Responsibility

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
-Romans 3:23
You might read the verse above and think that you haven't sinned. Or you might think that your sin is not your fault. Well, everyone has sinned, whether they like it or not, but that isn't what I wanted to talk about today. Today I want to talk about responsibility. Recently I have been reading a book by John Stott titled "The Cross of Christ." One interesting section discussed guilt and responsibility. Who or what is to blame for our sin? Many people will admit that they have sinned but then will accuse something else for causing that sin. For example, people will often blame their sinful nature, people, or the circumstances they are in. While these do all play a part in us sinning, we cannot place the responsibility on them. Those things do influence us but do not tell us what to do. They can affect how we act but cannot control how we act. Ultimately the responsibility falls on us. This leads me to another important aspect of responsibility- choice. We have the ability to choose what we do as humans. When we make decisions, we have to take responsibility for them. If we make a wrong choice, we are accountable for that choice; not the circumstance or anything else. This leads me to an important distinction between consequence and responsibility. Every choice that we make has a consequence, but it also has a responsibility. What's the difference? The result of our choice is the consequence. If somebody murders someone, the consequence is the loss of life of an individual and going to jail. The responsibility is who is accountable for the action. The man or woman who murders is responsible for the murder because they did the action of killing. A consequence won't necessarily get someone into jail, but the responsibility will. A person who is deemed incapable of acting with judgement or self-control (someone who is "impaired") will often have a different sentence than someone who is in their right mind. Why? Because the person that is in their right mind has to take responsibility for their actions because they willfully committed it. C.S Lewis wrote that the law should not sentence people based on deterring others but on giving what that person deserves. You cannot deserve anything unless you are responsible for you actions. This is not only negative however. When someone takes an action to do good, such as Martin Luther King Jr., they are praised for their actions. People recognize that he took an action to do good and he was responsible. You might ask, why do we have to take responsibility? I believe that responsibility is one of the things that make humans different. If a tree falls over and kills someone, you cannot hold the tree responsible because the tree did not choose to kill that person. The freedom of choice is limited by the burden of responsibility. Taking away our responsibility takes away our humanity.
-Smart

Finishing

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
-2 Timothy 4:7
Today was the last day of my high school career, and it was great. I cannot believe that I will no longer go to my school anymore and that I will be off to college. Finishing high school feels absolutely great, although I will have to leave some people behind. All four years of high school were a lot of fun, and I don't regret too much. Today I don't want to talk too much about me finishing school, but about finishing. There's something great about finishing things, especially if a lot of work is put into it. Why is that? What is so great about finishing? One reason I think we like to finish things is because accomplishing our goals is satisfying. When we see the fruition of our efforts, we take pleasure in it. We feel as if we finally are able to get what we put in work for. We like to see results. Another reason we might like finishing is because we no longer have to continue doing whatever it was we were doing. For example, the reason finishing high school is great is because I know I won't have to go back and do more work. Knowing that is a great feeling, even though I know that I will have to do even harder work in college. But for now, I just want to enjoy finishing high school. I believe that finishing things gives us a sense of satisfaction because we get to complete what we want to achieve. Doing what we want to do is definitely really good. When we finish what we want to do, it is even better. Sometimes finishing things feels good because we know we are helping other people. For example, when Jesus died on the cross, He knew that even though it was a terrible experience, He was able to save those He loved (which is us). Another example, when I went on a missions trip to Mexico, it felt great to be there and help people. When I came back, it felt good because I knew I helped people and hopefully made an impact on their lives. Anyway, it's definitely better to finish things than leave them unfinished. Leaving things half-done is so unsatisfying, although it may seem easier to just quit. Quitting in the middle of something may be easier, but it is more satisfying and beneficial if you finish it.
-Smart

What is the Truth?

"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'."
-John 14:6
I did not want to talk about truth without addressing its significance, so I decided I would write about the truth. Notice I said the truth, and not truth. In previous posts about truth, I said that there can only be one truth. Truth is not relative, but absolute; so there can only be one truth. So the question is, "what is the truth?" This is a very debated question that is argued time and time again. Why? Because no one knows the truth for certain, and there is no definitive evidence of the truth. I cannot give any evidence that I am correct in saying what the truth is, or any that will persuade anyone who is convinced of something otherwise. I understand that you may not agree with me, which is fine. To answer the question of what the truth is, I looked at John 14:6. Jesus assures His disciples that He is the truth. This answers the question quite accurately and directly. Jesus is the truth. I want to try to explain this a little more however. Again I want to look at John 14. Jesus' disciples ask Him for the way, not the truth. It seems excessive for Jesus to say "I am the way and the truth and the life". Why did Jesus not just say "I am the way"? I believe that Jesus understood what the disciples not only were asking, but what they were seeking as well. The disciples asked for the way, but they also wanted truth and life. Why did they want the truth and life? Everyone is seeking the way, truth and life. How do I know this? Because without these things people are lost, lied to, and dead. People are surrounded in lies, and want some sort of constancy in their life, which is truth, because the truth is constant and never fails. Jesus recognized this, and wanted the disciples to know and to have the truth. Everyone is seeking the truth, but don't know how to. They look at philosophy, theology, celebrities, you name it. All these things will not give anyone the truth. How do we find the truth? We have to seek it; but we can't seek truth itself. Seeking truth as an idea or concept will not help you find it. It is impossible to find anything in this manner. To find the truth, we have to seek Jesus. Jesus is not an idea or concept, He is a person. You can seek Jesus because He is a person, and He promises that if you seek you will find.
-Smart  

Is Truth Relative?

Last week I wrote about truth and what it is. Today I want to talk about what seems to be what everyone brings up when I talk about truth; is truth relative? In this politically correct era, there came this idea that truth is relative to the person, and there is no absolute truth. How does that make sense? The nature of truth goes against the idea that it is relative. Truth should be absolute, or truth shouldn't exist. Some things are relative, like opinions, beliefs, attitude, and other things. Truth cannot be relative because that's not what truth is. Take again the example of colors. Everyone agrees that green is a certain color. When people think of grass, they know that grass is green. That is a truth. How people may see the color green might be different, but everyone knows that grass is green. How people perceive the color does not change the color. Likewise, how people perceive truth does not change the truth. There's this idea I heard that reality is relative. For example, right now your reality is that you are reading this blog. For all you know, nothing else is going on in the world. Therefore your reality is limited. My reality can be totally different than what yours is. I don't know what your reality is and you don't know mine. However this view is incorrect. Even though I don't know your reality, it doesn't mean your reality isn't there. I just cannot experience reality in the way that you do. Reality is absolute, regardless of how it is experienced. Truth is the same. One last example. Take any movie that you have seen. Some people say that the movie is good, and others say that it is bad. So is the truth of the book relative? No, because what people think of the movie is not a truth, but an opinion. An opinion is relative, but truth is not. The truth is that the movie exists, regardless of whether you like it or not. Truth exists regardless of people's opinions on it. Truth is not relative or subjective; it is absolute and objective.
-Smart