God heals all wounds...

Growing up, my best friend was Ben. We did everything together. We played army men, had sleepovers, fought Nerf wars, and played in the same band. We were inseparable. I even got to play a part in his baptism, studying with him over two years before he came to faith. As time went on, however, we grew more distant. We went to separate colleges, led separate lives, and began to believe separate things. While I held on to my faith, Ben lost his. Now we simply agree to disagree; he secretly thinks my career is a waste of time, and I think his life is missing something very important. As a result, we rarely talk anymore, and each of us has gone our separate way.

I believe most of us have similar stories at some point in our lives. Each of us has had a friend we were close to, only to grow more distant as time goes along. Sometimes it is a sharp disagreement; other times it is a gradual moving away as our lives and priorities change.

In Acts 15, we have a similar story in the life of Paul. Paul and Barnabas have been friends for many years. In fact, Barnabas is the one who encouraged Paul to enter ministry in Antioch (Acts 11:25-26). They had been friends for years, even going on their first missionary journey together. At the beginning of their second journey, however, everything came unglued. Barnabas wanted to take his cousin, John Mark; Paul had very little trust in him since he had abandoned them on the field. The disagreement was so sharp that they parted company, unable to work together. What we find, however, is that their friendship was renewed over time. Paul mentions Barnabas and his hard work in ministry in 1 Cor. 9:6. Paul also comes to love and value John Mark, even asking for him to come see him in his final days (2 Tim. 4:11).

Often those closest to us can hurt us the most. Careless words, thoughtless comments, hurtful remarks can wound deeply. Sharp disagreements can cause seemingly irreparable rifts. But God can heal broken relationships. God can take a discouraging situation and bring hope and life. There is no wound that cannot be healed. Yes, we have been hurt or hurt one another, but let us bear with one another in love. God can heal all wounds.

Love One Another

The church gets a bad rap. Too often she gets beat up, not just by non-Christians but by Christians too!

“The church is full of hypocrites. Oh they claim to believe it, but they don’t practice what they preach…”

“Church is out of touch. They don’t have a clue what is going on in the REAL world…”

“Church is boring. They don’t sing the songs I like, the preacher is too long-winded, everyone is off-key. Seriously…”

And often those criticisms are based in fact. All of us can be hypocritical. Sometimes we are out of touch with culture and the world. Sometimes church can be a little boring. Sometimes we sing off-key. Sure, those criticisms are sometimes based in fact.

But here’s my definition of church: Church is the perfect place for imperfect people. We believe in the God who was, is, and is to come, and he is at work on each of us making us what he means for us to be. As Christians, we are under construction. As the church, we are a place where people come to be built up. Sometimes we function as a hospital, working on those who need healing. Sometimes we function as a therapy session, helping those who are hurt and broken. Sometimes we are a family dinner, a place where joys are shared and accomplishments are rejoiced over.

Ultimately, the church makes the biggest impact when we love one another. The Christian community, when it is loving one another, makes a huge impact on the world. Look at Acts 2 and Acts 4: these are people who are making a difference! This is why Jesus tells his disciples to love one another. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). So church, get to loving! Check up on one another. Encourage one another. Say more than hello to someone as you leave. Love can change the world, and it starts here with us

Honest discussion on science and religion for 100, Alex.

The gulf between the religious and non-religious is growing. Don't believe me? Listen to the name-calling and angry ranting that BOTH sides do when they get the chance.

"Religious people are nothing more than closed-, small-minded idiots who aren't smart enough to know their head from their..."

"Evolutionists are too stupid to see the glory of God in the world around them! They have their noses turned up so high they miss the obvious!"

And on and on and on the discussion goes. We rarely stop to listen to one another.

I recently was reading a blog about this topic, and this was my response to the discussion that was ongoing. (I will list it below.) The discussion does what discussions on science/religion normally do: They bog down in semantics, argue that they are right, and never actually say anything to prove or disprove their points. They simply argue about the idiocy of the other side.

How do we discuss topics of science, sociology, and religion openly and honestly without getting our feelings hurt or hurting the feelings of another? Can we do that? How can we have honest discussion with those we don't agree with?

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From what I have read today in this post, we have the same problem that Scot was alluding to: we aren't listening to one another. The discussion going back and forth has gotten bogged down in semantics, which is what usually happens.

Hrafn, the honest religious person would make the statement, "I don't have it all figured out, because God is so much greater and more mysterious than I can imagine." (Yes, that is religious from Judeo-Christian perspective, but it is my heritage and worldview so bear with me.) Honest religious people (can I just say Christians) have a fundamental belief in the God who is. Some argue for literal 6-day creationism; others leave room for creative evolution or see God's hand in the evolutionary process. The honest Christian is always seeking and searching for Truth, for the unexamined faith is not worth having.

The honest scientist would also make the statement, "I don't have it all figured out" also. Scientific certainty exists until someone comes along and dismantles it with the latest theory to explain how things work. Scientists are always looking for new ways to understand what they see; the honest scientist will tell you they are still growing and searching.

Can science and faith coexist? Absolutely yes. Is it always easy? Absolutely not. Are we sometimes at odds? Sure.

The most important thing we can do is first LISTEN to one another openly. Too often we listen to the other's point of view while simply building up our arguments in our mind, so we never actually actively hear what the other person is saying. We simply argue out our points: "Evolution is fact!" "NO! Evolution is theory!" Yet we never actually say much of anything worthwhile. We don't even defend our positions well, we just dig deeper trenches. (Don't worry, we do the same thing in politics, too.)

Sorry if I rambled, but I just wish we could have deeper discussions on the differences and similarities between science and religion, looking to where we can coexist and peacefully deciding where we might agree to disagree. Will it ever be 100% harmonious? No, but I think it could be a lot better.