More on Books

I go through phases with reading. I just came off of a month where I was reading a ton. I am now on a down phase...perhaps because I'm so busy. Anywho, since I am not reading as much, I am going to write about reading. Make sense? Here is a thing I stole off of Eric Peters' site. (By the way, Eric came to the Harbor for a concert yesterday and was awesome. If you have not checked out Eric Peters, do it!) It is a hodge podge of questions about different books you, or in this case, I, have read. Maybe I will encourage someone to read one of these by my posting this.

1. One book that changed your life:
See below to my last post. It is essentially this questioned answered in a very lengthy fashion.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
The first one that comes to mind is No Wonder They Call Him the Savior by Max Lucado. From my senior year in high school to my freshman year in college I went on a big Lucado kick. This was one of the 2 best that I read. I have read this several times. It is about the last week of Jesus life. It is one I should read every year the month before Easter just to get a grasp of that amazing last week.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
The typical answers here are survival guides. I don't want to copy everyone else, so I will go for my own, original cliche. The Bible. I know that that is the dorky Christian, Bible-nerd that I am answer, bit it really is true. I don't think I would get sick of it for a long time.

4. One book that made you laugh:
The hardest i can remember laughing recently at a book are the first chapters of both Searching for God Knows What and To Own a Dragon bu Donald Miller. He absolutely had me splitting at the side on each of these. It is witty humor, which I love.

5. One book that made you cry:
Hmmmm. I'm not much of a cryer, nor do I read many sad books. Although my heart went out in Searching for God Knows What for the boy Miller describes in his class as a kid. That has put me the closest in awhile.

6. One book that you wish had been written:
How I put an End to World Poverty, Hunger, and Disease by Nick Fox

7. One book you wish had never been written:
Probably one of the super boring ones I had to read in college. There were not too many, but a few. It would be great if one of those hadn't been around back then.

8. One book you’re currently reading:
Several, actually. I am one of those people that will have many books going at one time. Here they are:

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
This is a philosophical novel written a long time ago that tells why the worship of self is the best way of life. Very anti-Christian, but interesting views nontheless.

Bono by Michka Assayas
This is just an interview with Bono. It is interesting to learn more about his life and history.

The Search to Belong by Joshua Myers
We are reading this as a staff at the Harbor. It is teaching me a lot about the different circles of intimacy that people share, and what is appropriate in each. unfortunately the church has not done well in the past in this area.

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
I have The Life of Pi which comes highly reccomended from my friend Eric. It is on my list as soon as I finish one of these others I am working on.

Top 5 Books that Shaped My Life

Christianity today came out with their Top 50 Books that Shaped Evangelicals (regards Tim Ellsworth). I went through the list and had heard of almost half of them, and had read six. I reflected on this...and wondered whether I was a bad Christian and a slacker or if the list was flawed. I think it is somewhere in the middle. I read a ton, but it is more current stuff rather than the "classics," which are mostly on this list.

This list got me thinking, though, what are the most influential books in my life? I thought I would share with you a top 5 and explain a little about each. I did not count the Bible, because that would be a bit unfair. Here we go:


5. Searching for God Knows What Donald Miller
I read this book over the summer, and it was amazing. I didn't end up having time to blog about it on here because I was super busy, but this book was so great. He talks about God in story, and how we must always resist boiling God down to a step by step formula. He spends a great deal of time talking about "lifeboat theory," which I had decided before I was dedicating my life to stopping in my own life and in any other way I could. This book gave me the words and focus to do that. This is a must read.


4. Courageous Leadership Bill Hybels
I read this book when I was in Thailand doing missions work for a summer. What is unique about that is that the entire summer turned into a leadership development summer for me, and this book was a big part of it, in addition to the great people with whom I worked. This book taught me some important lessons in leadership and got me thinking and praying intentionally about the leadership in my own life. The timing was great, because a year later I would be up here in Minnesota serving in a full time leadership role at a church. This book was exactly what I needed and I am thankful God used it the way he did.


3. The Life Giving Church Ted Haggard
I read this book my senior year in high school when I was doing an internship at my home church, and then again right before my 2nd year in college. This book, as did Courageous Leadership, gave me a great love for the church, that has a lot to do with what I am doing today. Haggard separates out Religion and a Relationship with Christ and talks about how churches can foster those cultures. His thoughts on legalism versus life (he uses different words, but that is how I interpret them)early in the book remain with me, and I think on them regularly.


2. Blue Like Jazz Donald Miller
I read this book early this year, and if you read this blog much, you know that I have written about it a ton (here, here, and
here). I have thought about it a lot recently as I met Donald last month and talked with him about this book. It really has been very influential in my life. I think before I read this book I was a "blind conservative." After reading it, I would still call myself a conservative, but I feel I am much more God centered in my thinking than before. Donald points out a lot of the problems that are giving Christians a bad name. Many of these have to do with religion. It was very refreshing for me, and has shaped my thinking in a huge way.


1. Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis
Finally, a classic made the list. I have read this many times. I put this number one because I give this book credit for me changing my thinking to more like a philosopher, to thinking things through and exploring them for myself. I think every person goes through that at some point in their life, and this book at a lot to do with that phase in mine. That may be one of the most important changes a person will go through. God wants us to be thinkers, and Lewis provides a great example of this.

Hidden Sin

I have been thinking a lot about sin recently. There are many reasons. The topic we are discussing in our series on Wednesday nights to the Students, the stuff I am reading, the struggles people I know are going through, sin in my own life. From all of this, I have come to a very specific conclusion:

Sin is not a big deal to us.

We see sin as if it were on a credit card...that we can spend whatever we want without worrying about it. We sin staggeringly often, but are seldom arrested in our hearts to change our ways. I am talking to myself as much as anyone else. I notice this all the time. It boils down, again to my point, that Sin is not a big deal to us.

I think there are pretty much 2 reasons that this is the case in our world today. First, that we know the outcome: Jesus paid our debt. If all of our sin is covered, why is it such a big deal? We would never be so crass as to verbalize it as I am now, but I think it is what we tell ourselves. The scary thing is that Paul warns against this very idea. He writes in Romans 6:1-2 "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" Great question, Paul. And yet so many of us, I believe, are doing exactly what he describes, "Living in Sin." Sin is a way of life; a rut, if you will, that we have apparently no plans to get out of. Have you noticed how trendy it is to lie nowadays, even for Christians? Have you noticed how common it is for Christians to use profanity? Do you realize that according to youthpastor.com, 60% of youth pastors admit to having viewed pornography in the past month? Friends, sin is a major issue, and we need to do all we can to remove it from our lives. The problem, as I return to my point, is that we view it as already taken care of. What if it were harder? What if we still had to sacrifice a goat to gain forgiveness every time we sinned? What would that cost us financially? Would it change things?

The second reason I think that we view sin as no big deal, is that sin is primarily hidden in our lives. Sure, sin happens publicly on a regular basis on TV and the radio blah blah blah. But I mean in our personal lives, sin is so often hidden. What if we still practiced confession? The Roman Catholics did that for over 1000 years until it became legalistic and corrupt. The result is that we almost never confess anymore, and that leads to very little accountability on our part to change. When asked whether confession was necessary, C.S. Lewis stated that he wasn't sure confession was absolutely necessary, but that a man should at the very least make a list of his sins. We don't even get real and face our sins any more. What if we started confession again? And what if we no longer felt that we needed to hide our sin from everyone? I for one am sick of feeling like I need to pretend I have it all together. I am ready to throw in the towel on hypocritical perfection.

What do we have to do to make sin a big deal again? It is a huge deal for God, that is for sure. Allow me, while I am here, to make a few comments to add balance to this discussion. I am not promoting legalistic perfection or condemnation. God is a God of grace, that is for sure. But, as in everything, there is a middle ground that is healthy, with ditches on either side. I fear that we may have fallen into the "grace ditch," and no longer view sin as a big deal. My intention is not to urge us (or myself) into the other ditch, the "legalism ditch." What I do hope is that those who are serious about God will get their lives in order, that they will do whatever they have to do to remove deeply rooted sinful behavior from their lives. Don't wait until later; get it done now. I realize that this view is very unpopular because of the discomfort and shame that results (but honestly, after several of my blogs in the past, do you think popularity is my goal?). However, I think God is calling me (and maybe you) to a higher level of obedience and sacrifice for him. To a more serious view of sin and a declaration to not live a lie any longer. May God help us as we journey on this road of righteousness together.

As I continue these thoughts, I intend to go back to The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his reflections on "Cheap Grace" versus "Costly Grace." Feel free to join me as I continue this voyage to better understand what God is saying to me.

Wisdom From Bono

I am reading a book call Bono which is where the U2 frontman sits down for an interview and the result is this book. It is raw (still in Q&A form), but a great insite into his life and journey. In case you didn't know, Bono is incredibly deep and insightful. I thought I would share some of that wisdom here a comment on it. I may do it more in the future too, 'cause there is some great stuff in here.

Bono, at one point, is talking about how U2 got together and the rise to stardom. In the process, he reflects a little on the temptations. Here are his words:

"[I]t turns out that that's a much more subtle threat than sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Self-righteousness, self-flagellation, these things are as dangerous as what you might call the worship of self."

This struck me as a very interesting and accurate statement. Naturally, when they started on the Rock 'n' roll journey they had in their minds to avoid the vices and lifestyle that generally goes with that...Particularly in the 70's, things like sex and drugs. However, as you notice, he mentions that they became aware of other temptations, which I would suspect would be harder to overcome. Things like pride and self-worship. It makes sense, doesn't it? When you go from being a nobody to a somebody in a short amount of time...from a garage band to having thousands of people chanting your name...from a regular person to a rock icon...it would certainly be a temptation to "think more highly of yourself than you ought," as Paul warns against.

The other thing that struck me about this is how true it is in everyday life...in my life. As I look to avoid the obvious pitfalls in life, anger, list, materialism etc., I find that I find it pretty easy to become proud of myself. I look at my accomplishments, my job, my marriage, LiveWire Student Ministries, my academic record, and assume I am due the credit. I am fond of being fond of myself. I find that struggling against those other obvious pitfalls was merely a distraction against the gravest pitfall of them all, which is pride. As David Crowder sings, "I carry pride like a disease." Like C.S. Lewis says, "Pride is spiritual cancer; the complete anti-God state of mind."

I am not alone in my problem. No. To think that Bono and I are the only ones struggling with this would be absurd. We live in a world, even in a church, where obvious sin is filthy, but habitual pride is so prevalent it is often overlooked. How can we help but struggle with this? Our world is built to cater to self.

Lord, help me to put you first, others second, and myself third. Allow me to never again "forsake the riches of God's righteousness for the dung of my own ego."

Meeting Donald Miller

Tonight was a cool night. Donald Miller was speaking at The Upper Room, which I have known about for months and had circled on my calendar. Don Miller, as you know, is the author of several books, including Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God knows What. If you ever read this blog, you know who Donald miller is. I digress. Angela and I went early, because we wanted to make sure we got good seats. We got there an hour and a half early and besides the janitors and the worship team, we were the only ones. We popped a squat on a couch in the foyer and hung out for a while. After about 25 minutes, I see a man and a woman stroll by, heading for the sanctuary. The man is bigger than I expected, taller and more broad shouldered, but I recognize him anyway. "That's him" I said to Angela, and we both jumped up and followed. "Hey Don," I called. He turned around and I shook his hand and introduced myself and I asked if he had some time to hang out. His assistant (the lady with him) said that he had sound check. I asked if I could get him to sign a couple of books, to which he gladly agreed.

He signed the books "All of Christ to Ya" and "All the hope of Father God to Ya." Ang and I got our picture taken with him (above) and chatted with him for a few minutes. I asked him what it was like to go from being a nobody to being a pretty famous author and speaker in a short time. He said he is asked that question a lot and doesn't have a real good answer for it. He said it doesn't change things as much as one might think, but he said he would think on it and let me know tomorrow (I get to go with a friend and interview him tomorrow).

As I reflect on Donald as a person (in person at least), I am impressed by how down to earth he is. He has a humility and a meekness about him that is refreshing. He is not at all into himself, and by no means does one get the idea that he thinks he is a big deal. It is as if it shocks him that he is famous more than anyone. He told me that his next project is a narrative piece called A Map of Eden. I look forward to that coming out, as I have read everything else he has written.

All in all, it was really cool to meet the man who is behind several books that I respect and admire. He certainly did not disappoint in person and I look forward to spending more time with him tomorrow. I will post another update tomorrow after the interview. Meanwhile, if you haven't read any Donald Miller, start right away. Move it to the top of your reading list. My recommendation is to start with BLJ, then read Searching for God Knows What, then Through Painted Deserts, then To Own a Dragon. I guarantee it will make you think and stretch you.

Hybels' 4 Leadership Practices

Bill Hybels has taught for years that there are 4 things that every leader should do at all times throughout his or her life. I have known these for a long time and practiced them, but I thought it would be a good reminder to put here.

1. Read everything you can read about leadership.

Hybels says that a leader should always be reading. I do this as much as possible. i am always looking for a good book to pick up. i am one of those people who could go to Barnes and Noble and sped $500 and be bummed that I don't have more time and money to read. Nonetheless, Hybels is right. Reading does so much to get your brain working, it communicates new information, and it helps you remember things better. That is partly the reason I started the reading list on the left. I love sharing the titles and thoughts on books I have recently read. do yourself a favor and always have a book or 2 with you when you travel or whenever. We all know that life surprises us with other being late and what not. those are great times to get a little read time in.

2. Sit under leadership Training and teaching often

There are tons of great leadership training seminars and DVDs that are easy to get and affordable. I am lucky because my church hold this as a value too, so I am able to go to at least 2 major leadership training events every year as well as countless leadership training nights and workshop type things. If you have a local church that values leadership, chances are they have some leadership teachings on DVD or VHS. I encourage you to explore this and grow yourself. There is also tons of good stiff on the internet. If you have not caught on to podcasting yet, you need to. There are great leadership podcasts out there that are designed to stretch and grow you as a leader. Check it out.

3. Surround yourself with leaders who are better than you and ask questions

This is the way I learn best; by asking questions. It is such a great way to process and clarify what is going on. Observe someone and listen to them. then, ask questions and dialogue. This is such a great way learn because it is dynamic, unlike speakers or books. I have always had 2 or 3 people that I greatly respected in my life that I was allowed to ask questions of. Pick the brains of people smarter than you. Most are very willing to help.

4. Lead

The last step is that you need to be leading something. There is no education like experience. We learn best by doing. Whether you need to volunteer to lead the food committee for the 65 and over small group that meets once a month or you are the CEO of a company, you need to be leading inorder to grow. When I was in college, our ministry profs would urge us to get involved in ministry, rather than waiting until we graduated. luckily I made some sacrifices and did that, or I would be sadly latent now. Lead whatever you can to help yourself grow as a leader.

A Black and White Issue

I read on Tim Ellsworth's Blog today the following story from the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal:

Twelve-year-old Joe recently asked Jesus to live in his heart.

Yet the church where Joe accepted his Savior not even two weeks before will no longer allow the biracial boy to enter.

On Aug. 6, during its scheduled Sunday night business meeting, Fellowship Baptist Church in Saltillo voted not to accept blacks within the church. More specifically, the congregation also voted Joe out and said he could not return.

That evening Fellowship Baptist did not just say goodbye to Joe and an entire race of humans. With that decision the church’s pastor, the Rev. John Stevens, resigned, and at least one other family decided not to return to the Baptist Missionary Alliance congregation that averages 30 people.

Of all of the issues a church can have, racism is the scariest. I have never been to Mississippi. Is racism still that abundant there that churches hate blacks, and apparently hate them so much as to expel a recent convert, a 12 year old boy no less, bacause his skin was a different color?

How can a group of people read there Bibles and think this? Even more, how much is racism still present in our own hearts? Let us continue to become more like Jesus and forever continue increasing our "bandwidth" of who we think is included in God's love.

Across the Spectrum, Part 1:The Scripture Debate

I was visiting some students who graduated from our ministry who attend Northwestern University in Orange City Iowa over the weekend and I took some time to check out the Bible section in their bookstore (I am a Bible nerd!). I ended up buying a fascinating book entitled Across The Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology by Gregory Boyd and Paul Eddy (for sale on the left). Boyd is rather famous and has written ten books, including Letters From a Skeptic. He was also interviewed by Lee Strobel in The Case for Christ. Both are from the Twin Cities and teach at Bethel Semenary.

Anyway, as the subtitle suggests, the authors tackle and discuss a number of the "hot" debates and interesting issues that are ubiquitous in Evangelicalism. I assure you that you have thought about many of these issues before. Their point is not to argue, but "to broaden students' minds by helping them empathetically understand a variety of perspectives while training them to think critically for themselves" (pg 6). That, too, is my goal of many of the discussions I lead as a youth pastor as well as the purpose of this blog. Thinking is good! Please don't get nervous at disagreement, but be open and willing to learn and understand both sides better.

What I have decided to do, is post a series of articles on topics from this book. I will summarize each view and offer support for each one, while commenting and offering opinion the whole way. It will take us through nearly all of the "hot" debates in Evangelicalism and give us a lot of fun things to talk about. Here we go! This first one has to do with one's view of scripture.

The Inspiration Debate: Without Error of any Kind vs Infallable in Matters of Faith and Practice

Without Error of any Kind (The Inerrantist View)

This view states that the Bible, in its original manuscripts was perfect in every way, including on issues like science, history, politics, and other and non-religious matters. The Bible is to generally be interpreted literally and all of it, every letter, is important and completely without error, or inerrant.

Biblical Evidence

The Bible certainly seems to teach that it is perfect (Isa 46:8-10, Ps 119:160 etc.). Jesus seemed to hold this view as well, using the phrases "God says..." and "Scripture says..." interchangably. Jesus also insisted that not even one letter would pass away from the law (Matt 5:18).

Supporting Arguments

1. Church Tradition

The Church (universal) over the years has typically assumed and held to the belief that the Bible is without error of any kind. Augustine and John Calvin certainly believed this, as did Martin Luther, who went as far as to say "Scripture cannot err." This has been the popular view throughout history.

2. A Logical Argument

The Logical argument goes as follows:

a. God is perfect and thus cannot err.
b. Scripture is God-breathed (inspired).
c. What God breathes retains his perfect character.
d. Scripture cannot err.

The argument makes sense logically. The only question is, are all of the premises valid?

3. An Argument from Epistemology (How do we know what we know?)

If we do not accept the Bible as inerrant, than the decision as to what is correct in the Bible and what is not is up to us, making us the ruling powers and not God. Who are we to decide what is and is not relevant and correct in God's Word?

4. A Historical Argument

"The Bible tells us that the heart is desperately wicked. There is a side of fallen humanity that consistently wants to run away from God. This is why it is so dangerous to deny the inerrency of scripture. We cannot trust our own fallen hearts and minds to decide what is true" (pg 13).

"The denial of inerrency has almost always led to some form of heresy if not total unbelief" i.e. Jahovah's Witnesses etc. (pg 14).

Infallable in Matters of Faith and Practice (The Infallibilist View)

This view states that the Bible is right and accurate on all of the issues that matter and apply to faith (i.e. Salvation, Resurection, the life of Jesus etc.), but may not be accurate in "minor matters of history and science." I would basically say that where the former view insists that every word and letter of scripture must be true, this view would not make that claim and force scripture into such a box.

Biblical Evidence

"An honest examination of Scripture leads to the conclusion that the Bible is thoroughly inspired but also thoroughly human" (pg 17).

The most convincing biblical evidence (in my opinion) can be summed up in 2 points"

1. The writers of Scripture for the most part did not necessarily know they were writing scripture, and therefore inerrency was not their concern. For example, if we try to force a letter of Paul to discuss matters of science, when his agenda is to discuss church polity, we misuse the text to do something it is not intended to do.

2. The biblical authors held a "premodern" view of the world. For example, the Hebrews, as well as all people in the ancient Near East, believed that the sky was "hard as a molten mirror" (Job 37:18), and that it was a dome that seperated waters above from waters below (Genesis 1:7), and that it was held up by pillars (Psalm 75:3, 104:2-3, Job 9:6, 26:11 etc.). We see this language as poetic, but history and archeology show us that this is the way people really understood the world. This is of course not true, and must weigh in on this argument.


Supporting Arguments

1. Church History

Both sides argue that church history is on their side. This camp points to the the time in the 16th century when Galileo was excomunicated for claiming that the sun was the center of the universe, rather than the earth, like the Church believed due to an inerrentist view of scripture. It was quite an emberrassing moment for the church that was brouth about by an inerrantist view.

2. Apologetic and evangelistic advantages

If one claims that the Bible must be inerrant to be inspired, the credability of the Bible hangs in the ability of a person to resolve every error or apparent conflict in the Bible.

3. Bibliolatry

The innerrency view "tends to shift the focus of faith away from Jesus Christ and toward the accuracy of the Bible" (pg 20).

Thoughts and Comments

This debate has been a very divisive one through the years. It seems that this is broken up into the fairly radical conservatives who hold to the Inerrantist view, and every one else who believe the other. I think that the mistake of the Inerrantist camp is that they assume the Infallibilist view is throwing scripture out all together. The Infallibilist still hold scripture as the highest authority in the Christian faith, as that which everything is to be tested against, and as the revelation of God to his people. The Infallibilist are not suggesting by their view that the Bible is a Christian version of Esoph's Fables. If you have ever diologued with an Inerrantist, that seems to be the perception. I hope that this write up has shown that it is not the case.

Personally, I fall into the 2nd camp with the Infallibilist. I am not completely there, but I would guess I'm about 90/10. I think that evidence like that presented in the 2nd point under biblical evidence about the "premodern" view of the world shows well enough that the Bible cannot be considered inerrant. I understand that I may be written off as a pagan liberal for saying that, but I guess that is the price I pay. I think that is a mistake, and it is not doing any good to the body of Christ to fail to dialogue about these issues. Let us continue to sharpen one another,continue to ask questions, and explore and seek the truth.

My "Pet" Peeve

Allow me to rant for a moment on something that I know will make me far less popular with many people. I think that Americans are pet crazy. I look at how many people I know, many of them Christians, that own pets, many pets, and often times treat them like royalty. Allow me to give you some statistics on pets in America.

63% of US households own a pet
45% own more than one
43.5 million US homes own a dog and 37.7 million us homes own a cat
Americans spend $38.4 billion per year on pets
$15 billion on pet food
It cost approximately $1500/year to own a dog and $900/year to own a cat

* All of the above statistics come from theAPPMA Website.


I hope these statistics alarm you. When I was growing up we pretty much always had a dog as a pet. When I was about 5, my family got a dog. Later, when I was about 11, I can remember begging and crying for a dog for my birthday. My mom obliged. I say this to note that I am as much confessing and writing to myself as to anybody else. However, I think there are several alarming issues that need to be pointed out.

1. Many of the "pet lover" people treat their pets like royalty. Consider the following trend in our society:

High-end items to spoil companion animals are must-haves for pet owners that spare no expense to please their furry, feathered and finned best friends. Items include faux mink coats for cold weather outings, feathered French day beds for afternoon naps, designer bird cages, botanical fragrances and to top it all off, a rhinestone tiara!

and...

More and more companies traditionally know for human products are going to the dogs, and cats, and reptiles. Big name companies including like Paul Mitchell, Omaha Steaks, Origins, Harley Davidson and Old Navy are now offering lines of pet products ranging from dog shampoo, pet attire, and name-brand toys to gourmet treats and food.

As I was driving home today, I saw a bumper sticker that said "My dog is smarter than your Honor Student" and a license plate frame that said "I Love my Dog." when watching game shows where celebrities are playing for charities, the most common trend you will see among charities chosen is that they involve saving animals, rather than stopping abuse or feeding the hungry. It seems that at times that pets are honored and loved over people. This is never said aloud, and no one would ever admit to it, but I have a friend who says that his dad has a better relationship with his 2 dogs than with his son. What message is that sending? Is it ever appropriate to spend money on lavish gifts for a dog or cat? Is that ever not a sin?

2. Second, if our world was in financial order, this would not be such a problem. But it isn't. Last I heard the average person had approximately $6,000 in credit card debt. What percentage of those with credit card debt are pet owners? I'm not suggesting their is a correlation, but if you are dumping money into a pet rather than paying of raging debt, you are not being a good steward of God's resources.

Also, do you realize that 840 million people in the world are malnourished (that is 3 times the population of the US)? 799 million of those are in the developing (third) world. 152 million of those are children under 5. And we spend $15 Billion/year on dog food, food that almost a billion people would find nourishment from were it available. We are letting the children of the world, children that Jesus honored in his ministry, starve so that we can buy our cat a sweater, or a dog a fancier pillow, or our bird a top hat. (All of the above stats come from Care.org

3. Lastly, one of the primary reasons I hear cited in defense of owning pets is that pets are good company. Are we that lonely as a society that we need animals to keep us company? Have our social skills diminished to the point of not being able to build meaningful relationships anymore?

Friends, I am not anti-animal, or even anti-pet. In addition, I understand that their are scores of areas of materialism like boats and 3 car garages that I could make similar arguments about (and perhaps I will), but let us focus on this issue for a moment. I am passionate about seeing poverty, AIDS, and hunger end in the world. I feel that pet spoiling is just one area in which we are doing an embarrassing job of being Christlike. Jesus seldom talks about judgment and Hell in his ministry, but the Bible mentions the poor over 2000 times (second only to personal redemption in scripture). When Jesus does mention judgment and Hell in Matthew 25, he connects it with justice, saying,

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

It is as if Jesus is saying that the thing that separates his people from all the others is their view and action towards injustice. And that is really what we are talking about. In the words of Bono (from U2), "This is not a charity issue; it is a justice issue."

So where do we go from here? I understand that one of the huge issues with the hunger problem worldwide is ignorance. Out of sight, out of mind. Well, let us no longer be ignorant nor should we any longer say "I don't know how to help." Here are some organizations that are great and trusted to do the very thing I am advocating.

www.one.org is a campaign dedicated to lobbying the US government to allocate 1% of the US budget to stop poverty, hunger, and AIDS in the world.

www.worldvision.org is a worldwide organization that is dedicated to stopping the causes of poverty in the world.

www.care.org (quoted previously) is another organization dedicated to stopping poverty worldwide.

May we be a people who will stand and fight for justice. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Some Thoughts on Israel and Lebanon

I am back from a long hiatus from blogging, but should be back and regular now.

As you guys know, I post about what I am reading and learning, and seldom post about topics on which I am an expert. Today is no different. There has been recent turmoil in the Middle East (what's new?) and this time it involves Israel, a longtime US ally and a nation many Evangelicals think the US has a duty to support, invading Lebanon, a country pretty much in shambles, because of the kidnapping of some Israeli soldiers.

At this time, I invite you to read the article I read on this. It isn't too long and it is a good synopsis of what is going on as well as an honest opinion of the situation. The article is here and comes from the e-magazine that is highly recommended by Donald Miller called the Burnside Collective. I, too, recommend the site and the article. Here are some quotes from the article before I make some comments.

There are many reasons why I find the particular kind of support that America gives to Israel disturbing; I will discuss two. First, on a yearly basis billions of American taxpayers' of dollars are going to buy weapons that are used to terrorize a refugee population (half of whom are children) that is already marginalized and living in extreme poverty. Second, the effect of our attempt to "build democracy" seems to be having the opposite effect - increasing violence and producing more "terrorists" and suicide-bombers. The hatred of America around the world has never been more acute, and I'm no expert, but I don't think this makes us safer.

Yesterday at this spot the Israelis shot eight young men, six of whom were under the age of eighteen. One was twelve. This afternoon they kill an eleven-year-old boy, Ali Murad, and seriously wound four more, three of whom are under eighteen. Children have been shot in other conflicts I have covered -- death squads gunned them down in El Salvador and Guatemala, mothers with infants were lined up and massacred in Algeria, and Serb snipers put children in their sights and watched them crumple onto the pavement in Sarajevo -- but I have never before watched soldiers entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport.

I have never really known what to make of the whole "support Israel/don't support Israel" debate. I mean it is true that they were God's chosen people, but is that still true? I mean, I don't believe that "Replacement Theology" crap about how the Jews are out and the churh is in, because I think Paul makes it clear in Romans that this idea is bogus. But, it is certainly true that it is no longer soley about the Jews and about Israel. Even if it was, supporting terrorism and the slaughtering of children is not a very Christlike mission. I have to say that I agree with Penny in the article; that we have pretty blindly supported and are continuing to support Israel despite their wrong actions.

This is a pretty hot issue, and one that I think many people don't know where they stand. I think it is hard not to condemn these actions if you are a Christian and you take an honest look at the situation. As Penny mentioned, Lebanon certainly started the war, but that does not justify a terrorist regime as an answer.

Please converse with me about this topic. I am still processing and searching for truth myself. Thanks for your time.

A World of Wars

Here is a paragraph from Donald Miller's book Searching For God Knows What about war.

In a way, the war in heaven, the war between God and those against God, is the war to explain all wars. If you really want to believe one side is good and another side is bad, if you really want to look back through history and find a perfect and innocent kingdom that was attacked by an enemy, you have to go back to the Garden of Eden. A perfect and innocent kingdom hasn't been attacked since then. Details are few because Moses hardly gets into it, but to be sure, the Bible paints a picture of a certain evil tricking innocent humans into betraying the God who loved them, the King who was their friend. They were enticed, they considered their options, and they wanted to be equal to God. It's ugly stuff.

I think Donald hits the nail on the head by suggesting that the war that began thousands of years ago between God and Satan, with us humans in the middle as the thing being fought for, is the same war that goes on today. Our war with our neighbor, our war with Iraq, our war with our selves, all stem from this initial act of war. I also like the point he makes about innocence. Let's take innocence out of the picture when it comes to war. No country (or person) goes to war with purely innocent motives.

War is a tricky topic, and I must confess that as I get older, I become closer and closer to becoming a pacifist. I'm not there yet, mind you, but I keep slipping closer every year. I realize that this is a painfully unpopular view to hold in America, but it is how I feel. I am still sorting out my feelings on this. I will keep you posted as to my further breakthroughs. Anybody out there with me on this?

Religion

Here is a thought from Donald Miller:

"I believe that the greatest trick of the Devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. This is why the Devil tries so hard to get Christians to be Religious. If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God. I was into habit. I grew up going to church, so I got used to hearing about God. He was like Uncle Harry or Aunt Sally except we didn't have pictures." pg 13 of Blue Like Jazz

Wasting time. How many of the devices in our lives are for the sole purpose of wasting our time? And, we complain about never having enough.

Religion. These words ring true to me. I see what he is talking about happening all the time. It seems that Jesus' harshest word were for the most religious people of his day. They had the Religion, but no relationship.

Relationship. Do we just know about God, or do we truly know God? I fear that the former is far more common. I think we have an epidemic in our churches of not truly knowing the risen Lord. We talk about him a lot, but we do no engage him as a living being.

Are Donald and I the only ones who think this?

Erwin McManus on Faith

"A casual listener to Christian teaching across the airwaves would conclude the solution to every problem is to have more faith. If you have a problem, all you need to do is believe. If you can't overcome the problem, you're just not believing big enough. The metaphor of the mustard seed is thrown into this mix of faith talk. We are told that Jesus said all we needed was faith the size of a mustard seed and we could speak to the mountain, "Be removed," and it would be cast into the sea. Jesus' words are interpreted to mean that what we have is a faith problem--we just don't believe enough. This spiritual journey becomes an endless cycle of trying to muster up more belief, bigger faith. But Jesus is pointing us to the very opposite conclusion. He's not saying we need to have more faith; he's actually telling us we just need to have some. It's not about making your faith bigger. All you need is mustard seed sized faith. The implication is any less is none at all. Jesus was not calling us to work up our faith. He was calling us simply to put our faith in God. It is not our faith in an event that is critical, but our faith in God himself. It is not about believing in a miracle; it is about an unshakable confidence in the character of God."

from Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul pp192-193

Book Review: Fathers and Dragons with Donald Miller

Donald Miller's latest book, To Own a Dragon, which discusses growing up without of father, is a great read. Typical to Miller's works, they include captivating stories, humurous anticdotes, and thought provoking, honest musings at the end that seems to sum up an issue in a way that very few can do. As he is dealing with a very pertinent subject, this book is a must read for...

1. Anyone who grew up without a father

Let's face it, with the chronic divorce rate and the epidemic of fathers leaving their families and proving worthless, there are hundreds of millions of young people who relate to what Miller is talking about. I read it because, as a youth pastor, about half of the students I work with are in similar situations. If you are in the situation where you never knew your father, let this book converse with your mind. Let Miller's wit and wisdom help you explore this hole in your life.

2. Anyone who had a Father that did not meet the "Spiritual Needs" of his family

The next group would be the even more of us who had fathers in our lives, but who did not fill the role of spirituality father's should. There are certain things that young men need to hear from their fathers, certain lessons that need to be learned and value that needs to be attributed, and Miller addresses these.

3. Anyone who is in a mentoring relationship

There are a lot of things in this book that apply to those of us who are mentoring young men as well. BTW, if you are not mentoring anybody yet, please consider it. There are scores of young men and women out there who need an older, wiser person to mentor them into their maturity in Christ. I can tell you that there is not a more rewarding part of my ministry. Anyway, Miller writes this book with his mentor, John MacMurray. There is a lot of good insight about mentoring relationships in the book.

4. Anyone who wants deeper insight into God's role as a father

Miller has mastered this. Over the course of several years of study, prayer, and deep thought on this subject, he has gotten a grasp on what our understanding of God as a father should be. Allow Donald Miller to share his insights with you. It is a noble task and you won't regret it.

Here are some selected quotes from To Own a Dragon.

"I wondered if all the relationships we have--relationships with our lover, our mother, our friends--are not unlike blurred photos of our relationship with God..."

"I know submitting to authority isn't the most popular thing to do these days, but the thing about fathers, at least in John MacMurray's case, is they always have their kids' interest at heart. That concept changed everything for me."

"I've learned to avoid authority figures who aren't submitting to anybody themselves. What good is the wisdom of a man who has nobody to speak into his life?"

"In the end, women are really attracted to guys who have their crap together. I doubt there are many women enamored by the idea of living in a box under a bridge, sucking on a bouillon cube while her man reads Emerson. This is probably not what the old ovaries are pining for."

"The most difficult temptation, in chess and in life, is the temptation to react. Reacting without thinking never, ever works."

What Theologian are You?

The next in the line of these "If I were a __________, what __________would I be?" tests has surfaced. This one is kind of cool for us church geeks like myself. Credit to Kurt Johnston.

You scored as Anselm. Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?' Anselm 93% John Calvin 60% Jonathan Edwards 60% Charles Finney 60% Friedrich Schleiermacher 60% Martin Luther 53% J?Moltmann 53% Karl Barth 47% Paul Tillich 27% Augustine 20% Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com