Midnight entry

As I jot down thoughts for this post, it’s midnight and I’m holding my 9-month-old nephew, because he was crying so loud in his cot I couldn’t stand waiting for him to calm down and fall asleep, so I got him up to give him some food and just calm him down. Presently, he’s absent-mindedly pulling my hair and putting his hands in my face, looking around, quite obliviously. He’s generally a happy baby. Since his parents put him on solids though, I just realised for the first time that he has bad breath. Of course, no one brushes his teeth, since he only has one that’s not even above surface yet, but that’s about to change… I’ve gone through so much recently, bringing to an end the first semester of my Master’s degree; I spent a lot of time in the library, for multiple reasons, I fought through my exams and came out on top. I’m about to dive into the second semester, which will no doubt be lots of fun and hold plenty of challenges.

My latest “catch-phrase” (not sure whether that’s the appropriate term) is “such and such is proof of God’s existence!”… It generally relates to food. For example, “meringue is proof of God’s existence”, or “pancakes are proof of God’s existence”! But it applies to so many categories of things: waking up in the morning with snow falling outside your window, covering everything with a sheet of white; riding on the bus seeing light mist hovering over the lake; walking in the centre of town to see the sun rise above the city, breaking atop the buildings, “God exists!”

… One can see proof of God’s existence in the smile of a woman, the cry of a baby; or, in the cry of a woman and the smile of a baby, for that matter. The truth is, evolution doesn’t explain everything, even for its greatest advocates. How can music be a product of evolution? How can art? To take us back to the earlier subject, how can great, tasty food be the product of evolution, if all that differentiates us from other animals is our greater mental faculty, if all we are meant to be is thinking animals, whose unique purpose is reproduction and survival? These are things some people live for, yet, there’s nothing functionally useful about them, indeed, we’re going into the area of existentialism.

And why, oh why are we so appalled at the violence and suffering that happens in the world? Surely, that’s perfectly in line with the evolutionary worldview: there is no rhyme to the world, the strong eat the weak, how can we morally judge the world when we believe that’s the natural order of things, and therefore it’s perfectly normal for powerful nations to devour weaker ones… The base of the worldview does not warrant the moral outrage issued from our hearts.*

As such, we are freaks of nature! We call for judgement of a behaviour which should be perfectly acceptable, by the standards of nature. But this world isn’t fair, and without God, there is no rightful judgement of evil, indeed there is no such thing as good or evil. In an effort to make scientific sense out of the world, but taking God out of the equation, we have created an existential mess, generating more questions than answers, which simply bring on more hypotheses that are based on nothing much more than the fantasies of people with degrees. But since it comes from them, it’s called science. **

It’s easy to miss it when that is the world that you live in, where everyone thinks the same way, and God-whom-I-do-not-believe-in forbid, someone challenges the comfy worldview that glosses over the big questions, but these are all signs of man running away from God. People judge the Bible, calling it the product of man, and then go and produce theories (which are, therefore, product of man) and tell others to believe these! I can’t help but see that as a little hypocritical, to denounce someone for making a claim to know the truth, and then go ahead and create one’s own truth.

No, I believe in a beautiful Maker, with a sense of beauty, of holiness, and goodness. And I believe in sin too, which is the act of running away from that maker. To me, this baby I’m holding is proof of God’s existence, for he is beautiful.

And you could say that the reason I see him, and all those other things as beautiful is because I am born into it all and I have a socially constructed view of beauty, but that just doesn’t satisfy me, neither existentially, nor intellectually. And the thing is, it can’t satisfy you either, and you know it. And if it does, friend, nay, I do not judge you. I weep for you.


* Point taken from Tim Keller’s “Reason for God” series, part. “Suffering: If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world?” (Link in the title, little Easter egg there!)

** I'm more thinking about the multiverse hypothesis than evolution right here... I thought that came out wrong after re-reading.

The Farmer King (Parables of the Kingdom)

21/12/2008 – 10/02/2009
These words you spoke, as pictures of who you are,
Patient, joyous, tearful, a humble king, on a farm…
And as two world collide, you take over with your love
Making those who once were fatherless adopted, through the flood.


Friday, 27/10/2006

You start making bread in the morning, hiding yeast within the dough,
You walk into the fields with the seed you sow…
You pour your wine into new wineskins, but it’ll taste better than the old.

I’m seeking for a treasure in a field which isn’t mine,
Opening seashells by the seaside looking for the finest pearl.
I’ve sought joy in other things, but for the adventure set for me
I’ll leave it all behind.

The fishing season’s open and you cast out all your nets,
You’re sending out your sons and friends to pick up all the harvest.
Oh, what a feast, oh but what a tragedy,
For your friends who lied, and the crops that died,
I know you already cried…

I love you, but you still remain a mystery to me.
I’m fumbling through the adventure of what you’re calling me to be.
But I’ll enjoy your peace and gentleness 'cause I am satisfied in you.

Then I’ll eat the bread you baked in the oven, it rose, rose, rose.
I’ll pick the fruit off your trees as they grow…
I’ll drink with joy at the party, where you’re host.

I’m trying to dig deep and build a house upon the rock.
I fed the soil as you told me to I hope to grow a crop.
I’m reading all your letters as I make my way home to you.


© J.T. Noels, 2006, 2009

The fundamental elements of a nutritious breakfast

I know what you’re thinking: “Hang on! I’ve seen the back of cereal boxes, they show what a nutritious breakfast is, and they always include chopped up fruit, orange juice and a bowl of All-bran! (Seriously, even when the box is chocolate “cereal”, they show all-bran on the back!) All that stuff is fatty, addictive and you certainly can’t digest paper!”
Backtrack, let’s think about this: nutella? Awesome. Coffee: awesome. The Bible: verrrrry awesome, and mighty nutritious!
I know this is making me come across as the good Christian boy who reads his Bible every day, though I don’t, but seriously, this is a practice that has blessed me powerfully ever since I discovered its existence: Bible in the morning, the most nutritious bad boy there is! After all, “man does not live by bread alone, but […] by every word that comes from the mouth of YHWH.” (Deuteronomy 8:3)

If you’ve been through a bunch of books in the Bible already (like at least one of the gospels, Acts, and some of Paul’s letters), and you’re wondering where to go next, you may want to consider going through the non-Pauline epistles (the letters not written by Paul). They’re at the back of the Bible, covering so few pages you wouldn’t even know they were there, but man! can you get some spiritual mileage out of them? (The answer is yes.) I remember the first time I went through them, about 3 years ago, I was so amazed! The thing is, the two main authors of these are Peter and John, the men who were closest to Jesus in his time on earth, you know, guys who just knew him personally, so it’s quite special to read them; I guess you could imagine these guys giving a best-man’s speech at Jesus’ wedding, which in some sense they are, praising him as only the closest of friends could do.

I started reading 1 Peter last week and was blown away afresh by the verve, the passion, and the discourse of Peter, so much so that I believe an appropriate title for at least the first part of the letter would be:

An Ode to Security in Salvation

The particular, and fantastic thing about Peter, is that he doesn’t present a systematic theology, a logical sequence of arguments to make a point about God, like Paul does in Romans for example (another letter I absolutely delight in, it’s like porking out on bacon at breakfast), but rather his whole rhetoric flow is intricately woven to speak of the character of God, the salvation Christians receive, the person of Jesus in a way that one could easily miss if they didn’t meditate on every word; it’s like music, each word being a note, seamlessly following each other in uninterrupted sequence, as a stream of water. I say it’s not presented as a systematic theology, but it’s absolutely packed with weighty theological meaning, in a way only someone who is absolutely overflowing with the knowledge of God in his mind but also in his heart could formulate it! In fact, as you read it you can only say, “it must have been written by Peter, because only someone who knew Jesus intimately could speak so freely, lovingly and passionately of him!” (In fact, there’s another clue as to the fact that Peter really wrote it, which comes later in the letter, and which I absolutely love.)

Yet, at the same time, there’s this weird and wonderful fact that someone else helped him write the letter: Silas, or Silvanus (which today, I guess, would be Silvio), as Peter admits at the end of this letter (5:12) helped in the penning of the letter. This was probably for the simple reason that Peter didn’t write very well in Greek, the language used in the letter, and his mate helped in the translation and the editing of the letter, which is quite long. However, even considering Silvio in the writing process, something is just odd: Peter was a fisherman. In French slang, there’s a great word to describe what kind of person he would have been: un bûcheron, which means a wood-chopper… “Uh, didn’t he just say he was a fisherman, oh, maybe, part-time job…” no, it’s a word used to describe a guy with a big physical structure, big hands, maybe not much mental activity going on (though not necessarily), basically, a brute: “Me, cut wood!” Now, this is no disrespect to wood-cutters or fishermen, in fact I met a very nice wood-cutter a few weeks ago, whom I would have described as a bûcheron upon first glance (the guy was like a wardrobe!), and who made me crack up when he told me that was his actual job! But Peter probably wasn’t a very intellectual or artistic guy to start with, in fact, you can see him put his foot in his mouth more than once in the gospel accounts written by his mates and even the one he gave through Mark, and having that in mind, going back to this letter, there is this elusive fact about it: it’s beautiful.

In order to understand how on earth we are to reconcile these two facts, I want to bring us back to a bit of narrative in the book of Acts, specifically chapter 2. This chapter tells of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all believers. This is no small thing: it marks a new era in the history of the world! It means that anyone who believes in Jesus can receive the Holy Spirit, dwelling within them, giving them a new life in Jesus. What happens after this event is that Peter, who was always doing silly things and saying wrong things during his time with Jesus, suddenly stood up and preached to a multitude, quoting Scripture and explaining why Jesus had come and had to die and rise, and explaining why all the believers were speaking in all the languages of the Mediterranean, something he wasn’t even expecting to happen until that day. It was phenomenal, so much so that three-thousand people converted to Jesus that very day! ... The Holy Spirit, that’s who the co-author of this letter is; he’s the one who inspires the most beautiful music, the most gripping narrative, the most captivating poetry.

Going back to the title, why do I call it an “Ode to security in salvation”? Well, as I said, it’s not in the style of Romans, that explains bit by bit why this is that and how this works with that, but it’s a big mix of rhetoric and he doesn’t bother explaining anything, debating opposing opinions, he just sings the truth that he knows is truth! Predestination, the supremacy of Christ, these things are things he simply assumes, and that is why it’s good for all Christians to study this letter, because it’ll sort out a lot of nonsense. He doesn’t do it in a mean way, he’s just loving every moment of life in the knowledge he has through Jesus!

But I’m getting ahead of myself; gosh, I’d love to just get lost in detail, but I have to try and keep it short, in the hope that someone will actually read this through!
For the purpose of simplicity, let me cut and paste the whole first chapter here: ESV, © Crossway publishing. (Thank you, e-sword!)

1Pe 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
1Pe 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
1Pe 1:7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1Pe 1:8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
1Pe 1:9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,
1Pe 1:11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.
1Pe 1:12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
1Pe 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1Pe 1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
1Pe 1:15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
1Pe 1:16 since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
1Pe 1:17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
1Pe 1:18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
1Pe 1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
1Pe 1:20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
1Pe 1:21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
1Pe 1:22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
1Pe 1:23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
1Pe 1:24 for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,
1Pe 1:25 but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

First of all, I love the introduction verses! Peter, with the ease of a rhetorician such as Cicero, sums up the gospel in two verses, while expressing the Trinitarian character of God, and the functions of the three members of the godhead, finally expressing what the Christian life, indeed the Church of Jesus, is all about: grace and peace. A community of believers should be characterised by grace and by peace. Sure, there may be storms, but the children of God should always be rooted deep in the Word of God, which is grace and peace. Antonyms for grace and peace: legalism or religion, and strife.

What I want to do now, is pick out some words and phrases that I consider quite significant in this chapter, and show you why they are important and what they mean…

v.1: “elect”, v.2: “foreknowledge”, v.3: “mercy”, “he has caused us to be born again”, v.4: “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading”, v.5: “by God’s power are being guarded through faith”, v.18: “you were ransomed”, “not with perishable things”, v.21: “[you, who] through him are believers”, v.23: “you have been born again”, “not of perishable seed, but of imperishable”…
Then there’s the final bit again:

“through the living and abiding word of God; for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

… I remember a few years ago, before I started reading the Bible avidly, my best friend Liam challenging me, asking me where in the Bible it said that salvation is secure… I didn’t know what to say to him, ‘cause I didn’t read the Bible for all its worth at the time… But he did! In fact, he wasn’t doubting that salvation is secure, rather being a smarty-pants, but really, he was showing me that I needed to read it if I was to become a teacher… Thanks bro.

The truth is, there are so many passages that talk about this awesome, powerful, life-changing fact, that God is the one who saves, not man and his efforts, and as a consequence, there is nothing that man can do to unmake the work of God; you don’t even need to get to the New Testament to know that! God shows constantly throughout the history of Israel (really, anywhere in the Law, the Prophets and the Wisdom) that God’s will is supreme, and man’s will is not. In fact, man isn’t free! That’s why we needed to be “ransomed”, like a hostage. Better word yet, “redeemed” (alternative translation), delivered, set free! I would say, rather than the film where the dad pays the ransom and gets his kid back (that film never made it to the big screen, too boring isn’t it?), it’s more like the film where the father (someone like Sylvester Stallone, or Schwarzie, they’re always getting their kids abducted), locates the kidnapper, preserves his kid’s life whilst having an amazing, daring battle that leads to a crucial point where he’s bleeding badly, but manages to deliver the final blow (like a flying spinning kick), slash reach the gun and blow the bad guy’s brains out, not before having said an epic sentence like: “Sayonara, mutha’****a!”… I’d go see that film.

Hmm, I digressed slightly, but you see my point: God chose us. We did not choose him. God is the good guy. We’re the ones in need of saving. God’s hand is steady, his word stays true, his faithfulness endures, ours doesn’t. If we had any say in the matter, we wouldn’t want to be saved! We’re set against him, enemies of God. We became children of God, because his love is so overwhelming, his grace so complete! I met a girl recently who said she didn’t believe in predestination, though she was a Christian. I was like, “uh… Did you read Romans?” She had. She just wouldn’t believe it, because, in her eyes, that meant God is unjust. Though I appreciate that it’s hard to get one’s head around this stuff, if you’re a Christian, you need to adjust your worldview to what the Bible says, you don’t get to pick and choose what you believe and what you don’t. People who do that are just creating their own new religion, which doesn’t do any good for the salvation of anyone! If you can tell God how you want him to be, then he’s no god at all, he’s just an idea that makes you feel comfortable, and he will never be able to challenge you or get you to change. If you disagree with the Bible, consider the eventuality that you may be the one who is wrong… (Admittedly nicked that last main point from Tim Keller.)

How do I know that I can’t lose my salvation? Well, are you the one who saved yourself? (The answer is no, otherwise you have some serious problems…)
You were born again. Born again… Born. Again. That is not something you just do. It’s something that God does, and it’s not something he unmakes; what does he say? Of “imperishable seed”!!! Immortal salvation! Because of God’s mercy! Is the precious blood of Christ (v.19) good enough for your eternal salvation?

If you believe in this salvation obtained through the sacrifice of Jesus, his factual resurrection and his Spirit touching your heart to know him, then rejoice, because no one, NO ONE can take it away from you!!! Not even yourself, in all your stubbornness. Not even myself, with all the sin that I know I do!

If you don’t believe, I’ll admit that this was all quite full on, but I would say this: consider believing. No one else can offer you what Jesus does.

I’d love to keep going on into chapter 2, that tells us about Jesus being the cornerstone on which the whole Church rests (not Peter, as some would have us believe), but I’ll stop now; I’d love to hear feedback and questions from anyone who sincerely was touched, or confused by this.

So there you go, breakfast is good, and sometimes you get to have a bit bigger one, more like brunch with pancakes (which I had this morning) ;)

Ciao y’all.