Re-Thinking Church Membership (Part 31) - Review Of Whitney (1)

As I mentioned in Part 29, I would be reviewing a chapter in Donald Whitney's book, "Spiritual Disciplines Within The Church." My 1996 copy has chapter 3 as "Why Join A Church?," titled the same as the article on his website. The web article is a revised version of the first printing of the book. Quotes in this series can be found in the website article.

Whitney starts out his article with a question from a new Christian about church membership:

"Why should I join the church?"

Despite my seminary training and pastoral experience, I was unprepared for this new Christian's question. He agreed from our study of the Scripture that he needed to identify himself as a disciple of Christ through baptism, but he asked, "Can you show me from the New Testament that I'm supposed to officially join anything?"

Now he really had me.

"If I come and worship as often as the members," he continued, "if I fellowship with these believers as much as anyone else, if I profit from the teaching and other ministries of the church, and if I actively demonstrate love for my brothers and sisters in Christ here, why should I formally join the church?"

His question struck me with an uncomfortable logic. [Emphasis his]

First, a few observations. Several of which I have already addressed in previous posts in this blog series. One, the new Christian describes the state of his Christian walk. He is fully engaged in his church, is obedient to God's commands, and agrees with being baptized. Yet the membership question that he raises presupposes something about the idea of church membership that he has been confronted with: there is something missing. Obedience to God is not enough for the Christian life. There must be something more.

Two, as simple as the idea of church membership is (and I have shown how simple it is in this series), Whitney's seminary training and pastoral experience never adequately dealt with the concept of being a member of Christ's body. Such a fundamental point of doctrine was completely missing from a learned man's toolbox.

Three, the new Christian wanted to see a command to formally join a church from the bible itself.

Four, the logic of the new Christian's question - basically, "is obedience to God enough?" - was uncomfortable to somebody used to participating in a traditional system of "formal" church membership.

I will continue with more analysis of Whitney's subsequent study and the answering this new Christian's questions in the next post in this series.

Read the entire series here.

Part 30 . . . . . . . .

Friday Night Potpourri

A review of the week's musings and happenings:

• A night of cancellations: With our kids at the door ready to go to bible study, the phone rang. Study was cancelled. Determined to make use of the promising evening out, we chose the drive-in movies as our alternate. Five minutes into the movie, a fuse blew and we all had to go home.
• All of our Christmas decorations are in our packed-in storage unit. Most are irretrievable. I think.
• Leaves are still in every stage of changing colors. Still green. Yellow, orange, red, merlot. Many are brown. Some are...purple?
• We raked the yard and the kids made a huge leaf pile. The next part is the most fun.
• I get to see my parents now almost on a daily basis, living two blocks away. They walk in a local park and I either see them crossing the road while I'm taking my kid to school, or while jogging in the same park.
• It's Christmas Party Season! How's your calendar look?
• This week's song was one of my MTV favorites, and a parody! I love the reference to potpourri, the appearance of the parodied artist, and one of my favorite announcers. Listen - and watch - by clicking here.

A Tight Space Does Not Guarantee Intimacy

Lionel Woods at A Better Covenant speaks boldly about the intimacy that should exist in the church community. But, just because a church or community is structured so as to have a close proximity between believers, intimacy doesn't necessarily occur.

What I always find strange about intimacy with the details of our life, is that it can happen without being close to somebody; it can be accomplished in anonymity. It is easy to share details or problems with a total stranger; we know there won't be any lasting judgment. Because they don't know us from Adam, no gossip will occur that will result in our existing acquaintances placing judgment on us. We can simply walk away. In any case, we should be able to be intimate with those we assemble with in the worship of God.

Give Lionel's post a read.

Why I'm A Postmillennialist (5)

Then he will answer them, "Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these [my brothers], you did not do it to me." Matthew 25:45 (brackets mine)

Another reason I hold to the postmillennial system of eschatology is the lack of heathen in the Judgment Day descriptions in Matthew 7 and Matthew 25. Everybody Christ speaks about is somebody who calls him Lord already. I wrote a post entitled, Where Are The Heathen On Judgment Day? that explains in a bit more detail. Additionally, in the Matthew 25 passage, when Christ comes on the clouds of glory and all the nations are gathered before him, the goats are judged for not showing love to Christ's little brothers.

How could some unreached tribe in some jungle somewhere be judged for not showing love toward Christians? How would they even know to do that? If the whole world is discipled according to a successful Great Commission, and all are converted to Christ, then it makes sense that the goats are professing Christians - albeit false ones - that fail to show love toward their brethren.

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Pain, Suffering And Depression In The Bible

The bible is full of pain, suffering and depression. God's people aren't immune, no matter the cliches of happy clappy inspirational motivational religious speaking common today. Moses lamented over the people who he led in the wilderness. The psalmists speak of almost unspeakable despair. Actually, they sing about it. King David was a blues singer. Solomon was a people watcher and wrote of experiencing the evil of life. The prophets were sometimes commissioned by God to engage in prophetic failures noting human failure. Naomi led a bitter life. Jeremiah lamented. Jesus wept. Steve blogged, and that's the small of it.

Am I any different? Can I glory in those sufferings? Am I less human if I don't? Less Christian? Can I recognize a tortured soul? Do I have anything to offer? What should somebody do who experiences those things and recognizes that better things are ahead? Should be ahead? May not be ahead?

Manhattan Declaration Controversy

[Update: An interesting response to John MacArthur's stance on the Manhattan Declaration has been given by my friend Andrew Sandlin. It recognizes that the gospel is not the basic issue here.]

There's a storm a brewin' within the evangelical camp over the Manhattan Declaration (read the PDF here, or the overview here) and those who actually signed it. There are those who agree with the truths defended by the document, but who won't sign it because of certain others (Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox) who did. Many of these people have reduced it to a gospel issue, claiming that RC and EO traditions hold to a false gospel, and their followers cannot be called Christians, so therefore they cannot join forces with such people.

I'm not as interested in the contents of the document, or whether or not I would sign such a thing as I am in the controversy it stirs and for what reasons. The document affirms rights of religious conscience. But for some of the reasons given by those opposed to signing the document I have to wonder whether they affirm the same freedom of religious conscience. Take, for example, a particularly inflammatory (pun intended) browbeating of signers by Team Pyro. Would they affirm the freedom of conscience to sign the document? If so, why the noise?

Personally, I don't have any intention of signing the document myself, as, personally, I don't have intentions of signing documents such as these in general, out of freedom of conscience, regardless of my affirmation of the contents. I'm not a document-signing type of creation of God, personally. Any thoughts? I allow you freedom of conscience in commenting on my blog post.

Can Catholics And Orthodox Be True Christians?

Here's a face value question from a Protestant perspective: Can Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox be true Christians? I don't mean to offend anybody from either of these traditions, I just want to get a feel from Protestants on this, no matter how serious or how ridiculous it might appear to others. Is the answer, "no way"? Or is it, "yeah, but not many," "sure, why not" or "of course so!"? I already have an answer, but want to look at other views.

So, I want to hear your opinion. Can they be true Christians? Why or why not?

Friday Night Potpourri

Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts:

• My long time friend Tim Hammack - I've known him since he was in high school - is an accomplished chef who left his job at a five star restaurant in Napa Valley to be the soup kitchen chef at the Bay Area Rescue Mission in Richmond, CA. Tim takes unpredictable food donations off a truck every morning and turns them into fine food for the homeless. He also trains new chefs as part of a drug recovery program. Tim has been featured on several national news programs. Here is a recent story (an up-front ad precedes the main story.)
• Dr. Lenny posts a proposed constitutional amendment I may be able to live with.
• What would today look like if the 70's never happened?
• My kids were talking about new video games. I remember when Pong came out. Man, we spent a lot of time playing that one.
  
• It was so windy this morning that the leaves falling from the trees onto the wood back deck sounded like rain.
  
• Wild thunder storms at sundown today. The visuals of the sky were stunning.
  
• Another fourth grade phonograph favorite. I wrote in an earlier FNP that my first 45 was Three Dog Night's The Show Must Go On. I'm sure this week's cover of a Motown fave was not far behind. I've never heard the LP version, which this one is, as the 45 cut out the studio happenings in the background before the song started. Of course, it was years before I even knew this was a cover, but a great cover it is. Relive and enjoy!
  

Why I'm A Postmillennialist (4)

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

One of the basic reasons I hold to postmillennialism is that the Great Commission is a success, not a failure. Although there are amillennialists who have an "optimistic" eschatology, many see Christ returning without all the nations being converted. For them, there will still be heathen on the earth. For dispensational premillennialists, the Great Commission will be such a dismal failure that God will have to rapture us outta here because things get so bad, then they only get worse with a great tribulation under the anti-Christ. The kingdom is set up only after Jesus returns after all the mess. It's as if Jesus says out of the side of his mouth about his people, "Gee, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself."

Postmillennialism retains God's purpose for man, with the dignity that God gave to his creature in the garden. It allows the dominion/creation/cultural mandate to be successful as well.

[Update: I've added this series to the left margin]

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Extending Mercy To The Unknown

That Mercedes bombing up behind you in your mirror at 90mph? It just might be a doctor racing to the hospital to save somebody's life. That parent over there that isn't exercising any control over their out of control child? They may have just adopted an abused and neglected child with behavior problems last week.

How often do we extend grace and mercy to those around us - even to people we know fairly well - without regard to their outward appearances? Does the frailty of others really put us at a disadvantage? Are we willing to take revenge on somebody that never did us any harm to begin with?

I am reminded of a story of a friend who visited a church where somebody stood up to exit with a child. The preacher berated that individual in front of the whole church, condemning them for daring to disrupt the sermon. I am also reminded of a friend with an overly small bladder who had to use the bathroom frequently. It's a good thing they never went to that other church.

Weekend Potpourri

Friday skipped a beat this week, so here's an extended version of the potpourri:

• Cal beat #14 Stanford in the 112th Big Game on Saturday, winning in last minute fashsion 34-28, killing Stanford's Rose Bowl hopes.
• Last week there was a dead skunk on the road when I took my kid to school. By the time I returned it had been removed. The smell from the road lasted for another week.
• Tim Lincecum won the NL Cy Young award for the second consecutive year. Congrats, Timmy!
• All the kids (including cousins!) are out of school the entire week. Daytime fun should multiply.
• Since our move, I've been jogging in a new park. I rather like it, as I've used it since kindergarten. It has an Olympic swimming pool, one of the best on the West Coast.
• The weather this fall has been outstanding.
• In what is an obvious play on Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, this video is my favorite from the MTV era.

John Elway's Best Last Minute Comeback

John Elway was one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. He is probably most famous for his last-minute comeback victories. He has more come from behind victories than any other quarterback ever. Joe Montana is in second place and isn't even close. What is perhaps Elway's greatest last minute comeback isn't even remembered by most people. It happened 27 years ago, and I found a clip of it on YouTube. I certainly remember it because I was a freshman at the opposing school. Elway did it to us!

Consider the circumstances he faced and you might agree that this may be the most pressure-packed drive ever:

• It was the last drive in the last minute of the last game of his senior year in college.
• It was their rivalry game; one of the top ten greatest rivalries in college football history, and the ninth oldest. Bragging rights were on the line.
• He was faced with 4th down and 17 from his own 13 yard line, down by 2 points with less than a minute to go.
• A bowl game berth was guaranteed; but only if they won. So a bowl game was on the line.
• He was one of the top two Hiesman Trophy candidates that year. So the Heisman Trophy was on the line.
• NFL scouts were watching closely. So the NFL draft was on the line. And...
• HE PULLED IT OFF! 87 yards in 45 seconds to score!

So why doesn't anybody remember it? Even though the finish to this game is almost unanimously considered the greatest comeback in all of football history, Elway's part in it isn't, because he made a great mistake in calling his last time out. He left just a bit too much time on the clock.

Watch this truly amazing comeback by Elway, and his mistake that caused it to be remembered by nobody, by clicking here. Then, click here for an electronic enhancement of the last play. Enjoy!

Why Do Protestants Like CS Lewis?

CS Lewis is a popular figure in Christianity. He wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters. There's also a popular belief in Protestantism that Lewis was Roman Catholic. Most Googling I have done dispels this as a myth and places Lewis as an Anglican from the time of his conversion.

But why do Protestants who think Lewis to be Roman Catholic so much enjoy his work and count him as a Christian? A great many Protestants believe the Roman Catholic Church to be a false church, and that a Roman Catholic cannot even be a true believer. Next time I'm in heavy traffic, I'll try to come up with an answer.

Legalism As Bearing False Witness

Legalists use their legalism to condemn others. Let's say a legalist believes that drinking alcohol is a sin. He will tell a Christian who drinks a beer that he is sinning. Because such an accusation is false, the legalist bears false witness against his neighbor in violation of the ninth commandment. If he believes that somebody who drinks can't even be a true Christian, he bears false witness against the Holy Spirit who saved him in the first place. Legalism is worse than most people realize.

Originally posted 03-16-2008.

Things I Don't Much Blog About Here

I don't blog about certain topics much here. Here's a list.

I don't blog much about abortion, same-sex marriage, politics, creation/evolution, global warming. Come to think about it, I don't much talk about these things either. I wonder why?

I guess other people have already exerted enough energy on such things, and so do the people who disagree with them, so I don't have to.

Protestantism's False Gospel

Protestantism's false gospel: Justification by faith alone.

Okay, now I've got some splainin' to do, as Ricky Ricardo would say. At the center of the gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. But some Protestants make such a big deal out of the doctrine of justification by faith alone that they would substitute this doctrine and place it at the center of the gospel. The result? One is justified by their belief in the doctrine of justification by faith alone rather than by their faith in Christ, alone. See the difference? Belief in the doctrine is superior to belief in Christ.

I believe we are justified by faith in Christ. But this can be true without having a deep understanding of the doctrine of justification by faith alone as Protestant theologians have hashed it out. When we place upon others the burden of understanding something the same way we do, there is a tendency to discount their faith. The doctrine becomes our point of superiority. Our understanding of a doctrine becomes the object of our faith, rather than Christ as the object of our faith. I'm sure there will be many on Judgment Day who knew the doctrine of justification by faith inside and out, and believed it, but who really didn't have faith in Christ. I hope that's not true for you or me.

Friday Night Potpourri

Collected thoughts for the seven day period:

• Visited my college campus today to get a copy of my transcripts. Berkeley. It's a beautiful campus. No riots or demonstrations today, but it brought back many memories.
• People drove today like it was Friday the 13th and a full moon.
• If you're bored and want a bit of entertainment, go to the courthouse steps and watch foreclosures being auctioned off.
• My post last Saturday titled When Does The Church Sing TO One Another? was almost duplicated by Alan Knox without reading my post first.
• Christmas stuff is out in many of the stores. I want to say it's far too early because it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I seem to remember a few years ago it was out in October in many stores.
• I saw a flock of geese flying north today.
• Soccer is over, pee-wee baseball is over. Do I get to sleep in on Saturdays now?
• I've taken the oldest kids over to an open space area in the hills behind where I grew up. We've seen deer, hawks, snake skins, but no coyotes like it shows on the sign.
• He never made it as an actor; say what you want about the movie, but as I remember the soundtrack had some pretty good music on it.

Why I'm A Postmillennialist (3)

And so, because he (David) was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID his flesh SUFFER DECAY. Acts 2:30-31

Right in the middle of the Acts 2 description of Pentecost, Luke describes what the speaking of tongues was all about. He then goes right to the throne of David, and places Christ on it. Right then. One of David's descendants would sit on the throne. Christ's flesh did not suffer decay because he went to sit on David's throne. Not a spiritual throne, not a real throne thousands of years in the future, but a real throne right then, only fifty days after the resurrection.

The kingdom with Christ on David's throne does not come after some tribulation or rapture. It is now. It is real. So the millennial reign of Christ is the period of time right now (not a literal thousand years, but between the resurrection and the return), and the period of time after the millennium is the time Christ returns.

(2) . . . . . . . . (Sidebar 1) . . . . . . . . (4)

Six Degrees Of Separation From The Swine Flu

[Update, 4:16pm: I posed a question about this on my Facebook page, and got a few replies from friends. A teacher had a few students, a mom noted some in her kids' youth group, and another noted some friends and also some students at her kid's school where 20% of the kids were out sick with it.]

The Swine Flu is rampant and spreading like wildfire. People are dying right and left. Schools are closing. Hospitals are overflowing. Yet...

I don't know a single person with the Swine Flu. None of my friends have had it, that I'm aware of, and I don't know any friends of those friends who have had it either. I have hundreds of friends and other people I know. Dozens of relatives. Dozens of neighbors. Our church has over a thousand people. A bible study with people with lots of kids. Several Sunday school classes, each with lots of kids and families with kids. Two kids both go to school and belong to sports teams. Between social media sites like Facebook and blogging I have several hundred friends. Nothing. I did hear from one friend that knew of somebody at his church that was diagnosed months ago, but that person was already in the hospital for other reasons.

I know of no celebrities, athletes, politicians, musicians or famous people with it either. I watched baseball's playoffs and World Series (the post-season alone saw several hundred players, and with their families, thousands of people would be just two degrees of separation away from the announcers on my TV), yet I don't recall hearing about some Yankee pitcher's nephew or a Phillies player's mother-in-law with the Swine Flu and to keep them in our thoughts and prayers.

I'm not claiming some conspiracy theory or hoax here, and yes there are plenty of those out there. But I'm just wondering why I've been so immune to hearing about people who have it. Pun intended, of course. With hundreds of friends and acquaintances each with hundreds more, I'm two degrees of separation from tens of thousands of people. I should have heard of hundreds of people with it by now. One would think that if somebody had it, it would be in all the prayer chains, appearing on Facebook, etc. But, no.

Tares At The End Of A Rabbit Trail

Okay, so I was reading Alan Knox's blog and saw one of his blogroll links to a recent post called The Tare Police. So I clicked on it, right, only to find that this blog in turn links to another blog with a blog post called The Tare Police. There, Terry Rayburn writes a very good post about what he perceives to be an increase in Christians identifying other Christians as not true Christians.

He goes to the parable of the wheat and tares and notes two things Jesus thought was important: 1) It's the enemy that sows the seeds of the tares, and 2) If you attempt to tear up the tares, the wheat may be harmed. I have experienced this second point in church circles. It's ugly. Read his entire post here.

When Does The Church Sing TO One Another?

...but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,... Ephesians 5:18b-19a

Okay, I know that this verse continues with, "singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;" but I wanted to concentrate on the snip above, as it appears grammatically distinct from the rest of the verse. Paul tells the church at Ephesus to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Does this mean sing to one another? What does it mean to speak to one another using music?

I have contemplated this for a while now, and I came up with a few interesting thoughts about singing to others. Small children love for their parents to sing to them, especially at bedtime. Women want their beau to serenade them. Crooners have gained success because their female audience believes the crooner is singing to them. The elderly love to hear children sing to them. People often enjoy opening their doors to Christmas carolers as they sing to them. Some people love to have "Happy Birthday" sung to them. Rock concert audiences love the group singing to them. Life seems full of examples where people gain emotionally or spiritually from being the target of singing.

Yet, when do we do this in the church? We seem content to sing to God, and seem content that God enjoys when his people sing to him. Yet, the idea of singing to the congregation or to individuals in the congregation or even to one another gets immediately branded as "entertainment," and has no place in the church. Why is this, especially in light of the above passage?

So, I'm asking these questions. Does the verse above teach singing to one another? If so, why don't we do it? And if so, when are we supposed to do it? If not, what does it mean? Anybody have anything they've encountered on this?

Friday Night Potpourri

Music to sleep by on a Friday night:

• The sale of our house is complete. Signed all the last papers, the buyer's funding came through, escrow is closed. Celebration? Yes.
• A few days ago our two year old cried for well over an hour, "I wanna go home." Sad.
• The leaves are definitely a different color now. Many of the maples are still green, some mixed, some red. Up on the hill looking down into the valley, it looks great.
• Our ninth wedding anniversary is next week. Wow, nine years. Congratulations, Mrs. Scott!
• There's a huge open space area out behind our neighborhood in the hills. We used to play out there as kids, but the slaughter house was knocked down decades ago. There used to be bones all over out there.
• This was the first 45 record I bought as a kid. One of two in the same purchase, actually. Can anybody guess the other? You never will.

Why I'm A Postmillennialist (Sidebar 1)

In part 2 of this series, Justin asks a great question in the comments:

Steve, is it your opinion that humanity, generally speaking, has not obeyed the [dominion] "Mandate"?

This would be a great place to clarify this, and add a few other things as well about how I view the history of the world. It will help make my views on eschatology more clear.

Answering Justin's question is difficult because of man's sin. Of course, man hasn't obeyed perfectly because of sin. But an additional problem arose as a result of sin. In listening to the serpent, rather than God, Adam transferred his dominion over the earth to the devil. Here's an analogy: God entrusted Adam with the earth as an inheritance to all of Adam's descendants, to be passed on from generation to generation. Adam instead was deceived and sold his possession to a pawn shop owned by the devil. Adam's payment from the devil was to become his own god by eating the fruit. God owns the earth (Psalm 24:1), but Satan gained a legal stewardship from Adam. This is why Scripture so often speaks of redemption, or buying back.

Adam sold himself (and future generations) into sin as well. So, the devil gained control of both the earth and its people. This is why Jesus did not refute Satan when He was tempted in the wilderness. I wrote about the temptation passage in Luke in asking how the devil gained control of the earth here.

This has radical implications for the history of God's people in the Old Testament, as well as how the Mosaic Law does or does not apply to God's people under the New Covenant today. When God's people entered the land of Canaan, God gave them laws to follow to remain separate from the nations around them. Because the earth was controlled by Satan and his minions, the Canaanites were basically demon possessed people. The laws of separation of the Jews from the Gentiles had actual physical purposes. They protected God's people from specific demonic activity. Laws against tattoos, mixing fibers in clothing, dietary laws, and many others were part of this separation.

This type of separation became unnecessary after Christ went to the cross, as Satan was defeated and the rulers and principalities were put to shame. This is why these Mosaic laws were rescinded for believers under the new covenant, as Gentiles were added to the covenant. Much confusion exists today among Christians about the Mosaic law. Which laws were done away with and which were kept? All or none? Or just some? Consistency vs. pick and choose? Was the Law bad? There are many implications of the separation laws to today's arguments about legalism and antinomianism. I won't go into those here.

Now to answer Justin's question. I think man has exercised dominion over the earth, yes, but has not done so overall being obedient to how dominion is to be exercised. Much of human history has been political warring to exercise domination over the earth, rather than dominion as co-regency under God. But as God's people continue to increase and as they live in the Spirit, godly dominion not only exists, but should be increasing.

As a postmillennialist, I believe dominion will be exercised by God's people in the here and now; not put off until some future millennial age.

(2) . . . . . . . . (3)

A Thousand Posts

This is my one thousandth post here at From the Pew. [And there was much rejoicing] I've been blogging here since April 11, 2005; approximately 4 1/2 years. Overall I've averaged about 220 posts per year, or about one every day and a half. The first year or so was much more lean, so I've since averaged about a post a day. A post a day is my base goal.

It seems both like I've been blogging forever with millions of posts and like I've hardly blogged at all. I sure have much more that I want to blog about, and I'm sure I could crank material out for as long as blogging is a viable medium. I've racked close to 25,000 site visits and over 40,000 page views (since implementing site data software). My very first post can be read here, and I still have the same basic goal.

Here's to many more posts at From the Pew.

Why I'm A Postmillennialist (2)

Where to start in explaining my view is a good question. I have had it suggested before that where one starts affects where one ends up. Reading the bible Genesis to Revelation will lead to a different conclusion than reading the bible Revelation to Genesis. I understand this. I see too often an approach to eschatology as one of a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle, where all the pieces must be made to fit. Pieces that are similar, but not identical, can be cut into smaller pieces to be made to fit somewhere. The same piece can be cut into two or more and made to fit in more than one place.

Another way to look at where to start is details vs. overall plan. Can details be pieced together to forge an overall plan, or can an overall plan be realized that allows pieces to fit together? Or both?

Where I'd like to start is to deal with God's revealed will for his creation, then ask a few questions about this will.

God created man, placed him on the earth and gave him instructions in the Garden of Eden:

And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Genesis 1:28

Genesis 1:26-28 is often called the Creation Mandate, the Dominion Mandate or the Cultural Mandate. Man was to subdue the earth and to rule over all of God's creation. But man sinned and the earth was cursed on his account.

Now for some questions: Does God still expect man to obey this Creation/Dominion/Cultural Mandate? Is man's sin an excuse for his failure to obey that God will simply overlook, and release man from this command? Since man failed Plan A, does God substitute a Plan B? Or does He somehow make it possible for man to continue with Plan A?

The various premillennial systems relegate man's dominion obedience of to a far-off future earthly millennial reign of Christ. But this is only a coat-tail obedience as we reign here only after Christ physically reigns here. Amillennialism relegates man's dominion, if at all, to the future eternal state. But man fulfilling his dominion obedience to God here and now on earth is part of a postmillennial system. God does not excuse man's sin, but allows him repentance and obedience through Christ's finished work of crucifixion and resurrection.

This is one of the larger reasons I hold to a postmillennial system. More reasons to come.

(1) . . . . . . . . (Sidebar 1)

Scripture, American Style (10)

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second amendment is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. (Matthew 22:37-39)

Read an explanation of Scripture, American Style here.

Read entire series here.

(#9) .

Strikethrough and red letter text technique courtesy of Alan Knox's "Scripture...As We Live It" series.

Halloween As Christian Holiday Is OK With Me

When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. Colossians 2:15

When our sins were nailed to the cross, Jesus made a public display of Satan and his demons. In imitating our Lord, we too can make public display of disarmed rulers and authorities - by making silly costumes that mock them and their new found powerlessness. Halloween costumes.

When our children - or we as grownups - dress like evil characters and say "boo," we don't get scared. The devil, demon or ghost won't harm us because it's just a child wearing a mask.

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 1:17

If we truly are confronted with evil spirits, we have a way to deal with them.

The above is a view of Halloween that I am fine with. It can be called a Christian view. I know that many disagree with me on this, even strongly. I am familiar with other arguments that paint Halloween as an evil holiday. I don't agree with them. Neither did James Jordan when he wrote about Halloween in this post. Read it and go have a 3 Musketeers bar. If you disagree, it's no big deal to me either way. [Hat tip: Andrew Sandlin for the link]

Why I'm A Postmillennialist (1)

I thought it good to do a short series on my view of the "end times;" to give my main reasons for my eschatology. I am currently on my fifth different view of eschatology. I've held to 1) dispensational premillennialism, 2) Harold Camping's unique view of amillennialism, 3) traditional amillennialism, 4) historical premillennialism and 5) postmillennialism. I am inspired to write this series based on the current preaching series at the church I'm attending. The pastor seems to teach the dispensational pre-mil view.

Postmillennialism is somewhat of a misnomer. Each system relates the second coming of Christ to a period of time known as the millennium, often seem by some as a literal thousand year period; by others as a non-literal, yet large period of time. Postmillennialism places the second coming after a long New Testament period of time.

I'll be giving the main reasons for my beliefs, and some explanation to common misunderstandings of my position. My position is a modification of the traditional Reformed position, with different ideas of Israel and church. I will compare main themes in each of the major systems.

I should say that, in my experience, views on the end times seem to be based on what one believes about a number of other things. The purpose of God in creation, the purpose of God for man, what Christ came to accomplish, the authority of Christ, the difference between the covenants, etc. My current position on the end times came only after a number of major paradigm shifts about God and his purposes. Reasons I'm a postmillennialist to come soon...

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One Day Left

We received word this week that all the loose ends for our house sale are coming together. Tomorrow is our last day to clean and move the last bit of stuff. I think I did enough tonight so that we won't be doing any midnight runs like I have in past moves. More later...

Church Search (4)

We've attended the same church six or seven times now. It's the same one I wrote about previously in this series. Last Sunday, the whole family was sick, so I went alone. The pastor is doing a series on prophesy, but it is mostly eschatology. He identified himself as one who holds to a pre-trib, pre-millenial view of the end times. Several people have asked me how I like his preaching, but truth be told, getting an introduction to him in a series on a theological position I disagree with strongly will affect my opinion. Yesterday as he was talking about the rapture and how we relate to it, I could hardly contain myself in my chair. So, maybe I'll have to wait until he preaches on something else.

We might be settling in to this church, as we know many people there. Yesterday, five families we know became members. We've also bumped into some old friends, and have had some good contact and interaction with people both new to us and old. An area of ministry near and dear to us may have some potential in the future. I'm not sure how many more posts I'll put in this series, especially if we don't really look at other churches.

[Comments closed for this post]

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1989 Earthquake Aftermath

In a previous post, I wrote about my experience the day the earthquake occurred. The days, weeks and months that followed were ones of confusion and waiting. Even controversy. It turned out that there were far fewer deaths in the freeway collapse than previously feared, as most people left work early to watch the World Series! My good friend Mike was one such non-casualty. At the time of the quake, he would have been on that freeway on his way home, but he was already at the game.

The Bay Bridge was out of commission for months as a replacement section had to be constructed. This was a major bridge with six figure vehicle traffic each day. A new freeway in Oakland took years to be built. The World Series was delayed (ten days eventually) as there was structural damage to Candlestick Park. Expansion joints were located below seating section stairways. The concrete steps crumbled, and fans could see the parking lot through the new holes. There was talk of relocating the Series to Los Angeles. Over the dead bodies of 62,000 Giants fans would their first Series in 27 years be played at Dodger Stadium! Some people felt that a sporting event was so insignificant in light of such a disaster that it should be cancelled altogether. Cooler heads prevailed as the structural damage was fixed, and game 3 was played at the 'Stick after all. It turned out to be what the Bay Area needed as therapy.

The quake stirred fans, as they showed up for the postponed game 3 wearing hard hats with their team logo. The A's swept the Giants, and decided that in light of the catastrophe, they would celebrate their victory in the locker room without alcoholic beverages.

Another friend of mine was driving on the Bridge at the time of the quake and collapse. He had just passed the section that would collapse. Then when he reached the joint between the bridge and terra firma, the buckled pavement scraped the underside of his car. Not knowing what happened, he pulled off and checked his car out. He looked back up the bridge, and there was no traffic whatsoever in an eerie sight.

Having two teams close by has always been a blessing for me. Getting to drive to every game is something few fans have ever claimed. The '89 quake and Series are things I will never forget.

This is cross posted at my baseball blog, From the Bleachers.

Do Pastors Need To Shepherd As Well As Preach?

Just after I posted a microscopically sarcastic bit on the elevated status of the sermon in many American churches, I came across two other blogs that noted the need for pastors to balance their sermon prep time with actually spending time with the sheep in the flock. It seems there is a tendency, maybe, within Reformed circles for pastors to over emphasize the sermon at the expense of other critical functions of shepherding.

Tim Keller, pastor at Redeemer Church in New York observes:

...many Reformed evangelicals think of sound, expository preaching as something of a 'magic bullet.' We may think that as long as we are preaching the Word--preaching the law and the gospel rightly--that everything else in congregational life will somehow take care of itself.

Reformed church pastor and Westminster Theological Seminary professor R. Scott Clark picks up on Keller's post and although he questions Keller's suggested weekly sermon prep study time, he concurs:

...I do agree that unless pastors are spending time with their people outside of services and other formal settings they are not going to be able to be as effective in their ministry. Preaching is an act of shepherding and one cannot shepherd sheep one does not know and a pastor will never really get to know his sheep by seeing them only on Sunday.

then adds:

I have seen instances where Reformed ministers become hermits. The truth is that some of our ministers... are nerdy and prefer books to people...If the people don’t receive the care they need, then one may find that, before long, there aren’t any sheep left in the flock to shepherd.

People in Reformed circles often talk about "Christ-centered" churches. And although Clark points out that a preaching-only pastor might cause people to leave, I also see the opposite effect as a danger: people stay. They become accustomed to a "sermon centered" church, thinking that a good sermon is all they need week to week for a good Christian life. They expect a sermon high to carry them over until the next sermon, and may think lightly of charity and needs of others around them. I've heard it said a few times from people that their church was really bad - except for the preaching - which is why they stay. But much more common for me is hearing from people, "I really like my church. The preaching is great" as if that's the only thing necessary.

In any case, a good pastor leads his flock by example, not by his preaching. True his preaching is a part of that example, but his daily deeds need to be observed by the people so they know how to live.

Friday Night Potpourri

Attempt at thoughts after a busy week:

• This last move was my fifteenth. All as an adult.
• I've lived my entire life within 20 miles of my birth place, and 95% of my life within 10 miles.
• Read the Internet Monk's annual Halloween rant here.
• We have been enjoying beautiful Indian summer/early fall weather.
• Walked into our nearly empty old house the other morning. There was a black widow spider on the living room wall. Wonder what that means?
• Leaves have been changing color. I love autumn.
• Family Scott is now faced with the daunting task of finding a new local Chinese restaurant for take out.
• This video of a song could have been shot in our fourth grade class room. Why our teacher let us listen to this is beyond me.

A Foot In Each World

Our move into a temporary home a few weeks ago has given me a strange place right now. Our first move was bedroom furniture, living essentials, clothes and food. The new home is furnished. A second big move came a week later, with other belongings going into a storage unit, and two smaller subsequent moves into the same. There is much to do in moving an entire house, especially in the piecemeal fashion we have engaged in. Even though we started "living" in our new place immediately upon our first move, we (and especially I) have spent a great amount of time at our old place, packing, moving and cleaning.

The old house is ever emptying and with hardwood floors throughout there is that empty house echo. This is not a complaint, but I get the butterflies every time I go over there. There is a bittersweet mix of memories and failure. Unfinished projects and "our kids used to play right here." Finished projects remind of the joy brought by new use. Old toys and non-functioning items are tossed into a growing dump run pile. Inspection reports in our paperwork remind us of things once hoped for but not yet done. We don't live there anymore, but still get to see the neighbors upon visiting. Our oldest son is remaining in the same school, and he gets to see neighborhood kids at school, and upon visits after I pick him up from school to go to the old house. He plays at the neighbor's house while I pack and organize. He doesn't seem phased that the house he has lived in the majority of his life is an empty shell. Our two year old hasn't been back since the day of our first move, a lesson we learned by moving when our oldest was two.

A few weeks are left until the new owner takes possession. I have moved out of many apartments in my life, but never from a house that was owned and had sweat and tears invested toward dreams and visions. We wish the new owner well, and just hope the kids don't still think it's theirs when we go back to visit neighbors.

The Popularizing Of Out-Of-Context Verses

Christian cliches quite often become popular by taking bible verses out of their context and adding romantic "face value" meanings to them. Putting these verses back in their context exposes the popular meaning and tells a different story. Here are my biggest pet peeves.

1) 2 Peter 3:9 - "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

This verse is usually lost in the Arminianism vs. Calvinism debates, and a big focus is on the word "all" and what it means. Arminians wrench this verse out of its context to make it say that God wants everybody in the world to be saved. For some reason they think that "all" always means everybody in the world. Calvinists cram this verse into their systematic theologies and claim that "all" doesn't always mean "all". Each view is reactionary toward the other and the real meaning is lost. Putting it back into context, the word "you" means Peter's readers to whom he was writing (and this doesn't mean the entire future of the human race). So, the Lord is "patient toward you - the actual recipients of this letter - not wishing for any of you - the recipients of this letter - to perish but for all of you - all of the recipients of this letter - to come to repentance." God was simply patient toward Peter's readers, making sure that none of them died before they became converted.

2) 1 Corinthians 2:2 - "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."

This verse is often used by hyper-spiritualists to guilt trip people into not having anything to do with the world we live in. I've heard it used as a proof text for willful Christian ignorance, sloth and willful neglect of all material things in God's kingdom. Reading up on how to plant a garden in your yard? Well, a garden isn't Christ and Him crucified, so what are you doing? Are you worldly? Just like the Peter verse above, the word "you" plays a key role in the context. Paul says "I determined to know nothing among you - the church in Corinth to whom I am writing this - except Christ and Him crucified." Paul doesn't say this in context of the Galatian, Ephesian, Thessalonian or Colossian churches, or of the churches in San Francisco or Atlanta. He was speaking specifically to the Corinthians. He concluded that for that particular church it was best to limit his interaction with them to Christ and His crucifixion. Yet we've been taught that this verse has a specific meaning and that it applies to everybody everywhere at all times, a grave over-generalization.

3) Revelation 3:20 - "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me."

This verse is taught as one of personal evangelism. It has a gushy meaning. Awww, Jesus stands at the door of each of our hearts and knocks. All we have to do is let Him into our hearts and He will make our life better. But this wasn't written to individuals who hear the gospel, it was written to a church; the church in Laodicea; one of the seven churches in Revelation. Christ was rebuking them for being lukewarm. As He wrote to the first church, He walks among the churches. But an interesting thing happened at Laodicea. Christ wasn't in that church where He was supposed to be, He was on the outside because they had pushed Him out. I think knocking on the door means, "Hey, I'm supposed to be on the inside. How come I'm out here? Yoo-hoo, hello! Open up to Me, and I will welcome your repentance! It's MY church, after all!"

Originally posted 10-12-08

Scripture, American Style (9)

This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress go to church and listen to the sermon, and to keep oneself unstained by the world listen to the sermon again several times during the week. (James 1:27)

Read an explanation of Scripture, American Style here.

Read entire series here.

(#8) . . . . . . . . (#10)

Strikethrough and red letter text technique courtesy of Alan Knox's "Scripture...As We Live It" series.

EARTHQUAKE

Tuesday, October 17, 1989, 5:04pm, minutes before the start of game 3 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's. It registered 7.1 on the Richter scale. Just prior to this I was in the upper deck at Candlestick Park visiting some friends who also had tickets. I was on my way down the ramp to the lower deck, and was near the bottom of the ramp with a friend, who said, "Is that an earthquake?" I stopped, felt some shaking and looked down. My head was still but I could see the ground move several feet in each direction under me. Yes it was an earthquake, and a huge one. It shook for 45 terrifying seconds.

There were 62,000 fans there, and when the shaking stopped, there was dead silence. Everybody looked up and around. A few seconds later, a monstrous cheer erupted. Welcome to San Francisco! "We had an earthquake on national TV! Awesome! Welcome to California!" could be heard by many of the fans. No visible damage. We proceeded to the concession line to buy some goodies. Just then, the power went out. The cash registers were electric, so no change could be made because the drawers were stuck shut. The concessionaires took the next bill up. We made it back to our seats (seven rows behind home plate were where my season tickets were.) People were dazed and confused. The scoreboard and PA system were not working due to the power outage.

Players and police were out on the field. A chant of "Play Ball!" erupted from the crowd. Who needs a scoreboard? Scoreboard, schmoreboard. A fan just behind us had a Sony Watchman (remember those?) He said that the Bay Bridge had collapsed. This was simply unbelievable news. A few minutes later (how can you sense time when something like this happens?), a police car with a hand held mega phone blurred something out that sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher. We were all told to go home. Go home? This is the World Series!

Once out into the parking lot, we saw a TV news van with an open door. There were many television monitors, and since it was operating on battery power, we could see the damage being broadcast by the blimp. What we saw were truly horrific pictures. A section of the Bay Bridge collapsed. A freeway had pancaked on top of itself and miles of it were laying on the ground. A massive fire broke out in the Marina district. This was a major catastrophe.

The SFPD told fans to stay close to the stadium, as bridges were out. All the other bridges in the Bay Area were closed for inspection. We had to wait. We figured that we would be there a while, so we proceeded to a mini-mart at a neighboring RV park to buy some beer. We bought a case. The door was blocked by a table, as they didn't let people in. They took orders and made sales at the door. When we turned around to leave, there was a line behind us hundreds of people deep. Suddenly we got questions about where we got the beer. Not wanting to wait in line, people started bidding on our beer! We sold to the highest bidder and walked away with eighty bucks.

After quite a while of waiting, it was getting dark. Police were being called away because there was heavy looting downtown. It was at this point we got scared. We decided to make a run for it, and anticipated heavy traffic as we headed 50 miles down to San Jose to wrap around the bottom of the bay and up the other side another 70 miles home. It was the only way home without crossing a bridge. By the time we got to the San Mateo bridge, it was open. We hit a Denny's on the way home, and it was filled with fans who were talking about the event. I eventually got home at 1:30am.

I will never forget that day or the experience of that earthquake. Hundreds of people were feared dead from the freeway collapse. Some tourists from Connecticut managed to shoot some video from the collapsed section of the bridge, with the eerie sight of a car crashing to the deck below. The replacement section had a different paving surface, a constant reminder of that day. I will write more about this event, its aftermath and what happened in the postponement of the Series. [Update: a followup post can be found here]

Cross posted at my baseball blog, From the Bleachers.

Friday Night Potpourri

Thoughts throughout the week:

• Early in the week, the temperature dropped into the 30's. Then the first rain of the season was one of the largest storms in 40 years, creating widespread flooding. But since it doesn't rain here between May and October, the parched earth drank much of it up. Today it was 85 with high humidity.
• Still moving things into storage. Almost done. The first trip to storage is tossing things in. They fit. Today was like doing a jigsaw puzzle trying to fit things into tight spaces. Chucking a sitting chair up on top of a pile is great fun! We laughed, anyway.
• Good ole fashioned metal Tonka trucks are a hot housing market for black widow spiders.
• My dad and I saw a number of people talking on their cell phones while driving today - which is against the California vehicle code. But our governor's wife set the example. If it's good enough for her...
• Lots of stories on the news recalling the San Francisco earthquake twenty years ago.
• The song of the week? I saw these guys at Gilligan's Beach House in Modesto back in about 1994. 80's glam metal at its best, an upbeat song from the very first metal album to hit number one. Hilarious. Please don't mind the Spanish sub-titles, it was the best video of this song I could find.

1989 World Series and San Francisco Earthquake

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake that occurred just minutes prior to game 3 of baseball's World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. It was an event that one never forgets. I was at the game when the earthquake happened. October 17, 1989 at 5:04pm.

The Bay Area was already excited about the World Series between its two own teams, but the earthquake topped everything. A section of the Bay Bridge collapsed, a neighborhood in San Francisco's Marina district caught fire, a double-decker section of I-880 freeway in Oakland collapsed on itself. The Series was delayed for ten days as the emergency tied up life for a while. Dozens of people died, and widespread damage was reported.

I'll be writing a few posts about this event over the next few days, and will link to my baseball blog From the Bleachers for a baseball aspect. I'll write about the earthquake, what it was like on that day, and about the World Series. To start, I've written a post on how an accidental discovery I made about the ticket agency's phone system allowed a five-employee architecture firm to buy 2% of all World Series tickets that year, for us and our friends. Stay tuned for more...

Wow, I Had No Idea

Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. John 7:24

In this passage Jesus notes the fallacy of being criticized by the religious leaders for healing on the Sabbath day. They rendered their judgment based on the appearance of what Jesus did (i.e. "violation" of the Sabbath), not on why he did what he did and whether it really was righteous.

I recently had a discussion with somebody about what was really going on in the life of my family behind the scenes in a particular area, and how that affected what could be perceived by outsiders. He wasn't guilty of wrong judgment of the situation, but realizing the truth he said, "Wow, I had no idea." For other people, what appeared to be happening has been a minor source of judgmental spirits. Blame was being placed in wrong places. Blame was being placed at all when it should not have been. If only these people had known what I told my friend. But to tell everybody about a situation to justify ourselves would not have been right, either.

Quite often we are quick to judge other people, and their motives, without knowing the facts in a matter. Sometimes it is because we hold blanket beliefs about something and paint in broad brush strokes.

I recall a few years ago talking with a female friend of mine about pre-marital pregnancy among Christians. I told her I pitied the poor couple who remained chaste, became pregnant on their honeymoon but had a child born prematurely. She slowly raised her hand and told me that was them. They had a long engagement, and wanting a low key wedding between family and friends. They finally said, "Hey, what are we doing? Why don't we just get married next month?" It was easy because they had a simple party without much planning. Well, she got pregnant on their honeymoon and their first child was born in the seventh month. Of course, people "did the math" and the sudden decision to marry added fuel to the fire of suspicion. They were instantly looked at differently by quite a number of people, even friends.

It is good to remind ourselves that things aren't always as they seem on the outside. It's hard to not do the math. Sometimes we rehearse our addition tables when college calculus is needed.

Shouldn't "Celebrating" The Lord's Supper Include Joy?

Arthur Sido at "the voice of one crying out in suburbia..." pens (or should I say "types") an inquisitive little piece on the form and substance of the Lord's Supper. This in reaction to a Wall Street Journal article about churches abandoning the common cup for fear of swine flu. Arthur asks if form is more important than substance:

I get that we want to be as close to the original as possible but even in the most liturgical of churches the Lord’s Supper is little more than a ritual. Where is the pre-meal footwashing? The reclining around a table? The loving fellowship. How can we have a grim agape feast? Doesn’t that seem to be contradictory? We worry about the incantation of certain words but seem to have lost the purpose of the Supper in the first place... I tend to think we spend too much time worrying about the form of the ritual and not enough enjoying the Supper for what is was intended, i.e. a joy filled fellowship meal where the people of God gathered to break bread and have a meal with one another. Everyone is so uptight about the Supper that it becomes more of a chore and less of a joyous occasion. I have taken the Supper in a number of churches and there is lots of solemnity but not much joy.

This last sentence sums up my experience with the Supper in mostly "Reformed" churches. One church I attended for a short period of time had many people adopting as their pre-supper posture that of placing their face in their hands, buried between their knees. Oh, the joy! I, for one, think that we can have both the form and the substance, and stand firmly with Arthur that the Supper should be one of joy. After all, the "ordinance" of the Supper by Jesus came in the midst of the Passover feast.

Feast? Isn't it interesting that the Old Covenant people could celebrate the Passover Lamb as a feast, while we New Covenant people sit on our hands in introspective morbidity? Ah, the new and better covenant at work. I make a motion that we drop the word "celebrate" in connection with the Lord's Supper unless we actually celebrate. Anybody wanna second the motion?

The Rapture and The Resurrection

(15) For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. (16) For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17

The church we attended today (description to come in a future post on the church search series) is starting a preaching series on prophesy, most specifically, eschatology. Five major current views were outlined by the pastor (dispensational pre-mil, a-mil, post-mil, historic pre-mil and preterism). A few leading questions were asked regarding several passages. Does this passage literally describe a rapture? I'm inclined to believe that's what the result will be of the series.

But, I notice a problem of how this passage fits with dispensational pre-mil eschatology. Verse 16 obviously speaks of the resurrection. If verse 17 speaks of the rapture, then this passage literally places the rapture after the resurrection. This is contrary to pre-mil eschatology. So does this speak of a rapture as it is understood at all? I don't believe so. Any ideas from you? It should be an interesting preaching series, especially given my history of eschatology doctrines.

Friday Night Potpourri

I missed last week due to our move. We're still in move mode, so I'll squeeze this in between waking up on the couch and heading for bed. Two weeks condensed thoughts on a Friday night. I count time after midnight but before I go to bed as still the same day as when the sun went down. It's still Friday.

• Packing and moving bring back many memories. Many good, some not so good.
• Just received "Waiting On God" by Andrew Murray in the mail, as suggested by a friend. It's a 31 day devotional. Maybe I'll write occasionally about it. It was written in 1896.
• We lived there five years, and just today I hit the taco truck in the Ace Truck Supply parking lot that Mrs. Scott and I said again and again we should try.
• We're now within walking distance from grandma and grandpa's house.
• Not having an office to go to every day this summer, I got really used to my sandals. Now that I'm wearing my boots to do the move, it's weird and I miss my sandals.
• Mrs. Scott's broken elbow is healing well, but still not up to "move" standards.
• *blank*
• Continuing with a FNP feature: Another great song from my youth. Not as popular as that other tune [that I previously posted] from the same group, but very intense. I remember hearing it on my next door neighbor's older sister's phonograph as a 45.

Internet Connection!

We have internet at our new location. Much more From the Pew to come...

Moving On Over

I slipped out to a great cafe with free wi-fi (Starbucks charges you) and will write here this evening. Moving has been a tough process, especially with multiple deadlines going simultaneously between interests in selling our house. In any case, something was pushed back today to allow us to relax a bit. Boxes, boxes, everywhere. In fact, that is the title of a children's book on moving. We've used it in both moves we've had with children. The kids have taken it well, as our temporary house is bigger and our oldest has his own room. It's in a "better" neighborhood and only three blocks from grandma and grandpa. Much thanks to the gentleman who is letting us use his house for a while.

When I get a wi-fi setup in the new house, I should get back to normal. We're scheduled to work on that issue tomorrow. I want to jump back into my Re-Thinking Church Membership series, among other things. Until then...

Move Update

Two things are going on with our move that affect my blogging. One, I'm busy. Two, I'm temporarily without an internet connection. As soon as both of those are taken care of, blogging should be normal. Stay tuned...

Filing Life's Bankruptcy

I'm sitting in the dark at the computer surrounded by moving boxes, realizing that our family will be shortly deserting our modest 1940's minimalist cottage home for a temporary housing situation. My bare feet are soothed by the autumn coolness contained by the delicious - and original - quarter sawn white oak hardwood floors. In the dining room is a small handcrafted corner unit with shelves and a cabinet, it's Kelly Moore off-white barely visible from the artificial light of the flat panel screen. Invisible in the middle of the night are the unfinished crown molding project, the flagstone path leading to nowhere, the bare wires hanging from the malfunctioning automatic sprinkler timer, the peeling paint of the front porch rail and a score of other fixer-upper dreams silenced by a noise in the night.

Life for us is one big reorganization right now. The short of it, I've lost my job, and since property values are below our mortgage, our house as well. We're simultaneously in short sale and foreclosure. It's a race between the left arm tortoise and the right arm tortoise. This has been compounded by my wife breaking her elbow in a freak accident just six days shy of the end of the probation period of a new entry level job. No pay, no benefits, no disability, no more job. The long of it is far more complex and involved, with many of life's freakishly unbearable things happening simultaneously or in rapid succession over the last three years or so.

I'm perplexed, bewildered and unable to make heads or tails of things right now. God is distant, and I can't find any answers. We're undergoing changes in job, housing, church and several other things. All is not lost, however. The black widow spiders living in the cracks of the Tonka trucks in the back yard might end up being somebody else's problem. There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel, a blank slate, and a Saturday where the family can just go to the park and swing on the swings without having to worry about who takes who from the soccer game to the pee-wee game. I think that would be a great time to play in the colorful fallen leaves of autumn and visit grandma for her seasonal Chex mix and veggie trays.

Re-Thinking Church Membership (Part 30) - An Analogy

Throughout this series I have dealt with the idea that Christians who assemble with a body of believers, who worship God, who serve others, who love others, who attend all church meetings and pray, give, encourage, exhort, admonish, help, and all the other commands of the bible, still must formally join a church through their formal membership system to be obedient. I have thought of an analogy that puts this idea in perspective.

"You know, Steve, you were born in America to parents who were born in America. They were also born to parents who were born in America. You were raised by your parents in America. You attended American schools, worked in American jobs, and pay taxes to the US government. You watch fireworks on the Fourth of July and remove your cap during the national anthem at a ballgame. Don't you think it's time you become an American citizen?"

Wow. I guess so.

Read the entire series here.

Part 29 . . . . . . . . Part 31

We're Moving

The Scott family is on the move. We're moving out of our house into a temporary situation (thank you to the gracious person) until we can find jobs, money and another house. Packing, moving and childcare will prove to be a bit difficult with Mrs. Scott's broken elbow. The move is being spread out over a couple of weeks to make the transition easier.

The economy and other things have made things difficult for us. I don't know how this transition will affect blogging here, but I don't anticipate a major disruption. From the Pew readers can help simply by praying. Thank you.

Re-Thinking Church Membership (Part 29) - Coming Soon: Review of Donald Whitney

Although I had previously been exposed to a formal church membership doctrine, the first time I read a popular evangelical author on the subject was through a chapter in Donald Whitney's book, "Spiritual Disciplines Within The Church," in about 1997. At a newly formed church we were reviewing his book during a bible study just after a church merge.

My previous experience with a legalistic church's membership ideas - and the practical problems they caused - prompted me to be extra careful with Whitney's book. I'm glad I was, as I recently reviewed my own margin notes in the copy I had in my bookshelf for years. I caught a number of errors in Whitney's reasoning back then, but over these years I came to the place of being able to spot more. As my bible study reviewed his book, we as a group found some problems, too, with this chapter on church membership.

Whitney's original printing (I'm guessing my 1996 copy our bible study bought in '97 was the first printing) has been revised since then. The chapter in question can be read here at his "The Center For Biblical Spirituality" website. Whitney's material, in this book and others, has been widely influential in the Reformed world over the last fifteen years. This particular chapter has been referenced by others with whom I have taken issue in previous parts of this series.

My aim is to review his writing on church membership, most specifically from this chapter. I expect to do this over another dozen or two parts in this series. I will also include references from the original printing, as some of the author's points are re-worded or re-emphasized in the version on his website.

Get a head start on my series by reading his chapter here.

Read the entire series here.

Part 28 . . . . . . . . Part 30

Friday Night Potpourri on Saturday

Last night I started writing this post, and I crashed before I could get very far. So, here goes, a day late.

• As much as Tapatio hot sauce is my very favorite (I keep the 32 oz bottle in the fridge), I must say that El Yucateco red habanero hot sauce (hecho en Mexico!) really flames the soul. The habanero pepper (world's hottest) is soooo tasty.
• Stood in the hot sun in 105 degree heat today to ref a soccer game. Polyester uniforms. Don't feel too sorry for me, my kid had to play in it.
• Your child accidentally spill a soda on a bleacher bench at a pee-wee ballgame? Tip: a size 7 Pampers diaper will absorb the whole spill.
• Went to the Giants/Cubs game last night and ran into some friends on the train home who go to a church on my search list. Maybe this is a hint?
• Another hyper-Calvinist bumper sticker idea - this time retro 70's: "Go Jump In A Lake Of Fire"
  
• Another fourth grade phonograph song. We all loved it, and it's the very first song every guitar player ever learns.
  

Building Trust By Trusting

John Armstrong posts at his blog about a business strategy based on trust, as written about by CEO Dov Seidman. Simply put, you build trust by extending it to others. Several examples from the business world are given, and Armstrong concludes that Christians should be doing the same thing in the church.

I've been involved in numerous jobs and church ministries where things were run in a top-down fashion by a micro manager of affairs. Trust in such a situation is the hardest thing to gain, and even doing the right thing can be an item of rebuke if it lands outside the leader's guidelines. Allowing people to make something better by using their own gifts and talents (these don't need to be known by us initially) can be the most rewarding thing for all parties involved. Jesus sent his disciples out on their own and the results were astonishing. He even left us here to accomplish his will. Shouldn't we at least trust each other the way he trusts us?

Taking The Law Into Your Own Hands

Thou shalt...thou shalt not... Numerous appearances in the bible

Christianity is a religion of taking the law into one's own hands. This is a concept I believe lost on several generations of people. It is also an unpopular concept because of how the opposite is taught when applied to crime. Taking the law into one's own hands as a form of criminal punishment to gain revenge on somebody rather than letting the proper authorities do the dirty work is clearly wrong. (Romans 12:19)

I think the biggest problem with taking the law into one's own hands is that the state has created far too many laws that intend to govern more of our lives than simply criminal punishment. So the avoidance of taking the law into one's own hands extends far beyond its proper limits. God's law was given to His people, and we are commanded to do or not to do certain things. Loving one another is something we are commanded to do. If we love somebody, is this not taking the law into our own hands? Of course it is. Yet the state dictates so much that people have become more accustomed to looking to the state than they should instead of springing into action themselves. Don't have a house? Apply for government housing! Single mom? Apply for food stamps! Suddenly need a wheelchair ramp for somebody in your family? Hire only licensed contractors and apply for all the proper permits and inspections taking months rather than having experienced friends over this weekend to accomplish the task in a few days.

I think we wait too much upon government bureaucracy and programs to decide our lives for us. Of course, it doesn't make it easy when taking God's law into our own hands is itself criminalized by the state. Doing the right thing regardless of whether it is "authorized" by the state or is easier on us if the state does it is a difficult, yet necessary thing for Christianity to flourish.

Legal Today, Illegal Tomorrow?

James Leroy Wilson in a post at Partial Observer asks how something previously legal can suddenly be made illegal:

...if we have the sense to agree that we can't use force against a person who does nothing illegal and commits no act of aggression, how then can we say that it is proper to make once-legal activitiy illegal? If no one was wronged yesterday, how are they wronged today? If there were no victims yesterday in a mutually-consenting relationship or exchange, how would passing a law create a victim today in identical relationships and exchanges?

And how would restricting liberty, or diminishing rights, be justified? By referendum? By voting for a small number of people to make such decisions based on whim, public opinion polls, and lobbying?

His article deals with rights and wrongs vs. good and bad, and law vs. policy in the State's exaltation of "public good." Give it a read.

Re-posted from 07-15-08

A Megachurch In Jerusalem?

Alan Knox at The Assembling of the Church writes about the 3,000 who assembled in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:41):

There is an assumption that the followers of Jesus gathered together as a large group in the temple for “preaching and worship” (think Sunday morning worship service) while they gathered in their homes for fellowship (think Sunday School or Bible study). However, the grammar of this verse does not lend to this kind of distinction.

Read the link for the whole story.

Church Search (3)

Last Sunday we went to the same church as I wrote about in part 2. The rest of my family went to Sunday School, and Mrs. Scott went to the main service, while I caught only the last 5 minutes of the sermon. We'll probably go there again in the morning. Nothing new to write about it in this post.

(2) . . . . . . . . (Wishlist) . . . . . . . . (4)

Friday Night Potpourri

End of the week thoughts:

• The Giants beat the Dodgers tonight in Los Angeles. I'd love to be there.
• Just found out yesterday we have to move within 20 days. Should be really fun. I don't know how this will affect blogging.
• A large branch from the neighbor's olive tree broke off over the fence and landed in our yard. This year, this tree has been terribly messy with its leaves and fruit. Are olive trees always messy?
  
• This fascinating snip from Jason at Pilgrim's Pub: "Aocedrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at rghit pelae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wihtout a porbelm. This is beuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."
  
• Another song played on the phonograph in the fourth grade. The all time number one June hit. Every kid's favorite.
  

On Drowning One's Sorrows

"Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to him whose life is bitter. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his trouble no more." Proverbs 31:6-7.

I am grateful that Solomon was so much more wise than many modern, conservative Christians. And I am glad that God has purpose for his word. All of it. Life has been painfully bitter for quite a while now, and this verse has served as a great help for a season, and in several specific occasions.

For the most part, I've never heard abstentionists or prohibitionists deal with this verse in their condemning of alcohol use or in their creating of suspicions surrounding those who do use it, save for one bible teacher in my past. He alegorized Scripture and compared it with other Scripture to twist the meaning. He combined the word "perishing" here with John 3:16 (the bible is its own interpreter, you know!) to show that it really means those who aren't saved, and his conclusion was that only unbelievers are allowed by God to drink alcohol! But God is wiser and gave this wisdom to Solomon, and in turn gave it to us.

Musings On Community

What is community? Well, there is a dictionary definition of community. For a community to be successful, people interact with other people. People must do things for other people. But good community not only needs people doing things for one another, but it needs people doing things with one another. And not just for a common good, but doing something for somebody else often works best when doing it with them.

Re-Thinking Church Membership (Part 28) - A Real Life Example

Bob Spencer at Wilderness Fandango, a reader and occasional commenter on this blog, posts about his church's recent adoption of a "formal membership" system. Bob admits that he doesn't "get it" about the church membership requirements. "Commitment" as it is defined by the church leaders seems to be the point. Quoting:

...Are you tithing? Are you taking part in a church-based ministry? Are you attending regularly (according to to definition of the church leadership)? In the case of the church I was attending, if you make a solemn commitment to these things and five others, you're in. If not, you're out.

Does anyone else think it odd that I can say of myself, I am a child of God, a member of his family by adoption through Christ, but I am not a member of the local church, because by their standards I haven't measure up? You see, they've raised the bar a good deal higher than Jesus did.

...and...

Another thing: I've heard it said that for a Christ-ian all life should be ministry. But the local church likes to privilege its own organized and established ministries above all else. You have to be committed to participation in one of our church-based ministries. It simply doesn't count that you're pouring yourself out, day by day, to your children. Sorry, that just doesn't register on our membership scale. You need to come to church and fold bulletins, or pass plates, or work in the bookstore, or pull weeds in the garden, in addition to that other stuff. That way we know, we can measure it, and then we can confirm your status of membership.

Read Bob's post. The membership system he describes seems typical of the mentality I have written about in previous parts of this series.

Read the entire series here.

Part 27 . . . . . . . . Part 29

Sheep Without A Shepherd

Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. And they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill, and my flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth; and there was no one to search or seek for them. Ezekiel 34:4-6

I'm tired of this. I'm tired of hearing about this, I'm tired of hearing and reading stories about this. I'm tired of living this. I'm tired of this being a prophesy of my life. I'm tired of hearing about, reading about, arguing about shepherds who dominate their flocks with severity. I'm tired of the lack of strengthening, healing and binding up. Tired, tired, tired.

My family are sheep without a shepherd. The most difficult thing is pondering whether we are true sheep who are wandering or are vessels of wrath fitted for destruction.

Therefore...shepherd the flock of God among you, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 1 Peter 5:1-3

In our family's church search, I'm looking for somebody(ies) to shepherd us. Can this be too difficult a thing? Lord, answer my prayer, else we perish. Wandering sucks.

Friday Night Potpourri

Random, er I mean, secret numerological coded thoughts on Friday:

• Gilligan knows economics. James Leroy Wilson posts a YouTube clip of musician Dan Litwin singing a song about the fraudulent money system of the Federal Reserve. In the middle of the short song, a clip from a Gilligan's Island TV show has Mr. Howell talking economics with a small potatoes dictator. Mr. Howell states the need for precious metal backing of money for a strong economy, while the dictator interrupts, "In my country, all we need is a printing press and paper!" Gilligan looks on. How times have changed.
• Last weekend in San Diego I jogged on the beach barefoot each day. I went a whole trip without wearing either socks or shoes.
• Most places: No shirt, no shoes, no service. In San Diego at the beach: No shirt, no shoes, no problem!
• Still reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I'm a slow book reader. Waiting to break into Till We Have Built Jerusalem: Architecture, Urbanism and the Sacred by Philip Bess.
  
• When did the word "loose" become a substitute for the word "lose?" I have seen this frequently in the last few years. "If you don't do it, you will loose out" or "If you gamble with that, you'll loose your shirt." I see this from people who otherwise know how to spell. Is this a fad?
  
• Here's a purely upbeat song that I've always loved. Mid 80's at its pop music finest. Dig the clothes, makeup and hair!
  

San Diego

Last weekend our family took a trip to San Diego. The beach was our goal and we got plenty of it. Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach are our favorites, and they are all connected. My very favorite freeway signs are on I-8. In the San Diego area, "Beaches" are the only destination shown for this freeway for miles. It's simply all you need to know. We took this one at sunset. The kids had a riot (and so did other Labor Day party animals that made things miserable for those who tried to sleep). It was relaxing and our first time away in over five years.

Another View Of Divorce And Remarriage (1)

Perhaps no other topic, or very few anyway, garner as much heated debate, flamethrowing, false accusation and overall mistreatment of fellow believers (if they are even viewed as such) as the topic of what the bible says about divorce and remarriage. I've written on this before, here and here.

Thanks to my friend Peter, who supplied me a link to something a bit different, I read a site by Dr. David Instone-Brewer on this topic. Dr. Instone-Brewer has written two books and a number of articles on this issue. How it differs from other views I've heard is that there is an allowance under God's law for divorce in cases of adultery, abuse or abandonment, stemming from Exodus 21:10-11 and from extra biblical accounts of what the "any cause" statement really meant in Matthew 19 when the Pharisees confronted Jesus.

Quoting from his Christianity Today article:

Putting all this together gives us a clear and consistent set of rules for divorce and remarriage. Divorce is only allowed for a limited number of grounds that are found in the Old Testament and affirmed in the New Testament:

• Adultery (in Deuteronomy 24:1, affirmed by Jesus in Matthew 19)
• Emotional and physical neglect (in Exodus 21:10-11, affirmed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 7)
• Abandonment and abuse (included in neglect, as affirmed in 1 Corinthians 7)

Lots of interesting stuff on this site and plenty more in the links to his articles. There's apparently a critique from John Piper out there that I'll have to read, too. I'll be writing more about this soon.

Theology That Really Gets Me

Some people get riled up over others who argue over minor points of doctrine. Some get riled up over major heresy. Some over legalism. Some over multiple things. I believe that theology should be hashed out, even to the minutest degree. We are, after all, talking about how God instructs us to live. All of life is to be lived in obedience to God, so there is no thing too small to be discerned. Yes, there should be much discussion over even small things, and we should not divide over the things that are not essential to the faith. A bit of liberty and grace should always accompany our attitude toward those with whom we disagree.

But there are, however, valid reasons to argue over some of the smaller things. When those smaller things create some form of injustice or result in sinning against another believer, then I get riled up. For example, I don't have a problem with the practice of either infant baptism or believer baptism, but when the specifics of how it is practiced is used against people, such as I deal with in my series Baptism: A Third View, and entire churches are claimed to not be real churches, then I get riled up a bit. When a church creates a system of membership that artificially divides the body into "members" and "regular attenders" based solely on whether those who attend agree with some man made ideas, then uses this to exclude "regular attenders" from ministering in love to others, then I get a little hot. When some minor point makes somebody a lower class Christian, then there's a problem with that minor point. I try to write about such things on this blog.

Survey: Which Bible Translation(s) Do You Use?

Here's a From the Pew survey of my readers:

Which bible translation(s) do you currently use? Which was your first translation? Please answer in the comments section.

Happy 15th Anniversary End Of The World

Today, September 6, is the 15th anniversary of the world not ending. Harold Camping declared that September 6, 1994 would be the end of the final tribulation, and that on that date, the sun would become dark, the moon would turn to blood and the stars would fall from the sky. The universe would undergo undulation for a period of a few weeks until Christ returned to end the world and to throw a majority of people who had ever lived into hell.

As far as I know, it didn't happen. Maybe it did and I just missed the 10 o'clock news.

Friday Night Potpourri

It's been a slow blogging week. So here are some scattered thoughts for a Friday night:

• It's been a slow blogging week because something's up, and I'm not telling until later.
• Some good things have happened recently, so I'm happy about that.
• The sunset tonight was gorgeous. Pink to purple.
• Here's a question: should a church excommunicate over personal belief on the proper mode and subject of baptism? (i.e. not agree with the pastor?)
• In the fourth grade our class had a phonograph record player. There were some 45's the kids played often, and we thought those songs were really cool. Here's one of them from the previous decade. Awesome!

If Iron Sharpens Iron, Then Why Is The Reformed Drawer So Full Of Dull, Rusty Knives?

Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

A good surgeon will use only the sharpest of knives. Why? It's because the sharper the knife, the cleaner the cut it makes. And the cleaner the cut, the closer the two sides match each other. The closer the two sides match each other, the easier it is for them to come together again in the healing process. Dull knives and chain saws make for hack jobs; the ripping up of flesh so that the two sides don't match each other. Healing is made much more difficult if not impossible. The word of God is spoken of as sharper than any two edged sword.

The irony of many Christians who hold to "doctrinal purity," and require the strictest adherence to doctrinal minutiae for fellowship, church membership, ministry leadership or pastoral candidacy is that they don't understand how iron sharpens iron. I can't tell you how many times I've heard Ephesians 4:3, "being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace", interpreted as, "you must agree with every doctrinal position of the elders/church/by-laws, etc." Disagreement in any form is shunned.

But iron sharpens iron because each piece is rough. They grate against each other and the friction caused by the imperfections is what eliminates the imperfections, resulting in a sharp knife or sword. When surgery is needed, success results. When roughness in beliefs is disallowed, and everybody in a particular group is required to believe the same exact thing, no sharpening can occur. The result is, ironically, the exact thing that is not allowed. What the doctrinal purists who distance themselves from others who disagree are in effect saying, is, "I will not be sharpened by another piece of iron." And so they exist as drawers full of dull, rusty knives. When surgery is needed, a hack job results, and the one in need of surgery is not healed, but rather wounded even more.

Re-posted from 09-19-06

Democracy (6) OrthoCuban Takes A Swing

Fr. Ernesto Obregon, who is an Eastern Orthodox priest, has started a series on his blog OrthoCuban titled, "Does God Like Democracy?" He started by noting the spread of democracy as America's perceived mission and asking questions about various forms of civil government. He asks if there is a Scriptural warrant for democracy. He hasn't answered his own title question yet, so I have a feeling there might be a few more posts in the series. He has three posts so far, part 1, part 2 and part 3. [update: part 4]

Friday Night Potpourri

End of the non-work week odds and ends:

• Last night I went to the Giants game against Arizona, and it was shorts weather. After 25 years of holding Giants season tickets, I have only been able to wear the t-shirt/shorts combo maybe a dozen times for a night game. It is usually extremely cold on a San Francisco summer evening.
• A new neighbor in the apartment across the street installed a new lawn in their back yard. He came over and asked if I had a lawn mower he could borrow to mow it. I said yes. As payment, he offered to mow my lawn. Perfect.
• Still unemployed. I have a number of friends in the architecture profession who have been out of work as long or longer than I have. No new jobs for them either. One friend found a new job, only to be laid off again a few months later.
  
• Autumn is coming. I love the weather and the air and the sun. Just a few months until colored leaves.
• Pennant races are shaping up in baseball. Mostly wild-card battles.
  
• This song came out while I was in college. It was played quite a bit on MTV (back when MTV played music). Not my favorite genre of music, but the overall feel made it one of those songs I remember from a specific time period. My friend and I both had a crush on the girl in the video.
  

Things I'd Like To Write About Sometime

I'd like to write about some additional topics and items in the near future. My last post about church search wishes gave rise to a few things I've never covered in large quantities.

I've written a series on baptism, but would like at some point to write about the Lord's Supper. I'd like at some point write about churches as non-profit corporations and the 501(c)(3) tax exemption status, and how those things can affect how a church operates and how they can affect the hearts and consciences of believers. A related topic is the church's relationship to the state legal system.

A major area of writing I'd like to do at some point is about my family's difficult times over the last so many years. I don't yet know how I'd like to attack this, as it could come across as whining to some, but just to write things down as a way to help deal with it. Talking about life's circumstances is enough of a challenge, but then realizing that there needs to be sensitivity when real people are part of those circumstances, or even causes of them. Protecting the innocent, and the guilty for that matter. Saying things in a way that shows a problem yet is sensitive to how other people are connected.

I'd also like to write about what I call "formulaic Christianity." This is when popular books (or ideas) on Christian living become formulas for success, and people adopt a group-think mentality in applying these as one-size-fits-all formulas to everybody. The results aren't always pretty.

Hang around.

Church Search Wishlist

As a church shopper, here's an informal wishlist for what I'd prefer in a church. Right off the top of my head. Of course, some of these things are non-negotiables, and some are mere preferences. Some I have a strong desire for, while others... well, I need to be realistic. This is America, after all. Signs of the times, spirit of the age, and all that.

It needs to be a Christian church. It should hold to the Apostle's Creed. It should hold to the true gospel, and yeah, general conformity to those "three marks of a true church" I have heard a lot about over time. One, preaching of the true gospel, two, administration of the sacraments (baptism and Lord's Supper) and, three, church discipline. Love for one another in the church, although not a mark of a true church in Reformed theology (huh?), should be there. Do these people actually love one another on a regular basis? These are absolute essentials.

Now for strong preferences. All members of all families are in the Sunday meeting regardless of age. Extreme cases of screaming infants or toddlers can make use of a crying room, etc., but families should feel free and unhindered - and actually encouraged! - in training their children in the church meeting. When everybody's kids are there, the background noise is easily ignored and preaching and praying can be heard. When no other kids are there, one child that makes even a peep is the target of wrath of others. I would also like a church of 50-75 people, maybe growing up to 100 before splitting into smaller groups. Pastors/elders should be leaders who lead by example, not by making rules or overlording the sheep. Every baptized Christian who assembles there is counted as a formal member just because they assemble there. Children should also be welcome.

Other preferences. Real bread and real wine in communion. A fellowship meal should be included every week, with the Lord's Supper being part of that meal. I also would prefer a participatory meeting, where everybody uses their gifts (or at least has the opportunity) for the edification of others, and not just a spectator church where the professional types do all the work. I would prefer the church not be a non-profit corporation nor registered with the state as a 501(c)(3). At least some hymns should be sung a capella. Allowing or serving of alcoholic beverages at church meetings or meals should not be shunned or discouraged.

These are just a few. Maybe I'll add more to my list of what to look for. I'd also like to formalize a list and take it out there to pastors.

(2) . . . . . . . . (3)

Why Do We Believe What We Believe?

I just saw an article claiming that drinking even up to six cups of coffee a day has many health benefits. It's all backed by scientific research, of course. This contradicts other articles I have read in the past claiming that coffee is dangerous to one's health; backed by scientific research, of course. Same for alcohol and many other things in life. Why should I believe any of them? Why do I or don't I?

I've never been to England, so why should I believe it exists? Why should I believe Adolph Hitler was a real person who actually lived? Some people claim that the Apollo moon shot was a Hollywood hoax, filmed in a studio. Why should I believe that? Who really shot JFK...if in fact he was really shot in the first place? If in fact he was a real person who was president. "Scientific research" has "proven" some wives' tales to be true, while others are false. Chicken noodle soup actually does help with a cold or flu, while children playing outside in cold weather doesn't actually cause them to catch cold; mothers calling them inside out of fear of catching cold causes them to share their germs because they're all in the house together is what causes them to catch cold. See I told you so. Did not. Did so.

And what about faith? The placebo affect is supposedly documented, that fake medicine can actually help with healing simply because the patient believes that it is going to do so. What about evolution of scientific theory? Each generation seems bent on proving the previous one wrong. Doctors used to pump antibiotics into people with the common cold. Later on, it was discovered that antibiotics don't work on viruses, and all the antibiotic use has created resistant strains of diseases.

Most of what we believe today will be laughed at at some point in the future by people who have proven us wrong. So why should I be judged for believing something contrary to the conventional wisdom of the day when I know it will be proven wrong sometime in the future? Why am I even writing about this?

Originally posted 06-21-08

Scripture, American Style (8)

Shepherd My those sheep who through your formal membership system you have decided are your sheep. (John 21:16)

Read an explanation of Scripture, American Style here.

Read entire series here.

(#7) . . . . . . . . (#9)

Strikethrough and red letter text technique courtesy of Alan Knox's "Scripture...As We Live It" series.

iMonk on The Evangelical Liturgy

Michael Spencer, aka the Internet Monk, is doing at least a 23 part series on evangelical liturgy. At the time of this post, he's at part 5. He's bringing years of observation and his own take to the table here. It will be interesting to me to hear this from somebody with a big past in Southern Baptist circles. He's had other influences too, but I see this already shaping up as at least a description of what standard evangelicals have done in church. Recommended reading.

Church Search (2)

This is about last Sunday's church we visited. Mrs. Scott broke her elbow in a freak accident this week and we didn't attend church today for various and sundry reasons. We had a number of connections to the church we attended last week, including bible studies and VBS programs that each of us in our family have attended in the last few years. We also know a number of people there. Four families that we previously attended church with at some point were there to say "hi" to, and we met another through school connections. Our insurance agent was the greeter, unknown to us until we showed up.

We arrived early and were shown around to the Sunday School classes and nursery for the various ages of our children by one of the greeters. This was helpful. The church is fairly large for my standards, probably between 600-1000. It was a "spectator church" (I'll explain this in detail in a future post), where people sit and watch (or listen to) the service. There were no visible children under the age of maybe 12.

There was a large "worship center" with I'd say at least 500 seats, most of them unfilled. Ushers ushered us to aisle seats up close. It was difficult to leave our children in classes as we didn't know yet what they would be taught or if they would know anybody. One of our kids had a good friend in his class, and that was a help.

The singing was accompanied by maybe an eight piece instrumental group, more traditional in nature, and most of the songs or hymns I didn't know. The traditional hymns that were sung were difficult to sing along with for me due to what I would call "over production" of the music. I'm just used to singing them a capella or with few instruments that allow the voices of the congregation to dominate. The sermon was from Titus 2, directed mostly at men, and was part of a small series that this particular preacher (who we know, and not the regular one) was going through.

Over all, the church experience from this day in almost every facet was one that we are completely familiar with, from the liturgy to Sunday School. It wasn't much different from our previous church.

Church search series disclaimer: In something quite unusual for this blog, I will be turning comments off for this series. We plan on attending several churches over the next couple of months, and many people we know are familiar with or attend these churches. I want the churches to remain anonymous and not accidentally revealed by a comment. Also, my personal likes and dislikes will appear here, and I don't want any of my negative opinions interpreted as heresy or apostasy in the comment section.

(1) . . . . . . . . (Wishlist)

Friday Night Potpourri

A highly ordered set of thoughts disguised as random - for a Friday night:

• Not a faith-healing church. Julie Neidlinger at Lone Prairie mused about the newly added blue parking stalls at the front of her church parking lot.
• Mrs. Scott and I agree that lately (caused by the recession?) the number of people driving 10-20 mph below the speed limit on the freeway has dramatically increased. And it's creating some dangerous driving conditions.
  
• In a related topic, I asked several people in the body shop/rental car businesses (in context of my recent fender bender and subsequent car repairs) about the effect of the economy on their businesses. Accidents are up, despite fewer people driving, but repairs from those accidents are down, people choosing to live with the dents.
  
• The sales rep at our new auto insurance company that wrote up our policies was the greeter, along with his wife, at the church we attended last Sunday.
  
• The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing? Well, that's better than the left hand not knowing that there is a right hand.
  
• Another song from my childhood. I just started wearing these, and I loved the song on the clock radio. Listen to the reference to Exxon gasoline in the lyrics! Tch-tch.
  

The Pastor Problem (2)

Please read my first post first.

I've experienced many instances where new pastors/elders (I will use the term "pastor" from here on out, as they are interchangeable) have been candidates or have been appointed in churches. I've read about numerous others. One thing that has bugged me a long time about appointing a pastor is that people have wrong expectations about the qualifications for a pastor. Their expectations are mostly too high, and for the wrong reasons.

One wrong expectation is that pastors should have trouble-free lives and families. People sometimes confuse circumstantial problems with character problems. This can not only create problems of appointing pastors, this can create problems later, as pastors are afraid to disclose their problems out of fear of being judged for not having a perfect life.

Another problem is the expectation that pastors be micromanaging authoritarians. A dominant form of church government in America is the top-down, iron-fisted, micromanaging system of overlording, where pastors are the one and only man in charge. People who have lived under this system can bring these expectations into churches that desire to practice servant leadership, and may ask more than God wants.

(1) .

On Leaving The Ninety-Nine

What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. Thus it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish. Matthew 18:12-14.

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling, and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. John 10:11-15

I've read many stories of people leaving churches. I've also heard many stories of people "straying" from the faith. What I seldom hear about (not that it doesn't happen) is shepherds leaving their flocks and going after the straying sheep to bring them back and restore them. What I hear about much more often, is shepherds who erect man made church membership doctrines that supposedly protect the flocks against straying sheep. Hmmm. Protecting flocks against the very sheep the shepherds are supposed to be going after.

Now I wonder where the passage about hirelings would fit into this post...

Why I Blog

A short bit about why I blog. There are a number of reasons, large and small, so I will try to list as many of them as I can here.

First, I enjoy talking theology. After my last church merged with another about 13 years ago, we embarked on a statement of faith, doctrines we believed in, and other church matters. Things were hashed out in a bible study at the pastor's house over a years' time. Once that was completed, things died down theologically over the next couple of years. I miss that type of thing, and I saw my outlet for doing so needed to change. So a blog seemed to be the place to do it.

I was also encouraged to blog by a poster at a professional software forum who liked my writing style. Not theology, mind you, but just how I wrote about things. I started blogging in 2005. Mrs. Scott is not really a conversational theologian, and any attempts to discuss higher levels of theology resulted in a bit of frustration. Not to her discredit at all. She is a regular reader of my blog, and it is a good way of answering that difficult woman question, "What are you thinking?"

Blogging is also therapeutic. It is an outlet for enumerating my thoughts. I can track my beliefs and what I am thinking over time. I also use blogging as a way to develop my thoughts about theology (or baseball as the case may be). Also, it is a way to develop a writing style. I do a lot of blog and other internet reading, and it shapes my ideas. I can also interact with others out there. I exchange ideas with them to mutual benefit.

I also don't always agree with all the things I have been taught in church or from reading people who are "likeminded" with the churches I have attended, and this is a place to say what I don't agree with and why. I even take on ideas and those who hold to them on occasion. We all like to hear ourselves talk, to a degree, and this is not always necessarily bad or narcissistic. I apply this to the blogosphere. I like to read myself write, if you will. I like comments from both people "out there" and people who are really "out there," if you know what I mean. I meet people from all over the world; from different religious traditions and from a few people who don't believe in Christianity. Blogging keeps my mind sharp from writing as much as I do.

I'm sure there are other reasons, maybe a few I can't think of right now. But blogging has some positive affects for me, and the interaction with others has been a benefit to other relationships I have. I hope this helps you a bit in understanding who I am and why I write what I write.

Church Search

My family went to church today. The first time since we left our previous church about a month and a half ago. We're church shoppers now, and I decided to post brief updates about our experiences in finding a church/a church finding us. So, starting with the next post in this series, I will tell about today's experience.

. (2)

The Pastor Problem

A great many churches have a pastor problem. Mostly, I think there aren't enough pastors to go around. Many pastors have too many sheep to shepherd, and cannot do a good job. Often, they are out of touch with their sheep. They are too busy to help out with the needs of the flock. Shepherds should be shepherding among the flock, but how often is this the case? Often, the pastor is the man in charge and is too busy engaging in things that are not his biblical duty. Being the one dealing with the air conditioner repair man at the church office when there are families in the church that are hurting may be a problem.

One thing I've noticed is that often such high expectations are placed upon pastors that the result is that there are too few pastors; nobody wants such a difficult job. Those who might be qualified see the writing on the wall. The higher the expectations, the fewer qualified pastors; the fewer qualified pastors, the higher the expectation. In many circles, the pastor is "da man," expected to have all the answers, make all the decisions, be the only one who has counseling sessions. He is "the minister" after all. Some spend much of their time studying for their sermon and don't live among the sheep. Some probably spend too much time playing golf.

And what about a limit to the number of sheep a pastor can shepherd? Is 500 people to one pastor too much? What about a more comfortable number, like ten families per?

One thing I believe has to be there; a pastor has to be a people person. Simply being a theologian or good preacher doesn't cut it. If a pastor isn't a people person, that kind of defeats the purpose. And he must not have too many people to deal with. That defeats the purpose, too.

What are your thoughts about the ability of pastors to do their work, if they do their jobs, and what do you think hinders them or helps them?

. (2)

Friday Night Potpourri

Random thoughts on Friday night:

• French fries and stout for dinner tonight.
• Is our religion reflected in our architecture? In the 21st century? My friend Peter loaned me a copy of the book, Till We Have Built Jerusalem by Philip Bess. Tradition and New Urbanism.
• I got stuck in bad traffic tonight, going counter-commute. It was a 49er pre-season game that caused it.
• What do you get when a seven year old, a five year old, a four year old and a two year old play with the same bucket of Lego's? Answer: chaos and crying.
• Quoting a friend: "Church girls I've dated are either dopey or crazy."
• I once read a book entitled, "I Kissed Dating Goodbye."
• I married my wife and chucked the book.
• Another of my very favorite songs from my childhood. These guys are hip.

New Profile Photo

I've added a new profile photo to my blogs. This photo was a professional headshot produced by my friend Deb Wat. The photo shoot was a very interesting process, and Deb is a true professional. Her objective for this shot was to draw me out of my element as a writer. I think it came out great, and my family and friends agree. Check out her site at Deb Wat Photography. I'm adding it to my links.

Democracy (5) Democracy As Discrimination Against Minorities

The very purpose of democracy is to discriminate against minorities. Majority rules. In anything it wants. Democracy is one of the foundations of America itself, and so it is in Western culture.

We also claim to be opposed to discrimination against minorities as a foundation of our nation. There is a small, but growing number of minority groups that are protected against discrimination. Race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation. Who knows what the next one on the list will be.

With two mutually exclusive ideas simultaneously said to be foundational to our society, how can we believe that it will succeed? A house divided against itself cannot stand.

(4) .

That God Shaped Void

Originally posted 08-04-08:

Every now and then I want to write on a very specific thing I've been thinking about, only to come across somebody else who does first. This in turn triggers my post. Today I came across a post from Michael Spencer, the Internet Monk (aka iMonk), about the idea of the God shaped void. I've heard it said a thousand times in preaching and teaching and in common Christiantalk that there's a God shaped hole in everyone's heart, and that unbelievers fill it with everything else except God. They sense the void, and are extremely unhappy with life. Their gluttonous appetite for superficial things leads them to mask their despair with vain materialism. What I didn't know was that the original idea supposedly came from St. Augustine. The iMonk's post contains a link to his older post on this.

A few months ago I started thinking about this, since I heard the God shaped hole thing somewhere, and I realized that in general, unbelievers were capable of being quite happy and fulfilled with life. Many of them don't live in despair and generally aren't clutching at anything and everything to try to add meaning to their lives. I also saw an unbeliever comment on a Christian's blog somewhere a few months ago about his unbelief or atheism (or whatever), and other Christians' replies to him that he was leading a meaningless life and was depressed about it. He replied with incredulity that others could possibly know this, and their reply was that he was lying to himself because they knew better!

The Scriptures say many things about men's hearts and thoughts, but they also say much about the happiness and contentment of nonbelievers. Luke 16 (the rich man and Lazarus) describes the rich man "gaily living in splendor every day." Gaily living? How was this man living gaily as opposed to in superficial pretense? David opines in Psalm 73 about his witnessing of the wicked being at ease and prospering while he himself is stricken and afflicted. There are many other examples of unbelievers finding joy in earthly things. They trust in money and fame and worldly achievements. Why is it thought that these things can't bring joy? It seems to me that often we don't try to understand those around us and simply rely upon some incomplete interpretation from our pet bible teachers. Unbelievers often see through this and discount our witness, while we think it's all their fault all along why they don't listen to us.

Friday Night Potpourri

I posted this late, but here goes:

• I love talking with people from other places. On the train last night I sat next to a man from Tucson whose son graduated from college and was moving away from San Francisco. He mentioned that he had to wear a jacket at night in SF in August. It's usually 110 every day in Tucson. That started our conversation into anything and everything SF/AZ. Later at the game, I sat behind a woman from Toronto. She compared people there with people here. Fascinating. People are different in different places and it's great to hear about them from somebody who knows.
• After living here five years, we finally got large garbage cans for greens and recycled stuff. Our new recycle can would have been nice all along, instead of the small plastic bins.
• I mowed the front lawn and pulled all the weeds. Looks great. Now to get those weeds coming up out of the driveway cracks.
• Back yard'll get done one of these days.
• Both our cars got washed recently. Makes 'em look like new. Now to find them in parking lots.
  
• This week's featured surprise song is one from my childhood. My folks missed the rock generation threshold by about a year. They didn't quite embrace Elvis, but their younger siblings did. So this song was big to me in the first grade because of how new sounding this genre of music was. I heard it on the neighbor's garage radio. It stuck for a lifetime. Here it is. Enjoy.
  

I Got A Foul Ball At The Game Friday Night

For those who would care about such a thing, I got a foul ball at Friday night's Giants/Reds game. The tenth in my life. Then, moments later, another one headed for my glove was deflected by another fan and off my bicep. Read about it at From the Bleachers, my baseball blog.

Top Posts At "From the Pew"?

I was thinking about adding a "Top Posts" section to the margin of this blog. It would list, of course, the top posts from this blog's history. I came up with a few criteria as to what might make a particular post a "top post." It could be one that generated many comments; or one that gets a lot of hits or Google search results; or one that is linked to often by others; or one that somebody else in the blogosphere wrote about; or one that caused some kind of stir elsewhere; or one that I happen to like regardless of the other criteria.

Another criteria could be that a post is one that my readers like. So, I'm asking you if you have a favorite post here. If so, maybe nominate it in the comments section. If you don't remember anything in particular, then you're probably a normal person. Or maybe at least a not abnormal one. Thanks in advance.

Scripture, American Style (7)

Now the Bereans Americans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness caution and examined the Scriptures their by-laws and asked their lawyer, accountant and insurance company every day during their leadership committee meeting to see if what Paul said was true legal. (Acts 17:11 NIV)

Read an explanation of Scripture, American Style here.

Read entire series here.

(#6) . . . . . . . . (#8)

Strikethrough and red letter text technique courtesy of Alan Knox's "Scripture...As We Live It" series.

Jon OR Kate Plus Eight

Reality TV becomes even more reality TVish with Jon & Kate's breakup, increased Paparazzi, and other dumb stuff. Jon now has two earrings. Nuthin' agin'em, it's just that Jon wouldn't have done that in the beginning.

All that aside, a dragout divorce makes for better TV than having Emeril, OCC Choppers and those cake people all on your show within two minutes. Kate is wearing things post-Jon that she never did before. I'm waiting for Jon's hair transplant operation, and the resulting love triangle with that doctor's daughter and the current one. He dumped her? And what of Jon's references to his own kids using third person descriptives instead of first person possessives?

Okay, wait. It sounds like my blog post has de-humanized some people here. Okay, wait again. Maybe that's already happened and I'm just speaking the by-words. Seriously, if Kate and Jon got back together after all this, would it matter how well the ratings were? In the mean time, a one chair interview is the best we can get. I also wonder if anybody has asked to get their nanny on the Bachelorette. Starting next week, From the Pew will be a reality blog.

I Was A DJ, I Was What I Played

Back in high school I was an FM radio disk jockey. I worked at a small local station, KEGR in Concord, CA, in about 1981. The owner was a radio and electronics buff, and had the station set up in his own apartment living room. It did not broadcast over the air, so he needed no FCC license, but instead over the city's TV cable system. We were a bit far from San Francisco, and many of the FM stations didn't have very good reception, so our city carried all the FM stations over TV cable. Simple, connect the TV cable to the antenna hookups on the back of your stereo and you had crystal clear reception.

It was an amateur operation, with minimal advertising (paid stuff during off hours), so the DJ's worked for free. It was a cool job. The owner worked as a manager at Radio Shack so he kept on top of his DJ's by playing the station over the store's stereo systems. Clever. I got to play all the rock faves of the time, and aside from having to play certain genres during the hour, it was free format, and the DJ's even picked the song within the required genres. If you played five Hendrix songs in a row, the owner would call you on the phone and tell you to cool it.

This was a one man operation. No engineers or call screeners. Make sure the phone was off the hook while the mic was on. Had to go to the bathroom? Put on a long song like Free Bird. One DJ took advantage of some 25 minute live Led Zeppelin songs to take a swim in the apartment pool. For such times, we had to be careful to not put on songs that had backward skips in them.

The listening audience was small, and there were a few high school girl groupies. You know, sixteen year olds that moved out and were living with fifteen year old boyfriends with guns. Rock 'n' roll stuff to be sure. The station's call letters, KEGR (The Concord Kegger) were funny to me later because they interrupted Harold Camping's string of radio stations on his network (KEAR to KEIR, I believe).

Wild times in high school.

Scripture, American Style (6)

If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has you have something against you your brother, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. (Matthew 5:23-24)

Read an explanation of Scripture, American Style here.

Read entire series here.

(#5) . . . . . . . . (#7)

Strikethrough and red letter text technique courtesy of Alan Knox's "Scripture...As We Live It" series.

Friday Night Potpourri

Random stuff from the past week or so, if I remember it correctly, plus a new feature:

• My fender bender took a bit of chaos to get fixed. An estimate plus several days in the shop, plus renting a car. Despite me being the one in the accident and having my name on both vehicle registrations, because Mrs. Scott and I switched to the same insurance company, and just because she was the one whose name was entered first into the account by the rep, she got all the calls from the other insurance company, body shop, rental car agency, followups, etc.
• The body shop had a guy there named Steve Scott. There were other eerie similarities between my hometown and his mother, so that the woman I talked to at the body shop thought it might have been a practical joke. It was good fun.
• Is Barack Obama the anti-christ? Some folks believe so. In a widely linked YouTube clip, a voice describes using Christ's words from our English bibles, which is translated from the Greek, which if spoken in the Aramaic that Jesus would have understood, Jesus referencing Old Testament bible verses describing something that indicates Satan falling down from heaven, putting two modern English pronunciations of ancient Hebrew words together, the sounds are similar to something that may be pronounced "Barack" and "Obama." I'm not sure how Satan falling from heaven translates into the anti-christ, but evidently sound similarities of word associations in different languages separated by thousands of years proves who the anti-christ is. They've tried this with a word "Rosh" in the Old Testament to show that "Russia" will invade Israel. Too bad one must know modern English to figure this out, as any other language in the world won't reveal the same result. Just gotta love this method of bible translation.
• I'm currently reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.
• Interesting post on Michael Vick and forgiveness here.
• Here's the new feature on Friday Night Potpourri. I'll be including a link to a favorite song from my childhood, heard on the radio, or to other important music in my past. Most of these songs I've found on YouTube. They don't always fit my genre preferences, but were important at the time nonetheless. They bring back great memories. I'll also refrain from giving the song title so it will be a pleasant (or otherwise) surprise to you. Take a chance and click through to this song I loved to hear on the radio in junior high. Good night.
  

On Leaving A Church

Recently, my family decided to move on from our long time church. I was there 14 years, and Mrs. Scott nine. We've been considering it for well over a year now, but with all the changes that have occurred this last year, we finally decided it was time. I lost my job earlier this year and we'll have to move here fairly soon, so the timing on starting even one more thing over was right.

I'm not going to go into too much detail, but suffice to say that our family doesn't fit in there anymore. Connectivity, fellowship, number of friends, trends - all factors. In talking our decision over with friends, we received a range of reactions from bewilderment to hearty approval with encouragement for the future. Mostly these reactions have been positive and understanding.

We don't have an immediate church lined up to attend, but there are several possibilities. It will be interesting to see what comes of this period of uncertainty. Will we attend another large church? Will we find a small one? Will there be a start-up group? Church hopping and shopping? Time will tell.

Individualism As By-Product Of Communalism

One of the things often preached against in today's culture, from many sources, is the ism known as individualism. While it is true that many people today are so concerned about themselves as individuals, that they would put the concerns of the individual above the concerns of community, there is also the reality that many put the concerns of the community above the legitimate concerns of the individual. Enough so that many of the concerns of the individual can be labeled as individualism, or even radical individualism. Putting the concerns of the community above the concern of individual can be called communalism.

Often this communalism can can identify individuals that don't fit in, i.e. misfits, loners or those who simply don't identify with some of the beliefs of the community, and incorrectly name them as individualists. This can occur when somebody doesn't agree with the particular form of church government, or of specific doctrines that are hashed out differently in different traditions.

I've heard the charge against Martin Luther, for example, that he was guilty of individualism. But Luther wasn't somebody who wanted to leave the church, or who made the claim that he had no need for church. He wanted the church to come to a better understanding of what he thought the truth was. That he placed an importance on the individual that was not previously granted by the church does not mean that he believed in individualism over and above the community. The opposite extreme of communalism may have been the cause of the charge.

If a community adds rules or regulations that are not warranted by an orthodox understanding of the faith, and is willing to exclude or minimize those individuals who fail to come to the same understanding - even through no fault of their own - it may just be that the community has its own ism to deal with. So, a labeled individualism may in reality be communalism run amok. When understandings of a certain type are widespread just because most people believe in them, those who are on the fringes are often without a solution. Communalism is just as dangerous, if not more so, than individualism. A lone individual can fade out as irrelevant and might have no affect on others, but a community that forces its not-so-correct beliefs on everybody might do harm to many more individuals.

Cooperstown, Steroids and Bill James

Baseball stats entrepreneur Bill James, famous for his invention of new statistics and his ability to judge player ability based on those stats, has at long last commented on how steroids in baseball relates to the Hall of Fame. Read the four page .pdf file here. He believes that as we progress into the future, steroids will become a non-issue with respect to the Hall of Fame. He makes five basic arguments, in essence:

1. 1) Steroids essentially keep us young. Many people outside of sports are taking these, and most people in the future will be doing so as well as life-lengthening drugs evolve. With society using them, they will look back on our time and wonder what the fuss was all about. The steroids users of today will be looked at as pioneers of a better life.
   
2. 2) Some players who used steroids will make the Hall. Once these are discovered, an argument will arise to let the others in as well who were shunned.
3. 3) History is forgiving, and statistics endure. He uses arguments from other players' faults and how they are viewed over time.
4. 4) Old players play a large part in the Hall of Fame debate. They will not likely divide their ex-teammates into "users" and "non-users."
5. 5) For the longest time there were no baseball rules against steroids, if there were they weren't enforced, and with a majority of players using them, was it really "cheating"? How then could players be kept out? And a great quote: "With the passage of time, more people will come to understand that the commissioner’s periodic spasms of self-righteousness do not constitute baseball law."
   

I agree with his assessment and have held many of these sentiments for a while now. James doesn't say all of these things by moral conviction, necessarily, but by how the future will shape the argument as time passes.

In addition to what James contends about baseball's Hall of Fame, I think the same thing will occur with respect to the use of these types of drugs, whether by athletes or not, and the decriminalization of drugs will follow.

Another thing I think should be debated. If a majority of players were taking steroids, who had any advantage over who? Who had the advantage when Bonds went to bat against Clemens? If pitchers were using steroids to be better pitchers, why did offensive statistics increase during the "steroids era?" Could the statistical change be due to other factors? With the Manny Ramirez issue [Updated 07-30-09: David Ortiz was also named today], it is clear that performance enhancing drugs are still widespread, especially the ones undetectable by currently enforced urine tests.

Give the article a read. I think James has enough influence on baseball that the debate will change as a result.

This is cross-posted at my From the Bleachers baseball blog.

Friday Night Potpourri A Day Late

Random thoughts a day late:

• We heard rain in the kitchen the other night. The dishwasher was on. We ran, to find out that the entire counter was covered in water to the depth of the bullnosing, and water falling over the edge. It was coming from the drain vent in the back of the sink. After taking it apart, we found that a grape was tossed by the garbage disposal blades into the dishwasher drain opening and was stuck there. The size of the grape matched the opening exactly. The drain water was forced up and out the vent, which was pointing back to the counter and not into the sink. One in a million.
• Six degrees of connectedness. I had lunch today with somebody I met on Facebook. We had seven mutual friends, some from other parts of the country, most of whom have no connections to each other. That we could all know the same unconnected people is bizarre. Most of them we each knew in different ways. We had a lot in common, too. We started out our conversation with, "How in the world do you know all these same people?"
  
• Rickey Henderson will be enshrined into baseball's Hall of Fame this weekend. He is one of the all time greats, and I got to witness his entire career, most of it from the front row of the left field bleachers in Oakland. We loved him, and he loved us back. Simply amazing.
  
• I took my three sons for a walk around the block tonight with flashlights, the first time with our two year old. Way too funny.
  
• I was in Berkeley, CA today for a few hours. It's still a pretty strange place, but it has mellowed over the years from the 60's-80's wackiness. I went to school there in the early 80's when Reagan was in office. Constant cultural entertainment if nothing else.
• Moe's Books in Berkeley has a good selection of theology books. Check them out sometime.
  

Evangelical Twits

Bruce Gerencser at Bruce Droppings comments about John Piper's revelation that he has been anonymously twitting for a month to determine the spiritual effect it has on him. After a thorough investigation, Piper concludes that although tweeting has some grave dangers built in, it is worth the risk to him:

I’ve been tweeting anonymously for a month mainly to test its spiritual and family effects on me. In spite of all the dangers, it seems like a risk worth taking. “All things were created through Christ and for Christ” (Colossians 1:16). The world does not know it, but that is why Twitter exists and that’s why I Tweet.

Apparently there has been a debate going on within evangelicalism about the dangers and worthiness of social internet media like blogging, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Dangers? What are some of these dangers? Piper portrays one side of the debate:

These media tend to shorten attention spans, weaken discursive reasoning, lure people away from Scripture and prayer, disembody relationships, feed the fires of narcissism, cater to the craving for attention, fill the world with drivel, shrink the soul’s capacity for greatness, and make us second-handers who comment on life when we ought to be living it. So boycott them and write books (not blogs) about the problem.

And the other side?

Yes, there is truth in all of that, but instead of boycotting, try to fill these media with as much provocative, reasonable, Bible-saturated, prayerful, relational, Christ-exalting, truth-driven, serious, creative pointers to true greatness as you can.

The most interesting thing to me is how Twitter itself causes all these things. Notice Piper's words, and the relation between the subject and verbs, "These media tend to...", followed by each verb in the rest of the sentence. According to the first argument, the power of corruption is inherent in Twitter and the others themselves. Twitter itself has power over people's hearts and actions. Piper reinforces this in his leaning toward the other side, "...there is truth in all of that, but..." This is one example of the evangelical mind holding a suspicion of God's creation itself. We need to hold God's creation at arm's length and question it? Hath God not said? Twitter is simply a bunch of electrons going around and around and giving off light from the screen being read. There's evil inherent in that? The bible's admonitions that an idol is nothing, that everything created by God is good, that there is nothing in itself that is evil, that each man should be fully persuaded in his own mind is still a stumbling block in the modern evangelical mind.

Bruce sums all this up with an observation of irony:

The wacky world of Evangelical Christianity. A God creating Twitter and now a debate over whether or not one should tweet.

Now here's a question to ponder: is there inherent evil in the evangelical mind that it should think this way about God's creation?

Losing The Spark

Originally posted August 8, 2007:

Recently a friend of mine was talking about "losing the spark" in his Christian walk. I've heard this or expressions very similar to it used as a description of an individuals spiritual deterioration over time. The idea, which I've heard in more than just a few sermons and in popular evangelical literature, goes something like this.

"Have you lost the spark in your Christian walk? Remember how it was when you first became a Christian? When you were filled with joy and you had such a great zeal for the faith? When you couldn't wait to tell everybody in the world about your conversion? When you were on fire for the Lord? And now you're just living a mundane day to day existence. You need to get the spark back in your life." It's not uncommon for this to be tied to the verse in Revelation where one of the seven churches lost its first love. It's about trying to make things the way they used to be.

I always hate hearing this kind of idea, because it's most often assumed that this "original spark" thing is simply a part of everybody's conversion experience. Well, I didn't have any such experience, and I think that might be the same for a great many Christians out there. My conversion was marked by absolute terror in the idea of eternal hell for my sin before God. Further, I was involved in legalistic churches who only made things far worse by adding man's rules to plague an already shaken conscience. Most of my first several years' experience of Christianity was in struggling with false teachings of men and wrangling with ideas and trying to carry everybody's logic through to conclusion. I was tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Discernment was learned in the school of hard knocks. My biggest spiritual wars were with those who claim the name of Christ, but were legalistic wackos and an embarrassment to Christianity. Any "persecution" I endured from family and friends was mostly a reaction to severe wackoism of my spiritual mentors. I didn't discover this until later on.

Now I believe I have matured in the faith to the point that I see love, contentment, zeal and the rest as long term projects of God that use the mundane things of everyday life as the proving instruments of perseverance. I'm not going to take anything away from anybody who had a sudden spark kind of conversion, as it can be legitimate, but I see that kind of thing more in the seeds of the sower that fell on stony ground. Those seeds sprang up with immediate joy, but were soon baked by the sun of trials. The seed that falls on the good ground won't grow up as fast because it has good soil to grow roots downward. It will be the best plant in the long run because of its roots.

Friday Night Potpourri

Random mush before midnight:

• Got into a fender bender this week while picking up my son from summer school in the school parking lot. Somebody backed into me, denting my bumper and breaking the headlight. I was able to describe the accident to their insurance company from 3,000 miles away while we both had Google Satellite open. That really helped. Now for the estimate, body shop and rental car. Grrrrr.
  
• It's been 100 degrees here all week amid a very mild summer. We live close to the water so it's a bit cooler here than in central county.
• A friend from here who has been living in Texas for a few years is visiting another friend who lives in San Francisco. He's complaining on Facebook about the 59 degree weather there being too cold. We'll be right over...
• I've noticed a drastic drop in yellow jacket population here in California over the last few years. I hate those things; they are evil. A bee-keeper friend says they're not native and we should eliminate them at every opportunity. I'd love to see them gone.
• We're black thumbs here. We killed the back lawn, the front porch plant, the way back yard, and the front lawn is mostly yellow. We've killed a few of our kids' take-home plant projects. The front porch plant was easy, dumping the dried contents into the greens can and the plastic pot into the recycle.
  

R. Scott Clark Responds - Baptism: A Third View (Part 10)

Read all posts in this series here.

I gave in Parts 8 and 9 two accounts, respectively, of extreme declarations about baptism. Mark Dever wrote that the baptizing of an infant was a sin. R. Scott Clark wrote that not baptizing infants was a sin. I received a reply (and a followup to another comment) from Dr. Clark himself in the comments section of Part 9. I will use Part 10 as my response to Dr. Clark:

Dr. Clark,

Thank you for your comment and personal response. I'd like to clarify what I wrote in my earlier post in case I created a bit of misunderstanding. To answer your question, I actually find nothing at all "belittling and accusatory" about what Mark and you said to each other. I don't disagree with what you said in your comment, and I appreciate how you deal with each other in your relationship. A good dose of needling one another, in seriousness yet also in charity or as humor is healthy. I wish there were more relationships in the church like it.

However, my post had nothing to do with what you said to each other. It's what you said about the majority of American Christians in your series on churchless evangelicals. You stated in no uncertain terms that Christian parents who refuse to baptize covenant children are sinning. You also made clear that Baptist and baptistic churches are not true churches. You noted your own narrow acceptance even within Reformed circles. You even noted that Baptists had similar conclusions about you that you have about them. You also made implication, by including part 3 of your series along with parts 1 and 2, that Baptists somehow shared the same status as autonomous gnostics and church tramps.

Both you and Dever are popular and influential leaders within the evangelical church. Your doctrinal conclusions affect a great many people. A good number of Christians, and especially new ones, can be greatly persuaded or affected by the use of the word "sin." People take sin seriously. When attached to baptism, and all the other doctrines that are intimately related to baptism, including the true church, true salvation, the Lord's Table, church membership, covenant, one's own children, etc., divisions can occur that tear even families apart. People do strange things that they regret later. Especially prone are new Christians who are tossed to and fro by doctrines. I know all these things all too well in my own life, and the lives of many other Christians I have known.

Proselytes sometimes become twice the children of hell as their teachers. (Please, I'm only using this as an analogy!) They take what their teachers teach and put them into practice to a greater extreme. As much as the following men or groups have positively influenced my life, I've had my share of MacArthurites, Westminsterites, Piperites, Rushdoonyites, Chantryites and Campingites to frustrate my life. I expect it is the same for many others out there and for these doctrines you believe. I know how doctrines that divide and diminish are used by those in "authority" and the suffering they cause, even when good intentions are behind them.

Between what you and Dever have written in what I have linked to, obedience to the Great Commission, the definition of a true church, being in God's covenant and being a true Christian - among other things - all hang upon your opposing and often mutually exclusive views of baptism. That you take a small point in one of your own church's confessions and with it de-covenant a majority of America (I seriously doubt God has reached the same conclusion) shows, I think, that something is happening in reverse. Jesus said that all the law and prophets hung on the two great commandments - and not the other way around.

My series on baptism here deals with just this type of mutually exclusive thinking and its affect on people. Your two groups of writings are merely examples of what I've been saying all along, and that is why I commented on them. That each of you calls the other's practice sin - with many families caught in the crossfire - I believe is accusatory, not to each other, but to multitudes of people who want to do the right thing before God, and to relegate people to non-church, non-baptised or non-covenant status is, I believe, belittling. I hope this clarifies my thoughts.

Sincerely,

Steve Scott

Part 9 .

R. Scott Clark: Not Baptizing Children Is A Sin And Your Church Isn't A Real One - Baptism: A Third View (Part 9)

Read all posts in this series here.

In a related proposition to what I linked to in Part 8, where Mark Dever called infant baptism a sin, R. Scott Clark in his series on churchless evangelicals makes the claim in his Part 3 that churches who don't practice infant baptism (i.e. the majority of churches in America) aren't true churches. He further states:

To many such a thought is impossible. It was quite difficult for me to reach this conclusion but I didn’t reach it carelessly or quickly. For most of my life in the Reformed world since 1980 I shared the assumption that, though I disagreed with my evangelical brothers and sisters over the question of baptism, their congregations were still churches. It’s only been in the last few years that the other shoe has dropped.

Additionally, in another post at 9Marks when he replies to Dever, Clark states that not baptizing covenant children is a sin:

What I'm about to say is not by way of retaliation. What I'm about to say here is what I've said to Mark privately. As a principled paedobaptist, it is not too much to say that believing parents who refuse to baptize covenant children are sinning.

So, putting the beliefs of Dever and Clark together, beliefs that are mutually exclusive, to claim to be a Christian at all is to sin against God. It doesn't matter what you believe about baptism - it's wrong anyway you cut it. Either you're not a Christian or your church isn't a real one.

Of course, if you believe both of these men are wrong, you don't have to be subject to their belittling and accusatory ivory tower rhetoric. I'm glad my conscience is finally free from the likes of men like Dever and Clark. I believe in water baptism, just not the way they do. I accept the practice of each of them, just not what they think about not practicing baptism those ways.

Part 8 . . . . . . . . Part 10

Size Matters, Church Wise

Michael Bell, occasional contributor to the Internet Monk blog, has a fascinating statistical analysis of church sizes. Be prepared to do the math. It's worth the read.

Friday Night Potpourri

Junk and stuff for a Friday night with good weather:

• I watched Johnathan Sanchez of the San Francisco Giants pitch a no-hitter on TV tonight. I had a ticket for last night, and my family has tickets for tomorrow night. Not the best part of a sandwich to not eat. Congratulations anyway!
  
• I had a business call with somebody from North Carolina tonight. He asked about our rainfall here in California. Uhhhm, we don't have any from May to October, I told him. Or very little. He said he visited the East Bay (Oakland area) several years ago, and it was cold, so he had to wear a jacket in summer. Uh, yes to that, too. Living here is weird because San Francisco is famous for its fog and cold evenings, yet California is famous for sunshine and hot weather. Outsiders can't figure it out.
• I understand that it was the 500th birthday of John Calvin. I'm unemployed so I can't even afford that many candles.
• I've written several posts on this blog about the dog doo on my front lawn. I figured out it's really cats.
• Do a Google Maps view of your neighborhood, then type in "church" in the search box. Interesting.
• For Father's Day I recieved some CD's: Foreigner's Double Vision, The Who's The Who By Numbers and UFO's Strangers In The Night. Excellent all.
• More pages are falling out of my bible than ever. I've had it for almost 30 years. Time for a new one?
  

Scripture, American Style (5)

What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountain and go and search for the one that is straying? tell the ninety-nine, "He went out from us, but he was not really of us; for if he had been of us, he would have remained with us; but he went out, in order that it might be shown that he was not of us." (Matthew 18:12, ref. 1 John 2:19)

Read an explanation of Scripture, American Style here.

Read entire series here.

(#4) . . . . . . . . (#6)

Strikethrough and red letter text technique courtesy of Alan Knox's "Scripture...As We Live It" series.

Mark Dever: Infant Baptism Is Sin - Baptism: A Third View (Part 8)

Read all posts in this series here.

I came across in the blog archives of an old friend of mine, Alex Chediak, a post dealing with comments made Mark Dever of 9Marks, stating that as a pastor, infant baptism was one of the things (see #11) that he could not live with. He both in this post and in a further clarification, calls both the theology and practice of infant baptism a sin, although an "unintentional" one. Quoting:

I certainly do not think my paedobaptist brethren are intentionally sinning in this. In fact, they even think that they are obeying God so, short of them changing their understanding of the Bible's teaching on this, I can't expect any "repentance," because they lovingly but firmly disagree with the Baptist understanding of this.

The curious point for me is that Dever "can't expect" any repentance from paedobaptists. Huh? One of the nine marks of Dever's group is the practice of church discipline. I'm curious to know if, as a pastor, Dever is consistent with people in his own congregation in this same expectation of repentance over things which they may disagree with their church doctrines. Could an "unrepentant" paedobaptist fellowship at Dever's church? Let's say a Presbyterian goes there only because it may be the only good church in the area, specific doctrine of baptism aside. Fellowship? Membership? Partaking in the Lord's table? Why? Why not? Somebody who was baptized as an infant wasn't baptized correctly, therefore wasn't baptized at all, therefore can't take the Lord's table, therefore he who doesn't eat My flesh and drink My blood has no part in Me, therefore isn't a real Christian, therefore...

Some of the comments in all these posts really show how divided the body is over such things, and how easily some people are really willing to anathematize over it. I've already pointed this out in previous parts in this series. And people like Dever paint themselves into a corner with their reluctance to take their presuppositions to their logical conclusions.

Part 7 . . . . . . . . Part 9

Blogroll Disclaimer

Blogroll Disclaimer:

All the sites that are linked to in my left margin under "BLOGROLL" and "OTHER LINKS" are there because I want them to be there. They don't necessarily reflect my views or opinions, but then of course I give you as my readers the intellectual credit for already knowing that. I don't often receive guilt-by-association accusations from my readers, and unless I get really big like iMonk or Team Pyro, I don't expect that to start soon. Some of those linked I agree with to a good degree, some I used to agree with them but no longer do. Some of them I even have there as somebody I disagree with that I like to write about disagreeing with them. A few I no longer read but am too lazy to delete the link.

Blogroll Disclaimer Disclaimer:

The fact that I have a blogroll disclaimer in no way as much as implies that I need a blogroll disclaimer. I have one simply because I sat down in my chair I got from a Home Express closeout sale - one with a cheap yellow cushion - and wrote it. In an effort to keep from writing a blogroll disclaimer disclaimer disclaimer, I simply note that bandwidth and time considerations are helpful in avoiding this. Please read my blog often, and if you want to send money, please email me first. If you give enough, I might add a PayPal widget or something. Thank you.

Got Funeral Tickets?

The Young Man No Church Wants

Shortly after attending my first church, I met a young man in a bible study. I figured he was new, and remembering how somebody befriended me when I first showed up, I decided to forward the favor to the new guy. Little did I know what he would be like, but it's safe to say that had I known from the beginning, I wouldn't have taken the time. That's really too bad, but I'm glad I knew nothing, as that gave him a chance and changed me as well. You see, he's one of those people that had a problem with church people caring about him. The following is only what I remember about him from my environment back then.

He was in his mid-20's when I met him, and he had a rough upbringing. His dad split when he was a kid, and his unskilled housewife mom taught the kids to steal, lie, cheat and any other thing to be able to live. He eventually found himself into new age spirituality and psychedelic drugs. He drank and smoked. He became a gay prostitute. He had a fetish for older women, and married a woman over 30 years his elder. He worked a night job with no public contact, and his wardrobe consisted mainly of alcohol and cigarette t-shirts he accumulated from gathering product coupons from his vices.

Then something big happened. He and his wife heard the gospel and converted to Christianity. They were told to attend a church. They did, Marlboro and Budweiser t-shirts and all. But rather than help them with their new faith, the church concentrated on the oddities and outward appearances in their lives. They were told to divorce immediately because of the difference in their ages, that their marriage was a terrible sin. They were so overwhelmed with dictations about societal norms that they left for another church. Same thing happened there. And so it was at a number of other churches. By the time I met him, his wife had left him for somebody else and he was church hopping by himself.

He was a peculiar character to me, for sure. He had different ideas about many things. As I got to know him over the span of a few weeks, I learned much about his oddities. I was too afraid to "confront" him on the same issues that others had, myself being afraid of confrontation. I'm glad I had that fear because it might have pushed him away instead of helping him out. I only knew him for a short time, and not too long after telling me he was looking for a new apartment, I called him only to find out his number was no longer in service. He stopped going to that church and I never saw him again.

I occasionally wonder where he is and if he's still in the faith. I may never find out, but knowing him taught me that there are good and bad ways to treat people based on the little things. Did the way that all those church people treated him make a difference?

Infantile Trust In God

Occasionally I hear trust in God compared to an infant who is in complete reliance upon its caretaker. An infant cannot do anything for itself, but receives everything from others. This trust, though, is completely passive. Is this real faith?

I've also heard numerous times within Protestantism that failure to "pray without ceasing", as in every minute of the day, or failure to be continually in a state of giving thanks is tantamount to practical atheism.

What, then, could be said about an infantile trust? Can there be anything said for a passive, non-conscious, non-active trust in God? When we seem to have no faith, is there a faith behind the faith? If yesterday I trusted God for salvation in an eternal sense, yet go most of today without even thinking about God, could I not realize tomorrow that even my inaction is a form of faith? After all, yesterday I trusted that I would still have faith tomorrow. And I found that yesterday's faith carried me through today.

Hypocrisy and Self-Control

Do you use words that you don't allow your kids to use? Do you drink, but not allow your kids to do the same? Any number of other things? Are you a hypocrite for such double standards? I occasionally hear this from people.

But this is not necessarily hypocrisy. I drive a car, but don't let my kids do the same. I use power tools, knives, chemicals, etc. I also use words that my kids can't. It's not hypocrisy when the use of things have to do with the varied levels of self-control possessed by the different people in view. There are certain words I don't let my kids use, not because the words are bad in and of themselves, but because of kids' tendencies to abuse them. I know a number of families that shun their kids' use of words like "stupid," "hate," "idiot" and others like them. Most often it seems, the kids use them to attack other people (i.e. "you're so stupid!"), whereas adults tend to use them more appropriately (i.e. "I did stupid things when I was younger.") Some words and acts require a great deal of tact and self-control in using them, and exercising self-control in the right situation is hardly wrong.

A Peek Inside A Church

I've been reading Alan Knox's The Assembling of the Church blog for a while now, and have been impressed with his handling of 1 Corinthians 11-14 and Hebrews 10:25 in his ecclesiology. He contends that the church meeting should be open for input from all those in attendance for the edification of all. I've always wondered what such a church meeting would look like, how it would feel, what it could accomplish.

In a related topic about my posts on sermon-centered church living, Cathy noted in her comment, "And, we all know what happens when the floor is opened for sharing--oftentimes, one person monopolizes it, or the topics are so off-topic that it becomes laughable, etc." This has been my experience, too, but I've always wondered why this couldn't be kept decently and in order.

Well, Alan posted earlier today a letter from somebody who visited their church explaining in their own words the experience at that church. It doesn't appear to have the monopolizing or the off-topic rants. Read about the church Alan assembles with by clicking here.

God and His People: Limiting the Use of Biblical Metaphors

The bible uses quite a number of metaphors to describe the relationship between God (and/or Christ) and His people. This is because the relationship is complex. Many metaphors are used, as analogies, simply because this relationship can't be described in its fullness. Every analogy fails at some point, so each metaphor has its limitations.

So when we restrict the number of metaphors used in describing this relationship, we do violence to this relationship. Off the top of my head, here are some metaphors describing our relationship to God:

God is our God, we are His people. God is a Father, we are His children. Christ is the vine, we are the branches. God/Christ is the Lord/King, we are His subjects. Jesus is the Master, we are His disciples. Jesus is Master, we are servants. Christ is the head, the church is the body, with individuals being members of the body. Christ is the bridegroom, the church is the bride. Christ is the heir, we are co-heirs. We are brethren, Christ is our elder brother. Christ is the temple, we are the stones. We are the temple, the apostles are the foundation, and Christ is the cornerstone. Christ is the shepherd, we are the sheep (individuality) and Christ is the shepherd, we are the flock (community).

Some, like the high-church types, limit our relationship to maybe a few of these metaphors. Others, to quote a pastor friend of mine, "like Rome, almost drop the metaphor completely and assume a genuine ontological reality - the most obvious example is what they do with the 'body of Christ.' It's a metaphor, not an ontological statement about the extension of Jesus' incarnation!" Much of what goes on in Protestant theology, as well, limits our existence to the confines of the church, and its few metaphors, when the greater applications of metaphors suggest that the kingdom, and our relationship to God in it, is far greater than the church.

Re-posted from original, dated May 20, 2007

Scripture, American Style (4)

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16) (Genesis 1:1)

Read an explanation of Scripture, American Style here.

Read entire series here.

(#3) . . . . . . . . (#5)

Strikethrough and red letter text technique courtesy of Alan Knox's "Scripture...As We Live It."

Life Happens

...time and chance happeneth to them all. Ecclesiastes 9:11 KJV

I had a conversation with a friend the other day, and we talked about how life progresses. We both are in our mid 40's, and have each discovered things about life now, and how we have passions for those things that probably wouldn't have been as pronounced when we were younger. Things can happen at a place earlier in life that are changed by a big event. We wondered why some things take place that seem so irrelevant to later things, yet those things delay the others.

Life happens.

That's what. We simply have no other way to describe these things. Why God throws us a curve or forces us to change tracks against the red switching light, nobody here knows. Why did I sit at that pizza parlor (that doesn't exist anymore) with those people (who I haven't seen in 20 years, and likely never will again) for several years without any record existing of our time there? What did it prove? It seems to be a waste of time for what I'm doing now. What will come of it?

Who knows. Such are the mysteries of life.

The Sermon-Centered Life - My Comments

I received by far the most concentrated grouping of comments here on this blog on my last post, The Sermon-Centered Life. Thanks to all who commented.

One comment in particular struck me as telling of my overall experience in the Reformed circles of Christianity. Scott wrote in his comment, "I have issues with people saying things like 'the pulpit is sacred' because the pulpit's not in the bible." It is at this point that I'd like to suggest that the pulpit, the sermon, Sunday school, bible studies, men's breakfasts, and the like, are traditions well established in American religion. Many who are well versed in Reformation theology use the term, "Word and Sacraments" as what much focus should be in our churches. I take "Word" to mean "sermon" in general, because that's the medium we have most accepted for the preaching of Scripture, and its context is usually given in terms of the Sunday church meeting. Limiting the meaning of these terms to how they are practiced in the church as we know it poses a danger to our ability to confirm what is good. Anything outside of this meaning and we create an environment ripe for judgment of others simply because they haven't come to the same conclusions about religious life as we have.

In closing, I have a certain respect for tradition, and don't exclude it's place in our lives. Everything we do more than once is tradition. It is inescapable. But it's when we place this tradition in a position of exclusivity, we have a problem.

The Sermon-Centered Life

Over the last so many years I've tried to look at how we do religion and compare it with what the bible says. After all, as a Protestant I'm supposed to believe in Sola Scriptura and also in the Berean Spirit, where everything is searched in the Scriptures to see if it is so. So, here's my question: How did the Sunday sermon become so central to many of our religious lives?

In the Protestant Reformation, the reformers promoted the preaching of the word. Many of the Puritans placed their pulpits up on the wall, above the congregation, to emphasize the importance of preaching. This spirit has continued down to today when the sermon is still held in high regard. Okay, this is fine.

Now if I want to be really honest here, I don't see the doctrine of the pulpit in Scripture, nor do I see the centrality of the sermon. Off the top of my head, and without having read the entire New Testament in one sitting prior to this post, most instances of preaching are to unbelievers, whether to unbelieving Jews or to Gentiles. Yes, Paul talks about preaching and Timothy is instructed to preach the word in season and out of season. But of the four things the early church devoted itself to that many of today's pastors use as a basis for church essentials, namely the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer (Acts 2:42), preaching isn't one of them. The church meeting shown in 1 Corinthians 12-14 doesn't include a sermon.

Don't get me wrong here. Preaching is scriptural. The sermon may have developed more as a tradition than not, but a tradition that isn't forbidden is fine. I'm fine with sermons and preaching. But what I'm trying to get at is why it's often so central, so much more important than all other things in the church, so often exclusionary of other things. Many times I have found myself thinking, "Gee, I'm a bit late to church for whatever reason, but at least I didn't miss the sermon." If the sermon goes late, sometimes other activities can be cut short for the sake of preaching. People don't often ask how the praying or singing or offering went, they ask how the sermon went. We often make recordings of only the sermon. To many, the sermon is the most important thing in church, and even the thing around which all other Christian life is lived. It can solve our problems like nothing else. It can make or break the reputation of a pastor.

Years ago I spent time in several circles where the most spiritual among us passed boxes of sermon tapes around. Sermons were everywhere. Listen to one on the way to work, one at lunch, one on the way home. There are serious sermon junkies out there. Now with .mp3 files and on-line listening available, we can listen to anybody anytime. I've known people who went to churches that the only thing going for it was the preaching. In looking for churches, some will put the preaching as foremost in making a decision which to attend.

So again, how did the Sunday sermon become so central to many of our religious lives? Anybody else wonder this?

Scripture, American Style (3)

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself be examined thoroughly by the elders in accordance with the church's doctrinal statement and by-laws, and if he measures up, so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. (1 Corinthians 11:27-28)

Read an explanation of Scripture, American Style here.

Read entire series here.

(#2) . . . . . . . . (#4)

Strikethrough and red letter text technique courtesy of Alan Knox's "Scripture...As We Live It."

Re-Thinking Church Membership (Part 27) - A Sermon On Membership In The Church - by Kevin Johnson

Kevin Johnson at Prophezei, puts an mp3 of one of his sermons in a blog post. (Listen to the actual sermon here. He also prints a disclaimer: "Warning: Listen at your own risk.") He preaches on what makes one a member of a church - being there and participating. Simply being a functional Christian implies that one is already a member of that church. He also explains how his church creates their membership roll:

We recognize you for who you are in Christ. You want to be a member of our church? Come. Take communion. Sing the hymns. Pray with us. Live with us. Do it on a regular basis. And we will consider you a member. We will recognize you as a member. And we'll even do it whether you agree with that or not. Because this is not about an individual decision to join the church. This is about the church being the church. So, if you come, and you take communion, and you do it on a regular basis, and you give to the church, and you worship...I'm sorry, you're gonna be put on the membership list.

Pretty simple, huh? He also gives a challenge to those who believe in Sola Scriptura: Where in the bible does it say to require an additional oath to become a member of the church? The sermon is average sermon length, I'm guessing 30-40 minutes.

Read parts 1-10 here, parts 11-20 here, and parts 21-30 here.

Part 26 . . . . . . . . Part 28

Blogging Update And Other Personal News

I haven't been able to give blogging the attention I desire lately. Many things are going on right now, like looking for work and some larger life issues. I also just came in to sweep the dining room floor and Mrs. Scott said I might find the broom and dustpan on the back lawn. Well, the broom anyway. Small kids, you know.

Some of the larger life issues I'm not going to explain until they work themselves out. One really cool thing today was I got a complimentary bamboo back scratcher from a manufacturer's booth at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference, in San Francisco, to replace the one that one of my kids broke a couple of years ago. It wasn't quite the highlight of my day, but close.

Announcing A New Children's Study Bible

Announcement:

New from Maranathema Press: The New Children's Instant Obedience Study Bible

This revolutionary bible for children is every parent's dream come true. It addresses the core need behind every child's struggle with obedience: authority. While every other so-called Christian child rearing strategy proposes man-cent