Kingdom of Heaven?

The kingdom of Heaven is referred to many times in the Bible but it has occured to me lately that many disagree about what that is exactly. Then I realized that I hadn't given much thought to what is meant by the kingdom of Heaven. What did Jesus mean when He said the kingdom of Heaven is near or is at hand? Certain scriptures make it impossible to restrict it's meaning to just Heaven itself. So what does it refer to? Sense this is my blog here's my two cents. It seems to me that the kingdom of Heaven, or the kingdom of God, refers to the spiritual domain which is ruled by God and is open to all. Those who put their faith in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are citizens of that kingdom. It is not something we have to wait for but something that is available now. When I think of it this way I get a sort of "Chronicles of Narnia" feel about my life. I am a citizen in a kingdom that is ruled by an all mighty God. I am more than flesh and bones. It brings to the forefront the idea that I am already part of a spiritual world. The kingdom of God does not seem to be a physical place as we think of kingdoms. And for that reason, it is not limit by borders or walls. It reaches over the entire earth and beyond.

Homophobic Response

I have done quite a bit of reading and have put a lot of thought into the subject of homosexuality recently because the topic keeps popping up everywhere. It has appeared in lessons at church, in conversations on Facebook, and on the national stage (gay marriages approved in NY). In my reading, I admit I was troubled by the widespread acceptance of the gay lifestyle by people who claim to be Christians. I am equally troubled by the hatred of homosexuals by people who claim to be Christians. As Christians we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves, and as part of that love, we are called to expose the darkness so that God's light might be seen. If we have faith and believe in what God has said then we as Christians must condemn the act of homosexuality (Lev. 18:22, 20:13, Rom. 1:26-27, 1 Cor. 6:9-10, 1 Tim. 1:9-11) while loving those who claim homosexuality as their sexual orientation. Every one of us is friends with people who sin, and even people who have accepted something sinful as a regular part of their lives, but we don't hate them or disassociate ourselves from them. So why do so many Christians treat homosexuals that way? Why is a homosexual couple ushered out the back doors or ignored while the adulterous husband is prayed over and comforted and promised help?

I believe there are two main reasons. One of these is our societies inability to separate the doer from the deed when it comes to homosexuals. This is the direct result of what gay activists have been pushing for. They have been working for a long time to get homosexuality to be perceived as something they are and not something they do. Because of this, people automatically assume that if I condemn the practice of homosexuals then I am condemning homosexuals themselves. It is ingenious on their part because we cannot condemn homosexual behavior without people responding by calling us bigots or haters. However, liars, fornicators, adulterers, thieves, and more, flood through the doors of church buildings every week and are welcomed with open arms. The church clearly speaks out against the sins that these people are involved in but bigotry and hate do not seem to be present. The sins that they are caught up in are not condoned and yet they are loved. The problem is that many Christians, based on the false perception that has been accepted by society at large, believe that they must either fully accept both the sinner and the sin or reject both the sinner and the sin. As Christians we must fight this false perception and let the world know that this is not a package deal and that we can love someone even as we openly disapprove of what they’re doing.

I believe that the second reason why homosexuals are treated different is because we like our churches to be safe comfortable places where we can shelter ourselves and our loved ones from the world. Homosexuals are not the only group of people who fall into this category. If I tried to invite a murderer or a sex offender to church it would definitely cause a stir. I understand the risks of welcoming someone who has murdered people, or someone who has served time for raping little children into our buildings. I even understand why some people are afraid of letting homosexuals in. I would be lying if I said it wouldn't make me a little uncomfortable. But since when was being a Christian supposed to be safe or comfortable? Our fight to stay safe and comfortable contributes to a picture of the church as a bunch of haters and bigots. We are looked upon as hypocrites because our actions do not model the actions of our Lord and Savior.

It is my prayer that as Christians we will not let society control our actions and that we will start living a little more dangerously, being true models of Jesus Christ!

What's It All About?

Ask different Christians what the Christian life is all about and you will get different answers. Some Christians claim it is all about following the commands of God. Some Christians claim that it is all about serving others. Some will say it's all about love. And others will give you entirely different opinions. So who's right? I believe they all are to a degree. To me the Christian life is about continuing the journey, about constantly seeking God's will and trying to implement that into our lives. God asks us to follow His commands but we must be careful to remember that it is by His grace and not our works that we are saved. He asks us to serve others but again the focus must be on God and not ourselves. He claims that the greatest among faith, hope, and love is love but we must undertand that God is love and what love truly is. In other words, no matter what part of Christianity we tend to fucus on, we must remember that our focus must be on God or there will be negative consequences. Focusing on our SELF is the root of SELFishness. And selfishness is the root of greed, lying, cheating, stealing, murdering, adultery, etc. All of which are hurtful acts that tear apart families and relationships. When we focus on God we are heading in the right direction. We are taking the focus off ourselves and on someone with pure motives. This is obviously a short and simple explanation and I could spend much more time on the subject, but then you would probably get tired of reading it and would stop visiting my blog.

Is Hell Eternal?

An interesting question was posed in Rob Bell's new book, "Love Wins". That question was, 'is punishment in hell eternal'? I hope upon hearing that question, your heart leaps for hope for those who leave this world unbelievers. If your first thought is that of attacking such a thought, I would ask you to evaluate where your heart is. It is, after all, God's desire that none should perish. However, He loves us enough to give us a choice. The arguement for such a belief is based on the idea that the word for eternal has been translated wrong. The word is 'aionion' which is argued to mean 'for an age' instead of 'for eternity'. The arguement has some basis in the fact that Aionion can mean 'for an age' in certain contexts. However, the arguement hits a bit of a road block in Matthew 25:46. The text can be read one of two ways. Either, "And these will go away into eternal (aionion) punishment, but the righteous into eternal (aionion) life." Or, "And these will go away into an age of (aionion) punishment, but the righteous into an age of (aionion) life." If taken the second way we must acknowledge that either we are not eternal, we will cease to exist at some point after our physical death, or we must acknowledge that those who are saved may fall in the afterlife. Neither of these translations are as appealing as a one way road leading out of hell to Heaven. To be honest, the only interpretation of this passage that cannot be true is the one way trip to Heaven, any of the other three have a fairly good arguement. Which do I believe? At this point in my studies, I honestly don't know. What do you think?

What Am I?

All my life I have been asking a very important question in some form or fashion: Who am I? However, another question has been brought to my attention that is equally, if not more, important: What am I? I'm not asking whether I'm a mammal or whether I should have my own classification apart from mammals. I am talking about the spiritual aspect of my being. First of all, I have accepted the idea that I have a soul, which without this acknowledment this question is void. So now that I have made that acknowledgement, I should be asking the question "What am I"?

To this point I have lived my life as a body that has a soul. The majority of my actions are proof of this. I live my life with my body as a high priority. I am constantly thinking about what I'm going to eat, what I'm going to wear, whether or not I should start exercising more, whether or not I can do something to improve how I look, what do other people think about my appearance, etc. This is funny to me because even though I try not to put a lot of emphasis on what other people think about me, I still struggle with this.

Now I am aware that the Bible teaches us to take care of our bodies to some degree but I am also aware that God puts much more emphasis on taking care of our souls. Which brings us back to the question at hand. The question is: Am I a body that happens to have a soul or am I a soul that happens to have a body? This is an important question because how you answer it could change your whole outlook on life. If I am a soul that just happens to have a body, then a lot more attention should be focused on my soul. Now as I walk through life, people's physical appearance should have less of an impact on how I approach them. How I relate to people should change. I should stop perceiving people as temporary and start seeing them as eternal. I should stop worrying as much about what they're wearing and start focusing more on enriching their souls in any way possible.

So, I hope we all will start asking ourselves, What am I? Ask it often and act accordingly.

Universalism

Rob Bell is coming out with a new book that has made universalism the hottest topic in Christianity lately. The video advertisement for his book instantly was met with loads of criticism as well as praise. Universalism promotes the idea that we are all going to Heaven, that a loving God would not send people to Hell. I must admit, I have struggled with the idea of a loving God sending people to Hell as well. He would at least make it a temporary punishment, right? Then I realized that God doesn't send people to Hell. People choose to go there. God has given us grace and a choice. It is not as though God is standing in front of us yelling "go to your room". He says "I love you, and I know I can't force you to love me back, it is a choice you have to make". First though, we have to acknowledge His existence. When we look around this world He created we have to close our eyes in order to deny the existence of some creator. It's the only thing that makes sense. Many scientists spend their whole lives trying to disprove the Bible and creationism instead of focusing on all the flaws in their own theories. None of their theories start with nothing because according to them you can't create matter and what you enter into is an endless cycle which doesn't make since scientifically. That, however, is a subject for another day. The point is, God has given us plenty of evidence for His existence and we must deny what is obvious in order to deny Him. It takes much more faith to believe in theories like the Big Bang, which believe it or not was disproved by scientists years ago but is still taught in school as fact, than it does to believe in a creator. However, I know that the next step in this process is where it gets tricky and where many proclaimed Christians struggle, I include myself in this group. The next step is looking at all those people who have accepted creationism and the fact that there is a creator god, but don't believe that the creator is the God of the Bible. The people who dedicate their whole lives to worshipping god because they see evidence of Him in his creation but at the same time never have faith in the God that I believe in. The God that says the only way to Him is through His Son Jesus Christ. Will these people really be condemned? Well, like it or not that is not for me to decide. What I know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that God judges our hearts. What I believe is that some will be saved through Jesus, according to their conscience, based on what it says in Romans. In other words, if someone follows what God has put in their hearts because they didn't have access to His Written Word, that person will be saved by following his/her "conscience". I have always applied this belief to those who don't claim a religion but I really have not made up my mind about those who are of a different religion. Don't get me wrong, i do not believe in universalism. It is a made up concept that is entirely unbiblical and is meant to give people a warm fuzzy feeling and allow them to hear what they want to hear instead of listening to the truth. People who believe in universalism are like a little boy who sticks his fingers in his ears and starts shouting so that he doesn't have to listen to what his parents are trying to say. None of us like hearing bad news and this is a religious way to sweep the bad news under the rug. Why do those who choose not to believe have to suffer for eternity? I don't know. Is it just? I believe it is even though it doesn't feel that way. Why? Because, just as I trusted my parents when I was a small child, I trust God as an adult. I know that God knows infinitely more than me. I just have to trust Him. It's like this. A man entered the woods one day looking for a bear. He followed the bear's tracks and when he caught up with the bear he raised his rifle. The bear saw the man and began to charge. The man shot the rifle and the bear went down. The man walked over to the bear, removed his dart, and had the bear put in a cage. When the bear would regain conscientiousness he would try to attack the man through the bars. However, while the bear was out the man would administer drugs to the sick bear in order to heal it. After a month the man released the now healthy bear back into the woods. Why did the bear continually try to attack the man when the man was only doing what was best for him? Because the bear could not comprehend the man's intentions. He knew nothing of medicine. We are like the bear in the story. We may not always understand God's plan because it is beyond our understanding. But like the man in the story, even though it may seem like He's hurting us at times, God has a greater plan than ours and it is for our good. I have not read Rob Bell's new book and I continue to hope that he really isn't promoting universalism. For those who are reading this, put your faith in God and His loving grace which saves us through Jesus Christ our wonderful Savior and know that God is good, He is just, and He has a plan for your life.
( I was kind of all over the place so if you have questions about anything I said or if you would like for me to go a little bit deeper with any point, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail at mattsemanek@live.com )

The What and Why of Faith

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
- Ephesians 2:8-9

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
- James 2:26

So then what is faith? Answer that question and we begin to unravel the meaning of these two passages. For many we would say that it is believing in something that you cannot see. This is correct but not complete. Faith without works is dead, you are saved through faith, and your salvation is not the result of your works. Quite the riddle huh? Well let me take a crack at it. It is my belief that (biblical) faith is not just a declartion that you make but is literally a part of your life. It is the reason behind your existence, what you live for. It is the purpose behind all that you do. If we have faith in God we can't help but have works because God is at the root of our existence. He is our meaning in life. Everybody has faith in someone or something and it is seen in how they live their lives. If I have faith in me instead of God I will center my existence around myself, which is one of the biggest problems in the church. We concentrate so much on our works that it becomes about us more than Him. I'm not saying that if we have faith in God that we will be perfect, but I am saying that we will continue to pattern our lives around His will. Based on the very definition of faith it would be impossible for someone with genuine faith to do otherwise.