Pacifism....not really.

Up until 4 or 5 years ago, I was your typical “war is a necessary part of life” type of guy. Then, something changed. I was reading about Christ and realized that He would not have been a “war is a necessary part of life” type of guy. This belief, based on Jesus’ teachings about turning the other cheek and generally suffering under evil, rather than retaliating against it, got me to thinking. So here we go....

I am not a pacifist, but I’m really close. I believe that the only time violence is an option is when it’s the only option for stopping the extreme abuse and/or murder of another. In practice this means that I believe in “just” war. A just war is, in my eyes, when a country goes to war to save those who cannot save themselves. The war in Iraq could have been such a war, but it was not. If our president said “I’m not going to stand by and watch Saddam Hussein commit genocide in his country” then I can support that... unfortunately it ended up being, primarily, about other things. Protecting our national interests, ridding the world of “WMDs”, blah, blah, blah.

That said, I don’t think a “just” war occurs very often. In fact, I’d venture to say that less than 5% of wars are just. As I mentioned above, they may be veiled in justice, but it’s usually just an excuse to further the attacker’s purposes. And here’s the other thing; even if you go to war for a just cause, it doesn’t mean you then have permission to behave like an animal. I was recently reminded of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I’m not generally a real mushy and compassionate person, but it makes me literally want to throw up to think of the lives lost in those events. If you’re truly about just war, it’s hard to justify murdering hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, unless you view them as less important than yourself. I recognize the background behind those bombings, and it really is a discussion for another time, but there is always a way to fight the evil powers within a country that doesn’t involve murdering those who aren’t to blame.

War aside, I also believe in protecting the innocent on an individual basis. I’m not going to watch someone beat down another person just because I don’t believe in violence. There is clearly a difference in suffering under evil and in watching others suffer under evil. What this doesn't give me permission to do, is to kill someone who enters my home, though that's not to say I won't. If I believe it's unavoidable to protect my family, I would do it. But, there are usually other ways to subdue or chase away an intruder. I just shudder at the thought of taking a life... taking away a chance for someone to repent of their evil and to follow God. When I pull that trigger, their current choice is locked in for eternity, so I'd better be sure it's my only choice.

I believe in putting myself in the line of fire to save others, and I believe that leaders of powerful nations should be willing to stand up and put a stop to oppression and genocide. Oh, how I dream of the good that a superpower (though that term is dwindling) like the U.S. could do... if only we were less concerned about posturing and furthering ourselves. Whether it’s Nazi Germany, Stalin’s Russia, or Rwandan genocide, there’s always evil that needs to be stopped just because it’s evil. Not because it will benefit me.

I guess I can summarize my thoughts by saying simply that I don’t believe in harming others without a really good reason. And the only reason I can come up with is if I have to harm another in order to save another...I guess that’s when I’ll cross the line.

Charisma vs. Character

It's an all out, cage fight, deathmatch!

Ok, no it's not... but it is an interesting conflict.

I encountered some interesting thoughts on this conflict awhile back and it seems to be cropping up a bit lately in my thoughts. So, you might be wondering, what exactly is the conflict? Here it is in a nutshell... People tend to view those who are charismatic and/or gifted as more desirable and worth pursuing relationship with. Additionally, we tend to view these people as more mature Christians.

But, as D. Martyn Lloyd Jones pointed out in "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount", these personality traits are not the same thing as Christian maturity. Someone can be naturally very kind, humble, loving, etc., but without an ounce of love for God. On the other hand, someone can constantly battle their personality... they may naturally be very terse, down, proud, etc, but maturing as a Christian by leaps and bounds as God shapes them despite their shortcomings.

It saddens me, mostly from a selfish perspective, that people who are not charismatic are often ignored while the world clamors over the attention of those who are charismatic. And yes, I understand why... charisma is attractive. Just realize that those who aren't charismatic can have much to offer...often times even more that the charismatic. But, ultimately, it isn't a battle between the two... or at least it shouldn't be. Both are valid personality types and should be pursued as worthwhile relationships.

Facebook is a perfect place to see this in action. I've watched as a charismatic person posts something inconsequential, only to get 20 replies, while a less charismatic person posts something thought provoking and only garners his/her closest friends interest.

So, at the risk of this sounding like a rant, we (I) should not act so superficially.

Just give me a sign! *WHAM!*

Just a short time ago I explained to Corey that I was frustrated with God. I felt like my prayers were constantly being met with silence. Don't get me wrong, I didn't necessarily blame God, because I also constantly battle with doubting my salvation. So, when God doesn't seem to answer my prayers, it (in my mind) casts doubt on my salvation.

Anyway, this rant basically went like this:

I've been praying a few things for a long time and have gotten no action on them. God seems to be ignoring me. They're good things...things which I KNOW God would want for me (seriously). So, why is He ignoring me? I want, just once, to have a prayer answered in a BIG way... a way that is CLEARLY God. I want to see God work in a way that unbelievers cannot refute as "coincidence". I have little faith that he'll answer me.

So, after that pity party, God showed me about a dozen reasons and ways why I am a fool. And now, I'd like to share a few of them with all my imaginary internet friends. So, here goes:

1) Job - Job couldn't figure out why God was seemingly detached and not involved in his struggles (and prayers) and so he, like me, called God out. It ended badly for Job. God was clearly, at least it was clear when you can look behind the curtain, intimately involved in Job's situation.

2) When I test God by expecting "big" miracles from Him, this only leads to an expectation for Him to always act in that manner. Basically, if He were to oblige, and do something dramatic when I think I need it, rather than just acting faithfully and lovingly on my behalf, even in a mundane way, then I would constantly expect the extremely miraculous. (and probably on an escalating scale)

3) David's victory over Goliath could be explained as coincidence. When I think that, in order to glorify God, I need a miracle that cannot be "explained away as coincidence", I... well, I'm wrong. Many of the miracles in the Bible, such as the smooth stone of a shepherd boy killing a gigantic killing machine, could be answered with "oh, that's just luck or coincidence". It was good enough to make it into the Bible, so maybe I should be okay with it. Not all of God's interventions are like as dramatic as how He set fire to Elijah's altar (1 Kings 18:16-40).

4) Pharisees asked for a sign too. Uh-oh. This may be the most damning one out of them all... The pharisees asked Jesus for a miracle so that they could believe. Yeah, that's right... the PHARISEES. Not a group I want to be lumped in with...

So, anyway, God's first intervention into my life following my complaint about His lack of intervention into my life? Intervening by showing me my failure to recognize and appreciate His constant intervention in my life. Yeah.

More thoughts on contextualization... kinda.

This is closely related to my recent entry on contextualization. I've been listening to some music lately which quickly makes me nervous, due to my extremely moralistic past. Some of the artists I'm enjoying have a tendency to, occasionally, erm, well, uh... you know....swear. *gasp* I know.... shocking. So, as a Christian, is it wrong, or even sinful, for me to listen to this? I think that not only is it not sinful, but it can be shown to be good. How? Read on...

First of all, we should get one thing out of the way. As Christians, we have much more freedom than we often give ourselves. Or, maybe it's better to say, we have more freedom in some areas than we give ourselves, and we have less freedom in some areas where we give ourselves lots of freedom. Got it? Oh, nevermind... read on. Because of my freedom in Christ, I can listen to music containing swearing. I can watch TV with sexual innuendo. I can take in a movie containing violence. But besides this freedom, is swearing even sin? No! Surprised? Our heart is the seat of sin and as such, someone can swear with a pure heart and, conversely, someone can say "Oh my!" with an evil heart. Someone famous (Jesus) once said that we should not wash the outside of the cup while neglecting the inside... more on that in a moment.

But, for the moment, lets suspend reality and pretend that swearing IS always sin and that it's just like violence, sexual sin, or not loving others. (funny how that last one just doesn't seem to fit… does it? But it DOES!)

As I mentioned in a previous entry, effective gospel contextualization requires we know something about our culture. Depending on your set of friends, different aspects of culture, such as relevant music, can be extremely important. And not just knowing about it scientifically, but liking and/or relating to it. It helps us to know the pain, suffering, joy, struggles, etc. that others go through. You can quickly gain or lose credibility with others depending on this. I'm not saying that you have to see every new movie and buy every top 10 album or anything, but you should at least have some kind of clue what's going on in the culture around you.

One of the problems with hiding from abrasive content is that, if we're so sensitive to coarse words or other peoples sin that our saintly little ears can't stand to hear it, how can we realistically expect to engage unbelievers? I shudder when I remember, several times, in college hearing people praised when they said that they've had to ask unbelievers to watch their language around them.... Wow. Way to be Christ to them... Jesus was always trying to clean the outside of the cup, right? Uh, wrong.

So yeah, fitting in can help to give opportunities for spreading the gospel. And while it's good to be known as a Jesus freak, it's not if it's just because you like crappy music. (Sorry... but I think a lot of "Christian" music is sub par in quality.. and this coming from a guy who has spent a lot of time and effort in years past trying to find good Christian rock. Let me save you some time, it doesn't exist...okay, okay.. it does, but it's not common at all. That's why most Christian rock stations play the same 10 songs over and over again for 6 months straight.... but I digress.)

In general, cloistering ourselves away, trying to keep "pure" is more dangerous and worthless than being engaged in our culture. As if listening to certain music or swearing defiles us anyway… remember that Jesus said it's what comes out of the heart that defiles us. Jesus was accused of being a glutton, drunkard, and friend of sinners, for a reason; He didn't write off sinners because they sinned, and we shouldn't write off songs or artists or TV shows just because they portray sin. I believe that doing so would be moralistic and Pharisaical, and unbiblical...

And remember my list from earlier? (violence, sexual sin, or not loving others.) If we're genuinely going to attempt to stop participating in any form of entertainment that portrays any form of sin, well, I think we'll find ourselves without any entertainment.

All that said, I think it's definitely worth understanding that bad content (for example, songs glorifying rape, murder, etc.) is different than music with swearing or TV shows with sexual conquests. This is, essentially, the argument that we need to not let the world soil us, being in the world but not of the world, bad company corrupts good morals, etc. This is true. Each person has to know themselves and know their threshold. Know what you can handle.

Oh, and I know we are pretending that swearing is sin right now, but I just need to point out that hearing excessive swearing is not likely going to generate wicked thoughts or actions. The worst it should do is make you swear a bit more frequently.

I'd say that, in terms of something like music, the following guidelines might be useful. If it advocates a belief or lifestyle or habit (such as sexual sin, swearing, homosexuality, theft, etc.) but not something that damages another person (rape, murder, abuse), then you're probably okay watching or listening to it. I'd never want to support an artist who promotes harming others (rape, murder, abuse), but an artist who promotes other beliefs is simply being a sinner.... like you, me, and everyone else. I've heard it described before, I think by Mark Driscoll, that with each piece of culture that we encounter, we can choose to redeem it or reject it. So, if you can find good, valuable nuggets within it, then redeem it. Find a way to relate the gospel to it and to view it through Christ's eyes. If it's not redeemable, such as with something like pornography (extreme example, I know), then we should reject it altogether. Either way, we should have plenty to talk to people about.

So, clearly it's dangerous to completely immerse yourself in art glorifying sin that harms others, but music like this is rare. The point is that while I want to be culturally relevant, I also don't want to be seen supporting art that advocates damaging people. But, as I hope I've demonstrated, songs containing swear words don't do this.... (The same holds true of sitcoms that feature gay people, movies that contain premarital sex, etc) I haven't really processed how I feel about movies promoting excessive violence... Maybe I'll touch on that another time.

Oh, and just so you know, I personally don't swear because of the negative connotations involved in our culture. Just not worth it to me... So there, now you can't even label me as a leftist hippie. Ok... I'm sure some of you will, but I love you anyway. Peace. ;)

Do I hate God?

You know how sometimes a really simple, and basic idea can impact you in an embarrassingly significant way? Oh... um.... neither do I. Okay, yes I do. And this is a tale of just such a scenario.

I've been reading "Bold Love" by Dan Allender. It's a good book so far, but one part has hit me particularly hard. I read his chapter "Taking our hatred out of the closet". It's all about how, even as Christians, we still find ourselves in situations where we hate God. Now, I realize (as does Allender) that hate is a strong word and that it seems completely out of place in this context, but bear with me. (almost typed "bare" with me... um... please don't.) Anyway, Allender suggests that since sin is, in itself, hatred for God, and we still sin, we still hate God. Granted, it's in much lesser frequency and it is resolved by our recognition and repentance much more quickly, but it's still there.

Allender states (my paraphrase here) that sin is a defiant movement, sometimes unintentional and other times very intentional, which refuses to depend on God for His direction and strength. It's the ultimate toddler temper tantrum. Shoving God's hand away in anger and insisting that our way will work much better than his "doo doo head" way. (sorry, couldn't resist) Sounds like hateful rage to me!

I didn't give this chapter too much thought until I got into the first page of the next chapter. It's here that Allender really nails the significance of this realization. He suggests that if sin is just a failure to conform, a mistake to do what is right, then forgiveness is cheap. It may yield appreciation, "Gee thanks God! That's swell!", but not worship. However, if sin is a failure to do what is right AND a deep, insidious energy that desires to eradicate an affronting and meddlesome God from our existence (Mostly Allender's words there), then forgiveness is breathtaking. And there it was... the simple idea with the massive impact, because, well, this blew me away.

Now, obviously in the heart of a Christian a struggle is born at regeneration. Paul describes this struggle as "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak". Basically, we're torn... but as we grow, we desire God and His ways more and more and want less of our own ways. So, it's just occasional rage.

This is a hard thing for me to grasp. Honestly, I've spent most of my Christian life building thought patterns (deep ruts) that consider my sin as "doing wrong", but not really considering too deeply my hatred of God. It takes work for me to process this now... and it's sad and pathetic. Consider a human analogue for God: a powerful world ruler.

Let's say you were to spend some time around the most powerful world ruler ever known... we can debate who that would be, up to this point, but maybe one of the Caesars or something. Anyway, not important. Say you're spending time with them... How do you think they would respond if you were to rebel? To scoff at their guidance? To suggest that they weren't loving because of all the evil going on in their kingdom? To push their hand away? To lash out at, harm, or kill, their close friend or relative? Hmm... I think we'd expect a quick and violent death for most all of these. And what if their response, instead, was mercy, forgiveness, and sacrificial love towards you? That'd be pretty impacting... and so it is with God...except our rebellion is about 1 million times as bad and God's response is 1 million times as unexpected and amazing.

Seriously. The Creator of the universe is going to sacrifice His son for our rebellion against Him? No wonder Paul calls God's plan "foolishness" to the world. It makes no logical sense by human standards. Love so amazing and un-human.. truly does deserve my life and my all.

Contextualized vs. Contaminated

I think that Christians are always being challenged, or at least they should be, to walk the line of being "In the world, but not of the world". Driscoll does a good job of addressing this delicate balance in this brief blog entry.

Since I believe that Christians are most effective, and pretty much always have been, when they are a part of their culture rather than an elite, separatist, sub-culture, I have a hard time getting with so called "Christian" coffee shops and book stores. I mean, first of all, and most obviously, a coffee shop cannot be a Christian... but I do recognize that the intent is that it be a place which is free from all of the worlds evils. But that's exactly what I can't get with. Why? Because I don't feel that it fits with Jesus' pattern of behavior. I mean, Jesus was accused of being a drunkard and a glutton... a friend of hookers and traitors (tax collectors). If Jesus came today do we really believe that he'd spend His time hanging out at Christian bookstores?

Now, that said, I do see value in having access to things like Christian radio stations... it's great to have these kinds of resources to enjoy and be encouraged through... but in moderation. As Driscoll points out, we need to be in tune with the culture around us so that we can be relevant and able to carry on coherent conversations with those around us. But additionally problematic to me is what I perceive as a tendency for Christians to see "worldly" music, movies, parties, or whatever, as "sinful" while they see "Christian" radio and coffee shops as somehow pure and spotless....and THAT is ridiculous.

I guess, for me, it comes down to contextualizing vs. contaminating. What I mean is that I believe the best way to show Jesus to the world is to show them how the gospel applies to their place in life... their situation. This is called "contextualizing the gospel" and it's exactly what Paul had mastered. Read the sermon on Mars Hill. Paul shows the Greeks how the gospel applies to their situation by referencing things familiar to them and by quoting their poets. Some Christians have a problem with contextualiztion, but, as Driscoll points out, the gospel is always contextualized:

Practically, this means doing what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:22–23, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” The truth is that every ministry is contextualized, the only difference is to which culture and which year of that culture. Everything from pews to chairs, sound systems, projectors, suits, and a printed Bible in the English language are very recent missiogical contextualizations in light of the two thousand years of Christianity.

Now, this is contrasted with contamination. Contamination is what I'd call it when a Christian becomes SO into the world that they abandon the truth of the Bible, compromise the gospel, and embrace the lusts of the world around them. Essentially this means that they replace God with His gifts (idolatry) and find their joy apart from Him.

I think this fear of contamination drives some people to abuse verses like Phil 4:8 to mean that we should disconnect from the world completely for fear of being "soiled". While I do see the value in not immersing myself in sin, because then my mind DOES become saturated, I don't believe that's what this verse means. Focusing on what is pure can often get twisted to mean that we shouldn't listen to "non-Christian" music at all. As if the only place you can find anything of beauty or value is in the Christian sub-culture.

We should be discerning with what we listen to and view, but just the same with "Christian" content. Christians sin and put out inappropriate content. Christians put out heresy. I think Driscoll said this well in his post when he said the following:

"Sadly, a theology of “garbage in, garbage out” remains quite popular but has numerous flaws. First, there is no such thing as a pure culture untainted by sin and sinners, including Christian entertainment, which has had its share of scandalous behavior. One such example is the fact that as I’m writing this blog, the leader of a major Christian television network has publically confessed to adultery. Second, it is uncertain what distinguishes clean “Christian” and unclean “secular” entertainment forms and why Bibleman is so much better than Spiderman."

Again, I think it has to be reiterated that evil comes from the heart. Humankind is humankind and ALL, whether Christian or not, are capable of beauty, and evil. It's just up to us to be able to guard our hearts and minds without extracting ourselves from the culture. After all, we're all called to spread the gospel, and that's hard to do if we're locked away in a compound of Christian culture, inaccessible to the world around us.

As always, these ramblings are more to clarify my own thoughts than anything else, but please feel free to drop me a line to agree, disagree, or discuss.

The problem of evil

I often hear that one of the toughest questions faced by a Christian is “Why does a good and loving God allow evil in the world?” Here’s my suggested answer(s)...

1. God allows us to have freedom. We have the ability to make choices and decisions. As such, man chooses to commit evil. Now, certainly God could judge and punish evildoers right then and there.. but that leads us to the second reason God allows evil.
2. Where should God start? Should He start by judging the most heinous evils and move down from there? Or start small and move up? We’re all evil. We all do evil... so if He were to eradicate evil, he’d have to eradicate mankind. I’m sure the response to this would have something to do with the existence of ‘varying degrees of evil’. So maybe God should stomp out the big evils, but let the others slide. But what’s a big evil? Even our ‘small’ evils can have devastating consequences. A harsh word or lack of love from a parent can help to create a child that grows up to be a serial killer. That ‘small’ evil would have big consequences. (all this is not even considering the fact that God cares about the individual heart and not about the severity of the evil) Really the question of evil must be rephrased to something like “Since I commit evil, how can a good and loving God allow me to live?”. But instead, we like to turn it and make it man-centered. How can God, who is obviously here to cater to our needs, allow extreme evils, which impact us humans negatively, to exist? It comes back to our religiousity and our belief that man is inherently good and that, if not for a few bad apples, our society would be doing pretty well. Unfortunately, sociological studies disprove this. In almost every instance where people are given power over others, they abuse it. It’s our nature. God is perfectly good and perfectly just and if He is to eradicate evil, He must eradicate mankind.
3. Evil allows us to know more about God and about the very existence of true good. Light cannot be known without darkness. By God allowing evil, we are able to see His goodness, grace and mercy more fully.

I really think all three of these points work together, but not alone. For example, if I believe that God allows evil just so we can know His good qualities more fully, then what about Adam and Eve? They wouldn’t have known God fully and God’s creation, which was initially good, would be incapable of representing Him fully. But, because we were allowed freedom of choice, and chose to commit evil, the best available response from God is to allow evil and to demonstrate His love, mercy and grace in spite of that evil.

I can’t help but think that if this played out how many people think it should, it would go something like this:

• A man commits murder, and is vaporized by God. People fear God and try to be good.
• A woman abuses her children, and gets vaporized by God. People fear God more and try to be good.
• A man steals from a charity, and gets vaporized by God. People begin to live their lives in fear, trying to do good.

The problems with this are many. 1) This is not the gospel and it’s not what God wants. God doesn’t want people terrified of Him who try to do good to avoid being zapped. There’s no way people would desire a relationship with this God. They would NOT feel at peace. They would NOT feel safe or protected. They’d feel terrified about what they might do to kindle His wrath. This is similar to the Twilight Zone episode where a town lives in terror under the reign of an omnipotent child who can even read peoples minds.

But again, the biggest problem with this is that evil is done by everyone. In reality, the above example would look more like this:

• A man commits genocide, and is vaporized by God.
• A woman commits murder, and is vaporized by God.
• A man molests a child, and gets vaporized by God.
• A woman abuses her children, and gets vaporized by God.
• A man steals from a charity, and gets vaporized by God.
• A teenager bullies another student, and gets vaporized.
• A woman commits adultery, and gets vaporized.
• A man loses his temper, and hits his wife, and gets vaporized.
• A 14 year old child tells his 10 year old sister she’s stupid, and gets vaporized.

These are all evil, are they not? I mean, they definitely have varying degrees of impact upon other people and society, but they are all a form of evil. So... who should God judge? Where does He start and stop?

Evil is an ongoing, ever present problem that is perpetrated by humankind and which is dealt with by the cross of Christ. We all commit evil, and Jesus fixes it by taking our place when it comes time for God to dole out judgment....because don’t be mistaken, God WILL judge and punish EVERY instance of evil. EVERY instance... He is perfectly holy and just... but He’s also perfectly merciful and gracious and He has given us a way out. That way out is made available by simply acknowledging the evil in our hearts, desiring to turn from that evil, and placing our faith and hope in Jesus to take our place when punishment is due and to change our hearts in a way that helps us to turn and follow Him. That is, in a very simple explanation, the gospel.