Counting The Cost

Random thoughts on walking with Jesus in this turvy-topsy world

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You!

I know I have written about a bajillion posts on the DaVinci Code and probably no one wants to read one more. But...I saw a preview for the movie today and its tagline was "Seek the Truth". Which is hilarious considering that truly seeking the truth is exactly the opposite of what the DaVinci Code stands for. Not only does it get almost every historical fact wrong but it completely misrepresents Christianity and the Lord Jesus Christ. That, needless to say, bugs me. So, I went to good old Christianity Today website and I have posted links to their DaVinci Code page. It is full of articles and reviews about the book and the movie. Even better, it really encourages you to "seek the truth" about Jesus and who He really was and is. One thing I really recommend is the "5 Big Questions About the DaVinci Code" handout. It's a free download of a one-page pdf file discussing the major themes of the DaVinci Code. I printed off copies to put around my campus. Like most secular campuses, I'm sure, there is a huge hunger for truth. Unfortunately, that usually takes the form of New Age spirituality, which I have seen completely destroy lives. So, anyway, check out the links and articles if you have time and keep on seeking the TRUTH.

Christianity Today Special Section - The Da Vinci Code

Has  the Da Vinci Code Undermined Christianity?

Engaging Da Vinci Code Disciples

posted by: Jrobbins at 15:55 | link | comments (1) |
davinci code

Looking for a Change

Like a Skin by Sara Groves

The butterfly can just look back,
Flap those wings and say “Oh, yeah!
I never have to be a worm again.”

The snake gets tired of being him;
He wriggles from that itchy skin,
Leaves it lying where he’s been and moves on.

I’ve been longing for something tangible,
Some kind of proof that there’s been change in me

Feels like I have been waking up
Only to fight with the same old stuff.
Change is slow and it fills me with such doubt.
Come on New Man where have you been?
Help me wriggle from this Self I’m in,
And leave it like a skin upon the ground. 

 

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature;

the old things passed away;

behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

posted by: Jrobbins at 18:46 | link | comments |
looking for a change

Why Christianity?

"No one would ever make up a religion like Christianity." -Chuck Colson

TOP TEN REASONS TO BELIEVE IN THE CHRISTIAN FAITH  

 

1.  The credibility of Its Founder (Our Lord Jesus Christ):  Peter spoke for Jesus' closest followers when He said, "Lord, to Whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.  And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." (John 6:68-69)  

 

2.  Reliability of Its Book:  The integrity of this historical and geographical Record is supported by archeology.  The Bible continues to speak not only with spiritual power but also with convincing prophetic accuracy.  

 

3.  Explanations for life:  It is the Christian faith that reflects a caring attention to detail so evident in the species and ecosystems of the natural world.  It is Christ Who clothed Himself in our humanity to feel what we feel and then to suffer and die in our place.  

 

4.  Its continuity with the past:  The Christian faith offers continuity with our deepest ancestral roots.  Those who trust Christ are accepting the same Creator and Lord worshiped by Adam, Abraham, and Solomon.  

 

5.  Its foundational claim:  The first Christians were witnesses.  They risked their lives to tell the world that with their own eyes they had seen an innocent Man die and then miraculously walk among them 3 days later.  

 

6.  Its power to change lives:  Not only were the first disciples dramatically changed but so were their worst enemies.  Paul was transformed from a killer of Christians into one of their chief advocates. (Galatians 1:11-24)  

 

7.  Its analysis of human nature:  The Bible says that society's real problems are problems of the heart.  In an age of information and technology, failures of character have scandalized institutions of the family, religion, and the arts.  

 

8.  Its view of human achievement:  Generation after generation has hoped for the best.  We have conceived technologies that will deliver us from the oppressive slavery of work.  Yet we are as close as ever to what the New Testament describes as the end times.  (Matthew 24:5-31)  

 

9.  Its impact on society:  From rooftops to necklaces to earrings, we see the sign of the cross, bearing visible witness to Christ's death. Social relief agencies have been fueled by the direct or residual values of The Bible. 

 

10.  Its offer of salvation:  No other faith offers everlasting life as a gift to those who trust the One Who has overcome death for them.  No other system offers assurance of forgiveness and adoption into the family of God.   

 

-- Author Unknown

posted by: Jrobbins at 14:07 | link | comments |
why christianity

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

“I purified my heart of the fear of men, and I learned to see God.”  

 

    Me Ling was young when she was arrested for her Christian activities in Communist China. During times of interrogation, the police would torture her to try to force her to betray friends in the underground church.

    At first Me Ling was extremely fearful, and she could not see the purpose that God had for her in that terrible place. But then she remembered the teachings of her pastor who had said, “Real suffering lasts only a minute, and then we spend eternity with our awesome Savior.”

    When asked how she was able to keep from going crazy during those terrible times, she replied, “When I closed my eyes, I could not see the angry faces of the men or the instruments of pain they were using. I kept repeating the promise of Christ to myself: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God’ (Matthew 5:8). I also found that when I purified my heart of the fear of men, I learned to really see God. I took courage from all the others who had gone before me and focused on him until everything else faded away. When the officials learned of my defense, they taped my eyelids open. But it was too late because my vision was secure.” 

We admire people whose professions require a great deal of concentration and focus. The skilled neurosurgeon, the Olympic athlete, and the corporate visionary share a common trait: They are focused. The discipline of focus transcends intelligence, athletic agility, or charisma. Without focus, these people would be merely smart, athletic, or interesting at best. Their ability to stay focused contributes greatly to their success. Developing an earthly focus can bring earthly success, but what about matters of eternity? If you are more focused on the temporary things of this world you will miss the goal. What can you do today to ensure you are focused on Christ and on spreading his good news?

(You can read more at www.persecution.net)

posted by: Jrobbins at 14:50 | link | comments |
perfect love casts out fear

How do YOU spell w-o-r-s-h-i-p?

Sacred Pathways: Loving God According to the Way He Made You by Gary Thomas  

 

Do you ever feel guilty because the traditional quiet time just doesn't cut it for you? Are you increasingly frustrated by a "one size fits all spirituality" that most definitely does not fit you? Don't despair! Scripture and the history of Christian tradition reveal a remarkable diversity of personal devotion. Here are nine spiritual pathways for you to consider as you seek to love God according to the way He's designed you.¹   

The Naturalist 

In Psalm 19:1, David extols nature's ability to awaken our cold hearts to God's warm presence: "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork" (NKJV). The apostle Paul spoke of a similar reality in Romans 1:20a when he wrote, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made." Both writers testify to the reality experienced by naturalists — being outdoors does something to awaken our hearts to God.  Most of God's appearances in Scripture occurred outside: Hagar in the desert, Jacob beside a river, and Moses on a mountain. In fact, the very picture of heaven on earth was the Garden of Eden — not a cathedral! Not a Starbucks. And certainly not a shopping mall. Adam and Eve enjoyed a close walk with God in a garden. Of course, others met God inside, in the holy of holies, but naturalists find more spiritual stimulation in a natural setting rather than in a cleverly crafted human one. If you find that you can't sit still at your desk without falling asleep, or that you're bored by trying to comb through devotional books while lying on your bed, consider getting outside and using nature to help you see and experience God's glory. 

 

The Sensate  

The best avenues for some believers to commune with God are the five senses: taste, touch, hearing, seeing, and even smelling. Just as naturalists are spiritually awakened while walking through a forest, so sensates become spiritually attuned when their senses are brought into play. Your most powerful spiritual aids might be majestic music, symbolic architecture, outstanding art, or the sensory experience of communion.  The books of Ezekiel and Revelation reveal a God who comes in a very sense-oriented way: There are loud sounds, flashing lights, even sweet tastes. God designed our bodies, so it shouldn't surprise us that he made them in such a way that what we experience through our bodies can awaken our hearts to His presence.  

 

The Traditionalist  

For you traditionalists, religion isn't a dirty word — it's an outgrowth of your relationship with God. You're designed to appreciate the role of ritual, which builds on the power of reinforced behavior. There is something profound for you in worshipping God according to set patterns — your own, or history's. You may organize your life around scheduled times of prayer, and may even choose to carefully observe the Christian calendar, aligning yourself with centuries of faith. According to Acts, both Peter and John had set times for prayer. And Paul followed the custom of praying by the riverside on the Sabbath. In addition to establishing rituals, you may choose to make good use of Christian symbols. We tend to quickly forget even convicting insights and soul-searing truth, but carefully chosen symbols help to remind us of those truths we want to live by. Types of symbols are limited only by your imagination. Some singles wear a purity ring; others wear a cross necklace. More sophisticated forms of symbolism include people decorating with colors that coincide with the Christian calendar: White is used on Easter and Christmas as a color of joy; purple is used for Lent, Holy Week and Advent; black symbolizes Good Friday. 

 

The Ascetic  

The best way to picture an ascetic is to think of a monk, or John the Baptist — someone who goes off on his own, in an austere environment, to get his spiritual batteries charged. You like to meet God internally; you don't want the distractions of a museum or a group meeting, as you prefer to shut out the world and meet God in solitude and austerity. Your preferred environment for personal worship is silence, without any noisy or colorful stimulants.  It's likely that you're part ascetic if you sense the need to have alone time on a regular basis. You may even prefer solitary retreats, or at least a quiet place with a rather orderly environment. You and your fellow ascetics are often advocates of all night prayer vigils and many of the classical disciplines, such as fasting and biblical meditation.  

 

The Activist  

Activists follow in the footsteps of Moses, Elijah and Habakkuk; you love to meet God in the vortex of confrontation. If you're an activist, you want to fight God's battles. Church is primarily a place to collect signatures and sign up volunteers for the "real work" of the Gospel that takes place outside the church building.  As an activist, you're one of the movers and shakers of the Christian community. You may have a political bent or adopt an evangelistic emphasis, but what marks you as an activist is that you feel most alive spiritually when you are in the midst of God's active work. That's when God seems most real, most immanent and most exciting.  

 

The Caregiver  

Caregivers love God by loving others. You're the Mordecais to the world's Esthers; the Dorcas's (Acts 10:36) to the local church. Providing care and meeting needs in Jesus' name spiritually energizes you, drawing you ever closer to the Lord. For you, caregiving isn't an obligation as much as it is a threshold to intimacy with God.  Caregiving extends well beyond nursing sick people to include fixing a widow's car, serving as a volunteer firefighter, or researching a cure for a disease. A caregiver is comforted by Jesus' words, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40, NIV). God seems nearest to you when you are looking at Him through the eyes of a sick child or hurting friend.  

 

The Enthusiast 

An enthusiast, walking in the footsteps of David, loves excitement and celebration; you probably buy far more worship CDs than books. Enthusiasts tend to be more relational, and therefore favor group worship. You feed off the excitement of other believers praising God.  As an enthusiast, you also revel in God's mystery and supernatural power. You like to take spiritual risks, and wake up hoping God will do something new and fresh. You don't want to just know scriptural concepts; you want to experience and be moved by them. Your exuberance tends to lead you to explore the livelier elements of worship, such as dancing, music, drawing, singing and other creative forms.  

 

The Intellectual  

You're an intellectual if your heart is awakened when you understand new concepts about God. Your mind is probably very active, with the result that new intellectual understanding literally births affection; it creates increased respect for your Creator, which leads to worship.  Intellectuals are usually the ones stressing Bible study as the mainstay of their devotion. But some of you, like the biblical Solomon, may also have curious minds in areas beyond the Bible — biology, astronomy, even physics. The more you understand about truth and God's universe, the more in awe of God — and therefore in love with Him — you become.  Just as the naturalist can't wait to get out of doors, the sensate is eager to visit the cathedral, and the ascetic scurries off into his inner world, so the intellectual seeks God in the pages of a book, the shelves of a library, or the vast ruminations of your mind.  

 

The Contemplative  

Contemplatives are marked by an emotional attachment and even abandonment to God. Like Mary who sat at Jesus' feet, you see yourself first and foremost as God's lover, and you want to spend your time in God's presence, adoring Him, listening to Him, and just enjoying Him. You resemble ascetics in that your passion for God often leads you into solitude, where you can sit still and enjoy being in God's presence. Your watchwords are desire and relationship, as affirmed by Jesus in John 15:15: "I no longer call you servants … Instead, I have called you friends."  As a contemplative, you enjoy doing the things that couples like to do: Demonstrating your love for God through secret acts of devotion, giving gifts to God like a poem, or offering an anonymous act of charity. You often favor the discipline of journal writing, where you can intensely explore your heart's devotion.  

 

Most of Us Are Blends  

Intellectuals want to understand new things about God; activists want to fight God's battles; enthusiasts want to experience God; naturalists want to meet God in nature; sensates want to see and touch things that remind them of God; traditionalists want to faithfully remember God; ascetics want to be alone with God; caregivers want to be God's hands and feet; contemplatives want to adore God and to know Him better.  Do you see yourself in any of the above categories? Please don't feel that you have to choose just one; most of us are blends, and many of us will move in and out of certain temperaments as we age. The important thing is not to find the right "label," but to understand how you best connect with God so that you can more deliberately and consciously cultivate an increasing affection for your Creator.  One caveat is in order, however. Every Christian, regardless of their temperament, needs to spend appropriate time being shaped by God's Word. Some of you might join group Bible studies, others of you may sit alone with your word dictionaries, concordances, and lexicons, and others of you might regularly listen to the Bible on tape — but interacting with the Word on a daily basis should be a given. The same goes for prayer and times of worshipful adoration. How and where you pray may differ; but every Christian is called to spend time with God.  The good news is that God crafted you with a specific design. You will certainly bear similarities to certain other believers, but you most celebrate the creative quality of God when you give yourself permission to seek His face in a way that honors His creative genius — beginning with your own spiritual makeup.

posted by: Jrobbins at 19:22 | link | comments |
sacred pathways to worship

Please Pray for North Korea This Week

Please Pray for North Korea This Week  

 

During North Korea Freedom Week April 22-30, Open Doors USA is partnering with North Korea Freedom Coalition members to focus on atrocities and raise up prayers. For Soon Ok Lee, a Christian survivor of political prison camps and author of "Eyes of the Tailless Animals," North Korea is the world's No. 1 "Evil Empire." Lee still bears physical scars from her prison camp experience where: "According to North Korean law... a criminal's seed must be scorched up to its third generation, [so] they abort the baby. If somehow the baby survives and is born, they strangle the baby by stepping on them in front of its own mother. I also witnessed many human experiments. They said it was pointless to test weapons and chemicals on animals because they were created to target their enemies - other human beings. I also saw many Christians in the camp... they were stepped on until death. If they didn't deny God, they were often times burned to death from boiling hot liquid metal. And these weren't rare sights for me. Because I went through many physical tortures... the right side of my face is still a little distorted, the left half of my mouth is crooked and the whole left half of my teeth were crushed. I live with a lot of physical pain on my body and it's difficult to get through each day. But there are still many people going through tortures and human experiments even at this very moment." Lee says we as Christians need to speak out about these abuses. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) adds: "In North Korea, we hear reports of religious believers being tortured, imprisoned and even executed for their beliefs." Pray for the physical, mental, and spiritual condition of the 200,000 prisoners who are being detained, tortured, and experimented on in North Korea’s Stalin-style prison camps; pray for their release. Pray that God will use the testimony of Christian prisoners suffering alongside their fellow North Korean inmates to fill those dark camps with the light of Christ and redeem the lost. 

 

 

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms…Pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, always be alert and always keep on praying...”

- Ephesians 6:12, 18

posted by: Jrobbins at 14:59 | link | comments |
pray for north korea

Take a Stand

"They tell us that it is heresy to suggest the superiority of some value, fantasy to believe in moral argument, slavery to submit to a judgment sounder than your own. The freedom of our day is the freedom to devote ourselves to any values we please, on the mere condition that we do not believe them to be true."   -Anonymous

 

"In the world it is called tolerance but in hell it is called despair. The sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, enjoys nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing but remains alive because there is nothing which it would die for."-Dorothy L. Sayers

"A man is not a man until he has found something worth dying for." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

posted by: Jrobbins at 21:15 | link | comments |
take a stand

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