presentsense

Jesus, Interrupted is on the way...

Controversy makes for good publicity, and Bart Ehrman is no stranger to controversy, so it's no wonder I initially heard about this bible scholar on The Daily Show of all places a couple years ago.  His new book - "Jesus, Interrupted" is on its way right now to my house for my review, and I am looking forward to Ehrman doing his usual job of ripping the New Testament text to shreds. Stay tuned for my full review of his book in the next several weeks, but for now, here's some more info about what's coming...

Ehrman talks about his book on YouTube

Harper Collins page on Jesus, Interrupted

Random brain-droppings on Ted Haggard...

Wow...so many things I feel about the mass media exposure of Ted Haggard's "gory details" last night, first on HBO, and then on CNN. It's hard to put this into essay form, so I think I will bullet out the things one by one...

• Ted Haggard is a sinner. I am too. We don't sin the same way, but he's no worse than I am. He's just more exposed.
• Alexandra Pelosi is Ted's (unlikely) friend, and she played on the emotions of sympathy and compassion in her audience last night by emphasizing the way Ted has been shunned by his faith community. The shame here, though, in my estimation, is on the faith community, not Pelosi. To insist that Ted leave the state of Colorado is an abuse of already non-biblical authority. Ted complied, it would seem, to salvage for his family a modicum of hope that they would get back to the life they once knew, or at least some of it.
• The fact that Ted is virtually un-employable outside the church further illustrates the co-dependence that churches and pastors have on each other, and begs questions like - "What other secrets are being systematically covered up in congregations all over the world?" or "How many church leaders are struggling with unmentionable sin or hypocrisy, lying about it, and being eaten alive from the inside out - having their families destroyed in the process - out of fear of exposure and the subsequent feeding frenzy of cannibal 'Christians'?"
• Gayle Haggard doesn't have much else to lose, and stands to gain a lot if things are handled well, but make no mistake - she is faithful and supportive, and walks out her marriage vows in a remarkable way.
• Ted's pointing to childhood "gay sex play" as the reason for his homosexual urges today won't help gays gain acceptance, or even tolerance, in the evangelical church.  It will just add fuel to the "pray it out of 'em" mentality.
• I for one believe Ted when he said he bought meth and then didn't use it. It takes a certain amount of guts for an otherwise clean-cut white-bread Christian man to take a drug like meth. I imagine he chickened out on that one. He admitted that he bought it, so he's not trying to hide from the authorities on that count. I'm just saying I believe it.
• Ted is from Yorktown, Indiana (very close to my hometown of Anderson). My Dad told me he thought that was true when we were back there for the holidays, and I just confirmed it on Wikipedia. His dad was a veterinarian who cast out demons on the side. True story.

That's all for now. I am following this story very closely, and may have something more coherent to say soon. Stay tuned.

Dragging ourselves to church

Yesterday, Steph and I literally dragged ourselves to church. We had every excuse imaginable not to go. Weekends have become something to recover from by going back to work. Saturday morning I stepped on a stick which ignored the sole of my shoe and punctured the arch of my foot. (OUCH). Sunday morning, Steph woke up with stomach cramps/vomiting. Still, limping and doubled over, we rustled up five kids and headed uptown.

Saturday, I had been reading Psalm 37, and I sent it to a friend who was going through a rough time. Well, guess what Jonathan's sermon text was? He also asked the body to read Psalm 37 every day this week. I don't think that's such a bad idea. I'd like you to join us. I'll make it easy.

Click here for Psalm 37 in The Message
Click here for Psalm 37 in the NIV
Click here for Psalm 37 in the King James
Click here to have it read to you. (sorry, you'll have to dig a litte. I recommend having Max McLean read the NIV to you with soothing synth-pad music in the background

Bentley, Ahn, Campbell, Joyner, and...Palin??

Never in a million years would I have thought that the Bentley-starts-a-charismatic-civil-war thread of consciousness and the Obama-McCain-historic-election thread would cross. But I think they just did. I am speechless (for now).

I can think of some charismatic pastors I have known that might have just squirted a little.

On skeptics pt. 2 - Doubting Thomas...

Remember learning in Sunday School about "Doubting Thomas?" I sure do. He was the one who needed proof before he would believe that Jesus had actually been raised from the dead. The story can be found starting at John 20:24. The story essentially says that the first time Jesus appeared to the disciples, Thomas was not there, and when they told him about it, he told them he wouldn't believe their story was true unless he saw and felt  Jesus for himself. He got his wish a few days later, when Jesus appeared to the disciples again - this time with Thomas there. Jesus told Thomas to look at - even to feel - the holes in his hands and side. The story doesn't say that he actually stuck his fingers into anything, but it was clear from his response that he was convinced.

Interesting to me in this story is that it was the other disciples that he didn't believe. It wasn't Jesus himself that he doubted. As a matter of fact, this is one of only two stories in the entire bible with Thomas as a character. He's mentioned in each of the other gospels, and in Acts, but only as a name in the list of disciples. So basically, the only thing we know about what Thomas was like from scripture is in this one tiny story, and in a brave comment about returning with Jesus to Judea (where he had previously narrowly escaped a stoning) on the death of Lazarus. You can find that story in John 11.  I would argue that we can assume a couple other things through deduction:

• Jesus chose Thomas as a disciple, and if we assume that he was knowledgeable about him, or that he had divine knowledge about him, then his selection as a disciple has to count for something. He was important to Jesus' mission.
• He was faithful, in that he is mentioned as still being one of the disciples after the crucifixion, in Acts, and in this story in John.

Everything else we learn about Thomas comes from extra-biblical sources. Here are the highlights:

• Some believe that Thomas wrote some sayings of Jesus down into a scroll, a copy of which was found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945. The contents of this scroll have come to be known as "The Gospel if Thomas." Ironically, this "gospel" is widely doubted to be of scriptural value.
• Thomas is revered as a saint in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.
• It is widely held that Thomas was martyred near Chennai, India (formerly Madras - on the southeastern coast) - making him the farthest traveler of the 12 direct disciples of Jesus. So much for skeptics being weak witnesses.

Next time - More examples from scripture.

On skeptics...

One part of me that seems so woven into my fabric as to almost identify me is an inherent skepticism. When I think about how fundamentally skeptical I am, I think about Paul talking about his "thorn in the flesh." I also think about gay people who insist that they did not choose to be gay - that it's just a part of who they are.

If I had been able to choose, I don't think I would have chosen a skeptical lifestyle. It's been one aspect of my personality that I am most ashamed of, most afraid of, and most at-odds with, for as long as I can remember. I know skeptical people who wear their skepticism as a badge of honor. That's not me.

Still, while it's relatively easy to change one's outward manifestations, matters of the heart - such as a skeptical outlook - are much harder, if not impossible, to tame. In 35 years, I have learned for the most part when and where to ask skeptical questions, and when not to. Fine. But God looks on the heart, doesn't He? He cares about my hateful thoughts as much as He does my murderous actions. Isn't that Jesus 101? So what do I do about my skeptical attitude? How do I make the outward control the inward man? How do I do that?

Then I thought this week...wait..."Why should I be ashamed of the way God made me?" I mean, I am a lustful person too, but I have learned ways to control it before it affects my outward life, and I seem to be OK with that. I give the Holy Spirit the glory for it even. How is skepticism any different, or even - shudder - is skepticism an inherently wrong attitude? Let's explore that.

Coming tomorrow...The disciple known as "Doubting Thomas"...

Baptist Press - FIRST-PERSON: Faith & healing -- Where's the evidence? - News with a Christian Perspective

Link: Baptist Press - FIRST-PERSON: Faith & healing -- Where's the evidence? - News with a Christian Perspective.

This is a first person account from a man who took his family to Lakeland for prayer for his 7-year old autistic son. They never got prayed for. From my own research, the focus on praying for people in wheelchairs is quite common at faith healer shows. Not everyone in a wheelchair absolutely needs to be in one, and if you can convince just one of those people to get out of theirs, people in the room will go ape-shit. It's not a bad policy to have, written or unwritten.

Some "healers" (W.V. Grant, Peter Popoff) have even gone so far as to provide rented wheelchairs to people that did not need them, only to call them up out of the wheelchair at the moment of climax to the cheers of a crazed group of expectant faithful. If I sound skeptical, it's because I am, and because if God is really moving here in an important way, he has nothing to fear from a blogger like me. I love Him, and I don't think His work is being done here. Bentley has mysteriously taken a month off after being on Nightline and having the validity of his miracles and the appropriateness of his financial dealings called into scrutiny. He has offered no strong proof of any of his "resurrections," and honestly, do you really think that if someone in a coffin started knocking on the lid from the inside that the local and even national news would not have been all over the story? Why do we have to hear about these uber-miracles from Bentley and his followers? 30 people raised from the dead? And you have to tell me yourself? Come on. Oh, and none of these 30 people have decided to go to the media themselves? Or join up with Bentley at a crusade? Please people, think and pray.

Many will say to me "Lord, Lord..."

Signs and wonders

Let me tell you a story.  There is a woman, a young woman with kids, who has learned she has breast cancer. The news was not all that surprising, in that both her mom and one of her sisters are breast cancer survivors. Genetically speaking, you could say they drew a bad card. It's a real unfortunate and sad thing, but there is hope, because of the previously mentioned survival of the mom and sister, so there is reason to be optimistic, no?

No. Why?, because this woman is "Spirit-filled," and literally believes that if she goes through with the surgery and chemo/radiation treatments that the doctor tells her will help her beat this disease, she is showing a lack of faith, and that God will not heal her.

Before I go on, let me also tell you that this story is 100% true, and happening right now to a close friend of my wife.

She has been to Lakeland, FL, to the Todd Bentley Revival Show, and she has flown out to California to participate in something called a Healing Room. After returning from California, she went back to the doctor for a checkup, and they confirmed that not only is the cancer still there, it is growing rapidly. She literally had surgery scheduled and then canceled it - on the very day that her mother arrived unannounced to help her through the surgery and recovery time. Needless to say, her parents are livid, and in complete disagreement about this woman's choice not to get treatment, but that's OK to the woman, because they aren't Spirit-filled, so they wouldn't understand. (They are just cancer survivors.)

OK, listen, I am Spirit filled, and I don't understand either. She's just gone back down to Lakeland for another week of playing the healing slots. Hopefully, they'll pay out this time. Here's what's killing me about this situation. Her son (11 years old) has said to his grandparents, "God's going to heal my mommy." So his faith in God essentially rides on this healing. I know it's not that simple, because if there's anything Christians have more of than "true stories of miracles," it's explanations as to why those miracles didn't actually happen to them and their loved ones.

My wife is too close to this woman to ask her any questions that might help convince her to get traditional treatment. She's afraid that this woman's mind is so set, that any advice in this direction would be rejected, and the friendship severed. (Of course, nothing will sever a friendship so completely as dying, but I digress). Here are the things I would ask her, if the opportunity arose:

Why are you willing to believe that God works through certain men or certain rooms, but not through certain doctors? Why do you think God can't love you enough to heal you where you live? What happened to the commandment to honor your father and mother that it might go well with you and that you may have long life? And finally, if it was your 11 year old son with cancer, what would you be doing then?

I told Steph a couple nights ago that a lot is riding on this healing now. Her life, and the quality of the lives of her kids. The faith of this woman's son, husband, and parents. In a way, even my faith is riding on this a little bit. Not faith in God, per se, but definitely faith in signs and wonders.

Stuff Christians Like: #243. Going through "seasons."

Link: Stuff Christians Like: #243. Going through "seasons.".

-------

----------------
Now playing: George Harrison - Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (
via FoxyTunes   

Watch out Charismatics...

OK, all my Charismatic friends, Emergent is coming after you now. Well, to be fair, it's Steve Knight, and he did not post this on Emergent Village, but he and other voices in the Emergent movement have posted and cross-posted this post on their personal blogs in the last few days. Have a read for yourself...

Knight on Freak-a-costalism.. (my word, not his ;-)

So, I know I have more Charismatic readers than Steve does, and I know that Steve reads this blog. How about it, Charismatics? You've been to these kinds of meetings. Don't deny it. I was there with some of you. Any comments for Steve and others who are asking questions about all this weird stuff? Leave a comment.

I will follow this post up with my thoughts soon (and it might not be what you think), but I want my readers to have a chance to comment.