Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

[NY Times]

Two months after the local atheistorganization here put up a billboard saying “Don’t Believe in God? You Are Not Alone,” the group’s 13 board members met in Laura and Alex Kasman’s living room to grapple with the fallout.

The problem was not that the group, the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, had attracted an outpouring of hostility. It was the opposite. An overflow audience of more than 100 had showed up for their most recent public symposium, and the board members discussed whether it was time to find a larger place.

And now parents were coming out of the woodwork asking for family-oriented programs where they could meet like-minded nonbelievers.

More than ever, America’s atheists are linking up and speaking out — even here in South Carolina, home to Bob Jones University, blue laws and a legislature that last year unanimously approved a Christian license plate embossed with a cross, a stained glass window and the words “I Believe” (a move blocked by a judge and now headed for trial).

They are connecting on the Internet, holding meet-ups in bars, advertising on billboards and buses, volunteering atfood pantries and picking up roadside trash, earning atheist groups recognition on adopt-a-highway signs.

They liken their strategy to that of the gay-rights movement, which lifted off when closeted members of a scorned minority decided to go public.

“It’s not about carrying banners or protesting,” said Herb Silverman, a math professor at the College of Charleston who founded the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, which has about 150 members on the coast of the Carolinas. “The most important thing is coming out of the closet.”

Read more here.

[From me]

Most of the atheists I have met are very nice people. I don’t think the problems are atheists coming out of the closet so to speak.  I think it is that followers of Jesus are keeping their faith in the closet. We have become timid in sharing what God has done in our lives because we don’t to offend. But what is more offensive? Telling someone that Jesus loves them and wants to give them eternal life? or to shut up and allow someone to spend eternity away from God?

What do you think?

This past week has been extremely busy.  I had several appointments with potential business owners, made my chaplain rounds, and went to two different training times.  The last one was in Ft. Lauderdale with the entire group.  We were challenged to care for our employees.  But the ultimate care that we can show for any of our employees is to tell them about Jesus Christ. 

I heard a statistic that said 80% of adults make decisions to follow Jesus after a crisis.  Our founder said we are in the crisis business. In fact, he said without crisis–there is no ministry. Now I would never want anything bad to happen to anyone.  But we live in a fallen world and bad things happen. One of the people under my care had a crisis occur recently.  I was challenged by that statistic and I was able to lead them to a personal relationship with Christ.

There are a lot of people looking at our “financial” crisis in a negative light.  It isn’t fun to see our homes and 401 K’s go to pot.  But God knew this would occur last year, 10 years ago and 2000 years ago. He isn’t surprised by any of the opportunities we encounter today. So instead of looking at how bad things are–why don’t we look at these as opportunities to share the life changing good news of Jesus Christ to a world who desperately needs Him!

What do you think?

There are a lot of people spewing “Doom & Gloom” in our world today.   Some promote it because they feel despair. I’ve felt it myself at times.  It is not what God designed but it happens.  

Then there are those who live for “Doom & Gloom.” There are various reasons why.  Some just see life as half-full or less.  Others are so miserable they want everyone to be.  Some excuse their “Doom & Gloom” on their faith.  Still others want people to feel a sense of pending disaster because they want people to be dependent on them. 

Ultimately, those of us who have a relationship with Jesus Christ should be promoting HOPE.  No matter how bad things are we should have HOPE.  I’m sure Adam and Eve felt despair when they were exiled from the Garden of Eden.  But God gave them Hope.  All through out the Bible, God tells people to take heart and have Hope.  Yet many times, we I as a believer(s) don’t give Hope.  

Our Hope isn’t in our 401 K’s.  It isn’t who is elected political offices.  Hope isn’t in our jobs or families. Our Hope is in Jesus Christ.  I haven’t always been the best purveyor of Hope but in these tough economic times we need God’s Hope more than ever. The sky is not falling. Things will get better. God is in control.

[Campus Times]

In its recent cover story, “The Decline and Fall of Christian America,” Newsweek magazine presented a series of recent poll numbers suggesting that the number of Americans identifying as Christian has diminished. The evidence would seem to suggest that the Christian faith is in crisis, and I would agree. However, we must be clear about the nature of this crisis: Declining church attendance is the symptom more than the problem.

It is the churchgoers themselves who have failed to make Christ’s message seem relevant in today’s society. This disconnect has occurred, in part, due to the rise of the Christian Right, which is becoming increasingly out of touch with the spiritual interests of the nation.

Modern Christian fundamentalism began in the early 20th century, partially as a reaction to the academic study of scripture, which some believers saw as a threat to Biblical legitimacy. Since the 1970s, fundamentalism and other types of conservative Christianity has been on the rise, and this has changed the faith landscape in this country. The leaders of this movement have intentionally radicalized the religion, and the moderates are often left with nowhere to turn. People are steadily leaving Christian churches, and who can blame them?

Jesus’s teachings addressed a wide variety of topics, many of them relating very directly to progressivism and social justice. Over the past few decades, however, the faith has shifted its emphasis from a more balanced vision of the Christian message to a narrow agenda made up of “hotbutton” issues, such as abortion.

While I decline to offer an opinion on the issue of abortion, I would say that Christians can stay true to their convictions while still acknowledging that a person can be a good Christian and either pro-life or pro-choice.

Furthermore, if Christianity is to have any future, it must abandon the out-of-date patriarchal system that has prevailed for too long. It is essential that there be full acceptance of gays and lesbians and a renewed focus on social justice issues, including poverty, equality, environmentalism and the local community. We cannot have a faith that cares only about personal salvation and not the social gospel.

Read more here.

[From me]

This author seems like a nice person who is buying in to the post-modern theology of I believe in and it is good for me but you can believe whatever you want.  That sounds good but the problem is it isn’t true.  I will agree with the author that there are a lot of people who speak for Christianity that need to keep quiet. I probably need to at times! But Jesus wasn’t the inclusionary person that some make Him out to be.

Jesus said in John 14:6 that He was the “only” way to the Father.  That doesn’t sound very inclusionary to me. It may be offensive but Jesus was.  Jesus loved everyone–yes. That is why He died on a cross for the sins of the world.  But He didn’t die so we could believe whatever we want.  Yes, He is love but love means telling people the truth! 

Are there problems in the church? Yes. Are there hypocrites in the church? Yes. I’m one. But the author suggests that the Christianity may not have a future unless it changes.  That is a lie!  Christianity will survive with or without our help.  Sure we need to find ways to share Jesus in relevant ways!  But don’t mistake methods with the message!  The message can not and will not change.  If something was right in Jesus time, it is right today! If something was a sin in Jesus day it is still a sin today! 

The church in America may be on decline.  But maybe what is happening is real believers will count the cost that Jesus talked about in Luke 9:23. Do we need to find new methods to reach people? Yes.  Do we change the truth of the Bible to make Christianity attractive? Never! 

What do you think?

[AP]

A group of students and parents sued Wednesday to stop a Wisconsin school district from continuing to hold high school graduations in a Christian megachurch.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Milwaukee said the setting violates Elmbrook School District students‘ and parents’ constitutional rights by creating an atmosphere that makes non-Christians uncomfortable.

The advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued on behalf of a group that includes a graduating student, alumni and parents who are not Christians and had attended the ceremonies at Elmbrook Church. It has hosted the graduations of Brookfield Central High School since 2000 and Brookfield East High School since 2002.

School officials have said the church is larger and more comfortable than other buildings in Waukesha County, about 10 miles west of Milwaukee.

The lawsuit claims a large cross in the sanctuary was covered during the first graduation ceremony, but the church then decided to keep the cross uncovered because it “wants to share its facilities without compromising its identity.”

Read more here.

[From me]

Why would they need to cover up their cross? It is a church that is allowing the school to use their building.  It wouldn’t bother me to go to a graduation in a building of a different faith.  It is a graduation, not a worship service.

What do you think?