When I started posting regularly here again, I was kind of going for a "theme of the day" thing during each week.
Sundays would be sex day.
Mondays would be music day.
Tuesdays would be Christians and politics day.
Wednesdays, of course, would be days for personal testimony or for me to share my personal struggles.
Thursdays would be family day.
Fridays would be church day.
Saturdays would be my day off.
This week, I got sidetracked because I'm still getting used to Jessica's new college schedule (which is a difficult maneuver when you have an 18 month-old son) and because I was, quite simply, focusing on other things (like making sure my rent for the coming month gets paid). I'll get back on track Sunday (I hope), but in the meantime, here's a topic that fits all 6 categories: Madonna's now-famous "booing" incident in Romania.
Madonna, who was one of the musicians I listened to for most of my adult life, got on stage in Romania and basically told an audience of thousands that their attitudes toward the Gypsies make her "sad." I found the example she set to be riveting. How does a singer who represents--not only in her music but her lifestyle--beliefs that are hostile to Christ manage to school not only believing Christians in the West but also believing Christians in Eastern Europe on the issue of racism? How is it that she managed to have the courage to speak in the face of a regional prejudice that most of us Christians in the United States cannot seem to bring ourselves to acknowledge?
The issue here isn't the Roma. I know nothing about the Roma people and have never (to my knowledge) actually met one.
The issue here is racism, and the failure of Christians to combat it whenever it raises its brass-knuckled fists. You see, Christianity has far too often been the HOME of attitudes like the kind that Madonna was combatting, and I wonder if perhaps God finally decided that He had to shame us by using a celebrity whose spirituality is steeped in witchcraft and paganism to confront a terrible injustice. As I read the news article on Yahoo! about Madonna and about the discriminatory attitudes against gypsies in Romania, I could not help but think about the millions of African Americans in our country who have faced challenges similar to those the Roma apparently face in Eastern Europe every day. A lot of what I read in that article sounded like the kind of evil that used to happen openly in our coutry during the decades immediately following the end of Jim Crow, and like African Americans, Roma face a double standard, honored as celiebrity entertainers but pushed away from the same access to basic opportunities that other Eastern Europeans have.
The shame here is that in our country, Christians finally did start speaking out about the injustice of the Jim Crow laws, and the Civil Rights Movement that resulted was largely a Christian movement. However, in Romania, a country where there are also a lot of Christians, there seems to be no voice, no Martin Luther King Jr., to challenge the way things are. Also, there does not seem to be much of an outcry here in the United States (or in other Western countries) about that, in the same way that there was (and should have been) an outcry about segregation and Apartheid.
My question is this: Where's Christinaity's heart these days?
Is it all about building up churches and building up numbers, or does love (the Love of God) require us to take a stand, even when the issue has nothing specifically to do with Salvation, prayer, or family values?
Personally, I think the Jesus whose body was broken for a Kingdom where there is neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female--the same Jesus who told the story of the good Samaritan--calls us to do His bidding and love our brethren, ESPECIALLY when our society wants us to view them as enemies or animals. Maybe that sounds political to you, but ladies and gentlemen, if you have an ounce of the Love that Christ birthed in you, why WOULDN'T you do whatever is necessary to make other people's lives a little better? Taking a stand for Jesus doesn't always mean holding a prayer service in front of your school. Maybe it means rolling up your sleeves and doing something to help the downtrodden and oppressed in your community, even if you have to face down bigger, meaner, and cleverer men and women to do it. Living in the Kingdom involves risk, because our King calls us to walk straight into the lion's dens of this world and snatch hungry, thirsty, and naked souls from the jaws of animal teeth, but Jesus is always there to help us take that risk, just as He was for Moses and David and Esther.
Maybe it's time we stopped letting the Madonnas of the world take that risk and started doing it ourselves.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
About the Lutheran Vote
Yesterday I hopped online and discovered that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (or at least its leadership) has voted to allow openly gay or lesbian men and women to serve as clergy. Personally, I don't have much to say about the vote, except that when a denomination has become as thoroughly secularized as the ELCA apparently has, it is not difficult to assume that they would support a move so clearly against what the Bible says, both about sin and about the qualifications of an elder. However, I think there is a larger issue here that is being overlooked.
The body of Christ should be the FIRST place where any man, any woman, can admit anything--even the most dastardly sins--and come away a new person. However, it seems that in the case of homosexuality, most institutional Christians simply "don't want to go there." Either they isolate themselves from anything remotely gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transexual, or they pander to LGBT's, thinking that giving them whatever they want is a free ticket to avoiding the deep issues of sexuality and sin that have plagued the human race for 6000 years. When I was struggling with my transexual feelings, I didn't need to hear I was okay. I didn't need to hear that I was a pervert, either. I simply needed to hear the TRUTH--that Jesus loved me more than I ever had imagined, and that He wanted me to know who I was, and why I was created to be a man.
Some of you folks out there have had the same struggles I've had.
You're not alone--none of us are.
Homosexuality's been around for a long time, ladies and gentlemen, and the Bible makes it very clear that there were men lusting after other men at least 2000-3000 years before Christ. Some of you out there in the conservative camp need to grow up and realize that sin comes in many different shapes and sizes, and not all of them are pretty. I wig out at the idea of a man kissing another man--there's something about it that utterly freaks me out--but if Jesus could touch a leper, complete with noxious smell and rotting flesh, then I think I can suck it up and embrace a gay man as a child of God. I wish someone had been man enough (or woman enough) to do the same to me during all the years I struggled with my issues.
However, I always knew at my core that what I was struggling with wasn't right, wasn't normal, and definitely wasn't "okay" with God. Some of you people out there on the liberal side need to understand that there's a reason we have such a thing as conviction of sin, and that it's not all bad. After all, if God didn't convict us of sin, most of us (if not all of us) would do far worse things than sleep with someone of the same sex. God gives us conviction of sin so that this world would be at least somewhat livable, knowing that we all have a universe of violence and hatred that wants to well up inside of us. Perhaps the conviction of sin that is telling your brethren that homosexuality is wrong is Christ's way of speaking to them about a way that they need to demonstrate His power to a world that is dying for an ounce of love. If so, can you at least give them the benefit of the doubt?
I have a lot more to say about homosexuality, but for now, I want to leave you with this thought:
Is it because homosexuality is an especially evil sin that Christians are up in arms over it . . . or is it because Christians know, in their core, that they are failing to address the issue of sex in general?
The body of Christ should be the FIRST place where any man, any woman, can admit anything--even the most dastardly sins--and come away a new person. However, it seems that in the case of homosexuality, most institutional Christians simply "don't want to go there." Either they isolate themselves from anything remotely gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transexual, or they pander to LGBT's, thinking that giving them whatever they want is a free ticket to avoiding the deep issues of sexuality and sin that have plagued the human race for 6000 years. When I was struggling with my transexual feelings, I didn't need to hear I was okay. I didn't need to hear that I was a pervert, either. I simply needed to hear the TRUTH--that Jesus loved me more than I ever had imagined, and that He wanted me to know who I was, and why I was created to be a man.
Some of you folks out there have had the same struggles I've had.
You're not alone--none of us are.
Homosexuality's been around for a long time, ladies and gentlemen, and the Bible makes it very clear that there were men lusting after other men at least 2000-3000 years before Christ. Some of you out there in the conservative camp need to grow up and realize that sin comes in many different shapes and sizes, and not all of them are pretty. I wig out at the idea of a man kissing another man--there's something about it that utterly freaks me out--but if Jesus could touch a leper, complete with noxious smell and rotting flesh, then I think I can suck it up and embrace a gay man as a child of God. I wish someone had been man enough (or woman enough) to do the same to me during all the years I struggled with my issues.
However, I always knew at my core that what I was struggling with wasn't right, wasn't normal, and definitely wasn't "okay" with God. Some of you people out there on the liberal side need to understand that there's a reason we have such a thing as conviction of sin, and that it's not all bad. After all, if God didn't convict us of sin, most of us (if not all of us) would do far worse things than sleep with someone of the same sex. God gives us conviction of sin so that this world would be at least somewhat livable, knowing that we all have a universe of violence and hatred that wants to well up inside of us. Perhaps the conviction of sin that is telling your brethren that homosexuality is wrong is Christ's way of speaking to them about a way that they need to demonstrate His power to a world that is dying for an ounce of love. If so, can you at least give them the benefit of the doubt?
I have a lot more to say about homosexuality, but for now, I want to leave you with this thought:
Is it because homosexuality is an especially evil sin that Christians are up in arms over it . . . or is it because Christians know, in their core, that they are failing to address the issue of sex in general?
Thursday, August 20, 2009
And Now the Tables Turn
When Jessica and I knew we were going to have a child, we collected all the teaching materials we could find about parenting from a Christian perspective. We listened to a lot of tapes on parenting from a variety of sources. We still do. And one of the biggest themes that the speakers we were listening to hammered into their audience over and over was the need for good, consistent Christian discipline.
I grew up in a home where my mom and dad pretty much let us do what we wanted (as long as it wasn't illegal), and I felt that my son needed to grow in ways that I hadn't, so I took in this message on discipline like a magnet takes in metal. Unfortunately, I think that I have done more harm than good to my son, who now sees me as more of a tyrant than a dad.
I'm not saying discipline isn't a good part of a Christian home.
Let's get real, parents--it's a NECESSARY part of ANY home.
If you want to spend the rest of your natural life pulling your hair out wondering what terrible things your son or daughter might do to you or your furniture, you can leave your children to their own devices, but every home--Christian or not--has to have some sort of parental discipline in order to function (and, yes, in order for the children to grow as they should).
However, I wonder if this emphasis on discipline in Christian teachings is a little over the top. Most of the tapes I have listened to, for example, all contain assertions that you can teach your children to be self-disciplined and patient even when they're 12-18 months old. Ladies and gentlemen, I agree that you can do a lot (probably more than most people think) to shape the character and personality of a 12-18 month-old, but most of that depends more on who YOU are than who your child is.
I'm hard on my son, because I think he deserves to have a father who believes in him, who pushes him, and who (most of all) is there when he needs him. However, I'm coming to realize that there is a difference between the rod of correction, and simple parental annoyance. Annoyance isn't the Holy Spirit--it's simply you, exhausted or tired of parenting, saying to your son or daughter, "I wish God never gave you to me."
Discipline, especially the discipline of a Christian home, cannot be a mere exercise in teaching your child to maintain order. It must have vision. You parents out there need to have a clear vision of what kind of man or woman your child is going to become, the kind of vision that my wife and I had when we looked at our infant son for the first time and saw (literally) the eyes of a miracle staring back up at us.
That's the vision which should always be in front of you as you correct your child.
Any effective discipline has to have a goal. In the military, discipline is used to create good soldiers. What is YOUR discipline intended to create in the home? Are you only interested in creating quiet, well-mannered children who do their homework and don't make a mess? If so, then you're raising your son or daughter to be no different than anyone else in our culture.
What if you raised your sights a little higher?
Spend some time on your knees, asking your Father in Heaven what He would want your son or daughter to become.
You might be surprised at how far He wants your child to go.
I grew up in a home where my mom and dad pretty much let us do what we wanted (as long as it wasn't illegal), and I felt that my son needed to grow in ways that I hadn't, so I took in this message on discipline like a magnet takes in metal. Unfortunately, I think that I have done more harm than good to my son, who now sees me as more of a tyrant than a dad.
I'm not saying discipline isn't a good part of a Christian home.
Let's get real, parents--it's a NECESSARY part of ANY home.
If you want to spend the rest of your natural life pulling your hair out wondering what terrible things your son or daughter might do to you or your furniture, you can leave your children to their own devices, but every home--Christian or not--has to have some sort of parental discipline in order to function (and, yes, in order for the children to grow as they should).
However, I wonder if this emphasis on discipline in Christian teachings is a little over the top. Most of the tapes I have listened to, for example, all contain assertions that you can teach your children to be self-disciplined and patient even when they're 12-18 months old. Ladies and gentlemen, I agree that you can do a lot (probably more than most people think) to shape the character and personality of a 12-18 month-old, but most of that depends more on who YOU are than who your child is.
I'm hard on my son, because I think he deserves to have a father who believes in him, who pushes him, and who (most of all) is there when he needs him. However, I'm coming to realize that there is a difference between the rod of correction, and simple parental annoyance. Annoyance isn't the Holy Spirit--it's simply you, exhausted or tired of parenting, saying to your son or daughter, "I wish God never gave you to me."
Discipline, especially the discipline of a Christian home, cannot be a mere exercise in teaching your child to maintain order. It must have vision. You parents out there need to have a clear vision of what kind of man or woman your child is going to become, the kind of vision that my wife and I had when we looked at our infant son for the first time and saw (literally) the eyes of a miracle staring back up at us.
That's the vision which should always be in front of you as you correct your child.
Any effective discipline has to have a goal. In the military, discipline is used to create good soldiers. What is YOUR discipline intended to create in the home? Are you only interested in creating quiet, well-mannered children who do their homework and don't make a mess? If so, then you're raising your son or daughter to be no different than anyone else in our culture.
What if you raised your sights a little higher?
Spend some time on your knees, asking your Father in Heaven what He would want your son or daughter to become.
You might be surprised at how far He wants your child to go.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Spiritual Check II
I had been in rebellion against the Lord for the past year before moving back to South Carolina with my wife and son. When we got married, the Lord placed a strong call on my heart that became evident as we prayed together and talked of what He wanted to do in us--but I guess I must have resented the purity and obedience it would entail for me, and so I ran, first to Virginia to try to relive the life I had had as a graduate student before moving to Fort Worth, Texas (where I first met Christ), then to Fort Worth itself to try to relive the life I'd WANTED to lead before coming face to face with the Creator of the universe. Now, Jessica and I are back in South Carolina, after a series of what I can only describe as miracles that enabled us to recover far more quickly from moving 3 times in one year than we otherwise would have.
Here's the call I have been given:
Our generation, our church, needs to be awakened from its slumber. We've been sleeping for too long, lying in our pews, comfortable in our beautiful buildings, and all too cozy with professional pastors, professional salaries, and professional training centers. Meanwhile, the lost are growing in number day by day, increasingly embittered and alienated from a Christianity that claims to represent a God of love but which instead represents a God of evil and deceit.
Sound a little harsh?
Maybe.
But when you've lived on the "other side," as I have, you have far more appreciation for the position of the hopeless man, the downtrodden woman, and the loveless child in our desperate, cruel world than anyone else can ever imagine. Christians--believers in Jesus Christ--have a power inside them to change the lives of their communities that DWARFS anything the world, the flesh, and the devil can muster, and yet it is ironic that Christians act as if THEY are on the defensive, THEY are on the run, THEY are in retreat.
What army do you think you're fighting, anyway?
Do you think Satan and his hordes are some horrible, zombie-like force that can do anything they wish? Do you think they can lift a finger against the Lord who created both you and THEM?
Ladies and gentlemen, this is very simple: Either Christ Jesus is in charge of things, or He's not. Either He's the Way, the Truth, and the Life, or He's not. If you don't believe in your heart that He has everything in control, then you need to get a spiritual thermometer and see if you really want to follow the Author and Finisher of our faith. If you don't, then Satan and his henchmen will be glad to take you in--their kingdom is passing away, but if you're foolish enough to waste everything the Lord gave you on the pleasures of a moment, they'll be more than willing to assist you.
Basically, I guess I'm like a modern day John the Baptist, telling the believers in America and the West to wake up, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Jesus is coming, and all of us--me included--need to walk as Jesus walked, preparing the way for the Lord. Christians used to talk about Judgment in relation to non-believers all the time, but as I read the Bible, it becomes clear that CHRISTIANS are the ones who will be judged first, with a STRICTER judgment. And I am afraid that Western Christianity is woefully unprepared for its Founder's return.
In the next few weeks and months, I will outline in a full and complete fashion where I believe we are and what we need to do to prepare the way for the Lord. Much of this is going to be hard for you to hear, especially if you've been a part of Western Christianity for a long time, but I believe that our spiritual condition is such that it will require us to make far greater sacrifices than simply tuning into Christian television, going to church twice a week, and reading the Bible--sacrifices that I'm afraid far too many of us are going to be unwilling to make.
Christians need to get out of the selfish, materialistic box that too many of us have been calling home.
Our world needs Jesus.
Will we let Him use us to speak to that world, or will we stumble around in the dark, as we have for so many decades, hoping He doesn't come when we don't expect Him?
Here's the call I have been given:
Our generation, our church, needs to be awakened from its slumber. We've been sleeping for too long, lying in our pews, comfortable in our beautiful buildings, and all too cozy with professional pastors, professional salaries, and professional training centers. Meanwhile, the lost are growing in number day by day, increasingly embittered and alienated from a Christianity that claims to represent a God of love but which instead represents a God of evil and deceit.
Sound a little harsh?
Maybe.
But when you've lived on the "other side," as I have, you have far more appreciation for the position of the hopeless man, the downtrodden woman, and the loveless child in our desperate, cruel world than anyone else can ever imagine. Christians--believers in Jesus Christ--have a power inside them to change the lives of their communities that DWARFS anything the world, the flesh, and the devil can muster, and yet it is ironic that Christians act as if THEY are on the defensive, THEY are on the run, THEY are in retreat.
What army do you think you're fighting, anyway?
Do you think Satan and his hordes are some horrible, zombie-like force that can do anything they wish? Do you think they can lift a finger against the Lord who created both you and THEM?
Ladies and gentlemen, this is very simple: Either Christ Jesus is in charge of things, or He's not. Either He's the Way, the Truth, and the Life, or He's not. If you don't believe in your heart that He has everything in control, then you need to get a spiritual thermometer and see if you really want to follow the Author and Finisher of our faith. If you don't, then Satan and his henchmen will be glad to take you in--their kingdom is passing away, but if you're foolish enough to waste everything the Lord gave you on the pleasures of a moment, they'll be more than willing to assist you.
Basically, I guess I'm like a modern day John the Baptist, telling the believers in America and the West to wake up, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Jesus is coming, and all of us--me included--need to walk as Jesus walked, preparing the way for the Lord. Christians used to talk about Judgment in relation to non-believers all the time, but as I read the Bible, it becomes clear that CHRISTIANS are the ones who will be judged first, with a STRICTER judgment. And I am afraid that Western Christianity is woefully unprepared for its Founder's return.
In the next few weeks and months, I will outline in a full and complete fashion where I believe we are and what we need to do to prepare the way for the Lord. Much of this is going to be hard for you to hear, especially if you've been a part of Western Christianity for a long time, but I believe that our spiritual condition is such that it will require us to make far greater sacrifices than simply tuning into Christian television, going to church twice a week, and reading the Bible--sacrifices that I'm afraid far too many of us are going to be unwilling to make.
Christians need to get out of the selfish, materialistic box that too many of us have been calling home.
Our world needs Jesus.
Will we let Him use us to speak to that world, or will we stumble around in the dark, as we have for so many decades, hoping He doesn't come when we don't expect Him?
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Walking in the Shoes of Our Maker
Today I had the pleasure of listening to a radio program in which James Dobson interviewed a man who, during his junior/senior years in college, followed a call that the Lord had given him to abandon the trappings of the common Western lifestyle, leave college, and walk the streets of 5 American cities as a homeless man. His parents were opposed to the idea, many of his friends thought he was crazy, and even James Dobson seemed a little taken aback as to why an up-and-coming young man in college would do something so inherently dangerous. I sat with rapt attention as he described an odyssey that took him into the darkest recesses of our society, into the depths of his own soul, and into the face of the cold, stone heart that most Americans (and especially American Christians) have toward the homeless.
As I have been thinking about that radio program, one verse from the Bible in particular comes to mind: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head."
Jesus was homeless--and I think that He was trying to tell that young man (and perhaps all of us) that we need to walk as Jesus walked.
I have been on the razor edge of homelessness several times, and I have talked with a lot of homeless men and women, and I am always amazed at the extent to which our society attaches the value of a human being to the size of his or her bank account. The ability to buy food, the ability to have a stable place to stay, the ability to clothe and bathe oneself properly--these are luxuries for over two thirds of the world's population, and yet we in the United States consider anyone who does not have these assets to be offensive or weird (in James Dobson's words, "scary"). However, there is a great deal of freedom in not having access to food, clothing, or shelter in the ways our culture says we should--freedom to walk (literally) in the direction the Lord wants us to walk, freedom to speak openly and honestly about who we are without the threat of losing something dear to us, freedom to develop our spirits the way that most Americans develop their bodies. Perhaps that is why Jesus walked as a homeless man--and why He called His disciples to walk as homeless men (see Matthew 10).
One of the greatest sins that American Christianity has committed in the United States is to turn its back on the homeless, the vulnerable, and the poor. It is amazing to me that my fundamentalist friends and relatives rail bitterly against threats to the institution of marriage, but turn a deaf ear to poor beggars on the street who ask for a dollar in change. Worse, most of these people have freely told others (including me) to do the same, saying things like "He's just going to use it on booze anyway."
Let me tell you something--when Jesus comes in His glory, He's not going to care what theology you have or what political party you support. He's going to ask you a series of very simple questions:
Did you feed me?
Did you give me something to drink?
Did you clothe me?
Did you take me in when I was a stranger?
Did you visit me when I was sick?
Did you come see me when I was in prison?
That homeless person you walked by, knowing he was going to ask you for 50 cents, that person was Jesus--and if that's the only answer you're ever going to give Him, then when that final day comes, you will have failed the only final exam that counts, and Jesus will tell you, "Depart from me, accursed one, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
Maybe I'm being a little rough here, but let me tell you, I am sick and tired of a twisted, hypocritical church that gets all fired up about issues like the Defense of Marriage Act but does not lift a finger to support America's poor. And I am even more sick of the line I keep hearing from supposedly Christian politicians, "The government shouldn't be doing what the church should be doing," a line I hear whenever someone in government talks about making a serious effort to rid our country of poverty and joblessness. Ladies and gentlemen, the reason the government has to spend all of this money to help out people who are poor and vulnerable is because the church WON'T. If you people out there who icily brush past the poor and downtrodden on your city streets on your way from Sunday services would dare to OPEN YOUR HEARTS, maybe our elections every 4 years would be about something a little more substantial than taxes and the national debt. As far as I'm concerned, if you do not open your hearts, your arms, and (yes) even your homes to the lost and broken in our communities, then you have NO RIGHT to call yourself a Christian.
Ladies and gentlemen, people who claim to believe in Jesus Christ in our country need to WAKE UP and practice what they preach. If you talk about love, you'd better be willing to show it. If you talk about reaching the lost, you'd better be willing to DO it, even if it means walking straight out of your comfort zone and into a world of hurt. My God, there are people across half our planet who are DYING IN DROVES for Jesus, and you can't even fork up a measley 50 cents for a poor beggar on the street? What's with you? Where's your compasson? More importantly, where's your soul?
Believers in Christ need to WAKE UP and REPENT for their wickedness, their sinfulness, and their base evil in pushing away the very people that the Lord promises--in both the Old Testament AND the New Testament--to AVENGE. All this wealth that the church has accumulated in America has gotten to our heads, and we need to get a reality check.
Jesus is coming.
It's time for us to stand up and be the people He called us to be, and stop walking in the cold, heartless ways of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
As I have been thinking about that radio program, one verse from the Bible in particular comes to mind: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head."
Jesus was homeless--and I think that He was trying to tell that young man (and perhaps all of us) that we need to walk as Jesus walked.
I have been on the razor edge of homelessness several times, and I have talked with a lot of homeless men and women, and I am always amazed at the extent to which our society attaches the value of a human being to the size of his or her bank account. The ability to buy food, the ability to have a stable place to stay, the ability to clothe and bathe oneself properly--these are luxuries for over two thirds of the world's population, and yet we in the United States consider anyone who does not have these assets to be offensive or weird (in James Dobson's words, "scary"). However, there is a great deal of freedom in not having access to food, clothing, or shelter in the ways our culture says we should--freedom to walk (literally) in the direction the Lord wants us to walk, freedom to speak openly and honestly about who we are without the threat of losing something dear to us, freedom to develop our spirits the way that most Americans develop their bodies. Perhaps that is why Jesus walked as a homeless man--and why He called His disciples to walk as homeless men (see Matthew 10).
One of the greatest sins that American Christianity has committed in the United States is to turn its back on the homeless, the vulnerable, and the poor. It is amazing to me that my fundamentalist friends and relatives rail bitterly against threats to the institution of marriage, but turn a deaf ear to poor beggars on the street who ask for a dollar in change. Worse, most of these people have freely told others (including me) to do the same, saying things like "He's just going to use it on booze anyway."
Let me tell you something--when Jesus comes in His glory, He's not going to care what theology you have or what political party you support. He's going to ask you a series of very simple questions:
Did you feed me?
Did you give me something to drink?
Did you clothe me?
Did you take me in when I was a stranger?
Did you visit me when I was sick?
Did you come see me when I was in prison?
That homeless person you walked by, knowing he was going to ask you for 50 cents, that person was Jesus--and if that's the only answer you're ever going to give Him, then when that final day comes, you will have failed the only final exam that counts, and Jesus will tell you, "Depart from me, accursed one, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
Maybe I'm being a little rough here, but let me tell you, I am sick and tired of a twisted, hypocritical church that gets all fired up about issues like the Defense of Marriage Act but does not lift a finger to support America's poor. And I am even more sick of the line I keep hearing from supposedly Christian politicians, "The government shouldn't be doing what the church should be doing," a line I hear whenever someone in government talks about making a serious effort to rid our country of poverty and joblessness. Ladies and gentlemen, the reason the government has to spend all of this money to help out people who are poor and vulnerable is because the church WON'T. If you people out there who icily brush past the poor and downtrodden on your city streets on your way from Sunday services would dare to OPEN YOUR HEARTS, maybe our elections every 4 years would be about something a little more substantial than taxes and the national debt. As far as I'm concerned, if you do not open your hearts, your arms, and (yes) even your homes to the lost and broken in our communities, then you have NO RIGHT to call yourself a Christian.
Ladies and gentlemen, people who claim to believe in Jesus Christ in our country need to WAKE UP and practice what they preach. If you talk about love, you'd better be willing to show it. If you talk about reaching the lost, you'd better be willing to DO it, even if it means walking straight out of your comfort zone and into a world of hurt. My God, there are people across half our planet who are DYING IN DROVES for Jesus, and you can't even fork up a measley 50 cents for a poor beggar on the street? What's with you? Where's your compasson? More importantly, where's your soul?
Believers in Christ need to WAKE UP and REPENT for their wickedness, their sinfulness, and their base evil in pushing away the very people that the Lord promises--in both the Old Testament AND the New Testament--to AVENGE. All this wealth that the church has accumulated in America has gotten to our heads, and we need to get a reality check.
Jesus is coming.
It's time for us to stand up and be the people He called us to be, and stop walking in the cold, heartless ways of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Spiritual Check
I am not an "elder" of the faith--in fact, I consider myself so thoroughly newborn in Christ that I doubt I have the grounds to claim myself to be anything other than wholly ignorant new believer who has just received Jesus into his heart--and because of that, I wanted to take time each week to give you some idea of where I am REALLY at spiritually.
This week . . . I'm not exactly batting 1.000.
I've been mean to my wife, mean to my son, and I have neglected to exercise and eat correctly (which is a sin against my body). Also, I am once again tempted with the rise of lustful fantasies--not always about women--which seem to occupy my every waking thought. I have rebelled--openly--against Jesus on several occasions, and my marriage and family have both suffered for it. (Specifically, my areas of rebellion center around work (or my lack of interest in working) and driving (which I tend to view as a liberating chance to do whatever I want, rather than as a sacred responsibility that allows me to serve my wife and son).)
Early in the week, I thought I had been making progress in my walk with the Lord, and I thought I had been getting better at listening to His voice. Unfortunately, it seems I am not getting better at all, but in fact, I seem to be growing more and more restless and hostile to the Lord's voice.
I don't know if this is normal for a Christian--I suppose it is, because I've read many a classic Christian writer describe feelings like this, but I can't be sure. However, one thing I do know: It is extremely frustrating, especially when I want to grow in my walk with Jesus. It is really amazing how utterly vile, wicked, and abysmal my flesh is, and it seems to become more and more apparent to me every day.
On my own personal judgment day, Jesus will ask me whether or not I fed the hungry, gave the thirsty something to drink, clothed the naked, visited the sick and imprisoned, and (because I am a dad) brought my son up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. As I look back at this week and see myself failing this final exam over and over again, the only thing I can do is shudder . . .
This week . . . I'm not exactly batting 1.000.
I've been mean to my wife, mean to my son, and I have neglected to exercise and eat correctly (which is a sin against my body). Also, I am once again tempted with the rise of lustful fantasies--not always about women--which seem to occupy my every waking thought. I have rebelled--openly--against Jesus on several occasions, and my marriage and family have both suffered for it. (Specifically, my areas of rebellion center around work (or my lack of interest in working) and driving (which I tend to view as a liberating chance to do whatever I want, rather than as a sacred responsibility that allows me to serve my wife and son).)
Early in the week, I thought I had been making progress in my walk with the Lord, and I thought I had been getting better at listening to His voice. Unfortunately, it seems I am not getting better at all, but in fact, I seem to be growing more and more restless and hostile to the Lord's voice.
I don't know if this is normal for a Christian--I suppose it is, because I've read many a classic Christian writer describe feelings like this, but I can't be sure. However, one thing I do know: It is extremely frustrating, especially when I want to grow in my walk with Jesus. It is really amazing how utterly vile, wicked, and abysmal my flesh is, and it seems to become more and more apparent to me every day.
On my own personal judgment day, Jesus will ask me whether or not I fed the hungry, gave the thirsty something to drink, clothed the naked, visited the sick and imprisoned, and (because I am a dad) brought my son up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. As I look back at this week and see myself failing this final exam over and over again, the only thing I can do is shudder . . .
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A Day on the Wrong Side of Christian Politics
I recently moved to South Carolina, where my wife grew up, so that we could be closer to her family, and in the past few weeks, I have done as little as I can to acquaint myself with South Carolina politics. However, I would have had to crawl under a rock to avoid hearing about the scandal regarding Governor Mark Sanford and his mistress.
I won't bore you with yet another commentary on the "sad state of American politics," "what this says about marriage in our country," or especially "what message Sanford is presenting to the public about Christianity." You know as well as I do that every time a scandal like this one erupts, there are at least a thousand public voices that cry foul on all these topics, and their messages have all the resounding influence of a police siren in a big city. Moreover, as I have yet to see American politics, American marriages, or (for that matter) American Christianity improve with any degree of substance as a result of these outcries, I will not be so foolish as to add my own to the mix.
What the scandal DOES reveal to me, however, is the following:
1. Christians--especially the Christians who care about issues relating to the health and well-being of families--have become far too dependent on the Republican Party. Come on, ladies and gentlemen, when was the last time the Republican Party took a remotely Christian stand on anything--except perhaps supporting the public display of Nativity scenes, school prayer, and the pro-life movement? (I might add that the Republicans' stance on even these 3 issues seems to have become significantly weaker over the past 10 years.) These people are simply using the abortion issue, as well as other superficial cultural issues, to deceive Christians into thinking that they support Biblical values. They are no more "Christian" than I am Swedish--perhaps a passing familiarity with Christianity, the Bible, and Christian principles, but not much beyond that. When it comes to the "Christian" vote, I believe that anyone who loves Jesus should consider him-/herself an independent voter at best, a non-voter at worst, in order to ensure that BOTH parties respect the values and beliefs of the body of Christ.
2. More importantly, I think that most and more, American politics has become a television soap opera. Forty or fifty years ago, even a hint of adultery would have sent shivers down a politician's spine, and no one serving at Governor Sanford's level would have dared admit publicly to having a "soul mate" other than his wife. Today, however, things have changed, largely because juicy scandals make for juicy television. In the past few decades, because of the advent of professional wrestling, Americans have coined a new term: sports entertainment. Will there be such a thing as political entertainment 10 years from now?
A lot of people have expressed outrage over Sanford's abuse of his office to conduct an extramarital affair. What I see as far more alarming is his abuse of BOTH his office AND the affair to boost his ratings. If this is the direction that politics and television are taking, beware.
In the next few weeks, I intend to write a bit more about Christian politics in America, what dangers it potentially brings to Christians, and what Christians can do to avoid those dangers. In the meantime, keep your eyes on Christ, and keep them away from the rulers and powers of this world.
I won't bore you with yet another commentary on the "sad state of American politics," "what this says about marriage in our country," or especially "what message Sanford is presenting to the public about Christianity." You know as well as I do that every time a scandal like this one erupts, there are at least a thousand public voices that cry foul on all these topics, and their messages have all the resounding influence of a police siren in a big city. Moreover, as I have yet to see American politics, American marriages, or (for that matter) American Christianity improve with any degree of substance as a result of these outcries, I will not be so foolish as to add my own to the mix.
What the scandal DOES reveal to me, however, is the following:
1. Christians--especially the Christians who care about issues relating to the health and well-being of families--have become far too dependent on the Republican Party. Come on, ladies and gentlemen, when was the last time the Republican Party took a remotely Christian stand on anything--except perhaps supporting the public display of Nativity scenes, school prayer, and the pro-life movement? (I might add that the Republicans' stance on even these 3 issues seems to have become significantly weaker over the past 10 years.) These people are simply using the abortion issue, as well as other superficial cultural issues, to deceive Christians into thinking that they support Biblical values. They are no more "Christian" than I am Swedish--perhaps a passing familiarity with Christianity, the Bible, and Christian principles, but not much beyond that. When it comes to the "Christian" vote, I believe that anyone who loves Jesus should consider him-/herself an independent voter at best, a non-voter at worst, in order to ensure that BOTH parties respect the values and beliefs of the body of Christ.
2. More importantly, I think that most and more, American politics has become a television soap opera. Forty or fifty years ago, even a hint of adultery would have sent shivers down a politician's spine, and no one serving at Governor Sanford's level would have dared admit publicly to having a "soul mate" other than his wife. Today, however, things have changed, largely because juicy scandals make for juicy television. In the past few decades, because of the advent of professional wrestling, Americans have coined a new term: sports entertainment. Will there be such a thing as political entertainment 10 years from now?
A lot of people have expressed outrage over Sanford's abuse of his office to conduct an extramarital affair. What I see as far more alarming is his abuse of BOTH his office AND the affair to boost his ratings. If this is the direction that politics and television are taking, beware.
In the next few weeks, I intend to write a bit more about Christian politics in America, what dangers it potentially brings to Christians, and what Christians can do to avoid those dangers. In the meantime, keep your eyes on Christ, and keep them away from the rulers and powers of this world.
Trendiness in Christian Music, Part !
Recently, I had the pleasure of listening to one of the key Christian metal songs of the late '80s, Stryper's "To Hell With the Devil," and after 20 years' distance from the heavy metal genre (which I used to listen to avidly as a Satanist back in the late '80s and early '90s), I began to see some things about that song--and about the group--that I had not realized before. I know that Stryper's ultimate demise rested in its deviation from the classic Christian message that dominated their lyrics, logo, and persona, but I think that the root problem that caused their downfall is something that many Christian groups today still face: the temptation to play too much to the audience to which one is evangelizing.
Last week, as my wife and I were running errands around town, we listened to Saviour Machine's bootleg CD, Live in Deutschland. Among their audience were Satanists, neo-pagans, and Goths, and the group had a golden opportunity to evangelize hard-core anti-Christians for the Name of Christ. However, they began their set with 2 songs from the Legend Trilogy which center on the Beast and the Dragon (Satan) from the Book of Revelation, chapters 12 and 13. Obviously, they were playing to their audience, which would have expected to hear songs about the devil and about the Antichrist. However, were they playing to their audience more than they should have been?
I like Saviour Machine, and I think they have a powerful history (and even more powerful music) which conveys a clear, unwavering message about God. My point is merely that Christian music (and Christian musicians)--whatever their genre--face the temptation to "be all things to all men" without having the ultimate goal in mind: "so that I may by all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22).
Evangelism is (and should be) the number one goal of any Christian musician, and I applaud anyone who has the raw courage to present music that is soul-searching, deep, and Gospel-driven to audiences that are normally immersed in the dark, deceitfully playful music of the world. However, I think a word of caution is in order. After all, when evangelism is at the heart of your music, you are serving, for your audience, as a representative of the Christ you are attempting to evangelize. Anyone who assumes this mantle assumes a responsibility that is sacred and cherished by the Christ he or she represents, and that Christ will hold him or her accountable, as both a representative and a teacher of His Word (James 3:1).
Last week, as my wife and I were running errands around town, we listened to Saviour Machine's bootleg CD, Live in Deutschland. Among their audience were Satanists, neo-pagans, and Goths, and the group had a golden opportunity to evangelize hard-core anti-Christians for the Name of Christ. However, they began their set with 2 songs from the Legend Trilogy which center on the Beast and the Dragon (Satan) from the Book of Revelation, chapters 12 and 13. Obviously, they were playing to their audience, which would have expected to hear songs about the devil and about the Antichrist. However, were they playing to their audience more than they should have been?
I like Saviour Machine, and I think they have a powerful history (and even more powerful music) which conveys a clear, unwavering message about God. My point is merely that Christian music (and Christian musicians)--whatever their genre--face the temptation to "be all things to all men" without having the ultimate goal in mind: "so that I may by all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22).
Evangelism is (and should be) the number one goal of any Christian musician, and I applaud anyone who has the raw courage to present music that is soul-searching, deep, and Gospel-driven to audiences that are normally immersed in the dark, deceitfully playful music of the world. However, I think a word of caution is in order. After all, when evangelism is at the heart of your music, you are serving, for your audience, as a representative of the Christ you are attempting to evangelize. Anyone who assumes this mantle assumes a responsibility that is sacred and cherished by the Christ he or she represents, and that Christ will hold him or her accountable, as both a representative and a teacher of His Word (James 3:1).
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Let's Talk About Sex
If I were to pinpoint the one issue on which American Christianity has the least power, sex would be that issue.
Let's face it, what image do American Christians present to the public about sex? Is it captivating, alive, beautiful, dangerous, and free? Does it have the power to bring new life into the world through an act of love? Does it stir in the Christian heart desires far too deep and overwhelming for words?
It should . . . but it doesn't.
I read Every Man's Battle, one of those "must reads" for every Christian male (and apparently every Christian female as well--there is now an Every Woman's Battle, available on the same shelf as Every Man's Battle in most Christian bookstores). I was enthralled for a while--after all, I was becoming more open to Christ, and I had realized that my approach to sexuality was, to say the very least, unhealthy--but the authors' legalism, the "bouncing the eyes" and all of the other tricks that were "guaranteed" to eliminate the Christian man's problems with lust, seemed a bit cold to me. Today, after 2 years of marriage, it seems downright heartless and cruel.
Come on, men. When's the last time you ever saw a woman shrink back in horror at the prospect of a man admiring her legs, her eyes, and (dare I say) other parts of her body? You husbands out there, have you ever thought that your wife would reject you for ogling her breasts, her curves, her loveliness?
Ladies, I know that you are not at all averse to beauty in men. After all, there is a reason why most men try to work out as much as they can when they are in their teens and twenties, and it is not simply because they need basic strength for their careers.
However, the legalism of American Christianity seems to be saying that you have to avoid all expressions of heartfelt desire, longing, and love for other people, even if those people are of the opposite sex.
And eventually, if you're "bouncing the eyes" whenever you look at someone of the opposite sex, isn't there a risk that you might just "bounce the eyes" whenever you look at your husband/wife? More importantly, if you're single, isn't there a risk that you might "bounce the eyes" once too often, missing the man/woman the Lord wants you to marry just because he/she's "too attractive?"
Is it any wonder that the same church that produces books like Every Man's Battle has a divorce rate that exceeds the divorce rate among secular American couples?
Sex was meant to be a lot of things, ladies and gentlemen.
Boring is not one of them.
I am not saying that Christians should abandon their standards, act like the world, or shack up with as many people as they can in order to experience the joy, passion, and love of sex; however, I AM saying that if Christians are going to have ANY traction on this issue, they are going to have to leave their legalism at the door. We live in a society where people are looking for LOVE any way they can, and sometimes that leads people into situations that do not fit the stereotypical Christian norm. I am not saying that all of those situations are right, but I AM saying that most of them are motivated, at a core level, by a desire for love. If Christians cannot keep this simple truth in mind when they interact with people outside their subculture, we will lose several generations to an atheistic culture that says sex is simply biological, with no designer, and no rules. And we will DESERVE to lose them.
Over the next few weeks, I'm going to post an in-deptb study of sex, and we will see what the Bible REALLY has to say about this very fundamental aspect of human life. Is it really supposed to be as boring as Christians make it out to be? Is there no room for exploration or excitement? I think that some of the answers to these questions will be shocking, liberating, and (potentially) explosive.
Let's face it, what image do American Christians present to the public about sex? Is it captivating, alive, beautiful, dangerous, and free? Does it have the power to bring new life into the world through an act of love? Does it stir in the Christian heart desires far too deep and overwhelming for words?
It should . . . but it doesn't.
I read Every Man's Battle, one of those "must reads" for every Christian male (and apparently every Christian female as well--there is now an Every Woman's Battle, available on the same shelf as Every Man's Battle in most Christian bookstores). I was enthralled for a while--after all, I was becoming more open to Christ, and I had realized that my approach to sexuality was, to say the very least, unhealthy--but the authors' legalism, the "bouncing the eyes" and all of the other tricks that were "guaranteed" to eliminate the Christian man's problems with lust, seemed a bit cold to me. Today, after 2 years of marriage, it seems downright heartless and cruel.
Come on, men. When's the last time you ever saw a woman shrink back in horror at the prospect of a man admiring her legs, her eyes, and (dare I say) other parts of her body? You husbands out there, have you ever thought that your wife would reject you for ogling her breasts, her curves, her loveliness?
Ladies, I know that you are not at all averse to beauty in men. After all, there is a reason why most men try to work out as much as they can when they are in their teens and twenties, and it is not simply because they need basic strength for their careers.
However, the legalism of American Christianity seems to be saying that you have to avoid all expressions of heartfelt desire, longing, and love for other people, even if those people are of the opposite sex.
And eventually, if you're "bouncing the eyes" whenever you look at someone of the opposite sex, isn't there a risk that you might just "bounce the eyes" whenever you look at your husband/wife? More importantly, if you're single, isn't there a risk that you might "bounce the eyes" once too often, missing the man/woman the Lord wants you to marry just because he/she's "too attractive?"
Is it any wonder that the same church that produces books like Every Man's Battle has a divorce rate that exceeds the divorce rate among secular American couples?
Sex was meant to be a lot of things, ladies and gentlemen.
Boring is not one of them.
I am not saying that Christians should abandon their standards, act like the world, or shack up with as many people as they can in order to experience the joy, passion, and love of sex; however, I AM saying that if Christians are going to have ANY traction on this issue, they are going to have to leave their legalism at the door. We live in a society where people are looking for LOVE any way they can, and sometimes that leads people into situations that do not fit the stereotypical Christian norm. I am not saying that all of those situations are right, but I AM saying that most of them are motivated, at a core level, by a desire for love. If Christians cannot keep this simple truth in mind when they interact with people outside their subculture, we will lose several generations to an atheistic culture that says sex is simply biological, with no designer, and no rules. And we will DESERVE to lose them.
Over the next few weeks, I'm going to post an in-deptb study of sex, and we will see what the Bible REALLY has to say about this very fundamental aspect of human life. Is it really supposed to be as boring as Christians make it out to be? Is there no room for exploration or excitement? I think that some of the answers to these questions will be shocking, liberating, and (potentially) explosive.
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