Deep Calling Deep 5: Why am I doing this?

Something I found very disturbing happened to someone I know a couple of months ago.  I consider this person a good friend, but he’s one of those people I see once every couple of months maybe.  However, when we do see each other, we click.  We laugh at the same jokes.  We play the same games.  We enjoy many of the same movies.  He’s one of the few people I truly enjoy being around.  Anyway, what shook me is that it was told to me a few months ago that this person has become an atheist after growing up in the church. 

One of the things that shook me is that I found his reasons to be completely and overwhelmingly illogical.  The essence of it is that he said he approves of homosexuality and porn, and since the bible says that God does not, he has decided that he cannot believe in God. 

Now, first of all, being the analyst that I am, this kind of statement, from anybody, disturbs me because it’s illogical, unscientific and flat-out stupid.  It’s an emotional reaction treated as if it’s a logical, rational conclusion.  This person has fallen into the same trap that we all fall into at some point in our lives and that is we approach the idea of who God is philosophically rather than scientifically. 

Now, what I mean by that is this.  Philosophy asks, “How do you feel about it?” while science asks, “What is it?”  The reality of the situation is this.  God, whoever He, She, They, It or the non-existence of said deity is, is who God is.  Nothing you, I or anybody else thinks, believes, says or acts upon can change that reality.  If Allah is God, then my believing in the salvation of Jesus Christ is absolutely pointless.  If Allah wants death to the infidel, then no matter how strongly I may disapprove, that’s irrelevant.  If Buddha was right, then the Islamists are completely messed up.  If life was seeded on this planet by aliens who were not created, but accidentally formed billions and billions of years ago, then that’s what happened and any idea of a supreme being is worthless.  If there's some sort of God we haven't figured out yet who's up there saying, "What do I care?  Do you what you want.  You were an unplanned pregnancy and it doesn't matter what you do, everybody's going to end up the same way." then nothing any of us does matters.  And if YHWH is the one true God and He sent His son Yeshua HaMaschiach, or Jesus the Messiah, and that’s the only way to reach Heaven and YHWH, then if you don’t accept Him you’re out of luck.  If YHWH is real and He says that homosexuality is wrong, then a vote okaying it by the board of Deacons isn't going to change anything.  It’s as simple as that.  Once we find the reality of who God is, we are forced to either live by His system, or actively rebel against Him, but at that point we can no longer deny Him. 

Now, with that in mind, on our hunt for God, the idea cannot be, “I’ll take a look at all the options and decide what suits me and my selfish desires the best.”  That’s idiocy at work.  That's us at our height of laziness, not our height of intellectual maturity.  It’s the equivalent of saying, “If I want 2 + 2 to equal 42, then so be it.  That’s what I like, and therefore I'm going to ignore mathematic principle and declare it to be so.”  You can say, believe and act upon that all you like, but the fact of the matter is you’re wrong.  No, the way we HAVE to approach God is this.  “I’m going to diligently search to find out what is, and once finding that I’m going to acknowledge it even if it doesn’t fit what I want to be.” 

Science, true scientific principle, does just that.  It acknowledges that something already exists and we just want to know what that is.  As a Christian, I’ve never had a problem with science.  I’ve had a problem with many scientists who are ignoring facts that displease them in an effort to support their own religious beliefs.  (It’s ironic that the  greatest religious nuts in the world today are atheistic scientists, but that’s another story.)  I am a believer in YHWH today partially because science, math, archeology, prophecy and logic, just to name a few, all back this up when taken in their purest form. 

But here’s the problem.  None of that really matters.  I could easily debate the so-called proofs that atheists present in their defense, but it wouldn’t do any good, because no matter how much atheists want to declare that their decision is purely a rational, scientific one, it’s not.  The intellectually public side of it is only there to comfort them by deceiving themselves into thinking they’re ok.  The real issue is that the issue itself is 100% self-gratifyingly emotional.  I said that I'm a believer in YHWH partially because of the factual evidence I can analyze.  The greater reason is because I've met Him.  YHWH is real and He's made Himself real to me.  He has filled my emotional void and He has proven to me that He loves me and is constantly working to make me better and draw me closer to Himself. 

 

The reason my friend’s decision shook me so much is that I realized I had taken his life in Christ for granted.  I had become something that disgusts me.  I had become publicly lukewarm.  I was not revealing Christ in my life.  I was not His ambassador.  I was not the set-apart prophet, priest and king that I was meant to be.  I was just one of the guys and that was all.  You see, my friend has rejected God because he’s got a hole in his heart like we all do, and that hole can only be filled by God.  Without it he’s incomplete and searching for what can fulfill him.  He was told that it was God, but he went to church and saw for himself how empty and hollow it is.  He was told that that emptiness was called discipline and dedication and it was just the way God wanted us to be.  He was told that there was life and power, but he never, ever saw it or experienced it, and he was told that that’s just the way it was. 

He was lied to and now he’s paying for it.  There is a way that seems right to a man that only leads to death.  My friend believes that he's seen that God is a dead end road, and so he's chose a path he believes will fulfill him, but it only leads to death.  And I, in my small way, was a part of that lie.  Because I haven’t sought God with everything I’ve got, connected with Him in a greater way each and every day, and then turned that love around and spread it through everybody I come into contact with, I essentially told my friend that God was really nothing special. 

Why am I involved in this comic?  It’s certainly not for the money or the fame.  It’s because I want to be more than I am now.  I want reach somebody on a level that includes logic and reason, but goes beyond them into something more real to each of our hearts.  I want Him to be my Lord and not just my Savior, and so I want to be faithful to what I believe he’s calling me to do and to stop acting like my journey’s been finished for a while now. 

If you consider yourself a member of the body of Christ, my challenge to you (and please keep in mind I'm yelling at me too) is to wake up.  We are NOT being what He meant for us to be in this day and age.  Where is the power?  Where are the miracles?  Where is the love?  Where is the passion?  Where is the personal sacrifice?  Why are we so focused on the physical pleasures of this world as if that's God's will for us?  Where is the search for who He truly is and letting absolutely nothing get in the way?  Where is the real fruit of changed lives?  God never told us to bring them to church.  God told us to go into the world and love them.  Where is the get up and go? 

If you consider yourself an agnostic at best, my hope and prayer for you is that you realize that every failure you’ve seen that you’ve attributed to God should actually be attributed to men.  He's perfect.  We're not.  I hope and pray that you’ll see and then you’ll experience His real love and power.  Only He can fill the void in your life.  And if in my life I have already come across your path, I wish to now give you my most sincere and heartfelt apology.  I was probably not revealing YHWH at the time.  Please forgive me, and please don’t hold that against Him.  Jesus has set us free.  Those whom He has set free are free indeed.  Please don’t look at the chains of religious duty that man has added and think that He did it. 

 

My friend never saw the life in God.  All he saw were the rules.  Some were God's.  Some were fabrications of man.  Yes, there are dos and don'ts, but the ones that belong to God are the dos and don'ts of a loving parent that sees what you can't comprehend and not the smashing blows of a tyrannical overlord.  This was meant to be a passionate, loving relationship and it can be if you want it.  The joy and life that He offers is far greater than any evil you're asked to avoid. 

There’s a real adventure to be had in the journey.  It’s anything but boring, and it’s definitely fulfilling.  Because God is spirit, it’s very difficult to see.  I hope in this comic we’re helping to reveal the tiniest fraction of what it is. 

 

Scott A Snyder

edgiscript3@yahoo.com

 

THE ARMOR OF GOD

A spiritual warrior in the armor of God! So, what is the armor of God anyway?

God's armor is not actual, physical armor. The Nazis are not looking for it in the desert. Although, there is a great story about a man named Simon who tried to buy the power of God. Maybe we'll explore that at a later time. The armor of God is not waiting somewhere to be found by an Indiana Jones type of character. But it is ready and available for you to put on and use.

God's armor was written about by the Apostle Paul (early church leader) in a letter to some people who lived in the city of Ephesus.  They were called Ephesians and their city was located in Asia Minor, what is now modern day Turkey. At the time of this writing Paul had been arrested for bringing a gentile into the Hebrew temple in Jerusalem, a capital offense, and was under the guard of roman soldiers. While in this circumstance Paul wrote that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:12 NIV) Interesting that Paul did not say that our struggle is against these roman dudes who are keeping me in prison. After all, they are flesh and blood.  Our struggle is of a spiritual nature and we need the right kind of armor.

Paul saw in the armor worn by the roman soldiers a metaphor for how christians can protect themselves in a spiritual struggle.  In his letter to the Ephesians Paul tells us to put on these things:

• TRUTH as a belt buckled at your waist
• RIGHTEOUSNESS as a breastplate
• READINESS THAT COMES FROM THE GOSPEL OF PEACE as shoes upon your feet
• FAITH as a shield
• SALVATION as a helmet
• THE WORD OF GOD as a sword

And while wearing this armor stay alert and pray.

So... are we to wear all this metaphorical armor so we can live boring lives, unchallenged by hardship, apart from a decaying world? Not so. We wear God's armor so that we may stand. We are called to much greater things. There is evil in the world around us - not people - spirits. We wear the armor of God so that we may bring the good news of new life through Christ to people who are all dead inside. And we do this while facing the opposition of spirits who want them to stay dead inside. Paul said it best when he wrote "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." (Ephesians 6:13 NIV)

So... what does it mean to put on truth as a belt buckled at your waist? I will look at that question in my next blog post.

Everett Paul Burris
spiritmancomics.com

Deep Calling Deep 4: YHWH, Ba'al and... now what?

This is a continuation of 2: YHWH, and 3: YHWH and Baal.  It’s a little long, but I wanted to wrap this up this time instead of extending it out in another couple of weeks.

Exodus 32: 4-6 (HRV) – “And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said: ‘This is your god, O Yisra’el (Israel), which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’  And when Aharon (Aaron) saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aharon made proclamation, and said: ‘To-morrow shall be a feast to YHWH.’ And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to make merry.”

Most of us are familiar with this story.  The children of Yisara’el were at the base of Mount Sinai waiting for Moshe to return.  He was taking too long and they were worried that he might never return.  Instead of waiting for the word of YHWH to be brought to them, they created their own image of who they thought God should be.  And when they worshipped at the feet of the golden calf, they worshipped… who?  I was raised with the impression that they were worshipping a false god, but that’s not entirely accurate.  If you would have asked the Yisra’elites, “Who is it that you’re worshipping?” they would have responded, “Why, we’re worshipping YHWH, the one true God.”  Their sin was not in worshipping a false god, it was in worshipping God falsely. 

What happened here?  Were they doing anything wrong in worshipping, making offerings, or making merry?  Of course not.  All of these things were commanded by YHWH for us to do, so what was wrong?  The children of Yisra’el grew impatient (always a bad sign) and fell back on the traditions of men that they learned in Egypt.

 

Literally they were worshipping a false god that they had created, but we need to understand that this was not their mindset.  The people made the claim that, “This is your god, O Yisra’el, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”  That was YHWH.  And if that’s not clear enough, Aharon makes the proclamation, “To-morrow shall be a feast to YHWH.”  They weren’t worshipping Ba’al or any other false god.  They were worshipping YHWH. 

So if their hearts were worshipping YHWH, the one true God, then why was YHWH God so upset?  Because in their disobedience (Yes, disobedience.  Moshe wasn't down from the mountain yet, but YHWH had already shouted down the ten commandments in Exodus 20) and impatience, they decided not to let YHWH define Himself, but instead defined who YHWH was according to their own desires.  They lifted the one true God up, but essentially made the proclamation that He was nothing like who He really was.  In their minds they were worshipping YHWH, but by doing it in the way that they had been taught by the Egyptians, the result was that they were worshipping a false god and they didn’t even know it.  They were making a public statement to the rest of the nation and the world that THIS is who God was and what He was like, and it was a lie. 

In 3: YHWH and Ba’al, I revealed that the word "ba'al" is an ancient Hebrew word meaning Lord.  With that in mind, let’s look at Jezebel and the prophets of Ba’al.  Were they worshipping the primary Phoenician false god, or were they worshipping a generic “lord” that they had created?  After researching this for myself, I can’t be one hundred percent certain either way, but it presents an interesting scenario if true.  And it’s possible that, to an extent, both were true.

The fact of the matter was that Jezebel very definitely wanted things done her way.  She wanted to act in a way that was displeasing to YHWH with no repercussions or guilt for doing so.  Sound familiar?  So she very definitely had the prophets of Ba’al under her command teaching and preaching her message.  It is possible that the prophets of Ba’al were the Hebrew religious leaders claiming to worship YHWH, the one true God, and not a blatantly false rip-off god.  They were probably leading the people according to the Torah as much as possible, but simply ignoring or rewriting bits that Jezebel didn't like, or intentionally mistranslating or misunderstanding scriptures to make them palatable.  They didn’t drop YHWH altogether.  They manipulated what He had given them to fit their own selfish desires.

Eliyah (Elijah) called them on it.  He differentiated between what they were doing and what YHWH wanted.  He knew the real voice of God and understood the twisted words of god that they were giving didn’t match.  He knew they were falsely worshipping YHWH by ignoring scriptures they didn’t want and adding scriptures that they did, and so, essentially, they were really worshipping themselves.  Were they doing this in obedience to a false god Ba'al, or were they worshipping a generic ba'al of their own design that was a twisted form of YHWH?  Either way, the results would have been the same.  Eliyah told them that they were worshipping a false god, and to prove it, following YHWH’s instructions, he challenged them to a contest.  The contest, the way we think about it, was, “Which one of our Gods is real?”  But could it have really been, “We both claim to be worshipping the same God.  Which one of us will He acknowledge as truly belonging to Him?”

We’re seeing this happen in the church today.  Most of us really are trying to worship the one true God, but because of deceptions in church doctrine, we’re not worshipping Him the way He commanded, and so we’re worshipping a god of, if not our own, then someone else’s design.  We’ve taken on the worship of Istar (Easter), Nimrod and Tammuz and have claimed that the pictures in that worship represent Jesus.  We’re worshipping a generic, prosperity-message, indistinct, false “Lord” that doesn’t get us into trouble at the local country club, but also doesn’t ignite a fire under our offering.  And like the Yisra’elites at the foot of Mount Sinai, if asked if we were worshipping a false god, we would claim that it’s simply not true.  “We’re worshipping Jesus Christ, the one true God,” we would say.  But what we fail to see is that what we’re truly chasing is not Him at all, at least in part.

The cool thing is that in God’s mercy, we don’t have to worship Him perfectly in order for Him to continue to woo and to guide us.  He knows we can’t. do it perfectly, but He does want us to desire and to continually seek that perfection.  We’re always to seek perfection and when confronted with the fact that we are currently in a lie, whether we entered that lie willingly or not, YHWH has told us that we need to turn from that lie and run back to Him.  I haven’t written any of this to attack people who aren't doing things correctly.  Believe me, I'm still chasing perfection and have not arrived yet either.  I’ve written this to attack the lie that is keeping people in a bondage of which they are unaware. 

 
Every one of us has lies that need to be stripped away, and I reiterate, please don’t believe that I think I’m above that.  We all need to ask ourselves in what ways we’re seeking YHWH, even when we don’t like where that path is headed, and in what ways we’re seeking another ba’al and altering YHWH’s path consciously or subconsciously because we like that pot of gold we find at the end of our own rainbow. 

YHWH is personal.  He wants you to know exactly who He is and exactly who He is not.  He wants a living, daily relationship with you.  He doesn’t want to hand you a list of duties and then order you out of His sight.  YHWH is jealous.  He loves you and wants your affection for Himself.  He doesn’t want your affection shared with other ba’als in the same way that you don’t want your spouse hitting on other people.  YHWH is truth.  Our own ba’als are just that.  Our own.  If you want YHWH, you’ve got to come to Him on His own terms and not according to your selfish demands.  If you just want a ba’al to convince your own guilty conscience that you’re ok and I’m ok in whatever sin we desire to jump into, then do whatever you want because there’s a ba’al at the end of every path you can possibly take.

My hope for you today is that you’re hungry for the only ba’al that can offer you true life and true love instead of the deception that is our own selfishness.

Scott

Edgiscript3@yahoo.com

BTS 8/6/13 - Shallow end of the pool

Hello again, campers. 

Not much to tell at the moment.  We're waiting for page 14 which should be coming pretty soon.  (I say that having been out of contact with Paul for about a week now so hopefully he's not working tons of overtime or something and yelling at me right now that page 14 isn't close to being done.) 

But since I don't really have any behind the scenes comic stuff to give you, and every other week I'm blogging about deeper stuff, I thought this would be a good time to go shallow.  How about going behind the scenes with me?  And remember, I'm keeping it shallow.

I love to watch football, but I've become so annoyed lately at the irate fan's "MY TEAM MUST WIN EVERY GAME OR MY LIFE IS MEANINGLESS" mentality that feeds the haters posts.  So I've kind of shortened my sports-attention-span.  I grew up an Iowa Hawkeye fan, but my wife is a Chicago Bears fan so I've been more caught up in that recently.  (Got to maintain marital bliss.)  Firing Lovie Smith was a lousy thing to do.  But, oh well, it's done.  We are different types of fans though.  I cheer for Minnesota, Michigan and all things Big Ten.  She, on the other hand, hopes Vikings, Lions and Packers go 3-13 every year splitting all of their home and away series with each other.

I'm a gamer.  I'm specifically a PS1/2/3 gamer for the most part.  I've played PC games here and there and used to own a Wii, but the PS has been my mainstay.  I'd have to say that the Uncharted series is my favorite if I was commanded to pick one, but the Ratchet and Clank series, Ultimate Alliance series, Jak & Daxter series, and Lego games are also up there among others.  The Kingdom Hearts series used to be up there and will be again once Kingdom Hearts III comes out for the PS4.

I love The Avengers.  It's so hard to pick a favorite movie because there are so many that deserve consideration for me, the LOTR movies, Spider-Man (all of them), and others, but I saw The Avengers 7 times in the theater, so I've got to fall back on that as my number 1 movie.  I like a lot of movies others consider duds.  Lilo & Stitch and Treasure Planet were considered box-office failures, but I own both.  I also own Spider-Man 3, X-Men 3, and I will own The Lone Ranger when it comes to DVD. 

I'm introverted, but I entered drama in high school in order to try to face that fear of being with people.  It worked.  I can now quote Shakespeare in front of a thousand people.  I still avoid talking with people face to face.  Oh well. 

I'm an analyst.  I study everything.  That also means it's very difficult to change my mind about something I care about because, if I care about it, I've probably studied it to death and the position I'm currently on is probably right.  (But not definitely.)  I saw a sign the other day that captures me pretty well.  It said, "I'm not arguing.  I'm merely explaining to you why I'm right."  This tends to give some people the false impression that I'm arrogant.  No, I just really, really, really know what I'm talking about.  2 + 2 = 4 period, end of discussion.  If you're trying to convince me otherwise, the only way you're not going to fail is by showing me logically and factually that I've actually been accidentally standing on the position that 2 + 2 = 13.  Show me how my process was faulty.  Don't scream at me and call me an idiot to try to belittle me into caving to your desire.  Those high school debate tactics only reveal to me that you're an ignorant bully. 

On the other hand, if I don't care about something, then advise me all you want.  I'll pretty much accept whatever you say since I'm never going to act on it anyway. 

Oh, oh, oh!  Portal and Portal 2 are awesome games for the PS3, but since they're puzzle games, I don't replay them very much.  Once a puzzle's solved, it's not nearly as fun the next time around.

I have a varied sense of humor.  Pretty much anything funny of any type makes me laugh.  American or British.  Modern or classic.  Witty banter or slapstick.  As long as it's not brutally abusive, I'm there.  My favorite wordplay comic routine of all time:  "Who's On First?" - Abbot and Costello.  2nd best:  "The Argument Sketch" - Monty Python. 

I home school my son for a wide variety of reasons.  A lot of people assume it's religious, and that's part of it, but I knew I was going to home school my child when I was in the 3rd grade.  I had an 11th grade reading level in the first grade and HATED school.  I felt smarter than the teachers.  It was dull and dreary and they were holding me back.  I read a statistic in the 3rd grade that said 90% of all students are not in the grade they should be, but they're being held back or pushed ahead to keep them with kids of their age.  That infuriated me and I wished I could study what I wanted at my own pace.  I decided then and there that my child would have that opportunity. 

I love quotes.  Being a writer, I suppose that doesn't surprise anybody.  I watch TV series on DVD, and then go back and pick out all my favorite quotes.  I currently have a "favorite quotes" list that's about 150 pages long and growing.  I've only been doing it for about a year.  A great quote can make you fall off your chair laughing or inspire you to become something greater.  The power of the word is amazing to me. 

Oh, that's about it for now.  Maybe in 2 weeks I'll get Paul to jump into the shallow end.  YOU HEAR THAT, PAUL?  YOU'VE BEEN CALLED OUT.  DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU!!!!  :)

Scott
edgiscript3@yahoo.com