The church is a whore...

I recently read a quote from the early church father, St. Augustine. It goes like this;

"The church is a whore, but she is my mother."

This sentence really encapsulates my feelings and frustrations with what we call the church. The Bible says,

"You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. " (James 4:4, NASB95)^[1]

The Bible clearly teaches that the "church" is the bride of Christ, but James writes that those who are friends of the world are adulterers. This is serious! With that in mind, consider what the church you go to looks like. Does it look like the world? People judge churches by the standards of the world. It has a good building, good music, the teacher is entertaining, there's something for the kids, good audio/visual, it has a coffee shop, a book store, a Taco Bell, etc. How about how your church is run? Is the "Senior Pastor" a servant or more like a CEO? Are "Assistant Pastors" servants or more like Vice President of Children's Ministry, Vice President of Worship, etc? What are you encouraged to do at your church? Is the emphasis more about your relationship with the church than with God? When was the last time you were encouraged to read the Bible for yourself? I bet you've been encouraged to go to more church functions than to go and sit by yourself with Jesus.

You probably see where I'm going. Church is run like a business. There's marketing, promotion, and a sales pitch. Churches compete using these tactics to get our "business". The problem is church is not a business, it is an intimate family that we are a part of. All of this other stuff is nothing short of prostitution. We have subtly become whores to this world, but we call it progressive Christianity, we call it relative. It's wrong. Christ died for His bride and we sell ourselves for smoke and mirrors.

I love the church, but at the same time, I don't want to be part of it. We're going the wrong way and we must stop, now. The church is about Jesus, our individual relationships with Him and then our collective relationship with Him, thats it. When was the last time you were alone with Him? Don't forsake Him for the things of this world, even if they're called church.

^[1] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation: LaHabra, CA

Gossip

I was talking to my wife the other day about a person (a "believer") who was speaking ill about me to my friends, behind my back. My wife said the most profound thing to me concerning this, she said, "That's too bad he doesn't like you because he's going to have to spend eternity with you in heaven". What an amazing thought. What af resh perspective on gossip. Just thought I'd share.

Peace,

Harold

Smell of Death

(This post may be graphic)

This last Sunday, I had to work 17 hours in a beef slaughter house. Not only was I at a slaughter house, but I was working in the most disgusting area of it. We had to replace the augers in the "gut grinder". This tank is probably six feet deep, fifteen feet wide and forty feet long. All the parts that they don't use for human food go here i.e. the guts, heads, hooves and so on. All of these parts then get grinded down and sent into an oven and cooked and made into dog food and cosmetics. There were drums over flowing with parts of animals that I didn't recognize. And all of this at room temperature. It is by far the most putrid place I've ever been in my life. It took everything I had to not throw up from the initial smell of the place. The work was grueling and disgusting.

So, what does this have to do with spirituality?

Well, here's what;
After a little while I didn't even notice the smell. I got used to the sites and was actually able to grab, with gloves, this wretched stuff and move it as needed. It was late in the day when I had my revelation. I had to weld something on the backside of the auger, so we turned it and as it turned up came a cow head with it. I just kicked the cow head off and began to weld. Right then, I realized what a picture of the world this all was. When I first got there, it smelled of death, it look awful, unbearable. But, soon I got used to the smell. After that I was mingling with the death, actually touching it, I was comfortable there. It didn't even realize how disgusting I smelled until my wife didn't want to sleep with me after two showers.

The world is like this. It's made question how I've conformed to my surroundings. How the smells that used to bother me don't anymore. How I'm able to look at and be involved in things that were repulsive. When I began welding after moving the head, it burned guts and blood and this smell was a 100 times worse. It was the smell of the world burning, it was the smell of death. Oh how I've become like the world in different ways when I'm suppossed to be a fragrant offereing to the Lord. Please forgive me Father.

In what ways have you compromised?

PS I don't eat beef anymore.

Monday thru Sunday

I posted on our family blog that we want to start a Bible study in our home soon, but that I don’t really want it to be affiliated with our church or any church. I wanted to elaborate on that just a little.

I feel like the body of Christ has been condensed into what we see on Sundays. Sunday mornings have become our entire Christian reality. What I mean by this is that everything we call ministry is somehow connected to Sundays. We say we’re involved in serving the Lord or in ministry because we do something at church. That can be service to the Lord, but not always, but even more important, we can serve the Lord outside those parameters. I never hear anyone say, “I serve the Lord at work”. But we’re called to that and in my opinion it is more important and has far more reaching effects.

Next, what we call fellowship, “most of the time” is just hanging out with people we go to church with. Again, this may or may not be fellowship, but fellowship is not confined to those you attend church with. Is it possible for a Baptist and a Methodist to fellowship together? Of course, but it seems rare doesn’t it?

How about this one; having been involved in church leadership in the past, I’ve seen people who’ve felt genuinely called to start a Bible study or home group, only to be told by leaders, no. Now, in defense of that church or just about any other church that has done this (I’m sure it’s most) it’s their prerogative to say no and not have their name attached to someone else’s Bible study or event. But, the saddest part is 100% of the time the person who felt “called” did not end up having the Bible study. Why? Were they not really called? Probably some of them weren’t. But, the others set aside their convictions for one of two reasons (there may be more). 1. They cared about man’s opinion more than God’s or 2. They wanted recognition from the church for their “service”. Both those reasons are pretty sorry, but I’ve seen it first hand.

What I feel like is the real problem is our comprehension of the body of Christ. We all know that the body goes way beyond the group we meet with on Sunday morning. In fact part of that group isn’t even the body. So, we know it, yet we don’t live like it. Sundays have become our Christian bubble. Everything we know and do that is Christian is affiliated with Sunday. Is this making sense? Here’s another picture; churches always talk about how lame church hopping is. You need to stay in one place to really be a Christian and that place is here. How biblical is that really? Why would it be wrong for me to hang out with a different group of Christians every week, to hear a different guy teach the Bible? To me, that actually seems more biblical. Was Paul a church hopper or a missionary? Don’t get me wrong, there is amazing value in a core group of friends that are believers, but it’s okay if they don’t hang out between 10 and 12 on Sundays.

What I’m trying to say is that it all goes way beyond Sundays. It comes down to walking the Christian walk Monday through Friday (Weekends too). Sunday is meant to be an encouragement, a time to worship God with family, it’s not meant to be all of Christendom. It’s suppose to be a supplement for the rest of our week where real ministry should be taking place whether anyone else sees it or approves of it (except God, He sees everything and we want His approval).

All that from wanting to start a Bible study huh? Jesus ministered to all the misfits not the religious church-goers; I want that to be my ministry too. I covet you prayers.

Peace,


Harold

Giving-Part 2

Every time I've ever heard anyone teach on giving, this sentence or something similar is included;

"When you give, give to God, it's not our place to worry about how the money is used? Just let it go and trust that God's will will be done."

Ever heard anything like this? Maybe it's presented a little more eloquently, but that's the basic message. Now, I appreciate the heart who gives to God without wanting it back, that’s how we’re suppose to be. But, are we really suppose to be blind with our giving? Look, I may really appreciate a particular person as a Bible teacher and I may enjoy the fellowship of a certain gathering, but if what I give to the Lord only goes to pay for some guys’ house and car, what good is that? Now, you may be thinking, well, the Bible allows for that. Yes, it does, in Galatians, it says (paraphrase) share all good things with the one who teaches you the word. But, here’s my dilemma; what is the difference between Sunday morning and the home Bible study I go to? The guy who teaches the home study prepares just as much, the difference is he has a job that he works 50 hours a week at. The other difference is I tend to get more from the home study because it’s more intimate. But, I’ve never been concerned about giving and the teacher has never been concerned about receiving. The Bible teaches pastors receiving money as an exception, not a rule.

Now, I’ve also heard (a lot) the scripture in Malachi that says, “…bring the tithe into the storehouse” (tithing is a whole nother subject). I think it’s pretty absurd to assume that our “church” is the storehouse. Where does Jesus say to store up treasure? That’s right, in heaven. It seems to me that heaven is a more likely candidate for being the storehouse. With that, here’s my real point with this post; the New Testament talks about giving to the poor, widows, and orphans, not much else (those places you read of offerings for a particular church is for a poor persecuted one). If Jesus talked about storing up treasure in Heaven and then talks about giving to these groups, we have to ask if that’s what we’re giving to. I love to see churches involved in these areas, it let’s me know that they’re concerned with what Jesus is concerned with and I therefore can feel good giving there. But, those places that pay the pastors salary, pay rent, and put some in savings (if there is any), I don’t feel real comfortable giving there. You can get all that stuff at a home fellowship and still give to the poor. Is the pastor more important than the poor, not in my Bible? Now, if you go to a church like this, remember they are providing a service (i.e. childcare, donuts, and a place to meet) so don’t pull all your support. But, thoughtfully consider what your finances are being used for and if they’re not being stored in heaven, then you might want to consider reinvesting some or all of them elsewhere.

Tell me if I’m crazy or if this needs clarification.

Giving-Part 1

As I've been reevaluating so many things, I can't help but consider the topic of giving. I’ve decided to break the problems I see down into two sections. Now, this sounds like it is going to be a negative post because I used the word, “problem”, but I hope this will be an encouragement to give more and to give in a more godly way.

The first problem I see is writing checks. Sounds silly right? Not a big deal? Or maybe you don’t know where I’m going with this. But, consider how unbiblical writing a check at church is. Jesus said,

"“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. " (Matthew 6:1, NASB95)

"“But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. " (Matthew 6:3-4, NASB95)

I believe writing a check at church is practicing our righteousness before men. By doing this, we are not giving in secret. I’ve been the one to count the offering at two different churches in the past. By doing that for a couple of weeks, I was easily able to know who gave and who didn’t. This caused me on different occasions to think and act differently towards certain people (Nothing too serious).

Maybe you don’t think this way, but when I give in the form of a check, there’s something inside of me that is happy that there will be at least one person who knows that I give. I especially like this feeling when I’ve given larger sums of money. This is terribly ungodly!

Our justification for writing checks is the tax-write off. I’ve heard it argued that it would be unwise not to take advantage of this tax break. The problem with this thinking is that it’s worldly logic. If you’ve bought into this argument, think about the contrast, tax break vs. treasure in heaven. Besides, if you’re getting a tax break through the church, it means someone is keeping track (How else do we get the end of the year statement?). If someone’s keeping track, it means there’s a list of who gives and how much? Here’s the creepy question, who’s seen this list and how has it affected how you and others are treated? And what’s the benefit again, a tax break? Well rest assured, if you’re really into this tax deduction, you’re allowed up to $5000 in donations without receipts every year on your taxes, then only the IRS will know what you give and they don’t care anyway.

So, my point is, give cash as opposed to writing checks. This way only your Father will see and your reward will be great.

(New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation: LaHabra, CA)

The Word

We’ve been reading through Luke at night with Nate. I think Luke is probably my favorite of the Gospels. Anyway, I read these verses last night, and though they are familiar to me, I saw a detail I’ve never noticed before. I’ve been thinking about it ever since.
Here are the verses;
"Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”" (Luke 6:47-49, ESV)

These verses caused me to realize one fact and ask two questions.

Fact:
Hearing the word, reading the word, and even knowing the word does absolutely nothing for you. Doing the word is the only thing that counts, it’s foundational. I feel like all the emphasis in the world is placed on “getting into the word”, but not much on doing the word. I’ve been taught how much the word will “bless” me, but I feel a little short-changed because the application part of the word is what blesses. We can memorize a hundred verses, but they are powerless if we don’t act on them. To borrow from the idea that Jesus is conveying here, the word is basically just the blueprint, it’s not the product. If a builder has blueprints in his filing cabinet, they have potential, but they are currently only paper. Even if the builder looks at them all the time and gets together with other builders and talks about them, they are still virtually worthless, still just paper. The word is the same, it’s not magical, just because I read it, understand it, and even talk about it and say I believe it, it does nothing for me. It is only the act of applying it that has any true value. I know a lot about the word, but I apply little. It would be much better for me to know a little, but apply all that I know.

Question #1
If you know me, you know I’m analytical. I love words and meanings and dissecting them and discerning the real meaning. These verses were no exception. What struck me here was the realization that Jesus is saying that applying the word is the foundation. Sounds simple right, but my question is, if acting on the word is the foundation, then what is the rest of the structure look like? Because I’ve always thought the word was the foundation and acting on it was the building, I’ve never thought about this. But, what if there’s more? I guess for the past 10 years, I’ve always thought about Christianity as one big Bible study; just keep learning the Bible so I can look good. God knows I haven’t applied most of it. Because of this, maybe I’m not ready for the building, maybe I’m still working on the foundation, I’d be a lousy contractor. But, I can’t help but feel a little misled. All this time I thought the building was in progress and it looked pretty good, but I haven’t even started it. It’s like the story, “The Emperors New Clothes” (If you’ve never read it, do so, it’s short and probably online).
Anyway, I can’t help, but wonder what the building will be like once the foundation is laid. My conclusion is that we won’t see this building here, everything we do here is “foundation”. We’ll see the building or lack of building when we leave here.

Question #2
What is the real extent of the word? Let me explain this question a little. In John 1, we’re taught that Jesus is the Word. We’re also taught that He lives inside us when we accept Him? Yet, everything I’ve learned is based solely on the written word and not so much on the Living Word. I know Hebrews says “…the word is living and active…”, but I feel like there is more, I feel like the word says there is more. If Jesus lives in me, I want to hear from Him more. I don’t want to default to the written word all the time. I know that sounds extreme and perhaps it is, but I am not taking away the value of the word or its usefulness or its truthfulness or anything else, I just think that maybe there is more to Jesus (I know, I’m really exposing myself here, read my last post).
Consider the early church, they didn’t have Bibles, the New Testament, which is the basis of our faith, didn’t even exist. The printing press wouldn’t be invented until the 1400’s, so no one had Bibles at the house, Old or New Testament. What did those believers do? They were believers right? Of course, yet they didn’t have the written word to the degree that we have it. And I know that what we have is a privilege that comes with a great responsibility. But, those early Christians walked with God, more passionately than I, without the word. This makes me feel like I’m missing something even though I have the word. That’s why I again ask the question, what is the real extent of the word? Does it go beyond what is written (Obviously not contradicting what’s written)? Am I quenching the Spirit in my life?

Well, tell me what you think.

The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Standard Bible Society: Wheaton

Legalism?

Over the past several months, I’ve engaged in the same conversation with several people. The conversation has pertained to community within the church. Every person I have talked with has reverberated the same response, it is lacking. The common sentiment is that there is no community outside Sunday morning and even then, not much.

Let me elaborate;
We go to church; we hear a Bible study, sing some songs, shake some hands and go home. There is rarely depth in our conversations on Sunday’s and usually less throughout the week. My point is, we are all fallen, which means we are all struggling to walk this thing called the “Christian walk”. We are all totally messed up and we are most likely all lagging behind the pace Jesus wants us to run. The thing is this isn’t even the problem. The problem is we don’t talk about it. Why not? Isn’t it the greatest feeling when you make a friend whom you immediately feel open with, someone whom you can be totally honest with? I love friends like that! These friends can ask you how you’re doing and you can say without fear of reprisal or pseudo exhortation or rebuke, “I’m blowing it”. Isn’t that type of friendship where it’s at? I’ll assume you said yes, so answer this question; why do I only have 2 friends like this (and that may be more than you have)? Doesn’t that seem like a problem considering we’re all Christians, part of “the body”? Why is it like this?

Here’s what I think;
Somewhere along the line we’ve been convinced that if you’ve been a Christian for over two years, you should have it all pretty much together, especially if you “serve” in any sort of way. It’s like a chain reaction. We all shake hands on Sunday, each hurting inside yet smiling like we’ve got it all together. So, we each think the other person has it all together, that everyone else has it all together except for us. And because we don’t want to be the only one with “issues”, we pretend we don’t have any. So, this leads to isolation which is the opposite of fellowship, which is what church is suppose to be about.

Suggested solution:
Be real. What I mean by this is don’t wait for everyone else to open up first, they probably won’t. Just let everyone know you’re a basket case from the get go. I know this will isolate us from some, but who cares, we’re already isolated. This will in effect weed out the non-Christians or at least the immature ones. Didn’t Jesus say it was the sick that needed a physician not the well? Let everyone pretend like they’re well if they want to, the Pharisee’s pretended like they were well and I think Jesus had a couple of choice words for them. I don’t want to be on the receiving end of the same type of rebuke the Pharisee’s received, “Whitewashed tombs”. So, by just being real, it will provide real fellowship, which is what the real church is all about.

Disclaimer: If you think this is absurd, please read my first post.

Welcome

The purpose of this is to give you a glimpse into my thoughts. Quite often, my thoughts are random, abstract, inconclusive, and nonsensical. Every once in awhile I make sense. Over the past year or so, I've been on a sort of a radical spiritual journey. I've began questioning the way I and or we go about being Christians. I don't question the Bible or its absolute authority, but I do question tradition and man's input on the whole thing. So, basically, I question religion. Jesus seemed to be pretty down on religion Himself. He said in regard to the religion of the Pharisee's, "...you can't put new wine into old wineskins." The new wine will make the old skins burst, they can't contain the new.

My thoughts are that I have been trying to mix Jesus with religion, not a good mix I've determined. So, in this blog, I hope to finally put in writing what I've been thinking, little by little. If things don't make sense or seem wrong to you, they might be. This is not my statement of faith or anything else, just thoughts. I'd appreciate any and all dialogue on the subjects I address. Thanks for reading and thanks for praying.

Harold