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What Causes Burn Out?

January 13, 2012 in FAQ's of Faith, Practical Theology with 2 Comments

I’ve been thinking a lot about burn out the last few days. I’ve heard so many stories about pastors, students, parents, and everyone else who “burn out.” Maybe they’re burnt out at work, or at church, or with their family.

Maybe all of the above.

Firewood with flame ash and red embers

Rather than give a bunch of theories that aren’t fully developed, I wanted to throw out a few questions, and I genuinely want to know your thoughts so please leave them in a comment below. Thanks!

1) What do you think causes burn out?

2) How can we prevent burn out?

3) Have you ever been “burnt out?” From what? When?

Is Jesus God?

December 2, 2011 in Cultural Connection, FAQ's of Faith, Practical Theology with 0 Comments

People often argue that Jesus, though a great man who did a lot of nice things, was not God. They say he should be respected and remembered, but they refuse to worship him. C.S. Lewis writes my favorite response to those who claim Jesus was not God in his book, Mere Christianity

“people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

There you have it! If Jesus claimed to be God, but was not God, then he was either crazy (I love the poached egg remark) or evil.

But there are some, still, who argue that Jesus did not claim to be God. They believe the apostles turned him into God in the later writings of the New Testament. This argument, however, does not stand either. In the Gospels, we see Jesus do the following:

In Mark 9:2-13 Jesus reveals his true nature to the disciples. Sorry, but his radiance does not come from being a moral teacher.

In John 5:18-29 Jesus clearly identifies himself as the Son of God. Although some people today may think this makes him less important than God, in the Jewish culture there was no mistake: being a son meant equality with God. Even the enemies of Jesus recognized the meaning of his claim!

In Matthew 28:19 he calls us to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three are equal, but notice how they are still unified as one! He does not say the names, but rather the name. Jesus shows us here that there is only one God, and yet three persons.

In John 8:53-58 we see a couple of things. First, a small explanation about why Jesus did not toot his own horn all the time about being God! If he glorified himself, it would mean nothing. His glory is demonstrated to the people through the Father. Secondly, we see one of the boldest claims Jesus made: “before Abraham was, I am.” This both identifies his eternal nature and union with God. “I AM” is the holy name that God identifies himself with when speaking to Moses in the burning bush. When Jesus said this, he was either speaking truth or the highest form of blasphemy possible in Israel.

So then, what do you think? Is Jesus the Lord, a Liar, or a Lunatic?

I highly recommend you purchase Mere Christianity. It’s an incredible read and an even better re-read. Get it here: Buy Mere Christianity
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Friday’s FAQ’s of Faith: Why all the talk?

November 18, 2011 in Cultural Connection, FAQ's of Faith, Practical Theology with 0 Comments

Today’s question comes from Alecia: Lately I hear of so many people discussing the end times…terms like pre-millenium, post millenium, etc.  Why are topics such as the end times & predestination so highly discussed?!?!  They don’t determine our salvation. 

Hey Alecia! Thanks for the question, and you are correct! Those things do not determine our salvation, but they do affect the way we live.

First, a couple of disclaimers:

1) Theological knowledge should never lead to pride: Many people like to discuss big words in theology (like eschatology, pre-millenialism, amyraldianism, supra lapsarianism, etc) just so they can sound smart and impress people. These types of people also enjoy making you feel stupid when you’ve never heard of a word, even though that word is named after some Latin fellow who died over 1,000 years ago. Basically, if you’re learning or discussing theology because we want to be smarter than others, you’ve completely missed the point of theology.

2) Major on the majors and minor on the minors: A major issue is a deal breaker for someone’s salvation. For instance, believing that Jesus died and rose again. A minor issue is one that is important and is discussed in the Bible, but does not negate your salvation. An example of a minor issue would be your view on end times (pre, a, or post-millenialism as you said). Discuss them, debate them, but at the end of the day remember you are unified by your belief and love of Christ, and that is the most important thing.

3) Learn to discuss with tact: Our culture seems to have forgotten how to do this. Any disagreement automatically leads to a shouting match that sounds like 4 year olds fighting over the last butterfinger in Earth. It is possible to debate someone without attacking them personally, raising your voice, or being a jerk. Until you learn how to do that, it’s probably best that you just pray for the people you disagree with.

To answer your question:

Those types of theology questions are important because a correct understanding of them will cause us to glorify God more. It will also help us to live in our identity and be free! While I don’t have time or space to address each issue you mentioned, I would encourage you to approach them with humility and recognize that they can add depth to your relationship with God.

I know a lot about my wife, I know enough about her to have married her! But there is still more to her that I want to find out about because those things make me love her all the more. The same is true with God, being redeemed and saved by Him is one thing, but our relationship will only get better when we seek Him out and desire to know His entire Word.

Thanks Alecia, and if anyone else has a question about religion, feel free to ask it in the comments!

Friday’s FAQ’s of Faith: Where do you see humor in the Bible?

October 21, 2011 in FAQ's of Faith, Humor with 2 Comments

*Every Friday, I answer questions that people ask in the comments section. Feel free to add your own answer or ask a new question for a future post.

This week’s question comes from Randy, “Where do you see humor in the Bible?”

I know for a fact that God has a sense of humor. Why? Because I have a sense of humor.

I am created in God’s image, and humor is a part of that image. Therefore God is the original comedian (and the best comedian to boot!)

The Bible definitely has some passages that make me laugh, so here we go…

1) The Magical Calf (Exodus 32) God’s people convince Aaron to build them a golden calf, which is definitely a mistake. When Moses finds out he is furious and demands an explanation. Aaron, who was in charge, has the cheapest cop-out answer of all time and it cracks me up: “Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

This is on par with telling your teacher, “my dog ate my homework” or telling your mother, “the cookies must have eaten themselves.” We figured out those excuses don’t work when we were 7, but apparently Aaron never got the memo.

Source: Wikipedia Commons

2) The Talking Donkey (Numbers 22:21-42) A guy named Balaam was blatantly disobeying God. He was so stubborn and worked so hard to ignore God that God enabled the donkey he was riding to speak.

You know you’re life is heading the wrong direction when you need a donkey to be your psychiatrist.

3) Divine Bathroom Break (1 Kings 18:20-29) The Prophet Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a duel. Both the other prophets and Elijah would take turns calling upon their god to send fire down and consume a sacrifice. The prophets of Baal went first and spent all morning acting like middle school girls at a Bieber concert trying to get Baal to pay attention, but no one heard. Elijah, sensing a chance at eternal humor, said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”

Turns out Baal is not real. Owned.

4) The Eager Disciple (John 13:1-20) No one wanted to impress Jesus more than Peter, but somehow his eagerness caused him to miss the point. When Jesus came to wash his feet, he undoubtedly wanted to prove his humility and said, “you shall never wash my feet!” Jesus responded by saying, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” This caused Peter to freak out, and so he went to the next extreme and said, ”Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Way to stick to your guns there Peter.

Of course, I can’t hold it against him. I spend so much time trying to impress God that I forget I don’t need to impress Him. Thanks to Jesus, He is already impressed with me.

Where do you see humor in the Bible? 

Why Should I Believe in God?

October 14, 2011 in FAQ's of Faith, Practical Theology with 8 Comments

*Every Friday, I answer questions that people ask in the comments section. Feel free to add your own answer or ask a new question for a future post.

This week I will answer Parker and Logan’s questions. Logan asked, “why do you believe in God?” and Parker asked a similar, though more detailed question, “What would be your response to people who say there is not enough proof to definitely prove there is a God?”

Parker, my first response would be to ask, “what needs to happen for you to have enough proof?” Most people want absolute proof, but have no idea what that actually means. Anything short of God’s voice shining down through the clouds and to yell  the winners of future Super Bowls so they can win big money gambling and they still want more proof. It’s also interesting how many things we believe without absolute proof, and I bet they “know” a few things that do not align with their demands for real proof.

In reality, there is a ton of proof and evidence that God is real. I know a few philosophical arguments that can be helpful, but ultimately I think they fail in comparison to the following three reasons for God.

Cool Sunset in Fiji

<strong>Continue Reading to see the Big 3</strong>

Friday’s FAQ’s of Faith: What’s missing?

October 7, 2011 in Cultural Connection, FAQ's of Faith with 3 Comments

*Every Friday, I answer questions that people ask in the comments section. Feel free to add your own answer or ask a new question for a future post.

Today’s question comes from Kyle, “What is the biggest thing that the Church today is overseeing/missing out on that the Church 2000 years ago was doing?”

Great question Kyle! You will get different answers based on who you ask, but I am convinced that the church today is in desperate need of making disciples of the next generation.

Discipleship in Action

Last spring I spoke with a seminary professor who lived in England for a few years. He said the church there has almost died in less than 100 years. He met people and told them he was a pastor, and almost everyone would say, “Oh that’s cool. I’ve never really been to church, but I know my grandparents did.”

I asked him what the cause of this problem was, and he instantly and emphatically said there was no discipleship of the next generation.  Continue Reading…

Friday FAQ’s of Faith: 2 Questions on Hell

September 30, 2011 in FAQ's of Faith with 0 Comments

*Every Friday, I answer questions that people ask in the comments section. Feel free to add your own answer or ask a new question for a future post.

Today I will be answering two people’s questions. Although they are different, their answers are closely related.

1) J_fo asks: Are Adam and Eve in Heaven?

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: Although Adam and Eve were the first sinners, there is no reason that Christ’s work could not redeem them as well. If God required them to be perfect on their own accord to get into Heaven, He would require the same thing of us. Which means we would all be in trouble.

Instead, Jesus paid the price of all sins, including Adam and Eve’s, so that we might have life. In order to receive His grace, we only need faith (here is a good definition of faith). That’s it.

Furthermore, I can think of few people in history who understood their need for God more than Adam and Eve. They knew Him intimately before sin, and so when sin entered the world they were fully aware of what they were missing.

Lastly, in Genesis it seems rather clear that Adam and Eve continued to live in relationship with God. This relationship would not be possible if they did not accept Him and His grace.

2) Vickie asks: Do you believe that people who are Christians and then commit suicide ever go to heaven?

Again, the answer is yes (if they are true Christians).

Is suicide a sin? Absolutely. It is a terrible sin.

But like I said with Adam and Eve, Christ’s death covers all the sins of all who believe.

Suicide is tragic, selfish, hurtful, and can destroy the lives of those still living. But as horrible as it is, Christ’s sacrifice and the Father’s grace are more powerful. That can be hard to believe sometimes, but it is God’s Word. Does this grace mean we should just sin because we’ll be forgiven? By no means! (Romans 6:1-2)

I think people say that suicide will stop you from getting to heaven because they are afraid Christians will just commit suicide for a one way ticket to Paradise. This one way ticket, of course, is completely wrong. God put each of us on Earth for a purpose, and we are called to live in that purpose.

There is another issue here as well, because many believe that you must ask for forgiveness for every particular sin, after you have sinned, in order to be forgiven. That’s not the way justification works. When we put our faith in Christ, we are justified from all sins, both past and future (Romans 3:21-26).

Does this mean we do not need to ask for forgiveness in the future? Well, not if we are talking about our eternity. Confessing sin is important however, for our lives today. When we hide sin from God it creates barriers in our relationship that prevent us from truly enjoying Him and living life to the full.

I love what John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Satan wants death, but Christ came to give us life. Suicide is definitely a sin, but it is not unforgivable. This is not an excuse for people, however, because God calls us to something far greater than a quick death.

He calls us to abundant life.

How would you answer these questions?

 

Friday FAQ’s of Faith: Why do we need theology?

September 23, 2011 in FAQ's of Faith, Practical Theology with 6 Comments

*Every Friday, I answer questions that people ask in the comments section. Feel free to add your own answer or ask a new question for a future post.

**Congrats to Alecia S. for winning $10 in iTunes and Tony M. for winning $10 to Starbucks. E-mail me (Evan@gfc.tv) to claim your prize.

Today’s question comes from Daniel: “Why do we need theology when we have a clear message in the bible? theology was created by us, humans, and yet we treat it like it is the gospel. Answer me Evan.”

Answer you I shall Daniel! The first thing we must do is define “theology.” I’m not interested in re-writing the book, so we’ll go with my friend Webster, who defined theology as “the study of God and of God’s relation to the world.”

According to this definition, you make a mistake by separating theology from the Bible. In fact, the Bible is 100% theology! Every page works together to tell God’s story and how He relates to the world.

Granted, there is human created theology, and some of it is absurd. People choose to worship everything from a golden calf to a spaghetti monster to the money in their bank account. But man has also created gods that do not sound so crazy, they actually sound quite appealing. After all, who wouldn’t want a god who’s chief purpose was to make you happy?

"All Scripture is breathed out by God"

The problem is, if we really want to know the truth about someone, we cannot trust our own reasoning. We must go to the source! For instance, if you wanted to know something about me, it would be better to ask me than your inner self.

With God the same logic applies. If you want to know Him, you must listen to His telling of the story. And as you said, He gives His message clearly in the Bible.

Without God’s Word, we would have no idea who He is. There are philosophical arguments, some done reasonably well, that prove God’s existence, but no one can describe Him solely based on their own knowledge. If we want to know God, we must go to Him.

True theology, then, is not man made. It comes from God and the Bible. Considering that it is a rather large book, we cannot expect to know it without studying it. Theology helps us understand the Bible as a whole, and not just individual parts.

Reading or listening to “theologians” is an extremely helpful way to understand the Bible. They often have great insight and wisdom. There are two important rules for this, however:

First, know that a theologian cannot replace the Bible. Read theology books, but don’t stop reading the Word or take a theologian’s version of truth over God’s version.

Second, spend the majority of your time reading theologians who believe the Bible is God’s Word. If they do not, then their own flawed logic will dominate their theology instead of God’s revealed truth.

One last warning about theology. I made the mistake of wanting to know about God so much that I forgot to know God. What I mean is this, if we treat God like a science experiment that we need to figure out, we will totally miss out on having a relationship with him. If you truly want to know Him, focus on the relationship and you’ll figure things out as you go.

Thanks for the question Daniel! I am curious to hear what other people think, so please chime in.

Also, who are some of your favorite “theologians” to read or listen to? I’ll answer first in the comments…

Ask Me ANYTHING and WIN!

September 19, 2011 in FAQ's of Faith with 13 Comments

Today, I would love for you to ask any question you have ever had about religion, or any question about me personally. Examples of potential questions: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” or “How did you meet your wife?” or “Why do you despise the Phillies?” or “What’s the deal with Predestination?” or “Were you predestined to despise the Phillies?”

Asking questions helps me get to know you, plus I want to answer your questions about religion in future posts under the category “FAQs of Faith”

I'm telling you there's a chance

If you ask a question, I have a couple of giveaways up for grabs! If you comment, you will be entered in a drawing with two winners. One person will win $10 to Starbucks and the other will win $10 for itunes!

But wait, there’s more! If you like the facebook page, or subscribe through e-mail below* you will get a second entry into the drawing and your odds of winning double! What an outstanding deal.

I look forward to your questions and connecting with you! The winners of the drawing will be announced Friday.

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*If you have subscribed to the e-mails before today, just say so in the comments and I will add your name to the drawing.