Paradigm shift

I don't know about anyone else, but i'm kinda getting tired of hearing buzz words. At least, buzz words that don't mean anything they way they're used. Case-in-point- i heard a radio broadcast from Andy Stanley this morning and he was talking about a paradigm shift. I'm sorry but that made me think less of him actually, because he couldn't think of a better way to say what he was saying. What he was talking about doesn't really constitute a paradigm shift- it was more of a revelation moment. Where God revealed something to him that he's always thought otherwise...

does anyone actually know what a paradigm shift is? so many people use the word- heck, even i did- it got me an A on some papers if i used it correctly, but sometimes, I'd get comments back about how it's a buzz word and make sure i'm qualifying what i'm saying is a paradigm shift...

so let's hear it for the end of buzz words and have people just say what they mean...

Check your brains

It seems to be the common practice these days for conservative Christians to not think for themselves. While I know of some people who actually do think, it appears to be a widespread disease of non-thinking among the average evangelical church-goer in America.

Case in point. E-mail. While e-mail is a wonderful thing, it has been such a terrible thing as well. Back when I first was an internet user, I would forward e-mails that came my way. I would pass on funny stories, e-mails urging action, tear jerking stories, etc. Chain letters use to be a small part of regular mail, but it dominated(s) the e-mail world. And I joined in at first. I didn't believe that rabid goats would come down out of the mountains and kill my family if i didn't pass it on, but... I passed stuff on anyway.

I don't anymore- and haven't for YEARS! i don't pass on ANYTHING anymore, because seldom do i see anything new. And I urge my friends and family not to perpetuate the cycle. But I still get e-mails talking about Madeline Murray O'Hare and how she's going to get religious broadcasts cancelled form airwaves. Or the one I got recently about how Oliver North warned us about Osama Bin Laden back in 1987 and said we should assasinate him, and how Al Gore questioned him about it and was indiferent.

I'm not going to fully dispell these, but a little research will find them both not true. Simply not true. First, if Madeline Murray O'Hare were actually alive (minor research tells us that she's dead), and trying to get this stuff shut down, it would be in the news. Censorship, or religious rights, or anything like that is BIG news! BIG! National news. But even if she tried, she cannot get television or radio to ban religious programming, unless she gets them to modify the constitution. Which would be FREAKING HUGE news, so we'd know. And Ollie North warned the US about a terrorist- but it was Abu Nidal. And it was because he had threatened and sent men after Ollie and his family. Osama Bin Laden was only known to some in the US as a freedom fighter in Afghanistan fighting the soviets. They had our support then, because the enemy of our enemy was our friend. And Al Gore was not only not on the comittee that was interviewing North, but the questioning wasn't even by senators.

Long story short on this, visit snopes.com to find out the truth about most of this stuff. It's quick, it's easy. type in whatever you've been hearing as a search and they'll bring up their articles... it's good.

I have digressed, however. The e-mail is what made me want to write this. While I have this inherent desire in myself that wants to believe people and trust that they're honest, you could say i've been a little jaded. I don't believe people the way i want to. Because as much as I want to believe they're honest, if I don't know them, I've got to check it out. Or if the track record is bad, gotta check. That's NOT a bad thing. Just because someone says something, doesn't mean it's true.

George Bush used to call himself Texas' environmental governor. Texas is the WORST state in the union in environmental practices. So what's that saying? Don't get me wrong- i'm not trying to bash Bush. But just because he says he's a Christian, that doesn't mean i automatically believe him! There are televangelists who will claim Christianity, but after seeing and hearing them, I can see that their fruit does not line up.

I know people want to avoid appearing cynical. I do. But at the same time, we are in a world that takes advantage of those who are the opposite. Those who do not question become gullible. People who believe in a ministry and give money, but don't know what that money goes to. I mean, honestly, who would/should support Benny Hinn if they knew he lived in a 10 million dollar home, and makes beteween half a million and a full, cool million each year? I don't care if his ministry can't find the money to do their stuff, they're allocation of money into his salary is ridiculous! If they can't find enough to put on an event or something, maybe they should decide that any Christian who can't survive on less than a million per year needs to re-evaluate his faith!

Is it better to be gullible or cynical? Neither of them is good- but as a responsible person, I would rather be a cynic. 1 Thes. 5:21 "Examine everything carefully- hold fast to that which is good" (NASB) this chapter is a set of short teaching instructions from Paul to close the letter, and the verse is pretty clear- test everything the NIV says. Put it to the test- hold to that which is good (and the opposite of that is to let go of the bad). I think that applies here as we should be aware of the truth of matters, not just believe it because.

Not only do we not ask questions, but some actually encourage others not to ask questions. It's almost as if wondering about the integrity of some televangelist (many of whom have proven themselves swindlers or worse) weakens our own faith! OR something- i'm not sure! But in reality, it perpetuates the status quo, which isn't all that great... My wife worked for a parachurch organization that does not disclose their finances and therefore is not responsible to anyone for that. However, they actually chastise people involved with the organization who DO ask about financial things. This organization "tithes" to their leaders who own a FREAKIN' huge ranch. Not only is that wrong, but tithing to people isn't tithing! On top of that, some of their facilities are falling apart, and yet for the higher ups in the organization, there always seems to be money to renovate their offices. People donate money for renovation then never see it. A friend of my wife actually saw his dad dismissed for asking where the money for that came from, and criticizing that they have an "unkown" bank account that holds money for that...

Anyway- the moral of the story is- asking questions should be a good thing! Testing is good. Faith is not blind, and God gave us a brain with critical thinking skills for a reason- we should use it! any other instances you'd care to share that you know of blind "faith" somewhere? or thoughts?

silence

can somebody please shut this guy up? i'm seriously considering a mob hit..

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/05/robertson.sharon/index.html

Take the Leap

I was watching Steve Martin today- in the movie “Leap of Faith.” It made me shiver to watch. Because it looked like a mix Benny Hinn, Marilyn Hickey and Joel Osteen! He was preaching- if you could call it that- and quoting miscellaneous Bible verses and talking about “getting saved.” There was no mention of sin, but there was a story about a guy who needed “faith.” Actually, he needed not to be afraid of men with a 9mm, he just needed to get the “12-gauge super charged grenade launcher of FAITH!!!”

Seriously, he had this… healing thing going on. He ended the shows by “Feeling a healing comin’ on!” It’s like- Benny Hinn. The healing man. He “healed” these people, as he said, according to their faith. When people came up to get healed, he laid hands on them and pushed them over, or whacked them with his hands, or held his hand on them and started shaking and getting them to shake too. He must have the kind of faith that he could pass off on the people.

He told them “the move you give, the more you live.” I got the sudden desire to become a faith covenant partner because I just want to live longer. Cuz, let’s face it- God won’t strike me dead as long as I keep putting money into his pocket, right?

As a preacher, Martin always had his smiley face on! He was always excited, and he fed people misused Bible verses and easy answers. He put on a GOOD show- pyrotechnics, a full choir singing good ol’ gospel songs. And he actually has this jacket that is completely large, silver, sparkly, shiny panels that reflect the light and wow the eye.

But he’s a shyster. His people sit in the audience and start to get the crowd fired up when they’re not responding to the preaching. All it takes a little of that, and then the first healing, and pretty soon, there’s no dead audience. He has a night of question and answer time when he doesn’t actually answer anyone’s question, he just gives easy answers that makes everyone forget what the real issue is.

Now, don’t get me wrong- I’m not accusing any of the people mentioned here as being shysters. Furthest thing from it. But I am asking what do these people offer that Steve Martin could not offer? He was a “good” preacher- catch phrases, loud preaching- he made you believe it! But he offered people nothing other than “hope” which, while good, is not right. God offers more than hope, and real preaching needs to offer more than just hope- it needs to offer answers! Hope is a good thing, but if I start spouting out verses, claiming a name I don’t believe, etc- it’s NOT good enough. And people hearing it, well..

Anyway- Steve Martin actually goes so far as to claim that while he was a sinner, he was a HUGE sinner- and his life of sin makes him better for preaching because people who need to get rid of that stuff can’t go to someone who has never experienced that stuff. He went so far as to glorify his sin because it made him connect better. And I used to think like that, too… But glorifying sin isn’t good.

Anyway- long story short, the movie ends with this young boy coming up for healing. He has been for healing before, his sister told Jonas (Steve Martin’s character). As a matter of fact, the preacher even told him it was God’s will to heal him. But he had the audacity to tell the kid that it was his own fault he wasn’t healed, because his faith wasn’t strong enough! From then on, Jonas tries not to do anything to entice this kid. But the kid comes to the final meeting for being healed- he was in a car accident and can’t use his legs. The boy ACTUALLY gets healed- like a REAL miracle! All Jonas has been preaching has been fake- this was real. The movie ends with him leaving his flashy coat on the bed and disappearing.

there was a conversation toward the end, after the kid got healed. he came to the tent after the meeting and talked with Steve Martin- a conversation that goes like this:

SM: IK've been conning people since I was about your age and there's one thing I've learned. It's to be able to spot the genuine article. Don't worry about the cops- you can always get around the cops. But you CAN'T get around the genuine article. And you, kid, are the genuine article.

kid: are you saying that you think you're a fake?

SM: Kid, I'm saying that I KNOW I'm a fake.

kid: As long as you get the job done, what's the difference?

SM: Kid, it makes all the difference in the world.

You see- when you have an encounter with the true living God, you can’t help but be changed. And if you’ve been doing it wrong your whole life, you’re blown out of the water. It’s… amazing. But God’s healing doesn’t come in proportion to our faith- because there are people who have REAL faith and haven’t been healed. It’s just a mystery how God works. But when God really hits- it’s not something we can resist, and it’s not something we can walk away from. Not because we really can’t choose that, but because it’s so intense that we can’t imagine anything else.

Side notes- I forgot that Liam Neeson is in this movie. Martin’s character has got a crew that is in on his schemes- they look at each other for every “miracle” and realize they’ve contrived it all. Some of them aren’t all that good of actors. I think the choir that he has is unknowing about his scheming.

But this shocked me most of all: Steve Martin’s hair is not white. Is this the ONLY thing he’s ever done in front of a camera that his hair isn’t white?

Pray for me (part II)

I seem to be on a kick for sequels...

Please pray for me- I need it. I am in a place that's new for me. A place that I knew no one before moving hee. It's a place similar to my first job out of college, except that then I was close to people I knew- now, not so much. I'm not... lonely, or homesick or anything. I just am asking for prayer, and that's a good place to start, i guess. Pray that I won't become those things.

Pray for me because i'm doing a youth ministry/worhsip ministry job (which could make full time) currently part-time. I could easily put in LOTS of time doing many things- particularly since both of my positions have been more or less unfilled before I arrived. Or at least, were manned by people with standards for excellence that are different from mine (not to sound proud here... ex- organization of music- I have a system that makes music look uniform and keeps it well organized. Before I got here, it was just all kinda thrown together, kind of organized and music that was printed from wherever, sometimes just blatantly wrong, and all pieces looking different from the other pieces of music). Pray for me, please.

Pray for me because i'm scared. My last position, while I treasure it, had it's moments of rough spots. That is leading me to expect similar things here. I'm afraid that I'll be less than a year into the job and get accused of not having close connections/relationships with the students. I'm afraid that I'll be less than a year in and have my leadership decide that they don't care if I stay or go, but every one of them have a different reason that I'm not meeting his or her expectations. I'm frightened by the prospect of feeling that those who should be my biggest supporters are the quickest to call for my job when things go south for the whole church. And those who claimed to be my biggest supporters. I'm afraid that I will not be given adequate time to do a work that requires lots of time! If the teenagers aren't "loyal to me" or "on my side" in 8 months, that's not because I'm not doing anything. It's because that expectation takes TIME. I'm afraid I won't have that time.

This fear may not be founded- and it's not because I expect that will happen with this group of people, but then again- I didn't expect it at New Hope, either! I understand that there were reasons why my position was cut- and it had a lot to do with finances, but... I was burned by other experiences- and the aftermath of the last experience. Unfortunately, that leaves me in a tough spot. It's like after a break up in a relationship- the person who didn't do the breaking up (in particular) is not necessarily ready to trust too quickly. Healing is required. And while I may WANT to trust, it's hard to. Because, everywhere I go- people are human. I can trust God because I've NEVER been let down by God. God has ALWAYS been faithful! But people- even those closest to me... I don't want to expect the worst from them, but let's be honest, no one is perfect. I've let others down in the past.

I'm also afraid that I'll work my butt off and find myself not any closer in a year to where I want to be. And beyond that, I KNOW I'm inadequate to do this job. Learned that last time- I had little leaning/dependence on Jesus for anything. I did a LOT of stuff in my natural person- in some ways becasue i felt that was the way of the people who were my leadership team- I felt like decisions were made with little spiritual insight, but primarily due to how things looked naturally. And I operated in large part out of that (though not completely). But here, I'm realizing more and more that dependence on me will leave me feeling as empty, poured out and dry as I was when I left New Hope. I felt completely empty, as though I'd poured out all of me and not been refilled (and I had a personal spiritual retreat a month before I left- so I was REALLY dry). And I can't be there now- not while the only support system I have nearby is Rachel.

So pray for me- because i feel like these fears/inhibitions and others maybe shouldn't be here. I felt before we moved out here, a peace about this move. I felt like it was God's plan, God's timing! And He's been more than faithful to us all along the way for this trip (and every other step I've taken). There's no reason for me to be feeling these things except for remebrances from the past. God has not changed His mind about me being here, and we haven't been here long enough that it's time to move on! I do not doubt that I belong here- because if this is where God was leading me a month ago, it's where I'm supposed to be now! But I have all these questions/fears about being here- that are unfounded and probably not right to give time to. Pray for me, please... if you will.

Cotton Candy Preachers (part II)

This is somewhat of a follow up to one of my earlier posts I put up about 9 months ago. That post was trying more to be funny and get people to recognize a problem. I believe now, more than then, that it is a very GRAVE issue for the church. I was, and still am no writer, but I've said things that I've REALLY wanted to get out there before. And this is one worth reiterating. I wrote this as a comment on a friend's blog and then decided that it was long enough and worth posting here as a stand-alone entry. anyway- here it is:

anyone else feel like we heard someone like Joel Osteen at least once a year in school? They’re called motivational speakers! (Hi kids, my name in Matt Foley and I AM a motivational speaker… I am 35 years old, thrice divorced, I live on a steady diet of government cheese, and I live in a VAN down by the RIVER!!!)

theres’ nothing overtly, or subvertly for that matter, Christian about those resolutions. I’m disturbed by the fact that Joel Osteen has not finished college (or at least, not when he started). He took over Lakewood when his father died after having been a camera man behind the cameras (always feeling a bit shy, he said) for the videoing of the services. (I guess you could say he knows about all aspects of the ministry there, now…) but he had dropped out of college. I just read a convincing answer to a question, which i agreed with anyway, by Keith Drury (see opinion question #6) about how important it is for our pastors to be educated people, especially in the Bible (no offense to Luke- I do not mean simply college class type education, although for most people, that is the easiest and likely only way to measure education).

to quote “I expect my dentist to know what a root canal is. I want my auto mechanic to recognize a carburetor or fuel injection system. I expect my doctor to know which symptoms indicate which sickness. And I, like most people, expect my minister to know the Bible, theology, church history and the practical management of the church.” Is it not wrong that the leader of one of the largest churches in America does not seem to have the foggiest idea of those things? He seems to either:
a) only have the ability to discern the Bible enough to feed the people in his church spiritual milk OR:
b) has the capacity to discern more than milk, but chooses not to feed peopl any more than that,
and Hebrews 5:12-13 is clear that spiritual milk is for babies- grown Christians should not accustom themselves to it!

anyway- sorry to make such a long response. I feel very strongly about this issue- it seems, especially due to the popularity of men like Joel Osteen, that the church in America is headed down a path toward being permanent spiritual children. And spiritual children have the maturity and actions comparable to REAL children… is this not a scary thought for the state of Christianity in America?