Home for the Holidays
December 31, 2023Pastor Patrick presented today's message, "Home for the Holidays." A video of the message is here (starting at about 12:10).
The message was a brief introduction to a new series starting next week: "What Everyone Wants to Know." The focus was on knowing (learning) what God's will for us is. From a personal point of view, are you on a path moving closer to God, or not.
It just so happened that later in the day I watched Prager's latest Fireside Chat. I don't often recommend watching specific Prager videos (I'd be doing it all the time), but this one was uniquely valuable. Watch it here.
The one (of many) very interesting things mentioned in this Chat was the acronym EGO. Edging God Out. When you let yourself be in control, that's exactly what happens. You're far better off edging your ego out making room for God and His instructions for each and every one of us.
I usually write the Bonus sections before Sunday each week. When the spirit moves me, so to speak, since the topics don't have to relate to the message. And this week was no exception. But as chance would have it, the pre-written Bonuses did have something to do with the message...
Asking if you've been Naughty or Nice is just about the same as asking if you've been good or bad. And both of those basically ask if you've been behaving like God wants us to behave, or not.
And the second Bonus, How to Pick a Religion, relates directly to Pastor Patrick's clear request to bring a friend to church next week. It's good for people to have a healthy religion. Moral clarity is essential to the survival of a democracy under a secular government. Per John Adams, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." If your friend happens to be religion-free, all the more reason to bring him with you. And maybe share the thoughts below on How to Pick a Religion.
The upcoming series should be fascinating. And I suspect there will be virtually no end to the tie-ins with Torah instruction and wisdom.
Jeremiah 29:11, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"
Happy New Year!
Bonus
Naughty or Nice
Naughty or Nice is a fun 2011 Christmas movie that ultimately makes you think a bit... About judging...The message really boils down to a quote from Krissy Kringle's mother, "There are two sides to every coin." Everybody is naughty. Everybody is nice. We're all mixtures.
You can't go around nailing everybody for their bad deeds, as Krissy finds out. It's not nice. So, the question becomes... How does one judge anyone else? How does God judge people?
As for how we judge each other, the scales of justice come to mind. Weighing the good against the weight of the bad. But how do you weigh any given factor? Weigh any given right or wrong deed against another? Which is the greater sin or the greater good? If you do a search on Biblical judging (or any form of the word), you'll get tons of answers including scripture references.
There's a scripture often misunderstood. Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, that you be not judged." I've dealt with this earlier, click here.
When we're evaluating each other, we really have only two sources: the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about a person; and what the Bible has said about good and evil. You can't judge a book by its cover, you have to have read it, all of it. This goes for the Naughty or Nice book as well. I'm speaking of the movie's idea of the Naughty or Nice book where both naughty AND nice deeds are recorded.
"Naughty AND nice deeds are recorded..." That sounds a bit like God's ultimate judgment. It's fairly clear to me that at that point we are in a spiritual realm where matter doesn't matter. Where you can't "stand" in front of anyone because there's no material part of you that can "stand" anywhere. Is it a mind meld? I have no idea. And neither do you. It really has mostly to do with faith and interpretation.
We do have some clues... The Bible, particularly the Torah, is quite masterful about laying out notions of right and wrong, and how people are to be judged. Justice is a key theme of the Torah. Ranking sins is also included, to some degree. For instance, there is but one unforgiveable sin: carrying God's name in vain (from the Ten Commandments). It's also clear that the Ten Commandments as a group stand out as very important.
It's surprising how many Old Testament laws are restated in the New Testament. Take for example, this admonition: Leviticus 19:14, "Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord." Then in Romans 14:13b, "make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister." If you're curious about the 613 laws of the Torah, they're listed here.
Bonus2
How to Pick a Religion
I stumbled onto an archived hour of the Dennis Prager show on the topic of "How to Pick a Religion" from 2006. He and his listeners offered some input. And I hope you find my notes from that show interesting either for yourself or for someone you know who's interested. Dennis and his callers made these suggestions...
1. Start by studying and trying the religion of your family. Unless you've used your God-given mind and intellectually rejected that religion as an adult, this is a good place to start. If it works out, the value of sharing the religion with your family is immense.
2. Use your mind (that God-given intellect of yours). Study and learn about the religion as you would prep for a job or a marriage partner.
3. Don't expect any religion to be 100% ideal or that you'll agree 100% with the tenets. You're likely to disagree on some tenet here and there. Look for the big picture. Look at the practitioners of the religion. They are the fruit of it and studying them will tell you much.
4. Don't take your whole life to make a choice. You'll want the religion to have a positive effect for as much of your life as possible. If push comes to shove, make the relatively better choice and don't worry about the perfect choice (there likely isn't a perfect choice).
5. Look for a religion that elevates you. It should draw you closer to God. Does it make you more holy, that is, does it move you toward God on the God-Man spectrum.
6. Understand that there is no hope in the God-less (secular) arena.
7. Understand that there are many ways (religions) to touch the God of the Ten Commandments.
8. Read C. S. Lewis.
9. Some have found success merging religions. They talked a bit about Jew-Boos (Judaism and Buddhism). Success in this arena is rare, however.
10. The search can be dangerous in that the wrong choice can be harmful. It's not unlike the search for a political party which is also fraught with danger.
11. Meet the teachers of the religion in question. Get to know them. Be around holy people.
12. Look for religions trying to make good people, not necessarily saints.