The Jaws of Life

Pass the Flame

2011-05-22T22:42:00.001-07:00

When my kids were little I used to love to listen to their giggles as we would wrestle and play. They would scrunch up into a tight little ball to protect their tummies and ribs from being tickled. I used to raise my left hand in the air and make waving motions and goofy gestures with it and all the while my right hand was down low moving in for the tickle attack. If they forgot that tactic from last time, they would reach out for my left hand to keep it from attacking and forget the danger coming from a different direction entirely.

Harold Camping’s end of the world prediction was just such a left-handed goofy gesture, distracting Christians from their true purpose. But fortunately, it has been Left Behind. Or has it? According to Jack Van Impe, the end of the Mayan calendar on December 31, 2012 might signal the end. But he has also mentioned 2021. And do you remember Hal Lindsey’s book The Late Great Planet Earth? Or Tim LaHaye and the Left Behind Series? Who can forget the year 2000 seeming a likely candidate, as did the year 1000 when it rolled around. And nearly every people group who has experienced the horror of war felt the end must be near. And in this country, a struggling economy qualifies! What, oh what are we to do?

Jesus tells a parable in Mark 13:34 about a man who goes away and leaves his servants in charge, each with his own task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Only one is told to watch, the others are to do their assigned tasks. And that guy at the door? Is it his job to watch for the master’s return so he can warn the crew to close FaceBook and put away the video games before the master comes in from the parking lot? No, his job is to watch for danger, to sound the alarm when a thief or a whole gang of thieves are lurking about.

Let’s look at this a different way.

The current population of the world is nearly 7 Billion.

Of these, how many do you think have heard the Gospel? And if we were to reach all of these people right now with the gospel, would our work be done? Would Christ then return? Is that our goal? To reach these 7 Billion people? Only these 7 Billion people?

Let’s try a different perspective. How many people from all time have actually lived on this planet? One estimate places that number at around 115 Billion. That means that approximately 108 Billion people have lived and died before this day. How many of those people were reached for the Gospel? How many followed The Creator, God?

Today’s living are about 6% of the total so far. About 70,000 people die each day. Nearly a half million people are born each day. In about 100 years today’s living will be exchanged through births and deaths for about 18 Billion new humans… 18 Billion new souls. In 1000 years, the current living will equal only about 2% of the total number of people who will have ever existed on this planet.

2 Peter 3:9 says: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Anyone? Everyone? Who are they? Are they just our current 7 billion? Or have we been looking at this through a microscope instead of a telescope?

Think of a timeline that stretches from 4000 years in the past to 40,000 years into the future. If Christ’s return is 40,000 years in the future, our spot on the timeline is much nearer the beginning than it is to the end, isn’t it? Think of it this way: That timeline is like a fuse. Those among the living are the lit part of the fuse, those who have died are the blackened, spent part of the fuse, those souls not yet born are waiting to be ignited. Who ignites them? Who ignited you?

Jesus said: “I am the light of the world.” In Matthew, we are instructed to shine our light, to put our lamp on a hill. Timothy is instructed by Paul to fan into flame the gift God has given him. The disciples on the road to Emmaeus said “how our hearts burned within us as we walked with Him, and the AWANA song says: “We are sparks for Jesus.”

When we talk about going out into all the world to preach the gospel, let’s remember which group has the greatest number of people who have not yet heard the Gospel…those not yet born.

Pay no more attention to the goofy gestures of the left hand.

Our task is ahead of us.

Burn brightly and pass the flame.

Guest Essay by Doug Phillips of Vision Forum

2011-03-31T20:53:00.000-07:00

The Little Boy Down the Road:
Embracing a Father's First Priority

Guest essay by Douglas Phillips of Vision Forum

I have a little boy who waits for his daddy at the end of the street. For several years, we lived at the end of a long Texas country road. Every evening when I was away from home on business, my little boy would ask permission of his mother to take his little black and brown dog and his daddy’s blackthorn walking stick to make the half-mile journey from the house to the picket fence which marked the beginning of the dirt driveway.

One day, I was delayed in my business. Some seemingly all-important grown-up concern distracted me. I forgot about the faithful little boy down the road who might be waiting for his daddy.

On my way home, the floodgates of heaven opened. For several minutes, the rain was so thick that I could not see ten feet in front of me. All I could think of was finishing my journey and getting out of the rain. Finally, the downpour began to abate. It was only a drizzle by the time my car turned the last corner and approached the final street between me and a warm home and nice meal.

But in less than a fraction of a second, my business priorities, my concerns, and my grown-up thoughts would fade and vanish.

There was my little boy. He was holding a rickety umbrella in one hand, a walking stick in the other, and was wearing the biggest and most beautiful smile ever to grace the face of a little boy.

As I stopped the car and opened the door, he ran into my arms and held me long and hard. He was wet and shivering, but he never mentioned the rain, nor the hour-long wait that I later discovered he had endured just to greet his father. He simply said, “Daddy, I missed you. I am so glad you are home.”

All afternoon he had been thinking of one thing: his daddy. He had lived for the time he could make the journey to the end of the road and for that one moment when he would run into my arms and tell me he loves me. Like the dog beside him, his devotion and faithfulness would not even be broken by a tardy father and a rainy day. His day and his world revolved around that one moment when he could say to himself, “I am with my daddy again.”

One day we moved to a wonderful new home provided by the Lord for a special season in our lives. The little boy down the road is a little bit less little. We no longer have a long country road. Now we have a giant tree. It is often beside that tree that my little boy waits for me now, sometimes with his regiment of brothers and sisters, now old enough to venture beyond the castle walls of our home.
The tree is adorned with climbing ropes, with occasional buckets hanging off the limbs, and with the many markings of boys who thrill and delight to climb and conquer the kingdoms of trees. In the evening time, we sometimes have what we call “tree time.” This is a special thirty minutes when Daddy and sons climb into the tree and just talk. It’s a time for stories, for imagination, and for just being boys in trees.
But I have never forgotten the rainy day and the little boy and his dog. Often, perhaps a thousand times, my mind has wandered back to that scene. Like all events in our lives, it happens once and must be savored and treasured.

I think it was this day that I grew to understand what it meant when Jesus said that true Christianity is having the faith of a child. The evidences of this faith are simple love, unfeigned loyalty, and the passion—the all-consuming passion—to be with the Father.

How thankful I am that our Heavenly Father will never be distracted, lose perspective, or switch priorities away from His beloved sons. He will not leave us waiting, nor will He need rain and storms to refocus His attention on us.

Oh God, help us to be more like You, to have the simple faith of our children, and to understand that, more than anything else, our children crave a relationship with us, even as You crave one with each of Your children.

Someday my little boy won’t be waiting at the end of the road. Someday he won’t ask me to climb “our” tree to hear Daddy stories. Someday the wonders of bugs and butterflies will be exchanged for the dreams of noble manhood. Someday we will discuss what it means to love a woman. On yet another more distant day, we will look at new life and discuss, not only as father and son, but as friends, the joys of raising children for the glory of God. Perhaps even someday, we will live to see our children’s children walk in the grace of the light of God.

All of this by God’s grace and mercy. But for now, my little boy still likes to climb trees, to snuggle in the great big chair, to hug, and to wrestle on the ground with his five-foot-eight father, who, for just a few more years, appears to be an insurmountable giant. What a gift! What a gift!

You may not have a little boy down the street, but perhaps you have a little girl looking out the window, or a baby in the crib, or a young man on the phone. Whatever gifts of life God has given you, and in whatever stages of their lives you find them now, remember that this season is a gift from God which lasts for but a moment and will then be gone forever. Have the faith of a child.

The message of life is relationships. Don’t leave the little boy down the road waiting for long.

Click here for the book by Doug Phillips that contains this essay and others.

The Healer

2011-02-26T11:00:00.000-08:00

I've decided a church is like a hospital. A university hospital. Like Oregon Health Sciences University, or Texas Tech University Hospital, or UC Davis closer to our home. And I think the members and regular attenders of the church are like employees or staff in that hospital

Now, one of the worst interpretations of scripture ever foisted on a gullible public is the one from Isaiah about the Christ where it says "by his stripes we are healed." This scripture obviously refers to spiritual healing of the sin-rift between God and Man through the suffering death of Jesus as He paid our debt. By His sacrificial death (stripes) we are offered new life (healed). Metaphors are wonderful ways to communicate powerful truths, but foolish doctrines have been built on goofy literalistic interpretations of simple metaphors. So when I say that a church is like a hospital, try not to think about TV preachers with big hair who want you to send them your money by faith!

So we say, "Yay! We're saved from death! Now, what was I doing?" That's right, I was "reading" Playboy (or doing "research" on the internet), watching ESPN when home and recording everything for later when not home, ignoring my wife (or fighting with her), devoting extra hours at work to please my boss, kicking the little annoying rugrats out of my way when they try to get my attention, and drinking "moderately" on the weekends and after work with my friends. And, oh yeah, I go to church on Sunday.

So what should happen when a man like this who imagines he is "saved from death" goes to church? The healing should begin through the careful operations of the hospital. When this man arrives in the emergency room after skidding on a Budweiser oil slick in his 5 liter Chick Magnet, rolling off into Sharp Rock Canyon, he is rescued by a paramedic, but his life is still in danger. The paramedic could be a good Christian friend willing to speak up with his Jaws of Life! And even if he makes it through to "stable" from "critical" he has a long way to go to be "healed." And unlike a real hospital where patients get well enough to be discharged back to their former lives, our healing as people is not complete until we are well enough to enter training in this hospital called the church with the intent to go on staff!

It is easy to understand that hospitals would run poorly if they had no janitors, builders, maintenance workers, instructors, nurses, and doctors. Administrators and accountants help hospitals run smoothly. Warehouse operators make sure that supplies are there when needed. Doctors look deeply into the ailments of the patient and make recommendations that in themselves cause great pain. Others tend to the immediate physical needs of the patients... emptying bedpans or helping them to the toilet, cleaning up the accidents, tenderly and professionally washing the stains of injury.

In Christianity, we are the hands and feet of The Healer. When we are healed, we enter training to serve at the call of The Healer. We get out of the bed. We stop expecting hospital food to be delivered to us on time after creating our order from a menu. We take our funny gown off where our behind is always in danger of embarrassing exposure, and we put our work clothes on (Ephesians 6:10). We stop thinking about ourselves and our own comfort and needs. Romans 12 sums up what is required, especially the first verse where we are encouraged to "offer our bodies as living sacrifices." Lace up your sensible shoes and make yourself available to a merciful God.

Anyone who has read the gospels has noticed a strong pattern of distaste in the mouth of Christ for the Pharisees, teachers of the law, and temple priests. Why? Because they did not offer their bodies as living sacrifices to God. They enjoyed their leisure. They enjoyed their power and position. They enjoyed the beauty of their buildings in the place of the purpose of those buildings. Jesus gave them a job to do, the job of bringing healing to the people. But they ate their fancy food, drank their expensive wine, accepted the respect of the populace, and then wrote law until their fingers cramped up to justify their own existence. They were distracted from their true purpose.

Jesus tried several versions of the parable where people are given a job to do and the master leaves them to do it. The point is always the same. Do what you are supposed to do. Don't be distracted by procedure, tradition, pleasure, or even pain.

Imagine a hospital where the healed become the healers. It should look like our church.

Good Friday 2010

2010-04-05T21:54:00.001-07:00

My portion tonight is on the subject of Perseverance. The text is from verse 23 which continues from verse 22 by stating “IF you continue in your faith established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel…

As you read your 1200 page love letter from God, you will find many verses about perseverance and here are four brief examples:

· Watch your life and doctrine closely, persevere in them…

· You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God you will receive what was promised.

· Perseverance must finish its work…

· Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial…

What is perseverance?

· Perseverance relates to the continual and patient dependence upon God.

· It is an evidence of reconciliation with God.

· It is an evidence of belonging to Christ.

· It is a characteristic of the Saints, as was evidenced by their Super Bowl win this year!

Perseverance is manifested or made plain in:

· Seeking God

· Waiting upon God

· Prayer

· Well-doing

· Continuing in the faith

· Holding fast hope

It is maintained through:

· The power of God

· The power of Christ

· The intercession of Christ

· The fear of God

· And Faith

But what does Perseverance LOOK like?

In the interest of brevity, we will be looking through a camera viewfinder as it were and not a picture window. If I was to give you the camera, you may choose to point it at a different object than I have chosen for the purpose of example tonight. Beginning at a global level and working our way down to a personal level, here are five targets:

1. On our planet, we have war. In World War II, there was an evil man, bent on evil. The failure to act quickly and decisively in the face of injustice had world-wide consequences. When men of character led countries with character, the evil was broken but with a horrible aftermath. In world affairs Perseverance acts early. Perseverance stays behind at the end to bring physical and spiritual healing. Perseverance administers justice against evil and does not listen to the voices that are loud simply because they are loud. In his biography of Winston Churchill, William Manchester states “If anyone is able to rally England to this moment it is going to have to be someone who is ruthless to the good; willing to match Hitler’s ferocity for evil with an even greater ferocity for freedom. Perseverance is ferocious! Perseverance in world affairs? The verse says…"continue in your faith established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel."

2. In our United States, we are not very united. We fight about ideologies, methods, power, and of course, “change.” We see those in power using words as though they were riding a unicycle on a tightrope while juggling torches, but their actions facilitate the destruction of the innocent. Child sacrifice is legal (we sanitize the practice and call it abortion). Gay marriage is being discussed with legitimacy. Policies are created to subdue the speech of those who are not in power. Perseverance says: Jail me if you must, but I will not be silent! You may call a pre-born child whatever you wish in order to destroy it but I will not be deceived by your fine-sounding words! Perseverance says: Let me explain to you why marriage between one man and one woman is the God-ordained building block of good society. Let me graciously and carefully draw homosexual men and women to what is True! Let me protect you from disease and destruction! Let me love you into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ! But if you fight against truth, I will not silently allow you to engage my children and neighbors with lies that could destroy them! Perseverance in the United States? The verse says: "continue in your faith established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel."

3. Our state of California has voted that an embryo would be a great place to find stem cells for research. The promise of money to be made, the international fame that could come from leading in this arena, these are the motivations sold to the people in our state to create an environment where this research could flourish. Lost in the noise is the reality that an embryo is fully and distinctly human. It is just small. And vulnerable. California is also home of the infamous 9th Circuit Court. And who could overlook the presence of Hollywood. Such wise and beautiful people! Perseverance looks at the odds and is not dismayed! Perseverance says: I will not give up even if I lose every battle I fight until the day I die. Perseverance educates and engages California culture to fight for the side of good. Perseverance does not decide whether or not to vote based on the chances of success. Perseverance in California? The verse says: “continue in your faith established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel!”

4. Our Families are in pain. Our Children are being actively seduced by this Godless culture. Our entertainment and communication devices are broken windows exposing us to the cold night. Our entertainments promise gorgeous images of sexual freedom without consequence. The real consequence of this sexual freedom has led to a state of epidemic disease where 1 in 4 High School kids will have a sexually transmitted disease by the time they graduate. Hooking-up on College campuses, that loveless and emotionless engaging in physical union with anyone at any time, is common and expected. Perseverance says: You will never take me, and you will not take my children without a fight. I will prepare them with truth and training. I will speak and listen. I will pray to my God for wisdom and for protection. What I do not know, I will learn and study and equip myself for the fight. I will not laugh and wink at a dirty movie on Saturday night and sit in church with my pretty outfit and matching bible on Sunday. I will help my kids fight the culture – to engage the culture – to win over those being destroyed by the lies of the culture. Perseverance in our families? The verse says: “continue in your faith established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel!”

5. And finally we come to marriage, that beautiful picture of our risen Christ and us, his church. Is it really true that Christian couples divorce at about the same rate as non-Christian couples? Is it true that it is better to divorce than to subject children to constant bickering in the home? Is it true that the children of divorce are perfectly resilient? Perseverance says – I will honor the commitment I made to you when I said “until death do us part.” It says I will love you even when you are unlovable. When opportunities to choose pornography, or secret conversations, or private lunches with attractive associates arise, perseverance says NO. I choose you. I chose you before God and witnesses and I choose you now. I choose to protect my thoughts. I choose to protect my eyes. I choose to engage you in conversation, in life and in love. Marriage was chosen by God to be a picture illustrating his relationship with us. Through marriage, we begin to understand what it truly means to be in relationship with God. Perseverance in marriage? The verse says: “continue in your faith established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.”

Colossians closes with these words to Archippus: “see to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord”

What work has God asked ME to complete? What is the work YOU have received in the Lord? Persevere in it! If you persevere, we can have strong marriages, well adjusted and wise children, able to effect the culture in our state, invested in the return to a biblical worldview in our country, allowing for a powerful national tool, useable in the hands of Almighty God in our world.

"...continue in your faith established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel."

Kohler toilets and the destruction of marriage

2009-10-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

So maybe you saw the Kohler commercial during the Minnesota/Green Bay game Sunday?

Such a romantic opening! A handsome young guy leaves his city condo to go to work just as the plumber arrives at his neighbor's house. But what a plumber! No un-tucked shirt with a beer-gut here, no sir! This plumber is a young, pretty brunette with all the tools... One of her tools is the blouse with the somewhat feminine shape to it. Another pair of tools are the eyes she uses to glance at the young man as she carries the rest of her tools up the steps. Wow! How to get her to fix MY plumbing he thinks. I know, I'll clog my toilet and give her a call! First I'll flush this...whoops,no. Then I'll flush that... rats, still no. How about a houseplant... no... towel... no... tea-lite candles...no... Ahhhh! She's gonna get away!!! OK... a whole bag of dog food might work???

Well, it might have worked and we could have imagined the wonderful introduction, friendship, and lasting relationship that developed between these two eligible young people. Yes, just think about their small group at church when people ask how they met. "I had to flush a whole bag of dog food down my toilet to get it to clog just so I could meet this gorgeous plumber that would someday be my wife," he says as he winks at her and smiles at the rest of the group. She says, "I learned the plumbing trade from my daddy since my mama died when I was little. Daddy didn't want us kids raised by strangers, so he would take my brother and I along whenever he had service calls to do." "I'll never forget the look my future husband gave me when I held up the Puppy Chow bag and just laughed so hard I had to, well let's just say I am glad the Kohler was still operating normally!"

But, No.

Instead, we get the young man's wife catching him flushing the dog food.

Proverbs speaks often about the seductress with her wayward eyes and words. Do you realize how well your TV fits that description?

Don't be the foolish young boy who is lead away by the seductress. He had no idea that what he was about to participate in would cost him his life.

Men, your life is in the balance as well. While you enjoy the game, don't be led away by the lies. Keep your brain engaged. Stay disciplined in your study and meditation of God's Word. Maintain discipline with your eyes and thoughts! Be aware that God is always present. Enjoy the wife of your youth, refreshed by the Living Water. Flush the stained water of evil.

Why "The Big Dig?"

2009-07-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

Most of you are aware by now that Cornerstone is bringing "The Big Dig" to Yuba City. I am sure that many of you would like a better idea of what it is and why we are bringing it, so let me try to catch you up.
First, as a dad with two kids in college and one graduated and newly married, I have spent much time thinking about the minds of my kids. What is college but an opportunity to grow the mind dramatically and intensively in knowledge? But what are they going to learn?
Unfortunately, way too many kids have gone off to college with a shallow faith, unaware and unprepared for the overwhelming attacks on Christianity that they will surely face. It is not a friendly world, and weak Christians are eaten alive every day.
When Stephanie (our oldest) was in High School, we recognized the dangers she would soon be facing... miles from home, accountability at a minimum, and spiritual maturity that was... what? Was it real? Was it faked? Was she going to examine her faith for real for the first time, and in an environment that was hostile? Was her faith about to be shaken by an arrogant and powerful man with lots of initials after his name? Would she realize that there really are strong and powerful arguments to defend her faith that would devastate the humanistic arguments espoused by most modern college professors?
As part of our efforts to prepare her and other teens, Juli and I taught Cornerstone's High School students in a class we labeled "Discerning Deception." We typically prepared material from Chuck Colson and others that was centered around defending the Christian Worldview. The point of these classes was simply to demonstrate that the Christian worldview is supremely defensible. We wanted the sons and daughters of Cornerstone to be "prepared to give an answer for the hope that lies within." We certainly did not want to be responsible through ignorance or apathy for the destruction of these minds.
Those of you who have been privileged to participate in The Truth Project can see the point I am making very clearly. One way to look at The Big Dig is to see it as a Truth Project in a day. The speakers have one thing in mind: Prepare teens to successfully defend their faith in a culture that is powerfully hostile to all they have been taught in church.
This one day seminar is a live event in Colorado Springs and is being broadcast via satelite over the entire country. Rather than miss out on something so valuable due to the cost of airfare and lodging to Colorado, our church has chosen to provide this content by committing to a relationship with CCN, a christian media company that delivers content in multiple ways, including satelite. While this event is not cheap, it is made affordable by the inclusion of participants coming from other churches in the area. Our plan was to pull a very powerful tool within the reach of our teens at Cornerstone. Our hope is that our parents will see the value of this tool and sign their kids up for this unique event.
This event is intended for "teens, parents of teens, and youth leaders." It is on August 8th and the cost is $25 including lunch. If you would like to sign up or volunteer, please contact the church office as soon as possible.
Will their Faith Fizzle?

Prints in the Sand

2009-03-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

The following is a parody of the "Footprints in the Sand" poem that you can find as a wall hanging for sale in any good Bible Book store.
Submitted by Dieter Rex, this one is better... :)

One night I had a wondrous dream,
one set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord,
but mine were not along the shore.

But then some stranger prints appeared,
I asked the Lord, "What happened here?"
Those prints are large and round and neat,
"But Lord, they are too big for feet?"

"My child," He said in somber tone,
"For miles I carried you alone."
"I challenged you to walk in faith,
but you refused and made me wait."

"You disobeyed, you would not grow,
the walk of faith, you would not know.
So I got tired, I got fed up,
and there I dropped you on your butt."

"Because in life, there comes a time,
when one must fight, and one must climb,
when one must rise and take a stand,
or leave their butt-prints in the sand."

Author Unknown

Get Someone Else

2009-02-15T15:14:00.000-08:00

As I think about the Forward In Faith for Christ Alone campaign to raise money for a new Campus… I, like many, wonder how we are going to accomplish such an expensive task in a time of tremendous economic turmoil. I have a lot of questions. I have multiple fears. Will we turn off the support that we enjoy now by reaching too far? Will our congregation shrink rather than grow because people refuse to follow? Will we buy land and then sit on it for decades for lack of interest in continuing? Or worse, mortgage a paid-for church to build initial and inadequate facilities just as the money runs out? A third service seems to be working fine, why do we need to move? Are we abandoning our near neighbors? Am I the right person to do what it appears God is asking me to do? What if we fail? Wouldn’t it be easier to just go to a different church where adequate facilities are already built?

Do you remember how God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt to The Promised Land? The people were being persecuted and abused and were crying out to God. God heard them and decided to rescue them… to lead them away from Egypt and give them open space and plenty of provision. While I am not interested in trying to convince you that we are in the same position as the Israelites and that God is somehow rescuing us from Clark and Washington, I do want to examine what it was about Moses that angered God to the point He considered killing him.

Remember the statement in Exodus 4:4 “Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses.” And later, “…the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him.” What led up to that and how can we avoid doing the same thing?

Moses had questions:

• Moses said, “Who am I….?”
• Moses said, “Suppose I go…?”
• Moses said, “What if they don’t listen?”
• Moses said, “I have never been eloquent…”

God answered patiently:

• God said, “I am sending you…”
• God said, “I will be with you….”
• God said, “I AM WHO I AM has sent you…”
• God said, “Go, assemble the Elders…”
• God said, “I have promised to bring you up out of the land…”
• God said, “I will stretch out my hand…”
• God said, “I will strike the Egyptians…”
• God said, “I will make them favorably disposed…”
• God said, “You will plunder them…”
• God said, “What is that in your hand?... this is so they will believe…”
• God said, “If they don’t believe the first sign they may believe the second…”
• God said, “who gave man his mouth…?”

But after all God’s patient encouragement and explanation, Moses said something that was really dumb:

“O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”

Huh? Moses, you don’t have to do anything but obey. It is God’s battle and He has said He will go before you. He answered all your questions, He gave you signs, He gave you help…. and you say, “Get someone else?”

So what about you? And I? God has placed us where we are. We have the abilities He has given us. We have the resources He has placed in our care. I do not know specifically how involved He is asking each of us to be in this campaign.

Ask your questions. Think creatively. Listen to your King. Consider.

But don’t respond: “Get someone else!”

The Deacon and The Professor. Part 3

2008-12-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

The following is the third (and maybe final) part of an exchange on Facebook between myself and my 28 year old nephew, a college professor at the University of Washington. It is posted with his permission. The exchange began with the posting of an anti-prop 8 video. I don't think I am succeeding in changing his mind, but this illustrates well the mindset of the culture our children are growing up in. Feel free (again) to comment at the end.

Dan Jensen:
How loving of Him?

Yes, How loving of Him to create a beautiful universe for your observation, exploration, and personal protection.
How loving of Him to create a world with physical laws that can be discovered and harnessed for our use, a beautiful world, awe-inspiring in its amazing features from the depths of the ocean to the sky at sunset.
How loving of Him to design the human body to function through five senses, the human mind to reason, human emotion to feel, spiritual awareness to... to what? To waste on self? To deny its unmeasurable existence? Denying His immeasurable existence?
Spiritual awareness was designed into you so you would ask the big questions and seek the answers a big God provided.
How small the mind of educated man. Just how do you think God would choose to communicate with man? Magic? Audible Voice? He chose words. He demonstrated the love you disdain through an event that you can verify in history. Life is short. Eternity is forever. Of course it has priority

Andy Ko:
"Hi, I'm God. I created this world for you. It's complex, I admit. There's pleasure, there's pain. Your purpose won't always be clear. But I think it's pretty cool.

"The thing is, there are some problems. See, some of you will do everything right and die. Some of you will do everything wrong and live. Also, some of you will want to do harmless things, but if you do them, you'll go to hell, i.e., two men sleeping together. If you're intersexed, you're screwed.

"And some of you will do things that will harm lots, and I'll praise you for it! For example, those gays I mentioned? Don't treat them the same. I know, they're not hurting anyone, but it's just wrong, okay? They deserve to suffer more than you do.

"No, I won't tell you why, it's not important. It just is. Look, if you're having a hard time, it's not my fault.

"Oh wait! Yes it is!

"Look, just follow the rules. If you do, you get eternal happiness. If you don't, you're screwed. Good luck!

This is sadism, not love.

Dan Jensen:
"Hi, Steve Jobs. I told you before. Read the manual if you want to get the most out of your iPod. No, remember... the male part goes in the female part if you want to hear really good music. Not getting a charge? No, remember, the plug goes in the outlet!
What? No, I am not being mean, I am just warning you that if you do it that way, the virus protection won't exist. No, I LOVE music! That is why I invented the iPod! What? You are going to sue for equal rights for people who think you should have designed the mini-jack to work with the multi outlet? Well, I'm truly sorry you think this gig bites, but if you simply read the manual you will be able to enjoys years of great music! Don't read? It's OK, we provide seminars every Sunday for free! You don't need to go to a Seminar to be an iPod user? Maybe not, but it would help, especially since your confusion is causing feedback damage to your system. Yes, you could just look through the Windows... but that would be so, um... PC.

Andy Ko:
A for effort! But Steve Jobs is buddhist :) That, and the metaphor of God = megalomaniacal marketer is a bit disturbing.

I'd rather jump off your earlier point, 'how small the mind of an educated man.' I think what you were getting at was 'how small the mind of a man who listens only to reason, and not to his spiritual instincts.' Here you make the assumption that people who deny the existence of the God have no spirituality, or ignore it.

This is patently false. How do you think it is that atheists come to their conclusions? Take me. I asked questions, gathered the evidence, listened to my spiritual instincts and discovered my beliefs. They happened to be a mix of those from many religions and even some from our constitution. I follow my ideals consistently, on faith.

The average follower questions nothing. They never truly understand the source of their beliefs. Pastors should encourage their followers be skeptics. If the bible is truly God's word, they'll find truth.

Dan Jensen:
There is very little correlation between education and wisdom. Deep study of any and all religions may bring knowledge and even a feeling of spiritual satisfaction, but are any of them true? Other than picking up common tidbits of moral direction, how do they answer the big questions of life and afterlife? Do you really come back as a bat or a gnat after you die? Are cows really sacred? Is God really in all of us? Do all roads really lead to the same place? Do words really have the power to create reality?

You are correct in lamenting the lack of skepticism among Christians. If all Christians followed the advice of scripture, they would "test everything" as it requires. The most trustworthy Christian teachers DO encourage an honest search for Truth rather than a regurgitation of the latest Christian "Feel Good" book. Christians have exactly zero to fear from this search for Truth. ALL other religions will fail this test. All religions can be wrong, but they cannot all be right.

Andy Ko:
The questions you ask, while they might be big to you, all seem kind of silly to me. They're only "big" because they presuppose the existence of a something and then question its attributes. One only wonders about afterlife is if one thinks there might be one. The same is true for reincarnation, and God himself.

I have big, presupposing questions too. Do vampires really live on blood? Is the bogeyman truly the source of all fear? Does Genebar the Merit Monster judge our eternal souls when we die?

The bottom line is that some of us don't wonder about the existence of God, because there's no reason to. The only thing innate about the question of God is the universal human need of naming the unexplained. You know, god = cause of rain, god = prime mover of celestial bodies.

Today, we have explanations for most of the bigs things. People still use God to explain consciousness, they call him the final arbiter to explain suffering. The hole in my heart is evidence-shaped, not God-shaped.

Dan Jensen:
Evidence? That is the easy part. The hard part is bowing your knee at the feet of Jesus when the insurmountable evidence leads you there.

Thinking atheists are willing to reverse course when the evidence leads them to a personally interested God as described in scripture. Men like Josh McDowell (Evidence That Demands A Verdict), Lee Strobel (The Case For Faith), and famous atheist Dr. Antony Flew.

Jokers like Bill Maher (Religulous), Richard Dawkins ("Aliens could be the Intelligent Designers"), and Bart Ehrman are less Atheist than they are simply self-aggrandizing pleasure prophets. Any excuse will do if it frees me up to do what I want! Give me a Title and a beard and I can pronounce my pleasures with authority!

The first error of a simple Atheist is the rejection of all things supernatural. Reason accepts supernatural explanation when it is rooted in evidence. Silly = recognizing design in a simple basketball but refusing to acknowledge design in the irreducibly complex human.

Andy Ko:
Everyone take things on faith. We take all of knowledge on faith, because we cannot prove the logical axioms that form its basis. Theists, however, take additional things on faith, such as the existence of God and the bible as his word. This leap leads to some wonderful things, because Jesus had many useful lessons for humanity.

The problem is that some of these beliefs, these absolute truths, inadvertently cause suffering. When you vote against gay marriage and stigmatize the harmless behavior of your fellow man, you cause real suffering.

Let people seek pleasure if it does not harm others. Believe in God, if it doesn't lead you to shame and kill. Believe we were designed, but don't deny others knowledge of biological evidence.

The message of the atheists you mock is "stop believing things that harm people, otherwise believe what you want." So choose: do you take God's word as absolute and fuel hate, or do you take the helpful things from your faith and leave the rest behind?

Dan Jensen:
Hey, it's not "mocking" to call Bill Maher a joker... that's what he does for a living! :)

I sincerely admire your obvious compassion on those who recognize themselves as gay. Through our discussion I have had to examine my motives (plural - there are several) to make sure your characterization of "yes" voters does not apply to me.

I suspect, however, that most "yes" voters were simply not willing to be bullied by the rich and powerful into giving up on the traditional definition of marriage. The gay lobby is extremely well represented in the media, popular, but patently disrespectful to any who would disagree with their chosen characterizations of their personal choices.

Atheism requires faith in man, a historically and eternally bad idea, evidenced in the murderous legacies of socialist history.

Christianity requires faith in God, a historically and eternally good idea, evidenced in science, philosophy, medicine, the American Experiment. And in men whose lives are redeemed.

Andy Ko:
Of course gays are disrespectful of your judgements. I am disrespectful of your judgements. Who are you to judge? Who are you to deny them the rights you take for granted? Marriage, in the law you voted to pass, was the legal distinction and its entailing rights and benefits, not the religious concept you fear is splintering. In this country, we don't base laws on religious beliefs, we base them on our constitution. You told millions of people that the things *you* take on faith are more important than their constitutionally protected equality. You voted to create second class citizens.

Shame on you for judging their behavior when it does you no harm. Shame on you violating article I of constitution. I sit here, judging you, for the harm you've caused my gay friends, my gay relatives, my gay coworkers, and my freedom and equality founded country.

As I said before, believe what you want, but don't you dare impair the life and liberty of your fellow man or your family.

Dan Jensen:
Wow! We are still talking about marriage, right?

You forget that marriage was not invented by you, your friends, co-workers, relatives, or Hollywood. Marriage, along with sex, was invented, defined, and designed by an infinitely loving God who revealed Himself to us through 66 love letters we refer to as the Bible.

Evil men, "drawn away and enticed by their own lusts," have always tried to redefine evil to suit their deviations. It is much easier to redefine evil than it is to actually repent of evil. Marketing.

Jump off a tall building and redefine gravity all the way down if you want, but don't encourage your friends, coworkers, and relatives to do the same. The suffering will not be caused by gravity, and it certainly won't be caused by the guy at the top trying to reason with you to not step over the railing.

Your judge is God, not me. God is a righteous judge who doesn't change at the whim of culture. "How dare you" says the pot to the potter! How dare you indeed!

Andy Ko:
Prop 8 was never about God's concept of marriage. God's concept is inconsequential to civil rights and state law. We're talking about marriage rights granted by the state and federal gov't: estate planning, social security, income tax, employment, medical, and death benefits. You told the citizens of your state that they deserve less than you. Believe what you want about God's laws, but don't write them into state law.

Whatever God says, your interpretation of his laws continues to cause suffering, leading parents to disown their gay sons and daughters, husbands and wives to play roles in conflict with their personality. There are some great lessons in Christianity, lessons that lead to peace, joy, and understanding. Its antiquated ideas about marriage and sexuality are not among them, marginalizing minorities and justifying hate.

But I suppose God's acceptance is worth the consequences, right? Sickening.

Dan Jensen:
You speak as though the state and federal government actually have power of their own. All government exists only at the will of God. I suppose the Nazi govt. thought they had power what with all the marketing about a thousand year reign and all. I suppose East Berlin felt pretty powerful right before the wall came down. I suppose the USSR also felt pretty powerful.

This country grew under the leadership of men who feared God first and created laws that reflected that. This country will fail under the leadership of men who consider moral principles to be flexible, checking the winds of culture with their fingers in the air.

Modern culture is pathetic in its naivete. The nuclear family, (one man one woman raising children), must be exclusively defined or the massive suffering already perpetrated on this society by irresponsible people will only grow worse. The ease of divorce is a perfect example of this. The temporary nature of modern marriage costs the security of children.

Andy Ko:
Your morality, your list of God-given rules, is a fickle set of standards derived from the cultural norms of two millennia ago. The principles underlying these rules are "suppress individuality", "deny pleasure", "spurn deviance," and other destructive guidelines. Worse yet, they're inconsistent with the great moral ideas of Christianity: love your enemies, love your neighbor as you love yourself, do not judge and you will not be judged.

My morality is civil equality. This is an inflexible, fundamental ethic, achieved in small steps since the dawn of man. You get financial and personal benefits for being straight, gays don't.

I value humanity, happiness, and life and all the ways these are manifested. You value deity, salvation, and afterlife. Every one of our disagreements stems from this difference. I will side with people and our complexity, you will side with a book and its absolutes. I will love and support every human, but you will love and judge them through God.

The Deacon and The Professor. Part 2

2008-12-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

The following is the second part of an exchange on Facebook between myself and my 28 year old nephew, a college professor at the University of Washington. It is posted with his permission. The exchange began with the posting of an anti-prop 8 video. I don't think I am succeeding in changing his mind, but this illustrates well the mindset of the culture our children are growing up in. Feel free (again) to comment at the end.

Dan Jensen:

The reason I continue to compare homosexuality with pedophilia (thakns :) for corecting the sppelling..) is that pedophilia is now where homosexuality was a couple decades ago. You and I can currently agree that it is wrong, but without an unchanging framework (i.e. the Bible) to anchor us, you may be debating with YOUR nephew in 30 years as to why it is wrong for a "consenting" 12 year old boy to have sex with a 35 year old man.

NAMBLA exists to: "end the oppression of men and boys who have freely chosen mutually consenting relationships."

There is nothing new or different in this generation that hasn't been argued or experienced in the past. An admittedly extreme example can be found in the first century where Nero "married" a young boy after having his masculinity surgically removed. He served as an example to many men at the time who simply wanted to go where their urges lead them after becoming bored with the normal.

"...the men also abandoned natural relations with women..."

Andy Ko:

The two are hardly comparable. Homosexual relationships don't harm anyone, no one's will is being subverted, there are no issues of consent, there is no unwanted control. It was normal behavior since the dawn of humanity until the rise of Christianity deemed it immoral.

Pedophilia is different. Any time there is a power dynamic between two people in a relationship, there is the risk (but not guarantee) of abuse. Between a 35 year old and a 6 year old, it's all but guaranteed; between and 35 year old and a 12 year old, it's almost certain; between a 35 year old and a 17 year old, it's less certain. The same problems can occur between a 50 year old boss and a 20 year old intern, or a 20 year old boss and a 50 year old subordinate. The same basic ethics apply to all of these situations and always will.

Gay marriage is not a slippery slope to anarchy, it is a step toward equal rights and peace.

Dan Jensen:

When you say "Homosexual relationships don't harm anyone," I assume you are not talking about the homosexuals themselves?

* 83% gay men have more than 50 partners lifetime.
* Drug use during sex = 50 times hetero.
* 33% loose normal bowel function.
* 1 in 14 die from bacteria and viral disease.
* 70% are STD carriers.
* 30% are HIV pos.
*10% have AIDS.

No big deal because they are consenting adults, right?
Wrong. Actually, 40% of HIV pos. men have had sex in the last two months..."unprotected." I wonder if their partners know?

Safe sex is a cruel joke.

This is an activity that is guaranteed to cause death and disease to those who participate in it.

If we really love these people, we will not accept, facilitate, encourage, enable, or ignore it. We should warn, inform, and encourage acceptance of self-restraint as a lifestyle.

God warns from His nature of Love. But He created us to choose.

Andy Ko:

Ug. Back to correlation and causation. Okay.

Most people in prison are black. Therefore blacks are more violent and immoral. (Wrong. Most people commit crime because they feel they have nothing to lose; most inner-city black kids think they'll be dead by 20, because they're surrounded by death).

Children who go to private schools do better in school and get into better colleges, therefore, private schools are better than public . (Wrong, private schools accept the ones that test well; public schools accept everyone).

Homosexual men have higher rates of unprotected sex and drugs, therefore, homosexuality causes harm. (Wrong. Homosexual men, like black men, engage in riskier behavior because they feel they have nothing to lose after losing everything).

If only the world were so simple. Homosexuality doesn't cause the harm; self-loathing, caused by homophobia, causes the harm. We know this because gay men with loving, accepting parents and friends do not engage in risky behavior.

Dan Jensen:

Homosexual sex requires unnatural use of various body parts for activities for which they were not designed for, therefore, rectums tear, the anal sphincter muscle is gradually destroyed, the absorbing layer of cells in the rectum absorb bacteria rather than repelling it, therefore disease levels in homosexuals are elevated significantly in comparison to exclusive heterosexual participants.

We haven't discussed the pathologies associated with oral sex yet, but the correlation of disease to activity is undeniable.

"Safe Sex" is a nightmare policy that has only emboldened people to discount the warnings being shouted by their consciences, which I think by your definition would be referred to as "self-loathing."

Well-adjusted homosexuals in healthy environments with loving parents are still going to die early from medical complications from their activity. Somebody valuable enough for Jesus Christ to die for, is certainly "being harmed."

Andy Ko:

Wow, you need a sex ed refresher course; or maybe you never had one. Anal and oral sex are in no way riskier or unhealthier than vaginal sex; oral sex is the least risky. Anyone who's told you otherwise is spreading lies. Do your research, even if from a biblical view (www.sexinchrist.com).

Moreover, not all gay men have anal sex, many straight men have anal sex with women, and women of all orientations do it. Maybe you should deny marriage to straight couples who do anal to protect them from themselves.

The worst part about these myths is how many young Christians have unprotected sex because they believe the only ones at risk are gay couples.

To sum up your argument: gay couples shouldn't have equal rights because they harm children (false), they harm themselves (false), it would create an immoral society (false), and god hates gay men (sure, why not?). All you have left is a single line in the bible about murdering men who lie with other men.

You do little to convince.

Dan Jensen:

A plethora of dogmatic assertions does not a defensible argument make.

You have made statements about God with little concern about the reality that He is in fact watching you. It is likely to me that you either do not believe in God or that if you do, you don't believe He is interested in you or what you do.

You have misrepresented and misinterpreted the Holy Scriptures in which God has chosen to reveal Himself to you, suggesting that you believe there are no consequences to ignoring Him.

You have been so immersed in the lies of your social education, you repeat what you have been told by rote as if that will make it true... (i.e. "10% of the population is gay etc,... taken from the embarrassingly discredited Kinsey study of 1948)

If I have not convinced you, I apologize for my inability to do so, because this is about much more than prop 8. It is about the Christian Worldview and the questions it answers for Time and for Eternity. "Seek and you shall find" is referring to Truth.

Andy Ko:

I'll happily cite evidence for every claim I make. I've read the scientific source of every claim I make with a skeptical and objective eye: some were valid, some were not. Many who share my positions *do* accept these things as fact, because few people know how to do or read such research. But I do. I've been doing it for 10 years. I do it now as a professor.

For an even-handed discussion of the Kinsey results, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsey_Reports]. It's missing more recent int'l surveys of homosexuality, which, depending on the sample, lead to statistics between 2 and 15% over respondents' lifetimes.

As for me, I have no need for a god loves some and not all, no need for a god who uses fear, consequence, and retribution to instill good. I have no need for a god that leads people to abandon their reason and individuality for faith and conformance. I can be good consistently and happy persistently by loving myself and those around me. As can billions of others.

Dan Jensen:

Another professor I know considered himself the most reluctant of all Christians. He accepted the authority and Lordship of Jesus as a result of his careful investigation into the claims of Jesus and the claims of the bible. But he had significant misconceptions, irrational fears if you will, about what serving God should be like. But he simply accepted Truth, and through long relationship with God he discovered the forms that love from God would take, and what forms his obedience to the Master would take.

C.S. Lewis would later go on to write about this in The Chronicles of Narnia. In reference to Aslan the lion, a metaphorical substitute for Jesus, when a child asked, "Is he safe?" the reply was a hasty: "Safe? Of course He's not safe! But He is good."

God is not the god you fear he is. But God IS the God that deserves your fear, respect, and obedience. Because of his desire for honest relationship, He lets you be the one to choose.

Andy Ko:

I've read multiple versions of the bible, the Qur'an, the Tanakh, the Tao Te Ching, the Vedas, the Five Classics, the Book of Mormon, Theravada, and several other texts. I've gone regularly to the religious services of several faiths. I've had long and deliberative conversations with people of all kinds of faiths about why I should believe.

Whether God exists or not, whether he is dead or not, does not concern me. What concerns me is how people use and abuse religious beliefs to war and murder. The beliefs about homosexuality and generally any sort of harmless deviance that Christianity and other religions propound leads the less objective of humanity to do horrible things.

Today, for example, is the day we remember people killed in the name of God:

http://www.transgenderdor.org/?page_id=58

I have no problem with religion; I take issue with organized religion's propensity for murder, hate and division. I care far more about suffering here and now than afterlife or judgement day.

Dan Jensen:

"Ug. Back to correlation and causation. Okay."

Christianity teaches that homosexuality is wrong, so when a man tries to bed his new female friend and discovers she lied to him and is actually male and he kills her/him, he is killing in the name of God. Ug.

You simply don't take it far enough. God teaches us what proper behavior is not because he flipped a coin and decided which behaviors are evil and which are good. His character determines what is right and wrong, and the violations which we freely choose create avoidable consequence.

Far more people have suffered and died in the name of atheism than have ever suffered at the hands of those who abuse religious beliefs. Russia, China, Viet Nam, Germany...

Murder is evil regardless of the excuse used to perpetrate it.

Sexual sin is a sin against one's own body. The depression, anxiety, anger, exposure to disease... all personal choice with avoidable consequences. One Man, One Woman, monogamous for life, God's design.

Andy Ko:

*I* know that God doesn't condone murder. It's sheep who read the bible literally who leap from "God hates homosexuality" to "I should spill homosexual blood." As unfortunate as it is, people often interpret religious texts in a way that condones bigoted violence. Most transgender murders are in the name of god; abortion doctor murders are in the name of god; the crusades & inquisitions were in the name of god; 9/11 was in the name of god. People of nearly all religions (or lack thereof) use religion, and in general, believe in absolute truth, as an excuse for violence.

Of course, humanity's gods never meant for this to happen. They just didn't communicate their morality well through writing. This is all the more reason for people to learn ethics explicitly instead of relying on texts that *imply* morals through fables. Say "love your neighbor" and people understand; say "God wants you to love your neighbor or else," and people use God as an excuse for any number of heinous crimes.

Dan Jensen:

People doing what people want to do is called sin. People doing what God wants them to do is called obedience. What you refer to as self-loathing is, I believe, little more than the natural consequence of suppressing conscience.... the act of disobedience to God. That feeling of self-loathing also occurs when Christians hate homosexuals instead of loving them, or when otherwise good dads make dumb decisions with their kids on occasion. The cure for self-loathing is compliance with Truth, or compliance with the design and standards of God. You don't have to be a Christian to experience a measure of success from simply following design, just as the abuse of design in the world of mechanical devices often leads to failure and/or injury.

I respect that you do not yet have the level of confidence in the reliability or divine inspiration of the Bible required to buy in to what I have stated. Part of my confidence comes from study, part from faith, but most comes from my redemption.

Andy Ko:

This is the sad thing about so many religions. People use them as an excuse to judge. You impose your worldview on strangers who do no to harm you, and yet cause real, tangible harm to them, denying them equality, reinforcing stigma and hate--all to preserve a fractured doctrine that you take on faith.

I suppose if I believed that the bible was God's word, I'd sacrifice others' happiness and freedom in his name too. But I don't. It seems silly to place words written and translated by men two millennia ago before the lives of the living.

The irreducible fact here is that I prioritize people and their God-given individuality, while you prioritize their judgement after death. That's too bad; you could bring a of joy to people if you weren't standing in their way calling them sinners. But I suppose God only intended certain kinds of joy, for certain kinds of people, didn't he? How loving of him.

The Deacon and The Professor. Part 1.

2008-11-24T18:29:00.000-08:00

The following is an exchange on Facebook between myself and my 28 year old nephew, a college professor at the University of Washington. It is posted with his permission. The exchange began with the posting of an anti-prop 8 video. I don't think I am succeeding in changing his mind, but this illustrates well the mindset of the culture our children are growing up in. Feel free to comment at the end.

Andy Ko posted a video.
November 10 at 11:05pm.
Special Comment on Gay Marriage ~ Keith Olbermann
Source: www.youtube.com
http://cspanjunkie.org/ November 10, 2008 MSNBC Keith Olbermann

Dan Jensen November 12 at 10:29pm

Powerful. Emotional. And misses the point. When did marriage stop being about a man and a woman providing a safe haven of nurturing for their children? When did it become about the adults only? Why is the building block of society, the teaching and training of future citizens, not being protected at all cost? When did mass failure to achieve the "ideal" be a reason for not encouraging and protecting the ideal?
The ultimate offense here is the comparison as though equal, a skin color and a sexual Behavior. A "homosexual preference gene" will be isolated about the same time as a "two partners at once preference gene"
We keep making it easier for real, historical marriage to be irrelevant, and we keep wondering why our prisons are full of bad citizens...

Andy Ko (Washington) November 12 at 11:03pm
Protecting our children from what exactly? You use words like "safe" and "protected" as if there's something dangerous and neglectful about homosexuality. If I have your argument straight, it is "gay marriage is unsafe for children because homosexuality is dangerous, and homosexuality is dangerous because its unsafe for our children." This is circular logic, a tautology, and says nothing meaningful.

Not to mention the gay couples who don't want children. Or the intersexed who are born somewhere between man and woman. Is it really worth denying equality in civil rights to more than 10% of our citizens to "protect" children from an irrational fear of two men kissing?

Luckily, I have time on my side. My generation and all those to come see through the fear and the hate, and have learned to value and respect one another as we are. The time for fear, hate, and oppression has passed.

Dan Jensen November 13 at 8:14am

You missed the argument completely. Why is behavior, a demonstrably changeable characteristic, being treated as a civil right on the order of skin color? Homosexual participants have left the "lifestyle" for various reasons while skin color seems quite difficult to change.

Prop 8 was about Returning marriage to its rightful status as the exclusive commitment between a man and a woman for the purpose of a safe and nurturing environment for the physical and emotional development of children. Years of research has proven beyond doubt that this is the "safe" environment required by children. Not the "safety" of not having to see two men kissing. That is a "straw man" argument that doesn't address the historical value of the word marriage.

You may be right about your generation. But it will mean the further destruction of society as we redefine destructive behavior by ignoring the lessons of history and the value of evidence.

Andy Ko (Washington) November 13 at 8:44am
Research shows that the ingredients for a positive childhood are unconditional love, secure attachment, and concrete feedback about a child's skills and decisions. These are not exclusive to heterosexual couples. They are possible with single parents, black parents, homosexual parents, step parents, and even no parents, when there are loving caregivers.

But, when one in ten queer teens are told "your attractions are sinful and if you act upon them I will disown you," these children lose the unconditional love and secure attachment. Some are kicked out of their homes. Others keep their secrets private, living a lie, never valuing themselves, which causes them to devalue others.

The crime you blame on homosexuality is caused by the physical and emotional abuse that comes from parents hating themselves and projecting that hate onto their kids. To believe that homosexuality is dangerous because it co-occurs with bad things is a classic logical fallacy. Correlation is not causation.

Dan Jensen November 13 at 9:07am

Prop 8 was not about what was "possible," it was about what ought to be encouraged... what society should hold and protect as the ideal. The only reason we know some good outcomes are "possible" is because children have survived in spite of the bad choices made by the adults responsible to raise them.

Sin is a reality. It may be ignored, redefined, dressed up in a suit, or even "accepted" by society, but the consequences will remain discoverable and real. We ignore God's design at our peril.

Parents who teach self-restraint in sexual impulse are expressing love not hate. Attraction doesn't equal acceptable. Pedephiles would love to piggyback on your argument.

Andy Ko (Washington) November 13 at 11:04am
This is where we get to the basis of your argument, and most others who voted for prop 8: homosexuality is wrong because God says it is.

If you believe this, there are a few other things you must believe:

"He that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death."

"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones."

"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."

Either you believe everything in this book or you are selective. Most are selective (as most do not advocate murder). What kind of basis for morality is a book with such inconsistency and violence?

My morality, and that of my generation, is based on first principles: the inherent worth and dignity of all, the golden rule, liberty. Not a mishmash of arbitrary and ancient rules that have led to hate, division and war for centuries.

Dan Jensen November 13 at 3:22pm

We are in agreement that the basis for my argument comes from a book, the newest writings of which have stood the test of time for 2000 years.

As with all writings, context, history, author, intent, intended recipient, and genre are important ingredients if accurate understanding is desired. Pulling a verse from Psalms about happy people killing babies misses much in understanding the desires of God. The Psalm in question describes ugly retaliation in war. Poetic narration of events does not imply endorsement either by the human author of the book nor the Divine one who inspired him.

Do the "first principles" of your generation display "the inherent worth and dignity of all" in the advocacy for "choice" and the free elimination of "fetal matter?"

Your out-of-context bible quote pales in comparison to the loss of life in the abortion holocaust perpetrated on the innocent babies of this generation.

What are your "First Principles" based on? Consensus?

Andy Ko (Washington) November 13 at 4:42pm
The importance of context and intent in these passages is precisely my point. If your fear of homosexuality stems from the word "abominate," understand its history and meaning, Latin for "feeling of disgust, hatred, loathing." So what does the passage endorse? You've said not murder. Does it endorse hatred and loathing? How do you decide how you'll interpret the intent of this passage? Maybe you look to what else God abominates: money, lies, murder and haughty eyes. So God abominates your haughty disdain for homosexuality, the very disdain he endorsed. God also abominates a man who sows discord among brothers, which is precisely the effect of homophobia.

It's an inconsistent, irreconcilable mess. My first principles are the consensus all the world's religions, the ideals that lead to peace and respect for human dignity. They are things that every Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, etc. would agree upon. Minus the historical baggage that has destroyed civilizations.

Dan Jensen November 15 at 9:36am

I would contend that the Bible is utterly and completely consistent. It is poor scholarship indeed that would intentionally favor polar interpretation when the alternate would display agreement.

The interpretation of scripture that teaches homosexual behavior as sinful is consistent with the teachings that heterosexual behavior outside the boundaries of marriage are also sin.

Hate for sin is encouraged, but hate for your fellow man is sin.

It is utterly consistent to recognize that hate is not the point, sin is.

Any person who voted for prop 8 motivated by hatred for PEOPLE who practice homosexual behavior fails the test.

I have homosexual friends whom I love, but true love takes more work than tolerance.

Andy Ko (Washington) November 15 at 2:08pm
Telling a queer child that their behavior is evil, but that you love them anyway, just makes them hate themselves, especially when they have no way to control their feelings of attraction. And when people hate themselves, they project that hate onto others. Self-loathing, not sin, is at the root of depression, domestic violence, sociopathy, and most of the other things you fear about the fall of humanity.

Instead of world of self-hatred, let's create a world where everyone is loved for who they are, and free to love themselves. This doesn't mean accepting all behavior--you mentioned pedophilia, which is an acutely harmful behavior--but it does mean accepting and respecting behaviors that harm no one. Gay marriage harms no one. It doesn't harm you, it doesn't harm children, it doesn't harm the sanctity of your marriage.

Hating the harmless sin, on the other hand, has indelibly harmed hundreds of millions of people. The Jesus I know would want nothing of this.

Dan Jensen November 15 at 2:51pm

Leading a normal child to believe that he is queer, just because he exhibits feminine mannerisms (or even attractions) may lead to queer behavior that would not otherwise be a real temptation to begin with.

Telling a child with feminine tendencies that their tendencies are evil is where your fear should be placed. These kids typically have macho fathers who drive them away because they can't catch a football. A boy that has feminine mannerisms needs a dad and mom that love him as he is.

Not one study since the early 90s has been repeatable in efforts to isolate a gay gene:

http://www.citizenlink.org/FOSI/homosexuality/maf/A000007215.cfm

Even self-identified homosexuals who performed some of these studies agree that homosexuals are not "born gay."

Andy Ko (Washington) November 15 at 6:28pm
You're entirely right that we shouldn't judge children for their behavioral tendencies. Let us love them for who they are, whether it is nature or nurture. Rigid definitions of masculinity and femininity contribute just as much to self-loathing as homophobia.

But to suggest you can turn someone gay through suggestion is ridiculious. What person would choose ridicule, loss of friends and family, lower pay, loss of civil rights, daily social stigma, and depression, unless it was an inescapable fact of their being? I don't care if it's DNA, a hormonal gestative anomaly, early childhood development or combinations of all three. No one would actively choose this fate unless it was crucial to their existence.

Let's let people be who they are, whatever the reasons, without passing judgement on their hardwired nature or their choices. Judgement and hate, of people or sin, is the last thing we need in this world.

Dan Jensen November 16 at 5:09pm

The job of a parent IS to judge their child's behavioral tendencies! How else do you guide children if you don't pay attention to their behavior?

The question truly is how to define sin. There absolutely has to be a solid, unchanging framework, reference or standard. If not, you have nothing consistent to judge behavior with. How do you know, for instance that pedephilia is wrong? At what age is a boy who has feminine tendencies allowed to make up his own mind about having homosexual sex with a 35 year old man? Was it wrong in the 1930's because society agreed it was wrong, but will it OK in 2020 because society no longer considers 12 year old boys too young to decide?

Sin is defined by God, not man. God has chosen to reveal Himself to man in the Bible. He is Light.

"It is not that men do not have enough light, it is because men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3)

Andy Ko (Washington) November 16 at 5:42pm
You can easily attend to and guide a child's behavior without judging their quirks. We are at our best when we guide our children through example, honesty and positive feedback. Attending to behavior isn't the same as judging it.

Unchanging moral standards are pretty easy to come by without religious texts (though religious texts are often a good source). Treat every person with respect and dignity. Don't impose on others' will unless they have done so unto others. Treat others how you'd like to be treated. Nearly every ethical guideline you can find in any religious text or in law derives from ethics like these. And they don't change.

For example, you don't need to God to say pedophilia is wrong. Any 35 year old, man or woman, gay or not, is imposing on the will of a child when they use their position of authority to manipulate a child.

By the way, I'm not sure why you keep connecting pedophilia with homosexuality. There's not even a correlation between the two.

Go West young man

2008-10-09T19:10:00.000-07:00

So we know what Compass Groups are now, and we know the terms “Higher, Stronger, Deeper, and Farther” and what they signify. You know North is Higher, East is Stronger, South is Deeper and West is Farther. And you know, “Farther” is about reaching out to the untouched. Before you file this away as another discussion about the amazing theories of exponential growth in Christianity through multiplication (One tells one, those two tell two, then those four tell four, etc…) I want to back up a little and look at our Compass. “Farther” is West. The west was America’s frontier: wild, untamed, a little scary with warlike peoples and trails fraught with danger. West on the Cornerstone compass is the same.

Many of us already have “Higher” (worship) figured out. You people are the ones who spontaneously stand up in church and raise your hands while you sing with your eyes closed. You felt good about Jim’s sermon on worship and put a check next to the box below your name.

Worship. Understood.

Then Jim talked about “Stronger” (relationships). Many of us thought: “Yeah, I got friends and I even go out of my way to talk to people at church that might be visiting or that I don’t remember meeting before." Check the box.

Stronger. Understood.

This week we are going to hear about Deeper (study). Some are excited about this week because we will be encouraged to go deeper into God’s word. Some of you are, like, really smart. You love to study. You love to explain the difference between Calvinism and…. what was the other one? Anyway, you probably pre-checked the box.

Deeper. Understood.

But, "Farther." What is that?

Well, try this football metaphor out… Coach Dungy recruits you to become an Indianapolis Colt. “Higher” is your love for the game of football and the way you had that horseshoe tattoo permanently inked across your left bicep. “Stronger” is the way you go to pizza with the team, run laps with the team, and practice with the team. It even applies to the way you snap your towel in the locker room at Peyton when he is doing interviews. “Deeper” is that time you spend studying the difference between a halfback and a fullback. You study the direction to push the opposition on a quarterback sneak…and the reason kickers only have one bar on their helmets and linemen only have one tooth.

But, “Farther?”

“Farther” is actually playing. And it is more. It is playing the game the Coach taught you to play. It is executing the play. It is helping your bloody team mates off the ground after a half yard gain and it is relentlessly moving the football toward the end zone.

1. You can’t be a Colt if you aren’t on the team in a uniform.

2. You can’t play by yourself.

3. You’ll sit on the bench if every time you’re given a play you have to ask to have the play explained again.

4. You were recruited to play football. You can't expect the same players to play offense, defense, and special teams. If you belong on the "Hands" team: Prepare to play, be ready to play.... then take the field when the Coach calls your name.

I am not a Colt. My “Farther” is writing these encouragements (such as they are) to men like you. My “Farther “ was being the best spiritual leader I could be to my kids when they were home and it is still in trying to be the best husband to my wife. It is also played out in my willingness to share Christ with coworkers and customers.

What is your “Farther?”

Are you ready for some football?

The One Nation Under God Party

2008-09-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

Last week I was updating my FaceBook profile. I am not sure why. Maybe as an “old guy” I felt that my answers to the questions regarding my “religious views” (Born-again Jesus Freak) or “political views” (Conservative) shouted: “old guy who is only on FaceBook to check up on his kids and their friends.” That reminds me. Maybe I should change my profile picture to when I was 16… but it would probably be a dead giveaway ‘cause it would look like a “Find your classmates” ad!
Well, as I thought about my “political views” answer, I got that awful feeling of frustration that many of us get as we lament the condition of our society. We Christians squeak at the top of our lungs about Truth, while the well-oiled machines of Evil shake the earth with Beautifully Seductive Multimedia Presentations that sell everything you ever wanted, but deliver the destruction of everything that ever matters. And politics is part of the battle.
I finally decided not to narrow the battle with a party label. For “political view,” I wrote: “One Nation Under God.” Don’t you think that places unity above partisanship? And Truth above ideology? It might not bring down The Evil Machine all at once, but it places the cross hairs on the heart of the matter. I don’t believe the killing of unborn children is wrong because I am not a Democrat, I believe it is wrong because God values life and requires the defense of the innocent. I don’t believe Welfare Without Strings is wrong because I am a Republican, I believe it is wrong because scripture says “If a man will not work, he will not eat!”
As for the “religious views” question, I changed it to A Carpenter’s Apprentice. Maybe someone will ask…

Introducing Compass Groups

2008-09-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

The following is a transcript of remarks I made introducing our new small group ministry, called "Compass Groups" The first wave of groups are forming from the 14th through the 28th.

Good Morning!
It is my privilege to officially introduce Compass Groups to you this morning
Let me start by contrasting a Compass with a Weathervane. A Compass will help you find your way, even in a storm. A Weathervane can’t help you find your way, it can only tell you which way the wind is blowing. Ephesians 4:14 encourages us to become mature so that we will not be blown and tossed around by every wind of doctrine. We don’t want to be like the pointer on a weathervane as it spins in all directions. We want to be like the pointer on a Compass, centered on God the Object of our worship.
You are seeing the image of a Compass being used increasingly in our church as we identify our purpose in a simpler and more memorable way. You will hear much in the coming weeks about the terms Higher, Stronger, Deeper, and Farther.
You will hear that:
We want to go HIGHER in our Worship of God; that is North on our Compass
We want to grow STRONGER in our relationships; that is East
We want to dig DEEPER into the study of God’s Word; this is South
We want to reach FARTHER to the lost in our community and the world.
So what are Compass Groups and what is their purpose?
Just before Ephesians mentions Windy doctrines, it says: …we are to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. The purpose of Compass groups is summed up in the Compass Group Slogan “Finding our way forward together.”
A Compass Group is a Small Group. Small groups are made up of 10 or so believers who band together to create a deep bond of relationship. From that relationship comes encouragement, accountability, support, guidance. It is preparation for good works. It is about unity in the faith. It is about attaining maturity and the fullness of Christ.
Our first or introductory wave of groups will be designed to give you a taste of what is to come. For 8-10 weeks, your Compass Group will use curriculum based on this Compass Vision that I have briefly explained. You will be completely free at the end of this Vision Series to drop out of your group and reform with a different group, or your group may want to stay together and deepen the bond you have begun to create. At the beginning of the year, we will begin a second wave of Compass Group formations, and this will truly be the beginning of a long-term ministry of deep and lasting relationships in our body. These groups will be formed with the goal of continuous commitment to each other for up to 24 months from their first group meeting. One desired outcome of this small community of believers is the growth into group leadership of some in the group and the multiplication of the group. We also believe that as our church grows, this will provide a visible set of open arms to any who would worship with us.
The first wave of Compass Groups will begin to form next Sunday! Leaders are committed and in place, and for the next 3 Sundays you will have an opportunity to meet them in person or through a short bio that will be displayed on tables in the courtyard. Again, this begins next Sunday the 14th and continues through the 28th. Today, you will receive a card that asks you some basic information about yourself. These cards will also be available for the next three weeks. You will want to use that card to communicate any preferences you have, and we will use that card to help leaders communicate with you to create your Compass Group. You may place that card in an offering basket or you will be able to turn them in at the tables in the courtyard beginning next week.
Compass Groups are about strong relationships so I want to close with a contrasting true story about failed relationships.
Some time ago, a nun was ministering to male inmates at a large prison. One day, one of the men approached her in the chapel and asked if she would be willing to purchase a Mother’s Day card for him so he could mail it to his mother. She agreed, but as word traveled, she was inundated with the same request from the other inmates. Seeing how large the task was becoming, she contacted a greeting card company, and that company agreed to donate 500 cards to her for distribution to any inmate who desired one. After Mother’s Day, she thought she had better be prepared for Father’s Day as June approached. The greeting Card company again donated 500 cards for the purpose, and she communicated her availability in the chapel as Fathers Day approached. To this day she still has all 500 Father’s Day cards.
While this deals specifically with failing at fatherhood, can you imagine that it also deals with failed marriages? Can you imagine that it also deals with personal responsibility and obedience to authority? Can you imagine that it illustrates the need for others…. Maybe you… to stand in the gap?
In my hands is a newspaper from September 3rd. In it you have 1 gang-shooting into a car. 1 gang-shooting into a home. 1 non-fatal shooting on Garden Hwy, and 3 Fatal shootings, all in a 6 week period. Would anyone like to guess whether or not any of the shooters have loving, engaged fathers at home?
Just above the finish of that article is one about a woman who lost her home to fire. The article ends with her words “At least I have my family, my friends, and God.
Compass Groups will provide each of you with the opportunity to become family to those who have none, friends to those who need a friend, and the hands and feet of Christ to each other.

It was a dark and stormy night

2008-08-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

It was a dark and stormy night. The little family was driving to a small city on a hill, but they had never been there before and the only map they had was fragmented and written in Olde English. To make matters worse, they were low on fuel and the car was vibrating because it had a bad tire. (Of course.) The man was becoming irritated due to his inability to lead, and the woman was pulling her hair out over the din of arguing children in the back. Being lost and concerned about their condition, they stopped for direction at a little Church of Stone at a Corner along The Way. As they entered the church, they were greeted by a very friendly woman named Jamie Nunez. She was very concerned about their condition of lostness and introduced the family to others who knew the way to the city on the hill. One couple who had kids the same age offered to escort their youngest kids over to a vibrant children’s program being offered by the church. Another man said he had a teenage daughter the same age as the couple’s daughter and wisked her away to the planet where teenagers live introducing them to the alien in charge. But the young couple (they were in their mid thirties) were getting quite concerned about their original question. How do you get to the city on the hill?
One woman invited the couple to a class about map-reading. They attended the class and felt more adept, but the maps they studied were of a small section of countryside along the way. Another older gentleman who said he lived there gave them an invitation to a dinner in honor of that city. A widow who had gone to the church for many years offered to give them a place to stay while their car was being looked at. The couple appreciated all the attention and accepted the help that was offered, but they were becoming confused and felt a deepening concern that they were not getting the help that they really needed. They knew that if they left with a repaired car, a full tank of gas, and full stomachs…they would still find themselves lost along the way.
Fortunately for the young couple, the church had seen this before. They knew that it was not enough to offer map-reading classes and great programs for kids. They realized that the best way to learn The Way is to be shown The Way. So, the church had created a Bus Service to take small groups of people toward the city on the hill. People could get to know each other on the ride while the driver aimed the bus straight and true. Sometimes people would get car-sick, but there was always someone in the next seat to take care of them. Once in awhile, someone would forget to hold on and they would fall out of the bus and get hurt. But always, the others on the bus would run back and pick them up, dressing their wounds and training them in better ways to hold on. And they learned how to use a Compass in their little Group of a dozen bus-riders. They learned to look Higher toward the City. They became Stronger in their friendships with the others on the bus. They became much Deeper in their understanding of how to avoid being lost, and they began to reach Farther out to others instead of thinking only of their own concerns and conditions.
The coolest part of this story is the way the couple eventually learned how to be bus-drivers themselves. Once they learned the way, they had such a caring heart for other people who were lost, they devoted themselves to driving a bus for the little Church of Stone at a Corner along The Way to the City on the Hill.

A 50th Anniversary Celebrated

2008-08-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

Fifty Years of Marriage! It is refreshing to see it isn't it? Juli's folks celebrated their 50th Anniversary a week ago in Oregon and we were there to support them and celebrate with them. We spoke the following tribute to them, alternating between her and I from the male or female perspective to show the contrasting thoughts between a husband and wife. Ultimately to recognize the commitment required to make a marriage work for a lifetime.

Stead 50^th Anniversary - When Two Agree

When Dean Stead looked at Janet Knight in 1958, he saw a beautiful young woman, with pretty eyes, attractive personality, and a sparkle when she looked at him.

When Jan looked at Dean, she saw a strong young man, quiet but funny, a man who had character, intelligence and an admirable work ethic.

As Dean considered a life without Jan, he decided he wanted her to marry him, and Jan agreed.

Dean and Jan began to lay the foundation in their first year for what would be a journey of more than fifty years of love, commitment and occasional threats of homicide. And it is funny how when one loved the other – they agreed. When one was angry at the other – there was agreement. But when a solution was dreamed up for reconciliation – again they would agree. And neither one has killed the other. Yet.

Sometime soon a tiny little red-headed princess was born who would later become the wife of an extremely handsome prince. But that is another story.

The little princess was the beginning of their family. Dean was a father! And when other people would see him hold her, they would say he was a good father. And Jan would agree.

Jan was very busy with the princess. The little girl they named Julianne provided the need for a work of love. You know how it was: diaper changes, bottles and baths and, well, people said Jan was very good with her little girl. And Dean agreed.

In no time at all it seems, a little sister, whom they named Janelle, was born and the two girls grew to be best friends for life. God knew that this was a special little family, and Dean and Jan agreed.

A few years later, Dean suggested there was way too much pink in the house and wondered what to do about it. Jan wasn’t all that disappointed with the color pink. They had a frightful argument and then they made up and then Mike was born. Dean thought they should paint up a room in blue, get some Yellow Tonka trucks, and start buying little plastic saws and hammers. Jan agreed, but thought Dean was a little old to be playing with plastic saws and hammers when he thought no one was looking.

Sometimes when life is flying by, you don’t know what you have because you are so busy living that you don’t have time to think.

While some couples were giving up on their marriages, Dean and Jan remembered their love for each other and their commitment before God and worked through problems.

When some men took business trips and left their families at home, Dean packed up his family and included them in his business trips.

When some people decided it was easier to stay in bed on Sundays then to get three kids ready for church, Dean and Jan exuded self-discipline… and exuded it right to their kids if they didn’t want to get up either!

When some men jumped from job to job looking for the job that was just right for them, Dean remained Steadfast and reliable, proving his value to those who had authority over him. Jan knew what his bosses thought of him, and she agreed.

When the kids were older and Jan had the opportunity to begin a career in nursing, she pursued her new career with the same careful, thorough qualities that made her such a good wife and mother. She served other women daily, developing lifelong friendships and gaining the respect of uncounted patients. When they meet in public, the patients express their admiration and respect for the way Jan performed her responsibilities. And Dean would agree.

As the years of raising children came to a close, these two knew that it was not a time to relax. While raising kids is the highest of priorities in God’s eyes, Dean and Jan knew that they would now be able to serve him in other ways. They had more family to help. That family was their church family, and they approached the needs of their church family with the same sense of love and responsibility that they had shown in every other area of their lives. They looked at each other, they looked at the need, and they agreed.

With retirement came travel and a wider group of friends. Not that the friends were wider... let’s say an expanding… no let’s not say that either. Let’s say they were able to meet, serve and enjoy many new people as they traveled around the countryside, pulling their 5^th wheel with the most reliable trucks on the planet. Fords.

So here we are. 1958 to 2008. Fifty years of promise-keeping. Promises like: I will love you in good times and bad. I will love you when you are unlovable and I will love you when you make me happy. I will love you when I need sleep and your coughing keeps me awake at night. I will love you when I am sick, and you bring me food and medicine and watch over me. I will love you when I want to sit and read, but you want to go out someplace. I will love you when you surprise me with a thoughtful gift. I will love you when I worked hours to prepare a meal for you, but your mind is on something else and I will love you when I am just doing what God has given me the responsibility to do, but you thank me anyway. I will love you when I sweat through a project only to find you don’t like it as well as I thought you would. And I will love you when I throw something together at the last minute and you act amazed at my abilities.

And I will love you gladly. Because love isn’t about me, it is about you…. As I am sure you would agree.

O' California (A Lament)

2008-07-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

O’ California,

You used to say “God is dead,” but now you say, “He never existed.”
You used to respect The Book of Truth, but now you say Truth doesn’t exist.
You ask for money “for the children.”
You ask for insurance “for the children.”
You ask for laws against spanking “for the children.”
You even outlaw soda in your schools “for the children.”

O’ California

The Book of Truth defines marriage for you, but you in your wisdom disagree.
The Book says that children need a Mother and a Father. You say 2 mothers or 2 fathers are fine.
For who? For the children?
The Book says children require discipline. You say it is better to “reason” with your 2 year old.
The Book says marriage is for life, but you say “it just didn’t work out.”
And our fatherless, undisciplined sons populate our overcrowded prisons.
The Book says sex is for marriage only. Your leaders disagree. They say sex is recreation. They say love and sex are the same thing. They say sex is nobody’s business but their own. They show happy people with many partners enjoying life and being successful. And they are very attractive.

They don’t show… The Children.

They don’t show the losing battle with disease. They don’t show the dead children in the abortionist’s dumpster. They don’t show the destroyed innocence of vulnerable girls. They don’t show the porn-addicted man abusing his daughter. They don’t show the emotional baggage of multiple partners carried into all future relationships. They don’t show Character. They don’t show it because they don’t read or believe Truth. And besides, it doesn’t sell.

O’ California

Your true leaders are not in Sacramento. Your leaders are Actors, TV personalities, Athletes, Movie Writers and Producers. The Pretty People. They are your elected leaders. You vote for them when you emulate their behavior. You vote for them with your credit card. You vote for them when you leave your wife for a more attractive woman. You vote for them when you steal the youthful beauty of your girlfriend through “cohabitation” instead of putting a ring on her finger for life. You buy the cars, clothes, perfumes, and haircuts they tell you to buy.

And you leave The Children in your wreckage.

O’ California

Turn before it is too late. Read The Book. Do what The Book says. Ask what The Book means.

Bird Brains

2008-06-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

Job 39:13+ "The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but they cannot compare with the pinions and feathers of the stork. She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand, unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them. She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain, for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense. Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.

OK, I admit it. I am hopelessly fascinated with God's creation. I may not have had the privilege of a hunting heritage (with foggy sun-ups and deer and antelope playing... just before you shoot 'em.), nor have I had the motivation to take myself hiking very regularly. (I do take myself for walks, unless Juli is available, then she takes me for walks.) And I am also always in too big of a hurry it seems while traveling to stop and take pictures of beautiful scenery, though I do exclaim on-the-way-by how gorgeous a mountain is or how cool looking a particularly snaggy tree looks. I will say that the kids kinda disliked how obsessed I might get with a view if I do decide to stop by the roadside for a closer look at scenery... like on a trailering vacation or something. And I really get a kick out of my own neighborhood and its birds. And I am not talking about my neighbors named the Birds, although they do own one that is pretty funny.

The Birds have a bird (not one of their kids) that they always put outside during the day so it can sing. (It might dance also but I haven't actually seen it do that) When they first moved in, I remember thinking that my neighbor sure got a lot of calls on his Nextel. Then I found out it was his bird mimicking his Nextel. He said he would hesitate every time before answering because the sound was so accurate. The same thing happened with their home phone. They probably get a lot of extra exercise running for calls that aren't happening. (Kinda reminds me of those advertisements for the guy that always hears nature's call and then... well they have a pill for that now...)

Another neighborhood bird that I find hilarious is the Mockingbird. Have you ever just watched one for awhile? I got close enough once to catch a glimpse of espresso stains on it's beak... explained a lot. They chatter so loud and with such a varied repertoir , repertwa, um, songbook that they make me smile whenever I hear them. Even in the middle of the night. I know someone at our church that doesn't feel the same way though. This spouse of a deacon-who-has-a-job-with-the-city revealed that she used to keep pebbles handy to toss at mockingbirds if their singing was too loud or off-key. To be fair, she would only launch at them if the singing was at night, so I am sure her aim was probably compromised by darkness and also from that stuff that collects in your eyes while they've been closed.

So I was watching one (Maybe not a mockingbird. Maybe a Sock 'em bird) standing on top of our light-pole a couple feet away from a crow which was quietly (rare for a crow) minding its own business. As soon as the crow flew off, the littler bird flew up above the crow and bounced his beak and claws off the crow's head all the way across the cul-de-sac. (I don't think you could have seen that while hunting deer) The poor crow... um, the crow... squawked all the while as the Sockembird took cheep shots until they landed again.

A couple of days later I was in my own backyard getting ready to mow my lawn. I spotted a smallish bird clutching a blade of agapanthas in the center of the plant. I looked really close thinking it would fly away any second. When it did not I figured it must be hurt or sick or something. Rather than try to rescue it, I mowed my lawn. Do you know that even with my loud muffler and close proximity, that bird stayed in the bush? (I was going to wait until their were two in the bush to see if one in the hand was really better.) I decided to look at it a little closer after I put the lawnmower away, and I failed to notice that some cheeping in the trees over my head was getting closer... and more agitated. As I picked up a little stick and began to slowly reach toward the little bird, I was suddenly and without provocation attacked from above... and I'd left my pebbles on the porch!

Then last week I was reading a book outside by the pool. I noticed one of those silly birds stalking another crow. The crow was on the top of a redwood tree with one of those birds sneaking up on it through the branches. The crow wisely backed down and went looking for bugs. The little bird however decided the neighbor's cat would also make a great target. I watched as the bird sat on top of our common fence and I could see between the boards as the bird dive-bombed the top of the cats head three times in a row before the cat decided to head for the porch. He left pebbles in the bark. Ahem.

As the sun began going down I changed loungers (it was a tough day) and my reverie was interrupted by a loud commotion and splash as two of those Sock'embirds were locked in mortal combat and fell into the pool. I watched as they screeched and splashed their way over to the side of the pool to try to get out. One of them successfully flipped up and out of the pool and went to the nest to throw out the other bird's clothes and fishing stuff. Meanwhile the first bird continued to convincingly imitate a drowning bird by the side of the pool. As he fought a sinking feeling, I put my book down and ran for a net. I trotted over to where the bird was about to go under and put the net under him. I know it was a him because most girl birds don't own their own fishing stuff. I lifted him out of the water and since he was too wet to fly, he just ran down the fence-line to get away from me, his rescuer... and counselor if he'd just listen a minute! So I went back to my book and listened to the bird in the fence bushes as he toweled off. A couple minutes later our old Golden Retriever woke up, got all excited, and took off between the fence and the bushes. I saw the bird go running out the other side of the bush, wings flapping uselessly the whole time, skipping to the corner of our yard in an effort to trap itself. Fortunately for the bird, our Olden Retriever doesn't have as much scents as she used to and I observed her circling a bush for a couple minutes with her nose down while the bird watched from the ground another 15 feet away.

As I went back to my book I thought for sure I heard the neighbor's cat purring.

What was God thinking when he created all this? How interesting. How funny. How He must smile! How He must love us!

P.S. We also have a bird of paradise in the backyard. But it just sits there.

Why Are You Here?

2008-05-01T21:14:00.000-07:00

Eph 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Have you ever heard Christianity referred to as "Fire Insurance?" I think as I grew up, I lived in a way that was spiritually very shallow. I purchased my Fire Insurance policy at a very early age and just to be really safe I soaked my sin in the waters of baptism to keep the fires of Hell from threatening my body after I died. I am constantly amazed at how patient and gracious God has been to me as he has lead me into Truth, and how he has shown restraint in dealing with the many displays of foolishness I have initiated. I remember the day I turned from rebellion as a 16 year old angry, disrespectful, argumentative...
It was a car wreck. I went to pizza with my younger brother and while there met a friend who had a very fast Chevy Nova. (I know, "Chevy" and "Fast" don't go together as well as "Chevy" and Rusted") He asked me if I had gotten a ride in his car yet and invited me along for a quick run down 18th St. We'd be back before the pizza was ready. Since I wasn't a total idiot, I started looking for both ends of the lap belt as we turned onto the straight stretch just behind a farmer in his pickup. I finally found the ends, clicked 'em together, and cinched it tight.... just as Kevin-my-just-smoked-a-joint-and-didn't-tell-me-idiot-friend pulled out to pass the pickup. With the left wheels touching the left shoulder and his foot on the floor, the Nova kicked its tail to the left, we crossed in front of the pickup toward the right (sideways) and hit the right ditch head on, rolling twice. I remember smacking Kevin's head really hard with my elbow in the violence of the crash (I shoulda done it twice) and I remember being amazed at the dent my head put in the dash (Oh, that's why I am the way I am!) and I remember calmly disconnecting my seatbelt after first trying to disconnect it frantically while screaming like a schoolgirl. OK, I didn't scream. I also remember feeling around the inside of the car for my glasses, climbing out of the ditch to face a very irritated farmer who was disappointed in the lack of obvious injury, and I remember walking back to the pizza parlor instead of waiting for the "Charles Ernst types" to arrive in their squad cars so that Kevin wouldn't have to explain to his parents that his second rollover wreck in a month involved another potentially injured friend. As I walked back, I marveled at the fact that I was not only alive, I was uninjured.
And I remembered a wreck from about ten years before. A wreck that took the life of my older brother. He was also a rebel. He also lived like he had "Fire Insurance." A childhood in church and a remembered prayer and baptism. His seatbelt hadn't been used. (Many cars built in the forties would only have belts if retrofitted for them) He flew over a ditch and his car hit a tree. My brother broke through the windshield on impact and died against a tree.
How much better to die at the foot of a tree... that has been shaped into a cross? How much better to recognize that my plan is doomed to failure and destruction? I saw the potential brevity of my life as I walked back to enjoy a medium canadian bacon with extra cheese.
So now what? What is my purpose? What does God want me to do? How can I know?
A couple of encouragements from the above verse: God made me. He knows me. He designed me. He knows what I am capable of. He has a job for me to do. He planned for me to be the one to do that job. In advance!
He did the same for you if you are In Christ. It is not enough for us to go to church. It is not enough for us to read our bibles. It is not enough for us to attend a small group. He has designed you to do good work. Your good work may be pouring your life into a love relationship with your wife to create a stable home. It may be sacrificing your "personal time" to build a lifetime of strength and memories into your kids. And it will involve the investment of all of your personal resources into His kingdom... doing the work he prepared in advance for you to do. Don't rely on your policy. Live!

My iPod (Part 2)

2008-04-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

When Juli and I were dating back in '76, (At the age of 8, ahem) Jim Dobson was just launching the Focus On The Family radio broadcast. As a (very) young couple interested in building our relationship for life, we listened to tapes from him and caught him on the radio whenever we could. After our wedding, we listened religiously and rarely missed a day. In 1989 my job took me to Medford, Oregon and with it came a difficult schedule, short commute, and missed broadcast times. We listened whenever we could, but relied on books and tapes for that extra help raising our three kids and dealing with the issues that come up in marriage relationships. In 1996 we moved to Yuba City and bought our first real home computer, along with e-mail and a dial-up internet connection. WooHoo!
With that internet connection came the freedom to listen to Focus On The Family when it suited us if we were near the computer. As anyone with dial-up knows, we would have to endure lost connections and poor fidelity, but if Juli heard "a good broadcast" on the radio that day while I was at work, we would "go online" so I could hear it too.
About two years ago I began to hear the word "podcast" and wondered what it was. As I learned, podcasts are simply broadcasts that have been made available for download the way you would download a song. Eventually I figured out how to subscribe to various podcasts for my iPod, and that is where this post really begins, because this is really about the incredible spiritual growth and encouragement that is available to all of us through this tool. I would like to briefly share the podcasts I subscribe to so you can get an idea how you might be able to use them yourself.
Since Juli and I credit Dr Dobson (Focus On The Family) for much regarding the success of our marriage, we were ready to return to a daily dose of the broadcast when I began downloading it every day. We have disciplined ourselves to listen to each one completely even though they don't always deal with our own personal situation. There are broadcasts that deal specifically with babies (we have none) or the elderly (we do have elderly friends, like the Browns and Barlows) or political concerns (California's propensity to attack the family.) The amount of input and encouragement was felt immediately and was very welcome.
I have also had much respect for Charles Colson because of his passion for Truth and Justice. His constant encouragement to think, teach, and live Christian Worldview has been related in a four minute broadcast called Breakpoint. I used the written transcript of that broadcast for years in encouraging our Cornerstone High School students to think Christian Worldview. I now download and listen to the podcast every day.
Another favorite has been Family Life Today. It is a consistently marriage-centered broadcast that includes the twists and turns encountered by most couples. Again, Juli and I listen to every single one and the value of constant positive influence cannot be overstated.
Last I want to recommend The Bible Answerman. Since I began listening to that podcast, I feel like I have been going to the Bible College I never had the chance to attend! Hearing people ask questions about difficult passages of scripture and realizing I have had the same question before. Hearing about different cults and how they believe and how to best reach people in those cults with Truth has given me greater confidence in what I believe and how to share those beliefs with conviction and accuracy.
I have been impressed with the amount of time my ears have compared to my hands! The total time I spend per day listening to podcasts and the Bible is in the three hour range. I find that time as I prepare for work, drive to work, working alone, driving while at work, and multiple other times. If you see this as a way to greatly increase your spiritual diet, one of the main locations for Christian podcasting is OnePlace.com. It is a simple process of registering (they are mostly free) and subscribing. You may do this and listen on your computer as well. The iPod just makes it possible to take your teacher with you!

My iPod (Part 1)

2008-03-22T15:57:00.000-07:00

I am thinking of my history of relationship in Christ, remembering my attempts at a disciplined bible study life and seeing how they compare with my study disciplines in High School. Yes, about the same. Short bursts of motivation mixed with explanations why I did not have enough time to complete the assignment when due. Or worse, who cares about the assignment... we're grading on a curve right? And I know I am better than some of my classmates.....
After a little maturity set in, I did accomplish a few years of "One Year Bible" successes. I remember going from year to year reading The Living Bible, then the NIV, then (because I wanted to say I had done it) the King James Version! I encouraged our High School students one year to read the "One Year New Testament." I liked that... no Old Testament! Ten minutes per night and I was ready for bed.
I also remember a period of pretty strong discipline when I got up at 5:30 AM and used a half hour in the easy chair, studying God's word, meditating on it, then.... snoozing until I had to get to work! I don't know how some people can complete hours of sedentary study and remain alert. And this brings me to a discovery I have made about myself (and I suspect many of you men will relate to this) and a way that has made it possible for me to ingest ten times the scriptural input of my best and most disciplined year. I know you read the title of the blog entry, so let me explain how it happened for me.
My mother is 86 years old and losing her eyesight. As I was wondering what to buy for her for Christmas 2006, I heard an interview on The Bible Answerman with Max McLean, who is the voice behind "The Listeners Bible." I thought, Yes! The perfect gift for my mom. Get her the set of CD's and she can hear the word of God since it is so difficult for her to read it now. Then I realized how dumb I have been. I have known for years about "bible on tape or CD" etc... but you can't always be in your car and lugging around a pack of Cd's would be cumbersome, and staying in one place in the house to listen sounded boring. But, wait! What if I could buy them and install them in my ipod? I take my ipod with me wherever I go. I have 6431 songs on my ipod! I love music and have some way in every room of the house to hook up the ipod. I have each vehicle set up for the ipod, and I have headphones and a case for it when I walk, work, exercise, ride... it can go nearly anywhere as you know. So I bought The Listeners Bible. One for my mom, and one for me. I ripped them into iTunes and loaded them into my ipod and began listening.
To begin with, we were studying Ephesians in the Tuesday morning Men's Bible Study (you are invited by the way...) I created a "Dan's Bible Study" playlist with just Ephesians in it and went to work an hour early (yes, I went back to an early morning discipline) to get non-brain related work done, and listened to the entire book of Ephesians THREE TIMES every day for the weeks that we were in Ephesians! I was amazed at how the nuances of scripture would come out after weeks of hearing it over and over. And I haven't fallen asleep once!
After Ephesians we studied Romans. Did you know that you can listen to the entire book of Romans in only one hour? I love Romans. I love it so much that in my lifetime I must have read the entire book 40 times. Guess how many times I was able to hear Romans since moving to the ipod? More than 100 times!!! Since Romans we have gone on to Revelation. The scary book. The one that is intimidating and controversial. I can listen to Revelation in 1.1 hours and have listened to it every day in its entirety since the day we began the study. I have been encouraged (thank you Rob McConnell!) in the past to read one chapter of Proverbs every day. There are 31 chapters, so it is an excellent discipline to pick up. Now I listen to three a day after Revelation. If today is the 25th, I listen to chapter 25, 26, and 27. There is so much beauty in God's word that only becomes available to your mind when you expose your mind to it.
Without preaching, let me encourage you to recognize something. For many (most?) of us men, our ears have much more time than our hands. Driving, physical labor, resting. Those three activities allow your ears to accept tremendous amounts of input from God's word. Consider it.
PS. There is an awesome New Testament available now called The Word Of Promise. It is done in radio theater and uses true professional actors (Jim Caviezel is Jesus) in a first class production. I acquired five sets last Christmas for friends, myself, and family. I now alternate every other day between it and The Listeners Bible. So, Listen Up!!!

A Vision for our Future?

2008-03-07T13:18:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Juli and I visited a church in Corvallis, Oregon that was completing the 15^thyear of a successful church building program. This church had spent several years renting various school gymnasiums or cafeterias. They grew at a rapid rate and knew they needed a home of their own. Property opportunities came and went and disappointment along with them. Finally, they saw God working through the availability of a property that was part of an estate with the survivors in sharp disagreement about everything associated with the estate. The property was 56 acres of beautiful oak and evergreen covered hills with a house and barn. One of the boundaries of the property was the border of a State park. The contentious survivors of the estate were only able to agree on one thing: Accept the modest offer from a church wanting to build a new home!

With the property now settled, the church began to develop their plan. The first thing they did was to build an amphitheater on a section of hillside near the site where the first building (A multipurpose facility) was planned. They set up a sound system and a stage and began preaching “Sermons on the Mount!” The congregation continued to grow during this process as they canceled their rental agreement of the latest gymnasium to free up financial resources and simply met outside. People brought their own chairs and blankets. Staff was diligent to keep the Church Website updated with weather cancellations (They simply canceled services if it rained – this IS Oregon you know) but in the whole time the building was being constructed, cancellations were rare. They also planned simple hotdog and hamburger BBQ’s after church every Sunday! The first building is now complete and they were able to meet for church inside during the winter, but have made it plain that fair weather will bring the worship back outside.

In the time since our visit, we have contemplated the lessons learned there and ways Cornerstone could apply them. We contemplated our mission to reach the lost in our town. Who are they? Will they come to our church? Are the traditions of our church an asset or a liability? Is “the way we’ve always done it” the best way? What should we continue to do and what could we add that would attract people who would otherwise be uncomfortable in our “traditions?” Juli and I have come up with some ideas that we believe will appeal to the creative and daring spirit that originally brought the Evangelical Free Church to lost people in Yuba City back in 1955:

Buy plenty of land.
Develop a section for outdoor services before anything else.
Make it look like a park with green grass and palm trees. Think California.
Build colorful aesthetic shade structures like “Sail Shades.” Not full cover – A mosaic of sun and shade.
Build sidewalks for access to the meeting area for the elderly and handicapped.
The sidewalk theme could mimic our existing courtyard with its theme of crosses. i.e. create a gigantic cross centered in the meeting area with the platform at the top of the cross and the arms of the cross for wheelchair and elderly access. The long part of the cross being the center aisle.
Plan the area to accommodate our entire congregation in one service with plenty of room to expand. (Grow more grass!)
Build a restroom facility nearby, possibly with a primitive kitchen facility and strong/secure storage for portable sound equipment etc..

What are some of the benefits of this arrangement?

While not exactly cheap, it would be a lot less expensive than an actual multipurpose facility and would make use of the property almost immediately.
Meeting there would introduce our congregation regularly to the future site of our sanctuary and it would provide a constant visual reminder of the progress and needs of the building program.
Virtually unlimited seating capacity.
It would be attractive. Imagine driving by the property on a Sunday and seeing the beautiful sail shades in profile, the green grass, and a thousand people singing and worshiping the creator of the gorgeous blue sky they are standing under!
It could save operating cost of the “indoor” facility during fair weather – or it could serve as a “Morning Service” facility with a more traditional indoor “Second Service.”
Creative people with a heart for the lost would be able to dream up many forms of outreach through it such as outdoor concerts, kids programs, special speakers, etc…
IT WOULD ATTRACT PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT COMFORTABLE ENTERING A TRADITIONAL CHURCH.

Dream with us. Debate with us. Imagine with us. Plan with us?

An introduction to ev.free.male.

2008-01-18T07:28:00.000-08:00

Do you want to grow in your relationship with the God of the Universe?

Do you wish your troubled marriage was better, or want your great marriage to be incredible?

Are you concerned that you are not as good a dad as you ought to be?

When it comes to work, how do we achieve proper balance between providing for our families and being a workaholic? Do you enjoy your work?

How well do we as men control our thoughts? Our eyes? Do you have boundaries?

This communication project is intended to address these five spheres of male life (and more) in a way that allows our men to wade in the shallows or surf the big waves. The e-mail from Cornerstone Men's Ministry will be sent to you, but you decide how deep the water. It is a place for men to get the help or encouragement they need, and it will be a place where accountability can take place.
Each numbered topic will be explained with a "teaser" to help you decide if you are interested or not, then a "link" to the resource if you are. Most of these resources will allow for further and deeper research if desired. The content and links will be written or submitted by men of Cornerstone.
Our goal is to be timely and relevant. A man who is endangering his marriage and family with a secret porn habit needs brothers who will get in his face and then help cut him free. A married man may need to learn more about romancing his wife than a box of chocolates on Easter and Valentines Day. A dad might be way over his head, but his kids don't know it and they need him to lead like never before.
So here we go. Let's meet here. Let's listen to what our brothers have to say to encourage us. Let's listen when they say what we need to hear. And remember, when iron sharpens iron - sparks fly... but those sparks may ignite a fire in you that glows through eternity!