Cast the Stone at Yourself

So Josh Hamilton was caught drinking more than one beer in a Dallas bar this week. That's nothing to make light of. Dealing with addictions is serious business and it's nothing to make light of when a recovering addict trips. There are no excuses for it. No, I cannot even begin to identify what it's like to be Josh Hamilton. He has the pressure of every move he makes being documented and reported. Over the past year, he's dealt with two tough physical injuries and the horror of witnessing the accidental death of a fan/husband/father. I cannot even begin to understand what he deals with on that and hope I never have to. On top of that, he has all eyes watching him because he credits his faith for delivering him from his addictions. No doubt, in this skeptical world, there are those just waiting for him to fail. Don't tell me there isn't any pressure there.
And so yes, even those things are not an excuse for tripping back into the things that have plagued your life for a long time. Even though Josh has yet to make a public statement about it, I'm sure he isn't offering any excuses either. It was very disturbing when I read a column in the Fort W0rth Star Telegram this morning questioning Josh Hamilton's trustworthiness. This particular columnist makes it sound as if this world is comprised of addicts (the bad guys) and the non-addicts (the trustworthy guys). He also makes it sound as if Hamilton has been fooling us all this time.
I've got news for this columnist and anybody else who has decided to put themselves on a pedestal on this issue; all of us have our demons. Galatians 5 talks about the battles of the flesh versus the life guided by the Spirit. And each of us have at least something (a substance, a behavior, a person, or some object) that stands between us and God. Repeatedly going back to that is either abuse or addiction if we're going by the textbook definition. Only God can deliver us from it and even after we give it to him, we still struggle with it. And there are moments that we slip back into it. Just like Hamilton, there is no excuse for slipping back into it, but we are all guilty of it.
I have more news for this columnist; some of my best friends and most trusted people are addicts. They are recovering addicts, but still addicts. The reason they are the most trusted people in my life is because someone who has been addicted and recovered has to be honest. That person has to be real about who he or she is and what he or she struggles with. And yes, these close friends who are recovering addicts have had their momentary slip-ups. But they are open about it.
I prefer that over someone who thinks he or she has it all together. When a person has a slip-up like that, this should be the moment when he or she feels support and accountability. This does not mean condoning or overlooking what has happened. Again, that needs to be taken seriously. But it doesn't warrant writing that person off or saying that trust is now broken and it certainly doesn't warrant elevating yourself on a pedestal over that person.
Josh Hamilton has come a long way over the past decade in battling his demons. He has given back by making amends to those he has hurt. He has given his all on the baseball field. He has given back to the fans in numerous ways.
Now is the time for the fan base to show support for Josh as he deals with this latest episode...

Not Freaking-Out

I heard that the Southern Baptist Convention is declining. Overall membership in SBC churches are significantly less and continuing to drop and the number of baptisms are down. The solution from the Southern Baptist Convention Pastor's Conference is to emphasize evangelism again! Really? Is the current state of the Southern Baptist Convention not a product of a false understanding of evangelism? And we want to emphasize that more?

Look at what the tactics of the 1950's and 1960's revivalism-era produced. Yes, we have church rolls filled with names of people, many of which have not been back to a church building since the 1950's and 1960's. Expectations were lowered. Tactics that aren't found in scripture were used and still linger today. These tactics include the Invitation/Altar Call (which isn't bad in itself only that it isn't mandated in scripture and has been used to play on people's emotions and provide a false sense of salvation in many cases), using sales pitches to sell the gospel to someone with words and phrases that aren't found in scripture, and having the church and pastor vote someone into fellowship and approve his or her baptism without even trying to find out where the person really is with God. These are methods that I've seen all my life having grown up in Southern Baptist churches. I want no part of these methods. Isn't it interesting that Billy Graham himself has said that if he had to do it over again, he would have done it differently. He said he would have discipled the 12. He said that because he believes that 12 men properly discipled could do more for God's kingdom than the thousands and thousands who came forward during his crusades over the years. He and his organization tried to do a lot as far as discipling those who came forward following his preaching, but he admits that he is certain that a good number of them weren't sincere commitments.

So when I hear this same convention getting nervous because they are baptizing less people and calling for putting evangelism back at the forefront, I wonder if they even know what they are saying. When Paul gave the instruction to "do the work on an evangelist," I'm certain he meant more than just telling people about Christ and he certainly didn't mean many of the methods that have become popular among evangelics over the past century.

Yes, the Southern Baptist Convention as a whole is in decline as far as numbers. And now we're supposed to ask our people to start evangelizing. People who likely don't understand what evangelism really is because they aren't discipled. Again, they are a product of years and years of a false sense of evangelism.

As a pastor of a Southern Baptist Church, I am not freaking-out at all about these recent statistics. Instead, I'm called to prayer as I seek how to be more concerned about having quality baptisms over quantity of baptisms.

So yes, let's get back to the way we used to do evangelism. Let's get back to the first-century method of evangelism that we find in the scriptures. Let's put the tactics of the 1950's and 1960's revivalistic era in the archives and get to doing it the way it should be done. Doing so may result in even significantly less baptisms over the next several years, but may produce something greater later.

Uncharted Waters

It looks like the government will shut down....again! I remember when this happened in the mid-1990's and not at all surprised that this is happening again. In the 1990's, Bill Clinton played a smooth game of turning the tables when he was down. In 1994, it looked as if Clinton was down for the count. Republicans swept the House and Senate and were trying to stand on what they felt they were elected to do. Clinton played a savvy game of shutting down the government and blaming Republicans for it. The reality is that both sides were to blame for that, but unfortunately it's all about who wins the perception war instead of exposing reality. Clinton's savvy in addition to Dole's dullness made for an easy 1996 re-election.

I just assumed the same thing was going to happen when Obama was elected in 2008. Yes, he would quickly become unpopular (all Presidents do). Most newly elected Presidents find that ideology and reality are harder to reconcile than they wanted to admit so they abandon many of the things they ran their elections on. Obama definitely did this and became unpopular with many within his base. This economy will recover, but it isn't going anywhere fast and it doesn't take long for the new guy to receive the blame. So it was pretty much a given that Republicans would make some gains in 2010. And when that happened, recent history tells us that there will be gridlock then a standstill and a lot of finger-pointing from both sides. I just assumed that Obama would win this public relations war (he can work his mojo) and go on to an easy re-election in 2012.

But I'm not so sure now. This is going to get interesting because there are a couple of major factors at play that we didn't have in the mid-1990's. First, there is Fox News. Yes, they lean toward the conservative side of things. Let's just admit it. The other news networks lean toward the liberal side of things. Let's not act like it doesn't happen. In the mid-1990's, Bill Clinton didn't have to fight the public relations war. He had the entire news media on his side. Obama has a giant and influential news network thorn in his side that Clinton didn't have. Second, Republicans don't have majority of both houses on Congress. It's not Clinton vs. Dole/Gingrich this round, but Obama vs. Boehner vs. Reid vs. Obama vs....Confused.

So, it's going to be interesting to see who wins this PR war. I'm also interested in knowing who will come to an agreement first; the Federal government or the NFL players and owners. I am certainly cynical about one thing; both cases will yield to a lose-lose situation.

Rob Bell Outwitted Everyone

It looks like Rob Bell accomplished his purpose. He got us talking. The last 2-3 weeks have been a lot of back-and-forth over "he said/no he didn't's" and "what is he really saying?". Along the way there have been ugly accusations, name-calling, attempted exiles, and attempted apostasy over a book that was just released two days ago (as of this writing) and mostly by people who haven't even read it!

I've never read a Rob Bell book (I've only seen some of the NOOMA videos), but I'm going to read this one. I'm going to form my own opinion ONLY AFTER I have ACTUALLY READ THE BOOK! Had it not been for the controversy, I don't know if I would have considered reading this book. So now Bell is going to make some money off me. He's going to make a lot of money because this book is obviously going to sell a lot of copies. But I know that isn't Bell's purpose for writing this book. If the introductory video is any indicator of what is contained in the book, he is asking questions that's getting us talking. It's shaking us up. It's not wrong to ask the tough questions that go to the core of our beliefs. Don't we need to ask them to gain a firmer understanding of why we believe the things we believe?

So my hat's off to Bell. He got us talking. If we put the name calling and accusations aside, perhaps this discussion will further enrich our understanding of the scriptures concerning the atonement, heaven, hell, and all the other things that have been brought to the table in this book. If worst case scenario, Bell ends us being a universalist and a heretic, then what does that have to do with any of us besides Rob Bell? He's responsible for him, none of us are responsible for him. If that worst case scenario happens, then we will politely point out what the scripture says as opposed to what he says (again I'm speaking hypothetically) to those within our spheres of influence and pray for him (with sincerity, not in the sarcastic or passing judgment sense that we tend to do in church).

What is sad is that along the way over the past two weeks, Bell has inadverdently exposed some in the Evangelical world. The vehement accusations, tweets, and name-calling aimed at Bell (again, over something they haven't read...yet) has caused me to lose respect for a few people that I once thought highly of.

So that's all there is to be said until we actually read the book.

Religiously Correct

If this phrase hasn't been used yet, then I'm taking credit for coining it. It's called "Religiously Correct." The usual battles that occur this time of year between the Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays/Season's Greetings crowd have resulted in this phrase.

As a believer and follower of Christ, I am embarrassed that these battles go on. In previous years, religious groups have organized boycotts of business and retail stores that say "Happy Holidays," sell "Holiday Trees," or have "Holiday Sales" instead of using the word Christmas. This year, the battle has heated up against atheist groups in metropolitan areas buying billboard space with a picture of the nativity scene asking the public if they really believe this happened. Local church groups have organized boycotts of the companies that sold this ad space. (It should be noted that the companies selling the ad space say they would be glad to sell ad space to Christian groups to advertise their message too). Furthermore, there are posts going around Facebook asking people if they really believe in saying "Merry Christmas" instead of the politically correct "Happy Holidays," then copy and paste this as your Facebook status.

I really don't know where to begin in addressing this, but I will start with the political correctness issue.

First, saying "Happy Holidays" doesn't necessarily make one politically correct or anti-Jesus. I will say both "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas." These are the holidays. Within just over a month, you have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. These are three nationally recognized holidays. There is nothing wrong with wishing someone well during these days.

Second, we as Christians need to be confronted with a harsh reality. We say "Merry Christmas" and want others to say "Merry Christmas," but when going by actions instead of words, are we really celebrating the birth of Christ? Yes, we (I am including myself here) like to think that we are, but actions speak louder than words and what our actions really say, if we are not careful, is that we are taking the name of Christ and using it to feed our materialism. We are so concerned about what we will get and what to get others that we will shop ourselves stupid and spend money we don't have. We don't need most of the stuff we get for Christmas and we know we don't need it, but we will use the name of Jesus as an excuse for feeding our materialistic desires. No wonder there are atheist groups organizing themselves to question what is recorded in the scriptures about Christ's birth. I believe what the scriptures say. But do my actions about Christmas speak to the world that I believe the scriptures? Or do my actions say that I am all about stuff, that I am attached to stuff, and that I want more stuff. Not that giving and receiving gifts is wrong as long as we keep in perspective that we are about the Hope that arrived in this world in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. So, what I am saying in so many words, is that we are showing a lot of hypocrisy. Instead of fighting the world over using politically correct phrases, let's examine ourselves first.

Third, Jesus isn't politically correct and never has been in any culture. We as Christians just need to deal with that. He's been controversial ever since he arrived in this world (remember, he ticked-off King Herod). Instead of fighting the political correctness in the larger culture, we need to be on guard against religious correctness in our Christian subculture. People in church circles will use religious litmus tests to determine someone's Christianity. These litmus tests aren't based upon things found in scripture, but are things considered taboo in religious subculture. Alcohol is an example of this. The scriptures don't actually prohibit someone from taking a drink, just for getting drunk or allowing alcohol (or anything else for that matter) standing between an individual and God). In our culture, we need to consider the negative connotation of alcohol and whether or not we would be tempting someone who struggles with alcohol addiction if we were to take a drink. For this reason, I don't take a drink. But I won't hold it against someone or consider him or her less Christian if he or she decides to take a drink. Same goes with saying "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings" instead of "Merry Christmas." I sense from some in the Christian subculture that if you don't say "Merry Christmas" then you aren't the spiritual and Godly giant that they think they are. This is the same smugness and air of superiority that Jesus confronted in the religious people of his day. I use the term religion here because when we get to that point, it is no longer about faith, but just about keeping rules.

To sum this all up, if we as followers of Christ would be more concerned about living our faith in our culture instead of waging war against our culture at Christmas time and every other time of the year, maybe the culture would be different. By fighting political correctness, we are just digging ourselves deeper into a hole.

Attitude

Sometimes I prefer the company of unchurched people. Last weekend, my wife and I were vacationing in Dallas and spent some time in the hot tub at the hotel we were staying at. In the hot tub were two other couples. In conversations with them, I realized they didn't attend church and probably had little or no relationship with God. However, they were very nice, great to talk to, and seemed to be enjoying themselves. They just seemed to love life and had a great attitude about things.
Contrast this with most of what I hear out of Christian acquaintances. Much of what I hear is complaining about life; griping about family, griping about work, griping about church, griping about the city, griping about the government, and on and on. It's draining and I don't realize how much that spirit affects me until I get away from it for a few days.
A friend of mine who spent 11 years in prison before his life altering encounter with God once shared with me that he met more honest people in prison than he has ever met in church. I believe every bit of that statement. Oftentimes I wonder when I am around church people and even fellow pastors, if I'm really hearing the truth or just a bunch of.....well......that stuff that makes crops grow.
Why is it this way? How come those of us who claim to follow Christ can't display a better attitude about life? Why do we put on such a facade when we are around each other that we don't really know one another and what's really going on in our lives?
It seems the world has us beat in attitude, joy, honesty, and I'm willing to bet they have us beat in forgiving too.
Instead of us informing the world, the world seems to be informing us. It shouldn't be that way.

What's Going On?

Over the past year, I have had two friends leave the ministry not for moral reasons, but just for the fact that it was taking a toll on them spiritually, physically, and in many other ways. Just in the previous week, I have heard about several others who have walked away from it within the past year too. Even the healthiest of churches seem to be having problems with many people on edge right now. On a weekly basis, I receive news of a different church being attacked by wolves/busybodies or whatever you want to call them.
I know this stuff has always taken place, but I'm hearing more of it now. Are things really heating up? What exactly is going on that's causing all of these things to take place? (And don't tell me that we are just living in the Last Days. We have been since Jesus left this world 2000 years ago and we could be here another 2000 or so years so that isn't a good enough answer).