Worried Economists and Other Professional Worriers

"Some economists worry that..." - headline on NPR's news site.  What they were worried about is immaterial, if they were not worried, other economists would be worried about that.

Many people in the news business are the same way. They are earnestly looking for something they can categorize as disturbing.  They are paid to disturb us.

And there are politicians that run their political business the same way, always on the search for something the other party leaders said or didn't say, did or didn't do, that can be presented as dumb or malicious.  Even some preachers operate like that.  For politicians and news people it is dishonest and is contrary to the best interests of society.  For religious leaders it goes against the expressed, written will of God.  He wants us to love each other, not to look for ways to tear each other down.  See John 13:35.

Tea Partiers and Libertarians

Libertarians and Tea Partiers

At the Minnesota State Fair this year, I made it a point to visit a couple of curbside political booths to try to get some clarification of who is who in the current political discussion.  They were not far from each other on the fair grounds, but that was about where any similarity ended.  

It has been hard for me to understand which political group stands for what.  I think I know who the Democrats are.  The Republicans are a little harder to get a handle on.  A lot of them seem to be opposed to some stuff, but it is more difficult to get what it is they are really in favor of.  Today's Republican Party web page is attacking two women, featuring a "Fire Kathleen Sebelius" rant and something in opposition to Hillary Clinton.  The Democratic web page was promoting women in office, trying to get out the vote, and trying to explain the health care law.

Not liking either of the major parties very much these days, I thought I would look for an alternative, so I visited the Tea Party and Libertarian booths.  What I found was intriguing.  The Tea Party group was four strident men in suits and ties.  They seemed very intent on convincing anyone they could of the need to "preserve the constitution."  It has been awhile now, but I think that was about scaling back government except for the military.  They denied affiliation with either major party, which I found interesting.  They quickly entered into debates with guys (no gals while I was there) who wanted to talk about the specifics of their policy points, but showed little interest in discussing the basic ideas behind their positions with me.

The libertarian booth was staffed by one young college aged man dressed more appropriately, I thought, for the fair.  He was more friendly, not looking for a fight.  He was glad to discuss the ideas behind the party -even less government than the Tea Partiers.  Some of the implications of his positions were a little too scary for me, but I gave him credit for having a set of ideas and sticking to them consistently.

I am following Sarah Palin on Facebook and like a lot of what she says as long as she is sticking to ideas.  When she drops into her Rush Limbaugh imitation, she loses me.

I will continue to remain unaffiliated and make my calls as time progresses, but as always I won't vote for someone because of a party endorsement.  I will be like the ancient Greek Diogenes, searching for an honest person, hopefully one with a workable notion of what the government should and should not, can and cannot do.

Where is God?

As I pray The Lord's Prayer, I get stuck on the first phrase.  "Our Father who art in heaven..."  It's like we are about to have this quiet, personal, loving conversation with our father, but he is away on a trip.  When Jesus left here he said he was going (somewhere) to prepare a place for us.  In fact he said he was going to wherever God hangs out.  That's heaven.   Right?

So where is this place?  Is it in our galaxy or way off in some other.  It is further confounding that we are told that we are the temple of God.  That means he has to be where we are.  Right?  Yet he is in heaven.  Could that mean that we are, in some sense, also in heaven, or is God just in more than one place at once?  He is said to be "omnipresent."  That means he is everywhere.  But I like the notion that we are in heaven too.  I do know that we are already living in "eternity."  That means our forever life with God is already happening.

The description of the New Jerusalem at the end of Revelation is frequently thought to be a description of Heaven - a place with no tears etc.  Yet the New Jerusalem is also coming down out of (dare I say it?) heaven.  Some take the New Jerusalem to be the church.  That description is a stretch for the church we know, but what about the one Jesus designed and built?

Here is how I have figured it out.  And just to add a little credibility I just now checked Randy Alcorn's definitive book, "Heaven" and it seems to me that he agrees.  Heaven is here with us.  It is the spiritual dimension to our lives.  It is invisible to us now, but will become visible when we give up our physical bodies.  God is in both places because both are the same place.  Our "place," our physical reality, is a subset within the spiritual realm.  As we become more aware of the spiritual dimension, it becomes more real to us, and in a sense, we are closer to heaven and closer to God.

So when we pray to God in heaven, we are actually talking with him right here.  And in a sense we are bridging the gap between heaven and earth.  Wow!

Discipleship v Decisions

I am struck this morning by one particular Bible story.  As the Ethiopian and Phillip rode along in the chariot, Philip was preaching the good news about Jesus, not "the plan of salvation."  And the Ethiopian man's response was "Here is water, why can't I be baptized?"

We don't know exactly what was said in that chariot, but Luke characterized it as good news.  What I take from this is what Scot McKnight says in the opening to his book "The King Jesus Gospel."  Getting people to make a decision for Jesus is both easier and shorter lived than engaging them as a disciple (student).  The Ethiopian was, of course, already a student, and Phillip taught him further. As he learned, he apparently came to the conclusion he should be baptized.

The distinction may be subtle, but is important.  If you teach a person to be a student, a learner, he or she will continue to study, to learn, and to grow.  And at some point in the process she will reach a decision.  If, on the other hand you focus on getting a decision, getting them baptized, then the process is likely to end there.

Churches, the Boy Scouts, and transgender first graders

This morning’s news includes a headline about Coy Mathis who CNN identifies as a “transgender first grader.”  Setting aside for the moment the moral implications, the term seems an oxymoron to me.  One of the privileges afforded to kids is that of growing up.  That is of taking the time to figure out who you are.  From a Christian perspective, it includes discovering what your gifts are, how you are different from other people, and how God can use that difference. In the body analogy we are not all an eye.  To declare that a child is a transgender first grader is like saying that a child is a first grade neurosurgeon.

Which brings me to the Boy Scouts.  There is a lot if discussion and some controversy recently about the decision of the Boy Scouts of America to admit “gay kids” as members.  Churches have long been the sponsors of a majority of Boy Scout troops.  It has been a good fit.  The 12 scout laws end with “brave, clean, and reverent.”  There has long been a “Scout Sunday” in many churches.  And now some churches are dropping their sponsorships.  That is a bad decision.  The kids still need a strong Christian influence in their lives.  For churches to separate from this healthy alternative for boys is to further the withdrawal of the church from the lives of young people.  That separation, often driven by the government, is what the churches have been complaining about.

Get this; there are no gay 11 year olds.  Eleven year olds, similar to Coy Mathis and his peers, are still figuring out who they are.  To say that the scouts are admitting gay members is to endorse a fallacious argument put forward by the gay lobby.  The argument is that one is born either gay or straight.  A child is born in the image of God, yet each child is unique.  There are no two alike.  To put them into categories, whether it be gay/straight, smart/dumb, cute/ugly or any other you might dream up is to do them a grave disservice and to set up a potential self-fulfilling prophecy.  Churches who are abandoning their sponsorship of scout troops are buying into a destructive argument and are siding with the wrong side.

A Non-Religious Man in a Religious World

It was a religious nation

A long time ago

With a religious government

And religious laws and customs

There were rumors of a man, a teacher

His teaching was contrary to the ways of the day

He was teaching about a coming kingdom

He was teaching in the mountains and thousands were listening

There were rumors that he was healing the sick

That he had walked on deep water

That he had turned jugs of water into wine

The religious leaders were worried

He did not seem religious

He was hanging with “sinners”

He was ignoring the holy days

He used a whip to clear the vendors from the temple

So they set out to investigate

They tried to trap him with religious questions

He twisted the questions and embarrassed them

And he kept teaching about a coming kingdom

They were afraid they would lose their power

They set out to kill the man

And they did

But once again he turned their trap into a trap for them

He did not stay dead

On a Sunday morning he walked out of the grave

He passed the guards they had put there

He went to where his friends were staying

He showed himself to hundreds of people

He said that being alive again was his proof

Proof that they would not die either

We will all live forever

He said he was going someplace mysterious

He was going to make a place for them

And for us

A place with no pain

There will be no tears

No dying

No layoffs

No disloyalty or disrespect

Millions have heard the story

They believe it is true

Millions are waiting

Waiting for the trumpet

He said he is coming back

He is coming to get the millions

Alive or dead he will wake us with a trumpet

And we will go to his special place

While the people wait, they do what he did

That is what he said they should do

Love each other and help people who need help

People who live like he did will go to his special place

They wait

They are buried like he was

They are raised like he was

And they live like he did

They are not religious people

Religious people follow people

They follow traditions and directives

His followers follow only him

And they wait

The Last Chapter

 Here is the last Chapter of "Peace on Earth?"  If you haven't read the rest of the book, at least read this brief summary.  

You can buy a Kindle version for $3 or a paperback for $8 by clicking this LINK. The cover by diane michele may alone is worth the price. Diane

CHAPTER 12

So What?

"And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.[1]"

If we get this right, what affect will it have on the world around us?

Better Christians

As we come to be at peace in the world, living in it, but not being of it, we will be able to act confidently on God's instructions. 

Some of Jesus' teachings are downright terrifying.  "Drop your business and come follow me."  "Sell everything you have worked so hard to accumulate, give it to the poor and come follow me."  If you are not convinced, get a copy of David Platt's book, "Radical." 

Telling people the good news is scary for lots of reasons.  Going intentionally to strange places, even in the city where we live, can be very intimidating.  But as we condition ourselves to be confident in the promises God has made to us, we will become more bold in our outreach.  That is not to say that we will become more aggressive as we move toward people.  In spite of the soldier analogies, Jesus did not call on us to be belligerent.[2]  But we will present ourselves more confidently.  We will gain respect because of our integrity.  Even people who disagree with us will respect our honesty and reliability.  We will become more worthy as conduits of God's message to his people.  We will be better family members, employees, employers and church members.

Better churches

Imagine a church made up of confident non-worriers who are clear about God's will for them and are busy in the community around them telling the good news and helping people who need help.  Or, if you have trouble with that image, imagine a church with several people like that who are also gently teaching the rest of the group to become like they are as they follow Jesus. 

It will be a powerful group, not because of its own power but because it draws on the power of him who has overcome the world[3].  They will be active and loving and gentle and very busy in the work of the Lord.

A better world

With churches full of people who are gently telling good news and are helping others through their hard times - moving with confidence through the world - how could the world not be a better place? 

Summary

Faith in God includes trust in his promises.  He promised he would take care of us just as he does the lilies (and the dandelions).   If we believe that promise, we can turn loose of our dependence on ourselves and on things we have accumulated.  It will free us to live in the moment; to do what is right, right now.

And if we trust in the power of God, we can let go of our worries about the world around us.  Let go of the worries and put our energies instead to doing what we can to make it a better place.

Keep in mind three principles:

1.  God loves us and wants us to be at peace.

2.  Though he wants us to be busy in his kingdom, he does not require that we "fix" the world.  That's his job.

3.  God has not called us to use the country's police forces to require non-believers to live righteously. Instead, he has charged us with calling people to righteousness.

If we will busy ourselves with doing what God has called us to do, going to where people are, telling the good news to everyone we meet, and helping those who need help, he will give us the peace that is beyond comprehension, and that will cause others to ask where it comes from.

May God bless you as you put this to work.

Acknowledgements

Again to my dear wife, who continues to put up with me.

To my friends who read the draft.  As a result of their comments, I have made some changes to try to soften it somewhat (really!), to clarify some points, and to make it clearer that I am not calling on people to keep quiet about the truth.

The reviewers were Ann Baur, Dan Horn, Jeff Lambert, Linda Lingo, and Charlene May.  Their reviewer role does not imply that they agree with the content.

And to Diane May who created the cover art and to her son, David May 3 who served as the model.

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[1] James 3:18

[2] Ephesians 4:1-3

[3] John 16:33