Milestones

For the first time since 1993, I am no longer the father of a teenager. And unless God has a big “Abraham-and-Sarah-meet-Isaac-like surprise” in store for us (a possibility I bring up in jest and don’t want to even contemplate in real life), I will never be the father of a teenager again. Angelynn is twenty years today. That hardly seems possible to me. I am tempted to say something about Angelynn being such a great kid. But she isn’t a kid. She is gown young woman… who is still financially dependent on Mom and Dad so we still get to treat her like a kid. That’s in the contract somewhere, right?

I still see Angelynn in my heart as the little kid pictured at right. And what is more, I still see myself as the thirty year old that I was when Angelynn was born. But I’m not. Time marches on, and it reminds me of its march ever morning when I get out of bed with the kinds of aches and pains I used to have to chop wood or something all day to get. I don’t know where the time has gone, but it is gone.

I’m not the parent of a teen any longer. Now, I’m not saying that like that’s a bad thing. It’s not! At times (just sometimes, not most of the time) the best thing about raising a teen is that you know that you will be done at some point! But milestones like today do remind us that time is rapidly slipping through our fingers, and we’d better made the most of the 24-hour chunk that we have today.

Happy birthday, Angelynn! You are still Daddy’s little girl… and you always will be!

The Case for Teaching the Bible

There is a very interesting article that appeared earlier this year in Time Magazine entitled “The Case for Teaching the Bible” written by associate editor by David Van Biema. The article makes a case from a secular point of view as to why Bible literacy courses need to be taught in our public high schools. While there aren’t that many such courses, they are rising in popularity. And in our multicultural, secular world, these courses in basic bible literacy are precisely what we need, according to Van Biema.

Note one example: a 1995 a federal appeals court upheld the overturning of a death sentence in the case of a Colorado kidnap-rape-murder because jurors had inappropriately brought in Bibles to discuss the Exodus verse “an eye for eye, tooth for tooth ... whoever ... kills a man shall be put to death.” Focus on the Family complained that "It is a sad day when the Bible is banned from the jury room.” Van Biema asks, “Whose most at fault here?” The jurors who didn’t realize that Jesus rejects the eye-for-an-eye rule? The Focus on the Family spokesman who likely knew of Jesus' repudiation of the old law but chose to ignore it? Or liberals who were too ignorant of the Bible to bring it up?

Why should Bible literacy be part of a secular high school education? The Bible is the most influential book ever written, far more so than the writings of the prolific bard who occupies second place (they do still read Shakespeare in high school, right?). And the rest of the literature that is studied, from Shakespeare to Hemmingway, is so influenced by the Bible that knowledge of the Good Book is helpful in reading other good books. Much of the political rhetoric of today is couched in Biblical references. Van Biema observes that while liberal Democrats seem to accuse Bush of “speaking in code” when making Biblical references, “the Democratic Party seems to have come around to the realization that a lot of grass-roots Democrats welcome such use.” He argues that in a world driven by political harangue, blogs, and advertisement, references to scripture (and other great literature) keeps us from being so shallow. He says, “The world is flat, sure. But Scripture is among our few means to make it deep.” Since our heritage is one so influenced by the Bible, even the non-religious among us would be served by better knowing the Bible.

You need to read this article. It makes a great case for the need for Biblical literacy in the public square. Let me end with a point he makes in passing. This one should hit closer to home. Are those of us who are Christians and who claim to hold the Bible in such high regard really acting consistently with that claim? You see, Biblical literacy is a bigger problem for the church than it is for the world. While we claim to know and follow the Bible, we see to know the Bible less and less. Let me leave you with the quote… think about it.

According to Religious Literacy, polls show that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the Bible holds the answers to "all or most of life's basic questions," but pollster George Gallup has dubbed us "a nation of biblical illiterates." Only half of U.S. adults know the title of even one Gospel. Most can't name the Bible's first book. The trend extends even to Evangelicals, only 44% of whose teens could identify a particular quote as coming from the Sermon on the Mount.

First Things First

I thought I had been caught in some kind of time warp this morning. The headlines read “Paris Liberated!” Had the news people picked up a World War II headline bouncing around in hyperspace or something? It is not exactly news that Paris was liberated by the allies on August 25, 1944. So why would all the news sources now want us to know about the liberation of Paris? Of course, what they were talking about was the releasing from jail of Paris Hilton after serving 23 days of a 45 day sentence for driving after her license was suspended following a DUI. Paris is our of jail, so stop the presses!

It seems to me that there may have been a few more significant things going on in the world yesterday. Like a key Republican senator and supporter of the President urging him to make a complete change in the entire course of the Iraq War. Or the eleven Americans killed in Iraq on Monday. Or a dangerous, drug-resistant staphylococcus germ that may be infecting as many as 5 percent of hospital patients. Or any number of other stories. Evidently all of that pales in comparison to the big news that Paris Hilton is free. There are some priorities mixed up here somewhere, don't you think?

But then, we all have our priories mixed up, don't we? We all have a problem separating the really important things from the more pressing urgent things in our lives. I spent 30 minutes yesterday on the web finding the very best deal for a wireless network adapter for Tressa's computer. Was that important? Not even a little bit. But then it did seem urgent... to get her computer working so that she would get off of mine! Urgent, but not important. It seems these are the kinds of things we so often spend out time doing. Urgent, perhaps, but not important.

Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness…” (Matt 6:33). We believe that, don't we? We do know that eternal things are the most important because they are eternal-- they will last forever. Paul tells us to focus on spiritual things because “what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor 4:18). We agree with that… and then we spend the bulk of our time pursing the urgent things that won’t last. Someone has their priorities mixed up. Is that someone us?

Both... and Neither!

Ann Holmes Redding has been an Episcopal priest for 20 years, and this fall she will teach as visiting professor of New Testament at Seattle University. Fifteen months ago, she also converted to Isalm. Today she claims to be both a Christian and a practicing Muslim. There is no real conflict in this to her. Sure, some minor details have to be worked out, but then people in every religion disagree over some of the details. “So why would I spend time to try to reconcile all of Christian belief with all of Islam.” She goes on to say this—

At the most basic level, I understand the two religions to be compatible. That's all I need. ... It wasn't about intellect. All I know is the calling of my heart to Islam was very much something about my identity and who I am supposed to be. I could not not be a Muslim.

Both Christian and Muslim leaders puzzle over her affirmation that she is both Christian and Muslim. One Muslim professor said, "The theological beliefs are irreconcilable… for Muslims to say Jesus is God would be blasphemy." A Christian professor says, "I think you have to give up what is essential to Christianity to make the moves that she has done.”

What Redding has given up is Jesus. Christianity stands or falls with the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus told his followers, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me… Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:6,9). Christianity is built on the foundation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt 16:16). He is the ^“radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” who is today “sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Heb 1:3). Jesus is the eternal word of God who was with God at the beginning and who is Himself God (John 1:1).

Either Jesus is who he said he was or Christianity is false. Either faith stands on the foundation of God’s action in history in the person of Jesus or it does not. Either Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and who was raised as the firstfruits of the dead or He was not. Either Jesus is Lord or he is not. One really does have to choose. And to try to accept both Jesus and Mohammad is to choose against Christ.

What do we think about Jesus?

Experts vs the Collective?

Andrew Keen has a new book entitled The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture. In his book, he points to some of the dangers created by the internet and things like blogoshpere and Wikipedia. Of course, I didn’t read the book; I read a review of the book by Michael Rogers on MSNBC’s website, which probably proves Keen’s thesis about the dumbing-down of our culture!

Think about Wikipedia here. As you likely know, Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that is written, edited and rewritten by its users. The information is “peer-reviewed” in the sense that anyone can correct and add to information in its articles. It is “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit” according to its homepage. The “collective” provides its own checks and balances for accuracy, so there is no need an “expert” to edit the information. Keen worries that a “cult of amateurs” becomes the authority on information, and then points to its own work as authoritative. So like American Idol becomes the authority on music, so the collective becomes the authority on information.

What Keen is worried about is things like the loss of objectivity in reporting on news. Of course, as I was reading this, I was translating his points to church? Who provides checks and balances on what the church teaches and practices? We would say, of course, that God and His word is the authority for the church, and that is true enough. But who decides what God means and what the Bible says when there are disagreements in teaching and application? You may have noticed that people and groups equally committed to God and scripture sometimes disagree. So who is the “editor” of what the Bible means?

• Is it the “collective?” Is the church a kind of Wikipedia in which every member constantly writes and rewrites an understanding of how we are to live scripture? Are we not all accountable for what we believe and how we live? Is not theology an ongoing process in which all Christians participate?
  

• Is it local leaders? Does God not God gift each church with leaders that are called to feed, shepherd and protect the flock of God? Are elders called to pastor? Aren’t preacher’s called to teach? Is there not a leadership that goes on in every church where “the collective” is instructed, taught and guided by those called as leaders?
  

• It is “the experts?” Doesn’t God also gift the church with scholars who are themselves gifted in areas of language, church history, theology and the like? Should the church not listen to those who have expertise in ways that local leaders never will?

The answer has to be “all of the above?” The church is “a Christian collective” that writes and rewrites our story in the world and to the world. But God has given us local church leaders to teach and shepherd us. And God has given us “experts” and scholars that serve as resources to the church. What God hasn’t done is left us alone as individuals to figure all of this out for ourselves.

Another Night with the Frogs

The pool at Camp Idlewild was always one of the most popular places for campers, but one year it was the place to be if you were a frog. Hundreds (thousands?) of little green frogs descended on the pool, many finding their into the pool skimmers. It was a huge mess. The camp director issued the edict that our athletic director would also be given the job of frog wrangler; it was now his job to remove all the frogs from the pool area. Well, he couldn’t just blow his whistle and say, “OK, everybody out of the pool!” (Come to think about it, that didn’t work with the kids either). So the athletic director spent much of one night capturing hundreds (thousands?) of frogs and placing them into five gallon buckets... which he then placed outside the camp director's door! I could not stifle a laugh the next morning at breakfast when the director said, "Boy, those frogs sure made a lot of noise last night!"

The plague of frogs on Egypt in Exodus 8 was far worse that the one that we had at Camp Idlewild. God showed his sovereignty over the nature deities of Egypt in dramatic ways— the sacred Nile River turned into blood, the sun (god Ra) was hidden by darkness, etc. The people of Egypt suffered because of Pharaoh's stubborn refusal to release his Israelite slaves. One of these plagues was a horde of frogs that found their way into every nook and cranny of Egyptian life. It was so awful that Pharaoh sent for Moses and begged him to remove the frogs. Moses told Pharaoh that he could pick the time that the frogs would be removed, and Pharaoh said, "Tomorrow." In essence, he chose one more night with the frogs.

So why do we choose one more night with frogs? We often make the decision to go on a diet or start a exercise program or do something else to improve our lives... and we always decide to do it “tomorrow” (or "next Monday"). Sometimes our resolution is more spiritual— we will start reading the Bible daily or attending church more faithfully or get involved in a small group or get some help in overcoming a recurring sin. But again it seems that our favorite time for starting is always TOMORROW. We chose another night with the frogs. But tomorrow often never seems to come. This Monday always seems to slip into the next Monday. We always seem to choose another night with the frogs. And we never seem to get rid of them.

What is it that you need to do for the glory of God? Don't put it off! Get rid of the frogs today!

Til I Entered

H. G. Wells once described God as “an ever absent help in time of trouble.” While we may be annoyed by the accusations of the agnostics, most of us have felt that way ay some point or another. We believe God is there and in control, but what we see going on in our lives doesn't really seem to match up.

That is exactly what Asaph struggles with in Psalm 73 (my daily reading for today). What Asaph sees in the world does not correspond with what his faith taught him. Faith said that God was good to Israel and to those who are pure in heart. But what Asaph saw around him was that the wicked prospered and the righteous often did not. He says in verse 3, "For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." Then he describes the prosperous wicked in verses 4-12, ending with “This is what the wicked are like-- always carefree, they increase in wealth” (v. 12).

But as Asaph struggles with this view of the world, he gets another and fresher perspective. And that perspective comes to him in a surprising place. He enters the sanctuary of God, the place of worship and praise, and then everything becomes clear to him (Psalm 73:16-17)

When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me
till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.

As long as Asaph was isolated from the people of God, from the community of faith, then he struggled with his doubt. But when he goes back to the sanctuary, when he reenters the community of believers in worship, then his faith is renewed and refreshed. His faith in God is restored as his participation in worship with the community of faith is restored.

And within the house of God Asaph gets a whole new perspective of the wicked. He begins to see their prosperity as a house of cards, vulnerable to every wind of chance (73:18-20). This new assessment led to the strong conviction that God does not forsake His own! God is present in the valley of darkness, even in the valley of the shadow of death. He offers comfort in times of distress, counsel in times of perplexity, and strength in times of weakness. So the psalm that began as a bitter cry of disillusionment and lost faith ends with one of the strongest statements of faith and confidence that we find in scripture (Psalm 73:25-28)

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

Being a Bit Conservative*

* I am being a bit conservative today... in the sense that the entry below was part of yesterday's sermon that was cut out because of time considerations. (When I recognize in advance that I'm being long-winded, then I am being long-winded indeed). But why waste a whole page of type, especially given how slow I type? So here are my recycled thoughts that I present in interest of conserving work.

Sigmund Freud would have said that people with poor impulse control have “weak ego boundaries.” Freud’s theory of personality saw the id as the pleasure principle, the superego as the morality principle, and the ego as the reality principle. The ego’s job is to satisfy the needs of the id while respecting the superego and the needs of other people. So Freud would have said that people who don’t seem to be able to delay gratification have an unbalanced id that the ego can’t control, this weak ego boundaries.

Freud was no friend of Christianity, and he indeed saw this whole process a as purely psychological phenomenon. But several years ago, Joe Beam (in his book Seeing the Unseen) suggested that Freud may have been on to something here. Not that this process is merely a psychological issue; Beam argues just the opposite. But he suggests that there is a indeed a three-fold battle that rages within.

• What Freud calls the “id” the Bible calls the “sinful nature” or literally “the flesh.” This is the part of us that wants what it wants when it wants it. It is inherently selfish, and it cares nothing for delayed gratification or the needs of others.
  

• What Freud calls “the superego,” the Bible calls “the conscience.” This is the part of us that tells us to do what is right, moral and good. It is the “sense of oughtness” placed inside each of us by God that spurs us to do what it is that we ought to do, even if that is not what we want to do
  

• What Freud calls “the ego” the Bible calls “the mind.” It is the rational part of us that makes choices and decides what we will do. Our minds get messages from both our “flesh” and our “conscience,” from our “sinful nature” and from our “higher nature.”

This is the battle that rages within us, but there is more involved than just what is within us. Our sinful nature wants what it wants when it wants it, and it is precisely here that Satan tempts us, prompting us to do evil. While our conscience prompts us to do what is right, Christians receive promptings from the Spirit of God within us. So this struggle between good and evil within us is really a spiritual battle. But we have the final choice-- our minds decide what it is that we are going to do.

Is all of that clear? Sure it is! Well, maybe my explanation isn’t all that clear, but we are surely clear in the way that this works in our lives. Each human heart is a spiritual battlefield that Paul describes so vividly in Romans 7:18-23—

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

There is an ongoing spiritual battle between flesh (our sinful nature plus Satan’s temptation) and the Spirit (our conscience plus the prompting of the Spirit within). We always receive mixed signals. But we remain key players because our minds (our conscience selves) make the choice as to which voice we are going to hear and which action we are going to take. Our inner being (conscience) delights in God's law, but there is also a law at war within us (sinful nature) that wars against our minds. And the war goes on.

Extraordinarily Tragic

Angelynn decided Monday night at 8:30 that she could not survive another day without getting to Target to buy some make-up. I think she looks fine without all that stuff, but surprisingly she wasn’t open to that suggestion. She HAD to go to Target that night right then, and she needed someone to go with her. Neither Mom or big sister were able to go, so of course I was the next choice… and last resort. Great chance for a little father-daughter quality time, right? Yeah, well I had a headache from working all day scrapping up 40 year old carpet padding that is welded onto our floors (in preparation for getting the floors refinished). I was in no mood to make a run to Target to buy makeup (as opposed to most days when I would jump at the chance to do so). So Angelynn went to Target alone late at night, grumbling to herself about her family.

The next day, the national news started carrying the story of Kelsey Smith, an 18 year old woman from Kansas City who was abducted from a Target parking lot on Saturday night seconds after coming out of the store. Security video from the store shows her leaving the store with the gift she had bought for her boyfriend; another security tape shows her forced into a truck and driven away. Her body was found yesterday afternoon in a wooded area about 20 miles away from the store. Today police arrested a suspect in her abduction and murder.

I wasn’t a bit concerned about Angelynn going to Target Monday night. But then Greg Smith (Kelsey's Dad) probably wasn’t a bit concerned about his daughter going to Target two nights before. This world is filled with evil, and we never know when that evil will cross our paths, when the ordinary will be shattered by the extraordinarily tragic. Greg Smith would give anything today if he would have made that Target run with Kelsey on Sunday evening. To tell you the truth, I’m feeling guilty for not going with Angelynn on Monday night. We always think that those things we see on TV happen to someone else; I’m sure that’s what the Smith’s thought too.

I’ll pray for the Smith family as they deal with their loss. I’ll also pray that nothing like that ever happens close to home... or close to anyone's home. And I’ll pray that Tressa and Angelynn’s Daddy does a better joy of enjoying them and not taking them being here for granted.

From the Land of Fruits and Nuts

All Leo Serrano thought that he was doing was renewing his driver's license. Evidently in California, part of that process us having your fingerprints scanned into a database, and that just struck Serrano the wrong way. He made an offhand comment to the DMV agent, "I'm against their mark of the beast system." He thought no more about the incident until he discovered last week that his new driver's license had been suspended.

He was told by the California DMV that his comment about the “mark of the beast” had raised red flags. This reference from Revelation refers (in one interpretation anyway) to the end of the word, and that evidently flagged Serrano as being suspicious. He was given a medical form to fill out and was told to call a driver's safety official in Fresno. In other words, referring to the book of Revelation was enough to call into question his mental health! I know how he feels; I once preached a sermon series on Revelation and several people thought I was nuts! When the DMV was asked to clarify their position, they declined to comment because the case involved medical confidentiality! Isn’t that cute!

Now, I don’t believe that scanned fingerprints are “the mark of the beast” of the Apocalypse. In fact, I have a totally different take on the book than the one evidently espoused by Mr. Serrano. But to have one’s mental health questioned because one makes a passing reference to the Bible is itself crazy, even given the "Continental Shift Theory." That's the one where the continent shifted and all the fruits and nuts rolled over to California!

At any rate, we can no longer assume appreciation for the Bible is a mainstream view in our culture. To take the Bible seriously as a spiritual guide in the 21^st century will be viewed as quaint (at best) and as crazy (as with Mr. Serrano). The time when most people recognized the Bible as the “Good Book” has long sense past. To follow God in our world will more and more take us out of step with the culture around us. So what are we to do? Peter tells us to live such good lives before the world that their insults pack no punch—

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:12)

Feel the Love

I have always been amazed and amused by churches who regularly have a “love offering” for their minister. I know of churches who have a contribution each week just for the preacher -- “separate and apart” from the regular offering for the church. And if the preacher doesn’t “feel the love” and believes the people can give more, they send the baskets around again! Wow! I feel guilty sometimes just cashing my paycheck, let alone having a special contribution just for me.

But then I may give that love offering deal a try. For years several years, Lynn has really wanted to rip up our 40-year old carpet (exaggeration, it’s only 38 years old) and have the hardwood floors underneath refinished. Just as we decided to splurge and have that done (and ripped up the old carpet, making a huge mess) our upstairs AC unit died a horrible death… and needs to be replaced. The air handler is fairly new, but the upgrade from 10 to 13 SEER means the air handler also needs to be done. The old bank account is beginning to hemorrhage… so if we have a love offering next week, you’ll understand why.

This has been a rather interesting lesson in priorities. There was absolutely no question about whether or not to get the AC replaced. My first question when we got estimates was not “how much” but rather “how fast?” We can go without food, but we really have to have AC! Actually, God has blessed us with some fairly cool nights (while doesn't the AC ever go out on February?). And Dan’s Heating and AC has promised to put in a temporary unit tomorrow so that we’ll have air while we are waiting to have the new system installed.

As near as I can figure it, by the time the new AC is installed and has things cooled down, they will just be getting started on refinishing the floors. So between the heat and toxic fumes, the old homestead is not going to be a pleasant place to live for awhile!

A Powerful Testimony

We know that we are to take every opportunity to share our faith story whenever we have the opportunity. We also know that most of us don’t do that often enough when we have the opportunity... or look for ways to create opportunities. Lauren McCain is still taking the opportunity to share her faith more than a month after she died in the Virginia Tech massacre. Lauren was videotaped on February 22 on the Tech campus as part of a Campus Crusade for Christ project to compile interviews of students discussing their faith. Her interview is an enthusiastic and profound testimony to her relationship with God. You can watch the video on the Daily Press website.

Perhaps the most powerful moment comes when Lauren describes a moment of longing for God when she was particularly down and depressed, and she asked God during a time of worship to show her His presence. She said, “As human beings, we're not going to see his face until we're in Heaven, but I was like, ‘Oh man, just let me die then, and let me see your face.’” Little could she have that less than two months after her testimony was filmed that she would see God face.

What a powerful testimony to a living faith.