Ash Wednesday
Posted: February 21, 2012 Filed under: regular | Tags: ash wednesday Leave a comment »
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Exactly 46 days till Easter. Lent is a time of fasting and repentance. Ash Wednesday gets its name because on this day adherents go to church and get a muddy dark glob of ashes in the shape of a cross smeared on their forehead. The ashes historically were the ashes of the palm branches from the previous years Easter service.
Ash Wednesday and Lent is a time of repentance and fasting. It is not an inherent Roman Catholic tradition. Though it is not specifically mentioned in Scripture or required of from believers we have the freedom to practice this holiday as believers in Christ. In a very real way, experiencing the 40 days of fasting Christ went through in the desert.
Repentance and fasting should be a normal ethic of a believer. The believer shouldn’t need a special holiday marked out just so we can remember to repent of sins and fast for the Lord. However, Christians have the freedom to participate in these holidays, to publicly proclaim their faith, have tangible reminders of their faith in Christ and encourage the accountability of others.
The terrible reality of this time are all the sinful perversions that evolved from this holiday. From the gluttony associated with Fat Tuesday to the depravity of that which is called Mardi Gras. Like Valentines Day and St. Patrick’s Day, the historic Christian tradition gets boggled down with sinful vices and a reason to buy a greeting card.
If you care to, find a church tomorrow morning and participate in an Ash Wednesday service. Many Protestant churches still celebrate this tradition. If you are feeling really ambitious, do what I have done the past two years and find a local Catholic Church and be apart of their service. The rich tradition and beauty that goes along with some of the churches have really been edifying to my soul.
You will not lose your evangelical/Protestant card by participating in an Ash Wednesday service. Assuming you go into it with the right motives, the Lenten season is a time to humble yourself and get closer to God. Which for the Christian, should be a continual ethic anyways. In the same hand, if you decide to not participate in the Ash Wednesday/Lent Season, you are not exempt from continual repentance and devotion to the Lord. So what ever you do tomorrow, do it to the glory of God!
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Romans 14:5-9 ESV)
Jesus, Religion, and Rude Bloggers.
Posted: January 13, 2012 Filed under: regular 2 Comments »Every Christian in the world has seen this video. Well at least 6.2 million people have and it has only been 3 days. This guy posted a video called “Sexual Healing” and I enjoyed it a lot. My only criticism to him as a poet is that though I feel like the words are good. However, his flow is a bit weak. However, this is from a guy who raps like this.
So he made a new video called “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus”
Since the day it has been posted on YouTube it has been circulating though Facebook and Twitter like crazy! However, not for all the same reasons. Particularly on my own Facebook most of the comments were about how this man is creating a false dichotomy and that this poem is full of strawman arguments and even theologically incorrect statements.
Let me first say this. If you are going to critique someones thought or argument. Do so with respect. At the end of the day this is a brother in Christ who we are talking about. I don’t think that anyone would say this person is a false teacher or someone trying to lead people astray. He is a man with a passionate heart to see people come to Christ and live a life worthy of the Gospel. He uses personal life examples to illustrate the realness of legalism and the damaging idea that “praying a prayer” or “just going to church” is what saves you. He is a brother that has been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ and therefore we should treat him as such!
However, just because he is a brother does not mean you can’t disagree with him. There are claims that he is using the word “religion” incorrectly. What he is really trying to show is the difference between Christianity and legalism or Christianity and people who think their self-righteousness gets them right with God. These people throw around James 1:27 because it has the word religion in it. I do agree that the dictionary definition to religion is not contrary to what Christians believe. However, the only major error I found in this poem is that when he said “When Christ said it is finished, he meant it” I don’t believe “it” meant the end to religion but an end of the wrath of God being poured out on to him. The full cup of God’s wrath was being poured out on to Christ and when he said it is finished, it is Christ turning the cup over and saying I took it all!
But my issue with people who criticize this video and calling him wrong is that words change meanings. Words are not concrete. Depending in context and where we are as a culture, words can have a meaning of negativity where previously it was positive. The word “religion” is often associated with legalism. It is also associated with, as the man said in the video, mans attempt to get to God. Though the true definition is not defined that way, culture often dictates the definition of words stronger than Webster. So regardless of what the word really means, culturally speaking, the word “religion” has the same connotation as a legalism. It is also associated with the Pharisees that Christ often rebuked. We can blame this definition change to modern day evangelicalism but honestly who cares. Words are not sacred and there are more important things to redeem than words. So when this man says Christ and religion are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Within context of 2012 American Christianity, that is true. His point is accurate.
Now, I don’t disagree with the people who call Christianity a religion. It must be a religion. If it were not, what would we put on our Facebook as our religious preference? Christianity must a religion legally and must be recognized by one otherwise we have no argument to stand on when we complain about people taking Christ out of schools but they still teach about other world religions. More Churches would be closed down because they would lose their tax exemption status. And while all other religions are looked upon as such, the world will see us as a giant moral social club that argue with others within our giant moral social club.
But we can disagree without being rude.
This is an example of how to disagree with this video without being rude: Voddie Bauchman, which I love him but disagree with him on a few issues, writes an excellent article articulating his point that Christianity is a religion.
However, this is the wrong way to go about it. Calling something lame and making snide comments about the person personally doing the poetry is not ok.What benefit to the argument is there to make a comment about the way the guy looks (which by the way, to me, his swag is very high, do you see that watch?). He isn’t wrong in his critique of the content but it could have been done with a bit more grace.
I do believe Christianity is a religion. Defining religion as: a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involvingdevotional and ritual observances, and often containing amoral code governing the conduct of human affairs. I also agree with Matt Chandler, the Resurgence and others saying religion (in the legalistic, self-righteous sense) is not Christianity.
I guess I am too post-modern for my own good when one word can mean two things.
UPDATE: I do think words matter. There are certain words that need a clear definition. Heresy is one of them. We need to be careful before we call people a heretic. Calling one self “reformed” is another. Reformed does not mean Calvinist. Calvinists can be reformed, but they are not interchangeable. The word religion is in scripture and within the context of James 1:27 we need to clearly define what that means. However, if someone uses the same word to define false religion or legalism, it is fine with me. Not a hill to die on.
Quick thought on Jesus Jukes…
Posted: January 12, 2012 Filed under: regular 3 Comments »I love Stuff Christians Like. Jon Acuff is a wonderful man! Fun fact: a long time ago he read my blog and critiqued it for me to help me be a better blogger. He had a lot of nice stuff to say to me and a lot of good advice (some of which I have yet to implement but I am still working on).
He made a post on SCL about Jesus Jukes. I was so glad he did! In my youth group we had the definition of a Jesus Juker! I mean he would go out of his way to break the ankles on any conversation. For example:
Student: Did you watch The Office last night?
Jesus Juker: No, I was to busy feeding the ushering in the Kingdom of God.
or
Student: Wow! Did you see how many people started following Lecrae after he performed on the BET Awards?
Jesus Juker: If only more people followed Jesus’ life like the way they follow Lecrae on Twitter, maybe we would see true revival in America.
Ok, those conversations never happened. But maybe it did when I was not around. Needless to say, he was a professional Jesus Juker.
I have found myself commenting when people Jesus Juke other people and even rate the level of Jukeiness on a Jesus Juke (The higher the conviction the better the juke). But one thing I am afraid that is happeneing that perhaps Jon Acuff or myself didn’t intend was that calling something a Jesus Juke may be hurting the community of believers.
For example, lets say someone over the weekend watched “The Hangover 2″ or “Bridesmades” (pretty much the same movie but with genders reversed). They talk to you about it and you are maybe concerned because perhaps those movies aren’t the best thing to put our minds and eyes on. I mean if we are honest we can’t say those movies fit in Philippians 4:8 as being something worthy of putting our minds on. So you hearing this feels the need to say, “um…I am not sure if it is really God glorifying to watch those movies. I mean, they can be kinda raunchy and lets be honest, do you leave closer to God after watching those movies?” If your friend replies, “Wow, thanks for that Jesus Juke” we may have lost the battle. If I am honest I put Jesus Jukes in the same category as Trollers. By that I mean their sole goal is to make a normal conversation or topic into something awkward or at least go down a direction that was not expected.
If our out look on Jesus Jukes is that, then are we creating an environment where it is not ok to confront brothers in sin? Where striving for holiness makes you just look like a Jesus Juker. It is something I have seen in my local community and I am kinda worried. We already struggle with calling everything legalism. Legalism is saying, “I don’t do this or that and that is what qualifies me as a believer.” What striving for holiness is, “Because I am already saved, for me to best glorify God, I abstain from this or that.” Big difference and we need to get our definitions straight. Maybe calling something a Jesus Juke blurs that line.
Perhaps I am making a mountain out of an ant hill. Perhaps this post was just a giant Jesus Juke. But my concerns are real.
I will blog more…
Posted: January 8, 2012 Filed under: regular | Tags: Blog, Rob Bell Leave a comment »starting tomorrow!
I have been praying about what to do with this blog!
I have had some inspiration and got ideas!
Expect playlists for your listening pleasure.
More interesting media.
More reposts from good blogs I read.
More personal thoughts from myself.
More of me writing like Rob Bell.
Like this!
10 things I have learned in my second year of ministry
Posted: December 21, 2011 Filed under: regular | Tags: beiber, homeschooled kids, tim tebow, young adult ministry Leave a comment »Last year I wrote 5 things I have learned in my first year of youth ministry. Well I have another year under my belt and I added a whole Young Adult ministry to my responsibilities. So I have decided to expand what I have learned from not just youth ministry but to my year in ministry in general.
- Making war with sin does not get easier with maturity but harder. I wrote last year that making war with sin is a daily battle. I didn’t realize what I was really talking about until this year. I feel like I am more mature in my faith than I have ever been (I say that in the humblest way I can mean it). However, the enemy doesn’t care how mature you are, in fact, it feels like the more mature you get, the more this World, your flesh, and the powers of the air want to wage war against you. Reading the Word, being in community, and lots of prayer has been a MUST! Seriously, I don’t know how I would have survived 2011 fighting against depression, medical issues, losing vehicles, dealing with drama, and just my work load increasing, I needed every kind of offensive weapon I could get to deal with sin this year. Praise the Lord, Jesus always win!
- Homeschooled kids have hormones. I was pretty lucky in 2010. All my kids seems so innocent with their Justin Beiber iTouch cases and their Tim Tebow Bible covers. Little did I know in 2011 all my kids would hit puberty at once (I am being a bit facetious). However, this has been the first year I had to deal with the youth pastor version of “the talk”. Where I have to teach on Courting, Modesty, Dating, and Sex, as well as keep a watchful eye of possible couples sprouting up in the youth group. Thankfully we left 2011 somewhat unscaved. I still think I am in the 1% of youth groups where there is not a couple dating and no one is 16 and pregnante. So I call that a success! (BTW, none of my kids have a Tim Tebow Bible Cover, I would not allow such idolatry to exist in my youth group.)
- Organization, Organization, Organization. I still have a small youth group, but my responsibility in the church has grown. With that I had to learn a lot of administration that the Lord has not gifted me with. I still don’t have all of that down but I am still not done with sanctification. The Lord will finish the work He began in me. I hope I get better at this in 2012, if not, does anyone want volunteer hours being my secretary?
- Young Adult Ministry is awesome. At the end of 2010 my wife, 2 of her friends and myself sat down to paint a picture of what a Young Adult Ministry at my church could look like. In mid January we launched LEGIT. I had no idea what it would be like or what would come from it but little did I know that one of the most amazing ministries I have ever been apart of was being developed before my eyes. LEGIT is the Lords! He drew the people and the people were not what I expected. All kinds of people come to Legit, from Bible College Students to people who got saved a week before they visit. From single mothers to married couples! Every race, shape and size come through the doors at Legit and it is crazy encouraging. By the Lord’s grace we have been exegetically breaking down the Word and people have grown from it. I have seen true life change from the short time Legit has started. It has also open up door for me too! I have been able to meet amazing pastors from other churches and people who I never thought I would meet!
- Young Adult Ministry is dramatic. Now don’t get me wrong, I love dealing with 20 somethings! I can be raw and authentic and talk about things I am just not able to discuss with my youth group. But with it comes a lot of drama and awkwardness. I had to put on my counseling hat on more in 2011 than I ever had in my life. I had to hear about a lot of peoples sin and confessions in 2011. A lot of drama, anger, jealousy, sexual sins, addiction, and more. I found myself praying a lot on Thursday mornings that whatever the Lord brings me that He would give me the wisdom to counsel. A lot of young people text me and visit me in my office and I do a lot of talking and an occasional intervention. But even with all this, it is worth it! I see relationships rebuilt, addictions broken, sins repented and joy restored!
- Sin is heavy even when it isn’t your own. A professor in Trinity told me that as a Christian Counselor he would hear the confessions of countless sins from people and eventually he would have to go away for a short period of time and just weep for a day. Not because he had committed those sins but because he feels the weight of the grime of sin of the people now on him. There has been times where I had to go in to my study in my house and just go on my face before the Lord! I am not an emotional guy (at least I don’t think I am) but I find myself being brought to tears occasionally when I hear of a certain brother or sister in a serious sin or after they confess a sin to me. I find that in those times the Lord gives me wisdom on to how to handle those situations not just with them, but in my own life as well.
- Parents are still the most important. Plain and simple. A Godly parent investing their time in their kids spiritual life is a million times more affective than an hour with me on Sunday and on Wednesday. (Proof is in my Young Adult Ministry)
- Christian Celebrities are a joke. I have met a few famous people this year. Some I get all Justin Beiber giggly about and I learned that they are just regular dudes trying to serve the Lord with their talents. My view of celebrity has been greatly affected by this. I have met rappers and bands who travel the country and the world and they play the same video games I do, eat the same food I do, and have the same apps on their phone as I do. I am still in awe of the platform the Lord has given them but I guess I see them more in the way the Lord wants us to see them: sinners saved by grace and have been graced with a platform to spread His fame to sinners. Now, if we can get every believer to look at Tebow that way that would be great!
- Theology is still important. I was told in Bible College that all the theology I was learning is important but not that important when you do actual ministry. That is heinously wrong! It is still important, I think theologically daily. To not think theologically is a theology in itself. Your life is affected by your theology! From the way I interact with people to the way I prepare sermons is directly affected by the way I view God and the truths I believe about Him. If you are in Bible College, to quote Andy Mineo, “DONT BELIEVE THE LIE!”
- Preach the Gospel! The gospel is still relevant. The Lord has placed me around nonbelievers a lot this year. However, this gospel is not just for them, it is for everyone! I saw the gospel wreck people’s legalism. I have seen the gospel cause people to stand up in their churches and call out sin and unbiblical practices. I have seen the gospel change a girl to modesty. I have seen the gospel make a person who was off theologically pretty bad and believe in the doctrines of grace. The gospel has power for the believer. It is what sustains me and we must remind ourselves of it daily. My homeschooled kids who was born with a Veggietail pacifier still need the gospel today! My Young Adults who are coming out of 3 year long relationships where they have been hurt emotionally and taken advantage of physically need the gospel. I, a pastor, who has been doing 2 years of vocational ministry still needs the gospel daily!
Luther Hated Jews
Posted: October 31, 2011 Filed under: regular | Tags: Luther, Reformation Day Leave a comment »A while back someone asked me why I was obsessed with Martin Luther. This is probably because Sacrament Media has printed 2 shirts regarding Luther for Reformation Day. In any case, my friend tried to quote him and I stopped him because he was misquoting Luther. I corrected him with the correct quote:
“Furthermore, if they are pious Jews and not the whoring people, as the prophets call them, how does it happen that their piety is so concealed that God himself is not aware of it, and they are not aware of it either? For they have, as we said, prayed, cried, and suffered almost fifteen hundred years already, and yet God refuses to listen to them. We know from Scripture that God will hear the prayers or sighing of the righteous, asthe Psalter says [Ps. 145:19]: “He fulfills the desire of all who fear him, he also hears their cry.” And Psalm 34:17: “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears.” As he promised in Psalm 50:15: “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you.” The same is found in many more verses of the Scripture. If it were not for these, who would or could pray? In brief, he says in the first commandment that he will be their God. Then, how do you explain that he will not listen to these Jews? They must assuredly be the base, whoring people, that is, no people of God, and their boast of lineage, circumcision, and law must be accounted as filth. If there were a single pious Jew among them who observed these, he would have to be heard; for God cannot let his saints pray in vain, as Scripture demonstrates by many examples. This is conclusive evidence that they cannot be pious Jews, but must be the multitude of the whoring and murderous people.”
-On the Jews and their lies the paragraph is specifically found in chapter 4
With that being said, I do not look unto Luther for guidance on how to view Jews. For that matter, I do not look onto any reformer for my view of the Jews, John Calvin once said, “I have had much conversation with many Jews: I have never seen either a drop of piety or a grain of truth or ingenuousness—nay, I have never found common sense in any Jew.” Jonathan Edwards was not a big fan of the Jews either. And lets not even begin with the church fathers, Augustine was not adding any Jews on his Facebook for sure!
With all that being said, I don’t see how people say I am obsessed with Luther, I am clearly a bigger fan of the movie 300 than the Luther movie.
Luther is undeniably important to Christianity and Protestantism practice of the faith today. Particularly in understanding certain doctrines and how we view the sacraments and other church practices. The reformation was crucial for the Church. With the abuses that was raging in the Roman Catholic Church, Luther (and others) took a leap of faith in causing the reformation. I respect Luther, Calvin and the other reformers because they stood up against the cultural norm and held on to what Scripture said is true. If they were anti-Semitic, so did the Roman Catholic Church at the time. Jews have been hated by everyone forever, it does not mean it is right. It is terrible.
I believe there has been a resurgence in Christianity to look after Israel for the past 200-300 years or so with the boom of Dispensationalism. (I am sure there was people before who did too but it is certainly more noticed now)
With all that being said, I like Luther because of the 95 thesis, being bold before the Catholic officials, and translating scripture into German so that the common man could have it. Everyone has their weird quirks and I would probably fundamentally disagree with. He is sinful. Antisemitism is not ok. Neither is racism or hating homosexuals. I can not however discredit what they did for the cause of Christ.
I guess I have to say I cannot recant.
Seven Reasons Halloween Judgment Houses Often Miss the Mark by Russell Moore
Posted: October 25, 2011 Filed under: regular | Tags: hell house, judgment house, russell moore Leave a comment »I wrote a post a while ago about the movie Hell House. Russel Moore published an article that he wrote 3 years ago about Judgment Houses. It is so good that I had to repost it to make sure everyone read it! Please take time to read it and go to his blog!
This commentary was originally posted on October 31, 2008.
- They’re not scary enough. To speak of hell, Jesus used the imagery of a garbage dump overun with worms, a place where babies were once sacrificed to demons (Mark 9:43-48). Teenagers in plastic red devil masks and Styrofoam pitchforks usually don’t convey what it means to “fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31). The answer isn’t better technology, though, since nothing we could conjure up can convey the anguish of the damned walled off from relationship with God.
- They assume people’s problem is that they don’t know about judgment. But the Bible says they do. All of us have embedded within us a conscience that points us to the Day of Judgment (Rom 2:15-16). We have a “fearful expectation of judgment” (Heb 10:27). The problem is we block it out of our minds, diverting ourselves with other things. The problem isn’t that lost people don’t hate hell enough. It’s that they don’t love Christ. Hell is the Abyss they run into in their flight from him.
- They abstract judgment from the love of God. I know most “Judgment Houses” present the gospel at the end. But in the Bible the good news doesn’t come at the end. The prodigal son leaves the father’s house, but the father is eager to receive him back (Luke 16:11-31). The awful news of God’s judgment is always intertwined in Scripture with the message of the gospel of a loving, merciful God. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).
- They abstract judgment from the glory of God. The prophet Isaiah doesn’t see that he’s “undone” first by the horror of judgment. He sees it in light of the glory of God’s presence (Isa 6:1-6). The Apostle John tells us the glory Isaiah saw was Jesus of Nazareth (12:47). When we preach Jesus, the glory of God breaks through (2 Cor 4:6). Some people recoil at that light; some people run to it (John 3:19-21).
- It’s hard to cry at a Judgment House. But Jesus does when thinking about judgment (Matt 23:37). And so does the Apostle Paul, pleading with sinners to be saved (2 Cor 5:20). These evangelistic tools though are meant to take on the feel of a “haunted house,” a place of thrill-seeking and festivity. It’s hard to convey the gravity of the moment in such a way.
- The Holy Spirit doesn’t usually like to work that way. Pop quiz: How many people do you know who came to know Christ through the witness of a friend? How many do you know who came to know Christ through faithful parents? How many are in Christ due to the week-to-week preaching of Christ in a local church? Probably a lot, right? Okay, now answer this: How many people do you know who came to know Christ through a Halloween “Judgment House” or “Hell House”? If you know one, you’re outpacing me, and everyone I’ve ever talked to about this. The Holy Spirit tends to work through the preaching of Christ (Rom 10:17). That’s how he points the world to sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8).
- They’re easier to pull off than talking to people. Can people be saved through Judgment Houses? Sure. I have a colleague who was saved at a Stryper heavy metal concert in the 1980s. Are the intentions behind them good? Absolutely. If you have a Judgment House and it’s enabling you to share Christ, have at it with blessings on you.
But the fact remains that most lost people in your neighborhood are going to be saved the same way people have always been saved, by Christian people loving them enough to build relationships, invite them to church, share the gospel, and witness to Christ. The problem is that for many Christian’s that’s scarier than a haunted house.
Via Russell Moore
Are Damn and Hell Cuss Words?
Posted: October 6, 2011 Filed under: regular | Tags: cursing, cussing, Romans 1 Comment »A friend of mine asked this question and I realized what I wanted to say would not suffice in a Facebook comment. So I decided to explain what I said to her on Facebook in a more expansive way on my blog. I once heard, “you shouldn’t cuss because it makes you look ignorant. Try to use words with more than four letters.” For about 5 years I lived with that mentality and I successfully stopped a terrible habit I gained in Middle School from listening to Limp Bizkit and Korn (I know, don’t judge me)
Cursing is a very cultural issue. If I said, “this bloody computer” in America, you would look at me like I was crazy because no one says that. But saying that in the UK may cause some Christians there to raise their eyebrows.
Christians are funny about cussing. I hear about people who are like real life Mr. Flanders from the Simpsons and make up words for cuss words. I know others who go out their way to cuss just to show their Liberty in Christ.
When it comes to cursing remember Ephesians 4:29 - “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
So with this passage in mind, we shouldn’t just end with cussing. What do we do when we say stuff like, “That sucks” or “That’s gay”. All of which have cultural meanings to us in the states that can be taken differently depending where you are. Even in the US, there are certain phrases and terms that mean something offensive in the south, that isn’t so bad up north. For example, I can think of some secular rap songs that take common words to make it mean something dirty or bad (For example: Going HAM).
So is damn a curse word. Well, I said something in my youth group once explaining what the Council of Trent meant by the word anathema. It can mean to be “accursed” but when used by the Council of Trent they were saying, “If you believe that the Lord’s supper is not the real body and blood of Christ being sacrificed over and over again on the Lord’s table then we say damn you to hell!” (That is the a Frank paraphrase you can read the actual decrees here. Canon I, II and VII)
Damnation isn’t a bad word in itself. It is just a word. Damn is a word that comes from that word. But how we use that word is what can get us in trouble. If you are damning people to hell (or often just announcing it after something goes wrong), what are we saying with our words? When a person would say anathema, they were not playing around. These are heavy, heavy words.
Same goes for Hell. I want to thank Rob Bell for making Hell not a taboo word amongst Christians. (saying “H-E-Double-Hockey-sticks” takes to long). Hell isn’t a bad word at all. It is a real place and the Bible talks extensively about it without confusion.
Now saying “What the Hell” or “Hell no!”
I don’t know. It is one of those things where you need to check your convictions and see why you are saying it. I can hear Mark Driscoll (I know this is probably the last person I should be referencing on this topic but whatever) saying that when Paul says “By no means” in Romans 6:2 that it is the cultural equivalent of saying “Hell No!”
I think we are ultra conservative in the south at times with this kind of stuff. While the church in Europe and in some other places don’t stress about this kind of stuff. Does that mean we should all drop F-Bombs and cuss like sailors? May it never be! I think Ephesians 4:29 still applies. But Ephesians 4:29 is still in a context of a culture filled with a language that is subjected to that culture.
At the end, we should not offend or cause any brothers to stumble. Romans 14:13-23 talks about whether or not it is right to eat clean or unclean food around a brother that may be offended by it. Paul’s conclusion:
Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. -Romans 14:20-21
To me, if I have friends who get offend by cussing, that alone is enough for me to not cuss. It isn’t worth making a relationship strained just so I can sound like Eminem.
In the same hand, from the overflow of our heart the mouth speaks. So when we say, dangit, freaking, what the heck, Oh Fudge, or whatever, aren’t we just replacing cuss words with words that still give the same meaning but are culturally more acceptable? So our hearts intent is the same as if we just said the real thing. Praise the Lord for grace!
Words matter and intention matters. Mark Driscoll’s ministry (which I have grown greatly because of) is still being affected by words he said many years ago. What people hear from a person’s mouth is a peek inside the heart of that person. Even if it does not accurately reflect who they are.
Now that I laid that all out here is my answer to the original question. Maybe. It could be a cuss word. Cuss words are defined by the cultural context you live in. With that being said, if you live in the context I am in. It is still confusing if it is or not. With that being said, I have to ask myself. Am I fully convinced either way. I am not. So that is where I lean on Romans 14:23.
But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
I am ok with not saying certain words for the sake of not offending a brother.
What about you? Do you feel like there is a time where the “weaker brother” should grow up or do you feel like this is one of those things that really don’t matter at the end anyways.
Martin Luther Shirts and Henleys
Posted: September 21, 2011 Filed under: link, regular | Tags: henley, Martin Luther, Sacrament Media, shirts Leave a comment »Sacrament Media’s Fall line dropped on Monday and we have some goodies!
I wanted to point out the Luther redesign we did. Two years ago when we started Sacrament Media, one of the very first shirts we made was a shirt to remember Reformation Day and Martin Luther’s work on the 95 Thesis. 2 years later we have redesigned the designed and came up with these:
These pieces are an attempt to represent the great parts of the protestant Reformation as lived by Martin Luther. The left portion of the design is the famous words spoken by Luther at the Diet of Worms when he was told that he should recant his teachings on justification by grace alone. The lower right portion is an excerpt from the 95 Theses, in the original German. These theses were what marked the beginning of the Reformation. In the upper right portion, the face of Luther himself reminds us that our theology is always lived out in flesh and blood, and cannot simply be ideas or words.
You can get these at http://sacramentmedia.storenvy.com
Reformed Theology and Calvinism
Posted: September 12, 2011 Filed under: regular, video | Tags: calvinism, Hazakim, J'Son, Lamp Mode, Reformed Theology, shai linne, Stephen the Levite, theology, Tony Leave a comment »So this is the kind of topic that gets a lot of fire. I am usually less than shy to talk about this topic. I think it is fruitful to wrestle with stuff like this. I introduced these ideas to my youth group (calvinism) early on. The youth understood most of it because most of them had a foundation in the Word that they already believed some of these doctrines just didn’t have a title for it.
I think a common misconception is that Reformed = Calvinism. So the misconception is that people who believe in Calvinism are automatically reformed. That is kind of not true. Many who graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary (which is not reformed at all) leave there with a “Calvinistic” view of soteriology (the study of salvation). You can certainly be a calvinist and not be reformed. I would label myself as a Calvinist (although the hipster in me hates labels) but not reformed. Reformed theology expands far beyond soteriology into the the world of hermeneutics, eschatology, who is Israel, and more.
As for this video below, it is a discussion on reformed theology by members of Lamp Mode Records (a great Christian Hip Hop record Label). I think the title is a bit misleading. They do very little discussion on reformed theology and mostly discuss Calvinism. I really appreciated Tony in this video. Understand the context. These are label mates, but most importantly, they are brothers in Christ who have built with one another. They love each other and have grown as a family together. It seems that Tony does not agree with all 5-points of calvinism. I feel like I agree with much of what Tony said in this video.
I really liked what he said about mystery. I think mystery is often thought of as an excuse but it is a legit answer in Christianity. Tony’s Messianic roots come through in this and sheds light on this discussion that I haven’t heard much in other conversations.
Let me say this as a whole though… This is how discussions like this should go: The discussion is all in love and did not have an awkward tension about it. I hope more discussions about subjects like this have this feel to it.
