Thursday, December 29, 2022

Hype, Hypocrisy, and Hysteria Hot Topics

I don't generally make a habit of listening to the news, unless something historically monumental is happening. Even with that, I can only stand so many hours of saturation. Sometimes events catch me by surprise, but usually I am better off for not being "in the know" about everything that MSM wants to throw at me.

One of the reasons I got off of Facebook this year also has to do with the negativity that seems to be rampant with everyone voicing their opinion about the economy, politics, racism, religion, gun control, abortion... ad nauseum. 

Not so long ago, yet another mass shooting hit the headlines. Don't get me wrong, I am 100% opposed to murder in any form, and mass shootings are particularly heinous in that usually innocents are the targeted victims, as compared to a premeditated, targeted murder victim. A common response when any kind of mass tragedy occurs is to see social media flooded with postings of prayers for the victims and their loved ones. Following that is the typical knee-jerk rant response, something along the lines of "F* your prayers! Stop Gun violence... Ban guns..." etc.

This post is not about gun control or gun violence per se, but more an effort to bring some perspective when it comes to the hype, hypocrisy, and hysteria that is promulgated by politicians and media regarding those hot topics. California's governor Gruesome Newsom has lately jumped on that hysteria bandwagon with his recently signed AB 1594, which allows the state, local governments and Californians to sue "irresponsible gunmakers" for the harm caused by their products. 

My question is this: Where do we draw the line? Take a look at these statistics on cause of deaths in the U.S. for the year 2020. (Most of this information was gathered from the CDC and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety websites.) 

Of the estimated 3,383,729 U.S. deaths in 2020...


Compare those numbers with Gun Related Death statistics:


(I have highlighted Homicides and Accidental as those seem to the ones that get most people up in arms.)

Here is the point I wish to make: The misuse of cars and the misuse of drugs kill around as many people as the misuse of guns. When are the politicians going to stop their hypocrisy? Why are they not signing bills allowing people to sue car manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, doctors, and liquor companies for all of the deaths that are caused by the products they manufacture or prescribe?

Wake up folks. Guns, drugs, and cars do not kill. Angry, sad, frustrated, vengeful people kill. If they don't have a gun, they will use whatever tool they can put their hands on: knives, baseball bats, machetes, battery acid... and yes, cars. 

What are we doing to fix the real problem?

Monday, November 21, 2022

Dear Pastor

Over 15 years ago I left church one Sunday morning, frustrated that another Scriptural teaching had been misrepresented from the pulpit. I will say right up front that I don't believe for a minute that a "deliberate lie" was being taught as "truth." I am sure that the speaker (not you, in that instance) was presenting the truth as they understood it. Nevertheless, I am going to use a broader brush as I paint the objection I want to raise today, and that is the Church has been distorting the teaching about the "Old Testament" and the "New Testament" for centuries which has led - not just in my opinion but the opinion of thousands of others - to a distorted view within the 21st century Christian Church in general about what God says in His word and how it applies to all of us as followers of Christ.


I walked out of church that morning, and I walked away from corporate fellowship for several years because I was frustrated and confused - I needed to do more reading and thinking for myself instead of accepting without question what was being taught each week from a pulpit. Eventually, I became involved in a home Bible fellowship with other believers who had come to the same theological fork in the road. Unfortunately, several years into that fellowship, I realized that there would always be a vocal few who had become so disenchanted with established religion that it seemed they mainly wanted to spend our time pointing out the errors in teaching and criticizing those believers who continued to remain in the traditional church, discounting the faith of many who were genuinely following Christ as best as they knew how.


That left me with a dilemma: 

  • Hebrews 10 clearly admonishes let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
    I want and need to be in fellowship. But, does it really matter that, occasionally, teachings from the pulpit misrepresent Scripture? Does it matter that those misrepresentations perpetuate minor errors in doctrine that have snowballed down through the centuries? 

  • Matthew writes: in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
    If I’m saying that some teaching misrepresents scripture, am I judging without examining the plank in my own eye? 

  • On the other hand, Peter wrote in his second letter: there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies. And Paul writes in Romans 13 to be subject to powers ordained by God.
    But who am I to say that what is being taught is false and destructive? Am I in doing so speaking against those in leadership (or authority?)

  • And Titus 10 warns against those who stir up division.
    Should I just shut up and live with what I see as errors, in order not to spread division?

It’s hard to discern the answer. To my way of thinking, if we are not faithful with the "small things" in doctrine and theology, where does that lead us as people who want to be, and claim to be, followers of Christ? That same Christ who claimed I am in the Father, and the Father (is) in Me. The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me... That same Christ who also said not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. And finally, the same Christ who said I am not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets... [and] not one dot of the Law would be done away with until Heaven and Earth are destroyed.


So what, you may ask, does that have to do with walking away from the church or disagreeing with what has been taught? What are my options when it comes to rightly dividing the Word of Truth? Not that I am overly concerned with what others think about me (because I hardly think "others" even give much thought to me in the first place,) but I don't want to be one who is constantly clanging a cymbal or sowing discord among the believers. Is it better that I just shut up and sit down, shut up and walk out, or take my questions to someone who will listen?


By now, I am sure you are scratching your head and ready to put down this letter, but I will try to get to the point of my frustration.


In the November 20, 2022 sermon about Church History, when explaining the difference between the "Old Covenant" and the "New Covenant", I had to question the validity of several points made. Was it simply a case of over-simplification in order to come up with concise bullet points for a visual? But these are the points that were represented:


Some of these are mostly true: 

  • Yes, the Old Testament was a foreshadowing of Messiah. But Christ himself said that he came to fulfill but not abolish God's commandments. Perhaps a better contrast would be "Foreshadowing > Made Flesh"

  • Yes, the tablets given to Moses were written on stone, but "external behavior" should be the outcome of a changed heart. Abraham's faith and obedience were counted to him as righteousness; are those not external behaviors? 

  • The “Law” is our Instruction on how to live our lives in accordance with God’s perfect wisdom, as evidence of our being a chosen and set-apart people. Many of His instructions are basic principles that can be applied even when the historical or cultural context no longer applies. Other instructions (like bacon and shrimp) we may not understand the why, but I think it's safe to say the we can (and should) trust God to know what we don't know. (Then you have the rabbis who added "guards" to God's Instructions down through the centuries which then ended up being given more importance than God's original instructions. This was actually a violation of the command to neither add to nor take away from the Instructions God gave. Nowhere does God tell us we can't eat a cheeseburger or have to use two sets of dishes for meat and dairy.) 

  • When Christ came, he lived a life demonstrating how those Instructions or principles were to apply in real life. He called out the rabbis for making their rules more important than God's instructions. When he ascended to heaven after his crucifixion, he gave the Holy Spirit to come alongside and guide us in being his “set-apart” people.

Confusing the issue, it was stated outright in the November 20 presentation that the Old Testament was for the nation of Israel, and that gentiles being included in the faith started in the book of Acts of the Apostles.

I don't believe I am veering too far off track when I question this. (I think what I actually said at the time was, "That's not true!")


Walter Kaiser Jr., President Emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, wrote Mission in the Old Testament to challenge the idea that mission [to gentiles] is a New Testament development... God promised to bless Abraham and bless all peoples through him. God’s promise of blessing, which also appears in the creation accounts of Genesis, is one of the key themes that make up His promise.

Kaiser's contention is that God didn't forget the rest of the world when He chose Abraham. Instead, God was choosing Israel to be His light and emissary to the rest of the world. 


Israel was set apart by God as a nation to emulate. Isaiah 42 says: I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the [nations.]  In Exodus, God says that He delivered Israel not only for their own benefit, but so that "the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD."


The Old Testament is full of examples of gentiles who were followers of the God of Israel: Melchizedek, Job, Jethro, Balaam, Rahab, and Ruth, and we are told in Exodus 12 that a mixed multitude left Egypt with the sons of Jacob. Further, in Exodus 12, Numbers 15, Leviticus 24 and elsewhere God states: "One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”


Under the Old Covenant, circumcision was the sign of that allowed a stranger dwelling among them to become as a native of the land. It was the physical symbol of God's covenant with Abraham which demonstrated that person had become set apart. Anyone who did not have the sign of the covenant became cut off and could not share in the land inheritance. It has been argued by many that circumcision is a covenant tied to the land of Israel. It is true that by the time of Christ and 1st century Judaism, the Messianic kingdom and land inheritance were tied together. 


It is also true that in the 1st century church, the apostles agreed that the minimum standard for gentile converts who were turning to YHVH was to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. (Acts 15:19-20) They were not expected to have all their religious training at the time of baptism. In other words, they were to turn from elements of pagan worship, then be baptized, and then spend time in the word to become familiar with how to live their lives set apart for God as a witness (or light) to others For Peter and James concluded at the Jerusalem Council in verse 21 that "Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath”, which implied that further instruction to the new converts was to be received in weekly teaching from Scriptures (which at that time was the "Old" Testament!) 


This is just one small point of doctrine that I want to address. My point being, these differences in how we understand or apply Scripture have led over the years to a theology that teaches "The Church" has replaced Israel, which is anti-Semitic in nature and ignores the fact that God repeatedly says throughout Scripture that He is not finished with Israel, that Christ came to call the Lost Sheep of Israel, and we are grafted in to Israel!


This is my concern: that by saying - or even implying - that the Old Testament was ‘for the Jews’ (which is exactly what many people in Christian churches today say and believe), we are saying that the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, the God who gave us the instructions for how we are to live our lives set apart for Him as a witness to the nations, just one day between Malachi and Matthew suddenly decided, ‘Oops, I changed my mind.’ Yes, that sounds like a ludicrous over-simplification, but isn't that the logical conclusion of that teaching?


I think we need to be very careful to rightly divide the Word of Truth, and not simply keep repeating doctrines of men that have been handed down through the years by those in the second and third centuries who sought to distance themselves from "the Jews" when the going got rough after the Bar Kokhba revolt.


But, my bottom line is still this: I don't want to be "that Christian" who is so convinced of his/her own interpretation of Scripture and constantly arguing and finding fault with others. I have walked the tightrope of following the teaching of others even when it didn't seem to line up with what I was reading for myself, and it took decades before I arrived at the place that I was able to give myself permission to disagree. Disagreeing doesn't mean hating, and it does not give me permission to sow discord, but it does mean that I am still left with a dilemma - how do I properly respond and react when I believe that the intent of Scripture is being misrepresented from a position of authority (i.e., the pulpit)?


I know this was not short, but I hope you were able to discern my point, and I trust that you will have some good insight. I very much appreciate you and the heart you have for our assembly and for our region. (And I would not have bothered to bring my concern to you if I felt you do not care about me and what I think.)


Thursday, September 8, 2022

God Save the King

It’s a sad day for the Anglophiles of the world today as we bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II and say “God Save the King” for King Charles III. Queen Elizabeth has been on the throne since I was 4 months of age, the longest lived and longest reigning monarch in British history. One statistic claims that 9/10 of the world’s population has never known any other British monarch but QEII. I think it's fitting that she died in Scotland, at her estate in Balmoral, her favorite place.


Interesting that the British rail union has called off its national strike out of respect for the Queen. Also interesting that the flags in the U.S. will also fly at half-mast and the House of Representatives have adjourned for the day in her honor. I’ll bet George Washington and Thomas Jefferson did not see that coming.

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Smoke Gets in Our Eyes

It is always the same, I wash my car and it rains.
I mention our cooler temps and clear skies and what do we have this week but triple digits and smoke.
Lucky for us, we are headed north for a few days, and hopefully that will translate to a brief respite from "Hot August Nights."

Thursday, August 11, 2022

44784 :: August Again

 It would be remiss of me not to take note of the fact that it is once again Summer in the NorthState - and we are blessedly in the midst of not just a "cooling trend", but enjoying smoke-free skies for the first summer in several years. 

Granted, not everyone located in the northstate shares that blessing with us as evidenced by the map on InciWeb:


...but I for one am not going to let the occasion of having a full week in the 90's pass by without giving thanks for the blessed reprieve of what I can only hope translates to a PG&E bill under $200. this month.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Misdsummer... or so

It's looking rather apocalyptic here in the NorthState as we are full into our second week of triple digits.


Of course, compared to Death Valley or Phoenix, we don't have much right to complain. But we do regardless, because we are accustomed to sitting in air-conditioned offices or homes, driving to air-conditioned stores or malls in air-conditioned cars.

I'm wondering a lot of things right now, things like: How on earth did our colonial or antebellum or pioneer forebears not perish of heat stroke in their multiple layers of cotton, linen, wool and tweed clothing which covered almost every square inch of their bodies? I throw on a sundress when it hits 85°F and sit in front of a fan with a thermal mug of ice water and complain of a headache.

What must life have been like for the women who had to cook and clean and do laundry 365 days a year no matter the temperature in homes that were not only poorly ventilated, but likely not insulated? I only do my minimal (by comparison) housework or chores before noon or until the interior temps hit 80°F - and forget about turning on the stove once it reaches 100°F outside! Salads or sandwiches - that's what's on the menu in the summertime chez moi.

Closer to home, how do the homeless in their tents pitched by the freeway get through the day when the temps are soaring? Ironically, a local cooling center was recently vandalized, resulting in one less location for homeless and others who need a free or low-cost way of escaping the heat to seek it elsewhere. Thankfully, there is always the local creek which flows through our large municipal park for those desperate enough to brave the specter of discarded needles or hepatitis and giardia. I am frequently amazed that there are not more people hanging out at the public library in our town. 

I know people are fervent on both sides of the "climate change" or "Global warming" debate and I am not here to cast my vote either yea or nay on the subject, except to say that I clearly recall a few days that reached 120°F in our little town within my tenure, which as of now covers 51 years. (Not to say that we won't reach that number again this year, but that is beside the point.) Full disclosure: The Internet (source of all wisdom) claims that our highest recorded temp was 117°F, which leads me to wonder where in town they placed their thermometer.

Basically, nothing new under the sun here, just musing about the heat since I must venture out shortly and I am really only stalling as I enjoy free-to-me a/c at the office and contemplating how much easier I have it than any number of people in many places around the globe. Or, just trying to put things in their proper perspective and remind myself how uncommonly privileged I really am.

Thursday, July 7, 2022

I Walk the Line

I have not read this book. I am not familiar with the author and, while I am tentatively in agreement with the message implied in the title, I am not in this commentary making a statement about the book itself.


I have however read a few statements in regard to the message it supposedly preaches, and that is what I am addressing.

One friend made this statement: "Love one another as I have loved you." Dear believing friends, I don't think we are doing so well... Our deeply held beliefs sometimes sound a lot like hatred, not love. We need to find a better way, or our witness is worthless.

That is a statement that speaks the truth!

A Christian pastor and author (John Pavlovitz) reviewing the book states (in part): Dear White Evangelicals, [we] see your hypocrisy, your inconsistency, your incredibly selective mercy, and your thinly veiled supremacy… They see that pigmentation and party are your sole deities. They see that you aren’t interested in perpetuating the love of God or emulating the heart of Jesus.. You’ve lost any semblance of Christlikeness.

And yet another commenter (Peter McDonald) on the above review: I’m so glad the author does not once call these people “Christians.” They are not. Obviously they haven’t read any of the 4 Gospels. If they had, they’d be preaching and acting on the central message Jesus brought: We are to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. That’s all. It’s very simple. They do just the opposite. They have no right to claim to be acting in Jesus’ name. They are not. They cannot call themselves “Christians.”

Here are two things that give me pause:

  •  Lumping "white Evangelicals" into one group as if our skin tone has everything to do with our faith walk. "Pigmentation and party are your sole deities" ???

He is using a pretty broad brush when he paints that picture. Let's be honest, Evangelicals are certainly not the only group that show their intolerance to those they disagree with. And people of color are certainly not exempt from hypocrisy and inconsistency.

  • The reply by McDonald - while I agree that "they will know we are Christians by our love", I am very hesitant to say that someone else isn't a Christian.

When someone uses the term "Evangelical", to me that is simply a euphemism for "Christian." It certainly is not referring to a Muslim, Hindu, or Jewish person.

YES... I recognize and agree that there are people whose faith walk is purely cultural and does not play out in the way they act or treat others. But am I the one to make that call? And if I do, where does that fall in between the two commands "Judge not, lest you be judged" and "Love one another"?

In Matthew 7, Jesus/Yeshua has a little bit to say about judging others: “Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you in the same way you judge others, and he will apply to you the same rules you apply to others. Why, then, do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the log in your own eye? How dare you say to your brother, ‘Please, let me take that speck out of your eye,’ when you have a log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.[1] However, The Bible’s command that we not judge others does not mean we cannot show discernment. When Jesus said not to judge others, He did not mean that no one can identify sin for what it is, based on God’s definition of sin.[2] In John 7, he goes on to give a direct command to judge: “Stop judging by external standards, and judge by true standards.” [3]

Later he goes on to say: “My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you.”[4]
And later still, it is taught: “…do not believe all who claim to have the Spirit, but test them to find out if the spirit they have comes from God. For many false prophets have gone out everywhere. This is how you will be able to know whether it is God's Spirit: anyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ came as a human being has the Spirit who comes from God. But anyone who denies this about Jesus does not have the Spirit from God.”
[5]

Elsewhere, the Apostle Paul comments: “the whole Law is summed up in one commandment: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself… what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants… what human nature does is quite plain. It shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions… People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups… [But] those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires.”

I have commented previously that there are a lot of people who self-identify as “Christian” who do not wear that label well. But it is one thing to recognize that a person’s actions speak louder than their words (or labels) and another thing to make a judgement call about their salvation. Bottom line: when we say someone is not a Christian, are we not saying they are not “saved”? That's what it sounds like to me..

In The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything, author Steven M.R. Covey makes the statement, “We judge others by their actions and ourselves by our intentions.”

I am guessing that until we start paying attention to the speck in our own eyes we will not portray to the world an accurate picture of what a Christ-follower should look like. Then, as my friend said, “Our witness is worthless.”

I will be putting the book Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith by Obery M. Hendricks Jr. on my TBR shelf and possibly comment later on my own reactions, but I also highly recommend the book The Unsaved Christian: Reaching CulturalChristianity with the Gospel by Dean Inserra.



[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207&version=GNT

[2] https://www.gotquestions.org/do-not-judge.html

[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+7&version=GNT

[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+15&version=GNT

[5] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John+4&version=GNT