R.J. Gilbert's Blog, page 5
December 3, 2012
The Rubiks' Cube of Salvation
Matthew 19 tells a story of a rich young man who came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
To this question Jesus replied. “... If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” He then listed the commandments from scripture.
“All these I have kept,” The young man said. “What do I still lack?”
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor…then...
Schroedinger's Cats (not really)
I have three cats at home with three distinct personalities. Each morning I open my front door and greet these three cats. The first cat sees me and rushes forward to rub himself affectionately between my legs. The second cat scurries under the porch in fright. The third cat begins meowing insistently at me to feed him and let him into the warm house.
I am only myself; one entity. I have not behaved any differently toward one cat more than another. Yet each cat behaves differently toward...
The Tale of Monkey and Tiger
On their way to a great festival at the far side of the jungle, Monkey and Tiger found their path blocked by the low-hanging branches of a great tree. Monkey stooped low and quickly scurried beneath the obstruction, but Tiger would not. Tiger was king of the jungle, and he did not stoop. So out came his claws and he went to work. He clawed and he pushed and he broke the low branch in half so that he could continue unhindered along the path.
Soon Monkey and Tiger came to a huge boulder ly...
November 29, 2012
Zombies in Sunday School?
There doesn’t seem to have been a single Sunday school session this year where zombies haven’t made their way into the discussion. It doesn’t help that I teach a class of junior high boys. These are not disruptions by boys who are living in a fantasy world or with over-active imaginations. These are discussions of real fears imparted to our youth by a Media devoted to spreading doom and dread to all. It does no good to address these disruptions simply by disciplining the dis...
Jesus is Here--Quick, Call Security!
I first noticed him as I raised my head from prayer. He was walking slowly, deliberately down the center aisle, straight toward the pulpit where our pastor was just beginning his Sunday-morning sermon.
I had never seen this man before. His skin was bronze. His hair was bushy and unkempt. He wore a bulky, leather jacket and clutched his Bible close to his left side with a stiffness that put me on edge. His head was down as he walked purposefully forward.
As a member of my church’s...
November 23, 2012
Monkey and Tiger
Soon Monkey and Tiger came to a huge boulder lying directly in their way. Monkey quickly stepped off the trail and clambered around the obstruction, but Tiger would not. Tiger was king of the jungle, and nothing would make him change his course. So he went to work. He bunched his muscles and strained his back and pushed as hard as he could. At last, the great boulder was rolled out of the way and the two were able to continue on their way.
After a while, the travelers came to the bottom of a great cliff. The trail ended abruptly at the bottom, and they could see that it continued again from the top high above. Monkey quickly scrambled on his hands and knees up the rocky cliffside, but Tiger would not follow. Tiger was king of the jungle, and he did not climb. He growled fiercely at the cliff, dug his claws deep into the dirt, and set to work pulling the trail down to meet him on the ground. But despite all his efforts, Tiger could not move the cliff out of his way. He heaved and he tugged and he clawed. He grunted and strained, but the cliff remained above him, and the trail did not move.
“Let’s go, Tiger,” called Monkey from the top of the cliff. “The festival begins at sunset. We will be late if we don’t hurry.”
Tiger called back, “Then I must stop the sun from setting!”
Monkey shook his head, “That is foolishness, Tiger. Just climb up here and we will be on our way.”
“I will not,” Tiger roared. “You must run ahead and tell the festival to wait for me.”
With that, Monkey ran ahead to the festival. Try as he might, he could not convince the others to wait for Tiger to finish moving the cliff. The festival began at sunset, and Tiger missed out.
The moral of this story? Sometimes the easiest solution is to change yourself.
October 31, 2012
They Can't Relate (The Un-Dead)
Sung to the tune of “Monster Mash”
Twas a restless eve’ in my McMansion bed.
As I lay awake trying to clear my head,
From my hallway walls came an eerie creak.
Then the portraits of my ancestors started to speak.
From the dawn of time with a bone in his nose
A primitive man took one look at my clothes.
Opened my closet, his eyes bulged wide: (he said)
“Me spend my life wearing one animal’s hide!”.
They can’t relate,
But they’re related to me...
October 13, 2012
The Fruit of Eve
Bearing knowledge of how things “should be”.
Not of Evil and Good,
Nor a literal food
But of man knowing better than He.
Now Eve bought the lies of the Snake.
The forbidden fruit she did partake.
She said “I know the plan,
Better than the I AM.
I am certain that He’s made a mistake.
“Adam, you should be wearing some pants. (she said)
And you should not work hard like the ants.
And in birth and in rain
I should never feel pain.
Now I must hide from God in the plants.”
Then God came to Adam and his wife.
Said He, “Why have you brought on this strife?
Though I yearn for you still
You’ve rejected my will
And you’ll wrestle with me all your life.”
“Now Adam,” I AM said, “As for you,
I can tell that you ate the fruit too.
Now you must build a house
And provide for your spouse.
For I speak not in ‘should be’ but ‘do’.”
When that Serpent practiced to deceive,
His lies changed the perceptions of Eve.
After taking a bite,
How it poisoned her sight.
Her rebellion to this day we grieve.
Satan’s promise, when pondered, seems odd.
He said man could grow equal to God?
Only when we agree
To be lesser than He
Can we see that our own path is flawed.
Now in every man there grows a tree
Bearing knowledge of how things ‘should be’.
When we argue the plan
Given by the I AM
We reveal our fallen ancestry.
The Rubik's Cube of Salvation
To this question Jesus replied. “... If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” He then listed the commandments from scripture.
“All these I have kept,” The young man said. “What do I still lack?”
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor…then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
“What must I do to be saved?” This question is asked in several places throughout the scriptures. Jesus’ answer in each instance is never exactly the same—and is never simple.
Over the years, theologians have attempted to combine Christ’s answers to this question as if constructing a puzzle from its pieces. The result is like this… a Rubik’s cube of salvation. When we try to understand the gift of salvation, we twist and turn this puzzle.
I must keep the commandments.
I must sell all my possessions.
I must be born again.
I must be born of water and spirit.
I must …
The more I twist this puzzle around, the more confusing and incomplete it becomes. Then I remember Christ’s final words on this issue: “It is finished,” he said as he hung upon the cross. Then, his work completed, he died.
Salvation is like a Rubik’s Cube. It came to us complete. But we make a puzzle of it when we try to work it ourselves. After the rich young man went away sad, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
February 26, 2012
God in a Cage
There once was a boy who found a mouse and named it God. He placed it in a cage and did everything he could to make God happy, but when morning came he awoke to find the cage door open and God gone. The little boy wept until his mother arrived.
“What is wrong?” asked his mother.
“God is dead,” the child announced.
“How can you tell?” she asked.
“Just look,” the boy pointed to his cage. “The cage is empty.”
“God...
