Pagan Christianity

Pagan Christianity breaks down many of the traditions that Christians hold to and practice and explores where they came from historically. This book makes the claim that many of these traditions have been taken directly from the pagan world and it’s practices.

I appreciated the way that this book questions many of the forms that Christians have come to accept today without questioning or considering whether or not they are Biblical. In that sense this book is a good book for us to examine the forms that we use and ask if we are really serving Christ in the way he has called us to do so. This book raises some excellent questions about what we do and why we do it.

On the other hand, I do feel that this book does fall short in answering some of my questions. If the church is as far off base as the authors claim than it would seem that the “true Church” has not existed for some time. I believe that even in flawed forms the church has persevered and even if we through out all of the flawed forms that the authors raise issue with we would still end up with new flawed forms. If you are interested there is much more discussion on this book here.

What is Necessary in Order to be the/a Church?

This question echoed around in my head for several years while I lived overseas. As I prayerfully thought through this, layer upon layer of American cultural church baggage was stripped away for me. I began to think of the Presbyterian Church that I was part of prior to going to the field. Obviously certain physical structures began to fall away immediately. Most Christians would agree that while they like their church building you don't have to have a steeple, pews, red carpet or an organ to effectively be the church.

Then I started thinking about the life of a church in a typical week. You don't necessarily need a Sunday school, a youth group, or a benevolence committee to be a church. Those are all great things, but are not absolutely necessary to be the church. Then I started thinking about the way we met on Sundays. Do you have to meet on Sundays? Do you have to have a time of singing together? As someone who was a worship leader for many years I sure do like it, but is it necessary? Must you have a sermon preached every Sunday? This question makes many people very uncomfortable. In our very small body of believers in Spain we went for a long time with out any official sermon, but we always dedicated ourselves to meeting together and to studying the scripture. This study took on various forms, but it did not require that one person study the scripture and spoon feed the rest. Instead, being a small group of believers everyone was responsible to participate and bring something to the spiritual table. We fed, challenged and discipled one another. Were we the church or were we something else?

In my mind I began to compare the church to a house and this mental exercise caused me to do a spring cleaning. I took all of the furniture of this house out into the front lawn along with a bunch of trash that had accumulated in my mental understanding of what it meant to be a church. There are certain things for every house that are absolutely essential for it to be a house. It needs a foundation and walls and a roof. After that, there are some essential pieces of furniture which we tend to place in the house to make it more livable. After we have the structure and the furniture, then we get into the decorations. These are the individual aspects of each house which make it a home. Each house is decorated in a different way, and this may make a house more beautiful (or ugly depending on your taste), but not every house will choose the same decorations.

As we look at the church we must realize what the true foundation of this structure is. After that we should move on to some of the essential pieces of furniture. Then we can move on to decorating, but let us be cautious not to confuse the decorations with the foundation. Also, once we take out the garbage we should resist the urge to bring it back inside and throw it in the closet. That will just make our Church an unhealthy place.

So what do you think? What is absolutely necessary in order to be the/a church? What are some great pieces of furniture that every church should strive for? What are some things that are nice, but merely decorations? And finally, are your answers Biblically or culturally based?

Clay Shirky: Institutions vs. collaboration

As you watch this think about how it relates to the church as an institution.

Christianity Around the World

Biola Magazine has an interesting article describing what Christianity look like around the world.

Tim Keller gives talk at Google

This video is great. I was especially impressed with Tim Keller during the Q&A session at the end. He was respectful and tried to give the best answers possible to the queries thrown his way.

Missing the Point!

"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts."

-Jesus of Nazareth
(John 5:39-42)

As I read the Gospels I am constantly struck by the interactions of Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees were known as some of the most religiously devout men in that time. They poured over the scriptures day and night and set up all manner of rules and regulations with a desire to become more "Holy". In the midst of doing this they became experts in the minutiae of the most obscure Bible passages. They were so caught up with trying to find God that they ended up missing him when he was standing right in front of them.

It is easy for us to look back on those Pharisees with contempt and haughtily laugh in disgust at their foolish actions. However, it is easy to then turn around and do the exact same things that they did. As people who claim to follow Christ, I am amazed at how often we resemble the Pharisees in our thoughts, words and actions. We care more about what people think than we care about people (please know that I am speaking first and foremost of myself).

Here Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. He says you are "diligently seeking the scriptures". That seems like a compliment, right? Today he might say, "you are actively pursuing your degree in religious studies." Or, "You faithfully attend Sunday Sermons and Bible studies every week." Or, "You religiously devote yourself to a daily reading of the Bible and quiet time."

At first glance, it is easy to say "Yeah, of course I do. What's wrong with that?" His response is that in the midst of doing all these things that are about him, we refuse to come to him. The Pharisees were constantly busying themselves with every kind of religious activity, but in the end they were far from the heart of God. They were so far from God that they were the ones who paved the way to the death of Jesus.

Several summary thoughts:

1) Jesus did not say it was bad to study the scriptures. A cursory reading of the Gospels will demonstrate that Jesus is well versed in the Old Testament.

2) In his recitation of the greatest commandment Jesus says to "love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength". In order to love the Lord with all of our mind, we obviously need to study.

3) In our study of scripture we do not merely seek Biblical trivia as though we are cramming for a bubble-test to get into heaven.

4) We study as a way of "coming to Jesus"

5) We study so that we learn what it means "to have the love of God within us"

6) We don't want to pave the way to Jesus' death, but we want to pave the way to life with him. To do that we must first "come" to him.

Is Santa Claus Real???

"In his most famous exploit however, a poor man had three daughters but could not afford a proper dowry for them. This meant that they would remain unmarried and probably, in absence of any other possible employment would have to become prostitutes. Hearing of the poor man's plight, Nicholas decided to help him but being too modest (or too shy) to help the man in public, (or knowing the man too proud to accept charity), he went to his house under the cover of night and threw three purses filled with gold coins through the window opening onto the man's floor. One version has him throwing one purse for three consecutive nights. Another has him throw the purses over a period of three years, each time the night before one of the daughters comes "of age". Invariably the third time the father lies in waiting, trying to discover their benefactor. In one version the father confronts the saint, only to have Saint Nicholas say it is not him he should thank, but God alone. In another version, Nicholas learns of the poor man's plan and drops the third bag down the chimney instead; a variant holds that the daughter had washed her stockings that evening and hung them over the embers to dry, and that the bag of gold fell into the stocking. For his help to the poor, Nicholas is the patron saint of pawnbrokers; the three gold balls traditionally hung outside a pawnshop symbolize the three sacks of gold. People then began to suspect that he was behind a large number of other anonymous gifts to the poor, using the inheritance from his wealthy parents. After he died, people in the region continued to give to the poor anonymously, and such gifts were still often attributed to St. Nicholas." (Excerpt from Wikipedia)

Is Santa Real?
I knew that one day this question would come. Last week as I was driving Abi to kindergarten she asked me point blank. Lori and I talked about his years ago. We decided that we would not actively encourage nor discourage Santa Claus's existence, but if asked we would never lie. When Abi asked me I replied that St. Nicholas was a real person who lived a long time ago. Not only that, but he was a very generous person and he loved Jesus. Through his gifts he helped lots of people and Santa Claus helps us remember the real person of St. Nicolas and is an example for us to be generous to others. She seemed to understand and enjoy that simple explanation as she smiled and said, "Thanks Dad."

Facts on the Fatherless

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

This past weekend a small group from our church had the privilege of serving the office staff of GRIP. Grip is a Chicago inner-city ministry that works with a lot of students from broken home. Jen Carlson works at Grip and gave me the following stats. I was so blown away by what I read that I had to pass it along.

The Facts on “Fatherlessness”

The percentage of kids born out-of-wedlock has grown 223% since 1970.
[US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2005]

7 out of 10 African-American kids are born out-of-wedlock.
[US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2005]

3 out of 10 Caucasian kids are born out-of-wedlock; an increase of 440% since 1970.
[US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2005]

The Consequences
90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes.
[U.S. D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census.]

80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes.
[Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol 14, p. 403-26, 1987.]

60% of repeat rapists grew up without fathers.
[Raymond A. Knight and Robert A. Prentky, "The Developmental Antecednts of Adult Adaptations of Rapist Sub-Types," Criminal Justice & Behavior, Vol 14, 1987, p 403-426.]

71% of pregnant teenagers lack a father.
[US Dept. of Health and Human Services press release, Friday, March 26, 1999.]

63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.
[US D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census.]

85% of children who exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes.
[Center for Disease Control.]

90% of adolescent repeat arsonists live with only their mother.
[Wray Herbert, "Dousing the Kindlers," Psychology Today, January, 1985, p.28.]

71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.
[National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools.]

75% of adolescent patients in chemical abuse canters come from fatherless homes.
[Rainbows for all God`s Children.]

70% of juveniles in state operated institutions have no father.
[US Dept. of Justice, Special Report, Sept. 1988.]

85% of youths in prisons grew up in a fatherless home.
[Fulton Co. Georgia jail populations, Texas Dept. of Corrections, 1992.]

75% of prisoners grew up without a father.
[Daniel Amneus, The Garbage Generation, Alhambra, CA: Primrose Press, 1990.]

Fatherless boys and girls are…
2x’s as likely to drop out of high school;
2x’s as likely to end up in jail;
4x’s more likely to need help emotional or behavioral problems.
[US D.H.H.S. news release, March 26, 1999.]

43% of US children live without their father.
[US Department of Census.]

NY Times Article

I stumbled across this article in the New York Times today called The Evangelical Crackup.

History of Religion Map