More thoughts on VT Shooting

Okay…I am still thinking about the VT shootings and the young man who committed them. It wasn't like people where completely unprepared… they were just hoping it wasn't as bad as it looked. I think we all have moments like that. We want to hope for the best or maybe we just can't imagine the worst.

Quite frankly I cannot understand hate crimes… It just seems like such a waste of my time and energy to be hating other people. I dislike some of their choices, but to hate the person is like hating their Creator.

Anyway back to VT shooting and Cho Seung-Hui. Many people knew he had problems. He had been hospitalized. His teacher reported him because of the graphic and dark nature of his writing and yet it seems no one was able to stop this young man. His sister loved him. His parents are at a loss. What happened?

One source is stated at some point in his suicide letter he had gone on and on about rich students. This is reminiscent of a book I read by Dallas Willard "Divine Conspiracy", were he noted that even at Christian Colleges, the rich tended to treat the poorer students without respect. Now I don't want to take this too far, but what, if any, efforts were made by the Christian community on campus to reach this young man?

My wife told me she had read that the Campus Crusade for Christ, people had tried to befriend him, but to of no avail. So were all those students then just condemned to die because Cho Seung-Hui was somehow unreachable? I think not.

In the 13th chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul, tries to impress on his readers the importance of love. Not the "love your mama" love or "love your girlfriend" love, but the Love that proceeds from the very heart of God; agape love. In the midst of this Paul states that Love never fails. I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and if it says, "Love never fails," then I am inclined to believe it. But if we fail at loving, it doesn't mean that God's love is failing. God's love is not based upon our pride or our feelings, but rather it is a decision to trust God and treat other people like they are made in His image and worthy of respect. We don't wait to give people respect. They don't have to earn it, as Christians we should just give it, regardless or how we are treated.

People tried to diagnose and maybe fix Cho Seung-Hui, but who really tried to love him outside of his family. And I am sorry, telling him about the four spiritual laws doesn't count. Telling him he needs Jesus may not really count either. Who said to him, "Wow, you really seem to be having a bad day, do you want to talk?" And then didn't just give up when he pushed them away or refused their help. I am not blaming the Christian campus community for what happened, but I am asking, did it do all it could do. Did it try to love Cho Seung-Hui, or did it just see him as an aberrant, disturbed, boy, who should be shunned?

Virginia Tech

This is all the news… Many people must be speculating about this young man and how this could have been prevented… Maybe if we had better counseling services… maybe if we had tougher gun laws…. Maybe if we had tighter restrictions on college admission or better screening of foreigners coming into our country this wouldn’t have happened. But another thought comes to me altogether
What if a couple of God fearing, born again, Christians had befriended this young man. Too often I have seen Christians take the “Ooh, what horrible sinners and people they are… let’s stay away from them.” We are encouraged by the Apostle John to walk the way Jesus walked. And Jesus hung out with prostitutes, sinners and tax collectors; basically all the people that good religious people would avoid.
So think about it, what kind of effect could some godly love have had on this young man? From what little I have heard, he sounds tormented and tortured, emotionally and mentally. So who was it that came to bind up the broken hearted and to release the captive? Maybe some “real” Christians could have made the difference and turned him from a path of destruction.
This really makes we want to rant and rave about how we have turned Christianity into this exclusive club and we want to keep all the “unworthy” people, or people who make us uncomfortable out of the club. Christianity is not just for rich people, or white people. It is a religion born out of God’s love for all people. A love that was expressed in the person of Jesus Christ. A love that was displayed in the life of Jesus Christ. We can display that love when we embrace “difficult” people and love on them instead of demanding our rights to be treated fairly. This side of heaven there are no guaranties that anyone will treat us fairly. We are only admonished to treat all people with kindness and love; even our enemies. So Christians, take this as a wake up call. The few chances you take in loving people, the more chances that people like this young man how killed all those people at VT, will rise up again and again.
But I do warn you don’t approach such people by yourself. Make sure to take a buddy/prayer partner. Jesus sent his guys out two by two.
Amen…

What's wrong with Christ's Bride?

So I was on this site this morning… An I-hate-church-site. I was wondering what it was about. I wondered if it had been started by a Christian to examine some of the problems of why people are leaving the church, or was it a I hate Church folks place to hang out and complain about anyone who believes in anything. It was the latter. I read some of their questions and remarks, and found they are a bitter bunch. They were asking some interesting questions though about faith and God. Things that would set most of us on fire.

But I was stuck by the hopelessness of their position. I was stuck by their conclusions about what they read in the bible. On one side I could see where they were coming from. But they fail to address the real question…..

Why is the world in such a mess or why are we humans in such a mess.

We know something is wrong with the world. We know something is wrong with us. We don't have to look far. We just know some things are wrong. Theft, murder, unfaithfulness, child-molestation, hate, war, drug abuse etc.

We of the religious community (an honor I am dubious about) claim to have the answers, but yet when the world around us looks at us, we are no better. We point our fingers at the world and say you are the problem. We say things like Jesus is that answer, yet do our actions really show.

Okay back to the main point here. How do we engage these people in discussion or address their concerns; do we even consider trying? Their remarks are inflammatory and often send us off the deep end. Yet if I have faith in God above through our Lord Jesus, should anything really shake me? Can I lead them back to God, or are they a lost cause. If I engage in discussions with them will I be led into the same pit that they have fallen into?

I am convinced that one of the major reason these people have turned their backs on God and his Church is Christians themselves. When Gandhi was asked what it would take for him to become a Christian he answered.. "For Christians to act like Christ!" I don't see a lot of Christ-likeness in many Christians.

But all this does is make me ask more questions… Why are Christians so bad at living like Christ? Do they have any real faith, or are they/we just selling fire insurance? Is it a life transforming experience or a dead philosophy? I think we tend say it's the first, then sell the latter; the ultimate bait and switch. We claim to believe, we say we have the Bible, but we explain all the greater truths away. We make God powerless, even though we claim He is all powerful, then we say the Bible is supreme truth and explain away anything we do not like. We point our fingers at other Christians and say they are wrong. We say they are heretics, deceived, liberals, legalists or fundamentalists. Basically anything that keeps us from being in dialog with them, or allowing them to question our position. I really surprised Christ, hasn't just thrown up his hands and said, "I quit, they can all go to hell." But He loves us and died for us, now he is stuck with us. Not the best picture I can paint. We are His bride and He is not done with us.

I heard a sermon that touched on it part of the problem. We don't live by faith in God. We live by faith in the strength of our arm, or faith in our riches or faith in our intellect. We refuse to move into a realm where we might not be in control. We don't even have the faith of a mustard seed. I haven't seen to many mountains moved as of late. That is why His church has become so impotent and why so many are turning their backs on it. We are reminded in God's word about a time when men will become God haters… I think we have entered that age. The website I visited may just be the tip of the iceberg.

Have you ever heard of the burning man festival they have in the US. Basically a bunch of neo-pagans having this huge pagan feast and festival. I don't really want to got into to it here, but I read a comment in Christianity today that really struck me. They sent a reporter to it to find out why people go and what they think about Christians. Well the reported noted that most of the people attending this thing has been hurt by church folk, and had turned their backs on God because of those wounds.

So if you're still with me… I have to ask, "What are we doing to make the church more like what Jesus wants it to be?" In the beginning, most people liked Jesus, except the super religious types. If Jesus was at work in our churches wouldn't we see people flocking to them/us? Wake up church… Its not about the Sunday service! Its not about the building! It about us living out the principles that Jesus and his disciples laid down in the Gospels and the Epistles of the New Testament in our daily lives. If we aren't loving each other and loving our neighbors, how will anyone see "Christ in us the Hope of Glory?" If we are living lives of faith in God, were are the miracles to follow, where is the proof?

So why don't you tell me, "What are we to do?"

More Ranting and Raving

So what else makes me a heretic? Well besides believing that people can choose to give up their salvation, I also believe in a God who continues to work through people in miraculous ways. It bothers me to think that some people think that because we have the Bible, that there is no more need for the miraculous. Without a God who works miracles in and through people, Christianity is just a historical philosophy. I believe in a world that is beyond our understanding and a realm that is beyond our ability to measure. I am not a Humanist. I am not a deist, I am someone who believes that apart from God, humans can do little good. If fact if left to themselves and their own devices they can be down right evil. Why??? I think humans can be so evil, because they begin to believe in their own rightness. Oh they may try to cover their antics with religious jargon and invoke the name of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, but the truth be know their efforts will be seen in their actions. I don’t care if your talking about the Christian Crusades, Hitler, or Jim Jones, the proof is in the fruit. What sort of fruit do you see in their lives. The only fruit that counts is the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Anything else is from the devil himself. But what about righteous anger? According the Epistle of James (1:19,20) The anger of man does not accomplish the will of God. So what else do I think about Christians… I think it is okay for Christians to be oppressed but never okay for Christians to oppress others. God’s objective for Christians is not to be comfortable in the life they have, but to strive to make their lives worthy of emulation. I think there are a lot of people who think they are Christians, but are not. They have been sold a bill of goods. “Oh just say this prayer and it will be all good.” Sorry but God expects more. Not perfect performance from the onset, but rather a heart that wants to find out how to live a godly life. In order to choose God, through Christ, we have to reject things that we used to believe in. We have to be willing to subject our lives to critical examination by God’s Holy Spirit and by other believers. A Christian’s life is not his or her own, it now belongs to God and to the family of faith. Scary thought, but that’s the way it is. It’s a journey, but its so worth it…

So what else can I rant about…. I sorry but you’ll just have to wait until the next issue