Reality, we are obsessed with the idea. Television shows almost all now boast to be ‘reality TV’. News outlets arguing from their point of view claim they speak reality while their counterparts are ‘fake news’. Even our President has his show biz roots in a reality show. In our world today, reality has become opinion at best.
The strange other side of our society is that we are also obsessed with fantasy. Look at the list of movies that have made the big bucks over the last 10 years and I bet a majority are based on fantasy. Comic book characters, witches, and warlocks, even Legos, have become the franchises dispersing the unreal in mass doses. The juxtaposition of reality and fantasy culminates in social media where they blend into a strange soup of conflicting thoughts. So how can anything we see, read, or listen to be trusted? I think the answer to that is, what you base your reality on.
I was reading a ‘deist’ blog this morning, as I was preparing to write this. The writer’s thought was that, “…reality is something we have empirical evidence exists.” Within this context he would remove all things of ‘faith’. And to this point he quotes the Bible book of Hebrews definition of faith, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) His point being this statement is false because hope is the unrealistic trust in things we cannot see. Concluding the Bible and Harry Potter books are in the same category: fantasy. His only deist reality is God the one who creates but does not interfere.
I picked this one point of reality because it is so defined. This man’s idea is if you can’t see, feel, or prove it, bottom line it aint real. I admire this, and the truth is I agree with him, well, at least to a point. Most people close to me know I am a cynic and like the deist have a ‘show me’ attitude. I don’t watch reality shows, I don’t go to fantasy movies. And even though I watched the ‘Three Stooges’ as a kid, I have never hit anyone in the head with a ballpeen hammer thinking it would not hurt… a lot! You could say if John can’t see it, feel it, or prove it then it is not real. But unlike the deist that is exactly why I am a follower of Jesus and accept every word in the Bible as truth and reality.
Last week I wrote a blog called “Henry and why I believe in the Bible’. If you scroll down, you will see that my faith is not based on fantasy. If you just want the short version, I believe in the Bible’s reality because of historical and archeological facts. In 2000 years there has been no empirical evidence that anything spoken of, written about, or eluded to is ‘fake news’. But even with all that evidence it would not have been enough to change my atheist reality to faith-filled man. The deal maker for me was how the Word of God changes lives, case in point, my own.
If you have followed this blog at all, you know my life BC (before Christ) was at the very least self-absorbed as I wallowed in addictions. I lived in a world where I trusted nobody and for sure they did not trust me. As I espoused the evolutionary doctrines, it was survival of the fittest or last man standing, which ever came first. And that did not change just because I cracked the covers of an old dusty Bible. The miracle is the God transforms each of us in our own special way. But here is what is always God’s reality, open that door He has been knocking on just a crack and He will open it the rest of the way. Because God, “desires that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4) And once you see His truth, His reality, this junk which bombards us from every direction is just a bunch of ‘hooey’!
Today, I still carry the scars of a life of misdeeds and disbelief. But I have everything I need to walk strong in the face of opinion and fantasy. I have a God who loved me so much, “..He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16) I have tried Him and tested Him and His Word, and I can tell my deist brother: ‘I have all the assurance I need and more hope than I deserve.’ God is not just a sit-back creator, He, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is a hard core, grab a hold of it today, reality! Great thing is you don’t have to channel surf to find Him, just say, “Lord I want your reality now.” It’s a done deal!
Happy Sabbath and Blessings John
2/9/18
Great message.