The Vice of Values

I've really begun to enjoy life since I gave up my Christian values. For many years my life was built around those principles which I believed embodied the essence of the Christian life. I thought it was a noble cause to boldly defend those values. I lamented the fact that our country has abandoned its Judeo-Christian ethics. But discovering how to walk in grace has totally reshaped my perspective. I now recognize that no value system, Christian or otherwise, can express the essence of Christianity. The end result of a life built on Christian values is only a caricature of New Testament Christianity. It is not God's purpose that our life be built around a system of values. It is His desire that our life be built on the person of His Son. Value systems may influence behavior, but God is not interested in systems of living. He is interested in relationships. An intimate relationship with Him will produce a godly lifestyle. However focusing on behavior will never create intimacy with God.

Two Trees In The Garden Of Eden

The basis of a lifestyle built around a system of right and wrong originates with the dawn of man. God's purpose in creating man was that He might enjoy mankind, expressing His loving nature to him and through him. He lovingly placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and gave them reign over the garden and all that was in it. One aspect of freedom is choice. Where there is no choice there is no real freedom. Consequently, two trees were placed in the garden from which man could choose to live. The choice made by Adam and Eve would not only determine their own destiny, but the destiny of all future generations.

Genesis 2:9 describes the trees in the garden:

"And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

It is not coincidental that these two trees were in the center of the garden. The tree that Adam and Eve would eat from was to determine the standard which would be central in controlling their actions each day.

The Tree Of Life

The tree of life is a picture of the Lord Jesus. A basic principle of biblical interpretation is that the Old Testament is understood in light of New Testament revelation. The New Testament affirms repeatedly that Jesus is Life. The reason a person possesses eternal life when he is a Christian is because Christ lives within him. To receive Him is to receive Life! Jesus said that he came so that we might have life (John 10:10). As we abide in Him, His life flows out of us like rivers of living water. It isn't a flow of Divine Life that we struggle to produce. His life just naturally flows out of the Christian who is abiding in Him. God intended that Adam and Eve should live by His life all their days. As long as He was the only source they had in this world, questions of right and wrong would have never arisen. Eating from the second tree is where the trouble for mankind began.

The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil

God placed a multitude of trees in the garden. There was only one tree from which Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The prohibition was for their own good. Remember that God created this tree and gave them a choice because without the choice there could be no freedom. God wanted man to choose Him. That choice would provide eternal life. But Adam and Eve were told that in the day they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die. So the choice was clear — life or death. They could either continue to live in total dependence on God or choose independence from Him. Satan came along and convinced Eve that God was withholding something good from them and she ate from the forbidden tree. Adam did the same and suddenly their eyes were opened. For the first time they became conscious of good and evil. From that day forward every deed of their life would be evaluated by a value system built around the concept of right and wrong. However that was not God's original plan. His desire was that they simply allow Him to be the source and authority of their life.

Back To The 1990's

Now let's jump back into the twentieth century. As a result of Adam's sin, his descendants today still live by the choice he made. Building one's life around a value system defined by right and wrong is prevalent in every culture, from the most primitive to the most advanced. Every society defines right and wrong according to its own standards and people's lives are judged on the basis of conformity to those standards. Yet God's purpose for man today hasn't changed from His design in the garden of Eden. He still wants our lifestyle to find its source in His life, not in laws dictating right and wrong.

When a person becomes a Christian, he possesses the divine life of Jesus Christ. His life is ours. As we abide in Christ, His life flows out of us producing a righteous lifestyle. If we aren't abiding in Him, actions become irrelevant. Before I understood that Christ is my life, my whole lifestyle was characterized by an obsession with right and wrong. Yet if one is not abiding in Christ, every action is wrong. To abide in Him is to walk in faith while to fail to abide in Christ is to walk after the flesh. Any time a Christian does things on his own, it is sin regardless of how his actions may appear. This is exactly what Paul meant when he said that "whatever is not of faith is sin." Sins are not the root of the problem when we fail to abide in Christ. They are the symptoms. The real issue is that we are living out of our own sufficiency. It's living independently of Him that is real problem.

Contemporary Christians are involved in endless debates over questions of right and wrong. Is it wrong for a Christian to drink wine? How about a daiquiri? Can a Christian listen to rock group Guns n Roses? How about country singer Garth Brooks? Should a Christian attend R-rated movies? How about PG movies with bad language? The list is never ending. When we realize that the heart of the matter is that our lifestyle should be an expression of the life of Christ within us, we come to realize that we have been asking all the wrong questions!

We must recognize that even good behavior which isn't an expression of Christ within us is a sin. Remember that the tree was of good and evil. Christians are quick to acknowledge that the deeds of human goodness demonstrated by one who isn't a Christian means nothing to God. Romans 8:8 says that "those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Why? Because they are living out of their own resources, not by faith in Christ. The Bible teaches that "without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Hebrews 6:6). God isn't impressed by human goodness. Human goodness is nothing more than self righteousness. Even if one is a Christian, when he lives from his own resources, his good deeds are nothing more than self righteous behavior. Do you see the problem? His fruit comes from the wrong tree.

Ask The Right Question

The definitive question in the life of the believer is not, "Would it be wrong for me to do this?" The appropriate question is, "Am I trusting in Christ at this moment, trusting Him as my very Life Source?"

(This is an excerpt from my book, Grace Walk, published in 1995. The book has been printed in 12 languages. You can get a copy here: http://gracewalkresources.com/item.asp?cID=0&PID=33 )

The Deer's Cry

Lisa Kelly (Celtic Woman) sings this song beautifully. I couldn't find a video that shows her singing it but this one gives the lyrics. It's my favorite of all the Celtic Woman music.

The Voice

Lisa Kelly has an angelic voice... I love this song, which points us to THE VOICE which calls us to Himself so that we might find peace through His wounds. It's sad to think that some can only hear the Divine Lover's Voice if He speaks in a religious dialect.



"The Voice" Lisa Kelly of Celtic Women

I hear your voice on the wind
And I hear you call out my name

"Listen, my child," you say to me
"I am the voice of your history
Be not afraid, come follow me
Answer my call, and I'll set you free"

I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain
I am the voice of your hunger and pain
I am the voice that always is calling you
I am the voice, I will remain

I am the voice in the fields when the summer's gone
The dance of the leaves when the autumn winds blow
Ne'er do I sleep thoughout all the cold winter long
I am the force that in springtime will grow

I am the voice of the past that will always be
Filled with my sorrow and blood in my fields
I am the voice of the future, bring me your peace
Bring me your peace, and my wounds, they will heal

I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain
I am the voice of your hunger and pain
I am the voice that always is calling you
I am the voice

I am the voice of the past that will always be
I am the voice of your hunger and pain
I am the voice of the future
I am the voice, I am the voice
I am the voice, I am the voice

Robert F. Capon On Grace

Here's an excerpt of an interview Tim Brassell, pastor of New Creation Community Church, in Portsmouth, Virginia, did with Christian author Robert Farrar Capon and published in Grace Communion International's magazine, "Christian Odyssey."

If you aren't familiar with Robert Capon or with Grace Communion International, you'd benefit from knowing both. Capon's books can be found on amazon.com and you can find GCI at www.gci.org


RC:"Nothing separates us from the love of God." We think there must be some breaking point where God would give up on us. "Well, what about if we…?"

Sin is not a problem with God. God solved all his problems with sin before the foundation of the world, in the beginning—and it’s done. The iceberg that lies under the surface of history is the Son of God; redemption is the mystery behind all history. Sin is a permanent irrelevancy. And God is the one to say, "Look, I have taken away the handwriting that was against you."

I like the translation in Matthew, "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." What do we do when we don’t forgive somebody else’s debts, or literally, their sins? We carp on what they owe us. We look at the chits that we have saved. This is what you owe me and you haven’t given it to me. There is an IOU I hold against you, and I gotta have this…. Well, it’s not that way with God. With God, it’s done—there is no handwriting against us. It’s done. He’s not holding IOUs.

TB: So why do we have such a love affair with legalism?

RC: It’s something that’s afflicted the church from the start. Humans have a hard time believing that God doesn’t hold IOUs. But Paul says the law cannot save. He says, "He has made him to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him."

TB: Have you found an effective way to present the gospel to a legalist?

RC: No (laughter). The reason I say no is because all that you’re going to do is present it and shock them. If you try to do it in a winsome way, which I always do, and try to do it to show them the freedom of it, then you’ve got a chance. A small chance, not a big one, but you’ve got a chance—because, when it happens—people go, "Wow!"

I was made visiting professor of something or other in religion at the University of Tulsa for the fall term back in the ’80s or ’90s. I had two classes. One was a 39-week beginning course. I taught the parables, and I had, I would say, everybody against me. All these youngsters were against me because what I was saying was against everything they had ever heard. I pounded and pounded and pounded for 39 weeks. I went through every parable.

One young lady came up to me at the end and said: "You know, when I first came here I didn’t like anything you said, because it contradicted everything I knew. But, you have done something. For the first time in my life I see that it really is good news" (laughter). They thought the gospel was bad news! That’s what legalism does to people.

Tim Brassell: Can a pastor take grace too far?

Robert Capon: No. A pastor can’t take grace too far. That is, not unless he claims that sin doesn’t matter. If he claims that, he’s abusing grace, because sin does matter. It matters to me, the sinner. It matters whether I leave myself stuck in it.

Suppose a mother has a kid who comes in all muddy. She just washes off the mud. She loves her child and doesn’t wait to see whether the kid decides if he wants to live with mud all over him. She just washes it off. And if she is a faithful, true mother, she will continually take that mud into herself and say, "Well, this is my son, and I will stick with him."

TB: Mothers are like that.

RC: Yes. The point is that sin is mud. It’s a cover-up or cover-over of your true being as a person. And Jesus has washed it away. He’s erased the sins. He’s washed them away.

He Took It Out of Us And Into Himself

Here's a wonderful picture of the atonement of Jesus Christ. In this clip from "The Green Mile," John Coffey (J.C.) draws the lethal toxins from her and into Himself. He shattered the dimension of time and took into His own body that which was causing her to perish. She was helpless to do anything for herself and needed only to "be still" and trust in his work. Taking it away from her, he made her whole and radiant with beauty.

Make You Feel My Love

I know I've posted it before, but I so love this song. Can you hear The Voice behind the voice?

Have You Heard of Confirmation Bias? It May Be Blinding You.

WAIT! DON'T WATCH THE VIDEO YET...READ THE PARAGRAPH BELOW IT FIRST...



There's a point about understanding biblical truth that this video illustrates very well. For you to really get the full impact of the point I'm making, you'll have to work with me on this and follow these instructions:

1. Start the video and watch it until the eight second spot and then immediately pause the player there. Go ahead and do it, then come back to this point.

2. What do you see in the video? The frame of a box? Are you sure it's a box? How sure are you? One hundred percent? Fifty percent?

3. If you stop here and go no further, you'll forever be convinced that what you've seen is a box, but it's not. You have not been watching a box frame on this video. You may be fully convinced you're seeing the image clearly, but you're not.

4. Press play now and watch the rest of the video.

What you've just experienced is called "confirmation bias." It's a psychological mindset which causes us to connect mentally to evidence that reinforces what we already believe while dismissing any evidence that would contradict our existing beliefs. You can google this subject and find out all about the early tests done in the 1960s that revealed the bias and find many examples on the Internet about it.

The reason I'm bringing it up here is because I find confirmation bias is a strong deterrent that keeps people from seeing some truths in the Bible. There are things we have believed for a long time, maybe even all our lives. But what if some of the things we believe are wrong? What if there's another way to look at it that would still recognize the Bible to be the authority on our understanding but would be a completely different viewpoint?

There are some things I believed for a long time that I don't believe anymore. I now see those things differently. Sometimes, when I share those topics, people will say, "But the Bible says . . . !" Of course, I already know that the Bible says what they're telling me. It's not that I don't know what the Bible says. The point is that there may be another way of "seeing" (interpreting) the text than what these folks have previously considered.

The thing about confirmation bias is that it's hardwired into our psyche is such a way that we often have a knee-jerk reaction against any evidence that contradicts our current viewpoint. In other words, we simply will not hear it. We know what we know that we know and we don't want to be bothered with information that goes against what we think we know.

So we react without giving the other viewpoint any serious investigation or sometimes even without a fair hearing. We hurl our stockpile of Bible verses that we already know which (to us) supports the view we currently have. There may be another way to understand those verses, but if we are confronted with a different way of seeing it, we often abandon that verse and flee to the next one that we think will support our existing view.

It's as if when we read the Bible, the verses that support what we already believe seem to be highlighted or italicized while the verses that might disprove and dismantle our current belief are skimmed over, almost as if they are invisible. Our bias serves to reinforce our view by causing confirming evidence to jump out at us while blinding us to any evidence that might threaten our current view.

It's important to see that bias in yourself. We all have it. Recognizing that fact can do a couple of important things in us. First, it can cause us to realize that, despite the fact that we may be very sure about our view, we could be wrong. We would all benefit from holding our viewpoints in humility. To say, "I just believe what the Bible plainly says" is often an arrogant cop-out. When we make that statement, are we implying that the other person is ignorant? That they don't really believe the Bible? It's not a weakness to possess humility when it comes to our understanding. Despite the western world's demand for ironclad, definitive, it-can't-be-any-other-way answers, there is a reason sincere, God-loving, Bible-believing, educationally-equipped students of the Bible have differed throughout history. Maybe if we recognize confirmation bias in ourselves we will be more respectful to those who differ with us.

The second thing it can do for us if we recognize the reality of confirmation bias in ourselves is to open our minds and hearts to learn truth we haven't known. To be open isn't to be gullible. Of course, we are to examine truth in light of the Scripture but instead of doing that we sometimes slam the door of our minds shut the moment we hear something that's new to us. If we aren't changing, we aren't growing. It's that simple.

What if there are some truths the Holy Spirit wants to teach you that contradict what you believe right now? Are you open to that? To replacing something you believe now with another belief the Spirit teaches you? Are you willing to change? Sometimes I encounter people who actually become angry when they are confronted with teaching that is new to them. Their anger shouts of their insecurity in their beliefs.

Others are too heavily vested in the religious culture where they live to change. There's a price to pay when we go against our religious culture. I've learned first hand that when we change, we will encounter rejection from some who don't agree with us. Go with the flow of grace and it just might carry us out "outside the city gates."

Sometimes when we think we are defending the truth, what we're really doing is frantically hugging our sacred cows. Our bias has caused us to idolize our traditions and our traditions have galvanized our inability to learn truths that are new to us.

Don't be gullible. Don't believe what anybody teaches you without studying the Bible for yourself. Many who are wary of teachings that are new to them have never considered that the things they currently believe are held by them because their religious culture indoctrinated them without their having seriously studied the subject for themselves. They have learned by religious osmosis, not by Spirit-led instruction.

I was speaking in Mexico one time and learned that many of the people there had been told by their pastor, "Don't listen to him!" When I stood to speak on the first night, I said, "Your pastor is right. You shouldn't listen to me, but you shouldn't listen to him either. Listen to the Bible. Listen to the Holy Spirit. If what he or I say is biblical, then listen to that. But don't take our word for anything - neither of us."

Who are you listening to these days? Your tradition? Your denomination? Your family upbringing? Maybe it would be a good idea for all of us to recognize and admit that we indeed do have a confirmation bias that causes us to unconsciously connect to the things that affirm we are right and we bypass anything that would suggest otherwise.

May His Spirit cause each of us to hear His Voice and to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ," even if it means that we have to admit that we've been wrong -- very wrong about some things. Don't be so sure you're seeing a box. Sometimes we need to look further into the matter to know what's really there.

A Wideness In God's Mercy

Hymnwriter, Frederick William Faber wrote this in 1854. It's called "There's A Wideness In God's Mercy." Great lyrics!

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in His justice,
Which is more than liberty.

There is no place where earth’s sorrows
Are more felt than up in Heaven;
There is no place where earth’s failings
Have such kindly judgment given.

There is welcome for the sinner,
And more graces for the good;
There is mercy with the Savior;
There is healing in His blood.

There is grace enough for thousands
Of new worlds as great as this;
There is room for fresh creations
In that upper home of bliss.

For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of our mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.

There is plentiful redemption
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members
In the sorrows of the Head.

’Tis not all we owe to Jesus;
It is something more than all;
Greater good because of evil,
Larger mercy through the fall.

If our love were but more simple,
We should take Him at His word;
And our lives would be all sunshine
In the sweetness of our Lord.

Souls of men! why will ye scatter
Like a crowd of frightened sheep?
Foolish hearts! why will ye wander
From a love so true and deep?

It is God: His love looks mighty,
But is mightier than it seems;
’Tis our Father: and His fondness
Goes far out beyond our dreams.

But we make His love too narrow
By false limits of our own;
And we magnify His strictness
With a zeal He will not own.

Was there ever kinder shepherd
Half so gentle, half so sweet,
As the Savior who would have us
Come and gather at His feet?