What Does My Beard, A 14 Year Old Prostitute, and You Have in Common?

About three years ago, I began to get a firm grasp of the extent of human trafficking across the globe.  As I've dug into this issue, I've found that stories like Angie's in the video above are hardly uncommon.  At first I believed that forced prostitution was a "third-world problem".  It's in those countries that extreme poverty and political unrest make a trade in human lives possible.  But human trafficking touches every corner of the map.  Thousands of young girls in this country are being forcibly used by men for pleasure and profit.  

One part of Angie's story that particularly struck me was, "There's also lot of girls out there.  And a lot of them look like they're half our age."  Angie herself hardly looks to be more than a child, and yet that parking lot that night had "a lot" of potentially 8 or 9 year old girls being callously used and tossed by grown men.  

Girls are forced into prostitution at an average age of 14 years old.  Statistics compiled by the website www.prostitutionresearch.com show that violence against prostitutes is at epidemic levels.  Studies have shown that conservatively 62% of women were raped in prostitution, 83% report being assaulted with a weapon.  One Canadian study found the mortality rate of prostitutes to be 40 times higher than the national average.  When asked if they would leave prostitution, 92% of women answered they wanted to immediately if that was possible.   

The scale and depravity of this issue make it difficult for us to process.  We've been conditioned by culture to believe that women choose this lifestyle.  That they are the perpetrators, but too often in real life that simply is not the case.  These girls have their worth and innocence stolen from them by abuse, violence, coercion, and society.  

However, there are ways to act against sexual slavery.  And that's where my beard comes in.  DecemBeard is an awareness and fundraising initiative started by Lincoln, NE based I've Got A Name (IGAN).  Men are encouraged to take a stand against the evils of human trafficking by growing a beard through the month of December and take pledges to meet a chosen fundraising goal.  

This year a group of 5 Jefferson County pastors have banded under the "Fairbury Area Pastors Group" to lead the charge against human trafficking.  They have agreed to take the DecemBeard Challenge together to raise a community-wide fundraising goal for the Fairbury area.  Pastors Joel Hahn of First Baptist, Ken Hart of Faith Lutheran, and Brian Julin-McCleary of American Lutheran are all growing beards and Pastors Karl Lent of Peace United Methodist and Deb Valentine of Zion United Church of Christ are wearing DefendHer pins.  The DefendHer pins are another means for supporters of IGAN to show they are taking a stand to protect these exploited girls.  

Myself and few other members of the community are growing our beards out as well to support our pastors and their cause, but we can't do this without you.  The exploitation of women and children often occurs through a loose network of abusers, traffickers, pimps, and johns.  Only by rallying together can God's people hope to combat this widespread evil.  

There are a number of ways that you can get involved in this fight: 

LEARN - Several organizations on the internet are taking proactive stances in the battle against human trafficking.  There is a myriad of resources available to learn about modern slavery, foreign and domestic, sexual and labor oriented.  A few of them are as follows:  

I've Got A Name - Their website will connect you to more information about DecemBeard and DefendHer initiatives and how you can take the challenge or pledge to be a sponsor.  

Prostitution Research and Education - This above mentioned website is a good resource concerning prostitution and the violence inherent in that industry.  

Tiny Hands International - This is another Lincoln-based organization that fights trafficking predominantly in Nepal.  They have homes and learning centers for rescued women and operate several monitoring stations on the Nepali/Indian border where around 15,000 young women annually are trafficked into brothels.  

The Polaris Project - This organization operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-3737-888.  This is a great resource to learn about all types of slavery in the U.S. and what is being done about it.  

End Slavery Now - This website has compiled a great resource center for learning about trafficking.  It also points towards organizational and government responses.  

GIVE - You can also stand with those who fight human trafficking through your resources.  The "Fairbury Area Pastors Group" is hoping to find sponsors that will help them smash the $2000 fundraising goal for December.  You can go to I've Got A Name right here and click to sign up as a sponsor to the "Fairbury Area Pastors Group" and donate to this cause.  

It's also possible to give of your time to aid this struggle.  IGAN host an annual rally in Lincoln every spring.  Several of the above organizations hold similar rallies or marches in various locales across the nation.  Stay connected to them to learn about volunteer possibilities in your area.  

PRAY - This is a spiritual issue.  Its roots are deep in cultural perspectives on the values of women and human life, both globally and as a nation.  Mere human efforts are doomed to fail in this arena.  We need to ask the Light of God to shine in these dark corners of culture.  When these evils are revealed, we can be encouraged to stand against them.  Only the Spirit of God can bring healing to the lives of women who have been so coarsely exploited and even to those men who have used them.  

Lately, I've leaned heavily on Isaiah 61:1 to encourage me to keep up the good fight against this injustice: 

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners."  

At the start of Jesus' ministry, He read from this passage in the synagogue and stated that "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  His time on Earth was spent in binding the brokenhearted and freeing prisoners until ultimately He did so for all humanity in paying our price from bondage to sin and death.  I ask you, can we who claim His Name do any less than strive to continue His work?  

The Consumer Conundrum

"There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own and His own did not receive Him." - John 1:9-11

First, my apologies to Nathan and Matthea for jumping in here.

Next, my apologies to gingerbread men.

Finally, you're welcome for the brief moment of laughter you may already be experiencing after watching this instantly classic commercial.

Okay, so what's the bent here?  Well, to be honest there can be several.  I mean, we could make the easy jump in paralleling the "path of least resistance" reference in the commercial to the "path to eternal life," but those kinds of dumbed-down analogies to the profundity of what happened on the cross sort of rub me the wrong way.  We could discuss the manipulation inherent to drafting as it's depicted in this ad, but that really pales in comparison to some of the other problems associated with Christmas shopping.  Or we could (and maybe should) discuss the terribly disconcerting question of, "Why haven't I seen any of these ads this year?"  I mean, c'mon Target, those commercials are gold!  That ad campaign is a winner!  Are you trying to lose revenue this Christma...

Aha, therein lies the rub!  THAT is the bent.  So often we hear things like, "Jesus is the reason for the season!," or "Keep Christ in Christmas!," or "It's not Happy Holidays, it's MERRY CHRISTMAS!"  And, while those have all become important cliches, they are still cliches and this is not another one of THOSE discussions.  No, this discussion is about the impossibility of breaking the cycle of consumerism.

What does Christmas mean to a poor family in a developing country?  In other words, do we really have any idea what "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"  means to the least of the least of the least of these or the 'not-iest' of the have-nots?  Not even a whiff!  What we're talking about here is most definitely a first-world problem, make no mistake about it.  BUT, what we're talking about here is also one of the most difficult problems many of us face on several levels, and yes, there is a point where worlds collide, and it just may be in the reconciliation of that collision that this "problem" disappears.

How many of us look forward to the Christmas season?  I'm talking about the pure, ideological, sugar-plums-dancing-in-our-heads parts of Christmas.  Probably most of us!  Now, what about if I throw in that all-important GIFT piece?  Less excited?  What about that family member who's oh so hard to shop for?  What about that family member we wish we could still shop for or hear their stories or enjoy Christmas dinner with, but they're no longer with us?  

Forget sugar plums, these things are beginning to feel like grenades rattling around in our heads; pins-pulled, imminently destructive grenades!  

And, as if those weren't enough things to think about, what about the friends and co-workers just beyond that immediate family circle, but just inside that to-distant-to-buy-a-gift-for circle?  Pressure mounting, suddenly we recall the gift that so-and-so bought for us last year that was totally out of nowhere!

"And I didn't get them a gift last year, so this year I've got to make up for two year's worth of gifts."

Approaching all-out panic at this point.

If you're like me there comes a point where Carol of the Bells begins sounding more like annoying alarm clocks ringing out reminders that I have T-minus two days until this gift is expected, T-minus three until that, and "Oh boy, you're past-due on this one."  

If you're like me, this along with the sound of cash registers, a nose-diving bank account, and the morphing of White Christmas into I'm dreaming of a black Christmas, while the harmony goes something like More red with every check I write are all bellowing simultaneously in my head.

Noisy enough for you yet?

We're almost there.

But we musn't forget the kids', cousins', nieces' and nephews' and the neighbor boy's Christmas plays and pageants.  Do I get them a flower or something?  Naw, I'll just be sure to tell them, "Break a leg" so maybe I can save an arm.

While there are even more things we could dump into this festive pot full of fruit cake, mistletoe, eggnog and frostbite, I'll stop there.

The first-world problem we're talking about here is essentially a Christmas Arms Race, a consumer nightmare, an emotionally claustrophobic gift box wrapped in airtight paper and tied strangle-hold tight with a bow.

And while it sounds like a World War in our heads, be reminded of that poor family in the developing country.  What do you think is going on in their heads?  Is it as stressful as what's going on in ours?  And if it's not, is this really a blessing in disguise?  What's it like NOT having the problem of stuff?  And how do we break the cycle?

Well, I don't have a definitive answer for any of these questions, but I do have a couple ideas.

We can't really break the cycle, but...

What if instead of ignoring the gift-giving arms race we acknowledged it...directly...with specific people in our lives for whom and between us this has been the case?

What if instead of trending upward in our individual gift allowances, we begin to reverse that trend?

What if invest more time in people throughout the year so we don't feel like we have something to make up for at Christmastime?

What if we spend time working with a church or soup kitchen for the holiday season (i.e. things like Operation Christmas Child, serving meals to the homeless and those less fortunate)?

What if it's as simple as just budgeting better?

What if we replaced one gift at home with equal investment abroad (i.e. buy livestock for a family in a developing country, go on a mission trip, support a child)?

This is where these worlds begin to collide.  And, you don't even have to go abroad to make this adjustment.

What if we picked a family in need off one of the trees in our local department stores, and then as a family, picked out gifts specifically for those folks?

What if we went really extreme, and totally, absolutely, unequivocally flipped Christmases with an underprivileged family; substituting our family Christmas in-whole to make just ONE Christmas memorable for someone else?

These are tough questions, but their answers may just be solutions to some of the financial, mental and emotional problems - yes, the first-world problems - we experience year in and year out in the a country where the very privilege to do so may just be one of the greatest blessings of all.

And, before anyone gets too up-in-arms, Jesus IS Christmas and His gift is without question the GREATEST one of all!

Vote the Bible?

In lieu of a regular blog post this week, I'll share some thoughts from Shane Claiborne.  Shane is part of an intentional in Philadelphia, PA and has been an active hearer, writer, speaker, and doer of and about Jesus' words.  I highly recommend his book Jesus for President and shamelessly point you to his blog post Jesus for President 2012 since it encapsulates most of what I would have to say about today.  Enjoy!

Look forward to fresh and relevant blog material next week.  Until then, remember:  No matter who is elected President, Jesus is King!

The Lie of “The Grace Loan”

Imagine the following dialogue for a moment:

Dad: “Here, daughter {hands her an envelope}, this is a graduation gift from your mom and I.”

Daughter: {opens envelope} “This is a check for $50,000!!!!” {Screams in excitement}

Dad: “Yes, we are wanting to pay for your college.  It is a gift we have been planning to give you for quite some time.  The joy you have right now has made all the saving and sacrifice worth it!” {Smiles broadly}

Daughter: “Thank you so much!  I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this!!!”

Dad: “You’re welcome.  We will set up a repayment plan once you finish up with school.”

See anything strike you as odd about this interaction?  I am sure if you are struggling to survive on your current income the thought of someone having $50,000 to give away seems absurd.   Yet, try to move past that and see if you find anything else.  Does the father’s final statement “We will set up a repayment plan once you finish up with school” strike you as odd?  Why? 

We have a word in our society for this transaction of goods, and it is not a gift.  It is a loan.  What separates the two?  A gift is something given to someone with no expectation of repayment, as determined by the giver.  Sure, the recipient of that gift may feel undeserving and attempt to pay back the giver.  However, this does not change the original intention of the giver, he/she still intended to give without repayment. 

On the other hand, a loan is given with expectation of repayment.  Once again, the giver determines this.  If I were to loan my friend $100, but he assumes that it is a gift, would he still not owe me the $100?  Of course he would.  We might need to have an additional conversation where we are on the same page, but his misunderstanding of my intention does not afford him the right to keep the money.  Just like a gift, the giver, not the recipient, determines a loan.  

So while all the technical definitions and illustrations?  We need to recognize a lie that Satan subtly sneaks into view of God and our way of living: God’s grace to us is a loan.

Here is how he sneaks it in:

“God sent Jesus Christ to die for us.  Therefore, since He gave everything, we owe our lives to Him.”

“Jesus Christ paid for our sins on the cross.  Consequently, we should spend the rest of our time here on Earth paying him back.”

“Everything we have was given to us by God.  Therefore, we owe Him 10%.”

Before, I go any further, there is a lot of truth in those statements: Jesus did pay for our sins, He did give everything, and everything we have is His.  In addition, we should give our lives to him, we should serve him with our gifts, and we should give to God out of good consciousness.  Furthermore, God does deserve our trustworthiness, our love, our faithfulness, our time, our talents, and our monetary gifts.  In that sense we do “owe” God.  However, a clear distinction must be made between “owing” in the sense of thinking we can pay Him back and “owing” Him in the sense of choosing to live for Him.  The former is living under the grace loan, the latter is the godliness of living under grace. 

This is because when we say we should “pay him back”, we, the recipients, are attempting to determine the nature of grace instead of God the giver.  As we illustrated earlier, we cannot determine whether grace is a gift or a loan, only the giver can.  So let us go to Scripture to see what He says on the nature of grace.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 (emphasis mine)

“But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.” Romans 5:15-16 (emphasis mine)

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 (emphasis mine)

“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” 1 Corinthians 2:12 (emphasis mine)

“Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10 (emphasis mine)

Gift of God, free gift, gift by the grace, gift, free gift, free gift, freely given, gift of God, given…we could on and on and on.  However, hopefully you can get the point: God GIVES us His grace FREELY, which means He gives it WITHOUT EXPECTING REPAYMENT. 

To approach Him with that intention is to deny the nature of the gift.  While we may feel it is honorable, what we are really saying is “I am more comfortable with a grace loan, something I can pay back.”  Yet two things are profoundly wrong with that:

1)    We could never “pay back” God, or even BEGIN to pay back God for Christ’s sacrifice on the       

cross.  Imagine if Bill Gates wrote you a check for 30 billion dollars and you turned around and 

sent him $10 in the mail.  Anyone with a sound mind would find this ridiculous!  He gave so much and you gave so little in return.  Yet, what God has given us in His Son Jesus is worth far MORE than $30 billion (we couldn’t put a price tag on it) and what we could possibly give Him in return is far LESS than $10!!!!

Furthermore, to even say that we could pay part of it back is to say that over time we could have earned our righteousness in the first place.  If someone loans me $1000 it is because I do not have the money at that time.  However, I will have it later (hopefully) and will then pay them back.  Yet, with our righteousness there is no way, even given an eternity, to where we could earn a portion of it.  Therefore, we could not even pay back a trillioneth of what we owe.

2)  By the very definition of grace, God cannot give it as a loan nor could you pay it back.  It is theologically impossible.  Paul puts it this way: “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” (Romans 11:6)  See that?  IF it is by grace, it is NO LONGER on the basis of works.  If it were on the basis of works, grace would NO LONGER be grace.  The two are mutually exclusive.  You CANNOT have grace AND works.  This is why grace HAS to be free and it HAS to be a gift; to expect a repayment is to nullify grace. 

Therefore, is it a sign of thankfulness when we attempt to pay back what God has given us?  No!!!!  Instead, we are doing the complete opposite.  We are pouring contempt on the loving intention of God.  It’s insulting, it’s foolish, it’s poor theology, and it’s EXACTLY what Satan wants us to do.  He wants us to picture God as a loan shark.  He wants us to live in fear, guilt, and avoidance.  He wants us to see grace as a loan.

Instead, we must accept the free gift of grace for what it is: a gift.  Only from there can we attempt to follow Christ, not in order to pay Him back, but simply to say thanks for what He has done.  We do this willingly.  We do this joyfully. We do this lovingly.  We do this in His presence.

What a contrast that is as compared to the grace loan.  When we leave our transaction mindset at the door, biblical grace is such a beautiful thing.  Therefore, along with our Heavenly Father, I encourage you to accept His gift of grace.

Faith and "Curiosity"

Have you been following news of NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity?

Last week, Curiosity made an incredible discovery:  definitive evidence that liquid water once flowed on Mars.  The rover sent pictures back that appear to be from an ancient Martian stream bed.  There photos showed gravel that was smoothed by erosion and to large to have been moved by wind.

All in all, these photos aren't earth-shaking.  We know that water exists throughout the universe.  We've observed Mars' polar ice caps and trace ice on our own moon.  Jupiter's moon, Europa, is a vast frozen world.  And comets are essentially massive chunks of rock and ice hurtling through space.  Water, in its frozen state, is something that scientists have observed in relative abundance across the vastness space.

However, for the relatively new field of astrobiology, this discovery is a major boon.  Astrobiology is concerned with the viablitiy of life being established on other worlds and the possibility of a "second genesis", life that occurs independently on other planets.  In both cases, liquid water is fundamental to our understanding of how life works.

When I excitedly relayed this story to my brother, his response was one of concern:  "But wouldn't scientists use this information to prove that life can exist outside of Earth, therefore disproving God?"

My answer was two-fold:  Probably, so what?

I don't think my brother's position is that uncommon among Evangelicals.  Our society has created a situation where we Christians have to choose between two apparently competing narratives.  On one side, traditional Western Christianity dictates that God created the Earth and everything in it in a very specific way across a very specific period of time.  In another narrative, scientists are asking questions about our origins and their discoveries seem to point to a very slow and steady development of the Universe over countless ages.

And I guess my response to this dilemma is... Why choose?

Christianity is about knowing and following Jesus Christ, who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life."  Science, when it is honest and agenda-free, is about discovery and learning the truth about things around us.  At the end of the day, Christianity and science are both about the quest for truth.  The methods may be very different, but the two can be allies in their pursuits.

In fact, throughout history there have been several leading scientists who were also devout believers.  Their awe of God's creation spurred them to delve deeper into nature's mysteries.  Unfortunately, the Church also has an ugly history of resisting scientific revelations.

Several questions arise when you consider this dichotomy.  Why do we Christians challenge scientific developments?  Is it because we are the ones who's faith in God is insecure?  Do we not trust God to be bigger than any new discovery?  Won't science, if it is honest, continue to reveal new things about the nature of God as it studies His creation?  Is it at least possible that our dogmatic approach to certain narratives about God are in fact limiting His scope and character?

To illustrate my point, the Grand Canyon is an awesome geological feature whose formation is debated by fundamental Creationists and traditional geologist.  A "Young-Earth" Creationist's narrative regarding the Grand Canyon would say that God carved it out of rock relatively quickly with a sudden blast of water.  That in one mighty blast God split the Earth asunder leaving behind the distinctive canyon roughly as we see it today.  

The traditional geologist would say that the Grand Canyon was carved from solid stone over eons by an infant Colorado River, then just a trickle water working its way to the ocean.  It could be said that God guided those water molecules as they trickled from their head waters and hewn rock one dust particle at a time.  That He slowly carved one of the most recognizable natural wonders on Earth meticulously over centuries or millennia all while managing billions of other details that would shape the world His children would call home.

Two different stories about one small part of this vast galaxy of wonders that God has set us in.  One reflects God as a being of power and action.  The other describes Him as a patient craftsman.  Which is true?  Only God knows, I guess we'll have to turn to Him for the answers.

Counting Costs

One of my professors is preaching this upcoming Sunday on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  His message is on discipleship, and that often the cost is great, as was the case with these three men and the fiery furnace.  However, as my professor pointed out, God spared the lives of these three men in the furnace, and it was the soldiers who bound them whose lives were consumed by the flames.  This led him to make the following statement: The cost of non-discipleship is even greater.

We live in a country where all the resources we could ever want often lay within an arms reach.  Instead of waiting a day for the paper to print out yesterday’s news, we can receive instant updates via cell phones, tablets, and the scrolling bar at the bottom of our televisions.  Magazines, internet pop-up ads, and television commercials all glaringly point out the things we are not doing or do not have.. 

Sadly, we are easily convinced we are missing out.

So, we fill our homes with more stuff, upgrade our current luxuries, join more clubs, and fill up our schedules with more activities.  Our budget is never too small to add another car, another outfit to our wardrobe, another form of technology, or another room to our home.  Our day is never too full to add another game, another event, or another television series to our schedule. 

Cost does not factor into our decision-making, nor does the amount of time we have in a day.  That is, unless we are talking about discipleship. 

Suddenly, we have too much do to spend with our Heavenly Father, too much to do to spend loving others, and not enough money to give to those in need.  After all, are these things really worth sacrificing what we have?

Jesus tells two parables in the last part of Matthew 13 to address this issue.  In each parable Jesus tell us the Kingdom of Heaven is worth more than everything.  It is worth selling all that we have; it is worth giving up all we do.  To make His point clear, I’ll repeat that again: The Kingdom of Heaven is worth more than everything.  It is worth selling all that we have; it is worth giving up all we do.

Yes, discipleship comes with a cost.  We are forced to lay down our idols, our preferences, our time, and our comfort.  But we gain so much more. 

Jesus is the only source of life.  He is the only source of love.  He is the only source of joy.  This means, we CANNOT find these things outside of Him, regardless of what we might be deceived into feeling or believing.  Consequently, a pursuit of Christ, and therefore a pursuit of discipleship, is the only way one might ultimately find life, love, and joy. 

Suffering, persecution, hardship, and rejection.  These are just some of the costs of a life pursuit of Jesus.  However, the absence of persevering joy, hope, and sacrificial love are just some the costs of non-discipleship. 

May we be of the former, who willingly sacrifice all that is asked of us, may we  count the costs of non-discipleship, may we join with Paul in this desire:

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:8-11

In doing so, may we discover the ultimate treasure that is offered to us: Jesus Christ.

The Things that God is Not

Photo Credit: Alan Wolf 2004

I like to encourage people that God has a divine sense of humor.  To that end, I often site the platypus.  How do you survey your work on that first platypus with a straight face?  I can almost see God at Creation, "Okay fellas, classify THIS."

These kind of candid images of our Almighty Creator come easy for me.  I'm very comfortable with casting God in the role of my Heavenly Father.  I have a good relationship with my own father.  Humor is commonplace in our conversations, and we often jibe each other harmlessly.  My personal view of God is shaped by this, so I'm keen to ways that God uses humor.

Sometimes I think this familiarity comes at a cost.  God is still unique and divine.  He is worthy of worship and awe.  While it's an incredible blessing to feel comfortable with God the Father, I have to work to understand the "fear of the Lord".  Like most aspects of Christianity, it seems we have to keep some tension between the ways we understand God.

It raises some questions about the roles that God plays in each of our lives.  What predispositions do we have when considering the role of Almighty?  To have this question answered I conducted a scientific survey of a highly varied sample population:  I asked my Facebook friends.

Responses were as follows:

A source of unconditional love
An idea of hope
The solution
A coping mechanism
The redeemer
The ransom

A variety of answers to be sure.  And no real consensus to be found among them.  I may have to dig deeper to learn more about the roles of God.  In fact, perhaps it's time to get it straight from "the horse's mouth".  The Bible says a great deal about the character and role of God in the earth.  Here's a sampling of verses containing "God is...":

Numbers 23:19 - God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind.  Does he speak and then not act?  Does he promise and not fulfill?

Deuteronomy 4:24 - For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 10:17 - For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.

Psalm 7:11 - God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day.

Psalm 47:7 - For God is King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.

Psalm 54:4 - Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.

Psalm 62:7- My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

Psalm 84:11 - For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

Matthew 22:32 - ".. 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."

John 4:24 - God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.

1 Corinthians 14:33 - For God is not a God of disorder but of peace--as in all the congregations of the Lord's people.

1 John 1:5 - This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you:  God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

1 John 3:20 - If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

1 John 4:16 - And we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

1 John 5:20 - We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true.  And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ.  He is the true God and eternal life.

The Bible attributes a considerable number of characteristics to God.  It's not always easy for us to reconcile the varied images of God that the Bible presents.  God as righteous judge pouring out wrath seems to contradict "God is love".

I didn't write this post to infer anything about the various aspects of God.  Instead, I hoped to leave you with an explicit statement about God's nature:

God is all of these things, but He is none of them.

Far to often we want to create an image of God in our head's that we are comfortable with.  We want to be able to cast Him as Judge, or Father, or Spirit, or Shield, or King and then build our Christian principles around that.  The problem with that thinking is that God is all of those things and many, many more.  We can't wrap our heads around the immensity and perfection and divinity of our Creator, but we can strive to understand Him further through all His various aspects.

I sign out with the words of Rob Bell, "The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God."

Glass House and Living Temples

Have you ever been enraged by an injustice? Whether something we see happening on a global scale or a wrongdoing that has personal affects, it is natural for humans to seek justice. We have been made in the image of a holy and righteous God. It is His sense of justice that burns in us, though perhaps twisted by the Fall.

Earlier this week, I saw a documentary entitled "Nefarious: Merchant of Souls". It tracked the global connections between human trafficking, sexual slavery, and prostitution. The film infuriated me as it revealed the story of exploitation and abuse going on throughout the world.

I seethed with rage at these men who victimized young women and girls. I hated the traffickers, clients, and pimps who made injustice a reality. I hated myself. I hated every time I engaged in injustice, every time I was complicit with exploitation through action and through silence.

I'm reminded of the saying, "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." It's difficult to be sincere about the flaws and brokenness of others when you are suffering with flaws and brokenness. Jesus said it this way, "Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."

The beautiful part of this story about an adulteress being condemned by these Jewish men: that He who was without sin did not see fit to stone her. At Jesus' words, the men confronting Him saw their own guilt and flaws in this women. They dropped their stones in response to recognizing their shared broken humanity with the women.

But what about the sinless Son of God? He tells her, "Go now and leave your life of sin." He sees what she could be, what she was made to be. A reflection of God's own image, a carrier of the divine spark, a co-heir of the Kingdom of God.

In Matthew 12, someone mentions Jesus' brothers and mother and He responds by saying, "For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." Jesus saw the potential in the adulterous woman to repent of her lifestyle, follow Him, and be born again into God's own family. Paul called Christ the "first born of many brethren"; should we then be filled with condemnation when anyone at any moment has the potential to choose Christ and become our brother or sister?

In his letters to the Corinthians, Paul refers to the body of believers as a living temple of God. As human beings turn away from the world, the Spirit of God dwells within us. We are transformed from flawed and broken creatures to be what God made us to be, reflections of His own divine image. We are remodeled from glass houses to living temples.

That was the great part about the Nefarious documentary. The end of the film described stories of people being restored from the depravity of sexual slavery by the life in Jesus Christ. Not only the prostitutes, but the clients and traffickers experienced resurrection as well.

We should fight against injustice in its many forms. We are called to be a voice for the weak and vulnerable. We ought to pray for the world to conform to God's perfect will. We need to work towards restoration and resurrection for the victims. And the perpetrators.

You Should Not Go To Church

I am going to build a little bit on the end of Nathan’s last blogpost, so if you missed it, I invite you to go back and read it.  Towards the end, Nathan draws the analogy of Christians to analog clocks, in that just as analog clocks are represented by continuously variable physical quantities, we are also to be continuously representing Christ in our lives. 

One of the major breakdowns in this representation comes from our understanding of the term church.  Phrases such as “It’s time to go to church”, “I go to church on Sundays and Wednesdays”, “We are going to meet at the church”, or “Where do you go to church?” give rise to the definition of church as a building or place. 

Yet, throughout the New Testament, whenever the term church is used, it never once references a structure.  Rather, the individual is referencing the either the entire collection of saints in the world, or a particular group of saints in a city.  Here are a few of these examples:

“If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”  Matthew 18:17

“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”   Acts 9:31

“To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Corinthians 1:2

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” Colossians 1:24

I have often used the phrase “I’m going to church” or invited others to “come to church”, as I am sure most of us have.  The question is whether it is wrong or not?  Are we not simply attributing a modern day usage of the term to a structure?  Doesn’t it make things easier calling the building a church as well?  Isn’t it more convenient to say “I’m going to church” rather than “I’m going to the building on 413 Ash St. to worship this morning with the church”?

However, I believe the effects are more damaging than we might realize.

Take for example our modern day use of the word “love”.  The term is often used to describe a middle school relationship,  a stage in life such as college, or even a sandwich.  I made a sandwich the other day and threw part of it out because I was full.  What happens when we stop loving others when we have had enough?  This is not the love of the Bible for sure.

Again, take our modern day approach to marriage.  It is a commitment so long as both parties are enjoying one another.  It is a vow for better and only for the better, not for better or worse.  Contrast that with the biblical view of marriage: a lifelong commitment that God has ordained.  It is a gift so that mankind would not be alone.  When struggles arise, it is a gift to have someone to struggle with (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12). 

Similarly, today’s culture has distorted our view of what church should be.  If church is a place we go to, then our church behaviors and actions are limited to that place.  We only have to love and serve while at church, we can swear so long as it is not in church, and while we would never think to show up to church drunk, it is ok to do so outside the church walls.  After all, Jesus will forgive us on Sundays.

Our modern day definition of church has allowed us to compartmentalize our lives so that Jesus is a box we address one or two days out of the week, but does not interfere with the other aspects of our daily habits.  Essentially, we are giving ourselves freedom to sin while opposing our spiritual transformation.

However, if we define church in terms of the body of Christ, then we recognize we are the church everywhere we go.  In this light, we must love others constantly, serve others consistently, and allow God to permeate all areas of our lives.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, we become the analog representations of Christ that our Heavenly Father desires us to be. 

We need to be aware that everything we do helps shape and form what others believe about church and about God.  If we do not love others outside of Sundays, then outsiders will believe God loves the same.  If we live like the prodigal son outside of Sundays, then others will learn to live the same.  If children grow up thinking the church is a place they go to, they will be hindered in their understanding of what the church should be, should do, and should look like.

We are the new temple that God chooses to rest inside, therefore let God be proclaimed loudly through our lives. 

Finally, may this past Sunday be the last day you ever go to church.