Here’s a Sunday thought that occurred to me: What is the difference between religion and faith in a living God?

“Religion” to me is like a Ming vase locked up in a storage case in your home. You can worship it, venerate it, pass it on from generation to generation. You can study it, talk about it with other people who collect Ming vases, and even feel better about yourself because you have a Ming vase and say that you love it. Other people will even say it is a lovely and beautiful thing … and you might vote for them when they do.

But will it heal you? Can it bring you peace? Can you take it off its shelf and put it on your table at dinner time – even pour cream out of it, or serve your guests from it? Could you go so far as to lend it to your neighbors, or take it with you on a trip? Will you let your kids handle it up close and personal so they can enjoy its beauty and practicality? Can it stand up to having rocks thrown at it, and still bind the wounds of the one who did the throwing?

That is faith, my friends.

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I once overheard part of a conversation where a young college man, fresh from his Comparative Religion class, was explaining to my wife and daughter that, according to his professor, Christianity is a Western religion. My ladies were politely having none of it since they’ve got a good understanding of both Christianity and geography.

I suppose that the professor could consider that the Middle Eastern religions – Christianity, Judiaism and Islam – are “western” in the sense that they are not from as far east as Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism, or that Christianity and Judiaism have had more influence in the West. Nevertheless, whether you consult Genesis or Rand-McNally, Christianity is an Eastern religion.

This is even more clear philosophically when you consider the religions of Greece and Rome, the root cultures of Western civilization. The Greeks and Romans shared the same cast of multiple gods only with different names. It should also be noted that this pantheon (look it up, homeschoolers) consisted of beings who were lustful, quick-tempered, deceitful, vain, petty and untrustworthy. Sounds like the cast for the next reality program, Survivor: Mount Olympus. In short, these were gods made in the image of humans. If you go further West into old Europe and Britain you find even more polytheistic paganism.

The Judeo-Christian and Islamic revelation of one God, perfect and all-powerful who requires not just worship but the pursuit of moral excellence (and provides the framework for doing so) is a radically different – and un-Western – spiritual proposition. In fact, it might be an interesting exercise for you and your children to imagine and discuss the effects on individual behavior and society of trying to serve arbitrary, unpredictable gods who were little more than immortal and more self-indulgent versions of yourself.

Another point to ponder is that polytheism hasn’t gone away. Today our worldly culture goes through incredible contortions to deny or ignore the first commandment. Science and law strive to claim there is no God while philosophy and the entertainment industry promote that there really are all kinds of gods and they all should be recognized the same in the name of diversity. Meanwhile law, science, philosophy, entertainment, politics and others all have their enthusiastic disciples eager to evangelize our children.

Sometimes it’s through head on confrontation, other times by a slow and steady erosion of relativity and rationalization aimed at sowing and watering doubt. Often it is the intellectual seduction of a respected teacher or professor saying, “Oh, surely you’re too smart to still hold those outmoded beliefs. Now let me show you how we turn gold into lead.”

At some point our children will face all of these and more. Their ultimate defense is not in simply knowing the Bible, but in knowing God. Others will try to turn God and Christ into mere concepts, and arguments about concepts are rarely productive and often dangerous. A young person who has sought a relationship with Christ, experienced a revelation from God, applied these to his or her life and achieved a noticeable result is young person who has a strong foundation to counter any argument or doubt.

Our children may feel strongly about something, but strong feelings are easy to come by, and are on every side of an argument. A personal testimony is virtually indisputible. If your child can say “God said this, I believed it, acted on it, and this happened in my life,” there is little anyone can say to refute it (especially if you have the x-rays to prove it!) Being able to recite scripture isn’t a bad thing; being able to apply scripture, however, will change the world.

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A friend of mine e-mailed to gently chide me about a recent post I wrote drawing parallels between the Supreme Court decisions on Kelo and the Ten Commandments and how the Constitution and the Ten Commandments concern themselves with standards of behavior. In that post I had a toss-off line (I buy them three for a dollar) that “in my opinion, those who find the Commandments offensive are offended more by the suggestion that there should be such a standard of behavior (other than their own) than by the mention of God.” I’ll include his entire comment later in this post, but the part of it that was most related to my original essay and the struggle I see is as follows:

We believe that standards of behavior as established by the state should not pander to any one religious order but rather to the collective will of the moralities of all the American religions, which includes no religion. Contrary to fundamentalist belief, even humanists have morality.
: )

Oh my goodness.

Or is it, “Oh, my goodness”?

Yes, everyone has a level of morality, whether it is self-formulated or externally applied: “I won’t do this, even though I might want to, because I think it is wrong,” vs. “I won’t do that, even though I might want to, because I don’t want to get arrested.” And if you’re grading on the curve, there are “good” people everywhere inside and outside of religion. I’m reminded, however, of the account of the rich, young ruler in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke who came to Jesus and asked:

“Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responded to him by saying, “Why do you call me good? There is none good but God. But if you will enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19).

This essentially becomes a worldview issue. To use my friend’s terms (though perhaps not his definitions), a “humanist” sees people as essentially good, a “fundamentalist” sees people as essentially bad, or sinful (there are obviously a lot of shadings within the groups, including those in either camp who wouldn’t necessarily include themselves in their respective groups, but let’s go with these terms for now). You can argue over which side can bring the most compelling evidence in support of its case.

People generally accept there should be a standard of goodness; it comes down to whether this should be a fundamental and timeless standard, or an evolving one complete with exceptions and penumbras. Roping myself to the fundamentalist side, I’d go for the eternal, if unattainable, standard over the one that relies on the shifting currents of human wisdom and fashion. I do so even though I believe that all of us, regardless of philosophy, have what Bonhoeffer calls “the vigilant religious instinct of man for the place where grace is to be obtained at the cheapest price.” It’s my belief that society is better served by acknowledging these “stretch goals,” even if large numbers ignore them, and even if there is a wide gap between what the culture deems “desirable” and what it sees as “acceptable”.

What struck me about the SCOTUS rulings on the Commandments and the Constitution is that both are important documents and were written down so that we could remember them and consult them authoritatively. If the people don’t know what they say then you can make them – commandment or the Constitution – say whatever you want, especially if you are a Supreme Court justice.

Now some will question the reasonableness of believing there is a divine standard in the first place, and the constitutionality of displaying it even if there is. It certainly makes for robust and, sometimes, even civil debate. For me, however, God is not a concept or an ideal. I have felt His tangible presence, seen His miraculous intervention in my life, even heard His voice. (So has Sandy, and you can read her recent account here.) And yet I still have better than an even chance of breaking many of the commandments every day. That, however, will have to wait for another post, as will my thoughts on the rest of what my friend e-mailed to me:

It’s not a matter of whether what’s on the Commandments is a standard or not, it’s rather that they talk specifically to a standard established by a religion–they are, after all, supposedly the word of God, but that’s a very specific, Judeo-Christian God. The laws of the country are established by consensus of the individuals herein (in theory, of course, being representational government and all) and one of the key parts is that said government “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”. Accepting the commandments de facto does just that. Establishing murder as illegal establishes that the society has deemed this behavior immoral, regardless of our varied religions. Laws can and do incorporate the ten commandments, but the 10, as a group, in the wording of the Bible, represent a specific religious segment. That’s why we find it offensive. We believe that standards of behavior as established by the state should not pander to any one religious order but rather to the collective will of the moralities of all the American religions, which includes no religion. Contrary to fundamentalist belief, even humanists have morality. 🙂

There are some good points in there and some things I want to respond to, especially regarding what “establishment” means and how the “collective will of the moralities of all American religions” are expressed, but this post is already long even though I’ve avoided any number of tangents that occurred to me while I was writing this. I hope to return to this topic soon, and I invite your comments as well.

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The Minnesota Fishing Opener is this Sunday, and Mother’s Day was last Sunday, which is a nice change from some recent years when these events have fallen on the same weekend. It has allowed me, however, to see some similarities between being a good fisherman and being a good husband – and I think I may have some pointers to share from my own experience with “the one that didn’t get away” on how to have a trophy wife.

First, let me say that the things I don’t know about fishing would fill a hundred books, judging by what I see in my library and at the outfitting stores. You can add several years worth of In-Fisherman magazines to that total as well, and do I have to mention all those television shows? I’m amazed at what you have to know if you expect to hook anything besides the meaty part of your thumb! Likewise maintaining a happy marriage can appear overwhelming at times. I know I’ve been skunked in both areas at times, but one thing I’ve realized is that experts gain their knowledge by fervently pursuing the sport they love. With that approach, becoming an expert is fun.

That applies to fishing and marriage. I love my wife and I love being married. Therefore in the 17 and a half years we’ve been married I’ve avidly sought out and collected many important bits of information about her in particular and marriage in general that have helped us become each other’s favorite pastime. Here are a few tips that have worked for me:

CATCH AND RELEASE? First off, I’m not a big proponent of catch and release when it comes to marriage. I have found, however, that there is a lot of challenge and a lot of thrills in catching the same fish over and over again! I’ve found that the secret to this is not just to be married, but to be engaged!

THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT: The expert fishermen are always sharing information on what type of bait and what type of tackle to use for different conditions. They can tell you what to use on cloudy days, windy days, sunny days and days when the fish aren’t hungry. They know what’s best for trolling, jigging and casting and the preferred food of every species. I’ve wondered, though, how many of those guys know their wife’s shoe size, or if she’s an autumn, summer, spring or winter in her coloring? Early on I memorized my wife’s sizes, favorite colors and preferred styles of clothing. Today, much of what she wears are things I’ve bought her either shopping on my own or when we’re together. Now, I don’t think a fish was ever caught because it was honored or flattered that someone had spent so much time and effort to learn about it, but it’s sure made an impression on my wife!

LURES: When you think of lures you might think small, shiny objects or furry things work best but the real “power bait” is our words. Men are attracted by what they see (I know I’ve bought certain fishing lures because they looked good to me, never mind the fish) but women are moved by what they hear. Our words build our wives up and make them feel special and make our relationships special. I try to make sure my wife hears how much she means to me, how much I value her opinion – and how much I like the way she looks in those jeans. Certainly relying on my good looks to win my wife would be like me fishing for muskies with 4-pound test line. I’ve got to work those lures, paying attention to the conditions and water temperature. Oh, and I try to stay away from the crankbaits.

STRUCTURE: The experts I read are always talking about “structure” or “knowing the bottom” (but I’m not going there).

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I spent a lot of time in hospitals last week, some of it in an emergency room and some of it in a waiting room with families of other men and women undergoing heart surgery. In the process I gained some new insights that I’m currently working into another post.


While doing this, however, I thought of something I had written for the original, pre-blog “Filings” a few years ago that seemed to gain additional resonance as we waited with others for word on matters of life and death. I offer these questions for now while I finish my more recent thoughts.

I was present at a couple of “good-byes” recently that really made me stop and say, “Hello.” One was a retirement party for a woman who was leaving a job after 27 years, and the other was a visitation for a man who left this earth after 38 years. I attended the two events one right after the other in the same evening. This unusual set of circumstances, and the overwhelming honor and esteem the two unrelated individuals were so obviously held in, helped me to rediscover the value of an old, old lesson.

Have you ever noticed how we judge others by their actions, yet expect others to judge us by our intentions?

The woman who’s retiring is a real sweetheart who always seems to have an encouraging word and a cheerful attitude, and a habit of doing quiet, thoughtful things for others. She’s always been wonderful to me, and of course I’ve thought that this is because I’m such a lovable guy myself. As I looked at the room overflowing with sincere well-wishers, the table piled with gifts, and the company choir that had come to sing for her, I was taken by the realization that she didn’t just treat me as special, she treated everyone as special. And of course it came back to her, in heaps.

By the time I made it to the visitation, there were lines of people extending out of two doors and well into the parking lot of the funeral home. The man who died had recently done a small favor for me, but I was there because he was the brother of a good friend. I had known he was active in the community, but I was unprepared for the large crowd of people of all ages who were there, so many of whom were obviously and profoundly grieved. As I beheld the ever-increasing crowd I, too, began to feel the loss – the loss of not having known this man myself.

The point here is that for these two people, touching others had obviously been a lifestyle and not a special event. Their good intentions were manifested in their lives, and I’ve got to believe that the blessings poured back into their lives over the years have been a result of this, and not the other way around.

This is not to say that the impact of our lives is ultimately measured by the number of people who show up at our retirement parties or funerals. At the same time, however, you don’t get large crowds of people who turn out to say, “You know, he really meant well.”

It’s true that God looks at the heart, but it’s also true that “out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks” (and you act). Has the impact of your life – in your home, your job, your church – lived up to your own intentions? How about God’s?

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You know, we can have a lot of fun taking personality tests on the Web. In recent weeks I’ve found out what great world leader I’m most like (John F. Kennedy), what classic movie I am (“Schindler’s List”) and who I’d be in 1400 (a Lord, see post below). These may not necessarily be things to be proud of, but they’re not as bad as being an expendable wine taster, Josef Stalin or “Dude, Where’s My Car?”

Actually, the movie I most identify with right now is “The Incredibles.” Here’s why: besides being hip, smart and fun for the whole family (like me), the movie has an interesting premise. In it, superheroes are forced by society to go underground and live anonymous lives, hiding their super powers. One family in particular struggles to keep a low profile as well as deal with the more mundane issues of daily family dynamics.

It wasn’t much of a stretch for me to see the allegory between the lives of the superheroes in the movie and the lives of committed Christians in our own world. The superheroes made the rest of the world uncomfortable with their powers and lifestyle and were forced to appear “normal.” In the same way there is a great deal of pressure from the world for Christians to keep their faith and spiritual gifts undercover so as not to make others uncomfortable – even though in both examples these gifts have the power to “save” the world.

What gifts or “supernatural” powers am I talking about?

I don’t want to hash doctrines and parse scripture here, but there are certain motivational or relationship gifts outlined in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 4 that I think most Christians will recognize. Simply, God has gifted believers with certain special abilities to both bolster our local fellowship, influence the world around us for the better and to serve the causes of truth, justice and righteousness. Do you know what your secret identity is? Are you Exhorter Man or Giver Girl? Maybe Super Server? Actually I made up those names, but the attributes are among nine gifts identified in this Spiritual Gifts test.

It will take you about 20 minutes to complete and I assure you the results will have a more profound affect on the way you see yourself and those around you than finding out if you would have been a Knight or a Knave. (I may have one or two doctrinal quibbles with the test itself, but I think it’s basically sound and includes a useful analysis on how to make the most of your gift and what spiritual “kryptonite” you have to be on-guard for. Personally I came out with Exhorter, Giver, Teacher as my three strongest gifts).

A couple of other similarities between “The Incredibles” and real life: even the kid Incredibles had special abilities, and that’s true for us as well. We’ve seen specific gifts at work within our daughters from an early age. Finally, the greatest enemy of both the superheroes in the movie and for Christians today (indeed, of all time) is an imposter who offers counterfeits of the real thing in the hopes of leaving the world at his mercy. If you’re a believer and haven’t had the time or boldness to examine what “super powers” God has given to you, I strongly urge you to use this test as a starting point and then look for ways to develop these gifts in your family, congregation and community.

Remember, as Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

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“Right is still right, even if nobody is doing it. Wrong is still wrong, even if everybody is doing it.”

– St. Augustine.



Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Mike Tice appears to have stepped on his whistle, admitting to having scalped Super Bowl tickets. This is likely to lead to scrutiny from the IRS, a significant fine from the league and possibly the loss of his job and even his pro career. It’s not too unlike what happened to his friend, former high school coach and Viking defensive coordinator George O’Leary who was fired shortly after being hired as head coach at Notre Dame when it was discovered he lied on his resume.



Whether they were aware of it at the time or not, both men jeopardized their dream jobs for what seemed like harmless, short-term gain.



Have you ever struggled to do the right thing on your job or in your business while it seemed like everyone else was getting ahead doing the wrong thing?

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