Month: February 2004

First off, I am not a theologian, I am writing what I feel God has shown me in my years of knowing him, and what his Spirit is telling me to write. I can make mistakes, but I have full confidence in God to speak through me, he uses me and other humans because he loves us, he could do it himself, but how else would we get to know him in such a remarkable way?

Wouldn’t it make more sense if people were allowed to make choice between two good things? Wouldn’t it make a more real choice? If then people chose God wouldn’t it make it more true and wouldn’t that then say how much they love him and how true the love is? It isn’t really a choice when you are threaten with something like hell or suffering, is it? It definitely is not a choice.

I understand the logic you are using, and at first glance, it is quite a conundrum. However, it all depends on the definition of hell and suffering. My definition of hell is – simply being separated from God forever; all the fire and nasty pictures we see are more a product of bad religion than they are of true scripture. Suffering is temporary while hell is not. We have to first believe life is never ending, and that our experience of life here on Earth is temporary, if you do not believe that, what I have to say will not satisfy you.

God has not threatened us, sin and Satan threaten us, they tempt us to fall from the life God has designed for us, one where at the end we spend the rest of our lives in his Kingdom without suffering, pain, or hurt. Sin and Satan only temporarily give us pleasure in this life, giving into those pleasures though lead to hurting others and suffering for others. For example greed (not sharing with others who have more need), selfishness (doing things only for getting something for yourself, not thinking about how it effects others), and deceitfulness (lying to another for the benefit of yourself), all of these provide temporary pleasure, but each one of them hurts another. God asks us not to do these things, and when we choose to follow his ways, we prevent suffering and pain of others. The choice I am talking about is the choice to be with God forever or to be separated from him forever, if you do not want to know God and his amazing love which we were created to know, but have the choice to know it or not, than that is your choice.

So many times I heard people say that God knows us the best and that he is the creator of everything. Then if so, he must have known Satan. He must have known that Satan would rebel which leads one to think that it was God who created evil.

Yes he did know, but he didn’t know before he created Satan, God doesn’t know what choice we will make, he gave us free will so we could choose to love him and to know his love in return. When Satan made the choice to rebel God was greatly grieved, but in God’s mysterious wisdom he did not destroy Satan, he used the opportunity to teach all of creation the bitterness which comes from selfishness. What kind of life does Satan have? One which is constantly trying to one-up on God, yet he will never be able to and he know sit, I don’t know about you, but that is a horrible existence! God does know us best, but he didn’t make us robots, he gave us free will, otherwise it wouldn’t be love, it would simply be what is.

Why did you say that if there were no suffering we wouldn’t need God. Do you only feel that you need him when you are in distress?

If there was absolutely no suffering, why would people need to know God? If life was completely free of all stress, all suffering, all pain, I know I wouldn’t need to know God. Why does someone need to know “God” if everything is great? The reason I chose to know God was because I recognized he would provide for me in the times of suffering and pain, but now I know I need him for much more than that. He guides me away from suffering and pain, even when the rest of the world may think I am “suffering” I have the eternal peace I will not suffer forever, this life is temporary, the next one permanent, and free of all pain and suffering.

Did God create suffering and pain so that we would seek his help and worship him when or if he gives it to us, so that we needed him? That is cruel and deceitful.

You are assuming God created suffering and pain he did not. Satan created suffering and pain. So since Satan created them, he is the one which is cruel and deceitful, many times in the Bible Satan is called the prince of lies. Originally there was no pain, no suffering, but Satan was deceitful, and Adam and Eve did what they were told not to do (eat of the tree of “knowledge, of good and evil”), they made the choice to disobey God’s direct request. God created the world with consequences, the consequences are not cruel, they just are there, by making that to know “good and evil” the pain and suffering entered, which is the evil.

Why do peple have to suffer for the sins they have not commited? Why do they have to endure the pain that is a result of somebody else’s poor choice? Is that really fair? Isn’t God supposed to be fair? Doesn’t the bible say “The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father”?- Ezekiel 18:20

After reading the entire contents (Ezekiel 18:10-30) where this verse comes from (which, as a side note, the chapter and verse numbers were not in the Bible until about 400 years after the book of revelation was written, which leads us to realize each book must be read as a normal book, not in pieces) I realized that this one verse out of context is rather troublesome. The translation I have reads, “The one who sins is the one who dies. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own goodness, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness. [NLT]” The phrases “is the one who dies” and “will not be punished” is referring to eternal life with God or separation from God (hell). The original language of the Bible (in this case Aramaic) makes this clear, plus reading the entire book of Ezekiel will make it clear it is eternal life which is the subject and not pain and suffering. The wicked person is the person who is eternally separated from God; the righteous person is the one will live with God forever. It is not referring to the temporary suffering or pain we face in our day-to-day lives, those pains and sufferings are the result of other either our own sins or the sins of others. When Adam and Eve chose to sin (to disobey what God requested of them) they brought upon all of humanity the knowledge of “evil”, which is pain and suffering. We suffer the pains of other people’s sin because of this act Adam and Eve chose, it may not seem fair, but accepting Jesus (who showed us once and for all the way) we recieve a new life, with a new understanding, which is impossible without God, of suffering and pain, it is extreamly hard, if not impossible, to explain until you fully trust and walk with God.

I sincerely hope this answers some of your questions, if anything just look for Christians wherever you are, watch their lives. They will make mistakes, and they will sin too and hurt others because of it. However, over time, the lives of real Christians will only show that they have a differing kind of light, and a different kind of life. They know that life here is temporary, and that is the amazing gift God offers from following him. Jesus came as a part of this amazing, yet mysterious plan to show us all the way,
that is not cruel or deceitful in my eyes. God gives us the choice to live, Satan gives us nothing but trouble. It may all seem strange that it has to happen this way, and I pray for you each day and for people like you, that even with the questions, you will make the choice to trust God. If you don’t trust him, and are looking for some reason to trust Him, just watch the Christians around you who do know Him, I pray that is enough for you to give this life up, and enter into a new amazing life.

Imagine a place without pain or suffering. How wonderful life will be in heaven! As much as we try to prevent suffering and pain here, we will never be able to. We will never be able to prevent pain and suffering because Satan will always be tempting and influencing people to sin and do evil things. I hear people always asking “if God is good, then why does he allow this, this, and that to happen?” until coming here to Poland I did not have much of an answer. Now I have an answer, because if there were no suffering (if there were no Satan, no sin, and no evil) why would we need God? God created us because he yearned to be in a loving relationship. Without love, there is no life. Without suffering, there is no choice. If God did not allow his creation to choose, such as Satan’s choice of seeking to be “as God”, then we would only be as a chair, a table, a microwave, just something else with out choice. However, God is good, he gave us the choice so that we could TRULY love him, love is a choice, and we choose to love.

So why do even “believers” have to endure pain and suffering? For the same reason, if God protected every one from suffering there would be no blessing. Because of the choice Adam and Eve made in the beginning of time all of the human race must endure suffering and pain, because the “tree of knowledge” gave us the knowledge of good and evil, it brought us suffering and pain, which is the knowledge of evil.

However, I can’t hear it. I have this strong belief that ministry should not ever feel like “work”, especially for prolonged amounts of time. I found myself actually wanting to curse at people, and that for me is a sure sign of something wrong. I have a great gift of not being affected by other people’s stress, but there is a limit, especially if the stressed out person starts to command me and others to do things when we are suppose to be having fun! What I hate the most is that I haven’t had a single chance to voice these issues in an appropriate manner, every time the chance comes up, the focus is turned to something more immediately in need of attention. Every day I see more and more reasons why I am here, more and more areas I need to improve. Some days I am amazed I don’t get the urge to call the airline and change my return ticket to the next day, its how I feel but I gave my word and I am committed no matter how much it hurts sometimes, I know God’s wonders never cease. A lot of this is coming to the surface because Alexis has confirmed the same feelings, and she has only been here two days and has witnessed plenty of these situations.

I realize that I need to make some clear boundaries concerning the things I am willing to do, things I am confident in and things I am not and need a little more guidance than just “do it”. However even with all of this, the fire in my heart burns more intense every moment of the day. I have the greatest gift of all, a life that will not end, and no matter how strong the Enemy tries, my Lord will not let the Enemy take me out of this battle.

So Chris (my roommate) returned from England (did I ever mention he even went there) and he visited the seaside city of Brighton, a very charming, very English kind of town. He was there visiting a friend and learning some things about the Alpha Course. It turns out Matt Redman goes to the church Chris was visiting with his friend. I knew this, but I didn’t really say much, I just assumed Matt would be in the States or somewhere else. If you don’t know who Matt Redman is, he wrote “The Heart of Worship”, “Blessed be the name of the Lord”, and many other famous worship songs. Well Chris got to meet Matt and he was kind enough to have a post card where Matt wrote a little note to me, its encouraging, and really cool that he took the time. I’ll have to take a picture of it sometime and post it.

In other news, today is Valentine’s Day; we are going to a big mall in Krakow where we will be having a Valentine’s outing with all the young adults. Some people have been a little stressed planning for it, but I think it will all turn out fine, it always does. It’ll just be a day of fun, fellowship, and hopefully a little bit of alone time for Alexis and I, we had about 40 min in the car yesterday, and of course when she got here, but she was so tired it wasn’t much of a conversation.

A great day, Alexis and I are shining like never before. Some major prayer for others around here, its just a stressful time, and people are not making decisions to give it up to Jesus. Thanks!

I just got up, had a bit of a battle last night, in terms of what I said and what not… just silly stuff, I feel a lot better today. To answer the big question… Alexis will be here until March 18th!

(Love) It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [1 Cor 13:5]

Alexis is here! We were both pretty tired, but things are good. Keep us in your prayers, there is a little adjusting to do on both parts… However I think as the days go by it will be much easier. Thanks!

Could I please have some hot water? I have been up since about 10 this morning, and since 10 I have been waiting for the hot water to heat up! I have tried at least three times to take a shower, and all three times the water has been barely lukewarm. So now I am going to try again, wish me luck.

In other news I just got off the phone, with a certain Miss. Alexis, she is boarding her plain to Washington, DC as I type this. She will take off in about a half hour, and then give me another ring in 4-5 hours when she arrives at Dulles (she wasn’t sure how long it was, and it didn’t say on her tickets). Exciting times ahead! Less than 24 hours!

Update: Just got off the phone again with Alexis, she is now boarding the plane in Dulles (Washington, DC) and will arrive in Vienna in about 10 hours! I’ll be hearing from her just in time for me to take a shower and get ready to pick her up.

Only two more days until Alexis is here! What does one do with such an occasion? Does anyone else out there have any advice? I’m working on a surprise, and because she reads this, I won’t say anything about it until I know she has left Seattle. There are so many places to go, things to see, and most of all many people to meet. Everyday I am blown away by the grace God has given me, my life right now seems completely unreal. Five years ago, I was just beginning to explore this whole “God” thing. Five years ago, I was dreaming about being in the marching band for the University of Washington! I still like that little dream, but now the Lord directs my heart, and my heart has moved on. The change in my life cannot be summed up in a short web log post; however, I know that many changes lie ahead and God will be faithful until the end of my time on Earth, and then afterwards the real party starts. I’m saying all of this because it just seems incredible to me that God has provided a way not just for me to be in Poland, but for Alexis to come too! Its amazing, and that’s that. What to do, Lord, it’s you I live for.

The past few days have been incredible, only because I have learned the important lesson of “expectancy”! Expectancy in prayer, that is. I was reading James a few nights ago, and I realized that I did not actually EXPECT God to answer my prayers, I said I did, but I didn’t actually in my heart expect it. I believed he would, but I didn’t expect… there is a rather slight difference in those words, but they have two different ideologies. I could believe until the cows come home that I believe God answers all my prayers, but unless I expect to see the answer, I won’t. Unless I expect for him to answer my prayer, he won’t, it shows no faith if I just believe in prayer, I must believe and expect the prayer to be answered.

Since learning this lesson, I have seen at least a dozen prayers either answered, or in the process of being answered, and a few I know will be, simply because I am expecting them to be… Of course, our prayers must not be prayers of manipulation and we must understand they can be answered in a number of ways. But to believe and expect also leaves out the silly worrying, and the childish looking around for the “answer”.

But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do. [James 1:6-8]

In other news: Newsletter five “The Halfway Point” is now available.