HIATUS

About twice yearly, I make a trip to Uganda (East Africa) to visit my kids, lead some conferences, etc. During the few days before, the time during, and the few days after, I usually take a break from all of my blogs. This is that break. I’ll be blogging again around the middle of May (2010).

Seen in Heaven

Dear Victorious,

My uncle died last year, and my aunt keeps talking about how much she's looking forward to seeing him in heaven. Will she really know him in heaven? If so, will he still be her husband? What if she remarries?

Ursula T. - McKees Rocks, PA

Dear Ursula,

People often talk about seeing all their friends and loved ones who have passed on before them when they get to heaven. That may be the case too. But that will not be our primary focus in heaven. We will be worshipping God full time then. So reunions with loved ones are more likely to be focused on the grace and glory of God, His wondrous love, and His mighty works.

What does the Bible say about whether we will be able to recognize people in the afterlife?

King Saul recognized Samuel when the witch of Endor summoned Samuel from the realm of the dead (1 Samuel 28:8-17).

When David’s infant son died, David declared, “I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Samuel 12:23). David assumed that he would be able to recognize his son in heaven, despite the fact that he died as a baby.

In Luke 16:19-31, Abraham, Lazarus, and the rich man were all recognizable after death.

At the transfiguration, Moses and Elijah were recognizable (Matthew 17:3-4).

In these examples, the Bible does seem to indicate that we will be recognizable after death. The Bible declares that when we arrive in heaven, we will “be like him [Jesus]; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

Just as our earthly bodies were of the first man Adam, so will our resurrection bodies be just like Christ’s (1 Corinthians 15:47).

“And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:49, 53).

Many people recognized Jesus after His resurrection (John 20:16, 20; 21:12; 1 Corinthians 15:4-7). If Jesus was recognizable in His glorified body, my guess is that we also will be recognizable in our glorified bodies.

As for the last part of your question, I suspect that all relationships will be vastly different than we know them here on earth. God will truly be the center of our focus there. So the significance of our other relationships is likely to be different. Consequently, the individual who has been widowed and remarried will likely find no conflict at all in heaven - because the context of those relationships will be so vastly different from anything we know today.

Clean House

Dear Victorious,

I watch TV shows like "Clean House" or the one on hoarders. Is there a Biblical perspective on these people?

Carmen D. - El Paso, TX

Dear Carmen,

Yes, there may be one or more Biblical perspectives on these people who have so much stuff in their homes that they and their homes become dysfunctional and need and intervention by outsiders. Here's just a few.

They are selfish.
They are greedy.
They worship false gods.
They don't trust God.

Is God Mad?

Dear Victorious,

Do you think God is mad at the world, or at any country or people group in particular? It seems that there are wars and disasters all over the world. And some point to the some of these events as "punishment from God" for whatever sins seem to be on their mind at the time. Is this really how God works? Should we view these bad things as punishment from God?

Elias T. - Rio Rancho, NM

Dear Elias,

No, I don't think God is mad at us. Because He is holy and righteous, He cannot tolerate sin. But think of that in the same context you might think of a human body not being able to tolerate a foreign substance. Don't think of it as God's choosing to be intolerant. If anything, He chooses more patience with our sin than most of us would!

Bad things happen, even to good people. But to blame them always on God really misstates who God is and misrepresents how God works. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, we fell under a new covenant with the Lord. Under this new covenant, there is forgiveness of sin. There is power to not sin.

If anything, we should view these disasters as opportunities for people to turn to God. More often than not, when the disasters are over, we have incredible testimonies of human kindness, recovery, and human perseverance. When disaster strikes, decent human beings come together to love on one another. People also tend to turn to God in their hour of greatest need.

God isn't mad. Don't mistake who He is.

Love Is

Dear Victorious,

1 Corinthians 13 is often quoted as the definition of love. But frankly, I still find it to be a little abstract. Can you explain it to me in terms that are easier to understand? Patient and kind are a little vague, if you know what I mean.

Boris R. - Russelsheim, Germany

Dear Boris,

The more narrow reference is 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, which says, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails."

Perhaps words like patient and kind seem a little subjective. But you'd surely agree that terms like self-seeking, angered, protects, trusts, and perseveres are a little more concrete. More importantly, they are not open to cultural interpretation.

Biblical love puts up with a lot - but doesn't enable. It draws firm boundaries - but offers grace. It holds people accountable - but restores them to wholeness. It serves others - but isn't a door mat. As you can see, there is a fine line where love in the Biblical sense can be perverted. On one end of that scale of perversion, we have plain meanness. On the other end, we have enablement (of other's bad behaviors).

In practical application, love says I won't get mad at you for offending me. I'll forgive you even before I know if it's your fault - or if you're sorry. I'll do that favor for you - even if it's an inconvenience or sacrifice for me. But ... I won't share my life with you if you're abusive or take advantage of me. I won't put up with your whining or laziness. In fact, I'll call you on those things and exhort you to grow up.

I hope that helps clarify this for you.

Addiction Recovery

Dear Victor,

I know that you recommend the Celebrate Recovery program for addicts and others who need help. I've been through that and also secular recovery programs. I've been to counseling and tried several other things to overcome my compulsive overeating. But it's been of no help. What can I do to get God to heal me of this awful disease?

Harley F. - Las Vegas, NV

Dear Harley,

You've not really given me enough information to intelligently answer your question. But I'll try my best. The way you're speaking it leads me to suspect that you're misinformed about the problem you have.

Compulsive overeating is typically not so much a disease as it is a sin pattern, rooted in selfishness and/or self-centeredness. I know the world would like us to believe that it's not our fault. (I listen to the commercials too!) But blame and responsibility are two different things.

Quite often we find that God has delivered someone from an addiction, but they continue to behave as if they were an addict. When we get inside their head and analyze the situation, we find that they have received the power to walk away from the addiction. Nevertheless, they are still acting as if they were addicted. Why? Most of the time we find it is because of selfish desires, selfishness, self-centeredness, etc.

If you've truly worked the recovery programs to your best, and are walking in wholeness and fullness of Christ, then the reason you're still compulsively overeating needs to be examined in prayer. Ask God to reveal to you what He sees. It's a request He's usually quite happy to answer!

Finally, please write back and let me know the outcome of this prayer effort. I'll be praying for you, asking God to reveal the truth to you. I care about what you're going through, and am convinced that God doesn't want you to live this way.

Greatest Question

Dear Victorious,

What do you think is the greatest unanswered question that mankind might have for God?

Larry T. - Springdale, SC

Dear Larry,

Well, I for one would like a better answer to why God created us in the first place. (I know it was to please Himself, but somehow that doesn't seem worth it.) But probably the bigger question that doesn't seem to have any answer (other than it pleases Him somehow) is why God hasn't eradicated evil yet.

It's fair to say that all of the unanswered questions do have answers. We just haven't discovered them yet, or they haven't been revealed to us yet. But the answers exist. This is where faith becomes more relevant. We go on believing in answers that we don't even have access to. At a broad level, we can understand that things which don't seem to make sense to us - like the ongoing proliferation of evil - somehow fit into God's grand plan for everything. And that is where we find hope in the midst of those unanswered questions.

Ignorant Salvation

Dear Victorious,

Is it possible for someone to be saved and not know it? My sister was baptized as a baby but doesn't think she's a Christian. I thought that was the purpose of baptism.

Carolyn I. - Houma, LA

Dear Carolyn,

No, it is not possible for someone to be saved and not know it. Humans thought up the notion of baptizing babies to make sure they get into heaven. It was never God's idea. (And heaven pretty much runs on God's rules ... not ours.) For someone to receive salvation from the eternal consequences of sin (i.e., hell), he or she must consciously choose Christ. That choice is then marked with a public baptism, where we declare the old is dead and the new is born in us. Baptizing babies does nothing for the baby.

Bible Reading

Dear Victorious,

I've heard that the Bible is the best selling book of all time. But it seems that nobody reads their Bibles. Why don't people read their Bibles?

Charla A. - Waukesha, WI

Dear Charla,

I've heard that statistic too ... that the Bible is the best selling book of all time. I believe it too. It is the most important book ever written. Consider who inspired it and who authored it. So people buy it because it is the most important book they could own.

So why don't they read it? I believe the reason is simply because they don't see the point. People have been told that the Bible contains timeless treasures, speaks to us, inspires us, solves all of life's problems, etc. And those beliefs are probably what inspires us to buy a Bible for ourselves. However, if we haven't experienced any of those benefits, then we may not see the point in reading our Bible. The benefits of Bible reading may seem so abstract as to not look real to us.

I suspect that most Bibles are purchased by someone to be given to someone else. My thirteen year old son, for example, has at least ten Bibles already. He hasn't purchased a single one of them. All have been gifts from well intentioned individuals and organizations. While the boy is a voracious reader, he doesn't read any of those Bibles on his shelf, because at thirteen, he doesn't see the point.

Dynamics like this make the Bible the best selling book of all time --- and most copies that are sold don't get read.

Graven Images

Dear Victorious,

The Bible says (in Exodus 20:4) that we are not to make graven images. Doesn't this mean that photography would be considered inappropriate for God's people?

Marilee N. - Chattanooga, TN

Dear Marilee,

No, that would be taking Scripture out of context. The prohibition for graven images refers to making of idols that people worship. In the days that the Bible was written, statues, for example, became objects of worship. Those statues were most commonly of people or animals. But they could have been statues of anything.

The second of the Ten Commandments that you refer to is a commandment not to make any image of anything that's created with the purpose of worshipping that image or worshipping that creation. This extends even to pictures or statues of Jesus Himself. We are not to worship a picture of Jesus --- or a statue of His mother, for example.

Photography is fine. It's a good way to help us focus on people we love, appreciation for God's creation, or even to entertain ourselves. Photography, like TV, is also a good way to take information to people who can't experience it's source. Seeing photos of another country, for example, helps me experience it even though I cannot visit it.

I find nothing in the Bible that prohibits photography. In fact, I'm sure God gave us this gift and is delighted when we use it for godly purposes.

Biggest Challenge

Dear Victorious,

What is the biggest challenge that Christians face in our modern day society --- that Christians in another time wouldn't have faced?

Earl C. - Dallas, TX

Dear Earl,

Oh that's an easy one for me. The greatest challenge is to quiet the noise ... which is exacerbated, proliferated and at times even controlled by the technology. It is impossible to seek Him first or even to hear God speaking when our minds are on something else. And technology has created a near constant battle for our minds. TV, radio, Internet, blackberry, iPhone, iPod, and other forms of intrusive technology want to be on all the time - always consuming our attention.

The greatest challenge for Christians today is to quiet the noise of life so that we can really be still and know that He is God.

April Fool's

Dear Victorious,

The supposed "all fool's day" is coming up the first of April. What would you say is the contemporary definition of a fool?

Lawrence P. - Redmond, WA

Dear Lawrence,

We often think of fools as being someone who is stupid, does stupid things --- or has been tricked. People may refer to an experience as leaving them feeling "as if they had been played for a fool." In other words, our society seems to view fools as people who don't know.

I think there is a better definition. A fool is someone who relies on his (or her) own understanding. They tend to believe that their understanding is both comprehensive and accurate. (It is neither.) But they proceed to process their thinking, make decisions, take actions and respond as if the universe of understanding which they posses is all there is.

So in my opinion, a fool is someone who does not allow for the fact that his or her understanding (in any situation) is probably flawed and very likely to be incomplete.