Thoughts Regarding Studying the Bible

Over the last summer I decided that I wanted to be more theologically literate, so I asked three or four trusted friends/pastors and they all told me I should go through a Bible Dictionary to start with. I dove right in, and went through the Pentateuch, and kind of stalled out after that. There was a lot of stuff going on in my life (changing jobs and schedules and so forth) so it kind of fell to the background.
Well last week, I started to think about how much I had learned from those five short little articles, copying down the teaching outlines and reflecting on what I remember from the texts themselves. Compared to a seminarian or a Pastor my knowledge is pretty insignificant, but on a personal note there were many things regarding the Cross and the deity of Jesus that became crystal clear. I've picked my studies back up, and just finished Joshua yesterday. It was great to see the Israelites enter the Promised Land, and to know that even though they were finally delivered into Canaan, that there was still much to do. They still had to live out there lives as God's Chosen people, if anything, it was more difficult for them as a nation after they entered the land than it was before.

Anyway, I just wanted to take a minute to encourage all my friends (Christian and non-Christian alike) to really read and think about the Bible. I know sometimes it's hard to pick it up and just read it, we all have things to do during our day. But what better occupation is there than to dwell on the Grace and sovereignty of God? Sometimes study seems like striving, like some sort of inorganic chore or task, and for most of us we struggle against things that don't feel "natural". But I think God would remind us all that what is natural to us is sin. That is to say that we are used to living our lives as if He weren't there. We might all do better with a little striving now and then. After all, the pursuit of God is active.

Musing

Over the past few weeks I've begun to grasp what it is to be a creation. That is to say that I have come to understand my finite-ness in a very different way. Rather than being frustrated by my lack of output (strictly in an artistic sense), I've been learning to appreciate the fact that, regardless of what I create, I am part of a greater story. It's as if I'm one strand being woven through a greater work, and what I might be tempted to call a loose end will one day wind it's way to a fitting destination. And, because of that wondrous notion (that I am a mere character questioning my author) I can look back on the recently past years of my life and find some sort of peace with them.

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
stand in the desert...Near them, on the sand,
half shrunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
and wrinkled lip, a sneer of cold command,
tell that it's sculptor well those passions read
which yet survived, stamped on these lifeless things,
the hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
the lone level sands stretch far away.
Ozymandias ~P.B Shelley

Why I Refuse To Vote

Just a few years ago Americans would have to wait another two weeks to rush to their polls and cast their vote for the Presidential candidate of their choosing. Voting is one of the major patriotic means of expression for Americans, or should I say it used to be. With the election coming up and the storm of media pushed campaigning it's hard to say who we're actually voting for. That is to say, that it's hard to see where each candidate actually stands on the issues facing the American people. After considerate (although not extensive) review I have decided not to vote in this upcoming election. I am not meaning to be lazy about the future of our country nor am I uninterested in the election. I am frustrated in most areas surrounding this years campaign, and in a few I am just plain angry. In this short article I intend to cover the areas that support why I am protesting the upcoming election, and I hope to show the integrity of my position as well.
First of all, lets talk about the candidates. Barak Obama and John McCain have been on the trail for quite some time now and their are reasons that I cannot align myself with either of their political views. Obama stands boldly in the women's right to choose, and fails (even as a Senator) to uphold the Constitutional Rights of the unborn populace of America. In the preamble the Bill of Rights plainly states that it is the Government's job to insure Live, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness to it's citizens. Seems like abortion in that case is a breach of the Constitution in a very major area. Is it not the government's responsibility to preserve life, even unborn life, for it's citizens? The answer should be yes. Do I have a religious standing on this position as well? Absolutely, but for the sake of brevity I wont go into them. Although I don't thinkI need another reason for my lack of support for Obama's presidency I do have some more. He's only been a Senator for two years, one of those years being spent on his campaign. As a candidate for President in a time that calls for a strong, experienced leader Obama simply doesn't really fit the bill. Not to mention the increase of federal power that the Democratic party feels is necessary or a President to rule the nation. Make no doubt about, increased Presidential power will eventually lead to tyranny over the American people. This is seen most evidentally in the appointment of Supreme Court judges over the past few decades. Aside from that, Obama believes that it is the Government's right to redistribute the wealth of the American population from those who have to those who don't. Although Obama plans to redistribute wealth, he also plans to tax more independant business owners, who although they may have extenuating circumstances, will have to pay more if they net more than a certain amount of money per year. Seeing as how the income tax is a historically new circumstance for Americans, and a disagreeable on at that. I cannot, in good conscience, support his Presidency. Because he does not uphold the Constitution, plans to meddle in small American industry, and displays a lack of experience in the world of domestic politics as well as global politics he is simply not qualified for the role of Commander and Chief.
Now on to McCain, McCain seems to contradict Obama's lack of experience and failure to honor the Constitution at almost every turn. And yet I still can't preserve my integrity as an American citizen and vote for him at the same time. My reasons for this are a bit more subtle, and more personal in this matter so please bear with me. First and foremost, for the past few weeks I have heard little discussion of policy and more mud smearing and name calling from McCain's campaign. Rather than clearly presenting their campaign stances on economic, and foreign policy issues the McCain/Palin campaign has focused on making Obama look bad. Now in addition to political experience being a prerequisite for the Presidential office, I consider a display of strong character to be paramount. Sure he stands against Roe vs. Wade, and is vocal on the rights for the infant population of America, but he does so in a way that is unproffessional and downright childish. In my mind a Presidential candidate should voice his policy boldly, and let the chips fall where they may. There should be no participation in media driven name calling and sound byte manipulation. There is almost no way of telling what any of these candidates have actually said in context because of the politically driven media coverage of the election. I say in context, because context is a very important thing. A statement made by a person is a very powerful thing, and we deserve to hear the full story. Each candidate should be represented in fullness by media coverage, and I would go as far to say that any sort of "creative editing" of political campaign material ought to be a federal offense. In addition to all of these things McCain has failed to address the recent economic issues facing America in the way that I think a strong leader should. Simply but, big businesses who take ought outrageous loans and fail to pay them ought to be shouldered with the consequences of that failure. Because we're the ones who really pay for it. Please consider the Republican means of dealing with big business....tax breaks, tax breaks for everything. What these businesses do in turn is take their sweet tax breaks and start pactices overseas, which robs the American people of money, and removes credit and capitol from the country. How do you think the recession started in the first place? America doesn't need a jump start anymore, we need to revive American domestic industry and start exporting goods rather than importing them. American companies need to operate in America, and I don't see that happening under a Republican candidate who is funded by companies that are taking money from American banks and investing them in foreign markets.

Now for my religious reasons:

Being a Christian in America means a lot of things to a lot of people. Sadly a lot of those things have little or nothing to do with Jesus Christ, or my life lived out as his disciple. To put it plainly we have allowed ourselves to become caricatures of what could be a very real and vital expression of faith in our country. Sidelined by issues of abortion and same sex union the church by and large has become distracted from the core issues of the Gospel and our lives as Christians. These things seem to come into focus dramatically whenever a political discussion lands on the table. As Christians it seems that we are almost expected to vote Republican every time the opportunity presents itself simply because we are stuck in the mud of a cultural war. This cultural war began some twenty to thirty years ago with the Moral Majority movement and still limps on today in most modern evangelical churches. We, as Christians, are by and large called to vote Republican on the issue of moral legislation, and in focusing on that we have failed to disciple the American population. Mere legislation does not support, encourage, or cause the cultural transformation that America so desparately needs. It simply puts a band aid on it and marginalizes those who do not agree. Marginalization is not a part of the Gospel, nor is political involvement. Voting is not evangelism, and therefore is not enough to preserve the society in which we live. For that transformation to take place the church in America needs to repent, and return to a Biblical worldview. In short, Christianity needs to get out of the voting boothes, turn off the O'Reilly Factor and get outside it's churches and bookstores, and into the world that needs it's influence.
Now here is where I get angry. Most savvy political candidates are keen on the evangelicals loud cry for more morally responsible legislation, and rather than treating us as we are we have been pigeonholed and turned into a demographic. I'm sure you all remember the faith issue of Bush vs. Kerry in the last election. Both candidates were eager to look spiritual for the American people, not in order to show their true colors, but more to appeal to a cultural demographic of Christianity. Jesus needs not to be patronized by a Presidential candidate, nor does Christianity need to be in the White House for it to be successful in fulfilling the Great Commision. Quite on the contrary, we are a body of people who have spread the Gospel most effectively through persecution and bold testimony. We as a national body of believers need to understand that the Gospel needs no President to support it, nor do we need a body of laws to make America seem more Holy. It either is or it isn't, Christianity and Democracy are two completely separate entities, and as followers of Jesus we should cry foul when the Lord is used as a means of advertisement. And that, more than any other reason is why I will not be an active participant in this upcoming election. I will not be patronized, and I will not tolerate the Gospel to become a matter of law that denies civic rights to those who disagree with us. We are not an Imperial faith, we are a vital faith, and as such, should accept no imitations of our holy faith. As a Christian I will humbly submit to whomever wins the Presidency, and will follow every law as long as it does not contradict that of the Bible.

All that being said, I demand that everybody thinks for themselves, and if you disagree with me, feel free to voice that here , or simply to disagree. Whatever you do, do it that God may be more glorified in the world. Thank you for your attention, and I hope that this may be of benefit to you.

~Matt

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time now and forever. Amen" Jude 24-25

Sojourning

Sometimes life takes you places that you don't want to go, and away from the company that you'd rather keep. Looking back on my travels I can see the truth in that, and to some extent it grieves my heart to know that the friends I've had and left behind I might never have again until Eternity. Even this last move, that was only 15 miles down the road from where I was, I now start to miss things about the place I've just left. The fellowship and common purpose that is, not the mess. But I guess that's the thing about life is that, at times, it seems kind of aimless and meandering. In these times it's easy to feel the dissonance of experience and faith. The lack of resolution that comes from the perpetually unanswered question of why. But I wonder what it is that is in us that expects anything better than cosmic silence. What it is that demands that we have stability now, in a world that's turbulent because of our lack of righteousness. That's one of the greatest things about Christianity, the fact that God isn't afraid to let us feel the weight of time, and the burden of experiencing life outside of eternity. He isn't afraid to let us deal with what we've done, and at the same time he promises eternity to those of us who are willing to fight our unbelief for his sake, and sojourn through this life on his terms, even when his terms seem to do us more harm than good. I see through a dirty glass, and even the unclear image of Heaven is overwhelming to me, and the desire for it is, maybe, more intense because I know that were it not for God's purposes I would not be here. But I can always look forward to the moment when my life here will seem like a shadow passing, and I feel the freedom that my heart cries out for.

Musings

I don't really know what I want to write right now, but I figured that writing is better than not writing. I've been thinking about a lot lately, especially the passage of time. A weird thing to ponder I know, and I should probably find better things to do with the time I have right now rather than looking back one things that have been, and never again will be. But life is funny like that, it seems like there are a million things that tear us away from where we are right now, in the instant. Plans for the future, or frustrations from the past. But neither past, present, nor the future have ever really been in our grasp.
We've just built cute little towers of illusory controls out of our jobs and our hobbies. Trinkets to distract our hands from rending our garments. Don't get me wrong, I don't think we should rend our garments....we'd have to buy new clothes if we did. Keep the trinkets, they're God given in a sense. Like the stories that parents tell their children to distract them from the monster that they believe is under the bed. They talk just long enough for the child to fall asleep. Grace is a lot aspirin, helping us to deal with the worst of ourselves while we wait for that sweet day when even grace and faith pass away into knowledge, or at least take on new meaning. That brilliant morning when all the preaching and evangelism, all the pain and the confusion simply stop. Then, the trinkets will become something different, something animated and real. Like hopes that put on flesh to walk with us as friends, and talk of the beauty that they have been allowed to convey in this life.

Remember The Coming Return

Out Of The Mud

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, especially since I had known the person for over two years. It was a simple message at a YWAM community meeting in Holland near the end of our European outreach. Just some worship songs, a piece of reader's theatre, and a short message. For those of you who know me you wont be surprised that the minute the opportunity to speak had presented itself my hand shot into the air (as it always does). I'm not a spotlight hog, nor am I one of those people who is always gunning for the center of the stage. I wanted off the stage all year actually. But I do love to teach and preach, I guess it's something about helping people to see God in a different, more orthodox way, that really appeals to me. I've fallen flat on lessons a couple of times of course, but that's true about every aspect of performer, teacher, or Pastor. Anyway, I digress. I saw the question coming, "Have you prayed about it?" Well, of course not I thought to myself, did you see how fast my hand went up....not exactly a whole lot of time to pray there. I didn't say any of that, I just kind of stammered and looked confused which apparently said a lot more than I would have verbally. The next statement was "I don't want you to volunteer unless you're sure God is laying a specific message on your heart." My next thought was probably not very sanctified...so I'll spare you. Long story short, I confirmed my conviction to speak and went to pray and prepare. A great message came to me during that time.
The next installment of the saga was being informed that my message was to be a testimony of God's goodness throughout my experience of the accident. Well, that's sort of what it was so I affirmed it, and agreed (though tactfully substituting the word message for testimony). An accident testimony would've sounded like this...I almost died, but I didn't. I went through three invasive and dangerous operations and came out the other side with a stiff neck, and occasional kidney pain. Oh yeah, and my wife and I are quite in as much debt as we should be. As the week waned on I began to get confused about whether I should rock the boat and deliver the message, or submit and do what my leader had said I was going to do. I prayed about it and decided that it would be better to be on my leader's bad side than the Lords. I'm not too keen on boils these days after all. Besides I had my convictions to consider, and the soundness of the message speaking something specifically constructive for people to hear. I wasn't going to short people out of a meal by offering them a candy bar that just taste good and distract them from the true meal they should have had. The message went great, and the people at YWAM Holland were touched and edified. The only people on my team that had anything to say were my wife, and my friend Wells. I was discouraged.
That experience catalyzes a lot of thought into the general over spiritualized atmosphere of modern Christianity. Most Christians these days would rather pray and cry of Africa than actually go there and help, and there is a general thought that good intentions should count for something? What will happen to the church when my generation takes leadership just to sit in a circle for an hour so they can say "We really moved the Heavens that time."? The hungry will still be hungry, and the Gospel will be lost. Actions, and rational thoughts are spiritual too, we don't need to pray about somethings like charity, or where to go on missions trips. We can look at the needs around them, and sacrifice ourselves to meet them, we can look into our hearts and realize that we've always wanted to go to Nepal, or India. Christianity, when it's simple, is more dangerous to it's practitioners. So, we've complicated things through the guise of spirituality, and touchy-feely candle lit worship services. We've traded the real Jesus for one that gives a thumbs up for our complacency and says "Hey man, don't worry about it, what could you have done anyway?"