Ancient Paths Blog

When It's Ok Not To Enjoy Church

There's a prevailing - and I think unfounded - assumption among American Christians that church should be enjoyable.  Most people approach church involvement as if they were about to attend a dinner theater production: we dress up; we leave in time so as not to be late; we expect to be greeted at the door and escorted to our choice of seating; we hope the music is to our taste and that the pastor's speaking is winsome, engaging, and delightful.  Then, of course, on the way home we review the whole as if we were critics about to write a column for the "Arts & Entertainment" section of the paper.  I say this perspective is unfounded and want to suggest that, sometimes, not enjoying church is an expression of genuine Christian faith.

Who Do You Say Jesus Is?

The question of who is Jesus is one that Jesus Himself asked!  "Who do men say that I am?" He asked His disciples one day.  Why He would wonder about the publics' understanding of His identity shows that it is of vital importance.  In fact your very life - your eternal destiny - hinges on how you answer.  Who do you say He is?

The American Heresy - "Easy on the Supernatural Please..."

So what would Paul put his finger on if writing an epistle "To the Americans"?  After all each letter he wrote seemed to address at least one issue.  The Galatians had been infiltrated by the Judaizers - those advocating belief in Jesus andcircumcision to be saved.  The Colossians were being influenced by some sort of "hollow and deceptive philosophy" - possibly a mixture of Greek philosophical ideas and Jewish mysticism.

In my last post I suggested he would address our "this worldly perspective" - that Christianity was for maximizing our lives in this world.  But I think he'd also address our materialist perspective.  By this I don't mean we're too much into stuff.  I don't dispute that but what I mean by materialism here is that we're soft on the supernatural. 

From the Creed

October being Pastor Appreciation Month I received a card with a most unexpected comment.  "I really enjoyed your series on the Apostle's Creed" it said. 

This made me think a regular series of posts - published in between my other posts - from my notes on that study might be interesting to others.

For those who are not familiar with the Creed itself let me include it here interspersed with a few brief comments:

I believe in God the Father Amighty, Maker of heaven and earth;

I've already posted on why evangelicals in general and Baptists in particular do not study the Creeds.  One objection is that they seems to intrude on the sacred space reserved for the Bible.  But does it?

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit; born of the virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into Hell.  On the third day He rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven where He sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

Another objection answered has to do with the Creed's association with ritualism.  Any evangelical knows that ritual and spiritual vitality are mutually exclusive... right?

I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgivness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  Amen

Finally, there's the old stand-by objection of relevance.  How can something so old speak with any freshness to our situation today?  To those swayed by this view it may come as a surprise to find the Bible itself teaches that in the last days the Antichrist will seek to suppress the Creed... really.

Stay tuned for more...

 

The American Heresy - "My Best Life Now!"

A successful study of the book of Colossians requires an awareness of what commentators call the Colossian heresy.  It describes the false teaching that was making its way through the Colossian church leading many astray.  Just exactly what it was is unknown but the general contours of it can be discerned from Paul's comments in the letter itself.

Paul called it a "hollow and deceptive philosophy," 2:8 possibly indicating it involved a somewhat coherent system.  It was a system that "depends on human tradition" 2:8 (compare verse 22) - what kinds of tradition we don't know.  It also depended on what Paul called stoichia, translated by the NIV, NAS, and NKJ as "the basic/elementary principles of this world" or as the ESV and NRS render it "the elemental spirits of the world."  At any rate the false teaching did not depend "on Christ" 2:8.

Omar Khalife: One of Whom the World is not Worthy

I am humbled by the likes of this man...

SOMALIA — Christian transporting Bibles killed — Compass Direct News

On Sept. 15, 69-year-old Omar Khalife, a Somali Christian, was shot dead by members of al-Shabaab, a Muslim extremist group, when Bibles were found in his possession, according to Compass Direct News.

At approximately 10:30 a.m., a bus transporting Omar Khalife was stopped by extremists at a checkpoint near the city of Merca. When the extremists discovered 25 Somali Bibles in one of the bags Khalife was delivering to an underground fellowship group they demanded to know who owned them.

When Pragmatists Run the Church

I was recently asked by a member of our congregation via Facebook to comment on an article at ChristianityToday.com regarding automated giving in Church.  The article entitled E-giving: Bring the Convenience of Electronic Payments to Church Tithes and Donationsthought this was a good idea principally because "many of your members have been eagerly waiting for the convenience of tithing or donating electronically" already and "giving a tithe or donation using online services is even easier than buying a value-meal."

The bottom line however is the bottom line as "the convenience of electronic giving could lead to increased giving and reduced costs associated with handling cash" and with the set up of automated electronic giving "donations continue to be made even if the congregant is not able to attend."

Here's how I replied:

Bring On the Strippers!

Ok, I'll bite...

Recently posted on the New York Times' website an article on evangelical churches in Brazil entitled Fight Nights and Reggae Pack Brazilian Churches starts off:

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — The atmosphere was electric at Reborn in Christ Church on “Extreme Fight” night. Churchgoers dressed in jeans and sneakers, many with ball caps turned backward, lined a makeshift boxing ring to cheer on bare-chested jujitsu fighters...

Hubby, Hubby and the NIV

Last week I proposed a definite link between Ben & Jerry's new ice cream, Hubby, Hubbyand Zondervan's announcement to revise the NIV.

"How in the world...?" you say.  Not that Bibles and ice cream have much to do with each other, directly.  Come to think of it, the only dairy product mentioned in the Bible (besides milk) is curds...

But both announcements demonstrate how our culture is in the grip of the same homogenizing spirit of the age - that tendency of our modern world to reduce all true variation and diversity into a single featureless mass.

Signs of the Times

Two recent headlines highlight symptoms of one underlying cause in our culture.

One is the upcoming revision of the NIV Bible for the first time in 25 years.   The other is the naming (actually a renaming) of a Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

Yes - these two things are of a piece.  Do you know why?

The publishers of the NIV admit they made mistakes in prior NIV revisions - specifically in the gender neutered TNIV (Today's NIV).  But the impression given is their mistake was in the marketing not in the gender neutering translation.

Ben & Jerry's is a corporation unabashedly celebrating the state of Vermont's legalization of gay marriage.

Again, both of these share the same theological root.  Do you know what it is?