Those of you, who are my friends in real life (i.e., not just through the virtual reality of the internet), know that my dad had a heart attack and passed away several years ago and that my mom had a stroke from the stress of my dad's passing. You also know that my mom's stoke caused her entire right side of her body to be paralyzed, because of which I've reduce my working hours to three days a week in order to take care of her.

On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, I work eight hours (during which a nursing tech takes care of my mom), and I watch my mom during the remaining sixteen hours. My mom's doctor appointments and therapy sessions are on Thursdays and Fridays. Saturdays, I do the shopping and other chores. Sundays, I watch my mom the whole day.

I had hoped that the Lord would have healed my mom by now but, for whatever reason, He has chosen to not do so despite my daily prayers for my mom's healing.

These past several years of twenty-four hour days are starting to take their toll and, these days, I'm starting to ask the Lord for reasons. It's especially tough since, before my mom's stroke, I had the opportunity to travel all over the world and now I'm confined within walls of my own home.

So each day, I cling to the opening verses from the Epistle of James.

James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

It got tougher, a couple of weeks ago when I contracted a very bad case of the flu. It sapped most of the energy from my mind as well as my body. Though exhausted from the flu, I still have the responsibility of taking care of my mom.

I just put my mom to bed and have a little bit of time to pray and contemplate. And in this moment of stillness, I once again receive a greater appreciation for the love of the Lord.

I love my mom and, for her, I chose to put my life on hold and care for her. However, I love my mom because she, first, loved me.

Yes, these are tough times, but what is my trial compared with the suffering of Christ? How much greater is His love for us that He was willing to endure the agony of dying on the cross for a world that didn't love Him?

Tonight, I received a small portion of His answer, but just a small portion.

Philippians 3:10-11
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

I've yet to fully understand the "power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering".

What I am thankful to God for: I'm thankful that I'm not rotting away in a Kyrgyz prison.

That's sort of a running joke for Thanksgiving ever since I returned home from Kyrgyzstan.

For those of you who haven't heard the story, I was arrested for illegal drug trafficking in Bishkek at the end of my summer in Kyrgyzstan.  I had no illegal drug, of course, much less was I trafficking anything.

Basically, this crooked cop was trying to shake me down for money.  Evidently, Americans are easy mark for this sort of scam.

Between each question concerning drugs, like "Where are you hiding the drug?", he would ask, "How much money do you have?" He was doing this while we were encircled by half a dozen other cops.

At one point, I decided to push pass the smallest guys and walk away. Amazingly, none of them tried to stop me.

But when I got to the curve where all the taxis were lined up, none of the drivers, with the exception of one, were willing to open their cab door. They had been watching the whole episode transpire and, with the exception of that one driver, nobody wanted to be involved.

When we were driving off, I asked the driver why he was willing to pick me up.

He said, "I saw what happened. God is with you."

I was thinking the same but I was doubtful that anyone would have recognized it as such much less an Uzbek Muslim man.  (Later on in our conversation, I found out that he's Uzbek.)

What of me do they desire
That Heaven and hell should conspire
To allow the evil one
To feed me a daily dose
Of hell's eternal fire.

Is it not enough that I gave Him my heart?
Must He give it to the evil one to tear apart?
Like some twisted autopsy
Performed, while I still am alive,
By some deranged René Descartes?

I beg for assurance that my faith is not in vain.
A word from heaven would be enough to sustain
What little hope that I have left
To ride out this torturous night
And see Heaven smiling once again.

I cling to the horizon waiting for the sun
For the hour when His will for me would be done
And He would be pleased that I endured.

My post concerning Halloween led to a discussion on Christmas and Saint Nicholas.  I was quite surprised to find out that many of my friends do not know who Saint Nicholas was.  Oh sure, they recognized him as the guy who secretly gave gifts during Christmas but all the other details were completely off their mark.  For instance, many thought that he was German.

Since my friends, who are usually knowledgeable of Christian issues, do not know who Saint Nicholas was, I am suspecting that it's probably true of the general public.  So, I decided to post what I know (and double checked with reference literature).

The historical Saint Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra (in modern day Turkey but at the time was a Greek city; the city was mentioned in Acts 27).  He lived during the 4th century.  Although he was the Bishop of Myra, he was born in Italy.

His parents were wealthy.  When his parents died and Nicholas received his inheritance, he gave it away to the poor.

During his lifetime, he was renowned for:

1) Defending the Christian faith; most particularly the intolerance of Arianism, a warped form Christian theology at the First Council of Nicaea

2) Intolerance of pagan religions and pagan artifacts; responsible for the destruction of several pagan temples including the Temple of Artemis.

3) Taking care of the poor

4) Defending the falsely accused


Many amazing deeds were attributed to him including rescuing sailors.

The most enduring is, of course, the secret giving of gifts.  Evidently, there was a poor man who had three daughters but was unable to afford a proper dowry for them.  In those days, it would have doomed them to not only remaining unmarried but would have to become prostitutes to support themselves.  So Nicholas, on the nights before each daughter came "of age", would anonomously throw a purse of gold coins into their house.  The first two times, he threw the purse through the window.  The third time, the father decided to lie in wait to discover their benefactor.  When Nicholas caught wind of the father's plan, he tossed the purse down the chimney, instead.

When the Asia Minor was invaded by Turks, at the beginning of the second millennium (long after Nicholas' death), Nicholas' remains were taken to a church in Germany.  The town was renamed Nikolausberg.

I've been encountering some very distressing sentiment from within the Body of Christ.  By no mean is the sentiment a majority opinion.  However, I've encountered it enough times within the past several weeks that I felt compelled to respond to it.  Often it is subtle but there has been times in which it was very overt.

Of what is it I am speaking?  It is the sentiment that non-believers (whether atheists or believers of other religions) are to be treated as our adversary.  The advocates, of this sentiment, were often engaged in a shouting match with non-believers.

That is, of course, very inappropriate.  Satan and his hosts of fallen angles are our enemies, not non-believers.  The non-believers are the battle grounds upon which our war, against the evil one, is waged.

The following is a prime example of this sentiment:

IF GOD DOES NOT EXIST,
THEN WHY SHOULD ANYONE TAKE IN REGARD TO ANY OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS?
WHY WOULD PRIMITIVE MAN, "IN HIS PRIMITIVE THINKING," THINK OF HAVING RULES OF RIGHT AND WRONG? ACCORDING TO SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT, SHOULDN'T THESE RANDOM THOUGHT BE A RANDOM BLAST OF ENERGY? ANYHOW, WHO TOLD PRIMITIVE MAN ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG?
WHO TOLD PRIMORDIAL SOUP ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG? HOW DID MONKEY-MAN'S INVENTIONS GO FROM A BASIC STICK TO RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY? THESE ARE SUCH SILLY QUESTIONS BUT I HAVE YET TO SEE AN EXPLANATION OF FACTS RATHER THAN SO RANDOM GUESS OF WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPEN.

IF ATHEISM IS SURE THEN WHY WOULD ANY ATHEIST FOLLOW THE RULES OF A CHRISTIANIZED STATE? WHY DO ATHEIST LISTEN AND REACT TO THE LAWS OF THE RELIGIOUS "KNOW NOTHINGS" OF THE PAST? IT IS PROVEN THAT "EVERY CULTURE OF THE PAST" HAD ITS OWN RELIGION BUT AMERICA WAS ONE OF THE FIRST TO SEPARATE CHURCH AND STATE. HOW TRAGIC. HERE ARE SOME KEY NOTES ON THE DUTIES OF THE ATHEIST.

1. ATHEISTS SHOULD GO OUT AND KILL OTHER PEOPLE!
THIS IS A RELIGIOUS RULE RIGHT? IT'S NOT THE ATHEISTIC WAY TO BELIEVE RELIGIONS. NEVER MIND IF THAT PERSON HAS LOVED ONES.

2. ATHEISTS SHOULD COMMIT ADULTERY!
AGAIN, ANOTHER RELIGIOUS RULE, BUT NOT ATHEISTIC TO HEED THIS WARNING.
WHO CARES IF YOU RUIN A FAMILY OF FOUR AND THE CHILDREN GETS TO SEE THEIR FATHER OR MOTHER ONLY ON THE WEEKENDS. JUST AS LONG AS YOU CAN SLEEP WITH YOUR BOSS RIGHT?

3. ATHEISTS SHOULD STEAL!
YEP, A RELIGIOUS RULE NOT TO DO SO, BUT ACCORDING TO ATHEISM, GOD DOESN'T EXIST. AS I SAID IN THE BEGINNING "IF GOD DOES NOT EXIST" THEN IT SHOULD BE OK TO GO TO A BANK AND TAKE EVERY CENT OF CURRENCY THEY HAVE. "IF GOD DOES NOT EXIST," THEN HIS WORDS DON'T EXIST.

IF YOU ARE AN ATHEIST THEN PERFORM YOUR DUTY AND STOP LISTENING TO THE WORDS OF MY GOD!

Here is my response.

I am a Christian but I can provide the atheist's counter to your argument.

The three rules that you mentioned (don't kill, don't commit adultery, don't steal) are part of the social contract: Do onto others as you would wish them do onto you.

It does not require God to tell us to do so for us to know that we need to do so in order for those of us who live within a society to co-exist peacefully.

An atheist would also remind you that Christianity does not have exclusive claim to the so-called Golden Rule.  You'll find the same ethic in religions ranging from polytheist religions like Hinduism and Buddhism to monotheist religions like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

What is the difference between all the religions is how one deals with the violation of the golden rule ethics.

At this point I'll put back on my Christian hat and remind you that the foundation of the Christian faith is

Romans 3:22-24
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

All of us are sinners. It is purely by the grace of God that we are saved. Before we were saved, all of us were in the same boat as the atheist, doomed to eternal damnation and unable to hear the word of God.  It is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that allow us to see the truth.

You can shout at atheists as loudly as you like and they would never hear you for they do not have the indwelling the Holy Spirit.  If you truly want to see them saved, I'd suggest that you do two things:

1) Get down on your knees and pray for their salvation.
2) Love them!  Love them as Jesus would them.


p.s., BTW, The commandment is not "Don't kill". The commandment is "Don't commit murder." There is a difference. Murder is unjustified killing. There are justified killing such as self defense, the defense of the innocent, etc.

Some one posted the following in one of the Christian discussion forums:

The Son of Sam killer (David Berkowitz) supposedly became saved in prison and has been exhibiting very good behavior. It is entirely possible that ol' Dave Berkowitz may join us in heaven with the Father, while his victims rot in hell. Unfair?

The person, who posted the above, answered it with:

yeah, a little.. unjust? no. Why? Because God can do whatever he wants. He's God.

I was not happy with this answer.  It leaves the reader with the impression that God is not fair and that the only reason that God is just is because He makes up the rules and He can bend the rules anyway He likes to accommodate His whim.

This perspective runs counter to the Christian faith.  The Christian doctrine is emphatic about the absolutism of God's standard.

The absolutism of God's standard is why there is the necessity of grace.

It is wrong to sin and the penalty of sin is death.  But all of us sin.  Because God loves us and doesn't want us to perish, He can either change His mind and say, it is no longer wrong to sin (change His standard) or He can give forgiveness to whoever sins and accepts His forgiveness (absolutism of His standard and grace).

God chose to maintain the absolutism of His standard and dispense grace by sending His Son, Jesus the Christ, to die, in our stead, for our sin.

So, how can God saving Berkowitz while condemning his victims (who did not accept God's forgivenes) be fair?

Jesus answered the question of fairness in the "Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard" (Mathew 20:1-15) in which the landowner goes out and hires workers with the promise to pay a denarius for the day. He hired workers at the beginning of the day and continues to hire workers throughout the day. At the end of the day, everyone was paid a denarius. When questioned about the fairness of the same wage for a disparate amount of work, the owner answered:

"Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"

In the case of the Lord dispensing grace, the agreement is that the Lord promised forgiveness to anyone who asks. It does not matter if someone "sinned greater" than others. If the Lord fulfills His promise, He is both just and fair. If someone is forgiven more than others, the Lord is being just, fair, and generous.

What would be unfair is if God saves someone who did not repent and/or did not ask for forgiveness.