The Work of the Devil (with my tongue in my cheek)

There are some things that have been invented by men, but are clearly the work of the devil. There are other things that may actually be good, but the applications with which they are used have made them prone to the work of the devil. When you read the preliminary list that I have compiled, I am sure that you will agree that these items do qualify as being unequivocally the work of the devil.

• Heelies
• Skateboards
• 4 Wheeler ATVs
• Pinatas
• Liver and onions

Is there anything that I am missing?

What I Believe About... the Church

The Christian Church is an interesting institution. Yes, I believe it is an institution whether others think it is a movement, an organism or a tropical plant. Historically there have been times when the church has stood as the best thing in the world. At other times she has perpetrated more damage, violence and evil than even Satan himself. Overall, I believe that there is little doubt that the world is better today because of the presence of the church.

What follows is my interpretation of the current state of the church. There are a lot of warts, but here it is, as I see it.

• The church has more potential for good than any other entity in the world today. With current efforts to eradicate human trafficking, HIV/AIDS and to provide clean, safe water the church is doing more than almost anyone else. And that does not include hospitals and other health care facilities, homes for orphans, abused children and seniors and educational institutions in general. The church has done great good, and continues to do so.
• The church provides social interaction for millions of people around the world. The church is the place that many people (including me) met their mates or lifelong friends.
• The church is the custodian of the most important message in history. With all its faults (and there are many, but more of that later) there is no greater message than one of grace, acceptance and forgiveness for all people without regard for race, education, social status or financial resources.
• The church sometimes thinks it is more important than the message it teaches. Unfortunately, leaders in the church are sinful, fallen people. They sometimes become greedy for money, fame and power. It is easy for them (and often us, as well) to become consumed with maintaining power and gaining more of it. When this happens the church tends to push away the very people we are called to serve.
• There is too much conflict in the church. People with different political opinions or theological persuasions can be downright mean to one another. Everyone knows someone who has had their feelings too hurt by some Christian person.
• Elements of the church are definitely too judgmental of others. The Christian faith needs to be upheld by standards of belief, behavior and practice, but we should never use our 'church' as a club to beat others. It is common these days to hear people express their admiration for Jesus and Christianity but to be completely turned off by the church.
• Denominational differences can be used by God- they need not be a source of division and animosity. It is my belief that there are some people who will only be Christian if they can be Baptist, or Catholic, or Methodist, or Pentecostal... God uses these differences for his glory.

I believe the church has a great future. We only need to be honest about who we are, what we have done, and where we are headed.

Limited Government vs. the Bible

Here is a problem that I have: People who believe the Bible and want to severely limit government. To a certain extent I understand this. After all, governments, at least in the USA, seem to limit the reach of the church, or other faith-oriented organizations. Free exercise of religion may be tolerated, but often its advancement is impeded. This happens as the state tries to restrict the ability of public school teachers to express their faith, or even their opinions on issues of ethical or moral significance. In another instance, municipalities are prevented from displaying any form of faith expression, even as it represents the culture of the community, around holidays.

In these cases, and others like them, I agree fully that government, federal or local, should be prevented from limited any expressions of faith. We should always remember that a fundamental principle of American independence is freedom of religion, not necessarily freedom from religion. However, we must take care to not place restrictions or limits on government that will cause us to compromise our Christian, biblical principles.

Here is what I am driving at. People are bad. Christian theology is based on the biblical ideal that humans are fundamentally flawed. We all inherit sin from our ancestors, beginning with Adam. We call this original sin. The New Testament puts a specific spin on this concept. Romans 3.10 say that there is no one who is righteous. Romans 3.23 affirms that "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

And that is exactly the problem with limiting government. The Bible teaches that if we are left to our own devices we will sin. Eventually, our sin will cause harm to others. That means that your sin will eventually cause the loss of my property, health or life. We need government, therefore, for protection. Government is necessary because we are basically evil.

If our government limits itself too much, we will all suffer because of it. Anarchy will be the natural result of this. We must be wise in our calls for limited government.

The People you See...

When I spend time at a fast food place, I run into a lot of different people. Some of them are truly unique, but there are also some general categories that others fall into. Let me know if you have seen any of these people at your local McDonald's.

• It seems that as often as not, usually in the evenings, there is a group of loud and disrespectful teens. They are usually accompanied by loud swearing, obnoxious talk and inappropriate actions. They are in every town and almost every day.
• On most mornings you will find a group of retirees. This group is almost as noisy as the disrespectful teens, but much more polite. These men and women will be a cup of coffee at 8am and then leave several hours later. I have named them members of the "Golden Arches Social Club."
• There are also lonely and elderly people. These are people who live alone and for whatever reason don't participate in the retiree group. They are in a favorite restaurant almost every day, eating alone and smiling at strangers.
• At lunch time you can spot salesmen and other travelers. They make a pit stop with a day planner, a newspaper and a cell phone. They keep to themselves, but waste no time.
• On weekends it is not unusual to run into dads with their children for their weekend visits. You can find these most often at fast food establishments with playgrounds.

Advent Conspiracy

I am trying to do something different for Christmas this year. Oh, I will celebrate Christmas, certainly. I will sing carols and attend programs. I will buy gifts and decorate the house. I will go to parties and eat too much. I am going to celebrate in some of the traditional ways that I have always celebrated. But this year I am going to celebrate a little differently as well.

I think that a part of my problem is that all of those “traditions” of Christmas, at least the ones I mentioned, do not necessarily have anything to do with the birth of Jesus, the Messiah. And the birth of Jesus seems pretty important to me (duh!). So I want to focus on the things that will remind me of Jesus, God's son. I want to remember that God came into the world as human baby. He became the perfect gift, the ultimate sacrifice for you and me.

Now, I don't want you to misunderstand. I love Santa Claus, reindeer, the Grinch, Rudolph and my two front teeth. All of those parts of the holiday are great and I enjoy them as much as the next guy. But they don't help me worship. They don't lead me to Jesus. They don't alleviate any of my problems or take away any burdens. Only Jesus can do that.

On Sundays during Advent I will be focusing on what is being called the Advent Conspiracy. Each Sunday we will talk about a different element of what we might consider re-claiming the work of God in the Christmas holiday.

• Give More. We are all tempted to give at Christmas time. But we should take care in our giving. We should give to people, but we should give gifts that are meaningful to us and to the recipient. We might think about the time it takes to give, or the sacrifice involved. Our gifts should maybe be more thoughtful.

• Spend Less. Somewhere along the line we began to equate quality with money. I am an advocate of the idea that we can give great gifts, throw good parties and have the best Christmas ever without making a reservation for the poor farm.

• Worship Fully. It is easy to relegate worship to a secondary priority on our list of holiday obligations. And even when we do worship, we are so busy and distracted by other obligations that we don't give our best to the Lord. The truth ought to be that we give him our best, our most, our all, especially in worship.

• Love All. Often we think of our family and our community first. I think that's how it should be, but we also must be careful to not forget, nor neglect others, close to home and around the world. We should be giving and loving everyone- even those that we might think are unlovable.

Join me for an Advent Conspiracy. Let's celebrate Christmas as much as we can. And as hard as we can. And as thoroughly as we can. But this year let's also remember to celebrate Advent.

NaNoWriMo

I am currently working on a project called National Novel Writing Month. There is a website: http://www.nanowrimo.org . The object is to take the 30 days of November and write a novel of 50,000 words or more. So I am doing it.

I am currently behind the schedule, but I am still planning to make it to the end. With all that being said, there isn't a lot of time to put entries up here. They will be coming soon. Look for more in December.

Movies I want to see before the end of the Year

• The Ides of March
• Midnight in Paris
• Winter's Bone
• Super 8
• Crazy, Stupid, Love
• 30 Minutes or Less
• Beginners
• Tree of Life
• Everything Must Go
• Limitless
• Win Win
• Jack Goes Boating
• Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
• Source Code
• Courageous
• The Book of Eli
• Tower Heist
• The Big Year
• Not Forgotten