Spiritual Growth? How Discouraging!

Spiritual growth is slow and discouraging. Sometimes, it even seems that we are going backwards. Old problems and conflict re-emerge. Weaknesses often seem to be resistant to our best efforts. Even prayer seems unable to put a dent into our plenteous failures and sins. Evidently, something is going wrong?

Interestingly, the bamboo plant might offer some reassurance. Bruce Malone and Julie Von Vett write,

• The bamboo plant takes five years to mature, showing little “above ground” activity during the first 2-4 years. Meanwhile, an extensive root system is developing underground. From all appearances the plant is accomplishing little. After years of seeming insignificance, the bamboo plant reaps the benefit of its hidden activity – becoming the fastest growing plant on Earth. Nourished by years of unseen activity, at about year five, the bamboo plant sends stalks rocketing skyward at an unbelievable three feet per day. (Inspired Evidence)

Indeed, it’s comforting to see three feet of growth a day after years of what had appeared to be stagnation. But perhaps we’re not ready to luxuriate in our daily three feet of growth. Perhaps it might go to our head.

We see so many example of spiritual self-exaltation. Paul had to warn the Corinthian church against this. To promote some needed self-reflection, he asked them three rhetorical questions:

• For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Cor. 4:7)

They were human, boasting about things that they had no business boasting about. I think that arrogance and self-trust are the biggest problems that confront the church. They constitute the greatest impediments to trusting in God. No wonder that God’s exquisite workmanship in our lives must be camouflaged! We wouldn’t be able to deal humbly with His artistry (Eph. 2:10)!

Pound for pound, bamboo is the sturdiest plant in the world. It’s used for scaffolding all over SE Asia. It can support unbelievable weights. It’s also incredibly light-weight. I think that the weight of our self-promotion, self-centeredness and self-righteousness must first be lightened before we too can provide the scaffolding for the lives of others, as our Lord desires. However, this requires years of refinement and preparation:

• No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)

This “harvest of righteousness and peace” only comes “later on,” but it does come to those who seek it, as Jesus promised:

• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)

Man from Microbes?

Evolutionists talk very glibly about how man evolved from microbes, but, among other things, such “spontaneous” generation requires truckloads of additional information. However, according to Bruce Malone and Julie Von Vett, the belief that information will just appear is not evidentially supported:

• All random changes to the genome (DNA) information content result in a decrease in functional information. This information degeneration is the “trade secret” of geneticists. (Inspired Evidence, drawing from the work of Jonathan Sarfati, “The Greatest Hoax on Earth?: Refuting Dawkins on Evolution,” 43)

Instead of evolution, the findings argue instead in favor of de-evolution. Let’s just consider a handful of findings:

• We have never seen a star born, but we have seen hundreds die. (Kleiss)

• Evolution is just plain unscientific. It violates the laws of chemistry including the second law of thermodynamics, the laws of probability, and information theory. (Eric Norman)

• One-third of all known species [of birds] on the [Hawaiian] islands have become extinct within the last 1,500 years. Yet no new species of Hawaiian birds have developed over the same period…This evidence implies that the millions of different life forms on Earth could not have come from evolution, because creatures become extinct far faster than they could possibly evolve into new types. (Kleiss)

• GENOME ENTROPY: “If humans have evolved from less intelligent creatures, one would expect the earliest written languages to be the least complex. The opposite is true. The oldest languages are the most complex.” (Kleiss)

• This [collection of defects] is exactly what is happening to the human genome at an alarming rate. Thousands of tiny mistakes are building up with each generation. (Bruce Malone)

• There is no theoretical reason that would permit us to expect that evolutionary lines would increase in complexity with time; there is also no empirical evidence that this happens. (John Maynard Smith, E. Szathmary—quoted from John Lennox’s book, God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God, 107.)

• In the whole experimentally accessible domain of microevolution (including research in artificial breeding and in species formation), all variations have certainly remained within the confines of basic types [species, more or less]. (Siegfried Scherer)

• Cell biologist E.J. Ambrose of the University of London argued that it is unlikely that fewer than five genes could ever be involved in the formation of even the simplest new structure, previously unknown in the organism. He then points out that only one in 1,000 mutations is non-deleterious, so that the chance of five non-deleterious mutations occurring is 1 in a million billion replications. [This means that every organism will probably die before it adds a new organ!]

• Well, as common sense would suggest, the Darwinian theory is correct in the small, but not in the large. Rabbits come from other slightly different rabbits, not from either [primeval] soup or potatoes. (Astro-Physicist, Fred Hoyle)

The above all point to the fact of the loss of information and not its development. Consequently, Malone and Von Vett conclude:

• Both scientists and non-scientist are actually observing the same thing – life degenerates but new more complex forms of life are not appearing.

Perhaps these findings suggest that the scientific community should be willing to place God back on the table, at least for a second look.

Dealing with the Inevitable Hardships

Life is a stroll in the park when things are going well, but how do we deal with it when the burdens of life are crushing us? Secular counseling locates the answer in the self. “You can do it; you’ve got what it takes.” However, life often has its way of showing us that we can’t do it! Life comes well stocked with a generous array of opportunities to fail. Only one can be the valedictorian; only one will get the promotion; only one will win the 100 yard dash. Even when we do win the race, we can’t stay on top of the pack for long.

Disappointments abound. Our children aren’t who we hoped they’d be. Our mates fail us, and we fail ourselves, and then we disease, decay and eventually die. How then can we cope? We can place our trust in ourselves, strive to get ahead of the pack and control life’s challenges, but not for long. Our flimsy frame has its breaking point.

We even the lack the ability to lift ourselves off the ground. The Psalmist likens us to helpless sheep but also proclaims, “When I am afraid, I will trust in you” (Psalm 56:3). It is inevitable that we will be afraid, because there is just too much of life that is out of our control. There are just too many situations that humble and inform us, “You don’t have what it takes!” So here are some thoughts about handling the hardships:

TRUST AND PRAY: There are only two types of people: those who realize that life is bigger than them, and those who don’t. This is nothing to be ashamed of. Jesus taught that without Him we can do nothing (John 15:4-5). Therefore, hardship and helplessness is an opportunity to cry out to the greater Hope. In this way, hardships are potentially a positive and not the negative we generally tend to feel that they are.

Hardships and trials teach us the obvious truth – life is bigger than us and therefore, we can’t trust in ourselves. This is the valuable lesson that Paul learned:

• We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (2 Cor. 1:8-9)

Without hardships, we will never come to trust in God. It’s just too comfortable and rewarding to trust in ourselves with the assurance that we are in control. However, once our eyes are open to the fact that we are not an appropriate object of self-trust, the door swings open to God-trust and a deeper appreciation of the necessity of prayer.

If it is the case that we really can’t learn trust and consequently prayer without suffering, then we should learn how to welcome it.

SELF-EXAMINATION: Sometimes, we bring the pain upon ourselves through our sins that we haven’t confessed. The Apostle Paul admonished us to “examine” ourselves:

• But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. (1 Cor. 11:31-32)

Even when our Lord does judge us, He does so for our own good. However, if we learn to first examine and judge ourselves, we would not have to endure God’s painful disciplinary actions.

This, however, is not easy. It’s sometimes impossible. We have been blinded by years of denial (Proverbs 21:2). Jesus likens our self-imposed blindness to a log in our eyes (Matthew 7:1-5). While we are quick to see the faults in others, our own faults are conveniently banished from our sight in our futile attempt build self-esteem and self-righteousness. King David therefore prayed:

• Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)

Ordinarily, it’s just too painful to get an eyeful of ourselves. It is therefore noteworthy that someone would pray for such a humiliating self-revelation. It can be very depressing and psychologically destabilizing. However, David knew that ultimately this was the path to peace and relational restoration:

• Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:1-5)

CONFESSION: This can be so liberating. When we sin, we have only two choices. We can rationalize our sin away or we can humble ourselves by confessing it. When we deny or rationalize our sin, it’s still there, despite our heroic effects to silence our conscience, and poisons us and our relationships. However, when we take full responsibility for our sin and confess it, there is a relief, even if the other person refuses to accept our humble apology. But how much more peace we derive when our confession is accepted:

• He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)

If you don’t think that you have any failings to confess, you might meditate on these verses:

• Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philip. 2:3-4)

This should humble all of us and cause us to cry out, “God, forgive me my sins. Make me more like You, walking in love towards others!” Yes, these reminders can ordinarily be very discouraging. Therefore, we need to quickly confess and entrust our moral failures to the Lord, knowing that He completely forgives and cleanses us from any wrongdoing (1 John 1:9-10).

REHEARSING SCRIPTURE: I boast to my students that I am the least cool person. When frustrated, I usually throw an embarrassing hissy-fit. Fortunately, they have become shorter in duration. I remind myself that my Savior is working everything together for good (Romans 8:28), even my regular fits. I also remind myself that through my failures and weaknesses, He is perfecting me (2 Cor. 12:9-10). In other words, He is able and willing to turn any of my negatives into positives. Consequently, my weaknesses have become my strengths. Therefore, I need not despair or become an object of self-contempt. I am in His hands and have become His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), completely.

I know that to many, this represents no more than empty platitudes. Understandably, we want to be changed and to ride above the clawing hardships. Filling our minds with Biblical thoughts often seems to be little better than an umbrella in a hurricane. So let me invite you to do a little thought experiment:

• Imagine that you have just been discharged from the hospital after quadruple bypass surgery. The next morning, you are awaken by intense pain and are terrified. Your surgeon examines you thoroughly and then pronounces his judgment: “The pain you are now experiencing is the best-case scenario. It shows that you are responding perfectly to the surgery.

If you trust your surgeon, you might still experience the same pain, but your orientation to it will be entirely different. What you had experienced as a negative is now regarded as a positive, and you leave encouraged.

We need a Biblical re-orientation in the way we think. We are not fundamentally transformed through the changing of our emotions, but through the renewal of our thinking (Romans 12:2). We need to perceive the hand of God in the midst of the trials. When we understand them as positives, we will not experience them as negatives. Yes, they’ll still be painful:

• No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)

The more we come to see how God uses the hardships to produce “a harvest of righteousness,” the more we will welcome them without grumbling. We also need to recognize that they are essential if we are going to be like Jesus:

• We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. (2 Cor. 4:10-11)

If this is the case, then trials are to be welcomed. He has taught me so much through the humbling experience of hardships. For one thing, it has revealed to me who I really am. It has begun to produce a “harvest of righteousness.” The more that I have come to understand how unworthy I am of the slightest “thank you” from my God, the more I have come to understand His grace and to love Him for first loving unworthy me. It has taught me patience and forgiveness for others. If my Savior has been so patient and forgiving with me, how then can I withhold forgiveness from others?

Not only have these revelations produced gratefulness for my God, they have also made me grateful for what I have – my work, health and wife. Once I realized that I wasn’t a king who deserved kingly recognition, I learned to be content with what I have.

I don’t like hardships, but I’ve learned to welcome them knowing that I need them. One friend facing serious surgery sagely confided that although he is not looking forward to it, he knows that it will draw him closer to his wife. Ironically, it will probably draw him closer to his God also!

Our hardships will also prepare us to meet our God. We often wonder, “Why is life in this body so difficult, especially since we have Jesus?” For one thing, we are taught that in this body we “groan” (2 Cor. 5:17) as our Lord is refining our faith (1 Peter 4:17). For another thing, we are not supposed to be too comfortable here. The Hebrew believers weren’t. Their hardships inclined them to long for their “heavenly country” (Hebrews 11:16), and this pleased their God. Likewise, our suffering inclines our longings upward:

• In this [hope] you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:6-7)

Here’s a very significant aspect of the refinement of our faith. Jesus is our ultimate lover. He loves us with a love that transcends anything we can imagine (Eph. 3:17-20). Consequently, He jealously dotes upon us so that His love might be reciprocated in a somewhat appropriate way. His intention is that when He comes for us, we will be ready to go with Him. Therefore, it is His deepest desire that our faith will be such that we will “praise, glory and honor [Him] when [He] is revealed.”

How tragic if would be that, when He finally comes for us, we’d respond, “Great to see you, Jesus, but I wonder if you could postpone our wedding for a couple of months. I have an awards banquet coming up and I was hoping to catch the World Series. Besides, we have a Caribbean cruise planned. Well…you understand.” Instead, trials are intended to make our faith cry out for His coming.

The Jewish nation required 40 years of preparation in the desert before they were ready to enter the Promised Land. We too are being prepared to meet our Promised Messiah in His Promised Land. Let us therefore consider lightly our lives here and greatly esteem the hardships that are preparing us for our final home!

Leftover or Intelligently Designed Parts

To prove their case, evolutionists often invoke “residual organs,” leftover genes, useless body parts, and “junk DNA”. They understandably argue that if we evolved from lower forms, we should retain much useless, leftover, non-functional junk from our previous incarnations.

For instance, Jerry A. Coyne in Why Evolution is True writes that lanugo, downy baby hair, is a leftover, no longer necessary “remnant of our primate ancestry.” However, further research has provided another story. According to Bruce Malone,

• This fine downy hair is absolutely critical for the development of the baby within the mother’s womb. Just after the lanugo grows on the baby’s developing skin, the baby produces a waxy coating over its skin called the vernix caseosa. It is this waxy coating which protects the developing skin from the fluid of the mother’s womb. Without the fine coating of hair, the waxy varnish would have nothing to anchor itself to and could not function to protect the underlying skin. (Inspired Evidence)

Malone also adds that we have approximately 200,000 different proteins and “as far as we know every one of these proteins has some useful, functional purpose.” Understandably, he asks, “Why are our bodies not full of useless leftover chemicals from our evolutionary past?” They should be if we evolved from lower forms, evolving new organs while discarding the old.

In fact, there had been a nice neat list of about 200 useless vestigial human organs compiled by smug evolutionists. However, this list has dwindled down to almost nothing as we have continued to discover that these “useless” organs serve vital purposes.

• True science has found useful functions for virtually all the so-called ‘leftover’ organs. Yet if we evolved from some other life form, our bodies should be full of leftover non-functional features. (Kleiss)

“Junk DNA” has been found to be anything but junk. Even our “tail bone” has been found to play a vital role in anchoring our muscles. And these theoretical mistakes are costly. Children routinely had their tonsils removed only to later find that they played a vital role immunologically. We pay for our faulty worldviews.

Irreducible Complexity and the Flatworm

The teleological proof (the argument from design) argues that intelligent design (ID) implies that there must be an intelligent Designer. Darwinists countered by arguing that the appearance of design could be explained by natural selection (NS). (Please note that NS is incapable of explaining many instances of ID – the origins of life, proteins and DNA, the fine-tuning of the universe and the laws of physics. Life must first exist before Darwinian mechanisms can even begin to provide any form of explanation.)

Biologist Michael Behe responded that Darwinian mechanisms are incapable of even explaining the many instances of irreducible complexity (IC). He pointed out that any biological structure required the pre-existence of many biological parts before it could be functional and confer a survival advantage upon its host. To illustrate his point, he used the example of the mouse-trap. It had to have all five parts in place before it could be used to catch a mouse. A trap with only four parts was dysfunctional and useless.

A good example of IC is the monogenean flatworm:

• They are parasites that live on the skin, fins, and gills of fish. They first take hold of the fish with hooks. But in order to feed off the fish, they glue their mouths onto the fish with superglue. This flatworm has two glands within its head which make two non-sticky components needed to form the glue. These components are extruded through tiny holes beside the mouth. Only when the two components come together do they form a glue, just like a two-part epoxy resin. This glue is extremely strong and adheres to wet, slimy surfaces, even under water. The glue is delivered in a non-sticky form so that it does not glue the flatworm’s mouth shut before it comes in contact with the fish. The glue cures quickly, it is stable and durable, and it can be dissolved when the flatworm needs to leave. (Von Vett and Malone, Inspired Evidence)

For the flatworm to survive and pass on its secrets to the next generation, it requires many unusual and distinct parts to be in place. With its hooks, it cannot even begin to attach to the fish. Without the glue, it cannot attach in a way that it can absorb its nutrients. Without the solvent, it can’t break loose to complete its life-cycle. It also requires complex delivery and maintenance systems for this operation. Lacking only one part, it fails to survive and to pass on its inheritance.

It has also been argued that every system – even the smallest – is irreducibly complex and therefore defies Darwinian explanation. Proteins are not produced anywhere but inside living cells. However, to produce proteins, the cell first needs many different proteins and protein machines to be present. Von Vett and Malone explain it this way:

• [Proteins] are formed from coded information upon the DNA molecule. But to form each protein a little protein machine must attach to the DNA at just the right point to start the process. Then a different protein machine must start the unzipping process. Nest a third protein machine must line up a special molecule (RNA) of exactly the right length and a fourth protein must know when to stop the copying process. The RNA passes through a fifth protein machine which allows an exact copy of the information to be made.

They are substances and processes that evolution cannot even begin to explain. For NS to operate there must first be life. However, there is no life apart from these operations. Von Vett and Malone conclude that this entire system had to have been created simultaneously before life could exist, “yet this is the one answer not allowed to be considered by students.”

Trans-Sexuality and Pathology

Any discussion that trans-sexuality might be pathological is now frowned upon. Individual choice of sexuality now trumps every other consideration in public discussion, or lack of it. However, there is little talk about the long-range implications of choice.

Walt Heyer, in his 2006 book “Trading my Sorrows,” writes about his troubled experiences as a transsexual. The following was culled from his interview with LifeSiteNews.com:

• Heyer was a little boy growing up in California in the mid 1940s, interested in cowboys, cars and steel guitars when one day, his grandmother fancied that he wanted to be a girl. She naively made for him a purple chiffon evening dress that he would wear when he visited her. According to Walt, donning that purple chiffon dress triggered something that put him on a 35 year long path that led through a dark valley of “torment, disillusionment, regret, and sorrow.” His gender identity confusion led him into alcoholism, drug addiction, and attempted suicide…

• Ultimately, Walt would resort to vaginoplasty “gender reassignment surgery” to make himself appear like a woman, something that he came deeply to regret and that he now counsels gender confused individuals to steer clear of…

• Walt recounts that the purple dress was only the first of many influences in his life that made him ashamed of being male. There was the sexual molestation he suffered at the hands of his uncle that he says made him feel ashamed of his genitals. There was the severe discipline from his father—practically indistinguishable from physical abuse, he says—that made him feel incapable of being the boy his father wanted him to be. Walt remembers never feeling good enough for his parents, never being able to please them, and never receiving the affirmation that he greatly desired.

This story isn’t unusual and takes many painful permutations. Several women have “married” “women” who had originally been men. These men had had a sex change, and then subsequently met the love-of-their-life but now had the wrong sexual organs.

This is tragic, but it’s a tragedy that the power brokers of our society will no longer talk about. It has become politically incorrect, and any attempt to break through this barrier to a place of sanity is met with charges of “bigotry” and “hate-mongering.”

The Wisdom of Christ: Taste and See

Why believe in Christ? The late philosopher C.S. Lewis explained:

• I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun—not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. (Guinness, 27)

There’s a lot of evidence of things that can be seen and touched about the Christian faith. Jesus performed many miracles – something even attested to by later Jewish writings. There’s also a mountain of fulfilled prophecies. However, Christianity is not just a matter of what can be seen, but also of what can be seen or illuminated by its light. Specifically, I want to examine Christ’s light – His wisdom:

FINDING THE PERFECT WIFE, COMMUNITY, AND GURU: I had thought that I’d find happiness once I found the right community. In 1970, as a Zionist, I moved to Israel expecting that once I’d find the right Kibbutz – a collective, socialistic, agricultural settlement – I’d be happy. However, I found no such thing. I also thought that I’d find the right teacher (guru) and wife who’d make me happy, but this didn’t happen either.

Starting out with the wrong ideas/presuppositions, I doomed my search even before I began. Later, in Christ, I learned that perfection – especially human perfection – was nowhere to be found in this world. Instead, we need to prepare ourselves to find the opposite. Although we are created in the image of God, things have changed since then, as Jesus had warned:

• This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. (John 3:19-20)

If we have become lovers of “darkness,” we can expect darkness from our teachers and trouble from our spouses. (And we can also dish out our own!) This means that it is wise to not place unqualified trust in anyone, as Scripture advises:

• It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes. (Psalm 118:8-9)

It took me many disappointments to learn that if I place unqualified trust in a friend, teacher or even a spouse, I will be disappointed and hurt. When my expectations for others are too high, I will resent them for letting me down. However, if my hope is ultimately in the Lord, I have peace. I don’t have to worry that others will let me down. Indeed, God doesn’t give me everything that I want, but I know Him well enough to know that He has a loving reason for disappointing me.

Scripture has given me a new set of lenses. I’ve learned that if certain people look perfect, I’m not seeing correctly. Instead, we’re all sinners who need the Savior. Knowing this, we are not as readily taken in by appearances.

FINDING SELF-ESTEEM AND SELF-TRUST: While, these are touted by Western civilization as great virtues, Jesus saw them for what they are – self-delusion and denial. Jesus took the Pharisees to task for their love of money and their denial of this sin:

• He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.” (Luke 16:15)

When something “is detestable in God's sight,” it is also something that will turn against us, like any addiction. Jesus told a parable about someone who went into the Temple to pray. However, God didn’t even hear his prayer because he trusted in his “own righteousness and looked down on everybody else” (Luke 18:9), thereby condemning himself:

• I [Jesus] tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified [and forgiven] before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:14)

This was another lesson I had to learn the hard way. The more I tried to exalt myself, the more self-absorbed and self-deluded I became, and the more I needed to prove myself. I found that self-trust was a drug that offered diminishing returns.

Instead, Jesus taught the counter-intuitive truth that to maximize ourselves we have to minimize ourselves. We have to die to our self-preoccupations and self-promotion:

• For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. (Matthew 16:25)

I had to learn how to see my life through the lens of His life. It’s all about Him and not about my goodness or deservedness! Ironically, when I put Him first (Matthew 6:33), He put me first. When I learned this, I also learned how to transfer the huge burden of self, which was resting painfully on my shoulders, onto His willing and able shoulders. I was finding that the Bible was illuminating for me an accurate psychological roadmap, guiding me from dysfunctionality to vitality.

FINDING FORGIVENESS: An atheist friend explained why he no longer believed in freewill. He had struggled with painful feelings of guilt. However, he found that by proactively denying that he had any freewill and that he was programmed to do whatever he did, his guilt was diminished. However, this trade-off left him confused. If we are all pre-programmed to do everything we do, then, no one is ever guilty and no one should be punished or even praised. Nor should we seek justice against a mugger, any more than we should indict a virus or a cancer for its “crime.”

Instead, Christ offered forgiveness without cost or intellectual compromise. His forgiveness doesn’t diminish us by depriving us of freewill. Instead, it frees us from this psychological masturbation and cleanses us so that we can have the liberty to be transparent and non-defensive about who we really are. It also encourages us to live responsibility and to take criticism constructively.

My friend’s roadmap might have brought him to his chosen destination, but he didn’t realize the tolls he would have to pay on route.

Being free from guilt and shame no longer requires a constant infusion of praise and accolades but instead the humble and truthful acknowledgement that we are sinners who need the Savior Jesus.

FINDING PSYCHOLOGICAL REST: Psychological perks had always been associated with personal achievement. When I achieved, I found psychological rest, although this never lasted for long. When I failed to achieve, I experienced self-devaluation and depression. I was a prisoner in chains who desperately sought liberation, but the only liberation I knew was to slavishly pursue the next increasingly illusive achievement. Into this bondage, Jesus reaches out with the only adequate life-preserver on the watery horizon:

• Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

His burden is one that I have gladly exchanged for my own. I have found such relief and blessedness in taking His “yoke” upon me that I couldn’t dream of living without it.

It’s not simply that Christ has brought me so many tangible benefits. He’s also allowed me to see, understand and to peacefully follow along life’s highways. He has placed the ultimate roadmap into our hands, enabling us to navigate this difficult life without getting too bruised up in the process. He is the sun who illuminates all else.

At this point, many will baulk that this isn’t a proof at all. Well, it’s a different kind of proof – one that requires that the reader is somewhat in touch with her inner life and is able to recognize that a false philosophy is a false guide which causes needless hurt and confusion. I can only pray that this Christian roadmap might be seen for what it is – a guide to truth and freedom. If there is any question about this, Jesus invites the seeker to try it out:

• If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. (John 7:17)