Tim Tebow

I am a Denver Broncos fan and I make no apologies for that, I’ve been a fan since I started watching football all the way back in 2003.  In those 8 years I’ve been a Denver fan, I can’t remember us ever having a season quite like this, nor can I remember a season that has been this fun to watch.  Obviously this has a lot to do with Tim Tebow.

Tim Tebow was drafted in the 2010 NFL draft by then coach Josh McDaniels (even though he was a terrible head coach, he knew the QB position better then anyone I would argue). McDaniels was fired before Tebow would start his first game, at the end of the 2010 season.  He would finish the season with a 1-2 record, with the sole victory coming against the Houston Texans in typical comeback fashion in which Tebow would pass for ever 300 yards.  Denver would finish the 2010 season with a 4-12 record and have the second overall pick in that Aprils draft (used to select rookie sensation, Von Miller).  Following the 2010 season, the NFL would go into lockout mode and Tim Tebow could not work with his new coach John Fox, new boss, John Elway, or have any communication with any member of the Broncos organization.  With a shorten preseason, Kyle Orton was placed in as starting QB.  I can’t say I blame Denver for this, Orton statistically has been an above average Quarterback, and with a shorten preseason, makes the most sense to start the more prepared Orton.  The 2011 Broncos began their season going 1-4, with their only victory coming at the hands of the overrated Bengals.  At this point, the Denver fans needed a change, insert Tebow.  Tebow replaced Orton halfway through a game against San Diego and almost finished a dramatic comeback.

Tebow is now 7-1 as Denvers starter this year and is poised to lead the team to the playoffs and make his first Pro-Bowl.  Is he the best passer in the NFL?  No, not by a long shot.  But since when is that all the Quarterback position entails?  Quarterbacking is more about leading then it is about making a pass look pretty.  Before Tebow took over, the Broncos were a combined 5-16 since the beginning of the 2010 Season.  With Tebow as the starter, they are 8-3.  Tebow somehow gets the other players to play better when he starts.  If you read any of the other players tweets, they are fully sold on Tebow as their leaders.  Von Miller, who should be NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and an anchor for our new defense, has said on multiple occasions that Tebow is his guy and he will ride with Tebow until they die.

I fully believe that all the hate Tebow receives isn’t because he doesn’t possess the same skill set as Aaron Rogers, but because he is a follower of Christ and isn’t ashamed to tell everyone.  He openly prays during games, thanks God and gives him the glory during press conferences, and talks about his relationship with Christ in interviews.  And rightfully, that makes people feel uncomfortable.  People love to watch Christians fail and do things that hurt their testimony.  I remember when I told a Christian friend of mine that John Piper was taking a leave, she assumed it was because of marital infidelity.  The world just wants Christians to fail.

Why Do Christians Hate America?

According to George Barna: “With its 195 million unchurched people, America has become the new mission field. America has more unchurched people than the entire populations of all but 11 of the world’s 194 nations.”*

According to Lost in America, by Tom Clegg and Warren Bird, 2001: “The unchurched population in the United States is so extensive that, were it a nation, it would be the fifth-largest on the planet. . . . Researchers and analysts describe North America as the world’s third-largest mission field.”

According to Os Guiness, in World Evangelization, Vol. 18, No 65, 1993: “The three strongest national challenges to the Gospel in the modern world are Japan, Western Europe, and the United States.”

According to George Gallup in 1997, only ten years ago: “More than 44% of American adults 18 and over are unchurched; 120 million Americans have no substantial Christian memory.”

Barna affirms Gallup. Consider: “America’s secularization has gone from only 15% in the 1950s up to 40% in 2001; and headed for 60% percent by 2010!” (Secularization means basing the decisions of one’s life on a secular humanist, relativist moral world view. Judeo-Christian values and the Bible are no longer the moral foundation of decision making in life for the vast majority of Americans.)

According to America: An Emerging Mission Field in World Christian Encyclopedia, Second Edition p.27: “In 2000, the United States sent out 118,200 missionaries, but it also received 33,200. Ironically, the world’s largest missionary-sending country has now become the world’s largest missionary-receiving country.” Not to mention:
The world’s largest Buddhist temple is located in Boulder, CO, USA
The world’s largest Muslim training center is in New York City, USA
The world’s largest training center for transcendental meditation is in Fairfield, Iowa, USA

According to Leighthon Ford, evangelist and Christian leader, “North America is now the largest mission field in the English-speaking world” (Cities’ and surrounding areas’ concentrated populations make them obvious targets for sharing the Gospel).

The number of churches in Chicago has decreased by 900 in the last 10 years! In many cases what were once churches are now condominiums.

England, the once great Christian missionary-sending nation for centuries, before America, now has more mosques than churches, and must itself be reached all over again with the Gospel! We are on this same path.

The more I look into and pursue doing Urban Missions in America, the more anti-america sentiment I seem to come across.  I get sarcastic comments about how I think America is the only country worthy of salvation, comments on how I don’t care about other nations or tribes who need the gospel.  I understand that the church has glamorized overseas missions (and not undeservingly, it’s crucial) and that being a missionary in America is greatly looked down upon.  When someone puts as their facebook status something about how mission work is needed in a different country, everyone comments about how they are praying for that country, how much work is needed there, etc.  When I change my status to facts about how America needs the gospel, I get attacked from Christians who tell me I attacking overseas missions.  This has me ask the question, why do American Evangelical Christians, hate America?

It’s Not About Encouragement!!

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me or inferred that the Christian community should only be about encouragement, I would have enough money to start a church that would continue to feed this false belief.

It’s amazing how blind people can actually be when it comes to the role of Christians and the Church.  The popular and widespread belief seems to be that the Christian communities sole purpose should be to encourage one another and make one another feel good about themselves, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.  The ideology that the Church exists to make us feel better about ourselves makes Christianity all about us, it turns our religion into an idol.  The Church (Christians) exit for one reason, to glorify God and to delight in him.

This isn’t going to make me any fans, but I’m sick of the “Cultural Christian” who just wants to use the death and resurrection of our Lord as an excuse to make themselves feel good and meet new people.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is anything wrong with encouraging one another, we are commanded to do it after all; but it should come as a distant second place behind glorifying God.  When we place encouraging people in front of the teaching of scripture and the study of God, it’s an idol.

Urban Epicenter

Lately, I have really felt called by God to do Urban Ministry.  I’m applying to Transfer to Moody Bible Institute next fall, it’s in Chicago, Illinois and has one of the best Urban Ministry programs in the nations (or so I hear).  I’m only about a year away from getting a BA from Shawnee, and if I transfer to Moody, it will add at least 3 more years unto my undergraduate.  However, I completely feel called to do Urban Ministry and I feel like Moody is just the place to equip me to do just that.  And in an area such as Chicago, I believe it offers me the best opportunities to do urban mission work while I’m still in school.

However, if my transfer to Moody doesn’t go through, I’m thinking I may still graduate Shawnee with an associates this coming spring and either save a bunch of money and move to Chicago, or just move to Chicago right away and start doing urban ministry work there.  I was asked today what my plans were or what organization I’d work with, and I honestly don’t know.  I just know that this is where God has called me, and I’m more than happy to live in a ratty old apartment in the worse part of Chicago if it means doing Gods will.

So if you have any suggestions for organizations I should look into (doesn’t just have to be Chicago), feel free to let me know!  All the help is appreciated!

 

 

R.I.P. To A Great Man

Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth died today! Fred Shuttlesworth was a U.S. civil rights activist who led the fight against segregation and other forms of racism as a minister in Birmingham, Alabama, and woe is us! We’re in a lot of trouble!

For the most part, October 5th 2011 will be remembered for when Steve Jobs of Apple Inc fame died.  It’s rather disgusting that the death of one of the civil rights leaders gets hardly any attention because of Steve Jobs passing away.  I’m sure Steve was a nice guy, and it’s always mournful when someone passes away (especially someone who may not know the Lord), but really…. why are we grieving Steve Jobs more than Fred Shuttlesworth?  It’s because Steve Jobs made our lives better?  No.  It’s because Steve Jobs have become associated with being cool and hip, and made it easier to carry our illegal downloaded music in our pocket.  Fred Shuttlesworth actually committed his life to making other people’s lives better.  Endured beatings and humiliation for what he believed in.  What kind of recognition does his death receive?  A little corner article tucked away in the culture section of a local newspaper.

We’re in a lot of trouble when a man who hordes billions of dollars worth of wealth is exalted to near God status by many of his fans gets polarized in our society, yet a man who was willing to die serving the Lord and what he knew was right hardly gets remembered.  Woe is us!

I Am Troy Davis and I Am Free

I never heard of Troy Davis until this week, I saw a bunch of people post about the mysterious guy on facebook one day and decided to Google him.  And I was mourned, yet not surprised to see that another man was being put to death for a crime in which his involvement with seemed questionable at best.  I’m obviously not a lawyer and I was in no way involved with the court case, so really my opinion on whether or not Troy Davis was guilty is irrelevant.  When asked Thursday on NBC’s “Today” show if he thought the state had executed an innocent man, civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton said: “I believe that they did, but even beyond my belief, they clearly executed a man who had established much, much reasonable doubt.”

Strapped to a gurney in Georgia’s death chamber, Troy Davis lifted his head and declared one last time that he did not kill police officer Mark MacPhail. Just a few feet away behind a glass window, MacPhail’s son and brother watched in silence.

As sad as it is, I am not surprised that we see a lower class black man sentence to die for a crime he may not have committed (in the south, no less).  I’m even more sad (yet still not surprised), that the Christian community has failed to really acknowledge or even take a stand on the issue.  The majority of Christians love the death penalty, and are usually years behind most domestic civil rights movements.  Let’s face it, American Christians have some major priority flaws.  A poor black man is executed for a crime he may not have committed, and nobody really says anything.  Yet, we will spend $80 on a pair of terrible shoes so a child in less developed world will also have a pair of terrible shoes.

Does the Bible allow the death penalty?  It would seem so.  Does that mean we have to use it?  No.  Should we use it when our criminal justice system is plagued with racism, sexism, and classism?  Absolutely not.

Taylor Swift and Ethics

What in the world does Taylor Swift have to do with Ethics?  Absolutely everything.

The definition of ethics includes: “a system of moral principles”  Moral principles, that’s what it’s all about.  Could I tear into Taylor Swift about how she promotes a certain image that little girls strive for or how women need men to be complete with little to no acknowledgement of Christ?  Sure.  But I’m not gonna be that guy.  Plus, I love Taylor (yeah, we’re on a first name basis already).

A great place to start our ethical evaluation of the songstress is her hit song “Mean”.  I’m sure you’ve heard it. “Lyrics are as follows: You have pointed out my flaws again; As if I don’t already see them I walk with my head down; Trying to block you out ’cause I’ll never impress you”.  In “Mean”, Swift points out the most obvious, it’s not nice to be mean.  Let’s ponder on that for a moment.  It’s not nice to be mean.  The most simple of ethical concepts I can think of; and yet one of the most essential.

So in some songs we see Taylor Swift tackle situations with the moral high ground.  Yet, in other songs such as “Picture to Burn” we see Taylor take the very vindictive and vengeful road.  Granted, most of the guys she sings about seem to be total douches (more of a reflection in her terrible choice in men), it is not excuse to break into someones house and resort to vandalism.  In another song, “Better Than Revenge”, she not only sings about revenge, but gloats about how well she does it, and almost points fun to the fact that she writes vengeful songs about her ex’s.

So in the end, what do we see?  We see a young woman who sings about people being mean in one song and how she wants to take revenge on others in another tune.  Most would point the finger and yell accusations of hypocrisy, but not I.  Taylor after all is just relating well to her key demographics.  Confused teenage girls, who are often left heartbroken by their terrible choice in guys who turn out to be douches.

Kudos Taylor, kudos.

They Don’t Know About Us

My biggest pet peeve about Christians is the willful ignorance we often seem to put ourselves in.  There are Christians all across the globe literally put their lives on the line everyday to learn more and more about their faith.  I find it so aggravating when Christians my age in America don’t care about learning.  I understand that not everyone is into learning about Philosophy and Theology, but it seems to me that God has blessed American Christians so much, and we offer nothing back.  To whom much is given, much more is expected.  I hate that when a classic questions such as “How can God allow bad things to happen to good people?” gets ask, people just lose it and either refuse to engage in a conversation about the topic or answer it with the worse logic possible.  I just find it so aggravating how willfully ignorant we are as a people.

I tried to tell em we was comin’, go on, let us in
Why they hatin’ like we all a bunch of Hooligans?
No Gimmicks, Spirit in my lyrics
Know when people hear it they gon’ love or they fear it
And how we flow, when we show up at a show
They say we go S.O. hard in the paint, they can’t wait
for some moe’
But some others say we preachin’, some close-minded
teachin’
Like we aint heard of Marx, Locke, and Nietzsche,
Believe me

- Tedashii “Dum Dum”

 

 

God Is Not Good

Let’s get something out of the air early, when I say God is not good, I do not mean that God is bad, evil, amoral, or anything of the sort.  To the contrary, everything that is good and right and holy is of and from God.  So what do I mean then, when I say God is not good?

First, let’s look at the saying “God is good”.  when we use the term good to describe something, we are comparing it to a standard that is outside that which we are describing.  If I for example say that I am a good person, then i am comparing myself to some ultimate standard of good which I measure up to.  To put it biblically, humans are not good because we do not measure up to God.  God is the ultimate source of all that is good.  To say God is good, is saying God is God.  Good is only good because it aligns itself up with Gods character.

We’re living in a society that has become so infatuated with the saying God is good, that everything that happens which does not immediately help us in a tangible manner is seen as not “of God”.  If you hit the lottery, praise God!  If you’re spouse dies in a car accident, Satan is trying to get at you.  We live in a world where if something is not good by our standards, then it is not from God.  But that takes away from God.  We elevate goodness to the place of God.  A simple saying that conveys how glorious God is, has perverted our thoughts of God.  It’s the same with “God is love”.  We no longer know if God is something, or if that something is our god.

I understand that with our minds being finite and our cultural and our language being limited, we must use saying such as God is good and God is love in order to convey a certain message to others.  But we cannot forget that the only reason why God is good or why God is love, is because everything that is good or lovely is that way because it lines up with Gods character.  Helping others is good because it lines up with Gods character, if it did not line up with Gods character, helping others would not be good.  It’s the same reason why sin is bad.  Sin is sin because it does not align with who God is.

A friend of mine once told me that God is not good, God is not love, God simply is.  God is.

God and Pop culture

Can you guess what my five favorite things in the world are?  Probably not, so I will just tell you…

1. God
2. Pop Culture
3. Theology
4. Philosophy
5. Blogging

There we go, my top five favorite things in the world (and don’t get all technically, telling me God isn’t a “thing”, we both know what I mean here).  Why does any of this matter?  Well it doesn’t really, but since you are reading this I’m going to assume that you want to know.  I want to go get my masters in pop culture and then get a doctorate in theology so I can write books that combine philosophy (my BA will be in philosophy and religion), pop culture, and theology.  But, if I never get a book published and I’m just a kick-butt church guy who knows way too much trivia about star wars, that’s okay too.  Hopefully I’ll find a job that will be able to pay back my outrages student debt I will graduate with.  The only two schools I can find that even offer Masters in pop culture are Arizona State and Bowling Green.  Arizona State’s program is offered online which I find to be a big plus; if we’re still planting a church after I graduate from Shawnee, it offers the freedom to go wherever I am called.  Also, it is only a one year program, so that’s a major plus.

So with that in mind, I think I’m going to start writing my blogs about those three subjects (Philosophy, Pop Culture, Theology).  I already write a majority of my stuff on those topics, so it’s not really gonna be any type of stretch.  If you have any topic suggestions, drop them in the comment box below.  I think I’m gonna start keeping a weekly pop culture column over @ The Blessed Rebellion.  So again, if you’re not following us over there, you’re doing it wrong!