When Did Wierd Become Wrong?

George Henry Boughton      "Pilgrims Going to Church"

Lately, I have often been confronted with ...hmmm... disgust(?) with an underlying animosity from people concerning "weird" Christian.  I would find this completely understandable if it were coming from non-Christians.  However, it's coming from fellow Christians.  It has shocked and amazed me ...until I remembered that there I was a few years ago.

About 5 or 6 years ago, I think it was, God led me to start wearing "skirts only".  I simply felt that He wanted me to only wear dresses and skirts.  I had trouble even figuring out why He was asking such a thing (because what did it matter what I wore?!), but guessed that it maybe was related to my need for approval.  I knew that I often dressed according to the people I would be seeing.  If home, relaxed, grubby;  but if someone might stop by, add some nice touches.  If church, nice --but don't forget and wear the same thing you wore last week or the week before.   Nice style, bit of sexy thrown in.  Attract attention without seeming to.

I struggled with obeying for the first year or two.  I always felt wierd.  In the summer it wasn't so bad, except when it was completely "inappropriate" to the situation --as in being the only one at a ball game stupid enough to come in a dress.  In winter, it became so obvious.  Who wears a skirt in winter in MN??  I was treated far differently.  Where I formerly knew how to dress in order to be treated respectfully and/or to be admired, now I was treated with disregard or sympathy.  Mostly I felt marginalized.  I was just a stupid woman, giving up my identity and beauty, becoming "Amish".

Very gradually, tho, I gave up my need to be approved of for how I dressed.  It became enough to have my husband's love and approval.  I began to see the goodness, the beauty in dressing modestly and femininely.  More importantly, I became willing to be and do whatever God desires. 

What I still don't get is why it matters to anyone if the females in our family wear only skirts?  Why does it matter to anyone else in the world if we choose to homeschool, to believe and teach young-earth creationism to our children, to closely guard what we read or watch, etc?  Why does it matter --to them?  I know it matters to God.  He makes plain that He cares about these details.  But why does it matter to anyone else?  We are accused of abusing our children because we lovingly raise them according to our convictions?!?  We are accused of hurting the witness of the church because we don't conform to culture; when did that become Biblical?!?


Here's what I see:
"The foolishness of man subverts his way, and his heart rages against the Lord."  Proverbs 19:3


There's nothing new under the sun.  In Eden, the serpent said, "Has God really said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'" (Gen. 3:1)  In other words, "You really think God has said not to wear certain clothes, not to go certain places, not to befriend certain people, not to do certain things???"


Genesis 3:4-5  "You shall not surely die!  For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good & evil."  Modern language: "You're so fearful of everything.  All those things your so afraid of being contaminated by are really not that bad.  Look at all those other people doing it and they're fine.  You need to be free;  free to call your own shots and not be trapped by fear of doing wrong.  Be more open-minded.  You know what's best for you.  It's time you stepped out into the light and strength of living your own life."  


So the argument comes right from the original tempter, the original temptation.  However, it confuses me that we Christians can't even see the obvious examples from history.  Our country was founded by wierd people who wouldn't conform to culture --dressed different, worshiped different, thought different.  Peter and Paul were so abnormal and despised for it, they were put to death.  It was the very wierdness of the early church that caused them to be brought before kings and rulers to explain what was different.  For that matter, the entire Bible is about people who, contrary to the culture around them, followed God, looking odd the entire time.  How can you say you believe the Bible when so much of it would be offensive to you if it were playing out right now??


"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..."  Romans 12:2

Free Will or Sovereign God? Part 3

And always the next question that causes us to squirm in our seats: but if God is sovereign, does He cause bad things to happen?

I certainly don't have all the answers to such a big question.  But here's what I'm thinking.

God sovereignly allows some natural disasters, directing when & in what quantity.  (I say this because the Bible indicates there are more toward the end of time.)  God sovereignly allows some of the wicked works committed by slaves of sin.   Those who are slaves to sin are under sin's rule and authority, and so would destroy themselves and the world in no time without God's intervention and restraint.

He allows evil in controlled quantities as a "kindness to lead us to repentance".  If there were no darkness, we wouldn't see the light.  If we could successfully live by the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we would all go happily to death and destruction.  But He wants to remind us of Life.  Therefore, I believe He uses the works of darkness as one of His tools to turn us back to Him.

Free Will or Sovereign God? Part 2

God is sovereign;  man's will is not.  

"Free will" as it's modernly taught comes across sounding more like Judges, ie., everyone does what is right in their own eyes.  This is taught as "God doesn't want a bunch of robots, so He gives us free will."  We also hear it applied to wickedness, as in, "God didn't cause that bad thing; it's because we have free will."  Or, "don't be so worried about obedience; that can lead to legalism.  Just trust God and do what you like.  He gives us free will, and He gives us grace."  

God does not give us free will, setting us loose to do what we think best.  He grants us the freedom to choose.  

• "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."   Genesis 2:16-17    
• "The Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it."  Genesis 4:6-7

God put man in the garden and instructed him to cultivate it and keep it (service), and told him he was free --to eat of any tree He allowed.  But choosing to eat from one tree would lead to death.  

• In Romans 6:16, Paul teaches that "you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness".  

We are to "choose whom we will serve" (Joshua), sin and death ...or life and peace.  Through the Fall, we were all enslaved to sin and condemned to death.  Through believing in Christ' justifying work on the cross, we may be redeemed from sin's rule, freed to obey God's perfect wisdom and live in His provision, freed to present ourselves to God as living sacrifices.  

• 2Cor. 5:15 "and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."  

We must choose either:

• to live freely in God's Kingdom, abiding by His rule and authority, entrusting ourselves to His provision, moving according to His purpose; 

• or to live by our own wisdom and will, dominated by self and sin, influenced by the ruler of this world, headed for death.

There are no other options.  

Thus, there are also only two camps of people, only two denominations, if you will.

• Those who are bondslaves to God, who "by perseverance in doing good" offer themselves as living sacrifices, chosen for His purpose, serving for His glory; or

• those "who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness", mastered by sin, destined for condemnation.

Therefore, God is absolutely sovereign, and has sovereignly given man freedom to choose.  But there is, Biblically, no such thing as free will as modernly expressed.

Free Will or Sovereign God? Part 1

Scripture is clear:  God sovereignly reigns over His creation.  From Genesis to Revelation, never is God shown to be insignificant or replaceable.  He is King, Ruler, God.  He is Creator, Father, Owner.  

Psalm 89:11 says, "The heavens are Thine, the earth also is Thine;  The world and all it contains, Thou hast founded them."  

In Job 38-41, God Himself makes clear that He fills and directs every bit of life on earth thru His mighty power and perfect wisdom.  He's just warming up when He says, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.  Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?  

“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’? 

“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?  It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.  

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.  

“Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home? You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

“Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?

“Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven? The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?"

Jesus told us in Matthew 10:29-30, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered."

In Acts 17, Paul preaches in Athens, saying, "The God who made the world and all things in it, ...He is Lord of heaven and earth.  ...He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things.  ...He made from one, every nation of mankind..., having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God... though He is not far from each one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being."

In Romans (8:28-30), we are taught that, "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His son...; and whom He predestined, He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."

I could bring up examples from every book of the Bible, many, many more than I've listed here.  From His sovereignty displayed at Creation to His sovereign judgment at His final revelation, there is no possible way to deny His Lordship over all He has made.

Churchianity

It amazes me the subtle shifts modern Christian teaching makes to the Gospel in order to make it more palatable, more to their liking.  I sat down recently to think about some of these.  

Paul begins Romans with 3 chapters designed to leave no one a loophole.  We are all wretched sinners, a living insult to the holy God who created us.  He goes on to present the astounding message that God Himself made a way for us to be freed from our bondage to sin, that we might be restored to our created position as His loving and obedient children.  I think most of Romans would have to be re-translated by modern standards.

For example, Romans 1:16  ("For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes... .")  would become " ...it is the love of God to save everyone who says they believe."


Romans 1:18  ("For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness")  is --well, wrath is ignored, so-- "the love of God is available to everyone no matter how many bad things they've done".


Those are just two examples I find right in the beginning.  I could go through the entire book rewriting it to modern acceptability but that would take too long.  I will just sum up what I perceive to be modern thought.  (I use quotations around words not to indicate sarcasm so much as to use the words they would.)


Modern church doctrine avoids allusions to a true Kingdom with one King Who can do as He wills with His slaves and subjects.  Rather it prefers a sort of Jesus-served democracy.  Jesus, as a servant-leader, wants to clean up all our problem areas and help us achieve the great purposes God created in us.  Simply by believing he came to save us from our failures and weaknesses and asking him to "come into your heart", we are made for now and forever a "Christian".   As new Christians, we may struggle with "sin" (meaning things we feel bad about), but that's okay.  That's why Jesus came:  to give us grace because he loves us.  We need to attend church to learn how to be blessed and fulfilled because God loves us and wants the best for us.  He promises to work everything for good.  Jesus is a constant help and encouragement to us on this road to successful and happy living.  He is a sort of best friend, cheering us on while he prepares a place in heaven for us.  However we decide to live our lives is fine;  he is all for us because he loves us.  Don't worry about the  judgment the Bible talks about.  We are now "in Christ" with our names written in his book forever.  If we continue attending church and doing the best we can to be agreeable and "loving", God will certainly bring us to heaven because he loves us.  If there is even such a thing as hell, it is for evil people who are disagreeable or kill lots of people or something.


This isn't just a little off from Scripture;  it's the exact opposite.  Scripture presents a God-centered Kingdom.  He reigns.  His purposes stand firm and are carried out by everything and everyone in His creation.  We, by choice, are either slaves to sin and self, or slaves to God.  We choose life with Him and under His dominion, or eternal death apart from Him.  We live because of His great love and kindness and mercy --to grant us breath even when we choose to use it to defy Him.  The love of Christ is not just a warm fuzzy idea.  2Cor 5:14 says, "the love of Christ controls us... ."  Believing in His death is supposed to mean our death, as that same verse continues (and thru verse 15) "...having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;  and He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."  


Wow!  Where did we go so wrong?  As believers, we are supposed to make it our ambition to be pleasing to God (2Cor 5:9).  Rather, I see all around me people who call themselves Christians whose ambitions are no different from anyone else in the world.

Losing Religion

as reported on Fox News online in March, 2011:

Parts of the world are literally losing their religion, according to a new study.  The study conducted by the American Physical Society, finds that religion is dying out in nine countries.  The findings unveiled at an APS meeting in Dallas show that religion may become extinct in Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Canada, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

The study, conducted by Richard Wiener of the University of Arizona and Daniel Abrams and Haley Yaple of Northwestern University, took data stretching back 100 years for those nine countries.

"In a large number of modern secular democracies, there's been a trend that folk are identifying themselves as non-affiliated with religion; in the Netherlands the number was 40 percent, and the highest number was in the Czech Republic, where the number was 60 percent."

The study also found that "Americans without affiliation comprise the only religious group growing in all 50 states."

"In 2008 those claiming no religion rose to 15 percent nationwide, with a maximum in Vermont at 34 percent," the study says.

The study concludes that religion in these societies might one day disappear.

"The model predicts that for societies in which the perceived utility of not adhering is greater than the utility of adhering, religion will be driven toward extinction."

___________________________________________________________

I don't know what to say -- my reaction is so mixed to this news.  

First reaction:  how sad!  

     I've been in the Netherlands.  It's tragic to see the spiritually emaciated people and the murdered churches.  I believe that the religious leaders in Europe literally killed Christianity with their legalism and traditionalism.  They pursued their own gain rather than God Himself.  Scripture means it when it warns, "Quench not the Spirit."  1Thess. 5:19

Second reaction:  good!  We need to lose our "religion".  Maybe then we'll find God.  

      Where I am, in the upper Midwest, everyone goes to church and the vast majority claim to be "Christian", tho few live it.  As Scripture describes in Titus 1: "For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

Really, both my reactions come from the same place, as I look at it now.  The church has destroyed religion by removing the reason.  When God is removed from religion, it has no life.  A creed of my own design will never grab my heart; but

a God who designed everything -- Him, I can believe in.

  

A Creator and King -- Him, I can serve. 

Emmanuel, God with us -- Him, I can love.

Why "Christian Stewardship" Trends Are Unbiblical

     And the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked  with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

Luke 8:14

     Many, many declared Christians are being choked into fruitlessness and immaturity of faith by worldliness.  What I find more disturbing is church leadership promoting love of the world rather than love for God and the pure truth of the Word.  One area that I have recently observed this is the deceiving argument for "stewardship".

Do not be anxious for your life. ...Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. ...But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 6:25, 26, 33

 

  
Various Christian voices encourage me to wisely steward

• the gift of health by removing white flour, sugar and high fructose corn syrup from my family's diet, serve whole-grain breads with organic fruits &; vegetables, and if we must eat meat, make sure it's grass-fed beef, for goodness sake!

or

• the financial gifts God has given by living debt-free, keeping to a budget, paying cash-only, and tithing 10% (because "God rewards a cheerful giver"), 

or

• our earthly home by recycling, saving energy, conserving water, and avoiding pesticides,

or

• the gift of my life, time and energy by good choices, simple living, and balanced activities.  I should declutter, live smaller, get back to basics, smell the roses.

     These things are definitely not bad in and of themselves.  If simply given as good advice to follow for a long and healthy life, there's not much wrong with them.  But when we make it a God-ordained responsibility, we say that to do these things should form a large part of a life devoted to pleasing God.  I believe that these various areas of so-called stewardship are contrary to faith, contrary to true righteousness for the following reasons:

     1.  They address earthly concerns using earthly wisdom, thus setting our minds on "things on earth" rather than "things above".   

     If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.    

Colossians 3:1-2  

     If we are focusing our energy and attention on how to live well, eat right, and manage money wisely, our attention is directed almost entirely to earthly concerns.  Unless God is clearly revealing His concern that we live in a certain way and, therefore, we do so out of direct obedience to Him, I believe all our "stewardship" is an abominable stench to God.  It's us, working on us, to benefit us, saying it's for Him.

     2.  They are an assault on faithful dependence. 

      If we continually seek Godly wisdom from above, He will lead us in what He desires for us for that time.  Sometimes (often), God's wisdom doesn't match human wisdom.  We have to be willing to do and be what seems foolish, weak, or despised in order to be found in Him.

     For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;  but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. 

1Corinthians 1:26-27

     God often directed the prophets to live in a way that we would call unhealthy.  Would we be willing to follow Him there?  Would Abraham have been willing to leave everything familiar and secure for an unknown land if he'd have been following stewardship principles?  Jesus Himself didn't exactly steward His finances well, infuriating Judas. 

      We are supposed to walk by the Spirit, not by Nourishing Traditions or Dave Ramsey.

3.  They are self-serving, insulating us from hardship.

     Do not look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 

Philippians 2:4-7

     Throughout Scripture we are taught to lay ourselves down, to present ourselves as living sacrifices.  I can't see how this message gels with the message of stewardship at all.  Paul tells us to count ourselves as dead to this life.  How are we supposed to be dead and concerned with this life at the same time?  

      I think stewardship speaks to our desire for safety and security.  "If you do x, y, and z, you will have a healthy, secure, and happy life ...unto the glory of God, of course."  But Jesus taught in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5, Luke 6) that we are blessed if we are poor, grieving, hungry & thirsty, hated, ostracized.  He told us that it's bad ("woe to you...") if we are rich ("for you are receiving your comfort in full"), well-fed, laughing.  We are supposed to lose the world, not gain it.

     Whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ."

Philippians 3:7-8

4.  They dilute our witness.
     I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me...

Romans 15:18

     We are to be known as those transformed by the life of Christ, those who love Him and speak of Him at all times.   Rather, I find other Christians to be known for being debt-free or eating mostly vegetarian.  Is the world coming to us to hear about the wonders of God's redemption or how to use essential oils?  At the end of our life, will we be represented as radically loving God or really smart with money?

     In everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the Word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.

2Corinthians 6:4-10