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Don’t Touch Me!

June 30, 2011 in Ask The Pastor 0

One of the most puzzling things to occur after the resurrection of Jesus happened when Mary first realized that he was alive. According to John 20, Mary is weeping outside of the tomb of Jesus. The tomb is open, but Jesus’ body is missing. Mary thinks that someone has stolen his body.

Suddenly, Jesus appears before Mary. In her mixed emotions of grief and excitement, she reaches out to embrace Jesus. Jesus responds by saying,

“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. (John 20:17)

Someone sent me an Ask The Pastor question about this passage. They want to know why Jesus said that to Mary.

They didn’t ask the second part of this question that is often asked. Why did Jesus tell Mary not to touch him and yet he allowed Thomas to feel the nail prints in his hand? It seems like a contradiction.

I don’t believe it is.

In the case of Mary, one must understand the Greek word behind the English word, cling. It speaks of a grasping, a refusing to let go. In other words, Mary was wanting to grap hold of Jesus in such a way as to never let him go again.

Have you ever lost your child in a busy place? Have you ever forgotten your four year old daughter at church only to have the secretary call you and ask if you might be able to think of something you may have left at the service? I have. (Okay, so I did it twice. Don’t hate me.) There is a sense of panic one experiences when you think you’ve lost a child. When they are found, you often grab hold of them in such a way as to never want to let go again.

Mary wanted to cling to Jesus in this way. To never let go. So that he would not be able to leave again. And yet, he had to leave. He had to ascend to Heaven so that we would have the Holy Spirit. It was his purpose. In a sense, Mary was trying to stop Jesus from fulfilling his purpose because of her own grief and sorrow.

So, why did Jesus allow Thomas to touch him? Because in Thomas’ case, Jesus was proving that he was who he said he was. That he had indeed rose from the dead. He was resolving doubt, not changing course.

The Bible speaks about our heavenly bodies. We don’t really know what it means or what our bodies will be like in Heaven. We do know that they wont be our earthly bodies. There is a transformation that occurs. Perhaps the same is true of Jesus body. Something was happening, and at that moment, he was trying to teach Mary that she had to allow it to continue.

Hope that helps!

Are Bad People Held Accountable?

June 22, 2011 in Ask The Pastor 5

Thanks for all the great questions. I’m about half way through the list of questions already submitted. Feel free to continue submitting your questions.

Today’s question is an interesting one:

If we are all going to Heaven, and our sins have been paid for, how are bad people made accountable?

In one sense, this is a tough question to answer because of how it’s worded. If the statements made prior to the question are true, then it is hard to answer. The key is if.

You see, I don’t believe the initial statement is true. I don’t believe that we all go to Heaven. I’d even have to add a “yes, but …” to the second statement, “all our sins have been paid for …” Heck, since I’m on a roll, I would even challenge the perspective of the actual question!

Let me explain.

Does Doctrine Matter?

June 19, 2011 in Ask The Pastor 2

I’m sitting on a deck attached to a beautiful house in a secluded area just outside Mont Tremblant. The family is sleeping, my sister is out jogging. I’ve just completed my devotions along with reading a chapter of the book I’m currently reading.

In this environment, what would you be thinking about?

I’m sitting here wondering, “Does doctrine truly matter?” Yeah, I’m that hardcore. Or, something …

I launched the Ask The Pastor series by answering the question, “How do we know we’re right?” (you can watch the Bikers’ Church version here or the City Church version here). In that talk, I suggested that on most things, we can’t be 100% we are right and other denominations are wrong. For that reason, we should tread with humility when discussion doctrine or our interpretation of a particular Bible passage.

Why Isn’t Everyone Healed?

June 15, 2011 in Ask The Pastor 1

Why aren’t all believers healed? Is it because of our sin or our lack of faith/prayer or because God works through suffering?

I’m almost embarrassed by all these Ask The Pastor questions. After all, I’m supposed to look like I know what I’m talking about, and yet I seem to begin each response with the same statement: we really don’t know.

It’s especially true when it comes to healing. Why are some people healed and others not? Why is an 80 year old person healed from a terrible disease and a child not? Why?

I don’t know.

I don’t believe the Bible gives us a clear reason why. And yet, we are clearly told to pray for those who are sick and to believe for their healing.

Can We Sin In Heaven?

June 13, 2011 in Ask The Pastor 3

The latest question in the Ask The Pastor blog series is an interesting one:

When we get to heaven, do we still have a free choice? Lucifer choose to disobey and took 1/3 of the angels. Do we struggle with our emotions in Heaven? Do we have to choose to do the right thing?

I must admit, I’ve never had anyone ask me this question before. And yet, a quick search revealed that many people clearly wonder about whether or not we can sin in Heaven.

Like many of the questions being asked in this series, we really can’t say for certain. While the Bible does give us a glimpse of what Heaven is like, for the most part, we can only guess as to what we will experience in Heaven. And so, ultimately, I really don’t know what we will and won’t be able to do in Heaven.

Heaven is going to be a topic we look at on a few occasions with this series. In fact, the final week of our service teachings is going to focus on what happens after we die. One of the questions we’re going to address in that live service is whether or not those who have died can watch us from Heaven.

So, let me toss out some thoughts on this blog question.

What Happened To Joseph?

June 10, 2011 in Ask The Pastor 0

Thank you for the kind comments about this blog series as well as the new design.

Today’s question is a common one:

Why Is Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus never mentioned past the story of Jesus at the age of 12? Why isn’t Mary mentioned after the resurrection?

To be perfectly honest, we can only guess as to the reason why Joseph isn’t mentioned after Jesus turned 12 years of age. The same is true with Mary’s sudden disappearance from the pages of Scripture.

Most theologians generally agree that Joseph likely passed away soon after the events mentioned in Luke 2:41–50. According to the passage, Jesus was twelve when those events occurred. That means Joseph was clearly part of Jesus’ childhood. Joseph was a carpenter, and he most likely passed on much of his passion for carpentry to his son during those early years.

Should Churches Recycle?

June 8, 2011 in Ask The Pastor 8

During the month of June, we are doing a series at both Bikers’ Church & City Church called Ask The Pastor. Along with the questions we’re covering during the messages, I’m going to try and answer question here on the blog.

Here’s today’s question:

Should the church recycle?

Believe it or not, this question is actually a touchy one with some people. There are many church going people who feel that those high on the environmentalist bandwagon have an unhealthy view of mother nature and Earth. When people talk about protecting the planet and how all animal species are equal, etc., some Christians get uncomfortable. Our focus, they argue, should be on saving people, not saving the planet.

I tend to agree that you can quickly get off balance when it comes to environmental issues. When Al Gore put out his documentary, it suddenly became very fashionable to demand a stronger focus on all things green. Here in Canada, we even had a political party rise up (if you can call one seat in parliament “rising up”). Very few bothered to check and see just how accurate Gore was being with his statistics. It seemed the majority of people just bought everything they were being told about global warming, the destruction of the environment, and the need for people to change how they lived.

Dating In The Church

June 6, 2011 in Ask The Pastor 1

We are continuing our Ask The Pastor series on the Blog. During the Thursday & Sunday services I addressed the question, “There are so many doctrines, teachings, and interpretations out there. How do we know that we are right and others are wrong?” If you want to see the answer to that question, you can watch the Bikers’ Church Version or the City Church Version.

Here is today’s blog question:

How should you go about dating someone who attends the church?

It’s Monday. It’s very warm outside. I didn’t sleep the best last night. And so, I figured I’d tackle this incredibly deep, intense question rather than one of the many other questions I received.

So, here goes. Get ready. This is going to be good.

If you want to date someone who attends the church, ask them out. I know, it’s radical. It’s wild. It’s so unlike how you would go about dating someone in a different environment. But, go for it. Ask them. If they say yes, great. If they tell you that they would rather poke their eyes out with a contaminated fork, then take it on the chin and consider it a maybe.

Alright, maybe it could get a little complicated than I’m suggesting.

The Bible and UFOs

June 2, 2011 in Ask The Pastor 1

This week we are kicking off a new series at the two churches called Ask The Pastor. As I mentioned earlier this week, I’m going to be addressing a lot of the questions right here on my blog.

The first question I thought I’d cover has to do with Aliens and UFO’s. “Does the Bible say anything about the possible existence of Aliens or life on other planets?”

Now, some might be quick to dismiss this question as a silly one. And yet, according to the website Aliens Central, a Newsweek poll discovered that 48% of Americans believe UFOs are real. 29% believe that we have made contact with Aliens, and 48% believe there is a government coverup concerning UFO knowledge.

A lot of people seem to believe in some form of alien existence.

Ask Away …

May 30, 2011 in Ask The Pastor, Bikers' Church, City Church, Spirituality 0

This week we are launching into a 5-week series called Ask The Pastor. For the past month, we’ve been collecting questions during the two church services as well as via email. Using those questions, we’ve come up with the top five, and over the next few weeks, we’ll do our best to answer them. I think it’s going to be a fun series. The questions are quite varied, ranging from scientific (creation vs evolution) to spiritual (Heaven and Hell) to unusual (UFO’s and aliens).