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God In A Box (part 2)

In God In A Box (part 1), I stated that God has been requiring of me to release my desire to understand and explain who He is and why and what He does. I also focused in on two man-made religions, Mormon and Muslim, that are obvious in their heretical teachings of who Jesus is (at least to most Protestant Evangelical Christians who believe in the Bible). But I have also been observing, experiencing, reading, and listening about another man-made religion. It is similar to the Mormon and Muslim faith in that it teaches a different Jesus. However, in my opinion, there is one major difference that makes this third religion more dangerous than the two former. The danger is that those who teach about and follow the Jesus of this religion are unaware that they are NOT teaching and worshiping the Jesus of Nazareth. So what is this other religion?......Some call it Christianity. And the Jesus they teach? He appears to be the same Jesus, but if you look deeper, into scripture you start to see that he is a far cry from the Jesus of Nazareth. The Jesus of true Christianity.

Dubbya covers U2

This is one of my favorite songs....love that George is covering it.

At Bat

O.K. Devin has struggled this season at bat. He has hit the ball - but has had more strike-outs then hits. Tonight was the second round of playoffs (If they win this game they advance to the final game). We were in extra innings (9 & 10 year old's play 6 innings in regulation). So the game is tied 1 to 1, it's the top of the 7th, there are two outs and a runner on 2nd and 3rd - Devin's up.

First pitch - ball one.....Second pitch - ball two.....Third pitch - strike one (looking).....Count - 2 and 1.....Fourth pitch - CRACK!!!

Devin hits a line drive between the first and second baseman. BASE HIT! BOTH runners score. We go AHEAD 3 TO 1. Then we hold them at the bottom of the 7th. Three up - three down (one strike out, two ground outs). We win because of Devin's hit!  As you can imagine, Brenda and I were going nuts! Devin was, and still is, grinning ear to ear and cannot stop talking about it!! The kid is soooo pumped right now. His coach did a very cool thing and gave him the game ball! It has been an AWESOME CELEBRATION!!

Insomnia and The Vatican

I have been traveling this week up in Minneapolis, MN. The problem with traveling and staying in hotels is that I have a hard time sleeping. So....it's 1:30am on Thursday morning, I'm watching ESPN and surfing through my favorite blogs and news websites when I came across an unusual document . The Vatican on Tuesday issued a set of "ten commandments" for drivers. The document is is titled "Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road."

CNN.com says:

"The document, 'Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road,' extols the benefits of driving -- family outings, getting the sick to the hospital, allowing people to see other cultures.

It warned about the effects of road rage, saying driving can bring out "primitive" behavior in motorists, including "impoliteness, rude gestures, cursing, blasphemy, loss of sense of responsibility or deliberate infringement of the highway code."

The "Drivers' Ten Commandments," as listed by the document, are:

1. You shall not kill.

2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.

5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

7. Support the families of accident victims.

8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

10. Feel responsible toward others.

The Pope has obviously not driven in Chicago where you HAVE to randomly honk your horn when driving down town....talk about a Paradox!

I wanna be like my Jesus

I love the scene at the end of this video with Jesus sitting at the Lord's Supper. It's a beautiful scene.

Dan Kimball

These are some of the notes I took when Dan Kimball spoke on the first day of the Conference. Great stuff!

My thoughts: I was not sure what I was going to hear. I don't know Dan and I haven't read any of his books yet, but after listening to him I believe Dan's heart is in the right place. He seems focused on the great commission more than most (i.e. - getting of out and modeling after Jesus the Pathological Wanderer). It is interesting that when missionaries go to other parts of the world and sub-merge themselves in a foreign culture - it is expected that they go and listen, learn and embrace the culture they are walking into before they preach the message of Jesus Christ. Why? Because they HAVE TO EARN THE TRUST of those they are trying to reach. Yet as Christians in America we don't hold ourselves to the same standard in our own country. Again why? I think it's because of our Judeo-Christian background. We think we know the culture and the truth is most don't. As a protestant evangelical it is easy to have a great deal of arrogance about "how" we reach non-Christians in our own backyard. We think they should come to us and that we don't need to sub-merge ourselves in the sub-cultures of our world around us. Instead we take the field of dreams approach (build it and they will come) when it comes to ministering to Non-Christians. The reality is the generations that are emerging are not being raised in the same world that we were raised in. If you don't believe me, then compare todays mainstream t.v., movies, magazines, tabloids, newspapers, towns, neighborhoods and schools to the ones 30 years ago.....case closed!

So Here are Dan's thoughts:

• John 10:10 and John 17:15
• There is a merging interest in Jesus in our culture. Evident by Things like THIS and THIS  and THIS or THIS website where you can Select a Jesus.
• There is a growing disinterest by non-Christian's in church and Christianity
• The historical Judeo-Christian culture is shrinking and an the emerging generations are being raised in a culture void of Christian values and truth.
• A lot of Christians have escaped to a Christian sub-culture bubble where they want to live their lives.
• For church leaders the majority of their week is spent preparing for the weekend services each week instead of spending time with people in their community.
• Non-Christians in there 20's and 30's think this about Christian churches (also in Dan's book: They like Jesus but not the church):

1. The church is an organized religion with a political agenda
2. The church is judgmental and negative
3. The church is dominated by males and oppresses females
4. The church is homophobic
5. The church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong
6. The church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

WOW! Once I got past my initial defensiveness, this made a lot of sense. Again this is the opinions of non-Christians and as a Christian I can either live in denial about this or I can accept it and work to change their opinion.

• Non-Christians in there 20's and 30's wish church were like (also in Dan's book: They like Jesus but not the church):

1. I wish the church were not just a sermon or a lecture but a discussion.
2. I wish the church would respect my intelligence.
3. I wish the church weren't about the church building.
4. I wish church were less programmed and allowed time to think and pray.
5. I wish the church were a loving place.
6. I wish the church cared for the poor and for the environment
7. I wish the church taught more about Jesus

This is great insight to the mind of the non-believer. It is also humbling for any Christian who "thinks" they are viewed any differently. The people we are suppose to be caring for and teaching the good new of Jesus - actually want to hear more about Him!! "Market research" doesn't get much better than this!!  I am looking forward to reading Dan's books that I picked up at the conference. Great talk Dan! Thank you!

New Books to Digest

MY kids know how much I love to read so they gave me several new books this morning (with some help from their mom) for Father's Day:

I also bought two new books at the Arts Conference at Willow Creek Community Church:

                                                                                             

Plus my good buddy Dave Underwood sent me a book:

So let's just say, I'm going to be busy reading for a while....

Arts Conference

I'm attending Willow Creek's Arts Conference this week. Not sure what to expect. There are "differing opinions" from Chrsitian church leaders about some of the main speakers this year: Brian McClaren, Erwin McManus and Dan Kimball. I am talking all of John Ortberg's breakouts. Should be for interesting thoughts and conversations.

Quote of The Week

"The church has been (and still should be) a revolutionary community attempting to subvert and redeem the culture around it. " - Mike Erre

God in a Box (part 1)

(bear with me....it's a long one, but worth the read I think)

Have you ever tried to, “figure out who God is,” or "understand what His will for your life is,” or “plausibly explain the trinity,” or “make sense of why God does what he does?” I’m sure if you are like me the answer is, “Yes.” For some reason I have been in this space where God is asking, no, telling me to release my desire to figure out, understand, explain or make sense of Him. What I am realizing is that in my limited ability to comprehend God there is Paradox to my belief of who I want Him to be, and as a result of this, God becomes somewhat of a Mystery to me which ultimately creates Tension in my ability to believe in Him. So what do I do with this? How do I function in my relationship with God? How do I help others function in this post modernistic world where people look for a truth that works for them?