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Christmas Clarity

December 7, 2010 in Jesus, Religion with 0 Comments

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First off, I have to admit that I totally stole the title and idea for this post from Tammy over at inProgress. She wrote a post called Seasonal Clarity, which I really enjoyed. What I’m attempting to do is dig a little into the origins of several western Christmas traditions, as well as dispel a few myths, all while hopefully keeping the sarcasm pendulum closer to the funny and further from the biting. Also, I want to stress that I am not anti-Christmas. I love celebrating Christmas, I love watching the 24-hour marathon of A Christmas Story, I love the other movies that only seem to be playing during the Christmas season (Home Alone, The Muppets Christmas Carol, etc.), and I love that we’re playing Elf nonstop at work. Seriously. It’s one of the few movies we’ve played that doesn’t get old. Oh, and, the gifts are definitely a plus as well.

But…… there are a few things that, even from an early age had me asking questions.

Let’s begin with the obvious: where do Christmas trees, tinsel and lights come from? And no, Home Depot is NOT the correct answer. But seriously, those things are nowhere to be found in the Bible, yet you’ll find them in nearly every church this time of year, as well as many Christians’ homes. The Christmas tree is probably the most Christian of Christmas decorations (aside from a nativity scene), and while it’s early roots are somewhat muddled due to discrepancies in oral histories, the tradition of it being at the center of the decorative elements during Christmas date back to Martin Luther, when he chose it as a Protestant counterpart to the Catholic nativity scene, while the tradition of decorating a tree can be traced to sixteenth century Livonia. Of course, these days you’ll see Catholics with Christmas trees and Protestants with nativity scenes. Tinsel was added sometime in the seventeenth century, to reflect off the candles that hung from Christmas trees (still kind of wondering how there were no mass Christmas fires), and to act as a starry night sky in nativity scenes. As for the lights, this was a practice borrowed from Pagan celebrations, most notably the celebration of the winter solstice. Now, before anyone gets angry and decides to post a comment or rip all their lights down, keep in mind it isn’t the first thing we borrowed from Pagans, but I’ll get to that in my next post. Back to the actual lights – the first known Christian usage of them was not in what would eventually become the annual celebration of Christ’s birth, but instead to signify to other Christians where their next corporate worship gathering would take place. While the first Christians experienced some persecution, it wasn’t until Nero was emperor that Christians under Roman rule faced widespread persecution. Beginning in the year 64 and continuing until the year 313, when Constantine issued the Edict of Toleration, if you were caught practicing the Christian faith, or even caught with Christian relics and symbols, you were arrested and possibly tortured or killed. So in those days, the safest method of advertising the next meeting spot was placing a candle in the window of the home where Christians would meet a few days prior to the gathering. As more Pagans converted to Christianity, candles, which at that time were often used in Pagan celebrations, had become commonplace in Christian worship gatherings. By the seventeenth century, German Christians were using small candles to illuminate Christmas trees, and by the nineteenth century, the tradition had spread to the majority of the western world.

If you’re still reading, either you really enjoy my writing style, or I haven’t made you angry yet. Either way, thank you for sticking it out. But I have to warn you, things are going to get hairy with the next question.

Why December 25?

I’ll cover that, and more, on Thursday!

For My Grandmother

November 29, 2010 in Jesus with 2 Comments

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As most of you know, my grandmother, Betty Price, died Thursday, November 18, 2010, around 2:20 am. That weekend, I gathered with family, extended family and friends and celebrated her life, so I decided to share a little bit here on my grandmother’s life, and more specifically, how she influenced me.

Betty Lou Parmer was born March 22, 1926 in Hope, Arkansas. She was the youngest of six children, having three sisters and two brothers. While still a young child, her family moved south to Monroe, Louisiana, and it was as a child that she became a member of Monroe Church of God (House of Prayer International), where she held church membership for nearly eighty years. In 1943 she gave birth to her first child, my Uncle Glenn. In 1945 she gave birth to her second child, Richard, but he died of pneumonia at six months of age. Following that, she gave birth to my Aunt Linda in 1947, my mother in 1948 and my Uncle Teddy in 1949.

As I implied earlier, my grandmother was an avid churchgoer, but she was far from perfect. Grandma didn’t have a lot of tact and was very stubborn, to the point where even if she had been proven wrong, she would keep fighting. She wore her heart on her sleeve and could easily be offended. She was married three times and for her five children there were three different fathers. On top of that one child was a result of an affair.

However, in all my time with her (and there was a lot of it – she was a second mother to me), I never once saw her treat anyone unfairly or heard her speak ill of anyone. Not in public, nor in private. She loved everyone, whether she had known you for twenty years or twenty seconds. It’s a cliche now, but there truly were no strangers to Grandma, only friends she hadn’t met yet. She had this uncanny ability to walk up to a complete stranger and start a conversation, and within minutes make a new friend. You might think I’m joking, but several people present at her wake and funeral met her in that very manner. Last, but not least, not only did she love everyone, she showed grace to everyone. She didn’t care who you were, what your past was like or how recent that past was; she didn’t hold it against you. In my experience, she spent more time with sinners than with her friends from church. And she never held grudges – not that she ignored sin, but she didn’t hold it over your head, constantly reminding you of it. I remember one time, she called my dad out because he was living with his girlfriend at the time (now his wife). She had him alone and asked, “J.D., are you and Barbara married?”, to which he replied, “No.” “You know God doesn’t approve of that.”, she quipped, to which my dad said, “Yes Miss Betty.” And that was it. He never heard a peep out of her concerning his lifestyle after that.

Grandma was, without a doubt, the most grace-full person I ever met. I often plug Mike Foster, Jud Wilhite and People of the Second Chance on this site, but my grandmother was a person of the second chance long before it was trendy. Many Christians say they do certain things because “the Bible commands it”, or “Jesus commanded it”, and in a lot of ways I’m right there with them. I try to live my life according to the Bible. But I thank God for my grandmother – her example, as well as her influence. She was a perfect example of grace. I don’t have to read the Bible to know that grace works; I can look to the memories of my grandmother and know grace worked and still works.

Page CXVI – Hymns

November 11, 2010 in Jesus with 0 Comments

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Awhile back I wrote about Page CXVI (click here to read that post). To briefly sum up that post, they’re a group that takes Christian hymns and sets them to a more modern sound, making them more accessible while still maintaining their gospel truth and beauty. On November 30 they’ll be releasing their third project, Hymns III. However, the band has already released two tracks on their blog for fans to hear. I figured I’d share them here, along with the first two albums.

**UPDATE**

The Flash music players were horribly slowing down my blog’s load time, so I’ve removed them. Looks like Steve Jobs was correct about Flash sucking. Anyways, click to listen to Hymns I and Hymns II, as well as Be Still My Soul and Be Thou My Vision from Hymns III

Review – The Grace of God

October 19, 2010 in Jesus, Reviews with 1 Comment

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Andy Stanley’s latest book, The Grace of God, attempts to tackle a subject that is at the heart of the Gospel message. As he points out in his introduction,

Grace – it’s what we crave most when our guilt is exposed, and the very thing we’re hesitant to extend when confronted with the guilt of others.

And it’s true. When we sin, the thing we want most (other than not getting caught) is grace. When we make mistakes at work, forget important dates or unintentionally lose our cool, we want grace. But when it’s someone else who has sinned, the last thing on our minds is grace. Stanley goes on to point out a few more things concerning grace and the church:

The church is most appealing when the message of grace is most apparent. Yet grace is often an early casualty in the world of organized religion. Instead of defining itself in terms of what it stands for, the church often defines itself by what it is against. The only thing Jesus stood against consistently was graceless religion.

As Stanley reminds us, John 1:14 points out that Jesus was full of grace and truth. “In Jesus there was no conflict between grace and truth. It is that artificial conflict that throws so much of Christianity into disarray…… But grace doesn’t dumb down sin to make it more palatable. Grace acknowledges the full implication of sin and yet does not condemn.”

It’s that last point that Andy Stanley constantly reinforces throughout the book. That in Jesus there is no conflict between grace and truth. That grace fully acknowledges sin and it’s consequences, yet does not condemn. Which leaves many people scratching their heads. The big question when it comes to grace in the context of the Bible is, how do we reconcile the conflict between the acts of God in the Old Testament with the acts and teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. Stanley doesn’t skirt the issue or try to explain it away. Instead, he faces it head on, beginning in the first chapter with the first examples of God’s grace, the creation story, and building with each chapter until he reaches the full conflict in chapter six, addressing the destruction of Jericho. And he doesn’t stop there, revealing God’s grace in the lives of David and Jonah before going into the New Testament. Chapter by chapter, Stanley takes us through the Bible, revealing the grace of God that began with creation in Genesis and continuing up to the present, all while reinforcing the principals that grace is undeserved, unearned, unmerited and unconditional and that grace and truth coexist.

So, for those wondering, I do recommend The Grace of God, by Andy Stanley. Hopefully this review piqued your interest without giving away too much. To purchase, click the picture below.


Image credit: North Point Community Church

Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Bloggers program BookSneeze, and as such, was provided with a free copy of the aforementioned book in exchange for reviewing it on this website. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Leadership

October 11, 2010 in Church, Jesus with 0 Comments

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A leader cannot authentically lead someone if he is not legitimately headed in that direction himself.

- Shannon O’Dell

Just some food for thought.

Multisite: Yea or Nay?

October 3, 2010 in Church, Jesus, Tech with 2 Comments

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Those who know me know I follow more than a few pastors whose churches are multi-site; Mark Driscoll, Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel just to name a few. For those wondering what a multi-site church is, the easiest way to explain it is that it’s a church that meets in multiple locations. I say “easiest way…” because different churches have different models. Some, like Mars Hill, have a “main” campus where the pastor is live and the other campuses are video venues. Those models still operate like a normal church in that they have their own staff, volunteers, worship leaders, etc., but when the preaching portion starts, it’s usually (but not always) via video. I’ve had the chance to visit a church like this on multiple occasions and can honestly say there really wasn’t much difference between seeing the pastor in person vs. seeing him on a giant screen. However, other churches use a model where they schedule the service times so that the pastor can be at each campus, in person.

In the video below, Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll and James MacDonald discuss multi-site churches and church planting. Sadly, they were limited to ten minutes.

One interesting statistic from the video: Mark Driscoll states that at Mars Hill, they’ve found that their video venues have a higher percentage of giving, small group participation, membership and service than the venue where Mark preaches live each Sunday. I’ve heard similar statistics from other multi-site pastors as well. Just something to think about.

For those reading via RSS, if you’re unable to see the video, click here.

Free Book* – Review

September 29, 2010 in Jesus, Religion, Reviews with 0 Comments

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Several months ago I received a copy of Brian Tome’s book Free Book* to review. I must say, I’m torn.

Brian’s writing style is very conversational and easy to understand, yet, it’s taken me months to read a book that should have finished in a few sittings. I don’t believe it has anything to do with Brian Tome or his style of writing – instead, the content itself is the problem. You see, the more I read, the more I realize that I’m already experiencing the freedom found in Christ. I don’t need a book to tell me to do what I’m already doing.

But then, maybe I do. Maybe Free Book* serves as a confirmation that I’m on the right track, not living in bondage to sin or religion or a mindset or an attitude or anything else.

It also doesn’t help that I’ve always found it difficult to read when being “forced” to read. Not that anyone has a gun to my head, but being asked to read and then review a book is different than browsing through a store and picking something out that looks interesting.

As for the book itself, it is a good book, especially for those who are seeking God, whether they’re unchurched and skeptics or grew up in church and are in bondage to religion. It would also be a good read for anyone who has friends that are seeking, as it will help you answer some of the questions they may be asking. Like I wrote earlier, Brian’s writing is very conversational, which makes for a quick read (under normal circumstances). You feel as if you’re reading a letter he wrote specifically to you, which is a good thing. He’s able to take rather complex Biblical ideas such as the trinity, demons, spiritual strongholds, the Holy Spirit, etc. and explain them in a very easy to understand way, without dumbing things down.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Bloggers program BookSneeze, and as such, was provided with a free copy of the aforementioned book in exchange for reviewing it on this website. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Do People Really Believe This?

September 28, 2010 in Jesus, Religion with 2 Comments

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I was leaving work a couple weeks ago and noticed something stuck under my windshield wipers. Upon further investigation, the thing on my windshield was a few tracts written by cult leader pastor Tony Alamo. And it wasn’t just my windshield – every car in site had tracts under their windshield wipers. Two of the tracts actually weren’t bad. They basically explained the way of salvation and challenged the reader to accept Christ, quit sinning and share the gospel with others. Nothing to complain about there. But the third tract…… well, that one was a bit different. Everything from accusing the Catholic church of Satanism to calling Barack Obama the anti-Christ. So I decided to dig for a little more info on Pastor Alamo. Here’s some info taken directly from his Wikipedia page:

Tony Alamo (born Bernie Lazar Hoffman; September 20, 1934) is an American cult leader and convicted child sex offender. He and his late wife Susan are best known as the founders of an organization currently known as Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. The organization is based in and around Fouke and Alma, Arkansas, United States, and has been referred to as a cult. On July 24, 2009, Alamo was convicted on 10 counts of interstate transportation of minors for illegal sexual purposes, rape, sexual assault, and contributing to the delinquency of minors. On July 28, 2009, shortly after his conviction, Tony Alamo again made headlines by calling himself “just another one of the prophets that went to jail for the Gospel”. On November 13, 2009, he was sentenced to the maximum punishment of 175 years in prison.

A prophet going to jail for the Gospel?

More like a man who has spent decades perverting the Gospel going to jail for being a pervert.

Now, this isn’t Alamo’s first run-in with the law – he has also served two prison terms for tax evasion. But here’s the deal: if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you’ve probably noticed recurring themes of love, forgiveness, second chances, etc. I even have a link in the sidebar to a ministry called People of the Second Chance and I’ve got one of their stickers on my MacBook to remind me to think before I type. So I believe the church should forgive Tony Alamo; for perverting the Gospel, for giving Jesus a bad name, for giving the church a bad name and yes, for his sexual immorality.

But a second chance?

You can’t give someone a second chance if they won’t acknowledge their sins.

And according to his own statements and writings, Tony Alamo is sinless, spotless, clean. A prophet of God falsely convicted of sexual perversion by a government which is being controlled by Satan himself.

Which brings me to Peter Popoff.

If you’re unaware of Reverend Popoff, you’ve probably never had insomnia, because his infomercials broadcasts run almost exclusively between the hours of midnight and 6:00 am and feature clips of him “healing” and praying for people at various crusades, as well as testimonials from followers at those crusades, interspersed with segments of Popoff and his wife Elizabeth in a studio inviting you to call and request whatever gift he’s schilling at the time. Currently, the gift is a bottle of miracle spring water and anointed faith tool. Now, to be fair, the gift is free. But once you receive it, in order for the miracle to work, you need to follow Popoff’s instructions to the letter. And of course, those instructions include sending Popoff’s ministry a donation.

Much like Tony Alamo, Peter Popoff has had issues with people exposing slandering him in the past. During the 1970′s Popoff rose to fame by “miraculously” naming people’s specific illnesses and home addresses during crusades. Beginning in 1983 though, several people began to expose Popoff’s techniques, none of which were supernatural. The most well known exposure came in 1986 when skeptics James Randi and Steve Shaw were guests on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Following his Tonight Show exposure, donations stopped coming in almost instantly and the following year Popoff declared bankruptcy. Yet, he didn’t go away forever; nor did he change his ways. Just a decade later Popoff was purchasing timeslots on BET and by 2006 could be seen late at night on several networks. During 2006 and 2007 I worked a graveyard shift at a hospital and there were many nights where I would flip through the TV channels and hit Popoff on nearly a dozen channels. But he hasn’t stopped at merely “healing” people. Now Popoff is claiming that by calling and requesting the miracle spring water and anointed faith tool you can have your debts miraculously resolved.

Because, you know, God is going to instantaneously pay your debts for the credit card you maxed out when buying the HDTV you just had to have, and the PS3 you needed to go with said HDTV, and eating out all week instead of cooking at home, etc.

But wait! He has proof in the Bible that God wants to cancel your debt!

You want to know what Deuteronomy 15 says? Here it is:

At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess– if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.

If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, The seventh year, the year of release is near, and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.

If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. But if he says to you, I will not go out from you, because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same. It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired servant he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. You shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose. But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. You shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

In case you haven’t figured it out, those are the laws concerning debt and slavery that Moses gave to the Hebrews/Jews/Israelites. Last time I checked, creditors and debt collectors don’t abide by the law of Moses.

What’s even sadder is everything that I’ve written is fairly easy to find online, and I’m talking about credible websites. But it’s easier to hope that God will miraculously rescue us from debt we’ve brought upon ourselves, rather than take a Biblical approach and work for it. It reminds me of the scene in Jurassic Park where Ian is ranting and says:

I’ll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you’re using here: it didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don’t take any responsibility… for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you’re selling it!

Think about it – when is the last time you actually heard someone say they wanted to work for thirty or forty years, slowly building a fortune, retire and then spend the last decade or two of their life attempting to enjoy it?

Never!

But you do hear people talking about what they’ll do when they when the lottery or hit it big at a casino or become a rock star (even though they can’t sing, write or play an instrument). I’ve even heard it from wannabe church planters – guys who sit around and talk about how cool it’ll be when they’re pastoring the next Mars Hill or North Point, yet they can’t even amass enough followers to hold a Bible study! People who want instant gratification; no work, no blood, sweat and tears, just the end results.

Okay, rant over.

But seriously…… why do people like Tony Alamo and Peter Popoff have followers? Are that many people (thousands, possibly millions) just that dumb?

Be.

September 14, 2010 in Church, Jesus, Religion with 0 Comments

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Titus 3:1-11

When reading this passage earlier, two images came to mind. I couldn’t decide which one represented this passage the best (or if they represent the full passage at all), so I’m sharing both. One is a pair of dirty hands, the other is the iconic NYC coffee cup.

Turn the Other Cheek

August 6, 2010 in Jesus with 1 Comment

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I was unable to sleep last night and while browsing the web I came across the Willow Creek Community Church website. Remembering they were supposed to have Rob Bell teach recently, I decided to poke around and see if the video was there. Sure enough, it was. So I figured, “Hey, I can kill an hour”, and decided to watch.


It was the best hour of teaching I’ve heard in quite some time.

Regardless of what you believe about Rob Bell, you need to watch this message. There’s nothing heretical in it, nor is there anything blasphemous (and to be honest, I’ve never personally heard Bell teach anything heretical or blasphemous). I recommend watching the whole message (it lasts about an hour). Note: if the correct video doesn’t autoplay, choose from the list below the main video.)

Anyways, here’s my notes:

“Familiarity breeds unfamiliarity.”
- Dallas Willard

I.E. You hear something so often that it loses its edge, vitality and life.

Scripture text: Matthew 5:38-41

You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

resist – “violent revenge” in the original Greek.

Turn the other cheek – often taught that if you’re really serious about following Jesus, then when someone wrongs you, when you suffer injustice, you’re just supposed to take it, that’s what Jesus wants you to do.

“If you’re a woman in an abusive relationship, you’re just supposed to ‘turn the other cheek’ and take it, making Jesus the founder of the First Church of the Spineless.”

“Is there anything else going on here that might inform what it means to ‘turn the other cheek’?”

First century culture was hierarchal, and violence was no exception. There were two ways to hit a person: a punch with a closed right fist, and a slap with the back of the right hand. Punches were reserved for equals, slaps were reserved for those who you deemed ‘lower’.

Therefore, in that culture, if someone hit you on the right cheek (as the verse says), that meant they were slapping you with the back of their right hand – insulting you, deeming you a lesser being. When Jesus said “turn to him the other also”, was he saying by turning the other cheek we are forcing our oppressors to treat us as equal?

Jesus doesn’t stop there.

In the first century you generally wore two garments: a tunic and a cloak. So Jesus says that if you find yourself in a position where someone sues you for your tunic, give them your cloak also, exposing your nakedness. In that culture, the shame of nakedness was not on the one who was naked, but the one who saw the nakedness (e.g. Noah). Who has the power now?

“And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” – a subtle reference to Roman military law. By law, a Roman soldier could order any civilian to carry his pack, but only up to one mile. Generally, we have what to carry packs in the first century? Donkeys and mules. But Jesus says, “go with him two miles.” How would it look if, after carrying a soldier’s pack for a mile, you kept walking? If his commander saw that, what would happen? Who has the power now?

Our world generally teaches us that when you are wronged, you have two options – do nothing or return the wrong.

  1. Do Nothing – passivity, which leaves you powerless and always leads to despair.
  2. Return the Wrong – revenge, which always escalates, keeping the pain in circulation (relational Pong).

Was Jesus presenting a third way?

A third way…

  • protects human dignity at all costs (i.e. you don’t have to take this).
  • takes tremendous strength, courage, creativity and spinal fortitude (revenge doesn’t take strength, it’s the easy way out).
  • leaves room for the other party to change (i.e. repentance)

When you return the wrong, you elliminate the chance of the other person repenting. You always have options. When wronged, always ask, “Is there a third way here?”; a third way can open the door for you to share the gospel.

About forty minutes in, Bell shares a very tough story involving a member of Mars Hill who went through a very abusive marriage and how the third way applies in that type of situation.

You always have options.

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