Where I've Been

It's been a while since I spouted my opinions here. In that time, we in the USA have experienced much. Hurricane Sandy, many heinous crimes (and many acts of charity that are never reported), a presidential election, and... and... some other stuff. And I've had opinions on all of it.

But I haven't viewed much from the perspective of a traveler through a strange land; an alien to this world.

To be honest, I think I've been more focused on "stuff" than I have on the God who has saved me. You know, the God who flung the stars into space and stretched the universe out. The God who imagined and placed the duck-billed platypus and the giraffe and the cuddly little puppy on this planet (also the dinosaur and the carnivorous saber-toothed cat). The God who put the laws of physics in place. The God who set -- and sets -- the standard for truth.

That God.

The one who did all those things but has time and enough interest to interact with me. The one who wrote a book that I have the unfathomable privilege to read.

It truly boggles my mind how I could take God for granted.

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2011

Happy New Year!

To recap the year with me, what did you see God do in 2010 that left the most lasting impact on you (for better or worse)?

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The Best Memories Are Those That Are Never Made?

What an awful title, eh? To that I say welcome, Dr. Blog Reader! Please have a steno pad and pencil handy as I plop onto your psychiatrist couch and spill my guts and invite your feedback.

I've had a problem with Christmas ever since I was a very little lad. Actually, I don't have a problem with Christmas itself; it's post-Christmas that gives me problems (but if I anticipate the post-Christmas blues in time, I can get an early start, to the chagrin of those closest to me).

My family had a perfect Christmas this year (well, I did, at least). It was so over-the-top good that when I realized it had passed, it was emotionally wrenching. Now it exists only etched in my memory and in the memories of my family and friends.

I'm sure this is very immature, but I sometimes tend to lean toward the sentiment that good memories are generally bad things, because if they're good enough, they're going to make you very sad in the future. And I'm not sure if this kind of sadness is of a sort that's good, as people typically make it out to be.

For all I know, I invented this idea. I've never had anyone talk to me about it. Anyone who thinks about this kind of thing is probably smart enough to avoid talking about it. Except for me, I suppose.

I'm obviously not talking about being sorrowful at Christmas over the birth of Jesus Christ. I'm also not talking about some kind of regret that comes from one not receiving what he wants as a gift. I'm talking about the personal amazing, warm, happy memories of Christmas past -- in my case, the ones with my family, both when I was a child and now with my own wife and children -- that seem to bring sadness to the surface after all is said and done.

Now, obviously, the idea that one shouldn't make good memories would mean that if we really wanted to avoid sadness at all costs, we'd never own a dog, we wouldn't buy our mom a Christmas present, we wouldn't play ball with our son, we'd avoid going roller skating with our daughter, we definitely wouldn't gaze out over an ocean sunset with our spouse, etc. And that would make for a really boring and sad life. So for me, reason always wins the battle, but not without the other part going down swinging (the part of me that says, "Avoid happy stuff at all costs!").

Surely I'm not the only semi-rational person who's struggled with this, am I? I suppose it could be argued that this isn't a rational thought process, but I think I'd argue that it's highly rational and logical to wrestle with it. We just need to be careful and deliberate about which side we come down on.

The pessimist in me says that there will never be another Christmas as magical as 2010. The realist says, "If it happened in 2010, there's nothing to prevent it from being even better in 2011."

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My Greatest Fear

I'll tell you my biggest fear if you'll tell me yours.

Of course, I have a feeling that the great majority of internet users (billions, I suppose) won't post a response, so as I go ahead and tell you, I think I'll be getting the short end of the stick.

To get straight to the point, I am afraid of failure. This fear easily trumps all the others. It's abstract, which unfortunately means that it will plug neatly into almost every situation.

Golf? Ha ha ha! I'm not even going to comment. Cooking a pork roast? Who could mess that up? My point exactly, so when that's a fail it's one of the worst. Mario Kart? Ugh. The thing is, my fear of failure drives me to do my best, and sometimes (with the exceptions of golf and bowling) I see improvement from the last time.

One of the most major fears of failure -- one that actually has significant consequences as opposed to losing at a video game or something -- comes to mind when I read Jesus' prayer in John 17:11-12: "Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name;now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold."

Now, before you tell me that Jesus was God, I'm well aware of that. Bear in mind that Jesus' words here imply that He could've made the decision not to fulfill His mission; that He could've failed. But He didn't. He lived life in communion with His Father, diligently aware of that relationship moment by moment, and staying and in harmony with God.

Read what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: "For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. So I urge you to imitate me." (1 Corinthians 4:15-16, NLT)

We are responsible to teach, encourage, and train those we lead to Jesus Christ. That's not the responsibility of a pastor or a wise old teacher or some other "really religious" person. We're called to be witnesses, to make disciples, and to teach those people who become disciples of Jesus Christ.

While I admit to some fear in this area -- dropping the ball in discipleship and in my own walk with Christ -- it's not the fear of failure that drives me on this one. It's my love for the Lord and my desire to obey Him.

I'm interested in your thoughts. In the interest of space I couldn't cover every point here, so feel free to chime in with whatever strikes you. Of course 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 comes to mind when I'm tempted to beat myself up. I just want to make sure I'm doing what is required of me; that's something at which I must not fail.

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"Go To Church" - Really?

If this looks familiar, you're not nuts. This post was originally written a little over a year ago.

I've tried several times to adequately put into words why I believe that our misuse of the word "church" is not only evidence of incorrect thinking, but it severely undermines our understanding of who we are and who we're called to be. The problem is, I tend to come off as someone who's splitting hairs.

So I'll try this once more. Your responses and reactions are welcomed.

Which one of us would say, "Thank goodness it's Friday! I'm looking forward to going to 'family' and crashing in the recliner." Of course, you might say, "It's family night," but in doing so you wouldn't be thinking of your family as an activity. You'd be describing and thinking of a group of people.

Splitting hairs? Isn't it at least a little bit odd that out of 118 uses of the Greek word "ekklesia" (which is translated "church") in the New Testament, not a single usage refers to an activity? Each refers to a collective group of believers. (note: some manuscripts claim 111 uses, and in three cases it may be tenuously argued that the word means something vaguely like a verb)

As we've done with the word "witness," with incredible effectiveness, we've confined "church" to an event that occurs in a designated, finite time and space. We no longer think of "church" as a family of believers. Instead we think of it as an event or activity in which we have the option to participate or not. Further, we're encouraged to bring as many non-believers as possible to these events so that they can listen to the pastor and get saved.

At the very least, here's what we've done in the above paragraph:

• Removed the bond of family from the body of believers. "Church" is not a unit now; it is an event.
• Acknowledged that our off-hours (if we consider Sunday morning only) -- the other 166 hours of the week, literally 98.9% -- do not include "church"
• Assigned our command from Jesus Christ -- to be witnesses -- to be handled by a professional Christian
• Reassigned ourselves from the task of going and making disciples to inviting people to sit with us and hoping that they become disciples

Whether or not we'd like to admit it, these lines of thought come directly from the understanding we now have of "church". Our incorrect use of this word simply and accurately represents how we view ourselves. How pervasive is this thinking? Do a Google image search for the word and you'll see what it means not only to believers, but to the rest of the world.

If we've given this word a new meaning, how then do we refer to the actual ekklesia? (I'd venture to say that we don't refer to it very often.)

As a side note, piggy-backing onto my post about teens giving up on Christianity, if this is all that they think church is, is it really all that surprising that teens find nothing life-changing about it, or even that they might find the whole thing boring?

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string trimmer or loud music?

My yard work yesterday began with string-trimming the grass as my lovely wife mowed. (As an aside, I should note that cheap line in the string trimmer breaks far more easily than the slightly more expensive stuff it's loaded with now.)

I'd trimmed the grass along one side of the house when I realized that the somewhat loud, sustained whirring of the string trimmer probably wasn't going to be beneficial to my hearing. I decided that if my hearing's going to be damaged, I'd rather it be from loud music than a non-entertaining motorized implement droning relentlessly at, I dunno, 800Hz (a wild guess) or so.

So I went inside and grabbed my handy spongy earplugs. They did the trick, saving my hearing so that I could tell you all about it right now. If my hearing is going to be degraded, it isn't worth it to let it be done by a Weedeater (TM).

I remember the first time I told a younger person, "Choose your battles wisely [Grasshopper]." Boy, did I ever feel like I was full of wisdom. I could actually say from experience that some things are worth expending one's time and energy to address. Some things simply aren't. But I've come to realize that I probably wasn't as wise as I'd felt at that moment, because I haven't always done such a good job at choosing my battles when given the opportunity to do so.

I've noted that sometimes the battles I think are important wind up just being senseless arguments. I'll start out with the notion that "This is a very valuable principle that I must express at all costs," but after getting knee-deep in it, I realize that it was not nearly as important than I'd originally thought. At that point it's sometimes wise to step away from the issue rather than continuing to keep it going as a point of stress.

Two questions for you:

1. How do you personally decide which theological "battles" have broad enough implications to undertake?
2. Did you think that my illustration of the string trmmer even remotely tied in to the overall point of choosing one's battles?

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deep thoughts on overheard conversations

Let me be very clear: I don't like using the word "butt" to refer to part of the anatomy. Although it's not number one (or maybe even in the top 100) in the list of "bad" slang words -- and yes, it's still considered to be slang -- it's not a favorite. With that qualification, I'm going to use it anyway as a part of a fancy new "deep thought" saying that I think I've just invented.

Here it is, for your contemplation:

Always let your conversation be conducted in such a way that your mom (or other person that you greatly respect) would not be offended if you accidentally butt-dialed her and she overheard everything you said.

I believe this might be a culturally-adjusted version of Colossians 4:6, "Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person." (NASB)

My apologies to those of you who are offended. Please don't be that way. I would say this in front of my mom. 

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the word "church" -- who cares?

I've tried several times to adequately put into words why I believe that our misuse of the word "church" is not only evidence of incorrect thinking, but it severely undermines our understanding of who we are and who we're called to be. The problem is, I tend to come off as someone who's splitting hairs.

So I'll try this once more. Your responses and reactions are welcomed.

Which one of us would say, "Thank goodness it's Friday! I'm looking forward to going to family and crashing in the recliner." Of course, you might say, "It's family night," but in doing so you wouldn't be thinking of your family as an activity. You'd be describing and thinking of a group of people.

Splitting hairs? Isn't it at least a little bit odd that out of 118 uses of the Greek word "ekklesia" (which is translated "church") in the New Testament, not a single usage refers to an activity? Each refers to a collective group of believers. (note: some manuscripts claim 111 uses, and in three cases it may be tenuously argued that the word means something vaguely like a verb)

As we've done with the word "witness," with incredible effectiveness, we've confined "church" to an event that occurs in a designated, finite time and space. We no longer think of "church" as a family of believers. Instead we think of it as an event or activity in which we have the option to participate or not. Further, we're encouraged to bring as many non-believers as possible to these events so that they can listen to the pastor and get saved.

At the very least, here's what we've done in the above paragraph:

• Removed the bond of family from the body of believers. "Church" is not a unit now; it is an event.
• Acknowledged that our off-hours (if we consider Sunday morning only) -- the other 166 hours of the week, literally 98.9% -- do not include "church"
• Assigned our command from Jesus Christ -- to be witnesses -- to be handled by a professional Christian
• Reassigned ourselves from the task of going and making disciples to inviting people to sit with us and hoping that they become disciples

Whether or not we'd like to admit it, these lines of thought come directly from the understanding we now have of "church". Our incorrect use of this word simply and accurately represents how we view ourselves. How pervasive is this thinking? Do a Google image search for the word and you'll see what it means not only to believers, but to the rest of the world.

If we've given this word a new meaning, how then do we refer to the actual ekklesia? (I'd venture to say that we don't refer to it very often.)

As a side note, piggy-backing onto my post about teens giving up on Christianity, if this is all that they think church is, is it really all that surprising that teens find nothing life-changing about it, or even that they might find the whole thing boring?

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Boldness?

The story is told of a billionaire who decided to buy a small company and rework it from the ground up (he was a rather nice billionaire and kept the entire group of employees). He changed the way the company marketed itself, distributed its product, and many other areas, transforming it into a business that became more than three times as profitable as it originally was. (That story is told because I just told it.)

How about if we take the same scenario, but instead of a billionaire, it's the original owner who decides to forge ahead? Problem is, this is a man who's diligent but is scraping to get by. He pours all of his assets (and them some) into the company, not knowing for sure if the move will work. He doesn't even have a fall-back plan -- everything rides on the success of this move. And finally, it works!

If you had to choose, which of these two scenarios most accurately displays boldness to you?

Merriam-Webster.com lists this as its first definition of "boldness": a: fearless before danger : intrepid b: showing or requiring a fearless daring spirit

What do Christians typically mean when they pray for "boldness"? (That is, if we find ourselves praying for boldness...) Any ideas?

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Over-Thinking Sneeze Blessings

It's possible that I think too much. It's all part of the goal of being genuine, meaning what I say, etc. And most of you will probably think I'm mental.

A while back I stopped saying, "Bless you," after hearing someone sneeze. I did this because it originated as a pretty stupid idea. I don't think I've ever said, "Ghesundheit!" in that context because it doesn't sound very English and I had no idea what it meant.

StraightDope.com has this note on the origin of "Bless you" (which is what I'd known about the origin, though it seems it verifiably originated during the days of the Black Plague): "According to Man, Myth, and Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the Unknown, many cultures, even some in Europe, believe that sneezing expels the soul--the 'breath of life'--from the body."

It's the one I'm most familiar with, and that's why I decided to stop after years and years of dishing out token blessings. It's just dumb.

But I think I may be considered rude when I'm silent post-sneeze, so I've been trying to figure out what to do.

One action would be to go ahead and say "Ghesundheit," but until this morning I'd never bothered to learn what it meant. Random House's Word of the Day site explains it: "'Gesundheit' literally means 'health'. It comes from German--no, not Yiddish--and is formed from gesund 'healthy'."

I think that I may just go with modern English and start saying, "Health!" after someone sneezes so that I can be edgy and relevant. I'm not sure, though. Any suggestions that will help me remain civil and say something encouraging while remaining true to my deep convictions in this area?

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When is it Okay to Withhold Information?

I'd like your input. I have to preface this post with the statement that there is not a situation I'm thinking about specifically. Nothing in the fellowship at Wall Highway, nothing in the national news media, no situations with friends -- nothing. This is all simply hypothetical. I promise.

I was having a discussion with a friend the other day and this question came up: is it ever okay to selectively withhold information? We were speaking about matters in the Church, so that's the way I'm leaning in asking for input.

With children and parents, sometimes situations get to the point of answering,"Because I told you so," because eventually a parent just doesn't want to hear the child argue with him (again) and knows that it will happen if he presents the legitimate reason. Or sometimes we may withhold information either because it's not necessary for the child to know, or it would be harmful for him to know it.

That's a parallel that sounds very reasonable. But once we're all grown up and when we apply it to the Church, does it still hold water?

In what situations would it fall in line with Christ-like character to withhold information? And is there some sort of precedent or principle that we can typically apply to know when it's okay to do so?

If we reveal only bits and pieces of something because we think that someone wouldn't understand, isn't that making an assumption about them that we're often not qualified to make, and doesn't that make us place our own position or understanding higher than that of others?

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Book Giveaway

A week or so ago someone (I think it was @EvanCourtney) Twittered a link to a book giveaway. It went to Bible Study Magazine's site, where they're sponsoring a giveaway of Mark Driscoll's new book, "Vintage Church". I'm going to have to read the book at some point, if for no other reason than to see if what I'm saying here today is as ironic as it seems. I actually laughed when I visited the link.

On the signup page for the giveaway, here's what was displayed:

Below are four ways to enter the giveaway. Increase your chances of winning by doing all four. Before March 31, 2009, complete one (or all) of the following:

1. Fill out the entry form below and click “Submit.”
2. Post a link in any of your social spheres (blog, forum, facebook, myspace, twitter, etc.) to biblestudymagazine.com/driscoll letting people know about the giveaway. In April, we'll search through all the backlinks to the site and select winners at random.
3. You might not know this, but Bible Study Magazine is published by Logos Bible Software. So, if you post a link to Logos.com we'll search through those backlinks that mention the giveaway and select winners at random.
4. Want to get TWO MORE ENTRIES? Subscribe to Bible Study Magazine between now and March 31st and we'll give you two more entries.

I just thought that it was all particularly ironic: "Advertise for us and buy some stuff from us and we'll give you some extra chances to win this book about authentic first-century Christian living."

I'm really not throwing huge stones here, but this may be "vintage" in that it's like the raffles the various churches used to have back in 150AD to see who'd get to hang onto the original manuscripts of Paul's letters.

Also ironically, I guess I just got myself an entry (I did a number two).

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Found in a Trunk

Yesterday I was cleaning a closet in the house and came across a black storage chest. I lifted the lid to find a wealth of things that are valuable only to me (possibly my parents and my brother, too): the red Snoopy banner I received for Christmas so long ago (and posted about in October of 2007), a chess program for my old Timex Sinclair 1000 -- on cassette tape, some photos, old Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, and sketch pads where I'd doodled potential band names in my later teen years (such awesome names as "Mad Dog," " ").

When I pulled this '57 Chevy out early on in the process, my mind went into "happy memory" mode. It was one of my favorite cars. My friend two houses down and I used to play with cars for hours and hours each day. It's not in good condition because we'd grind our cars into the dirt, throw them through the air as if taking it off sweet jumps, etc.

I reflected that, as an adult, if I saw a kid treating a toy this way, I'm likely to say something like, "Be more careful with that. You'll get it dirty/bend the axle/whatever." But I realized yesterday that the reason my mind went into "happy memory" mode was that I played with those toys like crazy, and I loved them and that's the very reason I played with them in the dirt, threw them in the air, and those sorts of things.

I can't help thinking that these sorts of childlike traits are the ones Jesus was thinking about here:

"Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. 17 I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:16-17, NLT)

How would a child do things concerning the Kingdom of God differently from the way an adult might? By taking on tasks he loves with abandon, by not caring if something is dangerous or might get him (or his toy) dirty, by listening to the Word and doing it without church politics even entering his mind, by being blissfully ignorant of the fact that other people aren't doing it the same way he's doing it. And on and on.

My defense mechanisms as an adult have grown to mammoth proportions, I'm afraid. I don't want to do things that will offend people or that might hurt me. Pushing against these learned behaviors is something I'm working at on a daily basis.

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Mountains out of Mushroom 'N' Swiss

Go with me on this one. It's a small situation that I'm absolutely certain you've personally encountered before. However, I'm really picking it apart here, and I want to tell you how I dealt with it, and to get your insights and opinions. I'm taking a small situation and expanding it like crazy. A mountain out of a molehill, maybe.

On my way back from last Friday's out-of-town trip, I stopped in at Hardee's around noon to get a Mushroom 'N' Swiss Thickburger. Those things are phenomenal!

A group of guys who'd apparently just gotten through with the first half of a manual labor day went in just ahead of me and ordered their food. I stood and waited as the girl who took their order went about preparing it, taking drive-through orders on her headset, etc. I noticed a manager-type busily cooking in the back, looking very motivated.

I waited for several minutes as the first girl called the three individual meal numbers for the guys in front of me, gave them their food, didn't acknowledge me, and walked back to the kitchen to keep doing other things. She was busy, for sure. I made eye contact somewhere along in here with a girl who was cooking alongside the manager (who never looked at the cash register counter and therefore never made eye contact with me).

A minute later a gentleman walked up to the counter next to me (rather than in line behind me), leaned on the counter, and began making good-natured small talk with another girl who appeared from around the corner. He was apparently a regular. They exchanged pleasantries for a moment or two, and then she took his order.

Of course I was surprised and initially pretty indignant. Rather than reacting the way that I wanted to react, I decided I would wait to see if this new girl (who had no idea who was in line first) would acknowledge me. She never did. Never looked up.

Now, obviously, this is pretty poor service. However, I wanted to make sure I was reacting internally and externally just exactly the way Jesus would react if He'd gone to order a Hardee's Mushroom 'N' Swiss Thickburger and found Himself in this situation. Here are some things that I thought about (there were more, but these stuck out):

• The crew didn't know me from Adam. Therefore I could assume that there was no reason they would be intentionally ignoring me.
• I wasn't really in a hurry, but what if I had been? They didn't seem to care.
• I wasn't terribly hungry, but I had better things to do than stand there.
• I was upset. Why?
• How should I react based upon the answer to the "Why am I upset?" question?

The last two questions are where I think we as Christ-followers regularly get ourselves into a non-Christlike mode. We skip over that one.

Why was I so upset? Here are my honest answers:

• I felt like I had been personally insulted. This means I feel like I was entitled to be treated fairly but wasn't. The place is a business -- I'm giving them my money in trade for their product, and their stated goal is to treat the customer well.
• I felt like I had been outwardly insulted. This means that the people who'd just gotten their food saw the situation and thought, "They waited on that dude before this guy who's been standing here forever."
• I felt like the guy who came in after me was a jerk. He saw me standing there waiting for someone to appear, yet horned in and started ordering without consideration.
• I felt like the people behind the counter were incompetent. This means that I felt like I would have done a better job than they'd done. I mean, any competent person would have, right?

Which one of those most represents how Jesus Christ would have felt? I decided after just a moment that not one of them was Christ-like. So how should I proceed?

I decided to let the gentleman behind me order his food rather than interrupting the cashier and politely saying, "Excuse me. I was here first." Would this have taught the crew a lesson? Possibly. In the next similar situation they might be more careful about how they treat the customer. But would that have been my motivation -- to just help the staff? Not likely. I was annoyed. And since the manager was there, although he'd just messed up, he'd likely take out frustration on the staff, while he was actually a participant in the problem.

I also decided to swallow my ego about the guys who'd ordered ahead of me, although I imagined they were thinking, "What a wimp. That guy just let the other guy cut in line."

Now, if any of you has made it this far, I fully anticipate that you'll tell me that I contributed to the delinquency of a Hardee's by not saying anything, but for me, in my case, God used it to teach me a bit of patience and to teach me about my thought processes and reactions. Is it really true that I do my best to live as Jesus would have lived? Or do I just modify my Christianity to fit my reactions, casting it off when I feel it's necessary or convenient?

I hate to admit that I eventually left without ordering and instead hit a Pizza Inn further on up the road. However, I didn't leave in disgust. I just wanted to go somewhere I'd get my food promptly.

In your responses, I'm primarily interested in knowing why the things that you'd have done actually have a basis in Scripture, in life representing Christ, and in the daily transformation of your mind to be more like that of Christ. For me it was a would-be mundane experience that wound up being very eye-opening.

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"EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed"

I'm interested in your thoughts, general or specific, on Ben Stein's movie EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed. Our church is showing it next week in both small groups and a larger showing in the worship center for people who aren't involved in Sunday School, upon which the small groups are based.

The movie is, at its core, an argument for the idea that Intelligent Design is a viable theory and its proponents should not be blacklisted from educational institutions. It states that ID is not necessarily a religious theory, but is instead a scientific one. It also states that Darwinism inevitably leads to atheism.

I'm watching it again now, remembering some of the things I didn't like about it. For one, it uses a bit of slapstick humor in an effort to throw stones at some of the opinions and theories that the Darwinists who are interviewed hold. Another is the nearly direct statement that Darwinism has the nearly inevitable conclusion of leading to events like the Holocaust due to the devaluation of life.

In spite of those things, I found it to be extremely strong, and states its case well. The movie certainly gives equal time to both sides, which Ben Stein of course had no obligation to do.

One question for you... in your opinion, should I or should I not read Darwin's "Origin of the Species" as one bit of preparation for leading the discussion in the sanctuary following the movie? Incidentally, I began reading Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" some time ago in order to be able to offer my perspective on it, but didn't get far before I got distracted to other things. One friend told me that this sort of approach to learning an opposing viewpoint would be similar to me "investigating" internet pornography in order to better help a friend who was coping with it. Agree with that? I didn't.

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Agnosticism and the Church - Part III

If you haven't read the posts and subsequent comments at the first two writings on this subject, go here and here. Then read this one. Or, hey, just read this one (which technically doesn't address agnosticism).

I'm reading a book called Not the Religious Type: Confessions of a Turncoat Atheist, by Dave Schmelzer (his name links to his blog), and I'm loving it. Schmelzer's writing style is a bit like C. S. Lewis' in phrasing and in general wit, and I wonder if he's British, although he lives in Boston. The following paragraph is from the chapter entitled "I'm Better Than You":

I meet plenty of people who, as was true in my case, want God if he's out there to be found. But I never meet anybody who wants religion. Or who wants the right belief, as if they're walking around banging their foreheads in fear that maybe they're believing the wrong things. Or someone who wants to finally be a good person, as opposed to the evil-hearted conniver he or she has been.

I can't sum up the book, but I can say that until we're exhibiting God's internally-based love that He's willing and able to give us (that may sound cheesy, but it's accurate), we can't help pushing the mentality that essentially says, "Hey, you really need to belong to this religion we're in, because we're better than you and you ought to be like us." If we present our message this way (and if we believe that), people are going to think we're absolutely nuts!

Jesus said to His disciples, "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." (John 13:35, NLT) Not by how pious we are, how many rules we're able to follow, who we vote for, or how neat and clean our worldview is. But by how much we love one another. That love will spill over into everything we do because it's where our identity is founded.

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Agnosticism and the Church - Part II

You need to read this post first, if you haven't already.

To summarize, in the event that you don't read or re-read it , I've seen a number of people leave the fellowship of the church and turn to agnosticism or atheism. In most cases it's because the Church never addressed what seem to be apparent difficulties in resolving the Scriptures with real life. I offered some hypotheses as to why it is that these things are not addressed many times, and I believe it boils down to fear.

I'm not suggesting that my church fellowship or yours is guilty of this. If it fits you, however, you'll probably know it. Also, be aware that not everyone feels the need to have these difficult questions answered. I'm not particularly suggesting that we need to make people start questioning things that they've never questioned before.

I said this in the post: "I'm asking for practical, real-life things that I can do in Madison or Huntsville, AL. And I'm asking for your participation, if you desire."

I got one specific response to that solicitation, by friend and fellow blogger Preston N. He said, "I have also been thinking and praying about doing some 'Open Air Evangelism'. This is where Christains go out to college campuses, public events (concerts, fairs, etc) and engage people about the gospel. Instead of having people come to us - we go to them!"

Anyone else interested in pursuing something like this?

I've found that while Preston and I differ on some theological issues, that does not hinder our relationship as brothers in Christ, or our love for Christ and for people. And it doesn't scare me that he has a different viewpoint. What does alarm me is that often Christ-followers are more interested in arguing with one another about the theological implications of our beliefs rather than representing Jesus Christ to the world. (I suppose I should note that I'm not saying, "We're all part of God's great big family, and it doesn't matter what someone believes as long as they're genuine!" -- that's a false statement.)

Since I like cans of worms, here's a question I'd like for you to address in the comments -- I want to hear your perspective. As agnosticism goes, this is probably The Big One:

Why would a good God allow natural disasters and destruction in the world?

It's not a short answer, but you can be as brief or as long as you like. For Pete's sake (whoever Pete is), people have been discussing this one for thousands of years. I'll bet we won't find the perfect satisfactory answer in the comments of a blog. But I'm interested in how you'd answer that if an agnostic asked it of you. If you offer a counter-point to another commenter, please be respectful.

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Agnosticism and the Church

"'What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,' says the Lord." (Jeremiah 23:1, NLT)

Just the other day I was told of yet another young friend -- someone who grew up in a "church" environment -- who's embracing agnosticism. My purpose at this point (in this post, anyway) is not to bemoan a falling away, but to note that this person is seeking truth, and doesn't believe that it was found in anything the Church presented.

Why is that?

What are we doing?! In one way the "sheep" mentality works -- we're supposed to be shepherding people. On the other hand, we can't see people simply as sheep who'll blindly go wherever we lead them (or fail to lead them, especially). I wonder if this is what we Christ-followers do. We have an answer that we know to be true, and expect others to embrace it just the same as we do, and to do so without question (or that they'll take the simple, Sunday School answers), and honestly, it just doesn't work that way all the time.

I have observed that we in the Church are scared -- yes, scared -- to allow people ask "tough" questions in the church, because we're afraid that we can't let them do so in a controlled enough environment, and that others around may hear them and question the validity of the beliefs that we've presented. Or that they might come up with some theology that is not Baptist (for instance) in nature.

This fear and the sweeping under the rug of serious and valid questions leads to the thing I noted above -- people leaving the fellowship of the Church and seeking to find answers to their questions elsewhere.

And really, I think I've had quite enough of that. I'm interested in discussion. I'm interested in talking to people about why I believe it's logical to have faith in the God of the Bible. I'm interested in finding the answers to the difficult questions people ask. But I'm not interested in steering people toward a religion of rules or a denomination, frankly. I'm interested in steering them toward a relationship with Jesus Christ.

One argument against this is the one that says, "You can't argue someone into following Christ." I'm not claiming that I can. But I am implying that this very argument is at the foundation of the problem: "I won't argue my point, therefore I'm completely unwilling to listen to yours."

So... where shall I start? How do we engage people in conversation and discussion? It's not going to happen at a church building -- the people I'm talking about have no interest in and no use for church buildings and assemblies of people they see as blind followers of a set of rules. Whether they're right or wrong, this fact remains.

Again, where do I start? I'm asking for practical, real-life things that I can do in Madison or Huntsville, AL. And I'm asking for your participation, if you desire.

"So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do." (2 Thessalonians 1:11, NLT)

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Filth on a Pearl

What with the advent of the optical mouse several years ago, I'd think that all the trackballs and such in hand-held devices like my BlackBerry Pearl would have those same space-age guts. But they don't. At least, the Pearl doesn't.

I've held off on this analogy for a month or two, because I'm not too keen on the really blatant analogies -- the ones that everyone "gets" even before the point is made. I waited until I could take a slightly different angle. Here's the way it would have started out if I'd used the simple analogy:

"The trackball on my BlackBerry Pearl had gotten so that it was very difficult to scroll to the left. Actually, it had become impossible to scroll to the left. Since I'm a tinkerer, I took the thing apart to clean it myself rather than taking it to a service center.

"Sure enough, the little rollers inside the trackball assembly were all gunked up with nasty, gross, smelly crud (I sniffed it just to be sure). I carefully cleaned each roller and reassembled it. What a difference it made! I was able to freely scroll to the left again, and movement in every direction was much easier; just as if it were a new unit!"

Now, the implications of that story are so obvious that you probably knew them before you were through reading it. "When we allow God to clean away the sin in our lives, we will be refreshed and renewed." Or something like that.

However, I had to clean the assembly a second time. It'd gotten gunked up again (and you'd probably draw the same "sin accumulating in our lives" kind of implication). This time as I disassembled it, I was reminded of a saying on a coffee mug that my wife and I bought as a gift for my father-in-law several years ago: "If it ain't broke, take it apart and lose some of the pieces. Then it will be."

So I'll leave it to you to draw your own lesson away from the latest cleaning experience, which was had yesterday morning. My fingers are too large to be handling rollers (magnetic ones, at that -- the kind that keep magically zipping over to be in contact with the other ones) that are almost the size of an eyeglass screw. I was reminded of how frustrating it was the first time, trying to fix the problem myself. I eventually bent one of the clips that holds the trackball into place. Fortunately I was able to mangle it back into place, and it seems to be working, but it is broken, and I expect to have problems from it in the future.

I think that the best preventive maintenance will be to make sure that I have clean hands when I roll the trackball, in order to prevent gunky build-up. What better lead-in to this verse?

Who may climb the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
Only those whose hands and hearts are pure,
    who do not worship idols
    and never tell lies.
They will receive the Lord’s blessing
    and have a right relationship with God their Savior.
Such people may seek You
    and worship in Your presence, O God of Jacob.
Psalm 24:3-6 (NLT)

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Don't Do Non-Sensible Things

When leading a group of people in just about anything, the leader must lay out his or her expectations for the group; otherwise they'll have no parameters within which to function -- the "obvious" is sometimes not obvious to everyone. Laying out the ground rules is what God did for the Israelites early in their existence as a free nation. Here's an interesting one:

When you are attacking a town and the war drags on, you must not cut down the trees with your axes. You may eat the fruit, but do not cut down the trees. Are the trees your enemies, that you should attack them? You may only cut down trees that you know are not valuable for food. Use them to make the equipment you need to attack the enemy town until it falls.
Deuteronomy 20:19-20, NLT

God is essentially saying to the Israelites, "Don't do this. It is dumb."

In my posts about blind faith, I mention the fact that faith is standing firm or moving forward in the promises of God based on who He is. However, I do not discount the fact that sometimes we'll be moved to do something that seems illogical. I believe, though (and Scripture bears this out), that this is the exception rather than the rule. Here we see that while is God giving instruction on how to behave during wartime, one major underlying point is "use common sense."

"If I do this thing and just believe, then God will make it happen." That sounds pretty faith-filled, but what if God didn't want you to do it in the first place? Is He going to bless the effort anyhow? If the thing fails, how do you deal with your questions as to why it failed? Here are some potential responses to such a scenario:

1) "God has a plan greater than my understanding."
2) "Why didn't God come through?" or "Why didn't God hear my prayers?"
3) "So-and-so [another person or Satan] fought it from the beginning."

But do we ever ask ourselves, "Was I ever really equipped to do that thing?" This could be spiritual preparation or, oddly often overlooked by Christ-followers, areas of personality, ability and skills, or plain ol' physical preparation.

In our efforts to do the work of the Lord, do we chop down our food-bearing trees to make axes for ourselves?

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