Theological Musings

he title of this post is completely tongue-in-cheek, by the way! Since I have gotten tagged several times for the same thing, I feel like I better finally get around to participating! John Smulo started it (although he mercifully didn’t tag me). In the time since this particular tag thing started, I have gotten tagged several times, to the point that I don’t even remember who all tagged me.

I know for sure that Brother Maynard, Aussie John, and Brandon all tagged me, and I seem to think there were a couple of others, too, although I can’t find them at the moment.

At any rate, you have probably already seen people writing their posts on “5 Things I Dig about Jesus”. I’ve not been real crazy about the use of the word “dig”, but at any rate, I’ll take the time here to list five things that I appreciate and love about Jesus.

1. He is my best friend. He demonstrated this by laying down his life for me. By his own words, there is no greater love than when someone lays down his life for his friends.
2. He is my brother. By placing my trust in him, I have the right and privilege to be called a son of God. Because he is also a son of God, that makes us brothers!
3. He showed me the Father. Not only did he show us the Father, but he made it possible for me to have a relationship with the Father.
4. He showed me how to live a life that pleases the Father. By consistently doing only those things that the Father instructed him to do, he demonstrated a life of obedience. And now he empowers me to do the same thing.
5. He took the penalty for my sin and the curse that went with it. Sin no longer has any power over me unless I let it have that power. But because of what Jesus did, I no longer have to yield to the power of sin.

I feel like there’s so much more that I could write, because these five things only scratch the surface. But I’ll let it go at those five for now.

Feel free to add more in the comments section.

Almost everybody I read has already been tagged, so it’s a stretch to find five people to tag. I will just give a stab at it here by tagging:

1. David Wayne (JollyBlogger)
2. Tomas Perez
3. Raborn Johnson
4. David Rogers
5. Rose (Rose’s Reasonings)

Until next time,

steve

his evening, on my way to the evening performance of the latest show I’m music directing, I caught a brief snippet of a sermon by the late Adrian Rogers on the radio. He was talking about various spiritual gifts in the body of Christ.

He said something to the effect that certain gifts are more suited for certain types of ministry. Using the same body metaphor that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians, he talked about his own hand and eye. He said that the eye is not suited for picking up a pen, nor is the hand suited for looking at something.

So when he needs to look at something, the hand needs to submit to the eye. And when he needs to write something, the eye must submit to the hand.

It got me thinking about this. A lot of times when we talk about different spiritual gifts, we seem to speak of them as if they are separate. They are disjointed.

But thinking of the eye and the hand in Dr. Roger’s comments made me think of the phrase “eye-hand coordination”. (At this point, I think I’m departing from the original statements by Dr. Rogers and his main point.)

An activity like catching a ball involves the eye and the hand working together. The eye can do some of the work needed, but it can’t catch the ball on its own (or if it does try to, there will be some painful injuries resulting!). Likewise, the hand can do the physical work of catching the ball, but it can’t analyze the situation to know where to place itself in order to do that.

How well are we working with others in the body of Christ? It’s not enough to appreciate the different gifts. It’s not even enough to say, “Well, I’m glad they’re doing their job because I can’t do it.” There is, in my opinion, a point of healthy organic life in the body of Christ wherein the particular gifts work together to accomplish one purpose.

From this standpoint, it seems obviously essential that Jesus be the head of the body like he is supposed to be. Without him directing the activities and movements of the body, the actions of the various parts are pretty meaningless.

Until next time,

steve

t has recently been brought to my attention that I lack discernment. It has been demonstrated that I lack the ability to carefully read someone’s post and see what they really are saying. I choose to believe what I choose to believe, and can easily be manipulated.

Or so I’ve been told.

This was all demonstrated by a blogger who was so concerned about the amount of manipulation taking place in the blogosphere that he, by his own admission, “played [his readers] like a fiddle”. In his (again, his own words) “planned manipulation”, he composed a blog post that he carefully crafted to lead his readers to a conclusion that was entirely false.

He spoke no untruths directly, but very systematically put words together in a way that would lead to an untruth. He knew that his readers would believe something that was completely false, yet he intentionally did everything he could to lead them to that conclusion.

And his reasoning? He wanted to demonstrate how easily it could be done. He believes that a whole lot of bloggers are doing it all the time. And he believes that it was necessary to shame his readers into seeing what a “shallow” (his word) group of people they are.

The scenario: Controversy has been raging in a certain denomination (I’m very carefully picking words that will not prompt Google searches. Forgive the vagueness here.) over a certain spiritual gift. (It’s named after the thing that is in your mouth…got it?) And this particular person is a member of a select group of people who oversee an extremely large agency of that denomination. That agency is the arm of that denomination that sends people to foreign countries to preach the Gospel.

So this was not some young, renegade blogger pulling a stunt. No, this was a man who is supposedly worthy of honor and respect, allegedly mature in the faith, and viewed as a leader by many. And more seriously, this is a man who claims to be doing all of this in the name of Christ.

So, after making lots of public statements regarding his view of this particular gift, he decided to pull a fast one on some of his readers.

He wrote an entire post that gave the impression he had changed his position on this issue. He claimed to have had experiences far in his past that he had forgotten about. And he said that remembering that he had those experiences allowed him to finally see things from another perspective.

When I read this post, I was encouraged and hopeful. If someone so high up in a denomination could humble himself to admit that he could relate to those against whom he had previously spoken, that seemed like something that could only come from the Spirit of God. And my heart rejoiced!

I posted a comment in response, hoping to encourage him. I was sure he would take flack from many people, and I wanted to be a voice of support for him. So I wrote my comment.

The next morning, when I awoke, I found an email from this blogger telling me that I probably needed to read his next post, and that he could understand if I was embarrassed or thought he was “treacherous”.

When I read his follow-up post, I was stunned. He admitted that he had crafted the whole thing to make a point. He admitted that he had designed the whole thing to show how undiscerning people really are. He called it “planned manipulation”.

Everything that he had written in his “manipulation” was technically true. He had not technically “lied”. However, he had reported the truths in such a way as to lead the reader to believe something entirely other than the truth.

I waited several hours before replying. I was hurt. I was angry. I was embarrassed. And yes, I saw what he did as “treacherous”.

In my comments, I told him that I couldn’t see any justification in what he had done. And I asked him if Jesus had ever been deceitful like that. I didn’t think so, but put it out there anyway.

Well, it turns out that I’m even denser than the previous post pointed out. Because now I have “learned” several things:

• “Planned manipulation” apparently is not deceit. And I was falsely accusing this man of being deceptive.
• “Planned manipulation” is apparently completely acceptable if you are trying to make a spiritual point.
• “Planned manipulation” is apparently what Jesus was doing when he spoke in parables.
• “Planned manipulation” has been used by God all throughout Scripture in order to humble people and make a point.
• It is wrong for me to claim that “planned manipulation” is not God-honoring, and I am just showing that I am rejecting the need for discernment (his words).

Well, I don’t know what your thoughts are reading those bullet points, but guess what? I think all of that is complete and utter bunk. I fully reject the idea that God ever “manipulated” anyone by intentionally leading them to a false conclusion.

And I stand completely opposed to anyone doing such in the name of Christ.

I don’t care what your point is. I don’t care what you think other bloggers are doing that is sinful. Nothing, nothing, nothing gives you the right to deliberately manipulate others and then claim that you are following God’s example.

If these are the actions of a leader in a huge denomination, then Lord help us all.

Until next time,

steve

t is not the general nature of this blog to speak on political events or idealogies. However, from time to time, I find myself compelled to address certain things of a political nature from a Christian perspective.

Sometimes that results in a very unpopular view. There are certain things that are “fashionable” for Christians to hold to here in America. Speaking out against those things is often misconstrued as speaking out against Christianity itself. Or, at best, one is viewed as a political liberal, and therefore not a good Christian.

The “War on Terror” is one such issue. It has the ability to polarize people so quickly. And while I don’t seek to make a case for or against the current military action, I do think it is high time that those of us who are citizens of the Kingdom of God consider the tightrope that we must walk in balancing our American citizenship with our Heavenly citizenship.

Recently, someone sent me one of those ubiquitous “forwards” in email. You know exactly the type of thing I’m talking about. The type that ends with “If you believe this, send it on to everyone you know.” The email was entitled “Could Not Be Said Better”, and is quoted here only in part:

Written by a housewife from New Jersey and sounds like it! This is one ticked off lady.

“Are we fighting a war on terror or aren’t we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001?

Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan , across the Potomac from our nation’s capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania ? Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn’t they?

And I’m supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was “desecrated” when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet?…Well, I don’t. I don’t care at all.

I’ll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I’ll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia

I’ll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.

In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don’t care.

When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college-hazing incident, rest assured: I don’t care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank: I don’t care.

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed “special” food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being “mishandled,” you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts: I don’t care.

And of course, the email finished with these “noble” statements:

If you agree with this viewpoint, pass this on to all your e-mail friends. Sooner or later, it’ll get to the people responsible for this ridiculous behavior!

If you don’t agree, then by all means hit the delete button. Should you choose the latter, then please don’t complain when more atrocities committed by radical Muslims happen here in our great country!

…Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G. I.
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

YOU MIGHT WANT TO PASS THIS ON, AS MANY SEEM TO FORGET BOTH OF THEM. AMEN

Now, I realize that these types of sentiments are very popular. However, after giving it a lot of thought and prayer, I composed a reply to person who had sent it on to me. I didn’t touch on the idea that I found equating the death of an American G.I. with the death of Jesus quite offensive. But at any rate, here was the reply I sent to my friend:

---

Greetings! It’s been quite a while since we corresponded personally. I have felt for several days, however, since receiving this particular forwarded email from you, that I needed to share something on my heart with you. After much prayer, and attempts at writing that have been abandoned, I am finally taking the plunge to share these thoughts with you.

I pray that you will receive them in the spirit in which they are intended. Having said that, feel free to test my words yourself and accept or reject them as you feel led by the Spirit of God.

Since 9/11, it has become increasingly difficult to see our Christianity as anything but enmeshed in our American citizenship. In other words, our patriotism and feelings of support for our country have blurred the lines between our citizenship in the USA and our citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven.

One very unfortunate side effect of this is that the War on Terror (among other things) has become a “religious war”, as evidenced by the email you forwarded below.

I can only assume, based on the closing remarks in the email, that you forwarded it on because you agree with the contents of it. And it is those contents to which I am responding.

It is very easy to get passionate about our country. It is very easy to see this war as something that is not only necessary, but right. And overall, the point of my response is not to question that. However, I think it is vitally important that we who claim the name of Christ are willing to evaluate our thoughts and feelings alongside the teachings of the very Christ whose name we bear.

Jesus spoke about how we should view our enemies. And what He spoke was pretty direct. He said that we should love those who hate us. Consider this passage (Matthew 5:38-48):

“You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Many of the statements included in the email you forwarded are in direct opposition to these words of Jesus. Would you agree?

“I’ll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in….”
“I’ll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Bible….”
“I’ll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry….”

I think you can see my point. The sentiments expressed in these statements that I’ve referenced are of the nature of “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”. This is starkly contrasted by the words of Jesus. If I could paraphrase the words of Jesus a tad, “if you only care about those who first care about you, what reward do you have?”

Give it some thought. I’d be open to any disagreement or discussion that you have regarding this. I know the forwarded email said to just delete it if I disagreed, but I feel like my relationship to you as a brother in Christ calls for something different.

I sincerely hope and pray that my words here are not offensive to you. And I deeply regret that my first “personal” email to you in several years is to take issue with a forwarded email that you have sent on.

May God bless you, and may His Spirit allow whatever truth may be in my words here to be seen, and the grace to identify and correct whatever I may have spoken in error.

“Finally…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

---

What do you, my readers, think?Until next time,

steve

ayne Jacobsen at Lifestream Blog recently posted on an issue which has been batted around some here on this blog. His post is entitled “Where Is Your Doctrinal Statement?” and is in response to a question he received via email.

Several times in the past, I have talked here on this blog about what doctrinal issues are essential for fellowship, but Jacobsen takes an even better approach. He emphasizes the importance of living out what you believe vs. stating what you believe.

Some may find that to be a false dichotomy, but I think that Jacobsen’s statements line up quite well with biblical statements such as “They will know you are my disciples by your love one for another” and if a person says they love God, yet hate their brother, they are a liar.

Consider this statement by Jacobsen:

Doctrinal statements are an irrelevant test whether anyone is lining up their life with the Scripture. The test is in the living. I know many people who sign on to doctrinal statements but do not live the reality of them. Assent to a creed doesn’t mean anything if someone isn’t going to live in and embrace the reality of it. What really matters is not their theology but their relationship to the Father through the Son. And there [sic] words don’t really matter. Many people claim to know him who do not. What matters is their life in him.

This is a key point worth remembering. Rather than tout our theology as what defines us, we should instead seek to live a life that removes all doubt as to whose we are.

Go read the entire post, and feel free to comment there or here.

Until next time,

steve