In case I haven’t told you, dear readers, I have a girlfriend. Yes, a real one. No, I didn’t order her online. No, we didn’t hook up on eHarmony. Anyways, I share this little tidbit for two reasons – 1) She’s coming into town today and I’m terribly excited, and 2) Preparing for her to come got me thinking about a deeper truth.

As I mentioned previously, I’m moving to Texas in June. As is fitting with my current situation, I’ve been slowly packing up my books, papers, assorted junk, etc. so that I will be ready to move when that time comes. Of course, that also means that my room and everything I own is in disarray.

In less than 30 minutes I will be leaving for the airport to pick up my girlfriend, so that we can enjoy a few days together before she has to go back to work. Prior to this moment, I have spent the better part of 2-3 days packing and cleaning and reorganizing everything so that my room is moderately clean and ready for her to be here. Not that I intend for us to spend significant amounts of time in my room, but I want to have everything prepared for her so that when she gets here she can relax and enjoy some time away from everything.

With all of the bustling and busyness, the thought occurred to me that if I get too caught up in the cleaning and rearranging, it’s quite possible for me to work so hard at getting ready for my girlfriend’s arrival that I forget to leave with enough time to meet her at the airport. And so now that I have time to reflect (and still smelling like bleach), I realize that in some ways, this mirrors our own process of “preparing” for Jesus’ imminent return.

Jesus instructs His believers to “keep watch” for His return, because it will come suddenly, while most of the world continues along their business (Matthew 24-25). He even tells a few parables, explaining that because the exact hour is unknown to everyone except God the Father, we need to be prepared, or else we might get caught with our pants down (metaphorically).

Anyways, preparing for my girlfriend’s arrival planted this thought in my head – do I busy myself with “preparing” for Christ’s return, so much so that I could miss out on the very Person I’m waiting to arrive? It reminded me of Mary and Martha, the two sisters who played frequent hosts to Jesus and His disciples – Martha busied herself with the preparations for hosting Jesus, while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to His teaching. While certainly preparation is good and important – I doubt my girlfriend would want to come visit a pigsty – but am I going to place HER above the preparations, such that when she comes, I will enjoy her presence above the presentation (or lack thereof)? I definitely do the same to Jesus. I get so caught up in the acts of service and the thoughts of preparation that I miss out on knowing the Person.

The thought’s been challenging me to remember that it is the WHO that I worship and serve that matters, rather than the WHAT that I do. And hopefully that’s something that I will continue to carry with me.

Okay, so far I’ve covered the need to have the right perspective when looking to minister to people. We absolutely need to be thinking out of humility, knowing where we ourselves have come from, and always cognizant of God’s grace towards us that motivates us to call others to come with us in our walks with God. Next, we don’t have to look very far to find lost people – they’re all around us, and in fact hopefully as we’re rubbing shoulders with them we’re already befriending them and building meaningful relationships with them. And the way we do that is by treating non-Christians like people, not projects: being friends and loving them regardless of whether they ever accept Christ, and getting to know them for friendship’s sake rather than just being interested until you can share the Gospel with them and then dump them.

This next section might rub some people the wrong way, and I apologize in advance, because it is not my intention to be inflammatory. Because I realize that I could easily communicate the wrong thing, so please bear with me as I attempt to phrase my thoughts in a clear and rational manner, seasoned with salt and grace. Now that I hopefully have you curious as to what I’m going to say, I shall begin by making the broad statement that we should not judge other people. Hopefully by the end of this post you’ll understand what I mean by this.

I would say that most people (probably all people) don’t like to be judged. Yet, we usually don’t have a problem judging others. Right up there with hypocrisy in the church is this complaint of “Christians are so judgmental” whenever I’m talking with non-Christians. It’s really made me think deeply about how exactly we as Christ-followers should behave and think as we rub shoulders with people who don’t follow Christ.

So, as I’ve been examining Scripture, I’ve found scant evidence that we as believers should be judging others. In fact, Jesus says exactly the opposite. That whole splinter and log in the eye analogy comes to mind (Matthew 7:2-4), as well as the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). Paul describes the exact same sort of thing in Romans 2:1-4: “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?”

This is what I alluded to in the first part of my answer – we need to keep in mind that what sets us apart from non-Christians is not the way we live, per se, but Christ’s forgiveness living itself out in our lives. A friend of mine from church gave me this to chew on: judgment was never meant to be ours to exercise…we took for ourselves what was meant to be God’s when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So that’s something I try to remember before I start making value judgments about people – the very things I think are horrible in someone else are probably the same things I struggle with.

I can imagine that there are some who are asking the questions, “but what about rebuking and admonishing and spurring our brothers and sisters on to lead holier, more Christ-like lives? What about church discipline?” Those are good questions to answer. The simple answer is that what I’m addressing is a judgmental heart attitude, whereas those things I just listed are expressions of a loving heart attitude. I’m going to be addressing accountability, personal conviction, and rebuke in a future part. For now, trust me that I’m not saying that we should either condone or turn a blind eye to rampant sin in Christians’ lives. However, perhaps we need to stop and consider the extent to which we should be concerned about other people’s sins.

For example, say you had a non-Christian friend who cusses a lot. When you hang out with him, do you inwardly focus more on the fact that he cusses than that he is broken-hearted because he just broke up with his girlfriend? Does his language or behavior prevent you from seeing him the way God sees him? Are you going to extend him grace and accept him as he is, just as God does? How many of us would have told him at some point that it makes us uncomfortable when he uses that language and would ask him in some either direct or indirect way to clean up the way he talks around us?

My point is this: people are drawn to those who care beyond the surface. God has chosen to love us, despite our daily failures and innate character deficiencies. Paul tells us that He “demonstrate[d] His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). How much more so do we need to show our friends how much we love them and meet them at their point of need! There will come a time when speaking the truth regarding sinful behavior may be necessary. However, just as God sees past the external issues and cares about the heart, we too need to care about the heart and soul of a person.

I’ve heard Christians try to explain to non-Christians that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship. I’ve also heard Christians claim that their faith is not a set of do’s and don’ts, but a genuine, life-changing relationship with the Creator of the universe. And yet even though we may say these things, we are uncomfortable when people live the way they choose to live. This is good in the sense that we desire to live lives that honor God, but bad in the sense that we naturally distance ourselves from these people. In an effort to remain defiled, we avoid situations and people who may keep us from living pure lives, forgetting that we do a fine job of defiling ourselves on our own. We communicate to non-Christians that we love them, but only from a distance. Because we are too afraid of getting dirtied by their so-called filthy lives, we ask them to be who they are not or else we won’t accept them into our midst. Or perhaps, we don’t say anything, but everyone can tell that we don’t approve of what they do. Does this resonate with anyone else? I certainly feel this and have felt this from time to time. But the name found in the Bible for this type of heart attitude is far from approving, but condemning – we are Pharisees if we think this way.

But what of Christ’s name, you might say. We need to do all that we can to not associate Christ’s name with anything that might have a hint of ungodliness. As Christ’s ambassadors, what we say and what we do represent Christ to this generation. I agree with this principle – that we are being hypocritical if we proclaim Christ to be God and that we desire to be like Him, yet choose to walk in darkness. However, I disagree with the methods by which I’ve seen this principle applied in real life. Too often I find that the phrase “not even a hint” taken to mean “not even the appearance of.” Who are we to determine what appears to be holy or not? I believe that by concerning ourselves with the appearance of holiness for the sake of Christ’s image, we have turned our focus away from knowing God to looking right. Paul puts it this way: “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” (Colossians 2:20-23)

Jesus’ public image was horrendous in the eyes of “proper” Jews – he was a friend to sinners (Matthew 11:18-20), ate with tax collectors (Matthew 9:11), and being the Righteous One, dwelled among men for a time, who all have sinned. Yet, He was without sin and was blameless. While He may have been accused of associating with these known “sinners,” He could never be rightfully condemned of actually committing or condoning sinful behavior. I submit this as evidence that we, as Christ’s chosen people, can associate with people where they are at, while still living a life that is above reproach. For what is the Gospel: is it a call to holiness first, or is it an offer of grace first? I believe that grace must come before holiness. In our own lives, we all had to accept God’s unconditional grace before we could be made holy. And holy behavior comes from an inward change of the heart, not from the external efforts of the will. That change is brought about by God, not by our actions or words. Therefore, I believe that we ought not to be afraid to associate with non-Christians wherever they are in whatever spiritual state they are, regardless of our appearance.

A real-life example of this in my own life comes from the way I live my life with my classmates. They know that I am a Christian – and with that label, most are initially uneasy around me, because they are afraid that I will call them out on the way they live their lives. However, by demonstrating to them that I care about them regardless of how they live, by choosing to spend time with them in locations and in situations that are comfortable to them, and by encouraging them to be themselves, they now see that Christ wants to have a relationship with them because His ambassador wants to have a relationship with them. They know and respect that there are some things that they do that I will not do, but by choosing not to associate my personal convictions with Christ has allowed them to be open and honest about their lives with me. To them, knowing Christ is about a real relationship that goes far beyond proper behavior.

Before I conclude this very lengthy section, I think that it’s also important for me to warn against doing things that go against personal conviction. Scripture states that if we do something that violates our conscience, that is sin. And woe to me if I cause my brother to stumble! So please don’t take what I just wrote as me saying that everyone needs to do things that may very well violate their conscience. But I hope that what I have written stimulates your thinking to stop and consider what you do and how you think. Personal conviction, even if it is supported by Scripture, cannot be forced upon someone else. I hope that what I have shared is not simply my personal conviction about how I think we should go about life, but rather a description of what the Bible says how we should live life.

In summary, as we prayerfully seek to “engage our culture,” we must approach all people with an attitude of grace and love. Judgment is reserved for God, and as we befriend and minister to people, Christian and non-Christian alike, we should exercise mercy, that people see God’s love and forgiveness lived out in our lives. It is not irreconcilable to live a pure and blameless life while associating with sinners, and it is okay and (dare I say it?) essential that we spend time with sinners where they are at, even at the cost of “appearing” ungodly. However, this should only be done as far as our conscience will let us.

I get the impression that we as humans like to establish rules based on exceptions. Several examples come to mind, the two I want to address right now are medical ethics and contemporary Christian philosophy. Yeah, I know, two pretty diverse topics. While my purpose is not to be inflammatory, what I say may be controversial and arouse anger in some individuals. However, I’m not going to debate the moral absolutist right or wrong on these issues – I merely want to consider the trends I observe. With that said, I’ll dive right into this.

First, medical ethics – an issue that is no longer an issue limited to healthcare professionals. A lot of the medical practice’s dos and don’ts are now established by lawful conduct instead of by moral code. While I don’t want to focus much on that issue, I bring it up because this concept, that medical professionals only have to be compliant with legal standards, demonstrates to me that ethical rules in medicine don’t necessarily improve the quality of healthcare when those rules are determined by exception.

That’s a long thought and a lot of big words. Let me see if I can explain this more. Many of the legal codes of healthcare (Patients’ Bill of Rights, Confidentiality stuff like HIPAA) are great. They explain many of the responsibilities of the healthcare provider, as well as protect patients from bad care. However, laws can only explain so much. And personally I get kinda skeptical when judges are the ones telling healthcare providers what they can and cannot do (not to mention prescribing medical law, no pun intended). Anyways, it seems like whenever there’s some law that says that everyone has to do this (ex. all parents of minors must be notified if the minor is getting an abortion), or that this treatment is okay for everyone (ex. Plan B oral contraceptive being made an over-the-counter drug) it ends up that the arguments made by detractors and/or proponents relies on some form of “exception” that justifies it being made a rule for everyone.

For minors getting abortions, questions of “what if” scenarios pop up: what if the parents would force the minor to raise the child against her will, what if the parents don’t know about the pregnancy, etc. They’re certainly questions that require thought, for sure. At the same time, the other side argues, “what if the minor was being forced to have an abortion against her will by her boyfriend?” or “what if the minor died because of post-abortion complications without the parents’ knowledge?”, which are equally thought-provoking and troublesome. Like I said, I don’t want to get into the moral judgment of who’s right and who’s wrong, and I also don’t like appealing to majority-rules arguments, so I’ll just raise the question, which one is the exception, and which one does the rule enforce?

You see similar things asked when there were debates about whether the Plan B oral contraceptive should be made over-the-counter. There were questions about drug missuse and abuse by opponents, and questions about unexpected situations (like rape and sexual abuse) by proponents. Again, which situations are the exception, and which situations do the rule enforce?

Honestly I don’t know the answer to those questions – I think both sides have a little bit of both and also have compelling reasoning. I know that sounds kinda weak, but again, I reiterate my opening statement: I’m just considering the trends that I’m observing. I have my personal opinions on what I think is right or wrong, but that’s not what I’m trying to address. I’m merely “thinking out loud,” to borrow the expression – except that instead of speaking I’m typing. Moving on to modern Christianity.

There have been many “new” philosophies that are being introduced by people who claim to be Christian. While most of these people don’t claim to have developed a truly original perspective of the faith, they do propose some seemingly unorthodox thoughts that are suppose to “enrich” our life as a Christian (assuming that one is a Christian). What I ask myself as I’m looking at these ideas now is this: what perspectives are based on exceptions found in the Bible, and which ones are based on the prescriptive texts on those corresponding subjects? I’m running out of time to write on this (I gotta get back to studying), but I’ll just make a brief mention of some popular Christian writings, some of them probably really good, some of them probably really bad, and let you all consider them as well.

I’ll limit this to these five (some are book titles, some just a short description of their thoughts):

• John Piper’s Christian Hedonism (reference Desiring God and seen throughout his other books and messages)
• John Eldredge’s Wild At Heart (pretty much all of his books have some aspect to this idea)
• Bruce Wilkinson’s The Prayer Of Jabez
• Don Miller’s Blue Like Jazz
• Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life

Okay, back to studying. I hope I got through this post without offending everybody. But at the same time, I hope all 2 of my readers out there will find this post challenging and stimulating.

Stay tuned for the next post, which could be about Romans, making decisions, something else completely different, or not until I’m done with tests. Which one will it be? You’ll have to wait and see!

This post won’t be nearly as long as the previous one, but it’s going to be of more substance than other things I’ve written lately.

I was talking with a close friend about making decisions today, which got me thinking about how we make decisions. After all, we have to deal with decisions every day – how do we know that what we decide to do is right or not?

As it turns out, that’s one of those things I’m hoping to figure out in the next few months/years. I give myself that much time because I think it’s really more of a framework that I need to establish in my life rather than some hard-lined rules about do’s and don’ts. Here’s what I’ve considered so far:

1. I need to make my decisions filtered through the Bible. Since I have already decided to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, I should probably make choices that line up with what He says is right. In order to do that, I need to know what He said. So for any decision, I should check the Bible first to see what it says about the situation.


2. I need to make my decisions filtered through prayer. Most definitions I’ve heard of what prayer is have been inadequate in describing the many nuances and purposes that encompass this simple process. The Bible says to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and various passages refer to prayer as part of asking things of God and giving Him all of my concerns (Philippians 4:6-7). It also seems like a pretty good idea to check in with God regarding whatever decisions I need to make.


3. My decisions are eventually going to be things I desire to do, even if I may not enjoy them. This statement is paradoxical in nature – evolutionary science explains our desires to do things that we don’t enjoy as a result of some higher evolutionary beneficial motive. However, the Christian worldview contrasts that explanation with the call to “carry the cross daily.” For the Christian, there is a greater purpose than personal survival or species survival that comes out of deciding to do things that aren’t pleasant. At the same time, not all of our decisions are going to be choosing between pleasant and unpleasant …sometimes they will be between two pleasant things or two unpleasant things. Still, if I am following God’s will, He will satisfy my desires by either providing what I want, or changing what I think I want to what I really want. More on God’s will in a bit.

Well, there’s more that I want to unpack, but it’s way late and I’m way tired. So until next time, keep dry and warm!

Jim White, long-time Christian and Navigator, spoke at church this morning. Instead of explaining a passage to us, or presenting a nice exegesis of a book, he preached the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5-7. From memory. Straight through.

He did this at the Navigators’ Key Man’s conference last year. He explained to us that while Scripture memory is very important, it’s the meditation on Scripture that makes the Word alive in our lives. It’s a compelling sermon, the longest continuous piece of text that we have that came directly from Jesus Christ’s mouth (as recounted by witnesses, of course). It deals with some of the deepest heart issues and the practice of holiness that arises from a foundation built upon the Rock of Salvation. Jesus promises rewards for those who suffer, who are maligned, who are humble, and He indicts us with His emphasis of being holy in attitude as well as in action. He challenged us to “store up treasures in heaven,” and to be fully obedient to His Word.

“Delayed obedience is disobedience.” As I examine the heart attitudes that reign in my life, I know that there are so many areas of unrepentance and disobedience that just hearing the words of God make me fidget. But that’s the beauty of the Word – it’s living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates, even dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow – it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).

I don’t really know what else to say. For those who know Christ, do what He says. For those who don’t know Christ, it’d probably be good to get to know Him – He’s “everything we’ve ever imagined,” to quote the movie adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Anyways, back to studying Neuroscience and Physiology.