Emerging from the Quarantine

The Norris family appears (I don't want to say this too hastily) APPEARS to be emerging from our annual 4-6 week bout with the Chuck Norris Super-flu. This years variety was complete with a visit to the ER (for Cooper) and several consecutive weeks of mild fever along with a cough that doesn't quit and ceaseless streams of snot.

Chuck Norris Approved this Flu.

So, in the midst of our bout with the flu, we decided to list our house. It's on the market now and several people have come to look at it. And, when they came, we loaded our sick crew into the van (in other contexts "sick crew" might be something really cool) and went to sit in the store parking lot. We're discovering that it's hard to be patient and to wait for our house to sell. Hopefully we don't have to keep it spotless for too long... though we ARE learning to trust God more and more through it.

A good thing

This 5 minute video is a good thing and I should watch it daily, if not hourly, to remind myself of who I am.
Tim Keller - What is the gospel?

A shift in thinking...

I’m so pumped up about all I’m learning through our church’s journey. Finally, after many years, Christianity makes sense and the gospel makes sense. It’s exciting, but overwhelming to think about trying to explain this shift in thinking to others. It sounds subtle, and in some ways it is, but it’s also a hugely and amazingly revolutionary shift for me and Corey. So, I’ll just try to explain what the shift is and how it came about, as simply as possible.

And, just as a caveat, obviously this kind of thing is best explained in person (and not on a blog) and I’m sure I’ll butcher this, but oh well. Also, this really is a shift over several years which started with me and a few others just seeing that church as we were “doing it” didn’t line up with what we saw in the Bible. God graciously brought us on a journey which started with the Total Church conference and has woven its way through relationships with Acts 29 network and Soma Communities. This is a shift which is still in process, but, as I said before, I’m pumped about it. So, on to my story...

Our past:
In the past, this is what Christianity has been for us. This is speaking in large generalizations, and represents (as I said before) a bit further back in our past, but it’s helpful to see where we’ve come from. I hope this isn’t offensive, but it’s been our experience and our observation of many other Christians. Much of this may have not been what we’d say we believed, but it is functionally what we believed.

We’d say we believed the gospel, but what that really meant was that we believed Jesus died for our sins. The practical implications of this were virtually non-existent. It was like a one-time transaction and, after that, we were to do our best to make God happy and to look the part. We were expected to have everything together and to display some kind of “victorious” Christian life of conquering sin and growing in faith.

This belief was especially important because, at our core, we still believed that we needed to do something and that God expected it. Being caught sinning was awful because it was PROOF that we weren’t doing enough... that we weren’t as good as we pretended to be. Admitting weakness, or lack of knowledge, was unacceptable. Inadequacy, and failure, was crushingly depressing because it was evidence that we weren’t good enough.

Our view of the Bible was, practically speaking, that it was a book of rules for how to please God. Answers to our children as to why they shouldn’t commit a certain sin might have involved the tell-tale “because God doesn’t like it”. Our free time and money was spent according to the rules. So, Bible studies and Sunday attendance were mandatory for godly folk and involved gathering with Christians for delving deep into the scriptures and praying for one another. Generally, money was part of the “tithing” plan... you enjoy most of your money and the rest you “happily” give to God.

Love of others was one of the things you do, among others, but certainly held no place of prominence. Additionally, this “love” was either viewed as “live and let live” or as “doing nice things for others”... in some circles this included the occasional rebuke “in love”.

Free time was spent doing service projects for other Christians, feeling guilty about watching TV (it’s so sinful!) or maybe dropping a few hours at the homeless shelter.

Evangelism was the guilt-driven, effort of trying to shoehorn Jesus into a conversation with an unbeliever, or sharing the “Four spiritual laws” with them. The gospel was, as we applied it to ourselves, that Jesus died for your sins. No context was generally needed, or understood, for this. One very prominent method was to invite unbelievers to the Sunday worship service (church) so that they could hear the preacher and, hopefully, find Jesus.

The world was a place to be avoided. It was believed to be best to spend time and money supporting other Christians, hanging out at Christian coffee shops, listening to Christian radio, etc.

How things have shifted:
Most of what we’ve learned centers around the gospel. This all started a couple of years ago with a little booklet called “The gospel centered church”.

We now believe the gospel to be much more than simply "Jesus died for your sins" and yet, not more. What I mean is that the gospel is all about Jesus' work on the cross in order to bring a rebellious humanity to Himself, but the implications are more far reaching than we had initially realized. God knows that we need His help and that we are broken people and will need Jesus going forward, constantly. I love the idea that many churches have now of being "an okay place to be not okay" (I think that one is from the Village Church in Dallas). We now recognize that WE are not victorious… Jesus is. And any hope of being victorious without Him is a joke. Sounds like common sense, but maybe not in practice…

The ramifications of this are that our pride is crushed. We can no longer pretend that we're good enough. We know that we can't do enough or be enough. We fully embrace, both intellectually and emotionally, that only Jesus can do enough. Our salvation is 100 percent Jesus and we can do nothing to "help out". Again, this is what we'd SAY we believed, but practically we lived to look godly and to impress others with our righteousness.

Our view of the Bible is that it's a wrestling mat (as Sharad would say) that is intended to help us to grow in our love of God and man. Every rule set forth in the Bible is set forth to foster love of God and love of others. We now teach our children that we are, and they are, just as sinful as every other "bad guy" in the world. We all need Jesus. We tell them that we don't commit certain sins because God loves us and knows that it's not good for us or for the world (we're obviously more specific dependent on which sin it is).

Our free time and money is much looser. The Sunday worship service is simply one more gathering of the church and we can freely skip it anytime without guilt. Bible studies are also good, but optional and not required to be a "good" Christian. It’s not that we want to skip these events (though occasionally we might), but it’s just that we understand that this isn’t required for us to be “good Christians”. We also now recognize that all of our money is God's and we have to figure out how to use it all for Him (not just 10 percent).

Love of others is, as the Bible says, not just one thing to do… it's THE thing to do. Love of God and love of man are all that matter. Love is not "doing nice things" alone, but doing the hard things… sacrificing and loving in ways that sometimes don't even look loving to everyone. Loving means caring enough to say the hard thing, but only if you know the person enough to actually love them.

We believe that free time should all be for the Kingdom. That doesn't mean that all our time is spent going door to door or that we're always at the homeless shelter. It means that we view ourselves as missionaries and our lives as the mission field. Every relationship, Christian or not, is an opportunity for Christ to reign supreme.

Evangelism is, we believe, best done through committed relationships that don't care only about another notch in the belt. Jesus is not shoehorned in, but is naturally part of natural conversation. We don't change who we are between believers and unbelievers. We believe the Sunday worship service is a place for worshipping, not a place your bring your unsaved friends so they can get saved.. that should be happening at the store, and on walks, and while doing the dishes. I love the phrase "everyday living with gospel intentionality". We believe in bringing the gospel to bear on the mundane.

We now believe that we have wonderful gospel opportunities by supporting NON-Christians and hanging out and NON-Christian coffee shops and sharing common interests by listening to NON-Christian radio. This is what Jesus did… He plugged himself into the world of sinners around Him. He didn't cloister Himself away among the religious alone.


Basically, in a nutshell, we now realize that our failures and needs are designed to be met perfectly with the gospel... Maybe it sounds corny, but simple statements like “Sorry my house is such a mess...” can be met with “Your identity is not found in the cleanliness of your house, but in Jesus”. Statements like “I just feel like a failure and like I’m not doing enough” are met with “Jesus lived the perfect life, knowing that you’d fail and not do enough and His death is sufficient to cover your sins”. We believe that God is not glorified by our ability to overcome sin, but instead is glorified by admitting our weakness and our need of Him (2 Corinthians 12:9) and that our attempts to look good rob Him of glory. The gospel is ongoing, relevant, and perfectly sufficient for our needs and failures.


For a good, slightly more professional, take on all this... read Soma Communities’ story. They very much represent our thoughts and beliefs on what Christianity is about. Oh, and as you read what they believe, understand that they are very good at doing it and not just talking about it. And if you want to hear more about how they practically do it, and what we want our lives to look like, you might check out their “rhythms”.

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. ;)