Who is this Jesus?

Today my niece shared on Facebook a beautiful photo of Jesus accompanied by a quote from 2 Nephi 25:26. The quote basically said “we believe in Christ” and my niece affirmed that this is indeed what she believes.

I’m pretty sure that her cross-posting is an attempt to help those who don’t know about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints understand and know that they too are indeed believers in Jesus, and therefore entitled to be considered Christian. This topic, as most of us know, has really entered the consciousness of our nation, as Mitt Romney, a devout Mormon, marches forward to become the Republican Candidate for President. 

It reminds me of another argument LDS folks make for being Christian when they say something to the effect of “well of course we believe in Jesus, His name, after all is in the name of our church.” Truthfully, LDS folks are quite offended and perplexed that we’d ever consider them anything but Christian when they so obviously embrace Jesus Christ, more or less as depicted in the pages of the Gospels.

I once read a clever analogy written by an acquaintance of mine about buying a truck. His analogy went something like this: I wanted to buy a truck, and I saw a truck that looked great to me. I couldn’t see any obvious problems, the price was right, and I was ready to buy it. However, he happened to live next door to the owner of the truck and knew that this truck was a real lemon. It had recently been to a mechanic who said it was on its last legs, and wouldn’t even last six months. To top it off, the body was full of rust that was carefully hidden by wax and a great detail job, so while I saw a few cosmetic defects, I was missing seeing that it was ready to fall apart. Would it be kind, or fair for my friend to not tell me the truth about the truck I was buying? The answer to that question is obvious.

The analogy applies here in that Jesus, and who He really is, isn’t just cosmetic either. He’s not an unimportant point in our religious discussions, but instead who Jesus is, is very probably the most important issue in our religions. Unfortunately it’s not really a discussion most LDS folks want to get into.

The LDS Jesus is a man who also is a God, the son of God really. He’s also the brother of Satan, and coincidentally you and I. The LDS Jesus is a man who is working and striving to learn and improve to achieve full-godhead so that someday He too can be a “God the Father” on another planet and another time.  The LDS Jesus is eternal only in the sense that his intelligence is eternal, just like all of our intelligences are eternal. In a very real sense the LDS Jesus is a man—very much like you and I, except of course that he’s perfectly sinless, and we, alas sin.

The Biblical Jesus on the other hand, is God Almighty (Is. 9:6) who also chose to be God with us (Matthew 1:23). He is eternal, and was always eternally God. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere all the time. He, in many ways, is indescribable and certainly can’t fully be understood by our finite minds. In short, He is God (John 1:1) and because He’s God, He really is too big, too awesome really, for us to understand.

The difference between the two is the difference between us and God, the difference between the finite and the infinite. The difference between a God who really is a man, with a man’s limitations saving mankind by their own works, and his sacrifice, and a God who became a man for a time in order to save us from ourselves.

It’s the difference really of limiting Jesus to His barest reality found in the gospels, that of a great, important, and even awe-inspiring man walking among men. It’s forgetting or ignoring those parts of the gospel that scream out that Jesus was not just a man, but He was also God, the God who walked among us, the God who could have called down 10,000 angels to fight for Him, but instead chose to die a horrible, cruel death on the cross and a death that none of us, no man among us could die because no man, no matter how noble is good enough to pay the price He paid.

It’s the difference that Thomas saw when he fell at Jesus feet and cried “My Lord and My God” (John 20:28) worshipping Jesus as God, as God Almighty, as the Prince of Peace, and as the Lamb who was slain.

It’s a difference that’s important; fundamental really.

I Lift My Hands. . .

Last Spring, I took my son John to an outdoor concert in Tempe Arizona. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and we really enjoyed the experience, even though I didn’t really enjoy the band personally. The band we heard is called Skillet and while they’re a Christian band, their style is a bit too much like the acid rock from my teen years for me to appreciate. (I know I sound just like my parents did then, don’t I?)

As I sat at the concert watching John enjoy it I noticed a number of things: I noticed that those who did like it were singing along, had their hands raised, sometimes were breaking out in yelling and cheering, and more, not to mention that at the end of each song, they broke out in loud verbal, and physical applause that included such gestures as jumping up and down, clapping with hands raised above their heads, as well as yelling until they were hoarse.

A few months later while I was in Mexico I visited a church where the same kind of behavior was going on. The difference between the two was that these expressions of praise, adoration, and appreciation were directed toward the Lord Jesus Christ instead of a popular band.

Honestly, my conservative side didn’t like it at first. I mean, weren’t they getting a bit carried away? I certainly was raised differently and the worship was a bit. . . more than I was accustomed to. As I thought about it though, I realized that I was holding onto a wrong attitude. Think about it for a moment: if we are so very willing to show that much adoration for a popular singer, or sports star, or even politician doesn’t the Lord, Jesus Christ deserve just as much adoration? Isn’t He, above everyone, worthy of that kind of enthusiasm?

Interestingly, in the Bible we see examples of that kind of adoration. King David was actually chastised by his wife for getting too carried away: so much so that he stripped off his clothing and danced before the Lord with all his heart. (2 Samuel 6)  It’s interesting to note that King David is the one man in the Bible that God actually says was a man “after His heart.” Could this act be one of those reasons?

And, we see in Nehemiah eight that all the people lifted their hands in adoration, while verbally praising God. If you read that passage, you’ll see that the people first lifted their hands in worship, and then fell down on their faces before the Lord. Ezra, who was their leader, then tells them NOT to mourn, cry, weep, but instead to be joyful and feast and rejoice. They are to do this because this demonstrates that the day is holy.

Too both Psalm 63 and 134 actually command people to praise God, and while praising Him to lift up their hands. Psalm 63 tells us we do this because “His loving kindness is better than life.”  It further describes the Psalmist desire for God as something that is akin to thirst in a dry and dusty land.

Which leads me back to my realization: if God really is who we believe He is, isn’t He worthy of at least as much, and as verbal, and as physical praise as a rock singer? And, relating to how I was raised, if I’m refusing to give that to Him, am I really honoring Him? 

So, next Sunday if you come to my church, maybe, just maybe, you'll see me. I'll be the one whose worshiping the One who is worthy of all my praise with all of my heart. (Not so sure about the dancing thing, but you'll probably see my hands raised in adoration, and you might see me sway a bit.) Then again, maybe you won't see me since you'll be so taken up praising God you won't notice me. 

What Makes a Prophet?

me leafing . . . er reading on my computer

I was leafing (do you leaf on the computer?) . . . errr, paging, errr reading through this months Ensign online and came across an article by President Monson entitled Priesthood Power, http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/priesthood-power?lang=eng. I’m not really going to talk about this article right now, but a statement he made at the beginning of the article about not wanting to offend anyone really got me thinking about what, biblically speaking, a prophet is/was. (It made me think because a lot of the Old Testament prophets were quite offensive even though that's not really what this blog is turning out to be about.)

The Old Testament is full of examples of prophets throughout many generations and so it’s hard to characterize exactly what one might look like (would he wear a suit and a tie, or jeans and a beard?), but there are some characteristics that Biblical Prophets shared. These are what I want to look at because I believe that these are traits that modern prophets also ought to share.

The first thing I thought of when thinking about Old Testament prophets was that they were nobodies whow many times came out of nowhere. John the Baptist for example, came out of the wilderness. (Luke 1:80) Amos was a herdsman (Amos 1) Elisha was tilling in his field (a farmer) when Elijah came and got him. (1 Kings 19:19). Saul was actually hiding when Samuel came to anoint him. (1 Samuel 10, note Saul wasn’t a prophet per se, but God did use him to prophecy in the beginning of God’s dealings with him, later though he tried to do things in his own strength without God so God rejected him as king and his prophesying seems to have been a temporary thing). David we know was a sheepherder and the youngest of his father’s sons, and his family wasn’t particularly significant either. (1 Samuel 16) and I think if we study the other prophets (the ones that we know their history) we’ll find the same thing: they were insignificant men who God reached down and pulled up and made into significant men.

And, that’s really the main thing we see in scripture that defines them: God called them, and what’s more they knew that God had called them. Isaiah describes how God called him in the first chapter of his book.

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. . . Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. (Isaiah 6:1, 5)

Similar things happened to Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and many of the other prophets in the Old Testament. They knew directly and without a doubt that God had called them, and sent them out with a specific message. Here are some more examples:

“The words of Jeremiah. . . To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah . . Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying. . .  I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:1-5) “ Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. . . .The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel. . . and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.” (Ezekiel 1: 1-3) “The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea” (Hosea 1:1) “The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.” (Joel 1) “The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD” (Obediah 1) “Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah” (Jonah 1).

Lastly, Old Testament prophets weren’t in any way perfect, or sin free. In some ways this seems like it’d be obvious, but in the LDS church at least, I grew up thinking that prophets were right up there pretty darn close to God, meaning that while they probably did some little tiny sin from time to time, they certainly wouldn’t fall into any big sin. Biblical prophets though, struggled with some pretty big sins from time to time. We talked about David, and it’s super easy to see that David messed up big time with Bathsheba, (2 Samuel 11) but there’s also evidence that David was a bad father (2 Samuel 13-18), and he did a census of Israel that God had not wanted, making Israel suffer really bad consequences because of it. (2 Samuel 24)

We see too in scripture how Abraham didn’t always trust God like he should, and instead ran ahead of God rather than wait and trust Him (by sinning). And, I’m sure as we look at the other prophets we can find instances where they didn’t do everything just right. (Elijah ran away from Jezebel because he didn’t really trust that God could save his life).

But, the biblical expectation isn’t that they were perfect. Instead, it’s that they trusted God, and that when they did mess up they put their trust in God and in His forgiveness.That's why God could honestly say that David was a man after His own heart even though David messed up so big. (1 Samuel 13)

In fact, as I was studying to put this together I realized that the one thing that ties all the prophets together above everything else was that God had given them a message (which they then spoke out), and that really, no more and no less, is what made them prophets.

The Victory that Comes from the Holy Spirit

Last week I confessed to you, my readers, that I could make people mad at me. This week I want to go even further on that thought and confess to you that I fail. . . often. The thing is though that I suspect you fail too—maybe even often.

Let me set the scenario for you so you see that I’m not just a hopeless loser, but more like a normal and even common loser. Nearly every morning of my life I start the day with Bible reading and talking to God. And, sometimes (often) in that quiet time in the morning I feel Him speaking to me about something: being kinder to my family, reaching out to my neighbors, praying more, and harder, or some other such thing. (Some of these things are quite personal and hurt even!) And, in the quiet perfection of my morning time I say “I’m going to do that today!”

Then eight o’ clock comes around, the kids get up, I start my day, and things change. . . you see, it’s no longer just the Lord and I, but there are all these. . . interruptions, problems, issues, even drama and most of all people, people that are sometimes hard to live with! And, before I know it it’s suppertime, and I totally forgot whatever it was that I committed to in my quiet time.

Can you relate to this? I think most of us can. The thing is, however, that I think the Lord knows this and even planned for it. Jesus, you know, came down and became one of us for a time, and scripture even tells us that He faced the same troubles, temptations, and such as we did. So, He knows that there’d be all these things in our lives that’d hinder us from doing what we really, really wanted to do.

And, as we learned already we really can’t do any of those good things by ourselves, or in our natural, normal human state. (Romans 7:18, Isaiah 64:6 and other passages tell us that our natural human good works are really filthy dirty menstrual rags in God’s eyes, fit for nothing but to be thrown away). So, how does a Christian live, and what can a person do that does please God? The answer to this is one of those mysteries of the Christian life that in some ways is counter-intuitive. It lies in the answer that God gave: you see, when a Christian chooses to put their faith in Jesus (this is the gateway that God puts before us that we have to enter into before we really can be Christians), God does some amazing things in their lives. And, one of those things is that He comes down Himself, not just to dwell with them as Jesus did, but instead to dwell in them in the form of the Holy Spirit. And, that Holy Spirit dwelling within the Christian is God’s provision for the Christian to even be able to do anything that pleases Him.

 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)

And, this provision of God is why I can honestly confess to you that I fail, but that I am not a complete failure, not because of me but instead because of God, because He, dwelling within me gives me power over those sins that plague me.

And, in looking back at my life I can see how He, working within me, has done those things He talks to me about in the intimacy of our morning meetings. And, I can see that even in the hustle and bustle of the day, with its many annoyances, frustrations, and yes, people, He’s working to do just what He wants in my life.

And, you know what? I can’t take credit for any of it because I know deep down inside that it’s not really me at all. It’s all Him—and all glory is His.

What is "Our Part"?

Did you know that I could make someone real angry, really, really fast? I know it’s hard to believe about me, mild mannered mom and generally all-around nice person that I am, but it’s true. In fact, one of the ways I can tick people off faster than pretty much anything else is for me to tell a LDS person that they are not Christian. And, so in general I don’t make that statement—at all, even though more or less I believe it to be true.

The trouble isn’t that I’m right and they’re wrong, or even that they’re right and I’m wrong, but it’s all wrapped up in definition. You see, when LDS folks say they’re Christian they define that as someone who believes in Christ. When I (or someone else that I might agree with) say that they’re not Christian I mean that they do not believe certain biblical doctrines that are set forth so clearly in the Bible that their truths really are not open to debate.

As I read the LDS webpage entitled Jesus is the Way http://lds.org/plan/jesus-christ-is-the-way?lang=eng there’s a real good example of one of those differences. It’s in the portion of the article entitled We Have To Do Our Part, and says “. . . we have to do our part to overcome spiritual death. To be forgiven of our sins, we need to repent and increase our faith in Jesus Christ throughout our lives. We will not be saved simply because we get baptized or say we believe in Jesus Christ. It takes work. . .”

Now, no true Christian would disagree that there are things that God wants us to do, and doesn’t want us to do, and that a true Christian would live out his life trying to do, or not do, those things. In fact, as James so rightly points out, if we’re not doing (or not, not doing) those things, we should examine ourselves to see if we’re really Christians at all. But, the Bible is very clear that our works do not contribute to our salvation. Or in other words what we do, or don’t do won’t change one bit whether or not we’ve been reconciled to God if we’ve been reconciled to God in God’s way.

Paul is actually the apostle who talks the most about this concept and in Romans 4 he gives the clearest teaching of all about this when he compares us working for our salvation to having a job. Most of us when we go to work every day don’t do it out of grace: we do it because we expect to be paid. And, that’s just how Paul compares salvation, he tells us that if we work for it we get what we deserve, our pay so to speak. The trouble is that God demands that we do it either our way, or His way. His way is through putting our faith in His Son, Jesus and in His finished work on the cross. (See Romans 3 and 4, Ephesians 2, Galatians 3, John 3, 6 and many, many more verses.) Our way is to work and try to make ourselves good enough that God, or Jesus might accept us; to somehow do enough good deeds that our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds and somehow we’ll make the standard that God sets, even if by the skin of our teeth. (If we were Muslim we could choose martyrdom and then we’d know that we’d made it, but otherwise we’re always left wondering if we’ve lived up to God’s standard, no matter how “good” we become or how much “good” we do.)

And, this is where our own works trip us up. You see, the Bible also says that all—yes that’s ALL of our “righteous” acts are like filthy rags before God. (Isaiah 64:6) Other passages in the Bible agree with this assessment, Paul tells us in Romans 7 that in his flesh (our human nature) nothing truly good exists (vs. 18). And, the Proverbs tell us that what we think is “right” isn’t right with God (Proverbs 16:25).

So in the end, although it may seem that we can work and try and do all these good things that’ll somehow help in our salvation, the Bible is unequivocal in it’s teaching that we can’t do anything that’s going to help out in our salvation, and in fact, that if we’re counting on our good works for anything at all, we’ve nullified grace. . . which means that we then get the “wages” for our own behavior.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve tried to “do” all the right things, and you know what? It doesn’t last, or I just plain can’t do it right, or I don’t know really, but somehow it fails—fatally fails. I lose my temper, or I am not patient enough, or someone cuts in front of me in traffic, or the dog truly does eat my homework, and the washer eats my socks, and well, I just fail again and again and again.

The good news is that Jesus knew that. He planned for that in fact, by taking away the responsibility for my sin from me, and taking it on Himself and in taking it on Himself paid for it in the only way really possible. He paid for it in the only way that is, and will ever be, good enough.

And, all He asked from me was the one thing that I can do: to trust in Him, and even in my utter inability to do that well, He knew and made the provision, and He works in me to do what He’s purposed to do in me, and in that He is glorified, and I am not.

Which is why the next time I make someone mad, I’m trusting that Jesus will give me the will, power, and words to make the situation right, even if we have different definitions of the same word. And most of all I’m trusting that although my “work” is imperfect and in the end fatally flawed, His isn’t.

Is the Temple a Beacon or a Distraction?

I was reading President Thomas S. Monson’s General Conference address entitled The Holy Temple—a Beacon to the World (http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/the-holy-temple-a-beacon-to-the-world?lang=eng). The article talks about a lot about the sacrifice that members make to first build the temples, and to attend the temple throughout the world and that this burden is getting lighter and lighter because there are now temples throughout the world. President Monson went on to detail three reasons that faithful members should continue to strive and sacrifice to attend the temple no matter the cost. These are his three reasons:

1. We will be more able to bear every trial and to overcome every temptation,
2. We will find peace,
3. We will be renewed and fortified.

And, it’s true, that my experience in the LDS temple was a peaceful, and renewing experience. It helped me on some level because it gave me the time to step away from the world, and be quiet. (Sometimes it was such a break that truthfully I had trouble staying awake—I was pregnant, working full-time, as well as holding down church callings so in defense of myself I was really, really tired!) I’m not so sure about the trials and temptations part of it, but the temple did give me a chance to be renewed in my commitment to the LDS church (it was, after all, a requirement of the endowment itself to pledge and re-pledge total and complete allegiance to the Church.)

The problem was though; that the peace I found in the temple was not biblical peace, renewal, fortification, or even strength for trials and temptations. Instead it was the kind of strength that one gets from being in the right place at the right time. For instance, when I worked, I worked in downtown Phoenix and in downtown Phoenix there was a beautiful and quiet old Catholic Church. One day, out of curiosity I decided to take a peak inside. I did, and entered (Catholic chapels are meant to be a place that anyone can enter—often at any time—and sit quietly, pray, reflect, or whatever else is needed.), and to my complete surprise found an incredible spirit of peace and contentment there. I’m sure if I’d have stayed longer some of the same things that happened to me while sitting at the LDS temple would have happened there too, but since I was on a short lunch break, I looked around for a few moments and then left.

Biblically though, there’s really only ever mentioned one source of peace, renewal, and strength: the Lord Jesus Christ.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)

The Old Testament temple wasn’t a place of peace and contentment at all but instead was a place of controlled chaos. The main point of the old temple was to sacrifice animals as a picture for what Christ would do in the future. It did this by killing those animals and shedding their blood in order to cover up (to cover up is what the word atonement literally means) man’s sins. Because that was the main use of the Old Testament temple it was a noisy place: animals bellowing, the priests working hard, and people wanting forgiveness wailing loudly (see Luke 18:9-14 for an example of this. In Luke 19:46 Jesus even went into the temple to teach impromptu, something I never saw happen in the LDS temple of today). The temple was anything but a place of peace and quiet. Ceremonially it gave people forgiveness of sins, and with that peace, renewal, and fortification, but in no way was it like what a LDS temple is today. Instead, people got their strength, peace, and contentment from knowing God and knowing they had done the right thing to make peace with Him. It’s why David could claim God to be his Rock, (2 Samuel 22:2) or his strong defensive Tower (2 Samuel 22:3, Ps. 61:3), not because of the temple (there was no temple in David’s lifetime), but instead because David knew and trusted God.

In the New Testament the end of temple worship was symbolized by God at the moment Jesus died when the veil of the temple, a big, thick, and heavy cloth suddenly tore from top to bottom and thus signified that the way into the Holy of Holies was now open to man and that man could now openly approach God without the Old Testament temple sacrifices (see Luke 23:45). New Testament peace, therefore, comes not from doing certain things, but instead from our trusting and knowing God; from being in a relationship with God where we know we are His, and He is ours.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. . . (Romans 5:1, 2)

Too, in the New Testament we’re told that the strength to overcome temptations, and to withstand trials comes also from knowing Jesus and being known by Him. It comes not from doing certain things, or performing certain rituals, but instead by living in a relationship with Jesus where we allow Him to work on us, and in us, changing us into what He wants us to be.

Therefore,if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”  which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men?  These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:20-23)

. . .that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. . .  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7)

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. (Romans 8:1-9)

So, in the end I have to wonder if maybe building, sacrificing for, and attending the temple is a bit of a distraction. If, maybe going to the temple might actually keep me distracted from building my relationship with Jesus. If sitting through a two hour endowment ceremony, plus the time for dressing, driving, etc., might actually have been better spent praying, learning God’s Word, even meeting together with other believers: all New Testament disciplines, and all disciplines that will connect me with Him who is Peace, who is Strength, who is Renewal, and who is Fortification.