everything goes back to the garden

August 6, 2008 at 5:36 pm (church plant, rant, wife)
Tags: , , , , , ,

It probably started about a year ago for me (earlier for more scholarly types), but this fact finally settled inside me. It took hold of my thinking and as I moved through life, I found it to be unbelievably true. It was just too simple, almost childlike in concept.

The sins we battle today, the problems we encounter, the issues we face can all be traced back to the garden. Back to the original sin that took place there and ultimately the consequences of that sin handed down by God. Many people call this the curse, however I can’t seem to find God cursing anything but the serpent and the ground for which man will toil.

I don’t believe we are cursed, but we do have to deal with the consequences of that original sin. Everyday. Which is why we desperately need our Lord and Savior.

One of the hot topics of today is the feminization of the church and/or why men don’t go to church.

The church building is too foo-foo. The church building has too many flowers. The worship music is played in keys too high for my voice. The pictures of Jesus are too girly. Everything about the church is done for women.

Seriously? This is what keeps men from church? Flowers and kleenex? When did so many men become such gutless wimps?

The fact is that men, in general haven’t stepped up the ladder to lead in various ministries, so women have filled that gap. However, when men do put their feet on the bottom rungs, women are the first ones to get their hackles up because men are trying to “rule over” what we’ve already done and the fear of being subjugated takes over. The past abuse of authority in the lives of women is still too fresh for many to grow beyond.

So here we are…back to the garden.

The man said, ““The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”” (Genesis 3:12)

The woman You gave me decorated the church with foo-foo and flowers and put kleenex boxes on the chairs and I am making You responsible via her actions for my problem.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ““Did God actually say, ‘‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’’?”” (Genesis 3:1)

Men gave over their responsibilities and we took on leadership (and headship for many) and now, we’re supposed to just bow down and let them have it back? That can’t possibly be what’s written in Your word. No man will ever rule me.

Family issues today.
Marriage problems.
Church divisions about men/women roles in church.
Cultural norms.
All of it…traces back to the garden.

The results in our lives today?
Unaccountability,
Abdicating leadership.
Usurping authority.
Rebellion.
Pride.

I am very thankful for a husband like Derek, who loves God more than he loves excuses. A man who clearly sees what God intended for him from the beginning. A man who can tuck in his shirt, zip up his own pants and walk the path of a Godly man. He isn’t emasculated over a flower pot. He isn’t threatened by worship music. He doesn’t even care about the color of the walls.

He is a godly man in service to the most high God. He is setting an example for other men, who will in turn set the example for other men and so forth and so on.

And my advice to women? If your man is at the bottom rung of the ladder, he can’t get to the top with you standing in his way. You want a godly man to lead? Be a godly woman and let him.

3 Comments

green is no longer mean

June 27, 2008 at 8:35 pm (rant)
Tags: , ,

After reading page after page of the revitalization of being Green, and as a former Green’er I just can’t resist blabbing about it.

So, what is up with the reintroduction of Green?

I feel like I fell into a time warp and landed smack in the middle of a Greenpeace rally. I am also shocked to learn that today’s Green is not the same as yesteryear’s Green.

Yesteryear’s Green was all about joining Amnesty International and chaining oneself to a tree or a whale or even a baby seal. It was about anger. Anger at the injustice shown to the world we had been left in charge of since the Garden of Eden. Anger at big business overtaking the world with a bulldozer and barrel full of toxic waste.

Today’s Green seems to be more about things like recycling tuna cans or using solar power. I think that’s great – we need to turn tuna into some kind of power source. The smell alone could power a small vehicle for days.

My point is: where is the righteous indignation at the atrocities mankind has done to the environment in the name of big bucks and big business.

Seriously, take a look back at the 60’s-70’s tree huggers and then fast forward to the tree huggers of today…what happened? It’s like everyone got neutered.

I went from angry, tree-hugging vegetarian to going with the flow for many years now, but am ready to get back on the Green horse and wagon. I have a few products that when used up…well, they’ll just be used up and I won’t be buying any more. I’m nearly rid of all the plastic grocery store bags, too.

I’ve made the plunge into buying those really cool canvas bags for toting groceries and other purchased items, figuring the one time cost will certainly outweigh any future damage to the planet by my hands. I had to find just the right color with the correct lettering so people would admire me for being so Green. After all, we as Christians were left in charge as caretakers of this world and what have we done with it? Might as well be Green with style.

So, I think I’m all set for a Green future with cloth napkins, reusable flatware and plates along with a canvas tote bag and earth friendly cleaning products.

Now all I have to is arm myself with a cell phone, iPod, palm pilot, blackberry, blueberry and any other radioactive or unstable piece of technology that I have available.

That should just about do it. I still don’t know what to do with this big chain I saved for tree huggin’.

Peace y’all.

3 Comments

babies and their bathwater

June 6, 2008 at 6:26 pm (rant)
Tags: ,

How many times have we heard, “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater?” And how many times have you scratched your head and thought, “what baby?”

I do nearly every time I hear this phrase. Usually because of the context of the conversation and the fact that this phrase makes little sense to me. The actual meaning states: to get rid of the good parts as well as the bad parts of something when you are trying to make improvements.

So how does this phrase get used in Christian circles today?

I know you were waiting to see how I was going to parlay that one into a spiritual discussion.

A perfect example is ridding the church of today’s pop psychology. I’m not talking about medical conditions, I am talking about convenient labels, excuses for behaviors and an overall worship of what a man in a lab coat says over what the God of the universe has already stated.

When psychology/psychiatry is combined with the bible or you actually use the belief system (meaning Christianity) of a state licensed psychologist/psychiatrist as a descriptive label, i.e. “Christian” Psychologist/Psychiatrist then you get what is commonly referred to as an Integrationist – someone who attempts to take what they learned for their state license (complete with Freud, Jung, Wundt and a host of others) and fuse it with the “principles” of scripture. Confusing? Absolutely.

I’m addressing the baby of sound doctrine and the bathwater of psycho-babbled nonsense that inhibits the Gospel and weakens the body of Christ. The bathwater that encourages us to look to labels and personality tests rather than God’s word and the instruction found there. The bathwater that does not include spiritual affirmation within the body.

But the baby states very clearly:
2 Timothy 3:12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

The bathwater further frustrates the Gospel in our lives by allowing us the sinful excuse to blame our past for the way we live our lives today. We can justify and rationalize our behavior because of some past abuse or the way our parents raised us or because we didn’t get enough ice cream as a child. Who knows…everybody’s got some traumatic experience relevant only to them. (And I am not making light of any real tragedy in someone’s life – I am addressing the dwelling on the past via whatever excuse we might have in the present.)

However, once we have learned the truth of our sinful hearts, the godly way to handle our past and even the biblical way to move through life . . . then, we become responsible for it. We no longer have the convenience of “blame” and therefore, as Christians we must look to God’s word for the answers. We find and know the Truth and the Truth should lead to obedience. The Truth never encourages us to wallow in our past. I capitalize Truth because in scripture it is referring directly to Jesus as the Truth.

So, while we are encouraged by many of our Integrated friends to not be so hard on ourselves because of something in our past, we must first look to God’s word as our foundation and learn what is at the heart of our current state. I know for me, it’s usually a pride issue or at the very least an area in my life that I am clinging to because I don’t want to do the work it takes to rid myself of it. Laziness. Sloth.

Many of us are like that. Yes, we can be free from depression, but it’ll take some work. I will have to admit my own sin in the midst of my suffering in order to gain clarity about it. I will have to confess any unforgiveness and move through obedience and trust God for that outcome. It’s work and there’s always the personal luggage that we’ve dragged behind us for so long, we can’t even begin to think who we’d be without it.

Can’t I just take the blue pill?

God has reassured us of our freedom. Part of that freedom is having the faith to trust God!

So, throwing out the baby with the bathwater?

The reality is that I love the baby too much to NOT throw out the bathwater.

Leave a Comment