Joel Osteen and the Lie of the Prosperity Gospel

(photo taken from Google images)

I don’t want to start this post stating all the reasons I’m not a fan of Joel Osteen, but I do want to discuss some problems with his belief system. For those who don’t know, Joel Osteen is the founder of Joel Osteen Ministries, and he pastors Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. You can find his website here. I will readily admit that he is a great humanitarian who has done (and is doing) many good things for people around the world.  He and his wife Victoria are “…involved in vaccination programs, abandoned baby centers, and centers for young troubled teens looking for a new life and a fresh start. [They] are helping feed the hungry, clothe the needy and provide hope to the hopeless” (taken from joelosteen.com).

However, the kind of “gospel” he promotes is not what I would describe to be the actual Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I was introduced to Joel Osteen’s church when I was in high school and stumbled upon his telecast on TBN. As I started watching, I realized that everything he was saying sounded really, really good. He talked about “living in victory,” “living abundantly,” and that our faith in Christ would show itself to be true through our mental, physical, emotional, and financial lives. I began to think, “Yeah! That makes sense!”

Joel Osteen is clearly passionate about Christians living in “victory.” In the beliefs section on his website, his last point is,  “…As children of God, we are overcomers and more than conquerors and God intends for each of us to experience the abundant life He has in store for us.” What does this mean, exactly?

The definition of the Prosperity Gospel, according to Wikipedia, is “…a Christian religious doctrine that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will always increase one’s material wealth.” This is the foundation on which Joel Osteen bases his belief of living in “victory.”

However, what do we see when we look at Scripture?

In John 16, as Jesus is speaking with his disciples, he says to them, “Do you finally believe? But the time is coming – indeed it’s here now – when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world”(NLT).

Followers of Christ have historically been known to suffer hardship – we see this in the lives of Peter, Paul, Luke, and many others. We see this in the persecuted church worldwide, where people are being tortured and killed for their faith. Paul himself describes the hardships he faced in 2 Corinthians 11:23b-27:

“I know I sound like a madman, but I have served [Christ] far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have raveled o many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.”

Clearly, Paul experienced many, many hardships in following Christ. Does this mean every believer must experience the same things he did? Absolutely not – but I don’t think the Christian life was ever meant to be lived in material “victory.”

To the contrary, I believe the Christian life was meant to be difficult, but it is our responsibility to find contentment in Christ amidst our difficult circumstances. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul says, “…I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

Mountains and valleys exist in the lives of every human being. We experience heartache, tragedy, illness, job-loss, etc. Christians are not exempt from this – we must experience the realities of our broken world just as everyone else does. Jesus never promised that we would have easy or “abundant” lives. He only promised that he would be with us in our circumstances.

Over the next weeks, I will be discussing more in depth about this topic (and may do a chapter-by-chapter review of one of his books), and why I believe the Prosperity Gospel is a lie that too many Christians tend to believe. I hope you’ll join me on this journey. J

I Am a Feminist.

I am a Christian.

And I am a Feminist.

For those who don’t know, I have labeled myself as a feminist for quite some time now (especially in my Twitter community), but because of certain events, I believe it’s time for me to declare publicly* that I am a Christian Feminist.

Why now?

In my life, I’ve had different situations happen where I have felt discriminated against because I’m a woman, but never more so as what happened to me very recently. Without divulging too much information, a man refused to speak to me about my beliefs, but would only talk to my husband. He told Eric that as my husband, Eric is my “God-appointed authority,” and that he needs to discuss my beliefs with me so that we could come to a decision about what I should and shouldn’t believe.

That’s definitely not word-for-word, but you get the idea.

First of all, I wasn’t allowed to defend myself as a person and wasn’t worth being talked to directly about my beliefs, and secondly, I am somehow not supposed to have my own thoughts and beliefs.

I am angry.

I am offended.

I am horrified.

Why?

Because I am a fellow human being. Because as such I deserve basic courteous treatment such as being listened to. I told him specifically that I was not okay with him talking to Eric about my beliefs, but he refused to respect that. I deserve basic human respect, such as acknowledgement of my words. This shouldn’t be that hard, but apparently it is.

This man hardly knows me – he only knows about me from a distance, and has no right to speak into my life. And yet, here he was, disrespecting me in almost more than I’ve ever been disrespected before.

I am a firm believer that Christianity and Feminism aren’t and shouldn’t be mutually exclusive.  I know that the word “Feminist” is a buzz word for many, and I understand.  Many people in the past have gone to the other extreme in their beliefs and desired female supremacy. I am not one of those people. I define Feminism as true equality between men and women, not only in function, but in treatment and value as well. I believe women were created as equal beings to men, and I also believe that Jesus championed equality for women in his ministry. I believe strongly in the equality of all people which means I disagree with discrimination between both minorities AND majorities.

A few articles have been floating around online that speak against Christian Feminism, but as an egalitarian, I think it’s so important. I believe in fighting for equal rights and treatment for women not only in society, but in the church as well.

And for those who believe that equality has been reached, the way I was treated recently is evidence that that’s not the case.  Some may say, “Well, that guy is just the exception.” That’s not the case, either. I have heard story after story from other women I know who have received similar (and often times) worse treatment than what I experienced.

Sexism is very much alive today, and while we’ve certainly come far from where things were, we still have a long way to go. But I’m willing to fight. I’m willing to take a stand and say that women deserve to be just as respected and valued as men.

I will be honest in admitting I’m not certain where I stand as far as leadership of women in the church, but that would be more because I haven’t studied both sides enough to fully know what I think and believe. Do I believe women should have leadership positions and be active members of the church? Absolutely. Do I believe women should be lead pastors or elders? I’m not sure. This is something I’m learning and growing in, so we’ll see where I end up in the future.

Stand with me, friends. Stand with me to fight for equality – and not just between genders. Stand and fight for equality for all people, because that’s what we deserve as human beings.






*I was made aware that my previous wording of "coming out as a Feminist" was a poor choice. I apologize for that misstep.

The Christian Bubble.

Since when were we supposed to separate ourselves from non-believers and see them as "the enemy"?

This is a question that I've been really struggling with lately. In most of my life, I feel like I'm living in a little Christian bubble. I was raised in a Christian family, I attended a private Christian school 5-12th grade, and then I went to a Bible college. I'm grateful for the way I was raised, but I often find myself wondering... How many non-Christians do I actually know? If I'm being honest, it's not many. Is that the way things were supposed to be? Is that how Jesus was?

Absolutely not.

Jesus embraced the ones the religious leaders deemed "sinners." He spent his time with tax collectors (who were absolutely hated by society, by the way), prostitutes (Mary Magdelene), swindlers (Zaccheus), and many others. He was hated by the Pharisees for this very reason. They hated that he would go to their "level." They believed that he should see himself as better than those people and not interact with them.

How often in today's society have we seen ourselves become exactly like those religious leaders? I know I certainly have. I've viewed Mormons, Muslims, Atheists, etc. as the enemy. I realize that they oppose Christianity. I realize that they don't believe what I see to be the truth. I realize that they are lost.

But if we are supposed to separate ourselves from those who are lost, how will anyone ever be saved? Honestly. We're not supposed to just reach out to those who are asking questions or are curious about Christianity. We are called to reach those who are even completely against our faith.

But... I want to be comfortable!

Well... Tough.

We were never supposed to be comfortable. We were never supposed to live an easy life where everyone agrees with us and we live in this cute little Christian bubble. We are called to be a witness to the world. This isn't just for some people that we say have the "gift of evangelism." This is a command for everyone. Every. Single. Christian. No one is excused from this, and no one is excused from loving their neighbor, even if they're *gasp* an Atheist! Or a Jehovah's Witness! ...Or anything else that you disagree with as a Christian.

We are also absolutely not called to reach out to only those who will accept us or who don't vehemently disagree with us. We will have people in our lives who hate us. That's exactly what the Bible says - the world will hate us because of Christ. Those people in our minds that we are either scared by, we can't stand, or whatever else - those are the people we need to love the most. It will make us uncomfortable. It will test our patience, courage, and even faith. But even so, it is still what we are called to do.

Where would you rather be? Would you rather be comfortable but yet complacent and not growing? Or would you rather be challenged and growing radically in your faith? Personally, I would prefer the latter.

Please know that I speaking just as much to myself as I am to everyone else. I mean, I just got a job at a Christian coffee shop at a Christian seminary, for goodness sake! It's going to be more difficult for me to develop relationships with non-believers, but this is still what I'm called to do.

Regardless of whether we want to be or not, we are witnesses for Jesus Christ. What kind of witness are we portraying if every single person we know and communicate with is a Christian? What kind of witness do we have if we refuse to listen to or even love those who disagree with us?

...What kind of witness will we have if we truly, truly love our neighbors? Not just those who live around us, but those we are in contact with on a daily basis - whether it be family, coworkers, or the cashier at the grocery store. We are to be a living witness. And a living witness that accurately portrays Jesus to the world.

Judging and treating those who oppose Christianity as enemies will never accurately portray Jesus. Only loving them will. 

I recently posted this verse on a blog series that I contributed to - and regardless of the situation, this verse absolutely applies.

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. 

But the greatest of these is love.

"You're too Young."

"You're just a kid."

"You'll understand when you're older."

"You're too young to understand."

...Those sound like things people would say to children, right? Well, yes. Unfortunately though, those are things I'm still told today. And I'm 24. And married. And a college graduate (Not that those latter two things mean a whole lot, but I figure it should give me at least some credibility).

Most often I think I get these comments because I'm normally the youngest in social situations, and I have a hard time believing that I'm actually an adult. Most days I still feel like I'm 18 and just starting life on my own. However, that was actually 6 years ago. Why am I still told that I'm "too young?"

I don't think this situation is unique to just me - I know many others who are told that they're too young and "nobody likes people in their early 20's" (which that's just a super great thing to hear, by the way...). Why do people want to discredit us simply because we're young? It's always a wonderful thing when I'm actually complimented for my mind by someone older than me, but unfortunately it's incredibly rare.

I feel like there's a verse about that somewhere....

Oh yeah.

1 Timothy 4:12.

Just because I am young doesn't mean that I don't have solid thoughts, and it doesn't mean that those who are my age are just immature young adults. My peers are intelligent. They are verbose. They have credibility. I love talking to my peers and talking about life, God, social issues, and theology - I can do those things so much better with people in my generation, and I think that partly has to do with many people outside our generation judging us and thinking that we're just young and don't know anything. But we know better - we know that we have something to offer. We know that we are worth listening to. My conversations with my peers are almost always incredibly fruitful and productive - I can't say the same of most people who are older than me. Too often I feel looked down on, and that's not okay.

I think it's time that we all see each other not through the lens of age difference, but rather we should realize that we are all in this journey together. No one has everything figured out, no matter what their age. We could all benefit from respecting and listening to one another.

I know that I could benefit from listening a little more to those who are older than me, but I would personally really appreciate reciprocity. I don't just want to be taught - I want to be given opportunity to share my thoughts and ideas as well.

I don't know if things will ever change, but I hope they will. I know that, especially now, there's a huge gap between generations. As time goes on though, I hope that gap will continually grow smaller and start to close. We were never supposed to be divided - we are called to be united, no matter what age, race, gender, etc.

Let's start acting like the body of Christ that we are actually supposed to be.

Sin and Temptation: Whose Responsibility Is It?

This is a follow-up from my post in response to "The Bikini Question."

There's been a lot of talk lately about men's temptations for lust and questions about whose responsibility it is in those situations. This is a humble attempt to discuss my views about this topic.

Before I became a proponent for Christian Feminist ideologies*, I was a supporter of Modesty Culture. (...That makes it sound like it's been a long time since I switched sides of the debate, but that's not true. Just six months ago my mom gave me a shirt for Christmas that was designed to be worn over leggings and I flipped out because it wasn't "modest enough.") Because I was part of the Modesty Culture for so long, I feel like I have a grasp on why they believe that women should have part of the responsibility for men's propensity for lust. On some level, I understand.

In Modesty Culture, it is believed that while men should control their temptations, women are responsible (in varying degrees) for helping them along. Much of this belief is taken from Romans 14, which is where Paul discusses the idea of not causing one another to stumble. He says in verse 13, "Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother." In the case of modesty, a stumbling block would be anything that may cause a brother in Christ to be distracted or fall into the sin of lust. Because of this belief, many Christian schools have strict dress codes that highlight what is appropriate and not appropriate for young women to wear.

In my experience, I have seen dress codes used for two purposes: modesty and professionalism. Unfortunately however, most often the rules regarding women are centered around modesty and the rules for men around professionalism (ex: at my college men had to wear collared shirts to class while women could wear nice, non-printed t-shirts as long as they were modest). But I digress. Even though I could talk for a while about dress codes and how I believe there are double-standards, that's not the purpose for this post.

I think Modesty Culture has misinterpreted Paul's purpose in Romans 14. While I can see why they may interpret a stumbling block to be certain articles of clothing that women in general "shouldn't" wear, I don't think we (most of us, anyway) would apply these same standards to other areas of life. For example, there's the issue of alcohol. While we know that some people in the faith have trouble with alcoholism and I know most of us would want to respect those people by not drinking in front of them, I would venture to say that for the most part we would not say that Christians shouldn't drink at all at the risk of offending someone who we may not know has an issue. This may be a broken metaphor, but most Christians I talk to have specific people in mind when they talk about abstaining from alcohol. This doesn't mean that they never drink or believe drinking is wrong, but they know that a specific person has a weakness for alcohol - therefore they adjust their behavior in order to better serve that specific person.

I believe the same should be true of "modesty." It is impossible to please everyone, especially since it's so ambiguous. I fully agree that if a woman is approached specifically by the man who is struggling, then she should do what she can to help him. However, if it is not specifically mentioned (not by a third-party and definitely not by another woman trying to tell her what to wear), then I don't believe that responsibility should be placed on the woman.

Men are fully capable of controlling their temptation for lust. Hear me out as well: there is a HUGE difference between healthy and biological physical attraction and lust. It is absolutely not wrong for a man to be attracted to a woman's form. This is healthy and even good. The only time that this turns into lust is when the woman is turned into the object of a man's sexual fantasies. A man simply enjoying the way a woman looks is not wrong. God created Eve to be beautiful and for Adam to be physically attracted to her. There's this underlying idea in Christian culture today that men can only be physically attracted to their wives - but this implies that there's some sort of switch that turns on as soon as a couple gets married and turns off to every other female. The man isn't attracted to his wife (or abstains from being attracted to her... however that works) before they're married, and then all of a sudden once they're husband and wife he's allowed to feel that attraction. I don't believe it works that way.

Physical attraction is God-given. It is good, but because we live in a fallen world it can be turned into sin. This is not the fault of the woman who is made to be the object. The kind of thinking that makes it the woman's responsibility for men's lust easily translates into the issue of rape. Rape Culture is a very real thing, friends. I am ashamed to say that in the past upon hearing of a rape I used to have fleeting thoughts wondering what the girl had been wearing at the time or how she had been acting (Which I believe is not a totally rare thought for people in Modesty Culture to have). This is so wrong. This is not the way things should be. As my friend Hollie put it, "[Women] should be allowed to walk down the street naked and not get raped!" It is never, ever the woman's fault for being raped. Eric said it well when we discussed this in the car the other day: "The woman didn't get raped. The man raped her."

So much blame-shifting happens in our Christian culture. We try to pass off the responsibility for our own sin onto other people, just as Adam blamed Eve for "making" him eat the fruit. She didn't make him do anything - he took the fruit and ate it of his own volition. The same is so very true of Modesty Culture. Women do not make men lust after them, nor is it their responsibility to make it "easier" on men, especially if they have no idea what they do or don't struggle with. Men need to step up and take responsibility for their own sin, and women need to step up and refuse to accept the blame-shifting and start dressing the way they want to, not out of trying to appease these external morals being pushed on them, but because it's what they want to wear (Women need to take responsibility for their own sins as well, but that's not what I'm talking about right now). 

As believers, we all have a personal responsibility for our sin. If we focus on other people's "responsibilities" or "faults" in our own personal walks with Christ, then we cannot grow in the way we should. It's time for us to stop trying to fix everyone else to be more palpable to us and start focusing on our own relationships with Christ. Once we do that, I think we will find more contentment, peace, unity, and equality within the body of believers.

*I hesitate to call myself a Christian Feminist because I don't really like the idea of labels. I have feminist sympathies, but there are things within the feminist movement that I disagree with. I personally would rather be known for what I believe than for the labels I place on myself. To be clear though, I have no issues with people placing the label of "feminist" on themselves. This is just not something I feel comfortable doing at the moment.


***This post is part of a Synchro-blog/Link-Up on From Two to One. Make sure you check out the other amazing posts on there!***

Glee: A Review.

Well, as some of you may know, a few months ago I posted a status on Facebook most ardently declaring my hatred for the T.V. show, Glee. However, I had only seen two episodes, and therefore I later realized that I needed to have a little more exposure to the show in order to actually make an intelligent judgment about it. Because of this, I ended up watching the entire first season, and am planning on watching the second season when it becomes available.

When I was first introduced to Glee (I watched 2 episodes from the second season) I despised and even almost *violently* hated the show. I couldn’t imagine why any Christian would want to watch it, and I couldn’t believe that such “filth” would be entertaining.

However…

While I still maintain some of my thoughts from before, after watching the first season, I do not hate the show as violently as I did before. In fact… I actually find it fairly entertaining and fun.

In judging this show at the moment, I’m really trying to be objective. I DO think that this show has great entertainment value and the quality of the music is amazing. They also do a very good job at showing what our culture is like right now, and the things that our culture believes about teen pregnancy, homosexuality, religion, sex, the education system, etc.

I would say that this show very clearly has an agenda. In researching this show during my Apologetics class last semester (shoutout to Sawyer, Allie, and Evan) we saw that the worldviews of the creators and writers of the show very clearly come across in the plot and the music.

In doing this project, I was in charge of the technical qualities of the show (I knew that if I tried to have an opinion on anything else other than the technical aspect, I would have been too emotional and not fair to the show itself). I still hold to my belief that the aesthetic quality of the show is very high. However, the plot always leaves something to be desired. The plot lines are most often very shallow, and not only that, but they tend to be totally unrealistic. For example, there is an episode where Glee needs more members, and the football team is required to try out and if they don’t, then they will not be allowed to play in the homecoming game. Not only is that totally unrealistic, but some football players do not decide to sing with Glee until the last minute, and “magically” they know all of the music and dance steps.

I could go on for a while about the plot holes and lack of quality in the acting itself, but I’ll refrain. Instead, I think I will attempt to judge the moral quality of the show. This is a difficult one for me to do. I often become very emotional about whatever I’m trying to judge, and I judge it unfairly and I’m more biased than I would like to be. However, I’m going to try hard not to be like that right now.

Much of the show is very clearly against Christianity. In some senses, you could say that it is against religion in general, but the only religion that is really made fun of is Christianity. One of the episodes in the second season focuses on the “celibacy club” and they are shown to be naïve and ignorant Christians who think that the song “Afternoon Delight” is not talking about sex, but rather about having dessert in the afternoon instead of after supper. In Regional’s, Sue Sylvester has her singing group perform “Jesus is a Friend of Mine” in order to appease the judges who are “religious.” However, later the judge who is a nun reveals that she only became a nun in order to “stay off the poles.” The leader of the “celibacy club” is also revealed as not actually wanting to be celibate because she believes in abstinence but rather because she is afraid of sex and believes that it is wrong (even in marriage).

Other than just religion, this show is “edgy” (to say the least) in the moral arena. In the first season, the head cheerleader is pregnant, but after she has her baby, nothing more is said, and it is as if it never happened. There are constantly different love-triangles forming, the head cheerleader cheats on her boyfriend, he’s actually in love with another girl… And these things continue.

This show has a few redeeming qualities, however. As mentioned previously, the head cheerleader becomes pregnant during the first season. She gets pressure from family and friends to have an abortion (mainly from her mother) so that she can keep her figure, her status, and her reputation, but she very firmly declares that she is going to keep the baby. Equality between all people is also very prevalent – no matter the race, gender, background, abilities, disabilities, every person in Glee is treated equally and given respect. If they are not respected by any person in the show, it is obvious that this is wrong and unfair treatment, and it is rectified throughout the episode(s).

Overall, this show, while being shallow and very clearly having an agenda, it is entertaining and very accurately represents what is popular in today’s culture and how people think and believe about certain topics. When I first watched this show, I believed that no Christian should watch it with a clear conscience. However, my feelings have now changed on this issue. I believe that there is a right and a wrong way to go about watching it. If this show is merely a form of entertainment to the believer and they are not keeping their minds and hearts alert to what is going on, then I believe that this is not smart and could in time be very detrimental. This kind of attitude can lead to insensitivity to the aspects of culture which are against what the Bible says, and this may lead us into believing that those types of things are “okay” or even “right.”

I believe that the right way for a believer to go about watching this show (and I will NEVER be perfect at it) is to watch it with discernment and watch it through the lenses of the Bible. This is not easy to do, but it is very important in order not to be hardened by what the world says to be right and wrong. When I started doing this, it was helpful for me to discuss the issues in the episode with other people (i.e. Eric and other friends who cared to be discerning as well) and I realized that I started being discerning about other shows and movies as well.

It is critical for the believer’s mind to be engaged in whatever he or she is watching. Once we let go of our minds when it comes to secular culture, then we open ourselves up to the possibility of believing false doctrines and following the ways of the world. It is of utmost importance that we be discerning and know what we are talking about when it comes to shows like this or other aspects of culture so that we may be a true witness and light to the rest of the world. If we aren’t discerning, then we may lose our credibility with the world and we will not be as effective for Christ as we could be.

"Jesus is My Boyfriend."

So, lately I've been hearing from a lot of people a lot of criticism of songs that are apparently "Jesus is my boyfriend" songs, where if you took out Jesus' name in the songs and inserted someone else's name (the one you love, obviously), you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Honestly, I have a hard time having the same criticism as these people. I guess I can see their point, but aren't we supposed to sing songs of how much we love and adore God? Yes, He is far more than anyone that we could ever love and He is absolutely incomparable to anything that we have ever experienced, but if we want to express our love for Him, why can't we express it in a way that we know how to do, which is to describe it in terms of a human relationship? I think that love songs to Christ have come under far too much criticism. I don't know if I'm just not listening to the same music that other people are, but the songs I'm hearing are absolutely fine.

Right now I'm thinking of a song by Phil Wickham called "Always and Forever." In it he sings, "You are my Love, my Life, always, forever..." Sure, that could also be sung to another human being, but we are supposed to sings songs of adoration and love to our King. I do believe that there needs to be a balance between how many of those types of songs we sing and praising God for the things that He has done, but I don't think it's fair to criticize the love songs simply because of what they are.

I think people have gotten carried away when it comes to criticizing things, that we have forgotten about the things that are actually important. We spend all of our time judging this and that, thinking this is stupid and that is dumb, and not realizing that we may actually be missing the point of the things that we are being critical of. Does that make sense?

I mean, I know that I have the same issue as well. I tend to pick apart every little thing in a song or a sermon. I become very judgmental and want things to sound good on my terms instead of realizing what the other person is trying to say. Should we be critical and discerning in our lives? Yes, yes we should. But we can definitely become too involved in it, and unfortunately I think the reformed culture has taken being discerning to an extreme - even to the point of mocking things that they don't agree with.

This needs to change. Instead of having superior attitudes over the things that we disagree with, maybe we need to actually take things in and consider what the person is really trying to do or say, and if we still disagree with it, then maybe we just need to hold our tongues.

No, we are not here to please others and to make them happy, but we need to be mindful of them and the fact that they are made in God's image just as much as we are. We may disagree with other believers on certain issues, but really... if we agree on the basic doctrines of the faith, shouldn't that cause us to be more unified instead of becoming divided on small issues? Instead of alienating those that we disagree with, we need to embrace them because God has called us to be unified as a church.

It has been rare that I have seen criticism be uplifting and encouraging to the person that it is against. This is what causes divisions in the Church, and it needs to be stopped. Be discerning, yes. But don't be so critical to the point that you bring down fellow believers and end up hurting and pushing them away in the process.


Philippians 2:1-11

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus ever knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Contradictory Culture.

Hm.. I was talking with Eric today, and something that we talked about caused me to think about the postmodern culture that we live in and how contradictory it really is. Have you ever noticed that? I've found myself guilty of it as well. I think that the cause of this is mainly just the effects of postmodernity in general. While I don't believe everything about postmodernism is wrong, I think that it has greatly affected us in how we believe what we do. So many things center on there not being an objective standard of truth in today's culture, and I think as Christians we unfortunately are susceptible to being sucked into that. We are inundated with the world telling us that truth is subjective and it's how you want it to be that it becomes difficult to separate what the world is telling us from what God is telling us.

As Christians, we know or at least we should know that the Bible is our objective standard of truth. I'm sure you've all heard the cliche that "all truth is God's truth." This is... well... a true statement, as cheesy as it is (I might be a little more critical of it since I've heard it at least once a semester since jr. high). However, I think we tend to get more caught up in the unknowns about the Bible instead of focusing on the objective reality. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but it causes us to be more easily swayed when we're told about different interpretations of certain Scriptures and how we should apply Scripture to our every day lives.

No, the Bible doesn't give us an answer about every situation of life. And frankly, I don't think it's necessarily supposed to speak to every situation that we face. It's good to apply the general biblical principles to life, but we also need to consider what we know to be true about God (which also comes from the Bible) and we need to use the wisdom and discernment that God has given us as His children. Honestly, I don't think we use our minds enough when dealing with certain aspects of life or trying to make decisions. Instead we try to gain knowledge and wisdom from other people by buying books on the subject, and talking to as many people as we can in order to get "advice." In my experience though, sometimes that really just makes the situation worse. People are always going to have their own opinions of what the "right" thing to do in the situation is, and we just end up being more confused than we were before.

However, I think I'm getting off-topic. Kind of. This is still an illustration though of how contradictory even our Christian culture can be. We don't have an objective standard that we look to anymore, but we just generally look for what other people's opinions are; after that, we just end up doing what "sounds" best. What "feels" like the right thing to do. This is why I know that God gave us the ability to have discernment in our spiritual lives. We have the ability to make logical and rational decisions on our own without all this help, but we decide not to because we're too afraid of making the wrong choice. This is not to say that I don't believe in asking for other people's advice, but I think there has to be a balance, and you can ask too many people.

Overall however, I think that if we use the combination of the Word, what we know to be true about God, and the minds that He has given us, we can overcome the contradictions that our culture has so inundated us with.

Yeah, I don't know if this post makes sense at all, but it's just something that I've been thinking about and figured I'd throw into a blog. :)