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May 18, 2011

Stupid Bumper Stickers and Bad Attitudes: Caring for the Needy in 21st Century Capitalistic Evangelical America

Posted by JeremyJK under Bible, Christianity, Church, Culture, Jesus, Kingdom of God, Money, Needy, Politics, Scripture, sin, Spiritual Formation, Teachings of Jesus
[3] Comments 

Not too long ago I was driving home from work and all of a sudden my car was swallowed up by the shadow of a mammoth SUV/pick-up truck.  This thing was a gas guzzlin’ monster-beast of a truck.  We came to a red light where the beast-truck was in the right lane and I in the left.  As we sat at the light and I was diagonally behind him, I could hear him revin his engine…VROOM…VROOM!!! Then my eye caught a white bumper sticker on his truck that read in red and blue patriotic letters…”I can drive this truck because we can’t all be on welfare!!!” 

Suddenly the light turned green and rubber tires pealed-out leaving smoke everywhere.  As I coughed on this manly man’s dust I couldn’t help but think about Deuteronomy 15:7-11 and feel the heart of God aching.

 

7 If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbour. 8You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. 9Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near’, and therefore view your needy neighbour with hostility and give nothing; your neighbour might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. 10Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbour in your land.’

With this passage in mind I don’t understand the attitudes and prejudices that people who can obviously drive gas guzzlin’ trucks have.  Now one might say, “Well, you don’t know if he was a Christian or not so how can you hold him to that standard?”

Well first…I don’t know if he was a Christian but I have met MANY Christians with that same exact disgust for those in need or on welfare. These are Christians who have gotten caught up in the American dream and love affair with capitalism more than the economy of God and the ethics of the kingdom. 

Secondly, God does hold the unbeliever to ethical standards.  Unbelievers are not given a get out of jail free card and dismissed from a standard because they don’t believe in it.  There are several places in the Bible where unbelievers are held accountable to ethical standards of God.

But for the sake of this post, let’s explore our own feelings about those in our society who are in need.  How about the elderly, the orphan, the widow, the immigrant, the family stuck in the ghetto, the disabled, etc the list is unending?  It is so sad the bitter and horrible things I hear said about these people…from CHRISTIANS!!!  We can tolerate the widow and orphan as long as the orphan grows up and “get’s a damn job.”  We have little use for immigrants, especially “illegals” (as we title them) regardless of the circumstances they may be trying to escape. If they are “legal” we say “they can stay as long as they learn to speak our own damn language!”  And “there are NO families STUCK in the ghetto, this is capitalism they need to go to college and go out and get a job!”

WHAT CARELESS IGNORANCE!!!

I have heard all of these things, even from elderly church-going grandmas.  HOLY COW!!! What terrific attitudes we have toward the needy.  The Old Testament get’s a bad rap on a lot of things, but especially on this issue…it does not have the often affluent evangelical capitalistic American attitude toward these people.  On the contrary, the Old Testament goes to GREAT lengths to help and provide for these folks. 

Now do I think there are some people leaching off the system and taking advantage of it?  Absolutely.  But we are not called to be their judge of intentions on those issues.  We will be held accountable for what we do when we are met with those needs.  They will be accountable for their own intentions…but even God allows the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.  He provides for all…and a so are we called to do so. 

We all have certain types of people in our hearts that we have been conditioned to despise.  Who are they in your heart?  Are they black?  Are they white or asian?  Are they Muslim?  Are they drunk, poor, homeless, elderly, ghetto, white-trash, rich, catholic etc?  When those feelings and thoughts arise we need to repent of them and reject them.  We need to love those people and “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”  God loves them and so should we.  We are called to love our neighbor…they are our neighbor!

We are not to be “hard-hearted or tight-fisted.”  We are not to “entertain a mean thought” against them.  But we are to “give liberally and be ungrudging.”  We are not supposed to drive around with stupid bumper stickers on our vehicles and join the culture in abhorring these people and treating them as lazy, invisible, and pests to society. 

I pray for you and for me that we can overcome this bitterness we have for different groups of individuals and see them not as  the world sees them but as Christ sees them in Matthew 25.  Jesus identified with the needy and said when we minister to them…we minister to him.  When we feed the hungry, we feed him.  When we clothe the naked, we clothe him.  When we allow the customer to shop freely without spying on their every  move because they might be stealing, we allow Christ to shop freely.  You get the point. 

May we see every human being as created in the image of God.  May we see them as Christ sees them.  May we see them as Christ.

 

May 11, 2011

Listening For Silence In A Blaring World: For God and Self

Posted by JeremyJK under Bible, Christianity, Church, Culture, Faith, Jesus, Just Life, Meditations, Scripture, Spiritual Formation, Teachings of Jesus
1 Comment 

So I have a rather abstract thought for you today but it’s one that really got me thinking.  I’ve been reading a book called Monk Habits for Everyday People: Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants, by Dennis Okholm.  Don’t ask why I’m reading it, I just read everything that crosses my path.:) That is not always a good habit but it get’s me to look in books I probably would usually shrug my shoulders at. 

There is a chapter about “listening” in the book.  You know that action that most Americans are really poor at…especially in the Church.  Everyone wants to talk but few want to listen even though the proverb says, “Be slow to speak and quick to listen.”  Anyhow, in this chapter Okholm brings up the point that most of us listen to the external but not the internal.  That is to say, we fill our ears with music, conversation, TV shows, News, the sound of cars, jack-hammers, emergency sirens, constant chatter etc. 

We hear what we are trained to listen to.  To further this point Okholm gives an example of a naturalist walking down a city street at night with a friend who lives in the city.  As they are walking, the naturalist turns to his friend and says, “I’m surprised at all the crickets in the city.” 

The friend responds, “What crickets?  What are you talking about?”

“Can’t you hear them?” the naturalist asks.

“I don’t hear anything.”

As they continue walking down the busy city street the naturalist grabs his friend’s arm and they come to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk.  The naturalist drops a handfull of coins on the sidewalk and suddenly a whole group of people on cell phones, iPods, reading newspapers and magazines in the remaining sunlight, and talking to people next to them, come to a sudden halt to bend down and pick up the change and pocket it.

We have been trained to listen to the things that our culture has informed us is important.  But are we trained to hear the voice of our Lord?  Do we hear the voice within us?  Do we hear what is really going on inside of us?  Is there anything going on inside of us?  Is there anything there?

Okholm mentions Anthony Bloom, an Orthodox metropolitan, asking if we were alone as a Christian in prison, stranded on an island, or out in an national park for a couple weeks alone on a sabbatical, with nothing but our thoughts–would we get bored?  Would you (and I ask myself as well) get bored with yourself?  Or is there enough in you to be busy and deep in thought, reflection, and conversation with yourself and God?  Or does God bore you? 

I wonder if I have enough scripture in me to remember and recite in my thoughts to keep me busy pondering and meditating for weeks without a Bible in my hands.  Do you know any verses?  What about a chapter?  A book of the Bible?  I know of people who have actually committed the entire book of Ephesians to memory.  Those people would not be bored but would be delighted by the opportunity.

What about a work of literature?  A poem?  Is there anything inside of you that you could bring up?

And have you been trained to hear the voice of Jesus?  Scripture says, “My sheep know my voice.”  Ever wonder how that works?  Probably because the sheep are in the presence of the shepherd everyday, all day.  Do you listen for the voice of the shepherd?  Would you recognize it if you heard it? 

I for one am going to commit myself to putting more in me, so that I have something to withdrawal on a regular basis.  I think it would be a great exercise to go for a walk in a quiet park with NOTHING but myself and practice listening to what is inside and see if I get bored or not. 

Let’s train ourselves to listen to what is inside and not just what is external filling our ears constantly.  Let’s train ourselves to hear the voice of the Lord.  Let’s devote ourselves to times of quiet instead of turning on the TV or radio in the car.  We turn on the radio in the car like a crackhead grabs for his baggy.  We do it out of habit…we do it without thinking…we are at times wondering how that stupid thing got turned on.  Imagine a world without all that noise.  Let’s be blessed by the sound of silence…and listen for that still small voice.

 

 

April 27, 2011

Is Rob Bell Going to Hell?

Posted by JeremyJK under Christianity, Church, Culture, Hell, Judgment, Salvation, Scripture, sin
[2] Comments 

Rob Bell, a 41 year old senior pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan is all over the media now…more so than he has been in the past.  Have you seen or heard him?  My experience with Rob Bell actually began some years ago in an adult Bible study class one Sunday afternoon.  Bell does a series of short films, theologically related, called Nooma videos.  These videos are usually quite charismatic, theatrical, dramatic, high-tech, and either moving or informative.  That Sunday during class we watched one of those films.  I can’t say I remember the topic but I remember the images.  To be honest–I liked it and it did have an effect on me at that moment. 

Then some years later, a friend I work with gave me a video of him preaching.  I can’t say that I loved it, but I remember thinking, “Boy this guy is going to reach a  lot of young people.”  I have seen his face and sermons pop up around the web here and there, but I never payed too much attention.  Yet I have to say, I think the name of his church is cool…but I am not sure the world get’s it’s meaning.  He does have a 7,000 member church however, so he has gotten someone’s attention.

Recently, it seems, that the attention he is getting has picked up a lot of steam.  A couple of days ago my sister asked me if I heard of Rob Bell.  She said that she heard that he is preaching that there is NO hell.  The name sounded familiar but I was more focused on what she said he was preaching.  I wasn’t surprised, it is not the first time I have heard such teaching.  An ex-charismatic preacher/singer named Carlton Pearson broke off some years ago and started preaching the same theology…NO HELL! 

Then my curiosity really peaked on Monday when I was walking down the magazine aisle at a local grocery store and saw TIME magazine with an image of hell that looked like a sketch done in the form of Albrecht Durer one of my favorite artists.  The title on the front said, “Rob Bell: Does Hell Really Exist?”  I picked it up, read the article, and could empathize with the points the journalist was trying to make for Bell.  Even though I didn’t agree with many points, I know it has been an issue for millenia in the Church.  I was also able to connect all of the dots going back almost a decade of who Rob Bell is and the church he pastors.

When I got home I went on the web and did some more research.  What I found was mostly very harsh reactions from the Church.  People were criticizing Bell saying things like, “He’s going to hell!” to “That’s what a theology degree from Fuller will get you.”  Then I came across some interviews he did.  One interview in particular stood out to me and that was Martin Bashir interviewing Bell.  It was obvious that Bashir was pretty heated over the topic.  Apparently, Bell just released his newest book, “Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.”  Bashir gave Bell his perspective of the book and it was not pretty.  In fact, Bell barely got a word in to talk about his book. 

Then I went to my seminary class and it actually came up in conversation before class with the professor.  He said a student from one of his undergrad classes let him borrow it.  The professor did not seem pleased with the book and basically thought Bell is a heretic and perhaps even a pagan.  Apparently, the conversation arose agian during our break in the lounge.  I was downstairs however and missed it.  But one of the students in my class came down and told me that it had come up and she was arguiing with the professor about the book.  She said to me, “I could have really used you up there Jeremy to help me out.”  “Are you sure?”  I thought to myself.  “I believe in judgment, hell, and eternal punishment.  But I also believe in God’s unconditonal love, and I do think it will win in the end.  But what does that mean?”  I thought further.

Bell claims that the reason he wrote the book, the motivation behind it was, that someone basically told him that Ghandhi was in hell.  This claim sent Bell on a contemplative roller coaster trying to determine if God really would send someone like Ghandhi to hell.  What about the woman who was abused sexually, physically, and verbally by her evangelist father?  What kind of emotional damage would something like that do to cause a wall between her and Jesus? 

I asked my fellow seminarian if she actually read Bell’s book and she said she had.  She said that he actually states he believes in hell and that people will go there.  She added that Bell is just unsure if live is our last chance to decide our eternal destiny.  He wonders if God’s love will give people another chance to decide when they die and experience him.  He raises questions that the Church has pondered for years but has remedied with speculative answers that do not necessarily have answers in scripture.  Now this was a different perspective that was not coming out in what I had researched or watched on interviews.  Most interviews didn’t even give Bell a chance to make his case, they just labeled him a heretic.

So this is what I have concluded.  1. I prejudged the book and Bell before I actually read it and gave him a chance to speak for himself.  So before I say anything else I am going to read it and I will blog my thoughts; 2. I wonder how many of his accusers have actually read his book.  Did Bashir read it or did he have some of his assistants read it and then fill him in? 3. Why is the Church always on a heretic hunt looking for witches to burn at the stake?  4. One thing is for sure, Bell has gotten a lot of people to have this discussion again and revisited our views and believes…and there is never anything wrong with that.  In fact, when you think you have it all figured out, and your theology is in perfect order…you are in a bad spot!

 

April 26, 2011

Holy Spirit Who?

Posted by JeremyJK under Acts, Apostle Paul, Bible, Christianity, Church, Holy Spirit
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I am finding that the book of Acts is becoming my favorite book in the Bible.  If you haven’t noticed already, the book of Jeremiah is my favorite OT book for many reasons.  One of the main reasons how ever is that as I read it I can feel the aching and hoping heart of God.  It is such an intimate book.  However, Acts is so powerful and exciting.  It gives valuable insight into the early Christian Church from the ascension of Jesus to the narrative of Paul under house-arrest in Rome. 

The book is commonly called the Acts of the Apostles which many scholars and ministers state may be a bit misleading.  Many claim that the true main character is in fact the Holy Spirit and perhaps the book should be renamed, “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.”  I once heard how many times the Holy Spirit is referenced in Acts but I forgot and to be honest I do not want to take the time to count how many times he is mentioned from the concordance.  But if you want to do it for me and reply to this post–feel free:)  But the number of times is a lot and it dominates all other nouns. 

Given this fact, as I read through Acts I am always shocked when I come to the story almost in the middle of the book in Acts 19:1-7.

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the inland regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. 2He said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’ They replied, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’3Then he said, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ They answered, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ 4Paul said, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.’ 5On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied— 7altogether there were about twelve of them (NRSV).

WHAT!?!  They never even heard?  Okay, maybe I can give these guys some slack because the Gospel was just beginning to be spread over those first several decades and these guys were all the way in Ephesus.  This city was in Asia Minor and was a long ways off from Jerusalem where the Holy Spirit was first given on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.  Yet we must note that it was vital and essential to Paul that these gentlemen receive the Holy Spirit.  In fact, the reception of the Holy Spirit is one of six main features that seem to be the essentials for joining the Church and being part of God’s people.  Here they are: 1.Hear the core teachings of Jesus culminating in an account of Jesus’ death and resurrection; 2. Repentance; 3. Faith in God through Jesus Christ; 4. Baptism in the name of Jesus; 5. Forgiveness of sins; 6. Reception of the Holy Spirit. 

These six essentials are found throughout Acts in the conversion accounts.  They are not always present in every account but are frequent enough to be recognised by most scholars as being necessary.  So Paul takes this opportunity to inform these men of the Holy Spirit and he lays his hands on them and they do indeed receive.

What troubles me however is that I often visit many churches or come acrossed many so-called Christians who remind me of this passage.  I begin talking about the Holy Spirit and they look at me like I am telling them about my best friend’s roommates step-uncle who is twice-removed on his father’s cousin’s side.  I talk about the Holy Spirit and they respond in complete confusion. 

I have sat Sunday after Sunday in churches where the Holy Spirit is never mentioned once except maybe in a reading of scripture.  Why is this?  Would Paul recognise our churches as Christian churches?  Would he walk in and start talking about the Holy Spirit and the congregation respond, “No, we have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”  Now if this is one of the six features that we see dominating early Church conversions and recognition of one belonging to the people of God…shouldn’t we have him as a more dominant subject of our conversations, sermons, books, and experience?  I think so!

 

April 20, 2011

The Music the World Cannot Hear

Posted by JeremyJK under Christianity, Church, Culture, Faith, Jesus, Just Life, Meditations, New Atheism, Reason, Revelation, Salvation, Science, Scripture
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“… and those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” –Nietsche (I am indebted to my sister for reminding me of this quote.  I must add I am aware of Nietsche’s philosophies and the irony of using him as a quote for my article.  The irony here though is…I don’t think Nietsche could hear the music either).

                How do we Christians stand against the attacks of the world, particular the reason of the “New Athiests?”  They say our God is not real and doesn’t exist.  To that I say, “We are dancing to music they just can’t hear.” If they could only experience the power of the over whelming love our hearts experience when he touches us with his gentle hands.  If they could only experience the perfect peace we have amidst the worst storms of life.  If they could only experience the impregnable joy we have when we have no reason to laugh or rejoice.  If they could only experience the belonging to a community of believers when we have every reason to feel alone.  If they could only experience the closeness we feel to a father, friend, companion, shepherd, and king when we are in the presence of the God they can’t see. 

                 What do we say to those who can not hear the music we are dancing to?  What do we say to those who have not felt the touch of the Master’s hand?  What do we say to those who have become so calloused toward the idea of God?  What do we say to those who have not experienced the power that we have experienced?  It’s that experience of God that has caused us to entrust ourselves to him; that experience that has allowed us to know that there is a God who loves us in a way that no outsider could possibly understand with all their human faculties; that experience that has evolved into a relationship that is deeper and more real than any relationship we have ever had or will ever know in this life or the next?  I don’t know what to say sometimes, except “Come. Come. Come and meet the Lord I have come to know and love; this new life; this joy; this peace; this deep, deep love.  Hear the music.  Hear the music and dance!”

 The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift (Revelation 22:17 NRSV).

 

April 19, 2011

The Power of Testimony: What the Critics and Atheists Can’t Take Away!

Posted by JeremyJK under Bible, Christianity, Church, Culture, Ecclesiology, Faith, Gospel Of John, Jesus, New Atheism, Reason, Science, Scripture, Spiritual Formation, Teachings of Jesus
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Let me start by saying this, “YOUR TESTIMONY AS A BELIEVER IS THE MOST POWERFUL TOOL OF EVANGELISM YOU HAVE IN YOUR ARSENAL.”   Piggy backing off of my previous article, it is apparent that the world is filled with Christopher Hitchenses.  That is, our faith as Christian believers is being challenged on a daily basis.  I have watched several of Hitchens’ debates against many Christians and people of various faith backgrounds.  He has debated theologians, scholars, authors, ministers, social activists etc.  As I have mentioned, overall, I think they have all lost the debates to Hitchens for various reasons.  Yet in the midst of all of these debates there was one debater, and one single moment that seemed silent but POWERFUL. 

During the debate between Marvin Olasky and Hitchens, Olasky says to Hitchens (my paraphrase), “I don’t know what teaching you have absorbed over the years that has made you believe the way you do.  But whatever the reason…I pity you.”  Olasky went on to say, “There is something that you and I have in common.  We were both married and then divorced.  In my first marriage, I was an atheist and did not know how to be a husband.  I was a bad husband.  It only lasted two years.  Then I got remarried but this time as a Christian.  Christianity taught me how to be a husband and a father.  I have been married for thirty years.”  WOW!

If you watch Hitchens, his demeanor changes and he seems taken back.  He even says something to the effect of, “Well said” to Olasky.  It may be the first time I have seen Hitchens like that.  Why do you think?  I think it’s because Olasky used, and maybe not purposefully, the most powerful element of Christianity we have.  EXPERIENCE!  No one can refute your testimony.  No one can dismiss your witness.  No one can reject your experience.  Why?  Because it is your proof that it is real, that something is going on here that no outsider can convince you with all their logic, reason, and rhetoric otherwise. 

What Olasky was saying was that he has experienced the power of the Gospel in his life and not even Hitchens in all of his brilliance can take that away.  Hitchens, I think, knows this too.  The Gospel has the power to change and transform lives and it has done exactly that.  Hitchens can’t convince the ex-drug dealer or alcoholic who came to Christ and was delivered that there is no power in the Gospel.  In fact, I know some of those people.  I have heard their stories how the impossible was made possible because they had an encounter with Jesus Christ of Nazareth. 

I work with a man who I knew as no more than an alcoholic bum.  God got a hold of him and flipped him upside down and then right side up. He went through a traumatic divorce during all of this and I thought for sure he would go back to drinking.  Yet the power of God that changed his life, identity, and desires stuck with him and he is still living strong for the Lord.  That’s an experienced reality of the power of God in someone’s life.  No one is going to tell that man there is no God and that Christianity is a flop.  I think he might just laugh at such a remark.

I am reminded of John 9.  I trust you have a Bible to look it up…if not you must be viewing this from a computer so you can search that passage on an online Bible.  If you need a Bible, email me and I will get one to you.  Okay back to John 9.  This is the passage where Jesus, rather sanitarily spits on some dirt and makes mud balls.  He smothers the mud onto some blind guy’s eyes and tells the man to go wash the germy mud off.  The man does and could see.  He was healed miraculously!  The Pharisees get their robes all in a bunch and get mad about the healing.  After much interrogation of both the blind man and his parents the blind man says one of the most profound things in scripture.  The Pharisees accuse Jesus of being a sinner and try to undermine him.  The blind man responds, “I don’t know if he is a sinner, but one thing I do know—I was blind but now I see.”  Wow that is awesome!!! 

The man was blind from birth.  Jesus heals him.  The Pharisees pout and have a hissy fit about it.  Who is really blind in this narrative?  Who?  Right…the religious leaders who should have known better.   These leaders were the intelligencia of their day.  You know…the guys who knew it all and were well studied in matters on many subjects.  But their whining and reasonable arguments did not matter a hill of beans to the blind man who could finally see.  HE COULD SEE!  Nobody was going to take that away from him…NOBODY! 

This is my argument against those who want to align themselves against the God of the Bible and Jesus Christ: all the bells and whistles of reason and logic don’t hold a match to what we have personally experienced as Christians.  I have so many testimonies I don’t know where to begin.  I know people who have so many testimonies it would take weeks to cover.  So while we sit around holding debates and theorizing about the God of the Bible and the reality of the risen Savior Jesus Christ being real or not—there are people all over the world experiencing his power NOW.  If you don’t believe me I will point you in the direction of many folks that are in the midst of it and seeing it move like wild fire across countries like China and Sudan.

For those of you who haven’t experienced it I say this…get out of your dead and dried up churches into a church that actually expects God to move and live.  If you haven’t been to church find one that expects God to be real and to move in their midst.  If you walk into a church that hands you a bulletin of how the service is going to go…walk back out… because they have obviously structured and choreographed God right out of the service. 

This may rub some of my Christian brothers and sisters the wrong way but listen.  There is a world that is hungry for the reality of God in this decaying world and they are depending on you to proof it to them.  Stop playing church for goodness sakes and start calling out for the fire of God to fall on you.  You don’t want to?  Then slowly wait for the day when your old church doors and windows are boarded up and ICHABOD is plastered across them. 

God is moving and waiting for YOU to jump in!  Throw off the chains of this culture that are holding you down!  Stop protecting your reputations and securities and get embarrassed for God!  Let him interrupt your controlled life and infuse it with the power of his Holy Spirit.  Does that make you feel uncomfortable?  Right…it’s suppose to. God wants to invade your life and fill it with his presence.  But you have to let him in.  Whatever is holding you back needs to be submitted.  Yuck, not that word again.  SUBMIT and YIELD yourself to God…I promise, you won’t regret it.

As you embrace him he will give you an experience, testimony, and reality that no one can ever take away. 

Blessings!

 

April 15, 2011

Hello! Am I Invisible?: Ending the Plague of Invisible People

Posted by JeremyJK under Christianity, Church, Culture, Jesus, Just Life, Teachings of Jesus
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When I am not being a student in seminary, a husband, and a father to two little ones; I am plugging away in retail for income.  Wouldn’t it be nice if they actually paid me to go to school…not happening.  Anyhow, I work at a job where it is required that I, along with all of the other employees, wear a uniform.  So naturally, I stand out as an employee.  I notice that because I am an employee I am also a free punching bag.  That is to say, because I am working, people feel they have the right to treat you however they want because they are the customer and you are working for them. 

Now I don’t want to lump everyone into the same category.  There are some very friendly and respectful people and therefore customers, but the power of negativity can seem stronger than the positive experiences I have with most people. 

Yet there is one feature about humans that I have noted a lot over the past (12) years of working with the public.  People treat me and each other as though “the other” is invisible.  Often I will be working and someone will almost plow into me and not even acknowledge my existence.  It is so strange to me to treat another human-being that way.  Now this obviously doesn’t just happen at work.  If you are human and reading this (I would be impressed if you’re not) than you have experienced this.  It happens in the mall, the market place, on the road, wherever you encounter humans. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there.  This attitude has found a way into the Church.  One doesn’t even have to go to a mega-church to experience this phenomena.  On the contrary, watch how many people will greet a visitor off the street in a small church.  Have you ever gone to a Church event, sat next to someone in the pew for an hour or more, then get up without ever engaging that person in some way.  I have…and shame on me. 

Maybe I’ve given that cool head nod that guys do…or offer up an empty “how are you?”  hoping that they will just respond with the same style of answer. 

 ”Good and you?” 

“Oh great, thanks.” Phew what a relief.

I have been in some churches where the atmosphere is so cold and unwelcoming, that it makes a day waiting downtown at the Hall of Justice to maybe get picked for the jury seem like a family reunion.  We treat…and are treated by others as though the “other” is invisible.  Do we notice the faces of the people passing us by or standing next to us on a subway or bus stop?  Do we think about them being a real person with a real life with a real family that loves them and thinks they are important?  Do we consider them being created in the image of God?  I am guilty of not…most of the time.  But I am getting better. 

This line of thinking makes me appreciate Jesus saying, “Let the children come to me.”  That is such a powerful statement of only six words.  You see in Jesus day and in his culture…children were basically invisible.  Why the children the disciples thought?  They are nobodies.  But not to Jesus.  To Jesus EVERYBODY is a real person that needs to be loved and treated like a person.  Jesus was countering the culture that ignored the “lesser.”  But Jesus came to the “lesser.”  He ate with the sinners and publicans.  He hung out with the prostitute and widow.  All of those people who were on the fringe of society, mattered to Jesus.  Most people like to talk about the wealthy wise men that came to Jesus during the nativity…but what about the shepherds, who were nobodies too in their culture.  A great announcement and heralding came to them first. 

No one is invisible to Jesus in the Gospels…NO ONE.  Why do we think we can treat people otherwise? 

I encourage us to rebel against this culture of egocentrism.  Let’s rebel against falling into the mode of only greeting those who smile at us.  Let them all come…and shut no one out.  Maybe they ignore us because they have been ignored by others and have therefore adopted the horrible status quo.  NO WAY! Rebel against this!  Be counter-cultural!

 

April 15, 2011

Mr. God Goes To Washington: Frustrated With Politics-Part 1

Posted by JeremyJK under Christianity, Church, Culture, Kingdom of God, Money, Politics, Scripture, Teachings of Jesus
[3] Comments 

For the past ten years of my life my ideologies and worldview have gone through quite the paradigm shift.  I feel like a different man in so many ways.  There are a number of events in my life that contributed to those shifts—some I am proud of, others…not so much.  Yet the ones I am not proud of were also very constructive (or de-constructive) in the process of making me the man I am now.  The events I am most proud of are my marriage and the birth of my daughter and son.   By NO means do I think I have it all together nor have I arrived; as many of my posts and self-critiques show.  However, I feel and sense God’s hand in my life fashioning me like the clay in the potter’s hands (Jeremiah 18).  I am less selfish and more interested and concerned with others and their welfare (Phil. 2).  Each day I feel I am taking on more of Christ.  And I like that because I love who he is and what he is about.

One of those paradigm shifts has actually been in politics.  I will not get into it too much right now but will share a few details.  I was raised conservative by two loving parents who meant well and had good intentions.  I listened to Rush Limbaugh often and later picked up Glenn Beck and even Michael Savage.  I would listen to these men religiously.  When I watched the news, it had to be FOXNEWS.  I think you know where I am going.  I agreed with the constant drum beat and mantra of capitalism, trust the free market, big business, wealthy entrepaneurs, twinkle down economics, tax cuts for the rich, poor people in the ghetto are just lazy unproductive plebes and if they really wanted to be free from poverty they should just get out and get a job etc.

Now I know I am going to tick off some people reading this but come on…something is off here when you put it in juxtaposition with scripture.  When you compare that mindset with the OT prophets the messages don’t mesh.  When you listen to the words of Jesus and see him in action…it doesn’t jive.  Why?  Because Jesus believed in a “Kingdom Economy” where the poor were taken care of and helped.  What about the poor?  Much of the Church has forgotten these invisible people and has adopted the nonsense that the Right has been trying to sell us. 

At the same time the Left are no angels either.  They want to help the poor (maybe) but they would just rather keep God out of the picture.  Where the Right likes to use God as though he is a Right-wing, capitalistic, 21st Century, Mid-Western American with a pin on his  right lapel of an elephant that says, “Vote for Freedom”; the left is embarrassed by God and might offend their lobbyist who think that the idea of gods are out-dated and naïve.  You know the attitude—“only uneducated yuppies from the back woods of Arkansas believe in that Jesus Christ guy.” Let’s not forget to mention how they demonize each other.

For the Right it’s trusting the Market; for the Left its trusting bigger government.  HELLO!  Do you trust either?  I don’t think so.  Trusting the Market brought us the Great Depression and this wonderful recession that we are still in no matter how much D.C. tries to convince us it’s going away.  Remember all of those headlines in the newspapers some months ago?  When we trust the Market we are robbed by the greedy tycoons who set the system up for YOU to fail.  Ever notice when you get in debt it takes a miracle to escape.  Why?  I don’t know…fees and extra charges maybe. 

“Bigger Government anybody?”

 “Oh yes please!”

“Uh no thanks actually, I am stuffed on big government.”

So what is the answer? 

MR. GOD CAN YOU PLEASE COME TO WASHINGTON!?!

Let’s stop there for now because I am tired of complaining about this…for now.  Thoughts thus far?  Where are you with politics in America?  Any Paradigm shifts in your life?  What’s the solution?

 

April 13, 2011

Chime In: Should Christians Watch ‘R’ Rated Movies?

Posted by JeremyJK under Apostle Paul, Christianity, Church, Culture, Just Life, Question of the Day, Scripture, Spiritual Formation
[9] Comments 

So this is how I want you to think about it.  We know that in many of the cities Paul visited and established churches there were theaters of entertainment.  In these Hellenistic cultures entertainment was everywhere…like our culture.  If they had ratings on the theatrical dramas they acted out in these theaters in Paul’s day, would he have gone to ‘R’ rated ones and would he have encouraged his churches to do the same?  Secondly, how does your understanding of that impact your opinion if Christians should go to ‘R’ rated movies now.  Let’s have fun with this one!

 

April 12, 2011

I Need A Theological Wizard of OZ:Plurality in the Christian Church? Oi!

Posted by JeremyJK under Christianity, Church, Just Life, Meditations, Spiritual Formation
[11] Comments 

Do you got a second?  Good, because I just need to vent a little bit and think out loud. 

Those of you who know me, know that I like to do theology.  I like theology stuff.  I love theology books.  I love talking about God and biblical studies.  And then of course I love to talk to other people about it all. 

Yet lately I am struggling with something quite often and its really starting to get to me.  The problem is that there is ALWAYS someone who will disagree with me.  I am not frustrated because I think I know it all.  On the contrary, I am frustrated because I don’t know it all and I don’t think there is anyone who does.  I wish there were however.  I wish there was someone I could go to who had all the right answers.  I need a theological Wizard of Oz.  Wouldn’t that be cool?  Imagine it.  Imagine being able to walk up to this big face on a screen and ask whatever question you had on your mind.

“Excuse me Sir!   Could I trouble you for a moment?  Uhm…well…let’s see.  Do you believe in social justice and if should I be a progressive or a compassionate conservative?”

Or…”Was Jesus poor or rich?  There are some people that say he was rich because he had a treasurer.  I know it sounds silly but they believe that.  I know he had women to support him and didn’t have a place to lay his head but they explain that away.”

Or…”Do you believe in the Just War Theory or No?  Creation or Evolution or both?  Infant baptism or soley adult?  Do all dogs go to heaven?  Divine healing or will we be sick some times?  Free-will or Predetermination?  Hell or no hell?  Rapture or just second-coming?  Pre-trib or Post?  10% tithe or no tithe?  Net or Gross?  Tongues or no tongues?  Gifts and miracles or apostolic succession?  Heads or tails?”

I think you get my point.  Yet given my short list above these categories all of their devotees that will defend them till the last breathe and scripture.  The scary thing is that often times all of their interpretations and prooftexts sound plausible.  So what is one to do?  Everytime I feel sure about something there are people who come along and say, “Nope you’re wrong!”

I can hear many of you on the other side.  You are saying, “Thats what we have the Holy Spirit for.  Ask the Lord for the answers he is the one you need to talk to.”  I hear ya.  But here’s the other problem: everyone who falls into these separate categories claims that they are getting their believes from God.  They all claim they hear their side from him.  So what is it?  Who’s right?  Who?

Is Creflo Dollar right?  Is Desmond Tutu right?  Joel Osteen?  Jim Wallis?  Glenn Beck?  Al Sharpton? John Piper?  N.T. Wright?  Kenneth Copeland?  Charles Stanley?  Chuck Swindoll?  Christopher Hitchens?  Brian McLaren?  John MacArthur?  Philip Yancey?  Paul Crouch?  Chuck Missler?  Jimmy Swaggart? WHO!?! ? They are all saying different things on different subjects!  Yet they all present it like they have a Theological Wizard of Oz.  They are all just so sure of themselves.  They are just so certain. 

In addition, their supporters act as though their leader hears from God more than anyone else’s leaders.  So that Creflo has a better connection line to the Holy Ghost than Jimmy Swaggart or John Piper.  Obviously John Piper can’t hear from the Holy Spirit because he is Southern Baptist.  And obviously Creflo can’t hear from God because he is a charismaniac who is just in it for the money. 

I am not going to get all preachy on you now and act like I have the answer because I don’t.  I am in seminary as we speak and I am so excited about the things I am learning.  But there are always people ready to take the wind out of your sails.  Wizard of Oz…ARE YOU OUT THERE?

 

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