Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

Probably one of my biggest pet peeves is the “CHURCH POLICE.”  What are the Church Police?  They are Church people who feel it is their God given call in life to criticize every ministry that is different than theirs. They appear differently depending on if they are attacking their own pastor or if they are attacking some other pastor.

When we started our church in Atlanta, my friend Jason Burns made an interesting observation.  He said the only people who will call you in regards to our mailings will be those who disapprove of our new church. Boy was he right!  I received dozens of calls from people wanting to know what we believed.  I finally got smart and put our statement of beliefs on our website.  I never received criticism from people outside the church.  I have always received the worst tongue lashing from those inside the church.  What happened to grace?

One man, who is probably still lurking today even though I’m not his pastor anymore actually printed out all that had said over a year on my blogs and others!  Who has that much time?  He didn’t like the fact that I read Mark Driscol or Rick Warren.  He even got a group together to try to remove me as pastor.

Probably the biggest lightning rod in the Christian church today is Rick Warren.  There is no grey area with Rick.  People either like him or hate him.  Those who hate him are in the church!  I personally like him a lot. I don’t agree with everything he says but the man has had a huge impact on my life.  He actually sent me a hand written note a few year ago and I still have it today.

There are websites, books and even messages that sole purpose is to take down Rick Warren.  I don’t get it! They claim that Rick doesn’t preach the Gospel.  There was one man comparing him to Jim Jones!  Please! The rub for me is these people are spending so much time attacking other ministries that they probably are neglecting their own ministries to the unchurched right around them! 

There are many ministries that I disagree with. One being the Health/Wealth ministers.  But I have never said they weren’t believers or devoted websites to remove them.  I just chose not to attend there.  

I wonder what it looks like to those outside the church when they see Christians attacking their own?  I’ve often found more grace from those who aren’t believers.  It is time to retire the “CHURCH POLICE” and be on mission for Christ.

What do you think?

Yesterday I asked the question are Mormons Christians?  It seems that the Mormon sect desperately wants everyone to believe they are Christians.  The fact is that most Mormons are good, fine, upstanding, moral people.  In fact they often act like Christians.  Even worse, they act more like Christians than some Christians.

I’m an observer of culture.  It appears to me that many Christians want so desperately to be accepted by the world that they don’t even act like Christians.  What makes us different than the world?  Now there are some who go to far extremes and have their own little sub culture.  They will never change the culture because they avoid it.  But there are others that want to be hip and cool so they live like everyone else around them.

The divorce rate in the church is as high as those who aren’t beleivers.  Christians are involved in extra-marital affairs just like other people.  Christians lie, steal and cheat.  Famous Christian leaders are engaging in high profile sins.  Christians subsribe to HBO, Showtime, etc.. and go to sex filled, and profanity ladened movies.  Pornography is a dirty little secret that the church ignores.  Christians don’t act that much different than the rest of the world.  I believe some are stealing what it means to be a Christian.  Jesus didn’t die for our sins to give us a license to sin.

When it comes to faith, I’ve heard people say they believe in the 3 “F’s” (Faith, facts and figures).  That’s funny because Jesus didn’t live that way. Tell that to Peter who walked on water. The facts sure didn’t point to that happenng.  Tell that to Lazarus who was raised from being dead for over 3 days.  Who in their right mind thought that he would rise from the dead.  I don’t see much faith anymore.  Usually what I hear is remember when God did___________(fill in the blank)?  It usually something He did 10 years before.  I fell into that trap last fall and Craig Groeschel rocked my world by preaching a message called “Practical Atheisim” at Catalyst. His family was actually praying that all of us in that conference would be disturbed.  I couldn’t sleep for 3 days.  I realized that I was living by what I could do and not trusting God to move in only a way that He could.  I wanted my children to see God do something in our family while they were at home. I don’t want to tell stories about God moving–I want them to see God at work!

When is the last time you saw God move?  When is the last time you saw God do something in your life that only He could do?  Are you really living like a Christian?  I ask this question to myself as I write this.  I’m at a crisis of belief point in my life.  I’m having to truly rely on God to move.  The facts and figures don’t make sense, but Jesus wants me to follow Him not the facts and figures.

So are Christians really Christians?

What do you think?

[USA Today]

What happened to responsible movies and TV shows when it comes to sex?  What about abstinence?  What message does this send to our youth?  Yes, I don’t get it.

What do you think?

[NY Times]

Arjun N. Murti remembers the pain of the oil shocks of the 1970s. But he is bracing for something far worse now: He foresees a “super spike” — a price surge that will soon drive crude oil to $200 a barrel.

Mr. Murti, who has a bit of a green streak, is not bothered much by the prospect of even higher oil prices, figuring it might finally prompt America to become more energy efficient. An analyst at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Murti has become the talk of the oil market by issuing one sensational forecast after another. A few years ago, rivals scoffed when he predicted oil would breach $100 a barrel. Few are laughing now. Oil shattered yet another record on Tuesday, touching $129.60 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gas at $4 a gallon is arriving just in time for those long summer drives.

Mr. Murti, 39, argues that the world’s seemingly unquenchable thirst for oil means prices will keep rising from here and stay above $100 into 2011. Others disagree, arguing that prices could abruptly tumble if speculators in the market rush for the exits. But the grim calculus of Mr. Murti’s prediction, issued in March and reconfirmed two weeks ago, is enough to give anyone pause: in an America of $200 oil, gasoline could cost more than $6 a gallon.

Read about it here.

[From me]

Today I drove my new Honda Scooter to work.  Yes, I’m sure there are those who think I’m crazy.  I’m sure there were some who passed me that think I’m driving a DUI scooter.  (I don’t drink)  I would rather drive my car any day.  But with gas going to unthinkable prices I wonder who will have the last laugh?  

What will you do if gas goes to $6-7 a gallon?

[Cleveland Leader]

Peekaboo Pole Dancing, the company behind Carmen Electra’s pole dancing kit, announced a few weeks ago that they were seeking a partner to license a pole dancing game for the Nintendo Wii. Since then people around the world have been asking the same question: “Why?”

MTV caught up with the Peekaboo people, and spoke with a company rep who said:

“Peekaboo will be all about fun and fitness for a new generation. Peekaboo wants to make the fitness benefits of aerobic pole dancing accessible to millions of Wii users. The goal is to encourage men and women of all shapes and sizes to improve their pole dancing skills while having fun, toning up and burning calories. Ultimately Peekaboo and AT New Media want to do for pole dancing what ‘Guitar Hero‘ did for rock n roll!”

As for the pole peripheral development, the game’s ESRB rating and how the game would actually work (we imagine you’d need hands on the pole as well as on controllers), he declined to disclose those details. Kay did claim that the company is already in talks with developers and publishers for the Wii title, though they “will still entertain other third parties.”

Peekaboo also said that they were looking for a mobile phone partner to bring a similar game to mobile devices.

Source here.

[From me]

What’s next?  How about just Wii for prostitution?  Why not a game to teach the art of strip tease?  Why not just virtual sex?  Even unbelievers should see the dangers of something this stupid.  But I doubt it.

What do you think?