know thyself
i believe it was socrates (sow-craits)johnson from bill and ted’s excellent adventure who said, “know thyself.” well socrates, i fully intend to.
i’ve come to a point in my life where i am not all that concerned with hearing about my negative traits. i’ve actually come to the point of wanting to know more of them and even embracing some of them. i want to know the things that other people think about me and just won’t tell me. seriously, i can handle it!
over the past couple of months i have been involved in a group that has allowed me to open up about the things that i struggle with, and they in turn have told me what they believe to be my flaws as onlookers to my life. side note: they are real jerks about it. i’m thinking about leaving the group. joke. in fact, they have been just the opposite.
it’s so rare to find people who will be honest with you, while at the same time showing grace and humility in the process. it’s pretty fantastic.
on this path to knowing myself i am sure there will be painful realizations and many sessions of asking for forgiveness from those i have hurt, but i know that in the end the only way to deal with sins against god and others is to get them out in the open. i’m ready for that. i’m ready to take out the log in my own eye. i’m ready to know who i really am and to go another way.
-dave-
fuzzy lines
hola friends,
i had a brief, but great, conversation with my friend jeremy yesterday when he visited my workplace. we were talking about the bible and some of its apparent contradictions. since jeremy is the pastor of his own community in hingham i will not speak to anything he said, but as you might assume, i am not too shy to let the world wide web know my current thoughts on the matter.
a little background to start…i have, for a few years now, come to embrace the teachings, life, death and resurrection of jesus as the benchmark for which my life should be patterned (of course i fail. of course i cannot do it on my own). this is certainly not anything groundbreaking, but when it first occurred to me that jesus actually meant for us to take his word seriously my whole life changed.
as one who grew up in the evangelical tradition, i received (not so much from my parents) this idea of a grace that covers all of my sins and that doesn’t really require a whole lot of me.
**disclaimer** i must say that simply because i “received” this message does not mean that this teaching was necessarily preached everywhere.
it just seems to me that inherent in mainstream american evangelicalism is this overarching theme of cheap grace. ‘jesus died so that i can have life, and live it however i want.’coming to the realization that this wasn’t jesus’ message was a life-changing event for me. thank you dietrich bonhoeffer!
background over.
today, i am constantly finding myself in conversations defending the view that we, as disciples, take our marching orders from jesus. there are things that he taught his followers that seem so clear to me that aren’t necessarily as clear to others. as a result i have come to learn a much needed virtue…patience.
the most glaring issue for me (and one that seems most central to the life and teachings of our lord) is the teaching that we are to love and forgive our enemies, not only on a personal level but on a national level as well. i’m still not sure how people are able to separate these into two different realms. unless i’m mistaken, aren’t all nations made up of individuals?
folks will often quote romans 13 or some obscure passage in the old testament (where god is destroying his enemies) in an effort to counter, what seems to me, to be the very clear teaching of jesus to not only love our enemies, but to pray for them and even serve them. many of these same people also seem to fear that i am guilty of a heresy for preferring the teachings of jesus over a verse, taken out of context, in the letters to the romans or the corinthians.
in these situations i am usually called a “red letter christian,” meaning that i take the words of jesus as paramount over the rest of the bible. i just have to ask this one question. if i am guilty of being a red letter christian, what are the people who prefer romans 13 over matthew 5 to be called? black letter christians?
now i’m not sure that can be accurately described as a red letter christian, since i hold the entirety of scripture as the revelation of god. but i do believe jesus to be the image of the invisible god. and i do believe he came to give us life and show us how to live it, not simply to forgive us so that we can live and think however we see fit.
i have learned to approach these apparent fuzzy lines with grace and respect for others who don’t share the same views as i do. however, i am still convinced beyond doubt that jesus meant for his disciples to be of one mind on issues such as these. i don’t think he took love lightly, and i don’t think he intended for his followers to either.
though this debate will rage on until kingdom come, i think it is important in matters of apparent contradiction, that we find in the scriptures, to take seriously the things that jesus taught very plainly. he is not only our savior, he is our lord. he taught us to march to the beat of a different drum. just read matthew 5-7 if you don’t believe me. we are the light of the world my friends. we far too often disappear in the darkness when we adopt eye of and eye as our method of response.
it’s time for love and mercy to be the mark of his people once again.
-dave-
killing with integrity
i saw this sign on a church yesterday: “do you remember them? do you remember jesus?”
at first, since i’m a little dense, i had no idea what the sign was saying. then, my lovely and brilliant wife explained to me that it must have something to do with memorial day.
the sign reminded me of a question that i was recently asked by a fellow peace-seeking friend of mine from school. he asked me if killing another human being could ever be done with integrity. what do you presume i said??? probably not what you think. i said, “sure it can. adhering to a sense of morality doesn’t necessarily mean it’s christian morality.” he was thinking the same thing.
i believe it is most certainly honorable to fight and die for something you believe in with all of your heart. many people who have given their lives in the name of political or economic freedom throughout the centuries have done so for the sake of others, and we have certainly benefited from their sacrifice. however, is this the same morality that we have been called to as people carrying our crosses? in my opinion, the answer is an emphatic NO!
christian ethics have an entirely upside-down way about them. which is why following christ, oftentimes, seems strange and even wrong to folks who claim jesus as lord. think about it. when someone takes my jacket i should give them my pants? if someone pushes me around i should willingly offer them a clean shot at my face? this sounds ridiculous. but it is at the center of what it means to be a disciple of jesus christ.
can we really talk about the sacrifice of soldiers in the same breath as the sacrifice of christ? is wielding a weapon of war against an enemy in any way like christ’s self-sacrificing death for his enemies on the cross? we may be able to affirm the integrity of a man or woman fighting and dying for a cause in a kingdom of this world sort of reality, but integrity and honor look quite the opposite in kingdom of God reality.
one more gripe. i’ve often been called liberal or even cowardly for having these views. i hate to think that jesus was cowardly when he taught and lived this way, and would really like to know how taking jesus seriously and at his word lends itself to having a liberal view of scripture. just a thought.
-dave-
god hates us
a small group of guys that i am a part of has been discussing the atonement as a result of watching this video featuring mark driscoll, pastor of mars hill church in seattle, washington. i want to share some quotes with you all from this video:
“god hates all who do evil.” “we sin, God hates us!” ”we do what we are!”
interesting. how do we reconcile this with john 3:16, never mind a whole score of passages in scripture that speak of God’s intense love for humanity, despite their wickedness? interesting that it doesn’t say that god so hated the evildoers of the world that he sent his only son to redeem them.
this is not to say that it doesn’t in fact say that God hates evildoers in psalm 5:5, but we must not take one verse and apply an emotion or characteristic to God that seems entirely inconsistent when compared to the revelation of Jesus Christ.
“there is a sense in which God loves us, to be sure.”
ya don’t say?! this comment is made as though it’s an afterthought, or possibly even a secondary characteristic or emotion that God feels towards God’s creation. what part of Christ’s gospel of the in-breaking kingdom of God screams out that God won’t love you until you love him back (which Driscoll believes God controls anyway – see doctrine of predestination)?! it is so unbelievably inconsistent that it genuinely scares me.
“we all want to receive mercy and give justice.” i say amen to this one. we are all hypocrites.
now, i’ve made my opinion concerning driscoll’s teachings known before, and i’m really not trying to ruffle any feathers, but i really do have some major concerns with some of the things he is preaching to thousands and thousands of people. check out some more of these quotes from a video about how pastor mark not only approves of mma (mixed martial arts) and ufc, but encourages it:
“i don’t think there’s anything purer than two guys in a cage…no balls, no sticks, no bats, no help, no team…and see which guy is better.”
that’s right, God calls on us to show we are better than our fellow man by beating the piss out of them…
“men are made for combat. men are made for conflict. men are made for dominion.”
wouldn’t he be more comfortable describing this attribute of men as our depraved state? i’m not saying we should be tiptoeing through the tulips, but i must say, the non-violent leadership and teaching of Jesus Christ is hardly a wimpy way to live. i believe he died as a result of NOT fighting back, and rebuked those who did. just a thought.
“let men be men, and do what men do, and let the other fat, lazy men criticize them while watching.”
nice.
please forgive me. i just had to rant. i know it’s a really easy target, but this kind of stuff just eats at me. i feel like this guy is representing an entirely different Jesus than the one i read about in scripture. please don’t take my word for it. watch this quick video and come to your own conclusions.
god hates us
peace
-dave-
love that dirty water
if you haven’t turned on your tv or radio lately, you may not have heard that boston and its surrounding communities have been without clean drinking water since friday, and may be without it for a few more days. there was a major leak in the 10 foot pipe that brings water from western mass to the boston area, so there is no drinking water available from the tap, unless of course you boil it and stick it in the fridge for a while.
as you might expect, people are feeling slightly inconvenienced.
stores have been flooded for bottled water and they are running out quickly. many people from boston drove all the way to new hampshire just to buy bottled water!
one of the more interesting quotes i have heard during this predicament was from a woman on the radio who was a wee bit perturbed after going to the town of belmont to get some clean water. unfortunately, she was not able to get any water from them since she was not a resident of that town. her quote: “what do you mean i can’t get water here?! this is america!”
apparently americans are supposed to be immune from the issues that the rest of the world deals with on a daily basis.
i think this was a bit of a wake up call for the people of boston.
simply because we live in america, we expect everything to be at our fingertips. we have been so spoiled that we actually believe we deserve everything we have available to us. it is time for us to realize that our privileges are made available to us at the cost of many around the world who have no concept of what clean drinking water even looks like.
i mean, just look at our supermarkets. we could feed a few hundred villages with all the food we throw away because it gets out of date before it is bought in the store!
as people of privilege, not only are we obligated to take care of people around the world who don’t have the luxuries that we do at their doorstep, we should desire justice for them.
we have been given much and much is expected of us who know the way of Christ. whether in little or in plenty, we are called to feed those who can’t feed themselves and to bring water to those who have none to drink. may we learn from this minor inconvenience of ours that there are millions who deal with this time 100 every day of their lives.
a great organization to check out if you are interested in more information is the bloodwater mission.
matthew 25:35: “for i was hungry and you gave me food, i was thirsty and you gave me drink, i was a stranger and you welcomed me…”
-dave-
peace at the fcm
hearing and doing
alive in this old town
a few weeks ago i was with my brother james in nashville, and we ended up writing a couple of songs. i wrote this one with easter on my mind. the very basic concept is that there is a way that the world functions. that was is violent and self-serving. Jesus gives us a way to be alive in the presence of death.
blood is calling from the ground. Christ came to breath life into that which was dead. those of us who know him are alive in this old town.
here you go:
everyone came out to fight
to save their land and protect their rights
they stole, they killed, they died
they took their brothers lives
but i’m alive in this old town
i’m alive in this old town
some were shown a different way
a way to build and not to break
they know the way of peace
by turning other cheeks
i’m alive in this old town
blood is calling from the ground
“you took my heart and cut me down”
but we got what we deserved
revenge has now been served
i’m alive in this old town
-dave-
all sins being equal
over the past few years it has become blatantly obvious to me that homosexuality is considered (by most religions) to be one of the greater sins of humanity. many who express this viewpoint often hide behind the ‘no sin is greater than another’ statement, but in truth, homosexuality often takes the cake in thought and practice.
with that in mind, i began to think about other sins that are tolerated and even glorified in our culture. some of you already know where i am going with this, so i might as well just say it…what about violence? murder? despising our enemies? revenge? these are all sins (according to the sermon on the mount and numerous other new testament passages) that are looked upon favorably in this nation of ours.
it is very clear through the teachings of Christ and his disciples that a heart bent on revenge and violence is one that is not centered on the kingdom of God. so, if all sins are created equal, why don’t we ever acknowledge military violence as sinful in nature? Many seem to have no problem with saying homosexuality and those who engage in homosexual acts are sinful, but are we as christians decrying the violence perpetuated by the hands of our military? where are the conservative/Bible-believing christians on this one? i guess we can just gloss over all of those “peace” passages.
let me be clear…i do not and cannot condemn the homosexual or the soldier. i am clearly not in a position to do so, and i am eternally thankful for that. i’m just saying that there is something wrong with the way we look at sin in western culture. when someone ‘comes out’ (no pun intended) in defense of homosexuality, claiming that the Bible is not clear concerning the subject, hoards of Bible-thumping christians come out against such defenders stating that they have a low/poor view of scripture or that they are reading with a false/heretical lens.
on the other hand, what if someone said, “hey, what about violence, revenge or hating our enemies?,” pointing out that there are scores of passages that consider such acts and postures of the heart to be anti-Kingdom of God? would those same defenders of the Bible agree, or would they instead fight for the “freedom” that this country affords them?
i want to say in closing that i respect many people who go to battle with the thought that they are laying down their lives for others. this is very noble and even Christ-like in some ways. however, my concern is that it is not the way Christ went about dying for us. no violence ever met his hands.
“he came to gather his people with no guns or money, but with his empty hands (lenny kravitz).”
-dave
possessed by truth
here is an excerpt from an article jon foreman wrote on the huffington post about being possessed by truth. it’s amazing, as usual:
“My thoughts drift to religion. These are the truths that people live by and hold dear. In many ways, these are the truths that inspire our best and worst moments. The truths that motivate Mother Theresa and start religious wars. How can this be? How can fresh water and salt water come from the same hose? Perhaps it has to do with this concept of possession. If I view the truth as my possession to keep safe, I might feel the need to protect my faith. But if I am possessed by the truth, perhaps this protection is no longer needed. Maybe I am set free from the need to defend the truth, rather the truth defends me.
The idea of defending an all-powerful deity feels a bit silly when it’s put out in the wind like that. And yet, that sentiment seems to epitomize much of what religion has come to mean. After centuries of witch-hunts, inquisitions and holy wars, many are still fighting hard to defend their faith in an omnipotent God who has no need of our protection. Maybe we are still protecting our beliefs as though we were the owners of this truth.
If our faith is to be more than just a lit match in the powder-keg of differing beliefs, what role does religion play in our modern world? What would it mean to be possessed by truth rather than simply the proud owner of a particular denomination? Maybe we could start with the common ground that we all can call truth. In all of the major religions of the world I find the call to protect the less fortunate.
From the Torah:
“Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”
Isaiah 1:17
From the Koran:
“Spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, for the ransom of slaves, to be steadfast in prayer and to practice regular charity.”
83. Section 10
From the New Testament:
“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”
James 1:27
From Buddha:
“A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.”
The “truth” of loving those around me, the “truth” of seeking justice for the oppressed, the “truth” of a life of service — these are truths to be possessed by: to be a slave in the service of the kingdom of the heavens, to be the servant of all. If the truths in this life have no owner then we are set free: free from the need to defend the truth, free to be possessed by this truth and simply live it out. Truth becomes much too large for me to possess; truth is the beauty and authenticity which possesses me.
Maybe the meaning of life is not something that I can control, but rather a reality which possesses me. Maybe there is no life guiding “fact” that I can put in my back pocket, as though I were the sole owner of the universe. Perhaps The-Meaning-of-Life-Himself is asking me the questions. When I look at a sunset, when I hear the songs of the ocean gulls, when I feel the warmth of family and friends, I am reminded of a story that is bigger than I am. Yes, this is my story but not mine alone. Truth was never mine alone. Truth is that which possesses me.”
