Well...it's nearing Easter. Ok...so it's about a month away, but I figure I would get a good start on Easter themed blogs. I've been thinking a lot lately about Judas, and the major role he plays in the Easter story. We seem to look at Judas in a bad light. I guess rightly so, as he DID betray Jesus with a kiss and sell him to the Pharisees for money. But I think we forget that, if it wasn't for Judas, Easter would never have happened (or at least, not in the way it did). Judas, through his greed and betrayel, actually allowed Jesus to fulfill his destiny. So, my question is this...did Judas really have a choice? Did Judas consciously decide to sell Jesus, and send him to the cross, or did God USE Judas to do those things? If Judas didn't do it, would someone else have done it, or would history and Christianity have been forever changed?
I'm not trying to say that we should rever what Judas did, and see him as a hero, but I am wondering if perhaps, painting him as the ultimate villain is a bit unfair. I guess the fact that Judas felt guilty afterwards, and killed himself, should be a clue that he CHOSE to betray Christ, and God just was able to use that deception for the ultimate good...but it was also prophesied. Jesus KNEW what his purpose was on Earth. He KNEW that Judas would betray him when he chose him as a disciple. Does the fact that Jesus knew this make what Judas did more than just a choice, and instead a pre-destined decision? If Judas didn't really have a choice in the matter, and it was HIS destiny and purpose to betray Christ, then I think we have looked at Judas all wrong for the two thousand or so years. I don't have an answer. I just don't know how to look at it. What do you think? Have we misrepresented Judas for all this time? Or is he truly the ultimate villain? Also...as a side note..do you think Judas is in heaven? After all, if it wasn't for him, Jesus never would have been able to make Salvation available for everyone?
Either way though, can you imagine being Judas at the Last Supper? The whole meal, knowing what you are going to do. I doubt he was even able to taste the food, or enjoy the conversation. His stomach was likely in knots, and chances are he was feeling sick. And then, having Jesus call him out in front of everyone! Talk about humiliation. It was bad enough that he knew what he was going to do...but having Jesus send him out to do it. I can't even imagine what that would have been like. Did he have a moment of regret, before it happened? Did he hesitate before taking the pieces of silver? Did he ever think of kissing one of the other disciples instead? Or maybe, the meal was an exciting time for him. Maybe his adrenaline was pumping and his blood was flowing because he knew that he was going to forever change history. He knew that he was going to send a good, innocent man to the cross, and that excited him! Perhaps he truly was evil...and the idea of no one knowing what was going to happen got his heart pumping...and then Jesus figured it out. Jesus caught him...read his mind, saw his heart. And told everyone at the table that Judas would betray him. There must have been a silence, deafening silence. Judas likely went red with embarrassment. Perhaps he tried to lie, saying "no...of course not (cough cough). I would never betray you Jesus!" Chills going up his arm.
I don't know what was going on in Judas' head during the meal. As I said before...I don't even fully know whether Judas had a TRUE choice in the betrayal in the first place. But whether the meal was filled with heart thumping excitement, or stomach turning anxiety, i know that the meal would have been a very different experience for Judas compared to all the other disciples.
What are your thoughts about Judas? Do you have any answers, or questions? Do you thionk Judas had a choice, or was it his destiny that he had to fulfill? Makes you wonder a bit, doesn't it? Either way...without Judas, Easter would be VERY different today!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
What If I'm Wrong?
I think one of the questions everyone needs to constantly ask themselves is, "what if I'm wrong?". We all seem to live in this bubble that "I am right, and everyone else is wrong". I'm not just talking about Christians here, I think, generally, we all fall into that category. But it's a dangerous way to live. To be so arrogant that you can't even, for a small moment, consider that there's a chance that someone else may be right. But then, I got to thinking...what if we discovered that parts of our faith WAS wrong? How would that alter our lifestyle? Our faith? our religion?
Yesterday I went and saw the movie "Paul". It's a movie about an alien trying to get back home, so he hitches a ride with 2 british nerds. What surprised me in the movie, was the religous undertones. YES, the movie was poking fun at Christianity and other religions, but I found that it moreso posed the question of "what would you do if you found out you were wrong?". Another major controversial thing going on right now is Rob Bell's new book, "Love Wins", in which he comes up with (apparantly anyway, as I have yet to read the book) very controversial views on heaven and hell. Many Christians a quick to judge Bell, many bookstores refusing to sell the book. But I think, if Christians were smart, they would ask themselves, "ok...what if I am wrong, and Rob Bell is right?", and read the book to see what he has to say. Perhaps, at the end of the boo, they will stand firm in their beliefs. Or maybe, the book will open their eyes to something new.
Here's the thing. If you believe that the world was created in 6 days (leaving the 7th for rest), 4000-6000 years ago by God, then that is great. But what if you are wrong? If you believe that man evolved by chance 400000000000 years ago, and that there is no God, then that's fine too...but ask yourself "what if I am wrong?". Maybe neither of these options are true. Maybe, it's a combination of both. The point I am trying to make is...don't be so arrogant in your faith that you can't even consider someone else's point of view. Don't believe something just because it is what you always have believed, or because it easy to believe, or fun to believe, or whatever. To be perfectly honest, most aspects of our faith don't truly matter. Let me clarify. There are really only 2 things in the Christian faith that are VITAL to our faith. 1) There is a God and 2) He sent His son Jesus to die, and rise again, for our sins. Everything else, if we are wrong, doesn't matter as much. So what if God created the world using evolution 6 billion years ago...it doesn't matter. Who cares if Adam and Eve are mere mythological characters and aren't real...it doesn't really matter. To go even further...if your whole faith is based on the fact of "good Christians go to heaven and bad heathens end up in hell", then perhaps your faith NEEDS to be shaken up. Christianity is much more than just the afterlife (or lack of afterlife, or whatever). Christianity is about living for God NOW. It's about serving God NOW. It's about loving God, and everyone around us NOW. Heaven is just the bonus, it's not the point. Jesus didn't come to Earth to just tell everyone to forget about this life and prepare for heaven...he came to show us to love one another, to love God.
I'm not saying that I believe there is no heaven, or that I believe that the earth is 7 billion years old. What I am saying is that we just need to always ask ourselves "what if i am wrong? What if this person, this religion, this idea is right?"
Perhaps I didn't explain myself well, I don't know. But what do you think? Should we ask ourselves "what if i'm wrong?", or should we live as if we are right? Your thoughts!
Yesterday I went and saw the movie "Paul". It's a movie about an alien trying to get back home, so he hitches a ride with 2 british nerds. What surprised me in the movie, was the religous undertones. YES, the movie was poking fun at Christianity and other religions, but I found that it moreso posed the question of "what would you do if you found out you were wrong?". Another major controversial thing going on right now is Rob Bell's new book, "Love Wins", in which he comes up with (apparantly anyway, as I have yet to read the book) very controversial views on heaven and hell. Many Christians a quick to judge Bell, many bookstores refusing to sell the book. But I think, if Christians were smart, they would ask themselves, "ok...what if I am wrong, and Rob Bell is right?", and read the book to see what he has to say. Perhaps, at the end of the boo, they will stand firm in their beliefs. Or maybe, the book will open their eyes to something new.
Here's the thing. If you believe that the world was created in 6 days (leaving the 7th for rest), 4000-6000 years ago by God, then that is great. But what if you are wrong? If you believe that man evolved by chance 400000000000 years ago, and that there is no God, then that's fine too...but ask yourself "what if I am wrong?". Maybe neither of these options are true. Maybe, it's a combination of both. The point I am trying to make is...don't be so arrogant in your faith that you can't even consider someone else's point of view. Don't believe something just because it is what you always have believed, or because it easy to believe, or fun to believe, or whatever. To be perfectly honest, most aspects of our faith don't truly matter. Let me clarify. There are really only 2 things in the Christian faith that are VITAL to our faith. 1) There is a God and 2) He sent His son Jesus to die, and rise again, for our sins. Everything else, if we are wrong, doesn't matter as much. So what if God created the world using evolution 6 billion years ago...it doesn't matter. Who cares if Adam and Eve are mere mythological characters and aren't real...it doesn't really matter. To go even further...if your whole faith is based on the fact of "good Christians go to heaven and bad heathens end up in hell", then perhaps your faith NEEDS to be shaken up. Christianity is much more than just the afterlife (or lack of afterlife, or whatever). Christianity is about living for God NOW. It's about serving God NOW. It's about loving God, and everyone around us NOW. Heaven is just the bonus, it's not the point. Jesus didn't come to Earth to just tell everyone to forget about this life and prepare for heaven...he came to show us to love one another, to love God.
I'm not saying that I believe there is no heaven, or that I believe that the earth is 7 billion years old. What I am saying is that we just need to always ask ourselves "what if i am wrong? What if this person, this religion, this idea is right?"
Perhaps I didn't explain myself well, I don't know. But what do you think? Should we ask ourselves "what if i'm wrong?", or should we live as if we are right? Your thoughts!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Finding God Without Looking
"Seek and ye shall find". I believe that statement is true. If you go looking for God, you will find him. However, sometimes I find that, when we deliberately search for God, we 'create' God. What I mean is, we try to find God in everything so we put him in everything, even in places where he isn't. Does that make sense? Maybe not. Anyway, the point is, I often find myself finding God, or God's truth in things that I'm not even trying to find it in. Many times, I find it in things that I think it shouldn't be in. For example, I enjoy watching the Comedy Network. Shows like Big Bang Theory, and Just For Laughs and that kind of stuff. Every now and then, I will be watching a comedian, and something will hit me. I'll go from laughing to thinking about How Great God is, or How badly us Christians are messing up, or things like that. For example, I was watching this one comedian names Hari Kondabolu. He is a hindu-atheist comedian so he doesn't delibrately try to bring glory to God (or in his case...gods). But as I was watching him make fun of this woman who tried to witness to him, I thought "YES! He's right. We SUCK at evangelism!". I started thinking about how Christians just try to bring everyone to Jesus, without first getting to know them or caring for their needs. I then went on youtube to find some other stuff of is, and found 2 great clips (that I posted onto facebook...so check them out). While these clips aren't meant to be spiritual in nature (on of them ends up saying that there is no God, and the other one is about movies), I couldn't help but think that God was speaking to me in some indirect way.
Have you ever heard the saying that, as soon as you stop looking for something, you find it? I think the same can be said about God sometimes. I find that, the times that I'm not looking for God, are the times that God actually speaks to me the strongest. Probably because I'm not expecting it. I'm just trying to be entertained, or get somewhere, or talk with someone, or work or whatever and then BAM! God shows up and speaks. Maybe we need to stop deliberealy looking for God so much, and just go out living. Yes, there are times where we need to search for God, but if we do it so much then we will just trivialize the significance of truly Finding God.
Perhaps none of this makes sense..I am just rambling. Just thought I would give this thought, as I haven't blogged in a while. Give me some feedback? Have you ever found God without even looking?
Have you ever heard the saying that, as soon as you stop looking for something, you find it? I think the same can be said about God sometimes. I find that, the times that I'm not looking for God, are the times that God actually speaks to me the strongest. Probably because I'm not expecting it. I'm just trying to be entertained, or get somewhere, or talk with someone, or work or whatever and then BAM! God shows up and speaks. Maybe we need to stop deliberealy looking for God so much, and just go out living. Yes, there are times where we need to search for God, but if we do it so much then we will just trivialize the significance of truly Finding God.
Perhaps none of this makes sense..I am just rambling. Just thought I would give this thought, as I haven't blogged in a while. Give me some feedback? Have you ever found God without even looking?
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