One or two of these projects are top secret.

For the time being, I won’t be able to keep writing here as often as I have. Back in January I initiated a campaign to unleash a fury of new posts and although I am writing more than ever, most of it is now happening outside of my old stomping grounds.

There are some great advantages to having a personal blog, but at this point it’s either time to gird up or go home. And in this case, I have quietly decided to withdraw.

So What Can You Expect From This Blog?

• More infrequent and less formal writing
• Tragic neglect and creeping obsolescence
• Something less like stunning prose and more like eerie silence

What Can You Expect Elsewhere

• Tiny miniature thoughts daily over at my newfangled microblog
• Incessant and mind-numbing tweets
• World-class articles on faith and creativity over at the 360 Blog

One day I’ve love to finish my top ten Biblical metaphors series.

One day I’ll probably have a need to write longer articles that no longer fit on the other places that I write for.

One day I might revive, resurrect, or revamp this blogging format that has been so kind to me the past two years.

That day is not today.

Every good story has a beginning and end. The beginning is always the most exciting. The air is thick with potential, you can almost taste it. The characters don’t know where they are going or how it’s all going to end up. It’s riveting.

But there comes a time for a proper ending. Often times these endings leave us unsatisfied. A rushed ending might not wrap up all the remaining questions. There is perhaps no good way to end a story, except with the beginning of another one.

This blog is ending. It may continue on in some shape or another, but it will not be the same as it was. It’s not a sad ending, but it is an ending. And although endings are not as exhilarating as beginnings, often times they are much more meaningful.

Thank you for reading

What it is changing into I’m not quite sure.

As Seth Godin once wrote:

I don’t want to have the most popular blog. I want to have my blog. Whatever that means for it in the moment.

Bottom line? I’m still writing, but just not here. Where exactly? I don’t know. Is it actually possible to manage more than one blog at a time with any degree of consistency? Probably not. I’ll let you know when I find out.

But anyway, here is some of my more recent articles in various places across the web.

• 4 Things Christians and Atheists Have In Common via the 360 Blog

• Year End Reflections via the Madrigals

• 5 Highly Orthodox Ways God Might Speak To You  via the 360 Blog

• Is Technology Taking Over Your Life? via Technology Bloggers

• Taming the Tweet: Why Most Christians Shouldn’t Tweet via the 360 Blog

And so here we are, 26 months and 70 posts later.

It’s been lots of fun and I still have some things left to write here. After all, this is MY blog. I can write whatever I want here (well, not anything but at least I can pick the topic).

There are no rules here except that I shouldn’t make myself look stupid or threaten my future employment or needlessly anger people outside of God’s will.

All and all, it’s a happy friendly place to be.

Multiplying like Guinea Pigs

Outside the shocking conclusions of the four gospels, is there evidence that Jesus was raised from the dead?

For many Christians, the natural answer to this question usually has presented itself in the answer of the early Christian community. The most plausible historical explanation for the birth of the early church is that the cold dead body of Jesus got up and walked around three days after he was laid in a tomb.

It seems like an unlikely conclusion indeed.

But if you examine the writings of the earliest Christians in the New Testament, you will find that the whole message of Christian proclamation, the central focus of Christian worship, and their underlying theological framework all rests on the singular point that he got up and walked.

The early Christians had nothing, absolutely nothing, to believe in if Jesus had not come back from the grave. Paul says it bluntly and painfully:

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.

- 1 Corinthians 15:17

If the cross was the end of Jesus, then Christians are living an absolute and despicable lie. It’s all for naught, and those are the Bible’s words, not mine.

However, if Jesus died and remained dead, there needs to be some kind of explanation for why the church found a sustainable vision and multiplied like guinea pigs, all while suffering the extremes of humiliation, ostracism, and martyrdom. If all that was for a lie, that’s almost as impressive as a resurrection event.

Any way you slice it, the advent of the Christian faith is improbable. And it’s not something that we can test using scientific tools and methods. History never is. All we have with which to make our guess are the evidence, testimony, and witness of the early church.

We can call them misguided and sad, but if we want to understand their historical situation we have only their words to evaluate. And when we peer outside the gospels to try to interpret their reasoning, we hear but one determined and unified voice on the matter:

• Acts 2:24 – But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
• Acts 2:31-32 – Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.
• Acts 3:15 – You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
• Acts 4:2 – They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
• Acts 4:10 – It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed
• Acts 4:33 – With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.
• Acts 5:30 – The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree
• Acts 10:40 – But God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen
• Acts 13:29-30 – They took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead
• Acts 13:34 – …the fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay
• Acts 13:37 – But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay
• Acts 15:19 – They had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive.
• Acts 17:2-3 – He reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead.
• Acts 17:18 – They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
• Acts 17:31-32 – He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered
• Acts 23:6 – I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead
• Acts 26:8 – Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?
• Acts 26:23 – …that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles
• Romans 1:4 – and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
• Romans 4:24-25 – For us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
• Romans 6:4 – We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
• Romans 6:9 – For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him
• Romans 7:4 – So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
• Romans 8:11 – And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
• Romans 8:34 – Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
• Romans 10:9 – That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
• 1 Corinthians 6:14 – By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
• 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 – For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures
• 1 Corinthians 15:12 – But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
• 1 Corinthians 15:17 – And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
• 1 Corinthians 15:20 – But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
• 1 Corinthians 15:32 – If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
• 2 Corithinians 1:9 – But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
• 2 Corinthians 4:14 – We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.
• 2 Corinthians 5:15 – And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
• Galatians 1:1 – Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead
• Ephesians 1:19-20- That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms
• Philippians 3:10 – I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection
• Colossians 2:12 – …And raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
• 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 – They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
• 2 Timothy 2:8 – Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.
• 1 Peter 1:3 – In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
• 1 Peter 1:21 – Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him
• 1 Peter 3:21 –  It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
• Hebrews 13:20 – May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus…
• Revelation 1:5 – …and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead

• Revelation 1:18 – I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.

- John 16:28

Whenever I read John 16, immediately I begin to wonder what was going through the minds of the disciples. Here they are patiently following their master around Judea. They have risked their lives, careers, and families for Jesus’ sake. They’ve given it all away to follow Jesus.

Now he announces in so many words to all of them: “Goodbye friends, I’m leaving for good.”

• Abandonment Issues

Nobody, absolutely nobody, appreciates it when the person you are looking up to for leadership and guidance suddenly quits on you. It doesn’t matter if it’s your boss, your doctoral advisor, your parent, or your soccer coach. If you’ve invested your hope and trust in someone, you expect a return on your investment. We demand a promotion, a degree, a mother figure, a father figure, a winning season!

What we don’t expect is abandonment.

I think the disciples were completely and utterly stunned when Jesus made his announcement. Sure, he’d been dropping hints for a while but assuredly he was just being vague and mysterious like he always does, right?

Jesus wouldn’t actually leave.

This spiritual leader and friend in whom they had placed their whole future, their entire reputation, and their financial viability wouldn’t just abandon them on the side of the road like a box of unwanted puppies?

That’s just not kosher.

Goodbye Jesus

• Something Bigger In Mind

Yet their master insists that it’s time for him to go. It’s been part of the plan all along but the disciples just haven’t grasped it. They had expected political revolution. They were ready to crown him King of the Jews, a champion who would lead the nation to military victory over Imperial Rome.

But none of that could happen if Jesus left the party early. Revolutions don’t fair very well if their leader quits before they get started. This was going to wreck that whole celebration parade that they had been planning.

As the disciples struggle to follow along with Jesus’ announcement, he tells them why it is so important that he leaves town:

None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things.

- John 16:5-6

The disciples are bummed out that Jesus is leaving but they never even stopped to ask where he was going. They couldn’t conceive of Jesus being somewhere better than right here on earth with them. In their minds, nothing could ever replace the physical person of Jesus tangibly walking and talking in front of their eyes.

While his disciples sit filled to the brim with sadness and despair, Jesus explains:

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. – John 16:7

If Jesus goes away, things will get better?

That’s a strange thing to find in the middle of the Christian scriptures. You would think that if Jesus was going to raise himself from the dead that he would then go on a world tour or something. Why wouldn’t he march back up to the religious leaders and Roman officials who executed him and smite them with lightning beams (or at least make them apologize)?

• Not What What We Thought

I can think of many many things that Jesus should and could do, but none of them involve quietly slipping back to wherever he came from.

Yet Jesus decides to leave. Why?

Jesus was about to destroy the snare of evil, overcome the power of death, and usher in a new era of universal amnesty to any willing to believe in him. He was quite literally shifting the course of history. You don’t leave unless you know there’s someone else who can take your work and promote it better than you can.

Like a best selling author, perhaps he knew he was entrusting his life manuscript over to a publisher who could get it into the hands of the people who needed his message the most.

Jesus tells them that if he leaves, then he can send this second person, the Advocate. Somehow and in some way, the disciples will be better off with the Advocate than they ever were with Jesus.

Is this startling? Very much so. But is it worth looking more into? Most likely. We’ll take a look more at the Jesus Who Leaves next time.

I’ll be posting weekly on the 360 blog, however I will also continue to update here at my very poorly (selfishly?) titled Marc Has A Thought on a frequent basis. Basically all my edgy and controversial thoughts will remain here… yeah.

Anyway, I hope you check it out this new project and you’ll probably see me link every once in while to my posts over there. We so excited, fun fun fun!

I’m a complainer.

If you were to say it using spiritual language you might call it “having a critical spirit”. But basically, deep down I have an opinion about everything. And usually, my opinion is that I could do it better and that it should be done completely differently.

But the thing is, I’m also a part of two start up ventures. There’s the campus fellowship that my wife and I lead outright and the church start up where I serve under our pastors. In both cases, I’ve been there from the very beginning, either starting at or very close to zero people.

That means, if there’s something wrong or off in our organizations that in some way it’s partly my fault. Either I’m directly in charge and I should have done things better. Or I’m indirectly allowing it by not saying anything. If the music is bad or the atmosphere is unfriendly or not enough people are reaching out to the community, then I should have done something about it!

I have no right to complain because this time I only have myself to blame.

One of the reasons I believe God has put me where I am is because he knows that I can be a big fat complainer, whether spoken out loud or kept silently to myself. I always have to have an opinion, don’t I?

But now I’m realizing that other people have opinions too. And that it’s much easier to be critique someone else’s talk than it is to deliver a good talk yourself. It costs nothing to deride a bad website, but it’s disheartening to know that after a year your own website still needs work. It’s easy to blame the leadership for not involving the new people more, but it’s hard to be one of those who consistently forgets to do so yourself.

Anyone can complain, but few have the entrepreneurial motivation and problem-solving abilities to create the change needed. I’ve been in the former category as long as I can remember, but I want to change.

Fortunately I work with a team of local and regional leaders in Chi Alpha and the Assemblies of God who are not the sort who sit around and complain, but are of the caliber who grit their teeth, strap their boots on tight, and lead.

It inspires me.

Would a loving God send someone to eternal punishment?

That’s a big question and many people are jumping into the conversation without looking where they leap. However, it’s a good question to reflect upon and examine what Jesus really says about the topic. I have very much appreciated the insightful things many bloggers have written and so far I think I’ve grown from this discussion.

Greg Boyd has written:

“I sometimes wonder if the animosity some express toward Universalists [or toward those some assume are Universalists] is motivated by the fear that the case for Universalism might turn out to be more compelling than they can handle.

That’s a legitimately great thought.

Is the idea that everyone will be saved no matter what because God is wholly loving more compelling than the conviction that Jesus Christ raised himself from the dead so that all who trust in him will be saved?

That’s a question we all have to settle for ourselves.

Another key thought I read throughout all of this comes from C. Michael Patton who wrote:

People are in hell for all eternity, not because they floated a stop sign, but because their fists are eternally clinched toward God. They are not calling on His mercy. They are not pleading for a second chance. They are in hell for all eternity because that is where they would rather be. It is their nature. As C.S. Lewis once said, “The doors of hell are locked from the inside.”

For me this is a valuable perspective to keep in mind. God is the source of everything good, and not merely in a “I’m God and I said so” way. People always have a choice, not because we are that capable but because he has made us so. God does will that all would come to him, but he will not force or coerce us. He does not punish us over trivial matters, but warns us that we do in the here and now effects our position toward him in eternity.

Let me be clear: I don’t judge anyone, not even myself. To me that role belongs to God and him alone. Yet I find that there is abundant overflowing peace and restoration, and a global universal mission worth living and dying for in the gospel. It’s my hope and my life, and I firmly believe the same salvation is readily available to everyone.

For a more thorough explanation of this issue, I highly recommend Glen Davis’ article The Flaming Goats of Edom.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9

To be dead honest, our team has so many distinguished writers and communicators I can’t even fathom what things could come out of this. Let’s just say Berkeley won’t know what hit ‘em.

That being said, here are some resources I have pulled together to help us as we get ready for our journey. Not sure where it ends, but here’s some stepping stones as we begin:

Why Blog?

How To Become An Online Influencer

10 Reasons Your Organization Should Have A Blog

The Basics

How Often Should You Blog?

When Is The Best Time To Post On Facebook

Coming Up With Ideas

A list of Technorati’s Top-Rated Religion blogs

What are they doing right?

What could we do better?

45 Blog Post Ideas That Always Generate Buzz