“The greatest single cause of atheism today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him with their lifestyle. That’s what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

Brennan Manning

This quote really hit me hard. We are all guilty of this. We are all hypocrites and Pharisees. We are so eager to throw rocks and judge. I know I’m guilty of this. I somehow forget that I’m in the same sin boat that all of us are in.

So what do we do to change this? The first step begins with realizing that we’ve walked fundamentally away from the mission that Christ began. We’ve built buildings to keep the good people in and the bad (undesirable) ones out. 

People in the world today see the lines we’ve drawn and realize that they’re on the other side of the fence. I remember how I used to feel when I was in Junior High. There was a cool crowd and the rest of us dregs. We were all looked down up and had our lower status constantly shoved in our faces. Sure there were kids that longed to be cool, but most of us just grew to resent the cool kids. That’s the message we’re giving the world today: “You’re not good enough.” And the world hates us for it (and I understand why).

Sure we preach Christ’s love but we don’t walk it out. We say one thing and do another. We can say “I love you” to someone but if we’re kicking him while we’re saying it - I don’t think he’ll get the point.  

So why do we act like this? Well, I think it’s because we all look for a place to be safe. Church looks safe and nice. The streets? Dirty and scary. We don’t live like God matters. Stay safe and pray he blesses us while we stay in our little boxes. But God doesn’t want us staying safe.

Sometimes I wonder, if Christ returned and dwelt among us, what the church’s reaction to Him?  What would his reaction be to the state of the church today? Would he produce fear and anger from the church leadership? Would they point out how he associates with the undesirablesand condemn him for it? Would they want nothing to do with Him? I believe that same treatment that Christ recieved from the church in the Gospels would mirror how he would be treated today (at least in North America). Am I wrong?

We live much like the Pharases. We do “good deeds” and follow the rules, but we live like God doesn’t exist. We don’t live lives like the men of Bible did. Following a wild God because we were compelled to. Becasue any existence otherwise couldn’t come close compete with it. We’ve become comfortable and decided that we’ll take the melancholy of the American Dream overshadows the call and mission of the Gospel (and Great Commission). Where is our passion for life? Do we believe Jesus when he said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Who’s living their lives to the full? Or at least who’s trying to?!?

Who believes that the power of Christ can change this word completely and without any of our help? If you believe that, then imagine that even though God doesn’t need us, he loves us and includes us in his Kindom and the advancement of it. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. (Matt 11:12). I don’t know about you, but I like the sound of that last verse. It makes me feel alive. It makes me want to be one of those forceful men laying hold of the kingdom of heaven.

If you belive any of this? If anything from this stirrs within you? Then make a decision here and now to start living this out. 

If you haven’t given your life over to Christ and are interested in changing your life forever, follow this link. If you have any questions or would like to talk about anything, please feel free to email me: sdelony@yd.org

In an effort to attract the enormous church-going audience that flooded theaters to see Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, Fox Filmed Entertainment is expected to announce today (Tuesday) that it is creating a new division, FoxFaith, that will produce as many as 12 films a year, half of which will have theatrical releases and the other half going directly to home video. According to today’s (Tuesday) Los Angeles Times, the first theatrical release under the new banner will be Love’s Abiding Joy, due to open on Oct. 6 at theaters operated by Carmike Cinemas and AMC Theatres. The studio hopes to attract evangelical Christians who have traditionally stayed away from current movie fare, regarding it as offensive and irreligious. Commenting on the studio’s plans, the Times observed: “Fox might seem an unlikely studio to pioneer a religious label, given its history as a purveyor of salacious TV programming. Yet people in the Christian community say the company has gained credibility as the voice for conservative America through its Fox News Channel.”

Christians have money? Yes. So Hollywood is coming (sort of). But do we really want Hollywood?

Traditionally, Christian media is retched and horrible. We’ve sacrificed quality for a good idea without good follow through (Left Behind the movie anyone?). Does there deserve to be better Christian themed films? Sure, but what is the cost for getting in bed with Hollywood? Lest we remember that The Passion of the Christ was done outside of Hollywood studio system (with Mel Gibson money - not Hollywood’s). So what does Hollywood really have to offer when it comes to entertaining our faith?

Any thoughts or comments?

I read in the Atlanta paper yesterday that ESPN ran a story about Adam LaRoche the Braves 1st basemen. LaRoche has ADD and his disorder has come into play a few times this season. You’d see him completely blow a play or pull a bonehead move and wonder what the heck is going on. Adam had tried to go without medication and would just lapse or blank during games. He was early on criticized for not taking medication.

Now after he’s been on medication (Mr. Cruise, I don’t want to hear the Ritalin rant - that’s a whole other argument) his game has improved. He’s concentrating and hitting and fielding really well.

ESPN is now claiming that he’s using performance enhancing drugs because of his improvement in the field. This poor guy can’t win. He’s criticized for not using the medicine and he’s criticized for using them.

Just let him play ball!

This reminds me of a quote from Teddy Roosevelt:  

“It’s not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or when the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worth cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

For more read here

I sat in church on Sunday morning utterly dismayed at what I was hearing. We had a guest speaker, a man raised in Mormonism who later converted to Christianity. I entered this morning with eager anticipation because we had with us a Mormon girl who has been involved in our ministry. I expected this to be a time where here eyes were opened to see the truth. What I got was a bitter man, hell bent on bashing a cult.  

As a church did we need a message that Mormons were bad and not Christians? I’d hope as a church that we’d have a firm grasp on that (if not, we’re in trouble). All I saw a man who built walls of bitterness and pompous religiosity.

I started praying for this girl, especially as she left about 20 minutes in to his talk - though I can’t say that I blame her for leaving. While praying the Lord reminded me that to reach Mormons (or any lost person) we must reach their hearts and not attack their religion or beliefs.

In this search for being right or righteous, have we lost our love and compassion? Christ was both truth and love. If we only take one of those we are in danger of making our own false beliefs. And if we do that, are we that much worse than any cult we so easily bash?

By the beard of Zeus! I thought it had been lost and gone, but no! No! It lives, it exists! Unearthedfrom a vault (or my storage unit), Geraldo style, are the archives from the late, great Bridge CC. Yes, available to my dear blog readers for free.

Here’s one of the vintage videos (more to come)… 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/pQJ6KSO7pp8]