Does God Pay Fair? Pt. 1

Matthew 19:16 - 20:16 is a passage that most Christians have heard discussed several times in their lives, but I suspect that the chapter break effectively kept most of those discussions on separate Sundays or Wednesday evenings. Thanks to an early Sunday morning visit to the E.R. for my son, I had an opportunity to spend some time reading this passage afresh. The results may resonate with you, shock you, or go right over your head. I believe that they are accurate to the text, but feel free to discuss, dispute, or dissect (but not disrespect) my not so random thoughts.

I'm sure that the young man was sincere. There is no record that shows him as being a tool for either the Pharisees or the Sadducees. I think that, by this time, Jesus had developed a clear reputation for integrity, veracity, and wisdom in the affairs of life, and people sought Him out for answers as well as for miracles (see Luke 12:13, for example). His question reflected this unnamed man's respect for Jesus as a godly teacher: "(Good) Teacher, what good thing shall I to so that I might have eternal life?"

Jesus' initial reaction has been commented upon by scholars, pastors and teachers, and people who have written more books than I have, so I won't attempt a radical new insight here, except to point out one thing. I noticed that Jesus did not, in His answer, ridicule the man's query. Perhaps He did push the man a little further by the general nature of His answer. If the man had responded to "Keep the Comandments," with a smile and a nod of appreciation, then one could say that he merely wanted affirmation of his own goodness from the "Good Teacher" (according to the Byantine textual tradition).

He goes further, however, asking, "Which?" It seems rather curt, this one-word follow up. The great Alfred Edersheim, wrote in Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, that it was customary to use one word comments to women, but such a response would be deemed rude if directed towards a man. Jesus' response is also interesting, and almost as short: ""you shall not murder," "you shall not commit adultery," "you shall not steal," "you shall not falsely witness," "honor your father and your mother," and "you shall love yuour neighbor as yourself." The young man, apparently well raised, says that he has kept each of these since he was a young man, yet still feels insecure regarding his eternal destiny. Aside from the point, raised by others, that his question presumes that eternal life comes as a result of what you do, I am struck that Jesus said nothing about God in His answer. I would argue, though, that to claim this as an error of legalism by the young man might be reading information into the account that was not yet available to the young man. The cross was still in the future, the Gospel at that time was that Christ has come, not that we are saved by grace through faith, so the young man asked a reasonable question, considering the religous cultural background that both he and Jesus came from.

Jesus' reply interests me also: He doesn't mention loving God, worshipping God, or anything else that would be "God-related." It is easy to claim to love God, since, with few exceptions, God has never interrupted anyones testimony on that point to countradict it. Who could prove the man a liar if he had said that he had never worshipped any God but the LORD? We likewise have no way, in this New Covenant, of knowing who believes in Jesus Christ and who does not, so we hesitate to challange anyone who claims faith in Him, regardless of their behavior, except in the stricter Christian circles, who fall into the other extreme of looking for things which are done. Perhaps Jesus, therefore, felt no need to bring up the first three commandments, knowing that no one who failed to keep those would bother with the remaining seven.

Jesus' next words are the ones that have created the problem. Telling the man to sell his goods, giving them to the poor in order to have treasure in heaven, and then "Come, follow me," are not words that warm the hearts of your typical capitalist entrepenure. As a result, they have been muted or explained away. I think the fear of scaring away rich donors caused us to miss teh real point of Jesus' words. Being perfect can only come by following the One who is perfect. We have no other reference point than Jesus for perfection, for every other hero has a fatal flaw which keeps him from the ranks of the Divine. All of us have our moments, so none of us can confidently tell others to follow in our footsteps with complete assurance that we will never fail. Only "Jesus never fails," as an old Gospel song exclaims.

The young man's response, if we are honest, is not that much different from most of ours. As long as going to heaven can be achieved through our efforts, we can have some degree of confidence. "What one man can do, another can do," got Anthony Hopkins through a harrowing experience against a bear. If only getting into heaven only meant running a little bit faster than the guy next to you.

I have more to say, but I'll let you deal with this much of what will be a full plate. Better leaving you wanting more, than have you saying I did too much, right?

What is Love? - Thoughts as Valentine's Day approaches

“Love…a word that comes and goes…but few people really know what it means to really love somebody…” – Kirk Franklin, “Love”
“We are His hands, we are His feet. We are His people, children of the Lord…” – Whiteheart, “We are His Hands”

Both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant share a common desire, that we would love God and love one another. Whether you looked to the instructions of Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, or the descriptive passage in 1 Corinthians 13, one finds that loving God and loving one another are important in terms of living the life of a God-pleaser.

One of the biggest differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is the locus of control. Under the Old Covenant, the believer was given the Torah, what we call the Law, but really means “instruction” more than it means “legal code.” These instructions, if followed, were the key to pleasing God. Unfortunately, the Israelite believer had nothing within him that enabled him to keep the instructions other than his own self-will, which, at best, bore mixed results.

Now, under the New Covenant, we have been given, not merely a set of instructions, but power to please God because the Holy Spirit is within us. All we need to do is know how to access that power, right? If only it were that easy, then we could just buy another product from Evangelist ___, or Pastor ____, or maybe Prophet ____, and before you know it, you are the perfect Christian!

In fact, long before we finish that book, DVD, or tape, we find that love is still an elusive quality, sometimes hiding tantalizingly out of the reach of our heart, mind, and strength. Love cannot be captured by more education, more busy work, or more charitable giving. It only comes when you see the value in someone, whether it is God, or the person sitting besides you who is trying to see God while at Sunday worship or the Wednesday Night Bible Study. The only way to do that, though, is to see what God sees.

God the Father sees Jesus Christ as the Beloved Son, fully sharing the Father’s nature, heart, and will. So should we. He sees the rest of our family members, our co-workers and classmates, and the strangers who pass through our lives, as people for whom His Son died. So should we. These people are so valuable, that Christ gave up His heavenly glory and power, to become common, ordinary, and powerless. In His steps, and in the name of true love, we should give up our relative glory, our self-importance, our time, and our desire for preeminence, to help them find the Lord Jesus.

In the end, as Pastor Marvin Sapp sang, “Nothing else matters, than being with Jesus.” Whether it is “for me and my four,” or those strangers who make us nervous, proud, or frustrated, true love is never having to say that anyone passed through our lives without having experienced Christ’s love through us. This can only be said by those who seek, not by their own energy, but by trusting in Christ to supply what each encounter requires, to allow God to use them as a conduit of love, a channel of grace.

A new year, a new decade, and a new creation

As you may have noticed, we are in a new year, starting a new decade. If nothing else, time markers encourage us to take stock of ourselves. For this year, I hope to put my love of, and talent for, writing to good use.

Last year, I claimed the words of Phi 3:14 as my verse for the year. At this point, I do not know how well I submitted to that goal, but I do know that I am still here. Of course, part of my reason for being here, I believe, is to raise my son in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and prepare him for the work of ministry that is his destiny in Christ. Another part, I believe, is that I have more growing in grace to do.

This year, I want to submit to Phi 2:5-8. Paul joyfully described himself in every epistle as a slave of Jesus Christ. I want that same understanding, because I know that I will serve someone. I know that the Lord is a loving, wise, benevolent, and holy master, while Satan is hateful, foolish, wicked, and common. I must serve one of them, however, and I am aware of the end of the story. I want to win, I want to live, and I want to please God.

There are those who do not understand this, but believe that they are autonomous, and are choosing to indulge the flesh as they see fit. I have seen, however, that those who have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ are compelled to walk against His will. Inevitably, that leads to sin and death. I have never met a godly atheist or a holy hedonist.

As you enter this new year/decade, I hope that you will also consider yourself, and take a look at the road you are traveling along. Make sure that your path leads to life, and if not, God still allows for u-turns.

Grace2U!

Forgive and Forget

Someone said, "you can't go forward while looking backwards.” In his letter to the saints in Philippi, Paul, while acknowledging that he has not yet accomplished his goals in serving the Lord, he is not held back by past failures or even past successes. He only desires to move ahead confidently, deliberately, and consistently "towards the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (3:13-14).

We all have a past, with memories both good and bad. For many, the bad memories are easier to remember than are the good ones. For these people, past defeats hinder their ability to gain present and future victories. Others prefer to dwell on former conquests, while avoiding present spiritual conflict. These will go to church, listen to tapes, buy books, but they will not engage others in the work of ministry. In addition to these issues, there is the problem of others who cannot allow you to mature, to change. Whatever you were when they dealt with you, is, in their mind, what you are now, regardless of what your current circumstances are. Perhaps this makes things easier for them. By keeping you frozen in time, they do not have to take the time to get to know you, to listen to you, to look past your face to discern your heart.

This is frustrating, even disappointing. One can be tempted to turn aside from the pursuit of the things that lie ahead of you, wasting time attempting to convince detractors that you have outgrown their snapshot of you. While sometimes you can win that argument, it still takes time that would have been better spent enjoying how much you have grown. I recently ran into an acquaintance who accused me of a fault based upon previous experiences. Unfortunately, those experiences were nearly two decades old. For this person, I was still the 28 year old that perhaps would have been guilty of what she accused me. In fact, I was innocent of anything pertaining to the issue. It took me ten minutes even to attempt to make my case, so certain was she of my guilt.

Sometimes it seems easier to make new friends than it does to repair damages to old relationships. Could this lay behind many divorces and broken parent/child relationships? I believe that a good friend is hard to find, and should be nurtured and developed rather than discarded. Not every acquaintance qualifies for this degree of support, for not everyone who knows your name knows you. As a result, I understand that forgiveness is also precious; I cannot presume upon anyone's capacity to forgive. Forgiveness is an aspect of grace; I cannot withhold grace from others, nor can I presume that others will give it. I can, however, rejoice in the opportunities God grants me to allow Him to be gracious through me, and receive the grace that He sends at the point of my need.

If we are like trees, then forgiveness is like the water than allows us to grow to maturity and fruitfulness. I want you to be fruitful unto every good work; therefore, I need to keep a steady supply of water handy.

χάρις καὶ εἰρήνη

A new Civil War? The 2008 Presidential Election

Last night was the last debate between Sens. McCain and Obama. In my opinion, both candidates did well, and neither committed any blunder of such a significance as to torpedo his campaign. In less than a month, we will have our opportunity to bring this campaign to a conclusion.

I have recently had the opportunity to dialogue with other Christians about this campaign. As the only black member of an email group, I have become the de facto spokesperson for the Obama campaign since I informed my brothers and sisters that I was considering voting for Obama, in part, because of the historic nature of his campaign. To put it another way, I was not only voting for Obama the person, but also for what he represents, a milestone in the history of race relations in the United States.

In the months since my initial announcement, I have been bombarded with emails discussing Sen Obama's views on abortion and taxes, his connection to Rev Jeremiah Wright, a Black Liberation theologian, and anything else that they found offensive. After a while, I concluded that my fellowship with them was more important to me than my success in converting them to being supporters of the Obama candidacy (which I wasn't trying to do anyway).

The most recent exchange centered on allegations that supporters of the McCain/Palin campaign had called Obama a "traitor" and someone hollered "kill him!" Again, I did not say that anyone who did not support Obama was either a racist or had violent intentions against him, but I was accused of doing so, simply because I said that anyone who is opposed to Obama should express their opposition in the proper way, by voting, rather than by expressing it via death threats.

I am now on the verge of terminating my membership, or being cast out of it, because of this. I have known these people electronically for almost five years now. We have agreed and disagreed on countless subjects, but never has the level of discourse gotten so hostile as it has over this campaign.

What is it about this campaign that has brought out such hostilities between people on opposing sides? Especially, why has this campaign created such tension across racial lines between people who were able to be friends even though they disagreed on other issues based upon their cultural distinctions. I didn't start acting/posting as a black man with this presidential campaign, and it isn't the first time that we have disagreed over an issue that dealt with race. It is, however, the first time that I have felt that I could be parting company with people that I called my brothers in Christ.

I will be glad when November 4 gets here.

God is more than an Investment Option

I suppose that it is a sign that the "Prosperity Gospel" has made it to the big time. You know that you have arrived when you are the subject of a U.S. Senate investigation. Now we can watch Creflo Dollar on CSPAN II; who would have thought it?

Watching this development, I am saddened, although not surprised. On the one hand, you can only offer "overflow blessings" for so long before someone whose cup had yet to flow over would start grumbling about the lack of return. Once you start marketing God as just another investment strategy, you have to expect that some of the investors would become concerned when the promised returns did not arrive. No matter how good a salesman - er, preacher, you are, some folk just aren't going to believe that their lack of a financial windfall is due to the fact that they just didn't risk enough. Surely God would be a better investment than Microsoft, wouldn't He?

In all the sound and fury over this situation, I must admit that I am somewhat relieved. It is kind of like an adulterer who finally gets caught, or a junkie who gets busted while sucking the essence out of a crack pipe. The pain of discovery is mixed with the hope that maybe one can now move forward towards freedom from the chains that have led to the shameful predicament. While it hurts to see our theological "dirty laundry" being aired in such a fashion, potentially by people whose concern is less with maintaining the purity of the Church than with studying the money trail and how it can be diverted to Washington, D.C., this is a needed corrective, and "judgment begins at the house of God." Perhaps we can start looking at what we should be as the Church of Jesus Christ. What role does being a part of the Body of Christ play in our own lives, and what role does the Church play in our homes, neighborhoods, communities, etc?

I miss the days when belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ meant to me that I was part of something with cosmic significance, instead of just being another item on my family budget. It has been a long time since I felt like being a part of a local church pulled upon my talents, spiritual gifts, and self towards a purpose bigger than me. Even as I type this, however, I am struck that I have somehow allowed myself to become dull of hearing.

When I was younger, I felt, almost as if it were physical, that the Spirit of God was leading me in the path of His choosing. I may not have always did the churchy things right, but I knew that I was walking in the Spirit. Now, I know all the right things to say and right moves to make, but it sometimes feels like I'm just functioning by rote, rather than by His Spirit.

This crisis came to a head recently, leading me to to an old book by Andrew Murray. Entitled, "The Deeper Christian Life," it offered no "three steps to divine favor," or any other cliche-based mantra such as might have come from the recent NYT bestsellers list. Murray simply, but profoundly reminded me that the source of my strength was not a preacher, a message series, or a giving program, but in my willingness to sit in the presence of God, maintaining a real relationship with the Author and Finisher of my faith. Murray wrote it in 1895, and it is now in public domain.

Whatever Sen Grassley turns up, I hope that you will allow the Holy Spirit to turn up your passion to live in the presence of God, being a branch in the True Vine, Jesus, and living in the power of His resurrection.

Reflections on the Homegoing of Bishop G.E. Patterson

Watching the Homegoing Service of the late Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ, G.E. Patterson, I am impressed with the sense that this was a man who truly served the Lord. For him, the office was simply another platform from which to serve Him. As such, he will be missed, not only by the members of Temple of Deliverance or of the C.O.G.I.C., but of the Church of Jesus Christ around the world.

Many world renowned people attended this service, including President William J. Clinton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Mr. Julian Bond. More importantly, people who might only be known by their neighbors came to show their love and fellowship. Usually we must choose between "rejoic[ing] with those who rejoice, [or] weep[ing] with those who weep. At this service, it was possible, even encouraged, to do both. It reflects on the type of ministry Bishop Patterson had, and the kind of seed he planted.

Having spent much of my adult life in COGIC, I saw, in that service, a lot of what is good about the "Grand Old Church." That joyfulness, even in the midst of struggle, is what I miss of the church, and I hope that I can take it with me wherever the Lord takes me.

When I pass away, I hope that people will be glad, not that I'm gone, but that I've gone home to be with Jesus.

God bless you all.

Christmas just ain't Christmas without...

Actually, this isn't about Christmas, but I was just thinking about that old O'Jays song. Gerald Levert just passed away a few weeks ago; Eddie Levert of the O'Jays is his father. Gerald was starting to sing Gospel songs and recently appeared on Bobby Jones' Gospel. I'm sure that his eulogy had him in the presence of the Lord (I'm not being sarcastic).

When I was younger, I was certain about what was Christian, and what was not. As I've grown older, my walls have gotten lower. I have become more accepting. Still, there are some things that I am not cool with.

I still think that being a Christian should at least make you want to have a relationship with a bible that consists of more than a weekly visit over the pastor's text. I still believe that holiness is the goal, and that while we may stumble, we do not fall. I still believe that Jesus is THE WAY, not one of many. I still believe that to "do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with my God" are the marks of someone who has been born again.

I now accept the possibility that there are people who vote D and love Jesus (not that I was a Republican per se), I think that Barack is entitled to a God speed, and so is Sam. I'm still not sure about Sean Hannity though; maybe he needs to go back to the altar....

Must Christians always sound like we need Jesus when we get on TV? I would like to see a Christian other than Joel Osteen smile while on TV. Heaven is a nice place to go to; we ought to look like we are on the way, you know, joyful? Sean always looks like he just found out that he is got a first class ticket to hell. Come to think of it, so does Michelle, and the Sean's blond buddy, Ann Coulter. The only time they look happy is if they have a liberal in their crosshairs.

Now Allan Combs, he looks like a happy man;I might have to start wearing more blue.

For all you college students out there, after you have finished your finals, relax and get ready for next month.

Have a blessed Christmas!

When I think of home...

The significance of home is that it is the place where we feel safe. When we come home, we have expectations; expectations of love, of acceptance, of support. As I meditate upon the fact that Jesus experienced the sting of rejection at home, I am not trying to see what it means for me, for that seems selfish. Why does everything have to mean something for me? Does that mean that if I find no self meaning, then the Word has no value? Can’t the word be valuable for itself, regardless of what benefit that I may take from it?

When we approach the Bible looking for a self-application, are we not saying, with the citizens of Nazareth, “the things which we heard…do also here”? Is that not just another form of treating God like a Cosmic Slave? What gave us the idea that the only reason the Word of God exists is for our self improvement, and if a particular passage does not lead to that result, we may discard its relevance to us?

I awoke this morning with the rejection by Jesus in His home-town on my mind. I did not know why, and at first, I thought that it was significant that it was not mentioned in John’s Gospel. Then I read John 1:11, and wondered if this could not be a reference by John to this same event? For was not Nazareth especially “His own home”? The people of Nazareth emphatically “received Him not.” I then thought about the feeding of the five thousand, and of the fact that this is acknowledged to be found in all of the Gospels. Other than the crucifixion itself, this is the only incident that is mentioned in all four Gospels, according to everyone that I have ever read. Yet I wonder if in a certain discrete way, Jesus’ rejection in Nazareth is not being referred to in John 1:11?

At the same time, it is natural to look at something in the Bible and think, “How do I apply this to myself.” Like the people who came to Jesus during His earthly ministry, we come out of our own sense of need. Otherwise, sometimes we don’t bother to come. Often it seems like the bible conferences that we go to seem to feed upon this tendency. I listened to a woman talk about her experience at Megafest last year basically as a communal self-release. she did not say that the conference motivated her to "take up her cross and follow...."

Some might think that I'm being perhaps too harsh. If so, I'm not trying to be, except perhaps upon myself. When I started this blog, we were running a ministry that was intended to be an evangelistic ministry to people who had not heard of Christ. That ministry folded, and we now feel purposeless, other than what we are doing for our family. That is fine for some, but Theresa and I really want to do more. Right now, though, when I ask for direction, I can't hear a thing.

Perhaps someone who stops by and reads this might have a suggestoin, a testimony, or a word of encouragement. Any or all of the above would be greatly appreciated!

When did Religious Studies morphe into Irreligious Studies? I am studying at a CA state run university, and I have heard as much teaching which denigrates Christianity as supports it. I guess I really was out of the loop in my comfy little church-world, where everybody believes in the Bible.

The class atmosphere is interesting, and sometimes I even get to comment at a little length. I look forward to completing the degree (Religious Studies), and I hope to ultimately land a teaching post at the university. In the meantime, I wonder, do I uphold what I believe, or do I give the teacher what he wants?

What would you do?

Back to Basics...

Christmas Day has past, and the Sunday routines have died down. I ended the day by watching "Bruce Almighty," a very thought provoking movie discuised as a typical Jim Carrey comedy. I went to sleep shortly after it ended, and I awoke about five hours later, thinking about the question, "What does it mean to truly serve God?"

I'm a Pentecostal by revelation and choice. I have dialogued recently with a devout Roman Catholic, but just couldn't get myself to view Church history, culture, and function the way that he does. If I could believe that the Christian movement started out the way he believes, I would be the first to go grab a rosary and get to doing it. I would walk away from my Pentecostal churchin' Gospel music lovin' lifestyle, and learn Latin.

I just can't picture Paul in a cassock, or Peter with scarlet or purple. I find it difficult to see 1st century Jews who believed that the messiah had come as incipient Roman Catholics. Perhaps it's a cultural thingfor me, or perhaps I can't fit what I read in the Book of Acts with what I read later on in the writings of the Latin church leaders.

The important thing is, I want to serve God, and I want to do it well. I don't feel this way because of fear, but because I am so grateful for all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done for me, and, through the Holy Spirit, is doing in me and will continue to do with me until the Day. I want to serve God because salvation is such a glorious gift, and I want to have a walk worthy of Him who called me. My problem is, with so many people saying that theirs is the way, how am I to know-I mean, really know, how to please God.

I welcome any ideas that anyone else has out there, regardless of your theological persuasion. I'd just like to hear/read what you think about this.

Is this a Cain moment?

Well, we are coming into the third of the big holidays of the last quarter. Hallowe'en was interesting this year, since Delwyn 2 has figured out that Hallowe'en is a synonym for "free candy!!!" Thanksgiving was the setting for some major drama in the family(which I'm not yet sure how to share), but D2 did not quite understand why McDonalds should be closed before the sun went down just because momma cooked a bunch of food.

Now Christmas approaches. Everyone in the house knows that presents come with the day, from the youngest Delwyn to the oldest one. Since it also happens to be me and Theresa's 9th anniversary, we were hoping to head somewhere for a nice dinner. If I would have known the impact, I definitely would have picked a different day for a wedding.

I know that Christmas is supposed to be all about Jesus, so I'm trying to put the day in a broader perspective. Perhaps the fact that this year December 25 is on a Sunday will help. We recently closed our Bible Cafe, after spending a month fighting with the neighboring businesses and complaining about lack of support from the property manager. To be honest, Theresa and I are kind of bummed out about that, but she is more bummed because she feeels like God had rejected her desire to serve Him through the ministry.

Have any of you ever felt like that, I mean, like your offering was rejected and you weren't quite sure why? As I type this, I find myself thinking about Cain and his reaction to God's response to his offering as compared to his brother, Abel. Not that I'm looking to take anyone out, but I wonder, what was it that drew Cain down the path that lead to his moment of notoriety? Was it possibly frusttration over having his best be rejected? The text doesn't go into that isssue, but right about now, I think that I can kind of relate to Cain, after all, I gave my best at the Cafe, but now we're closed, and we're wondering "what comes now?"

How much do you need?

Tonight I asked the young ladies in attendance at our Bible Cafe what would it take for life to go smooth. Bearing in mind that most of them were young teens, the first thing they said was, of course, "money." My daughter estimated that about 1 billion trillion would do the trick. This could create a bit of a problem, for the total U.S. budget for 2005 is 2.4 trillion, so either the U.S. Mint had better get to printing, or someone is guaranteed to have an unhappy life.

After that chuckle moment, we talked about other things that people think will bring satisfaction; relationships, public acclaim, fame, whatever. I then told them that whatever it was, was God to them, to which most of us "spiritually mature " folk would say, "duh!"

But then I got to thinking, am I selling God short if my strongest bit of good news is that the Creator is better at bringing satisfaction than the Creation? I mean, is that really all that God is good for? I can't believe that the "Herbrews 11 Heroes" did it because "Jesus was the best thing that ever happened to [them]; sorry Clark Sisters!

The Kingdom of God is more than meat and drink, Paul wrote. I'm pretty sure that it's more than personal fulfillment and having "your best life now." In consumer-driven America of the 21st Century, the Church often seems to be offering little more than a better way to get ahold of the temporal things that we will end up losing anyway, according to the common experience of those who die. AS the old saying goes, "you can't take it with you," so why are so many Christian books, tapes, and DVD's offering the very thing that Jesus said would only come to those who let those things go?!!

I caught myself just in time, and directed the girls to look at Christianity, not as the best way to get personal fulfillment, but as the world-view that best fit with reality, if we were honest about it. But how do I know? I haven't exactly test driven all of the alternatives, like Buddhism, Islam, or even a robust Atheism.

Then I remembered the way my life was before I met Christ, it ran kind of like a four cylinder motor on three cylinders, not totally off, but really working hard. Now, while the road might be rough sometimes, I know that I have enough power under the hood to handle the course.

That is what I want my daughter, her friends, and anyone else who graces the NU View Cafe to know-not that God is the best way to have your best life now, at least not as most Americans would picture it. Rather, the Lord Jesus Christ really is the One in whom all things are held together (Col 1:17).

What is Truth?

I stand at a moment of a major shift in Western Christianity, and after reading the various thoughts and absorbing the zest or anguish coming from the various writers, I find myself wondering a few things.

For starters, are the Dalits in India Modernists or Postmoderns? What about the Christians in the Middle East?

My hunch is that our relative lack of persecution here in America gives us the liberty to argue about postmodernism, etc, while in places under persecution, they are so busy trying to be faithful to Jesus Christ, that they are not interested in Neo, McClaren, or emerging from anything but the Kingdom of Darkness, and for them, the darkness is not metaphorical, and it is not objective truth.

I understand that there are some who have become disillusioned with the seeming distance between the Bible and Reality as they were taught in their secular humanistic high schools. I don't think that the Persecuted Church is wrestling with those demons.

So, as I stand on the precipice, I find myself asking Pilate's question, "what is truth?"

The first shot...

Grace2U, much Peace:

I am Panoplia Soljah-sitting on the Western Front (southern CA). There is a lot to say about life here; it's laid-back, weather's nice, everybody's mellow.

Behind the scenes, though, I think that we are living in a time when people are so much lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God that taking up the cross is the last thing many of us saved, sanctified, and Holy Ghost filled folk are thinking of doing. When I go to worship, sometimes I can't tell the difference between Sunday morning, and the Saturday nights that I used to dedicate to "the world, the flesh, and the devil."

What can we do, what are we doing, either to change the situation, or to help it spread?

Are you part of the solution, or the problem? Are you a Soljah, or sitting on the sidelines?