The Weed of God

Someone offered me weed. I'm a curious soul. So I did some research on how weed works on the brain. In other words, I wanted to know why the product is so effective. I learned that it has to do with neurons, neurotransmitters, synapses, protein receptors, cannabinoid receptors, etc. I am not impressed with folks who smoke marijuana. I am thoroughly impressed with the brain so affected by it. It might be the most complex of creations. So I thought of the Creator.

Then I was flipping channels late one night and came across Bill Maher, the fool. He was in a discussion about God with some other foolish folks. And Maher said that faith was "a belief in nothing." He elaborated. He spouted with conviction that God cannot be proven. So faith in God is confidence in nothing. "Faith is nothing," he said. So Bill believes that the believers are the fools.

But faith is not nothing. Faith is something. It's the one and only something that will tie a person to their Creator redemptively. And, faith is rooted in visible evidence. Faith is reasonable. For example, it deduces that the complexity of the human brain did not evolve over hundreds of millions of years by chance. Faith has the sense to look around, consider the delicate functioning creation (including the brain), and reason back to the existence of a Life-Giver with a mind of His own (Ps 119; Ro 1; He 12).

Faith also looks inward, at conscience, and the innate moral code that exists across a world of various cultures. This is mostly what holds societies together. It's not the fear of governmental punishment, for example. It's the inward witness forbidding destructive behavior (Ro 2).

For the record, the Christian Scriptures, called the Bible, do not present faith as a leap into the darkness, but as the most sensible of conclusions, and a coming out into the light. A person cannot reason him or herself into trusting Christ alone as God the Son to cover all of his or her sins. That's saving faith, and it requires an act of God in which He opens the unbelieving heart and scatters the absurdity of self-reliance. But simple faith in one's Creator, that's just rational. It begins with what one can see and understands the visible as pointers to the Invisible. God has revealed Himself, generally in creation and conscience, but also savingly in Scripture and Jesus Christ.

New Discoveries via Fresh Exertion: Another Reason to Run (and/or Walk) in 2013

2012 has been, perhaps, the most unusual year of my small life. This is true concerning things that matter much, but also things that matter less. It is true of my inner man; but it also true of my outer man, to use the Apostle Paul's terminology (2 Co 4:16). One of the things that matters less, but does matter (1 Ti 4:8), is my running practice. Here, I want to commend running to you, and also commend walking, by a list of delights discovered during physical exertion, in these cases, while traveling in 2012. I'll count these down in reverse order.

5. Seneca, SC:  I am slow to list this at #5 because in some ways it is #1 (as are perhaps some of the other locations). The way this one is first is its demands, i.e. lots of long and/or steep hills, which I go out of my way to climb and descend. Three of the four other locations offer nothing like the foothills of SC in this regard. Loving hills is not only good for the body but also the mind. Climbing, then, grants a double dose of toughness and growth. But here I list the Seneca runs behind the others for a purely subjective reason associated with the theme of this post - discovery. The Seneca routes were all known to me. I have run them many times. The other routes were all first time excursions. Objectively, and normally, I put Seneca first. But today she places 5th. I ran here while visiting family for Thanksgiving. It was on this stay in Seneca that a friend introduced me to "Duck Dynasty."

4. Salisbury, MD: I left the hotel in Salisbury for a morning jaunt anticipating it being a road run. But a mile into the exercise I found myself on a dirt trail connected to a city park and the city zoo -- a pleasant surprise. I ran here while on a trip to attend my niece's baby shower cook out. Good times, except for the traffic citation I received on the drive home (I was charged with failure to yield to a stopped emergency vehicle).

3. Fairfield, CT: Like the run in Salisbury, I left the inn headed out for a refreshing strain of the body, seeing that I had spent most of the previous day driving. Fortunately, I discovered Old Post Road which led me through a beautiful old New England residential community. The houses were large and distinct. And I ran by a church building built of some sort of stone with which I am not familiar (seen at left). The church sign said the church was organized in 1639. It did not say when the building was constructed. But it looked to be the oldest church building that I have seen. I continue to be impressed with the skills of those who know how to construct beauty in a durable manner. This run came while on a trip to spend Christmas with my parents-n-law.

2. Greenville, SC: The route in Greenville, which I got to run 3 times, could easily be #1 on this short list. It certainly would be if my standard of measurement were uniqueness (in my own experience, of course). The route consists of a network of trails, mostly paved, that belong to a high-end neighborhood into which I was not invited, but was located only a mile from where I was staying. As a matter of fact, the signs marking the trail entrances told me that the trail was for residents only. I get that. The folks of that particular neighborhood do not want their trails over-populated or abused by those who have no investment in them. However, should not good things be enjoyed by those who appreciate them? So I read the warning signs and kept on running. I have never seen such a network in such a place. What a tremendous resource. The network ran throughout the woods all over the beautiful community, by fantastic houses and rushing river waters, along the backside of many immaculately landscaped yards, over bridges, and into a tiny park. It is a fantastic set-up. I asked the Lord if He might grant my family a house in that hood. Time will tell. I got to enjoy this splendor while visiting friends in SC on what I will call a vocationary expedition.

1. Andover, MA: The Merrimack River Trail gets first place today for a couple of reasons: 1 - the surprise factor, and 2 - sheer beauty. I left the Springhill Suites by Marriott expecting to run a previously eyed trail built into a large business park. But while standing outside waiting for my Garmin watch to link with a satellite, I noticed that in the direction going behind the hotel, the trail went into some woods. I love woods. So I went that way soon to come across the sign in the pic next to this paragraph. Behind the sign is a lake around which a dirt trail lays. On this particular morning, snow covered just about everything (I got the pic online. I don't run with a camera. So sorry, no snow in this shot). And in some places the lake was frozen on the surface. I also enjoyed many streams rushing into the lake, and the bridges that cross them. This was so much better than the paved route by the large business buildings. This was just me in the woods in an unknown place already beautiful, but made more so by snow and ice. This grand surprise was given to me on our trip home from our stay with my in-laws in Maine.

Other places I have enjoyed running this year include various cities in Virginia, North Carolina, and Maine. And I also regularly experience the benefits of walking. This is an option for the one who refuses to run but desires the perks of getting outside, as God intends. It's also a good way to pray, which is my use of it.

One of the fun things about a new run in a new place is not knowing what to expect. Another thing is not knowing the roads. In other words, it's good to remember how to get back to the hotel. The simplest way is to find a road and stay on it for half the distance you mean to run, then turn around and retrace your steps. I've done that. This can, however, make for much interference in the discovery arena. So I commend some degree of risk. It's good sometimes to "go out on a limb", as they say; because that's where the fruit is.

Merry New Year.

Two Seasonal Beauties

Get Wisdom -- Post 2

Proverbs -- Chapter 2

God is the supplier of real practical holiness (v1-8). He is the means and the end. He is the dispenser of transforming power, for both character and practice. This is why the writer of Hebrews, after preaching to himself and his readers on growing up spiritually, finishes by saying, "And this we will do, if God permits" (6:3).

Notice also the promises attached to the command to get wise -- all of the "if then" statements in the early part of Proverbs 2. God says that those who come to Him on His terms will "understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God" (v5); because it is "the LORD who gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding" (v6). There is more to true life-altering learning than diligent study. There is God, rewarding our right but flawed diligence with gifts eternal. The world has many Bible scholars who don't know the first thing about what the Bible means by what it says. They study and study for a lifetime but still can't see Jesus as God's sent Savior (cf Jn 5:37-42). Knowledge, apart from God's grace, makes a person arrogant, not holy (1 Co 8:1).

Related to this is the reality that apart from God's Word we know nothing rightly. That is, we know not the thing's connection to God and therefore know not it's true purpose. Since it is God that created all things and so gives them their proper meaning, we remain blind to the greater realities apart from God's written revelation. There are at least two ways for Christians to see the world: 1) As God's creation that He employs in His revelation as a thing happens to fit the lesson currently being taught. 2) As God's creation designed to be employed in eternally valuable lessons God is teaching. I believe the second understanding is the sound one. For example, when we see in the Scriptures that Jesus, by using children, teaches us how we come into His kingdom, I assume He designed children to teach that lesson, and not simply makes use of them secondarily (Mt 18:1-6). When the Apostle Paul wants us to understand the meaning of marriage he connects it to God's eternal purposes for the church (Ep 5:22-33). I take from this that God designed the marriage union to teach us about the union between Himself and His bride (Is 54:5). When Jesus wants to teach us not to worry He points us to the way birds feed and the way flowers grow (Mt 6:25-34). When He wants to teach us about how He cares for us He makes use of a flock of sheep and their shepherd (Jn 10). And of course the Old Testament is filled with particular designs with their full meanings known only much later when the New Testament is being penned -- things like the tabernacle, the temple, the sacrificial system, the priesthood, the Sabbath, the Law of Moses, feast days, particular characters (Melchizedek, for example), etc -- things which were only shadows and types and pointers to the coming Substance (Col 2:16-23; Ga 3; He 8-9).

I notice too in Proverbs 2 that God is shown to be active. He is storing up sound wisdom for the upright and shielding those with integrity and guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of His saints (v7-8). Deism is wrong. God is not passive. He's the most active of all beings. His activity is the foundation of all activity. Without it, there would be nothing else (Col 1:17; He 1:3). The second two-thirds of the chapter reveal His activity of preservation, deliverance, blessing, and judgment. Yes, God is busy; busy with us, among other things. What a wonderfully comforting thought. And His Son said that He would always be with us, even until the end of the age (Mt 28:20).

Good Things Mean God Is

Do not be deceived my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 

James 1:16-18

If you ask the Bible why we have good things, the answer is that God, who is good, gives them to us. Without the God of the Bible there would be nothing, let alone good somethings. If the world were random having evolved as the naturalists and evolutionists tell us, would there be so many good things? I  don't think so. I hypothesize that there would be only what is necessary for survival but nothing for joyfulness. The design would be radically different; or, I should say, because there would be no design there would be no goodness. Our bodies would work, but without taste buds. We could procreate, but without intimacy and orgasms. I imagine you see where I'm heading with this. If God is the source of all goodness, then a world without Him is not good.

In the verses above the good and perfect gift being described is the gift of salvation from sin and its effects and consequences. But James means for us to recognize God not only as the giver of redemption, but also the giver of every good gift and every perfect gift. This text came to mind this morning when I was preparing my second of three breakfasts -- a banana slathered with Peter Pan crunchy peanut butter. I thanked God for that food combination believing that wondrous concoction to be a good gift from my Heavenly Father. And He gave it to me to enjoy (1 Ti 6:17). Food is fuel. Our bodies are designed to run on the stuff. Isn't it a gift that we get to like the fuel, not just consume it? God could have given lots of fuels that all taste the same, and/or taste bad, and/or have no taste at all. But He did the good and generous thing -- He gave a variety, with different tastes, textures, smells, etc. That's good.

Consider the many good things you have and enjoy. And consider the perfect salvation He gives in His Son Jesus Christ. And know that God is.

When He opens His hand, we are filled with good things.

Ps 104:27-28

If Anything Is, God Is.

A couple of days back my four year old daughter said to my wife, "Mommy, tell me about God". They were not then in a conversation about God, or the Bible, or anything particular to that realm (though all things have to do with this realm). The question seemed to come out of nowhere as it broke through the common place activity of the hour. As Marian spoke to Tess about God, Tess asked to see God. Marian explained that God is an unseen Being, the invisible Reality. So of course the next question from my daughter was, "If God is invisible, then how do we know that He's real?" This question is asked by those who are 4, and 40, and 80. It is the same old question, and it is a question the Scriptures answer for us.

Romans 1, for example, says that knowledge of God is made plain to us because God has shown it to us (v19). The Apostle Paul goes on to say that God's invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made (are not invisible)(v20). The invisible Spirit who is God has revealed Himself in the visible creation. The evidence for God's existence is so "plain" and "clear" says Paul, that those who disbelieve in Him are "without excuse" (v20). Those who don't believe in the Creator God of the Bible are not stupid; they're blind, and they suppress the truth God has made plain (v18).

Let me put it this way, somewhat philosophically: If anything exists, God exists. I know this because I am not insane. Crazy maybe, but not insane. I know that something cannot come from nothing. Nothing is nothing. There is no thing in nothing. Nothing is non-existence. And nothing comes out of non-existence. So if anything exists, a creator exists. If anything is, a maker is. That's just basic reason. You and I know of nothing without a beginning (excluding God). We know of nothing without an origin. So for a person to argue that in the reality that we occupy, there is no God, is asinine. But it's beyond asinine, it's a form of insanity because she is arguing against all that we all already know -- that if there is a something, it has an origin, and that origin must be a self-sustaining one. One may argue that the God of the Bible is not that origin, but he can't rationally argue for no self-sustaining origin. If a thing exists, it has an origin, and there is a creator. For anything material to exist, there must be a non-caused first cause. There must be an independent, outside creation reality,  with the nature and power and will to create.

You need not believe in the God of the Bible to believe in this rationale. You only need be a living creature, and trace backward the existence of anything. At some point you reach the point where you run out of material causes, yet, the thing whose history you are tracing still exists. For example, I am holding a pen. I trace its origins back to the makers of the plastic and the ink and the metal, and to the hands that put it all together in a factory, and even to the materials of the earth drawn out to make the plastic and the ink, etc. But eventually I can go no farther in the material universe, yet the pen is still in my hand. How is that possible? God is.

At the end of the day as I examine reality, that God exists makes perfect sense, while an absence of God makes no sense. Whether you're tracing the history of a pen or of a person or of the universe as a whole, the same old questions arise and the same old answer satisfies -- God is.

Biblical faith is not blind faith, but the opposite. It's eyes wide open trust in a God that has gone to great lengths to make Himself known, even creating a universe, and sending His Son into it, so that we are all without excuse.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky displays His handiwork. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard -- Ps 19:1-3.

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him -- He 11:6.

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God" -- Ps 14:1a.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world -- He 1:1-2.

Farewell, for Now. . .

I'm done with blogging for a bit. I leave you with a few pics from a recent hiking trip in western VA. Enjoy God's earth from a mountain ridge. Grace & peace.

In Defense of Cats

O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures - Psalm 104:24.

In 2005 I took a group to the Nashville Passion Conference. While there I heard my favorite preacher John Piper speak briefly of his dislike for the smaller cats. He does like the larger ones - lions especially. Yet he has no good affection for the kind that make good pets. He said he does not expect to see them in heaven, due in part to their arrogance. So following the conference I sent him the note below. I doubt it ever made it to his desk.

I am a bit perplexed by men who do enjoy one kind of God's creatures but not others. I tend to think these men are insecure, in need of a dog to obey their every command, greet them at the door, and lick their faces so that these men feel better about themselves. Dogs are one of the more easily controlled beasts. That, I am sure, appeals to many men.

By the way, my cats do what I tell them. They come when they are called. They also show allegiance and affection, and are always glad when I come through the door. In addition, I have seen one of mine stand on our front steps to stare down three large dogs that wanted on our porch. My cat never flinched - but the dogs did. Cats, along with squirrels and monkeys, are also among earth's greatest athletes, which I admire. To appreciate cats well, you need to know how to relate them. They, like dogs, are pack animals. They thrive when the ranks are well established. And I'm the alpha pack member. They seem pretty happy about that, as my wife and daughter are when I live up to my God-given roles regarding them. This kind of biblical nourishing headship produces good affects upon them, and even upon the beasts for whom God is concerned (Ge 1:26-26; Ex 20:8-11; Pr 12:10; Je 12:1-4; Jon 4:11).

Hello Dr. Piper – I simply must say that your statement on cats at the recent Passion 05 conference was not accurate. I realize it was said in a good spirit of light-heartedness and that is how I received it. However, I have been thinking about it a little. Every reason you gave for disliking cats is a reason I prefer cats.

Cats are not arrogant. They simply don’t need you. Dogs (I have a big one – Deacon), for example, need you to show affection to them, and feed them. That might be why you can step on them and they simply say “thank you”. But cats are not so needy. If you determine not to pet your cat today he will be just fine. And if you determine not to feed him today, he’ll just go outside, tear the head off of a bird, and eat its entrails.

However, if you do determine to feed your cat today, he will still go outside and tear the head off of a bird. But he will not eat the entrails. He’ll take the carcass in his mouth, bring it inside the house and lay it at your feet. This is exactly what happened with my cat and my wife while I was away in Nashville listening to you preach. My wife Marian wakes up one morning to find a love gift at the foot of the bed. This sort of thing happens regularly (I have 3 cats). The cat doesn’t need to kill, he’s eaten. But he kills anyway – for you. Therefore I say the love of a cat is a purer love.

So maybe there will be little cats in heaven with the big lions. Maybe they point us to God by reminding us that He doesn’t need us either, but would certainly kill to make us happy.

See you at the Bethlehem Conference,