No Rights. Journal of a Christ soldier.

Does Christianism Lead to Atheism?

More theories? Oh, yes...they just keep coming. Why are the young people leaving the church in mass? Everyone seems to have an idea. In a recent article (Christianism leads to athiesm), by Skye Jethani, editor of The Leadership Journal, we find yet another. This one has to do with politics. Jethani suggests part of the disconnect for young people has to do with the association of religion and far right conservative politics which he calls "Christianism". However, he also suggests a disconnect between young people and the theologically liberal left. Somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot, apparently. 

Personally, I am not all that concerned about politics in any form. Regardless of what you think about Jethani's conclusions, however, there is some helpful insight buried in this article. Jethani exposes the precarious position of many young believers in the secular world. (especially on secular college campuses) The sad reality is that Christianity has been so poorly represented in the world's eye that it has left an extremely sour taste in mouth of most unbelievers. So in order for well meaning young Christians to share the gospel or even just expose their own faith to friends they must first fight to undo the negative and wrong sterotypes of Christianity. The result is that most young people just opt to bury their faith. Jethani relates his own story to illustrate the point... 

"When my identity as a Christian was revealed to my peers, I often spent the majority of my time fighting the assumption that I was a homophobic, judgmental, Republican, racially insensitive, misogynist. To be honest, I grew so tired of fighting these stereotypes that I was often tempted to “hide my light under a bushel.” I was eager to talk about Christ and his Good News, but getting to that subject required crawling through the sewage of so many political and cultural issues that I sometimes concluded “why bother?” 

Could it be that we (Christians) have actually, in the name of God, made sharing God's truth and passing on the faith to our children more difficult? Maybe. Either way, the world's attitude toward Christianity has changed. And so evangelism has necessarily changed shape. Trust has been lost. And so bridges must be built and rebuilt to the secular world. The good news is that the means for building these bridges has not changed. The Gospel is still the answer. Bridges are still built through incarnationally living out the same old Kingdom values that Jesus taught thousands of years ago. When we do this, they will know. They will know that there is a difference between "christians" and Christ followers. And they will fall in love with Jesus all over again. 

Masculine Christianity or Cruciform Christianity?

Of course I want to be manly. Sorry, masculine. I want people to view me as masculine. I am a man, afterall. What guy doesn’t want to be thought of as masculine? But what does this mean? What does it mean to be genuinely masculine? This is the object of heated debate both in and outside of the Christian world.

Christians talk about it in terms of “Biblical masculinity”.  Well known theologians, authors and speakers have all taken a turn at defining it. Great points are made on all sides. To be honest, I’m still a little confused. How would Jesus address this issue? That is my question. And if Jesus didn’t address this issue directly, what does that tell us?  

I have three sons. I want all three to grow up and be the most Biblically masculine men that they can possibly be. But what does this mean? How do I encourage this? And, more importantly, if I had three daughters, how would I parent them differently? Is there overlap? I mean, in order to properly steer my kids toward Biblical masculinity, I have to know what Biblical femininity looks like as well, right?   

The problem for me is this: Every time I try to make a list of masculine traits (both spiritual and otherwise) that I want my boys to embody I find myself thinking that I would want these same traits for daughters.  Hard working, courageous, loyal, responsible, leaders, risk takers, humble, desiring to seek God’s glory…. All of these things that I want my boys to be, I would want the same for daughters. So what is Biblically masculine that is not at the very same time, Biblically feminine? To suggest there are only degrees of masculinity and that all things feminine are simply less masculine is the same as saying that all women are naturally inferior to men. Surely that is not what we mean. 

How would Jesus answer this question? I suspect that Jesus was quite an amazing man. If there is such a thing as Biblical masculinity then Jesus was and is it. So I think He would invite us to follow Him and live life in the very same manner that He lived it. But would He tell a woman something different? I don’t think so.

Personally, I think we are asking the wrong question when we ask what Biblical masculinity looks like. The question that both men and woman should be asking is this: What doe sit look like to follow Jesus? Everything else seems to be hopelessly entrenched in cultural constructs.

Anyway… the thing that sparked my thinking about this issue was a recent article I read. It is an amazing read on this very subject. I highly recommend reading it: The rhetoric of masculine Christianity

 

 

Saving the next generation...one disciple at a time.

Everybody knows that the college campus is a dangerous place for your faith. Everyone has heard the grim faith dropout statistics. The need for campus ministry has never been clearer than it is right now.  The question is: how do we reverse this spiritual drop out rate? How do we save this next generation of believers from checking out before they graduate? New evidence suggests that the best answer to this how question is really nothing new. In fact, the answer seems to be a very old one: Discipleship.

New evidence about the Millennial (or Mosaic) generation provided by The Barna Group points to some common myths regarding church dropouts. (Five Myths about Young Adult Church Dropouts) One of these myths relates to the college campus. The prevailing thought has been that the college experience itself is one of the key factors influencing dropout. However, evidence shows that many are disconnected from church before they ever reach college. And for those that aren’t disconnected already, they are not well prepared for the challenges of college. David Kinnaman reports, “The problem arises from the inadequacy of preparing young Christians for life beyond youth group.” He goes on to say, “only a small minority of young Christians has been taught to think about matters of faith, calling and culture. Fewer than one out of five have any idea how the Bible ought to inform their scholastic and professional interests.”

I do not believe that this evidence is simply pushing the blame back to the youth groups all across America. (However, I do believe there is a challenge to youth groups here.) Rather, I see this as a challenge to rethink how we disciple young adults while they are in college. It isn’t that the college campus is a kind of spiritual kryptonite. The problem is that young adults need help adjusting to life beyond their youth groups. Kinnaman suggests this very thing. He says, “most (young adults) lack adult mentors or meaningful friendships with older Christians who can guide them through the inevitable questions that arise during the course of their studies. In other words, the university setting does not usually cause the disconnect; it exposes the shallow-faith problem of many young disciples.”

The answer is discipleship. Older Christians meeting with younger Christians: studying scripture together, praying together and helping them to grow to meet the challenges of their environment. Sound familiar. It should. This is exactly how Jesus passed on the faith and raised up leaders. Jesus invested his best time and teaching into 12 disciples. He gave even more to Peter, James and John. Paul followed Jesus model in his ministry as well (most notably with Timothy). Discipleship is what the next generation needs. They don’t need Sunday school programs or sermons or choirs or church buildings. First and foremost, they need someone to walk with them and help them grow into their faith, modeling for them what it looks like to be a Christian in an unstable, constantly changing world. All the church marketing in the world cannot replace discipleship. No matter how great and hip your worship music is it cannot build faith like discipleship. The message here is clear. We need to stop trying to “reach” young adults with what we do at church and start sitting down with them at the local coffee shop to study the Bible.

Turns out Jesus’ way of raising up faith is best after all. I knew there was a reason why I love discipleship so much!

 

 

Church Buildings Gone Wild

Have you ever watched an episode of "Tanked'? Well don't. The show is basically about a couple of guys who build incredible aquariums for incredibly rich people. They are talented but the show is nothing special. Just another reality show flash in the pan. I caught an episode tonight as I was flipping through the channels (successfully avoiding sleep). This particular episode, however, has had a lasting effect on me. I would describe it as nothing short of an aggressive kick in the crouch (from a really telented soccer player). I was struck utterly speechless as I watched them show off their biggest (and most expensive) aquarium build. It was for.... a....church?! Yes, a church. I still can't believe it. The tank is so big that it requires 3 full time staff just to take care of it. The aquarium is a 75,000 gallon salt-water tank. The building that it is housed in cost around 40 million dollars. FORTY... MILLION... And they are paying 3 full time marine biologists just to care for this aquarium. The fish alone cost more than I make in a year. If you don't believe me read it for yourself [here]..

Of course, the aquarium was supposedly built to honor God. (Didn't Christians have this problem back in the middle ages?) But here is the question: Is God really honored by such a grotesque use of money? Not the God I serve. Tony Campolo said it best when he lamented that we (in America) spend millions of dollars every year building buildings to honor a God who said that He dwells not in temples made by hand. When will the body of Christ wake up from our materialistic debauchery? Materialism is wreaking havoc on our body. It's almost everywhere I look. Rather than cooperate and share resources to build a community basketball center, every church in town has to have its very own gym. We build enormous buildings that often outsize every theator in town to house people for only a couple days a week. And on and on it goes.

Historians tell us that Christians first became popular because they were quite radical in how they took care of the poor and shared resources. Welfare laws and charity organizations throughout the world have their roots in these radical believers taking Christ at His word. What happened? Now we are known for our... aqauriums? For our buildings? Is this how Christ wants us to reach people? You know, I have always had a problem with churches that have their own esculators and food courts... but a 75,000 aquarium? Seriously, what's next?

The body of Christ in America has a crippling virus...and its called materialism. Its time to start seeking God for a cure. Here's a thought... Isaiah 58.

Jamey's Story

Let me tell you about Jamey. Jamey is a freshman here at SIUC. We first met Jamey last fall during our New Student Outreach. She was not a Christian yet. However, one of our student leaders faithfully pursued her. She reluctantly began coming to our large group meetings. During the first month of the semester we focused our large group messages on the gospel message. The messages shook Jamey to the core. Mid way through the fall semester, God finally got through to Jamey and she gave her life over to the Lord.

Our student leaders began to meet with Jamey weekly to study scripture and help her to grow in her new found faith. Jamey attended both our Fall New Student retreat and our Fall Metamorphosis conference. Her faith exploded with passion. So much so, after the Metamorphosis conference, Jamey led her father to faith! Jamey quickly grew into an evangelistic machine. She never seemed to get tired of telling people about Jesus! By the end of the semester God was using Jamey to encourage the very same leaders that God had used to encourage her. It was quite a transformation.

Recently, Jamey has been struggling with her major and future career plans. She wants to work in the health care field but was told by a one of her superiors that she could not share her faith publically in this field. This discouraged her quite a bit since her faith has played such a huge role in her new life. But God had a different lesson for Jamey to learn.

Jamey works part time as a surgical tech at a nearby hospital. During one of her shifts this semester, a man was rushed into the emergency room with near fatal wounds. He had to be moved to surgery fast. While prepping him for surgery the man noticed Jamey’s cross necklace and began to ask her about her faith. Jamey was excited to share her testimony with the man. But just before she left the room the man told her that he did not believe in God and he went on to tell her that he thought it was all a bunch of hype.

This greatly disturbed Jamey. All she could do was run to the bathroom and cry. She let out a desperate prayer for the wounded man. She thought that was the end of it. But just before the man went under for his surgery he requested Jamey to come into his room again. He spilled his heart to her and asked her to help him give his life over to the Lord. She shared Scripture with him and led him to the Lord. Unfortunately, the man died in surgery. But his soul had crossed over from death to life. God brought him to faith in his final hour. And He used Jamey to do it. The man's wife joyfully thanked Jamey for her witness and help.

Jamey learned that God cannot be stopped. She no longer struggles to believe that God can use her in her career field.  Her testimony is just one of the amazing stories of God’s faithful and amazing work in the lives of students here at SIUC! 

A Red Bull Kind of Gospel

"50% of high school students who had been deeply involved in a church's youth ministry will not be serving God 18 months after graduation."   (Kara Powell, Center for Youth and Family Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary)

More bad news. The worst part of this statistic is that it's telling the story of our most committed high school students! These are our best products so to speak. I found this quote in a very interesting blog about the future of youth ministry. (Deep Ministry in a shallow world) The article highlights several suggestions for dealing with this alarming dropout trend. Although these ideas were meant to be applied to high-school youth ministry, I believe that they are very relevant to college ministry as well. Two of the points especially stuck out to me. The first addressed the depth of the gospel that we present to students. Many times students are fed a weak and shallow kind of gospel that is meant to simply get them over the line and into the kingdom. It is the kind of gospel that does more to satisfy the parents than it does to nourish and lead the students. It is a gospel that functions like "Red Bull". It's a lot of hype and only lasts for a short period of time. It is not the kind of gospel that will lead students into life long radical discipleship. We can tackle this problem at the college level. We can fill out the true depth and breadth of the gospel. We have to do a better job at this. The second point that I thought was parituclarly relevant to college ministry had to do with teaching students to be "self-feeders".  We need to teach students how to relate to God on their own. If students are completely dependent on others to help them grow then they will inevitably stop growing because no personal or program will ever be enough. I see this all the time. Students sleep in a few Sundays and then fall out of the habit of going to church. Or they can't seem to find a church with the ame kind of preaching and worship that they had at their home church so they stop looking for a church. Pretty soon their faith grows completely cold because they do not know how to seek god on their own. I am not saying that we should teach students how to be independent of Christian fellowship like church. However, we need to teach them how to pray, worship, study the Word and hear God's voice in their everyday lives so they can thrive in any environment. They need to know how to feed themselves in order to truly appreciate and get the most out of community life anyway. I am proud to say that the ministry of InterVarsity does this one very well. This is one of our major goals for developing students in college and one of the major benefits to students who join our minsitry. It is also one of the ways that we most serve the church because it is a task that many churches tend to neglect.

(If you want more on this subject there is a great article in the Leadership journal this month written by Drew Dyck. It may be awhile before they publish it online though)

Why Do We Exist?

Why do we exist at all? This really is the ultimate question, isn’t it? Why is there something, rather than nothing? If the answer to these is simply a Creator God…then where did He come from? What came before God? It is the question that silently bounces around in the back of our minds on rainy overcast days. It is the unanswerable thought that we feel every time we look up into the night sky. It haunts us every time we attend the funeral of a loved one. It is the topic most often contemplated by drunk (and/or high) teenagers around the campfire. And it is a question that remains a goldmine for publishers and the aspiring intelligentsia.

I still remember asking my dad the big question. I couldn’t have been more than 9 or 10 years old. We were headed down the driveway in our garbage can on wheels green station wagon. I have no idea where we were going. But that moment and that question, I remember vividly.  I can’t imagine what must have been going through my dad’s head after I asked him. I was in tears. The question was literally burning a hole in my entire being.

“Dad, what came before God? I asked. It was a question I often thought about after Sunday school lessons about God creating the world in the book of Genesis.

“Ahhh…..nothing. God has just always been around.” He answered, without much confidence.

“But, how can that be? Where did we come from? Where did God come from? There has to be an answer.” I asked with tears rolling.

“No one knows, son. That’s just the way it is.” He replied.

At the heart of my question was a longing to know why we are here. Without an answer, life just seemed like an overwhelming flood of chaos…even for a 9 or 10 year old. Life was supposed to be neat and orderly and understandable and nice. I had been taught from an early age that God was the reason for our existence. But God as the Creator of everything only raised another question for me. What came before God?

Stephen Hawking says this is an irrelevant question because God is irrelevant. For Hawking the question of existence is a matter of science and nothing else. This is the newest view of Dr. Hawking to hit the presses. His new book, "The Grand Design", has captured a lot of attention because of these new radical claims about science. In the book, Hawking makes the bold claim that theology is unnecessary in explaining the creation of the universe. (CNN article) In other words, he now believes that God is not necessary to explain how the universe came into existence. I suppose if Stephen would have been there to answer my question as a kid, he would have said something like this, “God doesn’t matter. The universe created the universe. Once there was nothing and then there was something.”  Wow, I’m glad my Dad was not a super intelligent physicist from England! I think this would have frustrated me even more…with good reason.

Keep in mind also, that Hawking’s recent views are a bit of a redaction to previous statements he has made about the place of theology. At one point, in a previous work, he is on record as saying that the entire discovery process is a process of discovering the mind of God. Of course Hawking shamelessly borrowed this view from JOHANNE KEPLER who once described science as “thinking God’s thoughts after Him”.

Stephen Hawking and I completely agree one thing. We agree that the ultimate question of all time is, in fact: “Why do we exist?”  But I seriously disagree with the thought that theology is unnecessary to answering this question. God may not fully answer the ultimate question. However, God is necessary in trying to answer it. God is as close to an answer as we will ever get. Hawking disagrees. He believes that science does not need God at all to describe how the universe came into being. This is an unfortunate stance for someone as gifted as Hawking. There are three reasons I find this new view of Hawking to be extremely unsatisfying:

1.   This view answers nothing important.   Scientists are usually the first ones to accuse Christians of deflecting or evading the question of existence by using God as an answer. But really we can say the same of modern scientists such as Hawking. They are also deflecting and evading the question by saying that science can explain how things came into being. Even if science can describe the exact process by which the universe popped into existence, this says nothing about why? And it really does not answer the how question either. Let me explain.

 

Quantum physics is a field of science that is advancing at an incredible rate right now. Leading academics in this field are considering and discovering things about the universe that no one ever thought possible. For example, scientists have observed and proven that certain things in the universe can spontaneously pop into and out of existence. What an incredible thought and discovery! However, knowing this happens, even predicting when and where it will happen does not explain how or why it happens. This remains a mystery. And it will likely remain a mystery given our finite limitations. Equations, science, even quantum physics merely observe and describe the universe. These disciplines cannot ever tell us what is behind the veil. They cannot tell us why or how the universe came into being from absolute nothingness

 

Hawking has called his view, “Spontaneous Creation”. The idea is that the universe simply created itself. The laws of the universe basically created themselves. Hawking believes that God is unnecessary because we do not need to explain how or why something came from nothing. He believes, that something (i.e. the universe) created itself and that is all we need to say. But that tells us nothing. How is this an answer? Why do we need a term like “Spontaneous Creation” to say, “I have no clue.” To me this view sounds a lot like a teenager trying to explain to their parents how they got into a car wreck.

 

“How did this happen?” the parents ask.

 

“Well, the car in front of me stopped suddenly and then I put my foot on the breaks and tried to stop in time but apparently I didn’t stop in time and then my front end smashed into his back end which resulted in two totaled cars and a traffic citation from the police.”  The teen answers evasively. 

 

The problem is, this is not really an answer to the question even though it does accurately describe what happened. The relevant question is, “What caused the accident?” not “how would you describe the process of the accident?” Who is at fault? This is what we really want to know.  And this is what we are really asking when we raise questions about the existence of the universe. Simply saying that the universe caused the universe is like saying the accident (and the physics of the universe that caused the accident) caused the accident. This answers nothing. Something from nothing raises more questions than it answers. In the end, the question of events leading up to the creation of our universe is irrelevant next to the question of why these events happened at all. What caused these events to be set into motion? What brought something from nothing? Who cares how it happened? We want to know why it happened! And this question can never be answered by science alone.

 

2.   This view lacks appropriate humility. ALBERT EINSTEIN once said, "Everyone who is seriously interested in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe- a spirit vastly superior to man, and one in the face of which our modest powers must feel humble."  And surely he must have been right. Science and discovery must be wrought with humility to be credible and good. Awe and wonder should be our natural response to the size and shape of the universe we live in. Whether we are looking into the depths of the universe or studying the complexities of the human body or considering the intricacies of the sub-atomic world we ought to be awed into silence, right? Right? The kind of science that says we have no need for theology is a scary one indeed. Any approach to science, which rules out God from the start, is arrogant and twisted.

 

Take for example, consciousness. Every branch of science is speechless when it comes to such things as this. It is unexplainable. It is one thing to say that matter came into being from nothing. It is quite another to say that from this matter came beings that are aware of themselves. Why? Why do I exist? Why do I know I exist? This is a humbling question. To say that science does not need theology to answer this question is arrogant and foolish. It is the kind of arrogance that is born from the belief that we (mankind) are capable of anything. This is simply not true. We have a great many limitations. I am not saying that science is evil or wrong or even unhelpful. Science is very helpful and very necessary. I am simply saying that science is not our savior. When I look at the stars and consider the wonders of this world in which I breath, I am humbled at my cosmic smallness and it is out of a healthy kind of fear that I say….God must be real.

 

3.   This view blinds us to the most important event of all time: The incarnation of God Himself.    The real question behind the question is, “Are we alone?” Ultimately we want to know if our existence is meaningful. If we are simply the result of a bunch of accidental processes in the universe, then we are alone. And this does not feel good at all. A meaningless world is a lonely world. To be floating on a very small rock in the vast ocean of space without any purpose is to be a cosmic orphan. We want to know if we are really orphans. If life has meaning and we have purpose then there must be someone out there who gives it to us….someone who is in control where we are not….someone who knows how to take care of us when we do not. If we have a purpose then we have a creator. If we have a creator then we have hope. This is what is really at stake when we ask this question of why we exist.

 

And here is the amazing truth of the matter. God, in his infinite goodness and love, did not leave us without an answer (contrary to what we might think). He did much more than just write down the answers in a Holy book (Although, He did this as well….thankfully). God did not leave us here on earth as cosmic orphans. He came to earth Himself. He wrote Himself into our story. He became one of His created in order to show us that we are not alone in this universe. We call this the incarnation. God became a man and walked among us. He told us that He loved us and then He showed it by dying a horrible death for us. God, knowing our deepest insecurities, showed Himself to us in the person of Jesus. Lost in the middle of this ultimate and seemingly unanswerable question, God showed up.  

 

I feel very sorry for Dr. Hawking. By removing God from the equation he has also removed the only answer to his deepest needs. He has cut Himself off from His Creator and Father…who is the ultimate how and why answer to life’s biggest questions. God does not leave us as orphans in this world, we make ourselves to be orphans.  

What came before God? I suppose the right answer is that there is no before. There is only God. But, honestly, I have no idea what this really means. I just know that I am not alone. Without God there can be no satisfying answer at all. With God, I have meaning and purpose. I have a father who loves me dearly. So it is ok if I don’t have all the answers right now. God has stilled my tears and brought peace and order where I felt lost in chaos. I pray the same will one day be true for Dr. Hawking.

One (or two) more things about tattoos...

The following excerpt comes from an article by Mary Fairchild regarding tattoos and Christians. I found this article to be helpful, fair and balanced. Should Christians Have Tattoos

"The Bible says in Leviticus 19:28, "Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord." (NLT) How much clearer can that be?

It's important, however, to look at the verse in context. This passage in Leviticus, including the surrounding text, is specifically dealing with the pagan religious rituals of the people living around the Israelites. God’s desire is to set his people apart from other cultures. The focus here is prohibiting worldly, heathen worship and witchcraft. God forbids his holy people to engage in idolatrous, pagan worship and sorcery which imitates the heathens. He does this out of protection, because he knows this will lead them away from the one true God.

It's interesting to observe verse 26, "Do not eat meat that has not been drained of its blood," and verse 27, "Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards." Well, certainly many Christians today eat non-kosher meats and get haircuts without participating in the forbidden worship of pagans. Back then these customs were associated with pagan rites and rituals. Today they are not."

So the question some might have for me is this: What about my kids? Doesn't having a tattoo myself encourage them to get tattoos?

My answer to that is...maybe. However, my goal is not to abstain from as much worldly culture (Halloween, TV, secular music, etc.) as I can and then teach my kids to follow this extreme example. Teaching our kids to simply avoid all hints of worldly culture is legalistic and can be a really heavy burden to lay on the shoulders of any child. For many it is too heavy. My goal is to teach and model for my kids Biblical faith lived out sincerely and passionately. I want my kids to love God and give Him their whole heart. I don't care where they fall on disputable matters like alcohol, entertainment or tattoos as long as they are sincerely following Jesus. Also, I fear that avoiding things like alcohol altogether will only serve to further mystify and tempt my kids to abuse them more. What I mean is that I want to teach them that alcohol is nothing special and that it can be enjoyed in moderation. Afterall, alcohol is not evil in and of itself....it is the abuse of it that is the problem. Similarly, the internet leads many to sin and do all sorts of evil things but I still use it. My hope is that my kids will view tattoos and alcohol the same way they view the internet....as potentially harmful freedoms to be enjoyed if approached and treated with care and caution.  

Yeah, Jesus Might Have Gotten A Tattoo

  A response to Chuck Colsen’s article:  Would Jesus Get A Tattoo?  

Would Jesus get a tattoo? Chuck Colsen seems to know the answer. And I disagree! (Especially since I have a tattoo!) I never thought I would find myself disagreeing with the likes of Chuck Colsen. So much of his writing has been a great help to me personally. However, I think he has fallen short in his recent blog about Christians and tattoos. In his article, he seems to present 4 arguments against Christians getting tattoos. I think all four arguments fall short. Here is my response….

1.    First off, Colsen argues that Christians should avoid mimicking pagans or unbelievers in this world. God wants us to be set apart. And further we should not “carve graffiti” on our bodies as our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Of course, I agree that we should be set apart. However, Scripture is clear that this difference is meant to be displayed in our lifestyle not merely in our physical appearance. (James 1:19-27)

And where is the line when it comes to mimicking pagan culture. Can we listen to the same music? Can we dress like them? Can we talk like them? Can we drive the same kind of cars? Or is everything in our life supposed to be different? Does God really want us to create what amounts to a Christian culture that is so different from the world that any unbeliever could spot us a block away? I seriously doubt this is God’s desire even though many believers seem intent on doing this very thing.

The apostle Paul seemed to also disagree with Colsen on this point. In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Paul suggests that we adopt some of the practices of the unbelievers around us in order to win them over. He does not mean that we adopt blatantly sinful practices. He means that for grey area issues we have freedom to express ourselves like that of the culture we are trying to reach in order to win them over. It is a pragmatic missiological strategy. It is hard to reach a group of people if they cannot relate to you. So if getting a tattoo will somehow enhance our ability to share the gospel with this generation then we should all be getting tattoos according to Paul.

Ultimately, this issue of tattoo’s (and body piercing) falls into the category of culture. Culture changes. So believers have the freedom to change how we adorn ourselves. In fact, we should change. If we don’t we risk irrelevancy in the mission field. Colsen mentions a savage with tattoos in the book Moby Dick.  The question that Colsen has to answer is this: Would that same guy been viewed as a savage if he were walking down the streets of New York today. My guess is that he would fit in nicely.  Put a latte in his hand and no one would even notice him. I also suspect that if that savage in Melville’s book came to faith, God would have gladly used his tattooed body to display His love to all the other savages around town.

2.    Colsen goes on to argue that tattoos point to things in which we place our identity. I find this to be a real stretch. I wear a Bass Pro hat almost all the time but I do not find my identity in Bass Pro or even in fishing. Just because someone has a tattoo of a flower or dragon on their body does not mean their identity is tied to that thing. Most people understand this to be common sense.

3.     For Christians who get Christiany tattoos, Colsen calls us to live it out rather than to carve it onto our bodies. He tells us (and rightly so), “…the marks of a Christian ought to be spiritual…” I agree with him completely when it comes to living out our faith. But this is not really an argument against tattoos. I agree that the one thing that should set me apart the most is my lifestyle. However, this does not mean that I cannot also have a tattoo. Colsen seems to present this issue as an either/or argument. Either you live out your faith or you get a tattoo. But this is ridiculous. Of course we can do both. If I am living my life like Jesus, what difference does it make if I have a tattoo on my arm? And who knows, we might actually have a good conversation about our faith with unbelievers as a result of our tattoos (As I have had already…starting with the tattoo artist who did my tattoo). 

4.    Another argument Colson seems to make here refers to God’s preference. Colsen believes that God would prefer we not get tattoos. Colsen is using God’s preference as a trump card for lack of Biblical evidence in my opinion. It is an incredibly arrogant and foolish thing to presume God’s preference about something that has no Biblical backing. Colsen claims that he is not a legalist in this article. But this is the very heart of legalism; presuming God takes pleasure in ever more conservative interpretations of His Word. A legalist thinks along these lines: In order to be safe we should avoid. But Jesus thought along these lines: In order to love we should enter in.

So would Jesus get a tattoo? In the end I am not sure. However, I do know that all the religious leaders in Jesus day were furious with Him because he constantly broke away from religious culture in order to be with unbelievers. Jesus went to them. He spent time with tax collectors in their homes and he cared for prostitutes. He touched lepers. I have a feeling that Jesus would have gotten a tattoo if that is what it would have taken to reach even one single lost soul. In the end, Colsen’s article sounds more like the heart of those Pharisees than it does the heart of Jesus.

He is still good

The tragedy in Haiti naturally leads us to wonder… Why? If God exists, why would He allow such a thing to happen? I don’t have the answer. I do not claim to know the mind of God. Still, I find it very comforting to remember, in times like these, that the God we serve is still very much the same.

He is still the same God….who sent His son to be born in a dirty manger. He is still the same God that allowed His only Son to die a horrible death on the cross out of pure and unrivaled love for us, His children.

He is still the same God who…knows every hair on our head and, at the very same time, every star in the universe. He is still the one who sees and understands everything…period. 

He is still the same God…who touched and healed the leper, who forgave the sinful women, who had compassion on the hungry crowds, who told us to be the Good Samaritan.

He is still the same God…who wrote psalm 23.

He is still the same God…who is in control of everything, everywhere, all the time. In fact He is still the one who created time.

He is still the same God…who wept when he heard that Lazarus had died…even though He knew how the story would end.

He is still the same Alpha and the same Omega.

He is still the same and only true hope for everyone, everywhere.

He is still the same.

P.S.

Today, I happened to catch a segment of the news in which a survivor from the earthquake was being interviewed. This particular man was an American who had been trapped in an elevator for 3 days after the earthquake. He had given in to the idea that he was going to die. In a journal that he had with him he wrote some final notes for his family. One of his last entries for them, before being rescued, was this: “God is still good.” 

Those of us who know God, who trust Him and who live by faith will understand this man’s last journal entry. We have tasted His goodness and we have come to trust in His sovereignty. We know His love. Where else can hope of any lasting worth be found?