Do you have hope?

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

I have wrestled with this verse more of late than at any other time. I ask myself a lot, what is it that gives me hope? And it is this question, which came from a different source, that has me writing today.

A few days ago, on a group FB page there was a question. I read it and just gave it a passing thought, but since then it's been on my mind. I tried to find it again, but have not been able to. In essence the question asked was, so many people are so positive that things are going to get better. Can anyone give some concrete evidence that this is so?

I get this. We all want to see something real. I'd love to see something real, this living only by faith is pretty hard.

Some people are claiming to be prophets and saying that our President will be back by the end of the summer. There are other claims, which, while I will love to see them happen, some claim we are entering a year of jubilee. I am a bit skeptical.

If one were to ask the typical Christian church goer, why do they have hope in their future, you'll get a typical Christian answer. Some form of testimony, many will cite having a relationship. Some can claim some form of healing or deliverance. I don't have any of these. For a long time I have considered what would my answer be? Why do I profess to be Christian?

My acceptance of Jesus is based primarily on logic. I look at the world and must determine that it has a creator. As a machinist, I make some pretty complex parts, but none as complex as plants and animals. To think that all of this simply evolved from some pond scum is foolish at best. And so logically, if the world has a creator, He can set His own rules, and if I break them then I am subject to consequences. Even the rules are logical. Although religions have a lot of rules, there are really only 2 that make a difference. Acknowledge and love the creator, henceforth called God. And love your neighbor, or fellow human. 

Most religions recognize that there is a standard to live by, and most teach that we can work it out on our own meeting that standard. But Christianity is different. It says that no-one can work it out to live by the standard, and by the time that we realize that there is a standard, we have violated it. And different from others, it is not up to me to make things right. (Which I cannot do). Knowing that no man could meet the standard, God Himself became man to pay the price of death for all men.

I accept this. Not because I've had a personal meeting with Jesus. And not because I have any relationship with God. Although I've been told that's what Christianity is, yet in the 30 plus years, I've not found that yet. And I have resigned myself that it will not happen. Still, the message of Jesus resonates. I know me, and I know that I can't do it. So I need someone who can, to save me. That's my whole testimony, it's just a logical argument. 

I hear testimonies from people who were addicts, and delivered. I hear of miraculous healings. Never personally seen them though. In the past few years, testimonies have caused me some problems. I spent years in daily morning prayer. I finally gave up, one can only knock on a door that never opens for so long. Today the thought of prayer is actually painful. I remember a preacher saying that people don't pray for two reasons, Some are afraid that God will not be there, and others are afraid that He will. I can't say that I've ever met God in prayer, so I fall in the first group. And I really don't want to feel rejection again.

I write this part, just to establish where I am in this, and why for me, testimonies are painful. We were at an event just this last weekend where the main speaker talked about an accident that broke her back. She briefly spoke about hospitalization, surgery and recovery, but the key is that she recovered, and she is walking. Maybe I'm being a bit selfish, but my wife was rear-ended three years ago while going to church, and she has been in extreme pain since that day. She can hardly walk, if I move in the bed, it shakes and I hear her wince from the pain. She has had three surgeries and the doctors don't know what else to do. And I certainly don't know what to do. Most days I see no hope in this life of things getting better for her. Lots of people have prayed, I must confess I have no hope for things to change.

But I do have some hope for the country. If one is to believe that there is a creator, and that He wrote the bible, then one must also believe there is evil.

It's actually easy to believe in evil, one can see it daily.  

The events of the last two years or so have revealed some of the extent of evil in the world. A bug was released, people were secluded in their homes, many given a great experiment. The results of which we may not know for years. But in the midst of this, while evil people were trying to control the world, something happened. 

Parents were seeing how the evil has taken over the public school system. How most of our government is corrupt. That representatives do not care anything about the general public, only the elite. And people are taking action.

School boards are being changed. Politicians that have been entrenched for decades are being removed. Laws are being changed. A lot of positive things are happening, but is it God moving?

I will say yes and no. I believe that the Spirit of God is always moving. That He gave us specific instructions, and if we simply follow them, then things work out. But it's not up to God to do the stuff. People are realizing that we all need to do stuff. 

I know that Jesus said we could pray and move the mountain, but I think it might be quicker just to get some big machines and move it ourselves. 

This is going to take some time, and it will probably be painful. For about 60 years, in the public schools, our children have been taught that we did not come from God. And for 50 years we have been sacrificing unborn babies in the name of convenience. 

Many people fought against these measures, but we did not fight right. One cannot fight against killing babies and then elect politicians who oppose that view. Yet that's what we did, all of us are guilty. 

But I see things changing. There is indeed a revival, not like any revival told about in previous history. This is different. People are coming to God and realizing that we need to get involved. And hopefully, making sure that in the future God's people stay involved. 

If the person who asked the question, is looking for some specific proof that things are going to be better, you may never actually get that. But I can see some things happening. Corruption is being revealed. Even if the government agencies and courts systems are corrupt too, the truth is coming to light and people are becoming more aware. Things are changing at local levels. And there is an air of revival in that many people are accepting Jesus as their savior. 

It's a beginning, and I do have some hope that our nation and it's founding values will be restored.

Living without consequences

Would it not be great if we could live life with no consequences? We all suffer at times from things that we've done in the past. And while it's pretty common for people to make claims that our past does not define us, reality is that it actually does. Things that we do can have impact for decades. In my own life, something that I did back in 1995, while it appeared to be a good idea at the time, I realized about a year later that it was probably the biggest mistake that I ever made. And today, nearly 27 years later, every day I pay the consequences for that one decision. 

The current topic though is the abortion issue, and more specifically, Roe vs Wade. The death culture will claim "women's rights", or "reproductive rights". They claim that an unborn baby, since it cannot survive outside of the womb, is not really alive. 

There are also frequent claims that abortion is needed for cases of rape or incest or for life threatening instances. I've been having a discussion with someone for the last day that makes arguments of "forced" pregnancies. 

We have been living in a death culture for several decades. It has actually expanded, there are people, who have actually been somewhat outspoken, that feel elderly should be terminated too. When society stops valuing life at it's conception, life along the way becomes cheaper. And when society is focused only on material profits, elderly are not profitable and so they are simply a burden. 

An area that has totally baffled me for years is how any professing Christian can actually believe that it's OK to kill babies. Certainly there is forgiveness for all sins, but how does someone justify killing an unborn child and then go to God for forgiveness? Or a pastor who would council such actions. And while it is not my place to decide who is or is not forgiven, and as scripture states "whosoever will.. may be forgiven", there are still consequences to the "choice".

I will not argue that there are a lot of circumstances by which a woman could become pregnant. But I also know that the primary reasons for terminating pregnancies in the US are convenience and money. It is a desire to not have the consequence of the action. And it comes back to the very first lie, or half truth.

Do you know what it was and where it happened?  It was in the garden; "you will not surly die." Today the lie is similar. Go ahead and do whatever you feel like doing. You can terminate a pregnancy, it's no big deal. Yet there is underlying trauma that very few speak of. In the past 20 or so years I have met perhaps a dozen women who have had abortions. In every case, it was for convenience and in every case there is deep regret. 

There is no living without consequences.