Posts Tagged ‘christianity’
Church bashing or correction?
Posted on: February 7, 2012
I was apprehensive about sharing this, cos I don’t believe as Christians we should be bashing the Church, or other church denominations, but at the same time, not speaking out against something like this says that I agree with it, doesn’t it.
I’m not a member of Mars Hill. I’ve never met Mark Driscoll and don’t know him in person, so this is not a personal attack on him. I’ve read some articles he’s written, and while I disagree with him on some things, I also agree on some points.
But this is just wrong, I think. This sounds more like a cult than a Christian fellowship…in my opinion. Anyway…
MARK DRISCOLL’S ‘GOSPEL SHAME’: THE TRUTH ABOUT DISCIPLINE, EXCOMMUNICATION, AND CULT-LIKE CONTROL AT MARS HILL
Mark Driscoll’s And Mars Hill via JesusNeedsNewPR.net
Part 1: Church Discipline Contract
Part 2: The truth about discipline, excommunication, and cult-like control at Mars Hill
Leave me your thoughts if you wish.
Being Christ-like
Posted on: October 5, 2011
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like‑minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence–continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life–in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
Fully Alive!
Posted on: May 10, 2011
- In: being Christ-like | my life | thoughts
- 2 Comments
In the subtle, in the party, in the noise, in the silence, in weird faces, and weird places, through stories, and ancient pages. Find Him. – @skillieskil (twitter)
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Read that on twitter a few days ago and really liked it. It’s a reminder that God is not found just in churches and buildings and in those who would deem themselves righteous, but God can be found in your everyday life. Everywhere you go, you can find the beauty, image and light of God. Find God in every face you see, and you will learn to love your neighbour as yourself.
On Sunday I went to His People City Bowl. The message was on being fully alive in God. Basically, the preacher-chick (who is married to the associate pastor) was saying how for years she struggled with the concept of being a mrs-pastor. she loved her husband and loved being married to him and believed in his calling and supported his ministry but she had the same idea of a mrs-pastor that i basically have – they have to be a certain way, talk a certain way, act a certain way, dress a certain way, etc. and it’s only recently that she’s come to accept that she may be married to a pastor but she’s not that mrs-pastor that she has in her head, and God is ok with that because he didn’t create her to be her own picture of a mrs-pastor, he created her to be his picture of herself.
i’ve often struggled with the same thing – not being a mrs-pastor obviously, cos I’m not – but the picture i have in my head of what a christian should be like/look like/act like/speak like/enjoy. I’ve struggled with this thing of loving live music, and thinking in my mind that real christians shouldn’t frequent the types of venues I do. And, to be honest, this has led to me feeling restrained, prisoned even, and so I rebelled against this system that actually didn’t exist outside my head…and in rebelling I end up doing things that have not only left me feeling ashamed, but have very muchly affected my relationship with Christ.
It’s only recently that I have come to terms with who I am, the things I enjoy, knowing that God is for me and actually wants me to enjoy this Christian walk. I have a cross to carry of course, but he says his yoke is easy and his burden is light. He actually wants me to enjoy this walk with him. We wants to laugh with me and dance with me and sing at the top of my lungs with me. He’s not saying that I shouldn’t enjoy live music, he’s saying that I should enjoy it with him…in him.
So the message at church spoke very loudly to me. And just kinda confirmed the road I’ve been trying to walk in this year. And reminded that God is for me, not against me.
Anyway, the following is the notes I took during the service.
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Declare a war against anything that prevents you from being who you really are.
God is for you!
If you’re not free, you’re not living in God’s calling for you!
Being alive in God means being certain that he will lead, teach, correct and transfrom you. It means knowing that he is good and that he DOES satisfy your desires with good things. {This was when she was talking about how sometimes you’ll get a great opportunity to do something good or something you enjoy and the door is open but you hold back because you keep thinking that it’s wrong because you enjoy it or you are waiting for some sign from God or whatever…and she was saying that God is able to close that door if he chooses, and following God shouldn’t be a drag – we should enjoy him}
be FULLY ALIVE!
I wanna be great at being myself
If you can’t fully be yourself, you forfeit being yused by God the way he intended to use you. You forfeit the purpose you were created for!
The devil knows all your crap, he uses it against you all the time. Not knowing yourself fully – or trying to hide who you really are by pretending to be someone else – gives him ammunition; it gives him the upper hand. God knows everything about you, He loves you anyway. He loves you still. He loves you in your sin!
Grace enables us to be who we really are.
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Great reminders those…or at least for me.
And I’ll end with this: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”
[in hind sight i feel like i should add a disclaimer: i'm not saying God is ok with your sin, he's definitely not. God is holy, he is anti sin. He calls you away from your sin and wants you to be holy as he is. But God is for you, your being, the person he created you to be. what i'm saying is, God doesn't want to turn you into that other christian that you have in your mind that represents the perfect christian, he wants you to be you. he created you to be you. Your definition of holy is not necessarily the same as that of God's.]
…or thoughts inspired by arisefest…
i had a brilliant time at arisefest…seriously, too awesome. brett wrote a reflection piece on it here…which reminded me of a tweet i had seen a couple days after the fest.
the artist brett was talking about on his blog said something to the effect of “last year i got kicked off the stage, and this year the same thing happened again” when he was told that he was going over his time. someone in the audience then tweeted something like “i can’t believe their kicking [artist] off but they didn’t kick anyone else off” – like they were specifically targetting this artist…which was not true, cos i saw A LOT of bands being given the “5 minutes left, one last song” signal.
also, from the perspective of the organisers, it must be very frustrating to have someone go over their time allotment…and i’m sure it doesn’t feel good to have to be the one to tell someone to leave the stage. but you have other bands that are there to play, and you want to be fair to everyone – give everyone their space to play, cos i mean there’s a reason you asked them to play in the first place right…
but from the perspective of the audience, you always want your favorite artist to play longer, to play all your favorite songs. you don’t think about all the other people who are there to listen to their favorite artists who have yet to come on stage.
i guess it all comes down to selfishness in a way. and i know music festivals are about having fun and enjoying yourself, but it is a Christian music festival, and if you call yourself a christian, at all times you should be dying to yourself and thinking of others more highly than yourself, right?
in conclusion, i know i’ve been the screaming fan in the audience yelling for one more song, so i have to apologise. and at the next arise i promise to try and see things from other people’s [especially the a-team's, who did a fantastically amazingly brilliant job btw] perspective.
a treeless john ellis
Posted on: November 17, 2010
- In: likes | music | my life
- 3 Comments
i first heard about tree63 in 2003. that was the year i decided to stop listening to “secular” music (for about the third time since becoming a christian) and my radio was constantly dialed to CCFM (local christian music station). i really dug their stuff. and i found out they sang the wimpy song aka treasure (lol). then i found out they were south african. so i bought a bunch of their cd’s. and they quickly surpassed the OC Supertones as my favorite band.
anyway, i remember trying to go to one of their gigs when they were playing in cape town but i couldn’t go and i was so bummed…i think this was in ’05…i think. fast-forward to 2009 and i hear they are playing at assembly. now 2009 was the year i sealed my “groupie” status by attending as many live music stuff as i could. and this time i had friends who were also into live music watching so they were willing to tag along to stuff. so i got a couple of friends and we went to see tree63…except when we got there, it wasn’t tree63 playing…it was John Ellis and friends. i was kinda bummed to be honest. and i got more bummed when he said that he was leaving tree63.
but then he started the show and my bummed-ness was replaced by “on my word, john ellis is a living legend”-ness. he played the old tree stuff and the whole of assembly sang along at the top of our lungs. and he has amazing charisma on stage. and he makes playing seem like fun…like he’s enjoying himself up there. and he’s always interacting with the crowd. and the whole show was soooo much fun! and that’s when i became a john ellis fan. plus i’ve heard from certain people who know him that he’s a really humble and down-to-earth guy – i don’t know if he know that he’s John Ellis! (i’ll stick to “certain people” so it doesn’t sound like i’m name-dropping or pointing out the fact that I KNOW PEOPLE WHO KNOW JOHN ELLIS!)
then i saw that the end of the year he was playing at arisefest along with one of my favorite south african bands new altum (who are now called versus the wolf and have since becoming my favorite south african band since the release of their latest cd “uncovering faces”) and i was like “i have to be there!” anyway, i’ve written about that experience already so i won’t go into it again.
2010 saw john ellis release his solo cd “come out fighting” surrounded by a whole lot of controversy over his christianity (that sentences sounded like it was copied out of some magazine or something…eeewww). i was half amped for the cd and half scared. i really loved tree63, and i loved john ellis singing tree63 songs, i wasn’t sure about this new controversial, political, revolutionist john ellis. then i found out he’ll be playing here in stellenbosch to promote the cd and i was like – awesome, i get to hear the songs before deciding whether to buy the cd or not.
so i go on facebook and invite people to come with me to see john ellis in stellies (woo hoo it’s gonna be a vibe, come join me) and then the next day i find out that irvine will be supporting him on the cape town shows and i’m like “hells yeah that is happening!” cause i figure even if i don’t like john’s new stuff at least i get to hear irvine…again…for the second time in one week [side note: i also went to see them on tuesday (the 9th) doing an accoustic set with gravity wins again (gravity's back woo hoo!)] and they absolutely rocked. i think i love irvine more and more with every listen…yep, i definitely do!
anyway, so this past saturday (13th) i went to the purple turtle in cape town to check out john ellis’ new stuff – and mind = blown! i love the new stuff. it’s political and controvertial and jesus. feed the hungry, clothe the naked, water the thirsty, get off your fat ass and do something, “we did not fight in the revolution so that we can sit back and feed our already too large asses and go yes sir mr malema sir while watching the rich get richer and poor get poorer”, aluta continua kinda stuff. so now i seriously want that cd. i might have gone a little overboard with tweets while he was playing…i even had someone asking me where to get his cd…i should probably leave that stuff to him and his promoters.
and now i’m thinking about going to his Q&A Workshop for musicians and guitarists happening this tuesday (the 16th) – although i’m neither a musician or a guitarist (owning a guitar and teaching yourself a few songs doesn’t make you a guitarist just as singing in the worship team at church doesn’t make you a musician)…i just wanna pick his brain on the stuff he’s going through and dealing with and stuff – so maybe not the right time/place.
and i’m also thinking about going to see him again this saturday (20th) when he plays in stellies.
oh my flip, that man is a legend! check out his new stuff at http://www.johnellis.co.za
[update: i did not go the Q&A session...quite bummed...but now i'm very keen for the 20th]
the ark really does stink…
Posted on: August 11, 2010
…or why i still call myself a christian
“The Church is like Noah’s ark: it stinks, but if you get out you’ll drown” – Shane Claiborne paraphrasing Reinhold Niebuhr.
that explains my feelings on the church on the moment. i really can’t say i love the Church right now. i’m talking about the universal church here, not my congregation – which makes it sound like i think my congregation is the right one or the only one who are trying to do right, but i’m not. i don’t think my congregation is perfect – i know it’s full of broken people, but broken people who are seeking christ and seeking to be christ-like. and i guess that is most chris-followers, right?
but then once in a while i come across a comment from a “christian” or a church who are planning to burn korans or protesting a comic book convention (what?), or church daycares that have fight clubs…for the kids…and i feel embarrassed to say i am one of them – aren’t we supposed to be known for our love? and i cringe to think what God is thinking about all the things people are doing in his name. and in those moments i want to disassociate myself from the religion. i don’t want to be one of them.
i read something a little while ago that said “While I do have many issues with our modern-era, western-style church structures and culture, I still believe that Church is the best idea we have” (Sean Tucker). while i realise that the church is not what’s it’s meant to be, i also realise that i was created with a need for relationships – we all were – and i honestly don’t think i could do this christianity thing on my own. i crave that community, and yes i could find community outside the Church, but it probably wouldn’t be good for my walk with Christ.
the institutionalised church is very much broken, but it is the bride of Christ. within the brokenness and the scars and the uglyness, there is a quiet and beautiful purity waiting to break free. there’s been a lot of publicity (at least in the circles where i roam) around the anne rice facebook updates and the john ellis interview. and i think as long as we have people who are willing to call out the Church when they step out of line like that, i think the church has a chance to show it’s beauty.
what i believe
Posted on: August 4, 2010
- In: being Christ-like | my life | thoughts
- 3 Comments
how much of what i believe is indeed what I believe? how much of it is merely there because that’s what i’ve been taught? we all have a set of rules and moral behaviours that we are taught as kids to obey and we go through life with these rules as our basis for what is right and what is wrong. now at some point, you start to question these rules. you come across different cultures and opinions and such, and these new world-views don’t fit into your neat little boxes of right and wrong. so then you start questioning, and some point you either hold on to the things you believe or you throw away those that you feel are no longer applicable. i believe this is called growing up.
this post is about religion, at the same time it’s not. it’s about right and wrong…and about how right and wrong is not always right and wrong. when i was in the 11th grade, i was in a public school in the US and we had a french exchange student named Guillaume. he once made an observation that americans are conservative. me coming from a south african – indeed, BLACK south african context, thought americans were very liberal. but you see what i mean. cultures and upbringing have a huge impact on what we believe.
so here’s me, born into a christian family. raised on christian principles. from the moment i was born, God was…and there was no questioning it. it never even occured to me that there’s a chance he wasn’t. anyway, along the line i met people from different religions and beliefs, but i knew mine was right because i had “experienced” God. i knew him. i knew he was. there was no doubt.
but then how much of that experience was in-built in me. how much of what i knew about God was just what i’d been told. how much is real and how much is just things i’ve heard and picked up along the way and filed away as “truth” in the back of my mind.
i’ve tried to step away from Christianity and look at everything from an objective point of view. in fact a few months ago i was ready to renounce christianity. i was, for a very brief moment, agnostic. but, alas, my christianity is who i am. my life, everything i’ve known up to this point has been based around God and Jesus, and i don’t know any world outside of him…i don’t know a life outside of him…i am unable to be outside of him – there is no me outside of God in me.
so where does that leave me. obviously, there is no scientific way to prove God, otherwise, i assume there would be no atheists. the only way i know he exists is through faith – “now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see” – and right now i am sure, and i am certain, that God is. i don’t doubt his existance. i don’t doubt his love.
i do, however, daily doubt his “followers”: i doubt their message, their interpretation of his word, their approach to his world. i doubt Christians, not Christianity. i doubt everything outside “love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul strength, and love your neighbour as yourself”. Joshua Davidson himself said those were the two greatest commandments and everything else hangs on that.
so that’s what i’m aiming for: loving God and loving people. and the rest of my life – my religion – will be figuring out what exactly that looks like, then living it out.
It’s excerpt friday, and without further adieu…
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I think Christianity should come with a disclaimer. Something like… to find your life you must lose it…or take up your cross daily…or something like that.
I heard somewhere that following Jesus will wreck you….this has become more and more aparent as I grow up. When you’re young Christianity sells like “Want to cure your addiction…follow Jesus!” or “Want all your dreams to come true….come to church!”
But deciding to follow Jesus is this crazy, insane idea that works backwards.
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another one of those great reads. Read the whole post here.
Freedom
Posted on: February 19, 2010
“To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendents and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” [John 8:31-36]
“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” [Romans 6:15-18]
THEY MAY TAKE OUR LIVES… BUT THEY’LL NEVER TAKE…OUR FREEEEEDOM!
In the world today, and even often within the church sometimes, I think people often misunderstand the concept of freedom. A lot of people seek to define freedom as the absence of restraint (rules/structure/laws). But total absence of restraint is actually more along the lines of anarchy and chaos. True freedom is obtained and possible when the right rules and structures are put in place that will benefit everyone concerned and not allow prejudice/disparity/dominance for specific people or groups of people within a system.
For Christians, often freedom is seen as getting all the good stuff God has to offer (salvation, grace, forgiveness, spiritual gifts, blessing, healing…) but without it affecting the way I want to live my life (ignoring things like sacrifice, cost, servanthood, humility, laying down my life) and that too leads to a sense of chaos and confusion and often the world looks on and sees no difference to itself and so is not encouraged to be a part of us at all.
We love to take the stuff God has to offer (similiar to the story of the Prodigal Son – take what we see as ours and run away from the Father) but we are not as quick to embrace wholeheartedly the truth that He holds out for us in His word and the way that He wants us to live.
KEEP IT TOGETHER
I read somewhere that happiness/peace/love without truth is a little like the freedom from pain that a leper enjoys – sooner or later his/her entire body falls apart. [leprosy is a disease where peripheral nerves become gradually insensitive]
If you don’t know about leprosy and you hear that there is a person who doesn’t feel pain, you will more than likely think, ‘Wow! What a priviledge. How awesome must that be. I wish I was like that. That must be absolute freedom.’ But once you start to realise the cost of the ‘freedom’ that this person has, and the place of pain in our lives as a warning mechanism (eg. when I touch a hot stove, the pain tells me to stop touching it – without that warning I might damage my hand beyond repair) then you realise that it is not freedom at all.
The same with people who claim to be Christians and yet their lives appear no different from anyone else (the area of relationships being an excellent example – i have heard horrendous stories of what Christians get up to in relationships that they think is okay because ‘it’s not sex’ or because ‘everyone is doing it’ or even ‘we’re going to get married’) and they think they are living in freedom. Yet without truth, it operates pretty much like in the case of the leper – sooner or later the lepers entire body falls apart… sooner or later the Christian’s entire life will fall apart.
IT’S AS STRAIGHTFORWARD AS
“If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.” [John 14:15-17]
“Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching. These words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father who sent Me.” [John 14:23-24]
It’s that simple. If you call yourself a Christian then I assume you love Jesus. If you love Jesus then you follow His commands. As a Christian we need to be holding on tightly to truth, whether or not it feels good (because sometimes a bit of pain could be a positive warning sign or for our benefit in some other way) because we can trust the One who has called us to follow Him (with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.)
CONCLUSIONARY REMARKS
So maybe it is time for you to take a look at your life and maybe examine it under a different lens than perhaps the one you may normally be used to. The lens of God’s truth. Not am I happy with the way I am living and what I do with my time/money/energy and am I satisfied, so much as how does God feel about…
…the way I spend my money?
…the way I treat my parents?
…the things I do in my relationship with my girl/boyfriend?
…the way I treat my husband or wife or children?
…the underhanded business practices?
…the lies I regularly tell?
…and so on…
If there is stuff to confess and repent of (which means turn 180 degrees and start walking in a different direction as opposed to just saying ‘sorry’) then do that, restore your relationship with God, choose to follow His commands and seek His ways, and then live a life of Truth.
By: Brett Fish Anderson
Originally here
As I already said, stewardship, to me at least, includes being thankful for and using your skills and passions and money to the glory of God. One of my passions is music. I love listening to it, I love singing it…and I really want to love writing it. I write lyrics, but I don’t write the music. So anyway, the thing is, I would really dig to buy a guitar and actually learn how to play so that I’ll be able to write songs.
The problem is I’m not sure if that is being a good steward of my money. I would really dig to have a guitar…but wouldn’t the money be better spent on the homeless or something?
At the same time God put this love of music in my heart, and I want to use it to worship Him and bring him glory through it.
So where do we draw the line? And when stewardship of one resource goes against stewardship of another, how do you pick which one wins?
On that note, would buying a guitar not be good stewardship of my money? Obviously I’m not going to buy the best and most expensive guitar out there…not that rich, but I want a somewhat decent one…is spending my money on a guitar not being a good steward of that money – especially when I know that I would probably end up spending it on something more frivolous if I don’t get the guitar?
