How Much are you Eating?

This post is an accumulation of thoughts and conversations with various peoples through the years.

Around the time I started to study philosophy at Taylor, my younger sister and I had a conversation about how much philosophy is helpful to read. She mentioned that our neighbor and elder in the church said we ought to read more of the Bible then any other book. At the time we both found this preposterous since I was finding myself reading up to hundreds of pages of philosophy in a week.

Soon after, I was walking with my older brother about music. Back then there was a lot of discussion about what type of music was helpful to listen to, particularly rock and CCM. At the time, he thought it helpful to understood rock music like candy. A little can be fun and ok, but too much and you'll get sick.

Last summer, this same brother convinced me to listen to a sermon series. I struggle to listen to sermons, and they have been of little help in my life. There is really only one pastor's sermons who have been of great spiritual significance in my life. Anyway, he convinced me to listen to this series on assurance of salvation. He made the point that it's important to have a large quantity of spiritual things in our lives. At the time, and for a while by then, I thought it was more important to have a few high quality things in our spiritual life.

I listened to the sermons. Didn't get much out of them. These three stories have one thing in common, quantity of spiritual things. Rarely do we think about the quantity of spiritual things in our lives. We often analyze of the quality of spiritual things, thinking their their orthodoxy and application.

Jeremiah Burrows was a puritan minister who wrote "Gospel Worship." It's a series of sermons he gave about how we ought to worship. In talking about the Lord's Supper, this is what he said. I apologize for the length of the quote, Puritans are always long-winded, but it's worth reading through. If you don't just skip and read my summary below:

This is the communion of the body of Jesus Christ and of his blood, and therefore there ought to be hungering and thirsting desires of the soul after Jesus Christ. Therefore you must take heed that you do not come with your stomachs full of trash, as children do when they can get plums and pears and fill their stomachs with them when they come to your tables. Though there is never so much wholesome diet, they have no mind to it at all.  

So it is with men of the world. They fill their hearts with the trash of this world, with sensual delights, and whence it is that when they come to such a great ordinance to enjoy communion with Jesus Christ, then they feel no want at all of Christ. They only come and take a little piece of bread and a draught of wine, but for any strong, pausing desires to meet with Jesus Christ there in the ordinance, to come so as they know not how to live without Christ, even as a man who is hungry cannot live without his meat and drink, and so for the soul to to have such a disposition after Christ is a rare thing." 

The point being, when we approach the Lord's table, don't be feasting on the things of this world or you will come to the Lord's table with a full stomach of trash. You will not desire to feast on Him.

In the Old Testament, the Kings of Israel were required to read and study the Law day and night. King David expressed a love for God's law (See Psalm 119, all of it). In the New Testament, we see Jesus as a child having a great depth of God's law as a child (Luke 2). Furthermore, Paul himself was well versed in the Law and it almost got him killed a couple times by the Jews, Acts 9. Paul tells the Philippians to approve the things that are excellent in Philippians 1 and later to meditate or think on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely or praiseworthy. In Revelations, John claims to "be in the spirit" when he received the revelations of things to come. 

By reading more of the Bible then any other book, filling my mind with excellent things then the Lord's Supper becomes much more desirable. Likewise, I find my relationship with Christ to be much stronger and prayer, bible study and worship comes easier to me. If we increase the quantity of spiritual things in our lives then we will desire them more. The more of the Bible I read, the more I enjoy it and realize how much I don't know about it. 

Why You have a Bible Study Notebook

At the end of each semester, I take time to review my bible study from the past semester. It is a bit time-consuming since most of the time I'm struggling to decipher my handwriting. Yet it is spiritual encouraging. For me, its like getting a dose of encouragement. I'm able to see how God has worked through my life in ways I was not expecting him to be working. Also, it is a good reminder of how I failed, like forgetting to fulfill certain applications I've made.

My Dad does a yearly review of his bible study, but I've found a three quarter system to work well. It lightens the workload that comes with reviewing my bible study. Though the process of going through past studies is time-consuming it is encouraging and exhorting. Bible study notebooks exist for a reason so we can review what we have written down.

Swimming and Discipline

Last night I went swimming. I looked like the tiger above. Since my shoulder has healed, I have been able to begin training for triathlons this summer and part of my workout regimen is swimming and looking like that tiger. I have begun working on alternate breathing with my freestyle. It is when you breath on both your left and right side. It can be disorienting when you first try, and you have to hold your breath longer. I'm at the point where all of my sets should be done with alternate breathing, but it is still hard.

Alternate breathing is like a spiritual discipline. It is possible, and doing it a couple times doesn't take much work. When alternate breathing becomes repetitive, it begin to wear on you. Usually half way through my sets, it will become tempting to begin breathing to one side. By the end of my sets, I have to focus extremely hard to just get my body to just do one lap of alternate breathing. Spiritual disciplines are similar.

When we first start, spiritual disciplines are not hard. They can in fact be pleasant. As time goes on, the wear and tear begins to set in. That's when it truly becomes a discipline. Like in a workout, you don't start breaking yourself down until the pain and tension starts. Similarly when we first begin a spiritual discipline, we are not truly in the act of discipline until it become uncomfortable. A discipline by its nature is something that we have to work toward because we naturally don't want to do it. We rather be in a state of comfort and ease. A discipline will get us out of that comfort zone so it can take time for what we intend to be a spiritual discipline to become a spiritual discipline.

Chaz Bono, how does the Church Respond

Chaz Bono recently has completed a sex change. Now he is recognized by the United States government as a man. Known previously as Chasity, Chaz's parents are singers, apparently famous but I don't know who they are. (then again, I don't follow contemporary music very much.)

How does the church respond to someone who changes their gender? The cornerstone of the church is Christ, a man and God who befriended and publicly associated with prostitutes, tax collectors and gentles. (Otherwise known as the "unpopular" or rejected group of people.) It is safe to say that Jesus would never had rejected someone who had a sex change.

Rebellion and the Church
One who is in rebellion against God is not in personal relation with God. They do not have salvation. [That is not to say that if one rejects God, God similarly responds.] The church can legitimately put someone who shows evidences of rebellion against God under church discipline. Is getting a sex change a sign of rebellion against God?

Why Get a Sex Change?
There are many reasons for getting a sex change:
1. Don't feel comfortable with your gender.
2. Physiologically you are caught in the opposite gender of who you really are.
-This reason assumes many things about sexuality, identity, views of of the soul.
3. You want to be different.
There could be many others, and it is probably much more complicated then the reasons I have given. Bottom line: if one has a sex change out of rebellion against God then it gives warrant for the church to put that individual under church discipline. [note: if I started to drink alcohol out of rebellion against God this gives the church warrant to put me under church discipline. Having a sex change does not automatically qualify as a sin, just like drinking alcohol. ]

What is Church Discipline
I do not mean shunning an individual or kicking them out of the church when I use the term "church discipline." I mean it in a larger context: from an elder or pastor coming alongside someone and exhorting them on their behavior to a friend confronting his brother/sister in Christ.
There is formal church discipline informal church discipline. Formal discipline is the church acting as an official body responding to someone's actions and privately/publicly disciplining them. Informal discipline would be an elder or pastor coming alongside someone and exhorting them on their behavior.

So how does the Church Respond
Certain things will not change if a person has a sex change even if they are or are not a member of the church.
1. The Church does not condemn
2. The Church comes alongside and loves as Christ loves.
3. The church protects itself from intruders, people not of the faith.
4. The Church helps its members by exhorting one another.

So what does the church do?
I don't have an answer to this question. I think that it there needs to be carefully thought through Here are my thoughts: 1. You don't want to reject someone who has become repentant of their sin. 2. You don't want to allow a unrepentant (person in rebellion) person to be a part of your community. 3. The church needs to be careful not to condemn people who undergo sex changes. What do I mean by this? I mean, the church needs to treat these people as who they are, human beings. They have gone through a unique and rare process, that doesn't disqualify them from being the same beings as you and me.

Bottom Line
In the situation where a person who undergoes a sex change wants to become a part of the church, the churches response should be one of love and shouldn't treat that individual any differently then anyone else.

CORPS Winter Conference, Thoughts on Sin

This past weekend I went to the CORPS Winter Conference. For those who are unfamiliar with Reformed Presbyterian events, this is a yearly conference where "young adults" get together for a weekend in January to fellowship, listen to a speaker and play hearts. It was formally known as CYA Winter Conference but they decided to change the name. This post will be on what the speaker spoke on.

Pastor James Faris was this year's speaker, giving four lectures. The theme was "The Seven Deadly Sins." He spoke on Sloth, Envy, Lust and Pride. I currently don't have my notes with me so I will be just making general observations. First, it is extremely hard to listen to an analysis of sin. To me, it felt like someone was taking sandpaper and scrapping sores on my body. We tend to want to look the other way when someone talks to us about sin because it is something we also struggle with or it is the opposite of who we are in Christ. Yet confession and discussion of sin is vital to our growth as Christians. Put lightly, it is like talking about how you messed up in a basketball game or thinking how you're going to avoid "messing up."

Also, it reveals our hypocrisy as Christians. We're supposed to be good, joyful and full of thanks to God. Almost always that is not the case. These four talks that James spoke on were applicable to me and it would not surprise me if all four were applicable to everyone in the room (all 100+ of us). That's not a very nice thought...

Another general thought about James' talks were two themes he made. The first, these sins are done in direct attack against God. Some sins are against other people but these in particular, even if they are done against others, are directly against God. Hence, the second point, they "will send you straight to the pit of hell." James kept saying this, that if you are in these sins, you are going to hell. I want to harp on this last point.

I thought that James was a bit unclear on this, especially on his talk on lust, because he did not distinguish between being in sin and struggling with sin. (at least I didn't catch a distinction...) All Christians struggle with sin, no Christian lives in sin. (Romans 6) James was speaking before a openly Christian audience. That being so, I thought it would have been helpful for myself if James spoke on how as Christians, we are fighting these sins being protected by Christ. (I often think of the picture of me hiding behind the body of Christ. Him standing, me crouching behind.) We're not headed to the pit of hell if we're having to deal with sin or fighting it. For me, that's what I'm dealing with, a spiritual battle with my flesh.

James did a great job of talking about these sins. You could tell he has done an incredible amount of research and has thought deeply about this subject. (And this is not a topic that is pleasant to think about, which makes his work even more commendable.) I really appreciated what he said, and it has helped me and convicted me. What I am saying here is a small point which was I not clear and saw that it was important for me to reach clarity. Plus, I thought that it might be a good blog post. So writing out what I thought on this point was helpful for me, and hopefully helpful to those who read this.

So, if you were unable to attend, listen to the podcasts on the CORPS website, and benefit from God used to help me. note: I do not think they are up yet, understandably.

-Thanks to the leaders of CORPS for putting the conference together, it was a great conference.