Picking Cherries…

I have noticed a frustrating trend when it comes to discussing Christianity and Church, particularly regarding whether or not a church should pass doctrine as absolute, especially when that doctrine has a possibility of not actually solving the problem it is allegedly designed to solve.  Ever been in a discussion about a debatable doctrinal rule?  It sucks big time.

When church-goers try to pass the ______________ (fill in the blank) doctrine, they typically focus on one or two verses of scripture and then cherry-pick the verse to mold their rule.  As the famous meme says, the bible is not a bag of trail mix where you just pick out the pieces you like and dump the rest.  No, we are all a diverse bag of trail-mix.

Many discussions in church are like taking sides of a political party, and eventually leading to a partisan group that splits into a certain mold.  When liberal thinkers try passing their own _________ (fill in the blank) doctrine, I am sure as a group they focused on a few verses to form their own rules.  Then conservative opponents focused on how bad their doctrine was.  And then there is the flip side with conservatives passing the rule, and the liberals being opponents.  All of the sudden there are tens of thousands little sects of different denominational thinking… and to be accepted in any of those groups one must abide by the doctrine set before them by man.

This dynamic not only affects denominational lines in both directions, but also issues that transcend them.  The focus moves off of Christ and falls right into their own agenda.  Sounds just like politics…the focus falls off the people, and right into their own self-gain.

I am sure there is a debate going on in many mainline churches today about how a church should be structured, with hierarchy, and elder boards.  This current debate over church structure, which pits a lot of liberal denominations against conservative denominations, has a lot of people who love Christ on both sides, and also has a lot of people that focus on how unfair the current doctrine is.  Opponents focus on how this particular doctrine is not that good of a solution.  It completely divides us all, and for what… power?

This is what we call Unity?  No.  It is what I call bullshit.

Why do people keep trying to make church the way they see it to be when God has already established it as His Son?

As a result of all this debating, both sides often end up talking past each other, whether on the floor of the church after Sunday school or in the comments section of a lot of Christian websites, saying the same things over and over again and getting absolutely nowhere.

Supporters often accuse their opponents of not caring about the problem.

Opponents tend to ignore all that and reiterate their opposition.

So how do we solve these repetitive exercises in futility?

I do not have the answers, but one guess is that we could stop cherry-picking verses ans see the book as a whole.  It is the Good NEWS, not the good ADVICE.

But again, if I say anything I might be creating my own doctrine, so I guess I will shut-up now.

There is no clear definition of “Biblical Marriage”

I am not back blogging at the pace I was before, but I wanted to weigh in on what I know (which is not much) about this whole marriage thing.

There are two sides to this marriage debate, one is for gay people to marry and the other is for marriage to stay defined between a man and a woman… or the so-called “biblical marriage” definition.

(I actually think it should be the tax code that we should be discussing and changing, but that is another post.)

Well I am going to come out and just say it… the definition of “biblical marriage” is a bunch of bullshit, because to this day I cannot find how the bible even defines marriage clearly.

I know what you are thinking, how can I call myself a follower of Christ and say such things… well let me explain.

When you attend a wedding at a church, what passages of Scripture do you expect to hear?  I know of two that are most common.

Typically, 1 Corinthians 13, the famous “love” chapter is pretty much always picked.  It talks about love, but it does not talk about marriage.  You likely have heard the verse before… “Love is patient, love is kind…”

This verse is wonderful advice for marriage, but Paul was not talking about marriage when he wrote it.  He was addressing a fight going down in the church of Corinth.  The church there was competing for prestige and influence.

The next typical verse that comes up is Genesis 2:24 which says “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh”  This passage is certainly appropriate to marriage, as it reflects the level of intimacy and commitment that distinguishes marriage from other relationships.

However, the interesting thing here is that when Jesus brings this passage up in Matthew 19 and in Mark 10, he is not exactly discussing marriage.  Instead, Jesus is talking about divorce.

So I have always thought it weird to hear the Genesis 2 passage read at weddings, because the only reference I have from Jesus Himself of this verse is about divorce, and we are at a wedding… very odd.

So, which “biblical marriage” scenario should Christians embrace?

Here are all the scenarios I could find in scripture.

Of course, Genesis 2:24 gives us the “nuclear family” definition of a man and a woman where the wife submits to her husband and interfaith is frowned upon (but isn’t it interesting that Jesus never brings up and defines marriage and the one time he does bring this verse up it is about divorce.. hmmm)

Well what about the other types of marriages ..

The next is the man + brother’s widow in Genesis 38:6-10.  So should biblical marriage be about marrying your brother’s wife if your brother dies?

What about man + wives + concubines?

What about rapist + victim in Deuteronomy 22:28-29 that says a rapist must marry the one he rapes?

There was also man + women + women’s property in Genesis 16, and there was male soldier + a prisoner of war in Numbers 31.  What about these?

The last two I could find was man + woman + woman + woman + woman + woman… and on and on (polygamy).  And the last being male slave + female slave where the slave owner could assign a woman slave to whatever male slave he wanted (Exodus 21:4)

Unfortunately, many Christians use the Bible to support their own prejudices and bigotry.  They talk about “biblical marriage” as if the Bible had a clear message on marriage.

Let’s be clear: I do not see anything about “biblical marriage” because the Bible does not speak to the topic clearly and consistently.

So how do we define marriage?  This is where I get really truly confused.  I believe a man and a woman makes complete common sense, but I do not look to the bible for that belief.  I look to the bible to reveal Christ.

I will go on loving others more than myself and loving Christ who is all of us who make up His Church.

What do you think?

I Am Done Blogging (For A Few Months)

I have too many time consuming items on my plate the first 6 months of the year and will not have time to write.

Thanks to all who read and discussed my allergies.

Swanny

“Gun” an Adjective?

Let me say first thing… the word “Christian” was never intended to be used as an adjective… so, STOP using it that way!

For the life of me I cannot understand why many people continue to use the word “Christian” in the form of an adjective.

We have “Christian” bookstores, we have “Christian” music, and we have “Christian” businesses.

One of the biggest piles of BS that floats around is the “Christian” business directory.  I just saw our latest and greatest for the Louisville area.  I guess you can advertise in it if you are a “Christian” business owner.

What does that mean?  Should we only do business with so-called “Christian” businesses?  Wow, if that is not divisive, I do not know what is.

It is basically forming an us versus them mentality. The way this could be seen is that if a Jew owns a business, you would not want to buy anything from them because they could rob you blind, or if an atheist makes great doughnuts you could go to hell for eating a cream-filled.  Gimme a break.

I know one reason they use “Christian” as an adjective.  People use it as a marketing tool and to get your attention…  they want you to focus that word to drive home a point.

Well, the main stream media uses the same tactic in many ways, but the one I am hearing a gazillion times a day is the phrase “gun” violence.  How on earth can you use a word that was never intended to be an adjective? …unless you want to basically form an us versus them mentality.  The media is trying to get everyone to focus on the word “gun” and that word only. (and doing an awesome job at it)

The way I see and read things seems to be much different from the norm.  I guess when you are allergic to bullshit like I am that will happen.

With the media jack-hammering the word “gun” into my brain a thousand times a day as an adjective, instead of the noun it is, the media wants me to think that the gun itself did the violence.  A “gun” is a noun, and the gun itself cannot do the violence.  It takes the ACTION of some effed-up-in-the-head person on the other end of a gun or some other NOUN, like a knife or a baseball bat to harm another individual.

But, the media will keep pounding away to get the world to think it is the “guns” in the United States that is the problem and what causes the violence, which paves a nice little political path for congress and the president to do some public relations BS and pass legislation against “gun” violence to give everyone that wonderful sense of security and to boost their political likeability.  However, for us that know that the word “gun” is a friggin noun know better, and all it does is sets up a false sense of security.

My opinion is that most of these shootings are done by 15 to 25-year-old white males, and there have been 31 mass shootings since Columbine in 1999.  You know what the majority of these shootings have in common.  The shooters were effed-up-in-the-head taking some form of medication prescribed for psychosis or ADHD or some other mental issue.  They were on drugs that are used for anti-psychosis, but have been found to have the opposite effect.  It is pretty simple.  It is the effed-up-in-the-head part that is causing the ACTION of killing.

Maybe the media should call the next shooting “Over prescribed and under helped” violence.  Well the media does not want to bring that to our attention because both side of the aisle in Washington get their pockets lined with cash from the pharmaceutical companies, and that is big business.  (Yes I do feel there are people who need medication, but there is a lot of over-prescribing going on too).. they just drug them and leave them, and the true help they need is nowhere to be found.

Ok, I am done ranting now… I just needed to vent.  Writing out my feelings helps me cope with the sadness this latest shooting has brought to my heart.

So let me finish by saying..  the word “gun” was never intended to be used as an adjective … so, STOP using it that way!  Let us focus on helping these kids that are in need of major attention.

And The Caption Contest Winner Is …

The winner of a free copy of “Finding Church” goes to Eric Carpenter over at A Pilgrim’s Progress

 

“That organic stuff to the left of the mirror looks way better than the institutional stuff in the mirror!”

Thanks to everyone who participated.  And if I could participate, my caption would have been..  “Finally, the church is out of my blind spot!”

Eric, I would love to know what you think of the book after you read it, and especially my chapter

The book is still available, and people can grab a copy of the book over at Amazon.

Thanks,

Swanny

The Yard Signs Are Back

Just when I thought the political season was over when Obama won that first Tuesday of November, the yard signs are back out to promote the next political event happening on December 24th … yes it is the Christmas Eve service.

This is one of the main days a church marketing department drools, and comes up with ways to gain membership within the walls of their organization.

It just weirds me out when I drive through my neighborhood and see yards signs promoting Christmas Eve services for various brick and mortar churches.  Here go to my church… no no go to my church.  Hey, vote for Romney, no no vote for Obama.  The people putting these signs in their yard are no different than them putting out Romney or Obama signs.

This is where the difference between politics and religion starts to blur.  I remember growing up and my parents would always say do not argue religion or politics.  Well, the “or” in that statement is now gone.  It is now… do not argue religion “and” politics.  Today both denominations and politics are a lot in the same.

Come to our church where we do this and that and these are the rules we follow (or this is the political platform we promote).

Why the yard signs?

Does anyone go to a church because someone puts out a yard sign?  Does someone vote for a particular candidate because of a yard sign?

I really do not think so.  I feel it is more like a non verbal statement to tell others in the neighborhood or drivers-by that if you would like to hang with me and we that you will have a good chance of getting along with me because we will both follow the same rules and agenda, you are welcome here… otherwise piss off.

Sad, but true.

I know that politics has become a sort of religion over the past decades (and vice-versa).  In the same way people get sucked into a political party, they can get attached and sucked into a religious denomination too.  And once you are hooked and a part of a political party or a certain denomination, you are likely to become an automaton that thinks your political party or denomination is the only right way to go, and you do not want to hear what horrible things those certain platforms have done in the past.  The fists come out and you become defensive.  You become an ambassador for the political party, or a promoter of a certain church organization… and push Jesus to the side.  Yes, He is mentioned, but He is not the one being promoted.

You do not want to go and say the people who now run the political platform, or the local church, might be morally questionable, or hypocritical, or really just dead wrong.  Instead, you want to find a sense of community with a bunch of like-minded people… you want to feel good.

You all just hang around, or fellowship, telling each other how wonderful you are, and everyone tries to defeat all the enemies outside the bubble you commiserate in.. you know “those” people, the ones for some strange reason that want to continue to dispute and question the truth that you have obtained inside your party or denomination.

Any church yard signs in your neighborhood, or do I just live in a weird place?

To me yard signs are so political.  What would churches do next to look more political?  I do not know, maybe they will eat more chicken?

Happy Holidays!

Caption Contest To Win A Copy Of The New Book … “Finding Church”

I am 1 of 36 authors that contributed to the book “Finding Church”, which contains personal stories about our attempts to BE the church by following Jesus.

As Jeremy Myers, the editor of this project, posted on his blog…

“Everybody knows that the church is changing (if it isn’t changing, it’s dead). If we try to ignore these changes, we miss out on some of the exciting things God is doing in the church and in our culture.  But Jesus does not call everyone to follow Him in the same way.  Some people follow Jesus by leaving the church, while others follow Jesus by switching churches, and still others follow Jesus by trying to reform their church from within.

Leaving Church
The authors in this book who write about Leaving Church have not abandoned church, but have followed Jesus away from the traditional, institutional church and into alternative forms of being the church in smaller communities, or with their friends and neighbors.

Switching Church
The authors who write about Switching Church sometimes get condemned as “church hoppers” but in reality, they have followed Jesus from one church to another, sensing that He has used them or taught them what He wanted in one location so that they can now go to another fellowship to learn and serve there. If the church is all “one body” they are not really switching churches, but are simply serving with one group before moving on to another.

Reforming Church
The authors who write about Reforming Church tell stories of how they suffered through pain, doubt, and uncertainty in the church they currently attend, but rather than leave church or switch to another church, decided to stay, forgive, and attempt to reform the church from within.

If you have been in church for any length of time, it is likely that you have wanted to leave your church, switch churches, or try to reform your church. The stories in Finding Church will challenge you to see that every person’s path is different. The stories in this book are not written so that you can follow someone else’s path, but to encourage you to find the path in which Jesus has prepared for you. When you do this, you are Finding Church. You “find church” when you find how Jesus wants you to live and serve within the church, as part of His Body.

The book is available on Amazon in print or ebook format.

BUT IF YOU WANT A FREE COPY…

… I am going to have a caption contest to determine the winner.

I am part of the “Leaving Church” section of this book, so write a caption to the picture I use for my blog…

 

Please add a comment with your caption by Tuesday December 11th, and a winner will be picked that evening.  (I am going to have my wife pick which one she likes the best).

So get them thinking caps on, and submit a winning entry.