christian snopes.com

From an interview with Dr. Gardner C. Taylor:
... And I’ve said it often, that I love the Lord, but I’m also a little scared of him.
Q. Aren’t you supposed to be?
You better be.¹

I Corinthians 14:20b, “In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.”

     Christians, in varied ways, have their weaknesses. Some of it may have to do with a particular temptation that some struggle to work against, while at other times it may be part of their personality that they struggle to bring into balance. A lot of weaknesses have to do with a particular culture, this is not across the board but it is pervasive. Whether it be staunchly held views on how to conduct worship or beliefs about the place of government, the culture you are in plays a large influence, with some exception. Being raised in the south in the United States and going to church has a decidedly different feel than going to church in Northern California in the US. And before anyone says, “we don't let the culture affect the church, it's the other way around”, I disagree. Yes we don't conform to certain ideas the culture is propagating but to say that the church, as a whole, has not been influenced by the culture it is involved in, is foolish. This is not an entirely bad thing when it comes to outreach, communication, styles of worship and promotion.
     There are many other influences we could look at but that's a good start. One of the weaknesses, failings, shortcomings, sins, however you wish to define it, in weak passive terms, or aggressive, bold terms. One of the weaknesses I've been seeing a lot of lately is the weakness of ignorance. And it's not really even ignorance in the truest term, it's more along the lines of stupidity. People profess Christ with words and look to others to do their thinking for them. The difference between the two terms is simple: ignorance is simply a lack of knowledge, you don't know better, you simply don't know, while being stupid is when you are mentally dull, not sharp, slow witted. The implication being that if you sharpened the mind up a bit you would be mentally sharp and have your wits quickened and made ready and available.
     Everyone should be readers. I don't buy the excuse that some people aren't readers. There are so many ways you can digest information in this time we live there's just no excuse not to sharpen your mind with some depth of study. Books on CD, books on the internet, books on the computer, books in the car, books on our iPod and other electronic devices. You don't have to just read anymore, you can get someone with a cool accent to pronounce those words for you and get some good out of that wordy manuscript. Donald S. Whitney says in his book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life...”I've always found it to be true that growing Christians are reading Christians.”²
     It's a dangerous thing to be an ignorant Christian or, heaven forbid, a stupid one. One way I'm seeing this played out in real world terms is in the form of people posting news stories that are blatantly false. Of course, there are many fake news sites out there and it is definitely hard to keep up with all the hoaxes and falsified news stories, I mean there's a whole site dedicated to telling people which stories are hoaxes, called Snopes. But a lot of searching out the truth before spouting off an opinion goes a long way. Sometimes it's best to keep quiet on certain issues as well instead of speaking up and revealing yourself as a hateful person who hasn't really thought out the issues. Posting a link to an article or a news story doesn't make you clever, it usually only reemphasizes a point of view you wish to be aligned iwth and gives no credence to any sort of thought process on the actual issue. It's like quoting a Bible verse out of context, you can quote the Bible to prove almost anything but the Bible is not really made to prove your theological, social, political or moral points. You miss the point of the Bible if that's what your using Scripture for, primarily.
     Proverbs 17:27a says, “A truly wise person uses few words...”. That's a good thought, I think it applies in a host of situations and is not only limited to verbal communication.
Ed Stetzer commented on this posting phenomena and stated that a lot of Christians are misguided and merely “ignorant” and gently chastised them which I think is good and right. But C.S. Lewis is not as nice when he gets to the heart of the issue in his seminal work, Mere Christianity, he says:
“The real test is this. Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, “Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,” or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally we shall insist on seeing everything — God and our friends and ourselves included — as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred.”



     That, my friends, is a stinging indictment. We should not be so easily persuaded something is true, we should be readers, thinkers, and not take things at face value. Dig, and consider whether things are true. But, as Levar Burton from the phenomenal show, Reading Rainbow always says, “But you don't have to take my word for it...”

1http://www.faithandleadership.com/gardner-c-taylor-25-ways-sunday Accessed July 18^th, 2015. Interview with Gardner Taylor.

2Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Donald S. Whitney. p. 221.

a gay old time...

 “What has been will be again,what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say,'Look! This is something new'? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.”

-Ecclesiastes 1:9-10

So the Supreme Court has made it's decision in the United States regarding gay marriage and the decision is a barely passing (5-4 in favor) affirmation. Gay marriage is now legal, everywhere in the US. So we will have endless news stories to come, endless controversies about what this person said, about people's views concerning this and that. Get ready for the deluge.

This has been a controversial subject for many years. Of course, it hasn't been that big of a controversy across the entire world. In Canada, for instance, gay marriage has now been legal for a decade. The Netherlands allowed civil marriage of same sex couples as early as 2001. Denmark allowed registered partnerships for same sex couples all the way back in 1989, not the same thing as marriage but certainly progressive for the end of the 80's.

If you follow history far enough back you will see that kingdoms in various time periods engaged in same gender relationships long before the SCOTUS decided it was ok, by a slim margin. The United States is a relatively young nation with very few notches on her belt. But she sure likes to go around puffing out her cheeks as if she is the talk of the town, just hit the game winning run, and just impressed all the top dogs doesn't she? This debate has been around for many years.

Ancient Greece had homosexual relationships, so did ancient Rome. Some of the Roman emperors were in same gender relationships. The same is also true of women in ancient China during the Ming Dynasty. There is also some evidence of this existing among Native Americans. Now not all these examples were marriages, some were commitments, relationships of varying degrees, some were legally binding and some were not, but the idea is that this has been around for quite some time.

The idea is not new, you can put a “legal” or “illegal” status on it but the concept behind it is certainly not new. We keep taking ideas and concepts, controversial or no, and making them new when they are not.

Do me a favor, whatever your take on the ruling, on the concept of same sex marriage, approach it with respect and with grace for whomever you discuss it with, that's the right way to enter a conversation about any subject. Take it down a few notches. And as far as the SCOTUS? They don't really run my fantasy league so I'm not too worried about whether or not I agree with their rulings.   

a little poetry action for ya'

yellow

pushed into a field of breath

inhaled sharply towards a dividing measure of arrogant speech,

swept across hearts and placed into pale steps of ethos

Grab those handfuls of unweighted expectation,

full of vibrant liner notes

choruses and choruses of moments

caught in actuality.

Reaming off progress in successive handfuls.

And stout conclaves of fury compress themselves

in meek similitude

of engraved hearts

shaped as ivory banners,

over you.

Symbols

Jeremiah 8:11, “They dressed the wound of my people as though it were not serious, 'Peace, peace', they say, when there is no peace.”

There have been a slew of interesting news stories lately. The most recent one to capture my attention is the debate over the Confederate flag. I discussed this briefly with a co-worker just today. The extra attention is due to the recent shootings at a predominantly black church (is that even a thing? I know it is, but does that sound right? No...but anyway enough of that) by Dylan Roof. Apparently this kid had strong racist ties and had pictures, images and even a manifesto of sorts, all associated with racism. There are pictures of him with guns, on old slave plantations and yes, a Confederate flag.

South Carolina has a Confederate flag on the statehouse grounds. The governor of South Carolina has come out quite vocally in support of removing the flag and the big wigs are going to debate whether or not they should take it down. They recently voted on whether or not they should debate it, they haven't actually done anything yet. And while the vote to debate it was won by a large margin it was not unanimous.

A couple of things to consider in the aftermath of the Confederate flag issue. Let's go through a couple shall we?

It's quite easy to take a stand on something when you are already gainsaid a particular response isn't it? Why wasn't this idea to remove the Confederate flag brought up earlier? Oh...that's right the killing of black people didn't make the news so we did nothing about this particular flag. Why not? Does it really take the death of these good people to do something? If you feel this is the right thing to do why would it take something this catastrophic to push you to do it? Does that not say something larger about you rather than the event, the flag, and the debate around it?

What does actually taking down the flag accomplish? It's a flag. Yes I understand it is a divisive symbol but it is merely that. It is a symbol. Symbols can be powerful things. But does this symbol make anyone less hateful or racist? Does it make anyone more committed to their heritage and close to their family and homefire traditions? Don't get me wrong, removing symbols can have powerful affects but I think it's a small thing to put so much hope in if we think this will help in any meaningful way. I am not saying we shouldn't take it down or we should, I am saying this is a limited, tone deaf response to the suffering of the families in South Carolina and outcries nationwide. It's political and superficial.

Politics and taking stands on issues like these don't solve the bigger issues. My stand on whether or not we should take down the flag won't fix anything. The politics in play on whether the flag stays or goes will accomplish nothing. Going out into your community and becoming a part of the ever colorful tapestry of hope and healing will help more than 10,000 flags of peace waving at a parade to celebrate peace.

Faithfulness

Tullian Tchividjian is big news this week. In case you are unfamiliar he is the grandson of world renown evangelist Billy Graham. He is also well known in Evangelical circles as the pastor of a thriving megachurch, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida. The founder of the church, D. James Kennedy was pastor from the founding in 1960 until his death in 2007. Dr. Kennedy was well known for his involvement in politics and he leaned quite heavily to the right.

Tullian Tchividjian has stayed away from politics during his short tenure at Coral Ridge but has been a rising start in the Evangelical publishing world. He has put out multiple books that have proved very popular, published multiple articles on well known Christian blogs, conducted radio interviews and been a popular conference speaker.  And he recently confessed to cheating on his wife and thus disqualifying himself from being a minister so he resigned.  

But this little post is not about Tullian, and in case your wondering, and I know you are, it's pronounced “cha-vi-jin”. This post is about the idea of faithfulness. Have you, have you ever really, ever really ever been faithful to anything, anyone, any idea, or any concept of any kind for any length of time?

Think about it before you answer. And let's preclude what your being faithful to right now, at this moment. Let's dredge the lake and take a look see.

Relationships? Oh you're married? Ever have a boyfriend/girlfriend? So you've never been faithful to that relationship have you? Let's not jump to conclusions and say it's bad or good. Is it a reality? Sit with that for a moment.

What about….oh let's pick a big one, what about your faith? Have you always been faithful to it? Is it important that you are? Has your faith ever become lost or unfruitful? Have you ever cheated your faith by considering the idea of abandoning it?

I suppose one might say that relationships and faith are not static things but are nuanced and subject to change, like the ebb and flow of a river. Increasing at times to a roar and rush of rapid tides and at other times barely a trickle over some mossy rocks. But then we must ask ourselves how closely are we measuring this thing called faithfulness and how much leeway are we giving?

I don't think there is any doubt that we frown on a man, never mind a pastor, cheating on his wife (or the fact that she reportedly cheated on him initially). We decry the lack of faithfulness. But perhaps we should pull the log out before we examine the speck. Perhaps we should take a peek through our own list of dreams and responsibilities and see if we have done them their due service.

“Everything is going to be ok”

How do you know?

“I don't but it just helps sometimes to say it.” –--Jermaine Clement, People, Places, Things.

thoughts on being sick

  When you're sick it's as if the world moves in slow motion. There is no past, there is no future, there is only the present, moving at a staggeringly slow pace. Every hour seems to last forever, ever minute in suffering, ever how minute, seems endless.

When you feel normal things move along at a regular clip, breakfast, off to work, busy with responsibilities and the stuff of life. Then you get home and settle in for an evening routine. A regular day filled with routines that we settle into and can appreciate and enjoy.

When you are sick your entire routine is interrupted. The normal becomes broken up into pieces of irregular patterns of minutes, dragging by in an endless abyss of fog and loneliness. Loneliness in thinking, “will this ever end”. And with most incidents of illness it does indeed end, and health comes back full throttle and we forget the sickness ever happened.

But in the midst of feeling bad we feel as if eternity has set up camp in our body and waits, laughing at our misery as we dance the slow dance of puny bodies wearing thin in a world full of sickness and disease only to be ultimately consummated by death.

 Illness leaving the body is a wonderful thing, like sweet tangerines being crushed in the palm of your hands and the juices running away. The scent of wellness is fresh and sweet but it can never come soon enough.

Identify

Isaiah 1:27a, “Zion shall be redeemed by justice...”

The latest in the news, on the internet, on the tv, and the talk around all the workplace water coolers is the case of Rachel Dolezal. John Stewart, the brilliant comedian who brings us savvy insights on today's issue and culture had a recent segment on Rachel Dolezal entitled, “WHAAAAAAAT?”.

A very quick synopsis for those not in the know. Rachel Dolezal is the president of a local NAACP chapter (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) in Spokane, Washington. She is a civil rights activist and former professor of Africana studies at various universities and colleges. She has been identifying herself as African American but was recently outed by her biological parents (both very white) as having no identity other than Caucasian and they even pleaded with her in one interview to “get some help”.

This has caused quite a stir, to say the least. Rachel Dolezal does not talk with her parents and has effectively disowned them. Even more recently she resigned as the NAACP president amid the controversy and there has been much discussion as old photos come out showing a very white Rachel Dolezal.

This makes me wonder what else we can claim, in this day in age, that is not really ours. We didn't really mean to commit these crimes, we are an addict. We didn't mean to yell at the teacher/co-worker, we have a psychological disorder, we didn't mean to run late for work 5 days in a row, we were unmotivated and let's put a label on that.

Bruce Jenner, now Caitlyn, claims he is not a man but a woman. I'm not making light of this issue, I'm sincerely wondering, what else can we claim that is one thing because we feel or desire it to be another?

There is no doubt we can struggle with depression, or sexual identity or many other things. But where do we draw the line? Can we “identify” as African American as has been the rallying cry of Rachel Dolezal? Because it seems that you can identify as almost anything now-a-days so it seems just as likely as anything else.

One line of thought, among many, in this debate is the issue of subjective feelings. However, because you “feel” a certain way doesn't make that a reality. Just because you “feel” something does not make that thing true. To “identify” with something is similar to “feeling” something, one definition from the dictionary defines the word identify as the following: “to associate in name, feeling, interest, action, etc”.¹

Very subjective, that definition. You can “identify” with something all day long but it does not make you a part of that movement, idea, or culture. In a world of misplaced definitions we are listening more to what we feel than whether something is objectively true and we have started redefining definitions to the point that we don't know what a definition is, and that is a dangerous and bizarre world to enter.

 

1http://dictionary.reference.com/ Referenced June 17^th, 2015.