Mike's Growing Faith

Why Do People Hate Christians?

2012-01-06T12:32:00.007-06:00

I've mentioned previously how wonderful it is to be with my 7th grade students on question day and today was no exception. I love being asked questions about God and my faith because it becomes not only an opportunity to tell someone what I believe on a given topic but also a time of personal reflection so I can examine more fully what I believe. The promise is always the same since I don't claim to be any type of "authority" on religion or scripture. Simply said, I enjoy talking about God and if you ask me a question you will get an answer from my currently formed beliefs.

While it has not been asked, I absolutely believe the Holy Spirit is active in our lives today and even guides our thoughts as to those things profitable for the work of God around us. I currently believe the writers of our bible were inspired by the Holy Spirit and I believe the Holy Spirit is currently, yes in 2012, inspiring many people in exactly the same way. In something I wrote not long ago, I used much liberty in announcing this belief and actually wrote something like, "caught up in the spirit I find it necessary to write the following," and there were questions asked as to whether I was on drugs or some new medicine. The point, probably delivered in this way because I knew the reader did not believe, was how I believe God still speaks to His people and through His people. It is not about whether I am or right or wrong but rather the expression of a belief I hold.

A similar belief was expressed to me by one of my "lunch" friends in saying I write way too much when trying to convey a simple thought and most will probably believe she is correct. I simply like to write and feel a need to make some sort of transition to the subject at hand, "Why Do People Hate Christians," asked today in class.

When reading the questions, I usually finish reading and simply start talking with the expectation of God helping me to say what is necessary for discussion or thought and today the thought came quickly, "take out your bibles and turn to Romans two."

Verses 23 and 24 seemed to jump out at me and so I began my answer with these two scriptures, "You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," and I believe the truth of this coming to me at this time from the Holy Spirit speaks to why we are hated as a people.

An earlier question concerning why people want to predict the end of the world was answered with the concept/belief of some people simply wanting to feel superior/smarter than others. I think, as Christians, we have often left this impression, with our "bragging," of being superior to others. We know the "Good News" of what has been provided and yet the "Good News" we share is YOU ARE LOST AND GOING TO HELL!

Even as these words come into thought, I find it hard to believe how many people of my past heard this terrible news from my lips. I'm still not sure why any Christian needs to reference the sin or "assumed" sin of another individual but it has to be something related to a desire of superiority of position. Even if the belief of everyone going to hell with the exception of my one specific little group was true, I have to understand the action of telling someone else they are condemned can't possibly be the right path to helping them understand the "Good News" from God. The message, the example (if we need one) from Acts 2 is not, "you are all condemned," but rather look what took place followed by, "what must I do."

One thing really bothering me about this question is the idea of those not being connected with the church actually not being on my radar when considering how we are treated as Christians. The ones often causing us the most concern or showing the most hatred of Christian men and women seem to be those with a professed love of God and the Christian way of life. I see the struggles we have within our own church congregations and the failures we have of living/worshiping together as a body of Christ and I wonder how we can go to our bibles week after week and then treat those who love God so poorly. Possibly, this was the focus and reasoning behind the statement to do good to all of mankind and particularly the believers.

Even if the thought of helping someone grow closer to God is the actual motivating force behind our actions and condemnation of our brothers and sisters, it would seem we would soon rise to a level of maturity capable of realizing how our condemnation is not effective and simply allowing others to see the joy in our lives and the work of Christ lived out in our lives would be more effective. In considering this, I am also drawn back the passage in Romans and realize the way we treat those of our own number is constantly on display for all to see and we actually bring a dishonorable view of God to those who see us fighting and condemning each other for "wrong" beliefs.

Having discussed my way around the possibility of some wanting to feel superior and even making comparisons of themselves with others to "prove" their own level of salvation, I am suddenly prompted to return once again to my opening comments for my current solution or believe of why this is happening among believers.

Our actions promoting a feverish attempt to "save" the lost and make sure others understand the "true" will of God show we do not have a belief in the Holy Spirit completing the work of God on earth. We become "reason enough" for not wanting anything to do with Christianity and, as I mentioned recently in another writing, it can't be possible for the Holy Spirit to be responsible for the bringing of salvation because it seems to good to be true. In all of this, the concept or belief of someone not receiving salvation due to a failure on our part is something I grew up believing and still struggle with today.

Though I may be wrong, I can't believe God allows the mortality of man to keep someone from the salvation He provided. The song, "No One Ever Mentioned Him To Me," might be true enough regarding the interaction of man to man but I fully believe the Holy Spirit has offered opportunity after opportunity for everyone to make the choice of being with God and being an heir to the promises of God.

The Holy is Spirit is doing His part (100%) and I am doing my part (0% of value), simply because I want others to know what has, is and will be taking place.

One Church

2011-12-13T10:43:00.004-06:00

Throughout most of my adult life I have been fortunate to visit and be hired to play my horn in a number of denominations. While having a great discussion one evening during a faculty dinner, I was asked, "what church have you not played in," and I quickly replied, "my own." He seemed a bit embarrassed for asking the question and humorous to me was the fact I do so by choice. Things we grow up with feel familiar and problems only exit when we consider our decisions to be the right way or only way.

While it was appropriate for Jesus to say, "I am the way," we often need not look past our own groups to find those who equate themselves with Jesus and make claim to a similar statement, "this is the right way and those who don't agree are not welcome." Before straying too far in my thinking, it is important for me to remind myself how Jesus is the only way. As I begin a statement to say I believe there are a myriad of right possibilities in the life of every individual, I am not saying there is a variety of names or methods by which one is saved. I fully believe God will use the blood of His son to cover those He acknowledges as part of His family and according to His plan. According to this plan and not the understanding of me as a human will God find us "not guilty" through what Jesus finished on the cross.

As a child, one of the memory verses I had to learn was Romans 1:16 because it was important for me to understand I was not to be ashamed of the Gospel. Oddly, it was not until this past year when I discovered the power of verse 17 and realized the significance of the Gospel (for me) is found in the righteousness of God being revealed to us through Christ. In my reading, the importance of this statement if found in the expression of knowing the righteous will live by faith.

Yes, I believe we can be successful living for God in this generation because we are not held to a system of perfection, but one of righteousness through faith. WE CAN DO THIS! Under the Law of Moses, man had to live a perfect life to be successful and even then, there were those who lived by faith (through faith) and were found pleasing to God. I am convinced God found favor in them the same way He finds favor with us. Jesus/God was willing to live the life of perfection in our place and in His sacrifice credit us with His perfection. The faith then and now was placed in God and not our ability to direct our own path correctly. Having expressed this, it is my conviction the "One Church" exists in the favor of God, not because we are doing the right things, but specifically because we choose righteousness of action over evil/wickedness in our lives and ultimately place our faith, not in our ability of obedience, but in the righteousness of our savior, Jesus.

Possibly a long time getting to the point but we are capable of living radically different and yet righteous styled lives for God through faith. The myriad of paths we can follow are not found in a choice of savior but again, a choice of righteous acts. We are instructed to encourage our brothers and sisters to goodness, kindness and acts of love. We are not instructed to demand specific acts of righteous behavior if we are to be saved. I believe in an endless possibility of living a life imaged after the life of Christ in righteous behavior and be pleasing to God.

The "One Church" is not to be defined by the appropriate creed or the pattern of worship practiced on any given day but instead, defined by the one who was successful for all of us in His life. The true church, the One Church, is made up of all who through many trials and failures continues living a life style of righteousness patterned after the righteousness revealed in the Gospel. It is our faith in Jesus being responsible for 100% of our salvation which allows us the freedom from our mistakes and worry concerning the condition of our salvation.

I have not always been at this point in my life but I now can tell those, who might hear, "ANYTHING GOES" for him that seeks after righteousness. Find something good and do it even if I don't like it or believe it is not right for me. As part of the "One Church," find something good to do and enjoy your freedom of life in Christ.

Too Good To Be True?

2011-12-12T14:05:00.003-06:00

In our daily walk, we are heavily influenced by many aspects of human nature when challenged to understand God's message to us. Having grown up and having been indoctrinated with the concept of the road to heaven being so narrow, I came to believe few of those professing Christian beliefs would "make the cut" on judgment day. I have chastised others and been chastised myself for suggesting that salvation is not challenging to obtain, but rather easy.

As I read through the Bible and hear God speaking to me, I find it increasingly difficult to believe God would give His son in such a cruel form of death and then make His offering into a life or death game of chance where I attempt to discover and meet the expectations of God and finally be given my reward. In fact, I can answer now and save all of us the pain of attempting this feat since none of us is capable of meeting the expectations of God. If we have to be obedient for salvation, we have already failed in our first sin. Basing our hope on obedience becomes a game of how much or what percentage of obedience is required since total failure is acknowledged with our first sinful act. If we come to God with the expectation of being judged according to our obedience on any level, we fail and should expect condemnation.

When we consider the death of Christ as forgiving all sin, we find ourselves in a position of having no penalty for the sin in our lives because it has been forgiven. I fully believe this to be the thought on Paul's mind when he asks the question of whether we should continue in sin so grace would abound. Let it not be said we can sin as much as we want because our sin is already forgiven.

I find myself coming very close to the sense of Universalism as I consider and even now believe the sacrifice of Christ forgave all sin and therefore reconciled all men to God. Where I differ in my thoughts from the Universalist is in my belief that some will perish because they simply choose to leave the family of God.

In the tradition of my youth, the churches of Christ, I was taught the concept of what it took , from us, to gain admittance to the family. We were responsible for the covering by the blood of Jesus and we were the ones, through our obedience, responsible for coming into contact with the blood of Jesus. We, not Jesus, became responsible for our salvation via the choices we made. My current thoughts center on Jesus being responsible for our salvation and payment has already been made for my sin. My choice then would not be on how to become reconciled with Christ but rather the choice I make not to leave God's family. I see these thoughts being much more than semantics because I now look completely to the grace of God which has provided salvation for everyone. My choice now is so much different because I choose to grow the relationship established freely from God or deny the offering and not one of "what must I do to be saved."

It sounds so easy and from the world view, we come to believe it can't possibly be true since we have been indoctrinated daily with the view of "nothing being this easy. As I write these words, I am reminded of a question asked recently by one of my seventh grade students. The question, "why is the bible so confusing," was one I have asked many times during my life and only recently begun to answer for myself and remain consistent with what I am learning from the reading of the Bible. We make the bible a source of confusion when we attempt to decipher the "hidden" message of God. We can't allow ourselves the simplicity of a plan where all details (that matter) have already been taken care of by God and we are simply the recipients of this tremendous gift. It is too good to be true and so we search for the "right way" where only a few dedicated and faithful servants might discover the path missed by so many.

While I can applaud the life of and individual attempting to make their lives as perfect and appealing to God as is possible, I find our problem becoming one of attaining a greater level of understanding and service becoming a source of "correctness" for all of God's people. We then take our knowledge of how things should be in our own life and with comparison to others, we begin our life of judging the salvation of others. Our initial judgment might only be born of a desire to share Christ more fully with those we love and yet it can easily become an open condemnation of someone not accepting the truth of God.

Rather than being a positive influence of Christ in the lives of those we love, we become the source of confusion and successfully steal the joy of God from their lives with doubt. Our influence becomes one of reminding others of how the offering of Christ was not sufficient and how we need to, not only add our part, but add our part accurately. We take "it is finished" and turn the tables on God as we choose to become "worthy" of His offering.

Yes, we miss the point of being able to accept how none of us can ever be worthy. We miss the realization of how much God really loved His creation and how truly wonderful the gift is given for all of us.

For man, it is too good to be true because we have no understanding of GOOD! We have no real understanding of God who is defined by GOOD. Salvation is not too good to be truly a gift because it comes from God, not man. I pray we not live any longer in the bondage of men requiring so much more than God would require from all of us who will never be worthy.

The Holy Bible/Our Golden Calf?

2011-10-03T08:23:00.004-05:00

The title for this post came to me during the swirl of activity generated from a question running through my mind during the night and I know it was not ready for posting at the time because I stayed in bed rather than get up and write.

Will faithful Christians be condemned on judgment Day, seems like an odd question with an obvious answer and yet when defined by our lives and actions, the answer has to be yes! In Matthew 7, we find the following statement:

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Matthew 7:21-23 NIV

What I find wrong with this statement from Jesus is the way we have used it to define salvation for us and those we know as we use the phrase, "he who does the will of my Father" to set our agenda of salvation. In our thinking, we have to discover the will of the Father and then be obedient. We find ourselves devoting an enormous amount of time in study, reading, discerning every microscopic aspect of the Bible to know God's will in our lives so we can be "faithful Christians." While I would chastise myself for suggesting we don't need to study our Bibles, I believe it is more than study getting us in trouble. Our problem is taking the Bible and placing our faith in our ability to decipher the rules for living a Christian life from a book!

To be more specific, we have taken the Bible and turned it into our "Golden Calf." Instead of taking the message on life and making it our lives, we proof text what we can and cannot do with the Bible being the "ultimate authority" on what may and may not be done if we are to be saved on judgment day. If the reader read this past sentence the way I heard it come off the tips of my fingers, I would hope you felt a bit torn by me suggesting the Bible is NOT our ultimate authority! While I believe it is the ultimate message from God, I have come to believe it is not the ultimate authority because the ultimate authority has been given to Jesus!

The reader might accuse me of simply mixing words and yet the message of how we have come to use the Bible seems clear enough as I write. When we use the Bible to proof text what we are able to do in our lives, we are assuming the personal responsibility for our salvation. We not only find it necessary to be absolutely accurate in our assessment of what the Bible says, but we find it necessary to instruct others in the RIGHT way of doing something less they find themselves lost on judgment day for not "doing the will of the Father." I do not believe I am the only one incapable of doing the will of the Father perfectly and so I find a need to shed myself of the specifics I once looked for and place my salvation, not in my ability to follow rules, but rather in Jesus who did follow all the rules!

Yes, we live in a world surrounded by men and women who devour scripture daily so they can instruct others on how to fulfill the will of the Father. I once thought of these men and women as faithful Christians and yet, the only things I see in their devotion is learning the way instead of seeing the fruit of men and women KNOWING the way.

The story of the Father separating the sheep and goats in Matthew 25 does not once claim depart from me because you didn't know your Bible well enough. It doesn't condemn them for not being baptized, not singing songs right, having musical instruments, letting women speak in services, letting women lead services, etc. No, condemnation comes from not having the heart of God in all they did for those in need!

Condemnation, brothers and sisters, comes from not loving ONE ANOTHER as was demonstrated with the greatest gift of love on the cross!

PS. I will be leaving for the funeral of Chaney Anderson as soon as I post these comments. As I visited with him during the last couple of days in our lives, he was shepherding his flock well. I commented how his life at that moment reminded me of the Apostle John and he looked over at me and said, "yes, his message was to LOVE ONE ANOTHER!"

Church Employees (An Excuse For Wrong Actions)

2011-08-15T20:45:00.004-05:00

It has been some time since my last post and as I mentioned recently to someone asking if I had been writing lately, I only write when something comes to me from my past and the only way I can relieve myself of the burden is to write.

My thoughts today have to do with something I think we have to work the scriptures with a hard "twist" in order to support from the word of God. Not uncommon from many things I came to know differing from the message I was taught as a youth, I find no support for the idea of "Church Employees." Most often in discussion groups the concept may work around the idea of a "located preacher" and yet preachers are not the only people employed by church congregations.

While I see nothing contrary to the will of God in various groups of Christians supporting various individuals to work in one area of another for the good of everyone, I have been forced recently to focus on problems stemming from this concept developed by men to "aid" the will of God for us to come together and be the church.

In another blog, I presented my thoughts on whether God ever intended for Elders to be managers of His people or spiritual leaders and while many in my heritage come down on the side of the elders managing the affairs of the church congregation, I fully believe from my reading the proper life of an elder should be one of not managing but SHOWING the way of our spiritual life in their own lives. As Paul instructed others to look at himself, I feel an elder should willing stand up after God, not man recognizes him as having a life to model. One of the problems in how one views the recognition of a man as an elder comes from how we read about the appointment of elders in various locations.

I am only a "lay" person with man's translation of the text at my fingers but I see the religious leaders being the ones to "appoint" elders because they were equipped to recognize the working of Christ in other individuals. Individuals, God was showing forth to be worthy of following. Having been associated with many congregations and witnessing the selection of elders numerous times, one characteristic stands out in my mind. Much like a political machine, elders are selected with similar views as those already named elders. At times when someone has seemingly "slipped" through the cracks, they do not last long since the individuality of their life in Christ comes in conflict with having to be "unified" in positions going against their life in Christ.

This condition, by itself, is reason enough to question the process of selecting elders I have witnessed in churches and yet it continues. One difference in our lives different from the first century is the number of spiritually gifted people we have in so many congregations who are able to recognize spiritual leadership in the lives of others. I remember telling one of my dear friends I considered him an elder and I have also recognized this to other people who see this man in the same way. We did not need someone to point this out to us and yes, many of us attempted to follow his example and when called upon continue to lift him up as an example because God appointed him, not MAN.

Returning to the idea of problems with many groups of elders in my heritage, is the idea of having to "oversee" the business of the church. They take it upon themselves to contractually hire various people to work for the body and they, not the body of Christ, become the final say on who is allowed to work for the church congregation and who is not allowed to work as employees of the congregation. Oddly, the body of elders in a congregation often works like the political structure of Washington or even the city of Houston where the will of the people, as was recently given in a vote to turn off the red light cameras in Houston was overturned by the "rulers" because it is what "they" wanted not the people.

We do not have a papal system (so defined) in the churches of Christ and yet, as is the case many places, the body of elders function in the capacity of a papal system claiming to be specially set aside and guided by God. In the case of employees, the continued service should be between the church they are serving and the individual and not a group of men "looking out" for the best interest of those not spiritually gifted like themselves to discern on their own.

Before closing these comments, I have to mention the one area of our man-made system of elders causing the most harm to those maturing in the life of Christ. We teach the concept of righteousness not needing to be hidden from anyone and how sin lurks under the cover of darkness and secrecy. Yes, the only thing we feel a need to hide in our lives is our indulgence in the sinful nature tempting all of us!

Having developed into a position of "church managers" instead of spiritual leaders, elders often find a need to meet privately to discuss the affairs of the church and to ANNOUNCE their decisions to the body to be followed. I know I'm often way off base but find the "authority" for secret meetings to decide the future of various members of the body absent in scripture. I typed that last part without even realizing what I was saying and yet even as the words came from the tips of my fingers, I realized the employee is not just an employee but an often SUPER faithful member of the family!

Am I to believe God wants the elders to treat, often the most devoted and sincere members of our family with secret meetings and announcements? Having never looked at it this way, I'm convinced God's hand is not in these decisions but rather the will of fallible men whose position is little more than an excuse to behave contrary to the will of God.

I will close with what I have always been taught is the will of God when faced with a problem brother (assuming there is a problem since for what other reason would someone be FIRED). You take the problem to your brother and try to work it out. When the brother is unrelenting in his will to change the "problem" behavior, you then take it to the CHURCH! The church will decide what is to be done and not a few men.

You answer for yourself, Is it a Godly thing for a small group of men to meet secretly and to the surprise of the body of Christ announce something similar to "after careful consideration we have decided to terminate the employment of......!

Why Do We View God As Being "Un-Godly?"

2011-04-27T15:53:00.002-05:00

While driving to work this morning, I realized for most of my life I have viewed God as being ungodly in nature. My mind began to swirl with all of the ways I have viewed God and foremost in my thoughts was how I have believed God was out to "get me." I viewed the creator of the universe as watching to catch me in my mistakes and should I die committing a sin, He would be quick to throw me into the fires of hell! How could I not develop this thought as I was continually taught how narrow the gate/path was and how few would enter in to share eternity with Him.

Having just discussed the aspect of being snared by those who are right in the last blog, I am still wrestling with the petty aspects of those things causing such turmoil in God's family. Coming to mind as I type, are the realities of our earthly families and how we often get trapped into competing for the attention of each other in the family by being a little more extravagant with a gift or invitation so we will be loved or respected more than another. When considering what it might take to be successful in our earthly lives, we are constantly reminded to dot our "i" and cross our "t." Those who pay attention to details are those who will be successful!

In our church families, have we not taught the importance of the DETAILS? Like the Pharisees, have we not even been known by our careful consideration of every aspect when we gather together in praise and worship to God so we will not carelessly do something to offend God and lose our salvation? It took me being slapped hard in a sermon one day before I fully realized how right the preacher was when we declared we not only believe we can lose our salvation but we go further and even believe it more likely than unlikely?

How can we be so bold as to lower God to human standards and nature and even suggest He consider us any less that a loving child when we bring him an offering of praise. How can we consider and believe God looks at one form of worship as being right and acceptable and another form being unacceptable because of what is offered? As you read this last thought, do you want to throw the story of Cain and Abel at me and remind me how God found the offering of Abel acceptable and rejected the offering of Cain? You might even remind me of how the prophet describes the people in Amos 6 of strumming on their harps like David and improvising music so I can fully understand how God is looking for those who pay attention to details and do things the right way.

I'm not sure which one of my relatives first used the term but all of this is more than nonsense, it is HOGWASH! As far as I can tell, from reading my bible, the only time God was interested in details is when He was very specific about what He wanted. Since the Law of Moses was never intended to be the "plan" for God's people, even the details mentioned in the Law are meaningless to what God expected and desired of His people.

If the reader was brought up under much of the same legalism as instructed me in my youth, you might have been taught how Abel's sacrifice was acceptable because it was a blood sacrifice and Cain should have offered an animal. Again, I say hogwash because I am fully convinced (at least right now) of the problem being with the heart of Cain in his offering and not the specifics of the offering. All I can tell for sure in reading the story is how Abel offered the best and Cain offered SOME. Yes, and when speaking of those addressed in Amos, God hated their singing and He hated everything they were doing to honor him, not because the act was wrong, but because their hearts were far from Him.

Someone once told me how when I had children I would begin to understand the reality of a father to a child. We might even go back and look at the words of Jesus in Matthew 5 and see how he brings our attention from the letter of the law to what is on our hearts. When He talks of bringing and offering to the alter and having something against your brother, Jesus does not ask us to check the offering but rather check our hearts and first make our hearts right so the offering will be right. How can we view our Father in Heaven as a vindictive God looking for our mistakes when He is looking for the GOOD in all of us. Those of us who do have children know of the performances and ballgames we have attended and all of the mistakes we witness and yet when we gather our children up, we encourage and cheer them on reminding them of the one fantastic moment they just experienced. In all of our "human wisdom" we act this way and yet we view God as the parent who would yank their child out of the game and take him/her home for a good beating because of the errors made.

Something just recently giving me much pain was watching our youth prepared to participate in the "Leadership Training for Christ." Following the introduction to our church family of the various activities our kids would be involved with, my own daughter came to me and asked why they did not offer activities for those playing instruments and the truth of our continued training to do things the "right way" hit me once again. Not only was it evident in not having opportunities available for musicians playing an instrument, the boys competing in bible reading would be allowed to read and practice in the "official" church setting and the girls competing in the same activity would not be allowed practice time in the "official" setting.

Over the years, I have been encouraged to come use my talents in churches who have orchestras and I have been reminded of the gift God has given me to play horn. As I simply stop writing this evening, the greatest weight on my heart is realizing how my choice to stay in weekly fellowship with the churches of Christ is also my choice to offer God much less than I have to offer. Like Cain, I only offer SOME of what I could give and as we start our new series on whether we will be a fan or follower of Jesus, the decision to be a follower may require something of me I have never considered giving up!

Snared By Those Who Are "Right!"

2011-04-26T09:30:00.004-05:00

Freedom does not exist where one refuses to exercise the freedom possessed. When I think of the slavery having existed in the United States and the human trafficking (slavery) still existing today, I can't find it acceptable to give my approval or willingly offer myself or my family in participation. If not for the chains and locked doors, I suspect none of the slaves would continue in their current condition and yet as Christians we seem profess contentment in our bondage to others.

When considering the plight of "free" Christians, the chains and locked doors are graciously accepted and we continue in our bondage daily. The primary reason I believe we find acceptance to bondage within the Christian family is based on the transformation achieved or currently taking place in our lives. When we replace the sinful nature of man with an understanding of Christ's nature and begin the transformation in our lives to look like our Savior, we accept and choose to be responsible to the characteristics of His nature. We choose to be loving and compassionate. We choose the servant attitude and make a deliberate choice to place the needs of others ahead of our own lives. As a Christian, we face an almost constant struggle to meet the ideal description given by the apostle Paul when he says, "it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me."

Our life as a Christian can easily become one of a paradox between what is supposed to be, as planned by God, and who we are supposed be when we choose to be Christ living today. It is this paradox I believe Paul addresses in Romans 14 when the Spirit leads Paul to address the stumbling block we are capable of placing before others. Effectively, Paul discusses how Christians, failing to escape the selfish desires of their own life, carelessly trap others devoted to living the life of Christ in their lives. Yes, our carelessness in declaring what is right or wrong in the lives of other Christians will spring the paradox (trap) of Christianity on our brothers and sisters. We throw down the stumbling block and cast the snare of compassion and love. Now, the once free Christian, finds themselves in the paradoxical position of being free in Christ and yet confined by the nature of compassion and love as they are faced with the choice of exercising their freedom or placing the wishes and "well-being" of other brothers and sisters ahead of their own freedom. Not originally placed here, I have to consider verse 22 of the chapter, "So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves" and conclude how exercising ones freedom in Christ could actually be an act of condemnation once the snare has sprung!

Snared by love and the decision to live a Christian life, the only choice seems to be the acceptance of our bondage and yet the acceptance of bondage only leads to a continued bondage for future generations. Yes, as we accept our bondage we set the snare to trap other unsuspecting Christians who, "guided in paths of righteousness for his name's sake," will be walking "through the valley of the shadow of death."

Not wishing to leave the reader in a seemingly hopeless position of simply accepting the bondage placed upon us, I will offer a solution I believe offers hope to those ensnared and the future generations of those who would be enslaved with this paradox of desiring to live the Christian life. Those, responsible for setting the snare must choose to release those ensnared! Those who have taken up the "mantle" of leadership must do everything they can within their abilities to promote verses 17 and 18 "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men."

In other words, being Christ to the world with love of everyone and especially to our own brothers and sisters, will be pleasing to God and definitely approved by those not currently members of God's family. I fully believe Paul tells us to take great satisfaction in knowing others who want to praise and honor God and that the "rightness" in this decision far outweighs the methods employed in praise and worship of our master.

Brothers and sisters, let us not be guilty of ensnaring those around us because we think it necessary to speak for God and create a list of sins for those things God did not address when defining the sinful nature of man but instead take care to lock our snares or what is "right for us" to remain locked away from those who might not see it our way.

The "Invitation!"

2011-04-08T05:25:00.003-05:00

While visiting with my daughter and discussing all the Holy Spirit has led her to become (including things still on the horizon), I discovered yet another adjustment we have made in our attempts to be something other than what God intended. Jesus told us to go into all the world and yet those still bound by the tradition of my fellowship would have us believe God designed the church for all the world to come, VISIT, be taught and receive salvation after we change them with our "correct" way to worship.

It is not too amazing that I came to this realization when I mentioned the idea of a preacher, in our fellowship, not giving the "appropriate" words of invitation to those needing "to be saved." As I type these words, I might even consider how I do not believe we can even find an example of men being asked to save or described as "saving" another man (if, as so many in my fellowship, we need an example).

If I find myself "bound" to using examples, I am curious how we ever began requiring a preacher in our assemblies to end his lesson reminding people of the importance of hearing, believing, repenting, confessing and being baptized. I might guess men made the assumption of this taking place because we do find a statement of the disciples coming together daily and if we stretch this passage enough, we can use the statement of those being saved and added as "proof positive" of the effective "assembly preaching" of those already in fellowship! Yes, we can be assured it was the effectiveness of the church in assembly responsible for advancing the numbers of Christians and not the effectiveness of the lives led by men and women. Yes, we have credited man's institution with the success of the gospel message and not the people led by the Holy Spirit to resemble Christ in their daily lives (going into the world).

I have been taught to regard 1Corinthians 14 as "the main guide" for our worship and yet I can't find the official invitation required. In fact, I find the focus of our "official" worship to be focused, not on the lost, but on the SAVED!

What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.

I find brothers and sisters, those having been added to the church, coming together to meet the needs and strengthen each other. I think we could more easily defend an official policy of forbidding the lost to come together with us than we can a tradition of focusing our worship time on meeting the needs of the lost.

May God be praised more fully by the lives we lead in the world and not wanting to miss the lesson learned from the sermon I heard this past week, may the goal of our faith not be to get us to heaven but rather get heaven down to us! May we all be effective in assuring God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven!

I thank God for the ability to see areas of life where the will of man has replaced the will of God and make adjustments so that His will not mine becomes the norm.

What CHURCH Has Done To God's Church

2011-03-20T15:44:00.003-05:00

I am no longer surprised with the things I see and the way scripture seems to call out with a message as I read. I hope I have mentioned before how I fully believe the Holy Spirit is active in our lives today and is still willing to speak the incredible Word of God to us as was done in the past. I am convinced of how our willingness to listen is an open door for the Holy Spirit in our lives and in contrast, the conditioning of my youth still reminds me how there is only one right message to be found in a text and it is the message men wrote about when writing the commentaries of our heritage.

My mind was obviously primed for something this morning as I listened to a message discussing when we will be ready to allow the spirit of God to work in our lives. I must say how spoiled I have become being able to hear great messages which cause me to think and evaluate what I know about God and today was no different as it came full circle with the first question of the series dealing with who will lead us.

After trying to take a nap this afternoon (hopeless when I have something to say), I got up and did a word search on servant and was intrigued with the 11th chapter of 2 Corinthians. Reading with a bias already established from my notes this morning, I saw something different from what I have seen in the past. I would encourage the reader to stop and read this chapter once again before allowing me the option of "missing Paul's point entirely."

During the lesson this morning, I begin to see how we have taken church, the creation of God, and then personally organized CHURCH to fulfill the purpose of God in a way we desire things instead of the way God desires for His creation to fulfill it's purpose. As the Spirit moved my thoughts, I considered how much work our wives and mothers do when we all come together for a family gathering and meal. It is no exaggeration to say they completely wear themselves out as they serve the family from the love of their hearts. When we all gather around the table for the official beginning, the "official leader of the family" steps up to the plate and leads a prayer! I think this morning my eyes were opened to who is the greatest in the family and sadly, being the "figure head" of leadership is so much less than being the servant. At least we often acknowledge, with a short word of thanks, the value of the true servant.

I believe we might have abused the church in much the same way by focusing on organization and proper roles in our "sacred hour" of the week. For some reason, the perfect family (church) has become defined by what takes place and the proper role playing taking place during the "one hour which matters to God." Outside of this special hour, any of us, male or female, can be the true church of God and serve to the fullness of how we might be led by the Spirit. We can pray for each other, we can sing songs of praise with each other accompanied or unaccompanied and we can tell others the story of the fullness found in Jesus. In short, when we are not with those of our number we are free to be filled with the fullness and joy of Christ as mentioned in 5th chapter of Ephesians and the 3rd chapter of Colossians.

This morning after our "special hour" I had someone mention how the eyes of an individual reflected so many different things. The eyes of some were those of a zombie, those of distress and sadness and yes, there were those with eyes of JOY! Of all the times we might find during a week, I would think the time spent coming together with the body of Christ should be the most joyous time of the week for all of us. I think our organization of a "special hour" a "holy hour" in the week is reflected by the message I read in 2nd Corinthians. Paul says,

"Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!"

Yes, let us recognize the boasting of what man has created and called CHURCH! We are not full of joy because we have accepted the slavery forced upon us as from those who would be the "figure heads" of all God desires from the entire body. Allow the church to do the work of God all week and when the family comes together we will assume proper "man ordained" roles of preaching, praying, singing, and service. In this one hour of the week, men have their roles and women have their roles. We cease to be the church and assume the facade of playing CHURCH!

I am filled with joy to hear of churches of Christ where men and women preach, pray, read scripture, sing, serve communion. Congregations where roles are not played but rather neither male or female is considered important when the focus is on Jesus by all. I am even more joyful to know my daughter attends one of these churches of Christ. The will to play the role of leader has been given up to simply be known as a servant with other servants and yes, the joy of praise together.

I'm not sure I got the answer to the question of when we would be ready for the Spirit to lead us but I do know we first have to recognize the Holy Spirit was sent to give proper direction to our lives and not men. As long as we continue to look to men for direction we fail in our surrender of all to the Spirit.

As the rich young man turned away in sadness because he would not give up all to follow Jesus, I am ashamed to admit there were likely some in our group this morning who sang the invitation song to "Surrender All" and went away with no intention of ever giving up the rights or authority man has surrendered to each other in their attempts to create and govern the "RIGHT CHURCH!"

Who Shall Lead Us?

2011-03-16T03:51:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago in the Sunday morning sermon the question was asked concerning who was to lead the church and while the discussion was not specific as to a problem within the church or congregation, it was clear from the lesson how the Holy Spirit was given to lead God’s church with the passing and ascension of Jesus. One aspect of denominationalism haunting the church today is found in the question of who has the authority to make decisions for the “whole” church. In my own denomination, we have grown up to ignore the position and function of the Holy Spirit as we came to see our elders in the position of decision makers for God’s church and yet as I remember we also have been known to chastise and condemn the Catholic Church for doing exactly the same thing. Personally, I see no difference in how we (Church of Christ) view our elders and how the Catholic Church views the Pope when considering the definition below.

“The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, 'is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.'

'For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise.” [Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition (Washington, DC: US Catholic Conference, 1994, 1997) #882.]

[Definition: “vicar”—in the broadest sense means someone who is authorized to act as a substitute or agent for a superior / compare “vicarious”—serving in the place of someone else; assuming the position, place, or office of another person]

I have never known an eldership to consider themselves as the Vicar of Christ and yet what has been taught from the earliest years of my memory is how we are to be obedient to the elders since they are responsible for our souls. Even this statement is a contradiction of belief held by most Christians who have come to believe and teach how each person is responsible for his/her own relationship to Christ.

I am not sure who I should credit with my concept of dealing with apparent contradictions in the Bible and possibly, even as I write this last statement, I am trying to ignore the influence of the Holy Spirit to guide the church in all things. (I have come to believe there are no contradictions in the Bible, but only "apparent" contradictions created by our failure to understand what is being said within any given passage." I know that I have told others who write words of encouragement and instruction along with those who preach the Word how they are definitely being guided by the Holy Spirit. In fact, I have gone so far as to make claim of men being as inspired by the the Holy Spirit to write as we give credit to those penning the letters of the Bible. This last statement goes to the heart of the subject matter of this post since we have been guilty of ignoring the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The proof in this statement is easily found in how we have come to view the eldership of the church. I used to have a book, "Why I Am A Member of the Church of Christ," by Leroy Brownlow and when I came to discover how the "official" creed of our denomination was basically founded on this text, I decided to get rid of the book and yet I find myself referencing the book when I consider what has taken place to "sideline" the work of the Holy Spirit and replace what God has given with the will of man. Those who know me also know I am given to broad statements and so the reader should not be surprised when I claim how ALL the problems found in the church today are a result of allowing the will of man to replace the will of God.

As I consider what I remember from the book (could be much error) and since I am going on my memory at 2:40 AM in the morning, I seem to remember a section discussing the governmnent of the church. Hopefully, not to blunt, this discussion is one of the reasons I got rid of the book. Mr. Brownlow substitutes the authority of governing of the church with men. He takes the Bible and explains how the authority of men to rule and govern the church is the will of God. Excuse me for being blunt again but the men rule only when they have no belief that God rules through the Holy Spirit. We cannot have it both ways and yet our failure to believe in the power of the Spirit being active today has led us to believe we must rule or govern for God. Just like the Catholic Church, the Church of Christ must have a Vicar of Christ and our only difference is how we find this in a group of men and not just one man.

While it might sound like I claiming God did not want the guidance of His people through men we have come to call elder or pastor, I am only denying the type of guidance we have come to believe they are charged with in their position. I think 1 Peter 5:2-3 gives us an accurate picture of what these men should be to the church and is key to understanding the correct responsibility to the church.

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

Taking particular notice of the last few words, I see the answer to our apparent contradiction of leadership in the church. The simple language seems to be clear as it says, don’t tell the church what to do but rather SHOW the church what to do.

Another key to understanding, what I believe to be the proper role of an elder, can be found in the passages describing the characteristics of a man selected to be an elder. (1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9) In simple terms, they are to be the most God-like men found in each “town.” I’m not sure how Mr. Brownlow justifies converting this to each congregation but I remember him doing so.

I believe the important thing to remember, however, is the godly nature of these men called upon to be elders. It makes them perfect for the role placed upon them to be spiritual leaders. God knew how our nature demands an example and He gave us men who have most closely conformed themselves into the image of Christ. We have men like this in the congregation I am affiliated with and I know of none who would even suggest them not being the men most resembling the image of Christ in our group. They are our example of the “right way to live.”

Yes, I do believe there is a right way to live even though I do not believe there is a “right way” to do church.

Now That I'm A Christian

2010-10-18T16:08:00.005-05:00

I can remember receiving a book following my baptism and because I was "really" devoted at the time of my baptism, I can remember reading the book, "Now That I'm A Christian." If I still have the book anywhere in my possession, I'm sure that there are no notes made in the book and hopefully the pages are stuck together so none can waste their time in the reading. In fact, it has been so many years that I might not even have the name of the book right. One thing I do remember about the book is that it was an instruction manual to the acts of worship and what I needed to do if I was going to please God and be "found faithful."

Since I can't even be sure of the book title, I'm not about to critique it in this blog and instead would offer a few things coming to mind I wrote down in some notes to myself to consider under this topic of now that I'm a Christian.

The first thing I wrote down was to build a relationship. I'm not sure of everything I thought at the time but this relationship I'm thinking of might have many facets. I think you need a relationship with another individual who is also a Christian and someone you can share with as you mature in your Christian walk. I also think you need a relationship with a fellowship of believers. I grew up thinking there was only on "approved" fellowship of believers and it was the Church of Christ. Meet with anyone else behind any other label and you are stepping on the path to condemnation. Currently, I think it important to build a relationship with a fellowship of believers who know God and hold Jesus to be God's son and the one giving himself so our sins could be forgiven. The next relationship and while most might put it first, I am listing it third because I think these others are needed to help build your relationship with God.

I think the relationship with God is founded in my second listing of my notes and I wrote down you should desire to pray. I have to admit (don't have to but will anyway) that I still find my prayer time rather shallow. I attempt to spend the drive to school each morning in prayer and talk to God as if He were sitting right there in the car with me. It is great to realize, however, that he has taken up residence inside me and so I don't have to picture Him there with me since it is a reality. Possibly, my feeling of shallowness might be similar to the concept of sin I got from my minister. He uses the illustration of a net and large fish to describe how we see sin when we are newly aligned with Christ and desire the be Christ-like. We catch the big sin and can easily keep from it but really don't see all the little sins (fish) slipping through the net. As our righteousness gets closer to the righteousness of Christ, our net gets pretty fine and we start seeing how really filthy our lives are because of all the sin we can now see in our maturity. I suspect prayer might be much the same and as we desire and actually pray more, we discover how really weak we are to speak with God.

As I am giving credit to the minister for helping me understand something, I realize and think he would admit how the credit does not belong with him but rather God and I get to my next point. Place credit for what happens in our lives where it belongs! I don't think anything in our lives is accidental and if we have opened ourselves to God, I believe He will orchestrate our lives based upon what He wants to happen and who He wants us to reach. I have no success and last night, when discussing the fullness of Christ we receive immediately from God, we have no chance at failure as members of His family. We are a success already because Jesus was successful. Yes, I used past tense because the whole story has been written.

This in mind, I come to the concluding thought in my notes and think we must allow our joy and realization to be evidenced to others. No, it will not be our work but the joy of God is infectious and instead of isolating ourselves in church buildings each week as we display our joy, we need to be the picture of Christ all day and every day. We need to walk among others, infected as we are, and allow the infection to spread to all we touch in a day.

Do I need to say it? The books like the one I mentioned and the legalistic views we face daily would and have, in the past, boxed the infection of God into a building hidden away from the public needing to "catch a whiff" of godliness. Yes, my fourth suggestion is to allow ourselves to spread the infection.

May I be so bold as to alter the words of Jesus and declare "go forth and INFECT the world!"

Sorry, but another thought entered my mind as I wrote what was supposed to be the LAST sentence in this blog. Infection and disease never seem to take exactly the same path and so our goal should not be to CONTROL the infection, but rather simply spread the infection and allow God to follow whatever path He has chosen for the individual.

Does God Exaggerate?

2010-10-07T13:14:00.004-05:00

"for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23 NIV

"...death came to all men, because all sinned-" Romans 5:12 NIV

"But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God" Hebrews 10:12 NIV

"Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself." Hebrews 9:26 NIV

Not sure what started me thinking today but I remembered my brother telling me something to the effect that there was no "unforgiven" sin in the world. It may have been stronger than I remember and he may have said there is no longer any sin. Then, again, I may simply be out of my mind and if so, this is simply my current thinking which needs further evaluation as I look to grow spiritually.

One of the verses above says that Christ offered his sacrifice to forgive all sin and then sat down at the right hand of God. Another says to do away with sin after appearing once for all.

I know I am often speaking before thinking but my current belief system is one believing my sin as a Christian is forgiven even if I fail to "officially" ask for the forgiveness. If I was driving down the road speeding to get to Abilene this past Saturday morning and running off the road I killed myself (actually my wife was the one "officially" reminded to drive the speed limit), I do not think I would be condemned for speeding and breaking the law. My family will be my best defense if I ever get a ticket for speeding because I usually drive below the speed limit. Just for the sake of this blog, however, God probably already knew I would be speeding if it is truly the case and I believe the sacrifice of Christ would have already forgiven the sin.

Is this the case? Has all sin been forgiven? The bible seems to say this and yet it is not something I hear regularly taught by other Christians. In fact, I usually hear the opposite and many would have me perish due to the sin I commit later today or even tomorrow and fail to make the "official" request for forgiveness. I can't help but wonder if the Holy Spirit (God) was exaggerating when giving the words in the writing above or is it possible, even likely (like so many other things) my understanding is skewed by human reasoning impressed upon me as a child.

While I never gave as much attention to my writing in school as I now wish might have been the case, I seem to remember the concept of returning to what you started with as you wind things down and prepare to make a conclusion on your thoughts. The first quote above has to do with all have sinned and fallen short and in 53 years of life, I have probably not gone two weeks (while involved with a church congregation) without hearing this phrase used and yet I am not sure I actually know anyone who believes this statement the way I read. If the statement is accurate, then all have sinned. Using the "official" thinking I was brought up with, "how hard can it be to see what is actually said. Anyone with a brain can see it says all and all means EVERYBODY!"

Almost in the same breath, I can hear someone saying, "and the wages of sin is death" (most don't believe this either). I guess I could be accused of starting controversies like Timothy was warned about in the letter from Paul but if you want to see some people squirm over the discussion of all just bring up the "unforgiven" sin of a child or mentally handicapped person. Suddenly, I/you are faced with the non-biblical teaching of some not being accountable for their sin (if they even believe these individuals have sinned). Being faced with challenges like this one has helped me move past the idea of needing an answer for everything.

I continue to desire answers and wanting these questions answered from a biblical position, the idea of no one being accountable for his/her sin is much more reasonable than some of us being accountable and some sins being condemning in nature because we fail to "officially" ask for forgiveness. Of course, this brings up another question of what actually separates us from God at judgment. If we are not faced with our condemning sin, how can any be lost?

Just my opinion (like everything else) but I currently think it is the choice we make to be like God. The choice, to have the loving heart (nature) of a child. Then again, it may not be the nature of a child but rather the nature of God ever so present in the child when Jesus told us of those who would inherit the kingdom!

Who Then Can Be Saved?

2010-10-05T09:32:00.003-05:00

The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." Mark 10:26-27 NIV

While I hope the kids in chapel got something out of the message this morning, I saw something entirely different from what was taught. Concerning the rich man coming to Jesus and asking what he must do to inherit eternal life, the message I have been taught all of my life was taught this day in chapel. Yes, the message of all of us having something we put before God is a good message and one I think is represented in the bible. This morning, I saw how "off track" we can be when we try to take more from a story than is said. In the last post, I mentioned some of the things one could draw from the story of the rich man and Lazarus and man has taken more from the story than the concept of us not being able to change who we are after this life is over.

This morning, I considered how we also make more of the rich man coming to Jesus and asking about eternal life. The man asks the question we all ask at some time in our lives because we would like what Jesus has to offer. We go to the bible and make it a rule book because we want to have control over our destiny. We/I grew up believing I was responsible for "working out my own salvation."

As I look at Mark 10, I see the same story of "what must I do to be saved" and Jesus gives a simple answer. There is nothing humanly possible for you to do that will save yourself. The rich man in this story had kept all of the commandments and I can see those disciples in the crowd thinking, "man this guy has it down." When Jesus says that it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, it absolutely crushes the spirit of all those listening because this man is a gleaming example of all that is RIGHT!

We have worked hard in my faith heritage to be RIGHT. We have worked hard to be like the rich man and I'm not talking about building wealth but rather building upon the correctness of what we do. Jesus has the answer for all of us. You can't be right enough to get there.

Yes, it is impossible to enter the kingdom of heaven from a human position of being RIGHT. The great thing is that with the GRACE of GOD, It's A SNAP!

What Would You Give To Be Immortal?

2010-10-03T14:50:00.006-05:00

...God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen. 1 Timothy 6:15-16 NIV

Just recently, I was in a devotional and heard the comment made that we were going to live forever and so we needed to be with God. The basis for this plea comes from the belief we possess an immortal soul which will either spend all of eternity with God in heaven or spend all of eternity without God being tormented in hell.

There are still a few people I know who are surprised to discover I am not party to the belief of the wicked spending all eternity being tortured. In fact, I would guess the majority of those I am around believe differently than myself. In my reasoning, I have little problem with those having this belief but I think there may be a problem with not wanting to examine what the bible says on this topic.

I come from a heritage where many are still fighting the bondage caused by simply agreeing with the belief system formulated and held coming out of the reformation. We have had those in the past who, without thinking for themselves would turn to a commentary in order to form their belief and the commentary turned to for the "proper" belief had to come from one of the primary leaders in the Church of Christ heritage so the "correct" information would be learned.

When I started questioning some of the concepts I have been taught in my youth growing up in the churches of Christ, the idea concerning the wicked not being tortured for all of eternity was foreign to me and I was sure I would find no person within my own faith heritage believing such nonsense. Oddly, the curiosity following my thoughts led me to discover this topic is far from being decided within our own group and there are many on each side of the subject.

I mentioned earlier how I did not have a problem with someone believing differently from me and yet, I think there may be a problem with not wanting to examine the issue. I am not sure reformation is a process ever meant to cease and yet the attitude towards learning is often one of having arrived. In other words, I know about God and I know what the bible says and so there is nothing new I can learn seems to be a dangerous mentality. As I read, discuss and consider various topics, I find the eternal nature of God and all He has given to be exciting and I wonder what happens to us when the excitement of learning comes to an end.

I told my preacher this morning how I appreciated him because he stimulated my mind to think on God and all He has done for His creation. I would hope all of us would desire to stimulate the thinking of others toward God and I hope we all believe God is thrilled when we find success in this area.

As I consider the verse above, I am amazed, first of all, how anyone can consider themselves to possess immortality. The passage seems to read how only God is immortal. In fact, I think most of us have grown up wishing to have immortality or supernatural power. We find in the first temptation of Adam and Eve the lie of them being like God if they eat of the fruit.

We learn in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." When discussing the topic of our end being one of eternity with God or eternity being tortured, I like to turn this verse around and remind people they are saying the wages of sin is eternal life. I find it very comforting to know the hope we have for eternity is that we will receive eternal life. We will receive immortality! The wicked get no eternal life but they get DEATH!

I don't have all of the answers and I promise I will never get to the point where I have any more than a belief or opinion based upon where I am in my path to eternity right now. There are two passages in the bible giving me some trouble with this concept but most have only read far enough to come back with one challenge to this idea of the wicked being destroyed in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Yes, even with my understanding of this passage, I still have some problem with the wording (I would also like to know what was going through the minds of those making translation which causes me problem).

Without going into great detail, I'll mention some of the teachings from the parable in Luke 16. Yes, I believe it to be a parable or teaching tool used by Christ and not a true story depicting torture for all of eternity. This passage teaches 1. a judgment of the wicked and righteous prior to the final judgment (two judgments instead of one. 2. angels carried the righteous to Abraham's side and the wicked are buried (no burial for the righteous). 3. we are taught that communication will existed between the righteous and wicked. 4. we are taught that Abraham is in control (not God). 5. we are taught that the judgment is based upon whether we have good things now or bad things now (no love or grace from God and not even merit earned salvation or loss. and 6. we are taught that the wicked and righteous continue to live in the presence of each other for all eternity.

I didn't refer back to the various writers I have read on this topic, but in my current reasoning, I find it hard to accept eternal torment of the wicked from this passage and not accept all of the other teachings and yet I think I would be eternally barred from speaking in class if I claimed all of the teachings in this text to be the word of God.

I hope to get the chance to open this topic up for study in an adult class some time soon but first we have to get past the tradition of our heritage to only repeat from what has happened before. Our tradition is one of being reminded of that we know and not one of being challenged to learn something new!

After all, if you bring a "new" message you must be an apostate because there is nothing new for me to learn.

Hopefully one of the topics to be written about in the near future will have something to do with our knowledge that instrumental music was added to our worship some time between 300 and 500 AD. I didn't look up those dates from our official church doctrine writings and so the date range is used. I was surprised this past week or so to discover congregational singing was added to the church at the time of Martin Luther! Now you also know that instruments have been with us for over 1500 years and congregational singing has only been with us a mere 500 years!

Racism In The Church

2010-08-01T14:58:00.003-05:00

When I typed the title of this blog into the space, I immediately thought of what might be going through someone's mind when they see the title and yet I don't think I'm going down the path one might think. In the previous blog, it was mentioned how family members do not have the right to kick brothers and sisters out of the family and this morning while sitting in class, I considered how different some of our families have become over the years and how common it is to make adoptions outside of our own race. Yes, even if you are a member of a family where parents choose to adopt someone so totally different your race is not even the same, you do not have the option of kicking them out. In fact, as parents, we can adopt who we choose and make our personal families as diverse as we like because we are the parents and make the decision; not the siblings.

I said I wouldn't go down the implied path so on to the point. Our racism in the church is one of doctrine. In reality, one or the other is not good enough because of the doctrine believed and as a child, I was taught we need to test the spirit of those claiming to be the same "race" as myself because they might be a wolf in sheep's clothing. The bible passage prompting my thoughts this morning came from 1 John 4 and here is verse two and three from this chapter.

This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

Mankind is not satisfied with God's qualifications for recognizing the spirit and so we must come up with our own. It sort of reminds me of the "all men are created" aspect penned at the formation of our country. We didn't accept but one race as part of the "all men" and in fact, we also excluded women from this aspect of what was being penned. Fortunately, we matured past our weakness and not only accepted women but also the various races coming to our country. In fact, our country wishes to "champion" the idea of freedom because God created us equal.

In our church congregations, there are many coming into a maturity where our freedom in Christ is being championed. How sad it has become to realize how living in a land where religious freedom is shouted from "sea to shining sea," we have actually been party to teaching anything short of bondage.

Our heritage is one of each group declaring the "restored church" and binding the desires of a few on those who might want a relationship with Christ. Rather than teach (disciple) another individual into a relationship with Christ, we have focused on "branding" others with our mark of the "true" church and often leave the development of a relationship to the individual. At least they are allowed to grow their relationship to Christ according to our standard doctrine (the right doctrine). We forget about the test God has given us in the recognition of Jesus Christ. It has not been appropriate to call a person a brother in Christ if they do not agree with our doctrine.

I have a very close brother from another denomination and having invited him to come worship with me, I anticipate the "racist" remarks that might be made behind my back should I introduce him as my brother in Christ from the Methodist church.

If this had happened in my presence some ten years ago, I would have looked for an opportunity to pull Mike aside and say something like, "don't you know he is not a Christian because..." I might be nice to him but I would begin to question the brotherhood of Mike and possibly even approach the elders about whether Mike should be part of the family since he obviously does not know what is required to be a brother.

I hope he takes me up on the offer because we all need a place to call home and a place to join with the family. I also hope my brothers and sisters, more like me (I know that's a stretch), will recognize they are still not in charge of the family. If he calls Jesus his brother because Jesus came in the flesh and his fruit is good, who am I to say he can't stay in the family.

Racism rears it's ugly head in many fashions but simply stated, racism is more than the color of our skin. Racism is the requirement of others being exactly like me or else they are not "fit" for the group.

The Fight Is Still On!

2010-07-25T21:36:00.002-05:00

"Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

Mark 10:9 NIV

I'm not always sure that people are glad to know they have inspired me to write something but in the lesson today I was once again led into a path of thinking about who we are and what we have been about in the course of our history. Of course, the verse listed above has always been used in conjunction with a wedding and today I was given the opportunity to consider the verse in light of the church.

It was mentioned that we are quick to claim that God is responsible for adding people to His church and not man. My additional thoughts went to consider the aspect of us being God's family and heirs with Christ.

When considering the nature of families, those of us with brothers and sisters know how fighting between siblings is a normal part of family life. Many times the fights even continue into adulthood and create additional problems with grandchildren and other members of the extended family. With families joining other families through marriage or adoption, problems often expand into unworkable situations. Oddly, those with the greatest success accept each other for who they are and realize they are all part of the same family.

I imagined tonight what it might be like if the parents of each child born into a family dictated that each sibling be exactly alike to remain part of the family. How impossible it would be for the second, third and subsequent children all to be told. "That is not the way your older sister does things and so you must be exactly like her;" effectively telling them they can have no individuality.

As I grew up in the church, it was not stated this way but we were taught what to believe, and not how to read and think. We were told this is the right way to do things and all of the verses were established in our thinking to support every tradition we had in the church. Obviously, when all the scriptures are established to mean what we are taught they mean, the church is "following" the bible in all things done.

The concept of being with like-minded people is thrown out and being of EXACT mind is taught so no error can exist. In the church (God' family) there is no room for individuality because only one way is right and anyone not exactly on the same pattern is not following the bible and lost (a wolf in sheep's clothing).

I'm sure in many families, the idea of wanting to get rid of a family member or kick them out of the family might often become a desire of the fighting children but this is not an option. I can imagine going to my mother or father and saying we need to take ???????? and drop them off somewhere in the woods far away from home because they just don't work in our family. Yeah, if my brother and sisters might come across this the ? marks refer to you but in all honesty, you probably would have had a greater chance of getting mother and daddy to take me out and drop me off since discussion already took place about what to do with me.

I don't want us to miss the great fact present in these comments, however, that brothers and sisters don't get to decide who is a member of the family. If our parents want to adopt another child we get no say and it is only the sick parents who get rid of their kids and not those who are trying to look like Christ.

As kids, we will still fight. We tell our brothers and sisters you are doing that wrong and dad is going to be angry with you. As I typed this sentence, I wonder if anyone has ever stated "and dad is going to kick you out of the family." Our parents might say I'm going to leave you out of the will but just what takes place before a parent leaves a child out of the will? I believe the answer lies in the child refusing to have anything with the family and withdrawing him or herself and not the parents not having anything to do with the child.

Yes, we have the ability to walk away from the family of God. We have the ability to place ourselves in a position where it is impossible for the Father to extend an inheritance to us but we don't have the right to decide who the Father extends His gifts.

I doubt if "kids" will ever get a grasp on the idea that we don't run the family regardless of how much energy we expend trying to take over and I guess we will be fighting among ourselves until Christ comes and puts an end to all of this.

I would hope and pray those of us having had families might learn from our own families and realize how happy we become as parents when the kids are all getting along with each other; they can do no wrong during this time. How much more our Father in heaven will be pleased with us when we all play well with each other and honor the family with good treatment of our brothers and sisters. Fights do nothing more than sadden our parents and fights between those calling God Father only sadden the one who gave everything so He can live with His family!

Food Fight At The Table

2010-07-18T08:54:00.005-05:00

"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies."
Amos 5:21

Having just finished reading "One Bread, One Body" by Al Maxey, I thought of the scripture above. The reason behind God despising everything done by His people, was not the perfection or lack of perfection they had in the performance of their acts of worship, but rather the fact of their hearts being far from Him and in my opinion the mockery they made of God by simply going through the motions.

In Al's book, there is a constant calling of God's children back to the family and the reminder that God looks at the hearts of His people. While I did find one use of the word must at the bottom of page 166, I do not believe Al ever intended to leave the reader with the idea he believes we really "must" ask the questions set forth. Instead, in many examples he reminds the reader of things being to his personal taste and not a condition of Christian fellowship. I openly admit that I am a biased reader of Al's and I told him in a message that this was so because what he writes MAKES SENSE!

He starts his book with a poem "Help Them Be One" which I intend to read before communion sometime in the near future. He then goes on to discuss the many abuses and traditions that have crept into something meant to simply have us remember the gift of our Savior on the cross. One of the comments made more than once in his book is the fact that we have often been the children having a food fight at the Lord's table. I would add that he does not limit all of his comments to the Lord's table but we can easily be led to believe that we have not only been having a food fight at the table but have been a pretty bad group of children as we look for ways to fight with our brothers and sisters in God's "house." One expression I learned from Al in some of his writings has been that those with the same Father are brothers and sisters not twins!

The first chapter of this book is worth the purchase if you read no further but I'm sure some of the things will catch your eye and cause you to finish the book. In the Table of Contents he calls the chapter "Brief History of the Lord's Supper" and even though I'm not a theologian, I think it may be the best "Reader's Digest" version of the the history you can pick up anywhere. He covers the many views of what the emblems were actually thought to be and the powers they were believed to possess in the chapter and yet with a simple mind, the item that caught my attention most was the idea that some thought we might cause an infestation in heaven if we allowed crumbs from the bread to be dropped and possibly eaten by mice!

In contrast to the last book I read on the Lord's Supper, I believe Al came up with seven purposes he perceived for the Lord's Supper instead of just one (off the top of my head). In my thinking, the basic premise was that the concept of who Christ was and what he had done for us is more important than the emblems on the table. Having seen in the brief history that we have been having this argument for over 2000 years now, I expect his book will not solve the fighting at the table. I do believe he realizes this but I pray, as does he, that we will at least get a few more children to the table together celebrating God's gift to mankind without the fight.

One of my favorite sections dealt with the timing arguments concerning the celebration of Passover by Jesus and His disciples prior to the actual Passover. I don't know how many times I have read over this section in the life of Christ but I did not realize his presentation and eventual death took place on the day of preparation which means he celebrated Passover on the WRONG DAY. Since I don't believe Jesus sinned, the day must not have been as important as what was done with His disciples. He also discusses the four cups on the table and the controversy this should bring to those who must defend the idea of silence in the bible actually forbidding a practice. It may be in another chapter but the discussion of the question concerning the use of Jewish or Roman time when Paul stayed over at Troas was exceptional. I have thought and mentioned for a few years now how Paul obviously shared communion with the Christians on Monday morning before leaving and with his explanation, I am even more convinced of this being fact.

In one of the chapters, Al devotes time to a request he got from a reader (there are a few of these in the book) concerning the desire of her daughter to have communion at her wedding instead of the unity candle. His response was superb and if I was not already married, I believe I would have communion offered not only to my bride and I, but also the rest of those with me. My only change would be to do so during the meal following the wedding. The way he wrote in the book would be the words used prior to the offering of communion because I don't think it could be said any better.

The book is almost over by the time he introduces the history behind the communion token and yet being near the end of the book was great because the choice was made by Campbell not to use his token because the clergy was deciding who was worthy (my brief interpretation so read the book). A constant theme throughout the book was the idea that he, you and I may have preferences for what we like but we are not charged with the ability to decide who is and is not our brother. Our freedom is a wonderful thing and freedom is not bound by traditions.

The prayer of Jesus for our unity is mentioned several times and while he didn't say it in so many words, I am amazed that we use even one ounce of our strength and time to condemn someone who says they love God. We a tremendous number of people who fully stand against God and yet we (those in many fellowships but mainly mine of the past) want to condemn others claiming to love God to hell while we ignore and stay clear of the evil spread by those claiming no association with God at all.

While it may be a strange concept, I believe we adopt the Father and once adopted, He fully adopts us! To the best of my ability, I am going to accept those who have adopted the Father as my sibling and make every attempt to share His love rather than condemn their individual actions.

In closing, let me encourage you to purchase a copy of this book One Bread, One Body and support Al in his writing. If you are not a follower of his weekly Reflections, I would also encourage to to contact him and get on the email list. Once he has you in his list, the effort to send you a copy takes no more time than it does to send to several thousand others. You are the one missing out if you choose not to read.

You can find his previous Reflections at http://www.zianet.com/maxey/Reflect2.htm

and here is the information once again for his book. I already know you will enjoy both!

One Bread, One Body
An Examination of Eucharistic
Expectation, Evolution and Extremism
A 230 page book by Al Maxey

Order both books from Publish America at:
www.publishamerica.com or (301) 695-1707

Fundamental Principles?

2010-07-12T10:11:00.003-05:00

Recently, I was speaking with one of my good friends and he mentioned a book to me he referenced in a lesson. The book was "Fundamental Principles of Serving The Lord's Supper" by Jonathan Walker Sr.. I think he knew the mentioning of the book would get my blood flowing a bit faster but I don't think he considered this flow of energy would cause me to order the book. After ordering the book, I sent an email to Al Maxey asking if he had heard about the book and he informed me of his latest book which, after ordering a book, I believed might fit right into my biased opinion of what is still taking place in the church, was all the encouragement I needed to order one I believed might actually be a blessing to myself and others. I have not received Al's book yet but based on his past level of writing, I will go ahead and recommend the readers ordering one for themselves. I will also read and make comments about his book when I get it in the mail.

My argument against the book by Jonathan Walker Sr. does not challenge his desire to bring the Lord's Supper to a higher criterion and deeper understanding that will strengthen the congregation through spiritual encouragement. My reading of the book also gave me some short comments which I might find useful at sometime in the future when I have the opportunity to speak prior to the Lord's Supper.

My disgust with the book is found primarily in the two areas of (1), "the need for a guidebook concerning the preparation, implementation, and supervision of communion" and (2), his decision, not the instruction of the bible, to preface many statements with the word "must." I won't waste the readers time with how I feel about a "rule" book to follow for the Lord's Supper but I fully believe it reflects the church I grew out of and the need to do church in the RIGHT WAY! Someone might as well instruct me the the right way to love someone or accept love from someone because I fully believe an instruction manual on the Lord's Supper is nothing more than an attempt to instruct me on the proper way to feel and be loved by my Savior.

There is much more to be said about the "must" statements and in an effort to keep this post as short as is possible, I will, for the most part, show the quote and allow the reader the choice of accepting the statement as a God required must.

The first statement I noticed can be found on page 41. "The leaders of a congregation must pay close attention to the sequence of events in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 1 Corinthians in relation to the Last Supper of Christ." While I see nothing wrong in the examination of these passages, there is no indication from God concerning the testimony becoming some sort of "guide" for the right way to partake of the the bread and cup.

In the same paragraph, he then states, "In addition to the sequence of events, there must be an equal emphasis placed on the overall preparation for and the implementation of the Lord's Supper." When making reference to the comments made prior to the communion, he states, "the comments must focus on at least one of the four scriptures quoted above." I find myself able to accept certain words of it might be a good idea or I would like to recommend but instead, we find the writer using the word must. As I mentioned earlier, some of the suggested comments provided in the book are quite good.

Following the examination of the bible passages mentioned, he then makes two more statements. "One could deduce that blessing or praying over the bread is a principle that must be adopted before distributing it to the partakers...Moreover, Jesus Christ has furnished a fundamental guideline to an orderly communion-bless the bread before it is provided to partakers.

Not necessarily using the word must, the author makes the following statement on page 44. "Also, a Christian's sole purpose is to reflect on and remember Jesus Christ when partaking in this ceremony." I would guess the process of examining the body "must," therefore, take place prior to the blessing of the bread and distribution to the partakers. In his concluding comments of chapter 3, the author reminds the reader, "Also, a communion prayer is not optional, but rather, it is essential before the bread and cup are distributed to the partakers." He goes on to say that Jesus Christ furnished the best example and while I have no problem following an example of Jesus, it is the will of man making an example more than an example.

Chapter 4 deals with the implementation of the Lord's Supper and we are told, "The communion servers must plan and rehearse the event in all aspects." When referencing the disciples traveling with Jesus prior to the Passover meal, he states, "a congregation must "make ready" the Lord's Supper prior to the start of worship." While I think most of us would agree it is not a bad idea, I'm not sure where the must comes in to play.

The following statements are taken from the discussion of the communion table layout and the positioning of servers on the communion table (I think most of us would rather have those serving communion be at the table instead of on the table but we all know what is meant).

"Because the bread is normally consumed first, the tray containing the bread should be placed in between the cups." I'm not sure where "normally" came from since we have already been told the sequence of the communion is very specific.

"The Christian assigned to preside is located at the center of the communion table or in the middle of the bread and cup." "those who oversee the Lord's Supper can determine if the active speaker will serve the communion or remain inactive during this duty." A microphone is necessary if the active speaker is positioned on the same level as the servers or when the servers are assigned to bless the bread and cup."

In discussing the service of the communion to the partakers, the author tells us, "Moreover, the servers must use both hands and lightly release the communion tray when it comes to handing off the tray to a member. However, the server should keep at least one hand underneath the tray until the server is confident the tray is firmly in the hands of the member." He goes on to remind the server of the need to make this happen even when there is a tray in each hand.

Ending chapter 4, the author lets us know of the proper way to end service, "Consequently, the communion should be closed with a simple statement such as, "This concludes the Lord's Supper" so that visitors and members have a sense that a new segment of worship will occur."

Chapter 5 deals with the oversight of the communion and opens with, "There must be one member assigned to oversee the preparation and implementation of the Lord's Supper to achieve a higher-caliber communion." A few more comments are provided below from this section.

"The process must be in writing as a reference guide for the servers and can be provided in outline format."

"Therefore, the communion may comprise of the following elements: comments at the communion table, communion hymns, prayers over the bread and cup, distribution of the Lord's Supper, and a closing communion hymn."

"A congregation must establish a worship plan that addresses each part of a worship service from announcements to closing prayer." Anyone see formula written all over this?

The required outline from above, has the following elements:

1. a written procedure regarding how the Lord's Supper is managed and how the process is integrated into the communion.
2. A plan that specifically itemizes the assigned tasks and who will be performing the tasks.
3. A summary of the executable steps within a worship plan or communion procedure.
4. A document allowing the worship coordinator to monitor the execution of the communion process.
5. The name of each member assigned to worship duty, which includes communion servers.

"As a courtesy, the servers should (nice use of word) arrive twenty minutes prior to worship service to confirm assignments."

Chapter 6 deals with the comments made at the communion table and we are told, "The active speaker is charged with preparing comments-days in advance-and reading the comments to the congregation as a form of reflecting on Jesus Christ."

Additionally, "If the active speaker reads scriptures, the passage must be short and concise, but directly related to the remembrance of Jesus Christ."

"The Lord's Supper is a separate worship event from contribution or a sermon; therefore, a verbal separation must be maintained. When the communion and collection are consecutive in the worship service, it may be confusing to some visitors, so it would be worth stating, "This concludes the Lord's Supper. Now we take up the collection."

While several appropriate comments are provided for speakers, the authors, seemingly concerned with confusion of various aspects of a worship service, often mixes the apparent requirement of baptism as necessary to partake of communion. While this has become a common tradition of my fellowship, there is no reason to believe all who love and cherish the gift of God in sacrificing his son should not partake and I believe it can be a great teaching time for our children.

He does mention, "So we gather here on the first day of the week-just as Jesus and the apostles did-to break bread and drink of the vine in remembrance of Jesus Christ's death." I'll have to look that one up because I don't remember Jesus meeting with the apostles on the first day to partake. He does come short of stating that the first day of the week is the only appropriate day but I believe it to be his belief from what is written.

All of this can be most frustrating to those who have been freed from the regulation of men to our time together but things like this written in 2009 serve as a constant reminder that we have not yet entirely broken free from our heritage and sadly, the appreciation of so precious a gift has been reduced by many to the "fundamentals" rather than the richness of our enjoyment.

While I look forward, yes with a biased expectation, to Al's book arriving, I hope the reader is able to recognize this book is written in the tradition of man and not the Law of God.

I also hope the reader might join me and order Al's book. The information is provided below.

One Bread, One Body
An Examination of Eucharistic
Expectation, Evolution and Extremism
A 230 page book by Al Maxey

Order both books from Publish America at:
www.publishamerica.com or (301) 695-1707

How Smart Do I Have To Be?

2010-06-14T07:30:00.005-05:00

I am not sure how many people struggle with this question but it is one I find hard to dismiss and which continues to force its way back into my thoughts.

As an educator, I do not feel strange telling others how our education begins shortly after that first breath and though some people seemingly bring and end to their education at some point, I believe their level of understanding and education continue to grow until they take their last breath.

Having been raised in the church, I was taught or either felt I was taught to believe I existed in my early years without any need of the blood of Jesus (this was never taught in these words). As I grew older, this concept changed and I was told "you know better than that," and I was taught that those who knew better (education) were sinning and the "wages of sin was death." This teaching went on to convict me of my sin and remind me of my need to come in contact with the blood of Jesus. Eventually, I was told, "you have to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins" if you want to be covered with the blood of Jesus and I was "obedient." Later, I even took this responsibility upon myself and even encouraged those who had not been baptized for the right reason (education) to complete the baptism once again for the "right" reason (I have since considered I may have been asking those in the RIGHT to participate in what I only considered to be "right").

Recently, I have been reading Eternity In Their Hearts by Don Richardson and with the thoughts from this book in my mind combined with the thoughts from our lesson Sunday morning on the Holy Spirit, I was reminded how I don't think SALVATION is our educational issue (Just a note, but I paused for maybe 45 seconds thinking of how to put it and I left it as thought). Yes, my Christian education taught me how, once entrusted with the knowledge of God and what one needed to do to be saved, I was responsible for taking salvation to the rest of the world. Without me, God's plan to save the world could be frustrated. I now realize how this understanding might be the very definition of arrogant. I might be a disappointment to God and I have definitely failed Him at times but I am not capable of FRUSTRATING His plan. I will also add how I do not think I am capable of frustrating his plan with any individual.

I often find myself seeming to be describe a situation negating the importance of missionaries and yet this is most distant to my thinking. I want to do nothing more than exalt and lift all who have chosen and will choose to be missionaries for God and I am thrilled (also a bit fearful) to see my youngest daughter have this goal in her heart. However, I do think the concept of missionaries needed to take salvation to the lost is a bit misguided (off track).

In the book mentioned above, the author makes it clear how the idea/concept of taking the message of God to other peoples has existed since the 12th chapter of Genesis. I do not think this mission has ever ceased and yet I do believe we have been "reformed" into thinking the purpose of the mission has changed and our participation is much more important.

Lest I get too long with these comments, I believe salvation to be the work of God. I believe the Holy Spirit is living inside of every last person recognized by God as belonging to His family and guiding them to make righteous choices in their lives. I also believe the Holy Spirit is working on everyone who is not currently recognized as a member of God's family to convict them of their sin and encourage them to change direction. In other words, it is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit to instruct/educate people as to "what they must do to be saved" and not MIKE. My purpose is to tell the story of God!

Yes, like Abraham and so many others throughout history, I am to continue with my specific portion of God's plan to tell someone else of all that God has done. Some of us may only reach a few with greater knowledge of God and others might reach thousands or millions.

At this point in my life, I have come to believe and accept God is in control of everything. I believe God (Holy Spirit) will successfully bring salvation to the world and offer it to every last individual. In my life and the life of those who choose mission work, I hope others will learn of what God has done for them so they can take joy in knowing of His work.

To answer my own question, I don't believe man is capable of answering it for each individual. I do believe the Holy Spirit is more than capable of bringing each person the answer and making sure obedience is possible for everyone and not just those capable of man's wisdom.

In reality, I do not believe the choice to be covered by the blood of Jesus is one we make through the process of education about God but rather the choice made in our hearts to be like God because He has made the difference.

Man's wisdom will never be sufficient to make sure we are obedient enough for salvation so lets forget about our misguided thoughts of SAVING people and simply continue telling the story of what He HAS DONE!

One Body

2010-05-17T08:42:00.010-05:00

The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it, if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. (From 1 Corinthians 12)

I hope the fact that I have not been writing in a while does not mean my life has been stagnate and lacking growth but only a reflection of getting everything done at school for the kids. One of the things I am blessed with each week is getting to hear a great speaker in our congregation. I call him a great speaker because every time I hear a lesson, my mind is challenged to think and consider all that God has done in the past and is doing right now in our lives. While I would not even assume he desires for my thoughts to wonder in the many directions my mind has taken, I know he loves to know he has engaged listeners each week. I trust that the Holy Spirit is involved with his lessons each week and also trust the Holy Spirit is leading my thoughts in the direction needed for my individual growth.

Oddly, I was not even present for the lesson leading to the thoughts coming from the scripture above. Due to this, I should probably not "quote" much from his lesson. We did have a discussion of the lesson in our Sunday night life group and I got the message "second-hand." The concept sending my thoughts into a spin came from his description of the "two side" comparisons of our brains and what motivates some of us to approach our Christian lives in one way or the other.

I have already stated my belief of the body of Christ being found throughout the many denominational names we see on buildings in our community and yet I never really considered how this variety might be a GOD DESIGN! Of course, those growing up within the same heritage as myself know how we have always declared denominations to be an abomination. This is also why so many in my fellowship are offended when someone associates those meeting in a building with the name "Church of Christ" with the word denomination.

Having visited many of the various denominations in and around the community, I am quick to recognize sincere devotion to God and our saviour Jesus Christ. I have found nothing other than people wanting their lives to reflect the light of Christ in all they do and yet for most of my life, I condemned what they were doing as evil and considered them adversaries of Christ because they were not like me. While there are still those within my fellowship stilling holding on to these beliefs, I am proud to say they are becoming fewer and fewer with each passing year. Effectively, we were considering ourselves the "head" and telling every other part of the body they were not only not needed but destructive to the body.

Having taken a little time to look inward on my local congregation, I see the same thing within the walls of one building I see demonstrated in the community. We have several life groups with differing names (denominations) and different focus of Christian activity. We have differing classes each Sunday and Wednesday. One of the groups on Wednesday night has named themselves (Christians In Action) and focus getting out to the community with Christ-like activities. Yes, it is perfectly ok for us to have a variety of names representing who we are and what we are doing for Christ just as long as we come to the building with "Church of Christ" on the sign.

Taking this focus back into the community, I see no problem with grouping Christians based upon the focus of Christ-like activity going on in each group. In fact, if we are serving Christ, the true head of the Church, then we are all part of the same body and necessary for the body to function properly.

When I look at the last part of the quote from 1 Corinthians above, I also see how the body suffers when any part of the body suffers. If we take a careful look at what has happened to Christianity over the past decade in our country and how many people are living without Christ in our communities, it is not hard to see how the failures of those in many denominations representing Christ have led to a distrust of Christianity (the body). Whether it is a preacher being caught in an adulterous affair, a television evangelist caught in criminal sting operation or a priest abusing young boys, we are all affected in a negative manner because of who we represent.

As I finished writing this last comment, I am reminded of a dear friend who discovered a cancerous tumor in his brain a few weeks ago and the comment that cancers survive the defenses of the body because the body does not recognize the cancer as being destructive. I think it is too bad we are quick to raise our weapons in the defense of tradition and effectively miss the cancer of Satan slipping in to eat away at all that is GOOD!

Our Baptismal Confession

2010-01-16T10:44:00.003-06:00

Having witnessed several baptisms in various denominations, I recognize the fact many groups do not take a public confession of the individual being baptized just prior to the act of baptism and so these few comments today only reflect the nature of what takes place on a regular basis in my own fellowship. While not responsible for what I write, my youngest daughter at Abilene Christian University gave me the idea for these comments and I am more than pleased to see her taking hold of her own faith and not simply mimicking the things told her in the past.

Most members of my fellowship expect and some might even raise their hand and say, "wait a minute. We have not heard his/her confession yet," if we were to take someone into the water for baptism without having them stand before the congregation and state their belief that Jesus is the son of God. I will not go into it at this time but most of the congregations I have been affiliated with over the years will ask women if they belief Jesus is the son of God so she can give the only acceptable yes. After all, it is important to remember women MUST remain silent in our worship services and the only allowable alteration to this "command" from God is when they join in the "song service" and admit they believe Jesus is the son of God.

Returning to the focus of my comments, I finally realized while talking to my daughter the problem with divisions in our fellowship has nothing to do with people "leaving" the truth of scripture behind, but rather our failure to adequately ask for the RIGHT CONFESSION!

It is not enough to know of the person recognizing Jesus as the son of God; the son of God who came and gave His life for our sin. Since the Church is obviously responsible for adding members to the body of Christ, we need to know more about their ability to match the "true" commands of God. We fail because we do not have them stand and confirm their displeasure of women praying in the service, instruments being used, a girl collecting the attendance cards, women serving communion to the membership and a myriad of other items demanded by those seeking to take the Lordship from Christ.

In my search of through the bible, I do not find the official creed of the Churches of Christ demanded by so many for fellowship and I am saddened these same people will even allow someone the opportunity of baptism and tell them their name is being written in the book without knowing they are "true believers."

I hope we will soon get to a point in our fellowship where we recognize our understanding of God does not position us as the official scribe for the Book of Life!

What IS Actually Stated?

2010-01-13T15:22:00.003-06:00

In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering , but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. Genesis 4:3-5 NIV

Still thinking of my "New Year's Resolution," I thought I might briefly mention one of the stories in the Bible where we have often taught more than is actually stated by the passage. I was reminded of this because my 7th grade bible class has been focusing on anger this week and our book uses the story of Cain and Abel to open our discussion for the week.

The author of the book makes a point to tell the reader why Cain's sacrifice was not acceptable to God. The reason given and the one I was brought up being taught was how Cain's sacrifice was of the soil and not a "blood" sacrifice (checking with some of my brothers and sisters tells me that this is not much of a belief any longer so BRAVO).

My question to those saying it was not acceptable because it was not a blood sacrifice seems pretty simple. Where does the passage tell us of this deficiency. From the quote above, we can suggest some possibilities but even our suggestions are little more than "my opinion." One suggestion might be how Cain offered "some" of the fruits and Abel offered the "fat" portion of his firstborn. As I read the passage, it looks like Abel offered the best of the best and Cain just took some of what he had and made an offering.

I told the kids how I almost get the feeling of Cain's sacrifice being in response to Abels offering and not something that he really desired in the heart to give. I then followed up with what has become our class statement and reminded them how this was "my thoughts" and not from a biblical statement.

Speaking to one of the other bible teachers between chapels, I mentioned how thankful I am for those who encouraged me to read for myself and not accept what I have been told "as truth." As I discover more and more of what has been taught to be without support in the bible, the fuel of excitement found in each new discovery brings a great sense of joy.

Much like our government, we have been weakened by accepting what we are told. As I witness the swelling tide of those excited about the message actually found in the bible, when they read for themselves, I can also hope (politically) to find people who will examine our country in the same light.

People like control and to control great masses of people, we need to have them believe we know what we are talking about. We only lose our control when people begin to think for themselves.

Further Defining Us As A Denomination

2010-01-03T17:45:00.007-06:00

As New Year's Resolutions go, we all seem to have a problem keeping them for very long and one of mine is to post shorter comments on the blog as they come to me. I love writing and when I get going it is often hard to stop short of 1000+ words.

My thoughts on this occasion were brought on by reading/scanning the Christian Chronicle. In one of the advertisements for the "official" listing of Churches of Christ in America, the company made a point to mention those Churches of Christ deleted from the registry. Richland Hills Church of Christ was one of the ones deleted and the specific reason stated does not matter since the point was made of them not adhering to the "official" creeds "accepted" by the Churches of Christ.

There are some who object to my use of the word denomination when referencing the Church of Christ because I have been taught that each congregation is autonomous. My heritage also created a belief in my earlier years regarding the name Church of Christ being the only "acceptable" name for those claiming to be true Christians.

When I think of those who have assembled the "official" listing of the Churches of Christ, I must draw certain conclusions from their statement of exclusion.

The first conclusion is that the Churches of Christ are not individual congregations autonomous to the rest of the congregations and "allowed" to make their own decisions. It is obvious in the advertisement each congregation calling themselves Church of Christ can only make decisions agreeable with the HIERARCHY defining the boundaries or creed for the Churches of Christ.

Another conclusion is that an official hierarchy for the Churches of Christ does exist and a church congregation should not be using the "official" name for the body of Christ if they do not wish to follow the official creed of the Church of Christ. This hierarchy is made up of those who have disowned those of our fellowship not following a pattern defined and created by man.

I guess I should keep at least one entry short and so I think you have the idea by now. May God help any of us who thinks we have an exclusive right to determine who and who is not a Christian. When we get right down to the main idea, I am convinced God ignores the name on the building where I meet with other Christians and can easily see the name of Him who is written on our hearts and guarantees our name being found in the Book of Life.

I am thankful that more and more Christians around our community are realizing and acknowledging the work of God in the lives of more people than those who meet at the "right" place. Yes, it has always been easy to see the demonstration of the Holy Spirit living in others once you take off the blindfold demanding exclusion.

Should We Look Like The First Century Church?

2009-12-24T10:27:00.002-06:00

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 1 Corinthians 9:22 NIV

I have just a few comments before Christmas and the end of the year. We finished a great series of lessons on the seven churches described in Revelation last night and as we were coming to a close, I realized how far off the path we have probably taken ourselves with a desire to replicate the church of the first century. In fact, I have come to the conclusion that if anyone from the first century was to recognize and feel "right at home" in our gatherings, we have most likely been a failure to God.

It is a simple question to ask but what have we become so that the message will be heard about our savior? In the year 2010 should we really be 33 A.D. Christians or should we be current with all of the 2010 scenario to be effective.

As I came into the holidays, I played in several performances that glorified the Lord of Lords and yet my fellowship was only casually involved as audience members to the work of others. I was pleased to see many of my congregation active at the Refuge along side the Baptist church in providing some Christmas joy but I am still saddened to see a few people desiring for no change within our congregation. It is as if some are simply saying, "I don't care about the lost" if it means I have to do anything different from what I have been doing my whole life.

Yes, it is sad , but the tradition of the Church of Christ in most places is still more important than the will of Christ in our lives. I am encouraged by those I see beginning to push the edge of their comfort zone and make advances for becoming anything needed so that we might bring the message of salvation to some. In 2010 I look forward to our congregation making a complete break from the bondage of tradition and moving forward in a manner glorifying Christ.

One thing planned for 2010 is already in the primitive planning stages as I contact other religious leaders in the Deer Park community. The plan is for us to have a Great Communion for Deer Park. I have already visited with another leader from another church in our community and we will be inviting other to plan this event for 2010. The idea will be to invite everyone calling themselves Christian to join together and partake of the wine and bread together as we remember and glorify God as brother and sister. For this one day, we will be united as one only behind our savior and not any of the denominational names declaring the "division" of God's church today. When visiting on this topic I have already been told of some who will not participate and my answer was that all will be invited and those who don't want to participate will not stop us.

Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hopefully we will all glorify God more in the year He has planned for us.

Missing Out On God

2009-12-08T15:37:00.006-06:00

During the past couple of weeks, I have been considering how many opportunities to connect spiritually with God have been missed. Over the years, I have played many pageants and Christmas programs for various churches and been part of an offering to those who sat in the audience. Most of the time, I was focused on trying to perfect my part in the whole orchestration and I never really considered every aspect of what was taking place during the offering (specifically of a spiritual nature).

This past Friday and Saturday I was playing with the Clear Lake Symphony and while I always enjoy the music, I looked up on the screen and took in the words of the selections we were playing. The setting of words to so many of the songs really spoke to me and when talking to those in the audience, I discovered how edified they were from the musical performance offered. I also realized those in the churches of Christ have never edified or lifted those who have souls called to life through music.

The rules and regulations fabricated by men in my heritage held all of those things important to my spritual health as sinful and deviant to honest Christianity. The saddest aspect of this realization comes from having played so much music written to glorify and honor God and those people not capable of seeing the value of the selections written. These musicans spend their lives with a single purpose of reaching the core of our spiritual needs with music to honor God and lift us to a position in our lives where we can be used to the glory of God.

I would guess I find myself in a position of needing prayers because my heart wants to respond in hate to those who do not have the ability to recognize the working of God in these musicians and allow them to meet the needs of so many brothers and sisters needing edification. Effectively, those who have taken the leadership away from Christ have made decisions for Christ and negatively impacted the health of our Lord's body.

I am glad to have passed the point of condemnation for those glorifying God with their gift of music and look forward to every opportunity I have to share the opportunities I know of in my life with others. Those looking for an opportunity only have to look to those churches in your area this week who are offering every sort of Christmas celebration to the community. I will be playing at Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston this weekend but I notice signs on nearly every church I pass acknowledging special plans to help those in the community celebrate the gift of salvation given so many years ago in the form of a baby.

I mentioned one thing causing saddness but I think the greatest spear thrown at our Christianity almost daily by those claiming to have everything right and do everything right, is the spear telling others that Satan is responsible all of the music bringing Glory to God and obviously taking us all to hell.

Enjoy your Christmas season because I have missed too many!

Partnered With God?

2009-11-24T12:22:00.004-06:00

who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 2 Timothy 1:9 NIV

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:10 NIV

There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? James 4:12 NIV

Over the past week or two, the idea of salvation has been churning in my thoughts and having spent time thinking about who is saved and who is not saved, I decided to share my current belief concerning our “mission” in God’s plan for the lost. As always, my thinking is heavily influenced by those I read and in a recent Reflection by Al Maxey, Quid Pro Quo Theology, I was able to better define my thoughts concerning “our part” in the plan of salvation. In Al’s Reflection, he also mentions and article by Dr. Garrett.

I really appreciate the work of Al Maxey and it looks like I need to begin reading more of Dr. Garrett. I mention this because both of these men have spent their lives in the study of scripture and their preparation comes from being in this field of study. My writing is usually off the top of my head and is basically the result of something I have been considering for some time. I find it important to place my thoughts in print as I make conclusions and come to my current position of belief. Hopefully, my beliefs will never get to the point of some I have been around over the years because some have not considered anything new in their belief for many years.

The title of this offering is “Partnered With God” and this past week when considering this thought, I even told people when it comes to saving the lost, we do not have anything to do with the salvation of another person. While I have heard the concept of God’s part and man’s part preached within my fellowship, I currently believe salvation to be something God has given and was planned, as mentioned in the quote above, before time began. I also believe Jesus came to save the lost and He is the one and only one responsible for the salvation offered to mankind.

I have mentioned in other comments how I believe every man, woman and child having lived and those who are still to come will have sufficient knowledge of God and Christ to be capable of responding to God with their heart in a way acceptable to receive the gift of salvation. Most of my years in the church have been spent defining the parameters of who is and who is not a member of God’s family and this was necessary because I/we felt a need or even a commandment of God to go out and SAVE the lost. The idea of all sin being forgiven on the cross was known and at the same time, foreign to us in our thinking. My mind accepted sin being forgiven, if and only if, I recognized the fact and responded in the appropriate manner to cover my sins with the blood of Christ.

Even as I type these words, I am still shackled by the official creed of the Churches of Christ and I am reminded of the writer asking how they shall know if no one preaches to them (my words). My training from childhood has been in the doctrine of each person being responsible for the salvation of another and it has been hard to accept God being responsible and me being nothing more than a tool of God in whatever He has planned.

I can hear the comments running through my mind expressing the sentiment of how many are lost because we have never reached them with the message of Christ. I can hear the burden of those in my past telling me how justified God is for condemning those who have not heard the message because they are sinners and the wages of sin is death. Ultimately, the reasoning results in millions of people having lived with no hope of salvation because MAN was a failure.

While I do not deny this is a possibility, I simply can’t accept God placing the success of His plan in the hand of a failure and in reality, His plan given to us in the bible says Jesus became man to take this burden upon Himself.

How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? 1 Corinthians 7:16 NIV

“Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.” John 5:34 NIV

He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.' Acts 11:14 NIV

After considering all just discussed, I think it is important to address so many of the scriptures, a few of which are quoted above, from which the idea of being burdened with this responsibility might have come. The quote from 1 Corinthians seems confusing and yet it reminds us of our inability to understand the saved or lost condition of those even in the close relationship of marriage. Over the years, I have been blinded by the idea of being responsible for salvation and failed to even notice how strongly the idea of not being able to know was being presented.

The message given to Cornelius wants to push us even deeper into the corner of responsibility because we see a comment made concerning the “message through which you and all your household will be saved.” Have I not mentioned in previous writing the belief of mine in Cornelius being saved before Peter ever got to him with this message?

One expression heard often in my past concerned the idea of scripture being twisted by those who were not “real Christians” or members of the Churches of Christ. Since many may not consider me a “real Christian,” I might as well admit the explanation is going to look pretty TWISTED. It might even look the same to those who do accept the validity of Christ working within my life and yet it is how I see what is being said!

I hope I have stated enough times the belief of Jesus completing His mission on the cross and being the only way for us to be saved. I have also stated before how I believe this gives God the ability to use the blood of His son to forgive any and all according to His plan whether it meets the definition of man or not.

The official doctrine of the Churches of Christ would claim, relative to Cornelius, the message brought by Peter would be heard and the response of him and his family to the message in belief, followed by confession and baptism would save him and all his household. Not being a bible scholar, like those mentioned above, I am looking at the words I have to consider and with the help and I believe guidance of the Holy Spirit in my life would ask a simple question. Could this passage not be saying he would simply be hearing of the one who came for him and would be responsible for his salvation on the day of judgment? In other words, When Peter comes to you, you will hear of the one who gave his life and through His blood you will be welcomed by the Father on that day. Read it again and possibly you will see it does not say man brought the opportunity of salvation but rather the knowledge of what is contained in the message. Notice also how Peter tells Cornelius he already knows the message. The only thing missing was knowledge of it including him on judgment day.

You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. Acts 10:36 NIV

All of this can easily come across as downplaying the role of missionaries in our society and some have even suggested it might be wrong to take the message of Jesus to other nations if they are already considered to be part of the family by God and covered by the blood of Jesus. The official Church of Christ doctrine tells me we are actually taking the message of condemnation to those who reject the message of Jesus if the message we take is not the vehicle by which they are saved.

While I constantly am reminded of how wrong I can be, I believe those becoming missionaries are taking something extremely valuable to those who never have known the name Jesus. In fact, just like Cornelius, we may be taking the message to just the right people. We may be taking the message to the family of God. I know this can sound strange but Romans 3:1-2 would have me believe the only advantage the Jews had over the Gentiles under the Law of Moses was in knowing the oracles of God. It did not make them more or less acceptable to God but only gave them the joy of knowing the promise.

Those of us who know our future with God, those who know there is now no condemnation for those in Christ, have the joy and peace capable of sustaining us through any trial. We have no fear of what will be since we know the end. Those without this message live their lives not knowing what will come next, if anything.

Even while accepting the decision God might have to use us as the “primary” source of responding to him appropriately, I believe we take JOY and we take PEACE!

Salvation is entirely the gift of God and not a burden placed on us where our failure might keep others from being saved.

Fear of What?

2009-11-18T08:56:00.007-06:00

I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass, (Isaiah 51:12)

There have been great things happening on Wednesday night with my congregation as we have begun a study titled "Who Turned Out the Lights." It has been encouraging and exciting to hear my brothers and sisters speak honestly as we consider the letters addressed to the churches in Revelation. Needless to say, this has not been a tradition of my fellowship and instead of honesty of thought, others like myself, often consider their thoughts carefully so they will speak only the things appropriately representing the consensus of our fellowship.

One of the greatest conflicts coming to my mind when I consider the fellowship of my heritage is the idea of making sure we FEAR God and keep His commandments. In reality, this idea can be found in the bible but I "fear" we take it too far in the demonstration of our faith. This concept has long ceased to be the fear of God and taken on a new life of its own. In our previous desire to make sure we keep the commandments of God, we have given birth to the idea of fearing men who apparently SPEAK for God.

I fully believe each of us is either standing with or against God as we live out our lives. Unfortunately, we have taken on the responsibility of defining who is and is not standing with God as we use our own understanding of what it means to be part of His family. We grow up through a process of learning causing us to accept an idea of what is right and wrong in service to our God and when we discover the freedom of Christ, it is difficult to break free of the bonds holding us hostage.

Not called such last Wednesday, the idea of being held hostage by fear was clearly demonstrated in our discussion. The fear being discussed was not the fear of God, but rather the fear of men and if we allow this to continue, Satan will have won a great battle against the forces of righteousness.

Many fears were mentioned but it was common to hear fears relating to what others think when we do something not commonly thought of as acceptable in our fellowship assembly. When my heart is moved in response to God, I often feared what will be said if I say or in some cases sing according to the response perceived in my heart. There have been men (elders) tell me not to sing during the time communion trays are being passed through the auditorium and yes, I am fully aware some people are uncomfortable with this happening. From what I can tell, this is probably tied to the traditions of our fellowship and no real understanding of the bible or God. At times, my heart begs to sing and even be joyful during the time of communion and my fear of what others will say or do has caused me to "respect" their position.

Oddly, my response should have nothing to do with their response and we should each honor God without fear of the reprisal from someone not capable of enjoying the freedom found in Christ. I was raised to believe one person doing something during our worship time was effectively forcing all to participate. If someone sings then all are singing and yet you only have to lead singing a few times before you realize a great many people do not sing on any given song. I used to criticize them for not raising their voices to God and now realize there is no reason for them to participate in some facet of the service not speaking to them. The argument has also been taken to ridiculous extremes when preachers have preached all are using instruments in a service if even one is using an instrument.

I believe my grandfather had it right when he told me to follow along when a prayer was offered and add my own thoughts to the prayer offering as they were guided by the person leading prayer. The usual response relative to singing during communion is born from the idea forbidding the mixing of the various acts of worship and will state singing during communion interferes with the prayers being offered up to God. Turn the statement around and we have the prayers interfering with the singing of a song.

The statement is actually a valid argument and those wishing to sing have, in the past, been refused the opportunity to sing because the official "creed" of the Churches of Christ only allowed prayer during communion.

I look forward to the day when none of this will matter to anyone in the congregation and each person will lift their hearts to God according to the gift given to them by the Holy Spirit. After all, personal expression to God is not something God instructs me to control in the lives of others. It is a difficult thing when we attempt to quit running the Christian lives of others but hopefully it will allow us to focus on our own lives and offer ourselves more fully to God.

I started out with fear and so I will end with fear. The greatest fear I believe having bondage over my fellowship for the majority of my life is the fear of LOSING OUR SALVATION. In the words of Joe Beam, "Forgiven Forever," I can still hear him say this is most likely not as easy as we have accepted in the past. He does not deny the possibility but we have lived under the concept of our salvation being lost as a PROBABILITY! He goes on to say, "if Satan can't take our salvation from us, then his next best job will be to make us as ineffective as possible!"

My current fear is the accuracy of his statement with respect to our church fellowship today and recognizing Satan may be winning the battle to make us all ineffective as we "pretend" to live a life with hearts devoted to God.

The Law of Moses and Worship

2009-11-11T22:02:00.003-06:00

October went by and I am sure that some may be pleased to see me disappear from blogging. For some reason, I felt a need to make sure my focus was on my preparation for class and the students I would be addressing. 7th grade bible class continues to be a source of joy and I love to hear what comes from the mind of those kids when they are allowed to express their thoughts in a hostile free environment. We focus on a different bible character each week and yet we still have plenty of time for "what do you think" in class. From one of our lessons, we have begun using the phrase biblical or non-biblical to preface points of our discussion. Not obvious to many I have grown up around and yet extremely obvious to 7th graders is the concept that a direct statement from God in the bible is biblical and a statement from me or the student concerning the meaning of something in the bible is usually non-biblical and only our own ability of reasoning.

I have enjoyed the first two lessons of our Wednesday night focus on the churches addressed at the beginning of Revelation called "Who Turned Out The Lights" and tonight as we discussed the church at Smyrna, I wandered off topic just long enough to consider something I am bringing up with very little thought. Indeed, you might just have to check for yourself because it is completely off the top of my head with no preparation spent going back to the Law of Moses for a refresher of what is written.

I came up with a simple question. What has the Law of Moses to do with worship in the Old Testament? As I briefly considered the topic and even asked a few people to make comments on the subject, I quickly got the answer I am currently thinking. NOTHING!

Possibly, a refresher is needed and I am definitely open to the reader who might post and give me an example I was to lazy to consider for myself. However, I believe the Law of Moses was given as instruction to the way God wanted His people to live. Some things required under the law might be considered worshipful and yet I don't see the Law of Moses as instructing the people of God in worship.

If the premise of my thought can be verified (which I currently think is the case), then the Law of Moses has nothing to do with worship and the instruction of worship in the Old Testament has nothing to do with the Law of Moses. I know I have mentioned before how I believe a person might currently find the Law of Moses of no value to our salvation and would also state how if the Law was "nailed to the cross" as was taught by my heritage then eliminating it from the bible for the purpose of our use today would still leave us with much information concerning God and His will for mankind.

Looking at this question, I simply believe the Law of Moses was the way of God given to His people requiring them to actually be 100% obedient and the New Testament gives us a new way of life where our perfection is given in Christ and our obedience is wrapped up in living a "failed" life as we attempt to transform ourselves into the likeness of Christ.

In closing, I believe the physical act of worship has never had anything to do with our salvation under the Old Law or the New Law. In the very words of Jesus, we are told the worship will not be on the mountain or in the temple but rather something new. Worship in spirit and truth will be the kind of worship fragrant and fully acceptable to God.

The "acts of worship" as we often describe them today are simply artificial and of no real value to God. The value of these acts is found in what they do for us in the form of encouragement to be Christ-like. The acts of worship possibly can't be described any better than in the Psalms and yet we argue over those things which our human reasoning can accept as acceptable.

I am reminded of how my grandfather carried a small New Testament and Psalms with him in his pocket. I have never seen it stated but believe the Psalms were thought to be important even though the rest of the Old Testament was "not needed" for our daily walk with Christ. Maybe someone will correct me with the true reasoning for the Psalms to be added to the New Testament but I currently believe it is because it instructs in all we need to consider as we daily walk with Christ.

The heart of David, a man after God's own heart, is modeled in Psalms for us so we can transform our heart to be one after God's, as well.

New Wine Does Fit An Old Skin

2009-09-21T20:44:00.004-05:00

On Sunday, September 20, 2009, I was in Abilene and was excited to be able to visit with my youngest daughter, Lindsay and worship with her at the Minter Lane Church of Christ in Abilene. She spent some time looking for a congregation in Abilene when she got to town and knowing how frustrated she was with the concept of tradition trumping Christ, I was not sure if she would even end up within our fellowship. When I heard her talk of this congregation of saints, I was not sure what to expect when I visited but was thrilled after the worship service this past Sunday.

When I approached the building, it reminded me of several buildings I have entered in the past and everything is actually where it is supposed to be according to our denominational heritage. When I entered the auditorium, I stepped back in time with the wooden pews on each side holding the appropriate cards for visitors and membership. The building did have a great center aisle for those wishing a great place to walk for a wedding (had to put that in since my oldest is looking for a place to be married).

Being a song leader, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the song books placed neatly in the racks and I tried to think of a time when I had been in a building with song books this old but without looking at the date, it may have just been the wear of the books giving me this impression. I did notice the Minter Lane publication of a song book in the rack with the other book. It was not the usual words typed up so they could sing some other songs but rather a professional publication put together and stapled in the middle.

When we entered the building, we were given a worship guide reminding me of the worship guides I usually get when I visit a Baptist, Methodist or Lutheran service. I noticed a number of songs to be sung (few of which I knew) and several items listed for the day. One quick break in tradition was the use of more than one scripture reading and a reading done by the entire congregation. This was awesome!

Another break from the official Church of Christ traditional doctrine was one of the scripture readings being done by a woman. Yes, Christianity is not a “for men only club” found in most of our heritage. While one visit is not enough to see how much women are integrated into the worship experience, I would hope they also lead prayer, help with communion and teach from time to time. All of these things would most likely be offensive to several of the people I know but none of them is forbidden by anything other than the tradition of man speaking for God.

The singing was incredible, the lesson was awesome and I came away feeling edified and strengthened to walk the walk of a Christian this week. I know every group has their own hang-ups and I am sure this congregation is no exception to the rule. What pleases me greatly is the thought that our fellowship of Christians is coming out of the traditions of our past and knowing this group is probably one of the more conservative churches of Christ in the city of Abilene brought great excitement to the realization of Christ winning the battle over tradition.

Before closing this blog, I would have everyone know of one thing impressing me most in the handout this past Sunday. Everyone was being encouraged to attend and participate in the Great Communion planned for October 4, 2009. If you are in Abilene on October 4^th of this year, you would be able to meet together with our brothers and sisters from the churches of Christ, the Christian Churches and the Disciples of Christ and share the communion of our Lord. What a great day this will be for Christians in this world to acknowledge we are all one in the Lord though we have a variety of traditions for our weekly observance.

My hat is off to the body of Christ at Minter Lane and pray God continues to bless them with an even greater blessing than was offered up for the children and students of all ages on Sunday so they can continue to be a great edification of Christians in Abilene.

Yes, the skin is an old skin but the wine of life flowing in this congregation is fresh and edifying to those who get a “taste.”

"The Way We Do Things"

2009-09-18T09:29:00.003-05:00

I often find myself aggravated when I discover an organization of my affiliation making political statements of support for a candidate in the political forum. The National Education Association and Texas State Teachers Association are often on the opposite side of my belief system and yet I see them come out in support of candidates I would never support. I have often objected to this because the membership was never polled to determine if even a percentage of the active group believed in the statement of support. The honesty and integrity of various organizations is often found lacking in this area when communication with the membership and a statement reflecting a percentage of support from the membership given in representation of the complete organization would be an easy task.

In our church congregations, we often find ourselves in the same hierarchy of decision making because we have created something for the church of our Lord replacing Jesus as the head of the church. In our attempt to copy things from the first century congregations, with very little, if any, guidance from God in the bible, it is easy to recognize how we have appointed people as the decisions makers for the local church. It is so odd how I was part of those who condemned the Catholic Church and the other denominations for having this hierarchy of decision makers and yet I was guilty of the same thinking. I was even taught to use this characteristic of having a hierarchy to define those who were denominations and later it became the basis for me being able to understand how my own heritage of the churches of Christ was actually a denomination. Basically, all of us who have been part of church groups have been part of denominational structure after coming out of individual homes.

Moving back around to the point of this blog, referenced in the title, I have considered who is supposed to be the decision maker for the church body. In my thinking, the bible only indicates one head of the church and this is Christ! The Church (body of Christ) does not have a main part of the body, separate from the head called upon to make decisions for the body but rather a condition where all parts work together under the direction of the head.

My understanding of the bible has me believe each part of the body works to support each other but no part of the body gets to tell the other part NO! There is no one in the body of our Lord given the authority to tell another Christian "you can't do that" or "this is the way we do things." If this exists, I would sure like for someone to show me where it is. I often hear other Christians communicate a directive to other Christians describing how we are to obey the instruction of our elders and I still don't see anything in the bible replacing Jesus as the head. Elders are not called or appointed in the bible to be the decision makers for the body but rather the spiritual leaders. The very qualifications we are asked to consider in men who would be elders is a life without reproach and life they are living as an example of how we are to live.

The simple explanation for the conflict which exists within the body of Christ is found in those who first, believe there is a need to be right and second find a need in their own lives to tell another Christian what to and not to do. It is not enough in our lives to live the life Christ lived as an example and nothing more. We have to make others into ourselves.

I am encouraged to hear of so many congregations who are giving up on the concept of elder directed congregations in favor of elder led congregations. Many have examined the false doctrines of their past and realized the error of placing Christ (as the sign says) in a co-pilot seat.

My dad used a phrase I believe might have been used by many adults in the past of telling me not to do what he did but do what I was told. I must say that I have used this phrase many times and I don't believe it was the true philosophy of my dad (particularly in his last years) but it has been a policy very close to the one we have traditionally held in our churches of "do what I do or else you are not welcome as a brother."

Christ said "follow me" and even the apostle Paul said "follow me." The focus of what to follow is not found in rules but rather a life. Just my opinion, but the body needs to focus on following and, in reality, becoming Christ to the world.

I look forward to a time when someone told "you can't do that" or "we don't do that here," to simply say, in a loving manner, "who placed you at the head of the church?" The local church body may want to do something or not want to do something but it is not the position of man to say no or yes, but rather the body to say yes or no. The body is ready for the task if only each part will do what it is called upon to do and not try to instruct the other part of the body.

Tracking "Our" Success

2009-09-12T21:45:00.004-05:00

It has been a great afternoon and as I sat considering so many things, I came to consider how I have been raised in a fellowship of men and women who regularly track our success for God. I have had several ideas swimming through my mind lately but they all eventually came around to this concept and while I have not spent several days contemplating the idea of the effects this might have on our relationship with Christ, I currently believe, at least partly, it is responsible for the belief held in my fellowship of being able to accurately fulfill the will of God.

A primary goal of my fellowship has always been wrapped up in the number of baptisms we have within a year. In fact, just prior to sitting down to write, I found time to catch up on the Reflection writings of my great mentor in the faith Al Maxey and found myself impressed to discover how John Allen Gano had baptized over 10,000 persons in his lifetime and his son some 6,800 persons. http://www.zianet.com/maxey/reflx411.htm While this blog is not intended to downplay the awesome job of this preacher and his son, I have not been so impressed as to ignore the outcome we have often fostered in our own acts of taking Christ to others.

Our practice for so long following the baptism of a person was to hand them a book along the lines of “Now That I’m A Christian” and insure the education of the person into the dogma of our heritage. We may have had a “side goal” of helping them to develop a relationship with God but the primary focus of what I grew to know as “scriptural based teaching” was to place the burden of our legalism strongly on their conscience so they might know the “truth” of the true church; The Church of Christ! If the reader chooses to read the referenced Reflection above, he will soon discover how this man was not impressed with bringing someone into a relationship with the “local church” but rather a permanent relationship with God.

The beginning of this thought process focused around the joy I receive daily as I get to teach two 7th grade bible classes in school. These young minds are just getting to a point in their lives when the balance of always being told what to do and believe is being replaced with learning how to make decisions for themselves. As they learn from the myriad of mistakes they make on a daily basis (the same ones all of us made), they still find adults ready to tell them just “how things are.” Not being fond of pressing my dogma of education on the students, I am in the perfect place to inform them of the differences between what God has stated and man teaches. The questions they bring forth in class will often describe the same struggles being dealt with daily in our various church families and it is not uncommon for me to answer them with the realization of past “truth” being founded not in the bible but rather the will of man.

I once read a comment concerning the practice of some in public education to eliminate the family belief system and replace with the belief system of our society and I know this is the case having spent the majority of my teaching career in public education. What is now odd in my thinking is how I now seem to have a goal encouraging my students to think and make choices for themselves and not be restrained by the shackles their parents and church family wish to place on them.

I still find myself about to tell students the “truth” of the matter when questioned on some topic and yet, for the most part, I quickly make reference to the reality of men in my denomination forming a belief in one direction and those of other various denominations forming beliefs in another direction. Even this early in the year, I have been able to make reference to the reality of scripture not speaking to both point of views and how in their maturity they will be called upon to make decisions based on the faith they mature with Christ in their own lives. I hope they enjoy the honesty of the discussion because I know from email messages of the discussion content getting home.

Returning to the opening thoughts of this blog and hopefully bringing everything together, this idea formed by men relative to tracking our success indicates a mission we have come to believe exists for the church of our Lord. Stated simply, we believe we have the power to bring salvation to others and while this is currently the goal of many in the church, I do not believe our mission, the GREAT COMMISSION as some might call it from Jesus was ever intended to imply we have the power of salvation to give to anyone.

In truth, I was taught how some might not have the opportunity of being saved if I failed to do my part and effectively, I was responsible for some being lost and some being saved. We even refer to others as great warriors for the Lord based upon the number of baptisms happening in response to their efforts and yet salvation is not a gift of our labor but rather the gift of our savior.

In reality, when it comes to the “plan of salvation,” we have no part in success or failure and if the facts are told, there is NO FAILURE in the plan of salvation. Christ did everything needed and completely forgave all sin. With no part of salvation being part of our decision, we are either of the group thankful and devoted in our hearts to sharing the good news of God’s success or we choose to place our hearts far away from God in our lives and effectively spit in the face of Jesus.

I pray for the time when this realization becomes the norm and we begin to live a life thankful for all Christ has done. Unfortunately, those who must check off items from their list of legal requirements can only find support for their belief when totaling the number of successful conversions each year.

The Question Without An Appropriate Answer (and more)

2009-08-30T16:17:00.000-05:00

I can’t tell you how many times in my past the phrase, “you can’t take one part of scripture by itself but you must put one passage with the other passages to have completeness,” has come up in biblical discussions. My question is simple and does not have a good answer. Why is any one statement by God not complete in and of itself?

The basis for the conclusion above being given is nothing less than an acceptance of man’s wisdom being superior to God! We are not told to add one statement to another and come up with a conclusion but our human ability to understand and reason assumes this practice as the only legitimate method of understanding a topic. I would have the reader notice it is our understanding of reasoning which makes this a necessity.

Typically this discussion comes forward when we consider the importance of baptism in salvation. If I were to quote to someone the passage saying “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son and that those who believe on Him shall not perish,” members of my heritage would quickly add the requirement to be baptized because this passage does not mention baptism. The same people who will follow up with the statement made to Timothy concerning all scripture given being available for teaching and admonishment will rarely accept the same scripture when making references from the Old Testament which was available to Timothy and yet demand the assimilation of every passage to draw a “reasoned” conclusion on any given topic.

The reality of our ability to reason and the wisdom of God might best be summed up with a statement made to me as a young musician who believed he understood and knew something about music. One of my teachers offended me greatly when he overheard me making a statement of “fact” about music and told me strongly how I was so ignorant that I had not yet come to the point of knowing how little I knew. Well, brothers and sisters, I would extend this statement into the world of Christianity and claim anyone using his own wisdom, like the wisdom of having to put John 3:16 with Acts 2:38 in order to “level” their ability to reason Gods plan for His creation and salvation, is still to ignorant of the ways of God to fully understand how little we know about GOD and HIS WAYS!

Having been in the field of teaching for 31 years now, one of the things bothering teachers throughout this period of time are the “highly educated ones” who make something simple so extremely difficult. I have little doubt of how much better our school children would be educated if researchers and government officials who keep discovering the “right way to teach” would simply get out of the way and allow teachers to teach. When this is apposed to Christianity, I would suggest those “picking” the bible apart to make and draw specific conclusions of what God wants should get out of the way of the church and let them DO GODS WORK.

When looking at my own life and that of my congregation, I must say it seems like we are afraid to LEAD. Churches of Christ all over our country are discovering, for themselves the things I have spoken of in these blogs and are making changes to reflect Christ as the head of the church and not men. I can’t tell the reader how many times I have criticized the Catholic denomination over the past years for having a Pope who makes decisions for the church and yet, I have regularly given in and recognized the authority of the Pope in our own congregations. In many churches, the elders regularly swap in and out of the “Elder of the Month” or “Papal” position and having criticized the Catholic denomination, I recognize we are not immune to the same criticism. God’s people went to Samuel and told him they wanted a king and we have not changed over all these years. We can’t stand to have Christ as our head but must have a man in a position of being our authority.

Brothers and sisters, what have we done? We are the ones who took God’s plan for elders as being spiritual leaders and crowned them KING. Christ came to bring God to a personal level and we still want someone in between us and God. I just mentioned Samuel and I hope you will go back and read the story because God told Samuel to tell the people of how bad it would be under the authority of a King and sure enough, God’s word was true.

Our/your local congregation is what it has become because Christ is Lord or men are Lord. I have seen too many congregations in my heritage come out from behind the mantle of men being Lord and when they allow Christ to be Lord, they THRIVE. Many have blazed the path for us beginning in Texas with Oak Hills in San Antonio and then Richland Hills in the Dallas area. There were none in the Houston area until recently and then take a look and see which Church of Christ is thriving on the southwest side of Houston. Yes, Sugar Grove decided to study the scriptures for themselves and saw past the shackles placed on our heritage in the form of tradition.

Brothers and sisters, which Church of Christ on the southeast side of Houston is going to throw open the doors with Christ as Lord and cast off the shackles of tradition? It takes the faith of Abraham to step out. It takes the faith of David to step out.

What a COP OUT! It takes the faith of a church to step out!

There are those who read my blogs in disgust and having suggested I pull up stakes and LEAVE, will also be the ones who will be glad to know when the doors of a congregation founded in the Lordship of Christ opens on the southeast side of Houston, I will be there from then on.

My prayer for my own congregation is that we become that congregation on the southeast side of Houston. One or two years, we won’t have enough parking or room to hold all of the Christians who have already made the change of placing Christ ahead of tradition and the building will be crying out for additional rooms to hold everyone during worship services on Saturday, Sunday and any other day of the week needed to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters.

Some Are Choking On The Meat!

2009-08-24T21:50:00.000-05:00

I can’t place in words the joy I get from meeting with life group members each week at home but it has given great spiritual life to my relationship with God. As I read text in the bible, it seems new and fresh and the opportunity to open up with others in a close group who know how each member loves God and wants to be effective as a Christian, is nothing less than the plan of God for His people.

One of the things always bothering me about those I have grown up with in the church is the opinions on what constitutes a great sermon. Even though I loved the man who preached for our congregation and was more than a little upset when he told me he had been released as the preacher for the congregation, I think, from what I am told and know, it has been a blessing for him and it has been a blessing for me.

I think my blessing from the last preacher was in getting to “sub” for him when needed and my focus on the topic was enhanced by knowing I might be called upon to continue the lesson. This created a desire in me to study or read ahead in the books of the bible we were covering. My blessing over the past five years is based in what I would call the “filet mignon” of being a Christian (this is my favorite steak and I do like a thick one cooked no more than 15 seconds on each side). To be specific, I have been ravenous as the true message of the gospel is delivered each week.

I have often commented how he has “hit one out of the park” and to me, I usually leave still chewing on the meat I have been given. Not to condemn any in my past, but the history of my fellowship has been consumed with continuing to provide milk and baby food of little substance. It is still not uncommon to get a real “meat” sermon and then have someone step in make sure the milk is POURED back down our throats. I do not condemn milk, but it is for the babies and if the church is hungry for milk, something must be wrong.

In discussion this past Sunday evening, an illustration of my past life came to mind and I do believe it is applicable to the problems we are facing in Christianity today. The major failing of our denomination in the past has been caught up in check-list Christianity. We have desired to list and obey the commands of God so we can know we stand justified in His sight. I mentioned Sunday night and have come to the conclusion of nothing definitive being “required” on our part for salvation. In my current thinking, the only absolute requirement applicable to all men everywhere was completed by Christ on the cross. If we take the position of even one thing being absolutely necessary (outside of Christ mentioned above), we have taken the position of being part of check-list Christianity. I see no difference in us having one absolute and another person having ten absolutes. We both have a list and I believe it is not aligned with the will of God in our lives.

Returning to the topic of preachers in my past, I realized a problem some seem to see today as leaving the word or not providing appropriate teaching from the bible. Almost 100% of the sermons delivered prior to the past five years have come directly from a book of the bible (authentic sermons some desire) and while I do not object to sermons taken directly from the books of the bible, more is hidden in this practice than readily comes clear. These lessons were individual lessons made up from the text and “authenticated” with the official commentaries of our fellowship prior to delivering the sermon. In other words, it was a summary of another man’s work upon which our heritage is founded and then placed on the minds of the next generation. Our traditions became the official Law of God (commandments of God).

Weekly we have been fed for years on the milk of our tradition concerning the concepts of hearing, believing, repenting, confessing and being baptized for the remission of sins and anything not containing these elements was less than a good sermon. I can even remember my grandfather reminding me of the elements that needed to be in a good sermon.

The author of Hebrews, which by the way I do not believe is the apostle Paul, tells us of the need to put these things away and move on to the meat of living our lives for God and this meat is wrapped up in discerning the good available for us to do. If a preacher dares to move on to the “filet mignon” of God, he has made a mistake I only discovered Sunday night prior to this blog. He makes those adhering to check-list Christianity uneasy when they are forced to hear something new and not directly from the commentary “play book.”

For the majority of my life, I have been seated in auditoriums with no desire to critique the sermon and yet as a check-list Christian, I would hear the “official” tenants of our tradition and mentally check them off one at a time. As I checked each comment off from the preacher, I was confirming to myself how my salvation was guaranteed by being accurately in line with the authoritative declaration of God’s word from the bible. The fact of it being little more than a summary of another man’s study which became our official tradition and doctrine had nothing to do with our ultimate conclusion of salvation based on being accurate in doctrine to the smallest detail.

In many church congregations, both in our denomination and those we have been condemning of in the past, there are men coming forward like the one I have been blessed to hear for the past five years who have discovered and decided we need to move on to the meat of Christianity. As they preach this “new” message which just happens to be the basis of all Jesus taught the apostles, our salvation via check-list Christianity is challenged and the thought immediately goes to the condemnation of everything salvation has been based upon in our lives. Christians from everywhere are literally CHOKING on the meat of the Gospel message!

As with a piece of meat lodged in our throat blocking the oxygen we need so badly, the meat of the gospel given to those shackled with check-list Christianity brings forth the reality of a life lived with heart of people given to something other than God and leading to nothing more than death. We have numerous examples in the bible of men being dedicated in deeds to God and being condemned in every “God following deed” because their hearts were far from God. In the past, I have been guilty of believing those Jesus spoke of as saying “Lord, Lord” and being faced with God never knowing them were all of those other denominations who do not believe as WE DO! Reality for those calling out to God is the acknowledgment of believing they were part of God’s will because of the things they could check off for God.

My mother used to tell me to chew my meat well so I would not get choked and I am more than thankful of God blessing me and my congregation with a delicious filet week after week. I long for a time when all will discover the meat is no longer milk and eliminate the possibility of choking.