Thou Shalt Avoid Them At All Costs

What is it about people that disagree with us that we find so intimidating? Why do we feel the need to disassociate ourselves and avoid them? (or in FB language- "un-friend" them?) Why do we deem them or their beliefs "dangerous"?

Do we not trust ourselves enough to be around them, as if we could somehow be persuaded to their way of thinking against our will?

Is it that we have so much pride that we think we have it all figured out, and anyone who thinks differently than us is either delusional or deceived?

Or is it that they make us uncomfortable, disturbing our world where we think we have it all figured out, by making us think about things we don't want to think about, and asking questions we don't want to know the answers to?

I love hearing from people who think differently than I do- it stretches me and forces me to look at things a little differently. And even if it doesn't always change the way I see things, I've still learned something from the process.

Some Thoughts about Tithing

Just some random thoughts, born out of some frustration I've experienced recently.

• If the "principle" of tithing really works the way most (Pentecostal/charismatic) churches teach that it does, then how could a person who has followed the principle faithfully for decades still struggle just to make it with basic needs month to month, sometimes not even being able to afford those basic necessities (food, lace to live, heat in winter, etc.)? Aren't they supposed to be blessed with "more than they can contain"(Malachi 3)? Either God's blessings aren't good enough, or there's something wrong with that teaching.
• Likewise, how could a person who does not follow the principle have everything that they need and more every month? According to the "principle", aren't they supposed to be under a curse (Malachi 3)? Either that curse isn't strong enough, or there's something wrong with that teaching.
• I work for an insurance company. When they pay me every two weeks, they do not require me to give them 10% of my paycheck (aside from deductions for taxes, insurance premiums, 401(k), etc.). However, this is often the case in institutional churches who have paid staff members and teach the tithing "principle"-they require their paid staff to give back 10% of their paycheck. What a great arrangement. That just doesn't make any sense to me. Many times church staff members don't even get paid enough to live on, yet they are still required to pay their 10%. So, many times they and their families have to do without things they need, or fall behind on monthly bills, so that they can pay this 10% and not risk losing their jobs. Something's just not right with that.

Just some things to think about, friends. Some things look good on paper, and sound good coming from silver-tongued orators, but do they work in real life?

Raised in Church

I learned a lot of things being raised in church my whole life. A lot of those things were good. But there were many things I learned from pastors and teachers that I later discovered just weren't in the Scriptures at all. Some things were the result of someone misunderstanding Scripture, some things were the result of lifting verses out of their intended context, and some things just flat out had no Scriptural basis at all.

Sometimes it frustrates me, but mostly it just challenges me to examine everything and subject it to the Spirit, which God gave to each of us as believers to "guide us into all truth."

Has this happened to you? What are some of those things that you have discovered?

Know that you are in good company...

"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom. Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble." (Matt. 5:10-12)



I just read this passage this morning. I've read it before, though not in this version, and it was encouraging to me. I've been struggling with speaking things on my heart at the risk of disrupting relationships and "disturbing the peace." Can anyone else identify with this?

I'm A Recovering Poisonous Preacher

My friend Stephanie posted a link to this blog on her Facebook page. Here's a snippet:

"The underlying foundation of all religion is performance, whether it's a tribal dance around a campfire to satisfy the fire god or a dead religious activity performed week after week by an evangelical Christian with the intent of impressing his God. It's all religious performance and God isn't impressed by our performance. What impresses Him is faith. 'Without faith it is impossible to please Him' (Hebrews 11:6). He couldn't care less about religious ritual void of life. God is in the business of Life. Nothing else interests Him. He is interested in living relationships, not dead religion."

The author references 2 Kings 4:38-41, and likens the story of Elisha's servant mixing fruit of a wild vine in with the stew to someone taking "the liberating gospel of God’s grace and mixed the wild gourds of religious performance in the same pot with it." He goes on to say,

"The idea of religious performance is a wild plant which poisons the grace of God and causes it to cease to be edible, although I did eat and serve it to my church for many years. The tragedy of this kind of poison is that it won't kill you, but will be just toxic enough to keep you sick for the rest of your life."

This blog hit home with me, as I used to do the same thing. I used to preach grace on one hand, but stress the things we had to continually do to "be a good Christian". I judged others based on their religious performance, and made decisions on whether people were good enough to be involved with certain ministries, or "be on stage", based on how well they lived up to what I, or my pastor, our our denomination, thought were God's standards.

I used fear and manipulation, disguised as "illustrated sermons", to dole out this witch's brew of grace and performance. I had no idea what I was doing at first. I truly believed that I was merely trying to help people have a better relationship with God, and to keep things pure so that God's presence was not stifled or quenched because of unrepented "sin in the camp". But as more and more people got hurt or left altogether because of what I, or the pastor(s), or the church had done, I began to question if what we were doing really had anything to do with God's love at all, or if it was really more about control. The desire for others to conform to OUR image, not God's.

More than anything else, this is what I regret about my time spent in "ministry"- that I was so ignorant, and arrogant, that I truly couldn't see that I was hurting people in my zeal to save them. I've made some really bad choices in my life, but for some reason I really have trouble letting go of the guilt from this.

If any of those I've hurt are reading this now, please know that I am very sorry.

God and Socialism

First, the new Voice of the Heretics podcast has been posted- get it at iTunes here or download from the podcast page here.

Now for something I was thinking about last week. In today's political world, the word "socialism" gets thrown around a lot. Whenever it is mentioned, I've noticed a couple of things. 1.) A lot of people don't really know what "socialism" really means, and so perhaps because of that, 2.) a lot of people seem to have a real fear of anything that seems like "socialism", or perhaps more accurately, anything that their leaders or congressmen or NPR labels as such.

Taking that last point even further, I've noticed that there seems to be this ingrained fear in Americans, especially white, Republican, fundamentalist Christian Americans, that people are going to get things that they did not work for, earn, and do not deserve.

While I understand the concerns, I can't help but be thankful that God doesn't share this same fear. After all, isn't that at the heart of the gospel? He sent Jesus to die so that we could have something that we don't have to work for or earn, and that we definitely don't deserve.

That's all. Just thinking.

Law Enforcement

This Tuesday, September 1st, hundreds of new laws adopted during the Texas legislative session will go into effect. One of those laws makes it illegal to use a cell phone while driving in an active school zone, unless using a hands-free device. The Lubbock police department has said it will not enforce this law here, basically because of the costs involved in posting specific signs, without which officers cannot enforce the ban. There are no immediate plans to post these signs.

This made me think, "Well geez, then that law is useless here. There's no point." Although it is a good safety guideline, that law is not binding because nobody is enforcing it.

Then that reminded me of Moses' law in the Old Testament. Sure, some of those laws are good guidelines for living, but that law is not binding. Why? Because nobody is enforcing it. (Rom. 8:1-4)