Head or heart?

I have an addictive personality. Just ask Mrs. X. If I like something, no matter what it is, I can really go off the deep end. I'm a grown man, but I entered adulthood in the years when computers and video games were just taking off. I love playing video games. My tastes have changed over the years but I could still play Ms. Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Mario Kart, FIFA 20xx, Zork...you name it, for hours. Literally. Arcade game? Pinball machine? PC? Console? Bring it.

Castle X from the ocean-side...

If not for my addictive personality, how else can you explain that - at my age - I put the time and effort required into building a castle in Minecrack that is three stories tall, surrounded by water, has a rooftop made completely of glass, has a boat dock, and can be seen for miles because of the Netherrack burning eternally atop its battlements? Do you have any idea how long it took me to dig, mine and build that sucker? I won't even discuss the cavernous, multi-level, underground complex I'm currently building that will eventually be connected - over a significant distance - by powered rail to the catacombs of Castle X (see above). Like I said, an addictive personality.

This is an addiction of the head. I would opine that the head is where most addictions reside. The Bible has (roughly) 95 verses that speak of wine or alcohol in one way or another. Many Christian denominations teach that believers should abstain from alcohol completely, others do not. Clearly, overuse of wine or strong drink is discouraged in the Bible. My guiding principle in this regard comes from Romans 14:21 -

It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother [and by extension, sister] stumbles.

I've pretty much put aside the drinking thing. As I suspect most folks who have addictive personalities will tell you, if someone likes the taste of alcohol or the effect it brings or the impression of good times it engenders, look out.

I believe there is one overriding principle the Bible teaches that covers just about everything, whether it is mentioned specifically by name or not: If something takes your heart away from God - in effect replaces God with something of this Earth - then that, my friend, is bad.

With all your heart?

Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:37, among other verses, tell us that we are to love God with all our hearts. Every time I read those verses I am convicted because I know there are compartments in my heart (and mind, and spirit...) that I have not let God into. I would hazard a guess that even the most devout believers might have a few sections in the picture above that are absent of God. But maybe not, maybe that's just me justifying my own weakness.

I know in my head that I need to allow God into every aspect of my life, but the mirror of my heart doesn't always reflect that. As Ferris Bueller said during his day off, "Life moves pretty fast..."

There are two parts to this heart discussion. There is part one: the belief part and part two: the life part. In order for us to love God with all of our hearts, we need first to believe in His redeeming plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. That is not a head decision but one of the heart. The Apostle Paul illustrates this perfectly in Romans 10:9. Based on the Bible a person cannot arbitrarily decide they are a Christian - a follower of Christ - they have to have a change of heart.

I'm not trying to back anyone into a doctrinal corner, far from it. I've read some Christian blogs recently that discuss the openness - or lack thereof - of today's churches. Our churches should be open and welcoming to all. A few verses on, in Romans 10:14, Paul hits on another truth, "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?"

If we expect our churches to be places where people can come and hear the truth of the Bible and places where, once having heard, can confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts, hadn't we better make sure that our church doors are wide open?

Not very welcoming...

If someone has decided in their head to give Christianity a try, they aren't Christians. Even if they are attending church regularly, serving the community, etc. there has not been a change of heart. I can make a head decision not to drink alcohol, but if I'm going to dedicate my life to Jesus and call myself a Christian, that has to come from my heart.

Once I've made that heart decision, I've got a whole bunch of other life decisions to make. And in my short time as a Christian, I've learned that it takes both the head and the heart to make those.

What do you think?

X

Believe it or not!

I grew up (mostly) in the USA. I remember mom always received the daily newspaper. Of course, I was only interested in the comics (and later the sports). One strip that always seemed to be in our paper was Ripley's Believe it or Not!

I'm not sure I'd put those bullet-resistant bottles to the test!

Later in life - in several iterations - Ripley's even became a TV show. 

Like bacon, Jack Palance makes everything better...

Robert Ripley's creation debuted in 1918 in the New York Globe and featured unusual sports facts. Later, Ripley expanded into all sorts of, well, unbelievable information.

But today's blog isn't a treatise on Ripley's Believe it or Not - except from the standpoint that Ripley challenged us to believe things that were, at the time, unbelievable.

I have recently begun an association with a publishing house that supplies access to free (temporary, and mostly electronic) copies of books. I can browse through their library of shiny, new novels and pick one to read. What's the catch? The catch is, I have to write a book review.

Spoiler alert! All my book reviews will also be blog entries!!

My debut novel - the one I'm reading first - is entitled The Scroll.

Click the link above to view/purchase your copy from Amazon!

This isn't the review blog so you'll just have to come back for that, but to give you a taste, here's the teaser line from Amazon:
One last dig. One final descent into the twisted tunnels of ancient Jerusalem. Will the truth be found among the treasures that lie beneath the holy city?

Suffice it to say, I'm having some fun reading this.

One of the story lines in the novel has the protagonist questioning his belief in the truth of the Bible; and he abandons his faith in God. As this is worked out on the pages, I began thinking about the greater context of that thought. That's how (and when) I started thinking about the concept and phraseology that Ripley employed to entice readers and later, viewers, to enjoy his tantalizing tales of the unknown, unusual and unbelievable.

These days, some folks put on and take off spirituality like a seasonal wardrobe. They try on one belief system and wear it for a time, then, when things don't go well or they don't get a good feeling from their faith, that belief system is dropped until another one catches their eye...and so on.

Alternately, you have folks who will not believe in anything unless they see hard evidence of its unquestionable existence. I bet Mr. Ripley could relate. Therein lies the crux - and quandary - of Christianity.

If I can ask you to take a single step of faith - to consider, even for a moment, that the books of the Bible are accurate. What would that mean? It would mean, for example, that the story of the Exodus is true. Sure, we may never know the exact details or perhaps even the exact route the Israelites took out of Egypt, although there has been some extremely interesting activity in this particular area for some time now. But that's all for another blog as well!

If we believe, or at least assume for the moment, that the events portrayed in the Bible are true, then that changes the entire paradigm of belief and yes, even faith.

Because with that one small step of faith, we can no longer deny God's existence because - for one thing - He tangibly appeared to the Hebrews as they fled Egypt:

The LORD went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. [Exodus 13:21]

The Israelites had real, live - right before my eyes - proof of God's existence. The pillars of fire and cloud, the parting of the sea, the crossing on dry land, manna, quail, water from the rock, and on and on and on throughout scripture. In the New Testament, there are several places where the Apostles strive to remind us; John and Paul both reiterate that they are not just making this up, that they have seen and touched Jesus with their own eyes and their own hands.

Modern folks tend to get all caught up in the details - dogma, apologetics, scientific evidence, etc. without considering the fact that we have a relatively simple choice: Believe it, or not!

Have you asked yourself what you believe, lately?

X