tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55388368086628115202024-02-20T16:34:13.376-08:00Highway 268Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-83599223831554949112018-12-03T06:08:00.001-08:002018-12-03T06:08:36.229-08:00Why I watch Hallmark Christmas MoviesIt's already happened 5 times and it's only December 3rd.<br />
<br />
What's happened? I've watched 5 Hallmark Christmas Movies and I'm not the slightest bit ashamed.<br />
<br />
Now, don't get me wrong. I like "real" movies too. I just watched Creed II a couple of weeks ago (also great by the way), and I consider myself quite eclectic in my movie selections. In fact, one of the ways I like to relax is to watch a good movie.<br />
<br />
So why do I like the Hallmark Christmas Movies so much?<br />
<br />
That's a great question and I hope you find my answer an interesting one.<br />
<br />
I could wax eloquent about the intense plot suspense and the unexpected twists and turns of these Hallmark Christmas gems, but I can already see my wife rolling her eyes at me, so I'll spare you. I could tell you about the top-tier acting that is offered in each 2 hour block of joy, but you would know I'm not serious. So, if not for the great plots or actors, why watch them?<br />
<br />
The answer is really quite simple.<br />
<br />
Let me start here. I am a man. An almost 41 year old man. I have grown up these last 30+ years in a country (I was a military kid so I didn't really land in America till 3rd grade) that introduced me to women as sex objects almost from the time I arrived and has never stopped pushing that view.<br />
<br />
Men my age today have been exposed to pornographic magazines (Playboy/Penthouse/etc.), over the counter magazines (Maxim/S.I. Swimsuit Calendar/etc.), Premium channels (HBO/Cinemax...or what I call "sin to the max"/etc.), risque & novelty stores (Victoria Secret/Adam & Eve/Spencers/etc.), sexualized movies & TV shows (Basic Instinct/Fatal Attraction/Game of Thrones/etc.), and worst of all the black hole of internet pornography available everywhere (laptops/desktops/tablets/smart phones/etc.).<br />
<br />
What does any of that have to do with Hallmark Christmas movies?<br />
<br />
Everything.<br />
<br />
You see, when I sit down with my wife (who normally falls asleep) to watch a Hallmark Christmas Movie, I can be absolutely sure...understand the power of those words...<i>absolutely sure</i> that for the next two hours I am not in any way going to be exposed to anything remotely sexual, inappropriate, culturally catered, or erotic. Instead, I will be exposed to simple and beautiful love stories of romance and relationship between a man and a woman.<br />
<br />
Yes, they are often poorly acted and haltingly delivered but there is actually even a beauty in that. Yes, the plots are predictable, but as I tell my wife it's not about the destination. It's about the journey. It's about letting those two hours be what they are.<br />
<br />
Pure. Wholesome. Family friendly. Fun. Light hearted. Smile inducing (dialogue, plot, or actors it doesn't matter ;-) )<br />
<br />
These words are used so rarely now a days, and if they are used they certainly don't mean what they used to mean.<br />
<br />
*Case in point: I was looking on the back of Elf (which we own) just 2 days ago and saw it had a seal on it that said "Family Approved." I found that disappointing because although my family has watched Elf together I had to fast forward the part at the end when they decide to write in an unnecessary cuss word...you know kinda like in Princess Bride? To me "Family Approved" shouldn't include cuss words. I doubt I'm alone on that.*<br />
<br />
But back to my point and in conclusion let me just say this. At least for now, Hallmark Christmas Movies offer us one of the last untainted escapes every year. They remind us of a day too quickly slipping away if not already gone. They highlight people over jobs, love over sex, marriage over hooking up, and family over individualism.<br />
<br />
That is the beauty of Hallmark Christmas Movies and why I watch as many as I can.<br />
<br />
Just the ponderings of a simple guy. Thoughts?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-23195158865705589082018-11-26T12:20:00.000-08:002018-11-27T11:30:37.653-08:00MissionariesA lot has changed since 1956.<br />
<br />
"On January 8, 1956, Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Flemming,
and Roger Youderian were speared to death on a sandbar called “Palm
Beach” in the Curaray River of Ecuador. They were trying to reach the
Huaorani Indians for the first time in history with the gospel of Jesus
Christ." -John Piper (www.Desiringgod.org)<br />
<br />
Last week, the news broke that John Allen Chau was killed while following in the footsteps of a generation 62 years earlier. <br />
<br />
"According to letters recovered from the island and supplied to Reuters,
John Allen Chau, 27, was killed while trying to bring Christianity to
North Sentinel Island. The forested isle is part of the remote
India-administered Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean, and
populated by an isolated indigenous tribe." -Newsweek<br />
<br />
62 years ago it galvanized a nation, the American church, and lit a fire in American missions. Last week? Was it even mentioned in your church service?<br />
<br />
I have no way of knowing, but I do know that at least among my Christian Facebook friends (the few that even mentioned it) it was more often criticized that praised. It was more often condemned than honored. It was more often ridiculed than embraced.<br />
<br />
If this is what our understanding of missions has become, no wonder the world looks at Christianity with skepticism and anger. Have we so bowed to our culture that we truly believe that the Gospel should only be preached to those who are wearing a sign saying, "Please tell me about the wonderful message of Jesus"?<br />
<br />
Some might site the passages (see Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5) where Jesus is training his disciples and instructs them to "dust off their sandals" and move on if they or their message is not received as Biblical instruction to only witness to those who are "willing to listen." The problem with this interpretation is that it assumes that people know what they aren't wanting to listen to. If no one has told them, how can they be unwilling to listen?<br />
<br />
It's like this.<br />
<br />
It's Thanksgiving. Your cousin brings a girlfriend to the family dinner. As the day wears on, you begin to wonder if anyone has ever told her about Jesus before? So, what do you do? It seems our culture and now some Christians believe that you say nothing because she is by default not "willing to listen." But how do you know she is not willing to listen unless you first tell her? If, after you share the wonderful hope of Jesus with her, she rejects the truth claims of Jesus and says she doesn't want to talk about it, etc., then the Biblical instruction of Jesus kicks in and you do indeed stop. Jesus did not call us to be the stereotypical "Bible thumper." But neither did he call us to pull back in shame or fear from telling people of the only hope for eternity.<br />
<br />
It seems many are condemning the actions of John Allen because he broke the law and risked a viral outbreak on an unexposed population. Without a doubt he did both of those things. Without a doubt, he did so because he believed he should actually practice what the Bible instructs. <span class="verse" data-last-offset="19" data-ref="44004018"><span class="verse" data-last-offset="19" data-ref="44004018"><b class="verse-num"> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="19" data-ref="40028018"><b class="verse-num">18 </b>And Jesus came and said to them, <span class="woc">“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.</span></span>
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="25" data-ref="40028019"><b class="verse-num woc">19 </b><span class="woc">Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,</span></span>
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="23" data-ref="40028020"><b class="verse-num woc">20 </b><span class="woc">teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” - Matthew 28:18-20</span></span><br />
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="19" data-ref="44004018"><span class="verse" data-last-offset="19" data-ref="44004018"></span></span><br />
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="19" data-ref="44004018"><span class="verse" data-last-offset="19" data-ref="44004018"><b class="verse-num">28 </b></span></span>And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. - Matthew 10:28 (see also Luke 12:4)<br />
<br />
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="19" data-ref="44004018"><span class="verse" data-last-offset="19" data-ref="44004018"><b class="verse-num">18 </b></span>So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.</span>
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="26" data-ref="44004019"><b class="verse-num">19 </b>But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,</span>
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="12" data-ref="44004020"><b class="verse-num">20 </b>for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” - Acts 4:18-20</span><br />
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="12" data-ref="44004020"><br /></span>
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="12" data-ref="44004020">God doesn't need us or want us to bash people over the head with the gospel message. He expects us to be so broken for the lost that our only response...our only response is Godly compassion. The kind of compassion Jesus had for you and for me as he took each and every step that led Him to the cross. The kind of compassion that says no matter the cost, even if it be my life, I will lay it all down for the sake of Christ, the cause of Christ, and that others might know of this Christ. </span><br />
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="12" data-ref="44004020"><br /></span>
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="12" data-ref="44004020">Today and every day I honor those like John Allen. He joined elite ranks last week. Sadly, those ranks are too often forgotten. </span><br />
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="12" data-ref="44004020"><br /></span>
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="12" data-ref="44004020">I say all this as an imperfect witness. I often over think and under love. I often am too busy and too bothered. I often pull back in fear rather than run towards with love. I need those like John Allen to remind me...to remind me that this life is not all that there is. There is more. Much, much more.</span><br />
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="12" data-ref="44004020"><br /></span>
<span class="verse" data-last-offset="12" data-ref="44004020">Thank you, John Allen, for running the race so well. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-69230337751846061762018-10-24T07:52:00.000-07:002018-11-26T11:31:52.969-08:00Privilege<br />
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Merriam Webster (2018) </div>
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Definition of <i>privilege </i>(Noun)
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<span class="dtText"><b class="mw_t_bc">: </b>a right or <a class="mw_t_d_link" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/immunity">immunity</a> granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor <b class="mw_t_bc">: </b><a class="mw_t_sx" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prerogative"><span class="text-uppercase">prerogative</span></a></span>
</span>
<span class="sdsense">
<span class="sd">especially</span>
<span class="dtText"><b class="mw_t_bc">: </b>such a right or immunity attached specifically to a position or an office</span></span></span></div>
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Definition of <i>privilege </i>(Verb)</div>
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<span class="sb-0"><span class="sn sense-1"><span class="num">1</span></span>
<span class="dt ">
<span class="dtText"><b class="mw_t_bc">: </b>to grant a <a class="mw_t_d_link" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/privilege#h1">privilege</a> to</span>
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</span><br />
<div class="sb has-num">
<span class="sb-0"> </span>
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<span class="sb-0"><span class="sn sense-2"><span class="num">2</span></span>
<span class="dt ">
<span class="dtText"><b class="mw_t_bc">: </b>to <a class="mw_t_d_link" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accord#h1">accord</a> a higher value or superior position to
<span class="ex-sent t no-aq"><span class="mw_t_wi">privilege</span> one mode of discourse over another</span>
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Webster (1828)<br />
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<br />
I struggle with this word. Noun. Verb. I struggle.<br />
<br />
Maybe its just me. Maybe I'm alone in my struggle. Maybe...but maybe not.<br />
<br />
Maybe there are others who are uncomfortable, bothered by, and even angered by this word being used as a club to beat others with.<br />
<br />
Why is it so bothersome? Why does it cause such a push back reaction in my heart?<br />
<br />
For many, many months now I have been off and on again trying to process my reaction to this word. Today, I thought I would share some of my musings and thoughts to see if putting it in writing might help.<br />
<br />
Yesterday, I read a wonderful post about the difference between <a href="https://brandymiller.io/the-difference-between-a-blessing-and-privilege/?fbclid=IwAR3r1T_B17VnWxy4PpvsMBh-it0mtBjeqzHL_o-Wq-ElJ2FWYsGDWWrDuZ8" target="_blank">blessing and privilege</a>. By wonderful I mean it was well written, clear, honest, and vulnerable. Yet, it too didn't quite address the root issue (at least to me). <br />
<br />
On one hand, I completely get it. By growing up white, middle class, and male I had certain advantages that others who were not white, not middle class, and not male did not. That is an indisputable fact. I agree with it. I offer no push back as to that reality.<br />
<br />
But let me ask these questions. If that therefor translates to me being "privileged," then that must mean that those who can check those boxes are the "privileged" ones, right? If that has now become the "privileged" standard, then is everyone trying to enter that group? Or at the very least, is the goal for everyone to have the same inherent "privileges" that white, middle, class, males have?<br />
<br />
I doubt many would fully agree with that. Why? Because it's not enough. "Privilege" has to also included upper class does it not? How about female too? Is the key determiner race? Is white the only privileged race? So, all those stereotypical super smart Asian kids aren't privileged? Dr. Ben Carson one of the best doctors in the world is still not considered "privileged" just because he is not white? President Obama is still not considered "privileged" because he fails to check the race box?<br />
<br />
Can no one move up in this world unless they are the right gender, right economic class, or right race? Does work ethic, overcoming your parents divorce, abuse, trauma, or education shortfalls mean nothing anymore?<br />
<br />
I could go on and on.<br />
<br />
Where does it stop? Who gets to actually define what "privilege" is and who has it and who doesn't?<br />
<br />
This morning I read that "privilege" isn't about what you have but what you didn't have to go through. That makes for a great soundbite, but where again does that stop? Can't anyone claim that since they didn't have two parents in the home, a house instead of an apartment, two cars instead of one, 3 siblings instead of none, two pets instead of 4, and on and on that they were disadvantaged to those who had those things...those "privileged" ones?<br />
<br />
At the end of the day, isn't "privilege" the new way of saying racist? Maybe it's not, but it sure seems that way.<br />
<br />
I guess the thing I struggle with the most about the word is that it robs everyone of their story, their journey, their testimony. Everyone. It focuses either on what someone had that you didn't or what you have to go through and they don't. Neither one of those scenarios helps us see the One who helps us overcome what we are lacking and helps us travel through what comes our way. <br />
<br />
The underlying assumption of "privilege" is that my journey is much
harder than yours. At the end of the day, isn't that an arrogant
thing to say? Last time I checked, none of us know everything about
anyone. Maybe we shouldn't assume we do so now just because it's 2018.<br />
<br />
I get it. The world is hard. People are unfair. Life isn't easy. Circumstances can seem to make or break us. That truth was taught a long time ago.<br />
<br />
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<span class="verse-number"><b>"</b></span><span class="verse-33"><span class="red-letter no-red">I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." - John 16:33</span></span></div>
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<span class="verse-number"><b>"</b></span><span class="verse-10">And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." - 1 Peter 5:10 </span></div>
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<span class="verse-10">Just the thoughts of a fellow traveler. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-6898998232499531842018-10-07T15:12:00.000-07:002018-10-17T13:05:31.229-07:00On Behalf of Men***Well, this is it. My return to the blogosphere. Let me begin with the disclaimers. These are my thoughts, my opinions, my musings, and my reflections on life and culture. They are not to be interpreted as the views of my church or my denomination of which and through which I am an ordained minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I do not presume to be right about all that I express, but rather I hope to be viewed as a fellow traveler along the pathway of life. With all that said, I do endeavor to write truthfully, honestly, and in submission to my faith since it guides every fiber of my being.***<br />
<br />
Now.<br />
<br />
For the last 2-3 weeks, I have watched, read, and prayed as the drama unfolded in the nominating and now installing of our latest Supreme Court Justice. I have been horrified, angered, disappointed, and shocked by numerous things over these last few weeks as many others have as well. Yet, depending on which "side of the isle" people find themselves aligning with, those emotional reactions have been to the same events but with vastly different results. I do not presume to change anyone's mind over those events, so I will not even attempt to try. Sadly, most align themselves so fully and deeply with their "isles" that rational conversation seems an unattainable goal.<br />
<br />
I did try, and I will demonstrate the futility of it below.<br />
<br />
On the morning of the confirmation hearings, a high school classmate of mine posted on FB that we should all support Dr. Ford. I made a comment on her wall and thus it began:<br />
<br />
----------------------<br />
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"></span><br />
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<b>Me:</b> <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">No
one should be "supporting" anyone. Innocent until proven guilty still
needs to mean something. Also, we should give the benefit of the doubt
to the one who says they were wronged. We can do both at the same time.
We should all be supportive of finding the truth not versions of the
truth that different sides "support."</span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
</div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"></span></span><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"></span><br />
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><b>(later that night) High School Classmate</b>: <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">I assume you didn’t spend the day listening to today’s hearing... it
doesn’t matter because your insistence on neutrality and apathy on this
is disheartening. Especially coming from a son of a single mother,
partner in a heterosexual relationship, and father of young girls. That
you choose not to be an ally and believer of women is shockingly
disappointing.</span></span></span></div>
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody">
</span>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"> </span></span><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"></span></span><br />
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><b>Me:</b> neutrality is not equal to apathy. It is equal to neutrality. When did
I say I wasn’t a believer of women? I said innocent until proven guilty
AND benefit of the doubt to the one wronged (that would be the woman,
correct?). Actually, I did watch about 75% of the hearings today. Do you
want to discuss the hearings or make broad sweeping accusations based
on where you have deduced that I stand on it all?</span></span></span></span></div>
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody">
</span></span></div>
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody">
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
</div>
</span><br />
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<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"></span></span></span></span><br />
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<br />
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><b>Classmate:</b> <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">Chris,
no one knows where you stand in anything because your knee jerk
reaction to everything to stand in the middle and never take a side.
Never supporting the victim but always playing it. If you stand for
something, say it. Do you believe her or not? Otherwise, it’s just white
noise. I don’t have the luxury of neutrality. And I don’t have time to
talk to people who do.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody">
</span> </span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"></span></span><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"></span><br />
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><b>Me</b>: <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody _1n4g">So
everyone should have gone into the hearing with their minds made up?
Really? It was wrong for me to seek to be neutral before hearing from
the Dr and the judge? We will have to agree to disagree on that if you
think I was wrong to do so...those were some
harsh words. What about do I believe him? Why is it just her that I have
to decide on? He is a real person too with a real wife and real kids.
All of them matter. If you care what I think go read what I just wrote
on my wall. I shared my thoughts after listening today. Not
before...after. But if you don’t have time, I understand. I think it’s
sad but it is certainly your choice. I thought we might be able to
discuss this. I guessed wrong. I won’t make the mistake again.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
</div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<div class="">
<div class="UFIImageBlockContent _42ef">
<div class="">
<div class="UFICommentContentBlock">
<div class="UFICommentContent">
<div class="_26f8">
<div class="_10la _10lg">
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"></span><br />
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><b>Classmate:</b> <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">
I don’t think he’s fit to do the job because 3 women have come forward
with sexual assault allegations which leads me to question his ability
the rule on laws that impact women or sexual assault. I didn’t need two
additional women or to hear the hearings to make up my mind because I
make it a point to believe people when they come forward about sexual
assault...</span></span></span></div>
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody">
</span>
<div class="_10lo _10lp">
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
</div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
</div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody _1n4g">I
don’t give two craps about his life. He’s on deck to become a justice
of the Supreme Court. His family and their happiness have nothing to do
with me. But I will not be neutral when an attempted rapist and serial
assaulter is about to be appointed to the highest court in the land. <br /><br />AND
it’s my page. I don’t have to be nice to anyone. And I don’t have mince
my words when someone wastes my time making non-arguments. And not
actually discussing anything. You have yet to say definitively if you
believe Dr. Ford or not. You have yet to say whether you would be
comfortable with Judge Kavanaugh rising to the highest court in the
land. You never say anything useful or interesting or even
controversial. You say nothing. Believe nothing, then get upset when
people fail to see where you’re NOT coming from. You do this EVERY TIME!
<br /><br />Not today, dude. There’s too much on the line.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"> </span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">--------------------</span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">*sigh*</span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">Well, that went well didn't it? I left off the numerous comments made by her friends directed towards me because...well, you can imagine what they were like.</span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">So, what is this post about? Well, it's about men. For many, many weeks and honestly months and a few years now, I've heard and read how hard it is to be a woman nowadays. What I haven't heard is a guy brave enough to say, "It's pretty dang hard to be a man too ya know." </span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
</div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">So, I figured I say it. </span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">Men. Men are evil. Toxic masculinity. The world's problems are all caused by men. Sound familiar?</span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">You wanna know why men get so angry when they hear those accusations? Because the ones who are actually trying to be men (not boys in men's bodies, not wimps, not thugs, not criminals, not political weasels, not chauvinistic pigs, not abusers, not rapists but real honest to goodness men) are ridiculed, mocked, defamed, undervalued, underappreciated, invisible, and tired. So very, very tired of it all.</span></span><br />
</div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
</div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">You wanna know why people liked Parenthood? Men were on display. </span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">You wanna know why people like This is Us? Men are on display.</span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">You wanna know why people like Marvel movies? Men are on display.</span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">You wanna sell out the box office or grow a loyal fan base for a TV show? Write in good solid men and you will draw the nation.</span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
</div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">I'm not talking about popular. Lots of things are popular. I'm talking about what brings people back with deep loyalty. Think about Lost. Was it the story telling? Absolutely! But what else? Men were written to be men. Not perfect. But true men.</span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
</div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">I have no idea why the tide has turned so harshly on true solid masculinity, but I can say this. All over this country there are good, decent, hardworking, strong, loving men doing the hard work of providing and protecting, loving and leading, being honest and being humble, and when they see a man who by all known accounts is good and decent getting ripped to shreds on national TV night after night for something no one can prove, it triggers something in those men all over this country. It triggers anger, frustration, discouragement, sadness, and fear.</span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">Fear? Yes, fear. Not for themselves but for their families. A fear of what's coming. A fear of a loss of control. A fear that they too can be stripped away from all they hold dear and will be powerless to stop it.</span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
</div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">I believe I am one of those men. I am not a super hero, but I try to be one to my kids. I'm not Jack, but I try to be him towards my wife. I'm not perfect, but I know the One who is.</span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
</div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">On behalf of the men I humbly as you to stop it. Stop believing the worst of us. Stop trying to make us something we are not. Stop tearing us down. Stop viewing us as your enemy. </span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
</div>
<div class="UFICommentActorAndBodySpacing">
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">The enemy is out there and for those of you attacking us...we're your best defense for staying safe.</span></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-83757891345673634652015-09-03T17:51:00.001-07:002015-09-04T05:49:59.696-07:00The Dark Night of the SoulTwo nights ago I received an email letting me know that we were not going to be called to the last church we had applied to almost eight months ago.<br />
<br />
I was broken.<br />
<br />
Not because I was told no by some church search committee, and not because I was really desperate to move where the church was located.<br />
<br />
I was broken because it was the last in a long string of no's: "No, we're not ready for someone like you. No, we want to say yes but the Lord is telling us no. No, your ministry is somewhere else and they will be blessed to have you."<br />
<br />
I was broken because just as a year and a half ago a no meant a leaving of all that I knew and now this no means an even deeper leaving...the leaving of the pastorate.<br />
<br />
This was our watershed moment. Our moment to see what the Lord wanted the Greenwoods to do next. It was either leap back into the comfortable and familiar saddle of the pastorate or get on a new horse with a new unfamiliar saddle and ride into the unknown (pardon the western illustration).<br />
<br />
So, I cried. I got angry. I mourned. I grieved. I was and still am...broken.<br />
<br />
Almost all of it has been stripped away. No money. No job. No home. No comfortable. No familiar. No normal. (I am thankful that my health, my family, and my wonderful helpmate all remain)<br />
<br />
I still want to be a pastor, but for the next season the Lord is calling us to something new. Something scary. Something undone and untried. Something that seems...not not seems...<i>is</i> impossible without the hand of the Lord.<br />
<br />
Being a pastor...loving people...teaching people...being there for people...I delight in it. Is it hard? More than most know. Is it for everyone? Not at all. Am I incapable or unqualified? No, I do not believe so...but I <i>am</i> disallowed...for now. How long? Who knows but in His time and through His grace maybe once again down the road.<br />
<br />
So, what now? Well, there <i>is</i> a plan. There <i>is</i> a path. There <i>is</i> a journey.<br />
<br />
In the days ahead, many of you will read about it. Many of you will have a chance to be a part of it. Many of you will have the chance to dream the impossible dream (song reference...it's in your head now...sorry about that) with us and pray with us the prayer that never fails (Jane Karon Mitford reference).<br />
<br />
Only you, my loyal blog readers, will know the depths from which we have come to set out on this new adventure.<br />
<br />
But I want you to know that just as St. John of the Cross penned mighty truth in The Dark Night of the Soul, so there is truth here. All is not dark. We will press through. We will be where we are supposed to be and be better for it. The pain will not last. The loss will not defeat us. The unfamiliar will eventually become familiar and this dark night of the soul?<br />
<br />
It will lead to joy, and it will lead to Light.<br />
<br />
But until then...pray for us.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-36459761982876602332015-08-24T16:21:00.000-07:002015-08-24T16:21:20.736-07:00That WomanThere she is<br />
that woman over there<br />
The one that is surrounded by eight tiny feet<br />
<br />
Working, toiling, striving<br />
pushing forward, pressing on,<br />
part referee, part coach<br />
<br />
How does she do it?<br />
Day after day, night after night<br />
I am amazed by that woman<br />
<br />
I hear her correct, no, now she encourages,<br />
no wait, now it is counsel, and now just a hug<br />
So many things, flowing from one to the next<br />
<br />
She captivates me<br />
She draws me<br />
She walks beside...me<br />
<br />
She manages her home, but it's not really her home<br />
She manages her life, but it's not really her life<br />
She manages her children, but they're not really her children<br />
<br />
Her home, her life, her children<br />
each hers but not really hers<br />
in different ways but all the same<br />
<br />
My life is rocky, yet that woman is a rock for me<br />
My life is uncertain, yet of that woman I am certain<br />
My life seems without purpose, but that woman offers me one<br />
<br />
"Choose us," she says<br />
"We are still here." she offers<br />
That woman speaks wisdom into my chaos<br />
<br />
I can not seem to thank her enough<br />
I can not seem to appreciate her enough<br />
I find that being with her...that is enough<br />
<br />
So, we wait...together<br />
we pray...together<br />
it is enough to be...together<br />
<br />
She offers me wisdom<br />
She offers me her heart<br />
She offers me even more<br />
<br />
She loves me<br />
And I love that woman<br />
That woman is my wifeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-27519372073922747072015-08-15T20:51:00.001-07:002015-08-16T10:25:10.316-07:00The Difficulty of a Godly Marriage(so after a really long delay...we continue...) <br />
<br />
"It is the hardest thing I do in my life."<br />
<br />
I have said that sentence to countless numbers of people.<br />
<br />
What was I talking about? I was talking about pursuing a great, Godly marriage.<br />
<br />
It just is. The effort I put into having a great and Godly marriage is the most demanding thing in my life and the hardest thing I do every day.<br />
<br />
Why is it so hard? Because, once you understand the purpose of marriage, anything less is unacceptable. I can not claim to be a Christian, be married, and be striving for anything less than an amazing, God honoring marriage.<br />
<br />
If marriage really is primarily about illustrating the love story of Christ and the Church (see previous blog post), then how can I settle for anything less than the best I can muster each and every day?<br />
<br />
As a husband, it demands all that I am (for Christ gave Himself up for the Church).<br />
<br />
So, why is it so hard? I mean, if God wants Christian marriages to reflect the greatest love story of all time, why doesn't He just kinda...make it happen? Let's be honest. None of life works that way, right? The best things in life are almost always hard. They're time consuming, effort inducing, and down right exhausting. But...and here's the good part...they're worth it.<br />
<br />
So, what is the secret to a great, Godly marriage?<br />
<br />
If you think my little ol' blog is going to be able to drop all that wisdom on you in a few paragraphs, I'm sorry to say you are in for a let down. :-)<br />
<br />
What I can tell you is that day in and day out my wife and I are committed to loving (I mean real deal, fully committed, all in, Biblical, agape kinda love) each other, working with each other, and never letting down or giving in. Some times and even days love is that amazing feeling. You know that butterfly in the stomach kinda thing? But honestly, many days are filled with multiple choices. I choose to love. I choose to pursue. I choose to not let my hurts or selfishness or anything in between diminish the testimony of the marriage I have been given. I choose marriage.<br />
<br />
When we got married, we married as followers of Christ. We both believed that since we were both committed to never getting a divorce and we both loved Jesus our marrieg would be great from the start and never waver. Two years into our marriage we were both wondering if we had spoken too quickly about the not getting divorced part.<br />
<br />
You see, no one sat us down and told us that marriage would be hard. That we wouldn't always agree, get along, want to do what the other one was doing, or that we would sometimes just simply want some alone time. No one was honest about the effort a great marriage took.<br />
<br />
No one said it would be difficult.<br />
<br />
But marriage? A real, great, Godly marriage? It's difficult.<br />
<br />
So, why do it?<br />
<br />
Because I couldn't imagine my life without my wife. I have learned more <i>from her</i> directly and about myself <i>because of her</i> than any other person. Being married has shown me dimensions about myself I never knew existed. I have seen selfishness, control, pride, arrogance, and immaturity. But I have also seen grace, forgiveness, joy, peace, contentment, and love. (Just to name a few in both those lists)<br />
<br />
As you read through Ephesians 5 which I used in my last post, you will see that Jesus is purifying His bride the Church. You see that Jesus demonstrated His love for the Church by laying down His life. You see the Church learning to submit and respect the authority of Jesus. And on and on. Basically, you see a process. You see transformation. You see growth.<br />
<br />
It is no different between a man and a woman. Marriage is a journey. It is an adventure. It is transformational. Painful at times? Yes. Exhausting? Absolutely. Difficult? Sure. But it is also <i>so</i> much more.<br />
<br />
Exciting. Unpredictable. Interesting. Challenging. Enjoyable.<br />
<br />
These are also terms that describe a great, Godly marriage.<br />
<br />
I believe without the dynamic that occurs between a man and a woman you lose the wonder, the complexity, and the witness of marriage. In our society, we are going to great lengths to minimize the differences of the genders and to even try to eliminate them all together (take for example Target's recent decision to eliminate grouping toys together by gender).<br />
<br />
Yet, Scripture is very clear that marriage is designed to be between two people. It is also very clear that those two people are to be of opposite genders. All of this matters because changing the number or the gender makeup of a marriage affects the struggles and realities within that marriage. Multiple partners create different realities never intended to be dealt with within marriage. Likewise, same genders eliminate an entire host of realities and replace them with others that also were never intended to be dealt with within marriage.<br />
<br />
Believe me, the pursuit of a great, Godly marriage is already all encompassing enough without adding extra partners or changing gender realities.<br />
<br />
I am honored to be married to my wife. It is my privilege to love her, serve her, honor her, provide for her, and treasure her as the priceless vessel that she is. I have benefited from her love, her support, her counsel, and her personality. It has made me a better man, husband, and dad. I am more like Jesus because of my wife and my marriage to her. She, likewise, is becoming increasingly like the Church as she grows as a woman, a wife, and a mom.<br />
<br />
That my dear readers is the ultimate point. That is the highest and truest purpose of marriage. To make us more like Christ and His Church.<br />
<br />
What about you? Can you say the same? Is your marriage transforming you? Are you becoming more like Jesus and/or His Church because of your marriage? If you are putting in the demanding effort that marriage calls for, then you will find yourself saying yes to those questions. If you lean towards saying no, let me gently challenge you, encourage you, or call you (pick whatever offends you the least) to dig in deeper. Push harder. Make the extra effort.<br />
<br />
A great, Godly marriage is difficult...but all things are possible if you tap into the right power source.<br />
<br />
There is always hope for His mercies are new...every morning. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-91139026886471496052015-07-08T08:32:00.002-07:002015-07-08T16:28:04.182-07:00The Purpose of Marriage<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> [26] Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the
birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over
every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> [7] then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. [8] And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>[15] The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. [18] Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>[20] The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. [21] So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. [22] And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. [23] Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” [24] Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. [25] And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.</span>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">[27]
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male
and female he created them.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[28] And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be
fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over
the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living
thing that moves on the earth.” [31] And God saw everything that he had made,
and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the
sixth day.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<pre><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></pre>
<pre><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>(Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7-8, 15, 18, 20-25; 1:27-28, 31 ESV)</span></pre>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“What is the purpose of marriage?”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Procreation. Reproduction. Sex with the
intention of having children.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">For many, that is the primary purpose of
marriage. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Whether you arrive at that conclusion
logically, biologically, historically, sociologically, or any other “ly,” it is
understandable how you get there. Indeed, even within the Judeo-Christian faith
systems, the high view of procreation within the bounds of marriage has been
there since the beginning. God did indeed instruct the first humans formed and created
to “be fruitful and multiply.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Over the past week, I have made it my
personal goal to read all 103 pages of the Supreme Court opinions from the
marriage decision announced June 26<sup>th </sup>(I encourage all to read them,
but I would have to do another post to speak to what I read and learned They
can be found here: </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf">http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf</a>
</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">). Both the majority and the dissent
acknowledged the prominence of procreation throughout history as playing a
major place of significance within marriage. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It is understandable why many people choose
procreation as their primary answer to this important question. Yet, there are
many other answers to this question as well. Some are markedly better than
others, but the variety is still there. Many in our culture answer this purpose
question from very different points of view because of different backgrounds
and assumptions about the place and purpose of marriage as they have seen it
lived out in their own lives and those around them.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To share my life with someone.</span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To raise children together.</span></div>
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normalcy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To not be alone.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To show another person how much I
love them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To show commitment to another person.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To “make an honest man/woman out of
him/her.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To have legal rights to certain
things.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To gain the financial benefit from
that status.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There are undoubtedly many other answers, but
these are just a few of the ones that came to mind. They most likely came to me
because each of them is either directly listed or directly implied in the
majority opinion of the Supreme Court case. If you are like me, then, some of
them sound better than others. Some of them are probably in your top three
answers. If so, then maybe you can understand the thinking of the majority on
this issue. But are any of them the truest and highest purpose of marriage?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">No. They are not.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The fallacy of each of those answers is that
they make marriage about the individual(s) getting married and/or their
children. Is the purpose of marriage really all about me? Is it about my
children? Is it to show something about who I am or how I feel to another
person? Is it so I can get some benefit that I can’t have as a single person?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If any of those are indeed the primary purpose
of marriage, then marriage is selfish, self-gratifying, and meaningless outside
the meaning it affords to the participant or those closest to him/her.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I say that those things are not the true
meaning or purpose of marriage. Marriage rises far above such petty things.
Please allow me to show you how. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>[22] Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23] For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. [24] Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>[25] Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, [26] that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27] so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. [28] In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29] For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, [30] because we are members of his body. [31] “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” [32] This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [33] However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<pre><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></pre>
<pre><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 7;"> </span>(Ephesians 5:22-33 ESV)</span></pre>
<pre><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></pre>
Wait…what?! Chris, did you really just reference the Ephesians 5 passage? That Bible passage about wives submitting and husbands ruling their wives?! Oh, come on! That’s the purpose of marriage???<br />
(Where is that little “X” at the top right hand corner…)<br />
<br />
Before you roll your eyes up into your head and close the blog page, please read just a bit further.<br />
<br />
Yes, it is true I just listed the Ephesians 5 text, but did you read it? I mean really read it? <br />
<br />
So many people in our culture think they know what Christianity teaches when it come to husband and wife dynamics but sadly they are almost always mistaken. Likewise, many from within the church also think they know what Christianity has to say about the topic, yet they too are almost always mistaken.<br />
<br />
I would propose to you that within this passage is the most glorious, most often overlooked, and most under-valued purpose for the covenant of marriage.<br />
<br />
In order to rightly understand this passage, we must read it and seek to understand what it teaches us primarily about Jesus (husbands) and the Church (wives). Yet, Paul frames it in terms of a marriage relationship.<br />
<br />
So, how does it say husbands and wives are to relate to each other?<br />
<br />
The husband is the head (leader) of his wife. <br />
The husband is the Savior (hero) of his wife. <br />
The husband accepts full submission from his wife.<br />
The husband lays down His life (in love) for His wife.<br />
The husband leads his wife to spiritual cleanliness through the washing (studying) of the Scriptures.<br />
The husband honors and clothes his wife in splendor (outward actions) because she is His <br />
greatest treasure.<br />
The husband leads his wife to purity and spotlessness (inward holiness).<br />
The husband loves his wife like he loves himself…completely/fully/perfectly.<br />
The husband provides for his wife because she is his responsibility.<br />
The husband cherishes his wife because she is his responsibility.<br />
The husband is in perfect unity with his wife.<br />
<br />
The wife is led by the head (her husband).<br />
Being one with her husband, the wife is connected to her husband (the head of the body) <br />
physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.<br />
The wife submits in everything to her husband, as to the Lord.<br />
The wife respects her husband.<br />
<br />
Now, this post is already getting quite lengthy and my purpose it not to teach on the dynamics of husbands and wives but to demonstrate the purpose of marriage. But, as you review the above list, I hope you see the tremendous challenge laid out for both husbands and wives. I also want you to ask yourself, “Why?”<br />
<br />
Why does Christianity command husbands and wives to relate to each other in such ways? The answer to that question leads us directly to the purpose of marriage. Paul says at the end of the Ephesians passage that marriage is a mystery and that mystery refers to Christ and the Church.<br />
<br />
See, the bottom line is that marriage isn’t about a particular man and a woman at all. Marriage isn’t about me. Marriage isn’t about you. Marriage is all about Jesus. It is about making Him known in this world through this physical, tangible, visible, and relate-able thing we call marriage.<br />
<br />
Marriage bears witness to the wonder of Christ and the Church. Read the list over again and see what Christ (the bridegroom) has done, is doing, and will do for His bride, the Church, and see how the Church is to respond. <br />
<br />
Jesus is the head (leader) of the Church. <br />
Jesus is the Savior (hero) of the Church. <br />
Jesus accepts full submission from the Church. <br />
Jesus laid down His life for the Church. <br />
Jesus leads the Church to spiritual cleanliness through the washing of the Scriptures.<br />
Jesus honors and clothes the Church in splendor (outward actions) because she is His greatest treasure.<br />
Jesus leads the Church to purity and spotlessness (inward holiness).<br />
Jesus loves the Church like He loves Himself…completely/fully/perfectly.<br />
Jesus provides for the Church because it belongs to Him (His responsibility).<br />
Jesus cherishes the Church because it belongs to Him (His responsibility).<br />
Jesus is in perfect unity with the Church.<br />
<br />
The Church is led by the head (Jesus).<br />
Being one with Jesus, the Church is connected to Jesus (the head of the body) physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.<br />
The Church submits in everything to Jesus, the Lord.<br />
The Church respects Jesus.<br />
<br />
Readers, marriage has a higher purpose. That purpose is to make known to the entire world in a real life-all around us kind of way the redemptive story of Jesus. That story plays out as a living illustration between a husband and a wife: one man (the groom) and one woman (the bride).<br />
<br />
So, when marriage is re-defined by five people on one court, the ripples on society (while very significant), the threat to our way of law (equally significant), and the lasting damage to an institution which is the foundation for every society (also significant) all pale in comparison to the diminishing of the greatest living illustration of the presence, power, and purpose of Jesus in the world.<br />
<br />
Marriage has a purpose: a purpose much greater, much more significant than just procreation. Yet, maybe in a way it really is all about procreation...spiritual procreation. For none of us can claim the right to be a part of God’s family. All who come to faith in Christ do so at the invitation of God and find themselves invited to be born again, to become as little children, and to grow up into the faith.<br />
<br />
Messing with marriage is a serious thing. I believe it is serious not solely because it messes up society or hurts children or destroys a timeless institution but because it diminishes the testimony of God to a hurting and sinful world. Yet, God is still God. He is not surprised. He is not threatened. He is not rocked back on his heels. He still speaks. May we find ourselves seeking His grace in the days ahead.<br />
<br />
[4] Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.<br />
<br />
(Hebrews 13:4 ESV)<br />
<pre><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></pre>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Lastly, if I might just add one thing which I
haven’t heard anyone else mention in all of the many blogs, articles, and news
pieces in the last two weeks. Well, honestly, I’m not sure I’ve heard anyone
say it at all. That one thing is this:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If it were not for Judeo-Christianity, there
would be no marriage.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Let that sink in for a minute.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So, when people talk about the history of
marriage and how far back it dates and all that stuff, just tuck away in the
back of your minds that, without Judaism and later in a completed and comprehensive
way Christianity, marriage wouldn’t even exist.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It belongs to us. It was handed down to us by
the God we love, the God we serve, and the God we proclaim through it. So, if
it seems personal to Jews and Christians...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">…it is.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">*next post…”The Difficulty of a Godly Marriage”
then “The Hope for Marriage Moving Forward”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-69180012471994094452015-07-02T07:27:00.000-07:002015-07-08T16:30:11.652-07:00The Death of MarriageI am not angry. I am not bitter. I am not fearful. I am not surprised.<br />
<br />
What I am is sad and broken. I am in mourning.<br />
<br />
Why? Because marriage died last week.<br />
<br />
But she didn't die of a heart attack. She wasn't suddenly hit by a SUV with 5 people inside. She had been dying for a while. She was ravaged by many illnesses. Selfishness. Independence. Entitlement. Careers. Divorce. Adultery. Pornography. Media. But the worst was the slow loss of purpose. This was the cancer that had spread to her bones. By the time many of us thought to try and help, she was failing too quickly. Some of us visited marriage in the hospital. We saw her failing health. We even held her hand sometimes. We watched her waste away before our eyes. We saw her purpose for <u>being</u> finally stripped away and then they pulled the plug...and she died. Right there. In front of our eyes. She died.<br />
<br />
I am broken with grief. I am so very sorry that I didn't see it earlier and do more...because I could have. I could have helped her. I could have done a lot of things, but I didn't. Not really. What happened to marriage is my fault. It is the Church of Jesus' fault. It is not our culture's fault. <i>We</i> are to blame.<br />
<br />
To all of America and even the world, I am deeply sorry. We have failed you. And though you may not yet realize it, pain is coming. Pain like you have never felt before. Pain that could have been prevented but will now ravage our country. What will be propped up and called marriage will look good on the outside but will not satisfy you. It will promise you wonders that marriage could have never fulfilled but will leave you even emptier than marriage did even as she was dying. It will do so because the true purpose of marriage is not to be found within ourselves.<br />
<br />
And marriage? True, healthy marriage isn't about you. At all.<br />
<br />
That is why she died. No one defended her from the attacks of selfishness, self centered-ness, and self determination. No one reminded her of her purpose. No one explained to the world in which she existed exactly why she was brought into being. <br />
<br />
And that was my job. It was the job of each of us that claim the name of Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
So, as an act of honoring her, I will endeavor to do what I should have done in days past.<br />
<br />
I will present the glorious and wonderful purpose of marriage.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-75414081737772534302015-07-02T06:07:00.001-07:002015-07-02T06:07:24.465-07:00Intro and Disclaimer to the SCOTUS Marriage RulingAs I have mentioned before, I blog mainly to process my own thoughts. It is, for me, like an on line journal. I am not very consistent, but when I need to process something, I enjoy this as a way to help me do so.<br />
<br />
Do I enjoy the fact that some people read my musings? Sure, I do.<br />
<br />
Do I enjoy it even more when they let me know their thoughts? Absolutely!<br />
<br />
Would I do it if neither of those things happened? More than likely.<br />
<br />
So, please understand that when you read my blog posts you are stepping into my mind and my heart. I don't have all the answers and I don't presume to. I am simply a man, husband, dad, and follower of Christ trying to process this life and the world in which I was placed.<br />
<br />
When you write, they teach you to write to a particular audience. Writing on this topic is more complicated though because, while it is my own thoughts and processings (I think I made that word up), I am aware that many people from many different walks of life with many different opinions will read it.<br />
<br />
Please hear me say upfront that I am not intentionally seeking to offend or condemn anyone. There is, however, a high probability that some of you will end up being offended. There is also a probability that some will walk away feeling condemned. That is not my heart in writing all that is ahead of us. I do, however, embark on this journey to try and bring clarity and whatever small measure of insight I can into this discussion. I am not seeking to offend and certainly not condemn, but I am openly seeking to find conviction and to address what I believe has been horribly absent from this whole discussion.<br />
<br />
My desire is that, as I process all of this in the coming post, I will find myself convicted of <i>my</i> failings first and foremost. I then hope that those who claim to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ, as I do, will also find a measure of conviction. Lastly, for those who are currently outside the fellowship of the Church, I hope you hear the heart of the Christian Gospel and even an invitation to enter into the greatest love story in all of creation. If you find yourself joining with me in any of these ways, then we will all be better for it.<br />
<br />
The ground is level at the foot of the cross. Let us all meet there to wrestle with the topic at hand.<br />
<br />
A servant of Jesus,<br />
ChrisAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-29496648885819571852015-06-05T11:49:00.000-07:002015-06-05T11:49:25.781-07:00Deep or Wide vs. Deep and Wide<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Discipleship. Evangelism.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Depth. Width.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">"Our pastor is a fantastic teacher." "Our pastor is more of an evangelist."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">*It is better to be a mile deep and an inch wide than a mile wide and an inch deep* </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Polarized.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Is anyone else tired of the constant tension between these two camps in the Church?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">How did we get here?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
<section class="reveal-modal-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">1 Corinthians 12:4-31 says (italics mine):</span></section><section class="reveal-modal-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></section><section class="reveal-modal-content"><pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">[4] Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; [5] and there are varieties of service, </span></span></pre>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">but the same Lord; [6]and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who </span>
</span><pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">empowers them all in everyone. [7] <i>To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the
common good.</i> [8] For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of
wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
[9] to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one
Spirit, [10] to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to
another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of
tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. [11] All these are empowered
by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">[12]For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the
body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. [13] For in one Spirit
we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were
made to drink of one Spirit.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">[14]<i>For the body does not consist of one member but of many.</i> [15] If the foot
should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would
not make it any less a part of the body. [16] And if the ear should say,
“Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it
any less a part of the body. [17] If the whole body were an eye, where would be
the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense
of smell? [18] But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of
them, as he chose. [19]<i> If all were a single member, where would the body be?</i>
[20] As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">[21]The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to
the feet, “I have no need of you.” [22] On the contrary, the parts of the body
that seem to be weaker are indispensable, [23] and on those parts of the body
that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable
parts are treated with greater modesty, [24] which our more presentable parts
do not require.<i> But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the
part that lacked it, [25] that there may be no division in the body, but that
the members may have the same care for one another. [26] If one member suffers,
all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.</i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">[27]Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. [28] And God has
appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then
miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of
tongues. [29] <i>Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work
miracles? [30] Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do
all interpret? </i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">[31] But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
</span>
</span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It seems Scripture is clear in putting forward the idea that we need different people with </span></span>
</pre>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">different skill sets in order to be healthy. So, why then do we insist on an either/or way </span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">of thinking?</span></span>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Some close friends of ours were recently let go from a ministry position. What was communicated to them </span></span>
</pre>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(according to their side of the story, so author is admitting both his bias towards his friends and the one </span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">side-edness of the communication) was that, while they were good at helping people go "deeper" (insert </span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">discipleship), what the church needed was a way to be "broader" (insert evangelism/outreach) and bring in </span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">more people.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Is it wrong to want more people to come? No. Is it wrong to want more people to hear the Gospel? No. But </span></span>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I would say and I believe Scripture would agree that it <i>is</i> wrong to be forced out of a ministry position (where </span></span></pre>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">you </span><span style="font-size: small;">were doing well) because you were doing what the Lord has gifted you to do for the Body. To let someone </span></span>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">go </span><span style="font-size: small;">who was <i>effectively</i> helping people grow in and deeply form their faith just to gain someone from the other </span></span></pre>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">end</span><span style="font-size: small;"> of the spectrum is not wise...it is foolish.</span>
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Those are Bible words and how the Bible describes our actions. They are not character judgments or personal </span></span></pre>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">attacks.</span> </span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><i><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It doesn't need to be either/or.</span></span></i></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What should have happened is the church should have recognized the gift they had in people succeeding in their</span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">gifting and come up with creative ways to bring new people into the ministry who offered a different skill </span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">set/gifting. It would have added to the depth and effectiveness of that church, made use of the Body, and </span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">created a renewed sense of appreciation and celebration instead of feelings of pain and incompetence. </span></span><pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We must be honest about our strengths and our weaknesses. But we must also be affirmed for our strengths and </span></span></pre>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">compensated with support for our weaknesses. The divide is a tiresome one. </span></span>
</pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You can be deep and wide.</span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Most often, depth leads to width much as erosion does in natural processes. Width, however, leads to more width</span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">and often at the expense of effective depth.</span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But even with those realities, they can and should find ways to build on each other and bless each other.</span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What kind of church is your church? How can you help move it towards a healthy balance instead of a polarized</span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">choice?</span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">May we learn from Scripture not follow the trend of our culture. </span></span>
<pre class="copy-modal-passage-content"></pre>
</pre>
</section>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-7812852469412375582015-04-30T09:23:00.001-07:002015-04-30T09:23:22.253-07:00Riots, Race, Looting, Leadership, Family, Faith, Authority, Anger, Sin, Serving, Humanity, Humility <span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><sup class="versenum">17 </sup>Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. </span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">- 1 Peter 2:17</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">Aside from the fact that this blog post has the world's longest string of words, it is almost surely going to offend just about everyone in some way. *sigh*</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">Are we, as a country, anywhere close to the Bible verse at the top of this page? How about this...are we, as the Church of Jesus, anywhere close to the Bible verse at the top of the page?</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">Chaos & Division</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">That is where we are as a country. Everyone is pointing at everyone else declaring the failings that they see before their eyes. And the irony of it all is that just about everyone can make a valid case for their point of view.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">If you watch CNN (and others on the left), the root of it all is "white privilege" and "unfair judicial system."</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">If you watch Fox News (and the few others that happen to be on the right), it is about the Democrats and the "failed poverty policies of the last 50 years."</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">If you watch the president, it is about America needing to deal with the problem, cops needing to do some soul searching, and always making it about race.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">So, as I sit here looking at the blinking cursor, I'm sad. Sad for the country I thought I knew. Sad because my children are not going to get a better America. Sad because those of us that believe in what the Bible verse at the top says find ourselves hard pressed to see how we as a country or even as the Church in America can get there.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">No one respects each other anymore. </span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">How do you address real problems when you cut people off, shout people down, and refuse to even listen (both ways)?</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">Why does everyone enjoy posting things on FB that highlight some anchor getting, "Shut down," "Stopped in his tracks," "Confronted," by some person or another. Does that show any sort of respect? Should we honor either side of that by sharing it on FB?</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">The title of this post has 12 words in it. Each of those words needs to be dealt with in order to deal with where we are as a country. I would love to take the time to get into each one but the reality is even if I took 1000 words for each one word people would attack and find fault. Why? Because we don't really want to have a conversation.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">We just want to be right.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">So, I will just give a short word about each. Sign off and let it rest. </span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><u>Riots: What do riots show? What purpose do they serve?</u> </span><br />
<br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">On one side, they show anger, frustration, and pain. On that same side, they serve as a way to communicate because all the other forms of communication are viewed to have failed.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">On the other side, they show a lack of respect for other people and their property, an animalistic sinful nature, and selfishness. On that same side, they serve the self-interests of the rioters and those with an agenda to promote.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">My conclusion? Riots give an allowance for us to indulge in the actions we know we shouldn't indulge in under the cover of making a grievance known.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<u><span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">Race: White privilege and discrimination.</span></u><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">On one side, white privilege is viewed as a way to get people to understand how slanted things have been toward the majority for so long. It is a call to recognize the inherent bias of our society towards the majority.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">On the other side, white privilege is the latest tactic to play the perpetual victim. It is the latest label to explain why things aren't getting any better.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">My conclusion: white privilege is a racist term that has set us back 50 years as a country. It holds an entire race of people guilty for being born a certain color and growing up that color. In no way would it be OK to create alternate forms of this idea: black privilege, Asian privilege, etc. because they would be viewed as racist, as they should. Any time you hold an entire race guilty just because of the color of their skin you have traveled down a dark road of division, judgment, and hate. Race is our self-made version of the Tower of Babel. We are divided because we can't understand each other...except this time it isn't about language and it isn't God doing the dividing.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><u>Looting: Any positive?</u></span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">No. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">My conclusion: I was stunned to watch some news casts say that looting was actually justified in Baltimore. We have indeed reached a point where we call evil good and good evil. Looting is simply stealing. Stealing has always been declared wrong in the moral code and always will be. It harms other people by robbing them of their livelihood. It serves no purpose other than to satisfy an entitled, selfish, and coveting population.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<u><span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">Leadership: Lessons to be learned?</span></u><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">Leadership is hard. Leadership must be proven not elected.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">My conclusion: Whether we look at news anchors, mayors, clergy, the president, governors, etc., there seems to be a shortage of true leaders. Leaders lead by example. Which leader have you seen on TV or heard on the radio lately that you would actually like to be like? I can't think of one. I'm not talking about being smart, being a good speaker, or being popular. I'm ask, "Who would you actually like to <i>be</i> like?" If we can't find one we would actually like to be like, then why do we think they can fix anything? Leadership is not rushing to a judgement before any facts are known and neither is it leadership to craft the facts to fit your preconceived version. Leadership is not telling other people what to believe or trapping them with details they haven't had time to process yet. We have been electing/watching/supporting people but not leaders for a long time. We have gotten what we deserved.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<u><span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">Family & Faith: How do they fit it?</span></u><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">My conclusion: I find it ironic that all of this blows up again at the same time the Supreme Court is wrestling with redefining the family. Family would go a long way to fixing a lot of this. Family & faith would fix it fully. It is in the context of family that a person learns respect, boundaries, and kindness (just to name a very few things). If that same family is shaped by faith, then there is a solid moral foundation on which to build all the virtues a person should hold high and dear. Boys need men and girls need women. Boys also need women and girls need men. So, in the beginning, God created the perfect place for all those needs. It is called the family. A mom, a dad, and any children they might have or that they might influence. If you take mom or dad out of the picture, life become immediately...immediately....immediately harder. And as life gets harder, things slip through the cracks. As things slip, society slips. As society slips, the country slips. As the country slips, the country ends. Family and faith don't fit in the the equation...they hold it together. They hold together the very fabric of our country. Take them out and we <i>will</i> fall.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><u>Authority: abuse of and submission to </u></span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">"With great power comes great responsibility." "To whom much is given much will be required."</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">Is it possible to abuse power? Absolutely. How many of us have heard, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely?" Yet, we all know that if we do not have a system of authority that we all agree to submit to, then we will have chaos. At least I thought we all knew that. Our founding fathers knew that, which is why our government has checks and balances. It is why our judicial system moves painfully slow sometimes because there are processes to try and minimize corruption and abuse. </span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">My conclusion: the occasional abuse of authority does not give us the right to refuse to no longer submit to authority. To do so invites more chaos than the abuse creates. For those of us in the Church, we are called to submit regardless. In America, we have options at our disposal to protest the occasional abuses. We are blessed to live in a country with such realities. Rioting and looting are not those options. It is much harder (not impossible but harder) to find yourself under an abuse of authority when you are living a life of submission to authority. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><u>Anger & Sin</u> </span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">My conclusion: People are obviously angry. And anger is not necessarily a sin. But anger that involves destroying other people's possessions, hurting other people's bodies, and losing all self-control? That is sin. Reasoning with a person or group of people in such a state is not possible. Anger arises from sense of being offended. In America, we have ways of making our offense known without resorting to violence. This move towards violence is a display of the sinfulness of man, the lack of respect for your neighbor, and the abandonment of love.</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><u>Serving: What about cops?</u></span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">My conclusion: My uncle was a cop for 20 years. I watched him ride off time and time again to go help someone or stop a crime. He was the highest example of serving others. When we rob cops of their right to be viewed as heroes and servants, when we rob our children of the image that a cop is the person you run to if you are ever in danger, when we reach a point as a country where cops are the bad guys, then we will soon slip into anarchy and terror. My daughters both love policemen. Their eyes light up when they see a policemen in a restaurant. Why let a few who abuse destroy the image, effort, and sacrifice of the many? </span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><u>Humanity & Humility</u></span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">My conclusion: "None of us are righteous. No, not one." Yet, I perceive that we are increasingly thinking that we are. We rush to judgement. We are quick to condemnation. And we reject anything that doesn't fit our agenda. We are a society that, like Pilate some 2000 years before us, is asking, "What is truth?" Facts are no longer viewed as such. We deny what we don't want to believe. Our trust has been shattered by those in the highest offices of our land over the last 50 years with few exceptions. Our current TV and movie lineup is full of movies that speak to distrust, deception, and corruption. We are surrounded by bad examples of bad people doing bad things. We have forgotten the One who came down and did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. </span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">Wow...this was really long! Sorry about that, my faithful reader. As you can see, we are in a very complicated place. </span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">I am a 37 year old male, white, husband and father of four young children. I am also an ordained minister in the Christian faith and an American citizen. In our fragmented society that means I am:</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">- inexperienced and naive</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">- sexist </span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">- a beneficiary of white privilege</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">- against gay marriage</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">- unable to relate to single parents</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">- not driven to succeed in my career</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">- religious</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">- against immigration </span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">Sadly, that is how our society is beginning to see each other. </span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">I choose, however, to do what I can to love God and my neighbor and to...</span><br />
<br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><sup class="versenum">17 </sup>Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. </span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">- 1 Peter 2:17</span><br />
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417"><br /></span>
<span class="text 1Pet-2-17" id="en-NIV-30417">Please pause and just pray for our country for a minute. We all need a good bit more of that.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-27705688579622618212015-04-28T16:53:00.000-07:002015-04-28T16:53:02.926-07:00Digging New RutsDo you remember the way the roads looked in those old western TV shows or Little House on the Prairie?<br />
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Kinda like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7KE9Pdh5I6HoN5VodghCgID4tP1hACBMC_nfLy4OSKGItfJ5fbLnxDUKnVTBZFUQF3YoIahis08PkIXcA4EWLnxW3vWRp8eJlk9Fo0weMDiyhLqd6jVot2WutF3mIGAzmd3IIH2nun-4/s1600/road.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7KE9Pdh5I6HoN5VodghCgID4tP1hACBMC_nfLy4OSKGItfJ5fbLnxDUKnVTBZFUQF3YoIahis08PkIXcA4EWLnxW3vWRp8eJlk9Fo0weMDiyhLqd6jVot2WutF3mIGAzmd3IIH2nun-4/s1600/road.jpg" height="200" width="149" /></a></div>
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They all had these wagon wheel ruts in them.<br />
<br />
As I was discipling a couple of ladies last night, we began to talk about what I had written in my last post (see my "Faith" post). During our conversation, one of the ladies asked me, "But how do we have that kinda faith? How can we just look past people's offenses?"<br />
<br />
As we continued to discuss her questions, I felt the Lord impress on me the mental image of wagon wheel ruts. If you know anything about addiction and what it does to the human brain, then, you probably have heard that addicting behaviors literally carve pathways into your brain's physiology. As a person continues to feed the addiction, those pathways deepen over time making it harder and harder to not give in and do something different.<br />
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These pathway carvings are like wagon wheel ruts. Over time, the ruts get deeper and deeper. Trying to pull a wagon wheel out of one of these ruts could often lead to a broken wheel. Also, choosing to <u>not</u> follow the ruts and dig new ones was tremendously difficult and risky because you ran the risk of falling back into a rut and again breaking a wheel.<br />
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Along those same lines, I believe any serious shift in the way we do things can be compared to this image, even shifts in our spiritual lives. The answer to the lady I was discipling's question is not a pat, easy answer. It is one that is difficult and bears a fair amount of risk.<br />
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We must dig new ruts.<br />
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Just as the person breaking free of an addiction must learn to carve new pathways (most successfully with God's help), we must learn to think about faith/trust in a new way. The first step is getting the wheel out of the rut. This is often a huge effort (depending on how deeply engrained the something is that we are trying to change) and can be painful and scary as we try to let go of the way we have always thought or done something.<br />
<br />
In regards to faith ("How do we have that kinda faith?"), I think the shift becomes less about <u>having the faith/trust in Jesus to deal <i>with</i> a situation</u> and more about <u>having the faith/trust to see Jesus <i>behind/past</i> the situation</u>. This is a big shift. One focuses on dealing with it. The other focuses on letting it go.<br />
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After the wheel has gotten out of the rut, we now have to tread over uncharted territory. The road less traveled Frost would tell us. The territory deals with the the how to's ("How can we just look past people's offenses?"). I think the answer lies solely in the One to whom we are looking. As we look past the offense or fear and focus our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, we find ourselves focusing much less on what we must <i>do</i> and much more on who He says we are to <i>be</i>.<br />
<br />
We can look past people's offenses because the King in in control and that same King has adopted us as His children, and if we are His children and He is total absolute control, what offense or fear could possibly harm us without His sovereign hand directing, protecting, and sustaining us through it all?<br />
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*I doubt very much that that long sentence is correct grammatically but it works for me :-)<br />
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So, I am testing out this new ground. Is it kinda scary and hard? Sure. But not because of God. It is scary and hard because it is new. But nothing stays new. Eventually, it becomes a part of what we do. But I am a long way from that.<br />
<br />
I've gotta dig some new ruts.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-34923305185309180792015-04-25T20:11:00.001-07:002015-04-25T20:26:42.967-07:00Do you understand faith?Ted Dekker.<br />
<br />
If you have talked to me about books in the last 5 years, then I have probably mentioned Ted. Hands down he is my favorite author. Maybe ever.<br />
<br />
Why?<br />
<br />
Because I have learned a tremendous amount about my faith and what it needs to look like in this world from reading his books.<br />
<br />
But, rather than launch into all of that, I want to focus on the title of this post.<br />
<br />
Do you understand faith?<br />
<br />
I mean the word. Faith. What does it mean to have faith. To really have it?<br />
<br />
I just finished Ted's latest work, <u>A.D. 30.</u> This is his first overtly Christian book, and I was excited to see how he wrote Jesus after reading shadows of Jesus in his other books for the last 5 years. I was not disappointed, but what struck me even more was a theme he first introduced in <u>Water Walker.</u><br />
<br />
Faith = Trust<br />
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If I claim to have faith in Jesus, why then do I still fear people or things? Why do I still take offense at what people or this world do or say to me? Why do I get anxious? Stressed? Etc.?<br />
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I experience all those things because I struggle with faith. I struggle with trust.<br />
<br />
If my faith was strong, if I really trusted Him with all my being, if I gave myself over to him completely, all my hopes, dreams, desires, and goals and trusted, then what can stand against His will and His purposes for me?<br />
<br />
Nothing.<br />
<br />
So, the only reason I struggle, I fear, I fret, and I worry is because I choose to not trust. I choose the things of this world, the agendas of my heart, and the "reality" of my situation rather than faith in Jesus.<br />
<br />
If I truly trusted, then no one can hurt me (physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually) unless He allows it. Not one hair on my head can be affected without the Lord of the Universe granting it to be. And if He allows it, this One who is perfectly good, steadfastly loving, and immensely kind, what does it matter the outcome? He is in control and He is with me through it all. It is in Him and His goodness that my faith is placed...not the storm in my life, not the fear of being mocked, not the uncertainty of my next paycheck, etc.. My faith, my trust, should be in the One who is above all things, controls all things, and knows all things.<br />
<br />
That kind of faith is like that of a child. A child who does not know to fear or take offense because they trust the One who holds their hand. That hand means safety. It means peace. It means joy. It means confidence. Not because of who I am...but because of the One whose hand it is.<br />
<br />
And that kind of faith? It can tell a mountain to move...and it will.<br />
<br />
Do you understand faith? I'm still learning...<br />
<br />
God?<br />
<br />
Can I hold your hand? Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-42351714089378712472015-04-23T15:31:00.000-07:002015-04-23T16:41:57.252-07:00TransitionsHello blogging world. It has been a long time again, but I have some time over the next two weeks. As I have said before, blogging for me is kinda like journaling for others. It just has a cooler more masculine feel to say blog instead of journal...anyway...<br />
<br />
It's been over seven and a half months since I left my first and only full time pastoral position.<br />
<br />
Seven and a half months.<br />
<br />
I know that doesn't sound too long. I know that it shouldn't feel so long, but it does.<br />
<br />
Seven and a half months of feeling...well...useless.<br />
<br />
I realized that is what I have been feeling just yesterday while listening to Jan Karon's newest book, <u>Somewhere Safe with Someone Good</u>, on the CD's I rented from Cracker Barrel. I have read/listened to quite a few of her Mitford books and find that I like Father Tim a good bit. But I was surprised to hear him (Jane Karon really) express what has been in my heart as clearly as I heard it yesterday.<br />
<br />
Useless.<br />
<br />
It really is an ugly word. Nothing about it communicates value or worth. It just sits there. Pitiful. Painful. Useless.<br />
<br />
As I mulled all this over today while doing some yard work for my dad, the Spirit's voice was quick to jump into the conversation. I really didn't want Him to jump in...I was just fine enjoying my wallowing. But He is the Lord and when He wants to jump in He just does so...*sigh*<br />
<br />
So, I began to listen.<br />
<br />
-------------------------<br />
Useless, my son? In what way?<br />
<br />
Are you useless as you disciple a group of ladies every Monday night and they tell you frequently how much they appreciate it and how much they are growing?<br />
<br />
Are you useless as you disciple four other people individually each week? Are you useless as you watch them grow each and every week and see them becoming more of who I made them to be?<br />
<br />
Are you useless when you receive a surprise and much needed check in the mail just to say thank you for devoting that time each week?<br />
<br />
Are you useless when you receive an anonymous extra gift to support you and your family's ministry from the church you attend?<br />
<br />
And speaking of that church, are you useless when you preach once a month? Are you useless when you teach the youth Sunday school and see them think about things they hadn't thought about before?<br />
<br />
Are you useless when you are becoming more consistent and stronger in longstanding areas of weakness in your marriage? Are you useless as I draw you and your bride closer together than you have ever been?<br />
<br />
Are you useless when you invest your time with each of your children and all of them in ways that most dads never have the time or chance to?<br />
<br />
Are you useless when you help your parents out with things they can not do physically any more during this season?<br />
<br />
Are you useless as you plan and work out your strengths and giftings while not being sidetracked by the many duties of a pastor?<br />
<br />
Tell me, son, how exactly are you useless?<br />
-------------------------<br />
<br />
And thus I was rebuked. And so, I am trying...trying to focus on how He is using me here and now instead of on what I think I should be doing. I am trying to grow in patience as He works out the next phase of ministry for me and my family. I am trying to trust. Trying to trust that He knows the plans He has for me and that my lot is to wait in grateful expectation.<br />
<br />
I have found that waiting is hard. Waiting is harder when you are living with you parents. It is harder when you have a wife you want to provide for. It is harder when you have children that you want to give their own space to. It is harder when you want to shepherd a people again.<br />
<br />
Waiting is just hard.<br />
<br />
Yet, I wait.<br />
<br />
Teach me your way, O LORD,<br />
and lead me on a level path<br />
because of my enemies.<br />
Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;<br />
for false witnesses have risen against me,<br />
and they breathe out violence.<br />
<br />
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD<br />
in the land of the living!<br />
<i> Wait for the LORD;<br /> be strong, and let your heart take courage;<br /> wait for the LORD!</i><br />
<br />
(Psalm 27:11-14 ESV)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-48273706124475556032015-01-19T19:44:00.002-08:002015-01-19T19:59:16.230-08:00Is "The Gospel" our new idol?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Gospel-Driven</div>
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Gospel-Focused</div>
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Gospel-Centered</div>
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It is all about The Gospel.</div>
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Gospel, gospel, gospel…</div>
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Now, I am not trying to be provocative for the sake of being
provocative. As an ordained, evangelical, conservative, Bible-believing,
Spirit-led, minister of “The Gospel”, I am increasingly concerned that we are
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Stay with me here. What word or phrase should we allow to
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The most important thing to our church is ______________?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
or how about </div>
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As a follower of Jesus, the most important thing I can do is
teach others about ________________?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What should we put into the blanks? </div>
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Prayer? That doesn’t seem right.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fellowship? Nooooo…not really.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Bible? Hmmm…still a bit murky.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Worship? It just doesn’t seem to fit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mercy? Grace? The Cross? The Resurrection? Forgiveness?
Holiness? Theology? Our denomination? Our traditions? Church history? Faith?
Justification? Righteousness? Sanctification? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do any of them seem adequate?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Now, go back and plug in “The Gospel.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All of a sudden it just seems adequate? Why?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I believe it seems righter (I know that isn’t a word) than
lots of other terms because it is the buzz word right now. It seems you can say
just about anything about “The Gospel” and no one will even bat an eye.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Examples:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The whole reason Jesus came was to proclaim The Gospel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our purpose in this life is to know The Gospel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The New Testament is built around the idea of making The
Gospel known.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Gospel changes us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Gospel saves us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Gospel should be the most important thing in your life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is all about The Gospel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Does anyone else out there feel uncomfortable with the ease
at which this phrase is used? Maybe it is just me. No other Christianeze word
fills those sentences with such confidence as “The Gospel” seems to do. So, am
I saying that it is wrong to do so? Yes. I suppose I am. Because if you strip
out the words “The Gospel” from the above sentences and put in the only word
that should be there, then I believe you will find, as I have, that even such
great words as “The Gospel” fall short. The only word that has earned the right
to be in those sentences is the name above every name. Jesus.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The whole reason Jesus came was to proclaim Himself.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our purpose in this life is to know Jesus.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The New Testament is built around the idea of making Jesus
known.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus changes us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus saves us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus should be the most important thing in your life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is all about Jesus.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do you hear the difference?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I guess the reason I am concerned is that often times the
people and churches that are over-using “The Gospel” and also the ones under
defining it. If you don’t believe me just listen sometime. Listen to the people
and churches that are proclaiming the primacy of “The Gospel.” As they proclaim
it are they also defining it? Does their definition of the Gospel stay the same
or does it change to meet the point they are making? Is it a literal definition
meaning the good news of Jesus Christ? Or is it the story of Jesus' life, death,
and resurrection? Or maybe it is the larger narrative running from creation to
fall to law to the virgin birth to the sinless life to the cross to the
resurrection to the redemption to the return? Or maybe it is about the life
changing power we have each day? Is it all of them? Is it different ones at
different times?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You see…it just has become murky. It is really easy for
everyone to use the same words but have very different meanings. Just let a
Mormon in sometime and let him tell you about salvation, justification, and
faith. Let a Jehovah Witnesses in sometime and listen as she tells you about
the same words. The listen to a Muslim. Then a Buddhist. Then a
Catholic. Then a Jew.Then any protestant Christians you know. I guarantee that you will hear the same words but hear very different meanings.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The story of Jesus. The Good News of Jesus. The Gospel of
Jesus. Whatever you call it, it is wonderful. It is important. It is just as
important as any other Chistianeze word I listed earlier. But Jesus…Jesus is
Jesus and “The Gospel” is not…unless, of course, that is your definition of “The
Gospel.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You see… words simply mean different things to different
people and our lack of thoughtfulness when we use the words “The Gospel” and
when we hear others who use those same words makes us vulnerable for putting
something in the blank that only Jesus should be in…and that my friends make it…an
idol.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For full disclosure my working definition of “The Gospel:”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Humanity was created to be in relationship, to have
fellowship, and that fellowship was to be with the One who created us all. We
were to walk with Him in the garden and enjoy the wonder of that relationship
for all time, yet we rejected it. We listened to a lie and desired more. We
doubted that the God of the universe was enough. So humanity fell. We sinned.
We lost the fellowship we were created to have. The holy God of creation could
no longer allow us into His presence. Sin became the barrier that broke our
intended purpose of fellowship and worship. But as a display of mercy, God gave
us the law. In the law, humanity saw just how fallen we really were, we saw
just how holy God really is, and we saw how large the gap between sin and
holiness has always been. Yet the law’s demands were too high, its price we
were unable to pay, and the path of purity was found too impossible to live out.
Still, God in His grace provided a way for the demands of the law to be met and
the sinfulness of man to be atoned for all in one person, one perfect, sinless
person, Jesus. Through the birth, life, death on the cross, and resurrection of
Jesus Christ, the just wrath of God was satisfied for the sins of all who would
be drawn to Him by faith through the call of the Holy Spirit. However, the goodness
of God doesn’t stop there! The life of a follower of Jesus is about so much
more than the glory of forgiveness (although it must start there!). It is about
the victory of the life we are now empowered to live. It is about the
opportunity to love the One who has done it all and because of that love also
be able to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is about taking that love from Him
and returning it to Him and to others by pouring ourselves out as a living
sacrifice as He makes us become fishers of men. Fishers who disciple the
nations as a grateful response to eternal love. It is about the restoration of
a relationship, the renewal of a fellowship, and the return to a reality that
we shall once again walk with Him in the cool of the day. This is the good news
of Jesus. This is The Gospel.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am not saying this is a perfect definition, but when I speak of The Gospel this is what I mean. What do you mean? What do the people you hear say it mean? Do you know? Ask...just please ask and then listen to see if it proves consistent. But whatever you do...don't let it be an idol.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thoughts?</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-87811503193972164732014-10-14T07:52:00.002-07:002014-10-14T07:52:51.525-07:00Joy in SadnessDear one, <br />
<br />
Sadness. Joyfulness.<br />
<br />
Two extremes that are not meant to dwell together...yet often do.<br />
<br />
They exist when I receive news of how you are doing.<br />
<br />
Sadness because you are not here. Sadness because I am selfish and want to see you, hear you, speak with you. I want to watch you in the midst of my family. I want to hear you laugh, see your smile, know you are safe. Sadness because I no longer know when I might see you again. Be able to hold you as the daughter I consider you to be. Sadness because the world is big, mean at times, unpredictable, and not as it should be. Sadness because I am not needed as I once was. Sadness because I can't see you becoming who you are supposed to be because the miles separating us are too great.<br />
<br />
Sadness... <br />
<br />
and yet...<br />
<br />
joy comes in the morning.<br />
<br />
Joyfulness because you are exactly where you are supposed to be. Joyfulness because it isn't about me, it's about those who <u>can</u> see you, <u>can</u> hear you, <u>can</u> speak with you. Joyfulness because you are in the midst of a new family. They want to hear you laugh, see your smile, know that you are safe. Joyfulness because I know that One Day I will indeed see you again. I will be able to hold you as the sister you now are. Joyfulness because the world is small in the hands of the One who holds it together, it's meanness is petty compared to the goodness of its maker, what seems unpredictable to us is happening exactly as it should according to a plan set from eternity, and all will one day be exactly as it should be. Joyfulness because you have found the One who you need every second of every day. Joyfulness because faith doesn't rely on what we can see...but on the One who sees all.<br />
<br />
It must be morning.<br />
<br />
You are loved soooo much,<br />
<br />
Me<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-35243904485092531812014-10-10T11:51:00.003-07:002014-10-10T11:53:09.783-07:00Reinventing the WheelI'm not sure when it happened.<br />
<br />
In fact, I'm not sure anyone knows when it happened.<br />
<br />
But it has happened.<br />
<br />
The wheel isn't what it used to be. Its been changed. Altered. Distorted. In fact, I'm not sure it is even a wheel anymore.<br />
<br />
What am I talking about? Well, let me try and explain. I don't know how to create cool images so I found this one and you will just have to bear with me as I use words to label it.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQR_PsxRL4AolQzagEFjo17CxzOjYYtkrDlLrPPgjEKsFyp8J1Dzw" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="rg_i" data-src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQR_PsxRL4AolQzagEFjo17CxzOjYYtkrDlLrPPgjEKsFyp8J1Dzw" data-sz="f" name="ecedLs05JvAOIM:" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQR_PsxRL4AolQzagEFjo17CxzOjYYtkrDlLrPPgjEKsFyp8J1Dzw" style="height: 185px; margin-top: 0px; width: 178px;" /></a></div>
There used to be a day when the people understood that the very core of who they were was defined by their person-hood. The very core of their being was their true self. Not a habit. Not a fault. Not a vice. Not an ability. Sure we were people that did or didn't do certain things. Believed or didn't believe certain things. But those things did not define us. We were persons. Individual, unique persons.<br />
<br />
So, in the image above, imagine the word personhood or self in the middle of the wagon wheel. Now imagine various words coming out of that center written on the spokes: loving, athletic, kind, alcoholic, loyal, prone to anger, etc.<br />
<br />
An endless number of spokes coming out of one center, one core, one given truth for all people. So each wagon wheel of a person had the same core, but we were distinguished by our spokes.<br />
<br />
Within the Christian worldview, that center is either sinful or righteous depending on our understanding of and relationship with Jesus Christ. The center and very core of our person-hood is either tainted and corrupted by sin or redeemed and reborn through Christ. And yet, as sharp as a distinction as those two opposites are, they both are descriptors of the same thing: person-hood or self.<br />
<br />
But that is how it used to be. That's no longer the case anymore. The wheel has changed.<br />
<br />
Changed to what?<br />
<br />
Well, if you take that same image <a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQR_PsxRL4AolQzagEFjo17CxzOjYYtkrDlLrPPgjEKsFyp8J1Dzw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="rg_i" data-src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQR_PsxRL4AolQzagEFjo17CxzOjYYtkrDlLrPPgjEKsFyp8J1Dzw" data-sz="f" name="ecedLs05JvAOIM:" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQR_PsxRL4AolQzagEFjo17CxzOjYYtkrDlLrPPgjEKsFyp8J1Dzw" style="height: 185px; margin-top: 0px; width: 178px;" /></a>and put person-hood on a spoke and change what is in the middle, then, it fundamentally changes the wheel.<br />
<br />
Imagine with me that at the center of this different wheel is the word sexuality. This change changes everything. Because we know that the very center of us is the person we really are and if we become convinced that the thing that <i>defines</i> us as individuals, persons, and humans is our sexuality, then we lose sight of the need for our whole person to be redeemed. We lose sight of the concept of sin. We lose sight of the Biblical truth that we were made in the image of God.<br />
<br />
Sexuality becomes our god.<br />
<br />
Somehow, this has already taken place. We as a culture have adopted this new wheel. We now define people and accept people based on this false identity of sexuality.<br />
<br />
It is important that the church wake up to this reality because, when we have discussions about homosexuality, Scripture uses the wheel of person-hood while our culture uses and the homosexual agenda pushes the wheel of sexuality. When we say sin defines a person at the very core of who they are, our society no longer hears that the whole person is sinful from the center on out. They hear us say that the churches view of a person's sexuality determines if they are sinful from the core on out.<br />
<br />
So, when we say rightly that homosexuality is a sinful lifestyle, we say it as a way to identify a spoke on the person-hood wheel which is an indication to the deeper person-hood problem, but when a gay person hears us say that their lifestyle is sinful they hear it as an attack on their very person-hood (core) not a symptom (spoke) of their person-hood.<br />
<br />
So, the next time you have a conversation about homosexuality (and you will) remember that we are not all coming from the same starting place. The wheel has changed and the only way we can move the discussion forward is to reinvent the wheel.<br />
<br />
Author's Note*** After finally writing this down instead of carrying it around in my head, it occurs to me that there may be many different corruptions of that original wheel out there in society today. Maybe once we lost the person-hood of the unborn we opened the door to many alternate cores for many different wheels. I know people who would define who they are by an ability (athletic, musical, creative). I know other that would define themselves by their jobs. Deep down inside I believe we know that it is not an ability or an occupation or even our sexuality that defines us, yet they are the false gods that have moved to the center of the wheel.Those of us whose core person-hood has been redeemed by Christ and His work on the cross would do well to remember that many of those we encounter do not use the same wheel we use. May we indeed seek to reinvent the wheel.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-57779059742083063152014-10-08T12:27:00.002-07:002014-10-08T12:27:29.631-07:00A Gay ConversationHello World!<br />
<br />
Sorry for the long delay again. It seems blogging is not something I have figured out how to fit into my schedule yet...but hey! My wife has inspired me with her blogging. :-)<br />
<br />
I wanted to write this for two reasons: 1) To get me own thoughts in order and 2) because I would like to know your thoughts.<br />
<br />
Below is a conversation that hasn't happened but very well could in the next two weeks. Since moving back to Goldsboro, I have met a man who I am beginning to get to know. He seems not only willing but interested in discussing his views on faith and as a follower of Jesus who also happens to be a pastor, I am super excited and willing to join in such a discussion. So, I wanted to lay out for you how I see the conversation going.<br />
<br />
My next blog post, which I hope to write on Friday, will detail a bit more of the theology and thinking behind this conversation and what I believe to be the major hurdle in how the church needs to respond to those struggling with sexuality in our society.<br />
<br />
But for now....a conversation.<br />
<br />
C (Me): Hey Bob. How ya doin'.<br />
B (the guy): Fine. How are you? How is the job search going?<br />
C: Ok, I suppose. It takes a long time to get matched up at a new church.<br />
B: Well, that is kinda how I feel too.<br />
C: What do you mean?<br />
B: Well, it's just that I don't really fit in at churches. I mean...I already know I'm going to hell (said in a mocking voice).<br />
C: Why are you going to hell? Did someone tell you that?<br />
B: Well, because I am gay. Lots of people have told me that..especially Christians.<br />
C: I'm sorry people have hurt you, Bob.<br />
B: Don't you think I am going to hell. I mean...isn't that what you preach on Sundays?<br />
C: (laughing softly) Well, not normally. Of course I do preach about hell on occasion but let me level with you, Bob, about what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that everyone is going to hell. You, me, the lunch lady, the little ol' sweet lady down the street, everyone...unless we have been awakened to our sinfulness and have found the only one who can deal with that sinfulness. That's where Jesus fits in.<br />
B: But I'm gay.<br />
C: And I'm not. But I've stolen things, I've cussed people up one side and down another, I've yelled at my kids, I've hated people, I've lied. So, you're gay. Why does that make you go to hell any more than someone like me?<br />
B: But I thought all gay people are going to hell...?<br />
C: They are. Just like alcoholics are. Just like thieves are. Just like murders are. Just like super nice people who help the little old ladies across the street are. And just like I am or was.<br />
B: ummmm?<br />
C: Bob, the wonder of Christianity is that God saves any of us from hell. We all deserve it. You gayness doesn't make you more bound for hell than me. Because you and I we both have the same problem. Sin. Not gayness. Sin is the problem not our sexuality.<br />
B: But I can't separate my gayness from who I am! That's like saying you're not white. You just are. And I just am...gay.<br />
C: Bob, that is where you are wrong. I mean, I am white, you're right about that, but being white doesn't define me. Just like being gay doesn't define you. You and I, Bob, under my whiteness and regardless of your gayness and born the same. Sinful. Our sin is what defines us Lost. Rebellious. Defiant. We come into this world with one objective to get what we want, as much as we want, as quick as we want because we are sinfully selfish. Me, you, everyone is in the same boat. A boat that will sink. A boat that will wreck. But, Bob, the wonder of it all is that Jesus says, "I can change you. I can transform all that sinfulness. I can make you into something you could never hope to be on your own. Righteous...or in more common language...clean. I can clean you from all that sin. I can change you from the very core of who you are all the way out." That is what Jesus can do, Bob. And that is what Jesus has done and is continuing to do for me. I am not who I once was. I have been made new. I am still being made new.<br />
B: I'm not really sure what to think about all this...<br />
C: Bob, listen to me. All have sinned. All deserve hell. But Jesus can step in and change all of that for those who have been given the gift to wake up from their sinfulness, see it for what it is, cry out for help, and call on Jesus to rescue them from their sin. He can do that for you...but you need to let go of who you think you are. Jesus isn't interested in some of you. He demands all of who you truly are. All of Bob. Not Bob as defined by his sexuality. But Bob defined by your sinfulness. All of you. And what do you get in exchange? Life. Life like you never knew it existed. All of your sinfulness which leads to death for true life. That is the offer Jesus makes.<br />
B: Well, that isn't what I've heard. That sounds...well, I'm not sure how that sounds but giving up who I am because you say I'm in a sinking boat seems a bit...well, childish. I'm gay. It's who I am.<br />
C: Fair enough. But childish or not...it is rock solid truth. I'm changed because I made the trade. My sinfulness for Jesus' righteousness. Death for Life.<br />
<br />
Thoughts?<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-59708608931785037482013-06-15T07:27:00.002-07:002013-06-16T07:02:41.762-07:00Why we still need SupermanSuperman. Man of Steel. The blue and red guy. Whatever you call him. We still need him.<br />
<br />
Chris, what on earth are you talking about?<br />
<br />
Well, first of all, I'm not a movie critic. Second of all, I really do like movies. Especially movies that have a point to make. It has been said that every movie preaches a sermon. I couldn't agree more, so why not approach a movie as if you were going to hear a message?<br />
<br />
Last night, I went with some friends to watch the opening of Man of Steel. The theater was packed and the seats were at least already 1/2 full by the time we walked in 25 minutes till show time. Man of Steel had already made close to 200 million dollars before opening weekend, so people were ready to see this latest relaunch of the Superman franchise (including yours truly).<br />
<br />
I had just read earlier that day two movie reviews which did not give the movie good marks at all. One was even a one and a half stars out of five! So....I was a little nervous the movie might actually be bad. Well, in my non-movie critic opinion, they reviewers were wrong. It was almost all I could have hoped for in a Superman relaunch (no pun intended).<br />
<br />
So, why write a blog about it? Because Superman, from the very basis of his story line, presents the closest thing to a messiah figure out of all the superheros. What intrigued me most about this new take on Superman is the attempt to develop more of his humanity. His struggle growing up in a world that is not his own. With people who are not like him...and yet are. Who can't do what he can do...yet could do more. And a people that he has grown to love. That he desires to serve. That he desires to save.<br />
<br />
Superman is imperfect as a perfect mirror of Jesus, but he is a great shadow. A shadow of a reality that some 2000 years ago was born in a dirty, stinking stable to humble human parents.He wrestled with what it meant to be human. To grow up in a world that He made but was not the way it was intended to be. With people who are not like him...and yet are. Who can't do what he can do...yet in His strength can do more than they ever thought. That He desires to serve. That He desires to save.<br />
<br />
Russell Crowe did a great job as Superman's real dad. He was believable and his heart was true to his cause. Yet, it was Kevin Costner who I believe stole the show. I think Kevin is a fantastic father figure and he should spend the rest of his acting career doing such roles. He carried off perfectly the balance between strong yet humble. He raised a good boy in Superman and by good I mean moral, restrained, caring, strong, and compassionate.<br />
<br />
The weakest points in the movie were the priest/reverend guy and his response to an extremely important question and Louis Lane. The priest's ultimate answer was good but his initial response could have been written in as better. The setting was just right and shot just right for an amazing spiritual moment...but alas the consult for such a thing in the movie was lacking. When I say Louis Lane, I don't mean her whole character. I just mean it got a bit tiresome that she happened to be anywhere and everywhere that Superman was in increasing measure towards the end of the movie.<br />
<br />
So, Chris, you still haven't explained the title of this post. Ok, ok....first let me say that in Man of Steel, like in many movies Hollywood does, you will find an undercurrent of humanism. This false idea that humanity can rise to the cause if just given enough time, motivation, and help. But with that said, Superman stands in complete contradiction to that idea. Superman is the capstone of superheroes. A friend of mine said that if you don't tap into his humanity, he is the most boring superhero of them all because he simply doesn't have any weaknesses except bits of his home planet which are pretty hard to come by. Because he is so powerful, he demonstrates just how weak the rest of humanity is. Man of Steel does a good job pointing out that, even it they had wanted to, there was not a single thing humanity could have done to stop General Zod (horrible bad guy name by the way) and his lackeys.<br />
<br />
It was Superman or is was destruction. Only this one man could literally save the world. So, Superman confronts the notion of humanism and finds it lacking.<br />
<br />
That, my friends, is the best shadow of Jesus that Superman could hope to offer. Just as the movie presents no other option but for Superman to save the day, the Bible presents that there is no other option but for Jesus to save the day. Every other god, every other worldview, every other religion falls short and is found wanting. Jesus and Jesus alone can save.<br />
<br />
I could say a lot more about Kevin Costner and his shadow of Joseph the father of Jesus but that will be for a sermon sometime in the future.<br />
<br />
So, yes, we still need Superman. We need Superman to remind us that we can not do it all on our own. In fact, left to our own strength, intelligence, and desires we will destroy ourselves.<br />
<br />
We need Superman because we need Jesus.<br />
<br />
Jesus didn't fly around saving people wearing a cool blue suit with the symbol of hope on His chest (very cool by the way) but rather was lifted up for the world to see on a cross that cost Him His life with the symbol of hope slashed into his skin. Then, He dies so that we might be saved. But the story doesn't end there, he rose from the dead that we might live with Him, and yes, indeed, my friends, He did go up into the clouds and will come again from the clouds to bring about the close to all time. He is not a superhero. He is the prototype that superheros are based on.<br />
<br />
Superman is amazing because Jesus in amazing. May the world understand that.<br />
<br />
We still need Superman.<br />
<br />
ChrisAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-51968121067659195122013-05-23T06:48:00.003-07:002013-05-23T06:48:52.547-07:00Mother NatureTsunami's, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, etc....man, Mother Nature has been harsh lately.<br />
<br />
Who in the world is Mother Nature anyway?<br />
<br />
I find it fascinating this idea of "Mother Nature." While the reason for this post is not to analyze the name or concept of Mother Nature as much as it is to speak to the events we call natural disasters, please indulge me for a moment.<br />
<br />
First of all, Mother implies a maternal female. So, a softer, gentler kind of image, no? Nature. The forces that swirl all around us and if not reigned in by this softer, feminine Mother capable of destroying us all.<br />
<br />
Yet, here is the rub, no one ever really gets mad at Mother Nature. I mean we love it when she is kind and we are slightly amazed and sad when she is destructive but nobody ever really gets mad at her. I mean she's a mom so....how could we?<br />
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But...<br />
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What if it wasn't Mother Nature who dictates the weather patterns of the world? What then?<br />
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So, now for the meat of this post.<br />
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If the natural disasters of the world aren't caused by Mother Nature, then, what/who is the cause? I mean isn't that an important question? If we knew the cause, then, maybe somehow and in someway, we could alleviate the happenings of these disasters and live in a much more peaceful world. <br />
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*I'm not sure anyone <i>actually</i> believes that by the way, but it is kinda like an unspoken false hope.<br />
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And for those on the backside of a disaster it would answer the why question.<br />
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The options:<br />
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1) God does it.<br />
2) Satan does it.<br />
3) Because of pollution, population. and technology, humanity does it.<br />
4) Total randomness with no rhyme or reason brought about by the evolutionary process.<br />
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So, what is the Biblical option?<br />
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I have heard many people defend option #1. EX: "Hurricane Katrina was God's judgement on a corrupt and offensive New Orleans." Sound familiar?<br />
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I have heard option #2. EX: "Satan is the ruler of this world, so until Jesus comes back he will destroy as he sees fit using the elements. This view can be held with or without a view on the sovereignty of God over Satan right now.<br />
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I certainly have heard #3. Just turn on NPR the week after a big natural disaster and you will hear it.<br />
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I have also certainly heard #4. Just do the same as #3.<br />
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But where is the truth? Is it really the judgement of God <i>every time</i> one of these disasters happens? Does Satan really have that much power in the world today and that <i>every</i> bad storm is a destructive tool of his? Have we really ruined the world so much through our living on the planet and our inventions that these things happen? Is it really all just completely random?<br />
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I say none of these options by themselves but shadings from each...shadings.<br />
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Does God use natural disasters as tools of judgment? Sure He does. You don't have to go too far into Genesis to get to the global flood during the days of Noah (Genesis chapters 6-9). God swallowed the Egyptian army in the red sea (Exodus chapter 14). He opened up the earth and swallowed up Korah and 250 other for their pride and rebellion (Numbers chapter 16). And that is just within the first four books of the Bible. The book of Job details that God is the master of all things in the natural world. The book of Psalms detail His dominion and control over the elements. Jesus demonstrated that he could calm a storm with three small words (The Gospel of Mark, chapter 4, verses 35-41). Revelation tells of the end of the world and the judgments that will fall some of which will be as natural disasters.<br />
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There are many others I could list but this just illustrates that, yes, God uses natural disasters because He has total dominion to do as He sees fit.<br />
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Does Satan use natural disasters to bring about death and destruction? I would land on the side of yes even though the direct examples from Scripture are not as specific. What we do know is that Satan is called the "Ruler of this World (the Gospel of John, chapter 12, verse 31)" and "The Prince of the Power of the Air (Letter to the Ephesians chapter 2, verse 2)." 2 Corinthians even calls Satan "the God of this World" in chapter 4, verse 4. We also know from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 10, that Satan "has come to kill, steal, and destroy." So, yes, I believe some natural disasters are brought about by the hand of Satan himself as the Lord grants Him sway to do so.<br />
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What about the presence of humanity and our "toys"? Without a doubt, I believe that we have done <i>some</i> damage to the world in which we live. We have not been the stewards that God called us to be at creation in the "tending of the garden" and have instead done exactly what we please in our focus on "subduing creation." There are some things we have done which can not be undone. Ex: extinct animals and overusing certain natural resources.<br />
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What about the #4? I believe there is a certain random-ness to some disasters today in as much as it depends on our point of view. As the Lord has said, "For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 45), " so I believe some things just happen in this world of ours. I do not believe in macro-evolution so the end part of number 4 is a non-issue for me and would be a completely separate discussion.<br />
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But while there is validity in each of these, it is the common factor that drives my post. What is it that unifys all four of these options?<br />
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Sin.<br />
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1) God does it.<br />
- because of sin <br />
2) Satan does it.<br />
-because of sin <br />
3) Because of pollution, population. and technology, humanity does it.<br />
-because of sin <br />
4) Total randomness with no rhyme or reason brought about by the evolutionary process.<br />
-because of sin<br />
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You see, the great answer (by great I mean big not fantastic) to the great question of why did Katrina happen? or Why did the tornado destroy parts OK just this last week? or Why did the tsunami kill thousands of people? should not be answered by trying to decide if it was God, the Devil, humanity, or mere chance's fault. All of those reasons, while partially valid in their own right, when used to answer the why question, are simply creating a scapegoat like we, as humanity, have been doing from the beginning in the days of Adam and Eve. It was Adam that said, "The woman whom<i> You</i> (God) gave to me... (the book of Genesis, chapter 3, verse 12) and by doing so tried to take the blame off of himself and put it onto God. <br />
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The answer to the why of natural disasters is actually very simple. Humanity rebelled against God and by doing so sinned. The effects of that sin and the punishment God brought upon the earth (Genesis chapter 3, verses 17-19) have been felt in ripples ever since. So, the answer to the why question is sin. No one is to ultimately be blamed or scapegoated other than us because we are the cause of it all, you and me and the sin I was born with, the sin you were born with, and the sin we have each committed throughout our lives times billions and billions of people.<br />
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Does God use natural disaters as a form of judgement? Yes. Sometimes. Because of our sin.<br />
Does Satan use natural disasters as a form of seeking to kill, steal, and destroy? Yes. Sometimes. Because He hates us and he reviles in our sin.<br />
Have we, by our lives and our toys, added to the reality of natural disasters? Yes. Sometimes. Because of our pride and selfishness, both of which are sins.<br />
Are some of the disasters "just because" events? Yes. Sometimes. Because this world was cursed and is fallen because of our rebellion and sin.<br />
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When we focus on the why did this happen question, we miss the bigger and more important question.<br />
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Why don't natural disasters happen more frequently given the total mass of sin living in the humanity of the world today?<br />
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And that question is answered by only one great and glorious answer:<br />
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God.<br />
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It is His patience, His love, His goodness, His grace, His kindness, His compassion, and His mercy that stops all that we truly deserve from coming upon us.<br />
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So as we watch a horrible thing like what happened in OK happen in front of our eyes we should think two things:<br />
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1) I was a part of why that happened to those people. My sin contributed to that horrific event.<br />
2) I am so overwhelmingly thankful that the Lord is good to us and that we haven't all been wiped out yet. Thank you God for staying your Holy hand from judging us all, right at this very moment.<br />
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Natural disasters are hard things to understand. But we shouldn't be shocked when they happen.<br />
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And please, please....stop pretending as if "Mother Nature" had anything to do with anything. It is time to grow up and start taking responsibility. Adam and Eve would have served us all well if they had done that from the very beginning. Let's not follow in those footsteps.<br />
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Chris Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-70496689302007479362013-05-17T07:53:00.003-07:002013-05-17T18:58:55.976-07:00The Coming Lightening RodSo far in my ramblings, I have tackled politics and equality and a couple of side growth issues.<br />
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I know that all of you (whoever you are) are excitedly wondering, "What is this renowned scholar/blogger going to write on next????" :-) Well, the answer is The Order Salutis.<br />
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Why on earth am I picking that? Well, over the last few months, as is reflected in my blog, I have been working through some really healthy concepts of what does Biblical communication of the Gospel look like to those around me. Obviously, since I am a pastor, I see it through that lens, but I have had great conversations about the same thing through the lens of regular "Joe Christian" engaging the world around us.<br />
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I decided to revisit the Order (I haven't thought much about it since my ordination) because I'd like to try to communicate each part of the Order, through the medium of a blog, with the goal being to be as clear and straightforward as I can, while communicating grace and speaking truth in love.<br />
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Many of you, I imagine, have never even heard of the Order before (unless you just Googled it and read Wikipedia's version) and so this will be a good opportunity for me to communicate foundational Christian stuff to an audience who is unfamiliar some or all the parts of it.<br />
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As our culture moves more and more towards pragmatism, syncretism, and tolerance there has been an overwhelming backlash against truth, consistency, and doctrine. I am greatly troubled by two things:<br />
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1) The ongoing confusion/lack of distinction between theology and doctrine within Christian circles.<br />
2) The abandoning of and irrelevance towards doctrine in an effort to get away from the divisions caused by theology within Christian circles.<br />
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I am greatly disturbed by this because if Christians abandon doctrine then:<br />
1) there is no truth to communicate to the dying world around us. <br />
2) there are no safeguards in place to distinguish between truth and error.<br />
3) there are no distinctives to be held up between faiths, religions, and/or spiritual worldviews.<br />
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So, I thought I would spend some time looking at The Order to show the dividing lines between doctrine and theology, to highlight why we need doctrine and must allow grace in theology, and to show the distinctiveness of authentic Biblical Christianity. <br />
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Please remember that I am intentionally writing my blog with two main goals in mind. 1) to work out my own views on certain things...kinda like an online journal 2) to communicate as if everyone reading this blog does not know Jesus but is willing to read a Christian's ramblings and see if He is worth believing in.<br />
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Lastly, please allow me to detail how I view myself when it comes to faith:<br />
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Christian (Defined by Biblical Doctrine)<br />
- Evangelical (Shaped by Biblical Doctrine)<br />
--- Protestant (Came about to appeal for [protest for] Biblical Doctrine)<br />
----- Reformed (<u>a</u> theology that flows out of Biblical Doctrine)<br />
------- Presbyterian (<u>a</u> form of church government and theology that flows out of Reformed theology that flows out of Biblical Doctrine)<br />
--------- Evangelical Presbyterian ( <u>a</u> denominational partnering that flows out of a form of church government and theology that flows out of Reformed theology that flows out of Biblical Doctrine)<br />
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Even as I finish writing the above flow chart, I can imagine different people from different viewpoints taking issue with different parts. It is my hope that, as we journey through The Order together, you will begin to see why this is how I view myself. I am not saying that I am 100% right in this view or that I am above changing it some at some point but this is where I am right now. The items at the top are shaped by Biblical Doctrine and are thus much more important than the ones at the bottom.<br />
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So, for those that are interested, let's explore The Order together. I'm looking forward to it.<br />
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Chris Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-14351644272902188172013-05-17T07:10:00.001-07:002013-05-17T18:52:33.133-07:00Equality #5I, Jesus, am unchanging in my stance.<br />
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This last statement is simply a reflection of the Churches long held understanding that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.<br />
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As it relates to equality, I am simply stating that as much as our culture, society, government, or even institutions of faith feel like there is some wiggle room and an ability to change as it relates to certain issues, Jesus remains UNchanging.<br />
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Would it make things easier if we could just give a little on certain issues sometimes? Well, I supposed it depends on what you mean by easier.<br />
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If by easier you mean more comfortable, then, yes, I suppose it would. But we are not called to be a people of comfort. There was nothing comfortable about what Jesus dealt with on the cross. Nothing comfortable about the lives the apostles lived. Nothing comfortable about the life and ministry of Paul. Nothing comfortable about what the early Church went through. Nothing comfortable about the lives the countless martyrs have given for the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus. No. We are not called to be comfortable.<br />
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If by easier you mean that people might be more open to what we say if we weren't so rigid and could give some, then, yes, I suppose that might happen. But let me ask you, "Where would the giving stop?" See, by buying into the idea that we can just "give a little," we open ourselves up to the false idea that truth can bend and adapt. That, my friends, is simply not true. Methods. Methods can bend and adapt but the message and goal of those methods can never bend or the very message or goal we were seeking to communicate becomes like sand instead of rock.<br />
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Wavering truth is no truth at all.<br />
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So, in reality, the idea that "giving a little" on the truth surrounding certain issues would make things easier is simply not true. It would lead to a lifestyle contrary to the call of Jesus and to a system of truth that is no longer truth at all.<br />
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No, we must take our example from Jesus who was unwavering in what he taught and lived out. He is indeed the same yesterday, today, and forever. And if He were not...He would not be true and thus not worth serving and living for.<br />
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Equality is something Jesus brought forward as a virtue, but it must remain in its rightful place or it will become distorted and corrupted. We, as followers of Jesus, must be clear and consistent in how we communicate to the hurting world around us. The tone of the equality debate has slipped away from the tone Jesus would have us use. But with that said, we must not lose or waver on the truth of the debate. For if we do that, we help no one...not ourselves, not our neighbors, not the Church, and not the cause of Christ.<br />
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May we endeavor to hear the Spirit before we speak and then, once hearing, speak carefully, confidently, and lovingly in truthfulness.<br />
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ChrisAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-11619260806290391482013-05-15T12:51:00.002-07:002013-05-15T12:51:42.690-07:00Equality #4I, Jesus, am a big fan of meaning what I say and saying what I mean.<br />
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The commitment to "say what we mean and mean what we say" has served my wife and I well over the course of our marriage and as we are learning what it means to be consistent parents.<br />
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It was handed down to us by a very wise man and his wife of many, many years the Harvins. Since the night we heard it, we began to try and apply it to our marriage and then to our parenting. As time has gone by, I see more and more clearly that, while Dr. Harvin is indeed a very wise man, it was God who first demonstrated the virtue of meaning what you say and saying what you mean.<br />
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As it relates to equality and God's plan for marriage specifically, the God of the Bible has been abundantly clear. Marriage runs the full course of the Scriptures from Genesis chapters 1&2 where God created humanity and instituted marriage between the first man and first woman to Jesus and His affirming of marriage in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 19, to Paul's imagery of Christ and the Church in his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5, to the final scene of eternity in the book of Revelation, chapter 21.<br />
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Of course there are many other places you could point to in Scripture to prove that God has been consistent when it comes to marriage. Despite what the critics say, marriage, the kind of the Bible, the kind of a holy covenant between persons, has always supposed to have been between one man and one woman. Not multiple women. Not two women. Not two men. Not humans and animals. Not between a man and a child. Not between a woman and a child. God has never strayed from this desire for man because "it is not good for man to be alone" and because it points to the relationship we have and will one day forever day (I just made that up...it means for eternity :-) ) with God as we, the Church, are His bride and Jesus is the bridegroom.<br />
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Do we find examples of such variants in the Scriptures? Of course! We have an honest Bible full of real people that lived real lives and some of those lives and/or some parts of those lives were in direct opposition to the commands and desires of God. Does that make God a flip flopper or inconsistent? No. It makes us, as members of humanity, inconsistent, sinful, and fallen.<br />
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Perspective is everything when it comes to some things. For some, the fact that God does not in any way condone a variation on the relationship He created and called marriage makes God a tyrant. A bigot. A hater of certain people. A being to be rejected and dismissed as irrelevant and old-fashioned. <br />
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BUT<br />
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It could also be said that God is the one true constant in all of creation. He and He alone does not waver. Does not change. Does not live in inconsistencies. And, that my dear friends, should give us peace. Hope. Joy. Comfort. Security. Confidence.<br />
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There is one and only one in all that is that is firm and unmoving. He is the one who says what He means and means what He says. I for one will throw my hat in with that one. I mean...who can compare to Him?<br />
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Chris<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538836808662811520.post-86730706635264854392013-05-02T15:56:00.000-07:002013-05-02T15:56:47.723-07:00Equality #33) I, Jesus, am a big fan of equality but not at the expense of a covenant
relationship between one man and one woman which I created and
instituted.<br />
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So, this is the post bound to be the most divisive in the opinions of those who read it.There are obviously so many ways to take this statement. As I have already laid out, Jesus is indeed a big fan of equality. In fact, if not for Jesus, equality would not be what it is in the world today. We then looked at how the very design of creation itself calls for both equality and diversity. We looked at how promoting equality above all other virtues is actually a diminishing of this great virtue instead of a promotion. And thus we get to the topic of our day.<br />
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In our culture today, the battle over "traditional" marriage is being lost, hijacked, stolen, abused, trampled, etc. depending on your personal leanings. For others, marriage is finally becoming and moving towards what it should have been all along: a place for anyone and everyone to enter into a loving relationship with the person they love.<br />
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As a seminary friend of mine pointed out, this war over "traditional" marriage stems from the government's involvement in the issue. What was a religious ordinance has become a governmental swamp. I agree, but this is only part of the problem. You see, wrapped up in this whole topic of "equality in who has the right to get married" are a whole list of issues. Let me point out the ones I am mindful of:<br />
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1) The word marriage itself. Christians lay claim to it (via God's instituting of it) and they should have the right to define it and defend it.<br />
2) The religious vs. governmental rights and benefits of "marriage."<br />
3) If those who oppose anything but one man + one woman = marriage back off that stance then they are in effect giving a nod to all those other types of "marriage" as OK.<br />
4) If you are a Christian, #3 is a major problem because not only are you giving ground on the Biblical definition of marriage (Genesis 2), but you are allowing numerous possibilities for different forms of relationships that the Bible calls sin to now fall under the definition of marriage (#1).<br />
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I realize that there are probably many other shading of the issues and problems that I am not even aware of but for the purposes of this post those are the ones that strike me as important. So what are the solutions?<br />
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1) Everyone who has a problem with anything other than the 1 man/1 woman definition of marriage can simply give up. Let it be defined however society decides and just keep your head down and focus on other issues. * Let equality win the day*<br />
2) Argue for and legislate for a separation of religious and governmental marital status. Thus allowing religious people to keep their definitions and the government to have its definition. *Let equality have its day at the governmental level but not the religious.*<br />
3) Keep fighting and hope to sway the mind of the culture. *Hold the position that this is not an area for equality to take prominence.*<br />
4) Any one of the first 3 options and also try to focus on making the marriages that are between one man and one woman as loving and vibrant as possible. <br />
5) Something else?<br />
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Problems with the solutions:<br />
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1) Societies definition of marriage will become the standard of the day and anyone who opposes or speaks out against it will be labeled as hateful, intolerant, and could possibly face legal and/or financial repercussions down the road. In other words, we can't simply agree to disagree. People will have to agree or pay for it one way or another.<br />
2) While this sounds good and would the be option I would want to see happen, the ramifications to this are staggering. If we take our rosy colored glasses off, we would see that this option would lead to all kinds of chaos at all levels. Imagine 12 people walk into a church on Sunday. Now imagine that all twelve SAY they are married. One man and one woman, two women, two men, and one man and five women. We are already heading down this road. Doesn't this type of scenario cause chaos and confusion? And that doesn't even begin to describe how messed up it would be at the governmental level.<br />
3) The way this national conversation is going does not show love. It simply doesn't. The tone is wrong. The arguments are wrong. The methods are wrong. And the generations coming up are noticing. Thus the younger generations are more pro-non-traditional marriage than ever before.<br />
4) The second half of this option is essential but the problems with the first half are listed above.<br />
5) ?<br />
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So, even though this post is already really long, I simply don't have a great answer. I believe that because God's Word is true and because we are called to stand upon it that the only real option we have is #3 BUT we have got to change the tone of the conversation. We must explain marriage rather than defend it. We must support marriage rather than fight a war for it. We must encourage love according to God's definition of it rather than being seen as haters of those who simply want to love a certain person.<br />
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Marriage is not something that can be equalized OR diversified for whomever in whatever way they see fit. God created marriage not for marriage sake but for His creation to understand the type of relationship He wants to have with us and will have with us when time has ended. Marriage is more than a relationship. More than a promise. More than a commitment. It is a covenant. It is deeply spiritual and eternally foreshadowing. It is a gift and a promise of what could be and what is to come.<br />
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I must be promoted as a glorious good not a limiting OK (as it often is in Christian circles). People should marvel at marriage not mock it. The Church is losing this issue because we have been lazy in the conversation. Now, we have an up hill battle to convince not only those outside the Church of the place of marriage but also those within the Church of its wonder.<br />
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So, that is why I believe Jesus would say he is for equality but not at the expense of marriage. May God use His Church to demonstrate His love for the world through the covenant of marriage.<br />
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Chris<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02976574496191161814noreply@blogger.com0