This blog will depart from my normal philosophical and theological track- so I'm sorry- but I needed to rant just a little. I have to watch what I say though because of some of my readers- I dont' want to get myself in trouble. Pretty sad that you cant' be completely open and honest on your own blog, but hey, you know how it is. If you question anything, go against the status quo or be negative in any way, or even if you're just generally disagreeing, you're seen as gossiping or being rebellious. So, I guess I'll just speak in generalities. (I may have earned myself some questions just by making those statements.)
Ok there's no way to say this but just to come out and say it. It's amazing to me the things money is spent on. Why do I go spend $20 on a DVD when I could give it to a needy family and their child could have a lunch to take to school for a week or two? Or 5 of us could give up a DVD or our Starbucks coffee for a couple of days(and just drink the free coffee at work) and we could help pay a family's high electric bill so they wouldn't have to go without AC in these hot summer months. Or help them pay for gas in their car so they could get to work to support their family. Or send some bibles to China to those who have never had the privilege to own a Bible, much less read one! (I've got at least 25 Bibles in my house, all different versions, not counting the ones on my Palm. And there are millions of Christians around the world who don't own one. Instead of spending $50 to buy me another one, that same amount could buy dozens in a foreign country!)
Instead of raising money to buy new chairs at your church, how about keeping the chairs you have and sending that money to buy chairs for a church overseas who has been sitting on the ground(and probably doing more for the kingdom than your church)!
I waste money too, so I'm not trying to be self-righteouss. God knows Alisah and I could do better. But I'm not just speaking about individuals. That's not even my main point. I think there's a lot of wasteful spending. it irritates me, when money is spent on insignificant things when there are so much more important things that can be done. Things that actually impact the Kingdom. Things that make a difference to Father.
The end of the movie Schindler's List always gets me- it's the end of WWII, and the Allies are closing in on Germany, so all of the people who had been loyal to the Nazis are trying to escape Berlin so they are not captured or killed. Oscar Schindler is looking at all of his possessions, and saying very remorsefully that if he had just not spent the money on those things, such as his car, his jewelry, watch, coat, he could have paid for more Jews to come to work at his factory so they didn't have to go to the death camps. His words are "I could have saved 1 more".
How much money have we spent on unimportant things that we could have used to impact just one more life with Father's love? I think it's an extravagant waste. And that's all I am going to say about that.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Missing the Point
Call me crazy if you want. Many of you know God's been taking me on a wild journey over the past year or so. Most of you don't know how deep the rabbit hole goes though.
So I've decided it's time for me to be open with my thoughts and my beliefs; my new theology, if you will. Although even calling it "new theology" would say to some that I am trying to either point fingers and criticize existing theology, or start a new church. They might even say that I have started getting off track or even backslidden. None of that is true though, and if you think that, you're missing the point.
Which brings me to my first thought in this new series of blogs. (This may not be new thinking to some of you. If so, please be patient as I rethink my faith and "work out my own salvation" here on Blogger.) Have you ever looked at church and Christianity and felt like we're just not getting it? Like we're not quite doing what we're supposed to be doing? That we're missing the point?
Take salvation, for example. Ask any Christian how they became a Christian and they'll tell you a story of how they answered an altar call, prayed the sinner's prayer at the end of a good salvation message, or were led in the sinner's prayer by a close friend, family member, or TV or radio preacher. Many will tell you that the point of the Christian life is to try to live like Jesus did, try not to sin, and share Him with everybody so that we can go to heaven when we die.
But is that really what being a follower of Jesus is all about? To make sure we have our "business straight with God" so that "if we died tonight, we know without a doubt we would go to Heaven"?
I don't think so. I think to be focused on trying to make sure we make Heaven, and trying to save the multitudes from eternal damnation is missing the whole point of Jesus's message. Sure, we want to get to heaven. Sure, we don't want people to go to hell when they die. But I think for Jesus, and for Paul and the other New Testament authors, the point of Jesus's message was that the Kingdom of God is here now. Jesus wasn't focused on getting people into Heaven, he was focused on changing the way people lived their lives in the Kingdom of God in the present. Jesus was concerned with Kingdom living today. Salvation wasn't a one time event, as we've reduced it to in our Sunday morning messages and Friday night crusades/revivals, it was a lifelong journey.
Imagine watching a race: the runners are lined up on the starting blocks, set to sprint to the finish line. The gun goes off, the runners explode off of the blocks, but after only 3 or 4 steps, they all stop, turn to each other, and start celebrating. Some are giving each other high fives, some are jumping up and down screaming, "I'm a runner! I'm a runner!" Some are off by themselves crying tears of joy quietly, others are gathered in circles holding hands and singing songs about how great it is to have started the race, and how wonderful it will be when the race is over.
Pretty ridiculous, isn't it? Yet don't we treat our Christianity that way? We often see salvation as the finish line; at the very least, if we don't see it that way, we often treat it that way. Once you've accepted Christ, that's it, hang in there til you die and you'll go to heaven! Now that you're a Christian, you're in this world, but not of it. God has saved you from this wicked, evil world. It's seen as the main focus of Christianity- get em saved and get em in church. How do we present salvation to people? That if they don't accept Jesus they will go to hell! "Salvation" means "rescue"- but I think it is not just rescue from our present problems, as it was for the ancient Jew, nor is it just rescue from an eternity in hell and this fallen world, as it is for modern day Christians. Rather, I think salvation means being "rescued from fruitless ways of life here and now, to share in God's saving love for all creation, in an adventure called the kingdom of God."
To sum up, I will quote the book I am reading now(which addresses many of the things I have been thinking and rethinking over the past 12 months)-
"Is salvation for you a one-time experience? Or is it a lifetime journey? Is it rescue from your uncomfortable circumstances...or rescue from this world after death...or is it about being rescued from a life that is disconnected from God and God's adventure, both in this life AND the next? Is salvation about stepping across a line--or is it about crossing a starting line to begin an unending adventure in this life and beyond?"
Let me know what you think. Are we missing the point?
So I've decided it's time for me to be open with my thoughts and my beliefs; my new theology, if you will. Although even calling it "new theology" would say to some that I am trying to either point fingers and criticize existing theology, or start a new church. They might even say that I have started getting off track or even backslidden. None of that is true though, and if you think that, you're missing the point.
Which brings me to my first thought in this new series of blogs. (This may not be new thinking to some of you. If so, please be patient as I rethink my faith and "work out my own salvation" here on Blogger.) Have you ever looked at church and Christianity and felt like we're just not getting it? Like we're not quite doing what we're supposed to be doing? That we're missing the point?
Take salvation, for example. Ask any Christian how they became a Christian and they'll tell you a story of how they answered an altar call, prayed the sinner's prayer at the end of a good salvation message, or were led in the sinner's prayer by a close friend, family member, or TV or radio preacher. Many will tell you that the point of the Christian life is to try to live like Jesus did, try not to sin, and share Him with everybody so that we can go to heaven when we die.
But is that really what being a follower of Jesus is all about? To make sure we have our "business straight with God" so that "if we died tonight, we know without a doubt we would go to Heaven"?
I don't think so. I think to be focused on trying to make sure we make Heaven, and trying to save the multitudes from eternal damnation is missing the whole point of Jesus's message. Sure, we want to get to heaven. Sure, we don't want people to go to hell when they die. But I think for Jesus, and for Paul and the other New Testament authors, the point of Jesus's message was that the Kingdom of God is here now. Jesus wasn't focused on getting people into Heaven, he was focused on changing the way people lived their lives in the Kingdom of God in the present. Jesus was concerned with Kingdom living today. Salvation wasn't a one time event, as we've reduced it to in our Sunday morning messages and Friday night crusades/revivals, it was a lifelong journey.
Imagine watching a race: the runners are lined up on the starting blocks, set to sprint to the finish line. The gun goes off, the runners explode off of the blocks, but after only 3 or 4 steps, they all stop, turn to each other, and start celebrating. Some are giving each other high fives, some are jumping up and down screaming, "I'm a runner! I'm a runner!" Some are off by themselves crying tears of joy quietly, others are gathered in circles holding hands and singing songs about how great it is to have started the race, and how wonderful it will be when the race is over.
Pretty ridiculous, isn't it? Yet don't we treat our Christianity that way? We often see salvation as the finish line; at the very least, if we don't see it that way, we often treat it that way. Once you've accepted Christ, that's it, hang in there til you die and you'll go to heaven! Now that you're a Christian, you're in this world, but not of it. God has saved you from this wicked, evil world. It's seen as the main focus of Christianity- get em saved and get em in church. How do we present salvation to people? That if they don't accept Jesus they will go to hell! "Salvation" means "rescue"- but I think it is not just rescue from our present problems, as it was for the ancient Jew, nor is it just rescue from an eternity in hell and this fallen world, as it is for modern day Christians. Rather, I think salvation means being "rescued from fruitless ways of life here and now, to share in God's saving love for all creation, in an adventure called the kingdom of God."
To sum up, I will quote the book I am reading now(which addresses many of the things I have been thinking and rethinking over the past 12 months)-
"Is salvation for you a one-time experience? Or is it a lifetime journey? Is it rescue from your uncomfortable circumstances...or rescue from this world after death...or is it about being rescued from a life that is disconnected from God and God's adventure, both in this life AND the next? Is salvation about stepping across a line--or is it about crossing a starting line to begin an unending adventure in this life and beyond?"
Let me know what you think. Are we missing the point?
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