Tag: faith

December 12, 2025 – Mere Christianity, Book Three: Chapters 7-12

December 12, 2025 /

Read along: http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/Mere%20Christianity%20-%20Lewis.pdf

Two weeks in a row, what is happening? Did I get my mojo back or have major roadblocks been removed? No. But, I have gotten this far in the book and I would really like to keep the rhythm of at least the Friday reviews going. My neck is feeling a little better than it has in week’s past but this recent flurry of activity really has more to do with topics stubbed out months ago. Don’t hold your breath because we have a valid offer for this house which means that the move is one step closer.

This is the conclusion to virtues that we started last week. When I look at these six chapters as a whole, these are supposed to more important then the ones from last week. There are a couple of things jumbling around in my head, including pride is not actually a virtue but a sin and the opposite of the rest of the group. That weakens the overall argument when things are not completely buttoned up. Below is a couple words on the points of each chapter.

  • Love your neighbor
  • Pride is the worst sin
  • Love without like
  • Christianity is focused on Heaven without any real knowledge
  • Faith is a prerequisite to be a Christian.

When I look at this group, I see all of the most popular sermon topics. Faith, charity, hope, forgiveness and fighting pride are all of the tenants of Sunday morning. This is not to say that chastity or or marriage virtue are not important but they are typically not the focus in my experience. It seems appropriate that Lewis would put the focus on these virtues this week as they are in line with the typical Christian dogma.

I think that Lewis actually make some really good points this week. The Christian focus on things that we have no knowledge such as Heaven are pretty good fodder for non-believers. We like to come off as authorities in things that we really have no basis. In fact, we barely even have sources inside of the Bible and hearsay. While I choose to believe in the Bible, I will admit that the text has some dubious origins. I guess that is the very definition of faith.

Speaking of faith, this is an interesting topic. My definition of faith is belief in something that is not fully provable because of the desire to want it to be true. This can have what I would call good intonations and bad ones. We use that word in context of belief that a new coach will recruit better, hire better assistants, be able to see things other coaches did not. In other words, there is no definitive proof that the future will be better but that we want it to be.

We use faith as a transference of things that are too distant or outside of our circle of influence. I have faith that the fund managers for the mutual funds in my 401K are being executed to the best of their goals. I have no idea if this is true or not, but I want to believe it and as long as the funds are meeting my expectations. I have no idea whether those funds could have made 50% more and I never will because I am not there.

Faith has to have some ambiguity to it. If it is 12AM, it is not really faith to say that by 9AM the next day there will be daylight (in most months). Unless the sun explodes overnight this is more of a fact than faith. We can have faith that we will wake up the next morning, but that is not guaranteed. People of all ages go to sleep and don’t wake up. This is not to mention that there will come a day that will be our last. That being said, the probability that I will go to sleep and not wake up is extremely low. It is not nothing so I have faith.

I used the word dogma earlier in this post. That was intentional. I think where Lewis’ arguments here break down is the overall purpose of the work. You cannot use circular logic to prove something. God exists because you should take care of people less fortunate than yourself. It is commanded through the Old Testament and approached in softer ways through Jesus. That is not proof, the supporting the argument is reinforced by the very subject in doubt.

I don’t think anybody ever said that Lewis was a trained philosopher. Maybe his reputation as a celebrity was the best way to make a convincing argument. It happens all the time in this current culture. I guess what I am saying is that the overall argument is weakening for me. We will see if by the time we get to the end things hold up.

End Your Programming Routine: It is not explicitly stated in the book or in some of the other analysis that I read that we have shifted from proof completed to what is inside of Christianity. I am speculating that this where we are at this point. That being said, I go back to this work being a message of hope during the Nazi air raids of WWII. Strict adherence to Christian chastity doesn’t really do that for most. They might have wanted some faith that their bomb shelters were good enough. I don’t know, I am getting a little lost in the point now.

April 22, 2024 – It Is Different This Time

April 22, 2024 /

Today is a darker than normal. I talk about the items that are different with my wife’s cancer battle. I cannot necessarily dwell on the wrong side of fate however for those that will go through it I think it is a unique perspective. It is a bit of a melancholic time. Hopefully that is understood and appreciated.

February 28, 2022 – Running Out of Words

February 28, 2022 /

No, I don’t mean that I am quitting. You will have to read to get to the punchline today. First, we have a long and winding path to get there, so let’s get started.

Valentine’s Day is over, so what is next for merchandizing? Why Easter of course. What does this have to do with anything? I am getting there.

When I first met my wife, I was introduced to something that I don’t see often. It is tradition called cascarón. This is where you save your egg shells be used for Easter. Essentially, you try to preserve as much of an intact eggshell by cracking off one end of the egg. You want to build up a large inventory of egg shells for coloring and filling.

This is where it get’s fun. Some of the shells are filled with confetti, flour or oatmeal and some might be filled with money and occasionally, there might even be a raw egg! What you do is run around and crack them on peoples heads. We hide them with traditional Easter eggs and then inevitably wait to get cracked. If you want to participate in this tradition, now is the time to start building up your inventory of eggshells.

You should know by now, I am going to take this a lot deeper. One of my first Easters with my Wife’s family was in 1995. We were going to school over 200 miles away and of course it was a school weekend and we had little means to travel so they came to us for the day. They brought the cascarones.

My wife was living in a townhouse with several exchange students. One of them was Japanese and this holiday was foreign. So, we invited her to join us for the meal and the Easter egg hunt. She brought a friend to the dinner whose name was Ai (also a Japanese exchange student).

After the dinner, and when it came to cracking eggs (by surprise is the best) they quickly caught on to what was likely going to happen. Ai got so freaked out that she ran to her bicycle and peddled away not to come back again that day. This was our Sophomore year and consequently my wife became really good friends with her Japanese roommate.

We have kept in contact with her roommate over all these years. Her roommate and Ai came to our wedding. Five years later, we all met at her roommate’s wedding in California. Ai studied theater in college and dreamed of Hollywood, which she pursued. Yesterday, Ai died of cancer.

We had heard that it was terminal a few months ago. In December, Ai left California to go back to Japan for her final days. To be honest, we weren’t nearly as close to Ai as we are to my wife’s roommate and dealing and our own demons concerning cancer, it was out of sight and out of mind. But, it hits that this was someone who we know that left us too early.

My wife deals with strong survivor’s guilt. She had a coworker who was our age and kids are the same age that died of cancer a few years ago, that was hard. They had even done chemotherapy at the same time. Then she had another friend who was younger than us by probably ten years die a couple years ago, that was worse. It feels like we know too many people battling and losing to cancer way too young.

I know, this is being hypervigilant. I see it one place and my eyes are open to where else it could be. But, I also can’t help but wonder what God is telling me in this situation. Not just me either, for people with survivor’s guilt as strongly as my wife’s what can she get out of the situation? Is there a message here, am I trying to make a connection that doesn’t exist or is this a fact of life that now I am getting older the probability to bad endings happen in life?

I talked about the neighbor kid that is battling last week, my mother-in-law is in her second year of treatment, people that are in my inner circle are in the fight of their lives. I’ve gone through it with my wife too. Compassion and empathy are some of my weaker areas for sure. I think I have them, but it is really difficult to express them adequately. Maybe that is what God is trying to tell me?

Yesterday in church, the sermon was conceptually about making the most of a situation (not necessarily dying). What can you do with what you have. The question of the bucket list came up. I had never really given it much thought because I have never created one. At least for me, I came down to goals and achievements are for the living. I don’t really have a traditional bucket list because I think that when that time comes, I wont want to have a final bunch of experiences before I die. I think the point of making the most of the situation actually means living before dying.

End Your Programming Routine: Of course, we are all going to face the inevitable. There is no doubt that if we live long enough, we will see our fair share of tragedy – however we define it. I suppose that I can consider myself lucky not having to witness something like the holocaust or to be born into slavery. With all things, it is not how we handle the acute situation, but the aftermath that is going to make the difference.

February 23, 2022 – I am Interrupting This Series in Brewing…

February 23, 2022 /

Stuff happens. No one plans to get cancer, especially when the person is a child. Whether you are in middle school or middle age, health disruptions suddenly supersede any plans you have in life.

My son has a friend that was diagnosed with cancer last week. They are the same age and they live two blocks away. He has been over to my house many times sometimes for an hour or two and sometimes overnight. Even his siblings have spent time over here. This isn’t really an acquaintance, but someone that we know pretty well.

Speaking from experience, when you are in treatment your life is not your own. In 2010, my wife had a near death illness and in 2012 she was diagnosed with cancer. The severity of the tumor is graded on how treatable it is. In her case it was stage 4 (out of 5) meaning it was effecting multiple locations and was not possible to surgically remove.

I was pulling weeds in the garden one day, just kind of having some alone time. My wife was in the hospital and our pastor came by. He asked me how I was doing and what I thought about all of this. Since I had been through this once before, I knew the ropes with doctors, hospitals and all that. There was little fear about uncertainty of what the next few months of treatment would look like. The fear was really what the future would look like for me and two boys aged 4 and 6.

I told him, “After the last illness, I saw her faith and ability to appreciate life grow exponentially. I don’t think God’s lesson is for her this time. I think this is for the other people in her life, like me”. I won’t say that I turned the switch on exactly at that moment, but I will say that I started removing excuses in my life to change my ways in faith.

In my mind, I grew up attending church every week. As I moved out of the home, I knew my beliefs and I wasn’t opposed to church but nothing we tried really felt comfortable. I justified that I was well adjusted in faith because I spent every Sunday as a youth in church. As a result, I realized that believing is one thing but worship and congregation are part of the deal as well. That is super tough for me because I find it uncomfortable but you cannot reach your full potential as a closet Christian.

Consequently, there is no such thing as a perfect denomination. What is more important is getting plugged in and keep an open mind. I don’t 100% agree with everything my church does, but I can’t say that it is wrong on theology. It is more about the approach and my comfort level and what I would prefer. Quite frankly, I think being challenged and uncomfortable is actually healthy in faith.

I hate to admit this but sometimes I wish that I had been the one that got cancer and survived. I wish that I had the ability to appreciate things in the same lens as someone that see’s life as a gift. As much as I can empathize with the family on the support side of the treatment, as of now I cannot have the same level of appreciation as a survivor. Let me be clear, it is not that I want it, I just will not have the same level of understanding.

A few nights ago, we went to a short prayer service for this teen that is starting his journey. It was informal and we really don’t know the prognosis. I don’t want to be the one that blows smoke by sharing my story and potentially provide false hope or sound somewhat gloating as I won the lottery on survival. I am not saying that it would be received that way either. However, I have this forum to say whatever I want to say. Maybe my writing gives someone a kickstart into finding the right course in life too.

End Your Programming Routine: This isn’t the only cancer story that is currently active in my life. It does happen to be the one that I am more hopeful for and the one that fits my story today. I don’t think that we need crisis or tragedy to change our ways. One thing that those situations do very well is galvanize where you stand and can easily push a person to one side or the other. I hope for the best here, I will stay tuned to where my lesson is in the journey.

June 8, 2020 – Am I qualified for this role?

June 8, 2020 /

This post started on Friday, like all tasks recently, I got interrupted and never got through it all. Now it is going to take a slightly different twist, somewhat of an analysis. It has been a long time since I talked about my faith on this site. In some ways, it is very personal but religion can also be very divisive.

I mentioned last Monday that I took a class on leading a small group for our church. Because we cannot gather as an entire church congregation on Sunday, this is a two fold effort. I will use my terms – one is to enable people to connect in a deeper and more personal level and the other is to build a deeper and more resilient organization.

I want to divert to religion and doctrine for a minute. I grew up in a church that was more liturgical. That means that the process of ritual and symbolism are important in the worship. I now attend a church that is evangelical and it is more about living values. As I have tried a lot of different things and explored denominations, I have not found one that I feel like ‘this is exactly like what I think it should be’. But, we were attending a different church for a while and one day the message was load and clear – don’t let perfect be the enemy of good (for attending church). If God is going to discriminate on denomination, then we are all in a lot of trouble.

In my introverted, liturgical mind, there are some things that are uncomfortable like asking for prayer and such. But, that doesn’t mean that I don’t agree with them and think that practices are more in line with how I interpret the message. I also often find that if you remain on the outside, these things never get easier or more comfortable. I guess jumping in, leading a small group and becoming vulnerable is a way to overcome that.

So with that, I am going go a little deeper into what we are doing. The following are the core values of the church and our group.

  • Safe
  • Serving
  • Submitted
  • Spiritually Awake
  • Sent

The initial kickoff of the group is to watch the service together and then dig in deeper into the message. There are some questions at the end to help facilitate that.

As I am writing this, it feels as if world is on ‘proverbial’ fire. We have riots and plague to a level that I have never seen in my life. With that, I have personally observed nastiness and name calling. Friends accusing others of racism when they don’t think you are doing your part or to the same level (even when you are agreeing with them). This is my attempt to re-center and lead by example.

The questions of the week are

  • What does freedom mean to me and what has God freed me from?
  • How can I love carefully this week?
    • What is it that you are saying that you think I need to know?

Admittedly, I struggle with empathy and forgiveness. That is definitely something that I need to keep working on. I could probably go on with analysis and so forth. But, I think that providing the gist of small groups and what we are about is a good start today.