Motivation! Thumbs Up!

The Jesus Prayer

For Christians, prayer should be like breathing. You do not have to think to breathe because the atmosphere exerts pressure on your lungs and essentially forces you to breathe. That is why it is more difficult to hold your breath than it is to breathe. Similarly, when we are born into the family of God, we enter into a spiritual atmosphere where God's presence and grace exert pressure, or influence, on our lives. Prayer is the normal response to that pressure. As believers, we have all entered the divine atmosphere to breathe the air of prayer.

Unfortunately, many believers hold their “spiritual breath” for long periods, thinking brief moments with God are sufficient to allow them to survive. But such restricting of their spiritual intake is caused by sinful desires. The fact is that every believer must be continually in the presence of God, constantly breathing in His truths, to be fully functional. ---GotQuestions? Ministries

These guys say it better than I ever could.  Check out their article What does it mean to pray without ceasing?

However, I have had something else in mind.  It is an old Russian spiritual book by an anonymous pilgrim with a withered arm who was dead-set on praying the Jesus Prayer (an ancient mantra used by Eastern Orthodox, and other, Christians.  The book is called The Way of a Pilgrim.

I'm only into chapter 3, but have learned quite a bit so far.  Being the protestant I am, I blissfully disregard the extremely few-and-far between parts that speak about the Mother of God, Mary, and other things such as icons and feasts which I do not celebrate.  A true child of God will not fear such petty issues because a true child of God serves the Highest Authority possible who will punish falsehoods and heresies.

That aside, I have been really interested in this Jesus Prayer, to the point of using it myself the past few weeks.     I have been afraid of falling into some mystical false religious meditation, but reciting the short mantra, or chant (not to be confused with the Buddhist or Hindu use of mantra), "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me," has enriched my prayer life lately.

As the pilgrim in the book says, and I believe many Eastern Orthodox Christians will affirm, the Jesus Prayer is a sort of summary of the Gospels. This is a stretch to me.  There can be no replacing the Gospels since they are the inspired and entirely infallible words of God.  But this thought did spur me on to think about each individual word in the mantra.

Lord- ruler, king, master, higher than us, sovereign
Jesus- loving, passionate, righteous, sinless, Son of God, Savior, our atoning sacrifice, bold, able to forgive sins and punish sins
Christ- Messiah, Chosen One of God, our hope
Have Mercy- what our plea and prayer should be for everything, what to beg when we sin or need help overcoming
On Me- the once-perfect creature known as man who continually chooses to rebel God and re-crucify the Savior with sin

Of course there are other prayers to pray and this is not a necessity, but reciting it for myself has helped me keep my mind on Him.  It is short and sweet and to the point, but is not to replace other prayers.

Also, I am running late for work!  See ya.

 

What is Evil, Anyhow?

             Evil can be seen in every aspect of nature and civilizations.  Evil is anything morally wrong.[1]  If being used as a noun, evil is something that is a cause or source of pain, injury, or destruction.[2]  Since evil exists, a common question arises for believers in the Christian faith whom of which believe in a loving God:  “If God exists, and He is all-powerful and all-loving, why does evil exist?”  Humans have thus reasoned that God is the creator of everything that exists, and evil exists, therefore God created evil.[3]  However, evil is not an entity, and God did not create it.  Evil is the absence, or lack of, goodness.

            God created Adam (and the entire human race) with freedom.  With this freedom, God indirectly created Adam with the potential to do evil.  When Adam sinned, this potential of evil became a reality.[4]  Adam’s sin is what brought about evil, thus humans brought about evil, and this by not doing what is right.  Doing contrary to right (or whatever God commands) is sin.  To expound, “Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression, of the law of God.”[5]  Any lack of compliance or blatant breaking of any of God’s commands is sin.  This is moral evil.  Moral evil exists as a result of human rebellion.  Humans rebel for a number of reasons—selfishness, pride, anger, et cetera.  If humans had not rebelled, moral evil would not exist.  If moral evil did not come to be, natural evil would not have come to be.

            Natural evil (such as earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, cyclones, et cetera) is a result of the natural laws God set into place (Genesis 1:1) at the Creation.  These natural disasters are results of various weather patterns or earth movements.  However, since Jesus Christ controls and holds all things together (Colossians 1:16-17), the inescapable conclusion is that God allows natural evil.  However, an implication of Romans 8:19-21 is that God allows the creation to reflect the consequences of man’s sin.[6]

            Despite the existence of evil, God is still good and just.  The Bible is very clear on this (Nahum 1:7; Mark 10:18; 1 John 1:5; Deuteronomy 32:4).  Since God is good and just, it is impossible for Him to be, nor create, evil (Numbers 23:19).  However, God remains good and just despite His allowing evil.  Evil is self-inflicted by humans (Psalm 7:14-17).  God designed humans after Himself, giving them innocence and the ability to choose to disobey.  Without this, humans would be merely puppets, and no meaningful relationship between a loving God and a human could exist, thus defeating the purpose of His creating humans.  If God, though allowing humans free will to choose wrong, simply prevented the affects of sinful actions, He would only enable humans to continue in disobedience more easily, thus defeating His purpose of creating humans.

            An inconsistent theodicy wrongly portrays the nature of man and of God.  To wrongly portray God is to attack His nature, or who He is.  Even though evil affects humans, and in turn affects their view and relationship with God, it is important to remember that God ultimately wants to save humankind from this present world of evil humans brought upon themselves (2 Peter 3:9) through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.  God’s redemptive acts began immediately after man sinned.  In Genesis 3, God prevented the newly evil-infected human race from physically living forever in this awful state, thus banishing them from the Garden so they would not eat of the Tree of Life.  Although this meant that humans would die a physical death for sure, it was necessary so that they might put faith in Him to bring them to eternal life (John 3:15).

         

Bibliography

American Heritage Dictionary.  Evil.  http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/evil,            2009.

Elwell, Walter A. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Second ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001.

Got Questions Ministries.  What is the Definition of Evil?       http://www.gotquestions.org/definition-of-evil.html, 2011.

Got Questions Ministries.  Why Does God Allow Natural Disasters? http://www.gotquestions.org/natural-disasters.html, 2011.

Towns, Elmer.  Theology for Today. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2008.