Let me think 😀. When I reached my teens, I think that I was disappointed with life and disappointed with the world. And I wanted to change the world and myself. I was interested in Christianity, communism, and pacifism. Regarding communism, I wasn’t at all attracted to communism as practiced by the oppressive communist regimes. I’m currently listening to The Politically Incorrect Guide to Communism on Audible. The author points out that people are very quick to point out the crimes of the Nazis, but communism murdered 10 times as many people. But I just wondered if we could make everything fair, without being nasty, and distribute wealth evenly throughout the world. I remember watching a documentary at the time where some guy, possibly Milton Friedman, said that you have a better chance of achieving that through capitalism. It wasn’t music to my ears at the time. I wanted everything to be simple.
I do remember having discussions with older people. They often took me to task about my idealism. I remember one guy pointing out that my time would be better spent doing good here and now; for example, by volunteering to help elderly people rather than distributing communist literature. Over time, I lost confidence in the extreme left, but I can see the failings of raw capitalism too. It’s a matter of balance. And older folk tended to take a more balanced view of things. Then, when I became a Christian, I was probably inclined to divide my fellow Christians (even my fellow evangelicals) into “goodies” and “baddies” depending on their theological outlook. Older Christians might have agreed with my theological position, but they wouldn’t be as inclined to think in terms of being 100% right and the other side being 100% wrong.
Something else that I would tell myself is not to spend so much time dreaming and to get on with the practical affairs of life. I didn’t have any real ambition to be a rock star, but I did wish that I could be. I can see that mentality in so many nowadays. They don’t want to embrace real life. They spend their time wishing that they were famous or whatever. By reading rock biographies, I’ve learned that fame isn’t much fun. I remember John Lennon saying that the fans got a lot more out of the Beatles than the Beatles did. Fame was a bit of a thrill for a few months, but ultimately they looked to family, friends, and even spiritual matters for real joy and peace.
I think of all the wonderful people that I spent time with over the years. Some of them are no longer with us. And I’ve lost contact with most of them. If I could start again, I would like to tell them how much I appreciate them.
I committed my life to Christ when I was 18, having spent five years trying to make up my mind. So, if I could meet my 13-year-old self, I’d say do it now 😀. And if I could meet my 19-year-old self, I would ask myself not to think purely in terms of who’s right and who’s wrong, but appreciate how everyone can teach you something. It’s true that New Testament leaders warned against heretics, but these would be people who rejected the authority of the apostles, which is equivalent to rejecting the authority of the Bible. But if there’s a teacher who has a deep love for the Scripture and a deep knowledge, I shouldn’t disregard him just because he takes a position that might be at odds with the doctrines of the Reformers or my own set of favourite authors.
An example is NT Wright. He’s an evangelical Christian, but he’s on the liberal end. Maybe the opposite end is fundamentalism. I’m somewhere in between, probably closer to fundamentalism. But I enjoy listening to him, and his interviewer, Justin Brierley, who’d also take a more liberal view of things than I do. Yet, he is an evangelical, and like so many others, he’s done tremendous work in the area of Christian apologetics over the last 10 years.
I should mention that fundamentalism in evangelical terms isn’t about being a suicide bomber or anything like that 😀. It’s more of a reaction against modernism and liberalism and denominations that have drifted away from believing the Bible to be literally the word of God. It’s about going back to taking the Bible literally and focusing on the fundamentals of the faith. But you get some who rigidly stick to their specific interpretations and are suspicious of everyone outside their own circles, including fellow evangelicals who don’t “dot the i’s and cross the t’s” precisely in the way that they do. I’m not a fan of extreme fundamentalism, but given a choice between a church that’s a bit too rigid about their beliefs and one that hardly believes any of the Bible, I’d probably go with the rigid one, even if I’m not as rigid myself. I remember hearing about a vicar who got in trouble about not believing in God some years ago. And so many rushed to defend him. Here’s an article about Anglican priests who don’t believe in God. Thankfully, most evangelical churches that are neither extremely modernist or extremely fundamentalist.
Getting back to Justin Brierley, incidentally, he’s just started a new podcast Uncommon Ground. And his former show, Unbelievable, still exists, though it’s now hosted by others. Maybe all these debates are more suited to people like myself, who’ve spent years studying the Bible. Maybe they would have just confused my teenaged self. I dunno 😀. But I do remember debating all sorts of things as a teen.
Anyway, I probably was quite a wise and sensible teenager. I could look back on any period of my life and have regrets. I have a few, but then again too few to mention 😀.
I’ve often heard Christians criticizing the song “My Way”. It should be God’s way. True, but maybe you could interpret the song as being sung by someone who didn’t slavishly follow the trendy opinions of others. Don’t go down the wide and easy road that leads to destruction. Follow the narrow and hard road that leads to life.
I don’t think that Frank Sinatra was singing about Christianity, but I can take secular songs and put a Christian spin on them in my own mind. So, I’m pleased that I didn’t allow the world to squeeze me into its mold. But I’m far from perfect. We can be drawn away from God by the world, by our own sinful nature, and by the devil. It’s a daily battle. But once we believe, we essentially cross over from death to life. You don’t need to be top of the class to get to heaven. You just need to be in the class, be willing to be a disciple, or a student of Christ.
Maybe I should have advised my 16-year-old self to ask U2 if they need a keyboard player, but maybe they’d have said “No”. And I don’t imagine that they’d have been willing to move down to Cork 😀. I should have joined Microdisney, a Cork group of my youth. But maybe they’d have said “No” too 😩.
So, I’m not a rockstar, but I am a music fan. Here are a couple of songs.
Romans 12:1,2
12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Matthew 7:13-14
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Hibernia Gospel 