Do I truly believe that everyone has the right to their own beliefs or lack thereof?
Romans 1:20 & 21 says “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
All creation bears witness to the creator. So the lack of a belief that God exists is not the debate, for that there is no excuse. But I guess that isn’t the question is it? “Do I believe that everyone has the right…” is the key part of that phrase.
Did God bestow us with free will so that some can choose to have “their thinking become futile and their foolish hearts darkened”?
The answer in this case is yes. I do believe that everyone has free will. They can choose to think or believe whatever they want. It may or may not be true. I can sing “I’m a little tea pot short and stout..” all day, but I don’t suddenly become a little tea pot, short or tall or whatever.
Can I respect the person, even though I may not respect their ideas?
Everyone spells respect differently nowadays. Some believe if you respect someone you will abandon the idea of sharing the truth that they are not the little clay tea-time reservoir that have come to believe themselves to be. I tend to think of respect as a love for one another that gives honor not out of obligation but because I myself have been loved by a loving God. If I show this love and I disagree with their ideas, this self-same love that I show also is mixed with pity. One whom I love who has decided to live in darkness when light abounds.
So if the question is “will I love the person regardless of whether I believe them to be in error?” the answer is yes.
Do I have the capacity to recognize my own fallacies?
This is the root of my faith. I am wrong. In and of myself, I will never be right. It is only through God that I can come into any kind of right (righteousness). This is called mercy. Any person who says they have it all figured out is either a “Liar, a lunatic or Lord”. I’ve met many liars and lunatics but I’ve only met one Lord. Jesus Christ.
Will it kill me if I were wrong?
Yes. Oh wait, I didn’t mention that earlier. We have to die. In the Garden of Eden, God made one law that said “Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil or you will die”. Adam and Eve ate of the tree and both Adam and Eve died. We all die. This is what is considered “The Law” (along with the first five books of the Old Testament). God set up all these standards for sacrifice so one could be cleansed from their sins. But Jesus came and paid His one perfect sacrifice so that anyone who recognizes the authority of that sacrifice can be saved from the death that results in separation for eternity from God.
Galatians 2:19 & 20 sums that up. ”For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Am I able to hold what I believe is truth lightly in the interest of dialog?
A good dialog doesn’t need anyone to hold onto truth lightly. If it’s true, it will facilitate dialog rather than thwart it. I liken this question to “Am I able to close my eyes and find my way over a ravine so that we may both reach the bottom?” Sure, we’ll find the dialog, but if I am holding too lightly onto truth, what is the point of the dialog in the first place if it isn’t for a clearer understanding of the truth?
Now, that being said, I will listen rather than condescend. But I won’t back down because the truth is offensive. Jesus said “I am the way the truth and the life” and they nailed Him to a tree over it.
I’d rather be nailed to a tree as well than hold too lightly onto my faith in Jesus Christ.
Can I overlook and maybe even appreciate the idiosyncrasies of others in order to hear what they have to say?
Check out Jesus hanging out with prostitutes and tax collectors. I think a lot of people want to make out Jesus to be someone who wasn’t offensive in some way. But when it came to matters of dealing with the scriptures, Jesus got pretty harsh at times with religious authorities even calling them a “brood of vipers”, “hypocrites”, and “whitewashed tombs”. I guess there’s a part of me that says “why let evil be perpetuated through the spreading of lies?” As more and more people have come to “alternate viewpoints” about scripture, I find myself more and more being preached to from Satan.
I love what scripture says in 2 Timothy 4 of what Paul believes to be some of his last words:
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Notice also that Paul states right along with “correct, rebuke and encourage” the statement to do it with “great patience and careful instruction” then talks about unsound doctrine, people with their own desires who want to “gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
Am I willing to discern the deeper currents rather than being distracted by the surface ripples?
I guess I have to answer this with a question. What deeper current? Compared to the Truth of God’s Word made flesh in the manifestation of Christ, there is no deeper current than that. Everything else is surface ripples.
Can everyone play? In other words, will I not ostracize someone because of their beliefs or lack thereof?
I guess I wish it was that easy. Jesus did say that “anyone who believes in Him would not die, but have eternal life” so yes, everyone can believe and be saved. But the hard part comes that Jesus is the only way. He didn’t say ” I am a way, a truth, and a life”. It was, “I am the way, the truth and the life” and He didn’t stop there. He went on to say “no one comes to the Father except by me” just to be a little more clear about it.
As for if I will ostracize someone because of their beliefs or lack thereof?
Once again, look at the people Jesus hung around with. Sinners, every one of them. The worst of society in many ways. But Jesus didn’t bend for them either. I hate this passage of scripture, but I must reference it anyway. John 6: verse 60-69 just after Jesus declared Himself the very Manna from Heaven that God had sent and essentially declares Himself the Messiah:
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.” From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
I hate this scripture. It would be much easier to say that many of the disciples agreed to disagree and everyone was fine with it. Jesus no longer declared Himself as Messiah and told them “it’s okay” we’re all going the same direction anyway. It doesn’t matter what you believe.
He didn’t though. He lost a lot of His disciples and ostracized them through their lack of belief and offended “many”.
Is personal harm to others the only prohibition I am willing to make?
Not if I love God. Not if I love people. Good example is what Jesus says in the sermon on the mount in the section called “The Beatitudes” Matthew 5:9 ”Blessed are the Peacemakers for they will be called sons of God”. ”Peace making” and “holding the peace” are two very different things. Sometimes in order to make peace, war does have to be fought. Jesus even tells His disciples to go get a sword in Luke 22:36 then tells them two is enough (which is even stranger). Or how about Matthew 10:32-36?
“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ” ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
Do I love all beings, and if not, am I willing?
I think we’ve come full circle with this question. If Jesus loved everyone enough to die for them and He is my example then as it is said in John 15:13 ”Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” And if I am more likely to be held in contempt for my love than my prohibitions, then so be it.
There’s a lot that has been said about how community is dying in the face of things like social networking in our age. I am one of those people who have become so connected to networks instead of people over the last few years. I check my twitter. I write on my blog. I visit friends on facebook. I skype everyone else (which is so much cheaper than a landline phone). There is an increasing feeling I am immersed in a world that is created as a facade by the real people I never touch. But this is not me…
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I’ve met a lot of people who want a truth catered to their particular viewpoint. The fact that they struggle with a part of the gospel and are offended by it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. It means it has authority. Their are parts of scripture I’d remove if the editing was done by me. I’d simply leave it out. I mean it would be a “nicer gospel” if Jesus didn’t die on the cross. It would be “nicer” if Sodom and Gomorrah were not destroyed. It would be nicer if no one was kicked out of the garden because of rebellion. It would be nicer if the central figure of the text wasn’t some guy who claimed to be God and called the priests hypocrites while He told His followers to procure swords.
But it wouldn’t be Truth either.
The Truth isn’t nice.
The Truth sometimes Hurts.
But it brings life and it’s worth every bit of offense it brings.
It’s been crazy around here lately. Let me share a few things that have been going on recently. No this isn’t a complaining post… just read to the end (I’m sorry, I know it’s long). ;) My wife has been sick as of late. It started Saturday with a mild cough. Then it became body aches too.
Let me back up a bit though.
Saturday night, my parents had called to say that their car had broken down. They needed someone to come and get them and take them home. Now if you know my family, you also know that my dad has AIDS and with that a weakened immune system. So staying out of cold nasty weather in the middle of flu season is a good idea. Becca was working on Saturday so she wasn’t with me when I picked them up and took them home. I drove back and picked Becca up when she got off and scheduled to meet my parents Sunday afternoon to drive my dad around to fix their car so my mom could get to work on Monday. It was an easy fix and would only take about an hour or two, half of which was going to be going to get parts. That night Becca started feeling terrible just before bed.
She felt better Sunday morning so we thought we’d head to church.
Little side note here is that this is when I am informed that all my sites are down and I have to call my webhost and get them all back up. Stupid little database issue. It gets fixed and we think we are going to be late to church.
There’s a new church that I went to last week and really liked. I wanted her to come yesterday. Since she was feeling better with some rest, she went. Of course, we completely forgot about the time change. We showed up, asked where the children’s workers are and was told that we forgot about the time change. So, we went and got the breakfast that we had skipped because we thought we were going to be late.
The service was good. A passage from the beatitudes about the righteous inheriting the earth. We then drove with Aidan out to my parent’s house. Of course with my dad’s weakened immune system him and my mom decided that it would be best if Becca did not ride in the same car with him and her staying at their place probably wouldn’t be a good option. It was decided that Becca should be taken home with Aidan and they could both take a nap. Becca was starting to feel worse at this point. Not too terrible. Just sick like any other cold.
It gets worse from here.
I drive back to my parents house, pick up my dad and go find his tools at their house here in town. (yeah, they have two places, one they live at and the other they use for storage at the moment) We go back take the part of the car and head to the parts store. At this point Becca calls me.
“My temperature is 103, I called R&T (some friends of ours) they are coming over to get me and take me to the hospital.”
I love my wife. Sometimes, though she does things without a whole lot of warning though. My first thought was “why didn’t she call me? I’m close. I can take her.” Then I realize she thought the whole thing through already. If I take her, what do I do with my dad who is stranded? I could take him with me while I take Becca to the hospital, but it could kill him. I could take him back out to his place and tell him to wait another day on the car, but I would be another hour doing all that running around since my parents live a bit further away. See, I love her partly for this reason. She thinks things through then comes to a conclusion and lets me know the end result of her whole process. Many times I am tempted to get upset because I wasn’t a part of the whole process but when I think about it I usually come to the same conclusion she did, just after the fact.
So, in short without consulting me, she came to the best conclusion. Call friends, finish up with your dad, meet me later.
T takes Becca to the hospital. R comes over and watches their three kids and Aidan in our home. I meet Becca at the hospital to check in on her while she sits in the waiting room, then I drive my dad back to the car where he finishes up there. An hour has gone by. Becca calls me.
“The lady who came in after me who has the same symptoms… they told her it would be four hours. They also told her that they have an urgent care facility about twenty-three miles away that has no wait and are equipped to treat flu-like symptoms. They close at six. It’s five-fifteen now. R&T have offered to drive me up there.”
“My dad and I are finishing up here. I am on my way.”
“I don’t think we have time if we are going to make it before six. R&T said we have to go now.”
“I am on my way. I’ll be there in five minutes or less”
“I don’t think we have time. Meet us at the hospital.”
“I’ll take you. I’ll be there…. or just go, I’ll catch up.”
Racing a Train.
I turn to my dad, ask him if he is good. He is. I jump in the truck and head home. Albeit a little quicker (except for those stupid speed camera traps). Halfway home I have to cross railroad tracks. A train is coming. Oh great! Just what I need. To sit at a signal and wait. I see the train. I see the lights. I also had friends when I was in youth group who died of a car-train collision. The train is far enough away by the time I get to the tracks. Of course I sped up upon seeing the train. (what would you do?)
You know trains look further away when you are both heading for the same intersection. It was a slow train, I will say that. When I got to the tracks it was about 1/10 of a mile away. There were no crossing bars across the road, just lights. Still scared me though as I crossed the tracks a little faster than normal. I think I scared the train driver more cause he laid into the whistle like a banshee. Under normal circumstances I would not have crossed the tracks. The mere prospect scares me. I stop if I see lights a mile away usually. In short, don’t do it even though I did.
That was the fastest I’ve driven in awhile when I pulled into our parking lot at five-twenty-five.
Everyone was piling into R&T’s van when I pulled up. Four kids, two of which were under 10 months old. I get quick directions. Becca jumps in. They tell us that they will take Aidan home with them, while I take Becca to Urgent Care. I try to keep my speed at only a-little faster-than-normal speeds up to the urgent care facility.
We make it at five-forty-five or so. They were still open. No wait, just as promised. Becca feels horrible. (But to me she looks as beautiful as ever.. ‘cept paler)
Influenza A.
Okay, so that little section heading says it. Regular seasonal flu. Still nasty. Still contagious. Still could be really bad for someone with a really weak immune system. Treatable. Prescription prescribed. We leave. I take Becca home. I drop of the prescription. I go get Aidan from R&T’s house. He is sleepy. I stop and get pizza as both Becca and I are hungry. I pick up the prescription. I make it home. Becca is in bed. I put Aidan to bed. I am exhausted. I call my friend in Arizona, M who I don’t really tell the whole story to because I don’t want to unload on him randomly (even though he is more than okay with it and I know it). He proceeds to tell me how something I said the other day really helped him. Of all the times I needed to hear that, it was then.
Other Contagions
I am truly blessed with friends. I may not have a whole bunch of really close friends in life, but I have a select few and they are good ones. R&T who come over take my wife to the hospital, watch Aidan on a whim and we can trust them with him are amazing people. I don’t usually say too much about how good a friend someone is because it sounds hollow just saying it. People always feel like they have to respond with “oh’ it’s no big deal” or “that’s what friends do”. Maybe a card is a better way to go for me or maybe it’s one of the many reasons I am writing this post. This is one of the few places where I feel I can be myself and think through what I have to say before saying it because the rest of the time even though I speak from the heart. But when I do, the words feel rushed and inadequate to what I really want to express. M in Arizona, I’ve never met in person. We actually met on Halo 3 a few months ago. Somehow over the distance and through some silly online game that we both play we have become good friends. Our wives get on and play with us sometimes as well as M’s kids. He’s been a great encouragement to me, sent me jobs he’s found that could fit what I am looking for. R,T & M. Thank you for your help, your encouragement and just being there somehow for us yesterday. It may not have seemed like much, but it helped me get though the day. It is friends like these that make me want to be a better friend myself. This is one contagion I want to spread.
I am truly blessed with my family. I love my wife. I love my son. I love my dogs. Becca does her best to provide for our family while I’ve been hunting for a position, working from home on websites, and being a daddy to Aidan. With a wonderful family like this, one can’t help but feel that there is something more they can do. Right now, I’ve been hunting all over the country for ministry jobs and nothing has opened up. Becca has a really decent paying job and she is good at it and it’s close to home. We don’t want to relinquish this time with Aidan to a daycare, so I stay home. Sometimes I feel guilty about it, more often than not, because I want Becca to be able to stay at home with Aidan and come home to her. I know that is something she wants as well. I think that makes it hard. If there is one thing I would wish on anyone, if I could do one thing for someone it is this, to give them a family that loves them. This is another contagion that I would infect people with.
I am truly blessed with my faith. I think it sounds haughty if I say it that way, but there are days I couldn’t get though without God. After all, he’s the one who gave me this beautiful family and these good friends. I struggle a lot with my faith though. Not in the sense that I wonder if I have faith, but in the sense of learning to trust God. I think it became more real yesterday than it has in awhile. I don’t think I would have raced that train if I really had a perfect trust in God. I would have just said “thy will be done” to God and waited for the train to pass…. maybe. See there’s an issue with that scenario too. We have an extraordinary God who sometimes calls us to extraordinary measures. No, maybe I didn’t feel like God told me to come within a tenth of a mile of being hit by a train. Then again, maybe he wanted me to see something about myself.
If I would jump in front of a moving train to merely get my wife to a doctor sooner with a sickness that isn’t too terribly life-threatening, go out of my way to help my dad and out of my way to prevent him from getting sick from the same sickness, then there are a lot of people out there who still need to have someone love them enough to simply tell them the good news that Jesus Christ died on a Roman cross 2000 years ago as a sacrifice for our sins so that we could have life that no one could take away. Without, the wages of sin is death. As followers of Christ, this is our calling. Save those who would die from death, and present them with not only life, but introduce them to the author of life. What is a person worth? Maybe this contagion is love. I hope you catch it.
I heard an interesting quote today from my dad. He said “Christians need community. You put them all in a community together and they rub the hard edges off each other. It’s a refining process.” I took a few moments to digest that statement and realized how true it is. If we are honest with ourselves we are pretty screwed up. All of us without exception need work and need a little refining if not a complete heart rebuild. If you look at the disciples, they were a rough bunch of characters. It took Jesus Christ three years of ministry with them and they still needed refinement and community to make them the men of God who were all eventually martyred for their faith in Christ (even John, though he survived it and died of old age eventually).
So is the church a huge rock tumbler for Christians? We polish off the hard edges and reveal the gems underneath.
Oh how we resist that rubbing against each other though. Learning to live with each other is hard work. I can understand why many churches resist any kind of outreach. They have approached that perfect synergy of not enough people to make it crowded enough that they have to touch anyone else. They sit scattered throughout the sanctuary on a Sunday morning. Reserved seats to avoid any kind of traffic jam upon leaving and far enough back that they don’t feel like the pastor is speaking to them too personally.
Then there is the other side. The perfect oiled machine with jewel movements to prevent any undue friction. It will be a politically correct sermon without really any kind of reference to sin but will focus on how God loves us just as we are. We can scale this they say. We can grow, make satellite churches, and take the message global. Make easily digested meals and serve it up to the masses. We will have our five year goals (regardless of the verse that says tomorrow has enough worries of it’s own), a perfect game plan for ministry that is a clean room dissection of the messy coagulation we find ourselves in every week when we meet together and real flesh and blood people have to touch other flesh and blood people.
I think I have figured out that this church thing isn’t about being nice. It’s not about getting in and out unscathed. We are humans after all. We hurt. We cry. We ooze emotion and puss and blood when things don’t go right. We get diseases of mind, spirit and body. It’s about being close enough to feed the hungry. It’s about being near enough to dry a tear and be a shoulder to cry on. A community that comes into the sanctuary and huddles together to keep each other warm and safe while they devise a plan to bring in more hungry, naked and diseased children out of the wind, rain and dangers that circle to devour the unsuspecting. A city of refuge. A training center for those who would risk everything for those who without knowing that there is a hope for life would choose death.
When you get close to people and you learn to love them, you hold them accountable for their actions. Not because it’s right, but because you do love them. This accountability is hard sometimes. Hard edges don’t get rubbed off overnight. It’s a process of being together and going through the pain of having those edges rubbed off gradually. Every jagged edged rock in this tumbler is valuable though. You are valuable. The marks we make on each other in love are a part of the process. Who have you made a mark on this week? Who have you held accountable? Who have you allowed in your life to hold you accountable?
For those of you who have just started visiting and reading decloned, you’ve come in at a weird time. Our family has been going through some major changes. My wife and I just had our first child, Aidan in January. Prior to that I left the church I had served at for about five years. My wife, Rebecca, went back to work full-time. I’ve become a bit of a stay-at-home-dad/blogger/freelance web designer kind of guy while I hunt down ministry jobs online. I’ve had several promising interviews over the last few months, but nothing has come of them. This last month, we got another dog. This last week we sold one car and bought another after we wrecked another car we owned. My wife and I have been trying various local churches to find one where we feel at home and where we can be ourselves again. We found another home for one of our cats and are looking for a new home for the other cat. My wife and I determined a few months ago that we just were not cat people at this stage of life since we had our son. Maybe we’d get another one someday when he’s older, but dogs work better for us right now.
In short Life Comes at You Fast. In one year everything has changed. I am enjoying being a daddy. I love my wonderful wife, Rebecca, more everyday. I really, really want to find a full-time ministry job that will allow her to be a stay-at-home mom. We are still working through paying off debt. I still desire to get a good camera (canon 7d in case anyone has the extra cash laying around). In short, there are still things we want, still things we desire and still things we need, but we are still here. God is still in control. My prayer life has taken a turn for the better (yet still needs work). I am learning to trust God more, to lay down pride in my life more, to be open more, and live a more honest existence. I’m not there yet and next year I probably won’t be either. God is though and He is still working.
There is a funny scene in the old Chevy Chase movie “Funny Farm” where the movers are trying to find the house. They pull up on an obscure dirt road and ask a guy sitting on the porch for directions. The dialog goes something like this. (Completely paraphrased and inaccurate to actual movie script”
‘Pardon me, Do you know how I can get to Redbud from here?’
If you are trying to get to Redbud, I wouldn’t recommend doing it from here….
‘But, say you had to get to Redbud from here?’
‘Like I said, not from here, but see this road? I’d go that way, then turn left where the old tree used to be down at the Michael’s farm, then make a right about five miles before the road dead ends…. but you could go the other way and shave a bit of time off your trip just follow this road the other way and turn left when you see the sign ‘
‘Thank you!’ (Moving truck rumbles off quickly while man on porch continues talking)
‘…but I wouldn’t go that way if I were you.’
Sometimes I feel like somehow as Christians we give the most incomprehensible directions to the simplest questions. How do I get to Heaven?
‘Well, see your life that you are living now? You are doing it all wrong. Read your Bible everyday. Here, take my 1611 KJV, I have extras. Get baptized. Quit smoking. Quit dancing. Move out of your girlfriends house till you are married. Become a member of the church. You might even want to join the choir. Quit drinking too. You also might want to trim all those pg-13 and R rated movies out of your dvd collection. Tell your employer that you can’t work Sundays anymore because you have to go to church (in fact, invite him). Volunteer to teach Sunday school to counter the rest of the bad in your life. As for your money, give 10% or more to the church faithfully from here on out. Oh, and your music collection needs to go. It’s too well… unchristian.’
I know it looks ridiculous to read it all like that. We’d never say that. We’d be more subtle. Gentle prods along the way so to speak. I think there is a simple explanation why we think this way so much of the time as supposed Christians. We don’t like the real answer.
How to get to Heaven? The real answer: believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, that He came to die in your place and set you free from the debt of sin in our lives. He died on a cross sacrificially and rose again three days later and conquered death for all of us who believe in Him. As for the rest of the stuff, get to know Jesus through his word, it’ll change your life.
Many Christians don’t really believe that a relationship with Jesus can change lives. That is why they are trying so hard to change people themselves.
I’ve been holding off on really delving into this for awhile now. I think part of it is that there are churches who claim to be “Emerging Churches” who really are nothing more than a community of believers who are trying to utilize new ways of teaching and reaching people with the Good News of Jesus Christ while there are others who prefer a faith that bends to the whims of our age. While one is acting in the spirit, the other is acting on the notion that truth is relative and that the truth of yesterday is not the same truth for today. How can both be part of the same movement? How can both claim the same label and destination and have completely different viewpoints?
I submit that there is one truth, external & objective in nature. God is and contains all truth. It is in our interpretation of truth that we vary, our very interpretation of God is at stake. Now there are a lot of people who would agree with that statement on it’s own, but I am going to throw a wrench in the works now. God defines Himself, we do not define Him. Fortunately, He has given His Word to not just define Himself for us like some kind of cosmic dictionary, but to know Him as God, Creator, Savior, Judge, Provider, Father, Teacher and dare I say it… friend.
Now, if I were to look at the very term emergent according to the common characteristics set forth by Jeffrey Goldstein, there are several things to look for:
“The common characteristics are:
- radical novelty (features not previously observed in systems);
- coherence or correlation (meaning integrated wholes that maintain themselves over some period of time);
- A global or macro “level” (i.e. there is some property of “wholeness”);
- it is the product of a dynamical process (it evolves); and
- it is “ostensive” (it can be perceived).
source: Wikipedia
Radical Novelty in the Church.
If you were to ask Moses how one could have their sins forgiven, he would have told you to sacrifice a lamb. We know that Jesus became that sacrificial lamb of God and died on the cross for all to believe and be forgiven. If we are to even look at the book of Revelation about what God will do, there are things there that He has never done before that He will do in that time. Although the idea that God changes is false. He is who He is in all times and places, He remains. The Church can only see a facet of God for each generation. Some assume that the God of yesterday has somehow changed and have thrown out traditions that could be valuable teaching for the next generation, instead choosing to rediscover God in a new way. This is lunacy from any angle you can look at it. I am not a big fan of tradition only for tradition’s sake. If it is actually used to teach Biblical Truth, then it is worthwhile. I will submit that some traditions should even be reclaimed for the sake of sound teaching.
Are we Whole yet?
The second through the fourth characteristics by Jeffrey Goldstein suggest that there is a “building up” or idea of sustained growth that takes place where refinement can take place. Unfortunately, many in the supposed “emergent” movement have went the other way, throwing down the idea that Jesus is the only way to Heaven (John 14:6), that proclaiming that the Gospel is truth, that it is the good news, and is inspired of God, and though created by fallible men, remains the infallible Word of God.
Interfaith dialog usually revolves around the idea that both groups must compromise and give sanction to ideas that are not completely held by either group so as to find a “common ground”. Rather than hold to the faith we know is true, we concede that there may be another truth that we don’t know and begin to seek it too. A little poison can go a long way.
This is not a product of a dynamical process. This is instead the ripping up of a foundation of truth that the Church is built upon. While it is perceived, it is perceived the most after the fact when faith has become a practice rather than a guiding light for life.
There is another facet of this though. Some Christians do not embrace new truths as much as they perceive and utilize new ways of spreading the age old truth of the Gospel. These are the real emergents. They will not compromise because they can say:
But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.
We must therefore distinguish those who claim emergence. Are they emerging from or are they emerging with the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? That there is one way to Heaven and that only through the saving blood of Christ sacrificed on the cross on behalf of all who would believe on Him and be saved.
Perception
Here is where the perception must happen. If we are the salt of the earth, are we remaining salty? If we are the light, are we playing with the lives of those lost in the ocean by not being clear about where we stand? A fictional story comes to mind that illustrates this between a American Navel Carrier and Canadians:
Americans: “Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.”
Canadians: “Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.”
Americans: “This is the captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.”
Canadians: “No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.”
Americans: “THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP
IN THE UNITED STATES’ ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH. THAT’S ONE-FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.”Canadians: “This is a lighthouse. Your call.”
Conclusion
No label will make a church or a person to be “emergent”. By defining yourself as an emerging church or person, more than likely the potential natural growth is stunted by some conclusion about where we should be in relation to where we currently are. If God is God, then you are where you are for a purpose. A much better plan is to focus on knowing God more and letting Him reveal Himself to you.
The greatest gift we can give to the world is our own intimacy with God. Let’s let Him be our defining element. Let’s let the creator define us for once instead of trying to make Him in our image.
There is a passage of scripture that has always struck me as a bit odd….
Cast your bread upon the waters,
for after many days you will find it again.Ecclesiastes 11:1
Now, I’ve fed ducks in local ponds. I’ve fed geese. I’ve even fed fish by throwing bread in the water. Sometimes the animals don’t eat it. More than often they do. I’ve heard this passage preached in the sense of what good you do today will somehow come back on you as a blessing. It’s always seemed to me like some kind of karmic ideology within scripture that what we do comes back to us like a cosmic boomerang of goodness.
Well, I am not a believer in karma and I’ve never had a boomerang actually come back to me no matter how I threw it.
What is the meaning behind this passage?
Apparently, during the rainy season rivers would run at flood stage, ground would become muddy, and it generally wasn’t pleasant weather to do much of anything in, much less sow seed. Now sometimes, the flood stages of a river would last through the entire “prime” planting season. If you threw your seed into the water, it could be washed downstream or eaten by fish and other animals.
So what about casting your bread upon the waters?
To sow your grain in flood waters was something done in faith. There was no guarantee that you would ever reap a harvest from it. To do good whether it seems beneficial to you or not. When you sow a seed in faith, you reap more than just the plant of that seed. You will reap faith, because our faith is strengthened not by mere belief, but in putting faith to work in our lives.
Verse 6 finishes up that section of scripture:
Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.
