2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 24,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 9 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

For Assurance of Salvation Look To Christ Not Yourself

I have always enjoyed reading Tullian Tchividjian. He writes about grace, and he writes often about not looking to ourselves, our efforts, our works for salvation or for assurance to salvation.

One way to know if a preacher, teacher, speaker, is telling the truth of scripture is when they point to two thing and two things only. Christ and the Bible. Besides my preacher, there are very few that do both of these things. But Chuck Swindoll and Tullian are two that do this every time. Today Tullian has an exceptional article and one that I could do no better in writing. I highly recommend its read and pondering.

Please read Where Can I Find Assurance.

Another good source is the messages by Wade Burleson on the book of Hebrews. In this study we see how Christ is the only source of all things. How the Old Testament points to Christ. So far it has been about a year studying the book of Hebrews with another 6 months worth of sermons to follow. So begin to listen at the beginning(January 2011) to get the full meaning of this wonderful book.

Grace Writes A Letter To Antinomian

Tags

brewing beer, new creation in christ, obeying god, tullian tchividjian

I read this piece written by Elyse Fitzpatrick in Tullian Tchividjian’s blog and knew I just had to spread it.

I wonder along with this writer if antonomianism even exists. I think not. Although I smile, I am serious. I think it’s more a charge from those who fail to understand grace as the Bible teaches it. Grace says we are a new creation in Christ, with the Holy Spirit in us who writes the law in our hearts and gives us freedom and Liberty in Christ to follow the Holy Spirit. In other words, being led by our hearts. Our new, changed by God, hearts. Maybe that’s why I’m smiling. Read Ephesians 2:1-10.

Dear Mr. Antinomian,

Forgive me for writing to you in such an open forum but I’ve been trying to meet you for years and we just never seem to connect. While it’s true that I live in a little corner of the States and while it’s true that I am, well, a woman, I did assume that I would meet you at some point in my decades old counseling practice. But alas, neither you nor any of your (must be) thousands of brothers and sisters have ever shown up for my help…So again, please do pardon my writing in such a public manner but, you see, I’ve got a few things to say to you and I think it’s time I got them off my chest.

I wonder if you know how hard you’re making it for those of us who love to brag about the gospel. You say that you love the gospel and grace too, but I wonder how that can be possible since it’s been continuously reported to me that you live like such a slug. I’ve even heard that you are lazy and don’t work at obeying God at all…Rather you sit around munching on cigars and Twinkies, brewing beer and watching porn on your computer. Mr. A, really! Can this be true?

So many of my friends and acquaintances are simply up in arms about the way you act and they tell me it’s because you talk too much about grace. They suggest (and I’m almost tempted to agree) that what you need is more and more rules to live by. In fact, I’m very tempted to tell you that you need to get up off your lazy chair, pour your beer down the drain, turn off your computer and get about the business of the Kingdom.

I admit that I’m absolutely flummoxed, though, which is why I’m writing as I am. You puzzle me. How can you think about all that Christ has done for you, about your Father’s steadfast, immeasurable, extravagantly generous love and still live the way you do? Have you never considered the incarnation, about the Son leaving ineffable light to be consigned first to the darkness of Mary’s womb and then the darkness of this world? Have you never considered how He labored day-after-day in His home, obeying His parents, loving His brothers and sisters so that you could be counted righteous in the sight of His Father? Have you forgotten the bloody disgrace of the cross you deserve? Don’t you know that in the resurrection He demolished sin’s power over you? Aren’t you moved to loving action knowing that He’s now your ascended Lord Who prays for you and daily bears you on His heart? Has your heart of stone never been warmed and transformed by the Spirit? Does this grace really not impel zealous obedience? Hello…Are you there?

Honestly, even though my friends talk about you as though you were just everywhere in every church, always talking about justification but living like the devil, frankly I wonder if you even exist. I suppose you must because everyone is so afraid that talking about grace will produce more of you. So that’s why I’m writing: Will you please come forward? Will you please stand up in front of all of us and tell us that your heart has been captivated so deeply by grace that it makes you want to watch the Playboy channel?

Again, please do forgive me for calling you out like this. I really would like to meet you. I am,

Trusting in Grace Alone,

Elyse

Until Your Love Broke Through Is My Story

Tags

Jesus Christ, personal relationship

It’s no secret I am a fan of Keith Green’s music. This song is one I can relate to and the first time I heard it in the mid 1980′s, I broke down and sobbed because I realized I never knew what real love was. I longed to be loved by God. I wanted what Keith Green had, a personal relationship with Jesus like David of the Bible. The words convey my personal story as most Keith Green songs did.

There are writers I have read who convey they are against a Gospel that is all about a “me” mentality. But isn’t that what the Gospel is all about? Me? You? People? Wanting to be loved unconditionally? Freeing them from their chains of sin? You can’t get better than God’s unconditional love.The Gospel is about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, to call God abba, as well as universal and corporate relationship. It is about a Savior who came to this earth for you and for me.

In my opinion you can’t get this conveyed any better than through Keith Green’s music and words.

Emmanuel Baptist Christmas Pageant, Meeting With Dee and Deb From Wartburg Watch

Tags

christmas pageant, Emmanuel Baptist church, Emmanuel Baptist Pageant, Wade Burleson

The Emmanuel Baptist Christmas Pageant is worth every minute of watching. I’ve attended or watched from the internet every year since 1991 and it’s always just as fresh and beautiful as the first time I experienced it. This year Bryan Riley, who is now living in Enid and a member of our church, sang.He has an incredible voice.

It’s usually crowded, not a seat to be had, and it’s usually miserable outside, but that’s what makes our Pageants. To watch it you can tune in here. You may have to register, but take the time to do it. While you are there, listen to a sermon or two.

Sunday night at 4:50 pm I received a surprise phone call from Dee of The Wartburg Watch inviting me out to dinner. She and Deb were both in Enid visiting and doing some pretty exciting stuff. I did not hesitate to accept after I got over the excitement of the call. It was a great time, and I now have two more strong women as friends. They are as incredible in person as their writing is on their blog. It was a time of eating and stimulating conversation that I will not soon forget. Thank you Deb and Dee.

I worked until 12:00 am Saturday night so I did not attend church Sunday morning. I wish I would have, Dee and Deb were there as well as at the matinee performance of the Pageant. I am so thrilled they experienced the church I love.

I’m going to make a prediction here that may get me stoned, but here it goes. It’s women like Deb and Dee, Christa Brown and others I could name, along with Biblical minded men who have seen what scripture actually teaches, and not the traditions that we have heard that are not actually in the Bible, that God is going to use to purify the church. A badly needed purification.

Free Will Baptist Church Changes Vote Banning Interracial Couple, And John Piper’s Bloodlines

When I was a little girl in Kindergarten growing up in Kansas, I had a African-American friend who lived on the next block. We were inseparable. As little girls do, we held hands while walking to school or walking to the neighborhood quick shop. I remember vividly an adult telling me that if we continued to hold hands the color of my friends skin would rub off on me as if this was a bad thing. I knew this wasn’t true even at a young age. All I knew was this was my closest friend.

The Kentucky Free Will Baptist Church has done the right thing in turning around the ban on interracial couples by declaring the 9-6 vote of the 40 member church null and void. HT: Dennis Burke

Why didn’t they do this at the beginning? Was this done because of a change of heart, or because of the massive outcry from the public, both Christian and non-Christian? We must remember and come to this conclusion as a universal Church or we lose our effectiveness. God pr-ordained racial diversity on this planet for His glory. It’s beautiful.

While I am glad that this free will Baptist church overturned their original decision, it does show that racism is alive and well in some parts of America in the year 2011, almost 2012. Although this video from John Piper has circulated for a while, including on the Desiring God website, it has so moved me that I am posting it here. It is about 20 minutes in length, but a worthwhile 20 minutes as John Piper describes racism in his own life as a child and young adult growing up in the South.

Wise Words

John Piper’s words spoke to me. This is good advice for anyone who thinks fighting for “correct” theology is the main thing.

Fighting In The SBC. Isn’t It About Time We Laid Down Our Arms?

A suggestion is made to change our name to be more effective to the outside community, a group is against it. A task force is formed to study the situation, a group is against it. The latest news of no surprise is the Tennessee Southern Baptists say no to a name change in the form of a resolution.

WHEREAS, it has been argued that keeping the name Southern Baptist Convention could cause harm to our missionary efforts worldwide; and

WHEREAS, the President of the Southern Baptist Convention appointed a task force to study a name change for the Southern Baptist Convention; and

WHEREAS, messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention have repeatedly turned away such proposals; and

WHEREAS, the name Southern Baptist Convention is recognized worldwide as a convention of churches partnering together for “One Sacred Effort, the Propagation of the Gospel;” and

WHEREAS, the costs associated with such a name change could be used for things that relate more closely to our task of winning the lost to Christ; and

WHEREAS, many costs associated with such a name change would be borne by the churches associated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention; and

WHEREAS, there may also be other unanticipated negative consequences of such a name change.

Therefore, be it RESOLVED, that we, the messengers of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, meeting at First Baptist Church, Hendersonville, TN, November 15-16, 2011, support retaining the historic name “Southern Baptist Convention” and oppose any change to such name; and

Be it further RESOLVED, that we ask the President of the Southern Baptist Convention to cease the work of the task force; and

Be if finally RESOLVED, that a copy of the resolution be forwarded to each member of the SBC presidential task force, the President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the members of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention

I just have to say this. OH BROTHER! We do not know the cost of a name change which is one reason the task force was formed. It seems to me that this use of cost as a reason is masking the truth of opposition of the name change. Pride. Opposition to the current leadership simply because it is the current leadership and not those who love to fight, the Fundamentalists are no longer in control and it’s eating at them.

Before a resolution should even be thought of ,it would be wiser to wait for the report of the task force that is formed without SBC monies. This task force is not costing us a dime.

There have been people, although small in number, who have been against the current SBC leadership since day one. Fear, the need to be against something. Since we have fussed for a few hundred years, at least the last twenty, I can’t put my finger on the reason, and maybe the reason doesn’t matter.

I do know this. Our current leadership is facing some heavy opposition. I could name a few names, but find it redundant now to do so. The names are few, but a fuss they are kicking.

Isn’t it time to quit all this fussing and fighting? We now have leadership that is wanting to focus on the important thing. Missions. Reaching people for Christ. Shouldn’t that be the focus? The very reason the SBC was formed? Well that and the slavery issue.

People are dying without Christ. They need the Gospel. But, politics and power are threatening once again to be the issue. We have leadership who are including both Fundamentalist and non-Fundamentalist, but it seems that some Fundamentalists do not like this. They are not driving the ship so to speak and that is not acceptable. There are also those who do not share their view that they have to wage battle against.

It’s time to say enough is enough. It’s time to lay down our arms and get to the business of concentrating on missions. We need to continue to include those we disagree with on non-essentials and do whatever it takes to give the Gospel those who need to hear of Christ and His love. It’s hard to talk of Christ and especially His love when we are not loving one another.

My Last Post

Tags

Baptist, Christianity, church, Denominations, God, Health, Religion and Spirituality, Southern Baptist Convention

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith (Philippians 3:7–9).

This will be my last post. The blogging I have done, the things I have read are taking a toll on my health both physical and spiritual. My husband has seen this and has asked me to consider stopping. Since my husband never asks me to do anything unless he is deeply concerned, I have to take his request seriously. After a lot of thought and prayer, I have decided this will be my last post.

When I was a child, I always thought that the church was a safe place, one place that people would always be accepted no matter who they were, no matter where they were in their knowledge of scripture. I quickly began to see as a teenager that in the Baptist circles especially, that is not the case. As a woman it has always been difficult in the church because we were always second class citizens in limiting what we could and could not do. Something the world once did, although as a girl that was changing.  I have seen church splits, fights, more splits, and more fights in my young life and now as an adult in the SBC, famous for it’s hair splitting fights, exclusion of people, treatment of women as non-qualified for ministry despite scripture to the contrary. It’s not healthy, spiritually or physically. In fact it takes away from the building of faith, it certainly doesn’t add to it.

Some of the issues I have blogged on,Ergun Caner, victims of clergy abuse whose numbers are rising, not falling among Southern Baptist churches, the outcome has not been acceptable to me and because of that it is consuming me where Christ and God’s sovereignty in all of this should be consuming me. I should be resting in Christ, instead I find myself attempting to change things that cannot be changed. It’s making me into something that is less than Christ honoring.  I need to spend time with my Bible and God. I need to spend time with my family.  I need to spend time with my church family. I need time to heal.

Something I have yet to see in my church are any of the unhealthy things I have dealt with while digging deeper into the SBC. I would like to concentrate on my church. There it is a place of sanctuary. It’s a place of spiritual health. A place of integrity.  Something I need right now.  Women are thought of highly and their talents are used as God gives them. Children are precious and people to be protected from harm.  There we can disagree on things non-essential and it is taken seriously while treated with respect. You will hear no name calling or labeling because we disagree. I can feel safe sharing ideas, concerns, things I see in scripture, without retribution or without dictating one’s life. We also stress the Holy Spirit bearing fruit, which is patience, love, truth telling in all things, aiding people in need. Missions is a big part of who we are.  We believe in people being Holy Spirit lead. All this is in response to the Holiness of God and that we are accepted by God because of what Christ has done not anything we have done. We are accepted by God. Period.  It’s a great place to be, and where I want to spend all my time and talents.

Someday maybe there will be a more sanctified, kinder, gentler SBC, but that is not today.

Dancing At The Fundamentalist Ball: Michael Spencer

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Dancing At The Fundamentalist Ball By Michael Spencer

This is the first piece written by Michael Spencer that I read. It is also my favorite. I have a copy of it and read it constantly. I first heard of Michael through the reading of Paul Burleson’s blog some four years ago, where he featured this piece. I read it. I cried. I rejoiced. I was hooked.  I have re posted this piece a time or two and do so again. I might add that I do believe in the inerrancy of scripture, but except for that one point, Michael Spencer has captured the essence of my own thoughts.

Dancing at the Fundamentalist Ball A Special Essay by Michael Spencer

I am almost through with fundamentalism. Almost.

There are still some places where I want to hang on to my fundamentalism, but not many. After spending most of my life listening to my fundamentalist relation sing their song in the current cultural climate, I long ago quit singing with them. Eventually, I put down my hymnal and left the choir loft. Now I think it’s time to leave the building altogether.

Of course, I realize some liberals will always think I am a fundamentalist because I believe in classically orthodox Christianity, the truthfulness of the Bible (rightly interpreted,) the resurrection of Jesus, miracles, prayer, the church and creation. The somewhat theologically astute will realize that stadiums full of non-fundamentalists believe all that stuff, but among that segment of American culture that finds any serious place given to faith fundamentalist, then I will always be mistaken for one. It’s fine with me, even fun, especially around really angry liberals (who are rather fundamentalistic themselves.)

Among, fundamentalists, however, my departure has been noticed for some time, both theologically and culturally. I hold no place for young earth creationism. I do not read the King James Version, and I do not want others to do so. My description of scripture does not choose to use the word, “inerrant.” I do not believe in the rapture. I abhor revivalism and its shallow, manipulative techniques. The four Spiritual laws are not the Gospel. Aisle walking is just plain wrong. I strongly suspect that most of what is on the shelves of Christian bookstores is somewhere between shallow and heretical. Women in ministry is good Bible as far as I am concerned. I avoid TBN like a fundamentalist avoids MTV. I like a whole bunch of Roman Catholics. Sometimes, I don’t pray over my food. (Actually, I pray one prayer on January 1st for the whole year, but that’s another column.)

On the cultural front, I consider the temperate use of alcohol to be harmless, if not mildly virtuous. (Alert Baptists: Psalms 4:7, 104:15. Read it first before you do anything rash.) I wish I danced and intend for my children to do so. I read a variety of books that fundamentalists consider occultic, worldly and dangerous. I listen to music ranging from Led Zeppelin to the Beatles to Dave Mathews. I find Contemporary Christian music to be, in the main, embarrassing. (With a few significant exceptions.)  I love movies and the language doesn’t bother me, though I certainly don’t want to talk that way. I have raised my children in the Christian faith, but I have not sheltered them from bad culture, bad language or flawed people. I have not taught my children that it impresses God if you dress nicely for church, wear a WWJD bracelet or listen to the Christian radio station. I’ve actually told them God is great and loving enough to speak through any medium he desires. I bought my son three Harry Potter books. I love Halloween. I think Landover Baptist Church is stone cold funny.

This could go on, but I would belabor, bore and give my critics ammunition. I left the Fundamentalist ranch a long time ago. Every so often, I look back from my new view up in the hills and think of the good times, the good friends and the good truth, but I am not raising my kids there, and I am not going back.

And here is the main reason I have decided to move on. (There are many, for you e-mailers.) I don’t think Jesus was a mean, negative person who viewed life as a conspiracy. I think Jesus was a positive, gracious person who thought God was into everything, which was a matter of great rejoicing. I have decided Jesus was not a fundamentalist, and so I am not going to be either.

First, the mean part. I know being mean doesn’t have a thing to do with anything, but fundamentalists are mean a lot of the time, and they seem to think this is somehow OK. Now when it’s a Muslim fundamentalist being mean we see this rather easily. I know that Christian fundamentalists don’t blow things up or cheer those who do, but we are talking only about a matter of degree.

The best example of this is the reaction of fundamentalists to Hollywood. A few years ago, Tinseltown put out a perfectly horrible little movie called “The Last Temptation of Christ.” The particular problems with this piece of cinema aren’t really germane here, but let’s just say that a nation that fills the theaters for “American Pie II” and “Scary Movie” was not going to be excited about this entertainment. It was a stinker, of the highest order. Yet, fundamentalists mounted a campaign of protest, spleen-venting, tantrum-throwing and name calling that has yet to be matched. Just plain, grit-your-teeth, grind-your-jaw, get-in-your-face-and-spit mean and mad. The over-reaction of fundamentalists dignified this movie a thousand times more than it deserved by making it a victim of censorship.

The meanness that really bothers me is that reserved for those opponents of fundamentalism who simply disagree with them over one of their favorite topics. People who like Harry Potter. Or who endorse women in ministry or reject young earth creationism. Or happen to want alcohol served in restaurants. Hey- these are issues on which real Christians disagree, but fundamentalists chew on these issues with all the civility of  a night at WWF Raw. I’ve not just seen this meanness, I’ve experienced it and, unfortunately, I’ve dished it out.

Don’t get me wrong- in the public arena, it’s sometimes give as good as you get, and some of those who want to take over our culture and reshape it into their own image are angry, mean and even vicious. But tough-mindedness and meanness are two different things. I’m happy to play hardball, and I want to win the culture war, but I would like to leave the meanness to someone else.

Then there’s negativity. By this I mean an overall approach to life as a series of prohibitions and restrictions. Now I recognize that there are plenty of negatives in the Bible, and lots of rules against various things of varying significance. Take the Ten Commandments. Quite a few “Thou shalt not’s” in there. But the first and greatest commandment, the commandment that dominates and sets the tone, is to love God with all we are and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The relationship between these commandments is important here: it is the positive that controls the negative. You shall not commit adultery is controlled by loving God, neighbor and self rightly. The reverse- to love God by what we do NOT do- is only true in a limited sense, but don’t try and tell that to your fundamentalist friends.

Fundamentalists love God by not doing what the larger culture does, by not sinning, by not being worldly, by not indulging temptation. If you haven’t noticed, the negative way is simpler, easier to define and far more likely to be controlled by an authority figure who eliminates all the questions and gray areas. Trusting people to love God and do as they please scares fundamentalists to death.

This negative approach is generously applied to young people, who thrive on being told what NOT to do, and who adults like to believe can be controlled. Eventually, however, the negative approach begins to force a certain amount of cognitive dissonance, and a choice must be made on how to maintain the superiority of the negative commands over the positive. There is no one more perplexed than a thoughtful fundamentalist, who realizes that there really is no virtue in not dancing, but whose believing community insists that not dancing is an article of faith.

This, by the way, is why fundamentalists never produce any real art, and why their ventures into film and music are so predictably awful. Their conception of art is so dominated by the negative approach, that characters can’t be real human beings and lyrics can’t be real poetry. The whole realm of the imagination and the appreciation of beauty have to be controlled by what they can not represent and how things are not to be expressed. It’s no wonder that the ranks of real artists trying to exist in fundamentalism resembles a community of abused and neglected refugees.

I believe scripture teaches that negativity is no more able to create true virtue than a fence is able to grow a crop. In fact, it was Jesus who said that a house swept clean of seven demons was once again ripe for the same, or even worse, occupants. I have discovered that loving God, neighbor and self is far more than the accumulated negative commands of my fundamentalist upbringing. It is a LOT more challenging than keeping the rules. It is so difficult, that transformation by God himself is my only hope.

Finally, the conspiratorial mindset. Fundamentalism is awash with conspiracy theories. The devil, the Illuminati, the CFR, the World Council of Churches, the NEA, Satanists, New Agers, The Networks, Procter and Gamble, Madelyn Murray O’Hare, the relatives of Bill Clinton…well, that one has some interesting possibilities. Anyway, as someone said, it’s not just a conspiracy, it’s a LIFESTYLE.

Prominent in this kind of thinking is the belief that participating in any aspect of the larger culture exposes one to forces posed to drag the victim into witchcraft and demon possession. Eric Rigney’s endorsement of the Harry Potter books has yielded message after message warning that the books are a gateway into bondage to occultic powers. Where is a single shred of evidence that Harry Potter is any more harmful than Snow White or the tales of King Arthur? The predictability of fundamentalist conspiracy theories have become downright annoying.

The conspiratorial prophets- Warnke, Hunt, Van Impe, Lindsey, Maddux, et al- exert a remarkable amount of unquestioned control in the fundamentalist community. How can so many intelligent people see conspiracies in everything, yet never question themselves or their sources at all? It is the same impulse that turned hysterical teenagers into witches in Salem, and wound up hanging the innocent.

It is here that fundamentalism shows such a remarkable difference from the Bible. While taking the reality of evil totally seriously, Holy Scripture never falls to the level of seeing conspiracies as the explanations for events that are hard to understand or impossible to control. A sovereign God, fallen angels and sinful men are the full extent of the Bible’s conspiracy theory. The early Christians did not waste their time teaching about Roman or pagan conspiracies, but simply lived and worshipped faithfully. It was not a mistake that the apostle Paul counseled believers to avoid myths, fables, and gossip.

Yet fundamentalists don’t avoid this way of thinking, they absolutely revel in seeing evil conspiracies at work in everything. So prevalent are conspiracies as the explanation for events, that a kind of concrete pessimism permeates fundamentalism, leaving Christians to believe that nothing is as it seems and only a conspiracy that really explain life, culture and history. One has to salute those in the fundamentalist community who have defied this dark way of looking at the world and have gone out into the world to do good.

As I said earlier, I do not see any of these trends in Jesus. Instead, I see grace, love and faith, lived out in bringing the Kingdom of God into the world through compassion, servanthood and sacrifice. I am sure that Jesus might be called a theological fundamentalist by some, but does anyone really see the spirit of modern fundamentalism in Jesus?

My departure from fundamentalism will be impossible to explain to fundamentalists. To them, to depart from the community in any way is to call into question one’s basic Christian commitment. They are convinced that if one is in touch with God, he or she will agree with them and stand with them in things large and small. It is sadly common among fundamentalists to respond to any deviation from their worldview with an invitation to pray and listen to God more closely, as if God spoke each of their beliefs directly into their ears. But I am at peace with this, and I am glad that my children will not grow up, as I did, believing all Catholics were going to hell, anyone who drank was lost, dancing was evil, movies and secular music were of the devil, and, of course, we and only we, were right.

I missed my prom, because my church told me it was evil to go. Other than a weak moment in the 8th grade, I’ve never been to a dance. I’d love to say that once I’ve renounced my fundamentalism, I’ll be the first one out on the dance floor, but its not that easy. It will take a lifetime to get over the narrow mindset of fundamentalism. But if you stop by the nursing home around, say 2033, that will be me turning circles in the wheelchair, looking for a partner.