CHRIST IS BORN

Remember why we celebrate this night. Happy birthday Jesus.

Love Wins?

A man named Rob Bell wrote a book called Love Wins.  It's still relatively recent and also happens to relate very well to a number of the critics that have been commenting on this blog recently.  Here's an excerpt from his book.

"A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better... It’s been clearly communicated to many that this belief is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus... This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus’s message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear."

I'm going to tell this to you as gently as I can.

I believe that Rob Bell is wrong, and is leading a great deal of people away from Christ. 

People concentrate on the LOVE of Christ and the LOVE of God and how "no benevolent God could send people to Hell".  The most overlooked truth of Christianity is this:

Every single human on this planet that has ever been or will ever be (except for Jesus) deserves to go to Hell.

Every single one of us deserves eternal punishment.

Not a ONE of us is "entitled" to eternal happiness and forgiveness.  Nobody "deserves" Heaven.

Every. Single. Person. Sins.

God is generous enough to forgive every single one of us for the comparatively easy accomplishment of accepting him as Lord, and doing our best to live for Him.  That we are forgiven and allowed into His presence is through no special quality of ours, but rather is a mark of the mercy of God.

I am a Christian.  I accept God.  I love God.  And I deserve to go to  Hell.

That's the plain truth.  The fact that I believe I am not going to go to Hell has nothing to do with me.  It only is because of the mercy of Him.

Trust me... I understand WHY Bell's message appeals to everyone.  It appeals to so many people because it is what so many people want to hear.  Christians and non-Christians alike would all love to believe that everybody gets into Heaven.  But the truth is, that's not Biblical.  In fact, the Bible disputes Bell's claims in multiple places.

For those that struggle on this topic, I recommend Francis Chan's book Erasing Hell.  Good stuff.  Here's a video by good old Mr. Chan.

I wouldn't believe in a God who would...

I think this video pretty much says it all. Comment with your thoughts and questions!
Erasing Hell
- Mya Grace

Conforming

The other night I was listening to a song by Noah Gundersen called "Jesus, Jesus." One of the lyrics in the song says, "Jesus, Jesus, there are those that say they love you, but they have treated me so God-damn mean. And I know you said "forgive them for they know not what they do," but sometimes I think they do." 


Hearing that was really painful for me. As far as I know, this artist isn't a believer. Where are we (Christians) to show people like Noah the love that God has for them? So many people view Christianity in a negative light, and I can see why. 


If we're acting the exact same way as our friends who aren't Christians, then there's something seriously wrong. If you claim to be a Christian, yet go out on the weekends and drink, have sex, do drugs, etc. on a regular basis then I think it's time for you to do a reality check. It doesn't even have to be as severe as those things either, it could be as simple as making sexual jokes around your friends and conforming to their other behaviors. 


I'm guilty of it, and my guess is so are you. But, that doesn't mean we can take this subject lightly. It's a serious thing...look at what the Bible says in James 3:9-12 "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." This doesn't mean we can't mess up, but when we're continuously living a life that is not glorifying to God something needs to change. 


I'm not trying to judge anyone by any means, but I think it's important to shed light on these issues because they matter to God. I personally struggle with conforming, and I have for a while. A lot of the time, conformity means that you're lukewarm. Whose side are you fighting for if you claim to be on God's side but all your actions seem like you're on Satan's? 


"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." 


So, here's my challenge for you: "Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone." 


God bless you all!


- Mya Grace

Challenge for you

Challenge: Try saying a quick prayer before lunch at school this week.  If your friends ask what you are doing, don't be afraid to tell them.

Chains of Hurt

            It seems like there’s always something horrible on the news. People are murdered, raped, harassed, stolen from, and countless other things every single day. Families are dying of starvation all around the world, child pornography is becoming more and more popular, girls and boys are sold into sex slavery at shockingly young ages. The bottom line is that our world is completely corrupted. Pain is inevitable.

            But here’s the good news: When the world seemed hopeless and alone, the Light of the World came into darkness and created life. I’m sure you can guess who this person is. Jesus. A lot of the time, people are misled about Christianity. They view it as a religious set of rules that are not meant to be broken, and if they are broken, punishment is the result. But that’s exactly what Jesus doesn’t want us to think, because it couldn’t be further from the truth. Internalize this: Jesus wants a relationship with you- He wants to know you and teach you and show you the love that He has for you. THAT is the truth.

            Jesus came to this world with a task. He came to show people love and to free them from the burdens that this world has placed on their shoulders. Picture a prison (sounds drastic, I know). People are chained up because they’ve done something wrong- murder, theft, rape, etc. They probably beat themselves up over it all the time (or maybe they don’t). They wish that they had a way out of the hole into which they’d dug themselves- they want freedom. Then, the judge that had sentenced all of these people to prison shows up and his son is with him. The judge feels horribly that these people have disobeyed and had to suffer because of their poor choices, and His son feels their pain as well. But, because he is just and fair he knows that he can’t let them go without someone paying the price for their wrong. So the son says, “Dad, I want to take their punishment. I don’t care what crimes they’ve committed or how far down into the hole they are. Let me take their place so you can free them.” The dad is grieved because he loves his son dearly, and would never want him to suffer because he had done nothing that deserved a punishment. But he realizes what he has to do because of the pain that the prisoners are going through, and he permits his son to take the prisoners’ punishment. The prisoners are changed by this father and son- by the grace and mercy that they have shown toward them. The precious gift that has been given to them changes their hearts, and they turn from their old ways and live with gratefulness to the people who had radically changed their lives.

            I know it sounds crazy, but the world is the prison and God is the judge. Although the analogy doesn’t fit perfectly, it’s still a great representation of God’s love and grace, and the ultimate price that Jesus had to pay by dying on the cross so that we could be set free.

            I’m guessing that most people reading this blog haven’t done something worthy of a prison sentence. What are the chains from which Jesus freed us then? Although they’re not very drastic in our eyes, they mean a lot to God. These chains are anything that is a burden to us. Insecurity, fear, wanting to belong, past and current hurts, people who you cannot forgive, broken families, lack of trust,  weakness, emptiness, and depression are just a few of the countless burdens that weigh us down in our lives. Jesus wants to replace our hurt with healing.

            Here’s the bottom line: Everyone goes through pain. It leaves us broken and hurt, and sometimes the damage seems irreparable.  But when Jesus showed up, He came to fill the void in our hearts and make us whole again. It’s not by following all the rules and living “religiously” that you will be freed- it’s through having a relationship with Christ and receiving His precious gift. If this gift doesn’t sound appealing to you, then I don’t know what else will. I pray that you will accept this gift and be freed from your chains of hurt.

- Mya Grace

Isaiah 53

Matthew 11:28, 29

1 Peter 1:18, 19

John 1:3-5, 3:16-21

Psalm 34:18, 147:3

John Piper Video - Tornado/sign from God/homosexual clergy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jSEmXKgMcQ

I am developing a fondness for John Piper.  Good stuff.