THEOLOGY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 101
There is a lot of bad theology that is running rampant in American Christianity. I've come to call it "The American Dream Theology". I'm not sure if that term is original with me or not. Probably not. Regardless, it aptly sums up the decay of professing Christians and the local social clubs they call churches. The sad part is that no church - even the most biblical - is immune to American Dream Theology. I will try to develop that thought further in an upcoming post, but for now, I'll just let it simmer in your mind.
...Theology is still important - what you believe absolutely determines how you act. So while good theology at its best can lead us to live godly lives, bad theology will always point us in the wrong direction. - p. 64
Remember what I said about American Dream Theology? ADT is a prime example of bad theology. It doesn't matter if you call yourself Calvinist, Arminian, or neither. It doesn't matter if you're Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Presbyterian or anything else. If you have adopted even a light version of ADT, you're consuming bad theology. ADT has affected our understanding and view of the Holy Spirit. And that's seriously bad.
On pages 70-74, Francis Chan lists some basic truths about the Holy Spirit. I will not get into those here, but I do want to pull a few highlights brought up in that discussion.
Because the Spirit is holy and dwells in us, our bodies are holy sanctuaries
from God's vantage point. Too often we disdain our bodies as the source
of sin and our fallenness; yet they are precisely where God the Spirit
chooses to dwell! - p. 71
This bothers me a lot. Every time I read the epistles to the Corinthians this bothers me. Why? Because it reminds me of how flippantly I regard God's Holy Temple. The Spirit of the Living God indwells believers on a scale that is far above anything the Israelites experienced at the Tabernacle in the Wilderness or at Solomon's Temple. Same God. Same Spirit. Yet, I allow it to be polluted and disregarded. We need a renewed understanding of the importance of believers being the living temples of the Living God.
OK. So, we're temples? What does that mean? Do we just sit around on mountaintops and meditate? What does the Holy Spirit do with His temples?
It is the Spirit who draws people to the gospel, the Spirit who equips us
with the strength we need to accomplish God's purposes. The Holy Spirit
not only initially draws people to God, He also draws believers closer to
Jesus. - p. 75
He empowers. He energizes. He equips. He gifts. He does everything so that He can work, move, and minister through us. It's sad that in our American Dream Theological Culture that that's a novel idea.
By the power of the Spirit we put to death the misdeeds of the body. - p. 75
We can't just do better. We can't try harder. We can't work more. Only through the Spirit do we have any hope of becoming more Christlike and being conformed into the image of the Son of God.
When we correct our thinking. Toss out American Dream Theology and replace it to true, biblical theology, then it should "...lead you to right action, genuine love, and true worship." (p.77)
Where is your theology leading you?
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Saturday, May 30, 2015
THE FORGOTTEN GOD - EPISODE III - CHAPTER 2 - WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?
I'm a lot slower at writing out my thoughts than I am at reading. Mainly because I'm very careful about my words. I probably take longer to prepare a sermon than most preachers do. I want each word to count. I don't like the "small talk" and superficial in my speaking. This has a lot to do with being an introvert. An introvert who loves to write (even if only four people read what I write) and who preaches. I'm currently on chapter 4 in the book, and just now writing about chapter 2. Let's jump in.
Don't let your views be determined by a particular denomination or by what you've always been told. p. 47
I've always been an outsider. A rebel, if you will. Yes, there is a part of me who loves going against the grain, but this isn't really why I've always been viewed and treated as such. I've just always thought differently. Even though I was in fundamentalist churches my entire life, I never really fit in. Unfortunately, I went along with and agreed with entirely too much of what I was told, but I never bought into enough to be accepted. Having said that, I have learned in the last 5 years, that I let my thinking be determined by what I was told entirely too much. And still do. But, really, all of us do.
We must constantly refocus. Are my opinions and beliefs on this subject or that subject entirely rooted in Scripture? Or is it based on what I've always been told. This is a great way to open any subject, book, chapter, etc.
Following up that statement, Francis Chan writes:
Fear has a way of channeling our thought process. Fear of stepping outside of a certain theological framework causes us to be biased in our interpretations. We work diligently to "prove" that our presuppositions were correct (another example of eisegesis) rather than simply and honestly pursuing truth. -p.47
This was really what took me so long to part ways with Independent Baptist Fundamentalism (IFB). This was what kept me for so long from even remotely exploring any branch of reformed theology and thinking. FEAR. Fear still drives me more than I care to admit. I've worked hard and long to "prove" those misguided and errant ways of thinking to prop them up, when in reality, I just needed to turn back to Scripture alone. Toss man's thinking out the window. Look at God's.
But why are we afraid? Chan gets down to a deeper issue within all believers.
When it comes down to it, many of us do not really want to be led by the Holy Spirit. Or, more fundamentally, many of us don't want to be led by anyone other than ourselves. - p. 50
As the old saying goes, "Aye, there's the rub!"
How often has this kept us from truly serving God? How often has this thwarted, subverted and brought about the ruin of many local bodies of believers? Why are we surprised when preachers, churches and organizations fall when they were never led by the Spirit of God but the Spirit of themselves and their own fallen desires?
While some are driven by their own lusts, many of us are driven by "The Fear of What Others Think About Us".
...We Americans tend to care about what others think of us - to an unhealthy degree. And believers are certainly not exempt from this trend. - p.52
It's seen in children and teenagers, and adults never get over it. We are afraid to say what we really think and believe because we fear what others will think of us. We dress a certain way - whether for church or our daily lives - because we fear the thoughts of others. Hairstyles, hair color....the list never ends. It's amazing that collective thinking has such a power over us. But let's not stop materially, let's think theologically and biblically. We care more about what others say and think about any and all issues more than what God Himself has said. No wonder the world thinks the church is dying. They know we're afraid of their thoughts!
When we become overly concerned about our appearance, our spiritual reputation, our coolness and our acceptance, we are living as citizens of this world rather than as ambassadors.
This is not something that just goes away. It is an ever-present struggle to maintain your true allegiance. - p. 54
This is part of our spiritual warfare. The real battleground, the real theatre of war is not the local, state and federal governments; the public schools; the universities; the media; Hollywood; or any other man-made battleground. The real battleground is individual believers and our local churches.
...I think that quite often we worry a lot more about how people will respond to us than we do about how the Holy Spirit of God will respond. We think about making our friends mad or not being accepted or being thought of as different or strange. But rarely (if ever) do we consider whether our actions or lifestyle are grievous to the Spirit of the Living God. - p. 54
Let's stop caring about what society, the media, our friends or even our family thinks about us. Let's be consumed with what God thinks and being led by His Spirit.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
Thursday, May 28, 2015
FORGOTTEN GOD: Episode II - Chapter 1
We may as well face it: the whole level of spirituality
among us is low. We have measured ourselves by ourselves
until the incentive to seek higher plateaus in the things of the
Spirit is all but gone.... [We] have imitated the world, sought
popular favor, manufactured delights to substitute for the joy
of the Lord and produced a cheap and synthetic power to
substitute for the power of the Holy Ghost.
- A. W. Tozer, p. 27, beginning of chapter 1
Tonight I want to look at my impressions from chapter 1. The quote above from
A. W. Tozer is extremely relevant for our day. We have manufactured for ourselves a cheap grace for a cheap theology proclaimed by a cheaply made deity. And little of it has any resemblance to true biblical Christianity.
In chapter 1, "I've Got Jesus, Why Do I Need the Spirit?", Francis Chan addresses our watered-down, cheapened version of the Holy Spirit.
Most of us assume that what we believe is right...but have never really
studied for ourselves. We were simply told, "This is the way it is," and
didn't question. The problem is much of what we believe is often based
more on comfort or our culture's tradition than on the Bible. -p. 29
This is the story of most of our lives. I know it is in my own. While I have often thought contrary to my teachers, pastors and elders, I would usually keep my opinions to myself, accept the fact that I am wrong, and shove it to the back of my mind. Only to find out years later that I was not wrong. Sometimes, it doesn't pay to listen to those who base everything they know by what someone else told them, or what their man-made traditions ordain.
We must get back to the Word of God. Are the things we cling to really in the Word of God, or merely the tradition handed down to us by some grayhairs? The Word of God must be paramount. Tradition does not equal Scripture. You would think we would know that, but apparently few "Christians" really understand the difference.
Chan states that one of the areas we need to re-examine our thinking on is regarding the Holy Spirit. "...We don't think we need the Holy Spirit. We don't expect the Holy Spirit to act. Or if we do, our expectations are often misguided or self-serving. (p. 31). Everything we do as believers must be done through the holy Spirit. We have the idea that we can do it all on our own - win unbelievers, have big crowds, building programs. All we need is each other and each other's pocketbooks.
But, there is more to God than that. it's more than money, talent and personality.
Are we really denying the existence of the Holy Spirit? Do we really deny the Trinity in favor of a Duology? Most of us are afraid to even remotely refer to the Holy Spirit because someone will think we're Pentecostals (I'm not trying to offend the three Pentecostals reading this, just making a very Baptist observation).
So, where do we start? How do we get from the empty, powerless Christianity we currently practice, to something radically different? I close with Francis Chan's closing statements from chapter 1:
"I want to be different today from what I was yesterday as the fruit of
the Spirit becomes more manifest in me.
I want to live so that I am truly submitted to the Spirit's leading on a
daily basis. Christ said it is better for us that the Spirit came, and I want
to live like I know that is true. i don't want to keep crawling when I have
the ability to fly," p. 37
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
FORGOTTEN GOD - Episode I
As predicted, I'm now reading Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan with Danae Yankoski. This is the third of Francis Chan's books that I've read (I've read Crazy Love twice and earlier this year I read Erasing Hell - both books were thought provoking and resetting). I think the title of this book says it all, so let's jump right into what I want to discuss today. In this post, I'll tackle what stood out to me in the introduction and in chapter 1.
[Note: I never get to chapter 1 in this post. Sorry to disappoint.]
In some books the introduction is pretty lame. Not much is really hit on in the introudction, just a restatement and/or expansion of the title and subtitle. Sometimes writers don't even do that. Instead, we get hit. Hit hard.
The benchmark of success in church services has become more about attendance than the movement of the Holy Spirit. The "entertainment" model of church was largely adopted in the 1980s and 90s, and while it alleviated some of our boredom for a couple of hours a week, it filled our churches with self-focused consumers rather than self-sacrificing servants attuned to the Holy Spirit.
- Introudction, pp. 15-16
Some of us have been pointing this out for years, and many of us have been waking up to this more recently. This is still a tough point to toss out right off the bat when you're still trying to sell the reader on the book. But, then, I doubt Chan was planning on making an easy sell. As the great theologian Gandalf Greyham once said, "Nothing is ever easy."
The problem is, even those of us who think we are standing against consumerism in the worship, have actually been selling our own particular brand of Church. This is not Chan's point, this is mine. We have all been way to concerned with whom we are selling our church and our brand of worship. We're left God completely out of the picture. This alone woul make a great book and a worthwhile study with an action plan to get back on track.
Chan goes on to write this "...is directly connected to the dissatisfaction most of us feel with and in the church. We understand something very important is missing. The feeling is so strong that some have run away from the church and God's Word completely." (Introduction, p. 16).
I think he has already made a stronger case as to why men (and women) don't go to church than the author of the last book I read made.
He further states that that something is actually a Someone, namely, the Holy Spirit.
Recently, thanks to a Pew Research study, a lot of conversation has opened up about the supppsed death of the church/death of the church in America. Maybe more of us should have paid attention in 2009 when Chan wrote this book. He said, "The light of the American church is flickering and nearly extinguished, having largely sold out to the kingdoms and values of this world." (Introduction, p. 17).
Thankfully, God promised not to break bruised reeds or quench smoking flaxes. The vine maybe about to be pruned, but rest assured, the vine isn't dead. It's going to flourish again. Probably in a far different way than we can conceive.
In my experience, a lot of churches that once flourished greatly many years ago are still stuck in the past. They are always talking about what happened all those years ago, but no one is willing to do anything to see a return to those great days (if they ever really happened at all anyhow). Chan gives us a solution for that mindset: "...by keeping in step with the Spirit , we might regularly fellowship over what He's doing, rather than what He did months or years ago."
Part of our problem, according to Chan, is that many believers live out God's Word in their daily lives the same way we hear the Word of God taught and preached. We live eisigetically as opposed to exegetically. We pursue whatever lifestyle we desire, then hunt down the Scripture to fit it so that we can show everyone we're doing it all right.
That's just scary.
That's just 100% corect.
He says we've done the same thing to the Holy Spirit that we've done to the Holy Sciptures. We've cut and pasted whatever verses we want regarding Him and allowed that form our understanding to the oft-forgotten member of the Triunity.
Well, I wanted to get into chapter 1 as well, but the introduction was hard hitting enough, and gave me plenty to think about. I don't know about you, but so far, I have seen too much of this in my own life. So, what can I do? What can you do? What can we believers do? Well, we can start by repenting. And we have a lot to repent of.
I'll attempt to discuss chapter 1 tomorrow.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
[Note: I never get to chapter 1 in this post. Sorry to disappoint.]
In some books the introduction is pretty lame. Not much is really hit on in the introudction, just a restatement and/or expansion of the title and subtitle. Sometimes writers don't even do that. Instead, we get hit. Hit hard.
The benchmark of success in church services has become more about attendance than the movement of the Holy Spirit. The "entertainment" model of church was largely adopted in the 1980s and 90s, and while it alleviated some of our boredom for a couple of hours a week, it filled our churches with self-focused consumers rather than self-sacrificing servants attuned to the Holy Spirit.
- Introudction, pp. 15-16
Some of us have been pointing this out for years, and many of us have been waking up to this more recently. This is still a tough point to toss out right off the bat when you're still trying to sell the reader on the book. But, then, I doubt Chan was planning on making an easy sell. As the great theologian Gandalf Greyham once said, "Nothing is ever easy."
The problem is, even those of us who think we are standing against consumerism in the worship, have actually been selling our own particular brand of Church. This is not Chan's point, this is mine. We have all been way to concerned with whom we are selling our church and our brand of worship. We're left God completely out of the picture. This alone woul make a great book and a worthwhile study with an action plan to get back on track.
Chan goes on to write this "...is directly connected to the dissatisfaction most of us feel with and in the church. We understand something very important is missing. The feeling is so strong that some have run away from the church and God's Word completely." (Introduction, p. 16).
I think he has already made a stronger case as to why men (and women) don't go to church than the author of the last book I read made.
He further states that that something is actually a Someone, namely, the Holy Spirit.
Recently, thanks to a Pew Research study, a lot of conversation has opened up about the supppsed death of the church/death of the church in America. Maybe more of us should have paid attention in 2009 when Chan wrote this book. He said, "The light of the American church is flickering and nearly extinguished, having largely sold out to the kingdoms and values of this world." (Introduction, p. 17).
Thankfully, God promised not to break bruised reeds or quench smoking flaxes. The vine maybe about to be pruned, but rest assured, the vine isn't dead. It's going to flourish again. Probably in a far different way than we can conceive.
In my experience, a lot of churches that once flourished greatly many years ago are still stuck in the past. They are always talking about what happened all those years ago, but no one is willing to do anything to see a return to those great days (if they ever really happened at all anyhow). Chan gives us a solution for that mindset: "...by keeping in step with the Spirit , we might regularly fellowship over what He's doing, rather than what He did months or years ago."
Part of our problem, according to Chan, is that many believers live out God's Word in their daily lives the same way we hear the Word of God taught and preached. We live eisigetically as opposed to exegetically. We pursue whatever lifestyle we desire, then hunt down the Scripture to fit it so that we can show everyone we're doing it all right.
That's just scary.
That's just 100% corect.
He says we've done the same thing to the Holy Spirit that we've done to the Holy Sciptures. We've cut and pasted whatever verses we want regarding Him and allowed that form our understanding to the oft-forgotten member of the Triunity.
Well, I wanted to get into chapter 1 as well, but the introduction was hard hitting enough, and gave me plenty to think about. I don't know about you, but so far, I have seen too much of this in my own life. So, what can I do? What can you do? What can we believers do? Well, we can start by repenting. And we have a lot to repent of.
I'll attempt to discuss chapter 1 tomorrow.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
Monday, May 25, 2015
Next Up on the Reading List
I'm usually reading between 2-6 books at any point. Not all of which will I choose to comment on. I'm not really reviewing anything. I'm just relaying my thoughts on a book and its topic as it comes to my mind.
So. What's next? I have several. Actually, it's more than several. More like dozens. My wife just finished reading Francis Chan's The Forgotten God. That will probably be the book I start reading and commenting on this week. It really sounds interesting, as are all of his works, and my wife, who is not an avid reader as I am, really was excited about it. Usually, whenever a book grabs my wife's attention that much, I take notice and push other books to the side and read it.
I looked through a box of books upstairs this afternoon, all are on my READ ASAP list. There is no way of knowing when I'll around to most of them. My kindle is chock full of books that I desperately need to get to as well. I need an extra 4 hours every day. I think that will give me the time to read what I want.
Currently, I am reading through the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith. I'm interested in reading books on that line of thought in the future, so others will probably be added to that sublist of the ASAP list shortly.
Then, there's always the fiction....scifi, western, and comic books/graphic novels. I really am the Reading Sith.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
So. What's next? I have several. Actually, it's more than several. More like dozens. My wife just finished reading Francis Chan's The Forgotten God. That will probably be the book I start reading and commenting on this week. It really sounds interesting, as are all of his works, and my wife, who is not an avid reader as I am, really was excited about it. Usually, whenever a book grabs my wife's attention that much, I take notice and push other books to the side and read it.
I looked through a box of books upstairs this afternoon, all are on my READ ASAP list. There is no way of knowing when I'll around to most of them. My kindle is chock full of books that I desperately need to get to as well. I need an extra 4 hours every day. I think that will give me the time to read what I want.
Currently, I am reading through the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith. I'm interested in reading books on that line of thought in the future, so others will probably be added to that sublist of the ASAP list shortly.
Then, there's always the fiction....scifi, western, and comic books/graphic novels. I really am the Reading Sith.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
Final Thoughts on WHY MEN HATE GOING TO CHURCH by David Murrow
It's funny that in the first eight chapters of a book, you are with the author, agreeing with him, and BAM! He goes off the rails in chapter 9, and in my opinion, never recovers. Or at least, I spent the rest of the book carefully weighing every statement he made. Maybe it's just me. Anyhow, I want to hit some of the highlights from the rest of the book, and finalize what I thought about it.
You can go to my Twitter account and read the quoted tweets and thoughts that I had on the book.
Throughout the book, it seemed to me that the author really had something against meekness and humility. He constantly blasted these qualities as feminine and unmanly. Maybe he hasn't read that much of the Bible, I don't know. But Jesus and Moses are both highlighted as being EXTREMELY meek and humble men, who were very manly. Maybe the author doesn't really understand what true meekness and humility are.
In chapter 15, he mentioned how words like "relationship, passionate and intimacy" are overused and are words that make men uncomfortable. I agree. However, they should be used, and must be placed into proper context in our lessons, studies and sermons. We have a tendency to use words and terms (not just believers, but or society as a whole) without defining them and acknowledging what we are really talking about. This has to change. These words make people uncomfortable because they only think they know what it means. In reality, "That words does not mean what you think it means", Inigo Montoya was correct.
Music is decidedly feminine in the church, which is very true. Many of the songs we sing, not just the newer, more contemporary songs, but also many of the old hymns that many seem willing to die for are very feminine in nature.
...Christ has put down His sword and picked up a daisy. He is no longer a warrior, He is a lover. The very image of Christ taking up arms (as He does in Revelation 19) is simply unacceptable in a lot of churches today.
Praise music has accelerated this trend. Not only are the lyrics of many of these songs quite romantic, but they have the same breathless feel as top forty love songs. - page 139
Very few of the songs we sing in our services, whether new or old, invoke the warrior spirit. Yet, the life of the believer is a war, as the apostle Paul often reminded us.
One thing that I thought was peculiar, and it is probably due to my background, was that he stated that men are encouraged to be emotional in churches today. I've never seen that. In fact, the churches I grew up attending, and being trained in for the ministry encouraged the opposite. The only emotion that was OK to show was anger, and really that was only for those behind the pulpit. The rest of us were supposed to be Vulcans. No emotions. Emotions are bad. Evil. But, maybe that's just fundamentalism. Maybe all the evangelical churches are gushy emotion festivals.
Many other topics were addressed: the sharing phenomenon; dressing up for church; lack of vision, focus and purpose; expecting pastors to be personal chaplains; not allowing people to use their gifts to serve God; not intentionally identifying and training leaders; lack of discipleship; purposeless meetings; the dumbing down of church membership; pointless tasks; begging, pleading and guilt-tripping; prolonging the life of useless programs and ministries that have exceeded their shelf-life; more concerned about people's feelings rather than people bearing fruit; lack of strong pastoral leadership (not to be confused with dictatorship); less talking, more listening; etc.
Many of the issues are legitimate problems. Many of these things have always rankled me simply due to me being an introvert. I think one of the things we need to get back to is to stop encouraging people to be someone they are not, and start encouraging people to be who God created them to be. Stop forcing men to act like women. Stop forcing women to act like men. Stop forcing introverts to act like extroverts. God created each of us uniquely and specially. Be who God created you. Serve God with the gifts He gave you. That alone will be enough to revolutionize most of our churches.
We also must get back to the Word of God. Very few of our sermons, Sunday schools, and "Bible" studies have anything to do with the Bible. We've become so topically driven, that we have lost touch with Scripture. We don't need more flash and pizazz. We need God's Word. God's word must be paramount. Life lessons, personal illustrations, have no purpose apart from Scripture, and most of the time we are attempting to force Scripture to fit the model of our "life lessons".
There's a lot more that could be said about this book. He does have a lot of good suggestions. But, there's a lot of garbage here, too. In the end, I think his real call is for a return to Biblical manhood. Let's return to a study of the men of the Bible, and what God has to say about men. Another area that will help us is a return to the study of church history. Let's look at the great men of the ancient church, the Reformation, and the modern missionary movement and learn what made them great. And what made them men.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
You can go to my Twitter account and read the quoted tweets and thoughts that I had on the book.
Throughout the book, it seemed to me that the author really had something against meekness and humility. He constantly blasted these qualities as feminine and unmanly. Maybe he hasn't read that much of the Bible, I don't know. But Jesus and Moses are both highlighted as being EXTREMELY meek and humble men, who were very manly. Maybe the author doesn't really understand what true meekness and humility are.
In chapter 15, he mentioned how words like "relationship, passionate and intimacy" are overused and are words that make men uncomfortable. I agree. However, they should be used, and must be placed into proper context in our lessons, studies and sermons. We have a tendency to use words and terms (not just believers, but or society as a whole) without defining them and acknowledging what we are really talking about. This has to change. These words make people uncomfortable because they only think they know what it means. In reality, "That words does not mean what you think it means", Inigo Montoya was correct.
Music is decidedly feminine in the church, which is very true. Many of the songs we sing, not just the newer, more contemporary songs, but also many of the old hymns that many seem willing to die for are very feminine in nature.
...Christ has put down His sword and picked up a daisy. He is no longer a warrior, He is a lover. The very image of Christ taking up arms (as He does in Revelation 19) is simply unacceptable in a lot of churches today.
Praise music has accelerated this trend. Not only are the lyrics of many of these songs quite romantic, but they have the same breathless feel as top forty love songs. - page 139
Very few of the songs we sing in our services, whether new or old, invoke the warrior spirit. Yet, the life of the believer is a war, as the apostle Paul often reminded us.
One thing that I thought was peculiar, and it is probably due to my background, was that he stated that men are encouraged to be emotional in churches today. I've never seen that. In fact, the churches I grew up attending, and being trained in for the ministry encouraged the opposite. The only emotion that was OK to show was anger, and really that was only for those behind the pulpit. The rest of us were supposed to be Vulcans. No emotions. Emotions are bad. Evil. But, maybe that's just fundamentalism. Maybe all the evangelical churches are gushy emotion festivals.
Many other topics were addressed: the sharing phenomenon; dressing up for church; lack of vision, focus and purpose; expecting pastors to be personal chaplains; not allowing people to use their gifts to serve God; not intentionally identifying and training leaders; lack of discipleship; purposeless meetings; the dumbing down of church membership; pointless tasks; begging, pleading and guilt-tripping; prolonging the life of useless programs and ministries that have exceeded their shelf-life; more concerned about people's feelings rather than people bearing fruit; lack of strong pastoral leadership (not to be confused with dictatorship); less talking, more listening; etc.
Many of the issues are legitimate problems. Many of these things have always rankled me simply due to me being an introvert. I think one of the things we need to get back to is to stop encouraging people to be someone they are not, and start encouraging people to be who God created them to be. Stop forcing men to act like women. Stop forcing women to act like men. Stop forcing introverts to act like extroverts. God created each of us uniquely and specially. Be who God created you. Serve God with the gifts He gave you. That alone will be enough to revolutionize most of our churches.
We also must get back to the Word of God. Very few of our sermons, Sunday schools, and "Bible" studies have anything to do with the Bible. We've become so topically driven, that we have lost touch with Scripture. We don't need more flash and pizazz. We need God's Word. God's word must be paramount. Life lessons, personal illustrations, have no purpose apart from Scripture, and most of the time we are attempting to force Scripture to fit the model of our "life lessons".
There's a lot more that could be said about this book. He does have a lot of good suggestions. But, there's a lot of garbage here, too. In the end, I think his real call is for a return to Biblical manhood. Let's return to a study of the men of the Bible, and what God has to say about men. Another area that will help us is a return to the study of church history. Let's look at the great men of the ancient church, the Reformation, and the modern missionary movement and learn what made them great. And what made them men.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
Friday, May 22, 2015
The Manliness of Reading
Some seem to think that it is a very unmanly thing to read. A man who is an avid reader is probably the 21st Century version of a eunuch. This strange imagery reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode "Time Enough At Last" which starred Burgess Meredith as a henpecked man whose attempts to read were always thwarted by his wife, boss and just about everyone. That is until a nuclear holocaust made him the last man on earth who finally had all the time he wanted to read. Actually, that character is probably too macho for our current vision of a "male reader".
I'm not sure when this bizarre thinking came to dominate our culture. In fact, our very society was built upon the writing and thinking of prolific readers.
Perhaps therein lies the reason for the rapid disintegration of our culture: a lack of men who read. I'm not using "men" as a general term for all of humanity. I'm addressing a great fault in the male gender of our species.
The thirst for knowledge can only be quenched through the consumption of good books. Real men have an overwhelming desire to learn and never quit learning. Does this mean it is easy for all? No. Unfortunately, for many it can be a painful and difficult process that is very time consuming. Yet that overpowering desire to learn causes them to press on.
Our churches, our families, our lives are weak because we have forgotten the benefits of reading. We prefer to allow TV, Internet, and media (old and new) to do all of our thinking for us. Some of us think we're special because we let talk radio think for us. And we disdainfully look down on those "book nerds" that are SO beneath us.
If we want to regain our culture, society, communities, states, nations and families, we must shake off the dust of these New Dark Ages, and relearn the massive value of reading and books. In doing so, we have the potential of launching a new Reformation.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
I'm not sure when this bizarre thinking came to dominate our culture. In fact, our very society was built upon the writing and thinking of prolific readers.
Perhaps therein lies the reason for the rapid disintegration of our culture: a lack of men who read. I'm not using "men" as a general term for all of humanity. I'm addressing a great fault in the male gender of our species.
The thirst for knowledge can only be quenched through the consumption of good books. Real men have an overwhelming desire to learn and never quit learning. Does this mean it is easy for all? No. Unfortunately, for many it can be a painful and difficult process that is very time consuming. Yet that overpowering desire to learn causes them to press on.
Our churches, our families, our lives are weak because we have forgotten the benefits of reading. We prefer to allow TV, Internet, and media (old and new) to do all of our thinking for us. Some of us think we're special because we let talk radio think for us. And we disdainfully look down on those "book nerds" that are SO beneath us.
If we want to regain our culture, society, communities, states, nations and families, we must shake off the dust of these New Dark Ages, and relearn the massive value of reading and books. In doing so, we have the potential of launching a new Reformation.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
Thursday, May 21, 2015
The Return to Blogging
Eventually I'll have to find some acceptable background paint job for this thing. For now the brownish map motif will do the job. Sort of goes with my avatar. At least that is what I'm telling myself.
Back in my original blogging days, I was a news and politics junkie. I thrived off of the stuff. I was consuming so much news, going from site to site, getting the latest on what was going on behind and in front of the curtain. Trying to figure who was working the smoke machine that kept the residents of Oz bamboozled. Then, I woke up. I realized how much of an effect the consumption of all that junk was having on me. I was becoming increasingly negative and cynical. And paranoid.
So, I quit.
I quit reading, listening and watching any news at all. This lasted for a couple of years - total news and politics fast. I felt good. And I don't regret it. Now, I briefly scan a few headlines from time to time. Listen to a couple of Christian podcasts that briefly deal current events, watch the nuts on Twitter, and that's about it. I stay out of the loop now. And I don't care!
Now, don't misunderstand. I don't live in a box, a commune or in an Amish village now. I briefly scan, and that's it. That's all I need. No need to dwell on the garbage that I cannot control. I have better things to do with my time. Like, being Darth Baptist, Sith Pastor. And reading.
Six years later, I'd rather read about what truly interests me instead of trying to keep up with the POWERS THAT BE and worry about what is going wrong.
Want to keep your sanity? Quit being cynical? Paranoid? Quit watching and listening to news and talk radio, and go explore the galaxies of books.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
Back in my original blogging days, I was a news and politics junkie. I thrived off of the stuff. I was consuming so much news, going from site to site, getting the latest on what was going on behind and in front of the curtain. Trying to figure who was working the smoke machine that kept the residents of Oz bamboozled. Then, I woke up. I realized how much of an effect the consumption of all that junk was having on me. I was becoming increasingly negative and cynical. And paranoid.
So, I quit.
I quit reading, listening and watching any news at all. This lasted for a couple of years - total news and politics fast. I felt good. And I don't regret it. Now, I briefly scan a few headlines from time to time. Listen to a couple of Christian podcasts that briefly deal current events, watch the nuts on Twitter, and that's about it. I stay out of the loop now. And I don't care!
Now, don't misunderstand. I don't live in a box, a commune or in an Amish village now. I briefly scan, and that's it. That's all I need. No need to dwell on the garbage that I cannot control. I have better things to do with my time. Like, being Darth Baptist, Sith Pastor. And reading.
Six years later, I'd rather read about what truly interests me instead of trying to keep up with the POWERS THAT BE and worry about what is going wrong.
Want to keep your sanity? Quit being cynical? Paranoid? Quit watching and listening to news and talk radio, and go explore the galaxies of books.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
The last time I blogged was about 6 years ago. Back in those days, most of you were still in first grade. I operated 5, pretty sure it was 5...maybe it was 6, blogs. Of course, I considered myself an IFB conspiracy nut back then, so most of it was pure drivel.
When I first started the @DarthBaptist Twitter account however long ago that's been now, it was to release anger and frustration at the idiot I had once been, to talk through some of the darkness I had escaped, and to mock the old me. I never thought it would turn into the Muppet Show that it has. I also never thought I would go on to start a companion account. And I never dreamed I would blog again. Yet look where we are. Yes, I'm taking to the two of you actually reading this.
So why a blog for DARTH BAPTIST READS? Frankly, 140 characters isn't enough to talk about what I'm reading. Yeah, it's that simple. And whatever else I need to get out of my brain.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
When I first started the @DarthBaptist Twitter account however long ago that's been now, it was to release anger and frustration at the idiot I had once been, to talk through some of the darkness I had escaped, and to mock the old me. I never thought it would turn into the Muppet Show that it has. I also never thought I would go on to start a companion account. And I never dreamed I would blog again. Yet look where we are. Yes, I'm taking to the two of you actually reading this.
So why a blog for DARTH BAPTIST READS? Frankly, 140 characters isn't enough to talk about what I'm reading. Yeah, it's that simple. And whatever else I need to get out of my brain.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
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