Ever wonder how a popular evangelist or other public figure can so passionately convince you of a particular point of view and then at the end of the show have a disclaimer that casts doubt on all of the preceding message? I find it hilarious at times the lengths organizations will go through to limit their legal liabilities. The message and messenger come off so strong and resilient but in the end, the disclaimer will put them both in their place. "The preceding message is only the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of (fill in here)." In other words, the organization sponsoring the event will hold you or anyone else at arms length like a dirty cleaning cloth when it comes to your reputation in their eyes. Here's one from a financial column recommended by non other than Bill Gates on his Twitter feed;
"Information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but not guaranteed." Well then, if it's not guaranteed, it could be spoiled! I had better not feed it to even my pets let alone my loved ones!
I suppose there is some good to be found in all this ironic behavior in the corporate world.
Humility
Apart from God's Word, there are no guarantees. God needs no disclaimers, ever. Disclaimers, although only really used as a protective measure from lawsuits, point to man's fallibility. Even the most highly respected, learned and reliable among us needs a disclaimer, we're only human.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
A Personal Invitation
We see it everyday. In line at the grocery store, in our email in-box or on our Facebook page. It's all around us in this capitalistic society. Advertisements. You are invited to buy, join, try, attend, you name it, they have tried it, to get you to fork out your money or time for their product, services or causes. We get commercial hellos at our Walmarts and McDonalds, plastic smiles from complete strangers wishing us a good day, thanking us, making us feel "special". I often joke with my wife after receiving such a commercial well-wish; "they didn't really mean that". It's tempting to take these shallow, common and inexpensive salutations to heart when one is lonely or recovering from some emotionally stressful event or vulnerable in some way. But, in the end we realize, "they didn't really mean that". Only coming from our loved ones do these social niceties take on any real meaning.
The church, I believe, can become like a Walmart. In order to increase our numbers, we fall prey to these secular marketing principles at times. We could say, even with insincere motives, 'the Gospel is being preached so it doesn't really matter'. But, we have to ask ourselves, did we come to belief and trust in Jesus through a public invitation tacked to a bulletin board? Or did we reach out to a Person? Did we receive a personal invitation? Is the Gospel a personal invitation from God to join Him? If it isn't, then it would be too easy to tell yourself- "He didn't really mean that for me".
Today, make sure you don't greet or wish someone well without sincerity. Especially at church. Be a real Christian from now on.
The church, I believe, can become like a Walmart. In order to increase our numbers, we fall prey to these secular marketing principles at times. We could say, even with insincere motives, 'the Gospel is being preached so it doesn't really matter'. But, we have to ask ourselves, did we come to belief and trust in Jesus through a public invitation tacked to a bulletin board? Or did we reach out to a Person? Did we receive a personal invitation? Is the Gospel a personal invitation from God to join Him? If it isn't, then it would be too easy to tell yourself- "He didn't really mean that for me".
Today, make sure you don't greet or wish someone well without sincerity. Especially at church. Be a real Christian from now on.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Always learning but knowing nothing
These days we're surrounded by information due to our connectivity. We have access to a world of information through the internet at our fingertips. We can now carry around that power of connectivity with us wherever we go in our smart-phones and PDAs. No longer do we need to make a trip to the local library if we wish to research an interest or assignment. We can accomplish in a matter of minutes what used to take our parents days or even years to find. Knowledge has become a commodity in our connected world. People want to know, and want it now. Knowledge is the fuel of a society bent on self identity and the power of humanistic philosophy. Without it, they lose control. And with the free flow of information comes misinformation. Conspiracies abound on the internet that wouldn't survive the light of day anywhere else and root themselves firmly in the minds of the gullible before those of a nobler agenda have a chance to refute. The world as a result is becoming more polarized. Even within families and churches, politics is off limits because of the passions on each side. Hatred rules the hearts of those that should know better.
Jesus saw this day 2000 years ago. We're headed towards the time Jesus spoke of in Matthew 10:21
"And brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. And the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. " This polarizing effect of misinformation will eventually take it's toll on mankind culminating in these horrid pictures of treachery Jesus tells of.
So how do we shunt the effects all this information we are exposed to on a daily basis has on us? Is the answer simply unplugging our computers and HD televisions and checking out from modern society? Disengaging from the political theater and just letting the whole mess collapse on itself?
None of the above.
Though tempting it might be, we need to be like a common mineral, salt.
Jesus saw this day 2000 years ago. We're headed towards the time Jesus spoke of in Matthew 10:21
"And brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. And the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. " This polarizing effect of misinformation will eventually take it's toll on mankind culminating in these horrid pictures of treachery Jesus tells of.
So how do we shunt the effects all this information we are exposed to on a daily basis has on us? Is the answer simply unplugging our computers and HD televisions and checking out from modern society? Disengaging from the political theater and just letting the whole mess collapse on itself?
None of the above.
Though tempting it might be, we need to be like a common mineral, salt.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Why I keep the "saint" nic
I know, that's a little play on words in the title but I couldn't resist. No one has asked yet, but I need to explain why I think I can put a "saint" in front of my name. It's important that no one thinks I have canonized myself as an equal to the great Saints of the Catholic church or one to be venerated in any way. It provokes curiosity especially in those that are familiar with the Catholic treatment of the title whether they are Catholic or not and seems to be out of line to take that sense of the title for yourself.
It truly is a matter of faith to carry that word in front of your name around with you. And since "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God" we can naturally see what the Bible says a saint is. Looking to scripture, we see that the word translated saint is the Greek ἅγιος hag'-ee-os. It's root curiously is from ἅγος hagos which means "an awful thing". It has several meanings, sacred (physically pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially consecrated): - (most) holy (one, thing) [Strongs]. It carries a sense according to the dictionaries and simply put, a cleaned up person.
Now we're getting somewhere we can all as born-again Christians relate to. It's a short neat little word that says "an awful sinner cleaned up by God's Grace." One tiny word that contains the entirety of the Gospel message in it, amazing. So, in the general sense, we are all saints if we are Christians. And yet we are called to be saints as well. So the title is bigger than we are and yet given to us by God in scripture. Rather than list the numerous passages here, I invite you to do a word search in the New Testament and read them for yourselves.
A good article with a Catholic point of view I would recommend is here.
Bible references you can look up: (Rom 1:7,1 Cor 1:2,Acts 9:13,Acts 9:32, Acts 9:41, Acts 26:10, Rom 8:27, Rom 12:13, Rom 15:25, Rom 15:26, Rom 16:15, 1 Cor 16:15, 2 Cor 1:1, 2 Cor 9:12, 2 Cor 13:13, Eph 1:1, Eph 4:12, Phil 1:1, Phil 4:2, Col 1:2, Rev 22:21)
It truly is a matter of faith to carry that word in front of your name around with you. And since "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God" we can naturally see what the Bible says a saint is. Looking to scripture, we see that the word translated saint is the Greek ἅγιος hag'-ee-os. It's root curiously is from ἅγος hagos which means "an awful thing". It has several meanings, sacred (physically pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially consecrated): - (most) holy (one, thing) [Strongs]. It carries a sense according to the dictionaries and simply put, a cleaned up person.
Now we're getting somewhere we can all as born-again Christians relate to. It's a short neat little word that says "an awful sinner cleaned up by God's Grace." One tiny word that contains the entirety of the Gospel message in it, amazing. So, in the general sense, we are all saints if we are Christians. And yet we are called to be saints as well. So the title is bigger than we are and yet given to us by God in scripture. Rather than list the numerous passages here, I invite you to do a word search in the New Testament and read them for yourselves.
A good article with a Catholic point of view I would recommend is here.
Bible references you can look up: (Rom 1:7,1 Cor 1:2,Acts 9:13,Acts 9:32, Acts 9:41, Acts 26:10, Rom 8:27, Rom 12:13, Rom 15:25, Rom 15:26, Rom 16:15, 1 Cor 16:15, 2 Cor 1:1, 2 Cor 9:12, 2 Cor 13:13, Eph 1:1, Eph 4:12, Phil 1:1, Phil 4:2, Col 1:2, Rev 22:21)
Not My Will, But Thine
It's been an interesting life, these past seven years. And I have learned some invaluable life and key spiritual lessons that I would not have understood without going through the things I did. I'm not unique in this regard, for I know God teaches in this manner, but I feel I need to share with someone out there those things that may be helpful when confronted with seeming impossible circumstances where there seems no truly "right" thing to do. There are some solid principles that God gives us through scripture and daily guidance through His Spirit that will guide your heart in making hard decisions. Now, there are a multitude of counselors out there that one could go to for advice in these matters, but I think we all have a story to tell. We are all useful to a certain extent in the Kingdom. So here is mine.
The first principle is that if you have accepted Christ as your savior you have become a child of God. Rom 8:14 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. "
It's important to have the first principle our identity in Christ.
The second principle is related to the first: You have a spiritual authority as a son of God. You are royalty. Rom 8:17 "And if we are children, then we are heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; so that if we suffer with Him, we may also be glorified together. " It's important to know we have a glorious future. A rich one in complete harmony with God and each other.
The third principle is that anything we possess here in this life is expendable for the latter, even your honor if need be. "...so that if we suffer with Him...". The only thing that isn't expendable is your faith. That is to be guarded with your life. 1Ti 6:20-21 "O Timothy, guard the Deposit, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of falsely-named science,
which some professing have erred concerning the faith. " MKJV
With these three, we can approach our Father in prayer and ask for His guidance. My last major life decision culminated after loosely following these principles. I was faced with giving up a passion of mine in order to promote growth in a ministry. It was even against the advice of my good friend and Pastor. I would have to sacrifice my position in order to promote another more suitable. That's hard for a man to do to himself. In our sports minded society that would be branded a loser. Not just one that played hard at the game and was beaten, there's an honor even for that. But one who has willingly given up his place for the sake of peace and unity. With no fight or malice, but with blessings. Recognizing that God is in control of circumstances, even those that seem to be against you at the time. You might have to look like a loser.
More on this at a later time.
The first principle is that if you have accepted Christ as your savior you have become a child of God. Rom 8:14 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. "
It's important to have the first principle our identity in Christ.
The second principle is related to the first: You have a spiritual authority as a son of God. You are royalty. Rom 8:17 "And if we are children, then we are heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; so that if we suffer with Him, we may also be glorified together. " It's important to know we have a glorious future. A rich one in complete harmony with God and each other.
The third principle is that anything we possess here in this life is expendable for the latter, even your honor if need be. "...so that if we suffer with Him...". The only thing that isn't expendable is your faith. That is to be guarded with your life. 1Ti 6:20-21 "O Timothy, guard the Deposit, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of falsely-named science,
which some professing have erred concerning the faith. " MKJV
With these three, we can approach our Father in prayer and ask for His guidance. My last major life decision culminated after loosely following these principles. I was faced with giving up a passion of mine in order to promote growth in a ministry. It was even against the advice of my good friend and Pastor. I would have to sacrifice my position in order to promote another more suitable. That's hard for a man to do to himself. In our sports minded society that would be branded a loser. Not just one that played hard at the game and was beaten, there's an honor even for that. But one who has willingly given up his place for the sake of peace and unity. With no fight or malice, but with blessings. Recognizing that God is in control of circumstances, even those that seem to be against you at the time. You might have to look like a loser.
More on this at a later time.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Moral Morass and Apple Theology
Could we be observing the beginning of the end of Apple mania that has prevailed the techgeek world ever since the iPod was born? If Apple falls on it's face over the "Slate", where are all their glassy eyed faithful going to turn? Will they be left to wandering the streets at night, sleeping under bridges or worse, checking into a Microsoft Store for a morsel of gadgetry? It's a horrid picture, seeing this tech cult fall apart under the unrelenting light of Google. Google? It makes you snicker just saying the word. But it has taken on such power. A straight laced accountant can utter the word in a Wall Street firm's meeting on the 112 floor conference room and be seen as tech-savvy. Or maybe it's just the anti-Apple-ite dream of their downfall and humbling that brings such hope to the moral majority, the simple minded of us that just wants stuff that works and is inexpensive. Would the world really be better pulling the rug from under these better-than-thou Mac freaks who more often than not are members of the cultural elite? Should we tell them that rather than being 'different' by using Apple products they are really succumbing to the crowd mentality? Ah, alas it would be futile! Futile I say! They have no ears to hear, or eyes to see beyond their iPhones. "i" is not "them" but "him"! They no longer have their own identity but have become part of the faith of Jobsism. More on that later.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Pastor Mac and Biblical Hermeneutics
The pews were slowly filling with parishioners on a bright sunny Sunday at the little white clad Methodist church on the hill outside town in rural America. It is 2021, and Pastor Mac was to preach his first sermon to this dwindling community of worshipers. The video projector screen buzzed as it was lowered behind the empty pulpit and the speakers hissed as the new sound system came on.
Pastor Mac was getting ready.
Outside, as people chatted while making their way to the entrance, their smart phones buzzed and twinkled and played tunes to alert them that the service was about to begin and a copy of the bulletin downloaded over the wifi was available for them. The screen now fully extended, a breath taking scene in HD video turned the flat white screen into a virtual cathedral and thunderous choral music came from the sound system.
Pastor Mac was almost ready.
Everdale Methodist was a small church from the turn of the previous century that survived the tide of time and numerous ugly church splits to become one of the first rural churches to receive a technology upgrade package from District. The turnout today was higher then normal, folks were curious about their new Pastor after having been without a full time leader in years. Rumors had it he was older than the last one but not too old for the younger of the flock and he was highly educated but at the same time very modest and a likable warm spirited man. His voice was said to be a cross between Billy Graham and Berle Ives. A soothing low tone easy to listen to and yet piercing enough at the right moments in his exegesis to keep those heavy eyelids from closing.
With a wisp of white hair and tanned slightly wrinkled skin and warm smile, Pastor Mac faded in from the cathedral background on the screen and began his greetings. His image was being sent from the District computing center cloud via the internet. Pastor Mac was one of the new virtual Pastors.
Pastor Mac was in reality an Avatar of a new software package called iPreacher. Years ago, seminaries had made use of the science of hermeneutics, AI software and the Cloud to create a virtual Pastor. Why not? If hermeneutics could codify and interpret scripture with mechanical precision and computers could run the software that follow those rules, it was a small step to just replace the Preacher with a program. People would get pure, unadulterated doctrine straight from the Bible, without human fallibility. Gone would be the days of church splits over doctrine, interpretation or heresies. iPreacher would be the image of the Apostles morphed into a singular personage. He could be tailored to meet the needs of widely varying congregations with a web page that allowed drag and drop features to be selected on the ordering form. A survey of the congregations educational backgrounds and interests would be used to construct a template of 'his' sermons for relevancy. The District saw all these advantages.
Pastor Mac was getting ready.
Outside, as people chatted while making their way to the entrance, their smart phones buzzed and twinkled and played tunes to alert them that the service was about to begin and a copy of the bulletin downloaded over the wifi was available for them. The screen now fully extended, a breath taking scene in HD video turned the flat white screen into a virtual cathedral and thunderous choral music came from the sound system.
Pastor Mac was almost ready.
Everdale Methodist was a small church from the turn of the previous century that survived the tide of time and numerous ugly church splits to become one of the first rural churches to receive a technology upgrade package from District. The turnout today was higher then normal, folks were curious about their new Pastor after having been without a full time leader in years. Rumors had it he was older than the last one but not too old for the younger of the flock and he was highly educated but at the same time very modest and a likable warm spirited man. His voice was said to be a cross between Billy Graham and Berle Ives. A soothing low tone easy to listen to and yet piercing enough at the right moments in his exegesis to keep those heavy eyelids from closing.
With a wisp of white hair and tanned slightly wrinkled skin and warm smile, Pastor Mac faded in from the cathedral background on the screen and began his greetings. His image was being sent from the District computing center cloud via the internet. Pastor Mac was one of the new virtual Pastors.
Pastor Mac was in reality an Avatar of a new software package called iPreacher. Years ago, seminaries had made use of the science of hermeneutics, AI software and the Cloud to create a virtual Pastor. Why not? If hermeneutics could codify and interpret scripture with mechanical precision and computers could run the software that follow those rules, it was a small step to just replace the Preacher with a program. People would get pure, unadulterated doctrine straight from the Bible, without human fallibility. Gone would be the days of church splits over doctrine, interpretation or heresies. iPreacher would be the image of the Apostles morphed into a singular personage. He could be tailored to meet the needs of widely varying congregations with a web page that allowed drag and drop features to be selected on the ordering form. A survey of the congregations educational backgrounds and interests would be used to construct a template of 'his' sermons for relevancy. The District saw all these advantages.
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