tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63387772559525241042024-03-08T04:25:54.280-08:00Breaking the SilenceAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341303063832027879noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6338777255952524104.post-9137675529130846562014-09-27T09:08:00.002-07:002014-09-27T09:37:43.724-07:00The Simple Truth<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s been four years and four months (on Wednesday) since I
started dating my wife. My life has slowed down recently, allowing the anger to
creep back up. Four years! Things are still not as we would have them, are they
improved? That’s hard to say for sure, we have had one pleasant interaction
with my family, an Ohio trip, we are going out to eat with my parents for my
birthday and we will probably get invited to at least Christmas, if not
Thanksgiving. So on this scale it would appear that things are slightly
improving. Will interactions be improved? Will my wife be included, will she be
celebrated equally? And separately, do I want to participate? I recently
realized, naturally I wouldn’t spend time around people similar to my family.
As all of the last four years have unfolded I have become increasingly
uncomfortable around the people I was raised near. The staunch fundamentalist
culture that once was second nature to me has become something I am wary of,
defensive against, and in general repulsed by. For a long time, I thought it
was because “if they knew about my marriage, then they would continue the brow
beating that began with my family.” And there is some truth to this, the
culture that produced me and my family, that hurt and rejected me, would
continue this self-preservation process and I didn’t/don’t want to be near it.
As time has continued another truth has emerged, equally as strong and even truer
still. I do not like this culture, this people! It is said that a culture is
similar to a machine; it is designed to produce a certain product, a certain
type of person. I don’t like this product, I don’t like the character that is
promoted in that culture. I have found two dominant types of people that my
culture produces. The first is the social butterfly of the church, knowing
everybody, constantly sitting under “good” pastors yet remarkably staying
untouched by the subversive calling of Jesus. In a word, pretentious. The
second is the church’s own Winston Churchills, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">we shall fight on
the seas and oceans, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we
shall fight on the beaches,<br />
we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the
streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">With this attitude
they confront anything that is other from them condemning it as “sin” or “bad”
or “lesser,” depending on the severity of the atrocity as they see it. These
see themselves as the preservers of God’s truth, the defenders of the faith,
the martyrs, the Israel that is within Israel. Unfortunately they miss the
weightier things of the law, love, mercy, grace, justice, straining out a knat
they have swallowed a camel. In the pursuit of defending “True Christianity” they
have missed God’s voice, the Holy Spirit. They have substituted scripture for
the Holy Spirit. They can tell you what God or Jesus said 2000+ years ago, but
they can’t hear him today. I do not want either of these people near me. I do
not like what they stand for, what they do, who they are (as people). Does this
make me a bad person? I am working on loving them as Christ loves me, but I do
not like them nor do I want them influencing those around me. Is it possible to
have Christian love for those who you do not like? What is Christian Love? Is
it synonymous with “like?” I do not believe so, but I am still on this journey
and I can honestly say if they are synonymous then I’m in trouble. Because the
simple fact is, there are people I don’t like, pure and simple.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341303063832027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6338777255952524104.post-10239641191702025432014-03-30T22:02:00.000-07:002014-03-30T22:02:19.013-07:00California AmishI was sitting watching Breaking Amish, there is a couple that were shunned because the woman was married before. It was very interesting the similarities between there situation and my wife and I's situation. There was obviously differences but the similarity was striking, made me realize that shunning isn't just in the Amish community. It's quite interesting.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341303063832027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6338777255952524104.post-23531196555439797252013-06-03T06:05:00.003-07:002014-09-27T09:09:40.812-07:00A new perspective<link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Crld%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Crld%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Crld%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping"></link><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I had a friend awhile back “leave Christianity,” essentially
the same way Ronald Regan left the democratic party. I must say that recently I’ve
come to agree with this sentiment, I have not left church, the church has left
me. In almost every aspect: the God I hear
described in churches is not a god I want to serve, the purpose of church, interaction with
non-church goers, interaction with other church goers, the egocentric versions
of the gospel that leaves few if any reciprocating interests in individuals, the
disconnect between thought and actions, the divorce of theology from reality.
There are many who say that I have left the church, but I have not left the
church the church has left me.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341303063832027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6338777255952524104.post-5093016162637743392013-05-08T05:43:00.000-07:002013-05-08T05:43:35.552-07:00The Church Delusion: Part II<h2>
<span style="color: windowtext;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2 class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Evangelism </span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Evangelism seems to take one of three forms in the church
today. A quick list would be: impersonal, blitz (blitzkrieg), and street
witnessing. All three are very popular within the church today. Yet the first
two have the highest support due to the easy and comfortableness of the
activities. They are all undertaken with good motives yet the out come is
questionable.</div>
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Impersonal witnessing is almost more for the Christians than
for the non-believers. Billboards and bumper stickers are put up along freeways
and slapped on cars with the hope that someone might see it and change their
beliefs. As the church has moved to business models of operation this type of
witnessing has become more popular. We place billboards, that have a cross on
it and states “He died for you” and have a bible verse reference such as John
3:16 on it, along highways hoping that with the number of people that pass it
daily a few will cry out to God. We assume that people know what the bible is,
know the significance of the cross and know that they needed someone to die for
them. We assume they care, understand and are open to new thoughts/beliefs. We
assume that over exposing non-believers will leave them neutral or open to the scriptures
and not harden them off. Often times this logic is supported with verses such
as Isaiah 55:11 “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return
to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for
which I sent it.” However the outcome is as impersonal as the message itself.
Bumper stickers are equally as effective. The ultimate goal of impersonal
witnessing is the best product placement seen to date. Sometimes impersonal is
taken under the guise of not allowing anyone an excuse to claim they never knew
about Christ’s work. Yet the outcome of this type of witnessing are short
cryptic messages or images that are bombarded upon viewers. The logic seems to
be that putting stickers on our cars will create a more amiable mindset toward
Christians and church. That coupled with the fact that Christians are rarely
among the people that need the message of Christ long enough to let their life
do the talking for them. Christ ate with the tax collectors and sinners, yet
it’s easier, nicer and less messy for us if we put a sticker on our car and
expect them to come to us.</div>
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Blitz (blitzkrieg) witnessing takes its name from the London
blitz of World War II. The German planes would bombed London en masse then
retreat back across the channel behind their lines for safety. In the same sense
it is a common policy of church evangelism to inundate an area with people then,
when the day or event is done, they’ll pull back to their normal areas of
socializing to be untouched by where they just were evangelizing. A popular
strategy in our local area is to send youth groups 10-12 hours south into
Mexico for one week then pull back into town and share the stories of “God’s
work” in Mexico. A more recent strategy, locally, is for three days a year
(four months in between each day) to mobilize the entire church, multiple
denominations, to do work in our town. This strategy is much improved over the
other blitz strategy. However the result is similar, hundreds to thousands of
Christians come out to inundate our local area then dissolve back into the
scenery. Four months later another wave emerges very similar to cicadas. Very similar to impersonal witnessing this
form is concerned with trying to only affect the Christian participants in a
positive manner, or if there are negative reactions then they can be written
off as persecution and told as war stories. We do not consider what assumptions
we are making toward the receptors of our evangelism. We assume that random
people interacting with an individual on a scheduled three days a year will
change that individual’s life. We invade people’s worlds with no awareness of
the cultural difference between them and us, with no awareness of our own
cultural biases, and expect them to understand what we are doing and saying,
expect to have street cred with them—because we got our hands dirty three times
a year. There is a benefit to this method, it has helped show other
suburbanites that the church is active and cares about their city, however
these are not those whom the event is apparently aimed. </div>
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Street witnessing has the widest spectrum range of
activities, from people holding signs, to yelling into bull horns, to handing
out tracks on a street corner, to having a conversation, to knocking on doors.
It can be a very personal style of evangelism. The more obnoxious forms have
similar assumptions as the styles mentioned above so I will not address them in
detail here. There is a wide range of how to become involved in a conversation
with people some quite invasive, some quite “organic.” Door knocking can be
quite invasive, even I’ve been known to tell door knockers to go away. This
style is a delicate issue because it can be quite a natural and non-invasive to
introduce people to Jesus. The people street witnessing that I have talked to
are a common site near the bars in town. They have capitalized on the nights
that these streets are the fullest. However
while the streets are the fullest, they are typically full of people who are
not concerned with anything but tonight and getting plastered. A common
assumption in this is that Christians do not frequent, let alone go to bars. As
one who used to frequent clubs, several awkward conversations ensued because
the fact that Christian’s may attend parties or clubs was not considered. The
bull-horn waivers often caused quite a scene when other Christian’s approach to
encourage them or let them know that there were more then pure heathens out
that night. </div>
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These three methods are blind stabs in the dark and are not
incarnational methods. What does it say that Christians must leave their
personal lives to be around those that need Christ? We “need” programs and
groups to reach out to others. Our lives do not speak for themselves or if they
do then we are so isolated that no one notices or asks questions. We prefer
anonymity either by isolation (street witnessing) or by mass effect or by
stickers and billboards. </div>
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In our little corner of the world, the “gospel” (good news) message
is the same. You’re bad, you need a “savior,” there’s this cool guy named Jesus
and you should say this “prayer”……rinse and repeat. Our one focus is “saving
souls from hell” in the largest group size as possible. In some reformed
circles there is almost a “drug dog” mentality, we don’t know where or who the
“elect” are but dammit we’re going to find them. Then once their found, they’re
on their own because we need to find the next soul in need of realizing they’re
“elect.” It is quite an obsessive compulsion. We’ve stopped treating people as
humans, maybe we’ve forgotten what it is to be human, and have started treating
them as collector trinkets. We are not
interested in their lives, stories, or spiritual welfare, instead all we’re
interested in is if they can check of the “said the sinner’s prayer” box or
not. We’ve disconnected the gospel from the rest of life. Salvation has become
a prayer at a single point of life with no repercussions on the rest of the way
we live. At one local church the gospel has been boiled down to feeling better
about yourself, “you’re accepted just the way you are, now go live like an
accepted person.” Needless to say, this is quite popular with Christians, who
are interested in sustaining their way of life. The injustices at work in and
around people’s lives is barely a footnote that is glossed over in our pursuit
of their soul and systematic injustices that affect their daily lives are not
even recognized because that would require more time and every minute more
people die. Our ultimate message to those around us is “become like us” and you
too can live a comfortable life knowing that you have eternal fire insurance.
We have no answer for evil and injustice; rarely do we even try to combat such
forces. But rather we have resigned ourselves to hunkering down waiting for the
“rapture” content to fiddle while the world around us burns. The world around
us needs hope; needs to be shown that Christianity is more than a mind trick,
more than an intellectual pursuit and that we actually are aware of the world
around us and working for the kingdom. We have forgotten the physical needs of humans
in our spiritual philanthropistic endeavors. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341303063832027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6338777255952524104.post-89180702903862728832013-03-28T18:24:00.003-07:002013-03-28T18:24:46.168-07:00The Issue is Not the Issue<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With the Supreme Court reviewing gay marriage there has been
a many discussions about the “redefinition of marriage.” The Christians are
scared that allowing homosexual marriage to occur will degrade our society more
so than the civil unions that already exist. The homosexual rights side wants
the tax benefits that the government affords only to those that are “married.”
To listen to the Christians one would believe that this political “redefinition
of marriage” would change everything that we know about marriage, that everyone
would then need to change their whole perspective on the word marriage, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when what is really at state is a governmental
shift of definition and monetary/tax benefit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With Civil Unions already in existence with little notice from religious
groups, how is allowing them the term married any worse? There is not a
difference before God; there is only a difference to the government. There is
not a difference to our society except less tax money to the government. Are
the tax benefits really that important to Christians that they wish to exclude
others? I do not believe that to be the case, so why is there such an uproar? Why
are Christians so concerned with how the government defines marriage? The
lifestyle, a defined union already exist and will not be altered by this
decision, so why do we care about how much taxes and what benefits others get? Are
we really that sensitive over a word? </span></div>
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Yesterday I sat in a round-table discussion talking about
truth, the divine and spirituality. On the way home we passed the regional
superchurch (not technically a mega church but larger than a large church),
there are 6 superchurches in our town. People were exiting the lecture hall of
this particular institution and it caused me to think again of what is church?
The discussion I was involved in was not markedly Christian, there was no
pastor, no leader, no band, and no benediction as we know it in Christianity, there
was only a desire for truth. On the flip side I’ve been apart of the masses
that sit and here the lecture, sing the songs, and politely chat after the 90
minutes have passed. I’ve also been apart of the small congregation the looks,
believes, and acts differently than the rest of the churches in town. I’ve sang
hymns and worship songs, I’ve witnessed healings and signs, I’ve heard stoic
and passionate preaching, I’ve been apart of intimate and casual congregations
and at the end of the day I’m content to sit and talk to my fellow man about
his experiences in the world, about his subjective truths. And as I watch the
masses being corralled and split off (to the appropriate groups so their
version of the sermon will be relevant to them) like a herd of cattle I have to
ask myself, have we really grasped the ministry of Jesus? As I talk to Christians
the overwhelming “advice” is to get back into church, to stay plugged in
somewhere, to settle down to a home church. In essence these people would tell
Albert Einstein to stay in math class because life will be more difficult if
you don’t jump through the hoops. Why have we become so afraid of messy
situations, we’ve stream-lined our church services, we have pastors for every
area of life except discipleship (youth pastor, young married pastor, seniors
pastor, pastor of finance, etc). Christians don’t want to be challenged (except
by the guy up front every Sunday), don’t want to be in awkward or uncomfortable
situations, situations that they must admit that they don’t know how to act or
what to say, they don’t want to be outnumbered by non-christians but they feel
ok outnumbering non-chritians; all of these scenarios we’ve addressed in the
new style of church, the style that tells you to love your neighbor but where
there is no one you recognize in at least 20 people. How is this church? Where do
we get this concept from? How is this the norm in out society?</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341303063832027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6338777255952524104.post-12834658620582758692013-01-22T07:05:00.003-08:002013-01-22T07:05:50.504-08:00Christ to the World?<link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Crld%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Crld%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Crld%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping"></link><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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It surprises me how often people in church will hear
messages about forgiveness, grace, and mercy and it will not affect their
lives. Messages rail against the Pharisees and their legalistic lines in the
sand to define who’s in and who’s out, and in our own lives we don’t talk,
fellowship, or associate with certain people because their “not christian.” We claim
to be Christian but our lives are not defined by grace, forgiveness, love,
kindness, but rather by a black and white world view, condensation, and brow
beating. We’re known by what we don’t believe and not by what believe. We are
known by our actions but our actions are negative, voting against abortion,
voting against gay marriage, not going to parties/bars, not cussing, by not
doing things instead of doing things. We’ve turned the social aspect of the
gospel into social conservatism, trying to keep it how we define moral. There
is no activity that subverts social empire; there is not any movement that
ignores society’s actions that is acts proactively toward new creation. We have
lost ourselves in the forest of society, and have resigned ourselves to playing
by their rules. We are trying to survive by treading water instead of swimming
toward shore. We do not realize that Christ is subjecting all things to
himself, including entropy, chaos, and disillusion. We have come to believe
that we cannot change the world and have resigned ourselves to merely “saving
souls” from the world. This is a self-defeating mentality. We are Christ’s body
and our calling is to act in the reality that the resurrection inaugurated the
new creation. A new creation that involves loving our neighbor like ourselves:
feeding those in need, giving to him who asks, acting for justice for those
around us (both situational and institutional), creating beauty where chaos and
ugliness are the norm, forgiving those who wrong us (letting them know that
they are forgiven), going out of our way to help those around us. It is time we
get out of this defeated, unimaginative mentality that we cannot change things
around us. Jesus is reigning and we are given the strength and wisdom to act in
such a way that helps to bring his reign to bear on earth. We pray, “your kingdom
come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” yet our lives demonstrate
that we expect this to be fulfilled only when Christ returns, forgetting that
we are his body, his stewards, his “hands and feet” on earth. Many of us don’t
believe (we say we do, but our lives and mentality betray us) in miracles
happening today, yet when we pray the Lord’s Prayer (partially quoted above) we
are essentially asking him to do the miracles that we don’t believe happen
today. Much of our in action is due to a humility that is under a false
pretense. We have confused boldness for pride, cowardice for humility, but
above all we do not want to responsibility that comes with acting as Christ in
the world today. We do not want people looking at us, we want to live our lives
unnoticed, in quiet oblivion. Much like the third servant we have buried our
talent and will be expecting the Master to be happy with us. Its time to stop
shirking this responsibility, Christ has called us to live for Him, to be small
Christs to those around us, to help inaugurate his new creation in this world.
Its time to start acting as Christ and not the Pharisees biding their time till
the Messiah comes in the way we expect him to. Why are we so backwards at
continuing Christ’s work in the world? </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341303063832027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6338777255952524104.post-67832370981626332282012-12-01T06:38:00.002-08:002013-05-08T05:44:32.240-07:00The Church Delusion: Part I<link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Crld%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext;">Preface<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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This blog, along with all following blogs, is not meant to
be a pointless critique aimed at dissuading people or Christians from regular
attendance of church nor is it meant to discourage. But rather it is an honest
look at the church. I cannot nor will not say this is an objective look at
church; I am an orthodox Christian that regularly attends multiple brands of
Christianity which negates pure objectivity. However in my travels through
Christianity I have noticed many oddities, many of which we don’t seem to notice.
There seems to be two general types of people that I run into at church, the
first is the most prevalent. The first type is the person who goes to church
for their experience, they don’t know, nor do they want to know, particulars.
If particulars are brought up they will either deflect immediately (I don’t
want to be challenged, I will always want to be a “baby” Christian) or they
will travel down a road with which they are well familiar (relating most
subjects to a single topic with which they are infatuated, relating all conversations
to Calvinism/armenianism, the rapture, etc). The second is, sadly, the person who
realizes the blind spots of the Christian culture and leaves, walking away
because the issues are bigger than themselves. Through this blog I am not
wishing to create more people that fit into the latter perspective. I hope that
this will create people who are not oblivious to the problems in the church and
who will enter into discussion about them as well as work toward solving the
issues that seem to be inherent to the church culture as a whole. </div>
<h2>
<span style="color: windowtext;">The movement away<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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Lately there has been a movement away from churches in the
town. Even more traditional church goers have been increasingly unsatisfied.
Much discussion has happened about what can be done about the growing
frustration. Yet no satisfactory resolution has been found. </div>
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For the traditionalist, the angst lies in what is being
taught. The fluffy self-help message of the large church does not fulfill and
the stern teachings of the conservative churches, about how to live or what to
believe, do not bring life to their spirits. New churches have sprung up
promising new and different messages but they end up being the same present
wrapped in different packaging. Often times the traditionalist must resign
their attendance of church to, “We don’t gain much from the message but we like
the people/community.” Given enough time this practice tends to lead one of two
directions. First the attendee must feed themselves and dig into scripture on
their own. This is not a bad thing, however, it leads to splintering of
individuals away from each other. Each person sees a particular emphasis in
scripture and is drawn to that awareness. Since the sermons and fellowship of
church are not centered on that individual’s study or thoughts or perceptions,
they become a secret Lone Ranger. But if they are outspoken in their opinions
then they will try to convince others to join them in their thoughts. Many
times the individual begins to alienate themselves from the main group of the
church because of the congregation’s avoidance of the limited and “deep” topics
of conversation caused by such Lone Rangers. This issue is often compounded by
politicized leadership that will listen and console the parishioner yet not act
to help the situation in any means beyond that. The second direction this could
lead to is the downplaying of the importance of good teaching. If teaching is
not emphasized and an individual is not motivated to study on their own then a
common response is to continue to downplay and ignore the teaching. This leads
to fellowship becoming the only hub for church. Both of these are not helpful
for the individual. However, if there is a family involved the children often
carry these scenarios further than the parents: total focus on socializing or
harmfully breaking of fellowship due to “bad theology.” Often times when a
traditionalist is unsatisfied by their current church, they will switch
addictions. This is to say that if they were attending a Freewill Baptist
church, then they will switch to a Reformed church. The proverbial pendulum
swings the opposite direction, landing the individual in the same place only a
different side. The other most common scenario is the further seclusion of a
group. When a group is not satisfied with the direction of the church,
believing it to be going in a liberal direction, they will splinter off and
start a smaller group that “holds true” to scripture. This cycle typically
continues until it is only an isolated few are holding to scripture. In doing
this the isolated few have made themselves untouchable. There is a suspicion of
the larger church body and other Christians who don’t line up with the few.</div>
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Even the reliable, nontraditional church goer is typically
on a 3-5 year church rotation, where the individual will stay at a church for 3
to 5 years then switch churches. This seems to be especially true for young
adults and young marrieds who do not have children yet. The reasons for
switching vary: we have more friends at the other church, the teaching is
better over there, the other pastor is funnier, there are more girls in the
other congregation, etc. Here the individual is more concerned with what they
gain from the church experience. There is a more evident self interest in this
model. Investment within a community is also less. The sermons within this
style of church, due to the complexity and rotation of the congregation, are
often based on the basic tenants of the Christian faith or more simply helpful
christianesque advice for a good life. Frequently the sermons can be boiled
down to “5 self-improvement tips.” Strict doctrine is avoided in all but the
neo-reformed styles. Some pastors wishing to shed this characteristic will
preach a “tough” sermon or sermon series consisting of “if you’re not reading
your bibles everyday you should check yourself” or “you need to be sharing your
faith.” The points that the hammer is dropped on are typically social protocol
with the pastor tightening the reigns ever so slightly. In this model those who
get involved in the community then decide to leave are often told that they are
walking away from their gifts or that they had great potential for leadership.
These words of “encouragement” seem to only come at the end of their tenure.
With rare occasion the individual is smothered with verbal affirmations but
even then they have hardly any physical backing. This leads to the burn-out
that is common among the church’s younger adults. Rarely does a young adult
find a community that will support them in the way they need. This obviously
leads to a chicken or the egg debate (which is not for this blog) of whether
the community expects the burn-out and exodus so does not commit to the young
adult or newly arrived leader, or if the lack of communal support is evidence
of a community of believers that are too busy with their own lives and
ambitions to support the individual. Either way the result is the same. The
problem may lie in thrusting young people into group leadership roles before
they have the self awareness to be honest with their peers or their elders with
where they are at. Often times within the church there is at least a
subconscious if not a conscious censorship about subjects to be taught on or
roles to be played. This can lead to outburst of honesty from the individual
that must jump through these invisible hoops. These outbursts, though not
common, are considered to be a shock and awe technique that few take seriously
or at least seriously for much time. This then leads to even more frustration
in the leader. The result is vast turnover in leadership that has a passion for
youth or individuals. Often times the only successful long term leaders or
pastors are the ones who are focused more on their programs and their stance
within the church or their paycheck than the more complicated needs of the
people that they are serving. Overall the church experience begins with
enthrallment then is followed by tolerance then by frustration, and finally a
new enthrallment opens up at another church and the cycle begins again.</div>
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In our town a hybrid form of church has begun to arise. The
neo-reformed churches in town on the surface seem to be a mix of the
traditional and the less traditional churches. The sermons here tend toward
historical doctrine with grace as a liberally applied top dressing. Their draw
is to Christians who are tired of the 3-5 year cycle and want a church who
takes a stand, or to the Christian who has been burned by church or other
christians. Their claim to fame is that they are a different kind of church, a
disgruntled christians church. Though this sounds like the ultimate church, the
ideology and the practice of these churches are worlds apart. The center claims
of these churches are: to focus on doctrine applied with grace, to not be
legalistic, to focus on reaching out to the local community, and planting
churches. The reality of how this plays out is churches that are focused on
reformation theology, more concerned with telling people how and what to think
about God rather than helping them discover Jesus. Churches become legalistic
against legalism which avails nothing but more legalism and judgmental spirits
towards other “less evolved” churches or individuals. Involvement in the local
communities and church planting is about as successful as their fight against
legalism. Much like the dominant culture of the church, the missional segments
of church end up emphasizing foreign missions then a tag-line is thrown on
phrased something like “now we don’t have to go over seas, we can be on mission
right here in our own town.” However like normal individuals looking to a
leader, the people upfront are who will be imitated, which makes the plug for
local missions about as successful as the Hindenburg. Neo-reformed churches
fall into the trap of proof-texting to the same extent as the traditional
churches, the non-traditional churches also proof-text however it is less
noticeable because there are hardly any hard lines drawn from these
proof-texts. The emphasis that enables proof-texting in the neo-reformed
churches is the spoken wish to base everything in scripture, sola scriptura.
This is a noble claim that yet again does not hold up under scrutiny. Much like
the traditional churches, these churches strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.
There is a refusal or an inability to see the forest for the trees. During a
recent conversation with a pastor of a church in town, he was trying to push
that Acts 2:42-47 was the purpose of church, as an organization, is supposed to
be. When asked what I thought the purpose of church was, I responded with
“reflecting God back to God.” His response was “where do you find that in
scripture?” There is such a focus on what scripture says, mostly in “small and
digestible” bites, that what it is saying cannot be seen. Often times the theology is unrecognized or
is evolving as consequences or underlying assumptions are realized. Recently in
a sermon the pastor verbalized that, while he “believes” the Holy spirit is
active in the world today, practically he is a cessationist. This is a common
problem among all forms of church, having what you think you believe and what
you actually believe not line up. However, in churches where there is an
emphasis on pseudo-intellectual pursuit, their inconsistencies become more
glaringly obvious. </div>
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All forms of the church (the Holiness tradition churches are
the exceptions) deal very little with the Holy spirit. The Traditionalist views
the Spirit as the giver of wisdom through tradition. There is typically an
exception clause given when dealing with the Spirit that He may “call” you to
do something crazy, however, this even has limits. The limits may be on
quantity or the size of the act. God may call you to give money to a beggar but
only if that is not being reckless with your money. Or God may call you to live
in the bad side of town but that is the exception not the rule, or more
plainly, God may want you to live near poverty but you can’t tell me that God
wants me to live around or near or especially in poverty. Another trait common
to all forms is the expected socioeconomic standard to which God would have us
hold. All three sets of churches are, oddly, filled with middle to upper class
society. The root cause of this I will not address, however, the force which
holds the status quo I would like to address. Primarily there is elitism with
in the church, as mentioned prior, God would not have us live near or around
poverty. Socioeconomics are tied to stewardship all too frequently, God wants
us to be good stewards and as good stewards we must save money, buy a good
house and good car. Beyond this we should also enjoy ourselves and treat
ourselves to some privileges, unfortunately the privileges expand exponentially
in respect to income. As we are being “good stewards” it is easier to live in
good neighborhoods where thieves are not present, people near us share our
respect of money, and it’s pretty. Within the church, a Christian should not do
drugs, gamble, smoke, drink too frequently or be given to anything that could
be taken as a vice no matter how recent the conversion. This thought, whether
spoken or unspoken, conscious or subconscious, does damage to any new converts
to the church. Given that a person of lower standard of living is drawn to
church and converts, they are then pressured to become at least outwardly
similar to the rest of the church they are attending. Every church has
different standards so this could apply to vices, modesty, politics, etc. This thought
also does damage to us, with respect to who we help out, an infamous local
example is a ministry which helps the less fortunate with food. This ministry
has now narrowed their support to the less fortunate who do not smoke. This is because smoking is not being a “good
steward” with <i>their</i> resources so how
can we trust them to be good stewards of <i>our</i>
resources. There are many other examples but I limit myself. Overall this is a
mindset that wants no affiliation with the poor, the outcast or the
down-trodden yet has the audacity to expect to prosthelytize these communities.
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341303063832027879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6338777255952524104.post-40366502860032720562012-11-03T19:12:00.002-07:002012-11-03T19:12:58.671-07:00Do we trivialize tragedy? <link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Crld%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Crld%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Crld%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping"></link><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Tonight I am missing my parent’s birthday celebration and I’m
not even sure it’s by choice. This story begins over two years ago as I started
dating my wife-to-be. My family did not approve of my choice; it came down to
the minutia of their beliefs. The irony of the situation is that my wife is
very similar to my family. Our wedding, just over a year ago, was not attended
by my family as a statement. However, the implications were that after the
wedding there would be acceptance, not embrace but at least acknowledgement.
However, as the holidays and birthdays approached and past, it became evident
that we were not accepted or even acknowledged. We were finally invited to Christmas
with the family, both extended and immediate. As the festivities passed it
became clear that we were there as a token, invited but not interacted with. As
a new husband and as a socially conscious individual I was not going to stand
silently by as my wife was passed over, glared at and not conversed with. I
stood and called attention to this tragedy and afterwards my wife and I excused
ourselves. This action instituted multiple series of emails and meetings with
family members and myself. At the end of the day we are regarded as the disruptive
force, as if calling attention to the atrocity occurring in a Christian home
was unprovoked. Recently I was considering taking a position out of town; my
mother spoke to me and asked that if I was offered this position that I would
speak to my sister (who hasn’t spoken to me or even looked at me in 4-6 months)
so things wouldn’t get swept under the rug, “we’re praying the <i>she</i> would hear you” were her final words
on the subject. My mother called me today to invite us tonight to the birthday
celebration, her words on this occasion were “make sure you are in the right
place and you won’t get upset.” Most invites are ended with similar statements.
My choices are join my parents and siblings for a meal or have my wife
respected? Is this even a choice? How has it become common place to not welcome
a Christian bride to a Christian family? How do two siblings not speaking and
barely being able to occupy the same room not bring family interactions to a
screeching halt until things are resolved? We are a people called to stand for
justice and mercy, to long for God’s solution on earth. How is it that we pass
over this type of situation with the greatest of ease? This is a tremendous
tragedy to all parties! However, if an affected party was encountered on the
street, it wouldn’t be mentioned or referenced because it doesn’t register as
something important. But what is more important than redemption and
restoration?</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341303063832027879noreply@blogger.com0