Lauren Green - Lighthouse Faith: God as a Living Reality in a World Immersed in Fog

Though many in the media and the academy portray belief in God as pass in our modern world, Lauren Green astutely observes that the heartfelt question, Where is God in my hour of need? is universal. In more than forty years of travel I have heard this plea countless times, whether from students in university forums or corporate leaders in private conversations. A seasoned journalist and an accomplished pianist, Lauren interviews scholars and discloses her own journey to understand God as a living reality. She has lived out her faith with courage and grace in a difficult arena. Her words will encourage and challenge you.

Ravi Zacharias

Author and Speaker

This story of Lauren Greens spiritual journey, powerfully narrated and illustrated with moving stories of struggle and perseverance, will cast light up many blind alleys.

George Weigel

Distinguished Senior Fellows, Ethics and Public Policy

Center, Washington, D.C.

I have known Lauren Green since she played piano on my old Fox News show After Hours. Her discovery of who God is and what it means to be loved and find meaning in a relationship with him will help the reader find meaning and purpose in his or her own life. Isnt that what we all seek?

Cal Thomas

Syndicated Columnist

Lauren Green is one of the bright lights in American journalism, and she has distinguished herself as an astute analyst of religion and culture. Lighthouse Faith is her new book, and, in it, she brings fresh insights and perspectives that readers will not have heard anywhere else! Her voice is thoroughly original, solidly biblical, and consistently inspiring. Having personally interviewed the worlds leading figures in religion, plus drawing from her own knowledge of history and current events, Green introduces timeless truths in fresh new ways. Her explanation of how music theory relates to God (specifically as used by G. F. Handel) is absolutely riveting. In Lighthouse Faith Lauren Green brings readers content that truly is unique.

Alex McFarland

Director of The Center for Apologetics & Christian Worldview,

North Greenville University

I dedicate this book to all of my family including, my mom Bessie Green, sisters Barbara Panser and Lois Porter, and brother Leslie R. Green. I especially want to dedicate this work to the family members who are no longer with us. To my father, Robert F. Green, for his tireless devotion to his family. To my brother Kenneth C. Green who, as he was dying of cancer, encouraged me to finish this project. And, of course, to my Great Aunt Wreatha, a simple Christian, whose incredible faith influenced me and helped mold the themes of these pages.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

PSALM 119:105

ONE OF MY MOST MEMORABLE ASSIGNMENTS AS A religion correspondent for Fox News was venturing into Times Square with cameraman in tow for what was supposed to be a lighthearted man-on-the-street segment, asking people how many of the Ten Commandments they had recently violated. The cornucopia of characters in the crossroads of the world always yields great sound, as we say in the business.

While the final, edited version of this mission was rather humorous, the process was not. It really shed light on the somber state of the human heartmine included. There were some embarrassing moments, as people would confess their most intimate sins, such as an adulterous affair, cheating a business partner, or even attempted murder. I wasnt equipped to handle such mea culpa. Searching for an explanation, I finally remembered something a wise minister once said that seemed to make sense of it all. He maintained that our most longed-for desire is first to be loved and then to be known and that the twoknowing and lovingcannot be separated. You cannot truly be loved unless you are truly known. But to be truly known requires that you make yourself vulnerable, no false masks, no cover-ups, just your soul laid bare. Thats the only reason I could come up with as to why people would confess their sins to me, a stranger, and do it on camera for the world to see, no less. It was as if we, all of us, share some collective conscience that cries out to be liberated from the burden of trying to control our lives, trying to get ahead; the struggle to make something of ourselves and prove ourselves worthy or at least better at something than everyone else. To unshackle ourselves from what prevents us from being the people we were truly meant to be.

Not only did the question really test peoples knowledge of Gods holy laws, which was pretty dismal, but it also exposed how quickly people would open up about their indiscretions when confronted with a list of the commandments. It reminded me of that verse from Romans that says, Every knee shall bow... every tongue shall confess to God (14:11 NKJV). It also showed that knowledge changes everything, especially knowledge about God; for to love God means knowing that God and the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) reveals a great deal about God and his world, and the way things work, but more on that later.

The escapade helped me see me something quite profound and powerful about the nature of divine law: it is intimately connected to divine love, and tied to it in a way that would shake the foundation of my world and completely alter the way I would view the entire created order, not to mention how I viewed my own dreams of contentment and fulfillment.

You see, my Times Square adventure was a humble eye-opener to my own shortfalls... because I, too, had once been confronted with a probing question that exposed my many faults and fig leaves. The question caught me off guard and struck the very core of what I lacked, knowledge about God. It unearthed the heart of what I craved, to feel loved by that same God. It was my pastor, best-selling author Dr. Timothy Keller, who asked the question, Is God a concept to you, or is He a living reality? In other words, he asked if God was more like an accessory, a handbag, a designer outfit, or an iTunes account, whose purpose was to serve me. More probing an angle, was God an array of spiritual ideas and philosophies strung together to fill the void of organized religion, to essentially affirm my life choices? Or, was God and his authoritative Word in the Bible an objective reality to which I daily shaped my life?

Being honest with myself, I had to admit that the former was more applicable. God was the good uncle, the adored grandpa who gave me what I wanted when I asked, and if he didnt, I was the petulant child, angry at being refused. But I knew that my heartfelt need was for the latter, to have God front and center. And I knew from the Times Square experience that once again, knowledge about Gods holy laws just might be the key that could change everything.

This book is an extension of my relationship with Dr. Kellers pastoral challenge. Its a guide to discover how to experience God in my everyday lifehow to respond to the real God versus creating my own version of the deity, but in a way that matches the reality of how the world we live in works, its consistency and order, its joys and sorrows, its struggles and victories. As well discover together, all of life and the wonder of the universe begin to make sense when we understand how and why Gods laws are present. Just as a building will eventually crumble if it isnt built using precise mathematical laws, so will our lives and relationships fall apart if the right laws are not acknowledged. This is not God issuing some moralistic approach to life. It is his loving grace to show us that there is a path to what we desire, but we have to know which way to walk. I live in New York, and there is no way that Im reaching Canada if I walk south. This is both a reality and a law that is unaffected by how much I pray or who I talk to about it. If I walk south, its not happening. It is the same way with Gods law. Just as he established through the cosmos and the principles of physics in the wider world, there are also ways that my own life will work. Ignoring those laws does not make me independent and powerful, it merely sets me up for failure. I am writing this book to help you see and accept this reality and to then be astounded, as I was, by just how much Gods law permeates everything around us. Its incredibly beautiful, and by seeing it, you will understand his love more fully than ever before. He will become that living reality you seek.