Did you ever see Slumdog Millionaire?

It’s the Oscar winning film about a teenager from the Dhavari slum of Mumbai, India that  (SPOILER ALERT) miraculously wins the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.

Well, this weekend the National Geographic Channel ran a special called The Real Slumdogs. (Yes, I watch a lot of the National Geographic Channel.) The documentary is an indepth look at the real residents of the Dhavari slum featured in the movie.

In a lot of ways, Dhavari was much like what you would expect. People live in utter poverty. Homes are barely standing shacks pieced together with whatever debris happens to be laying around. There is virtually no running water, electricity is almost non-existent, and sewage runs openly in the streets. In Dhavari, people make a living by any means necessary, including rummaging through the dump, separating out recycable plastic so that they can make a whopping $5 a day.

But there are a lot of other things present in Dhavari that I was not expecting.

Despite what most of us on the outside might assume, Dhavari is a place full of hope, determination, compassion, grace, and an incredible will to survive. Just beneath the surface is a community of people who look after and take care of one another. It is a community which despite its circumstances is full of hope for the future.

In particular, the show highlighted a young mother who works incredibly hard to put her daughter through school. Even though her days are spent endlessly sorting out plastic from the trash, this mother still takes time to volunteer for a group called the Acorn Foundation which seeks to improve the lives of the residents of Dhavari. Ignoring the criticism of her mother who constantly chastises her for wasting time on something that doesn’t earn her any money, this woman choses a life of self-sacrifice, devoting herself both to her daughter’s future as well as helping those around her meet their most basic needs for survival.

As I was watching this woman extend hope and grace to her neighbors, and as I witnessed some of those same neighbors also going out of their way to ensure that new members of the community had food to eat, water to drink, and clothes to wear, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “This looks really familiar.”

It looks a lot like Jesus.

When we in the Church talk about incarnating or being Jesus to the world, these are the very sorts of things we talk about. These are the sorts of things Jesus command us to do over and over again. You don’t get much more “Christlike” than loving, serving, and caring for your neighbors. Simply put, selfless devotion to others is at the heart of the gospel.

Which made me think, “What do we do when the embodient of Jesus is present, but the people through whom he is incarnated neither speak the name of Jesus nor claim him as Lord?”

In other words, how should the Church react when a form of Jesus is present somewhere, even though Jesus isn’t formally present through either the church or professing Christians?

It seems to me that this is one of the great questions facing the Church in an ever increasingly connected 21st century global society. What are we do to when we encounter the kingdom of God being lived out among people who have either never heard of or choose to ignore the Church’s gospel?

Some of us may be quick to dismiss this as an aberration or simply ignore it. However, with evangelicalism’s emphasis on being the sole source of truth and goodness in the world, I think the evangelical church, in particular, must address this issue in an open and honest manner.

Now, we could simply label these sorts of actions as “mere” good deeds and ignore them. That is exactly what many of us do. When we put all the emphasis of the gospel on “faith alone”, then perhaps this is possible since in that scenario good deeds are functionally irrelevant.

However, those in the neo-Reformed or Calvinist camp are always quick to emphasize our complete and total depravity. If that is true, and these people haven’t “come to Jesus” and received the redemption necessary to embody the gospel, then where does this ability to do good come from? In light of total depravity it can’t come from within. It must come from an outside source. Since Jesus isn’t present in this paradigm because these people have not “confessed him with their lips”, then the only other outside source would be the guy with horns and a pitch fork.

But clearly the devil doesn’t do good things. To suggest otherwise, that the devil is empowering people to embody the gospel as part of some bizarre scheme to lead people astray by doing the very things Jesus wanted them to do, is a form of theological gymnastics that I’m just not capable of.

So, that leaves us with only one option. The power to do these good things, the power to embody the gospel even in a partial way can only come from God.

If that is the case and these sorts of good things can only come from God, then I think we should be asking ourselves “What does it mean for the church that God is at work in these people apart from their “knowing Jesus” in the formal sense.” At the very least, we should pause to ask “Is God trying to tell us something?”

I think that God is.

Now, there are many of us in the church who have reacted to this very sort of situation and gone the complete opposite direction of traditional evangelicalism, seeking to replace orthodoxy with orthopraxy. In others, this group would want to define “Christian” more by what we do or the community we help to create than what we confess with our lips.

I think that there is certainly some validity here. However, despite my love for passages like Matthew 25, I’m not sure that in the end this is a healthy move. Confession is formative. It shapes both we are and who we are not. It is our rule of faith that guides our lives. It is incredibly important and should not be altogether abandoned.

Yet, while confession certainly shapes the community, as we become more interconnected and witness Jesus in places where no one talks or thinks about Jesus we need to remember that the first disciples followed Jesus before they knew who he really was. They were disciples before they ever confessed him as Lord.

Confession eventually came, and it was a much needed source of direction for the early church, but the first disciples are testament to the fact that sometimes we learn to live the “right” life before we learn to say and think the “right” things.

More often than not, however, evangelicalism is more concerned with verbal confession and intellectual ascent than establishing the kingdom of God. We are more concerned with being “right” than doing the work of redemption and reconciliation. In short, evangelicalism has become so obsessed with being “right” that we’ve forgotten what we need to be “right” about. Doctrine and confession are important, but ultimately the gospel is primarily concerned with a “right” way of living in the world. This is why the book of Revelation is dedicated to describing a new heaven and a new earth, not a new systematic theology.

That being said, I do not think this should be a battle between a confessional and a communal faith. I do not believe that we need to make a choice. Rather, we need to learn make more space in our theology and practice for people who “come to the faith” by embodying the faith before they ever verbally confess their allegiance to our community. If we are going to talk about incarnating Jesus to the world, if we are going to speak about “kingdom life” as something that involves things like grace, hope, love, self-sacrifice, and caring for one another, then we must be honest when we see it outside the church and name it for what it is: the kingdom of God breaking in to the world around us.

I want to be clear, I am not calling for universalism. I believe that there are some major, irreconcilable ontological (and in many cases teleological) differences in the world’s great religions. To simply brush aside these differences is ignorant, arrogant, and disrespectful of each tradition.

I simply want to raise the question: What do we do when we see the presence of Jesus, but no one is claiming his name? I’m not sure I have the answer to that question. But if I could suggest anything, it would be that we as the 21st century church should learn to do a better job of recognizing and embracing what John Wesley called “prevenient grace”. For Wesley, God is at work in the world, reconciling creation long before we ever recognize God’s activity (if we ever do). In other words, neither the Church nor a formal confession of faith in Jesus need be present for God to be at work in someone’s life. For us as Christians, this should be a humbling reminder that though we may often be the vehicle of God’s grace and activity in the world, we are not it’s source.

If we can learn to embrace the idea of prevenient grace, then I think we will be able to find a way to affirm the work of God as something which can be authentically carried out through people who do not claim the name of Jesus. In doing so, we will be able to maintain both our orthodoxy and orthopraxy.

Let me close with a story from one my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. In The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis describes a scene where the faithful followers of Aslan (aka God) are walking around the new Narnia (aka. new earth) when they encounter one of the last people they ever expected to see, a Calormene soldier named Emeth. This young man was a devote follower of the false god Tash, so the loyal followers of Aslan were shocked to see someone like him in paradise. Emeth was just as shocked. When he eventually has his encounter with Aslan, he reminds the great lion, “I am no son of thine, but the servant of Tash.” It is then that we read one of the most theologically dense passages in all of children’s literature,

“[Aslan] answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he had truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child? I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.”

While this is merely C.S. Lewis’ personal theological speculation and not the gospel, we do see this sort of prophetic hope echoed in the book of Isaiah. In the 19th chapter, God tells of God’s plan to redeem and restore two of Israel’s arch enemies, Egypt and Assyria. One day God will look at these “pagan” nations and say “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

It’s important to point out that this comes about after their redemption and restoration, not before it. But it is equally important to pay attention to the fact that God does not abandon people as quickly and definitively as we do. Neither does God seem to be as interested in only doing the work of redemption through God’s chosen people. What we see in this passage is repeated throughout the Bible in stories about a priestly king named Melchizedek, a pagan prostitute named Rahab, a Moabite woman named Ruth, a Roman centurion who simply had faith, a Samaritan woman sitting by a well, and a whole host of Gentiles who brought the kingdom of God to the very ends of the earth.

Once again, I do not subscribe to the notion that “all religions are different paths to the same God.” I simply want to give God the credit for working in the world and being faithful to God’s promise to redeem all of creation. How God chooses to do that is not something we are in a place to criticize. So, when we do encounter Jesus in places where we think Jesus isn’t present, let us embrace it, celebrate it, and find ways to participate in it that are faithful to our calling to be the church in and for the world.

God is at work in the world whether we are there or not, and that is a very good thing.

Grace and peace,

Zack Hunt

I received some great news yesterday.

I’ve been accepted into Yale Divinity School!

I’m humbled, excited, proud, nervous, and just about everything in between.

But there’s a catch.

Whether or not I am actually able to attend Yale, or any other school that I’ve applied for, is entirely dependent upon where my wife “matches” for her residency. This May my wife will graduate from medical school, which is awesome and I’m incredibly proud of her. However, that’s just half the battle. After med school, all doctors must do time in residency before their medical training is complete. Unfortunately, the residency process is not as simple as just applying for an open position at a hospital of your choice.

Medical students must first apply to dozens of hospitals, some of which will grant them an interview. After the interviews are done, students rank those hospitals based on which ones they would like to attend most. The hospitals also rank the students based on who they want to be in their program. Then comes the really fun part: a computer “matches” every student in the country to a particular hospital.

This isn’t an immediate process. In began last September and will not end until this spring.

All medical students this year (except those in really competitive fields such as urology and ophthalmology who find out “early”) will find out where they go at the same time: March 16th. At 12pm that day my wife, along with thousands of other people, will open up the envelope that will quite literally reveal our future. We could end up any in of a dozen spots from Connecticut, to South Carolina, to California, and many other places in between. The envelope will tell us what to do.

It’s surreal.

Although, that’s not to say I would not have liked a few envelopes in the past to tell me what to do with my future. Instead of having to decide on my own what college to go to, or what career to pursue, or where to live, wouldn’t things have just been easier if I could have opened up an envelope to tell me what to do, who to be, where to go, or even what meal to eat when I can’t decide between steak or seafood?

Sure, that might take “free will” out of the equation, but it would keep me from doing the “wrong” thing.

Of course, there are almost never envelopes waiting to be opened which will tell us which decision we “should” make. But that doesn’t stop us from looking for them. And it doesn’t keep us from becoming enslaved to them either.

How do you become enslaved to imaginary fortune telling envelopes? It’s actually quite easy. Many of us do it without it even realizing it, especially if we are people of faith.

As Christians we may not have “envelopes”, but we do have something far more powerful: God’s will.

For many of us, God’s will is a predetermined plan for our lives. For many of us, God has already written the story of our lives, making all of our decisions for us in advance. It is simply our job to figure out what that will, or plan, is and follow it. In other words, we need to find the envelopes God has left for us and follow their directions.

Here’s the catch…….there are no envelopes.

It makes for a nice narrative. It fits well within theological systems which demand that God is in control of absolute everything at all times, having already predetermined everything. However, this sort of theology undermines the very foundation of the Christian faith.

When we look at the cross we see a God who has given up control. Period.

Either God gave up control and allowed humanity to murder Jesus, or what we are witnessing is either an act of patricide, suicide, or both; neither of which are theologically tenable.

That act of kenosis, or giving up, would be frightening and probably cause to abandon faith in God if the story stopped there, but it doesn’t. We when continue on to Easter morning we see a God who is ultimately in control, but who is willing to give up some of that control for the sake of God’s creation.

This should have a profound impact on our understanding of God, the future, and how we are called to live our lives.

If the Biblical narrative teaches us anything, it’s that the people of God are in a dynamic relationship with their God. They are not mere robots responding to the push of a divine button. There are countless times with they reject the commands of God. If they weren’t free to do this, and it was in fact God who forced them to do this, then they could not be held accountable and God would be both the author of sin and the source of evil.

Instead, we see a God who chooses to journey with God’s people. God certainly goes before them leading the way, but God is not standing at the finish line waiting for them to find envelopes scattered along the way which will show us the “right” path.

God journeys with us.

God gives us the power, ability, and responsibility to make our own decisions. God allows us to decide where we want to live, who we want to marry, what job we want to have, or even what color car we want to buy. God does not force anything upon us. Even when God “calls” us to something particular, God does not force us to “answer”. Instead, God has chosen to work through us, rather than work above or before us predetermining all of life. If that were the case, then “life” would be nothing more than a grand illusion, a divine joke.

That’s not to say that God does not have a “will” or a “plan” for our lives, but we must be very clear about what that means. God does not have a unique will for each of our lives because God has not predetermined every moment of our lives. God’s will is the same for all of us: God wants us to be in a loving relationship with God so that we can participate in God’s redemption of all things.

Likewise, God does have a “plan” for each of us, but it is not a mystery we need to unravel or an envelope we need to find and open. We all have gifts, talents, abilities, and passions. If we believe that God created us, then there is only one place from which those gifts could have been given, there is only one source of our talent and (healthy) passions: God. God gave us the talent to do the things we do well and the passion to do them. God gave us these gifts and passions because God wants us to use them. When we do that, when we use our gifts for the kingdom of God, then we are doing the “will” of God, we are living out God’

In other words, God’s will or plan for our lives should be a source of freedom and fulfillment, not life draining enslavement. If you want to be a teacher, teach. If you want to be a musician, play your music. If you want to go into business, go into business. If you want to be a plumber, be a plumber. But do it all for the glory of God and you will find yourself right smack in the center of God’s will for your life.

We don’t have to fret and worry about choosing the “wrong” path, because there is no “wrong” path, at least in the sense an occupation or college or place to live where God cannot accomplish God’s redemptive work. It is here where we can really see the amazing grace of God at work. Regardless of where we choose to go or what we choose to do, God can and does work through us, even when we make mistakes.

There may be no fortune telling envelopes to open, but that’s a good thing.

Because we don’t know what lies around each corner we must be prepared for anything. This preparation forms us into to better people, matures our character, and enables us to answer the call to be ready “both in season and out of season.” Not knowing and then having to make decisions as life unfolds allows to be active participants in our own lives, rather than lazy robots waiting for God to push a divine button. God created us and gave us wonderful gifts, talents, and passions because God wants to see what we can do with them. Like any parent, God is waiting to see what we become. He has the same ultimate plan for all of us, but the in between time is wide open.

So use the gifts and passions  God has given you for the kingdom of God. Direct them in such a way that they become redemptive work and you will not have to worry about whether what you are doing is the “will of God” or “God’s plan of your life” because you will be dwelling in God’s presence. God’s heart will become your heart, God’s mind your mind and you will be the person God created you to be, living the life you were “supposed” to live.

I don’t know what that envelope will say on March 16 when my wife opens it. But I do know that God has journey with us in the past, preparing the way when we moved to Memphis five years ago. And because He has journeyed with us before and has promised to do so again, I have no doubt that God will be with us no matter where we go. And no matter what we choose to do, if we do it in service to the kingdom of God, then we will be right smack in the middle of God’s will for our lives.

Grace and peace,

Zack Hunt 

It’s been a while since we’ve posted anything from our old friend William Tapley, aka The Third Eagle of The Apocalypse.

Apparently his appearances on Anderson Cooper’s Ridiculist and The Colbert Report tempered someone of his trademark zaniness.

That’s not to say he hasn’t posted anything in the post couple of months, it just hasn’t reached that level of prophetic crazy needed to justify a post.

Well, The Third Eagle seems to have gotten his grove back.

In this enlightening video we learn about the “numerical significance” of Whitney Houston’s death. That’s right. Whitney Huston’s death was “a warning from Almighty God to the United States of America and to our President Barack Obama.”

Mr. Tapley is “convinced that God took Whitney Houston at a particular time to give us a warning;” meaning that all the numbers surrounding her death, her age, birthday, death date, etc. have prophetic significance.

Of course they do. Why didn’t TMZ see that?!

So, what is God warning about?

Well, you’ll just have to watch and find out. We wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise for you.

But, you can assume that Houston’s death has something to do with World War III, the end of America, and the death of the Catholic church.

We’ve given away too much already, so just sit back, relax, and enjoy your ride on the crazy train….

I’ve wondered for a long time why faith healings don’t always work.

Thank you Pat Robertson for finally explaining it to me.

This doesn’t really have anything to do with American Christianity.

Although, technically it’s about oppression and Christians should speak up for the oppressed, so BOOM! Post justified!

Anyway, this was on the Daily Show last night and, for me, it may be the most brilliant thing in the history of ever.

Wyatt Cenac takes a look at PETA’s lawsuit against SeaWorld and the “enslavement” of 5 orcas. It’s absolutely perfect satire.

Enjoy….

If Jack Chick’s old school paper tracts don’t do it for you and you want to bring your street evangelism into the 21st century, then this app may be the thing for you.

But be warned…..if you want to get serious about your evangelism it’s going to cost you. And we don’t me costly like your pride or even your time.

We mean costly as in $.99 + $9.99 + $19.95 for all of the evangelism packets you’ll need to buy.

Hey, preaching the gospel doesn’t come cheap!

And just in case you get nervous and don’t know what else to say, there’s FAQs to answer any tough questions or a YouTube video you can show to your potential convert.

Evangelism is as simple as just pressing play!

It’s crunch time.

Lent is only a week away and you need to find something to give up for 40 days.

Last year we gave you our list of the top 10 things you should give up for Lent. It was more successful than we could have imagined: over 30,000 hits in 3 days and it reached the #1 result on Google for that topic (which is just crazy). So, we’ve decided to make it an annual thing.

After all, we really do love the season of Lent (for real) and we want to do everything we can to help you find something to give up (sort of for real) during this important time in the church calendar.

So, without further ado, and in no particular order, here is our list of the Top 10 Things To Give Up For Lent 2012….

10. Oh By The Way “Musicians”

As in “I wear the most ridiculous thing possible as an article of clothing, my “concerts” are primarily over the top, offensive choreography, all of my decisions are based on what will generate the most buzz, and oh by the way I’m also a ‘musician’.”

I don’t doubt that somewhere buried deep down underneath all of the, um, mess there is genuine talent. But why bother with this nonsense when there are people like Adele, The Civil Wars, or Mumford & Sons in the world? Look, if you’re not ready to make that step, the least you could do is catch a little Bieber Fever. It’s highly contagious and easy to catch. Never say never! We should all be Beliebers!

Sorry, I got distracted. What was I saying again? Oh yeah…

The future of civilization itself rests upon your ability to give this one up, not just for 40 days, but forever. So stay strong. The world is counting on you!

9. The 2012 Apocalypse

Speaking of the future, one of the families I saw on Doomsday Preppers the other day was convinced that later this year the magnetic poles will reverse positions and the continents will be set adrift. In other words, they were convinced that the John Cusack movie 2012 was, in fact, a prophetic documentary. But that’s not the saddest part. The saddest part is waayyy too many of us think the same thing!

The world will come to an end someday, but don’t bet your future on a John Cusack movie. Maybe a Daniel Day Lewis or Morgan Freeman movie, but not John Cusack.

If you have already stockpiled for the apocalypse, try giving some of your 30 tons of freeze dried corn away to friends and neighbors. Yes, it may turn out to be your “coming out” party as a doomsday prepper, but they will quickly think better of you when they realize you’ve made the decision to stop basing your life on a John Cusask movie.

8. _____________ ing

First there was “planking”, then it was “Tebowing”, and now there’s “Bradying”. When will the madness stop?! Will we have to come to the point when Christian teenagers finally pick up the trend and start posing standing up, knees bent with their head bowed, arms stretched open wide and call it “Jesusing” ?! (Trust me, that will happen eventually)

The _______ing phenomenon must come to end and what better time to stop ridiculous poses than Lent! So over the next 40 days, pray to God for the strength to say “no” whenever you are tempted to strike a _______ing pose in a picture. If we can all commit to this, the world will be a better place.

But if you can’t make this commitment, then let’s all start “Jesusing” and we can just call it evangelism!

7. Paying In Exact Change

Little known fact: you do not get a trophy or even a discount for paying in exact change at the grocery store or any other store for that matter.

Based on my experiences at the grocery store many people do not seem to be aware of this. They will stand in line for what I’m pretty sure is at least an hour counting out their change, asking the cashier exactly how much they owe, counting out more change, then digging around in their pocket or purse to find that nickle they know they have, before asking the cashier yet again how much it is they owe, and then finally paying.

This is absurd and unnecessary. It’s the 21st century. Get a card and save us both the time. What? You don’t trust yourself to be responsible with a debit card, let alone a credit card? Well, let me be the first to formally welcome you to adulthood. It’s time to learn some responsibility. At the very least, learn how to round up, hand the cashier a twenty, and trust that the computerized register can actually do basic math.

Just think of what you’ll be able to do with all that time! You could send a tweet to let your friends know how efficient you are, use that extra time to travel and take a leisurely, 30 second longer walk to your car, or you could even write a really, really, ridiculously short novel. The possibilities are endless!

6. Your New Year’s Resolution

I didn’t make a New Year’s Resolution this year. To be honest, I haven’t made one in a long time. Not because I think they’re a particularly bad thing, but I know that by the time February comes around I will probably break that resolution.

Many of you probably made some sort of resolution this year. Well, if you’re still going strong, then congrats….it’s time to quit!

Look, you weren’t going to last much longer anyway. And any weight you might have lost will just be put back on once the holidays roll around again. Do yourself a favor, quit now and start enjoying life! Besides, the world will be ending come December 21st, so all that extra effort to quite smoking and “add a few years to your life” is really just a waste of energy.

Forget your resolution and use the time we have left before the Mayan Apocalypse to treat yo self!

5.  Pinterest

If you’re a woman, married to a woman, work with women, or simply know someone who is a woman, then you’re probably familiar with Pinterest.

That’s not to say there aren’t a few men on Pinterest too, but if dogs are “man’s best friend”, then Pinterest has quickly become women’s best friend.

Whenever I look over to my wife and ask her what she’s doing, she almost always responds “Just looking at something on Pinterest”. Now, our kitchen has become the testing ground for countless recipies. In the past few weeks alone I’ve eaten everything from pull apart cinnamon roll bread, to blueberry muffin cake, to honey lime grilled shrimp. The amount of food is as insane as it is diverse.

So ladies, for Lent his year you should give up……wait a second.

My wife is a lady.

If she gives up Pinterest, then I won’t have anymore delicious new foods to enjoy!

Never mind!!

Don’t give up Pinterest!! I repeat, DO NOT give up Pinterest!!

4. Divinely Appointed Presidential Candidates

One of the four men pictured above will be the Republican candidate for President. Which one is, of course, yet to be determined.

What has been determined for 3 of these candidates is that their Presidential campaign has been ordained by God.

At least that what’s they have claimed and what many of their supporters believe. The thought then, is that by voting for that candidate the vote is casting their ballot for God’s will. Of course, this isn’t true and nothing does more harm in an election than “playing the God card” to get votes.

There will be plenty of time between now and November to debate about which candidate loves Jesus more, but for Lent can we at least stop trying to determine who God’s anointed candidate is supposed to be?

Think about it this way: If indeed God has called a tone deaf wooden robot, a serial adulterer who has a thing for ditching seriously ill spouses, a guy in a sweater vest with not much else going on, and your eccentric old grandfather who thinks it’s still 1776 to run for President of the United States, then I think God is sending America a clear message. God wants Barack Obama to be reelected.

3. Mark Driscoll

This one might be the hardest one of them all. At least for me. Not, as some commenters have suggested, because I am “obsessed” by the guy, but because as the great Forrest Gump once said, he’s “like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” Except this box of chocolates is full of crazy, hateful theology.

I think that Matt Appling is right when he says that people like Driscoll and John Piper tend to create a culture of tabloid Christianity. On the other hand, they have profound influence over countless pastors and I think that they should be held accountable when they say things that are anything but Christian. Part of me wants to believe that if we all just ignore them, then maybe they’ll just go away. Of course, that won’t happen though. Celebrity preachers don’t know the meaning of the word “anonymity”.

So, here’s what I’m thinking. Let’s all, both fans and critics alike, give up Mark Driscoll for Lent. No talking about him, no listening to him, no watching his videos, and no reading his books. And if that works, then maybe we can figure out a way to give him up forever and restore hope to the future of the church!

Of course, if that doesn’t work, then we’ll just get Mark Driscoll and N.T. Wright to fight it out in the octagon for the future of the church. You may think Driscoll would be the obvious winner, but that’s just because you don’t know about Wright’s ninja skills!

2. Christian Sobriety 

I’m not talking about not drinking.

I’m talking the apparent inability for so many of us in the Church to laugh at ourselves. The great Heath Ledger once said “Why so serious?” True, he was talking to Batman, but he just as easily could have been talking to Christians. It’s ok to laugh. It’s even ok to poke fun at each other every once in while. This may come as a shock to your system, but Jesus actually had a sense of humor. He even cracked a few jokes in the Gospels. Granted, Jesus had a 1st century sense of humor and those jokes kind of fall flat today, but we’ll give him a pass. After all, he did die for the sins of all mankind, so we sort of owe him one.

In response to our lighthearted take on a Mars Hill Church job application, one of our commenters wrote, “The church needs to be able to banter like this. That’s what family does; they hold up mirrors to each other.” I could not agree more.

It’s ok to look back at old, cheesy Christian music videos and laugh, just like it’s ok to look back at our parent’s prom pictures from the ’70s and laugh. Laughing at ourselves keeps us humble and reminds us that we’re not perfect. That is a very good and a very Christian thing to do.

So this Lenten season, let’s all try to remember how to laugh again. There are plenty of things to take seriously in life, but goofy Christian culture is not one of them.

1. “Me”

If giving up Mark Driscoll for Lent is difficult, then giving up “me” is next to impossible. But if you can figure out how to do, then it just might change your life.

You could give up chocolate, or caffeine, or maybe even red meat, but at the end of the day, or should I say 40 days, what good does that do? You’ll go back to eating chocolate, drinking things with caffeine, and enjoying steak as soon as the calendar rolls over to day 41.

But what if you did something truly radical this year? What if you gave up yourself for Lent? What if for the next 40 days you put others needs before your own? What if instead of “looking out for number 1″, you started looking out for others, friends, family, neighbors, even strangers? What if for the next 40 days you woke up every morning and the first thought that went through your head was “How can I serve the people I encounter today”? What would happen?

If you could find the courage to give up yourself this Lenten season, instead of “stuff”, then you may just find that when Easter finally rolls around there will be another resurrection to celebrate. Having died to self over the past 40 days you will be able to join with Paul in declaring “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I that live, but He who lives within me.”

If that happens, then it won’t just be you that’s changed. In becoming the hands and feet of Christ you become the means through which God extends God’s redemptive grace to the world. If you can find the courage to give up yourself for Lent, then you might just end up changing the world.

What if?

Grace and peace,

Zack Hunt

Today is Valentine’s Day.

Personally, my wife and I choose to celebrate on the 15th of February. Why?

Because all of the Valentine’s Day candy is half off!

But if your significant other expects you to celebrate today and you somehow managed to forget that today is Valentine’s Day, fear not! We have your solution.

You could rush out and buy overpriced chocolate and roses. Or you could desperately try to find a dinner reservation somewhere nice. (Good luck with that)

Or……you could save yourself a lot of time and money, not just this year, but forever if instead you have your significant other sit down and watch this video.

In this brief video he or she will learn that Valentine’s Day is in fact a pagan holiday which “true” Christians should not be celebrating.

Once she learns this valuable spiritual lesson you’ll be off the hook forever!*

*WARNING: Side effects from showing this clip to your significant other include: receiving the look of death, no Valentine’s Day lovin’, breaking up, and never being able to date anyone ever again.

In light of yesterday’s post on Doomsday Preppers I thought this would make a good followup.

I know nothing about the author, apart from the author description on the website where the book is being sold. Apparently, he’s not your run of the mill crazy guy living in his basement. If the author bio is true, he was educated at Duke, holds a doctorate in education, and is a department head at the University of Kentucky.

So there’s that.

According to the book’s description,

This book will actually provide practical help tips and strategies on how you can survive the tribulation period. In this book you will learn, by the midway point of the tribulation period, 50% of the world’s population will likely be dead. But it doesn’t have to be you or one of your loved one’s. You will learn that you and your family will likely spend at least half the tribulation period on the run as fugitives with little more than the clothes on your back and what you can carry. You will learn what advanced skills you will need to acquire (and where the best places are to get them), based on tribulation period events, if you are to survive this most horrible time period. In this book, you will find that just building a basement shelter (in your home), storing mountains of food and water, medical supplies, and bunkering down for 7 years is not only a poor survival strategy, but totally unrealistic for this time period. You will also encounter various supernatural plagues, natural disasters and wars that will claim the lives of the majority of the global population…..This book was created to provide a survival guide through the tribulation period for those left behind. This isn’t just your typical survival guide; it’s a survival guide based on Biblical tribulation period events. My goal in writing this book is to provide Biblical direction as to what might happen following the rapture, the order in which events may come, and an approximate timeline as to when each event may take place. This Bible based guide gives you timely advice straight from Jesus Himself regarding this time of trouble.”

Personally, I wasn’t aware that Jesus gave out post-apocalyptic survival advice or ever even mentioned the “Tribulation”. Of course, I haven’t read the entire Left Behind series, so that probably disqualifies me from having an authoritative opinion on end times prophecy.

Anyway, if you’re interested in picking up Mr. Malone’s book you can get it for free here or if you’re one of those wild and crazy kids with an iPhone or iPad you can tuck this epic survival guide in your pocket and pull it out at parties for what I’m sure would be interesting conversations.

A big thanks to Dave for sharing this amazing piece of literature with us.

This guy is amazing.

His entire show is about 45 minutes long, but we decided to give you just the highlights.

You’re welcome.

Anyway, this guy rants on just about everything, literally. He goes from screaming about the Bible, to telling us to spank our children so they don’t become rapists, to his testimony about almost being murdered by satanists who wanted to turn babies into candles, and then he naturally wraps things up with the true story behind the Kennedy assassination. Seriously.

So, just sit back and enjoy the ride.