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| Sometimes I wonder at God's ability to write in the scriptures a wise line which puts man, and all his futile pursuits in perspective.
Ecclesiastes 4:1-8 is about "There is a time for everything."
But when I read further, I see some good perspective in verse 11: "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."
Sometimes it is a little hard to pluck a specific theology from wisdom literature. But it is good to pluck boundary statements or warnings. And the warning I find here is that the very words of the One who spoke eternity into being resides in our hearts. But God, for some reason or another placed a foggy shroud over the beginnings and the ends of eternity. To say: "The earth began this way." or to say "The earth will end with these specific chain of events." is specifically hidden. Matthew 24 and Revelation hide the end. Genesis hides the beginning.
The clear parts are the yearnings of our hearts.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
"Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!"
All the astronomical accounts of the Big bang are important. All the x-millenial and x-tribulation views are important. But when they supplant the wonder of God's creation and the desire for Jesus' second coming, we have fallen into the state commonly known as futility.
Ecclesiastes 4:12-13 go on to say. "I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.
And what an incredible gift it is.
~KOOP | | |
| In my search for what it means to be a mature Christian, from time to time I run across something that shows me that I have been running down the wrong path. And I want to confess my wrongdoing in leading others down the wrong path at the same time.
I've been doing a study on 1 Timothy, and learning a bit more about what Paul was exhorting Timothy to do as he stays on in Ephesus. One of the key phrases through the book is Stewardship. Entrusted stewardship breeds accountability. Stewardship comes from "sound doctrine" (1 Tim 1:10) and produces "love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."(1 Tim 1:5).
From the April 7, 2008 devotional "Today in the Word, by Moody Press.
"When it comes to stewardship, we must take care to practice it in submission to God's sovereignty (v. 15). Sometimes we speak of stewardship as if all that is needed are more tools—a new budget worksheet, an upgrade to time management skills, or what ever. The temptation is to fall in love with the ability to maximize resources, instead of remembering that the point of stewardship is not productivity but accountability."
In the teambuilding process we are currently undertaking, we leave the results up to God. But there are times that I feel guilty for not stewarding my time well. I share this with my coach, whom I am accountable to. And he prays for me. Accountability is a wonderful thing, because it takes the burden off of my shoulders and allows me to share it with another.
So, at our place of employ, as we seek for new ways to be more productive, let us not forget our accountability to the Lord first and foremost, and be looking around for someone in the workplace that we can be accountable to. I am thankful that I was able to [imperfectly] demonstrate that to others around me. And I hope you are demonstrating that [imperfectly] to others around you.
~KOOP | | |
| Here is a letter I shot off this morning to National Geographic
Editor of the National Geographic Magazine,
Today is a very sad day indeed for me. I am canceling my subscription to the National Geographic Magazine. I am very torn in my decision, but I have made my decision.
I will miss quite a few insightful articles. Here are some highlights.
-Zip code reports. In a magazine that is so much focused on what goes on outside the United States, I thought that this was one of the best sections of National Geographic in lifting up diversity and letting us have a peek into our own world, instilling a bit of national pride.
-New discoveries: caves, new species of undersea, above the ground, and on the ground, lost treasures of old.
-The changing face of culture: the influence of globalization on the face of our planet, and what deep-rooted impacts it has on culture. This is nothing new, by the way. Colonialization, the Roman empire, the Mongol empire, and Christianity. Many others have continued to shape the culture around us.
-The changing face of the earth: the influence we have on the earth, as we continue to impact it, both for the good and the bad.
These are all tremendously valuable things in my mind to inform the reader of.
After much prayer and thought, I have come to an unsettling conclusion. National Geographic Magazine has, in recent times become more politicized in it's reporting in several areas.
-Climate change: I ask National Geographic to report the facts, not speculation. Actual photos about real damage through climate change, not speculations about what might happen in 100 years. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.
-Religion: There is a curious absence in reporting of Christianity's influence, for the good, on transforming whole communities from drug-ridden zones into civil communities. We hear the bad everyday, but never the good.
-Darwanism, Humanism: There is a new buzz-word on the horizon: Intelligent Design. National Geographic magazine dismissed it, completely, in the "A Fin is a Limb is a Wing" article. As I have watched the movie "Expelled" hosted by Ben Stein, he talks about a wall between faith and science. And I agree with him. This wall must be torn down, or at least some portholes need to be built in.
There is a disturbing trend for publications such as the National Geographic Magazine to entrench on the scientist's side without talking fairly about the ideological struggle between the two. This type of reporting is suspect.
The drama played out in all the positive articles has been about struggle, against a changing culture; against a changing world. That is what makes National Geographic Magazine articles so strong and compelling. But there is no struggle about Intelligent Design and Darwanism. There is no struggle between Christianity and other religions. There is no struggle between the different ideologies on climate change.
As a believer, I see all these struggles play out in real life everyday. I have praised National Geographic Magazine's balanced approach. But I cannot in good conscience continue to support a Magazine that is balanced on 90% of the issues, and oddly silent to 10% of the issues that I consider so important during this crucial time in history.
Comments? Do you think I am off base here?
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| Today I read "an Evangelical Manifesto," which sums up well some of the misunderstandings that occur between the evangelical church as a whole and the outside [American] world, especially our hyped, sound-byte media.
One of the questions our pastor proposed at our recent brainstorming session was: "Should we remove the word Evangelical from our name?"
After reading "An Evangelical Manifesto" carefully, and also one particular version of the Evangelical Free Church Statement of Faith Draft, which was not adopted, which centers the statement on the word "Evangel," or "God's Gospel," I have come to a few conclusions.
I, for one, am not a fan of just retreating from our history just to seem a little bit more friendly to the present world. At the same time, we must behave toward the world in such a way that reflects this Gospel, that it is good news, first and foremost. Our message [and actions] need to be offensive, and not defensive.
What does that mean? A few ideas:
-In our new member's class, do we discuss what the word "Evangelical" looks like?
-Do we encourage the idea of good news, not just in this life, but in the life to come, more than defend ourselves from error in our our Small Groups, our Sermons, our Children's ministries, our Community outreach, and everywhere?
-Do we allow avenues of discipleship, mentoring, and practical application of the good news into our everyday lives?
I'm encouraged by the direction that our church is heading. A city of light on Crown Hill seems to be shining, as it has for decades. But recently, many smaller lights, [our performing arts group, our community of men who do odd jobs in the community of Ballard, and other special projects] have also gone out from the church into the community, and brought the community to the church.
Here is the fun part: The more little lights we have, the more inroads toward involvement by the community and in the community we will have, so long as the light is not hidden under a bushel. And typically, if there are more little lights, they cannot be hidden under many bushels so easily.
~KOOP | | |
| Deuteronomy 34:10:12 [ESV] states:
"10And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
Look at all the translations you can find. 3/4 of them use the specific word: terror.
Well, terror is defined by Webster's
1: a state of intense fear
2 a: one that inspires fear : scourge b: a frightening aspect c: a cause of anxiety : worry d: an appalling person or thing; especially : brat
3: reign of terror
4: violent or destructive acts (as bombing) committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands
Moses? A terrorist? Naw, c'mon, you don't say! But really, he was. Let's just look at a few examples of what happened in scripture:
A) He was the agent of brining plagues upon Egypt to politically force them to release the Israelites from slavery. Exodus 7-12 describes 10 plagues that might be akin to bio-warfare today.
Water turned into blood
Frogs
Gnats
Flies
Egyptian livestock die
Boils on all Egyptian skin
Hail (complete crop failure)
Locusts
Darkness
Death of all firstborn children.
B) He was the agent through which God wiped out what was left of the Egyptian army by leading them into the red sea, and letting it drown them. (Exodus 14)
C) Moses face shone after coming down from Mount Sinai, inspiring fear in the people (Exodus 34:29-30).
D) After the incident with the golden calf, 3,000 men fell in the camp for rebellion. (Exodus 32: 25-38)
E) The earth swallowed the men of Korah, about 250 of them, women and children besides (Leviticus 16: 28-34)
And I could go on.
Moses, clearly, was acting on behalf of God. God was using Moses as an agent in this world, striking fear in those around them, and setting the Israelites apart for himself. And he destroyed a group of particularly nasty child sacrificers and pagan people to provide Israel with a place to live.
I don't claim to go as far as Richard Dawkins in calling God out as an evil man for the way he went about these things in history. I don't claim to have God pinned down in a box. As God explained to Moses, and to a few generations before him, these people who were destroyed were particularly evil.
My main point is, if we apply the modern idea of the war on terror and the American Republican (the Unborn) AND Democrat (the Army) way of protecting life at all costs , are we claiming to blot out the rights of God? Do we ignore his right to exercise generational Justice, in modern times just like He did in the Old Testemant?
It sounds like our media has said that God does not get involved in modern affairs. And therefore, we are to blame for all this travesty around us. But scripture says otherwise.
Psalm 137:8-9
8"O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed
blessed shall he be who repays you
with what you have done to us!
9Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rock.
I'm probably going to offend some dispensationalists here, and I'm not claiming anything, other than that the events that are taking place today. We watch these events and say "How horrible! Peace! Peace!"
Is it just possible we can leave room for God's wrath to act before the sky is rolled up like a scroll? Or do we, as postmodern evangelical Christians that we claim to be, have been enlightened to remove "just" and "righteous" from God's definition.
I still mourn for all deaths and inequality that is occurring on the earth. I still think that there is much that we can and must do to help the underprivileged and the alien, the fatherless, and the widow, for this is true religion, according to James.
But I think sometimes I forget that we must accept that in places where His people are few, there will not peace on this earth, until the Prince of Peace comes. To that end, putting my whole purpose behind the great commission is a worthy cause. For "And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."
Read the context here: Matthew 24:4-14. I don't claim to be an end times expert, but I do see a similarity in pattern of today's current events, and what is occurring in this passage.
that wars are increasing,
that hearts are increasingly growing cold,
that lawlessness is increasing,
and 13"the one who endures to the end will be saved.
14And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations,
and then the end will come."
So, we must endure to the end, and we must be an agent of the gospel of the kingdom. And that is why I am progressing in the direction that I am
~KOOP | | |
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