Why am I a Christian? How can I be so sure Christianity is
“where it’s at”? I always ask myself this question when I write something deep
and post it. Most likely because there are people reading it who may disagree,
and God is challenging me with the thought, preparing me to respond. So here is part one of my response. This was written in 2010, and much has taken place since. So a part two is in order...
The following is an assignment I completed for a Philosophy class. I share it as the most effective why to communicate Jesus Christ in my life and what I have come to know.
I most value my relationship with God, through Jesus Christ as He sanctifies my soul, by the power of His Holy Spirit. I also value my relationship with my husband as well as my relationship with my children. Finally, I value relationships with other members of the Body of Christ, and those who are not yet part of His splendid Body. To fully appreciate the reason why I appreciate these relationships, as well as the responses to the remaining questions for this paper, a brief summary of my life and experiences must first be known.
Had it not been for the love and mercy of the Lord, I would have continued on a downward spiral of selfishness and the creation of my own truth and reality, somewhat similar to the beliefs of Immanuel Kant (Chaffee 125). Not really raised in church, I had visited on many occasions a non-denominational church as a child. I accepted the Lord as my Savior around the age of seven, and I believe He walked with me ever since. However, I did rebel along with a rebelling society as I grew older, because I did not understand what it meant to have a relationship with God. After a car accident at the age of seventeen, I revisited the church I visited and became Spirit filled (KJV Acts 2:4). My belief and faith in the Lord became more concrete. Yet, I was bombarded by religion and legalism. Still not understanding how to have a relationship with the Lord, I ran – and fast. I spent the next twelve years “charting my own course”.
Throughout the charting of this course, I attempted to rationalize my experiences with God, like Aristotle might. I began looking into metaphysical gurus like Carl Jung and a more modern Gary Zukav and Wayne Dyer. These two men acknowledged a higher power like Socrates, but taught that individuals could name that power whomever. Be it God, Allah, Buddha, Brahma, Vishnu, or Shiva – the name to them was irrelevant. By the law of attraction we could attract light into our lives, and be whoever we desire to be. The more light and energy in the cells of the body, the more enlightenment one would experience. Most appealing about this though, I did not have to worry about doing anything wrong and suffering the judgment of God, as a result this new belief concerning life. I could also be the love I so desperately wanted to see in the world; after all organized religion had brought about so much pain and anguish.
I tended to agree with the position Eberhard Herrmann does in his paper titled “Can Religion Be Democratic? A Philosophical Approach”, where he concluded “absolute truth [if identified say from the Bible] more often than not tend to become totalitarian and thus anti-democratic.” Herrmann later states, “…the absolute truth tend to lead to violence, humiliation, and oppression since they are considered justified by God, the Bible, the Holy, or whatever the unquestionable authority is, which one must not oppose.(Herrmann)” Having been made aware of detrimental acts by many “Christians”, as well as other world religions, I had come to believe no one particular group had the right to say they were the one and only way, even after my very real encounters with God.
I quickly found once a child of God, always a child of God. After the death of my best friend, an abusive relationship and three arrests for misdemeanors related to alcohol, I felt a strong conviction to return back to the God of the Bible. I sought Him in prayer, I looked to Him to provide blessings, and He did. I was blessed with a husband, children, home, and prosperous career, all the things society had told me made a “successful” life. Unfortunately, I did not have it in me to play the June Cleaver role. I agreed with the feminists in the text, who “believe that the freedom of women has been constrained by the coercive forces of social conditioning and psychological manipulation. (Chaffee 210)” With a vehement desire to fight this conditioning and manipulation, success, and blessing in tow, I began to again take matters into my own hands, leaving God out of the picture.
Not desiring to have someone have the upper hand over me, I became a very proud individual, one who was always right in her own eyes. I challenged my husband in everything. I left the raising of my children up to anyone who was willing to support my aggressive ambitions in my career, while I traveled the country and abroad. I needed to keep the career, after all it was one I had earned without attending college – “natural progression” had taken over and I was reaping the benefits because of it. Never mind the fact that my husband was an atheistic alcoholic, and my children seemed to grow ever increasingly selfish and materialistic day by day. I did what I could to make my husband happy, whatever he thought he wanted or needed, he got it. The approach was the same with my children, there was nothing money or pleasure could not take care of. I was finally able to live free in my own eyes, emotionally, financially, materialistically, and amenably. I imagine I would have been a reprobate in the eyes of Socrates, I had in fact become a “drowsy sleepwalker, shuffling through life, submerged in mundane daily tasks, predictable habits, restricted visions of [myself] and who [I] could be. (Chaffee 44)”
Fortunately, this sleepwalker was abruptly awakened by the crumbling of what had been known as “life”. A marriage in despair, children struggling with change and a complete degradation of the self I had created in my mind, all led to a place of brokenness. I found myself paralyzed by depression, anxiety and questioning everything in the office of a psychologist. This psychologist took me back in time, attempting to convince me to see the woes I was experiencing in life were a manifestation of repressed issues in my soul. This outward manifestation was now being made known as a result of the events that had taken place as a child and teenager. This particular therapist was very quick to suggest drug therapy and suggested I prepare for divorce, in their opinion we were beyond repair. As I sat in that office I kept hearing the words “No! Your marriage is a vow before God. This is not what He wants for you, your husband or your children.”
Unlike Aristotle, I had always believed truth came from a higher power, outside of the reality constrained by our senses. While this voice was not an audible sound to my ears, it was a cry from the Spirit within me, connecting to my soul – which, admittedly I was oblivious to at the time. I left that office with a desire to again get back in the Word, pray and visit church. When I opened the Bible, the Holy Spirit right away spoke to me on marriage and how husbands and wives are to love one another. All the while I am thinking, “My husband is an atheist, I really do not see how this is going to help our marriage. He believes in science and evolution, God do you really know what you are doing here?” Thankfully He did.
Rather than divorcing and ruining all of the lives in our family, my husband and I visited the church I had frequented as a child and teenager. The pull of God’s Spirit was so strong I simply could not resist the altar call following the service. My then four year old daughter grabbed me by the hand and led me to the altar, where I laid everything down before the God I had been ignoring and running from. The Holy Spirit came upon me in such a way my husband could not deny that what was taking place could only be a Divine intervention. In that moment, I felt as though I had finally made it out of the cave of reality I had known from my childhood, into His true Light, similar to what Plato describes in his “Allegory of the Cave” (Chaffee 232-233). For the next two years, it was as though I walked in this light, sometimes too close to the edge and nearly slipping into the cave, but many times rescued just in time.
During this time our family was led by God to the church He needed us in, my husband was saved and baptized, as well as my children. My husband was also delivered from alcohol abuse and life has not been the same since. Going to God this time was much different from times past. This time I had to admit all my efforts were wrong and I did not have the answers or capabilities within me to live the life human beings are intended to live. This can be a challenging thought, especially for individuals who may have already been exposed to philosophies like Aristotle, who believe truth comes from one’s self, the senses we innately possess and is presumably becoming one of the most popular philosophies in our generation.
I value my relationship with the Lord above anything else. He has truly brought me out of a life of pain, and through His grace and mercy forgiven me. He has caused me to see my husband and children the way He sees them, and He continues to create in me a heart for humanity only He could create. I also value the Words of the Bible, having no doubt they were divinely inspired and written by individuals in submission to that of the Holy Spirit of God. I can look to His Word in any and all areas of life, and know these Words are alive and relevant for everyone. I trust the outcome will always bring “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (KJV Gal 5:22, 23). Finally, I value my relationships with my husband, children, others in the Body of Christ, as well as outside of the body.
I value my husband because our relationship is a reflection of mine with Christ. As he seeks council and guidance from the Lord to lead and guide our marriage and family, I can trust he is moving in accordance to the will of God. In trusting him to do this, I am moved to love, honor and serve my husband the way God has divinely ordained. Likewise with my children, they are a gift to my husband and I, and we are to raise them in the ways of the Lord. As they venture out to establish their own connection and relationship with Him, our responsibility is to continue to point them to Him. Lastly I value my relationship with others in the body of Christ, as we admonish, edify and lift one another up in the Lord, so that He may be glorified and others be saved.
This is what influences my choices and behavior towards others. Not so much a moral belief, but a divine force guiding and leading me in every situation with all people. In any and all situations, there is an option to respond in one of two ways. I can respond or interact with others based on my limited understanding and observation of a situation, or I can respond as Jesus compels me to, as His Holy Spirit desires. This is not a “What Would Jesus Do” question, followed by a response in my own strength. This is a “Jesus You know what needs to be done, instruct and guide me so the Fruits of Your Spirit may be seen, and I am known only as the vessel by which You make Yourself known.”
For example, not too long ago I was on my way home from work and I noticed a younger lady sitting on a curb outside of a gas station. God spoke to me very quickly and said, “Turn around.” I, or my “self”, wanted to get home. It had been a long week, I had plans. But I could not ignore His voice, and turned around. After getting her water from the store, I asked if she was ok. She began to cry and tell me she was just left by her family, who had to have their vehicle towed to a town two hours away, and she would have to wait for them to return. In the end, I gave this young lady a ride to meet up with her aunt, and she shared with me that no sooner had she said “God if You are real, please send someone to help me,” I showed up.
This is ultimately what gives my life meaning. Living in such a close communion with the Lord, I am sensitive to His voice and quick to do as He commands. Only He can remove the conditioning from family, culture and society, which compels individuals to live in a different light. There are people who need to know He is real, and He makes Himself known to those who diligently seek to know Him and obey Him (KJV Hebrews 11:6). I have learned the meaning of my life is to serve Him, by serving others, at whatever capacity He calls me to. He is the standard, He laid down His life for me and I am called to do the same.
Here is another example of my life having meaning. I was called in prayer one evening to financially support a youth in our local church, to go on a mission’s trip to Jamaica. I did not know the girl that well, and I did not know her family, yet I knew it was something God was calling me to do. One evening she was visiting our house, and the Holy Spirit told me to ask her about Jamaica and if she wanted to go. Come to find out, she had been praying about this mission and believing God to provide for her to go. Shortly after I followed through, both the young girl and her mother were blessed with the Holy Spirit, both went to Jamaica, and both led other souls to the Lord.
Having shared only two examples of many God has moved in my life, it is undeniable we find truth only in God, beyond our senses and the tangible reality we are so familiar with. This truth comes from His Word and divine revelation. It is worth mentioning, the truth of Who God is, came more from my desire to really get to know Him. This is different than picking a church to attend and adopting a denomination’s tenants of faith, creeds, or standards, and calling that truth. It is also different than seeking the council of a man such as a priest, pastor, or elder to tell you what to do and obeying his or hers’ instruction. Yes, God speaks truth through these vessels, but it will be a confirmation of what God has already been speaking to an individual.
In a sense, one may “do philosophy” by posing any given question to God, knowing He is not offended by the question, and allowing Him to respond and bring certain truth on any particular area or question of life. Our part is to not place God in a box, and receive this truth through His Word, other vessels, prayer or any other avenue He so chooses. Truth is revealed, as I have come to know it, to the individual who is sincerely hungry for it, ready to receive it, and is willing to act on the truth they now know.
This willingness to act is a free choice. I chose to ask Jesus to be my Savior when I was seven. I chose to ask Him to make Himself evident to me in the Spirit as described in Acts 2:4. I chose to walk away and chart my own course. I chose to admit I was wrong, and like the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, return to the One Who would mercifully cloth me in His righteousness. Now, I choose to seek Him in prayer and in His Word. I choose to obey those things I believe He calls me to do, like examples of the girl at the gas station and the youth going to Jamaica. Admittedly, there are times when I have chosen not to do what I believe He needed me to do, and He made sure it happened regardless – He always does. One might be able to agree with determinism, and say we are determined to come to know God through Jesus Christ. He did make the way for all to come to Him. The emptiness and hunger people have and try to fill with religion, cultural traditions, and habits among other things, all come from the soul’s desire to be reconciled to the God who created them (KJV Romans 5:9-11). Yet, He wants each soul to free willingly acknowledge that and come to the place where they choose Him, over what they know from their “self’s” experiences and senses.
This is really what is beautiful to me. Witnessing an individual coming to the point where they are willing to lay it all down and say, “Here God, I trust you. Now please take what I have done and make it whole again. Begin to sanctify my soul, and cause my soul to be spotless before you.” I have prayed with people who have come to this point in their life, and the Spirit of God came upon them with such fervor and might, they knew they were being touched by Him. I have witnessed young children lift their hands in song and praise to the Lord, and saw the same peace and joy come upon them, unprovoked by others around them. Perhaps most beautiful, I have worshipped in a congregation of over 100 different nationalities (Times Square Church), where the peace and joy of the Lord filled the place. Men and women of all types of cultural background and former religious belief came to lay everything down as a thanksgiving offering to the King we each came to know as our own.
I believe this is so beautiful to me, because human beings do have perceived rights, as defined by the world. We are born with a right to live life however we choose. With this right though, come consequences. Just as I believed I had the right to live as I wished as a teenager, outside the parameters of the law, I found myself in multiple predicaments. As I continued in this mentality, and lived outside the divine order of a husband and wife’s relationship with one another and their children according to God’s standards, I began to see the negative ramifications of living out such “rights”. Adam and Eve had a right, the right they acted upon brought death and disease on all of mankind for generations to come.
All human beings do have the right to speak as they wish, express themselves as they wish, believe in what they wish, pursue what they wish, and be who they wish. It does not matter the status they hold in society, the color of their skin, the religion they hold, or the country in which they were born, these rights were intended for all. I believe this because God Himself does not impose anything upon any of us. I realize, however, human beings have extracted versus from the Bible to support things such as slavery, abusive rule of husbands over their wives, and even the death of countless numbers of souls throughout history. It is for this reason human beings must acknowledge the impact exercising their “rights” will have on others around them, and be willing to accept the repercussions for doing so, whether in a secular sense or under the guise of religion or Christianity.
I can empathize with Herrmann’s sentiment on believing in an absolute truth and its propensity to bring about “violence, humiliation and oppression.” This has been an unfortunate reality many have experienced. For centuries, people have claimed to hold the one true way, and brought about just as much death and anguish as their Secular counterparts, leaving many disillusioned and with no good reason to pursue a God who could bring about such disparity. I believe this occurred as a result of individuals being driven by the deeds of their thoughts and actions, rather than that of God’s Spirit and God was the one who became despised, leading people to seek their own “truth”. However, I do believe there is an absolute truth we are all meant to know, understand and live by which comes from John 14:3-6, 7.
To the best of the ability I currently possess, I choose to have faith in God. I believe there is one way to know Him, and this way is through Jesus Christ. I believe there is only one way to now live, and that is by His Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit now leads me, guides me and sanctifies my soul (my thoughts, will and emotions) of the things this world has attempted to blind and bind me by. He now replaces my thoughts and the thoughts of this world, with His thoughts. These thoughts turn to action and He is made known to a world that needs to know He exists. Socrates was seemingly moving in the right direction, as he expressed his deep desire to obey God (perhaps not the God of the Bible or perhaps so) rather than men, as he urged them to “first and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of [the] soul. (Chaffee 59)” With one who possesses this concern, God will actually be seen and felt in the rational, tangible world as the body yields to the metamorphosis the soul is experiencing, through His Holy Spirit.
Works Cited
Chaffee, John. The Philosopher's Way: Thinking Critically About Profound Ideas. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2009, 2005. Print. Pages 210, 44, 232-233, 59
Herrmann, Eberhard. "Can Religion Be Democratic? A Philosophical Approach." American Journal of Theology & Philosophy 26.1/2 (2005): 121-128. Print.
Times Square Church New York City. "The People." Times Square Church. N.p., 10 Oct. 2010. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.
The following is an assignment I completed for a Philosophy class. I share it as the most effective why to communicate Jesus Christ in my life and what I have come to know.
I most value my relationship with God, through Jesus Christ as He sanctifies my soul, by the power of His Holy Spirit. I also value my relationship with my husband as well as my relationship with my children. Finally, I value relationships with other members of the Body of Christ, and those who are not yet part of His splendid Body. To fully appreciate the reason why I appreciate these relationships, as well as the responses to the remaining questions for this paper, a brief summary of my life and experiences must first be known.
Had it not been for the love and mercy of the Lord, I would have continued on a downward spiral of selfishness and the creation of my own truth and reality, somewhat similar to the beliefs of Immanuel Kant (Chaffee 125). Not really raised in church, I had visited on many occasions a non-denominational church as a child. I accepted the Lord as my Savior around the age of seven, and I believe He walked with me ever since. However, I did rebel along with a rebelling society as I grew older, because I did not understand what it meant to have a relationship with God. After a car accident at the age of seventeen, I revisited the church I visited and became Spirit filled (KJV Acts 2:4). My belief and faith in the Lord became more concrete. Yet, I was bombarded by religion and legalism. Still not understanding how to have a relationship with the Lord, I ran – and fast. I spent the next twelve years “charting my own course”.
Throughout the charting of this course, I attempted to rationalize my experiences with God, like Aristotle might. I began looking into metaphysical gurus like Carl Jung and a more modern Gary Zukav and Wayne Dyer. These two men acknowledged a higher power like Socrates, but taught that individuals could name that power whomever. Be it God, Allah, Buddha, Brahma, Vishnu, or Shiva – the name to them was irrelevant. By the law of attraction we could attract light into our lives, and be whoever we desire to be. The more light and energy in the cells of the body, the more enlightenment one would experience. Most appealing about this though, I did not have to worry about doing anything wrong and suffering the judgment of God, as a result this new belief concerning life. I could also be the love I so desperately wanted to see in the world; after all organized religion had brought about so much pain and anguish.
I tended to agree with the position Eberhard Herrmann does in his paper titled “Can Religion Be Democratic? A Philosophical Approach”, where he concluded “absolute truth [if identified say from the Bible] more often than not tend to become totalitarian and thus anti-democratic.” Herrmann later states, “…the absolute truth tend to lead to violence, humiliation, and oppression since they are considered justified by God, the Bible, the Holy, or whatever the unquestionable authority is, which one must not oppose.(Herrmann)” Having been made aware of detrimental acts by many “Christians”, as well as other world religions, I had come to believe no one particular group had the right to say they were the one and only way, even after my very real encounters with God.
I quickly found once a child of God, always a child of God. After the death of my best friend, an abusive relationship and three arrests for misdemeanors related to alcohol, I felt a strong conviction to return back to the God of the Bible. I sought Him in prayer, I looked to Him to provide blessings, and He did. I was blessed with a husband, children, home, and prosperous career, all the things society had told me made a “successful” life. Unfortunately, I did not have it in me to play the June Cleaver role. I agreed with the feminists in the text, who “believe that the freedom of women has been constrained by the coercive forces of social conditioning and psychological manipulation. (Chaffee 210)” With a vehement desire to fight this conditioning and manipulation, success, and blessing in tow, I began to again take matters into my own hands, leaving God out of the picture.
Not desiring to have someone have the upper hand over me, I became a very proud individual, one who was always right in her own eyes. I challenged my husband in everything. I left the raising of my children up to anyone who was willing to support my aggressive ambitions in my career, while I traveled the country and abroad. I needed to keep the career, after all it was one I had earned without attending college – “natural progression” had taken over and I was reaping the benefits because of it. Never mind the fact that my husband was an atheistic alcoholic, and my children seemed to grow ever increasingly selfish and materialistic day by day. I did what I could to make my husband happy, whatever he thought he wanted or needed, he got it. The approach was the same with my children, there was nothing money or pleasure could not take care of. I was finally able to live free in my own eyes, emotionally, financially, materialistically, and amenably. I imagine I would have been a reprobate in the eyes of Socrates, I had in fact become a “drowsy sleepwalker, shuffling through life, submerged in mundane daily tasks, predictable habits, restricted visions of [myself] and who [I] could be. (Chaffee 44)”
Fortunately, this sleepwalker was abruptly awakened by the crumbling of what had been known as “life”. A marriage in despair, children struggling with change and a complete degradation of the self I had created in my mind, all led to a place of brokenness. I found myself paralyzed by depression, anxiety and questioning everything in the office of a psychologist. This psychologist took me back in time, attempting to convince me to see the woes I was experiencing in life were a manifestation of repressed issues in my soul. This outward manifestation was now being made known as a result of the events that had taken place as a child and teenager. This particular therapist was very quick to suggest drug therapy and suggested I prepare for divorce, in their opinion we were beyond repair. As I sat in that office I kept hearing the words “No! Your marriage is a vow before God. This is not what He wants for you, your husband or your children.”
Unlike Aristotle, I had always believed truth came from a higher power, outside of the reality constrained by our senses. While this voice was not an audible sound to my ears, it was a cry from the Spirit within me, connecting to my soul – which, admittedly I was oblivious to at the time. I left that office with a desire to again get back in the Word, pray and visit church. When I opened the Bible, the Holy Spirit right away spoke to me on marriage and how husbands and wives are to love one another. All the while I am thinking, “My husband is an atheist, I really do not see how this is going to help our marriage. He believes in science and evolution, God do you really know what you are doing here?” Thankfully He did.
Rather than divorcing and ruining all of the lives in our family, my husband and I visited the church I had frequented as a child and teenager. The pull of God’s Spirit was so strong I simply could not resist the altar call following the service. My then four year old daughter grabbed me by the hand and led me to the altar, where I laid everything down before the God I had been ignoring and running from. The Holy Spirit came upon me in such a way my husband could not deny that what was taking place could only be a Divine intervention. In that moment, I felt as though I had finally made it out of the cave of reality I had known from my childhood, into His true Light, similar to what Plato describes in his “Allegory of the Cave” (Chaffee 232-233). For the next two years, it was as though I walked in this light, sometimes too close to the edge and nearly slipping into the cave, but many times rescued just in time.
During this time our family was led by God to the church He needed us in, my husband was saved and baptized, as well as my children. My husband was also delivered from alcohol abuse and life has not been the same since. Going to God this time was much different from times past. This time I had to admit all my efforts were wrong and I did not have the answers or capabilities within me to live the life human beings are intended to live. This can be a challenging thought, especially for individuals who may have already been exposed to philosophies like Aristotle, who believe truth comes from one’s self, the senses we innately possess and is presumably becoming one of the most popular philosophies in our generation.
I value my relationship with the Lord above anything else. He has truly brought me out of a life of pain, and through His grace and mercy forgiven me. He has caused me to see my husband and children the way He sees them, and He continues to create in me a heart for humanity only He could create. I also value the Words of the Bible, having no doubt they were divinely inspired and written by individuals in submission to that of the Holy Spirit of God. I can look to His Word in any and all areas of life, and know these Words are alive and relevant for everyone. I trust the outcome will always bring “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (KJV Gal 5:22, 23). Finally, I value my relationships with my husband, children, others in the Body of Christ, as well as outside of the body.
I value my husband because our relationship is a reflection of mine with Christ. As he seeks council and guidance from the Lord to lead and guide our marriage and family, I can trust he is moving in accordance to the will of God. In trusting him to do this, I am moved to love, honor and serve my husband the way God has divinely ordained. Likewise with my children, they are a gift to my husband and I, and we are to raise them in the ways of the Lord. As they venture out to establish their own connection and relationship with Him, our responsibility is to continue to point them to Him. Lastly I value my relationship with others in the body of Christ, as we admonish, edify and lift one another up in the Lord, so that He may be glorified and others be saved.
This is what influences my choices and behavior towards others. Not so much a moral belief, but a divine force guiding and leading me in every situation with all people. In any and all situations, there is an option to respond in one of two ways. I can respond or interact with others based on my limited understanding and observation of a situation, or I can respond as Jesus compels me to, as His Holy Spirit desires. This is not a “What Would Jesus Do” question, followed by a response in my own strength. This is a “Jesus You know what needs to be done, instruct and guide me so the Fruits of Your Spirit may be seen, and I am known only as the vessel by which You make Yourself known.”
For example, not too long ago I was on my way home from work and I noticed a younger lady sitting on a curb outside of a gas station. God spoke to me very quickly and said, “Turn around.” I, or my “self”, wanted to get home. It had been a long week, I had plans. But I could not ignore His voice, and turned around. After getting her water from the store, I asked if she was ok. She began to cry and tell me she was just left by her family, who had to have their vehicle towed to a town two hours away, and she would have to wait for them to return. In the end, I gave this young lady a ride to meet up with her aunt, and she shared with me that no sooner had she said “God if You are real, please send someone to help me,” I showed up.
This is ultimately what gives my life meaning. Living in such a close communion with the Lord, I am sensitive to His voice and quick to do as He commands. Only He can remove the conditioning from family, culture and society, which compels individuals to live in a different light. There are people who need to know He is real, and He makes Himself known to those who diligently seek to know Him and obey Him (KJV Hebrews 11:6). I have learned the meaning of my life is to serve Him, by serving others, at whatever capacity He calls me to. He is the standard, He laid down His life for me and I am called to do the same.
Here is another example of my life having meaning. I was called in prayer one evening to financially support a youth in our local church, to go on a mission’s trip to Jamaica. I did not know the girl that well, and I did not know her family, yet I knew it was something God was calling me to do. One evening she was visiting our house, and the Holy Spirit told me to ask her about Jamaica and if she wanted to go. Come to find out, she had been praying about this mission and believing God to provide for her to go. Shortly after I followed through, both the young girl and her mother were blessed with the Holy Spirit, both went to Jamaica, and both led other souls to the Lord.
Having shared only two examples of many God has moved in my life, it is undeniable we find truth only in God, beyond our senses and the tangible reality we are so familiar with. This truth comes from His Word and divine revelation. It is worth mentioning, the truth of Who God is, came more from my desire to really get to know Him. This is different than picking a church to attend and adopting a denomination’s tenants of faith, creeds, or standards, and calling that truth. It is also different than seeking the council of a man such as a priest, pastor, or elder to tell you what to do and obeying his or hers’ instruction. Yes, God speaks truth through these vessels, but it will be a confirmation of what God has already been speaking to an individual.
In a sense, one may “do philosophy” by posing any given question to God, knowing He is not offended by the question, and allowing Him to respond and bring certain truth on any particular area or question of life. Our part is to not place God in a box, and receive this truth through His Word, other vessels, prayer or any other avenue He so chooses. Truth is revealed, as I have come to know it, to the individual who is sincerely hungry for it, ready to receive it, and is willing to act on the truth they now know.
This willingness to act is a free choice. I chose to ask Jesus to be my Savior when I was seven. I chose to ask Him to make Himself evident to me in the Spirit as described in Acts 2:4. I chose to walk away and chart my own course. I chose to admit I was wrong, and like the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, return to the One Who would mercifully cloth me in His righteousness. Now, I choose to seek Him in prayer and in His Word. I choose to obey those things I believe He calls me to do, like examples of the girl at the gas station and the youth going to Jamaica. Admittedly, there are times when I have chosen not to do what I believe He needed me to do, and He made sure it happened regardless – He always does. One might be able to agree with determinism, and say we are determined to come to know God through Jesus Christ. He did make the way for all to come to Him. The emptiness and hunger people have and try to fill with religion, cultural traditions, and habits among other things, all come from the soul’s desire to be reconciled to the God who created them (KJV Romans 5:9-11). Yet, He wants each soul to free willingly acknowledge that and come to the place where they choose Him, over what they know from their “self’s” experiences and senses.
This is really what is beautiful to me. Witnessing an individual coming to the point where they are willing to lay it all down and say, “Here God, I trust you. Now please take what I have done and make it whole again. Begin to sanctify my soul, and cause my soul to be spotless before you.” I have prayed with people who have come to this point in their life, and the Spirit of God came upon them with such fervor and might, they knew they were being touched by Him. I have witnessed young children lift their hands in song and praise to the Lord, and saw the same peace and joy come upon them, unprovoked by others around them. Perhaps most beautiful, I have worshipped in a congregation of over 100 different nationalities (Times Square Church), where the peace and joy of the Lord filled the place. Men and women of all types of cultural background and former religious belief came to lay everything down as a thanksgiving offering to the King we each came to know as our own.
I believe this is so beautiful to me, because human beings do have perceived rights, as defined by the world. We are born with a right to live life however we choose. With this right though, come consequences. Just as I believed I had the right to live as I wished as a teenager, outside the parameters of the law, I found myself in multiple predicaments. As I continued in this mentality, and lived outside the divine order of a husband and wife’s relationship with one another and their children according to God’s standards, I began to see the negative ramifications of living out such “rights”. Adam and Eve had a right, the right they acted upon brought death and disease on all of mankind for generations to come.
All human beings do have the right to speak as they wish, express themselves as they wish, believe in what they wish, pursue what they wish, and be who they wish. It does not matter the status they hold in society, the color of their skin, the religion they hold, or the country in which they were born, these rights were intended for all. I believe this because God Himself does not impose anything upon any of us. I realize, however, human beings have extracted versus from the Bible to support things such as slavery, abusive rule of husbands over their wives, and even the death of countless numbers of souls throughout history. It is for this reason human beings must acknowledge the impact exercising their “rights” will have on others around them, and be willing to accept the repercussions for doing so, whether in a secular sense or under the guise of religion or Christianity.
I can empathize with Herrmann’s sentiment on believing in an absolute truth and its propensity to bring about “violence, humiliation and oppression.” This has been an unfortunate reality many have experienced. For centuries, people have claimed to hold the one true way, and brought about just as much death and anguish as their Secular counterparts, leaving many disillusioned and with no good reason to pursue a God who could bring about such disparity. I believe this occurred as a result of individuals being driven by the deeds of their thoughts and actions, rather than that of God’s Spirit and God was the one who became despised, leading people to seek their own “truth”. However, I do believe there is an absolute truth we are all meant to know, understand and live by which comes from John 14:3-6, 7.
To the best of the ability I currently possess, I choose to have faith in God. I believe there is one way to know Him, and this way is through Jesus Christ. I believe there is only one way to now live, and that is by His Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit now leads me, guides me and sanctifies my soul (my thoughts, will and emotions) of the things this world has attempted to blind and bind me by. He now replaces my thoughts and the thoughts of this world, with His thoughts. These thoughts turn to action and He is made known to a world that needs to know He exists. Socrates was seemingly moving in the right direction, as he expressed his deep desire to obey God (perhaps not the God of the Bible or perhaps so) rather than men, as he urged them to “first and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of [the] soul. (Chaffee 59)” With one who possesses this concern, God will actually be seen and felt in the rational, tangible world as the body yields to the metamorphosis the soul is experiencing, through His Holy Spirit.
Works Cited
Chaffee, John. The Philosopher's Way: Thinking Critically About Profound Ideas. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2009, 2005. Print. Pages 210, 44, 232-233, 59
Herrmann, Eberhard. "Can Religion Be Democratic? A Philosophical Approach." American Journal of Theology & Philosophy 26.1/2 (2005): 121-128. Print.
Times Square Church New York City. "The People." Times Square Church. N.p., 10 Oct. 2010. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.
