Faith, doubt and mystery

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. - Hebrews 11:6 (ESV, via Bible Gateway)

Many years ago, I went through a pretty rough time emotionally.

It had to do with questioning the existence of God, and the reality of Christianity, and it hit me like a hundred hurricanes.

In the branch of evangelicalism I was a part of at the time, I found no answers. I read through the popular evangelists’ magazines, and the references I saw to faith had to do with what’s known as positive confession or word-faith theology - take a verse of the Bible, and because God is obligated to honor His Word, what you say must and will come to pass. But nothing on the actual existence of God.

I looked for reasons to believe. I wanted to believe. Going through life, alone, without a loving and powerful God to guide me and help me, wasn’t an appealing notion.

I approached one of the pastors at my church about my turmoil and was as honest as I could be. During that moment, I felt like God was not there. At all.

His response was to blow off my struggle and instead give me a mini-lecture about missions and how people were dying on the missions field (he’s a pastor at another church, now, and I hope he’s been kinder to other people who approached him with the same questions).

I didn’t quit at that point, though. I fought for faith, and in the end, I came away with a stronger faith. I was aided by apologetics, and the ministries of such men as Gary Habermas and Josh McDowell. They helped me see that the Christian faith wasn’t rooted in mythology and lies, but in facts and truth. That helped me enormously.

But afterwards, there were the occasional questions - is this all there is? Is God real? Is this fantastic story really real? Why can’t we know for certain, one way or the other?

I’ve learned that, though there are real facts and is real evidence to back the Christian faith, that it is also, to some extent, a mystery. We don’t know everything, and I’m convinced we can’t know everything, nor understand everything.

If we did, we’d almost be like God Himself. Maybe that’s by His design…because none of us manage our lives perfectly as is. Can you imagine us trying to run the universe?

As Hebrews 11:6 tells us, the very act of coming to Christ requires faith.

I don’t believe it’s blind faith, based in some story. I believe that faith can and should be based in logic, in evidence, in facts, in truth.

But, even when these facts and logic take you to the point where the existence of a supreme being and the fact of His Son living in ancient Israel, dying on a cross and then rising from the dead, you still have a choice: believe or not.

Some people just believe, without ever being challenged by a Christopher Hitchens or cracking open a Josh McDowell or Tim Keller book. Some people wrestle through the issues before deciding one way or the other.

You still have to exercise faith.

Faith that He exists, faith that He’s there, faith that He died on the cross for your and my sins, faith that He rose from death and He is alive and waiting for you in a different, better place when your life on Earth finally ends.

Faith based in truth, reality and evidence, that holds up to scrutiny.

Faith with some mystery, because even honest skeptics will admit that if you can’t prove God, you can’t disprove Him either.

But in the end, you have to look at the evidence, seek honestly, ask Him to show Himself, and choose. Come to Him in faith, seek Him, and believe that He will reward you because of it.

Now that the turkey’s been carved and the leftovers consumed, with us in the month of December there’s no excuse to refrain from listening to Christmas music

I have a “stash” of Christmas music that I carry with me; there’s something about it that makes the holidays more festive, more enjoyable. Here are my Top 39 songs:

1. The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
2. Stille Nacht - Mannheim Steamroller
3. White Christmas - Bing Crosby
4. Sleigh Ride - Leroy Anderson
5. Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy - David Bowie/Bing Crosby
6. Do They Know It’s Christmas? - Band Aid
7. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Mannheim Steamrolller
8. Jingle Bells - The Singing Dogs
9. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams
10. Merry Christmas Darling - The Carpenters
11. O Holy Night - Mannheim Steamroller
12. Happy Christmas (War is Over) - John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band
13. The Chipmunks Song - Alvin & The Chipmunks
14. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - The Temptations
15. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
16. Please Come Home for Christmas - The Eagles
17. The Twelve Days of Christmas - Ray Conniff Singers
18. Christmas in Dixie - Alabama
19. The Christmas Song - Luther Vandross
20. Jingle Bells - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
21. It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Johnny Mathis
22. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Arthur Fiedler/Boston Pops
23. White Christmas - Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters
24. You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch - Thule Ravenscroft
25. Pretty Paper - Roy Orbison
26. Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano
27. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Barenaked Ladies/Sarah McLaughlan
28. Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms
29. Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley
30. What Christmas Means to Me - Paul Young
31. Little Saint Nick - Beach Boys
32. Have A Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
33. Christmas/Sarajevo 12/24 - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
34. Little Drummer Boy - Bob Seger & The SIlver Bullet Band
35. Mele Kalikimaka - Bing Crosby/Andrews Sisters
36. Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer - Elmo & Patsy
37. Step Into Christmas - Elton John
38. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Frank Sinatra
39. Hark The Herald Angels Sing - Point of Grace

What does your list look like? What songs did I leave off - and I was right to keep on?

Last week I heard Southern Seminary professor Dan Dumas preach on Romans 15:5-7 (audio and notes available here).

Today, I hope you can get to a church service somewhere in your community. If that’s impossible for some reason, but you’re near a computer, visit my brothers and sisters at the LifeChurch internet campus.

As always, visit Phoenix Preacher to post your prayer requests and praise reports and/or to talk about your church’s sermon from this weekend.

Have a great weekend!

(Read the first thread in this series here)

Anne Jackson, a well-known blogger within the evangelical blogosphere, confessed on her blog this week that she once couldn’t stand megachurch pastor Perry Noble:

…perry was bold and brash.  he had and shared his super strong opinions on church growth, how to do ministry, and a plethora of other terrible topics.  he was one of those pastors.  the ones that only cared about relevance and numbers….of course, the world needed to be warned.  back in my xanga blogging days, i actually encouraged people to send perry emails about a katrina relief campaign he was doing, saying how he was using a tragedy to get people into church (of all things!) i got into blog comment fights about him.  and once, i even had to ask tony morgan to remove one of the comments i left because after sleeping on it, i realized how flat out mean it was.

Then,

my world got flipped upside down on me a few times…over the last year or so, i’ve had such clarity in how stupid i was.  how i was projecting my own lack of confidence and faith and pride and issueson perry.  i don’t know why he became the target, but he was….perry hasn’t changed much, but my perspective of him has.  and how that has little to do with him and more to do with the fact i stopped am trying to stop being a self-righteous jerk ball.

Wow.

Now, I already knew I was a self-righteous jerk ball before I stepped my virtual foot into the LifeChurch IC

But, like Anne, I was projecting my own issues into this situation, and unfairly judging them for issues they had nothing to do with.

I had to work through it…and I had to repent of judging them, of my anger towards them, of misrepresenting them.

This doesn’t mean that there isn’t legitimate criticism of internet church to be given, only that the criticism needs to be given in love, without bitterness or anger.

I wish I could have always perfectly interacted with people and commented on everything in a positive, beneficial, edifying manner.

I haven’t. I’ve messed up more than I’ve done right.

I’ve learned through some of my mistakes, and hopefully have gotten better at this online thing over time. Being human, and prone to sin, there are still times when I screw up, and have to repent.

The internet, while good in so many ways, also presents opportunities to unfairly judge and criticize people.

It doesn’t help, either, when some leaders do outrageous things.

Still, I believe we are responsible for how well we respond and how well we don’t respond.

In fact, I’m dealing with it now, in a different area.

The pain, the frustration, the loneliness, can cause one to react in all sorts of ways.

I don’t have a verse offhand to give you, but I know that Jesus would want me to love these people, and forgive them. He’d also want me to search my own heart, to see if there is any sin of bitterness, rage, anger - or others - inside it.

And, I believe He would want me to understand exactly what is going on and act accordingly - speak up as needed, or remain silent; confess my sins and repent (to the Father and, if applicable, to my brothers and sisters); forgive people as necessary; give them a break (no one, especially myself, is perfect); and love them as I love myself.

Life is hard, isn’t it? The Bible never pretends otherwise. Jesus didn’t die on a cross so our lives would be easy and carefree, void of complications and frustration and pain.

He died to reconcile His elect to the Father, and expects us to love one another as He has loved us.

He is also a good God, and loves us too much to leave us in the pit of frustration and pain and anger we all find ourselves in at some point in our lives. He loves us too much not to move us forward, towards holiness, bringing us to completion in Himself.

It’s way too easy to go online and criticize someone or something.

It’s even easier when you’ve had a less than positive experience and can’t wait to tell the world about how the thing/person/group screwed you around.

While there are legitimate reasons to say such things, there are also times when we do so in ways that aren’t at all helpful.

Sometimes, it’s a mix of both.

Last year, I took part in LifeChurch’s Internet Campus. I attended the services and participated in small groups, all from the comfort of my home.

I was also working through frustrations and some anger with the body of Christ at large, and ready to respond to any slight, perceived or real, by it towards me.

The IC didn’t work out for me, and I criticized it and LifeChurch both on- and off line.

I had legitimate reasons for believing it didn’t work out. The main ones were the venue and format weren’t the best for what I really needed: to be in community, amongst a local group of believers, living life and working through my issues, face-to-face.

Those legitimate reasons were clouded by my own issues, as I became frustrated and a little angry over the way things worked out. I was ‘convinced’ that LifeChurch and its IC were just two more expressions of an uncaring, monolithic evangelical church, entranced by celebrity and engrossed in numbers and politics, unable to notice nor care for the hurting people in its midst.

Tuesday night this week. I had a chance to visit LifeChurch’s IC again. I had the opportunity to talk with some of its leaders, in public chat, during and after the service.

I got to ask questions, and saw each of them answered.

I got to understand more of why they do what they do there. I got to see their hearts for the people they minister to.

And I got a chance to repent for my past attitudes.

It’s easy, when you’re influenced by your own pain and frustration, to lash out at others, to not only judge them for real things they did against you but to put on them perceived things that they had no part of.

Sometimes, time and the hand of God on one’s life are the things that help us properly process these issues, see things for what they really were, and help us repent of what we did wrong.

Friday: how a recent post by Anne Jackson mirrors my own experience.

Random thoughts on a rainy day:

• Lost 3 lbs. last week. I still haven’t backslidden and gone back to endless days of no exercise and bad food (and I trust that I never will again), but the cardio thing is still a struggle for me. By that I mean my long-term goal is to walk every day; yet, there are days when I don’t walk at all. I know I need to increase the cardio - perhaps I can get Jack Bauer to kick the lazy punk out of me
• The food thing is better. After a couple of weeks where I made some less-than-stellar food choices (pizza, cupcakes), I redoubled my efforts last week. Of course last week, I was at a dinner where the meat of choice was Chick-fil-A - so I got three pieces of fried chicken tenders, and tried to balance it out with stuff like green beans and some veggies (sadly, I balanced that out with a few tablespoons of oreo pudding and a mini cupcake the size of a Reese’s cup)
• Interesting opportunities opening up for me at church regarding social media. I’ll post more as I am able.
• This may mean that I leave From the Ashes fully. I don’t think I can juggle three blogs and whatever work they want from me at church. There’s very little activity there nowdays. The biggest responses seem to come to the Sacred Retreat thread plus Barton’s articles on Tuesdays. Maybe we can turn FTA into the Sacred Retreat blog. Just a thought…
• I saw gas in the $1.60 range today. I thought that even with the bad economy, gas would get no lower than the $2.20 range, then jump back up to $2.50 (the holidays, you know). We’ll see how high gas goes in ‘09.
• If you ever wanted to know what the deal was with “social media” - things like Facebook, Twitter and blogging - Jeremy Woolf lays out the scene, identifies who the players are, and explains five trends he sees coming down the pike.
• Speaking of Twitter, you can find there a fake John Piper, a fake Spurgeon, and now a fake Mark Driscoll. I think the intention is humor; how funny these Twitterers are is subjective, I suppose…
• Thursday, we have our annual celebration of the eating of a turkey, followed by a long nap I’m going to try to celebrate the BrianD Weight Watchers way: don’t blow my eating plan and keep losing weight

This is what my pastor preached on last week:

“Daniel Montgomery uses the fourth verse of Romans 15 as a springboard for an examination of what the Bible really is for Christians – our highest source of endurance, encouragement and hope.”

Sojourn Music is making its latest holiday CD, Advent Songs, available for free. Go here and either submit five of your friends’ email addresses (they will only receive an invite to visit the website you’re at and download the album themselves) or click on the pay-as-you-can button and submit however much you can pay (if you want an actual CD, it’s $10).

Sojourn’s music ministry is excellent, rivaling anything in the music industry today, and you should check it out.

If you have prayer requests and praise reports, visit Phoenix Preacher - or submit them here and I’ll submit them to Phoenix Preacher

Have a great day!

I just read Owen Strachan’s response this morning to the criticism he’s gotten for his critique of Twitter. (I had discussed it here on Thursday)

He clarifies his positions very well. I want to highlight this excerpt:

I’ve seen the word “legalism” attached to my blogs.  While I don’t think I’m immune to legalism by any stretch, I would note very quickly that I avoided attaching the word “sin” to my post.  I also strove to avoid an automatic equation of Twitter and narcissism (or a foolish waste of time, or other sins and problems).  It is my personal opinion that one can easily fall into these traps with Twitter use given its concise, self-driven nature.  But at no point did I say that one automatically falls into these patterns by using Twitter.

I certainly am not above making mistakes, nor am I above correction for anything I do, say and/or write. I’m linking to his post because it’s important to know exactly where Strachan stands, from his own words. I don’t want to misrepresent him in any way.

That said, though I’ve changed my thread to reflect what I understand Strachan’s clarifications to be, I stand by the gist of what I said. While Strachan doesn’t want to be a legalist, the way he expresses his views, and challenges his views, can easily come across as legalistic.

Too many Christians seek to live by self-imposed laws, as if God’s grace wasn’t enough to keep them from living perfectionist lives. They live as if God’s grace wasn’t enough to cover their sins, that He needs our help by constant repentance and penance for each and every sin committed. You’ve seen it before - heck, you may have lived it.

Folks like that, including those who are suspicious of technology already, can take the admonitions of a guy like Strachan (especially with his academic credentials) and apply them as if they were the Gospel.

Even if Strachan challenges people not to use Twitter, but says it is his conviction, not the Gospel, there are Christians who will jump all over that and take it farther than he ever intended.

Maybe that is a wrong assumption on my part, but I know how crazy people can get sometimes.

Perhaps nothing can be done to prevent that. What we can do, I believe, is recognize that Twitter - like television, radio, the internet and other forms of media - is a tool that can be used for good or evil, and that the church should be there to spread the good news of Jesus, to good stewards and time-wasters alike.

Note: This thread has been reedited, to reflect Owen Strachan’s clarifications as posted on November 22. I haven’t necessarily changed my views, but I don’t want to misrepresent Strachan.

I’ve never been a Luddite when it comes to technology and the church.

I’ve always believed that all forms of technology should be considered as tools for the spreading of the Gospel and the work of the church, as well as connecting people to one another.

I also believe that care and caution need to be taken. How does (for example) Facebook, or Twitter, or Yahoo! chat bring people together? How are they useful? What are the upsides, and downsides, of these applications?

I don’t think you jump in on something brand new and start using it without considering what it is and what its effects will be. I also don’t believe you dismiss something as non-useful and should not be used by any Christian ever.

My church is making a push to engage and use social media, including Facebook and Twitter. In fact, one of our members, Aaron Marshall, recently gave a talk about social media at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Obviously, Marshall embraces it.

Owen Strachan uses Facebook but rejects Twitter. In fact, Strachan says:

But there seems to me to be a category wide enough to drive a semi through of information that does not need to be shared.  With all due respect to Rich, I don’t need to know that he’s been playing a lot of PS3, and he doesn’t need to know that I ate french toast this morning.  Should we exchange this data, a whole lot of nothing would have happened, time would have been taken up, and we would have contributed a little bit to the culture of insignificance that pays great attention to what is unimportant and far less attention to what actually is important.

and

I would challenge readers: speaking generally, don’t use Twitter.  Cultivate deep thinking even as you use technology.  If something smells strongly of self-promotion, give it a pass.  Be a part of Facebook, of other media, but do so thoughtfully, responsibly, edifyingly.  Glorify Christ not simply in how you use media, but in what media you use.

and

After a while of thinking about Christianity and culture, I’m not one to say that all things are worthy of engagement by Christians. I’m in no hurry to see a movement of Christians embrace jello-wrestling as a means of evangelism, for example. Can Twitter be used for good? Yes, it can. I think it will take some effort and intentionality to do so, though, because I think it’s inherently structured to share generally needless information. I’ve done some research in thinking about this, reading various folks’ Twitter accounts, and I can say that rarely do I find them edifying or meaningful. They’re sometimes funny, sometimes amusing, but rarely are they really edifying. Often–most often, I would say–they focus on mundane things that in my opinion do not need to be shared. I have yet to see a good case for why you, the reader, need to know that I just drank a hot chocolate and that I like hot chocolate. Why do you, the reader, need to know this?

As technology and other factors fragment society, it seems to me that we need to focus a great deal on meaningful face-to-face interaction. This doesn’t preclude email, blogging, or whatever, but I don’t think the answer to a high-paced world is an avalanche of rather unimportant communication about mundane things. Doesn’t it seem natural to a Christian to focus most of their attention in such a situation on the cultivation of real, substantive communication? Maybe it’s just me, but that seems obvious.

What seems obvious to me, after reading both of Strachan’s posts on the topic, is the following:

1. Strachan has some good points about social media:

a. Glorify Christ in what media you use, and how you use that media.

b. be a part of Facebook and other media (many people, myself included, will argue that includes Twitter) and do so thoughtfully, responsibly, edifyingly.

c. Cultivate deep thinking. Book-reading is one of those things that seems like a good discipline to get into, but doesn’t quite jibe with web sites full of brief postings and short ‘bites’ of information. Book reading, especially of books with deep, challenging ideas, needs to be encouraged not just in the church but in the culture at large.

d. We need to emphasize face-to-face interaction. I’ve done online community, and it has many good points, but in the end, we need to be around other Christians face-to-face (online is okay, just not exclusively).

2. Those points get overshadowed because he goes too far: he advocates restraint, and good judgment regarding it, then instead of staying there it seems as if he jumps in the car and puts his foot on the pedal speeding straight into legalism.

3. How does he do this? Strachan obviously has thought through the subject and come to certain conclusions after careful consideration. He has some peace with using Facebook and sees Twitter as a waste of time that deprives users of the opportunity of deep thinking and better use of their time.

Again, that’s fine, but it doesn’t seem to me to be a law that must be adhered to by all Christians for all time; it comes across to me as a disputable matter (Romans 14:1-12).

Strachan is taking his carefully thought out position and goes beyond calling it his personal conviction - he applies in danger of taking his position (which is thoughtfully considered, not a blast at something he barely understands) and going beyond calling it his conviction, to applying it to everyone, as if it were a law.

4. One point Strachan makes to say Christians should not jump on every technological bandwagon is to invoke jello-wrestling:

I’m not one to say that all things are worthy of engagement by Christians. I’m in no hurry to see a movement of Christians embrace jello-wrestling as a means of evangelism, for example.

Uh, Owen, I don’t think that idea has ever come up before. Even amongst the megachurches

And it’s a weak argument; Strachan should have would have done better if he had brought up the Gospel Blimp movie (even if was just a movie). Or walked into a Christian bookstore and checked out the T-shirts

5. Strachan comes across as a deep thinker who wants to make the most of his time, and Twitter seems useless to him because it’s designed to convey short bursts of trivial, pointless information. You can’t discuss important subjects or deep theological topics in 140 words.

But I’m not sure he’s seeing that Twitter isn’t necessarily for the serious academic. Most people don’t spend time in deep, careful thought on complicated subjects.

Most people don’t talk about the aspects of Christopher Hitchens’ arguments against deism, nor how Arminianism affects a proper soteriology, for example. They talk about their day, that episode of The Office or Lost they saw the night before, why UK lost to North Carolina, how bad traffic was on the way home, who’s responsible for high taxes (or gas prices).

Twitter captures this. Most people nowadays, for good or for bad, like short bursts of information, and they talk about things that matter to them. This includes personal, trivial stuff. It’s also being used by a whole lot of people, and the church needs to be in there somewhere.

To say it does not, or should not, is a disputable matter. It is not the law. And I say thank God for that, thank God that He allows us to use technology in a responsible matter to share His good news, to reach out to others, and to promote fellowship among Christians. Thank God that He allows us to use these tools, to make our mistakes, and to learn from them.

Some Christians seem to come off as 19th-century Luddites, some seem to come off as anti-tech legalists. Neither is particularly helpful; freedom in Christ, and ministry in His name, does not include bondage to another’s conscience, no matter how well-intentioned.

Some Christians are well-intentioned people who have great concern about technology’s effects on people’s lives and their relationship with God (I believe Owen Strachan fits into this category). Their concerns should be heard and considered. But there is a danger of taking that concern a bit too far, and while there are places in the world Christians need to avoid, there are far many more places where they need to shine the light of Jesus Christ in the darkness. Twitter, Facebook, and other social media fit into the latter category.

(HT to Timmy Brister for his blog post that reminded me of my interest in commenting on this topic.)