Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 135

G. K. Chesterton on the Freedom of Seeing Beyond Yourself

I love this, from G. K. Chesterton:

How much happier you would be if you only knew that these people cared nothing about you!

How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it; if you could really look at other men with common curiosity and pleasure; if you could see them walking as they are in their sunny selfishness and their virile indifference!

You would begin to be interested in them because they were not interested in you.

You would break out of this tiny and tawdry theater in which your own little plot is always being played, and you would find yourself under a freer sky, in a street full of splendid strangers.

—G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (1908), chapter 2, “The Maniac”

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The Problem Isn’t Happiness, But Seeking It in the Wrong Places

Do we seek happiness because we’re sinners or because we’re human? Should faith in God be dragged forward by duty or propelled by delight?

Must we choose between holiness and happiness? Much of my time with my wife, Nanci, and our family and friends is filled with fun and laughter. The God we love is the enemy of sin and the creator of pleasure and humor. (True, God’s gifts of art, movies, books, sports, work, food, drink, sex, and money can all be used selfishly and sinfully. In a fallen world, what can’t be?)

I was an empty, unhappy teenager when I first heard the Good News about Jesus. Soon I put my trust in him and experienced a deep, heartfelt happiness unlike anything I’d ever known. Nevertheless, there’s a paradigm-shifting doctrine I was never taught in church, Bible college, or seminary: the happiness of God. Scripture says about Christ, “Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” (1 John 2:6). If Jesus walked around mostly miserable, it makes sense that we would. But if He was happy, shouldn’t we be happy too?

Christians throughout church history understood that happiness, gladness, feasting, and partying are God’s gifts, yet many Christians today live as if faith drains happiness! Life isn’t easy, of course, but believers have the benefit of walking the hard roads hand in hand with a Savior and King whose love for us is immeasurable. Who has more reason to be happy than we do?

Here’s a 5-minute interview on happiness I did with Crosswalk.com.

Photo: Unsplash

Christopher Yuan’s Story of God’s Grace and Deliverance from Homosexual Sin

A few months ago when we were both speaking at an apologetics conference, I had the privilege of meeting Christopher Yuan, who is an author, speaker, and instructor at Moody Bible Institute. I had read things written by Christopher, and greatly enjoyed having breakfast with him and hearing his testimony of God’s grace.

I want to recommend several resources from and about Christopher that I think many will find helpful. Perhaps you’re trapped in a cycle of homosexual behavior, or perhaps someone you know and love is struggling with temptation. Christopher is an encouraging example of someone who is honest about his temptations and is living a meaningful life in a loving relationship with God.

Here’s a video of his story, which also features his parents Leon and Angela Yuan, who I also enjoyed meeting.

Christopher and Angela, his mom, have written a fine book together, Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son's Journey to God. A Broken Mother's Search for Hope. (Together, they did a 3-part interview with FamilyLife Today that is well worth listening to.)

Here’s another great video of Christopher’s testimony, produced by Radical.

Here’s a longer video of Christopher, talking to believers about the subject of homosexuality.

Finally, here’s an excellent review Christopher Yuan wrote of God and the Gay Christian, a book by Matthew Vines that has persuaded some that the homosexual lifestyle is compatible with Scripture and the Christian life. Christopher’s insights are profoundly biblical and personal. Whether or not you’re familiar with the book by Vines, this review is full of great insights.

I encourage you to take advantage of these resources yourself and share them with others who could benefit from them.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

Perspectives After Attending the #DefundPP Rally

On Saturday, February 11, thousands of prolifers gathered nationwide for Defund Planned Parenthood rallies. Altogether, 228 rallies were held in 45 states. The purpose was to publicly call on Congress and the President to stop all federal funding of Planned Parenthood and instead, make those funds available to health centers that help women without destroying children through abortion.  

If you’d like to read more and know how to talk to others, the Protest PP site has some helpful statistics and Q&As. I’ve written about Planned Parenthood’s roots in the eugenics movement, which explains why to this day they do virtu­ally nothing to promote adoption or help poor and minority women who choose to give their children life rather than abort them. I’ve also written about the undercover videos done to expose their sale of baby body parts for profit. Those are just some of the many reasons why we all should support efforts to federally defund their organization.

Two of our EPM staff members, Karen Coleman and Kathy Norquist, were at the Portland, Oregon rally. Those attending had been told to expect counter protestors who were there to support Planned Parenthood, and the good news is this provided many opportunities for prolifers to engage others in conversations. My thanks to Karen for sharing her thoughts below, and to all those who chose to attend and “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute” (Proverbs 31:8). —Randy Alcorn

I was glad I went to the rally, but I was very drained and troubled afterwards. I came home distressed, and cried for all the angry, deceived, and hurting people there who, for whatever reasons, don’t understand the preciousness of life.

I had made a sign—Abortion Hurts Women—and as we walked past the proabortion protestors, a woman hissed at me, “How do you know? Have you had one?” We took a place on the sidewalk just past the Planned Parenthood entrance. The prolife people were quiet. The proabortion people were chanting their slogans loudly, some angrily. One of our signs was a large “Planned Parenthood Deceives Women” banner. When a proabortion protestor read the sign, she stepped in front of it to prevent people in the passing cars from reading it, but we quietly moved further down the sidewalk.

Just past us were two attractive young women, one with a sign that read “Honk if you support Planned Parenthood.” Whenever people in the cars honked their horns, they would jump and yell and smile, like bubbly cheerleaders. (It was so sad to think about what they were cheering for.)

A man came up to us with a petition (maybe he hadn’t read our signs?). We politely declined to sign, but he willingly offered the letter he was passing out. It claims prolifers are bigots who “care not one iota for women…with fake pictures and/or religious paraphernalia designed to guilt and shame women.” The letter presented an interesting political side to the issue. It said Planned Parenthood had actually discouraged proabortion protestors from showing up to this rally, with a strategy to “downplay the fact that they even provide abortions and play up everything else that they provide.” But this letter felt that tactic was misguided: “…Planned Parenthood’s line that abortions are a small percentage of the services it provides or bragging that it actually ‘prevents abortions’ only cedes ground to the right….it’s important to take the anti-women bigots head on politically, with loud and confident protests that aim to demoralize them and break their confidence to come back again.”

In reality, that makes me want to go back again!

Kathy held a sign reading “Women Deserve the Truth” and looked for opportunities to engage people in peaceful conversations. She later reported a calm dialogue with a woman who worked for Planned Parenthood, and later with a young Buddhist named John. She shared the Gospel with him and encouraged him to read the book of John. The EPM staff prayed for him in our prayer meeting a few days later.

A local news reporter was filming an interview with my friends. At one point the camera man stopped and politely asked a protester holding a sign, with the “F” word on the front side and “Abort Everyone” on the back side, to move out of the background, saying he would get into big trouble if he put that on television. Only one sentence of their particular interview made it onto the 5 o’clock news: “It’s ultimately about saving the lives of babies.”

I saw a middle-aged man of Asian descent with a “Stop Abortion Now” sign in the shape of a stop sign. He appeared to be alone. As we were getting ready to leave, I thanked him for coming. He said he felt a little out of place because he was visiting from Los Angeles, and would have gone to the Planned Parenthood there if he’d been home. How great he found this one and just showed up.

A young couple with numerous piercings and wearing black clothing came up and interrupted us. The woman had a bandanna over her nose and mouth and started rattling off something so fast I couldn’t understand most of it. She was also laughing, but I caught “my lord and savior Satan Lucifer.” The man from LA waved them off.

This same couple confronted us again as we were leaving, but we acknowledged Jesus as our Lord and Savior, said we would have nothing to do with their evil darkness, and walked away. It’s not surprising that Satan worshippers would be proabortion. John 8:44 says “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

As Kathy said on the way home, this battle is only going to be won on our knees. She commented how there’s something strengthening about being a light in the darkness, standing for truth in a hostile environment, and having the opportunity to be Christ-like to those who oppose you. It’s a privilege to identify with Christ by experiencing this extremely small persecution.  

Since the rally, several people have asked me if I was afraid while there. I believe the Lord took away my fear and He gave me all the courage I needed to go and stand up for life. Kathy reminded me of what God tells us in Psalm 37: “Fret not yourself because of evildoers…Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.”

The proabortion people outnumbered the prolife people at these nationwide rallies by huge numbers. Here’s a shortened version of an email from Pro-Life Action Ministries, who spearheaded the rallies, which presents a good perspective for the future.

What happened? Our numbers were reduced because of a warning I believe needed to be made. In the week prior to the competing rallies, we learned that energy from the “Women’s March” (about 60,000) a few weeks earlier was driving a large counter-protest of our rally. Knowing that some of those who would be counter-protesting would be vulgar, profane, and obscene, I felt it my duty to warn parents of small children. And since most attendees of our events are families, this warning may have more than cut in half our numbers (there were almost no children present at our rally).

Lesson 1: We are not engaging in a numbers game. We are engaging in peaceful and prayerful efforts to save as many defenseless babies from being killed by abortion as possible until the day our Christian witness brings an end to abortion. By virtue of this, “…our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens” (Ephesians 6:12). We must be present regardless of who has the larger turnout.

Lesson 2: When we “win” a presidential election, our people let up, while the supporters of abortion become energized. Though they become even more energized when they believe they are losing something, too many of us sit back and relax. Hey we won, didn’t we? Well we haven’t won. Even with President Trump’s fast-paced moves that impact the abortion industry, the actual numbers of babies being killed each day in this country has not been impacted. More directly, unless we push harder than ever before, the efforts to defund Planned Parenthood have as much a chance to fail as prevail.

Lesson 3: This is a glimpse of things to come if we truly threaten the status quo of Roe v. Wade. A clear, sober assessment of how things will play out in this country needs to be made if we move toward making abortion itself illegal again. Those who profit from abortion will stir up those who believe they are losing something they deserve, and their numbers will grow even more.

Lesson 4: We must be courageous! Time and time again Jesus teaches us that “fear is useless,” “be not afraid,” and “take courage.” Well, this seems to be the time to learn what this means in our contemporary culture. We cannot and must not back away because they come out with large crowds. Our efforts must remain peaceful and prayerful. We must go out and proclaim the truth while offering the mercy and love of God to those who despise us. And we must defend the defenseless and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. What a great opportunity God has given us! The more that we encounter, the more opportunities we have to display Christian character in the face of adversity and speak with compassion to those who so seriously dislike us. All in the name of Jesus.

Last thoughts: Our prayer events these past decades have been largely attended by families with small children. If you ever are concerned that your children will see and hear things you are not prepared to deal with or simply want to shield your children from, then please find others to watch your children and still attend yourself. There are always those in our churches and families who do not yet go out to these prayer events. Ask them to babysit, but attend yourself. And let us all pray as never before! 

A Teenage Girl’s Response to Teen Vogue’s “Post-Abortion Gift Guide”

An angry uterus heating pad, an F-U-terus pin, a box of chocolates, a girl power hat, a coloring book of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: these are some of the gifts recently suggested by Teen Vogue as ways that girls can show their “care” to teenage friends who just had abortions.

“The worst part of all this isn’t the procedure itself (which by the way is completely safe as long as you have access to a good clinic),” the article states. “The worst part is how you’re treated afterwards.”

“She will need a ride, she will need a hug, and she will need you—not because the act itself is so terrible, but because sometimes the world can be.”

Consider what Jesus said: “the devil…was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

When Satan carries out murder in an outwardly civil society, inevitably he must bury the murder in a huge grave of lies so that no one sees the corpses. (As the mass-murderer Stalin put it, “One death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.”) As Jews and others under the Third Reich were considered subhuman, and thereby their deaths were minimized as inconsequential and necessary for the greater good, today the lives of unborn children are viewed the same.

The Teen Vogue article is flippant and lighthearted about what has devastated countless women. Every abortion leaves one person dead and one injured. This “no big deal” approach will naturally encourage pregnant readers to get an abortion themselves. There are many resources for women who are suffering the ongoing effects of their abortion—these will truly help women, not trivialize their pain.

I encourage you to watch this powerful video response from 16-year-old Autumn Lindsey. She is part of the target demographic for Teen Vogue.

Thanks for speaking up, Autumn. Thanks also to your family for encouraging you as you formed the values and convictions you articulate so well.

May God raise up more and more young people—and old people too—who are passionate about life and will oppose head on the pervasive lies that find their source in the one Jesus called “the father of lies.” May we speak out about the horrors of abortion with courage and compassion, truth and grace!

Randy

If you’d like to do more reading about how to engage people in conversation about the issue of abortion, check out my books Why ProLife? and ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments. 

Photo: Unsplash

The Shack: Biblical Discernment Is Key in Evaluating Any Book or Movie

The movie The Shack¸ based on the novel with the same title by Paul Young, will release on March 3. By now you have likely seen previews of the movie. Of course, in what I share below, I’m only speaking about the book—though if the movie is faithful to the book, I would expect it to have some of the same strengths and weaknesses.

I am reluctant to post this for a variety of reasons, including that I know and like Paul Young. Some years ago, when the book had sold thousands but not yet millions, I had coffee with Paul twice and we engaged in long and very civil discussions, totaling six hours or so, about various parts of The Shack, and the Bible. We agreed on most points while disagreeing on some significant ones. 

Since many people have been asking me about the movie and the book, I feel obligated to say something. I have not seen the movie and have no idea whether it’s close to the book or quite different. It seems likely the movie might have some of the same strengths and weaknesses as the book. But that’s speculation. Since I have read the book, which has sold over 20 million copies, I can offer my perspectives only on it. If you see the movie you can judge for yourself what pertains and what doesn’t.

I think there’s good in The Shack. It raises the problem of evil and offers God’s love and hope to those who’ve been overwhelmed by tragedies they can’t reconcile with God’s sovereignty and goodness. There are people I respect greatly who love this book, without qualification, and consider it a great gift of God to thirsty people.

There are others I respect as much who are deeply concerned about the book’s messages, both overt and subtle, and their impact on people. In a sense, both might be right, but both need to understand the other point of view and realize that many books that are good for some people are not good for others.  

I believe that those who are well grounded in the Word won’t be harmed by the weaknesses and deficiencies of The Shack. For example, a friend of mine recently emailed me about someone she knows, who has a solid Christian worldview, and who loves The Shack and finds it helpful as an allegory.

Unfortunately, increasingly few people these days are well grounded in the Word and have both the knowledge and the discernment to filter out the bad while embracing the good. That means that some people, perhaps many, will fail to recognize the book’s theological weaknesses, and therefore be vulnerable to embracing them, even if unconsciously. Sadly, I personally know some who have been led down a path of universalism through their understanding of the book and what they have heard the author say, either publicly or privately.

Please don’t get me wrong on this point: I believe in Christian fiction. It can be both true to reality and true to Scripture, honoring to God and His Word.

I’ve written novels that God has, by His grace, used to reach people who’ve not been reached by my nonfiction. The novels of C. S. Lewis and many others have had a profound positive effect on me that nonfiction can’t have, because the two are different art forms that speak to the mind and the heart in different ways. Some people oppose The Shack because they don’t believe in fiction, but that’s certainly not the case with me. There is much truth in some fiction, just as there is much error in a lot of nonfiction.

One of the major issues with the book is that it puts words in God’s mouth. In those rare instances in my fiction where I have God the Father or Jesus speak, I try to take words straight out of Scripture, and when they’re not I always make sure I have a solid biblical and theological foundation that would justify attributing those words to God. But The Shack is full of words supposedly stated by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While some of those words are in keeping with what Scripture says, some of them are not.

I give specific examples in this long and detailed review, which I wrote reluctantly years ago and for a long time shared only with people who personally asked me about The Shack. It’s for those who really want to consider both the good and the bad that, in my opinion, is to be found in the book. (In his article, Tim Challies suggests that the movie version, depicting all three persons of the triune God in human form, may be inherently in violation of God’s commandments.)

Todd Wagner, pastor of Watermark Church, did a video related to The Shack. I appreciated the balance in his words. That balance is what I tried to achieve in my review (which Todd cites).

Discernment is more important than anything as we evaluate any book or movie.

The Berean Christians were commended for carefully examining, in light of the Scriptures, the teachings of the apostle Paul (see Acts 17:11). This is a man who eventually wrote thirteen inspired biblical books. How much more should we evaluate the teachings of everyone else we read, listen to, or watch.

Please begin by evaluating my words here and everywhere else in light of Scripture!

Randy

Preaching and Living Out the Gospel, Even When It’s Costly

“The Gospel” is a term we use a lot as believers. But I believe we could do more to think through what it really means, and what all it encompasses.

In its most basic and narrow sense, the Gospel is the good news of the loving, redemptive work that Christ has done and freely offers to all people, to save them from sin and Hell. The Gospel is never less than that, but it can also be viewed as more than that. In its broadest sense, with the good news of salvation remaining at the core, the Gospel is a full embodiment of the person and work of Christ in His church, and the full revelation of God’s Word. It is both declaring and living out the whole counsel of God. It is fulfilling the Great Commission—not only evangelizing, but also “making disciples” and “teaching them to observe everything I’ve commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

That means being salt and light, affirming full biblical truth, and teaching a Christian worldview that deals with morality and being accountable to God for our choices. It means helping the man in the ditch that some religious people neglect (Luke 10), and feeding the poor and needy in the name of Jesus, and distinguishing sheep from goats (Matthew 25). If the church speaks the gospel message far and wide, but doesn’t intervene for the needy and the voiceless, and if we don’t teach our people to help them, then we’re not fulfilling the entire great commission, only one part of it.

Can living out the Gospel in this way be costly? Yes. I admit I roll my eyes at all the whining in the Western Church about being persecuted when we’re experiencing only a tiny taste of what God’s people have always faced, usually ten or a hundred times worse than what we’ve seen (yet). However, I do also financially support selective efforts to defend our religious liberties.

When governments shut down churches, it’s nearly always because the churches teach and live out biblical truth that the government and/or culture consider objectionable. Years ago when I was in China, even registered churches, which existed by government permission, were not allowed to preach the book of Revelation. Why? Because of its portrayal of God as the one true Lord who judges the nations, meaning that someone is infinitely above the communist government. (Or closer to home, it shows there is a Supreme Court of the triune God that stands above all judgments of nine people in DC who are called the Supreme Court.)

In our culture, sometimes it’s legal to “share the Gospel,” the good news of salvation, but occasionally it’s illegal to “live the Gospel,” the good news of following Jesus that includes advocating for the rights of abused and downtrodden people, whether that’s victims of sex trafficking, moms and babies who are abortion-vulnerable, or those imprisoned for following Jesus.

John the Baptist’s head was cut off not because he preached about Jesus, but because he preached against sin in the public arena, including the sins of Herod who married his brother’s wife, and the sins of the religious leaders and the multitudes whom he called to repentance. John the Baptist made some very strong statements and by our standards he wasn’t always “Christ-like,” but Jesus said there was no one among men greater than John.

I’ve been sued by various abortion clinics for peaceful nonviolent civil disobedience to save innocent unborn children, and to save their mothers from the horrors of abortion. Back in 1992, I was also sued by the ACLU, because I violated an ACLU-petitioned injunction, imposed by a county judge, against gathering in my home town of Gresham, Oregon, to pray on the National Day of Prayer, when we had already received permission to assemble (as many other groups do periodically) at our local city hall.

I deliberately violated the court order and called on others to do so because if we don’t hold onto such rights, they will certainly be lost. It really was no big risk for me, since in those days I used to say, “If you’re going to sue me, take a number.” The ACLU withdrew its lawsuit, perhaps because of the bad publicity it was getting—which wouldn’t have been the case had some of us been unwilling to break the law standing up for the right of peaceful assembly at a government building. (By the way, just as I’ve shared and lived the Gospel with pro-abortion advocates and abortion clinic employees, I’ve sought to do so with the ACLU.)

One important qualification on the ACLU: after researching my novel Dominion, with a theme that included racial issues, I vowed never again to say anything critical of the ACLU without commending them for what they did in the civil rights movement (not always done the right way, but resulting in just laws for which I’m profoundly thankful). So even though I oppose most of what they do today, I thank God for what liberal groups like the ACLU accomplished in the racial arena. I wrote that in an article called “Conservative, Liberal or Christian?” for which I got a lot of criticism by church people who think “Christian” and “politically conservative” mean exactly the same thing, which I do not.

Once rights are lost in the public arena, the next step is going after private citizens. For example, a few miles from our home here in Oregon, the business people who gladly sold cakes to homosexuals every week and warmly welcomed their business, but refused to decorate a cake in celebration of a gay wedding (just as they would refuse to do so in celebration of a man who they knew abandoned his wife and children and was now marrying his partner in adultery), were put out of business.

Or, as has already happened, business owners are told they must pay for insurance for their employees that covers abortions. Christian colleges have been fighting this too, and if they didn’t, they would have to either violate their consciences or close their schools.  (Thankfully, Hobby Lobby won a major lawsuit that permitted them to do what they should obviously have the right to do, follow their consciences concerning the sanctity of human life!) 

I know pharmacists who’ve lost their jobs for refusing to be involved in the sale of abortifacient drugs. In these people that I know personally, I see absolutely no signs of hatred for gays, adulterers, or women seeking abortions. They have enemies not because they self-righteously seek to make enemies, but because they’re humbly following Jesus, who said that we should be expected to be treated as He was: “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours” (John 15:20). (Ironically, on social media I’ve seen Christians criticize these fellow believers, because the “Christ-like” critics are opposed to self-righteous judgment, though they themselves are self-righteously judging their brothers and sisters who they don’t even know.)

Churches will, I think, eventually lose many rights we have now. How quickly that will happen will depend largely on how many Christian businessmen, schools, and pastors cave in and passively agree to surrender their rights, and make those who stand up for their rights appear to be the hateful minority. The huge trick is this: how can we—with humility and Christ-centeredness and without whining—stand up for rights which assist us in getting out the Gospel message and allow our children and grandchildren to grow up with at least a fraction of the liberties we’ve always had and taken for granted?

What we really need is Christians who, like Jesus, are full of grace and truth. People with both sound doctrine and warm hearts, reaching out to all the needy in the name of Christ, no matter the cost. (Here’s something I wrote on the question of whether we’re willing to be hated for speaking and living Gospel Truth.)

Photo: Unsplash

When Our Fantasy World Distracts Us from What’s Eternally Real and Important

I’ve shared before my concerns about many believers being addicted to video games, movies, TV, and social media, which drains them of time and interest to discover the virtues and satisfaction of reading Scripture, reading good books, and practicing sustained contemplative thought about Christ and His kingdom. I have also addressed the pornography problem, which has shipwrecked countless men (and women) in our culture, and in our churches.

In this article, Erik Raymond makes some interesting points about how constantly living in a fantasy world can spiritually shipwreck men (by extension, his points apply to women, too). I want to clarify that pornography is always wrong, while video games and fantasy sports can be engaged in with moderation, in a way that is right. Still, the central point of Erik’s article stands and is well worth considering. Anything we put before God—whatever it is—is idolatry, and idolatry not only dishonors God, it also ruins us. May God deliver us from slavery to lesser things and set our thoughts on Him and His kingdom.

The Modern Man and His Fantasy World

By Erik Raymond 

Every age brings its challenges for Christianity. Among them is the fact that living by faith means that we put the ultimate matters of life and existence into the hands of someone that we cannot see. In a world filled with sensory experiences faith in God is a challenge. This is nothing new of course. In the First Century, the Apostle Peter reminded his church that,

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8–9)

It is not that a lack of sight that makes Christianity seem untenable—it just makes it different than most experiences today. Instead of having joy based upon an empirical basis we have joy through our communion with the invisible God through the portal of faith.

In recent years I have noticed a trait, particularly among men, where faith is impeded. I am talking about the cultural fixation upon fantasy. Many men today are wrapped up in a world of fantasy and also find it increasingly difficult to live by faith upon the God who is invisible.

In each of the examples below men are giving themselves to something they can see but is not real. However, with Christianity we give ourselves to something that we cannot see but is actually real. (In the following examples, I want to make clear that I believe the first is sinful but the others are not inherently so.)

Pornography

Over the last 2 dozen years pornography use has exploded. Some may call it an epidemic. Young men are being raised on it and the addiction continues through the college years and into their thirties and forties. As a pastor I don’t often go a week without hearing about somebody’s struggle in this area. Let’s think about what is happening here. Pornography attempts to enjoy the blessings of sex without the relationship of marriage. However, this is not the whole story. There is also the fact the medium for consuming it is not real, it is a bunch of images. Everything about it is a fantasy; the women, the experiences, and whatever the pleasures that come from it. It is all a fantasy. Many men are wrapped up in this sexual fantasy and it is therefore little wonder that they are distracted from a faith that is real yet unseen.

Fantasy Sports

Technological advances have made fantasy sports more accessible. For those who are unfamiliar fantasy sports are a type of online game where participants put together virtual teams of real players in a professional sport. Their teams compete against each other based upon the statistical performance of their respective players on their rosters. Each participant runs their team like an owner or general manager. In these leagues participants will track the stats over the year and award a winner at the end. Obviously playing fantasy sports is not a sin and I am not making this point. However, it is part of the overall cultural preoccupation with a fantasy world. And it is this that attends to my larger point that this fixation upon the visible but unreal tends toward making faith in the invisible but real more difficult.

Video Games

As with fantasy sports, video games are not inherently bad. However, they are a distraction from reality. Nearly 50% of Americans play at least 3 hours of games per week. It is interesting that the average age of a game player is a 35 year-old man. I understand that for many games are fun; they are something of a hobby. I also know for many the hobby can become a bit obsessive and dominating. Many people, particularly men, are caught up in playing video games for hours and hours a day. I have counseled far too many men who were spending their best hours of the day conquering worlds while their real families and real souls were being neglected.

Living in a Fantasy World

When you put these three together there is a common theme of living in a fantasy world. Pastors and church leaders attempt to encourage men to serve in the church, study God’s word, evangelize their neighbors, and step up and lead in the church. However, often times, upon pressing upon the heart, we find that men are reluctant and stagnant in their Christianity because they are thriving in a fantasy world.

Is there any wonder why there is such a decline in biblical masculinity in the church?

It is a shame that many men are far too busy conquering fake lands, looking at fake women, and winning fake championships to follow Christ’s path of self-denying, cross-bearing, service.

Pastors attempting to preach and teach God’s Word to people who are living in this world with their minds and hearts in a fictional place must be diligent. They must labor to present Christ in his surpassing glory. The Bible that condemns also convicts and converts us. We go from belittling God’s glory to broadcasting it. Christ goes from a fictional hero to a living Savior!

Perhaps you are one who is consumed by a fantasy world. If these things are crowding out or impeding your faith it is time to evaluate and make some adjustments. Perhaps there are sinful indulgences (or in the case of pornography, sinful practices) that are preventing you from growing in Christ. As is always the case the first step is prayer, confession, and repentance. Then work toward accountability and service in the local church. I can assure you that seeing the real gospel work in real people’s lives will bring a lasting joy to your soul that is incomparable by any standard. Christ is far too precious to take a back seat to anything. If we believe this then we ought to live like it.

This article originally appeared on The Gospel Coalition, and is used by permission of the author.

Photo: Pixabay

Time in God’s Word Is Not a Grim Duty

Frank Laubach (1884–1970) devoted his life to encouraging literacy around the world, with the goal that people everywhere would read the Bible. He wrote an influential pamphlet entitled “The Game with Minutes.” In it, Laubach encouraged Christians to keep God in their minds at least one second of every minute each day.[i]

Laubach wrote,

Humble folks often believe that walking with God is above their heads, or that they may “lose a good time” if they share all their joys with Christ. What a tragic misunderstanding to regard Him as a killer of happiness! A chorus of joyous voices round the world fairly sing that spending their hours with the Lord is the most thrilling joy ever known, and that beside it a ball game or a horse race is stupid. Spending time with the Lord is not a grim duty. And if you forget Him for minutes or even days, do not groan or repent, but begin anew with a smile. We live one day at a time. Every moment can be a fresh beginning.[ii]

Most days (I wish I could say all), I go to God expecting to be fed and encouraged, to be given joy and perspective. I sense God more in some moments than others, but I know He’s always with me and therefore I’m with Him. His wisdom, insight, grace, and love sometimes overwhelm me and nearly always encourage me. And if today isn’t one of those days, I don’t have to wait for tomorrow. He’s still with me as I go about my day. I can still think, pray, and meditate on Scripture even as I do other things, including—even especially—the mundane. Time with God is never wasted—it spills over into the rest of our day and colors it.

Puritan Thomas Brooks wrote:

Ah, friends, if you would but in good earnest set upon reading of the holy Scriptures, you may find in them so many happinesses as cannot be numbered, and so great happinesses as cannot be measured, and so copious happinesses as cannot be defined, and such precious happinesses as cannot be valued; and if all this won’t draw you to read the holy Scriptures conscientiously and frequently, I know not what will.[iii]

Almost four hundred years later, these words remain true. The copious happiness Brooks found in Scripture is freely available to us all—and the prospect of that happiness should draw us back to our Bibles every day.

Excerpted from Randy's book Happiness. 

[i] Frank C. Laubach, The Game with Minutes (Eastford, CT: Martino Fine Books, 2012).

[ii] Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach, Practicing His Presence (Sargent, GA: The SeedSowers, 1973), 36.

[iii] Thomas Brooks, “The Crown and Glory of Christianity,” The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, vol. 4.

Photo: Unsplash

Trapped: A Short Film on Teen Unplanned Pregnancy

The prolife film featured in this blog was done by I-TEC, an organization founded by my friend Steve Saint. I have seen many prolife films going back to the 70’s but found this one intriguing, interesting, very different, and uniquely powerful. It’s such an unusual length too. Most prolife films are short clips or movie length, and unfortunately, the short ones don’t allow viewers much time to experience the emotions or to ponder. This one, on the other hand, has a large amount of silence, allowing for contemplation. The fact that the air doesn’t get filled with words helps listeners draw their own conclusions based on the obvious facts.

I appreciated that the boyfriend didn’t have a change of heart, because often they don’t. But to show the dad in the photos beaming with his grandchild was precious, because when they see their grandchildren, most parents do have a change in heart. So, the film makers give hope, but they don’t make it a fairytale.

This would be a great video to share with your friends and family on social media!