Holy Indignation

Ezekiel 9:4-6

(4) And the LORD said to him, "Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it."

(5) And to the others he said in my hearing, "Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity.

(6) Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were before the house.

This continues Ezekiel's vision. He saw that the Lord wanted this man clothed in linen to put a mark on those who were upset by what they saw in Jerusalem. This reminds me of what Peter had to say about Lot and his reaction to Sodom:

2 Peter 2:7-8

(7) and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked

(8) (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);

It seems that there is something to be said for being upset by what we see around us. However, I also think that there is a danger in this. It is popular, particularly in more fundamentalist circles, to build a bunker against the world. Yes, the world is filled with wickedness. We even have whole Christian denominations calling evil good. The homosexual lobby practically has a whole broadcasting network dedicated to their cause. Our churches are filled with gossip and slander.

Yes, there is much to get upset about. However, unless that indignation comes from the right place we are nothing more than Pharisees. Are we upset because we want to feel good about not doing what we see others doing? Or are we upset because we realize how much sin grieves God?

More importantly, are we starting with the mirror? Are we mostly concerned with dealing with our own sin. I know how easily my heart is led to seeing things I shouldn't. I know how easily my stomach is led to eating when I don't really need the fuel. I know how easily my mouth can go to gossip and slander. I know how easily I move to laziness when I should be working to earn the salary I am paid each month.

Yes, let us groan about the abominations before us, but let us start with those we see in our own lives, amen?

TV Theology

We made it safely to my mom's house in Cleveland yesterday. The trip was good and we had a fine evening. Then at 8:00 it was time for my mom to put on the Hallmark channel. We were subjected to back-to-back episodes of Touched by an Angel.

I have written a few times about how I want to get some of that old zeal back. Watching this show helps. To hear an angel tell someone about God's love but never tell them about Jesus just drives me up a wall. Plus, the angel is offering the person wholeness through a cathartic experience rather than from casting her life at the foot of the cross.

As I think about it, I wonder if perhaps obviously secular shows like Friends or even something like Nip/Tuck do less damage to the cause of Christ than saccharine shows with wrong theology like Touched by an Angel. I applaud the idea of putting God on TV, but doing it in a way that leads people down the road of self-actualization rather than repentance and belief is terrible.

Watch for Subtlety

Isaiah 36:7
(7) But if you say to me, "We trust in the LORD our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar"?

You've got to be careful when reading dialog in the Bible. After all, not everything everyone says is true. Take this for example. The Rabshakeh tells the people that Hezekiah took down the high places of the Lord. Of course, those weren't the way He designed worship. Hezekiah was right to tell people that worship had to be at the temple.

This also warns us not to believe everything we hear or read. This is especially true with the internet. There is a ton of junk out there. We need to be discerning in what we take in. Are we reading opinions or facts? How are we forming our worldview as a result of what we are taking in?

I think most people like to think that the Bible is their guide. Can you honestly say that? Can I honestly say that? Do I know what it says enough to filter the world through it? Am I committed enough to it that I will let it change my worldview? I fear that I am becoming somewhat cemented. In many cases, that is a good thing. However, I also know that there must be some areas where God wants to change me. Am I teachable?

I realize that I've used this text as a springboard and gone off on it. However, I do think that these are some things to consider.

Stay Firm

Isaiah 7:9
(9) And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.'"

By the time of Jesus the spiritual landscape of Samaria had completely changed. Why? They were overrun and did not remain firm in the faith. Judah wasn't a whole lot better, but at least they kept the embers going.

I think this is a timely lesson for us today. Our nation was founded on the idea that religious pluralism is a good thing. I agree that everyone has the right to worship whoever or however they please, provided that they aren't endangering anyone. Yet if we do not remain firm in our faith we are going to become indistinguishable from the culture. We are going to be just as materialistic as the rest of the culture. Or perhaps we will become so universalist in our thinking that we stop evangelizing.

Either way, I think that this is a timely reminder for the 21st century Christian. Let's stand firm.

Dealing with Idols

Jeremiah 10:2-8
(2) Thus says the LORD: "Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them,
(3) for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
(4) They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.
(5) Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good."
(6) There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.
(7) Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.
(8) They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood!

It's easy to skip past this, isn't it? After all, few Americans have actual idols in the house. Yet our lives are marked by idolatry. We have made an idol out of sex. We certainly have out of money. Power and prestige are idols to many. And so on. It's not hard to come up with a long list.

As Christians we are going to face pressure from these idols. It is easy to start thinking of sex as the world does. It is easy to think of money as the world does too. The current economic downturn affects my 401(k) and my daughter's 529 just like it does for the unbeliever. However, in the end I must not be too swayed by this. I must trust in the Lord whose name is great in might. He is my rock. He sustains me. He gets me through all of this. He will keep me walking in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Let's never forget that as we feel the pressure from the idols around us.

Grand Theft Auto

I have described Grand Theft Auto III as the best and the worst game I have ever played. I got through the first section of the game and realized that I just couldn't go on. However, I was thoroughly impressed with the "sandbox" world where you could do pretty much whatever you wanted. Want to do the missions? Then do the missions. Want to go on a rampage and just kill people? Then do that. Want to steal fancy cars and do crazy jumping stunts? You can do that too. What really impressed me was how you could get health back by picking up a prostitute, parking in a back alley, and then having sex. What impressed me further was that you could get your money back by then killing her and retrieving it.

Al Molher made a great post today about GTA IV. This quote from one of the game designers is fantastic:

"If you let your child play this game, you're a bad parent."

I don't think a lot of Christian parents really understand what happens in this game. Unfortunately, some probably do and just don't care.

Where We're Coming From

I am trying to decide if I'm going to go and see "Expelled." I am intrigued by it, but I think it can wait until it hits Netflix. After watching this interview with RC Sproul I think I get the basic gist of what the movie is all about.

Check out this post from a blog that I am warming to. I think he makes a good point.

Why Emerging Matters

I'm listening to an old podcast of a lecture on the so-called "New Perspective on Paul". Basically, it examines the claims of this new perspective and explains the merits and problems with it. I won't get into the details, but suffice it to say that I'm convinced that the traditional reading of Paul is just fine.

This lecture was delivered at a conference at Mars Hill church in Seattle, which is pastored by Mark Driscoll. Driscoll takes heat from both sides of the emergent aisle because he is thoroughly reformed in his theology and takes stands for biblical truth, but he also is known as the "cussing pastor" who is not afraid to talk about drinking beer. The more I read about Driscoll the more I like him. I'm looking forward to listening to an interview with him here.

There was a great quote in the Q & A at the end of this lecture. Someone was asking about the whole emergent thing. The distinction is that Mars Hill tries to be "Emerging" while not giving in to being "Emergent". The difference is that emergent is more postmodern and is much softer when it comes to truth. It is much more tolerant of other faiths and it seems like it won't try to shove gospel down people's throats. Emerging, on the other hand, refers to being willing to get into the culture in order to share the gospel. The point was that we have no problem understanding that we need to learn Italian if we're going to be missionaries in Italy. Shouldn't we understand something about American culture if we're going to be missionaries in our own country? The quote was that if we fail to do this "we are just Amish in regular clothes". That's not how I want to be.

This thinking has really shaped me over the last 18 months or so. I think that it has made me much more gracious in my speech with people who disagree with me. However, it does set up a constant internal struggle. I used to just wave the sword of the Word of God around with great confidence that it would cut where it needed to. I basically lived a paraphrase of the Marine Corps motto of "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out". Now, however, I'm learning to be a bit softer in my orthodoxy. I still have opinions on most matters of Systematic Theology (though I haven't decided about eschatology). The difference is that I'm not quite as eager to go to the mat over the fight anymore. This is also why I don't get so worked up when I hear that the church is trying to use a movie like "Evan Almighty" to reach people. Do I think it's ideal? No. I think we need to exercise great care whenever we interact with the culture.

I understand that some missions organizations will come behind other organizations to "clean up" the theological errors of the previous ones. I learned that there are some Pentecostal organizations who work overseas not to convert new believers, but to convert the already new believers into Pentecostals. As much as I disagree with the Methodists I don't think I'd try to do that. If I planted a church where they had already sown I suppose that would be the end result since my preaching would be Reformed, but my goal would not to be primarily to correct the wrong thinking of the Wesleyans.

Where I've Been Sent

My normal reading plan has me in Ezekiel and I felt like this really spoke to me:

Ezekiel 3:4-6 ESV
(4) And he said to me, "Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them.
(5) For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel--
(6) not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you.

As I'm learning from my friend Mark, God must not have sent Ezekiel to Hungary!

When I read this I feel like it is telling me that I am not called to foreign missions. I feel like there is much for me to do here in the United States. Though if I did feel called to foreign missions I would take this passage as a great encouragement. Of course, this also supposes that I'm not reading something into the text that isn't there. Clearly God called Ezekiel to domestic missions.

Here's another passage from today:

Ezekiel 3:17-21 ESV
(17) "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.
(18) If I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.
(19) But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.
(20) Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand.
(21) But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul."

I take this to speak to our personal responsibilities to share what the Bible says. This seems so contrary in our culture. Our culture is all about not hurting each other's feelings. But this passage would indicate that we are actually being much more loving when we help someone avoid their iniquity.

Of course, this must be done with graciousness. I've taken this passage as a license to be a spiritual bully, which I don't think is God's intent. But I do know that if someone professes Christ and mentions an area that needs help it is every Christian's job to help as they are able. I realize that I'm not in a position to help someone deal with their recalcitrant teen. I have little idea about how to comfort someone with ailing parents. But I do know how to help someone escape the traps of sexual sin as well as gluttony and laziness. So I'm going to keep following where I think I've been called for right now.

I do know that this is all subject to change. God seems to work that way sometimes.

Feeling Buzzy

I was catching up on my local news and came across this article . As a former caffeine user/abuser, this just makes me sick. I'm glad that there was some acknowledgment of the fact that our country is already sleeping too little (me included), overweight, and anxious. How will a caffeinated donut help that?