Spirituality Column #394
June 3, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

“America, America, God shed his grace on thee …” – America the Beautiful, verses 1,2,3,4

Say what you will about the Indianapolis 500 as cultural theater – good or bad.  It has to be among the most patriotic places in America on Memorial Day.

The crowd roars its heartfelt approval of the military representatives who are introduced.  The renditions of “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful” are my annual opportunity to sing in a 230,000-voice choir.  With “Back Home Again in Indiana,” the only difference is that we all seem to sing a little louder.  Conversely, the crowd is respectfully hushed, almost prayerful, during the National Anthem and Taps.   Indianapolis Catholic Bishop Christopher Coyne has fun with pre-race prayer.

Can I get an Amen?

And then the race starts and the event itself is … thrilling.  I’ll spot you the Super Bowl kick off, the first pitch of the World Series, tip-off of the NBA finals, and the start of the Daytona 500.  I’ll take Turn 1 at Indianapolis.  Acquired taste that auto racing may be – and I acquired it long ago – the 500 is even more meaningful to me because I’m standing beside my brother, two sons, wife and, this year, my sister and brother-in-law from Tucson.  We share as a family.  We share en masse as a nation.  It’s not the car racing; it’s the miracle of community identity, the sparkle of America’s possibilities.

We share the love of country and the grace God shed on all of us – showered it, really.  And one of the great expressions of God’s abundant grace on our nation on race day at Indy is the love I feel among family, friends, and the patriotic ambience magnifique out there on West 16^th Street.

Yeah … Brickyard behavior is a bit rough sometimes.  Regarding the crowd, I like to joke that “everything you learned in kindergarten” (see Robert Fulghum’s poster) doesn’t apply at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  But in the patriotic light of Memorial Day, it’s love that makes that gathering so special.

What got me thinking about all this, oddly enough, was the nasty-tempered and incredibly ungracious, unloving Westboro Baptist Church protestors expressing, spitting their hate for so much of what Americans celebrate as God’s grace.  Their vile signs and loud mouths greeted us along 16^th Street on race morning.

God is love, and He surely laments lives governed by hate.  Let’s remember to pray for those shackled to darkness, but not miss the love we enjoy together in the light of grace, even at Indy on Memorial Day.

God doesn’t want to lose anybody.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) figures that “grace” verse is repeated because God’s grace is the point of the whole song.

Spirituality Column #393
May 27, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

What’s the defining moment in your life?  Do you have one?

I’ve just celebrated my 60^th birthday and can remember plenty of big moments, but not an exclusive, explains-it-all “defining” moment.

Life is a series, a mosaic, a dance.  It can be organized, artistic, and graceful.  It can be chaotic, disjointed, and clumsy.  Mine has been a mixture of all that.  Choices, ambition, circumstances, challenges, aspirations, disappointments, affections, disdain, talents, labor, triumph and tragedy compose and comprise life’s definable moments.  Cramming life’s totality into a single moment, for most of us I suspect, just isn’t possible.

I’m a Christian so, yes, being baptized into Christ at age 47 was a big moment.  But it was making the earlier and completely unexpected step of actually going to church – and then sitting in the pew crying – that was a bigger, life-changing moment.  Baptism, after that, was a formality.

I’ve been blessed with jobs, love, family, and health, yet on occasion felt cursed by various aspects of those same things.  When I was nine years old my family moved from Battle Creek, Mich., to Kokomo, Ind.  I cannot imagine my life being anywhere close to the same – not better or worse, just dramatically not the same – had that not happened.  The move didn’t define my life, but it sure changed it.

I think of people I’ve encountered, work I’ve done, mistakes I’ve made, sins I’ve committed, and providential protections I’ve been afforded.  Occasionally, there has been a good deed.  Some moments I’ve defined, and some moments have defined me.  Single moments that define an entire life are rare in the human experience.

But pull back to the cosmic long view, and consider the moment in history that defines all history, all life, and all humanity: the Cross of Jesus Christ.  Nothing else in the history of the world or in any of our individual lives is as consequential as that.

Yes, one could point out the obvious importance and pre-condition of Creation.  Without that we wouldn’t have much to talk about, would we?  But Christ is from the beginning (Genesis 1, John 1) and His work on the Cross reaches into all eternity.  He is the shepherd of all mankind (John 3:16) who is the light of the glory of God (Revelation 21:23).

There is a timeline diagram I like: an arrow pointing left (history prior to Christ) beside an arrow pointing right (history since Christ), with the Cross in between.  Before Christ … with Christ.

Seeking a defining moment anywhere but the Cross is looking for life in all the wrong places.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) cites Bible scholar Dr. George Bebawi – “The Cross didn’t divide God, it divided history.”  Now that’s a defining moment.

Spirituality Column #392
May 20, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

Christians aren’t necessarily here to argue.  Our primary mission is to shine God’s glory, love and light on Jesus Christ for the whole world to see.

But God help us all, humans love to argue anyway.  Jesus wasn’t like that.

Jesus, in fact, rarely argued.  Yes, at age 12 He rebuked his parents because they panicked when he’d not made the trip home with them after Passover (Luke 2:41-52).  When they found Him teaching in Jerusalem’s temple, he said, “Don’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”  No one understood all Jesus was saying but everyone was astonished at Jesus’ teaching, wisdom and stature.

At Cana, Jesus’ mother Mary suggested He replenish the dwindling wine supply (John 2:1-11).  Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come,” but then ordered servants to fill the wine jars with water, which became exquisite wine – His first miracle.

Jesus didn’t argue with Satan in the desert; He quoted scripture (Matthew 4:1-11).  After the resurrection Jesus gently told Peter, who had denied him three times, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-19).   Jesus only showed anger once, scorning the money changers in the Temple (John 2:12-25, Matthew 21:12-13).

But nowhere in the Bible does Jesus mimic a modern CNN or Fox News guest by arguing vehemently against someone else’s opinion of truth or propriety.  That’s because the truth of Christ is not dependent on human opinion.  Jesus leads His flock, because He is the Way.  He tells the truth, because He is the Truth.  And He offers rebirth and new life, because He is Life.

Jesus sees all that is wrong with the world but avoids being a “clanging gong” (1 Corinthians 13:1) of angry argument.  He calmly, often shrewdly, preaches the truth of a loving, forgiving God who is the worthy Lord of all Creation.

Rather than argue or even directly answer spiritual misstatements like those of the woman at the well, the Pharisees, his own disciples, and even his own family, Jesus tells parables, knowing the faithful will hear truth.  Throughout, Jesus reveals God’s glory, sovereignty, Lordship and the new covenant in faith for human salvation.

This is on my mind as I consider society today that bullies those who would protect life in the womb (NARAL vs. Life Centers), cancels TV shows of Christian believers who think mom-dad-and-the kids is the Biblical and most practical definition of family (HGTV vs. the Benham brothers), and strives (ala Freedom From Religion) to silence those who would thank Jesus Christ publicly in prayer for His heavenly grace.

Jesus came not to win arguments, but to tell the truth.

That’s something we Christians should remember.

Spirituality Column #391
May 13, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

Before we try to figure out who Jesus is to me, we first should be clear about who Jesus is in the Bible.

Modern culture preemptively subordinates Jesus and promotes man’s assumed primacy of intellect, philosophy, creativity, productivity, ownership and – of all over-reaching imaginings – moral righteousness.  “Modern” here isn’t “modern times,” it’s “modern thought,” a man-honoring philosophical emanation from the Enlightenment era of roughly the late 1600s through the late 1800s.  Jesus wound up on trial … again.

This was the era of big thinkers of big ideas who led Western culture to big changes.  Thinkers like Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Newton, Jefferson, Paine, Madison, Nietzsche, Kant, Darwin and others crafted secular humanism (testing humanity’s ability to get along without God), personal freedom (endowed by a Creator to whom obeisance became increasingly optional), democracy (American Revolution), new science (Evolution), and eventually, incredible technology (just look around).

Certainly, Jesus and the Bible were firmly embedded in society.  Even ardent non-believers understood that a properly ordered democratic society had to be founded on objective morality.  Man governing himself required men behaving in a moral manner toward their neighbors.  Jesus and the Bible provided the requisite moral narrative.

Centuries of church upheaval in Europe and freedom’s new calculus in America allowed big thinkers on both sides of the Atlantic to believe they could redefine relationships among God, Jesus, morality and religion into an entity accommodating man’s ever-expanding vision of his own philosophical preeminence and moral righteousness.  Meanwhile, burgeoning scientific discovery intensified mankind’s belief that technology could master and ultimately explain the physical and moral universe.

It became acceptable to ask: Who is Jesus, to me?  And different Jesus’s began to appear – to new religious groups, adventurous spiritual spinoffs, fast-talking false prophets, Bible-twisting entrepreneurs, prosperity preaching frauds, self-help charlatans  and basically to anyone preferring a customized vision of Jesus heavy on personal presumption but light on biblical truth.

So society’s become a moral free-for-all, with the Bible, Jesus, prayer, and even the objective existence of Godly moral absolutes kicked out of education, politics, most of the media, entertainment and popular culture.  A current consumerist spiritual narrative might be: “If you must mention Jesus – and I’d rather you didn’t – just tell me how He’s going to help me, not some moral ‘truth’ I just can’t believe.  I don’t need a Lord; I need a God who can fix things to my liking.  I have plenty of faith in myself.”

Go look at Revelation 19:11-16.  Faithful.  True.  Sword.  Blood.  Scepter.  King of Kings.  Lord of Lords.

That’s who Jesus is.  For all of us.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) asserts that searching for Jesus is a search for truth, not self.  If it is too comfortable, it’s not Jesus.

Spirituality Column #390
May 6, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

Accepting Jesus Christ as Savior is easy.  Accepting Him as Lord is hard.

I mean, who wouldn’t want salvation?  Jesus did all the work, undertook all the risk, endured all the pain, did it without being asked, and did it for love.  And, He is, after all, God – the Son of Man, the Son of God, God incarnate, fully God, fully man, fully worthy and powerful to be our savior.  With no effort on our part, we receive divine, eternal love, forgiveness, mercy, grace, hope and joy in exchange for simple, childlike faith.  It’s a pretty good deal.

Even if we don’t quite understand salvation, aren’t sure why we want or need it, think heaven is a longshot, and at any rate figure “I am a good person,” salvation still is the ultimate free lunch.  Jesus on the Cross, dead then resurrected, presents mankind with a never-ending, glorious fellowship with God Almighty in heaven.

“Jesus saves!” Hallelujah!  All we have to do is get in line.

But as truly as “Jesus is savior” describes how Jesus treats us, believing “Jesus is Lord” implies a monumental and frequently frightening responsibility for how we are supposed to treat God.  God is serious about it.  Often we are not.

Our faith in Jesus as savior is one thing, a good thing.  But faith in Jesus as Lord isn’t about God giving us something like salvation which we haven’t and couldn’t possibly earn; it’s about trusting God to be who He says He is, and then trusting Him with our lives not only in heaven, but here on earth.  Saying “Jesus is Lord” demands our obedience, confession, humility, surrender, perseverance, suffering and the ceding of all authority.  These are abdications few can bear.

For sinful humans – and that’s everybody – worldly things (money, lust, power, comfort, etc.) typically “lord” over our lives.  We want God’s saving gifts, but we also want carnal control.  Selfishly we proclaim, “Jesus is my savior!” but insist, “I’m in the best position to decide what and who are going to lord over my life.”

Naming Jesus as Lord implies an uncomfortable debt on our part, even though our debts were erased by Jesus on the cross.  Our salvation is not a transaction – technically I suppose it’s not even a “deal" – it’s a miracle, a mystery, a promise, and God’s love.  We all know that saying “Lord, Lord,” (Matthew 7:2, Luke 6:46) does not open heaven; but following Jesus’s command to love God and love others, does.

“Lord and Savior” is the whole truth.  We don’t get one without the other.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) cautions against seeing our salvation in Christ as the Good News and his Lordship as the bad news.

Spirituality Column #389
April 29, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

Getting to heaven has been in the news lately.

Just-former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 11^th richest person in the United States (16^th in the world), recently announced he is putting $50 million of his own money in play to refute American citizen gun rights in general and the National Rifle Association in particular. 

Considering this and what he considers his other good works, Bloomberg, 72, added, “If there is a God, when I get to heaven, I'm not stopping to be interviewed.  I am heading straight in.  I have earned my place in heaven.  It's not even close."



In covering liberal politicians like Bloomberg (once a Republican, surprisingly), reporters dutifully characterize such “Heaven” references – no matter how arrogant – as cute, endearing, charming, etc., even authoritative.  Conversely, reporters reliably and energetically castigate conservative politicians for even an accurate Christian reference as hateful, some variety of “phobic,” and possibly crazy. 

In practice then, self-serving religious references by Liberals provide colorful news sidebars, but Conservatives supporting obedience, liberty, the truth of Jesus Christ, the Glory of God, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the sanctity of the Bible are spewing hate speech. 

The Bible says few people will understand Christ.  That’s easily the most provable statement in scripture.


Christians, Mormons, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus all have different views of heaven, which – “Obvious” alert – is one of the things that makes them all different.  

Bloomberg comes from an American Jewish family and he is certainly entitled to express any religious view he pleases.  He enjoys that right under the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  How ironic that his anti-NRA effort is aimed at undoing the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  But that’s politics, not religion.

As for Heaven, however, no amount of politicking will get you in.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is commenting on heaven and religiously obtuse media, not judging Mr. Bloomberg.  82 verses: What the Bible Says About Getting Into Heaven.

Spirituality Column #388
April 22, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

For better or worse, this year’s Easter season seemed overflowing with church, Bible, and Jesus-related news and entertainment.

The weeks leading up to Easter saw the release of several religious-themed movies.  “Son of God” and “God’s Not Dead” were specifically Christ-honoring Christian films.  “Noah,” evidently an egregiously non-biblical environmental purpose pitch (I believe the reviews and am staying away), nonetheless elevated a “Bible” story – no matter how twisted – to the top of the box office ratings.

Barna, the Christian survey folks, announced a poll saying 19 percent of Americans “use” the Bible – read it regularly and believe it – exactly matching the 19 percent of Americans who think the Bible is just a book of stories and occasionally helpful life teaching.  I’m glad the first number is so high and surprised the second number is so low.  News reports, silly and shallow, treated it is a new and shocking testament to unprecedented evenness of believers vs. unbelievers.

In the first place, God’s truth does not depend on any “poll,” not even a Christian one.  Reporters can stand behind their facts, but life has taught me to stand behind my faith.  Christ came for all (John 3:16), not for a percentage.  And even with all that divine, life-giving, love-promising, eternal grace that is available, the Bible clearly tells us few people make it to the narrow gate.  Redemption is about faith, not the odds.

Then there was the headline that screamed “Harvard Scientists Authenticate ‘Wife of Jesus’ Scripture,” or some such nonsense.  The headline and lead paragraph were obviously calculated to cast doubt on both the Bible and the traditions of the Church, which teach us that Jesus was not married.

It turns out scientists had “dated” a piece of Egyptian writing to the 4^th-6^th centuries AD.  Probably gnostic or otherwise heretical in origin, the writing is evidently “real” enough – like a “real” copy of the satirical “Onion” publication – but came after the canon of the Bible was generally settled in the third century.  Something can be “real” in the world without being Truth in the heavens.  Our culture frequently forgets that.

Easter, and the preceding Christian season of Lent, is undoubtedly the most broadly “Holy” time of the year.  If ever the divine message of love, forgiveness, redemption, and eternal life embodied in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is going to popularly resonate beyond the church walls, that’s when it will.

It’s not a bad thing to have culture pay a little more attention to Christianity, but it’s important to be able to discern truth from fiction.  Our eternal lives depend on it.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) observes that Christmas is fun, but Easter is Holy.