Posted on by Christina Adams

Finding Shark’s Teeth

Two years ago I went to the beach determined that I was going to find a shark’s tooth. I had been to the beach many times before and found cool shells, but never had I found a shark’s tooth. So, the next few days I walked up and down the beach looking for a shark’s tooth. But I didn’t find one.

A whole bunch of thoughts filled my head. Maybe this beach didn’t have shark’s teeth. Just looking at the volume of sand that covered the beach to be searched was overwhelming. What if I would never find one because I was walking on the wrong side or at the wrong angle to see the sun glint off of it? What if I was walking right next to shark’s teeth, but they were six inches under me? How would I ever know?

Then last year I went to the beach again. I still wanted to find that shark’s tooth. But I was at the same beach. The same shell crushed beach that had nothing to find. I kept my eyes to the ground anyway. My brother was also there looking for shark’s teeth and we started to talk about it.

My brother, who has found shark’s teeth before, told me all sorts of things that I needed to know about them. Shark’s teeth are not white, but black. I did not know that. They also tend to be only as big as the shells you find them with. Small shells equal tiny shark’s teeth. I had not been looking for slivers of black. Also, you can see the gum line at the base, so not every pointy black triangle would be a tooth. And they are very shiny.

Armed with this new information I began looking again.

Then, my brother found a shark’s tooth. A real tiny one, but a tooth nonetheless. I tried to burn the image into my brain so I could find one of my own. Especially since I had just walked past it and didn’t even see it.

But now I knew something more. This beach did have shark’s teeth on it. In other words, it was possible to find them at this beach. When I thought that maybe this beach didn’t have them, it was easier to give up.

It reminded me of a computer game of solitaire I used to play. I could not beat the game at the harder levels at all. I would try for hours and then give up. I felt completely defeated. But then it occurred to me that the computer game was designed by a human and not a random shuffle of cards. I’d played physical solitaire games before where the cards were dealt in an order that was impossible to win, but a computer game that is given a rating of hard implies that it is possible to win, only it is hard to do. When we think anything is impossible, we feel justified in giving up, but if we don’t think the game is rigged, then we end up finding a way to beat it.

The question is, do we live in a world where the game of life is rigged against us? If we think it is, we will accept our own failure as the only option we have and we will think we’re right. While other people try the same things we do and succeed, we will categorize them as special, as the ones who can do the impossible or lucky as the ones who the world is not gunning against.

However, our world is not rigged against us. At least not in the way we think. We are not doomed to walk on a toothless beach hoping to find something that does not exist. We live in a world that God has created. He created it so that we could know Him and learn to love Him and those around us. It is true that in one sense the world is rigged because sin never leads to a fulfilled outcome, we are never able to create our own realities, and we will always long for God deep inside. But that is because we live in God’s world. He gives us the freedom to choose good things or bad things. Good things lead to peace, fulfillment, and joy. Bad things lead to frustration, disappointment, and guilt. But life is not rigged. We can choose the former or the latter along with the consequences of those choices. The question is always what are we going to do about it. Are we going to live as if we will never succeed? Or are we going to recognize that this world is our loving Father’s and that He will give us all good things in the right time?

As for me, I still haven’t found a shark’s tooth, but now I know what I am looking for and I know the things I need to do to find one. My first find will happen because I will keep trying. But, for now, I am just enjoying the process of growth needed to become the kind of person who can find shark’s teeth on my own even if the beach is not littered with them. Knowing that I can with determination and work is better than believing I can’t no matter how hard I try.

What about you? Have you ever felt like the world was rigged against you? Were you able to get out of that mindset? Let me know!

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Posted on by Christina Adams

Does God Care About Theological Differences?

Predestination is the only biblical explanation.
No, free will exists throughout the Bible.

You should baptize your infant.
Not at all. Unless you can state what you believe, you haven’t been baptized.

God exists with and experiences time with us.
That is a false view of God who is clearly outside of time.

God is holy, just, and full of wrath.
That makes God too mean, rather God is love.

Inside the church there are many differences of interpretation and opinion on theological positions. Some of these differences are bigger than others and some are more heated than others. But do the positions actually matter?

There are some people who throw their hands up in the air despairing of ever knowing the truth because both sides will use the Bible to prove their points. It can be easy to just want to say, “Both sides just need to get along” or “It doesn’t really matter” or “The Bible says not to get involved in meaningless debates.” Yet is it meaningless?

First, it is important to know what is going on behind these theological debates. What is often being argued behind the scenes is a way of understanding God and thus the world and reality we live in. This is ultimately an important debate because our ideas of God and reality affect how we live and interact with each other. Our ideas of who we think God is ultimately determine the highest goal we are aiming for ourselves. If we think God cares most about His power, then we will see a pursuit of power and position as a way of reflecting God. If we think God cares most about His humility, then we will see menial tasks as a way of reflecting God with nothing being to dirty or unimportant for us to do. In this way these debates are in fact very important. Not just for the people involved, but more importantly for the person who is just beginning to be exposed to them and who may soon pick a side that will change his character for the better or worse.  

Second, it is also important to note that many of these debates are over contradictory ideas or views. Meaning that it is not possible for both to be right and for us to live in a rational world. If I have been predestined from before time began to say yes to God’s salvation on a specific day, then when that day to say yes comes, it cannot be a choice where I have the option of saying no if it is truly fixed. That would be a contradiction. This is not necessarily true for all theological debates, for instance the baptism debate is more of a traditional/historical debate that will not affect real world implications as much as a view on whether God’s primary motivation toward humanity is one of love or of hatred for sin. So, in this since, if we live in a world where certain laws and traits have been fixed, then we also live in a world where contradictory positions cannot both be right. I cannot both sit and stand at the same time. I cannot be both free to choose between two options and limited to only picking one option. God cannot be atemporal and completely viewing the world from outside of time so that He is always viewing all times at once and so intimately engaged with this moment that He is emotionally affected or surprised by it.

Third, now this does not mean that in arguments over free will/predestination, time, or God’s character, etc., that the two sides presented are the only options we have or that could ever exist. Just because two sides are arguing does not mean that one side has to be right. It is entirely plausible that both sides are wrong or have some areas where both are right and others where both are wrong. Nor does it mean that there could not be a way to remove the contradiction for certain arguments like God could be both angry and loving since anger itself is a means of wanting to protect from harm and love also wants to protect from harm. So, He could be loving sinners by wanting what is best for their souls and angry over the way they hurt each other which leads Him to stop them. But if there really is a contradiction, only one side or neither can be an accurate reflection of reality.

But does God care about theological differences? The answer would be both yes and no. It can depend on the debate, but no theological ideas themselves are not an obstacle to a relationship with God. In general God is a generous and gracious God who wants all to have life with Him. Historically too, it is important to remember, that God was saving souls that believed the earth was flat for thousands of years and it’s possible He is still accepting people who believe, despite strong evidence, that the earth is flat. God will accept people who believe they had absolutely nothing to do with their salvation and people who believe that they of their own will decided to follow Jesus. God will save all He wants to save despite what they might say they believe or despite what issues they live out, because that is the kind of God He is.

However, while God cares more about you and I and how much we love Him and each other, He does also care about ideas because our ideas are directly connected to how we live. Not all ideas are equal. Some ideas bring life abundantly with wholeness and joy as a byproduct, some ideas are harmless with only minor effects or inconveniences on a human life, but other ideas when lived out can destroy lives and cause intense suffering to them and everyone around them. Such wrong ideas whether they are popular or well-argued will always have opposition to them for the simple reason that God knows those ideas cause pain and suffering and He resists them.

Still, we can have most of our ideas be wrong, yet if we have a relationship with God and He has one with us, then we will one day wake up to discover reality as God sees it. We will all rejoice at our acceptance of good ideas, shrug at our mediocre ideas, and cringe at our wrong ideas. All of our wrong ideas will fail, and we will have to adjust what we think is right to what really is right. It is in that reality that our lives will continue forever.

Until then, it is important to hold on to ideas loosely for one day we may have to give them up. But the ideas that matter most, are the ideas we have about God and reality. While we should always treat each other with love and present our case with gentleness and respect, love is not silent. Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is to present another side to the wrong ideas others are touting so that those who haven’t decided yet can hear another option.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.