Audio Bible? Is It Worth It?

YES!!! Until relatively recently (i.e. around the Reformation) the only way laymen (and laywomen) could get their dose of Scripture was to have it read to them. I believe there is something to be said to be literal “hearers of the word” as James discusses in his opening chapter. I’ve read the Bible cover to cover 3 times, the New Testament I don’t even know how many times, carious books even more times, and other passages, chapters, and verses even more times. I love reading the Bible – but I have also always enjoyed hearing it read. Whether it be on Sunday morning or in a Bible study, having to listen has motivated me to pay closer attention to what is being said.

Now, that is me. And some of that probably has to do with the fact my mind wanders as I read. I will have read three chapters before I realize I had been daydreaming about something some verse a while back triggered in my imagination and will have to go back and read it all again hoping my mind does trail off again. Which it usually does. Something about having stories read to me allows my mind to be transported to the setting being read. It actually tames my imagination like ti creates a playpen for it to play in.

Anyway, no offense to James Earl Jones, but I’ve gotten my hands on some of the more updated audio bibles and I am so impressed. There are two versions out now that are incredible. The Bible Experience (TNIV) is the entire Bible where as the Word of Promise (NKJV) is only the New Testament. If you are looking for something to make the Scriptures just come alive and speak to you like you didn’t think possible, I highly recommend downloading either one of these (I’m listening to the Word of Promise right now), finding some solitude, sticking some headphones in your iPod, and be moved by God’s word being spoken into to you. It is amazing!

My Response to Dem Fellers Over at the Old Truth

The short catch up for those who don’t know what this post is about is as follows. After Easter, my pastor and some others on staff used some terminology to reference those in our church who made a public profession to turn their life over to Christ that made some strong opinions turn and take notice. Instead of instantly finding joy in the hope of a number of converts, they questioned the sincerity of each person’s commitment to follow our Lord and Savior, opined our church’s “arrogance” to “count” them as “saved,” and affirmed the need to wait a few years to see if the commitments actually stick. As you can imagine, some people in my church got defensive and an online argument ensued. I put my two cents in on two comments and later found out I was declared “the only Oak Leafer…who was consistently able to maintain a Christian tone and biblical conversation. ” So, my tenacious nature led me to feel like I needed to respond to them in some way.

I’ve been thinking about what I want to say to these guys and have been preparing an intelligent response to some of their points I disagree with theologically, but have decided to not say much at all. I started my 1500 character reply to the last post I made on their site and never submitted it. I have a document on my computer right now with 65 scriptural references (I stopped searching after a while) I believe support the doctrine I hold dear to my heart. I’ve gone back and looked over notes from previous discussions I’ve had on similar topics and realized how much time I was spending building up a defense to a fellow believer instead of one for a soul that does not yet believe. So I put it all away and just went back to reading my Bible for the love of the Word.

What is the point? None of them are going to change their mind and I’m not going to change mine. Why? Every time I return to scripture to make sure what I have studied over and over again is what the Bible is teaching, I come out on the same side. I can only imagine they do the same. Is the Bible teaching two different theology’s? No, man just has different opinions. I’ve read all the verse they’ve quoted and many others and their great debating discipline and good points still do not completely line up with what I personally find the Scriptures to be teaching. Does that make me right and them wrong? No, but it is hard for me to agree with someone when I’m reading the same Bible and yet coming to a different conclusion. This whole scenario does, however, support my theory that all good theological arguments always end up being about Calvinism vs Armenianism (to use those terms rather stereotypically).

Furthermore, I have not been called by God to sway to opinions of fellow believers who are much more intelligent than me and have much more time on their hands to spend hours every day reading up on those who believe differently than they do and then create time delayed conversations through comments on blogs that end up going no where. If I ever met one of the people who follow the site or Jim B. and Chad V. themselves, I would be more than happy to have a conversation. I guess I just not educated or disciplined enough to handle multiple points, questions, angles, and reasoning from a large group of people who obviously would not agree with me. Too much scrolling up and down and trying to remember who I responded to and what was last thing said and finding quotes and so on and so on. I’ve spent many hours in atheist chat rooms and other such sites driven by comments and even similar style discussion boards in seminary. In my humble opinion, it is just not an very enjoyable form of intellectual conversation.

All that to say, I do not disagree with most their arguments. Many of the replies and comments are welled supported by Scripture and have a lot of validity. In fact, I strongly agree that theology has taken a back seat in modern churches to style and comfort. That is why I vigorously fight for the education and independent spiritual development of believers. However, I find the umbrella by which much of their platform falls under is based a skewed perspective that does not fit the overarching character of God and purpose of his creation that is clearly outlined from Genesis to Revelation (I’m sure I’ll get plenty of comments about that one). Back to the other hand, many good points were made and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to reprieve myself from my duties and spend as much time as needed to answer the few comments that give me concern. Nevertheless, I must pull back the reins and keep myself on track to the responsibilities God has laid before me in this stage of my journey. I am sure some day soon I will have a chance to review the arguments made and answer with careful wisdom and dsicernment. Or I can just be a little patient as I am sure they will all surface again. They always do.

What Can I Say That Is Controversial?

I love a good debate and have been entertained today reading the banter between Old Truth and my pastor.

But who am I to get involved, right? I’m just the lowly Creative Arts Pastor. My musical skills and limited limited knowledge of FCP should be all anyone expects from me, right? Punctuality and focus during meetings is supposed to be a weakness because I’m one of those “artsy” types, right? (uhh…let’s forget that last question)

Well, I like to think I am supposed to be a bit more than that. I work in a church – no – I lead in a church and their are lost people and starving believers all around me and it is my duty – nah – my calling to always be ready to give a defense (1 Peter 3:15 in case you taking notes) and Scripturally founded answers to life’s most difficult questions – especially those that pertain to one’s eternal salvation.

Anyway, in my humble corner of the internet, I don’t get to many of those outspoken radicals who love to speak their mind but rarely ever open or change it. Maybe it is because I write about boring tech stuff and life happenings instead of topics that get Christians bashing Christians to come out from behind the bushes ad start waving their finger.

So what can I talk about that I believe deeply in that will get other Christians mad enough to leave some quality, good conversation-starting comments on my site?

How about:

There is no such thing as Sasquatch

Or

We may not be the first or last of God’s creation projects (just the wording on this one might ruffle feathers)

Or even

No human being can know 100% that they are going to be accepted into heaven – or “saved” as the term is so flippantly tossed around these days.

Have fun

Churches Not Being Churches

I read this article today from the Barna Group that statistically shows how bad a job the churches in America are doing. Bottom line, the vast majority of the younger generation polled in this three-year study have a dramatically negative perspective on Christians and the Christian church. So what are we going to do about it?

Warren on Worship

I came across a great 2 part article by Rick Warren on the effectiveness of Jesus’ ministry and how that relates to the worship environment created at your church for both believers and unbelievers. Here is the list in it’s short form:

1. Only believers can truly worship God. (I believe this – “truly” is key – John4-23-24)
2. You don’t need a building to worship God. (The success of various types of church plants all of the world is proof of this -as if you needed any)
3. There is no correct style of worship. (But everyone has particular taste even if “in spirit and truth” are the only prerequisites. What if we created environments that were eclectic collections of “styles?”)
4. While unbelievers can’t worship, they can watch believers worship. (I don’t like the phrase “can’t worship” because everyone always worships something. It is what they can and can’t truly worship that matters. I also believe this is point is only effective if #1 is taking place)
5. Worship is a powerful witness to unbelievers if God’s presence is felt and the message is understandable. (Yes!!!)
6. God expects us to be sensitive to the fears, hang-ups, and the needs of unbelievers when they are present in our worship services. (however, these people still know they are attending a church service so you don’t need to try to take that away from the equation)
7. Worship services do not have to be shallow to be evangelistic, and the message does not have to be compromised. It just has to be understandable. (Very good point. I understand the messages of SBC preachers that use big words they learned in seminary because I grew up in those churches and attended seminary. Many uneducated lost people I know lose the message in the educated jargon).
8. The needs of believers and unbelievers often overlap. (if you think about this for a second it is pretty deep – but very true)
9. It’s best to specialize your services according to purpose. (Yes!!!)
10. A service geared toward non-believers is meant to supplement personal evangelism, not replace it. (YES!!! Jesus went to people and people came to Him. He did not choose one or the other)
11. There is no standard way to design an evangelistic worship service. (this is a very hard thing for many to grasp)
12. It takes unselfish mature believers to offer an evangelistic worship service. This is the most important of all. (1 Corinthians 9:12)

Hezekiah is my New Hero!

If you haven’t read the story of King Hezekiah, I encourage you to do it today. I’ve been caught up studying about this guy in the midst of my “worship” study and can’t get past all learning about this man’s efforts to restore the will and work of God among his people. Now I promised myself I would not write ridiculously long posts anymore (mainly because of my wife and Gratto’s comments) so I’ll have to share my recent discoveries in short bursts of eye-pooping, energy-packed literary overloads.

Let’s start with a short background. If you’ve read 1 and 2 Chronicles, you know kings came and went regularly, began their reigns at various ages, and chose to either do what was right in the eyes of God or or quite the opposite. Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz, chose the latter and made quite a mess of things in Judah. When he died, Hezekiah took his place at the age of 25 and immediately started fixing the idolatrous disaster his father had created.

25…wow. How often do you see leaders that young take hold of their ability and influence and change an entire culture? You might be surprised to know it happens all the time. In fact, I bet it happens to some extent in every generation. How old was Jesus? how old was Martin Luther King when people started listening? How old was Hitler when he wrote Mein Kampf Search your history books and you’ll see almost every major historical event was prompted by the efforts and/or actions of that generation’s younger leaders.

It is happening around us right now within the church. Young pastors and leaders are veering from traditional norms and promoting new and sometimes controversial church methodology they believe better communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to their generation. I would never say the previous generation’s church leaders have left mess we need to clean up like Hezekiah’s father left for him. It just begs the question, are you one that just follows the footsteps of your fathers or choose to make your own tracks in the sand?

Closing Church for Flurries?

We all know that people in the south get crazy and stupid with even the smallest amount of snowfall on the ground, but closing church without any major accumulation? Can someone call Guinness to see if that is a new low? I remember back in 2005 when a father/son duo both with prominent churches in a major southern city made a radio announcement they had decided to cancel their respective church services on Christmas day so they (and of course their congregations) could spend Christmas with their families. Sure, family is important, but not having church the day you celebrate the birth of the reason you have church in the first place?

So here we are two years later and one of the above mentioned churches along with 770 other metro Atlanta churches closes its doors before the flurries really even had a chance to survive on the ground. I like what my pastor said,

“If the post office will deliver mail in any conditions, I think that we should have church no matter what. We have this notion in America that Christianity is easy, that it’s supposed to be safe. Tell that to the Christians around the world who are meeting illegally.”

Needy Church People

I’ve been to hundreds of different churches whether as just a visitor or to lead worship in some capacity. They are all different and all have similarities. But one thing I have noticed is consistent at every church is a collection of people who think it is all about them and their needs. You know who I’m talking about. The people who complain about the song selection or that the music is too loud or not loud enough. Those aggressive in your face used car salesmen types that demand changes to meet their fishing schedule. The loud mouthed pseudo-theologians that make it a point to challenge at least one thing they disagree with from the message. Where do these people come from and how is it they don’t get what the Gospel teaches about Christ’s example of humility, love, grace, and selflessness?

Some of the other pastors at Oak Leaf get bombarded with comments about how wrong they are and how what we are doing is of the devil and not pleasing God. Since when is church or the Bible about what YOU think? There is only one example, one source, and one authority and that is Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter what you think because it is not about YOU! If the leadership of any church is following God’s will for their lives and seeking His wisdom and guidance as they lead the people of their church, who are you to tell them they are not in God’s will?

Stop being needy. Stop trying to do God’s job for Him. Paul clearly says to leave room for God’s wrath. If you have a problem with something, go to God and let Him and the work of the Holy Spirit deal with those who need to be dealt with. It is not about you. It has never been about you. It will never be about you. Seriously, get over yourself and let God work how he wants to work!

To Shoe or Not to Shoe

I used to always lead worship barefooted until a lot of more conservative places began to protest. It was not one of those issues I would go to my grave fighting for, so I would always ask and comply if the leader of the event felt it was a little over the top. Once I learned the “gimmick” had been popularized and associated with Todd Agnew, I stopped doing it all together. It would be a lie to say I didn’t do it sometimes for show. But I believed, and still do, when I led worship, I was calling on the presence of God. And if God was present, it was holy ground. And if the ground was holy…you see where I’m going with this.

The most popular passage is in Exodus where God speaks to Moses through the burning bush and tells him to take his shoes off because he was standing on holy ground. There is the reference to this same passage in Acts and the one I read today in Joshua where the commander of God’s army tells Joshua the ground he is standing on is holy. Of course, these are the verses I would use in my defense to why I wanted to go barefoot in the first place. But seeing as how many people think bare feet are unsanitary and/or unattractive, your not going to find it a very popular point of contention in even the most progressive churches. That being said, let me ask the question, “Do you think we should be barefoot when we worship God?”

When Joshua learns the man he saw is the Son of God, he bowed his head to worship, offered his services, but Christ stopped him and tells him to take his sandals off as if Joshua should know better. Same thing happened to Moses. Before God would speak, he asked Moses to take off his sandals. These two instances are very similar. God himself appears in a miraculous form to give very clear direction to the leader of His people. And yet, throughout the Bible when people are in the basic presence of God and not in a face-to-face conversation with Him in miraculous form, they are not required to take off their shoes. The Israelites being lead by God’s cloud by day and fire by night is a prime example.

It’s not going to hurt anything to take your shoes off when you worship unless people around you are offended. Then you’ve got to respect their right not to be distracted by your smelly feet. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with keeping your shoes on. In fact, as far as I can tell, there are only two times anyone was ask to go barefoot in God’s presence. However, if God manifests himself in physical form to have a conversation with you, those shoes better come off before your face hits the floor.

Time For A Reformation?

More and more I hear friends of mine who are a part of church-plants talking about the need for a modern reformation. Discussions include the character of Jesus as one who would hangout with sinners and the need for more resemblances of the early church in regards to community building and involvement. As I read more about Jesus the controversial politics in His messages and the practices of the early church, I am not so sure anybody today is really willing to go as those who began Christianity were wiling to go. At least not in America.

I read in Justo Gonzalez’s book The Story of Christianity today about early Christian life and their social origins. It is not the most entertaining read but it sure is fascinating. Do you know what the first Christian church services were like? Apparently, we can get a pretty accurate idea by reconstructing ancient documents left by early church leaders. The very first gatherings of believers in the first century were held on the first day of the week, just like today, but were feasts lasting all day long and always ended with communion. The services evolved so by the end of the second century, there were two parts: 1) several hours of singing, praying, fellowship, and scripture reading (remember, everyone didnt have a Bible so this was their chance to hear Gods Word) and 2) communion. Gonzalez says those who had not been baptized could attend the first part of the service but were not allowed to hang around for the communion.

However, there were a lot of Gentiles being saved who were not baptized immediately because they had very little knowledge of Jewish tradition or newly developed Christian practices (remember, most early Christians were Jews who did not think they were apart of a new religion, only that Jesus was the fulfillment of their ancient prophecies). So how did they participate in communion? They didnt. That is until they went through what was called catechumenate. This was a three-year long doctrinal training and trial period to build a foundation for their faith and to test their commitment of their convictions (remember, Christians were still being persecuted). At the end of preparation period, the newly discipled believers were baptized, given white robes as a sign of their new life in Christ, given water to drink as a sign that they were thoroughly cleansed both inside and out, were anointed thus making them part of the royal priesthoodgiven milk and honey as a sign of the Promised Land into which they were now entering, and took their first communion with the entire congregation.

Yeah, pretty sure thats not going to catch on anytime soon. Maybe because its because we have come too accustomed to Sunday afternoon naps, long lunches watching football games, and Sunday nights free for the family. Maybe it is the idea of spending so much time and energy on developing a new believer before we actually say he or she is a part of the church. Forget three years, what about six months of basic training required for every new convert? Nope, still too much. Maybe it is the ritualistic nature of the church fathers practices that are such a turn-off to todays culture. Whatever it is, we sure have come a long way from where we started. Maybe it is time for a reformation.