Aid to Africa? Perhaps Not

Reading this article put together the vague idea I've had for a long time that throwing money into poor countries doesn't seem to work. But I wasn't sure why. But after reading Der Spiegel's (German paper) interview with a Kenyan Economic expert, things are gelling for me. He says that when countries, or even groups simply give money to the African countries he has found that countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape.

Der Spiegel asked this expert, James Shikwati, how Kenyans for instance would fare if they didn't have this aid. The answer was very surprising.
Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent. In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need. As absurd as it may sound: Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa's problems. If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn't even notice. Only the functionaries would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid.

Der Spiegel then asked what happens when food is given? Shikwati replied the Kenyans, for a change, would be forced to initiate trade relations with Uganda or Tanzania, and buy their food there. He said that this type of trade is vital for Africa. It would force Africans to improve their own infrastructure, while making national borders more permeable. It would also force them to establish laws favoring market economy.

"But would Africa actually be able to solve these problems on its own?" asked Der Spiegel. Shikwati answered,
"Of course. Hunger should not be a problem in most of the countries south of the Sahara. In addition, there are vast natural resources: oil, gold, diamonds. Africa is always only portrayed as a continent of suffering, but most figures are vastly exaggerated. In the industrial nations, there's a sense that Africa would go under without development aid. But believe me, Africa existed before you Europeans came along. And we didn't do all that poorly either."

Der Spiegel then brought up the AIDS epidemic and Shitwaki's answer is really surprising. He says,
AIDS is big business, maybe Africa's biggest business. There's nothing else that can generate as much aid money as shocking figures on AIDS. AIDS is a political disease here, and we should be very skeptical.
The late tyrant of the Central African Republic, Jean Bedel Bokassa, cynically summed it up by saying: "The French government pays for everything in our country. We ask the French for money. We get it, and then we waste it."

Der Spiegel asked if we should still send used clothes. Shitwaki replied,
"Why do we get these mountains of clothes? No one is freezing here. Instead, our tailors lose their livlihoods. They're in the same position as our farmers. No one in the low-wage world of Africa can be cost-efficient enough to keep pace with donated products. In 1997, 137,000 workers were employed in Nigeria's textile industry. By 2003, the figure had dropped to 57,000. The results are the same in all other areas where overwhelming helpfulness and fragile African markets collide. "

Shitwaki finished by making this powerful statement,
We have to stop perceiving ourselves as beggars. These days, Africans only perceive themselves as victims. On the other hand, no one can really picture an African as a businessman. In order to change the current situation, it would be helpful if the aid organizations were to pull out.

The Ancient-Future Debate

A few weeks ago Robert Webber, professor at Wheaton College died. He was mostly associated with his series on what he called Ancient-Future faith and worship. This became a very important basis for emergent theology and praxis (a fancy word which means practice). In Ancient-Future faith we go back to various periods of church history to find out what they did in worship, preaching, meditation, communion, baptism and so forth. This might be a good idea to connect us with Christians from other eras, with the exception of one problem. The emergent-Ancient-Future people are very selective about what era they select, and what they select in those eras. The seem to call the 5th century the "early church."I disagree. The early church was the first two centuries. I would call the 5th century the early-middle period. I believe they do this to give whatever happened in that century and beyond a lot of credence. But by the 5th century the church clearly was having a lot of problems with apostasy internally. We see the beginnings of the foundations for Romanism and also the desert fathers going off by themselves with a form of meditation that I believe should be discussed, and not accepted without question. Parts of those exercises might be a good idea, but some parts might not be. So these people tell us to adopt certain eras of basically Roman Catholic practice beginning about the 5th century.

I notice that they seem to skip any Protestant Reformational practice in the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. THey seem to skip from the 15th century to the middle 20th. In other words, in their eyes, there was nothing of note done between 1600 and 1940. Okaaay.

I think you see where I am headed here. I consider the Ancient-Future faith a sort of half-lying because I consider lying to be more than not telling the truth. Lying can also be what you LEAVE out on purpose. Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Spurgeon, even Graham are left out. To me - I've studied how people control others for almost 30 years now - this smells of theological manipulation and control. Not a good idea at all.

31 Writers Review Seattle Churches

I read something interesting today. A hip kind of alternate Seattle newspaper named The Stranger recently sent out 31 writers to 31 one houses of worship including mostly Christian Protestant churches but also including two Roman Catholic churches, a Bahia meeting that the writer never found, a Jewish shabat held on Sunday (which is rather strange for a conservative Judaism temple), a muslim meeting and a MCC (gay) church.

I was afraid what I would read because after all, these are Seattle writers. But I have to say I think they did a really good job and vindicated what many of us are saying about today's "hip, seeker-sensitive 'emerging conversation'" churches.
They saw alot of the phoniness and I have to admit I think the writers were really the "authentic" ones. The more "hip" the church, the more the writers hated it.

The writers WITHOUT EXCEPTION excoriated and made fun of the young wanna be rock world hip churches. Even Mars Hill(Mark Driscoll)came in for criticism. Sadly, the Sunday the writer attended there, Mark was on his "men gotta be men and they wouldn't commit adultry if their wives kept themselves up more and single men gotta get married now!" trip. It totally turned the writer off. I would imagine so.

There were three positive reviews and I am so amazed to see where these writers went. Two were Presbyterian churches and one was an Episcopal church. All these writers said that the reverence shown to God in the service and especially in the singing of the hymns really spoke to them. All of the writers said they wouldn't mind returning.

The article is long as it presents all 31 reviews, but it's worth the read. Here is the link.

The German Holocaust--NOT?

Several years ago I predicted what has now happened. But, I based my prediction on what I call "genocide-weariness." Sadly, this isn't the reason for what has happened. I said at that time that if Germans are constantly being reminded about the holocaust, whether it comes from the German leadership, or other countries, there would be what firemen term a "backdraft." I felt that would happen in other places too, including here in the United States. I said that constantly being exposed through films (i.e. Shindler's list), museums (i.e. the Museum of Tolerance; the Holocaust Museum) and a myraid of books detailing every gruesome detail, would produce this "genocide-weariness."

I also saw it in my city, which has the largest enclave of Armenians outside of the capital of Armenia, Yerevan. We are a city of 210,000 and 85,000 are of Armenian descent, most coming here after 1980, or born of those who came after that. We dread every March as that is the time some Armenians (although not necessarily from my city) go crazy and storm the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles (my city is right next to L.A.). Schools almost shut down here since so many are out marching or attending commemoration services. Every year we hear and hear and hear about this. We have genocide-weariness.

Before you accuse me of being hard-hearted, let me assure you that I have been a passionate champion of people knowing about the Holocaust as well as other genocides, including the Armenian one at the beginning of the 20th century at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. But I began to realize that if you keep shoving these down people's throats, they begin to shut it out and even say it is being exaggerated. My solution was to bring it on strong for a short time, a year perhaps, and then let it simmer down a bit. From time to time bring it up strongly again to another generation. I read an interesting article a few years ago about how they have kept the Holocaust memory alive in Germany since WII, especially to the school children. Almost every schoolchild and youth visit a concentration camp and/or German Holocaust museum at least once or more in their schooling. What has resulted from this is anger and the response of today's youth of "We didn't do this, so why do we have to be blamed and suffer?" Genocide-weariness.

However, I wnat to say strongly, that to never teach these things is just absolutely wrong.

I have personally made it a goal/hobby/interest since high school to study the Holocaust, German history especially from 1870-1945, Hitler (I've read at least 5 major biographies), German psycho-social history, German military strategy in both WWI and WWII, resistance movements, and what-in -the-world-was-the-Lutheran-and-other-Protestant-churches-during-all-of-this? The reason for my study is my best friend in high school. She is Jewish and her parents had to flee from good jobs and a good life in their native Austria when Hitler marched in. They were fired from their jobs almost immediately, had to wear the yellow star and were often spit on in the street. When Jewish friends and neighbors began to be arrested and even disappear, they decided they had better get out of their while their gettin' out could happen. This had such an impact on me that I wanted to thoroughly research it so I could understand what happened. I might write another day about what I've found out. I even started a website on the subject of Control and Codependency in countries, the home, the workplace and in churches (here is the website - The Faustian Covenant).

The reason I am writing about this is because I'm reading recently about schools in Europe and even a few here in the United States dropping Holocaust history from their curriculums. Sadly it isn't because of the "genocide-weariness" I've described, which I could kind of understand. Instead, it's more devious.

The holocaust is being buried for the sake of political correctness, so Muslims won't be offended.

Folks, we CANNOT ever forget. While we don't have to have the genocides shoved in our faces every day and every year - please, please let's not let the memory die out. On behalf of the millions of communists, gypsies, homosexuals, Jews, both developmentally and physically disabled, and other "non-persons (as the Nazis called them)," we cannot let it go.

The Real Prosperity Message

If you want to know the REAL prosperity message, check out Dan's excellent post today at his blog, Cerulean Sanctum.

Quote of the Week

Thanks to Christian Resource Network for this great quote from A. W. Tozer:


The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them.

The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses.

The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it.

Source: Christian Research Network

Trash Watching

Kudos to Tim Challies who has a great post today, Pictures Aren't Words, about Christians watching certain movies. There is a huge movement today among many evangelicals to persuade us in all ways to get to the movie theater quickly so we can relate to our non-Christian friends and neighbors. Forget the toll these movies might take on our soul and spirit.

Now Challies points out an interesting facet of this. He responds to a post by Greg Wright on the Resurgence blog. Wright uses as an example the story in Judges 20-21 which tells about rape, murder, pillage and other horrible things. Tim says pictures can be much more graphic than words. He also says that SEEING this on the movie screen, especially for teens as opposed to reading it in vague detail in the Bible is completely different and has a different impact.

Tim writes,
Like me, I'm sure you've heard people defend the violence and swearing and other ungodly behavior in film by saying, "The Bible has all of these elements!" And this is true. The Bible has many stories of violence and sexuality and just about every other manner of sin. But there is a difference. It is all well and good to suggest that a movie based on Judges 20-21 would receive the ominous NC-17 rating. It likely would and for good reason. Yet when we read it in the Bible it would not. Why? Because words convey the story far differently than images. With words we read only what we need to know and receive little detail. We know the broad outline of the story, but the details are blessedly hidden from us. This would not be the case if the story were told in images. As film, the details would be in full view. We would see rape and bloodlust and dismemberment. We would see the parts of the story that were kept from us. If we have a high view of the Bible we have to accept that God gave us only and exactly what He wants us to know.
Then he goes on to intimate that the Bible is inspired by God; a movie version may not be.
Amen to Tim Challies. I frankly am tired of the movie thrust. And since I live 20 minutes from Hollywood, we hear this drivel all the time here in the churches here, especially from nearby Fuller Seminary (15 minutes from me).
IN my day, when a Fuller student took me out on a date to a questionable movie, he would apologize later and say that we went to see the photography. Yea, right. Today the excuse is "to find some hidden Christian message so we can discuss it with our non-Christian neighbors and friends." Uh huh. I have an idea. Do what I do. I bet I can discuss almost any of the top 5 films out today, and in addition tell you what music is playing in the L.A. area in classical, jazz and rock/hip-hop venues. I can also tell you about art exhibits and plays in the area. Adding to those, I can tell you the most talked about TV shows and what they are about. Yet I don't have to attend or watch any of the events I've listed unless I want to and think it would be edifying. So, how do I do that?

I read the Arts and Entertainment section of my paper every day (the Los Angeles Times in my case since I live near L. A.

(Emergent) Lab Rats

I thought this was priceless....and so true. Both the Third Wave Charismatics and the emergents are using our teens and even children as guinea pigs for their "interesting" theologies. In my church some elders want to bring [Eastern religious] contempletive methods into the chidlrens' Sunday School.

The Lighthouse Trails blog reports that a woman told about her experience:

We left another Baptist church about 4 years ago because of the youth pastor's successful start of an emerging church, which included lecto divina techniques, visualization in the sanctuary, contemplative prayer and various other new age influences. All this while our youth room set up prayer stations, icons, candles and promoted on-line labyrinth prayers.

Now get this part of what she writes...wow! How true is this!

It seems like our children are being used as lab rats for someone's idea of a cool way to feel spiritual, experience new environments, and check off that 'service project' box.

Source: From the Lighthouse

Macho, Macho Man

Remember that song from the Village people about the macho, macho man? A post at Cerulean Sanctum recently was on manliness and what it is. After reading what Dan said (his post was very good IMO), I would like to weigh in on this topic too. I am saddened that currently so many pastors and other ministry leaders are going back to the macho man ideal....the beer guzzling - bear huntin' smelly guy.

On one hand, we don't want to go back to the Mr. Mousy man tagging along after his wife to church. But on the other hand, men do not have to prove themselves . At my church I see what I believe are men who are getting close to the ideal. Interestingly, the ones I am about to describe are mostly under 50.

They respect their wives' skills and intellect and allow them to share in the leadership. However, I don't see them as "castrated-types." They aren't ashamed to hold their children's and other childrens' hands, escorting them up the aisle to take their places in the children's choir. And, they aren't ashamed to put their children and others' children on their shoulders on Palm Sunday when the children and teens come down the aisles holding palm branches.

And, they aren't hesitant to tell their wives that the church should do some more men things like hold a car show (to bring our church to the attention of the community), or a golf tournament (to raise money to send our youth to Christian camp in the summer). In fact, they have done both of these things. And guess what? Their wives, along with the other women of the church, applaud these activities and are very supportive. They don't have a problem with it. Why should they? Why should women resent what men do or how they are? And why should men have to "prove themselves" by doing silly macho things?

They don't. Real men don't have to prove themselves. They can teach in the pre-school Sunday school AND go on the church men's fishing trip.

Well, how about that?

The "New" Evangelism?

Here is the new evangelism of the emergent church of the 21st century. Perhaps read it and weep?

Evangelism or mission for me is no longer persuading people to believe what I believe, not matter how edgy or creative I get. It is more about shared experiences and encounters. It is about walking the journey of life and faith together, each distinct to his or her own tradition and culture but with the possibility of encountering God and truth from one another
....Pip Piper

Some of those words are a kind of secret code. It's basically putting into effect the Hegelian dialectic which is, "let's take some Christianity and some other religions and mix together." The code words above are,

*"shared experiences"
*"[walking the journey of life and faith together], each distinct to his or her own tradition and culture"

So, when you hear missiologists talking this way, beware. The only way a person comes to Christ is to HEAR the complete gospel. Romans 10:14 tells us that they cannot believe unless they hear and they cannot hear if someone doesn't tell them. So, if the gospel isn't plainly preached and shown to be the ONLY way, could a person become a Christian? This question is being asked more and more as we see both the fusion of Christianity with various other faiths as well as gospel lite. While it's pertinent to relate to the culture to get the point across, fusion Christianity isn't the way to go.

This trend isn't new. The liberal Protestants have been doing it for decades. However, it's sad to see many evangelicals now following in their footsteps. As I wrote in another post, the liberal Protestants haven't really changed the world for the better at all despite all their braggings. And, they are bleeding church members. That is your future emergents. Please don't force it on others.

Nothing's Really That New

Nothing is really that new. It's been around the block before, even in theology. How appropriate is this, from 1665, about how we Christians relate to the world? It's a far different tactic than today's emergent and seeker-sensitive churches isn't it? William Gurnall got it right in that year when he wrote in The Christian in Complete Armour,

"The people who will not love you because you are holy cannot help but respect and fear you for that same reason. But every time you give up a little holiness to gain false love from sinners, you forfeit the reverence which their consciences secretly paid to your life. Like Samson, a Christian walking in the power of holiness, is greatly feared by the wicked; but if sin exposes an impotent spirit, he is captured and falls under the lash of their tongues and the scorn of their hearts."

Source: Old Truth.com

Is This Christian Meditation?

Breath prayers.....emptying the mind......repeating a phrase (mantra??).....Is this Christian meditation?

Richard Foster writes,
Christian meditation is an attempt to empty the mind in order to fill it.

Emptying the mind? It's a shame that this so-called Christian contemplative spirituality is flooding into the evangelical church. To understand true Biblical mediation, we need to consider the Hebrew word for it which means "to mutter." But what are we muttering? A mantra? Even a "spiritual one like "Jesus?" No, we mutter the Word. AND, we think about what we are saying or confessing.

Jesse Penn-Lewis, who was involved in the great Welsh revival of the early 20th century, wrote a book entitled War on the Saints. In that book she warns Christians NOT to be passive and enter into this type of meditating as it can be a way of demonic spirits entering your thoughts. Sadly, many Christians of that era didn't listen to her. The great evangelist Watchman Nee read her book and saw this was happening in China among some of his converts. They were used to the eastern practice of meditation and thought this is how a Christian should meditate. Nee quickly corrected them and this theme of not emptying your mind to reflect upon God is a theme running through much of his writing.

In the past few years, I've been fascinated at how many Christians, who used to be in the occult, or New Age, have written how shocked they are to read Foster and others who promote essentially what they used to do.

I believe we need to take this seriously and consider how much this is becoming a part of our churches. It's even coming into Christian education curriculum for children. This really doesn't surprise me though, as I've seen a terrible diminishing of discernment over the past 25 years in evangelicalism.

Remember what I said in another post---Save the church; Save the Nation (apologies to the TV program Heroes)....:)

Coordination of Environmental Research?

Vaclav Klaus, the president of the Czech Republic, has written a very unique article about global warming. I say unique because he sees the "hysteria" around it as controlling, very simlar to the communism he used to live under in his country. He lists 7 solutions to prevent any totalitarian rules pertaining to global warming that could compromise our freedoms, but still be environmentally responsible. Here is his list of seven:

*Small climate changes do not demand far-reaching restrictive measures

*Any suppression of freedom and democracy should be avoided

*Instead of organising people from above, let us allow everyone to live as he wants

*Let us resist the politicisation of science and oppose the term “scientific consensus”, which is always achieved only by a loud minority, never by a silent majority

*Instead of speaking about “the environment”, let us be attentive to it in our personal behaviour

*Let us be humble but confident in the spontaneous evolution of human society. Let us trust its rationality and not try to slow it down or divert it in any direction

*Let us not scare ourselves with catastrophic forecasts, or use them to defend and promote irrational interventions in human lives

I am a big fan of freedom, but after reading what China is doing to curtail their pollution, I realize that some government "guidance" may be necessary. China has a very serious pollution problem, especially in the larger cities. They're dedicated to change over to 20% of their energy sources being cleaner alternatives by the year 2020.
The central government has brought together top scientists and science university grad students to work on this project. Each scientific team develops an energy effcient auto and presents it in a yearly competition. Other countries are also invited to this event to compete. The prize is really a drawing of attention to the best and low costing use of energy. So far, the Chinese seem to be favoring hydrogen sources for their experimental autos, although other forms are being investigated too. The Chinese government seems to be pretty hands-off as far as what they tell the scientists. It has given the scientists the goals and the scientists are trying to work toward those goals. Why then won't China sign the Kyoto Treaty? One reason I can think of is their relunctance to have other countries tell them what to do. But behind the scenes as I've described above, China isn't sleeping on this important environmental matter. They realize that their growing economy depends a lot on developing more efficient energy sources.

On the other hand, if you look at the United States, I have to admit, I don't know what is happening here. Whatever it is, I'm wondering if it's being coordinated like it is in China? Perhaps our government does need to get involved more in goal setting and coordination. Will this take away our freedoms?

Well, it's food for thought and lots of discussion.

Sources: FT.com Financial News and Oil on the Brain (book)

The Foster Kids

Picture this:

You are a foster child. You come to the foster care system afraid and angry. Afraid, because, will anyone love you? Will they mistreat you? It was bad enough with mom/dad/other familt meember(s) who abused you and/or neglected you. How would it be with a stranger?

Angry because of the abuse/neglect you suffered at the hands of your parent(s)/other(s).

You are now a part of somebody's else's family. The rules there are all different and you are often treated like the "extra" you are. You're not truly a part of the family. Maybe you might land in a really neat family. Will they adopt you? No, they can't because the court bounces you back to mom/dad/other family member(s). It doesn't work out there long as usual, so now you are bounced back once again to the foster care system. You go through 21 foster parents between age 7, when you first entered, to age 18 when the Social Service System bounces you out to the street with $100 to your name and in effect says, "Good luck and Sayonara"

How do you think you wll turn out. Statistics tell us that many of the homeless (as much as 40% in some polls) were in the foster care system.

And what is the church doing about this? What are Christian families doing about this?





(waiting for an answer)




(waiting for any answer)


(no answer forthcoming)

I'm fairly well read about Christendom with reading Christian blogs, Christian books and many Christian magazines. Frankly, I have to admit that I've only read two items challenging churches and Christains to consider this problem and their possible role of saving these foster kids in a chaotic, humanist, and somewhat cruel social services system.

One source were two Charisma magazine articles, one in the August, 2004 issue found here; and, one in the December 2005 issue found here.


The other article is at the Resurgence blog in a post done by Anthony Bradley found
here.

I think this is an interesting and vital topic that more of us should become informed with.

Tomorrow's post will discuss foster care in another way.....I think it might somewhat surprise you.

Quote of the Week

"Can you imagine Luke adding a sentence or two to his account of the early church in the book of Acts? Perhaps the words would say,


And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. But within two years, 60 percent of those saved were no longer active in the church.

The absurdity of such words reflects the absurd condition of the church in America today. While we would never believe that Luke would write these words, we often accept the fact that only 40 percent of our church members will be in attendance on a given Sunday."

Source: High Expectations (book) by Thom S. Rainer

God in a Box?

Has God put himself in a box? A while ago I was reading a post from Challies and he brought up this quesiton.

I say yes He has. This isn't a popular conception in these postmodern times when many people, especially younger ones, do not wish to be boxed on any issue. But if we look at the Scripture, we must conclude that God does indeed "box Himself" in.

For example, God uses us to evangelize. If we don't do it, people don't hear the gospel. And, on another note, God allows us to appoint/select/elect (depending on your church's doctrinal stance ), elders. These elders have the responsibility to lead the church and also to pray for the sick in faith (James 5:13-15). If they don't do these tasks, or do them well, then the church is crippled.

But my main point here is - God Himself instituted these things. And, He definitely is in charge overall. But, WE didn't institute them. He did. Makes you wonder about the kind of God we serve doesn't it? Maybe He wants to invest Himself in us more than we think. And, perhaps He wants to give us more responsibility than we think. But that means we have to get out of a codependent stance and grow to maturity, doesn't it.

But They Made a Pledge....

Slate, an online magazine, recently reviewed a book by Mark Regnerus, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, entitled Forbidden Fruit: Sex & Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers.
He found that 80% of teenagers who identify as "evangelical" or "born again" think sex should be saved for marriage. But sadly, what they think is not what they do. Regnerus found that evangelical teens are actually more likely to have lost their virginity than either mainline Protestants or Catholics. They tend to lose their virginity at a slightly younger age—16.3, compared with 16.7 for the other two faiths. And they are much more likely to have had three or more sexual partners by age 17: Regnerus reports that 13.7 percent of evangelicals have, compared with 8.9 percent for mainline Protestants.

Wait a dern minute here! What happened to all of those sexual abstinence pledges we have been hearing so much about in recent years? First, Regnerus defines a problem with the word "evangelical" itself. Who is exactly evangelical? Like other pollsters and surveyors of evangelicals, he is finding that this term has become more inclusive than it used to. So, he and others have found the best way is to find those who call themselves "born again." He found that among the promiscuous teenagers in the book, one group stands out -- the 16% of American teens who describe religion as "extremely important" in their lives. When these guys pledge, they mean it. One study found that the pledge works better if not everyone in school takes it. The ideal conditions are a group of pledgers who form a self-conscious minority that perceives itself as special, even embattled. He found that these evangelicals as well as Asian-Americans and Mormons are less likely to have premarital sex.

So what happened to abstinence pledge groups such as the True Love Waits movement, which began with the Southern Baptist Convention in the '90s?
He found that teenagers who signed the abstinence pledge belong to a subgroup of highly motivated virgins. But even they succumb. Follow-up surveys show that at best, pledges delayed premarital sex by 18 months—a success by statistical standards but a disaster for Southern Baptist pastors.

Regnerus writes,

Evangelical teens today are much less sheltered than their parents were; they watch the same TV and listen to the same music as everyone else, which causes a "cultural collision," according to Regnerus. "Be in the world, but not of it," is the standard Christian formula for how to engage with mainstream culture. But in a world hyper saturated with information, this is difficult for tech-savvy teenagers to pull off. There are no specific instructions in the Bible on how to avoid a Beyoncé video or Scarlett Johansson's lips calling to you from YouTube, not to mention the ubiquitous porn sites. For evangelicals, sex is a "symbolic boundary" marking a good Christian from a bad one, but in reality, the kids are always "sneaking across enemy lines,"
evangelicals are prone to use birth control methods less because they don't think they are going to "do it."



Source: Slate magazine

Our Heroes?

Read this and weep.

These are the people looked up to by our youth as well as many others (including many Christians):

*David Faustino, best known as Bud Bundy on 'Married With Children,' was arrested after police found a gram of marijuana in his pocket.

*Boy George was arrested on April 27 after a male escort he hired as a photo subject told police that the former Culture Club singer imprisoned him.

*Former 'American Idol' finalist Jessica Sierra, 21, was arrested Sunday, April 29, on charges of felony battery and possession of cocaine.

*Charges of car theft against Daniel Baldwin were dropped April 27, after his attorney explained to prosecutors that it was all just a big misunderstanding

*MTV star Jason Wahler was arrested April 8 on charges of trespassing and assault, after launching into a racist and homophobic rant against a Seattle police officer.

*Country legend Billy Joe Shaver shot a man on March 31, outside a bar. His lawyer says the 'Georgia on a Fast Train' singer was acting in self-defense.

*Former child star Brian Bonsall, here as Andy Keaton on 'Family Ties,' was arrested March 28 for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend.

*Taboo, a member of the Black Eyed Peas, was arrested on March 27 after crashing his car near Los Angeles. Police found a small amount of marijuana.

*Mary Weiland, wife of Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland, was arrested for setting fire to $10,000 of her husband's wardrobe on Saturday, March 24.

*'Kill Bill 1' starlet Vivica Fox was charged with drunken driving on March 20, after she was caught speeding and she was unable to perform a sobriety test.

*Former 'Survivor' winner Richard Hatch failed to pay taxes on his $1 million dollar prize from the show and is now serving a 51-month prison sentence.

*Actress Yancy Butler, just a month after being charged with disorderly conduct, was charged with DUI on March 13, after crashing her Saab into a guard rail.

*Blues Traveler's John Popper was arrested March 6, after being caught driving 111 MPH, and in possession of pot, 13 firearms, a Taser and night vision goggles.

*Prosecutors say 48 vials of illegal human growth hormone were found among Sylvester Stallone's baggage at an airport in Australia on Feb. 16.

*Bobby Brown was arrested Feb. 25 for failing to appear at a child support hearing in October.

*Singer Kelis was arrested March 2, after she attempted to disrupt an undercover police operation by screaming profanities at two female officers posing as prostitutes.

*After being pulled over Feb. 27 for driving without her headlights on, Paris Hilton was found by police to be driving with what appeared to be a suspended license. She has consistently violated her probabtion. Now she is in jail.

*Ex-Phish front man Trey Anastasio pleaded not guilty after a Dec. 15 search of his car turned up hydrocodone and Percocet, as well as the anti-anxiety drug Xanax.

*'Goodfellas' actor Ray Liotta was arrested Feb. 17 on suspicion of driving under the influence after crashing his car into two parked vehicles in Pacific Palisades.

*Police say Tracy Morgan, the funnyman who went from 'SNL' to '30 Rock' this year, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.13 on Nov. 28, well over the 0.08 limit.

*'Good Will Hunting' director Gus Van Sant pleaded no contest on charges of driving under the influence and agreed to a year-long alcohol diversion program.

*Gary Glitter was sentenced in March 2006 to three years in a Vietnamese jail after being convicted of child molestation. He will be released in August 2008.

*Granville Adams, who appeared on the HBO prison drama 'Oz,' was arrested Feb. 4, after allegedly pushing a fellow nightclub patron down an elevator shaft.

*Actor Ryan O'Neal was arrested Feb. 3 and charged with assaulting his grown son with a handgun during a fight in the actor's Malibu home.

When many of you were growing up, including me, we remember that the ones looked up to seemed to have good qualities. At least their private lives seemed to be more under control and if not, hidden. Do you think this was better? Or do you think some of celebrities' out-of-control lives should be splashed constantly all over the news? Does this subconsciously affect our children and teens? Even Christian ones?

What do you think?


Source: AOL

Cats and Global Warming

Now I've heard it all. There has been an increase of cats in shelters. And why you might ask? Global warming is the culprit. I will explain in a moment.

I watched Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth, last Sunday at my church. It was hosted, with a discussion afterwards, by one of our church members, a scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (the one that sends missions to Mars and other space places--it is about 15-20 minutes from our church). A few months ago I attended a lecture at Cal Tech on this subject too. There is no question, if you look at the historical facts since the late 19th century when the Industrial Revolution was in full gear, that the temperature is rising more rapidly than any other time in measurable history. The Industrial Revolution and now the technological one--read that emissions. But scientists are still divided as to why this is happening and if it is as severe as Gore and others say. It might be; it might not be.

There is one thing I wish we would all agree on though. Whether or not you are in a panic over global warming or if you poo-poo it, can we lessen emissions for polution's sake? I think most all of us could get around that goal. Out here in Los Angeles, after years of better air, it's getting bad again. As I get older I find it more difficult to breathe in it. When I visited much cleaner Dallas in April I could actually breathe.

Now, what does global warming have to do with more cats being in the pound? Because of global warming, my source says (see below), the breeding season has lengthen because it's warmer. That means more cats, many unwanted.

Source: http://www.livescience.com/animals/070606_gw_pets.html

Filling Church Conference Seats

The Slice of Laodicea blog has it right on the mark when Ingrid writes,

People will swarm by the thousands to hear self-help, motivational pap by men like Joel Osteen. They will pay hundreds to attend spiritual self-improvement seminars and while there, buy three-ring binders and DVD’s filled with advice on how to improve themselves as Christians. Women will run to conferences to hear female comedians, Christian pop singers and speakers with wit and charisma.

And, now, here is the clincher:

But how many seats would be filled if an announcement were to go out on Christian media that a gathering would be held at which there would be a sermon on the beauty of Jesus Christ? I think we know the answer to that.

Yup, we sure do.

A Messed Up Nation

In a recent poll conducted by an evangelical newsman, he found that 90% of evangelical college students, both in secular and Christian colleges/universities, named Bono (U2 singer guy) as the Christian they most admire. This is the same Bono who used the F___ word at the Golden Globes recently and now that incident is being investigated by the FCC.

I don't think I want to hear anymore how wonderfully holy and sold out this young generation is to Christ. I really don't wish to be cynical but I don't believe it. Do you blame me?

However, I read something interesting yesterday. Let me quote,

A poll taken at Harvard discovered not one believer in the whole student body. At Princeton, a much more evangelical place, a poll found that there were only two believers in the student body, and only five that don't belong to the filthy speech movement. Students in many colleges riot. At Williams college they held a mock communtion, and at Dartmouth an anti-Christian play was staged. At Princeton they burned down a building. They forced the resignation of the president of Harvard and in New Jersey they took a Bible out of a local Presbyterian church and burned it in a public bonfire. Collegiate Christians in many schools meet in secret and write things down in code so they won't be discovered.

It might shock you to discover that these events took place in the 1780's in America. You know the Christian nation.

Then a prayer movement started and this type of thing was history as one of the greatest revivals swept through both New England, New York and the South in what has been named the Second Great Awakening.

To read more about this Awakening revival, see the following blog posts:
The Second Great Awakening: Milieux
The Second Great Awakening: New England and the South
The Second Great Awakening: Finney


Today, things certainly are as bad as they were then. Maybe there is hope after all.
Care to pray anyone?


Source of the 1780's quote: "Red Moon Rising" (book) by Peter Greig and Dave Roberts

The Boomers Rise Again

I am venting today. Hope I don't offend anyone.

I have a problem. It's a problem I've had since college. I've looked 12 years younger than I am. Now as I've aged, I look about 7-8 years younger...finally.

I am two years older than the oldest Baby Boomer, that generation born between 1946 and 1964. It's the largest generation in the 20th century and on into this century.

It's always "fun" (not) for me to be around the Boomers because they are very much generationally loyal. By that I mean they don't particularly like to hob nob with other generations. So in my case, and this has happened a lot, since I look like a Boomer but don't act like one (since I'm not one), it offends them. That is, until I let drop how old I am, then they give me a pass, and also ignore me with the rest of those older (and younger) than they are.

The reason I am writing this post is because Dan Edelen wrote a post on the Boomers - how they have affected the evangelical church and who will the next leaders be. By the way, I agree with almost everything he wrote and I hope you'll read the post.

I could write volumes on this but I will try to refrain myself. Where do I start?
I realize this is blunt but I am pretty confident of it. The Boomers have ruined our society. Hey! I heard Bill O'Reilly say this same thing this morning on his radio program (I've thought this for eons - I didn't get it from him). And, they've ruined the evangelical church. Not the entire group of them, but enough of them to make a difference in these environments. Frankly, I've never heard repentance from this group - that is, as a group. I've heard a few (very few) comments of repentance from individuals for their group, but not from leaders of the generation as a whole. Until that happens, I don't think the churches that are led by these people are going anywhere. And, I'm not sure where the evangelical church as a whole oid headed either. I am very tired of hearing their worn out "I was on drugs and alcohol and sex (and then the snickers--ha-ha)." It's the snickers that really get me. Most of the time I just do not hear any type of sorrow in their voice. And I could write reams about many Boomer church leaders who act and look like they are 16. The music, the pony tail on the balding head, the Dockers and Hawaiian shirts. Oh..puhleeese...spare me.

Will these Boomers ever grow up? I'm not counting on it. Now we have their evil spawn--generation X, or the postmoderns as they are also known (18 to around 30 or 35--whichever definition you wish to accept). If you thought the Boomers were bad, check out their spoiled, relativist, it's-all-about-me children. And those are the Christian children. There is one good point about them though. The postmoderns don't care for their Boomer parents' praise music. Darn. I rather was getting to like the praise music. Dr. Wagner might want to leave off laughing at organs in churches. The postmoderns like the organ and also the hymns. So, I see the death of Boomer praise music coming down the road (or as my church's elderly Sunday School class calls it-7/11 music-7 words sung 11 times).

I would like to highly recommend a book written by Dr. Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University in California, called Generation Me. This book describes the children of the Boomers as well helping us to understand what the Boomers have done to their own children. Although this isn't a Christian book, I do see some of the characteristics she talks about in the evangelical church.

So, this Sunday, as I go to my Sunday School class populated by younger Boomers, I will continue to hear their talk about how wonderful the new contemplative spirituality is (with their elements of Buddhist and Hindu thought), how they want it to be taught in our children's Sunday School, and isn't Brian McLaren just the best? He must be the answer for their children and younger brothers and sisters. Oh those Boomer rascals. I wonder what they will be up to next? Maybe I don't want to know.....

The Boomers Strike Again

Sorry if this post is slightly sarcastic. I am venting today. It's Dan's fault - he wrote a post this morning that I am reacting to...LOL.

I have a problem. It's a problem I've had since college. I've looked 12 years younger than I am. Now as I've aged, I look about 7-8 years younger...finally.

I am two years older than the oldest Baby Boomer, that generation born between 1946 and 1964. It's the largest generation in the 20th century and on into this century.

It's always "fun" (not) for me to be around the Boomers because they are very much generationally loyal. By that I mean they don't partcularly like to hob nob with other generations. So in my case, and this has happened a lot, since I look like a Bommer but don't act like one (since I'm not one), it offends them. That is, until I let drop how old I am, then they give me a pass, and also ignore me with the rest of those older (and younger) than they are.

The reason I am writing this post is because Dan Edelen wrote a post on the Boomers - how they have affected the evangelical church and who will the next leaders be.

I could write volumes on this but I will try to refrain myself. Where do I start?
I realize this is blunt but I am pretty confident of it. The Boomers have ruined the society. Hey! I heard Bill O'Reilly say this same thing this morning on his radio program (I've thought this for eons - I didn't get it from him). And, they've ruined the evangelical church. Not the entire group of them, but enough of them to make a difference in these environments. Frankly, I've never heard repentence from this group - that is, as a group. I've heard a few (very few) comments of repentance from individuals for their group, but not from leaders of the generation as a whole. Until that happens, I don't think the churches that are led by these people are going anywhere. I am very tired of hearing their worn out "I was on drugs and alcohol and sex (and then the snickers--ha-ha)." It's the snickers that really get me. Most of the time I just do not hear any type of sorrow in their voice. And I could write reams about many Boomer church leaders who act and look like they are 16. The music, the pony tail on the balding head, the dockers and Hawaian shirts. Oh..puhleeese...spare me.

Will these Boomers ever grow up? I am not counting on it. Now we have their evil spawn--generation X or the postmdoerns as they are also known (18 to around 30 or 35--whichever definition you wish to accept). If you thought the Boomers were bad, check out their spoiled, relativist, it's-all-about-me children. And those are the Christian children. There is one good point about them though. The postmoderns don't care for their Boomer parents' praise music. Darn. I like praise music. Dr. Wagner might want to leave off laughing at organs in churches. THe postmoderns like the organ and also the hymns. I see the death of Boomer praise music (or as our elderly SS class calls it-7/11 music-7 words sung 11 times).

I would like to highly recommend a book written by Dr. Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University in California, called Generation Me. This book describes the children of the Boomers as well helping us to understand what the Boomers have done to their own children. Although this isn't a Christian book, I do see some of the characteristics she talks about in the evangelical church.

So, this Sunday, as I go to my Sunday School class populated by younger Boomers, I will continue to hear their talk about how wonderful the new contempletive spirituality is (with their elements of Buddhist and Hindu thought), how they want it to be taught in our children's Sunday School, and isn't Brian McClaren just the best? He must be the answer for their children and younger brothers and sisters. Oh those Boomer rascals. I wonder what they will be up to next? Maybe I don't want to know.....

Notable Sayings

Here are some notable quotes I've gathered in the last month.

*This is a good description of liberal Protestantism, and I might add perhaps of many emergent churches today:
"God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgement to the ministrations of a Christ without a cross."

__Richard Niebuhr


*And along those same lines:
"Why would any pastor spend what precious little time there is on anything but teaching the whole counsel of God to fight the very real giants that threaten our children and our churches?"

Source: Watcher's Lamp

*In the emergent and post-modern church...
"The concept of spirituality is based on the things you do, not on an understanding of what Jesus has already done."

Source: Roger Oakland, Reaching Postmoderns

*From an overseas missionary in Africa:
"Rick Warren said regarding Rawanda, that he is going to transform the churches into centers for feeding the poor, education and providing medical facilities. Well, we are not against those things and do many of those things ourselves. But the fact is, the primary purpose of the church is not humanitarianism. The church's main purpose is to provide a place where people can find Christ; prepare people for where they will spend eternity; and to be taught the truths of the Bible.
If Rick Warren and his friends want to go full time into humanitarian work, that's fine. Let he and his friends work full time for the U.N. with whom they already associate with; but don't, in the name of humanitarianism, turn the churches away from their main purpose of being spiritual institutions and transform them into social institutions."

Sources: www.lorendavis.com; Lighthouse Trails (http://lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/index.php)

*"...liberals hate Christians simply because liberals do not understand the gospel. They think that we are saying that human moral perfection is what we demand from people. The message of Christ was and is that all people are sinners and that we do not have the ability to live in total perfection ourselves. You see if we were perfect we would not have need of the Savior. Jesus saves us by paying the price for our sin and freeing us from being condemned to separation from him for eternity. My point is that liberals think wrong about our position. When we speak out against immorality we are not saying that we are perfect. We are saying that immorality is immorality and all people including Christians are guilty of failing to be perfect."


Source: Brannon House (http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/article.php/2062/Rev_Dr_David_M_Berman_ThD)


*"I you could take Jesus out of the sermon, would it still fly?"

__William Willimon

My Comments on "If I Weren't a Christian

This post at Internet Monk kind kind of set me off. John Dennis tells what life would be like if there was no such thing as [evangelical] Christianity.

To me, this is still another attempt to diss the legalism of the "fundamentalists." There are better ways to counteract legalism. In fact, except for a few fundamentalists left, and also Third Wavers with their new forms of legalism, we aren't really encountering much legalism in the evangelical church. So, I'm not sure what all of this is about. Hitting at straw men perhaps? Maybe the joke is on the “cool” emergent-leaning crowd because really, there aren’t too many “fundies” around.

Here are some of the items he lists with my comments in italics. Some in his list I do agree with.

He writes, “If I weren’t a Christian,

*I would have to appreciate books simply for the good writing."
Christian books with good content IMO are worth the read even if they aren’t written by literary geniuses.

*"I‘d have to socialize with my community rather than the people in my church."
This one I agree with—-we need to get out and about more outside the church walls.

*"I’d have to use common sense and wisdom rather than using fleeces and ‘sensings’ to make decisions."
Well, perhaps he is missing a point here. Just using OUR common sense and wisdom will not make it. We need to know what God is saying to us through His Word AND yes, through His Spirit in our spirit.

*"I wouldn’t have to watch a movie looking for anti-Christian themes and stuff."
Frankly, I’m tired of the love affair with movies on the part of Christians. However, he has a point here if one just has to see movies. Be honest about why you are going.

*"I’d have to obey the doctor’s orders rather than go by faith."
I disagree with him on this one. This is why so many Christians are sick. They refuse to even consider using faith to be healed. They depend 100% on the doctor. Can we do both within limits?

*"I wouldn’t pretend that I don’t like beer."
This is just plain silly. , Very few Christians are against moderate drinking anymore. But so many Christians want to use their ‘liberty” and be “kewl.” This is the WRONG reason to imbibe

*"I’d have to learn to have the beauty of nature inspire me."
Again, I don’t know where he lives, but it must be a very backward place. Where are Christians who don’t appreciate nature’s beauty?

*"I couldn’t break fellowship with another Christian who doesn’t agree with my view on doctrine."
Are there a lot of CHristians doing this today? Sadly, the opposite is happening. We are cozying up to anyone who calls themselves a Christian with no discriminating thinking at all about doctrine. Maybe we should rethink this. At the same time, we need to be careful about nitpicking. It’s difficult to find that fine line, but throwing away all lines is not an option.

*"I’d have no choice but to give due consideration to the arguments of scientists."
The faith healer wouldn’t have performed the fake ‘make the leg grow’ miracle in Jesus name."
I find this just sad and rather ignorant. There are people who are being healed through faith in actual evangelical churches. I know; I’ve seen it many times and so have others. And believe me, I am a skeptic, so I don't say this lightly.

*"I would have been able to attend the P.T.A. meeting when I went to the Church business meeting."
He has a very good point here. There may times when family must come first. And, this is when we need to pray that prayer in James about getting God’s wisdom.

*"I would have visited my neighbour who was in the hospital with cancer when I told the family I was praying for him."
Another good point.

*"I wouldn’t have felt obligated to view that extreme fanatic as a role model for myself. I would have seen him as an unbalanced individual."
I do like this one as in my decades-long study of control and codependency, I have seen many codependent Christians follow and give money to waaay the wrong person—usually a controller.

*"The crusades - the ‘Holy’ wars, would not have happened."
I'm not sure it's fair to mix up Roman Catholic events from their theological point of view, with evangelical Protestantism. However, he could have mentioned the Protestant religious wars of the 17th century and been pretty on the mark.

*"People wouldn’t make a fuss about those Harry Potter books."
There is a very GOOD reason for us to make a fuss about those Harry Potter books. But if Christians don't understand the spiritual realm well, they won’t get it.

*"People wouldn’t read those Left Behind books."
I have to agree with him on this one...(chuckle).

*"I couldn’t say that the devil made me do it."
Very good point.