I wrote this in response to a blog that I read giving ideas for revisions to allow for the drinking of "de-alcoholized wine." These would've been revisions for the manual in the Church of the Nazarene. If you're not Nazarene don't think that this can't apply to you. Many American Protestants hold on to the same beliefs about alcohol. This is really for all Christians who hold on to this stance.
This is all absolutely ridiculous. The stance held by the denomination (as well as other protestant denominations) is completely pharisaical. I'm sorry but as I read the Bible, the pedagogical nature of the law has been fulfilled in Christ and is no longer the way things operate. Protestant Christians, at least in America, have not caught on. We're afraid people may sin so we make new laws that prohibit them from doing something that is not a sin.
I think if God wanted us to not drink alcoholic beverages He would have told us not to partake. More importantly if He didn't want us to partake, then He most definitely would not have used it as an element for the sacrament, Eucharist. God is clearly okay with me drinking alcohol, why is the Church of the Nazarene (and so many other Protestant Denominations) against it? Aren't we supposed to be on the same side as God? Instead we're on the same side as the Pharisees. We tell people that they can't be a member of our "holy club" if they partake of alcoholic beverages. We make them feel as if they can't be part of God's church, as if they're not Christians or something. We make up our own laws, rules and regulations to try to "help" people live holy lives. Our intent may be good, but it is still wrong. Instead all we really do is alienate a world that can't understand why we won't let them in when our own Bible doesn't condemn it and when our own God doesn't have a problem with it.
I am reminded of the words of Jesus, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces."
How do we think we know better than God?
I would conclude that we are the new Pharisees. The only problem with that is that they even saw no harm in drinking alcohol.
Wow! For those of you who followed the Derek Webb fiasco to the end... Congrats are in order. I did the best I could and was there compiling music at the very end of it. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, it's ok. Please keep reading!
One of my favorite Singer Songwriters is Derek Webb. He recently released an album called The Stockholm Syndrome. There was a lot of controversy surrounding this album that delayed it's release and ultimately resulted in two separate albums to appease the more conservative crowd.
The main song of controversy is titled What Matters More? I'll include the lyrics here for you to read and the video of the song.
You say you always treat people like you like to be I guess you love being hated for your sexuality You love when people put words in your mouth 'Bout what you believe, make you sound like a freak
'Cause if you really believe what you say you believe You wouldn't be so damn reckless with the words you speak Wouldn't silently consent when the liars speak Denyin' all the dyin' of the remedy
Tell me, brother, what matters more to you? Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?
If I can tell what's in your heart by what comes out of your mouth Then it sure looks to me like being straight is all it's about It looks like being hated for all the wrong things Like chasin' the wind while the pendulum swings
'Cause we can talk and debate until we're blue in the face About the language and tradition that he's comin' to save Meanwhile we sit just like we don't give a shit About 50,000 people who are dyin' today
Tell me, brother, what matters more to you? Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?
So the question is... What Matters More?
I've thought about this a lot, even before Derek released this album I had been pressed with these questions. Several months before I heard word of this song, I was listening to an old podcast of Rob Bell. In this particular sermon Rob is talking about a conversation that Jesus had with the Pharisees. During this conversation Jesus says
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness."
What is Jesus getting at? According to Rob, and I agree with him, Jesus is telling the Pharisees that they've gotten down the legal things. They know the do's and do not's of religion. Where they are lacking is in carrying out justice, showing mercy, having faith in God and His sovereignty. They've neglected the "weightier" issues. Some translations say that they've neglected the "more important" issues. Being agents of justice and showing people mercy are more important than tithing?!?! That seems to be what Jesus is saying. Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness are more important than the legal side of things. In fact it's this legalism that gets the Pharisees in so much trouble with Jesus.
What's important to note is that Jesus does not say that tithing is not important. It is important, in fact he goes on to say that we should to the weightier things without neglecting the others. We should do justice, show mercy without neglecting to obey those personal things that God has placed on us.
So what's my point? What do these have in common? The question that Derek asks is, "What matters more?" What matters more, the fact that there are gay people in our world or that children are starving to death? What matters more? That a new state has allowed for homosexual union, or that 50,000 people died yesterday and you didn't even shed a tear? He's not asking which one matters at all. He's asking which one matters MORE? I think that Jesus would say that the justice and mercy issues matter more. Saving the starving and diseased children.
Is that what we Christians think is more important?
I don't think that it is. Almost without fail each week I get a new e-mail in my inbox telling me to take some action against homosexuality. I either need to boycott Ford because they're advertising during a show that shows to guys kissing, or I need to write my congressman about some new law or bill that prevents people from carrying out hate crimes against homosexuals (That's another post entirely). More time, effort and money from Christians goes into a fight against homosexuals that is a one sided fight.
When I want to take action that will help prevent the spread of malaria I go to Bill Gates. That's not a Christian organization. When I want to take action that would help get clean drinking water to literally millions of people who don't have it, then I go to One.org. That's not a Christian organization.
We Christians have forgotten to concern ourselves with the things of Christ! We are so caught up in our Pharisee attitudes and our legalism that we don't show justice or mercy to a world that is in misery! A world that God loves, a world that Christ died for! His message and His gospel is not just a ticket to Heaven, but a call for a lifestyle that fights on the side of justice and mercy.
We "Christians" don't act like Christ! Hollywood is concerning themselves with the "more important" issues and yet we think that we have the right to call ourselves righteous in God's site. We think we have the right to say that we are Holy and living Holy lives simply because we are obeying the rules.
If that's what Holiness is than I, along with the Fathers of the Church have seriously misread the Bible.
So what matter's more to you as a Christian? What are you going to do? Where is your time, effort and money going to go?
There is one more quote from Derek that I would like to share. There is a verse in his song called This Too Shall Be Made Right.
I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door I join the oppressors of those who i choose to ignore I’m trading comfort for human life and that’s not just murder it’s suicide
Let's join together and concern oursleves with the more important matters, not neglecting the others.
I woke up Saturday morning to the sound of my cell phone's alarm clock. I turned it off quickly so that I wouldn't accidentally wake up my son Caedmon. I rolled around for a while and waited for him to get up. When I finally heard him talking in his crib I got him and we went downstairs to fix some breakfast. I didn't think much about the events of the day. I didn't have a lot hanging on my mind. I was simply enjoying the morning with my child. Shortly my thoughts turned to you.
What did you do Saturday morning? Did you have breakfast with your father? Did you contemplate the events of the day? The grave events that were about to take place? How did you picture it all? I know that I would have pictured it differently. I would have pictured people with signs marching around and chanting cheesy slogans in hopes that someone may notice, that maybe my voice would be heard. Maybe even hoping that a news camera would catch me.
Did you think about dying? Did you think about what was actually going to happen? The rumors were that things could get violent. Did you know that they would or did you assume that they would not?
The government banished the media from your country. You probably were not expecting to be found by a news camera, but you were found by a camera. Was it as you hoped it would be? Was it as you thought it might be?
I am sorry. I am sorry that you lived in a place where you had to be afraid of your own government. I am sorry that you had to suffer a painful death. I am sorry that your family now bears the burden of your death. I am sorry if this is not what you were expecting. If this wasn't what you thought was going to happen.
Even though I am terribly sorry, I hope that you are not. I hope that you are not sorry about your death for a cause that you believed in. I hope that you are not sorry that you showed the world that one person, especially one woman, can make a difference. I hope you are not sorry that you have now become the face of this resistance and the rally cry for hope.
Please know that I hope that you did not die in vain. I hope that your voice is not only heard, but listened to. I hope that your family can take some kind of solice in the fact that you died for a cause, and I hope they do not stop believing in that cause now that you are gone.
I am not sure that I can join you in your fight. I'm not sure that I can ever completely understand what you were fighting for. I can join you in your fight against the oppression. No matter what your views are you did not deserve to die. I can stand with your brothers and sisters in opposition to the cause of their suffering. I hope that because of you the world can join me in that stand.
I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a shit. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night -Tony Campolo
Derek Webb is at it again. Imagine that. Derek Webb is striking up controversy. I never would have guessed it. I never thought I'd live to see the day. Okay, so that was all sarcasm. I am a huge fan of Derek Webb. I think he's a great musician and great lyricist and a great fly on the rear of the horse we call the church. So what is he up too now?
Derek Web has written an album called "Stockholm Syndrome." Take into consideration Derek's past and the title of the new album and you can only imagine what the problems are. There are apparently some problems that are brewing between the label and him. Derek sent out an e-mail warning people that the album may be delayed.
After this announcement rumors started flying around the blogosphere that all the controversy revolved around one word... "Shit." See the quote above. The rumor was that the entire controversy was that Derek had this word in a song and refused to take it out because he was using it in a similar way that Tony did in the previously mentioned quote. If that's the case then you can see how it would change the entire meaning of the song.
That's not all. After that surfaced a lot of people were upset. Many individuals claimed that he should just change the word and get over it. Alas, he sends out a second e-mail. In this e-mail he did a few different things. First of all, he affirmed that this was not a hoax. This is real. Secondly, he assured his readers that the controversy was over more than just one word. Again rumors began to fly around. The current theory is that there is also a song that condemns the way the church has treated homosexuals. Wow, can we get anymore controversial then gays and "shit." He has also admitted that this album does deal somewhat with economics.
This is probably more than a rumor, at least on the issue of language. In the spirit of Toni Campolo's quote Derek is planning on starting is new activist website at www.giveashit.org.
So what? Well I'll tell you what! We need to discuss these issues. I am a huge supporter of Derek Webb. I don't always agree with him, but I'm pretty sure that's not his goal. I know that his goal is to get people to do what I'm doing now. Discuss the issues and come to real conclusions not just the conclusions we've always been taught.
There's actually more to the story. It is possible that some of this is a game to get people involved and thinking. Derek said that he was going to have to get creative to legally get around his label. This has gone as far as secret coded e-mails and tweets. Even going into coffee shops with secret code words. It's become very elaborate and there is a huge following trying to get this album out there as it is leaked out in a very non traditional fashion. Even if this is a game, it's a fun one and it's working.
"Unless we are actively looking or listening for something, there is a real and distinct possibility it will simply fail to reach our conscious awareness, at least not at the levels that are desired"
-Dr. Richard G. Colling
I realize that I am about to tread on some dangerous territory. There is a warning that you'll hear about blogging. Anything that you put up on the internet is there forever even if you delete it someday. This makes what I'm about to write even more dangerous for me. I feel that the truth is needed and that recent events may lead to an even more dangerous area for many conservative Christians. I am writing about the controversial subject of the theory of evolution.
Yesterday stories came out about the discovery of the "missing link." It's so energizing and gathering so much momentum that even Google is supporting this. If you go to the Google search page you will see that they have designed their logo in a way that reflects this story. It's catching on fast.
I see a few problems with this. Instead of shedding more light on the theory of evolution I believe that it is only going to cause more division. I have read as much information as is out there at this moment. According to what I have read, Scientists can confirm that this is an ancestor to a lemur. It is not clear that it is an ancestor to other primates. Jen Franzen, a scientist on the team that has studied this for the past two years stated,
We're not dealing with our grand, grand, grandmother, but perhaps with our grand, grand, grand aunt
Because of the fact that there is some uncertainty (at least at this moment) this is going to cause larger divisions. Those who believe in the theory of evolution are going to find it very easy to rally behind this and see it as evidence that Darwin's theory of evolution is fact. They will be even more certain of this theory. Those who don't agree with this theory will find it easy to say that this is not close enough to prove anything, putting them even more on the defensive.
It is possible that more information will soon be available and this may prove to be closer than we all think. It's possible that this will be the most important scientific discovery of our times. It's possible that this will move Darwin's theory into the realm of scientific fact. If that's the case, this is where things get really bad.
If this happens, there are many Christians who will decide to no longer believe in God, or at least not Judeo-Christian God of the Bible. There will also be many Christians who will use this as even more of a reason to reject the value of reliability of science. Why is this? Why would this cause such a great schism, or at least widen an already existing schism?
There are many scientists who have been trying to prepare conservative Christians for this event. Scientists such as Dr. Francis S. Collins, former director of the human genome project. What Collins and many others have realized is that there is a false premise that created much of this debate. The premise is that for Darwin's theory of evolution to be verified, the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible must be myth. This idea leads Christians to say "God is not myth, therefore Darwin's evolution has to be false." It also leads many others to say, "Evolution happened, therefore God must be myth." Collins, and many others, disagree with the premise that leads us to these conclusions.
In his book, The Language of God Collins makes the argument that it is possible to agree with Darwin's theory of evolution and still believe in the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible. Dr. Richard Colling made this same argument before Collins did, in his book Random Designer. Many of these scientists have been publicly rejected by the conservative Christian community. They may start gaining some popularity if recent discoveries make Darwin's theory even more likely.
I do not know whether I agree with Darwin's theory of evolution. I do see it as a possibility. If science some day "proves" this theory, I will submit to the knowledge of those who know more than I. I am a part of a Christian denomination that allows me to take this stance. This is where the Church of the Nazarene stands,
The Church of the Nazarene believes in the biblical account of creation ("In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth . . ."—Genesis 1:1).We oppose any godless interpretation of the origin of the universe and of humankind. However, the church accepts as valid all scientifically verifiable discoveries in geology and other natural phenomena, for we firmly believe that God is the Creator. (Articles I. 1., V. 5.1, VII.) (2005)
I believe that Christians can believe in God and the Bible and still agree with the theory of evolution. We need to quit preaching the false premise that these two cannot coexist. We need to show that they can and it's possible that they do. If we don't start now, then as more scientific discoveries are made we are going to drive more people away out of ignorance or drive more people into ignorance.
This is the Madison St. Bridge in Chicago, IL. I'm playing with my new camera. Notice how the light streaks below the bridge. Thanks to pastorbuhro for showing me how to do that. I'm having fun with it and being in Chicago.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created...all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together... For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind... he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him...
- St. Paul (Colossians 1)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself... and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ...
-St. Paul (2 Corinthians 5)
There is a belief that I hold. I'm not the only one who holds this belief. Many Christians today hold this belief and many in the early church held this belief. This belief has been consistantly held by the church over several centuries.
So what is it already? It is the fact that when Adam and Eve "fell" in the Garden of Eden and God removed them, all of creation fell. Part of the reason for believing this is that God created everything together. God didn't create things in isolation from each other. God created things in a way that makes all things interconnected. This means that when Adam and Eve fell it would only make sense that all of creation fell at the same time.
If you read the verses above you can see Paul's theology in light of this belief. Paul believed that all things were created through and for the Son. After the fall all things needed to be reconciled back to God. Without going into much detail we know that the death on the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ has accomplished the means of this reconciliation. Paul doesn't stop with this. Paul believes that through this we who believe in Christ have become a new creation.
Paul also believes that we are ambassadors of this reconciliation. We are called to bring this reconciliation to all of creation. It would be easy to say, "I'm a new creation, let me sit back and enjoy it." Paul's argument is that we cannot. We are now, as part of this new creation, ambassadors with a mission.
This isn't exactly something new. Most of us hear these kinds of things at church all of the time. We have to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. The great commission tells us to be ambassadors. There is something in here that we don't often hear preaches. Paul refers to reconciling the "whole world" and "all creation" he even gets as specific to say "all things visible and invisible, all things in heaven and on earth." Paul is talking about EVERYTHING, not just people.
God wants to reconcile everything to Him, everything He created, everything He loves and we are His ambassadors. We know how we can be ambassadors to other people. There are warehouses full of books on the subject and there have been millions of sermons preached on it.
My real point and my real question is this. How can we be ambassadors in the reconciliation of the entire earth? Maybe it's time we start thinking about this. Maybe it's about time we start doing something about this. Maybe it's about time we act like the ambassadors that God expects us to be.
The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God
My wife is amazed by some of the most common things. At least, those things that I have always viewed as common. She is amazed at how cell phones work or the internet. She doesn't grasp the concept of different algorithms of code being send via electricity through a wire into a metal box and somehow showing up as a picture of a video on a screen. She accepts that this is somehow true because she sees it everyday, but she is still amazed by it.
This may not seem like a stretch for most of us. Most of us can't read binary and most of us don't even know the definition of a hexadecimal system. So it's easy for us o understand how one might be amazed at this.
A better example of what I'm talking about is how Kim views UPS and FedEx. Kim doesn't understand how she can send something this afternoon from Indiana and it could be at someones door in Texas the next morning. She's amazed. She doesn't understand how a system could be so fast and efficient. She uses this as proof that Santa Clause is real. FedEx and UPS simply stole his secret and now they can deliver packages around the world over night.
This may seem simple or even silly, but it's actually very profound. Too often in life we get caught up with life itself. We simply expect our computers to turn on and our cell phones to connect. We don't understand how they work we just expect them too. We are rarely amazed by these little things. I think we need to be more often.
There are those things that do amaze us, at least for a little while. Things like Space Shuttles. There are really big things that we don't understand but are still amazed at. When something HUGE happens that we can't explain we are amazed.
How often are we amazed with God?
I fear that we've treated God the same way we've treated Santa Claus. He's more of a fairy tale to us. We explain away miracles and His involvement in our lives as coincidence. We really aren't amazed out how we breath and how gravity holds us on the earth. We take God and His provisions for granted more than the internet or UPS. Why? Because we've turned Him into a fairy tale. He's not really real. He's an idea of goodwill, not a loving grace filled Savior.
Let's not allow this to continue. Spend time today contemplating God's involvement in your life. How has He shown Himself to you? Do you find that amazing?
I just transfered all of my posts from another blog I've had to this blog. There are a couple reasons I did this. One reason was for efficiency. It's easier to maintain one blog vs. two. I've already proven that it's difficult for me to maintain the one so and I don't want to entirely abandon the other blog I had started.
Another reason for doing this was because of purpose. I had started the other blog because I felt that the purpose was different than the purpose of this blog. The truth is that the purpose of this blog i pretty general and has room for a lot of different things. Now that I have come to grips with that I want to turn all blogging attention to this blog alone.
The reason that I started the other blog is because I wish to address a theological issue that I feel has been ignored by most of the church today. Many might not agree that Ecology or the environment comes down to a theological issue, but I believe very strongly that it does. The point of that blog was to shed some light on the theological nature of ecological issues. I hope that this ultimately helps us walk closer with Christ and that we may live more obedient lives for Him.
There were a few comments to these posts and I have not been able to get them to transfer over yet, but I will continue trying. In the mean time, please feel free to go back and look at these and comment often.
Back in September of '05 I posted some of my general feelings about postmodernism. I would like for you to read it and then read this post. There are a couple of reasons. First of all, you'll understand what I'm talking about when I make a reference to it. Secondly, and probably most important, you'll realize one of the purposes of this blog. One pf the purposes is for me to see how I have grown and changed over time. I think this will be evident by comparing the two posts. I could simply delete the old post and post my current thoughts alone, but I don't want to ignore or deny who I am or who I've been.
If you read that earlier post you'll realize one thing first and foremost. I was not to fond of this thing called postmodernism. There are many in the church today who currently hold this view and I can completely relate because of how I felt at one point in time.
Today I like postmodernism. I am not claiming to be a "true postmodern" or anything like that. I don't think that it's something that you can exactly agree with or disagree with. It's simply a philosophical and cultural shift that must be acknowledged. The reason I say that I like it is because it has cause American Protestant Christians to evaluate this thing they call Christianity and it has caused them to be more serious about their faith and more honest about it as well.
I don't think one can help being a postmodern anymore than they can help being Western. It's just a fact and it must be accepted and understood.
As I mentioned, there are two main influences of postmoderism today. The first is philosophical. This is where I began to start acting like a little kid, because the philosophers labeled as postmodern fascinate me. They challenge so much of what we think and how we think and I love being challenged. Unfortunately the church has not offered much in this area. Theology (done in philosophical ways) still operated heavily in a modern context and has for the most part ignored postmodernism. This is sad because I believe that the church can offer a lot in this area just as it was able to offer a lot in the beginning of modernism. Stanley Grenz was begining to offer up some material in this area before his death and I'm hoping that there will be many to pick up his torch.
The other area is cultural. This is where things have become very controversial. The fact is that the "secular" part of society has taken culture postmodernism and embraced it. I believe that this is where our fundamental problem is. The church began to equate postmodernism with what they saw as "secular." If postmodernism is purely a secular movement and away from the church then it makes sense that the church challenge it. Another problem is that postmodernism challenges everything modern and today's protestant church's are deeply rooted in modernism. This makes it appear as though postmodernism challenges the church, which is not exactly the case.
I believe, along with many others, that we as the church need to begin to see the church in a different light. We need to understand that the church, Scripture, theology and even God existed before modernism and they will continue to exist after modernism is dead. If we can understand this one truth then we can begin understanding the role of the church in this cultural shift.
Unfortunately we are already seeing church who can't make this shift close their doors or die out. We must embrace this thing called postmodernism. It is not evil it is simply a change in history. There have been changes like this before and there will be changes like his after and God will still be God and He will still call us to follow and worship Him.
I think your reaction is a little overboard. At one point in time paper notes for the sermon was a new thing, then we had power point. I don't see the difference between asking people to write down notes from the sermon and asking them to tweet their thoughts. I actually do see a difference. I think that there are more beneficial outcomes from asking others to tweet.
One benefit is that you can get on twitter that evening and see what people got out of your sermon. You know what you said, but you don't always know what others hear.
Another benefit is that if someone misses church due to illness or other they can get real time responses from their family and friends.
One more benefit is that if people in the congregation generally like the sermons and say good things about it then their followers may be inclined to ask about visiting.
Are other people going to be doing other things on their cell phones? Absolutely! They always are. This is no different than offering them a pen and paper. They can pass notes or doodle. You're not offering any more distraction, you're only offering a different one. Those who are distraction prone will still be distracted. You're offering a different incentive.
I find it very interesting that the man who calls himself The Gadget Pastor was advocating the abandonment of gadgets when it comes to a practical application in ministry. I think it's really easy to see these "gadgets" as aids to our levels of administrative productivity and yet ignore them or reject them when it comes to creatively using them for ministry.
Turtle To many guys my age this may sound cool. If you're around 25 years old and a male your first thoughts may drift to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtls. This isn't what this is about. This is about the second post I ever made on this blog. In summary a turtle is someone who likes to start things but rarely, if ever, sees them through to fruition.
This blog is a prime example of why I'm a turtle. I started this blog back in 2004 and I've only published 19 posts. This is my attempt to fight the turtle within and stay with this blog.
Updates I want to get you up to date on my life to this point. The last time I posted was shortly after Luke's death, in July 2007. Since then a lot has happened. The most important of all things is that Kim gave birth to our firstborn son, Caedmon Asher Ward. He's the cutest baby ever. In July of this year she will give birth to our second born son, Cohen Isaiah Ward.
I also finished school. I graduated from the Community College of the Air Force with my Associates in Health Science and from Indiana Wesleyan University with my B.A. in Religion/Philosophy. I am now working on my MDiv.
We moved a couple of times. I am also looking for a job. I think that cathces everyone up.
Future
What is in store for this blog? I really don't have a clear answer for that. I want to try to post regularly. I think I can do this and I will do my best. I will continue to post my thoughts about religion etc. I really want to do some book reviews. I'm working on a few books that I'm about to finish. I will quickly get some reviews up. I may also use this as a place to interact with other blogs out there and hopefully introduce you to more blogs.
I was listening to a local Christian radio station the other day. Unfortunately, this is not something that I often do, because the content is usually neither challenging or sound, theologically or Biblically. This moment proved my suspicions. There was a guest on this particular program who had just written a book and was discussing his theological views trying to encourage listeners to buy his book. The host addressed concerns of the environment and questioned how Christians should respond. This author addressed this with some agitation in his voice. He said that Christians should not be like the world. The world is reacting to concerns of global warming, therefore Christians should not react to this. If Christians do they will look as ridiculous as those who chain themselves to trees. He was making the argument that all individuals who bought in to the idea of global warming were simply crazy. He was also making the argument that Christians who were concerned about the environment were going to appear just as crazy. This means that I am crazy. That is, if you buy in to his arguments. I have a few remarks about this. My first remark is one that I have emphasized before. I think it is very sad and very disturbing that the secular community has taken a strong lead on this and the "church," at least the American Protestant Conservative community, has been of the groups holding us back from making significant progress. We have bought so much into "conservative" politics that it has tainted the way we view God's creation. I also want to make another point. I think that this man created a false dichotomy. He seemed to be making the argument that you are either a sane individual who does not care about the environment at all, or you are a crazy radical who chains herself to trees. This is not true. Too often we have been taught that things are black and white and there is never any gray. This simply does not agree with reality. This type of thinking is often the culprit in extremest thinking or alarmist reactions. The truth is that we are all different and many of us react at different levels on a large scale that has two opposite points and many in between. I agree that Christians should not do anything that will make us look crazy (at least nothing in the environmental realm), however we do have a responsibility to act if we know that something is wrong. I see this in the Bible, time after time, story after story. It seems that one of the many themes in the Bible is that knowledge equals responsibility. If we know that we are supposed to be taking care of God's creation and we know that it is in a bad state, then we have the responsibility to act. I'm not going to tell people who chain themselves to trees that they are necessarily wrong. I am going to argue that this is not the message I am trying to convey nor the theological conclusion I am trying to come to. I am arguing that we are called to act, that may be different depending on calling and conviction. Not all Christians who believe that we should take care of this creation agree with the alarmists who preach gloom and doom. Another theme throughout the Bible is a strong theme of hope. Grace offers beautiful hope of redemption for those who are completely broken. I believe that God offers that same beautiful hope of redemption for a fallen creation.
I just finished reading a message that Pope John Paul gave back in 1990. It was titled, "Peace with God the Creator, and Peace with all His Creation." It was a very good theological as well as practical look at the issue of an ecological crisis. He covered many different aspects. He covered the fact that all mankind have a responsibility to God's creation. He covered the fact the each government, nation or state has a responsibility to the land that they reign over. He also covered the fact that as human beings we have a global responsibility. All governments and all peoples have a need to band together to face the ecological crisis we face. It is now 18 years later. When the former Pope gave this message I was 8 years old. At that age I don't think I ever new much about any ecological crisis. I remember some people talking about recycling and I remember my public elementary school making a big deal about earth day and taking care of our planet. What is somewhat disturbing to me is that I don't ever remember my private Christian elementary school ever addressing earth day. At the public school I went to they made a whole day of planting a tree and learning how to separate recyclables, but the Christian elementary school I attended a few years later never addressed the day once. 18 years after Pope John Paul II gave this message I'm afraid to say that it must have fallen on deaf ears. I have a lingering question in my mind after reading this message. Is this a moral crisis? Is the ecological crisis one that somehow demands some kind of action? If that action is not taken, are we somehow held morally responsible? This seems like a complex question, for it has many different types of responses and can be dealt with on many different levels, but I'm going to try to keep it simple for the purpose of this article. First, Does this crisis require some sort of action? I'm kind of cheating at this point. There is a question to ask before this. The true first question is, is there an true ecological crisis? I'm going to operate with the assumption that there is. I know that there is a lot of debate over this and I'm not willing to get into all of that at this moment, so just go along with me that there is an ecological crisis and I will address that question in a later entry. So does this crisis require action? I believe that it does. First we must realize that there are possible actions. According to the most recent scientific findings around the globe there seems to be a majority consensus that we have not come to the "point of no return" as for as global warming is concerned. This means that we can change the course of this ecological crisis. 18 years after the Pope gave this message and there is still hope for us to change. The action is simple. Anything that reduces greenhouse gas emissions into our atmosphere. There are several ways we can do this and I really want to address many of them in later entries. Now we are required to carry out this action to stop this global crisis. Humans are the primary contributing factor to the release of greenhouse gases so we must also be the primary means of change to stop this. We are now required to act if we are to stop this ecological crisis. So now we get to the real question. If we do not act and stop this, are we acting immoral? I would argue that we are. If we do not act we are causing the oppression, suffering and even death of an unknown number of all nature including human beings. This is immoral. If we cause the suffering and death of others whether present or future we are being an oppressing force. I am reminded of a quote by C. S. Lewis. "What we call Man's power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as its instrument." Based upon the one fact of what we are doing to others causes it to be a moral issue. I believe there is much more to this but I also promised to try to keep this simple. The Pope also believed this to be a moral issue. In fact, he ended this message by making that idea very clear to all.
It's very easy to come to a point in our thoughts on the environment where we truly begin to wonder if God really cares. Does He actually care about the ozone layer? Does He really concern Himself with thoughts of trees? I think the trees are of a very significant importance so I won't completely address them until later. I remember reading an article by Rich Mullins where he emphasized the fact that God loves lilies. Does He? In Matthew Jesus tells us to consider them and how much God takes care of them and how much more God will take care of us.
We often read those verses and realize that God loves us a lot. What we fail to realize is that God loves lilies a lot, He just loves us more. The fact that He loves us more indicates that he loves lilies. We read over that. We tend to be so selfish and only focus on how much God loves us. God loves His creation, Jesus tells us that. Not only does God love lilies, but He also loves birds.
God loves plants and animals, this is what Jesus tells us. God loves them a lot. God loves them so much that He wants to meet their every need. God wants to take care of them so that they don't want. The amazing fact is that He loves us even more than that. If we skip over the fact that God loves the plants and animals then that verse loses so much of the passion behind it, we miss the true story of love that Jesus is telling us. We cannot ignore the fact that God loves His creation.
In Genesis we learn how God created the Earth. We learn every day and everything in order and for what purpose. Genesis is a beautiful explanation of Gods care and love for His creation. After each moment of creation God steps back and admits that He thinks His creation is good. After He creates man and woman, he says that it's not just good, but it's very good. God thinks that we are very good. Again we tend to ignore the fact that God also thinks that the rest of creation is good, just not very good. If we overlook this fact we simply miss the true depth of this verse, we miss what God truly thinks of us.
My point in all of this is that God loves us so much, and He thinks so much of us. We cannot forget that He also loves His creation. The fact that He loves us more and think more of us does not negate the fact that he loves and cares for the rest of creation. If God loves and cares for plants and animals it still hurts Him when He thinks of how we treat them. We treat them as if they are nothing to be loved or cared about at all, we don't even act as if they are a creation of the Almighty.
I was pretty upset when I was first trying to find resources on ecological responsibility from a Christian Point of view. I stumbled across this book when putting together a presentation, and O thank God that I did. This book led me to other resources on this topic and I was very enlightened by the contents of the book itself. I was even more delighted when I was told by a friend who worked at out school library that this was one of the most checked out books. That is encouraging because it means that many people are becoming familiar with the ideas that are conveyed in the book. It is somewhat discouraging because I think that more people should put these ideas into action.
The book is not necessarily a deep theological book. This is encouraging to most but to some it may be a discouraging bit of news. Don't let that fact deter you from reading this book. This book is all about practical biblical principals which, if practiced well, results in good theology. The author is a medical doctor who converted to Christianity. This means that he is not a well of historical theology, orthodoxy and heresies. I was very impressed with how well he knows the Bible. That is always the best foundation you can have, and he most definitely does.
What I liked most about the book was how he took some good Christian ideas and showed how, if practiced correctly, they are good for the environment. I want to give you an example, but I'm limiting info from the book because I would prefer that you read it. An example of this is marriage. As Christians we don't like the idea of divorce and we believe that marriages should stay in tact. He shows how this is not only a moral decay, but a moral decay which has an impact on the environment. If you split a home that means there are two homes using energy instead of one, two televisions, two furnaces, two refrigerators, etc. That is just an example. The author really follows the ideas of Pope John Paul II with the idea that the environment is not the issue, it is the sin that leads to the degradation to the environment.
Not only does he show how moral decay leads us to creation destroying lifestyles, he also shows us how to lead Christian lives in regard to ecology. He does this by giving many personal examples. He admits that he and his family are on a journey and are by no means the perfect ecological friendly family, but he fives some examples of successful changes that they have made. Also, near the end of the book he has some very useful appendixes to help you understand the gravity of the situation and your impact on the situation.
To sum up, this is a great read that I would recommend to anyone.
I am starting to wonder if the portrait of Heaven that was on the flannel board in Sunday School is even close to the real thing. The flannel board always showed a bright yellow place that had white clouds and streets of gold and a see that was sparkling clear like crystal. I wonder because I'm not so sure we understand some things that Jesus was talking about.
Matthew 6:10 "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
I don't think that Jesus meant that we should do everything to make earth look like that thing on the flannel board. I do think that He told us to pray and ask God that His will and His kingdom be carried out on earth just like it is in Heaven. Of that's the case then most of us should stop praying. I was taught as a child not to pray for something unless I really truly meant it. I shouldn't ask for God to help my enemy until I truly desired God help for them. Do we truly desire Heaven on Earth? Do we truly desire the things of God here where we live? I think we do, and yet I can't help but notice that we don't tale care of this Earth as if we truly wanted it to be His. We don't treat this planet like a possession of the creator. We do not treat it as if we really expected it to be Heaven on Earth.
I believe that the Scripture teaches pretty clearly that all of creation fell and must be reconciled to God. I'll get into that more later, but that point leads me to the next. We don't treat the Earth as if we truly believe that it can be reconciled to God and that all of creation can be redeemed?
With the way that we put our prayer into action, we must believe that there's going to be smog in Heaven.
"Then God said, 'Let us make man[1] 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.'" -Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
What does this passage mean? We are given dominion over the Earth. Does this mean we are able to do whatever we please to the earth as long as it is too our advantage and suffer no recourse or feel no sense of obligation to any standard or rule?
I have heard many Christians say that God has given us dominion and so we are allowed to depleat the earth of all it's resources. We are allowed to use the resources of the earth as we please and feel no responsibility (at least religious responsibility) to take care of the earth in any specific way. I like to think of a Father who fixed up a car for his son and gave it to his son, even so far as to put the title in his son's name. If the son goes out and totals that car because he was driving recklessly, the Father would be furious with his son. I'm not saying whether or not God is furious with us, I'm simply making the point that I believe God does care what we do to this earth that He created for us. Instead of recklessness we should respond with respect. God created this world and everything in it Himself, but even more important than that, He created it with us in mind. We should be extremely reverent in the presence of the beauty of nature. I'm not arguing that we should worship nature but rather adore the complex beauty of it all and let it show us more about the Creator.
I have had a lot on my mind over the past few days. A good friend recently passed away. I don't really have much of a platform to discuss what's going through my mind and how I feel so I'm going to use this.
Luke was many things to many people, just as we all are. To most he was an amazing guitarist. Luke was by far the best guitarist I've ever known. In his few short years on earth and his few years playing the guitar he has already mastered it far beyond what most people could ever dream. I personally feel that he was better than a lot of professionals out there today. Luke loved music and it showed. Every time I talked to Luke the conversation would always turn to music somehow, and usually ended in a conversation about Tourniquet, Stryper, Demon Hunter, Killswitch Engage, or any other band out there that had good guitar in it. Luke always has been and always will be a musical inspiration to me. He was amazing in that respect.
Luke was more than just a good musician, he was also an amazing Christian. Luke was not trained or taught in the inner circles of theology or Biblical study, yet he always loved to learn about that stuff. He loved to discuss the things of God on a deeper level than just what you'd hear at church. He was one of the few people that I would talk to and know that I didn't have to be afraid of getting too deep or to serious because when it came to God Luke just wanted to soak it all in and talk about it as long as we could. This was another area where Luke was an inspiration and always will be. At first I thought he was a musician and that's all most musicians care about, but then he joined Bible quizzing. Luke was by far the best quizzer on his team. I remember sitting down with him a church camp one year and he was excited because we had just received our quizzing books for that year. We sat down and started memorizing the verses even though the quizzing season was months away. That was Luke, hungry for God and His Word.
A few years ago I was excited to find out that Luke and I would be going to the same college. I was blessed to spend that time with him. During that first year at school we had the opportunity to play in a worship band together and I was again blessed to be a musician playing with someone as talented as Luke. I was also blessed with long car rides from the school to church and back. This is where Luke and I help most of our deeper discussions. Luke was fun and serious all at the same time. Luke was unique and there will never be anyone like him.
A few weeks ago I was looking for a guitarist to help me out in a service. My thoughts immediately went to Luke. I gave Luke a call to see if there was anyway he was going to be able to help me out, but it was too short notice and kind of a far drive from his apartment. That was okay, and it was actually the response I had expected, but I took the opportunity to talk to Luke and find out what was going on in his life. He told me everything was good. He spoke some about school and Jessica and some about some friends we had in common. As all our conversations did, we soon started talking about music as he told me about this new awesome band he was playing in and how he felt like this was going somewhere and how successful he thought it would be. He talked about the band for awhile and was excited about it, but then got even more excited as he told about a Bible study he had started for the band and he was very excited about how God was going to use that. That was Luke. He was very passionate about his music, but he was more passionate about God.
"These new products appear to be marketed for young people. Also, as they begin to appear, officers may not realize that these bottles contain alcoholic beverages. They are the size and shape of many small perfume or mouth wash bottles. With the different colors of liquid they could/will be easily overlooked by patrol officers, especially in a woman’s purse. These are small (2.5 - 3 oz) malt beverage at 12% alcohol in very slick bottles.
They are put out by Anheuser Busch, and they are only available in a handful of states thus far. They are being marketed as something to add to beer to improve the flavor, or to pour over ice. They come in four flavors:
Spicy Mango
Hot Melons
Hot Chocolate
Spicy Lime
They are retailing in Michigan for $0.75 up to $1.00 each."
Upon further research I found that there are organizations accusing the company of intentionally marketing to children. They say that it's obvious to see by the flavors chosen. These organizations are spending time and money to stop this.
These are real, but the claims that are made about them are stupid. The company advertises them using this phrase.
"Spykes is a malt-based beverage with caffeine, ginseng and guarana. Spykes mixes well with beer to add alcohol, caffeine and unique flavor and can also be chilled and consumed as a shooter."
First of all. You can get a "shot" of any alcoholic beverage at just about any restaurant that's not fast food. People have been drinking alcohol in shots for hundreds of years, this is nothing new. Secondly flavored alcohol is nothing new. Go to Applebees, Joe's Crab Shack, Cheeseburger in Paradise, or any other restaurant and they have alcoholic beverages with whip cream and hot chocolate on them, or made from a fruit base (just like the spykes). They are simply coming out with a new thing that markets to current alcohol drinkers, mainly women in their 20's and 30's. This is nothing new, just a new bottle. They are not marketing to kids and it's stupid to even make that claim. Can't these people find real issues to put their time and money into. I'm pretty sure that less than 1/6th of the world's population has safe drinking water, their are Christians who are still persecuted daily and killed daily for their faith. There are still people dying in Darfur because of a genocide that the U.S. doesn't seem to care enough about to even put it on the news. There are still thousands of children a day who die because we use all of the worlds resources to feed our obesity. There are still thousands of Mexican slaves in Florida, Texas and California that the government doesn't feel worthy enough of a cause to put any real time or money into investigated and stopping slave rings. There are still drugs being smuggled into the country. There are thousands of homeless people in the State that you live in. So why do we care about the same drink in a new bottle?? Excuse me if I don't seem to care.
