"The Hope of the Earth"

Tonight, watching the Republican National Convention, I heard Mitt Romney say that President John McCain and Vice President Sara Palin will keep America, as it has always been, the hope of the Earth.

Let me relieve those of you who suffer under the illusion that America is the hope of the earth. That is about as Messianic a description as a man could conjure up to describe a thing. And America, however great it may be in so many ways, is not the (or a) Messiah.

Those of us who tend to be politically conservative better be cautious in our understandings of America. I presume Mr. Romney had a slip of the tongue and does not really believe that America is the hope of the Earth. But our language is important. And our use of it is indicative (or should be) of real thoughts.

Make no mistake. The only hope the Earth has or ever had is the cross of Christ. Christians, Republican or Democrat or Libertarian or Green or Independent, had best get this straight.

I am not Bear Grylls.

I wrote one post about Bear Grylls. In fact, it was only a sentence. Since then, I have received two love letters to Bear Grylls in my comment box on that post.
In light of this, I would like to clear things up for everyone.
In spite of the resemblance and similar skill set, Bear Grylls and I are two different people. I'm not even the Bear Grylls version of Clark Kent. I just think he's cool.

A Thesaurus of Sin

Maybe it doesn't happen every day, but it sure seems like it. I often hear someone (sometimes myself) calling a sin by some word that camouflages the sinfulness of it with either casual or psychological language. For example someone will post on Facebook that he is procrastinating. Of course, he is procrastinating. The problem is that he may or may not realize that procrastination is just a nickname for a good old-fashioned sin called idleness. Another day I may hear someone talking about being soooooooooo busy. She is completely anaware that her real problem is pride, greed, selfishness, or idolatry. If we are to spur one another on toward good deeds, we better get our language cleared up. To this end, I'd like to offer a brief thesaurus, only 4 items, of sin. I'll add to this from time to time. Feel free to make suggestions in the comment box.

Thesaurus:

Self-absorption: n. pride, idolatry, worldliness, greed, loveless

Procrastination: n. sluggardliness, laziness, idleness, worldliness, futility of mind

Inconsiderate: adj. see self-absorption

Conceited: adj. arrogant, boastful, love of self, idolatrous

“Sooooooooo Busy”: informal. adj. see self-absorption

I Love Bear Grylls

Here is one reason why I love Bear Grylls .

Sissies Out, Masculinity In

What is a sissy? Visions of boys playing flute or wearing an apron and making cheesecake may rush to mind. Maybe a picture of the Squire from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with "clothes so flowery he looks like a meadow" is painted in the mind's eye. Painted toenails, girlie jeans, and shaven legs may crowd into the scene. Admittedly, I'd be tempted to throw the "s-word" at any or all of the above. But this isn't exactly what I mean.
First, let's look at the way men are made. Some are large, some are small. Some are strong, some are weak. Some are fast, some are slow. Some can see, some are blind. Some are crippled. Some are attractive, some are ugly (there is no I in ugly, but there is a u--just thought I'd point that out). If we go about defining masculinity in terms that eliminate some men from the moment of their conception, it seems clear that we've done violence to the concept as it is presented to us in nature. What's left, then? If all men may potentially be rightly masculine, then how can we define masculinity without taking down the "no sissies allowed" sign?
It seems that the only leftovers when we eliminate that which is strictly biological and genetic are the drives of the soul. We'll take a few of these in turn--all implications from Genesis 1ff.

1. The drive to make things better. God put the man in the garden and he was told to cultivate it. This desire has not evaporated from the masculine soul. Men should be interested in making things better than they are--systems, people, cars, grills, bands, churches, governments--all things are natural and right objects of the ingenuity of men. That doesn't mean women never have this inclination. It just means that men certainly should. I can't fix my car (which messes up a lot). I can barely fix my hair (which messes up more). I do have a passionate drive to fix things, though. It'll look a little different for every guy, but it should be there.

2. The drive to work. Enough said. Get a job. If you are unable to work, you will be the first to agree that this drive is central to your masculinity. Know that it is the drive, not the faculty to carry it, out that makes you fully masculine. For you lazy suckers, You're not too good to flip burgers and you're not too pretty to dig ditches. Get a job.

3. The drive to relate rightly with women. Masculinity is meaningless without femininity. Men are made to relate with women--even men who will be single for their entire lives. There's been enough written on this topic. I will say that the man who beats his wife is just as surely a sissy as the man who is henpecked. I'd bet the abusive scumbag has a glass jaw and I'd love to find out. These are extremes, though. Daniel Montgomery put it very simply in a recent sermon. He challenged men to treat women honorably--honorable means and honorable ends. We would all do well to heed this word.

There's much more. However, I'd like to close with a word on what to do with sissies while they still exist. First of all, we all have to recognize that whether we like it or not, there is a sissy alive inside us. It's called the flesh. Emasculation (however physically painful it could be if taken too literally) is much easier than masculinity. When we realize the wrong that we're tempted to do and the shortcuts we're tempted to take, we will be slow to throw stones. We have to love the sissy and hate the sissy-ness. Should sissies be welcome in church? Yes. Should sissies be welcome to remain sissies? No. So we have to welcome sissies just like we welcome drunks and whores and racists and liars and murderers and thieves--with the word of truth that brings the grace of conviction and healing and transformation: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I hate the sissy inclinations of the masculine soul as much as the next guy. But I can guarantee you (as I can guarantee myself) if you'll look at your own life through the lens of God's word, you'll see you ain't no better. So let's seek to grow together into the men God has called us to be, admitting where we've gone wrong and seeking to have Christ formed in us as long as we are here on this earth together.

Diagnasty Questions

I had the pleasure recently of being visited by some Jehovah's Witnesses. I was friendly as could be, even though I was in a huge hurry at the time. Then, when I explained I was a Christian who had a church home already, I saw it. The sweet lady had to stick her tongue out the side of her mouth and stare up to the left (just for a split second, mind you) in order to remember her script. Sure enough, just a microsecond later she was back on track. I felt like I had just found a gap in the texture of the universe. I got an incidental peek into the back room.

Then it dawned on me. This lady was doing just what many evangelical Christians have been trained to do. Memorize the script (Evangelism Explosion, Faith, GROW, whateverotherbrandnameyourchurchuses, etc.). These well meaning folks have been taught that they can use diagnostic questions to determine exactly what this person is like, and can then proceed to the proper procedure as though each target is just like everyone else in the world. It's almost like choose your own adventure evangelism. Every read is different, but not THAT different. Having been on the receiving end of diagnostic questions, I am sorry to report that they are not at all conducive to diagnosing anything. They are more diagnasty than diagnostic.

Take the question the lady asked me. "What do you think the future holds?" Look at that question. Read it. Pretend someone just asked you. What would you say? I probably said something like "taxes". But inside I was wondering what secret info this lady had. The best anyone can do with a question like this is a humble admission of ignorance. Followers of Jesus know He's coming back at some time in the future. Besides that, who knows? This shows the real intent of the question. Since every honest person would answer the same way, the question can be anything but diagnostic.

So what is the real purpose of the question? It must be designed for the purpose of making the other person feel ignorant. This doesn't mean that the sweet lady wanted me to feel ignorant. She was just following her script, trusting that those who taught her had wielded rightly their responsibility to teach truth. Most believers are doing the same when they ask the evangelical version of the diagnostic question, like "do you know for certain where you will spend eternity?" Granted, this version isn't nearly as closed-ended as the one I got. Still, the fact remains that the entire approach short-circuits relationship while at the same time teaching believers to be satisfied with a sound byte interactions with the world.

Next time you start to do "evangelism training" at your church, evaluate what you are teaching. Are you teaching your people to have God-centered conversations? Or are you teaching them to ask high-pressure questions designed to make the other person feel ignorant or fearful?
Are you teaching your people to consider each person as an individual person complete with his own life experiences and his own story? Or are you teaching them to see each person as a target more or less like all the rest of the targets?

Hopefully no one from your church will get caught sticking out her tongue and staring up to the left trying to remember the next sentence in the script.

An Easter Treat

Saw this poem at Martin Cothran's blog, Veri Loqui--thought i'd pass it along. It's by Wendell Berry, who, if you're unfamiliar, is one of the brightest minds of our time.

He Rests in Rising

by Wendell Berry

What hard travail God does in death!
He strives in sleep, in our despair,
And all flesh shudders underneath
The nightmare of His sepulcher.

The earth shakes, grinding its deep stone;
All night the cold wind heaves and pries;
Creation strains sinew and bone
Against the dark door where He lies.

The stem bent, pent in seed, grows straight
And stands. Pain break in song. Surprising
The merely dead, graves fill with light
Like opened eyes. He rests in rising.