Symptoms and Problems
Hey, for anyone who reads my blog but not Brant's .. (chiiirp.. chiiirp..)..
here's a link to an article by some smart dude about the history and current situation in the Islamic world: http://www.hillsdale.edu/imprimis/
Yes, it is longish, but worth the read. I think I may have a couple people from that side of the world read it and tell me what they think.
In other sypmtom/problem news, here's a question that's been bumping around in my mind for a few weeks:
Are church "ministries" actually, primarily, a symptom of a problem, rather than a solution to a problem?
I know that, initially, this seems like a horrible thing to say, and I'm not trying to be horrible, I swear. I say it in the same way that you might say.. valtrex.. for instance.. is a symptom of a problem, rather than a solution.
Oh yes, it's certainly the solution to a problem. It's a good thing, valtrex is.. I know that if I had the itch and burn, I'd certainly want to "ask my doctor if [it was] right for me"! But that doesn't mean that the need for this product doesn't indicate that something else, somewhere up the line, is out of whack.
(speaking of "up the line".. has anyone else noticed that all the people in those commercials are engaged in water sports somewhere near the continental divide? What's up with that? I mean, I know, as a marketting guy, that it's probably supposed to convey an air of "fresh and clean".. but to me what it mostly conveys is an air of "lotsa people upstream of me with a problem that I'd prefer not to have floating on down my way." I'm just sayin'. But, as usual, I digress.)
So.. hopefully I'll have some more to say about this at some point here.. maybe we could even engage in some kind of intelligent dialogue, if you so desire.. but roughly what I'm thinking is this:
Sure, ministries are great. They fill needs. But, is the reason that we need ministries to fill needs really that we are not living out our faith on our own? If we were living what we say we believed, if we had a Jesus lifestyle, would an unwed teenage mother need a place to go live.. clothes to wear.. food to eat.. so that she could keep her baby and have some kind of community of support? Would a family that had medical expenses need to take advantage of a benevolence fund? Would the homeless need a soup kitchen or a shelter? If every man Jack of us followers of The Way.. and last I heard, there were several million professing followers.. actually sacrificed some of ourselves every time our paths crossed a human need.. if that was our lifestyle.. then no, I don't think so.
Well, that's enough stirring of that pot, I think! If you want to see more such subversive thinking, either stick around til I blog again, or go check out Henry's page, and see what he and the apostle Paul have been cooking.
posted by caparoon @ 10:14 AM
3 Comments:
Ah, pot-stirrers unite!
Yes, it is symptomatic. My hope is that we can treat the symptoms while applying healing therapy to the actual disjointed thing-a-ma-jiggy.
Betsy and I were reading James the other night, and we were struck by how much we fail to live out his practical "advice." I'm afraid that we need to "deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, and follow Jesus" but I haven't heard a lot about that lately.
For my part in applying a balm to the gaping hole, I hope to get these dearly loved, spiritually malnourished folks to make intentional contact with the One who can make up all that's lacking in us - so we can be mature (like Jesus). Are there better ways? Probably. Worse? Sure.
Certainly is hard to get the wheat free of all those tares...
FWIW, Martin Luther referred to James as "an epistle of straw", and was against it's inclusion in the canon.
: ]
But, even so, I think his theology promotes the same *action*.. but he was very concerned about why we do what we do, and thus the visceral reaction to all James' "faith w/out works" stuff.
I don't know.. I feel like I have been hearing a LOT of the "do" stuff.. but I am still left wondering about the "why do" stuff. What I do not hear much of is The Gospel. The Good News. Grace. The Way. I do not hear much of that.. and I think *that* is what put the "why" in all the "do".
And yeah.. whatever the case.. in the meantime, it's just see a need and meet it. There's a place for analysis, but it shouldn't dis-place service, by any means.
I think a lot of the "why do" is summed up in Romans 5-8 and particularly succintly in 2 Corinthians 5:21: the Great Exchange. But it's in John, too. And James. And Hebrews. Heck - the whole Bible.
Ultimately, I'd like to hear more New Testament teaching. It's impossible to do it in 52 half-hour increments each year - that is where we need to change the "programming" aspect of our lives together.
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