Believe What You Will

"Believe what you will"?

I seem to remember saying this line years ago to somebody who was simply insisting that I was lying.  After giving up on the effort to convince a determined skeptic, you also might walk away saying, "Believe what you will."

Perhaps after God has revealed so much to mankind, through His Word, through nature's obvious declarations about Him, and most importantly, through our own struggling-to-breath consciences, and we still so often "call him a liar"; perhaps God will ultimately give up, saying "Believe what you will."

We can not believe whatever we want to believe.  Remember the song "I believe I can fly"?  Though well sung and powerful, R Kelly could not.  Of course he was speaking figuratively, but what about these lines from the same song?

If I can see it, then I can do it

If I just believe it, there's nothing to it

There are miracles in life I must achieve

But first I know it starts inside of me.

Maybe the truth does not make for good popular lyric, but like spinach, it's better for us than cotton candy.  The value of BELIEF comes from the correct application.  I might choose to believe that all dogs go to heaven, but is it true?  (Not going there, sorry)  I might like the idea that there is nothing after death, or that I will come back again as a great chess master, but an idea's comfort level is no match for its truth test.

Zig Ziglar said that "we believe what we tell ourselves".  Fair enough.  But do not take this to mean that whatever we tell ourselves is true!  This proverb is double edged and should give us motivation to be sure that, rather than tell ourselves mythical delights we face up and tell ourselves, and thus believe, the TRUTH.









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T is for THOMAS

[This is the MILLERWRITES contribution to the 2012 Blogging A to Z April Challenge  Here is my INTRODUCTION to this particular series, and an opportunity for you to influence which alphabetically aligned weird words I will comment on this month.  THANK YOU for stopping by!]


There are a lot of interesting T words in the introduction list aren't there?  Quite a few provocative themes that I could address.  So I have chosen THOMAS.  Call me chicken if you want to, but you know better than that.  I'll stick my neck out and take a stab at any topic generally.  But today you can call me 'lazy' if you must; I am so far behind on the A to Z challenge that here I am going to take a break.

But that's not to say I have nothing to say about THOMAS THE SCIENTIST!  What?  Did you think I was going to say THOMAS THE DOUBTER?  Well, I kind of did.  A good scientist doesn't believe anything (regarding his science, that is) unless it has been proven to him, or he has proven it himself.  THOMAS was simply like that.

Do you know the story I'm referring to?  After Jesus was crucified and buried, 10 of His remaining disciples were hanging out (hiding!) in the upper room, mourning, and trying to figure out what to do.  They had heard some rumors already that Jesus had risen, but were too shocked to believe it, or embrace the idea.  Suddenly Jesus appeared in the room, even though the door was locked!   Jesus showed them his pierced hands and side, and the 10 men were thrilled to see Him alive.  When they later told THOMAS about the visit, he did not believe it.  Thinking like an intellectual, and probably referring to what he had been told about the supposed visit, he said (in John 20:25b) “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”  I imagine that his emphasis was on the word " I ", because " they " had been given the chance to do just that.  I doubt (ooops; now I'm Michael the doubter!) they even wanted to probe Jesus' wounds for proof, but they had the advantage of a shared group experience: the encouragement that others were obviously seeing the same thing.

One week later, we are told, as the story continues in John 20, that Jesus came again when THOMAS was there and challenged THOMAS specifically to feel the wounds, and to "stop doubting and believe".

Poor old THOMAS should not be put down for doubting the mental stability of his buds (even the two who were probably his brothers, Mathew and James, one of which may have been a twin brother (THOMAS means 'twin')), but Jesus was perhaps a bit tough on THOMAS in the story.  Yes, we should be careful of what we believe in the natural world.  There must be evidence, if not absolute proof, behind the things we are told; and yet there are some things, some super-natural things, like a resurrected Jesus, that are just as real as blood and bone, and we would be fools to waste too much time doubting what we might know to be true.

THOMAS did believe, and made the powerful declaration his fellows had neglected:  Standing in that room, and without inspecting the wounds, THOMAS called Jesus "My Lord and my God."  Never to miss a teaching moment, Jesus made an important point.  Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”












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Merry Christmas! Or Not?

"Merry Christmas!"

You're offended?

But I'm wishing you a Merry Christmas?

Would you rather have a Rotten Christmas?

Christmas is here, and I wish that you would enjoy it.

You're not a Christian?

So, you're not going to live through the day with the rest of us?

If you're going to skip over the 25th, let me know and I'll wish you a Merry Day-After Christmas, or something.

If you would rather be less than merry on Christmas, then I will wish you get a flat tire in a blizzard.  Oh, but then you would apparently be pleased with the calamity and you'd end up merry anyway. And I don't want you to have a flat tire in a blizzard.  That would be awful!  Is it OK if I wish you a non flat-tire-in-a-blizzard Christmas? Cause that's essentially what I mean when I say Merry Christmas.  No flat tires, no accidents, no lost wallets or cell phones falling into toilets.  I hope your shovel doesn't break and your ham doesn't burn and your kids play nice.  I wish that you don't lose it with your spouse, or get drunk, or scream at that obnoxious uncle of yours.  I hope you don't go to bed with loneliness or wake up with a jerk.  May you have everything you need and be warm and well-fed.

Maybe you wish me a Happy Holiday.  Well, thank you!  I know our wishing stuff for each other doesn't really carry much power, but I certainly appreciate your kind intent.  Perhaps you will elaborate a bit.  If you think about it, what do you actually wish for me?

As a regular person who is also now a Christian, I simply want to share what I have found with you.  Like a debtor who has discovered an ever sprouting money tree and now has his bills all paid off, I wish to share my good news with you, and I hope you will come and take a good look at that tree for yourself.

Ultimately, I wish that your sins would be admitted, your guilt removed, your chosen-by-default destiny without God cancelled, and a joy that you've never known or imagined would be gained as you decide to be offended by your own rejection of God's gift and then, accept the redeeming work done by that little incarnation of God's perfect love that we recognize sleeping in the hay.  Wow!  That is one long sentence!  Can't I just say "Merry Christmas!?"