“If your heart breaks, are you still alive?” (John Caleb)
“No, you die.” (Me)
“But when you die and go to heaven, do you still have a heart?” (John Caleb)
“Yes, you’re right. You still have a heart. The heart of your soul. We have two hearts: the heart of our body, and the heart of our soul.” (Me)
“So we have TWO hearts? Wow. That is amazing. I did not know that. The heart of our body must be the lub-dub one.” (John Caleb)
“Us with you.” We are sealed together with those who have “the same spirit of faith” in Christ. We will be brought into his presence… together:
Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. – 2 Corinthians 4:13-14
Who needs temples and sealing ceremonies? We have forever-family unity by faith in Jesus.
If there are other “gods” with some kind of jurisdiction over other worlds, who don’t know that our God is the absolute Most High God, then I look forward to, if the Lord will let me, either conquering them, or evangelizing them.
I really wish I could have gotten to know Wally Tope in this life.
“I caught the biggest fish in the whole world. Biggest, that is, for me.”
If our God is one among many in a genealogy of gods, then imagine for a moment going to heaven, or, ugh, the planet near Kolob, and attending a cosmic family reunion. You are suddenly in the presence of thousands of spirit-uncles, spirit-descendents, and spirit-ancestors. You look at your particular “Heavenly Father” as he sits alongside Heavenly Grandfather, and Heavenly Great-Grandfather, and you say, “You’re the best, the most high, and the only god… FOR ME.”
Well, isn’t that nice. Why don’t you just pat him on the head, and tell him that his home-cooking in the best-est in the whole multi-verse?
Meanwhile, he tells his cosmic dad (your Heavenly Grandfather) that *his* home-cooking is the best-est in the whole multi-verse. And all those divine superlatives are reduced patronizing hyperbole.
“Best” is reduced to “better than us/me, but not better than all.”
“Highest” is reduced to “higher than us/me, but not higher than all.”
“Most” is reduced to “more than us/me, but not more than all.”
Saying that God is the best, the first, the only, or the most… “to me”, is taking something that is meant to be God-centered and making it man-centered. Man is not the chief reference point for God’s greatness. His greatness is a greatness had before any comparative reference point outside of himself ever existed.
God did not first learn of how supreme and great he was when he finally was able to compare himself to you. And if humanity ceased to exist, God would not suddenly lack a basis to claim to be the Most High.
Christians who want to retire the “my God is bigger than your god” aspect of evangelizing those of false religions are abandoning a Biblical tradition that started in the very first chapter of Genesis.
The Genesis creation account – a polemic against deities who needed to cooperate with each other or even engage in conflict or a copulative act to bring about the cosmos. Yahweh singularly just says, “Let there be”, and it happens. And all this because God is the victorious sea-serpent-slayer (cf. Psalm 74:13-15).
Exodus – a story that contains a polemic against the false gods of the Egyptians, outstripping their supernatural powers with dramatic plagues and curses. After drowning Pharaoh and his army, Moses sings, “The LORD is a man of war; the Lord is his name.” (Exodus 15:3) If Yahweh’s angel-armies had dropped bombs on Pharaoh, that is the inscription they were painted with.
1 Kings – Elijah enthusiastically watches as Yahweh flexes his muscles and humiliates the priests of Baal and Asherah.
Isaiah (see especially ch. 40-48) – God calls all of the witnesses of the gods of the nations to present their case in a dramatic courtroom setting, and declares his supremacy over them, since he alone declares the past and the future, and he alone is Most High. He is the first and the last. He knows of none other. “Show me what you got. I got more.”
God loves a good fight, a good battle, a big war. He is the Lord of angel-armies. He has ordained redemptive history to happen alongside a massive cosmic war between good and evil. He ascends on high and shows off the spoils of his victory. Jesus comes to “bind up the strong man” (Mark 3:27) and declare judgment and victory over Satan and his demons and take what is rightfully his. Christians boast in the dominion of Christ over all things, including “thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.” (Colossians 1:16)
God himself and his people boast and brag of his supremacy over all gods. “For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.” (Psalm 97:9) As I tell my son, God can win all the races, win all the arm wrestling matches, win all the battles. He is the best, the first, and the most.
So yes, my God is bigger and better than the gods of the nations, the gods of the false religions, the gods of man’s imagination. And if evangelism has anything to do with teaching people the overall message of the Bible, it seems like the supremacy and primacy and preeminence of Yahweh should be a part of my message.
Christians who want to abandon the “my God is bigger than your god” aspect of evangelism are robbing themselves of a pleasure. It is an awesome joy to proclaim the supremacy of God in *all* things.
My God can beat the tar out of your god.
What do people mean when they say, “their best”?
“I did my best to make it on time.”
“I did my best to get good grades.”
“I do my best to be a good person.”
Normally, this functions as hyperbole or socially acceptable exaggeration. It is often feel-good language for moral failure. When pressed, people usually admit that they could have done better. But if one could have done better, then they didn’t do their actual best. “Best” often functions as a catchphrase for, “I could have done better, but I, uh, at least tried.”
This kind of ambiguity or “semantic range” or exaggeration or hyperbole has no place in a clear discussion on grace, faith, works, and forgiveness. It is arrogant to stand before a holy God and tell him, “I did my best.” No, you didn’t, you cosmic criminal. Stop lying to yourself, and stop lying to God.
If doing our real best is the precondition for forgiveness or eternal life, then we’re all doomed.
The only one who morally did his real best was Jesus.
Stop trusting the false god who justifies those who do their “best” and start trusting the God who justifies the ungodly by faith (Romans 4:4-8).
“God will fulfill the promises he has made to the patriarchs despite reluctant leaders, opposition from the Israelites, opposition from the greatest superpower in the world at that time (Egypt), and the doubt and disbelief and disobedience of the Israelites. Despite all of those things, God will keep his promises to the patriarchs. None of those things will prevent him from keeping his promises.” – Ryan McGladdery
Not about the valiance of the people or the leaders, but about the faithfulness and power of God to keep his promises.
“The presence of God in me is evidence that I will be in the presence of God.” (Alex H.)
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16; cf. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13)
Christianity is a religion of temple work by proxy — temple work on another’s behalf. Being a Christian means accepting that Jesus has already done all the proxy temple work on your behalf.
When Jesus asks for my temple recommend,
I will say, “You, my Lord, you are my recommend”
You are my substitute Lamb, and my King, and my friend
Not on my righteousness, but on yours, I depend
On the cross, you tore the temple veil in two
Top to bottom, ripped like a tissue
Achoo! You blew the temple away
And in three days rebuilt it
I tried to cover my post-Fall shame
With a shameful green apron your name I defamed
You replaced it
Not with a compass and square, but with a cross
Now my richest gain I count but loss
I Am Aaron Shafovaloff 