[Video] Heaven Is For Real

By now many of you have heard of or maybe even seen the Christian-themed movie Heaven is for Real, but how do its claims match up with what the Bible says on the subject? Here's a video that will help answer that question.

For more information on this topic, go to the site "Is Heaven For Real?".

So what do you think? Do you agree or disagree with what the speaker said in the video? Share your views in the comment section below.

[Educational Links] Easter

I have decided to add a new feature to this blog. Instead of writing a full post, I will simply share some links on a certain topic. Enjoy.

Wikipedia has a surprisingly thorough history of Easter and the many ways in which it is observed.

The Wilstar website has more information regarding the various egg-related traditions.

The History Channel website also has a good overview of Easter, and a fun video that among other things explores how rabbits became associated with the holiday.

Finally, the allrecipes website has a collection of Easter-related recipes of varying levels of healthiness.

Do you have any other Easter-related information that you would like to share? Go ahead and share it in the comments section.

[Featured Post] Christ Entered Our Death Camp

In light of the Easter season being upon us, this week's featured post is "Christ Entered Our Death Camp" written by Lilianne Lopez, a regular contributor to the blog Sabbath School Net. Also since many of you may be more inclined to view religious movies during this period, be sure to check out the recent post on Christians in relation to Bible-themed movies "Whose Side Are We On".

If it had not happened, could we imagine a world in which God became a Man and lived among us? Although He could have come as a powerful and wealthy King, He chose to come as a newborn powerless and poor Baby. He lived like those around Him. He obeyed His parents and His government. He even allowed them to put Him to death.

Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com

We don’t know much about Jesus’ growing-up years … probably because it was much like everybody else’s who grew up at the same time. There was nothing that would make His childhood look different from the other children in Nazareth. He was a Jewish boy, from a Jewish family, in a Jewish village.

Then something startling happened. When He was twelve, in Jerusalem for His first Passover, He realized who He was. Think for a minute about how that moment of revelation must felt for Jesus. Can you imagine being twelve and finding out that you were the Creator of the planet that you were standing on and everything on it?

Even more mind-boggling though, is that after coming to that realization, Jesus went home with His earthly parents and continued to live, work beside, and obey them for the next 18 years. Our sinful, earthly minds rebel at the thought of being subject to anyone, especially someone we perceive as being somehow less important than we are. Yet Jesus knew He was God, and still obeyed His parents and lived as their Son.

From the time when Jesus and God the Father made the plan to redeem humanity, Jesus had been obedient to the laws that governed Him. Some people like to paint Jesus as a rebel, but if we look closely at His life, we realize that He never broke a rule He didn’t have to. In every way He lived the life of a devout Jewish baby, child, and man. His parents had Him circumcised just like every other Jewish boy. He didn’t eat any unclean meat. He kept all the Jewish feasts that pointed to Him as the Redeemer. He kept the Sabbath that pointed to Him as the Creator. He kept the Ten Commandments that He had written with His own finger.

In the stories of the mythological gods, all of them tried to “fly under the radar.” Most of them didn’t even attempt to live by the same rules that humans were expected to follow. Most of the mythological gods were immoral, jealous, and unprincipled beings, according to the stories written about them. They used whatever power they had to draw attention to themselves and to get what they wanted, no matter what it cost anyone else.

Jesus was different. He allowed Himself to be beaten and killed to save each one of us, even though He could have destroyed those who were mistreating Him.

Do you think you would be able to do what Jesus did, even on a smaller scale? Here’s the story of someone who did. His name was Witold Pilecki, a captain in the Polish army and a committed Christian. In September 1940, Pilecki did the unthinkable – he sneaked into Auschwitz!
Why would anybody sneak in to a Nazi death camp? Well, Pilecki was sure that very bad things were happening in that place and he wanted to get proof of what was going on. He could only get that information from the inside. So Pilecki came up with the plan. His superiors approved it and made sure he had a false ID card with a Jewish name. Then Pilecki went out and got himself arrested by the Nazis. He was sent to Auschwitz and tattooed as inmate number 4859.

Now, it wasn’t like Pilecki had nothing to lose, he had a wife and two kids. He said, “I bade farewell to everything I had known on this earth.”

Once inside the death camp, he didn’t go around telling people that he wasn’t Jewish and that he should be treated differently.

He “became just like any other prisoner—despised, beaten, and threatened with death. From inside the camp he wrote, ‘The game I was now playing at Auschwitz was dangerous…. In fact, I had gone far beyond what people in the real world would consider dangerous.’

“But beginning in 1941, prisoner number 4859 started working on his dangerous mission. He organized the inmates into resistance units, boosting morale and documenting the war crimes. Pilecki used couriers to smuggle out detailed reports on the atrocities. By 1942, he had also helped organize a secret radio station using scrap parts. The information he supplied from inside the camp provided Western allies with key intelligence information about Auschwitz.

“In the spring of 1943, Pilecki joined the camp bakery where he was able to overpower a guard and escape. Once free, he finished his report, estimating that around 2 million souls had been killed at Auschwitz. When the reports reached London, officials thought he was exaggerating. Of course today we know he was right.

“Here’s how a contemporary Jewish journal summarized Pilecki’s life: ‘Once he set his mind to the good, he never wavered, never stopped. He crossed the great human divide that separates knowing the right thing from doing the right thing.’ In his report Pilecki said, ‘There is always a difference between saying you will do something and actually doing it. A long time before, many years before, I had worked on myself in order to be able to fuse the two.’ The current Polish Ambassador to the U.S. described Pilecki as a ‘diamond among Poland’s heroes.’”¹

Mr. Pilecki was not Jewish and didn’t need to worry about what was going on in those camps. As far as he and his colleagues knew they were work camps. But Pilecki wasn’t satisfied to stand by and watch. He had spent his life working for freedom and eventually gave his life because he refused to give up the names of the people with whom he worked.

Jesus was not human and He didn’t need to worry about anything here on earth. We blew it – he could have just created another world and forgotten about us. But Jesus couldn’t stand by and watch, either. He and His Father made a plan and snuck Him into our sinful existence. And just like Pilecki, Jesus risked all. He risked failure and eternal loss.

“In stooping to take upon Himself humanity, Christ revealed a character the opposite of the character of Satan. But He stepped still lower in the path of humiliation. ‘Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.’ Philippians 2:8. As the high priest laid aside his gorgeous pontifical robes, and officiated in the white linen dress of the common priest, so Christ took the form of a servant, and offered sacrifice, Himself the priest, Himself the victim. ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.’ Isaiah 53:5.

“Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. ‘With His stripes we are healed.’”(E.G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 25)

1. Matt Woodley, managing editor, PreachingToday.com;  Rob Eshman, “The man who snuck into Auschwitz,” JewishJournal.com (12-5-12); Captain Witold Pileck, The Auschwitz Volunteer (Aquila Polonica, 2012) ↩

Prosperous Followers of a Humble God

Courtesy hellemanworld.blogspot.com

Although still far from the ideal, when it comes to living simple lives, the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and their Evangelical counterparts seem to be going in different directions.

An Early Contrast

A favorite story of mine from the Protestant Reformation talks about an anonymous painter who painted what could be considered an early form of a political cartoon. The painting made a comparison between the "Triumphal Entry" of Jesus and a papal procession. As many of you know the "Triumphal Entry" was the time when Jesus entered Jerusalem shortly before his crucifixion. At that time, Jesus rode in on a borrowed donkey wearing his relatively simple clothes while the people honored him by waving palm branches (from where we get the term "Palm Sunday"), and placing some of their clothes on the path in front of Him. Alongside this depiction, the painter showed a customary medieval papal procession with the many cardinals and bishops in their rich robes astride highly-adorned show horses surrounding the pope on a decorative cart wearing his tailor-made robe and golden triple-miter crown.

Papal Reforms

A lot has changed from those days when the papacy seemed quite content to show everyone how much riches and wealth it had acquired. With the installation of the newest pope, the papacy has taken a different tack in appealing to the masses. Much has been written regarding Pope Francis' aversion to pomp and extravagance, so I will not rehash the details other than to say he goes to great lengths to at least appear to be like one of us. The pope strives to apply this philosophy to all levels of Roman Catholic leadership, and led to the resignation of the infamous "Bishop of Bling", as well as an apology from an Atlanta, Georgia archbishop who built a $2.2 million Tudor-style mansion for himself. No such apologies will be coming from Evangelical leaders here in the United States. In fact, one would get quite the opposite response.

Proponents of Private Prosperity

In case you haven't already figured it out, I'm referring to proponent of the so called "Prosperity Gospel" or "Prosperity Theology". Wikipedia defines the belief in this way.

". . . a Christian religious doctrine that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will always increase one's material wealth. Based on non-traditional interpretations of the Bible, often with emphasis on the Book of Malachi, the doctrine views the Bible as a contract between God and humans: if humans have faith in God, he will deliver his promises of security and prosperity. Confessing these promises to be true is perceived as an act of faith, which God will honor."

What makes this even more interesting is that many of the major organizations that promote such theology are registered in the United States as a "church" which not only gives them tax-free status, but also frees them from any legal obligation to disclose how they use money that they receive. (This is compared to being registered as a "religious organization" which still allows them to be tax-free, but they would have to file an IRS Form 990 to disclose their financial information.) Some Christians went even further and formed the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (EFCA). Accreditation with the EFCA gives a church or non-profit an opportunity to be even more transparent because members are listed on its website. (In case you are wondering which organizations do what, you can view a list of the thirty leading religious broadcasters here.) Sadly the majority of these "churches" shun transparency which leaves many wondering what they have to hide, and which God they truly follow.

A Much Different Picture

More importantly, which God do we follow? The humble itinerant preacher who had no place to call home, or the God who supposedly states that we should get as much wealth on earth as we possibly can? Although we may shake our heads in disbelief at these examples of extravagance, do we secretly wish that we had more money and possessions? Do we strive to be comfortable or seek to sacrifice? If a painter were to paint a picture of our life in comparison to the lives of the majority of today's society, how would we compare?

Making Changes

Courtesy allthingsworkplace.com

Once you start the process of change, you may end up changing more than you originally intended.

Yesterday I read post on the Fast Company website entitled "The Proven Length of Every Tweet, Facebook Post, and Headline Online" took some of the information I found there and decided to make some changes to this blog.  I fully intended to only make a few changes, but one thing led to another and I ended up making a lot of changes. Here are some that might interest you.

• A "Translate" feature located on the right above the book list that will translate the blog into whatever language you want. (Now I know that it probably won't be a perfect translation, but it should help.)
• The "News Updates" feature should be easier to read (These news articles are automatically generated by Google based on the preselected phrases that you see there.)
• The "My Favorite Blogs" section is easier to read, and has more blogs listed there.
• A "Reactions" feature at the end of each post in which you can enter your reactions to that post. (If you would like some reactions added to that list, let me know.)

Are there any more changes you would like to see in this blog? Share your views in the comments section. 

Edit: The items in the right column have been rearranged.

Whose Side Are We On?

Courtesy unboxedwriters.com

Do Christians unintentionally do the devil's dirty work in promoting movies that tell lies about the character of God?

Have you ever had one of those moments in which it seems as though a topic you've been pondering for some time suddenly becomes clear? In case you're wondering what to call that moment, it's called an epiphany, and I had one recently in regards to Christianity's relationship to movies. Let me share with you the thought processes that led up it.

Negative Publicity

Many Christians made a big deal about the recently shown movie "Noah" and its apparent disregard for the biblical story of the same name. Not surprisingly, it ended up being the top movie by a large margin in terms of money generated for that weekend.  That last bit of news got me thinking as to if all the negative talk about that movie actually increased ticket sales somewhat as people wanted to see the source of all this controversy for themselves. I have heard that in Hollywood there is no such thing as negative publicity, and while we may never know for certain if that was true in this case, it did give me food for thought. However God can also be misrepresented in a different way, so to help round out the picture lets look at a movie which Christians viewed quite differently.

Son of a Different God

The movie "Son of God" based off of "The Bible" miniseries shown on the History Channel, depicts the story of Jesus Christ, and its creators apparently planned to have many people watch this because in some of it trailers display a number to call and purchase group tickets. This movie generated no negative publicity that I am aware of, and although it brought in much less money in its opening weekend ($25.6 million vs. $43.7 million) than "Noah" is still doing quite well for itself. The problem with "Son of God" comes from its creators going to the opposite extreme than those who put "Noah" together. One reviewer put it this way.

"If the producers only wished to film a good story, that would have been okay. After all, the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ really make a wonderful narrative, made all the more wonderful because it is true. But the producers have declared their wish that the movie and the miniseries would reach many people with the Word of God. Films can do that, and—while I hope this one does—I fear that biblically illiterate viewers will see nothing in the movie to help them understand how Jesus’s death should benefit them. Though grossing well at the box office, it remains nothing more than a fairly incomplete depiction of Christ as a happy smiling wandering miracle worker that made some downtrodden people feel good about themselves."

Smear Campaign

By emphasizing such extreme views of God and His teachings, many "biblically based" films lead many to adopt distorted views about God. It becomes so difficult to reconcile the extremes that many people simply choose the extreme that suits them best. God either becomes so vindictive that one cannot reason with Him, or so passive that one need not worry to disobey what He tells us to do. The devil is happy for us to believe either one of these lies because both fall under his smear campaign against God, and is even happier when God's professed followers do their best to spread these lies to all their friends and family.

The Christian's Response

So how should Christians deal with such movies? We cannot simply bury our heads in the sand and pretend biblically incorrect movies don't exist (and they do generate some witnessing opportunities), but at the same time we shouldn't spend so much of our time and energy on these films that we don't have the time or energy to devote to worthier causes. So next time a professedly Christian film starts generating some buzz, be careful that the cause you promote is of heavenly, and not diabolical, origins.

What do you think of this viewpoint? Be sure to share your views in the comment section.

[Video] How to Wake up Feeling Great

Sleep is important.  Here is a short video that will help you wake up feeling refreshed.



Have you heard of this method before? Do you have any other helpful hints regarding sleep? Be sure to leave a comment in the comment section.

[Featured Post] Marriage is Not a Convenience Store

This featured post comes from Dr. Kelly Flanagan's blog Untangled.  Enjoy.

What do an all-inclusive resort, a mobile device, a phone company, and marriage all have in common? We have come to expect the same thing from all of them: one-stop, all-in-one convenience. 

Photo Credit: TheFutureIsUnwritten via Compfight cc

Last August, my wife and I attended a conference in Honolulu. The hotel had three restaurants, two bars, six gift shops, a convenience store, a business center, two pools, and beach access. You could fly to Hawaii and have a perfect vacation, without ever leaving your hotel.

All-inclusive convenience.

As consumers, we have come to expect this.

An iPhone is a one-stop shop in our pockets: phone, email, text, iPod, maps, news, personal calendar, family calendar, eBook reader(s), weather forecasts, Netflix and YouTube, and the list goes on and on.

All-in-one convenience.

As consumers, we have been trained to feel entitled to this.

In Chicago, AT&T bundles home phone, mobile phone, internet, and cable service. They recently added home security. I wonder when they’ll add babysitting to the bundle. I bet they’re beta testing it right now.

As consumers, we’ve been sold a lucrative lie called convenience, and it has infiltrated every aspect of our lives.

Including marriage.

Why Marriage is Ripping

In the last several decades, we have come to expect our marriages to serve an endless list of functions for us. We want our marriages to be the place we find romance and friendship and community and entertainment and security and self-esteem and direction and purpose and meaning.

Marriage has become life’s ultimate convenience store—an existential one-stop shop expected to meet all of our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs.

I think the biggest threat to marriage is this idealized, consumer-oriented, convenience store mentality we now bring to our wedding day.

Because when we act like we’re marrying a Walgreen’s instead of a person, marriage becomes an end unto itself. It becomes our one focus, our one purpose, and our one source of satisfaction. Our lives shrink as the expectations of our partner expand.

Many of us have put all our existential eggs in the marriage basket. And the basket is ripping beneath the strain of it. So then we compound the problem by spending all of our time trying to stitch the marriage back together, hoping it will hold all of our hopes and expectations again.

Maybe, instead, we need to spend some of our time finding other baskets.

Marriage is Not an All-Inclusive Hotel

I suppose it sounds like I’m recommending infidelity or lukewarm love or questionable commitment, but I’m not. I’m suggesting we will become more loving and more committed when we quit making marriage the only place we find purpose and meaning. 

Last August, we were with friends in Honolulu, and one of them got angry about the all-inclusive hotel and its plethora of services. He said it was the hotel’s way of tricking people into spending all their time and money there, discouraging guests from going out into the city and seeing the beautiful island.

He insisted on spending most of his time outside of the hotel, discovering new things. Then, after a day of exploring, he would return to the hotel to rest and recover.

I think that’s how marriage is supposed to work. It’s not supposed to be the one place we experience satisfaction in life. It’s supposed to be the place we return to—the safe place to recover—after we have ventured out into the world, to explore, to discover, to live. 

Marriage is the Hub of a Rebellion

What if we can’t find enduring purpose and meaning in marriage alone, because it’s simply not there to be found? What if purpose and meaning are found as we venture out into the world,

discovering we are strong enough to endure and good enough no matter what,

discovering a community or a cause that echoes the cry of our heart,

discovering how our gifts fit the needs of a broken world,

discovering how to love the unloveable (including ourselves),

discovering the grace that contains it all,

and discovering the courage to live all of it one day at a time.

Marriage is not an existential convenience store or an all-inclusive bundle of emotional services. Marriage is not the place we fight for good things—it’s the place we return to after we fight for good things, in ourselves and out in the world. It’s the place we return to:

to celebrate our victories,

to mourn our losses,

to lick our wounds,

to regain our strength,

and to be sent back out into the world again.

When lived in this way, our marriages become a celebration—a place of rejoicing and encouragement and support—and the hub of a rebellion against a world riddled with shame, meaninglessness, loneliness, despair and darkness. 

Two people living with that kind of purpose become a light no darkness can withstand. 

Last night, in the midst of a “family cleaning night,” I heard my daughter in her room, cleaning up and making up a silly song of her own: “By myself this is too hard, but together, we can do it. Together, we can do anything.”

Yes.

Marriage isn’t everything. But from within it, we can do anything.

What do you think about this view of marriage?  Leave your comments in the comment section.