10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe

If you are looking for an enjoyable, yet thought-provoking read, and don't mind a bit of hardcore self-analysis, this book by author/pastor Larry Osborne may be just the thing you're looking for.

In his book, 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe, he debunks some pretty widespread myths about God and Christianity, including (and these are just a few of my favorites):  Faith Can Fix Anything, A Godly Home Guarantees Godly Kids, and God Has a Blueprint for My Life.

Think you know where you stand on those topics?  Think your beliefs are scripturally sound and irrefutable?  You (I was) may be surprised!  Check it out at Amazon or your favorite Christian book store if you dare to give yourself that good hard look.

A well written, sensitively edgy work... A thorough and insightful discussion guide is included in the back of the book, making 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe a great addition for your small group or Sunday/Sabbath School, as well as fodder for personal thought and Bible Study.  A definite hit for those not afraid to ask questions!

The Counting of the Omer

So the counting of the omer is in full swing... the 50 days of waiting from passover to pentecost...  Can you imagine what the followers of Jesus may have been thinking as they awaited the Comforter?  They knew they were to wait... As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but "must wait for what the Father promised:  the promise you heard from me.  John baptized in water; You will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.  And soon." (Acts 1:4)  I wonder if they had any idea what was going to happen... or that it would happen on the same day they would celebrate the giving of the Law.... Wow!  The significance of that must have been mind-blowing!  Here are just a few parallels between The Feast of Weeks before Jesus and Pentecost... (taken from A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays written by Robin Sampson and Linda Pierce)

The Commandments Given The Holy Spirit Given

50 days from the crossing of the Red Sea...50 days from the resurrection of Christ

Law of Yahweh written in Stone...Law of Yahweh written on our hearts

3000 slain...3000 receive salvation

The letter of the Law ...The Spirit of the Law

Symbol Represents

Grain of wheat...Messiah (John 12:23-24)

2 loaves with leaven (Lev. 23:15-17)...Jewish and Gentile believers in Messiah

As the wheat is beaten and refined as fine flour...Messiah beaten, sifted, and crushed               (Isa. 28:28, 52:14, 53:1-6)

Harvest...Salvation

Rain...Outpouring of the Holy Spirit

Questioning "Christianity"

So with this past week's celebrations, both Biblical and cultural, I've been thinking about the importance of questioning what we accept as truth.  In the past, I've questioned, mainly because I wanted to be right... because I felt that if I was where The Truth was, then I'd have a better chance at God being pleased with me, at being righteous... holy.  

And God laughed... right? LoL.

So I'm past the whole wanting to be right all the time thing (for the most part).  But I still think it's important to question.  For instance... Why do we go to church on Sunday?  Why do we celebrate Christmas and Easter as religious holidays?  Why do we take communion the way we do?  Why do we fold our hands and bow our heads when we pray? 

And a million and one other questions... I don't know.  Perhaps I am the only one who bothers wondering about some of this stuff.  I just think it's freeing to throw stuff off sometimes...  Knowing that some stuff is just... stuff... filler... fun... or even useless!  

Sometimes I wonder if all our baggage is confusing to unbelievers.  If a pagan would wonder why we do things the same why they do... if an intellectual would question what sense some of our traditions make... or if we just kinda make things up as we go along...  

I'm super thankful for the freedom to ask questions.  To not believe everything I hear.  That the important stuff is who God is and what He's done for me and what He empowers me to do.  That we can love people without agreeing with them and that God is so patient with us and always teaching us through His Word and through our brothers and sisters.

A Good Kind of Leaven

I think this is one of those instances where we need to pray, Your Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven.  Thank you Father for who you are.  Thank you for leading Your Church.  Help us to be this kind of yeast to your world.  Amen.

Matthew 13:33 (The Message)

 ³³Another story. "God's kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread—and waits while the dough rises."

My Name on the Lamb

So yesterday began the Passover season with the first seder last night.  We had a few friends over, told the old and the new Passover stories (the one about the Israelites salvation from slavery to Egypt and the one about our salvation from sin and darkness).  We broke the bread and drank the wine.  All in all, we had a great time and it was very meaningful...

But there is always something that stands out to me...  Here is an excerpt from A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays by Robin Sampson and Linda Pierce (they say it better than I can):

During the Passover time, a sign hung on each lamb's neck, bearing the name of the owner of the lamb.  Jesus was crucified with a sign hung over His head with the name of His Father.  Studies have shown the Tetragrammaton probably appeared over Jesus when He hung on the cross.  During Bible times, messages were commonly written with the first letter of each word.  An example in English:  UPS, stands for United Parcel Service.  The phrase "Jesus of Nazareth and King of the Jews" was written in three languages on a sign above Jesus as he hung on the cross (John 19:19).  The Hebrew initials for "Jesus of Nazareth and King of the Jews" was YHWH.  That is why the priest asked Pilate to change the writing.  Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.  Pilate answered, What I have written I have written (John 19:21-22).

I don't know... It just overwhelms me to think that had I been around during that time... my family name would have hung around a lamb's neck... reminding me that that lamb would have to die for the sins of my family that year...

And then the realization that when the last sacrifice was made, when the Lamb of God was sacrificed... it wasn't my name on the sign, but the Father's.  He ransomed Jesus for me and returned Him as something sweet... 

And then I think about the Jewish people today and just my very soul cries out for them in their lostness...  That God did all that with such intentionality...  so that they would understand and come to Him...  

Today begins The Feast of Unleavened Bread, and while my meals are already planned and I have not removed all the yeast from my house, I am going to be spending the next 7 days searching for "leaven" in my life...

Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast- as you really are.  For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  Therefore, let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.  (1 Cor. 5:7-8)

What kind of bread are you celebrating with?  

Participation in the Life of Jesus through His Church

So.  I've been absent for a bit...  I decided to try on the whole "hospitality" thing by having 6 additional family members with us this past week.  We had 8 children under the age of 8 with us!  We had a blast, however time for blogging I had not!

I read this quote today on Frank Viola's blog (he is both a proponent of simple church and church planter-- see his blog under "My Blog List" at left)

The NT doesn’t call us to an “imitation of Christ” = trying to copy His life. It instead calls us to a “participation in His life.” The imitation is in the living by Divine life, just as Jesus lived by His Father’s life. “I can do nothing, it’s the Father who does it through me,” the Lord said.

“Not I, but Christ lives through me,” said Paul.

I don't know... I guess that just really hit me today.  What may seem a very minor technicality, really can be a world of difference in our entire belief system and more importantly, how we act on that belief system.  If I believe that it is possible for me to imitate the life of Christ in and of my own power... That's going to look a whole lot different than if I am certain I cannot accomplish that... that my only hope for real life is to lean on the Holy Spirit and pray for the grace to allow that same Spirit to work through me.  

On a lighter note... watched a documentary last night on PBS about farmers' markets... Got thinking about the sweetness of communal/cooperative living...  Any takers?  LoL.