Great Question IV

Why do people fight about religion?

I started Good News Club last week and this is the question I got from one of the kids. Me and another teacher ended up talking to him about it.

    I told him that God created us for worship and so people who either don't know the truth or reject the truth will seek other ways of worship. That is why there are so many religions in the world.
    Brenda then pointed out that everyone claims that they are right but can everyone be right? No. She then pointed out that man is sinful and God is not and so God will not lie and has the right to tell us the truth.
    The reason that so many people fight about religion is because they want to be right. They don't want to admit that they are wrong. Only God is 100% right because He is truth.

Great Question III

Why did God create man if he knew that man was just going to mess things up?

I got this question from one of my Good News Club kids last year. It's a tough one to answer and I don't think that there is just one reason either.

Here is what I believe:
God created man for at least three reasons (originally)

1. To show a reflection of Himself in His creation (notice I said reflection not copy. I believe there is a difference) (Gen. 1:26a)
2. To create a being that was able to have a relationship with Him that was unlike that of the other creatures of creation.
3. Originally to have dominion over the other creatures in creation and to subdue the earth (Gen. 1:26,27). Interestingly, though, it is not repeated to Noah in Genesis 9 (though, the "Be fruitful and multiply" command is).

     I believe that God could have stopped what happened in the garden but didn't. In essence He allowed man to disobey His command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:17, 3:1-7)
      I believe that God allowed things to happen this way so that we might know more fully how deep His love is by showing just how far He was willing to go.
     Think about it. If we had never sinned, then Christ would not have had to die. If Christ didn't die we would know that God loved us but we wouldn't be able to even try to comprehend how deep that love is for us. Now at least we can begin to grasp the desperate, painful, deep, powerful, passionate nature of His love!

Great Question II

           Here is another question from one of my Good News Club kids that I got:

If you are acting in a play or a TV show and your character has to lie is that sinning?

     Here is how I answered her (I started out giving the answers in written form):

     If you are acting in a play or a TV show it is not necessarily wrong to lie. You are being a character in a show and everyone knows that in real life you are not that person. The only time it would be wrong for someone to lie in this instance is if a Christian was playing the part and in the story lying was portrayed as being something good and something that people should be ok with doing. If lying is shown in the story as having consequences then it would be fine for anyone to play the part.
     People do movies, plays, and even TV shows which do stories from the Bible. When people tell the story of Jesus is it wrong for them to play a Pharisee? In order to do justice to the story you have to show people who the Pharisees were and how they are described in the Bible. They hated Jesus so much that they wanted him dead. If God doesn't shield us from these things in His word then there is no reason to not include the Pharisees when telling the story of Jesus.
     There are other stories in the Bible like the story of Jacob and Esau (Gen. 25:28-34, 27:1-43), where Jacob lies and it wouldn't be right to do a play or a movie without having him lie.  The story of Joseph (Gen. 37) where his brothers lie to their father in order to cover up what they did. If you left out lying in these stories you wouldn't be true to the story and it would take away some of the impact that these stories have. There are lots more but these are just a couple of stories that I could come up with as examples.

Great Question

     Why doesn't God show Himself to us? Was a question I got from one of my Good News Club kids. Kids ask such simple but such profound questions sometimes. This particular kid has a mom who is Buddhist and decided to accept Jesus last year at Good News Club.
     So then why doesn't God show Himself to us? Well, if he did we would all die immediately from the presence of pure holiness, righteousness, justice, and Godness. So incineration, kaput, kapooie! We as sinners would not survive that kind of revelation of God to His creation.
      Kid: What about Jesus?
      Me: Well, Christ kept at bay that part of himself that was able to destroy all of human kind. He kept the fullness of his glory and power in check so that we would not be destroyed by His presence. Why? Because he can.
     If He hadn't done that there would have been no drinking of God's wrath and no promised Savior. So in a sense he did this because he had to in order to pay the price for our salvation. (This is close but probably not word for word to how I answered the question at Good News Club. It was pretty hard core like that though.)
     Since answering the question above live however I have had a chance to really look at the question and think about it as Old Testament stories come up in my Church and in my devotional life. Sometimes the Bible can get really big and complicated.
     God showed Himself to many in the Old Testament including but not limited to these specific times:
 Abram -Gen. 12:7 'Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.'
 Isaac -Gen. 26:2 'And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.'
 Jacob -Gen. 28:13 in his dream and again in Gen. 35:9,10 'God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel.'
 Moses -Ex. 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
 Gideon -Judg. 6:12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor."
 Samson's parents -Judges 13
 Samuel -1Sam. 3:21 And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
 Solomon -1Kings 3:5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”, 1Kings 9:2 the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
 And more times throughout the Old Testament.
God was not just interested in letting "people do their thing" and not getting involved. He made us to be in relationship with him.
     So why doesn't he appear to us today? One reason probably has to do with us having the revealed word of God in the form of the Bible today. He does not need to show Himself because He already has.
     He still is a very personal God and wants us to have a relationship with Him like Abraham or Moses did but He does not need to physically be there in order to do that. He wants us to pursue Him and be willing to give up ourselves for Him. He wants us to come as we are, whether that means you are broken and needing to run to Him right now or whether you are having a good day and just need to take a moment to remember who it was who made the day.
     It's hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that the God who created the cosmos and thought of every little detail down to the smallest sub-particulate piece of matter that's out there would even be interested in me. But He is. The least I could do is be interested in getting to know Him.
     Don't know if that's much of an answer. It's something. If I can come up with something better I'll be sure to post it but for now that's my answer. It's different from my original answer, not that the original one was completely wrong but I didn't take into account that God had come down and talked with different people before Christ came and lived a life among us.

Do We Judge Them Too Quickly?

     Homeschooling parents everywhere are doing are doing a good thing. It is a very good thing to homeschool, it's a better education, it can be hand tailored to the students interest and learning style, homeschoolers are generally more self motivated, there is better retention of what was learned.
     There are lots of reasons why people should homeschool but if your brother or sister in Christ cannot or will not homeschool I do not believe that it is necessarily wrong. If the situation is handled correctly it does not have to be the automatic wrong choice.
     I babysit for a lady who is honoring her husband by putting her kids in Public School. She goes and volunteers once a week at her kids school so that she can be involved in their lives and can kind of keep an eye on what is talked about in class. She discusses with her kids why they believe differently and why as Christians we need to stand for what is right. This particular mom when she comes across curriculums that she disagrees with in the school will go and complain to the teachers and/or the principal and does what she can to raise awareness among the other parents. Even though its not the best option I think this particular mom is doing the best she can in the situation that she is in.
     I help out a a Good News Club. The reason that it got started was because a little girl told her mom that she wanted to know how she could share her faith with her friends at school. Her mom looked into it and found out about this program that could be taught after school. As I have helped to teach this group it has been so cool to see kids get the gospel for the first time. This ministry is affecting lives, sometimes weekly. The Good News Club has now been in that school for 9 years. If this little girl hadn't been in that school I wonder if the Good News Club would have existed at all.
     Was it the parents best option to public school their kids in this instance? Probably not, but there were more people affected that probably wouldn't have been affected if this particular family hadn't public schooled their kids.
     I strongly believe that homeschooling is the way that I would want to educate my children but I do not believe that all Christians who put their kids in Public School are doing the wrong thing. I think as Christians we need to be careful that we don't get up on our high and mighty horses and say that all Christians who choose to Public School their kids are "doing it wrong." It's really easy to get in that mentality.

    Here are some questions that I ask myself when I meet a Christian parent who public schools:
-What is the parent involvement/interest in their child's education?
-Are they Public Schooling out of necessity?
-If not, what is the hesitation with homeschooling?

     These just help me to more fully understand the situation.
     I do not have to agree with the choice made but I do not have to let this be a separating point between me and a brother or sister in Christ.

The Joy and Pain of Volunteering

      I have been volunteering this past year for a couple of programs but the school year is almost over and so are the programs. In one sense it's a relief but in another sense I will be sad to leave (mostly sad).

     In one of the programs (Cubbies) I have had the privilege to work with preschoolers. These kids are not only cute but they are also busy, naughty, and needy. They need to know that someone cares.
     I find that I'm not that much different from these little ones in comparison to God. I just am able to hide it a lot better from those who are around me. I guess it helps in me being able to relate to them since I'm just a big kid in an adult body.
     I'm going to miss seeing a whole room full of wiggly, energetic preschoolers sitting on a carpet doing their best to listen (although we did have a few who could care less, there are some in every crowd) to the Bible lesson this week and waiting for the teacher to call on them to be up front helping her.
      I also help out at a Good News Club which is an after school program that is in one of the local public elementary schools in our area. Because its free we get kids who come who have  never heard about Jesus. It has been really cool to be a part of these kids lives and be able to answer their questions and help them understand who Jesus is. I'm going to miss this group. They have done so much to help me in my own walk in asking me questions that both encouraged and challenged me. Hopefully I can finish some of the blog posts that I'm working on based on these questions over the summer. We shall see.

     These were both opportunities that God put before me. He led the opportunities to me and then I felt called to be a part and followed that calling. It truly has been a blessing to be a part of each of these ministries.

     If you are a Christian and have some desire to get involved in something that has eternal impact think and pray about getting involved in children's ministry in some way. You might be surprised at how easy it is to get involved. If you have a plate that is already full see how you can pray for a local group somehow or if you can support a local ministry somehow. Anything helps even if its "only prayer" it's still important.

What do I do with Myself?

    As a single daughter of a pastor there are people who are genuinely thinking that I should get out there and do something with my life. Sometimes this can be discouraging when you look at everything you already do and think "but what about everything else that I'm involved in"? I'm the oldest of 12 kids, I go and help out at Cubbies once a week, I've been very involved in Child Evangelism Fellowship and currently help out with Good News Club, I have a job and babysit on top of that, what more do people expect me to do?
     There is that little thing called college. Ahh, yes. College, the seemingly defining factor of whether or not you will be a success in life or not. Now I'm not saying that college is a bad thing, no. Some people I believe have a legitimate reason to go to college and learn things and get the connections needed to do what they want to do (doctors, marine biologists, engineers, etc.). There are plenty of people who still need to have college. Do I need college though?
     I am of the opinion that not everyone needs to go to college. Some people are much better off getting life experience rather than jumping into college and spending a bunch of time and money on something that you aren't going to use. I believe that with my skill set and bent that college is not my only option (although it is one option. I like to keep an open mind about the whole college thing.)
          As a single woman I don't believe that pining away and doing nothing is good for you or anyone else. I believe that keeping busy and exploring are the best ways to get an idea of where you fit before you go out and decide to spend a whole bunch of money (and time) on something that you don't know if you even like doing or not.
     I've learned (via Pintrest) that I could learn so much through the Internet on photography that I would probably start there before I even stepped foot in a classroom about it. I think with things that are artistic and technical like that though you are better off just doing stuff on your own and figuring out what works and what doesn't and just playing around with things rather than paying for a class.  Another idea that I've toyed with is learning alongside another photographer who has been doing this stuff for a while.
     I've found that I'm able to get some pretty decent shots just using the camera on my smart phone and have been experimenting with different lighting. The photos often do end up being grainy but there are a few that turned out fine. I've learned that you can minimize the graininess of your photo (and sometimes avoid it altogether) by shooting a picture with good lighting and making sure your subject is in focus. I only know this because I have practiced and went out to find out how I could get a shot that actually looked good with something I carry all of the time. It came through my own exploration.
     I am currently going through a knitting certification course so that I can teach knitting classes. The cool thing about getting certified is that I actually need to teach classes while I'm getting certified so I actually get paid during the certification process.
     The whole reason I even found out about the knitting thing is because I was going around looking for jobs and I went into my local Michaels to find out I they needed any instructors. Come to find out they were in the market for a knitting instructor and me being a knitter who happens to be in the market for a job found a match. It was God's timing and leading and I am so thankful for His providence.
     I absolutely hands down love working with kids. God has provided ways of me being able to do that through local ministry groups like Child Evangelism Fellowship and Awana and has given me babysitting opportunities for families both in my church and just through random connections. (Although with God they're not really random.) I have been to India to work with orphanages and children's homes and  continue to look for opportunities for God to use me to minister to children.
     All this to say yes, when I look at everything that I'm involved in I might not have college as one of the ingredients of my life at this moment. That's ok. God has given me special talents and abilities and has given me the outlets for those talents and abilities.
     
For all you single ladies out there ask yourself these questions:

What is important to me?
What do I enjoy doing?
Can I get involved in ministering to people with the talents that I am aware of?
Is there something that I feel called to do that might involve stepping out of my comfort zone?
Is there something that I would like to learn/do that I should set aside time to pursue?
   
     I'm not saying that you have to answer all of them but maybe take a little time to think about them and then go and pursue those things that you feel called to do. See where God takes you in this exciting time that He has for you here on earth. He has a purpose for every splotch here on earth and it will be a beautiful thing to look back on.