I still remember doing a survey of the church building we erected in Japan. The foundation had just been laid and the supervisor walked the perimeter with me and got down on the ground to show me how perfect the angles were. He said, “Get the foundation perfect and you’ll have a stable building. But make a small mistake here, and you’ll always have problems.” Thankfully, they did get the foundation perfect. And we were very happy with the finished product. Over the years, I’ve seen again and again that getting the foundation of Christianity straight is crucial to a healthy relationship with God. The problem is that you can’t get everything straight. There is too much to know in the Bible to know it all equally. So you need to be able to discern what the foundation is and get that straight and then over time do your best to add to it. Do you have the foundation straight? Have you helped your children get the foundation straight? When people ask you about your faith, do you get the foundation straight?
It’s easy to conclude a person is hopeless to change. We often assume that people who aren’t like us would never listen to us. The story of Derek Black shows us, that’s not rue. If Derek could change, anyone can. And the steps that led to his transformation give us hints as to how we can be help effect change in our culture today.
Today's post is by guest contributor, Christian Clement-Schlimm. Because it's the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, and because of Christian's background in history, I've asked him to share what Luther might think of the Roman Catholic Church, as it exists today.
Although I grew up with Roman Catholic friends and family, it wasn’t until I began university that I started to have serious theological conversations with Roman Catholics of conviction. These would include Roman Catholic seminarians, converts from Evangelicalism to Roman Catholicism, and people who frankly knew their stuff. We would discuss the nature of the sacraments and the positions of the early church, but it would always come back to the issues of the Reformation. One hard conversation I had took place with a Roman Catholic friend who was considering which Roman Catholic monastic order to join. At the same time he was struggling with critical points raised by Protestantism. The conversation ended when he basically asked, “Why can’t Roman Catholics and Protestants just get along? We’re all serving Christ after all.” I think many people struggle at this point. They know that there are differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism but they’re not sure how significant those differences are. What my friend didn’t seem to realize was that our differences were at the heart of our faith. We need to get along, but that doesn’t mean pretending that we’re the same or that our differences don’t matter. Let me explain.
It’s easy to expect too much of Christian athletes. We love to idolize our sports heroes so when Christians find out that one of their favourites is a believer, they can make more out of it than they ought. But with the NBA finals in full swing and the Golden State Warriors still undefeated in the post-season, Steph Curry may be someone we can all learn from. I say that because of the way that both Christians and non-Christians speak of his character and his faith. In case you’ve been living under a basketball rock and haven’t heard of Steph Curry, he’s been called the greatest shooter in NBA history for his amazing 3-point accuracy and speed in ball handling. But his character is equally remarkable. Warriors forward Harrison Barnes says of Curry: “He’s probably one of the most humble superstars I’ve ever met. A lot of that is based on his faith. He’s a guy who not only talks it; he lives it. I think he garners a lot of respect in this locker room because of that.” So people who see him up close recognize a difference in his life, but what can we learn from him? To me, four distinctively Christian aspects of his faith-work integration stand out.
One of the biggest challenges of the Christian life is the struggle to believe. If we really believed that God answers prayer, then we'd pray more. If we really believed that God wants what's best for us, then we'd be more obedient. And if we really believed that God's Word changes us, then we'd be more faithful in reading it. One of the ways that God seems to grow our faith is through amazing demonstrations of His power. By showing us that cataclysmic change is possible, He encourages us to keep pursuing incremental change in our lives. This week God encouraged me through the incredible transformation of a Japanese murderer, named Tokichi Ishii.
When I lived in Japan, one afternoon, without warning, I got a hurried call from a church member. She was in the area with her daughter and wondered if they could stop by. I agreed and seconds later the door bell rang. They must have been in the parking lot already. I invited them in and we exchanged pleasantries. I had heard and prayed for her adult daughter but today was meeting her for the first time. I sensed that there was some urgency to the visit, but neither of them were giving me any clues as to what it might be. I introduced myself, I asked questions, but got little response. Was this just a social call? She shared about a health concern she was facing and I prayed for her. Finally, I asked whether I might read a portion of Scripture with them. It was one of those times where you take a chance, not knowing how the person will respond or what God might do.
I missed the whole phenomenon of Duck Dynasty. I was out of the country when it made it’s splash on A&E. I’m not a huge fan of reality television and so I likely would have missed it anyway. And at this point, I’m not about to try and catch up. But I was touched by Kay Robertson’s honesty in recounting the struggles of her early marriage and how Jesus rescued her in the video by “I am Second”. There were three lessons that stood out to me.
I spent the day on Monday with our missionary to urban First Nations people. It was an incredible day of learning for me as I heard not only his personal story but his insights into how our society has failed the First Nations people, what can be done, and how people are finding help from abuse, addiction and prejudice. When he spoke on Sunday, a number of people expressed an interest in hearing more about his background and road to recovery. I wanted to try my best to share his story for those who didn’t get a chance to hear it.
I was twenty years old when I first raised the objection against Christianity, “If Jesus is the only way, what about all the people who have never heard?” I was pretty proud of my logic. And I think I half-believed that I was the first one to come up with the argument. ‘Had I single-handedly proven the inconsistency of a religion that spanned thousands of years and had duped hundreds of millions of followers?’ It felt like it at the time, but I eventually came to think otherwise. I now believe I had a number of things wrong. Let me explain.
One of Satan’s most successful strategies through the years has been to focus his energies not so much on making Christians deny the faith, but in convincing them that their faith is largely irrelevant. He loves for people to compartmentalize their faith so that Jesus is still Lord, while limiting His ‘area of expertise’ to some narrow fields of religion and morality. Whenever I have seen people come alive in their faith, it’s as they’ve seen how Jesus impacts all of their life: from family to finances to career and entertainment. When Alfonso began to live for God and see his skills as an auto mechanic as a gift from God, it revolutionized how he approached life.
