Real and/or Relevant

Let me just say I am pretty frustrated about these words. I have heard them from friends. I have seen them plastered on a graphic behind a ceo, err I mean pastor, of a large church. I have read about them in books. And don't let me forget about another word that also gets thrown around with the two mentioned above in the title: Authentic.

Would someone please clue me in on to why they are used so often? I think I can understand some of the reasons why they are used. We want to make people feel comfortable I guess. We want to "relate"-that's another one of these words. We want to build relationships. We want to appear to be truthful. We want others to think that we really do have something important to say and maybe they will listen if we say the right things and wear the right clothes and act just like them.

Let me clarify before someone misunderstands what I am griping about. I think we should definitely be real and relevant. And I don't think anyone would argue that trying to relate to someone isn't a great way to build relationships. Authenticity is really just a two dollar word that communicates the idea that we don't want to be a hypocrite. And I think that is great too.

I guess my real gripe is that these words have become the buzz words of American Christianity at least in a broad sense. And the reason I think it is a bad thing is because it places too much emphasis on individual perception and feelings rather than transcendent truth and reality. I think emphasizing all these things/words/feelings reinforce selfish thoughts and deeds. The idea that "this is my world and the rest of you all are just living in it" is indeed one of the most common bases of thought that most of us experience day in and day out. We have become so concerned with experience that we lose sight of the bigger picture, of the lives that surround us, and the great big huge God we call Father.

If you don't think this is a problem for you Justin Taylor had a blog post that asks some questions that might shed some light on whether or not you are more concerned with how something relates to you and your world. They are listed below.

• Do you get bored when someone reads a longish passage of Scripture in your church? Do you start wishing they’d get on with the music?
• Do you need music playing in the background for the reading of Scripture to affect your emotions?
• Does a prayer seem too “plain” or “stark” to you if it doesn’t have music playing behind it?
• Do you feel depressed a few weeks after a worship conference because you haven’t felt close to God in a long time?
• Do you desperately look forward to the next conference you’re going to attend because you know that, finally, you’ll be able to feel close to God again?
• If you’re in a big church with great music, are you able to worship when you visit your parents’ small rural church?
• Do you ever feel worshipful in the middle of the week, at work, at school, etc. just because of thinking about God and his grace? Or does that only happen when the music’s playing?
• Do you tend to feel closer to God when you’re alone with your iPOD than you do when you’re gathered with God’s people in your church?
• Do you feel like you just can’t connect with other believers who haven’t had the same “worship experiences” that you have? Can you only connect with other believers who “know what it feels like to really worship?”
• Is your sense of spiritual well-being based more on feeling close to God, or knowing that you are close to God because of Jesus Christ?

Too Good to be True

Here is a story about my boy Mike Huckabee. Basically the gist of the story is Huck holds his hand out to Kenneth Copeland. There is probably, no there is definitely, more disgust in my heart towards him and his "ministry" than I have for diarrhea. There are more reasons than I have time to type or you have time to read about how he has lead untold numbers of followers down a path of destruction. And for Huck to hold his hand out to him makes me want to rage against his campaign. But I won't. Huck is not perfect. Nor is anyone else for that matter. Even if Huck does get a few dollars from Copeland and his minions I think he is still the best choice. But they way it is looking I wouldn't mind voting for a McCain/Huckabee combo.

2 Books and a Website

If you have noticed there is a section in the right column of my blog that reads "Book(s) I'm Reading." To be honest, I haven't even started the book that is listed there. I could come up with as many excuses as you would ever want to read. But the sad fact is that as busy as I have been the past few weeks, it is out of sheer laziness that I haven't started reading that book yet. It is called Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands. I know that it sounds contradictory to say that I'm excited about reading this since I have had it for a full month now without even smelling the new book smell. But I don't care. I'm going to say it anyway. I'm excited about reading this book.
Another book that I'm excited about is on its way from Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears entitled Vintage Jesus. If you don't know who Mark Driscoll is then you owe it to yourself to at least do some investigation into his ministry. You may be surprised. You may laugh. You may cry. You may be blessed. You may even be offended. But more than likely you are going to get a mix of all of these. Enjoy!
The website that I mentioned in the title is BiblicalTraining.org This is a fantastic website dedicated to offering FREE SEMINARY LEVEL CLASSES!! Yes I said free. What a fantastic opportunity to study quality material from quality teachers.
In the coming weeks I will be posting some commentary and insights about these 2 Books and a Website.

"He raised taxes"

Here is a comment: Thats Joseph Smith, the great Mormon prophet whispering in is ear. Mitt is a moron and a Mormon, and he will never be president. Looney as Tom Cruise.
I had to share that comment since I almost laughed out loud when I read it. The more I watched this though the angrier I became. Yeah there are several people saying that it was Brian Williams whispering to Russert to basically explain what "The Reagan" did about Social Security. Then I have also read where it was an audio "flub." There was also a comment that perhaps it was McCain helping Mitt out. Give me a freaking break. It is more likely that Mitt has the ability to think out loud than any of these other explanations. I want to rage against the powers that be who think all Americans are lemmings who will follow the piper to the cliff and be happy to jump off. There is no mention of this on MSNBC about this. Oh wait... there was a mention of it but evidently it was removed from their site. Why? If it was really a glitch or a "flub" why not address it and put to death any confusion? I just hate to be jerked around like nothing happened. Though I guess with Romney's lead in Florida there may be more lemmings than I thought. Or maybe I am just paranoid and I feel the need to express my anti-Romney bias.

Moment of Truth

Gatlinburg!!!

My wife and I are leaving for Gatlinburg tomorrow for a marriage retreat!!!! We are looking forward to a wintery Gatlinburg. So to all three of you who might read this I won't be posting for a few days.

Fuel for Discernment

Here's a nifty title: Shot Glass Evangelism

I bet some of you are thinking "Sweet!" and probably some of you are thinking "That's terrible!" I guess it depends on whether you're a presbyterian or southern baptist huh? That is a title of a blog post from a website that "...is a non-interactive newsand comment site regarding the state of the contemporary evangelical church." In otherwords it is basically a discernment site. And if I did not state this in my last post let me state it now; discernment is a great thing. Indeed, it is a necessity in the battle we face everyday. But done with wrong motives and without love it is just as sinful as getting drunk using those shot glasses to shoot your favorite liquor.
The story of that church is found here. If you were to read this short article and look closely at what is going on and why this discernment site chose to write about it you will see what mainly fuels these discernment ministries: contextualization. Tim Keller gives a terrific definition of contextualization. He says, “Contextualization is not giving people what they want. It’s giving them God’s answers which they may not want to questions they are asking in forms and language they can comprehend.”
So these discernment ministries are basically calling out ministers or ministries they feel are changing the Gospel in order to grow a large church or have a large following. And I think that is great they see through some of this and have a desire to spread the news. I just wish we could all model the grace and love of Jesus more when dealing with error. However, having said that and agreeing that passing out shot glasses to bar patrons to increase your church attendance or "impress people" is downright ridiculous, at least these guys were out among the people. Mark Driscoll spoke at a session at one of Piper's national conferences on this very issue. He basically said that if we do not contend for sound Biblical doctrine then when we contextualize we will go wrong and fall into heresy "certainly having new kinds of Chrstians...nonChristians." We will start to do things just because they seem to work while ignoring the eternal implications of some of these strategies and methods.
The above article about that church is a perfect example. The pastor of that church said his goal in passing out the shot glasses was to impress people that do not go to church. Please show me where the Bible commands or suggests we impress people. Please show me where we are to care more about the quantity of souls sitting in our churches rather than their eternal destinies. Let us love people more by caring more about their souls than where their butt is sitting on Sunday morning. And let us go and contextualize and make known the love of Jesus.

Discernment

What is this? Well the definition from m-w.com is 1 : the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure : skill in discerning And the definition for discerning is showing insight and understanding. So I guess a discernment ministry would be one that is able to grasp and understand with insight things that are Biblical. Or nonbiblical?
After reading this post from Between Two Worlds I began to think about one of the issues he raised and another issue that really fuels the whole "discernment (for lack of a better word) movement." The one issue he raised that I want to comment on is the mean spirit or feel from some of these ministries. I only read one of these discerning blogs with any regularity, and a couple more on rare occasions if I see something interesting. From the first time I visited these blogs to this day I can honestly say that I have never read any post that I could describe as grace filled words. Sure there are posts on these blogs that point to church leaders past and things they have said or hymns written that are great reminders and motivators. But never have I seen a story or post that pointed to a church or ministry that was doing what they thought was Biblical with encouragement or praise to God. Please do not read between the lines here or try to find the hidden meaning in my last few statements. I am not saying that these ministries are not loving. I am not saying that they are spiritually oppressed by a demon of meanness either. I am simply stating that the impression I get when I visit the only discerning sites I have visited is that there is a tone about the words that is not indicative of grace.
In the post linked above from Between Two Worlds Challies said this, "So while I appreciate that there are many bloggers and webmasters and others out there who are interested in guarding the church and who value being able to see in the black and white terms so necessary for biblical discernment, I believe we have not properly done our task of discernment until we have spoken the truth in love." The reason I am even posting on this is because by nature I'm very critical. And I also love to be right. So when I can point my big bad righteous finger at some of the big names of Christendom then it makes me feel better about being me. It makes me feel like I have some insight some nugget of truth that God especially chose to reveal to me and not them. I know it is wrong. I know it is sinful. And God has really worked in me in this area. Granted I need infinitely more work. But that is why I appreciate Challies' quote here to remember love and remember grace. And the best way to do this is to remember Jesus and the cross.
Later, I will look at what I mentioned earlier, the issue that really fuels discernment ministries.

Vote for Satan

I came across this a few minutes ago and thought it was appropriate for the topic below.

Enjoy

Here is another. I love this guy. If you don't want to click the link and read the whole thing here is a snippet:

"Okay, what about the candidates?!

Clinton? She reminds me of a third grade teacher I didn’t like.
Edwards? Rich malpractice lawyers scare me when they want to help.
Giuliani? His next wife (before he marries her) may live in the White House.
Huckabee? I remember Jimmy Carter…he was born again and a Baptist too.
Kucinich? You’ve got to be kidding. Only his mother likes him and she’s not sure.
McCain? Good heavens! He’s older than I am and I’m older than dirt.
Obama? Kind of like “Time Magazine”…I wish they would get some adults.
Paul? He says what he means…but, then, so did Hitler.
Romney? I wish he would get drunk and drop some food on his tie.
Thompson? Someone should wake him up because he really doesn’t care.

Man! It’s a hard decision. They’re all flawed!

Um…me too!

You too!"

Politics

I have wanted to write on this subject for a few weeks now. I'm sure we have all at least seen a clip of recent debates. Whether you vote Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Indy, or not at all, (and no I'm not going to take the time to scold the non-voters) have you ever listened to some of the other candidates occasionally make a good point and thought to yourself "hmm...He's got a good point"? Well I did the other night while watching the Fox News South Carolina debate. Thompson went after Huckabee on several issues. I thought that if this happened all night Huck would need to call in Chuck Norris to drop kick someone. Then Huckabee responded as well as he could I guess.
It seems like in their best moments all the candidates have at least one point or one issue or one policy stance or one personality trait that would be in line with what I would want in a president. Then after the debate was over Hannity and Colmes had each nominee hopeful except Ron Paul sit down for about a 7 minute interview. So during the debate we see people attacking policies, votes, ideas with little time for rebuttal. Then during the interview with a little more time we see a response to those attacks in more details. So we get both sides to the story albeit an abbreviated one.

So basically I typed all that to get to this:
1. How do we pick a candidate because if we were really honest there is probably not a candidate that we will agree with about everything?

2. Which issues are more important? Why?

3. Is the religious faith of a candidate important in our decision? Why?

I know the audience of this blog is quite small so I don't expect a boat load of answers to these questions. And even if you decide not to answer them at least you will have thought about them for a brief moment.

Why the name?

I'm sure that anyone who will visit this site will wonder why I named my site this. Well I will be honest and admit that this was not my first choice. I would liked to have had sackclothandashes, but would you believe this is already taken in .com and .net? Nevertheless, earthonmyhead is the name, and it is growing on me every time I say it. Go ahead, try it. It rolls off the tongue with surprising ease. I bet it even brings a smile to your face!

Reference

This phrase is a biblical reference from Nehemiah 9:1. You may need to read the ESV to get the full effect. Here is a great outline of Nehemiah chapter nine by Dr. Ralph Davis. I didn't pick the name because this is my favorite passage or phrase from the Bible. I wanted something that would serve as a reminder, not just for me but for anyone who may visit, about the need for repentance and the need for reformation. I think this phrase will be just that.

As the outline from Dr. Davis points out, the preparation for reformation starts with repentance. Regardless of whether you hold to the doctrinal distinctives of the Reformation, I would hope and pray that we can all call ourselves reforming. Prayerfully, we will all have a little earth on our heads before our time here ends.