Hero(es) of the Bible??

Heroes of the Bible sounds like some sort of sermon series you may hear at your typical evangelical church. The concept would have to do with comparing the "great" characters in the Bible to our lives and seeing what we can learn from them. Seeing where we can improve and be more like Daniel or be more like Ruth. You'll have sermons entitled something like 'David: A man after God's own heart' and 'Ester: A woman of prayer.' I am reminded of this kind of thinking whenever I log onto Facebook and see that someone else has taken the 'Which Bible Character are You?' quiz.

At the least, these topics are a distraction and at the most they are idolatry. Mainly I believe they miss the point. That is, they put the focus on some person and what they have done for God and all they accomplished in the name of the Lord. All this does it make them seem super-human and us feel super-helpless. We go back to our mundane life with a mortgage, oil-leaking engine, cubicle, utility bills, family demands, house demands, etc. and we despair because we cannot see how we can be as effective for God as Paul was.

The point is never Paul (or Ruth, or Abraham, or David for that matter). The point is always Jesus.

We need to realize that all these characters in the Bible are people that are just as jacked up as we are. And the truth is that despite how messed up they are God still used them. We should be able to relate to the characters and say, hey that guys is just as jacked up as I am. The point then is to see how the grace of God was able to use someone as jacked up as the people in the Bible. This should give us hope. If God can do great things through those messed up people in the Bible, then certainly God can deal with me.

Noah was a redneck who got drunk and passed out in his tent, but God still spared him. Abraham was a pagan and God made a whole nation out of him. Sampson couldn't keep it in his pants and God still used him to save Israel. Ruth was a Moabite who worshiped idols and had some funny dating techniques but she still ended up as Jesus' very very great grandma. David impregnated a woman and murdered her husband but he was still called a man after God's heart. Many of the disciples were uneducated blue-collar workers who God used to start and pastor churches. Paul was a terrorist who murdered Christians and ended up writing more than half of the New Testament.

The point is that humans are jacked up but God's grace is amazing.
My point is that the Bible only has one hero - Jesus.

Church Sign of the Week: Easter

Yeah it's been a while since I posted a sign. But here is one for the past Easter weekend!

I mean this is probably really morbid to some people. Do we really assume that everyone who passes this sign understands the Christian believe that Jesus died for our sins?? If we do assume that then we are very naïve and ignortant of our society and where it is going. We are a post-Christian society and there are a lot of people who have never heard of Jesus let alone a shred of truth about Him. So I can imagine how seemlingly morbid and pointless the thought of a bunny dying would be for them. Eh it's just strange

But I guess that this sign really deep down just makes me want to be sarcastic. If you ask me the Easter Bunny isn't as big a deal as Santa Claus is at Christmas. Most people paint eggs, hunt them, and maybe visit the bunny at the mall (though his line is no where near as long as Santa's). If they go that far with their Easter traditions my guess would be they have some Christian background, with some exceptions, and so then they make their bi-annual trip to a church that Sunday. So this begs the question, why aren't there as many signs about Santa Claus? If there are send them to me when the season comes around. For now, I've made up a few of my own Santa signs in the spirit of this sign. Enjoy!

-Santa Claus wasn't born of a virgin
-Santa Claus wasn't betrayed by Ruldolph
-Santa Claus wasn't a Jew
-Santa Claus wasn't visited by the 3 wise men!
-Santa Claus doesn't answer your prayers
-Santa Claus gives gifts, not righteousness (ha I could really see this one happening)
-Santa Claus will be judged by God, either naughty or nice!
-Santa Claus' gifts will burn, Jesus' won't!

Wow that was fun!

Church Sign of the Week: Are you Ready?

Because when you look back at the road from reading this sign you'll realize that traffic 10 feet in front of you is stopped...

So this sign is obviously geared for non-Christians. It's meant to cause one to ponder the inevitable truth of death which can take us at any time. That a person's realization of the lack of care they've had for their creator will send them running to church this Sunday is the desired outcome of this sign. Though I'm sure it is well intentioned at best (not well thought out). I would never frown on the desire for others to begin believing in and loving God. The world may think that it is arrogant, unloving, and narrow minded for Christians to wish that others would believe in the God of the Bible. But really it is the most loving thing for us to do. If we really believe that God saves us from eternal punishment for our rebellion, it would be unloving NOT to care whether people believe in Him or not.

But there is a fundamental flaw here. It should read something like, "Are you read to meet your creator?" This would be more appropriate. God is everyone's creator, He is not everyone's Savior. If He is my Savior then yes, I am ready to meet Him. If He's not my Savior, then I don't have a savior I can get ready for. Some people may be thinking, but what about 1 John 2:2 and 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 that talk about Jesus dying for the world or for all? Isn't this a way to say that Jesus is everyone's Savior? Yet it is clear that not every man will be saved (Matt. 7:13-14). A Savior is someone who saves you. You cannot say that the former verses allow us to call Jesus everyone's Savior if not everyone will be saved. The reality is that these verses only really point to the fact that the invitation is offered to everyone. That is to say that Jesus is the ONLY POSSIBLE Savior, propitiation or substitute for the whole world. It does not say that every man can and will take the offer. Therefore Jesus is Savior to those He saves and Judge to the rest.

Church Sign of The Week: Quoting God

Straight out of the amplified "translation" of the Bible comes this gem of a sign! Well not really, but both this sign and that translation beg the question, "did God really say that?" What chapter and verse can I look up to find this warm and gentle invitation? Or maybe this was a special word of God spoken to the sign maker of this church. Probably in the end the same label applies to this sign as to the amplified "translation" - ridiculous!

Of course I'm not implying that God would not want families to come to church. This is not the issue of debate. The issue is as always the sign itself. Call me crazy, but I'm never a fan of quoting God on something He never said. Sure you could say this is an extreme paraphrase of a principle of scripture, which I guess would be that parents should teach their children about God. But this thing of making up quotes for God has got to go.

Seriously, though, I'm not sure what you picture when you read this sign, but I'll tell you what I picture and why it concerns me. I see a weak and has-been god. It's like he's sitting in church week after week wondering why nobody comes over. I see god more like a lonely and neglected teenager who's wanting friends and so he will make sure everyone knows he is free and has nothing going on...ever. Just call or drop in anytime. And so just in case other didn't know they were welcome, he'll put it on a sign. I'd say that if God really is saying this it is because he is sick of the company he currently has over. Or maybe I shouldn't say that.

Really the people driving by probably don't think that much into the sign. To them, it's just another weak advertising gimmick from the powerless church to fill the seats (and subsequently the offering plate). Only this organization uses God as their cloak and puts up signs in His name, since God couldn't bring people to church Himself.

New Calvinism: Revision

It is good to have people who will provide counter arguments. They keep us sharp especially when we rush and tend not to be so sharp ourselves. So for those of you who don't read the comments on my blogs here is a counter article to what Driscoll says about the "New Calvinism" article in Time Magazine. Check it out. It provides a good counter point to Driscoll's analysis of the Time Magazine article and has changed my opinion. I must confess I was more interested in the Time article and did not read through Driscoll's analysis as critically as I should.

It is still worthy to note, however, the changes occurring in Christian culture as I noted in my previous post.

New Calvinism?

According to Time magazine, what they are calling the "New Calvinism" is one of the 10 ideas changing the world right now. You can see the article here. The article is decent for being a secular source trying to describe Calvinism (I don't even find many Christians who can describe it well). It has also been mentioned a few times by Mark Driscoll at The Resurgence and he even has a good blog on the differences (though few) between the new and old Calvinism. I find it very interesting to see it up on their list as it really seems out of place with the rest especially since most of them have direct economic relevance. To me this is pretty encouraging... and at the same time unsettling.

The reason I am at all unsettled is that I think this really shows a growing divide in Christianity. The article makes a point to mention the difference between Christian doctrine just 20 years ago and today (it does so by looking at the difference in Christian music which to me is brilliant and insightful). The reality is that the Evangelical Christianity of my parents generation (and I'm 25) that sought after prosperity, good feelings, a better life now, pastors that were more like motivational speakers, and an arms-wide-open sensitive and soft Jesus is changing. The first option for its change is what I would say is its normal course which is liberal Christianity where doctrine is really ignored. The other option is this new Calvinism which is popular among younger Christians. I believe this is because many are tired of the flimsy god and self-focused religion of their parents and are finding hope, joy, and security in the sovereign God of the Bible.

But the reality is that there is a divide and it may get larger. There is more of an urgency now than ever to find out when to fight and when to back down. What doctrines do we stand up for and which ones do we not accept? How do we stand for the truth, fight for the truth and still love our brothers and sisters in Christ? Where can there be unity and where can there not?

Church Sign of The Week: Daylight Savings

This is in honor of last weekend's daylight savings time. And this is really an amazing sign. I mean I'm still laughing every time I see it.

So in the spring we lose an hour. At 2am it really becomes 3 am. For those people who forget to set their clocks forward the night before, this can cause more problems than the fall time switch. You see, if you forget to set your clocks, then when your clock says 10am, it is really 11am. So if you have to be somewhere, say at 10:30am that next Sunday, and you forgot to set your clocks, you will be an hour late. At least if you forget in the fall, you'll just be an hour early.

But this makes you wonder if in the past this church has had issues with people walking in an hour late to service. Possibly enough issues to warrant this sign. But think of those victims of daylight savings time memory lapse. Those families who woke up at the normal time, did the normal Sunday morning routine, and when they get to church the pastor is already into his sermon. Oh the awkward looks ranging from 'how dare you come late' to 'you forgot about daylight savings time, how stupid are you.' And so this church has found a way to forever solve that problem. I just hope nobody from this church was planning on having lunch with someone from a church who practices proper daylight savings time.

But what about visitors? I mean, if as a visitor actually came to the church that day and never saw the sign, would they have known? Then, though being truly on time, they'd really be awkwardly early. But really I just think this would be weird for a visitor anyway. I'm assuming that this delay of the time switch was announced the previous week in service and so the sign must be for the public, for the potential visitor. Whatever.

I'm sure they don't do this in the fall even though this seems like it may be a problem for many of their members. If someone forgets then, they'll be early. Thus you can trick all those who come right as the service begins into an hour of pre-service fellowship.