TOO SERIOUSLY?

Fresh out of college I found myself living and working in LeMars, Iowa - a small town about 30 minutes north of Sioux City and known primarily for being the home of Blue Bunny Ice Cream.

I was hired to be the youth pastor for the two United Methodist Churches in LeMars and I shared an apartment with an earnest little guy named Ray who had been hired to be the youth pastor at the local Presbyterian Church.

Ray connected quickly with a core group of the teenage boys in the youth group and soon they were doing Bible studies together on a regular basis, even outside of the regular youth group schedule. Ray was excited about the deepening of these boys' faith.

But one night Ray slouched into the apartment completely dejected. I couldn't believe what had happened. The mother of one of these young men had confronted him on behalf of herself and the other moms. She wanted Ray to back off from the Bible studies and the extra time outside of church.

Why?

Because the moms had decided that their boys were starting to take their faith "too seriously"!

Ray was absolutely wrecked. 

Satan got a two for one out of that deal: he derailed any discipleship progress in those young men while also deflating the youth pastor's zeal for making disciples.

When Paul writes to the Colossians these lines in chapter 3 -

 "1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God",

- it is clear that he has no concept of a believer taking his or her relationship with Jesus too seriously.

There's simply no such thing. 

HIDDEN ABOVE

Colossians 3:1-4

1 Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Paul says so much here in just a few words.

A few early notes on the passage I will be preaching this coming Sunday ...

Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 

Verse 1 - The verb "strive for" is the same word Jesus uses in Matthew 6:13, there translated as "seek": "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you."

The image of Christ seated at the right hand of God is significant. "In Jewish traditions, God alone sits in the heavens, while the other subordinating angelic beings (i.e. the divine council) stand before him. Christ's being seated at the right hand of God, therefore, points to his sharing of God's sovereign rule." (Pao, p.211)

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 

Verse 2 - If the main feature of "the things above" is Jesus seated in power - as King - alongside the Father, then "setting your mind on things above" has to do with giving serious thought to God's will. In contrast, "the earthly things" are "practices that refuse to acknowledge Christ as the sovereign Lord of all". (Pao, p.212)

"Believers are not to escape from this material world; rather, they are to focus on Christ as they live faithfully on earth." (Pao, p.213)

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Verse 3 - In Colossians 2:3, Paul has already asserted that "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden" in Christ. Now, he says the believer himself is hidden there. This is a place of safety, security, and fulfillment, as well as identity.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Verse 4 - This "hiddenness", and the security which it brings, lasts right up until the moment Christ returns - when He is "revealed". When His glory is revealed, we who were hidden with Him will also erupt into glory! 

THE SECOND ACT GOSPEL

I've been looking for a metaphor to explain the shortcomings of the typical American "gospel": i.e., "You're a sinner so Christ died in your place to enable you to someday go to Heaven." 

Here's one that came to mind today that might have some potential: the Gospel as a Three Act Play.

In your typical play, the acts fall along these lines:

Act 1 = Exposition. All the relevant background information is established and the conflict is introduced.

Act 2 = Complication. Something stands in the way of the hero's achievement.

Act 3 = Resolution. The hero succeeds. He reaches his ultimate goal. 

So for the Gospel, my rough draft of the layout would be something like this:

Act 1 - Jesus is introduced. He is the Son of God and announces Himself as the King of the coming Kingdom of God (with the entirety of the Old Testament as exposition). This is Good News - this Kingdom is the very place every man and woman ultimately desires - it is fulfillment of Purpose. Although a small group hang on His every word and soak up His teachings about the nature of this Kingdom, most people have grown accustomed to the dark and they reject both the King and His Kingdom. 

Act 2 - Even for those who desire to join God's Kingdom, there's a major problem: sin cannot coexist with God's presence. Sins must be washed away and forgiven once and forever. But this requires a perfect sacrifice. There is only One on earth who can serve as that sacrifice and it is the King Himself. Even as humanity does its worst to the Creator God, He uses their violence to provide the Blood which will cleanse them. Death - the ultimate consequence of sin - seems to have won, but it cannot hold the perfect Son of God. Jesus rises from the dead!

Act 3 - The King returns (temporarily) to Heaven but sends the Holy Spirit to enable the birth of God's Kingdom on Earth, the Church. Many who had rejected Jesus as King are now eager to join His Body. They enter the Kingdom by following Jesus' example: they die to self, are cleansed of their sins, and are raised to a new life, becoming a new, unstoppable creation. 

Epilogue: The Kingdom spreads and grows but finds resistance at every turn since much of the world continues in darkness. But the King has promised that He will return one day and put everything right, fully establishing His perfect Kingdom on Earth. 

Now, if the biblical Gospel is a 3 Act Play, then the American "gospel" is a "Second Act Gospel". 

It skips over Act 1 and focuses on Act 2. 

And because it has skipped Act 1 and all the Kingdom exposition, it largely neglects Act 3 and then goes on to misunderstand the Epilogue - having Jesus whisking His followers off to Heaven instead of joining them on the earth as their King. 

Too many modern American Christians are Second Act believers, missing the flow of the overall Story. 

No wonder they can't adequately explain the Gospel - Act 2 doesn't really make sense without the context of the whole play.

What a mess. 

KNOWING THAT IDEAS TAKE CAPTIVES

"People don't have ideas, ideas have people."

Carl Jung's profound insight is the sort whose application spreads ever further the more you think on it. 

It strikes me that for the preacher, there's a two-sided application.

A preacher should:

1 - Seek to understand which foreign ideas already own a part of your congregation's heart and mind. What philosophical barnacles are already attached to the hull of their "gospel". (There's a real possibility in many congregations of more barnacle than hull.)

2 - Work towards the grand "idea" of Christ owning every member individually and the congregation as a whole. If Jesus is presented in His full glory and splendor, He is an "idea" worthy of taking captive every thought, word, and deed. 

Logically, it seems to me that #1 has to be explored thoroughly before #2 can hope to be a possibility.

SYNCRETISM

Syncretism - "the attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion." (dictionary.com)

It's such a cool word - but such a terrible reality within the Body of Christ.

"Syncretism" is when someone decides that Jesus Christ is not enough and turns Christianity into a formula: "Jesus plus something else = salvation". 

For example, I had a couple of Mormons wanting to convince me that Jesus is the Way to salvation as long as I was baptized by the proper authorities. 

I think, too, of Haiti. I once heard someone describe Haiti's spiritual makeup as "90% Christian and 100% voodoo". When Christianity was introduced to Haiti, it didn't replace the old pagan African beliefs - too often the two belief systems simply intermixed. 

This is syncretism on a large scale, but I think many present-day American believers have a syncretistic faith on an individual level. They have accumulated unnecessary baggage on top of their core biblical belief system. 

And sometimes, like in the case of Haitian spirituality, the non-biblical beliefs have deeper roots. [And, yes, I would classify Calvinism as a type of syncretism. Thanks, St. Augustine.]

False teachers always seem to locate plenty of fertile ground for syncretistic beliefs. 

This is what Paul is warning the church of Colossae about in the second chapter of his letter to the believers there. 

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

Ideas have amazing power to take people captive. 

If the internet is to be trusted, it was Carl Jung who said, “People don't have ideas. Ideas have people.”

Ideas are sticky things. 

Along with teaching truth, a good teacher/preacher needs to be aware of what falsities have taken up residence in the minds of the congregation.

Syncretistic beliefs must be brought to light and pried loose. 

KINGDOM TALK

I skipped writing last night because I wanted to get to bed "early" - 10:15 pm. 

In general, I am starting to recall that I would feel a lot better if I had a more regular bedtime routine at an earlier hour.

Unfortunately, I woke up at 2:45 am, so it didn't necessarily help. I will try again tonight!

Anyway - Now it is 5 am and I am still ruminating on Dallas Willard's words in The Divine Conspiracy. I am resonating with his observations about the lack of a proper preaching focus in the American church. 

What important topic is lacking, according to Willard?

The very thing that Jesus Himself focused on: the Kingdom of God.

Speaking of the sort of vibrant life which disciples of Christ ought to be living, Willard writes:

"This cannot come about unless what Jesus himself believed practiced, and taught makes sense to us." (Emphasis in original, p. 59)

(THERE is the need for proper teaching. The gospel has to be explained in a way as to make sense to believers. You can't "live out" something which is muddled in your own head.)

"And [Jesus'] message must come to us free of the deadening legalisms, political sloganeering, and dogmatic traditionalisms long proven by history to be soul-crushing dead ends."

(Amen! All three of these continue to be issues within the church today.)

"Obviously it does not so come to us now, and this is a fact widely recognized." 

"At the 1974 Lausanne Conference on World Evangelization, Michael Green asked rhetorically, 'How much have you heard here about the Kingdom of God?' His answer was, 'Not much. It is not our language. But it was Jesus' prime concern.'"

(Yes! Why have we latched on to a phrase used once in one gospel (John) - "born again" - and completely skimmed over "Kingdom of God" and "Kingdom of Heaven", which are used repeatedly throughout the gospels?)

"Dr. I. Howard Marshall of the University of Aberdeen has commented, 'During the past sixteen years I can recollect only two occasions on which I have heard sermons specifically devoted to the theme of the Kingdom of God. ... I find this silence rather surprising because it is universally agreed by New Testament scholars that the central theme of the teaching of Jesus was the Kingdom of God.'" (p.59)

How has this happened? 

How does it get reversed?

JESUS THE TEACHER

Just a relevant quote from Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy tonight - one which echoes much of my thinking about current American church trends and where the disconnect lies:

The situation we have just described - the disconnection of life from faith, the absence from our churches of Jesus the teacher - is not caused by the wicked world, by social oppression, or by the stubborn meanness of the people who come to our church services and carry on the work of our congregations. It is largely caused and sustained by the basic message that we constantly hear from Christian pulpits. We are flooded with what I have called "gospels of sin management," in one form or another, while Jesus' invitation to eternal life now - right in the midst of work, business, and profession - remains for the most part ignored and unspoken. (p.57)

He continues:

We who profess Christianity will believe what is constantly presented to us as gospel. If gospels of sin management are preached, they are what Christians will believe. And those in the wider world who reject those gospels will believe that what they have rejected is the gospel of Jesus Christ himself - when, in fact, they haven't yet heard it.

And so we have the result noted: the resources of God's kingdom remain detached from human life. There is no gospel for human life and Christian discipleship, just one for death or one for social action. The souls of human beings are left to shrivel and die on the plains of life because they are not introduced into the environment for which they were made, the living kingdom of eternal life. (p.58)

3 MEN MAKE A TIGER

Tonight, I just want to share an old Chinese parable as retold by author Sahil Bloom:

A minister approached the king and asked, "If one person came to you and claimed there was a tiger in the marketplace, would you believe it?"

​The king replied, "No, of course not."

​The minister continued, "What if two people claimed there was a tiger in the marketplace?"

​The king paused and said, "I might begin to have some doubt."

​Finally, the minister asked, "And what if three people all insisted there was a tiger in the marketplace?"

​The king responded, "If three people claimed it, I would believe there’s a tiger."

​The minister concluded, "Your Majesty, there is no tiger in the marketplace, yet with enough voices, even the most absurd claim can seem true."

This is a good lesson to keep in mind whenever you hear a preacher repeat illustrations, analogies, and even theological propositions that they have heard from other preachers or seminary professors. 

This is on my mind because I watched a few clips from a documentary made about 5 years ago, American Gospel: Christ Alone. 

Nowhere does it identify itself as Calvinist propaganda, but that is what the movie is. 

As a whole, apparently, it takes aim at the "prosperity gospel" and I'm all for that. But what is held up as the proper gospel in its stead? 

None other than Penal Substitutionary Atonement: 

Propelled by an unwavering devotion to "justice", the Father has to "pour out His wrath" and inflict punishment on His own Son as our substitute in order to forgive us.

Having 50 men repeat that lie on camera for 2 hours straight just might convince some people there's a tiger in the marketplace.

Hopefully not too many. 

I was pleasantly surprised - and a bit amused - to find that I could not watch the whole documentary because it is behind a paywall!

Apparently, sharing the gospel is out and selling the gospel is in. 

QUICK TRIP TO EL PASO

The original spring break plan was that Sarah was going to El Salvador for a week with a group from the church in Columbus and Melissa and I were going to spend time sorting through all the things that still need attention at her mom's house.

But then Caleb called and said he would be off work the first weekend of our break along with the following Monday and Tuesday and wondered if we might come down to visit El Paso.

We didn't need to think about that one too long - we have been eager to see his new home territory and meet some of his current friends. So we got some airline tickets - leaving Louisville around 8 pm Friday night after Melissa finished her week at school, spending 5 days in Texas, and then returning this past Wednesday evening. 

We thoroughly enjoyed seeing Caleb's house, the Army base, attending church with him, making a roadtrip to New Mexico, and meeting his friends. I believe we made the most of the few days the Lord gave us together.

To begin with, here's Caleb's house and "yard". (I don't think I would enjoy living in the desert myself.)

The El Paso Museum of "Art". (At least it was free.)

Artsy benches outside.

Caleb grilled some hamburgers for us and some of his friends on Saturday night in his backyard.

Interestingly, Caleb has made the local Anglican church his current spiritual home. It was a great service filled with liturgy and tradition. 

Sunday after church we found a cute little farmers' market, making for a very pleasant afternoon. 

On Monday morning, Caleb and I hiked up a local mountain to explore some abandoned tin mines, guided by a friend of his from church, Tim. It was a bit of a workout - about 6 miles round trip - but the scenery was beautiful and the mines were interesting. 

Even though he had the day off, Caleb still had to report to a meeting on Monday afternoon. It gave Melissa and me the opportunity to see the base, Fort Bliss.

After Caleb's meeting got postponed an hour - and then canceled altogether! - the three of us drove up to Cloud Croft, a quaint little mountain town in New Mexico about 2 hours north.

We stayed overnight and did a bit of shopping the next morning, but the wind kept increasing. By the time we headed back down the mountain, the sky was filled with dust. 

There wasn't a cloud in the sky all day. At first everything looked kind of hazy...

But soon the sky turned yellow and the dust and sand were blowing across the highway like snow up north. I was glad Caleb did the driving. The 2-hour trip turned into 4.

On Wednesday, Caleb had to go to base for the morning, I did a little work, and Melissa cooked up enough food to keep Caleb in lunches for the next several weeks. 

By the time we flew out of the El Paso airport, just ten minutes from Caleb's house, the windstorms had moved on to Dallas and our flights ended up getting delayed. I don't think we got to sleep back home until around 4 am.

But we wouldn't trade those five days for anything. 

They left Melissa and me all that much prouder of Caleb, his service to this country, and the man he is becoming. 

LOGIC'S FAILURE

In “A Letter to a Young Gentleman, Lately Enter’d Into Holy Orders by a Person of Quality” (1721) Jonathan Swift wrote: 

"Reasoning will never make a Man correct an ill Opinion, which by Reasoning he never acquired."

Maybe you've heard the simplified version which emerged over time:

“You can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into.”

Certainly rings true, right?

Its only shortcoming as a truism is that it fails to acknowledge how often we run into people who hold positions they didn't reason themselves into. 

Swift's observation is even more salient when, like me, you agree with Scott Adams that we humans don't reason ourselves into the positions we hold but maybe 10% of the time. 

And that 10% reached by logic is the 10% of subjects which don't touch our emotions directly. 

Politics, theology and social issues are all inherently emotional. 

When was the last time you were able to persuade someone to change their political, theological, or social position on a hot topic?

When was the last time someone persuaded you to change one of your positions?

IF persuasion actually occurs, it's more than likely the result of an emotional appeal rather than a logical one. 

EXCUSES!

It's a little shocking how quickly you can fall out of a habit. When I slackened my daily writing routine at the beginning of this year, I knew it would become a little easier to make an excuse each evening I just didn't feel like sitting down to write.

But It's a part of me now and I miss it when I don't write. No matter what else I did during the day, it feels like I am not making the most of my time if I don't pause to process my thoughts before bed. 

But I did have a good excuse over the past week or so - Melissa and I flew down to El Paso to visit Caleb. And between the 2-hour time difference, flights so delayed as to put us into the wee hours of the morning both going and returning, and a full-size bed for Melissa and me in Caleb's guest room, I felt like I was only half awake the five days we spent in Texas.

Not at all conducive to writing. 

Tomorrow I will take some time to drop some photos here and record the highlights of the trip, but tonight I am still catching up on sleep. 

SANCTUARY AS CLASSROOM

As I continue thinking about my dissertation work, one conviction is gaining some clarity: To be effective for the Kingdom, a pastor needs to function as a teacher. 

This doesn't need to be complicated. The basics of good teaching practice are pretty straightforward. I'm talking about things like:

• Probing for prior knowledge 
• Rooting out false assumptions
• Repeating main points
• Fostering curiosity and interest
• Drawing out an inward motivation for self-directed study
• Checking comprehension in meaningful ways
• Et cetera

I have started to look for resources which address these matters within the local church, but I'm not seeing much so far.

If you google "teaching and Christian faith", you will not get results outlining ways principles of good teaching practice can be applied to the teaching the Bible.

Instead, you get core doctrines that must be taught in order to consider the teaching to be "Christian". 

I looked for books on teaching and the church and ordered one off Amazon that looked promising: Everyday Christian Teaching by David Smith.

But the subtitle reveals its focus: A Guide to Practicing Faith in the Classroom. 

So ... this book is for the Christian classroom, not the sanctuary. 

And it's as dry as dust to boot. 

(Written by a Calvinist! 😉)

FAILED EXPERIMENT?

Is the earth and all its inhabitants God's great failed experiment?

If you are among those who believe that the essence of the gospel is 

•     Adam and Eve sinned and
•     Therefore, YOU are a sinner, too, and
•     You need to repent and believe in Jesus 
•     So that God will impute His righteousness to you and dismiss all your sins
•     So that when you die, He can whisk you away to your forever home in Heaven while the earth is wiped out of existence ...

Then what do you make of God's original plan - the one where He creates a material existence in which He would share space with material/spiritual beings fashioned in His image?

Did God's wondrous work - so celebrated in Genesis chapter 1 - turn out to be the mother of all failed experiments? 

I guess it just didn't work out the way God had hoped.

"DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH"

The internet has largely obliterated intelligent discussion of opposing viewpoints - even as it intentionally drives wedges to further divide opinions. 

People involved in online arguments are always urging each other to "do your own research". 

This cracks me up every time for at least three reasons.

First, are we really going to pretend that you can trust the information you read on the internet? Seems obvious to me that it's impossible for the layman to know which sources are credible and which are not. 

Second, every "fact" posted online has also been "debunked" somewhere online. The question then becomes "But has the debunk also been debunked?" 

Third, even if you found reliable sources, there's no guarantee that you know how to interpret the data. Two people can look at the same data set and come to very different conclusions.

(As a succinct example, there's the clever quip you might have seen online before: "99% of the things I worry about never come to pass. Undeniable proof that worrying works!") 

When I see someone urging others to "do their own research", I know that person exists in an intellectual bubble, smugly secure in the knowledge that he has it all figured out. 

In the age of the internet, how do we bring back critical thinking skills and a bit of epistemic humility? 

SICK DAYS

By the time I arrived home last Wednesday night after teaching English, my stomach had grown sour. 

It was the beginning of several days battling one of the ugliest stomach bugs I have ever encountered. I have spent my nights in the guest bedroom, hoping to spare Melissa and Sarah. (But I'm afraid I was not successful.) 

Thursday and Friday passed without a single accomplishment beyond binge-watching a critically acclaimed Apple TV show called Severance.  (Samuel was home sick on Thursday, too, and shared the recommendation along with his trial subscription to the platform. It's an engaging dystopian sci-fi tale of a corporation which severs its workers' memories between home life and work life.) 

By Saturday morning, I was feeling good enough to do some yard work - the fresh air helped revive me a bit after my 48 hours in the basement. 

Even today my appetite is not completely back on line and just about everything I have eaten has induced regret within 20 minutes, but the worst of my other symptoms have all passed. 

It wasn't the best weekend to "spring forward" and tonight I am exhausted, but hopeful for a better week ahead.

And it's going to be a busy one. Sarah's final show choir performance will be Tuesday night, concluding with special recognition of her and the other seniors. (Keeping tissues handy!) 

Beyond that special event, there will be plenty of work to get done in advance of taking a few days away - especially in light of my sick days this past week. On Friday night, God willing, Melissa and I will be flying to El Paso to spend an extended weekend with Caleb and check out his Texas living arrangements. 

I'm glad to have had the sickness last week rather than this week or the next!

TEACHER SATISFACTION

As a former high school teacher and a present ESL teacher, I was reflecting on what makes teaching such a rewarding experience. Here's what I have come up with so far:

Levels of Teacher Satisfaction

• Attention Captured - This is the first step. If the student is distracted or resistant, the entire enterprise of education is sidelined. As a teacher, it feels great to see a student's eyes focused on the subject at hand.

• Misconceptions Cleared - Finding misunderstandings and clearing them away can be an incredibly satisfying feeling for a teacher. But it's important to remember that old ideas do not die easily. 

• Lightbulb Moment - Teachers live for the moment that the light comes on and the student sees something clearly for the first time. This is an important milestone because ground has been gained which can never be lost again.

• Internal Motivation to Learn Beyond Class - How incredibly satisfying it is for a teacher to hear the student has taken up study of the subject outside of the classroom. And inward curiosity is now driving the student forward.

• Able to Teach Others - When a student returns a decade later to tell the teacher, "You inspired me to become a teacher myself", it is enough to carry that teacher through even the toughest school year.

• Life Dedicated to the Subject - Just as good or better than inspiring future teachers is the experience of seeing a student fall so in love with the subject that it ends up consuming his or her lifetime. This is the ultimate.

What all these have in common is the teacher's love for the subject and great desire to see others know, understand, and love the subject as well.

I think the local pastor should be striving to reach each of these levels of satisfaction with the congregation seated before the pulpit. 

GOOD NEWS: WE ARE NOT REPAID

As I suspected, when I googled "The Shack" and "heresy", I found the sharpest criticism of the movie reserved for its rejection of Penal Substitutionary Atonement. 

PSA is the gospel as far as most believers are concerned.

So many are convinced that God simply cannot forgive sins without inflicting punishment on someone. They make a case for Jesus taking our punishment at the hand of the Father while on the cross, but they never consider this simple truth: sin which is punished has not been, by definition, forgiven. 

Any particular wrongdoing is either punished or forgiven. 

It's one or the other. 

The atonement sacrifices of the Old Testament involved the death of a lamb, yes, but the focus was on the blood of that lamb, not its death. And it was slaughtered as humanely as possible. Pain was minimized. 

The blood of that innocent lamb was used to cleanse the temple from sin (temporarily). 

Sin was washed away. Not punished. 

How is it that God was able to forgive in Old Testament times and then can't in the New Testament?

Take a moment to meditate on the beauty of Psalm 103:

8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.

9 He will not always accuse us,

nor harbor His anger forever.

10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins

or repaid us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him.

12 As far as the east is from the west,

so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,

so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

14 For He knows our frame;

He is mindful that we are dust.

REACTION TO THE SHACK

I watched The Shack on Netflix tonight, based on the recommendation of a young friend. It was not what I was expecting.

When the movie came out in 2017, I only recall hearing largely negative reviews from various Christians critical of its theology.

The word "heresy" was thrown at the movie from every direction. 

I never saw it. I never even investigated the story line or the theological positions of the movie's producers.

This was before I understood that cries of "heresy!" in theological circles are the equivalent of "racism!" in politics. 

In other words, sometimes based in reality but most often imagined or exaggerated. 

So when I sat down to watch it today, I braced myself to be "shocked!!" and "offended!!" on God's behalf.

I was neither.

It did make me cry, though. 

If you're not familiar with The Shack, the basic storyline involves a grieving father who finds healing over a weekend spent with God in a cabin in the woods. I thought the storyline was engaging, the acting was good, and the movie was relatively uncheesy (for a "religious" movie). 

I look forward to reading up on the criticisms of the movie - to find out if I missed some horrifying theological misstep or if I'm just heretically inclined myself! ;-)  

I look forward to sharing The Shack with Melissa and my kids and seeing what they think. 

BIBLICAL ADMONISHMENT

Colossians 1:28 - Him [Jesus] we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 

This word translated as "warning" or "admonishing" in most English versions is νουθετέω (noutheteō) in the Greek.   

According to Dr. David Pao, a professor of New Testament, this word "may imply that an error needs to be corrected" (p.132 in his commentary on Colossians).

N.T. Wright confirms: noutheteo, "though sometimes understood as meaning simply 'putting into the mind', most likely includes the idea of the setting of someone's mind into proper order, with the implication that it has been in some way out of joint." 

He continues: "Positive teaching may not be enough: there is no telling what muddles Christian minds will get into from time to time, and part of the task of one who proclaims Christ is to straighten out confusions, to search for and tie together correctly the loose ends of half-grasped ideas, so that the positive teaching may not be instantly distorted upon reception, but may be properly understood, appreciated and lived out" (p.97-98 in his commentary on Colossians).

This is one of the most basic principles of effective teaching: first, find out what your students know that isn't so. Misunderstandings must be brought to light and named. 

If your goal is maturity in Christ, you cannot skip this step! 

ALI SPOKE TRUTH

"The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life." ― Muhammad Ali

I would venture to say the same thing is true of a person who views faith the same at 50. 

I have no doubt many believers would disagree. I think most implicitly take utter consistency over the long haul as the height of holiness and piety.

I suppose it could be - assuming you lucked out and grew up in the perfect church with the perfect doctrine and pitch-perfect balance in all things. And not a single false view of God or Scripture ever took root in your imagination.

But if that wasn't your experience, then holding to the same faith at 50 as you did at 20 isn't admirable. 

It means you've stagnated. A long time ago.

 

MOUNTAINS OF IGNORANCE

Have you heard the one about the scientist climbing the mountain?

The image comes from Robert Jastrow - astronomer and planetary physicist - who was on the founding team at NASA.

Over the course of his career in science, he also established the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, pioneered the use of satellite technology, and had a hand in planning the Voyager & Galileo space probes.

When he died in 2008, the New York Times hailed him as the man “Who Made Space Understandable” for others.

In a world where many people imagine science and faith to be pitted against each other, Robert Jastrow never saw a conflict between his personal faith and his scientific pursuits.

In fact, he saw a profoundly different relationship between the two: one where science ultimately CATCHES UP to theology.

Here’s how Jastrow envisions the scientist climbing the “mountains of ignorance”:

“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”  

Be encouraged!

FOOLING OURSELVES

“It takes inordinate courage to introspect, to confront oneself, to accept one’s limitations—scientists are seeing more and more evidence that we are specifically designed by mother nature to fool ourselves.”  -Nassim Taleb

What some blame on mother nature or evolution, seems reasonably explained as the result of fallen human nature as well. 

Nearly indetectable from the inside, the human ability to fool oneself is nearly unlimited in its scope. 

This makes for another prime argument in favor of cultivating a true humility in the face of holy Scripture. A "beginner's mindset" that has no problem with admitting, "I may well be wrong."

I suppose one of the reasons Calvinism fascinates me is that its adherents firmly hold the belief that the unregenerate are incapable of understanding any spiritual truth from Scripture but they - the elect - see all with perfect clarity. 

They regularly give the impression of believing themselves to be inerrant in their interpretation of God's word.

And, like the Pharisees before them, they perpetually miss the big picture and inadvertently paint God as a complete monster.

It is a profound tragicomedy. 

MAKING THINGS WORSE!

I was listening to a YouTube debate about Calvinism the other day and the guy arguing against Reformed ideology, a gentleman named Jed Smock, said something like the following:

"Under Calvinism, the punishment for sin is more sin."

That hits the nail on the head!

He was referencing the concept of "original sin".  

All of Adam and Eve's descendants have been born carrying the guilt of Adam's sin. 

This is the so-called "sin nature". As a result of the fall, the thinking goes, God cursed humanity with an inability to do anything but sin.

Plus, now all humans would be born hating God and considering Him an enemy. 

And not only that, but a spiritual deadness which make them 100% unresponsive to any and all Truth as well.

I would never criticize the One True God, but I have to say that the Calvinist god's reaction to Adam and Eve's screw up was a bit over the top.

He managed to make matters much, much worse for everybody concerned, including himself. 

HUMILITY AND LEARNING

Wise observations from psychiatrist Thomas Szasz on the connection between humility and learning:

"Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all."

Is this part of what Jesus means when he says we must become as little children? 

Because education is so important for the believer, a humble "beginner's mindset" is a powerful tool for growth. 

But what a bear - first to establish and then to maintain. 

IF THAT ISN'T NICE, WHAT IS?

An excerpt from a commencement speech given by Kurt Vonnegut gave at Rice University in 1998:

One thing which my Uncle Alex found objectionable about human beings was that they seldom took time out to notice when they were happy.

He himself did his best to acknowledge it when times were sweet. We could be drinking lemonade in the shade of an apple tree in the summertime, and he would interrupt the conversation to say, "If this isn't nice, what is?"

So, I hope that you Adams and Eves in front of me will do the same for the rest of your lives. When things are going sweetly and peacefully, please pause a moment, and then say out loud:

"If this isn't nice, what is?" 

(Hat tip, Sahil Bloom)

I was thinking about Vonnegut's words yesterday. It was one of those "nice" days all around. 

Sarah's show choir was competing in Franklin, Indiana, just 30 minutes away. My younger brother and his wife were at the same competition to see their teenage daughter compete for Shelbyville High School. And Kiersten, my older brother's daughter, who resides in Franklin these days, came over to see both of her cousins perform. 

This was the next to the last competition for Sarah. Next Saturday will be it for her high school show choir career. Melissa and I are bracing for getting walloped by the reality of our youngest graduating from high school SOON. 

So all of that context made it that much more enjoyable seeing Sarah demonstrate such energy and grace and charisma on the stage.

My favorite number is her group's performance of You're My Kaleidoscope by A Great Big World - partly because the song is catchy and has great lyrics, but mainly because Sarah gets to be one-fourth of a quartet and even gets a 3-word solo. 😉

Gets me every time. 

What a thrill to watch your daughter do what she loves, and do it with such excellence, and do it confidently on a stage for all to see. 

And if that isn't nice, what is?

(Sarah is far left in the pink dress.)

IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS

When God accepts a sinner, He is, in fact, only accepting Christ. He looks into the sinner's eyes, and He sees His own dear Son's image there, and He takes him in. - Charles Spurgeon

Who am I to argue with the late, great Charles Spurgeon, but I think this whole "imputed righteousness" idea is likely bull hockey.

It's another one of those ideas you hear floated in so many sermons - "When God looks at you, He doesn't see your sins, He sees His Son's righteousness" - but I have never really examined it in Scripture.

I plan to investigate it, but at the moment I am guessing it's just one of those things that sounds good, so pastors repeat it. 

It's got at least 3 things going for it:

1. It's visual - Jesus standing between you and God.
2. It's easy to understand - which is helpful when it comes to theological concepts.
3. And it seems to glorify Christ.

Still, I'm going to need to see the receipts from the Bible on this one. 

Because here's the problem: it seems to imply that this is all there is to salvation. Jesus did all the sacrificing and suffering and now He just covers you with His own righteousness.

But if we get to enjoy all the benefits of righteousness imputed to us - without actually developing our own righteousness - that's demotivating. 

Sanctification isn't just some legal fiction. It's supposed to be our lived experience. 

In Colossians 1:22, Paul says that Christ "has now reconciled you in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before God". 

Is Paul talking of some sort of imaginary righteousness that is won by Christ's death? 

Or did Christ die to make us truly righteous through and through?

IMPOSSIBLE

It's a good thing that God is the initiator and the central actor in our atonement, restoring our relationship with Him.

Because, when you think about it, our sins always negatively impact somebody - God, other people, ourselves. And making things right in the aftermath - assuming we even desire to do so - is simply impossible. 

This reality is easiest to see in the extreme cases: How does one make reparations for murder? for rape? for slavery?

Make an apology? Promise to never do it again? Offer an agreeable amount of money in payment?

Nothing could ever come close to making reparation for these vile offenses. Nothing will bring back the dead, nothing will restore sexual innocence, nothing can compensate for the loss of even a single day of freedom. 

Reparations for wicked acts are humanly impossible.

But here's the thing. The far lesser sins have the same issue.

Telling a lie, shoplifting, slandering another person's reputation - none of the damage can ultimately be undone. 

There are still serious consequences of even relatively minor sins. We tend to underestimate their gravity- unless WE are the victim!

The situation is hopeless for the sinner. No matter how much regret you might end up feeling, the wrong can never be fully righted. 

Thank God for the blood of the Lamb which blots out sin, big and small, and offers a second chance. 

It was impossible for us to do it ourselves.

ATONEMENT

I have often heard preachers say that the word "atonement" means "at-one-ment". That it described how humans can become "at one" with God again after that relationship has been broken.

I assumed it was a bit of clever word play that got passed from preacher to preacher.

But, it turns out, the "at-one-ment" explanation is literal. The word was made up by English translators unable to find an adequate existing English word with which to translate the Hebrew word "kippur". 

(You are probably familiar with the Jewish celebration called "Yom Kippur" - the "Day of Atonement".)

From Miriam-Webster online:

Atone has its roots in the idea of reconciliation and harmony. It grew out of the Middle English phrase at one meaning “in harmony,” a phrase echoed in current expressions like “feeling at one with nature.” When atone joined modern English in the 16th century, it meant “to reconcile,” and suggested the restoration of a peaceful and harmonious state between people or groups. Today, atone specifically implies addressing the damage—or disharmony—caused by one’s own behavior.

What's fascinating to me is that the meaning of this key word, like the meaning of "love" and "believe", has been corrupted in English over time. 

It has taken on a meaning very different from the start, morphing almost into its own opposite.  

Miriam-Webster offers 4 main definitions of "atonement", Number 1 being the most common usage:

1 reparation for an offense or injury : satisfaction

In other words, these days, one "atones" for one's own sin. You have to do something to make up for your sin. 

While Number 4 - the more straightforward "reconciliation" - is listed as an "obsolete" usage. In the Bible, reconciliation, of course, is all God's initiative and always at His expense and at the expense of innocent blood. 

Seems like a rather patient and particularly devious trick of Satan to take a word describing how GOD blots out our sins and switch the focus to what WE need to do about our sins. 

EVANESCENT "GRACE"

One of the lesser-known teachings of Calvinism is termed Evanescent Grace (or sometimes "Temporal Grace"). This is grace that appears for a time and then fades away. 

(And there's good reason to keep this doctrine hidden.)

It's the Calvinist's answer to the question of how some individuals profess faith in Christ, seem fruitful for a time, but then fall away.

Now every Christian is faced with this reality and needs an explanation. If one holds to "Once Saved, Always Saved", the answer is simple:

That person was never really saved in the first place. 

Undoubtedly, Calvinists would like to keep it that simple, but their situation is complicated by their doctrine of Total Depravity - that people are spiritually dead and cannot receive the things of God.

But what happens when that doctrine runs up against Matthew 7:21-23?

21 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

Do you see the conflict?

Jesus does not dispute their claims to have prophesied, driven out demons, and even performed miracles - He just didn't "know" them.

So how do dead, depraved men - bound for hell from before the foundation of the world - do these spiritual things? 

Well, obviously God sends them a bit of grace, deceives them into thinking themselves saved, and then withdraws it.

And that deception on God's part is called Evanescent Grace. 

Definitely NOT to be confused with Irresistible Grace!

It's all part of God's meticulous plan ... and for His glory.

This doctrine, taught by Calvin himself, is yet another in Calvinism's arsenal which makes logical sense on paper as part of the systematic, but utterly slanders God's character in its entailments! 

WHY THE WARNINGS?

The concept of "Once Saved, Always Saved" is another one of those beliefs that many Christians hold onto strongly while incapable of building a case for it from Scripture.

And I understand the appeal of the idea. I knew a mother who lost her 20-something son late one night when this young man, drunk and on foot after his girlfriend kicked him out of her car, wandered into interstate traffic. At his funeral, she told of her hope that his trip to the altar when he was 9 years old meant that God had welcomed her boy into paradise. 

Now I certainly believe that God will prove to be more gracious than many of us expect. And I believe that it's possible that a heart might be turned - or re-turned - in the final moments of life with no living witnesses but the Lord. And I understand why a grieving parent would put inordinate weight on a childhood trip to the altar.

BUT there's got to be a good reason why Scripture repeatedly warns against ...

• Falling away (Hebrews 6:4-6)
• Departing from the faith (1 Timothy 4:1) 
• Turning away from the faith (Matthew 24:9-13 and Hebrews 3:12-14)
• Being cut off (Romans 11:20-22)
• Shipwrecking our faith (1 Timothy 1:18-20)
• Failing to remain in Jesus, the Vine (John 15:1-6)
• Falling from grace (Galatians 5:4)
• Wandering from the truth (James 5:19-20)
• Being salt that loses its flavor (Matthew 5:13)
• Or being so lukewarm that Jesus spews you out of His mouth (Revelation 3:16)

Colossians 1:21-23a reads as follows:

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 IF indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.

That "IF" makes the statement a conditional.

When it comes to salvation, the security we have is that God will never chase us away, not that we will never succumb to the temptation to wander away ourselves.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. They shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” John 10:27

EVANGELICAL GNOSTICISM

In Becoming Whole, Brian Fikkert and Kelly Kapic relate this horrendous story of Christian charity gone bad:

"A large Christian organization gives away tons of used clothing to poor communities around the world. The organization pins tracts about Jesus' love to the front of each piece of clothing. In addition to potentially damaging the dignity and capacity of the clothing recipients, dumping used clothing into a village can depress clothing prices, drive local tailors out of business, and undermine the village's economy, thereby reducing the availability of jobs. In other words, this organization is using a strategy that undermines work.... When I asked the head of this organization for his feelings about this, he replied:

"Yes, but who cares? We don't really care about the local economy. It's all going to burn up anyway. We just want people to know that Jesus loves them, no matter what the cost, so that they can trust in Him for salvation. The eternal destiny of their souls is at stake. That's all that matters." (p.100)

Can you imagine being so callous about destroying the economy of an entire community? One which is suffering so much already?

This mindset is an example of what Darrow Miller calls "Evangelical Gnosticism" - seeing God's sphere of influence as being exclusively in the spiritual domain while material/physical existence is dismissed as ultimately unimportant.

It demonstrates a wholesale neglect of the Kingdom of God's central position within the gospel. 

"Evangelical Gnosticism" is rampant across the American church.

It's a solid label, but there's got to be a better one. This terrible line of thought needs to be identified if it's going to be dismantled and "Evangelical Gnosticism" as an identifier is never going to catch on with believers at large.  

GOSPEL APPEARANCES

The word euangelion/gospel (literally, good news) appears 76 times in the New Testament. 

I think it's always interesting to examine the first appearances of key concepts in Scripture.

Here's the context of the first appearances of "gospel" in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John:

Matthew

4:23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

Mark

1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 

1:14-15 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Luke

The noun form of gospel doesn't occur, but the verb form does:

The first to Zechariah. 1:19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

The second to the shepherds in the fields. Luk 2:10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

John

None of the forms of the word "gospel" appear in John!

Interesting!

In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the word "gospel" is most often attached to language about the "Kingdom of God" or the "Kingdom of Heaven". And it seems there are some historical connections between "good news" and human kings of the day. Worth exploring!

But all this raises the question in my mind: Why does modern talk of "gospel" sharing so often leave out any mention of the Kingdom?

BODY AND FLESH

I am currently wrestling with the way Paul uses the Greek word "soma" (usually translated as "body") and the word "sarx" (usually translated "flesh"). And I'm just trying to wrap my mind around the use of the two words in Colossians - to say nothing of their appearances in other books. 

It would be nice if there was a clearcut difference, but they often seem interchangeable. For instance, Paul says in Col 2:5, "Though I am absent in body (but sarx!), yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ."

And although "body" seems to have a generally positive connotation, "flesh" seems neutral OR negative.

Or maybe it's accurate to say that "flesh" is neutral but has the capacity for truly negative influence on a person.

Here's a neutral use: Col 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.

In 2:1, Paul speaks of those in Colossae who have not seen him "face to flesh"!

Some Bible versions like to translate sarx/flesh as "sinful nature". But in Colossians, Jesus has a sarx!

Col 1:22 [Jesus] has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

So it can't be the flesh in and of itself that is the problem.

In Colossians 2:11-13, the problem seems to be having a flesh which is uncircumcised. 

Col 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.

One website puts it this way:

"To walk by the flesh (sarx), is to walk by what we see, hear, feel, taste, and smell. It is living by our senses rather than trusting the Spirit within us. It is basing our attitudes and actions on old earthy habits rather than basing them upon what God says is true." (Larry Eiss)

If that is accurate, then walking by the "flesh" is more or less equivalent to what Adam and Eve unleashed by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - in essence deciding for themselves which is which. 

So when Scripture says it is impossible for those who walk according to the flesh to please God, it is simply stating a logical implication contained within the center of the overall narrative flow of Image--> Broken Image --> Restored Image. 

MY 2025 PUSHUP HABIT

Since I have a great interest in habit formation, I thought it would be good to record a little progress report on a New Year's resolution - 

One of my morning commitments for 2025 has been to do at least 100 pushups. It's important to note that this was not starting from zero. For several years I have been getting a bit of exercise at home nearly every day. But I didn't tend to get much beyond about 30 pushups. 

It's early February and, 40 days in, I have missed only 2 mornings and they were not back-to-back. (In habit formation, it is key to prevent a single missed day from turning into two consecutive days.)

Each morning on my calendar I have written down the progression of my pushups - what number I reached on my first round, second round, etc. This is a motivation trick for habit formation - tracking a habit provides a visual record of progress - which becomes a small mental reward. It feels good when I record my pushups on paper.

And since the calendar sits on my desk, it helps ensure that I never simply forget to do the pushups. 

During the first two weeks, it took me four reps to get to 100 total pushups. Six weeks in, I am regularly doing around 130 in just three reps:

Week 1:  36/56/80/100

Week 2: 38/67/91/100

Week 3:  40/71/102

Week 4:  46/88/130

Week 5:  49/92/128

Week 6:  51/89/131

In six weeks, I have done 4,615 pushups. I don't know that this has produced any noticeable physical difference in my upper body, but that's somewhere close to 2,000 calories burned - the equivalent of one full day's worth of food. And I am obviously a bit stronger if I can do 50 pushups at a time rather than just 36. 

My goal now is to hit 100 in just two reps. After that, I will likely increase my overall daily goal to 150.

There is a natural push to go bigger once you have proven consistency with a smaller goal. This is why it works to start a new habit with the smallest version of that habit - something that takes 2 minutes or less. A small habit eliminates the excuse that you have "no time" to add something to your routine and gives you the chance to establish automaticity before your natural urge to push yourself to higher goals kicks in.  

And the most important part of this entire habit is my overall commitment to staying healthy and fit for my age. I want to minimize future doctor visits and I want to be in shape to roughhouse with any future grandchildren. ;-) 

Someday. 

2 MYSTERIES

I could be wrong - I am no expert on the latest scientific pursuits - but as I understand it, there are at least two big everyday phenomena that science as yet has no explanation for:

Gravity and consciousness.

Is that not amazing?

Both can be observed and measured, but the underlying mechanism has not been discovered in either case. 

They remain a complete mystery. 

Couple those two with the mystery of how life started and our Western confidence in science should be appropriately humbled.

Christians are sometimes mocked for holding to a "God of the gaps" approach to science, but if a big God fits perfectly in a big gap, maybe it's worth considering the existence of that God.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  - Colossians 1:15-17

SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO

Lately Melissa and I have been planning a special anniversary trip. Our 25th falls this summer and we are using it as an excuse to do something we have been talking about since we met:

A trip to Scotland.

Once upon a time, for my entire junior year, I left Wabash College and Crawfordsville, Indiana behind and made my way to the University of Aberdeen on the north coast of Scotland. It was the 1988/89 school year. 

The other day I came across some letters home I wrote during that year. I guess I was pretty homesick at times and I still kind of marvel at how adventurous I was for a shy kid from Indiana.

I made the most of the year and in retrospect, I suppose it was quite transformational, being so far from home. And Scotland captured my heart.

I've wanted to go back ever since I left. It is a deeply magical place. 

I can hardly contain myself over the thought of returning and - this time - showing Melissa around.

God willing, we will start in Edinburgh and then take a train to Aberdeen before renting a car and spending a couple of nights around Loch Ness. From there it will be west to Skye and then south to Oban and a chance to tour a couple of the western isles before heading to the port of Cairnryan to take a ferry to Belfast, Northern Ireland. 

Just outside of Belfast is where our friends from Haiti days live - the Edlers - and we will have a couple of days with them before returning to the U.S.

It is the trip of a lifetime and Melissa and I are dreaming and mapping and googling on a daily basis already.