revolution: Recent Comments

Comment on Speaking Out

2010-02-26T14:20:41Z

Reason # 2 as promised. This one was actually the first to come to mind when I read your original post, but by the time I read the last paragraph I ended up expanding on the Enlightenment idea.

The question as I understood it was: why don't more Christians have "the can't help its". Where we just have to share with anyone that will listen about what Jesus has done or is doing or is gonna do in our lives. This is one of the big reasons I walked away from a full time ministry position. I came to see that having a professional class of clergy produced an attitude in the body (also known as the laity) that said talking to others about Jesus is the pastors job. It's why we pay him. He's so good at it too. He has lots of clever illustrations and Greek and Hebrew words. And he dresses up and uses a microphone. He's almost like the people on the TV! It seems to me that the excuse "it's the pastor's job" is at the heart of much of the unwillingness among believers to participate in the great commission.

Comment on Speaking Out

2010-02-25T18:48:15Z

I think to take it a step further Carman, it's what I've seen the church's reaction to this faith/reason dichotomy to be that concerns me even more than the original lie. I think that in response to the world's hyper intellectual view brought on by the enlightenment, the church responded with an anti intellectualism that gave the world and many believers the impression that in order to be a
"good Christian" you have to leave your brain at the door. And when asked to give a reason for the hope they have, it became acceptable, even preferable to respond with a purely emotional answer. In many instances the response to the enlightenment's hyper intellectualism is a hyper emotionalism. And while we are told in several places in scripture to love God with all of our mind, in many circles our minds are portrayed as the enemy of real faith. When this is the case something worse than intimidation happens. It plays right into the hands of those that would have Christianity banished from public. It is a mentally apathetic Christianity that speaks only in terms of feelings. Private feelings, that are easily dismissed as "okay for you to believe". Okay in a condescending, patronizing, if you need that to feel okay about life kinda way. But the kind of faith where simple men and women are given the mind of Christ and are made able to confound the wise of this world seems to have become more and more rare. And brought us to a place where without minds fully engaged the church has become open to all kinds of repackaged heresy. I believe the sharpened Christian mind is able to cut to shreds the worlds godless philosophy. And do it with humility and love. But when it is taught that critical thinking and diligent study are the stumbling blocks to true faith, we end up with a church that will fall for any new thing that comes down the pike. As long as it is packaged in the appropriate "spiritual" packaging. And when this mindless brand of Christianity meets with the philosophy of the world, it shuts it's mouth and runs for the closet.

Comment on Speaking Out

2010-02-25T16:22:22Z

Carm,
I am reminded how in Acts 4 ,they were filled again with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word with boldness. When people saw their boldness and realized they were uneducated men, they said, "they must have been with Jesus" Maybe lots of those who never speak out are not as filled with the Spirit as they could be. Seems like being filled and speaking boldly go hand in hand to me. Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks, you will speak what your heart is full of.

Comment on Speaking Out

2010-02-25T13:19:11Z

Hey Tony, thanks for articulating the private/public dichotomy the enlightenment forced upon Christian faith. I wanted to include that aspect but the post was already too long. That, as much as anything, reveals how much we have become products of the Enlightenment. The intimidation many feel about sharing their faith is a direct result of the privatizing of faith espoused by the Enlightenment.

Comment on Speaking Out

2010-02-25T07:12:47Z

Very good post Carm.

While reading I was taken back to where John's disciples asked Jesus in Mat 11; “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”

4Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you HEAR and SEE: 5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy£ are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

Seems to me that there is not a lot of doing of what Jesus taught us to do for us see. I know he did a lot of other things too.

In John 14:12 Jesus says if we had faith in him we would be doing what he was doing.

In Mat.21:31 Jesus replies to the chief priests and elders; "Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you."

Seems to me Jesus was hanging out with the sinners a lot, maybe that's why were not seeing and hearing anything?

A final thought on your thoughts on our western culture. My thoughts went to Paul in 1Cor.1 "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God......My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power."

I agree Carm your last paragraph describes our western culture. Our minds have gotten in the way of our faith.

Comment on Speaking Out

2010-02-25T05:15:47Z

I see in your last paragraph Carman a good example of what I believe much of the problem to be. You seem to express the very false dichotomy that modern philosophy has used to purge Christian thought from the marketplace of ideas. It pits faith against reason as if the two are the antithesis of one another. And yet scripture tells us in 1 Peter 3:15 to "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."

I believe this has been modern philosophy's greatest evil. And one of the church's greatest compromises. In letting the world define faith as the opposite of reason we've also allowed our faith to be relegated to the private sphere of life. Because along with the faith/reason split came the secular/sacred split or the science/religion split. It taught us that since your faith in God is not "reasonable" or "scientific" it does not belong in public discourse. It is fine for your church time and your prayer closet, but reasonable people know that it should stay in those places. To bring it out in public would be vulgar and unenlightened.

And so I would agree there are those Christians who follow Christ at such a great distance that they have almost no testimony of Him to share. But I also think there are those who have been convinced that no matter how powerfully you've seen God move if you would attribute any of your understanding of it to faith, it doesn't belong in public conversation.

I think the challenge lies in being able to articulate our testimony in terms that doesn't make the world roll it's eyes and say "keep your religion to yourself". It seems like a challenge that many Christians are too intellectually lazy to take on. While our Bible tells us to be prepared to give an answer when we are asked for the reason for our hope. Many Christians would like to tell the unchurched person something like "I just saw the Lord pour out the blood of the lamb all over it and it was fixed!" And when the unchurched person looks at them like wha? The Christian says "I don't care if they don't get it" I think often times because they are not prepared to help them get it. I don't think being prepared means 4 years in seminary. I do think it sometimes requires more than just blurting out some churchified platitudes. It means caring enough about the people we are sharing with that we actually care about whether or not they understand what we are sharing.

Anyway, love the blog. I hope this question gets lots of input because it's one of many that has plagued me for much of my Christian life. I have another strong contender for reason #2 but will let someone else chime in first.

Comment on Seeking God

2010-02-19T13:42:06Z

I want to subscribe

Comment on Seeking God

2010-02-18T22:42:25Z

Great Post Carm,

It really gets to the heart of God don't you think? Great illustration Tony.

I wondered how many of us who claim to be followers not only don't realize that this is God's heart...

9"Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness,and your night will become like the noonday."

..but we miss out on the fruit that comes after...THEN your light will, THEN your healing will come and yet many do nothing. Not speaking of us here of course :)

Comment on Seeking God

2010-02-18T16:46:48Z

Tony, I love your illustration of "show" muscles and "go" muscles. Far too many have show muscles. All of the prayer, Bible study, fasting, praise and worship are performed in a vacuum if separated from relationship and service to others. The individualistic Christianity that is far too common is the "show muscle" type of Christianity. Don't the body builders, like your friend, work out on their own with the attention focused on themselves? Those who develop the "go muscles" as you have pointed out, are not focused on self, but are focused on serving others, and in the process develop their spiritual muscles.

Comment on Seeking God

2010-02-16T20:40:26Z

To your list of prayer, fasting, praise, and worship, I would add Bible study. While all of these disciplines are good. Without expression in service to others they are often simply religious vanity.
I once worked with a guy framing pictures that was so into weight lifting that he would often come into work too sore to do anything physical. While he claimed that his training was to make him stronger, it seemed to mainly be about making him look better in a t shirt. I used to joke with him about the difference between us was that he had "show muscles" while I had "go muscles".
I think this is what we see in the parable of the good Samaritan, and all too often in what is stressed in today's Christian culture. A set of spiritual disciplines that have us so busy with things that will impress other Christians that we have no time or strength left for the things God would have us busy with.
I agree that it is in our service to others that we most often meet with Jesus most fully. When that service actually cost us something so dear to us that we have to cry out to God for his help. I believe that this is where our prayer, fasting, praise, and Bible study become something more than vanity. They become a tool in God's hand to make us more like his Son. Joining God in his plan to conform us to the likeness of Christ is where I believe we experience real intimacy with him.
This is one of the reasons I am so hopeful about the fellowship of a small house meeting. I think it is only a close friend that will take the time to point out to us that we are too focused on "show muscle". Too busy with our Christian weightlifting to be available for what God would have us pick up.