Fairy Tale They Say

There are people, who do not believe in God. Many may even say THE BIBLE is a Fairy Tale. Supposedly it could not hold up to science and arguments start right away with the story of creation in the Book of Genesis.

1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day. (Genesis 1,1-5 – NLT)

The author C.S. Lewis added the idea of song and harmony to the process of creation in his book THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW (first of the Narnia Chronicles):

“A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and Digory found it hard to decide from what direction it was coming. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. It was hardly a tune. But it was beyond comparison, the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.”

It is now argued that creation was more a game of chance. No creator was behind it. Nature formed itself through random events from a „Big Bang“ to man walking the earth; a process called Evolution.

When we look at our universe, it so complex and full of interdependencies. Would it not be for the planet Earth having the right distance from the sun, live could not exist. It would be either too cold or too hot. Planets need a certain size in order to maintain an atmosphere. Not every planet has a magnetic force field, but it is needed to block a bunch of spacial radiation, which would kill live.

Even before I became a believer, I had a hard time believing this universe existed by chance only. Creation is so amazingly beautiful, stunning and sometimes majestic. From the tiniest organisms to largest animal relations are so complex, damages are huge, if one aspect is cut out or violated.

A few years ago I learned a bit about subatomic parts, which form atoms. The smallest parts have no weight or measurable dimension. Those parts are pure electric energy moving at a certain frequency. Yet this pure energy forms atoms. Atoms become molecules. Molecules build up to clouds of gas or even visible, tangible objects.

How does sound start? It starts for instance a person exhaling and the vocal chords swinging. The sound than is transmitted by acoustic waves, which reach our ear and are retranslated into electrical frequency which eventually reaches our brain and is recognized as sound.

Get this. Everything we see, hear or feel, is the expression of frequency: light, sound, temperature. They are differently only in how often this energy is swinging in a second.

„But still“, someone might say, „nothing is created by speaking.“

Ah, well. Go and ask any psychologist: when you speak kind, loving and encouraging words to your children regularly, chances are they develop to healthy young adults. If a kid instead is yelled at, discouraged and receives hateful speeches, chances are you CREATE an angry young adult, ready to explode like a bomb.

Nations are formed by speaking about an idea of a nation. Speech turns into action. The action results in forming a nation.

Indeed, speaking has the power to create.

Now consider the time and culture when the Book of Genesis was written. It was a nomadic culture, who never heard of molecules, atoms, or even subatomic particles. How would you begin to describe it to them?

Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

… Brilliant!

Destroyed for lack of Knowledge

NLT Hosea 4,1b “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land. 2You make vows and break them; you kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere—one murder after another. 3That is why your land is in mourning, and everyone is wasting away. … 4′Don’t point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame! My complaint, you priests, is with you. 5So you will stumble in broad daylight, and your false prophets will fall with you in the night. And I will destroy Israel, your mother. 6a My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me.‚“ Another translation (NKJV) says: „My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.“

Harsh words, God spoke to Israel; especially its priests. Unfortunately, these words are true today and they are spoken to us believers as His „royal priesthood“ (1 Peter 2,9).

Not knowing His laws, which God gave to Moses – laws talking about not to kill, steal,  or to commit adultery, and so on – isn’t actually the issue. It is about the lack of kindness. It is about the lack of knowing who God is, and what His character is. Ultimately this is leading to not understanding who we are in Jesus Christ. We lack the knowledge of our identity.

The more I am serving others in prayer, the truth of Romans 10,17 comes to live: „So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.“ Words of God’s love, how He sees us, and how precious we are to Him, being spoken through me to the people being served let my own faith grow. The more my own faith grows, the more I am able to speak these words of love to others. Even to those not knowing God … yet.

I pray it will become a habit among those confessing Christ to speak words of love instead words of insult, words of encouragement instead of condemnation.

Don’t get me wrong. I am all for correction, if I somebody (including myself) is walking an un-biblical path. These corrections though need to explain the biblical path. Correction without showing the right path is condemnation.

To make it practical: check out The Father’s Love Letter:
http://www.fathersloveletter.com/text.html

Read it to yourself! Read it to others!

Have a blessed day!

BRSS – A Christian Disease

Have you ever started to choke, cough, sweat, impatiently rubbing your behind on the bench, and/or experienced sudden high blood pressure, when the preacher quoted God’s word? If so, you have shown symptoms of a severe disease numerous Christian are suffering from: BRSS – Bible Related Stress Syndrome.

In an unofficial and non-representative survey 50% of all believers I have asked, suffered from this disease already. Many were able to relate to the very verse, which caused these stress symptoms in me.

1 Cor 6,19 „Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?“

At the time, I was first confronted with this verse, I have been a Christian only for a few months. During 11 plus years of depression I gained in total about 150 kg in weight. (If you are choking now, it is not BRSS.) Looking down at me, there was nothing I would consider a worthy temple for the Holy Spirit. Some leaders were using this verse to me, in order to explain that I would need to lose weight. At least this is what I was hearing. „If you do not lose weight right away, you’ll never be a worthy temple of the Holy Spirit!“

For years, I could not get over it.

Finally, last Christmas the miracle happened. I started reading the ONE NEW MAN BIBLE. It has an extremely well written glossary, explaining the Jewish roots of many words and their actual meaning.

It hit me like lightning. This stressful verse actually is an expression of God’s love. HE, the creator of heaven and earth, and everything that breathes, considers me worthy enough to let HIS spirit dwell in me. How cool is this?! He considers me worthy and He loves me.

Maybe, just maybe – if I got this verse wrong, those leaders actually meant the verse as a motivation to care better for myself. And maybe, just maybe – they already knew this verse is an expression of our heavenly Father’s love.

I felt the urge to repent for misunderstanding Him; and did so. Having disconnected myself from this misunderstanding, I invited HIS truth into my heart.

Every day since then, my eating habits changed for the better. Instead of swallowing 5 rolls for breakfast, 2 were enough. Lunch consisted of some fruit. Dinner also ended at a reasonable volume. Most of the days at least. Last night we had a Shabbat dinner at our house. Lot’s of great food. Fantastic wine. I good only one plate of food, instead of two or three. Sipped at the wine only. – I pray this wonderful effect of understanding His love for me continues and even grows, in order for every day to become like most of the days.

Preparing a morning devotion for the ministry in Hamburg, I read a verse in 1 Cor 6 that made me laugh: 13a „Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods.“ How about this as an excuse to start eating without self-control? Well, you better read verse 12 too. „All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.“ Eating is fine, but letting your life be under the power of it is totally uncool.

So, here is the cure for BRSS: Reevaluate your understanding of scripture that bothers you. Give God some credit that he means well with you. Ask His Holy Spirit to relate the true meaning to you. Give those people some credit, which have thrown stressful verses at you. Maybe, just maybe, they meant well too. Try a different translation of the Bible.

And after all: Be patient with yourself and do not condemn yourself for getting it wrong. Love yourself as HE loves you.