pinakidion.*

Believe it or not, I am glad that campus groups are excited about New Orleans. I would have enjoyed having a service component as part of a conference in my college days. What a good idea to establish the idea of community service as part of campus ministry.

I went to the new site and read the news about things happening around the world. It makes me shrug that most of the good news stories are baptisms - that metric isn’t going to change as I’ve mentioned before. I looked around and saw older messages, and a few pictures. The RightTurn folks made a beautiful sight.

I saw the Study section and found materials provided by the church in Boston. The sections are Apologetics, Bible Talks, D-Groups, Quiet Times, and Study Series Materials. I thought it would be interesting to see what was made available.

Some of the materials are quite disappointing. The discipleship study continues the error that one must be a disciple before baptism. The church study is the same “only one physical church”, the one church is determined by doctrine of salvation. These two are related because of the unique addition of “Have the heart of a disciple” added before baptism. Very disappointing to see Kip’s doctrine perpetuated.

The more stuff I read, the more it felt like 1995 all over again. Building Family talks about spiritual family being more important than physical family. The sin and baptism study includes a note that folks leading the study need to know what the person studying believes about their salvation and to determine if that person is, in fact, saved.

Again, we don’t address doctrine years ago so nothing changes. We are teaching bad doctrine all over again, at least in Boston. These days, though, I think some in attendance are smart enough to know better. I wonder aloud, though, how long those folks will keep coming.

Still, the inclusion of the book How to Pray by RA Torrey is encouraging. A couple of the Apologetics materials are pretty good as well.

This means that folks in Raleigh need to email phone numbers to me.

I should be there at least from Oct 19 - 21 for a conference. It will be only me, and not the family for now.

You have been warned.

Otherwise, it’s not so much that there’s a lack of things to write, just writing somewhere else for now. So here’s my ICoC post for now. Who knows when another may come along.

In regards to the ICoC, no major change is going to occur for quite some time, if at all. As a group, reform was largely missed, though some individual locations have done quite a bit. There is no atmosphere for a new Kriete Letter as the monolithic whole is now three parts (four if you count Kip’s group). As a whole, churches appear to be growing.

Three metrics have been presented thus far to demonstrate ‘health’ in the ICoC as a whole. These are numerical growth, increased intra-denominational cooperation, and lack of harshness. The metrics I look at are quite different, but that may or may not be the subject of another post. I will not see things the same as many others, and I have come to accept that. I can help change things locally to a limited extent, but even then, it is not always worth it. As such, there doesn’t appear to be much reason to write about either ICoC, the historical ICoC, or Kip’s group. A discussion would likely devolve into arguing over definitions of words, which should be avoided.

One thing of note that can be said is more of a side note. The Drabots are in Portland talking to Kip’s Portland Church. The Drabots and Johnsons are long-time friends. From a personal perspective, it is encouraging that friends can reconnect though on different sides of an ideological difference. However, it also points to a problem in how we dealt with Kip in the first place.

We excommunicated Kip as a person without repudiating his doctrine. In other words, it was dealt with as a personal issue, addressed as a personal issue, and treated as a punishment to a specific person. It can be argued that his doctrine could not be repudiated because the issue was really his inability to accept less than kingship. While that is true, the main issue is that we did not address our own doctrinal problems. Quick action needed to be taken (and I called for it repeatedly) but an unwillingness to deal with what made him our king in the first place (amongst other things) provided very few options. So, it was basically, You said mean things and wouldn’t take them back and Stop taking our sheep. Important things to say, that is true, yet, without any doctrinal examination, it’s not going to really last. As others have said, we ended up trying to make the doctrine of Kip-Lite work (all the same doctrine, but Kip-Free. Now with UPC added for conviction!)

Case in point, Ron is in Portland. Steve Johnson is not Kip. Steve is milder than Kip. Ron’s issue was with Kip, not Steve. Ron and Steve are long time friends. Begs the question Why can’t we preach at each others churches again? Ron and Steve are swapping churches. Charlotte is Kip-Lite and apparently Portland is also Kip-Lite (or 2% reduced Kip), so why the harsh boundary, right?

Kip’s apologists are already using this line of reasoning to suggest that ICoC leaders are nothing more than power-mongers that were jealous of Kip. More than that, they are now able to make it into a doctrinal issue. Most of them are claiming that the ICoC has changed their doctrine about unity, discipleship, and global missions. These accusations are difficult to answer. If similarities are pointed out, the question is Why Did We Split?. In a sense, is could be asked why not fellowship Kip’s churches if everything is mostly the same? If the differences in doctrine are highlighted, the answer is It’s like we said, you changed your doctrine. It is problematic because it would be a new argument from the ICoC. There is no ability to point to the brother’s letter or anything else and say Here are the doctrinal problems.

With all of that said, though, there’s still not much that will change in the next few years. Kip will be on six continents in about 5 years. There will be another Salt Lake type leaving in 5 to 10 years. In 10 years, the numbers will begin to collapse of Kip’s SODM churches. The ICoC will probably settle into 1%-2% growth in the US and double digit growth overseas for the next 10 years.

The only major issue coming for the ICoC is a growing anti-US sentiment. Will it lead to a split? It’s possible. It will probably take place after certain major characters pass away, if it happens at all. It’s too early to say.

All of this has been said before, thus not much from me. If I don’t see you sooner, see you in October in Raleigh.

Rambling post to follow. You’ve been warned.

September 28 is apparently going to be a day of infamy featuring several pastors endorsing political candidates in similar manner as this one did.

The downside for the congregation is that they lose their tax-exempt status. This would wreck many churches, especially larger ones.

What gets me, though, is the week of prayer about this amongst the church leadership. After a week, the team agreed that God had instructed the minister to do this. (Either that or the minister disregarded the team) The minister is also a delegate to the National Republican Party convention. He insists that God told him, not the powers that be in the party. He also was not instructed by anyone at the ADF.

So what is the benefit of this? If the congregation wins, preachers will be able to endorse candidates from the pulpit on Sunday. If the congregation loses, they may cease to exist or live on in a largely debilitating state of being a tax paying entity.

Seems to me that despite considering it for a month, the idea to avoid doing this was never really given much thought. In the end, the minister says a whole lot of “I” statements and very little about his congregation. In the end, he doesn’t trust his congregation to figure out certain things for themselves - you cannot vote for a pro-choice, pro-LGT candidate and remain a Christian.

I suspect that on Sept 28, that message will be repeated all over the country. I imagine very few will support Obama, and none will threaten their salvation if they support McCain.

Still, I do not believe that the GOP chair or even Karl Rove has orchestrated events to bring this into place. This is not a vast conspiracy with roots in the GOP. It’s a moral failing of our culture that is so consumed with our rights, we look past the rights of others. As much as Christianity is about being a part of the culture without conforming to the culture, all of us get tempted to be selfish. All of us get tempted to be upset when any of our rights (real and imagined) are threatened, but passive when others are deprived of their rights. Reverend King was concerned with the rights of the many, but we are not like Reverend King. We look only to our own personal affairs.

Back to the pastor in the story, I really believe that one must choose to be a minister or a political activist. Delegates have some political power. I do not know how someone can minister to their congregation and wield political power at the same time. As far as I understand, Jesus did not espouse a political solution. Jesus’ message was a personal one. His way of life requires relationship - relationship to God and relationship to each other. In other words, man cannot serve two masters, politics and God.

In fairness to this minister, I believe this is not limited to the GOP. This is the consequence of the admixture of politics and religion. It’s why I believe in the Establishment Clause of the Constitution and the limit of government to establish religion. Even the best and most golden-hearted of us (including King and others) lose our religion in politics. Politics is rooted in the world while faith is rooted in Jesus.

Again, we should be in the world and be politically active to a certain extent. Some may choose to not be politically active, that’s fine, too. But we should not be of the world. There are more important things that the platform of the DNC.

I mention the delphites from time to time. Those are folks who, like myself, visit Delphi Forums. I go to several forums on the site - three related to the ICoC and ten related to sports board games.

From one of the ICoC forums, a poster identified as Bruford1 says the following:

There is a world of difference between people who love God, and people who love church.

This is listed as one of the lessons he learned from his time in the ICoC. I wish I had thought of that. I agree with it as a standalone statement. It seems to be true from my experience with the 700 Club, ICoC, and other groups.

In case you were wondering, my list was

• Those that pretend to speak for God do more damage than those that reject God.
• Power Corrupts. Power still corrupts. Nice power corrupts nicely.
• God is bigger than I can imagine. He will not be put into a box.
• My life is mine, even as a Christian. He gave it back to me because He trusts me.
• Follow the money.
• Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
• All politics is local.

It’s an incomplete list. I should also have added the two things from a previous post about the good of the ICoC.

An old post based on a link from Cryptoguy

The original link was from Preach Mike who makes a valid, if somewhat incomplete point. Look at some of the Delphites and it’s easy to spot the teenagers. By this model, I was a teenager for a while. Hello pot, this is the kettle…

Why incomplete? I think it is incomplete because there is a reasonable assumption that a person’s spiritual history has good and bad elements. However reasonable it is, it is not logical - an assumption that all experience falls between two extremes is the Middle Ground Fallacy. Having said that, the message of the post is reasonable and worth investigating a bit.

I often say that 85% of the historical ICoC (1979 - 2002ish) was bad and/or evil. That’s a high percentage by anyone’s standard. Yes the number is arbitrary, I choose it because it quantifies “a lot” a more clearly. In other words, saying that a lot of what we were was bad/or evil doesn’t express as clearly my thoughts as much as providing a number.

In any case, let me talk about the good from my more recent religious heritage:

• They were very good at making a message portable and easily transferable from any member to another member.
• They were, in some ways, egalitarian in regards to the role of women. (Think communion without a man to introduce the sister speaking.)

I am grateful for these things, really. I didn’t realize until I started working with other churches how helpless the average member of those churches felt in sharing with others. If someone wanted to join, the member would have them call the preacher. QED, problem solved. In the ICOC, our message was supplied with a straightforward way of presenting it to others. I never felt much at a loss of what to say. If I didn’t know what to say, I’d rattle off points from the Word study. Though my theology has changed, I still look for ways to transfer the gospel in easily portable ways.

Women, for the most part, were highly regarded in role. Women preached (albeit only to other women), shared at communion, helped their male counterparts shape ministries, and were generally considered a good resource. What do the sisters think was a common question. The input given was actually considered and usually followed. I appreciate that experience from my past.

I almost didn’t list this one because the role of women in some ways was very rigid. My experience was that this role was tolerated by the wives of leaders because the political reality was that they were running the show. Single sisters controlled who would date more than any of the other leaders. I don’t believe that my experience was universal to the denomination as a whole. This experience was also not the same from start to end.

Anywho, that’s my thought for the day. There is most likely some good in your experience if you look for it.

The following is most of the text for an email I will send to the minister. Certain details are different but that’s more of privacy than anything. I also didn’t include any local issues other than the ones already discussed with someone on either the Deacon Board or the Financial Board.

Where Ya Been?
I’ve been asking God to actually speak to me this year. I am quite adamant, it has to be Him, not my voice, the voice of a minister, or the voice of a believing friend. It had to be Him and only Him in simple terms that I can understand. That was January of this year, before that the big ongoing prayer was “make me into something different”. I felt like I had a character flaw that needed to be removed from me. I clung to 2 Co 12:9 for dear life, even if it upset me that the answer may actually be ‘no, rely on my grace more’. Mostly, though, I’ve been in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Nod is a place of hard work, little reward, and great frustration. Frustration is the most accurate way to describe where I’ve been. This wasn’t a localized frustration, this was with most areas of my life. I was frustrated that I am unable to read the Bible and enjoy it. I was frsutrated that my denomination is doing crazy things that hurt others. I was frustrated that my family was not doing very well. Praying only made me angry – the more I prayed, the angrier I got. After a while, my conversations with God were basically angry from start to finish. I fell into fatalism (not a slam on Calvinism) and basically shrugged whenever I addressed the Almighty.

Why pray at all? Habit, I guess. I would start to pray and catch myself. I’d apologize to God for taking his name in vain and mention that I still can’t hear Him. There weren’t many prayers outside of the morning prayer of “Still me. Still can’t hear you. You’re still soveriegn. Whenever your timing allows, it’d be nice to hear from you. Since all things are foreordained, I’ll just say goodbye for now instead of so be it.” (One translation of Amen is ‘so be it’.)

I knew He cared, but since He is soveriegn, I couldn’t rush Him or change His mind or otherwise change the events He set into motion before the creation of the world. There was not any real reason to get all worked up about when He’d answer or what His answer would be. He cares, He’ll do what He does, when he does it, and I just have to wait on His timing. Of course, I ended up getting all worked up about it. When the Bible speaks of a dividing wall of hostility, I know what it means from personal experience.

Backing up a little bit, I had been praying that I could just accept. For example, when someone addresses a church and talks about getting back to discipling, I want to just accept that is good for them, even when they are proclaiming that it is a biblical mandate. I would beg God to prevent me from being triggered by anything. Despite that, I felt like I was triggered every week. The downside of thinking that about 85% of what my denomination (and myself as a former member) did was in error is that there are a lot of triggers.

I was tired of asking ‘why’ and trying to explain that I wasn’t bitter about my past. I was tired of having many queries turned back on me when I sought clarification. I was tired of leaders in other churches contacting me because I had sent an email to a third party. I was really tired that justice felt delayed and that no one was listening. I had reasoned that if I wasn’t triggered in the first place to ask ‘why?’ or ask ‘can this be done biblically?’ or ask ‘where is that in the Bible?’ then I could be more at peace because nothing would really bother me. I’ve been praying for things to stop bothering me now for at least two years, maybe longer.

It’s not a great epiphany that straightened this all out. I finally heard Him, which is what I wanted all along. No, I didn’t hear the James Earl Jones voiceover or see a beam of light. After the 80millionth “just help me”, the answer came through a discussion with my wife and more came later after some time to retreat.

God made me to ask ‘why’. I’m always going to want to know ‘why’. It is a good thing to ask ‘why’. The idea He gave me was, “Be who I created you to be.”

It is human nature to complicate a simple idea with explanations and caveats of possible implications. Sometimes, this can ruin a mountaintop experience. Fortunately, this is much less an emotional experience than a spiritual experience. It is the feeling that the tumblers of the combination lock have just set in the right place in order to open the door. It is something that resonantes in mind and spirit, not just the heart. Still, it is fair to provide a little bit more of what that really means in a practical sense.

Sin is a part of my life, but I was not created to sin. (Romans 6:1-2)
No one was created to be sinful. As a result of the fall, sin is a part of our lives and even a part of our nature. Still, God did create sin into us. It is not our purpose to sin. Through Jesus we are forgiven of our sin and live under grace. That grace is not a license to sin.

Practically what this means is that I am not created to sin against others. Sure, we may get into conflict (not a sin), but it can be worked out. Despite my best intentions, I am going to say things that will hurt another person’s feelings or offend them in some way. When that happens, I should deal with it the best way available. Knowing that some offense is inevitable, however, does not provide license to wantonly abuse others only to claim that they misunderstood my intentions. Injury (real or perceived) has occurred and that injury must be addressed. Aruging about intention rarely resolves anything. Put another way; if I rear-end someone’s car, should I apologize or suggest that they not put on brakes?

Asking ‘why’ also creates discomfort. It is the same kind of discomfort that I had in discussing my vasectomy with anyone. I don’t mean the procedure itself, but my need to have it in the first place. The why questions are:

• Why do I have some 1 in 6.4 million genetic rarity that no one can readily explain?
• Why will my children have to be concerned that their children may have more severe issues than they had?
• Why was I created to pass this anomaly on?

In talking to others about it, many would say things to me like ‘two is a good number’ and ‘you got one of each’. I would mention that part of dealing with this is that my wife and I always wanted three children. In my own mind, I asked the question, “Why would you risk having a third child with potentially severe medical issues?” Thankfully, none of my friends and family spoke this question aloud to me. They would ask other why questions focused on “why are you so certain that the genetic issue is you?”. I bring all this up to say that asking the former question (why a third child with issues) is the type of question I want to avoid. The latter question (why do you think it is you) is uncomfortable to discuss, but was ultimately helpful in dealing with the situation. This is the type of why question I want to ask.

Some things are not my fight (Proverbs 26:17-21)
Dr. King once said that the absence of tension is negative peace, while positive peace is the presence of justice. Put another way, negative peace is only the absence of direct violence while a positive peace is also the absence of structural and cultural violence. In terms of the ICoC, I believe that most, if not all of the direct abuse and problems have been addressed while some of the structual and cultural issues have not. As someone that is a part of this community, it is fair to discuss structural and cultural issues. However, personal issues are not mine to deal with. If someone invites me, I’ll still tend to avoid it unless both parties are comfortable with my presence. I cannot make every situation resolve well and it is unwise to invite myself to be party to a conflict I’m not a part of. So if you want me to talk to your minister, I’ll poltiely decline.

Epilogue
All of this is well and good, you may say, but what about the angry praying and Bible reading and all of that? Good question. As far as praying goes, I follow the advice of John Piper and work through prayer in eight steps:

1. Incline my heart to god (Psalm 119:36 RSV)
2. Open the eyes of my heart (Psalm 119:18)
3. Enlighten my heart (Ephesian 1:18)
4. Be united in heart (Psalm 86:11)
5. Be satisfied with God (Psalm 90:14 RSV)
6. Strengthen my joy (Ephesians 3:16)
7. Pray to produce acts of love and service (Colossians 1:10)
8. Hallowed be your name (Matthew 6:9)

This works pretty well on days where I am disciplined enough to do it correctly. Sometimes I get stuck at step 1, sometimes step 4, other times step 5. Sometimes I do step 6 in unhealthy ways, but I’ll get better over time. I want the final step to be more than an afterthought. I want to end prayers differently that “your will be done in Jesus name, Amen.”

As far as the reading goes, it is still difficult to hear God’s voice, even after I pray. I still hear so many commentaries and speakers that I wish I could unlearn. Being able to be at peace with God frees me up to deal with this. I still feel like it’s not as ‘deep’ as I want it, but at least it doesn’t frustrate me so much anymore.

Thank you for being my friends and reading. You are a blessing to me and I hope to be a blessing to others.

Suppose your church leader received this email and asked you what you would suggest. Any takers?

Dear Delegates:

I pray this email finds all of you well and close to God!

I am sending this out in preparation for our International Leadership Conference.

Please take a moment to send this out to the people that you are representing and ask them to fill it out, too.

What are 4 areas of spirituality, leadership or church building that you feel needs to be addressed or taught at the ILC.

Who do you feel like could preach/teach effectively on these topics.

1. Need and Who:

2. Need and Who:

3. Need and Who:

4. Need and Who:

5. What is on your heart personally or what has God revealed to you recently, as you have been serving God’s Kingdom.
(in other words - if you were to offer a lesson to the Kingdom - what would be the topic.)

Now, I can tell you who I think will fill these slots for my former denomination, but just for fun, what you would say?

I’m not going to go day by day. However, there’s a couple of other things I have to write down now before I forget. I’m been holding on to them for 2.5 weeks.

Post-Discipleship Renaissance
I read an article by Jeff Bridges about his own belief until a few years ago. He believed that he needed the gospel until he became a Christian, then needed discipleship from that point until death. This made him rather miserable and made his Christian walk an endless chore. He resolved it in part by recognizing that he needed the gospel his entire life. The rest, you can read for yourself. (Insert Link) I struggle to find out what it means for me in my own life as I have a much better idea of what I see as damaging than what I see as helpful. I see a three year structured program for new believers as helpful. I see the goal of teaching people to take their own spirituality seriously as good. I see the idea that each believer as the only one responsible for their walk with God as a good one. Still, what that looks like in a general sense is hard for me to imagine. I know what it looks like for me, but not so much for others.

I’m surrounded by many that believe that ICoC-style discipleship is the biblical ideal. I say ICoC style, but it’s really a light version stripped of any authority. As I continue to say, our form of discipleship comes from the Ft. Lauderdale Five that launched the Shepherding Movement. From those five, it spread into the Navigators, Campus Crusade (through Bill Bright), Churches of Christ (including Crossroads), and others. The sixties in Florida must have been really something. All of these connections start with these five men that decided to be spiritual minders to each other. Four of the five have denounced these teachings.

So what was discipleship like in the US in the 40s? That preceded the so-called biblical model of having a spiritual big brother, so I was interested in what was there. So far, the search have provided a model that has two of the three primary characteristics I espouse in discipleship. (Insert Link) Those two are structure and temporary duration. The third, voluntary participation didn’t seem to be there and it seems this program led to church problems.

(fragment) It seems that post-2003, discipleship can be determined in a few ways:

1. Do what we always did.
2. Be nicer about what we always did by removing some level or all authority.
3. Do nothing.
4. Make discipleship a team sport.
5. Do something different.

I’ve seen all these optionsdone , but I will say that option 5 seems to scare people the most. I wish it didn’t.

More on that later, just had to write it down.

The next two are personally related, though they deal with ICoC issues. The first, I’ll just leave as is. The second, though is more important to me. Unity is still a big interest of mine, though I feel as if I have become more liberal that F. Lagard Smith in that regard. I could say that I’m sorta like Campbell who considered a Calvinist his brother in Christ(insert link).

Reap the Whirlwind
Not two weeks old, but troublesome. RD Baker has been pushed out of Phoenix. I won’t say more about it because I am not there. John Augustine might want to remove the good review written by RD. I’m sure that certain folks in Phoenix wish that Google could be ‘cleansed’. Oh well.

Who Is My Brother?
Chicago is doing a big thing on fellowship and inter-denomination dating. I hope this is an extension of reaching out to COC’s in the area. Naperville reached out to them back in 2003 and their minister even presented a paper at Douglas Jacoby’s ITS conference. I met Rich and he is a great guy.

However, I will say that from the UPC, all that can be said is that we can fellowship with those that believe in believer’s baptism, an inerrant Bible, unmistakable repentance (a quote), and discipleship that has some sort of challenge to a Christian (amongst other things) and you cannot believe in what is called hyper-autonomy. You can date someone outside the ICoC as long as they pretty much believe what the ICoC (Cooperative Churches) espouse in the UPC.

Any deviation from this and Chicago, the unofficial HQ of the ICoC (Cooperative Churches), will be invalidating its own documented beliefs. I know that it was designed to address churches within the historical ICoC, but any real meaningful cooperative efforts with non-ICoC congregations must be similar to the measures described in the Regional Partnership section (sans delegates), otherwise it is just lip service.

See, if you want a denomination, you have to go through the procedural channels to change to core document. After all, as stated in the clarifying documentation, you have to believe all of it in order to sign. If April 12 provides a different message, they will not be following their own rules. Granted, I’ll be delighted if they say something different, but the means do not justify the ends. Either go through proper channels and change the UPC or get rid of it altogether. The authors were the ones that put in the all-or-nothing provision in the first place.

(fragment)Who Is My Brother is the wrong question. Jesus clearly stated who is my brother. Whom can I marry is also the wrong question. The question is, are these two people ready for marriage. I felt prepared for my marriage because of the preparation given to us by an older couple that has been through everything at least twice. We also had the help of Family Dynamics. Despite a short courtship, we laid a foundation that has served us through all kinds of trials and major disagreements. This may not help everyone, but a rash marriage is unwise even if the two people has exactly identical beliefs.

Trying to front-load the question ahead of time by writing off entire denominations is similar to what the Pharisees did. In order to build a protective hedge, they would write off all kinds of things that were perfectly fine (Such as healing on the Sabbath) and prohibiting things that were actually good (Corban substitution trick).

As always, more on that later. Again, I will celebrate in the streets if the message on April 12 is different from the UPC. I hope that cooperation will begin with other churches in the area, RM or not.

More on the trip coming up later this week.

I stumbled across something recently. Basically, I saw two charges on my account from KNN. Since I thought my account was already canceled, I asked that it be canceled. Chris very graciously credited me a free month for DToday. I was assured that there would be no charge in March and I believe him. Very pleasant, indeed.

However, I clicked on a link and suffered a minor setback.

I’ll make you a deal Mike. Let’s have ‘Regional’ Leaders again as you justify in this paper. The only condition is that no one that has ever served as WSL, GSL, WSE (Elder), Kingdom Teacher, GSE (Elder), or Kingdom Elder can serve in these new roles. It’s very difficult for those with a vested interest in more regional leadership to speak of the need for more regional leadership. What is the need for this added authority? What work is being prevented because these structures are not in place?

The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.
Albert Einstein (attributed)

Events have happened with ICOC(Co-Operating) Church Leaders and ICOC(Community) Church Leaders, like the Southeast Festival of Faith, without the end of missions funding, the end of the ICoC, or the end of brotherhood across congregations. It is amazing what the Holy Spirit is able to accomplish without man’s help.

No matter what has been said to members of the Church Building Committee in public or private, this thinly veiled attack on those that will not sign or consent to regional leadership emerges periodically. Christians much more spiritual than I have written, spoken, begged you to consider pursuing peace instead of a one-size-fits-all agenda. (Rom 14:19-23) This course of action is not pursuant to peace. To those that cannot consent to a supra church structure out of conscience, it is a sign that such a belief is not only unacceptable, but a hindrance to the work of God. Such a claim is overreaching at best, arrogant at its worst. Rather than trying to assure us that you meant no harm, try not violating our conscience in the first place.

Simply put, state very clearly what it is that you want and why you cannot do it right now. All this other window dressing is just dancing about the issue.

At the last minute I was asked to give communion. Unable to form an original thought, I largely quoted someone else as was appropriate to the service.

One point of clarification: the moderation I mention is in reference to a Letter from a Birmingham Jail where MLK states that the white moderate may be the most dangerous foe to civil rights. It is the moderation that says, “let’s not disturb anything”. This ties into King’s concept of negative peace (no tension) as compared to positive peace (presence of justice). I didn’t elaborate, so it can sound like I am saying that moderation as a general principle is not loving. There are plenty of examples where love can be shown through moderation - again, the concept I wanted to make reference to is different.

Love at the Bottom of the Cross

I’ve been fluffing around lately. I see interesting things and generally ooh and ahh over it’s shiny veneer. I spend some time on my hobbies and enjoy world creation. Not a typo, I said world creation. The two worlds in the forge at this point are Lenga, which I’ve mentioned many times, and the Spring Football universe. The former is more or less based on the Roman Empire, the latter assumes that Donald Trump didn’t ruin the USFL. I took a hiatus from the Spring Football universe to play some board game football. I’m prepping for the draft on March 8.

Meanwhile, anything pertaining to religion has been pretty low-key. As stated earlier, I have been back to Delphi twice since my break with the ICoC blogosphere. Once out of curiosity, more recently as a result of the NIU shooting. Being a former board member, I don’t think it is possible to completely remove myself from the ICoC scene without attending and placing membership at a different church. I’m not a member of the church I attend, but I would have to attend elsewhere to really get away from the ICoC. Still, I am not going to instigate anything ICoC. Someone says something to me, fine, deal with it quickly and move on. Someone says, “you know what Gordo is saying now?” and I’ll avoid it. I get an idea in my head to see what X church leader is doing these days and a stinging self-rebuke is in order. That’s all part of my old life.

My online friend Doug went back to posting daily Bible studies. I know he enjoyed it and I enjoyed reading them. Cool stuff, really. Doing the same is not helpful to me right now, but I do plan on doing that at some point. I’ve gotten into at least three discussions lately where the disagreement turned into a criticism of my hermeneutic and eisegesis. (Not a misspelling.) In one case, I was talking about something that I hadn’t fully thought out in my own mind and admitted as much. The other two cases, though, led to disagreements about the implications of a stated belief. Someone would say something like the Bible says statement w, because of X verse, y verse, and z verse. I would respond that if you believe in statement w that implies statement U and statement U is not consistent with the Bible. Therefore, statement w may be wrong, inaccurate, or needs further thought. Then I say that we seem to have a different way of looking at things that will lead us to cross paths. That generally ends the discussion with a parting shot about proper Biblical interpretation.

I’ve learned that my hope for unity will not come through doctrinal agreement because there is a lack of agreement on hermeneutic, logic, and the value of intuition. I don’t think it is possible to come to an agreement on two of those three. Unity must come through something else - not the lack of conflict, but the focus on what’s really important. What is important is the work of Jesus.

More on that later.

Still, I work through things in my mind like the nature of God’s predestination. I’ve become interested in Molinism lately, despite the appearance circular reasoning by many of its largest proponents. No one has really stated it simply, which makes it dubious in my mind. Yet, I appreciate the idea that God is sovereign *AND* man has free will. (In all candor, if there is no free will, Christianity is pointless to me. I didn’t say everyone, I said me. I wish I could take Spurgeon’s take on a few areas and just say, “I don’t understand,” but I am not as strong as he was about it.) I believe in a God that has supreme power but also supreme self-control in that He doesn’t have to force choices on all of creation in order for the universe to work out as He plans.

But all this mental stuff leaves the heart dry and thirsty. I’ve taken Bobber’s suggestion at chanting the Psalms. The effort sputtered at first, but I hope that when the book arrives that he mentioned, this effort will get back on track. I plan to write about it when I start again. In the meantime, the heart delights in the simple pleasures of my children. Jesus said that we need to become like them in enter Heaven and I understand, in part, why.

Brother Bear has no problem starting new adventures because he doesn’t think about how much I love him. He knows I do. When he’s tired, he tells me, when he’s scared, he asks me for comfort, when he’s crossed a boundary, he respects my word. He revels in what he can do and spends most of his time doing those things. He likes to say “o” and “x” and a few other letters. He likes to run at full speed. He likes to throw all the cushions of the couch. He like to dive from one piece of furniture to the next (without a net). He likes to dance. Whatever he does, he does it as hard as he can without stress. Whenever he feels something, he expresses it. Whenever he has been naughty, he dislikes the whole process, but the drama ends when the process is over. It’s as if he is saying, There’s just too many good things to do. Despite the sometimes bewildering complexity of his personality, this fundamental thought seems to keep him going.

I’d like to think he gets it from me. If not, I’d like to think that I can be that way. Either way, I am ready to get back to it. There’s just too many good things to do.

PART ONE of a silly rhyme.

LOOK
BOOK

Let’s take a look at this book.

BOOK
SHOOK

We looked at the book, we shook and we shook.

BOOK
NOOK
MISTOOK

We looked in the book
We searched every nook
We looked and we looked,
but the book we mistook.

UNBOOK
REBOOK
GOBBLEDYGOOK

What we don’t like, we like to UnBook
What we don’t see, we see in ReBook
Take out UnBook and add in ReBook
What a beautiful book we call Gobbledygook.

NO
BOOK
NO

Don’t give me that book. That book is no good,
It’s Gobbledygook.

BOOK
HOOK
CROOK

Gobbledygook is a book, like the book
It’s really the same if you just take a look
Everyone will read it by hook or by crook
Everyone must read from our wonderful book.

BROTHER
MOTHER

You belong to each other like sister and brother.
Those here among us are like Father and mother.

ANOTHER
FUTHER

We all must learn to love one another.
We must help one another to reach futher and futher. (further)

BROTHERS
OTHERS

Remember to love each other as brothers
Though some of the brothers are more brothers than others
Some call them fathers, you call them big brothers
Though these big brothers are the same as the others

SMOTHER
EACH OTHER
ONE ANOTHER

We say that we love, some say that we smother
We are involved in the lives of each other
Aren’t you the keeper of the soul of your brother?
Our book says that we must love one another.

FACE
PLACE

We read our book for a smile on each face
A brother for each other, we all have our place.

RACE
RACE

We’re all in a race. We’re all in a race.
We encourage each other to stay in the race.

RACE
CHASE
PLACE
PACE

Whether in life or each other we race
Those that race faster, we chase and we chase
Those that race slower are in a bad place
So we encourage each other to pick up the pace.

February 1-2, 2008 is the first ever California ElderLink. It is at Rancho Cordova Church of Christ in Rancho Cordova, CA.

Click on this sentence for more details.

Okay, why this particular lolcat? Think about those that will most likely not be in attendance and why. (I’m thinking about people I know, not every single person that may not attend.) I would love to go, but I live too far away. Maybe we can have a Nebraska ElderLink Forum one day. A person can dream…

The Catholic League is calling for a boycott of “The Golden Compass” this December. This is making news and spreading around various emails. I have friends, whom upon receiving this email, that have decided not to attend the movie. Many cite that they do not want to give Pullman any money for a book they wouldn’t like. A few have said that they do not want to promote an atheistic agenda. I understand how folks can feel this way, I really can. I think the question, Why show a movie like this when there are so many good movies that can be made? is a very valid one.

Having said that, here’s why I will not boycott it.

• For one, Pullman, the author of “His Dark Materials” has already received his money from New Line Cinema. Even if no one sees it, he has his undisclosed sum of cash already in pocket.
• Chris Weitz, the director, changed the Magisterium so that religious elements were removed. The Book != The Movie
• This movie will not convince someone to renounce Christianity.
• Drawing attention to it by for a ban only increase its popularity. It’s like free advertising for the movie.
• I believe that the strongest calls for a boycott are rooted in fear.
• It’s silly to think that the God of the universe can be undone by any movie or book.

I’m not saying that everyone should go see this movie. I have no interest in reading the books. Some may have interest insomuch as the books serve as a discussion point with athesits/agnostics. Not me. My atheist/agnostic acquaintances already have their own preferred framework to discuss their ideas. (Carl Sagan seems to be the favorite.)

Frankly, I don’t know how they will be able to write around the last book in which the character of god dies. The Amber Spyglass is more strongly about religion than all the others, you might get a 15 minute short if all the religiously themed content is removed.

Instead, I think a more reasoned response would look like this. The Church of Scotland has chosen to instead embrace the movie as a golden opportunity to stimulate discussion on a wide range of moral and spiritual issues. The Kirk also sees this movie as a chance to talk about human destiny, corrupt institutions, and making choices in life.

I’m not saying that danger + opportunity = crisis. (Turns out that isn’t true, anyway.) What I am saying is that in choosing how to respond to something like this makes a big difference. Choosing to respond as the Church of Scotland does show confidence and a willingness to talk. They are meeting the moment with information and openness.

I like fantastic stories, so maybe I’ll catch it on DVD. Maybe not. The Naria movie was a disappointment to me, so at least I won’t be entirely disappointed by this one.

Fire away!

It will take a while to get the video up on the internet. My thanks to mrtool for taping the audio and video.

In the meantime, here is the audio:
Child Dedication

It starts in the middle of our minister’s remarks, something the video will correct. The first word you hear him say is “…today”. The Matt 19:13-14 passage is his, the rest are ours. You’ll hear my wife, her father and my father. My apologizes for the ruined Hebrew.

Our son was not comfortable on stage - you will hear him throughout the entire service.

The response of the congregation was:

We will. With God’s help and love we will share our love and knowledge of God. We will listen to their hearts. We will surround them with a community of grace and truth. We will pray for them to be strengthened by God’s spirit and to enjoy fellowship with Christ.

The Omaha Church of Christ

It was a beautiful day. Next post should be about our adventures in Minnesota.

Some time ago, I tried to talk about The Next Big Thing(TM). Now, instead of getting into endless digressions, I wanted to show an example of what I had in mind. It’s the Unconference II as noted by Kelcy on his site.

Oddly enough, I know one of the speakers. He is a young man with a great story and many things to say. He also happens to have two degrees from Reformed Theology schools. in his mid-twenties, he is more qualified to present at a conference than almost all the leaders of the ICoC, including his own minister. He is still a part of the ICoC (as this is an ICoC event), but he has much needed insight worth hearing.

Back to the topic, there are several reasons why this is a good example for The Next Big Thing (TM).

1. The cost is very low.
2. Housing is personal (in homes) as opposed to hotels.
3. The material respects an 18+ year old’s intelligence.
4. No self-promotion.

I would go to this conference if I could, despite the presence of some I may wish to avoid (not the speakers). The reason is simple, it’s a meaningful event to me that engages the mind and the soul.

Granted, some of the material may not appeal to some. Some may think it is too intellectual. Maybe so, I don’t fault anyone for thinking that. I believe the same type of thing could be for different content. A skeletong outline of how this conference was set up would be:

Find a location, cap the size to meet the location (150), charge to cover the cost of the facility, have meaningful content. How simple is that?

Since it is Facebook, here is the proposed schedule thus far:

Unconference II
Dates: Feb. 22-24, 2008
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Registration Deadline: TBA

PLEASE INVITE ALL CAMPUS STUDENTS, LEADERS, AND H.S. SENIORS IN THE MID-AMERICAN STATES THAT YOU KNOW TO JOIN THIS GROUP ON FACEBOOK

Registration Cost: $10

Registration will begin in January and will be done primarily through campus ministers.

Lodging: Will be provided free by the Milwaukee Church of Christ at no cost for the first 150 people who register

Tentative Teaching Tracks:

The Hebraic roots of the Christian Faith
Teacher: Kirk Stevens (Madison)

Resurrection and the New Creation
Teacher: Dustin Bosscher (Minneapolis)

Predestination, election, and free will
Teacher: Michael Burns (Fox Valley)

Jesus foreshadowed in the Jewish festivals
Teacher: Drew Prociuk (Milwaukee)

Homosexuality and the Bible: A Christian Response
Teacher: Kris Boyer (Minneapolis)

Class for Women Only: TBA
Teacher: MyCresha Burns (Fox Valley)

Class: TBA
Teacher: Jeff Mannel (Madison)

I confess that I am not the best historian of the Restoration Movement. I know some things, but finding God outside the RM as a child prevents me from having a great deal of interest. Some folks do, and God bless them for it. I have come to learn that Alexander Campbell was much more of a complex thinker than I previously thought.

I found this article about AC that I hope you enjoy.

As an unrelated side note: The author had a brush with Crossroads in 1978. As such, he has purchased Tom Jones’ book, In Search of a City.

The video of the ceremony should be up in a couple days. Thanks to mrtool, the audio was recorded so that it could be synchronized with the video.

I was very happy that many in both our families came. My brother and his oldest daughter was here. My father, mother, and their spouses were both here. My wife’s siblings were here as were Dancing Bear’s cousins save one. My wife’s parents were here as well. Folks came from NC, Washington DC, and Minnesota to be here. For one weekend, we really were one big family.

In lieu of the video, this is the outline for today’s ceremony. It started shortly after communion.

Opening Song: This Is My Father’s World

Torah Reading: Gen 1:26 - 31, Ex 34:6

Praise Reading: Psalm 139:13 - 14

NT Reading: John 10:11 - 16, Heb 4:14 - 16

Prayer for children:

• Names given in English and Hebrew
• Meaning of names given

Silent Wish/Blanket Ceremony begins

Kiddush

• Parents honor the children
• Parents honor each other
• Grandfathers honor the family and community

Reading of the Covenant

Blanket Ceremony ends

Closing Song: Jesus Loves the Little Children

As always, more later. Planning this is where I have been.

If anyone deserves a Mathethes award, it’s Alan. His “why I cannot sign” article apparently caused an issue with someone, but that now appears to be resolved. I may not agree with Alan that the UPC is a Romans 14 issue, but I think everyone involved can agree that Alan has real class.

I hope those receiving a certain email hear from the other party soon.

To be clear, I think that a church or group of churches deciding their common doctrine and practices is not always a bad thing. One good thing about a catechism is that it teaches a short form of the basics to young Christians pretty quickly. I think that the way the ICoC is using the UPC is a sin. I believe that allowing major and minor players to make comments about ‘non-signers’ unchecked is a sin of omission. At this point and time, calling Bruce, Doug Arthur, and others on their comments has been the only way to get an acknowledgement that something wrong was spoken. I believe that those implying that non-signers want to be isolated or want to be disunified are slandering their brothers. This attitude has still not really been addressed on any scale.

I do not think ill of those that signed. The church I attend signed and I love everyone here. I look forward to working with other ICoC and non-ICoC congregations on a variety of projects. Using the UPC as a spiritual litmus test is wrong, whether you agree with it or not.

But I digress. What I really wanted to do was honor a man with real class, Alan. There’s a reason that he is an elder. Thanks for being a great example.

The whole house is sick and so am I. It’s the flu. Because of the various nose issues with Dancing Bear (our youngest) and Brother Bear (our oldest), we have to do this regimen with saline drops that upsets the whole family. So we’ve had hourly nose cleanings and general aches.

Not fun.

So, I appreciate that Gordon is back and writing about the UP. It didn’t fade into disuse as he originally thought, but I’m sure he said something interesting.

I skimmed it, but that’s about all I can do. Too much medication.

Besides, I will probably just let it go. I can only be so outraged at the complete lack of ability to do something different. Alan is doing a lot of good, I hope he is successful.