I AM REPOSTING THIS NOTE IN ORDER TO TEST MY BLOGS NEW CONNECTION TO FACEBOOK! IF YOU HAVEN"T READ IT ALREADY, ENJOY....
My favorite thing about blogging is that people that you care about, and that care about you, read these things, and start a discussion about them. These discussions spark a lot of thought and growth, and a lot of the conversations that arise are ones that you might never have had otherwise, since you don't get to talk to everyone on a regular basis, especially in our fast paced world. I had started a blog on another site, and no one ever read it, so I thought, why not Facebook? Everyone gets on Facebook. All the time. Not the ideal blogging format, but I would rather have more discussion than pretty formats, anyway, and since I am a nobody, I am not likely to get many of you to migrate to another site, say www.quidestverita.blogspot
That being said, I named my blog Quid Est Verita, which means "What is Truth?" Many of you will recognize it as the question asked by Pontius Pilate in response to Jesus' claim that he WAS the truth. While studying one day, I came to the realization that we have made Pilate out to be a villain all these years, when in actuality, I found myself to have more in common with him than I first realized....
Many of us want to believe there is a God, or that God cares about us, but with so many conflicting viewpoints and opinions to choose from, and so many paths that seem right, we find ourselves asking the same question as Pilate. Here was a man, a judge, a governor, who came to work just like every other day, not expecting to have the weight of the decision he was now faced with thrust upon him. This man Jesus claimed to be the Son of God in the flesh, and it was up to Pilate to decide whether or not to have him executed. The sacred and the religious had thrust themselves into his life, and he was not prepared to make such a decision, and honestly didn't want to be forced to.
So what does he do? The same thing you and I would have done in that situation; try to pass the buck. And when that didn't work, he washed his hands of it. He put it off on someone else and tried to remain neutral, so he could sleep better knowing that if the Son of God was killed, he would not have been the one to make the call. Being honest with myself, I think I would have done the same thing, and this scares me.
The biggest lie that we have been convinced of is that in the battle between the dark and the light, in the choice between God and Satan, or good and evil, that there is a third choice: we can remain neutral. This is not so, and many of the choices we put off or worse, the ones we think don't matter in the grand scheme of things, matter more than you can possibly imagine. In Luke 11:23, Jesus promises that "Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me." Paul says it different in Romans 6:16; "Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living."
There is no middle ground, there are no safe choices. If anything matters, everything matters, because everything is spiritual, and every choice spiritual in nature. Everything you purpose to do will either build up your soul or tear it down, and you risk going down in history not as a Judas, but as a Pilate; to betray Christ and his cause not through treachery, but through apathy.
I hope you will join me on these discussions. I am going to use them each week as a build-up to Tuesday night discussions at our house, but also as a way to share thoughts and get input from all my Facebook friends. I pray we can all journey and grow together in our faith. Also, I just tagged a bunch of people in this note, if you don't want me to tag you, discreetly let me know. I know everyone doesn't give a crap about these discussions...and if you weren't tagged and would like to join in, let me know as well...
That being said, I named my blog Quid Est Verita, which means "What is Truth?" Many of you will recognize it as the question asked by Pontius Pilate in response to Jesus' claim that he WAS the truth. While studying one day, I came to the realization that we have made Pilate out to be a villain all these years, when in actuality, I found myself to have more in common with him than I first realized....
Many of us want to believe there is a God, or that God cares about us, but with so many conflicting viewpoints and opinions to choose from, and so many paths that seem right, we find ourselves asking the same question as Pilate. Here was a man, a judge, a governor, who came to work just like every other day, not expecting to have the weight of the decision he was now faced with thrust upon him. This man Jesus claimed to be the Son of God in the flesh, and it was up to Pilate to decide whether or not to have him executed. The sacred and the religious had thrust themselves into his life, and he was not prepared to make such a decision, and honestly didn't want to be forced to.
So what does he do? The same thing you and I would have done in that situation; try to pass the buck. And when that didn't work, he washed his hands of it. He put it off on someone else and tried to remain neutral, so he could sleep better knowing that if the Son of God was killed, he would not have been the one to make the call. Being honest with myself, I think I would have done the same thing, and this scares me.
The biggest lie that we have been convinced of is that in the battle between the dark and the light, in the choice between God and Satan, or good and evil, that there is a third choice: we can remain neutral. This is not so, and many of the choices we put off or worse, the ones we think don't matter in the grand scheme of things, matter more than you can possibly imagine. In Luke 11:23, Jesus promises that "Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me." Paul says it different in Romans 6:16; "Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living."
There is no middle ground, there are no safe choices. If anything matters, everything matters, because everything is spiritual, and every choice spiritual in nature. Everything you purpose to do will either build up your soul or tear it down, and you risk going down in history not as a Judas, but as a Pilate; to betray Christ and his cause not through treachery, but through apathy.
I hope you will join me on these discussions. I am going to use them each week as a build-up to Tuesday night discussions at our house, but also as a way to share thoughts and get input from all my Facebook friends. I pray we can all journey and grow together in our faith. Also, I just tagged a bunch of people in this note, if you don't want me to tag you, discreetly let me know. I know everyone doesn't give a crap about these discussions...and if you weren't tagged and would like to join in, let me know as well...
No comments:
Post a Comment