Compassion, Action and Boldness; Even When It's Scary

Over the last several months, I have had the privilege of being part of and watching bold compassion in action around AC3 and I have been changed.

• When you see a body of believers embrace a 'No One Fights Alone' attitude and actively join a family's battle against cancer, you are reminded that life on this earth is short. I will live life fully with eternity in mind.
• When you witness Seeds of Grace volunteers choosing to walk beside those on the fringe of society and offering them real friendship, you are reminded that 'things' are 'just things'. I will live life on purpose and in relationship with those that God brings into my life.
• When you watch a group of bikers provide an atmosphere of recovery and recreation for those fighting drug addictions with opportunities to 'give back' to their community, you experience hope (SOG was the recipient of their food and toy drives this holiday season). I will live life with hope, knowing that everyone can 'be changed' and 'make change' in the lives of others.
• When you watch a group of preschoolers participate in compassion by creating homeless bags to give someone in need or on a street corner this holiday season, it becomes clear that everyone is called to serve. I will live life serving others, doing my best to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

This blog post was inspired by a recent yet very simple Facebook post by my daughter-in-law Amanda below. It reflects a simple compassion story of handing out their SOG homeless bag to someone with my first grandson Jonah, five years old.

"Finally got to give our Seeds of Grace bag that Jonah put together in preschool to someone in need. Jonah was scared at first but I took the opportunity to explain to him that helping people is not always easy. It's easier to just keep walking. We gave the man our bag of goodies, said Merry Christmas and it was done. Then Jonah started asking questions on the ride home about where that man slept, etc.

Another opportunity to talk about how Jesus calls us to help others and about being grateful. Then it turned to talking about the best, final home we have to look forward to (heaven) and what we are called to do here on earth until we are called home. Love God, Love each other and Love the lost. 

Amazing moment with Jonah... I could see the wheels turning in his head. I pray he has a heart of compassion that leads to action and boldness to do God's will even when it's scary." - A :)

 A few Facebook comments: 

"Ever since the day they made them and we gave it away the same day, we've been finding more and more opportunities to help people out, even if it's just a bottle of water! I LOVE what God is doing in MY heart by giving me a kid to raise I'm so excited for you to have had such a deep conversation!! SUPER cool!"

"Way to go!! Proud of you guys. Love that you told him "it's not always easy."

"♡♡♡♡♡"

"Great teaching moment!"  

"I love witnessing God doing work!"

"Beautiful! Thanx for SHARING with us the opportunity you took to be Jesus to someone...and to teach Jonah what that looks like! Merry Christmas!" 

As we head into the new year, let us not forget that compassion is not always easy but it is to be a very real part of every Christ followers lives. Let's live out compassion with action and boldness with fresh awareness, even when it's scary!

Twila

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13.

Devastating Arguments Against Christianity (Courtesy of the Internet)

I'm re-posting an excellent blog I found HERE

I found it to be a concise response to 3 arguments against Christianity I keep running into on the Web.  The resident skeptic in your life may have throw these your way a time or two, so I thought perhaps it would be good to fact-check them all at once.

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Claim #1: “Religion has been the primary cause of war and oppression throughout the history of mankind.”

The Truth: In their comprehensive Encyclopedia of Wars, Phillips and Axelrod document the recorded history of warfare. Of the 1,763 wars presented, a mere 7% involved a religious cause. When Islam is subtracted from the equation, that number drops to 3.2%.

In terms of casualties, religious wars account for only 2% of all people killed by warfare. This pales in comparison to the number of people who have been killed by secular dictators in the 20th century alone.

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Claim #2: “The dark ages were a time of ignorance and superstition, thanks to religion’s negative influence on scientific progress.”

The Truth: Atheist writer Tim O’Neill responds to this claim eloquently in his excellent review of “God’s Philosophers”:  

“It’s not hard to kick this nonsense to pieces, especially since the people presenting it know next to nothing about history and have simply picked up these strange ideas from websites and popular books. The assertions collapse as soon as you hit them with hard evidence. I love to totally stump these propagators by asking them to present me with the name of one – just one - scientist burned, persecuted, or oppressed for their science in the Middle Ages. They always fail to come up with any. They usually try to crowbar Galileo back into the Middle Ages, which is amusing considering he was a contemporary of Descartes. When asked why they have failed to produce any such scientists given the Church was apparently so busily oppressing them, they often resort to claiming that the Evil Old Church did such a good job of oppression that everyone was too scared to practice science. By the time I produce a laundry list of Medieval scientists – like Albertus Magnus, Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon, John Peckham, Duns Scotus, Thomas Bradwardine, Walter Burley, William Heytesbury, Richard Swineshead, John Dumbleton, Richard of Wallingford, Nicholas Oresme, Jean Buridan and Nicholas of Cusa – and ask why these men were happily pursuing science in the Middle Ages without molestation from the Church, my opponents usually scratch their heads in puzzlement at what just went wrong.”

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Claim #3: “Jesus was a mythical figure. The New Testament stole most of its stories from other ancient sources.”

The Truth: These claims gained a lot of popularity thanks to the 2007 propaganda film “Zeitgeist” and its articulation of the Jesus myth hypothesis. It turns out that the “facts” presented in the image above are almost entirely fabricated. I was able to refute most of them in about thirty minutes of searching on academic websites:

Horus

• His mother (Isis) wasn't a virgin. Isis married her brother (Osiris) and conceived Horus with him.
• There’s no historical reference to a “star in the east,” or to Horus “walking on water.” Those are simply made up.
• Horus was never crucified or resurrected. Actually, he never even died! The story is that he “merged” with the sun god, Ra.

Mithra

• By most accounts, Mithra was born in either September or October.
• There’s no historical account of Mithra having twelve disciples. That part is also made up.
• Mithra wasn't said to have been born of a virgin, but rather out of solid rock.
• There’s no known record of a resurrection (or even of him having died).

Krishna

• Krishna was from the royal family Mathura, and was the 8th son of Devaki and her husband Vasudeva.
• There is no mention of a “star in the east” or a resurrection in the literature.
• There are some references to him performing miracles, but that’s about it…

Dionysus

• He wasn't born of a virgin. His mother was Semele (a mortal), and his father was Zeus.
• Dionysus died each winter and was resurrected in the spring. No mention of December 25.
• There are plenty of references to Dionysus turning water into wine…but he was, after all, the Greek god of wine.

The Web is a place for all kinds of "devastating" arguments like these, but often they're put forward with more zeal (or sarcasm) than knowledge.  So remember, "the first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him." Prov 18:17