Tag: Faith

Fight The Good Fight

While contemplating my situation the other day, the hymn “Fight the good fight” came to mind. As someone who is completely unable to sing, I don’t often think of hymns, but this one seems to me very apt, both from a faith and a health point of view.

Whether you agree with the Christian emphasis or not, the advice is just excellent. We are encouraged to live this life without fear and with determination to do our best. These are the words:

1 Fight the good fight with all your might,
Christ is your strength and Christ your right.
Lay hold on life, and it shall be
your joy and crown eternally.

2 Run the straight race through God’s good grace;
lift up your eyes, and seek his face.
Life with its way before us lies;
Christ is the path and Christ the prize.

3 Cast care aside, lean on your guide;
his boundless mercy will provide.
Lean, and the trusting soul shall prove
Christ is its life and Christ its love.

4 Faint not, nor fear, his arms are near;
he changes not, and you are dear.
Only believe, and you will see
that Christ is Lord eternally.

Naturally I would like everyone to enjoy the benefits of faith, but either way there is a load of good advice contained within the Bible and within Christian songs and literature. Some of it, like this hymn, is very stirring. Other things are very calming, like Jesus’s encouragement “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 11v.28-30). There are certainly times when our cancer makes us feel “weary and burdened” and at those times I am really thankful for my faith because I never feel anxious or depressed. I praise God that He makes this joy so freely available.

Philippians

I was recently reminded of Paul’s letter to the Christians at Philippi (aka the book Philippians in the Bible). Paul wrote this while imprisoned in Rome, yet it is full of love, joy, gratitude and hope.

One part that resonated with me was “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4v.6). He goes on to say that he has learned to be content whatever his situation. This is such perfect advice – especially for those of us with cancer or in some other life-changing situation.

Certainly faith gives me real calmness over my condition. Only God knows what the outcome will be, and I am happy to accept my fate, whatever it might be. In the meantime, I do everything I can in terms of diet, exercise and lifestyle to be as healthy as I can be and to feel as well as I can. Whereas some people are anxious about what the results of their scans will be, I simply see them as indicators of how things are going and whether I need to try something else. Accepting one’s fate certainly doesn’t mean being resigned to it and giving up. I am reminded of the hymn “Fight the good fight” and I think I shall do a blog post on that. It is very apt and very stirring.

I wish this peace of mind on everyone. What is so wonderful is that it is freely available through faith in Jesus Christ. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7v.7-8). Throughout this cancer episode I have come to believe that mental and spiritual health are more important than physical health. I would like all three of course, but am really grateful for what I do have.

Why I Am Not A Christian – 1

In my addendum to my blog post “Is There A God?” I set myself up for the challenge of responding to two works titled “Why I Am Not A Christian” by philosophers Bertrand Russell and Richard Carrier. I have now acquired both as audio books from Audible, but have only listened to Richard Carrier’s so far. These are my comments on his work. I shall respond to Bertrand Russell later. Bear in mind that these are books and my comments are limited to a blog post, so I can only address the main points.

The full title of Carrier’s book is “Why I An Not A Christian: Four Conclusive Reasons To Reject The Faith“. Obviously not conclusive in that they didn’t shake my faith, though it is reasonably well argued, but in the case of the audio version, not very nicely read by Carrier himself.

His four “conclusive” reasons are:

  • God’s silence,
  • God’s inaction,
  • The lack of evidence, and
  • The way the universe looks exactly like a godless universe would, and not at all like a Christian universe would, even down to its very structure.

Basic problems are that he is arguing from the wrong premise and so, in my opinion, reaching the wrong conclusion. As any scientist and philosopher will tell you, if you start with the wrong assumptions, you will reach the wrong conclusions. Carrier frequently uses the phrase “Christian God” but I shall call him God for the sake of brevity.

God’s Silence

His first mistake is to base his argument on the description of God by C.S.Lewis in his book Basic Christianity. He really ought to go back to the source, the Holy Bible. To argue that God is not like a man’s description is meaningless.

His second mistake is thinking that God should act the way he thinks God should act if he matches C.S.Lewis’ description. So that is adding his thoughts and interpretations on top of C.S.Lewis’ thoughts and interpretations.

His basic argument is that God does not exist because he does not clearly tell everyone in no uncertain terms what they need to do for their salvation, and leaving it up to them whether they take notice or ignore it. Instead he says that we are bombarded with a plethora of confused and contradictory messages from mere humans rather than the truth directly from God unambiguously so that everyone could agree what the message was.

That kind of ignores that God has already spoken to us unambiguously and in no uncertain terms in the Holy Bible. Namely “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”; and, “Love your neighbour as yourself”. As Jesus said “Do this and you will live”. (Luke 10 v.27-8)

Carrier makes the point that chemists agree on the fundamental facts of chemistry, doctors agree on the fundamental facts of medicine and engineers agree on the fundamental facts of engineering, but mistakenly says that people are confused about the facts of salvation. But there they are in black and white for all to read. What more does he want?

Carrier makes the point that believers of all religions claim to be hearing the word of God and that they are hearing different messages. So he concludes that if God is telling people different things, then he really isn’t telling them anything and the reality is that there is no God and they are just hearing their “inner voice”. That is a difficult statement for me to refute because, as a Christian, I do not know what people of other religions are hearing, if anything. I have read most of the Qur’an and it left me unmoved and I have also read “I Dared To Call Him Father” by Bilquis Sheik, a Pakistani Muslim woman who converted to Christianity, against all the odds. That book left me in no doubt that God talked to her through his Holy Spirit. I don’t say that Christianity is the only way to salvation and that everyone who is not a Christian will die, because that is not what the Bible says. Refer to what Jesus said above.

Digression

A lot of Carrier’s argument is based on what he thinks God could or should do, or what he would do if he had God’s power.

For example, he says that God does not behave as a father should in not giving his children guidance as soon as they go astray. But they have that guidance any time they want in the Holy Bible, which also assures them of God’s love. Just as a parent cannot speak to their child if that child completely rejects them and moves away, so God says little or nothing to those who reject him. But, like a parent, he is always there if the child comes back. See the Parable of the Lost Son as an example (Luke 15 v.11-32)

Another thing is that we cannot fully know God’s mind. We only get glimpses. However, there is reason to believe that he is taking a relatively “hands-off” approach to his creation. As an example see The Parable of the Tenants, Matthew 21 v. 33-41. Very briefly a landowner (God) creates a vineyard and lets it out to tenants (us) to manage while he goes off elsewhere. He sends them his servants (prophets) whom they beat or kill, and he finally sends his son (Jesus) and they kill him too. The implications then are that there will be a day of reckoning.

That is not to say that God has deserted those that love him, but only to say that he does not intervene in every single thing that is wrong with the world. And everything that is wrong is man-made and the price of having free-will. We have guides as to how to use that free-will, but we have abused it. And we are paying the price. I don’t want to get into the realm of politics, but would say that there seems to be an increasing expectation, world-wide, that governments will pick up the pieces of people’s mistakes. Carrier expects God to do the same. Whereas Christianity is about our personal responsibility towards God and towards our neighbour.

Digression over, back to Carrier:

God’s Inaction

So Carrier’s expectation is that God would cure all the world’s ills. He would eliminate all disease, would eliminate all weapons, would eliminate poverty, would provide enough for everybody. He sees that as what any “good” God would do, and so he takes the fact God doesn’t as evidence that God does not exist.

It is a good point of course, but an equally good point is that if we all turned to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then all these things would be done. By us. The choice is ours. Who are we to say that God is not good or does not exist because he does not save us from the consequences of our actions? He has given us the solution. What more does Carrier want? Spoon-feeding?

The Lack Of Evidence

Carrier says that there is a lack of evidence that God exists. Christians believe that there is evidence, but much of it is personal experience. Things in our own lives and the lives of others convince us that God indeed is, but we are well aware that does not meet the standards of scientific proof.

But then Carrier’s arguments for the non-existence of God do not meet the standards of scientific proof either. His conclusions (and his book contains many of them) that God does not exist are defective.

Carrier also makes the point that there is no evidence that faith in Jesus leads to eternal life. There isn’t, but so what? Christianity is so good for us and for the world in this life, that the next life is not really an issue. Christianity is so full of joy and freedom, and comfort when we need it, that eternal life is not really a a factor in our Christianity. It is a lovely promise, but definitely not something we need to prove.

Jesus kind of makes it clear that we are not going to get any proof. He is repeatedly asked for a sign from Heaven and he repeatedly refuses. When Thomas was told of Jesus’ resurrection, he doubted its truth, saying he needed to see for himself. Later when Jesus appeared to Thomas, he said to him: ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe’. Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’. Then Jesus replied, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’ (John 20 v.27-9)

Wrong Universe

Carrier claims that the universe is exactly like a godless universe would look and not at all like a Christian universe would look. He makes the good point that with so many suns and planets in the universe, there is bound to be one conducive to life and that life will evolve as we know it can. But so what?

This again is Carrier playing God and saying that if there were a God, he would do it differently. It is really a rubbish argument to say that God would do it differently, therefore he doesn’t exist.

Conclusion

Carrier’s conclusion is quite interesting.

He repeats his four reasons as proving “conclusively” that Christianity is false and that there is no God. He claims that Christianity makes numerous failed predictions, which is not true. Christians may make predictions that are wrong, but that does not mean that Christianity makes failed predictions. The other failed predictions he refers to are what he thinks Christianity predicts, e.g. a different universe, so not surprising they are failed predictions. There is not much value in making things up so that you can trash them.

Interesting though that he continues with the question “So what do we believe?”, which he answers in another of his books “Sense And Goodness Without God”. I certainly will not buy it, but will read it if the opportunity arises. He summarises that book as since this world isn’t the way we want it to be, we have to make it the way we want it to be. Scary! He goes on to say good things like we need to create justice, care for each other, we have to find and give and receive love for each other etc.

But who says we have to do that? It is just his opinion of what a nice world would be. Hitler had another view of what a nice world would be. Who is right – Hitler or Carrier? It is purely subjective. You could argue that in Hitler’s world, there wouldn’t be a problem with over-population and there wouldn’t be any racial strife. Certainly Carrier’s view is closer to the Christian view, but if Christianity is false, as he would have us believe, what evidence is there that this is the right view?

And how is Carrier going to bring about this world that he says we “have to” try to bring about? Politics? I think there is enough failed politics around the world, including in Carrier’s home country, to know that that won’t work. World Government? That’s an even scarier idea with all the problems of the European Union on a larger scale.

I’ve got a better idea! Let’s do what we can to promote real Christianity, where people take personal responsibility for being and doing better. And where we have an objective standard of good and bad.

Here’s another idea for Carrier to make the world better. Stop going on about Christians and just leave us to our faith. He is not going to convert us and we are not going to convert him, so there really is not much point.

Belief, Faith And Religion

Belief, faith and religion are interconnected but distinctly different. I thought it worth putting my thoughts down because many people, especially atheists, confuse faith and religion, and to some extent belief. They tend to point to the failures of “religion” and “religious people” as proof that God doesn’t exist. That is clearly nonsense and defies all logic..

Belief and Faith

Belief and faith in God are often seen as the same thing. The reason that I have separated them is my own experience. Before I became a Christian and had faith in God, I believed that God actually existed, but that belief did not in any way affect my life. I didn’t feel a need to do anything about that belief. It was only later that the Holy Spirit led me to faith. Then my life, thoughts and emotions were changed. The difference is the feeling of love and trust. These emotions, for me, changed a belief in God’s existence to a faith that he loved me as his creation and that I could commune with him and ask his guidance and try to understand what he would have me do.

Religion

Religion is based on a core faith and belief. It is basically humankind’s way of expressing that faith and putting it into action. Then, over time, religion develops further beliefs and practices around that core faith. Most of these beliefs, or doctrine, arise from study and interpretation of the scriptures, from inspiration from God and some unfortunately, in my perception, arise from worldly consideration. Inevitably there is discussion about these further beliefs and practices and whether they are fully in accord with the faith. And then inevitably there are disagreements and one group splits off, still holding the core faith but wanting to do things a bit differently. That is why we have a number of Christian denominations, all with the same faith in God and Jesus Christ, but wanting to worship differently or having a particular belief on whether something is or is not in accord with the scriptures. This is both a weakness and a strength.

It is certainly a weakness when members of a particular denomination declare that theirs is the one true faith and the others are apostate. That shows a complete misunderstanding of the fact that we are all one in Christ and all have our different parts to play. The New Testament of the Bible has a number of references to “the body of Christ”, of which all the faithful are part, and that we are all different parts of that same body but with our own particular functions.

A strength of different denominations is that the faithful can find a “home” where they are spiritually comfortable. This may be because they are happier worshipping in a particular way, or because their interpretation of the scriptures is particularly in accord with one particular denomination. That is fine as long as we remember that we are all one and all equal.

I attend an Anglican church and am very comfortable there. That doesn’t mean that I accept everything that the Church of England leadership says and does. In fact I think that some of what they say and do is wrong. But most of that doesn’t affect the life and love so evident in our particular church. Unfortunately some political pronouncements on matters where there is no absolute right or wrong, and on which people hold strong and divergent views, can turn people off the Church of England and, by extension, Christianity as a whole. A lot of politics is a matter of choosing the least bad option and there will always be disagreement as to what that is.

Religious Wrongdoing

Another problem with religion is that some of its adherents do things that are egregiously wrong by any standards. Whether the acts are individual or collective, atheists love to trot out examples to “prove” that the religion and therefore the faith are false. Even worse are the individual cases where those in authority have tried to sweep it under the carpet. Unfortunately, any attempt to explain is seen as an excuse.

Christians certainly accept that humankind is imperfect and that we are individually imperfect. Which is one of the reasons that we are so grateful for our faith. The Bible gives us many examples of wrongdoing (sin) and redemption. “Sin” of course is an emotive and pejorative word that is seen as judgmental, but in reality is just a conveniently short word to use for anything that would be displeasing to God. None of us is free from it. As Jesus said when the adulterer was sentenced to death by stoning (John Ch.8), “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone”. Nobody did because nobody was. Jesus said to the woman “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more”. What wonderful compassion! One of the many reasons why our faith makes us so happy.

But why these terrible acts? Evil spirits? The devil? At one time I would have laughed at the idea that they existed, but now I am inclined to believe they do. If you wanted to destroy the Church, how would you go about it? Making it illegal has only ever driven it underground. Logical argument against it doesn’t work. Scientific argument doesn’t work. The brilliant physicist Stephen Hawking had to rely on a giant non sequitur to “prove” that God doesn’t exist. No, the only way that would succeed, but for God, would be to try to destroy it from inside. To exploit the weakness of its members, to have them speak or act in such a way as to cause revulsion or indifference towards the Church. I really do believe that is what is happening today. On the one hand attacking the Church from within, on the other hand enticing people away with material things so that they have neither the time nor inclination to think about the spiritual.

I really believe that the tide will turn when it becomes more evident to more people that the current way of the world is just not working for them.

Judgmental?

Christians are often accused of being judgmental, which unfortunately some are in spite of the direction “judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew Ch.7). But it is more often a case of Christians being judged. Just do an Internet search on what people think of Christians. It is quite eye-opening, fortunately not all negative, though much is. Every one of our misdeeds is used against our faith. I found a really good article about this online (See it HERE). I was actually searching to see if there was anything about what Christians think of non-Christians, but only found what people think Christians think, as well as their thoughts on Christians.

Command and Control?

On top of this, we see the archaic view that religion is about “command and control” – keeping the peasants under the thumb of the elite. Not realising that that is actually one of the evils of the modern secular world and almost completely absent in Christianity.

The world is becoming more and more polarised with power in the hands of the “elites” whether that elitism is through the power of money, government, industry or whatever. More or less the people who turn up to the World Economic Forum in Davos every year. We have even got to the point of thinking of self-serving misanthropists as philanthropists because they tell us that is what they are. If only more people could see that Christianity is about freedom and not command and control! We try to do what is pleasing to God because of our love for Him and His love for us, not because we are commanded to. Yes, we fall short. But we get up and keep on going because we know it is right for us and for the world. I’ve mentioned before The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan because it is such a beautiful allegory of the Christian journey. A tale of learning, of success and failure, of fear and joy, of trials and tribulations, and of following the wrong path and then getting back on track.

Summary

Faith is immutable and comes from God and is true. Religion is humankind’s attempt to define and follow that faith, and as such is subject to human frailty and weakness. The failure of people is not the failure of God and has no bearing on God’s existence.

Separate Faith and Cancer?

It was suggested to me that perhaps I should separate this blog into two blogs – one for Faith and one for Cancer. Here is some of my rationale for keeping things the way they are:

Healing

Every holistic healer and many in the medical profession will say that the mind is an essential part of healing. In fact there is evidence that mental trauma can make you sick in the first place. It is generally recognised that mental well-being is essential to physical well-being.

There is no doubt in my mind that my Christian faith contributes massively to my mental well-being. Two very powerful contributors that faith provides are Gratitude and Forgiveness.

Gratitude is so healthy because it is so positive. We are grateful for what we have and not anxious or envious of the things we don’t have. Christians are indeed extremely grateful for the redemption offered by Jesus Christ. Gratitude goes beyond that, for the beauty of God’s creation, for shelter, for warmth, for food, for other people. As I write this, I am additionally grateful for the warmth of the sun on this slightly chilly autumn day and for the beauty of the flowers outside the window. As I prepare to go to bed at night, I thank the Lord for all the blessings of the day.

Forgiveness is absolutely essential. If we do not forgive, we can become bitter, resentful and angry. All very negative emotions that damage our health. I remember a few years ago I was angry with the police for falsifying their testimony to make it appear that I had committed an offence that I didn’t commit. It made my blood boil, I lost sleep over it, it affected my whole life. I didn’t know it at the time, but I already had kidney cancer and I do not doubt that my mental state made it worse. Then I became a Christian and learned to forgive and put it behind me. Not forgiving hurts us and not those we don’t forgive.

We are forgiven by God through faith in Jesus Christ, so who are we not to forgive others? Like many others, I have difficulty forgiving myself for. things I have done that hurt others. But that is something we have to learn too – make amends where we can and ask forgiveness where we can, and then put it behind us. God doesn’t forgive us for us to feel guilty, but to feel free.

Mental Outlook

Gratitude and Forgiveness are two essential ingredients of mental well-being. But faith gives us more than that. I was diagnosed with a tumour in my brain stem. A devastating diagnosis, except I wasn’t devastated. I put that down to my faith which the Lord had given me just a few months before. What my faith gave me was acceptance. Not acceptance that this was fate and let it take its course, but acceptance that I had to do what I could to get well. And if I didn’t get well, so be it. That was over 2 1/2 years ago, since when there have been a few ups and downs with beneficial treatments and medication side effects. And a lot of learning too about cancer and the causes of cancer and about alternative healing, both the scientifically sound and the scientifically unsound.

All the while, my faith has given me a positive outlook. Of course, I am not absolutely joyful when suffering medication side effects, but extremely grateful for all the times when I feel better and have energy. Not only do I pray for healing, but also that the rest of my life will be useful. When I first prayed for healing, the answer I got was “Why?”. That is a very good question and if we are sick, we need to know the answer. That question did rather change my outlook.

Body, Mind and Spirit

Our body, mind and spirit are inextricably linked. Our bodies will not be healthy unless our minds and spirits are too. And that is why I have linked my cancer and my faith together in this blog. Although old in years, I am young in faith and continually learning, and some of that is reflected in this blog. All blog entries are categorised by Cancer or by Faith, so you can just choose to read one or the other. This post falls into both categories, and I hope helps the reader recognise the importance of making the whole person healthy,

Cancer and Faith

To try to make this website useful, I looked for the sort of things that people search for on the internet. One thing that a number of people ask is something like “Why does God allow cancer”. I am by no means a theologian, so this is just my take on the subject as someone who has both faith and cancer.

Free Will

First off, I believe that God gives us Free Will, which means that we are free to go off and do what we want, which is not necessarily what God wants for us and which is not necessarily good for us. We are of course restrained by the law and by discipline in our upbringing, but that still leaves us with considerable freedom.

That is on the individual level. On the group and population level. we have the freedom to mess up our environment, fight wars, massacre people we disapprove of and countless other evils.

We also have the freedom to do immense good and offset the bad things that people do, to alleviate disadvantage, to help others and all sorts of things that are pleasing to God and to humankind.

Causes of Cancer

Many cancers are a result of this free will. It may be what we knowingly or unknowingly do to ourselves – what we eat and drink, the chemicals and pollution we expose ourselves to, and probably other things besides. And then there is what others do to us – atmospheric pollution, toxic factory effluent and so on. So what we do to ourselves or what others do to us can cause cancer.

Why don’t we have immunity to cancer? I have no answer to that although it was recently discovered that some people do have complete immunity. Perhaps it will lead to effective cures. The human body is a miracle of design in its capability, both physical and mental. It is also very resilient – up to a point, after which it breaks down. It is interesting that there are pockets of disease-free longevity in the world, where people live long because of their active lifestyle, good diet and congenial society.

So even if what we do to ourselves and what others do to us explains a lot of cancers, it doesn’t explain cancers in the very young. I can’t remember where it is in the Holy Bible, but I recall a passage where Jesus is about to heal a man born blind and his disciples asked whether the man’s blindness was a result of his sin or his parents’ sin. He replies that it is neither but so that God might be glorified in the man’s healing. Whatever the outcome, a sick child brings out the best in people – the medics, the parents and others and that is certainly pleasing to God. But I don’t know if there are any answers. I certainly don’t know any. And it is distressing when a child dies, whatever the cause.

I don’t know the cause of my cancer, just that if I had done a lot of things differently I might not be in this state now. There are times in my life when my diet has been terrible; I have exposed myself to chemicals and dust without proper protective equipment; I have not always exercised enough. I have smoked and probably lots of other things too. Some of it through ignorance; some of it through being young and feeling invincible. It can catch up with us.

Faith Helps

However, what I do know is that cancer is easier to bear if you have faith in God and in our Saviour, Jesus Christ. In theory my condition is terminal. In practice, through God and prayer and the medical profession, I have exceeded my life expectancy. Praise God. Thank you.