Jesus - a good LAD

This is not a deep thought. It’s just something a mate pointed out to me – Jesus is hilarious, and he’s a bit of lad.

So after he’s risen from the dead, some of the disciples go out fishing, and they catch nothing all night. When it gets to morning Jesus is standing on the beach, but they don’t recognise him because they’re too far away.

Jesus shouts to them – “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” – apparently just to rub it in, because he knows they don’t anyway. They say “No.” They are not impressed with this joker.  

So he tells them to put the nets over the other side and they catch loads of fish – 153 apparently. They realise it’s him and they go over to the beach as fast as they can – and when they get there, he’s just cotching, cooking up some breakfast. Including fish - cos he already had some anyway.

Possibly the only example in history of miraculous banter.

What if my life is a lie?

Here’s something my friends, and occasionally random strangers, say to me a lot.

“I really respect your religion.”

Now, I love these people. And they are being really nice, and I appreciate that they respect me. Recently though, it struck me: it’s nice, but it doesn’t really make any sense!

Most of the people who say this to me, have just told me that they don’t believe in God, or at least that they don’t believe that Jesus died and then came back from the dead. Several of them say they are agnostic, or indifferent – because we can never really know one way or the other. I think quite a lot of you would agree with one of these things.

But if you think that the God I worship doesn’t exist – why do you respect that?!

If God isn’t real, and Jesus didn’t come back to life, I am wasting my whole life. I am talking to someone who isn’t there every night. I am deluding myself into believing that sometimes it’s a two way conversation. I am refusing to worry about my life, because I am trusting in the non-existent plan of a non-existent God. If Jesus isn’t really “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” like he claimed to be, then I’m going in completely the wrong direction!

If Jesus wasn’t resurrected, my whole life is a lie.

If you saw your mate talking into a toy phone, thinking someone could actually hear them, you wouldn’t respect them for it, you would tell them that it wouldn’t work. And I think it should be the same with people who believe in God – I mean, surely a really good friend doesn’t just watch while someone wastes their whole life.

I’m not saying that I wish everyone was nastier to Christians. Or even that it’s wrong to respect our faith. What doesn’t make sense to me is when people ‘respect’ it but then completely ignore it.

If you’re pretty sure that God doesn’t exist, then the kindest thing to do is to politely try and show Christians that they are mistaken, so they won’t give their whole life to a delusion. But if you wouldn’t do that, because you’re not really that sure – if you respect Christians because what we believe in seems to make some sense – if you know people who believe in God and you don’t think they’re lying or delusional – then maybe it’s worth giving it some more thought. Jesus claimed to offer all of us (that’s not ‘us’ Christians that’s all of ‘us’ humans) – “life, and life in all its fullness”. And surely, even if there’s just a tiny possibility that he actually is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”, then that’s probably worth looking into.

So I dare you, if you are one of the lovely people who respects your friends’ faith – talk to them about it! Ask them why they believe in Jesus. Because then you can really respect them, just by hearing them out. Try it.

Why doesn't God do what we ask him?

A lot of people have tried praying, and for a lot of people, it hasn’t worked. I don’t usually admit it to myself, but when I think about that, it gets me genuinely annoyed with God – like, how hard would it have been just to give these people what they wanted? Surely, you answer their prayers, they realise that you heard them, and they believe in you, they love you.

In some cases I’m willing to let him off, because it seems like he would have to brainwash people to give other people what they wanted, but some things, stuff like illnesses, I’m sure God can fix, because I’ve seen him do it for different people at different times.

So why not? There’s even a bit in Luke’s gospel where Jesus says to his disciples “Ask and it will be given to you”!

He carries on and says something like this:

“You’re all Dads, if your kids ask for a fish, would you give them a snake? If they ask for eggs do you give them a scorpion? No! And you’re just people! If you lot know how to give good gifts to your children, can’t you be certain that your perfect Father in heaven will give his Spirit to anyone who asks him?” (Luke, Chapter 11)

So this is the picture Jesus uses to describe it. God is like our perfect Dad. So I was thinking about Dads, and what kind of Dad is a good Dad.

Quite often you hear about people whose parents have split up, and their parents are basically competing to get them the best presents, and I always think ‘NO! STOP GIVING THEM STUFF AND BE THERE FOR THEM. Spend time with them, look after them, actually talk to them.’ Possibly this is a bit strong, but I think most people would agree that you want your dad to, you know, go to the football with you (or whatever else girls do in this situation!). You don’t want a dad who lives at the other end of the country, who skypes you occasionally but mainly just gets you an iPhone whenever you want one.

So now I’m looking at what Jesus said and I notice that he doesn’t say, ‘if you lot can give your kids presents, can’t God give you stuff when you ask for it?’, he doesn’t promise that God will give them things, he promises that God will give them his Spirit. When Jesus describes what that means later on, he pretty much says that God giving us his Spirit is God staying with us always. He says, “I will not leave you”. He says “we will come to you and make our home with you”. (John, Chapter 14)

Maybe, maybe, maybe, this is partly why God doesn’t just do whatever we ask. He hears our prayers, I am completely convinced that he does not forget a single one. But he knows that what we don’t need, is another Dad who gives us lots of stuff to make up for the fact he doesn’t really love us properly. He knows that we need something better and bigger than a God who just tells us to get on with our lives and then, if you need anything just leave a message and he’ll get round to it.

I think that when we ask God to do something for us, to change a circumstance, or heal someone, we’re not asking too much of him. We’re asking too little.

We should be asking him to come and live with us – for us to spend more time together, for us to get to know him, for us to trust him with everything, for us to love him and for him to love us. It sounds ridiculous compared to what we usually expect from God, but when Jesus said he came to bring us “life to the full” I think that’s pretty much what he meant. And when I’ve really, honestly asked God for that, that’s pretty much what it felt like.

Stuck on the Rooftops

"What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight. What is whispered in your ear, shout from the rooftops."
I don't think I'm particularly wise - I'm only eighteen, and I dropped philosophy a while back.

But a couple of years ago I got up on the rooftops, in a disappointingly non-literal sense, and I can't seem to get down.

I love it. I love talking to people about what I believe, what they believe, I love to challenge, I love to be challenged.

Because on one thing, I'm sure I know the truth. Everything else I'm getting there.
Enjoy.

P.S. Conversation is much more fun when I get to listen as well - so please do challenge me, ask me questions, and let me know what you think. Please do this by emailing me at stuckontherooftops@gmail.com