I know this is a touchy issue in America these days, and a lot of great dialogue has been occurring on both sides of the fence. Rich Schmidt, a local pastor, wrote a post on the topic of homosexuality in which he asks the question, “What are some things that I can be doing, as a follower of Jesus, to love my neighbors who are gay?” I began writing a comment, but it ended up becoming a post:

This is a great question. Jesus continually loved people yet maintained a solid stance on sin. For instance, the women who was caught in adultery was brought before Jesus (possibly naked). The Law demanded that she be stoned to death. Jesus notices that only the woman is brought before Him and not the man with whom she was sleeping, and He begins writing in the sand. The Pharisees are trying to corner Him, trying to see if He disregards God’s Law. He then says, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” What a profound answer. Of course everyone drops their stones and walks away. Some have speculated that perhaps Jesus was writing specific sins in the sand that each of the men standing around had committed, but no one can be sure. Finally only Jesus and the woman remain. Jesus then asks her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:3-11).

Jesus shows this woman great mercy, yet at the same time He never dismisses the fact that her behavior was sinful. No doubt the woman understood that she was wrong, yet still felt loved by Jesus. This is the PERFECT example of how we are to love all sinners (not forgetting that we ourselves are sinners). Regardless of the specific sins, we are called to show God’s love and mercy to sinful people. At the same time, we are not to ‘dismiss’ sins and pretend as though they are not an issue.

I’m all for having struggling sex addicts, couples struggling with premarital sex, porn addicts, cohabiting couples, homosexuals, etc. in the church. All of these behaviors fall under the category of “sexual immorality.” At the same time, we must not neglect Scriptures dealing with sexual immorality while ministering to these individuals. These individuals must recognize that their behavior is sinful and not pleasing to God. They should be making active attempts to leave their lifestyle of sin (repentance), and faithful preachers of the Word must exhort them to do so (just as Jesus told the woman to leave her life of sin).

My problem with many churches today is that we allow open homosexuality, cohabitation, and premarital sex in the church to go unchallenged. In our efforts to love those trapped in these lifestyles, many pastors fail to faithfully proclaim God’s Law and Gospel to these hearers. This was Jesus’ example: He loved the sinner, yet still called sin as it is and exhorted people to leave that lifestyle. Many folks actively living these lifestyles will not admit that they are doing anything wrong. In fact many homosexuals now believe that genetics has more to do with their lifestyle than personal choice.

Genetics is irrelevant in the church’s attitude towards homosexuality as a sin. It has already been discovered that there is a gene predisposing people to alcoholism, but when these individuals go to court for drunk driving, can they plead, “but I have the alcoholism gene?” NO! They are still wrong for not controlling their behavior despite their genetic predisposition to it. Even if a solid genetic link to homosexuality is established, the same is true: it is not an excuse to invalidate clear Scriptural teaching regarding homosexual behavior. The Holy Spirit can and does enable people to overcome any genetic predisposition to sin that they may have.

Many homosexuals these days are not looking for a loving God who is also just and punishes sin. They are looking for ‘acceptance’. To them that means accepting their lifestyle as being OK. The problem is, a Christian cannot approve of this lifestyle, but they can love the individual trapped in it. I sincerely hope that Christians can better show love to homosexuals and all those trapped in sexual immorality. It is also my sincere hope that preachers faithfully proclaim God’s truth concerning sexual immorality while showing love to them.

Proverbs 27:5-6 reads: “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” We are not doing our homosexual neighbors any favors by glossing over God’s holy standards. In fact, we are merely sending them kisses as an enemy, since we are lying to them about God’s judgment. “Wounds from a friend can be trusted….” Sometimes we have to tell people the truth, even if it hurts their feelings, in order to truly be a friend to them. Don’t get me wrong, I am angered when I see radical evangelicals holding up signs that say “GOD HATES FAGS” and other such hatred. But at the same time, we cannot give the false impression that God tolerates homosexual behavior, He makes it clear that it is an abomination in His sight.

The key is to show love to your gay neighbors by befriending them, serving them, and helping them as you would any neighbor. But when the topic comes up (and it will), don’t withhold the truth from them. Be honest about God’s Law, but also share the Gospel. The Bible is clear, “If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives” (1 John 1:10). If your gay neighbor refuses to believe they are living in sin, they cannot know God, and telling them that truth means they probably won’t like you very much. Welcome to the lot of a true Christian, the same lot that belonged to the prophets. Most true Christians were never very popular, neither was Jesus. That’s why the world killed them.

The final group that we must consider are homosexuals who believe themselves to be Christians. Homosexual orientation is temptation, homosexual behavior is sin. There are many Christians who struggle with homosexuality. But someone who believes their homosexual lifestyle is compatible with God’s Word and does not believe it is sinful is simply not a child of God – and as a faithful ambassador of Christ, it is your responsibility to show them why that is the case using God’s Word. 1 Corinthians 5:11 says, “But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.” This is very intolerant – yet this is God’s Word. Tolerance is a cultural value, not a biblical value. Be careful to note that this does not mean shunning those who make no claims to be a believer, verses 9-10 make this clear: “I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.”

So in conclusion, those who claim to be Christians (”anyone who calls himself a brother”) yet live in unrepentant sexual immorality are to be excommunicated from our fellowships (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:12-13), and this is actually the loving thing to do (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:4-5). To those who are not Christians and make no claims to be, we are to befriend and declare God’s Word to them (be honest about what sin is, and show them how Christ lovingly desires to set them free from the power of sin and death). Many in our culture are not really looking for a holy God, they want a false God that will excuse their behavior, so long as they are “happy.” The most loving thing the Church can do is stand against the grain of culture and proclaim God’s Word as it really is, not as our culture would like it to be.

I will best love my gay neighbor by being their friend, and hopefully they will learn the profound truth of Proverbs 27:6, that even though the truth about their behavior may hurt their feelings, wounds from a friend can be trusted. Even more so I pray and hope that they will encounter Jesus Christ, whose love can cover a multitude of sins.

Just what is it that a majority of people who claim the title “Christian” believe? Barna Research Group developed a list of eight statements and polled Christians across the nation to determine their Christian beliefs based on these statements (I brought up this research in my unChristian series). Before I show the results, I’d like to poll you, my readers, regarding these statements. This poll is completely anonymous and there are no wrong answers. I am merely determining what you believe (which is subjective). Please complete the following poll (those using feed readers please visit the site to take the poll):

Eight Belief Statements

1. I believe that that absolute moral truths exist
2. I believe that such truth is defined by the Bible
3. I believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life
4. I believe that God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe and He still rules the universe today
5. I believe that salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned
6. I believe that Satan is real
7. I believe that a Christian has a responsibility to share their faith in Christ with other people
8. I believe that the Bible is accurate in all of its teachings

n

Thank you for your input!

Scroll down for the national results:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
So how many people who claim to be Christians hold this worldview?

How did you compare with the national averages? I will write more on this after people have a chance to take the site poll.
 
 

“Faith is a divine work which God demands of us; but at the same time He Himself must implant it. We cannot believe by ourselves.”
        - Martin Luther

While going through the assigned reading for my missions class, I came across some profound thoughts by one of the authors that I wanted to share.

The following is an excerpt from Cities and Salt: Counter-Cultures for the Common Good by Tim Keller, which can be found in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement by Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne.

The Kingdom Both Rich and Sharp. Keller describes a polarity of ideas about the kingdom:

• On the one hand, the gospel can be reduced to an individualistic message that helps people get to heaven – a “get out of jail free” card with no transformation.
• Against this, another idea of the kingdom has become very popular, in which Jesus’ death doesn’t so much assuage God’s wrath for sin as it absorbs the world’s evil and violence. Jesus’ life is exemplary, showing the way of non-violence and service. Jesus now, according to this version of the kingdom, calls us to work for peace and justice in the world. Basically, the gospel is reduced to a call to “repent of living for yourself and join Jesus’ kingdom program.” This may be, as one author put it, “all call and no grace.” Keller says that this can amount to just one more legalism.

According to Keller, both of these are extremes to avoid. We need to see that the gospel is sharp; that is, dealing with atonement for sin and justification by grace. But the gospel is also rich; that is, it equips us to pursue justice and cultural renewal.

This may be a faulty observation, but it seems that many of the mainline traditional denominations (who happen to be very modernist) have very elaborate doctrinal statements and often fall into the first category, while many of the more liberal and newer church movements (who happen to be very postmodern) fall into the second. Coincidence? I think not. What do you think?

All my life I’ve been taught that the Bible says Christians should tithe. The word tithe itself means “a tenth part,” so the teaching is typically that one should give 10% of their income to the church. When you consider how institutional churches have such large overhead and staff costs, one can easily understand why this doctrine has been well taught and preserved throughout the years. But is it really Christian?

Three kinds of tithes were instituted for Israel as part of their taxation system:

1. A tithe of the produce of the land to support the Levites , the priests who had no inheritance in Canaan.
• Leviticus 27:30-33
• Numbers 18:21-31
2. A tithe of the produce of the land to sponsor religious festivals to carry to Jerusalem. If the produce was too burdensome for a family to carry to Jerusalem, they could convert it into money (this is sometimes called the “festival tithe”).
• Deuteronomy 14:22-27
3. A tithe of the produce of the land collected every third year for the local Levites, orphans, strangers, and widows.
• Deuteronomy 14:28-29; 26:12-13

SOURCE: Barna, G. & Viola, F. (2008). Pagan Christianity: Exploring the roots of our church practices. United States of America: Tyndale House Publishers, p. 173.

So let’s do the math, 10% annually to support the Levites, 10% annually for the festival tithe, and 10% every three years for the priests, poor, and widows. That comes out to 23.3% annually. Not to mention, the tithe wasn’t paid in any form of currency (which is already taken from via the income tax), but it was paid from produce locally raised by each individual.

What happened to 10%? That is the meaning of the word tithe, but there certainly was more than one tithe for Israel. Not to mention, the tithe was their national taxation system, not just a religious obligation. What was it used for? Taking care of the priests (since they had no land of their own), ensuring families had the resources with which to worship at prescribed feasts and festivals, and caring for the poor, widows, and orphans. Guess what? Our nation also has a taxation system. It collects money to take care of the underprivileged members of society. It certainly isn’t enough, but this really blows the steam out of the tithing argument.

For years people who have misunderstood this national taxation system of ancient Israel have applied this 10% principle to Christians as some sort of “spiritual law” in order to receive money from them. But this was not its original intent! Most notably, prosperity preachers like to use Malachi 3:8-10, which reads:

“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it” (NIV).

But what was the purpose of this admonition? Like most passages that people remove from their context, a preceding verse answers our question. Verse 5 says:

“So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty.

Since the tithe was used to aid the widows and fatherless and to ensure justice and a functioning society, by not tithing the people were oppressing these underprivileged members of Jewish society. Prosperity preachers also like to point out the “sow and reap” principle in this passage, namely that if you give to God He will “throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” But why? Not because of self-sacrifice and giving money, but because they would be obeying God and by tithing they would be taking care of widows, orphans, and the poor. Doing this honors God. The message is not “give in order to receive,” as the American prosperity preachers like to make it, the message is care for less fortunate members of society and pay your taxes. That’s why there were tithes and offerings, because the tithe was expected, and the offering was an individually determined amount being “offered” to God. Not to mention, if someone truly wants to tithe biblically, they need to give 23.3%, not just the measly 10%.

In Galatians 3:5, the apostle Paul addresses this mindset by asking, “Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?” He goes on to point out that “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse” (v. 10). Trying to apply Old Testament taxation laws to Christians is like telling them they need to be circumcised, to which Paul says “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation” (Galatians 6:15). Adding any requirements other than repentance and faith (both of which God graciously gives us) is to preach another Gospel. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all… . It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 1:6-7, 5:1).

So what does the New Testament teach about giving? 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 is a great text which addresses this. Covering the entire passage would be tedious and already I am aware that many readers won’t read this post due to its length. Take note of v. 7 – “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” In other words, if one isn’t giving cheerfully, God doesn’t want it. This is a far cry from what many prosperity preachers proclaim, asking you to “give in faith, even if it hurts a little.” I’m not discounting that we should give in faith, but here we have a clear scriptural text telling us not to give under compulsion. Also note in v. 10 that the harvest being increased in this “sow and reap” analogy is not material, but rather is the “harvest of your righteousness.” Generosity is being rewarded, not radical wealth or high dollar amounts (cf. Mark 12:41-44).

Jesus taught that giving should be done in secret (cf. Matthew 6:1-4). This is a far cry from many churches who consider tithing a prerequisite to various leadership roles in the church and actually keep track of individuals’ giving records. I’m not saying it’s wrong to have a record for tax purposes, but it certainly goes against what Jesus taught to track peoples’ giving as a qualifier for any leadership roles or to judge how good of a Christian they are.

Finally, it should be noted that this does not let believers off the hook when it comes to giving. In the book of Acts, believers sold all of their possessions and gave to anyone (not just to other believers) as they had need (Acts 2:44). God struck Ananias and Sapphira dead when they lied to Peter about an offering they were giving (Acts 5:1-11), and Luke continually talks about people’s generosity as a measure of their faith throughout his gospel and the book of Acts.

In conclusion, my point is not to give people an excuse not to give to the church. The true reason to give is out of gratitude for what God has done for us in and through Jesus Christ His Beloved Son. The true amount to give must be set in each person’s own heart, and it is a private matter between God and that individual. When people are compelled to give a certain amount by misapplying an archaic taxation system, they are once again placed under the bondage of the Law and a yoke of slavery. Christ died to free us from this very thing, yet pastors continually place people back under it in order to pay the utility and mortgage bills on their fancy new worship centers.

Some cannot reasonably afford to give 10% of their income, particularly the poor and widows who that money is supposed to help (I have yet to see a church that supports its poorer members with a regular source of income which comes from tithes, as was prescribed in the Old Testament). In these cases the biblical tithe actually oppresses the poor. In such cases, the gospel is no longer “good news to the poor,” but it instead becomes a heavy burden. On the other hand, modern day tithing is good news to the rich. To a high earner, 10% is nothing to drop into the plate. Tithing, therefore, appeases their consciences without impacting their lifestyles.

The bottom line is this: with the death of Jesus, all the ceremonial codes of the Jews were nailed to the cross and buried, never to be used again to condemn us. Christians didn’t tithe in the New Testament (they actually gave more than 10% in many cases), any they gave from their hearts, not out of compulsion. I’ll say it again: Tithing, although biblical, is not Christian.

Thanks to Truth Matters for initially posting this:

I find it intriguing that Mark Driscoll even questions Rob Bell, Brian McLaren and others. VERY good explanation of the Emerging Church movement.

Who is the object of the modern church’s worship? Who do we really focus on? I commented on a friend’s blog today about how 95% of all church budgets in the US are spent on our own comforts and programs. Less than 1% is spent on evangelism to the most unreached. (This figure comes from William Carey University, a small missions college in Pasadena, CA that is widely considered the college of choice for those in the missions field wanting additional training and support). We claim God is at the center of all we do, we claim God is our focus – yet we spend all of our resources on ourselves. We use all of our resources to expand our own kingdoms, rather than God’s.

I saw this quote over at Truth Matters, who saw it at the Reformed Stooge:

Wherever in the church biblical authority has been lost, Christ has been displaced, the gospel has been distorted, or faith has been perverted, it has always been for one reason: our interests have displaced God’s and we are doing his work in our way. The loss of God’s centrality in the life of today’s church is common and lamentable. It is this loss that allows us to transform worship into entertainment, gospel preaching into marketing, believing into technique, being good into feeling good about ourselves, and faithfulness into being successful. As a result, God, Christ and the Bible have come to mean too little to us and rest too inconsequentially upon us.

God does not exist to satisfy human ambitions, cravings, the appetite for consumption, or our own private spiritual interests. We must focus on God in our worship, rather than the satisfaction of our personal needs. God is sovereign in worship; we are not. Our concern must be for God’s kingdom, not our own empires, popularity or success.

The Cambridge Declaration

“We must focus on God in our worship, rather than the satisfaction of our personal needs. God is sovereign in worship; we are not.” Well said. The church can say all it wants to, but its actions speak louder than words. The church needs to begin putting its money where its mouth is, as the proverbial saying goes.

It’s been awhile since I’ve discussed some of the features of this website and ways you can connect with my wife and I. First things first, the feed.

The RSS feed of any site is the best way to stay continually updated about new content. The feed subscription options on this site are located in the left column directly underneath the logo. You can read a feed in a free RSS reader such as G-Reader or Bloglines, or you can subscribe by email.

Below that, you will notice that you can follow me on twitter, which is another way to stay updated on blog content and interact with me about blog posts and anything else. I will automatically follow anyone on twitter who follows me, so we’ll instantly be friends!

My wife and I also have Facebook accounts. Blog content is posted on Facebook as well. Become my friend on Facebook by clicking here. You can also become my wife’s friend by clicking here.

You also can share blog posts that you enjoy or wish to discuss using various social media sites such as the ones listed above, as well as services such as Digg, reddit, Delicious, StumbleUpon, etc. At the bottom of every post are these buttons:

Notice that you can share any post on twitter using the ‘tweet this’ button. If you mouse over the bookmark button, you will see the following:

These are the services on which you can quickly and easily share my posts. Take advantage of these as you discuss these posts.

And of course, last but not least, you can comment on any post. This has already been taken advantage of by many readers, and we’ve had some great discussions!

I just wanted to remind or perhaps teach you about some of the ways you can connect @prayeramedic.com!

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.”
        - G.K. Chesterton

Happy Bunny Day! My brother attends a church that does not celebrate Easter, so my wife and I were discussing the origins of the holiday with him yesterday at Cracker Barrel. Then we got home and lo and behold, Daniel and Heather posted a great article about this very issue. You have to see the picture, it’s priceless. Anyways, I began writing a comment and decided to turn it into a post.

Getting into the historical origins of Easter would be tedious, and anyone with a little motivation can do this him or herself. Suffice it to say that for quite some time in history Christians were competing with pagans over the Spring Equinox, with the former celebrating Christ’s resurrection and the latter awaiting the annual rebirth of Attis (one of many names used for Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, etc.).

From a cultural standpoint, Christians won. But the origin of the holiday was for the most part pagan.

Easter falls close to Passover (which falls on the Christian holiday ‘Maundy Thursday’ this year), so the Judeo-Christian connection is seen more clearly – but in many cases the connection is blurred. Of course historically the Church has understood that the Last Supper was a Passover (Seder) meal, and thus Christ would have been crucified the following day and rose again three days later. Whether this was a Sunday is irrelevant and could be argued in several directions for hours.

Christmas and Easter remain the two most celebrated Christian holidays, yet it is clear that they are really just cultural fads. Slavoj Zizek in his book The Puppet and the Dwarf points out:

When it comes to religion … we no longer “really believe” today, we just follow (some) religious rituals and mores as part of respect for the “lifestyle” of the community to which we belong (nonbelieving Jews obeying kosher rules “out of respect for tradition,” etc.). “I don’t really believe in it, it’s just part of my culture” effectively seems to be the most predominant mode of the disavowed/displaced belief characteristic of our times. What is a cultural lifestyle, if not the fact that, although we don’t believe in Santa Claus, there is a Christmas tree in every house, and even in public places, every December? Perhaps, then, the “nonfundamentalist” notion of “culture” as distinguished from “real” religion, art, and so on, is in its very core the name for the field of disowned/impersonal beliefs – “culture” is the name for all those things we practice without really believing in them, without “taking them seriously.”

This holds true for a majority of Americans’ spirituality. They don’t really believe all of this Jesus stuff, they just go to church two days out of the year because it is a part of their culture. True beliefs alter our worldview, and worldview change results in new thinking patterns and behavioral modification. None of this occurs in most of the folks who attend a church service on Christmas and/or Easter.

Granted, some do genuinely celebrate Christ’s birth and resurrection on these days – but shouldn’t we thank God for His incarnation and resurrection daily? It seems to me that people are clinging to vain traditions of men and stubbornly attaching an ideal belief system to it. WAKE UP! This is a post-Christian culture and few really live out the reason for the seasons the other 363 days of the year!

My wife and I like Easter because it is fun watching kids get eggs, because we recognize that the pagan notions have been divorced from the cultural practices. We celebrate Christmas because it is a great time with family, and we try to avoid the true reasons for the season: materialism and greed. But to say we focus on the idealistic neo-Christian foci on these days would be lying. Maybe I’m a weak Christian, but it seems to me that this is a no-brainer: these holidays have hardly anything to do with Jesus Christ – just like they have hardly anything to do with fertility and pagan goddess worship. If you agree with the latter I cannot conceive how you can deny the former. Either way you celebrate it, you must divorce it from one of its main cultural contexts. It’s like drinking a strawberry-banana milkshake, but saying you are only focusing on the bananas so that’s all that you ingest. Of course you get both because they are blended, but naive folks for years have been trying to “have their cake and eat it too” when it comes to Easter and our post-Christian culture.

I have no problem celebrating it, but I do so for cultural reasons (and so do you if you’re honest). My wife and I won’t be trying to figure out how to reconcile bunnies with the cross – we can’t. We understand that the holiday is instituted by man and we enjoy it in the freedom we have in Christ. Of course we also celebrate Christ’s resurrection, but only because we try to do this EVERY day! So in conclusion, have a happy bunny day – and remember Christ’s miraculous incarnation and resurrection EVERY day of the year. And then, LIVE IN THOSE TRUTHS.