once you develop this train of thought they really have got you!

A Christian who wants to get closer to God will search for ways to do so. He or she will pray more often and for longer periods of time, read the bible more often, attend and volunteer in church more frequently, evangelize more, and search for other ways to please God. They will continue to try to get closer to God until their whole life is consumed.

When a Christian's life becomes consumed trying to get closer to God with the hope of escaping from the guilt and sin, the real psychological damage begins because they will always find themselves sinning and therefore never feel close enough. At this point either one of two things generally happens.

The first thing that can happen is that the believer realizes that he or she is doing everything they can to live for God but they still can't stop sinning. This realization causes extreme guilt and depression to take hold of the Christian. The person begins to think something is seriously wrong with them. That individual will see the leaders of the church and other Christians acting as if they have somehow escaped their human nature, and it makes the guilty Christian's self esteem hit rock bottom. This individual my even begin to hate and not trust him or herself because they can't seem to get it together like everyone else in church. The psychological damage caused by the game Christian leaders play may take years of therapy to heal.

The second thing that can happen to a guilt ridden Christian is far worse than the first. Some Christians will be able to suppress their emotions and desires to sin to the point that they become people devoid of emotion and desires. They become walking zombies robbed of the feelings that make them human. This is an incredibly unnatural and dangerous condition for any human being to exist in and can cause extreme psychological damage. It is almost impossible for human being suppresses desires, especially sexual desires, in this manner for any length of time without needed some type of release to avoid insanity. This release can take the form of binging on sex, food, drugs or some other object, or the individual might explode in anger, rage or violence. It is no coincidence that quite a number of serial killers and rapist were raised in very religious or strict homes. The suppression of the natural desires caused a psychological imbalance that caused them to release their emotions in the form of anger.


Inability to Make Decisions

Christian leaders often encourage Christians to "wait on God" before making any major decisions. "Waiting on God," means to pray to God for help in making an important decision and then to wait for His answer. The result of this practice is the development of a stagnant human being that is incapable of or has great difficulty making decisions on his or her own. The practice of waiting for God for help in making decisions has long term implications for the Christian, even if he or she decides later on not to follow the religion.

One problem that arises when someone relies on God to help them is that that person has no way of knowing when or if God has given them an answer. Does the answer come in the form of a warm feeling inside one's heart? Does it come from some type of sign? Does God actually speak to the individual in search of an answer?

The indecisive Christian who is in search of some supernatural guidance will often wait and wait for some sign that will help them make a good decision. Since the human mind is very good at tricking itself into believing things are there when they actually aren't, especially if we want them badly enough, usually the Christian will get the sign he or she was looking for. For those who don't have a great ability to trick their own mind, they may spend a very long time waiting for an answer and may never make a decision at all.

Whether or not the Christian receives an answer to his or her prayer for guidance or not, the message to the Christian is very clear, "YOU CAN NOT MAKE A DECISION ON YOUR OWN!" Making a decision without praying to God first and assuring it's a decision He wants for your life is dangerous!

For the individual who does not rely on a higher power to make decisions, it is accepted that some decisions that one makes will end up with good results and others won't. This is an accepted risk and part of any decision making process that most mature human beings learn to cope with. Many people who can't come to terms with this reality, or have suffered from the results of a poor decision they made in the past, may want to live a life where God makes decisions for them instead of relying on their own judgments.

For the Christian who relies on God to guide their decisions, the decisions that end up with negative results can be disturbing and confusing. They may wonder, "how could a decision guided by God end with a negative result?" The Christian who had his divine guidance go wrong will typically come up with one of the following explanations for what went wrong: He made a mistake by thinking that God answered his prayer or he may think he was guided by God but more prayer and devotion was needed afterward.

The devout Christian who trusts in God's wisdom will not blame God for the negative consequences of a decision. Instead, the blame goes wholly on the Christian who is faced with the task of figuring out what went wrong. Since it is the Christian's fault, he or she will conclude that they have to do something differently the next time they have a decision to make. That Christian may decide to pray more, attempt to get closer to God, wait longer for an answer or live a life where the individual makes no decisions at all and just lets God to lead them throughout life like the wind leads a leaf through the air. The last approach leads to complete stagnation and lifelessness, which is sadly a state many Christian are in today.

By encouraging Christians to wait on God to make decisions, Christians become exactly what those in power want them to be, individuals who are afraid and incapable of making decisions independently.

Here's my response.

The writer of the post showed a complete ignorance of Christian doctrine.

1. All believers are relieved of guilt because all their sins (past, present, and future) are forgiven.
   


2. Because the believer knows that his/her future sin are forgiven, he/she is freed from the anguish of making a bad decision because any bad decision would be forgiven.


3. Christians will face trials irregardless of whether he/she makes good or bad decision

James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

So a true Christian would not be paralyzed by a decision due to the fear of the bad stuff of life that can result from the decision; bad stuff will come irregardless of whether the decision is a good or bad one.


4. Listening for the guidance of the Lord does not mean abandoning our responsibility to make decisions. When the President of the United States commissions a working group to study an issue and waits for their report, is he discarding his responsibility to make the final decision. Of course not, he is merely soliciting for advice.

Brainwashed by the Church?

Recently, I encountered a post in one of the Christian forums that infuriated me so much that my first reaction was to lash out at the person who posted it and point out how stupid he is. But I decided to take a breath before I post a response.

The post asserted that Christians become Christians through environments that are orchestrated to entrap non-believers' mind and keep them in the faith through isolation from the secular world. Here is the contents of the post:

BRAINWASHING TECHNIQUES

The Use of Fear to Convert and Trap

Many psychologist and other social scientists state that the mind is most susceptible to brainwashing during or after it has experienced shock, trauma or an intense state of fear. Knowing this fact, Christian leaders use fear during the process of brainwashing in order to convert or retain Christians within the religion.

Anyone who has been to a revival meeting can tell you how terrifying of an experience it can be, especially during the beginning phases of the preaching. Revivalist preachers usually begin their sermon giving the listening audience horrifying descriptions of hell, the devil and Armageddon. They will tell the audience stories about people who heard the gospel, decided to wait for a later time to accept Christ as their savior and then unexpectedly died shortly after hearing the good news and are now spending an eternity in hell. Preachers will tell tales of demon possessions, disturbing visions of the future and rule of the Antichrist. They will tell you anything to put you into a state of fear.

Preachers who use fear know that when the mind enters an intense state of fear, it will naturally seek relief or rescue from the state. Being in a constant state of fear is too much for the mind to handle, so it will naturally look for a way out of the state. The preacher that created the state of fear knows this and he will cleverly provide your mind with the escape it desires.
After about an hour of "fire and brimstone preaching" and filling the audience with fear, the preacher will switch gears and start preaching about the love of God and how God sent Jesus to rescue the world from sin and hell. By switching gears like this, the preacher is giving your mind, which overwhelmed with fear what it needs, an escape. The mind needs some relief from fear and it certainly doesn't want to go home like this, so it tells you to accept relief the preacher is offering you. When you accept Christ out of fear, the preacher's job is complete because he has set you up to live through a horrible pattern that keeps you coming back to him whenever fear takes over you. Whenever you return to church in a state of fear, you will be susceptible for further manipulation and brainwashing.

It is important to realize that if the preacher doesn't scare the audience with threats of an eternity in hell; few people in the audience would actually convert. And even if they do convert, they are less likely to come back for more preaching. If the preacher just told the audience about the love of God and never mentioned the alternative to going to heaven, hell, many people would put off following God until later in life. This is unacceptable to the preacher who wants control of believer now.


Isolation: Creating the "Christian against the World" Mentality

It is not long after the conversion of a new Christian that an important concept is impressed upon him or her. That concept is, "You are physically in this world but you are not of it." (John 16:17 NIV, Bible Gateway, 2006) The Christian is taught that the world is the enemy of Christ and his church because Satan influences it. Anyone who has not accepted Jesus into his or her heart is controlled by sin and is therefore dangerous to be around. The Christian is taught that, "Anyone who is not for Christ is against Him." Learning and accepting these extreme views are another step in the brainwashing process, which is isolation.

Isolation and convincing an individual that everyone, except the group he is being indoctrinated into, is against him is a well know brainwashing technique. Any knowledgeable social scientist will tell you that isolation is probably the most important step in the brainwashing process. Like most of the conversion techniques Christian leaders use, many brainwashers throughout history and today have used the isolation technique. Isolation was used to convert prisoners of war to Communism in concentration camps in China, by Hitler to persuade the Germans to go to war and commit inhumane acts and by almost every cult in existence.

Overtime, the new Christian victim is taught that they are only truly safe from the seduction of the devil within the church or among other Christians. New converts are also taught that God gave them a new mind when they accepted Jesus as their savior and that nonbelievers will have trouble understanding them because of that. Therefore, new converts should not be surprised if family and friends rejects their newfound faith because their mind is still controlled by the wisdom of the world and not God. Telling a new Christian this makes them highly sensitive to anyone who questions or criticizes their new belief, even if it is a valid criticism.

These concepts and methods are designed to increase the separation between the new convert and non-believing friends and family. The goal is for the current relationships that new Christian has with non-believing friends and family to be eventually replaced by members in the church who will slowly become their new "family in the Lord."

Isolating Christians from non-Christians is a method that is used to gain influence over new converts by eliminating the competition for their mind. By separating the convert from their family and friends there is little chance that someone will have the opportunity to be the voice of reason in their life to sway them away from Christianity.

The isolation of the Christian is further achieved by labeling common activities and conversations that nonbelievers take part in as sins. It is a sin for the Christian to enjoy non-Christian or secular music, go out for a night of drinks and dancing, talk about sex, and tell dirty jokes and to watch R rated movies. Labeling such trivial and common activities as sin makes spending time with nonbelievers complicated and awkward for the Christian. Overtime it becomes more convenient for the Christian to socialize exclusively other Christians who share the same values.

The Idle Mind is the Manipulators Workshop

"The idle mind is the Devil's workshop" is a popular phrase quoted by Christians. The notion behind this statement is that if one does not keep busy, the Devil will have an opportunity to tempt that person to sin or to stray away from God.

Christians are encouraged to avoid having an idle mind by keeping themselves busy with work, attending church, reading the bible, praying and worshipping God and doing Godly works by volunteering in church.

Preventing one's mind from being idle is actually another brainwashing technique. The reason why keeping a new convert busy is a brainwashing technique is because the mind is never actually idle. A healthy mind when not occupied with work or otherwise distracted is constantly thinking, reflecting and questioning. What the Christian leader is trying to avoid by keeping his congregation busy is allowing the believer to have the opportunity to think and question what they are being taught and programmed to believe by their church leaders.

Anyone who attends a new believer or new convert class will pick up on the effort to keep new Christian busy with things related to Christianity. New converts are strongly encouraged to attend church several times a week, spend hours studying the bible and to attend church functions. This is all done as part of an effort to overload mind the new believer with as much Christian propaganda and doctrine as possible while at the same time keeping them away from any information that questions Christianity.

The Small Details of Brainwashing

Along with the tools already mentioned in this manifesto there are many other brainwashing techniques that are used by Christian leaders. All of the techniques are too numerous to mention some of the most noticeable ones are: Creating a hypnotic environment with walls painting in soft and relaxing colors, using dim lighting and playing repetitive music; Tiring the mind and body by having hard wood seats in churches, giving extremely long sermons and suggesting that believers fast; and creating feelings of excitement by changing the tones and pace of the voice of the preacher. All of the above techniques are used for varying reasons but are all brainwashing and hypnotic techniques that can be researched and have been used for many years.

Here is my response:

I am a Christian and has never attended a revival nor was I ever isolated from the secular world by the Church (much less give the Church opportunity to "brainwash" me).

As a child and as a young man, I had viewed Christianity with distain, as a religion for the weak minded who need a mental crutch to prop up their guilt. I embraced the secular world and enjoyed what it offered.

It was not until my junior year in college when I accepted Jesus the Christ as my Lord and Savior. It was not due to someone convincing me of the Gospel (I would have scoffed at that). I accepted because, one night, when I was by myself, I had a personal encounter with the Creator and Lord of the universe.

OK, I didn't accepted Him as my Lord right away. I thought it would be nice to have an insurance policy against going to hell (if it actually existed), not to mention having its premium completely paid by the Almighty Creator (if it is indeed Him that is calling), but I was not willing to submit myself to the will of anyone else (including the Almighty Creator). My desire was to hold on to the treasures and pleasures of this world. And frankly speaking, I did not have any remorse for anything that I did in my young life. (After all, I didn't commit murder, sleep with someone else's wife, or rob a bank.)

But, He continued to call me, night after night. And each day, He made the treasures and pleasures of the world less enticing. The sexy hot girls no longer looked sexy and hot but sleazy and revolting. The thrills of college night life was no longer thrilling but mindless and boring (not to mention the headache inducing monotonic beat of the dance music). Each night, the serenity of His call became more desirable than the call of this world.

So, without a lick of knowledge about the Gospel (much less the rest of the Bible) I gave my life to my Lord, Jesus the Christ who called me. I gave Him my life without knowing what it meant; I simply said to Him, "Whatever you want from me, it's Yours."

Why? Because this life no longer offered me anything meaningful.

Afterward, Jesus led me to a Christian fellowship where I finally heard the Gospel for the first time.

And guess what? There I learned about the Great Commission:

Matthew 28:19
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, immediately after joining the Christian fellowship, they pushed me out the door to engage with the world.

From that turning point in my life, I've traveled up and down the east and west coast of the U.S., to Mexico, to Europe, to Turkey, and to Central Asia. And boy, did the world offer a lot more treasures and pleasures than I can imagine. Of course, greater was the pleasure of allowing the Almighty to use me in the lives of broken people around the world. Ok, no, He didn't use me, it was all Him (the incredible miracles that He performed); I was just there for the ride.

As a witness for my Lord Jesus the Christ, I can assure you that I did not become a believer because I was manipulated by men to believe; I was called by the Creator and Lord of the Universe to follow His call.

As a witness for my Lord Jesus the Christ, I can assure you that it was not the avoidance of idle mind that kept me from straying from the faith; it was in these times of solitude in which my Lord and Savior met me where I am.

As a witness for my Lord Jesus the Christ, I can assure you that I do not stay in the faith because I was isolated from the secular world by the Church; I was called to travel the globe and engage the secular world through which I saw the glories of His miracles which build my desire for His presence in my life. (There's nothing like being rescued by the Lord from a third world jail in a Muslim country, for the cause of the Gospel, to strengthen you faith in the love and power of the Almighty.)

Pandora

As most of you know, my favorite past time is looking for new or little known recording artists who are not promoted by the big record labels. Before my mom had a stroke, I used to have to time to visit clubs to hear them. Now that I spend most of my time taking care of my mom, opportunities for visiting clubs are slim.

I've been browsing MySpace for artists on MySpace, but it's pretty time consuming since it's a "hit or miss" situation in which it's mostly misses.

Well, I found a fantastic web site for looking for new artists that match your taste in music.

It's http://www.pandora.com

There, you can create a "radio station" (list of artists that you like) and it'll start playing artists whose style is similar to those on the list.

It uses the data from the Music Genome Project to select music for that "radio station".

It's great if you are just starting to get into a genre of music.

You can create more than one "radio station" if your favorite music spans a plethora musical styles.

Oh, I almost forgot: it's FREE!!!!

How should Christians deal with sin?

For the last several days, I've noticed a re-occurring theme in the Christian discussion groups. It's the question of how should Christians deal with sin? Some suggested that we, Christians, should never tolerate sin, while others suggested that we should tolerate sin in non-believers but not within the Body of Christ. There are also those who argued that we should tolerate all sin.

As the discussion threads grew, it became apparent that there were several perspectives on what sin is and even more perspectives on what it means to tolerate (or to not tolerate) sin.

Let's first start with the Biblical definition of sin.

The word sin is found in two of the most important verses in the New Testament.

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned (hamartano), and come short of the glory of God;

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin (hamartia) is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Greek words harmartano (verb)/harmatia (noun), that are translated into the English word sin, are not religious terms. They are secular terms that comes from archery. The term means to miss the mark.

So what is the mark that we are supposed to hit but fail to hit? We can find it in Genesis.

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness

We were created to carry God's image and be stewards of His creation.

When we fail, in any way, to perfectly mirror God, we sin; or to quote Romans 3:23 when we "come short of the glory of God", we sin.

By this definition, all of us are sinning all the time. There is not a second in our lives in which we come close to mirroring the perfection of God; therefore, there is not a second in our lives in which we are not sinning.

Then, is it possible for us to not tolerate sin all the time?

How, then, do we deal with sin?

Here is what Jesus said:

Matthew 7:1-5
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

We must first deal with our own sin.

There are at least two aspects of dealing with our sin. One aspect is dealing with the wages of sin: death from which we must be saved. Another aspect is the pursue of holiness after we are forgiven.

How are we to be saved?

Romans 10:9
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

We need to accept Jesus as our Lord and believe that the Jesus' death and resurrection pays the wages of our sin.

Once we know that the wages of all our sins are paid, do we continue sinning?

Romans 6:1-4
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

No, we do not go on sinning because the grace of God is not just the forgiveness of sin but also the gift of a new life. To go on sinning, we would fail to reap the full reward of God's grace. We would receive the first half of God's grace: forgiveness of sin; but fail to receive the second half: a new life.

Since our pursuit of holiness would never be complete on this side of eternity, does that mean we would never be dealing with the sins of others?

Didn't Jesus say that we need to take the plank out of own eyes before we can pick the speck of sawdust out of our brother's?

Since we are never done with taking "the plank out of own eyes", doesn't that mean that we should not be dealing with the sins of others?

If that is so, then it would contradict the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:19-20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

No, Jesus commanded us to teach others what is right and what is wrong (sin) and how to deal with what is wrong (sin).

Matthew 5:13-14
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

How others deal with this knowledge of sin and the forgiveness of sin is between them and the Lord.

There is one caveat. Leaders within the Church are measured by a higher standard.

1 Timothy 3:1-13
Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.
Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything. A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well. Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.

While we are all still pursuing but not reaching holiness, leaders within the Church must reach a certain level of temperament, self-control, and respectability.

We can not allow leaders within the Church to overtly sin. These leaders need to be examples of men with great faith; and the presence of sin is result of the lack of faith.

Matthew 6:31-33
So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Why do we steal? We do not trust God to provide for our needs.

Why do we lie? We do not trust God to protect us when we tell the truth.

How can we say that we have faith in God if we are not willing to abide by God's rules.

Leaders must exhibit greater faith than those whom they lead; thus, they must be those who do not exhibit the presence of overt sin.

How should Christians deal with sin? We are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of world; to teach what is sin and how to deal with it by setting an example for others to follow.

God Is Love

I just had a epiphany moment. When I hear people say, "God is good", I've always assumed that they mean that God is a good God. I was meditating on this thought when it suddenly occurred to me that good is not just a description of God. God defines what good is. In the same way, God is love does not only mean that He is capable of love, He defines what love is. In the same way God is beauty.

What is good? Being just and merciful simultaneously.

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Rom. 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord


What is love? Putting what is best for the other ahead of what's best for one's self.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.


What is beauty? Being Holy: set apart and untainted

Leviticus 11:45
I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy

1 Peter 3:3-5
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.

Addendum and Errata to "Thanksgiving History"

• For those of you who are interested in getting more detail about my post reference there is an indented history of Puritans and Pilgrims w/ references on one of the web pages at the University of Virginia site:
  
  http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/puritan/purhist.html
  
  This page included the quotes that I posted. (I got my quotes from references that were on paper, however, I am not able to find those references in electronic form on the Web.)


• In my previous post, I made a slight mistake about Massasoit. His tribe was the Pokanoket tribe and the Pokanoket tribe was part of the Wampanoag Confederacy. I was confused because Massasoit was not only the chief or sachem of the Pokanoket tribe but he was also the Great Sachem of the entire Wampanoag Confederacy.
  

To be fair, Massasoit did agree to peaceful co-existence with the Pilgrims and so theoretically, the Pilgrims could have been thanking him for not attacking them. However, that was not the case. The first Thanksgiving celebration was due to the harvest which the Pilgrims credited to the Lord's provision.


• The Patuxet tribe, to which Squanto (whose real name is Tisquantum) belonged and was wiped out by a mysterious plague, was also part of the Wampanoag Confederacy. However, because Massasoit did not trust Squanto completely, due to Squanto's closeness with the Pilgrims, Massasoit assigned another native American, Hobamok, to also stay with the Pilgrims (along with Squanto).


• Also, I failed to mentioned Samoset, the other Native American, who assisted the Pilgrims. (Sorry, Samoset) He, by the way, was a member of the Abenaki sachem tribe that resided at that time in Maine.

Thanksgiving History

Why did the Pilgrims sail to the New World?

Before you answer that question with the template answer "Religious Freedom", consider these questions and answers:

1. From where did the Pilgrims originate? England.


2. From where did the Pilgrims sail? Holland


3. How long were they in Holland before sailing to the New world in 1620? over 10 years


4. Did they have religious freedom in Holland? Yes


5. Were they forced out of Holland? no
   

William Bradford described their departure in a now-famous passage which later gave the Pilgrims their name: "So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting place near twelve years; but they knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits."


6. Why did they leave Holland to sail to the New World?

It is unfortunate that the public school systems in America are still teaching kids the notion that the Pilgrims came to America for religious freedom.

Worst, yet, kids are given the impression that the Pilgrims are Puritans.

What bugs me even more is that the material, that is being taught, gives kids the impression that Thanksgiving is about the Pilgrims thanking the Native Americans.

Nooooooooooo!


Here's the full story.

The Anglican Church, at that time, were perceived by many to be corrupt. Those who did, were divided into two camps.

One group believed that the best course of action was to stay and purify the Anglican Church from within. This group was known as the Puritans.

The second group were composed of separatists who believed that any effort to purify from within the Anglican Church would be in vain. The best course of action was to build a new church and model the "City on the Hill"/"Light of the World" for the Anglican Church to follow. The separatists became know as the Pilgrims from William Bradford's description of their departure from Holland (see answer for question 5 at the beginning of this blog).

During their stay in Holland, they found their children being drawn away from their faith, seduced by the Dutch culture, or as Bradford described it, "drawne away by evill examples into extravagence and dangerous courses".

So, instead of being the Light, they found their children being drawn into the darkness.

To reverse the trend, they decided to leave for the New World in hope of not only reclaiming their children's religious future but also (as Bradford wrote it) "great hope, for the propagating and advancing the gospell of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world". Yes, one of their primary objectives, for sailing to America, was evangelism.

Squanto was a member of the Patuxet tribe who was taken to England and there he learned English. When he returned to America, he found that his entire tribe was wiped out by a mysterious plague.

Shortly afterward, the Pilgrims arrived (1620). Squanto adopted the Pilgrims and taught them how to plant corn, how to fish, and other survival skills foreign to the newly arrived urban dwellers.

When the Pilgrims had their first successful harvest (1621), they had a feast to thank God, the first Thanksgiving. They invited their neighbors, the Wampanoag tribe, whose chief was Massasoit, to the feast. (Please, see my next blog entry "Addendum and Errata to 'Thanksgiving History'" for correction of reference to Massasoit and his relationship with "the Wampanoag tribe".)

Remember that it was Squanto, a member of the Patuxet tribe, that helped the Pilgrims, not the Wampanoag. However, as part of the Pilgrims' worship to God, they invited the Wampanoag (the evangelism aspect of the Pilgrim's vision).

Here's the problem: they took all the Christian elements of the Pilgrims' story out of the history text book: The Pilgrims came to America for religious freedom and had a feast to thank the Native Americans for their help. Without the details, it seems to make sense. However, fill in the details, and the story falls apart. The Pilgrims had religious freedom in Holland. Squanto helped them but they invited the Wampanoag to the feast.

"Ask the Man on the Street" Questions about the Bible

I was watching the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno on Thanksgiving night and Jay was doing his "Ask the Man on the Street" thing. That night, he was asking questions like "Where did the Pilgrims sailed from?" And people were giving answers like: Canada and Peru.

It made me think. Since the average American knows so little about what's in the Bible, it would be a hoot if someone would do an "Ask the Man on the Street" thing about stuff in the Bible. In fact, we can even make them multiple choice questions like:

1. What did Jesus turn into wine?
   
   
   1. Gatorade
   
   
   2. water with which people used to wash their feet
   
   
   3. grape juice
   
   
   4. a mixture of all of the above
   
   
   5. none of the above (must specify an alternate answer)


2. How did Jesus feed five thousand men and their families?


1. Jesus called a catering service.


2. Peter knew some people...


3. Some kid gave Jesus his fish and bread dinner.


4. all of the above


5. none of the above (must specify an alternate answer)


3. What happened when the Apostle Paul preached a sermon that was so long that people were falling asleep?


1. A kid, after falling asleep, fell out of a window and died; but Paul resurrected him and kept on preaching.


2. Members of the congregation started speaking in tongues to keep themselves awake.


3. Hundreds saw visions of the resurrected Christ after falling asleep and couldn't figure out if Christ actually appeared before them or if they were just having a dream.


4. all of the above


5. none of the above (must specify an alternate answer)



4. What did the Israelites do as Joshua led them across the Jordan River?


1. They taunted their enemies with cries of "Allah Akbar (God is Great)".


2. They started a rock collection with the rocks they found on river bed after the Ark dried up the river.


3. They gathered fishes for a feast that they would have once they got to the other side.


4. all of the above


5. none of the above (must specify an alternate answer)



5. Why did Jacob have two wives?


1. Since Jacob's future father-in-law was afraid that his ugly older daughter would become a spinster, he made Jacob marry the ugly older daughter before Jacob can marry the hot younger daughter.


2. Jacob needed the extra dowry money to buy the farm.


3. Jacob couldn't decide between the two women.


4. all of the above


5. none of the above (must specify an alternate answer)

The Coming of Jesus

Someone posted the following message on one of the Chrisitian forums:

Jesus is not coming today,
tomorrow, this week,
or this year.
It MUST be true, otherwise most of us wouldn't be acting the way we do. Not convinced? Let's look at our behavior from another angle. Consider this question:

if Jesus were coming back today
what would you do differently?
The next question is even tougher. If you answered the previous question and determined there was at least one thing you would do differently,

"Why aren't you doing it?"
For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Matthew 24:38-39

While I agree with Dave's assessments and his call to action, I'm not sure if his message would motivate the correct action. I suspect that people would read it and take it as a call to shape up our own lives, be a better person: a very self-focused response.

I don't believe that Jesus would want that type of response. I believe that Jesus would want us to focus on HIS call to action.

Here is my response:

Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Matthew 28:19-20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Revelation 7:9
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.

Until the gospel of the kingdom is preached in the whole world and there are believers from every nation, tribe, people and language, Jesus will not be returning.

A better question would be: Do you really want Jesus to return? Do you pray "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" and really mean it?

If so, what are you doing to make it possible? i.e., To fulfill the condition: This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world so that it is heard by those from every nation, tribe, people and language.

For the average American believer, the answer is VERY LITTLE.

How much does the American Church invest in overseas cross-cultural evangelism?

(Normally, I would use the word "missions", but these days this term no longer applies just to overseas cross-cultural evangelism; often it also includes a lot of domestic ministries).

Let's add some perspective context to that question.

If you take how much American Christians spend on Christmas presents for self, family, and friends and compare it with what the American Church invests in overseas cross-cultural evangelism, what do you think is the ratio?

Normally, I don't like to talk about dollars and cents because I believe in doing what Jesus models: one-to-one contact. I only mentioned it because what our checkbook ledger says reflects our priorities.

Sadly, our priorities currently say that we are more focused on our present day "shiny little objects" than the magnificent glories that are yet to come.

Do we want to be near-sighted scavenging crows or do we want to be eagles that soar to the sky?

Christian Liturgical Calendar

As we approach the beginning of the Christian liturgical calendar, I found it quite serendipitous that someone posted the following on one of the Christian discussion forums:

Why is Christmas such a big deal when it's no even in the Bible? Many laymen and laywomen will readily tell me to look at the begining of Matthew for the Christmas story.

I find this story hard to believe when comparing it to the actual word describing this Holy day.

Christmas or "Christ Mass."

As we already know Christ is the Greek form of Messiah the Lord's Anointed One. But Mass is a Latin word that Means "Barley Cake."

Why, on GOD'S green earth, do so called christians celebrate a holy day that doesn't make sense within itself?

Messiah's Barley Cake has nothing to do with the "BIRTHDAY" of our LORD!
Yet, if it were important to celebrate, Jesus would have surely warned his disciple's to do so.
If we go to the book of Matthew, Jesus is continually warning the Disciple's of his death and not his birth. He even remind's them to take up your cross (death) daily.
So what's more important to you, the supposed "CHRISTIAN?"
Following what the LORD Says, or following the tradition of men?


Here is my response:

The Christmas season is part of the Christian (Catholic and Eastern Orthodox) liturgical calendar. The liturgical calendar is a device which helps the church make sure that it focuses on each aspect of Jesus' ministry at least once during the period of a year. During each season of the liturgical calendar, the scripture reading would be from the Bible verses about that season.

Christian liturgical calendar is organized around: Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and concluding at Pentecost. The rest of the year following Pentecost is known as Ordinary Time, from the word "ordinal, " which simply means counted time (First Sunday after Pentecost, second Sunday after Pentecost, etc.). Ordinary Time is used to focus on various aspects of the Faith, especially the mission of the church in the world. Some church traditions break up ordinary time into a Pentecost Season, (Pentecost until the next to last Sunday of August) and Kingdomtide (last Sunday of August until the beginning of Advent).

Advent is the beginning of the liturgical calendar. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Dec 24. Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, of anticipation, of preparation, of longing for the coming of Christ to deliver us from sin.

Christmas starts on the 25th of December and ends on the 5th of January (thus the twelve days of Christmas). And we all know what that's all about.

The season of Epiphany extends from January 6th until Ash Wednesday. The term epiphany means "to show" or "to make known" or even "to reveal." It is associated with the coming of the wise men bringing gifts to visit the Christ child, who by so doing "reveal" Jesus to the world as Lord and King.

The season of Lent spans 40 weekdays beginning on Ash Wednesday and climaxing during Holy Week with Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday). Originally, Lent was the time of preparation for those who were to be baptized, a time of concentrated study and prayer before their baptism at the Easter Vigil, the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord early on Easter Sunday. But since these new members were to be received into a living community of Faith, the entire community was called to preparation. Today, Lent is marked by a time of prayer and preparation to celebrate Easter.

The week leading up to Easter is, of course the Holy Week.

Unfortunately, most Protestant churches only celebrate the first day of the Christmas season and the first day of the Easter season; so, most Protestants are not aware of the entire Christian liturgical calendar. If we are going to celebrate the first day of the Christmas season and the first day of the Easter season, shouldn't we celebrate the entire liturgical calendar? There's more to Christ's ministry than just His birth and death. Otherwise, we can celebrate his birth and death any day of the year.

p.s., The "Mass", in the name "Christ Mass", refers to the worship service.

Reaching Your Neighbors

Someone wanted to do door to do evangelism and posted the following message asking for advice:

SO basically I want to get out there and start door to door preaching but what is the best way to go about it and get prepared?

Another member of the forum replied with the following message:

You're wasting your time...

Unless you are being guided by the Holy Spirit to do so. Sorry if that sounded unduly bold.


Here is my reply:

Door to door evangelism may or may not be the vehicle with which the Lord wants you to reach your neighbors. However, we are all called by the Lord to "make disciples". So, I would encourage you to continue pursuing reaching your neighbors with the Gospel.

I do have this advice. There are many ways through which the Lord can use us to reach our neighbors but they all have one thing in common: love.

Principle:
John 13:34
34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Application:
Acts 2:44-47
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

On this side of eternity, this world hungers for genuine authentic love (agape love). This world also knows that talk is cheap; we can talk about love all we want, but this world's not going to buy it unless we can show them the goods. They want see that we love one another because Christ first loved us. If you can't show them that we love one another, they are not going to believe that Christ first loved us. And if they don't believe that Christ first loved us, how can they believe that Jesus would love them. And if they don't believe that Jesus would love them, how can they believe that Christ died on the cross to atone for their sin.

If we want to reach our neighbors, we can't be doing it like lone cowboys. We need to do it as the body of Christ whose members love one another because Christ first loved us and let our love for one another draw in our neighbors which in turn allow Christ's love overflows from us onto them by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Some Suggested Action Points:

1. Develop a strong fellowship of brothers and/or sisters in Christ. All you need is a couple of guys (or gals) with whom you can develop deep godly relationships: guys (or gals) that you can pray with, pray for, lean on, and enjoy life with. Do things together: go sailing, fishing, bowling, guys' (girls') night out, etc.


2. As a fellowship, pray for the lost in your neighborhood and ask the Holy Spirit to direct your fellowship.


3. Invite non-believing neighbors to join you when you do things together: go sailing, fishing, bowling, guys' night out, etc.


4. Pray and look for opportunities to share the Gospel when non-believing neighbor(s) accept(s) your invitations.


5. Let the Holy Spirit flow.

Love one another as Christ loves you: by this all men will know that you are His disciples.

Worshipping Idols

Someone posted the following message:

i am a christan. and i was wondering.
I have been reading my bible alot lately and i have come across this passage which seems confusing.

what is meant by the idea of worshiping "Idols" ???
and how does it pertain what we do today

please some explain to me what this means .....



Here is my reply:

By definition, "idol" means a representation or symbol of an object of worship

Whatever you worship is an idol.

This leads to the question: "what is worship?"

The word worship has two roots

weorth (worth) + scipe

worship means giving "worth" to someone or some thing.

In essence, the first commandment

"You shall have no other gods before me"

and the second commandment

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments

are really the same commandment.

How does it apply today?

It applies everywhere. Every time you make a decision, you have to place priorities on all your options. Whatever you place as a higher priority than God you are placing greater worth than God, i.e., giving greater worship than to God: making he/she/it an idol.

If one decides that "going to a football game" is more important than worshiping God, then it is for that person an idol. If one makes budgetary decisions in which God does not get the "first fruit", then whatever came before God is an idol.

If one truly want to know if one is worshiping idols, all one has to do is list all his/her resources (time, money, energy, position, opportunities, etc.) and evaluate how one is using those resources. Did God come first?

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."


Someone in one of the Christian forums posted that although these are the true words of our Lord and Savior -- so why are many of us having a difficult time? He suggested two problems.

1. Where many people struggle with their faith-walk is in the area of sacrifice. While talking may be easy, the possibility of ridicule (sacrifice) is painful. Going on a mission trip is easy, but the cost is, well costly.
   If you're struggling with sacrifice there's a good chance your real problem is selfishness.


2. Perhaps you've been barking up the wrong tree. You might be an a great singer, for example, but if God hasn't called you into a musical ministry then your efforts may be burdensome.

Here is my response:

Matthew 11:30 follows Jesus' very long teaching session in Matthew 6 which includes the following set of verses:

Matthew 6:19-21
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:24-33
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.


In this very long teaching session, Jesus laid out the qualification for his promises. If you do this... I promise you this... "all these things will be given to you as well".

An easy yoke and light burden is the result of "all these things will be given to you as well". You don't have to labor, claw, or cheat to get "all these things"; "all these things will be given to you"; thus, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

To do so, our hearts must be in heaven and not on earth. Thus, our treasures must be in heaven and not on earth, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also"

Both of the things, that the original forum post mentioned, are struggles with giving up treasures on earth. I think we can all identify more treasures on earth, e.g., a treasure on earth may be a relationship:

Matthew 8:19-22
19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
20 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
21 Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
22 But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

It is understood that this disciple's father did not suddenly died and needed to be buried. He is asking that he be allowed to wait until his father die, to respect his father while his father is alive.


But there is an aspect that the original forum post did not address; an aspect that does not deal with treasures on earth. When we become a disciple of Jesus Christ, there will be growing pains.

John 16:19
19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, "Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, 'In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me'?
20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.
22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

Currently, we are living in a time when there's a conflict between two kingdoms (God's and Satan's). A product of this conflict (any conflict) is pain. e.g., See the Book of Job.

Unfortunately, we often confuse "having pain" with "not having an easy yoke and not having a light burden". Pain and burden are two different things.

Here's an illustration:

A soldier is seriously injured during a battle and can not move his legs. He is in pain. His buddy carries him out of the battle zone to the evacuation area so that the soldier can be transported to the MASH unit. The burden is on his buddy's back. Likewise, we may have pain, but the burden is on Jesus' back.

Christianity and the Psychology of Utilitarianism and the Biology of Moral

Until recently, research in cognitive studies have been based on the assumption that morals are learned behavior. Through positive and negative re-enforcement, decision making is reduced to a utilitarian process: What works within the context of the community is good, what doesn't work within the context of the community is bad.

One can see church teaching influenced by this utilitarian perspective, tying Christian doctrine to behavior that works within the context of the community.

I am not disputing the assertion that Christian doctrine promotes behavior that works within the context of the community.

However, I object to what is identified as the cause and what is identified as the effect.

Instead of community living being the origin of moral, the Bible clearly identifies God's moral as the origin of human creation.

According to Genesis, God created man in his own image, to be like Him, to have His nature. God wired into mankind His own moral values.

In fact, all of creation is designed to display God's moral.

Romans 1:18-20
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

His divine nature is not only seen but also understood from what has been made.

Recently, studies by Marc Hauser, a professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University, point to the biologically hardwired nature of morals.

In his studies, subjects were given the following scenario:

A trolley looses its brakes and is rolling out of control down a hill. It is about to hit five people who can not get out of the way. Between the trolley and the five people is a track switch. If the trolley is switched to the alternate track, it would hit only one person. Is it acceptable to switch the track so that the trolley hits only one person? Almost everyone answer the question with "yes". Hitting one person is better than hitting five.

Then, the subjects were given a new scenario:

There is no switch between the trolley and the five people. However, there is a person large enough to stop the trolley if pushed in front of the trolley. Is it acceptable to push the large person in front of the trolley to save the five people? Almost everyone answered the question "no".

The results were consistent with people of varying religious belief, culture, ethnicity, age group, and social-economic class.

Occasionally, someone may answer yes for both. However, when dug deeper, the results are consistent with the norm.

e.g., Hauser's father is a medical doctor who is a stoic thinker. His initial response was yes for both since both scenarios resulted in saving five lives instead of one. So Hauser posed a scenario closer to home (in this case closer to work).

You have five patients who are in need of organ transplants but was unable to find matching donors. A healthy person with perfect match for all five patients. Would you sacrifice the life of the healthy donor to save the lives of the five?

His answer is, "Of course, not!"

Then, how can you push the large person in front of the trolley to save the five?

With that, Hauser's father changes his position.

This result proves that moral is not based on a purely utilitarian decision. Both switching the track and pushing the large person would result in sacrificing one life for five lives. Yet, one is acceptable while the other is not.

Moral decision making is not only not a purely utilitarian decision, it is not a purely Pavlovian learned behavior which is positively or negatively re-enforced.

In fact, when asked why the first is acceptable while the second is not, no one can give an answer. Part of moral decision making is biologically hardwired.

Another example of non-utilitarian response is the test of the self interest economy.

According to Adam Smith's "Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations", in a free market economy, the self interests of all traders would dictate the distribution of all resources.

In Professor Hauser's studies, subjects were given the roles of donor or recipient. Each donor was given a sum of money, out of which he or she must offer a portion to a recipient. The recipient can accept or reject the offer. If the recipient rejects the offer, the donor and the recipient would loose the entire sum.

If the market is driven by self-interest, all recipients would accept any offer greater than zero since the rejection would result in one not receiving anything; something is better than nothing.

The research, however, shows that unless the sum is greater than or equal to what the recipient considers is a fair distribution, the recipient would reject the offer. He or she would rather get nothing than to allow an unfair distribution to take place.

Once again, the decision is not based on an utilitarian response but on a built in sense of fairness.

Hauser found another departure from the traditional assumptions of cognitive studies. Until Hauser's studies, it was believe that we choose what we think is right. If we choose incorrectly, it is because we think incorrectly.

This assumption is counter to Biblical teaching.

Romans 7:15
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

Paul understands what is right and what is wrong. Yet, he confesses that his behavior does not reflect what he think is right.

Hauser's research agrees with Paul's experience. Many subjects are able to determine what is right and what is wrong (according to the hardwired responses). Yet, what the subject chooses to do may be different from what they think is morally right. Hauser concluded that determination of what is morally right and deciding what to do are two different processes that contribute to the decision making process.

Hauser was able to confirm this theory using brain imaging. He found two active regions in the brain when performing moral decision making. One region is the region associated with emotional response. The second is the one associated with computational processes.

By comparing the brain activities of "normal" subject with those of psychopaths, he found variations in the activities in the region associated with emotional responses. While the psychopaths have similar activates in the region associated with computational processes (utilitarian response), they lack the emotional brake which prevents them from doing what is morally wrong.

These findings mesh with Christian doctrinal teaching. Simply teaching what is right and what is wrong is not going to transform a person. The problem is not with one's computational decision making processes. The problem is with the emotional response. The problem is with where one's heart lies. This, only Christ can fix.

Responses to my "When should the church worship corporately?"

Most of the responses to my original post has been along the line of the following:

we exited the age of the law, now we can still keep the law if we choose to, but that is not what saves a person, in fact if you keep the law as it is written you would never get to heaven. the only way to heaven is by being a christian.

Here is my response:

Your theology is not quite right. If we are able to keep all the laws (given or otherwise) if we do not sin, we would be able to get to heaven. The rub is that we are NOT able to keep the law (given or otherwise) NOT avoid sinning. That's why we need grace.

You would have been correct if you had said, "Trying to keep the law would not save a person." because it is impossible to keep the Law.

The second problem is your statement "we can still keep the law if we choose to". It would imply that we can choose ignore the law. If so, then we can choose not to honor our parents or not to abstain from bearing false witness, or from theft, or adultery, or from committing murder, etc.

Just because we are forgiven for our sin does not mean that we should not longer attempt to avoid sin.

Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

The caveat is that there are two types of law. One is universal (apply to everyone at all time). The other type is given only to the Jews to be apply in the period before Christ.

e.g., honoring our parents and abstain from bearing false witness, and from theft, and adultery, and from committing murder are part of the universal part of the law.

e.g., the dietary laws the ceremonial laws are given only to the Jews to be apply in the period before Christ.

So which type is the keeping of the Sabbath? Since God gave the example of resting on the seventh day before there were Jewish people much less the giving of the law to the Jewish people, we can argue that it is universal.


p.s., It really bother me that there are Christians out there who flat out write off "The Law" as if it no longer matters because they are now saved. I've seen it not only in responses to the Sabbath discussion but also to a plethora of Christian issues. Sure, we are not able to be sinless. Sure, we are saved from the punishment due to violators. However, "the Law" (the universally applicable part) is still the standard by which we determine if we are on the right track. We've got to heed to Paul's urging in Romans 6:1-2.