I’m not dumb – I know that the translation of Islam actually means peace (or submission, but the root slm is the same as the Hebrew shalom). But the façade of peace is wearing mighty thin.
While Christians in America cry persecution too easily, Christians in other areas of the world are highly persecuted. According to a 2014 report from the Pew Research Center, Christianity is the religious group most likely to be persecuted worldwide. We’re seeing this horrible truth play out in the story of Meriam Yehya Ibrahim.
She’s a 27 year old mother of one and eight months pregnant with child number two. She and her child are in prison in Sudan.
Why?
Because she’s a Christian and refuses to recant. And conversion from Islam is a crime punishable by death. Thank you, Sharia law, for your righteous judgment.
But Islam is the way of peace.
Uh-huh.
This whole situation is tragic. It’s the kind of thing that has me saying, “Let’s just send in Army Rangers and extract her and her family (her husband has U.S. citizenship) by force!”
Probably not gonna happen.
As Christians, stories such as this should not surprise us. Once upon a time they would have been the norm for all Christians. But we’ve grown soft in the last 1700 years. Many of us have had protection and shelter from real persecution.
But it seems as though we’re returning to a place where we can expect more and more of the world to turn against us. It’s in times such as these that the Bible speaks loudly about hope and perseverance. Though troubles like this come, we know that our God controls the big picture, and one day the struggles and trouble of this world will be behind us.
Until then, we can contact political leaders and make a push for intervention. We can share the story and get the word out to the world.
Most importantly, we can pray hard for Christians around the world who face these situations.
**Update**
Meriam has reportedly given birth to a baby girl. Now we wait and see what the Sudanese government does. Now we wait and see what the international community does…
The issue of giving money to the church is often a touchy subject for many. Even within Christianity there can be great division regarding the tithe. I’m reminded of an old joke:
Three ministers are out playing golf and they’re trying to decide how much to give to charity. So the first says, “We’ll draw a circle on the ground, throw the money way up in the air, and whatever lands inside the circle we give to charity.” The second says, “No. We’ll draw a circle on the ground, throw the money up in the air, and whatever lands outside of the circle – that’s what we’ll give to charity.” The third and most senior pastor says, “No, no. We’ll throw the money up in the air and whatever God wants he keeps!”
Tithe is an old word for tenth, and the overwhelming model in the Bible is that people of faith give back to God (via the local place of worship) one-tenth of all our income. For example:
This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to You a tenth of all that You give me. (Genesis 28:22)
Every tenth of the land’s produce, grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. (Leviticus 27:30)
You are to bring there your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tenths and personal contributions, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. (Deuteronomy 12:6)
Sometimes it’s hard to think about giving away 1/10 of our income – a dime of every dollar. So I asked on Twitter: Do you tithe to your local church? Why or why not?
And responses came pouring in:
@chrislinzey Yes I do. Taught to tithe by my parents & believe it's scriptural and an act of worship. And I tithe on the gross 🙂
There is no promise in the Bible that if you tithe then God will repay you with worldy riches. God doesn’t have a savings plan – you give 10% and you’ll see dividends 100x what you paid. It doesn’t work like that.
Giving says several things:
1) God, I give you this as an act of worship.
2) God, I recognize that all I have is from you.
3) God, I trust that you can take care of me even if I give my income away.
I believe that God will be faithful to us even if we give away 10% (or more) for his kingdom.
What’s your gut reaction? Are you a tither? How does the idea of giving a dime of every dollar sit with you?
Here we are with Episode 2 in my series called “The Bible Does NOT Mean That!” The goal is not to tell you definitively what the Bible does or does not say. The goal is to talk about how we can look at the Bible with intentionality and understanding. Since it is God’s revelation to humanity it’s not supposed to be filled with secrets locked away to all but the elite. It’s designed to guide us ALL!
The problem is that many of us are simply never taught how to read it.
I once joked that there are two kinds of people who take the Bible 100% literally: Fundamentalists and Atheists.
Fundies hold that the Bible is 100% literal or else you can’t trust ANY of it. Atheists hold that the Bible is 100% literal to shoot holes in Christian faith. I doubt either group would ever think they have anything in common with the other.
But here’s the truth: the Bible is NOT meant to be understood literally.
The various books within the Bible represent different literary genres, and each genre is interpreted a bit differently from the next. Genre cues us how to read and what to expect from the literature.
For example, when we read a story that begins: “Once upon a time…” we are automatically cued as to what kind of story is going to follow (fairy tale) and our brain processes the story as such.
The Bible is filled with histories, parables, poetry, letters, and even this funny genre called Apocalyptic Literature.
Sometimes we understand the Bible to be communicating literal truth. Sometimes the Bible uses symbolism and poetic language to make a point.
Reading the Bible honestly means that we ask the questions: What genre of literature is this passage I’m reading? How should that genre influence my understanding of the text?
I had a Bible teacher who was fond of saying: If we took everything literally we’d have a faith that believes God is a great cosmic chicken (see Psalm 91:4).
A couple days ago I came across a news piece talking about a new FDA approved powdered alcohol called Palcohol. Of course, good Christian folk were upset.
What about the kids? What about the potential for abusing this product? You can drink it and get drunk or you can snort it like drugs! (kudos to Fox News for that spiffy white board in the news segment – way to go all out, guys).
But, alas, it turns out that everyone got hyped up for nothing.
The product is not a close to market-release as we were initially led to believe. USAToday followed up about palcohol.
So we can turn off the rage machine. Kids won’t be getting drunk from nor snorting powdered booze.
But it doesn’t really matter what form the substance comes in. People who will abuse it are going to abuse it. We’re quick to hop on the “ban the substance!” bandwagon because some people might go too far.
But isn’t that true in every area of life?
– Some people will go too far with eating (that thing we call gluttony) but we don’t ban food.
– Some people will go too far with sexuality but we don’t ban marriage.
– Some people will go too far with…
You see, everything that God made has the potential to be corrupted. It doesn’t matter if it’s powdered, liquid, visual, aural…whatever! Humanity has the ability to corrupt and abuse anything. Just because something is corruptible doesn’t make it evil. Food, beer, movies, music – you name it. The Bible doesn’t condemn these things. But everything taken to corruptible excess can lead to sin.
We should be more concerned about being in right standing before God and raising our kids (as best we can) to do the same. Let God be the judge of peoples’ hearts, and give others the freedom to enjoy their Vodka Kool-Aid (or whatever they’re gonna call it). 🙂
***UPDATE***
A friend who knows more of the science than I do told me:
Alcohol is a solvent similar to water with the three states of solid, liquid and gas like all matter (there is of course plasma, but unimportant here). However, powdering something like this implies removing the water from it (the H20) and leaving the solid elements behind. This is possible with other foods, because there is a great deal of matter that is solid at room temperature to be left behind. Ethanol is CH3CH2OH. If you chemically broke it down and removed two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom from it and recombined the remainder, you are left with CH3CH–a form of butane! The only way to ‘powder’ alcohol would be to take it down into its solid state–which with alcohol is -173 deg. F. That would be a bit hard to package for the shelf.
Is this whole thing a gag? Thoughts?
***Update #2***
Seems “powdered alcohol” isn’t quite the correct term. See this great article from Time about the whole thing…
Many Christians are familiar with the Easter Story from the Bible. We hear it at least once a year. But too often the stories in the Bible are too far removed from our present reality. They remain “other than” rather than being an integral part of our contemporary story.
For that reason, I asked a group to join me in retelling the Easter Story as it could have unfolded had the characters in the story had Twitter accounts. Since Twitter only gives you 140 characters, we had to be succinct in telling the story. Taking up additional character space, we also needed to identify the character and include #EasterStory.
Other than that, no holds barred. Twitter has a funny way of bringing out sentiment and thought in short, pithy statements. Some of our contributors were brilliant. Some were silly. But it put a great new spin on a centuries old story of grace, forgiveness, and redemption.
So here you go:
“Surelynot I, Lord” (Judas) “Yesit is you. And don’t call me Shirley” (Jesus) #EasterStory
There you have it – the Easter Story in a nutshell. No, it’s not Scripture, but every once in while it might do us some good to try to see a story through someone else’s eyes. It can bring us to new insight and understanding on the most powerful and significant story in history.
Recently I’ve found myself in some discussions with atheists. Well, not really discussions. None of them actually wanted to discuss. They wanted to rail against God and people who believe in God. I’ve been called a fool, stupid, and other names not so pleasant.
They called God a faerie tale, a hoax to control the masses, and one person called God our “sky daddy” (that one actually made me laugh).
Then a friend contacted me and said, “In honor of Easter, let’s play a hashtag game called #GodIs and get people to share who and what God is to them.”
So last night we kicked off our GodIs movement. Here are some of the contributions:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Then, two days later (and after MUCH backlash from the Christian community), they reversed their decision affirming that they would NOT allow homosexuals in legal marriages to be part of the ministry.
It doesn’t take much intuition to see that the reversal was a direct response to the Christian outcry and pull of support. George O. Wood, the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, even called on members of the AG to withdraw support from World Vision and shift support to organizations that support a biblical view of sexual morality. In the span of a couple days, World Vision lost thousands of supporters and financial backers. Then came the letter recanting.
But all is not well in American Christianity.
There were some who applauded World Vision’s original shift allowing married homosexuals to participate in the ministry. They see the reversal as a slap in the face to the LGBT community and are outraged that World Vision has “caved” to conservative Christians. Zack Hunter calls it “biblical blackmail.”
When World Vision made their shift, Rachel Held Evans crusaded to get them new supporters. When World Vision recanted she publicly apologized (how many “so, so, sorry’s” can you have in an apology?) to everyone who supported the ministry because of her.
At the end of her apology she included a message from a man who told her he supported World Vision only after they made their first change to accept married homosexuals.
This simply boggles my mind.
People who sponsored a child BECAUSE of World Vision’s decision to hire married homosexuals are no better than Xians who decided to withdraw support because of the decision. It is using the almighty dollar to designate approval of an organization/ministry.
While liberal Christians are crying foul, reminding conservatives that children’s lives will be affected, those liberals weren’t saying anything to their liberal followers about the children before. Don’t let people fool you – it’s political. For liberals as well as conservatives, the children run the risk of taking a backseat to theological politics.
Meanwhile, thinkers like Zack Hunter create a false dilemma. The argument goes something like this: “How can you conservatives pull your support of World Vision? Think of the children!” The dilemma created is that, if we don’t support World Vision then there will be no one to take care of impoverished kids and families around the world.
This is a false dilemma because there are many organizations dedicated to bringing aid and relief to people around the world. If you look at the statement from George Wood, he did not simply ask Pentecostals to withdraw support from World Vision. He asked people to shift support to other organizations DOING THE SAME THING that still supported a Pentecostal understanding of biblical morality.
If we believe that an organization is falling away from biblical morality there is no obligation to support that ministry. If we TRULY believe the ministry to be going in the wrong direction we have an obligation to step up and tell them so. That’s what happened with World Vision. And they changed their position back to align with biblical morality.
If liberal Christianity wants to back aid/relief organizations that support their understanding of biblical morality they are more than welcome to do so. We should all support taking care of those less fortunate than ourselves!
But don’t get mad when a ministry doesn’t support your pet theological position. If it’s that big a deal, go find someone doing the same type of work who does support your position.
In the end, even though we disagree on the theology and biblical morality issue, the work of the kingdom is still done.
You must be blind and deaf not to know about what’s going on in the Supreme Court today. Well, perhaps you’re just not plugged into the news. At any rate, Hobby Lobby is going before the Supreme Court to argue against the Affordable Care Act’s “Contraceptive Mandate.”
Basically, Hobby Lobby is saying that they are religiously opposed to providing types of contraceptives that work after conception. The government is going to try to force the issue saying that corporations are not individuals and cannot use religious belief to opt out of the government mandate.
The argument brings up a whole host of issues, but one of the primary issues is this: How do Christians behave in the middle of culture that is becoming increasingly hostile to Christian faith and practice?
I concede that not everyone believes the way I do. Some don’t see the contraceptive issue as a religious issue. Ed Stetzer released some data from Lifeway indicating that a majority of Americans believe organizations SHOULD be forced to provide contraceptives even when it goes against religious beliefs.
We’re all waiting to see how the Supreme Court will rule and what impact the ruling will have for “Christian” organizations and individuals.
In the meantime, let’s consider the example of Peter and John in the Bible. When they were called before the Jewish leaders and told to stop preaching or teaching in the name of Jesus. Peter and John answered:
Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. (Acts 4:19)
As Christians our ultimate accountability is to God, not to civil government. When we truly feel God calling us to do something, heaven help us if we ignore the call and yield to man. The Apostle Paul writes:
Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:20)
When we understand where we belong and where our ultimate loyalty lies, sometimes we will stand against civil government and say, “I will not yield on this point.”
Here’s the kicker.
It will mean that we endure hardships here. It may not be possible to have our cake and eat it, too. When Christian businesses take a stand on faith, they may be forced to pay penalties and fines or even be forced out of business. This is the cost of being a believer in a broken and sinful world.
While I would like to see the Supreme Court rule in favor of Hobby Lobby, I will not be surprised if doesn’t happen. Then the real test comes. Will Hobby Lobby remain loyal to the faith they now proclaim or will they yield to the rule of man?
Like Jesus said:
I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world. (John 16:33)
I’m disappointed that A&E caved and is lifting Phil’s suspension from Duck Dynasty.
There.
I said it.
I’m disappointed that A&E relented. Changed their minds. Caved.
I’m not disappointed for some moral high-ground reason. There will be enough on the Left who will lament that.
No, I’m disappointed because it will reinforce the bullying of the Christian Outrage Machine. It’s the machine that kicks in whenever the Religious Right feels threatened or attacked. The Right blusters, huffs, and puffs, and tries to blow away the Left-Leaning hippie-commie-scum that are trying to take ‘Merica away.
You see, A&E did not cave because they wanted to provide wholesome, family television for their viewers. They caved because of the financial smack to the face they were about to take. Rather than lose millions (or more?) in revenue, they decided to relent and allow Phil back in the fold.
Actually, the capitalistic system worked quite well. The producer said, “We’re not going to produce XYZ anymore.” The consumer said, “If you don’t we’re going to take our business elsewhere.” The producer responded, “Um…well, okay – you win.”
It’s capitalistic back-and-forth.
I am disappointed because the Religious Right will not see it this way. We (I tend to be conservative in my theology, so the Religious are pretty much my people) will interpret this move from A&E as a moral victory, not a consumer victory.
I am disappointed because we view everything through the wrong lens. Instead of looking at the world (and television shows) through a Christian lens, we see the world as Ameri-Christians. We blend our citizenship with our faith and come out with a junky hybrid that isn’t good for either the nation or the faith!
As consumers, we won.
Yay us.
But that’s it. A&E doesn’t agree with our theology or our biblical positions. We will misread and misinterpret these events. The whole thing will quickly be spun into a righteous moral victory. And that disappoints me.
I wish we could have rallied people to save some of my favorite shows in the past. There are some great shows that were killed before their time. But we couldn’t muster the consumer base to make a dent in the producer’s wallet. Duck Dynasty made that dent.
Not Christianity.
If you’re a fan of the show I’ve got nothing against you. I’m glad you get your favorite character back on the show. But don’t pretend it’s about Christianity winning the day.
In the end we show that Christians can bully with the best of them.
Today’s post comes from guest blogger and pastor Jeff Stephens.
The incredibly awesome Jeff Stephens!
Jeff is still a Christian even though he graduated from Fuller Seminary and Vanguard University. He’s also a children’s pastor at Oak Valley Church, loves his big family, and is engaged to Claire Browning. Take it away, Jeff!
I know, I know. I’m beating a dead duck.
I started this blog, a vague post about celebrity Christianity, last week. I wrote about how, in America, we’ve baptized the marks of celebrity culture (exorbitant riches, notoriety, ease, good or interesting looks), and turned them into markers of the “blessed” Christian life. I addressed how fame has become a noble pursuit, and how we plebes long to be “great” too. I wanted to say that we’ve bought into the tabloid culture of American celebrity, FREAKING OUT (!!!!!) about everything before bothering to check the facts.
Oh, there’s more.
I wanted to talk about how we even make local celebrities out of pastors, “platform” ministers, and other church leaders (like myself), and how damaging that can be to church leaders (like myself) and to the body of Christ. I wanted to prove that celebrity Christianity is an ineffective means for evangelism, that it hurts our witness in the world, and how it destroys our prophetic voice. Finally I wanted to discuss how we put our pet celebrity Christians on pedestals, to the point where our adoration becomes idolatry. I would use a certain reality TV family as an example.
Image courtesy of James Barker at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Of course, I would exegete the scriptures in such a way that every reader would have a blown mind and a changed heart. I would show that our obsession with celebrity makes us covetous and ignorant of many of the things that Jesus cared most about. I would illuminate how Jesus didn’t try to keep up with Kardashians, but rejected celebrity and earthly riches at every turn. I would explain the type of Christ the world needs to see in use. I would steal information (indeed, I already have) from a much better Christian blog. The reader would therefore see that I was worthy of the pedestal upon which I’ve been placed. All in 1,200 words or less.
And then something magical happened. You might even say it was my own personal Christmas miracle. Or that I can see into the future.
One of the most visible, uncompromising Christian celebrities in America got temporarily suspended from his TV program. As expected, the so-called Christian Outrage Machine (as coined by a prestigious blogger) came out in full force.
This got my wheels spinning. I said to myself, “Self, what if I can manipulate that blog-in-progress and make it about this current event? Then my blog won’t seem like it was conjured out of thin air, but rather was written in response to something going on in the real world!”
This was a blogger’s dream: writer’s passion meets controversy everybody is talking about! Now I could make my mark in the world, perhaps even have ten minutes of fame.
Upon further investigation, however, I realized that my blog and this controversy had nothing to do with each other. Nobody was putting Phil on a pedestal. If that were the case, tons of people would be changing their Facebook profile pictures, offering their unwavering support for Phil.
Oh wait…
Of course, I’m being facetious. I don’t mean to judge anyone’s motives or heart. And while it’s obvious that this debate is very complex, it is my opinion that, for Christians, celebrity is at the core of the issue. More specifically, it’s about worship.
When we worship, we place someone or something on a pedestal, hopefully for all to see. We show complete adoration and support, even to the point that someone or something is beyond reproach.
The same can be said about celebrity. Celebrity is about celebrating.
Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
So this past week has screamed of worship to me. We’ve placed a man, a network, a cause, an organization, a country, a doctrine, or ourselves on a pedestal. We’ve worshipped them.
Most obviously, we’ve worshipped the Robertsons, putting them in the spotlight. Today they’re probably more celebrated by their fans than they’ve ever been. You may think this is a good thing, for they’ll have a larger platform. I, however, am of the opinion that God doesn’t need them to have a larger platform. I believe that you can’t increase God’s fame and a man’s at the same time. Instead, it would be better to have the attitude of John the Baptist: Christ must become greater. I must become less! (John 3:30)
We’ve also worshipped the Robertsons by acting as if Phil doesn’t make mistakes. We’ve been unwilling to even hint at the possibility that some of his comments could have been reminiscent of the language of oppressors, or maybe a bit insensitive, or even just naïve. In all of this, we’ve made little gods out of them. We’ve made them shining examples of what it means to be Christian. We’ve acted as if questioning Phil is akin to questioning the bible or even Christ himself. We’ve made them out to be greater than they are. We’ve acted as if a temporary suspension from a tiny reality show (that is watched by .001% of the world’s population) is directly tied to the fortunes of the Kingdom of God. We’ve acted as if the gospel message cannot survive in a world where Duck Dynasty products are not sold at Cracker Barrel.
Instead of pointing people to the righteousness of God, we’ve pointed them to the righteousness of Phil. We’re bent on insisting that Phil is righteous. Yet scripture says that our righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), that no one is righteous (Romans 3:11). With this in mind, is it possible that, instead of emphasizing our opinion that Phil hadn’t sinned, we should have emphasized the fact that all have sinned (Romans 3:23)? Would it have been better to admit that he did screw up in some way, yet Christ died for him anyway?
I’m not saying we should vilify the man, but these simple acts of humility would have done much to spread the message of Christ.
We’ve also pedestaled those things the Robertsons represent, some of the greatest celebrities of our day: oldendays America, the American dream, shootin’ stuff, and (the granddaddies of them all) the founding fathers and the constitution. Once again, we’ve acted as if those American deities are infallible, and we’ve treated the constitution as if it were scripture.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe freedom of speech is a great thing, and it must be protected. But demanding our rights only calls attention to that most timeless (and American) idol of all: ourselves. Demanding our rights is a way of shouting to the world, “Look at ME!” But Christ calls us to lose our lives for his sake (Matthew 10:39, 16:25//Luke 9:24).
I also believe that we cannot advance God’s mission while demanding our rights. Instead, we must lay down our rights, becoming the servant of all. We must be like Christ, who refused to demand his rights as God. Instead, he took the form of a slave and humbled himself, even to death on a cross. That act of humility and love made him exalted above every other name (Read Philippians 2:1-11).
So what are we to do? Even if celebrity and this issue are unrelated, stories like this give us an opportunity for self-reflection. We can pause to check the planks in our own eyes (Matthew 7:23) instead of acting as if we have specks of sawdust and they have redwoods. We can be humble and admit our own sins, pointing people to the God who saves us in spite of ourselves.
That last point really has nothing to do with Christian celebrity, but I thought I’d throw it in there. I hope your minds are blown and your lives are changed. In 1,300 words or less.
Chris Linzey 