whereisjodi.

Somehow I got on the OneNewsNow mailing list and am all of a sudden getting a daily bulletin from them... Anyhoo, today there was an interesting link to an article describing the religion of our youth as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. One of their best descriptions of that term, in my opinion, was that God is seen as nothing more than "an instrument of personal growth." I think that could describe the faith of more than youth!

It reminded me of an article my mom read me a month or so ago out of her Mission Frontiers newsletter. I've tracked down a link, if you click here you can look at the whole newsletter <March-April: Are We Losing More Than We're Gaining>.

The article I found most profoundly impacted me, and indeed I wish was required reading for all Christians, was "Are We Proclaiming A Defective Gospel." Basically the article discusses our efforts to market the Gospel, rather than simply tell it like it is. Jesus Christ came into this world to save us from our desperate sinful situation and make atonement for the wrath of God -- but it's too edgy, too politically incorrect to talk about people's sin. Instead, we talk about God's wonderful plan and how He can make your life better.

And of course, when people become Christians with the understanding that God's main job is to make them happy...well, it's no wonder they quickly fall by the wayside or lose faith when the tough times and hard questions come.

The best quote in the article, to me, comes near the end after the author has discussed the true reality of our situation, that it is one of warfare and combat, where earnestly following after God puts a literal target on your back:

It is like a person who buys a vacation package to the French Riviera expecting a wonderful time of fun and relaxation only to discover upon his arrival that there is open warfare taking place with bombs going off, bullets flying and the wounded littering the sandy beaches. Such a person would naturally think: "What is going on here? This is not what I signed up for." 

Until we realize that we are in a war for our lives, we will be sitting ducks for Satan's attacks and schemes. We will continue to lose those people who were never adequately prepared for battle. We must proclaim a true Gospel of grace and forgiveness of sin and stop trying to market the Gospel as the solution to all of our problems. It is already the greatest gift anyone can receive.

Amen. 

Posted by authorjodi at 02:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Continue reading "Searching for the Perfect Christian." »

Posted by authorjodi at 05:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A friend of mine has been reading and commenting on Oprah's newest book club selection, Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth. I have to admit, other than reading her thoughts I haven't been paying a lot of attention. Frankly, I haven't ever seen in Oprah what so many millions do -- the only time I watched her show with any regularity was when I was living in Scotland and it was the only thing on when my teaching partner and I got home exhausted and needed to chill for a little while. ;)

Anyway, it seems this book has garnered even more attention than the faux-memoir she chose awhile back. Apparently she's about to begin running webinars with the author, and over 500,000 folks have signed up. From the, admittedly, small amount of information I've read about this book <see this column>, it seems the book is preaching yet another New Age answer to the who am I question.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The enemy knows we have a deep desire for truth and he specializes in deceit. Unfortunately he's doing a bang-up job these days. Our culture has maneuvered us into feeling guilty if we hold a belief too strongly -- people don't want to be seen as narrow-minded and bigoted.

The column I linked to above quoted one of my favorite lines from C.S. Lewis in response to the whole idea of tolerance:

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a good moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Tolerance says that Christ was a great teacher like many others throughout history and lets all hold hands and sing kumbaya. Truth is a different matter. Truth demands that you choose a side.

Posted by authorjodi at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've often found myself grateful for a series of lectures I attended years ago put on by Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason. His organization exists to train Christians to be better ambassadors in the public square <quoting from memory rather than copying from the website> and I couldn't recommend his materials more highly.

One thing Greg said that always sticks in my mind is how our culture views religion. I can talk til I'm blue in the face about the truth claims of Christianity, but in the end more likely than not I'll be greeted with a polite, if blank stare, as if I'm trying to sell them on nothing more significant than the merits of vanilla ice cream over mint chocolate chip. It's unbelievably frustrating.

An article I read the other day reminded me of the Ice Cream Dilemma -- it was entitled "America's Unfaithful Faithful" and discussed a recent survey about Americans churchgoing habits. Or more accurately, their church-hopping habits. One quote I found fairly disturbing talked about the 'marketability' of religion:

What it says is that this marketplace is highly competitive and that no one can sit on their laurels, because another group out there will make [its tenets] available" for potential converts to try out.

Once again, putting forth the notion that the church and/or religion you choose has more to do with personal preference and response to a slick marketing campaign than with the truth claims of that particular religion.

Posted by authorjodi at 04:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm not married, nor have I ever been. As a matter of fact, at the ripe old age of 33, I've never even been engaged. I humbly agree that I have no idea what it must really be like to be married and not experiencing the height of wedded bliss.

Whether your spouse is unkind, doesn't share your favorite hobbies, is selfish, or drinks too much, or cheats, or abuses you in any way...all these things I readily admit to no material understanding of how it might feel.

From another angle, I also see that divorce is spoken of pretty clearly in Scripture, in most cases, as a sin. It is not the worst sin, nor the unforgivable sin. I don't think it needs to be separated out so that those who commit it can be publicly chastised and ostracized. Gossiping is just as "bad" a sin. So is dishonoring your parents. Or having pre-marital sex of the homo- or hetero- variety. Sin is sin.

With that said, I do find it disturbing to watch the ease at which our society rips apart the one flesh for any and all reasons. You can now apply online for a divorce in Broward County. Austria recently was the scene of the first ever "divorce fair" where you could speak to lawyers, hire a private detective or submit to a paternity test to make sure you haven't been conned. One attendee, a divorcee already in a new relationship said:

"I just wanted to get some information ahead of time, just to be prepared for the eventuality that such a terrible thing could happen again."

Nothing like hoping for the best! 

These articles reminded me of a Time Magazine op-ed I recently read, entitled "An Evangelical Rethink on Divorce." The author puts forth the idea that a biblical stand against divorce is inconvenient and inhumane, and because evangelicals are divorcing at as great a rate as the rest of the world, they're rethinking the interpretation of such basics as Matthew 5:31-32:

"But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery." 

Maybe Jesus used some quotation marks that we don't necessarily see in today's translations, which means you can change the interpretation to say He just meant you shouldn't have no-fault divorce, but if you had any good reason at all...like the guy at work is nicer to you than your husband...then it's ok.

The op-ed ends with, I think, the whole point the author was trying to make. If those pesky evangelicals would just rethink their old-fashioned ideas on divorce, then they can rethink their close-minded opinions on homosexuality -- and by gosh -- while they're at it they can cast their Presidential vote for a twice-divorced, adulterous former mayor.

Posted by authorjodi at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Sir Isaac Newton predicted the end of the world no sooner than 2060. I flipped on Fox News this morning while sipping my coffee and saw a quick story about some of Newton's papers now on display in Jerusalem. Apparently he was quite the religious scholar, as well as being what some consider "history's greatest scientist."

Newton decided to use mathematical calculations and intense study of the book of Daniel to come up with a possible date for the Apocalypse:

"This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail."

Well shoot, I had almost decided to follow Tim LaHaye and Joel Rosenberg's suggestions that the world might end in the next 25 years. If it goes til 2060 I may have to plan for retirement after all. ;) 

Posted by authorjodi at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been thinking about church repentance over the past week -- what the church in America might need to get on the ball about:

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

There's something I'm working my way up to posting, but in the meantime here's a wonderful perspective by Hal over at the Great Separation.

Posted by authorjodi at 08:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Continue reading "Dr. Ken Hutcherson" »

Posted by authorjodi at 09:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Continue reading "Missed Appointments." »

Posted by authorjodi at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Continue reading "Missed Appointments." »

Posted by authorjodi at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I think I've mentioned before that my church is working its way through Exodus. Yesterday's sermon was on the last six of the Ten Commandments and I found it really good in terms of food for thought. Obviously I've heard sermons on the Commandments before, I also slugged my way through them a few times in Bible College...but I'd never heard anyone turn them around into positive action statements.

Continue reading "Protect Life." »

Posted by authorjodi at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In light of my entry a couple days ago about the God of the Old Testament vs. the God of the New, I submit to you this article. Tony Campolo's son Bart apparently wrote this in some sort of connection with Youth Specialties, the largest youth worker training organization in the country. YS has already pulled it from their website -- but luckily (or unluckily) for those of us who put our thoughts online, google had archived it already.

Continue reading "God of Love?" »

Posted by authorjodi at 05:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We watched the newest version of The Ten Commandments last night. It was pretty good actually, although I kept flashing back to how each part had been treated by the animated Prince of Egypt. I can't say whether I've ever seen the old Charleton Heston version, but if so I don't remember it.

I have to say, sometimes I wonder how the God of the Old Testament can be the same as the God of the New. All the bloodshed and wiping out of "every man, woman and child, and the animals." Most of what I've learned in my life is about the God of grace; the God who loved the world so much that He sent His only Son to die so that we'd be reconciled to Him.

I believe in this God -- in all His attributes -- but I certainly don't understand Him. I guess that's the point of Him being God and me being creation. If I wanted a god I could understand I'd worship one of the zillions of made-up gods who are more like humanity. Maybe the Greek gods who were arbitrary, jealous and vengeful. Or the better option -- I'm a god myself! Then everything I do will be right.

I tell you what, the religions where you get to make up your own rules are pretty attractive. Wrong, of course, but attractive. Not to pick on a bridegroom, but I heard an actor talking about his religion one time a couple years ago, and he said one of the important aspects of his spiritual journey was to try and discover his own universal truths. Pardon me for bringing a dictionary into a religious discussion, but I thought the point of universal truth was that it stands outside of any individual's personal interpretation or feeling...

Posted by authorjodi at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I’ve just had sort of a disturbing Bible Study and I want to share it with you in the hopes that some of you will use the comment section to tell me what you think. I mean it -- I’m really interested in other people’s opinion of what I have to say because I’m a little ambivalent about my conclusions.

Since I’m thinking about asking people around the country for their definitions of tolerance, I’ve been thinking maybe I should do a word study and see what the Bible has to say. I know, brainiac I am not. ;) This morning seemed like as good a time as any since it’s pouring down rain and I was snug as a bug with heater going and hot cup of coffee. And yes, I did finally get my stove going, so it was a nice HOT cup of coffee.

Ok, so I pulled out my NIV Exhaustive and found 8 references to tolerance/tolerate/tolerated. Five OT, three NT. If you want to read the references and some brief comments that brought me to my current line of thinking, click here.

Assuming you’ve now read or skimmed that page, I’ll get right down to it. Granted, there weren’t a lot of references, but there was more than one. And it seemed to me that only two of them were kind of positive -- first, God tolerating us as a kindness; second, the church at Ephesus not tolerating evil. The other six seem to me to be negative references along the line of something evil is happening, do something. Either God or King Xerxes or whomever shouldn’t stand for something that is going on.

For years I have complained about the way the common definition of tolerance has been perverted -- that it no longer means I disagree with you strongly but I will treat you with respect as I try my best to persuade you to my side. Now it means well done you, do whatever you feel like doing and far be it from me to say anything negative. And, in fact, why don’t you take my child and teach him about what you’re doing and that I’m an old fuddy-duddy stuck in the dark ages.

After this study I’m wondering if the definition even matters. Yes, it matters in the sense that we need to speak the same language to effectively communicate. But does it truly matter? If we’re not supposed to be tolerating evil and wicked men who lead God’s servants astray -- does it really matter what tolerate means? And if that’s true, what in the world does that mean for us who have to live as lights in this depraved society (which we are in no way innocent of helping to create)? I know it doesn’t mean we go around bashing people over the head because there are also a kazillion references to acting with love and kindness toward our neighbor… But what does it really mean?

Posted by authorjodi at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)