April 2016 – Chris Linzey

April 26, 2016April 26, 2016

Dear, @PiersMorgan, It’s Okay to Have an Opinion

piers-morgan- So I saw that Piers Morgan is causing quite a stir. He wrote an article criticizing Beyoncé’s outspoken activism on racial issues – a move that is relatively recent in her career. Morgan writes:

Beyoncé then was unrecognisable from the militant activist we see now. Then, she was at pains to be seen as an entertainer and musician and not as a black woman who sings. Now, it seems to be the complete opposite.

The new Beyoncé wants to be seen as a black woman political activist first and foremost, entertainer and musician second. I still think she’s a wonderful singer and performer, and some of the music on Lemonade is fantastic.

But I have to be honest, I preferred the old Beyoncé. The less inflammatory, agitating one. The one who didn’t use grieving mothers to shift records and further fill her already massively enriched purse. The one who didn’t play the race card so deliberately and to my mind, unnecessarily. The one who wanted to be judged on her stupendous talent not her skin color, and wanted us all to do the same

Morgan’s criticism has drawn heavy fire from Beyoncé supporters. Her fans have taken to social media to blast Morgan. I’ve read Facebook comments like:

“You are a middle aged, British white man, you have no idea, i repeat, NO. IDEA. What it is like to be a Black Woman….”

Or,

If I ever hear a White Man speak on the struggle of the Black Woman again, the only sympathy he will get is from the devil himself!

Even Esquire jumped in the fray with:

Piers Morgan’s take on Beyoncé’s ‪#‎Lemonade‬ might just be the dumbest.

Sometimes I feel as though the world has lost its ever-lovin’ mind. Not that Piers Morgan ever reads my articles, but I felt the need to be like every other blogger in the world and give my two-cents on the issue (even though you haven’t asked me).

To those blasting Mr. Morgan – ease up, dudes! Everyone is entitled to an opinion, especially when it comes to arts and entertainment. Morgan was not criticizing #BlackLivesMatter. He was not denigrating those who advocate for social justice. He wasn’t making any politically charged comments about racism. He was talking about entertainment, which is a HIGHLY subjective thing.

For example, I saw a friend of mine post a comment on Facebook about her favorite Marilyn Manson song. How anyone can listen to that is beyond me – I find it to be rubbish. But there are many people (my wife included) who laugh at me and mock me when I break into song EVERY time I hear Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name.”

Seriously, how can you NOT go into instant karaoke mode when classic Bon Jovi comes on the radio?!? But I digress.

The Bon Jovi part is actually a segue into my next point – sometimes it is difficult for fans to get behind an artist’s evolution. As Bon Jovi left that awesome 80’s hair-band style and moved into a mainstream pop-rock, a lot of us were disappointed. I’ll always be a fan, but it’s just not the same as it was. Or look at the evolution of U2. As artists, they have done things to evolve and stretch. It hasn’t always worked (1997’s Pop, anyone?). Some U2 albums I absolutely loathe.

But all art is subjective, and those of us who consume it are allowed to have our own tastes and preferences. If Mr. Morgan prefers Beyoncé the way she was, that’s his prerogative. Scale back the hatred. He still admits she’s terrific – he merely prefers her before she involved into the heavy activism. It’s not racism nor is it white privilege to say, “I just liked listening to her music – I don’t want to be preached at.”

Now to those who prefer Beyoncé as she was and don’t like new activist-Beyoncé, you need to understand that artists DO evolve. We all do. No matter who we are today, we will be different people in 5 years. Our likes and dislikes can shift (although I will NEVER like peas). Our passions can shift. It is not so unreasonable to see that Beyoncé has a (relatively) newfound passion for social and racial activism.

The Bible has some incredible examples of people evolving – of genuine character development. God does incredible things with us, taking us from who we were and creating something new. Look at Moses, a murderer with a speech impediment who was on the lam from Egyptian authorities. God helped him evolve and sent Moses BACK to Egypt. I’m pretty sure Pharaoh wasn’t thrilled with Moses’ evolution.

Or how about Peter and John? They evolved from simple fishermen – uneducated and common men – into passionate preachers of the Gospel of Jesus. It astonished the religious leaders, and I’m pretty sure they weren’t thrilled with Peter and John’s evolution.

There are many biblical examples of this kind of phenomenon. And thank God, because it means we don’t have to be stuck in our same ruts year after year. God can do something new with us. God IS doing something new with us.

Just understand that other people might not like or accept your evolution. And that’s okay.
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Sound off! What do you think? What musician/band do you love that you have seen evolve? Did you like the evolution or hate it?

April 21, 2016April 21, 2016

Celebrities and a Theology of Death

cemetary This has been a crazy week for me. It’s been a death week.

On Monday I addressed a room of Navy leaders about the role of the Chaplain in Casualty Notification, when a Service Member dies and the Command sends a team to notify the surviving family.

On Tuesday Doris Roberts died.

On Wednesday Chyna died.

On Thursday Prince died.

I always find it a bit odd when the world goes bananas over celebrity death. They’re only celebrities. It’s not as though they are immortal. Of course they’re going to die. And I’m not trying to make light of people’s feelings. There is a genuine sense of loss and grief some people feel when a celebrity passes. I think this is because, while we don’t know celebrities personally, we feel as though we know them because we follow their careers and lives. Many of them impact us through their art, whether it be music, television, film, or any other media. When someone has a profound influence on me, of course I will take his death harder than a total stranger.

Nonetheless, death has been part of the human equation for a long time now. We all deal with it in different ways. Some address it with humor:

We die only once, and for such a long time. ~ Moliere

I intend to live forever, or die trying. ~ Groucho Marx

I am not afraid of death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens. ~ Woody Allen

Some address this in all seriousness:

Death is like an arrow that is already in flight, and your life lasts only until it reaches you. ~ Georg Hermes

How, then, ought we to face death? I’ve seen some people use celebrity deaths to berate the lack of faith in the living:

“The death was tragic but is even more tragic if they don’t know Jesus!”

Sure, this may be true, but it usually isn’t the best time and place to be talking about it. It lacks tact and grace. A better route would be to help people develop a theology of death BEFORE an event (as opposed to DURING). The Bible DOES talk quite a bit about death.

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. ~ Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

All of humanity is mortal, and no one will escape it. Though we like to watch movies about immortal beings (living through the 80s and 90s meant I was a huge fan of The Highlander franchise), the reality is that death comes to us all. This doesn’t surprise us. What surprises us is when we’re not expecting the death. It’s easier to wrap our minds around the passing of a loved one who has spent time ill under hospice care than it is to comprehend a very sudden and unexpected death of someone regularly in the limelight.

But even though death comes for us all, the Bible points CLEARLY to the idea that death does not have the final say. The entire biblical narrative moves us in the direction of understanding that death is a natural part of our broken world but is defeated by Christ.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. ~ Romans 5:12-15

Paul writes that the final enemy of humanity to be defeated is death. And Death is not the winner. Christ is the winner. Death is not the end of things. It is the beginning of the next thing. This is why the Apostle Paul can declare with complete assurance, “Where, O Death, is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55).

But our theology of death cannot end here. It’s not merely about understanding that it’s going to hit us all and that Jesus has the final say. A real theology of death ought to affect the here and now. Paul writes:

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ~ Romans 6:8-13

Knowing that Jesus conquered sin and death means we have a call in the here and now daily to put our sinful self to death. He died to sin for us and now we’re called to LIVE life for Him. His death is a clarion call for us to be fully engaged in the godly life now.

None of this is to negate the sorrow and loss people feel. We still work through those emotions. But a proper understanding of death will do us good not only in terms of grief and recovery, but in terms of living this life to the fullest now. And to those who grieve, I’ll leave you with the words of Marcus Tullius Cicero:

The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.

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If you’d like to do some more study on living and dying well, check out The Art of Dying by Rob Moll.

April 3, 2016

Dear Facebook, Your Theology Sucks

There I was at league bowling night when a Service Member approached me and flat out asked, “Hey Chaps, what do you think of those ‘Share if you love Jesus’ memes on Facebook?”

I understand that I say things that offend people. I’ve been called heretical and even blasphemer. But I never TRY to offend people, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t blast this guy with my “truth.”

I said, “Staff Sergeant, I don’t think it’s right or ethical to try to force people’s behavior through manipulation and guilt, and those types of memes do just that.”

His response? “Oh, okay, so I don’t have to feel bad for not feeling bad about not sharing.”

Me: “Staff Sergeant, I NEVER share any of them.”

And he walked away laughing.

It’s an excellent question he asked because those memes are EVERYWHERE! I’m not even sure what motivates people to make them up. Who thinks it’s a good idea to make people feel bad for not sharing a ridiculous picture? In the end it’s not really about spirituality but about social media presence and influence.

Who can get the most shares? Who can get the most likes?

It’s public spirituality which smacks of insincerity and legalism. Rather, Jesus calls us to a life of private spirituality. That isn’t to put down corporate worship (worshiping as a church). Our group gatherings are an important part of our own spiritual growth. Instead, Jesus has in mind the spirituality we do in public as a show. For example, Jesus says:

“So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:2-4)

And Jesus continues:

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6)

Do you get the feeling that Jesus would see these memes and gag?

Don’t be spiritually manipulated by these flim-flam social media Christians. If you love Jesus, follow him and live by his commands. Please do NOT share any ridiculous memes.

A like does NOT equal one prayer.
A share does NOT equal 10 prayers.