Are you like the cat…?

I was just watching some TV and was intrigued by the ad for Freedom furniture.  In the ad, there’s a fat cat that is snuggled up nice and cosy on a couch.  It sees a mouse crawling in front of the couch but is too comfortable to pounce.  The mouse stands up for a bit, as if to provoke the cat.  The cat stares for a little bit and continues to snuggle up, purring with pleasure.

It made me think how we are the same.  We’re like the cat.  We look at the things that we consume our lives in–our house, our jobs/careers, our friends–and forget that, though they are good things, we cheat ourselves of the better, if not the best, thing: God’s open arms to allow us into a restored relationship with Him.  We get too comfortable to leave what we think we know for sure but…

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor heights nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)

I know sometimes I can be like the cat.  I get too used to the day-to-day of my life that I forget that Jesus is coming back, and that is my hope, and my joy, and my only certainty in this world.  And my life should be lived not in complacency, but all the more in eager expectation of that day and in preparing for it.

If you’re a follower of Jesus, then keep waiting expectantly, and if you’re not a follower of Jesus yet, why not find out whether this Jesus is worth following, and whether his return is the only certain thing in this world to look forward to (other than death)?

Creation: “Where’s the proof?”

I found this article really fascinating and easy to read.  It really got me to think outside the box.  Why not have a read yourself or even with a friend?  Check out: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/cm/v22/n1/creation-proof

“Why I hate religion.”

Mark Driscoll explains the differences between religion and redemption. For more from Mark Driscoll, check out http://www.marshillchurch.org.

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Is the Bible just mere teleology?

If you are prepared to read some serious waffling, then please continue.  At the moment I’m trying to finish my psych essay (which, as you can see, isn’t happening so productively) and I’m arguing that most of the psychological theories that we have about love are teleological (new word for me too!)

Teleology is when you explain a phenomenon, like love, by the purpose they serve rather than by postulated causes.  (Note: please don’t confuse the definition with the theological one, which is “the doctrine of design and purpose in the material world” – thank you New Oxford American Dictionary!)  Teleological isn’t all bad, but it isn’t all good either.  For example, Anna caught the bus because she wants to get to uni.  This tells me that my aim was to get to uni; that’s my purpose.  You can answer questions like ‘why did you catch the bus?’ but you can’t answer questions like ‘why did you catch the bus and not the train?’, with the info given.  There’s just no info provided for the cause of me choosing to catch the bus, or even why I needed to get to uni.

So the question is, then: is the Bible (the explanation of the existence of our world – woah, I just realised that this post might entail a huge chunk of waffling!) teleological?  Does it only tell us about God’s purposes by its account and not the causes behind them?

Ahh…well, looks like this won’t be a huge waffle after all as my eyelids are just about closed, so I’ll have to type up the next bit soon!  But just in case you’re curious, the answer is no, and I shall try to write up why.

And incase you’re asking: “Anna, dude…why are you even wasting your time on such a fruitless topic?”, I’ll say that it’s because if the bible is not just mere teleology, then that means it probably is one of the only explanations of our world that is adequate!  I know that’s a real big claim, and I can’t really make it because I haven’t read everything ever written in the world, but I think the bible is at least an adequate explanation of the world, if not more.

The Essential Jesus – free download!

I grew up having a lot of presumptions about Jesus, but really not know a lot about him at all. I never wanted to give him a chance to speak for himself, as Luke faithfully tries to do. Why not actually read the account before making up your mind about him? This excellent book comes with an excellent summary of the Christian faith as well!  You can download it for FREE at: http://connect09.sydneyanglicans.net/resources/article/the-essential-jesus/

If you are more of an audio person, you can download the MP3 for free too at: http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/media/audio/the_essential_jesus_audio/

The condition we call ‘love’

I just finished doing some reading for a psych essay that I’m doing on Freud’s and humanists’ conception of love.  This guy called Theodor Reik, a German psychoanalyst, writing in 1975, says: “Love is not inborn and primal.  It is an experience which is acquired in later, individual life.  You cannot call love an instinct like hunger or sex.  It is the fruit of a late psychical development.  Love is decidedly a product of culture.” (Of Love and Lust (London: Souvenir Press, 1975), p. 8 )  I sort of see what Reik is getting at, but I can’t agree with him.

I think the reason why we don’t see infants show love as we culturally understand the term is because we are born sinful creatures, but we are also born creatures made in the image of God, and he is Love (1 John 4:8).  And the latter means that we can love because it is an ability that we are capable of, but never in the way God meant it to be because it has been tainted, as has everything, by our sin.

So yeah, I agree with Reik when he says “Love is not inborn and primal” and “You cannot call love an instinct like hunger or sex” (yes, because it doesn’t come naturally for us to give selflessly), but to assert that we learn to love as we mature psychologically and as a result of cultural constructs is a bit of an overstatement in somewhat of a wrong direction.  We are capable of love because it is something that is in-built, part of how we are created, but it is hard for us to do (with the assumption here that love is a doing word and not a feeling word) because our ultimate desire is for ourselves and not for others.  We do, to a certain extent, learn through our upbringing that it is ‘good’ to love (again, in terms of it being an action), though that notion is probably not true today, and probably wasn’t so much in the 1970s either.  Even so–and I realise I’m going around in circles!–loving doesn’t come naturally.  We need to consciously make ourselves do it because it is culturally contingent behaviour.

Woah, lots of babbling happening there!  Imagine what’s gonna happen when I actually do this essay!  Well, what do you think? Do you think love is a culturally learnt behaviour?

Thoughts from John Piper on ‘Future Grace’

The other day I was reading a bit from this book called A Godward Life and it blew my mind!  Have a read of this:

Gratitude is a joyful emotion for worship[ping God] but a dangerous motive for obedience…It tends to get expressed in debtors’ terms–or what I sometimes call the debtor’s ethic.  For example, “Look how much God has done for you.  Shouldn’t you, out of gratitude, do much for him?”  Or, “You owe God everything that you are and have.  What have you done for him in return?”

Then Piper explains three reasons why this ‘debtor’s ethic’ is so dangerous:

1. It is impossible to pay God back for all the grace he’s given us; we can’t even begin!  (Romans 11:35-36: “Who has given a gift to him [God] that he might be repaid?”)  We can’t pay him back because he already owns all we have to give him.
2. Even if we succeed in paying him back, we would only succeed in turning grace into a business transaction.  If we can pay him back, it wasn’t grace in the first place.  (Romans 4:4: “To the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as grace, but as what is due.”)  In fact, it’s insulting to God.  It’s like if your friend shows you undeserved kindness by having you over for dinner, and you end the evening by saying that you will pay them back.  It’s not a trade with God.He doesn’t like to have his grace nullified; he likes to have it glorified.
3. (The first two really were a smack in the face…but this last one blew me off my feet.)  By focusing on gratitude as the key to obedience overlooks the crucial role of future grace.  ‘Gratitude looks back to grace received in the past and feels thankful.  Faith looks forward to grace promised in the future and feels hopeful.’  (Hebrews 11:1: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.”)  Piper says that our faith in future grace is what gives us the power for obedience.

Obedience comes from trusting in God for more grace–future grace–and thus magnifying the infinite resources of God’s love and power.  The grace that enabled Paul to work hard in a life of obedience was the daily arrival of fresh supplies of grace.  (1 Corinthians 15:10: “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is in me.”)  This is what we put our faith in: the continuing arrivals of grace…The biblical role of past grace–especially the cross–is to guarantee the certainty of future grace.  (Romans 8:32: “He who did not spare his own Son [Jesus] but gave him up for us all [past grace], will he not also freely give us all things with him [future grace]?”)  Trusting in future grace is the enabling strength of our obedience.

I think what blew me away was the truth of this.  Even though my thankfulness to what God has done through Jesus does motivate my obedience to him, it really is the expectant hope of the future that drives me on.  That’s when I’ll have to stand to account before God, that’s when God will say I’m okay with him, not because I am and did good (because I’m sure that when my sins are revealed, I will look horrible and ugly), but because Jesus took the blow for me so I can take on his righteousness and beauty.  And it’s so true; the grace that God provides daily is what is actively helping me to obey!  Sometimes I give in to temptation and do things or don’t do things that I know I always regret after.  I suck at obedience.  But God is actively cutting away bits and pieces and growing and harvesting other bits.  And the more I trust in future grace, the more I will be obedient so that God can show his glorious and inexhaustible grace through me.  God is a pretty amazing God!

Have thoughts, comments, questions?  I’d love to hear from you!  Email me at anna.zhang.is@gmail.com.

‘Is there actually any ‘real’ evidence for the Resurrection?’

My friend was asking me this question today.  I think what he meant by ‘real’ was extra-biblical evidence.  (Note: historians widely acknowledge that the  biblical accounts by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are reliable sources of historical accounts for the Resurrection.)  I’m no expert but I’ve found Josh McDowell’s article very clear and helpful.  Hope you will too, whether you’re searching for answers, or just curious, or wanting to talk it out with a friend.  It’s a very easy read as well!  The link to the article is: http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/josh2.html.  Let me know what you think ok!