The Sweet Taste of Sovereign Suffering

November 14, 2006February 10, 2015 / Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

I absolutely REFUSE to believe the following:

I worship and believe in a God that spends half his time saying “Oh crap, did that just happen?” (Romans 8:28)
Satan is just the evil version of God that pretty much has the same power and authority as Him. (Job 1:7-12; Zechariah 3:2; Matthew 16:23)
God merely REACTS to the suffering Satan causes, thus making Satan pre-eminent and initiator of all bad things. (Isaiah 45:7)
Every creature and being in all of the universe has a free will of self-determination EXCEPT God. (Isaiah 55:8-11)

Something that has been on my mind a lot lately, is this topic of God’s presence in a world full of suffering. Let’s face it: life is pain. You’re either coming out it, going through it, or about to enter into it. So . . . where is God in all of this?

We don’t worship a God that looks at the suffering of the world and says “Wow, that’s bad, someone should do something about that.” Rather, we worship a God that enters into this suffering and undergoes it Himself in order that His Will may be accomplished of saving His people and ushering them into His Glory.

My decision to finally get these thoughts down on the blog was because of an interesting message I read in my personal study of Micah. You can find some more context in Micah 2:1-5, here I give the verses of significance.

they oppress a man and his house,
a man and his inheritance.
Therefore thus says the LORD:
behold, against this family I am devising disaster,
from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you shall not walk haughtily,
for it will be a time of disaster.

The Hebrew word for “devising” can also mean “create,” “weave,” “fabricate.” The Hebrew word for “disaster” used here can also mean “evil.” So, this verse can reasonably read:

“Therefore thus says the LORD:
behold, against this family I am weaving together evil.”

If you want a more direct verse, look at Isaiah 45:6-7:

that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,
I am the LORD, who does all these things.

In both these passages, why is God directly weaving together and creating calamity and disaster? In the first passage we see that the intended result of this time of “disaster” is that the Israelites would no longer “walk haughtily” – or in other words: Discipline and Sanctification of God’s people. In the second passage, we see that the LORD is doing these things so that everyone may know that there is no other God but Him, and that He is in control – or in other words: Revelation and Communication of God’s eternal Attributes and Being. How does it do that? Suffering and evil cause something deep inside of us to want to cry out “No!” because something inside of us just knows that it isn’t the way it is supposed to be. Suffering shows us how fallen the world is and how unlike it was originally created to be. So, from these passages we can conclude three primary reasons for suffering, as it is caused by God Himself:

God’s Glory
Our Holiness (God’s Glory in us)
Further His Redemptive Plan (God’s Glory in History)

Where did I get that last one? The context of Isaiah 45 is that this is the passage where Isaiah is prophesying about (and to) the ruler that would free the Israelites from the Babylonian captivity 500 years (I think) later! He calls him by name and country: Cyrus, king of Persia. The opening lines of Chapter 45 are “Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus.” He refers to a pagan king who never believed in God (as far as we know) and calls him “his anointed”! Cyrus is anointed because he was chosen by God to free the people and so God says in this passage that he is opening every door and using everything to bring Cyrus to this point to display His Glory in the world, because God will use whatever it takes to bring about the redemption of His Creation, a pagan unbelieving King, light, darkness, or calamity.

Also take note that in all those purposes, God’s Glory is the key to it all. God’s Glory is at the center through every pain, every atrocity, and every evil perpetrated in the world. How does this help us? Well, it can’t – naturally. It really only helps some of us. Those whose very nature has been changed so that it delights in the Glory of God more than the glory of themselves. The natural man cares more about himself than the Glory of God. That is what conversion is. Heaven is an eternal revelation of the infinite Glory of God, being poured into the finite beings. Heaven is not eternal just because that’s how long it is – no, Heaven is eternal because it will take that long to exhaust the storehouses of God’s Glory for us to experience. The problem is thus: when people are born, they care about and enjoy every OTHER thing but the Glory of God. So, conversion is (and must be) the process of changing someone’s very nature so that they now delight in the Glory of God! It is to prepare us for Heaven. What does this have to do with suffering?

Well, two things:

First and foremost, the complete canon of Scripture testifies to the fact that (a) God does ALL things with His Glory foremost in His mind (even love us), (b) He is the one who actively causes suffering, tribulation, and pain in the world, therefore (c) He does it all for His Glory, which the converted soul now delights in, thus the Christian can delight in suffering, trusting that it is revealing God’s Glory in Him/Herself, the World, and History.

[UPDATE TO THIS POST: I should probably give an operational definition to the phrase “Glory of God.” It’s a nice concept, but what does it mean? The best way I have found to define it is thus: The “Glory of God” is the external manifestations of the manifold perfections of God. If that is your passion in this world, then you are converted.]

The second reason this helps the Christian I will discuss at length in my next post, but I assure you, it is Glorious (no pun intended).

I know this is very rough and hard to follow and my case isn’t made very fully. I just knew this was going to be long enough, so I had to try and compact somethings. Really, if anyone wants more Scripture on this, just ask. There is PLENTY to go around. Also feel free to leave a question if you see some philosophical, logical, or exegetical holes in my thinking. I’m sure there is a lot. Please let me know.

I appreciate everyone that reads this blog, and love you so dearly. Until next time.

A Portrait of the Artist as God

October 13, 2006July 28, 2021 / Paul Burkhart / Leave a comment

Summer is over. The autumn rains
Have descended like tears from an invisible god.
I lie on this rock, the ringing of the isle’s name
                                                                    drips off my ear
along with the stampede of water rushing
                                                             rushing through the silence

Clothed with beauty,
                              I began to understand,
The source of Jupiter-Zeus
And begin to form my own mythology
Within the realm of reality

I see the personality of the wind
The fright of the trees
                                the whispers of the water
The art of the sky the song of nature
My altar erected
                        I now understand

The quiver of twigs
                            the movement of fingers
through the hair of some autumn goddess
Golden; beloved and adored above all the others.

Birds in silent homage,
                                  while sabbatical flowers fall.
I smell the smell of my sacrifice
                                               burning at the altar
of my gods and goddesses as I long to merge.
Be made a tree,
                        the breeze
                                        the ground.

To know and experience all that I love
As lovers
              in one embrace
One flesh of flesh
                          Dust of dust.

My heart in one accord, in that which I was made for
Worship of somethings someone anything
                                                             never nothing
In hopes of finding joy.
                                   But,
As I lie in the midst of beauty’s nature’s beauty
I grow sad because:
For although they knew him,
                                          they did not honor him as such
or give thanks to him,
                                but they became futile in their thinking,
and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Claiming to be wise,
                              they became fools,
and exchanged the glory of the immortal for images
resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Because they exchanged the truth about him for a lie
and worshiped and served the creation rather than
                                                                          the Creator.

And I am no different.

If We Could Only Lose Those Damned Pedestals

August 27, 2006January 13, 2014 / Paul Burkhart / Leave a comment

[From the famed statue of the goddess “Nike”]

So . . .
you’re so angelic that you don’t need
a head?
or arms?
or feet?
or a bra?

But . . .
you’re not so angelic that you don’t need
some wings?
a slip?
a pedestal?
or a belly button?

(Wait . . .
did you really have an umbilical cord?
because I dont’ believe you.)

And . . .
if gravity has no effect
(as evidenced by your gown and breasts)
what’s the need of wings?

Or . . .
are you as we all are:
created with questions concerning purpose,
and meaning,
and origin.

Always wanting to defy the forces pushing us down,
while lacking feet to do so;
Always attached to our pedestals that bind us.

How to be a Christian at Virginia Commonwealth University & Hopefully Maintain the Respect of those Around You

July 28, 2006January 13, 2014 / Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

You will decide to go Virginia Commonwealth University after being accepted into both The College of William & Mary and Liberty University. Your school will want you to go to William & Mary. Your youth group will want you to go to Liberty.

You will–for a reason unknown to you–not go to William & Mary but never regret the decision for even a second. Your school friends will not care as much as you’d expect.

You will not go to Liberty because it is Liberty University, but you will tell people it’s because you couldn’t stand being in a place where everyone agreed with you. Your youth group will care much more than you’d expect. They will keep accidentally forgetting you aren’t going to God’s school, Liberty, but keep purposely forgetting you are going to Satan’s school, VCU.

First and foremost, upon arrival, understand that every word you say in some way, shape, and form can and will offend someone. You realize this is a fact; you get used to it and quit your whining.

Also, you will understand it is by the very nature of who you are that every word will be scrutinized, analyzed, and criticized for every error inherent in the words you say. Sometimes, they will find said errors. Understand that no, contrary to the victory smile on their faces, these moments do not amount to the complete and utter destruction of the past 2,000 years of Christian belief and thought.

Next, ignore last point and treat the survival of Christianity as the weight borne on your shoulders and only yours. Understand that yes, the whole of God’s will for the earth is in your hands to make or break.

Remind yourself again this isn’t true.

Never, ever under any circumstances use the a-word, the b-word, s-word, gd-phrase, or the worst of all: the f-words. (Note for the pagans, these words are: Absolutist, Book of Revelation, Sin Nature, Gays & Damnation, Fundamentalist & Falwell)

You will try your hardest to tell the liberal intellectual elitist feminist urban artists that you don’t think that voting Republican is a stated Christian virtue. They will not believe you and continue to call you closed-minded and spoon-fed by your parents to always vote Republican. You will grow accustomed to these phrases being applied to you. Other wonderful colloquialisms to look out for: intolerant, racist, misogynist, homophobic, Jew-hater, prideful, arrogant, radical, Mel Gibsonite, asshole, and “fucking God-lover.”

Every once and a while, to show people you are not a legalistic Pharisee- say a curse word. You shouldn’t use it as an expletive, though. Be sure to only use it sparingly to sprinkle conversation with colour. Make sure it’s funny.

Live with a Buddhist, an Atheist, and a Jew. You will get no sleep for the entire year you do so, but the parties, sex, and the food will make up for it. You will abstain from the first two activities. You will partake in the third. Again: you will partake in the third.

Do things that people wouldn’t expect Christians to do. These may include having gay friends, voting Democrat, watching rated-R movies, kissing girls, admitting you’re wrong, not judging people, talking about your sins and weaknesses, working on Sundays, being active in politics, giving money to people, forgiving people, missing church on a Sunday to help someone else, reading, and pretty much being a real, feeling, loving human.

You will go through many faith crises. You will be scared to tell anyone about them because the Christians will shame your doubt, and the Non-Christians will gloat in the seeming affirmation of their beliefs (or rather, disbeliefs). You will start to view yourself as isolated in the world, with only God and some feeble hope for a future earthly love beside you to keep you going.

You will constantly hear that people only use religion as a crutch. You will feel the violent urge to prove this wrong while God is whispering in your ear the entire time to just rest your head on His shoulder as He holds you and wipes away your tears. You relent, but not as often as you should.

You will need to always be right, always be strong, always be secure and interesting, never wavering in any of this lest those around you think they have stood victorious over Almighty God.

Embrace all this.

You will realize that God is God even if you are not.

You will realize that the pains of life you go through will help you relate to and love more people than you could ever imagine. They will become your joy in a strange, quiet, unspeakable way.

You will realize that God saves people; you don’t.

Weight upon weight, burden upon burden, will fall away as you see that you are meant to glorify this God by enjoying Him, being satisfied in Him, and rooting your joy and pleasure in Him, in an eternal, unshakeable place that no situation, power, or seemingly wise human can touch. This will make you happy.

Still, people will be offended by everything you say. They will either misunderstand or understand all too well that which you have tried to soften through tact. Tact will be both your best friend and worst enemy. Love to hate to love it.

Be sure to accept early on that the most sensitive issues are the ones that will come up the most: Free Will, Abortion, Homosexuality, and most of all, Hypocrisy.

You will slowly realize that every form of disbelief is rooted in a past pain inflicted on someone by a Christian, the Church, or seemingly by a misunderstood God. No disbelief is purely intellectual. You will see, it’s a heart issue, not a mind issue. You will spend almost all your time apologizing for all other Christians everyone has ever met, trying to be the one exception to the rule.

Tyler’s comments

May 5, 2006 / Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

Tyler wrote the following comment in response to my last post entitled “Engagement.” For some unknown reason, it is not showing up on the site, so to respect his thoughts, I’m posting it up. Also, my next post will be based on this; especially the last full paragraph. So enjoy; and, don’t worry, once exams are over, I will put the new post on the Psychotheology blog.
——————————————————————————-

I see what you mean about the religious studies department teaching fewer Christian courses here at VCU than Eastern Religion courses, but I guess at square one is more students’ knowledge of the Bible, the basic tenets of Christianity.

Christianity may not exactly be pop culture push-out fodder, but most people in the country (and the West for that matter) are familiar with the religion around here.

This bias is not simply limited to one against your beliefs, but also the English degree’s requirement and somewhat preference for “exotic” language classes. I still have to smack on some Caribbean literature courses.

Sure, fewer professed Christians teach Christianity here. However, the goal in even the Christian classes is to study peoples’ conception of God. After all, there’s always that personal Jesus stuff: someone to be your friend, someone whose there. I ask you to consider if more often Muslims teach Islam or if Taoists teach Taoism. I know of only two exclusively Islam-teaching professors here, and one is a Muslim unorthodox enough to recieve death threats and the other is a humanist.
I do not believe in the divinity of Christ, but I believe I understand, can relate to, and by moved to action by many facets of Christian philosophy and worldview.
In reference to the other guy who posted here, Paul is an incredible orator and debator. He quite regularly makes atheists his unholy bitches on the record. He’s as committed to his faith as Stephen was, but he is smart enough to take you through an interesting dive into Judaism. His site can link you to some of the best arguments against the Bible on the face of the Earth, but the man is such an intellectual juggernaut that he builds a scaffold around the detractors, prays and then floats his way to the top.

Any publishers out there, print this guy now, if just so I can write down his points to keep track of them.

Engagement

April 27, 2006 / Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

Just recently, I got an interesting comment in response to my new blog on “Psychotheology.” Here, I wish to engage with that comment and provide some thoughts on the matter. Marc said the following, separated into the following outline by myself for help in responding:

(1) The only place something like this would ever be taught is in a seminary school or a private christian college.
(2) I am not a religious person, but I understand how religious thinking encompases every facet of your life, this just isn’t the way to attain higher learning in a non biased place such as a public university.
(3) The psychology of religion is taught, but you can’t create a branch like the one you’re talking about, it has inherently far too many biases. A private christian school will obviously ignore these biases.
(4) If you ever do complete your book I will not read it as I already disagree with the basic premise (and don’t give me that “you’re being closed minded” crap, you wouldn’t read a book on the psychology of man’s relationship to the God Thor because you would think it was just as rediculous)
(5) but in any case I wish you the best of luck in your research and getting such a thing published.

In response to point (1), my original primary intention was not for the topic to necessarily be a course to be taught, just more of a philosophical treatise people could approach, discuss, ponder, engage with, argue with, burn, or accept as truth – whatever they so desired. But, now that you mention it, one of my passions is teaching and this would certainly be fun to teach. Of course, this works on the assumption that I am able to figure out a systematic enough of an approach that this could be done at all. If I am led to teach in the university setting, though, I don/t think I would go to a christian school or seminary. Seminaries already have courses such as “Religion as Applied to Psychology,” and “Biblical Counseling.” The only difference with mine is that I hope Psychotheology would be used more as an apologetic (defense of God) approach. I was actually thinking about this today. It seems when it comes to the discussion of God, there are three grounds on which the battle is fought: scientific (the world out there), philosophical (the world up there), and psychological (the world in us). Extensive attention has been given in the past 15 years or so to the scientific realm (one can reference the links to the side, anything by Lee Stroebel or Josh McDowell, or just ask me and I will answer it to the best of my ability). Specific attention has also been given to the philosophical realm by masterpieces such as C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity,” or the works of Soren Kierkegaard (whom I disagree with on many theological points, but nonetheless defends Christianity philosophically). I believe there has been a neglect in the area of psychological defenses of God, which I hope to attempt to fill. This defense has historically been left not to psychologists, but rather to theologians and mystics such as St. Augustine and Karl Rahner who either base all their views on subjective personal experience or by tailoring the psychological views of other famous psychologists to “fit” Christianity. I hope to wipe the slate clean of these and just start with the human mind.

2 – My first response is to wonder if there is such a thing as a “non-biased” university anywhere, secular or Christian. I know personally that my university is very, very secular, humanistic, and liberal in every way, shape, and form. In the religious studies department alone, such attention is given to “diversity” that if you add together biblical studies along with all general religion classes (such as World Religions, Ethics and Religion, and Psychology and the Religious Experience), that total would be less than than the classes dedicated to any ONE other religious studies concentration. In other words, there are more classes dedicated wholly to just Eastern Religions than there is to all Biblical Studies classes and General Religion classes COMBINED. Also, on staff, in the entire department, there are only TWO professing Christian professors actually teaching Biblical courses of any kind. The rest are taught by non-Christians. This wouldn’t be a problem except these two professors ONLY teach Christian courses. You dont find Chirstians teaching other religions as you do find other religions teaching Christianity.
Also, I do not consider myself a “religious” person either. Religion is the social construct comprised of rules, regualtions, punishments; it’s the “establishment.” I am not a part of that. I am part of the “family” that is comprised of all believers. To me, “the church” is not supposed to be a building, but a group of believing Christians, wherever they may be. Religion says, “I obey what God wants, therefore I am accepted by God.” I say (and the Bible says), “I am accepted by God, therefore I desire to obey.” Very different.
On your last point, I remember the president of the Honors Program at this University speaking to us Honors students upon my first week at University. He said the primary difference between lower education and higher education was that “lower education strives regurgitation of knowledge by the student, whereas higher education strives for creation of knowledge by the student.” That is what I am doing. Taking my life experience, knowledge (both biblical and secular), and observations and trying to create knowledge and fill a void that exists. That is higher education.

3 – The fact that ther are so many types of seminaries and “private christian schools” shows how they do not ignore these biases. That is why I put out in the open every perspective I am coming from so everyone can view my words knowing my inherent biases, and thus take them as is, not fearing any hidden agendas. Also, any introductory psych course will show you that the enitre field of psychology is reigned by bias and preference. Justr a simple matter as how one views the nature of man will affect every component of one’s psycholgical theory including therapy, training, and communication style (one need only compare Freud to Carl Rogers). No field is completely void of biases, be it science, philosophy, art, medicine, or advertising; but beside that point, when did one’s preconcieved slant suddenly mean that what one said suddenly lost all authority. If we only sought out the words of those who were free of bias we would be a very knowledgeless people – the type that would use the word “knowledgeless” for example. I strive to not put the Bible through the filter of my bias, rather, I put my bias thourgh the filter of my Bible. Believing the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, means that if I make my bias the same as the bias that the Creator of the Universe onbiovusly has, I am on pretty authoritative and sound footing.

4 – First off, as I said in response to the priginal commment, I never use the whole “you have a close mind” cop out. I’d rather actually deal with whatever the real issue is at hand and potentially get messy. And actually, I have read up on the psychology of man’s relationship to ancient gods. I actually think Thor may have been one of the examples. It was from the perspective of explainign different views on the source of religious faith, be it in God or Zeus or Thor. It showed me that all through history man has had this inherent urge to worship one outside of himself. Now, most would see this as a crutch. People are afraid to die, so they believe in an afterlife; people are afraid of a purely random universe so they construct a big guy who can control everything. But, I ask you this: assuming that a Creator-God does exist that desires to have inimate personal fellowship with humans, how would you expect the psychologies of humans to be any different? If a God did exist, would man no longer ponder an afterlife? Would man suddenly not be most fulfilled when in union with the Creator of the Universe? Would he not desire, want, and need to lean on something (or Someone) more trustworthy, consistent, and strong than themselves? To put it in the words of C.S. Lewis: “How would one know the universe was meaningless if it really had no meaning?” Just like “how would we know that there was darkenss, without some knowledge of the existence of light?” Also, the Bible says that we are crippled and dead in our sin before an Almighty God. If I am crippled, I’m going to want a crutch to lean on. Lastly, maybe – just maybe – someone’s disbelief may be just as much of a psychological crutch to them as they think my belief in God is.

5 – Thank you, and Marc, if you do read this, I’m sorry I turned such a simple comment into such an extensive “treatise” of sorts. I can assure you, I realyl didn’t “snap” or get mad and angry at the words you spoke. They were very thougth provoking and provided a good outline to present some thoughts that had been running thorugh my head. I would love to know any thoughts, refutations, insults, mockeries, witicisms, or sincerities you may have toward what little you know of me, my blogs, my thoughts, or my faith. I would love to try and answer anything you write to the best of my ability, even if it is from the motive of pure interest, with no debate required. If you don’t mind, I’ll be praying for you and also, I’m sorry for any hurt you may have endured at the hands of Christians, Christianity, or the Church. I assure you, that is not the way true Christianity is supposed to be, and I wish to offer the idea to you that the
truth of a faith can stand independently of the actions of its supposed followers.

God Bless
–paul<

Biblical Psychology

April 9, 2006 / Paul Burkhart / 3 Comments

For anyone venturing here for the first time, the previous two posts were merely to help host pictures to put on other sites. Go further back for actual blogging.

Also, I have a new blog up. This will still be the forum for my theological and personal “rants” and dissertations, don’t worry; but I do have a blog now for my thoughts, insites, revelations, and analyses on the interaction between the Psyhcologies of Human beings and their Maker. I call this “Psychotheology” and I am in the process of formulating the sytematic approach to it to write a book on that topic. This blog is to help create that. Here is the site:

www.biblepsych.blogspot.com

Make a note, make a bookmark and enjoy. As usual, I welcome thoughts, arguments, insites, and wit from those interested enough to give it. God bless and be edified (I pray).

–Paul<

Proverbs 28 musings . . .

August 29, 2005 / Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

this was the quick word from Proverbs 28 I wanted to give at Paedeia, but was not able to:

“When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked rise, people hide themselves.”
— Proverbs 28:12

This is what has happened to our country, our culture, and our campus. The last couple of generations of Christians, as a reaction to the “Great ‘Intellectual’ Awakening” of humans, withdrew themselves from the influential spots of society and culture. Used to, the brilliant thinkers, scientists, philosophers, politicians, and influencers of society were all God-fearing men. Brilliance is what faith is meant to evoke in us. We as a church withdrew from culture and allowed the wicked to rise as we hid ourselves in the woodwork, afraid of defending that which we are meant to defend. The Holy Spirit has been paving the road for this school year though. All last year and summer he has shown himself strong and true and prepared to work on this campus in a mighty way. God’s desire and plan for this year has been made clear. This is found later in Proverbs 28:28. he says:

“When the wicked arise, people hide themselves, but when they persih, the righteous increase.”
— Proverbs 28:28

He wants the righteous to increase and the wickedness to perish. Hoe must we as Christians go about doing this? The answer is in verse 1 of Proverbs 28:

“The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.”
–Proverbs 28:1

This one verse hold many many impications:
– The wicked do NOT flee as a result from any pursuit, be it an intellectual one, spiritual one, moral one, or political one.
– The righteous, to make the wicked flee, need not DO anything, but rather BE something: that which God has called them to be. (One hearkens back to Ephesians where Paul says just to stand with the armor of God, not go fight.)
– What makes the wicked flee? Our boldness.
– Lastly, notice that it says “bold as a lion”. “A” lion, singular. not “bold as lions.” We are called to be unified in our purpose, demeanor, attitude, and boldness in this world.

In short, wickedness has taken this campus over, God has said that this is to end this year. How? Wickedness is directly related to how much the people of God are unified in being who God purposes them to be. We haven’t been. Wickedness will decreases, as unification and righteousness increase. So the campus ministries at VCU (namely Every Nation Campus Ministries) serve the singular purpose of creating new Christians and equipping Christians new and old to be the people God desires them to be. It is only when an entire culture of Chirstians have been established as being who they are meant to be in God as one new man bodl as a lion, that the wickedness will decrease.

Outward thinking

April 26, 2005January 13, 2014 / Paul Burkhart / Leave a comment

As most people know, I am a very dangerous mixture of a person.

First of all, I am an intellectual (this list is not in order of priorities of what I identify with more, it’s just for the sake of rhetorical flow) that feeds off ideas and knowledge; what makes me an intellectual rather than a pure nerd is that the knowledge I seek, discuss, and find I actually apply it to my life and adjust my behaviors accordingly. It’s not quite just simply memorizing useless facts. This gives me the storehouse from which I can pull info to tell people certain things.

Secondly, I am a Christian, which by its very nature gives me the responsibility and burden to tell people certain things.

Thirdly, my primary spiritual gift is as a teacher, which allows me the ability to tell people these things with a certain sense of authority (only from God, of course).

Fourthly and finally, the single adjective that can describe everything about me the best is the word “passionate” which gives me the desire to tell people certain things from that storehouse of knowledge in my head that so affects how I look at the world.

In short, I talk. A lot. I think I assume that others are like me and everything they hear they apply to the “big picture” of their worldview much like someone would apply a puzzle piece to a puzzle. That ‘s how I work. Don’t assume that I’m just constantly changing opinions. No, everyone knows that I have convictions. Rather, as is the case of spiritual truths, I believe the best way to understand God is to try to step back and apply each new truth you learn in your relationship with Him to the big picture of who he is. Most people hear a good sermon on God’s justice and then they proceed to fear Him until they hear a good sermon on His grace, after which they begin to just love Him and thank Him. I think in order to worship all parts of Him, we must be able to apply all truths, and all bits of knowledge to the big picture of who He is, not just as a long list of attributes on paper.

Anyway, my point is this. I have noticed in myself a definite spike in the level of discussions I’ve been having (both in quality and quantity) with Christians on deep theological concepts. a-millenialism vs. pre-millenialism and Charismatic/Pentacostal movements vs. Cessationsts have been the biggest topics. A lot of people don’t understand why I’ve been doing this; they continue to tell me that outside of salvation, this stuff doesn’t matter. That’s true and not true.

Where it is true that saving knowledge does not require a perfectly correct set of doctrinal beliefs, as I said above, each of these things affects our worldview – the filter through we which we see/feel/do all things.

So right now I am laying it all out there for everybody:
Though I spent most my life in a pre-millenialist, cessationist church indoctrination, I have since found those things to be unbiblical and incorrect. The truth, as I see it in God’s Word of a-millenialism and the full workings of the Holy Spirit have changed my walk with God in a way that I wish everyone could experience.

Finally, I come to my point of writing all of this tonight, including the preceeding poem (actually, they’re song lyrics, but I just put some loose structure on them and called it a poem). Those two theological things have for the first time began to give me the proper view of my spiritual walk: IT’S NOT ABOUT ME!! It’s about the Kingdom of God. Used to I was driven to evangelize out of fear for my friends, now I am driven by purpose – because to evangelize the lost is the only reason why I am still here on Earth rather in Heaven with God; it is my reason for living. That’s why I entitled this post “Outward thinking.” Because that is where we must all arrive; to a place of outward thinking where God will use the “foolishness of our preaching” even in spite of being “the chief of sinners.” God’s Will will be done in this Earth, and if I am to live up to my purpose, I must give God the chance for Him to execute that Will through me.

“I just want to be able to look in the mirror again and to see your face instead.”
“I will either fail or conquer, die or live, but either way I’m yours”
God I love you so much and fear you with all my heart. Help me not to get so wrapped up into intellectualism that it substitutes for you, because nothing can adequately do that. Help me be a true Christian that doesn’t obey you to get control or leverage, but rather obeys you to get more of You. Use me and my foolishness for your purposes O God.

Amen.

–Paul<

just a thought . . .

January 20, 2005January 2, 2009 / Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

save the earth. It’s the only planet with chocolate.

damage control . . .

December 9, 2004January 2, 2009 / Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

So, what do I say to follow up yesterday’s post? Maybe I should post a list of people that I will let into heaven and those who I won’t. Based on how some people are acting towards me, that’s exactly what they expect me to do. In response to some of the responses, it seems necessary to me, to tell everyone my true perspective on judging others. I thought I had expressed this enough, but apparently, people’s view of me is slightly skewed. Okay, here I go . . .

First, off, I want to complain to other conservative Christians today. Most Christians wander around in their little bubble judging all others who are outside of it. Christ explicitly gave a charge to all Christians to “be in the world, but not of it.” Most Christians today that aren’t bold about their faith generally are “in” the world and “of” it. Most Christians today that are bold about their faith, like me, have a tendency to be neither “in” the world nor “of” it. When Abraham was coming down down from I think Mt. Sinai, the road forked in front of him. He had a choice to make. First, to go down the left road to Ai, a city of lust, thievery, sin, and abomination, or go to the right to the city of Bethel, a city that was holy, pure, and God-honoring. Where did Abraham go? According to Genesis, Abraham pitched his tent “between Bethel and Ai.” We as Christians are not meant to spend our whole lives in the holy city, nor in the unholy city. You must find the balance between the two. It’s a very difficult thing to do, but it must be done. Many Christians follow what I was venting about in my previous posting: they change for the world. Many others, though do the opposite, they remove themselves from reality.

My dad refers to these Christians as those who are “too heavenly-minded to be of any earthly good.” I personally believe these Christians pose the biggest threat to Christianity as a whole. They not only have created the stereotype of Christians, but have reinforced it in every way. It is these Christians that prevent me from being able to put a post up on my site that expresses my opinions and not have everyone think it feeds right into the stereotype.

All my life, I have heard from every type of person out there that I am the only Christian they have known that is not at all “of” the world, but it also not completely “out” of it. Sensitive to others but not compromising to myself. Most people here at VCU also have said that, except for a few.

To all “the few”: as my Social Psych teacher said about the student evaluations of his course he received, “the majority of these are great and positive for me, with only some people giving a negative evaluation, of which there are varying degrees. So many opinions, yet I’m still the same person! I did the same things with all of you! thus, following statistics, my true abilities and evaluations must be based on the majority of evaluations, of which most were very positive!”

I don’t blame all those that may have received the wrong impression of the way I am, I really don’t. When most of your experience with bold Christians has been of a certain type, you will be looking for certain behaviors, and will just naturally put more emphasis on those behaviors that match your mental schema for Christians more rightly.

I am a Southern Baptist. At least when it comes to beliefs and doctrine, I am a hardcore Southern Baptist. When it comes to my practices, my way of carrying myself, and conduct myself, I am not the typical Southern Baptists. Most Southern Baptists that are strong in their belief can be characterized by how they judge others. They do it constantly, incessantly, all the time! They seem to have forgotten that in the Bible, God says that all sin is equal in the eyes of God. This one thing holds many ramifications.

One, it smashes the “i’m a good person, so i can go to heaven” myth. In God’s eyes, every sin is equal, so as long as you’re a sinning human being, you are on the same level as every one else on earth. The only determining factor for heaven is whether or not one has dedicated their life and faith to Christ and has fully accepted his forgiveness.

Two, it shows that no human has the right to judge another fro their sins. This especially applies to Christians, and definitely applies to me. Under no circumstances do I – can I – see myself better in God’s eyes than another person. Until I stop sinning, I am right there with every other person. When I put up things like that last post, it is done knowing full well my own faults and sins.

On the last post, I simply gave a commentary on my personal frustration in my relationships here at school with people that seem to be changing, actually, more like compromising within their lives/lifestyles. A couple of arguments I heard tonight against my post: This is the first time people are thinking for themselves, thus they will change. The change is inevitable. My answer: Yes, change, is inevitable, and it will happen and it should. But, if these kind of truly positive maturing changes would be made, the vast majority of college students’ standards would not be lowering dramatically. There would be mostly positive changes, or slightly lower standards as people try to see what things are “wrong” and “right.” This is not maturation, this is not experimentation, it is all out stereotypical rebellion against the way one was raised. It’s cliche by now. It’s so utterly predictable that it has become the norm. The general rule nowadays in college is no longer to try and rise above the faults of their parents, but rather to disregard their parents all together. Does no one else see this? Another argument I heard was that I was trying to impose my morality as a standard for all other to follow, and if they don’t follow it they are seemingly evil horrible people. First off, no, they are not seemingly horrible evil people, they have just become the norm. Secondly, recall that my commentary was on everyone changing, and those changes usually consisting of a lowering of one’s personal standards that they had before going into college. I don’t care if it’s from someone thinking it’s wrong to kiss someone to actually kissing someone, or someone believing it’s wrong to drugs and ending up doing them. In both cases, they fit my commentary on the lowering of one’s personal standards that they had before college.

The most difficult part of being a parent is getting your children to internalize the morals you teach them. Getting them to make your morals their morals. By the age of 18, when you enter college usually, you should have internalized those morals, or at least a certain set of morals even if they aren’t your parent’s. College should be after you know what standard your living by and any change to that standard should logically only be a change up. This is why I see people with very similar upbringings to me starting to lose their standards. They don’t seem to have internalized their moral system at all, thus they have none when they come to college. They are still living their life through their parents. No matter what anybody may want to think of me, one thing I am not is spoon fed to be a walking carbon copy of my parents. I know what I bleieve, why I believe it, and have tested those beliefs whenever I can, and every time they have come out right; and I’m willing to defend those beliefs at anytime to anyone.

Okay, that was a lot of damage control. Under no circumstances will I change what I have already typed previously. I’m not apologizing for any of it either. I just want to let everybody know I really don’t think I am more pure, good, or holy than any one else out there. I really do love everyone that I have a relationship with, and I just hate to see them change their standards – the very blueprint by which they make their decisions. Just remember that, please. I am not judging, only expressing concern for this apparent characteristic of our generation. I really think we can do more, and I hope to meet more people that only want to raise the standards of their behaviors socially, morally, spiritually, and personally.

Once again God Bless and please leave comments!!!

–Paul<

life isn’t good, it isn’t bad; it’s just annoying . . .

December 8, 2004January 2, 2009 / Paul Burkhart / Leave a comment

why do people change? I mean, I know that freshman year is supposed to be a transitional period in one’s life, but not to change into another person!!!!

Why is it that the only person I know that hasn’t changed his way of life, his ideals, his morals, and his standards is the one that drinks, smokes, and gets high in his bathroom. Everyone else is changing into new people, and no one is turning into a better person. Everyone is changing downhill.

I just needed to vent. It hurts, you know. These aren’t selfish feelings I’m having, they’re really not. I just love everyone in my life so much, I want them to stay above everything they used to be above doing. In the end, though, everone will make their way. God gave every person free will, and I have no right to try to take it away from them. It just hurts. I feel sad, disgusted, pained, bittersweet, morose, hopeful, and hopeless all at the same time.

These are feelings I really shouldn’t have, and I know I should be giving them up to God, and I will. I am. It’s just a process, you know. For all the other Christians out there, please pray for me as I continue to try and fight the influences all around me, and pray to give me the strength not to put my faith in other people, because you can’t. They will always let you down. That’s the very essence of our sinful natures, and the very reason Christ died. So we could put our faith in someone and delight in him always. And delight I will. Until my dying day.

God Bless,

–Paul<

this is strange . . .

December 6, 2004November 30, 2012 / Paul Burkhart / 5 Comments

blogging-keys

Well, I finally did it. Succumbed to the will of the masses by creating my own blog. Honestly, it seems like everyone has a blog now days. It makes me wonder exactly how many people actually read other people’s blogs. More importantly, how many people are actually touched, affected, changed by blogs. Nevertheless, I am a very strong proponent of the concept of the exchange of ideas.

I definitely exercised this concept more as election time was approaching. In one particular instance, a hallmate of mine ran out of her room in the dorm, into the room where I was in the middle of the typical pre-election scenario: me, the lone token southern baptist conservative on the super liberal city campus on the floor with all the art students, arguing about – oh, I mean “having a discussion about”- politics. This person, upon entering the room, said in response to the last comment I had made, “Why would you say that! Don’t you know that people disagree with you here? The only reason for you to say that is to try and hurt someone, because it’s not going to change their minds, it can only hurt them. Anyway, I think politics is stupid, talking about it gets us no where, and (as she looked at me, of course) some people need to get themselves straight before they start calling what other people believe wrong!”

There was a short pause. She walked out of the room. We all just looked at each other, and silently decided with our eyes that the argu- I mean, “discussion” was over. Thus, I proceeded to my room, of course, frustrated.

Now, not many people know this about me, and since this is my first blog, I feel this secret is still safe, because I doubt anyone will still ever see this post. Anyway, when I go into “deep thought” mode, where my subconscious feels like it’s on the verge of a great philosophical thought, I have the tendency to pace around my room, conducting an imaginary discussion, argument, debate, lecture, concert, poetry reading, or sermon to some imaginary audience – sometimes specific, sometimes faceless. As I pace I pretty much stream my consciousness about whatever topic my mind is contemplating. Some times out loud, but mostly mouthing my words in hushed tones, like you do as you’re typing something when no one else is around.

On this particular occasion, I was streaming my consciousness on the topic of having opinions and its ramifications within the concept of the process of “idea exchange”. This was my thought process:

Your opinion is the one thing that nothing on earth can take away. Sure, things can affect it, change it, and remove it, but only if you allow them the freedom to do it. Knowing this, the conclusion could be drawn that our opinions are of the utmost value within ourselves. Actually, I’m gonna make this deeper. Change the word “opinion” to “belief.” The ramifications of this are much greater. Okay, so within our own personal spheres, our beliefs are so precious, so personal. They are yours. Heck, they are you.

The most important decision concerning their beliefs everyone must make in life (after of course, what they are in the first place), is to what extent they are going to let them into the world; what extent they are going to share them with others.

Now there are two different ways to express one’s beliefs: through words (abstract), and through actions (concrete). Now when it comes to politics (the topic of contemplation that these thoughts stemmed from), one can pretty much figure out the active and verbal ways of idea exchange.

Active (concrete): voting, working for a campaign, contributing money, parking a tractor in the reflecting pool, flying a plane into buildings in new york, creating a propaganda film, blowing up an abortion clinic.

Verbal (abstract): conducting a debate, conducting a lecture, conducting a sermon, writing a manifesto, writing an editorial, engaging in a discussion, writing an opinion to a politician, preferably sans anthrax.

Of course all ways of expression are not right. But they express an opinion nonetheless. Now, of these two modes of expression, two kinds of expression can be derived: “one-way”, and “two-way”. This concept is the most important to my conclusion.

One-way expression is where you make an arbitrary statement, be it by your actions or words, and no one is there to rebut or support it. It is a letter, editorial, yard sign, act of terrorism, or (most important to my discussion) a vote. It is something where you run in, make your statement, then run away, without hearing a word about it.

Two-way is just as self-explanatory. It is an engagement of ideas between individuals, groups, peoples, nations, societies, or unions. It also can be through either actions or words. It can be a debate, treaty, argument, statement signed by multiple nations, or eighteen United Nations resolutions that are never enforced, leaving us alone to prevent World War III and countless more future casualties than we have now. But I digress.

Now here’s where my conclusions are drawn. Taking everything into account stated above, I say this to anyone out there who agrees with the girl from the initial confrontation that brought forth these thoughts:

You have a right, not only by being an American, but also by being a human, to decide whether or not to express your beliefs – even about others expressing theirs. But, knowing that beliefs are so critical to being human, it is selfish, despicable, and wrong to humanity to conduct yourself in such a way as to imply you think yourself alone in your sphere of belief. In other words, you have every right to pick your mode of expression, but must accept its ramifications. How this applies to politics is simple: Philosophically speaking of course, no one has the right to express their belief in a one-way manner by voting unless they are willing to accept the ramification of that belief which is in its very nature two-way. If one is not willing to stand up, fight for, debate, and keep alive their own beliefs, they should not express it in a selfish one-way mode, like voting. If you don’t want to express you beliefs, fine, that’s not the problem. This throws back to the old adage where “if you don’t vote, don’t complain.” It goes the other way around too: If you don’t express your opinion of the issues to others, then don’t vote. I would not mind if the girl said all she did above and then didn’t vote. Then her level of expression would match the level of her mode of expression, but it did not in this case.

Now for a metaphor to synch everything. I view beliefs in this case almost like currency. You can’t just pump more and more currency into the economic system of a nation. It lowers the value of the money. To maintain the value of the currency, there must be exchange. There must be give and take. Don’t just contribute to the system. It is selfish and contributes nothing to humanity and society as a whole. Either watch from the sidelines and give-and-take nothing or be an active participant in the world of ideas and beliefs and truly know what it means to be a human living to their full potential that knows exactly what they believe and why. It’s the same thing with God. Your beliefs and faith only become stronger through the adversity, ridicule, and debates. Those are the times when God, “removes your dross, and purges you of all iniquities.”

I will never suppress anyone’s right to disagree with me and express it. None of the opinions above are based on partisan politics. Heck, even the girl that brought about all this thinking voted for Bush, and in case you haven’t figured out, so did I. Proudly. And everyone knew it.

Personally, I thrive more on people not agreeing with me than people agreeing with me. That’s why I attend Virginia Commonwealth University, probably the most liberal college in Virginia in the middle of the most liberal area of Virginia instead of going to Liberty University, the most conservative Southern Baptist College on the East Coast. I, as my dad said once, “grow better in thorny soil.” And that is true.

I guess this has been just a long way to say that blogs can be a good thing. They help contribute to the school of ideas out there in humanity across the globe. As long as there is exchange, I fully believe in this. That’s why people can reply to anything I put up. In fact I’m going to put on my white board right now my blog address so everyone I know can see this and reply. There. I did it.

I tried to keep this blog as void as possible of personal beliefs, except for the philosophical conclusions drawn from my thoughts, but future posts will not be this way in the least. I am going to use this site primarily as my little space to personally record what God is doing in my life. Not necessarily for anyone else out there. More for myself. Tonight, I finally found a church home here in Richmond that finally did for me what I’ve been thirsting for for so long: It fed my mind more than my heart. Sure it touched me and it was an amazing experience, But most Christians live their lives from emotional high to emotional high, and getting lost somewhere in between. In Isaiah 1, God says, “‘let us reason together'”. God wants our faith based on reason and experience, not emotion. God knows that men cannot live on faith alone, hence why he did miracles. He knew some guy couldn’t just walk in, say “I’m God” and people would believe him. Anyway, the sermon tonight in this church was actually soul-stirring, emotion-whelling, but most importantly, very philosophical, very intellectual, very very deep and mature, and very mentally engaging. It brought me back to the place I need to be to get the balls once again to be as bold with my faith as I was with my politics. Sure everyone knows where I stand, but it’s not necessarily me. So far, at least to most people here, it’s merely a part of me. The part that no one talks about because we all want to stay friends. Well, we all are still friends after that heck of an election so we can stay friends through this.

I guess that’s it for me. Many of the opinions expressed in this blog will reappear on this site many times in the future according to whatever thought I have for the day, but I’ll try to keep it interesting.

God Bless.