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This afternoon I was making my normal scan of the internet when I came across a surprising blast from the past:

Does Organized Religion Hold Answers To The Problems Of The 21st Century?

That was a crazy night. At the reception afterward, a bunch of us from IV ended up in a serious discussion with Alan Dershowitz. He was quite surprised that we, as Christians, said that we would reject Christianity if we could be convinced that the claims of Christianity were false. His thesis is that:

Few of us choose religion. Most of us simply follow in the religion in which we were born.

Apparently he didn’t realize that, although most of us were born into Christian homes, there was a time when we had to evaluate the truth claims of Christianity and choose Christ for ourselves.

I used to believe in Soulmates—the concept that there is that one and only person out there who is your perfect complement, who could know you almost better than you know yourself, and whom you are destined to find and fall in love with. I don’t want to believe such nonsense anymore.

It is the Hollywood-sanctioned ideal. It is a hope that gives my life meaning. It is my idol—my false god. A treacherous god it is. It betrayed me. Oh, how I loathe it! And yet, there is still part of me that loves it—that wants to believe the lie that if I can just fine “The One” then life will be perfect forevermore.

What is most sinister about this idol is that it encourages me to measure my worth by the acceptance of some other person. As time marches on and no such acceptance is found, desire turns against me and breeds shame. “What’s wrong with me?” it leads me to ask myself.

Rather, I must recognize that my worth is entirely in Christ, and that it is he that satisfies me.

[ Just tonight I found the following bit of text, which I had written for the devotional on Jonah that I delivered during my mission trip this summer. I thought I'd share it with you all. ]

The sailors fear God because of the raw power of God exhibited in the storm and its sudden end following the casting away of Jonah. Perhaps they would say God is a vengeful god. As far as they knew, the storm indicated that God was angry at someone, and after sending the one responsible off to certain death, the calm indicated that God was satisfied.

But this is not the truth. This was no storm of vengeance. It was an instrument in God’s plan for Jonah. It is no coincidence that a random throw of the die indicated that Jonah was the one God was after. That too was an instrument in God’s plan for Jonah. The Lord God, who provides a great fish to save Jonah is a God of mercy—a God who uses a storm, a die, and a fish to bring Jonah to repentance and life.

As I was reading tonight for my Pastoral Theology class, I came across an excellent quote that stuck in my mind concerning the pastor’s need to rely on Christ.

Our whole work must be carried on under a deep sense of our own insufficiency, and of our entire dependence on Christ. We must go for light, and life, and strength to him who sends us on the work. And when we feel our own faith weak, and our hearts dull, and unsuitable to so great a work as we have to do, we must have recourse to him, and say, Lord, wilt thou send me with such an unbelieving heart to persuade others to believe? Must I daily plead with sinners about everlasting life and everlasting death, and have no more belief or feeling of these weighty things myself? O, send me not naked and unprovided to the work; but, as thou commandest me to do it, furnish me with a spirit suitable thereto. Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor