Fear of Association

On several occasions recently I experienced a desperate urge to distance myself from the designation of Christian. This does not mean that I have been ashamed of Christ. Rather, I have been ashamed of those who claim to follow Him.

You may say that I am over reacting, but I was thoroughly repulsed by two church signs I saw recently. The first said, “Heaven is cool.” Beyond being a really bad pun (assuming hell is hot), this sign depicts a very limited and trivial understanding of God’s desire for man and the gravity and awesomeness of the Gospel message. Non-Christians reading this sign, I feel, get a very stuffy and trite view of Christianity.

The second sign said something to the effect of, “Do not let your eyes tell your heart what to believe.” Say what you like about the intent of the message, this is heretical and very poor epistemology. Our human nature (made in the image of God) has a tendency to believe what it sees. Scripture says that creation declares the existence and glory of God. Why should our eyes not inform our heart of what it believes. Perhaps the sign should say, “Do not let your heart tell your eyes what they are seeing.”

We must not allow a disconnect between our ways of determining truth and we must not act in blind faith. We are called to believe based on something. Blind faith is reckless, dishonest, and impotent to convince others of the truth. We are designed to and able to see and hear and feel and smell and taste and intuit and reason about God’s truth and then accept the message of God’s communications to us.

I recently read a brief but brutally honest account of church history in Myth of a Christian Nation by Gregory Boyd. (This is a book I highly recommend.) This account focused on the denial of the way of the suffering Christ and the use of the sword by “Christians” for most of Church history. The almost endless saga of war, torture, rape, forced conversions, persecutions, recreational killing, and inhuman slaughter all in the name of Christ and Christendom made me literally sick on my stomach. To be identified with such a legacy of blatant denial of the teachings of Christ was almost more than I could bear. I did find myself able to proudly identify myself with one of the few groups who denied this legacy. The Anabaptists were listed as one of the groups who did not practice these things.

I AM BACK AND BUSY

I am back from the honeymoon and the off the cuff trip to SC for a funeral. A week after I became a husband I also officially became an uncle. We got to see the cute little kid while in SC (Pictures soon). The official wedding photos are now available for viewing online at our photographers website. This link takes you right to our pictures. If you need any pictures taken, she is good (and she is my cousin .

The Moth

Pressed tightly against the screen,

Its body straining to reach the light,

That disguised death

Less than a grave’s length away.

Why I am starting a blog:

I have been thinking for a long time about having a place to express the random and varied thoughts, feelings, and cognitions that come to me.  I have decided that the rate of flow is steady enough that I could support enought material for a blog.  So, here is my blog, the Music of My Life. I expect that I will post something new a time or so a week.  You will see more soon unless there is divine intervention or some lesser event.