CRN.Info and Analysis

Now the plummer’s got a drip in his spigot
The mechanic’s got a clank in his car
And the preacher’s thinking thoughts that are wicked
And the lover’s got a lonely heart
My friends ain’t the way I wish they were
They are just the way they are

And I will be my brother’s keeper
Not the one who judges him
I won’t despise him for his weakness
I won’t regard him for his strength
I won’t take away his freedom
I will help him learn to stand
And I will, I will be my brother’s keeper

Now this roof has got a few missing shingles
But at least we got ourselves a roof
And they say that she’s a fallen angel
I wonder if she recalls when she last flew
There’s no point in pointing fingers
Unless you’re pointing to the truth

And I will be my brother’s keeper
Not the one who judges him
I won’t despise him for his weakness
I won’t regard him for his strength
I won’t take away his freedom
I will help him learn to stand
And I will, I will be my brother’s keeper

I will be my brother’s keeper
Not the one who judges him
I won’t despise him for his weakness
I won’t regard him for his strength
I won’t take away his freedom
I will help him learn to stand
And I will, I will be my brother’s keeper

This is the God of the gospel of grace. A God who, out of love for us, sent the only Son He ever had wrapped in our skin. He learned how to walk, stumbled and fell, cried for His milk, sweated blood in the night, was lashed with a whip and showered with spit, was fixed to a cross, and died whispering forgiveness on us all.

The God of the legalistic Christian, on the other hand is often unpredictable, erratic, and capable of all manner of prejudices. When we view God this way, we feel compelled to engage in some sort of magic to appease Him. Sunday worship becomes a superstitious insurance policy against His whims. This God expects people to be perfect and to be in perpetual control of their feelings and thoughts. When broken people with this concept of God fail, as inevitably as they must, they usually expect punishment. So they persevere in religious practices as they struggle to maintain a hollow image of a perfect self. The struggle itself is exhausting. The legalists can never live up to the expectations they project on God.
…….
In similar fashion a person who thinks of God as a loose cannon firing random broadsides to let us know who’s in charge will become fearful, slavish, and probably unbending in his or her expectations of others. If your God is an impersonal cosmic force, your religion will be noncommittal and vague. The image of God as an omnipotent thug who brooks no human intervention creates a rigid lifestyle ruled by puritanical laws and dominated by fear.

But trust in the God who loves consistently and faithfully nurtures confident, free disciples. A loving God fosters a loving people. “The fact that our view of God shapes our lives to a great extent may be one of the reasons Scripture ascribes such imporantce to seeking to know Him”.

-Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

Over at CRN, Ken Silva, the general editor, published this excerpt from a recent article in the Christian Examiner about all the exciting things that were happening with the PEACE plan via Rick Warren.

A mammoth Christian mobilization effort—with a goal of tapping the time and talents of a billion believers worldwide. Pastor Rick Warren developed the PEACE Plan and unveiled it during a three-day, invitation-only conference that drew 1,700 pastors and business leaders from all 50 states and 38 countries…

“The churches have become fragmented and segmented in a large degree, and there are a lot of silos,” [Warren] said. “When you travel as much as I do and you get not just a national picture, but an international picture, you realize that there’s enormous talent and enormous potential in the church, but it’s not connected”…

it was followed up with this snide remark

O whatever did God do before Rick Warren showed up?

And that was the extent of his article. This is just another example of how the ODMs are not really 100% concerned with defending the truth, proclaiming the gospel, etc. It’s about attacking their self-proclaimed false prophets and teachers as much as they can, whenever they can. This reminds me of the kid on the team that always made fun of the other kids who excelled at the sport. They would usually make some sarcastic remark like “oooohhh! John’s soooooo cool. He can hit a ball all the way out of the park. woooooowwww. What ever would we do without him?” In reality, it was just their way of putting on their pouty-face (what my mom still calls it when I get upset at the age of 24 :)).

I find it just a bit funny that they make that statement about Rick Warren when many of them feel it is their God-given responsibility to make sure that the faith stays pure. As if The Almighty was not powerful enough to do that. I mean, whatever did God do before the Christian Research Network came on the scene*?

*Please note that the following statement was a use of sarcasm. It was strictly used to prove the author’s point, and is in no way intended to be taken literally. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

As inviting as ever!

HT to Marko

Imonk nails the problem with a lot of what was said about Carlin:

There are some people who have decided that if a person is an atheist or says untrue things about God, then that person should be treated as an enemy, and derided in puritanical terms as deserving of disrespect and insults.

If Carlin said things about your religion that really offend you, that doesn’t mean that I can’t say Carlin said and did some things with his life that are worth taking note of. A thoughtful consideration of a life of a non-Christian actually can contain more analysis than “He was an awful man and he’s in hell. Think about that!”

You wonder why we can’t come up with thoughtful Christian discussion? You have to get past the mob with pitchforks. Seriously, if you don’t want to engage this kind of discussion, but feel you have to throw cold water on it, just go away.

The rest is good too, go read it. This though, nails exactly what the problem has been.

The Internet Monk eulogizes George Carlin.

I-Monk responds to Ingrid’s evaluation of Carlin’s value as nothing more than her enemy in the culture war.

Imonk updates:

The George Carlin post has resulted in a record number of unposted comments. Easily have refused more comments on that one one post than any other post in IM history. And some of these comments are absolutely unbelievable. I have no doubt anymore that there are a breed of Christians- few, but loud- who have a serious case of jihad envy. They really are into labeling enemies and hating them with relish. What that has to do with Jesus completely misses me, but then that’s what they keep telling me.

As the first commenter on the update noted, the prophet Jonah has a life experience that might bring us wisdom.

Here’s an article about our brothers and sisters in China. A sample:

Rev. Jin Mingri peered out from the pulpit and delivered an unusual appeal: “Please leave,” the 39-year-old pastor commanded his followers, who were packed, standing-room-only on a Sunday afternoon, into a converted office space in China’s capital. “We don’t have enough seats for the others who want to come, so, please, only stay for one service a day.”

A choir in hot-pink robes stood to his left, beside a guitarist and a drum set bristling with cymbals. Children in a playroom beside the sanctuary punctuated the service with squeals and tantrums. It was a busy day at a church that, on paper, does not exist.

Well, who’s that man who thinks He’s a prophet?
Well, I wonder if He’s got something up His sleeve
Where’s He from?
Who is His daddy?
There’s rumors He even thinks Himself a king

Of a kingdom of paupers
Simpletons and rogues
The whores all seem to love Him
And the drunks propose a toast

And they say, “Surely God is with us.
Well, surely God is with us.”
They say, “Surely God is with us today!”

Who’s that man who says He’s a preacher?
Well, He must be, He’s disturbing all our peace
Where’s He get off, and what is He hiding
And every word He says those fools believe

Who could move a mountain
Who would love their enemy
Who could rejoice in pain
And turn the other cheek

And still say, “Surely God is with us, Well, surely God is with us,”
Who’ll say, “Surely God is with us today, today!”
They say, “Surely God is with us Well, surely God is with us”
They say, “Surely God is with us”

Blessed are the poor in spirit
Heaven belongs to them Blessed are those who make peace
They are God’s children I Am the Bread of Life, and the Way”
You hear that Man, believe what He says!

Tell me, who’s that Man, they made Him a prisoner
They tortured Him and nailed Him to a tree
Well if He’s so bad, who did He threaten?
Did He deserve to die between two thieves?

See the scars and touch His wounds
He’s risen flesh and bone
Now the sinners have become the saints
And the lost have all come home

And they say, “Surely God is with us (Surely God is with us)
Well, surely God is with us,”
They say, “Surely God is with us today!” (Today!)
They say, “Surely God is with us Well, surely God is with us”
They say, “Surely God is with us today”

Verum Serum has a great article posted a few days ago about the decline of the SBC, however, its as suited to the entire church in America as it is to that particular denomination.

Check out the whole thing, but here’s some quotes:

Of course I don’t believe the real problem is the culture or the effort level. I believe it’s the menu. Not the main dish, but all the side items we’ve saddled it with. Even today, surprisingly few people are put off by Jesus and his message. Richard Dawkins, in his jeremiad against faith titled The God Delusion, largely ignores Jesus, as if he were peripheral to Christianity. This seemed very strange to me, but the more I thought about it I began to feel he was, inadvertently, on to something.

It’s the twenty-first century, and with the exception of flying cars, our world has exceeed what many of our own grandfathers could have imagined. So when a large portion of the populace balks at young-earth creationism and the imminent rapture, well, perhaps we should stop being surprised. When did these things get added to the menu in the first place? Perhaps this is one case where we need to stop offering the combo. Stop upselling the Gospel into the “Biggie Size” monstrosity many evangelical churches are offering. This is what’s so ironic about the current declines at the conservative SBC. Some genuine “fundamentalism” would be a vast improvement.

And the clincher:

Unfortunately for the SBC, what looks like standing strong for the faith among those dutifully manning the parapets looks a lot like ignorance abetted by arrogance to much of the rest of the world. The result is, well…the figures speak for themselves. Clearly a moment of reflection is in order. I suppose it could yet occur to the someone in charge that the problem and it’s solution aren’t methodological after all. Perhaps this is what you get when you try to purge all diversity of thought from the body. Is it really helping the church when accomplished people like Howard Van Till and, more recently, Peter Enns, are hounded out of work because they don’t toe a particular theological line? Didn’t we just have a movie about this sort of thing called Expelled?

One high-profile member of my old church said of those of us who’d left that God was “spitting out the salt.” I’ve often thought this little theological malapropism had a lot of truth to it. And what’s true on the small scale is, I suspect, true of the SBC as a whole. If the numbers are any indication, the denomination appears to have lost a lot of flavor in recent years. The SBC response seems to be to crank up the effort. But to return to my already over-extended menu metaphor, I think the solution to this problem sounds a lot less like gearing up for another round of ideological purging and more like…

Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup!

Virgil Vaduva, using advanced calculations based on the latest modernist theological systems has calculated your chances of going to hell.