Allowing Time for Growth

A passage that has fascinated me is 2Kings 5:1-19. It is the story of the healing of Naaman, who is the captain of the army of the king of Aram. He is a valiant warrior and well respected by his people but he has leprosy. Naaman is told by a servant girl that Elisha can heal him. So he goes off in search of Elisha. Naaman arrives and is told by Elisha to go dip himself seven times in the Jordan River. He is furious because he thought the healing would be more sensational than a simple dipping (v.11). Besides he has some rivers back home that are better (v.12). One of his servants suggested he go try Elisha's solution even though it wasn't quite what he wanted (v.13). So Naaman goes and dips himself in the Jordan and is healed (v.14). He returns to Elisha and praises the God of Elisha (v.15) for the healing. He promises never to sacrifice to another god again (v.17). He is converted and becomes a servant of the Lord. He recognizes his need to be loyal and serve God alone. However, because of his role as captain of the army he must go into a house of worship and assist his master (v.18). He knows what he is doing is wrong and goes against the promise he just made but he is not quite ready to make a clean break. He asks the Lord to pardon him for this violation and Elisha grants him a blessing as he leaves (v.19).

I really believe that this passage speaks to we Christians today as well. We will share Jesus with someone who is truly converted and wants to be loyal and do what is right. They may even recognize what is right but for whatever reason cannot stand as firmly as they should at that moment. I hope to grant them grace and a blessing, not to stay in their current state but to continue to grow and eventually say no to whatever they need to say no to. It would be nice if everyone we converted (ourselves included) could change immediately upon conversion. However, those of us who are spiritual need to allow them some time to grow. We don't expect our infant children to walk so we shouldn't expect babes in Christ to walk as firmly as they hopefully one day will. We also should realize that we will meet people who are not yet converted and our goal should be to get them into Christ. So preach Christ and him crucified and then once they pledge their loyalty to Christ, give them time to grow.

The Gospel is for all

Trey Morgan has a good post (click here) challenging us to make sure that we don't turn people into our vision of what is respectful before we convert them. What if the individual above turned up at your church? After picking yourself up off the floor would you not only invite them in but ask them to sit with you?

Let me tell you about an experience I had in my last congregation (Tabernacle, NJ). A young couple (late 20s) showed up with two young children. He was Caucasian and she was Asian. Both had rather extensive piercings (she - nose, lip, tongue, eye brows; he - bridge of the nose, eye brows, lips, tongue) and some tattoos. I think we did a pretty good job of welcoming them in without staring too much. It turned out that they were looking for a church that was a little more traditional than where his parents (actually Mom and Step dad) were attending. At the other church the deacons wore Bermuda shorts, sandals, and waved in the air. They wanted something more sedate. At first we seemed to fit the bill. They were pretty regular in their attendance for a while. During my visits with them I discovered that she was still married to some other guy and the oldest child was his and the youngest belonged to the current guy. They wanted to know if their marital situation (or lack of) would be a problem. She had trouble getting a divorce from her husband because of his obstinance. So she gave up. The current guy was content to live this way and their previous church encouraged them to not worry about it. I had never experienced anything like this and was so surprised that an evangelical church would encourage such behavior. I told them yes it would but now I wish I had told them that our goal was to get to know them first. They quit coming after that. I'm not sure they quit coming because I told them their situation would be a problem because I continued to pursue them and tried to make sure they felt comfortable with us. After a while it became evident that they were no longer interested in coming for whatever reason.

I have no doubt that sooner or later we would have to deal with their situation. But I think we try to clean up people's lives before we get them into Christ and we lose some because they don't fully appreciate their position. That means we miss some in our evangelism because they don't clean up as easily as we want. I don't want to suggest that we accept sin but we do accept sinners who need to learn and grow and that may take a while. Better to get them into Christ first and then demand that they grow.

Super Hero

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 55% The Flash 55% Catwoman 45% Robin 40% Hulk 30% Wonder Woman 25% Green Lantern 25% Iron Man 25% Superman 20% Batman 20% Supergirl 10%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Happy Birthday Nathan from Gramps

This is my favorite picture of Nathan and me. It was taken in Radford, VA when Dan, Lisa, and Nathan moved from Arkansas to Virginia in 2001. We were in Dan and Lisa's new home and I guess Lisa took this picture. I've forgotten all the circumstances. But it's still my favorite of the two of us. Happy Birthday Nathan and many more!

If you could own any car

Others have done some spiritual questions about "what if. . ." so I thought I would do something a little materialistic. If you could have any car in the world what would it be and why? Mine is the above. 1991 Porsche 944 S2. Dual overhead cams, 16 valves, 5 sp manual, turbo-nose, and what a sight she is! This was the final year Porsche made the 944. I loved it the first year (1982) it came out. I loved the turbo model because the nose was smoother than the regular. So when they put the turbo nose on the regular with a better engine, I was really hooked. Maybe because it was a little more affordable than the 928 or the 911. Actually I just fell in love with how it looks. Maybe not everyone would like its lines, but I did. It was more muscular looking than the 924 which it replaced. Now of course they are slowly becoming classic or antiques. Every now and then I cruise eBay just to see how much they cost. But if I had the money ($10,000 plus in good condition), this would be mine. It would be either dark green or black with a tan or cream colored interior. Ah, dreams.

Post fad

No the title is not about "posting" on blogs as a fad. I just notice that "post" anything today seems to be a fad. Let me share with you what I mean.

1. Post modernism (this philosophy actually began in the architectural field contrasting newer styles with traditional styles. Of course it has morphed into those who distrust "modernism" which came from the Enlightenment era. Modernism is the belief that there are truths and universal facts to our universe. Post modernism rejects universal or absolutes. Francis Schaeffer's book Escape From Reason mentioned one author involved in what became the post modern philosophy long before anyone really recognized post modernism.)
2. Post liberalism (George Lindbeck's book The Nature of Doctrine attempted to explain this new movement. Hans Frei's books also are about the post liberal approach to Christianity. Actually post liberalism has quite a bit that our fellowship would like. Lindbeck's book however is a difficult read. One reviewer called it "tortured prose.")
3. Post conservative (don't really know much about these folks but have read a couple of articles so I know that they exist.)
4. Post restorationist (just saw this the other day. Don't know much about them either but their title provided the inspiration for this "post" of mine.)

Are there any other "posts" out there that I'm missing. I'm sure there are. Actually considering the mind set of our society today "post" could be applied to almost any philosophy or field. We appear to enjoy changing the traditional, so "post" seems an apt prefix.

Tag, you're it! Or maybe not

Matt Dabbs has tagged me. So now I'm supposed to tell you six weird things about myself. Actually I've already done this, click here. I was tagged by Lisa, my oldest. For those of you who didn't get to that post I reiterate my weirdness but I think I'll change #4 & #6.

1. The buttons on my shirt, my belt buckle, and the button or snap on my pants must all line up. I don't have OCD but this is just an occasion of weirdness.
2. I want to wear long hair. I had it long in college and would do anything to grow it long again.
3. I get up early every day (5:00 AM, seven days a week). I seldom sleep in unless I'm sick. I can't go to sleep at night if I sleep in. You know that OCD thing is starting to look real.
4. I still love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, especially on hearty, whole grain bread.
5. I hate to sweat in nice clothes. I really hate it when my DW (the lovely and gracious Pat) wants me to do something Sunday afternoon that might require me to sweat. I feel I have to shower again after sweating. I would rather take a nap.
6. I have this really quiet side to me. I love to be around people. I love to be in meetings where we work together as a team in producing something (like curriculum or a DVD about our congregation). I sometimes start conversations with strangers at the store (depends on whether or not they are buying something weird that I can comment on - you know it takes one to know one). I sometimes go up to strangers to find out information. We saw a Harding sticker on a van at Sonics with no one in it. So I started to quiz all the folks sitting down at tables until I found the owners of the van. But occasionally I just want to go unnoticed or be by myself. Sometimes I don't want to talk to anyone. Weird perhaps, but my weirdness.

Since I tagged others earlier I won't be passing this tag on unless I come across someone more weird than myself. If I think of anything else that's weird about me I will save it for the next time this tag comes around.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to the love of my life. You have traveled with me from Texas to California to New Jersey to Florida. I'm glad that God brought us together for this journey. May our love for each continue to grow throughout our journey in this life.

more on church buildings

A few years back I think some congregations got tired of spending such a big chunk of Sunday's contribution on their facilities when the building was used only three times a week. They wanted their facilities to be more practical and usable. After all, the church building is not holy or sacred. That's when auditoriums became gymnasiums and they started adding family life centers. The purpose was to get the most out of their buildings. They also thought they could attract more people to the building for evangelism. Think about having a basketball game after Sunday evenings services where the community is invited. I think they had a good idea I'm just not sure the implementation was right. Instead of revamping their use of the building maybe they needed to revamp their understanding of the building altogether.

William Willimon once quipped (I've forgotten where) that the church needs to be the church. It isn't an entertainment company, it isn't in the business of doing things that the world can provide. It is here to be the church. Mainline denominational churches in the 60s tried to be more socially relevant. Certainly some of the issues they dealt with are important to us as Americans and as individual Christians, but they became so focused on those issues that they lost their relevance as people serving Jesus here on the earth. Their evangelism suffered as a result. Willimon's book, Good New For Exiles, deals with some of the results of this focus (maybe that's where I read the quote I mentioned earlier). Some of the "conservative" evangelical churches today are trying the same tactic but with global warming and poverty. My guess is that these issues will dominate their agenda and they will become less relevant as a spiritual community.

We need to ask whether or not church buildings, social issues, or anything else takes us away from being the community of God. If we focus too much on this world and its issues then we become less than we should be. Perhaps the environment of a church building feeds our need to be relevant whether through social issues or through events designed to attract the community. If we are not willing to give up our buildings, perhaps we need some different thinking about its use. I don't like making it an exercise center or a place where we discuss social issues (although sometimes social issues do need to be discussed in reference to how we are affected as the church). We are the people of God and we gather to take the Lord's Supper, preach, worship, and tell the story of how God sent His Son to this earth to save us from the coming judgment. All that we do should be focused on that. All else is a distraction from our spiritual purpose.

church buildings

When I was in Sunset (around 1975) a church in our fellowship was hailed as the first one to give one million dollars in a single contribution. That took a lot of sacrifice on the part of many in the congregation but it was for their building. It wasn't for evangelism (although I'm sure that they thought evangelism would be done as a result of their new building), it wasn't to feed or help the poor, it wasn't for overseas mission work, it wasn't for a children's home, it wasn't for a ministry, it was for a building.

Our preacher's group in North Jersey read an article from back in 1920s about a church in Nashville that built a new church building for $100,000.00 (back then apparently that was a lot of money - still is but in a different way). They hired a preacher that would help them raise the money. They were severely criticized because of their extravagance. A lot of the criticisms is that the money could have been spent on evangelism or benevolence.

A Christian friend told me of a big congregation that was building a new building. They were arguing about whether or not to put marble in a certain part. An elder stated during that discussion that nothing but the best should go in the church building. Nothing but the best for the church.

A friend of mine left the mainstream churches of Christ years ago and joined with the non-institutional group. I happened upon his email not too long ago and we corresponded for a while. Since he was in a group even more concerned about doing things the first century way, I asked him about justifying using church treasury money for the building. His answer was the usual - since we are commanded to meet together it can be inferred that we must have a place. I thought about that response over the years and think I've come up with a response. I would ask, "Were they commanded to give in the first century?" Then I would ask, "Were they commanded to assemble in the first century?" Then I would conclude, "They had the command to give and to meet together (which they did), yet they never purchased a building. Seems to me that if we are to exactly like them we would do well to follow their lead and not purchase a building." But I'm probably preaching to the choir here.

An interesting theory in a book not related to church buildings is found in Shane Hipps's book on the electronic culture (it's listed on my reading list) is that form communicates a message. The church building communicates a message by itself regardless of the message we may be preaching inside. The church building becomes the church. We go to church. Buildings suggest permanence. Buildings suggest belonging. "This world is not my home" is kind of hard to sing in a building that suggests we are permanent and belong to this world.

Matt Dabbs has a good post about this issue (click here). I don't know the final conclusion to this subject. Maybe we need to educate a new generation and hope that they will continue the discussion. Well, that's my blather on the subject of church buildings.

The Joy of Service

The first picture just above this text is the disaster relief truck at the church building in Leesburg. It was supposed to arrive Monday evening but didn't arrive until around 11:00 AM on Tuesday. The picture just above that is the gang (composed of volunteers from four or five congregations) working. The picture above that is another truck at the Orange Ave. church in Eustis. The truck arrived around 11:00 AM on Wednesday morning. Another truck arrived Thursday afternoon (today at 2:00 PM). Then there's a picture with me working and the last one is the gang (members from the Eustis congregation, Sojourners, and senior class students from the Christian Home and Bible School) working, actually taking a break during their work. While we were waiting for the truck to arrive at the Leesburg church, several of us went to help a member of the Leesburg church in the devastated area. Most of the devastated areas have police or National Guard keeping people out. We got in because we were with a disaster relief group (they had signs on their vehicles) but we couldn't the house. The street where we thought the house was located was blocked off by workers. So we went to the house in front of us and carried their debris to the road so that it could be run through the chipper or picked up. It was great to help people in need. It was also good to work with so many good people wanting to help. I only wish I could have spent more time working. As it is I'm behind in my sermon study and other things I need to get done. But this was urgent and important work.

Super Bowl Caps

For those of you naysayers about the article from Kent Anderson's blog on what they do with the losers' Super Bowl Caps, here is further proof from the New York Times. So you disbelievers can now become believers. It seems that many teams are known the world over as the Super Bowl champs.

Cessation of miraculous gifts

For those interested in a rather long arduous study of whether or not the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased, Pulpit Magazine has an ongoing study by Nate Busenitz (click here). The series of articles are under the title "The When Question." Nate is contrasting the views of "continuationists" and "cessationists." Continuationists believe that there are still prophets today who receive some direct revelation from the Holy Spirit. Cessationists believe that revelation by the Holy Spirit (as well as other miraculous gifts) ceased some time after the apostolic age. I find the study quite illuminating because many of the arguments our brethren have used are used by some in the evangelical community. Anyway, just thought I would share this with anyone who cares to do some more reading on the subject.

The Swift Rule Super Bowl XLI

For all you Bears' fans, this article by Kent Anderson may give you some consolation. You can read his blog by clicking here. It is a blog about preaching but he had this little ditty about the Bears.

Where the Losers Won

Did you ever wonder what happens to all the hats that were prepared for the losing team at the Super Bowl or other such championships? Within minutes of the end of Sunday’s game, Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning, and the rest of the Colts were wearing hats declaring them to be the champions. But what about the hats that were prepared in the event that the Bears won the game?

Apparently those hats were kept under tight security until the end of the game when they were immediately shipped away before any of them could be sold on ebay. The hats were sent to an African village that has never heard of American Football. There, apparently, the Bears will forever be known as the champions of Super Bowl XVI (sic).

Small consolation for Rex Grossman, I’m sure.

The Lord and the Storm

Disaster hit close to the Bliss home here in Central Florida. At least one tornado (and possibly 4 others) touched down and did a considerable amount of damage. At least 20 people are dead, thousands of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, one church destroyed (the Church of God in the Villages), and who knows how many cars and trucks by the F3 tornado. The Church of God church building was built to withstand winds of 150 mph. Apparently this tornado exceeded this building's ability to handle high winds.

This coming Tuesday members from the area churches of Christ will meet at the Leesburg Church of Christ to unload a truck that will arrive from the Disaster Relief Effort (click here) in Nashville, TN. This organization provides a variety of items for such a time as this. I'm looking forward to helping out and seeing this organization (and our local congregations) in action.

Our family from California and several from the Tabernacle congregation (and some from the Randolph congregation) called or emailed to see if we were okay. This destructive force hit only a few miles from our home. We slept through most of it. The storm woke us up about 4:30 AM but had been raging since before 3:00 AM. At the time we didn't know a tornado had touched down. I think we will be getting one of those weather alert radios for future use.

All of this brings up a question in my mind. We in modern times tend to downplay God's role in the destructive side of events like this but praise him for his protective role. In other words we are glad that God protected us from the storm but we hesitate to claim that he may have caused the storm. Why is that? We know that he can and does cause disasters to happen. In the Old Testament many of the disasters were used to discipline Israel. The faithful in Israel saw God in all that happened even the storms (Psalm 29). Even though we can't today claim to know what God is doing in the storm (because we have no prophet to tell us) we can still know that he is in charge even of the storm and its destructive force. James tells us to rejoice when trials occurs (Jas.1:2). The problem to me is that we haven't defined very well what is good and what is bad. We think that damage and destruction from a storm is bad but if the storm misses us that is good. Maybe we need to rethink our definition of bad and good, at least in regards to disasters.

We are quick to downplay any active role on God's part in a disaster but quick to play up his active role in protection. Is it because when bad things happen we believe God is in a punishing mode and we don't want to believe that he could be punishing us (or those around us)? As Job asked his wife, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (Job 2:9 NASU) What shall we think about disasters and God's role in them? Maybe we haven't seen the good that can come from disasters.