Merry Christmas!

Hey guys,

Just a few things. . .

First of all, get your Subzero stuff in! It's due on Sunday the 28th — that's this Sunday, less than a week!

Also, have a great Christmas everyone! (And for our undecided readers, Happy Hannukah!) If you have a break, make good use of it and have a great time, if not, enjoy what you do have off and make the best of school!

Don't forget, we don't have X31 on Christmas Eve, the 24th, or New Year's Eve, the 31st.

Our Romania meeting went well on Sunday. If you want to know about it and missed the meeting, be sure to talk to Mike or someone who was there!

Lastly, we're still having the Shack Discussion Room second service on Sundays in 113! Come out even if you haven't read it!

 — Austin

P.S. Hand in your Subzero paperwork! (We'll have to cancel reservations if we don't get enough sign-ups early enough, so we can't save a spot for your forever!)

Blogs

I'm glad to see that a few of you guys are making blogs and actually keeping up with them, too. I like mine and I think it's pretty cool. It's nice to read them all and everything, too, so I would encourage those who don't have one to make one; not necessarily for the sake of the X31 blog but to strengthen us as a youth group and family. As virtual as our generation is and as little connected we are personally, it would be pretty rad if we were more closely connected via blogs and the virtual world. So, give it a shot — just write about how cool I am, that wouldn't be too difficult.

HS Midweek — 12/17/08

Suffering is really hard to understand. When we’re going through tough times, we don’t want to accept that it may be for the best, and oftentimes will avoid God for doubt of him letting it happen. What we must know is that he does let it happen, in a sense. Suffering is real and suffering is always here. We will always experience suffering, either firsthand or through someone else, and likely it will get ever worse as we age. We can get through it, however, with faith in God and other people around to help us.

First of all, God gave us free will. Thereby, we have a choice to do good or bad, right or wrong. The fact that we have a choice to do wrong and people often will, can likely lead to suffering. If one doesn’t have the choice to do good, they aren’t really doing good.

Suffering influences our character. Having dealt with a bad circumstance may strengthen you. It can give you the knowledge to support others going through similar situations and prepare you for further challenges. In the video we watched (http://wingclips.com/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16174&category_id=296) the character reveals how it showed him what he wanted to do: share his faith with others. It made him stronger and more ready to serve God. In Romans Paul writes “Through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope.” Romans 5:2-4

Lastly, adjusting our perspective on what suffering is, from a nihilistic idea to one in which it works for God’s purposes, we no longer see it as such a negative feeling. Mike shared with us a story of when he was in high school and his mom was in the hospital. As he turned to God, angry with him, he also got involved in a church nearby. He got involved with the youth pastor and began to rethink what he wanted to do with his life as he found Christ and fulfillment. God works like this very often is we take the time to realize it. Again in Romans we read, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

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We have three main ways we can respond to suffering:

1. Learn the lessons and look for the good. This is extremely hard to do while going through times of suffering, however if we are resilient and look back when we make it through, it can be understood later. This is much better done if we have someone to look to for guidance and assistance.
2. Praise God for his provision and presence in the midst of everything. Always look on the bright side. Things could always be worse, and you’re fortunate to have your life as good as you do. And remember, God is always there, whether we choose to acknowledge him or not. (Look up the “Footprints” story on Google.)
3. Remember, we are not alone in our suffering. Jesus suffered more than any of us ever will and overcame it. He also wants to help us and be with us now and when we suffer. He can bring us through it and relate to how and why we suffer. “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.” 1 Peter 5:10

——————

Road Rally has been officially postponed — it will be sometime in February or March, whenever we don't have something going on.

Subzero is still on and the registration is STILL DUE on the 28th (barely a week)!

We don't have X31 the 24th or 31st. Check out The Shack discussion room second service on Sundays. (Even if you're uncool and haven't yet read it.)

The first Romania meeting is this Sunday, third service in 115 or 113. Talk to someone who did it last summer if you want to know more about it, and come out the meeting to get a feel for it and some more info!

Tough Questions

Hey guys,
I'm glad to see that we're slowly gathering more followers and if I nosily navigate through everyone's pages I can find a few other X31 members who aren't following the blog (that I hope are still reading it). I'd still like to get some discussion on here aside from just me answering questions that Jared already knows the answers to. If you don't like what I'm writing then . . . tough. Just comment and let's have some discussion! And start posting some more questions you have here! We're about to exhaust our list of questions then we'll have to move on to some boring series( just kidding, the next one is awesome). If you don't want someone to know what you posted then just choose to post your comment anonymously (right below the text box when you're typing it). Thanks for reading in the first place, those of you that are and I hope you keep up. And make fun of all the other kids at X31 who aren't followers. (Like smelly Kaylah.)


Thanks ladies and gents (and Will)

Austin

—————
As for events...
Road Rally has been officially postponed — it will be sometime in February or March, whenever we don't have something going on.
Subzero is still on and the registration is STILL DUE on the 28th (barely a week)!
We don't have X31 the 24th or 31st. Check out The Shack discussion room second service on Sundays. (Even if you're uncool and haven't yet read it.)
The first Romania meeting is this Sunday, third service in 115 or 113. Talk to someone who did it last summer if you want to know more about it, and come out the meeting to get a feel for it and some more info!

HS Midweek — 12/10/08

“God is not here to worship me, to mold Himself into

something that will help me fulfill my level of comfort.”

—    Donald Miller

 

Our discussion today is very evangelically charged: all of the information we have for God comes from scripture and thus, again takes substantial faith to accept God’s nature. There are six topics that are designed to cover a number of the questions asked: What does God look like? Was Jesus white? How does he speak to us today? What do we know about God from the Bible? Also, just as last week, all of these points are very intertwined and related.

 

God is greater than we are. To take in your surroundings can be pretty depressing in today’s world. Everywhere you turn you hear or read about pandemics, murders, corrupt officials, wars, and so on. This can be infinitely degrading to our God-image and faith. However, we must move beyond these things, to transcend them. God has, can, does, and will overcome all the demons — both physical and spiritual — of the world. As his revelatory Word reads, “It is I [God] who made the Earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens.” Isaiah 45:12. Just as you may have seen in I, Robot, the created will not overcome the Creator.

 

God is very personal and desires relationship. God is our king. The King of Kings. However, in contrast to earthly kings that we have learned about from Europe and neighboring kingdoms, he is not impersonal. Unlike King Henry VIII who imposed his religion and will upon his people, God is not suppressive. Furthermore, he has a heart that longs to be with us. He engages himself in our lives and wishes for us to do the same with him. He gets angry, sad, shows mercy, kindness, forgiveness, and emotional qualities. Beyond just facts and words, we can (and he wants us to) know him personally and sincerely. John writes, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God.” 17:3

 

God really cares about us. “God is love.” 1 John 4:8. Nearly everyone wants to be loved and accepted, to feel the love of others around them and to know that people care about them. We have this ability because God gave it to us when we were created in his image. We, however, fall short of love more often than we would like to pride ourselves on. Luckily for us though, we have a God who does not. One who “sent his only Son into the world that we might live through him.” 1 John 4:9. God’s actions of love are far more powerful, whether we recognize it or not, than any words he could’ve said. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10. No matter how deep our faith in Christ, or if we believe his sacrifice at all, he took on our sins, everyone’s sins. A perfect God could not have a relationship with an unclean people, and thus sacrificed his Son to cleanse us and make a path for us to meet him. There is no other love that exists as God’s.

 

God has things completely under control. For those who have read The Shack, author William Young may have lightened this up for you quite significantly. (By the way Mike is leading a discussion on the book 2^nd service in room 115!) Young, writing in his novel as Papa, or God, points out that God has control over everything. Things happen that don’t make sense, that God doesn’t like even. However, God has things completely under control. He can manipulate and run everything, he can do what he wants when he wants, but allows for free will. As C.S. Lewis points out, it is not possible to have a truly loving relationship without the freedom to say no: a freedom that God allows for. Young continues with God’s power that through bad situations he can make good. In the case of the book, for instance, had Mack’s daughter never been abducted, he never would have met Papa, Sarayu, and Jesus (Young’s representation of the trinity). What is important to understand is that God’s existence outside of time allows for God to work good out of the bad. He is able to see and witness the telos or “end.” Psalm 33:11 reads “The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.”

All in all, God’s ultimate, universal plan is to dwell with his people in a new environment. “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. I am making everything new!” Revelation 21:3-5

 

God gives meaning and purpose to life.  Life is not perfect. Nor will it ever be. A relationship with God, no matter how deep or healthy, does not fix everything, does not make life easy, does not make everyone like us, or make us like everyone. God’s existence does, however, provide a sense of satisfaction, similar to that you may feel after completing a big task (as I do after I finish this!). As the Bible instructs us to “do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do,” (Eph. 2:10) we can help better the lives of others, thus giving us meaning, pride, and satisfaction.

 

God can relate to our experience as humans and yet is God. This, I believe, is the most important characteristic of God. I saved it for last because it includes all of the previous points in order to explain and understand this one. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” Hebrews 1:3. This verse is better understood with John 3:16a “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…” Most of you have probably read, heard, recited, and whatever else the latter verse innumerable times, but likely not for all it’s worth. ‘Begotten’ is an important word in that verse as it perfectly explains Christ. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis explains what begotten truly implies. The fact that Christ is ‘begotten to the Father’ means that he is the same. The fact the Christ is birthed from a human depicts his human qualities. What’s important is his divine characteristic. That Christ is begotten, and not made, he is God. We humans are made by God, not begotten, as beget is to be in same likeness. That Christ is begotten by the Father, we can thereby understand God’s true understanding of our struggles. To put the two together, Christ’s birth from a human and that he was ‘begotten’ opens us up so much farther to Christ’s life. His birth directs him to have been human, thus: hungry, tired, sad, happy, hurt and so on. It is also true that he was “tempted in every way just as we are, yet was without sin.” Hebrews 4:15b. Nothing else could have shown that God is greater than us. Nothing else could have shown his desirous heart for a relationship with us, or the fact that he cared about us. And best of all, his death and resurrection convinced me pretty well that he’s got it under control.

 

Lastly, what does Jesus look like? Was he white? Jesus wasn’t white, he was Palestinian. God, doesn’t have an appearance, he is a spirit, and I am the closest representation. In Isaiah it reads about Jesus: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” 53:2b. In The Shack, Young has Mack quite shocked at Jesus’ lack of beauty. Jesus apologizes and blames it on his nose and his heritage…

Also, take a look at the previous post — get me some questions!

—————

Keep signing up for the Road Rally on the 19th!

Don't forget about Subzero! It may seem far away, but it'll be here soon.

If you're thinking about Romania, be at the meeting on the 21st!

Also, The Shack discussion room, second service on Sundays! Rm 115

Tough Questions

Our current "Tough Questions" list is posted below and I'll add the new ones that Mike has received via text and e-mail. If you have any you want answered post them right up here in a comment (you can even comment anonymously if you need). Otherwise, e-mail or text Mike or me. (Putting it on here will be quicker!)


Thanks guys!

———
Road Rally! December 19th! Hurry and sign up, it's free!
Get your stuff in for Subzero, too!
Romania, too! Our first meeting is December 21, third service!

HS Midweek — 12/05/08

Tough Questions: Does God Exist?

"He left behind him his worldly understanding and took with him his faith." — S. Kierkegaard

As a starting point for this topic, we all need to remember two things. One, God is a mysterious being; if we completely understood him he would be human or sub-human — his incomprehensibility is largely what makes him God. Second, any belief in anything not wholly tangible takes some step of faith, whether vast or meager. If one wishes not to believe in a God (or anything for that matter) they will find some way to explain away the evidence; therefore, for this evidence to have any value, it must be confronted with an open mind and a willingness to believe it.

 

With that out of the way we can delve into some of the evidence here. In an effort to keep this short, I’ll barely be able to go beyond superficiality and have to step over a few arguments, as well. I encourage everybody to leave comments and questions. Feel free to e-mail any of the youth leaders or talk to anyone in person about the information discussed here.

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“Quarreling means trying to show that the other man is in the wrong. And there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and he had some sort of agreement as to what Right and Wrong are; just as there would be no sense in saying that a footballer had committed a foul if there had been no agreement as to the rules of football.”                   — C. S. Lewis

As argued by C. S. Lewis, evidence for a creator is found in our understood moral code. Although variances exist, there is a basic moral code that is almost universal among the human race. And although we learned it from our parents, who learned it from their parents, etc., there had to have been some first humans who somehow had a moral code, a code that must have been inspired by some one/thing. Furthermore, this code goes deeper than just learned, considering it appears prior to an understanding of it. We see it in guilty kids before they have yet grasped this code by method of inheritance from their parents: it has been ingrained in them, such that they are immediately able to experience a right and wrong (even though they may often disregard it).

——

Throughout history innumerable people have found their purpose and meaning in their faith. If one wishes to rebuke the existence of a deity, he would have to stand up against billions, trillions of testaments of faith, of lives given for their faith, and lives changed by a pursuant God. Furthermore, as science progresses and counters many beliefs that were understood to be true as many understand God to be true, it has not yet countered an intelligent designer. Though it has been able to provide alternate arguments, they, too, take an amount of faith as they aren’t rock solid, and they are unable to actually deny the presence of a larger being. The more complex science finds humanity to be, the more it sways itself to recognizing intelligent design.

——

The Cosmological Argument points out that the laws of cause and effect and chance are insufficient excuses for the existence of things. This is hard to grasp because of how common so many things are, however they still all came from somewhere. If you were walking in the woods and saw a watch there, you would understand that it was placed there by someone, someone greater and more intelligent: it didn’t just happen, or just become by accident. On the other hand, the rock that it was sitting on was there, right? No. The rock did not ‘just happen’ either. Rocks aren’t made by trees. Though rocks are unattractively common, they came from somewhere or something; before they were so mundane they had to be created, had to become mundane. Therefore, the existence of everything came from the existence of something else: the watch from a watchmaker, the rock from a rock-maker (God), and the person who picked them up from a person-maker (again, God). To argue that there is no God is to argue that not only did rocks come from nothing, but you and I and everything else that lives and breathes comes from nothing (look beyond the primates).

——

Consider next where you live. Bigger than your house, city, state, etc., but Earth itself. It is quite uncanny the perfection of Earth. Across the planet, temperature varies from about -30 to +120 degrees Fahrenheit. These temperatures are due to our correlation with the sun, our perfect correlation with the sun. If we were any closer to the sun we would burn, any farther and we would freeze. Also, this perfect distance is maintained while we rotate on our axis and orbit the sun: this rotation and orbit allowing the whole Earth to be sufficiently cooled and heated each day. The moon’s relationship with the Earth is just as good. The moon is the cause for the tides we experience at the beach, they’re caused by gravity. This gravity is what keeps our oceans from succumbing to stagnation and prevents them from flooding the continents.

——

A female former atheist argues God’s existence via the Pursuant Argument. She points out that God is a pursuant God. He seeks his people with a passion. She pointed out that she, as did many atheists, spent much of her energy on disproving God. They do this because of God’s pursuance, that he is always actively trying to reach them and they then get defensive and prove him false.

——

Lastly, Jesus himself provides a divine revelation. If you look at the major world religions you’ll find that Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius, and Moses all claimed to be great prophets and teachers. Christ did the same. He, however, took it further and was the only prophet to claim to be God: equal with God, one with God, and possessing the powers of only God. He portrayed this physically and spiritually. As we’ll look at later, he provided proof for his contemporaries of his divinity.

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Now, comment, question, argue; prove me wrong even!

HS Midweek — 12/01/2008

Tough Questions: Does God Exist?

Check back tomorrow for more info on our first tough question.
Also, keep up with us — we might be answering some more awesome questions one here, without having time to get to them at Midweek.


Thanks guys!

Remember ——
Road Rally coming up December 19th!
Make sure you sign up for Subzero as early as you can, too!
The first Romania meeting is December 21st, too. Talk to Mike for a sign-up sheet.

Upcoming Midweeks

Coming back from Thanksgiving and getting into a new series, we'll be jumping into the Tough Questions posted on here. We'll keep up on here, and we'll be discussing them during the lessons and in small groups.

Keep posted for more info on events and the lessons!

———
Our closest event is the ROAD RALLY on December 19th! Get signed up!
Subzero will be here soon, too! Start getting deposits and permission slips in!
Also, we're starting to talk about the Romania trip in the summer already. It takes a ton of planning so keep up with it and talk to Mike and/or someone who went last year if you want to go.

HS Midweek — 11/19/08

This evening, for the first time ever, in the place of Mike teaching we had a guest speaker via DVD. We watched "How Great is Our God" by Louie Giglio. In his forty minute talk, Louie spoke about astronomy, gradually introducing us to the incomparable magnitude of the universe — the universe our God created. He works for thirty minutes just presenting how miniscule, powerless, and unimportant we humans are. Until finally he turns around to show our importance that's given to us by God. As we been bought with a price — the sacrifice of Jesus — and God knows us, everyone of us by name, we, too, are of vast importance.

If you'd like to see some more from Louie Giglio, you can check it out on Youtube, or talk to Mike, Jimmy, or Austin.

Murder Mystery Dinner is this Saturday!

Subzero is coming up soon, too! Start signing up so we can have your money!

Tough Questions

These are a good many of the questions texted to Mike as our biggest "God Questions." We'll begin answering them as blog posts on here, and we'll be talking about them Wednesday nights, too. Feel free to add any questions you have or add any input, suggestions, or ideas to any of the questions already posted here.

• What evidence do we have that God exists?
• Why does God allow suffering?
• Was Jesus white?
• I don't believe in evolution; what proof do we have against it?
• How do you help a friend realize that their life has meaning, and that they are important to you?
• What does God look like?
• I wonder not so much if God exists but why He exists. Can you answer that for me?
• When is God coming for us or returning?
• Why is there a bunny for Easter, and why do we paint eggs and hide them?
• Why is life so complicated?
• Is predestination true?
• How do we know He [God] is real?
• What is the meaning of life?
• How do you stay connected to Him?
• How can I hear God speak to me?
• Am I a bad Christian if I believe in evolution?
  

And if you need to start a little more superficially...

• Are you a man or a woman megatron?

That's it for now. We don't want to just answer these questions for you, let's get a little discussive (possibly argumentative?) and work these out together. Check back for more!

HS Midweek — 11/05/2008

Surviving Bad Days — Week 3

It's important to ask for help on bad days. The pain entailed with bad days has a lot of negative effects. It can confuse us and give us pessimistic views on life, cause us to doubt God, and make us weary and tired from carrying our burdens. Looking to others for help allows us to realign ourselves with God and our perspectives on life. We can give others an opportunity to share God with us, and us with them. Most of all it gives us a chance to demonstrate and grow a maturity in our faith and dependence on God.

"Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not too important."
Galatians 6: 2-3

"Then Jesus said, 'Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest . . . For my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light." Matthew 11: 28-30

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This Saturday is THE GATES! Be there or be square.
Keep signing up for the Murder Mystery Dinner! Seriously, it's free.
(And there's food. Free food.)

HS Midweek — 10/29/2008

Surving Bad Days — Week 2

In our second of four "Bad Days" lessons, we looked at how to react to bad situations. When we have bad days we tend take out frustration out on those around us. What we need to begin to learn to do is not push away those that love us; instead to embrace them and let them help us through tough times. Be sure to make sure those you love know it. Share your appreciation of people around you with them. Finally, be optimistic! Focus on how fortunate you are and don't forget to live in the here and now!

"As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."
I Corinthians 15:22

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Get READY!
The Gates is coming up! November 8th
Murder Mystery Dinner is soon after on November 22nd! And it's free, sign up soon!

HS Midweek — 10/22/2008

Surviving Bad Days: Week 1

Tonight's lesson was the first installment in a series on coping with bad days. What was given to us as the first step is acceptance that bad days will happen. Following this, we need to work on grasping forgiveness and where forgiveness comes from: God's original forgiveness to His people. In forgiving is where we find resolve and salvation from our bad days. Furthermore, the ability and willingness to forgive will spread on to others working, hopfeully, to make bad days more copable. And lastly, it is vital to encourage forgiveness and steadfastness in our friends, family, and neighbors; as Christians (if you are one) hope remains for the future.


“Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
He is the Father who is compassionate and the God
who gives comfort. He comforts us whenever we
suffer. That is why whenever other people suffer,
we are able to comfort them by using the same
comfort we have received from God.”
II Corinthians 1:3-4

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Just a quick public service announcement:
The next "Gates" nightclub event is coming up soon! Be ready for November 8th!
Murder Mystery Dinner is coming up on November 22nd, too! Make sure you sign up!

HS Midweek — 10/15/2008

Telling Our Stories

Mike spoke tonight on the importance of telling our stories. Having just finished a series on 40 Days of Purpose, we were tonight given an opportunity to hear the importance of relaying that purpose to others. As Christ Followers or not, sharing a story with someone is of incomparable valure for connection and relation. In efforts to relay the gospels to a friend (or even a stranger), nothing works better than sharing your own life and what Christ has done for you. As Mike said, its importance is found in a story's ability to put flesh on the words of the Bible, and lastly that stories are the most poignant tool in speaking directly to the heart.

Sharing faith stories are most easily done with three simple aspects: life before Jesus, process of finding him, and life after Jesus (now).


“I pray that you will be active to
sharing your faith, so that you will
have a full understanding of every
blessing we have in Christ.” Philemon 6

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Mike asked on Wednesday your biggest or most difficult "God question;" feel free to post any more here.

Welcome!

This will be our new blog. We'll add a new post on Wednesday or Thursday pertaining to the lesson. Anyone can join this blog and post comments, questions, and/or discussions about the lessons. If you have a topic you want to post on (i.e. a book, scripture, etc.) you can see Jimmy, Austin, or Mike at midweek, or e-mail any of us. This should serve as an extension to learning and growth during the week. We would also encourage small groups to start their own private blogs for within their groups.

— Exit Thirty-One Ministry Team