You are here: Home / Archives for 2009

What the Bible Says About Tattoos

February 16, 2009 by 9 Comments

During youth group this week, there was a moment during our discussion of the lesson of “They Like Jesus But Not the Church” (by Dan Kimball) where I would have liked to have pursued but the rabbit trail would have taken too long and lately, I’ve been easily sidetracked.  Fortunately I have a blog and today, I need a diversion from my school work. 

We were discussing tattoos and whether getting one was contradictory to the Bible. I asked are tattoos sinful?”  and received somewhat mixed comments.  “What if you got a tattoo that said ‘Jesus Saves'”?  and one responded to the effect of “Yeah, that would be lame and so it would be wrong”.  (I cannot tell you the pride that swelled my heart.  Apparently someone has been listening).

Most of you reading are not strangers to the faith and as you know it all started when God and Abraham were discussing the covenant and they were talking about some kind of sign or seal or mark. Thus, God asked Abraham to get a tattoo but Abraham knowing that was wrong asked God if circumcision would be acceptable instead.  God sarcastically smiled and agreed that would be much better.  And here we are. 

For those of  you who don’t know me, I don’t have any tattoos (yet) so aside from the one I made my wife get of my name inside a heart on her arm, I don’t have a tattoo culture that I feel I need to maintain.  Not that one can be objective in the matter but the tattoo discussion probably matters to others more so then me. 

Or does it? I loathe it when people say that Christians ought not to get tattoos.  Or the classic moment when we discover someone in our church has a tattoo, the comment I often hear is, “She must have gotten that before she got saved”.  I always want to say to my “born-againer” friend, “No she didn’t. She’s been a believer her entire life and she just got that tattoo after our mission trip.”  Usually this sidetracks to a safer conversation of when salvation actually begins.  See how I get on these rabbit trails?  I repent and turn back to the discussion on tattoos.

This is what I don’t want:  It’s my conviction that God is not any more glorified by my tattoo-less body.  Nor is He glorified by your six-pack abs, nor is He as apathetic to the extra weight that reflects our gluttony and lack of self-control.  He is not glorified when we look down on those who have piercings nor is He impressed with the connection of nose piercings and Jesus’ piercings from the cross.  To put it kindly, I think some of us may have missed the point on this. 

My problem with tattoos is that my tastes and preferences change throughout the years.  For me, I’m afraid that I will regret it later.  This is similar to the reason I haven’t bought a Blue-Ray disc player and why I feel justified because I was one of the 6.7 billion who didn’t buy a Microsoft Zune.  Further, it’s why I made my wife sign a pre-nuptial agreement before I headed into the lucrative career of youth ministry (or was that her idea?  I should ask her about that.  Anyway, where was I?)  Oh yeah, if only some of us could be as faithful to our tattoos as to the people we promised to love.  Sorry if that sounded cheesy, my wife went and saw “He’s Just Not That Into You” for Valentine’s Day.  Anyway, this has nothing to do with my point.

I know there’s someone out there in cyber-world that will bring up Leviticus 19:28.  It’s part of a pretty good chapter.  Like forbidding fathers to sell their daughters to prostitution.  Which is a problem here in north Jersey.  We call it Prom Weekend and on the other weekends, we call it life as a present-day high school student. Please don’t tell me Leviticus is outdated and not applicable.  But forget teenage sex, let’s go back to talking about something more vital – tattoos. To some, it seems clear that the Leviticus passage is referring to avoiding the pagan practice common in that time period, to others it’s there in plain english, don’t mark the dead, don’t mark your own bodies.  As you recall, this is why God cursed the human race with “ink poisoning”, “graphite poisoning” and “magic marker rash”.  In our sin, we have countered with washable markers and temporary tattoos but give the good Lord some time, and He’ll trump that.  He’s too good – too good.

Years ago at a previous church I was at, this was a brief discussion that occurred after our senior pastor said something to the effect of, “It doesn’t matter about your past, yours sins, etc, whether you got tattoos, Jesus can …”  and thus tattoos was presented as something to repent of.  This offended one of the choir members who had several tattoos.  As he mumbled his frustration, he had the misfortunate of sitting next to someone who had two Scriptures memorized.  One was Leviticus 18:22 and the other was this one, 19:28.  The following week we had a church picnic and I wrote Leviticus 19:28 on my tricep.  Arguably it would have looked better if I had better defined triceps, but I also wished it was a real tattoo.  My life requires me to a fan of irony.  But the offended choir member enjoyed the laugh and I’m pretty sure God and Moses high-fived each other as they sat on their Harely’s watching the Earth Channel on the Crystal See Network.  

But that’s not where I was going with this.  Pardon me as I begin again, or rededicate myself to the post.  My preferences do change, but certainly this is not a reason for YOU not to get a tattoo.  However, if you have to ask me to be sure you want to permanently mark your body (yes, I am aware of the extremely costly laser tattoo removal process hence for us not wealthy people, I maintain the use of the word ‘permanently’), then you might want to consider what I am saying.  For those of you who know that you know that you know that you know, I know someone you can place your trust in.  He uses clean needles and I’m told he’s a very talented artist.  Oh wait, before I give you that tract, err, business card, let’s consider what the Bible says about tattoos.

(insert the sound of pages flipping here)

Nothing there – ok here’s the card.

Filed Under: Reflective Tagged With:

Reflecting on Colson's comments regarding Obama, abortion and postmodernism

February 11, 2009 by 2 Comments

Chuck Colson wrote on his breakpoint post yesterday (No God Condones What) that the breakdown of today’s society is based on postmodernism:

 

At the National Prayer Breakfast last week, President Obama seemed to signal that he has seen the light and is abandoning his radically pro-abortion agenda. At least, that’s the only reasonable conclusion one could make after hearing the President, who says he’s a Christian, also say: “There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.”

 

So I could only surmise that the President now concludes that “no God” would condone the 1.6 million abortions performed each year in America—1.6 million innocent lives destroyed.  But I’ve checked the White House website, and it’s very clear that God’s disapproval hasn’t changed the administration’s agenda one bit.

 

Here’s what the White House website says: “President Obama understands that abortion is a divisive issue, and respects those who disagree with him. However, he has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women’s rights under Roe v. Wade a priority in his Administration.”

 

Well, in one way I’m glad I wasn’t at the breakfast this year—I was speaking instead at Moody—because I’m not sure I would have been able to stay in my seat.

 

How can a President of the United States say that “there is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being,” when he himself favors a woman’s right to have an abortion under virtually every circumstance? How can he say that, when, as an Illinois state senator, he voted against the Illinois Induced Infant Liability Act, which would have protected the lives of babies who survived late-term abortions? When he even had the audacity to describe the act as “One more burden on a woman . . . I can’t support.”

 

President Obama is a highly intelligent man with a huge job on his hands. I know what the White House is like, and I pray for him fervently every day. But how does such an intelligent man make a statement like this without understanding its implications for his own pro-abortion policies?

 

The only way to explain it is to understand the intellectual environment, called postmodernism, in which President Obama and his peers have been raised. Generations of Americans have now been taught that truth is subjective. You have your truth, I have mine. And, even worse, I can’t “inflict” my version of truth on you. The law of non-contradiction has been suspended.

 

So politicians can tell us over and over that they can’t allow their personal faith to affect their views on public policy. Or they can take two completely opposing positions at the same time: like believing that no God condones the taking of innocent life and at the same time, condoning—even promoting—the taking of an innocent life.

 

The problem isn’t simply President Obama and his views on life; the problem is a postmodern culture which believes that truth is merely a matter of opinion, and that therefore the sanctity of innocent human life is simply an expression of one viewpoint among many.

 

I have argued for the last 20 years that postmodernism would lead to the unraveling or our society. The fact that so few noticed the contradiction in what the President said and the policies he pursues tells me that we’re far along in the unraveling process.”

 

–        

Now first, there is a lot I appreciate about Chuck Colson but it’s these statements that frustrate me because I do not find them to be fair.  Call it whatever you want, but the modern evangelical culture, or the infamous 1950’s or the “Good Ol’ Days” were not the days of the Garden of Eden. 

Second, I am not an Obama fan-boy (but I will support the president).  My convictions are pro-life but I do not want to villianize every person who either believes in pro-choice or has had an abortion.  And while I wish everyone would be pro-life, I think these typical statements made by Colson have failed as a starting point and only serve to rally like-minded individuals. At the same time, I wish those that are pro-choice but also hate abortion would at the very least, participate in pursuing ways to limit the number of abortions.  

Colson is a brilliant, well-educated righteous man.  I do not presume nor dare to correct such a godly man, but with all due respect, postmodernism is not the problem, the selfishness of the human condition is .. and this is not new. 

This is part of the problem with how we as conservative believers engage the world.  It seems to me that we refuse to actually engage the world.  It’s like we’re saying, “We’ll play basketball with you, but we’re not going to acknowledge this 3 point line thing, or this shot clock thing because we used to not have it and we liked the game better then.” 

Yes I know this analogy is not sensitive to the complexities of culture but if we are serious about engaging others, we need to do more then point the finger.  I’m not going to make it another four years if all I am getting from my conservative leaders is negative sound-bytes and pessimistic daily readings.   

My input is that we need to get realistic of how “good” days of old were.  Second, then, we should forget about them (because they are not a standard of entitlement).  Third, engage the culture we are in Christ-like ways.  Fourth, learn to handle the disappointments in Christ-like ways (I could use some extra grace on this one) and lastly, be believers who are committed in pursuing the Kingdom over personal preference or agenda.

Filed Under: Abortion, Christianity, Culture, Reflective Tagged With: , , ,

Monday Brief – 2.9.09

February 9, 2009 by 2 Comments

Highlights of the week –  1. Nathan said “dada” a couple of times.  Though I don’t think he has any idea of what it means or that I am “dada”, but it was nice to hear.  2.  I was grateful that my sermon was well-received this week. 3. There were some real good moments during and the days after our Pastor-Parent Night.  Some really connected by what we’re trying to do and I’m grateful for that even those these can be tough nights. 

Disappointed by – 1. A-Roid.  Seriously, if you’re still taking steroids in 2003, then you’re stupid.   I write as an angry baseball fan not as a rational person.  2. Further disappointed by the lack of Christian love I see in some.  We cannot argue for the need of Scripture if we are arguing in such a way that completely undermines Scripture.  I write as a frustrated Christ-follower not as a pastor who is towing the company line.  3. Disappointed by my own lack own personal failures.  I write as a humbled child of God not as a self-righteous “prig” (to borrow a word from Lewis).

Youth Ministry Update – continued to hear positive feedback about our winter retreat following our student leadership team meeting.   We mentioned a couple improvements that we all agreed we can make.  2. This week we started Dan Kimball’s They Like Jesus But Not the Church.  It’s based on a video curriculum and it’s pretty good.  The first week’s video was a series of clips of what university students thought of Jesus and what they thought of Christians.  Obviously it supported the theme of the study.  The other clip showed was in regards to the “Christian Bubble”.  We had good discussion regarding that. 3. Working on our mission trip to help rebuild cabins for those suffering from HIV/AIDS in the Bahamas. 

Reading – Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture by Graeme Goldwsorthy  and a couple other things, current issue of Relevant magazine and current issue of Leadership Magazine. 

Listening to – I’ve been on quite a Bob Dylan kick lately.  Also have gone back to the Arcade Fire (both Funerals and Neon Bible) and Jars of Clay (Good Monsters).  Yeah, I suppose there’s a bit odd but paradox keeps the mind from getting bored.  

Also this week I – 1. Enjoyed a few moments of the Grammys like Radiohead’s performance with the USC marching band.  2. Found something even more boring then hockey – the Pro Bowl.  3. Read an interview with Lebron James that he wanted to be the first athlete to make a billion dollars.  I can get past many things with professional athletes but as cool as Lebron is, that was lame to say. 4. So I rooted for Kobe on Sunday when they played against each other. 5. I renewed my commitment to joining our fantasy baseball league by looking  at one of those baseball magazines at Borders – pitchers and catchers report this Friday.

Filed Under: Reflective

Ask Not if Pete Rollins Believes the Resurrection, Ask If he’s Made a Good Point.

February 6, 2009 by 3 Comments

Pete Rollins was asked if he believed in the resurrection during a time of presentation and discussion at Calvin College (which by the way, I think it’s great that Calvin invited him).  He blogs his answer and many are still talking about it.  Like many, I read it on my RSS Feeder and my first thought was, “Here we go again”,  second was, “He really does this paradox thing well.”  I loved Thomas’ (who just had a post picked on The High Calling blog) post about it yesterday and it’s been brought to my attention a couple of times now too (and I suppose I may have brought it to a few people’s attention as well).

Thomas got me thinking though.  After the Mid-Atlantic Conference he sat in my living room and we conversed and he was gracious enough to listen to my questions.  I’m not name-dropping here, he talks to anyone.  Anyway,  to one he responded, “I think it’s crazy if people take me too seriously.  I’m just trying to add a point here and there …”  Now maybe that was an understatement, but I appreciated that he didn’t say something like, “People need to wake up and listen to what I am saying …” and act as if he had it all figured out.  Because he writes/speaks from that humble posture, I think it’s wise to, at the very least, consider the point he’s trying to make.  Like the point that Bono was making when he dressed up as MacPhisto (the devil-character he created on the Zoo TV tour, he wasn’t endorsing the devil but quite the opposite).  In fact, if Rollins has a problem is that this thought is not original though he just does a great job in echoing it today.  Paul says in I Corinthians 13, that “…  but have not love then I am but only  a clanging cymbal.” 

I do not know really the context nor the person who asked the question.  For all I know, it could have been Sam Harris or John McArthur or Brian McLaren or a student  or professor.  It could have even been one of Pete’s friends planted in the crowd to give us something to blog about it.  In my history of attending conferences, numerous times there has been the person that wants to “expose” the speaker as a heretic. Then there’s the guy who needs to ask these questions in order to trust the speaker.  I’ve been that guy, may we be given wisdom for the journey.  But to the former, I remind you to be careful that you do not resemble the Pharisees that were trying to trap Jesus (like in John 8).

Now I’m told that Pete does believe in the literal, physical resurrection (so there are two of you reading this that are relieved), but what if he didn’t believe or stops believing it one day or stops one day and believes it again on another?  While I want to say that it would be an utter shame if he didn’t believe it, I think another shame is to miss this point.

Regarding his statement, I believe his argument is valid.  What point is it to believe in the resurrection if we don’t believe in all the words of the One that was raised?  What point is it to believe in the One that encompassed perfect love if we don’t share it in witness in the forms of words and action?  What point is it to believe in the abundant life, if we ignore those barely living and dying around us? 

I believe the Spirit uses that answer even if Pete denies the resurrection to promote the resurrection!  Let me ask it in this way. Can we not gain from his point? I say from my perspective he’s wrong on that point while he may be right that I neglect the needs around me, thereby demonstrating his point!

Let’s forget about this hyper-caffeinated, Irish philosopher for a second.   How important is the resurrection to us as believers?   We may be quick to say that it’s the central tenant of our faith but is it? Here’s something interesting to me, I wonder how many more people would believe in the resurrection if we did in fact care more for the marginalized in the many, many ways they appear.  Is this not a great conversation?

Filed Under: Christianity, Theology, U2 Tagged With: , ,

Reviewing Metavista: Bible, Church, and Mission in an Age of Imagination

February 3, 2009 by 2 Comments

Metavista: Bible, Church and Mission in an Age of Imagination by Colin Greene & Martin Roinson

Who Will Like This Book (or might not) – Those that want to see church, culture and history from further out.  Whether you feel you are educated enough in it or not, if you have a high appreciation for history, you will really appreciate it.  If you are not into the emerging church authors (like McLaren, Jones, Pagitt, Keel, etc.), I think it would be beneficial to hear these words from those that do not identify with the movement.  If you are a friend of emergent, I think this book is very beneficial as well.  Having been in the emerging discussion, this is among the things that are humbly encouraged, read a lot of other stuff  (emergent plug – none of us feel we’ve cornered the market on pomo thought).

Who Won’t (or might not) – Those who have less appreciation for context and require Biblical proof texting; those who don’t understand where the history of philosophy fits in; those who think that the timeline of Christian literature went from the canonization of the New Testament, a few church fathers, Calvin, then John Piper while ignoring the millions of other voices throughout the past several thousand years  (I write that last one to a specific caricature, don’t mean to offend).

What I Found Difficult – I really enjoyed reading this book and I didn’t see skimming as an option.  Because of this, there’s a lot to read here.  Perhaps it was my attention span but I really wanted to remember what I read (what a new idea), so it was just one of these books where you really needed to take the necessary time and read.  Thus, you may not like it, if you’re not able to commit the time to it. 

 

What I Loved –  I was a fan from the introduction.  Seriously, it’s one of those books that if you love the introduction, you’ll probably like the book.  I didn’t feel let down as I continued reading the book though it was grappling with extremely difficult topics.

 

While reading through it, I appreciated all the quotes from those like Augustine, Kierkegaard, Brueggemann, Newbigin, Caputo, (even Bono is quoted), and many others.  I felt it connected me to the thoughts and ideas of so many others.  For those like myself who have a scattered interest in a lot of things, I appreciate books that contain histories and summations from the greats that have come before.

 

There are so many books to read, so many to recommend, I’d like to sell you on this one. 

Here’s a preview and table of contents:

What is metavista? – “… a relatively unclaimed space or clearing” (xxix).

 

Part1

1. Modernity: Legacies that Remain

2. Postmodernity: A Matrix of Meanings – This chapter begins, “In his book Postmodernism for Beginners” Richard Appignanesi suggests that the postmodern is something unavoidable.  His candid assessment is that the modern is always historically at war with what comes immediately before it” (25).

(Why I like it –  As been told to me countless times, I too keep trying to convince people that the idea of postmodernism is more than a philosophy but an age, specifically a response to modernism.)

3. Metavista: Discerning the Rules of Engagement – deals with many issues from voice, representation to power.

4. Metavista: Naming the Post-modern Condition – consumerism, post-colonialism, secularization, individualism (to name a few).

 

Part 2

5. Cultural Engagement and the Refiguring of the Scriptures – narratives and indwelling

6. Constructing a Biblical Theology for Cultural Engagement – demonstrates that postmoderns can be Christians ;-)

7. Metavista:  The Political Capital of the Bible in Cultural Engagement – umm, well, Greene likes Hauerwas.   Though this book is written from a European perspective, I think this chapter is helpful for American readers (especially Christian conservatives) interested in politics and culture.

 

Part 3

8. Deconstructing the Secular Imagination – the strength and weakness of secularization and its effect on religion

9. Imagining the Missional Community – Includes some big topics of the Modern West’s Christendom such as evangelical renewal, programmatic responses, emergent church, and offers humble conclusions.

10. Reimagining a Counter-cultural Life – one of my favorite chapters in the book.

11. Towards a Hermeneutic of Imagination – public theology, missional imagination and the pride of Biblical Seminary, John Franke is quoted here.

12. Conclusion and Beyond – calls for a new manifesto

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: ,

Monday Morning Brief – 2.3.09

February 3, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Yeah I know it’s Tuesday.   Consider it like Lost’s ripple in time.  So who knows what day it really is?

Highlights – Not real sure I had any “highlights” but it was a good week of life.  1. Our Super Bowl party was pretty fun.  Appreciated the family that hosted us.  Though I’m not a Cardinals fan, I really wanted them to win.  Appreciated what Tony Kornheiser from Pardon the Interruption said, “People are going to say the Cardinals lost it.  But they didn’t – they won it.  But then the Steelers came back and won it again …”.  Third best Super Bowl ever.  2. Spoke at a different youth group at another church this weekend.  I think most of us were blessed by the night 3. We went to a memorial of a friend that died two years ago, and there was a nice spirit there. .  4. North Jersey Cohort meeting – good people.  5. Deepening some friendships some through great conversations, others through stress.  6. I got to rest a little this week.

Reading –  Finally finished Metavista: Bible Church and Mission in an Age of Imagination (review coming soon).  Re-reading Dan Kimball’s They Like Jesus But Not the Church.  Just started, Inspiration and Incarnation by Pete Enns.  And trying to catch up on all the great blog posts I’ve missed in recent weeks. 

Listening to – Nothing new.  Podcasts from Relevant, Mars Hill and a terrific one with Ed Dobson the other week and I loved Fermi Project’s latest with Jon Tyson. Also really enjoyed Homebrewed Christianity’s podcast with Richard Rohr.   Cleaned the Fireside Room (the youth room) while listening to Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks and Bringing It All Back Home.

Youth Ministry Update –  The last two weeks were midterms for my Senior Highers, so youth group was a little more relaxed.  One week I showed the “Making of Miss HIV” which is a documentary about an AIDS beauty pageant (more info here).  I almost didn’t show it because it featured the Newsboys (and I know how that sounds but they did record a song called, “Breakfast in Hell” and they’ve used the same set list for the past 7 years.  I feel like I’m in one of those Foster’s Beer commercials where the word is different even though it’s the same language.  Let me try – “Repetitive”, It’s American for “boring”).  Where was I?  Oh, well the Newsboys’ participation on this project was great and I was moved by it.  I may even buy their new cd, Take Me to  Your Leader.

Last week we watched Invisible Children’s “Sunday”.  All of our students were pretty moved by it.  Some inquired what we could do.  I encouraged us to be faithful with the opportunities afforded us and while I didn’t want this to be a commercial for our mission trip this summer (we’re building new cabins for AIDS/HIV victims in Nassau after attending YS’s DC/LA), I think some caught to one I meant.

Looking forward to (but with a bit of anxiety) – 1.  Beginning our next Sr. High Series, They Like Jesus But Not the Church video curriculum.  2. “Pastor-Parent Night” this week.  Some call it dancing through the minefield but in past years.  My frustration has been some “questions” and “concerns” can be made privately and in a way that demonstrates Christian love as opposed to what seems to be an attempt to embarrass you in front of parents.  So far, it hasn’t been bad and in truth, I have enjoyed some fruitful discussion and it’s an opportunity to share about our mission trip.  So I guess we’ll see.

Filed Under: Reflective

How I "Plan" on Doing Book Reviews

February 3, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Sometimes the book reviews I see on blogs leave me a little frustrated if they don’t contain enough opinion. Like the ones that say “review” but only give the Amazon summary from Publisher’s Weekly.   Then there are the posts that are so long that you think you might as well just get the book or bookmark the post and treat it as a cliff notes version of it.  There’s a couple other things that annoy me and I’m sure I do things that annoy others but here’s what I know:

I am not a scholar so I will not critique pretending to be one.  We’ve been trained by our seminaries and under-graduate programs to be more critical thinking than we actually are. But here in the big world of the internet, let’s be careful to who we think we are.  So, I’m not a book critic.  I’m a guy, offering an opinion that may or may not help you.

I will try to make them brief (or at least not to thick if they are not brief).

I will create context and stereotypes to keep them brief (this will frustrate some).  Be warned, I know they may not always be accurate.

I will do my best to be honest.

I will probably change this post several times.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Reflecting on the "Trials of Ted Haggard"

January 30, 2009 by 1 Comment

I watched the Ted Haggard special on HBO last night and was left really thinking about a couple of things:

 

1. The show wants you to feel sympathy for Ted.  As a fellow sinner, this is no problem.  As a fellow sinner saved by grace, this too, is no problem.  However, I’m still not sure how honest Ted is on camera, off camera, behind the camera, whatever.  I’d like to be careful with how far my suspicion carries me but I do feel some sympathy for him.  Many may want him to just “go away”.  But going away in that sense only means “get out of my life”.  Ted still lives and we cannot write people off and I needed to be reminded of that.

2. The show wants you to either be amazed for his wife Gayle or write her off as an idiot for staying with him.  I choose to be amazed.

3. The show wanted to present as much of Ted’s life as possible and that included his kids.  While, the sympathetic part of me really wanted to know how the boys were adjusting, I’m glad the cameras weren’t on them much.  Good decision on the Haggards part.

4. The show wants to present all the characters in this story.  I was glad they showed Mike Jones, (the trainer that engaged in homosexual acts and gave drugs to Ted).  He may be hurting from this and who knows what else but he presented himself as quite the opportunist.  

5. The show wants you to be angry at the insensitive attitude of New Life Church.  Mission accomplished.  I understand that there is a history with Ted’s misconduct (new details are being discovered.  Ted has not been honest, still not sure if he is now), and they were right to dismiss him, but to banish him from Colorado?   Really?  I’m guessing they gave him a generous settlement and leaving the state was among the conditions.  Ted, defeated and ashamed would have agreed to just about anything.

I know that many will say there was follow-up counseling with Ted (that wanted to bring him back to restoration.  And you probably have heard the term “completely heterosexual”) but from this show, it seemed that it didn’t last too long.  Further, it didn’t seem to bring him to restoration.  Now, I remember reading that Ted walked out on the counseling.  I’m wondering if that’s what led to his banishment of Colorado but I don’t know these details and there’s too much online to determine.  But even if Ted curses his counselors and storms out, which would be wrong on his part, a church should not exile you from the state.  I can understand not allowing him to come back to that particular church within a certain time frame but banishing someone out of the state?  I tell you, if I heard this in a Starbucks or at a pub, I wouldn’t have believed it and if HBO is telling us the truth, then this is not how we as a Church treat people, even if he is lying. 

 

I know my post is somewhat sensitive to Ted Haggard and I am comfortable with that.  And believe me, he’s a tough case for me.  Mega-church pastor, homosexual acts, evangelicalism, deception, rumors, it’s easy to want to dismiss the whole thing.  And while I can do that being from New Jersey, I cannot as a part of the Body. Certainly he sinned.  A sin that has hurt many people in many ways and I do not treat that lightly.  This is reality however, and we as people, from the shady to even the most sincere-hearted Christ followers to all those in between, will continue to fail.  The Church cannot turn its back on people.  It’s not Christ-like.

Filed Under: Reflective Tagged With: , , , ,

Anyone want to go to the The Evolving Church Conference Amidst the Powers?

January 26, 2009 by 5 Comments

Saw this over on Adam’s blog.  Anyone interested in joinging me for a road trip from the NYC area?

It takes place Saturday, March 21 in Toronto.  More info here:

Filed Under: Conferences/Events

Monday Morning Brief – 1.26.09

January 26, 2009 by 1 Comment

Highlight of the Week – Still enjoying the afterglow of our winter retreat.  So far haven’t heard any complaints since returning.  Maybe I’m doing a better job at being disengaged and ignoring others.  Before leading the congregational prayer this morning, I shared about our retreat.  I was surprised that people clapped but appreciate that our youth ministry is appreciated.  We got great leaders, a good group of kids, some good parents, and God is helping our rhythm right now.  Could things be better?  Sure when is that never an appropriate question?  But I’m thankful that we are moving in the right direction as a ministry and that our students are responding.  2.  Sermon for class went fairly well.  My profs were very encouraging.  I consider them all my friends and each gave kind words. Further I appreciated the critiques, especially the ones that expressed some of my words could be potentially offensive.  That’s good and bad of course, but I don’t like to upset people on purpose, it’s the Spirit’s job to convict; I just can’t water it down.  So may God give me wisdom.   3. Was grateful that Susan and Nathan returned safely from FL.

Disappointed by – And here’s where we get ugly.  Can you believe Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino got snubbed by the Academy?  I’m starting to wonder about this “Academy”.  Now, I liked Benjamin Button a lot but 13 nominations?  I haven’t seen Slumdog but I’m told it’s amazing.  Anyway, they missed it on Gran Torino.

Procrastinating on – Things I call “Priority 2” but should be done some time.  I think for those of you who speak Stephen Covey it’s the category known as “Important but not Urgent”.  

Reading – The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching, and back into Metavista (almost finished).  It’s a book that I really enjoy and really find helpful.  Hope to blog about it soon.

Student Ministry is – Aside from what I mentiond about the retreat, I am happy to say I am finding a lot of fulfillment right now.  Of course there are always glitches and things that shouldn’t be, but I am thankful that we’ve been on a good trajectory for a while now. I credit the fair trade coffee we are drinking now.

Looking Forward to – 1. Emergent cohort meeting tonight.  2. Taking a class with Pete Enns, 3. Catching up on things.

Filed Under: Reflective