Is Unity the Mission?

The Restoration Movement (aka Stone-Campbell Movement) arose out of a desire to achieve unity among believers in Jesus Christ.  Drop the baggage that makes us separate and, bingo!  Unity!  It never really worked very well because people love their denominations more than they love unity.  It was a noble cause driven by noble minds but it was misguided (I know I’m getting in hot water here).  Jesus prayed for his followers to be one (John 17) and Paul chastised the Corinthians for their division (I Corinthians 1) but our mission is making disciples (you know the passages) not unifying those who would rather be divided.  It is vanity and a striving after wind.

Thank God there are other things to do!  Jesus commands us to make disciples.  We accomplish that when we communicate (proclaim and model) the good news about Him.  Yes, it is just that simple.  Maybe that’s why his followers keep missing the point.

And here’s the surprise bonus: if we simply do what Jesus did, unity happens.

Enemies Within

Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things (Ephesians 3:17-19).

The most effective enemies are those of which we are unaware…the ones we fail to recognize as enemies.  In our subconscious we probably already know some entities are not helping the cause of Christ; that they are, indeed, major hindrances.  They are hindering enemies especially because we have become familiar and comfortable with them.  It is much like making a pet of a tiger.  We pet them, feed them, love them…and then one day, they have us by the throat.  They are attitudes, actions and situations that divert us from truly following Christ.  The world notices and these same diversions become hindrances to unbelievers and ammunition for anti-Christian activists.  And here is the kicker: so often, we shoot ourselves in the foot (pun intended).  This is a post that hopefully will challenge us to do some thinking about who and what our enemies are.  As usual, your comments, pro and con, are welcomed.

Striving for Acceptance

It’s not easy being different.  And yet, being different is part of our Christian walk.  We are different from the world not because we try to be but because following Christ separates us from those who aren’t.  Sadly, many who claim to be Christians lie, cheat and steal just like their worldly counterparts.  But the similarities don’t end there.  Too often our values and ambitions are the same as those outside of Christ.  To place our hope in riches, to ignore injustice, to place comfort above compassion and status above service proves we are still of the world.  Here’s the truth: the way of Christ runs counter to the ways of the world.  Never forget it.

Good Thoughts

Here is another offering from Anonymous.

• Growing old is inevitable, growing UP is optional.

• There is no key to happiness. The door is always open.

• Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.

• Faith is the ability to not panic.

• Laugh every day, it’s like inner jogging.

• If you worry, don’t pray. If you pray…don’t worry

• As a child of God, prayer is like calling home everyday.

• Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape.

• The most important things in your home are the people.

• When we get tangled up in our problems, be still.  God wants us to be still so He can untangle the knot.

• A grudge is a heavy thing to carry.

• He who dies with the most toys is still dead.

• We do not remember days, but moments. Life is moving too fast so enjoy your precious moments.

• Talking is sharing. Listening is caring.

• Nothing is real to you until you experience it, otherwise it’s just hearsay.

• It’s all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure to flush when you are done.

Intelligent Design

I would really like to know who gathered the following information but it is really by our old friend “Anonymous.”  According to atheists, life is the result of a series of propitious accidents and random mutations that just happen to be beneficial.  If they take the time to read this, they will attribute each example of intelligent design to unintelligent processes.  Whatever your belief or lack of it, this is pretty good food for thought.

God’s accuracy may be observed in the hatching of eggs.  For example,

• The eggs of the potato bug hatch in 7 days;
• Those of the canary in 14 days;
• Those of the barnyard hen in 21 days.
• The eggs of ducks and geese hatch in 28 days;
• Those of the mallard in 35 days.
• The eggs of the parrot and the ostrich hatch in 42 days.

(Notice, they are all divisible by seven).

God’s design is seen in the making of an elephant. The four legs of this great beast all bend forward in the same direction. No other Quadruped is so made.  God planned that this animal would have a huge body, too large to live on two legs.

• For this reason He gave it four fulcrums so that it can rise from the ground easily.
• The horse rises from the ground on its two front legs first.
• A cow rises from the ground with its two hind legs first.

God’s wisdom is revealed in His arrangement of sections and segments, as well as in the number of grains. How wise the Lord is in all His works of creation!

• Each watermelon has an even number of strips on the rind.
• Each orange has an even number of segments.
• Each ear of corn has an even number of rows.
• Each stalk of wheat has an even number of grains.
• Every bunch of bananas has on its lowest row an even number of bananas, and each row decreases by one, so that one row has an even number and the next row an odd number.
• All grains are found in even numbers on the stalks

The waves of the sea roll in on shore twenty-six to the minute in all kinds of weather.

God has caused the flowers to blossom at certain specified  times during the day, so that Linneus, the great botanist, once  said that if he had a conservatory containing the right kind of soil,  moisture and temperature, he could tell the time of day or night  by the flowers that were open and those that were closed!

Design is evident.  Design requires a designer.

Many have decided not to believe and that is certainly their prerogative.  For myself, I choose to believe in a Creator.  Too much of what I see is inexplicable without Him.

In Romans 1 Paul writes, “…that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made…”

Atheism, Theism and Morality

Is morality safer in the hands of atheists or theists? I’ve been contemplating this for some time and just want to share a few thoughts for consideration.

I’ve noticed that atheists rejoice when some prominent Christian takes a nose dive into sin. It is a “See, I told you all along that Christians are a bunch of hypocrites,” moment. A blog I subscribe to is very adept at this. It is an opportunity to gleefully point out that Christian claims to strong moral standards are bogus. This same blog and others of its stripe often deride and mock people of faith as being deceivers and deceived. Believers are all painted with the same brush: ignorant, superstitious, unintelligent, uninformed, unscientific, etc. Unfortunately, I am sure this is an accurate description of all too many theists. An interesting article along these lines can be found here.

It is to the shame of Christianity that there is so little difference in the conduct of professed believers and professed atheists. According to solid research, professed believers fornicate, lie, cheat and steal only slightly less than professed atheists.

The truth is that all humans are sinners (Romans 3). The difference between theists and atheists is not so much in the quantity or quality of sin but in the struggle against it (Romans 7). Personally speaking, I have several areas that I struggle with…sometimes winning…sometimes losing. In the struggle I am always aware of most of my sins (Psalm 51:3). As a Christian I know that as long as I genuinely struggle against sin I am somehow forgiven (Romans 7:24-8:4; 1 John 1:5-10). This is not to excuse the conduct of those who profess belief. There is no excuse.

The atheist, on the other hand, needs no forgiveness for there is no God from whom to seek forgiveness. Atheistic moral standards are built upon human values. Those values are ambiguous, imprecise and undefined. For the most part, they are culturally and socially determined and a matter of self-preservation. When transgressed, there may or may not be consequences.

It is no surprise then that most atheist bloggers I read are in favor of the open practice of homosexuality, same-sex marriage and abortion. And while empathy and altruism are by no means limited to Christians, actions and attitudes defined in Scripture as “sinful” may have no counterpart in morality as defined by an atheist.

I have learned a lot about atheistic moral standards by reading atheist blogs and subsequent comments. I have been stung and challenged by the perceptions and truths revealed there. But I have also been sickened and disgusted.

One particularly obnoxious blog design features a naked female nailed to a cross as part of the design of the site. Previously, designed obviously to shock, it depicted a full-frontal female nude in the place of Christ in a version of the “Last Supper” painting. I used to read this generally civil and rational blog. I can simply no longer stomach his immoral choice of artistic expression.

And, speaking of comments, some of the language is anything but moral. Since most of the commentators are fellow-travelers obscenities are spewed-forth with abandon. And why not? Most standards of civility and acceptable speech valued by Christians are derived from Scripture. Since there is no written code for atheists, as social ethics decline (as is most certainly the case), standards of acceptable speech also decline.

But back to the question: Is morality safer in the hands of atheists or theists? My answer is the latter…but apparently only slightly so. This answer is completely unacceptable. And who is to blame? I always think of the line from the Pogo comic strip, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” With too few exceptions (but there are, thankfully, exceptions), Christianity throughout the “Western World” has become more like a social club. Tremendous energy and resources are dedicated to ourselves: our buildings, our comfort, our social acceptance. We meet and talk and talk some more then meet some more. We even hire people to talk to us in our meetings as a profession! No wonder we are not taken seriously! We are so concerned with matters completely foreign to the concerns of Christ that we have become something markedly different to what He intended. As an appalling consequence, our actions and attitudes offer little difference to that of our atheist neighbors. Until that fact changes, the answer to our question will remain the same.

IMITATION

My good friend and fellow co-worker in the kingdom, Bob Marks, is the preacher for the Warringah church in Sydney, Australia.  In this post, I want to feature his excellent article about imitating Christ.

According to the dictionary an imitator is one who patterns their life or some aspect of it on another.

Last weekend’s Sunday Telegraph contained a story about Gules D’Orsi, a 25 year old university student from Adelaide who was informed that she looked a lot like Princess Diana.  She was in Madrid when a homeless man came up to her shouting over and over, “Diana, you’re not dead!”

Gules said she was always a tomboy, but she got to a point where she knew she had to present herself better. “I used to be a major drag.” She started wearing her hair short like Diana and since then people often come up to her, take pictures of her, and ask permission to put them on Facebook. People the world over love to see images of Princess Diana even so long after her passing.

Princess Diana memorabilia still is very collectible.  It’s interesting to see people’s fascination with seeing a real live version of Diana! They like to be reminded of their favourite princess!

All of this reminds me of the desire that Christians have, or should have, to imitate Jesus. In Ephesians 5:1 Paul tells us to “be imitators of God”. He uses the Greek word mimetai from which we get our word to “mimic.” The idea is to copy closely, to repeat another person’s speech, actions, behaviour and mannerisms. We should be so like Jesus that when people see us, they see Jesus in us, and are drawn to him through us. To God “…we are a fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” and we should be spreading all around us this fragrance we have through the knowledge of Jesus! (2 Corinthians 2:14,15)

Pinto or Maserati?

Is your church (if you are part of one) a Maserati or a Pinto?  My friend Philip Murphy, an attorney in American Samoa, has written an excellent post about how churches (groups of Christians who serve, work and worship together) should see themselves.  It has a lot to do with what our communities think of us.  How they see us has an impact on our evangelism.  See it here and do him the honor of making an intelligent, apropos comment.

Thoughts on Obama’s Strategy

From one man-on-the-street.

I have always believed that artificial props are just that…artificial. Artificial means: false, unnatural, and inauthentic hence, unwieldy and untrustworthy. We ordinary citizens have to bear the consequences of our bad or untimely decisions.

Years ago, I went into a business linked to real estate. I took that leap just when that industry was crashing. Even though I had some big jobs, they were not enough to offset the slump. Furthermore, I was under-capitalized. Eventually, I had to close our doors. No one was there to bail me out. If a bailout had been available, it probably not have worked. It was just the wrong climate…especially for a “start-up.”

I think government subsidies artificially prop-up bad business. Our agriculture industry has been in a mess for years because of subsidies. If you can’t sell your crop at a fair market value, don’t grow it…grow something that will sell. Among other evils, subsidies have resulted in huge corporate farms and an unhealthy glut of corn and soybeans that we have find uses for.

Now, the auto industry is in a mess. Foreign car-makers (“foreign” is almost a misnomer since most of them are built here with American parts) are taking over the industry with high-quality automobiles built with superior efficiency. “The Big Three” are in trouble because they didn’t meet the competition until far too late.

We suffered when our business closed and I and my employees quickly had to find another source of income. Why should any business be any different? If the government is going to throw money at something, why not help the out-of-work automobile workers for a year or so while they search for another job or career? In my thinking that is far more prudent (and compassionate) than prolonging the agony by trying to save their failing industries (to say nothing about the obscene bonuses they pay their executives) by chunking billions at them.

Now, poor Obama is in a no-win situation. If he continues to lob billions at bad businesses he will be condemned. If he does not he will still be condemned. It would have been better to say, “Fellows, you got yourself in this mess and it is not the government’s business to get you out of it.” Upheaval, confusion and suffering may be the result, but if it is not a law, it ought to be: Bad business practices will result in failed businesses. When the dust has settled, things will be different but the economy will be healthy. The deficit and national debt will not be impossibly immense and we will not have cursed our children and grandchildren with its terrible burden.

Thoughts on Turning Sixty-Seven

I entered my 68^th year last month. My 91-year-old father might disagree but I guess I am now “old.” I find old age fascinating on several levels. It is, for example, in old age that you wish you had taken better care of your young self. The aches, pains and other afflictions are not pleasant. To realize that you have been categorized as “old” is not particularly good for the ego. Neither is the realization that you are no longer (if you really ever were) attractive to young women. These days, if they smile approvingly at you, it is because you remind them of a loved and respected father, grandfather or great-uncle (get that straight and it will help keep you out of a lot of trouble and embarrassment!).

These are the routine parts of old manhood. But, what I am writing about is something rather unexpected. It is the insight I’ve gained because

I have lived long enough,

read enough books,

encountered enough problems,

misunderstood enough,

experienced enough reversals of fortune,

loved enough people,

lived through enough crises,

eaten enough crow,

had enough experiences – positive and negative…

…to realize the arrogance of my youth. Not necessarily an obvious, exterior, obnoxious, puffed-up know-it-all arrogance. But rather that which rises out of misplaced self-confidence, academic knowledge and an assurance that one has found authentic truth.

I was thinking today about an encounter I had back in the late seventies with a man who held an opinion (more of a belief) that I considered downright wrong…maybe even ungodly. I thought, how can he believe that when Scripture says this? I knew the experiences that influenced his opinion, but I also knew what the Scripture said. Now, at a comparable age with my own collection of experiences, I see what he was saying and why.

In my dotage I find myself considering, accommodating, tolerating and investigating ideas I would have rejected out-of-hand in my youth. I find myself believing things I never would have contemplated in my younger years. Now, older, sadder and wiser, I shudder at past positions taken, claims made, assurances given, defenses offered and explanations proffered. Today I am finally ready to reason more than react. Arrogance has been consumed by humiliation.

In our culture, older people tend to be marginalized and that’s a shameful waste. We are considered out-of-touch, hopelessly behind the learning curve and set in our ways. And, that sad assessment may be true for some of us. But I find myself more curious, more open-minded, more tolerant and receptive to new ideas than my youthful self.

Why did I have to get old to get reasonable? How much more productive and peaceful life would have been if wisdom did not depend on experience! Could I please try it again and this time with what I’ve learned? Oh the joyful thought of youthful living guided by age’s wisdom!

You’ve GOT to be Kidding Me!

You hear about it all the time but the amazement never ceases.  I refer to people seeing images of Jesus and Mary in peices of toast, cloud formations, pancakes and now, wait for it, a seat cushion! Yes, I kid you not.  A fellow-blogger who got his information from an Australian newspaper has documented this latest frenzy.

Antoinette, an 82-year-old parishioner, said the face was a “divine phenomenon” as tears welled up her eyes.

“This church is a holy site,” added Lise-May, another worshipper.

“This is not a miracle, it’s a sign of God,” said parish priest Daniel Gavard.

My first thought was, Good grief, the atheists will have a field day with this! My second thought was, how do they even know what Jesus looked like?  Or Mary? My final thought was, Somebody needs to call this what it is, desperate superstition.

Of course, the atheists will lump these poor, ignorant, desperate people (including, apparently, the priest, who ought to know better) in their catch-all category, “Religious,” and use them for target practice.  Pity.