The Centrality of Death Death & Redemption in the Heart of God

Introduction

Each fall amidst the beauty and wonder of the changing season; as parts of nature fade and change, I find that I occasionally contemplate the brevity of life and even the nature of death itself. As the sun sets earlier and the wind catches a chill, the world around also takes on a tone of darkness as the earth is purged of its flourishing overgrowth. Thankfully, this is not the end for nature, this purging although a form of death, is also a process whereby the world is prepared and changed for winter preservation. We know, because we have seen this over and over. We know that nature will once again be renewed.

However death as a subject, when thought of more vividly is not at all pleasant or inviting, for it embodies the ultimate end of all human fears. If you have ever lost a loved one or had a near death experience, you might have tasted this fear yourself. It is truly devastating and from the human eye, seemingly uncaring, absolutely and ultimate. Without God speaking His Truth into these situations, the change can be overwhelming and entirely devoid of meaning.

However scripture also speaks of an extremely vivid death, one that has ultimate meaning beyond all others, one that transcends all tragedy. However, more than this, it is a death central to the heart of God. Of course I am speaking of the death of Jesus, God the Father's only son.

You see, every day we might see daily symbols that remind us of death, we might feel pains in our own bodies that might remind us yet again how brief life is. Yet we must ponder whether this is to our detriment or meant to bring us to the feet of our Lord moment by moment. Thus moreover, we must further evaluate whether we ought not to view these as our friend and rejoice in them!

YHWY - A Name of Sacred Death

What is so moving to me is the fact the very nature of our life sustenance is rooted in this central message. You see God has put at the very heart of His message to mankind the "centrality of death". It is so intimate to Him, that you might be surprised how close it really is!

Take for example the name that God gives for himself in the Old Testament, YHWY. It was so sacred that it was rarely written and in a lot of text it was replaced with other word Adonai. What some people don't know is that each of these letters have a meaning.

The name YHWY is in fact made up of four letters from left to right:
"Yod Hey Vav Hey" or Yahweh.


- Hey - Vav -Hey - Yod
- Behold - Nail -Behold - Hand
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When read in English from left to right, it says:

"BEHOLD THE NAIL, BEHOLD THE HAND!" Or, "Behold the nailed hand."

All of Redemptive History starts with His name, "In the Beginning God..." it is a name of sacred death, the death of His Son. Moreover, there is no more clear statement of God's Sovereignty than His very name!

Just as was spoken by the prophetic voices! Messiah!

"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." (Zechariah 12:10)

"Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet." (Psalm 22:16)


Jesus - The Son of Death

The Hebrew name for Jesus, "Yeshua" means "YHWH is salvation." Thus his name would literally mean "BEHOLD THE NAIL, BEHOLD THE HAND IS SALVATION".

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See Also: http://jeffjenkinsocala.blogspot.com/2008/06/yahweh.html


Scriptures - The Word of Death

One might say that the letter Vav used in the name of God above is just a clever coincidence however consider how that the Biblical scholars utilized the letter Vav.

"The word Vav is used in Exodus 27:9-10 to refer to the hooks of silver fastened to posts (called amudim) that were used to hold the curtain (yeriah) that encloses the tabernacle:

Just as the tabernacle was the habitation of God while the Israelites traveled in the wilderness, so the Torah is the habitation of His word today. Therefore, the scribes developed the idea that the Torah Scroll was to be constructed in the manner of the tabernacle. They called each parchment sheet of a scroll a yeriah, named for the curtain of the tabernacle (there are roughly 50 yeriot per scroll) and each column of text an amud, named for the post of the tabernacle’s court.

Now since each curtain of the tabernacle was fastened to its post by means of a silver hook (vav), the scribes made each column of text to begin with a letter Vav, thereby “hooking” the text to the parchment:"

"An oversized Vav marks the “center” of the entire Torah (Leviticus 11:42): Appropriately enough, the word in which this Vav occurs is gachon, meaning 'belly.'"

Now, just as the scriptural "word" was fashioned after the tabernacle. When Jesus, "The Word", came into the world He in turn desired to "tabernacle with us". Scholars point out that the words "dwelt amoung us" in John 1:14 actually means "to tabernacle".

John 1:14

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Parts of this portion were taken from:
http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Aleph-Bet/Vav/vav.html


The Biblical Covenant Valley Of The Shadow of Death

One illustration of death that has comforted many Christian throughout the years is the 23rd Psalm. Yet, there is more to it than we have soften been taught.

Psalm 23:
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Yet it has long been held by some scholars that this passage is using an idiomatic phrase. The words "Valley Of The Shadow of Death" are in fact symbolic language utilized in ancient covenant treaty. In such treaties a greater king ("suzeran king") would make a unilateral covenant treaty with a lesser king ("vassal king"), which in many cases had been conquered by the suzeran king. The two kings would participate in a vivid ritual whereby animals would be sacrificed and layed open in such a way as to form a valley. In fact the very Hebrew word for covenant is "berith" which means "to cut". Hereby they would "cut" a covenant. The suzeran king would then declare the stipulations of His covenant(the terms or "Words"). These would embody both blessing and curse. Blessings to the lesser king if he obeyed and curse if he did not, which was often a depiction of very elaborate penalty. Such a covenant breaker who received the penalty of the covenant would be termed as having been "cut off" from the covenant. One notable violation of covenant recounted by Herodotus' in his History of the Greek and Persian Wars documents Darius marching his entire army amidst the separated body of a captain who broke covenant with him. Herein we can see that the symbol was not only real and vivid but it could be exacted in judgment at the suzeran king's discretion.

One such illustration of this type of treaty in scripture is the depiction in Gen 15 where Abram is told of God to prepare the sacrifice. Yet upon doing so God instead puts Abram to sleep. He then brings down a smoking furnace and burning flame which cooks the sacrifice in Abrams presence, signifying that he alone would bare the full weight of the covenant. So then it is no mistake that Dan 9:26 declares that the "anointed one will be cut off". He will be "cut off" on our behalf.

You see even the stipulations or "Words of the Covenant" are symbolic. The Ten Commandments are in fact the "Ten Words" (Decalogue) of the Mosaic Covenant. So it is no mistake when John refers to Christ as THE WORD.

John 1:1

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

He is the ultimate fulfillment of all Covenants and the granter of a better covenant (New Covenant/Covenant of Christ/Christolic Covenant).


Exod 34:27-28

27 And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments (literally "ten words").


We Know that the Victor has Overcome Death.

Ps. 16:9-10
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.
10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

1 Corinthians 15:55
55 "O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?"

Romans 5:10
"For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life."

Our Response to Death

The title of this article is the title "The Centrality of Death" of a chapter in Francis Schaeffer's "True Spirituality". In this chapter he identifies what the Death of Christ means to the Christian. We do not merely believe that Christ died for us but that the result of His death affects is our own mortification. We die to self in response to all that God has done for us in His wonderful and exhaustive plan of redemption.

Halloween & Christian Superstition

Every year I am faced with some concern over the issue of explaining my observance of Halloween. You see I personally participate in Halloween, while many Christians abstain. This might seem like a blatant contradiction since Halloween is often portrayed as a "night of Satan" or as glorifying evil. Each year my concern is over my desire that my Christian friends understand my views on Halloween while my non-Christian friends understand my limitations with it. So here is an paper I wrote several years ago, revised for this blog, my take on Halloween observance.

Halloween Observance

Halloween, is a day that truly lives in infamy yet so many people have a fascination with the night and it's dark reputation. However, despite what some Christians think in practice it is usually a night of fun, excitement, good will toward children and kindness. Yet the context that Halloween is often portrayed in, with the back drop of paganism and the occult often proves too much for some Christians.

While I would never criticize anyone for abstaining from the holiday, I am always shamed as a Christian over the attacks on Halloween by other Christian believers. Especially those who claim it glorifies the devil and is purely a night belonging to the occult. I believe that it is in response to Christian objections that many actual pagans such as the modern Wiccans claim the day for their own, citing Celtic origins and such. To me it's all a little absurd when you go back and look at the actual history of Halloween. Neither side of this argument are really correct.

You see, my core objections to Anti-Halloween Groups is that they often do nothing but further propagate more and more superstition. Some have gone so far as to produce books and even an anti-Halloween video series or two. Many of these are pure conjecture associating the evil deeds of small counter cultural groups with the night itself. These are largely unfounded as these are merely isolated groups and not the whole of Halloween observance or our culture. Logically, it does not necessitate that Halloween is evil if a bunch of goofy or warped people decide they want to burn candles and do weird rituals. We must ask ourselves what actually does. So Christians, let's shed some the superstition shall we?

Halloween History Revisions

In reality harvest festivals have gone on all the way back to the beginning of agrarian societies, each lending their own credence and interpretation to the time of the year. Depictions of times of plenty and the stories of death and mystery that seems somewhat natural in the shortened days of fall. Further some have celebrated even dawning mask and such symbolizing various things both fun and sinister, an act that we see in multiple holidays in ancient culture and not just Halloween.

Halloween has only in recent times been doctrinalized by some occult groups and made to symbolize more than it really has ever been. This has been more a move on their part to run counter-culture to Christianity than based on any real validity. Therefore as well, Christians have further dramatized and gladly endorsed these claims. Moreover in some cases even exaggerating the verbiage of these groups to make the day more emphatically evil in the American culture than even earlier has been held. I mean lets face it, if the early English settlements truly thought the night was more evil, there would have been far more than a few witch trials folks. Although it seems to be the historic record that the New England Puritans rejected celebrations such as Halloween, there is ample evidence to conclude that other Protestant groups migrating to the colonies did not. When we look back to the colonial period we find both Christian and non-Christian alike practicing Halloween in fun, and enjoying myth and story which was no more evil than a mere campfire ghost story. Simple parties and simple games, that is all.

Considering the Macabre As Holy

Now, consider the season. The sky darkens earlier and the wind catches a chill, the world around takes on a tone of darkness as the earth is purged of its flourishing overgrowth. It seems that God has designed the world to display a tone of death each year. Imagine that? Why do you suppose?

Well it might surprise you that God himself seems to have a flare for the macabre.

"Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;

righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne." Psalm 97:2

Is it not that the fall season itself is designed by our creator to remind us of our mortality and the brevity of life?

"24 for "All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever."
And this word is the good news that was preached to you. 1 Peter 1:24

Would you hang this Christian art in your home?

Why is it that the macabre that is such a part of life ordained by our creator is often withheld from the Christian experience in our day. No symbols of death adorn our home (unlike the dark pictures of Reformation artist like Durer. See Picture.), no reminders of our mortality, and moreover no humor or making lite of death, because of the victory that God has accomplished for us. No, we cherish rosy things without a hint of black. So then we leave the witches and such to conjure all sorts of imaginations, their cause merely endorsed by Christian superstitions.

We must ask ourselves, are we guilty of cowering in fear? Could it be that we ourselves have given the devil too much imagined power over this holiday? Could it be that we have glorified the devil more than those who are walking their children around to collect candy? Finally, could it be that we hold more superstitions about the holiday than the people who are actually observing it do?

Halloween Rant: Well, let me rant for just one second!

It is always so troublesome to me to see Christians handing out tracts at haunted houses when there are so many other houses of ill repute. Why do they not stop by the strip club and hand out tracts about respecting women and the dangers of lust? Why not more tracts and production videos against the abuse of drunkenness and womanizing at bars? Why not tracts against liberalist churches who preach a warped view of the Bible and don't believe it? Better yet, why don't we drop the tracts and just talk to people and show them something real!

It's humorous to me that the more obvious culprits are ever before our eyes throughout the year while we like to attack Halloween because it's supposedly "blatantly evil". How shallow we are.

So What of Evil?

Right away some will so readily voice that I am ignoring evil and spiritual forces. For them let me give a brief reply. Personally I feel that Christian's have given too much credence to the power of the devil and that this is in fact MORE glorifying of evil than participating in Halloween. One of the reasons I do not fear such things real or imagined is that I believe Christ life and death mattered. It mattered so much that it bound (limited) Satan and his works in the world for the purpose of the spreading of the kingdom message. Some Christian's forget this. Christ coming and sacrifice removed the level of deception that Satan was capable of in the world before Christ. Here is what scripture says.

"Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house." Matt. 12:29

You see Jesus bound the strongman. The fallen angels knew of their punishment:

"And behold, they cried out, 'What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?'" (Matthew 8: 29)

Moreover, they know that hell awaits them, a place "prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25: 41).

However finally, they are unable to stop the work of his true church.

"...I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matt 16:8b

Death has no power.

"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 1 Cor. 15:5


Conclusion

So now let us think clearly. What is really being celebrated? Candy? Dressing up in costumes? Scaring each other? Making lighthearted fun of scary things? In fact there is nothing here that is sinful. But in fact some of it might be good for us so that we are less superstitious and more mindful of the real evil that lurks within ourselves without the work of Christ in our lives.

This is merely my opinion. I invite your comments.

Providence!

The Zealous Sovereign Lord God Who Loves Us

In the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) the first commandment exhibits a definitive monotheistic pronouncement implying, "I am... your God" and you will have no other. It is hard to believe that some do not take this passage at it's word. Please read below the passage, noting the italic words with this in mind.

From Exodus 20

1 And God spoke all these words, saying,

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before [1] me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands [2] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Covenant Stipulation

Firstly we should note before anything else that the commandment is a covenant stipulation spelling out the obligations of treaty between God and man. He is the Sovereign Suzeran (the greater king) and we are the lesser obligator (historically the vassal/servant king) who must embrace His law. Yet He doesn't just give merely commands for observance and duty but commands for our ultimate care.

Verse 2 explains this well. "I am the Lord your God" is spoken in the same breath with the greatest work of God, our deliverance. The illustration of Him, "who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" is the both immediate and local to the hearers of the passage (the Hebrew people) as well as symbolic throughout scripture. It stands as a depiction throughout redemptive history carrying over from the Mosaic/Davidic Covenants to the Christolic.

The Prophesy:
Hosea 11.1
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.

The Fulfillment in Christ (add to this His death for sins):
Mt 2:14-15
14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

A Jealous God

It is perhaps foreign to some that the word jealous is used in verse 5 as usually jealously is often robed in so many non-sacred scenarios in our day. Yet when we begin to dig through the Old English and Latin versions of the word we finally come to the Latin word "zelus" which is the origin of the word "zeal". So in reality jealous is very close to the word "zealous" here. Therefore in context, God is both zealous of His Lordship (v.1) as well as His name (v. 7 , the second commandment), but He defines His worthiness of both of these by the sacrifice for the deliverance He has provided for us.

It is not that God waits like a discontented lover weeping in the dark and begging for the assurance of our service and love. This is truly a contemptuous depiction of God, for herein He is reduced to a covetous, tormented soul not worthy of praise but pity. No, rather God sits as sovereign lord and creator, steadfast and immovable. He is demanding our exclusive affection and loyalty with a steadfast love willing to sacrifice of Himself on our behalf to bring us into His holy court. He is thus more than worthy of our love and worship in return.

So now finally, "You shall have no other gods before me" (v3) does not mean that we can have many gods as long as we place Him in front, but rather this is a further statement of this grand kingly court. It is a statement that the Reformers knew well. "Coram Deo: Before the face of God."

The Zealous Sovereign Lord God Who Loves Us will have no other gods in His presence and He desires us before Him.

Is the Cross Offensive? What if I said yes?

For Christian the cross represents something beautiful; God's ultimate sacrifice for the sins of humanity. Yet to others the concept is truly offensive. You might site that so many people wear crosses as jewelry around their necks and say... "who's offended?" However, I would clarify that they often have no real connection with the cross that Jesus bore. Think for a moment of what it might mean if people took the symbol of the cross seriously. Imagine people wearing an electric chair (a devise of arguable torture and capitol punishment) around their necks, what might that be like? Imagine people wearing a slaughtered bloody animal sacrifice on a pendant. Ponder just for a moment wearing the most grotesque symbol of death and maybe you might get close to what the cross actually means. Although many so-called "enlightened" people are offended by the concept of the barbarism of the cross, many on the other hand simply choose to ignore it or never go deep enough to discover what it truly means. Nevertheless, if they actually considered the full weight of the Cross of Christ I guarantee you that many would rip the symbol from their neck in hatred.

So why would I say such a thing? Well, it is because in truth the Cross stands in contrast to every fiber of the human being. Many do not admit that they have committed any fault in life, and even less believe that they need any forgiveness of sin. Yet these are at the very heart of the need of the Cross of Christ. However, perhaps the most emphatic teaching of the Cross of Christ is the most offensive yet. You will be hard pressed to deny you are not offended.

You see, just this past Sunday my pastor spoke on this very same matter. As I listened my mind wandered a moment to one of the most moving paintings I have ever seen. It was a painting by Rembrandt. In this painting the famous artist with all his skill did something so surprising and humiliating that any modern person would have to gasp. I personally recall my first emotions upon seeing the painting. It was a startling mix of surprise, anger and then finally an overwhelming astonishment at the wisdom in what he did.

So just what did he do? Rembrandt painted a dark scene of pain and anguish depicting the savior Jesus Christ being crucified with tones and colors so realistic for the time that anyone would be overwhelmed by the humanity of the act being portrayed. Yet more than this he did something else... he painted himself into the picture participating in the act of crucifying Christ. He literally depicts himself assisting in raising the Cross of Christ high toward heaven to where it will slide down with a muscle tearing thud into it's stone rock pedestal. Rembrandt was very vividly saying in his painting, "I killed him! I killed him! It was my sin, I killed him! Yet, he willingly died for me."



So now with this we move to the most offensive claims of the Cross of Christ. You see if God sent His Only Son into the world to die for mankind then it should not be surprising that He would be the only way to cleanse the sins of mankind. What other option would God give if He gave the most precious thing that He had?

You see Christianity is an absolute belief system. It teaches One God, One Faith, One Savior and Him Alone. Jesus as the founder of our faith exclusively proclaimed, ...“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6 There are many who seek to revise this idea, dismissing the exclusive claims of Jesus, yet this is not the Jesus of the Bible.

While many of these people try to depict this sort of religious belief as "hate", the ironic thing is that Jesus "first loved us" and we first hated him (verse 30 "haters of God").

"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

So now finally is the Cross of Christ truly offensive? Scripture states this quite clearly as well. While we desire that people will see the beauty of the Cross of Christ and the love of God for them, unfortunately many will not understand and will perceive it as foolish. Thankfully, it is God alone who is Lord over the harvest of souls.

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

For more on this read my pastor's blog here

The Law of Love & Coveting

Recently I am sort of going through a Francis Schaeffer reading spell. In his book entitled True Spirituality he paints some wonderful insights on the first elements of the Christian walk. One that struck me in the first chapters was talk about the inward struggle with the elements of following and loving God. He says,

"When we talk of the Christian life, or true spirituality, when we talk about freedoms from the bonds of sin, we must wrestle with the inward problems of not coveting against God and men, of loving God and men, and not merely some set of externals [rules]."

He establishes that the command "Thou Shalt Not Covet" also implies thou shalt share, give, and seek the good of others (see 1 Cor. 10:13, 14). This is because each commandment taken in it's fullest sense also enjoins it's opposite. For instance "Thou Shalt Not Kill" also implies "Thou Shalt Preserve Life".

Now consider this in context of the famous love chapter (1 Cor. 13).


13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, [1] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [2] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends.

In essence, when we see that coveting is intrinsically tied to our confession of love for God and how we live it we find that the love chapter, which is often viewed as a flowery passage, becomes perhaps the most convicting passage in all of scripture.

The Asecularist

The word "secular" means "this worldly" or "temporal." So when we speak of "asecular" we mean "not of this world."

This blog will attempt to deal with the subject of Truth based in an "aworldly" (not worldly) and "atemporal" (non-time or above time) mindset. This requires some explanation, so bare with me.

For some the thought of speaking of things outside this world and outside this time might sound too mystical, and some on the other hand, might find this inviting. Yet in reality the Asecularist must learn both to explain one's natural world as well as the hidden meta-seculum (other world that is over our own) of existence which we call the "spiritual world." While I am speaking of spiritual things, I am not speaking of some paranormal world that is completely separate from our own, a teaching that is popular in many cultures and belief systems, but rather the spiritual world that actually touches the here and now. While it is distinctly different, it is not far removed from our own. It is a spirituality that still holds relevant the concept of verifiable Truth.

When I speak of an "atemporal perspective," I mean to imply that we begin to see things in the "upper story," to begin to make sense of how God sees things. This is intended to be in direct contrast to naturalism, which seeks to close the door on rationality when it involves anything in the upper story of spiritualism. The perspective becomes atemporal as it is based on the belief that God is not subject to time. Yet it does not divorce God from time, as the belief maintains that God created all of time for His purposes. Furthermore, He cares very much for it and is actively involved in what He has made.

Unlike the mystic, the Asecularist seeks not to utterly abandon this world, although he/she must be content not to harmonize with it, as it is broken. Moreover, an Asecularist can never embrace this world but must be able to live in contradiction to it in relative peace though it may harm him. Unlike the paranomalist, who deals with the perception of phenomena of this world that are often considered to be contrary to known science. The Asecularist deals with the validity of spiritual truths in the whole of existence. While the Asecularist believes that truth can be perceived from many sources and that even otherwise counter-intellectual voices can convey limited and partial truths, the Asecularist ultimately believes in Absolute Truth.

So finally, if you have not figured it out already an Asecularist is a Christian. Not just any "christian" as the word is thrown around today, but a Christian... a follower of Christ with a capitol "C" that believes in the words of the founder of the faith, namely Jesus. The Asecularist sees the natural world as Jesus sees it. Read His words below on this:

From John 17:13-16

"But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. [1] 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Yet He does not just leave us in the world aimless as some suppose, He leaves us with His Word (the Bible) which is truth, to be sanctified (set apart in holiness) in truth.

John 17:17-19

17 Sanctify them [2] in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, [3] that they also may be sanctified [4] in truth."

Jesus further teaches elsewhere that He is this truth and it is absolute, there is no other. Jesus Christ, Absolute Truth:

John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus said these things in time and space and they transpired at a particular point in time. They were not mystical observations disconnected from reality. They are real truth, for life right now.

So to further clarify, the Asecularist is a Christian who believes that there are real and valid answers for the world today, and that spiritual realities have earthly implications. They are not separate in some fashion of spiritual dualism. In fact, the Asecularist believes that God has not divorced spirituality from reason. Rather, that reason and intellect are very much engaged in spirituality.

So now ask yourself, are you a Asecularist?

Read more about how this concept takes shape in my blog post here:
Spirituality Engaging The Heart & Mind