So What Ramblings: I wish I was Francis Schaeffer.

Francis Schaeffer: a really smart Christian thinker.

I wish I was Francis Schaeffer. I wish I was Ravi Zacharias, C.S. Lewis, John Piper, Tommy Nelson, or any other smart, biblical thinker you could think of. I wish I had their ability to communicate truth effectively and brilliantly. I am so thankful to God for providing throughout history those who could think well and speak well about truth. As a culture we are desperate for good, Biblical thinkers who can communicate well with others. The reason I bring this up is because I am so internally burdened about a topic and I wish I could just switch into "smart person mode", (like those mentioned previously), so I could communicate well. It is one of the biggest burdens on my heart and mind and I want to communicate it well. Nevertheless, it's just me, my 'B' average Journalism degree, and whatever skills and talents God has given me. So I will just have to do the best I can. Here goes...

Big Idea: What you and I think and believe has tremendous importance. Your beliefs will produce corresponding actions sooner or later in your life and in the lives of others.

It sounds so simple and obvious, but what I am trying to communicate has enormous implications for our lives. Your beliefs are like the foundation or structure of a house. If the structure is unsound, it doesn't matter how nice the paint, carpet, or decorations are, your house is going to fall apart. If your belief structure is unsound then it doesn't matter how well you articulate your position, rationalize what you believe, how good things look, how successful you are, or how much money you have. Ultimately you have to pay the piper. Ultimately, your thinking and beliefs are going to produce results in your life. You can't sow tomato seeds and and reap pineapples. You can't sow lies and reap truth.

If you believe wrongly about the idea of truth, your life will fall apart.
If you believe wrongly about God, your life will be corrupted.
If you believe wrongly about the Bible, your faith will be grounded on lies.
If you believe wrongly about salvation, you will not be saved.

Christian politician who ended the slave trade in the UK.

Let's see how this plays out in practice. If you believe that man was made in the image of God, as the Bible says, you believe man has divine significance. In that case, a special needs child is significant, not because of what they can offer to society, but because they have are made in the image of a holy and almighty God. In the same way, an elderly person is significant because they have, to some extent, the touch of the divine on them. Maybe the people in these examples can't feed, clothe, bathe themselves or use the bathroom properly. These factors don't change the fact that they were made in God's image and have divine significance regardless of what they can do or offer to others. If you, like William Wilberforce, believe that men, (red and yellow, black and white), were made in God's image, then you have a problem with slavery, with abuse of Africans, with theft, mistreatment, and murder. (By the way, if you haven't watched the movie Amazing Grace, stop what you're doing and go watch it now).

On the contrary, if you believe man was the product of chemical chance or random design, (i.e. evolution), then man has no inherent significance. He is no more significant than a monkey, a slug, or a rock. He's just the product of chance. If that is the case then a special needs child or an elderly person has no value. They are a burden on society and are a waste of time, money, and energy and we would all be better without them. That sounds harsh, but it is a logical outworking of what you believe about the significance and origin of man. It should be noted that some of the bloodiest governments and rulers throughout history were atheists who had no belief in a personal God who created men. Therefore men were simply obstacles with no greater significance than a flea. Ergo you have men like Hitler, who slaughtered 600,000 Jews, men like Stalin, who killed and imprisoned millions of his own people to suit his ends. See also Mao Se Tung, brutal Chinese dictator, Fidel Castro, and on, and on, and on.

These same men mentioned above had no belief in divine morality. They didn't believe in God, so therefore there was no God given moral code for mankind to direct them in matters of life, death, goodness or morality. Therefore, their belief structure stated the ends justified the means. There was no right or wrong, there was merely good or bad, inconvenient or convenient according to each person's reckoning. The final say on what was good or evil did not rest with an outside standard, (God), it rested within themselves. And in that case the end justifies the means. If I don't believe there is a God who has spoken and a divine being I will have to answer to, then what do I care about how my actions affect your life or the lives of others? (Stalin, Hitler, ad infinitude).

On the other hand, if you believe there is a God who exists, who has given instructions on right and wrong, and to whom you will have to give an account for your actions on earth, you will act differently. You have a standard for right and wrong, for or against lying or stealing or cheating or lusting or killing. You may not always act according to that standard, but your life will be affected by what you believe about the existence of God, morality, right and wrong. What you believe about mankind, about creation, and about morality matters. Beliefs matter. Beliefs have consequences.

What do you think about human sexuality and why? Do you believe man should act in the sexual realm according to his feelings? Do you believe that man has no one to answer but himself regarding how he behaves sexually? If so then the logical results of such thinking supports pornography, homosexuality, polygamy, bestiality, the sexual abuse of women and children, including child sex trafficking. You may say I'm going too far, but the belief structure listed above supports the listed behaviors. So I ask you, what do you believe, and why?

On the other hand, if you believe that God made them, male and female, in the image of God, then that belief will affect how you view marriage, sexuality, pornography and the like. If you believe sexuality, marriage and the individual sexes are sacred before God, then that means divorce is bad, monogamy is sacred, pornography is a corruption of the divine order, and sex is designed to be between a man and a woman as a married couple. Your beliefs have consequences. What you believe about sexuality and the sexes matters.

What do you believe about truth and the Bible? Do you believe that truth is relative to each individual? Do you believe that some parts of the Bible are true while others are not? Do you believe the Bible can mean one thing to one person and something totally different to another? If so, then you can not make any proclamations about what is good or bad, moral or immoral, since the Bible can mean something totally different to you than it means to another. Your truth is not the same as another's, so you have no right to impose your truth or standard on another person. We must ask ourselves what are the ramifications of our beliefs about truth and the Bible?

Beliefs have consequences.

On the other hand, do you believe the Bible is all true and is given to man, without error, by a holy, good, and perfect God, who ensured the divine delivery of his Word to mankind? If so, then you have to submit to and honor what God has spoken, you have a structure given to you on how to live, think, and act. You have a God given map on life, salvation, sin, evil, goodness, marriage, money, and sexuality. You may choose to reject God's Word, but if you believe it is true, then your conscience will have a hard time escaping it. What you believe about the Bible matters.

I could go on and on, but I think I've said enough to stir the pot for now. I implore you, dear reader, to ask yourself what you believe, why you believe it, and what are the ramifications of your beliefs. This is not a casual thought for only the philosophical or heady to consider. What I am speaking about affects everyone, from my three year old daughter, a head of a government (ahem), the CEO of a company, or the teenager at high school. We must know what we believe, why we believe it, and see for ourselves what are the results of our thinking. Beware the danger of bad thinking.