On a recent week-end when the weather was bitterly cold, I stopped by Blockbuster to rent a DVD for my wife and me. As you can imagine, our choices are always limited because we don't care for movies that depict sexual immorality as beautiful or helpful, and we reject movies that are laden with profanity. So I read DVD cases carefully and look for good reviews by critics I have learned to appreciate.
A DVD called Constantine's Cross caught my eye. I'd never heard of it, so I glanced at the cover to look for critical reviews. To my surprise, there were several excerpts of lavish adulation, all of them by "big name" writers. Expectantly, I flipped the carton to read the plot synopsis on the back. Is this a thriller? Is it an historical mystery? Nope, it's a documentary that explores bloody atrocities committed by the Christian church during the age of Constantine! The film suggests that Constantine's cross was really a sword. In an age when radical Muslims are hacking off heads and blowing up innocents worldwide, what is the relevance of isolated violence by Christians 1700 years ago?
It occurred to me: The more silent and passive we Christians become, the more aggressive and intolerant our secular world becomes!
In the 1960's they called us "hypocrites" because we were not morally perfect, so we agreed to stop talking about morality. In the 70's, they criticized our "confrontational" evangelism, so we stepped back and agreed to share our faith only "in relationships." With the arrival of the 80's came the charge that our worship was irrelevant to truly searching people. So we shrouded Jesus in robe of pop psychology, and began to talk about sex, success, and personal peace. Then the 90's arrived and we were warned that all public faith is offensive, so we must keep our spiritual thoughts to ourselves. We agreed, of course. We don't want to offend anyone, after all.
These days Christians hide their faith in quiet anonymity, so the message has evolved: Christianity is dangerous- it's violent, barbaric, hateful and discriminatory. Best selling books insist that Christianity must be condemned and eradicated.
This has all served to suddenly "radicalize" me. I'm not offended. I'm not angry. And I'm not discouraged. I have simply awakened to the fact that the World does not really want to silence the church: the system wants to destroy the church! It always has. And my friends and I have been silent collaborators. The American church is just about as silent as a corpse.
My new attitude is "Never Again." Never again will I stand by in silence while people are being swept away to destruction. I will be much more intentional in finding ways to inject my Lord, my faith, my experience, my church into commonplace conversations. If offending people is about being rude, insensitive, or hostile in my attitudes, I never want to offend. But if "offensive" means lovingly sharing ideas with which some disagree, Jesus Christ was the most offensive person in history. So I'm with Him. The Samaritan Woman should have sued! But amazingly, she got saved.
If you're ready to take the pledge, share your thoughts........
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Mining for Diamonds in A World of Cubic Zirconia
We've lost the word "noble" forever I suppose. Being noble is out. Ideals like "successful," "attractive," and "aggressive" are in. Today's parents cultivate consumer skills in their kids- not character- which explains why nobility has gone the way of the dinosaurs.
So I was fascinated during my Bible Study time last week when I came upon a phrase in Romans 9: 23 in which Paul compares God to a potter who uses the same lump of clay to make one pot for noble purposes, and another for purposes not so noble. It occurred to me that most of us might not recognize a noble person if God stood him or her in front of us. Many of the celebs we'd like to take to dinner would not pass God's nobility test, and many of the folks who would are utterly anonymous to us. People like that aren't very interesting to our culture.
I was reminded of one of my heroes, David Brainerd. Born in Connecticut in 1787, little Davy turned out to be a rather sickly child. Orphaned at the age of 14, he carried on despite bad genes, a serious case of tuberculosis, and a tendency to skip meals and cough blood. He was kicked out of Yale University as a young man because his views about faith were considered too radical. He tried repeatedly to be readmitted, in order to earn his credentials to be a pastor, but he was rejected every time.
Supposing him unworthy to be a real pastor, authorities suggested that David go off to minister to hostile Indians who occupied parts of New York and New Jersey. Pale and sickly and looking like anything but a frontiersman, Brainerd accepted the call and marched alone into the wilderness. Notoriously dangerous Indians quickly spotted him. Watching quietly from the thicket, they silently surrounded him with plans to scalp him when they were astonished to see him kneel to pray... and pray... and pray. They didn't know he was also notorious- for his intense prayer life.
David Brainerd won whole tribes of formerly violent Indians to Christ, but he was never considered worthy of Yale University. Some who knew his story became so disgusted with Yale that both Dartmouth and Princeton Universities were founded in honor of Brainerd. And although he died at the age of 29, the revealing journal of his prayer life was left behind to inspire other giants like Wesley, Carey, Whitefield, Edwards, Livingstone, and similar towering figures of faith for 200 years. Some of the church's most amazing leaders have confessed that the journal of David Brainerd enflamed their prayer lives.
In a glitzy culture awed by the accomplishments of Paris Hilton and Brad Pitt, David Brainerd may seem like a worthless lump of coal. But in Heaven, you can be certain he will shine like a diamond, like a man of true nobility. I have asked my Father to give me a heart like Brainerd's.
Peace. And passion.
So I was fascinated during my Bible Study time last week when I came upon a phrase in Romans 9: 23 in which Paul compares God to a potter who uses the same lump of clay to make one pot for noble purposes, and another for purposes not so noble. It occurred to me that most of us might not recognize a noble person if God stood him or her in front of us. Many of the celebs we'd like to take to dinner would not pass God's nobility test, and many of the folks who would are utterly anonymous to us. People like that aren't very interesting to our culture.
I was reminded of one of my heroes, David Brainerd. Born in Connecticut in 1787, little Davy turned out to be a rather sickly child. Orphaned at the age of 14, he carried on despite bad genes, a serious case of tuberculosis, and a tendency to skip meals and cough blood. He was kicked out of Yale University as a young man because his views about faith were considered too radical. He tried repeatedly to be readmitted, in order to earn his credentials to be a pastor, but he was rejected every time.
Supposing him unworthy to be a real pastor, authorities suggested that David go off to minister to hostile Indians who occupied parts of New York and New Jersey. Pale and sickly and looking like anything but a frontiersman, Brainerd accepted the call and marched alone into the wilderness. Notoriously dangerous Indians quickly spotted him. Watching quietly from the thicket, they silently surrounded him with plans to scalp him when they were astonished to see him kneel to pray... and pray... and pray. They didn't know he was also notorious- for his intense prayer life.
David Brainerd won whole tribes of formerly violent Indians to Christ, but he was never considered worthy of Yale University. Some who knew his story became so disgusted with Yale that both Dartmouth and Princeton Universities were founded in honor of Brainerd. And although he died at the age of 29, the revealing journal of his prayer life was left behind to inspire other giants like Wesley, Carey, Whitefield, Edwards, Livingstone, and similar towering figures of faith for 200 years. Some of the church's most amazing leaders have confessed that the journal of David Brainerd enflamed their prayer lives.
In a glitzy culture awed by the accomplishments of Paris Hilton and Brad Pitt, David Brainerd may seem like a worthless lump of coal. But in Heaven, you can be certain he will shine like a diamond, like a man of true nobility. I have asked my Father to give me a heart like Brainerd's.
Peace. And passion.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Dead End Options
The highway rushes down a long, steep incline which ends in a T. You absolutely must turn left or right. As I top the hill, my brakes give out. The old pick up truck continues to pick up speed. I pump the brake pedal to no avail. The speed intensifies so quickly that the antiquated axles are screaming, but I'm traveling much too fast to make a turn either to the left or the right. The tires are squealing as I try to veer to the left....
I still have flashbacks of that highway crash, although it happened many years ago. In fact, I have the same sensation today as I watch our nation accelerating on our seeming rush to destruction. Many of you know what I mean:
I still have flashbacks of that highway crash, although it happened many years ago. In fact, I have the same sensation today as I watch our nation accelerating on our seeming rush to destruction. Many of you know what I mean:
- There's the economic recession and the $9 trillion dollar fix. The people who insist they can fix this problem are, unfortunately, the very politicians who helped create it.
- There are sexual orgies and blasphemy on prime time television.
- There is the loss of credibility in public education.
- And there is the accelerating disappearance of healthy, American families.
- The brakes are gone, the axles are squealing, there is no way to turn...!
I take great comfort in the promises of my Heavenly Father, our Almighty God. When Moses killed an Egyptian and was forced to escape into the desert, he was moving in the wrong direction. Behind him were the people of God, the treasury of God's teachings, the history of God's work in the world. Ahead of him lay blistering sand, withering heat, waterless stretches without a tree in sight. And there were no "Chosen People" on the horizon. Whatever peace or victory could he hope to find by leaving God's community of promise behind?
Moses made his way to a region of the desert populated by descendants of Midian. Midian was one of Abraham's sons by Keturah. He had not been included in the Promise. He and his nation were not counted as Chosen People. And yet there in the wilderness among those Un-chosen People, Moses encountered Jethro, a priest of the Most High God. Jethro was not one of the Chosen Ones, but he was one of the worshipping ones. And he paved the way for Moses to rediscover the God of Israel.
God always knows what he must do next. Before Moses could lead the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, he would need to experience desolation himself, and discover his own profound need for the One True God. But running for his life and advancing into the dreaded Sinai desert, he must have had the sensation of hurtling down a steep incline, out of control, with no place to turn.
God knew how to make an impossible turn in the life of Moses. He is the Lord of the Unlikely: unlikely people; unlikely circumstances. And so I pin my hopes on him and look calmly at the road ahead, even without brakes. Even when we are out of our control, we are never out of His.
Shalom!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
I'm Sorry I'm So Ashamed
Two months ago a glamorous media superstar shocked the world when she confessed a reckless, sordid offense- she had fallen off her diet and weighed nearly 200 pounds! She publicly apologized to her horrified but patient followers.
Last week an Olympic gold medalist returned to the headlines in a photo which caught him in the act of illegal drug abuse. He quickly summoned the press to apologize for poor judgment. Media consultants praised his prompt mea culpa which might well have nipped this scandal in the bud before millions of dollars in product endorsements were lost forever.
That same week, a nominee for a high profile federal appointment was taken aback by press reports that he had failed to pay income taxes which amounted to thousands of dollars over several years. Worse still, he had finally corrected the problem and paid the IRS only hours before his nomination was made public. The highly respected ex-tax cheat scheduled a press conference and apologized for his mistake. He was promptly confirmed by the US Senate.
I haven’t mentioned the well known names associated with these stories because I’m not here to throw stones. Rather, these are just three of the most recent examples of a vast, sweeping character crisis that threatens to blast away the foundations of our great nation. In his insightful book Losing Our Virtue, author David Wells traces many of our most serious losses back to our national obsession with Self. For example, he observes that Americans no longer experience guilt. By contrast, shame seems to be a constant reality in the lives of Americans. People who don't feel guilty about crimes against others are genuinely ashamed that getting caught has threatened their own dreams and ambitions.
Although the two concepts may seem similar at first, they are in reality very different beasts. As Dr. Wells explains, guilt is about falling short of God’s objective standards of right and wrong. By contrast, shame is falling short of my own ideals and fantasies. Guilt requires that I recognize my offense, repent, repay any losses, and request the forgiveness of someone else. Shame means only that I must learn to accept myself with all my flaws and promise to try harder in the future.
The American soul no longer registers personal guilt because we deny that there is any universal code which applies to everyone. In a culture in which even “Born Again” church members overwhelmingly believe there are no moral absolutes, no wonder secular people have opted to let the heart be their guide. After all, there are ongoing debates about the moral impact of things like plural marriage, homosexuality, and hallucinogenic drugs. But everyone knows obesity kills! And not only that, but it’s a turn off on HD TV! And so are your bad skin and crooked teeth!
It's ironic: the world finally convinced us that guilt was a terrible motivator. We finally accepted the idea that guilt oppressed multitudes, intimidated people, and drove them to do good things for the wrong reasons. So we stopped pressing the Guilt Button, and even stopped talking about sin. And now we find there are other motivations that are even worse than guilt. In the old days, some people did the right things for the wrong reasons. Nowadays we have a different problem: people doing the wrong things because they're ashamed. And there are lots of empty men and women out there who would swap the futility of shame for the urgency of good old guilt in a heart beat.
Shame compels men and women to hide in closets, to cower in self hatred, sometimes to take their own lives. True guilt points offenders to the One who established those standards of right and wrong in the first place. And when we arrive at his throne and find ourselves standing there in rags of unrighteousness, we discover something astonishing: I don't have to be ashamed anymore.
What do you think?
Last week an Olympic gold medalist returned to the headlines in a photo which caught him in the act of illegal drug abuse. He quickly summoned the press to apologize for poor judgment. Media consultants praised his prompt mea culpa which might well have nipped this scandal in the bud before millions of dollars in product endorsements were lost forever.
That same week, a nominee for a high profile federal appointment was taken aback by press reports that he had failed to pay income taxes which amounted to thousands of dollars over several years. Worse still, he had finally corrected the problem and paid the IRS only hours before his nomination was made public. The highly respected ex-tax cheat scheduled a press conference and apologized for his mistake. He was promptly confirmed by the US Senate.
I haven’t mentioned the well known names associated with these stories because I’m not here to throw stones. Rather, these are just three of the most recent examples of a vast, sweeping character crisis that threatens to blast away the foundations of our great nation. In his insightful book Losing Our Virtue, author David Wells traces many of our most serious losses back to our national obsession with Self. For example, he observes that Americans no longer experience guilt. By contrast, shame seems to be a constant reality in the lives of Americans. People who don't feel guilty about crimes against others are genuinely ashamed that getting caught has threatened their own dreams and ambitions.
Although the two concepts may seem similar at first, they are in reality very different beasts. As Dr. Wells explains, guilt is about falling short of God’s objective standards of right and wrong. By contrast, shame is falling short of my own ideals and fantasies. Guilt requires that I recognize my offense, repent, repay any losses, and request the forgiveness of someone else. Shame means only that I must learn to accept myself with all my flaws and promise to try harder in the future.
The American soul no longer registers personal guilt because we deny that there is any universal code which applies to everyone. In a culture in which even “Born Again” church members overwhelmingly believe there are no moral absolutes, no wonder secular people have opted to let the heart be their guide. After all, there are ongoing debates about the moral impact of things like plural marriage, homosexuality, and hallucinogenic drugs. But everyone knows obesity kills! And not only that, but it’s a turn off on HD TV! And so are your bad skin and crooked teeth!
It's ironic: the world finally convinced us that guilt was a terrible motivator. We finally accepted the idea that guilt oppressed multitudes, intimidated people, and drove them to do good things for the wrong reasons. So we stopped pressing the Guilt Button, and even stopped talking about sin. And now we find there are other motivations that are even worse than guilt. In the old days, some people did the right things for the wrong reasons. Nowadays we have a different problem: people doing the wrong things because they're ashamed. And there are lots of empty men and women out there who would swap the futility of shame for the urgency of good old guilt in a heart beat.
Shame compels men and women to hide in closets, to cower in self hatred, sometimes to take their own lives. True guilt points offenders to the One who established those standards of right and wrong in the first place. And when we arrive at his throne and find ourselves standing there in rags of unrighteousness, we discover something astonishing: I don't have to be ashamed anymore.
What do you think?
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