 My family means the world to me. This is not only because they are the people that care about me the most, but because they are also the ones who teach me about who I am called to be. My wife encourages me daily, softens my heart and also helps me to grow as a person. My extended family tells me the truth when it is hard to do so and knows the private version of myself…the part of me that can release professionalism and embrace nonsense from time to time. My kids are a like a mobile classroom and simply raising them is the equivalent to pursuing a doctoral degree in physics, chemistry, biology, theology and psychology.
Tonight, my son and I had an interesting conversation about the church. I asked him if he knew what I did at church every Sunday. “You sing for people at church”, he said confidently. “Sometimes I sing with other people, but what do I normally do at church?” “I don’t know” I engaged him in a conversation that was meant to explain what I do. To simplify, I told him I teach people about God at church. Then, what came out of his mouth was incredible. Josiah: That’s good to teach people about God…I am glad we have a thankful church. Me: A thankful church? What are we thankful for? Josiah: We are thankful for each other and thankful for Jesus. Me: Why are we thankful for Jesus? Josiah: (pause)…because He has been faithful to us. When my 3.5 year old son says something like this it is hard to know how to respond. I struggled to know what to say, and finally I told him he was right….even though he didn’t realize the full implication of what he said. Why can’t we get this right? Why can’t we embrace God’s faithfulness fully and reject our tendency to walk away from His love? Why do we spend so much time hating what is right and desiring what will destroy us? Most humans are stuck in a delicate balance between desiring to be independent and wanting to be guided in the direction of wisdom. Let’s face it…sometimes kids remind us of things we have swept under the proverbial rug of our lives. It’s a humbling experience, but we need it. It is time for us to wake up and remember why we are followers of Christ. Not because He gives us stuff, but because, through discipline and tenderness, He is always faithful. This post was written by Rev DeCrastos. You can find the original post here: http://other-words.net/2014/04/11/thankful-wisdom/  In a report released last Friday, computer scientist Allen Downey of Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts found with the numbers of non-religiously affiliated Americans jumping from 8 to 18 percent from 1990 to 2010, the prevalence of Internet use has also increased from essentially zero to nearly 80 percent.
Downey's study suggested that increases in Internet use accounted for about 20 percent of the observed decrease in affiliation. In the 1980s, Internet use was essentially nil, but in 2010, 53 percent of the population spent two hours per week online and 25 percent surfed for more than seven hours, it says. Downey posits that the correlation might be due to the Internet allowing individuals who grew up in one faith but are now interested in another religion to connect with people who share their current beliefs. "For people living in homogeneous communities, the Internet provides opportunities to find information about people of other religions (and none), and to interact with them personally," says Downey. "Conversely, it is harder (but not impossible) to imagine plausible reasons why disaffiliation might cause increased Internet use … Internet use decreases the chance of religious affiliation." Writing on his personal, non-work affiliated blog earlier this week, Joe Miller, who works for the Christian publishing company Nelson Books, arrived at a different conclusion. "Downey's answer plays off the modernist prejudice that equates religion and ignorance. That's false on its face," he wrote. "But once we consider the Internet as a factor at all, there's a far more obvious answer than wider horizons: porn." "Porn has been part of the Web from day one. And the stats for online consumption are staggering, even among Christians," he continued. Miller argued that porn inhibits "prayer and beneficial contemplation." "Given the Christian understanding of the spiritual life, we're not capable of simultaneously pursuing our lusts and sanctification. Such a pursuit causes internal dissonance, and the only resolution involves eventually conceding to the pull of one or the other," Miller wrote. Miller also pointed to Nate Larkin's Samson and the Pirate Monks, where the author writes that he grew increasingly angry and then distant from God as he grew ever more immersed in porn. "If the rise of the internet has anything to do with a loss of faith — and it's an interesting thought — the role of ideas is likely minimal. Arguments don't cool many hearts, but sin surely does," he added. Orthodox Christian and writer Rod Dreher, who excerpted Miller's post on his own blog, seconded Miller's conclusions. "If you accept the modern world's view on sex, and abandon Christianity's teaching, you will soon abandon Christianity. People don't like to hear that, but it's true." In 2012, Pew Research reported that one-fifth of U.S. adults and one third of adults under 30 are not religiously affiliated. The number spiked five percent from 2007 and includes atheists, agnostics and those who simply do not label themselves with any particular religious affiliation. Project Know, which is currently running a campaign aimed at helping those addicted to pornography, states that according to WebMD, 420 million web pages contain pornographic material. The second-largest pornography site on the web "receives 100 million page views a day, and shows 4,000 videos a second during its peak hours. This one site receives an astounding 2 percent of the Internet's total traffic." This post was written by Morgan Lee of the Christian Post. You can find the original post here. BE HOLY. BE A MAN.  They don’t mix, if you’re looking for the answer up front. There are perhaps several reasons for this, but Alain de Botton offers one in The Wall Street Journal worth considering.
Certain kinds of suffering are beneficial, even necessary for human flourishing, he says, particularly struggling through periods of anxiety and boredom. Porn diverts us from those struggles. “Our anxious moods are genuine but confused signals that something is amiss,” he says, “and so they need to be listened to and patiently interpreted–which is unlikely to happen when we have to hand one of the most powerful tools of distraction ever invented.” To combat boredom with this overpowering distraction is equally harmful because “pornography weakens our tolerance for the kind of boredom which is vital to give our minds the space in which good ideas can emerge. . . .” In both cases, we are unable to attend to the soul, to give it the necessary time and attention because our faculties are otherwise employed. An unoccupied mind is essential for serious contemplation. Times of quiet reflection allow the mind to gather up its loose strands of thought and put them in order and even at times offer them as prayer. Resorting to pornography deprives the mind this opportunity. Interestingly, de Botton, who is an atheist, says only religion seems to fully understand this diversionary aspect of sex. In our liberated time, “Only religions still take sex very seriously,” he says, adding: "In so far as religions warn us against sex, it is out of an active awareness of the charms and power of desire. They wouldn’t think that sex was quite so bad, if they didn’t appreciate that it could be quite so wonderful–and if they weren’t brave enough to admit that this necessarily means that it will also get in the way of some rather important and precious things, like God or your life." A mind consumed with pornographic images cannot pray. I think de Botton is very helpful in showing why. In some sense it’s a question of focus and capacity. But Christian spirituality can take us a bit further. In the Christian understanding, spirituality cannot be considered alone. It is always juxtaposed with the flesh — the sinful nature. Paul does this in Romans 8: “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (vv 5-6). There’s a relationship there, one with the other. If we pursue our spirituality while indulging our lusts, we’re working at cross purposes. Our efforts will be futile. To cultivate genuine spirituality, our lives must align with our prayers. Otherwise, we are fooling ourselves. There’s a lot on the line here. De Botton points out that porn is not just a powerful distraction; it’s increasingly an easy one, and our lives are demonstrably worse off for indulging. We leave our souls unattended, our hearts uncultivated. As it turns out, sexual restraint isn’t just for Victorians; it’s for anyone who would pursue the contemplative life. This post was written by Joel Miller. You can find the original post here. BE HOLY. BE A MAN.  Since the early 1990s, there has been a significant uptick in Americans abandoning their faith. After crunching the numbers, one researcher says contributing factors such as upbringing and education only explain part of the increase. What about the rest?
After controlling for variables like income, environment, and so on, computer scientist Allen Downey of Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts found 25 percent of the decline can be correlated with Internet access. More Web, less faith. Why? Here’s Downey’s stab at an answer: “For people living in homogeneous communities, the Internet provides opportunities to find information about people of other religions (and none), and to interact with them personally.” So increased exposure leads to doubt, disagreement, disenchantment, and ultimately to discarding your faith. Maybe, but I don’t buy it. Downey’s answer plays off the modernist prejudice that equates religion and ignorance. That’s false on its face. But once we consider the Internet as a factor at all, there’s a far more obvious answer than wider horizons: porn. Porn has been part of the Web from day one. And the stats for online consumption are staggering, even among Christians. Disaffiliation should come as no surprise. We’ve already seen that porn makes prayer and beneficial contemplation impossible. Given the Christian understanding of the spiritual life, we’re not capable of simultaneously pursuing our lusts and sanctification. Such a pursuit causes internal dissonance, and the only resolution involves eventually conceding to the pull of one or the other. (I’ve talked about that before here.) Personal testimony adds to the picture. In his book Samson and the Pirate Monks, Nate Larkin discusses his battle with sexual sin and its effect on his state of belief. The deeper he got the further away he felt from God. "I often screamed at God, banging on the steering wheel and begging him to relieve me of this terrible wickedness, to take the urge away, but the heavens were silent. After a while, I started wondering whether God was listening, whether he cared about me anymore, or whether he even existed at all." On the flip side, as Larkin turned from lust, his faith returned. “I came to believe the gospel a little more,” he says. “The most powerful proof of God’s existence was the transformation that was taking place in my character.” Faith is obedience, and obedience is faith. If the rise of the internet has anything to do with a loss of faith — and it’s an interesting thought — the role of ideas is likely minimal. Arguments don’t cool many hearts, but sin surely does. This post was written by Joel Miller. You can find the original post here: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/joeljmiller/2014/04/is-internet-porn-to-blame-for-rise-of-the-nones/ BE HOLY. BE A MAN.  Joel J. Miller takes note of a new study positing the decline in religious faith with the rise of Internet use, but doesn’t buy the hypothesis that the Internet makes it possible for people to discover other viewpoints, undermining their own commitment. But he does think that there’s a more plausible reason to connect the Internet to faith’s loss. Excerpt: "Porn has been part of the Web from day one. And the stats for online consumption are staggering, even among Christians." Disaffiliation should come as no surprise. We’ve already seen that porn makes prayer and beneficial contemplation impossible. Given the Christian understanding of the spiritual life, we’re not capable of simultaneously pursuing our lusts and sanctification. Such a pursuit causes internal dissonance, and the only resolution involves eventually conceding to the pull of one or the other. (I’ve talked about that before here.) Personal testimony adds to the picture. In his book Samson and the Pirate Monks, Nate Larkin discusses his battle with sexual sin and its effect on his state of belief. The deeper he got the further away he felt from God. As I’ve written before, if you accept the modern world’s view on sex, and abandon Christianity’s teaching, you will soon abandon Christianity. People don’t like to hear that, but it’s true. This post was written by Rod Dreher. The original post can be found here BE HOLY. BE A MAN.  Eighty percent of families with children who have disabilities do not attend church.
There are several reasons why these families don't attend church. Here are some of their reasons:
So isn’t it sad, isn’t it puzzling, that the only classroom where our kids with special needs are fully included is the public school classroom rather than the Sunday School class? Isn’t there something wrong when the public school setting is more accepting, loving, and supportive to kids with disabilities rather than the church? Did you know that 80% of marriages end up in divorce when there is a child with a disability in the family? So shouldn’t the church support these families? Did you know that special needs families feel isolated? So shouldn’t the church be the place where they feel included? Did you know that special needs families feel constantly judged? So shouldn’t the church be a place where there is no judgement? Did you know that people with disabilities are the largest minority in the world? Yes, the largest minority!! Disability is a part of life. It has nothing to do with faith, it has nothing to do with healing. It has everything to do with being human, it has everything to do with being the body of Christ. People with disabilities are part of the Body, and we need them. We need them just as much as they need us. We are all connected in this journey, all of us. All of us! We have an unreached people group in our own backyard. A people group that has been marginalized by society for too long. It is time that as a Church, we embrace them, we accept them, we celebrate them! Instead of praying for healing, let’s pray for God to open our hearts and our eyes to the needs of people and children living with disability. Let’s figure out how to do life together. And let’s embrace, forgive, celebrate, accept, and love unconditionally. And let’s never forget that people/children with disabilities are people first, fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139 We need to create awareness and educate our leaders, and in doing so, it is important that we extend grace and forgiveness. You and I can be a part of the solution. Grace and forgiveness…we all need it. This post was adapted by a post written by E Stumbo.  He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Isaiah 53:3
Many people have the impression that good Christians are happy, joyful, victorious people. In this fantasy, good Christians are people whose problems seem to vanish when they trust God and pray about it. Unaffected by the pain of life, these relentlessly cheerful people read the Bible, sing praise songs and feel no pain. Yet Christians are at heart the followers of a man who was named 'man of sorrows.' Jesus was not relentlessly cheerful. He did not practice a mood altering, pain-numbing religion. He grieved. He wept. He was familiar with suffering. Our God is a God who knows suffering. God grieves. In those times when we shame ourselves for our sorrow, it can be an enormous encouragement to remember that God is personally familiar with grief. If God grieves, we can expect to do the same. God, you surprise me again! When I grieve, I think that if I could just cheer up, you would be pleased. But, you grieve also. Man of Sorrows you are acquainted with sorrow. Thank you for understanding. Thank you for grieving. Help me to experience your presence in my time of grief. Amen. Copyright Dale and Juanita Ryan National Association for Christian Recovery  Rescuing the human heart is the hardest mission in the world.
The dilemma of the Story is this: we don't know if we want to be rescued. We are so enamored with our small stories and our false gods, we are so bound up in our addictions and our self-centeredness and take-it-for-granted unbelief that we don't even know how to cry out for help. And the Evil One has no intention of letting his captives walk away scot-free. He seduces us, deceives us, assaults us—whatever it takes to keep us in darkness. Like a woman bound to an affair from which she cannot get free, like a man so corrupted he no longer knows his own name, the human race is captive in the worst way possible—we are captives of the heart. Their hearts are always going astray. (Hebrews 3:10) God is filled with the jealousy of a wounded lover. He has been betrayed time and again. The challenge God faces is rescuing a people who have no idea how captive they are; no real idea how desperate they are. We know we long for Eden, but we hesitate to give ourselves back to God in abandoned trust. We are captivated by the lies of our Enemy. But God has something up his sleeve... This post is excerpted from the book Epic by John Eldredge.  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight...
What is it that keeps you from living a life of obedience to God? Do you struggle with a particular sin, habit or attitude? Every now and then, we all tolerate things in our lives that makes it difficult for us to please God. And when we know we're not pleasing God, we typically aren't happy with ourselves either. This is one reason that Hebrews 12:1 tell us to "...lay aside every weight..." The words "lay aside" are taken from the Greek work, apotithimi, a compound of the words apo and tithimi. Apo meansaway and the word tithimi means to place or lay something down. These two words when compounded gives a picture of someone who is laying something down while at the same time he is pushing it far away from himself. Removing sin from our lives will not occur accidentally. We must decide to change - to remove, to lay aside, to put away attitudes and actions that don't please God and adversely affect our walk of faith. Also, this verse refers to these incorrect attitudes and actions as "weights." The word "weight" is from the Greek word ogkos - a word that describes a burden or something so heavy and cumbersome that it impedes a runner from running the race as he should. What if an athlete tries to run the race with loads of extra weight? S/he certainly would not be able to run very far! That is exactly what sinful attitudes and actions do to your walk with the LORD. If you don't remove them, they will eventuallyweigh you down and knock you out of the race of faith! The Holy Spirit is urging you and me to take a good look at our lives and then remove everything that weighs us down and keeps us from a life of obedience. We must be honest with ourselves and with God. Do you have a habit, attitude, action or sin that binds you? Are you plagued by a fear that weighs you down and keeps you from fulfilling your potential in Christ? Make a rock-solid, quality decision today to grab hold of those unnecessary burdens and remove, lay aside, and permanently put them away from your life. Once you make that decision, you'll find yourself running your race of faith with much more ease as you press on to victory! This post was adapted from Sparkling Gems from the Greek BE HOLY. BE A MAN. |
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