Fry-ing my brain

I have nothing against Stephen Fry. I don't enjoy any of his TV programmes but I have no beef with those who do. It's opinion, subjective to each person to his and hers own personality.

However I take great issue with his recent comments about God. 

This argument is often trotted out and it's falls very quickly and easily and here is how - You cannot make a moralistic judgement on anything without a undisputed set of absolute right and wrongs to stand on.

If you ask most unbelievers the rather difficult question of where morality has come from you'll, in my experience, get one of these answers:

'Morality evolved' - this is scary because it means that nothing is absolutely wrong, only wrong at that stage of it's evolution. Rape and murder could have been okay in the past and could be okay in the future.

'We make our own morals' - This is subjectivity of the highest order and not the good kind such as whether we prefer to watch QI or Have I Got News For You on the Dave channel. If we make our own morals we cannot be angry at anyone else because they have a different set of morals. If someone punched me in the face I couldn't be upset because it might not be wrong to them even if it is to me.

'Morality is defined by society' - this has the same issues as both of the above two.

Morality is such an evidence for God because it definitely exists yet there is no reasonable explanation for it's existence outside of a Higher Power. Without God we are simply like animals, it's dog eat dog and the fittest will win. Cats don't feel guilty after killing a mouse and if there is no God why should we feel guilty about anything we do?

Without a Higher Power, morality is subjective as no one persons opinion is bigger than another. However a Higher Power's, who is described as Holy, Perfect and All Loving,  moral judgements are bigger and there is none that can compete.

In fact, the much envied British justice and legal system is actually built upon the Bible, most of our law stems from the Ten Commandments or Biblical principles which are usually always based upon fairness to all.

God is Good and Has all knowledge and wisdom whilst loving all He has made. He made everything, including a perfect morality which we can never keep up with but can only live up to with the grace of God Himself, shown so amazingly through Jesus Christ on the cross dying for our sins so we could be reconciled to Him.

If you have no grounds for moral belief, you cannot even define the words 'evil' and 'monstrous' let alone accuse someone of it. Often people will use the wipeouts of entire groups of people in the Old Testament as an excuse to say God is evil. These groups were far worse than IS, some of them sacrificed children, and there isn't many people who think IS shouldn't be wiped out.
Some say that God was cruel letting Christ die for our sins, I'll let you in on a secret. God was Christ and He chose to do it. Because He loved us that much.

God is only one with the character to justify the creation of morality. Morality is unchanging, immaterial and universal, just like God and nothing else could account for those aspects.

The other thing that irks me is this idea that everything on earth should be perfect. Fry mentions insects that burrow through eyes etc. Anyone with an ounce of knowledge of Christian belief would know the Bible pretty much begins with the corruption of the whole world and ends with the promise of a perfect new heaven and new earth for (the Bible describes it as a place with no more tears) those who have simply acknowledged their own sin and accepted the grace of God offered through Christ. God never said that our world as it is now is perfect and Christians would never claim that.

It's amusing how often people such as Fry and Richard Dawkins criticise God whilst showing a complete lack of understanding of Him. It's sad how many people think that what they are saying is great.

I pray that Stephen Fry, Richard Dawkins and everyone else can join me in the world with 'no tears' on the great and glorious day.

Blessings,

Michael

Imagine

Just imagine, imagine this scene for a second.

Someone comes to your house, knocks the door and asks to come in as they have something really important to tell you. You sit them down on the settee and they explain this to you...that thing, the most precious thing, the thing you really want most in the world exists. It is being held by someone who wants to give it to you and they are waiting in your local park, waiting for you to come and claim it.

One person responds by telling the person they are a liar and that it isn't true. They accuse the person of having their own motivations for wanting you to go to the park and play along. They never seek, they never even attempt to find out if what the person said was true.

One person is deeply confused and torn by what they have heard. They don't know whether to believe it or not and wander a little bit from their house in a little search to find it but give up before they reach the park They think that they don't really want the gift anyway and that once the person realises who they are they wouldn't give it to them anyway.

Another wanders to the park to see if the person is there. They go and see the person sitting on the swings. They go back to their house realising it was true but never go and claim the gift. Just seeing the person and believing they are there is as far as they ever go/

The next person goes to the person, takes the gift and enjoys it's wonder for a while before giving it back and going back to how they were beforehand. They don't believe it's really for them and are happier settling for life without the gift as it's feels more secure & comfortable to them.

The last takes the gift, they take it and keep it close to them forever because it's so precious to them and they see it's true value. They never let go and experience the wonderful benefits of that gift forever.

If you are the first person, you need to seek out this person and find out whether it's really true or not because you might just be missing out on the thing that will change your life forever. You need to at least say you looked good & hard for it.

If you are the second then you need to forget the lies the enemy feeds you and have the courage to find this out for yourself. Like the first person this can change your life forever and you need to have at least searched for it.

If you are the third person you haven't got fair enough to get any benefit from it, you might have seen it and you might believe it but the gift still isn't yours. Go further and see what happens.

If you are the fourth person, the person in the park is still there. You can claim that gift back and you have another chance. Make the most of it and trade what's easy for what is good. You only have one life so live it!

If you are the fifth then you are like me. I had a pretty miserable life until I found the greatest gift, that changed my life and the thing that I always needed. The gift is Salvation. The gift is relationship. The gift is God's Son. The gift is Jesus. Jesus doesn't discriminate, all those who want Him can have Him.

Whoever you are, whatever you've done, whatever you think of Christianity...God loves you and He wants you to seek Him today.

Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart

A-Z of Christianity 'E'

The A-Z series continues with 'E' - ETERNITY

Before I used to really struggle with Heaven. The reason I used to struggle was that I just couldn't imagine it, I couldn't get my head around such a place. The Biblical account is very powerful yet likely to be mostly metaphorical with the mention of  beasts and dragons etc. Throughout Revelation it almost reads as if some final ceremony is taking place. Obviously, it sounds very other worldly.
But that was until I read Don Piper's account.

On January 18 1989 Piper was involved in a horrific collision with a lorry whilst driving home from a conference. Piper states he was crushed by the roof of his car, the steering wheel impaled his chest and the dashboard collapsed on top of his legs. When the emergency services arrived they declared Piper dead and covered him over as they waited for the medical examiner to arrive.
Piper was dead for around 90 minutes and during his time he visited Heaven, an experience explained in his New York best seller book '90 minutes in Heaven'. Piper speaks of the first people he met being the people who helped him find God in his life and obviously he was able to recognise them. He writes of gold paths that you could see your reflection in, a choir of angels and a light on a hill (which makes me excited because maybe that is where God was actually present!). This experience obviously changed his life and he felt his calling was to tell others about it.

This is my favourite description of Heaven from the Bible:-

Revelation 21

A New Heaven and a New Earth

¹ Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

The main issue most people have with the world we live in is all of the terrible things that happen. God actually created a world without those things but, by giving us choice, enabled us to bring sin in if we wished. Heaven will have no terrible things, there is no death, mourning, crying or pain.

As sinners we are not worthy of such a place but God created Heaven so He could be with us forever. The way in which we can punch our ticket there is by simply trusting in God and accepting the forgiveness for our sins God so clearly offered through Jesus.

I did that over five years ago and it is by far the best decision I have ever made. If you have more questions or thoughts before you commit then please message me - mjw6150@hotmail.com

Hopefully see you all there!

Grace, Peace & Blessings :-)

A to Z of Christianity : 'A'

So I haven't blogged in some time and am wanting to get back on track so my idea to keep me on track the next month or two is this, Do an A-Z of Christianity! My aim is to hopefully cover a lot of the truth of my faith and encourage readers in it and maybe give new insights as well!

Obviously the first letter of the Alphabet is 'A' so that is what I will begin with :-)

I believe I can actually sum up a lot of the Bible in this letter..like all good preachers (I joke) I have three points!

ADAM - was the first man on the entire Universe. God gave him a wife called Eve and they were the first married couple in history. To begin, them and God walked together on the earth. However this lovely arrangement ended when they decided to disobey the only thing God told them not to do. Like when you put mud in a glass of water, the entire Universe became dirty and imperfect. This was because sin had entered it.

ATONEMENT - Not the 2007 film starring James McAvoy but the answer to the problem Adam introduced to the entire world. Sin has corrupted everything and this sin was separating the world from God. God loves us, He doesn't want to be separated from us and definitely doesn't want our sin to stop us entering Heaven like it otherwise would. So He came Himself to sort the problem. Jesus of Nazareth was God come to remind the world of His Love and desire to know all humankind and pay the price for all sin on the cross. This act of sacrifice atoned for our sin so that we can be in relationship with God again.

ASK - This is how we get that relationship with God. Just ask. Ask that God would come into your life, forgive your sins and help you live the life He has planned for you through the Holy Spirit.

Mark 9:23a - 'Anything is possible for the one who believes'

News of the World

If you haven't been following the News recently you would not be aware of the phone hacking scandal currently engulfing NewsCorp & Rupert Murdoch. 

The Newspaper business is a high pressure business where controversy certainly equals cash and News of the World and other reporters have been shown to have gone too far in their attempts to find their news, hacking celebrities or civilians involved in big new stories (such as Milly Dowler and victims of the 7/7 bombings families) phones.

I think this is part of a bigger problem with our news industry, the problem being the strong tendencies towards BAD NEWS. Just look at the BBC News homepage and count up the bad news stories against the good. I would imagine a strong majority of the news stories are bad news for most people or some people.

Sadly, this world is full of bad news. The human race has been corrupted by its sinful actions. Too many selfish and greedy decisions are being made leading to pain for many people.

In reality we are all imperfect and none of us are deserving of anything, let alone Heaven! This is the worst news of all.

But this where the Greatest News of all comes in! The News may not report this, it may not sell papers but it is the very thing that changed my life for good forever and millions more and is still changing lives today.

This is it, Christ took the rap for our sin and we don't have to if we just ask God for forgiveness and repent of our sin. We don't have to meet some great list of tasks, we don't have to memorise the whole Bible and we definitely don't have to be perfect. We just have to be forgiven :)

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Also, God doesn't need to hack our phones to find out anything about us! He knows our hearts, He formed us in the womb...He even knows how many hairs are on our heads :)

Psalm 7:9
O righteous God, who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure.

Psalm 139:13-14

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Luke 12:7
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

God of the Gaps

'God of the Gaps' is usually what Atheists refer to as Christians filling unsolved scientific and philosophical problems with arguments such as 'God did it' thus refusing to consider an option that isn't of God. These atheists are hypocrites as they do exactly the same thing, saying that Science will answer all of these problems and refusing to consider that maybe the reason these problems are unsolved and all scientific research has failed is because it really was an act of God. ANYWAY.....I am not going to blog about that, I am going to blog about Easter and how almost 2000 years ago God literally filled a gap and it changed my life and it can change yours too.

In PCY last night Alun drew a great picture describing what Jesus did by going to the cross to die, He could have easily saved Himself...He was God. He chose to die and this is why....(I'm a poet and I didn't know it!)

Romans 6:23 

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nobody can claim to be perfect, Jesus aside. We all have things we wish we didn't do, we wish we didn't say and we wish we didn't think. We cannot even manage a perfect day, maybe not even a perfect couple of hours, probably not even a perfect couple of minutes. We were made perfect by God, but by through the disobedience of the entire human race since Adam, we have been made imperfect. Once something is imperfect it cannot be perfect again. When we work we receive wages, the wages of our imperfection is death, which is not going to Heaven for eternity. Our sin means are not good enough for Heaven, so somebody else had to be for us. That man was Jesus. The gift He offers is Himself, His Perfect live. In exchange, He took on all of the sin and shame of mankind and paid the price for it. If we choose to believe and trust in Him, we get His perfect life in return when we go before God, only then are we good enough for Heaven. As you can see from the image above, the gap between us and God is filled by the cross! Make this Easter the most incredible one ever and make the best choice I ever made!

It's just a bit of hard work...or is it?

Today was one of those extra hard working days. I try and work hard normally but today I had to give that little bit more to get things done. Added onto a very busy schedule and I am pretty pooped tonight.

In life we are, quite rightly, told that success is usually the result of hard work. People such as Sir Alan Sugar have worked extremely long hours to get where they are today.

The greatest gift ever in my opinion is the gift of forgiveness, relationship & eternal life from God. Some people wrongly assume that we have to earn this gift through doing good things or great things.

I was reading Romans 3 this morning and it was great to be reminded that Jesus has already done all the work, and these great gifts are given to us freely by trusting in Him!

Romans 3:21-26
²¹ But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ²⁶ he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Ephesians 2:8-10

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Key Elements of Friendship #3

Creating great stories

Vince McMahon is the owner of the famous World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in America. He often appears on screen in the story lines on his TV programs. I don't know what he is like off screen but his on screen character is usually a villainous, self obsessed, deluded, power hungry & vain man. The reason I am talking about this character is that he once made a comment on TV that sums up the way some see life and live their lives as a result. The comment was:-

'Life sucks and then you die!'

Too many people live their lives accepting mediocrity, hoping something great will come to them...that some great storyline will write itself in their lives. This can be especially true in friendships, we do what we are expected too and don't go beyond that.

I have mentioned the book I read recently, 'A Million Miles In A Thousand Years' by Donald Miller, and it is all about creating great stories in our lives.

I believe to create great stories in friendships, we always have to go WAY BEYOND the call of duty. To where life is uncertain and uncomfortable but where I know, through my faith in Jesus Christ, that everything will go as He Wills. Go and visit your long distance friend, be there for people when they are down and do something crazy to cheer them up (not too crazy though! I don't want to be responsible for any injuries or deaths now!) Try to understand them even when you have no idea why they did that or didn't do that. Treat them to something unexpectedly without wanting anything in return. Go somewhere special, watch the sunset go, put the world to rights....in his book Miller mentions an ocassion when he just randomly decided to take some friends up this beautiful mountain on the way home from a trip, they were all epically tired but the sun was coming down and they ran through the fields laughing and it was something they will never forget.

Jesus lived the Greatest story ever and invited everyone to join Him. I am sure the Disciples had so many unforgettable moments with the Lord. He still invites us to join Him today. He has been the best friend ever to me and has blessed me with so many great memories. And if you don't ask....YOU DON'T GET!! :-)

A Special Time

This week is a special time in my life. On Sunday I took some of the young people to a marvellous event called Ignite. It's in Cardiff every so often and about 500 young Christians meet and worship together and hear a message.

On 5 February five years ago I committed my life to Christ at a Ignite event. It was really special to be there on sunday night and remember the amazing things God has done for me since I made that brave decision. It was also incredible to see two of the guys we brought go up and make commitments at the end and I treasure all of these things in my heart.

It is very brave to stand up and walk to the front in front of five hundred contemporaries to make such a big commitment. It's even harder to then live out this decision in front of your friends & family.

If this is something you struggle with then do something about it, don't just lull around because you will never make a decision either way. I think there are people reading this that want to make the same choice I did but feel restricted by what people might think or by the size of the decision it is. Please speak to me and please pray to God who can do so much more than what we ask for. He is always there for us and is always a great help.

Also, He knows our hearts already!

Psalm 139:1-4 (read the whole Psalm this morning, love it so much!)

You have searched me, LORD,
   and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways. 
 Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely

If it's any help, it is the greatest decision I ever made (my story is here) and the moment I achieved the real goal in a human being's life. To meet their maker.

Psalm 139:13-16

For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.
I am on facebook (Michael Woodington), Twitter (mjw6150) or formspring (www.formspring.me/mjw6150) if you want to speak to me, formspring is anonymous as well ;)

Birds In A Bush

'A bird in the hand is worth two birds in a bush'

I never knew what this statement meant...until today!
In my third lecture at University, Financial Management, the tutor explained it in the sense of business dividends. Some businessmen feel it is better to have a cash inflow every year in the form of dividends rather than wait on the company growing and getting a better price for their shares when they sell them.

The idea is it is better to have money in your hand than to wait on something happening that will make your investment even more worthwhile in the future.

You are probably losing interest now but I will try and win you back with a thought I had.

Heaven is a bird in the hand. God GUARANTEES Salvation for all of those who confess Christ and believe in what He has done, asking for forgiveness of sins. (Christianity is the only faith to know they are going to Heaven)

Acts 10:43
All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Romans 10:9

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I think there are lots people counting on the birds in the bush, maybe thinking that if they wait something better will happen than what will happen if they do it the Jesus way.

Jesus dispels this by saying that HE is the only way to the Father in John 14:6:-

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

I encourage everyone to stop waiting  for something else to happen and do something about it now. God Loves you no matter what you have done or where you are at and He is delighted to receive all who come to Him.

Ironically, in this case, the bird in the hand can't actually be bettered. I can testify to it. If you have any questions or want to talk about this, don't hesitate to facebook me, formspring me (the link is below) or comment on here, you can be anonymous if you want.

TV Testimony!

Something a little different for this week's testimony. A friend of mine also called Mike from my Church did a video for the youth group about his testimony the other week and it was brilliant and he kindly offered me the chance to use it on here so here it is.....