What About the Others?

I bummed a ride with my parents yesterday, and I caught about 7 minutes of Christian radio before I asked my mom to turn it off. I used to like talk radio because it made me think, but now I loathe it. Lately, I have zero patience for even a hint of the "I have all the answers" attitude, especially if they have sponsors to cater to. I hope my blog doesn't give off that stench.

Before the channel was changed, the guy was talking about people calling in with the question: what happens to people across the globe that have never heard about Jesus? Are they sent to Hell simply because no one got to them with the message yet?

Of course the talk show guy referenced Romans 1, which says:

¹⁸The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

²¹For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Essentially, no one will have an excuse when their number is called because God made what needed to be known "plain" to them. Maybe to get the ball rolling, the people need to first recognize the most obvious of God's characteristics, like "his eternal power and his divine nature," but if they fail that first test there is no way they'll accept Jesus.

I've always heard about that chapter when this subject comes up, but never about John 14. I'm sure I read this verse many times, but I never noticed it until a few weeks ago.

²²Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"

²³Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. (John 14:22-24)

Maybe I'm missing something, but it really seems like Judas is asking a similar question. He asks why the disciples are receiving all of this revelation (the Holy Spirit, God incarnate, etc) and not the rest of the world. Jesus doesn't respond directly to his question because it assumes something false, that God hasn't revealed himself to other people.

In reality, God is readily available to embrace ANYONE who will love him. It is simple math. If anyone loves God, they will obey what little teaching they know to obey, and God will "come to him."

It's like God is saying "If anyone will just love me, I will move heaven and earth to see that they become my adopted children."In one of my classes in college, I was taught that it is all up to us to bring the gospel to all the corners of the earth and if people perish without knowing Jesus, it's because we've abandoned that call. So it's all my fault of some guy dies in New Guinea without having heard about Jesus?

What a guilt trip. I think guilt trip preaching does two things: (1) it scares normal people away from the Church and (2) it attracts the nut jobs who are always looking for another leader to impress or cult to join. That's why there are people willing to go to a street corner and hold up a sign that says "Turn or burn." they've been taught to feel guilty if they aren't doing something (no matter how ineffective or dumb that something may be).

Who knows? Maybe they've been directed by God to stand there. I can't really judge their prayer life, but I know that every time I've thought about doing something like that it's because I felt guilty, not because I was led to do that by the Spirit.

So I don't agree with that guilt trip message, that it's all up to us. It's not up to me. If God had a plan for me to go and talk to a person from New Guinea, and I decide to ignore that call despite multiple signs given to me, God could call someone else to do it. God's redemption plan is not dependent on anyone because He is in total control of time itself. If New Guinea man will love God, there will be a way for him to know Jesus.

There is no need to pressure people to go out and witness. If they don't already want their friends and family to know Jesus, there is something amiss with their own salvation. (Have you ever heard someone giving a sales pitch when even they don't believe what they're saying?) And if that's true, you don't want them representing Christ to people who haven't heard the gospel. So the real need is for people to be encouraged and equipped to hear from God on their own. Once they are able to do that, they won't need to be prodded to do ministry. They will do it out of love for their God.

CNN Interview with Mark Driscoll

Man, I don't think you can do it better than Mark Driscoll does it here. His speaking skills are the gold standard for mega church leaders. No fear, no compromise.

Single Moms

Upon returning to the area that I grew up in, I have made a number of mental notes as a result of my people watching habit. As a missions degree holder, I'm naturally studying the population around me (though I believe all Bible-believing Christians should be amateur demographers).

Anyway one of those mental notes seems to be reoccurring lately, and it's not a pleasant one. Everywhere I go, I can't escape witnessing the unbelievable burden that is a single mom's. Late last night while I was in the checkout line at Meijer I saw a woman who couldn't have been older than thirty with a full shopping cart, a 7 year old son, and no one to help her. Stress was emanating from her frantic mannerisms as she struggled to get her grocery cart unloaded and reloaded. Meanwhile, her rambunctious son is not exactly waiting patiently. I think she hit him a couple times to keep him from messing with every doodad in sight, but I was trying hard not to stare. She looked like she was in enough of a rush already without someone else looking at her with folded arms. The look on the cashier's face said, "I'm glad I'm not you," and after an anxious exchange of words and money, she was on her way.

I remember feeling like I had to clean up a mess when it was my turn, but not a physical mess. More like an emotional one. This lady is probably experiencing pressure from all sides. I'm a childless 23 year old, but everything I know about parenting tells me that it is tough even when there are two of you. I cannot fathom how difficult it would be for a single mom to work enough hours to create a decent standard of living for her family, not to mention the endless list of little things she has to deal with: daycare, school functions, sickness, bad behavior. If the kid has an emotional disorder, I can imagine the stress increasing tenfold. She's probably long forgotten what it feels like to have a social life. When you have a kid to raise, your priorities eliminate the possibility of having steady friendships with adults. Imagine the loneliness. All the while, these kids of single parents have no idea how much their parents are suffering for them because mommy waits until they're asleep before crying in her pillow at night.

Now imagine this kid growing up only to break their parent's heart by repeating the same mistakes that shaped their own rocky childhood. Statistically, it's probably not a stretch to say that Meijer lady's son has a good chance of impregnating a young woman and leaving her because he's not ready to raise a child at 19. It's not that this new child's mother is ready...it just happens to be assumed that the woman will take over if the "man" [word used loosely] has a change of heart. I'm ashamed of my gender.

On my way out of Meijer, like after all of my other windows into the single mom world, I couldn't help but ask myself "where the hell is the father?" But I realize it would be wrong to start pointing a finger in blame. Chances are this guy's negligence is the product of more negligence. In the end, there are so many people to blame that you have to concentrate your anger on sin itself because when everyone is responsible, no one wants to be accountable. Not to mention that fact that I am only postured to judge humanity if I am sinless myself. No dice there.

The Andy of a year ago would have felt guilty after this experience because I didn't do anything to assist the woman in line, even though I could tell it might have embarrassed her more than it would help. Today, I've become aware of these times when I've been allowed to feel someone else's burden, and instead of thinking about myself, I simply lay it at God's feet in prayer and trust that He will work things out. It's not that I am opposed to helping. It's more like I'm opposed to do something for the sake of making myself feel better. This lady doesn't need someone to help her get the milk on a little moving belt. She needs a friend who can relate and cry with her...or a responsible husband. That's out of my power to provide, but what I can do is trust God on her behalf.

There are thousands of these Meijer ladies in NW Indiana alone, young and old. What will it take but a movement completely inspired by the Holy Spirit to fix this? I doubt any religion has any good ideas. I think they are more concerned with making this woman another notch on their belt...a routine she knows all too well.

The god of Love

Just doing my usual perusing on pop culture on YouTube. I started out watching the awkward interview with Letterman and Joaquin Pheonix only to find myself watching an interview between Bill O'Reilly and Marilyn Manson.

I have to admit ignorance on my level of Manson expertise. All I know is that he has a controversial history in the music industry and a cult following in my high school sculpting class. I also know that he scares the piss out of most mainstream Christians...or at least weirds them out enough to make a "Christian" song like "Marilyn Manson Ate My Girlfriend" popular.

Knowing only this, I was surprised to view a well-spoken, almost responsible demeanor from Manson. Impressed by this image, I continued my googling to see if I could find out his spiritual beliefs, if any. Most websites said he was an atheist, but not necessarily against Christianity, though his lyrics attempt to challenge the beliefs on those who do ascribe to faith.

Here's one of those anti-Christian teaching quotes that caused me to think for a minute or two: "When you’re taught to love everyone, to love your enemies, then what value does that place on love?”

Initially it does challenge you... until you realize that this question assumes something entirely against Biblical teaching: that love is worthy of value.

I was reading the quote section of my friend Dustin's facebook and it had an awesome quote by Clive Staples Lewis: "Love ceases to be a demon, when he ceases to be a god."

Ask any Christian if love is worth value and they will tell you "of course" without realizing the trap they've just walked in to.

On the contrary, love is NOT worthy of value. Love is an act that SHOWS value.

The Old Testament is full of stories of God's people choosing to serve other gods rather than the God who led them out of slavery. This was called idolatry, and the first commandment warned against it. Thousands of years later, God's people (and everyone else) still struggle with the worship of gods that aren't really gods...they are idols. The most sly of these idols are the ones that look the most "Christian." Love looks like a Christian concept, but it ends up stabbing the Christians in back that decide to worship love instead of worshipping God WITH it.

Infinitely more important than showing love is WHO you show love to. If you spend your entire life loving a paperclip...and I mean REALLY loving this paperclip, have you been a loving person? Isn't that a valuable love just like any other? Of course not.

Love is not the goal. God is the goal, and love is the path. When love is the goal, you settle for a lot less than you were meant to experience. Like the picture C.S. Lewis once painted: it's like a child wanting to stay in a sandbox to play with with mud pies when his parents are trying to get him to come on a caribean cruise. He has no clue what he's missing in exchange for a pile of filth.

With his question, Marilyn assumes a basic pagan belief that love is a god (among others). That's accurate for atheists, but his question posed against Christian beliefs, assumes idolatry. That tells me he probably hasn't met many real disciples of Jesus...and knowing that burdens me. I can only pray that he will meet people who are sincere in their faith so that he can see a real picture of redemption.

So what is the answer to Manson's question? "When you’re taught to love everyone, to love your enemies, then what value does that place on love?”

The answer is "not much, and that's okay." That concept places no value on love…it places value on people. Love shouldn't have value. People have value.

Love was not intended to be an object to be worshiped, it is an act that reveals who or what you worship...and you cannot withhold love from people without withholding it from God.

(1 John 4:20) If a man says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar

Is there anyone out there who loves all people like God does? NO, but that's the point. Christianity is not about achieving...its about trusting. We trust the Lord to put us in positions that will allow us to grow our faith and love. We trust the Lord to forgive us, when we find that there is hatred in our hearts. Then God receieves all the credit, and we become his adopted children. I don't see any other aspiration more worthy than simply becoming part of God's family. Let's pray that the Mansons of the world can see past the fakes and lies to see Jesus.

The way I see it, there is no one more likely to come to faith in Christ than those who challenge it the most.

Dejection by Lust

I want to reiterate how heavily I am influenced by My Utmost For His Highest before I start this post. That daily devotional has nailed me to the wall more times than I can keep count. I guess God can use anything to communicate to us, and maybe one day the stream will run dry. But as long as I'm getting gold from that devotional, I will continue to blog about its personal application in my life.

A couple posts ago, I talked about the relationship-centered way I want to live my life. I remember mentioning the fact that I get depressed very quickly when I try to put something in God's place. Well, the past few days have been just like that. It's funny that even when you know what you are supposed to do, you are still just as likely to do the opposite. Having understanding and having the will to respond to that understanding are two different things.

I think that's another reason that I am not a fan of "worship service-centered" church. When the center of everything you do is a performance, there is this lingering feeling of hypocrisy. To put on a good show, you need to always be "on." You need to have everything figured out, and you need to have a fake smile on your face showing this false truth. No one likes a dejected worship leader or a discouraged public speaker. That's why the most popular church leaders are often the ones that are the best at faking it. I'm not even dogging on ministers though, because the pastor or priest usually gets the short end of that stick. Everyone expects perfection from these people, when they are just people. They have struggles and weaknesses the same as any member of the congregation, yet they are put on the ivory platform and held to an impossible standard. Ministers are people with a call on their life, but look at all the people in the Bible with calls on their lives...Jacob, Moses, David, etc. They ALL have sin issues, and they aren't always "on." I am not saying we should expect less of ministers; I am saying we should not expect more of them than any other believer. Stop worshiping people in charge, and start worshiping Jesus.

But I digress, that has little to do with what I want to write about.

Anyway, I've just learned another lesson on how much God wants to be the object of our pursuit rather than a means to our goal of success/understanding/power/wealth/popularity. Here's a good question: why do we always seem to seek God when we need or want something from Him? Why do we choose to fast right before some major event we have planned?

According to MUFHH, dejection comes from fulfilling a lust or from an unfulfilled lust. He defines lust as, "I must have it at once." I appreciated this definition because I don't believe that lust only refers to uncontrolled sexual desire. I remember looking up "lust" in a concordance once. There are all sorts of lusts you can have, and they are all out of balance with how God wants us to live...by faith.

I recently discovered a new set of options for my future, and I immediately became desperate for God to tell me that I was supposed to do what I wanted to do. I didn't recieve the confirmation or answer I wanted, so that led to panic. It's not that I was blatantly committing a sin that led to my dejection. It's more that I left faith behind and decided to lust after knowledge that God did not want to give me for reasons that are His alone. I wanted a picture of my future "at once."

Instead, I was gently reminded that I have been put where I am right now for a reason, and I am to accomplish the tasks He puts closest to me right now to prepare myself for the next season. The concerns I have are not the concerns that God has. I worry about finding a job, finding a wife, finding possessions. God is more concerned with our relationship. It must hurt Him when I care more about pursuing things I should be trusting God for, instead of pursuing Him. God should be my reward, not earthly lusts...

Not a family.
Not popularity.
Not success.
Not knowledge.
Not power.
Not wealth.
Not status.

There is nothing inherently wrong with those things, but I must jump over every hurdle that tries to keep me from putting my total trust in God. This isn't denying that there are times I may not be "on." This is drawing my strength from God's well when there are wells that are much more convenient to use. This is becoming recklessly dependent on God even when I don't have to.

Thank God for not giving in to my demands when I seek an answer before seeking His face.