Things Which Repel Visitors to Our Churches

My 87 year old mother recently had to have a total knee replacement because her knee joint had degenerated to the point where the meniscus and cartilage were both totally worn out  resulting in bone on bone movement within the joint. Now her knee is a nice metal contraption.

After joint surgeries several weeks and sometimes months of physical therapy are required yo regain full functionality of the joint. My mother was assigned to a local physical therapy center which is housed in a very impressive multistory brick office building.

The problem: the front of the office building has a set of seven steps leading up to the front door. Inside, the elevator is at the back of the building at the end of a long hall. The physical therapy practice is located on the third floor. WRONG! For a person who has difficulty walking and who needs a walker or a cane to get about, access to their therapy would seem to need to be made easier rather than more difficult.

For many people, going in to a new place or situation can be intimidating. Walking into a church may seem to be totally foreign to them. Our churches need to be welcoming but many churches, intentionally or unintentionally, put up obstacles to non-members. Following is a short list of attitudes and factors which may prevent people from encountering the Gospel in a church. Is your church guilty of any of them?

1. Some churches may be victims of their own "success". Their church is intimidating by being enormous with massive crowds of people. Many people are uncomfortable in large crowds.

2. Some churches unfortunately have a history of hostility to people of other races or nationalities.

3. Some churches have such an emphasis on their senior pastor that they develop a "cult of personality" with a very passive congregation.

4. Some churches fall into the Prosperity Gospel heresy and dilute and trivialize the Gospel by attempting to please everyone.

5. Some churches become very insular and appear to be hostile to outsiders.

6. When someone asks a visitor to move out of "their seat" this sends a very unwelcoming message. Some churches even practice pew rental. The seats in the church belong to the Lord and not to any individual person.

7. Some churches are intentionally located on campuses far from urban population centers to reduce the numbers of undesirable people who may attempt to attend their services.

8. Intense micromanagement of the church by a pastor or the deacons and/or elders can give the church a repressive atmosphere.

9. Visitors may be officially allowed but not really noticed or actively greeted. This gives off the smell of "You can come if you want to."

10. The church wants to grow for questionable reasons such as the pastor's ego or for an ever increasing need for more revenue. These churches are impressed with themselves. Visitors are not stupid and they can feel this.

11. In some churches, visitors can feel the hidden hostilities which the church members have brewing with each other. The church members are unpleasant and phony. Hypocrisy is one of the worst smells.

12. Some churches are stuck in the past.  All the members are elderly, with no young families or children. These churches are dying.

13.  Some churches talk all the time but do nothing. No one wants to be associated with this.

14. People hate social cliques, and especially when they are present in a church.

15. Many people are made uncomfortable by church members who obviously use excessive "holy" terminology with no attempt to use plain language to express the same ideas. This smacks of an "insider" mentality. Even worse is the use of archaic English. God does not care which language you use, He understands them all.

16. One of the quickest turnoffs to a visitor is for them to see someone being a "respecter of persons."
The poorly dressed repentant prostitute drug-user is just as important in the eyes of God as is the rich man or a celebrity.

17. It says something extremely negative to a visitor when the church sanctuary is empty five minutes after the church service ends.

18. Weird, lustful, or disapproving glances aimed at them are noticed by visitors.

19. Many people are uncomfortable when public attention is drawn to them. "Stand up if you are a visitor." "Hold up your hand."

20. Many churches expect the unchurched to act and speak like Christians. We have to speak to them as they currently are without giving the impression that we are in any way approving of their totally messed up situations. The place for the sick should be a place of healing.

21. Lack of accessible entry to the church. For a person who has difficulty walking and who needs a walker or a cane to get about, access to the worship area and classrooms needs to be made easier rather than more difficult. Wheelchair ramps and/or elevators can be very welcoming. 

22. Lack of accommodation for physical limitations. One church I once attended had plug-in access to earphones for the hearing impaired. These earphones were linked to the microphones on the podium and amplified the sound of the choir and the pastor. 

23. Lack of translation services. Sign-language services for the deaf and translators of the most commonly spoken languages in the area show a welcoming environment.

Our churches should be welcoming places, This does not mean we should not uphold biblical standards. There must never be any compromises of the Gospel message. It means we should be like God. God is the real point of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. This is really the Parable of the Joyous Father.

 

A Threatening Christian Assault!

At the start of 2017 one of my fellow employees placed a calendar in the employee break room. It featured beautiful high definition photographs of nature scenes. Along with each picture was a single praise verse from the Psalms. The overall tone of the calendar to a non-Christian would have been rather generic, along the order of a sweet Helen Steiner Rice poem.

Last week the calendar was taken off the wall.  The explanation from the supervisors was that there had been a complaint.  Someone had found the calendar to be offensive and threatening. Threatening?  REALLY???

Our national tradition in the United States is freedom of religion and a separation of church and state. Some have begun to believe that this means that any mention of religion must be removed from public sight.  Religion must be stifled and repressed.  Utter hypocrisy!

They, in effect, do what they accuse others of doing; they impose their religious view (agnosticism, humanism, or atheism) on others. They deny to others the right to practice or express their religious views.

Liberals and progressives scoff at and ridicule the idea that there is a War on Christianity in all corners of the United States.  In ways large and small, the evidence is ample and glaring that they are wrong or disingenuous.

Child in a Hot Car

It happens several times every year.  A screaming mother or guardian, a dead child in a hot automobile.  Never intending to harm the child, the adult has become distracted, rushing around, and has forgotten that the child is locked in the automobile, windows up, in the hot sun.

In the closed system of the locked car, the internal temperature in the passenger cabin can rapidly soar to 120 - 130 F ( ).  The child dies of a heat stroke.  The adult, of course, feels massive guilt and may, in some jurisdictions, face criminal charges.

People are incredulous that anyone could forget that they had left their child in a hot car.  Some make very harsh and unkind statements and a few predictably, become “holy” and "forgiving." They may say that no one knows what pressures the mother was feeling, no one knows what was on her mind, no one was “walking in her shoes.”  Then they misapply Scripture.  “Judge not that you be not judged.”

The admonition against judging others applies to hypocrisy and also to a tendency among some to pride themselves in their own holiness.  It does not mean that we are not to have opinions and it does not mean that people should not be held responsible for the consequences of their actions, even their unintentional actions.  The legal systems in the areas in which these incidents occur should be followed.  The judgements of the legal systems should be accepted.

The people who call for "understanding" do have a point.  No normal person would intentionally harm their own child.  There are extenuating circumstances and pressures on people which can cause them to exhibit "tunnel vision," seeing only the thing directly in front of them and forgetting other, more important, responsibilities.  The thing we must remember, however, is that we still bear individual personal responsibility for our actions.

Just as it is imperative for Christians to keep their eyes on God, it is also crucial for us to keep our eyes on our children (and also our elderly and others who may not be able to care for themselves).  We have been told that if anything distracts us from God, we should cut it out of our lives.  This is also a good principle for us to follow concerning those under our care. 

Korban

“For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:  But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that."” Mark 7:10-13

The Hebrew noun korban (קרבן) is derived from the root word KAREV which  means “to approach,” “to come near,” “to get into a close relationship with somebody.”  From this, applied to God, the word came to mean “sacrifice,” “gift,” or “offering.”  A man who declared his worldly possessions korban was thus dedicating them to God so that they could not be used for any other purposes.  The property would become God’s (belong to the priests) upon the man’s death.

Some men declared their possessions to be korban so that they could not be required to use their funds to support their elderly parents.  The man was not required to give his money to the temple as long as he was alive.  This was casuistic hypocrisy, which Jesus exposed in Mark 7:10-13.

The effect of the tradition was to nullify the intent of the practice by insisting on a literal, and sometimes cynical, strict implementation.

More on casuistry tomorrow.

Church People

Prepare your children for the inevitable disillusionment caused by dealing with "church people."

The Rich Young Ruler

The incident in which the Rich Young Ruler asked Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life is familiar to many Bible readers. (Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30)  None of the gospel writers explains exactly who the young man was and none tell what became of him after he left the encounter with Jesus.

1.     He was a Jew because he declares that he knows the Commandments and has kept them all.

2.     He was a young man, probably in his twenties or thirties.  Neaniskos νεανίσκος (“young man”)

3.     The man is described as very wealthy.  The words sphodra σφόδρα  (“great,” “much”) and plousios πλούσιος (“rich,” “wealthy”) are used.

4.     He was either a Pharisee or a follower of the Pharisee party.  The Sadducees did not believe in life after death.

5.     He is said to have been an archon ἄρχων (“leader,” “official,” “administrator”).  This may imply that he was a member of the Sanhedrin.

6.     He was not a hypocrite; he observed all the commandments.  He really wanted to know how to gain eternal life.  He did not like the answer he received.

The young man had a works-based idea of salvation, “what must I do … ?”  and Jesus knew it.   Jesus gave the man a task which he could have performed.  The task pointed out the one stumbling block for the man: his refusal to give up his control of his own life, his refusal to submit to God.   He loved his position and his power more than he loved Jesus.  He worshipped a different god.  (Exodus 20:3)

Several comments with varying insights and viewpoints on the Rich Young Ruler.

http://www.jesuswalk.com/lessons/18_18-23.htm

http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/reformed/matt19.htm

http://thegourd.blogspot.com/2009/07/story-of-rich-young-ruler.html

http://www.whatsbestnext.com/2011/09/why-did-jesus-tell-the-rich-young-ruler-to-sell-all-that-he-had/

W. A. Criswell About His Church ... And Yours

"I would be shocked to find half of my church in Heaven." Wally Amos Criswell

He meant exactly what it sounds like he meant. He knew that people "join the church" for numerous reasons; some for social connections, some because someone they love wants them to, some to demonstrate what a good person they are, some because it will good for the kids, some for the opportunity to be part of something, some to meet girls, some because it's the right thing to do, and on and on and on. Oh, and a few really do love the Lord.

Film Comment: Rabbit

This perverse (extremely perverse) little nine minute film is one I know you'll probably never see, so I'm doing no no harm in including spoilers in this comment. Rabbit (2005) is a limited animation film illustrated like a children's picture book with the names of each object printed directly under the object: ie. "rabbit," "flower," "house," "boy," and "girl," etc. You get the idea, it looks like an old fashioned British children's reading primer. The British director, Run Wrake, used educational stickers he found in a junk shop.

A sweet little boy and girl are playing in a garden when the girl decides to cut open a passing rabbit. The boy uses a cricket bat to whack the heads of several animals. Inside one animal, the children find a strange little animated idol (a demon?) which turns insects into jewels. The children come up with a plan; distract the idol with a tasty bowl of jam, kill animals to attract insects which the idol will turn into jewels, and the children get rich. They set their plan in motion and drive off to get more jam. The idol has other, deadly, ideas. The children end up eaten by insects.

This bizarre film was nominated for a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award and it deserved it. It speaks none too subtly about animal cruelty, consumerism, greed, corruption, and hypocrisy (false innocence). As seen by Christian eyes, it is an allegory about the dangers of consorting with evil and demonstrates graphically that death really is the result (wages} of sin.

For those who wish to see the film, it is available from Netflix in the compilation entitled Cinema 16: Disc 2 (European Short Films).

On the Human Knowledge of Christ, Part 6

Demonology
The absolute assertion that Jesus was mistaken in his belief in the existence of evil spirits and demonic possession is based in truth on a philosophical prejudice. How do you know that demons don't exist?
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LIMITS TO JESUS" KNOWLEDGE?
Luke 2:52 says that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature. He could learn, meaning he did not possess all knowledge. Bonsall described this a s a pure white lily which unfolds, revealing what is already there.
In Mark 11:13 and Matthew 21:19, Jesus curses a fruitless fig tree. Since this event probably occurred in April, before the fig season began, some see this a a sign of Jesus' ignorance and unreasonable annoyance. Frank Stagg, says that Jesus knew full well that the tree would have no fruit and that he used it as a parable. Since the tree had the outward appearance of being fruitful but was in truth fruitless, it was cursed. The main sin of the Jewish leaders of Jesus' time was that they were more concerned with outward appearances than they were with their own hypocrisy.