I'm talking anything from David Copperfield to David Blayne to Criss Angel to a random guy on the street corner, shuffling cards...it all fascinates me! I remember watching Copperfield make a jet disappear! I remember watching Blayne in the water bubble! I remember watching Angel go through a wood chipper and come out alive! But...the one magic trick that freaks me out the most....the levitating card out of the deck trick! Have you seen this one?
I watched a guy on my college baseball team do this one night, as we were traveling through Florida, on a Spring Break Tourney, which we stayed in a Boys Club...yeah, this was one of those "you always remember where you were moments."
This guy, opened a fresh pack of cards, held them out in front of me and told me to pick a card and remember it. After doing so, I placed the card back in the deck....now, I have fallen for a figured out the ole "flip the cards over and land on my card trick." That one doesn't freak me out anymore because it has to do with counting cards and anything with math in it, I usually tend to ignore.
So, this guy says some silly, rhyming phrase....just to be funny, he sets the deck of cards up against the wall, to where the deck is parallel with the wall and not falling over....says another phrase, flicks the deck with his finger......AND MY CARD RISES FROM THE DECK!!!!!! WHAT??????.....this is also the reason I can't say the catch phrase of the Atlanta Falcons (Rise Up), because it reminds me of this freaky card trick!
Now, some would say, "you shouldn't be messin' with the devils game." I hear ya, but to me, these are more tricks of the mind than turning a wooden staff into a snake! I truly understand the danger in the mind warping aspect of magic too...that's why it freaks me out! (And get this...the college team I played on was a non-denominational, Christian school, so of coarse we had the one Pentecostal who was ready to cast demons out of us and the deck of cards....he was joking....I think).
This brought to my mind an idea that the church practices "magical principles" at times, when it comes to the saving grace of Christ. For some denominations, there is a sinners prayer...spoken by the pastor or evangelist and then repeated by those getting saved. Then for others, there is a class you take at varying ages (depending on the denomination) and after the class, you are Christian...if you stand in front of the church and say "I do" and "I will" to a few questions, you are a believer.
Now, neither of these is full-proof and I do believe that genuine faith can be the result of both, absolutely...hallelujah, amen and praise God! But after being in the ministry now for 17 years, the most common answer, to the question, "how does someone become a Christian," is a tie between "confirmation class" and "the sinners prayer." That's an answer to a Gospel question without the Gospel in the answer. They may have been spoken and attended, but were they understood?
Yes, with both the sinners prayer and the confirmation classes, words are formed with the mouth and uttered with a voice, but was the heart ever part of it...
Let me say it this way....have you ever repeated the words someone is saying and while your mouth was moving, your mind and heart were somewhere else? You verbalized it, but if pressed later for an explanation of what you said, all you could come up with would be a blank stare while the crickets were serenading in the background?
How many times have you read a book, especially for required reading during middle or high school and you did indeed finish every page, but when the test came, you were struggling to connect the dots, place the theme or setting or remember the minor characters or even the main characters....
I remember this test we used to take in school where you were timed in reading a certain section and then you turned the page to answer the question and it was a no-no to flip back. I hated those tests!
Here's another...showing up for class doesn't make someone a student. A student, is someone who actively engages the materials and learns the material. Showing up to class doesn't make students, it makes attendees.
Here's another...showing up for class doesn't make someone a student. A student, is someone who actively engages the materials and learns the material. Showing up to class doesn't make students, it makes attendees.
I am not at all saying that if you have said the sinners prayer or you went to confirmation, you don't have genuine faith...not at all...what is more important here is that we are convinced because we spoke with our mouths and believed in our hearts that Christ lived, died and rose from the dead and not by any of our own merits, we were saved.
I run into people far too often, adults and youth alike that have spoken the words but when it comes to believing it....well, it's just not believable. There is no assurance or an original confidence that the author of Hebrews writes about chapter 3. There is no foundation, no point of reference to look back at and draw strength from.
These 2 modes are great starting points to start the race. They both act as a spring board to launch us further into deeper waters....but they can't withstand the pressures of an eternal point of view in mind. They just don't last that long. They were both a moment in time for many and neither are long reaching!
Romans 10:10 points to the dynamics of what is started at the sinners pray or confirmation class, if done in this manner..."for with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."
What about you? Are you living in the death and resurrection of Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit...or did you learn the right stuff, say the phrase about a man dying on the cross but when it goes beyond that, well... "dead men don't rise from the dead....it's just not believable!"
I guess the bottom line is this....were the words spoken "hollow" or "hallowed"? Huge difference!
No comments:
Post a Comment