Monthly Archives: February 2012

Book Review: Indivisible


Indivisible
By James Robison and Jay Richards

Summary:
A call to faith-filled values back in the political square, Indivisible may come off as a conservative checklist of Right-Wing ideologies, and while there are certainly such far-right views, we hear two gentle voices that are passionate about Christian-American ideals.

While they might not quickly change anyone’s mind, this sobering work on a wide range of issues — marriage, abortion, war, business, immigration, parenting, poverty, capitalism, the environment — is a biblically informed admonition that will organize your thoughts about God and the government. Some chapters are better than others, but Robison and Richards are careful to be nuanced, fair, and clear. Every chapter details not only the problem, but outlines solutions as we look forward to the future of the nation.

Strengths:
I’ve always been extremely uncomfortable with two topics: Money and Politics. It feels like the church always degrades itself when it comes to these two areas because the church has constantly failed when it’s tempted by either. Talking politics in the church never goes well for very long, and many will either ignore it in the pulpit and the pews or will rally for a particular issue at the expense of genuine discourse. To say it plainly, the church is too turned on or too turned off by the political realm. But at some point, we do need to talk about it. The political machine will keep running amidst our denial or relish, and we must get involved somehow.

Indivisible is almost an introductory course on conservative values. The authors instantly tackle the idea of “conservative values.” God is neither a Democrat or Republican, nor does He advocate public policies in the Bible. But of course, certain conservative values overlap with biblical ones, and not all public policies can be deemed right. At least some must contradict Christian principles. So both “liberals” and “conservatives” must submit to Scriptural authority, not a self-identifying manifesto.

The book is careful not to automatically subscribe to traditional conservative thought “just because,” and this is where it becomes a much more relatable, fleshed out work than the shrill cries of picketers. There are also solutions offered in every chapter which makes this work much more than just a list of Far-Right complaints.

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Fight For Your Joy: Why We Don’t Talk God When God Is Talking

It’s silly to think that God changes based on our moods, views, and attitudes: but we fall into this pit trap like clockwork. God can feel far away, and that’s a legitimate feeling, but He never takes vacations. His zip code don’t change. It’s that we naturally drift from the shore by the slow-boiling gravity of complacency, and our minds unchecked wander into hostile territory. The heart fights an uphill climb. We just forget that.

Add to this a million shiny distractions and a soul-demanding schedule and more information in today’s newspaper than a 17th century man gets over his lifetime, and that’s enough to kill you. All that movement but you’re dead inside.

We should expect this though. That sometimes we just lose connection. Our spiritual lives make little sense in a swirling mass of deadlines, phone calls, papers, drama, bills, health, family, good news, bad news. We have to react to these things, press buttons, return calls, mediate, never hesitate. No time to meditate. Can’t slow down this train.

After a while, that whole robotic-cog-of-society routine will rip out every last part of you. We simply just react. No human is meant to juggle a million mindless tasks for so long, or he’s no longer human. We’re not built to be far from our Source. The very American ideals of Neurotically More-Productive-Bigger-Efficient-Image only hollow us out into enslaved lever-pullers. It’s all performance and no personality.

In the miasma of a culture that demands we stay busy, such a process-driven efficiency robs us of joy. And we’ve given the thief the keys to our front door.

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Question: My Reputation At School Is Dead, Now What?

Anonymous asked:

Hey… I have this emotional problem happening to me right now. I would really like you to pray for me. I’m having some friendship problems at school right now. Apparently, my reputation at school is kinda bad … last year I had cheated on a quiz. People at my school judge me so much, I can’t even breathe. People make up stories like “She purposely talks with an accent so she could be asian” … Now [my friends are] so embarrassed about me and are saying that they don’t want to be friends with me … they completely ditched me. … I cried about 5 times at school today. I really hate my school. I can’t even breathe for fear of being made fun of … I have no idea what to do.

(Edited for length, and I made you anonymous just in case)

Of course I’ll pray for you.  I’ll share just a few things.

1) School is not the last place on earth.

I know it feels like it is: trust me.  I experienced the most aggressive Southern breed of racism and favoritism in a prep school (Shorecrest Preparatory in Florida, seriously a bunch of redneck racists), and in public school it got even worse.

I went to Prom alone, sat by myself at lunch most of high school, and even the “nicest” girls in the school called me ugly yellowbelly to my face.  Now I can laugh about it, but during it all, it hurt.  And I did absolutely nothing to incur such mockery except simply be a different race.

You know about Phoebe Prince, and Columbine, and self-cutting, and all the horrible stories of bullying, and high school graduates who can’t let go of high school so they become mindless partying bums in college and beyond.  I can guarantee they didn’t look to their futures.  They were convinced that school was the last stop on this mortal coil.

Popularity is more like a stocking than a bridge.  At any moment it can tear right open. 

Please hear me: Do not get wrapped up in your pre-adult school years as a basis for your whole life. It’s not.

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Quote: Myself

God, you loved me right out of my addictions. You loved me out of my despair. You loved me out of my darkness, conceitedness, misery. You loved me right out of myself.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
— Galatians 2:20

Guest Post: Should I Confront My Youth Pastor?

This is a great Q&A from The Bridge, an excellent ministry in Chicago.

About confronting your youth pastor, and extends to confronting any of your church leaders.
(Re-posted with permission from The Bridge.)

Anonymous asked:
I am very involved with my church, and I love the people there. But the thing is, I think there are some things that the leadership, especially the youth pastor, could be doing better. He’s not like doing anything wrong, he’s just not getting the kids fired up the way he could. How do I bring the subject up in a way that he will listen to me?

Matt from The Bridge answered:

Don’t. This thing you are thinking about doing, do not do it. I get how you are feeling, it is a feeling that permeates youth. I know you are on fire for the Lord and you want everyone else to be where you are. That is not a bad thing, it’s a great thing. The idea of telling someone in a position of responsibility that they are dropping the ball, based on your zero years of experience, is not a good use of that energy.

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God Is In Your Face: Sermon Series Through The Book of Genesis



The seven part series on the Book of Genesis is now completely posted on the podcast!

God Is In Your Face: The Metanarrative Story of God and His creation Man.
An expository series through the Book of Genesis. Featuring God, Adam and Eve, Noah, Jacob, Esau, Joseph, and Jesus.


Genesis Part 1 – You Are God’s Idea
Genesis 1:26-27. Series: God Is In Your Face. You are His image. Part 1. “The Epic Beginning of Human History, the Burden to Love God’s Ideas, trying to imagine your teacher having a private life, waking up from the bad dream of life, and our True Selves.” 1-8-12

Genesis Part 2 – God Designed Design
Genesis 2:15. Series: God Is In Your Face. We are on mission for Christ. Part 2. “The boring Pre-Life before your (so-called) exciting Real Life, our specifically designed framework, the Gospel Package, and old school Nintendo games.” 1-15-12

Genesis Part 3 – The Day The Earth Fell Down
Genesis 3. Series: God Is In Your Face. How it really is. Part 3. “Epic road rage dancing, being caught on YouTube in your worst moment, Trying Hard To Be Good versus Just-Good-Enough, and having the ear of God.” 1-22-12

Genesis Part 4 – The Most Ridiculous Mission Ever
Genesis 6-9. Series: God Is In Your Face. His grace is His wrath. Part 4. “The nicer older brother who snaps and loses it, the Doomsday Clock, what’s more scary than following God, growing up off the boat, and your Life Sentence.” 1-29-12

Genesis Part 5 – Stop Running For Your Life
Genesis 32-33. Series: God Is In Your Face. God never stops pursuing you. Part 5. “The amazing baby who can do no wrong, the awkward joke-killer, the Embarrassing Meltdown, and how celery and an Angry Birds doll shows us God’s painful grace.” 2-12-12

Genesis Part 6 – The Hard Part Is The Whole Thing (1 of 2)
Gen. 37-41. Series: God Is In Your Face. Rising above it. Part 6. “How my friend broke someone’s arm on the street, the size of the dog in the fight, the trials of Jeremy Lin, the passive Asian, the Cost of Compassion, and How To Donate $10,000.” 2-19-12

Genesis Part 7 – The Hard Part Is The Whole Thing (2 of 2)
Genesis 42-50. Series: God Is In Your Face. He’s got this. Part 7. “Almost driving into a cop and the guy he’s chasing, taking things Out Of Context, preaching the whole Bible, the War Cry of Our Generation, and the EKG heart monitor of our lives.” 2-26-12



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Question: What’s Up With The End Times?

thepassionsoflife asked:

Thank you for answering my previous questions. I enjoy hearing what you have to say about these topics! So I was wondering…what do you think of the end of times? Personally, it’s a subject that is of extreme fascination to me. What do you think of the book of Revelations? Do you think we’ll see the end of the Earth as we know it in our life time? How do you think it will happen? I would love to hear your thoughts. I’m actually taking an English class on the subject, and I’m really looking forward to learning all about the topic, as it has interested me for so long yet I never got a chance to study it. God Bless and keep on preaching the Good News!

Thanks for the encouragement!

Over a year ago, I wrote a pretty long, detailed, boring post on the End Times. I was really dissatisfied with how seminary taught it, though I’m grateful, so I shared some of the scholarly stuff while sharing my own thoughts.

I’ll simplify it the best I can for you here. The End Times — not just Revelation, but throughout the entire Bible — can be divided into two categories: What we know and what we don’t know.

What we know:

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“My Take: Stop sugarcoating the Bible”



An article by Steven James on the CNN Belief Blog.

While I don’t agree with every part of it, I get exactly what he means.

Excerpt:

The Bible is a gritty book. Very raw. Very real. It deals with people just like us, just as needy and screwed up as we are, encountering a God who would rather die than spend eternity without them.

Yet despite that, it seems like Christians are uncomfortable with how earthy the Bible really is. They feel the need to tidy up God.

For example, look in any modern translation of Isaiah 64:6, and you’ll find that, to a holy God, even our most righteous acts are like “filthy rags.” The original language doesn’t say “filthy rags”; it says “menstrual rags.” But that sounds a little too crass, so let’s just call them filthy instead.

And let’s not talk so much about Jesus being naked on the cross, and let’s pretend Paul said that he considered his good deeds “a pile of garbage” in Philippians 3:8 rather than a pile of crap, as the Greek would more accurately be translated.

Continue Reading at CNN


Read Related:

– How to Lose the Gospel
– Strange Sundays With Your Pastor
– I Want To Read My Bible — But How?
– Fake Jesus Makes Fakers
– Sugar-Driven Gospel
– Guilt-Driven Gospel
– The Beneficial God: Modern Christianity and Its Ubiquitous Psychological Slope
– The Incidental Christian: How We Make God Who We Want
– How To Lose God In Ten Days


Obeying The Grace of God: He Commands You To Have Fun, Dang It

If you’re repenting from sin, that’s all you’re doing: running from it.

Suddenly you have a lot of idle free time and you’re not sure what to do.

How about run back to that sin?

Because that’s what most people do. They don’t know what else to do.

Continue reading →

Quote: Cares


“God cares less about what you’re doing — though He does care about that — but He is most concerned with who you’re becoming. He sees what your hands are doing but cares more about where your heart is going. God looks at the heart of man, not the appearance.”


The Romans 8 Trifecta



18 — I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

28 — And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

31 — What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?



A Shameless Self-Promotion For The Podcast



Hello fellow bloggers and readers!

If the podcast has been a blessing to you, then I’d please like to shamelessly ask if you could write a review on iTunes or drop some star ratings.


If you’re not sure how, just click the blue button on the left of the page that looks like this:

Once you view the podcast in iTunes, you can write a review or rate by stars!

Thank you to those who have already helped out.

And thanks again friends. Love y’all!

– J.S.



Five Incredible Sermons

Five incredible sermons worth your time.

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Question: So About Rob Bell

Anonymous asked:
What’s your opinion on Rob Bell, or more specifically, his opinions/ideaologies? Do you see him veering on the lines of Universalist or do you think he’s got some unique yet very real arguments full of substance? I’m dying to hear your entire opinion.

I was actually interviewed by the local news about Rob Bell since I had podcasted about him.

To be fair, I haven’t read his book.  I read several reviews and also Francis Chan’s Erasing Hell, all of which painted more or less fair criticisms of Rob Bell’s views.

I do think there’s been a lot of unfairness towards Pastor Rob about Love Wins.  It seems his book was more about critical thinking on a major issue of the Bible instead of an entirely Universalist approach.  Bell himself has admitted he believes in hell.  If anything, we could criticize him for some of his weirder teaching on the Trinity, resurrection, Scripture, or his strange use of illustrations like a real goat (which pooped on stage).  A lot of the critics were just grabbing a quick nod for fame with sensational news tactics. No surprise.

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Quote: Save


There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing those things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.

– C.S. Lewis

A Boyfriend Is Not The Solution, And Not The Problem

Sometimes I sit through these counseling sessions where the girl goes on and on about her idiot moron unprincipled boyfriend: he doesn’t listen, he clips his nails in bed, he showers every three days, he forgets to call, how do I get him to hear me, I try so hard to express my feelings and it’s like he does not care, and –

I want to say the same thing, you know. I do not care, either.

If God were at that moment to tear the roof off over our heads and take a peek, I wonder how much she would care.

Even for five seconds, to see the glorious holy wrathful infinite epic universe-exploding face of God. Does anything else really matter then? We’d both burst into flames. So no, nothing else matters then.

Every selfish desire is predicated on a tangible, earthly treasure, and it always turns out to be garbage. William Law said so simply, “If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead.” A hard truth, but standing before the face-melting presence of God, it’s the only truth.

At judgment you’ll only have one problem: and only one solution.

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Guest Post: Goodbye “purity”, and good riddance

Had to share this one from my brother Unka Glen. If this were a boxing match with the devil, the devil got KO’ed in the first ten seconds.

—

Anonymous asked: A little over a year ago, I was raped by a good friend who I thought was a Godly man. Now I’m not sure how to tell a future boyfriend about the loss of my purity, or how it will affect our relationship. How would I go about talking to him? Sexual purity has always been a big deal to me, and I don’t want to disappoint my future husband.

Unka Glen answered: That does it. [blowing loud whistle] Alright, everyone out of the pool. It’s over. This “purity” thing? That’s over. We’re done. No mas. Has anybody out there had an impure thought, an impure sexual desire, or wandered over to a website you shouldn’t have? Okay, I see everyone’s hand. NONE of us is pure. None. So, WE ARE NOT USING THIS WORD ANY MORE.

Tell me, my sister, who it was that told you that you would “disappoint” your husband because of something that SOMEONE ELSE did that somehow makes YOU impure? Give me the name, give me the address, because me and a vanload of the brothers from my day job are going to “lay hands” on somebody.

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Self-Dissociation: How A Christian Can Condemn The Very Sin He Loves Doing

We’re not surprised anymore when a famous preacher who blasts homosexuality gets caught in a homosexual affair doing meth. A governor who pursues ethics in Wall Street is busted for carousing with prostitutes. An actor turned governor turned actor hides a secret child outside his marriage for ten years, fully realizing his role as an actor. We’ve learned that Nazi doctors who ordered the deaths of countless people were also fathers and husbands, a phenomenon later coined “doubling.” At least a third of pastors are addicted to pornography. And half of Christian men are in the same boat.

Once you claim a standard, you’re claimed by that standard.

Even the reckless prodigal or the pseudo-reasonable atheist has claimed categories of superiority. They both sneer at the religious right. The only difference is a Christian works from a deficit: he is expected to be impeccably polite while an atheist lacks all accountability and likes it that way. The atheist has infinite loopholes when he falls — especially when he falls — while the Christian is ready to be hanged at any second for a single outburst.

It’s a sort of reverse bigotry. The non-religious gets in a scandal and it’s “business as usual.” The pastor destroys his marriage and he’s no longer qualified for ministry, or to be treated like a human being.

How far do we take this? If an atheist turned out to be an axe murderer, his atheism as a cover is as good as a cheap hooker’s dress. Try to call that the usual business and you’re likely to be called insane.

No matter who you are or claim to be, a standard has claimed you.

The late John Stott said, Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross … It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size.

While no one has a valid excuse for hypocrisy, a follower of Christ has more reason to keep it real. He is held accountable even when others are not. And if we claim no superiority, then we have no right to judge outside the church. We have every right to confront each other in the church, to build and not to destroy.

But we cannot ask of others what we first are not doing ourselves.

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Question: The Cure To Lukewarm Is Doing More?

Anonymous asked:
Can you tell me more about being a lukewarm christian? I know it’s not prioritizing God as one should, but whenever I hear others talk about it, it seems like they’re saying that one has to do works to get to heaven and believing isn’t enough. I thought all one had to do was believe Jesus Christ is their savior? I’m not saying this so I can be lazy about my faith, I am just curious and a little nervous. Thanks! Have a great day. :)

So there are two discussions here.  The first is the good old-fashioned battle of Faith versus Works, where Christians unwittingly pit one against the other.  I believe it’s a hot issue again since the “I Hate Religion” video, but the answer has always been the same.  It’s never faith versus works, but as I’ve said before, true faith is a faith that works.  James 2 says it all. 

Some of us get confused by Ephesians 2:8-9, where it appears we only need faith, but we forget to read verse ten (and the rest of Ephesians).  Of course works by themselves do not save us, or else we’ve hit Pharisee-land, but you know the rest: works must flow from the wellspring of true belief.

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