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| So apparently I'm annoyed at conventional ways of sharing the Gospel. 90% of the bumper stickers and flair buttons that I see on Facebook that are Christian oriented are either done wrong or have no appeal to me. Yes, I know Jesus is Risen, and we should spread that message as much as possible. But does anyone really think we're going to save someone by adding a button to our virtual corkboard of buttons?
On to my main point. My pastor announced today that they were adding a tract rack to the hallway behind the sanctuary. He has challenged us to give out one tract per week, as the men were challenged to do in a recent meeting.
In Sunday School this morning, one of the men from our church was handing out tracts to the college class. He explained they were well-done, but he wasn't going to use them because they didn't use the KJV verses. "I'm a King Jimmy man." Everyone is entitled to their own tastes, so I'm going to move on.
I was handed a few tracts. I promptly gave them to my neighbor who was out of the room and hadn't received any. Why? For one, I work in a Christian daycare. I don't run into many unbelievers who want to chat about God in the course of a day. My coworkers are mostly Christians. For the ones who aren't, I'm building a relationship with them and hoping for the day I can plant seeds.
Krystal admonished me that I never know who I'm going to run into, and I should take the tracts. While this is true, it goes back to my original point. I personally don't think tracts are an effective means of witnessing.
We've all seen the tracts that look like a fake $20 bill. The first time I saw one, I did what any unbeliever would do -- I threw it away. First, it works on deception so you will pick it up. A means of leading others to Christ shouldn't work on deception.
I've read my share of tracts. They are largely an interesting approach over a broad range of subjects that will point people to Christ. I do not negate this. Do tracts open doors? I'm sure they do. It causes people to think about certain key things. This is good.
But...
I feel we Christians rely too heavily on planting seeds and not enough on watering what's been planted. Say you hand out a tract after you pay for your meal. Say the person who picks up the tract actually reads it instead of throwing it away. Let's go a step farther and even say the person is genuinely interested in what they read. What happens next? They either follow the tiny printed prayer on the back, or they start looking around for churches.
But without a genuine personal connection with this newly saved believer, this faith cannot grow. Yes, God can lead them to a good church where they can get plugged in and get fed. But if the person prays the prayer on the back of the tract, means it, and nothing else happens, this faith won't last very long.
Should we plant seeds in people's lives, implanting what we know is the Truth somewhere in their minds? Without a doubt. Should we be a good Christian witness and try to follow Christ's example on everything? Yes. But a person who is spiritually hungry will have eventually have questions for you. This is where the watering part comes in, and it's one I personally believe people miss. We're too focused on the "plant it and run" philosophy.
Wear a Christian T-shirt one day and go shopping. You might get a random compliment from a friend about it that you ran into or from the cashier as you check out about it. If someone were to ask you "what does that mean?", I'm sure you could tell them. But if this person wanted to know more about the faith you're promoting, would you know what to tell them?
Probably not. I'm guilty on that account, too. So instead of preparing ourselves for the inevitable questions that witnessing will lead to, we're content to plant and run. Leave a tract that will explain everything, and then head for the hills.
We are no longer a nation of readers. The internet requires reading, and that's probably the most reading the average American does in a day. I'm a bookworm, and I will crack open just about any book with a good story. I will likely read a small pamphlet I'm given because I like to read. But I know I'm not normal. The average American will not read a random pamphlet handed to them by a stranger. Especially if the pamphlet has something to do with God, since He's a touchy subject for a lot of people.
I checked out the reviews of recent movies, wondering what was out and what was worth watching. A peculiar title caught my eye, and the brief summary told me it was a Christian film. I hadn't heard about it, so I naturally wanted to read about it.
The new movie is called C Me Dance. A Christian ballerina finds out she's dying. "Before long, Sheri realizes she's been given a supernatural gift -- the ability to convert people to Christianity with a touch or even a look." The review details it a bit further, stating that when she takes their hand the person apparently sees a glimpse of Christ dying for them. The rest of the film seems promising -- what happens when most of the town gets saved?The reason I bring this up is because the director of the film has an interesting quote that closes out the referenced review. I wholeheartedly agree with it, even if I have some problems with the movie he's representing.
"What we need to do," he says, "is find new ways of getting to the lost." Amen! My point exactly!
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| So, I have spent the majority of my lunch breaks for the past four months reading. What have I been reading? All the Christian fiction I could get my hands on. I spent a lot of November writing my NaNo novel, but the other three months have been filled with books of all shapes and sizes.
I finished reading Redeeming Love for the second time (read it last year and loved it), and this time I read a note by the author. Francine Rivers talked about her own experience of coming to Jesus, and when she finally gave her life to Him, she stopped writing. She began reading the Bible instead.
I got convicted. While I've been tearing through other books, my own Bible had not had nearly as much mileage. So I promised God I would start reading during my lunch break for a bit.
It's been going well. I've read several chapters of Deuteronomy, since I was only in Numbers when the new year started, and I figured it wouldn't hurt just to keep reading from where I was than trying to start back at Genesis in order to read the whole Bible through in a year.
Anyway, I bought some flash cards, and have been writing down Scriptures I've noted that I wanted to memorize in the journal I write my Bible notes in. Between reading my daily chapters and copying down Scripture, lunch goes through pretty quickly. I'm in Deuteronomy, so there hasn't been any earth-shaking revelations. But it's been progress for me.
Today, I decided to eat at Wendy's. I was filling out one of my flash cards when a random stranger came up to me. He asked how old I was, then asked if I'd voted. Thinking he was taking a survey or something, I told him yes, I'd voted. He asked who I voted for. He and a friend had seen me reading a Bible, and was curious.
I told him. He asked why. I explained I didn't agree with Obama's policies. He asked if I thought he had been doing a good job as President. Truthfully, I haven't been keeping up with Obama since he took the oath, and I told him that. I then explained that I was against abortion.
He said something to the effect of we shouldn't be judging how others feel. I quoted him the verse in question, threw in the "love your neighbor" commandment, and then went back to the old standby "thou shalt not kill."
He asked if I believed in the death penalty. Apparently, a lot of abortion opponents favor the death penalty. Thankfully, I've been reading a lot of the old laws, and had recently read a relevant passage. I explained that God had instructed the Israelites to kill one who had put another to death. I also pointed out there was a Scripture that stated the land wouldn't be atoned unless the blood of the one who had killed was killed as well.
He moved on, asking what if a woman was raped. A woman shouldn't be traumatized by keeping the child, and it would just make the child's life more traumatized (something to that effect, anyway). I pointed out that there was always adoption, and there were many couples who couldn't have kids of their own, but wanted them.
He had no answer for that. It was clear he didn't agree, and it was also clear I wasn't going to change my mind. He said thank you, and then moved on.
I'm still not sure what to think of the whole thing. It was very, very random. You would think you would discuss things like that with your friends, not complete strangers you bump into at Wendy's. But I said my piece. Still, it was a little weird.
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| Be forewarned, readers. I'm going to rant about Christianity for the remainder of this post.
It is now December 7th. I've been hearing Christmas songs since the end of Thanksgiving, seen the advance of Christmas specials on television, and of course seen the ever-lengthening ads of seasonal sales.
Just about everyone will agree that Christamas is too commercialized. It is apparently the most celebrated and most commericialized holiday of the year (it's been a long time since I heard the statistic I'm referring to, so I could be wrong). And while I enjoy seeing the Christmas decorations around the stores, businesses and households, I'm left to wonder how much we're truly celebrating Christmas.
To the vast majority of America (I don't know about the rest of the world, so I'm going to limit my discussion to America), Christmas means lights, snow, food and gifts. It means setting up wreaths, nativities, baking cookies for Santa, buying gifts, and then wrapping the gifts.
For Christians, the season is supposed to be something more. It is meant to be the celebration of Jesus' birth. But between the gift-giving, decorating, movie-watching, eating and family time, more than a few forget to open the Bible and read the incredible story of Christ's birthday. I know my family has done it, and we're in church every Sunday.
I listen to one radio station in my car, and at work I listen to another station. Both are Christian stations, but the one at work waited until the actual month of December to start playing Christmas music. As a result, I'm becoming a little bored with all the Christmas music.
It hit me the other day (no, it didn't hurt) as the announcer introduced a new Christmas album by a Christian artist that Christians have (probably unintentionally) helped to over-commercialize Christmas.
Think about it. You hear "Silent Night," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "Little Drummer Boy," and "Joy to the World" on just about every Christmas album, regardless of the artists' views on Christianity. They are classic songs, and they sell. It's the same reason you see nativity scenes for sale at Lowe's and Wal-Mart. The companies know that the stuff sells like hotcakes.
Enter the Christians, who also want to make a living, and who genuinely want to sing these time-honored carols about this season. They write new songs, too, talking about the Christmas season and about the true Christmas spirit. But you can only say the same thing so many times before it get monotonous.
To me, it does not matter that Casting Crowns has a Christmas album out. Yes, I love their group. Yes, I'm sure they can sing, and they most likely have an excellent collection of music and new arrangements of the songs. But WHY is Casting Crowns putting a Christmas album out? Do they want to sing about God and His birth? Yes. But we must not forget the other reason behind this move -- they want to make money. Christmas music sells. Casting Crowns music sells. Therefore, Casting Crowns Christmas album will certainly sell.
Are they wrong in selling this album? No. The fault lies with the Christian recording studios, who believe that all Christian artists must produce at least one Christmas album in their Christian career. (Are you getting tired of all the capital C's in my sentences? I know I am.) And while the studios produce score after score of Christmas albums, we are unfortunately helping the over-commercialization of Christmas.
And while I'm on the topic, the whole "Keeping Christ in Christmas" has gone from a friendly reminder of the "Reason for the Season" to an all-out war on all who disagree with us. Yes, there are people who do not celebrate Christmas. Yes, they get offended at nativity scenes, the word Christmas, and apparently even Christmas trees.
Christians, this is a fact of life. Deal with it.
Yes, the industry as a whole has gone out of its way to please those offended. Yes, in the process, they stepped on our toes and have been trying to ignore the entire reason for this annual celebration by giving it different names or omitting certain common Christmas symbols. Yes, we had every right to speak out against this injustice.
But we made our point about three years ago. 90% of the industries who have done the whole "holiday tree" and "happy holidays" deal backed down when faced with our response. Let. It. Go.
The radio station I listen to has buttons which they are selling which read "It's okay to say Merry Christmas." I even heard an announcer claim that "it may even open the door to witness to someone." Granted, Christmas is a great time to share the story with others. Yes, they may very well be a conversation starter. But to me, it's like the Church is beating a dead horse.
"Keep Christ in Christmas." "Remember the Reason for the Season." Even the phrases I happen to like, such as "Wise Men Still Seek Him" are over-commercialized to the point where it is obnoxious.
How do we combat this tide of well-intentioned stupidity? I have no idea. But I do know I'm tired of Christians jumping on the money-making train, being sure to add the "Christian twist" to it. As my brother pointed out years ago, we serve the God of creativity, so we shouldn't have to rip-off other people's slogans to make our own point. | | |
| I deposited my first full paycheck today. It felt good.
My job is going okay. On the good days I can't wait to have kids. On the bad days, I'm glad I'm still single and kids of my own aren't in the foreseeable future.
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| Last week I had an odd dream. Granted, I watched a weird show before bed, and I'm attributing part of the strangeness to that. But days later, I'm still unable to shake the feeling that there was something very significant in that dream that needs to be shared.
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Three people entered a Biblically significant town. If I remember it correctly, the name of the place was Gibea. The trio inspected a gift shop while waiting for their rooms, and saw cute but gaudy memorabilia on display.
That night in their three separate rooms, they received a phone call. The caller warned them not to do something (though I no longer remember precisely what), and also to "have nothing to do with the ashes of Gibea." Two people hung up and immediately did the thing they were warned not to do.
The next day we see the guy who listened to the caller as he examines a green hut. The phone rings, and we somehow get the impression the caller is God. Before the guy answers the caller's question, the door to the hut opens, and a salesman peeks in. He announces proudly that the hut is made with the ashes of Gibea.
The man hangs up and flees the hut. He enters a marketplace filled with "Christian" memorabilia. I know T-shirts and the cute but gaudy trinkets were among the wares. Each and every salesperson brags how their items are all fashioned from the ashes of Gibea.
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Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, "Why did you deceive us by saying, 'We live a long way from you,' while actually you live near us? You are now under a curse: You will never cease to serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God." Joshua 9 :22-23
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