Soul and Spirit | Ain't Complicated

Remember…

We used to read about terrorism in other countries. We encountered suicide bombers and germ warfare only in the newspapers. We could hardly have imagined hijacked jets smashing into buildings or deadly anthrax spreading through the U.S. mail.

Our world has changed. We have heard the sirens. We have turned horrified eyes to the burning skies. The flaming towers are etched forever on our memories. Every day the altered skyline reminds us of the tragedy.

Our world has changed. We watch in dismay as HAZMAT teams examine post offices. We grieve the loss of friends and loved ones. We know fear.

The unbelievable has happened. And our world has changed.

One thing has not changed.

Terrorist Attack!

September 11, 2001 — a day that will live in history and in the memories of those old enough to remember that day. On that day, well-trained terrorists hijacked airliners and used them as missiles of mass destruction in New York and Washington. Millions in the United States and beyond now live in fear of more attacks from a foe that is determined, elusive, and exceedingly difficult to confront. Even if guns and warplanes could destroy hundreds of terrorists and their strongholds, who is to say that more of them are not hiding out somewhere else?

The world begs for solutions to the terrorist menace, but solutions are hard to come by.

As I thought about the terrorist menace, I began to contemplate another more serious terrorist operation.

Living by Faith

Whether he’s a master terrorist or a stellar citizen, the faith of Jesus is what he needs for redemption. Whether she’s the best or the worst humanity has to offer, the faith of Jesus is what she needs for redemption. Whether they grew up in a rock-solid Christian home or in demon-worshiping home, only the faith of Jesus will bring them redemption. Thankfully, no matter who or how anyone is, Jesus makes His redemption available to them.

When Terror Strikes Home

Terrorists strike and our world erupts in dust, fire, and chaos. As we look around with shell-shocked gaze, suffering and insecurity leap at us from the rubble. Pain tears across the faces of the injured. Specters of suffering rise from the rubble to grip our heart the specters of stark terror, crushing bereavement, helpless fury, and mind-numbing bewilderment and shock. The scene burns indelibly into our very soul.

We begin to ask questions. “Why!? Where are You, God? Don’t You care about us anymore? Why do You permit such suffering and chaos?”

Is God responsible for it all? Is He still in control? What does the Bible say?

A Limit to Religious Freedom

Christian group blamed for mumps outbreak

Conservative Christians who refuse vaccinations have been linked to an outbreak of mumps in British Columbia. The controversy has raised ethical issues, and sparked debate over the limits of religious rights.

Douglas Todd, religion writer for The Vancouver Sun, has covered the story extensively.

Todd cited medical ethicists who questioned the Christian group’s position. Alister Browne, director of ethics and law at the University of British Columbia medical school, said, “I don’t think this issue is a small matter.” He added that the ethical importance of a society protecting the health of children and others against infectious disease must be weighed against a person’s right to religious freedom, and the level of risk to others when immunizations are refused.

Michael McDonald, a professor in the Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics at the University of British Columbia, went further. He argued that adults in the Chilliwack community may be ethically required to accept vaccinations to protect their children and members of the larger society, since the health and safety of others — particularly children — is a justified “limit to religious freedom.”

Do you agree?

And another less PC question: If these were Muslims, would Mr. McDonald say the same thing?

I’m sure you don’t know the answer to the second question. But surely you know the answer to the first.

Do You Add to the Gloom?

From Barbara Johnson’s I Don’t Suffer From Insanity…I enjoy every minute of it calendar, something far less than insane:

What kind of perspective do you bring to unpleasant situations?

Do you add to the gloom or introduce joy?

Do you join in the grumbling or find something to laugh about?

Do you follow our Lord’s example and lift the spirits of “those bent beneath their loads”?

The Lord lifts the fallen and those bent beneath their loads.
Psalm 145:14 TLB

And two other verses I thought of on the subject of adding light rather than gloom:

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).

I am both challenged and convicted.

Keeping a Pledge

Dobson Rebuked for Breaking His Pledge Before God

On April 28, 1990 at the Washington D.C. Rally for Life on video and to hundreds of thousands of Christians, Dr. Dobson stated, “I want to give a pledge to you on a political level… I have determined that for the rest of my life, however long God lets me live on this earth, I will never cast one vote for any man or woman who would kill one innocent baby.”

But now he’s planning to vote for McCain-Palin. Despite the fact McCain fails the above test.

Maybe a pledge “on a political level” is different that a pledge on a Christian’s level.

Whatever the case, here are a few sentences from a letter supposedly under the Focus on the Family letterhead:

As Mr. Enyart stated, it is true that Dr. Dobson has said on previous occasions that he would never cast a vote for any politician who supports abortion. Recently, however, there have been times that he felt he was faced with the necessity of making a difficult but inescapable choice between two or more major candidates.

[…]

Please know that Dr. Dobson didn’t arrive at this decision without giving it much thought and consideration. Rightly or wrongly, he chose to compromise his own standard, which he rarely does, in order to protect everything that matters most. Although Dr. Dobson realizes this decision carries with it the potential for criticism and disagreement, he believes God has led him in this direction.

Oh my!

Surely that doesn’t mean that he did arrive at his previous Nope-Won’t-Vote-For-Him decision without much thought and consideration. 😯

And he’s going to vote for McCain after all (never isn’t as long a time span as it used to be) to protect everything that matters most. So killing a baby here and there is in a different category? 😯

Dr. Dobson, a bit of unsolicited advice: Leave politics to the politicians.

And an observation: You don’t have to choose between two candidates — don’t vote at all.

Now, regarding pledges and vows and promises and commitments and oaths, the Bible:

“Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay” (Ecclesiastes 5:5).

“But above all things, my brethren…let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation” (James 5:12).

So…what should Dr. Dobson do?

(And “rightly or wrongly”?!? Wow!)

When You’re Depressed

How do you handle discouragement?

Better yet — how do you beat it?

(I fear too many of us — well, I, anyway — enjoy too much wallowing in it.)

Andrée Seu wrote in WorldMagBlog:

For what ails you

The best thing to do when you’re depressed is to live as though you’re not depressed. (That advice applies to fear and other suffering as well.)

[…]

And then I pray God’s promises over it—“I will never leave you or forsake you”; “My power is made perfect in weakness”; that sort of thing. It helps, also, to make a list of what you need to do that day, and just start doing it. Press into life and live it.

I simply have to remember that.

And this:

Psalm 139:10

“Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”

Drive In for a Look Up

Would you attend?

A Georgia (USA) church tries drive-in worship

The brown and white beagle peers intently at her owner, watching as he swigs V-8 juice and dials his car radio to 1640 AM. On an ordinary Sunday morning in Marietta, Ga., Barry Hopkins would be getting ready for church. Today, dressed in shorts and an Atlanta Braves T-shirt, he’s already there – in his car.

A few vehicles dot the parking lot of New Hope Methodist Church in suburban Atlanta, but there’s no sound except the rumble of idling motors. Slow rain becomes a torrent, blowing in wide sheets, obscuring the pastor standing on the church steps as he delivers his sermon. Drivers flick their windshield wipers to life and stare straight ahead. They won’t leave their steel cocoons any time soon. They won’t need to: The sermon booms from their radios like Carrie Underwood.

Drive-ins have given us movies delivered to our cars with popcorn and notions of front-seat romance. They have given us fries and malts delivered by teens on roller skates. Now they’re giving us the word of God, or at least of preachers, delivered out of our dashboards in the hope of attracting a new multitude of worshipers.

Across the country, a handful of churches are trying to unite two fundamental forces – religion and Americans’ love affair with the automobile – to offset the dearth of people sitting in pews.

Usually, as here at New Hope, attendees can be as involved or uninvolved as they want. Either way is just fine with the Rev. Norman Markle. He stands in the outdoor alcove that is his pulpit and preaches, hoping his message carries clearly through his lapel microphone.

“A lot of people still feel the only way they’ll be accepted is if they come to church with a suit and tie,” he says. “But that’s changed. If we don’t change, we’re losing out to the new churches.”

[…]

Tucked inside his office after the sermon, Mr. Markle peels open a McDonald’s wrapper and spreads grape jelly over a sausage biscuit. His regular indoor service begins soon, and for this one, he’ll wear his starched white robe emblazoned with a gold cross. It’ll be a completely different sermon. The drive-in service is only 45 minutes – people won’t sit in their cars much longer. In the church, with its pine floors and luminous stained-glass windows, Markle can preach as long as he likes – usually about two hours.

I assume they don’t kneel to pray during these drive-in services.

Do they roll down their windows to shout “Amen!” — oh, never mind that question. I don’t shout “Amen!” in our church services either. Well, not more than once every two or three years. (But last month I shouted “Yes!” after we were done singing, “May the Lord Depend on You?”)

To the extent that he’s following God’s leading, may Mr. Markle succeed.

And may more people be drawn into real congregational living as God has designed.

HT: CarolB (one of this blog’s few readers) 😆

Where Does the Time Go?

Where does the time go, Jesus?

We can’t seem to get everything done in one day.

Maybe we are trying to do too many things.

No matter how busy it gets, Jesus, help us to spend time with You every single day.

If we don’t, slow us down so we can.

Thank You, Jesus.

Amen.

I don’t know who said that. I think it may have been Marilyn Jansen.