Rated R Movies

I wrote the response below to an email by a new member of the on-line Wild at Heart yahoo group.


God exists in paradox. He is all the way East and all the way West all at once. There is no sin in Him yet He created a being that fell and authored sin. He is everywhere, all the time, and yet Adam and Eve are seemingly strolling alone in the Garden when tempted by Satan. There was a time when believing the earth wasn't the center of the universe meant the church had to torture you, now its ridiculous to believe otherwise.

We do need to cling to gospel truth in the face of any opposition but what I often see people cling to is their own interpretations of things. If we simply live in relationship with God and let Him reveal Himself we will find ourselves abiding in a state of dependency and wonder, where the supernatural is natural. If we insist on keeping God in a box that we can get our minds around we will limit our understanding of God and thereby limit our ability to transform into His image.

I know it pains many Christians to hear me say this but I'm more often offended by what I hear from the pulpit than what I hear in a rated R movie. We expect the movie to be tainted by Hollywood's infantile understanding of God, and it actually stands out when they get it right. We are not on guard in church, when the word from on high is pronounced upon us. In fact its not the least bit conducive to independent thought. We sit there as preachers slander God with wrong ideas about His wrath, and what it means to fear the Lord, or just their complete faith in sin avoidance strategies. Can there be anything more hypocritical than a passive, panti-waste behind a pulpit telling me to be a nice guy with one breath and with the next telling me how much God hates gays. It's no wonder gays think anyone who disapproves of their life-style is afraid he is one himself. But that's a topic for a different email.

I actually only disagree with maybe 1 in 10 services I attend and even as I sit there fuming about something I can't stand I know that someone in that audience is being mightily blessed because they are seeing something God has for them. My focus gets distracted and I'm not open to hearing God's blessing, because I've been distracted by the parts of it that offend me. If we are in tune with God, Christ filters our world and we can see anything and not be affected by it. The degree to which we get distracted by the thorns and don't see the rose is the degree to which we are looking through our own eyes and not God's.

In other words I do agree with the extra-biblical statement, "garbage in-garbage out," but I also believe in Christ's words, "it's not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out."

Present Future

This is a concept that took me ages to come to peace with. Now I'm a major proponent of the idea. Being present future focused doesn't mean the past doesn't exist. But frankly the past is of far less benefit to us than the present.

The best thing the past can do for us, whether our own personal history or that of entire cultures, is teach us lesson about the outcomes of certain actions or attitudes. That sounds pretty good, but the problem is that so many of those lessons are wrong. We often think we've learned from the past when we are actually drawing conclusions from our experience with the event at the time it happened. It's one thing to journal your life events and then examine them awhile later, put them in perspective, and draw a lesson from it. But what most of us do is leap to a conclusion about the outcome of our actions very quickly after implementing them. Which is essentially living in yesterday's present. We end up being guided by fear of repeating actions who's outcomes were painful even if those actions were ultimately beneficial.

The worst thing about holding onto the past is our tendency to compare today with the time when things were better. It's not a fair comparison, and it won't make you feel any better about today. If you were making different choices and life was better than yes you might glean something of value, but you could access the same information by prayer. Just ask God why you are unhappy and you'll get the right answer even if you never were happy.

As long as we remember that we can only predict 30% to 50% of the outcomes for our actions we are safe to look forward to the future with anticipation of something good happening.

The present is the only thing we can even hope to control. While control is a worthy goal its not good to really strive for. We never have full control and if we got it, we'd be miserable.

Most of us are pretty comfortable with the idea that we change our future by the decisions we make today. It's a bit harder to swallow the idea that we change our past with the decisions we make today. But I believe, with all my heart that it is true. If our today is an unconscious amalgam of yesterdays decisions we are doomed to repeat our actions even if we fear the results. If I'm right the decisions we make today can undo the results of yesterdays decisions on our soul and spirit, thereby wiping away most of the record of yesterdays decision.

Now if you've been eating unhealthy for a long time, eating healthy won't make you thin by the end of today, but if you're willing to make better choices each day you can eventually reverse most of the physical effects of your bad choices as well, yes. The same goes for injuries we've dealt to other people. Better choices today may eventually repair a relationship with someone. If it doesn't you will still be able to effect new friendships in the future. I know a lot of people who don't make new friends because past friendships didn't go well. Deciding who you are today, instead of unconsciously letting your past decide for you can change who you are.

Now one caveat: counseling will take you into the past, but you should be looking to reinterpret the past from an older, safer place. If its making you live from the past its not helping you.

Also: Deciding to take chances just because you are a new person isn't always wise. There's a difference between not living from your unprocessed past and deciding to forgo boundaries or contemplating your decisions.

Personal Space

I was ruminating this afternoon, on the topic of Personal Space. A friend and I were speaking the other day and he mentioned a verse in Psalms that directs believers to greet each other with holy kisses. He said, quite tongue in cheek, "I'm sorry but I'm not going to kiss anyone in my church but my wife and kids." I laughed because I had seen some of the people he went to church with.

At the same moment I realized that my pastor always ends his services by telling everyone, "there's an offering plate somewhere in the back if you feel like giving. Greet each other with holy kisses and hugs before you leave."

The connotation was so different I didn't recognize that it was the same verse being referenced. To be honest I didn't even know my pastor was quoting a scripture. That's got something to do with it. It's so natural when my pastor says it, but when you view it as an average evangelical American--like my friend and I were--it's a strange request.

Personal space, or proximics, is always a cultural thing. I'm told that the French regard the outside of your clothes as the boundary of your being, where Arabs and Asians view the outside of your body as public property and we Americans like a few feet of imaginary bubble around us.

If you haven't yet seen , "Whale Rider," its a great movie. There's a scene in it where two Maori men, a father and son, embrace and rub noses in greeting. The actors are Maori and I dare say American actors couldn't pull it off. It's too intimate without being romantic. Two big burly guys might hug and look fairly natural, but to take each others faces in their hands and pull there noses together?

Well it all got me thinking. I saw a news feature a few weeks ago about how swine flew was impacting churches. Several Portland area churches had stopped directing there members to shake hands. Some had gone to "air fives," and others to a ridiculous "fellowship elbow bump."

One must wonder if the God who restored sight to the blind and made the lame to walk, might also protect his followers from the flue if they were to embrace each other in accordance with a scriptural directive.

Just wondering. Either way, what does our proximics say about our Christian culture?

Way of the Warrior

This is going to be valuable research for my Thadi CAB project. I share it in advance that anyone who follows my non-fiction can experience the process for themselves.

The Beginning of Wisdom

The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.

What are we to do with that? I mean really. I spent much of my life terrified of an angry God, or rebelling against Him on the grounds that exercising my free choice meant loosing salvation.

I didn't make any headway in my faith walk until I began to accept that God loved me. That He viewed my darkest sins the way a father views a toddler learning how to walk. In fact the only blessing I've been able to impart to other Christians came from sharing this radical revelation with them.

So what am I to do with this troublesome verse about fearing God? Or any of the other verses about it? It's not like the theme only comes up once.

Well, God shared this much with me. While yet in sin, we desperately hunger for the presence of God in our lives while at the same time fearing the design God had in mind for us.

When we accept Christ into our hearts we instantly feel that missing piece of ourselves rejoined. Now of course that first love stage begins to fade, mainly because we try to earn what was freely given to us, or we make it about following biblical rules.

But regardless, the problem is fixed whether we choose to live from that reality or while away our time with guilt.We do forget about the second need though. We forget about that base fear of the design of God in ourselves. What we do is stop looking at God to see who He is, and start start accepting some biblical description that is
filtered through our own understanding.

Our perspective is flawed though. We come up with this view of God that is really an idealized version of ourselves, and since we don't like ourselves is it any wonder that we can't imagine God liking us? Plus, how could anyone who doesn't have the flaws I hate about me be cool with me--when I've still got the flaws?

In short, our opinion of God is poisoned by our self loathing and we won't conquer one problem until we deal with the other. We can't treat sinful low self esteem without also addressing our image of God and vise versa.

It only makes sense when you realize that we are made in God's image. How can we believe better things about God if we can't imagine a better us?

It's that wildness of God we fear. The piece that doesn't fit in the box we have for God. But try as we might God is wild and the closer we draw to Him the more obvious it becomes. We desperately crave to know God intimatelyand be known by God but if we only embrace a view of ourselves that involves our fallen nature we will continue
tell God who He can or can't be.

So the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of our embracing the wildness He intended for us. The first part of fearing God is letting Him be something beyond our own reason and being willing to accept that the perfection He conceived us in means we reflect that wildness.

Church: A noun thing.

Repost from http://yochananpayne.wordpress.com/


Church

Person, Place, or Thing.

This past week I had two separate conversations about this thing called church. One with a coworker here in Arizona. The other with a friend who lives in the Middle East. The conversation with my coworker was about church, him possibly attending and what church is. This coworker stated “There are so many ones to choose from and they’re all different, how can you know it’s the right one? That the one you attend is teaching the right thing?”
It got me thinking about the church I partner with as well as my co-worker and so many others. We are in a Western Culture with a Western Mindset, where the church is a place we go, place we spend an hour a week, a place where you just check your God box and then go about your business. For us in the West, the church has become a building, a denomination, ours verses yours. First Baptist, Presbyterian, Phoenix First Assembly, Healing Place, LifeChurch.TV, even NewSpring Church. Is that all church is? A Place?

In talking with my friend in the Middle East I got a different perspective. We discussed ‘church’ and in his perspective we are heroes. He was brought up where church isn’t a place but a thing. A place where church isn’t welcomed with opened arms. It’s not that they don’t congregate in one place, it’s that people in his country view church as a thing, a movement that sprouted from the West. Where its soul purpose is to dominate and reign. A movement that attempts to infiltrate government. A movement that attempts to cause division within families by setting one family member against another. It’s a mindset of church being a movement that causes so many to reject it’s principles. Personally, when I read scripture, and I read about what church is intended to be I don’t see it as a place, its not described that way, nor as a movement, its not described that way either.

I see church as a people. In fact when you see church in scripture, the Greek word used is Ecclesia, it simply means called out ones, not called into, not called for. But simply called out. See, the scriptures say the church is a people that sometimes congregate together for fellowship, to lift each other up as a community of believers, a people that can create change in government, in family, but not by their own movement, but by the spirit of God. To live as a fully devoted follower of Christ.

I submit to you that the church wasn’t created for us, but as followers of Jesus we are the church created for the world, not as a place, not as a thing, but as a people. A people that doesn’t seek their own agenda, but instead the agenda of God. His purpose, His will, His passion, His desire. I believe the church according to scripture is depicted as the bride of Christ.
Now if the church was simply a place then admittingly it would seem as if she were riddled with bipolar multiple personality disorder schizophrenia. Is that the bride that the very son of God is looking to wed?
Now if the church is simply a movement then would Jesus be wanting a bride that shifts her option at her whim, as she sees fit, no matter others perspective, feelings or thoughts. Would He want a runaway bride? Would you?

Now if the church were a people that came together with one mind, in one accord, fully devoted to Christ in passionate Love, with nothing around them but Him. A people that not only believed, but knew that He knows them intimately, all their past, all their present, their passion, their desire, their hopes and hurts. That He knows how many times they have fallen short and how many times He has forgiven them completely. A people set apart to be His Ecclesia, to be the bride of Christ.

So for me the church…. Person? Place? Thing?
YES! A people called out, set apart that at times come together in a place whether that place be called LifeChurch East Valley, Chase Field, or Phoenix International Raceway. A people called out, for a movement, not of their own design nor desire, but one initiated and motivated by God, for God, through God. To create the radiant Bride of Christ.
Person, Place, or Thing. Share your thoughts. You have mine.

Regarding Giving and Receiving

A friend asked me if the economy had impacted my giving, or if I felt there was a message from God in the current economy. This is a copy of my response.

I actually think our attitude towards giving and receiving needs a major overhaul. I'm not suggesting that we be ungrateful to God or that we don't get a blessing when we hear about the things God does for others, but I am suggesting that sometimes our surprise at God's generosity is bordering on offensive.

As Micheal Pink puts it:
When I tell my wife that I’m depositing funds into the household
account, she doesn’t hold her breath hoping against hope that I will
follow through, nor does she call all our friends with giddy excitement
when I follow through on my promise. She knows and trusts me. But with
God, we act surprised like we just won the lottery when He provides
abundantly for a pressing need, precisely because we don’t know Him
very well, nor do we fully trust Him. After all, His ways are higher
than our ways or some such excuse. Consider this…

I do agree that we must give more when things are bad. It's the old story about stone soup which I won't repeat because we've all heard it thousands of times. But the point is true enough and echoed in Christ's own words when he said, he would save his life shall loose it and he who would loose his life for my sake shall have eternal life. Christ also said that he came to give us abundant life, or life to the full. So I don't think that Christ is saying, martyr yourself and you'll gain heaven. I think He's saying the tighter you cling to the things you think you have the more it slips through your fingers, but the more you look to me and set aside worrying about the physical world around you the more abundance I'll heap on you.

We can always spare a dime no matter who we are, but some people have lots of money to give away. Others of us may have something else which God has blessed us to give away: love, understanding, companionship, trust, respect, encouragement, kindness, patience, or even humor. Whatever it is that God shines on you is yours to reflect into the world. If God has healed you of something, run out and lay hands on others. Not because you are surprised by the miracle, but because you will never run out of healing as long as you give it away. That's not how the world works, but its virtually a law with God. When he gives you money, give some away. When He is patient with you give that away too.

It's our unwillingness to give away what God blesses us with, especially concerning love and grace, which keeps the pews empty week after week. The world is dieing to get what we have and we have despised them for it.


A. R. Bunch