defining BOLD

Merriam Webster Dictionary - Definition of BOLD:
1a: fearless before danger b: showing or requiring a fearless daring spirit
2: impudent, presumptuous
3 obsolete : assured, confident
4: sheer, steep <bold cliffs>
5: adventurous, free <a bold thinker>
6: standing out prominently

I was talking with a friend the other night and Rob Bell's new book came into the discussion. The word "bold" was thrown around regarding Rob Bell's exegesis regarding God, love and hell. The word "bold" was being used with positive connotations, "Rob Bell is being bold with his new book." It has troubled me ever since. "Bold" is not a word I would use to describe Bell's misusing biblical text and attempting to dissuade people away from truthful, contextual biblical interpretation; I would call this heretical, tragic and disheartening but I would never call it "bold". If Rob Bell has a problem with God and who God shows himself to be through the text of the bible, I would respect him more if he rejected scripture entirely instead of trying to twist biblical texts to say things that it doesn't say. Rob Bell isn't being bold, he is being impudent and insolent. If Bell were just some dude who wrote a book attempting to start a discussion about Hell, God and love - that would be fine and that not something people should fear BUT that's not what he is doing. Bell isn't just some "dude", he is a pastor, a teacher and supposed to be an apparent spiritual Christian leader and when he says or writes something, he is laying out a theology. With this book he's attempting to promote a certain viewpoint and dissuade people of differing views into believing his view; this is a serious thing especially if he is wrong.

Just because something true makes me uncomfortable or is hard for me as a mortal to completely grasp, doesn't mean it becomes not true. No man has the ability in and of themselves to define absolute truth - that's what makes it absolute truth. Absolute truth lies outside of mankind in the being and personhood of God who is outside of all things and yet made all things. This is part of the great mystery and power that make God, God. If I completely understood God I would be God. I know there are a lot of people who can't accept this.

Maybe I am just being too much of stickler here regarding the word bold. In the end I guess it really struck me because I equate whether rightly or wrongly the word bold with the word beautiful. It is beautiful when something that you imagine to be small and weak does something bold and brave. It is beautiful when a person is bold and shares something unknown about themselves with others. A lot of things are BOLD and beautiful, I just don't think Rob Bell's recent publishing is one of them.

a fixed target: finding the center

Target the store has an ad catchphrase they have been using for a while now, "Life's a Moving Target." I grant you that Target's commercials are not as annoying as some and I concede that Target is a very clean and organized store versus its competitors, however, that doesn't make me like its slogan. It's my "Christian self" that takes the most disliking to the phrase. I do that a lot with media and entertainment, which makes it a nightmare for girlfriends who want to go see silly, promiscuous, "romantic comedy" chick-flicks. I always notice the unlikelihood, superficiality, and flawed mindsets of the characters in the film. Do I sound like a fun movie companion or what? This is not to say I dismiss every romantic comedy ever made; I like "Sleepless in Seattle", I find "When Harry Met Sally" to be a classic, I think "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton" is an adorable film. I however loathe "Knocked Up", "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" and "There's Something About Mary" which I have never been able to sit through all the way. Nothing is more irksome to me than wasting $10 bucks and two hours of my life on cinematic garbage.

Who moved the bullseye?

Anyway back to my issue with the slogan, "Life's A Moving Target." It's the impermanence the phrase suggests that bothers me the most. It suggests that life is always just out of reach, the goal of it ever changing and moving. I hate that idea; it sounds exhausting to me. Shopping may be a moving target, "Today I need toilet paper tomorrow a frying pan" but life's not. The center of our life shouldn't shift depending on what material goods we need to buy though that certainly sounds like something stores and advertisers would want us to believe.

Here is another slogan, "Our mission is to courageously lead people toward full devotion to Jesus Christ." This could totally be me being facetious but I don't like that slogan very much either. For now I will leave alone the possible self-aggrandizing involved with the words "Our" and "courageously." The word toward is what really sticks out most in my mind; Toward: "moving in the direction of (but not necessarily arriving at); in relation to (someone or something); for the purpose of attaining (an aim); located close to." (exact definition found on Wiktionary) 

I don't want to be in the vicinity of Jesus - I want to be with Jesus. I don't want to wander close to Him only to find in the end I didn't know Him. Becoming devoted to Him is not my aim, I am devoted to Him (all glory be to God!). The question now is "What do I do with my already existing devotion to Him?" or to phrase it a different way, "What does my existing devotion to Jesus look like lived?" Leading others perpetually towards devotion to Christ is not my aim either. I am just not sure you should want to lead someone toward being devoted to Jesus Christ; either they are going to be devoted or they aren't. This is a frighting sobering reality. The biggest question every man and woman will face is: Do I accept Jesus Christ literally as my Lord and Savior? It is a question every human being needs to wrestle with and resolve upon a concluding answer. Faith and its opposite unbelief are the two things all actions spring from. Transformation comes not so much out of what we do but what we believe. If you were an abolitionist who was unsure that slavery was really wrong, your resolve to see slavery's end, wouldn't be very strong. If you aren't actively/currently/already devoted to Christ than your resolve in living for Christ won't be very firm (too well do I personally know this is true!). How can you live out the principles of someone you don't currently trust? How can you hope in promises you don't really think are true?

Encouraging adherence to the moral, practical teachings of Christ is pointless unless the more difficult life-altering, supernatural Spiritual teachings are taught as well. He talks about needing not just a new way of behaving but a completely new birth / new being. He is a radical in speech and deed. NO ONE is like Jesus Christ in identity, claim, teaching and existence. Like C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

When someone resolves something they resolve it; when you make your mind up, you make your mind up. I can't put a chicken in the oven and when the timer dings expect beef wellington to come out just as I can't plant carrots seeds and expect tomatoes to grow. The joy of making a decision is that now a conclusion has been reached; even if it is a hard choice at least there is peace knowing a choice has been made. Lukewarm, fence sitting really isn't an option when it comes to being a follower of Christ, again this is a sobering, humbling thing. If you leave open the option to change your mind, abstain from deciding until you have more evidence or believe only up to certain limits than you aren't resolved, your roots aren't fixed, your confidence is shaky. How are you going to live and die for something you don't believe in? The following is an example that came to mind. When you want to breakup with someone you shouldn't work towards breaking up with them, you should breakup with them.

Resolution to the question of "Who is Christ and what does that mean to me?" needs to come and it can't come unless The Gospel is heard and The Gospel can't be heard unless it is preached thus I admire and approve of the heart seeking out the non-devoted, unbelieving; that is a good and loving thing to want, necessary and vital are evangelism and missionary work. I guess what I am saying is I want the center target of Jesus Christ to be fixed, clear and ultimately obtained by those who are His children. I want the heart quickened to faith in Jesus Christ to be a confident heart in Jesus Christ; confident not because they have paid their $19.99 for spiritual assessment or because they have attended the most recent teaching series but because they know that they know Jesus Christ, ya know?

May the words of Peter be our own:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:3-9

if you build it you better afford it

Wall Street Journal - Churches Find End Is Nigh - The Number of Religious Facilities Unable to Pay Their Mortgage Is Surging


The link above is another discovery thanks to Google news. Totally random article but the title is what hooked me into clicking it, “Churches Find End is Nigh: The number of religious facilities unable to pay their mortgage is surging”. It is a very interesting article. I think it can be used for a lot of good. Good can come from bad; lessons learned come from understanding the pitfalls and mistakes of the past. I hope we can learn from others who have gone before us and those around us. I hope we aren’t doomed to repeat the failure of the past.

When things are bustling, growth seems to be occurring, people are excited - it is important to take a step back and evaluate what these feeling really are. I wonder how often plain camaraderie is mistaken for true spiritual fellowship. "Making do" is what the new American way of life now and that is actually a good thing. Maybe churches should "make do" with movie theaters and rented spaces, with more emphasis on small groups that meet in homes. I wonder how often faith in God is replaced with faith in feeling good. I wonder how often the "do something now" movement is done more out the need to prove faith rather than from faith already existing and strong, so on fire it spreads without conscious effort. Our faith should be the reason behind our actions; our actions shouldn't be used to reason our faith.

The big building projects, who is all that REALLY for? Should a ministry make its living on the backs of the blue and white collar workers who attend? If a ministry doesn't know you by more than your checking account number is that right? Should we pay for the message we hear locally to stay here locally or pay to have the gospel spread out from here to everywhere? What is our calling? What is our mission? Conviction is good if guided by God; why such fear in speaking truth? If I fear hurting someones "feelings" more than I fear for their current and eternal welfare don't I do them a terrible injustice? I do want people to be happy but not at the expense of being deceived. That is how I would want other brothers and sisters in Christ to treat me; isn't that the policy?

To those who build big and new, contemporary and comfortable: your constituents are impressed but is God? Do you think he cares about contemporary and modern furnishings? Do you think he reads Architectural Digest and says, “Wow, these humans really know there stuff”? Does God shop at Ikea? Do you think he wants a store next to the sanctuary? Maybe “spirituality” can be bought but relationship with God never could or can - the cost is truly unfathomable; it cost his Only Son his only life to bring us into right standing. I have a freaking library of Christian books at my disposal at home (it really is ridiculous, I am book hoarder) and I honestly haven’t read even one fourth of them. Reputable, good books by competent theologians do not make me closer to God. It may make me more knowledgeable, more word savvy, more intellectually impressive but since when does terminology equate intimacy. I can speak the right words and terms and never understand them from my heart - what a waste. A married person can read about what it takes to make a healthy marriage all day long but eventually he has to put the book down and live it.

He who made all things isn’t fixated with things, another one of the amazing contradicting tensions that is God. When do the gospels record Jesus saying, “you tiny human build me a mini mall” or “you tiny human build me a 30000 square foot edifice”? All the “building” that is to be done is done is by Jesus/The Holy Spirit/God and what is being built is a Church of people not bricks. (Matthew 16:18) The place where we worship is truly not as important as the worship itself. Where you are physically is crap to where you are internally/relationally to God. From communist China to a main street America - where is not the issue. (John 4:20-24) Am I being too harsh, too abrasive; I respectfully don’t apologize. I say all this not only to others but for myself as well. It is a cry from the depths of my soul, a plea for the authenticity and truth. Let us not fool ourselves.

I ask again, who is all this really for? The flashing lights, the rumble of the amplifier, the big screen TVs: who is it for? American self indulgence is prevalent but should it be encouraged? The half a dozen ministries each serving a specific label: women, men, tween, teen, recovering addict, on and on. Are we labeled too much? Not enough? Does the label “women” cover all women: single, married, and divorced? Does the label “men”? The sports commentary from the stage, the prime time TV show references, the jovial joking to put you at ease: who is it for? Here is a critical question for modern church teachers, “I get the feeling you don’t judge me but do you love me? Really love me like Jesus? I get that you care about my money, my but in the seat, my time donated but do you love me, me the person with a history, present and a future? Me the mortal that will face The Immortal - do you care about that facet of myself? When I look at you, teacher of Gods word, I care about you. Do you think I am asking for too much of you? Does it keep you up at night that you live in a city filled with the physically living, eternally perishing?”

For more regarding this topic I encourage reading "Pagan Christianity" by Frank Viola. I don't agree with every word he's written but much of it is illuminating. We have to step back, evaluate what church means and than step up and live it. We need to do this together. We need to do this now. All I say and write I do because I care, deeply care. If I didn’t I would be indifferent and silent.

“Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2 (NLT)

it's a mad mad mad world

Hold the phone: the Catholic pope has blessed social networking. The pope has encouraged Catholics to and I quote "join the network of relationships which the digital era has made possible."(I wonder if he has watched the The Social Network - great movie!- but I digress.) I stumbled upon this article via Google. Since this is a blog about social decorum in the virtual world, I thought this was pretty interesting:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/01/24/faithful-facebook-pope-benedict-blesses-social-networking/

This pronouncement has a palpable ploy vibe to it. It's like, "Hey world are Catholics hip or what!" Or what indeed. In the article the pope says "It is important always to remember that virtual contact cannot and must not take the place of direct human contact with people at every level of our lives." The article also points out that the pontiff does not have a Facebook page. It is creepy to think of someone with the popes flamboyant wardrobe choices being on Facebook, but again I digress. At least he agrees that direct human contact trumps virtual contact. I think that is a really interesting and valid point. Direct human contact is important in "EVERY level of our lives". Whether it is checking out at the store or going to the bank - we can go a whole day, running oodles of errands and never have to talk to a single soul. We are sacrificing temporal convenience for fellow human contact. The irony is we are probably in such a hurry because we need to get back to our android blackberry crackberry. We are choosing to rest the social muscle so to speak and muscles not exercised get atrophy.Could this be why there is such incivility, hatred, stupidity, and violence in the world because our social tolerance isn't being exercised daily?

We miss out when it comes to virtual communicating, especially Facebook. It is a strange thing with Facebook that what is personal becomes so impersonal. I mean an actual person is typing and clicking on the other end of the web page but that doesn't make the communication being shared between personal. I did a Google search once with the keywords: "facebook" and "unhealthy" and "relationships". The results were eye opening to me. Articles popped up with the titles like "Facebook ends relationships" even "Facebook ends marriages." Facebook provides too much accessibility without any real time merit. I met you once two years ago at a function and now I have access to every place you've ever went, who you went with, what you felt while you were there- it is too much. I feel like I really know you because I have all this information but I don't know you. I know you but I don't know you. We don't speak. We have no private communication together yet I have 24/7 access into your world. The other problem with Facebook is that it is the ever open window to the past most of which should remain behind a secure wall of thick glass. Memories should sometimes remain just that - memories. An example would be access to old high school sweethearts should remain off limits to the relationally couple committed. Temptation under the name of "trust me" is a precarious road.

Overexposure is no longer just for movie stars and reality show hacks, the average anybody thanks to Twitter and Facebook can be overexposed easily. Facebook especially is really good at making accessibility without intimacy available and that is a terrible danger. If human beings are wired socially to form deep lasting connections, how does Facebook as a whole help that? We form relational bonds by sharing information together. Period. Now if we share information in a cavalier, mass way isn't that tandem to social whoring? Pardon my terminology if you are offended but seriously what would you call someone who shares every moment of their life with everybody, where relational privacy is virtually nil or nonexistent? Or to go in the other direction what would you call someone who edits all the moments of their lives in order to show only their best, happy, fun side? Why can't we love the one we are with so to speak and leave it at that? Why can't I go to the movies with Betty and share that experience just with Betty? Why isn't that enough? Why do I have to tell everyone I am at the movies with Betty? Why can't I keep my ripped abs to myself? (which does not describe in any way the condition of my abs) Why do I need to put photos of myself that I think are hot on the web for comment? Ego boosting and grand standing isn't just something politicians do. I am not writing all of this to the non believing world but to believers, professing believers in Christ. Lets be spiritually discerning about this and about everything to the glory of God.

I don't know Benedict, I think your blessing of digital network relationships is spiritually and relationally a wrong one...