Adopting a Stray

So my soft side got the best of me again this weekend. I am a sucker for a stray! I went for my run on Friday morning, and on my warm-up I noticed a dog in the front yard of the neighbor’s house. It barked at me and came across the street toward me for a bit, which made me uneasy. So I watched it closely until I was well past it, then forgot about it on my jog.

On my way back home the dog was still there. The owners of that house had basically abandoned their home the weekend before. (welcome to the economy in 2009…we haven’t had a lot of foreclosures on our block thankfully) That’s not the end of the world, but the neighbors next door to the newly-abandoned house were outside with their two dogs, playing with the one that had barked at me earlier.

Well to make a long story short I found out that the owners had abandoned not only their home but their dog. They had sold another dog they had, but left this little mutt to fend for herself.

Of course before doing anything I went home and talked to my wife. (I surprised her by bringing a dog home unannounced when we first moved to Phoenix…and learned my lesson!) We talked about it a little and ended up bringing her home for at least the weekend. After all, she would go hungry or get hurt in the street by herself.

Well the previous owner came by that afternoon and told us some particulars. She is only 8 months old…so she’s a puppy. (strike one!) She has not had her vaccinations and we have kids in the house. (strike two!) And she has not been fixed and is an escape artist. (STRIKE THREE!)

Wait, there’s more! Laura does not like dogs particularly, though because I like them she tolerates our 55 pound lab mix named Grace. We also have a cat and James just got a rat. Laura wasn’t at all excited about taking on more animals! We would have to feed her, and of course once she was part of the family we would have to take care of all of her needs financially. The first night she stayed in our back yard I had to get up several times because she was barking at who knows what. She scratched a lot, which probably meant she had fleas.

There was not much going for this little mongrel. She had no real redeeming qualities…

Except the kids absolutely loved her. I said she looked like a “Trixie,” and they instantly started calling her Trixie. (even after we found out her previous owners named her Emory, Trixie stuck) They played with her and loved on her. We talked as a family over dinner on Sunday about keeping her and all the headaches it would be, but the look in the kids’ eyes was enough for Laura to relent.

So the kids and I bathed her with flea and tick shampoo, and put some flea treatment on her. After that she came in the house… and promptly peed on the carpet in our bedroom. She is sweet but not too smart. She likes to jump on the couch which is a no-no in our home. But again, the kids love her (and I like her too).

This got me thinking about a passage in Ezekiel this week. I know, you don’t spend your days thinking about prophets and their connection to stray mutts; that’s why you read my blog, because I do! In Ezekiel 16:1-5 God shows His amazing grace to His unfaithful people not because of their worth but because of His grace. This is His description of how He found them:

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem, Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.

There was nothing of value in them to bring God to love them or make a covenant with them. There was no intrinsic value in them. But God loved them anyway and provided for them in verses 6 and 7, giving them room to grow up. He then gave them everything they could possibly imagine in Ezekiel 16:8-14:

“Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine,” declares the Lord GOD. “Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. “I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord GOD.”

There was no value or worth in Israel that caused God to choose them as His people. Yet because of who He is, He redeemed them from their worthlessness, provided them everything they needed to thrive, and gave them an exalted place at His right hand.

While this passage is first and foremost about God’s relationship with His unfaithful people, Israel, it also has application to me[1]. How many times I need to realize that when God found me I had nothing redeeming in me. There was only me and my sin, offensive to God and completely worthless. And yet God loved me anyway and sent His Son to die for me. He redeemed me and made me His child, then gave me everything I could possibly imagine to bring me up from that worthlessness He found me in. Now I am no longer that worthless wretch, but a child of God deemed royalty by the King of kings. (1 Peter 2:9) Yeah I still “pee on the carpet” occasionally[2], but He loves me as His and faithfully cleans up my mess.

Thanks, Trixie, for showing me again how much God loves me. Thanks for reminding me that it is not who I am who made Him redeem me; rather, my redemption is solely and completely because of His unfathomable grace. That alone is worth the price of keeping you around! (but stay off of my chair)

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[1] Application is different than interpretation. In biblical interpretation we seek to find the author’s intended meaning for his first readers; in this case, it is Ezekiel’s recording of God’s pronouncement to His people, Israel. However, the next step is finding how that original audience is like and unlike me as a modern reader, then finding the universal theological truth taught in the passage and applying it to my personal situation. This is the path to correct biblical interpretation taught by Scott Duvall and Danny Hays in their excellent book, Grasping God’s Word. 2^nd Ed. Grand Rapids, MI; Zondervan, 2005.

[2] Metaphorically speaking of course! Laura has me pretty well house-trained at this point in my married life.

A Veteran’s Day Salute

November 11th…a good day for me. I served proudly in the US Navy for 8 years, and today is a special time of thinking back on my military service. It is a day to remember long hours, boring watches, good friends and wearing the uniform with pride and distinction.

It is a time to remember the service of those who wore the uniform and then returned to civilian life. The men and women you see around you today will include many veterans, though they may not shout it from the rooftops. Today they are retail managers, financial planners, security experts, stay at home moms, electricians, doctors, business owners, firefighters, and more. They are old and young, rich and poor, successful and struggling. All of them gave up their own rights to defend the rights of others, and for that I am grateful.

If you’re not familiar with the history of Veteran’s Day read the official history on the VA website. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 (November 11th, in other words) the Axis and Allies officially ceased hostilities. While the Treaty of Versailles was not signed until June 28th, still President Woodrow Wilson designated November 11th as Armistice Day, the day to celebrate the end of “the war to end all wars.” In 1954 Congress changed Armistice Day to Veteran’s Day to include the men and women who had fought in WWII and Korea.

Soldiering has a long and storied history, and is mentioned positively in many places in Scripture. Soldiering is used as a powerful metaphor for the Christian life by Paul in 2 Timothy 2:3-4:

Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

One of the more common titles for God in the Old Testament is the “Lord of Hosts” (it appears 239 times in the Hebrew Bible), which pictures God at the head of an angelic army. Paul also calls Epaphroditus his “fellow soldier” in Phil 2:25 as well as Archippus in Philemon 2. The early church picked this metaphor up, with the church father Cyprian (c. 200-258) using the metaphor of soldiering to describe martyrdom for Christ.[1]

Soldiering is presented as an honorable profession in Scripture when it is pursued with integrity and honor. So today I salute my fellow veterans.

(yeah, that’s me…15 years and 50 pounds ago! Boot camp graduation late June 1995)

Take some time today and thank the veterans in your life. Their service defended the freedom that you enjoy today!

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[1] Roberts, Alexander, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. The Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. V : Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325. Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, 1997. Page 579. Cyprian, “On the Glory of Martyrdom”, Argument 26.

Charles Dickens and God’s Foreknowledge

Sometimes I wish I could just turn off the “theological” part of my brain while watching movies, but I just can’t. It would be great if I could just enjoy a flick without thinking about its message or content or style for thoughts about who God is, who I am, and how I should be in light of the first two. (I think it is a curse related to blogging about seeing God in everyday life)

A movie I saw last night really got me thinking about God. Laura and I got out on a date last night and decided to go see Disney’s adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” with Jim Carrey.

MOVIE REVIEW

If you’re a fan of the classic tale, like I am, then you will find aspects of this movie to be enjoyable and others to be frustrating. My favorite version of this story is the 1970 musical Scrooge, with the song my sister and I sing every Christmas. So as I approached this adaptation I had Albert Finney in mind as Ebenezer Scrooge. This was not a musical, so it played very differently.

The positives first: I really liked the animation; it was incredibly lifelike in parts. I thought that Jim Carrey played a fantastic Scrooge and his “humbug” was spot on. The representation of the ghost of Christmas past was imaginative and interesting and the other characters were well played. I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it for teens and up.

The negatives: leave the kids at home. Bob Jacob Marley (I keep wanting to call him Bob Marley…the Rastafarian ghost partner or something. “Hey, mon! Quit de money hoarding mon!”) is quite frightening in the movie and there are several other places where the fright builds. I know that my kids would have had a hard time watching this movie, so beware. I would not recommend it for children. The reminder here is that just because it is animated does NOT mean it’s for kids.

BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL THOUGHTS

First the negative: From a theological perspective the movie does advance the argument that our works determine whether we spend eternity in torment or happiness. Scrooge is told that if he changes his stinginess he will avoid the fate of Marley; since he does, even though he never considers Christ the implication is that he will not have eternity in torment like Marley does.

One other nitpicky gripe I have is with the return of Marley to warn Scrooge. Marley comes to Scrooge to warn him to change his ways, but from a biblical perspective we read in Luke 16:19-31 that no opportunities like this are given to us. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Abraham tells the rich man that if they will not listen to Moses and the Prophets they will not listen to someone who rises from the dead.

Now the positive: First and simply, the movie paints a positive image of Christianity. The church is positively portrayed, and Christmas carols are Christ-focused (“Hark the Herald Angels Sing” is one of my favorites!).

Second and more importantly in my opinion is a picture of God’s knowledge of the future. Towards the end of the movie there is a discussion between Scrooge and the ghost of Christmas future regarding the certainty of what Scrooge is seeing. In Dickens’ words the interaction says,

“Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point,” said Scrooge, “answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of the things that May be, only?”

Still the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it stood.

“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!”[1]

Scrooge asks a very important question here. Is the future set in stone? Are the things being shown what will be, or only what could be? (the question he didn’t ask but should have is “what will be if, but that is perhaps asking too much of the movie) In other words, is there any opportunity for him to change or has God decided what is to come without a doubt?

What happens in the movie is well known: in Scrooge’s time with the ghost of Christmas future he sees Tiny Tim die and cause Bob Cratchit and his family great pain. He sees his own death and the joy it brings others, as well as his own torment after death. However, when he awakes he changes his outlook and actions, Tiny Tim lives, Ebenezer patches things up with his nephew and everyone lives happily ever after.

From a biblical perspective this is what is known as middle knowledge. In this theological perspective God knows not only what actually will happen, but what could happen. He knows all of the possible outcomes for all history of all the choices of His creatures. He knows how the world would be in infinite detail if one creature had made one decision differently and all of the effects of that choice throughout all of history.

Wait, it gets more fun! Multiply all of those possible outcomes and decisions by all of the decisions of all creatures for all time and you get the number of possible worlds that God could have possibly created. (the number is probably somewhere north of eleventy kajillion)

We know that God indeed possesses knowledge of what could happen as well as what will. We can see it in passages like 1 Samuel 23:6-13:

Now it came about, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech ^afled to David at Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. When it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, “God has ¹delivered him into my hand, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars.” So Saul summoned all the people for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men. Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to ^aAbiathar the priest, “^bBring the ephod here.” Then David said, “O Lord God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account. “Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “^aThey will surrender you.” Then David and his men, ^aabout six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went ^bwherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he ¹gave up the pursuit.

When David asks God whether Saul will come and whether the men of Keilah will deliver him into Saul’s hand, God answers in the affirmative. However, what happens in reality is that David leaves Keilah, Saul does not come down, and therefore the men of Keilah don’t hand David over to Saul. God knew what they would do if David were there, but since he wasn’t there they didn’t do it! God knows the counterfactuals as well as the actuals of the future.

Why is this important? Well it makes a great deal of difference in the way that we see the intersection of God’s sovereignty and our free will in salvation. From a Reformed understanding God elects those who will believe and receive eternal life without any conditions. (this is known as unconditional election and is one of the five points of the Reformed acrostic TULIP) From an Arminian perspective it is our free decision to trust God that results in His electing us. (this is known as conditional election)

These two concepts are at odds with one another, but middle knowledge is at least an attempt to untie the Gordian knot between them. In middle knowledge God could have created any world He wanted to, and chose to create the world in which our truly free choices carry out His truly sovereign will. So by choosing to create the world He did, God chose those who will be saved personally and did so without violating their free faith in Him. Both God’s sovereign control and our responsibility to trust Christ are maintained.

So Scrooge got to see what the Scriptures seem to indicate about the intersection of God’s sovereign will and our human responsibility. Who would have ever thought that Jim Carrey was such a deep theologian?

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[1] Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. Abridged. Edited by Albert F. Blaisdell. New York; Maynard, Merrill, & Co. 1892. Page 54. Available at http://books.google.com/books?id=ItM0AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=&f=false (accessed 11/10/09)

Rest and Recuperation

If there is one refrain I hear a lot it is that I am a busy guy. I hear it from friends, from coworkers, from my parents and from a few members of my church who love me enough to poke me when I need it. They are all correct; between pastoring a young and busy church, teaching on the side at a local college and a bit at seminary, kenpo (both taking class and helping teach) and training for a half marathon my schedule is a wee bit tight!

I don't vacation much. Being a pastor is a busy life full of hospital visits, phone calls, prayer, sermon prep, Bible study prep, teaching, leading, counseling, conflict resolution, and on and on. My congregation expects and deserves a biblical and applicable message every Sunday in the pulpit, and it takes dedication to the task to get it done! That takes time and effort during the week, which makes vacationing difficult.

This week, though, I have had a very relaxing week. I took Tuesday off and went fishing with a couple of friends that I don't get out much with. We went up to Bartlett Lake with a fishing boat, minnows and worms, and a need to chill out! It was great to turn the BlackBerry off for the day and just enjoy the scenery, the weather, and the camaraderie. We had a great day on the lake; we caught a bunch of fish (mostly catfish for me), shot the breeze, and joked around. We didn't keep what we caught because we were there for the sport and for the relaxation.

Fishing would have made for a great week, but there's still more! James' adopted grandpa asked us to go squirrel hunting with him, so Thursday we packed up the truck and headed for the woods in northern Arizona. We spent the day hunting squirrels and enjoying an absolutely gorgeous day. This is the time to live in Arizona, as it was about 50 degrees in the morning and about 70 midday. (November 5th...just don't ask about July weather)

When we got home I was totally wiped out. I got up at 4 to make sure we were ready to leave on time. We left the house at 5AM and drove 2 hours or so to get where we were hunting. We hunted all day and didn't get home until after 8PM, so when we pulled into the driveway I was super tired.

Physically I was exhausted but mentally and emotionally I was refreshed. I really enjoyed spending time with my son out in the woods. We thanked God on several occasions for the beautiful scenery, the amazing weather, the great time and the good hunting. This was James' first hunting trip too, so it was a rite of passage toward manhood for my "tiger man."

In years past I would feel guilty about taking these days off. Not getting any work done would feel to me like "wasting" time. Now, though, I recognize the wisdom of Christ's way of doing things. In Luke 5:15-16 I see Jesus taking time off to rest and spend time alone with God, even with more work to do than time to do it.

But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

Rest and recovery are part of God's plan for our lives. Sure He wants us to work hard (in Genesis 3:17-19 we are told that we will work hard to feed our family), but He wants us to rest as well. He wants us to spend time with Him while we serve Him. I got a great reminder of that this week while I kicked my feet up with a pole in the water, and again while I looked out over a beautiful meadow at lunch time. And you know what? Because I knew I would be out a bunch I worked hard while I was in the office to make sure my sermon prep was still done and done well. I had to be more productive and focused, but God graciously still allowed me to get it all done.

Take the time amidst your busy schedule to spend some down time. Rest, recuperate, recover, and refocus. Get some time to refuel and enjoy life a little. That's Jesus' model of ministry and should be ours too.

Feeling Secure vs. Being Secure

The seminary where I teach part time is in a part of town that is a bit sketchy. It’s not in the ‘hood, but you can hit a pretty dicey neighborhood with a rock from the parking lot. Suffice it to say that I am glad for my martial arts skills when I head to my car at night!

For everyone’s safety, though, the building is secured by a professional guard. This guard is there from sundown until at least after 10PM (when I leave); he keeps an eye on the parking garage, makes sure that the building isn’t infiltrated by hooligans, and walks people from the building to their car at night if they would like I suppose.

That sounds great, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you feel safer knowing that your valuables have been watched and that you had a professional guard walking you to your car? Of course you would!

Tonight, though, I was really struck by the difference between feeling safer and actually being safer. The guard that the building employs is, I am sure, a good person. (I don’t know for sure because he won’t converse with me, despite repeated attempts) He is mildly pleasant but not outgoing. He is probably in his mid 50’s and perhaps 50 pounds overweight. He carries no weapons of any kind and limps a little.

So I started wondering this evening if I were really any safer with him there. What would he do if a deranged meth addict wanted to mug me as I was approaching my car? He might have a cell phone to call 911, but so do I. I can run faster than he can (gimpy hammy and all), and have a couple of years of martial arts training to defend myself. Every time I have seen him he is either sitting at his podium in the hallway or standing out front staring at traffic.

There is obviously a difference between feeling safer and actually being safer. While many people might feel safer with the idea of a guard being on duty, looking at the evidence makes me think that it is likely that the students and faculty are in fact not significantly safer than they would be without him.* The same could be said of many areas. For instance, my job is not safe because I feel like it is safe. I know several people whose job evaporated without notice.

As I thought through this truth, a conversation I had earlier today came to mind. A friend asked me if I believed in eternal security, which I do. She then said that I must believe she never had a true relationship with God because she has walked away from Christ. (pray for her…’nuff said) She certainly didn’t feel secure in her relationship with God and felt like there was no way He could love her.

However, her understanding of security is misguided. Our perseverance in good works and in godliness can certainly help us feel secure. These signs are external evidences of God at work within us, and therefore they can help us to have a subjective feeling of His pleasure and His approval in our lives. Seeing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) can be reassuring as we struggle with sin and our fallen state. However, they don’t actually make us secure at all. Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:21-23 that all the good works in the world can’t help us if we don’t have what is truly necessary for security:

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. ²² “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

These guys have some good works! They prophecy IN JESUS’ NAME! They cast out demons and work miracles! They certainly felt secure, (note their indignation at being told to go to hell) but in the final judgment they were not secure in God’s grace. Why? In verse 23 Jesus says what brings true security: knowing Him. Within Reformed (i.e. Calvinist) theology it is God who guarantees our perseverance in holiness to bring about our security, but from the above verses it sure seems to me that our works and obedience are a horrible basis for our security and can lie to us.

It’s not our obedience or our godliness or following Christ with a particular degree of competence that brings security; rather, it is a relationship with Christ that brings true security. When we trust Christ for our eternal life, we are forever secure in His faithfulness regardless of ours. This is exactly what the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8:38-39:

³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can cause Him to abandon us, not even our own faithlessness! We, being “created things,” are even excluded from ability to separate ourselves from Him. So whether we feel secure or not, whether we like what we see or think that it is appropriate activity or behavior from a child of God has no bearing on our actual security.

Our actual security comes from trusting Christ, not from looking at our works. We may feel secure or insecure at any given time, but feeling secure and being secure are not at all the same thing. When we feel insecure is not the time to start hustling for God, but rather is the time to turn again to the true source of security: Christ!

To bring it back around to the original illustration, our works are akin to the security guard at the seminary. They may make us feel safe, but in reality they are ineffective. True security can’t come from our works, but only from the works of the faithful One, Jesus.

So the next time you are feeling a little insecure in your relationship with God, don’t try harder to be good, to do good, or to make God happy. Turn instead to the true source of security. Talk to Christ and listen to Him through His word and the Spirit. That sense of security can last, whereas the security of our works is fleeting at best.

*I am in no way disparaging this particular guard. He is who he is, and has been since he was hired. The company employing him knows who he is, and the powers that be at the seminary see him every night and could probably request a replacement if they felt it necessary. He is evidently performing his assigned duties competently.

October Links

Here are some of the more interesting, intriguing, thoughtful, or just plain funny items on teh intertubes this month. Last month’s links can be found here.

This is a pretty large list of links, but it has been a busy month of interesting stuff! I love it when friends share articles and videos with me that make me think or laugh, so I want to pass along the joy for anyone else. Enjoy wasting an hour laughing, thinking, and being challenged.

Theological/biblical stuff:

This is a HUGE movement from the Roman Catholic Church. The thing that is largest is allowing Episcopalians who come back into communion to bring their priest with them, even if he is married.

This is a great discussion on how to reconcile the biblical witness on marriage with the culture we live in today. If there is one issue that has cost me more strife and more anger as a pastor than any other, it is weddings (specifically who will I officiate for and who I will not) and issues like the one Michael addresses here.

A great article on the balance between academics and practical pastoral care.

My favorite iMonk post this month. We must remember to keep the main thing the main thing.

Loved this video. It was given at a TD Jakes conference. He brings the house down.

Economics, family, and political stuff:

Churches are feeling the economic pinch. This is a good reminder to me to make sure that I am supporting my church financially.

This cartoon was made in 1948…scary. How far we have come!

A fascinating article concerning economics in National Affairs magazine. Check out the applications of the study and see if you come to the same conclusion I did: “Well, duh!”

Don’t forget to report bribes and drug money on your taxes. And remember, the IRS knows everything. (Santa Claus works for them apparently)

The unintended consequences of “Cash For Clunkers.” Who would have thought that there would be a “hangover” from the bailout, and that the small used car dealers would be affected the most?

A great article in Wired magazine on parents talking to their kids…about math and science. It’s easier for parents to talk to their kids about drugs than about science and math because they feel incompetent in science and math. Wait, does that mean they feel competent in drugs?

This should be posted everywhere as a deterrent to crime.

An excellent op-ed piece that touches on how each part of the Bill of Rights affects the others. Whatever side of this debate you’re on, it’s worth noting that infringing on one area impacts others.

Looks like the stem cell debate may be won on practical rather than ethical grounds. Economics says we go with what works!

I can’t believe that the Governator had this much guts. (CAUTION: there is a bad word…the mother of all bad words in fact) This could be posted in the “just plain funny” section in my opinion. I don’t agree with everything Schwartzenegger does, but this is hilarious.

Encouraging stuff:

If Tara Reed doesn’t challenge your idea of what it means to trust God, you’re not trying. This was the first post in her series as she recovers in Romania from a long fall. Click the next post on the bottom of this post and read through the next several. Incredible reading. This is what happened to her from a witnesses’ perspective. (you might want to start there)

An amazing video on kids emulation of parents. Hopefully you can see it; I only found it on facebook.

Why are these only rules for traveling? Shouldn’t they be general rules for all the time?

Just plain funny stuff:

One gutsy little bird. Hang on for dear life little buddy!

(I already posted this video on a blog post, but it’s worth seeing again) We all need more fun in life, right?

Om nom nom nom.

Good Samaritan for the win! I wonder if the robber told all his peeps in jail what really happened.

The greatest worship song of all time! Watch at your own risk, I promise you that you will sing this song for a week if you do. I am trying to convince our worship pastor to add this to our repertoire.

If you’ve seen anything amazing on the ‘net, send me a link and if it’s awesome I will include it in the next links post!

I Hate Halloween…But Probably Not For the Reasons You Think

I hate Halloween. I really do.

I was going to write a post about my take on the biblical facets of participating in Halloween, but this post on CARM’s website lays out my understanding of the biblical underpinnings of this event more eloquently than I could. (CARM is really good btw)

So if that is my view on Halloween (mainly that in a 1 Cor 10 or Romans 14 sense that it is a matter of conscience), why would I say that I hate it?

Let me say that I have no vehement objection to trick or treating or dressing up. Personally I think that it can conceivably be participated in without the participants immediately holding a séance to contact Beelzebub. I even played D&D as a kid, and never once sacrificed a goat to Samhain!

Let me also say that the concept of allowing my children to wander the streets after dark begging candy from strangers seems a tad bit counterintuitive to me. I also don’t like the advertising I see for Halloween. Boys pretty much dress up as characters from horror movies, or as hippies if they got to Savers late. Girls dress up as any kind of slut that they would like to be: pirate slut, witch slut, cheerleader slut, US Marine slut (yes, it’s true…check it here if you don’t believe me), nurse slut…

I hate Halloween because it causes division among well-meaning Christians. This is one of those issues that generates a lot of heat but not a lot of light, because rather than taking Paul’s advice in Romans 14 we get the idea that we have to defend our position and make every other Christian feel the same.

Some of us want to find every Frankenstein and Harry Potter in their neighborhood and make sure they know the love of Jesus. That is Michael Patton’s take, and he is certainly a thoughtful Christian thinker. On the other hand there are Christians who associate the practice very closely with Satanism and feel like we’ve been duped into worshipping Satan with this holiday.

We try to provide a middle ground at church. We have a party every year on October 31st as an alternative to trick or treating. We called it “trunk or treat” two years ago. Last year it was a “harvest festival.” This year it is a “fall family festival,” if only because “safe alternative to begging candy from strangers without any occultish stuff” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. We have carnival games with candy as prizes, a jumper for the kids, and food. It’s part outreach, part inreach.

The problem is that the entire event seems to create division. Last year some passionate (if not too respectful) Christian left tracts on the windshields of the cars in the church parking lot that we were in league with Satan by having the carnival. Some (I think most…not sure though) like having something fun to do and are grateful for providing an alternative to trick or treating. Others head to parties dressed as a zombie (or if a girl, a zombie slut) and wonder why we’re so worked up.

If we could all live out our conscience in the spirit of what Paul said in 1 Cor 10 and even more Romans 14:5-6 I would be delighted.

⁵ One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.

Let those who participate do so with a clear conscience and remember not to look down on those who do not have that clarity of conscience. Likewise the one who does not participate should not judge the one who does. (that’s Romans 14:3 for those keeping score at home)

Unfortunately we have a hard time with that, because instead of focusing on following Christ and allowing others to do the same, we get too caught up in being right and making sure others know that we are. I see this from both sides; as the pastor of my church, I hear it both ways every year. And it seems that this day is the one that invites the most heated debate. No one gets upset at me for allowing a Christmas tree in the sanctuary in December, though evergreen trees were an ancient fertility symbol and therefore in ancient times associated with pagan gods. But pumpkins are different! (unless they are part of a Thanksgiving display…there must be a cornucopia involved to avoid spiritual warfare)

I don’t hate Halloween for itself, but for what it causes. Once I get past Saturday I don’t have problems with holidays until we break out the Easter eggs for the kids on Easter Sunday. :) From November 1st through the end of the year I am golden, so I am really looking forward to Sunday. Because then we get to indulge in state-sponsored and church approved gluttony! (I love turkey)

Be safe on Saturday everyone.