Category: CHRISTianity

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Mosquitoes versus Aliens

The Christian Bubble Boy

I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. (John 17:14-18 NIV)

I’ve been thinking about the above passage of scripture a lot lately. In Christian circles it is usually summarized as “be in the world but not of the world.” I think the summary is pretty good EXCEPT I have a problem with how I believe we in the Christian bubble often understand it.

I think we in the Christian bubble typically view the “in but no of” phrase as meaning that we are functioning in the world while trying to avoid being contaminated by the pesky little evil parts of the world around us. Kind of like running through a room full of mosquitoes. You don’t really change your behavior in a room full of mosquitoes other than adding an extra layer of protection between you and the blood sucking little pains in the rear. You put on a strong layer of deet to scare the small pests off or you go for full protection and put on a bubble boy suit. The goal isn’t to change or confront mosquitoes but remain unbitten.

I love the Seinfeld bubble boy episode but I still don’t want to live in a bubble.

I think that is how so many of us in the Christian bubble operate. We just try to Christianize as much as we can. The only difference between the Christian business owner and the non-Christian one is that the Christian business owner doesn’t cuss (much). The only difference between the Christian librarian and the non-Christian one is that the Christian librarian recommends reading “Left Behind” rather than “The Da Vinci Code.” The difference between a Christian employee and a non-Christian one? Well the Christian employee might tithe on his/her income. This version of being “in but not of” is more a stylistic difference than a qualitative difference.

But what if being “in but not of” has more to do with being alien than with simply avoiding pesky things?

I remember watching “Mork & Mindy” as a kid. I loved it. Robin Williams was amazing. Part of what I loved about the Morkster was how foreign everything was to him. Why? Well because he was an alien living on Earth, so everything really was foreign to him. What is a spoon used for? Well we earthlings know it is for eating, but Morkonaut might use it as a writing instrument. He approached everything around him in an intrinsically different manner than the earthlings around him. Heck, when he became a father his baby (Jonathan Winters – who was amazing) even aged different from all the earth babies (he aged in reverse). The above video is an example of everything being foreign to Mork.

What if “being in but not of” means living out of entirely different values from those in the world? What if it means working from a different mindset and for a different purpose (i.e. being foreign). What if our work is no longer about making enough money to meet our needs and perhaps buy a few luxuries, but moves closer to a statement John Wesley made – “make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” What if our education is no longer about helping us to get the best job possible, but about equipping us to be a part of God saving His creation. What if our politics are no longer about making sure our side wins even if it means we have to compromise certain aspects of our faith, but about being a “thorn in the side” of every politician because we follow a King who calls for more than all the political parties are interested in offering. What if our churches start to look and act remarkably different from everything else around them because we are living out markedly different values from all the other enterprises in our communities.

Basically what if “being in but not of” actually led to us being qualitatively different? Being aliens rather than just trying to avoid mosquitoes. I think it would be cool.

 

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He Doesn't Represent Me

Pat Robertson is a Weenie

 

I feel like I should just keep the above photo on a rotating schedule because Pat Robertson invariably makes a few stupid statements every year. I’m ok with stupid statements, after all I make quite a few of my own, but Robertson speaks dogmatically over a large megaphone on subjects that is just plain wrong on and then people lump me in with him. I am an Evangelical and when other Evangelicals consistently make dumb and much worse UNLOVING statements it stains me too. Robertson’s latest? Basically he blames a wife for her husband’s cheating and puts the burden of maintaining the marriage on her (the offended party). You can see the entire video of Robertson’s <SARCASM>sage advice</SARCASM> here in this Huffington Post article.

Robertson says:

“Recognize also, like it or not, males have a tendency to wander a little bit,” … “What you want to do is make a home so wonderful that he doesn’t want to wander”

What kills me is Robertson misses two great opportunities to deal with real issues. First, The wife asks “How do you let go of the anger? How do you trust again?” In other words, how do you live out Jesus command to forgive? The woman is asking for help following Jesus’s command. What a great thing. This is the cry of someone trying to be a disciple. Trying to follow Jesus even though it is difficult. Instead of helping her Robertson gives her advice that I am pretty sure Jesus never would give her. Robertson’s advice takes the responsibility for the cheating out of the hands of the cheater (the husband) and puts it in the hands of the wounded (the wife). Here’s the second great teaching moment. I believe personal accountability is a part of Jesus’s message. Claiming and repenting of your sin is a part of forgiveness. The husband needs to do this. Yet Robertson basically tells the woman “it’s up to you to make sure you husband doesn’t want to cheat on you.” There’s no personal responsibility for the husband’s sin there. It’s the equivalent of saying “it is someone else’s fault.” Robertson could have tried to help this hurting spouse and in the process also help the one who did the hurting. Instead, Robertson says things that I would bet money Jesus never would have said and in the process besmirches Evangelicalism … again.

I just really wish Robertson would shut up. Yes I know, as Pam and I taught our boys, it isn’t nice to tell somewhat to “shut up” but I really believe Robertson needs to hear forceful words now. So if you are listening Pat, I am pretty sure you are embarassing  Jesus and I know you are making it more difficult for many of us who follow Him and try to love in His name. So please shut up!

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Your Idea of God

Think of God

Today the following quote from A.W. Tozer has been running through my mind:

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

I think it is a very powerful and challenging statement because I believe it is true. We I think we tend to become like what we truly believe God is like. To put it another way “we become like what we value.”  Here’s the example that started me thinking about this.

I just don't get this hair style. Not attractive in my opinion.
I just don’t get this hair style. Not attractive at all in my opinion.

Today I saw a couple of youngish females with what I would call “jersey hair.” There is probably a name for this hair style, I just don’t know what it is. All I do know is it reminds me of some of the extreme versions of seemingly dumb people on certain reality tv shows. My first thought when I saw these ladies hair was “why would anyone want hair like that?” You see I don’t like that style and I am very thankful that Pam doesn’t want hair like that. in fact, I think this hairstyle makes people look stupid BUT that is apparently not what these young ladies thought. Surely they didn’t wake up in the morning and think “this hair style will make everyone think we are dumb … that’s great let’s do it.” Nope, they styled their hair in such a manner because they thought such a hairstyle was somehow valuable to them. We become like what we value.

So how does this fit with God? Well I believe who we believe God is affects the way we live. Do you view God as judgmental? I’ll bet you are judgmental. Do you view God as liberal or conservative? You’ll probably be like whatever you think God is. Is your view of God hard on immigrants? Is your picture of God only gracious to certain people? Is your view of God taking care of the needy or congratulating the wealthy? Just like those two young ladies made their hair look stupid (my opinion) because they valued what that look represented, so we become like what we value about and think about God. If you and I truly think God is forgiving this will shape us into becoming more forgiving than we naturally would be on our own. If we truly believe God is a servant (Philippians 2:1-4) then we will be more serving than we would naturally be on our own. And so on and so on and so on. I have a book that I bought just because of the title that I haven’t read yet and the title summarizes this thought pretty well. The title is We Become What We Worship. I think it is a great title and I keep meaning to read the book to found out if it is any good or not. Still, a great title which is why it is in the stack to read.

I think the thing that scares me the most about this is the reverse angle of the question. What do the actions of my life right now betray concerning who I really think God is? Do I think He is selfish? Do I think He is just on my side? Do I think He just doesn’t care? I hope I live a little more each day in light of a growing understanding of the great God who is more than I can ever comprehend. I hope He changes me to be more and more like Him. Truthfully that also scares me sometimes.

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The Apotheosis of Beth Moore

Many of my “thread” and Wisconsin friends won’t get this post. That’s ok. Just skip it. I love that part in C.S. Lewis’s “Mere Christianity” where he says “All sensible people skip freely when they come to a chapter which they find is going to be no use to them.” If this post doesn’t work for you, then skip it.

A while back Pam wrote on one of her blogs a post titled “Breaking Up with Beth Moore” concerning her thoughts and feelings about Beth Moore studies since we have moved up to Wisconsin. I think Pam is a great writer, and therefore I believe you should go over to her blog and read the post for yourself. I will, however, briefly summarize what Pam said. So here goes:

Pam used to be a huge Beth Moore fan and she learned a great deal from Beth Moore’s writing and conferences. Since moving up to Wisconsin Pam has been seeing Beth Moore studies through Northern/Midwestern eyes and she doesn’t believe what she has seen has translated very well to our ministry context. So she decided to stop using and taking part in Beth Moore studies.

Pam didn’t say anything terrible about the Beth (for the rest of the post I am simply going to refer to Beth Moore as “the Beth” because her fascination with her own hair reminds me of Donald Trump and his hair). She just said that she doesn’t connect with the Beth anymore, and she doesn’t feel like the Beth translates as well outside of the South. When she wrote it I thought it was a very good post, but I didn’t really think that it would garner very many non-friend comments.

I was wrong about the non-friend comments. It is the most read post on her blog by far.

There are 16 comments on the post thus far and I believe there are two more comments waiting Pam’s moderation. The surprising thing is the number of them that jump all over Pam. Her apparent sin? Seems to be that she dared to say she didn’t connect with the Beth’s teaching style anymore. One of the commenters said Pam should look for sin in her life. I guess the commenter believes that hidden sin is the only thing that would lead someone to question the Beth’s effectiveness. I have to say here that I got a little snarky with this commenter, but I figure it is a spouse’s duty and privilege to jump to the other’s defense. Another commenter said being funny while discussing someone else’s ministry is unscriptural based on Psalm 19:14. I found this post confusing because the scripture talks about our words being pleasing to God not about not saying anything against someone else’s teaching stlye. I think God very well might find such humor pleasing. My personal favorite is the commenter whose post hasn’t been approved yet. It is a grandmother who is worried that her grandchildren might find Pam’s post – apparently she doesn’t know what the real dangers on the internet are for her grandchildren.

The Apotheosis (deification) of George Washington – I think President Washington was a great man but deification? Something is wrong with that.

My big problem with these comments is what I believe they come out of. I think they represent the almost deification of Christian leaders by some of those who idolize these leaders. I think the church cultural often celebritize some Christian leaders to the point that some begin to think that the leader’s holiness is such that they shouldn’t be questioned, that the celebrity is somehow more holy and closer to God than others. When did it become an affront to God to question the effectiveness of the Beth or any of the other Christian celebrity speakers? I don’t think it is.

I think we need to ask what our goal is when we do ministry. Is our goal for more people to know Jesus Christ? If so we’ll use whatever approach works best for the people who we are around. If our goal is for more people to discover the joys of Beth Moore studies, then we really need to make sure that no one criticizes the Beth.

I’ll be honest here. I have never connected with the way the Beth speaks, and I have never understood the rabidness of her groupies. Back when Pam did Beth Moore studies I used to jokingly say it was a cult because it all seemed focused on the Beth’s personality. I’m sure she is a wonderful godly person but I just don’t get it and I definitely don’t connect with God through the Beth’s sermons and such. She seems gimmicky to me and, worse still, I find the whole gimmick irritating. Like nails on a chalkboard.

Still do you know what I would do if people in Tapestry really connected with the Beth? I would have the church doing more Beth Moore studies than you can possibly imagine. Why? Because the goal is to connect people with Christ. I don’t care how I get them to do the connecting. For example, the weekly small group that I am a part of was reading Mark Buchanan’s book “Things Unseen,” a book that I love. After a couple of weeks everybody but me said it simply wasn’t working for them. I, however, love the book and really love the way Buchanan explains things. So what did we do? We ditched “Things Unseen” without a second’s hesitation and went with Deitrich Bonhoeffer’s “The Cost of Discipleship.” Why? Because the the only thing that matters is the group connecting with God not which author helps the group to do the connecting. The Beth is a tool and nothing more. The only thing that matters about a tool is that it gets the job done. If it doesn’t get the job done then you throw it off to the side, and maybe even laugh about thinking it would work in the first place.

That’s why it surprises me when people respond like one commenter did on Pam’s post. This commenter said that Pam was pushing the commenter’s mother-in-law further away from God. Why? Well because the commenter’s mother-in-law read Pam’s post and decided not to go to a Beth Moore bible study with her. If this was a math problem it would be:

“Not going to a Beth Moore study = falling away from God.”

I find that kind of logic kind of scary. In fact, I find it pretty close to idolatrous. That thinking makes the tool (i.e. the Beth) far too important. It is apotheosizing the Beth. That’s not cool and something I am sure the Beth doesn’t want her groupies to do, because we were created to worship only one God and He will have “no other gods before Him.” Exodus 20:3.

Now don’t apotheosis anyone.

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I'm a Fan of Ed Stetzer

This is Ed Stetzer – I wish we were friends 🙂

I really appreciate the vast majority of what Ed Stetzer writes and this post is just another example of his thoughts and writing that i am thankful for.

Here’s a quote from it:

On the day before the Tsarnaev brothers were identified as Chechen Muslims, I drove by my Muslim neighbor’s home on the way out of our neighborhood. His trash can had spilled into the street, so I stopped, picked everything up and put it back on his curb. Why? Because I know him. He is my neighbor. Because our kids play together. And he more realistically represents his religion to me than terrorists do. And my African American neighbors also better represent African Americans than news reports. And, I pray, I am a better representative of my Christian faith than some of the nuts in the news.

You should probably go read the rest of his post. It is good stuff. Makes me glad he is a Southern Baptist leader. I think the thing I like about him the most is that he seems to tick off people on both sides. He doesn’t seem worried about supporting conservative or progressive causes. For some fun you should read some of the comments on his facebook posts. Always seem to be something that someone is chewing him out for. That’s fun. 🙂

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7 Words

Since it is Good Friday I have been thinking about the 7 last words/sayings of Jesus. I’ve been focusing on one word from each saying. Here are the words that have stood out to me.

  • Forgive
  • With
  • Behold
  • Forsaken
  • Thirst
  • Hands
  • Finished

It is amazing how much one word can say. At least they are speaking to me. I hope that you have an amazing Resurrection Sunday from the God Who loves to forgive you and me, wants to be with us and us to be with Him, hopes that we behold His truth, was forsaken to find us who felt forsaken, thirsts for us to thirst for Him, has strong hands for us to commit ourselves to, and has finished what no one else could finish.

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Can Versus Will

blogimage_rollthedice

I loved studying statistics during my undergraduate degree. Actually to be truthful I hated statistics after the first test of my second semester of statistics but that changed back to love again after I figured out what I wasn’t understanding. I learned a great deal from the general and business statistic classes that I took as a student at the University of South Alabama (yeah the initials of the school I attended are U.S.A.) that I still use today. Even as a pastor there is a great deal that I learn in those classes that I regularly use. One such lesson was the difference between possibility/chance and probability. Let me talk about example right now.

Every now and then I hear the following statement …

You can be a Christian without regularly being a part of a church.

You can add other statements such as “You can be a Christian without caring for the weak,” “reading your bible,”  “praying, ” “forgiving those who hurt you,” etc., etc. The problem I have with the above statements is that they mistake “can” (possibility) with “will” (probability). Such statements use a theoretical possibility to dismiss the personal probability and  faith always has a  personal element to it. Can you be a Christian, someone who professes Jesus as their Lord and is trying to follow Him as their Lord (Romans 10:9),  without regularly being a part of a church? Sure, though I think you would have a hard time figuring out how to live out the instruction in Hebrews to not giving up gathering together. The question shouldn’t be “can” you be a Christian without regularly being a part of a church but “will” you? Again my definition of being a Christian isn’t someone who just thinks Jesus existed and the bible is a good (but often unread) book. Nope my understanding of being a Christian comes from Jesus calling His disciples to come follow Him. So the question shouldn’t be “can you,” a theoretical discussion that doesn’t affect your live, but “will you,” a practical discussion of what is most likely based on your actions.

Since I believe faith experiences shouldn’t be separated from what we understand from our normal life experiences I will give you two life examples of the can versus will fallacy. I take great pride in my marriage and family. I work hard at being a loving husband and a good dad. Can I be a good husband/dad with out intentionally working on being one? Yep sure can. I theoretically could have a great relationship with Pam and the boys without ever spending much time with them. Yet the practical truth is that while I can have successful family relationships without effort the probability of it happening that way isn’t very great. If I don’t spend regular large amounts of time with Pam and the boys I probably won’t have good relationships with them. It doesn’t matter that it can happen. What matters is will it happen.

Another example comes from running. Can I run and finish a marathon without training for it? Again, yep sure can. The reality, however, is that without large amounts of time training for a marathon I probably won’t ever start to run one let alone finish it.

As I have been saying, possibility and probability are two different things. This is true is so much of life and faith. Can you do something or not do something and effectively follow Christ? The answer is usually yes that is a possibility. That doesn’t mean it is probable though. I am much more concerned with probability than I am possibility. I want to do the things that most help to follow Christ. I hope you do too.

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Not to Snatch People Away

“Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord’s Prayer is about.”
― N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

It is Holy Week. For many of us that means more religious services than normal. I like religious gatherings and that is a good thing. It would suck for Tapestry to have a pastor that never wanted to be at any of the organized religious activities that we did. That would make for fun conversations with guests.

    “So where is your pastor?”
    “Well, he doesn’t really like organized religious gatherings…”
    “So you’re saying your pastor doesn’t come to your church gatherings?”
    “Yep, that’s it exactly.”

I could be wrong but I just don’t think that would fly very well.

With all the religious activity it can become easy to think that these gatherings are what faith is all about. They aren’t. They are just supposed to help us live out our faith. They are reminders and energizers but they aren’t the real deal. The real is living your faith out every where else.

So since it is Holy Week why not do something Christ like and infuse life back into something or someone who is experiencing the pain that comes from death. Find a hurting person and be a part of God bringing healing, faith, hope and love to their lives. After all, the kingdom of God isn’t about Christians escaping the earth. Instead it is about God invading and reclaiming His creation, bringing heaven to earth. Those of us who are followers of Christ are the people who wants to do this through. We work with Christ to see heavenly things happen. So go be heavenly.

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I Just Heard the Phrase “Speech Language Pathology”

I am presently sitting at Emy J’s pretending to be doing something important but actually not. There is plenty that I could be doing but the problem is the two ladies behind me are talking about Speech Language Pathology (Communicative Disorders if you are from UWSP) . Because of the fact that I am fascinated by Pam’s profession I find my ears attuned to anyone talking about it. So I am presently eavesdropping on their conversation. Yes I know I probably shouldn’t be listening in but you aren’t here to chastise me so I will just continue. 🙂

I talked a little last night at Tapestry about our ears and eyes being tuned into things. We all have experienced this. I can hear people talking theology, running, fishing, photography, or any number of other things I am really interested in from all the way across a noisy, crowded room while I have headphones on blaring the Clash’s “London Calling.” My mind just picks up on thing that I am focused on. When I purchased Fred the Sentra I started noticing old Sentras everywhere and considering what they have done to their Sentras versus what I want to do with mine. I’ve seen this attunement with artists of various types. My friends who are musicians hear things in music that I would never pick up on without their help. My friends who paint naturally see colors that I just scan right past. My dad, who is a woodworker, sees things in furniture that I can stare at and still miss. I think the most extreme example of this I can think of right now is Joel S. He is studying soil. The guy finds absolutely amazing things in dirt. Why? Well because he is training his mind to look for the amazing and when you look for it there is apparently some pretty amazing things in dirt.

So that is my wish for all of us for 2013. I hope that we focus our eyes, ears, nose, touch, taste, and mind to look for what God is doing around us. I hope that we all expect to see God dong something and therefore begin to notice that He is doing things all around each of us. I hope that you and I then have the courage to jump into what ever He is doing and be a part of it.

Thank you Lord for all that you did in 2012 and may we believe in you enough to be part of what you do in 2013.

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the holy other

solaris01

I love the movie Solaris, both the 1972 and 2002 versions. Looking up the the imdb links for these movies I found out there is a novel that these movies were based on a novel which I need to read it and I will probably like it to. The movies are about humans having contact with alien life and that alien life being so foreign that contact with it drives the humans crazy. I love it because of the movies’ focus on otherness. It reminds me that coming into contact with the truly other is a dangerous thing.

God is referred to in some theology as the Holy Other. It is a way of speaking of God’s transcendent nature. In Christian theology God is consider both transcendent and immanent. Here are two quick definitions

  • transcendent – God is beyond creation/time.
  • immanent – God is in creation/time

As transcendent God is beyond our understanding. He is therefore not discovered but revealed. That’s why scripture is called revelation. God reveals Himself to us through the immanence of Himself in Jesus Christ. This is important because it speaks of the nature of God and how we interact with Him. Because of His transcendent nature we can never know Him apart from what He reveals of Himself through His immanence. We know Him on His terms and even then He is still a mystery to us. This is why I love Isaiah 6:1-9 so much. In this passage Isaiah sees God and almost immediately his vision of God is clouded by the smoke that fills the room. That brief glimpse of God that is revealed to him shakes him to the core. Because of that vision Isaiah, already God’s prophet, ends up calling out that he is ruined because he is “a man of unclean lips” and he has seen the Holy Other.

Christmas is all about the immanence of the transcendent God through the Incarnation. The Holy Other came to earth as a babe and dwelt among us. I love the way Eugene Peterson conveys it in the Message. “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” I hope your Christmas was a celebration of the revelation of the One Who is unknowable a part from His choice to reveal Himself. I hope we are all driven a little crazy by our contact with the Holy Other.