Giving the gift of life after losing his own

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Posted on 19th August 2010 by admin in Christianity |Inspiration

Right after my last blog post, I jumped on twitter to share my new writings when I stumbled across Rod Arnold who works for Charity:Water which I’ve blogged about on BrettRush.com in the past and I read the unfortunate news that his older brother passed away after donating part of his liver to his other brother. This was a rare surgery process and is always risky for the donor. The article is found on kdvr.com but please take a few minutes to watch the video below.

It’s very heart wrenching but then put this into perspective of what Jesus did for us. We get so numb by things that happen around us. We open the paper, read that more soldiers have died, don’t even read what happened or their names because “that’s old news”. We’re numb to the overseas death toll. Just as numb as when we hear how Jesus died for our sins or Jesus died to save us. This real life story should put some perspective of what Jesus did for you and I regardless of what our past looks like. He loves us that much just the way that Ryan loves Chad that much. Please watch this video below.

The difficult questions part 2

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Posted on 19th August 2010 by admin in Christianity

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If you haven’t already read the first post, please start there before reading this cuz I’m just gonna jump right into the continuation of my last post. This is an excerpt from an excellent book that you need to pickup called No Perfect People Allowed.

The question is – where does religious thought fit? In the category of preference or truth? Is saying, “I believe Muhammed” or “I believe in Jesus” the same as saying  “I like red” or “I like black”? Or is it more like saying “I believe Ford Pintos are reliable” or “I believe Hondas are reliable”? That is where the real question lies. My experience tells me that most people these days think religious belief is more like a preference thing – red or black – whichever makes you happy. And I will acknowledge that they are right – it is just a preference, if God has not revealed himself to our finite, fallible world. But what if God took the initiative to show up? That would take away a lot of our subjective opinion.

“Don’t all religions basically say the same thing?”

I can affirm that all religions do agree on some things. But the more important question is not whether one religion or another is the right one. The more fundamental question is, “Who is God?” Has God revealed Himself clearly so we can know what he’s really like? The human dilemma is we can’t find God on our own. The eternal Maker exists beyond the limits of time and space. We cannot know much more beyond a blind guess of what the hidden Creator is like, unless he chooses to show up – to reveal himself in a way we can understand in our finite, limited existence. That’s the only way out of this dilemma.

Flatland Example

Just pretend you’re the Creator for a minute. Imagine if you as a three-dimensional creator created a two-dimensional world. I know we exist in four dimensions (length, width, depth, time) but for the sake of simplicity let’s just say three. So these two-dimensional people can move forward, backward, left and right, but they have no comprehension of up or down. You can watch their every move from above, but they can’t even comprehend you as a 3-D Creator ‘above’ watching in. You can do miracles in their world – your finger can appear and disappear. They can’t imagine where your finger came from or where it went. Now, you could remain completely hidden, and they couldn’t even comprehend your existence in another dimension.

But what if you wanted to relate? If you wanted them to understand you – even love you? You would have to take the initiative to reveal yourself in 2-D descriptions, or in a form they could comprehend – because they cannot possibly ‘see’ you unless you pull them out of their two-dimensional world ‘up’ into your 3-D world. But you could penetrate their 2-D plane of existence, you could help them see, not all of your 3-D splendor, but as much as is flatly possible for them to understand in two dimensions.

This example is to say that the point of Jesus is God appearing in a 3-dimensional ‘slice’ of time and space. Not that Jesus revealed everything about the God who is Spirit, who exists beyond time and space. But he revealed all that limited, finite, 3-D creatures can comprehend. This analogy helps me understand this mystery of God as Father, Son, and Spirit – three persons yet one God. The Trinity of God is describing a being not bound by time and space in a 3-D language.

But how do you know Jesus is the 3-D ‘slice’ of God?

As you scan the horizon of human history and read the sacred texts of the world’s religions, asking the all-important questions, “Who is God, and has God revealed himself clearly?” one name stands out above the rest. Only one man has ever made such a claim and done anything by which history would even consider its viability: Jesus.

The difficult questions part 1

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Posted on 16th August 2010 by admin in Christianity

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I’ve been reading off and on No Perfect People Allowed by John Burke and I read through this chapter a second time around making more sense this second time. I must have had a complete sidetracked mind the first time I read this because it’s pretty deep.

Within the last couple years, I’ve gotten this same question quite a few times. “How do you feel about other religions?” Here’s the problem with that loaded question: Christians are known to give the response, “Well, if people aren’t following Jesus then they’re going to hell so we need to save those sinners.” Zero tolerance for anything else but telling someone where they will end up going WITHOUT Jesus. In this generation, we cannot throw out the fire and brimstone to people and expect them to get it.

The underlying question to “How do you feel about other religions?” is really the question, “Do you think you’re right (as a Christian) and everyone else is wrong?” The true answer is, “I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong. But I have faith that Jesus is my Savior that died for me to unload the weight of condemnation I had shouldered so long.” Answering this difficult question open-ended diffuses people’s resistance to listen and allows them to relate to you and actually want to hear your answer since you didn’t fire back, “Jesus is the only way and you’re gonna burn sucka.” The point isn’t to win the debate or discussion, it’s to relate in the discussion. But you can be tolerant and disagree with someone.

An example here would be this. Let’s say I’m buying a car. I like black cars and you like red. You try to convince me red cars are the right cars for everyone because red is your favorite color and black cars get too hot in the summer. There is no right or wrong color – maybe I like black and don’t mind the heat. It’s a preference among a variety.

But let’s say we’re talking about safe, reliable used cars, and I insist that the best car for the money is the Ford Pinto (which Ford discontinued because they blow up!). But I’m a firm believer in the Pinto because I can get a Pinto for $1,000 with less than 20,000 miles on it. Are you intolerant of my faith in the Pinto if you try to convince me that a Honda is a much better value in reality because it’s more safe and reliable than a Pinto? If you say, “Don’t entrust your wife and kids to a Pinto, they blow up when rear-ended at 20 mph. It may be cheap, but it’s dangerous.” Would you a be mean, intolerant person because you didn’t agree with my view that Pintos were the best value for a used car? No – you would caring about me by sharing what you know to be true. Now, if you attack me or my character or intelligence – then you’re not motivated by love but by your need to be right.

This topic continued here.