"The problem with the church is never that we don't have enough money, or people, rather the problem with the church is the quality of its people. And that begins with me."
Dallas Willard
Showing posts with label Sin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sin. Show all posts
3.30.2012
6.12.2011
Sin and Psychology
"The most experienced psychologist or observer of human nature knows infinitely less of the human heart than the simplest Christian who lives beneath the Cross of Jesus. The greatest psychological insight, ability, and experience cannot grasp this one thing: what sin is. Worldly wisdom knows what distress and weakness and failure are, but it does not know the godlessness of man. And so it also does not know that man is destroyed only by his sin and can be healed only by forgiveness. Only the Christian knows this. In the presence of a psychiatrist I can only be a sick man; in the presence of a Christian brother I can dare to be a sinner. The psychiatrist must first search my heart and yet he never plumbs its ultimate depth. The Christian brother knows when I come to him: here is a sinner like myself, a godless man who wants to confess and yearns for God’s forgiveness. The psychiatrist views me as if there were no God. The brother views me as I am before the judging and merciful God in the Cross of Jesus Christ."
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community)
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community)
12.13.2010
Grace is God's Favor on the Broken
Here is the link to the video and lyrics to Michael Guglielmucci's now infamous song 'Healer.'
The story behind the song is a sad one, yet it is a contemporary parable about human brokenness and God's illimitable grace.
=========================
Michael is the son of a pastor.
He is also a pastor.
He writes songs glorifying God. Wonderful, powerful songs, sung by masses of devoted Christians; blessing the Church and blessing God with his songwriting.
Michael was diagnosed with cancer.
He wrote the song 'Healer' as an anthem testifying to God's power to heal, and His strength in troublesome times. He would perform the song on stage sitting down, with the oxygen tubes hooking him to the supply that his weak body desperately needed...
It was a powerful reminder that God's grace is available in the midst of human brokenness.
=========================
It was, of course, a huge deception; Michael was lying about the cancer.
He had never been diagnosed with cancer, and was in fact perfectly physically healthy. There was, however, something desperately wrong with Michael.
He had been telling people he had cancer to cover the fact that he had been compulsively looking at pornography for 16 years. He was ashamed and afraid; he was defeated.
Upon this revelation, many of us in the wider Christian community were appalled at this hypocrisy. The world of course, was overjoyed at the opportunity to point to yet another disgraced figure on the stage of global Christianity. I have heard many Christians talk about how the song has been ruined for them, now that they have heard the whole story. The situation was, in all respects, a colossal failure...
...or perhaps not.
Perhaps Michael's hypocrisy is a contemporary parable. Perhaps we can learn from the ugliness and the deception. Perhaps by digging into the open wound, painful though it might be, we can root out the cause of the of the injury...
In short, that image of Michael on the stage, lying to everyone about his own holiness, singing of God's goodness while deceiving the worldwide church, a sinner hiding in plain sight, is not a reason to throw away Michael, or the song he wrote, rather it is a powerful reminder that God's grace is available in the midst of human brokenness.
It is for this reason that I continue to be blessed by this powerful song. The story behind it far from detracts from the power of the song, rather it increases its potency as a reminder of God's glory. It speaks to me of God's glorious grace, that I am never so far away, that He cannot reach me...
The story behind the song is a sad one, yet it is a contemporary parable about human brokenness and God's illimitable grace.
=========================
Michael is the son of a pastor.
He is also a pastor.
He writes songs glorifying God. Wonderful, powerful songs, sung by masses of devoted Christians; blessing the Church and blessing God with his songwriting.
Michael was diagnosed with cancer.
He wrote the song 'Healer' as an anthem testifying to God's power to heal, and His strength in troublesome times. He would perform the song on stage sitting down, with the oxygen tubes hooking him to the supply that his weak body desperately needed...
It was a powerful reminder that God's grace is available in the midst of human brokenness.
=========================
It was, of course, a huge deception; Michael was lying about the cancer.
He had never been diagnosed with cancer, and was in fact perfectly physically healthy. There was, however, something desperately wrong with Michael.
He had been telling people he had cancer to cover the fact that he had been compulsively looking at pornography for 16 years. He was ashamed and afraid; he was defeated.
Upon this revelation, many of us in the wider Christian community were appalled at this hypocrisy. The world of course, was overjoyed at the opportunity to point to yet another disgraced figure on the stage of global Christianity. I have heard many Christians talk about how the song has been ruined for them, now that they have heard the whole story. The situation was, in all respects, a colossal failure...
...or perhaps not.
Perhaps Michael's hypocrisy is a contemporary parable. Perhaps we can learn from the ugliness and the deception. Perhaps by digging into the open wound, painful though it might be, we can root out the cause of the of the injury...
In short, that image of Michael on the stage, lying to everyone about his own holiness, singing of God's goodness while deceiving the worldwide church, a sinner hiding in plain sight, is not a reason to throw away Michael, or the song he wrote, rather it is a powerful reminder that God's grace is available in the midst of human brokenness.
It is for this reason that I continue to be blessed by this powerful song. The story behind it far from detracts from the power of the song, rather it increases its potency as a reminder of God's glory. It speaks to me of God's glorious grace, that I am never so far away, that He cannot reach me...
5.02.2010
The Nature of Evil
"…badness consists in pursuing [good things] by the wrong method, or in the wrong way, or too much. …wickedness, when you examine it, turns out to be the pursuit of some good in the wrong way."
C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
4.27.2010
Evil
"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn (The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956)
Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn (The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956)
4.21.2010
Repentance
"Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realising that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor--that is the only way out of our 'hole'. This process of surrender--this movement full speed astern--is what Christians call repentance."
C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
3.18.2010
Prosperity
"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."
C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
3.09.2010
Culture pt VII
There are strengths of each culture and there are weaknesses of each culture.
Our Western emphasis on justice is a strength. It is a genuine insight into the Kingdom of God. Some things cause God to burn with anger. Some things cause God to rejoice in delight. There is an absolute morality. Some things are simply evil while other things are simply good, and it is right to suffer shame, defeat, pain, and even death rather than do evil.
But our strong sense of personal injustice is a weakness. It lends itself so easily to an entitlement mentality. Which is so easily manipulated into outright evil. The root cause of so much of our sexual perversion (including sex trafficking, child porn, etc.) is the cultural mandate that "I have a right to do what I want." Our unwillingness to sacrifice for the sake of global issues like poverty and environmental degradation is rooted in this same enshrining of individual desire. It is, of course, the underlying cause of the impotence and sloth of the Western Church; we have swallowed the cultural kool-aid, and we have embraced the narcissism and unquestioned self-gratification of our host. We truly believe, even after being 'bought by the blood,' that we still have rights and that God somehow is honored by this.
A Western cultural framework causes us to emphasize our own rights which can lead to arrogance and greed, fragmentation and isolation, and ultimately a life enslaved to desire. It also causes us to recognize the rights of others which can lead to advocacy and sacrifice, service and partnership, and ultimately a life poured out for others.
Our Western emphasis on justice is a strength. It is a genuine insight into the Kingdom of God. Some things cause God to burn with anger. Some things cause God to rejoice in delight. There is an absolute morality. Some things are simply evil while other things are simply good, and it is right to suffer shame, defeat, pain, and even death rather than do evil.
But our strong sense of personal injustice is a weakness. It lends itself so easily to an entitlement mentality. Which is so easily manipulated into outright evil. The root cause of so much of our sexual perversion (including sex trafficking, child porn, etc.) is the cultural mandate that "I have a right to do what I want." Our unwillingness to sacrifice for the sake of global issues like poverty and environmental degradation is rooted in this same enshrining of individual desire. It is, of course, the underlying cause of the impotence and sloth of the Western Church; we have swallowed the cultural kool-aid, and we have embraced the narcissism and unquestioned self-gratification of our host. We truly believe, even after being 'bought by the blood,' that we still have rights and that God somehow is honored by this.
A Western cultural framework causes us to emphasize our own rights which can lead to arrogance and greed, fragmentation and isolation, and ultimately a life enslaved to desire. It also causes us to recognize the rights of others which can lead to advocacy and sacrifice, service and partnership, and ultimately a life poured out for others.
3.01.2010
Will
"There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘Thy will be done.’"
C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
2.26.2010
Why?
Why is my first response to antagonism simply to return the hostility?
I must face the simple truth, I am (in the words of Dallas Willard) "prepared to do evil."
I must face the simple truth, I am (in the words of Dallas Willard) "prepared to do evil."
2.25.2010
Hell
I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside.
All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened. And yourself, in a dark hour, may will [a grumbling] mood, embrace it. Ye can repent and come out of it again. But there may come a day when you can do that no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticize the mood...
--excerpted from The Problem of Pain and The Great Divorce
All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened. And yourself, in a dark hour, may will [a grumbling] mood, embrace it. Ye can repent and come out of it again. But there may come a day when you can do that no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticize the mood...
--excerpted from The Problem of Pain and The Great Divorce
10.07.2009
9.27.2009
9.24.2009
Do you want to get well?
Have you ever felt hurt, snubbed, or slighted?
Have you ever felt like someone had injured you emotionally?
Here is a thought; the reason you feel that way has at least as much to do with your perceptions as with their actions or intentions...
That is (at least to me) a troubling thought.
...at least to the selfish part of me!
====================
Think about it, someone can step on your toes and you can burn with resentment, or brush it off with a laugh. It has a lot to do with your perceptions of whether what they did was intentional or not, or other such factors...
This means we have a lot more control over our alienation, anger, and indignation than we might otherwise think...
...and so it means we have a lot less legitimacy to our claims for revenge!
Have you ever felt like someone had injured you emotionally?
Here is a thought; the reason you feel that way has at least as much to do with your perceptions as with their actions or intentions...
That is (at least to me) a troubling thought.
...at least to the selfish part of me!
====================
Think about it, someone can step on your toes and you can burn with resentment, or brush it off with a laugh. It has a lot to do with your perceptions of whether what they did was intentional or not, or other such factors...
This means we have a lot more control over our alienation, anger, and indignation than we might otherwise think...
...and so it means we have a lot less legitimacy to our claims for revenge!
9.23.2009
Exposed
A friend of mine wrote:
"There is power when we uncover sin!" -Bean
Wow, there is a bold statement! But scripture is clear, if we will confess our sins, He is faithful to both forgive us and to purify us. Yet, we all have the tendency to hide from God, from each other, or even from ourselves; we inherited this from our spiritual parents. Adam and Eve made their fig-leaf clothes and hid in the garden; we continue to hide to this day.
So the question falls to us, and to our sin...
Do we keep it covered up?
Why?
Don't we want it dealt with?
It is time to "pull the fig leaf..."
"There is power when we uncover sin!" -Bean
Wow, there is a bold statement! But scripture is clear, if we will confess our sins, He is faithful to both forgive us and to purify us. Yet, we all have the tendency to hide from God, from each other, or even from ourselves; we inherited this from our spiritual parents. Adam and Eve made their fig-leaf clothes and hid in the garden; we continue to hide to this day.
So the question falls to us, and to our sin...
Do we keep it covered up?
Why?
Don't we want it dealt with?
It is time to "pull the fig leaf..."
9.04.2009
Moral Confusion
"The reason to turn off the porn might become, to thoughtful people, not a moral one but, in a way, a physical- and emotional-health one; you might want to rethink your constant access to porn in the same way that, if you want to be an athlete, you rethink your smoking. The evidence is in: Greater supply of the stimulant equals diminished capacity."
From the article linked above.
=============================
The world is confused about morality.
The quote above shows how this journalist views morality, namely, it is what you should do, whether or not it is actually good or bad for you to do. People use the word moral to indicate, not something that is good or the delineation of good from bad, but rather to indicate what the code or law says. There is of course, the implicit assumption that the code or law has no real world relationship to what is good or bad.
This is, however, a completely ignorant point of view.
=============================
To say that something is bad for you, or them, or society as a whole, is to say that it is immoral! To say that something is immoral is to say that it is bad for you!
Of course people are often confused about specific moral judgments, 'Why is this wrong, or that bad?' Why is this right, or that good?' There is a place for explanation, but this doesn't change the reality, if something is wrong, it is because it is bad for you!
From the article linked above.
=============================
The world is confused about morality.
The quote above shows how this journalist views morality, namely, it is what you should do, whether or not it is actually good or bad for you to do. People use the word moral to indicate, not something that is good or the delineation of good from bad, but rather to indicate what the code or law says. There is of course, the implicit assumption that the code or law has no real world relationship to what is good or bad.
This is, however, a completely ignorant point of view.
=============================
To say that something is bad for you, or them, or society as a whole, is to say that it is immoral! To say that something is immoral is to say that it is bad for you!
Of course people are often confused about specific moral judgments, 'Why is this wrong, or that bad?' Why is this right, or that good?' There is a place for explanation, but this doesn't change the reality, if something is wrong, it is because it is bad for you!
8.15.2009
Where is True Power?
"Today there is the wide spread conviction—and corresponding levels of practice—that sin wins."
Dallas Willard
Dallas Willard
7.25.2009
Mulan 2
I just happened to catch a little of the movie my kids were watching:
One of the princesses in the film (who is being sent to meet her husband for the first time) asks the main character, 'Fa Mulan, how do you chose between your duty and your heart?'
She did not want to marry for duty, but instead wanted to marry for love.
Mulan responds by telling her that she has discovered, 'My duty is to my heart.'
===========================
Now, I don't plan on arranging marriages for my children, but (setting aside for the moment the cultural in-sensitivities of the film) it is precisely this message that is destroying so many lives...
If my duty is to my heart, then what is my course of action when I no longer want to provide for my children, remain faithful to my wife, pay my taxes, or answer my employers questions with integrity? Obviously, if my duty is to my heart, then my course of action is to simply do whatever I feel like doing, whenever I feel like it!
===========================
The interesting thing is that the movie refuses to portray the actual effects of such a moral philosophy. There is no scene where the princess tries valiantly to remain dutiful to her fickle and inconsistent moods. Nor is there the discussion of a love that runs deeper than emotional desire into the realm of willful action.
So much for learning wisdom from cartoons!
One of the princesses in the film (who is being sent to meet her husband for the first time) asks the main character, 'Fa Mulan, how do you chose between your duty and your heart?'
She did not want to marry for duty, but instead wanted to marry for love.
Mulan responds by telling her that she has discovered, 'My duty is to my heart.'
===========================
Now, I don't plan on arranging marriages for my children, but (setting aside for the moment the cultural in-sensitivities of the film) it is precisely this message that is destroying so many lives...
If my duty is to my heart, then what is my course of action when I no longer want to provide for my children, remain faithful to my wife, pay my taxes, or answer my employers questions with integrity? Obviously, if my duty is to my heart, then my course of action is to simply do whatever I feel like doing, whenever I feel like it!
===========================
The interesting thing is that the movie refuses to portray the actual effects of such a moral philosophy. There is no scene where the princess tries valiantly to remain dutiful to her fickle and inconsistent moods. Nor is there the discussion of a love that runs deeper than emotional desire into the realm of willful action.
So much for learning wisdom from cartoons!
6.05.2009
Another Note on Submission
When you think of sin, do you think of your own? Or of other people's iniquity?
When you think of virtue, do you think of your own good deeds? Or of someone elses?
A mature Christian will always spot the virtue in her friend, and the sin in herself. It is a sign of immaturity to find sin in others, while highlighting virtue in oneself.
=======================
Do we seek the good of others? Or of ourselves?
When you think of virtue, do you think of your own good deeds? Or of someone elses?
This certainly reveals much about my heart!
A mature Christian will always spot the virtue in her friend, and the sin in herself. It is a sign of immaturity to find sin in others, while highlighting virtue in oneself.
=======================
Do we seek the good of others? Or of ourselves?
6.03.2009
A Note on Submission
We read about the Phoenician and Samaritan Christians as they respond to reports of Paul's mission to the Gentiles:
"This news made all the brothers very glad."
Acts 15:3
=============================
And then we read about other responses to that same work:
Peter's response when God instructs Him to share the good news with non-Jews:
The early church responds to Peter's preaching to the gentiles with skepticism:
The Jews are scandalized at the idea of God acting on behalf of the Gentiles:
The Jews respond to Paul sharing his calling:
=============================
In general the Jews were jealous and bitter towards the Gospel going out to the Gentiles. Even Christian Jews were turned off at this notion. Peter himself, even when directly commanded by God, found the idea less than desirable. Time and again we see this response, and it is the very thing that lands Paul in prison, and ultimately beheaded in Rome.
It would, however, be a mistake to view this as a Jewish problem...
People just don't like the idea of 'those people' receiving blessing.
I don't either, and if you are anything like me...
=============================
We are admonished in scripture to "consider others better than yourselves."
How do we respond when other people are blessed?
Do we ask, 'what about me?'
Do we think through the reasons they should be disqualified from blessing?
Do we compare ourselves with them?
...are we jealous?
Or does the news make us "very glad?"
-============================
I want my heart to be like that of the Phoenician and Samaritan Churches...
I want to genuinely desire the blessing of other people, and rejoice when they receive it!
...Jesus teach me!
"This news made all the brothers very glad."
Acts 15:3
=============================
And then we read about other responses to that same work:
Peter's response when God instructs Him to share the good news with non-Jews:
"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."
The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him.
Acts 10:14-15 & 28
The early church responds to Peter's preaching to the gentiles with skepticism:
The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."
Acts 11:1-3
The Jews are scandalized at the idea of God acting on behalf of the Gentiles:
On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.
But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.
Acts 13:44-45 & 50
The Jews respond to Paul sharing his calling:
"Then the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, "Rid the earth of him! He's not fit to live!"
Acts 22:21-22
=============================
In general the Jews were jealous and bitter towards the Gospel going out to the Gentiles. Even Christian Jews were turned off at this notion. Peter himself, even when directly commanded by God, found the idea less than desirable. Time and again we see this response, and it is the very thing that lands Paul in prison, and ultimately beheaded in Rome.
It would, however, be a mistake to view this as a Jewish problem...
People just don't like the idea of 'those people' receiving blessing.
I don't either, and if you are anything like me...
=============================
We are admonished in scripture to "consider others better than yourselves."
How do we respond when other people are blessed?
Do we ask, 'what about me?'
Do we think through the reasons they should be disqualified from blessing?
Do we compare ourselves with them?
...are we jealous?
Or does the news make us "very glad?"
-============================
I want my heart to be like that of the Phoenician and Samaritan Churches...
I want to genuinely desire the blessing of other people, and rejoice when they receive it!
...Jesus teach me!
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