I thoroughly enjoyed this week’s message at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA but more importantly, I realized that the intended audience was people like me….people that have been so focused on God’s personal and moral law that we have been distracted from understanding and participating in God’s global purposes. The message is a call to “good Christians”….great, you are living right….but what about the Ninevites?
I have embedded the video above from Northpointonline.tv If you don’t see it then the link is no longer valid…your best bet will be to go to http://www.northpoint.org/messages and look for the White Flag Series. It’s worth your time…I highly recommend the whole series but I was particularly impacted by part 3.
Last night I watched the movie Luther with my family. I knew a little of the history of Martin Luther prior to watching, but the movie helped set the historical context and exposed many more of the issues that were going on in the church and in politics at that time. I was also amazed to learn that Luther translated the Bible into German by himself because he wanted people to have direct access to the scriptures in their native language. After watching the movie I wondered what was in the 95 Theses that ticked the Catholic church off so bad and unraveled that part of the world in such a way that over 100,000 people died in the Peasant’s War. I always thought what upset the Catholic church the most was the loss in revenue they received when people no longer placed value on indulgences, but the movie and Wikipedia seem to support that the Catholic church was equally bothered by Luther providing people with personal access to a Bible they could understand and for the theological claims he made about grace and relationship with Christ.
I highly recommend the movie. Based on the historical details of the account as captured on Wikipedia, the movie appears to have stayed true to history, down to some pretty specific details. For example, the speech that Luther gives at the Diet of Worms is quoted verbatim from historical accounts. If you have never read the 95 Theses, they are pasted below. As you read through each point, if you confidently and adamantly disagree with anything Luther wrote, please reply with a comment stating the # of the item you disagree with and why.
Before you read the 95 Theses, you need to understand what an ‘indulgence’ was/is…here is a brief explanation for those who don’t know:
Indulgence - The practice by which a person could pay money to the church or do a good deed and obtain remission of the temporal punishment due to sin. (often this meant purchasing forgiveness of sins for a dead relative so they would spend less time in purgatory)
Also, here is a quick recap on Martin Luther, also found on Wikipedia:
Below is the English translation of the 95 Theses Luther posted on the doors of the castle church in Wittenberg Germany in 1517:
1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
2. This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.
3. Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.
4. The penalty of sin remains as long as the hatred of self (that is, true inner repentance), namely till our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
5. The pope neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.
6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring and showing that it has been remitted by God; or, to be sure, by remitting guilt in cases reserved to his judgment. If his right to grant remission in these cases were disregarded, the guilt would certainly remain unforgiven.
7. God remits guilt to no one unless at the same time he humbles him in all things and makes him submissive to the vicar, the priest.
8. The penitential canons are imposed only on the living, and, according to the canons themselves, nothing should be imposed on the dying.
9. Therefore the Holy Spirit through the pope is kind to us insofar as the pope in his decrees always makes exception of the article of death and of necessity.
10. Those priests act ignorantly and wickedly who, in the case of the dying, reserve canonical penalties for purgatory.
11. Those tares of changing the canonical penalty to the penalty of purgatory were evidently sown while the bishops slept (Mt 13:25).
12. In former times canonical penalties were imposed, not after, but before absolution, as tests of true contrition.
13. The dying are freed by death from all penalties, are already dead as far as the canon laws are concerned, and have a right to be released from them.
14. Imperfect piety or love on the part of the dying person necessarily brings with it great fear; and the smaller the love, the greater the fear.
15. This fear or horror is sufficient in itself, to say nothing of other things, to constitute the penalty of purgatory, since it is very near to the horror of despair.
16. Hell, purgatory, and heaven seem to differ the same as despair, fear, and assurance of salvation.
17. It seems as though for the souls in purgatory fear should necessarily decrease and love increase.
18. Furthermore, it does not seem proved, either by reason or by Scripture, that souls in purgatory are outside the state of merit, that is, unable to grow in love.
19. Nor does it seem proved that souls in purgatory, at least not all of them, are certain and assured of their own salvation, even if we ourselves may be entirely certain of it.
20. Therefore the pope, when he uses the words “plenary remission of all penalties,” does not actually mean “all penalties,” but only those imposed by himself.
21. Thus those indulgence preachers are in error who say that a man is absolved from every penalty and saved by papal indulgences.
22. As a matter of fact, the pope remits to souls in purgatory no penalty which, according to canon law, they should have paid in this life.
23. If remission of all penalties whatsoever could be granted to anyone at all, certainly it would be granted only to the most perfect, that is, to very few.
24. For this reason most people are necessarily deceived by that indiscriminate and high-sounding promise of release from penalty.
25. That power which the pope has in general over purgatory corresponds to the power which any bishop or curate has in a particular way in his own diocese and parish.
26. The pope does very well when he grants remission to souls in purgatory, not by the power of the keys, which he does not have, but by way of intercession for them.
27. They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory.
28. It is certain that when money clinks in the money chest, greed and avarice can be increased; but when the church intercedes, the result is in the hands of God alone.
29. Who knows whether all souls in purgatory wish to be redeemed, since we have exceptions in St. Severinus and St. Paschal, as related in a legend.
30. No one is sure of the integrity of his own contrition, much less of having received plenary remission.
31. The man who actually buys indulgences is as rare as he who is really penitent; indeed, he is exceedingly rare.
32. Those who believe that they can be certain of their salvation because they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned, together with their teachers.
33. Men must especially be on guard against those who say that the pope’s pardons are that inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled to him.
34. For the graces of indulgences are concerned only with the penalties of sacramental satisfaction established by man.
35. They who teach that contrition is not necessary on the part of those who intend to buy souls out of purgatory or to buy confessional privileges preach unchristian doctrine.
36. Any truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without indulgence letters.
37. Any true Christian, whether living or dead, participates in all the blessings of Christ and the church; and this is granted him by God, even without indulgence letters.
38. Nevertheless, papal remission and blessing are by no means to be disregarded, for they are, as I have said (Thesis 6), the proclamation of the divine remission.
39. It is very difficult, even for the most learned theologians, at one and the same time to commend to the people the bounty of indulgences and the need of true contrition.
40. A Christian who is truly contrite seeks and loves to pay penalties for his sins; the bounty of indulgences, however, relaxes penalties and causes men to hate them — at least it furnishes occasion for hating them.
41. Papal indulgences must be preached with caution, lest people erroneously think that they are preferable to other good works of love.
42. Christians are to be taught that the pope does not intend that the buying of indulgences should in any way be compared with works of mercy.
43. Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better deed than he who buys indulgences.
44. Because love grows by works of love, man thereby becomes better. Man does not, however, become better by means of indulgences but is merely freed from penalties.
45. Christians are to be taught that he who sees a needy man and passes him by, yet gives his money for indulgences, does not buy papal indulgences but God’s wrath.
46. Christians are to be taught that, unless they have more than they need, they must reserve enough for their family needs and by no means squander it on indulgences.
47. Christians are to be taught that they buying of indulgences is a matter of free choice, not commanded.
48 Christians are to be taught that the pope, in granting indulgences, needs and thus desires their devout prayer more than their money.
49. Christians are to be taught that papal indulgences are useful only if they do not put their trust in them, but very harmful if they lose their fear of God because of them.
50. Christians are to be taught that if the pope knew the exactions of the indulgence preachers, he would rather that the basilica of St. Peter were burned to ashes than built up with the skin, flesh, and bones of his sheep.
51. Christians are to be taught that the pope would and should wish to give of his own money, even though he had to sell the basilica of St. Peter, to many of those from whom certain hawkers of indulgences cajole money.
52. It is vain to trust in salvation by indulgence letters, even though the indulgence commissary, or even the pope, were to offer his soul as security.
53. They are the enemies of Christ and the pope who forbid altogether the preaching of the Word of God in some churches in order that indulgences may be preached in others.
54. Injury is done to the Word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal or larger amount of time is devoted to indulgences than to the Word.
55. It is certainly the pope’s sentiment that if indulgences, which are a very insignificant thing, are celebrated with one bell, one procession, and one ceremony, then the gospel, which is the very greatest thing, should be preached with a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a hundred ceremonies.
56. The true treasures of the church, out of which the pope distributes indulgences, are not sufficiently discussed or known among the people of Christ.
57. That indulgences are not temporal treasures is certainly clear, for many indulgence sellers do not distribute them freely but only gather them.
58. Nor are they the merits of Christ and the saints, for, even without the pope, the latter always work grace for the inner man, and the cross, death, and hell for the outer man.
59. St. Lawrence said that the poor of the church were the treasures of the church, but he spoke according to the usage of the word in his own time.
60. Without want of consideration we say that the keys of the church, given by the merits of Christ, are that treasure.
61. For it is clear that the pope’s power is of itself sufficient for the remission of penalties and cases reserved by himself.
62. The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.
63. But this treasure is naturally most odious, for it makes the first to be last (Mt. 20:16).
64. On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is naturally most acceptable, for it makes the last to be first.
65. Therefore the treasures of the gospel are nets with which one formerly fished for men of wealth.
66. The treasures of indulgences are nets with which one now fishes for the wealth of men.
67. The indulgences which the demagogues acclaim as the greatest graces are actually understood to be such only insofar as they promote gain.
68. They are nevertheless in truth the most insignificant graces when compared with the grace of God and the piety of the cross.
69. Bishops and curates are bound to admit the commissaries of papal indulgences with all reverence.
70. But they are much more bound to strain their eyes and ears lest these men preach their own dreams instead of what the pope has commissioned.
71. Let him who speaks against the truth concerning papal indulgences be anathema and accursed.
72. But let him who guards against the lust and license of the indulgence preachers be blessed.
73. Just as the pope justly thunders against those who by any means whatever contrive harm to the sale of indulgences.
74. Much more does he intend to thunder against those who use indulgences as a pretext to contrive harm to holy love and truth.
75. To consider papal indulgences so great that they could absolve a man even if he had done the impossible and had violated the mother of God is madness.
76. We say on the contrary that papal indulgences cannot remove the very least of venial sins as far as guilt is concerned.
77. To say that even St. Peter if he were now pope, could not grant greater graces is blasphemy against St. Peter and the pope.
78. We say on the contrary that even the present pope, or any pope whatsoever, has greater graces at his disposal, that is, the gospel, spiritual powers, gifts of healing, etc., as it is written, 1 Co 12[:28].
79. To say that the cross emblazoned with the papal coat of arms, and set up by the indulgence preachers is equal in worth to the cross of Christ is blasphemy.
80. The bishops, curates, and theologians who permit such talk to be spread among the people will have to answer for this.
81. This unbridled preaching of indulgences makes it difficult even for learned men to rescue the reverence which is due the pope from slander or from the shrewd questions of the laity.
82. Such as: “Why does not the pope empty purgatory for the sake of holy love and the dire need of the souls that are there if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a church? The former reason would be most just; the latter is most trivial.
83. Again, “Why are funeral and anniversary masses for the dead continued and why does he not return or permit the withdrawal of the endowments founded for them, since it is wrong to pray for the redeemed?”
84. Again, “What is this new piety of God and the pope that for a consideration of money they permit a man who is impious and their enemy to buy out of purgatory the pious soul of a friend of God and do not rather, because of the need of that pious and beloved soul, free it for pure love’s sake?”
85. Again, “Why are the penitential canons, long since abrogated and dead in actual fact and through disuse, now satisfied by the granting of indulgences as though they were still alive and in force?”
86. Again, “Why does not the pope, whose wealth is today greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build this one basilica of St. Peter with his own money rather than with the money of poor believers?”
87. Again, “What does the pope remit or grant to those who by perfect contrition already have a right to full remission and blessings?”
88. Again, “What greater blessing could come to the church than if the pope were to bestow these remissions and blessings on every believer a hundred times a day, as he now does but once?”
89. “Since the pope seeks the salvation of souls rather than money by his indulgences, why does he suspend the indulgences and pardons previously granted when they have equal efficacy?”
90. To repress these very sharp arguments of the laity by force alone, and not to resolve them by giving reasons, is to expose the church and the pope to the ridicule of their enemies and to make Christians unhappy.
91. If, therefore, indulgences were preached according to the spirit and intention of the pope, all these doubts would be readily resolved. Indeed, they would not exist.
92. Away, then, with all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, “Peace, peace,” and there is no peace! (Jer 6:14)
93. Blessed be all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, “Cross, cross,” and there is no cross!
94. Christians should be exhorted to be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through penalties, death and hell.
95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven through many tribulations rather than through the false security of peace (Acts 14:22).
Here is a brief scene from the movie during Luther’s speech at the Diet of Worms:
As some of you know, I am a father of four wonderful children. This weekend I stumbled across an unusual picture my 10 year old daughter Haven drew and left laying on the couch in our living room…it was unusual because it was messy, didn’t show off her abilities, and seemed more chaotic than artistic or purposeful:
Haven's sketch of our house (drawn in the dark)
I could tell that it was supposed to be our house but I knew she was capable of more and asked her what the story was regarding the picture. She told me that she was working on an assignment for Awanas, a Bible study for kids that she attends on Wednesday nights. She showed me the assignment:
And then she showed me her second picture:
Haven's sketch of our house (drawn in the light)
I thought this was an awesome idea for teaching kids what a difference God’s light can make in our lives. I asked Haven to explain what the lesson was trying to teach and it was clear that she understood.
Haven paraphrased: “When we try to do things our way we usually make a mess of things and we can’t see things the way they really are or the way they should be but when we turn to the Bible for help God shines his light on our lives and we can learn how to do things His way, which is much better than our way.”
I think the verse the lesson used on the next page was:
Psalm 119:105 – “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path”
Although it’s not quite in line with the point of the lesson, the verse that came to my mind was:
1 Corinthians 13:11-12 – “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
I am thankful that Haven shared this with me. It made me stop and ask myself, “Am I drawing in the dark?”
1 Peter 2:9 – But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light
Haven reminded me that the Bible serves as a light to show us what our lives really look like. We so often want to compare ourselves to others instead of comparing ourselves to God’s standard. We typically look for someone that is more selfish than us, or mismanages their money worse than us, or lies more than us, or doesn’t help others as much as us (etc.). It might not be so bad if we compared ourselves to people better than us but our natural tendency is to compare ourselves to the worst examples of human behavior and then we can make ourselves feel better about our poor choices and thoughts. That’s what living in darkness is all about….it’s us deceiving ourselves and setting our own ‘standard’ (that we simply adjust as we see fit). However, when we go to the Bible we see a perspective that makes clear the foolishness of our ways and that shines a clear light on the reality of who we are and who God wants to help us to be.
The Bible serves many purposes but one of the primary purposes is to teach us how to live an abundant life full of good deeds. All we have to do is open the Bible and let God’s wisdom give light to our eyes:
Psalm 19:8 – The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
Have you heard his voice lately? We had some friends stay with us over the Christmas break and I got into an interesting conversation with their 8 year old about how do you know when God is talking to you.
Of Course I believe that God speaks through a variety of ways: The Bible, the counsel of godly friends, parents, experience, occasional donkeys, etc. But I also have experienced His still soft voice sharing things with me. Sometimes they are seemingly insignificant – like how many people to expect for a weekend gatherings, sometimes they are huge – like warning us about a dangerous spiritual leader, sometimes it doesn’t make sense – like leading us to move to another State, and sometimes it is just telling me no – like building a pool (all examples are real.) God confirms the things he shows me sometimes right away, sometimes six months later, sometimes years later. God, also often gives my wife the same, “impressions” (I like that the best.)
Lately, I have been discerning God’s voice more and more – which thrills me, but also begs the question, the same one our 8 year old house guest asked, how do I know it is God speaking. I explained that it is kind of like talking to someone on the phone. The more you do the easier it is to recognize the voice. This confused her and she wanted to know if I heard an audible voice. I don’t. It is generally more of an impression. God has been confirming those impressions lately so I am learning to focus in more on the difference between my thoughts and His.
So how about you? Do you hear from God, and if so how do you know it is Him?
(Disclaimer: For the purposes of this post, I will be making an analogy between a vegetarian hypocrite and a Christian hypocrite. I in no way mean to imply that vegetarianism equates to Christianity, or that carnivores are carnal. I am merely trying to draw a parallel between those who are inconsistent in beliefs and behavior.)
I heard about a new kind of sandwich the other day that truly intrigues me. It is served by a burger joint called “Fatburgers”, and is apparently a frequently requested order by some of the regulars. The main two components of the sandwich are a veggie-based burger and . . . bacon. That’s right, bacon! It is no wonder the sandwich is affectionately dubbed “The Hypocrite” by all who order it.
Upon hearing about this new concoction in the burger world, I was incredulous! Why would someone bother ordering a meatless burger patty if they were going to ultimately top it with greasy bacon? It seemed to me that if one were planning on consuming pork strips anyway, why not go ahead and order a fat-laden red meat burger to go under them? “The “Hypocrite” burger was obviously being marketed specifically to vegetarians with an identity crisis. And then it dawned on me that this is how God must see our “hypocrite” souls as well. Allow me to elaborate.
According to the dictionary, a hypocrite is a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion, or a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings. The way I see it, the vegetarian who orders bacon on top of their meatless burger is probably doing so for one of two reasons. One, he is not fully decided or committed to vegetarianism because he or she is not fully convinced that it is the best way to live. Or two, the person absolutely believes that vegetarianism is the best way to live and is having a temporary lapse of resolve. As odd as ordering a bacon-topped veggie burger may seem, it is not all that different from the Christian hypocrite – that is, professors of Christ with who have an identity crisis much like the bacon-ordering vegetarian. We as Christians proclaim this and that, declaring all manner of standards and guidelines publicly, only to fall seriously short of those standards in our private thoughts and actions. This inconsistency is repulsive to our Lord in several ways.
The first kind of inconsistency is more about the person that has trouble making up their mind about the right way to live. (i.e. the person who hasn’t decided if they want to fully embrace vegetarianism or not. . . not unlike the man who has not fully made up his mind about the path to be taken). This reminds me of a couple of passages from scripture. The first one speaks of the double-minded man:
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does (James 1:2-8).
So the double-minded man is one who can not make up his mind or fully commit with all of his heart. Hmmm . . . Bacon or no bacon? Do I really want to be a vegetarian? Or, similarly, should I fully commit to Christ and live accordingly or not? The double- minded man is a doubter who struggles with full-blown commitment and will often appear inconsistent to those around him. God has a special category for these types of followers. These type of people are the “Lukewarm Fence Straddlers”:
15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou were cold or hot.
16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16)
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24
Because the double-minded man is indecisive, he tries to have one foot on God’s side of the fence while keeping one foot grounded in the carnal world. Or, to keep the analogy going, he orders bacon on his veggieburger
The second kind of inconsistency is the darker of the two, in my opinion. This kind of wavering is specifically about the person who wholly knows the right thing to do, and often tells others, while secretly not following through on their own convictions. (i.e. the person who has unreservedly decided to declare vegetarianism as law, and loudly proclaim it to all, but orders bacon on their veggie-burger when they think no one who knows them is watching).
God wants us to be people of integrity – people whose private thoughts and actions must be congruent with what we are teaching and preaching to others. Jesus’ main beef (isn’t that a convenient twist on words?) with the Pharisees was the gap between who they claimed to be and who they actually were. The key here is that the Pharisees were condemning others of shortcomings while privately sinning themselves:
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:3-5 KJV)
The purpose of this post is not to scream “Hypocrite!” at any of you. Nor is it to convince anyone to become a vegetarian (which I am not). When I heard about “The Hypocrite” burger at “Fatburgers” it called my attention to the meaning of the word itself and caused me to reflect on the areas of hypocrisy that rule my life. I encourage each of you to do the same. Are there any areas in your life that you are double-minded or straddling the fence about? Or, are there areas that you are completely decided about and yet willfully violating God’s word and commandments in your life?
5Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5)
31(AG) But if we judged[h] ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged by the Lord,(AH) we are disciplined[i] so that we may not be(AI) condemned along with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:31-32)
As for Fatburgers, I predict no trouble with double-mindedness on my next visit. I have already decided what my order will be. No veggie burgers with sprouts for me. Give me an extra juicy double cheeseburger. With bacon, please!
I have not read The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins, but I have read several articles about the book and heard/read several interviews with Mr. Dawkins. In the interviews, he states that it is beyond argument that the God of the Old Testament is a monster. He says that Christians often just say, oh, well, I’m a a New Testament Christian.
I am a Christian who believes that it was the same God in both the Old and the New Testament. How do we reconcile the seeming monstrous acts of God in the Old Testaments, with the selfless, sacrificial love that is the theme of the New?
I have some thoughts, but believe I would rather ask for opinions before expressing mine. How do you reconcile a God who destroys the world with a flood, destroys entire cities of people with fire, wipes out entire nations of people, causes kings to graze like wild animals, allows his chosen people to be enslaved and slaughtered multiple times, allows his prophets to call on bears to kill people for teasing them, etc., etc., etc., with a God who humbles himself to the point of becoming one of us and laying down His life for us? or Can you?
I know, I know, you have been eagerly anticipating the media flowchart follow-up post. Well, here it is. This post is in response to a previous thread…start HERE if you would like the background leading up to this post.
The Decision Making Flowchart
I won’t restate everything that has already been discussed, but in summary, I was looking for some guidance from my friends on how they evaluate what media (TV, Movies, Computer Games, etc) they decide to watch and what media they decide to allow/encourage their children to participate in. As part of the discussion, I asked everyone to come up with a “flowchart” that visually captured their decision making thought process. (Nobody seemed to like this idea primarily because each individual scenario is so unique and the Bible is just not that clear about specific situations, especially involving media choices, since none of those options were available to people of Bible times)
I have decided that my original scenario was too specific. I got to thinking that there must be some general guidelines available to help us make most any decision, including media decisions. I did some searches on the Internet and found lots of interesting ideas but, coincidentally, or providentially (depending on your worldview), the church I attend started a series the week of that post called “Your Move”, which I feel best addressed my question of all the ideas I was exposed to. I have incorporated those ideas and some of my own to create my “Decision Making Flowchart”.
However, before I get to the flowchart I want to share one of the quotes (by Frank Outlaw) I stumbled across while researching ideas for the flowchart:
Watch your thoughts; they become words.Watch your words; they become actions.Watch your actions; they become habits.Watch your habits; they become character.Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
I thought this was an interesting idea. Our decisions are guided by our thoughts. If we want to make good choices than we have to start with good thoughts. Our thoughts are tied to our beliefs and how we see the world (our worldview). I will probably discuss this idea more in a future post. For now, I just want to draw attention to the idea that my decision making flowchart should work well for anyone, but if your view of reality is flawed, and you put flawed thoughts into the steps of the flow chart, you will get flawed recommendations out. With that in mind, here is my latest draft of the flowchart:
The Decision Making Flowchart
God takes full responsibility for a life wholly yielded and devoted to Him – Charles Stanley
Notes on the four questions:
1. Am I being completely honest with myself? (Why am I doing this, really?)
The point of this question is to help you identify your true motivations. Before you can make a wise decision you have to make sure you are dealing honestly with reality and your emotions. To help expose if you are being honest with yourself or deceiving yourself, you could ask yourself, “Why do I want to do this, really?”
2. What story do I want to tell?
Someday, when you are recounting the story of this decision to your friends and family, what story do you hope you will tell?
3. Is there a tension that I need to pay attention to?
If you feel a tension regarding one of the options, don’t suppress it, make it as big as you can in your mind and deal with it. The tension is probably real…is your decision illegal, is it going to potentially hurt someone physically or emotionally, is it dishonest or selfish…if you feel some tension, make sure you understand why…and DON’T IGNORE IT!
4. What would be most honoring to God?
This question doesn’t apply to you if you are an atheist but for the rest of us, this question often immediately makes the best decision clear (but not always easy).
Please leave a comment if you found this useful, flawed, or irritating. If you have a great idea for a modification or enhancement please let me know.
The flow chart is built primarily from concepts I learned while attending North Point Community Church. You can learn more about the four questions in the series titled “Your Move“, available for free from North Point Community Church.
The final question about “what is the wise thing to do” comes from a series titled “Best Question Ever”, click on the image below to order the DVD:
I realize the flowchart is not technically correct in the use of the symbols and connections but I found a simplified flowchart to be more effective for the purposes of this post. If it really bothers you please feel free to “fix” my flowchart and I will post yours as well.
Blessings, BoB
“Why haven’t we gone to Heaven yet?” We were driving to grab a bite to eat and from the back seat out of nowhere came the frustrated question from my five year old. She then said, “I have already been waiting my whole life, can’t we just go?”
First, I love that this is what was going through my child’s mind. We weren’t talking about Heaven at the time. We weren’t talking much at all. Listening to the radio, mentioning things that happened that day, nothing deep. Then BAM this expression of deep longing from a five year old heart. I suppose she is experiencing that which is described in Romans 8:21-25 (look it up.) Kylie loves to get lost in her own thoughts and occasionally we’ll get an expression like this that tells us where she has been. What a beautiful mind!
Second, Have you ever asked this (Why haven’t we gone to Heaven yet?) I have. I look around all the time and think. “Enough, will you come get us already.” My heart too often longs for that home I’ve ever known and can barely even begin to imagine.
So, what’s the hold up? What is He waiting for? I think the answer is me – maybe you: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance - 2 Peter 3:9.” He doesn’t want to leave anyone behind . . . In the book, The Shack, Sophia (God’s wisdom) poses a dilemma to the lead character. Pick two of your children to go to heaven and two to go to hell. Name the ones you have decided to send where. Could you do it? I couldn’t. I couldn’t choose for either Kylie or Eli to go to hell. And I know that God’s capacity for love is so much greater than mine and so, he is patient. Waiting for you, for me. BTW – if you read the context of the verse above Peter is writing to Christians . . . so maybe what God is being patient about is not so much my personal choice, but my following though with what he has asked me to do. You know, the whole “go ye into the whole world” sharing that the kingdom of heaven is at hand thing. Maybe he’s being patient with me, waiting for me to tell you and you to tell others . . . so that more of us can go. After all, which of your children are you willing to leave behind?
On a final note about which of your children would you choose to send to Hell. I couldn’t do it . . . I would end up with send me instead. And so did God – and so he did – through Jesus – for you, so you wouldn’t have to.
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Last night I watched the movie 
