Dead To My Flesh

The Enemy

2012-01-22T01:46:00.004-06:00

Think of these words and phrases:

Islamic extremists
Terrorism
Sharia laws
Revolt in Libya
Civil War in Syria
Iranian Nuclear weapons
The Israeli-Palestinian conflicts

Do these make you happy? Or do they concern you?

There is a reason we struggle between cultures, faiths, and nations. Not all the reasons are good. The past year saw uprisings and violence in Arab nations, and more conflict between the West and Iran, and Pakistan.

If you see the events in the Middle and Near East as being, well, good, or if you see them as troubling, do you pray for the people there?

I am troubled by the naming of countries as enemies. When the people in each country are completely different and not represented by their political leadership. If the countries are enemies, do you see their people as your enemy?

If yes, there is an answer. Love your enemy. Pray for your enemy. Pray for the nations and their people. Christ told us to do so...

"But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," Matthew 5:44 NIV

"Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." Luke 6:28 NIV

"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." Luke 6:35 NIV

This Journey

2012-01-10T01:46:00.002-06:00

I am a flawed person. I have weakness, I have faults that lead me to choices that are not good. I sin daily. I need forgiveness daily. But if I repent, if I confess my sins, I am forgiven. There is a truth that by forgiving others you are released from a burden. By forgiving yourself for your flaws, it is the same. I hope that what I write about here helps people think about an issue more than otherwise. I hope that if you hadn't considered something that I am writing about, about the Christian journey, you now will.

I receive occasional e-mails here regarding my faith, how I practice it, and whether or not I believe certain aspects of the Christian dogma. Unfortunately for those who ask, I tend not to be concerned by the small aspects of belief and religion, but rather, the big questions, the absolute truths, and what I see as fundamental to understanding the whole of the issue at hand.

A couple points I think are important about our journey.

Matthew 7:14 "But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

The road is narrow. Many think all roads lead to the same destination, but that is very untrue. I believe in God, Love, Forgiveness, but even so, if we are all ultimately redeemed, what is the point? Not all ideas are equal. Not all faiths are worthy.

Ecclesiastes 1:15 "What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted."

The path we seek to follow is hard. Not only is it hard due to the needs of the physical body and at the same time the denial of the wickedness of the flesh, we also find a world that is broken. While God is perfect, and we seek order, because of sin, the world is crooked. Sin has made the world subject to the laws of entropy. This is confusing. We were made by God, and God instilled in our hearts a desire for order, and we assume it, and find none. Or, as a philosopher said, “Mathematics would certainly have not come into existence if one had known from the beginning that there was in nature no exactly straight line, no actual circle, no absolute magnitude.” (Friedrich Nietzsche, German classical Scholar, Philosopher and Critic of culture, 1844-1900.)

I seek God, I see a narrow road, and I believe that the shortest distance from point A to Point B is a straight line. Walking that line, no matter how true, or how good, is nearly impossibly hard. But that is the road. Therefore, impossible or not, I need God to guide me, Jesus to love me, and the Spirit to give me strength.

Serving God? or Serving Mammon

2012-01-03T19:26:00.002-06:00

Who do you serve?
What do you live for?
Do you desire God, or do you desire pleasure?

1 John 2:16

For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world.

A Christian Perspective
An anti-Mammon perspective, from a worldly view... (adult language)

I was going to post this during the holiday season, because that tends to highlight the love of things over the beauty of the Christmas holiday... but, quite honestly, there is something to be said for gift giving, and it is nice to get things. But the wild crowds, rioting over AirJordan shoes, the spraying of pepper spray while people jostle in line to get to the front, and more, when people elsewhere starve, daily made me understand things a bit more. People will celebrate however they like, but it is the truth of family, and love that is the holiday. Stuff, good stuff, cheap stuff, expensive stuff don't mean anything. Except if you receive gifts of food and you are starving, or gifts of money and you have nothing to pay rent. Focus on God, on love, on family, and you'll find the right course. Focus on things, on lust, on desire, and you will lose your way.

God is greater than our power to describe

2011-12-07T05:51:00.002-06:00

"Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me."

Nope.

2011-12-02T02:49:00.006-06:00

Someone with an opinion before asking my opinion, wanted to know if a certain politician qualified as a Christian. Now, amongst other things, I cannot see into a person's heart, I cannot measure a person's soul. So no I don't know if the person in question believes in Jesus. But this wasn't about that. They wanted me to say yes a Mormon is a Christian, or not. And there I can answer differently than looking into another soul/heart. I said I have no idea. I believe people who say they are Christians, and live a certain way should at the very least be given a benefit of doubt. But don't I think they aren't Christians? I said I am not the judge.

This isn't to say that I am without ideas or opinions. I would point out that I would say an Atheist is not a Christian. Additionally, a practicing Buddhist is not a Christian. A person who claims Christ, expresses belief, and show works isn't in my available choices as not a Christian, unless I wish to condemn them for not fitting a cookie cutter of Christianity. And since I am not what most would consider "normal" I refuse to judge others in this fashion.

There are lots of Christians by name only. There are denominations who are dead wrong about certain facts and ideas in the bible. But to judge them all, as being non-Christian? Nope.

I have enough in my path to worry over, than to place obstacles in the path of others.

What was up with Naked Noah?

2011-11-21T17:14:00.000-06:00

Darren Aronofsky's Noah

I'm a fan of speculating about details Scripture leaves out. In the big picture, it's a frivolous exercise without a lot of value in terms of practical application, but it helps my faith to connect dots and bring the Bible's stories to life this way. I like to imagine Jesus' rolling his eyes a little when Mary wouldn't let him blow off helping the wine situation at that wedding. Or thinking about what he possibly could have written in the dirt that would keep those guys from stoning that woman.

It's stuff like that that makes me enjoy movie adaptations of Biblical stories. I used to get caught up in how accurate they are, but now I more enjoy the way they bring details of the story to life, however speculatively. (I still fuss over accuracy too, but with the same nerdy part of my brain that dislikes Hellboy's romance with Liz in those movies. It's lame, but it doesn't take anything away from the source material.)

Hollywood's planning a couple of high profile Biblical epics that I'll look forward to if they come to fruition. Steven Spielberg's thinking about a Moses film and Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) is working on a movie about Noah. It's because of that second one that I'm writing about this, because Aronofsky's already teased one of the details he's filling in from his imagination.

Have you ever wondered why Great Man of Faith Noah became the naked, drunken guy who cursed his son? Aronofsky has an interesting theory: "Noah was the first person to plant vineyards and drink wine and get drunk. It’s there in the Bible – it was one of the first things he did when he reached land. There was some real survivor’s guilt going on there. He’s a dark, complicated character." I don't often think about the trauma that Noah and his family must have suffered during and after the Flood, but that makes a lot of sense to me.

What about you? Do you enjoy speculating over details that Scripture has left out? Any favorites you want to share?

So What Do I Know?

2011-11-15T04:28:00.004-06:00

I don't presume to possess all knowledge, or all truth. I accept that my understanding is small, and the truth of the eternal God is enormous. But if we never talk about such things, we do not grow.

There is a desire by some people to silence discussions when unpopular ideas or deviations from standard thought occur, but in the true arena of growth, and truth, we need a debate of the concepts that affect our beliefs.

All ideas are not equal, all beliefs are not equally valid. But we can only know a line is crooked by knowing what is straight. As such, asking questions, and listening to ideas of others is a good thing. If only to dismiss them, as false or incorrect, at least we know those ideas exist.

So with due humility I ask, please if you are reading discussions here, and disagree, to comment. If you do read our work and grow from it, let us know. If you think we are wrong, tell us so.

God is an ocean of water, and we are able only to drink a gulp of such at a time. A sip from a firehose, we face limits. But together we can increase our understanding.

So teach me why I am wrong. Please?

I Shall not Want

2011-11-10T19:11:00.000-06:00

For almost 70 years I've been reciting the 23rd Psalm. Usually it's at night when I can't sleep. I go over it, the Lord's Prayer, and some old songs: "When Peace Like a River," "I Love You Lord," "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." I have no idea how many times I have been over them all in my head.

Yet I have always heard this one phrase the same way. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Because Jesus is my shepherd, he will never lead me to a place where I have need of anything or to where I desire anything. He will always take care of me. He will lead me beside still waters and into green pastures. It is a very comforting thought. But don't we sometimes end up in places we wish we had not entered - wanting something more or something different?

Recently, very early in the morning, I had a different thought. There is another way to look at this passage. Suppose the responsibility in this phrase is mine, not His. Jesus is my shepherd! He will lead me where ever He wants me to go - even through the valley of the shadow of death. And whether I am in that valley or down by the still water, I am not to want anything. Because He will make sure I have what I need, there is no reason for me to think up things I want to have, that would be nice to have, that would make my life easier at that moment - regardless of how miserable I may be. He will take care of my needs and will bless me and I am not to be wanting more stuff. To want more than He has given me, is being disloyal to him as my leader.

I can only speak for myself here, but I like this interpretation better. It solidifies my relationship with the Lord as a dutiful follower, where ever He leads.

I thought of this recently when I was in and out of a coma in a Nigerian hotel room and hospital, and while I was on the speed boat that put me there. While people around the world were praying for my return to health and for my safe journey back to the States (thank you, thank you , thank you), I was just saying, "Thy will be done. I will fear no evil for thou art with me."

And indeed He was. His Spirit was there embodied in my friend Richard Inyang who made all the decisions got me rehydrated and on the big Delta jet headed home. Thank you Richard. Thank you to all those who prayed and thought good thoughts. And thank you David of old for the Psalm.

Pumpkin Patch Gospel

2011-09-28T14:37:00.004-05:00

Since Alex has been talking about The End, I thought I'd dredge up a piece I posted on Daily Kos regarding this past summer's Rapture hype. Share and Enjoy.

I'm surprised I never made this connection before; in retrospect it seems so obvious. Perhaps the reason is that my own church does not teach Millenialism and tends to downplay End Times Theology in general, and so I don't think a whole lot about Judgement Day. But in thinking about the recent Rapture-palooza, I realized that I had seen it all before, in a pumpkin patch.

I have always regarded the Great Pumpkin from the Charlie Brown cartoons as a satire on Santa Claus-- and to a certain extent it is. But Linus' attitude towards the Great Pumpkin is also a satire on the attitude some have towards the Second Coming. Linus is obsessed with the Great Pumpkin; he goes door-to-door in order to share the Pumpkin Gospel with others; he has selected the Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch -- for the Great Pumpkin will only favor the Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch with his presence -- and worries that the slightest molecule of doubt might damn his chances of ever seeing the Great Pumpkin.

He persuades Sally to wait in vigil with him for the Great Pumpkin's arrival, forgoing the fun of trick-or-treating with her friends based on Linus' assurances.

And when Halloween night is over, Linus is disappointed. And Sally is pissed.

Linus' faith, however, remains unshaken. Next year, he vows, he'll find an even better pumpkin patch; and then he will see the Great Pumpkin rising out of the pumpkin patch to deliver toys and presents to all...

As I've said, my church tends to downplay the Second Coming. Oh yes, we believe it will happen, and that it is a good thing to watch and pray and to be ready for it when it does; but we do not make it the tent-pole of our doctrine.

When St. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, there was a situation where people were expecting Christ's return any day; so some had quit their jobs so that they could wait for it. This is why Paul said, "If anyone does not work, neither shall he eat." He wasn't talking about Welfare deadbeats, he was talking about the misguided Rapturists of his day. I've mentioned before the remark attributed to Luther that if he knew for a fact that Christ was coming tomorrow, it wouldn't stop him from planting an apple tree today.

I guess I have a fatalistic attitude about it all. Christ will come when he comes. He came right out and said that nobody would expect it when it happens, so it would be foolish to try second-guessing God. Rather than get bent out of shape anticipating the Day of the Lord, I would do better to make the most of this Day that the Lord has given me, working to share God's Love with my neighbors and seeking to make our world a better place.

It beats sitting up all night in a pumpkin patch

The End

2011-09-26T23:27:00.002-05:00

The end will come. Will you be ready?

I am not suggesting I know when the end will come. Just that it will. However, I know people who have claimed to have knowledge about the end, and the proximity of its arrival.

However the end comes, it will be brutal. Whether it is human caused, or nature, or otherwise, the end won't be kind to anyone.

I was unfortunate enough to have person of a specific belief about the end, and that we are led by the Anti Christ himself here in the US, post a bunch of specific warnings on my works, and message board threads. I think they were wrong, I disagree with their ideas, but, more so, I disagree with how it was done. Ultimately, to show people to the answers we can't push the information down anyone's throat. No matter the severity of the end, we have to be seen with compassion, not hate, for others. We have to be a beacon to others, a light in darkness. For the end will happen. But we do not alleviate the threat, nor cause awakenings in others by screaming and threatening.

There are many books about the end of the world, many movies, even video games and comic books. It isn't actually that forbidden of a subject that we cannot gain the world's attention by using a rational voice.

So if you feel we are in the era of the End Times, find your voice, your place to say it, and share your faith.

Accused of being a Christian? What? Huh?

2011-08-21T23:09:00.001-05:00

An Interview

Ever notice that the world is changing for people of faith? Mention you believe in something, and there is instant mocking and accusations?

The linked interview is about that situation.

I personally believe in Jesus, and think the world could use more faith.

But what do I know?

Broken by living, Living by dying

2011-08-07T16:07:00.001-05:00

My tears are dried
For now I am with him
Perfect before birth
I was chosen
To be broken
But now I am alive
By dying
I live again
All that remains
Is my soul
I am once again whole
I’ve been freed of the shell
That I was confined in
My form is gone
The memory of my flesh
Released from an earth bound hell
My spirit sings a song
It reminds me of my past
But it is full of joy
For the perdition didn’t last
I was chosen
I was broken
But I rejoice now
For the finality of the decay
The imprisonment is over
The sentence ended
The sorrow to be unspoken
For I am forgiven
And my flesh was cursed
The tears burst from my eyes
For the years of lies
Ended
And I am living
Now
Alive

The Power of Myth, a reprint of an interview with Jim Krueger

2011-07-25T18:07:00.002-05:00

Jim Krueger is an award winning comic book writer. His works are filled with all sorts of large and great themes, or so I thought. But I rarely saw anything in print or online that suggested that more people than I thought so. So I asked him. Below is the result of that question and answer session.

Is justice possible in human existence? What do heroes in costume have to do with stories about human morality?

You know, I'm not certain if perfect justice is possible in human existence. I would tend to think not. I know I'm venturing into Plato's territory here and nearing a discussion of unattainable ideals, but I tend to think that "true justice" is such a complex idea that the best any of us can get to it is something like "close enough". Whether people have been supportive of the war in the Middle East or not, I don’t think anyone would suggest that it's not a far more sticky situation (and not just because of the heat and sand) than anyone supposed. The question is, what is perfect justice and what does it look like.

In the world of superheroes, what do you do? I mean, imagine if you would, an insect that had been poisoned and filled with a venom so toxic that for you to beaten by it would mean that you would no longer be able to be defined in purely human terms.

On the offset, we would say that by all means, don’t let it bite you. By all means, if there's a superhero in the area, stop that insect, kill that creature, save us.

But, of course, if a superhero did intervene, that insect, that spider would never have bitten Peter Parker and transformed him into Spider-Man. So thank God there wasn't a superhero there to stop that tragedy. And maybe it's right to also say (speaking of Spider-Man mythology as if it were as real as say, my reality), thank God that Peter Parker didn't stop the criminal that killed Uncle Ben. How many has he saved as a result, whether due only to his guilt or not?

And that's the problem. Our want for justice usually grows out of suffering. But if we didn't suffer, we wouldn't want it. So things like Enron, where there is no real sense of suffering, could potentially happen more than they do.

Justice is often a knee-jerk reaction to suffering. The pursuit of justice also too often creates more suffering. So, what is to be done?

And, for that matter, I haven't even talked about the transformative power of suffering to make us into beings capable of serving Justice. Look at Spider-Man again. Look at all it took to make him one of the most popular superheroes in the world.

Would anyone look at his mythology and say it's just?

OK. Then in a cosmic sense, explain why Justice is a common and repeated theme in comics, and your work (in particular), if it is ultimately unattainable? Who determines what is Just? It is something I learned in college that, if we are all ok, if everyone's views have equal merit, if there is no definable and common intellectual grounds, why talk? Is your work an attempt to define that word, to give hard evidence for a resident moral dna in all of us? Where does that resident moral dna come from?

Well, some of the question becomes the sort of thing that philosophy and theology attempts to answer. I often get asked about my religious beliefs and I really don’t like to answer, often because I'm not in a position to have an ongoing discussion with all the people who may read a snippet and then form opinions that are the opposite of what I intend. If I want to do anything with my approach of these subjects, it's to raise questions, not provide pat answers.

So one thing I cannot do is provide some sort of basis for a common moral dna.

Beyond justice, we now live in era where morality is found to be determined in the heart and mind of the individual rather than the group or society. Does that blunt any sort of story you create in terms of whether the ethos and morals you've demonstrated to be good can be just as easily cast aside if inconvenient?

Doing the right thing is always inconvenient. That's why telling the truth no matter what requires so much bravery. I'm not saying that I don't believe in wisdom, or speaking without a sense of how words will be reacted against. But, in all honesty, doing the right thing can be a bitch. But, as can be seen in Stephen King's awesome STORM OF THE CENTURY, doing the wrong, not being the hero, can result in the loss of your very soul.

As to your question, one of the mistakes I think we often make in comics (and actually something BENDIS has done very well in DAREDEVIL) is we don't deal with the consequences of doing the right thing. I don't believe, really, or agree that we live in a world that doesn't pretty much agree on moral absolutes. But I do agree that there are a lot of questions as to where these things come from. Some say our moral values have been invented, grown, and shaped by an ever-advancing society. As mankind progresses, then so do they. Others say these more absolutes are disciplines that we attain through discipline and thoughtfulness. Still others suggest, like moral dna, that these absolutes are ideas implanted in us from a God, so that we at least, have an understanding of the way things ought to be.

The notion I work through in the stories I like to tell is not where they come from (although I did do this in Earth X), but what difference do they make. Why does a hero do what a hero does? Why does he believe he should risk his or her life in this moment, knowing that, if they die trying to save this person, it means that this same hero won't be around to save all the people who will be in need from that day forward?

I guess that when it comes down to it, yes, this is a religious question. Why should I risk my life for someone else? Why should I be brave for someone who isn't? Why should I, in a world of Katrinas, Wilmas and 9/11s, think about anyone else at the same time I need to serve the interests of my own family?

I mean, I'm not even sure I can argue, apart from some sort of religious basis, why I should even be concerned for my own family in those situations. If not for some deeply held conviction, maybe I can at best risk my life to some degree out of the pleasure that they give me.

But see, there it is again. I serve them because of what they give me. I know this is the basis of modern economic thought, but it certainly isn't basis of heroism. Or bravery. Or German choirs and thunder and lightning and blood.

I think the reason we want justice and heroism is because we don't believe it exists. But we still want it to. Like Santa. And we'd rather live as if it does. And who knows, maybe that's the first step to finding out it's really there.

Working with Alex Ross and others, you tell large stories, myths if you will, but are the myths real? Thor does not ride a chariot across the sky to cause thunder or lightning, does he?

We see movies all the time that say "Based On A True Story". I tend to think that all myths are based on "truth stories". That they somehow put us in touch with an idea or truth that, even if we don't see it, we know it has to exist. That's probably where the notion of "justice" comes from. It's like in Kill Bill here the Bride kills the assassin Coppertop in front of Coppertop's daughter. The Bride didn't intend it. That wasn't perfect justice. And so a cycle of revenge continues.

So, no, Thor doesn't cross the skies in a chariot. But that doesn't mean something amazing isn't occurring, something worthy of awe and our fascination. and our imagination . Myth points to truth, I think. It makes us feel something that true stories can't -- namely that there's more to life and our existence than we know. It spans lifetimes and political aspirations. It transcends the boredoms and disappointments of the stories that don't end the way we want them to. It provides the possibility of an ultimate "happily ever after" or "The end... or just the beginning?".

Do comics work differently than other mediums in telling stories regarding mythic content? The reason I ask is that almost every comic book in mainstream DC, Marvel, Image or Dark Horse is related to telling a story, larger than life, and often in spandex.

When I do books that are not owned by companies (things like Foot Soldiers, The Clockmaker, Alphabet Supes, a western I'm working on and more), I tend to take at least one step away from spandex. This isn't because I don't love superheroes. I do. It's because I want to take an even closer step towards mythology and creating new ones. And also because I sort of want to be able to kill my characters, or at least place them in a situation where they can be killed. This isn't because of my fascination with death and shadows (which I have), but because I want to tell stories where the stakes are in the realm of the ultimate. That's what's emotional. That's what makes you imagine the choirs of German women singing that death is coming for your hero and they should stop and run away, but they won't because if they do, all will be lost. (Sorry about that last sentence, by the way).

To a degree, I try to create that "all is lost" moment in my work on the classic superheroes as well. I'm writing a lot of screenplays lately, doing some short story writing and even working towards doing some stage plays. All these mediums have different approaches, but telling a story, any story requires, I guess, a sort of thinking in regards to what the audience is going to see or read.

Oh, I'm sorry, now I remember the question. Yes, comics are a unique medium. They are sort of the bastard love-child of Novel and Film sensibilities with Television trying to worm itself in with a claim for Paternity.

Like a novel, we get into the characters' heads. Through thought balloons and caption boxes, we can experience their thoughts, doubts etc. Literary textures like poetry can be used to further this along. But like film, there's a visual that takes certain imaginings out of the power of the audience. You see what the artist wants you to see. And television, of course, sneaks it's way into the mix by making certain that the story never ends, that there's always something to come after. Another issue. Another part of the story,

And so, as a result, comics become their own beast, borrowing and stealing from everything else, but doing so with artwork and mythologies that make them their own.

Does working in metaphors and large ideas call for a certain voice that is not found in, say, a shoegaze indy book, or a dark humor title or something else?

Yes, but I kind of think I've said too much already. There are certain themes here that I will be using in the concluding chapters (and in fact all of them) of JUSTICE.

The question is this -- what if the reason heroes never solve world problems like hunger, or greed, or war, is because they dare not? What if the attempt to end human suffering prevented human growth and transformation? What if, indeed, suffering was the vehicle of transformation, and by not accepting the necessity of these terrible things, humanity were itself made something almost dead. Like a rock in a creek. Or a tree that grows, dies and falls.

I'm not suggesting a world where heroes never save people. I'm suggesting a world where every evil, every terrible thing, is somehow able to become the means of something filled with glory and greatness, that the suffering of the once is like a bad dream compared with the potential and promise of what is to come.

This is thin ice, I understand. Because it can be used to justify so much wrong. And it can suggest an end justifies the means outlook. But if you have to get across the river, and you can't swim the current, sometimes the thin ice is the only way to go.

In The Clockmaker, there is a great deal of allegory, and beauty (albeit in a format that really did not work in the present market). Your work worked in terms of story on the surface, as well as the story beneath the surface. Has it come out in TPB and/or will it? Who is the Clockmaker?

Yeah, the lettering will be done in the near future. And then the final act will come out -- we'll do a collection, and then all the fans of this (which I am) can see the epic conclusion and read it all in its entirety.

For those who haven't read the first two acts, the Clockmaker is the story of a bunch of guys in Lederhosen, god, the devil, murder, a giant clockworks with gears hundreds of feet tall and a battle between eternity and finite measurement of time. It's a conspiracy in the traditions of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. I've often pitched it as Noah's Ark meets Rosemary's Baby.

One thing I try to do in my titles for things is to come up with a title that works on a number of different levels. So the title, the Clockmaker refers to the man, Hans, who heard a voice from heaven tell him to build this giant clockworks within a hollow mountain. But the title also refers to the ticking clock of age inside every man, the self-made man who can build and build and build, yet cannot change the fact that he will die. The title also suggests the picture of god that many agnostics hold that maybe there is a creator who built this clockwork universe, but who left it to its own devices once he wound it up. The title lasso refers to an intricate trap created by the devil to get back into heaven after falling out with god, so to speak. It's a lot of things. Thanks for bringing this up. I'm really proud of this project, and it's been as difficult to begin it as it has been to finish it.

To every heart that grieves

2011-07-24T23:06:00.003-05:00

Don't give up or give in. God will respond to you, God will answer your cries.

“Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.”

Victor Hugo

There is purpose in our sorrow, we are broken, yes, but God reaches us in that brokenness.

In fact, Isaiah 53:3-5

Today's New International Version (TNIV)

³ He was despised and rejected by others,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

⁴ Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

God used suffering, and sorrow, and turned it into redemption.

Reach out in times of sorrow.
God is there.

A Comic book about a Saint

2011-07-11T17:57:00.001-05:00

HE MOTHER OF ALL GRAPHIC NOVELS “FEMALE FORCE: MOTHER TERESA”

Bluewater is pleased to announce a special graphic novel featuring an actual saint and a true hero to millions around the world. “Female Force: Mother Teresa: The Graphic Novel” an original graphic novel will be released in October and have a cover price of $14.99. The bio on how she grew in stature and influence from a simple nun to a woman whose name grew synonymous with helping the poor will be written and drawn by Watami.

The “Female Force” comic series offers a broad examination of strong and influential women who have shaped modern history and culture. In past issues, the monthly series has featured, Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Princess Diana, Ellen Degeneres and others.

Publisher Darren G. Davis said, “Our goal is to show the little-known events and influences that resulted in Mother Teresa becoming the worldwide symbol of faith, hope and charity to millions across the world.”

This gigantic 163-page graphic novel will be chronicling this saint's saga. This October, “Female Force: Mother Teresa: The Graphic Novel ” will explore various dimensions to this amazing woman, from her humble childhood to her countless successes in aiding and comforting the poor.

The book starring the woman from Calcutta marks the apex of the mission Eiji Han Shimizu, owner of Emotional Content, set out to accomplish with his company.

“I wanted people to rediscover and value true heroism through my graphic novel series”, says Shimizu. “ We are accustomed to thinking of comic book heroes as vigilantes battling crime and injustice through face-to-face-or mask-to-mask-combat with the enemy. However, I think superheroes in graphic novels don't have to be able to fly, cast lasers from their eyes or have six-pack abs. Without the help of these powers or appearances, there have been great role models in our history who have fought for others with their courage, self-sacrifice, compassion and determination. I believe that these are the true qualities of superheroes.”

“With that said, undoubtedly Mother Teresa is my superhero”, he continues.
“When I visited the Home for the Dying Destitute in Kolkata for my documentary film project (www.TheHappyMovie.com) four years ago, I vividly felt her presence where hundreds of volunteers around the world serve with the poorest of the poor.”

“Mother Teresa does live in the compassionate minds and altruistic acts of millions of people”, Shimizu concludes. “This book is our humble contribution to further spread to the world the love that this great superhero has left us.”

Join Bluewater Productions and Emotional Content for this co-production as they examine the amazing journey of Mother Teresa and how she became not only one of the best-known women in the world and a Nobel Prize winner, but also one of it's most beloved and admired people.

For more information on "Female Force: Mother Teresa: The Graphic Novel” and other comics from Bluewater Productions, go to www.bluewaterprod.com or check them out in your local comic book shop, Barnes & Noble and amazon.com. To Pre-order it on Amazon click here: http://amzn.to/pX2pUC

Showing Up, a Part of Dave and Gwen's Legacy

2011-06-27T13:37:00.001-05:00

On Friday we attended a memorial service for our friend Gwen. Lot's of great things were said and stories were told. We laughed and we cried. I want to retell one part of her story here.

Dave is Gwen's husband. They have both lived more than 90 years and recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary with a special catered dinner in the Ebeneezer Geriatric Care Center where Gwen later died.

One thing I will long remember about the two of them is that they showed up. When anyone would have written them an excuse, they showed up. The first time they showed up at services on Sunday morning, I saw the two of them coming down the long hall. Gwen's long hair was in a single braid on the side of her head and I thought, "There is a lady I want to know." And I did get to know them both, because they showed up. And they invited people to their apartment for dinner.

When the church made dinner for the Urban Ministry, Dave and Gwen couldn't join in the raucous games the teenagers played but they showed up, welcomed the participants and helped provide food. When we went to fill food bags for Feed My Starving Children, they couldn't stand for an hour putting ingredients into the bags, but they showed up and sat and put labels on the bags. When we went to sing with the veterans at the Vets' Home, even though it was dark and the new snow was almost a foot deep, Dave and Gwen showed up. They showed up in the woods for the annual church retreat and made the long walk down to the river. And even though they couldn't always hear well enough to know what was going on, they showed up at the annual Vacation Bible School in the park to show their support. Over and over, Dave and Gwen showed up.

And now that Gwen has gone home Dave is still showing up. A week ago, as is his practice, Dave showed up at the men's Bible study at the library. The handicapped spaces near the door were full, but Dave didn't go home, he drove to the lower lot, left his walker in the car, grabbed his cane and trucked up the long set of stairs. Coming in the door, Dave tripped over the wire connecting the two sides of the scanning device. He sent word back to the room where the study was just starting that he needed help getting up. We got him up, he dusted himself off and came on the study. The librarian was concerned enough that she called 911 for the paramedics. A police officer knocked on the door and asked to speak with Dave. Dave was able to convince the officer that he was okay and the officer cancelled the call for paramedics. Dave stayed for the study. That's part of who he is - he shows up.

When General Douglas McArthur and his troops were run out of the Philippines during World War 2, as he was boarding the ship, McArthur made the famous statement "I shall return." McArthur did return and Dave was with him. Dave showed up and they retook the island nation. When I was in the Marine Corps I learned a saying, "By the grace of God and with the help of the Marines, McArthur returned to the Philippines." I mentioned that to Dave one day and his reply was a grunt and "I never saw no Marines!"

They are show up people. Now the trumpet has blown for Gwen and once again she has shown up and heaven will be a livelier place for it. Charlene read an obituary of someone we don't know from the paper this morning and it said the lady "Marched into Zion," on such and such a date. We think that speaks for Gwen as well. The last lines of the poem in her memorial from the funeral said, "And never, never be afraid to die, for I am waiting for you in the sky." Earlier in the poem were the lines, "Feed not your loneliness on empty days, but fill each waking hour in useful ways." That was Gwen, and that is Dave.

We expect to join you in the sky, Gwen, but in the mean time we sure do miss you here.

Regarding Harold Camping

2011-06-20T13:36:00.000-05:00

No one knows. Except God. And God ain't telling.

Door Knocking in the 21st Century

2011-06-17T10:30:00.001-05:00

Door knocking for the church is old school. It is still done by a few old guys who go around telling people they are on their way to Hell, but no one with any social sense is still out there doing it. At least that seems to be the conventional wisdom about it. On the other hand kids do it selling stuff from school and no one seems to be concerned about that. Cute little kids selling candy bars for new playground equipment is different.

I never enjoyed door knocking. I have done it a few times when to exclude myself would have been to openly declare that I didn’t care about God, but I never volunteered on my own. I never thought it could be fun.

Maybe I’m getting odd in my old days, but I had a good time yesterday going door to door, particularly in a set of town homes across the street from the school where the church meets. For one thing it seemed like a legitimate purpose. Our little group does an annual Vacation Bible School. We do it in a park and it is a lot of fun. We were out inviting people to the VBS.

There are 60 town homes in the complex, and I found people home in 20-25 of them. I met a wide variety of people, most of them in the younger half of the age range. I saw a lot of tattoos and nose, ear and lip piercings. I met people with little kids and those who didn’t have any there, but promised to get the information to nieces, nephews and grandchildren.

Everyone was friendly, even the ones who clearly were not going to show up. There were several Muslim families. One nice lady asked for clarification that it was a “Bible” school and told me they don’t read the Bible, they read the Koran. Another lady had a simple, one word answer. It may have been the only English word she knew. I went through my little spiel and with a big smile she said simply, “No.” I repeated, “No?” and she said it again, “No.” I thanked her and wished her well and moved on, but it was as friendly a conversation as I had all day.

And there was the lady with the little girl. She had just moved in and was looking for a church. She had already checked out the school across the street because that is where her daughter will be in the fall, but she had no idea there was a church meeting there. I told her a few things about the VBS and about the church and we exchanged contact information. She never asked what kind of church it was. That was refreshing to me. I will contact her before the VBS and my wife may call her before Sunday. Maybe I will see her again.

But whether any of them show up, I count it as a worthwhile day. I believe that I presented Christianity in a good light and I made friendly contact with a number of people who may remember the nice man who stopped by to invite them to VBS.

Upon prohibitions and allowances

2011-06-04T02:14:00.005-05:00

I've been asked what, since I am a professing Christian, is allowed regarding sex in the marital bed. I've been asked what is allowed, regarding sex prior to marriage. I've been asked about pornography in this modern age regarding single life and Christian practices, if it is allowed, if kinds of it are prohibited... and lastly, I've been asked whether gay or lesbians who are celibate or in a committed exclusive relationship can be Christian...

I have only a single answer, and it is not an altogether satisfying one for anyone. Since God gave us all the instincts we are born with, and we are flawed with the weakness of the flesh, we are bound to follow the instincts of our flesh rather than our spirit. By following the instincts of our flesh, our desires of lust, we forget that which we were born to also seek. I believe that we have dual natures, one with a need to fill our mind and spirit with purpose and to find peace within, and one to achieve pleasure. These to struggles mark us. They are often at odds, but, within certain scenarios mark the fruition of faith, and completion within us of our desire.

When we overcome temptation, we grow in faith. When we devote ourselves not to base pleasures and instead serve others we grow in faith. When we trust in God instead of our base desires, we grow in faith.

However great our desires are, and acknowledge they can be very intense and massive in size, our purpose in living on earth is greater in size and intensity. God obviously has plans for us, if God exists. I believe that there is such a vast gulch of knowing and seeing God by humans that we cannot partake of that being more than a sip, for it is such a raging torrent, we would be destroyed by the flow. So, this mystery of purpose can be difficult and serve as an obstacle to our faith, but, knowing that we serve a greater cause than we can tangibly understand, allows us to grow in faith.

I believe that in whatever scenario mentioned in the first paragraph, that the answer can be found in applying knowledge from both the bible, and the logical extension of understanding the ultimate purpose of existence.

If God exists, and God allows us to know God, then we must have a purpose. If we have a purpose and can know God through faith, learning God's word, and practicing our truths with others, we will grow in ability to sip from the waters that otherwise would wash us away by their size and power. When practice our truth, instead allow ourselves to be driven by desire we learn discipline.

Fortunately, while learning discipline, we are given something we sorely need, that allows us to go on. We are given massive quantities of grace. And God gives us mercy for all things upon our repentance. We were given many desires, but those of our flesh seem to be the greatest in power, and number. It makes sense that the mercy and grace for pursuing such desires must exist in equally or greater numbers, for God knows what we are made for, our purpose, and our flaws.

I am made of meat. I am flesh alone. To whatever degree God inhabits my soul, it is not my doing. But when I pursue God instead of my Flesh, each victory allows me to see clearer the goal I must reach.

I believe that my answers are not enough for anyone asking me what is right or wrong. I am exhorting you to seek out the wisdom and power of God's word in the Bible. What we do in this life is not without consequence, nor meaning, whether or not we can find forgiveness. The knowledge that we are meant to exist, and surely we are, demands that we pursue why that is so.

Thank you God for the beauty of the opposite gender, for the pleasures we find, and the self discipline we gain from self control.

When we find our self control, we will know the true answer to all the questions. I am not wise enough to know, only this, God knows, whether or not I do. And we have a means of finding out.

Dead To My Flesh: Evidence

2011-05-18T11:45:00.000-05:00

Dead To My Flesh: Evidence

Evidence

2011-05-14T16:45:00.005-05:00

An atheist told me there is no evidence for God's existence. And I replied the evidence is self evident in creation. They shook their head. I offer this as exhibit A. God's work.

And this as Exhibit B.

Argue all you like, if God exists or not. I see God in the beauty and awesome of nature, in the miracle of life.

THE FLESH, the flesh

2011-04-20T00:23:00.002-05:00

If Hell is a literal lake of flames, a place where there is eternal damnation and suffering, or a figurative separation from God, it is, nonetheless important. Why?

Well, it isn’t about the end, its about what the end means towards the ongoing life of Christian. We aren’t able to walk the path without substantial temptation. We are flawed, we are filled with desire. The life that we are meant to live has to have guide posts, and one of those guide posts is Hell as a destination. Now again, if you take it literally, or figuratively this is important. Consider the list, drawn up in the 1500s of the Princes of Hell and their area of particular notoriety.

Lucifer - Pride
Mammon - Avarice
Asmodeus - Lust
Satan - Anger
Baal - Gluttony
Leviathan - Envy
Belphegor - Vanity and Sloth

Every single aspect of these 7 Princes are things we need to fight. We should be humble, not prideful. We should be generous and wise with our possessions, not greedful, not holding physical things above morals, and spiritual goals. We should be in control of our sexual desires, rather than lust and perversions. Rather than be angered and bitter, we should be patient and seek justice. Rather than pursue and consume, we should be temperate in our hungers. Instead of being envious of others, and resent their achievements, we should encourage others, be kind, and be proud of their victories. And rather than be narcissistic and vain, we should be humble, and seek to uplift others, at the expense of our own ego. Sloth we should fight with industry.

All the things we shouldn’t be are represented in Hell. We should not focus upon the fear of being sent there, but rather, use the lessons of what Hell means to guide us in knowing the right Christian path.

I am not perfect, not by any means. And I get wrapped up in my flaws. I have been known to despair. But, I think whatever our place in this journey, we can identify the world we live in, and by doing so, attempt to over come, with God’s grace.

Here is a song I think is a perfect explanation of who I am, and how I need to be more than that.
Thanks for listening.

The 77’s THE LUST, THE FLESH, THE EYES and THE PRIDE OF LIFE

Who Would Jesus Bomb?

2011-03-26T15:31:00.005-05:00

Have you seen the bumper sticker, “Who would Jesus bomb”? Saw one yesterday in a Woodbury Panera parking lot. It made me wonder who it is aimed at or who, if anybody, should be offended. It also occurred to me that it might have been more at home in Minneapolis than way over in the East metro where we saw it.

It seems to me to be a liberal message and Woodbury strikes me as a conservative stronghold. I may be wrong on both points, but I am sure of my assessment that Minneapolis is a more liberal city. Comments are welcome.

I assess this as a liberal message because the most obvious answer to the sticker is that Jesus would not bomb anyone. That is what makes it such a puzzle because Christians today are seen as political conservatives and that includes being pro-war. The discussion, where there is any discussion, is further complicated by an attempt on the part of conservative arguers to equate being opposed to war with not being supportive of the troops. That is just not true. The rightness of the government’s decision to send troops to war in Country X is debatable, irrespective of whether we support our troops. It could in fact be asserted that the most supportive thing we could do for our troops would be to keep them at home.

There is a complex message being put out by some of us who are pro-war, pro-death penalty, anti-immigration, anti-this and pro-that. You could fill in the blanks. Some of the people making the most noise about these issues wrap themselves in a “Christian” robe and in doing so leave the impression that all those pros and cons are what Christianity is really about. But from my reading of the scripture, Christianity is about love – love for God first and love for others a very close second. The two loves together sum up the whole idea.

As a former member of the United States Marine Corps I am not ready to assert that we should never go to war with anyone, nor that we should not blow away anyone attacking our family or friends. But neither am I, in this nation that is ostensibly governed by us people, ready to bless any attack that the Washingtonians decide is good for their political interests. Who would Jesus bomb? Probably no one. So we should be very careful about which wars we declare as “good.”

Unfortunately Christians are not known as peaceful people (an excerpt from book #3)

2011-03-19T09:44:00.004-05:00

Whose fault?
I made the case in a January 26 post that we are to be a peaceful people, but those around us might not be so quick to label us as peace loving. That may not be our fault at all. It may lie at the feet of a handful of highly visible “Christian Leaders.” But even if that is true, to the extent that we follow these leaders, echo their war cries and forward their trouble-making emails, we are contributing to the view that Christian people are indeed looking to stir things up.

What do outsiders think of us? Those who know us well may think we are soft-headed nice people with good hearts. Maybe they have heard of our mission trips and our generosity. Perhaps they like us okay, but think we are a little strange and they have determined to just stay away from religious conversation with us.

Are we “the religious right”?
Others though draw their conclusions from what they have seen in the news and read on-line. They see us first as wrong-headed about the social issues of the day (more on that later) and then as vicious fighters for what we see as right. The issues from their view are largely about individuals’ rights and personal freedoms - the founding principles of our nation. And they believe our attacks on those rights are an affront to the fundamental foundations of our society. They see us as unfriendly because we want to use the government to limit citizens’ civil liberties and control things like who you can marry, what you can do with your body and whether you can even live in our country.

Our positions on abortion, gay rights, immigration, even war and homeland security have become confused in their minds with the positions of the Republican Party or the Tea Party. The vocal ranting of party leaders, bloggers and pundits, often using Christian arguments, are all lumped in their minds as the mistaken and evil intentioned tirades of what they call the “religious right.” Bear with me now. If you throw the book away at this point, you may just be proving their point.

To the extent that we have identified with the ravings of people who are not willing to have a discussion with the other side, people who talk like they have all the answers and see their mission as shouting down the “evil opposition”, we do severe damage to the picture of us as peacemakers that Jesus was trying to paint. We need to distinguish ourselves from these folks.

Redeemed

2011-03-07T22:46:00.001-06:00

I am redeemed
Because he died
His body broken
In the worst pain
To ever be in
He bled
Poured out tears
So we all could
Be together again
His body was crushed
So that we could see
What it took
For our sins
To be cleaned
By God above
And by God
In human flesh
I am unable
To withstand such pain
I am unable
To understand such love
All I am able to know
Is the cost
And what it paid

Overcomplicated Religion

2011-03-06T20:32:00.000-06:00

I don't let my religious world get too complicated. I just kind of go: Well, I think I know what God is. God is love, and as much as I respond in allowing myself to be transformed by that love and acting in that love, that's my religion. Where things get complicated for me, is when I try to live this love. Now that's not so easy.
--Bono [via Richard Beck]

I've never been much of a Daily Bible Reader, but for the last several years I've been studying Scripture like crazy. Not in a sprinting, read-the-whole-Bible-in-a-year kind of a way, but in a pick-a-book-and-dive-really-deeply-into-it-for-months kind of way. I've spent most of my time in the New Testament and it's changed not only how I understand and relate to the apostle Paul (before I got to know the real Paul through his letters, I didn't like him so very much), but how I understand and relate to God.

One of the reasons I started this journey was that I wanted to better understand the complicated doctrines and theology that I grew up hearing in the churches I was a part of. There were many, many great things about these congregations as well, but something that always frustrated me about the tradition I grew up in was that it takes Scripture very literally and makes Commandments out of examples (if the early church did it, then that must be the only way to do it), but only where it chooses to. The result of that combination was often confusing. We were very strong in support of adult-baptism-by-immersion, limiting women's roles, and a capella music, but not so strict about head-coverings, meeting in upper rooms, or only using one cup during Communion. I thought that if I worked my way through the New Testament, I could study these issues for myself and reach my own conclusions about them, sort of ticking them off one-by-one until I got to the end and had a list of doctrines that I could support and teach.

I hoped to come up with my own list of Dos and Don'ts that - while no less complicated then what I'd started with - would at least be internally consistent. But as I've studied, instead of doctrinal bullet-points I've been surprised to find recurring, overarching themes. Some of which - suffering, for instance - never came up in Sunday School. And others - like love, community, and service - were severely underemphasized in favor of pet issues like the historically temporary nature of certain spiritual gifts.

These themes recur often enough that it's safe to say that they're the themes of the New Testament. And most of them (community, service, and suffering) are actually sub-themes to the One Theme to Rule Them All: love. Love brings us into community with other people and makes us want to serve them. And that kind of selflessness creates suffering as we continually, relentlessly deny ourselves for the good of others.

Bono's conclusion above exactly mirrors the one that I've reached. The most profound, important words in Scripture are, "God is love." It defines him and he - in turn - defines it. If Christians want to be like him, then we need to be Love too. That's why Christ summed up all of God's will for us as "love." Love God and love people. Everything else in Scripture is commentary on how to do that. If we fail to recognize this, then we've missed the point and overcomplicated our religion.

Trouble with book #3

2011-02-22T17:33:00.005-06:00

I ran into a bit of a problem with the third book. It is about the peace that Christians are supposed to have and our role in this world as peacemakers. It will be a fun one to write. But I worked myself into a hole in it yesterday. I was trying to contrast two views of us: 1) Christians at peace - nothing to worry about because our leader has overcome the world; with 2) the view many get of us because of the big political issues some highly visible Christians go on about. It felt really incomplete to talk about the political issues in the abstract, so I started to list them and write about each. What I was writing, I believe, will make a valuable contribution to the discourse about the issues but it was taking over the book on peace.

The piece on political issues was becoming so big in relation to the rest of the book, and would be so controversial, it had the potential of completely distracting my readership for my major point - that we are to be people of peace. So, as my friend George would say, "God spoke to me in the shower this morning." No I didn't hear a voice, and I do not believe this direction is infalible, but it was an inspiration in some meaning of the word. I am going to write two more books, hopefully in relatively short order. Book #3 is the book on Peace. The working title is "Relax Christian: God still has your back." My prayer is that it will become an instrument of peace in the church and therefore in the world. I may have to go into witness protection after I do book #4. It will list all the major "Christian" political issues and will tell what I think about each with Bible reasons for why I see them that way.

David versus Saul

2011-02-07T15:09:00.003-06:00

The BATTLE OF DESTINY

I interviewed Comic book writer Chuck Dixon about his upcoming work BATTLE OF DESTINY.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE INTERVIEW

In this look at an author's words and ideas we see the background and motives of the writer, and how the story of David and Saul moved him to write it.

God is good.

Peace on Earth

2011-01-26T16:04:00.004-06:00

An announcement of peace that didn’t seem to work out that way
When the angels came to announce the birth of Jesus, they called it an announcement of “peace on earth.” Yet what ensued was an attempt on the baby’s life, hundreds of children being slaughtered, and Jesus’ family having to go into the witness protection program in a country that was famous for having enslaved his ancestors.

During his ministry, Jesus was dogged by religious leaders and finally falsely accused (though not very convincingly) and put to death. Peace on earth? What were the angels talking about? Jesus left us with a bit of a riddle on the matter of peace didn’t he?

The puzzle
First he called on us to be a peace-loving, peace-making people. And when he appointed us as peace-makers there was no indication that what he had in mind was the old (1873) Colt .45 revolver called the Peacemaker. In a sense, that old firearm could be called a “peacemaker” in the hands of a lawman, but Jesus wanted us to make peace without us becoming the instrument of the civil law. He put us at a bit of a disadvantage in relation to the marshals of the old west.

He started his sermon on the mount with a blessing for those who will go out of their way to make peace. “…for they shall be called sons of God.” Then only five chapters later, he said he did not come to bring peace . In that (more honest?) reference, Jesus spoke of us taking up a cross and losing our lives for his sake – an image of martyrs. Not a very peaceful reference.

People at Peace in a Troubled World
We are called to be a People of Peace, but Jesus didn’t come to bring peace. How does that work? I am reminded of a story I heard long ago. Imagine a very peaceful scene. You are on the beach, the sun is shining, there is a gentle breeze, and a small bird is singing away from the branches of a nearby tree. Peaceful, no? Now imagine the same beach with a hurricane offshore. The waves are crashing onto the beach, the sky is dark, and the trees are jerking violently. And from somewhere the little bird is still there, singing his heart out. The bird has peace inside; he does not derive it from whatever is going on around him. That’s how we are called on to live. Jesus doesn’t promise us a peaceful world , but he calls on us to be at peace in that world.

I was recently in a study with several preachers, most of us older guys, having been at it for awhile. The discussion was about Jesus’ notion of peace and about how we are to approach the world with gentleness. Please understand that preachers are often beleaguered by opposition from within their congregations. They are often unsure how best to respond, uncertain when to stand their ground and when to compromise to “keep the peace.” Sometimes when they are with their own number is the only time they can truly open up and describe what they see happening to them. In that context, our little preachers’ discussion became a very emotional time. There were tears as some of us examined our personal responses to Jesus’ calling to be peacemakers in an un-peaceful world. It is a hard charge the Lord has given us.

What is peace?
Can you define something just by saying what it is not? That is how we often try to define peace. Is it the absence of conflict? Is it the absence of trouble or fear? Those are certainly a part of it, but it has to be more than that, because Jesus made it clear that he did not come to bring that kind of peace. He promises us trouble in this world and then says we should have courage because he has overcome the world. A big part of the definition of peace has to be our courage. He asks us to be a courageous people in the face of opposition and hard times.

Peace in three dimensions
1. We live in a violent and oppositional world, a place where to be a Christian is to invite ridicule and in some places even attacks on our lives. And even where the animosity is not so blatant, our values are opposed by the very culture in which we live, work, and raise our children.
2. Yet we are asked to be at peace in that world. Our peace is one that is beyond understanding in the context in which we live. It comes from our understanding that this world is not our home. Like Abraham and all the other heroes of Hebrews 11, we are looking for a better home. Indeed we know we already are living out our eternal life. Our savior has overcome the world. He got up and walked out of the grave on a Sunday morning proving once, for all time, that we have nothing in this world to be afraid of.
3. But beyond being at peace in an un-peaceful world, we are called on to be peacemakers. We are to bring peace where there is no peace. I must assume that the nature of the peace we are to impart on the world around us is not so much a temporal peace (an absence of crime, violence, name calling and accusing) as it is a peace like the one we carry with us. It is a peace that comes from our view of the world as a temporary residence – a place where we have a job to do, and a place from which we will depart to go home when our mission is done.

Darkness does not desire light, Nor is happy equal to sad

2011-01-15T13:39:00.001-06:00

Although I am told that without darkness
We could not appreciate fully the light
I disagree, without night there wouldn’t be day?
Without war, we couldn’t enjoy peace?
Without pain, I couldn’t be without?
No, not true, not true

Apologists for evil might wish to equate
Good for bad, happy for sad
When in actuality
There can certainly be
Many valid forms of perception
But there is only one reality

However much it is accepted or rejected
Existence is more than to exist
Being correct is more than able to insist
Truth exists beyond niggling beliefs
Our lives are intact regardless of the facts
Regardless of what we are told to say

We were made to glory in creation
To love and help others
To be above hateful condemnation
God is good let there be no question about it
Good is good, Light is light
And evil comes from doubt

Christian metal doesn't work for you?

2011-01-14T21:27:00.001-06:00

CLICK THIS

I don't think it is possible to hear this song and not be moved, whatever your favorite genre of music.

Comics and Religion

2011-01-11T14:16:00.001-06:00

Graven Images: Religion in Comic Books and Graphic Novels
Edited by A. Davis Lewis and Christine Hoff Kramer
Includes Essays By Douglas Rushkoff, G. Willow Wilson, and scholars around the world
Original Cover Art by Carla Speed McNeil
Paperback/9780826430267/$34.95
Hardback/9781441158475/$99.95
A multifaceted exploration of the role of religion in comic books and graphic novels- “the illuminated manuscripts” of today.
Available Now

Comic books have increasingly become a vehicle for serious social commentary and, specifically, for innovative religious thought. Practitioners of both traditional religions and new religious movements have begun to employ comics as a missionary tool, while humanists and religious progressives use comics' unique fusion of text and image to criticize traditional theologies and to offer alternatives.

Addressing the increasing fervor with which the public has come to view comics as an art form and Americans' fraught but passionate relationship with religion, Graven Images explores with real insight the roles of religion in comics books and graphic novels.

In essays by scholars and comics creators, Graven Images observes the frequency with which religious material- in devout, educational, satirical, or critical contexts- occurs in both independent and mainstream comics. Contributors identify the unique advantages of the comics medium for religious messages; analyze how comics communicate such messages; place the religious messages contained in comic books in appropriate cultural, social, historical frameworks; and articulate the significance of the innovative theologies being developed in comics.

A. David Lewis is a national lecturer in Comics Studies, an award-winning graphic novelist, and a PhD candidate in Religion and Literature at Boston University.

Christine Hoff Kramer holds a PhD in Religion and Literature from Boston University and is a Department Chair of Nature, Deity, and Inspiration at Cherry Hill Seminary, South Carolina.

Snowed and cold, but I can still see beauty

2010-12-27T02:17:00.002-06:00

In the depth of winter, we often feel accosted by nature, it is cold, it harder to travel, shoveling is long and arduous... But, a walk, in the beauty of the white world we are now given, should remind you of the beauty, and total power that we can see.

The seasons change, but God does not. We are able to see the hand of the finest architect, the brush of the greatest artist, and the heart of a lover in nature, if we only look.

Don't be afraid

2010-12-12T22:53:00.000-06:00

I had a fascinating conversation today with a fellow who's got an excellent, discussion-based way of conducting Bible study (thanks so much to Alex for introducing us). As we talked about some of the topics his group has explored, he mentioned several that I'd love to think more about, but the biggest one right now has to do with a command that's given about 100 times in Scripture: "Do not be afraid."

In contrast, "love the Lord your God" and "love your neighbor as yourself" are only mentioned about a dozen times each. The guy I was talking to claims that "do not be afraid" is the most frequent command in the Bible. I haven't counted myself, but Keith Krell, Gary DeLashmutt, and others have reached the same answer, so I'm going to trust that it's a true statement.

My new friend's point wasn't that bravery is a more important concept than love. Which is good, because theologically, that doesn't hold up. His point was that maybe we need to hear "Don't be afraid" more than we need to be told to love. I can buy that.

It's easy for me to understand the need to love. Not so easy to put love into practice most of the time, but I certainly buy into the importance of the concept. I don't need to be reminded a lot that all of God's will is wrapped up in his command to love. I don't think most of us have a problem with that. In fact, I don't think you even have to believe in God at all to understand that loving people is a good idea. But not being afraid? That's a whole other deal. I need to be reminded of that a lot.

I fear pain. I fear death. I fear Satan. I fear sin. I fear temptation. I fear suffering. I fear being uncomfortable. I fear that people won't like me. I fear being judged. I fear not being good enough. I fear my own doubt.

God says, "Stop. Don't be afraid."

I think it was CS Lewis' Prince Caspian that first introduced me to the idea that Faith and Fear are opposites. Aslan tells Susan that the reason she couldn't see him at first is because she was afraid. Fear interferes with faith. It certainly interferes with love. It's is a purely selfish emotion. Even when we're "afraid for someone else," if we drill deeply enough into that idea we usually find that the fear is actually for the loss we'll feel if something happens to that person. It's only when I take my attention off of myself and put it entirely on others that I can be fearless.

Easier said than done. But then, so is love. And imagine the benefits. No fear of death. No fear of suffering. No fear of what other people think. No fear of your own thoughts. That's the kind of comfort that God offers if only we'll listen to what he's telling us.

"Don't be afraid. There's no need."

Thank You

2010-11-29T15:40:00.004-06:00

Yesterday, Sunday, November 28, 2010, Kevin May (pictured here from his school's three day outing at an Audubon site in northern Minnesota) and I delivered the following thank you list at the little church in Eagan, Minnesota where some of our family attend. He read the parts preceded with a "K" and I read the parts following the letter "G." It was fun and we were told afterward it was a good reminder.

G - Our goal for this time this morning is to pause to thank God for just some of the things we can remember being thankful for. There is so much in this world to appreciate that it is really hard to come up with a decent list. This is our thank you list to God for today. Tomorrow it might be different. This may not be like your thank you list at all, but we hope it will light a spark of thankfulness in each of us.

· K - Thank you God for healthy food to keep us strong and well and to help our children grow.

· G - Thank you for a warm place to get out of the weather when it’s cold outside, for indoor plumbing and electric lights and for ways to cook inside.

· K - Thank you for a cool place to be when it is really hot outside.

· G - Thank you for whatever income we have and for wherever it comes from so we really don’t have to worry about where the money will come from to get something to eat today.

· K - And thank you for the people who beg for money on the corners – whatever their stories are - because they remind us that everyone is not as blessed as we are.

· G - Thank you for warm clothes to wear when we have to go outside in the winter.

· K - Thank you for nice looking clothes so we can go out in public without being embarrassed.

· G - Thank you for cars that work to get us to where we need to go, without having to ride on really crowded transportation like is in third world countries or having to walk or ride a bike.

· G - Thank you Father for family, even when we don’t all get along very well, and especially when we do get along.

· K - Thank you for family gatherings where we can share happy memories and play games and laugh out loud.

· G - Thank you for the little kids that run around and that get too loud and that get into arguments and for how they learn to get along from the experience and the opportunity it gives the adults to be a model for them.

· K - Thank you for friends who are always our friends – no matter what mood we are in or what mood they are in.

· G - And thank you for those special friends we can tell everything to and they will still be our friends.

· G - And thank you for those obnoxious friends nobody else likes, but who make us smile and we can’t help but love them anyway.

· K - Thank you for a church that tries to help other people.

· G - Thank you for a church that looks for the right answers in the Bible rather than from other people.

· K - Thank you for the old people in the church who inspire us to keep on keeping on, even when it seems a lot easier just to give it up -and who can explain stuff to us that it would take us a long, long time to figure out.

· G - Thank you Lord for the young people in the church who have a lot of energy to get things done and who give the rest of us energy to get started, even when we are tired.

· K - Thank you for a good preacher and for good Bible class teachers who make the lessons interesting and who inspire us to do better.

· G - Thank you for the VBS and for the community kids that keep coming back and for Jeff and the other teachers who make it so much fun and for the people who make the cookies and hand them out.

· G - Thank you for our annual retreat and for the great speakers who come every year and for the games and the cobblers and for the men doing the cooking and for the walk to the river and the cool birds and animals we see there.

· K - Thank you for Feed My Starving Children and for the fun we have loading the bags and for the people who thought it up and organized it so that so many people won’t have to be hungry and for how they tell us how many children we have fed and for the charities in the third world countries who help pay for the shipping costs to get the food to the people who need it.

· G - Thank you God for good health and for good doctors and other medical professionals to help us stay well.

· K - Thank you for ambulances and emergency rooms and doctors and hospitals when we need them.

· G - Thank you for Police Departments and for individual police officers who will risk their own life and safety not only to keep us safe but to protect our property as well.

· G - Thank you for good husbands and wives who will stick with us through the years, even when we don’t deserve it at all.

· G - Thank you for kids – our own and other people’s. Thank you for their loving hearts and for their innocent but funny questions. Thank you for their trust in us and for their sincere belief in the fun imaginary things of the world as well as in God Himself and in Jesus and the Spirit.

· G - Thank you for grand kids and for how they let us correct some of the things we know we did wrong with their moms and dads.

· G - Thank you Father that we can have a great time with the grandkids and then turn them back over to their parents when we are too tired to go on.

· K - Thank you for babies and for their funny little smiles and for their cute hair and for their outlandish outfits.

· K - Thank you for the really busy times when we are doing lots of things and don’t have time to stop and say “thank you,” but you know we mean it anyway.

· G - And thank you for the quiet times when we can sit and think about you and how much you love us and how we can never pay you back.

· K - Thank you for good books with interesting stories, whether they are real stories or made up ones. And thank you for the people with such amazing imaginations to be able to write books that can take us away to far countries and distant futures or to unimaginable pasts while we sit in our favorite chair.

· G - Thank you for fun TV shows whether they are love stories or adventure stories or cartoons or crime mysteries or food shows or whether they are about nature or history or geography or outer space or dinosaurs.

· G - Thank you Lord for movies on the big screen and for popcorn and candy and pop and for good friends who like the same stuff we like.

· K - And thank you for the previews so we can get excited about whatever is coming out next summer and know which movies about which we want to say “No way am I paying to see that.”

· G - Thank you for Facebook and Twitter and for email friends - for connecting with old friends we had forgotten about and for learning about their lives since we last heard from them. And thank you for texting and how we can stay in touch with so many friends at once – even during school if we are really careful and can do it without being seen.

· K - Thank you for the mall and for the people who thought it up right here in Minnesota. Thank you that we can go shop and only be cold for a short time while we go from the car to the door. And thank you for the excitement of the crowds and the fast food in the food courts and for the bookstores with the coffee shops inside where we can go sit still for a bit.

· G - Thank you God for ball games – for city leagues for the little kids, and for middle school ball, and high school games, and college games – even on TV – and for all kinds of pro games.

· K - Thank you for swimming lessons so kids can get in the water and not be afraid

· K – Thank you for scuba lessons and other kinds of lessons so we can learn to do grown up kind of things.

· G- Thank you for chores for our kids and grandkids to teach them that work is honorable. And thank you for jobs for teenagers so they can learn how to manage money.

· G - Those of us without jobs right now thank you that there is still hope. And we thank you for the support systems that keep us from having to beg on the streets.

· K - Thank you for our friend Roberta and for her love for the kids she is raising and feeding in Haiti.

· G - Thank you for all the Americans and others around the world who love the people of Haiti and who truly want to help however they can.

· K - Thank you Father for those Americans who have moved to foreign countries to tell about the good news and to help people who are hungry or sick or just poor.

· G - Thank you for those Americans who will speak up for people who can’t make themselves heard, like Horton did for the Who’s.

· K - Thank you for the US Army, and the Navy, and the Coast Guard, and the Air Force, and the Marines and for how they keep us safe from people who would destroy us, And thank you for the young people who leave home to join those forces for a time.

· K - Thank you Lord for people with kind hearts who can see a need and set out to meet it without seeing all the ugliness that may surround it.

· G - Thank you for the Veterans Home that takes care of the military vets when they get older, and thank you that we can go and sing with them, and for their love for the old church songs, and how they pick out songs, and how we know some of the songs they pick out and we don’t know some of them.

· G - Thank you God for our annual Christmas Party, and for the good food and for the gifts for someone that might not have very many.

· K - Thank you for the St. Paul Urban Ministry and for all its participants and staff and volunteers and contributors.

· G - Thank you for the Hmong people and for their contribution to the United States so long ago in the jungles of Laos.

· G - Thank you for those in the U.S. who stood up for the Hmong and got the government to allow them to come here after the war.

· K - And thank you for turkey and cranberry sauce and green bean casserole and sweet potatoes and homemade rolls and pumpkin pie and sweet tea. Oh, and thank you for turkey sandwiches and left over pie.

· K – Thank you for church services on Sunday morning where we can see friends and have classes and sing songs and celebrate Jesus getting up on a Sunday morning and walking out of the grave, showing us once and for all that we don’t have anything in this world to be afraid of.

· G – Thank you for families who love God and teach the children to love Him too.

· K – Thank you for shelter so we won’t freeze and for food so we won’t be hungry.

· G - Thank you for friends who are on our side to help us to get to heaven.

· K - Thank you for the opportunity to choose the right friends

· G - Thank you for good tasting food that we enjoy eating.

· K - Thank you for our belief in you and for all the promises we can claim because of that faith.

· G - Thank you for the example of Noah who worked hard at something no one but him and his family believed in.

· K - Thank you for the example of Abraham who left his home forever without knowing where he was going – because God told him to go.

· G - Thank you for the example of Moses’ mom and dad who were not afraid of the king – even though they were his slaves.

· K - Thank you for the example of Moses who went back to a scary place he had left a long time before, because God wanted to use him to get Pharaoh to let his slaves go free.

· G - Thank you for the example of David who when he was still a young lad was not afraid of the giant that all of Israel’s army was afraid to confront.

· K - Thank you for the example of Daniel who was not afraid of the king or of the king’s officials or of the lions.

· G - Thank you for the example of Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednigo who were not afraid of the king or of the fiery furnace.

· K - Thank you Lord for sending Jesus to save us from our sins and thank you for Jesus being willing to come down here and live a poor man’s life and die a criminal’s death because He loves us.

· G - Thank you for the encouragement we get from the Bible.

· K - Thank you for the opportunity to choose the right path – to go to God and not Satan

· G - Thank you for the promises you have made to us that we can go to heaven and thank you for telling us how to do that.

· K - And thank you for allowing us to have our own opinions.

[I read the first half of each verse below and Kevin led the response: “His love endures forever.”]

We will conclude today with Psalm 136. After each phrase, please say with Kevin, “His love endures forever.”

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
² Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.

⁴ to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.
⁵ who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.
⁶ who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.
⁷ who made the great lights—
His love endures forever.
⁸ the sun to govern the day,
His love endures forever.
⁹ the moon and stars to govern the night;
His love endures forever.

¹⁰ to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
His love endures forever.
¹¹ and brought Israel out from among them
His love endures forever.
¹² with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
His love endures forever.

¹³ to him who divided the Red Sea^[^a^] asunder
His love endures forever.
¹⁴ and brought Israel through the midst of it,
His love endures forever.
¹⁵ but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
His love endures forever.

¹⁶ to him who led his people through the wilderness;
His love endures forever.

¹⁷ to him who struck down great kings,
His love endures forever.
¹⁸ and killed mighty kings—
His love endures forever.
¹⁹ Sihon king of the Amorites
His love endures forever.
²⁰ and Og king of Bashan—
His love endures forever.
²¹ and gave their land as an inheritance,
His love endures forever.
²² an inheritance to his servant Israel.
His love endures forever.

²³ He remembered us in our low estate
His love endures forever.
²⁴ and freed us from our enemies.
His love endures forever.
²⁵ He gives food to every creature.
His love endures forever.

²⁶ Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His love endures forever.

Most Holy

2010-11-22T07:02:00.002-06:00

We may bow
Give praise
But our heart
Is the figure
Before the throne
In submission
Before the lone King
The king of all there is
Who redeems our contrition
With his holiness
And mercy

What do churches and babies have in common?

2010-11-15T19:00:00.011-06:00

If you're like me, you've never heard of an Apgar score before, but they're vitally important for measuring the health of newborn babies. You can read the inspiring story behind the score's creation in this Leadership article, but of course the relevance to this blog is the conclusion that "we need an Apgar score for the church."

Instead of using traditional measures like attendance and contributions, Kevin Miller recommends a test based on the Apgar model. As you might expect, the Apgar test doesn't take a baby's size into consideration. A small baby can be just as healthy as a large one. Instead, nurses and doctors are looking at things like skin color, heart rate, reflexes, muscle tone, and breathing. Things that - you know - actually indicate health.

Using descriptions of healthy churches in Acts and Revelation, we can test our congregations to see how we're doing in areas like faithfulness, endurance, repentance, teaching, worship, power, generosity, connectedness, discipleship, and service. There's a handy online test for your convenience; just remember that "the point is not so much the score as the direction" in which your church is moving.

How can we know God?

2010-11-11T13:47:00.003-06:00

Charles and Nancy are camped in site B-6 at a state park campground on the north shore of Lake Superior. It is early nighttime and they are sitting by the fire, roasting marshmallows. There is a gentle breeze blowing from the Lake. They gradually become aware that they can hear the people in both the neighboring sites, but that neither of the neighbors can hear the other.

In B-8 Larry says to Susan, “Just look at those stars! And you know they go on and on, way beyond what we can see.”

Susan agrees, “And like we were talking this afternoon when we were looking at the waterfalls, the genius of the water cycle is so amazing! And all the little bugs and chipmunks! Each one is unique.”

“It’s like you were saying, Susan, ‘How could anyone look at all of this and not just know that there has to be a creator behind it all? It is just too intricate to believe that it was all just an accident.’”

The two of them fall into silence, contemplating their creator.

About that time, on the other side, Charles and Nancy hear Patricia and Leland talking.

“Hey, Leland.”

“Uh huh?”

“Look at those stars”

“Wow! They just go on forever”

“Yeah, a lot further than we can see even. We sure are tiny.”

“Yep.”

“Nature is just so complicated and wonderful.”

“Yeah, like we were talking today about the water cycle and just how many different little animals there are. How could anybody believe that one mind thought all that up? Nothing but billions of years of evolution could have caused nature to turn out like this.

Both of them fall into silence, contemplating the marvelous complexity of nature.

Nancy wonders aloud, “Charles, what if we could get the four of them together for a discussion of where all this came from? Not an argument or a debate, just a discussion.” What do you think would come of it?”

“I don’t know. Where would you start a conversation like that?”

“Well, you can’t argue from the Bible with people who don’t accept it as inspired.”

“That’s for sure.”

They are quiet for a few minutes and then Charles says, “You know, our belief in God is more because we know Him and trust Him than because of some argument we’ve heard. The logic of it helps overcome some objections, but it won’t build faith by itself.”

Another few minutes of silence is followed by Nancy’s question, “How do you get someone to know God, if they don’t believe in Him?”

“Remember what Jesus said about ‘If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the father?’ And how Paul kept saying we were the body of Christ? And how Jesus said that people will know God by our love?

“Yeah?”

“I’m thinking it’s all about relationships.” They can’t see our love and example by us arguing with them. They have to get to know us.”

“And we have to get to know them.”

“Why don’t we invite all four of them over for breakfast tomorrow? Not especially to talk about God or anything, just to get to know them. We’ll go with the conversation wherever it goes. You got enough eggs?”

“Yeah, I got enough for tomorrow. We’ll have to buy more before the week is over.”

Great, you go left and I’ll go right to invite them.

Like A River Flowing, Is Our Sorrow

2010-11-04T01:33:00.002-05:00

Like a river flowing
Is our sorrow
Is the toll
Of our despair
We are walking
All alone
In a crowd
In a wasteland
Of our own making
And we cry
Pour down the rain
So that we might be clean
For we are wounded
And dirty and
Desire to be set free
We long to sleep
And must borrow
Every ounce of courage
To endure
So much pain
It torments us
Relentless
Stolen lives
Lost to the dust of time
Screaming at the sun
On knees praying for death
The sun doesn’t answer
No matter how we plead
Ultimately we dream
Of a place
So quiet
So pure
So good
We hope
And no matter
How we pray to die
We live
For hope is fire
And it burns
And no matter our intent
We cannot hold back
Our desire to live
And be forgiven
And we believe
Despite our being dirty
We become clean
By the cleansing rains
That set us free

Because

2010-10-27T10:45:00.000-05:00

Because of you
My hope is restored
With total joy
You fill my spirit
My heart
My mind
My flesh
My soul
Are yours
Nothing left that isn’t
I offer all up to you
Not the finest silks
Not the most glorious perfumes
Come close to your majesty
Let me offer you
The most choice portion
You are worthy indeed
I worship you
I fall down
Before you
Let me be redeemed
Let your blood cover
All my sorrrows
All my flaws
You are worthy
There is only you
The great I AM
In your sacrifice
And truth
Are proof
Of the power
Of my awe
For the being
Who redeemed me

I see God. Others might not.

2010-10-09T03:41:00.002-05:00

I was asked by an atheist friend why I believe in what I cannot prove or “reasonably” expect to exist. I told him that I saw God in all things, from the rains to the drought, from the mountains to the earthquakes, and in the sky I see stars that could only have formed by God’s grace and planning. My friend shook his head. He said, all I see are things that happened by virtue of atoms forming and accidents causing reactions. There is no plan, all there is is matter.

“Reason is the shadow cast by God; God is the sun.” Rumi

And that was that. He’d illustrated a divide that we could never cross. As liberal and as non-evangelical as I am, I cannot not see God in awesome events, and mundanity, and my friend, however brilliant and thoughtful, could never see God, for he was not looking for God.

But, God is there, God exists. So the contradictions between our two view points are not truly contradictions. But I believe, however little he has belief in the unseen now, my friend will believe. I have hope. The scriptures tell me this.

"The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. / All you have made will praise you, O LORD" (Psalm 145:9–10)

And nature confirms it to me.

I believe that in nature God expressed an act of creation and art. God’s hand is evident to me every time I feel rain on my face. Or when I am amidst a white out blizzard. I see God. I pray to God endlessly. My friend who is atheist doesn’t pray at all, he says. So, I have answers, and comfort. So does my friend. But we have found answers and comfort in different things. He finds comfort in the reasonable logic that Atheists use. I find God everywhere I turn and I am comforted. When I pray I’ve seen and felt answers. I see God. I hear God. My soul sings to God.

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.” Lao Tzu

It is important to share our faith. But it is much more important to understand that God has give us every reason to believe, and he has shown us magnificent things to reassure us.

Why

2010-09-29T16:06:00.002-05:00

If you have faith why do you share it? Are you trying to make converts? Or, are you overflowing with hope and want to share it with others. Do you share at all?

I am wondering because I just saw a television show with an avowed Atheist who said Christians believe in violent fairy tales. Whatever I believe, I wonder, if a Christian tried to speak for someone else's beliefs, or lack of, is it ok to mock the other? Does it help to be insulted about your intellectual abilities by virtue of being equated with foolishness to believe something? If I told an atheist that they were making themselves God by their declarations, would that make them change their views?

I am not, actually, offended when people mock my beliefs. I am not hurt by it, nor do I wonder why they do it. But, if speaking about faith gets you mocked, are you going to do it?

All I have to say about it is that I try to love others, and help others, so that when I do speak to them or they ask why I do it, my faith rings true. But of course, I am made of meat, and I make mistakes all the time.

So why share? Do you share? How do you share?

A poem for restoration

2010-09-22T22:29:00.001-05:00

BLACK WHITE AND RED

Red blood flowing, pouring down
White flesh broken, nailed upon
Man made structure for breaking men
Lifted above in high suspension
Hanging hanging hanging
Dying there
Nonetheless he rose again
I am held in my own bondage
By the chains of sin
I am filled with black despair
All my hope is gone
I am undone by this place
But there is more
Beyond Azrael’s embrace
I am left with a promise
Beyond the material world
Break my chains
Let me be restored
Let me be redeemed
By the bleeding and pain
Of yours
That take my sins away
Let me be renewed
By the red and white
That conquer black
Let me be made new

The Journey and Love

2010-09-21T01:02:00.002-05:00

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Lao-tzu

You have to start somewhere. And I suggest most people desire to start at the end to avoid the difficulties of the journey. But of course, it doesn’t work like that.

Who we are, what we are, where we are going, is not the end of the journey but about the journey. The end is not within our hands to control. Only how we pursue it, how we seek, is what we can control. This Christian life I lead, is in so many ways more than me, and beyond my ability to understand. I seek holiness, but, am distracted by the flesh. I seek hope, but the world into which I’ve been cast, is darkness. I seek to love, and seek to be loved but the people upon this earth who share it with me are just as flawed as I am. And what I pursue gets in the way of knowing God.

“All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there.” Rumi

But I truly believe there is more than what I see before me. There is more than the tears of sorrow or joy, there is more than a burp after a particularly filling, and pleasing meal. There is more than the giggles of a child, or the laughter of friends. The images of war and suffering are terrible, but they are not all there is.

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.” Albert Einstein

We pursue life, we seek God, but in the end, the mystery we face is immense. We desire to know all the answers. Getting our brain to agree with our heart in the search makes the journey that much more difficult. But we are here to help others, and to bring love. And love is the key. When we love as we are called and born to do, we understand the world better.

“If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:2

Everything that isn’t centered upon love fades into secondary status of importance. I believe that there are many mysteries before us, and most will not be answered, at least not to everyone’s satisfaction. (Referring to this lifetime, here upon this earth.) But the things that are important, come from love, and I believe that everyone desires love, and everyone has a place in their soul ready to be loved.

“Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18

We can journey down pathways, and seek, we can spend our time trying to know, but I believe we are meant to love, love God, love others, help others... We may not understand how we arrived where we are, nor were we mindful of our path, but the mysteries we face do not matter. What matters is love. We love because we were first loved. God knew us in the womb. We are loved. Embrace that. Love is the most important ingredient to a faithful walk. I need to remember that. Because when I love I will know God. But when I seek first to know, I will not love first. God has an order that works. I am humbled by that.

Not for me is he doing it...

2010-09-07T13:09:00.002-05:00

Terry Jones with the Dove World Outreach Center is dead set on burning the Koran in a public ceremony upon September 11th, 2010. Story from ABC

His goal seems to be to declare that "Islam is of the Devil".

Mr. Jones and his congregation, and all those who agree with his decision are free to act in this manner. But, Free Speech doesn't mean it is accurate, nor does it mean that it is helpful or good to do. A good reason not to do it

But more than anything here, other than to say I find the act disgusting, and intolerant, I want to point out something worth I think all the words and ideas going back and forth... Terry Jones is free to do this, and is a Christian by his claim of being so, but he is not representing all Christians, nor all Americans. He is an individual, acting on his own. I disagree with him. But as we live in a free society, I accept that he has a right to do what he is doing.

On the other hand, my order of Terry Jones Toilet paper hasn't arrived yet to express my outrage...

SIMPLE ANSWERS

2010-09-04T16:06:00.004-05:00

I worked this summer a lot with my window open, summer was beautifully mild here in Minnesota and the breeze was glorious, my pond was comforting, and the neighbors walking by were/are a nice break in the day. As I was writing a new story I chuckled to hear a couple young kids and their mother walking, talking, and laughing. Life was good. And then from the depths of the neighborhood, a person working on their lawn hit a rock, their lawn mower stopped working, and the person pushing the mower shouted the swear word that gets your mouth washed out with soap, so bad a swear word it is. The kids and mother stopped talking. The kids were in awe, and the mother seemed to be waiting for the kids to respond. And the younger of the two (at least I think the youngest) said, I think that man is angry. And they continued on, without more discussion, joyful or otherwise.

It is like that with my conversations with God actually. I will pray, or be thinking about God, or doing his will, and, a stray portion of the world will reach out and strike me, and the mood is lost, and what was joyful becomes, well, quiet. I need God most of all when it is quiet, because without being in thought and prayer towards God, I am able to be brought low, by the simplest things the world shares.

But God's answers are the simplest, to the hardest questions... God comforts me. The world wounds me. God is good.

Why Are We Here?

2010-09-04T13:48:00.003-05:00

(Cross-posted from Street Prophets)

I remember a question posed by the leader of a chapel service at the parochial school I attended way back in middle school. Since God wants us all to go to Heaven, he said, and since we get to Heaven through Faith in Christ, then why doesn't God just zap us all to heaven as soon as we Come to Faith? Why must we remain in this Vale of Tears, this World of Sin?

The question, of course, was a rhetorical one and he answered it almost immediately. We are here, he said, to Preach the Gospel, so that others may also receive the Gift of Salvation.

His answer, I think, was true as far as it went, but there is more to it than that. The real answer is both broader and deeper.

I think we Christians focus too much on the Moment of Conversion. We view the act of Witnessing solely by results-based criteria, and that is a mistake. It's like when my brother Steeve tried teaching our dog, Dragon tricks: to lie down, roll over and play dead. Problem was, Dragon was too smart. As soon as Steeve would say "Sit," Dragon would hit the floor, roll over and jump to his feet expecting the treat. He was jumping to the end point, ignoring the other things Steeve wanted him to do.

And we make the same mistake. Persuading others of the Veracity of Scriptures and of Christian Doctrine is only a part of the Christian Life. Just as important is to demonstrate the Love of Christ through our actions. Strike that; it's more important; because the Love has to come first; otherwise all our arguments and our eloquence is worthless.

In Jesus' parable of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25:31-46, he cites the actions he finds commendable: giving food to the hungry; giving drink to the thirsty; offering hospitality to the stranger and clothing to the naked; providing companionship to the sick and the imprisoned. He does not mention in this list denouncing the wicked, converting the heathen, or even simply preaching the Kingdom of God. Those things may be worthy, but in this passage Jesus puts his emphasis on meeting the immediate needs of people who are suffering. What we sometimes call "Good Works."

Now, Good Works is something of a dirty word among Lutherans like myself. We like to quote St. Paul's passage:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

But right after that, Paul goes on to say:

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
(Ephesians 2:11)

So I would broaden what our leader said back in Chapel. We are not just here to convert people. Our job is both easier and greater than that. It's easier because I by myself am incapable of actually converting anybody; that's a job for the Holy Spirit working in a person's heart. But it's greater because God is calling me to do nothing less than to make the World a better place through he acts of love and kindness I show to the people I meet. And really, that is freakin' huge.

But there's a deeper element to this as well. There's another reason why God keeps us here on Earth to suffer; and that is because it's not all suffering! When God created the World he saw that it was Good. And marred as it is my human wickedness it's still Good! We in the Church sometimes focus on the Medieval baggage that emphasized the Depraved Nature of this Fallen World; but the Good is still there.

Our life and our experiences and our actions have value; and they have Joy. Yes, even our sufferings. The way I expressed our calling to Do Good Works makes it sound like an obligation, a heavy burden God inflicts us with; and in a way it is. But it is also an opportunity. There is Joy in relieving the unhappiness of another, even if for a little bit. There is joy in laboring to make things better in some way. There is Joy even in suffering, if that suffering comes about through our efforts to remedy the sufferings of others.

If God were to lift us out of this current Tribulation, as some hope and pray, we'd miss out on all the fun.

Serving Without Proselytizing

2010-08-29T20:53:00.000-05:00

As our congregation continues to struggle with the concept of evangelism, one of the topics that keeps coming up is how do service and evangelism work together? We believe in reaching out to the community and the world through acts of service. We also believe in sharing God's message with the world. But there's something ugly about performing a service with the expectation that the receiver has to pay for it by listening to a gospel pitch. What exactly should the relationship be between serving and evangelizing?

This article by Tim Avery of Leadership magazine settles the matter in my mind. It all goes back to relationships. We form them through our service without attached sermons, but neither do we hide who we are or the God we serve. Genuine relationships with the people we're serving will weather us through any difficult conversations about faith. The key is to religion-proof the relationship. In other words, we need to continue loving and serving people regardless of how potential a "prospect" they are. There are several encouraging examples of this in the article, so it's very much worth reading.

Embracing Smaller Churches

2010-08-19T15:34:00.000-05:00

One of the best things our little congregation ever did (that's not us in the picture, by the way; we're nowhere near that picturesque) was to stop moaning over our size. It took us a while, but we finally realized that God can do things with small congregations that just can't get done as well in larger ones.

It's not that we think poorly of large congregations. And we're not even hoping to stay small. God can also do things with large congregations that our group can only dream of. But we've stopped using attendance as a measurement of success. Many say that if you're doing things right, the numbers will automatically come. And maybe that's true, but it's no reason to make attendance the goal. Doing things God's way is its own reward. Let him work through you and leave the results to him.

I'm reminded of this because of a new book called The Strategically Small Church. I haven't read it yet, but it's going on my list. Not to affirm that small churches can do great things, but to learn new ways to take advantage of our capacity for intimacy, nimbleness, and authenticity.

Smuggling Christianity: Art

2010-08-13T01:25:00.002-05:00

This is sort of a sequel to the Gongs and Cymbals post from a couple of months ago. In that one, I made the comment that "instead of banging the gong for our particular politics, maybe we should be quietly smuggling ... love" into the political discourse.

I link to Richard Beck a lot, because he challenges my thinking on theology and religion like nobody else. This post about The Weak Culture of Christianity is another example of that. As Beck puts it:

...Christians have done something very curious. Rather than intentionally trying to produce cultured elites - as the Jewish and gay communities have produced - Christians have largely abandoned the institutions of cultural power (think about New York and Hollywood) to create their own subculture. Their own music, movies, books, and TV shows. And as [author James Davison] Hunter notes, the output of this cultural production has been absolutely astounding. Because, like we said, there are a lot of Christians out there! Think of a book like The Shack. A publishing phenomenon. And yet, a Christian sensation like this leaves hardly a cultural ripple, being mainly consumed by the Christian subculture. Plus, a great deal of the Christian cultural output is kitsch. Christian writing, music and art is generally perceived to be of low quality. And if you've been in a Christian bookstore recently (I was yesterday) you understand this assessment.

Incidentally, Beck's done a much more recent post on one of the primary problems with Christian art: its incessant reliance on text. That one's not so much challenging to me as it is affirming. By and large, I have a very low tolerance for overtly Christian art and it's only in this context of Christian subculture that I've realized why.

Two things keep me away. One is the overtness itself: adding devotional text and Bible verses to a picture of a horse, for example. As Beck notices, it makes it impossible to give it any other reading. It tells you exactly how you should think about it. And something I've always rebelled against is being told how to think.

Which also contributes to my second problem with a lot of overtly Christian art: the way it defines the Christian subculture. In many Christian circles, one of the unspoken measures of faith is how much you like the latest popular Christian singing group and whether certain books are on your reading table. Just like I don't want to be told what to think, I also don't want to be told what I need to enjoy in order to measure up.

I do enjoy Christian art, but I like the more subtle kind. Obviously, being a fan of Tolkien and U2 (not that U2's always that subtle) doesn't make me all hip and alternative; that's not what this is about. I think that the hugest reason I like some covertness in my Christian art is that it makes it easier for me to share it with my non-Christian friends. I've got friends who won't even consider stepping into a church assembly, but man they love Lord of the Rings.

When Beck talks about Christians' needing to produce "cultured elites," that's what I imagine he's talking about. We need smart, talented Christians in New York and Hollywood making smart, talented books, TV shows, movies, music, video games... whatever. Not overtly tacking a Bible verse on everything they create, but smuggling Biblical concepts like love and self-sacrifice into the popular culture. That's going to be a lot more effective at attracting people to Christ than picket signs.

The Meaning of Genesis

2010-08-05T14:48:00.000-05:00

I'll be getting back to some Genesis posts, but in the meantime, NT Wright has some very helpful insights about the book and the concept of Myth vs History. He also name drops John Walton, the commentator I've been studying.

Faith, Reason and Detectives

2010-07-31T22:41:00.004-05:00

This past week one of the diarists over at Street Prophets posted an interesting piece on The Death of Reason and Conservative Evangelicals. Which prompted some thoughts of my own. To begin with, it reminded me of a passage from one of the Father Brown stories by G.K. Chesterton:

"No," said the other priest; "reason is always reasonable, even in the last limbo, in the lost borderland of things. I know that people charge the Church with lowering reason, but it is just the other way. Alone on earth, the Church makes reason really supreme. Alone on earth, the Church affirms that God himself is bound by reason."

...

"...But as a matter of fact, another part of my trade, too, made me sure you weren't a priest."

"What?" asked the thief, almost gaping.

"You attacked reason," said Father Brown. "It's bad theology."

--G.K. Chesterton, "The Blue Cross"

Of course, Father Brown is speaking from the Augustinian tradition Danish Bretheren is talking about in his diary. We Protestants aren't as familiar with him as we should be.

I've known more than one Lutheran pastor rail against "rationalism" when, if he were honest with himself, he really meant "reason alone", unmodified by the Holy Spirit, (or by Spiritual Insight, if you prefer).

But you can also say, (As we Lutherans do all the time), that Good Works Alone cannot assure Salvation. But that said, does that mean that Good Works are to be shunned? The Apostle James has some words to say about that.

Both Faith and Reason are necessary for a complete spiritual life. Both are a part of a balanced spiritual breakfast. St. Paul admonishes us to test the Spirits we encounter to see if they are of God; and the Book of Acts commended the people of Berea who, upon hearing the Gospel, "examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11)

For that matter, you could consider the Church's office of the "Devil's Advocate", the person charged with testing a candidate's worthiness for Sainthood, as a precursor to the Scientific Method.

A lot of Christian theology is itself the result of Reason applied to Scripture. Take the doctrine of the Trinity: It is nowhere in Scripture precisely delineated, and for that reason, some Christian denominations reject it. But the idea of the Trinity, a single God with three distinct persons, is a rational construction attempting to reconcile the way parts of the Bible talk about Christ (and the Holy Spirit, for that matter; can't forget him), with the non-negotiable statement: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One."(Deut. 6:4) From the outsider's perspective, the contention that 1+1+1=1 seems irrational and ludicrous; but it is actually the result of trying to describe a Transcendent God in Euclidean geometry

A lot of detective writers seem to be interested in religion. Dorothy L. Sayers had her detective Lord Peter Wimsey comment that Detective Fiction was our most moral genre of literature because it was all about the uncovering of Truth and the punishment of Evil. Here's another famous detective's take on the matter of Reason:

"What a lovely thing a rose is! ...There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion," said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. "It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers."

-- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Naval Treaty"

With all respect to the Great Detective, I'm not sure that I buy his line of reasoning. I'm sure many rationalists would deny that the Evidence of the Rose was by itself enough to support his conclusion about the Existence and Goodness of Providence, and I know many Christians would regard his conclusion as being insufficient by itself.

But he brings us to the point that investigation and inquiry are legitimate aspects of religion as they are in other aspects of life; and that Reason is the chief tool God has given us to pursue this inquiry.

The Growth and Care of Organic Churches

2010-07-27T13:20:00.000-05:00

This is an interesting article by small group pastor Brian Hofmeister about organic churches and how they aren't the magic bullet that many seem to think they are. "Organic" referring to churches that start small - usually meeting in homes - with the intention that they'll grow naturally instead of being artificially infused with members from existing congregations.

It's a fantastic idea, but Hofmeister is absolutely correct that starting an organic church isn't going to solve all the problems that plague larger churches. Going organic should only be done by people who are passionate about that kind of gathering; never by someone who just thinks it'll be easier to deal with less people. If we bring large-church mindsets into small-church efforts, nothing's going to change.

Hofmeister's article is well worth reading. Though it's very frank about the challenges of starting an organic church, it's also positive about the potential rewards and offers insights about going about it in the right way.

Sign Fail

2010-07-21T11:20:00.000-05:00

[FailBlog]

In nature we can see God's glory

2010-07-16T17:46:00.003-05:00

Walking amongst the tall grass
Bowing to the winds
I am struck by the moment of holy
Blessed beyond my world of sin
My flesh cries out for the glory
Present before me
My eyes pour out tears at the beauty
Golden fields bowing as one
The majesty of the scene
I am but a speck of grain
On the stalk of the wheat
On the field, under the sun
Golden and in unison
Bowing before the king

God speaks to me through the works of his Hand.

Church Death: Facebook Murder or Suicide?

2010-07-01T15:50:00.002-05:00

I'm still clearing out old links and found another great post by Richard Beck. He calls it, "How Facebook Killed the Church."

It's not really Facebook's fault of course. Young people's leaving the church is a spiritual problem, not a social media one. As church leaders scramble to stop the bleeding of young people from their congregations, a lot of questions are being asked about why this is happening and deserters are being pretty honest with their reasons. As Beck summarizes it, "Churches are too shallow, hypocritical, judgmental, or political."

As Beck also observes though, this isn't new. For way too long, churches have presented poor reasons for people to be involved in them. Instead of being places of service and love, they've often been places where The Truth Is Being Taught, so that members can validate that they're right about doctrinal (and - too often - political) issues.

As a member of Generation X, I can give witness that my people and I were just as cynical and anti-establishment as Kids These Days. According to Beck, we were even more so.

So what happened? Why didn't Gen X leave the church while the Millennials are leaving in droves? ... [I]f church has always been kind of lame and irritating why did people go in the first place? Easy, social relationships ... Even if you hated church you could feel lonely without it.

But Millennials are in a different social situation. They don't need physical locations for social affiliation. They can make dinner plans via text, cell phone call or Facebook. In short, the thing that kept young people going to church, despite their irritations, has been effectively replaced. You don't need to go to church to stay connected or in touch. You have an iPhone.

...And if you can do this without getting up early on Sunday morning why go to church? Particularly if the church is hypocritical and shallow? Why mess with it?

If all the church has to offer is social activities and relationships, it will die. It has to be more than that. It has to offer something that you can't get online or by text.

Relativism and Truth

2010-06-28T08:17:00.003-05:00

This is borrowed from an email sent to me by a friend, Dan Johnson. I thought you might appreciate it. The references to baptism might ring more true within our fellowship than within yours, but the idea is the same, regardless of the issue. I like especially the analogy of the ping pong ball. Dan doesn't claim originality for that one, says he heard it somewhere maybe 20 years ago.

Hi David,

I'll try to put this in a nutshell.

I guess my big-umbrella concern is the issue of a knowable truth, whether there is one, and whether and how Christianity represents it.

In our relativistic society, I think the church at large (and certainly the churchES at large) have been pretty thoroughly infected with relativism: the ideas of different truths for different people, and maybe or maybe not anything like an absolute truth.

The longer range, bigger picture problem with this is: One needs to have a pretty strong suspicion, if not an outright conviction -- that something does indeed exist in order to bother looking very hard for it. If you set up a game wherein you offer a big reward for whoever finds the ping-pong ball you've hidden in the room, most people will be willing to look for the ping-pong ball to obtain the reward, or to at least have a chance at it. But if you fill them in on one last detail, that being that "There really isn't a ping-pong ball hidden in the room," then ask how many people want to play, my bet is you won't get many takers.

We live and function in a society that largely presumes "There's not really a ping-pong ball hidden in the room." Until we realize that most people (and many people in the church) don't really believe in a knowable truth, they aren't going to spend much time looking for it, let alone submitting to any part of it they might find inconvenient.

Secondary to that overriding concern is this: The relatively few churches that do still believe in, teach and hold to an "absolute truth," seem primarily interested in investing that truth into inter and intra-church feuds over baptism and worship styles, to the near exclusion of everything else, and without explicitly talking of the issues of "truth": what is it, how can we know it and know we know it, etc. NOTE: I'm NOT saying baptism and worship styles aren't part of the truth, or that they don't matter, or even that they shouldn't be "issues to be addressed." I'm saying when people who don't even necessarily understand the value (let alone the existence of) of A TRUTH walk in to a church and get clobbered with things like worship styles and baptism -- they're probably just going to walk out and keep looking.

I think we-the-church tend to presume an understanding (regarding truth) that's just not out there anymore, and is getting rarer even amongst our own. And by having these intra-church issues so front and center, we have the cart (church doctrinal issues) way out in front of the horse (Truth) and likely as not it's doing end-over-end cartwheels. Our teaching needs to back way up to the beginning -- not only for new Christians and/or prospective converts, but for 10, 20, and 40 year members, perhaps to include a lot of church and churched leadership.

In this cultural relativism where eventually anything goes -- there's just no perceived reason to look for or submit to any Truth, especially a truth with any inconvenient aspects.

That's my big-tent concern for the "organized and/or disorganized church".

Dan

[Dan has an on-line book at Dan's Book.]

Relax!

2010-06-25T14:25:00.004-05:00

Working on the next book, working title: "Relax!" It will be aimed at Christians and among other things will contrast what Christians are really worried about to what the world thinks they are worried about. For the world's view I will rely heavily on the survey work of The Barna Group as reported in "Unchristian," a book by David Kinnaman.

To get a starting point for my work, I asked friends and family what they are worried or concerned about. I got 14 repies, some long, some short. I thought you might find them interesting. Here they are, in the order received. I have made no attempt to edit them other than a few minor corrections of grammar or punctuation. This is likely the only time and place they will be seen together in this form.

1. “I worry most often that I am not representing Christ as a positive ambassador that will draw people to him. I am disturbed by my tendency toward legalism instead of love."

2. “All the things the Lord tells us not to worry about. Mostly mammon. The economy, the environment, our health and health care, inflation and interest rates. For boomers - retirement; mostly stuff related to our own interests and wants.
I would include the decline of morals and religious sentiment. Stagnation in our churches. Politics and the future of our nation.”

3. “I have been thinking about your question. I assume (perhaps wrongly) you want the questions we are asking about our lives. In which case mine would be, ”Am I where I am supposed to be or should I have already moved on? Should I be taking more initiative in determining what comes next in my life? Or should I sit back expecting that God will do with me what he wills?”
Church-wise there is something that disturbs me much. While your question is a good one, I read in several of our magazines the question and answer sections and note that the questions we seem consumed and concerned about reveal a non-flattering perception of the Lord. I remember the question, Should a teenager with purple hair be allowed to wait on the Lord's Table? The questions that are put forward assume a God that is legalistic, expecting us to jump through a plethora of hoops to receive his blessings, rather than the God described in the Bible who is love and desires that all men be saved.”

4. "Do I take myself too seriously? It seems that the more serious we take our selves the less we can understand grace and the absurdity of the world."

5. "This world is NOT my home, I'm justa passing through."

6. "In our materialistic, self-centered society do I look any different? Am I just "playing" safe church without ever getting drastically, radically, passionately serious about saving souls and doing the hard stuff to make that happen.
What disturbs me is trying to fit God into my world instead of me fitting into His."

7. "I guess I worry about developing poor health--I think none of us want to be a burden to others [this is probably an age thing]. I think, mainly, I worry about not recognizing opportunities to be of service to others or share with them about our God."

8. “You asked, “What are Christians uptight about? What worries us? Disturbs us?”
There are so many places to start, but I will start with this: Most Christians are
uptight with the way the world system has taken over the control of the
universe. But this does not have to be, because God promised if we would
humble ourselves, turn from our sinful ways, He will hear from heaven and
will heal our land. Most Christians do not want to take the time to build a relationship with God to the point that no matter what is going on in his or her life, they know that they are not alone and help is only a prayer a way. Christians are worried about the economic situation and what will happen to their future. Again, God promised that he would take care of his children no matter what is going on around us. Most Christians try to deal with God on a human level and forget that God is spirit and you must worship him in spirit and trust. As Christians, we are disturbed because we don't get answers to our problems and circumstances right away, so we begin to doubt God and his word. No matter what happens now or in the
future, we must stay true to God and our position as a Christian, we are God's examples to who he really is. If we fold and give up, some people in the world will never get to know who God is.
Hope I did not go too far off the track of what you were asking for. :-)

9. The worries that we communicate to the world at large are about abortion, gay marriage, evolution, and negative influences on young people (sex, drugs, etc.). In settings where Christians are sharing their behind-the-scenes worries with each other, I also hear about church growth and - occasionally - Muslims taking over the world. I'm hoping though that Christians who worry are also concerned about more personal things like sin in their own lives and whether their friends and family are walking with God, but unfortunately, those aren't the ones that are usually expressed.

10. I was thinking about this as I fell asleep last night. I’m not sure if you are doing this by age group, but I would think that matters. So for the record, I will be 53 in a few weeks. Here are a few big things that try to bog me down on a daily basis:
a) We worry about health issues both for ourselves and parents. Healthcare for aging and dying parents are huge issues for me and my peers.
b) Grief and loss. Doing it and doing it well.
c) As Christians, we are confronted with ugly battles. I think particularly for those of us in any kind of ministry, Satan is working overtime to discourage, threaten, and defeat us.
d) I also believe that Satan works overtime on trying to isolate us….he will do anything to destroy relationships especially in the church.
e) If you are a member of the church of Christ, then you are constantly aware of the differing opinions about worship. This wears me out.

11. Making up a lie about another brother or sister and believing it and then telling others as if it were the truth. That the world will end soon and we need to have the sense of urgency to share and live the Gospel message. Another, that Seeking and saving the lost must be the work of the church; its primary work, as it was for Jesus. Another, to restore the New Testament church.

12. I've tried very hard to give up worrying. It's a waste of time and usually the things people worry about don't happen ... something else happens that they didn't even think to worry about. I don't know that worry is the right word for me. It's more of a "concern" that I do my best to turn over to God since I have no control of the matter ... but it would be the faithfulness of my children and grandchildren that will ultimately lead them to salvation and keep them in a saved state. I preface the next statement with the understanding that God is in control and whatever happens in our country, God will ultimately cause good to result. But the state of our country and the world is worrisome. If I catch myself worrying (or being concerned) about something, I'll let you know.

13. I have been thinking about your question. I assume (perhaps wrongly) you want the questions we are asking about our lives. In which case mine would be, “Am I where I am supposed to be or should I have already moved on? Should I be taking more initiative in determining what comes next in my life; or should I sit back expecting that God will do with me what he wills?”
Church-wise there is something that disturbs me much. While your question is a good one, I read in several of our magazines the question and answer sections and note that the questions we seem consumed and concerned about reveal a non-flattering perception of the Lord. I remember the question, Should a teenager with purple hair be allowed to wait on the Lord's Table? The questions that are put forward assume a God that is legalistic, expecting us to jump through a plethora of hoops to receive his blessings, rather than the God described in the Bible who is love and desires that all men be saved.
Looking forward to what you do with the questions and reports that come in.

14. "Some of my concerns are: "Am I doing enough?"; "Will my children be faithful?"; "Am I planting enough 'seeds' that will germinate & grow?". It is truly difficult to "be anxious for nothing"."

Gongs and Cymbals

2010-06-23T17:29:00.000-05:00

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
--1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (New Living Translation)

Something I struggle a lot with is the relationship between spirituality and politics. How do my spiritual beliefs affect my political leanings? How do they affect what I vote for? What I lobby for? How involved in politics am I required to be?

Stanley Fish touches on that some in this post, though he comes at it from a different angle. He starts by poking a stick at the generally accepted idea that Separation of Church and State requires a secular rationale for all law-making. That public policy needs to be determined by "facts," not "faith."

The problem with this is that facts and logic offer us nothing in terms of defining appropriate behavior:

While secular discourse, in the form of statistical analyses, controlled experiments and rational decision-trees, can yield banks of data that can then be subdivided and refined in more ways than we can count, it cannot tell us what that data means or what to do with it. No matter how much information you pile up and how sophisticated are the analytical operations you perform, you will never get one millimeter closer to the moment when you can move from the piled-up information to some lesson or imperative it points to; for it doesn’t point anywhere; it just sits there, inert and empty.

Fish's article refers a lot to Steven Smith's book, The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse. In it, Smith says that the only way to give value to the data is to "smuggle" in abstract ideas like freedom, equality, justice, etc. These ideas however:

...will always come from the suspect realm of contested substantive values. Is fairness to be extended to everyone or only to those with certain credentials (of citizenship, education, longevity, etc.)? Is it equality of opportunity or equality of results (the distinction on which affirmative action debates turn)? Only when these matters have been settled can the abstractions do any work, and the abstractions, in and of themselves, cannot settle them. Indeed, concepts like fairness and equality are normatively useless, except as rhetorical ornaments, until they are filled in by some partisan or ideological or theological perspective, precisely the perspectives secular reason has forsworn.

In other words, data and facts are powerless to show us how to live. Secularism is powerless to teach us what is good and noble or which values are moral. The Founding Fathers understood this and there's a wealth of documentation in their writings to show that - in spite of believing in the Church and State separation - they never intended for freedom to be based on a secular world-view. There was an assumption - oftentimes more than an assumption - that freedom is defined by God.

That's where we get into trouble today. Christians have tried to hijack God's definitions and smuggle their own ideas into the public conversation about morality. I agree with Fish and Smith about the necessity of smuggling moral ideas into the discussion. I just wish Christians did a better job of representing God's interests as we go about it. Instead of arguing over specific ideas about taxes and gun control and same-sex marriage, maybe we should be infusing the conversation with ideas like love and mercy. Ideas that are really, really easy for people to agree to when they're not tethered to other agendas. Instead of banging the gong for our particular politics, maybe we should be quietly smuggling in love.

Free

2010-06-23T02:25:00.002-05:00

Someone wrote, actually more than one person, to ask if I was still in my depression. They had prayed for me. And I am not still in my depression. After quite a long drought of sorrow and self pity, some due, some self manufactured, I am healed.

I know people assume things when you are depressed, so let me say, I do have some issues, and I am upon some meds, but none of them explained the darkness that surrounded me except for one thing. Sin. I despaired, and God is hurt when you don't trust that God will fix you. I hadn't enough of various things that were good, and had too many things that were bad, and I couldn't fix them myself.

I was in a desert, and couldn't sait my thirst. Finally when I saw that I was blaming God for my depression, I begged for his forgiveness, and he poured down rain.

Thank you everyone who prayed, and thank you for praying for others. We are in this world together, and, without each other the solitude would drive me mad.

Curses!

2010-06-16T10:36:00.000-05:00

If the events in Eden are to be taken literally, we’re confronted not only with the snake’s ability to talk, but with his apparent ability to walk as well. At least, that’s how God’s cursing the snake to crawl on his belly has been interpreted by most of the teachers I’ve had. John Walton has a different view that I like a lot more.

He points out that snakes have a couple of postures. Reared up, they’re deadly; ready to strike. On their belly, they’re submissive; easily ignored or killed. Walton’s contention is that it’s this aspect that God’s emphasizing in the curse. He’s not physically changing the snake; he’s declaring that it’ll never be able to harm humanity like this again.

Likewise, the curse to eat dust isn’t a literal, physical thing either. This is easy enough to see, because snakes don’t eat dust. Walton provides evidence that dust-eating is a reference to the underworld, so God’s curse is that snakes will become associated with death.

It’s not only the snake that’s cursed, but before we look at the others we have to understand what’s meant by “curse” here. It’s not that God’s giving Adam and Eve – or even the snake – the evil eye and condemning them to bad luck. What he’s doing is removing the special blessings they had before the Fruit Incident. The “curses” are natural consequences that come from Adam and Eve’s obtaining moral knowledge and having to leave childhood behind.

Now that they’ve become sexually awakened, childbirth enters the picture. God never says that childbirth would have been painless before the Fall. If we understand the Knowledge of Good and Evil correctly, childbirth simply wouldn’t have been an issue for a while because there would have been no sex. Would childbirth still have been painful had Adam and Eve followed God’s timeline? Unfortunately, we can’t know for sure. I suspect that it still would have been, but I also suspect that God would’ve let them know what they were in for before letting them go down that road. This is all speculation, obviously, but that’s what I imagine.

After the break: Adam's curse and whether or not any of this has to do with the Messiah.

Adam’s “curse” is similar. Now that they’re leaving the Garden, getting food’s not going to be as easy as going up to a tree and picking it. They’re going to have to work at agriculture.

One more thing about these curses. Genesis 3:15 has been interpreted as a prediction about Christ since a hundred years or so after his death. If you’re not familiar with it or need reminding, it tells the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

The reason for the Christ-predicting interpretation is scholars’ need to assign a specific personality to the “he” who’s doing the head-crushing and getting his heel bit. There also seems to be a disparity in the severity of getting your heel bit versus getting your head smashed in. Add that to the New Testament’s connection of the snake with Satan and you’ve got a conflict between Satan and Someone Else, but the Someone Else is going to get in the killing blow. It’s easy to see how that Someone Else quickly becomes Christ.

The trouble with that interpretation is that “he” – though singular in Hebrew – doesn’t have to refer to one, specific person. “Offspring” can be a collective noun and it’s perfectly fair to assign a singular pronoun like “he” to it. For that reason, turning “he” into Christ isn’t the only choice from a grammatical standpoint and you certainly can’t claim that the grammar demands that you do it.

Walton also points out that Hebrew words for “crush” and “strike” have the same root, which means that no inequality between the two verbs is intended. On the contrary, what’s being described are two comparable actions. It’s a fight with no clear winner. Instead of a picture of Christ’s triumphing over evil, God’s actually talking about an ongoing war between evil and humanity. This makes a lot more sense considering what humanity was going through at the time because of evil.

Different

2010-06-14T15:12:00.003-05:00

I've watched various people on the internet and television proclaim various versions of God's truth, that almost always makes God into a being so small as to be on a leash. I understand the desire to do this, it'd be very nice to be able to control God and make my life whatever I want it to be. But it doesn't work that way. And additionally, God is by far more than a white man with long beard flying through the sky. God made this world, with difference, mountains and valleys, forests and plains, arctic ice, and equatorial heat. God created humanity with differences, with different skin colors, different languages, with different outlooks, with different hopes, with different desires. God so clearly didn't make this world to be a construct of white male ascendancy, and the proof is found in all that God created.

You cannot limit God, no matter how hard you try, no matter what you wish to do with that limited God. God cannot be placed in a box, God just doesn't fit there.

Faking Christianity

2010-06-12T15:33:00.000-05:00

I'm clearing out some old links, so this is old, but how sad is this letter? In it, an agnostic family in Texas confesses that they have to pretend to be Christians in order to avoid ostracization of their children by Christian neighbors. And if you read the comments after the letter, you'll find that this kind of faking is far from uncommon.

I agree with Hacking Christianity that the larger shame isn't on the fakers, but on the so-called Christians who withhold kindness from anyone who believes differently than they do.

A Talking Snake?

2010-06-06T14:06:00.000-05:00

A question I asked in a previous Genesis post was about how mythological and symbolic the Creation account and Eden are supposed to be. John Walton’s take is that it isn’t. Since the original readers were meant to accept that events actually happened the way they’re laid out in Genesis, we should too. I’m not satisfied with that though.

In talking about the creation of the firmament, Walton notes that Genesis’ original readers believed the firmament – the sky – to be a solid, blue dome with holes in it that rain and starlight could come through. And he points out that Genesis does nothing to correct that perception because it’s not intended to answer scientific questions. That’s a great and helpful observation, but doesn’t it suggest that there may be other parts of the account as well that purposely don’t challenge our understanding of how this all took place? “Genesis doesn’t say it’s not literal” doesn’t seem to be a great defense that we should automatically assume it is.

Of course, I don’t have any evidence that these events are presented in a mythological and symbolic way. I’d hoped that Walton would provide some, but he’s not going to. I’m just having a hard time with – among other things – the talking snake. Walton’s contention is that just because we’ve never heard a snake talk doesn’t mean that they can’t. That’s less than convincing to me.

Far more convincing is that the snake is a symbol for something else. And maybe the Trees and the Garden and Adam and Eve are too. I’m willing to believe that they might be literal people and things that actually existed as presented in Genesis, but I can’t champion that interpretation without doing some more research.

Love without God

2010-06-04T14:18:00.000-05:00

As I've been studying my way through the New Testament over the last several years, I've been making notes of the ideas and concepts that keep coming up. It's helped me to simplify the gospel into some easy-to-understand, key principles. Boiled down: God is selflessly loving and he wants people to personify those characteristics as well. Everything else in Scripture is just details: What does love look like? How can I be loving in a real-world environment? God's message to the world is so simple to understand; it just takes a lifetime to figure out how to put it into practice.

But the world is doing it. Or trying to anyway. And it seems to be working on it without God. Never in history has there been such a huge cultural shift towards loving your neighbor, but much of it's been done through the philosophy of secular humanism. In her review of Christian Smith's Souls in Transition, Kenda Creasy Dean writes:

Drawing on sociologist N. Jay Demerath's thesis that "liberal Protestantism's core values—individualism, pluralism, emancipation, tolerance, free critical inquiry, and the authority of personal experience—have come to so permeate the broader American culture" that these values no longer need liberal Protestantism to survive, Smith makes a fascinating move: he argues that young people are not more involved in American religious life because they don't have to be. The values of America's dominant religious outlook for the past century are now carried forward by American culture itself.

In other words, the church has won the culture war, but may be losing souls in the process. In a society that's becoming more loving - and apparently without God - what need is there to seek God at all?

Dean suggests the answer when she writes that "the gospel gives liberal values redemptive traction, acknowledging the limits of human optimism by offering real hope in God's activity through human communities." The key phrase there is "the limits of human optimism." Secular humanism acknowledges no limits in that area. It says that we can do anything if we put our mind to it.

Christianity - on the other hand - teaches that there are limits to what humans can achieve on our own. To be completely selfless, loving, and serving of other people, we need God. We need to be so connected to his Spirit that we're able to be guided by him.

There is, of course, no proving which view is correct. In my experience, I've been wholly unable to willfully eliminate my own thoughts and desires from decision-making. It's only been by listening to the Spirit that I've seen any success at all at loving people the way God does. I'm fundamentally unable to take any credit for it, because I know myself too well.

Maybe others are less selfish than I am, but my suspicion is that we all fail to be truly, selflessly loving. My suspicion is that most people love because they get some kind of reward for it. Christianity (as it's often preached and practiced) can endorse that attitude by holding out Heaven as the ultimate reward for a life of love and service. I think we do Love a disservice by attaching a reward to it. By its very nature, love isn't something to be rewarded. It's something you do without expectation of anything in return. Or it isn't really love.

That makes loving - truly loving - much more difficult. Perhaps impossible. Which is why I believe we need God's help to accomplish it. Which is why I'm not a secular humanist. I can't prove it; it's a matter of faith. But when we preach about love and good works, people of faith need to be careful to include the need for God in the equation.

Judging God by the Actions of the Church

2010-06-02T17:23:00.003-05:00

Whatever your experience with the church, it does not directly represent an experience with God. Yes the Bible is full of references to the church as God’s body, his army, and his ambassadors, but these metaphors are intended as encouragements to the church to measure up to God’s grand design for us. To the extent that we do meet these expectations, we do represent God. Anyone meeting us in that situation has, in a way, met God.

But the Bible is also full of correction of the church, pointing it back toward God’s plan. Over and over the church is pictured in the Bible as struggling with pride, divisiveness and many other sins. Thanks to God that this early picture looks a lot like us. If he had painted them as perfect, we would quickly become discouraged and might give up our attempt to live up to God’s hope for us. Instead we have the instructions of Paul and the others as to how God wants us to solve the problems all churches seem to encounter.

There is a major issue though with us being the same kind of churches that existed when the Bible was written. People who are watching us are sometimes judging God by our actions. They see us squabbling over stuff that doesn’t really matter; and they see us, including our prominent leaders, proclaiming one way of life and living another. And they think, “If that is the result of following God, I don’t want to have anything to do with that kind of hypocrisy.”

There are two lessons to draw from these facts:
1. If you are a Christian, set a standard of living as God would have you live, loving everyone and keeping your life clean, so that people watching you can perhaps from time to time get a glimpse of God.
2. If you are not a Christian, don’t hold Christians to an unreasonable standard. Remember that we are all just like you, confronted with the same temptations. Those of us who are real are simply trying our best to do the right thing as much of the time as we can pull off. And ignore the fakes, remembering that the world is full of them and the church is no exception. Judge God by Himself and by His promises, not by the success of those who are trying to follow Him or by the actions of those who are pretending to do so.

Prepare the Harvest

2010-05-30T13:13:00.001-05:00

We are tasked to make this world ready
To be prepared for such a harvest
That the fields will be white with grain
While we are not holy we are called to be
In the world a fresh breath
Heaven is to be our gain
Although we are unable
To make ourselves pure
We await the cleansing rain
Of the one who baptizes
With fire and tears
We repent if we are wise
For the kingdom is growing near
The harvest is to begin
And our choices are clear

Quote of the Day: Dead to my flesh... through prayer

2010-05-14T09:57:00.000-05:00

Of all the things I do during the day prayer is that act which defines my identity. Prayer places me in the receptive state, of receiving my identity rather than owning it. And I come back to prayer over and over again to keep my hands open to receive the gift of my identity and to constantly pry back my fingers when I'm clutching the gift too tightly. Because the minute I "own" who I am and all I have my soul beings to curdle and my mind slowly poisons itself.
-- Richard Beck

Why I hope

2010-05-06T14:15:00.002-05:00

Someone asked me, after listing all the things that are wrong with the world, wrong with personal lives, pain, suffering, and more, why I believe in God. I responded, that given all those reasons, why wouldn't I believe in God. I realize this is circular logic to some, but, I am not using apologetics here, I am simply pointing out that when you are faced with horrible things, you can either believe there is nothing to hope for, or that there is something to hope for. If I went without faith I do not know how I could exist. I need hope.

And, if I am faced with an issue, and someone says God won't fix that, I say baloney. The bible says pray unceasingly. I take that to mean, God listens, and if God listens, he might fix it. Is God worried about my small problems? I cannot speak for God, but I can say, why would you want a God who doesn't care? I believe in a great big God, and therefore, I will pray unceasingly. If you believe that God won't help, what is the point?

God bless you all, I believe God does bless us all.

Nope, God is Good, and God is far larger than you can box him up to be

2010-05-03T12:24:00.002-05:00

Recently I had a conversation with a bright, talented, kind person. She expressed her views to me that God was neutral, what we make it ourselves, and, a watcher rather than active in our lives. We had a fruitful discussion, I told her my views, and we are still friends.

But, God is good. All of the time God is good. God is irreflective of humankind. God is far beyond human minds so why would God limit the power God has to our tiny flea like existence? And God is active in my life, and the lives of all who pray, belief and seek. Not only is this biblical, but I've experienced it. The moment I put my lips to a prayer, whether God responds to me, I am changed.

I am not an apologist. I am simply reflecting my experiences. So let me end by saying, if God were what she'd described I'd be disappointed. I want to believe that God is far far greater than my mind can imagine. I would not believe in nor follow a neutral passive God. What would be the point? Her God can sit idly by, I praise God that I have a God that sets boundaries to his Goodness, but has no boundaries or limits to the love God shares and possesses. The God of my imagination is a vast ocean, but compared to the reality, is but a tear drop into the oceans of a water planet.

God is big, good, and active in your life.

They Realized They Were Naked

2010-05-02T15:23:00.000-05:00

In the last post on Genesis, we raised the question about why God wanted to prevent Adam and Eve’s obtaining the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Why did he want to keep them innocent in the Garden? Why wouldn’t he want them understanding the difference between right and wrong?

John Walton explains it with an analogy to child-development. He compares their nakedness to that of children. As the father of an eight-year-old who enjoys running around clotheless after a bath, I can understand this. My son isn’t embarrassed by his nakedness and my wife and I aren’t bothered with it. It’s simply not an issue.

My son is learning to understand the difference between right and wrong, but he hasn’t always been that way. For years, he knew he wasn’t supposed to do certain things simply because we told him not to do them. He knew that those things were wrong, but he didn’t understand why. Just like Adam and Eve knew they weren’t supposed to eat from that tree, but didn’t have any understanding about deeper morality.

Walton’s understanding is that Adam and Eve were morally children and God wanted them to stay that way, at least for a while. When they ate the fruit, they went through adolescence sooner than God had planned. They became morally and sexually aware, which is why they were suddenly embarrassed by their nakedness.

The question that Genesis doesn’t answer is when God intended them to enter adulthood. Or, did he ever intend them to? I think the implication is that he did, otherwise, why put the Tree there in the first place? He must’ve intended at some point to tell them, “Okay. Now you can eat from it. Dig in.” But they jumped the gun. They disobeyed.

It wasn’t the specific act of eating from the Tree that got them kicked out of Eden. It was the general act of disobedience. God said, in essence, that as long as you’re my people – as long as you’re with me – you can keep eating from the Tree of Life and live indefinitely. But if you’re going to go your own way, you’ll have to live – and eventually die – with the consequences.

The Serpent Was More Crafty

2010-04-28T11:49:00.002-05:00

This is a follow-up to my own series of articles on Genesis as well as to my dad’s post about why God let the serpent into the garden. Not that I actually have the answer to that question yet, but I can at least share John Walton’s thoughts on the serpent and what was really going on with his and Eve’s conversation.

First, Walton points out some things about the Two Trees that I hadn’t considered before. I almost called them the Two Forbidden Trees, but of course only one was forbidden to eat from: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Tree of Life was fair picking.

Walton suggests that the Tree of Life didn’t/doesn’t bestow immortality at a single bite. It wouldn’t make any sense if it did, because as far as we can tell, Adam and Eve were already eating from it. Instead, it likely bestowed longevity on its eaters. Which means that if you had unlimited access to it, you could live forever, but if you were cut off from it as Adam and Eve were… you’d eventually die. Or, as God put it, you’d “surely” die. Note that he never said “immediately,” because that’s important for later.

We also need to understand the function of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It isn’t true that Adam and Eve had no concept of right and wrong before they at from it. Obviously, they knew they weren’t supposed to eat from the tree. They understood that that was wrong (ie evil).

But they were innocent. They were like children who knew what they should and shouldn’t do without knowing exactly why. I haven’t yet gotten to Walton’s thoughts on why God wanted to keep such knowledge from them, but he promises to get into it and I promise to share it when he does. For now though, we’ll accept that they knew it was wrong to eat from it and – thanks to the snake – did it anyway.

The serpent's tactics and his connection to Satan after the break.

My dad and I had a conversation about his post the other day. He told me that a reader got back to him with some good information about snakes in ancient culture. They were mistrusted creatures and often thought of as supernatural and wise, but also demonic and hostile. This was especially true in Egypt, where Genesis’ original readers had spent a great deal of time. Walton mentions this too.

The snake then is a natural figure to put into the tempter’s role. If that’s significant, it raises some additional questions about how mythological and symbolic the account is, but that’s food for another post.

When my dad and I were talking about this, I wondered about the connection between the serpent and Satan. Walton also covers this and observes that our modern connecting of the two is due entirely to information presented in the New Testament (Romans 16:20 and Revelation 12:9, especially). Genesis’ original readers would have had nothing to indicate that such a connection existed. In fact, the original audience for the entire Old Testament had no evidence for the concept of a single personality named Satan at all. That’s another New Testament idea. The Old Testament talks about adversaries (the Hebrew word for “adversary” is “Satan”), but one can easily read these accounts and come away with the idea that there are multiple ones.

Having said all that, Walton says and I agree that however direct or indirect Satan’s connection with the snake is, it certainly exists. Since Satan (as revealed in the New Testament) is the father of lies and all things evil – and since evil lie-telling was exactly what the snake did – Satan is ultimately responsible for it. We just don’t know that he literally was the serpent.

Walton also parses out the serpent’s tactics in the temptation of Eve. Notice how wily he is. He asks her a question to which he knows the answer is “No.” “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Though he knows that's not what God told her, he's forced Eve to restate God’s instructions from memory and in her own words. Notice that she gets it wrong.

“God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

That’s not what he said. What he said was, “You must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Eve adds the part about touching it, but more importantly, she leaves out the “surely”. It’s hard to see in English, but it’s much clearer in Hebrew. “Surely die” is not a declaration of immediate death; it’s a prediction of certain death. In other words, “You will be doomed.” As Walton points out, “She has not misrepresented God, but she has blurred an important nuance.” And it’s one that the serpent jumps on.

The New International Version and most other translations make it harder to see what’s going on by translating the serpent’s reply to Eve as, “You will not surely die.” It sounds like he’s denying God’s original prediction, when in fact he’s not. The New American Standard Bible gets it right when they translate, “You surely will not die!” Notice the difference in meaning. The way it’s commonly translated, the serpent is denying that Eve will ever eventually die if she eats the fruit. What the serpent actually said though is a response to Eve’s rewording of God’s prediction. “You won’t die right away!” he says.

Maybe it’s my fondness for Bugs Bunny and other trickster stories, but I’d find the serpent’s tactics fascinating if their consequences weren’t so disastrous. Eve buys the lie and eats. And Adam – whom Walton points out was right there with her as she’s having this conversation (we like to think he wasn’t, but there’s no other way to understand “her husband, who was with her”) – does too.

The result is that their eyes are opened and their innocence is lost. What that means exactly – and why God wanted so much to prevent it – is something we’ll have to look at later.

Stones, Serpents and the Golden Rule

2010-04-25T22:06:00.003-05:00

(cross-posted from Street Prophets)

We started a new Bible study in our Adult Bible Class today on the topic of prayer. The first lesson was interesting and went into some unexpected directions. One point in particular stuck out for me, because it looked at a very familiar passage in a manner I had never seen before.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what your would have them do tho you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:7-12 NIV)

This passage comes from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, which runs from Matthew chapter 5 through chapter 7. The first verse of the passage, "Seek and ye shall find", is one of the more famous sayings of Jesus and has obvious relevance to the subject of prayer. The last verse, often called "The Golden Rule", is even more famous, but does not have as obvious a connection.

But the connection is there. I know that I tend to think of the Sermon on the Mount as kind of a compilation; a medley of Jesus' Greatest Hits. The way we are taught the verses in Sunday School encourage this: we are given individual verses to memorize pulled out of their context.

But reading the entire passage from verse 7 through 12; we can see that there is a definite flow of thought. First, the promise: "Ask and it will be given to you..." Then the proof of the promise by example: "Which of you... will give [your son] a stone? ... How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts..."

And the Golden Rule flows directly out of that idea! It is because our Heavenly Father gives us good things that we ought to "do unto others" as the passage states.

And this might explain another thing about the Golden Rule. My study Bible notes, (a bit defensively I think), that other ancient teachings; such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Jewish Rabbinical teachings; have expressed the idea behind the Golden Rule as well. (It's quite possible that Jesus cribbed the idea from the Rabbi Hillel, who lived about a generation or two before him). But these other formulations, the note insists, express the idea negatively, ("That which is hateful to you, do not do to others") while Jesus expresses it positively: ("do unto others...")

I think that perhaps the reason for this is that Jesus is not just baldly stating a moral principle, but rather drawing that principle out of the example of our loving Father. Just as we give good things to our children, so does God give good things to us; and just as God gives good things to us, so ought we to give to others the good things we would want for ourselves.

What if everybody lied and said they were happy?

2010-04-24T01:30:00.002-05:00

I've been getting some hate mail and weird mail from various corners on the globe. Most suggest that I am a depressing old fart who doesn't get that life is good. They suggest that being an amateur social critic is just an outlet for my depressing words. And that I should be happy.

It is true my poems are dark, and contemplative and maybe even brooding. It is true I complain about things in society, like racism and the entropy of societal values. It is true that I have depression.

But I know that life is good. Talking about Christ along side of darkness is perhaps a strange thing, but, I know that people are hurting, and that life causes pain to many people. If we all said we were happy, and we weren't who would open the door to talking about the truth?

I don't know. But I do know that I make many mistakes as a person, as a father, as a husband, but I know that forgiveness is offered and that repentance is the price I pay, as well as accepting that forgiveness. Life is hard, and there is darkness but I'd like to suggest to you readers, that if I am flawed, after all I simply meat sprinkled with God spark, I am flawed like everyone else.

I know that isn't what people want to hear, but we all have different gifts, and I am not about to lie in order to make others happy. Jesus Christ certainly didn't do that, but what he offered was infinitely better than all the happy lies we tell.

So yeah, I am a depressing old fart. But I do get that life is good. I just don't think it is easy, and I don't think it is always happy.

Now I lay me down...

2010-04-20T14:06:00.004-05:00

Lately when I go to bed one of the things I do is to recite the old children’s poem,
“Now I lay me down to sleep;
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.”
Meaning, I think, that I want him to let me stay alive through the night.
But then I add a parenthetical statement before I finish the poem. It goes something like this: “[But Lord, I know that you know that I am not particularly anxious to stay here. Anytime you are done with me here, I am good to go. But as long as you have stuff for me to do, I am also okay with sticking around.]”
Then I finish the poem,
“But if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.”

That parenthetical expression is not because I am unhappy here at all. I enjoy my life. The busyness of it gives me energy. Writing about it and posting the pictures at outofthepews give me inspiration. Comparing ideas and making plans is fun; and loving people and being loved “stirs me on.” Almost every day is a new adventure of some sort.

But I’ve never been able to get that old poem out of my head. Somebody must have recited it to me when I was little. I don’t remember. Saying it is just natural and is one of several techniques I use to clear my mind at the end of the day so I can sleep. But the first part of it just doesn’t seem right to me to say without clarification.

I have a lot of unfinished business here, including sticking around until after Charlene dies because she doesn’t want to go it alone. I don’t want to be here without her either, but I think she feels stronger about it than I do. Maybe it is selfishness, but none of my unfinished business is strong enough to make me want to ask God for more time. God has ways of finishing things up without me. I’ve seen it over and over. It is humbling at times how He will use a method other than the one I had in mind, and maybe even alter the desired outcome from the one in my plan, but it is also reassuring to know that He really doesn’t need me. It is His vineyard, after all. He may choose to use me, and if He does I’m okay with that. But when He’s done with me, I am good to go. In the words of the old song, “When I die, HALLELUJAH, bye and bye; I’ll fly away!”

I was interviewed about Dead To My Flesh

2010-04-07T16:51:00.000-05:00

CLICK HERE

They tell us to do it. They do. Instead of doing it, HOPE

2010-04-04T00:59:00.005-05:00

You can do it. Give up. Don't go on any longer. Suicide is an option, right?

Their names are remembered for their tragic choices.

Cameron Dabaghi jumped.
1

Chris Kanyon took pills.
2

Phoebe Prince hung herself.
3

The ease of killing one's self is amazing. The ability to be alive again is rather unique and mythic, limited really to just a couple or so people, maybe more we have only heard of through the Gospels. But we hear it all the time. Suicide is an option. Our society doesn't approve of it, but it is there. So to those who linger in despair, what is there to live for?

A woman, Anna Mary Robertson Moses, better known as Grandma Moses didn't begin to paint until she was 76 years old, and died at the age of 101

Mattie Stepanek, a child suffering from Muscular Dystrophy died just prior to turning 14. He was a poet. He helped people see things others could not. Upon his death former President Jimmy Carter said "We have known kings and queens, and we've known presidents and prime ministers, but the most extraordinary person whom I have ever known in my life is Mattie Stepanek. His life philosophy was 'Remember to play after every storm!' and his motto was: 'Think Gently, Speak Gently, Live Gently'. He wanted to be remembered as "a poet, a peacemaker, and a philosopher who played"."

“In all things it is better to hope than to despair” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all.” Emily Dickinson

"If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Christ's death upon the cross set the Devil to dancing, but when the morning came for Christ's body to be recovered, we learned that the Devil had nothing to dance about. Victory came with Christ's resurrection and we therefore have hope.

There is more to this life than the suffering and pain we endure. There is more to this life, and more after this life to wait upon.

Blessed Easter to all who celebrate, and have hope.
I pray you all have hope, enough for all who need it.

Hell

2010-03-29T13:09:00.000-05:00

People ask me if I believe in a Hell and Satan to go along with my God, Jehovah. It is a reasonable question, since Hell is a subject that is associated with Heaven, morality, choices and more. ((Link to more information )) I do believe that there is a Hell. I do not know the exacts of my belief about it, I do not think a lot about it. I absolutely believe that it is a place I would not want to go. And, other than for an act of God, I am not sure anyone going there will ever be freed from there.

But, I do not fear Hell. I realize to some that sounds arrogant. To others, who don’t believe in Hell, it makes sense, why fear what doesn’t exist. I am not “certain” of my passage to Heaven in the end. But I hope it, and believe it. I assume that God is both good and just. I’ve tried to live according to God’s ways as revealed by the bible, and through lessons from the Holy Spirit. And, I am rather certain Hell exists, so I am not in fear of it, even though I believe in it. I do not wish to be consigned there. I don’t wish to visit, and I don’t wish to see it.

As a person who writes poetry, especially love poetry, I receive many invitations to act carnally with some person who believes I am “sexy” or “deep”. Upon discussing one of the invites, my best friend, a nonbeliever said, just go there and do it. When I said I am married, am loyal, I am in love with my wife, he said, you are on this earth once, and then you fade away. I said, whatever happens in the afterlife I cannot prove, but I believe what I do in this life, affects that after existence. He laughed and said, so you are saying you would burn in Hell for acting out from your biological needs.

It is true I do not want to burn in Hell. But I think God wouldn’t send me to Hell for a mistake I might make and later regret. What I am afraid of though, is if I believe there is a Hell and ignore that, and make a habit of doing things assuming God will forgive me.

I am asked a lot if I think of Hell as a lake of Fire. I think the ovens of Auschwitz and elsewhere are a lot like the fires of Hell. I also think, the fires are a metaphor for the burning sorrow in one’s heart, from the separation with God.

Hell might be a place of our own making. It might be a metaphor for being apart from God. It might be an actual lake, with fire. I don’t know. But I do know, God means for us to be with God. And Hell is a place we need to understand, or we might fall into it, despite our best intentions.

Why was the snake in the garden (and why is he in the church)?

2010-03-18T19:51:00.001-05:00

I got to wondering the other day why God would allow His church to become as divided as it is. Why would He let prideful people take control of so many parts of it? Why would he let it stagnate as it has in so many places? Why would he let in leaders who scandalize the church and harm its image so severely? After all, it is God’s army, Jesus’ bride; and they had such big plans.

This trend in the church is not new. We didn’t invent the situation. It was not long after the church was established in Jerusalem that they ran into problems with their food distribution program. Then there was the big disagreement between the Jewish Christians and those who were not Jewish. And Paul almost never met a church he couldn’t criticize. Likewise, Jesus was critical of five of the seven churches He wrote to in Revelation. So, why are God’s plans thwarted so easily?

Then I got to thinking about the garden in the beginning. I think I get it about why He put the one forbidden tree in there. That was so we could make a choice to obey or not to obey. He wants willing servants, people who have made a choice for Him. But why did He let the serpent in? Wouldn’t He have gotten what He wanted – Adam and Eve obeying from their free will - without the serpent? Surely He could have kept Satan away. He did later post guards to keep everyone out; why not the snake at the beginning? It is like making a choice to obey was not enough of a response from His children. He wanted us to be smart enough to see past a deceptive hard sell of evil.

It is still the same today. The choices people have to make today are not laid out simply before them so they can just choose to obey or not to obey. Choices are clouded by arguments saying (as the snake did) that good is evil and evil is good. Religious people and blatantly non-religious people both obscure the matter of choosing obedience to God with convoluted discussions of what is good.

I really don’t know why God wanted it that way, but there is a big fight going on over our choices. I do know this: When we sift through all the arguments and pick the right option, there is celebration in heaven. It is more than just us making a good choice; it is more like God has won a battle with Satan for our decision to follow Him. We are in the middle of something much bigger than we are, and it requires the use of our intellect as well as the gumption to stick with God through thick and thin. And we can rest in this: We are not in it alone. We are in the same fight James and Paul and Peter and Ruth and Rahab and Esther and Moses and Adam and Eve and all the others have been in. And we can win it. God promised us the victory, if we will just love and obey Him and love each other. That seems an odd solution, but perhaps an apt one given the oddity of the fight.

Remember the Sabbath and Keep It Holy

2010-03-18T14:06:00.000-05:00

What exactly was God up to when he rested from the act of Creation?

I've always assumed that he was tuckered out from the work, but that idea doesn't take God's omnipotence into account. Why would God need a break? And if that's really all that he was doing, what did he do on the eighth day? How was Day Seven different from what he's done throughout the rest of history?

John Walton suggests that it wasn't relaxation that God was after. The focus isn't on God's quitting work; it's on his settling into what he's made. First he created the universe; now he's moving in. I like that, because it makes Day Seven special. It's not, "Whoo! I need to sit down." It's God in his House.

The Old Testament places a lot of importance on Where God Is. These days, we focus on his omnipresence - that he's Everywhere At Once - and there's that element in the Old Testament too, but God's much more likely to be seen as inhabiting a particular space at a particular time. He's in a burning bush. He's visiting Abraham's tents with some friends. He's in the cloud. He's in the pillar of fire. He's on the mountain. He's in the Holy of Holies. He's walking in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day.

Before God had Moses build a tabernacle or Solomon a temple, Creation was the House of Worship. That's what God had intended anyway. From what I can tell, it was humanity who messed that up and created the need for smaller-scale Houses. Isaiah mentions it when he reports, "This is what the LORD says: 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?'" (Isaiah 66:1)

The implication is that God's too big for a geographic location. He allowed himself to be confined that way so that fallen humanity could get our minds around him, but his original plan wasn't limited like that. Of course, his original plan also didn't include the need for a special group of people to show him to the world. The original plan involved all of humanity in union with God, worshiping him wherever we are in the world. Wherever we are in Creation. The original plan was for Creation to be the temple.

That's why God's moving into Creation is such a huge deal. God's created his house, he's decorated it and populated it with us, and now he's moving in. That's important. That's worthy of celebrating and remembering. Which is why he eventually gave his people a way to do that: the Sabbath.

The Sabbath makes a lot more sense seen this way. I never understood the importance God placed on it when it was just about recognizing his taking a break. He took a break so we take a break too? Okay... I guess. But what's the point? I've heard it said that what God was doing in his rest was reflecting on his work, so that's what we should be doing too, but that's not really what the text says. If resting is just break time, then Genesis is unhelpful about what we're supposed to be doing in solidarity with God.

If resting is God's settling into Creation and taking control of it, then we have a real reason to memorialize that once a week by quitting everything else and setting aside the day to focus exclusively on that event.

Which raises the question: Am I keeping the Sabbath? Is there a day (whether Saturday or Sunday or some other day) that I set aside every week to devote exclusively to thinking about God and how he's in control? If not, why not? And what does that say about my priorities?

Memory

2010-03-18T12:01:00.002-05:00

I was asked by a non believer if there are any true artifacts of the existence of Christ. Now, while there may well be, and I am not saying there isn't, it makes me wonder what kind of faith we'd have if we knew without question or doubt that a tree or weapon or cup was used or sat on or touched Christ's form. Veneration of an object is not to me wrong, it seems to be valid that you'd be moved by something that had to do with our God. But, would that interaction make the object special? I don't know. It seems to me that when God sent Jesus to earth the first thing he did upon fulfilling his mission was to abandon human flesh, for the spirit/soul. What we have, what we possess or use isn't made special (however rare or unique) by our using it, but by what is done with them. It is why we remember the sacrifice of Christ by the cross.

Abe Lincoln slept in this room. Napoleon looked through this telescope. This was Hitler's pencil box. All these things are memories, and mundane. Christ lived, died and lived again. That is special.

Moses' Horns

2010-03-11T23:48:00.001-06:00

(cross-posted from Street Prophets)

"You're a Preacher's Kid," my high school art teacher, Mr. Schmidt once said to me. "Maybe you can tell me. Why does Moses have horns?"

I gave him a puzzled frown. "Moses has horns?"

He pulled out an encyclopaedia and showed me a picture of Michelangelo's statue of Moses from the Church of San Pietro. Sure enough, Moses had horns.

I scrutinized the photo. "Maybe those are supposed to be locks of hair sticking up," I suggested; but I didn't really believe it.

"They're horns," Mr. Schmidt said.

So I went to my Dad and asked him, "Why does Moses have horns?"

"Moses has horns?" he replied.

He thought about it a bit and decided that the best answer he could come up with was that it came about through a mistranslation of the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible. And he was partially right. The actual story is something like this:

Exodus 34:29-35 tells how when Moses came down from Mount Sinai after speaking with God, his face was transformed in a manner which frightened the Israelites so much that he was forced to wear a veil.

Most translations of the Bible say something like "the skin of his face shone" (KJV), or "his face was radiant" (NIV). A more literal translation would be "the skin of his face sent forth beams". The thing is, the key word in the Hebrew phrase: qâran ‘ôr pânâw can be translated either as "rays of light" or as "horns". In the context, "rays of light" or "beams" makes more sense, and that is how it was translated in the Septuagint and in most other translations of the Bible. Most interpretations say that the light emanating from Moses' face was God's reflected glory

But every where else the word qâran appears in the Bible, it means "horns"; conjuring the image of the Prophet as Hideous Mutant and makes God's Divine Radiance seem more like Atomic Radiation.

(Which, to be fair, would also have freaked out the Israelites).

When compiling his Latin translation of the Bible, Jerome chose the alternate interpretation of the word; although in fairness to Jerome, he did try to reflect the ambiguity of the original Hebrew by folding both meanings into his translation.

The result was that artists in the Middle Ages, when depicting Moses, followed Jerome's translation literally and gave Moses horns; and this convention became the traditional way to represent Moses clear down into the Renaissance. It also gave rise to a bizarre Medieval superstition that all Jews had horns.

The Jewish artist Marc Chagall has done a number of paintings featuring Moses, and portrays him in a manner which combines both interpretations: he has beams of light like twin searchlights radiating from his forehead and looking like a pair of horns.

One of the commentaries I read in researching this made an interesting observation: Moses' transformation, whatever it was, did not occur when he first went up the mountain to receive the Law, but rather the second time, after the incident of the Golden Calf, when Moses went up to plead with God for mercy on the people. So perhaps Moses' attitude had something to do with how God's Glory was manifested.

How Long?

2010-03-11T14:53:00.001-06:00

My soul is in anguish.
How long, O LORD, how long?

Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;
Save me because of your unfailing love.

No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave?

I am worn out from groaning;
All night long I flood my bed with weeping
And drench my couch with tears.

My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
They fail because of all my foes.

Away from me, all you who do evil,
For the LORD has heard my weeping.

The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
The LORD accepts my prayer.
--Psalm 6:3-9

How long must we sing this song?
--U2, "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "40"

Humanity cries out, all across the globe, praying "How long? How long?" In the past, given my religious doubts, I judged those cries. Worried about the metaphysics. Wondered if those prayers made any difference.

But I now feel those objections are obscene in the face of all that pain and lament. The proper response, for me at least, was to simply shut up and add my voice to chorus.
--Dr. Richard Beck

Satan is a joy stealer

2010-03-11T02:43:00.002-06:00

There are so many things I have to be thankful for, that I should be silent over my few woes. Even, dare I say it, even if what I have to be sad over is large, if I start counting blessings rather than curses, I end up realizing what I've got.

This is not something I am used to seeing. For two and a half years or so I've been depressed, and part of that is found in outlook, and of course the rest in chemical imbalances.

I thank you God. For all I have. And for what I do not.

Human tears

2010-03-09T00:03:00.002-06:00

Gospel of John, chapter 11, verse 35, JESUS WEPT.

How could a son of a God who knew the secrets of all things cry when he knew he could refresh the body of the lost? How could Jesus, son of the creator, not know that the end of the story would be happy, and not meant for tears? How could Jesus simply cry over death, when he had the power, and knowledge, and wisdom to change it all?

Simply, he wept because despite all his knowledge, wisdom and power, he was human. And despite being human, with special access, he was still able to humbly realize the sorrows that accompany death are rightfully sad, and deserve tears. Even tears of a human, who was the son of God, the all powerful creator of the universe, his tears counted as much as any other, but they were special, because he knew how the story would end.

Does the Bible say what it means (and mean what it says)?

2010-03-05T17:16:00.001-06:00

This post may not mean much to people outside of the low-church, evangelical tradition that I grew up in (and am still a part of, mostly), but someone recently explained something for me that I'd struggled with for years and I need to write it down in case I have to refer to it again.

I grew up in churches that took the Bible very seriously and I'm thankful for that. I appreciate the reverence for God's revelation about himself. Without Scripture, we'd have to rely on oral tradition for everything we know about God and that would be no good. There are enough variations in Biblical texts without having to worry about a centuries-long game of Telephone.

But one of the drawbacks of this ultra-serious view of Scripture is the temptation to worship the Bible rather than God. If everything that we can know about God is contained in Scripture, then it's easy to start mistaking the Bible for God himself. We'd never admit to it, but actions sometimes contradict what we'll cop to when asked. Churches I grew up in broke the process of salvation into a series of steps that began not with God and his mercy, but with Hearing the Word.

We were famous for saying things like, "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it," which isn't a bad creed except that it was usually used as an excuse to end a discussion without having to think about it anymore. We took a very literal view of Scripture and learned nothing about textual variants, the challenges of translation, or the importance of reading Scripture in its historical or literary context. If Scripture was inspired by the Spirit - and we took a very literal view of what that meant too, so that the Spirit all but moved Paul's hand for him as he wrote - then there was no need to think that hard about it. Another famous saying we had about Scripture was, "It says what it means and it means what it says." That made for very short Bible classes.

As conservative as these churches were, they were liberal compared to others in our direct fellowship because we were allowed to pick whatever translation we wanted. Other groups insisted on the King James Version. I don't know if this is true or not, but my friends and I joked that they thought "Authorized Version" referred to God's authority instead of the 17th century monarch's. At any rate, I never understood their insistence on that particular translation. One advocate for it even tried to convince me that King James' translators were as Spirit-inspired as Scripture's original authors.

Enter Richard Beck to explain it for me. The reverence for the KJV is born from the same mentality as It Says What It Means. If that's going to be the extent of our Bible study, then it makes sense to further define what It is. After all, the New International Version says It differently than the King James does and that's no good if we're going to resolve disagreements about what God's trying to tell us. We have to nail down exactly what he's trying to say.

Now, the churches I grew up in didn't see it that way. They figured that one translation was pretty much as good as another and that they all said basically the same thing without quibbling over exact wording. I'm very thankful for that too. But there was still a reluctance to explore or allow for differing opinions about what Scripture teaches and I can easily see how that leads to the notion of one valid translation.

Why this is important for me now - and maybe for you too if you're still reading - is because I now see that insistence on the KJV isn't the part of the mindset that's the problem. It's just a symptom of the real issue, which is closed-mindedness about where the Bible came from and how it was put together. If we treat the Bible as if God handed it down from Heaven straight to us in the present - instead of as if it's someone else's ancient mail, which it is - we're going to have a dangerous misunderstanding of it. And we'll try to apply it in ways that God never intended and are harmful to people seeking his eternal will in their 21st century lives. And we don't have to have a particular translation to do it.

WHAT? KARMA AND CHRISTIANITY?

2010-03-03T08:06:00.003-06:00

CLICK THIS LINK

Click the link, read the interview.

Then come back and discuss, how do Karma and Christianity function similarly or in opposition.

I have a free copy of the book to give away, so come back and discuss and I will give a copy, randomly to one of the posters who comment. (Posters at either site are eligible).

Time

2010-02-26T18:42:00.002-06:00

Time

Our oldest grandson lives with us. That makes the passing of time as indicated by his birthdays more vivid. He just turned seventeen. I hadn’t thought about it like this before, but there is something different about seventeen. Sixteen is exactly the midpoint of the teen years – neither a child nor an adult. But seventeen puts him in the last half of teendom. It’s like at seventeen he is no longer half-child, he is more half-man. It could be a sad time. A time to grieve over the loss of the bright eyed, ever-learning little kid he used to be. And there is a bit of that in it for me. But there is also an excitement at what he is becoming. I can still see the bright eyes, and the endless desire to learn in the man he is becoming. He will be an incredible addition to the adult world in a few years and maybe adulthood won’t be so stuffy any more.

The little Haitian girl who is staying with us just turned three. Three is an amazing age. Always learning; always excited. Excited about things like Granny coming home, about ice cream and bananas. I like to preface her name with the word “Princess” and to say that she is to be the first female president of Haiti – the one who solidifies their place as an equal partner in the world’s commerce.

And I just turned sixty-eight. Sixty-eight was hard for me. I have always enjoyed birthdays, and the party was great this time. But sixty-eight is closer to seventy than it is even to sixty-five. Suddenly I felt old. And there is so much left to do. I don’t have my PhD, yet. I haven’t figured out how to really help the Haitian people on a very large scale. I haven’t published half the books floating around in my head or really found out how best to market the ones I have published.

Time is a strange thing. Sometimes it moves so fast we can’t even see it flying by. At other times it crawls so slowly we cannot tell it is moving.

The Preacher who wrote Ecclesiastes said “Do not say, ‘Why is it that the former days were better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.” (7:10)

“Consider the work of God. For who is able to straighten what He has bent? In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity consider-- God has made the one as well as the other,” (7:13-14)

And finally, “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” (12:13)

The Blood of the Lamb is upon my Hands

2010-02-21T14:36:00.003-06:00

Blood pouring down from the many wounds
I myself caused
His crown of thorns piercing his brow
The nails I hammered in, crush his wrists
His hands stiff and awkwardly thrust
From the pain and nails hammered within
And it was me, not Judas who gave the kiss
For every sin I’ve c ommited
He lays nailed upon that tree
For ever sin I’ve ignored
His blood pours
The blood of this lamb
Is upon my soiled hands
And Christ you are my king

I pray every day to die to my flesh, be alive to the new spirit within me. Christ is alive, in our hearts, in our spirits, and minds, by his blood we can be saved.

I am tired of all the things I do to have caused my own predicament. I worship Christ not just for the hope or healing, but for the lessons in which I can abide and grow. I worship God, Christ and the Holy Spirit for my redemption, their grace, their sweet mercy...

Wherever you linger in belief, or not, wherever you grow spiritually, may Christ be waiting at the end of your journey.

Every Christian's obligation about Universalism

2010-02-15T21:19:00.000-06:00

I think it was Karl Barth who said that he couldn't be sure that universalism was true but that it was every Christian's obligation to hope that it was true.
--Richard Beck

I can't vouch for Beck's accuracy in quoting, because frankly, I don't know if it was Karl Barth or not. And like Barth (or whoever said it), I also can't be sure that universalism (the idea that a loving, all-powerful God will/has somehow find/found a way to save everyone regardless of his or her belief and obedience) is true. My reading of the New Testament just raises too many questions to embrace that theology without reservation.

But, I can absolutely get behind the notion that it's every Christian's obligation to hope that it's true. While we may disagree on the details about how salvation really works, what we can't disagree on is loving our neighbors. And if we love our neighbors, there's no way that we're going to be satisfied with the idea that some of them may be lost. There's a lot of room for debate about what we do with that attitude, but the attitude itself isn't optional.

A VIDEO FOR YOU TO WATCH ABOUT THE TRAGEDY OF HAITI

2010-02-15T16:24:00.002-06:00

Click here: HELP HAITI

I was sent this link from a ministry trying to help Haiti. Please watch it, and share it with others.

What do you believe? And how do you show it?

2010-02-14T18:46:00.002-06:00

(Pictured: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hedonism, Hinduism, Atheism, Cthuhluism, Paganism and belief in Ra)

Ask yourself what you believe. Do you explain your belief with a label associated with that brand of belief, or do you list a number of concepts you hold to be true, and only in the end point to how those beliefs make you a member of a certain group.

It is important, because labels are easy, but so often inaccurate. I am someone who believes in the life and sacrifice, the teachings and role in heaven of Jesus Christ. I believe that Jehovah was the maker, is God, the father of creation, the mother of earth, and the judge and jury of my soul. I believe that the Holy Spirit is sent to guide us, to move us, to allow us to be strong in the face of our own flesh’s weakness. I think that makes me a Christian. I believe, consider myself to have been born again, I pray, I live a life aimed at bringing God to others. Now what I am not is a Christian like a lot of others. But just as I believe God created us all in different colors, ideas, looks, flavors, so did he make me different. It is the framework of belief that I believe is important for this discussion.

But where I differ most other Christians, is the desire to affect someone to change their belief by virtue of a contest of ideas. I trust there are many people better qualified to write and discuss the reasons, the apologetics of belief than me. Perhaps every one else. However, I live what I believe, and that is the most important apologetic in my view. One aspect of that has been my donating and work with organizations who combat world hunger. Christ said to feed his sheep. And, aside from the need to save them so that they might reach heaven, we first need to save them.

To this end I quote the Gospel of John, 6:35, "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger: and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."

Christ died for our sins, gave us the means to find forgiveness, through his sacrifice, and helped us find communion to God through his body and blood. So what about all those children who starve? Twelve children per minute die of hunger. I am not talking about disease, or war, just a hunger statistic. In a minute more than sixteen people die, and of that total more than twelve are children. Every minute. Sixty times every hour. Twenty four hours of every single day, that is, children only 18,000 per day, every single day. More than 6.5 million children die every year of hunger. I think we have to options, to trust that God is good, and that there is a purpose, and trust that we are meant to be able to affect change, if our God is so good.

Resources:

1 , 2 , 3, 4

And the darkness he called, "Night."

2010-02-14T15:55:00.000-06:00

In my last post on Genesis I mentioned John H Walton's conclusion that the creation account isn't describing the making of matter from nothingness. Rather, it's talking about God's organizing elements that already existed and putting them together in a way that makes sense to us. He gave them purpose. We also believe that he created the raw elements too, but that's outside the scope of what Genesis is trying to tell us. In this post, I'll sum up Walton's explanation of exactly what God organized these elements into.

Day One focuses not on God's creating light particles. It shows how he organized light and darkness into units called "day" and "night." In other words, he created Time.

Day Two talks about the creation of an expanse that separates the waters above it from the waters below it. This one's always given me problems from a scientific standpoint. If, as Genesis says, the expanse is the "sky," in what way does it have water above it? Clouds are in the sky, not on top of it.

It only makes sense when you factor in what ancient people believed about the sky: that it was solid, that it was blue, and that it had holes in it that would occasionally let water through from above. That's ridiculous science, but it's what they believed and Genesis doesn't contradict it. Taking it at face value, Genesis actually appears to support that idea.

But that's because Genesis isn't talking about science. It's not trying to answer questions about how the world works. It's merely stating that it does work and that God's the one responsible for its working. The point it's making is simply that on the second day, God created Weather. How meteorology functions is outside of Genesis' scope.

Day Three was another troubling one. God's gathering all the waters into one place so that dry ground appeared underneath? That doesn't really fit my understanding of how water works. You can't just kind of shove water around like that. It'll always find it's own level again. But like with the other days, this one's not actually trying to accurately describe the creation of oceans and continents.

I've also wondered why seas and land share a day with vegetation. Why don't plants get their own day? The answer is that what God's really creating on Day Three is Agriculture. Land, water, and plants are the crucial ingredients.

So on the first three days of Creation, God has organized and made the three things that most affected and concerned ancient people: Time, Weather, and Agriculture. On the next three days, he makes the creatures and things that inhabit those areas. On Day Four, he creates the celestial bodies by which we mark Time. On Day Five, he populates the Weather elements (Water and Air) with the creatures that live in them. On Day Six, he rounds out Agriculture with Animals and Humans.

Walton is content to accept that God did these things in six, literal days. Since we're not trying to reconcile Genesis with Science, there's no reason to try to turn "days" into "epochs" or whatever. And while I agree with that last part, I'm not sure I believe that it's therefore necessary to buy into the six-day timeline. If Genesis is simply making the point that God created the world and is doing so in terms that make the most sense to ancient Near Easterners, why can't the six days be symbolic in the same way that a solid, blue, porous "expanse" is symbolic of the atmosphere?

The only thing that gives me pause about that is the importance of what happens next. Day Seven is the really important one, which is why God asked for it to be observed in a special way. We'll go deeper into that next time, but its ramifications for this discussion are that the six days are important enough that God wants us to remember them when counting down the week and observing the Sabbath. Does that make them more than just symbolic?

I'm going to suggest that no, it doesn't. God often built symbolism into the rituals he asked his Old Testament people to observe. Maybe he describes six days of creation because there are six things that needed creating/organizing. Add one more for the "resting" and now you've got seven days symbolizing the creation event with the seventh being the important one. It's not hard to imagine God's asking people to recognize the significance of that seventh day even if it's not a literal, 24-hour period.

Not that God couldn't have done it in six days. I'm just not seeing where that's the only possible explanation.

Beyond the Spoken, a poem about Armageddon

2010-02-11T20:41:00.000-06:00

When the fires of Armageddon burn
I expect to be burnt before the dawn
for my sins continue to churn
within my heart, I am weak
I am as though fallen, and before long
I will be nothing
but a charred remain
amongst the ashes
and flame
But
My spirit is unbroken
though my flesh is blackened
though my breath is stolen
I have hope of something
Beyond the spoken
When the fires of Armageddon burn
My soul shall be freed while my flesh is now a scent
It will be remembered as being upon the air
and winds that blow
Upon the ground like scattered ash
I will walk through gray lands
I will gaze upon the other worlds
I will be renewed
While this one will never last
It will linger in memory
Like a frozen scream
And be gone

When Michael May hits you hard

2010-02-02T03:13:00.004-06:00

Some of the readers here might have picked up upon the fact that Michael and I are very good friends. In the range of best friends, but perhaps not quite as we've only known each other 5 years. But still very very good friends.

Along with our writing here we work on creative projects together, and one that I won't name now has been a thorn, of enormous size in both of our sides. We created a story, what everyone who has read it says is great but we've had to endure a shaky small publisher, a newbie artist who never showed a single page to us, low orders, and choosing a new artist. Only, this artist was someone I knew and had great talent, but over the time he had the book in his hands, did some bad things, made some choices that were hurtful to me, and made me not want to work with that artist. And then that artist didn't come anywhere close to reaching the deadline. And that was it, but it wasn't. While I am not a person who is fixed upon this project, Michael is. I pretty well tend to think life is addition through subtraction, and tried to end the project.

But Michael is the most powerful Christian voice I know. He moves me by words and ideas. He is slow to anger and every good thing there is in Christian action. And he wanted to give the artist a short extension.

I am not saying this because I agree, but, rather, because Michael said it, I became OK with it. I don't want to speak to or become friends with the artist. I am not interested in his future works. While I hope this work is good, it is outside of my vision now. But if it were ANYONE else, I'd say no. This isn't so much a love letter to Michael, although, I do love him. This isn't an attempt to tell my side of the story, trust me, there is so much I haven't said. But rather, I hope, an example of how Christians impact the world by their ability to live up to the high standards we believe in, and by their compassion for others. Michael is someone who caused me to have to go back to my roots, and lessons I'd hoped to live and know about forgiveness. And while I am still not there, as I'd like to be, I consider it an honor to have been motivated to do so, by Michael.

Two Gospels

2010-01-23T13:54:00.005-06:00

I got a little side-tracked from my Genesis study, but haven't given up on it. I'll get back to it, but in the meantime, I want to share some things that other people have been observing and saying.

First is this article by David Swanson on two kinds of preaching he witnessed on his way home after a music festival in Chicago.

For the past two days, I’d watched these young people pursue beauty and friendship and community. Groups of sunburned 20somethings had made their way from one stage to the next, avoiding mud puddles and speaking with awe in their voices about their favorite musical experiences of the weekend. And now, as they left the safety of the festival grounds, they were immediately confronted with Jesus. Or at least two of Jesus’ representatives.

The representatives, as you might guess, didn't present flattering pictures of God's love. Theirs was the Turn or Burn Gospel. One had a bullhorn; the other a Bible with which to refute the arguments of anyone who might wish to debate them. What a sobering, depressing experience for a Christian like Swanson to go through after such an uplifting weekend. These street preachers were claiming to represent him and his God, but seemed actively determined to drive people away.

Later, in the train station, Swanson encountered a very different way of presenting God's word, but I'll let you read about that for yourself. It's beautiful and encouraging.

Swanson's post is targeted at church leaders, but he raises a question that all Christians need to answer. His point is that neither type of preaching originated with the people doing it. Both sets of evangelists came from some kind of Christian community where their brand of the gospel was being taught. They were sharing what they'd learned. Swanson's question is: What kind of gospel are you teaching? Both inside your church and out of it.

Haiti Long Term

2010-01-15T10:38:00.005-06:00

Several have commented that what Haiti needs now is food, water, medical and building supplies. But ironically, that is what Haiti needed all along. It was just that people were not noticing. This Tom Toles political cartoon comes to us from the Washington Post and is right on target.

What Haiti also needs are hope, education, good health care, farm to market roads, a stable government, and a place in the world market. The challenge for all of us will be to keep Haiti on the radar when the next disaster strikes somewhere else and the world's relief organizations rush off to help out there. Haiti needs people to love her. She needs people who will respect her citizens, and who will work to assure that they have a voice in their own government and in the affairs of the world market. Let's don't forget Haiti when the excitement is over.

Haiti

2010-01-13T07:50:00.003-06:00

Please pray for the people of Haiti and for their family and friends in other places. People are trying unsuccessfully to get in touch with friends and relatives in Port au Prince.

These are a strong, proud people. Their ancestors, slaves to French colonialists, won their independence through a slave uprising. When Napolean sent troops to retake the island, the Haitians ran them off. Since then they have been struggling to take their place among the nations of the world.

It is ironic that the news reporters are saying this morning that the main concerns for reporters and rescue workers are clean water, food and medicine. These have been the main concerns for Haitians for years.

My prayer is that something good and long term will come out of this for the Haitian people.

Welcome Christ the King, Our Savior

2009-12-25T08:26:00.002-06:00

"The Nativity by Caravaggio, 1609. The angel’s parchment reads “Gloria in Excelsis Deo (Luke 2:14)”."

We welcome the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, God in flesh, to this sinful world. May the blessings of his arrival move you, and comfort you.