Acting Undignified Over a Chicken Sandiwch

I'm constantly disappointed with the way this Chik-fil-A situation is unfolding - especially with the way my fellow Christians are reacting to it.

Fellow Believers, what was your response when the mayor of Boston announced that he was going to try and block the restaurant from his town?  Was it anything short of love?  Did you think it would be funny to mail him chicken sandwiches or talk trash about him behind his back?  How many of you have called him "stupid" or insulted him in some other way - and, does that seem Christ-like, to you?

"Us vs. Them" is not going to cut it.  Rather than fighting a social battle against the Chik-fil-A haters, find a way to show them kindness and respect.  It's OK to support your favorite restaurant, but to do so with a disrespectful attitude is wrong.

It's time for us to put down our clubs and stop fighting the people we are supposed to be caring about.  Christians constantly find themselves in a public battle where they are defending their faith at all turns, but we can put an end to that.  Don't fight that battle; just love your neighbor, don't meet their insults with your own, and don't fight a war when you can love someone, instead.

I've been in a lot of places where my faith was publicly criticized, but I usually put an end to it by being kind to the very people who tried to hurt me.  It never helps to try and escalate the battle.

So, support Chik-fil-A all you want, but if you don't do it kindly then you're not representing you faith very well.

Friday Stuff: N.T. Wright Sings Dylan, Christians with Aspergers, and more.

- The Gideons Didn't Leave That One.  At the hotel in England, the staff have taken the Bible out of the guest rooms and replaced it with the book 50 Shades of Grey.  In my opinion, the tradition of leaving Bibles in hotel rooms isn't going to be around forever, given our society's hostility toward Christians.  This might be the start of a major trend.



- Don't try this at your next retreat: Last week, 21 people were treated for burns after a motivational speaker told them to walk on hot coals.


-What's it like to be a Christian with Asperger's?  In this interesting article from Rachel Held Evans a woman tells about her struggles with this and how difficult it is to be around people who want her to act "normal."  I highly recommend reading it because many people you'll meet with similar problems are struggling just like she is, and most people are good at making the problem worse.


And, as promised, N.T. Wright singing Bob Dylan's 'When the Ship Comes In':

Be Careful Who You Call a Hero

Reading the news the past few weeks has been a sobering reminder to me that we use the term "hero" way too casually.  Sometimes it's because we call people heroes for the strangest reasons (For example, winning an all-you-can-eat contest probably doesn't qualify you as being a hero ...).  Other times it's because we assume people who belong to certain categories must be heroic.

WARNING: Playing this game will not automatically make you a hero ... Or a musician ... Or cool ...

If you were paying attention the past few weeks, we learned (again) that not all soldiers are heroes.  One Air Force instructor has been convicted of several accounts of sexual assault against female instructees, and quite a few others are still facing charges.  It is the most dangerous form of patriotism to assume that everyone who puts on the uniform does so for the right reasons, and then acts honorably and justly while in the uniform.  Soldiers are not automatically heroes.


We also learned (again) that not all sports figures are heroes.  The continuing fallout from the situation at Penn State has shocked and saddened all who have been following it, I think.  Joe Paterno, whose mantra was "success with honor," has had both of those words stripped from his legacy in many ways as of late.  Certainly, if the Freeh report is accurate, no amount of football players invested in or libraries built can make up for allowing the destruction of vulnerable, young lives.  Even his "success" has been hit hard as he had 111 wins taken away from his officially tally, making him no longer the winningest coach in Division I history.  Beloved sports figures -- especially the remarkably successful ones -- get too much of a free pass in our society.  Players and coaches are not automatically heroes.

Certainly a mixed legacy, at best.

The murder trial of Drew Peterson and a recent decision by the New Orleans Police Department to accept federal oversight and correction remind us (again) that not all police officers are heroes, either.  (I'll let you read up on those stories yourself with the handy-dandy links I provided).

To be clear, I want to live in a world that has heroes ... and I think I do! Also, I am not suggesting that the stories I mentioned above are typical representatives of the men and women in each of those groups.  However, I do think it is incredibly dangerous to assume that because someone fills a role that we might see as noble -- or even heroic -- that he or she is thus obviously noble or heroic as an individual.  When we give free passes to our military, our athletes, or our police officers (or any other group, for that matter!) we set ourselves up for disaster.


Again, I don't want to live in a society so cynical that it has no heroes.  Instead, I want to live in a society so sober and circumspect that it knows when and to whom to apply the label.  

Christian Worldview 101: The Playlist

One of my favorite traditions with my husband is to make themed mix-CDs whenever we go on a road trip. 

The themes can be about anything, but many of the most meaningful have been spiritual themes. The great thing about the “spiritual” mixes is that we don’t always have enough “Christian” songs to complete the theme, so we end up using “secular” songs in ways we wouldn’t have imagined, and we see both those songs and our faith in a new way. Some of my favorites have included a different CD for each week of Advent, CDs for Holy Week, one called “notes from God,” which comprised a collection of songs that sounded like they were written from God’s point of view, and, my personal favorite, “Christian Worldview 101,” which told the Christian story of Creation, Fall, and Redemption through songs. Here are the track listings:

Creation (and its implications: Creation is good, God had a plan before time began, nature reveals God, and humanity is made in God’s image as fellow creators)

1. “Good Day Sunshine” by The Beatles
2. “Before There Was Time” by Caedmon’s Call
3. “God of Creation” by David Crowder Band
4. “Let There Be Light” by Andrew Peterson
5. “Calling Out Your Name” by Rich Mullins

The Fall (Edenic fall into sin and representations of its effects)

6. “Adam” by The Bittersweets
7. “Revenge” by Jon Foreman
8. “Not California” by Hem
9. “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles

Longing for the Messiah:

10. “Meant to Live” by Switchfoot
11. “Waiting on the World to Change” by John Mayer
12. “Peace Child (O Come Emmanuel)” by The Normals

Life of Christ -- incarnation and death on cross (okay, I know the Sufjan song is about Santa and stuff, but, as I wrote last Christmas, nothing else expresses Christmas joy quite as well as this song, for me):

13. “Come On! Let’s Boogie to the Elf Dance” by Sufjan Stephens.
14. “How Deep the Father’s Love For Us” by Stewart Townsend, as performed live by Skillet

Redemption -- from individual conversion to the general defeat of death to the eternal reign of Christ:

15. “Remedy” by David Crowder Band
16. “I Saw the Light” by Hank Williams (and others), as performed by David Crowder Band
17. “Baptize my Mind” by Jon Foreman
18. “Death Shall Have No Dominion” by The Bittersweets
19. “Raise Up the Crown (All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name)” by Chris Tomlin
20. “In the House of God Forever” by Jon Foreman

Aside from revealing some obvious biases in my music taste (you have to like folk-rock to enjoy this playlist), these songs, for me, tell the story of Christianity in a unique and moving way. I could explain each of the choices, but I think the songs speak better than I could. So, I made a Youtube playlist with all the songs. The only one I couldn’t find is “Death Shall Have No Dominion” by The Bittersweets, so here's the Grooveshark link for that. Also, while writing this, I realized that I forgot to include Eleanor Rigby, by the Beatles, but you all know that one already, right? -- Right? -- I mean, if you don't, for the love of everything good and beautiful, go buy the Beatles Number 1 hits CD right now to start your education!


Enjoy!

Friday Stuff: That "Old Book" smell,Jeff Foxworthy, and more.

- Ever wonder why old books have a unique smell?  (To some of us it's the most comforting smell in the world.)  The always resourceful people at Mental Floss have an answer for you.

- Remember the Arizona pastor who was arrested for holding Bible studies in his house?  (Local law says you can't have more than 12 visitors without a permit.)  Well, he's been fined $12,000, and now he's facing a few years in jail for not paying it.  If you're gonna break the law for Jesus, then you'd better be prepared to face the penalty.

- Bizarro World.  Someone's protesting the White House for religious reasons.  Sound like business as usual?  This time it's a group of athiests who are protesting; they say that members of the White House are praying for an end to the drought, and the Council for Secular Humanism believes it's unconstitutional.

- If you're a fan of Jeff Foxworthy, you might be interested in his new game show, American Bible Challenge, where Foxworthy challenges people to answer Bible trivia questions in order to raise money for charity groups.  (If you hear someone complaining about the show's Christian theme, then be sure to ask them why they hate charity.) It'll be on the Game Show Network. Here's Jeff Foxworthy to tell you all about it:

Ridiculous Christian Websites

"It is not good to have zeal without knowledge," as Proverbs 19:2 tells us (NIV 1984).

There are Christian websites that have not benefited from this advice. Two of my favorite examples are below.

1. This website, which purports to expose C. S. Lewis as a heretic, is cearly motivated by a zeal for good, solid theology; they may even have solid theology, of a conservative, Protestant, evangelical sort. But that's the best I can say for it; this site doesn't have a clue about Lewis.

From this website we can learn not only that "It is not good to have zeal without knowledge." It is also not good to have a zeal for orthodoxy without also having love. (I hope I have done better myself.) It also helps to have a modicum of good scholarship.

2. The unforgettable DemonBuster.com is surely the best of the best when it comes to ridiculous Christian websites. I think it should speak for itself, so I will say no more, except this: You may want to turn down the volume on your computer after a minute or so; the music gets old fast (if you've been before, try going again; now there are words to the music!).

Of course, no website is perfect. Perhaps, from time to time, and to paraphrase Algernon Moncreiff, we here at TTC have been very ridiculous in our own small way. One should never take oneself too seriously. Speaking of C. S. Lewis, I think he said that before I did.

Update: Apparently DemonBuster.com no longer plays its music on a loop. It's safe to leave your volume up.

Will the real Pat Robertson please stand up?

Firefighters are still working to contain and extinguish the deadly wildfires that ravished, among other places, Colorado Springs, and I have still yet to hear anything from Robertson (or anyone else of similar ilk) about these fires being the judgment of God on the city of Colorado Springs. This is a problem. Or at least, it brings up a problem in the kind of Natural-Disasters-Equal-Judgment theology Robertson espouses.

Why would Katrina and her aftermath be judgment and the Colorado fires not be? And if the fires aren't judgment, what are they? A test? A trial? And if so, why is no one talking about that? If the fires were arson related, why hasn't God stopped them, or at least made the weather cooperate better so the firefighters could stop them? Is it really that the Evangelical Mecca of Colorado Springs is under judgment and no one wants to talk about it? Has Focus on the Family angered God? Or maybe the numerous prosperous Christian ministries in Colorado Springs just aren't enough to compensate for the Earth-loving hippies? Someone please explain how exactly this works. When is it judgment and when is it not? And how can we know?

I am rather disinclined to believe any natural disaster is the physical manifestation of God's wrath being poured out on a particular people (though I realize that disinclination probably derives at least in part from my cultural (generational) biases), but are rather a side affect, if you will, of the Fall, part of what Scripture calls the Earth's "groanings" that resulted from humankind's break of fellowship with God, and which will at long last be alleviated when Christ returns to heal all wounds.

What I do know is that the overarching narrative of the Bible affirms God is characteristically in the habit of using anything, no matter how tragic, no matter how opposite from his original/creational orientations, to bring redemption and reconciliation... if we're open to it.

I have close family in Colorado Springs; my throat catches when I think of how they have been in danger and easily could have been in worse danger. I'm not simply writing this post to take a cheap shot at Pat Robertson (because let's face it, he's a pretty easy target). I'm writing because this kind of mini-doomsday theology is problematic and, for many like me, profoundly personal.

What Were the Pilgrims' Religious Motives for Coming to America?

Usually, Pilgrim posts don't start popping up until Thanksgiving! However, a friend of mine texted me some questions about Pilgrims that came up earlier today as part of a Fourth of July breakfast conversation, and I thought that the answers might be of general interest to all of our readers.  And July 4th seems as good a day for a Pilgrim's post as Thanksgiving!

DID THE PILGRIMS COME TO AMERICA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM?

Short answer: 
Not like you think.

Long answer:
When we think of religious freedom, especially in our pluralistic culture, we usually mean the right of all individuals to practice their religious beliefs as they see fit.  This was most certainly NOT a principle to which the Pilgrims were committed.

The Pilgrims believed they were rightly practicing Christianity and that the established state churches in Europe were not.  However, the state churches refused to allow the Pilgrims to practice their faith outside their institutions, so the Pilgrims fled in response to the ensuing persecution.

So they certainly fled to America for religious freedom for themselves.  However, they could be quite harsh in dealing with religious dissidents within their own communities.  What the Pilgrims valued was establishing right-practicing Christian communities ... NOT religious communities where individuals were free to practice their faith according to their own conscience.


DID THE PILGRIMS COME TO AMERICA TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL?

Short answer: Ummm, sort of?

Long answer:
The Pilgrims came to America to consciously create a "city on a hill." However, I would say that the "light" from this "city" was intended to shine more brightly on Europe than the Americas. They hoped that by establishing communities that rightly practiced Christianity they could bring about conviction and repentance in Europe through their example.

That said, the Pilgrims were interested in evangelizing the Native American population, at least in an official sense. In fact the original seal of the Massachusetts colony had a picture of a Native American saying, "Come over and help us." (This is a reference to a story in the book of Acts in the Bible where Paul receives a vision of a man from Macedonia asking him to come share the gospel with them.) However, actual evangelistic efforts by Pilgrims among Native Americans were quite limited.

I would say that the Pilgrims saw themselves as establishing right-practicing Christian communities with more of an eye toward church reformation in the Old World than evangelism in the New World, though the latter was certainly not completely absent from their plans.

Christians and July 4 Week

Baptists in the United States can be very patriotic. That's a good thing, but it can get out of hand.

Baptist patriotism becomes especially evident on the Sunday preceding July 4.

The good. At our church yesterday we did a responsive reading (something I think Baptists do all too rarely, even though our hymnals usually contain a good-sized collection of them). I thought it was great. The reading was made up of Bible passages about loving God, loving one another, honoring the king, and some other stuff that I'm sorry to say has since slipped my mind.

The bad. The Sunday before July 4, 2001, my family visited a Baptist church somewhere in or near Friendswood, Texas. The celebration of America was very enthusiastic. At one point the projector showed an image of Jesus' face superimposed over the American flag. My brother's sarcastic remark: Today in church I learned that Jesus is an American.

And, of course, in between there are any number of other traditions like singing various patriotic songs (usually, but not always, religious ones), and recognizing church members who served in the armed forces.

I don't actually know what, if anything, the churches with established liturgies do differently during Independence week. Nor am I entirely sure what Christians should be doing in church during Independence week. There's no need to let patriotism get out of control, but patriotism itself is a good thing; the chief danger, of course, is that we will let it distract us from the Gospel.