One of the the issues that’s concerned me for a period of time, is imbalance in the 3rd use of the law. At first, it was just a perception, but having talked to numerous folks, in addition to what I picked up this morning, I’m pretty convinced its hosed up in many churches.

The third use of the law in a nutshell is preaching the law to the regenerate, as contrasted with the first use, civil order, and the second, to convict folks of their sin/their need for Christ.

The reason for preaching the law to Christians, ie the third use from SDvi

(21)So, too, the doctrine of the Law, in and with [the exercise of] the good works of believers, is necessary for the reason that otherwise man can easily imagine that his work and life are entirely pure and perfect. But the Law of God prescribes to believers good works in this way, that it shows and indicates at the same time, as in a mirror, that in this life they are still imperfect and impure in us, so that we must say with the beloved Paul, 1 Cor. 4:4: I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified. Thus Paul, when exhorting the regenerate to good works, presents to them expressly the Ten Commandments, Rom. 13:9; and that his good works are imperfect and impure he recognizes from the Law, Rom. 7:off ; and David declares Ps. 119:32: Viam mandatorum tuorum cucurri, I will run the way of Thy commandments; but enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified, Ps. 143:2.

But one needs to make a distinction as to who one is preaching too, again from SDvi.

(26) Accordingly, we reject and condemn as an error pernicious and detrimental to Christian discipline, as also to true godliness, the teaching that the Law, in the above-mentioned way and degree, should not be urged upon Christians and the true believers, but only upon the unbelieving, unchristians, and impenitent.

***** to me, SDvi26 is a prohibition of fire and brimstone preaching to Christians, other folks mileage may vary.

I’ve been following C21 via twitter feed. Its fascinating to pick up the audiences perceptions, albeit its nothing like a video feed or even better being there in person.

A common thread through the twitter feed from Seth Donovan’s talk.. if only church was a place for love, and a place where one could be whole, ie decompartmentalized.

Its as if, believers are getting whacked with the third use so much, and either confession and absolution is skipped, or church is buried so much in whacked third use, confession and absolution arent even heard. Granted, not all churches provide for corporate confession and absolution, nor do many Lutheran churches make known, much less even promote private confession and absolution.

Another possibility is folks are putting on such a show, a perception of violating SDvi21 ie perfection is possible, or even must be the norm in church. A friend uses the term snowglobe Christianity.

Thus, if one adds in imbalanced third use, plus the inavailability, or downplaying of confession and absolution, or promoting snowglobe Christianity masks, absolutely things are going to get backed up in a huge way. Its like opening a fire hose, but then blocking off the sewer. There are going to be problems.

The solution… stop it, just say no to imbalanced third use of the law. If someone is going on a power trip over third use, whack em. Ok, well thats oversimplification, and its unlikely anyone would go that far. On the other hand, once a problem is brought to light, to sit back and do nothing, or just crab about it is as nearly as bad as creating the problem in the first place.

I would hope that when folks return form #C21, they will have their ears on to detect problems, and when they do, heart to heart talks will occur. Conferences are about useless, unless one can come back to ones own venue, and at least apply 1 thing which was learned. Addressing imbalanced third use is likely one of them, and its a biggey. I believe it creates many more stumbling blocks for believers, than nearly any other activity in the contemporary church. Overuse and imbalanced third use would be nearly equivalent to skipping the law entirely.

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Phil Johnson tweeted a comment on this article, and I went whoa….

I generally don’t like to judge another Christians faith practices, nor approach to ministry, as I do fully believe we are all on the same team. About the only time I get really concerned is when abuse, toxic soteriology, or other such issues present themselves where individuals are or potentially are being hurt or damaged.

In this case, short of the inherrant dangers of decision theology, if appropriate safety precautions are taken, there really isn’t much danger, other than perhaps folks throwing up, or a few folks being offended. Kids are smart, they are not going to go out and do stupid stuff like this on their own. Same deal with adult/youth interaction, ie as soon as a line is crossed from gross to seedy, such will be called out in a heartbeat. Granted, if this were a lone ranger or even small church ministry, I’d be a whole lot more concerned with the potential for crossing that line.

That being said, there are bigger issues here, and they transcend nearly all of ministry, not just youth ministry trying to go viral.

The first issue: Why on earth do we try to be relevant by going exclusively contemporary? Egads, you want fear factor, look to the Bible and John the Baptist. You want sex in the city on steroids, look to Esther, or Songs of Solomon. You want crazy animals, look at the bear eating youth in Elijah. You want an action adventure story, look to Moses. The old testament mirrors just about every crazy crowd attraction in todays society. Even Burning Man is in the OT, albeit one does need to add in a bit of later history, but its a pretty clear connection in scripture. The problem of course, is not a lack of material, but more so I think the ability to draw the connection to it. Perhaps even an element of “what will they think?” if we mention some of the more intense, violent, or sexual stories in scripture, especially is ones church tends to downplay those parts of scripture.

The second issue: Why the numbers game? Why open the door for the possibility of boasting? I think one can be absolutely positively on fire for God, and yet stay far away from worldly promotion techniques. I’m not saying we can’t learn from the world, nor that we should put talents under a cover… but take the high road.

Look at the latest Ipod… do they span, do they use bots, do they promote Steve Job’s over the product, do they use for the lack of a better term, booth bimbos? No, Apple takes the high road… only the seedier products lend themselves to low road promotion. Should we take what is holy, and promote it in a low road fashion? Should we take Jesus, and market Him like porn, spam, or get rich quick schemes? I don’t think so…

None of the above is to suggest relevance, or creative promotion of ministry is to be avoided. Its merely to suggest much relevance is already laid out in scripture, and if there is a choice when it comes to promotion, consider how it may come across to those you are trying to reach. Associating Jesus with Viagra spam is not cool.

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Have you found Jesus? I didn’t know he was missing…. is a cool quote from the movie Forest Gump. I’ve been doing some thinking on this.

In some communities, the focus is on the poor and the least of these to a huge extent… in some cases, Jesus is rarely mentioned if at all.

In some communities, the focus is on uber orthodoxy, and its so easy to get wound up in the “right way” that Jesus doesn’t takes a second chair to policy and procedure, or in other cases, He doesn’t get mentioned at all.

In some communities, the focus is on so much scholarship and wisdom, somewhere, somehow Jesus sort of pales in comparison, or current psychology dominates so much of the environment, Jesus doesn’t get mentioned at all.

In some communities, the focus is on sex, hetero or homosexuality to such an extent, that the talk of sex is much more prevalent than Jesus. In some cases, he doesn’t get mentioned at all.

In some communities, the focus is on wealth and personal growth to such an extent, that talk of Jesus pales in comparison.

In some communities, adherence to political ideology is so great, that if a homeless and hungry immigrant happened by, he would be unwelcome, as would Jesus.

In some communities, the fear of sexual stumbling is so great, that folks run from those with minimal clothing and they are unwelcome. Jesus would not get clothes.

In some communities, imprisoning folks and throwing away the key as a penal solution, and not attending to their medical needs as it costs too much is common practice. Jesus would be left alone to suffer in his cell.

In some communities, the injured man along side the road is walked on by, because ministry is too important. Jesus would also be walked on by, but in fairness, folks would pray that Caesar or a Samaritan would come to Jesus rescue.

In some communities, the focus is on abortion to such an extent, that the talk of the unborn is much more prevalent than Jesus. In some cases, he doesn’t get mentioned at all.

The deal is…. Jesus is not missing, Forest is right in that. Yet when Jesus stands at the door and knocks, and the community keeps the door shut and lets other, even things that could be good keep them from opening the door, a serious problem exists. What good can come from a community to upholds Jesus in name, and yet keeps him from entering?

Lest I be a rock thrower, I’ll fess up to botching the above list in its entirety at one time or another. Its very easy to get on what one thinks is the right path, only to end up shutting the door, and not letting Jesus in.

Ecclesiastes 7 presents a lot of wisdom in this, verse 16 pretty much nails it. Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise—why destroy yourself?

When we get caught up in “good things” to the exception of Christ, we should be asking… Why do we put Jesus outside the door? Why is this “good thing” so important that our savior is not even mentioned?

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@MattCleaver wrote a post a couple days ago on why he is against memorizing scripture in youth programs. He said he had his flame suit on… but as of yet, no one has really flamed him. Thus, I’ll give it a shot <cool looking flame thrower icon goes here>

Some positive aspects of scripture memorization:
Rightly handling the word of truth… if scripture is memorized, life is easier. Its not that one needs a photographic memory of the Bible, but being able to recall specific narratives certainly makes life simpler.

Testifying as to what one believes… who has more authenticity, the one who speaks from his/her heart, or the one who has to pause, look things up, and then read them?

Some scriptural admonitions

Colossians 3:16-17 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Proverbs 7:1-3 My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

The underlying problem: Lame youth programming misses the point of nearly all aspects of scripture memorization, as it emphasizes head knowledge over heart knowledge, and competition over community.

Matt presented his objections to scripture memorization in youth programs in a series of 6 premises. While I disagree with his conclusion, ie I am for scripture memorization in youth programs, I do whole heartedly agree with his objections. I’ve categorized them into the following categories.

Head knowledge vs heart knowledge.

• Memorization does not equal maturity or discipleship.
• Memorization is not equivalent to “hiding your word in my heart.”
• Memorization removes scripture from historical tradition and literary context.
• Memorization is not a historical spiritual discipline.

Competition vs Community

• Most memorization programs are reward-driven competitions.
• Memorization elevates certain kinds of students over and above other.

The Challenge

How do we redo/tweek programming to accentuate the positive aspects of memorization, while minimizing the counterproductive nature of current programming.

A few things which we know from educational psychology:

• Short term memory, ie cram for the exam doesn’t lead to long term retention, nor does it impact the heart.
• Memorization of facts without relevant application doesn’t lead to very efficient use of time, nor retention, nor an impact on the heart.
• Some residual retention, even from exam crams, or theoretical non-application, almost always shows up, even in ones heart… but its a very tiny amount. Thus, even a minor tweak to “lame programming” may prove hugely beneficial.
• Evaluation and feedback is needed for learning, but whether its individual, competitive, or group wise is subject to controversy. Ultimately one size fits all doesn’t work, just as a single method of evaluation for all doesn’t work out too well either.
• Intrinsic Motivation almost always produces better outcomes than extrinsic.
• Rote retention of isolated facts, without understanding can and often does lead to errant application.

A few bits from scripture:

2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

1 Cor 3: 18-23 18Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”[a]; 20and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”[b] 21So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas[c] or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

Romans 11:17-20 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root [1] of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.

Proverbs 1:2-6 To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, 3 to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; 4 to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— 5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, 6 to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles.

Some ideas for change:

• Competition has to go, we don’t need varsity level competition in scripture memorization
• Focus on application of scripture, not just rote knowledge
• Community of faith involvement
• Need to shift more towards intrinsic motivation, rather than mostly extrinsic rewards… don’t throw all the little sticky stars away, they were cool but lets not just focus on the sticky stars.
• Provide for different methods of feedback
• The self directed concept may have value, albeit implementation is tricky… but if we can do it in flight training, by golly it should mostly certainly fit within Christian education.

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@TragicPizza Aug 30th Sermon is pretty cool. He talks about a chasm of differences that far too often get in the way of loving God and loving one’s neighbor. It could be rigious adherence to laws, or rigorous adherence to social practices. Either way, we need to challenge ourselves to see how our actions, or lack of actions line up with loving God and one’s neighbor.

One of the things he stated was the following in reference to the Pharisees during Jesus time.

The Pharisees had taken the Law of Moses and, over the years, had reduced its overarching tenets to minutiae:  how far it was permissible to walk on the Sabbath, how much you could carry, what things and people and activities were to be considered ceremonially clean and unclean. In theory, it was a good idea, because if one could not work on the Sabbath, then it was important to know how, exactly, to define “work,” wasn’t it?

Many of todays very orthodox Jewish people have very detailed criteria of what is ok, and what is not. Unlike the Pharisee’s of Jesus time, the orthodox Jewish folks I know are very humble. Rather than looking down on less orthdox folks as not being truly Jewish, they more so adhere to their orthdoxy in an exceedingly cool way of showing reverence to God, and their love for Him. The thought of looking down on ones neighbor is beyond uncool for them. Granted, just as in Christianity, I am sure there are a few jerks here or there who do look down on others.

That being said, I look at some of their lists, and go wow, its not for me, but I still think its pretty cool. One of the more interesting criteria is Sabbath mode. Here are a few examples.

Elevators can be programmed to automatically enter and leave Sabbath mode. In a nutshell, pushing elevator buttons is considered a form of work, and is prohibited. As a result Sabbath mode runs the elevator continuously circulating top to bottom and stopping at every floor. It may take a while to go up and down of course, but I think its pretty cool to have such a feature available.

Another option available in ovens provides for a bypass of the automatic 12 hour shut down interval. As a result, orthodox Jewish folks can cook their food the day before the Sabbath, and the oven will enter into a keep warm cycle, and thus prevent the need for any type of manual intervention.

By the same token, there are some fairly extreme situations that seem more a workaround than perhaps showing reverence. I guess it depends on the person, some might show their love this way, albeit I would find it sort of like a person who tithes but doesn’t really want to.

The halachic authorities have determined that electricity used as heat or light is considered fire. Therefore by turning on the burner one is creating a new fire. This action could just as well have been done before Yom Tov and is prohibited because of molid. Turning the dial on your electric stovetop may also initiate a light or icon on a control panel which would otherwise be off. This may be a transgression of kosev, writing, as well as molid. Even when the electric burner was left on from before Yom Tov, if one wishes to adjust the temperature of the burner there is also reason for concern. This is because, as a rule, one does not know if there is electric current running to the element at the time they wish to make the adjustment. Even when there is an indicator light showing that a burner is on, this may not be an indication that electricity is flowing to the burner at that moment.

I dont know that the above shows love to God, shows loving my neighbor, or is mans way to try and rationalize around a given situations. Either way, its probably the sort of thing that becomes near impossible to keep over a period of time, albeit I can think of cooktop design changes which could do so automatically.

Ultimately, I think Christians have to search their heart and pray for wisdom for such issues after consulting the scriptures. Even more so, for actions called out by the law and/or its extensions. Does one revere God with joy and love, or does it become a matter of drudgerous duty? Does such an action show loves for ones neighbor, or aggravate them?

We dont want to make the Pharisee’s mistake which tragic_pizza stated so well What Jesus is confronting is theological purity turned putrid: where the details of doctrine overwhelm and become the focus of faith. Where justice and mercy apply only to those who think, act, and look like us. Where being right is more important than righteousness. Where law smothers love.

Nor do we want to throw works as relative to our neighbor totally aside. We must not spend so much time messing with the stove to remain pure, such that we never cook the food, and the hungry homeless man remains unfed.

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I’ve heard this set of verses many thousands of times, being its part of the liturgy, and it never hit home before. What would cause one to claim fellowship, and not live in the truth? I’m wondering if the allure of the law is so strong, it blinds folks from the Gospel?

1 John 1:5-7 5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

So whats up with the walking in darkness deal? Its interesting to note Isaiah 50:10 Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. Certainly in this passage from Isaiah, obedience is not the issue, nor is unbelief. Granted, it is possible 1 John 1 and Isaiah 50 are not inter-related, but I think the immediate context of 1 John 1 serves as key. The kicker is lieing, and not walking in truth… not unbelief, nor necessarily any of the myriad of other sins one might want to pick and choose from.

I wonder if Matthew 6-7 ripples throughout this. Ie, putting on a show, individuals doing the pietist thing in public, acts of righteousness, prayer, fasting, and. Storing up treasures on earth, judging, building faith on sand etc.

Jesus is pretty hardcore with Matthew 7:21-34 21″Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

It is however way cool, that 1 John 1:7-10 provides an answer. It is not to say we are without sin, It is not to shy away from fellowship, it is not to throw the law out the window. Its a lot simpler than any of that. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives

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In some cases, the truth of the Gospel may end up rocking a persons worldview. It might be that someone has built their faith upon sand, ie a theology of glory, or in non Lutheran terminology, a subtle or not so subtle form of works based theology.

Sadly, it seems that far too often, we run into Christians who held such beliefs, whose worldview is already crashing, or worse, it has already hit bottom and they’ve thrown out the baby with the bath water. Usually, this is due to them hitting a wall, where in their works fail them. In other cases, its due to their worldview being challenged, and they don’t have a support network. For purposes of this blog entry, I’m only looking at the later, ie the world view has yet to come crashing down. Its good that such cases are reasonably easy to recognize. Its also pretty clear a gentle approach is needed, and that follow up care is a must.

As such, when we step up, and challenge a worldview, there are two typical responses: A, to get out the cannons, and fire at random, as the worldview must be protected at all costs. B, sooner or later, to realize they were upholding a theology of glory, and in some cases, followed by heading rapidly towards despair, Ie they see their foundation slipping away very fast, and they have yet to see the rock, ie the theology of the cross.

Its pretty hard to be gentle, when it comes to A, as we hear the cannon firing, and we want to speak over it… Far too often, if we try to yell, all the person hears is a muddled clanging gong noise. Perhaps its one of those things thats just going to take time, and maybe its just a you know where i stand, and if you ever have questions, lets talk.

As part of that, a beer or a coffee is a ton easier to communicate over, than out in the field with the guns ablazing. In the mean time, building further understanding and friendship can be a cool thing. One must also consider that upending the worldview is not the primary goal. Ie, such changes are in Gods time, not ours, and it may not be God’s will that we are his agent for this specific person. Our primary focus must be sharing the love of Christ, understanding one another, and concurrently the love for one another in Christ.

By the same token, once a worldview is shaken, a support infrastructure should be in the staging area. This is not unlike our protestant brethren who practice revivals, mass evangelism, or even street minisry to those who do not know Christ. They know very well, that when a seed is planted, it is irresponsible to not have a game plan for it to be nutured, although granted, some seeds will sprout even without such. Ultimately, to say lets talk sometime, and then drop the ball, or to make ones friendship conditional in some way is not cool at all.

Now, some might say, whoa, whats up with a staging area??? They may already have a church, are you advocating sheep stealing? And no way no how is my answer. What I am saying, is that in far too many cases where a worldview up ending occurs, folks end up going it alone. They dont want to share it with another brother or sister in Christ in their church our of fear or embarrassment. Or perhaps maybe they dont even have anyone they are close enough to in order to feel comfortable to do so. Or maybe you happened to reinforce what their pastor already preaches, but it never made sense to them before. Either way, to upend their worldview, and leave is far beyond not cool. Thats preaching the truth and forgetting the love, sort of the gong thing all over again.

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If one searches the scriptures, are there any places where saying no to God ended with a favorable outcome? I have yet to find any, and I have tried. I have said no to God hundreds, if not thousands of times… the outcome, well as a general rule, I have yet to be eaten by a fish, but hindsight leads me to believe had I said yes, the individual outcomes would have been positive, or at a minimum neutral… and there are some lingering after effects… ranging from man was I stupid or what, to egads, I really blew that with God big time.

A distinction must be made, is it God, or is it man trying to get his own way?

Whenever I hear someone say, God told me that you should do X, the warning sirens come on. It almost always seems to be the desire of the person speaking, which does make me suspect. Otoh, when I hear someone state “God told me you should do X”, or “scripture says you should do X”, and the person speaking goes on to state they personally think doing X would be a bad idea, the light bulbs come on. God’s ways are often not mans it seems. Ultimately though, after a review of the scriptures, listening for the still small voice is key.

What if its the church who is asking?

“Churches will eat you alive, if you let them…” is what a friend told me some years back. I’ll go one further, the ministry needs of a church will expand to consume all available time, plus another 20%. Many secular folks say boundaries are the key to success. Boundary teaching is so prevalent, it is even preached in many churches and schools. Let me throw a wrench in the works…. What if one comes upon an injured church member alongside the road, and our family needs are in conflict? Should we pass by on the other side in our hurry to fullfill our families needs, and hope some dude from Samaria happens by? 

What about picking up ones cross?

A recurrent theme throughout the Bible is not to take the easy way out, but to pick up ones cross and follow Jesus. Man on the other hand, has a very very difficult time with this… what about the yard, what about the children, what about my day job, what about where I will sleep, what about what I will wear tomorrow…. but Jesus calls. The young ruler, the dude who wanted to go take care of his families burial…. Jesus had some hard to hear words about that.

Burnout is real, consequences are real

Burnout however is real, depression in ministry is real, even look at Elijah, the dude was fixing to sit under a tree and die, the work was just too great. When you have scripture telling us the burden will be easy… and one has been up for 72 hours straight, its not so easy…. its not so easy to stay awake in the garden, when Jesus is right there, its not so easy, when Jesus asked the disciples to remain awake and to watch, and they crashed and burned. Its not so easy, when you are a young kid hanging out in an upstairs window to hear Paul preach the Gospel, that you fall asleep, slide out the window, and crash to the ground to your death. Suicide exists, moral crash and burn failure exists, families get shredded, churches implode… there are real brick walls, these are real problems.

Thus, even if though the recurrent theme of scripture is to pick up ones cross, scripture also provides examples of situations where folks have run into brick walls. Society and history also show that brick walls can and do happen. 

Its not a total deal

The problem imho, is we are looking at this as a total deal… Individualistic theology has hosed over many a fine brother or sister in Christ, its wrong thinking. Obviously there are times, when we are called to act and no one else is around to help, but if one considers the big picture, short of 3AM, in the middle of nowhere and without any means of communication, those situations are exceedingly rare. Even the church organist who gets interrupted at late night practice has huge resources at hand, but more likely than not, is unaware of them. The primary difficulty of the individualistic approach, is one doesnt see all of the capabilities, gifts, skills, and help available. Even Paul traveled with a group… The second issue is a failure to make the call early on that problems exist, and that more help is needed. Acts 6, where a set of dudes were chosen to serve the widows is a prime example of this. It shows not only the problem of being spread too thin, but utilizing the resources at hand, and the power of a group… they didnt just dump the problem on one guy, and say here you go.

If God is asking us, who are we to say no? Who are we, to think we can do it all by ourselves?

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During my blogging absence, I’ve been doing some reading, both online and off, as well as bugging folks. It seems the fear of meat is a huge thing, and imho a real disservice to the body of Christ. I don’t have the atonement deal wrapped up by any-means, but the backlog of writing ideas is expanding, so its time to roll. First some observations which lead to the fear of meat deal:

How do we keep Christianity safe?

A partner in ministry from a ways back asked me this, and its been bugging me to no end. Sure, no one wants to have heretical beliefs flying all over the place… but by putting safety on a pedestal, and not providing an outlet for “messy faith”, hard questions, or even anger at God, eek, talk about a disservice!!! The focus on leadership perfection, questions limited to only those with pre-ordained answers, and horrors that one would ever be angry at God ends up for some a major barrier. This is especially the case when folks run up against the unanswerable questions, where the milk wont cut it, and for some purposes, the meat may not either. Is the pursuit of “safe and isolated Christianity” really worth it? Is such just secular escapism with a Christian label? No doubt, there should be some times and places for safety, but in all due respect for my friend, I think he is asking the wrong questions. 

My cats like milk and the status quo

Mikey is 3 years old and is a massive, albeit neutered and laid-back Tomcat. He really likes milk, but his digestive system hates even the idea. As a kitten it was needed, as an adult, he needs meat to thrive. I think its an appropriate analogy for the Christian life. Milk may bring us back to an earlier time, a place of safety, happiness, and joy. Yet, just as Mikey will upchuck if he gets too much milk, a steady diet of milk for the growing Christian is also unhealthy.

I really liked what @tg24 on @jonestony’s blog had to say.

It seems to me that we underestimate our congregations’ faith. They can be stretched, they can be challenged, and if we continue to treat them as fragile infants whose understanding of Christianity can never change, as shepherds, (leaders, lay or vocational, or as worshippers who love the church), we are not guarding it, we are weakening it.

What about the children?

If I hear this one more time….

I’m no fan of separation in worship. Sure,children may not grasp everything, and some of it could be too intense… imho the fear is likely not so much for the children themselves, but for the parents having to answer the resultant questions. Read the whole of Matthew 19… divorce, the rich young man, the camel in the needle, leaving the children for His sake. In light of “what about the children” I can understand why the disciples rebuked those who brought the children… yet, Jesus had something else to say.

Seminary-Congregation disconnect

A common thread amongst many seminarians is “I thought I knew the Bible back then, now I realize how much I really dont know”. Why is this? Egads, since I’ve started hanging out with a facebook group of seminary guys, I haven’t been challenged like that in years. The thing is… why should I have to seek out seminarians to get challenged?

Even look at living together faithfully in the ELCA, or the opinions of 135 ELCA theologicans. There is often a major disconnect between academia and the pew, with vastly different lenses of interpretation. It doesn’t have to be this way. The meat does exist, why must we venture from the congregation to find it? Why does it take congregational change to even search it out?

Some leaders are afraid of meat (faith crisis and stumbling)

Granted, the concern about causing another to stumble is a serious matter, yet to lead another to stagnate and regress is also a form causing one to stumble. 

The relevance of meat to a wide audience

Way back when I asked my pastor, how on earth can one preach to 5000 members, as it seems guaranteed you would miss the mark for some. He had a very wise answer… how can you preach to 5? Its not just the sermon of the pastor, its the word of God and the Holy Spirit acting on folks hearts. Meat will always be relevant, and it may be someone new in their walk would be confused, but where the Gospel is preached, the Holy Spirit will take care of the rest.

Leadership uncertainty

Yep, I know this one… we did a major major rip up and redo some years back. We expected we might loose thousands of members. Yet, we knew scripture was clear, we had 99% peace with the decision… but, an underlying question kept coming back, what if we are wrong? When meat is involved, there is greater uncertainty. Yet, if scripture, prayer, and discussions amongst the leadership team and others indicate a go… to not proceed where God is calling, not cool at all.

Backing up the plumbing and its affect on the status quo

As one grow in Christ, it can’t just be a matter of head knowledge, or even heart knowledge, but further works must start to go forth, or things will start to back up often leading to congregational disfuction. A commitment to meat, also means a commitment to running with it… that is very scary to the status quo. Feral Pastor has an analogy called an L-pipe, there are many parallels.

Filed under : Growth and Discipleship

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I took off blogging for Holy Week, and a bit more. I’m trying to get a handle on atonement theories, and the more I dig, the more it seems like the onion becomes larger, and there is more grey all the time. Of course part of this is that I’m approaching it in an ecumenical fashion, and of course no one can agree but it still is pretty cool.

Now, some might say atonement theory, why… its not like it has a lot of relevance, and on the surface I’d have to agree. However, entire worldviews seem to proceed from specific views on atonement, so there is a whole lot of things which are likely unseen.

One thing i do know, is dont go and present the ransom theory in the midst of a group of penal substitution advocates, unless you enjoy controvery city. I’m actually debating with a fellow at Dallas Theological Seminary, and on a 1:1 basis, its pretty cool. I dont need 123 commenters or whatever number it was where it seemed half of them came down hard on a fellow from twiiter named Tony Jones.

I also found, that few share the excitement I have over atonement theories… but thats ok. I do get accused of not speaking English quite a bit anyhow in scientific matters, I guess the same might well apply in theology as well.

An offshoot of this, is that third use of the law thing again, and the controversy over it. I’ll need to do some more digging, maybe even find a recent seminary grad to bug, as discrepancies in that area could have a huge impact at the upcoming convention.

Filed under : Growth and Discipleship

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