CHRISTIAN THERMODYNAMICS

I believe it was the ancient Christian leader St. Augustine who described evil as 'the absence of goodness.' That is to say, the less something is good and godly, the more it is evil and sinful. A person who focuses less and less on goodness will therefore become more and more evil and sinful.

What then is the best way to keep from falling into self-destructive behavior and habits that gradually drag our minds and actions into realms of darkness and selfishness and greed and self indulgence? The answer is to avoid the absence of goodness--which means that one will focus on being continually filled with goodness.

Can you imagine what a day would be like if we all focused on the godly, good things all day for one day, and looked at each person in as good a way as we possibly could?

I dare say that if we listen to music that promotes the goodness of God, and we watch movies that promote godly goodness, and we look at people and make ourselves think, 'regardless of how they act, they're created by God and God loves them and so do I,' etc. etc.--we'll be well on our way to being filled with such goodness that evil will naturally decrease because of our increase in God's goodness.

"God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." -- 1 John 1:5-7 (NRSV)

Telling a 6 yr. old about poverty

Our church participates in the national Christmas service project called "Operation Christmas Child" in which plastic shoeboxes are filled with presents for a boy or a girl who receive the box via Christian airmail.

Recently I was preparing to go shopping for the items to go in the shoebox we were going to donate, and was explaining to my shopping partner--my 6 year old son--why we were going to buy these gifts for a 6 year old boy in another country. "Well, a lot of other countries don't have the stores we have. Remember when I went to Haiti not long ago? Many of their villages don't have stores even as big as that gas station store over there." And then I tried to explain how some parents were only able to make 1/3 or 1/4 or 1/10 of the money I make, and so their children may only get 1/3 or 1/10 the number of presents he gets...including some that don't get any at all.

Then it hit me that this was a lot for a six year old to take in!
And THEN it hit me that it's a lot for the six year old to take in who doesn't get a present but knows that others do.

So, here's a little tidbit: If you ever have to explain poverty to a 6 year old, be sure to buy everything we've been putting off buying up until that point BEFORE giving the explanation. Because afterwards it's going to be pretty tough to justify a lot of those expenses! :)

Appalachia and you

I'm getting ready to go to Good Works, a ministry in Athens, Ohio to what would technically be called--for the most part--low income people in Appalachia. I was born in Appalachia, and lived the first 15 years of my life in Appalachia, so I suppose I should expect to see a lot of people I'm related to...

The funny thing is that while Appalachia has certain stereotypes--some of them good (beautiful scenery, hometown feel, wilderness) and some of them questionable (yes, I have all my teeth; no I'm not married to my sister; no, I don't drive a pickup truck)--the ministry to the poor of Appalachia is remarkably similar to the ministry to much of the rest of the nation.

Once I was on a trip from an "urban" region of Appalachia (relatively speaking) to a "rural" area of Appalachia (as in, yes some of the homes have dirt floors...really). Any outsider would say, "you idiots! There's no place to work here! There's no future life for your children! You're in poverty here...so MOVE!" Of course, there are some people in Appalachia who are making some very poor choices that are causing terrible poverty, and others who are enslaved in a system that brings about hunger. But, moving is probably not a necessary answer--and they know that, because they response to the idea usually goes something like this:

"My parents are here, my grandparents are here, my friends I've known for my whole life are here. My brother's buried over there in that cemetery. The owners of that store will let me pay for stuff a little late if I have to. The most beautiful sight in the world is on top of that ridge, at dawn, in winter with the snow in the valley. Five generations of us have survived here...and we will too."

In that they're saying, "I'm not going to play the game of life by the rules of what is deemed to be popular culture. There are things more important."

There's something noble about that.

"What I've Done" --Song i referenced 9/23

Was Jesus a pacifist?

(Just a quick post here on something I've been kicking around with a friend of mine.)

The most violent thing we have Jesus doing ON EARTH that I can think of is driving the corrupt merchants out of the temple. And in that act, he certainly was violent to an extent. On the other hand, nothing he did would have caused permanent physical damage...so it would be a long shot to try to use that to justify war or something.

I had a professor at Trevecca once say, "I'm pretty sure Jesus was a pacifist and that I should be too, but I'm not brave enough...at least not yet." (Henry Spaulding)

I resonate with that. On the one hand, I've let someone spit in my face before and others call me names without retaliating with violence...but try to hurt my kids or wife and I'll likely beat the crap out of you.

And yet, God says via the bible that vengeance is his--not ours to take. And He promises protection to those who love him. I'm not sure it's always literal, but what if it is? What if I'm afraid to be a pacifist because of things like the fear that if someone would break into my house and hurt my family I'd ideologically be obligated to not harm/kill them...when all along God may be saying, "Uh, pray about it, and I'll keep that from happening!"

I believe it was G.K. Chesterton who said that the tragedy in life was not that Christianity had been tried and found to be wanting, but that it had been left untried.

On a related note, my grandfather who still has shrapnel in his body and a missing finger from fighting in WWII (after being the kind of tough leader they make movies of) would you think be like, "Yeah, we whupped up in WWII and saved the day, just like we should today!" But he's exactly the opposite....totally against war whatsoever if it can in any possible way prevented.

Stanley Hauerwas says that Romans 13 was used by the Allies AND the Nazis (many of whom had Christian upbringings, remember, and considered themselves Christian) to kill each other; but had they used Romans 12 as their ideology they would have spent the years trying to overcome each other by doing good!

Anyway...thought I'd throw this on here and see if it brought out any wisdom from you all. Any pacifists out there who can explain how they deal with it?

Nathan

"On a Mission from God"--Good, or terrorizing?

On Sunday Sept. 2 I preached a sermon entitled "On a Mission From God," in which I declared that each person is created for the purpose of being a family member of God, and that since many people rebel against God our mission as Christians is (at least in part) to help those people to come back into God's family. This is especially seen when Jesus is ascending into heaven (Matthew 28), leaving us his disciples behind to be sent by the Holy Spirit to help people, and he says "Go make disciples of all nations..."! That makes total sense--go make little mini-Jesuses, because we're all supposed to be one big happy family with God as our heavenly Father.

So...every person is 'on a mission from God.'

But...who these days uses that language? Uhhh.....yeah.....guys who fly planes into buildings 'for Allah', or guys who car bomb other "Christians" in Ireland.....those kind of guys, right? Who wants to use THEIR language!?!?!

And that's where the Bible comes in. Right off the bat, in the first couple chapters in Genesis God has revealed to us that when He made humans he COMMANDED them to "Be fruitful and multiply." He commanded other things too...and continues to throughout the Bible...but that's the first one. Why would God say that? Presumably because he wants lots of people relating to him, relating to each other, kind of like one big incredible family. (My wife's pregnant with child #3, so we're doing our part!)

Now, in that immediate context it meant procreate...but since there was soon thereafter rebellion against God, and after that and until now there has always been a bent toward rebellion and against God in people, it now takes some conscious effort to be in God's family. A choice...a continual 'paying attention to and obeying' God. SO, THAT'S A PART OF OUR MISSION NOW AS WELL! Now we try to expand God's family by helping others to come in and choose to join in His family.

So, we have the command in Genesis 1:27ff to "be fruitful and multiply," initially meaning physically and spiritually both, then we have the command in Matthew 28 to "go and make disciples," meaning spiritually--which means we have a standard from which to measure behavior:

--Terrorist says God said to go fly a plane into a building and kill a bunch of people who do not directly threaten the terrorist. Did God really say that? Well, is that consistent with the revelation He gave us that he wants us to help others come into his family? NO. So, God did not really say that. No way. And it's not just 'my opinion versus their opinion,' that's 'my opinion which comes directly from a source outside of me that's thousands of years old and has been tested throughout those years to be true!'

Isn't that helpful? I think so. Now if someone says, "God told me to do....", you can measure that against the mission from God that we're all on: Is it consistent with God's desire that we increase his family? Does it help or hinder that? By answering those questions, we can at least see if it's likely or unlikely that God said what they said He did...which will help us all, because God's been misquoted quite a bit don't you think? (Have any good stories to share regarding that? Share away in the comments!)

Thanks,

Nathan

Jesus brings peace and division

Today I had to write a short devotion on Lk. 12:49-56, which is a part of the Bible that is assigned to this week in a church-calendar book many denominations use called the "Lectionary." Thought I'd share it here, since it addresses the fact that even as Christians, our lives are almost never completely 'peaceful'...even by definition!

"In Luke 2:14, within the Christmas story, we read that Jesus’ birth was bringing ‘peace on earth’…but then within the Lectionary passage for this week, Lk. 12:49-56, Jesus says, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but division!” Well…which is it?

Both. Jesus brings peace, unity, and division all at the same time. He gives the ‘peace that passes all understanding’ in terms of the ceasing of inner rebellion against God that makes our hearts restless until they rest in Jesus’ love. He gives unity among all true believers, that transcends personal preferences and personal ideologies to bind us together with his love. But, since our peace is then in Jesus rather than some other leader or nation or ideology, and our unity is with other believers in greater measure than with other people who do not believe, we are therefore by definition set at odds with some other leaders, family members, nations, religions, and ideologies…even before we interact with them directly at all!

Jesus was never hateful toward individuals, yet he was hated by some people who did not like his message. He spoke in support of natural families, but his call to follow him sacrificially meant that some people had to choose Him over their non-believing family if their family opposed Jesus. Likewise, we can expect both peace and disharmony, unity and division, to be a part of our Christian experience. It’s not easy, and definitely not always fun…but take heart. Christ has been there already, and will carry you through as you continually pray to Him!"