An Atheist Goes to Church

Jim Henderson runs Off The Map, a church growth ministry and the website ChurchRater.com. His group created a stir several years ago when they hired atheist Hemant Mehta (actually bidding for his services in an eBay auction) to visit churches and give observations as an unbeliever. Well, he is at it again with a new book, Jim and Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversation about Faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christians. Matt Casper is a marketing copywriter and singer… and he is an atheist. He was hired to travel with Henderson to visit megachurches around the country like Saddleback (Rick Warren), Willow Creek (Bill Hybells), Lakewood (Joel Osteen), Potter’s House (T.D. Jakes) and others. This book seeks to be an insight for churches into how they are seen by outsiders.

I’m not completely sure that the exercise is completely fair. Casper is not a seeker—he is an unbeliever who is 100% sure that there is not God. He likely would have never stumbled into any of these churches looking for God, so maybe his observations aren't all that reliable. But it is certainly true that the church’s view of itself is almost always different from how it is perceived by non-believers. This is especially the case even the church prides itself on being “user-friendly” to outsiders like these megachurches.

What exercises like can this help us see is this-- the things we might think are important to outsiders may not be all that important. Henderson suggests that things like worship style, church size, the charisma of the preacher, or presentation of the preaching are largely “culturally determined.” Henderson suggests that the most significant factors of a church on non-churched visitors are their outward friendliness, their bias toward action (doing things that serve others) and what he calls “grace/tolerance” (a willingness to accept people “just as I am.”) This grace/tolerance is the reason why AA is safer for struggling people than church.

One thing these three have in common is that they are not easily manipulated. It’s fairly easy to sing peppy songs and preach upbeat sermons. But it's hard to be friendly and accepting without really being friendly and accepting. Studies show that most churches that rate themselves as “very friendly” do so because they are very friendly to each other; outsiders often feel that these “friendly” churches aren’t very friendly at all! It is easy to say that we accept and show grace to everyone… while we actually expect them to basically look and act just like us. And it is extremely hard look like you’ve involved in the lifestyle of Jesus without actually living like it. In other words, the kinds of things that may actually attract outsiders are those things that cannot be manipulated or rearranged to make us more attractive to outsiders.

Someone observed that a stagnant church that changes its worship style in an effort to grow will most often end up a stagnant church with better worship. Outward changes to make us more “user-friendly” to those outside are necessary and important; sometimes we have to get ourselves out of the way so others can better see God. But these external changes are helpful only if they reflect changes on the inside, changes that reflect the power and presence of God Himself.

He Is Risen Indeed

We had a great weekend with Tommy South leading us in a study of “What Can We Know About Jesus?” Tommy pointed us past the recent attempts to undermine faith in the reliability of the New Testament— things like The Jesus Seminar, The DaVinci Code, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, and the Gospel of Judas. He pointed us back to the historical sources that affirm the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and assured us that our faith is founded on a foundation of history. Accepting Jesus will also be a decision of faith, but it is a decision to accept historical truth claims about the person of Christ.

Paul L. Meir’s novel “A Skeleton in God’s Closet” anticipated much of The DaVinci Code hoopla back in 1994… with a twist. In fact, one reviewer of the re-leased 2004 edition calls it "The DaVinci Code in reverse." In the book, a tomb is found in Palestine that is proven to be that of Joseph of Arimathea… and the tomb has a skeleton in it that isn’t that of Joseph. The body is rather that of a thirty year old Jewish male who had been crucified. Evidence is piled upon evidence, and the conclusion that is reached is that this is the body of Jesus! A world-wide panic ensues as skeptics now finally have the smoking gun that disproves the central claim of Christianity.

The hero of the story is Dr. Jonathan Webber, and Biblical archeologist who is also something of a skeptic. He slowly pieces together the evidence and puts the clues together. In the process he is almost murdered, but he finally proves that the supposed body of Jesus as a diabolical forgery. The tomb really was empty, just as the Bible writers suggest.

The Story ends on Easter morning as Webber worships at his home church. His adventure has reconnected him to his faith. At the critical part of the worship service, the minister proclaims, “He is risen.” And the church responds with renewed faith, “He is risen indeed!” Webber’s eyes mist… because he knows it is all true.

And it is all true! There are a dozen sites in the holy land that some point to as the historical tomb of Jesus. It is doubtful if any of them truly are. But if archeologists ever do find the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, I am absolutely confident of one thing. It will be empty! I know because I've read the book!

Strange Bedfellows?

The death of Jerry Falwell last week underscores a change taking place among conservative Christians and their involvement in politics. Falwell convinced evangelicals that they could exercise influence through political action when he founded “The Moral Majority” in 1978. This organization was made up of conservative Christian political action groups campaigning against things like abortion and homosexuality and for things like school prayer and the traditional family. During the heyday of the Moral Majority, the “religious right” was seen as a single political group with a single agenda, and it indeed exerted its political influence. History will judge how far-reaching and long-lasting was that influence.

But times have changed. Conservative Christians still vote, but the “religious right” is no longer one voice with one religious leader. Christians are still very concerned with social issues, but they aren't all focusing on the same social issues. Witness the emphasis of men like Rick Warren and Bill Hybels, for example, on the AIDS epidemic in Africa. No one can honestly accuse these guys of not emphasizing evangelism for the sake of social issues.

Joel Hunter is another example. Hunter works with several evangelical organizations, and he was selected as the president of the Christian Coalition, the conservative group that inherited the mantle of the Moral Majority. But Hunter declined the job because he wanted to focus on social issues other than abortion and same-sex marriage… issues like poverty and environmental protection. So Hunter represents the “greening of the religious right,” saying “Our first order in the Garden was to take care of the Earth.”

Poverty is a social issue. So is health care. So is the AIDS epidemic. For many of the so-called “new evangelicals,” it is just as clear as where Jesus would stand on these issues as on those staked out in the 70’s by the Moral Majority. Conservative theology and more moderate and liberal politics can exist consistently within the same value system. We must be very careful not to assume that agreement on the gospel means we must stand in the same place politically.

Religious Conversations

Are you familiar with http://www.wikihow.com? It is a web site that gives “How-to” instructions for anything from “How to Swat a Fly without a Flyswatter” to “How to Roast a Turkey.” It is you basic How-To guide for just about anything. Including “How to Avoid Uncomfortable Conversations About Religion.” The process is fairly straightforward; here is simplified version—

• Don’t argue. It's difficult to overlook a statement that seems ignorant and ungrounded, and you'll likely have the urge to correct the person. Instead, just smile and say "Interesting..."
  
  
• Redirect the conversation. Ask about their children, health, or job or make a joke like, “Religion? No, I haven't seen that movie."
  
  
• Delay. Suggest a better time to have the conversation; this will allow you to control the environment, length of discussion, etc.
  
  
• Excuse yourself. Take bathroom break, greet someone who just arrived or even take out your cell phone.
  
  
• Bring in another conversationalist. When you can't avoid a person who wants to talk about religion, look for another person who has strong opinions about religion introduce the two, and leave them to split theological hairs together.
  
  
• Be straightforward. Tell them that this is the wrong time for this discussion.

We’ve all known people who press their theological point of view in polemic debate at any and every moment they have opportunity. You know, the guy or gal who can’t tell that nobody wants to hear them argue for the umpteenth time that day about why the Bible teaches that Bill Gates is the antichrist (the number of glitches in Windows 666). We have all gotten roped into conversations or debates that we could have done without.

Understanding that there is a time and place for everything, our real problem is not getting out of unwanted religious discussions… it is getting into them. We need to do a better job of initiating discussions about our God because we are His ambassadors. That is not always an easy—or safe—thing to do. But if God is the great truth at the center of our value system, then that should come out more than it does, should it not. The reason that we can have certainty and hope in a world so short on both is that we have faith in God who is in all and above all. Some trust in horses and chariots, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God!

When we are drawn into discussions of the war in Iraq, the shootings at Tech or myriad of other events and topics, maybe we can honestly and naturally point to the reason we believe that eventually everything will be all right.

Fear of Molestation

When I was growing up, I remember one of the prayer phrases often used in church prayers was “We thank Thee that we can assemble for worship without fear of molestation.” As I got older, the term “molestation” came to have a more technical meaning (as in "good touch, bad touch"), and that prayer seemed a little strange. But it also seemed strange because the persecution of the church was something from the distant past, taken away by Constantine at the twilight of the Roman empire. Of course, even as we prayed that prayer, Christians were being arrested, tortured and killed in the U.S.S.R and Red China. It is often pointed out that more Christians died for their faith in the 20^th century than in the first three centuries combined. Stalin and Mao could teach Decius and Diocletian a thing or two about persecution.

Today faith flourishes in China and many of the former Soviet republics. It is now radical Islam that poses the greatest threat to believers in the world. That was emphasized again today by an article Brian Brown sent me from the Fox News website. Pakistani Christians in Charsadda, a town bordering Afghanistan, have received letters from the Taliban demanding that they close their churches and convert to Islam or they will be targeted for bombings. Many Christians have fled town and others live in fear. All believe that the authorities are failing to take this threat seriously.

Christians (along with Hindus and minorities) make up only about 3% of Pakistan's 160 million residents. Until very recently, most Christians have been able to live peacefully with the Muslim majority. But attacks and threats against Christians have increased greatly after the September 11 attacks and Pakistan’s cooperation with the United States in the war against the Taliban. Like their brothers and sisters in the Roman Empire of the first three centuries, Christians in Pakistan are powerless and easy targets for the growing “Talibanization” of Pakistan. Keep our brothers and sisters in these dangerous areas of the world your prayers.

Big Days / Family Weekend

This was a church family weekend for us. On Saturday, David and Jasmine (Costen) Feliciano were married at the chapel at Ft. Eustis. There is always a ton of stuff to do to get ready for a wedding, but we all got through it. The highlight of the whole thing for me was Angelynn and Tressa fighting over the bridal bouquet. I'm glad Tressa gave up easily; I was afraid someone was gonna get hurt in that tussle! Congratulations to David and Jasmine... and to Josh and Sylvia for getting through the ordeal. It really was a big day.

Sunday was a big day as well. I thought worship was particularly uplifting, but it was Melissa and Julie Foster coming forward to be baptized that made it super special day. And then Thomas' emotional table-talk before communion... well, it was a great day.

Last night, our small group had a party to welcome Glenn Sweatt back home after 6 months in Afghanistan. We had a great time. It was a great family weekend. BTW, special credit goes to Bill Foster who pointed out that yesterday we sang the song "Wake Up O Sleeper" right after my sermon, which everyone found appropriate!

Mother's Day is always a special day, but many probably noticed that we didn't do a lot of special stuff (like we sometimes have in the past). No slide shows or special songs... or even a sermon on mothers. What is with that? Those things are fine, and we'll likely do them again in the future. But Mother's Day is a very hard day for some people-- like those who have lost mothers, mothers who have lost children, and those who cannot have children. Sometimes I think it is good to understate the whole Mother's Day thing for that reason.

God's Plans and Our Plans

I have been using “The Grace for the Moment Daily Bible” for my daily Bible reading. It is one of those Bibles that has 365 Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs readings, one for each day of the calendar year. I bought it for two reasons— first, it was the New Century Version, and I wanted to use an unfamiliar translation rather than the original language (the NIV). Second, it only cost me only $11.00 at Sam’s Club. I was going to use the NLT, but it is hard to beat $11 .00!

I am sure that all these Bibles do is to parse the Bible into 365 readings more or less by size, but it is interesting how often the days readings from the different sections of the Bible seem to have a related theme. I guess that shouldn’t be a shock since all parts share a common Author. Notice today’s reading, for example.

• The Old Testament reading is 1 Samuel 22-23 where David is on the run from Saul. Saul kills a whole town because one priest helps David by giving him food and a weapon, and then Saul “was making evil plans” (23:9) to trap David in the city of Keliah. David prays to God who leads David to leave the city one step ahead of the posse. Saul was under the illusion that God was helping him in his evil schemes (23:7), but God has other plans.

• The Psalm reading is Psalm 59 which the superscription ascribes to this same phase in David’s life. David talks about evil men with evil plans, and yet God has plans of His own. “But, Lord, you laugh at them; you make fun of all of them” (59:8). David faith allows him to turn this time on the run into an opportunity of praise. “God, my strength, I will sing praises to you. God, my defender, you are the God who loves me” (59:17).

• The proverb for today was Proverbs 16:1- “People may make plans in their minds, but only the Lord can make them come true.” We may think we have plans, but ultimately everything works out according to God’s Day-Timer.
  

• The New Testament reading is the prologue of John, that amazing word about the Word that became flesh and lived among us. The ultimate plan of God was worked out among human beings. The world had other plans— it lived in darkness, but the plan of God was for His Light to come into our world.

God’s plans and our plans. We may want to boldly proclaim with Invictus, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” But then, we know better, don’t we? We live our lives at times like we are large-and-in-charge with all kinds of plans and preparations, and we are really in charge of very little. Ultimately, the only lasting power that we have is the power to put our faith and trust our lives to the Sovereign God has control over all things.

And Thought of Me Above All

I read an article the other day entitled “Good Lines and Questionable Lines in Worship Songs.” The author points to some lines in songs that he finds extremely powerful and some that he thinks are questionable. That is a good idea—there are some songs that aren’t that strong in the theology department (like "Drop Kick Me Jesus Through the Goal Posts of Life"). But I think the author totally misses it when he uses Michael W. Smith’s “Above All” as one of his examples. The line that he objects to is “He thought of me above all.” The author sees this as an example of over-personalizing and “navel-gazing” when it comes to the gospel. He writes—

Michael W. Smith’s song paints a nicely personal picture, but “thought of me above all.” I can’t read Jesus’ mind any better than Michael W. Smith, but from the story it seems Jesus was thinking of his mother, John, the thief, forgiving Gentiles and Jews for what they knew not, his disciples, his Father, so perhaps the line could be, “And thought of me, among other things” but had that un-poetic line been written, I don’t think we’d have even heard of the song.

I’ll be the first to admit that Jesus was not thinking about me personally to the exclusion of thinking about Mary, John, the thief beside Him… or even you. But then, that is not even close to what the song says. Notice the lyrics—

Above all powers, above all kings,
Above all nature and all created things
Above all wisdom and all the ways of man,
You were here before the world began

Above all kingdoms, above all thrones
Above all wonders the world has ever known
Above all wealth and treasures of the earth
There's no way to measure what you're worth

Crucified. Laid behind a stone
You lived to die, rejected and alone
Like a rose trampled on the ground
You took the fall and thought of me above all

Jesus did think of me above all… above all powers, kings, thrones, wonders, etc. The song expresses the profound thought that Jesus was above all but though of you and I above all of that. While I do believe that we can over-personalize the gospel and navel-gaze and focus on ourselves while forgetting that “red, and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.” But I don’t believe this song does that... not at all. Rather it expresses for me in a profound way the fact that Jesus set aside the throne of the heavens to live and die among us because he loved us above all.

Facing the Giants

Several years ago, the giant toy company Mattel sued a man named Gopi Mattel. It seems that this Indian immigrant registered the domain name “mattel.org” and Mattel Incorporated brought domain name arbitration proceedings against him claiming copyright infringement. The arbitration ruled against the toy-maker, concluding that Gopi Mattel had the rights in his own surname. So if you visit www.mattel.org, you can read Mr. Mattel’s resume and some articles on brokerage sales—but you cannot order Barbie dolls or Matchbox cars. The title of an article in USA Today about the incident is “David Beats Goliath in Domain-Name Dispute.”

The metaphor of David and Goliath is routinely rolled out anytime the little guy wins out despite tremendous odds in business or sports or politics. And the metaphor makes sense… if you look at the Biblical story from the viewpoint of the Philistines. When the warrior hero Goliath saw David come out to fight him, he said, Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” (1 Samuel 17:43, my daily reading for today). Looking at the battle through the eyes of the world, it was dead solid certain that David had no chance. But David saw things a bit differently—

David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. (1 Samuel 17:45)

The difference in Goliath and David take on the battle was not that David believed that sometimes the little guy does have a chance. No, they disagreed on who was really the little guy. The giant pointed to his size and strength and experience... and David pointed to God. David knew that the living God was mightiest of all warriors, and thus poor little Goliath never stood a chance.

May God give us the faith of David as we go out to face the giants of our world. May we always remember that battle belongs to the Lord! May God give us the absolute certainty of Paul’s declaration, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31). At the end of the day, Goliath always wins... but the true Goliath is God! Everything that the world throws at us, as intimidating and overwhelming as they seem at times, become pretty puny when compared to the awesome power and majesty of our Goliath God.

Oh what I would do to have the kind of strength it takes to
stand before a giant with just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors shaking in their armor
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand
But the giant's calling out my name and he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me time and time again.
"Boy you can never win! You can never win!"
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
The voice of truth says, "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
© 2003 by Casting Crowns

New Comment Policy

I've changed the setting for comments to this blog. With all the "anonymous" postings, I had a hard time following who was saying what. Anyone can still post comments, but you have to register (and log in) with blogger first. Hope this isn't too much of a inconvenience.

Pepperdine Report

I mentioned yesterday in the sermon some of our travel travails on our trip—lost luggage coming and going, 2 canceled flights, Lynn booked on the wrong plane, and arriving 5 hours or so late on both trips. Of course, they ended up putting Lynn in first class both trips. She was with singer Ciara and her entourage on the flight from LA to Atlanta while I was back in steerage on the very back row (the one where the seat doesn’t recline) on another plane. For some reason, she was a lot happier with the mix-up than I was!

What I didn’t mention yesterday was that the lectures were fantastic. Jerry Rushford did his usual spectacular job (his 25^th year running the lectures). Some of the highlights (in no particular order)—the Wednesday keynote sermons (11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.) by John York and Harold Shank (best same day keynotes in awhile), hearing Rubel Shelly teaching on divorce-and-remarriage (hearing Rubel speak on anything is always a treat for me, even when on a simple little subject like this one), the evening songfest lead by Ken Young and Hallal (we got there 45 minutes early each night to get the very front row seats), David Fleer’s imaginative (and that is UNDERSELLING it) sermon on Jeremiah 31 (wow!), Don McLaughlin’s class on “The Restoration of Passion,” and Randy Harris speaking on whatever it was that Randy Harris spoke on.

Lynn and I spent the 3 days before the lectures started in Pismo Beach (actually, we were down the coast at Avila Beach this year). Just being together with absolutely nothing to do was the most important and needful part of the trip. The transition of complete-leisure at the beach to a regimented begin at 6:30 a.m. (breakfast) and end at 10:00 p.m. (late-night) schedule is jarring. Both are great! The countdown timer on my Google homepage now says 355 days until Pepperdine!