Snippets of this and that

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Life has been busy.  It feels like I haven’t stopped to rest in while (though I did a bit of that today).

• We’re insulating our home to take advantage of rebates with the EnerGuide program - a few weeks ago we insulated our attic; this week Leighton insulated our main floor (using spray foam insulation injected into the wall cavities); we are still going to insulate the floor and attic of our veranda so we can use in during the winter
• Home-schooling our oldest boy - choosing curriculum (I’m happy with what we chose); getting into a routine has taken a bit longer than I thought it would take, but David is enjoying it (and Leighton is a great teacher)
• Work is crazy right now - it’s the uber-busy time of year and our admin assistant quit a couple of weeks ago, someone else gave their notice last Friday and another person gave their notice this past Friday.  Luckily we have someone to replace the one person and I’ll start training them on Monday.
• I feel very tired and weary.
• Loving our house church!  I love the social interaction, the richness of studying God’s word together and being able to share in people’s lives and to pray for them and encourage them.
• I watched the last four episodes of Avatar, season 3 and LOVED IT!  We purchased the entire third season on ITunes and are going through it.
• Heroes begins their 3rd season on Monday.  Stop Sylar!!!
• Went shopping today for the fun of it - haven’t done that in a long long time

My computer is running out of juice.  Signing off…

Posted in Church, Family, Personal, Work || No Comments

Thoughts on why people leave the church

March 30th, 2008 by Carol

A couple of weeks ago, a friend wrote this blog post and it got me thinking. I have a somewhat different take on why people ‘deviate from the truth they once knew’ as she puts it. Let me preface this with a little bit of my journey. Over two years ago, I found something new happening to me as I would sit in church. As I would listen to the sermon, this question kept coming back to me: ‘What is the message of the cross?’ I found myself listening to the words spoken and wondering if this truly was the message of the cross. Or were so many other things being added to the message that the true message had been lost?

You may wonder what I’m talking about. Here’s one example: we say the message of the cross is that Jesus died for our sins so we could be free; we don’t have to strive to be ‘good enough’ to be a part of God’s kingdom. Yet how do we measure whether or not someone is a faithful Christian? They need to read their Bible every day, attend church regularly (meaning Sunday morning service), pray, tell others about Jesus, volunteer in a church program… the list could go on and on. Although we say there is freedom in Christ, the relationship we have with Him can become a bunch of rules to follow. Where is the freedom in that?

People may argue that there is a part the individual has to play in this relationship. God does not do everything. While I agree that a relationship takes two, so much of what I see does not really focus on the relationship but rather on the ‘list’ of things we should do to be a ‘good’ Christian. The relationship part seems to take a back seat to everything else.

I believe the church has ‘tacked on’ so many other things to the message of the cross that the true essence of the Gospel has been lost.

So here’s my question concerning those people who walk away from the truth: did they ever really know the Truth in the first place?… Did they experience the reality of the message of grace? Or were they promised one thing, but received something quite different?

This leads to my theory of why people leave the church (meaning they stop attending church on Sunday morning). I see two reasons:

1. They believe there is more to life in Christ than what they’ve experienced in ‘regular’ church and they leave seeking more depth in their relationship with God and with others. These people don’t necessarily stop meeting with other followers of Christ; they just don’t do it in the Sunday morning church context.

2. They are disillusioned by the disconnect between what Christianity promises and their own church experience. They cannot reconcile the two and so give up on the whole thing. They abandon Christianity (or at least their understanding of it).

In this last case, I’m not saying these people were never Christians. I consider myself a Christian and yet I admit that I don’t have a clear understanding of God’s grace, which I believe is key to the message of the cross. But this also begs the question, “Why don’t I understand? What have I been taught to hinder my understanding of this fundamental truth? If my life does not reflect the belief that I am truly saved by God’s grace (which is what we as Christians say we are), why is that?” I can see why people would become disillusioned. Being saved by grace sounds appealing, but its not the reality I see in the lives of a lot of Christians. Is there something horribly wrong with the salvation message we speak of?

In her blog post, my friend said she didn’t suppose it was up to her to decipher the whys and whats behind people’s reasons to leave. I disagree. I believe it is very important to examine the reasons behind the exodus from the church. If the reason has to do with a skewed presentation of the Gospel, then the church is at least partially responsible for the reason why so many are leaving. This should be a warning for us to re-examine what we believe and ask God to reveal whether what we say we believe - is the Truth or an altered version of the Truth (which in reality is no truth at all).

Posted in Church, Faith || 17 Comments

‘Biblical Principles’: the new Law?

July 4th, 2006 by Carol

Luke 11:46 - He said, “… You’re hopeless, you religion scholars! You load people down with rules and regulations, nearly breaking their backs, but never lift even a finger to help.”  (The Message)

Jesus was ranting about the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  They made up all these rules to follow in order to truly ‘follow God’, making it impossible for the people to find God.  They couldn’t live up to the standards.  Jesus was not very impressed with this!

I believe there are many so-called ’biblical principles’ that have become the new law and those who teach these biblical principles have become modern-day Pharisees and teachers of the law.  When I talk about ‘biblical principles’, I am referring to those things that have been made into a whole new theology but are based only loosely on a passage or few passages in the bible - things that are never directly covered in Scripture.

 As if people are not burdened enough with all the ’rules’ for following Christ (ie: daily devotions, regular church attendance, etc.), others feel the need to add more burdens - tithing, being under ‘covering’, etc.  Although the Bible talks about reading the Word regularly and meeting with other believers, it does not make any reference to ‘daily devotions’ or ‘regular church attendance’.  These things have become unwritten RULES, when they were never meant to be rules.  It eliminates GRACE.  Who needs ‘grace’ when you can earn your way into God’s good books? 

The other list of burdens (tithing, ‘covering’ theology, etc.) are never explicitly laid out in Scripture.  While tithing was commanded for the nation of Israel as a means of God’s provision for the Levites, Paul never commanded it for the Gentiles.  Giving generously was encouraged, but it was never made into a law with the threat of curses coming upon whoever did not comply.  Rather Paul fought very hard for the Gentiles NOT to be forced to follow Jewish law.

Acts 15 - “1Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question….7After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (NIV)

Why do people pour all their energies into these new ‘teachings’ when there are things Jesus and the apostles actually taught that we don’t do?  Making disciples, bearing one another’s burdens, confessing our sins to each other, forgiving one another…  There’s plenty of things listed to keep us going for a while without having to create new theologies.  Even so, these things were never intended to be made into laws to burden the people under weights they cannot bear.  Jesus died to take care of that, didn’t He?

Posted in Church, Faith || 4 Comments

To Parents: Discipleship

April 30th, 2006 by Carol

I heard sermons on discipleship today and last Sunday.  Discipleship has become a very big emphasis at my church, but with all the emphasis on discipleship, a particular component has been strangely lacking: the discipleship of our children.

I’m feeling more and more strongly about this all the time.  It’s an often unspoken assumption that parents disciple their children, that a child’s spiritual formation begins at home.  But I’m beginning to think more and more that although its assumed we do it, very few of us parents actually set aside a specific time each week to spend one on one time with our children to read the Bible and talk together about what it says.  I think that its far too easy in the midst of our very busy lives to not schedule time with our kids and when we don’t have time to do it, we think to ourselves, “They have Sunday school and youth group; its ok if I didn’t have time this week.”  And as that becomes a pattern, we don’t even give a thought to discipling our kids, and we believe they’re covered by what they get in church.

I think we’ve been lulled into believing a lie.  That our children don’t need us to disciple them because there are programs that cover that.  I had a big wake-up call a couple of weeks ago, which I posted about, when I had an ‘M-study’ with my 5 1/2 year old.  We spent 45 minutes reading the Bible and talking and he wasn’t even getting bored.  It is so very important to disciple our children.  I need to take seriously what it says in Deuteronomy 6: “6And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. 7Repeat them again and again to your children (italics mine). Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again.”

I think one of the roadblocks people encounter when it comes to discipleship is that they themselves have never been discipled and so don’t feel qualified to disciple someone else.  Maybe a person has not been discipled but don’t let our children say the same thing when they become adults.  I hope my kids will be able to say that their parents discipled them and so they don’t have to feel intimidated to disciple someone else.  The other roadblocks to discipleship (time, fear, etc.) should be the easiest to overcome when discipling our own children.  This should be the least scary form of discipleship because we already have a relationship with our children; we live in the same house so we should be able to find time somewhere; we may not feel qualified, but how many of us feel qualified to parent and yet we do it anyway, trusting God to give us the wisdom we need to raise our kids up in His ways.

Lastly, if we disciple a number of people throughout our lifetimes, but didn’t disciple our own children, haven’t we missed the most important part?

Posted in Church || 4 Comments

Sunday School

March 19th, 2006 by Carol

Last Sunday I had a ‘light-bulb’ moment.  My youngest son, who is 5 1/2 years old, informed me Saturday night that he didn’t want to go to Sunday School because it was boring.  Upon further questioning I found out the only thing he likes about Sunday School is when they talk about God (he doesn’t like crafts or other activities).  So I decided to perform an experiment.  I suggested that he spend time with mom and we would read the Bible and talk about God instead of him going to Sunday School.  He thought it was a great idea.

 So Sunday morning I grabbed a Bible and we sat down.  He wanted to start at the beginning so we started with Genesis 1.  It was so much fun!  I loved challenging my 5 year old to think about what we were reading.  For instance, even though God created light on the 1st day, he didn’t create the sun until the 4th day.  So where did the light come from?  It was awesome to see the wheels turning - he thought it came from the houses, but when I said there were no houses or light bulbs, he was stumped.  So we went to the back of the book (Revelation) to find out that at the end there will be no need for the sun because God will shine on them.  So our theory is that the light came from God at the very beginning.

 Matthew wanted to keep going on and on and we’d already spent at least 45 minutes just reading the Bible and talking about it.  And all day afterwards Matthew could not stop talking about how much he loved his ‘M Study’ (Mom and Matthew study).  He couldn’t wait until we did it again.

 I was amazed.  It was such a simple thing, to read the Bible and talk about it, and Matthew loved it so much.  I began to wonder - if kids love this kind of stuff with their parents - what is the point of Sunday School?  My oldest son is the same way - he loves Bible study with dad; he hates going to Sunday school.

So I have a few questions milling around my mind: 1) if kids hate going to Sunday school, why do we make them go?  I’ve heard the arguement that it is important for them to go, so you have to make them go even if they don’t want to be there.  But if you are constantly dragging your child off to something he doesn’t like for all his life, when he finally is old enough to decide whether to go to church or not, what makes us think he’ll suddenly want to go?  And why is it important to go to Sunday school anyway?  I’ve heard it stressed that parents need to be discipling their children.  If parents are doing that, why bother with Sunday school?  Or is it just something to fill up time during the sermon?          2) Why do we force kids to attend something they don’t like instead of asking WHY they don’t like it?  Rather than trying to make children fit ‘our’ mold, why aren’t we asking what they would like to do?

There’s another thing I want to note: even though I’ve heard it stressed that it is important for parents to disciple their kids, how much are we actually held accountable for that?  I don’t hear people asking me if I’m discipling my children, but I do get asked if my child was in Sunday school.  There’s a different message being communicated: Sunday school is more important than personal discipleship.

I know Sunday school did not originate in the early church.  So where did it come from?  And why?  Is it still applicable for today?  I’ll post more as I find out more information.

Posted in Church || 6 Comments

Church Culture

March 19th, 2006 by Carol

I see ‘church culture’ in one form as something (structures, processes, attitudes) that is unique to the majority of North American evangelical churches.  I see it as something that is probably not directly biblical but has become so much a part of our concept of ‘church’ that we almost believe that without it, we are lacking in our spiritual walk with God. 

As I’ve been thinking about what the essence of the Gospel is, I’ve also felt it necessary to examine common church structures.  What things that are a part of ‘church’ are simply ‘church culture’ and not necessarily what is laid out in the Bible as a process or structure to model?  Some of the things I find myself examining are: Sunday School and the Sunday morning sermon.  Are these biblical models?  And if not, where did they come from?  What is the history behind them?  Are there other (and possibly better) alternatives?  I’ll post more as I dig deeper into this. 

Posted in Church || No Comments

Church mode

January 8th, 2006 by Carol

“church mode”: a term I’ve heard used to describe the way people suddenly become different people once they enter the doors of the church on Sunday morning.

“It may be that Christians, not withstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final breakthrough to fellowship does not occur because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners (italics mine). The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everyone must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hyprocisy.” - from “The Ragamuffin Gospel” by Brennan Manning (here quoting Dietrich Bonhoeffer).

I think this lies at the heart of ‘church mode’. We cannot be seen as sinners on Sunday morning because only the righteous are there. Therefore, we become chameleons, so no one will see who we really are.

Posted in Church || No Comments