Can We Have a Disinterested Faith?

Being a BTS Student at Providence University College, I have the wonderful opportunity to participate in an abundance of classes geared towards the study of the Bible. This last semester, I had the wonderful opportunity of taking a class on Biblical Poetry and Wisdom with Dr. Randy Holm. In this class, we spent time looking at Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and even Song of Songs. Seeing as Dr. Holm was teaching this class, it was obviously very enjoyable and very insightful. (Although many people accuse Randy easily getting off topic, I find him to be one of the most personally insightful professors at Prov, and therefore one of my favourites. He is also the one who inspired by blog post on hope).

During our time studying the book of Job, Dr. Holm had one major theme he wanted us to grasp: Is it possible to have a disinterested faith? 

Let me explain. This is not disinterest in the sense of not showing interest in God, but rather having a faith that is free from selfish motive or interest. In other words, is it possible for us to have a faith in God that is not focused around what God can do for us? Dr. Holm argued that it is indeed possible to have a disinterested faith, and he pointed to Job as a primary example of that disinterest. 

To give some background, Job was a man who was righteous above all else. He was wealthy and blessed by the Lord in every area of his life. In all areas of his life, Job showed obedience to the Lord. In the prologue to the book of Job, the audience sees the conversation between Satan and YHWH where God gives Satan permission to test Job. Satan believes Job's main reason for showing obedience to God was because Job has been blessed by God, and as a result, if those blessings were to be taken away, Job would then fall away from God. God is confident this is not the case, and that Job's character goes beyond the blessing he has received.

Satan goes on to destroy all of Job's property and kills all Job's children, as well as cursing Job's health by covering Job from head to toe in sores and boils. But even through all his loss, Job did not sin (cf. 1:22).

As one reads the book of Job, they realize that indeed Job maintains his faith, rendering God to be right about Job's character and Satan therefore to be wrong. For Job, faith was more than something based on what he can get out of God. Sometimes, I believe we don't share in this idea. We have the mindset of "what can God do for me?" rather than "what can I do for God?" Job challenges us to change our mindset, and make our faith deeper than a cause and effect relationship. 

When we change our mindset from "what can God to for me?" to "what can I do for God?", our whole mindset is changed. We become more concerned for others rather than our own interests. And when we get past our selfish mindset, we can delve into a deeper, unshakable faith that is not based on our circumstances.

Imagine, for example, your relationship with your best friend. Are you in this relationship for what they can give to you, or is there something deeper to this relationship? Usually, there is. You two enjoy each others company, often have similar interests and have a commitment to one another that goes beyond what you can get out of them. This is the same way with God. When we reach past having a faith based on what God can do for us, we are able to start enjoying God's presence more, start sharing in the interests of God and having a deeper commitment to acting out the commands of Christ. 

My challenge is for us to get past our ideas of a utilitarian faith and move into a disinterested faith. My prayer is that we would all establish a disinterested faith, because, as we see in Job, it definitely is possible, and I believe it is what God wants for our lives.  

My Feelings on the Lockout

Like every other hockey fan out there, I am not at all pleased that the NHL is locking out again this season. The whole situation seems absolutely idiotic to me.

First and foremost, I don't think that Gary Bettman is to blame for this lockout. Yes, you read that right. I'm not blaming Gary Bettman. Now believe me, I definitely am not a fan of the work that Bettman has done in his time as commissioner (I think it has been quite awful actually), but he should not be the one solely to shoulder the blame. 

While Bettman is the ringleader of the NHL Board of Governors, he is not the sole member. To give some background to what the Board of Governors, it is a group that includes seven executives employed by the NHL, as well as three representatives (one governor (usually the owner) and two alternates) from each NHL team. So when you hear the term "the owners", what they are actually referring to is the board of governors. 

As much as I am dissatisfied with how the Board of Governors is handling the situation, I am equally displeased with the NHLPA. The NHLPA, lead by Executive Director Donald Fehr, is made up of thirty NHL players (one from each team), and is the group "battling" against the Board of Governors. They have been very quick to shift the blame to "the owners" and taking very little responsibility for the lockout upon themselves. Making a deal requires two sides to come to an agreement, and often a compromise from at least one side is involved. The NHLPA is being very stubborn and seems to have absolutely no desire to make any compromises in order to strike a deal (and every video they make makes me that much more frustrated with them).

Secondly, another thing that the players have started to do that I absolutely HATE is that they have started going elsewhere (Switzerland, Russia, etc.) to play. The part that I don't like is that the same players who are locked out because they don't want to take a pay cut are now going and taking a pay cut by going to play overseas. Yes, the KHL has been known to offer some lucrative contracts to NHL players (Jonathan Cheechoo, a former Maurice Richard trophy winner, but now just a top level AHL player, was offered $4 million/year), but they have stated that they will at best pay NHL players 65% of their NHL contract. That's only in the KHL. 

Things look much worse dollar wise in the European leagues. The average salary for a current NHL player is $2 million/year. Nobody, and I mean nobody, makes that kind of money playing hockey in Europe. Even the minimum NHL salary ($525K/year) is a number reserved only for the best of the best European players. Most players in Europe can only dream of making money like that. The NHL players that are going overseas are not the 3rd or 4th line guys that "need" the money. No, these are the superstars that are going over, the ones that make upwards of $5 million/year. These selfish NHL players are going overseas because they "need to play hockey", but in the meantime, they are taking away jobs from those players who are struggling to make the cut, and taking away the dream of playing professional hockey that so many of us Canadians can relate to (I know I can). 

Also, the lockout affects more than the bank accounts of the players and owners. In Winnipeg, we have been able to see first-hand how having an NHL team in a city can directly stimulate that city's economy. People are employed at the arena's during games. Taxi cab drivers make a killing on game nights, while other nights they may struggle to make a decent income. People want to watch games in public places, so bars and restaurants thrive on game days. There are so many people who lose financially from the NHL being locked out, it really isn't fair to them that the NHL is locking out. 

I have lost a lot of respect for the NHL  throughout this whole process. I won't be one of those fans who will say that they're boycotting the NHL because I know that as soon as the NHL is back, I'll be one of the first ones sitting down on the couch for that first pre-season game, just waiting to get a taste of NHL hockey again. But I do think that moment may be slightly bitter-sweet. A part of me will be thinking back to all the bargaining meetings, the constant blame game, and most importantly, the greed. Because that's what this whole issue boils down to. The owners want money. The players want money. Everybody wants money. We have seen clearly here how money talks, and how the desire for money can make people willing to stop partaking in the sport that they love more than anything else. Here's to the love of the game...

Why I am a BTS student

As some of you may know, I am currently enrolled as a student at Providence University College in Otterburne, Manitoba. I have been involved there as an athlete and a musician, but my main reason for being at Providence is to obtain a degree in Biblical and Theological Studies (BTS). Often, when people ask me why I am pursuing this degree, I respond with a variety of answers, such as "I don't know", "It's something that interest me", or "I think it will be beneficial to my life". Then I often get asked if I'm going to be a youth pastor, which I then respond with "I don't know", and probably end up leaving the person/people asking quite frustrated.

Recently I was thinking of the actual reason why I am a BTS student. What do I actually hope to achieve with this degree? Is formal ministry actually something I plan on doing? Is formal Biblical training something that is actually important to my walk as a Christian? These are all thoughts that have gone through my mind multiple times while pondering my choice in my degree.

Throughout this last year, I thoroughly enjoyed my time studying the Bible, but the whole time, I couldn't help but ask the question of how to balance the pursuit of knowledge with living out the lifestyle Christ calls us to. Lucky for me, during my time at Red Rock Bible Camp this summer, Dr. Chuck Nichols, as always, was our speaker during staff camp. Chuck would speak during our "spiritual fixes", always speaking on the theme for the summer (this year's theme was 100% Truth). Each year that I have been at staff camp, Chuck has ended the week with a Q and A period where the staff can ask Chuck any question that is pressing on their minds. Chuck, although he very openly admits he does not have all the answers, will then do his best to answer the question.

Although in previous years I had avoided asking Chuck any questions, this year I couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask how to balance the pursuit of knowledge with living out the Christian life. Chuck, being a biblical scholar, brought  the discussion back to the Bible (he's so good at doing that), and drew our attention to Colossians 1:9-14. In this passage, Paul is drawing on the importance of knowledge and wisdom that comes from God, in order to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit and being strengthened with power, to name a few. In short, all knowledge should in return have some effect on how we live our lives as Christians.

Theology is important. Yes, I do not at all want to undermine the importance of the work of the Holy Spirit, but I truly believe that God has given people (like myself) the desire to pursue wisdom and knowledge to learn more about not just how to act out commands, but to seek God's character. When we know God's character better, we know God better, and then can live in closer relationship with the one who made us. It is then when we can pass on these truths about God to others, just as Paul instructed Timothy to do in his second letter (2 Timothy 2:2).

In my pursuit of biblical knowledge and wisdom, I know that I am not going to be learning some ground-breaking new theology that will change the course of history. Rather, I am simply trying to dig into the vast amount of knowledge that God has set forth for us to obtain. Education as I see it is not teachers and professors teaching us something new, but rather the uncovering of things that God has already set in place. This applies to all areas of study, not just in the Bible. The more we are educated in the truth, the better we understand God and his character, and it is for that reason that I am pursuing Biblical and Theological Studies at Providence University College, forever with Colossians 1:9-14 in mind.

Life Lessons #1 - The Shed

I have recently decided that I will have a feature on my blog called “Life Lessons.” This section will simply be me writing about things I have learned just by living life. I really have no idea how often I will feature this on my blog because that will primarily be decided by whenever I learn a lesson from life. Without further adieu, here it goes:

As I stated previously in my blog, I am currently taking part in the amazing opportunity to work at Red Rock Bible Camp for the next 4 months. My job for May and June is to be on the maintenance crew so my responsibilities mostly include cleaning up after the groups that come through, as well as whatever other jobs need to be done in preparation for our summer camping season.

Last week myself and another worker had the opportunity to put wood siding on an old shed in an effort to make it less of an eyesore around camp. I quite enjoyed this job as I like learning new things that make me feel more adequate as a handyman (although I am no handyman my any stretch of the imagination). After we finished this job, we had one more job to do on the shed, and that was to increase the support system underneath the shed.

In theory, this sounded fairly simple. The four corners of the shed were sitting on cinder blocks and all we had to do was jack the shed up and slip some 2x10 boards on top of the cinder blocks so the weight would be more evenly distributed among the joists underneath the shed. Well, unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy as I would have liked.

Due to the shed resting on relatively uneven ground, it was very hard for us to get the jacks underneath the shed. We had to dig in the dirt in order to give the jack enough clearance to do their job. Lucky for us, the ground was filled with rocks and roots, so at times it seemed virtually impossible to get these jack underneath the shed.

I felt totally incompetent and out of control.

Although the feeling of incompetence is not a fun one to have during work, in our Christian life it is sometimes necessary. While there are many times where we should feel competent and confident in our kingdom work, there are also times where it is good to experience this lack of control.

When we experience this lack of control, we are forced to rely on someone or something else. It is in those times that God is reaching out to us, waiting for us to rely on him so he can carry us through to our next challenge. When we do this, our eyes are opened just a little bit further to God’s power, making our lives more of a living testimony to Him each day. 

What Am I Up to This Summer?

This is a question that is frequently asked of college students. Summer plans are very important and many students stress out about what to do between the four months of freedom we are given between semesters.

I am very glad to inform you that I will be spending all four months at Red Rock Bible Camp.

Now although this may not be the most financially responsible decision for a college student to make, I can't think of a better place to spend the next four months of my life. Red Rock has helped shape me as a person over the last three summers through their Counselor-In-Training program as well as being a staff member, and I love being so much. It has become almost like a second home to me.

What will I be doing over the next two months? Well, for starters, for the first two months my job is working on the maintenance crew. We are made up of five summer staffers and our job is to maintain the camp for two months. This could range anywhere from cleaning up after outdoor ed and retreat groups to getting the camp ready for summer by doing odd jobs that are assigned to us. Our crew is great and we work quite well together.

For the next two months I will be spending most of my weeks in the cabin, working directly with kids as a counselor. This has been one of the most growing experiences I have had at Red Rock. While our job is to teach the kids about the Bible and being a Christian, I have found that so often I am the one who seems to be learning the most. It is incredible to see how much you learn about yourself and the Bible when you are instructed to teach it to others.

That is a short glimpse of what I will be doing this summer. Although I cannot wait to get back to school in the fall (yes, I'm turning into a bit of a nerd), I am quite excited for these next four months and can't wait to see what God has in store for everyone at Red Rock.

You can follow my happenings here at the Red Rock blog: http://66.147.244.106/~redrocl7/about/

Love: More Than An Emotion

To end my mini-series on faith, hope, and love, I am trying to tackle arguably one of the biggest subjects on the face of this planet. People could write books upon books of love and there would still be more to say on the subject. So here, I am going to write just a short thought what I have been learning on the subject of love. So here I will start with a story:

The other day while I was driving I caught myself praying the prayer “Lord, help me to love you more.” I finished this prayer, and I kind of startled myself. “Get God to help me love him more?” I thought to myself. “This is absolutely a ridiculous statement.”

To give a little context on why I think this is a ridiculous statement, let me tell you about something God has been teaching me over the last year. I have recently been learning how love in not an uncontrollable emotion, but rather a choice that we make daily. I can choose to love people by spending time with them and doing things for them even when I don’t want to. Love is far more than gushy feelings.

We like to loosely toss around the word love these days. “I love that movie” or “I loved that book” are common uses of the word love. Do you really love that movie, or did you just enjoy it? I believe there is a difference between love and enjoyment.

Another way we misuse the word love is in describing our passions. “I love hockey” or “I love music” are again common statements that people use. These are not things we love, rather things we are passionate about and again, we feel enjoyment while experiencing.

Love is not solely about enjoyment.

Now I know that I don’t know everything there is to know about love, but I believe that there has to be self sacrifice involved in love. If you really love someone, there will have to be times in your life when you put their needs ahead of your own. I would say this is the case more often than not.

To get back to my prayer, I guess I haven’t always been enjoying God lately (as crazy as that sounds). There have been times over this last year (and throughout my life) where I have felt very dry in my spiritual life. But luckily, me not "enjoying" God doesn't mean that God doesn't love me. It is this love that I receive from God that should make me want to love God back, but that is not always the case. Amidst my busy life, I feel like I have too often given God a backseat in my life.

In that I was reminded about something my good friend Joey Traa once told me. I don’t remember his exact words but it was something along the lines of “God deserves to be first in our lives. When we get busy, often God is the first to go. Then we wonder why everything falls apart. Rather, God needs to be the one thing that we hold onto while everything around us is falling apart.”

So yes, maybe there are times where I don't "enjoy" God. Maybe I’m not loving God enough. But more than likely this stems from my own selfish, busy lifestyle that I live. I have slowly been squeezing God out of my life and filling that space with school, friends, music, sports, etc. Too often I put my selfish, worldly desires ahead of God. It is a work in progress for me to get my priorities straight. Loving God requires a sacrifice. It is not about fulfilling our worldly desires first, and then seeing where we can serve Got. Rather, our commitment to God needs to come before everything else.

While writing these three blog posts on faith, hope, and love, one verse has always been on my mind, so that is the verse I will leave you with. That verse is Luke 9:23, which says "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

Hope: Looking Ahead At What Could Be

The Biblical text for this blog comes from Acts chapters 3 and 4. This section of text starts off just after Peter gave his dramatic sermon after receiving the Holy Spirit, right at the start of the early church. As Peter and John are walking around Jerusalem (I imagine feeling pretty confident in their new gift), they come into contact with a lame beggar outside the gate to the temple. Although this does not seem uncommon for someone who is familiar with the Bible and the works of Christ, the people of Jerusalem at the time are astounded by these works done by Peter and John. Peter then goes on to deliver a great sermon at Solomon's Portico.

Fast forward to chapter 4 and Peter and John are standing before the religious leaders in Jerusalem after they were arrested for their preaching. The leaders know Peter and John have not committed a crime, but yet they try and find a way of shutting down the ministry of these apostles.

While going through this passage in Acts class with Dr. Randy Holm this year, he informed us of a word he made up to describe the actions of these religious leaders. He decided to call this word pistisphobia (if you understand Koine Greek, you'll know that this word, if it were a word, would mean the fear of faith). They are scared of the faith of Peter and John because they bring a new hope found in only in Jesus Christ. 

To have hope is to desire something that is coming that is coming that will make a present situation better that it already is.

This hope scared the religious leaders of the time. Peter and John were not coming to say that their religious practices were not good enough, but rather that there is something even better than their Judaic law for people who accept Jesus as the Messiah.

This principle is same for Christians today as it was back then. We are supposed to be living with the hope of Christ's resurrection because that is the basis for all our beliefs. Yet, too often (myself included), we live as if this world were good enough. To live in a way that lives out Christ's living hope, we cannot get satisfied with our present living conditions. We always have to be looking forward, not only to heaven, but to every day that we can be walking closer with Christ. Living in hope requires a constant effort to better ourselves as an imitation of Jesus Christ.
People all over the place are looking for hope. We live in a world is filled with catastrophe and disaster, and it can at times seem like humanity is going to hell in a hand basket. This is where Christians are supposed to be different. We are supposed to be able to see the hope in the hopeless. This is what the world is looking for. They are not looking for people who scold them every time they do something wrong, but rather they need to see what is different about Christians.

Again, I am reminded of a story told by Dr. Holm. He had a relative named Harvey who was always being scolded by another relative (I can't remember exactly who) about how he wasn't a Christian and how he was going to hell. This was an ongoing criticism that Harvey received and one day he finally got fed up with all of this religious banter. He responded to this relative in haste, saying, "Give me a reason to hope, and then I might listen to you!"

Faith: A Journey, Not a Pit-stop

To be completely honest, I feel that out of faith, hope, and love, faith is the one that I know the least about. I almost feel inadequate writing on this subject, because I feel like often I have grown up thinking that I am someone who has such little faith. So what better place to start a blog than with something that I know little about? I hope it will be a learning experience for the both of us.

Now, first off, I do not think that I would be doing my good Christian duty if I tried to talk about faith without mentioning that wonderful chapter in Hebrews 11 that talks about the faith heroes. These are the guys who as Christians we are taught to aspire to be and hope that maybe one day we will have faith like them.

This chapter starts off with a definition of faith, the classic definition that is recited in most Sunday School classes when starting a discussion on faith. It goes like this: "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see" (Heb 11:1, NLT). For years I thought this was the only way to define faith. I didn't really fully understand it, but I tried to live by it. That doesn't even make sense! As a result of this belief in something I didn't fully understand, I would end up kicking myself whenever my faith wavered and when I found myself doubting God or what He could do.

I knew that Christians were supposed to have unwavering faith. Everywhere I looked I saw examples of great spiritual leaders living lives that, as far as I could tell, were full of unwavering faith. Surely these people never doubted God or His power. I felt really weak and inadequate as a result of this misconception of what faith is.

It was only this year that I started to get a picture of faith being more than some sort of absent minded belief that God is the way and the only way, and if we ever doubt that truth, bad things are bound to happen to us. I was writing a paper for my International Development and Missions class on the topic of Mission and Education and I had a bit of a revelation on the subject of faith. In the process of writing this paper, I knew that the all-knowing Gus Konkel had written many articles on this subject in the past, I was able to obtain some of those articles from Gus himself to aid me in my writing of this paper (for those of you who are unaware, Gus Konkel was the president of Providence University College up until this year). I came across a quote from Gus in one of these articles that was very unexpected, but yet very powerful. It went like this:

"Faith is not a claim of always knowing what to believe. Faith is a pilgrimage of learning about life, of discovering the unknown and correcting error." - Gus Konkel

I had to double take while looking at this quote. Here, Gus was saying that I don't always need to know the answer to what is right and wrong? That realization was a huge weight off my shoulders. I had always thought that if I didn't have an answer for a spiritual question that I simply didn't have enough faith. But this was not the case at all. I just had a wrong view of what faith actually is.

I am still currently immersed in learning how to live out this faith. This is not a faith based on spiritual highs, nor a faith that is ruined every time I experience doubt. Rather, this faith is something that I am attempting to grow in, through the grace of God. It is not a pit-stop where I can come back and refuel myself on spiritual highs before running out of gas again, but rather a journey that takes time and effort to get through. It is not always easy and not a guaranteed path of perfection all the way, but yet is the way we are called to live as Christians. I hope to be advancing in this journey everyday, in an effort to walk more in step with God every day.



I have attached two articles from Relevant magazine that speak on faith. The first one talks about living a life of spiritual highs, and the second talks about faith and doubt. Enjoy.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/church/blog/29017-qi-used-to-be-on-fire-for-godq

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/deeper-walk/features/24847-why-doubt-isnt-a-dirty-word

What We Could Accomplish With a Little Faith, Hope, and Love

Over the past year, 1 Corinthians 13:13 has been a verse that has often been on my mind. If you are not familiar with the verse, it reads like this: "Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love" (NLT). 


During my time at Briercrest College last year, it was brought to my attention in my Hermeneutics class with Dr. David Miller that the great scholar St. Augustine categorized these three attributes as the foundations of the Christian faith (if you really are pretentious enough to care to read his thoughts on faith, hope, and love, here is a link to his work http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/augustine_enchiridion_02_trans.htm#C2). I began to think more and more on the subject, and began thinking if I found this to indeed be true in my own life. Was there any way that I am required to act as a Christian without taking faith, hope and love into account?


Now I admit, I am no expert on any of the three subjects at hand here, but I do feel like I have been learning more and more about them during my studies. During my next few posts, I am going to do something that goes against many of my beliefs as a BTS student and not view this verse exegetically, but rather to look at the subjects of faith, hope, and love individually and see how we can apply these things into our lives today. 


Knowing that these three subjects are ones that I hold dear to my heart, it would not surprise me if I kept coming back to them throughout my time blogging. This goes back to me attempting to live a lifestyle of learning, always trying to gain more knowledge so that I can in return share my knowledge with others in attempt to better those around me as well as at the same time bettering myself. 

First Things First

Well, here she is, my first ever blog. 

This has been something I have been itching to try out for the last couple months, and alas, with my time off from school this week, I have finally gotten around to doing so. Back in high school I hated all writing assignments and wondered why people would want to write for fun in the form of blogs, but through my advancement into the University College ranks, I have almost started to come to enjoy writing *gasp!* (And no, this doesn't mean I'll start writing your papers for you). Writing is a way for me to clarify the thoughts in my jumbled up mind and formulate those thoughts into proper words and sentences, giving them structure, purpose and meaning.

What can you expect to see in this blog? Well, really anything that I think comes to be of importance. Being a Biblical and Theological student at Providence University College, there is a good chance that my posts will have to do with the Bible/Theology. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately, depending on your view of the Bible and Theology), this will likely not be the extent of my posts. Other things I view to be important that I may blog about could include sports (mainly hockey), music, or anything else that catches my attention, be it on a personal, national or international scale (I'll probably stay away from the national and international stuff for the most part). 

I never want to stop learning, so my posts will always be up for discussion/modification. In the field of BTS (or anywhere else for that matter), it is never good for one to think that they know it all. I know that readers of this blog may be more knowledgeable than myself on certain issues I may choose to blog about, and I welcome your constructive feedback, whatever that may be.

I hope you take time to read my humble bloggings. It would be much appreciated.

daniel