Thanks.

Be on the look out, a new Redlight Orphanage is coming. I’ll keep you posted as it progresses and becomes available. Soon this whole site will be shifted over. So keep your eyes open!

My recognition of this came about from reading passages in “Bonhoeffer” that spoke of Bonhoeffer’s gracious treatment of the guards and wardens who held him captive during WWII even up to the point of his execution. Bonhoeffer knew that everything that he did was a reflection upon Christ and that he must live his life as a witness to the power of what Christ did on the cross and in his resurrection. I realized upon reflection of his actions that Bonhoeffer was embracing grace even before any action inflicted upon him constituted giving it. Grace was his way of life not, as he defined, cheap grace but true grace. The circumstances through which Bonhoeffer endured would have justly led to an attitude of cynicism and hostility but he remained hopeful, fervent in prayer and gracious.

I realized after reading this how I have often claimed to live a life of grace based solely on the assumption that grace was bound by cause and effect. An individuals particular actions would lead to a need for grace to be extended. (I am here merely referring to grace given between human counterparts, not divinely instituted prevenient grace.) This however has been a false assumption on my part. Grace does not rely on a cause but is a natural effect of one lived within Christ’s unbounded grace. It is a result of the outpouring of grace upon an individual that then flows out of response to a fully committed life to Christ. Given my incorrect assumption I operated by merely extending grace when the circumstance called for it rather than living a life that reflected the grace given to me.

By living this way I felt that I could still maintain my cynical nature and pessimistic (although I maintained it was a realistic) reaction to individuals and circumstances. My cynicism was a direct result of denying grace within my life. I now realize that I can maintain a life of critical reflection while embracing and living out grace but that I must be ever aware to not let myself slip into cynicism which would inhibit grace flowing through me. This is a fairly new revelation for me. Granted I grasped the concept intellectually some time ago it took reading an example of a godly man’s life for it to make the leap from head to heart.

Change is never easy and it’s an ongoing battle but if I desire to live a life of grace then I must be willing to tackle those things that would get in the way. In light of my own humbling encounter with the Spirit pointing out my weaknesses I would like to ask you: how are you neglecting grace in your life? How can we continue on this grace filled journey together where the Spirit is shown in our lives through the outpouring of grace and we can remove all hindrances from it?

Spent some time reading Romans tonight. A great letter. Funny how it affirms free will theology for me, yet not others.

This tweet was definitely influenced by my anti-Calvinist theology. Perhaps “anti” is too strong a word, rather my opposition to Calvinist theology. This tweet brought about a very healthy conversation on Facebook with a friend of mine. Our conversation revolved around the fact that our presuppositions play heavily into our interpretation of Scripture. My tweet is good example of this, being that I subscribe to Open Theology I read Romans in light of that theology and that influences my interpretation. The question that I want to pose is whether or not an individual can come to a reading of Scripture that isn’t tainted, even in the slightest way, by their preconceived ideas and presuppositions. If our reading is constantly marred by the lens through which we read how do we come to a point of finding Truth. I believe that, as with all problems, the first step to healing is admitting that the problem is there. It is my opinion that most people are not willing to recognize that they are reading Scripture through a lens which influences their interpretation. If we can admit that read through a particular lens then we can begin to see Scripture beyond our particular lens and come to a better outcome, although there are those, including my friend whom this conversation took place with, who maintain (and for the most part, rightly so) that it is nearly impossible to remove our lenses. These issues are not necessarily bad in and of themselves but left unchecked or held accountable they can lead down a path that is completely off-chart for accurate Biblical Interpretation.

An example of how lenses influence reading is looking at the Letter to the Romans. Luther viewed the letter as the definitive argument against a works based Christianity. The lens that he was viewing through was his reaction against practices in the Roman Catholic Church. N.T. Wright however reads the letter as being primarily about God’s righteousness. The two views are not necessarily incompatible but it is obvious that these two men read the Letter through different lenses with different presuppositions which ultimately influenced the outcome of their interpretations.

So here are my questions that I hope will stir some honest debate and conversation.

First, I want to know what lenses you have identified that influence your reading, whether that be Calvinism, Arminianism, or even secularism.

Second, what is the antecedent that you hold your interpretation against in order to preserve truth, allow for freedom in non-essentials, and to determine what the essentials are?

To give some other examples of how this has played out in theology here are a list of people who have influenced traditions of theology that would be contrary to other persons in theology.

Alexander Campbell, Calvin, Luther, Zwingli, McLaren, Bell, Driscoll, Piper, Boyd, C.S. Lewis, etc…

Part of the purpose of this conversation will be to show that while we may have different interpretations and disagree that we can all appreciate each others pursuit for Truth and sincere devotion to Christ.

This is a mere academic/theological conversation all responses will be viewed with respect. I welcome differing opinions as long as they are open to constructive and polite criticism.

Why is it that many conservative Christians are okay (and even support) those who advocate a prosperity gospel yet they condemn and judge those who raise questions about Christian theology and doctrine?

At the core of this question is another question, which is more wrong or damaging, those who use the gospel to gain profits or those who use questions to strive for a deeper understanding of faith, even when those questions may call into account traditionally held presuppositions? To me I find that those who advocate for questioning and even openly struggle with times of doubt are being honest and sincere in their desire to better understand Christ and following him, yet there are those who quickly condemn these people for preaching a false gospel. All the while, there are others who preach a gospel that tells us that if you are faithful to God he will bless you with health and wealth. These health and wealth advocates are accepted, quoted and supported by many Christians yet I find that their gospel is truly false. Granted, I can admit that many liberal theologians have gone too far in their pursuits for an empirical and completely rational Christianity but I do believe that pursuing to understand something better is far more honorable than manipulating the gospel to sell books. Some of the greatest thinkers of our time are guys like Hauerwas, Boyd, and (please contain your gasps) even Rob Bell; all of which have been labeled as heretics and false teachers for raising doubts and calling into question the status quo, yet guys like Casey Treat, Joseph Prince, and Joel Osteen are hailed as solid Christian teachers because they make people feel good. This is backwards to me.

So help me with this a bit, removing the extreme aspects of liberal theology, is it more noble and Christlike to pursue a deeper understanding of the Christian faith through questions and doubts or by preaching a gospel that advocates for riches, wellness, and happiness?

Despite my reservations with patriotism mixing with Christianity I do believe that God has a sense of humor and so today I filled the role of Campus Pastor at our Graham Campus as we held our services and had patriotic elements. Now, our services weren’t overly mixed with patriotism. We sang God Bless America and had a short video of quotations from our founding Fathers. Beyond that there wasn’t much to it. I walked away not feeling bothered but with a lot still on my mind.

The thing that I love about the 4th of July and affirm in our worship services around this time of year is the celebration of freedom. It’s an amazing privilege to have the freedom of Religion that we have in the United States and I am thankful for that, it should be recognized. But let’s not stop there, let’s not have our celebration of freedom be in regard to the United States, rather let us celebrate freedom in Christ. Political freedom is one thing but it really is no match for freedom from the bondage of sin and freedom from this world. Perhaps a middle ground for us “pinko-commie Christians” and those “patriotic Christians” is the universal love for freedom that is brought in Christ and we can use the 4th as a recognition of that. In doing this it will not only serve as a reminder of how privileged we are to have our freedoms here in the US but also as a reminder to pray for those and take action for those who are in bondage both locally and abroad. Let the reminder of our freedom motivate us to act for those who are in bondage both spiritually and physically.

I hope that this post isn’t taken as a patriotism bash, or that I am negative towards the United States but rather as a few thoughts from a guy who wants to respect perspectives and find balance so that God is glorified more than anything else. Feel free to disagree and comment but any conversation should be done in love not in anger or frustration.

Today I spent most of the day at a day long seminar called “Get Motivated”. It was an interesting experience. For the most part I walked away very much left unchanged by the morning and having, if I’m completely honest, little to say about it. However, as I reflect back on the day one quote stuck out to me that, in context, had a completely different intention than the direction I am going to take it. I can’t remember the quote verbatim but the core of it was “those who dream during the day change the world.” This idea speaks deeply into what I believe will make up the future of the church. In a world where distractions occupy much of my day I still always find myself drifting off at times in thoughts about the future of my ministry, where I want it to go and what I need to do to take it there. I cherish these moments because they are the driving force behind my desire for ministry.

Potential is what takes things to the next level. Identifying potential in people develops into mentoring which develops them into leaders. Potential in programs and structures leads to effectiveness and vision for the future. Day dreaming has always been portrayed as a negative practice but I believe that these dreams during the day are the birth place of vision and vision leads to change and if properly put into place vision leads to effectiveness. This idea brings up 3 points that I wanted to share with you.

1. If you’re not dreaming you’re not in the right place.

If your current situation, in particular your work environment, does not cause you to dream of the potential in that place, of what it could be then you are probably not in the right place. Apathy within the work place is the death of effectiveness. Not caring about the future and only operating in day to day survival mode probably means that you have checked out and are only where you are for the paycheck. Not only does this do a disservice to the field that you are in but it also does a disservice to you. We should all strive to be in places where we dream about the future, where our creative juices flow and are nurtured both by you and by those you work with and for.

2. If your dreams are not nurtured by your superiors, it’s time to move on.

The stifling of dreams is an attack on creativity and vision. If your dreams and ideas for the future are not listened to, nurtured and, in the appropriate ways, invested in then you need to move on. The setting in which you are in is not conducive to your passion and it is better for you to find a place where you can cultivate your passion than work in a place where you feel oppressed and unsupported.

3. Dreams are only as good as the actions you are willing to take to accomplish them.

Everyone dreams, but not all dreams come to fruition. You cannot sit by and be frustrated by the lack of development of your dreams if you are not taking action to see them come to life. This means learning to cast the vision of what you see, sharing that with others and being open to refining them so that they fit the purpose and goals set forth by your organization. It does not do any good to be frustrated by a lack of passion if you are not putting out the effort to see your dreams come into reality.

These are just a few of the thoughts that have been bouncing around my head today. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’ve always operated in trying not to regret anything as I believe that my past failures, mistakes and successes have made me who I am today. However, this video made me think about what I regret in my life. I would love to hear your input on this video and possibly, if you’re comfortable, what you regret.

1. Eisegesis leads to neglecting the obvious parts of Scripture.

Most Christians that I know disregarded Camping and his predictions because of what Scripture blatantly says, no one knows when Jesus will return except for the Father. This seems fairly obvious but it wasn’t for Camping. Now, I don’t know his response to that passage however, what I can see in his interpretation was that he became so consumed with what he wanted Scripture to say that he disregarded what Scripture did say. Placing your own interpretation into Scripture is eisegesis and this is what Camping was doing, so much so that it blinded him to what Scripture did say. Exegesis is the practice of taking the meaning from the text rather than placing meaning into it. Exegesis leads to in depth study of original languages, historical and cultural contexts as well as basic literary criticisms. Exegesis is a healthy and necessary practice for studying the Bible, but one must be careful not to confuse the two. Harold Camping taught me to be extra aware of what I’m doing when I’m studying the Bible because otherwise I can look like an idiot. It wasn’t his intent but I’m gonna give him credit anyway.

2. People Don’t Equip Themselves to Study Scripture Enough on Their Own

In #1 I mentioned the practice of exegesis. If the followers of Camping had taken the time to learn to properly study the Bible then they would have been able to not only save themselves humiliation but also vast amounts of resources. (I read one article that mentioned a man who spent 140K on promotions.) Now, I’m not saying that everyone needs to learn to study original languages but people need to be willing to look at outside resources from theologians who have studied the historical aspects of Scripture. When doing this they also shouldn’t study only people from their theological tradition but various traditions to get a better scope on their understanding. When we learn to study Scripture we can better way out what is an accurate teaching and when someone has been misguided.

3. It Shouldn’t Take the End of the World to Motivate Us To Be Reconciled To God

The campaign to spread the word of May 21 as the end of the world was to motivate people to repent and turn to God. This type of idea just has bad news written all over it, particularly if it doesn’t happen then people will look at it as a joke and disregard any true teaching that may have been hidden below the wrong teaching. Along with this, people’s motivation to turn to God is simply out of a fear of the end and not out of a sincere embracing of the transforming love of God. Their reaction is out of survival not out of passion or conviction. If it takes us trying to predict the end of the world to motivate and scare people into turning their lives over to God then we are just crappy ambassadors for Christ and need to learn to live as Jesus called us to and to love as Jesus did so that we can actually create devoted followers of Jesus.

Overall, I had a good laugh when thinking about this prediction. It’s not a bad thing to hope for Jesus’ return but I also think that we need to remain in the present to reach people in the here and now. While my hope was that after this weekend Camping may stop trying to predict Christ’s return, I realize that isn’t the case and now the date is for October 21. Well, between now and then I hope that God uses us to reach more people for Him so that they can be a part of God’s advancing Kingdom after October 21 and after December of 2012.

It wasn’t until after I got home that I noticed that some of my fears about having a new artist had come true. There were blemishes in my tattoo, nothing drastic but it definitely was not up to the standard that my previous artist had set. I got a little frustrated, it’s permanent!!! I expressed some of my disappointment to my wife and became a little embarrassed about it. But something changed this morning. I looked at my tattoo in a different way when I woke up today. I saw it as one small piece of a larger work that will take place on my arm. It was only a small portion, it didn’t make up the entirety of what will be. And beyond that, I see now that the blemishes are only a small part of the piece that is already there. I smile now, even as I write this. There is beauty in the blemish. This tattoo has significance for me, it always had but now it represents something far more beautiful than I ever intended. I have blemishes in my life. I have made mistakes and they aren’t pretty but thanks to the grace that I received from Christ those blemishes are now lost in the larger picture of who I am in Christ. They are gone. How beautiful to think that they are gone.

My new tattoo now for me represents grace. The blemishes will remind me that I’m not perfect but through Christ I am reconciled and redeemed.

(I cannot take credit for the title of this post, it’s inspired by my friend Kyle Liggitt’s blog of the same title. Tattooed Grace )