Walking Away from God

We have the right to live any way we want. But if you are living a life away from God, there are problems, and there is also hope for the future.

Check out this video by Dr. Charles Stanley titled 'Walking Away from God'. Great explanations of the costs of living without God, and God's response when you turn to him. Based on the passage of the prodigal son.

Watch the video

Virginia Tech, Guns and Torture

"The second question you asked was a theological question. And I get that asked every time there is a tragedy. And you properly ask that question over and over again. And I say things that always get incredible uproars because people don't think. And it's as simple as this: God is not in control of everything. I know that's going to sound like heresy, because we love to say in the midst of everything that's going on, "Oh God's in control, God's in control, God's in control," but that's absolutely absurd. God did not bring about Auschwitz. God does not bring about these horrible events on this planet. They are the doings of human beings in most instances. May I say this: It's obvious that God is not in control, by God's own choice. When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them freedom. Now, you can't give your children freedom, and still say you're in control of them…"

Tony Campolo's podcast on the Virginia Tech tragedy covers several questions:

• How can God allow such a thing to happen? Campolo explains that God has given up much control in order to allow us, His children, to be free. In Campolo's words, "what we do with that freedom has been horrendous, but it's also been glorious."
• The legitimate question asked by the parents of US soldiers "Where's the outcry for our fallen?" And where's the outcry for the many thousands of fallen Iraqi civilians?
• The power of lobby groups such as the NRA over politicians through financing.
• The strong connection between the NRA and the religious right in the US, and the difference between the potentially violent outlook of many Christians with that of Jesus' teachings.
• US patriotism being placed as an idol above Jesus.
• Accountability for US soldiers who massacre Iraqi civilians, in contradiction to the Geneva accord, and the unquestioned support for these obscenities by US citizens. "In fighting the dragon, we have become the dragon."

I deeply respect Tony Campolo, and have begun listening to his collection of podcasts found on his website. They're worth checking out, as is his book, Speaking My Mind.

Holiness

"God save yer holiness."

From The Project Gutenberg EBook of Irish Wonders

"In the Bible holiness always includes the public, social dimension, which is connected inextricably to the personality of the individual. Not only the human heart must be holy, but also the living conditions, social structures and the forms of the environment in which people live and which they continually construct. In all probability, reified, ritual holiness in the Old Testament and in Judaism always intended this. We must be extremely careful about reducing the requirement of holiness to the purely moral. In no case may the social dimension be lost.

The New Testament obviously knew why it referred to the believers of a church as "the saints," why it spoke of the "holy people" and why it called the church a "holy temple." In all these expressions "holy" always connotes "separated." Not separated in a ghetto, in religious self-satisfaction or in cultural or intellectual isolation, but separated to a different style of life and to new forms of life which realize what God wants society to be, in contrast to the structures of a sick society that is far from God."

From Jesus and Community by Gerhard Lohfink, p. 135

Bono Teaches Us True Religion

Here are some powerful quotes from Bono's speech:

"I'm talking about the right to live like a human, the right to live, period. Those are the stakes in Africa right now."

"This is not about charity...It's about justice, justice and equality."

"This is true religion. True religion will not let us fall asleep in the comfort of our freedom. Love thy neighbor is not a piece of advice, it's a command. That means, in the global village, we're going to have to start loving a whole lot more people, that's what that means."

"Because where you live should not decide whether you live, or whether you die. And to those in the church who still sit in judgement on the AIDS emergency, let me climb into the pulpit for just one moment. Because whatever thoughts we have about God, who He is, or even if God exists, most will agree that God has a special place for the poor. The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes, where the poor play house. God is where opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. God is with the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will take both their lives. God is under the rubble, the cries we hear during wartime. God, my friends, is with the poor, and God is with us if we are with them. This is not a burden, this is an adventure. Don't let anyone tell you it cannot be done. We can be the generation that ends extreme poverty."

Thank you, Bono, for being a prophet to the western world.

Technorati Tags: Bono, Africa, Make poverty history, poverty, HIV, pure religion, social justice

Week in Review

Lent

“I remember sitting in the seat of the Ford Explorer as it finally stopped rolling, with its engine still running, and thinking, "This begins chapter two of my life." Indeed it does, though with considerably brighter prospects than it seemed at the time.”

Phillip Yancey writes about his recent car accident, which he miraculously survived without paralysis, in 'I'm Okay! Honest'.

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“Can you be both purpose-driven and emerging? We say that we are both, but some people wonder if that is possible. I think it depends on what you mean by the terms.”

Article Purpose Driven & Emerging? on a newly discovered site St. Paul's Collegiate Church at Storrs. Looking at their site, I almost wish I lived in Connecticut.

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Another newly discovered blogger, JR Woodward of Dream Awakener, has been posting articles about the book of Ephesians. The final article, Stand, concludes “three-part series on an overview of the book of Ephesians.” It’s my favorite type of reading – short, but packed with content. His whole blog is worth a look-see.

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Stephen Shields of Emergesque provides The "Jesus Family Tomb" Roundup, a list of articles discussing the issue with links to more extensive resources.

Nichols For His Thoughts

This entire article is written by my friend EternaLee, a talented writer and insightful Christian. I feel compelled to re-post the entire article. You'll see why when you read it.

Shakespeare once wrote, “This above all: to thine own self be true,And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

These days Canada persecutes, er, prosecutes someone like that. Orville Nichols, a marriage commissioner in Saskatchewan since 1983, could not stay true to himself or his heartfelt faith, to marry two homosexuals in 2005. For this, he may be fined $5000, then either change his mind or lose his job.

At one time, Saskatchewan Justice Minister Frank Quennell said it was desirable to protect the religious freedoms of commissioners like Nicholls. Sometime later, he changed his mind, forcing all of them to do same-sex marriages. Three of the eight provincial marriage commissioners actually took the Saskatchewan government to a human rights tribunal over being forced to marry homosexuals. They lost their cases. Freedom of religion and conscience had no place in the public sphere. Only clergy would be exempted.

Now Nichols himself has been brought before human rights tribunal—by the homosexual couple he refused to marry. Nichols hoped at the very least commissioners like him, hired before same sex marriage was legalized, could have freedom of conscience. But while the case was still being heard, public officials with interests in the case were already shooting that smallest of concessions down.

Janice Gringell, a lawyer for the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, said it didn’t matter that same-sex laws were not in force when Nichols signed on as a marriage commissioner in 1983. Because he was an agent of the state, he would have to follow the state’s laws without discrimination. Tom Irvine, lawyer for Saskatchewan Justice, told the media the same thing.

"I couldn't sleep or live with myself if I were to perform same sex marriages," Nichols told the tribunal. "I don't have a problem with them getting married,” he explained, “but I can't perform the service.” As a man of daily Bible reading and prayer, the seventy year old could not solemnize a marriage so against the faith he said took “first place” in his life. Nor did his faith allow him to lie and say he was unavailble that day. Instead, he referred the homosexual couple to another colleague.

His conscience mattered none to the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission. It's seeking an order to stop Nichols from discriminating against same-sex couples. It also recommends a $5,000 fine. They also kept the names of the homosexual couple from publication. However, we know one of them is a 51 year old father of three, who spnet seventeen years married to a woman.

In 1999, Parliamentarians overwhelmingly supported traditional marriage, and pledged to do all in their power to preserve it. A few years later, many of those Parliamentarians voted against the wishes of their constituents, and passed a motion to make it law! Today, a strong majority would support a law codifying freedom of conscience for clergy, at least. But as we all know, one judicial “interpretation” could put those laws through the shredder.

For Christians like me, it’s hard not to think of other times our rights were similarly eroded. Soviet Union, Nazi Germany—both were Christian societies before other forces came to dominate. Incrementally, the power of the state silenced and subjugated all who opposed their ideology. Today secular humanism with its creed of human rights is doing with communism and fascism did before them—seeking to silence the faithful in the land through unjust laws.

Orville Nichols can live with himself, even if the justice system can’t live with him. In reality, his fidelity to his conscience actually had him on the path of true justice. Nichols and many others would rather fight an injustice system doomed to fall than give consent by their silence. History will vindicate them, as it did the opponents of Marx and Hitler. But for our nation’s sake, I hope it’s sooner rather than later.

Ask An Evangelical

"Jesus loves me and I love him. But my story is part of a much bigger story that tells me about who God is, and why human beings exist, and why — in the midst of so many bad things happening in the world around us — there is hope for a better future."

That's what evangelical Christian Aileen Van Ginkel wrote when we [Globe and Mail] asked her to explain a bit about her faith. What do you think? She came online Monday to respond to your questions about her religion.

Christian Aileen Van Ginkel was the guest of Globe and Mail for a 1 hour online forum titled "Ask An Evangelical." Ms. Van Ginkel presented a surprisingly balanced view while fielding questions like:

• I am a homosexual. Does Jesus still love me?
• How do you feel about the efforts of the so-called "Moral Majority" or Christian Right in North America?
• If the Bible is the inspired word of God, how do you justify the negative parts of the Bible, such as slavery, killing your neighbour, the plagues of Egypt (which God states he prolonged to glorify him), and hell?
• I was raised an evangelical Christian and left the church in my late teens. Why is it that when an earthly leader says "love me, obey me, serve me, be faithful to me....or else I'll torture and kill you," he is recognized as evil, but when God says the same thing, He's supposed to be supreme Good and Love?

Kudos to you, Ms. Van Ginkel, for taking on this challenge. Thank you for representing Evangelical Christians so well.

See the full interview at globeandmail.com.