体験的？Or合理的？

「それでも神は実在するのか？」Byリー・ストローベル

は、すごい本です。

「弁証論」って、英語ではApologeticsっていって、キリスト教を弁護・弁証することを指すんだけれど、とっても個人的にこの学びが好きなんです。

そして、この本は、副題にもなっているように、キリスト教にたいする最も手強い反論をあげて、それをラビ・ザカライアスやウィリアム・レイン・クレイグなどの名だたるApologist、「キリスト教弁護者」たちにインタビューにぶつけてみるなかで、神の実在を証明していくとう本である。

私は、もともと頭でっかちというか、ある分野では、（あまり、普段はないのだが）頭で考えることに傾くことがる。

イエスは

「心を尽くし、思いを尽くし、知力をつくして、あなたの神である主を愛せよ。」

マタイ２２：３７

を第一の戒めとしました。

だから、このような学びは決して聖書に反したことではないし、無駄でもないんですね。

でも、怖いのは、このことに傾倒しすぎることなんですよ。

あまりに、「頭でっかち」になって、神様との関係を深めることに目が向かなることです。

しかし、クレイグ博士のインタビューの最後の方のことばは、そんな僕に気づきを与えてくれました、

「神の実在を示す文献や科学的証拠はもちろん大切だし有効だけれど、私たちが神に差し向かいで会った場合、それは二次的要素になるのです。人間の心にいる聖霊が働いて、超自然的に神が自らを啓示したことの追認証拠に過ぎないのです。」

確かに、そうです！！！

僕がどれだけ知性で神を追い求めようと、神と私たちは霊の領域でしか交わることのできない関係にあるのですから、聖霊の働きがクリスチャンライフには不可欠なのです！！

僕も、この学びを進めるにあたって、もっと神との深い交わり、そして聖霊の働きを体験できるように求めていきたいと思いました。

祈ってみよう！

先のポストでも書いたように、今読んでいる本の１つはE.M.バウンズの「祈りは奉仕を生かす」という本です。（僕は並読する人なので）
彼の引用は、以前に一度やってて「祈りの人」だったことは知ってはいたのですが、協会の図書で彼の本を見つけて、本当胸が騒ぎました。牧師の勧めもあり、読むことにしました。

でも、本当に大正解でした。神の導きは本当に不思議です。
祈りについて、これまでもBlogでも、「もっと祈らないと」と言ってきたのですが、これほど祈りの生活を励まされることは、過去を振り返ってもなかなかない体験でしたし、これからもっと読み進めるのが楽しみです！

「神が人を扱われるとき、祈りほど重要なものはありません。しかし、祈ることは、人にとってもきわめて重要なことです。祈ることに失敗することは、人生全体に失敗することを意味します。（中略）　信仰者のいのちも、個人的救いも、クリスチャンとしての個人的恵みも、みな祈りの中に存在し、祈りの中に花開き、祈りの中に身を結びます。」

なんとうことでしょう！！「祈りに失敗することは、人生全体に失敗する」とは、本当に大胆な言葉ではないでしょうか。
では、この「失敗」とは何のことでしょうか？
それを考えるには「成功」について考えることをしなくてはいけません。
そして、その成功は、神の私たちに対する目的を達成することでしょう。
その目的は、私たちは神の栄光のためにつくらたといことではないでしょうか。これは、私の存在意義でもあります。

イエスは「地上で『実』を結ぶ」ように、弟子たち（もちろん、私にでもあります）に命じられました。(マタイ７、ルカ６）
また、イエスは有名な大宣教命令を、弟子たちに与えられました。（マタイ28)
これら全てのことは、神に栄光のためです。

思うに、
私たちが教会に日曜日に行くのは、そこで良い牧師がいるからでしょうか？
もちろん、それがあっても何も悪くないと思います。でも、それが第一義的な目的であったら、寂しくないでしょうか。もし、その日のメッセージがそんなにだったら？もしも、その日、牧師にちょっと嫌なことを言われたら？（もちろん、これは仮定の話なので、そこまで真剣にとらないで）
でも、教会に人々が神の栄光のために集まるなら、そこには愛の香りが溢れんばかりに漂うでしょう。そこには、手を上げ神にほめ歌を捧げる人たちがりるでしょう。そこには、聖書を通して語られる神の言葉に動かされる人がいるでしょう。そして、これらのことすべては神に栄光を帰するわけです。

このように、「神の栄光のため」という私の目的を、私が失うとき、忘れるとき、そのために働いていないとき、私は人生に失敗しているのです。
では、どうしたらそうならないようにすべきなのでしょう。
祈りは、私たちの心を神に向けます。そして、その神ご自身が私たちの求めているゴールなのです！！（“Am I Willing??”参照）

まあ、ここで色々、べらべらと思いを延々と並べることもできますが、
まずは祈ってみます！

ps: Sorry for English readers. This is a book written in Japanese, so it is more comfortable for me to write in Japanese. Hope you'll learn to read Japanese ;)

ちょこっと宣言。

夏休みに入って、本を多く読むことができるようになりました。

ですので、ここで少し、自分に対し宣言というか、目標をここで提示したいと思います。

以下の本を、読みます！！神の力によって、もちろん！

「祈りは奉仕を生かす」　E.M.バウンズ (E.M.Bounds) 

"Epicenter" Joel Rosenberg

"Big God" Britt Merrick (I have been reading this for a while.)

「それでも神は実在するのか？」("The Case for faith") Lee Strobel リー・ストロベル

もしも、他におすすめの本があれば是非とも教えてください！！

Well, my summer break is finally here. 

So, I just thought it would be good to let you know what my goal for this summer and make myself motivated by doing so.

I really want to commit myself to reading books. 

Last year, I tried to read "The world is flat" but only made it half :/ Maybe it was too big for me....well anyways!

Following Japanese part is list of books that I want to read. 

If you have any good suggestion of a book, please let me know!!!

Am I Willing to Go???

Now the LORD had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,

From your family

And from your father’s house,

To a land that I will show you.

² I will make you a great nation;

I will bless you

And make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing.

³ I will bless those who bless you,

And I will curse him who curses you;

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

⁴ So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Genesis 12:1-4

So I have read "Big God" half way through and reached the chapter of "Abraham", who is called Father of Faith.

well, if you have read through Genesis, you know that Abraham had made many mistakes. Yes, but isn't it the theme of this book?? "God can use ordinary people like those are written in Hebrew 11, who made horrible mistakes yet lived the life of faith."

This chapter has made huge impact on my life!!!

It is such a joy that I can share this with you. Again thank your for all the faithful readers!!!

As I have shared before that I have thinking about what to do after graduating college.

God has been so faithful; showing me one by one that I need, step by step that I can take,

And God had had this chapter in store for me!!! Now I have seen!!

When God told Abraham to leave the land of Ur and go to the promised land.

But, Abraham was not told where is Canaan was the land God was taking about after he went!!

So, Why Did he GO????

It is so simple, "He trusted God.".

But how do I go??

I found that as I think about what to do after college, I am trying to collect as much information as possible to see what awaits in the path, rather seeking, praying and listening to God.

Well, it does not mean that I don't pray. But it's about priority, I think.

I read books and website that tells me about certain jobs or how to make good decisions on job hunting 2 hours and pray 30 minutes. this isn't cool.

I should read and be on Internet 30 minutes and pray 2 hours, instead!!!

isn't it Martin Luther that said,

"So many things to do today, I've got to spend the first three hours with the Lord!!"

You may have heard this thousands of times. But let me say it again,

It is All About God, Himself Glorified!!

I love God, my heavenly Father. And He is calling me to come, but I don't sometimes because I think I can't see what will happen when I really go to Him.

That's not a faith.

God has been telling me to go to where He wants me to go.

Yes, it is risky. But as Pastor Britt says

"As Christians we need to be willing to take risks according to that reality - risks that bring glory to God and benefit His kingdom, instead of benefiting us."

in Jeremiah 29:11-13

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

So what will happen when I call on Him, pray to Him, search for Him??

I will find the plan!! But what is the "plan"??

It is Jesus Christ!! God is the goal!!

I love how Pastor Britt says, it is convicting but encouraging as well.

"And it's this worldliness that keeps us from on authentic life of faith. Even though we may never act upon it, the inner desire to do wrong is the root from which we need to sever ourselves. To overcome we must fall more in love with Jesus and to see Him more desirable than anything the world has to offer. I've found that we can't force ourselves to be good - and we're not called to. We are called to be transformed by the Holy Spirit through a loving, meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ."

What is interesting is that as I write this post, God is speaking to me to GO!!!

So my challenge is " Am I Willing ?" like Abraham was willing to go and leave his home.

Hopefully, I can share what I believe God has calling me to do soon.

God bless

ps: if you have time, I recommend to go to this link and watch "Abraham, 'Faith,Willing'".

Faith Tested!!

So as many of you know, I have been reading a book called "Big God".
It is written by Britt Merrick, who is a pastor of Reality Carpinteria which is located in Southern California.
I have also been following him on twitter which is product of awesome internet technology God has given to us :)

well, in his book, he was sharing about how he and his family went through a difficult time with his daughter, Daisy's cancer.
And as I was checking my TL on my twitter, I found out that Daisy has beaten her cancer eventually and is going to go to Hawaii with her family.

It brought me such a joy. Because I was praying for her.

But, last week, I found another TL from Pastor Britt saying Daisy's cancer is back.
I couldn't find words to say. It was so shocking, so much!
Then my mind went through how her family is feeling like; just have finished long battle with cancer and celebrated and enjoyed the victory in Hawaii, but out of no where found out the cancer is back again.

I prayed for Daisy and her family.
Would you? here is the webpage you can check out.

I really think we need to grow in faith everyday. But we don't see how much we have grown often. But it is when the test comes that it is revealed how big our faith is.

I really encourage you to watch this video of Pastor Britt' last message.

I was so amazed how his faith is rooted in the Word and Who God is!

He has proven how "Big our God is" through his life.

here is the link for the video.

I personally really loved his saying "When we are broken most, Jesus is beautiful most."

God bless

Fall in Love

“If you love me, obey my commandments.” 

John 14:15

so on my course of reading through “Big God” written by Britt Merrick. 
I came to the chapter called “Faith Working (Noah)”. It is basically studying through Noah’s life.


Man, I was totally blown away how the lesson we can learn from his life is relevant to me today!!!
I knew how Noah’s life was and teaching I can glean from him, but, as always the Word does, I felt I was reading passage that I had never read before!


So I want to share what God taught me with you.


As we live in dark world, we need to be the light and get ready for Christ’ return.
When I say that I want to love and follow Jesus, I need to make adjustments in my life to be obedient.
For Noah, it took him 120 years of his life to build the ark. He had to make radical  adjustment!!!


I really believe that I have to make radical adjustment for God more. I need to stop surfing internet, being lazy, sleeping in....... the list can go on and on...
When I do that for God, and live for Him, God work through and in my life more.


Noah lived his life that is radically different from everyone else did. But he lived for God!!


Pastor Britt writes....
“Noah’s life was a sermon. Like Noah, we preach the gospel not just with our words but also with our actions. Actions speak louder than words. As Saint Francis of Assisi said ‘Preach the gospel at all times - if necessary, use words.”


but, the question is how do I make such a big adjustments like Noah??


here is the answer, “Fall in love with God more and more”.

“Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” 

(Psalm 37:4)

 God is my joy!! I know when I am on His path and spending really good time of intimate relationship with Jesus, I am so satisfied than going to Disney Sea (which I love so much yet), sleeping in and all the other earthly pleasure. 
It is about intimacy with God!!


A.W. Tozer said
“When we catch the true life of worship, then the work that flows out of it will have eternity in it.”


again, Pastor Britt writes
“The truth is that ministry should flow from intimacy.”


Oh, I want to love Jesus more and more than ever I did!!


Let this be my prayer always.