About Me
- Raymond Culley Carter
- Gresham, Oregon, United States
- human, Christian, husband, father, writer, preacher, amazed at the grace of God who saved me from the penalty for my sin by the finished work of Jesus Christ
Saturday, July 7, 2012
I'm Moving!
No need for boxes or trucks, I'm relocating in the blogosphere. My new home is http://www.raymondccarter.com/ and my new blog is called Living in the Light. Stop by and see me.
Monday, July 2, 2012
With Liberty and Justice for All
July 4, 2012 marks the 236th anniversary of the Declaration
of Independence. Thirteen British colonies declared their independence from the
crown and their intent to form a sovereign nation. Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
There were many reasons the colonists waned independence, but the foundation of their position was that mankind was created equal and that our Creator has given us certain rights, rights that could not be taken away by any government or any man.
These words inspired a people who became a nation, a nation where these words have mocked those who have not enjoyed these rights. “All men” left out the indigenous people and people brought in as slaves and sometimes the poor and the minority. Today we see the wrong done in our past, but babies in the womb are left out.
In 236 years the right to worship and to work and to trade freely has become the right to do anything I want. The Declaration declared certain rights are given by our Creator, 236 years later many want rights and nothing to do with our Creator.
The rights and liberty promised by the founding fathers, some who were Christian, some who were only Christian culturally, and some who were not Christian at all, was built on a Christian understanding of mankind. God created mankind, male and female, in His image. Being created in the image of God gives mankind an inherent value. Humans of every color, nationality, ethnicity, rich and poor, able and disabled, born and preborn, have value as creations of God. Sadly, we continue to value people differently based on these things. Rights and liberty promised will always fall short when defined by mankind because humans value themselves higher than they should.
Jesus said: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31b-32)
In human flesh and in human words, our Creator tells us how we can be free. Obey what He says, live in and by what He says, and we will know the truth experientially. In knowing the truth we will be set free.
What is this truth? God is our creator and we owe Him all allegiance. Apart from Christ we are in rebellion to God, under the judgment of God, and have no hope of reconciliation with God. Apart from Christ we are slaves to our sinful natures. In Christ, by grace through faith, we are forgiven and reconciled and set free from the penalty for our sin. In Christ and born of the Spirit we are set free from the power of sin over us. This truth is more than propositional. This truth is not just spoken, it is given to us. This truth isn’t an ideal, it’s a reality.
I am thankful I was born and live in the United States of America. I believe in the promise of liberty, but I also understand that liberty is not for all in the hands of selfish humans. The only liberty that is truly for all is in Christ for all who believe.
Celebrate your country’s Independence Day, I will. If you have been set free by Christ celebrate your liberation from the tyranny of sin every day. If you have not today could be the day you find your true liberty in Christ. It’s only in Christ that liberty and justice are truly for all.
There were many reasons the colonists waned independence, but the foundation of their position was that mankind was created equal and that our Creator has given us certain rights, rights that could not be taken away by any government or any man.
These words inspired a people who became a nation, a nation where these words have mocked those who have not enjoyed these rights. “All men” left out the indigenous people and people brought in as slaves and sometimes the poor and the minority. Today we see the wrong done in our past, but babies in the womb are left out.
In 236 years the right to worship and to work and to trade freely has become the right to do anything I want. The Declaration declared certain rights are given by our Creator, 236 years later many want rights and nothing to do with our Creator.
The rights and liberty promised by the founding fathers, some who were Christian, some who were only Christian culturally, and some who were not Christian at all, was built on a Christian understanding of mankind. God created mankind, male and female, in His image. Being created in the image of God gives mankind an inherent value. Humans of every color, nationality, ethnicity, rich and poor, able and disabled, born and preborn, have value as creations of God. Sadly, we continue to value people differently based on these things. Rights and liberty promised will always fall short when defined by mankind because humans value themselves higher than they should.
Jesus said: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31b-32)
In human flesh and in human words, our Creator tells us how we can be free. Obey what He says, live in and by what He says, and we will know the truth experientially. In knowing the truth we will be set free.
What is this truth? God is our creator and we owe Him all allegiance. Apart from Christ we are in rebellion to God, under the judgment of God, and have no hope of reconciliation with God. Apart from Christ we are slaves to our sinful natures. In Christ, by grace through faith, we are forgiven and reconciled and set free from the penalty for our sin. In Christ and born of the Spirit we are set free from the power of sin over us. This truth is more than propositional. This truth is not just spoken, it is given to us. This truth isn’t an ideal, it’s a reality.
I am thankful I was born and live in the United States of America. I believe in the promise of liberty, but I also understand that liberty is not for all in the hands of selfish humans. The only liberty that is truly for all is in Christ for all who believe.
Celebrate your country’s Independence Day, I will. If you have been set free by Christ celebrate your liberation from the tyranny of sin every day. If you have not today could be the day you find your true liberty in Christ. It’s only in Christ that liberty and justice are truly for all.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
In His Image for His Glory
Genesis 1:27
tells us that God created mankind – male and female human beings – in His
image. Scripture doesn’t tell us that any other earthly creature was created in
God’s image, so we can correctly deduce that mankind’s place in creation and on
the earth is particular. Mankind is set apart from the rest of the creation by
bearing the image of God. Genesis 3 gives us the account of mankind being
tempted and falling into sin, and God cursing mankind for their sin. The curse
was on all of mankind and sin and death would be the lot of all who would be
born. In His mercy, God also promised to send a son of the woman, who would
break the curse and redeem mankind and the creation.
When they were created, Adam and Eve imaged God perfectly because they were spiritually alive, without sin, and in perfect unbroken fellowship with God. When they sinned they died spiritually, the death that God promised if Adam disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit (Gen 2:16-17). Because of their sin they no longer imaged God perfectly. The image of God they were created in was marred, it was corrupted.
When they were created, Adam and Eve imaged God perfectly because they were spiritually alive, without sin, and in perfect unbroken fellowship with God. When they sinned they died spiritually, the death that God promised if Adam disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit (Gen 2:16-17). Because of their sin they no longer imaged God perfectly. The image of God they were created in was marred, it was corrupted.
Mankind was created body, soul, and spirit. Apart from Christ and the new birth of the Spirit humans are alive in body and soul but dead spiritually. The soul is the natural personality, the intellect, the emotions, and the will. In the intellect and emotions and will humans image God, but spiritually dead the ways in which God is imaged are limited. Not in kind but in scope. Humans image God in being able to reason, to think abstractly and concretely, in being able to experience emotion, and in language, the ability to communicate thought and emotion. Humans image God by creating from what we think and feel.
All humans image God. In Christ, those who are born of the Spirit image God in ways that those who are dead in sin cannot. Not in kind but in scope. We will not necessarily be better at what we do but by the Spirit we know why we do what we do. Apart from Christ humans can do great and wonderful things, but only in Christ can we do anything for the glory of God.
God created mankind in His image for His glory. How am I imaging God? How will I image God today? Am I living for His glory in ways that those around me see His glory? May it be so, Lord.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Two things that have marked the time
“America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.” Terrence Mann, Field of Dreams
Two things that have marked the time for me have been baseball and books. Last week two markers were set. On Tuesday morning just before I left for work I got the news of Ray Bradbury’s death. I’ve been rereading The Martian Chronicles, spending time in the wonderful and amazing imagination and the rich and beautiful writing of Bradbury. I considered staying home.
I wasn’t born yet when The Martian Chronicles was published. I can’t remember exactly when I read it the first time. It wasn’t my first trip into Bradbury’s mind, that was The Illustrated Man, but I’ve loved His work ever since I first read The Veldt. I read from the public and public school libraries first; then I bought, lost or left behind, and bought again new and used volumes. The copy of The Martian Chronicles I am reading is in a nicely hardbound collection given to me by one of my daughters for Christmas. I couldn’t have imagined today the first time I handed over my library card to secure the loan of Bradbury’s images. Today I can’t imagine a world or the world in my head without them.
On Saturday I went to Seattle with one of my adult sons and a friend and saw my beloved Dodgers play the Mariners. In the spring of ’58 I was five and living in central California. The newly relocated Dodgers were instantly our team. I remember coming home from school to my mom watching a game while she ironed our shirts. I remember listening to Vin Scully on the radio in the house and the car and from the cheap seats at Dodger Stadium. I saw countless games on television, following the joy and agony pennant races and World Series won and lost.
What’s the connection? What do the work of Ray Bradbury and baseball have to do with one another? Maybe nothing outside of my overcrowded head, but consider that the work Bradbury did as a man grew out of his experiences as a boy. The work ball players do as men grows out of experiences they have as boys, watching and playing and loving a game enough to make it a career. Bradbury got a toy typewriter for Christmas when he was twelve and decided to be a writer. Like other boys who dream of throwing a no hitter or hitting a grand slam in the big leagues, Bradbury followed his dream. I’m thankful he did. I’m thankful the men we watched play on Saturday did. It takes courage and gives us courage to trust our own dreams.
Two things that have marked the time for me have been baseball and books. Last week two markers were set. On Tuesday morning just before I left for work I got the news of Ray Bradbury’s death. I’ve been rereading The Martian Chronicles, spending time in the wonderful and amazing imagination and the rich and beautiful writing of Bradbury. I considered staying home.
I wasn’t born yet when The Martian Chronicles was published. I can’t remember exactly when I read it the first time. It wasn’t my first trip into Bradbury’s mind, that was The Illustrated Man, but I’ve loved His work ever since I first read The Veldt. I read from the public and public school libraries first; then I bought, lost or left behind, and bought again new and used volumes. The copy of The Martian Chronicles I am reading is in a nicely hardbound collection given to me by one of my daughters for Christmas. I couldn’t have imagined today the first time I handed over my library card to secure the loan of Bradbury’s images. Today I can’t imagine a world or the world in my head without them.
On Saturday I went to Seattle with one of my adult sons and a friend and saw my beloved Dodgers play the Mariners. In the spring of ’58 I was five and living in central California. The newly relocated Dodgers were instantly our team. I remember coming home from school to my mom watching a game while she ironed our shirts. I remember listening to Vin Scully on the radio in the house and the car and from the cheap seats at Dodger Stadium. I saw countless games on television, following the joy and agony pennant races and World Series won and lost.
What’s the connection? What do the work of Ray Bradbury and baseball have to do with one another? Maybe nothing outside of my overcrowded head, but consider that the work Bradbury did as a man grew out of his experiences as a boy. The work ball players do as men grows out of experiences they have as boys, watching and playing and loving a game enough to make it a career. Bradbury got a toy typewriter for Christmas when he was twelve and decided to be a writer. Like other boys who dream of throwing a no hitter or hitting a grand slam in the big leagues, Bradbury followed his dream. I’m thankful he did. I’m thankful the men we watched play on Saturday did. It takes courage and gives us courage to trust our own dreams.
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