The Minority Thinker

Jesus's Online Presence

2013-03-04T15:14:00.003-05:00

This past week I was involved in two rather heated discussions with strangers on Facebook. In the first instance, several people were putting down conservative Christians, and I became defensive. At the end of the discussion, one of the people who had been slamming Christians messaged me with a heartfelt apology.

A few days later, I responded to what I considered a libelous remark about someone else, made by a man who later identified himself as a Christian. That discussion ended with the man who had made the remark calling me an idiot and making a declaration of war.

Does anyone else see that something is wrong with this picture?

We as Christians are Christ’s representatives on earth (2 Corinthians 2:15, 5:20). Others’ beliefs about Jesus are based largely on their opinions of us. We are not to be ashamed to identify ourselves as believers (Mark 8:38), but we should be ashamed for representing Him so poorly.

Based on my social media interactions this week, which man seems to know how life should be lived – the self-identified Christian, who became hostile and insulting when called on his wrongdoing, or the presumed non-Christian, who humbly admitted when he was wrong and initiated peacemaking efforts? I’m sorry to say, it’s not one who claims to share my beliefs.

Fellow Christians, please remember when you are online (and when you are not) that your words and actions reflect not only on you but on our Lord, as well. We are Christ’s online presence as much as we are His hands and feet in our communities. What we say online matters, but often, how we say it matters even more.

A Brief Review of Love Does by Bob Goff

2012-05-08T10:11:00.000-04:00

Bob Goff’s story in Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Yearsfascinated me, so I eagerly ordered a free copy of his book Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World from Thomas Nelson’s BookSneeze program. Love Does was a lighter read than I’d hoped, but it does relate quite a few interesting anecdotes from Goff’s ordinary-yet-extraordinary life. Many of the chapters also draw parallels between the events of an anecdote and the things Goff has learned about God. At times the parallels work well, but at other times they seem to be stretched to fit.

I doubt that Love Does will make my list of favorite books I’ve read this year, but I did enjoy it overall. It would make a good graduation gift for a young person who wants to live for God in a somewhat unconventional way.

Thoughts on The Progress Paradox

2012-03-06T12:06:00.000-05:00

One of my goals for the year is to read several books that have been on my to-read list for at least five years. One of these books was Gregg Easterbrook’s The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse, published in 2003.

Easterbrook makes many interesting observations in this book and offers some good explanations for them, but he covers so much ground (politics, poverty, health care, the environment, the history of the Islamic world, and more) that not all of his ideas are fully developed. His optimism is refreshing, but at times, it is too extreme. For example, I would love to believe his assertion that global poverty can be solved in a generation or two, but his suggested solutions are impractical. He argues that Americans should “tax themselves,” demanding to pay more for goods and services so that minimum wage can become a living wage. But if that happened, wouldn’t the people receiving minimum wage also have to pay more for goods and services, thereby making their new wage worth less anyway? He also says that Western governments could simply give people the money they need to survive through foreign aid, but he makes no suggestions about how we could ensure our money would make its way through red tape and corrupt officials and get to the people who really need it.

The book does seem well researched, and most ideas are supported by statistics. However, the only citation I checked was inaccurate – he quoted an article that contrasted York, PA (in the county where I live) with an upscale suburb, but when I looked up the article, I found it didn’t mention York at all – it was describing Franklin County, PA. Even if the other statistics are accurate, they are already outdated. I wonder which of Easterbrook’s conclusions – if any – would be different if he were writing the book now, several years after the national economy went south.

I would also have liked to see Easterbrook better define his terminology. For example, he talks about people who own speedboats and private planes as “not rich.” He also describes capitalism and market democracy as two completely different and somewhat incompatible political systems, but he doesn’t explain what the distinction is or why it’s important. (Trying but failing to remember whether my high school government classes had covered this topic, I did an Internet search to find the difference. I didn’t come up with any answers; in fact, some sources explained capitalism as “the market system” or saw capitalism as the system that makes democracy possible.)

When Easterbrook described himself near the end as a “churchgoing Christian,” I was astonished, as many of his presuppositions obviously came from a secular worldview. (He seems to have more faith in evolution and economic progress than in Jesus.) He does show respect for people of faith and talks about the need for everyone to value forgiveness and gratitude, but he says we should do so for selfish reasons. (The chapter that gets closest to addressing spiritual matters is titled “Selfish Reasons To Become a Better Person.”)

Frankly, I’m amazed that someone could write an entire book on our lack of happiness despite our wealth and give so little space to the spiritual aspect of the issue. As a “churchgoing Christian” myself, I would love to see more Christians talking about this topic from a biblical perspective. Simultaneous material blessings and lack of contentment is a defining characteristic of our culture that the American church has failed to address adequately.

Thoughts on Erasing Hell

2012-02-15T18:46:00.001-05:00

I realize this blog has become a book blog and a very occasional one at that. For those of you who are not fond of books, I apologize. It seems that they are the main intellectual stimuli I have been receiving lately. Someday I may get back to writing about other topics. In the meantime, let me tell you about the most recent book that provoked my thinking:

Erasing Hell: What God said about eternity, and the things we made up by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle was a difficult book to read. I would like to think that God gives an infinite number of chances to turn to Him, but the Bible is clear that opportunity ends when we die, after which we will face judgment. For many, judgment leads to hell. Erasing Hell reminded me of this bitter truth. Its teaching was not new to me – I’d learned it all along as I grew up – but it reminded me that I am not God and my human mind will never fully comprehend Him.

Reading about hell brought many questions to my mind. For instance, how can there be no mourning in heaven (Revelation 21:4) when people we love are being tortured in hell? And why does effective evangelism seem to be the opposite of what it should be? The reality of hell creates an urgency that would inspire a type of evangelism that is more suited to alarming announcements to crowds on street corners (“Get out of that burning building now!”) than to quiet chats in homes, but the “turn or burn” style of evangelism is usually much less effective than the slower, personal method of one-on-one friendship evangelism. Why does God change hearts so slowly?

I will never completely understand God, but I know Him well enough that I know I can trust Him and take Him at His word. As Chan & Sprinkle say in Erasing Hell, “The One who invented justice . . . knows perfectly what the unbeliever deserves.” And “. . . the New Testament writers don’t have the same allergic reaction to hell that I do. Perhaps they had a view of God that is much bigger than mine. A view of God that takes Him at His word and doesn’t try to make Him fit our own moral standards and human sentimentality.”

I am glad I am not God. I don’t want that kind of responsibility. But I also cannot bear to think too deeply about many of the people I love spending eternity in hell. All I can do is pray for them and follow God’s direction as faithfully as I can.

Shane Claiborne’s The Irresistible Revolution: A Review

2011-12-20T19:39:00.002-05:00

The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne appealed to my longing for two things that I have missed in most of my church experiences: a deep sense of fellowship with other believers and a commitment to living out our faith in a way that matters, so that we may be truly by known by our love.

Claiborne addresses a lot of issues that have made me feel out of step with most American Christians: the emphasis on big congregations; the insistence that tithes go to the local church, even when churches spend more on buildings and internal ministries than they do on helping those in need; and the belief that offering fun activities (as opposed to genuine love) will bring more people into the church.

While The Irresistible Revolution offers an appealing alternative to a dying form of Christianity, Claiborne occasionally seems to forget the reason for reviving the faith. Though his social action is clearly motivated by his love for Jesus, the book’s middle chapters left me feeling that his ultimate goal was alleviation of suffering on earth, rather than spiritual transformation. Committed Christians will be motivated to alleviate others’ suffering, but this work should be a means to the end of bringing others to Christ, rather than an end in itself.

Claiborne also seems to believe we can create heaven on earth. He has witnessed many forms of oppression and has been jailed for opposing it, but certain sections of the book suggest that people mistreat others only because “they know not what they do.” (I can’t find the exact quote, but at one point he says something like, “We don’t mean to hurt each other.”) As he dreams utopian dreams, he seems to have forgotten original sin and Jesus’s statements that we will always have poverty (Matthew 26:11) and war (Matthew 24:6) on this side of heaven. Christians are called to stand against the evil of this world, but we will not overcome it until the next world comes.

The Irresistible Revolution encouraged me to think a little bit harder about how I can live out my faith more radically in a place where the needs are less obvious. (I haven’t yet figured out the solution.) I admire Claiborne’s lifestyle and the impact members of his community make on the world around them, but I don’t believe I am personally called to live in the “abandoned places of empire.” We need Christians to be salt and light in every neighborhood, including the suburbs (which Claiborne describes as spiritually dangerous places, and I agree) and upper-class communities (though I often wonder how we can best reach the wealthy without falling in love with wealth ourselves).

After reading this book, I’m not ready to join a new monastic community, but I am thankful for those who are called to that lifestyle. Together, we can be the church and bring light to the darkness of this world.

Nick of Time: A Book Review

2011-05-30T09:13:00.000-04:00

Nick of Time by Tim Downs, a book I got free through Book Sneeze, is a light mystery focusing on Nick Polchak, a forensic entomologist who heads to Philadelphia to help a friend with a case, only to find evidence that his friend has been killed. He follows the case to the Poconos, leaving his fiancée in Virginia without word of his whereabouts less than a week before their wedding.

The mystery was entertaining enough to keep me reading, even though I figured out most of the solution before I got to the end. The characters had a little more personality than most who appear in Christian fiction, but I also wouldn’t have categorized this book as Christian fiction. The only thing “Christian” about it is the presence of a pastor as a secondary character the main characters respect. Not having read any of the previous books in the series, I have no idea whether Nick and his fiancée were presented as Christians, but if they were, there’s no evidence of it here. Their faith, if it exists, does not affect their words or actions at all.

If you’re looking for a book to read on the beach, Nick of Time may do the trick. But if you’re looking for a complicated mystery or a book to encourage you in your walk with Christ, try something else.

The Mountains Bow Down: A Decent Mystery in the Christian Fiction Genre

2011-03-08T14:12:00.004-05:00

One beef I have with Christian fiction is that it rarely offers good mystery novels, so when Book Sneeze offered free copies of The Mountains Bow Down by Sibella Giorello to bloggers, I ordered one. I was pleasantly surprised. As a mystery, it’s not bad: Raleigh Harmon, a geologist with the FBI, is on an Alaskan cruise when she is the first to recognize that the suicide of an on-board movie star’s wife is not actually suicide. The book took a bit too long to hook me, and a few plot details didn’t seem to fit quite right, but it was interesting enough to keep me reading and to add the previous novels in the series to my to-read list.

As far as its Christian label goes, I have mixed opinions. Not having read the previous books, I spent the first two-thirds of the story trying to guess which characters were Christians. None of them seemed to demonstrate their faith beyond general Bible knowledge that even an atheist might possess. When God is first mentioned somewhere around page 100, Raleigh is offering Him a halfhearted prayer for forgiveness for lying to her mother about her chosen career, but she doesn’t change her actions or tell the truth. On the other hand, when Raleigh’s thoughts about her faith in Christ finally do go farther in depth, Giorello handles the ideas well. She includes them naturally within the storyline and doesn’t tack on awkward sermonettes the way many Christian authors do. Still, I would have liked to have seen God making more of a difference in the characters’ lives throughout the book.

The Mountains Bow Down isn’t a great book, and Giorello isn’t likely to be mentioned with G.K. Chesterton and Dorothy Sayers on a list of great Christian mystery writers, but the novel was good for a few hours of entertainment, and I’m happy to have found a decent mystery in the Christian fiction genre.

Guest Post: 10 Online Communities and Social Networks for Moms

2011-03-02T18:56:00.007-05:00

I haven't been writing much beyond status updates on Facebook lately, and I know I really should get blogging again. In the meantime, here's a guest post from Bailey Harris, who writes about home insurance and related topics for www.homeownersinsurance.org:

Life for moms and moms-to-be is often times hectic and overwhelming. Fortunately, there are many online communities started by moms for moms that offer information, resources, support, and friendship. Listed in this article are 10 online communities and social networks created especially for moms.

CafeMom - This online community is a place where moms can share stories, advice, and photos with each other. This free site also features online journals, games, and current event discussions.

ConnectedMoms - Here moms can offer each other support and encouragement through many discussion forums and blogs. They can also share recipes and make their own customized "tickers" to count down the days to a special event (due date, vacation, etc.). This site offers a free basic membership as well as a more advanced paid one.

MomZone - At MomZone, women can make friends, find support, and utilize valuable tools designed for busy moms. Membership includes the use of a helpful search engine specifically for moms, important calendar reminders, E-cards you can send to family and friends, forums, access to a moms-only trading post, free coupons and samples, and more.

Mom's Talk Network - This online network gives moms helpful advice on a variety of family and child-related topics. From recipes and crafts to forums and blogs, this website has something for every mom.

TheBestMoms.com - Since 2000, this online community has been a meeting ground for moms of all ages and backgrounds to connect and exchange stories, advice, and support. TheBestMoms.com features tips on topics such as cooking, decorating, and cleaning, as well as information on parenting, education, and health. Moms can print valuable coupons and enter to win prizes from a variety of giveaways.

Mommy'sBestFriends.com - This online social network is a place where moms can post their own personal profiles for free. By creating a profile, moms get their own blog and can share their favorite photos and videos with other moms.

Work It, Mom! - This site is designed especially for moms who work outside of the home. Managing both a family and a career can be tricky! Work It, Mom! offers professional moms a community environment where they can share experiences and ideas by contributing their own articles and essays. Women can also share suggestions and advice, and even join groups based on personal hobbies and interests.

Theta Mom - This online community was created for moms to not only connect with one another, but to share experiences and encouragement through blogging. Membership to Theta Mom is free, and it allows you to post a listing about your own blog along with a link so that other members can connect directly to your site. A new blogger is featured every Friday on this site.

Posh Little - Here moms can be part of a free online community where they can create their own custom profiles to meet and connect with other moms. This site offers useful tools including a due date calculator for moms-to-be, and ovulation predictor, and a pregnancy planner. Moms and moms-to-be can search a database of baby names and meanings, find valuable coupons and fun giveaways, and get tips and suggestions on a variety of topics.

Sure Baby - Sure Baby is an online community for moms and moms-to-be to share knowledge, discuss personal experiences, and support one another through all stages of motherhood. This site offers members helpful information on pregnancy and parenting through blogs, videos, and community forums.

Book Review: What's in a Word?

2010-12-31T09:12:00.002-05:00

A posthumous republication of a book about word origins seems a strange offering for a book review program from a publisher known mainly for popular books about Christianity, but etymology interests me, so I ordered a copy. Unlike many word-origin books, What's In a Word? by Webb Garrison is not arranged alphabetically, but rather by categories of origin (Sports & Recreation, Military, Education, etc.). This organization makes the book easier to read cover to cover, but it is still best read in snippets, so it took me months to complete.

Individual entries are written for a general audience, but some seem obvious (a computer mouse is so called because it looks like the animal) and some out of touch (“any attendant or suitor is often termed a beau in the 21st century”). Some terms were new to me (“bread-and-butter note,” “curtain lecture”), and others are defined differently from what is common use (“dyed in the wool” as “high-quality goods” rather than a quality or belief that is part of a person’s core being). But overall, What’s in a Word? was an interesting book and is one I’ll likely keep for reference for my curiosity about word and phrase origins.

This review is written as part of Thomas Nelson’s BookSneeze reviewing program: http://booksneeze.com/join#frombrb If you have a blog and love to read, check it out.

On Deadly Detours

2010-11-08T12:30:00.002-05:00

Other than the Bible, Bob Briner’s Roaring Lambs is probably the single book that has most influenced my thinking. Yesterday, I finally picked up another book of his, Deadly Detours: Seven Noble Causes That Keep Christians from Changing the World, which I was thrilled to find at our local library’s used book sale.

Deadly Detours is nearly as good as Roaring Lambs, and it serves as a sort of counterpoint to Briner’s earlier book. Roaring Lambs tells the church what we should be doing to be salt and light in our culture. Deadly Detours tells us what we should not be doing.

I wish that I – and about a million more American Christians – had read this book when it first came out fifteen years ago. Maybe if we had heard the message and taken it to heart, we wouldn’t have wasted so much of our time and resources on side issues. Of course, we the church are still on the deadly detours Briner wrote about in 1995 – pining for the “good old days” when there was prayer in school; marrying faith and politics; fighting against “the homosexual agenda;” publicly bickering over comparatively minor doctrinal issues; funding Christian television as a substitute for personal, local evangelism; denouncing the lack of “family values” among those outside the church while ignoring the problems of divorce and extramarital sex within the church; and (the one that was hardest for me to read, as I have been personally guilty of it) attacking abortion with ineffective political protests. We in 2010 still need to, as Briner says, focus on the “first things of the gospel” and find more effective ways to tell the world “who Jesus is and why He came.”

Roaring Lambs and Deadly Detours are short books (especially the latter) and easy to read. They are written for laypeople, not academics, and yet they are filled with important ideas we need to apply. If you are a Christian and you haven’t read these books, do so.

Book Review: Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

2010-09-10T05:00:00.003-04:00

I am admittedly prejudiced against books broken down into bite-sized chunks to be devoured by small groups, but I make exceptions for books by Max Lucado, who is one of the best living storytellers in Christendom. The chapters of his latest book, Outlive Your Life, are seasoned with enough stories to make it an enjoyable read.

The theme of Outlive Your Life – putting hands and feet to your faith – has become fairly common in recent years, but we Christians still have a lot to learn in that area. Outlive Your Life reminded me of Kay Warren’s Dangerous Surrender, but it seems to have a greater variety of practical suggestions for U.S. Christians (offering hospitality, making microfinance loans, praying faithfully) than Warren’s book, which focuses almost entirely on the cause of AIDS care. The small group discussion guide tends to be a bit too formulaic (“Finalize your personal action plan . . . “), and the role of the Holy Spirit is notably absent in the book, but Lucado offers enough inspiring-yet-practical ideas for putting the Christian faith into action to make Outlive Your Life worth a read.

This review is written as part of Thomas Nelson’s BookSneeze reviewing program: http://booksneeze.com/join#frombrb If you have a blog and love to read, check it out.

Is Sex with an Ex Okay in God’s Eyes?

2010-08-13T13:04:00.003-04:00

An old friend posed an interesting question on Facebook: “If you are divorced from your husband & you decide to have an intimate relationship with him after the divorce...how is that viewed biblically?” It’s a question I’d never discussed with anyone before, but I had thought about it, and I have fairly clear ideas on the topic, so I was surprised that once again I was the only one who seemed to think the way I did.

To simplify the question, assume that neither party has remarried and that the divorce was not because of marital unfaithfulness (which is the only exception Jesus gave to the biblical prohibition against divorce). What do you think? Is it okay to sleep with your ex-husband or ex-wife? What Bible passages would you use to support your answer?

Here’s what I think: It’s not a sin to sleep with your ex-spouse. In talking about marriage and divorce, Jesus said, “… they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate” (Matthew 19:6). It seems to me that divorce is, in essence, man trying to separate what God has joined. Can we ever be successful at trying to undo something God has done?

I believe that once you are married, God views you as married until one of you dies -- whether or not the law agrees. Further biblical statements that someone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Matthew 19:9) support the idea that God still recognizes marriages that the world has attempted to dissolve under “no-fault” divorce laws.

Whether or not it is wise to sleep with your ex-spouse is a different question. If you do so simply to satisfy your libido, with no intent to reconcile, you are likely to make matters worse. I’m not suggesting that married couples always have sex for the purpose of building their relationship, but sex does bring you together, and if you are sexually intimate without recognizing a commitment to each other, it may make continued separation more painful. Although, on second thought, sex is so powerful that it may draw you and your ex together in a way you don’t expect. Reconciliation and healing are good things.

Jesus came to restore our relationship with God, and I believe that restored marriage relationships (with a few exceptions) are part of what He wants to see happening among His people. Sex is one gift God has given married couples to draw them together; I don’t believe He rescinds that gift just because two people have tried to destroy the bond He has created.

Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis: A Review

2010-04-27T07:29:00.004-04:00

I disagreed with less than I expected in Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. I’ve heard a lot about the bad theology of writers who fall under the “emergent church” label, but I’ve seen as much bad theology in the works of some “mainstream” Christian writers, and presented with more arrogance, than what I see in Bell’s book.

Velvet Elvis was full of thought-provoking ideas, some of which I’ve never heard in my thirty-plus years in the church and some I’ve heard a lot lately. I really enjoyed the sections about ancient Jewish language and traditions, which explained some Bible passages that always seemed odd to me and added dimensions to some other passages. (For example, the woman who wanted to touch Jesus’ clothes to be healed was declaring her belief that He was the Messiah, who was to come “with healing in his wings,” because “wings” was the same word as the one that described the edges of the prayer shawl Jesus would have worn.)

Bell flirts with some unorthodox beliefs, such as universalism, and suggests that the virgin birth might not be essential to the truth of the gospel. (I disagree, but that’s a debate for a different day.) His main message, though, is one with which I am starting to agree more and more: Christians should live in such a way that we are known for our love and service, not for the things we are against.

What did bother me about Velvet Elvis – and maybe it’s because I work as a copy editor – was Bell’s disregard for the rules of grammar. Even after I got used to the abundant sentence fragments, I had to stop and reread several sentences because poor punctuation or the wrong words for the context made me misunderstand them at first. (For example, one woman found that “Jesus had suffered far worse than her,” a grammatical construction that suggests the woman was so annoying that putting up with her might have been worse than death on the cross.) I’m surprised that a writer who cares enough about words to object to using “Christian” as an adjective and referring to the contents of the Bible as “data” would fail to see that violations of the standard rules of grammar and style can carry unintended meanings.

Correction: I believe I misused "emergent church" in the first paragraph. From what I understand, Rob Bell would be considered part of the "emerging church," a group that adheres to orthodox theology but argues for changes in worship style and lifestlye, while the "emergent church" authors advocate a less orthodox theology.

Missions-Minded Students and Christian Colleges

2010-04-13T13:31:00.002-04:00

Last week, I interviewed the couple who leads Kaleo, a ministry that hosts short-term missions groups in Dallas and New Orleans. Their first group of students came from non-Christian universities, and some were new Christians. Later in the week, I talked with the director of communication in the Home Office of American Missionary Fellowship (the umbrella organization for Kaleo and my main client as a freelance writer/editor). During our discussion, she mentioned that many of the college students who are interested in missions work do not attend Christian schools.

This mission-mindedness on campuses with no Christian affiliation (or whose Christian affiliation is little more than a nod to the college’s founders) does not surprise me. After all, students at these universities are living on a mission field, while Christian college students are immersed in the Christian subculture. At Christian colleges, students who have not chosen to follow Christ are already exposed to the teaching of the Bible and tend to keep their doubts to themselves. When surrounded by like-minded professors and peers, evangelical students in Christian colleges may have difficulty finding someone to evangelize.

I greatly value the biblical instruction I received at a Christian college, and I do see the need for missionaries to have theological training. But I wonder whether Christian colleges have a tendency to shelter their students from the world a bit too much. I remember feeling disappointed to discover that my graduate school, which I chose partly because of its motto, “Christian leadership to change the world,” was full of students who seemed to be hiding from the world. (A telling incident was when a stranger at the student-housing shuttle stop told my roommate, who was working out her own beliefs, “As a Christian, you should not be wearing that Calvin Klein t-shirt.”)

When surrounded by others who share their beliefs, Christian-college students can easily miss the needs and issues faced by people outside the Christian community. In the words of an old Petra song, they begin “looking through rose-colored stained-glass windows, never allowing the world to come in – seeing no evil and feeling no pain, making the light as it comes from within so dim.”

What’s the solution? Maybe Christian colleges should encourage all students to take a short-term missions trip during their time of study by offering credit for it. At the same time, Christian colleges and churches could work together to offer students from non-Christian colleges theological training to prepare them for missions work without forcing them to prolong their education.

Future missionaries need solid theological training and a deep love for people who are not following Christ. As the church, we should use every opportunity to develop both of these characteristics in our people.

Shades of Grey -- Great Book, Not So Great Ending

2010-03-18T08:05:00.003-04:00

I just finished reading Shades of Grey, the newest book by one of my favorite authors, Jasper Fforde. When I originally heard it would not be a new Thursday Next novel, I was a bit disappointed, but I was soon thoroughly absorbed in its dystopic tale of a future society that forbids most technology and yet retains eBay’s feedback system and Facebook’s friending process.

While I am looking forward to reading the sequels, I am reluctant to recommend Shades of Grey to others because of its disturbing ending. Eddie’s (the hero’s) ultimate choice flows naturally from the plot line and seems noble at first, but it also makes him a far lesser hero.

(Spoiler alert!) Reasoning that maintaining his position in society will allow him to save the lives of many and bring freedom to everyone, Eddie chooses to feign ignorance of the horrors that sustain his society and allows innocent people to be sent to their deaths. In making this choice, he becomes guilty of the same sin as those he is trying to overthrow – placing a higher value on “the greater good” than on an individual life. He is not much better than a coward who allows Jews to be sent to a concentration camp so that he may someday overthrow Hitler.

An act of self-sacrifice on Eddie’s part may have made Shades of Grey sequels difficult, but it would have provided a much more satisfying ending.

How To Reach Your Potential for God Doesn't Reach Its Author's Potential

2010-02-12T13:58:00.004-05:00

In How to Reach Your Full Potential for God: Never Settle for Less Than His Best, Charles Stanley offers seven “essentials” for doing just that: “A Clean Heart,” “A Clear Mind,” “Using Your Gifts,” “A Healthy Body,” “Right Relationships,” “A Balanced Schedule,” and “Taking God-Approved Risks.” You’ll find some good advice in this book, but not as much theology or Scripture study as in some of Stanley’s other books. How To Reach Your Full Potential for God reads more like a self-help book (including a few paragraphs on the benefits of reading self-help books) than a Scriptural study, and though its advice is not unscriptural, it is largely nonscriptural – rooted more in common sense than in the Bible.

Aside from a few interesting profiles of people pursuing their full potential at the end of each “Essentials” chapter, How to Reach Your Full Potential for God didn’t inspire or interest me much. It wasn’t awful, but it contained very little fresh insight. Having recently read The Wonderful Spirit Filled Life, an earlier (and much better) book by Stanley, I was disappointed in this one.

Scripture We Like to Ignore: I Corinthians 14:26-28, 39-40

2010-01-06T14:45:00.001-05:00

“Are you a full-gospel Christian?” asked a potential roommate when I was trying to find a place to live for graduate school. I knew the Christian university I had chosen had a lot of Charismatic Christians, but until that moment, I had never heard anyone suggest that the gospel I believe is incomplete.

“If you want to know whether I speak in tongues, the answer is ‘no,’” was my reply (though I think I said it much less eloquently and with some stammering). The interview ended quickly, and I never heard back from her.

The spiritual gift of speaking in tongues is remarkably divisive for the Christian community. Some say that God gave the gift of tongues only in New Testament times; others believe that everyone who truly has faith will eventually speak in tongues. People who hold these beliefs will quote examples from Scripture, but none of the examples fully support either view.

One passage on tongues that both sides usually ignore is this one: “What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God. . . . Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (I Corinthians 14;26-28, 39-40, NIV).

Christians who do not speak in tongues like to ignore this passage because hearing others speak in tongues makes us uncomfortable. Christians who do speak in tongues also tend to ignore this passage: I have been a part of several services where people spoke in tongues, but I have never heard a translation. Why not?

God may choose to gift you with the ability to speak in tongues, but if He has not provided a translator, it may be that He wants you to use your gift in private worship. It’s a bit like a child who wants to take his favorite Christmas gift to school. His parents are likely to tell him, “You can’t share it with everyone, so you better keep it at home.”

God gives spiritual gifts to strengthen the church, not to cause division.

Church Daycares

2009-12-10T22:25:00.002-05:00

Before I start, let me say that I know this topic can be a sensitive one. For most of my posts and this one in particular, I can understand both sides of the argument, and I respect and admire many of the people who hold the opposing view. My intent is not to alienate those who disagree with me but rather to offer a rarely voiced perspective in order to encourage readers to reexamine prevailing viewpoints.

My son goes to a church-run preschool. I am thankful for a program that teaches him social skills, numbers and letters, art, music, and Bible stories all in one. I see Christian preschools as close cousins of Sunday schools. (In fact, our preschool offers a free “Monday school” each week as an outreach to the community.)

To many people, church-run daycares are synonymous with church-run preschools. I don’t believe, however, that they are as closely related as they appear to be. The emphasis of a daycare is usually on taking care of physical needs more than educational needs, and daycares serve as a substitute for a parent’s presence rather than as a supplement to what parents are teaching at home.

Churches usually start daycares with honorable intentions. Many North American children come from a single-parent home or a home where both parents have full-time jobs and need a daycare provider. Churches reason that by running a daycare, they are meeting needs in the community while having the opportunity to introduce children to Christian principles. The parents may feel so comfortable bringing their kids to daycare that they start to come to church, too, where they will also hear about Christ’s love for them. And, as an added bonus, the church has an additional source of income to support its other programs. (Unfortunately, I fear that this “bonus” – and not a prompting of the Holy Spirit – is too often the main reason churches start daycares.)

Daycare programs do meet an existing cultural need, but I wonder if churches with daycares take the easy way out in addressing this particular issue. Perhaps we should be trying to change the culture rather than responding to it. Instead of using our collective resources to offer daycare programs, why not build a support system for parents that fosters healthy marriages and emphasizes wise stewardship of funds, frugal living, and the value of time at home with young children so that more parents can afford to – and will choose to – stay home with their children during their earliest years? Instead of following our culture’s drive to achieve more worldly success, as measured by newer and more expensive belongings, why not encourage our communities to focus more on living humbly and giving generously?

It’s a radical idea, I know, but sometimes it takes a radical idea to change the world.

Stories in Heaven

2009-11-17T16:06:00.000-05:00

I’ve been reading a lot of fiction lately, enjoying stories that deliver excitement without real-life consequences and resolve every conflict or mystery before the last page. I love a good story.

Stories bring joy to my life, and I wonder whether we will have stories in heaven. Jesus was a great storyteller here on earth, and God’s story of redemption has been called “the greatest story ever told,” but a good story requires conflict. If heaven is a place without tears or pain (Revelation 21:4), can there be stories?

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Christian Carnival #299

2009-10-21T08:30:00.001-04:00

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Last week, I was praying that I could the temptation to spend too much time playing games on my computer. The answer came in a form I wouldn’t have chosen – a crashed computer. My games are gone, and I’m now working from an old, slow computer that often freezes and needs to be restarted without warning. It’s a challenge for me, as I depend on my computer far too much, and I expect it to be a learning experience. I am thankful to the carnival’s organizer, Jeremy Pierce of Parableman, who helped me out by forwarding the carnival submissions I lost in the crash.

I hope many of you are having your prayers answered this week, as well, though hopefully not with broken computers. Maybe one of this week’s carnival posts will provide the wisdom or answer you have been requesting from God. At the very least, I hope that the following posts will give you a fresh perspective on life offline.

In “Puddleglum's Wager” Jeremy Pierce of Parableman relates Puddlegum’s Wager in A Silver Chair to Pascal’s Wager. It’s a thought-provoking post even if you’re not familiar with either wager, and even if you think you aren’t a gambler.

Musician Dawn L. Low discusses the use of others’ artistic work and the value of craftsmanship in “Conceptual Art and Craft” posted at Dawn Xiana Moon: Randomness. Her ideas are relevant to all Christians, not just artists, as many of us face the temptation to take credit for work that is not our own. We should pursue excellence in our work and give credit where it is due.

Tyler Williams examines the significance of what I Samuel says and doesn’t say about the reign and death of Israel’s first king in “Saul: The King Who Should Have Never Been (The Kings of Chronicles)” posted at Codex: Biblical Studies Blogspot.

Bible SEO has outlined a Bible study guide, “Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts” at Bible Study Exposition Online (BibleSEO).

In “Is There A Covenant of Works?” Rey Reynoso of The Bible Archive examines the text to see if such a covenant (with Adam) existed.

Brian Marchionni tells us he “appreciates the contribution of biblical theology to Christian hermeneutics,” encouraging readers to see the Bible’s big picture in his post, “God Unchanging,” at Boston Bible Geeks.

Saying, “I find great faith from the Bible. Here are three passages that have helped me with one of the most challenging times of my life,” Kim from Self Personal: Inspirational Thoughts and Encouragement For You offers “3 Inspirational Bible Quotes for Really Difficult Times.”

In “Adding to God's Glory,” posted at Seeking the truth..., Marcus Maher asks (and answers), “What does it mean to give God glory?”

Free Money Finance highlights several blogs that examine personal finance from a biblical perspective in “Christian Money Blogs.”

A bonus blog on personal finance, not highlighted in that post, is Out of Debt - Christian Finances and Debt Help. There, Big Larry presents “A Biblical Perspective on Inheritance,” considering whether biblical warnings against spoiling a child apply after a parent’s death.

Tom Gilson asks, “What happens to good communication when Intelligent Design opponents insist on calling it ‘Intelligent Design Creationism’? It's not entirely wrong--but it's not intended to clarify anything.” He explains further in "‘ID Creationism:’ The Communication Question,” posted at Thinking Christian.

John at Brain Cramps for God discusses Atheism, Utopianism, and Totalitarianism. For some reason, my finicky computer chose to freeze every time I tried to read this post, which is a shame, because the parts I did read were interesting. Hopefully, when I get my regular computer back, I’ll get a chance to read it more carefully. Thanks, John, for posting!

Michelle, still a girl who loves Jesus, is becoming a foreign missionary through Pioneers. Read about some of her preparations and find out how you can pray for her in her 10.17.09 post at Stepping Out In Faith To The Nations....

Barry Wallace presents “Jerry Bridges on ‘The Pursuit of Holiness’" at who am i?, explaining, “This illustration has always helped me combat discouragement in my sometimes faltering pursuit of holiness.”

Jaime, the author of For His Glory, uses her 100th post to encourage readers with the reminder “You Are Loved.”

Thanks for checking out the Christian carnival. Enter your best post for next week’s carnival (today through next Tuesday) here. Join the carnival’s Google group to get notices when new carnivals are posted.

One final note: I made a few judgment calls and left out four or five of this week’s submissions. While a post does not necessarily need to be explicity about Christianity to be included, a few of the blogs that submitted posts did not seem to be even remotely related to the topic of faith. Two others talked about Christianity but included language that would be offensive to many Christians or content that directly contradicts the Bible’s teachings. While I am a strong supporter of free speech and don’t expect all Christians to agree with me on the finer points of theology, this carnival is a Christian carnival, and these submissions just didn’t seem appropriate to the topic or audience.

Can A Program Honor God without Talking Specifically about Jesus?

2009-10-07T15:45:00.003-04:00

The local pregnancy care center, where I used to volunteer, has an abstinence education program other centers envy – they have earned the privilege of talking to students in most of the county’s public schools, explaining the physical and emotional benefits of sexual abstinence in a way that gets students’ attention. I believe this abstinence program has been responsible for preventing the county’s high teen-pregnancy rate from being even higher.

But this week I received a letter from the center, stating that they will soon stop making abstinence presentations in public schools because the presenters are not allowed to mention Christ or use biblical arguments for abstinence. The board decided that such presentations were not consistent with their mission to offer “Christ-centered” and “God-honoring” services to the community.

I do not know all the factors that went into the decision to cease public-school abstinence presentations, but if the reason given was the sole reason, I believe the board made a mistake. Passion for Christ is what motivates abstinence presenters (many of them volunteers) to take the time to talk with students, often discussing the painful consequences of their own teenaged sexual experiences. These presenters may not be allowed to give the reason they do what they do, but they make students aware that they can come to the pregnancy care center if they ever need help with an unexpected pregnancy. Those who do come hear the gospel in addition to receiving practical assistance. I would certainly call this abstinence program “Christ-centered” and “God-honoring,” even if many students do not hear His name mentioned explicitly.

Many conservative Christians fear that if we don’t present the Romans Road or offer a wordless book to everyone we meet, we are failing to make Christ the center of our lives and are losing opportunities to bring more people into His kingdom. And we don’t want our favorite parachurch organizations to go the way of the YMCA and Harvard University, whose foundations in orthodox Christianity have become so deeply buried that their missions are now completely secular or even anti-Christian. But could the Holy Spirit sometimes lead Christian organizations to offer some “no strings attached” services as a demonstration of love and good will before they introduce clients to their core reason for being? Could abstinence programs that don’t mention Christ by name still be part of His plan to prepare the way for those He is drawing to Himself?

I believe so.

Too Much of a Good Thing: A Review of Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century by Hank Hanegraaff

2009-10-03T08:03:00.001-04:00

Hank Haanegraaff offers an acronym for everything in Christianity In Crisis: The 21st Century, an update of his earlier book with the same title. The book contains so many acronyms that none of them are useful as mnemonic devices, and they are just one contributor to the overall effect of the book, which is to numb the mind with exhaustive (albeit well researched and well documented) details about the false theology of contemporary preachers of the Faith Movement. Repetitive use of the same quotes for illustrations, multiple levels of sectional divisions, and a bland writing style don’t help matters.

While Christianity in Crisis addresses a real problem – heresies too readily accepted by the Christian community today – the style of the book may prevent it from accomplishing its purposes. Those who believe the Faith teachers may think that Haanegraaff protests too much (if they even attempt to read a book with 427 pages of fine print, including nearly 100 pages of appendices and end notes), while those who already know the Bible well should be able to recognize the heresies for what they are, without reading the book.

This review is written as part of Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Bloggers program. If you have a blog and love to read, check it out.

The Elements of a Good Story: A Review of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

2009-09-29T09:47:00.003-04:00

In A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life, a sort of postmodern Ecclesiastes, Donald Miller describes his attempts to make his life a story worth telling. His life-editing begins when two filmmakers (one of them Steve Taylor, who remains my favorite musician fourteen years after the release of his last album) sit down with him to create an on-screen version of himself for a film adaptation of Blue Like Jazz, and he realizes his life lacks the elements of a good story.

A Million Miles assumes readers have already read Blue Like Jazz, which I never did because I had read Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance when it was first released and found it dull and forgettable. But either Miller has matured as a writer since his first book, or I have matured as a reader. Whichever the case, I thought A Million Miles in a Thousand Years was excellent. Miller’s ability to express profound ideas clearly and with good humor brings authenticity to both the human and divine elements of his story. It’s a great book for writers, single people, outdoor enthusiasts, and anyone who wants a meaningful life.

This review is written as part of Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Bloggers program. If you have a blog and love to read, check it out.

Making Babies

2009-09-17T07:27:00.000-04:00

I can’t make babies. Oh, I have given birth twice, but my role in creating those children was minor, and it certainly can’t be considered work. I didn’t start my son’s heartbeat or paint my daughter’s eyes blue. I didn’t gather the ingredients for the milk I fed them when they were infants. And, even though my daughter’s love of arts and crafts and my son’s over-enthusiastic personality both come from my genes, I didn’t design them to be that way.

The details that make each of my children who they are and allow them to function physically are vast and complicated. Even working together, my husband and I could never on our own produce anything even closely resembling a human. I am always dumbfounded when someone says he has “made a baby.” How can we take credit for such an amazing work? How can someone look at his children and not believe in God?

Generational Segregation

2009-09-14T07:54:00.001-04:00

Yesterday morning at church I got to talk to one of my favorite fellow parishioners. In the course of our discussion, she mentioned her small group’s inability to bond and said she was starting to wonder if she and her husband were too old for the group. I assured her that that wasn’t the case, that groups need to have multiple generations in them.

This wise and godly woman has children who are older than I am, but I can relate to her better than to many women my own age. I always enjoy talking with her, and I have learned from both her words, which have challenged me to prioritize God’s Word over both church tradition and worldly wisdom, and her actions, particularly her ability to honor and respect her husband even when they disagree. I am glad to know her; many young people in the American church miss out on the benefit of fellowship with people like her, who have been following Christ for longer than their own lifetimes.

It seems that everyone these days is talking about diversity, but we are, more and more, segregating ourselves by age, interests, and ideology, especially within the church. We have groups for young adults, groups for singles, groups for mothers of preschoolers, groups for scrapbookers, groups for men, groups for women, groups for senior citizens, groups for divorcees. We all want to find people who are going through the same things we are, but in so doing, we fail to benefit from those who can offer us a fresh perspective on life.

I confess that I contribute to this problem to some degree. I tend to make a greater effort to welcome people to church and invite them to my home if they young children, like my own. Our children are a natural conversation starter, and no one minds being interrupted when another parent has to deal with a discipline issue. But when I associate only with people who are most like me, I am fostering disunity. Separating ourselves into demographic groups creates many small congregations within a congregation, many churches within the church.

I hope my wise older friend from church does not give up on associating with us younger women. Intergenerational fellowship benefits everyone. Those who are farther along life’s path can offer us advice on how to get through our current struggles because they have gone before us; those who are younger than we are can provide enthusiasm and keep us from getting stuck in the rut of “We do it this way because we’ve always done it this way.” We can learn from each other, but only if we spend time together.