Dispelling Modern Christianity with Christianity

18 Years of Tradition - Much Has Changed - Much Should Not Change

In 1995 I was looking for an adventure and a way to escape the Dallas traffic and the struggle to advance my career. I found that escape with my then close friend David Rutherford and the quiet of the Sacramento mountains. We jumped in a old Honda Civic at 6pm one May evening and arrived in the mountains at 5am the next day. We pitched a tent and woke about 9am in the middle of paradise and spent the next few days relaxing and hiking. It was rejuvenating and a great time with a friend. It meant so much that we have kept this annual tradition 17 times and have invited dozens of others to join us throughout the year.

I am currently at 32,000 feet above those same mountains and sitting in first class as I fly back home from a weekend conference in California. I am a world away from my life and career so many years ago. Yet, the tradition of escaping with friends will continue for an eighteenth year in just a matter of hours.

I was making minimum wage and working all hours of the day back in 1995. I still work a lot of hours, but I find much more pleasure in my work now than I did then.

David has returned on numerous May Club trips over the years, however, he has been missed over the last few years. I would wish that he would attend every annual sabbatical as others do, but friendships are tricky rivers to navigate sometimes.

Much has changed over the years: my family has grown, my career has changed, and my friendships have been a mix of jingles and jangles. We all change as we grow older and sometimes others do not manage those changes well, or we do not manage their changes.

In a marriage people change a great deal. The reality of marriage is that we are to be working through those changes and remaining committed to the covenant of marriage. My wife has changed much over the 25 years I've known her, and I love her more now than I did 25 years ago, even though she is a very different person. She'll have to speak to her feelings, but I can say for 25 years she has remained committed to the marriage as well in spite of my changes. Shouldn't friends do the same?

I believe relationships are eternal, so dismissing a friendship is unacceptable to me, even when there are dramatic disagreements.

Some friends have stepped off into poor behavior, bad religion, or serious apathy, but, it has never changed my desire to pursue the friendship. And many of my friends never shared my worldview, belief, or ethics, but it didn't mean I could not pursue the relationship.

That has become the story of The May Club. This group of men that come together each May to enjoy the outdoors,adventure, and each other. It has become more than an escape each year, but more of a commitment to each other.

When the event is over and the stories are being told, there is still a pursuit of friendship well beyond mountain climbing, hiking, kayaking hunting, fishing, and more.

I guess what I find incredulous, is that those that have a life defined by 'religion' are many times the ones that fail to invest and pursue others.

This is guised by busyness, distance, and the like, but I have never found those to be that impeding especially in the day of cell phone, email, texting and Facebook.

While I have experienced disappointment in people that I thought were committed to eternal friendship, I have found much satisfaction in the pursuit of others and the commitment to friendship even with disagreement or disappointment.

We should all make the commitments to others and that commitment should remain no matter the changes in the individual.

If they grow in faith, knowledge, skill and more, then we stand to benefit from participation. If they are suffering we can be their support. If they disagree, we can offer sound argument. If they have need, we can meet it. But apart from the pursuit of friendship, none if this is possible.

The May Club is a tradition of men coming together each May to relax, laugh, and seek adventure, but beyond May, it is the pursuit and enjoyment of friendship and life together.

Here's to the 18 years and 75 men of the May Club and our friendships. Here's to hoping a few friends will return.

Think Christianly and You'll Find Yourself Alone, Among Christians

 Today's Christian churches are filled with a vast amount of meetings, programs, retreats, and get togethers.  There are many opportunities to get in touch with your emotions and fellowship, but little chance to use your mind.  So there's this strange thing that happens when you are in a Christian church and you want to think, Christianly...you find yourself very alone. 

The modern Christian faith has been reduced to emotionalism and blind faith and has offered little depth to the faithful.  Those that dive into the deep waters of theology and philosophy and pose valid questions will be met with blank faces, or more frequently, exclusion. 

Harry Blamires, in his book, "The Christian Mind" looks at the growing lack of Christian thinking in the church in the mid 1960's.  Some of his book is prophetic to our current situations. 

"The duty of common worship ( has been) urged with all the force of episcopal authority.  With the same authority the significance of doctrinal teaching was depreciated.  There is no longer a Christian mind (just) a Christian ethic."

Blamires argues that the majority of Christians look at life from a secular view point and that modern Christianity has turned into a silly self help program. 

Even after watching the film, "Blue Like Jazz" yesterday with a friend, the author, Don Miller creates a dialogue, but offers no solid Truth.  In the film, the Christian experience is the mystical, emotional, seeking, on-going dialogue, but no concrete answers are provided as if the search is the end and cannot fully be known. If you do not go to the film thinking Christianly, you will, like Miller, think secularly about Christian things.

I am in no way saying we shouldn't pose simple or difficult questions, we must.  "Honest questions need honest answers." But we must approach questions using the Logos as our base, and nature, the book of man, and our experiences as secondary even tertiary measurements. And we must offer the solutions that God gives, whether popular or not.

Blamires, like Francis Shaeffer did in the 70's, makes the argument that before long the 'thinking Christian' will not feel welcomed in modern Christian circles as concrete truth is seen as intolerance and local church cultural behavior is elevated as dogma. 

"The [Christian thinker] that wishes to experience this loneliness should try the following experiment.  Take some topic of current political importance.  Try to establish in your own mind what is the right policy to recommend in relation to it, and do so in total detachment from any political alignment or prejudice; form your own conclusion by thinking Christianly (Biblical).  Then discuss the matter with fellow members of your congregation.  The full loneliness of thinking Christian will descend upon you."

I tried his experiment, and I was desperately alone.  It is tough to be surrounded by people that want to talk about their circumstances, cloaked as prayer time, instead of spending serious time in study of the Logos, worldviews, theology and the applications of these in daily life.

Most Bible study is left to Pulpit in our churches, Protestant and Catholic, but is rot with personal tales, antidote humor and self help with three step simplicity. In reference to our current teaching and preaching styles Blamires writes, "...genuine value judgments are discounted.  Enthusiasm, volubility, liveliness, and amusingness are the desired qualities."

I am pleased to have some pastor friends that are forsaking the drama, for solid, good expository teaching sans the light - camera - action - feel good.

Our lack of thinking has connected us less with our community and purpose, and more with our leaders.  You'll hear all the time, "We love the way our pastor preaches."  This seeking a church because of the pastor, or reading a book because of the writer creates a loyalty to them, or their brand.  It's less about what they say, and more about how they say it and whether it moves us.  After all, many Christians today let the pastor do the thinking for them. 

"I do this out of loyalty to my leader' is irrational and amoral unless it is a consequent upon my leaders character, or purpose, or policy."  Loyalty to a pastor or leader for the sake of loyalty is evil and slavish and it has silenced many a good thinker in Bible study, committee meetings and even kept people silent in their pew when there have been great needs for righteous rebellion. 

Thinking Christianly as a para-church board member can put one, 'on the outs'.  As board members discuss more ways to raise funds and create more activity, they divest themselves of the Christian callings of developing disciples and teaching those that have already come to faith.  Thinking Christianly is replaced with secular thinking of serving those who are supporters, but failing to care for those that were converted.  I can tell you this approach is unfortunately alive and thriving.

Further, we see the Christian faith as a tool for making people better.  This is a good result of the faith, but it is far from the primary purpose.  We spend so much time telling people the extra 'don'ts' we've created apart from scripture because we want to make them well behaved people in our congregation and society.  The emphasis then becomes making people Christians simply because it makes them better people. 

Blamires writes, "There is no subtler perversion of the Christian faith than to treat it as a mere means to a worldly end, however admirable that end may be in itself. What a mean blasphemy it would be, to go through magnificent acts of worship always with the dominant intention at the back of the mind - This is really going to make a better chap of me!"

Youth today are left with little doctrine to hang their faith on, because youth pastors are busy making them feel bad about their behavior, but offering no content as to the larger - greater Christian life.   

Our faith is built on so much more than just a moral code; Ours is a religion of acts and facts.

 Not only does the Christian thinker find themselves at odds in their own church buildings and para-church organizations, but of course, in the world as well.  

A secularist has a great disdain for a Christian thinker that sees scripture as revelation from God and relevant to all of life.  Faith in a risen man and a written word from God will get you mocked by secular intelligentsia. Yet they put faith in the writings and morals of dead men gone before them and call them truths.

To think Christianly about society, science, art and beyond always puts my secular friends at odds with me.  I'm ok with the dialogue, and I often find it much more pleasant than dialogue with other believers.  But as Blamires states, "What the secular mind is ill-equipped to grasp is that the Christian faith leaves a Christian with no choice at all on many matters."

If it is concerning, abortion, homosexuality, labor, politics and a long list of other topics, I as a believer in the Bible as the Word of God am left with no ability to impose my wishes on God and must submit to His opinion.  His words about these issues are clear and I accept them as Truth and as what is best for man. 

Don't get mad at me if you don't like my position, take it up with God, I'm just following what He said.

"Reason allows no place for a casual one-man-to-another approach to God and his demands.  It is either the bowed head or the turned back." 

But then, in our day and age, the idea of submission to authority is against current individualism and self sufficiency. The secularist, as well as the modern Christian are now focused on the mastery of all things, and a way to make the world fit what makes us feel comfortable and good about ourselves. Relativism rules.

In the world and the church, "The Christian mind has been so enfeebled by disuse that those who strive to put it into working order again feel like pioneers in a strange and virgin world."

Thinking Christianly means we must:  have a clear defined truth of which we are well acquainted, submit to God's complete authority, be supernaturally oriented, define and be aware of that which is evil, and have a great concern for people. 

Their appears to be more concern with the size of a church or evangelical event, but there seems to be little concern for individual people. This must change.

"Thus the Christian conception of the human person is a high one, his sense of the sacredness of human personality being deeply grounded in revealed theological truth."

In churchdom we speak of grandiose projects of reaching mass groups of people.  This is short sighted.  We have taught Christians that the big programs, projects and mission trips are where to put your energy, forsaking the long term investment in the life of a neighbor, co-worker, friend, or the even more important investment in a spouse and child. 

Men talk like there is some better way of spreading the Gospel  than the slow personal process by which the pastor, priest or layman brings the church's witness to bear upon one individual with an investment of love, care, witness and time. 

Forget your grand evangelical mass conversion talk fellow Christians.  Look at the person God has placed in the cubicle next to you.  Think Christianly about them and act Christianly to them.  

My mom lead me to Christ.  My father introduce me to the outdoors.  Don Staton taught me how to be a good husband to my wife.  Al Boenker taught me what matters in business.  Richard Sammons opened me to traveling the world.  Darrin Kirby encouraged my spiritual life.  David Bertch taught me discipleship. Danae Owens challenges me daily.  Christians thinking Christianly, that value persons, is what changes the world.  

We must challenge the Christians in our lives to think and act.  We must encounter the non-Christian with God's love AND his Truth.  We must look at the world and our faith and think on both Christianly.  

We must not let secular thought and ethics dictate our path. 

Don Owens

@donowens

www.donowens.tv

 

Pastor Mike Dean - Travis Avenue Church @pastormikedean

I love it when pastors post their sermons on line.  By doing so, they lend all of us permission to respond in the same sphere, the Internet.  So I'll start by asking Travis Avenue members to relent on the, "why don't you call the pastor", when the pastor opened his sermons for on-line proliferation outside the walls of a particular location church.  In addition, he has the same opportunity to respond.

It's too bad that sermons are rhetoric and that congregations sit quietly.  Leadership may think through their statements more seriously if people might stand up and say, "Excuse me pastor, what did you mean by..."

I received a call from  a couple of friends that attend Travis Avenue Baptist Church and they said, "You are not going to believe what Pastor Mike Dean said on Easter."

Dr Dean seems to have disconnected from the second centuries Apostle's Creed, as other seminary students I dialogue with these days seem to as well. 

While the overall basis of the sermon is agreeable, we should not let small items seep into our minds that contradict truth. 

The Apostle's Creed is the work of second century intellectuals in oder to counter the growing Gnostic movement.  It helped preserve truth from the letters of the apostles and it continues to do the same today.  It has been revisited and updated by our brothers in Catholic Church to ensure that this truth is preserved. 

In case your Protestant church failed to teach this creed to you, let me include it herein: 

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
    the Maker of heaven and earth,
    and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
    born of the virgin Mary,
    suffered under Pontius Pilate,
    was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,
    and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
    from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
    the holy catholic church;
    the communion of saints;
    the forgiveness of sins;
    the resurrection of the body;
    and the life everlasting.

Now let's consider a portion of Pastor Mike Dean's sermon from Easter. He stated, 

        "So here’s the way it works: Jesus, when He died on the Cross went to a place called heaven or paradise with His Father. He was there for three days, then He was resurrected and given His glorious new body with which he walked out of the tomb and appeared to hundreds of people around Jerusalem. And He was the “first-fruits,” the first of many who will come out just like He did."

Is it the way it works? No.  Not if you study the Bible and two thousands years of hard earned study. And does a short blog addressing this issue matter?  Yes, because little statements in sermons can mislead the importance of the potion of the Apostle's Creed that states, "He descended into hell". 

Christ was not with the Father upon his death.  Scripture makes this clear. Let's look at potential scriputre to support the creed that Jesus descended into Hades to identify Himself as the one they had hoped for in faith. 

It was clear that, "It was Finished".  It is also clear that Christ gave up His spirit to return to his full position as God. 

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. (1 Pet 3:18-20; NASB)

³¹ David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave. (Acts 2:31)

⁶ That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead^[a]—so although they were destined to die like all people,^[b] they now live forever with God in the Spirit. (1 Peter 4:6)

⁰ This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. ¹¹ They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.

 ¹² They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen. (1 Peter 1:10-12)

In addition, while a parable, there may be truth in the description of hell and paradise when Jesus spoke: 

 ¹⁹ Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. ²⁰ At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. ²¹ As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.

 ²² “Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham.^[a] The rich man also died and was buried, ²³ and his soul went to the place of the dead.^[b] There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.

 ²⁴ “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’

 ²⁵ “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. ²⁶ And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’

 ²⁷ “Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home.²⁸ For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’

 ²⁹ “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’

 ³⁰ “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’

 ³¹ “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.’”

⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” ⁴³ And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:42-43)

We learn that Christ is not yet with the Father when we read:

Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.(John 20:17)

I would fall far short of the great intellectuals if I spend too much time on this.  I am no Origin, Clement, Anthony, or St. Augustine, but a study of these greats will put them against this simple statement made by Pastor Mike Dean.  

Christ descended into Paradise and made himself known to the ancients as the one they had hoped for, He was their faith.  For as Hebrews makes it clear to us, it was by their faith they were saved. But Christ had not yet died and paid the price.  

Some seminarians have made the argument that Christ is not bound by time and this was not neccessary. But as the scripture said,  "It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen. (1 Peter 1:10-12)" We find that time is relevant. 

So let the scripture speak for itself and to you, but let's not throw quick whips without strong thought about what they may say, or how they may mislead. 

And thanks Pastor Mike Dean for providing the fodder for discussion. 

In service, Don

Missing God While Waiting for Something Big

In my Christian circles I am always amazed at some of the things that are said.  Whether it be Sunday mornings, para-church meetings, and sideline conversations there is a reoccurring request or expectation that concerns me.

"We are praying for a big move of God." Have you heard this before? "We're expecting God to do big things." "God has something big in store." "God let us be apart of the big things you are doing."

I think this may be part of the problem in the modern Christian mind.  This idea that we are to always be seeking something big. 

In seeking God for big things, we miss what he is doing about us, and we lose site that what we consider small, is quite large. I think we need to redefine 'big'.

What are the big things people are expecting from God?  Many people are seeking revival where mass amounts of people make professions of faith or rededicate all at once.  People that are going on so called "mission trips" are wanting to see something powerful when they arrive.  People expect God to fix their major situation, whether as an individual, community or nation. 

Why wouldn't we expect big things?  Simply, American Christianity is about big things.  Big buildings, popular speakers with big influence.  It's about you having a big impact and changing the world.

But in seeking the big, I think we miss Jesus Christ,  I would argue that seeking the big is actually us hoping to quench our own doubt, feed our ego, or give us a aggrandized story to tell.

God moves in what we call small.  We have categorized His miraculous into the minuscule.  We have culturalized our expectations of God, and missed Him in the process.

You might be angry with me about this statement, but I dislike youth mission trips.  I want to argue that they proliferate this "big" idea and actually cause youth to miss daily Christianity.  I am not saying that some good things don't come out of it, but I am saying I think there is something better.

A church plans a youth mission trip to Asia.  The plan is to witness on the street, help build a house, and bring clothing to a people group.  Each kid has to raise funds or in almost all cases, get their parents to pay for it.  Part of the trip includes site seeing, which is not a bad idea if you're going to go all that way.  There is lots of prayer time prior to departure.  Most of that will include praying for a 'big move of God.' The trip date comes along.  It takes 3 of the seven days just to get to your destination, get settled and return.  You spend two and half of the days doing 'ministry'.  This includes trying to get teenagers up and moving, fed, comfortable, and in line.  This leaves maybe 10 hours of 'ministry'.  Then there is the day and a half of tourism.  The youth return and share on Sunday morning with the congregation the amazing things that they felt, and if they find themselves lucky, they'll talk about how many people were 'saved'. People they will never see, talk to, or pursue again.

Sunday is over and the kids are back in school.  Next to them at their lunch table are 5 kids that do not understand the Gospel, but the Gospel is not for lunch room chatter, let alone the kids from church have little understanding of orthodoxy.   Across from the school is the apartment complex where the families are all from Bosnia, but there is no 'ministry' done there.  The conversations return to 'small talk'.  The pictures shared with friends are of them and the other teenagers in front of a giant Buddha. Their teacher, the agnostic, continues to speak of science void  of a Creator and they have no idea how to digest the data.  The old lady next door pulls out her garbage and goes back inside with little to no notice.  They return to church Wednesday night for another 'get in touch' with God session.  Theological things seem to far over their head to dive into so they avoid them. They return to their job at the store and go about business as usual. The mission trip is over, and now are back to the routine and regular life with no understanding of how to bring their faith into the everyday.

Is God not concerned with the everyday?  Is He not doing a new thing in our daily lives?  Is Christian action only about going somewhere different or foreign for a week? Did "go into all the world" just mean somewhere other than where I am?

The last three generations have made what we perceive to be the 'BIG' actions of God into what is most important and to be sought, and forsaken the actions of God in the everyday. We call these small. The modern Christian does not look at everything in life from his Christian worldview.  He delegates God to only the 'big'.

How do we fix this? What if we go to scripture and seek what our definition of 'big ' should be. 

  Paul writes to the Ephesians, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

The good works for us to participate in were prepared, beforehand.  God has laid out the fruits of our lives in advance.  He has decided what is 'big' in our lives.  He is seeking our participation in what he has planned for us.  Why should we ask for anything more than this?

"Experiencing God" was written by Henry Blackaby many years ago, but I think it hits on a very orthodox way of us seeking to be a part of God's work.

Instead of us demanding God show us something big, do something big, we should simply request to be a part of what He is doing and what He has prepared for us to do.

This is not a sit and wait and let's see what happens.  We should run with the visions God gives us, but be cautious about the expectations we set for God, unless we want to make Him laugh.

There is GIGANGTIC  fruit from the person that gives $20.00 every month continously year after year for a child in World Vision.  This is BIG as most people never stay committed to anything.

There is amazing GREATNESS in the person that stops and gives a homeless man $5.00 and does not worry about what he is going to spend it on and takes time to learn his name and hear his story.

It is HUGE when you stop what you are doing and just listen to what is troubling your spouse.

It is GRAND when you week after week teach young people in a Bible study.

It is MASSIVE when you are known at work as the dependable person.

Remaining true to your spouse all the days of your life is MONUMENTAL.

These are fruits of the Spirit. These are BIG things. 

So we are busy planning and inviting God to do BIG revivals, yet we cannot get anyone in our church to teach others.  We want to go somewhere foreign and see a bunch of people saved when there is no one there to disciple them.  Would God have us invite Him into our chaos and egotistical expectations?

Modern Christianity has emphasized 'size'.  We must instead seek God's plan for us in the everyday and pray he reveals to us what He is doing.  And then, no matter how small we perceive it, remain dedicated to the tasks he hs assigned us.

You have been put into the world, your "all of the world' is where you are now.  If we could just be successful with two growing disciples where we are now, the world would be changed.

So the next time you consider sending your kid on a mission trip to a far away place, be sure to ask them, and yourself, are we participating in what God has planned for us today?  Are we loving, joyous, peaceful, patient, kind, good, gentle, and self disciplined in our current circles?  Are we developing relationships where we are now and sharing truth?  Are we growing and developing disciples here? 

If the answers no for you or your child, don't get on the plane.

Don Owens 

 

 

 

 

Worship in Devil's Hall

I was lying down in the backseat of the Durango, that was now all scratched up from our two day adventure to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, when I began to reflect on our 22 mile -  2 day hike.  John and Andrew were in the front seats with enough energy to discuss real estate. As their conversation continued it was soon dulled by my mental retreat to once again ponder the words of Lewis.

Just days before heading on our hike I ran across some writings of C.S. Lewis.  I pondered his prose throughout the weekend with every incredible vista.  C.S. Lewis wrote,

"We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it."

 As an avid outdoors man these words said what I could not. 

I am always desperate to be outside, to see something new, to paddle a river I've never seen, to climb a mountain I've viewed numerous times from afar, to hunt a unique creature, to land an exotic fish, to rest in the wild.

No matter how many opportunities I get, I always want more.  At the end of each trip I jump in the car, or board the plane trying to plan my return.

I understand "unite" as defined in the quote.  The whole idea of making a mountain summit is the attempt to unite with or conquer the mountain.  A failed summit is a let down.  It's as if what was around you was not fully enjoyed.  My thoughts are, "I bet it's more amazing at 14,000 feet than it is at 13,000.  If only the weather had been better then I would have seen it all.  If only I could have had the complete experience."

These are thoughts one has to gain control over, as in this life, we will never be able to fully "unite" with beauty. We must enjoy the views, no matter where our climb ends.

C.S. Lewis was an atheist that in his pursuit to disprove God became a follower of Jesus Christ and a great intellectual of the faith.  When he speaks of beauty, it is not only at a natural level, but a spiritual level as well.

For the Christian, our hope is not fully realized until we are 'with' God.  Our hope is to be in the presence of God so we may physically bow,  thank and serve.  Mountains, rivers, fjords, and the the many other endless landscapes are merely a reflection of God's creativity, but they are not God.  The mystic and the pantheist want to assign deity to each feature, however, nature is only a mirror of the one creator, a reflection to be enjoyed.

 As Lewis writes, to see beauty is "bounty enough".  The first time I stood on the rim of the Grand Canyon I was speechless.  When my family and I ascended Half Dome in Yosemite I was in awe.  When Mark Hall and I summit Harvard I was ecstatic.  When I woke up with a clear morning in the Alps it was surreal.  The beauty was bounty enough. 

The desire to unite with beauty leads us humans to make some bad decisions.  We bottle up nature to take it home and put it on display.  We build large roads so mass amounts of people might gain access.  We only see how to consume nature, as opposed to just appreciating it.  There is a balance between consumption and pure appreciation that we must continue to seek.

Sunday morning John and I sat quietly under the shadow of Gudalupe Peak where we had summit the day before.  We were in the midst of a rock formation called Devil's Hall in the middle of the desert that was carved  out by unimaginable amounts of water.  The formation had nothing to do with the deceiver of mankind, but was the incredible design of an ever creating God. We sat as our hearts and minds worshiped the God of all beauty.

Nature reflects God.  It is there for our appreciation and use, but also so that we may find God.  As Paul reminds us of nature in his letter to the early Roman Christian congregations,

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

Today we look upon the beauty of creation, but as Lewis reminds us in the faith, one day we shall be united fully with  the creator of nature. 

"For if we take the imagery of Scripture seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the splendour of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths and the modern poetry, so false as history, may be very near the truth as prophecy. At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in."

 Until then, climb on.

 

 

 

The Misguided: "I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus"

Over the last few weeks a video on youtube (Hate Religion) "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus" has received over 14 million views.  I want to argue that it is a misguided approach to religion, but an understandable manifestation of the misguided form of Christianity that has gained steam over the last several years. 

I too was headed down this misguided path. I was drawn in by the intellectual stimulation of Rob Bell, Don Miller and William P. Young.  I thought I found some missing puzzle piece of the faith in "Velvet Elvis", "Blue Like Jazz", and "The Shack".  

As I meandered down the trail of "modern" Christianity I came to realize the fatal flaw in the concepts these men were sharing.  There was no good theology to support their claims, and they were way off base from the most important instructors, those in the Bible. 

Rob Bell is nothing new with his "Love Wins" story.  This is an ancient idea that was promoted in the second century by a man named Origin.  Origin, the great pupil of Clement wanted everyone to receive salvation, so he strayed from the instructions he had from the apostles, and the realities of the Law of Moses and said, "Love Wins" with a messgae of universal salvation for all.  Fortunately, the love wins theme was squelched for centuries, but in our post-Christian world, it is a convenient way to justify the faith.  

Bell strayed away from orthodoxy to reveal a brand of the faith that looks nothing like the message of Christ.  It is actually a mockery of his death, and lends no importance to His resurrection. 

Don Miller wants to give us all advise on faith, but throughout his book we are introduced to a man that can't seem to figure out how to have a loving relationship with anyone around him. 

And Young introduces us to the great easy going God that has no expectations to us.  Very different from the Jesus that says, "Obey my commands". 

My fear is for my children's generation.  That the Gospel they're left with is this overly emotional, theologically void form of existentialism. 

The growth of liberalism in Christianity is nothing new and on my flight today I had enough time to encounter a great mind, and hero of the faith, J. Gresham Machen (1881 - 1937). 

I have listened to many a Westminster podcast about the man, and knew he influenced other greats like Francis Shaeffer.  I knew about his struggle at Princeton and with the Presbyterian Church as he and the conservatives were being pushed out by a more wordly comfortable liberal weak theology, but I had never read any of the man's work. 

As I read "The Gospel in the Modern World" I found truth that needs to be spoken with love, very clearly to the next generations.  Machen's 1929 address to Hampden-Sydney College holds truths that need to be made clear to those that "hate religion, but love Jesus". 

Right from the start of the speech Machen grabs our attention, and his statement is as true now as it was then:

"It is a serious step, in these days, even from a worldly point of view, to become a Christian"

Today, as in 1929, those of us that claim the compiled Law of Moses and letters of the Apostle (The Holy Bible)  as truth, are thought of as delusional.  We are questioned with anger and mocked with smiles that say, "You poor fool."  We are blamed form the ills of the world, when we bring the answer for the world. 

But Machen offers a simple way out, the way that many churches and leaders have chosen:

"Of course the conflict can be avoided,  if one who professes Christianity adapts his message to the desires of those who are about him."

The Emergent Church does just this.  It eliminates the law that judges us sinners, the words of Christ that offers only one way to God and tickles the ears of the masses to make a "user friendly gospel".

As a believer in the Word of God, many have faced scrutiny from those inside and outside of Christian churches.  Machen makes it clear that this was growing, and to be expected.

"...if the Christian proclaims without fear or favor the gospel that is contained in the Word of God [he] who proclaims such a gospel is bound to face the opposition not only of the world but increasingly, I fear, the church...It is a serious thing to stand against the whole current of an age."

He then asks the question of those of us that follow the Gospel of the Word of God why we make our stand, and he offers the idea that we are not so impressed with the "modern mind". 

Machen cites the progress of his time.  The utilitarianism of Europe in the early 20th century, yet it falls into a world war, and we would soon see, does again just after Machen's death.  He looks into the future of scientific utilitarianism and states of it, "[it] may produce something far more terrible than anything we have ever seen yet."

He was right, in that the belief in Evolution eliminates moral absolutes and elevates utilitarianism.  

 Machen argues that what is most at stake is our liberty.  In standardizing and centralizing we actual eliminate liberty, not preserve it.  This from different directions, the church making a convenient gospel, and the country's push for centralized controls of education and expecting everyone to think "same".  

He describes how National Parks no longer are that, "natural":

"Sad are the ravages of landscape gardening, to the one who loves the wild beauties of the woods; it seems as though some sweet, delicate living creature were being destroyed.  But sadder still is the application of such modern methods to human souls.  And of such application we are witnessing many triumphs today...Standardization and centralization will go ruthlessly on...[standardization] is the attack upon the liberty of individualized parents to bring up their children in accordance with he dictates of their consciences."

The ultimate modern ideal is that the human machine arrive at its highest stage of efficiency. 

This modern desire for efficiency has seeped out of the world into our faith.  We want it simple, streamlined, neat, consumable, and useful for all. In the desire to escape explaining the truth of the Bible, the Christian faith is settling for feelings and ignoring foundational orthodoxy.  It was happening in Machen's church, and continues to progress. 

The fight is too much for many.  So the church has promoted the separation of facts and values as if the two never should intersect.  This makes it easy for the modern Christian to live comfortably in both the religious and scientific, because for them, there is no collision. 

The truth of the Bible holds the answer man seeks.  The modern mind may take us to Saturn, but it neglects humanities most burning questions. 

Machen doesn't suggest we look to the Bible to extract a set of moral commonplaces, vague general principles of religion and ethics that can be safely used, but to look at it as central to all of mankind. 

 If we do, then we collide with the words of Jesus.  He calls himself God and makes himself the only hope of all mankind.  He does not make himself merely a man with good ideas.  He does not offer an auto umbrella of salvation.  He does not proclaim we are good.  He states we are sinful, separated and in need of redemption. Anything that claims only portions of the gospel, is not Christianity.  Rob Bell is not promoting Christianity, he is preaching Origin's Universal Salvation. 

The Christian religion is beautiful.  God offers his creation salvation and restoration through saving grace.  Our religion is based on the Word of God, so hating it, but loving Jesus is a modern disconnect. "The Word (logos) became flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:14)  The Logos explains our origins, our purpose, our fall, our hope, and our future.  Everything in creation supports it, nothing in creation dismisses its truth.  

The disconnect is again understandable, as we no longer teach theology in our services and sunday schools.  We appeal to emotions without including the mind. We fall all on grace, or all on legalism, but fail to look and live out the Bible in the balanced life God calls us too. 

To believe and live the Word of God as presented to us by the prophets and the apostles is to now be mocked by the world and the post-modern church.  It is an uncomfortable to be pointed at from both sides, but the truth demands we must.  Truth is too important.  It is easy to understand Machen's pain from his choices that brought about his resignation from Princeton. 

"There are some of us who have become convinced that the pathway of true progress leads to the feet of Jesus Christ; that, consecrated to his service, the wonderful scientific achievements of the present day, in which we rejoice, far from being, as increasingly they are now threatening to become the instruments of human slavery, may become the instruments of human liberty: there are some of us who, after listening to many voices, after trying many substitutes, have decided, with a fresh and hopeful joy, to stand by our old allegiance, and to say, not to the reduced Jesus of the modern naturalistic reconstruction but to the mighty Redeemer presented in the Word of God:  'Lord to whom shall we go; thou hast the words of eternal life."

Machen, Shaeffer, Pearcey, Sire ask us to use our minds and hearts and discover the great truth of Christ who is our religion. 

 Amazon 

 

The Gospel in the Modern World - The Love of Religion & Jesus

Over the last few weeks a video on youtube (Hate Religion) "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus" has received over 14 million views.  I want to argue that it is a misguided approach to religion, but an understandable manifestation of the misguided form of Christianity that has gained steam over the last several years. 

I too was headed down this misguided path. I was drawn in by the intellectual stimulation of Rob Bell, Don Miller and William P. Young.  I thought I found some missing puzzle piece of the faith in "Velvet Elvis", "Blue Like Jazz", and "The Shack".  

As I meandered down the trail of "modern" Christianity I came to realize the fatal flaw in the concepts these men were sharing.  There was no good theology to support their claims, and they were way off base from the most important instructors, those in the Bible. 

Rob Bell is nothing new with his "Love Wins" story.  This is an ancient idea that was promoted in the second century by a man named Origin.  Origin, the great pupil of Clement wanted everyone to receive salvation, so he strayed from the instructions he had from the apostles, and the realities of the Law of Moses and said, "Love Wins" with a messgae of universal salvation for all.  Fortunately, the love wins theme was squelched for centuries, but in our post-Christian world, it is a convenient way to justify the faith.  

Bell strayed away from orthodoxy to reveal a brand of the faith that looks nothing like the message of Christ.  It is actually a mockery of his death, and lends no importance to His resurrection. 

Don Miller wants to give us all advise on faith, but throughout his book we are introduced to a man that can't seem to figure out how to have a loving relationship with anyone around him. 

And Young introduces us to the great easy going God that has no expectations to us.  Very different from the Jesus that says, "Obey my commands". 

My fear is for my children's generation.  That the Gospel they're left with is this overly emotional, theologically void form of existentialism. 

The growth of liberalism in Christianity is nothing new and on my flight today I had enough time to encounter a great mind, and hero of the faith, J. Gresham Machen (1881 - 1937). 

I have listened to many a Westminster podcast about the man, and knew he influenced other greats like Francis Shaeffer.  I knew about his struggle at Princeton and with the Presbyterian Church as he and the conservatives were being pushed out by a more wordly comfortable liberal weak theology, but I had never read any of the man's work. 

As I read "The Gospel in the Modern World" I found truth that needs to be spoken with love, very clearly to the next generations.  Machen's 1929 address to Hampden-Sydney College holds truths that need to be made clear to those that "hate religion, but love Jesus". 

Right from the start of the speech Machen grabs our attention, and his statement is as true now as it was then:

"It is a serious step, in these days, even from a worldly point of view, to become a Christian"

Today, as in 1929, those of us that claim the compiled Law of Moses and letters of the Apostle (The Holy Bible)  as truth, are thought of as delusional.  We are questioned with anger and mocked with smiles that say, "You poor fool."  We are blamed form the ills of the world, when we bring the answer for the world. 

But Machen offers a simple way out, the way that many churches and leaders have chosen:

"Of course the conflict can be avoided,  if one who professes Christianity adapts his message to the desires of those who are about him."

The Emergent Church does just this.  It eliminates the law that judges us sinners, the words of Christ that offers only one way to God and tickles the ears of the masses to make a "user friendly gospel".

As a believer in the Word of God, many have faced scrutiny from those inside and outside of Christian churches.  Machen makes it clear that this was growing, and to be expected.

"...if the Christian proclaims without fear or favor the gospel that is contained in the Word of God [he] who proclaims such a gospel is bound to face the opposition not only of the world but increasingly, I fear, the church...It is a serious thing to stand against the whole current of an age."

He then asks the question of those of us that follow the Gospel of the Word of God why we make our stand, and he offers the idea that we are not so impressed with the "modern mind". 

Machen cites the progress of his time.  The utilitarianism of Europe in the early 20th century, yet it falls into a world war, and we would soon see, does again just after Machen's death.  He looks into the future of scientific utilitarianism and states of it, "[it] may produce something far more terrible than anything we have ever seen yet."

He was right, in that the belief in Evolution eliminates moral absolutes and elevates utilitarianism.  

 Machen argues that what is most at stake is our liberty.  In standardizing and centralizing we actual eliminate liberty, not preserve it.  This from different directions, the church making a convenient gospel, and the country's push for centralized controls of education and expecting everyone to think "same".  

He describes how National Parks no longer are that, "natural":

"Sad are the ravages of landscape gardening, to the one who loves the wild beauties of the woods; it seems as though some sweet, delicate living creature were being destroyed.  But sadder still is the application of such modern methods to human souls.  And of such application we are witnessing many triumphs today...Standardization and centralization will go ruthlessly on...[standardization] is the attack upon the liberty of individualized parents to bring up their children in accordance with he dictates of their consciences."

The ultimate modern ideal is that the human machine arrive at its highest stage of efficiency. 

This modern desire for efficiency has seeped out of the world into our faith.  We want it simple, streamlined, neat, consumable, and useful for all. In the desire to escape explaining the truth of the Bible, the Christian faith is settling for feelings and ignoring foundational orthodoxy.  It was happening in Machen's church, and continues to progress. 

The fight is too much for many.  So the church has promoted the separation of facts and values as if the two never should intersect.  This makes it easy for the modern Christian to live comfortably in both the religious and scientific, because for them, there is no collision. 

The truth of the Bible holds the answer man seeks.  The modern mind may take us to Saturn, but it neglects humanities most burning questions. 

Machen doesn't suggest we look to the Bible to extract a set of moral commonplaces, vague general principles of religion and ethics that can be safely used, but to look at it as central to all of mankind. 

 If we do, then we collide with the words of Jesus.  He calls himself God and makes himself the only hope of all mankind.  He does not make himself merely a man with good ideas.  He does not offer an auto umbrella of salvation.  He does not proclaim we are good.  He states we are sinful, separated and in need of redemption. Anything that claims only portions of the gospel, is not Christianity.  Rob Bell is not promoting Christianity, he is preaching Origin's Universal Salvation. 

The Christian religion is beautiful.  God offers his creation salvation and restoration through saving grace.  Our religion is based on the Word of God, so hating it, but loving Jesus is a modern disconnect. "The Word (logos) became flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:14)  The Logos explains our origins, our purpose, our fall, our hope, and our future.  Everything in creation supports it, nothing in creation dismisses its truth.  

The disconnect is again understandable, as we no longer teach theology in our services and sunday schools.  We appeal to emotions without including the mind. We fall all on grace, or all on legalism, but fail to look and live out the Bible in the balanced life God calls us too. 

To believe and live the Word of God as presented to us by the prophets and the apostles is to now be mocked by the world and the post-modern church.  It is an uncomfortable to be pointed at from both sides, but the truth demands we must.  Truth is too important.  It is easy to understand Machen's pain from his choices that brought about his resignation from Princeton. 

"There are some of us who have become convinced that the pathway of true progress leads to the feet of Jesus Christ; that, consecrated to his service, the wonderful scientific achievements of the present day, in which we rejoice, far from being, as increasingly they are now threatening to become the instruments of human slavery, may become the instruments of human liberty: there are some of us who, after listening to many voices, after trying many substitutes, have decided, with a fresh and hopeful joy, to stand by our old allegiance, and to say, not to the reduced Jesus of the modern naturalistic reconstruction but to the mighty Redeemer presented in the Word of God:  'Lord to whom shall we go; thou hast the words of eternal life."

Machen, Shaeffer, Pearcey, Sire ask us to use our minds and hearts and discover the great truth of Christ who is our religion. 

 Amazon 

Shakespeare and Occupy Wall Street

"Either you must
Confess yourselves wondrous malicious,
Or be accused of folly." - Menenius ("Coriolanus")

"In the 21st century there are few graduates from the school of contentment." - Allistar Begg (Truth for Life)

"But if we have food and clothing we will be content with that." 1 Tim 6:8 (Holy Bible)

 

When I began reading Shakespeare's "Coriolanus" I never thought I would bump into wise words that should be heard by those in the Occupy Wall Street movement.  But then it is a politically charged play and at the heart of the matter is the same old rif between the haves and the have nots. 

You may not share my belief in an open universe that includes cause and effect, but also is open enough for the hand of God to manipulate.  You may live in a closed universe where God either does not care, or does not exists. You may have trouble accepting that this is a 'fallen' world and that it rains on the just and the unjust, the rich and the poor, the weak and the strong. But know the  framework I build upon as I write. 

I would argue at the core of many Occupiers is the same thing at the core of many in corporate America: greed.  We were told by Gordon Gecko in the 80's that "Greed is good" in the movie "Wall Street".  We all know it's not good, but it is real.  Greed is a human issue, not a corporate issue.  It is an individuals choice to take or to want to take more from others.  It's the point where the balance of "enough" or "acceptable" tilts the wrong direction.

The issue of greed is always aligned with the wealthy, the top 1%, when in reality it is just as much a problem with the middle class and the poor.

The Catholic church identified greed as a deadly sin, and rightfully so.  The definition of greed makes it clear it is universal, not just a problem of the "haves"  Greed is an excessive desire to possess wealth, goods, or abstract things of value with the intention to keep it for one's self.

An "excessive desire".  Are not those in the middle class that try and manipulate their way into a higher position or build debt, greedy?  Are not the poor that make demands, greedy?  Are not the socialists who clamour for reform, greedy? All want to take from someone else and "have it" for themselves.

Is greed not the driving force behind Karl Marx writing?  Did he not want for the proletariat what the bourgeoisie had?  Was his not a greedy call for contestant revolution?

Was greed not at the root of Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" that eliminated any 'moral' concern if the means brought the appropriate end?  Or the French intellictuals "The Coming Insurrection"?

But then if your universe is closed and you are simply a follower of Nietzsche, what do these moral questions matter?  The power of the strong and their forcing of their belief is all that should matter to you.

If I refuse to take the fast food job and live off the system, then I have a desire to posses the goods of others for myself.  If one charges excessive fees for transactions in order to increase profit margins over the previous year to improve conditions and attitudes about oneself, it's greed.  If I borrow $40,000 to buy a car because I want one like the neighbors but I won't pay for my kids college that year -  simple greed.

We are all greedy at some point.  If you say avarice does not exist in you, you simply look like a fool to the rest of us.  I once had someone tell me they were not a liar - laughable. We make justification for what we have and want, but it doesn't change the reality and sinfulness of greed. 

How much is too much?  Each man must ask this of himself and not others.  It is not our duty to control the greedy nature of others, it is our duty to control ourselves.  This is taught and accomplished in the home, not congress. The Holy Bible in 1 Timothy chapter 6 calls the rich to not be haughty and to ask them to be generous, but it does not say take away their money, or that they don't deserve it.  All my life I have always known many people with more money than me. At no point am I able to demand they give me a fair share or may I be envious of their wealth.  Once again, we are not able to answer the question for others of, "How much is too much".  Only they may answer the question.

Redistribution, realignment of the financial system, legislation, these do not eliminate greed.  Greed finds its way around everything.  It existed 6,000 years ago and it will exist 6,000 years from today should the planet continue spinning.

It's not a financial crisis, it is a moral crisis.  And it won't be resolved by a greedy congress. 

"Haves" are taught to self preserve.  "Have nots" are taught to self preserve.  We are all taught to be greedy.  There is a moral issue in both camps that legislation can not resolve. 

So OWS misses the point.  Socialism misses the point.  Liberalism misses the point and so does today's conservative movement.

We find the wrong starting points and make the wrong demands. The starting point is within each of us, and the demands should be of the self.  If you want this issue to diminish we must teach our children "moral absolutes" to quote my friend David Anderson from the U2" ZOO Tour" video 20 something years ago. http://youtu.be/9xpWBasyoMs 

We have seen financial reform, and we will see more.  But as the cycle has shown, mankind will relax a little, look away once more, and it will find itself back where it started making a demand for change to a broken system. Christ in the Christian worldview is the only solution to sin, legislation just changes how you sin.

In the tragedy of "Coriolanus"  the people are hungry and angry with the egotistical attitude of their great defender, Caius Marcius.  They want reform.  They are angry because someone has more than them.  They, like their leaders are greedy.  They say it is hunger that drives them, but that is just a guise. But I think Coriolanus' great defender, Menenius, makes a valid point concerning their plight. 

If the belly's of the 1% are not full, then how will the others eat at all? 

If I and the people in my neighborhood were not employed who would pay our: yard man, pool boy, maid, painter, mechanic, pest control, tree trimmer, plumber, electrician, dry cleaner and the list goes on?

In the same way, if the owners of our companies were not risk takers who would pay me and you?

There is always someone with more.  Someone whose belly is fuller than yours.  Someone who is kind enough to share a little of their good fortune with each of use by giving us an opportunity, or simply giving.

Rejoice when the belly's of others are fuller than yours.  Don't let your greed make demands of them, or they will undoubted respond in like kind.

Listen to the words of Menenius to the angry crowd.

MENENIUS 
There was a time when all the body's members
Rebell'd against the belly, thus accused it:
That only like a gulf it did remain
I' the midst o' the body, idle and unactive,
Still cupboarding the viand, never bearing
Like labour with the rest, where the other instruments
Did see and hear, devise, instruct, walk, feel,
And, mutually participate, did minister
Unto the appetite and affection common
Of the whole body. The belly answer'd--

First Citizen 
Well, sir, what answer made the belly?

MENENIUS 
Sir, I shall tell you. With a kind of smile,
Which ne'er came from the lungs, but even thus--
For, look you, I may make the belly smile
As well as speak--it tauntingly replied
To the discontented members, the mutinous parts
That envied his receipt; even so most fitly
As you malign our senators for that
They are not such as you.

First Citizen 
Your belly's answer? What!
The kingly-crowned head, the vigilant eye,
The counsellor heart, the arm our soldier,
Our steed the leg, the tongue our trumpeter.
With other muniments and petty helps
In this our fabric, if that they--

MENENIUS 
What then?
'Fore me, this fellow speaks! What then? what then?

First Citizen 
Should by the cormorant belly be restrain'd,
Who is the sink o' the body,--

MENENIUS 
Well, what then?

First Citizen 
The former agents, if they did complain,
What could the belly answer?

MENENIUS 
I will tell you
If you'll bestow a small--of what you have little--
Patience awhile, you'll hear the belly's answer.

First Citizen 
Ye're long about it.

MENENIUS 
Note me this, good friend;
Your most grave belly was deliberate,
Not rash like his accusers, and thus answer'd:
'True is it, my incorporate friends,' quoth he,
'That I receive the general food at first,
Which you do live upon; and fit it is,
Because I am the store-house and the shop
Of the whole body: but, if you do remember,
I send it through the rivers of your blood,
Even to the court, the heart, to the seat o' the brain;
And, through the cranks and offices of man,
The strongest nerves and small inferior veins
From me receive that natural competency
Whereby they live: and though that all at once,
You, my good friends,'--this says the belly, mark me,--

First Citizen 
Ay, sir; well, well.

MENENIUS 
'Though all at once cannot
See what I do deliver out to each,
Yet I can make my audit up, that all
From me do back receive the flour of all,
And leave me but the bran.' What say you to't?

First Citizen 
It was an answer: how apply you this?

MENENIUS 
The senators of Rome are this good belly,
And you the mutinous members; for examine
Their counsels and their cares, digest things rightly
Touching the weal o' the common, you shall find
No public benefit which you receive
But it proceeds or comes from them to you
And no way from yourselves. What do you think,
You, the great toe of this assembly?

First Citizen 
I the great toe! why the great toe?

MENENIUS 
For that, being one o' the lowest, basest, poorest,
Of this most wise rebellion, thou go'st foremost:
Thou rascal, that art worst in blood to run,
Lead'st first to win some vantage.
But make you ready your stiff bats and clubs:
Rome and her rats are at the point of battle;
The one side must have bale.

Enter CAIUS MARCIUS

Hail, noble Marcius!

 

 

 

"Bonhoeffer" by Metaxas - The Best Biography I've Ever Read

My Chicagoland buddy Trey Morris recommended I read a book that a friend of his wrote, "Bonhoeffer".  While I have read and admired Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings from the 1930's and 40's, I knew only a few of the major historical facts about the man.  His books, "The Cost of Discipleship" and "Life Together" are foundational to a Christian education, a part from them, you have missed two of the gems.

When I received the 560 page book by Eric Metaxas I was unsure of my commitment to reading a biography of such length.  If this were Augustine, Aquinas, Edwards or Calvin I would understand, but so much about one dude?  I was unsure of the investment of time and my limited attention span. 

After completing the first two chapters I was hooked like a catfish that swallowed a treble hook. I had a weekend in the Hill Country with my family where all I did was read the book.  My wife was not happy with my disconnect from them as they floated around the resort, but I could not put the book down and was compelled to continue, even knowing the reality that Bonhoeffer is hung in the end for his plot against Hitler.

I've spoken in past blogs about the "Democracy of the Dead", and in this book, Metaxas allows Bonhoeffer to speak truth from the grave into our modern society as he speaks of his love and  struggle for the church that was bowing to the signs of the times and forsaking orthodoxy. As he watched a nation of Christian people remain apathetic and self protective, as Protestant and Catholic alike endorsed The Fuhrer and his politics, Bonhoeffer was not completely alone in his opposition, but it must have felt like it.

The Bonhoeffer family were all intellectuals.  Dietrich's brother worked with Einstein.  His father was a leading physiologist in Germany, he followed in his grandfather's theological footsteps.

His letters are included throughout the book, and Metaxas connects time lines and thought patterns so well that you would wish him to include more writings and not less. 

You watch a man in his theological studies not come to faith with the Prayer of Confession, but through a mind and heart that falls in love with Christ and the finished work of the cross. Then you watch a man who comes to a prophetic understanding of his call.  His call to good theology, his call to a love of God, his call to fight at all costs, even death, for the sake of others.

In the last chapters Bonhoeffer is shuffled in a van from location to location with fellow conspirators and other traitors of the state.  You know his moment is coming, and the few eye witness accounts of the pastors last days are powerful.  Much as the soldier at the cross shares his observations of Christ, so the inmates and soldiers share theirs of Bonhoeffer in a statement of truth about the man in his final moments.

In my mind I heard the drop of the floor and the yank of the rope as I read...my heart sank and I wished for a different ending.  I wished Bonhoeffer had escaped.  I wished he had the opportunity to write more books.  I wished he'd had the opportunity to restore truth and good theology to Germany. I wished his voice would echo more loudly in the ecumenical church. 

The American  pastorate has much to learn from Bonhoeffer as well as us laymen.   

Our willingness to stick our necks out for truth, love and others is limited by our American self preservationist will. We fail to speak out for others or orthodoxy for fear of losing our jobs, our tax exempt status, our tithes.  I'll be expanding on these thoughts in the near future.

I have encouraged others to read Metaxas' work of art, and consider the words and life of Bonhoeffer and what he is teaching us today.  Others that have started the book have shared with me that they've had trouble putting it down. 

Bonhoeffer is a hero of the faith.  Take some time and study his life and writings

A few notable quotes from DB:

 "It is far too easy for us to base our claims to God on our own Christian-religiosity and our church commitment, and in so doing utterly to misunderstand and distort the Christian idea."

"It's much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying.  Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity." 

"At the end of the day I can only ask God to give a merciful judgement on today and its decisions."

"Hence the American intolerance, or rather indifference to dogmatic questions.  A warlike encounter is excluded, but so too is a true passionate longing for unity in the faith."

 "Death reveals that the world is not as it should be but that it stands in need of redemption.  Christ alone is the conquering of death"

"Mere waiting and looking on is not Christian behavior"

 Don Owens

Words Matter - The Ceremony of Ryan and Jennifer Sammons

I have been privileged to share in the most intimate moments of people's lives: weddings, funerals, baptisms and more.

There is something profoundly life changing and frightening when being charged as the officiant of such affairs.  Not that most things in life don't have a spiritual reality to them, but that in these occasions you are hyper-aware of God's presence.

It is also the most incredible experience.  Your job is to ensure the needs of those who have made the request, are met, and this is no light weight to carry.  While in reality you are a side player in the events, you have the grand opportunity to speak into lives.

I have never published a wedding ceremony, a funeral or baptism sermon, but I thought after this weekend I might.  I wish I had Charles Stewart's words to Danae and I on the day we wed in 1993, the promises we made, the words of wisdom he shared.  It seems it would be wise to return to those words often to ensure they are followed completely.  Words matter.  Vows matter.

I asked Ryan Sammons if I may post the words and vows from their special day, October 28, 2011.  He gave permission, so I am posting them for their future reference, and as a reminder for all of us about our wedding day. I think I may make the request of those in the future as well no matter the occasion, as words matter.

The Wedding of Ryan An Jennifer Sammons

PROCESSION

Who gives the women to this man?

Welcome family and friends to this exciting moment for Ryan Sammons and Jennifer Barton as they choose to join their hearts and spirits and face the joys and struggles of life together. 

Let me begin by honoring their parents: Richard, Linda, Charles and Donna for a job well done.  James Dobson writes that if you get your kids to 18 alive, you’ve been a successful parent.  In this case, you have been more than successful, for Ryan and Jen have turned into two wonderful young people.

Please remain standing as we acknowledge the most important participant in today’s ceremony.  Please join me in prayer.

(Prayer:  Fearfully and Wonderfully Made)

In our lives there are key moments that we never forget. Like the moment you two met.

Many of you may know the story of how these two came to know one another, but in case you didn’t, I went to Jennifer to get the real story. 

One of Jennifer’s friends was having a birthday party at her apartment, and one her childhood friends Barrett Boone was coming and Boone invited Ryan.  Jennifer recalled that it took several phone calls and multiple times giving Ryan directions to get him there. When he finally arrived she went downstairs to show him where to park, and in her words, “Their stood this tall, handsome, F150 driving, cowboy-boot wearin flawless-smile of a man”.   They began dating a while later, and hence we are here today. 

Now Ryan’s version starts with, “I showed up at the apartment using my keen sense of direction”…but we’ll skip his version. But that same night he remembers being enchanted with Jennifer’s smile, her voice, and the contagiousness of her fun loving spirit.

Ryan, Jennifer, today is another one of those key moments in life for you. 

This is a reference point for you until the end of your lives. A moment that in life you must never forget /  and I assure you that life will attempt to throw things at you to dull the memory of today, the vows of today, and seriousness of today.

Today is not about a contract, as contracts are designed to ensure two parties to live up to their promises because they don’t trust each other.  Today is about an unbreakable covenant because you do trust each other and you trust God. Today is about committing to the other in service, no matter what may come.  Much as God made a new covenant with us through Christ to redeem us.  Covenants are for life and unbreakable. So when the dark hours come, and the do come, this is your reference point that you have no choice but to be faithful and love the other.

And I know you to love each other.   

Ryan, Jennifer shared with me that being with you brings her joy and comfort. She loves that you’re a man who is willing to state his opinion, at the same time graceful enough to listen to others. She loves your passion for life, the outdoors and her and she is grateful to have found someone in life she can trust fully.

Jennifer, Ryan said after a long morning of playing at the park he likes to listen to you and Levi snore on the couch together. (That’s what he said.) He also said he is grateful for the ways that you share your love him:  from your daily emails, to the random notes you leave for him.  He’s grateful for the encourager that you are to him.  And he loves singing country songs with you.

Never forget your love for another.  That love, Jennifer that brought you to say, “Yes” on May 21th when this man proposed.  That love, Ryan that made you confident to ask for her hand.

But above all, never forget the love of our God that created marriage.  That told us it was not good for a man to be alone.  That said for this reason a man shall leave his parents and cling to his wife. He is to be loved first, and in doing so, you will love each other all the more. I cannot stress to you enough today, that if you put Jesus Christ first, you will have a life together full of indescribable joy, no matter what life throws your way.

“The freedom to choose a mate is a gift from God, who created us in his image.  The desire for earthly bliss is not something we steal from behind the back of God, but it is something he has desired that we desire.”

So remember this day and the love you have for each other, and above that / remember this day and the vows you are about to make to each other. 

Please turn and face each other and join hands.

Ryan,

do you love this woman? (Response)

Will you have Jennifer to be your wife? (Response)

Will you put her before all others? (Response)

Will you put her before yourself? (Response)

Will you be true and faithful to her every day of your life until death? (Response)

Do you accept the responsibility to be the spiritual leader in your home to her and to your future family? (Response)

Ryan repeat after me please:

I, Ryan, take thee Jennifer, to be my wife, and before God and these witnesses I promise to be a faithful and true husband."

Jennifer,

Do you love this man? (Response)

Will you have this man to be your husband? (Response)

Will you put him before all others? (Response)

Will you put him before yourself? (Response)

Will you be true and faithful to him every day of your life until death? (Response)

Do you accept the responsibility to be the spiritual cornerstone in your home for him and to your future family? (Response)

Jennifer repeat after me please:

I, Jennifer, take thee Ryan, to be my husband, and before God and these witnesses I promise to be a faithful and true wife."

Do you have a ring for Jennifer as a token of your promise? May I see the ring? This ring is made of pure medal, as the ring is pure, so should your marriage remain pure. Please place it on her left hand.

Ryan Repeat after me: "With this ring I thee wed, and all my worldly goods I thee endow. In sickness and in health, in poverty or in wealth, til death do us part."

Do you have a ring for Ryan as a token of your promise?? May I see the ring. This ring is one complete circle, there is no separation, so should you two be one.  Please place it on his left hand.

Jennifer repeat after me: "With this ring I thee wed, and all my worldly goods I thee endow. In sickness and in health, in poverty or in wealth, til death do us part."

LORD’S SUPPER

Ryan and Jennifer have chosen to start their life together by acknowledging that Christ is the center of their relationship by sharing Communion together. In the early church followers of Jesus frequently took part in the Lord’s Supper in obedience and to show that they abide in Christ. Today they profess their continued desire to abide in Christ as two gathered in his name.

In the Lord’s supper we acknowledge the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.  The extreme price that was paid for our sin on Calvary.  And we rejoice in Christ’s resurrection and hope for his soon return.

The apostle Paul wrote, “for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”  Before you today Ryan and Jennifer proclaim that their lives are dependent on the Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection from the dead and that this is their hope. 

(MUSIC – Address the Couple Only)

Paul reminds us to: Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup  1 Corinthians 11:28 Let me Pray for us.

PRAYER

Isaiah shared with us what the purpose of the Messiah hundreds of years before he arrived when he stated,  “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5

Paul also said, for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:26

When Jesus was with the disciples before his death…”he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Eat

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Luke 22:19-20  Do this in remembrance of me.

Drink

If you serve Christ first, you will not fail at serving each other. 

(The couple has a moment alone)

(RETURN TO CENTER)

Ryan and Jennifer, “as God adds his “yes” to your “yes”, as He confirms your will with His will, and as he allows you, and approves of your triumph and rejoicing, he makes you at the same time, His instruments of His will and purpose, both for yourselves and others.  God does add His “yes” to yours, but by doing so, he creates out of your love something quite new – the holy estate of Matrimony.”

You have exchanged vows. It is not your love that sustains your marriage, but from now on, the marriage sustains your love.

Before God and these witnesses,  I pronounce you man and wife.  You may kiss the bride!

(PRONOUNCEMENT)

Family and friends may I present to you Mr. & Mrs. Ryan Sammons!