Time Plus chance plus energy=?

By: Steve Hill

March 13- 26 I was in Ukraine envisioning and team building and also having a lot of fun challenging different groups of college and university students with world view and ethical  issues.  Thank you Lena and the Christian Teachers Association for opening those doors!   And thank you philosophy degree for finally being useful!

Some of us seldom think about our world view.  We just function in it like a fish in water but water is the one thing a fish knows nothing about!  At least until you take him out of it and then he begins to learn very quickly!  Our belief environments may tend to be invisible but they need to be challenged!  We may say that we have a certain world view but actually live according to some completely different presuppositions.

If the basic value system of our western culture is personal prosperity (power to do as I wish), personal peace (security to do as I wish) and personal pleasure (freedom from moral law to do as I wish), how do we challenge that?  How can we challenge that value system if we also knowingly or unknowingly live by it?

When does a gospel of good news for the poor become a prosperity cult based upon personal prosperity, personal peace and personal pleasure?  Yes, we have to be blessed to be a blessing!  But blessing can flow through any pipe of structural integrity.   The water does not notice if the pipe is plastic or gold (nor do the people receiving the blessing!)!  How much do we invest in the pipe?  The point is not what you would do with the million you do not have but what you will do with what is in your hand!

Frederich Nietzsche (1844- 1900)  would have been the fourth generation Lutheran pastor in his family.  He was one of the first to declare that "God is dead!"  and added that "the Christians killed Him!"   He challenged the church of his day with, "If you want me to believe in your redeemer, you will have to act more redeemed!"  

Nietzsche had the courage to state the logical consequences of his beliefs.  He understood that if there is no God,  there is only "The Will to Power"  and used that as the title of one of his books.  The Nazis used Nietzsche's ideas as a foundation for their regime.

Our humanistic friends do not like Nietzsche.  They want their personal prosperity, personal peace and personal pleasure without God and want a "nice" world as well.  They want a "civilized" society.  In this civilized society we do not execute convicted murderers and rapists since that would be "inhumane" and after all "violence begets violence" so we release these folks back unto the streets to destroy more lives.  Very humane!  Meanwhile abortion and euthanasia have become "rights"!  How civilized!  We do not execute killers but we execute the innocent and the elderly for the "crime" of being weak and reducing out freedom to pursue our personal pleasures.

Man, who will not worship God,  will worship himself and the state and express his omnipotence through raw power.  His "omnipotence" is limited in that he cannot create life so gives its expression to "creating" death!  How powerful is that?  

Educators in the Ukraine are concerned about world view and ethical issues.  They have lived through the collapse of communism.  They have experienced the total bankruptcy of the humanistic materialistic world view.  Their nation experienced the full brutal reality of raw power as Stalin starved seven to ten million (25% of the population) to death to collectivize their farms.  (Stalin is reported to have commented on the deaths,  "You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette!" ) They experience the oppression of raw power every day as they live with pervasive corruption.  

If you start with energy plus time plus chance raw power is all you get.  Might makes right is the only ethical statement possible.   Energy, time and chance cannot give rise to love, creativity, joy, personality, concern for others or any values at all.    As Nietzsche would say, any "values" beyond power and chance are an illusion.  

But there is a God who is the foundation of blessing, peace and fulfillment!  He blesses us to be a blessing!  He gives us the peace of righteousness!  He gives us the power of grace to live righteously and the power of the anointing to set captives free!  He gives us the holy joys of life and gives us the delight of doing His will!  

Yes, there is a God and all values point to who He is and who He has created us to be!

The real joy of life is not in personal consumption!
The real joy of life is in self sacrifice!
The real joy of life is in being like Him and giving our best!

"For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son!"

Thank you for your prayers and support!
Steve & Marilyn

PS: April 4- 8 I will be in Vanadzor, Armenia with Varazdat and Laura.  April 27- 30 Marilyn and I will be in St. Etienne, France with Graham & Lea (grahamjonesministries.org).  In both places we will be  doing what we love to do- envisioning and team building to multiply the kingdom of God.  The middle of April we will be doing the same in Holland and Belgium.

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