Archive for the Beliefs category
What if Everybody and Nobody goes to Hell?
Posted on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 11:25 AM by Duncan Bouwer
I am much more comfortable with the idea that God doesn't send 90% of
humanity to Hell for something they had no control over (Adam's sin). I
am also much more comfortable with the idea that Jesus' sacrifice is not
somehow weaker in efficacy than Adam's sin. Think about this: Adam sins.
The whole Human Race is affected. Jesus sacrifices himself. Only those
that accept the sacrifice are saved.
That somehow seems out of balance, doesn't it? There is plenty of scripture that will lead us to believe that Christ died for all and that those who didn't hear about it in life or those whose eyes were darkened to the Truth will one day bow to Him. Consider this:
Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw [drag] all peoples to Myself (Jn. 12:31-32). "When judgment comes, the enemy is cast out, and all peoples are dragged to Christ. Is this not judgment with a grand and glorious purpose?" (Hope Beyond Hell p75)
This has implications for Homosexuals. In the last while I have been reluctant to say Gays are going to hell. I have been open about the fact that I can't find it in myself to send them to (eternal) hell, even though I have personally chosen a road of change and embraced a heterosexual lifestyle. There is no sin greater in any case than any other and if homosexuality is a sin then it will have consequences for every man and woman who chooses to embrace it as a lifestyle, as much as every individual and lifestyle sin will have for every other person. (1 Cor 3.12-15: If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.-- This is talking about believers!)
So what remains is to decide what to say about homosexuality and once again I say: I am not there to tell anybody that it is wrong. They have the same Bible as I have and they can read it and ask the Holy Spirit to interpret for themselves what it says about Homosexuality. I believe that it was never God's plan that we should be Gay. Read the Blue bar on the right on this page on my site and take into consideration the fact that nobody, not even Jesus, talks about our relationship with him in anything but pictures of Heterosexuality. It is not our place to preach to people about their lives. It our place to show people Jesus by demonstrating acceptance and love and winning them for the Kingdom. Jesus hung out with people who were considered sinners and I bet he never once told them "I love you but I hate your sin". The conviction of his love for them turned them. But it was his love that did it. We can't expect him to have the opportunity convict people of sin if they have not been fully convicted of love. Let's get the love part right before we worry about the sin. People will not buy the love if they can constantly see the hate and prejudice behind out eyes, waiting to come and do the switch the moment they are hooked.
Posted in Beliefs (RSS), General (RSS)
Hell over Grace as a Deterrent
Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 at 11:20 AM by Duncan Bouwer
We as Christians have become lazy. Or let me rather say it this way: I,
as a Christian, have become lazy. I have grown up on "Grace" and have
translated it to License It is too easy to say, "please forgive me"
while I am still sinning-- but note, I don't stop. I suppose rather that
than turning away from Christ because I am so ashamed. But better I
don't sin at all!
As a person who struggles with homosexuality, speaking to others who do, I need something stronger than the thought of hanging my head in God's presence one day to dissuade me from sinning, and I suspect most of us are the same. We have a sort of hazy idea how sin fits into our future because we walk around with bumper stickers like: "I am not perfect, just forgiven" in our heads which allow Jesus' sacrifice to be misused because we are not able. But 1Co 10:13 says the following: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."
But just recently I have come upon another motivation not to allow myself to fall into sin. I have started reading about a stream of Christianity that is very old indeed. It holds basically that Christ died for all and so ALL are saved, whether they accept his sacrifice in this life or not. But more to the point, Hell is a sort of stopover with the punishment tailored to fit the crime, i.e. it is a finite punishment that leaves us purified.
This has implications. We will, as Christians be judged for our deeds after we die. Look at this passage: Lu. 12:41-49.
Then Peter said to Him, "Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?" And the Lord said, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. But if that servant says in his heart, "My master is delaying his coming," and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more. I came to send fire on the earth"
"This passage is a warning to believers. What is the threat? To be cut in two and appointed our "portion" with unbelievers. Unbelievers and unfaithful believers receive the same judgment! Why should we be shocked? Does not the judge of all the earth do right?" (Gerry Beauchemin-- author of Hope Beyond Hell)
While being so enthralled with Him for being the God who has the power and mercy to save ALL, I also am getting a view of his Just Nature and what the implications are for me if I sin. The result is that I tread very lightly. More will be required of me as somebody who knows Jesus and has been exposed to his sinless example.
Suddenly I find myself reluctant to disappoint him. And that is how it should be.
What do you think? I encourage you to read Hope Beyond Hell, (free book download) as it goes back to a stream of Christianity that is older than the notion that only some would have eternal life (comes from Augustine and is based on a misinterpretation of a word aion) It deserves attention as it has implications for what happens to homosexuals when they die. More about that in a later post!
Edited on: Thursday, April 10, 2008 11:38 AMPosted in Beliefs (RSS), General (RSS)
LIVING WATERS vs. BROKEN CISTERNS
Posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 10:05 AM by Duncan Bouwer
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Many things about this time away on the Living Waters Training course (Feb 1997), have impacted me profoundly. Before I went I was feeling further away from the Lord than I had ever felt. I had allowed a tide of greyness and mediocrity in my walk with the Lord to overtake me. None of you have probably ever experienced this, I know, *smile* but I had, and I lived for the moments when I led worship, because then I would become part of the blessing that God bestowed , and I would be blessed as well. I was hoping that this training course would reverse the tide, and so I went away, set up for disappointment. But the Lord is faithful. He waits for the least inkling on our parts that we are prepared to meet him, and then he runs to us�but I'm getting ahead of myself.
As I was saying, many things impacted me profoundly, and until I had though what to share, I had little idea that they were all linked. For instance:
� I was struck by the fervour and zealousness of the people who taught us.
� I was struck by the fact that when I was with them, suddenly I was back where I passionately loved the Lord, and I just knew that I never wanted to be in a place again, where I was not right in his presence and BURNING UP for his sake.
� Andy Comiskey spoke of the honour of God, and I was struck by that.
� I was struck by how fat and lumpish I felt, after a few days of sitting and eating and sleeping, and man, did we eat well, but that is another story�
� I was struck by the love that flowed from these people and their readiness to admit their faults. The testimonies walked a fine line between sensationalism (because, boy, were some of the stories sensational) and giving glory to God. But that is what they were�God's glory.
� And maybe I was most struck by the fact that when they prayed for someone, the Lord showed up. By the end of the second day, I felt like I had been there a week. I simply knew that I could not receive another thing, and that the overweight numbness I felt in my posterior was rapidly engulfing my brain and heart. But still, the Lord pushed though because of a combination of his faithfulness, and theirs. I just knew that this is where I wanted to be. This is what being a Christian is all about. Of course I understand that there is a certain dynamic which comes about when a bunch of people are together at a retreat for a week. That's why some people become conference junkies. But this was different. There seemed to be no gap between what they were preaching and what was happening in the evidence of the move of the Spirit. Andy Comiskey teaches that, in order for us to be able to teach this course, which hopes to break the power of deeply ingrained hurt and the resultant sin, we have to be pure ourselves. It is no good that we teach on forgiveness if we harbour unforgiveness ourselves. This not to say that we are perfect, but rather that we be accountable, and I will say more about that later.
It is no accident that the course which we went to learn more about, and which brings new life to so many people, is called Living Waters. It is of course, a term which you have heard before. The most famous instance is where Jesus offers the woman at the well LIVING WATER. But there are some instances in the Old Testament where the Lord speaks of Living Water. One in particular is significant to us today�
In Jeremiah 2:13, the Lord says:
*
"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, THE SPRING OF LIVING WATER, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
It seems to me that the two sins mentioned here are the two fundamental sins of all humanity, from Adam and Eve down. The sins of meeting our needs in our own way, WHEN WE HAVE A BETTER WAY AVAILABLE TO US.
The irony is that we insist on drinking from our own broken cisterns even when they have clearly proven themselves to be UNABLE TO MEET OUR NEEDS; unable to quench our thirst.
People who struggle with sexual brokenness, whether it is the addiction to pornography, the addiction to anonymous sex, the need to have a sexual relationship with another man or woman, or whatever, will always, without exception, at first find themselves trying to meet their own needs in their own way. The emptiness within the workaholic or the chain-smoker, trying to gratify a hunger that rises up from within, is all the same. And when we have realised that we are sinning, we will try to work our way out of our sinfulness in every other way possible, before we come to the one true source of all quenching, of all stilling of hunger: the source of the LIVING WATER, Jesus Christ himself.
We will fragment ourselves, breaking small pieces off and tucking them away where not even we can see them, so that we can avoid contact with the living, the real. We will believe that if enough time passes, our sin will pass away and no longer plague us. But all that happens, is that we become numb, and then we are surprised to find ourselves no longer alive to the move of the spirit of God. We don't even recognise the tide of greyness which has engulfed us, because we have welcomed it as a mistaken and sinful way of dealing with our sin.
The Lord God has deliberately designed us, and the universe, that way. Sin begets sin.
The Lord says in Jeremiah 2:19 "Your WICKEDNESS will punish you; your BACKSLIDING will rebuke you. "Consider then and realise how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me," declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
And here I come to the heart of what I feel the Lord wants me to tell you. This does not come directly from what I learnt at the Living Waters training course, but it underlies all the values they hold dear, because these values are fundamental to the way that God has designed reality.
In Exodus 34:12-16 the Lord says:
*
Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. DO NOT WORSHIP ANY OTHER GOD, FOR THE LORD, WHOSE NAME IS JEALOUS, IS A JEALOUS GOD. "Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.
The Lord calls himself Jealous. The word is not only used an adjective, but he says his NAME is Jealous. The whole Living Waters course, being as it is based on the principles of reality as expressed on the Bible, is based on this fact. In his mercy, God has designed reality in a way that will always compel us to him. The Lord is not only jealous because he wants us for himself. He is also jealous for our well-being. He knows us. He made us to be like that. He is the highest good, and so unless we seek him out, we will perish for lack of sustenance. Our dependence on water, as biological beings that comprise of 75% of water, is a parable of this. We need water to survive. Without the Living Water obtained through coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the fountain of all life, we wither away.
The Word of God teaches that sin is like leaven. If there is any leaven in a piece of dough, it will contaminate the whole loaf. And the Lord often destroyed the sinful among his people, because they would contaminate the good. That is also the way of sin inside of us. The tide of greyness starts by dimming God's Technicolor reality first to pastel, which is slowly watered down until the colour is merely a memory, and then even that fades until we see the world through a grey haze of mediocrity which discolours our view of reality, and we find ourselves asking questions of God which can only lead to the answer that God is selfish and mean . No wonder that Joseph's brothers hated him so much. His whole life was a testimony to being alive to the reality of God, and pushing back the tide of greyness which threatened to engulf him at every moment. His coat was only and external manifestation of an internal state! No wonder the Lord calls us to be ruthless, "Break[ing] down the altars, smash[ing] the sacred stones and cut[ing] down the Asherah poles."
If we do not, we end up like the woman at the well, so blinded by our sinfulness that we cannot see that he is the water of life, the LIVING WATER
Confession is one of the secrets to maintaining our zeal for the Lord. Unconfessed sin slowly but inexorable dulls our spiritual sense to the point where we cannot even remember what it feels like to be so alive to the Lord that sin hurts us almost as much as it hurts him. The glorious abundance of the colour of first love slowly dulls and is replaced by the murky greyness of depression and hopelessness. Confessing sin enlivens us to the to the breath of the Lord. What was previously striving becomes power and light. [And the Lord created a perfect place for this to happen. Accountability to each other and so to him, creates the perfect arena to test our zeal for him, since we are humbled every time we seek out someone to whom we can commit our deepest shame.
James 5:15-17 reads:
*
15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 THEREFORE CONFESS YOUR SINS TO EACH OTHER and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Confession to another Christian is important. It also allows God to demonstrate his love to us through the loving embrace and forgiveness that the brother or sister extends to us on his behalf, since they also know what it is to sin and be separated from the Father. Unconfessed sin denies the work of Christ on the cross, and so denies the power of redemption that is released through that work. It also denies the grace and forgiveness of God as expressed through Jesus, since our lack of confession robs him of the opportunity to confer upon us the glory of the robes of righteousness which rightfully only belong to his son Jesus. The Lord Expects us to be honest. He hates the pretence of righteousness more than honest unrighteousness. [Jer 3: 10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretence," declares the LORD. 11 The LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.]
Only polluted water can flow from a broken cistern. Only the untrammeled resources of Christ can produce rivers of living water.
In John 7:37 Jesus says in a loud voice,
*
"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
In Galations 6:2 it says
*
6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently� And in verse 2 "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ."
As I said, one of the things which struck me most about the people that I met at the Living waters training course, was their zeal for the Lord, and his honour. God's honour is seldom challenged outright in the lives of Christians. Their zeal is leeched from them slowly and thoroughly by little choices, which are made every day, every moment. Do not be mislead, it is not only those of us who come out of the depths of sexual sin, that need to keep our slates clean to prevent us from falling again. If you and I, all of us weak in some area, do not remain accountable, we are slowly engulfed by a tide of greyness, which starts, at first only wetting our feet, and then creeping up to encircle our ankles, until we get used to the stench and are unaware that it begins to climb higher and higher, finally overtaking our heads. And we drown, no longer even remembering what the glorious Technicolor of God's variety and love were like.
It is up to us to push back the tide of mediocrity and sin which engulfs us.
If you feel like a slime ball in the face of all this, you do of course know that there is a place where the Lord has ordained for us to meet him, allowing him to pay for our sins; allowing him to remove the obstacles to our fellowship with him, the causes of his wrath. No longer is it necessary for us to perpetuate the sins of our fathers, to pay for their idolatry and disobedience. And no longer is it necessary for our children to suffer to the tenth generation for our sins. Here is the place of reconciliation. Here Jesus meets us to take over the load. Here we hand over the responsibility to him. Here we halt the engulfing power of the tide of greyness and unleash the power of love and unity with God. Sin begets sin. If we sow to sin we will reap sin. If we cherish it, it will destroy us.
The Lord says in Jeremiah 2:19:
Your WICKEDNESS will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realise how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me," declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
So today I challenge you to bring to the Lord the sins which he is now raising in your minds; the dirt that is floating to the surface even as I speak If you have even the faintest inkling that there is something that you need to confess to the Lord in the presence of a trusted other, find some trusted Christian brother or sister, and ask them to pray with you now! The Lord has given us the authority to forgive sins. Use oil, and seal the work of forgiveness that has taken place in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
I urge you to embrace the opportunity of offering your sin to the Lord. I entreat you to see the deception behind trying to meet your needs in your own way. [Jer 3: 23 Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills and mountains is a deception; surely in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.]
He is calling us to offer up to him our pet indulgences. He is calling us to smash the idols we have cherished in our hearts. What has promised to enrich us and fill our needs has stolen from us [Jer 3: 24 From our youth shameful gods have consumed the fruits of our fathers' labour-- their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.] This is the time to begin the process of pushing the tide of greyness back whence it came.
Grey is not a shade of white. It is a shade of black. There is no shade of white except white. There is however one colour, and only one, that can lead to white. It is the colour red. It is the red of the blood of Christ shed for us on the cross. I urge you to set aside the qualms you have at such emotive language. This is the fabric of truth. This is the substance of the universe. If you believe that God is the ultimate good, you can see it only because he has shown it to you in spite of that which separates you from him. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that is bringing you to a place of new accountability to the Lord. If your life has been overcome by greyness and sameness for a long time now, this is for you. Now is the time!
By the grace of the Lord, unconfessed sin is even now surfacing. Do not heed the voice of the Father of all Greyness who cautions you against such extravagance. Here is the Cross. Here you can offer up that which has become your familiar partner for such a long time.
Nothing is too small. There is an incident from your childhood coming to your mind. It is insignificant, it seems, but it could be a portal through which greyness has seeped into your life, and the Lord is urging you now to close it.
There is a sin from your past, something which you have often confessed to the Lord in the privacy of your quiet time, but it still comes up for no apparent reason. Now is the time to come to Him to put an end to your indecision.
Now is the time.
Posted in Archive (RSS), Beliefs (RSS), Tools (RSS)
The Bible and Homosexuality
Posted on Saturday, February 16, 2008 at 11:31 AM by Duncan Bouwer
The reality is that it's not about homosexuality or heterosexuality. It is about submission. The bible states clearly the parameters for sexuality and the practise of sexual intercourse. It is even more specific about the parameters for heterosexuality than for homosexuality.
But if we are not prepared to submit our agendas and natural instincts (the instinct to be polygamous, the instinct to have sex with a person of the same sex) then we cannot rightly call ourselves Christians. Heterosexuals have to restrict themselves to one sexual partner for life, no matter how natural it may feel to sleep with multiple partners. What's the difference?
Sex is an expression of who God is. It is not primarily an expression of who we are. And God is, by definition (Gen 1:27) male and female.
"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." (Gen. 2:24) To be reunited; to be as they were before Eve was taken out of Adam. To once again be like God.
Posted in Archive (RSS), Beliefs (RSS)
How does one become gay?
Posted on Thursday, February 14, 2008 at 4:53 PM by Duncan Bouwer
How does one become gay? Are you born like that, or do you become like that through upbringing? The old "nature/nurture" debate all over again.
This has not been resolved. But there seems to be one common factor. In men, at least, it seems that there is always some dilemma with the father-figure. Gay men would like to deny this, but there seems to be plenty of proof for this . It seems like there is no single group with such perfect father-son relationships as militant gay men.
For others of us, coming out of homosexuality, the picture is very different. In a post-war generation, it is not surprising that there is such an increase in homosexuality. Absent fathers, both emotionally and physically, are the norm.
As I say elsewhere there probably is a gene that predisposes one to homosexual attractions. Like everything else in nature/creation, call it what you will, I believe it is a mistake. I believe it is a result of the Fall of creation and wouldn't have been that way had we not entered into disobedience through our ancestor Adam. I also believe that this falls into the same category as our predisposition to sexual immorality: it was never intended to be that way. So there it is... I know it is not a popular position.
Posted in Archive (RSS), Beliefs (RSS), General (RSS)
Beliefs
Posted on Saturday, February 09, 2008 at 6:16 PM by Duncan Bouwer
I Believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as set out in the Apostle's Creed and Nicene Creed of the Christian Faith.
I believe that active homosexuality is not the will of God for our lives, and that he has something better for us.
I believe that same-sex attractions are not chosen, but acting out of same-sex behaviour is a choice which is not inevitable.
I believe until more conclusive evidence is presented, that homosexuality is not genetic per se. I acknowledge that it may have some hereditary aspect to it, which may lead to a propensity toward same-sex attraction, but that this in and of itself does not mean that homosexuality is to be accepted as a lifestyle. But I also believe that even if homosexuality is wholly genetic, that we are called to walk in the spirit and can live lives that please God. (Read "Born Gay. So What? by Mark Sutherland)
I believe that the Bible does not under any circumstances condone sexual activity between members of the same sex . See Joe Dallas' discussion on the subject.
I believe an unwanted same-sex attraction can be changed through submission to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
Whereas I would like to change, I believe that God is sovereign, and that he has the right to choose, for his own reasons, to allow us to remain attracted to the same sex for the rest of our lives on earth if he wants to. Nevertheless, I choose to resist these attractions, and to strive for greater christlikeness in every aspect of my life, including my sexuality.