Apprentice2Jesus

Ramblings of a Confessing Pentecostal

Archive for the category “Culture”

11 Feb 2012

Consider These Numbers

The Super Bowl last week garnered a record number of viewers in the U.S. : 111.3 million.

Hundreds of players in the NFL train year round for the opportunity to square off on television’s biggest stage. Only two teams and few dozen players will make that stage. One team walks off the LOSER.

But they train like maniacs for months to get to that stage so that over one hundred million people can see them. They train for glory.

And the world population is around 6.8 billion.

These players put their bodies through a lot of discipline and 99.8% of the world will NOT see what they are doing. Yet, they do it willingly. It is the glory of the game. It is fleeting. Everyone knows the Giants won’t repeat next year. It’s the NFL. It’s rare to get to the Super Bowl even in back to back years, let alone win.

For that very fleeting glory those men are willing to lay it on the line.

Meanwhile, millions of Christians have the opportunity to “play” for eternal glory. Not for the adoration of millions of viewers. It is for an audience of One. And it is not simply to be noticed by the One. It is the opportunity to lay it all on the line so that OTHERS can have the chance to see the One…

And we can’t get ourselves out of bed sometimes. We think about going to church for worship. We scramble to find our Bibles. We give our pocket change to missions.

Anything wrong with this picture?

24 Don’t you know that all the runners in the stadium run, but only one gets the prize? So run to win. 25 Everyone who competes practices self-discipline in everything. The runners do this to get a crown of leaves that shrivel up and die, but we do it to receive a crown that never dies. 26 So now this is how I run—not without a clear goal in sight. I fight like a boxer in the ring, not like someone who is shadowboxing. 27 Rather I’m landing punches on my own body and subduing it like a slave. I do this to be sure that I myself won’t be disqualified after preaching to others.(1 Cor. 9:24-27, CEB)

Posted in Church Life, Culture, Spiritual hunger and tagged , | Leave a Comment
06 Feb 2012

It’s a FOOTBALL GAME

They play a football game, but when it is the Super Bowl somehow every commercial, every song, is a political statement or a controversy. Somewhere in the distant last sports used to be about the love of the game.

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05 Feb 2012

Bowing to the Beast

Since the Susan G Komen Foundation bowed to the beast of our culture, which is represented in this case by Planned Parenthood, all is well once again in our world.

Here is what we learn: do not poke the bear.

But poke we must.

Christianity Today takes it on here.

Some pointed words:

In all of this, though, we can gain an opportunity to see what the abortion culture is all about: cash. Planned Parenthood and their allies use the thoroughly American language of freedom of choice and women’s empowerment, but what’s at stake, as seen here, are billions of dollars. That’s why, despite their talk about adoption as a “choice,” Planned Parenthood and others hardly ever lead women through an adoption process relative to how often they promise them the “fix” of a “terminated pregnancy.” There’s a profit motive involved in every abortion.

But that Christianity Today. A bunch of bigots. No need to pay attention there.

Then we have a “bigoted” columnist that somehow got a job in the New York Times (probably to show they are “balanced”). He poked the bear as well in THIS COLUMN. (And if you don’t think he poked, read the vicious comments he receives below the column.)

There are a couple of beasts that have been stirred and they are demanding the allegiance of our culture: Money and sex. Mess with those two in our culture in any way and just watch what happens.

But, Komen has bowed once again to the beast. All is well. Don’t speak loudly. Don’t make any sudden movements. And above all: bow down.

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03 Feb 2012
1 Comment

Abortion

I work hard to stay away from what may seem to be “political” statements on my blog. Facebook is different.

Yet, the whole blow up this week with Planned Parenthood and the Susan G. Komen Foundation has so crushed my spirit, I am going to take that risk.

I repent for not remembering Pro-Life Sunday (as well as MLK Sunday). I have let the politics of this fundamental issue dictate my silence… and I am wrong.

This issue is beyond abortion, in my opinion. It is not about “pro-life” or “pro-abortion.” It is about a bigger god that demands worship and when some small organization with a small amount of money came along to this beast and clipped its hangnail, the beast roared. The small organization then “got back in line” to not offend this raging god.

I can’t serve that god anymore through my silence. I just can’t. Hopefully I will be able to slide this post by without having a lot of angry posts, but if I do, I’m going to deal with it.

I pray to the Lord:

Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of my life,
And for the lives of all my brothers and sisters.
I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion,
Yet I rejoice that you have conquered death
by the Resurrection of Your Son.
I am ready to do my part in ending abortion.
Today I commit myself
Never to be silent,
Never to be passive,
Never to be forgetful of the unborn.
I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement,
And never to stop defending life
Until all my brothers and sisters are protected,
And our nation once again becomes
A nation with liberty and justice
Not just for some, but for all,
Through Christ our Lord. Amen!

Posted in Church Life, Culture and tagged , , ,
03 Feb 2012

The Rage Against Religion While Thinking You Are Spiritual

David Brooks is one of my favorite columnists. He hits it out of the ballpark again on THIS COLUMN.

He took the viral video of the guy raging against religion and got into the why, and then the results of the video. Challenged with the exact words of the video, the young man actually realized he needed to learn to say some things differently.

Brooks goes on to demonstrate how it’s not a problem to have “angst” in our world. It’s just what to do after that angst is our problem.

For generations we’ve been told to think for ourselves, but all we know how to do is say what we don’t like.

For generations people have been told: Think for yourself; come up with your own independent worldview. Unless your name is Nietzsche, that’s probably a bad idea. Very few people have the genius or time to come up with a comprehensive and rigorous worldview.

Brooks’ remedy is rather interesting:

The paradox of reform movements is that, if you want to defy authority, you probably shouldn’t think entirely for yourself. You should attach yourself to a counter-tradition and school of thought that has been developed over the centuries and that seems true.

The old leftists had dialectical materialism and the Marxist view of history. Libertarians have Hayek and von Mises. Various spiritual movements have drawn from Transcendentalism, Stoicism, Gnosticism, Thomism, Augustine, Tolstoy, or the Catholic social teaching that inspired Dorothy Day.

Passion is great. Just give it some place to land. Rigorously examine what is out there. What have the ancients taught us? Where is a path we can find?

I am deeply thankful that even in my time of angst I found the ancient paths still leading to Christ. Over the years I have been so thankful to keep exploring those paths and found the richness of who he is, and realized that within “religion” there is a design that helps to truly follow Christ. It gets expressed in so many ways, and most of them awkward in one way or another. But following those paths has given me the beauty of Christ.

I don’t fly solo very well.

Posted in Culture, Spiritual Formation, Spiritual hunger, Spirituality and tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment
23 Jan 2012

Roe v. Wade

To my shame I did not mention the passing of the date that commemorates Roe vs. Wade.

In fact, we rarely mention it at all anymore. This article from ten years ago highlights we may have been bored of this for quite some time.

Getting past the issue of “unwanted pregnancies,” or “endangering the life of the mother,” when I think about the loss of life in the past decades, and how we have lost the possibility of many fresh voices in our world… it is tragic. It is tragic I don’t remember this date more. It is tragic we don’t even dare to think of the loss of life anymore.

This isn’t some call to vote Republican or hate Democrats or vote any way at all. It’s just a pause… to think… Voices lost… creativity halted… advancements not even attempted… because we have lost millions of possibilities.

We are a diminished generation no matter how you slice it.

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16 Jan 2012
1 Comment

Thank you, Dr. King

Posted in Culture, History and tagged
14 Jan 2012

The Response — Jesus and Religion

While I didn’t get in on the viral wave of the first video about being into Jesus, but not “religious,” I will confess I really like this response:

 

 

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11 Jan 2012
3 Comments

Self Promotion and Modesty

8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, sympathetic, lovers of your fellow believers, compassionate, and modest in your opinion of yourselves. (1 Peter 3:8, CEB)

The Common English Bible uses the language to stretch out the word “humble,” which is what other translations use. It’s a good call.

I brush by “humble.” I am struck by the phrase, “modest in your opinion of yourselves.”

This is a world of self-promotion. When I am in a group of people who are asked to introduce themselves, it is rare to get that done in a few minutes. Most in a small circle have to pour out their accomplishments or why they are qualified to be in this particular circle, etc.

“Branding” is the watchword of the day. You would think we were in Texas ranch country the way that word is thrown around so much.

Publishers won’t look at your manuscript unless you have a “platform.” You have to get out there and get your audience.

And then we read a verse that says, in essence, be modest in your opinion of yourself.

Good luck with that one.

It’s so easy for me to fall into the pattern of self-promotion these days. But there are times when it really does grate on me. It was not how I was raised.

I can remember in college being on a missions trip. A college friend and I were riding in a pastor’s car and the pastor looked straight at me and asked, “Are you a good preacher?”

The question caught me completely off-guard, but even when I recovered in my mind, I thought, “How in the world do I answer that one?”

My friend chimed in from the back seat after an awkward silence and said to the pastor, “The Bible says to let another man’s lips praise thee.” (We were still in the King James era at the time.) He then went on to give the pastor his opinion of my preaching.

These days, I am afraid I’m a little quick to answer a similar question, and I don’t know that it’s a good thing.

How do we live in this biblical tension with today’s self-promoting world?

Posted in Common English Bible, Culture, Spiritual Formation and tagged , ,
10 Jan 2012

Blue Chips and Junk Bonds

David Brooks is one of my favorite columnists. This column discusses politics, but it reminds me of a conversation I had regarding ministry as well. Brooks’s contention is that liberals have allowed short term gains to cloud their vision for long term good.

The conversation I had regarding churches and ministry was much the same. American churches are investing in junk bonds instead of blue chips. We are going for “short term” gains that really mean nothing other than quick personal gain. We are doing things for the “quick pop” and not giving regard to long term results. Blue chip investing in the market would be looking to what is solid, what is long-term, what may sacrifice something up front to gain something later.

Junk bond investing tanked this economy. People invented investment tools made out of thin air that looked good inflated values and gave massive profits only to those who invented the smoke and mirrors then got out just in time.

Junk bond investing in the American church is trading off the long term gain of the Kingdom for the short term accolades that make us feel good, give us book deals, and allow us to speak on large stages.

Blue chip investing in the American church would be seeing the power of the Kingdom and insisting on the principles of the Kingdom to bring that power. Nothing short of that long term stability will do in blue chip ministry.

Posted in Church, Church Life, Culture and tagged , | Leave a Comment

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