Have you ever experienced a crisis of faith (assuming you had faith in the first place)?
Maybe there was a time that you looked at yourself in the mirror and said, “How long are you going to believe this stuff? God sending His Son to earth, so that He can die and then come back to life, so that we can live forever?"
If this has happened to you, welcome to my world. It happens frequently to me. As a matter of fact (and allow me to be vulnerable here), one of my worst fears is that when I die and pass into the next world, I’ll go toward the light and say, “Jesus?!” only to be greeted by, “No, not Jesus. I’m Buddha!”
Seriously, though, I feel I know far too much for my own good. Scripture seems to contradict itself in a number of places. A council of humans decided which books would compose the Bible, hundreds of years after the books were written. Countless wars were started in the name of Christ, with Christians attacking Muslims, Catholics attacking Protestants, and Protestants attacking Catholics. All these things pose a realistic challenge to the faith I had as a child.
I have come to realize that I have not been alone in having doubts that Jesus rose from the dead. In fact, one of His own followers, Thomas, when told what had happened, skeptically remarked, “Unless I can see Him and touch Him, I will not believe.” This man, who was surrounded by eyewitness testimony, had so much trouble being convinced that the impossible had happened.
Soon, Jesus appeared to Thomas and said some of the most comforting words I have found in Scripture: “Blessed are those who have not seen, and still believe.” Those words summarize one of my deepest hopes—that someday I will see Him, and He will call me “Blessed,” because I believed something that makes absolutely no sense to me, outside the fact that everyone needs something to believe in.
So if you were to ask me if there is life after this one, I would tell you, “I don’t know.” I don’t know who gets to go to heaven and who does not. I don’t know how the world was made. I don’t even know if there is a God. I don’t know…but I believe.
Next week: Dan's Heresy #1: What really happened in the Garden of Eden!
3.21.2005
"A Season of Hope" by Dan
One particular trend I have noticed is the segment of society to which faith seems irrelevant. Within circles lacking solid economic or emotional stability, Christianity has not been well-represented. People within these contexts usually have trouble reconciling God’s goodness to the everyday problems which they cannot get past.
Unfortunately, Scripture never gives a comforting answer to the question, “How could a loving God allow this much evil?” If you so desire, you can explain it away by saying that we all sinned, and because sin is in the world, humanity must reap the consequences of this sin, even if it is not personally deserved. If you say this, you may be telling the truth, but you will never hear anyone respond, “Oh, I get it. I guess I’ll convert to Christianity now!”
Thanks to what Jesus has done, what Easter means to us, we can find comfort in the midst of this tragedy called life. Several feel that Christianity is good in theory, but in practice only works for segments of society which seem to be free from incredible pain. Hence, Christianity is seen as an upper-class, “white man’s” religion. However, I would like to point out that faith in Christ, in its pure sense, has the greatest promises for those who have nothing in which to place their hope.
Back in Jesus’ day, the people had plenty of expectations for Him. They expected Him to be a King, a ruler, someone to overthrow the government. They expected Him to give them power as a sovereign nation. They expected Him to heal them from sickness, and to entertain them with all His magic tricks. They expected everything from Him—everything, that is, except for Him to deliver them from their biggest problem.
As the Son of God, Jesus could have stayed comfortable and continued to reap all the benefits of being God. Instead, He chose to empty Himself of that status and become one of us. For all the people praying, “God, save me from this mess,” instead of taking the chaos out of their lives, He entered into the chaos and walked with them. Instead of simply removing the dirt from the world, He came down and washed the dirt off people’s feet. Instead of holding onto the fellowship He had with His Father since eternity, He chose to feel the pain of His people’s separation from the Father when He said, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?!?” Instead of simply removing sadness, disease, pain, and violence from the world, He subjected Himself to these elements. And, instead of preventing His people from dying, He Himself died the most horrific death, and then came back to prove that He was sovereign over even death.
This is what the Gospel, as well as Easter, is all about. For those who spend their existence wondering how a good God could allow His creation to go awry, He reaches down and gently says, “I know it is difficult to understand, and I cannot just make it go away. But I know exactly how it feels to hurt and wonder where God is. I understand what you are going through, and I am here for you. I will never leave you. I realize you are sad, but take courage; I have overcome. I have overcome the world. I have overcome the sadness, disease, and violence that make your life miserable. Most of all, I have overcome your deepest fear, death. I have overcome anything and everything that could possibly keep you from being with your Father. This is how much I love you.”
This is the Gospel, the “good news.” Jesus does not do what we often expect, and He does what we often do not expect. He allows the pain to stay in the world, but promises that no pain can ultimately destroy us. Instead of taking evil away, He redeems us from it. This season, celebrate this good news; and if you or a loved one has lost hope, may this good news be a rescuing hope.
*For further reading, see Mark 15:34; John 1:14;6:14-15, 26-55; 13;1-20; 16:16-22, 33; 1 Corinthians 15:20-29, 55-57; Philippians 2:5-11.
Unfortunately, Scripture never gives a comforting answer to the question, “How could a loving God allow this much evil?” If you so desire, you can explain it away by saying that we all sinned, and because sin is in the world, humanity must reap the consequences of this sin, even if it is not personally deserved. If you say this, you may be telling the truth, but you will never hear anyone respond, “Oh, I get it. I guess I’ll convert to Christianity now!”
Thanks to what Jesus has done, what Easter means to us, we can find comfort in the midst of this tragedy called life. Several feel that Christianity is good in theory, but in practice only works for segments of society which seem to be free from incredible pain. Hence, Christianity is seen as an upper-class, “white man’s” religion. However, I would like to point out that faith in Christ, in its pure sense, has the greatest promises for those who have nothing in which to place their hope.
Back in Jesus’ day, the people had plenty of expectations for Him. They expected Him to be a King, a ruler, someone to overthrow the government. They expected Him to give them power as a sovereign nation. They expected Him to heal them from sickness, and to entertain them with all His magic tricks. They expected everything from Him—everything, that is, except for Him to deliver them from their biggest problem.
As the Son of God, Jesus could have stayed comfortable and continued to reap all the benefits of being God. Instead, He chose to empty Himself of that status and become one of us. For all the people praying, “God, save me from this mess,” instead of taking the chaos out of their lives, He entered into the chaos and walked with them. Instead of simply removing the dirt from the world, He came down and washed the dirt off people’s feet. Instead of holding onto the fellowship He had with His Father since eternity, He chose to feel the pain of His people’s separation from the Father when He said, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?!?” Instead of simply removing sadness, disease, pain, and violence from the world, He subjected Himself to these elements. And, instead of preventing His people from dying, He Himself died the most horrific death, and then came back to prove that He was sovereign over even death.
This is what the Gospel, as well as Easter, is all about. For those who spend their existence wondering how a good God could allow His creation to go awry, He reaches down and gently says, “I know it is difficult to understand, and I cannot just make it go away. But I know exactly how it feels to hurt and wonder where God is. I understand what you are going through, and I am here for you. I will never leave you. I realize you are sad, but take courage; I have overcome. I have overcome the world. I have overcome the sadness, disease, and violence that make your life miserable. Most of all, I have overcome your deepest fear, death. I have overcome anything and everything that could possibly keep you from being with your Father. This is how much I love you.”
This is the Gospel, the “good news.” Jesus does not do what we often expect, and He does what we often do not expect. He allows the pain to stay in the world, but promises that no pain can ultimately destroy us. Instead of taking evil away, He redeems us from it. This season, celebrate this good news; and if you or a loved one has lost hope, may this good news be a rescuing hope.
*For further reading, see Mark 15:34; John 1:14;6:14-15, 26-55; 13;1-20; 16:16-22, 33; 1 Corinthians 15:20-29, 55-57; Philippians 2:5-11.
3.14.2005
Intro
Welcome, friends, family, strangers, and anyone else who has nothing better to do than surf the web and look at people's blogs! You have reached the blog of Dan and Tiffany Harrison. This page will contain a running history of our lives, as well as an open look into the minds of Dan and Tiff. This material is unrated, uncut, and unprecedented. Proceed at your own risk (that is, as soon as we get other material posted on here!). Enjoy!!!
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