Why Christians Aren't the Best

This week (two weeks really) has been long. Filled with AP testing and studying and all sorts of other things. Five tests and four formal events in two weeks. Yikes. I have gotten to finishing the first chapter of The Reason for God, but not writing my thoughts. Now, I am finally sitting down to write.

Hello, all!

At first I wasn't sure what to write about, but since I have finished the chapter, one part has stood out to me and I keep thinking about it over and over. Honestly, it's a pretty different perspective on Christianity as a whole. Keller talks about how Christianity can save the world. Anyone can say that's a pretty bold statement, especially from the perspective of earthly saving and peace, rather than the divine peace of God. But then he throws out some even bolder statements and they totally make sense.

First off, he states that "Christianity provides a firm basis of respecting people of other faiths." I agree. I try my best to accept people of all different beliefs and I know a good many Christians out there do, too. But oh, do I fail. Lately especially God has shown me some pretty specific cases of me judging others, whether for different beliefs or different lifestyles. Typically, these are people that I don't really know. Because, sadly, these people, the people who we know the least about and should be making the least presumptions are the people we assume the most (and often the worst about). Ugh. God is challenging me hard on this.

And then Keller goes on to say the line that keeps striking me: "Christianity not only leads its members to believe people of other faiths have goodness and wisdom to offer, but it also leads them to expect that many will live lives morally superior to their own."

Come again?

Maybe I'm unique in this, but this is certainly pretty different than what I've been lead to believe my entire life. Aren't Christians the most upright? Aren't they supposed to be "the best" by some celestial standard? Isn't that what we should try to be?

Keller reminds me, pretty abruptly, that the answer to all of those is no. We are not all the best. I am sure as heck not the best or most morally upright. I know that. I know I can be a pretty massive fail sometimes.

TRFG (The Reason for God) reminds me why. It's because "God's grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure to perform and who acknowledge their need for a savior." And that is just it. We Christians are just as messed up as everyone else. We can get caught up in really big problems, and sometimes we cause those really big problems. Just like every other person.

What's the difference? We realize that we need something bigger. I do. I need God and the gift of Christ's death. I am hopeless without it. That can be hard to admit. Some people think that it's weak to rely on an outside source. I disagree. I can tell you for sure that it's hard to let go of the notion that I can do everything by myself, especially in such a self-driven society (and I mean that in the sense that modern society world-wide promotes the idea that we can drive ourselves to be successful). It would be easier to think that if I look out for myself and try my hardest to be nice and do well, all by myself, I will get there. But I won't.

Because when I do mess up, then where is my hope? Because I will, and I have, and I know that if I don't have God, I have nothing. As Keller states, "at the very heart of [Christians'] view of reality [is] a man for his enemies, praying for their forgiveness." In that scene, as Jesus is dying, He gives life and forgiveness to us all. He did not just pray for the criminal on the cross beside Him, or the people executing Him, but for all of us. For me. Because I am just like that criminal and I am just like those who spit on Him. And that is a humbling thought.

But Christ gives us hope and a chance at redemption, through the very act of acknowledging and accepting Him. And we also know that "all human beings are made in the image of God, capable of goodness and wisdom." Yes, we are. We each have amazing potential, potential that we will not always reach every single day. But God is in us, and God loves us. Every single silly one of us.

Have a great day, friends!
Savannah

The Hard Questions

My time in high school is almost over. After four years, graduation is just three short weeks away. It seems insanely close. On one hand, I can't wait. But on the other, grade school is everything I know. I've been in school of some sort, including day care, for about as long as I can remember - all the way back to two years old. Now, once this year lets out, there won't be a next year.


Really, I'm ready. I'm at the right place and maturity to be moving out into the larger world of college. I'm both prepared and excited (albeit a bit nervously) for this next chapter of my life. On the same hand, my studies regarding my faith are ready to change. As I talked about in my previous post, I've just (about) finished reading through the Bible. I started looking for something new to start on, to dig deeper into my faith. I came across an online group study started by Stefanie over at Ni Hao Y'all over the book The Reason for God by Timothy Keller and decided it was right for me. Both perfect timing, and very relevant subject matter.




I have some beliefs that differ from the typical realm of what Christians believe. I love science, and come from a very science oriented family. I also love God, and come from a very God oriented family. But to most of society, those two don't compute. Some say that the science disproves the existence of God - after all, no more explanation is needed. Others insist that if I believe in all that science offers, I'm not really a Christian and I don't really know what I'm talking about. But I do. I've studied both sides, heard plenty from people on both ends of the spectrum, and in the middle, and know what I believe. And if you don't agree, I am so okay with that. You don't have to, and we can still be friends.

This is a large part of why Timothy Keller's book attracts me so much. He talks about the middle ground, how he finds himself there, and finds others like him. I feel like jumping up and saying, "Yes! Me too! I'm there, too!"

And I don't just mean regarding science. It applies just as much to the political nature of religion and the religious nature of politics. As much as it would be great, religion and politics cannot be separated. Maybe you realized that long ago, but I'm kind of just coming to acknowledge the falseness of my idealistic notions that people's beliefs and political views could be separate. Personally speaking, I try to keep my faith at the core of my life as much as I can. It doesn't always work, I mess up, but I try. Politics are a part of my life. I have yet to vote due to age, but I certainly have political views. Just watching the news for twenty minutes shows that the rest of America does, too - and often they aren't too kind about it. As Keller says, "the world is polarizing over religion." Politics and religion are the most heated topics. Why? Because they are interconnected. People (myself included) can get pretty riled up, pretty quickly, when people disagree with what they think or believe.

All of this comes down to doubt vs faith. Some people see these two things as mutually exclusive. The Reason for God says that they're actually not. And I agree. When someone finds what is in their head, the principals they run their life on, questioned, it sends up warning flags.s

My junior year was rough. Problems with family members and friends alike cropped up in my life all at once. It was tough and I had a lot of questions for God. What had I done wrong? Why now after so long of things being normal? Was I doing the right thing? If nothing I did helped, what was the point of trying at all? And the biggest of all...why was God letting this happen when I kept praying for things to get "fixed?"

I had doubts. Anyone would. There were a lot of things going on that I didn't understand. But I worked through them, and I grew in my faith and as a person because of them.

This is something that Keller talks about. Some people hold the truth of their beliefs so tight that they won't even allow the idea of doubts and questions. Others have so many doubts that they decide that surely there can't be a God. Honestly? I totally get both sides. Sometimes I wrestle with the bad things going on and wonder how these things can happen. Other times, I am just not in a place where I can bring myself to question God right then. The thing is...neither side is wrong - in moderation. The problems come when the faithful never ask the questions and the skeptics never realize the faith it takes to give in so fully to doubts.

If I had never took a good, hard look at what I believed when problems came up, I would probably have ended up hoping for something unrealistic. Rather than figure out what I needed to fix about myself and my life to work through things, I could have easily done nothing but plead to God to fix everything for me - when a large part of the fixing were steps that, with God's direction, I had to take myself.

On the other hand, I could just have easily have focused to much on the doubting side. I could have been so consumed by wondering why a good God let bad stuff happen, that I failed to see the good things happening, too.

But sometimes, or most times, one stance or the other is just easier. It's hard to question something you cling to for your life, that you are betting your existence and purpose on, whether that is God or a lack of Him. It's no wonder why debates over religion can get so heated and tense. The difficult part, I'm realizing, is that's what we need to do. Discussion with different people with different beliefs is really important because it helps both sides form stronger convictions and understand other people. And guys, understanding people makes it so much easier to accept them, and when we accept them, we can show them Christ's love how we are truly meant to show it.


I have so much more I could say. This is just over the introduction to the book, and I feel like I could keep typing for hours. But this is probably enough of my thoughts for this post.

I hope you (if you're part of the study, too) are enjoying the book as much as I am. Have a wonderful week!

Savannah

A Book Recommendation

In the August 2010 I started to read the Bible. Before then I had read bits and pieces, but never really the whole thing. I think I started at Matthew. From the day I started I committed to reading a bit of the Bible every day. At first, the amount wasn't much. Some nights (I've nearly always read at night) I would read only a paragraph. But eventually I started to read more and more each night.

I finished Matthew, then read half of Genesis. Then Acts. Then a few Psalms. I was all over the place.

Then about a year and a half ago, possibly two years, I decided to read the entire Bible. I set a rough goal to finish before I graduated (at the rate I was reading then, I wasn't sure if I could).

I started at Genesis and read all the way through 2 Kings. After that I skipped to the New Testament and read until Revelation, then went back to the rest of the Old Testament.

In January I didn't really set any New Years Resolutions. I rarely do. But I did make a commitment. I told God that I would finish the Bible before I graduated. I would for certain. This meant I really had to pick up the pace. It was a discipline, not in the sense of punishment, but in the sense of making myself do something.

I finished the Old Testament a few weeks ago. Now, four weeks before graduation, I have less than half of Revelation to finish. I am happy to say that I will finish before I graduate.

It hasn't always been easy to make myself read. Sometimes it took everything in me to crack open my Bible for just a few minutes before falling asleep. Guys, I'm not special because I made myself do it. I just knew it was important. And wow, reading the Bible is so illuminating. All the disjointed Bible stories - Jonah, Daniel, Joseph, John the Baptist - come together into one, cohesive whole with all the in between bits filled in.

And most importantly, I've learned a lot about who God is. I have learned about His love and mercy, His faithfulness to those who trust in Him. I've learned that He is the most important thing in life, and that my life here on earth is nothing at all in comparison to what He has for me. Of course, there is so much I don't understand. A lot I never will get because - let's face it - I'm certainly not God, and there's no way a silly human like me can truly understand the Creator of the entire universe.

Still, actually reading the Bible has illuminated so, so much. And I accomplished a goal that I didn't know if I could really hold myself to. But I did and I am so glad that I did.

I encourage you to pick up a Bible, as well. Maybe you have read the whole thing already, or maybe it never seemed important, or maybe you just really don't get or care about this God thing. Regardless, reading the Bible will open up your eyes to the world in a whole new way. If it's your first time, start small. Just read a tiny bit each night or morning or during lunch.

No matter how much, it's worth it.

A Sign. A Great, Big Sign.

A few weeks ago I posted about college, and where that part of my life is taking me. Some exciting things, to be sure. At the time, several things were still up in the air. Today, I can talk about them for certain, and exactly how God led me to go where I will be going. I will recap this post briefly, or else some of this might not make too much sense.

This season in life - being a senior in high school, applying to colleges, finishing up school, writing seemingly endless essays over every topic under the sun - is exhausting. I had my plan and applied to 4 universities, and a few scholarship programs. One was my dream, two my "safe" schools, and one my back up. Then last minute I decided to apply to another school, another school that was really good, a great research university, and had a lot of exciting options. A few acceptance letters trickled in, I looked into the schools, visited one, but I couldn't really envision myself at any of them.

My family and I assessed costs of the schools and realized that most likely my "dream" school wouldn't be a possibility without some hefty scholarships. I hadn't heard from this school, or the other really good school, yet, so I held out hope.

Then came an envelope. It was a big, full paper sized envelope, and from a school that I hadn't even applied to or really considered. But printed on the front were the words "scholarship information." Curious, I opened it, and read it over. The school was pretty much offering me a full ride.

I didn't think too much of it at that moment - after all, I hadn't applied there and I had my plans all set. I'm a planner, down to the smallest detail, and this was a very unexpected variable. (Sounds silly, doesn't it?) But slowly it started to grow on me, and I kept coming back to this school. I did research, my dad looked into it, I scoured the website.

That was about where I was when I wrote the previous post.

I was getting more and more excited about it. I sent in my application, and got an acceptance a few weeks later. I really liked this school. I could see myself living and studying there. It just felt right. But again, my plans. This wasn't part of them. So I prayed. Almost jokingly, I asked God if He would give me a sign. A literal sign would be great, God. Like a great, big billboard. If I see a billboard, I'll know it's the one. I had never seen any sort of billboard for a university before, and the thought passed from the forefront of my mind.

This past week I went to visit the campus. I loved it. Everything just seemed to be falling into place. I could afford it, easily. The campus itself was amazing. By the end of the tour, my decision was pretty much, if not entirely, made up.

The next day we drove home. From the backseat, I glanced out the window...and saw a sign. A big, orange billboard advertising my school. A billboard. A big, huge billboard on a highway.

I knew. That was God. I could imagine Him grinning, reminding me that He is faithful. I've got your back, girly! He does. He has got my back, and right now, I am just looking forward, right at some sparkly awesome things that I am sure He has in store for me.


This post is part of Memorial Box Monday, hosted over at A Place Called Simplicity. Seemed like the perfect time to share. :)

Fix all the things!!!

Some days, that's all I want to do. Fix everything. If there is a problem, it is up to Super Savannah to save the day!

Except. I'm not Super. And most of the time, I sure can't save the day. I know this in my head. All the logic stuffed into my cranium tells me this all the time. But my heart? It could care less about any logic. It just keeps telling me to FIXALLTHETHINGS.

If a friend has a problem, I feel like I have to find the perfect solution. If there is a typo somewhere, I need to make sure it's changed. If someone is confused about something, then I better help them figure out the solution. I mean, those all sound like great things to do, right? I'm helping people, right?

Except sometimes help isn't help at all. Sometimes it can just be annoying. I know I don't like it when people keep reminding me or advising me or "helping" me with things that I don't need help on. Managers that remind me how to do something that I've done -- correctly -- dozens of times. Teachers that remind you about an upcoming deadline every single day...for six weeks. That person who corrects every grammatical mistake? Yeah, I can be that person. It gets old quickly.

In the past, this has been a huge problem for me. Honestly, friendships have been torn apart because of my urge to help too much. Luckily, I can see the issue for what it is now. Self-realization is a wonderful thing, even if it really isn't that pleasant.

I once heard someone say something along the lines of, "Help is only help if it's asked for; otherwise, it's just an intrusion." That's definitely paraphrasing, but I can't recall where or when I heard it, if it was a person, on the radio, or online, so the approximation is what I've got. Regardless, it is so true.

So that is something I am working on. Help only when help is asked for.

Now I'm not referring to charity or volunteering or the like. That's an entirely different topic. I mean the little things. The ones that make me think, "I can make this all better!" And you know what? Maybe it isn't such a different topic at all. Maybe it's that I see all the things wrong in the world -- the big things, like the millions of neglected orphans, or massive political turmoil, or corrupt business practices -- and I get overwhelmed. So instead of trying to think of how I could fix those problems, I subconsciously find relatively tiny things that I can conceivably fix and try to do so even when it really is a bit silly.

In essence, I see that I'm no super hero, and I can't save the world, but part of me still wants to anyway. The good news is: that's what God is there for. We don't have to fix all the things wrong. We aren't meant to fix them all. Sure we should help as best we can. We're supposed to do that. But be perfect? Bring about world peace? We can't do that. Only God can do that, in His perfect timing that we can never, ever possibly understand.

God's plans are bigger than this planet and our few decades on it. They are bigger than our understanding of the past, present, and future and bigger than all of human knowledge combines. They are bigger than everything and every happening and every way things work in the entirety of existence.

A scary thought. But, to me, also pretty comforting. Because I know, that no matter how many things, big or small, that I fail to fix, in the end, it will be okay. And don't we all need to know that?

Incredible

Reading through the Bible, specifically the Old Testament prophets, I am amazed at God's power. How can I even try to describe it? What words can I use to describe this incredible sense of how large God is, and knowing that my understanding is nothing compared to God's true might.

Everything we read in the Bible - the loss and gain of Israel's independence over and over, John the Baptist, Christ - all of that has been orchestrated precisely by God. And foretold. That's the part that amazes me. Not only does God make amazing things happen, but He tells us what will happen, and in some cases, exactly how.

Jesus's entire life fulfilled so many prophecies and his death mirrored the sacrificial procedures to an incredible extent. If you read the Old Testament descriptions of sacrifices, and then read about Christ's life and death, there is no denying that He truly was the ultimate sacrifice in the very literal sense.

The way God wove all of that together into a beautiful, redeeming gift leaves me breathless. Our God is a remarkable God.

Thinking About College

Since I'll be going to college in a few months, and making my decision within weeks, I've been thinking about college a lot. Many times a day, every day. I haven't heard from all the colleges I applied to yet, so there is still that unknown, but for the most part, my options have been pretty straightforward. I had a mental list of the colleges, in the order that I most wanted to go to them, considering they were affordable. Everything was in order.

However, little things kept going wrong. Annoying, silly things that shouldn't have happened - one after another. My school wouldn't send my transcripts. The letter of recommendation wouldn't submit. The school form wouldn't process, over a month after it should have.

At the time, I dismissed all of these troubles as little, ordinary inconveniences. Now, I am starting to think that there may have been a larger purpose. Why? An out-of-the-blue surprise.

I received a letter from a college that I hadn't even considered or given any thought to. Usually I just throw away all the spam mail from random colleges, but I opened this letter. Maybe it was something about the big, orange starburst on the envelope front that said, "SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION."

I pulled out the single, 8.5" x 11" piece of paper and skimmed over it. Then I read it again. They were offering me a full ride, plus a stipend each semester. Nearly all expenses covered.

At first, I didn't think too much of it. After all, I hadn't applied there and it wasn't one of my choices. But as days went on, it started growing in my mind. My parents started looking into it, I browsed their website. Everything about this college felt right, and still right now, feels right.

Some reasons why:

1. I had been saying for a while that I would end up going wherever is cheapest; this school has proved to definitely be cheapest.
2. - I want to go somewhere that has a lot of good research opportunities in the realm of Nueroscience (my intended major); this university has an entire school devoted to brain studies.
3. I've had to share a room with one, and sometimes both, siblings for the past four years, and I am a fairly picky/light sleeper - so the prospect of sleeping in a dorm with someone I didn't know wasn't all too exciting; this university has suite style dorms, so I will pretty much have my own room. I will have more space than I have had in years. Holla! (Yes. I did just say that.)
4. This is the first university that I can really see myself at. None of the others that I visited or applied to felt, well, right. The atmosphere and ideals never quite fit me and my interests and goals. Until this school. Even - no especially - for a totally off the radar school, it feels perfect.

I still have a few weeks to make my decision for certain.I'll be going to visit in a few weeks, around the time that I'll here the "for certain" from the two other colleges I haven't yet heard from. I have options to weigh and things to consider. Mostly, though, I'm trying to listen to God's prompting. Right now, I feel very led towards this school.

I must say, I am pretty excited!