God Will Never Give Us More Than We Can Handle Unless We Want to Go It Alone

I came across a blog post while perusing my facebook news feed: God Will Give You More Than You Can Bear. While the blog post eventually makes it to a point of placing our cares on God, one issue really irked me. The title is a play on 1 Corinthians 10:13 which the author mentions in her blog. 

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. -1 Corinthians 10: 13

The author goes on to say that this verse is talking about escaping from temptations so that we can bear them, but she totally misses the first part of the verse, “but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able,” which is where we get the sentiment of God not giving us more than we can handle. When the going gets tough, it is easy to throw out the Word you don’t agree with. It really comes down to whether you think God is a liar or not because He clearly says He will not suffer us to be tempted above which we are able.

We see in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 how people will bend the Word to say what they want to hear:

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.  

The itching ears in this passage refer to individuals who will make doctrines that are comfortable to them. This is not the Word but the doctrines of men. In light of the subject of bearing temptations, the next verse in 2 Timothy 4 is very interesting. 

But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. -2 Timothy 4:5 

It is quite amazing that the next verse in 2 Timothy refers to enduring afflictions because it is within afflictions and tribulations we are most prone to changing the Word to fit our “reality.” Another interesting fact of this verse is that it is a command to us. There are many commands laid out by God in His Word. Some examples include:

Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you. -1 Peter 5:7

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. –Proverbs 3:6

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. –Philippians 4:6

Every one of these verses is a command for us to go to our Heavenly Father for help.  1 Corinthians 10:13 states, “but God is faithful…” The word “faithful” implies that He is honoring effort placed by another party, the Christian. He is faithful to those who cast their cares upon God, acknowledge Him in all their ways, or are anxious for nothing. All too often, we as Christians want to believe that God should come to our level and handle our problems with no effort from us; then, at the same time we like to blame God for not handling said problems when we do not place our worries upon Him and ask Him for help. One thing we need to understand is that God cannot overstep free will. If His child wants to bear the full burden of a problem, then who is He to argue. We need to apply the rightly divided Word to realize that if we are having experiences that we feel are too much to bear then we are not casting our care upon God. We always need to remember that God is never the problem. The problem is our human inclinations.

Check out God is Not Down With The Sickness for more on God’s love versus the devil’s desire to destroy us.     

Meet the New Society, Same as the Old Society

Watching shows on the History Channel, Discovery, and sitting through lectures, you get a sense that ancient humanity was far different from how we live today. Similar to many elders in the world today where “everything was simpler in my day,” we yearn for a time when things weren’t so hectic and humans were in tune with nature and the elements around them. Well, I’m here to tell you that many modern researchers have it very wrong about how people acted and lived in the ancient and indigenous world. All too often we see films and read books about the simplicity of Native American culture culminating in one of the most bigoted plot lines running through fiction, “the noble savage.” I have sat through history lectures involving whole classes of apologies to all the indigenous people the “white man” hurt throughout history while they neglect millennia of pre-Columbian war, complex society, and amazing achievements. Sorry, professors but history did not begin with the introduction of European interests.

I have also watched many shows that imply that there is deep meaning behind every work of art and every form of writing ancient man committed to stone. The view of indigenous tribes and the ancients being simpler than modern man and the idea that those who have come before us designed their art to only communicate cultural significance does only one thing: it trivializes the studied civilizations. 

Think about what you do during a typical day. Hopefully you have a job and hopefully you have time to recreate. If there is consideration for what humans do most of the day, one can come to the conclusion that a lot of time is spent doing things that are only important to the person. Individual pursuits are probably the reality for a quarter to one half of the Earth’s population while the other fraction of humanity is just looking to survive. Now I would like to question, “How different do you think our modern reality is to the reality of our forerunners?” It’s probably not much different at all. Do you think the Mayans or Aztecs who left behind their ruins for us to study really sat around considering how future civilizations would interpret the meaning behind their glyphs? No, just like your doodling in class or that painting hanging in the local art gallery, those ancient glyphs and paintings were designed for the enjoyment of the people who created them. 

Visual art has always been a very important aspect of the human experience and, thus, I question the theory that cave paintings had anything extra to tell the observer other than a good story. The chances are great that cave paintings were like graphic novels telling a story through a visual medium. I remember watching a television program discussing the Flood in Genesis and a man whose theory involved a meteorite stated something interesting. He said something akin to, “You have to remember that all of these paintings from the ancient world had a deep rooted meaning.” His statement regarding ancient humanity reminds me of an alien race in science fiction whose world has one language, one religion, and one culture. The idea is just not realistic. We need to start interjecting our modern sensibilities into those in the ancient world. If we are honest in doing so, I think we will realize that those who have come before are really not all that different from us.

Playlist for an Apologist

A good song can go a long way into brightening your day. Don’t believe me? Just ask King Saul about the songs David would play and how they caused an evil spirit to depart from him. In fact, even God loves Himself a good melody. Psalm 150:3-6 mentions the many musical ways we can praise Him.

Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

As a musician and self-proclaimed music snob, I can attest to how great I feel when I listen to an artist who seems to speak right to me through their composition and lyrics. Not only do I feel like I have found music which I don’t feel guilty listening to but I am refreshed by the fact that I am not alone in how I think. It is to this end I want to devote this article and highlight three different musical artists who seem to sing and play to the apologetic aesthetic. I will cover artists in three different musical genres; therefore, if an artist doesn’t strike your fancy genre wise, hopefully one of the other artists can appeal to you.

1. (Knowda)Verbs

Verbs also known as Knowdaverbs is a Christian hip hop artist who sadly hasn’t gained enough attention in the genre. However, he has gained some positive critical reception due to his beats and intelligent lyrics. Verbs’ lyrics are grounded in the Word and cover many issues from ministry to spiritual warfare to the power of God. He does not talk down to his audience which is something any apologist should be able to appreciate. So, for any apologist who loves hip hop, I would definitely recommend a listen to Verbs. Musical highlights include the songs: Syllabus, God is Big, Plane Scared, and Giant Slayers.

2. Becoming the Archetype

From the world of hip hop to a very different musical world is the metal band, Becoming the Archetype, whose name is a reference to the fact that Jesus Christ is the ultimate Archetype of humanity and we should strive to be like Him. Becoming the Archetype (BTA) is the ultimate academic Christian metal band with lyrics about the futility of atheistic thought like:

Initially they rationalized with futile speculations
Which brought about their ultimately fatal calculations
They sewed their own eyes shut
To protect them from the light
Closed the doorway of their minds
Barred and sealed it tight

In addition to lyrics that just ooze apologetic assertions, the musical composition of BTA is some of the best in the business. The guitars ring, the drums destroy with their machine gun sound, and the bass thumps. Metal might not be your cup of tea, but I definitely hope that doesn’t stop you from experiencing some of the most sincere and intelligent Christian musicians out there today. Musical highlights include: Dichotomy, Ex Nihilo, The Magnetic Sky, and How Great Thou Art (yes, this is a metal cover of the hymn).

3. Joy Electric

Okay, so hip hop and metal aren’t your thing musically. Well, what about electronica? Electronica is the realm of Joy Electric , who can be described as a Christian synthpop artist. Joy Electric, or Ronnie Martin, has written numerous songs covering many different topics including: believer exhortation, scientific inquiry, literary legends, and history. In light of most electronic music which can be loud and bombastic, Martin employs a mainly subdued and simple style adding accessibility to his music. In addition, Joy Electric’s writing exhibits an intelligence above similar artists’ lyrics, and one can see the type of research he places into his subject matter. This can be appreciated by individuals in the field of apologetics who themselves place emphasis on research in both the Word and science. Musical highlights include: The Heritage Bough, Nikola Tesla, The Otherly Opus, and Disloyalist Party.

God, Time Travel, and the Multi-verse.

It’s the New Year yet again and the concept of time is a very present issue with depictions of Father Time and talk of starting over by not wasting minutes fulfilling a resolution or two. This brings to mind other questions of chronology like the idea of time travel. Movies and books have pondered these questions and told great stories concerning this very inquiry. In reality, the theoretical science involved in such a concept is enough to make a person’s head explode and mine has almost on a few occasions. When I was younger and trying to write science fiction, I remember attempting to come up with scenarios involving characters who travelled back in time but I would run into the basic problem that I want to present today. Would God ever allow humans to travel into the past?

As Christians, we believe in a God who created and set universal constants like gravity and the speed of light for governing all sorts of physical forces with the whole universe fitting in the palm of His hand. To God one day is as one thousand days while the human lives within the ticks of a second. I have a hard time believing that a God this powerful would ever let the imperfection of humanity touch the space-time continuum.

Another issue brought up through time travel is the problem of paradox such as the infamous grandfather paradox. The grandfather paradox concerns the notion of a person travelling into the past and killing his or her grandfather preventing the birth of the time traveler. Preventing one’s own birth is an impossibility and has initiated many theories concerning its solution. However, the Word addresses the role impossibility plays in human reality. 

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.  –Matthew 19:26

According to this verse, men and women do not reside inside the realm of the impossible and therefore lack the ability to create time paradoxes. Another problem with paradoxes and time travel is a lack of free will. If humans are able to travel to the past, how is any decision we make freely chosen when we could possibly change the outcome. The lack of free will is an anti-Biblical view and thus cannot coexist within Christian belief. 

A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.  – Proverbs 16:9

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.  – Joshua 24:15

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. –Romans 12:2 

God makes it plain in His Word that humans choose their own paths through free will whether it be the will of God or not. This notion also puts to rest any ideas of parallel universes because if each choice is made by a different version of oneself in another universe than what does each decision matter in the long run? Additionally, parallel universes would contain timelines where men of God did not act according to what the Word described intricately paving the way for the birth of His Son and the ultimate redemption through Christ Jesus. So, the next time you see or read a science fiction story using time travel or parallel universes as plot devices know that it is only fiction and something the God would never allow.

A Review of Arrow.

When thinking of the big two comic book companies (DC and Marvel), the strengths of the respective media empires come to mind. Lately, with all of the super hero content available on screen, one can surmise that Marvel is better at the movie making business and DC knows how to produce television programs. While the Dark Knight Trilogy and Man of Steel were huge successes at the box office, DC seems to only know how to make good movies with only Batman and Superman and Marvel seems to be able to eek out gold using even its B and C-list heroes. However, the opposite can be said concerning television where DC seems to have the upper hand. There has always been a special place in my and many geek’s heart for the DC animated universe (DCAU). Starting with Batman: The Animated Series and terminating with Green Lantern: The Animated Series, the DCAU provided quality programming with superb writing, respect for legendary characters, and nods to the audience.  Marvel does not have this type of presence on the small screen. 

Why bring this up? Well, in addition to animation, DC Comics has been fairly successful adapting its universe into live action television shows as well. Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, The Flash, and Smallville (let’s not bring up the horrible Justice League adaptation that thankfully didn’t make it past the pilot) all were met with various commercial and critical successes. I will say though that I am not as big of fan of the live action shows as I am of the animated programs. The latest series on the list is Smallville which, in my opinion, only had two good seasons (the first two) and left much to be desired. This brings us to the topic of the article, Arrow. 

Due to my experience with Smallville, I was very hesitant on giving Arrow a chance but I would like to report that I was very wrong. This show has been very enjoyable so far with very little weak points over the first season and a half and contains enough inside nods to DC fans that you can’t wait to see who they place into the next episode. 

The first thing about the show that I just love is the atmosphere of the setting. This show could easily fit into the Dark Knight or Man of Steel continuities which I think is a very good idea. DC Comics through the aforementioned movies and Arrow are establishing a screen mood that is very different than the light-hearted, playful tone of the Marvel screen continuity. This is a very important point because it makes it easy for the public to distinguish between projects from the two companies. 

Second, the arc of both the present day adventures of Oliver Queen interspersed with an arc of his island experience provides the audience with two quality stories to follow. Many movies and shows that use flashbacks usually have a weaker story of the two and the audience can’t wait to see the stronger story. However, I have never found myself wanting to find out what happened in each plot while waiting impatiently for the other story arc to continue. 

Another strong point of the show is the opening up of the DC universe to the show and it’s incarnations of many different characters. Green Arrow does not have a strong rogues gallery and many of the villains have been taken from Teen Titans and Batman. We have been able to see versions of Merlyn, Count Vertigo, Brother Blood, Deathstroke, Firefly, the Royal Flush Gang, the Huntress, and many others. However, some of these villains have been the weak point of the show. Firefly was probably the weakest villain with an interesting set up but an anticlimactic end and the Royal Flush was also very weak. 

Lastly, what keeps me invested is the acting with a special nod to Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow. His performance is a subtle one where you can see that maturation and change of Queen from an irresponsible playboy to a distant, brooding individual. I like the fact that through his island story line his voice slowly becomes less high-pitched as his experiences grow more and more horrific. Paul Blackthorne as Detective Lance is also a highlight of the show. His character has been through a lot emotionally throughout the series and you feel everything he’s going through. David Ramsey as Diggle and Emily Bett Rickards as Felictiy Smoak put in great performances as well. 

I would definitely recommend this show to anyone who is a comic book fan or just a fan of quality television. Traditionally, I really had not been a big fan of Green Arrow as a character because the superhero has been considered a far leftist in the comics. Don’t believe me? Read Denny O’Neill and Neal Adams’ run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow. However, Arrow does not cover that aspect of the character and has quickly become my favorite show on television. Additionally, the series has led me to read some Green Arrow comics after all. Hopefully, there will be a place for Stephen Amell as Green Arrow in the upcoming Justice League movie.