Can God Change His Mind?

So, it’s been a while since my last blog. I basically gave myself a break from writing as the busy-ness of life got to me and “the end of the world” seemed like a good place to take a break. As summer draws to a close, I’m finding myself getting back into a routine and wanting to get writing again.

In my last post, I expressed my doubts about Harold Camping’s prediction regarding the rapture. Obviously, I was right and he was wrong. The rapture did not happen – or did it? In the week following May 21, Harold would not admit he was wrong. At least not wrong about the date of the rapture. Apparently, the rapture happened, we just didn’t notice it. The world was judged, but God changed His mind and didn’t make a big deal out of it with earthquakes and people ascending into heaven. That’s Harold’s story and he’s sticking to it. He also reminds us that he’s still right about the world ending on October 21 of this year, so no need to do any Christmas shopping early this year.

I don’t know about you, but this is a pretty sad situation. Rather than admit he was wrong, Harold wants us to accept that God decided on a whim to change His mind about what would happen at the rapture. I wonder what lame excuse Harold will have on October 22 when the world is still here?

This got me thinking about whether it is even possible for God to change His Mind. On the one hand, God is Almighty and Powerful, and He is the Master of the Universe – so why couldn’t He change His mind. On the other hand, God is All-knowing and not bound by time so every moment of this reality is known to Him – so there would be no new information or circumstance that would give Him a reason to change His mind. This presents an interesting dilemma – could what we do have any influence on what God will do?

Consider the city of Nineveh. God sent Jonah there to warn them that they had 40 days until God was going to destroy it. But the people repented and God didn’t destroy them. (If you are familiar with this story, you’ll recall that Jonah didn’t think this change in plans was right.) From our human point of view, this seems to be an instance of God changing His mind, being influenced by the actions of His creation. So what’s going on?

To be honest, I don’t fully understand. I think a big part of the problem is that we can only compare God and His actions to what we would do in similar circumstances. If I knew that the people of Nineveh would repent, I don’t think I would have sent in a messenger telling everyone they were going to be destroyed. But maybe, they needed to be told of their imminent doom to be driven into changing their ways? Maybe God knew that unless they heard that particular message, they wouldn’t have changed their ways in which case He would have destroyed them. If that was the case, He didn’t really change His mind because He already knew what was going to happen. This stuff makes my head hurt.

I think what this really boils down to is that God is beyond our ability to fully comprehend, and we shouldn’t rush to place human attributes on Him. His promises are true. He will not change His mind about His love for us, and His plans for us. He might do things we don’t understand, but He can be trusted.

So what do you think? Can God change His mind? What are the implications if He can?

Jac

It's the End of the World as We Know It

(and I feel fine*)

If we are to believe Harold Camping and the Family Radio Network, this will be my last blog post. According Harold, this Saturday, May 21 is the date of the rapture – when all believers (past and present) will be taken up to heaven while the rest of the population are left behind. But those left behind won’t have too much time to worry about what happened – the world, the entire universe will cease to exist on October 21, 2011.

You’ve probably seen the signs about the end of times – I’m not referring to the ones referred to in the Bible, but the actual billboards, flyers, newspaper ads, and painted minivans around North America. Harold Camping has quite a following. Many people have sold their homes, quit their jobs, cashed in their savings so they can spend their last dollar informing as many people as they can that the end is near. And this Saturday at 6pm, they will expect to be raptured.

So how can Harold be so certain of the date and time of the rapture? Apparently, he has been chosen by God to correctly interpret the clues given to us in the Bible so we can know this date. And he is certain of this date – this time. He previously predicted the end would come in 1994 but he missed a clue in Jeremiah. But this time he’s really sure he is right, and many people believe him.

I haven’t met anyone who believes Harold. All the Christians I know who know anything about the Bible, will be able to quote Matthew 24:36

“But about that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

These words were spoken by Jesus, and I’ll take His word over anything that comes out of the mouth of a man.

In my opinion, people like Harold Camping, while their intentions may be honourable, are actually doing more harm than good. Predictions from religious leaders about the date of the second coming of Christ have been made many times before, each one claiming they were 100% certain, and yet they have all been wrong. Like the boy who cried wolf too many times, most of society stop listening to these people and write them off as fanatics. When May 21 passes us by and nothing happens, people will just chuckle and move on with their lives. Except for those who took Harold seriously enough to quit their jobs, sell their possessions and have spent all their savings. I fear for what they may do on May 22 when they realize they’ve been misled.

In similar situations in the past, some people have committed suicide – some believing they needed to release their souls from their bodies to make the celestial journey, others who believed they weren’t worthy of being raptured and took their lives to spare themselves living through the “end times”, and others simply because everything they believed in was a lie. Most won’t take this extreme approach, but they will be disappointed and they may assume everything in the Bible is a hoax and never return to having a close relationship with God.

I’m not sure I understand the fascination of knowing the exact date of Christ’s return. I’ve always lived my life knowing that He could come back tonight, next week, next month, next year, or long after I have left this earth. And I could die today, in 5 years, or in 50 years. There should always be some sense of urgency with our spiritual lives – we can’t keep putting off getting ourselves right with God and sharing our faith with those around us. But we shouldn’t put a specific date on the calendar and create a false sense of urgency that everything must get done by this Saturday.

What do you think? Can anyone know the date of the rapture? Would you go as far to say that Harold is a false prophet? What are your plans for Sunday? I plan to be at LIFE Church. I hope to see you there.

Jac

* The title reference is from a song by the group R.E.M. recorded in 1987.

I Want to Believe

In my last post, I stated that everyone has an inner longing to be in relationship with God. Many people deny this, but there is some science behind it.

Anthropologists have noted that in essentially every culture during every time period, societies have developed some form of religion. Many worshipped man-made gods such as idols or natural items such as the sun, moon, or stars, but they all acknowledged some form of a higher power or deity that had some influence over their lives.

In some circles, scientists have coined the phrase the “God gene” to identify that this desire to believe in a higher power or be “spiritual” is genetic – that it is built into our DNA.

Science goes on to explain that this built in tendency to believe is a result of evolution. Basically, what they say is that over a long period of time, the “spiritual” people who believed in a higher power were more likely to be more optimistic which lead to them being healthier which allowed them to live longer and have more children, thus their genes would become more dominant in society. While many people (Christians and non-Christians) don’t agree with this concept, I find it reassuring that God has hard-wired us to have the desire to seek out spiritual things – including a relationship with our Creator. Perhaps this is part of what it means for us to be created in the “image of God”?

I think the church intuitively understands this concept. We refer to those who are not in a relationship with God as being “lost” or “seekers”. These terms imply that people are looking for or longing for something they haven’t found yet. Our job is to help them sort out all the conflicting information and discover the Truth. This is not an easy task. There are so many false trails and false teachings that even well meaning Christians have been diverted from what is really real. Our imperfect understanding and sinful tendencies can make us create God in our own image, and make Bible verses say what we want them to say. So we need to be on our guard, test our understanding of what we think God wants us to do, seek the wisdom and counsel of other mature believers, and sometimes take a step back if it seems we are heading off in a direction that is different than everyone else.

This desire to seek out spiritual things doesn’t always lead us to God, especially if people do not have someone close to them to lead them to the Truth. Often people are led in the wrong direction. Many cults make skilful use of manipulating our desire to be spiritual into a devout following of a charismatic leader. They promise answers to our spiritual questions while frequently emptying our bank accounts. Sometimes, the desire to be spiritual results in people placing trust in unusual places.

One interesting fictional example that comes to mind is from the TV series the X-Files. I was a big fan of this show as its primary focus was on things that were unexplainable using conventional science. The lead character, Fox Mulder, was convinced that aliens existed and were responsible for many of the unexplained phenomena he investigated. One of the famous props from the show was a poster that had the title “I Want to Believe” and pictured a UFO.

If you followed the show, you would understand why Fox wanted to believe in aliens. He believed that his sister was abducted by aliens when they were younger, and his hope was that one day, she would be returned to him unharmed. He wanted to believe in aliens because this gave him hope – hope that his sister was alive and well, and that she might return to him someday.

Many people approach religion in much the same way – they want to believe because it gives them hope about the after-life – that all their friends and family members who have died are being taken care of and they will meet again someday. At the same time, many people refuse to believe in God because they don’t want to accept everything that comes with it – eternal life in heaven or hell. Like an ostrich putting their head in the sand, they keep ignoring their inner longing to be in a relationship with their Creator, and they ignore any signs or evidence that points towards God. We need to get to know these people, and help them find their way.

So how about you? Have you found your way? Was there someone specific in your life that helped you discover the truth? Do you agree that God has implanted in us the desire to be in relationship with Him?

Jac

I Want To Belong

If you ask someone to tell you what they really want from life, not many will answer with “I want to belong”. A typical response is “to be happy”. If you push them to describe what it means to be happy, you might get a variety of responses – good times with friends and family, good health, enough money to live comfortably, to laugh a lot, to party. For many people, this is a difficult question to answer because they’ve never taken the time to reflect on what it is that they really want, what really makes them happy. And yet, many of us spend our lives in the “pursuit of happiness”. How can we pursue something we can’t describe? Is it any wonder we get tired of the race and fill our lives with things that don’t satisfy?

One theory of management motivation (from Maslow) identifies the human need for social interaction - for belonging – as the primary requirement after we have addressed our physical needs (food, rest) and safety needs (shelter, security). This means that after we have filled our stomachs and have a safe place to live, we start to look for social interaction. We long for friends, lovers, people to hang out with – a gathering where we feel we belong, we fit in, we feel safe, and we feel loved.

For many of us, our first area of social interaction is our family – spouse, children, parents, siblings. But for most of us, this isn’t enough. We expand our social network to include neighbours, co-workers, classmates, and friends. With technology, we can now expand that network to include people all over the world. Facebook now has over 500 million users – people who have logged on to connect with their “friends”. The phenomenal success of this website is due in part because it provides us with the sense that we belong to something bigger than ourselves. I think Facebook can be a great addition to our social network, but it definitely shouldn’t be the primary way we connect with people.

I think one of the reasons that the Harry Potter books became so popular is that many young people (and many adults – myself included) could relate to Harry’s desire to belong. His parents died when he was an infant, and he was sent to his aunt and uncle who reluctantly took him in. For the first decade of his life, Harry knew he didn’t really belong to that family, and his cousin Dudley made sure Harry didn’t fit in at school either. When Harry received his letter from Hogwarts, telling him he was special and had been accepted into a very special school, he finally could say he belonged somewhere. He soon discovered there was a place where he was accepted, where he could make friends, where people cared about him. Hogwarts became his new home.

As many young people grow up, they find it difficult to fit in – at school and sometimes at home. Too often, some of these young people find acceptance with groups of other young people who provide them with the “family” they want, but at a price. Ask any gang member why they joined, and they will tell you about being accepted, and becoming part of a family.

Science will tell us that the human desire to belong is an evolutionary trait – something that developed in us as a species to help us survive. The desire to belong is in part, the desire to ensure the survival of our species through procreation – we seek mates to have children with to pass our genes on to the next generation. There are also some practical aspects to belonging to a group – the tribes who could band together were less vulnerable to attacks from animals or rival tribes and the diversity of the group allows for some to be hunters, farmers, warriors, builders, or other specialties allowing for a greater chance of survival by becoming more efficient and effective than trying to do everything by oneself.

But I think our desire to belong is something much more special. It is one of the aspects given to us by our Creator when He made us “in His Image”. Our God is a God of community. He exists in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We can’t fully comprehend this relationship, but we can be sure there is a relationship. When Jesus walked among us, He spent time in prayer – in conversation with the Father. And His greatest fear, greatest pain? To be separated from, or “forsaken” by the Father. Consider what Jesus cried out on the cross “My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?” Jesus didn’t dread the physical pain of crucifixion – He simply did not want to experience what it meant to be separated from the Father and the Spirit. Hell is the place where God is not present so the time Jesus spent there, was time when He was separated from God.

When God created us, His plan for us was to be in community with Him. After He created Adam, He noted that Adam needed a companion – someone like him that he could be in community with – so Eve was created. For a time, God was with Adam and Eve in a way we can’t quite understand, but it must have been wonderful. When sin entered the world, the result was the rupture of that close relationship with God. We tend to think of the expulsion from the Garden of Eden as something physical, but the breaking of that intimate relationship with God is the real story. The rest of history and the message of the Bible is the desire of both God and us to get back to that intimate relationship with our Creator, and the path created by Jesus when He paid our debt.

We need to recognize this universal desire of everyone to belong – to be in close relationships with others, but also to be reconciled with God. Many people don’t realize they have this inner longing to be in relationship with God – many will vehemently deny it. But that shouldn’t be the start of the conversation. We need to reach out to people where ever they are, and be willing to form a close friendship with them. And they need to be genuine relationships, not just a means to get them to “be saved”. We can let God take care of the saving part, we just need to be out there loving His people.

So what about you? Do you “want to belong”? What does it mean for you to belong to your family, your church, your small group, your group of friends? Have you ever had your “Hogwarts” moment – finding a group where you really fit in, where you felt you really belonged?

Jac

Ski Day vs Beach Day

It’s been a while since I posted something on this blog, so my apologies for being quiet. My only excuse was that life got busy, and I had some technical issues with my computer so my drafts and research were inaccessible for a while. But I’m back now with a seasonal posting.

Last week I had the pleasure of downhill skiing twice. The first time was with my daughter who had a few days off school (after her exams were done) and we went to the local hill in Kitchener. It was very cold and windy, so we only lasted 3 hours, but it was still fun and I was able to spend some time with my daughter. Later that week, I was a guest at a private ski club near Collingwood and it was a fantastic day. The weather was great, no lines for the ski lifts, and the food wasn’t bad either.

I think what I enjoy most about skiing is that it gets me out of the house in the middle of winter, and allows me (forces me?) to go outside and have some fun in the coldest season of the year. For most of the winter, the only time I’m outside for an extended period is shovelling snow which is not even close to being a fun activity, and I can quickly start to long for a day on the beach after shovelling for three days in a row.

Recently, while having some coffee with some coworkers, we chatted about the weather (like typical Canadians) and wondered how life would be different if we lived in a place where the climate was relatively constant, like many tourist destinations around the equator. Most of us agreed we would miss the changing seasons and it reminded me of a conversation I had with a missionary who was working in the Dominican Republic.

This missionary had grown up in the northern US, so he was familiar with cold winters and changing seasons. He noted that after a few years spent in a warm climate, his perception of time had changed. He had switched to “island time”. If you’ve never heard this term before, then you probably haven’t visited the Caribbean. “Island time” is a general term used to describe the very laid back approach to life that seems to be commonplace on the warm island nations. It’s the “no worries”, “no problem” attitude where tomorrow is another day and if we don’t get something done today, no big deal. Events never start at their scheduled time and people don’t get too offended if you don’t show up at all. This took some getting used to for the missionary – people wandering into a worship service in time to sing the last song, or not showing up at all even if they agreed to share their testimony that morning.

As we chatted about this cultural difference, we speculated on what makes the island people so laid back compared to us northern people. The missionary thought it might have to do with our changing seasons. Our heritage has been one based in agriculture, and with limited growing seasons. There is a relatively narrow timeframe to get crops planted, and another to get them harvested. For the earliest settlers, this was a literal “do or die” scenario. If they didn’t get their act together and plant their crops early enough, they could starve trying to make it through the winter. In the warmer climates, many crops can grow year-round so there is no real urgency to make sure the planting takes place before it is too late – there’s always tomorrow. Even though most of us aren’t active farmers, the changing seasons still force us to meet deadlines – raking leaves before it snows, fertilizing the lawn in the spring, pulling out our short-sleeved shirts for summer. And of course, our lifestyle is impacted by deadlines – filing tax returns, being on time for doctor appointments, getting to work on time (or else).

Our life of meeting deadlines can become stressful, especially if we fill our calendars with too many activities. So I think there is something we can learn from our island friends regarding their attitude of “no worries”. Consider the words of Jesus in Luke 12:25

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?”

Maybe we just need to take a big picture look at our lives and see how much of what we do each day really matters. Maybe some of the stress we go through is brought upon ourselves by trying to cram too many things into a busy schedule.

At the same time, we shouldn’t put off important things that need to be done. Many times when I’ve asked people to volunteer their time to serve on committees or leadership positions, they’ve told me they are just too busy. Too busy with their careers, too busy driving kids to after school activities, too busy with life. Often, they promise to reconsider when life slows down a bit for them, when they’ve settled in their new job, when the kids get older... And too many times, they never do find the time. Consider what Jesus said in Matthew 9:36-38

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

There are things God expects us to do today. They can’t wait for next week, next month, next year, when your kids are older, when you retire, when you’re not so busy. The farmer who postpones his harvesting too long eventually ends up with nothing.

Think about what is stopping you from doing works of service – is it really that important? Reflect on missed opportunities when you’ve turned down a direct request to contribute to the Great Commission, or didn’t respond to an open invitation to be part of something really important. If you are too busy with life to do the important things in life, maybe you’re actually missing out on what life’s all about.

Comments?

Jac Vanderbaan