Speak with convicton

If you haven't seen this before (and even if you have) watch this video.



I think there is an important message in that for us as Christians. God is the most significant topic we could talk on and surely he deserves that we present him in a worthy manner. There are segments of the Christian community that put value on doubting everything and scorn the idea of being able to say much for certain about God. I certainly wouldn't wish to argue for arrogance or that we will know everything with perfect certainty. But for those things we can know, we should be doing out best to speak with conviction. As someone who tends towards being a little shy, it is hard but I pray that with God's grace I may be able to speak of him with the conviction and passion he deserves.

I am part of the problem

Pointing out problems is easy, especially when it comes to the church. You don’t have to look very hard to find a Christian or Christian group doing something stupid. You also don’t have to look very far to find people making a public show of what a problem some other Christians are.

Unfortunately our talent for problem spotting doesn’t usually extend to ourselves. We’d like to kid ourselves that there is two classes of Christians- us “good” Christians and the troublemakers. When we think like this, we are deceiving ourselves. Sure, we might not be demonstrating the more dramatic, television friendly ways of being messed up but we are all flawed, sinful people. All of us have problems and all of us have been a less than perfect witness. I am part of the problem. You are part of the problem.

Pointing out the faults of someone else is easy because we don’t have the responsibility to fix it. We can walk away, thinking we have done something productive just for pointing out their problems. Sometimes there is a case for publicly dealing with issues involving people we have influence over, but realistically this is not the case in a good deal of our talking about the problems of other Christians. Bringing our own faults out into the light is so much harder because the responsibility for them is ours. We can’t walk away because our own problems follow us around.

Dealing with our own stuff may be harder, but it is where we can make a change. We might not be able to do much about the television preacher from another country who is doing something stupid, but with God’s help we can become more Christlike and a better witness to the world. Imagine how much things could change if we directed energy we used getting frustrated and angry at what other people do towards our own issues and towards becoming more like the kind of Christian we would like the world to be taking notice of.

No so out of character

I'm sure you've said it or heard it said- things like “what they said was so out of character” or “That really wasn't like me to do that”. We'd like to think that underneath the stupid things we say or do, we are really pretty good and don't have a problem.

The problem is these excuses don't really stack up. Listen to what Jesus has to say-

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45 NIV)

This serves as a real challenge. I can't claim anything I say or do in the heat of the moment to be out of character because here Jesus says that what we say comes out of our hearts.

It makes the needed change more challenging. If what we say comes out of our hearts, just learning to keep our mouths shut doesn't solve the problem like it would be if it was just a matter of a few out of character words. It means that we have to examine our hearts and deal with whatever nasty is lurking in there and showing up in our speech and actions. That can be a pretty scary and difficult thing. It might be anger, greed, selfishness of any of a number of nasties. While of course we work on these things with God's help, it can still take time and effort. It's effort we just have to make sometimes.

So next time you say or do something stupid, don’t brush it off as out of character, but take the chance to check your heart,

More musings on worship songs

Last week an article I co-wrote about some of the things we say to God in worship songs was published on stuffchristianslike.net. The article was largely satirical but I hope it got people thinking about what they sing. It is very easy to get swept up by the catchy melodies and moving music and as a result sing rather mindlessly. It is easy to be singing on auto-piliot because we have heard the songs so many times before.

Often we sing songs that express big commitments and total dedication to God. He is surely worthy of all of our lives, hearts and dedication. If I’m honest with myself though, I often don’t live up to what I sing. Sometimes I struggle to give God little things, let alone the big things the songs promise. Sometimes I sing about Jesus being my everything but I know my heart is all to easily captivated by things other than God. It can kinda feel like I am lying to God. Don’t get me wrong, I love God and want to get better honouring him, I just don’t have it all together yet. Because I don’t have it all together (and probably won’t at any time this side of heaven) I have mixed feelings on whether I should sing or not sing the songs. I doubt I am alone in struggling with what I sing in church sometimes being different to my reality.

We can find hope in the fact that Christianity is not about us living up to the standards in our songs- or any other standard for that matter. It is all about what Jesus has done for us. Jesus didn’t wait for us to reach some super level of holiness and dedication before he loved us and gave himself up for us- he did it while we were still sinners deep in rebellion (Romans 5:6-8) What we’ve done might not be worth singing about, but what Jesus has done certainly is. Certainly we should strive for holiness, but out of gratitude that Jesus was perfectly holy on our behalf. How well I’m doing might change from day to day, week to week, but God does not change. That’s a very comforting thought sometimes.

So think about what you sing, but don’t let your thinking drive you to despair at your failure to measure up. Instead, use it as a chance to repent where needed and be thankful that Jesus is more than enough for you.

On politicians, peace and prayer

Amazing what can happen in just a few days. Wednesday morning nothing particularly eventful seemed to be happening in Australian politics. The prime minister had done a few unwise things of late but everyone assumed he'd stay in charge until the election later this year, if not later. Wednesday night news started coming round the internet that something dramatic might be brewing in the government. By 10am on Thursday morning our then prime minister Kevin Rudd had been removed from power by a revolt from members of his party and a new Prime Minister Julia Gillard was sworn in by lunch time. While technically not the head of state (the Queen has that job) Prime Minister is the most powerful position in the Australian government so this was a really big deal.

Obviously in light of such an unusual method of taking power, lots of people are asking questions. People are pondering what kind of precedent such a dramatic turn of events sets for politics and how it fits (or doesn't fit) into a democratic system. These are good questions I hope people keep thinking about. While it is easy to get too worked up about these things, as Christians there is a peace we can have about the craziness of politics. In Romans 13 we read that all governing authorities are established by God. It doesn't qualify it with governing authorities that gain their positions through conventional democratic elections. It doesn't qualify it with anything about their election campaign or even their policies. Since the verse gives us no exceptions, we can have peace that whatever circumstances got our governments or leaders into power and whatever good or bad they may be doing now, God is still in control and is higher than all the political drama.

I've also realised in this how much we need to pray for our politicians.Outside election time, praying for politicians is not something I often remember to do. Their jobs must be so stressful having to make decisions that could impact on the prosperity, security and development of the whole country. Add to that having the media, fellow politicians and the public watching everything they do and ready to criticize and/or remove them from office at the next election (or sooner) if they are seen to mess up. I'm sure they could really use our prayers. Our prayers could also help us as well as them. If we were to be humbly praying for strength, wisdom and protection for politicians, even those with whom with disagree, we might be less inclined to unnecessarily complain about politics.

Worship- An experience?

I keep hearing people refer to what happens in their church services as a "worship experience". I find something about the experience bit a little unnerving. I don't know the motives of people who are framing it this way so don't take this as a criticism of any individual or group. Rather consider this a gentle warning to watch our hearts and where our focus is. I'm as much preaching to myself here as I am anyone else.

It is so easy to make what we claim to be our worship of God in a church meeting context all about us and how our experience of it is. It isn't in itself a problem that we liked choice of music, felt good or otherwise enjoyed church. I think there is merit in trying to honour God by conducting our services really well. But as an end goal, services focused on our experience are potentially a problem. That's because our experience is no real indicator of worship that honours God. I could have a fantastic, feel good experience at a concert that has nothing much to do with God. I have heard so many people evaluate a worship service on the basis of what they felt. Sometimes things get muddled by confusing hype or a good experience with the presence of the Holy Spirit. As someone who comes from a charismatic background, this is one I've had to learn to watch myself for.

It is God that our worship services are meant to be all about, not our experience. There will be times that you will feel nothing much or even feel depressed when you worship God. Read the Psalms if you don't believe me- its full of people who are sad or from whom God feels far away. What we feel and how much we enjoy it are not the point. It is better to have a room full of people whose hearts are focused on God but are lead by one out of tune guitar player than a whole stadium full of people lead by the hottest Christian band with the best sound-system who are just there to be entertained.

In joy, sorrow or numbness, may we all be able to truly worship the Lord.

God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life?

“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” has become a very popular statement to use in talking about God to non-Christians. It sounds really nice. I am concerned however, that the second part of it may not be a very biblical or helpful way of talking about the Christian life.

Much of the time when I hear talk of God having a wonderful plan for people’s lives, Jeremiah 29:11 is quoted. I have only heard the verse taught in context one time that I can recall. That is unfortunate because the verse needs its context to be properly interpreted. It isn’t written in the context of providing general promises to all believers everywhere. It is part of a longer section of scripture in which God makes some specific promises and instructions regarding a specific situation facing some of his people. We are not those people in that situation. We might be able to make some conclusions about God’s will and plan for us from other parts of scripture, but this isn’t a good place to be looking.

In Romans 8:28 we are told that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. The thing we need to keep in mind here is that God’s idea of our good is very often going to be different to ours. When we tell people that God has a wonderful plan for their life, they tend to assume things like that their lives will be happy, exciting or comfortable. This theology can cause a great deal of pain when it collides with the reality of what God sometimes lets us go through for what he knows to be our own good- becoming more Christ-like. Sometimes God lets us go though hard things or even just boring things for our own good. Some believers will face persecution or poverty. By giving people false ideas about how wonderful following God will make their lives, we risk producing false converts who are “believing” so they’ll get the life improvement and discouraging genuine believers who are going through unexpected difficulties. We owe people better than to mislead them.

Overall, I think the “God has a wonderful plan for your life” line risks disrespecting the bible by badly interpreting it and deceiving people by giving them inappropriately high expectations.

Loved rebels

In Christian circles we like to talk about the love of God a lot. This is a great thing because it is such an important part of the Christian faith. However, one way our thinking about this topic can run a bit off track is when we get our contemporary self esteem ideals tangled up in it all. Although we probably wouldn't articulate it so brazenly we can start to feel like God loved us for our lovableness or goodness. Romans 5 brings us a reality check-

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

How incredible this is! Stop and think about that passage for a moment. Salvation was not a matter of God doing  favor for his caring buddies, it is God making a huge sacrifice on for his enemies who have done him wrong over and over and over again. That God would work to save us while we were still sinners and rebels should strike a blow to pride and inflated senses of our own goodness. While knowing that we were undeserving rebels might make a bit of a blow to our self esteem, it helps us realize how much we are loved. Knowing how much we are loved is something more precious than any feeling good about ourselves.

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

Visiting a Christian bookstore I noticed a common trend. There is lots of books with titles or subtitles like “Lord, Teach Me To Pray In 28 Days ”, “40 Days To Discovering God's Big Idea For Your Life” or “Grow Spiritually Strong In 28 Days”. It seems that book which promise to advance your spiritual development in a certain set amount of time are a hit. I don’t wish to be critical of the content of these books- some of them have some worthwhile things to say.

What has got me wondering is what these kinds of titles and subtitles say about our approach to spiritual life. For publishers to keep using them, they must be selling books. We live in a quick gratification society. I admit I sometimes have a problem with that- I’ve been known to get frustrated that my microwave meal isn’t heating as fast as I’d like. I think these books are tapping into that tendency. We want a timeframe for our spiritual growth and we’d like that time frame to be short.

The problem is spiritual growth doesn’t work that way. We can’t decide that we are going to advance spiritually a set amount in a set amount of time anymore than we can decide that we’d like to be half a foot taller in 2 months time. Certainly we can and should do all the right things for developing spiritual health but we shouldn’t expect quick fixes. The title of a book about discipleship by Eugene Peterson, “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction” captures something of the reality of spiritual growth. Spiritual growth is a lifelong pursuit in which sometimes we will have growth spurts and sometimes we might not seem to be growing much but if we are spiritually healthy we will be moving at least a little in the right direction. We must be careful to not get disillusioned when the pace of growth isn’t what we have in mind. Our task is not to wear ourselves short sprints of attempting to grow spiritually but to run as steadily as we can in faith and obedience so we will still be going at the end of the race.

Evangelism or social justice?

The evangelism verses social justice debate seems to be a favorite amoungst Christians. It has occupied many a book, blog post and debate. Some people say our responsibility is to preach the good news through words. Some say it is to meet people's practical needs for things like food and shelter. Some people say that we should do both but that one is more important than the other. Some people say they are 2 distinct categories of activity, some consider them inseparable or interchangeable.

My stance in this debate is....... that I don't think we really need to be having this debate. We should be doing stuff instead. There is enough of a biblical case to be made for both telling people about Jesus and practical needs so let's do both. I don't think God will be nearly as annoyed if our way of categorizing things is not quite right but we were out doing what we should than if we got the theology of it all perfectly nailed down but just sat around arguing. We wouldn't need to worry that one of telling people about Jesus or meeting their physical needs wouldn't get done if more Christians got up and did something. Most estimates put the global Christian population at over 2 billion. Even if you accept that some of those are non-practicing or part of not quite Christian fringe groups we're still talking about hundreds of millions of believers. Surely that should be enough to get everything done. God has gifted everyone a bit differently so if one person or little group's talents and passions leans towards one area, there is bound to be someone else who can fill in the gap.

So whether your passion involves doing something spiritually or practically beneficial to someone else, just do it!

The bride

That the church has an image problem would come as no surprise to any of you. Almost every day one is confronted with stupid and inappropriate things done and said by groups and individuals who claim to represent Christ. Sometimes it gets so bad i start waiting for someone to tell me it is all a prank because surely no-one would do something so absurdly wrong in real life.

It is easy to despair about the Church. Were we to be permanently left to our own devices despair and hopelessness would be entirely justified. If it was up to us to perfect the church on our own, we may as well give up.

We can hope because we are not going to be left to continually mess things up forever. Jesus is coming back for his church. On that day we will not be the mess we are now. We will be made new. On that day we will be like a bride, beautiful, pure and flawless. On that day Jesus won't need new PR because we will be made perfect. No more scandals, no more pain, no more division.

Because that day is coming, we can hold on. Of course we should strive towards holiness now, though those strivings will very often fall short. We can persist because we know that while the church is now often like an ugly, unfaithful woman, one day she will be like a beautiful bride. Today when the church frustrates us, may we hold that one day in mind.

Maybe we should boycott the boycotts

I recently came across a campaign run by a large and well known Christian ministry which involved getting people to boycott stores where the staff said happy holidays rather than merry Christmas. There is a number of things that can and have been asked of such a campaign. Some of these include-
- The world is filled with injustice and suffering on a massive scale. Even in the retail sector there is problems like products produced by slave/exploitative labour, environmentally destructive production practices and severely underpaying staff. Is the greeting at the register really the issue we should be focusing on?
- The bible doesn't even command that Christians celebrate Christmas. On what grounds then can we insist on a very specific form of Christmas observance being mandatory on those who don't believe in Jesus?
- This time of year is likely busy and stressful for many retail staff. Shouldn't we be happy they are managing a polite greeting in any form?
- Christmas shopping has become incredibly consumerist and materialistic. How does altering the words used at the register solve the problem? Shouldn't we be looking for an alternative, rather than just changing the label of our existing problem? Can the real meaning of Jesus birth ever be found in a mall?

All these are important questions. One I haven't seen addressed much in all the commentary is what boycotts like this do to our Christian witness. I think we have good reason to be very concerned about the effects.

Picking such relatively petty things to fight against reflects badly on us as representatives of Christ. I don't know what the motives are of those who started this boycott. Maybe they had completely good intentions. The problem is all the good intentions in the world don't count for much if people perceive something else. By insisting that everyone else do even the smallest things how we would like them done we risk coming across as self interested and power hungry. It makes us appear (possibly rightly) to have really messed up priorities. Who would want to become a Christian when this is what we are showing them this is how being a Christian changes how a person acts? Sometimes loosing the battles graciously and letting others have their way will present a much more Christ-like witness that us winning and being able to implement the changes we'd like.


Because there are so many voices vying for everyones attention, most people have a quite short attention span for any group they are not already a part of trying to tell them something. This has serious implications for our witness. If we make ranting about the things we don't like the thing we communicate the loudest, people are not going to waste their time sticking around to hear more from us. We short change people when we use the short bit of attention they have granted us to tell them about our pet peeves rather than the gospel. Telling people to change the words they use to talk about Christmas celebrations does nothing to really help them. Even if we did get a non-Christian to completely agree with all those peeves (which is very very unlikely) without the gospel they would still be unsaved and in no better position than when we first got in their face. When there is actual sin involved (which i don't believe is the case here) the person will be in a much better position to hear and change once they have responded to the gospel and surrendered themselves to God.

Given what this kind of boycott does to our reputation and Christian witness I think maybe the thing that needs boycotting is not the stores but boycotts like this.

Critiquing consumer culture

This week a friend passed onto me an interesting little film called The story of stuff. If you've got a spare 20 minutes it is worth watching. You can watch it below or download it here. The download is probably a better option if you have a slow connection.



I'm no scientist so I'll leave the environmental claims right alone. As a sociology student, what I found facinating is the way in which our society has deliberately been molded to create a consumer culture. It is illogical how often we buy new stuff when we still have old stuff that works fine. At this time of year people get particurly sucked into the compulsion to buy too much. As you shop this Christmas (and afterwards too) it is worth slowing down and considering whether you are buying what you are because you have a genuine need or use for it or just because you've been taught to keep on buying. The extra stuff you would be buying probably won't make you happy for long, but not being in debt and being able to help others because you didn't buy stuff you didn't need probably will.

The necessity of diversity

Lately I have hearing a lot of Christians getting frustrated because not everyone else is joining their particular cause. People don't understand how someone could not be fired up about the things they are. Sometimes it gets so bad that insults and accusations about peoples priorities and spirituality (or lack thereof) start getting thrown around. Is that really how Christians should be behaving? I think it is really sad because we need people to be passionate about different things.

Isn't it fantastic how differently God has wired people to be? People find such an extraordinary diversity of things to be passionate about. There are people in love with doing things most of us never would have thought of or wouldn't enjoy doing. Some people help by moving to far away lands, some help from right where they are. Some people care about feeding street kids, or providing medicine for those with AIDS. Some are passionate about helping addicts recover or teaching immigrants. Some people are driven to campaign against environmental destruction or socially destructive trade policies. There are people who care deeply for countries most people couldn't find on a map. Some people have the skills to build houses, drill wells or knit blankets for babies in orphanages. There's people helping by doing everything from photography to plumbing, web design to weeding. Some people channel their love of animals into caring for the pets of those fleeing natural disasters or domestic violence. Some are especially skilled at raising money, some at making sure the raised money is used well. The list is endless!

Can you imagine how much would not get done if we were all passionate about the same causes? A few things would get done really well but huge amounts of need would be completely overlooked. We should celebrate the wonderful diversity of ways people are passionate about making a difference. Instead of tearing down those already busy with another cause, we should encourage them and pray that God would raise up more people to fill the areas in which there are gaps.

Live like time is running out

When you know you are only going to be living somewhere for a short time, you live differently.

I’m almost to the end of my 5 month time living in Singapore. The short time here serves as a motivator. I know that I might not have a chance to come back to many places here for a while (or maybe ever.) When I get the chance I’ve been busy exploring and trying to take up as many social opportunities as I can with my new friends here. Some of the other exchange students keep so busy exploring I barely see them around! How different back home when there is no urgency. I’ve spent too many weekends back home doing not much because it seems like too much effort or because there doesn’t seem to be much to do. It always comes as a surprise when I hear Singaporean locals say there’s nothing to do in Singapore when I still have a big list of places to go.

When you stop to think about it, while most of us will be living wherever we are living for a bit longer than 5 months, life is short. Sometimes surprisingly so. I think our lives would be different if we took this into account. What would you do? Where would you go? Who would you spend time with?

More importantly what’s stopping you and why don’t you start?

From beliefs to behavior

Last week in one of my sociology classes the lecturer was discussing why religion is important in understanding how groups within society interact. He said something to the effect of a persons religious belief shapes their world view which determines their behavior.

I find it interesting that sociologists grasp something about how the Christian life should work that we Christians sometimes miss. Our faith should translate into a Christian worldview from which should flow Godly behavior. Too often we profess to be Christian but don’t let that filter down into how we view the world in regards to money, success, relationships or any number of things. We might hold a sufficiently Christian worldview on an issue but fail to let it determine how we behave. I think it is this last transition from worldview to behavior that is the hardest bit. It's an important bit though. The bible talks about faith without works being dead (James 2). If we don’t put our Christian belief and worldview into actually doing good, both of those are meaningless. I think Romans 12-13 is a great place to start looking for things to work on. After 11 chapters dense with Christian theology he breaks down how that translates into Christian behavior.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

(Text from Romans 12-13, ESV)

How not to tell if a preacher is telling the truth

As Christians we should be aiming to have biblical doctrine. Unfortunately a lot of people are using some really faulty methods to work out what that is. These methods lead many to follow all sorts of false teachers and doctrines.

Here's a few of the ones that i see people rely on too often

Sincerity/ niceness- While there is probably some fraudsters who deliberately fake sincerity, most preachers are truly sincere about what they teach. The problem is it is possible to be sincere and wrong. Nor does being the nicest person alive protect one from teaching error.

Good deeds- I have often heard the good deeds someone does used as a rebuttal against questions about doctrine. Any one of any persuasion can do good. It doesn't tell us if their doctrine is correct.

It sounded right- Sometimes stuff sounds right because it lines up with how you've been conditioned by culture, not because it lines up with the bible. It may sound right because you'd really like it to be right (eg. God wants you to be super rich!). Clever writing can also go a long way to making something sound right which actually is not.

I brought the book in a Christian bookstore- It would be nice if buying a book in a Christian bookstore provided a guarantee of theological soundness. Not the case unfortunately. Lots of books with bad theology make their way into Christian bookstores. Some of them even become best sellers.

So what should we do? Compare the teaching to the bible. Not just in a superficial grab a few out of context verses way but in careful and prayerful study.

Behaviour modification and heart transformation

This tweet from @ChristineCaine has really got me thinking lately.

We must shift from an emphasis on behaviour modification to heart transformation. You cannot legislate the human heart.. Jesus transforms it

I think she is really onto something. A huge focus in Christian culture at the moment is the idea of "culture wars" in which we are meant to fight for the upholding of Christian morality in our culture. This often includes huge amounts of political and legal campaigning. Certainly we should uphold Christian ethics and morals to a very high standard within the church. I'm starting to wonder if we've missed the point in trying to mold an unbelieving culture into looking more Christian.

My first concern is that it is not reasonable to expect someone not in a right relationship with God to act like they are. People act in a way consistent with wherever their hearts are at and what their worldview consists of. We can't really be mad at non-Christians for not upholding Christian morality. Why would they? They are just acting on their own convictions. Not saying they are necessarily right, just consistent. We might be able to force some kind of behavior modification but without a genuine change of heart it is unlikely to stick very long. It is also likely to foster massive amounts of resentment and build resistance to the gospel.

More importantly, my second concern is that our morality campaigning misses the real need. Imagine if one day we got what we were campaigning for. Abortion and sexual sins made illegal. Prayer in schools and the ten commandments in court rooms. Totally clean media. I'm sure many Christians would think this to be wonderful and some of these things may have some merit. The problem is we can achieve all of this and still have achieved nothing where it really matters. All this could happen and yet the whole society still be hostile towards God. People can be impeccably moral and yet still spiritually lost.If people's hearts are right with God their behavior will follow but no amount of good behavior will solve problems of the heart. No amount of good behavior will save, only Jesus can do that.  If what people get from us is moralising rather than the gospel, we have failed. It is Jesus we must present to the world, not more moralising.

Procrastinators of the world unite...................Tomorrow!

Half way through the year already! Isn’t that scary? How are your new year’s resolutions going?

As I look back on commitments I made at the start of the year or at various times since then, there is a common thread I notice. It is that while I always fully intend to do good things, I just intend to do them later.

Pray for someone.......later tonight
Start the diet.......on Monday
Read my bible......tomorrow
Write some more blog posts.........sometime later this week
Go to the gym.......sometime before the membership expires

These mostly look like pretty reasonable at first glance. After all, everyone is pretty busy. But they all add up, both over time and when there is more than one thing getting procrastinated. This can be especially the case in spiritual things. It’s not like when you skip the diet, keep eating boxes of cookies- there the consequences of that tend to be painfully obvious. The consequences of spiritual procrastination can be a lot more subtle, but still very much exist. Too much procrastination keeps us as immature and ineffective Christians. I would have to wonder if it is part of the devils strategy that if he can't make us do bad things, that he'll influence us to keep procrastinating on doing the good things so they never happen.

Good intentions are never enough to beat procrastination. On their own they tend to fuel it. I'm learning that if I want to grow spiritually I actually have to make a firm plan. Then I have to act on it, even when it is inconvenient or not the most enjoyable thing to do at the time. I used to at the start of every week write down a list of things I was going to pray for on each day of that week. I think I need to start doing that again.

I'm sure I'm not the only one with a procrastination problem. What are some areas you need to kill procrastination in?

Knowledge and gentleness

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Peter 3:15-16 NIV)

I think this is a scripture that should be a challenge to all Christians. As Christians we tend to miss the mark on this one in one of two ways. One of the ways we can miss this this is to not be ready to answer when people want to know about our beliefs. As Christians it is important that we not just be able to parrot off the doctrinal statement but actually be able to explain it. We don't have to know it all but actually making some effort makes a huge contribution to the credibility and integrity of our message in the eyes of those we tell it to.

On the other hand knowing why they believe what they believe is not a problem for some Christians. It's how they say it that is the problem. Whether it be enthusiasm, arrogance or just bad communication skills, the gospel and Christian viewpoints are often presented in really unhelpful ways. Just as being uninformed can damage our witness, so can our attitude when we present the gospel. Have a bad one and people aren't hearing the message, they're hearing your attitude. If you don't know something they are asking about, swallow your pride and say so. Gentleness and respect are so important.

Personally i need to work on both at times. Sometimes I can be not thoughtful enough. Sometimes I need to work on how i go about talking about what i know. How about you?

I'll leave you will a clip of Mark Driscoll discussing this text.