The man on the island.

Once upon a time, I went to chapel. The guest speaker had shared a little anecdote and asked a question. "There is a man on an island in the middle of the Atlantic. He has never heard of God or Jesus, let alone the gospel. Let's say he were to die of natural causes. Would he wake up in heaven?" Half of the people in the room answered "yes" and the other half answered "no". How could there be such a split answer if every Christian reads the same Bible, believes in the same God, and accepts the same gospel? The speaker continued on with the anecdote. "Now here is a different scenario. The man is on the island. Billy Graham sails to the island, gets on land, and shares the gospel with the man. The obstinate man says 'No thank you. I don't want to follow this Jesus guy.' Billy Graham had did what he could, but the man just refused to believe him with every fiber of his being. So Billy sailed away. The man died of natural causes. Now would he wake up in heaven?" Everyone answered "no" in unison.

The guest speaker continued on with his sermon. He went on to answer the first question. Would the man on the island wake up in heaven? The guest speaker answered "no" and backed it up with Scripture. He made the following points about the man on the island:

1. The man must know that God exists because He reveals Himself through creation.         (Romans 1:19, Psalm 14:1, Psalms 19:1)
2. We know that he is a sinner because "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."  (Romans 1:21, Isaiah 53:6, Romans 3:23)
3. He is accountable for his sin. (Romans 6:23, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10, Isaiah 53:6)
4. He can be saved from his sins and given eternal life with Jesus.                                                     (John 14:1-6, Romans 10:13, Romans 3:20-24, Acts 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:5, John 3:16)
5. This causes us to be urgent with the gospel. (Romans 10:14-15, Acts 21:13, Philippians 1:21)

I am not necessarily disagreeing with the speaker's points. BUT, I whole-heartily disagree with how he answered the first question. I believe that he misused these points and took the verses (which I have listed) out of context. He used them to falsely say that the man on the island, in the first scenario, would not have a chance at waking up in heaven. This is where I believe he needs to rethink his answer because he sounds like a dumb dumb. Consider this: We do not choose the circumstances we are born into and God is just.

Every person is born into this world and every person must face death. This is a true fact of life. No one chooses where they are born, who their parents are, whether they are born into wealth or poverty, or the culture that surrounds their existence. The man on the island was meant to represent the unreached people groups of the world. The unreached people groups are the people who have never heard the gospel before. There are 6,505 of these groups in the world. It's one thing to be accountable for hearing it and rejecting it, as was the case with the second scenario in the anecdote. You were given a choice, and you decided your own fate. But for the person who never even had the chance to hear it. Never had the chance to accept it or reject it. THAT was not their decision. They did not choose to be born on that island any more than I chose to be born here in America. They did not choose to live a life of ignorance not knowing what their heart was missing any more than I chose to hear the gospel that I accepted because I knew what my heart had been longing for. This man on the island, these unreached people, cannot be condemned to eternal damnation solely because they were born into the most unfortunate circumstances of not being able to choose their own fate or where they would want to spend eternity.

This speaker had some major audacity to try and speak for God when he said that the man on the island would not wake up in heaven. God is just. He does not judge by human standards. I don't believe that God would eternally damn these people for their ignorance any more than he would eternally damn an innocent baby. Although Jesus is in fact the only way to heaven, the man on the island must be held accountable in a different way.  After all, anyone who reads the Bible should know about God's temperament. They should know that God is merciful. He loves us, ALL of His creation. Not just the people who were blessed to hear and accept the gospel. He loves those lost unreached people just as much as He loves us. I am not denouncing the importance of missions. These people should be given a choice, and that is where the vitality of missions comes in.

You, too, will try and answer whether or not the man on the island will wake up in heaven. Just remember this: he did not choose the be born into ignorance, and God is just.  

Ruth.

Before I went to sleep last night, I read the entire book of Ruth in the Bible. It's one of those smaller books in the Old Testament and is often skipped over or forgotten. As I was reading it, I knew I had read it about two years ago. This time it held some more significance though. The verses that stuck out to me most were Ruth 1:16-17. That's all I highlighted. This morning I went to Church. We sang Blessed Be Your Name. Then our Pastor opened up the alter to let people come up and pray about anything that was on their heart. I stayed in my seat because I didn't feel like I should go up. I don't have anything on my heart this morning that I'm ready to give up yet. So, after this our Pastor usually shares what we're reading from out of the Bible. He told everyone to turn to the book of Ruth. Then he read verses 1:16-17. Go figure. Pure coincidence? I think not!

But Ruth replied:
"Do not persuade me to leave you
or go back and not follow you.
For wherever you live, I will live;
your people will be my people,
and your God will be my God.
Where you die, I will die,
and there, I will be buried.
May the Lord do this to me,
and even more,
if anything but death separates you and me."

Ruth 1:16-17 

Here's a little background information about Ruth. Her mother-in-law is Naomi. Naomi's husband and sons die. During this time, there is a famine in the land. Naomi and Ruth are both widows. They decide to go back to the land of Judah where there is food. Ruth decides to stay with Naomi and take care of her mother-in-law. In the land of Judah, Ruth was considered a foreigner. She worked for a relative of Naomi's late husband. Ruth married him and was no longer a widow. Although she lived in destitution, she was redeemed because she made the sacrifice and followed Naomi and was faithful to God.

Naomi was so lost that she renamed herself Mara, which means "bitter". Her and Ruth had no family, no land, and no possessions. It would have been easy to stay mad about their circumstances and remain bitter.  She wasn't promised anything but followed her mother-in-law anyways and did the right thing. She didn't give up. Ruth put her hope in the Lord when she couldn't do it on her own. Everyone always has some sort of burden. No ones life is completely 100% stress free. It's too hard to try and deal with everything on your own. From personal experience, trying to do things on your own can lead to overwhelming stress that will make you sick. Look at Ruth's example. See how she didn't give up or be to independent, but relied on God.

One of the most popular things a Christian says to a fellow Christian during times of distress is "God won't give you more than you can handle." Honestly, I disagree with this. God NEVER said He wouldn't give you more than you can handle. When it rains, it pours. One bad thing happens after another and you get this rain-and-pour syndrome. What do YOU do when you have this syndrome? Do you fall to your knees and cry out to God? God will give you more than you can handle, but He will always provide a way of escape. When you're going through times of distress, He is there at the ready. He is waiting for you to cry out to Him in your time of need. He is always there watching over you. Even if you don't hear Him or see Him right away, that doesn't mean He will never come to your aid or that He isn't there. Because He is there. Waiting for you. I believe He gives you more than you can handle because when you can't deal with everything anymore, you look for a way of escape. Usually, that is when most people rely on God. Maybe He gives you more than you can handle so you realize that you don't need to do everything on your own. So when you're at the point where you think you can't take anymore, call on Him. What do you have to lose?

Tree 63 - Blessed Be Your Name

"They don't deserve it."

Today I was at chapel hoping to get something out of the speaker. I did. Way more than I thought. He shared the story of Joseph and how he was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. Long story short, Joseph had much power and authority over his brothers. He could have punished them or had them killed. Instead, he chose to forgive them. At the end of the service, the speaker asked everyone in the room to close their eyes. He said there were probably people in the room who needed to forgive other people. That there were people in the room who HATED another human being, and could not find it in their heart to forgive them. He asked those people to open their eyes and make eye contact with him. My eyes opened and I was the first person he acknowledged. He prayed for everyone, including me, who had met his eyes.

 Someone does the same thing over and over again. You forgive them even for the times they don't apologize or admit that they were wrong. They keep doing the very same thing that you forgave them for. You feel like it becomes redundant. It's too repetitive. It's like they use your forgiveness as a Get Out of Jail Free card for every time they mess up. They figure they can keep doing it because you'll forgive them anyways. In return, you stop forgiving them. After all, why forgive when it doesn't matter to them? You feel like they're not deserving of your forgiveness.

So, why forgive someone when they don't deserve it? Not forgiving other people is going to turn you into a bitter person. Anger and bitterness can turn a soft and warm heart into a callous heart of stone. It's so easy for someone without that bitterness to say "forgive others because God forgives you." It's a wonderful saying and I agree with it. How can you expect to be forgiven if you refuse to forgive others? You can't. It's not always that easy to forgive others though. It isn't as easy or simple as saying "I forgive you". You might want to forgive them. You repeat the phrase over and over again. Maybe if you repeat those words enough times then you'll delude yourself into thinking you truly forgave them. You might even think you did. But deep down you haven't let go. You still have that anger about what they did. If you still have that anger, then you didn't forgive them completely. On your own, you don't know HOW to forgive them.

Let me introduce a sweet little blessing called grace. Grace is "a free or unmerited gift or privilege bestowed by God, whose favour, or revealing of himself, cannot be earned or attained by human efforts." Did you notice the words in bold. Let me say that again: cannot be earned or attained by human efforts. True forgiveness can only come from God. It takes effort and faith and hope, even when you feel like you have none. You can't let go of all that pent up anger and bitterness on your own. It can be so hard to forgive someone. But keep in mind that it's not impossible.

I'll be open and admit I'm having a very difficult time forgiving someone. I have all of this pent up anger and bitterness towards them. I feel like forgiving them lets them off easy. Truthfully, not forgiving them has harmed me more than them.  I've tried forgiving them but I can't find it within myself to let go. That's because I've tried forgiving them on my own. There's too much anger for me to find forgiveness alone. I need God's grace to truly forgive them. There's no way around it. Oh the journey begins.

"³ So watch yourselves.

   “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. ⁴ Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” -Luke 17:3-4