Before we judge Bell’s theology, I think we have a responsibility as Christians to acknowledge certain things about him:

1) Bell’s ministry is reaching people for Christ. Mars Hill is drawing young adults in ways most churches can only dream of. His Nooma videos have influenced countless thousands to consider Jesus and Christianity.

2) Mars Hill is demonstrating Christ’s love to their community. Their outreach programs include sponsoring fundraisers for AIDS and provide winter clothing for those in need in their part of Michigan. Those are just two small examples of ways in which they are tangibly being the hands and feet of Christ.

3) Bell’s position is based on love, not hate. At a time when two people calling themselves Christian pastors in Kansas and Florida are drawing headlines for their completely unChristian positions of hate, we need to acknowledge that Bell’s position is based on an extension of what may be the most firmly established of all biblical principles: God is love.

4) Bell is a sincere seeker for Christian truth. Even a casual look at the whole body of his teaching demonstrates that he is not trying to attack Christianity, he is sincerely trying to understand the Bible’s teaching, apply it to today’s world, and teach it in a way that transforms lives. Whether we agree with his conclusions or not, we should acknowledge the integrity of his search.

Personally, I don’t agree with Bell’s conclusions. But I respect a man who has dedicated his life to bringing Christ to his community, and whose ministry shows every sign of being blessed by the Holy Spirit. I admit that I don’t fully understand how to reconcile Jesus’ words that if he be lifted up (on the cross, which he was) that he would draw all people to himself. I know the theological justifications we use because we can’t stand to leave any part of the Bible in tension, nevertheless the tension remains.

This kind of discussion can be a very healthy thing for the Body when handled properly. Iron sharpening iron helps all of us grow ever deeper in our understanding of God and his Word. Unfortunately, the vehemence of the discussion has moved it into the public eye as yet another example that Christians can’t even agree with each other, and another excuse for unbelievers to cast many of us as “haters.”

Galatians 6:1 tells us that when we believe we’ve found a fellow believer in error, we are to be very careful in correcting him or her lest we act inappropriately ourselves. As part of the same thought, verse 2 reminds us that our responsibility is to be part of the support system for fellow believers, not something that tears them down. And verse 3 reminds us to keep a healthy humility in our own opinions.

May we all bear this in mind.

Abu Dhabi’s Minister of Higher Education Scientific Research, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, hosted a symposium at Zayed University on Christian-Muslim relations.  The symposium was titled Fifteen Centuries of Love and Affection, and was sponsored by the university and Abu Dhabi’s General Authority for Islamic Affairs.

In his keynote speech, the minister (who is also president of Zayed University) said, “We must affirm through word and deed that the Christian Arabs are noble brothers who stand together with their fellow Muslims in a single rank to serve the cause of the nation and preserve the welfare of the nation.  There is no difference between a Muslim and a Christian in this respect as both support each other in honest fraternity.”  He added that during more the fourteen centuries since the advent of Islam, the relationship between Islam and Christianity thrived in the context of the divine command in the Quran, “There is no compulsion in religion,” as well as God’s proclamation “Had your Lord willed, He would have made the mankind a single nation.”

We need to stop and celebrate the fact that many influential Arabs joined together to talk about Muslims and Christians coexisting peacefully.

A week earlier, a diverse group of leading Iraqi clerics gathered in Copenhagen for a conference called the “Emergency Summit for Inter-faith Dialogue in Iraq.”  (Apparently they like frequent flier miles as much as we do.)  The group included Shiite, Sunni, and Christian leaders who discussed the recent surge in attacks on Christians.  According to the Iraqi Minister of Displacement and Migration, Dindar Najman Doski, more than 5,000 Christian families moved out of Iraq in 2010.

The conference ended with the signing of the Copenhagen Relief and National Reconciliation Agreement, which stresses that violence is not compatible with Islam, and calls on the government to make the incitement of religious and cultural hatred a criminal offense.

As we hear conflicting reports of violence being committed by Islamists while others talk of Islam being a religion of peace, many have asked why Muslim leaders aren’t speaking out against the violence.  The reality is, they are.  Our media will continue to pepper us with stories about mullahs (usually in Iran) who are stirring Muslims up.  They are a concern, certainly.  But let us take hope in–and wrap prayer around–the growing indication that there is a significant number of moderate Muslims who are trying to show that those extremists are renegades who don’t represent Islam.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”  May we follow him.

Islamic extremism gets the most attention in U.S. media, but Hindu extremism–and violence–is becoming a serious problem in India.  Even Buddhist terrorism is occurring.  And make no mistake, Christian extremism is on the rise as well.  When we look at people threatening public Quran burnings and desecrating funerals by shouting hate slogans, it can be easy to dismiss them as fringe loonies–and that’s exactly how most Muslims reacted to the beginning of extremism in their religion.  The Oklahoma City bomber claimed to be Christian, and most of us can remember abortion clinics being bombed “in the name of Jesus.”

Where does it come from?
Some of it comes from each group’s set of basic beliefs or scriptures.  And again, Christianity is not immune.  No one can read the Old Testament and escape the incredible amount of violence done in God’s name–even at his command!

But the majority of it comes from human nature.  Each of us has determined the belief system we’re going to follow in our own lives, and by definition each of us is convinced that his or her decision was the best one.  If we didn’t feel that way, we’d have chosen something else!  So if we believe our decision was the best one for us, then many…let’s say most…people think that that decision is the best one for everyone else.  As Christians we have no choice!  Jesus himself said that he was the only path to salvation, so we can’t believe his teaching and also think everyone else can find whatever path works for them.  Well, the same urge that causes us to suggest that people watch a movie we liked drives us to suggest that people consider the belief systems we’ve decided are right.

Now add to that our innate desire for self-preservation.  As we feel threatened, our natural tendency is to fight back.  And then, of course, the others feel threatened and they have to fight back harder.  The vicious cycle escalates almost inevitably.

How should Christians respond?
The Christian Old Testament is filled with examples of people fighting, killing, and being praised for killing people who didn’t follow our God, our way.  But the story doesn’t end with the Old Testament.  When Peter drew his sword to defend Jesus from those who were threatening him, Jesus told Peter to put his sword away.  Jesus healed the ear that Peter had cut off the soldier threatening Jesus.  There is not a single example–not one–of Jesus telling his followers to fight for him.  Let that sink in, if you claim to be a follower of Jesus.

But won’t we be overrun by unbelievers?
When Jesus told Peter to put his sword away he said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”  His message is clear: yes, we should be loyal to Jesus and boldly proclaim our faith in him.  But he doesn’t need us to fight for him.  He can handle that himself.

This will sound controversial, but consider this: It has been observed throughout history that Christianity has flourished most when it was under persecution.  When and where people suffer for Jesus, the number of people who become his followers multiplies dramatically.  We can see it today in parts of the world such as China, where the church is persecuted.  Far from being overrun by those with other belief systems, the more Christians are pressured by them the more true Christianity thrives.

But doesn’t God want his children to prosper and have good lives?
Of course, that’s why Jesus told us he was preparing a place for us in heaven!  We will have more wonderful lives than we’re capable of imagining for countless thousands of years in heaven.  This microscopic little sliver of time we’re experiencing right now is insignificant from an eternal perspective.  Why would God care whether you’re prospering during a time no more important than the blink of an eye?  What matters during this time is how many others are being influenced to make the decisions that will allow them to enjoy that eternal happiness.

The book of Acts says that when Jesus’ followers were imprisoned and beaten for their beliefs, they celebrated!  They didn’t fight against the people with other beliefs that were persecuting them, they prayed for them and continued to speak out about Jesus.  They were “rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.”

We aren’t supposed to like threats to Christianity.  But we are supposed to look at things from the “biggest picture” view.  If Christians being threatened and persecuted means that more people become Christians, then perhaps we should be celebrating.  Perhaps more pressure on Christians in the U.S. is the best thing that could happen to Christianity in our country!

Instead of focusing on keeping our own lives as comfortable as possible, how many of us are willing to pray, “Please God, let me life during this insignificant little sliver of time on earth be as uncomfortable as possible–if it means that more people will come to know you and be able to share eternal life in heaven.”

Are you?

What is the Christian response to suicide?

The US. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports there are more than half a million people each year admitted to emergency rooms with self-inflicted injuries. Who knows how many more people are on the edge of trying and are stopped? According to a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures, 19.3 percent of high school students have seriously considered killing themselves, and 900,000 have gone as far as planning their suicides. Unfortunately, the National Institute of Mental Health indicates that in 2007 nearly 35,000 Americans succeeded in causing their own deaths. It’s the third leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 24.

No doubt there will be much speculation as to what drove this young man with his whole life in front of him to make such a decision. Most likely, we’ll never know. But the more important question is whether there is ever a set of circumstances in which suicide is the correct response.

A foundational tenet of Christianity is that God loves…me. Not just humanity, not just really good people; God loves you and me as individuals, despite our flaws. Now put that fact together with the Christian belief that God is the creator of the universe; a being whose power truly can’t be understood by the human mind. It’s hard to reconcile the belief that the God who can manipulate the cosmos actually loves me personally and wants the best for me, with the level of lack of hope for the future that would drive someone to suicide.

The Bible contains six specific descriptions of suicide: Abimelech (Judges 9:54), Saul (1 Samuel 31:4), Saul’s armor bearer (1 Samuel 31:4-6), Ahithophel (2 Samuel 17:23), Zimri (1 Kings 16:18), and Judas (Matthew 27:5). We know that five of them were evil people who had rejected God. We aren’t given enough information about Saul’s armor bearer to guess at more than his panic.

The point is, there isn’t a single example of a godly person taking his or her own life. On the other hand, we do find references to God deciding the time was appropriate for a person’s life to end. In Enoch’s case, there’s an implication that he might not have even died but was taken directly by God to heaven.

In other words, the biblical model is that it is up to God, not us, to decide when we are to die.

World-renowned Christian leader Chuck Swindoll has described suicide as the most selfish and cowardly act he can imagine. Those seem like harsh words, but when you consider the effect of this tragedy on McKinley’s infant son—not to mention all the others touched by this in our city…perhaps they are appropriate.

Dr. George Wood, the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, signed the covenant at the National Association of Evangelicals meeting, and has now decided he doesn’t want to be associated with the others who have signed the agreement. Juleen Turnage, spokeswoman for the Assemblies of God, said “The problem is the tent that has grown so large on the signatures of this that are including people who are supportive of gay marriage and abortion rights.”

There is nothing in the covenant that says signatories will agree with each other on all points, nor that they will stop speaking out on their own beliefs. Its purpose is simply to stop the name-calling and infighting that divides the Christian church and gives nonChristians good reason to laugh at us. It’s content can be summarized as, “We won’t agree on everything, but we will handle our disagreements with integrity and respect for the cause of Christ.”

In a shocking move, Dr. Wood has decided that he cannot commit to being civil to those whose view on gay marriage and abortion rights differ from his own. Wood is quoted as saying, “I do not want my name or the Assemblies of God to be associated with persons who claim to be in the Body of Christ yet reject the moral teachings of Scripture,”

The covenant says nothing about agreeing with them, or accepting their viewpoint. It simply says that the disagreement will be handled in a civil way—and he cannot agree to that. Quoting from the covenant’s introduction, “Too often we have reflected the political divisions of our culture rather than the unity we have in the body of Christ.” Sadly, they’re right.

Nine members of this group were arrested and charged with “seditious conspiracy,” or plotting to wage war against the United States, as well as attempted use of weapons of mass destruction, teaching the use of explosives and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence. The group appears to be organized to fight the Antichrist, which they’ve determined to be all authority figures in the U.S. The Federal attorneys filed a 17-page document laying out their case against the Hutaree, which was persuasive enough that the federal magistrate agreed that they should be held without bail.

The filing alleges that the group planned to bring authority down by eliminating police forces to spread anarchy. The document claims they had plans that are truly chilling. One plan is that they would place a phony 911 call, kill police officers who responded, and then set off a bomb at the funeral to kill all the police who were in attendance. The filing said members also talked about “torching the homes of police officers and then shooting them and their families as they fled their burning homes.” The group was planning two training exercises in April and leader David Stone is quoted as saying that if any outsiders came upon these exercises they were to be killed. The group has found defense attorneys shameless enough to argue that this is simply constitutionally protected free speech.

I’ve yet to see a news story that doesn’t refer to these lunatics as Christian. Stop it.

Am I saying these people aren’t Christians? I’ll leave that up to God to decide. But I am definitely saying that there is nothing in their attitudes or actions that are even remotely related to the teaching of Christ, and it’s unfair and deliberately misleading to continue labeling them in a way that smears Jesus by association.

Jesus lived in a time and place in which his people, the Jews, were under occupation by the Romans. They were miserable and oppressed, and wanted Jesus to overthrow the Romans and rescue them. He refused, focusing his attention on individual souls, attitudes, and lives.

Enough blood has been shed over torture and abuse of the Bible’s teachings. The Muslims still hate us for the horrible killings in the Crusades (which falsely claimed Christianity as their authority), and it’s hard to blame them. I live in what was the wild West. It’s hard to imagine a time when a gun control law could pass in Colorado. That’s fine, but make sure you’re putting those guns to appropriate purposes or don’t claim the name of Christ.

We’ve all heard this old saying. But did you know that this proverb was applied to the church as far back as 1526 by Martin Luther himself?¹

I was reminded of that during my Bible time as I read the story of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 31:18 we see God giving Moses tablets of stone containing His instructions. Meanwhile, the people had gotten tired of waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain and had pestered Aaron so much to build an idol for them that he caved in to public demand and did as they asked. When Moses came down from the mountain, he was furious.  So furious, in fact, that he ground up the golden calf and put it in the water supply so people would drink it.

It makes sense to get upset about things that are wrong, doesn’t it? The issue is how we handle that anger. As Moses came down from the mountain, Exodus 32:15 says, “He held in his hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.16 These tablets were God’s work; the words on them were written by God himself.”

Moses is carrying something the likes of which had never been seen on earth! He had been in the very presence of God and seen God inscribe these tablets. Spend a minute letting it sink in just how incredible were the tablets in his hands. The kind of thing that would be revered as long as humans had breath!

19 When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and he burned with anger. He threw the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain.

Sure it’s understandable that Moses was angry. But in his anger, and in his haste to fix the situation, Moses destroyed something unspeakably sacred. When we do that, God is under no obligation to restore what we destroyed. In this case He did, but notice the difference we see in Exodus 34:

1 Then the Lord told Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones. I will write on them the same words that were on the tablets you smashed.

The first time, God created the tablets. The second time, necessary only because Moses threw out the good with the bad, Moses had to chisel out the tablets himself. His job became harder because he allowed his anger to overwhelm the sacred things he was carrying.

I see two applications for this lesson that are highly relevant today. First, there are many calls for reformation in the church these days.  Emerging church, missional church, externally focused church, organic church… all attempts to correct things that have gone wrong. Fair enough. But in our zeal to address what is wrong, let us be very, very careful not to destroy something that is sacred in the process. Let us be careful to treat the Church as the Bride of Christ, radiant in her glory.

Second, Acts 2 speaks of a time when Christ’s followers were admired by the people and many were being saved as a result. The key characteristics of the Christians were generosity, joy, sharing with those in need, and praising God. Today the admiration of Christ’s followers in the U.S. is arguably at the lowest point in the country’s history. Many would say that the key characteristics of Christians are anger, judgmentalism, and hypocrisy. No doubt some of this is due to the media’s desire to pounce on anything that feeds that image—but they don’t have any trouble finding examples to highlight.

In our anger over the things that are wrong, let us not destroy something that is utterly sacred. We would do well to imagine ourselves carrying two stone tablets at all times; each containing one of Jesus’ words to His followers:

John 15:12 “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.”

John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

As we feel anger for the things that are wrong in our world, let us not destroy the tablets of love.

———
¹Quoted from D. Martin Luthers Werke, ed. by Paul Pietsch. Weimar: Hermann Böhlau, 1898, vol. 20, p. 160. See also James Cornette, Proverbs and Proverbial Expressions in the German Works of Martin Luther. Diss. University of North Carolina, 1942, p. 157.

(If you’re having trouble seeing the video, try going directly to the website at http://www.equippingministryblog.com/?p=169)

“Financial success—prestige, wealth, recognition, accomplishment—will always be secondary in greatness…Primary greatness is about character and contribution. Primary greatness asks, ‘What are you doing to make a difference in the world?  Do you live truly by your values?  Do you have total integrity in all of your relationships?’ And when correct principles are not followed or ignored, the result can be catastrophic as we have witnessed the past year in the financial markets.”

I don’t know if he is a Christian or not…but I do know that Christians should be shining examples of character, contributing to others and the world, and total integrity in all relationships.  So to put it bluntly… Are you?

• 90% of those 45 and older consider the Bible a sacred text
• 81% of those 26 to 44 consider it sacred
• 67% of those 25 and younger believe so

Even more alarming:

• 58% of those 64 and older consider the Bible to be completely accurate in all the principles it teaches
• 46% of those 45 to 63 consider the Bible accurate
• 39% of those 26 to 44 trust the Bible’s accuracy
• 30% of those 25 and younger believe the Bible is completely accurate in its teaching

I would submit that if we don’t have a firm belief in the Bible as our foundation, then Christianity—at least as Christ embodied and taught it—will be dead in two generations. There was the interim generation of Joshua, when the Israelites stayed somewhat true to the teaching of Moses. But after Joshua came the period of the Judges, which is described in the last verse of that book with the sad commentary: “everyone did as he saw fit.” Without a standard for our lives, that’s exactly where we’ll be and upcoming generations don’t consider the Bible a trustworthy standard.

The church is starting to do a lot of things right these days, refocusing on being missional rather than institutional, concerned about making an impact on the community rather than just what happens inside their walls. But we can’t lose the foundation upon which everything else is built, or we’re nothing more than another caring non-profit organization.

The same study showed that 56% of those 25 and younger believe the Bible teaches the same spiritual truths as other texts considered sacred. As long as that’s true they have no reason to follow the Bible instead of the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, or the Mormon text. And Christianity as we know it will be dead.