Category Archives: Atheism, Belief, Perspective, Religion, Viewpoint

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The Saving of a Soul

Salvation of a soul is a topic of great spiritual meaning for all people. Yet it is little understood. To understand the gospel it takes a measure of belief, and it takes an even greater understanding of God Himself. Our soul is where the action takes place. One must acknowledge there is a soul in the human being. The soul is the part of us that understands concepts of right and wrong, love and hope, goodness and faith, spiritual and transcendent, of deeper meaning or devoid of meaning. For those who have journeyed into the spiritual realm and have an understanding of God, the soul and its condition is a critical consideration that means everything as we come to the end of life’s journey. It also has great meaning in our earthly days as to how we will live and whether we will follow the Savior.

As a people we are confronted with the cross upon which Jesus died.  Even though it sounds counter intuitive, the cross exemplifies life, not death. Without the cross there would be no soul-life and no Christ following, no faith-living and no anything in our spiritual journey. We are a needy people. Christ came to satisfy that need. The need was for cleansing of our sins, healing of our souls, redeeming of our soul-life, and the restoring of our lost and disconnected relationship with Father God. Parents often want good gifts for their children but that good gift may be something to be enjoyed in their future, something they cannot access now because of their immaturity. God, as well, through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, gave us the best gift possible to receive, by preparing a way for us to God through accessing His healing grace for our wounded and lost souls. The truth is, we didn’t know we were lost until the light of Jesus revealed the truth to us.

We learned that Christ is real, and He is the way to life and peace.

In a motel room in West Berlin, Germany after my senior year in high school, one of my friends made a spiritual transition from death to life. Let me explain. She did not have a relationship with God and her spirit side was not alive. One of my other friends shared her faith in Christ and what Christians believe. It was a little awkward and I did not expect her to understand. I was mistaken. Her soul was awakened. She opened her heart to the gift of God and placed her faith in Jesus Christ. She believed in His offer of salvation through believing and receiving God’s perfect plan of redemption. “Ye must be born again.” My friend was born again right then and there. Then she embraced newness of life.

It was a spiritual conversion.

Today she continues to glow and grow in God’s presence. Christ is alive in her soul. She and I keep connected through social media. It is sweet. I’ll never forget that night. There were three of us in my circle of Christian friends and her, tucked in a many-storied with pink exterior, circular motel with dark rooms. There was much rejoicing that night by all of us. I’m sure the angels sang. We went to Germany to compete in a music venue, but when we returned home we were sisters in Christ.

It begins with God.

God calls to us. He impresses our minds, hearts, and souls with thoughts of Him. Some resist these thoughts as intrusions messing with their plans and the way they want to live. More layers come in as God reveals Himself to the one with whom He desires close fellowship. God is persistent. He is intent on drawing the unbelieving person towards His being and His truth. The following story will serve to illustrate this process.

Last fall I had the privilege of listening to a man in his late thirties who my church was considering as a potential pastor. Before interviewing him on Skype, the Pastor Search Team viewed a video where this man talked about a former church ministry he co-led, which offered opportunities for the arts community to put on first class drama presentations. Their run lasted nine years. People of alternative lifestyles participated in these plays, and they often came to the prayer time before each practice, Although hesitant at first, they soon were offering their personal prayer concerns. Eventually some came to the church services. Their souls were being drawn by God to truth. But some in the church weren’t ready for this and resistance mounted. There was conflict because of this ministry. This pastor called himself a “big tent” Christian. He cared for and was comfortable with sharing his faith with all types of people, including other faith traditions. What made him that way, unafraid and passionate about his faith?

It was interesting.

When we interviewed him, he told us that he was adopted from Mexico into a family with no faith or religious leanings. Both parents were atheists. Religion was not discussed in their home. As an atheist, one of his delights was to trip up Christians because they could not defend their beliefs. He had no interest in Christianity or personal faith in Christ. One day he met a pretty highschooler who was a Christian. He could not dismantle nor weaken her arguments. She could defend and debate with the best of them. She could deflect his arguments with solid answers. This was different. He was curious. She asked if he would like to study the book of Matthew. That led to a couple of months of delving into the scriptures. For every answer there was another question. Then she told him he needed a bible of his own if they were to continue. So he purchased one. He began to read it. The gospels were fascinating. Soon after, it dawned on him that the person of Jesus Christ was exactly who the biblical narrative said He was. He knew it was true. Salvation came to him that day. He believed in the promise of salvation–accepted the grace of God into his life–and became a new creature in Christ. The next day he debated his atheist friends. They were stunned, shocked that he, an atheist, had become a Christian, a believer in Christ.

That is how God works.

God is in the soul-changing business. He is in the life-changing business. He is in the spiritual transforming business. God loves us so very much, more than we will ever comprehend. There are days when I sing they hymns and choruses and I’m aware of the tender blessings of God. Tears surface because of the great love that fills my heart for God. He is precious to me. Once we taste of Christ’s sweet offer of salvation, we realize part of being saved is an ongoing appreciation of God for what He has done by transforming our souls from death unto life. We are part of the resurrection story. We used to live without hope, now we live with hope. Our lives become a witness of Spirit-Life to people we meet as we speak life to them. Scripture says to work out your own salvation. Salvation is a starting point. We begin to grasp, believe, and accept as we embrace the truth of the greatest gift we will ever receive this side of heaven (glory). Salvation is when our soul transitions through belief in a holy God, when we sorrow for our sinful rebellious ways, and we embrace the mercy and grace of God as He forgives them of us. Our souls, through a divine transaction, become forgiven, clean, whole, and made righteous. We become one of God’s children as sheep who are loved by the Shepherd and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

Some see salvation as happening at one point in time and some see salvation as a process over the course of time. I believe it is both. Salvation of a soul begins with belief. We confess our unworthiness and gratefulness as we accept and believe in God’s saving grace. At that point we are spiritually transformed. From then on we are continually living within this salvation in an on-going way. We either believe in Christ and partake of the grace He offers or we disbelieve and choose not to believe. Some harden their hearts against belief in Him. They don’t want to believe and because they don’t want to, they won’t. Salvation takes belief and faith. Faith is necessary.

God is not willing that any should perish. He speaks in the silence, in the quiet times. Have you heard His quiet voice? Does it annoy you? Take stock. God is offering you a new start, with Him as your helper, to guide and grow you. You have nothing to fear. First, there must be belief in Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” It is a personal faith. Your choice. Choose wisely. God has provided a way.

There are many precious acts of faith the Christian will participate in i.e. baptism, holy communion of bread and the cup, and fellowship with a body of Christian believers. Daily prayer and bible study will open the door to knowing God. Christ purchased our salvation on the tree where He bled out on our behalf and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Then He said, “It is finished.” The Light of the world went out for three days. Next He resurrected into living life. Christ had completed the task for which He had come. Some day we will meet Him. What a glorious day that will be. Until then, we continue our faith journey as we draw from the living water Christ has given us. We become living water to other thirsty souls in need of “so great a salvation.”

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16, 17. NIV

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Christianity at Odds in a “Post-Truth” World

The viewpoint of the world towards historical tenants of Christian faith is rapidly changing in its beliefs. Anger is rising. Anger toward Christian belief with its commonly held core fundamentals and values is exploding in a variety of forms. On social media, the anger is rampant and venomous. Not only that, but Christians are raging at other Christians. You don’t have to look far to see this social trend. People are very connected to their feelings and opinions.

I spent the evening reading a variety of comments directed against Christians and Christianity. Writers said comments like, the teaching of original sin is abusive. The Nones are quite vocal and take Christians to the task. They have strong feelings and opinions. Some rage against Christian beliefs. Sad to say, some Christians rage back. A quiet, reasoned approach is disregarded or attacked. People do not want reason or explanations. Ugliness is surfacing. All stripes are delivering their hateful vendettas. In the mix are Christians-turned-atheists, former evangelists, former pastors, former theologians, and former home-schooled adults with claims of being victims in their childhoods when raised in conservative, religious homes. They are celebrating their freedom. Sometimes I wonder what that freedom looks like, yet they are excited and pumped by their new, religion-free lives.

Within Christian religious groups there also is a growing schism. Bible principles are morphing according to various interpretations (and by societal cultural shifts). Current views on morality and alternate life styles are dividing the church into two distinct camps. I read with interest the debate going on in the Catholic church about these things, especially with Pope Francis in the lead. I see a similar dynamic in Protestant churches. Many Christians have distanced themselves from the teachings related to the cross. Where is Christ in all of this? Much blood has been spilt because of the cross. Those who died as martyrs understood the importance of the cross.

What can we make of all the anger and labeling? We must look at the context. Social media makes it easier to vehemently attack others whose views differ from our own. It is easier to use strong rhetoric because of the anonymity factor…they don’t know the people they are attacking. People are more in-tune to their feelings and emotions and less in-tune to logic and truth. There is anger and there is resentment flying around like objects in a whirlwind, not caring whom it insults or whom it bashes. What is feeding this insanity?

As a Christian, I want to figure it out so there can be a correction, like a re-set button, a renewed vision for the work of God in a post-truth (2016, word of the year) world.

Some fault lies with a weakened sense of Christian identity. Christianity has failed to exhibit its relevancy by projecting a false image rather than a true Christ-following image. Not that the church can be truly relevant, because Christ said we are strangers in the world, but the church can be genuine, which has an understanding that says, the world is to be cared about, and that Christians are in the world but not of the world. Some of the error was through teaching religious form rather than substance. Form without substance is an empty shell…there is nothing in it.

For many, even in the church, science has been elevated into a position of being the known truth in conceptual awareness. It provides an explanation for life without a need or room for God’s holy, transforming, and spiritually rich, intervention. From a Christian perspective, science is able to prove the existence of God through intelligent design. Skeptics are less open to considering life from this perspective.

Our human self has a need for purpose and meaning. Religious or non-religious belief is a vehicle through which we form our meaningful connection to the universe. Purpose and meaning are derived from a greater sense of value, which finds its bearing in what is real and true. This is where we begin to search for a bigger understanding. It is also where we separate apart into several different tracks. It all centers around our reason for living. Truth is the cornerstone from which the foundation is built. If one believes the bible as the one, true Truth, it will provide a moral, holy and righteous way for living life. To those who believe this way, truth is an absolute. If one doesn’t, or rejects this way of thinking, another belief is believed as true and right.

The thing with genuine truth is that it cannot mutate. Truth consists of unchanging properties. For example, a lie will always be a lie even if you call it the truth. A lie cannot become not a lie, no matter how much you want to believe otherwise. Truth is not experiential or changeable in that there either is a God or there is not a God despite yours or my opinion about the matter. If God is real, it changes the conversation. If He is not real, then truth can be shaped into atheistic or agnostic belief and science accepted as its core belief. There is no moral compass when science is on the throne. All things become relative, not intrinsically right or wrong (which is still theoretical since an innate sense of fairness and right behavior will always rectify this belief.) Truth, which becomes relative, simply, cannot be truth. Truth is always true and cannot be altered.

I read the arguments on both sides of the belief spectrum. I love God so very much that it hurts me to see Him abused again by humans through curses, rejection and condemning language. Yet, I do comprehend what the Nones, the non-faithed, are saying in a big picture way. The church has given them lots of material to work with. These people do not see anything in most Christians or in Christianity that resonates with them. They see its inconsistencies and its failure to love as Christ loved. They don’t see enough of turning the other cheek or living like Christ lived…strong and true. Faith today, to some, seems irrelevant and unattractive, simplistic and out-of-touch, ignorant and unbelievable.

Christ would be a source of conflicted views if He were to walk with us today. He would challenge the church of its duplicity and mediocrity, and He would love the unlovely. He would hang out at Starbucks talking with Millenials, and He wouldn’t be intimidated or ashamed. He would understand the arguments and speak to them in ways that could be heard (by meeting their personal needs). Young people would respect Him, though many would disagree with His teachings.

I make no apology for my faith in Christ. But I cringe at the arrogance, pride, and words of condemnation found in the church. We need more people like Mother Teresa. She was real and relevant. I do want to say there are some faith communities who serve with tender hearts and a right spirit.

In a city near where I live, is a church that is salt and light in their community. They’re amazing, and I am in awe. They have adopted their community and put boots on the ground by getting out and loving them. They’ve hauled junk to the dump, cleaned litter, maintained homes for those kicking substances or the homeless. They’ve run day camps for the children, have a gym open for teens to keep them off the streets, and they offer food and clothing for those in need. They are first responders when there is a need. It is a poor community, and scary. But the mission is greater than their fear.

Like their example, it would be a good thing if those who call themselves Christian would begin walking like Jesus walked and less like the world walks, or, on the other hand, less like the Pharisees walked. Lives centered on Christ could reboot the church into becoming salt and light as it ministers to a spiritually-bereft hungry-for-meaning world.

I wish I could remove all the threads of anger and the common misconceptions that fuel lack of civility and social bashing in the name of religious belief or non-belief, but I can’t. But this I can do. I can be loving, kind and Christ-like to all including those who speak ill of me and my beliefs and those who say they are my enemies. I can be more like Christ and become less self-centered. That’s doing it God’s way.