Who Am I?

I was invited to become a guest blogger for Faith Beyond Belief. I am addressing the argument that one's identity is in their sexual orientation thus making acting on homosexual attraction a justified behaviour. 

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"The question: “Who am I?” is one that is old as dirt. When this question is asked, many people take a trip down a common road of qualifications such as name and vocation. It is true that someone’s name identifies them and their career says something about them, but neither name nor career defines them as people in toto. There was a time when sexual orientation was also not included as a qualifier, as even though it is a part of who someone is, it does not complete them. However, times have changed, and now when someone in Western society says “I am gay,” their homosexuality is not just “a part of who they are”; it is in fact the very essence of who they are." - Con't here

Getting To Know God's Will: Finding your path in life

In an article I wrote, located here, I introduced a factitious character from the 2015, post-apocolyptic zombie game, Dying Light named Toygar. I showed that just as the creators of Dying Light, namely Techland and Warner Brothers designed Toygar to have a specific role in the video game God has designed His creation for one specific goal, namely to Glorify Him. So no matter where you may feel called as a believer in Christ to you are called to the same overarching goal namely to glorify God, (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:23-31).

Finding the specific will of God for ones life can be difficult because it involves every aspect of their life. The Christian wants to know His will for them when it comes to relationships - should they get married or stay single? God's 'Will' invades their education and career; should they go to school to learn medicine or politics? And so on. These types of questions are important as it is one thing to say that its God's will for the Christian to glorify Him by 'whatever they do' (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:31), but it is a totally different question to ask: 'How do I bring glory to Him?'

The first step in being abel to do God's specific will is to know what His will is? As James, the half-brother of Jesus states:

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27

This reiterates the point made in the aforementioned article about bringing glory to God by loving one's proverbial neighbour, but James adds a mandate to keep oneself separated from the unGodly world's morals, values and practices. John, Jesus' disciple encourages his readers to "...not love the world or anything in the world. ... —the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—..." - 1 John 2:15-16. So one way the Christian can bring glory to God is to stay on the right side of the line; in sum hold to Godly interpretations of abstracts concepts such as 'love'. Moreover, do not participate in practices that the world sees no issue with but God does; and also speak out against those practices. In other words irregardless of job-choice or choice of ministry, God has called the Christian to holiness, (cf. Lev. 11:44-45, 1 Peter 1:16).

How can one ascertain that something is Godly verses unGodly? Jesus promises to abide in us if we abide in Him; conversely he also promises that those who do not stay connected with him, will suffer eternally, (cf. John 15:1-17). The way we can learn what is Godly verses unGodly is to stay daily connected with him in prayer and in quite devotional times. However one also has to be attentive to what 'the world' believes so to be able to make the contrast, as there are several values that both 'the world' and Christianity share at the superficial level, such as to love one another. (cf. 1 John 3:11); but in the thick of it, Christianity's version of showing love to one's neighbour and the world's version of loving one's neighbour do not always see eye to eye. Representing God's views on various things bring's glory to God; it is God's 'Will' that we represent Him.

Another way the Christian can bring glory to God is to sit back and enjoy Him, through what he has made (cf. Psalms 46:10, John 1:3). God wants the Christian to not just stand up for him, but also relax in him, (cf. Psalms 23:1). Relaxing in the comfort of God brings God the glory of being a God of refuge, (cf. Psalms 46:1).

However how can the Christian know what they are called by God to do for their short time on this earth? All Christians irregardless of a specific calling are to abide in Him, rest in him, stand up for his morals and values, but not all people are called to be teachers, or go abroad as missionaries, or to work in the government, or preach from the pulpit, and so forth. How does the Christian ascertain God's will for them in terms of a life-calling? This is the billion dollar question. I ended the aforementioned article with this ascertain that Christians can make choices for their lives "...(move here, do this, do that, etc.) just as long as whatever choices they make are God-focused and ones that can bring Glory to God." We are called to glorify God in whatever we do, but can we do anything to glorify God? No. I for example, cannot look at internet pornography 'for the glory of God', because the nature of pornography is non-glorifying to God. So the Christian's choices are limited to those that can actually bring glory to God. There are two types of choices that one can make that can bring glory to God: one type of choice is Biblical and the other choice is neutrally-Biblical. The former is a moral choice that is founded upon Biblical values, while the latter is a choice that is neither for or against Biblical values and may also neither be a moral choice. One question the Christian should ask themselves is if the choice they are making falls into one of three categories: 1) Biblical, 2) neutrally-Biblical or 3) counter-Biblical (sinful choices.) If a Christian's decision falls into the third camp, it is undeniably and exclusively their will and counter to God's 'Will'; and therefore it can never glorify Him. If however the choice is in the second camp then the Christian should recognize it as permissible but ask if it is beneficial for themselves and or others. If this permissible choice is not going to be beneficial or constructive then it may be best to choose not to embrace this choice; and then of course if the Christian's choice falls into the first category then it should be a no-brainer that it is something that will bring glory to God as it is a Biblical choice.

Moreover, it is a fallacy to suggest that one's calling will be counter to their personal skills or design. I am not saying that God won't call someone to do something that will take them out of their comfort-zone and cause them to stretch as people, but it is a simple fact of life that there are people for example who are very impatient with young children but have a head-for-numbers; these people can spend hours going over a church's financial records and being in-tune to every dollar that is spent, but throw their hands up in frustration when a child is being incommunicative or taking a tantrum. God may be calling this person to be their church's treasurer and to work in a bank instead of being an AWANA leader and a kindergarten teacher. For that person to choose to take an economics course and strive to be a banker and or serve on the church's board of directors as the treasure is never going to be sinful or unGodly choice. For a concluding point of consideration one should also look at where their heart bleeds for. Nehemiah's heart was broken when he got word about the state of the Jerusalem wall (cf. Nehemiah 1). This inspired him to instigate a renovation project to fix it up. In parallel if one's heart bleeds to see Children come to faith in Jesus, then that person is probably called to children's ministry. Who does your heart break for?

Why Do I Exist?: Asking the oldest question, 'What God's 'Will'?

I'd like to introduce you to Toygar. Toygar is a factious character in the latest post apocalyptic zombie video game, Dying Light. Toygar is one of the animated side-characters who you can approach as the main and only playable character in the game Kyle Crane to get some of the side missions. This game of course has many side-characters, and like Toygar every character was designed by their creators, Warner Brothers and Techland to be stationed in one or two or three places in the factitious city of Harran. As such Toygar is pretty easy to find because he is always in the one place, that he was designed to be in: the main hideout called, The Tower. One popular place you can find him in The Tower is standing by a pin-board where other characters have posted requests which are several of the side-missions in the game. Essentially for most of the game Warner Brothers and Techland designed Toygar to stand by the pin-board and encourage me to help the other characters; in sum do the side-missions.

The way video-game developers like Techland design their games is very similar in intent to how God designed this universe and everything that resides within, (cf. Exodus 20:11). They design their characters to perform a single function or several specific functions. God has designed this universe and each life of every person, Christian and non-Christian alike for a very general purpose. One of the biggest endeavours and struggles that have burdened Christians throughout the centuries is finding that purpose for them as Christians and as people. "What is God's will for my life?" or simply, "What is God's 'Will'?" is the question that many Christians ask. This is a hard question to answer for many reasons, of which one is simply due to it being such a vast topic because it covers virtually every area in ones life: relationships, vocation, eduction, place of residence, Christian ministerial calling and so forth.

"What do I want to be when I grow up?" is a question that we all have wondered about throughout our childhood. From a Christian's viewpoint however the question could read like this: "Where do I feel called to?" We ask: "Does God want me to be a missionary? Or should I pull 9-5 desk job?" This question invades our relationships:"Is it God's will for my life, to be married or stay single?" It invades our para-ministerial goals: "Does God want me to get involved in children's ministry, homeless-ministry, prison-ministry or sing in the choir? It even causes many Christians to wonder about God's will for where on this earth they will live, work, eat and sleep: "Does God want me to move to this city or that country or stay where I am now?" These questions are a real burden for many Christians because the true Christian will truly want to ensure that they are fulfilling the will of God and not running off doing their own thing. Conversely however they are also human beings with desires, passions and personal ambitions. It should be a given that all Christians will gladly sacrifice sinful desires for the devotion to God and His Will; but what about those permissible desires? One burdening fear that many Christian's have is that their perfectly acceptable and non-sinful desires won't fit into God's 'Will' for their life. For example, what if I want to move to China but God wants me to stay in Canada? What if I long to get married, but it is God's will for me to stay single? What if my heart bleeds for children but I have this feeling God wants me to work in an adult's prison-ministry? And so on.

Before anyone can tackle such questions one has to ask the general question of God's will: "What is God's will - period?" This doesn't ask the question, "what is God's will for me? that is Ian Murray." But rather: "What is God's 'Will'?" Once the answer to this question comes to light personalizing God's 'Will' should become much easier to do.

There is an overarching theme in God's 'Will' for his creation. It is to glorify Him. Techland and Warner Brothers, designed Toygar for one meaning in life: to stay by the pin-board encouraging the player to help other characters in the game. And in the same way we exist to do one thing: glorify God.* The Apostle Paul highlights that the Christian has freedom in Christ. That is the Christian is not bound by the Mosaic Law. To the Christians in Corinth he explains the relationship between their freedom to do things and the rationality to do those things and the focus by which they should have so to make Godly decisions.

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. - 1 Corinthians 10:23

He indicates that even though they have freedom to do many things, many of those things may not be beneficial for themselves or be a benefit to others. He then asserts that "[no] one should seek their own good, but the good of others." - 1 Corinthians 10:24. What did Jesus say, was the first and second greatest commandments? To love God and to love one's neighbour (cf. Matthew 22:37-39). Paul's focus is to have them be God centred and represent God by showing His love to their proverbial neighbours. So even though one has the freedom to do many things, one's Christian mandate may functionally take that freedom away. Paul uses the analogy that even though all foods are no longer contraband for the Jew, the Jewish-Christian should not eat any food sacrificed to false gods, solely base on how doing so may offend unbelievers (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:27-30). The spirit of this lesson is, if doing something is going to have a negative effect on an immature believer or an unbeliever (or even cause distress to mature and immature believers [cf. Romans 14:15]) then it is right to think of them first and sacrifice your freedom in Christ to do the "offensive" thing. Paul summarizes his point with:

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. - 1 Corinthians 10:31

There is a necessary connection between loving one's neighbour and bringing glory to God. Paul is saying that, in everything we do, we aught to honour the two greatest commandments that is to love God first and do so by loving one's neighbour (cf. Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37-39). And we aught to do this not for our neighbour's sake, but for the sake of bringing glory to God. So every action the Christian takes, every word the Christian speaks, every thought the Christian thinks - every ounce of the Christian's being is mandated to glorify God; the Christian exists to glorify God.* This greatly frees-up the Christian to make choices in their lives (move here, do this, do that, etc.) just as long as whatever choices they make are God-focused and ones that can bring Glory to God.

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* The mandate of this creation being designed to bring Glory to God is one reason that sin has separated his creation from him. Sin entered the scene (cf. Romans 5:12) disabling his creation from glorifying Him (cf. Romans 1:21). Since this universe and all that dwells within has been corrupted it no longer can glorify God (cf. Romans 8:6-7, 22). So God has solved this problem with sending Jesus to pay the consequences for sin, (cf. Romans 5:8). As such there will come a time when God will officially fix his creation en-toto (cf. 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 21:1-4) to the way it was supposed to be (cf. Genesis 1:31) thus restoring its original purpose, to glorifying God.