Colostrum
A friend of mine works in the Labor and Delivery ward at a local hospital. She’s loves working with babies and new mothers and being inundated with that whole experience (the kind of thing which would make me run for the hills) And through her, I’m able to get some information about the environment in the ward from a safe distance.
“I hate it when mothers are lazy” She’ll say “I know, I know, they’ve just been through labor but seriously! They’ll ring the buzzer and say like ‘The baby needs to be changed would you change her?’ ‘Yes, but you know, You can change her, It’s been a day now’ ‘I’m tired…’ uh hu… or they’ll say ‘She isn’t taking the breast milk she needs a bottle will you feed her?’ well no, she doesn’t need a bottle, you just… you need to try a little bit… It may not feel like anything’s coming out but your breasts will produce colostrum which is really nutritious, and you don’t need much because a babies stomach is like…”
She gestured with her hand indicating about the size of a pea, but I was already distracted.
“Colostwhat?”
“Colostrum, It’s like a pre-breast milk”
“A Pre-breast milk, that’s really nutrient filled but not substantial in any way?”
“Yes exactally”
“That’s perfect!”
“Perfect for what… For babies?”
“For another theological analogy!”
She rolled her eyes
Here’s the idea though, Most churches today, in the interest of not giving their congregation more than they can chew are offering sermon after sermon on Jesus’s death and resurrection, on forgiveness, the prodigal son, God as provider, Abiding in him… basically all sermons that i would sum up as saying essentially “No seriously, Jesus Loves you” And it’s great stuff and it’s true, and very central to the heart of faith, but let’s be honest, It’s lazy, and we do it because we as pastors are already familiar with those subjects and it won’t make anyone mad or cause any problems we might have to deal with.
And we justify our laziness by quoting Paul “For you require milk, and not solid food” 1 Corinthians 3:2
but if you read the parallel passage in Hebrews you will hear Paul’s definition of milk
Hebrews 6
1Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3And God permitting, we will do so.
That’s what we call “meat” Ya’ll.
Laying the foundation of repentance for sin, that one we might have covered, but it hink there’s a lot more to it then we talk about. The subject is called Soterieology which deals with the nature and method according to which one is saved and we don’t normally say much about it other than “through God’s grace because of Jesus” Paul Just called the whole subject “Milk”
Faith in God: Once again we touch on it, but do you feel your church has equipped you the answer the question “what is faith?” of “what does it mean to have saving faith”
Instruction about baptisms: I don’t know about your church but mine has a six week adult education class for this
The laying on of hands: I have never in my life heard a pastor church willing to touch this one (outside the LDS)
The resurrection of the dead: This is the Eschatological Resurrection people, Not Christ’s Resurrection. We’re going to resurrect…seriously, If you can’t pronounce the word “Eschatological” in your head when you read it it’s probably because you’ve never heard in such a thing as the Eschatological Resurection.
Annnnd Eternal Judgement. Well that one the southern baptists have covered for all of us!
That’s MILK!
Meat is something else, Something more advanced and harder to chew that that. Which of course implies the question: If that’s Milk, What have we been preaching every sunday?
Colostrum
We have been preaching a very good very nutritious kind of nourishment that is designed to hold an infant Christian over for a couple days.
And most Christians I know have lived on the stuff for decades. They’re starving. They need meat, They’re adults, and yet half of our pastors are still choking on milk.
Lord come quickly
The New Athiests
Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris. Have made themselves famous with arguments against religion that center on the damage it does to society. For example:
“Christianity has been responsible for an untold number of travesties like the crusades and the inquisition, and even today it stands to hold up back from progression as a society. It must therefore be done away with.”
Usually these objections are answered by defending that Christianity is actually good for the world, or trying to convince the new atheist, that what matters is the evidence for an idea, not the morality of it’s adherents, both are arguments which are potentially good, but I want to try a new angle.
So I’m willing to grant for the sake of debate that Christians have, for many years used the message of the gospel to defend abhorrent acts before an ignorant population. and I’m even willing to grant that negative consequences for holding an idea can sometimes be an indicator of it’s falsehood (because no matter how demonstratibly convenient it is to keep the well and the outhouse next to one another, if people get sick we might want to try something else)
But what now?
The argument falls apart at implementation. Okay New Atheists, Good point, What do you want to do about it?
End Christianity?
That’s a horrible plan! It’ll never work! We just granted that Christians are horrible ignorant tenacious people What you think they’re just going to give up now?
Sam Harris seems to think Legislation would help, clearly he’s never been to China or read enough Christian history to know that the church always gets stronger and bolder under persecution.
So do we just whine about it and wish Christianity would go away?
I have a better plan.
The solution to Bad Christianity, Is Good Christianity.
Yes, Mr. Hitchens, It’s true that at one time the Bible was used to defend the practice of slavery. But the Bible was also used, to support abolition, and eventually the civil rights movement. Those same rednecks who would have renounced you as heathen if you suggested that it was civilly unjust to take an African as property, responded to the words of Paul in Galatians that in Christ there is no male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free.
And Yes, Mr. Dawkins there are right now an embarrassing number of professing Christians who are attempting to hold back scientific advancement and science education. Won’t you help us to see science and scientists not as our enemy, but as an essential part of Christianity? Because that task, unlike ending Christianity, is achievable.
One Last Camp Thought
Okay, So I know the last 3 posts have been theologically light and about TLC, but trust me, you do not want 2 months full of updates about what it’s like to fund-raise. And this is the last one I promise.
After what must be over 50 camps, in at least 15 different settings, and having filled more roles than anyone I know from the church side, and the camp side, as a volunteer, a camper, and a professional. There’s very little that intimidates me about going to camp.
This is not my first Rodeo.
But although I’d have no trouble signing on to be the planner, director, speaker, disciplinarian, mascot, or janitor of a camp, there is one role that I will never fill. Thankfully I’m physically ineligible, but even if I weren’t, I’m too scared!
That role is Girls Counselor.
Now I’ve been a counselor.. Totally. I’ve been a counselor in a wheelchair, with the stomach flu, and hopping on one leg. No problem. But only for Boys.
Boys are easy. You send em, to camp, they go crazy, they can’t help but have fun, and learn, and grow, All I have to do is make sure they don’t die. And It’s not that hard, they’re small. When you set out to quiet down a boys cabin they will probably try to stay up half the night telling fart jokes, you try to stop them, but even if you don’t the problem solves itself on the second night of camp because they’re exhausted from the night prior.
The absolute worst case scenario in a boys cabin that I’ve never run into, but hear stories about from other counselors is when they show up for the morning meeting saying “Last night was horrible, my Boys tried to kill each other”
Sure, totally, it happens. But it’s not the end of the world, you separate them, they cool off, crisis averted.
What’s the Girls Counselor equivalent “My Girls tried to kill themselves”
What the heck are you supposed to do about that???
And that’s not even a particularly bad night, from what I can tell this happens frequently.
I’ve also seen 13 year old girls develop image issues, and eating disorders at camp, fits of unbridled, uncontrollable emotion, self mutilation… Stuff way beyond my pay grade!
The closest a boy will get to that is when he stops showering, and that can be solved two at a time with a garden hose.
I tip my hat to the brave souls in service to the cross who brave the dangers that lurk with in the Girls Cabins.
Nerd Girls
At camp I was able to offer a valuable lesson to someone who had never heard it before. I thought that if she hadn’t heard it then maybe ya’ll would benefit from it also, so here’s the story:
While sitting at the pool I heard Chris call out to another kid from the deck “Quit being such a nerd!” It caught my attention, so I asked for more details
“What’s wrong with being a nerd? I’m a nerd”
“Nobody likes nerds”
“Are you kidding me? everybody likes nerds, and I’ll tell you something else, nerds get the girls. Girls date the popular kids, they marry the nerds”
“What?”
“You ask any counselor here ‘Would you rather marry someone who was popular in high school, or a nerd?’ I bet you every one says they’d take the nerd”
“No Way!”
So we conducted a experiment, Women were interviewed by a number of different parties, and although we found many Jr. High girls of dissenting opinion we could not find a single woman volunteering who would not prefer to marry a nerd.
As the conversation progressed about nerds I could feel public opinion about my people swell in the pool area, Chris himself began to aspire to become a nerd, more interesting than that was the response of Paige, who had been listening nearby.
“Can Girls be nerds?” she said
“Oh absolutely girls can be nerds, and I’ll tell you what else, a nerd-girl can get any nerd-guy she wants”
“What do you mean?”
“Well when you’re young, the popular kids don’t like the nerds and they can’t get a date, but when it gets switched and women start wanting nerds, nerds don’t start wanting cheerleaders. A nerd might settle for a hot cheerleader, but he’d probably rather have someone cute and smart who plays video games”
This blew the minds of Chris and Paige, but I wonder how commonly understood this rule is in general.
Velma is the catch on Scooby Doo, not Daphne. The fact that Natalie Portman graduated Harvard is way hotter than that Scarlet Johansson posed nude for Vanity Fair. And I don’t know or care who Gucchi is but I do care who Soren Kirkeguard is and if you do too you are head and shoulders above any girl who keeps a dog in her purse when it comes to attractivness.
Teen Leadership Camp
I spent last weekend up at camp. I was volunteering with my old church for “Teen Leadership Camp” an extension/clone of “Royal Family Kids Camp” for Jr. High and High School Youth in the foster system.
The idea of both camps is to give underprivileged youngsters an opportunity to escape their rut for a few days into the mountains and experience the things so many normal kids take for granted. To receive attention and affirmation, and to be exposed to the love of God.
Mist TLC campers have Gone to Royal Family their whole lives, they know how it works, they know the rules, they know the story. None of us get paid, we’re Christians who choose to be at camp for one reason and one reason only, to love them. We’ve had to lay down some rules to prevent campers from killing each other, but if we had our way we’d never discipline anyone.
This leads to two distinct groups of campers. There’s the campers that love coming to camp every year and seek to develop relationships especially with the returning staff. They help to make the camp run smoother, help their fellow campers when they are in trouble and are excited to take on leadership positions. Often these campers know the rules better than the staff, and will remind newer staff when they are forgetting something.
Then there’s the campers who love coming to camp every year because they know there is no accountability. Honestly what are we going to do? We’re trained to avoid the word “no” whenever possible, and the whole reason we exist is to affirm and build up the kids, so if a camper chooses to spend the week picking fights and running away what are we going to do about it?
Compliment them on the one thing they did right all week is what.
No camper gets sent home, no camper gets dessert taken away, or is given trash duty, or KP. The more they misbehave the more we bend over to try to show compassion.
I think you see the metaphor
I’ve always objected to the homiletic practice of threatening hell to the complacent Christians. Of preaching against the idea of deathbed repentance with the danger of impending sudden death. I suspect those threats are empty. If you know god, if you asked Jesus to forgive you, if you’ve been adopted into the family of God, whether or not you do anything about it God will forgive you, He has to, Jesus died for you 1 John 1:9
It’s possible to be a Christian and suck at it.
But as long as you’re here, as long as you know the rules, you get that you’ve been brought here by a God that loves you and desires that none should perish, why not be one of the good ones? He has some leadership roles for you if you’re interested.
Storage Unit
Today I bought a storage unit so I could move out of the apartment I’ve been renting and make way for a new tenant. I’ll just couch surf for a couple of weeks until I’m ready to move to Kansas.
But moving into a storage unit required unpacking some of my old life that’s been in warm storage since the days when I had a real apartment. Little things, luxuries, things I haven’t needed in the year John’s been letting me stay with him, Like an alarm clock that’s not my cellphone and the pictures from my old kitchen, things that make it feel like home. And then random things like extra soap, stamps, the coin jar from that apartment still full of coins. All having been neatly waiting above my mothers garage for me to get a real place again.
It got me thinking about this crazy life of mine, that requires me on a semi-annual basis to move suddenly from the place I’d been calling home and transition.
Here I am looking at those pictures that were boxed up the last time I had to get out quickly, and still they’re not ready to come out, they’re going to storage until I get a trailer to move them to Kansas. Hopefully there I’ll get a nice big apartment, without roommates, and set everything up and relax completely into my home.
And it got me thinking “Am I too attached to material possessions?” Which is an annoying idea to come to mind as one backs all their belongings into a 5×5 cell. But seriously…
If I’m called to live life at a low income with limited dependability, Life not knowing where exactly I’ll live next year, then why do I keep accumulating possessions? Is that righteous?
Maybe I’m not supposed to settle down
Maybe My life in Kansas will be just as transitional, alumni house, to dorm room, maybe a too-small apartment while I get all the funding in…
Because Lord, If I’m called to live my life on an air mattress in the back of my truck with nothing but a change of clothes and a bible I am ready and willing, but you’ve got to let me know because if that’s the case then I really don’t need an Ionic Breeze Air Purifier.
Here’s to hoping for smoother traveling ahead!
Calvinism V Arminianism
It has been my contention for some time that most of the great debates withing the church, having raged for centuries, are able to do so only because both sides hold a piece of truth that the other misses.
Classic examples would be Pre-trib V Post-trib, Traditional V Contemporary, Complemantarian V Egalitarian, and perhaps most of all Calvinism V Arminianism.
The concept is that while each of those pairs are mutually exclusive to one another (both cannot be true) the debate continues to wage (unlike say, Trinitarianism V Modalism) because neither is completely false and neither is absolutely true. Each give us access to true things about God which the other obscures and vice versa.
Arminianism for instance, (the belief that we are ultimately responsible for our eternal destination) is false if Calvinism (the belief that god is ultimately responsible) is true. But even if false, Arminianism exposes truths about God and the christian life which Calvinism does not. The Arminian God is a god of love, a god who desires for absolutely everyone to be with him in paradise, he is a god of delegation, one who gives decisions of eternal importance into the hands of sinners, and he is a god of self sacrifice, who is willing to endure the absence of children he loves who don’t desire to live with him eternally, mercifully creating for them a place far from him called hell.
Calvinists, while rejecting Arminianism would do well to accept these truths about God (that he is loving delegating, and self sacrificing) because they are true, and well illustrated through Arminian theology.
On the flip side Calvinism may be wrong, but the god that Calvinism describes is nonetheless important. Calvinism’s God is sovereign and glorious, in control of creation completely, existing in absolute authority, and doing all ultimately for the only cause which is really good, His own eternal glory. The God of Calvinism is so great and mighty that justice itself bends to his will, he doesn’t bow to some external reality that is justice but rather justice bows to him, it is his creation. And we humans, in comparison to such greatness are insignificant. So dirty so depraved as to be unable even to surrender willfully to the salvation he offers. And he loves us all the same.
Arminians would do well to know these truths about God as well (that he is sovereign and glorious and we are lost and depraved) because they are also true, even if Calvinism is not.
I can speak only for myself as an Arminian to say that Although I know of course that God is glorious, the concept of the glory of God as understood calvinistically is unusual to me. “Sola Dei Gloria” is not a phrase frequently on my lips and I need to discipline myself to reexamine that theology periodically and remind myself that Jesus is not just my “buddy” but a being of such indescribable greatness that he should find me revolting by comparison. I suspect the same is true on the flip side for Calvinists who know intellectually that God loves them (obviously) but perhaps don’t often ponder how true it is that God actually likes them, who picture perhaps as infrequently as I picture God seated on his sovereign throne, God looking down at them, and smiling.
March
It’s been a while since my last update. And I’m glad to finally be filling you in on what’s transpired since my last letter. There’s big news all over this ministry as things get rolling. We’re developing partnerships with local churches, and other campus ministries. We’re building relationships with students and faculty and we’re developing a unique vision for what God wants InterVarsity to be at Kansas State University. But the biggest news of all is the students.
When last I updated you I introduced you to two student leaders who have heroically preserved the remnant of InterVarsity at KSU. That single meeting has now exploded into 6. Each one with its own identity, and serving a specific segment of the student populous. I’d like to briefly introduce you to each of our “cells.”
Boyd: The study that started it all is located in Boyd Hall. A girls-only dorm on campus, the students in that study have been going through the book of John chapter by chapter since before I arrived.
FarmHouse: One of the unique things about InterVarsity is our love for the Greek system. FarmHouse Fraternity is our first new Greek study, where we are going through the oft neglected book of 1Thesselonians.
WOW: Racism is still very much a reality on campus at KSU. Many students of color do not feel comfortable in what they consider to be “white campus groups,” so some students have stepped up to create a community that caters especially to African American Wildcats called the Workers Of Wisdom. Everyone is welcome, but we play Christian Rap, and talk is a style that’s less Rick Warren, and more T.D. Jakes. We’re going through Galatians topically.
Guys Night: On Friday night the WOW men gather together for prayer, fellowship, and male bonding.
Girls Night: I’m not allowed at Girls Night, but my student leaders tell me that they cook dinner together and talk about Jesus. (They probably talk about their feelings a lot, too.)
MATC: In the shadow of KSU, there is a small technical college called Manhattan Tech, where the blue collar workers get their education. A soon-to-be auto mechanic is helping me run a study of Mark in their break room where we learn about Jesus the Servant.
Grace and Peace
-Ryan Gaffney
Excommunicated
I’ve been kicked out of my church. I’m a protestant and we don’t use the word excommunication, but we do unfortunately have vindictive congregants who start malicious rumors which persuade leaders to ask other congregants not to return.
And that’s what happened…
A couple weeks ago.
For those of you following my story you will know that I was only made a member recently.
That’s true, but it’s not actually the presbytery that has kicked me out. The Presbyterian government is designed exactly such as to prevent such idiocy. But that doesn’t help people who have poured all of their investments into side ministries the way I did in the college ministry. It’s the college ministry which I’ve been asked not to disturb until further notice
So theoretically I could still go the early Sunday service, but I’m pretty sure even God doesn’t wake up that early. And I COULD go to any service I want, without anyone who would physically top me, but I would be looked on as a trouble maker and be shunned socially as one who doesn’t belong.
The rest of my spiritual life is no better. Almost all my Christian brothers and sisters at my church have turned against me. And I’m left cynical and unable to trust any community if I find I can’t trust this one
I can’t blend in to the other churches I visit. I’m an overly intellectual theologically minded ministry veteran at 22 coming to these churches as a first time visitor. They want to walk me through the sinners prayer, while I’m investigating seminaries.
And perhaps worst of all I’m hearing nothing but static on the line with God. And it’s been weeks.
So I do my best to stay faithful. I know God hears even when he doesn’t respond. I know god’s with me, even when I walk through he valley yadda yadda…
But that doesn’t mean I like it.
I think the worst thing.. is that since the church thing, not only have things not gotten better.. they’ve not gotten worse.
What’s the opposite of a plateau?
I can handle things going up and down, I’d like to think I can even handle things going as far down as this…But it’s not going down.
It’s just down, and holding steady.
I feel dead.
I know that’s not real useful. Like another blog about John 3:16 would be.
But I feel like I have to speak because my story should be told, that sometimes life isn’t sunshine and butterflies. and someone aught to be reporting from the trench even though there’s nothing really to report.
…it’s dark down here…
I’m Not Going To Africa
Earlier this week I finally got the call from a pastor at the church who’s college ministry disfellowshipped me… If this sounds convoluted or insane, that’s because it’s both. He informed me that if by any chance I no longer felt called to Africa that he could return my deposit.
I took the hint.
Also, since last time I wrote my $1,600 road bike was stolen.
If you ever see a health and wealth preacher, do me a favor and punch him in the face for me.
But I want to do more than just sulk this time
Specifically, I want to talk about the unusual nature of spiritual things in the real world.
A friend and I were recently talking about naturalism. And the paradox involved in rejecting naturalism for belief in god, who is, and must be by definition, the most natural thing in the universe.
We are not basic to the universe. Plants and dirt and planets and rocks, none of these things are central to reality. They are all alien to the universe we live in, which is centered around God, who created and preceded everything.
So it’s bizarre that when we think of “spiritual” things we humans have a tendency to differentiate that from the “regular” things of this world like rocks. As if there is something inherently secular about matter.
…Wow I’m a nerd…
What I’m trying to say is that I think we as humans expect God to interact with us in a whirlwind (as he does in Job) but as Christians we train ourselves that God often comes as a still small voice (as he does in Exodus) but somewhere we have neglected the probability for God to come to us through entirely human means (as he does in the gospels)
God (or in my case satan, as I think it’s appropriate to identify him as the source of the lies and accusations I’ve been subjected to lately.) often chooses to work out his will through the most ordinary of means imaginable.
Disassembling Africa…
Stealing Property…
Altering Communities…
Spreading Lies…
…
Opening Opportunities…
Empowering Friendships…
Fixing Computers…
Eating Tacos…
These things are every bit within the realm of spiritual forces as are, providing peace and reassurance or temptation. That’s Sunday school stuff.
But how many of us have really internalized the truth of that?
I’d have to wager it’s not that many…
If it were more, We’d pray differently
-Gaffney Out
On Valleys In The Christian Life
Tomorrow I will be sworn into membership of the church I’ve been going to since summer. It’s going to be the first church that I’ve belonged to since my parents split up.
Now I dunno what it is, maybe It’s “fear of commitment” only instead of girls I have it with churches, I have no idea but all of a sudden I’m not sure I want to be part of this church at all.
There’s drama in the college group. The community that I once thought was so incredible seems to be turning it’s back on me. People are mad at me for things I didn’t say, but heard I did from other people.
Everybody I know there has some kind of problem they hadn’t told me about. The Jr. High department hasn’t called back in over a month about whether they are going to hire me as their intern. The service I go to hasn’t had the deep theology I started attending for in months. And the trip to Africa has now prevented me from an incredible opportunity at a summer camp.
I’m suddenly tempted to pack up and move to Australia! It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!
So I went to my old church… To visit.
I went to the church that I left because of it’s watery theology and the awkward ties that were created there because of my parents.
I went to the church where all my friends from high school who never went on to college stayed behind to see if there might be any redemptive substance I could get from the community I had invested so much in.
…The service was as expected, the anonymity was tempting… But my old friends were there.
They have the jobs I wish I had.
One’s a Jr. High Coordinator… I can’t be an intern. The other’s a IT Tech.. I got fired from that job….
…I kept sleeping in, because I would miss the alarm clock…Because I had sleep apnea…
Oh yeah I was also diagnosed with sleep apnea this week… so that nice!!!
And now I’m sitting here alone, utterly unsatisfied with myself, terribly displeased with my life, and where it’s going, and confused because I thought I’d given it away to God a long time ago
How can I be so inadequate when all I want to do is be the least?
Where do I return to the father when I’m the son that stayed home?
Isn’t this supposed to be the time when I stop making footprints because you carry me?
There has to be some reason that cheesy poem is popular.
Isn’t your strength supposed to be being made perfect somehow?
Isn’t there some kind of strong tower I could run into?
But I see no easy fix on the horizon. I believe in a realist god that immerses us totally in this world and interacts holistically and that’s exactly how I’m experiencing him.
At least the lost can go out and get wasted!
Oh Lord, If You Get Me Out Of This I’ll Do Anything…
…Even go to Africa and help the pygmies!
It turns out I’m going to go do just that.
I don’t know why every person trying to bargain with God for their lives in a movie makes that offer, it makes no sense to me, and when I became a believer no such deal was made, but nonetheless when an opportunity arose to help hurting people on the other side of the globe I felt compelled to contribute. And I’ve just received word back that indeed, I have been placed on a team to go into southern Africa and help at an orphanage in inner-city Johannesburg, and a school in Swaziland
. My secular friends think it’s about time, they wondered why Jesus hasn’t made me go to Africa sooner, but I’m still kind of floored by the idea. “Pygmies” are not actually part of the trip, the modern problems in Africa are now a lot closer to home. 80% of the children in this orphanage are HIV positive and many of them will die of their illnesses because of the intense poverty in the area.
We are sending doctors, and theologians and even accountants for their specialized skills. Why am I going?
I still don’t know.
I’m a computer technician…
…And a trained Improv Comedian.
I have no idea what Aids Orphans need with my Linux Certification, but God is faithful… And I’ll keep you posted
Rock, Paper, Apologetics
In my short life I’ve done considerable study of the Christian based religions that deviate from the ecumenically agreed upon orthodoxy. In other words, “cults”
I’ve spent quite a bit of time on Mormonism in particular, but also looked closely into Local Church International, Christian science, And the Jehovah’s Witness movement.
There are a lot of things that are wrong with their individual doctrines, but they are fascinating because of their strengths. Each of these religions is tailor made to exploit the weaknesses and difficulties associated with modern Christianity.
Now I understand I’m in trouble, with anyone who may be reading from one of these groups, but seriously, Joseph Smith, Marry Baker Eddy, Miller, and Lee, were all very familiar with the expressions of Christianity in their days and the doctrines of their religions address the visible problems.
Smith, according to LDS scripture, was told by God that no church was right and he should start his own, in order to fix it. Miller set about to answer the burning desire Christians had in his day for specifics about the end of the world, so he set a date.
So on and so fourth.
These are things that get used in their evangelism to Protestants regularly.
So as protestants when we come up against the doctrines of these Christian based religions, we face an opponent that smells our fear, one that was born for the very purpose of defeating us doctrinally.
Of course we still have the advantage, you know, being right and all, but we are fighting one their home field and it makes the battle harder than it needs to be.
For years the Christian tactic has been to do what I’ve done, to study each tradition extensively, try to know their weaknesses as well as they know ours, and use the things that their leaders failed to understand about our doctrine to draw them in.
But that’s an immense user of resources, especially considering that we aren’t just facing one religion but several, that we now have to research.
It renders smaller “cults” like the Boson Church of Christ almost invulnerable to criticism from mainstream protestants, who simply don’t have time to teach classes in discussions with cults of under 20,000 members.
But I’ve got another idea.
There people writing arguments which apply directly to adherents of these traditions. Arguments that exploit their weaknesses. They focus on religions that control people through teachings against doubt, pietism, and submission theology.
Some of the arguments are really good, even devastating to these teachings. We could really benefit from using them.
But we never do…We don’t like the people who write these arguments…We don’t want to take a page out of their book
But we should… They’re smart.
They’re called the atheists.
The Romans occasionally hired enemies of theirs to fight other enemies of theirs.
Dawkins, Carrier, the old Flew… They can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these gods don’t exist.
Vending machine gods that dish out rewards in direct correlation to your actions… Don’t Exist.
Gods that function within and only within established human organizations… Do Not Exist.
Magical father figures that make all your doubts and questions go away for ever… Don’t Exist!
They aren’t real
And we can prove it.
If you prove to a person that the god they believe in does not exist, everything else follows. Their theology will crumble to dust.
The disadvantage is that you’ll make atheists of them.
Of course.. when you are talking to an atheist… you know exactly how to handle them. There’s no obscure doctrines to memorize, there’s no important history. They just don’t believe.
Some of them have good reasons. They have been convinced through some really persuasive means to stop believing in god.
But the god they don’t believe in is one we don’t believe in either.
So… What if I were to find a watch?
Faith: A Crisis of the Evidence of Things Hoped For
I’ve been wrestling with the understanding of faith from a 1st century perspective for 2 years now, I haven’t gotten to any solid ground, but I promised you all some half baked theories, so I’d like to share where I am now.
The study has taken me trough 3 ancient cultures and 4 languages I don’t speak to come as far as this:
The new testament use of the word is not specific enough to make a solid definition (“evidence of things heard of and assurance of things not seen” does not count as solid)
The Hebrew word translated to faith means “sturdy” most of the time, and sometimes “dependable” when referring to promises.
The Greek word means “believe’ or “accept to be true” it’s not an exclusively religious word the way it is in English, but sometimes it is applied to which religious group you are a part of (Pharisees, Sadducees, so on..)
The Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Greek uses two different translations for the Greek word, depending on whether it’s used as a known or a verb.
When it’s a noun the Vulgate uses “fides” which means “dependable” again. It’s where we get out word “fidelity” and it’s rather directly related to our word “faithful”
When it’s a verb it’s the word “credes” which is where we get the name “creed” for our Christian statements of faith. It just means “believe” again or sometimes “think” and once again, it’s not exclusively religious.
In other words, I’m nowhere. I’ve studies the word, in literary context, in historical context, through intra-biblical and extra-biblical uses and I have “it means something to do with thinking its true that is somehow correlated to stability in some sense I don’t understand”
I have noticed that it’s not until we get past the Vulgate, into the popular Latin use that we start to see the word “religio” which is translated into the English (along with credes and fides) as “faith” meaning “belief in something in a spiritual sense of for spiritual reasons in the absence of evidence”.
“religio” if you haven’t guessed, is where we get the English word “religion”
Here’s where I am with it now:
“Faith” is not supposed to be a crutch, it’s not supposed to take the place of good reasons to devote your life to something, it was almost certainly not taken as a religious word by the first disciples, and the phrase “just have faith” would absolutely never be used to comfort someone who had a loved one who was dieing.
We have taken it too far, as a church, and as a religion. I don’t know exactly what it means, but I’m confident it doesn’t mean what we’re using it for and I don’t think we need it.
…
I think we could create a Christian faith, in the absence of faith. I think we could get by with nothing but the truth, and the reasonable acceptance of it.
I think if we take our bibles and we just insert “belief”, or “confidence” or “trust” in the place of “faith” we will find ourselves with a “religion” that’s a whole lot more down to earth.
And for the worshipers of a god made flesh I can’t think of anything more appropriate.
We could feel the freedom to investigate our doubts without needing to make excuses.
We could start going toe to toe with the atheist scientific community and not be discounted as zealots
Matematics,, and Philosophy cease to be mundane secular efforts and join the ranks of art and music as recognizable opportunities for authentic worship that is glorifying to God.
It would be freaking RockAwesome!
The only problem is that I don’t think I can justify it, biblically. Try as I might there is still a sense of something transcendent in the text regarding faith and I can’t just get rid of it.
I wish I could. Because I think a faithless faith would do us good.
And I’m tempted to say we should do it anyway. Every denomination in history has had some practice or idea that they could never justify entirely biblically. The only difference between this and them is that we would know our mistake going in.
…
So that’s the tension.
Luther said that the state of orthodoxy was akin to that of a drunken peasant attempting to mount a horse, each time he rises from one side he falls of the other into the mud.
We are on the left side of this horse representing an understanding of faith, but the only mount I can manage would land us straight on the other side of the truth from here.
Ideas?
Sandwhiches
I go to a post-contemporary service at a Presbyterian church…. I realize that’s a little odd, but I’m going to have to suggest that you get used to it because it’s one of the less paradoxical aspects of my walk… Anyway one of the things we do as an expression of worship is make sandwiches in the service.
Some people clap their hands, other people make sandwiches to feed the homeless, it’s just something we do…. Ya know, because Christ is Lord
Anyway some friends of mine went to deliver the sandwiches last Sunday afternoon, and found that the mission we give them to was closed.
I dunno why, president’s day I guess.
That night they invited me out to go and find some homeless people on our own since the mission was closed…
We looked for 2 hours
We found 2 hungry people
We had 80 sandwiches
Monday we checked the mission again.. still closed. So I brought 78 day-old sandwiches to my college campus, and gave them to the freshmen.
Hossanah!
You would not believe the reactions of 80 rich kids who have no trouble affording their daily bread when they are handed a homemade sandwich they don’t expect.
Anyway I’m pretty sure that has something to do with Jesus, but I’ll let you make your own connections.
I’m more interested in the direct pragmatism of the whole thing. Do you think I could ever get anyone else on board with me for a “Feed the Peckish” ministry?
Mark 5:11
Surfboards Cars And Unicycles
You guys still don’t know me out there, I want to do the normal blog thing for a post and talk about my day, That way you can get some perspective on the kind of person talking to you.
I woke up this morning at 11am after sleeping through 3 alarms trying to wake me up in time to get prepared and bike to my 11:10 class which is about 10 minutes away by car, 13 by bike.
I threw my clothes on and woke up my roommate, Rob, to ask if I could borrow his car since mine was broken, he let me and I raced off to school.
I arrived in class at about 11:17 to find my professor sitting in an empty room. I say “well obviously I’m late” he says “class was canceled” I say “see you tomorrow!”
I go back home and back to sleep
I woke up again at about noon-thirty, a little bit before Rob, who is headed out to go surfing. I ask if he wants to go to lunch first, he does, we go.
At lunch we talk mostly about girls, and a little about theology. Then we spoke about their intersection a little bit. Speaking of which, leave me a comment, where do Christians get the idea that it’s not okay to date casually and get to know a girl? Both Rob and I think that is a fantastic plan compared to DTRs and “courting”.
When I came home, I watched some Lost, and then met my dad, who I worked with to fix my car.
After we finished we went out to dinner, where talked mostly about nothing and a little about theology. Speaking of which, leave me a comment, if my pastor told me, about a mission application I turned in that was lacking two out of the three references accidentally, that I should “Not even worry about sending them” because he will “call me if the committee needs them”… Does that mean I’m almost defiantly in or almost defiantly out? Because neither my dad nor I could tell.
After dinner I checked my e-mail, and worked on an article about abortion until 7, when I headed off to Unicycle Club.
Unicycle Club is exactly what it sounds like, it’s a club for people who like to ride unicycles or who want to learn. It meets at the giant university a few blocks away from my little private one.
In case you are wondering… I’m in the learning to unicycle category, not the enthusiast category. I can go about 4 yards before I fall.
After Unicycles I went dancing. I swing dance at a ballroom in my town. Today I think I finally learned the “swingout”, which, assuming I got it right, means that I am now officially “intermediate”
Then I went home, made a salad, ate it, and wrote this blog
Now I’m going to sleep.
Lent
So Ash Wednesday was this last Wednesday… that can only mean one thing! It’s Lent.
Happy Lent Everyone!!!
…Can I say that?
…Sad lent?….Contemplative lent?
I really don’t know. Either way it’s lent, and that’s what I’m going to talk about.
For those of you who don’t know lent is the period of 40 days (excluding Sundays) that lead up to Easter. It is a typically somber period of preparation for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection.
Lent is most famous as the time in the church calendar when people give something up for 40 days.
The Lenten Fast.
It’s always a little strange for me when this time of the year comes around. Because as I see it, it’s simultaneously one of the coolest practices of liturgical Christianity, and one of the gimpiest trends in the Christian subculture.
The idea that there is a day that is set aside from the other days of the year as a day to celebrate the risen Christ, and that there should be a time of preparation of our hearts for it. It’s just an incredible idea. The realist mysticism of it, it’s the kind of thing that really gets me going.
So much in the Christian life is “spiritual” that we tend to get lost in the theories of theory.
Christianity becomes something theoretical, something happening out in the white spaces somewhere.
But it’s not supposed to be.
NOTW (NotOfThisWorld) gets plastered on the backs of born again trucks. And I shake my head as I go past on my bicycle (which as far as I know is still an agnostic) thinking.. what about the part where the bible says we are “still in this world though not of it”
Of course the other extreme is to ignore the mystery all together. Make Christianity a religion entirely about the here and now. The stuff we can touch and feel.
That’s not satisfying either.
But lent… lent is so earthly and visceral. You can feel it and live it. and yet it’s so transcendent.
It exists in the wood between the worlds
As if that weren’t enough it’s just a solid idea, to begin with. Fasting from something makes you appreciate it more. Fasting on a regular basis helps to make sure you do it, having a definite ending time helps make sure you don’t go overboard.
And if you are going to fast, 40 days is a good amount of time to do it. 40s are used in the bible a lot for time periods during which changes take place. In that time it’s more than likely that if what you gave up for lent was something compulsive or addictive, you’ll have beaten the habit by Easter
So it’s really an all around great idea. I wish I had thought of it.
Still…Leave it to us to find a way to make self denial into something egoistic.
Jesus said when we fast we should clean our face and oil our hair so nobody knows what we’re doing. Instead we like to start out, literally, by rubbing ashes on our faces.
Then we spend the next week talking to all our friends asking “what did you give up for lent”
Then everybody at the table throws theirs down and we see which fast wins.
Whoever is giving up the nicest thing is the holiest.
I’m trying to think of a tradition that could make people less prepared for Easter.
It’s okay though. After 4 years at a liturgical school I have the answer. When someone asks you “So what are you giving up for lent” you tell them “Fasting”
“Whaddya mean Gaffney? I don’t get it”
“Well I just feel like fasting has really become kind of thoughtless in my life and I need to give it up for 40 days, then after Easter I’ll consider fasting again”
I guarantee you it will shut up even the most pietistic of pietistic Christians wanting to compare their holiness to yours… what can you say to that?
“Oh…Because I’m giving up chocolate…”
Well good for you,
To all you out there.. if you are going to fast for lent… Don’t tell me about it… for your sake,.. really.
Otherwise don’t bother fasting. You already missed the point. You might as well have your chocolate too.
Philemon 1:23
First Post
Hello and welcome to the dreaded first blog!
The first blog has got to be the hardest to write because it is the blog that everyone goes back to and reads “how did this get started” and all that. So it needs to epitomize what the rest of the chronicle is going to represent.
At the same time it can’t just be any random old thing… I mean that would be awkward.
“oh and here is Gaffney’s first blog which is about Philemon… because today Gaffney sent a slave back to his master.. or something.
No it can’t work like that, I’m writing a blog today, and so the interesting that happened to day must be the fact that I have started a blog. The problem comes of course from the fact that that in itself is not interesting.
Of course I have the option of talking about what the blog will become some day.
But the truth is I have no idea.
Here’s my guess:
Faithvine has a section for blogs, devotionals, bible studies, and articles. The good stuff I write that I have combed over multiple times will go into articles. Unless it deals with a particular scripture, in which case it will go into bible studies… I never likes devotionals much but I might wind up with something that belongs there sometime, who knows.
The blog then has to be the daily stuff. The stuff that hasn’t been combed out perfectly. The ideas that I haven’t thought through all the way yet.
The blog, if I am to use it as a blog aught to be a window for you to see me in the wrestling match that is the Christian life.
So that’s what I’m going to put here… as far as I know.
The picture you see is of a delicious In-n-Out cheeseburger known as the Double-Double. It is delicious. The reason that I provided you with this image of a cheeseburger is twofold.
First, it is delicious, and so I hope that you may look upon it and read of the Inn-n-Out Double-Double and then go and partake of it’s goodness the next time you are in the southwest.
Second, I needed a picture for a first blog, and this showed up on a Google Image search for “first blog” so I went with it… I figured I would be able to squeeze enough content out of it to help fill a page so that it cannot be said that my first entry is a non-entry.
And as it turns out that is exactly the case because, as a Christian owned chain, inn n out wraps all their burgers with a tiny bible reference on the bottom.
On the Double-Double wrappers in Nahum 1:7
“The LORD is good, in times of trouble he is a strong refuge, and he knows everyone who trusts in him.”
Which is cool and all… but I’ve never been real big on individual verses… Cool… God isn’t bad…Good to know.
But it’s in Nahum!… Let’s face it… Most Christians don’t know the first thing about Nahum.
They put John 3:16 on the bottom of the cup, and then on the big burger they quote Nahum.
::High Five:: Inn-N-Out Burgers! Way to remind people that the book of Nahum exists.
Still that’s not Inn-n-Out’s real triumph.
On their regular burger wrappers they reference Revelation 3:20
“Here I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice, and answer the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with me. ”
Man would I like to grab a cheeseburger with Jesus
If you are going to take a verse out of context for no reason… That’s the way to do it!
Aaaaaannnnndddddd that’s my first blog!
… hopefully you have sampled my writing style. Next time maybe I’ll actually write about something.
1 Samuel 13:1
Note
The first several posts of this blog were written years ago on a now defunct site called Faithvine.org In 2010 i took up writing again for a less explicitly evangelical audience.
The posts have been copied here and backdated.