Micah 6:8

The Joy of Yahweh is our Strength.

2010-01-10T16:42:00.000-08:00

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it."

The Bible is really quite easy to understand if only we were willing to actually live up to what Jesus taught. Here are a couple of parables that we looked at this morning in an adult Sunday school that we visited this morning. These verses are easy to understand for those that can see how great a value the kingdom of heaven is and yet difficult for people to understand who can not.

Joel and I try to teach people that in order to gain a new life in Christ you must be willing to lose your old life, sacrifice your comforts, pick up a cross and follow Jesus on the road of suffering. The majority are simply unable to grasp this. They try to wiggle and squirm out from under the word of God and try to re-imagine Jesus in what to them is an easier saviour.

The reality is though that Jesus' burden is light when we keep our eyes fixed on heaven. It is a joy to sell all that we have and give it to he "least of the brother's of Jesus" when we see what a great value the treasure before us is. It is even a joy to be persecuted as our Lord was persecuted when we consider the reward that awaits us in heaven (Luke 6:22,23).

This is an offense to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles but it is pure gospel truth. You can take it or leave it but you can't change it.

Purity of the Church

2010-01-02T11:04:00.001-08:00

I've been read an old book called, "The Pilgram Church". The author has been following the rise and fall of faithful little wings of the church through out the history of the church. Here's a quote from the book that got me thinking:

The privileges given by the (Russian) Government quickly changed the character of the Mennonite churches, for in order to share these privileges the children had to become Mennonites, and so they were received into the church, not, as before, on the ground of their confession of faith in Christ and of giving evidence of the new birth, but were baptized and became members when they reached a certain age, or married. Thus the church became a National Church, having both converted and unconverted members. Speedily the moral tone degenerated. Families which, when they came, had been distinguished by their sobriety and piety, sank into open sin of all kinds, so that drunkenness, immorality and covetousness soon prevailed. There was always a godly remnant which protested against these evils and for themselves and their people deeply repented the failure of their testimony.

I realised that this is why it seems that every revival in modern, western history dies after a generation or two. If a church is not persecuted then the children of faithful are likely to join the church without the strong test of faith that persecution grants. Joining the church is easy. It simply means a confession of faith and baptism. The fathers of the particular congregation may have started with sweat and tears but the children don't have this challenge; they simply glide in and become full accepted members, less faithful and committed than their forefathers. Each subsequent generation loses more of the vision that it's founding members worked so hard to establish. Religious liberty is a much more dangerous tool of the devil than persecution ever has been.

A New Start

2009-12-30T09:36:00.000-08:00

I've had a fair bit of time over the last few weeks to get a little introspective and it led me to feel the need to resurrect this old blog so that I can share a few of those thoughts. It's looks like it's been exactly a year since my last post. I hope that I can sustain writing but at least for the foreseeable future I don't think that that should be a problem. Stay tuned for more rants and deep thoughts.

Mexico

2008-12-30T12:31:00.000-08:00

Joel and I recently started making plans to move to Mexico this coming summer. For a long time now we've wanted to leave Canada and serve the poor part of Christ's church. We're really excited about this prospect. God willing we will be joining an American couple that has been working down there for several years and some of the local believers to start a communal farming village. We will share everything in common live in equality with the other believers. The whole plan is really exciting to me. It seems like so much more than I had even dreamed of. If you're interested you can visit the community's website.

Through the process of learning about these plans and reading some about community I'm starting to think that "the West" is really not a suitable environment for functional, righteous Christian living. Part of the cost of discipleship is the necessity for unity with the poor and oppressed. The first need to become last and the last need to become first. If our Christian communities are made up of all people who would be considered "first" then there are no "lasts" to raise up.

This is a huge problem. We miss out on this important part of discipleship. We at the top need to be made low. We need people to serve and sacrifice for. When everyone in our community can do just a fine job taking care of themselves then there is no one to wash the feet of. Jesus says that whatever we do for the least of our brothers we have done for him. How can we serve Jesus when there are no weak brothers amongst us?

You might object that every community has needy people, albeit not materially needy. I can grant you this but, relatively speaking, these people are still rich. In Matt 25 Jesus characterizes himself as hungry, thirsty, a needy stranger, naked, sick and in prison. When was the last time you helped a person facing one of these problems? For the most part these people are not in our countries. We need to be serving Jesus every day and not just when someone we love happens to get sick.

For awhile now Joel and I have been trying to conserve as much money as possible in order to have more to give. Unfortunately I think that this only goes part way. We are still way more comfortable then most of our brothers and sisters in the world. We are not one with them. We have heat in our house, free health care, a car, more than enough clothing and food, a telephone, a computer, etc. This is not equality. This isn't sharing everything in common. We send off our money to feed, give water to, take in, clothe, heal and comfort (in prison) Jesus but we can't see him face to face. We can't have a meal with him. We can't carry his burden.

"Come out of her, my people,
    lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
    and God has remembered her iniquities.
Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,
    and repay her double for her deeds;
    mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.
As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,
    so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,
since in her heart she says,
    'I sit as a queen,
I am no widow,
    and mourning I shall never see.'
For this reason her plagues will come in a single day,
    death and mourning and famine,
and she will be burned up with fire;
    for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her."

Thoughts on the (mis-)celebration of Christmas

2008-12-24T07:26:00.000-08:00

Thoughts by my husband Joel, written a few years ago.
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Imagine for a moment that you are driving along a busy highway. Without warning, a vehicle a short distance in front of you spins out of control. Despite your best efforts, you and a number of other vehicles around you are involved in the resulting crash. Due to where you were in relation to the other vehicles, you survive the accident completely unhurt and with only minor damage to your vehicle. However as you overcome your shock and look around, you notice that one of the vehicles involved in the accident was a motorcycle. The motorcycle appears to have been caught between two large cars that were also involved in the crash. The motorcycle rider lies bleeding and unconscious several metres from the seriously damaged motorcycle. As well, you notice that the driver of the vehicle that originally spun out of control is slumped over his steering wheel, seemingly unconscious. You see that several other drivers appear to have been injured also. As you climb out of your car to see what you can do to help, a close friend who is a paramedic runs up. Your friend had fortunately been driving by when the accident occurred. Surprised to see you, your friend runs over to see if you are injured. You quickly reassure him that, besides being a bit shaken up, you are fine. Your friend tells you that since you are obviously under considerable stress, he would like you to sit down so that he can give you a back massage. As you get over your initial shock at such a suggestion, you hurriedly point out the badly injured motorcyclist, the unconscious driver and the other injured people at the accident scene. However, your friend tells you that although the other people at the scene obviously need his help, he is primarily concerned with helping you since you are his close friend and he doesn't even know these other people.

Although this situation seems absurd and it is hard to imagine something like this ever happening, this is essentially how most people in Western nations celebrate Christmas. Despite the fact that countless people around the world are in desperate need of help, most people choose to give lavish and usually unnecessary gifts to their close friends and family instead of helping those who really need gifts.

Jesus gave himself as a gift we can not repay to meet our greatest need. It is sadly ironic that so many celebrate his birth by giving unneeded gifts to those who can easily repay the kindness.

He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you host a dinner or a banquet, don't invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors so you can be invited by them in return and get repaid. But when you host an elaborate meal, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." --Jesus (Luke 14:12-14, NET)

Christ Wastes with Hunger

2008-12-23T10:02:00.000-08:00

I've been reading a little lately of some other peoples' understanding of our Christian duty toward the poor. Here is a great exhortation by John Chrysostom, who became the bishop of Constantinople in 398 AD.

And how shall God bear you who art entreated by Him, and yet obeyest not; and entreated too in things that advantage you? "For we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ," 2 Corinthians 5:20 says he, "as though God were entreating by us; be ye reconciled unto God." 'And yet, I am His servant,' says he. And what of that? For when thou, the servant, art drunken, while He, the Master, is hungry and has not even necessary food, how shall your name of servant stand you in stead? Nay, this itself will even the more weigh you down, when thou indeed abidest in a three-storied dwelling while He owns not even a decent shelter; when thou [liest] upon soft couches while He has not even a pillow. 'But,' says one, 'I have given.' But you ought not to leave off so doing. For then only will you have an excuse, when you have not what [to give], when you possess nothing; but so long as you have, (though thou have given to ten thousand,) and there be others hungering, there is no excuse for you. But when thou both shuttest up corn and raisest the price, and devisest other unusual tricks of traffic; what hope of salvation shall you have henceforth? You have been bidden to give freely to the hungry, but thou dost not give at a suitable price even. He emptied Himself of so great glory for your sake, but thou dost not count Him deserving even of a loaf; but your dog is fed to fulness while Christ wastes with hunger; and your servant bursts with surfeiting while your Lord and his is in want of necessary food. And how are these the deeds of friends? "Be reconciled unto God," (2 Corinthians 5:20) for these are [the deeds] of enemies and such as are in hostility.

Ascetism

2008-12-22T14:39:00.000-08:00

A few years ago Joel and I came to some new conclusions about how Jesus expects us to use our money. By reading scripture and the examples of faithful Christians from other times and places we came to realize that all of our time and money belongs to Jesus. Consequently we've been trying to change our lifestyles accordingly. We've quit buying ourselves, and have started to get rid of, many of our luxuries.

Sometimes people misunderstand the purpose behind why we are doing these things. Sometimes people think that perhaps we think that there is spiritual value in poverty or abstinence from pleasure. This idea is called ascetism. This is not our understanding of scripture.

I see in many ways that God has given us good things for our enjoyment. Psalm 104:14-15 says, "You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart." Song of Solomon speaks of the pleasures of sexual intercourse. 1 Timothy 6:17 says, "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy." I have no question that part of the praise that we owe to God is for all the wonderful and enjoyable things that he has given us. They are not by their nature distractions from God.

I do think though that as followers of Christ we are under obligation to sacrifice our own pleasure for the sake of others should the need arise. 1 Cor 10:24 says, "Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor." Our attitudes should be the same as Jesus'. He poured himself our for us, forsaking the pleasures of heaven to redeem us while we were still wallowing in wickedness (Eph 5:1, Rom 5:8). We ought to question our love of God and if his love is demonstrated through us if we still know of brothers in need but continue to bless ourselves (1 John 3:16,17). If this is new to you then my quick explanation may not be enough to convince you of this. Please reread the bible with this question in mind. You can also read Joel's essay on the subject on his site.

I really think that our motivation for denying ourselves is out of obedience to the will of God and a desire to do all that we can to build his kingdom. It's not because we see abstinence as a virtue in and of itself. 1 Cor 13:3 flatly denies this idea. It says, "if I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." The language is plain. Our sacrifices are for the sake of love. All other reasons amount to nothing.

Specks and Logs

2008-12-17T13:32:00.000-08:00

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matt 7:3-5

I've been challenged over the last couple of days to consider what the focus of my Christian ministry is. I must confess that I have spent too much mental energy being critical of others around me. There certainly are a plethora of very significant problems within the evangelical church but I think that I've been spending to much time focusing on my rejection of those problems rather than working toward what is better.

The fellow that was indirectly challenging me was arguing that one of the biggest enemies of the gospel is backbiting and disunity rather than the things that people tend start backbiting and dividing over. He used 1 John 4:20,21: "If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." and Gal 5:14,15: "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. "But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another." I am heartily challenged.

The issue at least for me is what is my heart. Am I bitter? Is it just easier to see the problems around me and complain about them then to do something better? Frankly, for me, I think that both of these have been a problem at least to some degree. I have mixed feelings when I write critical articles about evangelical practices. I long to be a part of something better. I long to be busy doing other things. I long for the church to be healthy. My motivations are just not pure. Part of me likes to be critical. I like seeing problems because it deceives me into thinking that I'm above all of that. Some of the problem has been that for years we have been isolated because of some of our convictions, partly because of our attitude and partly because we are not encouraging of things that the world endorses. Having little fellowship is not good for anyones soul.

I do think that there is still a time and a place to correct, to warn others, to rebuke and to spur one another on. It's a matter of how and with what attitude. If we do this in love but it results in division then it is not our fault. We are not to be surprised when the world hates us. Unfortunately sometimes the world is in the "church." The light can not have fellowship with the darkness. Conflict can not be avoided but we can do our part to see that we are not to blame for divisions.

This is what I need to live out. I'm just not sure that I know how. I don't know when to speak up and when to remain silent. I think that the answer is in just focusing on Jesus, emulating him, loving him and he'll show me the way. I'm glad I serve a merciful king!

Syncretism

2008-12-15T12:35:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I was reading an article about how North American evangelicals can often spot the syncretism within the Catholic church, especially in other cultures, but fail to notice it's own. I think this is rather astute commentary on a large part of the problem facing evangelical Christianity.

This morning I was reading a book to my children about Mexican culture. The book went into details about the Day of the Dead. It described how Mexicans will bring food sacrifices for the spirits of the dead relatives into the Catholic churches and have processions led by their priests.

As evangelicals we like to think that we are better then that. We don't bring pagan practices into our churches. We're the ones that hold the truth and can reach the lost.

The longer I observe N.A. evangelicalism the more I realize that this is simply cultural arrogance. The N.A. church is just as corrupted by pagan practices as Central American Catholicism. We sacrifice at the alter of Caesar when we bring patriotism into our churches. We bow before the idol of comfort whenever we try to justify not forfeiting all our possessions for the sake of the kingdom of God. We trust in another master when we put our faith in government to bring needed change. There are more minor pagan practices that I could mention but these are the big ones.

We are supposed to be set apart from society, completely different, wholeheartedly committed to our king. This is not what I see in evangelical Christianity. It is worldly, weak, selfish and similar to the world in almost all ways. Honestly, I wonder if N.A. evangelical Christianity is no better off than Central American Catholic Christianity. I pray that those that see that the house is burning will get out before it's too late.

Leading Other People's Children

2008-12-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

I've noticed that in a lot evangelical Christianity parental authority is heavily and sometime overly emphasized. I suspect that this is largely due to the work of Focus on the Family and other similar organizations and is a knee jerk reaction in response to the world. I have two children and I have a tendency to be a bit authoritarian at times so I'm not just someone from the "I think spanking is hitting" camp.

Awhile ago I was having a conversation with some evangelical mothers. One of the woman in the group had a Muslim family living next to them. Her approximately 10 year old son had become friends with their son and had been witnessing to him. The Muslim boy wanted a bible of his own. This mother was wondering if it would be appropriate to give him one. She was concerned that it would anger his parents by undermining their authority thus harming her opportunities to witness to them. She also wondered if it was inappropriate to undermine their authority at all.

I find this mind boggling. That child needs Jesus desperately. Parents do not have an inherent right to teach their children heresy. Loving the child means teaching them how they might be saved regardless of how their parents might feel about that.

I've seen this come up with teenagers as well. They want to become radical, do mission work, street ministry, eschew wealth, etc. They are told to submit to their parents, go to school, keep up the facade and be nice middle class Christians. Another teenage that I knew was told to wait until she was sixteen to become a Christian, the age that her mother would grant her the right to pick her own religion. This is insanity. These teenagers are being told to sin.

I think that there are a couple of things going on here. One reason for this is that I think that we want people to leave us alone with regard to how we parent our children. The verse "do to others as you would have them do to you" has been warped by the lens of our society. We apply this principle where it doesn't directly apply. Essentially we think that because we don't want others to mislead our children against our convictions we shouldn't lead their children to truth. This is buying into the the lie that our convictions are equal to the convictions of the other parents. This is not the case. In reality, if we truly love our children we should desire others to lead them away from any of our false teachings and into greater truth. We should go and treat their children the same way. Similarly, we desire for ourselves to be led away from false teaching and so we ought to lead them children away from false teaching. That is the pure application of that command.

Another issue here is the problem that I mentioned in the previous post. We have become so trained to believe that Christianity should never be offensive. In this situation we are afraid of the offense undermining another's authority would create.

Finally, I think sometimes when the parents are confessing Christian the issue is that we are too shortsighted to realize that they are not necessarily actually following Jesus. We assume that they are and that the moderate road that they desire for their children, rather than the radical route, is equally as God honouring. Often this is not the case. I have a good friend whose "Christian" parents are ashamed that he does full time street ministry. They want him to be middle class yuppies like themselves. This is not uncommon. The church is full of parents that are not truly Christian and will never understand their children's desire to surrender their lives to the kingdom of God.

I know that I have been a little to cautious with sharing the gospel with other people's children. As I've been writing this I have been encouraged to be more bold.

Persecution in the West

2008-12-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

I never ended up following up on my post about Christians and law. I got distracted by current events and my annual thoughts about Christmas. I've still been thinking about it though.

I've recently started to realize just how true Paul's/God's claim that all that are faithful in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. For a long time I just thought that things were different in the Western church. Sure, some people face grief at work or from family but that persecution was somehow not the norm here because our society was more tolerant. I've come to see things completely differently now.

The more radical my understanding of Jesus' demands on us become the more I realize that the world is going to hate those that really follow him. Jesus' expectations of believers run contrary to the established norms of every culture that has ever existed (with the possible exception of Israel for short periods of time in ancient history). The gospel is still the stench of death to those that are perishing.

If I love a brother in Christ enough to tell him that his perpetual sin leaves him in danger of the fires of hell then his natural response is going to be hate. If I radically extend myself toward the outcasts, inviting them to live with me, then my neighbours are likely to complain and try to involve the law. It's just the natural course of radical obedience.

Christianity has somehow become about have a good reputation, being loved by all, never offending, always affirming. I must stand against this. Jesus said, ""Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets." The same is true today.

I think that some of the reason that we don't see persecution is that we are so used to thinking of appropriate Christian ministry as falling within the socially acceptable constraints of our society. We never get cussed our for street preaching or door to door evangelism because the negative reactions lead us believe that is not a God honouring ways of loving the lost. We don't have our named spurned as evil for confronting fellow Christians about their greed because greed is considered an unchallengeable sin within the church (see 1Cor 5 to see how the early church dealt with greed). We don't lose face within our community by selling all our possessions because we never consider that there is an alternative to perpetually improving the aesthetic state of our home. We don't lose our jobs because we don't consider our work place as a place where we can share the gospel. The list can go on. There are lots of legitimate ways that we could be ministering that would get us despised and rejected by men but negative reactions lead us to believe that they are inappropriate.

I'm not suggesting that we go out looking for trouble. I just think that we need to be so fixed on Jesus that we can't help but be offensive. He is as offensive today as he was 2000 years ago. As we become like him in his love we also become like him in his offensive nature. Don't be surprised when the world hates you because they hated him first.

I suppose that I should add a disclaimer that I see radical Christianity as different then standard conservative Christianity. I'm sure some people hated the pharisees and I'm know some people hate moral majority style Christians. Their actions are offensive for a different reason than Jesus' actions. Their gospel-less demands are arrogant and hypocritical. Radical Christianity will sometimes be mistaken for this. It is different. Jesus' demands came with forgiveness and acceptance. Jesus' demands are God's demands not man-made demands. I could go on but that's for a different post.

Jesus is Coming!

2008-12-08T16:22:00.000-08:00

Voice of the Martyrs has an interesting article on their blog about the hope that the nativity narration in Revelation 12 offers to believers undergoing persecution.

About a year ago Joel and I both read the novel, "The Martyr of the Catacombs: a Tale of Ancient Rome." This novel is very inspiring historical fiction that follows a believer from his conversion until his execution. The author made use of several passages from Revelation to illustrate the hope that sustained the believers through their trials.

Incidentally, at the same time we were also reading Revelation together. The story opened our eyes to see Revelation in a completely different way. At one point Revelation simply seemed like a code book about what the end times will be like. Now I see Revelation as an incredibly encouraging book of hope.

Babylon represents this world. Every nation that oppresses Christians is partially represented by Babylon. Babylon will fall. Jesus will conquer the nations and roll in justice. He cares for those that are suffering, listens to their prayers and will glorify them in the end. Every page is about the hope that we have in Jesus. One day everything will be made new; this world is temporary. I can't help but smile when I think about this. This world will not go on forever. Jesus is coming!

All glory belongs to the Slaughtered Lamb!

A Christ-centred Xmas

2008-12-04T09:26:00.000-08:00

Adam asked in the comments about what a Christ-centred Christmas might look; would we recognize it if we separated the wheat from the chaff?

Adam has a point that Christmas is riddled with non-Christ-centred traditions. Since when did Santa, eggnog, mistletoe, evergreen trees and snowmen have anything to do with the birth of Jesus? For whatever reason I think that people like to lump things into significant holidays that really have nothing at all to do with their original purpose. We've done this with Christmas and Easter and the Jews do this with their holidays. They have special foods that they've come to associate with certain holidays that really don't have anything to do with the God ordained celebrations. It's just like we've done with our man-made holidays. I'm sure other cultures have done the same sort-of things. I think it helps us feel that the holidays are special when we add extra traditions to the days. We feel like we care more about the truly significant parts when the insignificant customs have given us warm feelings.

This seems to beg the question of whether or not all this tradition adding is appropriate. I think that I could probably make an argument that all tradition adding is inappropriate whenever it distracts from Jesus. Time and again the Israelites were reminded about and judged for adopting the traditions of the foreign nations (Lev 20:23, Jer 10:1-4). They were to be wholly focused around Yahweh. Yahweh also lambastes the Israelites when the traditions that he gave them ceased to be about him (Isa 1:14, Amos 5:21). Its seems clear that Yahweh is concerned about the focus of our activities. It seems foolish to add things to our holidays that have nothing to do with Jesus lest we make the holiday about sentimental feelings rather than about him.

Christmas in and of itself is a man-made tradition but I believe that it can be celebrated without all the added nonsense and focused around Jesus. Taking time annually to consider the significance of the incarnation can be a good thing. I would like to see Christmas celebrated with fasting and generosity toward the poor. The incarnation of Yahweh into the form of a man was essentially a fast for Yahweh. He was sacrificially generous toward us and thus sacrificial generosity toward others in need seems appropriate. I also think that the old carols could b an appropriate aid in our meditation on the incarnation.

Honestly, I think it would be really helpful for the church to separate itself entirely from Christmas. I would be happy though to see it replaced with an "incarnation day" in some other month. This would help people recognize those parts of Christmas that have nothing to do with Jesus. People would be less inclined to syncretize the celebration of the birth of our lord with the pagan (and they are pagan in that they are from this world) elements that only distract us from worship.

My apologies

2008-12-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

This is a fairly new blog and I'm not sure I have any regular readers yet but I wanted to apologize. I feel horribly unable to write interesting and well written articles. I desire to write articles that well articulated, sometimes polemic, but a least interesting. I'm simply not there yet. I think sometimes I may come across as an opinionated, religious right, writer because I don't expand my arguments enough.

If you find my topics interesting then please bear with my amateurish writing, give me feedback and help me become a better writer.

Thoughts on Christmas

2008-12-02T11:04:00.001-08:00

I have really mixed feelings about Christmas. Years ago Joel and I decided to opt out of the gift giving madness in order to be able to use our money for those that have true need. We haven't looked back since.

What I have mixed feelings about is the holiday itself. Probably due to sentimental feelings that come from my childhood I still get warm feelings when I listen to Christmas music and meditate on the incarnation. Part of me want to hang on to the Christian traditions that are focused around Jesus.

Another part of me thinks that the whole season is crap. The liturgical calender holds no appeal to me. It's extra-biblical (but not necessarily unbiblical) and at least for me I suspect strict adherence would detract from weighter matters of obedience. I'm just not sure that Christmas or Easter really have any value. These holidays are marking events that we're supposed to be remembering daily. Are the holidays even beneficial?

I'm certainly quite jaded by most of Christmas. The commercial buy buy buy of Christmas makes me sick. The incarnation of Christ is amazing and nothing quite detracts from the significance of this gift like giving junk to people that don't need it.

Christmas trees and Santa are another mystery to me. I don't understand why Christians don't do away with them altogether. They have absolutely nothing to do with Jesus. They simply distract us toward sentimentality. If we're going to celebrate Christmas then lets make it 100% about Jesus. All the other secular traditions get in the way of true worship. Christmas is such a mixed bag in our society that I'm not sure it's going to be all that easy to separate the wheat from the chaff in order to make something wholesome out of it.

Experiencing God

2008-11-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

This week Joel and went to a bible study at the home of one of the doctors in town. The group was studying a book about listening to God and hearing his voice. This weeks chapter was about creating special "meeting places" for prayer. By this, the author meant special places that we either physically go or through our imaginations for prayer. He was suggesting other ways in which we could experiment to seek more intimate experiences.

I've been thinking about this. For awhile I wondered if God actually ever spoke to believers. I've concluded that he does BUT that it is less common then a lot of people claim and not something that we can seek or manipulate through techniques. The examples in scripture that I find are not of people going to their prayer closet to get a word from the Lord but rather, people that are given words from God when they're not seeking it. Occasionally I read examples of people in scripture that inquire of God with certain questions and are given specific undeniable answers but more often than not it seems that God is the one that initiates conversations.

More generally, it seems that pursuing experiences with God of any stripe is putting the cart before the horse. Our joy and intimacy seems more to be his job to give then our job to chase after. We're supposed to be busy obeying, serving and loving others. We find our strength for these tasks by leaning on him through prayer and fasting. He then gives us, when he sees fit, all those nice feeling. The feelings are a gift of grace. They can't be bought for any price.

I think that all this focus in evangelicalism on feeling seeking is driven by the fact that most of us like to squirm out of responsibility and get the feeling some other way. It's seems rather a little like Simon the Sorcerer trying to buy the power of God.

I do recognize the need to seek God in prayer but I don't think this should eclipse our job of being out in the world witnessing, loving, serving, feeding, and proclaiming the good news. Even Jesus put aside prayer to serve the people at least once. In Matt 25 when Jesus speaks of the sheep and the goats being separated at judgment day he says the separation of the two groups is dependent on what we have done for the lowliest people not on how often or intimately we pray. Let us all consider where we are putting our focus.

Abortion

2008-11-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post I want to follow up on the content of the protest at the University of Calgary. Abortion is a grim business. Every time someone has an abortion a person dies. People like to obscure this fact whenever they argue in favour of abortion. They like to talk about back alley abortions or suffering single moms but invariably they shy away from discussing the humanity of the unborn child, which is actually the crux of this debate. If a fetus is a human being then it should not be killed, if it's not then abortion is non-issue.

The demonstration at UofC is an ingenious way of forcing people's mind back to this central issue. Looking at the carnage of abortion makes it's difficult to argue with common rhetoric.

The genocide awareness project signs used by the UofC pro-life club compares the genocide of abortion with previous genocide such as the holocaust. This is a provocative approach and does incite anger but it also loudly proclaims the evil of abortion as bluntly as possible. People are forced to argue the validity of the claim rather than argue with smoke screen issues.

In the past I've been involved in these similar demonstrations at the University of BC. I can personally attest to the fact that these demonstrations are effective in changing peoples' minds. I had many good conversations with people that saw the point that the signs were making.

I suspect that these demonstrations are most effective with people that are somewhat emotionally distant from the issue. Unfortunately, people that have previously had abortions or have had family or friends that have had abortions are far more likely to simply close their minds to logic. I honestly don't see how any other form of demonstration would be different. The reality is that abortion is genocide and we need to make anybody that is willing to listen aware of this if we are ever going to see our society change. I am convinced that these types of demonstrations are the most effective way of doing so.

Censorship

2008-11-26T17:26:00.000-08:00

The University of Calgary in Alberta has recently caused a bit of a scandal by trying to limit the free speech of the Campus Pro-life Club. CBC has an article on the incident and CTV has some video coverage. I'll write a follow up article on the content of the demonstration but here are my thoughts on the censorship:

The primary issue I see here is whether or not the campus should allow this protest. I feel very strongly that all speech should be tolerated regardless of how distasteful people find it.

If you want to make and display a statue of Jesus made of manure or show naked gay men romping I may find it distasteful and even turn away BUT I will fight for your right to display it.

The problem with any censorship is that the question needs to be asked is to who gets to be the jury. In Germany during the holocaust the majority of the population would have been repulsed by pictures of concentration camps. They would have been incensed. We were they right? Of course not. The majority in Germany certainly wouldn't made the right choice. I don't think that we should trust our society either. History has demonstrated that man-kind sure has a bad track record for accepting injustice.

The Germans could have been a bit more tolerant and suggested just turning in the signs. This would be almost as inappropriate as out right censorship. A demonstration that is only seen by those who want to be exposed is hardly an effective protest. Can you imagine an anti-war demonstration done in a private setting?

A society that censors any fringe groups from expressing their opinions, in any way they want, about what justice is, runs the risk of turning a blind eye to that which needs to be exposed.

Christmas Priorities

2008-11-24T12:05:00.000-08:00

It makes me so excited to know that some people actually do understand how we are supposed to prioritize our resources. I guess there still are those thousands that refuse to bow the knee to Baal like in Elijah's day.

The internet is big brother

2008-11-23T13:56:00.000-08:00

Up until recently I never really cared much about internet security. I'm not afraid of internet creeps seeing my photos and then hunting me down to stalk me. Unfortunately, I hadn't really contemplated all the implications of the information that I've made available about my self through the internet.

My original blog is quite extensive. I have my feelings about government, activism, resistance to authority and my faith all spelled out clearly. This new blog is following that same direction. These are both tied to my name.

I've been on Facebook for awhile now. At first that information about me being archived didn't bother me. Now, I'm starting to wonder, with a bit of a sinking feeling if I've actually sold my soul to the devil. Everything that there is to know about me is pretty much available through Facebook or Google. All my relatives are listed out through Facebook apps, my personal history, contact information and my causes.

Google also has tons of information about me. They know what I search for, what I write in my emails, what my bookmarks are and what videos I watch on youtube. Through this blog they know what I write about. Yahoo is similar. All my yahoo groups are connected to my email account. Don't be fooled. Each company each have all their own data points associated with one another through my ip address, by logging in and through cookies. I'm sure there are other things out their as well.

What I'm concerned about is that at some point in the future my government, either Canada's or the one of the one of the country we emigrate to, may for some reason conclude that my passions and convictions are dangerous and subversive. The Chinese, Iranian, Egyptian and Belarusian governments would. Canada is not about that. I'm concerned that a quick subpoena for information to just Google, Facebook, Yahoo and a search, would provide every last bit of information any government could want to know about me.

Unfortunately, it's really too late. Even if I deleted my Facebook account and my old blog, I suspect that all that information is still available about me through archives. Some of it would eventually disappear, like Facebook data, but anything searchable through google is archived for the foreseeable future through archive.org.

Exposing False Teachers

2008-11-21T20:38:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting issue the other day. A friend of mine asked my opinion about a certain false teacher. I gave a fair warning from what I know of the teacher's ministry. Another friend that overheard the conversation thought that what I was saying amounted to gossip.

I really couldn't disagree more. I think that warning brothers and sisters about false teachers is an important ministry of the church. Paul and Peter both warn people in scripture about specific people. While I know that their judgment while writing scripture was perfect and mine isn't I think to not warn people is in fact unloving. Should I simply keep quiet while I see a brother or sister being led toward a pit? Of course not. I ought to do what I can to show them that, as far as I can tell, their path leads to death.

I suspect this comes to the old argument about what it means to judge. Jesus does say that we are not judge or else we will be judged but in other parts of scripture we are clearly supposed to judge people for certain behaviours. 1 Corinthians 5 instructs us to judge those that are in the church. If a Christian's behaviour is out of line with scripture they are supposed to be expelled from the church. We could never do this if we were never willing to judge people.

I think that the judging that we are supposed to avoid is an attitude of superiority and condemnation. If I forget that we are all equally vile sinners deserving hell and think of myself as righteous and my brother as degenerate and worthy of hell, then I am guilty of the type of judging that Jesus condemns. If, on the other hand, I acknowledge my dependence on God's grace to do all cleansing work in me and at the same time declare a brother's behaviour as inappropriate and not in keeping with the work of the holy spirit, I am not sinning.

My attitude is the issue. It is non-nonsensical to consider all critique of other brothers' lives as inappropriate judging. Some is and some isn't. We need to be able to at least mentally critique those around us. It's a part of discernment. If we don't evaluate the behaviour of those around us then we're liable to follow their example. If a "Christian" is having an affair it's not judgmental to feel that they are wrong or to say that they are sinning. It's also not wrong to have opinions about debatable issues. I can think that it's sin for my brother to eat meat without being judgmental. It only becomes bad judging when I think or say that a brother is vile for doing x, y or z and that I'm not because I don't do that.

I think that people are so opposed to all judging because they're afraid of their deeds being exposed. I know that I still have miles to go toward righteousness. If people want to evaluate my life that's OK. It may feel uncomfortable but it should only bring to light things that need to be changed anyways. If I'm humble enough their critique should make me a stronger person.

The Seed of the Church

2008-11-19T19:51:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the lack of posts the last few days. I've been having some internet issues so I've been netless. It's nice to be back on.

One of my favourite ministries is Voice of the Martyrs Canada. They do great work helping persecuted brothers and sisters and in getting out the word to us pampered Christians about what the faithful church experiences daily. Through the years that we've received their monthly magazine their articles have encouraged and convicted me.

I've learned through following their work and through missionary biographies that I've been reading that the church is really the strongest when it faces opposition. Again and again I read stories about the faithfulness and growth of the church under persecution. Perhaps this is simply because when the church is faithful it is invariably persecuted.

I suspect that part of the reason for the growth of the church is that when Christians face trials they are given an opportunity to show Jesus' love in a way that they would be able to otherwise. The watching unbelievers are faced with the challenge of understanding love in response to hate. It's jarring and makes no sense without understanding the love of Christ. This witness is powerful. People start to believe and are saved.

The church under persecution are often stronger. I think that this is because if someone become a Christian when there is an immediate cost then they are more likely to be genuine in their faith. The church has a higher percentage of people that are really willing to give their whole lives for the service of the kingdom of God.

Sometimes though, Satan does temporarily get the upper hand. Evil governments do sometimes eliminate most of the Christians in a country through persecution. Persecution is simply a tool that God often seems keen to use in advancing his kingdom.

I actually pray that we will experience difficult persecution in Canada. I will still oppose political restrictions of religious freedoms but I pray that God will bring it anyways. The church in North America is crippled because we are too comfortable. We forget what it means to follow Christ regardless of the consequences. I think that has lured a large percent of us into a stupor and filled the church with people that are not really willing to give up everything for Jesus. May God wake us before it is too late.

Christians and political involvement

2008-11-13T21:28:00.000-08:00

The US elections has spurred a lot of thoughts in my mind about Christian political involvement. Political change does have a significant impact on the lives of people. In some cases, like with abortion people's very lives may be in danger when certain political changes are made. Should Christians throw all their energy into winning political battles? I don't think so.

In the past I was a part of regular pro-life street demonstrations. We used graphic images. It was hardcore. I've been involved in anti-war demonstrations as well. I think these activities, as well as political lobbying or other justice demonstrations have a place but I firmly believe that they must never eclipse our mission to win soul, for the individual or for a church.

Winning souls is really the only way that the church can make lasting change. We may make abortion unthinkable, having saved the lives of countless children but our world will still be worldly. Sin will still be prevailing. We can't make this world godly. We would make for more lasting change by investing all our time and energy into preaching the gospel. Then, the people that have been saved through our ministry will not consider being a part of abortion or any other injustice. Their lives will be completely set apart for Yahweh and not just more moral.

I think that sometimes we forget that we're not supposed to be comfortable in this world. We are strangers here, citizens of a foreign kingdom. Our countries are never going to be morally peaceful. There will never be a Christian nation this side of heaven, not even close.

I do think that this all needs to be kept in balance. Defending justice is like feeding the poor. It's part of the good works that we're called to be a part of but it's not the bread and butter of our mission. Without the gospel at the centre of our ministry we've fallen into the trap of preaching a social gospel.

Ryan, a friend of ours tried to convince us of this years ago but we didn't buy it. He was right :)

Patriotism and the Church

2008-11-12T16:30:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon this video while looking up information on Springs Church in Winnipeg. The video is so disturbing to me. These so-called christians are singing praises to our country and that ought only to be sung to Yahweh. The root of this problem is patriotism. Patriotism should be as far from a Christian as idolatry. Our loyalty should be for the kingdom of God alone. To be patriotic shows a lack of awareness of the rottenness of the world. What fellowship can light have with darkness?

Now, some would argue that their country has lots of good in it too. If we believe that our country has more good then any other then why is patriotism wrong? I believe that it is still wrong because the God is the giver of all good things. It's honouring the creation rather than the creator. He can as easily bestow those gifts on China as he has here.

I think that patriotism also leads further down dangerous roads. The German church under Hitler was slowly sold to patriotism rather than Christ. They became more and more compliant with the atrocities that Hitler was leading. They largely bought into the lies that their silence would be good for Germany. Some even thought that what Hitler was doing was good. I think that this sort-of thing could happen any where. Actually I think that this is happening in the United States with regard to the war in Iraq. Most Christians think that the war is for the good of the US population.

For the record, the church is cowardly for moderating comments.

Guitar Praise

2008-11-10T19:27:00.000-08:00

Rush out! Buy this for your teen for Christmas! Only $149.95! This product will help your teen feel like they can still be cool and Christian. Our motto: all things worldly made Christian. No sacrifice necessary.

Hat Tip for Leanne :)

Prosperity Gospel

2008-11-09T15:32:00.001-08:00

Joel and I went to a church service in town this morning. The people were friendly, we borrowed some of their library books. The service was casual. The singing was so-so, emotionally whipped up. The sermon was AWFUL. The woman that led the singing also gave the message. She mixed metaphors, butchered scripture and promoted heresy. I very nearly started heckling. I find situations like this sooooo frustrating. I long to be able to stand up and inform the listeners that the speaker is wrong. I hate how church services are not set up in a way that the speaker can be held accountable. I hate that no one else ever seems to notice when people are spewing manure.

In this particular situation the woman was deceived by the common prosperity gospel rhetoric. I've been around the church for awhile and I'm starting to realize just how pervasive this false gospel really is. She rambled on for about half and hour about how we're children of the king and how God wants us to experience heavenly blessings now. She mentioned how there is no sickness or poverty in heaven and that God doesn't want that for us now either. She rambled about listening to the spirit, interrupting the service if we felt led to shout out praise, and how God wants us all to speak in tongues. I think that it was the worst message I have ever heard. It was largely illogical, not backed up at all and she was giddy the whole time.

The main problem with her message was that it was not cross-centred but experience-centred. She is seeking to feel and experience God by simply willing to happen and is encouraging others to do so as well. The truth is that we come to know Christ not by seeking deeper experiences but by surrendering all we can for him, including our earthly pleasures and even our own lives in order to share in his suffering and become like him in his death so that one day we might share with him in his resurrection. Here's my scriptural support:

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Phil 3:8-11

Copyrighting Bibles

2008-11-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

On the topic of yesterday's post I thought that I'd share some of my thoughts on copyrighted bibles. I bet you all can guess my feelings on this.

The stated purpose of pretty much every bible society is to spread the word of God but pretty much universally when they create bibles they copyright them. This runs contrary to their stated purpose.

I think copyrighting bible translations is theft. The bible is God's word and can never be truly owned by an organization. If someone wanted to make a translation they, under human laws now own that translation. I firmly believe that under God's law they do not.

This is one situation in which I do not have any qualms about breaking man made laws. If I saw any advantage to photocopying the bible I wouldn't hesitate to do so. The word is God's not man's.

There is one completely public domain English translation of the bible that I am aware of. The World English Bible (WEB) is translation under development for the main purpose of making a perfectly free English translation. The NET bible is also fairly free but it's still maintains some control of the translation.

I would encourage anyone that finds bible copyrighting equally disturbing to write to the bible societies and register your complaint. I don't doubt that they mean well but they need to realize that what they are doing is wrong. Maybe if enough people complain about this they will start to see copyrighting as the theft that it is.

Freely Giving

2008-11-06T23:22:00.000-08:00

One of my hobbies is making books that are now in the public domain available online. I haven't done too many yet but it's fun when I do finally get one completed. I love to make great resources available for everyone. I've so far completed two historical fictions about the life of the early Christians in Rome. Joel and I are working on a manual Greek lexicon. I'm also proofreading "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and "The Little House in the Big Woods." When we're finished with them we post them on Project Gutenberg, a great online e-book library. I've also done some work on making new e-books on Wikibooks.

I'd love to see more Christians make the books and music that they've produced available on-line. I'm sure most Christians just never think about making their works available freely but I think that it's a shame that this isn't the norm. I understand charging for materials that cost you to produce (even then I think you should be pretty liberal with giving stuff away) but if it doesn't cost anything, except possibly lost revenue, to give away your talents then I can't see this as being different than merely peddling the word of God for profit.

We expect other people to minister for free. If I expected payment to disciple people or to have someone stay for the night then you would rightfully consider that I was less than sincere about my love for them. I have a hard time considering book or music writing as a different catagory of ministry. Our love and ministry to the world should be free of charge.

Some of you might argue that since we pay pastors and some evangelists we should pay writers and musicians. I would argue that pastors and evangelists should offer their ministry free of charge as well. If anyone is serving so wholeheartedly, regardless of the minstry, that it inhibits their ability to meet their basic needs, then rest of the body ought to pitch in a support their work. The initiative for financial support ought to come from the giver rather than the receiver. We can't muzzle the ox while it treads the grain but conversly I don't think that the ox ought to refuse to tread the grain unless it's fed.

Consider a earthly kingdom. Suppose there is a king that give a castle servan some money to invest on his behalf. If the servant chooses to not invest it in the bank with the highest interst because he know that the other bank in the town will give him a cash insentive to invest with them he would be guilty of extortion. The king would be rightfully mad and punish him justly.

We are not a different situation. Our gifts, be it writing, singing, hospitality or discipling have been given to us to invest in God's kingdom. They are not for own amusement. Our king will be similarly angry at us for refusing to invest his talents to the best of our ability. Our willingness to serve God's kingdom should never be dependant on whether or not we will get any sort of personal kick-back for it.

Christians literally pray to Jesus via an idol

2008-11-04T11:12:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday some Christians had the swell idea to make the day a day of prayer for the world economy. One of their bright leaders describes one of the events: “We are going to intercede at the site of the statue of the bull on Wall Street to ask God to begin a shift from the bull and bear markets to what we feel will be the ‘Lion’s Market,’ or God’s control over the economic systems."

The irony of this leaves me speechless.

It sure didn't work out for the Israelites very well when they tried praying to their golden calf. I suppose that when you've already placed another god before Yahweh you're not going to be too inclined to pay attention to the next silly little prohibitions, you know, the one against idolatry.

"You shall have no other gods before me.

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, Yahweh your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Lament

2008-11-02T07:39:00.000-08:00

Our family is on the road right now in Hazelton BC. Joel needed to do a practicum in rural hospital so we'll be here for the following 6 weeks. It's not an ideal situation but we're making the best of it. It's really quite beautiful here.

One of our main concerns about being away from home so long was about Christian fellowship. The church options in town looked a little grim and so we prayed that God would help us find some Christians in town that we could have fellowship with. Not very surprisingly, Yahweh blessed us. Joel discovered that one of the doctors that he's working with is a part of an active housechurch. We went to a bible study with them on Thursday night, another housechurch that he told us about, yesterday, and I'm going to their housechurch meeting today (Joel's working).

Last night we went to a potluck at the United Church in town that a few of our connections had told us about. We really weren't expecting much from a united church as the Canadian United as a denomination is about as far away from being a true church as a church that calls itself Christian could possibly be. They deemphasize or completely deny sin, they believe that all routes lead to heaven and include hymns to "Mother God" in their hymnal (we saw them ourselves last night). Definitely not a Christian organization.

One thing that I found very interesting though was that they have a sign on their bulletin board announcing that the United Church proudly supports fair trade purchasing and that the coffee being served benefits the farmers that grew it. Good for them. Here's my question. Why does the non-Christian United Church care more about the farmer in the developing world then most evangelical Christian churches?! When I saw their sign my blood pressure rose and my anger at the callousness of most churches was stirred up.

Why don't churches care? Why don't people see that when they buy their Nabob coffee that they are complicit with Nabob's crimes against farmers? Why don't Christians care? Everything that we do matters. Coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar and spices are really not worth having blood on our hands. There are alternatives that cost a little more. Since our money is not ours but our kings, we need to buy things the way that he would buy things. If your Jesus would buy you an unfair trade mocha frappachino then I think you need to read your bible again.

We Need Another Reformation

2008-10-31T16:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Reformation Day!

Today marks the anniversary of the day that Martin Luther took the daring step to post his 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg's Schlosskirke. At that point in history the church was almost completely apostate except for the odd folks like Luther that some how still managed to see the gospel through the mess of tradition and corruption that the church had veiled it in.

I think that we're at that point today. We need another reformation. In Luther's day the church had essentially gutted Christianity of some of it's core doctrines such as salvation being by grace alone. In our day, while I think that some foundational truths are slipping, I think that problem more lies in our understanding of what righteous living is supposed to look like. We've morphed Christianity into a meaningless religion where one needs to x,y and z and then is free to go on living almost the same way as the rest of the world albeit with a few nice additions.

We need Christians of all stripe to come out of the apostate church and learn to submit to Jesus once again. We need to form a brotherhood of believers that see what a surrendered life really means. We need to stand apart, be different and resist the pressures from all sides to conform to the pattern of this world. We need to walk in the way of the cross, not afraid to suffer, not afraid to sacrifice for God's kingdom.

Will this happen any time soon? I sure pray that it does. Reformations and revivials never happen through the will of people but only by the grace of God. May God give his grace to the wayward North American chuch yet again and call out those that will not bend their knees to idols.

God's Provisions

2008-10-29T19:52:00.001-07:00

I've been reading "God's Smuggler" by Brother Andrew. I've found it quite encouraging. Good missionary biographies always do this for me. I love hearing testimonies of God's faithful provisions. Brother Andrew recounts time after time that God faithfully provided each and every genuine need that he had just as he needed it.

I'm challenged. Our world and standard Christian stewardship teaches us to prepare for seasons of need. I don't know that I believe that this is Godly wisdom anymore. Brother Andrew recounts one situation where a team that he was a part of tithed money that they were given while another team saved their tithe money for a short while in order to protect against emergencies. His team saw every need abundantly met while the other team was in debt at the end of their project. I recognize that only one example is not sufficient to make a principle out of but I do know that God says that he will meet all our needs if we are faithful in Christ.

Hudson Taylor's biography also has a wonderful example of this principle being played out. At one point he was down to his last bit of money and he came across someone in need. He struggled within himself about giving it to the poor family. Finally he remember God's word that says "he who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him for what he has done." He decided, in his word, to put his money the bank that could not break. The very next morning he received money in the mail to buy food with.

I want to live like this. I want to give away every last cent to the poor and needy and watch God provide for my needs. People will tell me that I'm foolish. That's what they thought of Paul. The gospel is foolishness to the Gentiles but it is the truth. With Yahweh's strength I can live like a crazy person.

Honesty

2008-10-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

As a mother I've found that one of my challenging jobs is to train my children be honest people. The proverb that says, "foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child" is dead right. My two children are, by their very nature, set on a path to dishonesty, with themselves, God and others. It's a part of our sinful natures. We don't want to see ourselves for who we really are and we certainly don't want others to either. Part of the offense of the gospel is that it exposes people. The gospel declares us not worthy and not able to be worthy of the love of God. Oh, how great God's love is for us that he would love us even though we're not worthy!

More about honesty... As Christians grow into Jesus' likeness we ought to become more honest, not just in the literal things that we say but also more subtly in how we present ourselves. What we say ought to be perfectly honest as "lying lips are an abomination to the Yahweh, but those who act faithfully are his delight." As with everything else that he expects of us he holds the same standard for himself. Yahweh is always honest. The bible says, "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind."

It's relatively easy to just never lie with our words but it's much more challenging to never try to deceive ourselves or others. I want people to like me. I want to appear wise and knowledgeable. As I become more like Jesus I also need to start to see myself, and present myself, in the way that I really am. I'm still a selfish person.

I think the best place to start is with ourselves and with God. We shouldn't be afraid of deep reflection. I'll be honest though; I find prayer overwhelming because it exposes me. I'm not preaching here from an arrived position. I like my little self-delusions. I feel safe. I believe that it's only through transparency before God and with oneself that anybody has a chance of being transparent with others.

We can also work at showing ourselves as we truly are to those that we're closest with. If you're married your spouse is probably a good place to start. I have a great relationship with my husband Joel but even with him I struggle to not try to seem wiser and more loving than I really am. I'm trying to be more honest with him.

I find transparency particularly difficult with people that I don't know well. I'm afraid of judgment and I'm afraid of people just simply not liking me. Why do I care? The strange thing is that in reality if I was humble and honest people would probably like me more. If they don't, then that's really shouldn't worry me.

Being Critical

2008-10-26T22:31:00.000-07:00

One of the many things about evangelical Christianity that bothers me is the propensity of people to get really upset (and critical, I might add) with Christians that dare to be critical of current fads, preachers, ministries, sermons or really anything that they haven't already decided is wholly apostate. I'm really quite sure that these people would have had great troubles if they had witnessed Jesus firsthand.

How about that temple trashing incident? Jesus was sure critical. Maybe he could have won friends and influenced more people if he'd just been a little more gentle. Then there is Matt 23 when Jesus called out condemnation on the scribes and Pharisees in probably one of the most negative sermon ever preached. Here's a taste: "woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean." I'm not sure he would have been invited back to preach another sermon with words like those. I also can't imagine telling his listeners that they were children of the devil (rather than of Abraham) had a very good reception. Perhaps this was why they crucified him.

Weddings

2008-10-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

Joel and I went to a wedding this morning for the child of a friend of ours. My little sentimental heart is just brimming with joy for the couple. They remind me of Joel and I when we were young, zealous but young and naive. I wish them all the best for their marriage.

North American weddings are a strange beast. When Joel and I got married we tried to do some things differently because we've always been somewhat non-conformers but yet we still retained a lot of the common features. We were young had not realized how radically different we are allowed to be. We walked down the isle, we said normal vows, we kissed, we signed the papers and had a processional. Why the traditions?

I honestly don't understand most cultural traditions. As Christians I think that we really need to examine traditions and throw out all that are distracting or outright anti-Christ. All to often we work in auto-pilot simply doing what we've always done. To give our lives wholly to Christ we ought to reexamine all that we do in order to live intentionally for Jesus.

If Joel and I were to marry again we would do things much differently. We would probably just have a big party, call everyones attention once everyone had arrived, state our promises to one another and our commitment to Christ and then start celebrating. No rings, no show, no ceremony. Except for the tax advantages I'm not sure I even see a reason to become legally married. Doesn't that sound so much more simple?

Chrsitians and the Law

2008-10-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

At one point in my Christian walk I felt that obedience to the laws of the land was a very black and white issue. Roms 13 says,

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.

Seems black and white doesn't it? Just submit to the authorities and you're in the good. Disobey and you're sinning. This opinion was held with the caveat that if the government or any other authority over me told me to sin that I would obey God first.

The problem that I've run into is that it's not always that straight forward. What is a Christian to do when the government forbids doing certain good deeds? Are we obliged to just move on and do other good deeds?

Most of the time we don't run into these questions because the good deeds that we could be doing that happen to be illegal don't cross our minds. We've been trained to see possible Christian ministry within a narrow window of socially acceptable, legal opportunities. Working in a soup kitchen is normal, starting a soup kitchen in your home is not. Handing out tracts on a street corner won't attract the police but continuing to hand out tracts after warnings from security guards probably will.

In Acts 4 and 5 Peter and John were first arrested for preaching in the temple courts. They were commanded to never speak of Jesus again. Peter responded, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." They were released and then continued to preach and perform miracles (not clear where). They were arrested again and thrown into prison. An angel released them and commanded them to preach again in the temple courts. They were arrested again and upon being questioned Peter insisted, "We must obey God rather than men."

It seems fairly clear to me that laws should not stop us from doing good. I believe we must never violate God's laws to do good. We should never steal to feed poor people or kill abortion doctors in order to save babies. We should also not break laws just for our own pleasure, like downloading mp3s. Disobedience is only justifiable if the purpose to honour God and to build his kingdom.

I plan to post a part two on considering ministries outside of the law.

Righteousness and Mercy

2008-10-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.Amos 5:24

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27

These two verses remind me of how in order to truly please Yahweh we need to both care about justice and care about purity. I've noticed that there are groups within evangelical Christianity that seem to major in either one or the other. As these verses show, Yahweh cares about both. True righteousness demands that we both love God with all of our hearts, souls, minds and strength and love our neighbours as we love ourselves.

What does this look like? Loving Yahweh means loving purity, learning his commands and emulating his ways. This is inseparable from loving others because his ways are very loving. His commands are largely focused around how we treat others.

Specifically, Yahweh desires that we care for those that are worse off then we are. We need to love by our actions those that can not give us anything in return. This is like his love for us. He sent Jesus to die for us while we were still miserable, worthless, sinners.

In our world, there are many people that we can love sacrificially. We can care for the unborn children that are being killed everyday by defending them publicly and loving pregnant woman. We can stand up against wars that are killing thousands of people. We can save our money and feed the hungry. We can buy fairly trade products rather than being a part of exploitation. We can care for and love any of the crippled, lame, blind, lonely, orphaned, abused, addicted and broken people that we come across all the time. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

The Prayer of the Children

2008-10-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

I just saw this beautiful video. Let us all stand up against war and pray for these dear children.

Pastors and Titles

2008-10-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Matt 23:8-12

Hmm... So what does Jesus mean when he said this?

I don't think that Jesus was simply laying down a ban on the titles, 'Rabbi', 'father' and 'teacher'. I think that the point of these verses is that people should not be referred to by exalting titles. I personally believe that the title 'pastor' or 'reverend' (and doctor for that matter) effectively does this. I would, out of principle, never refer to a pastor with one of these titles.

I don't mind brother and sister though. Since everyone is being honoured equally I would not have a problem using those titles.

A new blog

2008-10-16T18:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I've decided to start blogging again. You can read my old blog post on the original Micah 6:8 blog. I'm hoping to be able to keep up with posting fairly regularly. This blog is my journal of my thoughts on global issues, the church, the bible, culture and my life. I hope you enjoy reading. Leave a comment and share your thoughts.