The Tornado of '85

I can remember that day (May 31, 1985) as if it were yesterday.  First of all, it was the last day of school and the last day of first grade for me!  The whole summer was ahead.  I would get to play with all my toys, my friends, and even the tadpoles we had in my fish bowl.

But, it was not to be.

I remember coming home from school and my dad was the only parent home.  Mom was at a doctor's appointment.  He fixed us supper, and then as he has for years, he sad down to watch the 5:00 news and the 5:30 Weather.  Both were talking about strong storms with the possibility of tornados heading our way. Dad didn't seem worried...but to my 7 year old mind, this was scary.

I was deathly afraid of thunderstorms.  We lived in an old house that needed the electric wiring updated.  Whenever it would lightning close by the house, sparks would often shoot out of some of our outlets.  I remember Dad and Grandpa working on it several times, but it never seemed to fix the problem.

Well, just as had been predicted, it started to rain, then it started to storm.  My sister and I begged Dad to take us to Grandma's house.  They outlets didn't spark there.  I guess he wanted to wait for Mom to get home since he stalled quite a bit.  Finally, though, he said we could go.

Just as we were getting into the car, mom pulled up and got directly out from her car to the one we were in.  We headed to Grandma's.

Grandma had the weather on TV...she never watched the weather.  I was scared and knew something was going on.  I don't remember the station, but I do remember the voice of the lady who was the weather reporter.  Something about her voice scared me....even when she was talking about good weather (on other occasions) her voice scared me.

After a while, I remember Dad calling us to the back door.  We looked out and saw boards and trash flying through the air.  You would have thought we would have known it was a tornado, but something about that amused us.  It started to get dark, and my Uncle and Aunt came over too.  Once it was dark, the electricity went out.  Then just as quickly, it would come on again.  I remember Grandma holding me on her lap and we'd pretend that we were traveling and the blinking lights (and lightning) were the oncoming cars.  It must have worked because I felt a little safer.

Somewhere through that evening, my other Grandparents who lived just a few blocks away came over.  They had heard there was a tornado on our side of town and when they couldn't get us on the phone, they decided to see if we were at my other Grandma's house.

It must have been pretty late, but I remember Mom, my Sister, and I walking to my other Grandparents' house where we would spend the night.  Dad and my Uncle walked to our house to see what had happened.  I guess by then, word had spread that you couldn't drive.

Mom kept trying to put my Sister and me to sleep, but I couldn't sleep.  What had been a scary night was now an "adventure" for my 7 year old mind.  We were "camping" on my Grandparents' floor...did life get better than that???  I think my sister fell asleep, but I was awake when Dad came and said the house was destroyed.  I don't remember much in the way of emotion.  I was too little to fully understand what that meant...maybe I thought he could just fix it.  I don't remember Mom's reaction, or even how Dad acted.  But, sometime in the midst of all this, I fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning and it was cold!  The gas to the whole town had been shut off to check for leaks, and electricity was sporadic at best.

My Sister and I must have stayed with my Grandparents when Mom went over to see the house.  I don't remember much.  But, I do remember her coming back and telling us that she would take us to see the house and she tried to explain to me and my Sister (who was 4) that it was destroyed.

We went over to see the house, and like she said, it was destroyed.  Days run together in my mind, but I remember going through lots of emotions.  At first, it was an adventure.  We "got" to look through the yard to find our toys.  Then another day, I was angry.  Grandma gave me an empty milk jug to "beat up."  I remember pretending it was the tornado and kicking and throwing it and screaming, laughing, and crying.

I hope I never go through that again!  And my thoughts and prayers are with all who are currently suffering from the damage of tornados and natural disasters and all those who will someday face them.

Bart's Problem

**I will admit first and foremost that I have not yet had the stomach to read this entire book.  I'm trudging through it, but I find it so painful that I can only handle small doses.  If/When I am able to finish, I will give a full review.  This review will ONLY talk about the title and the first chapter.

Though I'm a person of faith (kind of necessary if one is a pastor), I'm not offended when someone disagrees with my faith or even rejects it.  Don't get me wrong, I want everyone to come to faith, but I also realize it's a personal decision and everyone including (and maybe most importantly) people of faith at times need to ask serious questions about why we believe what we believe.  If we're honest, all people of faith at times doubt that faith.  "Will God come through this time???"  "Does God even exist???"  These are valid and sometimes essential questions that help us navigate this thing called faith.  A blind faith is no faith at all.  If we believe because someone told us to, I question whether we have faith or not. If we accept propositions made in the name of faith without investigating them and questioning them, then we have a blind faith.  The Bible itself does not call for a blind faith.  Read Psalms.  At times they praise God, and at times they question and even "yell at" God.  God is big enough and great enough to handle these questions.  

This is where Bart Ehrman says he started.  He wondered why people suffer if we have a "Good God."  This is a valid question, but I'm afraid his method of investigation is flawed.  Before I analyze his flaws (only from the beginning of the book - as stated above, I haven't gotten through the whole book yet), we need to understand some things.

1.  God is God despite our own experiences.  That doesn't mean God doesn't intervene in our lives sometimes, that doesn't mean that God doesn't put people in our lives, or even save us from certain situations.  But what it does mean is that no matter what we experience, God is still God.

2.  There can be a limited "natural knowledge" of God, but God is mostly known from revelation.  Nature, the Universe, even our own Being point to God.  But, to know God, God must be revealed.  Mainly this has been done through the Scriptures and through Jesus Christ.  Without Scripture and Jesus, we can possibly know there is a god, but to know this God, we need revelations.  Scientists (as I heard on NPR one day) say they have discovered a "faith gene."  The person interviewed stated that this gene would cause people who never heard of religion "stranded on a desert island" to develop their own.  Even the Bible speaks to this that all can know of God by natural ways - the glory of the universe and so forth.  Those who are not people of faith would say this is just a genetic "flaw," but I would argue God implanted in all of us knowledge of God.  Neither side could win the argument (by convincing the other), but it is a starting point.

3.  God is a good God.  I can't, nor will I, attempt to explain suffering away.  But again, our experiences of great joy or great suffering do not determine God's existence nor goodness.  

4.  God is sovereign and we can't know God completely.  We can't even know our closest friend completely.  The same goes for God.

With all that in mind, I want to look at a few things about Bart Ehrman's book God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer.

1.  The first flaw is in the title.  Who says that suffering is our most important question?  That may be Ehrman's most important question, but is it everyone's?  I won't deny that I sometimes wonder the same thing, and Ehrman makes a great emotional argument that people suffer greatly.  But, is this really our most important question?  It may be to some people, but it certainly is not to all.

2.  Ehrman states that the Bible doesn't answer the question of suffering.  I have to wonder if he read the Bible.  The Bible gives many reasons for suffering from "sin" to "only God knows."  He may be right that it doesn't give one reason that is satisfying to all, but it does give answers.  If I were asked "Why do people suffer?" I could give some answers, but I'm sure that neither of us would be completely satisfied with the answers.  Some things of God are unknowable.

3.  Ehrman, according to his own account, was a strong Christian (bordering on Fundamentalist), but completely lost his faith because people suffer and God does nothing about it.  How can anyone know that God does nothing?  Did God tell him that?  I don't know how God works...no one does.  How can we know that he does nothing to help suffering?  How can we know that God's plan isn't bigger than the suffering of this world?  By the very nature of God, God is not bound by human rules, nor is God bound by space or time.  What seems like endless suffering to God in the grand scheme of things is not that long.  Even if one is a true atheist, in comparison with the vastness of the universe and the concept of eternity, our time on Earth is not very long.  

4.  Ehrman says he doesn't want people to lose their faith from this book (if they have faith), but he just wants to raise the issue.  I'm not so sure that's true.  He presents his struggle as fact.  Because he struggles with the problem of suffering, he assumes we all do.  Maybe we all do to a point, but everyone doesn't share the same level as he does.  What is Ehrman's opinion, he presents as fact (at least in the beginning of the book - I'm hoping it will get more fact based as it goes on).  If he presents things as facts, then does he really want people to keep their faith?  If he wanted people to keep their faith, couldn't he just present his problems and explain how he can't answer them?

In conclusion, Ehrman is probably a "good person."  I don't want to demonize a person I've never met.  He does have a valid question in asking, "why do people suffer?" Most people wonder that from time to time.  I can't give you an answer, but I can give some answers as they are presented in the Bible.  By his saying that the Bible fails to answer this question, he is wrong.  It may not answer his question to his satisfaction, but the question is addressed and answered in many ways.  

Ehrman's writing is provocative.  It's worthy to be read.  But, we must separate arguments of fact from arguments of emotion.  Fact and emotion are often unrelated.  How many times have we panicked about something when the facts were really not as bad as we thought they were.  If you're looking for the answer to suffering in this book...you won't find it...at least not in the beginning.  All you'll find are flawed arguments and arguments of emotion.

The End

Most of you have probably heard that there is a radio-pastor who is saying the world will end on May 21.  You have probably either seen billboards, read articles, or heard on the radio the following: At 89 years old, Harold Camping predicts that 200 million people, about 3% of the total world population will be saved on May 21 2011 in the Rapture.  Camping teaches that those not saved in the Rapture will be left behind in the Apocalypse until the End of The World on October 21, 2011 (From: http://judgementday2011.com/).

I’m sure none of you take this seriously since Jesus said in Matthew 24:36 (and other places) that no one knows the day nor the hour of Jesus’ return…Even Jesus himself did not know when he was with his disciples.  He said that even the angels don’t know…Only God the Father knows. 

The idea of a Rapture is a rather “new” point in theology going to the 1700’s at the earliest.  Most writing/study on this started in the 1800’s and even more so in the 1900’s (especially 1970-now).  Just because it is a “new” belief doesn’t mean it is wrong.  It also doesn’t mean it is correct. I encourage all of you to study the bible for yourselves rather than relying on people who preach this theology for money (TV preachers, authors, etc.). 

The end is coming; we can know that for sure.  Jesus talked about the signs of the times.  He talked about wars, rumors of wars, and natural disasters as the “birth pangs.”  He talked about how things will get progressively worse and then he would return.

There is much confusion about end time events.  This will by no means go over all of them, but I want to address a few. 

First:  The end is not just God’s destruction of the world, but rather God’s redemption of the world. 2 Peter 3:9-13 says “⁹The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. ¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.

11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, ¹²waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? ¹³But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.”

So, Yes, things will be destroyed, but more importantly, the world will be redeemed.  You can read about this in great detail in Revelation 21.  But, basically it talks about a New Heaven and New Earth and God will dwell among the people. 

The end is not something to be feared, but something to be embraced.  For Christians, the “end” is really no end at all, but a fulfillment of a promise; a time when we will dwell eternally with God. 

Second, there are a lot of theories about the Rapture.  Basically, the Rapture states that God will bring all believers to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:17 as well as other references).  The bible talks that the dead in Christ (i.e. the bodies of those who have already died) will raise first, and then those who are alive (1 Corinthians 15:52).  Debates are about the timing of the Rapture.  Will it happen before a period of great suffering (The Tribulation)?  Will it happen during the Tribulation?  After the Tribulation?  There are strong arguments for all 3…I’d have to do more research to discuss all three.  There are also strong biblical arguments to say that the Rapture is the time when all Christians (dead and alive) will be raised to be with God forever (the Resurrection is the term used for this – Not Christ’s, but ours).  Again, the timing is something that is of debate.  But, as I said at the beginning, Jesus told us we can only know the signs of the times, not the date of his coming.  Again, whatever the Rapture or Resurrection will look like, we don’t know, and it is not something to be feared, but rather it is a comfort in that God will fulfill the promise of redemption.  People often wonder what happens if they are cremated or die after a horrible disfiguration of their bodies…will God raise them?  The answer is “Yes.”  If God can create the world from nothing, God can certainly put “dust” together again.  This also causes confusion because we teach that once a person dies he/she goes to Heaven (or Hell).  Again, a very complicated issue, but quickly stated: that person’s soul/spirit does go.  At the end, our bodies (made perfect by God) will join our souls.

Third, I want to address the sign of the times.  There are MANY bible passages about the signs of the end.  They include wars, violence, natural disasters, disease, immorality, etc.  It is obvious that these things abound now…and maybe even more than ever.  But, remember that as long as there have been nations (or civilization), there have been wars.  We had the Bubonic Plague that killed half of Europe in the 1300’s.  Sin and evil have always been problems.  This is not to say that what we see now is not a sign of the end…but we can’t be 100 per cent sure that these particular events are the signs.  Remember that God’s timing is not ours (2 Peter discusses this).  To be technical, the end times began when Jesus ascended to Heaven on Pentecost.  From that moment, his return has always been a possibility. 

So, how do we handle all this?  We pray, we read our Bibles, we work for God’s Kingdom in however we are called.  Those who love Christ have nothing to fear but have everything to look forward to.  The end, though it sounds scary, is a time of great hope and redemption.  Only those who consciously reject God need to worry.  Many of us wonder about those who never heard the Gospel.  I have no idea how God will handle that, but I do know it will be fair and everyone will have a chance to be saved.  In the meantime, we need to be about our task to lead others to Christ. 

This is MUCH LONGER than I intended, but I wanted to give you some understanding of the different theological arguments (all of which are Bible based).  There is a lot of confusion about the end times, and I don’t claim to have all the answers.  Anyone who thinks he/she knows the entire answer is just wrong.  Jesus is clear on that.  There’s much about God that we will never know on this side of eternity.  But one thing is certain:  God is always with us and has only the best in store for us.

You can find online Bibles at the following websites:

http://bible.oremus.org/

http://www.biblegateway.com/

They are good links to have on your computer when you want to look something up quickly.

Thoughts on Osama bin Laden's Death

First of all, let me tell you I'm not an eloquent speaker/writer who can say anything with a poetic tone.  Second of all, I don't believe this man deserves our attention more than is necessary. But, over the next few weeks/months and maybe years, we'll all be hearing about his life, crimes, and death.  With that being the case, I made him the topic of my sermon in church today.  What follows is an adaptation of that sermon.

This sermon was based on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Many people are familiar with this Biblical passage from a song written by Pete Seeger and also made popular by The Byrds.

Today will not be a typical sermon:

      *It deals w/ a specific issue, not general every day issues.

      *I felt this issue needed to be addressed in the church because over next few weeks/months you will hear everyone from TV preachers/politicians/news analysts analyze this situation, but as Christians, we need to let scripture form our minds, not those people.  (Even my words are not the last that should be said on this issue.  You may find that you agree, you may find that you disagree, and that is fine.  But in your agreement/disagreement, make sure it is by God's word and not the words of some political pundit that influences your thoughts).

Last Sunday Night if you stayed up late enough, you heard:  "Osama bin Laden was killed"

      *For many of us, this moment brought back memories; some of those memories were things we would have liked to have forgotten.

            -Many can answer the following question:  Where were you on 9/11?

            

      *Tragic events do that to us.  Many people can answer the following questions:

            -Where were you when JFK was killed?

            -When Challenger exploded?

            -Bombing of Pearl Harbor?

            -Other tragic events in your own life?

I was conflicted all week IF this should be addressed

      *I felt that the best response is silence

            -Not silence meant to avoid issue, but silence meant to allow people to form own opinions.

            -Then I had a discussion w/ a friend who pointed out a painful reality to me:  Often the pulpit is                         too silent on social issues – OUCH!!! – At that point, I realized it wasn't the Holy Spirit being silent to me, but I was shutting out the work of the Holy Spirit.  Once I came to realize my friend was right, I was bombarded with thoughts.

Ecclesiastes talks about there being a time for everything, but we must ask: Are these God’s words (or are they at least words inspired by God)? 

      -Before you shut me out as a heretic, let me explain:  Scripture IS inspired.

      -But, Not all scripture is God’s word.  For example, the words of demons to Jesus are not God's words, though the do fulfill God's purpose in showing Jesus' power over the demons).

      -By all accounts and analyzation, It seems that this passage IS God’s word (or God's inspired word through the author) – It does not say that  God condones all things, but that everything is in God’s hands.

      -This passage is an example of Ancient Hebrew writing where limits are defined in order to encompass everything in the middle.  For example, God created Man and Woman....but those limits also include children, teens, young adults (Everything between Man and Woman).  God created Night and Day...but those limits include everything in between (twilight, dawn, etc.).  This passage is a message that God's hands are in all things.

On to the topic:  Osama bin Laden:

      *He was a Blood Thirsty Terrorist

      *He was a Murderer (3000+ in 1 day on 9/11) + other’s who have died in attacks in other countries and deaths from resulting wars.  The blood on this 1 person's hands is in the Tens of Thousands (maybe even hundreds of thousands).

      *Osama bin Ladan was a man of violence and hate.

      *He said he spoke for Muslims, but except for a very small minority, the majority of  Muslims reject him and his teachings. – We cannot judge Islam based on his interpretation of Islam.

       *If we accept bin Laden as a true Muslim, then we must be willing to accept those who have used Christianity and a perversion of the Christian Message to murderous ends.  Though there are many examples throughout history, here are 2 who have perverted the Gospel and taught hate and lies:

                  -Jim Jones- Cult leader in Jonestown

                  -David Koresh- Waco, TX

This next part is hard to swallow...even for me.  But, as Christians we must recognize it.  Osama bin Laden also had a side we never saw and probably never contemplated:

      *He had a soul.  What he chose to do with that soul appears as if he separated it from God to attain his own evil and violent ends, but none the less, he did have a soul just like all of God's creation.

      *He was Created by God to Love God as were we.

      *He was knit together in his mother’s womb as were we.

      *He was loved by God.  Obviously God didn't approve of his message, but God loved the person none the less.

      *As a God of Justice and Reconciliation, I'm sure that through out bin Laden's reign of terror, God worked on his heart to change him.  From all appearances, bin Laden rejected this.

            -As far as we know, he didn’t respond to the Love of God.

            -As far as we know, he rejected the good news of God.

            -Obviously, he didn’t live the love Christ Taught.

All week, I was conflicted.  How should we Christians feel about his death?

      *Is it ok to celebrate?

      *Should we mourn his death?

I believe the answer is somewhere in the middle.

      *Christians believe in Justice, not Revenge

            -Whether he should/shouldn’t have been killed is really a non issue because he chose his own path.  I would guess that capturing him would have resulted in his death in one form or another.

            -It's OK to be honest – All of us are at least partially glad he’s gone!

                      *It's nice to know he will never kill again!

                      *It's nice to know that the grieving families don't have to think that this murderer escaped justice.

            -Maybe some of us would have even like to have been the one to pull the trigger.

      *But, do we celebrate?

            *Ezekiel 18:32 says:  "For I have no pleasure in the  death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live."

            *In this passage, Death means separation from God/Hell – It doesn't mean physical dying

            *We can celebrate he will never kill again

            *But, we fool ourselves if we think others will not fill his spot.

            *The death of one man, no matter how evil, does not rid the world of evil.

            *To celebrate his death (as in having parties, screaming cheers, etc.) only shows that we have the same tendencies he had.  When the 9/11 attacks happened, bin Laden celebrated.  We can be glad he cannot kill anymore, but to celebrate a death shows we are not any better.

            *This would have only been a cause to fully celebrate ONLY if he chose to renounce violence,                         if he turned himself in to face justice, or if he converted his way of life to one of peace and love.

      *Do we mourn?

            *We don't mourn in the way we do when a loved one dies.

            *We can mourn what could have been!

                  -He had a talent for organization - He had the largest terror network in the world.  Imagine if he used his talent for peaceful purposes.  I mourn that this wasn't the case.

                  -We can mourn because he used his talents and skills for evil purposes.

                  -We can mourn the wasted life.  He chose to follow the path of evil, and while God wants none to perish, there are limits by which we must abide.  

Admittedly, this situation leaves more questions than answers.  What I have outlined is not by any means close to the final word that should be said on the subject.  

We need to pray, educate ourselves, and pray more!

We need to also take this opportunity to look at ourselves and how we can work for the Kingdom of God.  We may not be international peacemakers, but we can make peace with neighbors, friends, family, etc.  We can make peace within ourself.  Forgive ourselves for the wrongs that God has already forgiven us.  Any gesture made for God, by God's command, and within God's will is NEVER wasted.