Posts Tagged Christianity
Outdated and Irrelevant
Posted by Dave Kirby in Challenge, Commentary, Encouragement, Uncategorized on October 4, 2011
Some think we are living in terrible times. I tend to think we are living in incredibly exciting times.
There can be no argument that things are changing around us. There is a societal shift happening that rivals some of the greatest cultural revolutions in history, as big as the invention of the printing press or the industrial revolution.
In America, we are in the midst of a transition to a post-industrial society. We no longer live in an assembly line world where the powerful few are in charge, while the masses show up, shut up, and do as they are told. Today’s world is an outsourced, work from home, iPod, unlimited choice, internet-driven culture where the individual is more in charge of their own destiny than ever before.
It’s a scary and exciting time.
Christianity was never meant to be anything else. Think about it: Jesus showed up on the scene challenging the authority and criticizing the top-down leadership of His day. He condemned the powerful few who swayed the masses through control and domination.
Through His death, Jesus released us from the need for the spiritual middle-man. He gave us direct access to God Himself. In an instant Jesus created a spiritual climate very similar to what we see going on culturally right now.
Yet the entirety of church history has been one long story of men trying to re-establish that control in the name of God. Popes and pulpits, denominations and doctrines all designed to tell God’s people what to do and how to do it, what to think and how to think it.
Jesus fought against it. The reformers fought against it. Brave warriors like William Tyndale and others gave their lives for it. For twenty centuries the battle has raged for the control of God’s people.
And for most of history we have played along. We have allowed others to tell us what to believe and what to think. We’ve been content to show up and shut up because it’s more comfortable that way. It’s easier to get spoon fed than it is to do the work of seeking God for ourselves.
But no more!
The world has changed, and as the church has failed to change with it we have become increasingly outdated and irrelevant. We are operating an old model in a new age. Factories are closing all around us, yet we are still operating church like it’s an assembly line. People are working from home or from Starbucks, yet we still want them to show up at a building at 9:00 on Sunday morning. We think they’re not interested in church, but the fact is they’re just tired of us trying to jam square pegs in round holes.
It’s time to let go of the control. It’s time to stop thinking of church as a top down institution, but rather a bottom up community. That’s the model taught by Jesus. Groups of believers coming together organically, directing their time and resources to doing the work of the kingdom instead of feeding the organizational beast. Yeah, not as many pastors earn salaries in the new model of church. When we all become the church, there might not be a need for a full time guy running the show.
Now is the time to win the battle once and for all. Christ’s coming was meant to be a radical shift in human consciousness. It’s a shift away from the control of the intermediaries between God and man. The curtain was torn. We are all face to face with the Father Himself.
If you have felt that something is not right, it’s for good reason. Things are not right. They are not even close to what God intended. I’m not suggesting that we change church to follow culture. I’m simply proposing that we get back to what it was intended to be all along.
It’s a shame it took 2,000 years and a cultural revolution to get us here.
False Profits
Posted by Dave Kirby in Challenge on September 27, 2011
Deuteronomy 13 gives us a pretty clear warning,
If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Understand, this is not some normal, everyday person. We are being warned about one who is considered a prophet, a man who performs miracles, someone able to work “signs and wonders.” I think if some guy showed up and performed a miracle, most of us would believe that he must be speaking with God’s blessing. I know if I saw some prophet work a supernatural sign, I would tend to believe what he says.
Yet this scripture tells us that even the one who works miracles is a false prophet if he entices us away from serving the Lord and obeying His commands.
We live in a pragmatic world.
The church today is often ruled by the mentality of “if it works, it must be right.” Have thousands of people attending your church? You must be on the right track. Getting attention from the world around you? You must be saying the right thing. Getting the desired results? You must be doing God’s work.
We have been told we can expect financial prosperity as though Jesus didn’t spend a great deal of His ministry warning those who are rich. We have been told we can expect happiness and fulfillment, as though the gospel were some sort of self-help technique. We have been told it’s okay to engage in the materialism around us when half the world’s population lives in poverty. And because those who have told us these things are considered “Christian leaders” with successful ministries, we have believed them without question.
But no matter how good they sound, they are false prophets.
Scripture is full of stories of those who were called by God, yet suffered lack and defeat. Prophets were murdered. Even Jesus was forsaken by all but a few. Modern day saints endure torture and persecution for the sake of Christ. Others live in extreme poverty. Others get sick and die. Things do not always work out the way we want them to. Christians are not always healthy, wealthy, and wise.
That’s not what the gospel is about. In fact, the gospel is the polar opposite of those things. The gospel that Jesus brought is about releasing us from the need for riches and success. It is about being content. It is about putting the needs of others before ourselves. It is about suffering so that others may be blessed.
So how do we know who to believe?
How do we know who is truly speaking the words of God? Here are 3 suggestions:
1. Get into God’s word for yourself. Read and study and find out what God’s plan is. When I started reading my Bible faithfully, I couldn’t believe how far modern Christianity is from what I saw in scripture.
2. Pray. Not just a little bit, either. Pray a lot. Put down your entertainment, lay aside the things that take up your time and attention and earnestly seek God. Press through the ADD and wandering mind and get down to business with God. He will speak to you, He wants to speak to you. In the process you will find that you need the words of man less and less.
3. Judge their words based on the truth of what you hear from God and read in His word. Don’t just take the words of man at face value, even if that man (or woman) is a respected and well known Christian leader.
Even if they run a big church. Even if they are on television or wrote a book. Even if they have the title Dr. or Rev. in front of their name. Even if they work a miracle, if they entice you away from the simplicity of the gospel, do not listen.
The Path to Freedom
Posted by Dave Kirby in Challenge, Encouragement on September 22, 2011
Think about it.
Each of us, like the Jewish people of old, can point to idolatry in our lives. We have made idols of our bodies. We have made idols of money and possessions. We have made idols of family, friends, time and entertainment. We have even turned our own religion into an idol. All of us have those things to which we turn for fulfillment or validation that exist outside of God and His will for us.
And because of our idolatry, like Israel, we are surrounded by Babylon. The Babylonian king was a tool used by God to punish His people and break them from their idolatry. And, like Nebuchadnezzar, the pressures of this life are used by God to bring an end to our idolatry.
Maybe we have idolized a lifestyle we cannot afford, and God is using financial crisis to turn our heart back to Him. Perhaps we’ve made an idol of food or substances , and God is using health problems to call us away from our dependence and back to a place of health. A failed relationship, a lost job, or any number of things could be that Nebuchadnezzar besieging our lives, putting pressure on us to give that area over to God.
I understand this is not always the case. I’m not saying all sickness or financial trouble is a result of sin in our lives. Jesus made that clear in Luke 13. Sometimes things happen for reasons we do not understand, and we cannot walk in a constant state of guilt, like we have brought all our own problems on ourselves.
But what if it is?
What if it is our fault? What if God is using our own private Nebuchadnezzar to bring us back to where we need to be? Isn’t it worth exploring? If so, we would be wise to listen to Jeremiah’s advice to the people of Judah,
Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be as a prize to him. For I have set My face against this city for adversity and not for good,” says the LORD. “It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.”
God has laid out that same choice to you and I as well. If you stay entrenched in your idolatry and worldliness, you will die. Failed marriages, broken lives, lost opportunities, and addictions are but a few examples of the death that comes from refusing to let go of our idols. Our churches and families are littered with the destruction that comes from Christian people refusing to lay down their idols.
But if you humble yourself and accept the destruction of your false gods, you will live. Accept His correction and repent of our idolatry, and watch as His healing power begins to transform our lives. I’m not saying we are guaranteed all our problems will disappear when we submit to God (in fact, they most likely will not.) But I am saying the path to spiritual and emotional healing begins with giving in to God’s call to forsake ourselves and follow Him completely.
Like Israel, it might take 70 years of captivity.
It might be humiliating and uncomfortable to confess our idolatry. It will be scary to let go of the gods to which we have clung so tightly in false security. To lay down our arms and stop fighting God will take incredible faith and trust in a loving Father who ultimately is using crisis to prove His love for us. Think about that for a minute. God ultimately allowed Israel to be destroyed because He loved His people enough to not allow them to continue in their wayward state. Are we willing to trust that same love in our lives as well?
In the end, do we have a choice?
Pat Robertson is not the problem
Posted by Dave Kirby in Challenge, Commentary on September 17, 2011
Let me start by saying this: I believe Pat Robertson is wrong. I think his advice this week to a man whose wife is suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease is totally out of sync with the spirit of our wedding vows and the sacrificial love to which we are called as Christians. Should my wife ever contract this dreaded disease, it is not Mr. Robertson’s advice I will be following.
What I find interesting, however, is the marketing blitz the rest of Christendom has initiated in the few days since Pat’s remarks. I’ve seen op-ed’s, blogs, commentaries, television appearances and more designed to show the world that the rest of we Christians are “not like Pat.” We have criticized, excoriated, condemned and otherwise separated ourselves from Pat Robertson. We have done everything we can to make it clear that Pat does not speak for the rest of the Christian community.
But Pat Robertson is not the problem.
You see, I don’t think his comments this week made the world think any more badly of Christians than they already do. Pat’s comments didn’t ruin the image of Christianity in the eyes of the world. They just confirmed it.
I think the vast majority of the non-Christian community already thinks we are cold, uncaring, unloving, judgmental, and self-serving. They have seen us picketing and protesting, judging and condemning. They hear us tell homeless people to “get a job.” They notice when we build expensive buildings for our own comfort when we are surrounded by poverty and need. They hear us claim to be “pro-family”, and then have the same divorce rate as the general population. They hear us condemn the “God Hates Fags” mentality of Westboro Baptist Church, but have seen by our actions how we quietly agree with them. We are quick to criticize and moralize, but slow to offer solutions, and the world knows it.
They’re not stupid.
In short, the world has already observed that we often do not follow the simplest commands of the Jesus we claim to serve. He called us to serve the poor, we have ignored them. He called us to love unconditionally, we have protested. He called us to be the light of the world, instead we have become just like them. Like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, we are more concerned with rules and law than we are about people who suffer.
Pat Robertson’s words this week didn’t cause that image, they just drove the nail deeper.
Yes, there are pockets of Christians following the commands of Christ. There are the stirrings of those who want to awaken from our slumber and get it right. But the church has an image problem. And Pat Robertson didn’t cause it, we did. I have caused it and you have caused it. By our actions or lack thereof, by the things we have done and left undone, we have brought reproach on the name of Christ. And until we all decide to die to self, follow Christ, and do His works, that image problem will continue.
The answer is to stop criticizing Pat and instead go love someone. Let’s stop politicizing and polarizing and go humbly serve the poor. Let’s stop trying to shape society and instead just follow Jesus. When Christians decide to simply live like Christ, society can’t help but be changed. If we had done this, then Pat’s comments would be nothing more than a blip on the radar. If the world saw more of Jesus, they would hear less of Pat Robertson.
Until we get to the root of the disease, no amount of criticizing the symptoms will make it better.
Legally Blind
Posted by Dave Kirby in Challenge on September 13, 2011
In Luke 13 Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. He noticed a woman in the room who was bent over and could not straighten herself up, an ailment from which she had suffered for eighteen years. Jesus immediately had compassion on this precious woman, laid hands on her and said, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” In an instant, her crippled and broken body became whole.
A great miracle, right?
But instead of rejoicing, the ruler of the synagogue became indignant, because Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath. He said to the crowd that had gathered, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.” His words reeked with cold-hearted judgment. Can’t you just feel his condescension and arrogance? This leader of the synagogue cared more about the technicalities of his legalistic system than he did about a woman who had suffered for eighteen years.
This is but one confrontation of many Jesus had with the Pharisees regarding healing the sick on the Sabbath. And to me, this is the essence of what it means to be a Pharisee. The leader looked right past a woman who had spent almost two decades in pain, blinded by his need to be right.
How often do we do the same?
Just like the Pharisee that day, the church has allowed our need to uphold the law to leave us indifferent to the needs of people. How often have we focused on the sin, instead of the person? How often have we been so concerned with our own sense of right and wrong that we have ignored the suffering of an individual? How often have we also been blinded by our need to be right and our need to win?
The Pharisee saw a Sabbath, Jesus saw a precious woman who needed to be released from her pain. The Pharisee saw a law that was broken, Jesus saw a woman who was broken. The Pharisee saw the letter of the law, Jesus saw its heart.
It’s a matter of focus
All too often we focus on the sin and forget the person behind it. We condemn the abominable act and ignore the person who has struggled with feelings they cannot just ignore. We are indignant against the addiction and look past the suffering of a precious soul locked in a prison he cannot escape. We judge the behavior of the poor, never stopping to examine the dehumanizing effects of poverty.
Are we so blinded by our need to condemn sin that we forget who we are condemning? We are condemning people. It’s easy to pass judgment on a group. We can dismissively write people off when they are part of the faceless “them.” But what about individual people with hearts and feelings? We have fought political battles and drawn lines in the sand. We have created a culture of “us” against “them.” We have polarized ourselves into groups and separated ourselves from the ones who need His mercy the most.
Jesus didn’t see groups, He saw people. He didn’t condemn “adulterers,” instead He showed mercy to a woman who had been caught in the act. He didn’t dismiss “Sabbath violators,” he simply healed a woman who had suffered for eighteen years. He didn’t ignore a thief on the cross, but even in death had compassion on a repentant soul.
We are called to love
I think many feel to simply love another without judgment somehow makes them guilty of approving of the person’s sin. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The fact is, they are sinning against God, not us. And He is more than able to hold them accountable for their actions. When they stand before their maker, they will have no excuse. Besides, Jesus was accused of being easy on sin as well.
We seem to feel the need to confront evil. So did Jesus. He confronted the evil of arrogant, hypocritical condemnation and judgment. He confronted the Pharisees and the evil of their adherence to law at the expense of mercy. He regularly confronted those who placed their own need to be right ahead of the needs of others to be healed.
Jesus called us, by His words and actions, to love the sinner and have compassion on the outcast. There were no qualifications. There were no conditions. Mercy trumps judgment. Grace overcomes condemnation. Jesus heals, no matter what the law says.
The Pharisee sees sinners in need of judgment. Jesus sees sinners in need of redemption.
What do we see?
What happened to God?
Posted by Dave Kirby in Encouragement on September 1, 2011
One of my favorite stories in the Bible is when Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings. And while I love the story of how God proved His might and power over the false gods of Israel, calling fire down from heaven, I think I like what happened next even more.
After that great victory, I’m sure Elijah was riding a surge of adrenaline, feeling pretty good about how things had gone. The fire came down from heaven, right there in front of him, just as he had prayed. You talk about a spiritual high!
But Elijah came down from the mountain.
Queen Jezebel had gotten word of what had happened, how Elijah had executed the prophets of Baal. This enraged the wicked queen, and she swore to see Elijah executed by that time tomorrow.
Suddenly there is Elijah, fresh off his incredible victory, running for his life. He headed a day’s journey into the wilderness, perplexed and distressed. The Bible says he sat down under a juniper tree and prayed to die, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” You can hear the depression and anxiety in his prayer and feel the hopelessness. Here is a guy who just called fire down from heaven, sitting under a tree, feeling abandoned by God and praying to die.
God led Elijah even deeper into the wilderness. Forty days he traveled to the mountain of God, Mount Sinai. God asked him, as he stood on the mountain, what was wrong. Elijah replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
At the pinnacle of his career, at the height of his victory, we see this man of God baring the hopelessness of his fears before God. He had accomplished the greatest work of his life, and was left thinking “now what?” So God told him to go stand on the mountain. As Elijah stood there, he encountered a great wind, an earthquake, and a fire. But the Bible tells us that God was not in any of those experiences. Then Elijah heard a still small voice, or translated better, “a delicate whispering voice.” And Elijah covered his face, for he knew God was there.
How often do we look for God in the big things?
We seem to think the mighty victories is where we find God. We expect God to show Himself in the fire from heaven, or the earthquake, wind or fire. Yet, it is often during those experiences, or right after, that we find ourselves let down and hopeless. We have looked for God in the monumental, and missed Him in the mundane.
All too often, we think we must start the international ministry or do some other magnificent act. And while God calls us to do great things for Him, we must never
forget that He is far more concerned with the state of our hearts than He is with what we do. God is far more concerned about what He does in you than what you do for Him. God is found, not always in the wind, the earthquake or the fire. He is found in that delicate whispering voice, speaking to us in the midst of our fear and despair, assuring us that He is there.
Am I anti-accomplishment?
No, I’m not telling you God doesn’t want you to win great battles for Him. I’m not implying that none of us are called to confront the prophets of Baal in our own world and culture. What I am saying is this: Do not put your trust in those great things. Do not put your hope in the works, but the God who does them. Do not put your trust in the victory, but in the God who wins it. Do not base your life on what you do for God, but what He does in you.
The wind, the earthquake, the fire, and the victory might forsake you. You might find yourself, in the wake of great victory, running for your life. But that delicate whispering voice of God, assuring you of His presence, is always there.
That’s something worth trusting.
The Religious Wrong?
Posted by Dave Kirby in Challenge on August 30, 2011
They didn’t get it.
They thought they knew the scripture. After all, they were experts in the scripture; why wouldn’t they understand what it said about the Messiah? Yet for all their expertise, all their knowledge of the Jewish Bible, they missed it. The words were right there in front of them. In fact, they probably knew them by heart, and yet they did not understand.
He was born in a way they did not expect. He lived in a way they could not understand. He even died at their own hands, the hands of those who should have seen and heralded His coming. Their dogma let them down. Their certainty became their blinders.
There is a word for those who think they have God all figured out.
Pharisee.
The great weakness of the Pharisees was their arrogance. They were convinced they knew exactly what the scripture promised. They doggedly held on to their preconceptions, doctrines and dogmas even in the face of the miracles Jesus performed. They saw what He did and heard what He said, but could not make the connection between the prophecies and their fulfillment.
They thought they had God all figured out. They thought they had the Master of the Universe in a box. They thought they had an intellectual and spiritual handle on the God who Himself claimed “My thoughts are higher than your thoughts, and My ways are higher than your ways.”
Perhaps we are not as smart as we think we are.
We all seem so certain of our doctrine. We have divided off into groups, sure of our own take on the truth. We have argued and fought with those who disagree with us. We justify the mistreatment of those we don’t understand, just like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day oversaw the elimination of the One who wouldn’t play by their rules. Our rules and doctrines have, just like 2,000 years ago, become more important than people.
But what if our understanding of the scripture is clouded by our own preconceptions? What if, like the Pharisees, we are so settled in our arrogant self-assurance that we cannot see the simple truth in front of our faces?
It’s not that complicated.
Jesus didn’t spend much of His time on doctrine. I believe this was intentional. Those around Him, the religious leaders of the day, seemed to have a corner on that market. Jesus doctrine was pretty simple. In fact, I believe it can be focused down to one word: love. “A new commandment I give to you,” He told His disciples, “that you love one another, as I have loved you.” Simple. No complicated system of theology. Just love others in the way He loved us.
So how did He love us?
He loved us before we loved Him. His love extended to those who didn’t agree with Him, didn’t believe in Him, even those who nailed Him to the cross. He loved those who fought against Him and tried to eliminate Him. He loves regardless of whether His love is returned.
He loved us unconditionally. There were no requirements to be met before we could experience His grace. He offers it freely to anyone, regardless of what they do, where they are, or where they have been. There are no prerequisites, no demands, no qualifications on His love.
He loved us lavishly. “How great a love has the Father bestowed on us, that we should be called His sons?” He did more than forgive. He did more than forget. He restored us, cleaned us up, and adopted us as His very children.
I could go on. The list could fill this whole blog of ways that Christ has loved us. How do we measure up? Do we love sinners mercifully, unconditionally and
freely? He did not say the world would know we are His disciples by our correct position on the nature of the sacraments or our eschatology. He said they would know we are his followers by how we love. Perhaps that’s why the world doesn’t really feel they need Christianity any longer.
There is truth.
This is not some postmodern rant against absolute truth. This is not an attack on doctrine. The truth of scripture can be known as it is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. But that truth should be held delicately. Our understanding of the truth must be tempered by humility and an understanding of our own frailty. Otherwise, truth turns into a weapon. Christians in the middle ages thought they were justified in burning witches at the stake. Christians in the 50’s thought the Bible condoned burning crosses on the lawns of black men.
What don’t we understand?
Too Many Masters
Posted by Dave Kirby in Encouragement on August 23, 2011
Numbers 33:4 “…also on their gods the Lord had executed judgment.”
God did more than just send random plagues on Egypt. He was accomplishing more than just trying to make the Egyptians miserable enough to release the Israelites from slavery. He could have accomplished that in one plague instead of ten.
God was executing judgment on the gods and on the pride of Egypt. He was proving their gods to be false, to be subject to His will, and to be powerless to save them. God was exposing the gods of Egypt for the false gods they were. Egypt considered the Nile River to be a god, so it turned to blood. They considered the calf to be a god, so the cattle died. He attacked the pride of their civilization and culture by sending flies, lice and frogs. He judged their fertility gods by destroying the crops with locust and fiery hail.
In Exodus 18, when they met up in the wilderness after the Red Sea crossing, Moses father-in-law said to him, “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them.” God proved to Egypt the utter futility of trusting in any god besides Himself.
This changes our view of trials.
Perhaps, when God allows plagues or hardship to come into our lives, it is not just to make us miserable. He is not just punishing us for being bad. Perhaps, 
like the Egyptians, God is destroying and rendering powerless those gods in which we have placed our trust.
Isaiah 26:13 says, “…masters besides You have had dominion over us…” It is these masters that God wants to destroy. Not because He is mad at us, but because He knows it is for our benefit that we have no other masters. Look at the prior verse in Isaiah 26, “Lord, You will establish peace for us…” This is His plan. This is His purpose. He wants to show us the utter powerlessness of those other gods in whom we have placed our trust.
Like Israel, God wants to deliver us from bondage.
Like Israel, God knows He must judge the gods of this world before they will release us. So instead of complaining about the plagues, let us instead turn our eyes to the God who is bringing us deliverance for that bondage. Instead of running from hardship, let us instead see the masters other than God who have had dominion over us.
And let us rejoice in the judgment of these masters, that we might live in the freedom of belonging only to our loving Father.
It’s the only way we get to the Promised Land.
How much is enough?
Posted by Dave Kirby in Challenge, Commentary, Encouragement on August 16, 2011
In 2 Timothy 4, Paul gave Timothy a warning about the church,
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up
for themselves teachers”
You don’t have to look very far to see that happening these days. Everywhere you look there is another book, another sermon, another song or message or article. We have become a people who are addicted to encouragement. In our fast paced society of the immediate, we become quickly bored with the familiar and are in constant search for something new and different. It’s like we are constantly hitting “check mail” on our spiritual inbox, hoping for the next big thing to hit and excite us.
A recent study by the World Health Organization revealed that those from the richer countries were more likely to suffer depression. Maybe our wealth and comfort have made us depressed, so we go searching for the next bit of good news, hoping it will lift our spirits.
The promise of “more” – more stuff, more money and more comfort – has left us with less.
We have less time, less connection, less happiness than ever. One of the things that hits me hardest when I visit developing nations is their joy. In spite of extreme poverty, they overflow with joy and love and generosity. I believe this is because they know what is important.
In our pursuit of more we have forsaken our time with God. We don’t pray that much and don’t study His word that much. We have lost communication with Him and with one another. And instead of getting our priorities straight and reordering our lives, we have simply let others do the work. We let the pastor study God’s word and bring the message on Sunday. “Just give me my 3 points to a better life.” We are just like the Israelites who saw the mountain burning and felt the earth tremble at the voice of Yahweh. “Moses, you go hear from God and come back and tell us what He says,” was their response.
Look, I’m not bashing anyone. I know life is hard and we all need help. And I’m not saying we don’t need pastors and encouragement. But the answers are not just around the corner in some new teaching. The answers to life’s problems are where they have always been found. They are in a deeper connection with Jesus and with each other.
You want 3 points? Here they are:
1. Spend whatever time with God you must. Reorder your life. Give some things up. Your idols have promised you happiness and left you empty. Only He can satisfy. So take the time to drink deeply of His water and let it quench your thirst. Other things will grow strangely dissatisfying when you taste of His goodness. Like the late missionary Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
2. Live in community with others. Our modern church culture has made it possible for us to show up on Sunday morning, do our duty, and never have to make ourselves vulnerable to others. Find a small community of believers and live life together. Depression can be the only alternative when we are cut off from others and left to fend for ourselves. You must be joined with others who know you, love you, challenge you, and accept you unconditionally. It’s out there. Don’t give up until you find it.
3. Stop searching for more. I think this is a big reason Christians in poverty seem to have so much joy in spite of their situation. They don’t expect more all the time. They have learned to be content, even in extreme poverty. They are thankful for what they have instead of always reaching for the “elusive next.” Be content. Be thankful. Rejoice in what God has already done in your life, and submit the rest to Him. He knows what is best, and your steps are ordered by Him.
These are just 3 points. They are not the only 3 points. They do not replace hearing directly from God about your life and your direction. I’m not bringing the stone tablets down from the mountain here. That’s your job. That’s the whole point. God wants to deal directly with you. You don’t have to go through a preacher, an author or any other middleman.
Quitting Christianity 
But What If…?
Posted by Dave Kirby in Challenge, Commentary on October 6, 2011
Martin Luther dared to proclaim that God’s forgiveness for sins could not be purchased for money. He also declared God’s grace as the only source of
forgiveness, the Bible as the only source of divinely revealed knowledge, and that all believers are a priesthood before Christ, not a select few. For these “heresies” he was excommunicated.
When Galileo suggested the radical notion that the earth was not the center of the solar system he was tried and found “vehemently suspect of heresy.” He was not excommunicated, but was required to “abjure, curse, and detest” his opinions and was placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life.
These actions seem silly as we look at them through the lens of our modern beliefs. The selling of indulgences seems to us to be as foolish as believing the earth is flat. But to the religious leaders of their day, the dangerous thoughts of liberals like Martin Luther and Galileo were a challenge to their belief system and a threat they could not endure.
What if beliefs we hold dear are just as silly?
I’m not saying they are. But what if they are? What if some future generation will look at ours with the same disbelief as we look back at Martin Luther or Galileo? Those who persecuted them had the same Bible we possess. What if, like then, our current understanding of the truth has been so clouded by our cultural, political and social prejudices that we cannot see any other way but ours?
Truth is real. It is absolute. It can be nothing less. The truth that the sun is the center of the solar system did not change because the church leaders considered it heresy. The truth is what it is, regardless of whether we acknowledge, believe, or follow it. The truth exists regardless of opposition by politicians or popes.
But truth is not the problem, we are.
What if we have believed and taught things that are based on our own understanding of the truth, but in reality are far from it? What if we have held others to standards they were never meant to follow? What if, like in the days of Luther and Galileo, our own politics, preconceptions and prejudices have tainted our understanding and caused us to refuse to accept an alternate reality. What if we are clinging to the earth being the center of the universe?
What if we have excommunicated others for less? I’m not talking about some official, church sanctioned excommunication. I’m talking about the millions who have been driven away from Christ by our lack of humility. I have said in a previous post that truth must be handled delicately and with humility, otherwise it becomes a weapon. Beliefs in the absence of love are dangerous things. Wars are fought over beliefs. People die when others become so defensive of their position that they feel the infidels must be eliminated.
The gospel frees us from the need to always be right. When I truly grasped the enormity of God’s grace shown to a worthless loser like me, it released me from my arrogant notion that it all depends on me. My right beliefs or correct doctrine don’t make God love me more than He already does.
Put down the pitchforks. I’m not telling you what you believe is wrong. I’m not demanding that you accept the sun as the center of the solar system. I’m just asking you to have enough of an open mind to consider the possibility that it might be.
Christianity, Galileo, heresy, humility, Martin Luther, pride, truth
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