Repentance vs. Regeneration

One of the most shocking statements I have ever heard made about Islam, and any other religion, is that they they all teach pretty much the same thing. I was utterly shocked when a gutsy Muslim Apologist even went as far as using the word "repentance" to describe how salvation is obtained in Islam. He kept going even claiming that it was similar to the Christian experience. I was completely outraged, how could they even attempt to make such a claim. It's been a few years since hearing those words, and I now know why he had the audacity to claim such a similarity. 

At the heart of Christianity is the belief that the historical man Jesus Christ, the living Son of God, resurrected from the grave, and ascended into heaven, from which he poured out his Holy Spirit into our souls, when we place our faith in him. The tenses change on purpose, because the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon people, and continues to be poured out into souls today, for everyone who places their faith in Jesus. Even a little incsy wincsy bit of faith, is precious in God's sight, and he will not crush it, but protect it in his majestic hands. When you believe and the Holy Spirit comes to live within you, things start to change at home. All of a sudden you think differently, like different things, and don't like other things you liked before. 

What the Church in many regards has failed to explain is what happens when you believe. How does it all work? What if I was grew up in the Church, and I can't remember not believing? (A future piece will be written to address that.)

These are legitimate questions, that we don't talk about, or when the Church does, its often the wrong message people are hearing. Sometimes the only message people hear from the Church is "turn to God, dress modestly, don't do drugs, and stop sleeping around." That is not the gospel, or the good news about Christianity. In fact, that's not good news at all. Good news is that God loves me so much, he took upon flesh, came to Earth as the man Jesus Christ, died in my place, for my sins, gives himself to me as a free gift, changes my heart, my mind, and desires enabling me to follow him, with such intensity that I am called a "new person". That's good news. Following a bunch of rules I can't follow in the first place is NOT GOOD NEWS. 

The problem is that a lot of churches still tell people exactly that: to devote yourself to God and follow a bunch of rules. That is not GOOD NEWS. That's religion, and it doesn't belong in the Church. But the problem goes much deeper than that. The problem becomes exponentially deeper when words like "repentance" are thrown around and never explained. So much so that some MUSLIMS think that they have obtained the Christian experience. Then Christians get judged harshly because we don't "appear" to be as devoted to God, as they, or any other religion is.

First and foremost, "repentance" as used in the Christian sense does not mean "devoting yourself to God and following rules". Externally it may have that appearance but the Greek word used the New Testament for repentance, metanoia,  literally means "to change your mind". That is exactly the meaning intended. It means to change your mind about who God is, how to worship him, its a casting off of all self-reliance, and putting all your trust in God. 

This is why Paul can say statements like "testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." as his central message he has been preaching in Acts 20:21.

And then again in Romans 8:6 "For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." Notice here that it is the mind that is being set on one thing or another. Repentance toward God involves setting your mind on his Spirit, the Holy Spirit. 

Notice another thing that is different about Christian repentance, is that the object of your worship is real, its Jesus Christ. The man who proved he was God when he resurrected  from the dead about 2000 years ago and the whole world has not been the same ever since. 

There is two main problems with the religious view of repentance, besides it being an unauthentic meaning of the word as used in Scripture. 

• One, if your devotion is not to the real God, it has no power to offer you, and in fact, can do zilch for you, besides ticking the real God off. That's why Jesus Christ is the object of Christian repentance, we turn from our old way of thinking, to a new way of thinking looking to Jesus Christ, the real God.
• Second, your devotion to God will never be good enough to satisfy God's requirements. Why? Because we are a jacked up people, humans are flawed. God says "your righteousness is like dirty menstrual rags to me" paraphrasing Isaiah 64:6. That's why you always here stuff like, religious people are hypocrites. Why? Because they are. You can't be perfect, and God demands perfection, because he is perfect. 

The good news is that you don't have to be perfect. God figured out a way to be perfect for you, by being the perfect sacrifice on the cross, where all of his righteousness comes to you when you trust in him. Then the perfect comes inside of you, and gives you power to live a new life, that you otherwise could not have lived. We call this "regeneration" and it is different from repentance. Regeneration is what happens before and after repentance. Its God at work  inside of you making you a new person from the inside out by changing your heart, and desires. The difference is that you can have a false repentance, without regeneration. Without regeneration, your repentance just looks like religion, because you have no new heart. You are still the evil, wicked, proud, self-righteous human. Regeneration is what happened when all of a sudden you don't like what you used to do, because you think it is wrong now. Regeneration is when you all of a sudden want to read the Bible in one day, because if God has spoken, you want to hear what he has to say. 

Paul in his letter to the Philippians says "work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

Paul here shows that regeneration happens both before and after repentance. Regeneration through repentance produces the following results inside of us "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control". 

Regeneration is the God part of the "new you" in the Christian experience, and repentance is your role in the "new you" in the Christian experience. Finally lets not forget that false repentance excludes God's grace in our salvation. None of us deserves salvation, but God gave it to us as a free gift.

"At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:3-7)

Concluding thoughts:

Repentance is also not "self-abnegation" as described my Mark Oppenheimer in the Wall Street Journal. Christian repentance, is preceded by regeneration, so that you have the power to deny your weaker desires, because you have a greater desire for the pure, the perfect, and truth. Yes your "self" needs to be denied, but you can't do that yourself, or you get something stupid called religion. It is by going out to God. Christian self-denial is through "you" going to Jesus, its not by punching a wall has hard as you can, or by "not eating watermelons, because you can't find evidence the prophet Mohammed ate watermelons," which is what one Sufi Muslim did.

Where is true love to be found?

The Lonely Flower

I remember asking myself the same question as I was driving down the road the blasting Haddaway's "What is love?"  followed by Black Eyed Peas "Where is the love?" Eventually a remix of Haddaway's song came out titled "No love". 

I didn't have an answer then, and I began to suppose it must not exist. 

Now I realize that as Western culture begins to drown itself in moral relativism, it is really inside of our culture where the love doesn't exist. I mean how could love exist in a morally relativistic culture? I import my meaning of love into the word, the wife-beating husband imports his meaning, the nihilistic philosophers claim it doesn't exist, Freud thinks its sex, Plato thinks its the ultimate good, Buddha thinks its a destructive self-inhibiting attachment, Rudolfo Anaya thinks its tolerance, so where is the true meaning of love?

What do I mean by the true meaning? I mean true as in, that which conforms to reality. Where is the love that is really real? Can I taste it, touch it, smell it? How will I know its real? How do I measure it?

Is love a profusion of chemical reactions to sexual arousal? Is it found in the ecstatic pulsations of sexual intercourse? If so is love nothing but oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin? Then why do we love things we've never seen or touched. Am I sexually around by my dog, but still we pour out our love for it? Would your love for your dog be considered real love? Is there more than one type of love? Or is love universal in this sense, just varying in intensity with the objects of my affection? Which begs another question, do I choose what I love, or its not up to me?

Is love a verb, is it a noun? Is it only the action of showing affections, or is it the feeling of having affection?

One thing everybody seems to agree on is love hurts. Why does it hurt then? Is it the chemicals? If it is the chemicals then why do we spring to life when our lover returns? Why are hurting love songs so "sad and slow". Is it the harmonics associated with depreciation of neurotransmitters in the brain?

Is love the backend of the belt of a wife-beating man? Is it absolute loyalty, obedience, and respect to your spouse? Is love then oppressive, lacking freedom or choice? Why then do many women in domestic abuse cases drop the charges? Why then do women linger around disloyal men? Why then is love exclusive? Then is it intolerant? Is Buddha correct then? Is love really "evol"? Is that what's really real?

Rather than simply write an article about where true love is not found, as many Christian's often do. I want to write an article of where true love is found, which everyone at large wants to know.

True love will never be found in a relativistic setting. If everyone is allowed to define love, then all of a sudden, love is an exclusive personal experience, containing its own meaning that the person gives it, and is not something that can be recognized. On the contrary love is intrinsically bound to charity, that is sharing. How do we measure that? Do we simply look at something and then call that love, thereby doing what we hoped to avoid, that is importing our own meaning into love? Yet still our minds want an objective reference point, a springboard, a measuring tool from which to say something is love. What universal factors can be seen about this ideal?

Love is personal. Rocks don't love. Humans and mammals love, because love is a conscious activity.

Love places "value or significance" into someone. 

Love carries affection towards someone. 

Love's affection results in action.

We can say we love something, but usually we mean that as an extension of our love for another. 

True love doesn't place significance in non-living things, beyond their value as an extension of love as an expression of another person.

Why doesn't true love place significance in non-living things, because they are not personal, incapable of relationship, because love is a conscious activity between persons.

Love is exclusive to that which you place significance into.

This is the most difficult thing for our culture to accept. Love is limited in who the love is being poured into. If someone says they love everyone, does he or she mean that places "value and significance" which correspond to carrying affection, and then puts that into action, is the same as the love he or she has for his spouse? So this individual, in order for his love of everyone to be non-exclusive, would have to act equally for all. Otherwise your love is exclusive, because you only have sex with your spouse, and you don't share your bedroom with everyone else. In a "tolerance" view, this love is all-inclusive in that all combinations of sexual partners are acceptable, because it would be unloving to exclude anyone. How absurd! Not only is there physical limitation set by natural order but also emotional limitations, which would prevent you from being absolutely fair across the board, therefore excluding some, while attempting to be inclusive. No wonder true love is no where to be found in the culture at large, because of the fallacy of inclusion! We have not realized the exclusivity of love, and particularly that of who we invite into our bedroom. Is this an advocation for monogamy? Of course it is.

Let's just look at "romantic" love right now. We can argue for different types of love in a different piece. So if love is about one pouring affection into another, why does it seem non-existent, we do this all the time, don't we? Yes because there is another marker of love! 

Love has to be self-less. Wow, what a brain tease, one has to lose their self motives in pouring out affection into another. But as we look around we see a world inundated with a self-seeking love. 

Like my picture's, like my body, like my eyes, like my fears, like my style, like my car, like my life. 

That's not love, and we know it. Yet this is the affection we give to others. We demand to win something in return like an investor.

Our love has become a contract. 

We hold each other hostage in our relationships, "If I give you more of my body, you must give me more of your affection and attachment." "If I do A, then you must do B." 

A lot of times these things are unspoken. But you see the hurt and the tears well up when the terms of the agreement are not met. Then we think, "Communication must the problem." Can I just say, that the problem is deeper that just communication.

Now here comes the tie breaker; the reason we don't see perfectly true love in this world, is because we as humans simply don't have perfectly true love within us all of the time. We want eternal love, we want self-less love, we want an enduring love. Someone who can put up with us even when we mess up. Love without secrets, love that keeps hoping, love that protects and nurtures its own.

But these things are impossible if you have selfish ambition. We want this kind of love, but we don't want to give it. How can you overlook and forgive someone if your motives coming into the relationship was simply to receive true love, and you carry this contract mentality. You see in a contract, if you break the agreement, it is no longer binding! But the love we seek is never-ending. We want the love that lasts till death, we just don't want to give it. 

Recently Jamie Varon published a thought provoking article called "This Is How We Date" in which she critiqued to covetous culture of our generation when it comes to dating. She writes how we constantly compare our relationships with each other through social media because our primary concern is not the relationship anymore, its ourselves. A lot of people are talking about the truth about the culture of love we have here in the West. Can we simply just excuse ourselves because we don't know the truth? I don't think so.

I think the real reason we don't want to give this steadfast, keep-going, persevering love, is because it requires so much sacrifice. The abandonment of self is the utmost priority in this love. You have to set aside your needs and wants and tend to others. It means you may not be glorified. It means you will suffer loss, emotional, physical, mental loss. 

Now its up to you to answer the question, is it worth it? I can say unashamedly, it is.

Where is true love to be found? 

"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:10

The sad reality is that God came into the world, and we showed him our love by crucifying him.

Yet true love is seen at the cross in the sacrificial work of Jesus on our behalf, and if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Selfish Love vs Selfless Love

(From April 20140

I stumbled upon something that utterly grieves me that, that I feel I must share my thoughts about it.
Yes in this is love, that the wages of your self righteous rebellious, selfish, Freudian, Maslow affirming, desires have all been paid for in BLOOD by the one who gave all of himself to us. With one act of sacrifice, he broke the bondage to selfishness. He rose from the dead proving he was God, king of the universe come to teach us how to love. Author of life, yet he gave us his life. Judge of the world yet he forgives you of all sin.

http://elitedaily.com/dating/why-falling-in-love-should-be-the-most-selfish-act-of-your-life/

Paul Hudson a self proclaimed philosopher and contributor to the "Elite Daily" thinks that love is or should be completely selfish, via picking up this trait through evolution.

"We have evolved, as animals, to survive, which necessitates us looking out for ourselves first and foremost."
Unfortunately this is a classic lie purported as the loop hole of evolutionary psychology for having to account for the screwed up world we live in and the inherent evil every human being contributes to this world.

Evolution is the result of natural selection. It is the result of survival. We did not evolve to survive rather evolutionary biology claims we have survived and therefore we evolved. As for those who continue to beat the evolutionary psychology drum consider that an ideal in our society and our minds is sacrifice and it does not help us survive yet we all feel internally obliged toward it in one form or another. Why do you naturally feel guilty when you see a little child in a building on fire that you don't risk your life to run in and rescue her. Does evolution think that life is precious to and we shouldn't do holocausts or it hasn't figured that one out yet? Sacrifice is the ultimate ideal of our society in fact, even though today our society is now drowned in utilitarianism and no longer wants to hear of ideals. Ideals are becoming less and less popular, distorted and unattainable fiction as the article suggests selfless love to be.
But let me notify you that no matter how much the nihilistic philosophers of our age continue to beat the drums selfishness and autonomy, real love will and always stands in contrast to these.

Paul Hudson has rather reflected the the post-modern lingo for what love means to us Americans. I assess that the love he speaks of is a mere charm, a lie we tell those we wish to "own" and have selfishly. Yes many of us lie that we love, which as Hudson points out is simply our overwhelming craving for attributes of the individual. Yet this is not the love any of us (except Paul) wants. This sexually charged me-ism is a facade, a delusions we dupe ourselves into. If this is love then Freud was absolutely correct in his human assessments.
Despite the raw reality of our selfishness, we all crave something more real, more powerful to cling to. The answer is sacrifice! Real love is sacrifice! "In sickness and in health" is not in our vows because we wanted to ensure a social contract or be obedient to the wealthy (as Karl Marx) might argue. Rather we humans are amazed by selflessness, it is so foreign to our being, so unattainable! Why are we unable to overcome our greedy passions?

The reason it is unattainable is because we have not learned anything of true sacrifice, rather seen and heard only of self indulgence by the philosophers of your favorite hip-hop radio stations and iTunes collection. There was only one place where sacrifice might have been preached and many of them too have failed to do so, earning hypocrite badges as they drive away in their luxury vehicles.
Where is sacrificial love to be found? My friends "In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us, and has sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

His name is Jesus.

A Message to My Armenian Sisters

Portrait of an Armenian couple wearing traditional clothes Armenia - Atelier Marshalyan

As an Armenian, or a member of any other tightly knit ethnic community, the question of finding a spouse is exponentially more complicated than any 6th generation American can comprehend. Not only is there a mere 10 million Armenians worldwide, there is even less youth because Armenian do not tend to have many kids, and even less Armenians in your own local community. Then your parents have projected some kind of "mold" that you want your future spouse to fit into, as a means of qualifications. 

The question of what kind of man, my sisters will marry, has lingered in the back alleys of my mind on several occasions, especially right after I get done with a conversation with them, where some pervert was trying to game them. I think quite often how important it will be to their future happiness, but I also think of an even higher priority than their happiness, how it will impact their eternal life. 

It is said that the second most important decision you make is who you marry, right behind the decision of who you worship. So I want to break it down into a some important points to look out for when seeking a spouse. These will by no means guarantee happiness, they do not represent "me", as I don't live up to any of these ideals perfectly, but I press on to make the good qualities my own.

Armenian Guys to avoid: 

• "Talk the talk" : This is your charismatic, real talkative, real happy, likes lots of attention, but doesn't do much kind of guy. He might be even be a quiet, gaming addict, built a man cave, wears Star Trek jammies, has mom brings him dinner, real sensitive, no one understands him, going nowhere real fast. This is the guy who doesn't have a clear sense of where he is going, he thinks he is going to invest in some risky investment and make tons of money. He is chasing get rich quick schemes, if he is chasing anything except for porn to download at all. He is doing nothing today to reach his goals tomorrow. He might be in school, pursuing a degree he has no idea what he wants to do with. This is Mr. lazy. Avoid this person if you don't want to be his "mom" in the future. If you have to constantly pay for his meals, and give him rides to his dead-beat job that can barely pay for his gaming habits, you need to ditch this guy. This guy is a loser. If you love him, you will do what's best for him. Stop being his mom, and let him grow up. All the real men are tired of carrying his load around. 1 Timothy 5:8 ;2 Thessalonians 3:6
• "Egotist" : This is the guy who takes pride in everything he does and has. He is your type-A get it done, and he is just looking for a trophy wife. This is the guy who will ditch you for the next hottest girl. He takes you to expensive restaurants, but he isn't emotionally or mentally present. He wants you to admire all of his other trophies, and he makes it clear that is what he has to offer you. Some women are so naive as to actually think that this guy has more important things to do than get to know you on a date, and not constantly check his business contacts. This is the guy who doesn't have clear sexual boundaries, because he looks at every relationship like a business deal. This is the guy who after 5 years of marriage is downloading porn and thinking about how he can get away with cheating. He isn't involved with the kids, except for insisting that they are "his" and that its "your" job to make sure they are educated, healthy, always happy. He spoils the children, because he doesn't want to give them his time, and wants them to like him. He's always mad at his wife for not raising the kids properly. If he watches porn now don't think for a second he will change his habits once he starts having sex with you. This is the guy who beats his wife, and keeps her scared of leaving, threatening her with all sorts of lies. This guy does not submit to authority. You have to drag him to church, and everyone at church a "hypocrite" and somehow he is the most righteous of all, "the church is a big fraud anyway's, they just want your money". 
• "Mr. Addicted" - This guy can be both the "Egotist" and the "Talk-the-Talk". He is addicted to smoking, drinking, coffee, sex, drugs, gambling, or anything he thinks will satisfy his desires. He doesn't want his wife to call him when he is with his "boys", every single night. He is always burning with fake jealousy, which is just a cover up for his own cheating. His excuse is that you shouldn't worry because there just "whores" and he only loves you. He is violent and physically abusive with his wife. If any man ever raises there hands to you, run, run for you life, run away now! If you love him, you will do whats best for him, even if its hardest on you, and that's leaving him. This guy is paranoid always wanting to see who your texting, where you are at. These type of guys will avoid taking you out once your married. They want you to always be at home, so that your not in touch with anybody else, and they are curiously never at home. This is the guy who will cheat on his taxes, max out your credit cards and take a loan on the house in wife's name, he steals from his workplace, and is extremely unstable. He wants you far from your family so that they can't emotionally support you in case you want to leave him.

Qualities to look for in men:

• "Humbly Submitted" - Look, if you want a guy who will treat you right, and you will feel safe submitting to there leadership, you make sure that he is also submitted to God first. Its simple, if this guy is living in blatant sin and rebellion against God, he is not the right person for you. Don't be so naive as to think you can "save" someone. You can't even save yourself. Make sure your man loves the Scriptures, and wants to lead you to greater intimacy with him to Jesus Christ. If some guy won't pray with you, and read the Scriptures with you, this is the wrong relationship for you. All that tells me is he doesn't want to be in submission to anybody. So why would you want to submit to him?
• "Hard-working" - One mistake I see many Armenian girls making is they look for someone who is affluent, or who they think will eventually be (via inheritance). Rather, what you should be looking for is someone who is hard-working, and can walk the walk. This means they are going to get a real degree, they are driven in their education, they know exactly how they will provide for a family. This is the guy who might already be working, already producing money. He already has a plan to buy a home, or has already bought one. He has moved out of his house, or can afford move out. Don't just look for someone who is intelligent. There is a lot of those! Look for someone who will fight in a competitive job market to bring food to the table. 
• "Generous" - The last thing you want is some cheapo husband who won't even buy ice cream for his kids. You don't want the 10% guy who wouldn't tithe an extra penny, spends Saturday morning mowing his own lawn instead of with his wife because he doesn't want to pay someone else to do it. If he is too cheap to eat out, go on vacation, or do anything else that is fun, that is not someone I recommend, I don't care how "Godly" he thinks he is. You don't want that guy. Generous people value relationships over money. They make themselves uncomfortable, and give sacrificially, that is even when it hurts. They look for opportunities to donate their money and time to something other than themselves. You want someone who loves kids, not encouraging you to get an abortion on your second child because its a girl and he doesn't want to pay for the diapers.
• "Self-Controlled" - If he loves God and you, he will put the porn down, pull his zipper up, and keep his hands to himself. If he is pushing himself on top of you, wining about how he can't control himself, move on. That's not a man, its a little boy. Men can control themselves, they don't have to have a sexual joke for every girl who passes by, they are not constantly thinking about sex. This also means they know how to spend their money. The last thing you want is a guy who spends his whole paycheck the day he gets his money. Casino is a huge no no. If you want to gamble, bet on which charity has the highest administrative fee.