The book Vigilante written by Robin Parrish reminded me something of a Christian batman. I received this book from Bethany House for review. I picked it because I generally like action books, super heroes, and don't mind a little violence. So I thought I would love this book. Yet as I finished the book, I just felt heavy. Not sad, mind you. Just weighed down.
Maybe that is the point of the book. Maybe it is supposed to make you think about heavy topics like when is violence as a Christian appropriate. Maybe Robin Parrish wants the reader to consider the depths to which humanity can sink and ponder what to do about it. But I read fiction for enjoyment. I read for fun. I did not find this book fun to read.
Even though I didn't really end up liking this book, it will likely appeal to many. It was well written. The characters are solid. And certainly the premise is not boring. So I ended up giving it three stars.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Secret Stands
I have come to a realization about my church. They refuse to take a public stand on many cultural issues, but sometimes take a stand behind the scenes. For example, a new ministers first sermon is about it being a Christian duty to go green and shrink one's carbon footprint. He disappears in less than a month. One story is that he missed his home state too much. But the other is that many people were alarmed at his sermon and he was given the opportunity to go back home. Let's just say that the second reason is correct for the sake of this post.
The leadership refuses to take a stand on "issues" (I guess the green movement/creation stewardship is one of these) because it will "detract from our mission". But the minister ends up gone. And I feel wary of the leadership. The level of transparency is rather disheartening. Even the city government has more transparency.
On a separate, but related topic. . .
We recently ordained 15 more elders. One of the comments made during the ceremony was that we should honor our leaders because we have no idea what they do (in reference to helping people). But the comment really struck me. A shepherd parable in the Bible says the shepherd knows each sheep by name and the sheep knew the sound of the shepherd's voice. How can 40 or so men (including the new 15) know 5000+ people? And obviously they don't expect us to really know them if it is accepted that we don't know what they do.
Our church motto is Building followers of Christ through worship, community, and service. But this just doesn't seem like a community to me.
The leadership refuses to take a stand on "issues" (I guess the green movement/creation stewardship is one of these) because it will "detract from our mission". But the minister ends up gone. And I feel wary of the leadership. The level of transparency is rather disheartening. Even the city government has more transparency.
On a separate, but related topic. . .
We recently ordained 15 more elders. One of the comments made during the ceremony was that we should honor our leaders because we have no idea what they do (in reference to helping people). But the comment really struck me. A shepherd parable in the Bible says the shepherd knows each sheep by name and the sheep knew the sound of the shepherd's voice. How can 40 or so men (including the new 15) know 5000+ people? And obviously they don't expect us to really know them if it is accepted that we don't know what they do.
Our church motto is Building followers of Christ through worship, community, and service. But this just doesn't seem like a community to me.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Evangelism without Community
We had a good lesson from the youth minister at our church on Wednesday night. It was about evangelism and how it has an aura of distastefulness in American churches. One of the main reasons he gave is that evangelism is often feels (or actually is) contrived.
Now before I go any further, I have to say that one of the reasons that we chose the church we did is that evangelism actually occurs. The leaders participate in sharing the Gospel with the lost. Actual people from the world give their lives to Jesus and are baptized instead of just people from the youth group who have been going to church their whole lives.
Now back to the point of this post. I believe that one of the biggest hindrances to the overwhelming spread of the Kingdom of God in America today is a lack of community. As a member of the missions committee, I get to hear stories of how whole people groups are converted to the Lord. All of peoples that I know about are societies where the people live in community.
What do I mean by community? I mean a group of people whose lives are woven together on a daily basis. I mean a setting where friendships and work and religious ceremonies and family are all tangled together. For example, the shepherd and the weaver have a relationship because they rely on one another. Everyone in town knows your worst mistake because they were their when you did it but they still hang out with you anyway. People who have done some hard things together often form lifelong friendships. We Americans hardly have any of that. We are largely disconnected from people outside our immediate family. What connection we have is often tempered by technology; we often interact without actually being near the person.
Let me give an example from my own life. My husband has something of a community at his work with a Christian ministry. I am forming something of a community with the Christian homeschool co-op. But my husband and I aren't really in community with anyone as a family except in some respects with our small group at church. And the people we are in the most contact with have knowledge of and are trying to live for Jesus.
When we lived in Phoenix, it was somewhat different. We had no kids. I worked at a landscape architecture office, and my husband worked as a bill collector and then in financial services. We had lots of friends that were searching for the truth about Jesus and we were happy to share what we knew. Two people were even baptized in our swimming pool.
But if I want my kids to experience evangelism, I will have to contrive something. It might be going on a short term mission trip or involved in a ministry at church . Or I could try to form a deeper relationship with our old lawn mower man since I know that he and his family do not have a church home. Now I am not saying that any of these ideas are wrong or bad. I am saying that they do not flow from my normal life.
In places where the Good News of Jesus flows through the land like healing water, there are already relationship channels for it to flow through.
Now before I go any further, I have to say that one of the reasons that we chose the church we did is that evangelism actually occurs. The leaders participate in sharing the Gospel with the lost. Actual people from the world give their lives to Jesus and are baptized instead of just people from the youth group who have been going to church their whole lives.
Now back to the point of this post. I believe that one of the biggest hindrances to the overwhelming spread of the Kingdom of God in America today is a lack of community. As a member of the missions committee, I get to hear stories of how whole people groups are converted to the Lord. All of peoples that I know about are societies where the people live in community.
What do I mean by community? I mean a group of people whose lives are woven together on a daily basis. I mean a setting where friendships and work and religious ceremonies and family are all tangled together. For example, the shepherd and the weaver have a relationship because they rely on one another. Everyone in town knows your worst mistake because they were their when you did it but they still hang out with you anyway. People who have done some hard things together often form lifelong friendships. We Americans hardly have any of that. We are largely disconnected from people outside our immediate family. What connection we have is often tempered by technology; we often interact without actually being near the person.
Let me give an example from my own life. My husband has something of a community at his work with a Christian ministry. I am forming something of a community with the Christian homeschool co-op. But my husband and I aren't really in community with anyone as a family except in some respects with our small group at church. And the people we are in the most contact with have knowledge of and are trying to live for Jesus.
When we lived in Phoenix, it was somewhat different. We had no kids. I worked at a landscape architecture office, and my husband worked as a bill collector and then in financial services. We had lots of friends that were searching for the truth about Jesus and we were happy to share what we knew. Two people were even baptized in our swimming pool.
But if I want my kids to experience evangelism, I will have to contrive something. It might be going on a short term mission trip or involved in a ministry at church . Or I could try to form a deeper relationship with our old lawn mower man since I know that he and his family do not have a church home. Now I am not saying that any of these ideas are wrong or bad. I am saying that they do not flow from my normal life.
In places where the Good News of Jesus flows through the land like healing water, there are already relationship channels for it to flow through.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Intolerance of Kids
I heard recently on TV that Americans spend more time grooming that caring for kids. Now as a homeschooling mom of 2 with a tiny sliver of my day given to grooming, that came as a surprise to me. But really it shouldn't have. With day cares and schools, fewer and fewer grown-ups are raising the fewer and fewer kids we are having. Maybe that is why there is a growing amount of intolerance for kids in trendy society.
Instead of promoting family and kids, the trend seems to be to ban them. Here are some examples:
McDain's restaurant banned kids under six in PA.
Some people want to ban babies from planes (or at least business class).
People are calling it "brat bans" and it may be the next big deal for vacation destinations.
At at least one movie theater, kids under six are no longer welcome except on "baby days".
Now I have been the parent with a melt-down kid and I have been the childless adult annoyed that a parent was allowing a tantrum in a theater. But it still saddens me to read these things.
Instead of promoting family and kids, the trend seems to be to ban them. Here are some examples:
McDain's restaurant banned kids under six in PA.
Some people want to ban babies from planes (or at least business class).
People are calling it "brat bans" and it may be the next big deal for vacation destinations.
At at least one movie theater, kids under six are no longer welcome except on "baby days".
Now I have been the parent with a melt-down kid and I have been the childless adult annoyed that a parent was allowing a tantrum in a theater. But it still saddens me to read these things.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Spending on Education
I thought you might enjoy this video by Heritage Foundation. It does a great job of explaining why spending more tax dollars on education isn't the answer.
I think the whole education system would be better without the government at all. There is a great website about this point of view called the Alliance for the Separation of School and State. I encourage you to go check it out.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Happy 4th of July (a little early)
I wanted to share with you an article by Thomas Sowell called "July 4th". In it, he reminds us that July 4th is the day that the Declaration of Independence was first publicly read. Here are some quotes from it to encourage you to read the whole thing.
Some clever people today ask whether the United States has really been "exceptional." You couldn't be more exceptional in the 18th century than to create your fundamental document -- the Constitution of the United States -- by opening with the momentous words, "We the people..."
More than a hundred years ago, so-called "Progressives" began a campaign to undermine the Constitution's strict limitations on government, which stood in the way of self-anointed political crusaders imposing their grand schemes on all the rest of us. That effort to discredit the Constitution continues to this day, and the arguments haven't really changed much in a hundred years.
I think that people who find the Bible irrelevant because it is old also find the Constitution irrelevant because it is old. I also think that God never changes, human nature hasn't changed, and limited government is still a good idea.
But we have gone far from our roots in this country. We used to be a people governed by the Holy Spirit from within or at least by common sense rooted in His Word. We used to know that God set up various governments (family, church, civil) and that each had its own authority. I encourage us all to fall before the Lord and confess the sins of our nation. If you would like to join others in doing this, you can go here to see congregations across the country that will be having a special time of prayer on July 3rd called Call2Fall.
Some clever people today ask whether the United States has really been "exceptional." You couldn't be more exceptional in the 18th century than to create your fundamental document -- the Constitution of the United States -- by opening with the momentous words, "We the people..."
More than a hundred years ago, so-called "Progressives" began a campaign to undermine the Constitution's strict limitations on government, which stood in the way of self-anointed political crusaders imposing their grand schemes on all the rest of us. That effort to discredit the Constitution continues to this day, and the arguments haven't really changed much in a hundred years.
I think that people who find the Bible irrelevant because it is old also find the Constitution irrelevant because it is old. I also think that God never changes, human nature hasn't changed, and limited government is still a good idea.
But we have gone far from our roots in this country. We used to be a people governed by the Holy Spirit from within or at least by common sense rooted in His Word. We used to know that God set up various governments (family, church, civil) and that each had its own authority. I encourage us all to fall before the Lord and confess the sins of our nation. If you would like to join others in doing this, you can go here to see congregations across the country that will be having a special time of prayer on July 3rd called Call2Fall.
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