What's Wrong With Saving Humans?

I've heard lots of explanations as to why Terri Shiavo should be allowed to die. Quite frankly, i don't believe any of them hold water. There's only one explanation i accept as the reason why so many people believe Shiavo should be allowed to die. Somebody wants her dead.

When I say i "accept" this explanation, i don't mean i think it is a good reason. I mean it's the only reason that makes sense of why people want her to die.

Increasingly, our culture is not just "allowing" people to die. We are killing them - deliberately and happily. Over the past 30 years we have already deliberately millions of babies - deliberately and happily. We have determined that death is better than life.

Except when it comes to other living beings and creatures - those that are non-human. No sooner do we find that Shiavo's fate is sealed than we hear about some beached whales (or dolphins or whatever) and there is a great outcry that they must be saved. I'm all for saving the whales and dolphins.

What's wrong with saving humans?

There is only one person I know whose sole intent is to steal, kill and destroy. And it seems like he's garnered a number of disciples. It's a good thing I've read the end of the book and know how this story ends. Otherwise...

In the Likeness of God

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..." (Genesis
1:26)

Every human being has been designed by God. We have been created in the
image and likeness of God. One of the results of having been made this way
is that every individual has a desire to be like God. It's a natural thing
for us to want to be like God. We've been given the God-ability to choose,
to make our own decision, to decide for ourselves what we will and won't do,
what will and won't think, even - to some degree - what we will and won't
feel (our feelings are often determined by the attitudes with which we fill
our minds). In the sense that we have the ability and the authority to make
these kinds of choices, we bear God's image. When in the act of choosing we
choose to act as God would act, then we demonstrate our God-likeness. When
we do not act like God, well... that becomes self-explanatory.

But the only way in which we can make God-like choices, the only way in
which we can truly act as God would act is by our connection, our intimacy
with God himself. Look at Jesus. That is exactly what he did. He said, "I
do not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what
to say and how to say it." (John 12:49) Even the Holy Spirit doesn't do
anything except for what he's been instructed in by the Father. "But when
he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will
not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears..." (John 16:13) It
is by their connection with the Father that the Son and the Spirit do the
things God does. Certainly if it is true for the Son who is divine and the
Spirit who is divine, how much more so is it true for us that, the only way
we can act like God is by a direct and intimate connection with God.

Sin is the attempt to be like God apart from God.

Every human being wants to be able to make decisions for his/her life that
are good decisions that make for a good life. Jesus never made any
decisions that were contrary to what the Father wanted. As long as we make
choices that are consistent with what the Father wants, then we act like
Jesus and therefore act like God.

In John 15, Jesus spends a fair bit of time talking to his disciples telling
them to "remain in Me." This is more than just a figure of speech. To
remain in Christ (he refers to himself as the True Vine in verse 1) is to
maintain a vital and intimate connection that enables the Christian to "bear
fruit." To bear fruit is a metaphor for acting like God and getting the
results that God-like living brings. In being "in Christ" the Christian can
then act "like God." What does it mean to act like God? How is it that God
acts? John 5:9 tells us: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.
Now remain in my love." The result? "My command is this: Love each other
as I have loved you." (John 15:12)

To love others as Christ has loved us is to act in the likeness of God.

The Historical Church of the Present

The more read in Church history, the more I am amazed that there is a church
at all. The more I read in Church history, the more I see the hand of God.
The more I read in Church history, the more confident and assured I become
of God's grace to us all, but especially to those called by Christ's name.

While I've not done extensive reading and research, it seems to me that most
of the divisions that have occurred in the Church have NOT been due to
theological differences. For the most part, it has been the pride and
arrogance of sinful human beings that have successfully divided the church
again and again and again. And it's not much different today. The main
reason why people leave this church to go to that church isn't because of
theology or doctrine or dogma. The main reason is - again - the arrogance
and pride of sinful human beings.

In the middle of the 11th century there occurred what has been called "The
Great Schism." It was the "official" division between the Church in the
West (Rome) and the Church in the East (Constantinople). There were a
number of issues that surrounded this division. There was the issue of from
whom the Holy Spirit proceeds - from the Father alone (as per the Orthodox
Church) or from both the Father and the Son (as per the Western Church).
There was the issue of the Pope - the first among equals (Orthodox view) or
vicar of Jesus Christ (Roman Catholic view). And there were other issues as
well. But none of these really kept the east and the west apart so much.
While they were clear on their respective convictions, each respected the
other and maintained communion with each other. But when a representative
of the pope was sent in 1054 to the Patriarch of Constantinople, the two
basically told each other, "This is the way it's going to be and if you don't
like it, lump it!" The Roman representative excommunicated eastern
patriarch and the patriarch excommunicated the Roman rep.

What's different today?

I have a lot of issues with a lot of my Christian brothers and sisters. I
have very strong opinions about what I believe constitutes a Spirit
empowered lifestyle and worship that conflicts with many other Christians'
perceptions. For the most part, I fairly convinced that you who are reading
this may very well be a Christian, but if you want to be a better Christian,
you just have to be a little more like me. And there are very few of us who
think differently.

I hate this way of thinking. Where is the grace!! If God has lavished his
grace on us (as we're told in Ephesians 1:7-8) then why do we act so
ungraciously towards each other?! You would have thought that after 2000
years we'd be a lot close to getting it right - but we're not.

O God, have mercy on us. Forgive us for misrepresenting you so heinously in
this world. If there is ANYBODY in this world we should be able to love it
should be our brothers and sisters in Christ. Why are we so intent on
destroying them if they disagree with us? O Lord, purge the evil from
within us. Let there be renewal and revival in the Church. May your Spirit
flood over us like a tsunami, washing away all the filth and garbage in our
lives. And if it takes the things that are most precious to us, maybe we
can be filled with the things that are most precious to You.

Spirituality

A couple of days ago i read an interview with Eugene Peterson (author of The Message) from Christianity Today. Peterson was pretty hard on Christians in America... and rightfully so, i think. Clink on the title above and it will take you to the CT article Spirituality For All The Wrong Reasons.

One of the things i think Peterson really "nailed" is the issue of the church's attempt to be "relevant" to the surrounding or predominant culture. Our consumer culture has so infected us (Christians) that our perception of God and the Church based on new trinity of "fix me, comfort me, please me." Forget the fact that Jesus, our Teacher, said, "If you want to live then you have to die." Forget the fact that Jesus, the lover of our souls, was willing to risk rejection by those he most loved. Forget the fact that Jesus, our Savior, embraced and endured suffering and died. Forget all that, if you can. Just notice how devoted Jesus was to doing the things he had seen the Father do, saying those things he had heard the Father say, living to please his heavenly Father.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me... on us...

The Present Historical Church

The more read in Church history, the more I am amazed that there is a church at all. The more I read in Church history, the more I see the hand of God. The more I read in Church history, the more confident and assured I become of God's grace to us all, but especially to those called by Christ's name.

While I've not done extensive reading and research, it seems to me that most of the divisions that have occurred in the Church have NOT been due to theological differences. For the most part, it has been the pride and arrogance of sinful human beings that have successfully divided the church again and again and again. And it's not much different today. The main reason why people leave this church to go to that church isn't because of theology or doctrine or dogma. The main reason is - again - the arrogance and pride of sinful human beings.

In the middle of the 11th century there occurred what has been called "The Great Schism." It was the "official" division between the Church in the West (Rome) and the Church in the East (Constantinople). There were a number of issues that surrounded this division. There was the issue of from whom the Holy Spirit proceeds - from the Father alone (as per the Orthodox Church) or from both the Father and the Son (as per the Western Church). There was the issue of the Pope - the first among equals (Orthodox view) or vicar of Jesus Christ (Roman Catholic view). And there were other issues as well. But none of these really kept the east and the west apart so much. While they were clear on their respective convictions, each respected the other and maintained communion with each other. But when a representative of the pope was sent in 1054 to the Patriarch of Constantinople, the two basically told each other, "This is the way it's going to be and if you don't like it, lump it!" The Roman representative excommunicated eastern patriarch and the patriarch excommunicated the Roman rep.

What's different today?

I have a lot of issues with a lot of my Christian brothers and sisters. I have very strong opinions about what I believe constitutes a Spirit empowered lifestyle and worship that conflicts with many other Christians' perceptions. For the most part, I fairly convinced that you who are reading this may very well be a Christian, but if you want to be a better Christian, you just have to be a little more like me. And there are very few of us who think differently.

I hate this way of thinking. Where is the grace!! If God has lavished his grace on us (as we're told in Ephesians 1:7-8) then why do we act so ungraciously towards each other?! You would have thought that after 2000 years we'd be a lot close to getting it right - but we're not.

O God, have mercy on us. Forgive us for misrepresenting you so heinously in this world. If there is ANYBODY in this world we should be able to love it should be our brothers and sisters in Christ. Why are we so intent on destroying them if they disagree with us? O Lord, purge the evil from within us. Let there be renewal and revival in the Church. May your Spirit flood over us like a tsunami, washing away all the filth and garbage in our lives. And if it takes the things that are most precious to us, maybe we can be filled with the things that are most precious to You.

No Condemnation

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

For the most part, we undervalue the truth revealed in this verse.

Jesus came to suffer and to die for our sake. Because Jesus is God and because God is holy and infinite, sin causes God to suffer in ways we cannot comprehend. The Mel Gibson movie “The Passion of the Christ” probably approximates as well as anything what it must have been like for Jesus to suffer on his way to the cross. I’m convinced, however, that no movie can depict the suffering he actually endured in his spirit.

God has lavished his grace on us through Christ (Ephesians 1:7-8). The idea of God having lavished his grace on us presents us with a picture something like someone throwing huge bucketfuls of water at us, one after another... so much so that we cannot possibly conceive of how much water has been "dumped" on us. We cannot comprehend the extent of God’s grace towards us in Christ. And one of the reasons we cannot is because we cannot perceive the depth of our sin. Lavish grace is required because we have sinned so deeply, so profoundly, so lavishly. We will begin to understand the extent of God's grace when we begin to understand the extent of our sin. We will begin to understand the extent of our sin when we begin to understand the extent of God's holiness. We will begin to understand these things if we will give ourselves to deliberate thought - meditation - to our Lord hanging on the cross.

That there is “now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” is far greater than we can comprehend with a surface recognition for the reality. The problem sin created is more than just the problem of what we do. It created a problem in the very core of who we are. The now trite phrase “I'm just a sinner saved by grace” does not even come close. It’s one thing for a person who murdered another to be forgiven and no longer condemned. It’s quite another thing for a pedophile/murderer to be forgiven and no longer condemned. Our natural response to the idea that such a person has recieved pardon forgivenenss is that it’s not fair, that’s not justice! Yet that is the same kind of position each of us is in before God, yet God because Jesus suffered and died for our sins (every bit as heinous to God as a pedophile murderer), through faith in the person and work of Christ, we are forgiven and no longer condemned. The difference between human forgiveness and God's forgiveness is that we humans cannot change a person's heart - but God can... and does.

No, it’s not fair that the innocent holy God should suffer for our corruption and sin… but he did… by his own choice. Why? So that He could enjoy fellowship with those whom he created... so that he could have fellowship and intimacy with you.

Look at Jesus on the cross. Hear him speak, "Father, forgive..."