Church sex

I’ve added Out of Ur to my blogroll. This particular blog consistently has great posts, and their latest Missions and Masturbation is no exception.

There is no need to reiterate the statistics on sexual immorality among clergy. We all know them. And we also know that addiction to pornography is at epidemic levels even within the church. But do we know how many gifted young leaders never answer their call into ministry because of the guilt they feel over past sexual sins?

John Piper has written an article for Christianity Today addressing this problem. He says:

…so many young people are being lost to the cause of Christ’s mission because they are not taught how to deal with the guilt of sexual failure. The problem is not just how not to fail. The problem is how to deal with failure so that it doesn’t sweep away your whole life into wasted mediocrity with no impact for Christ. The great tragedy is not masturbation or fornication or pornography. The tragedy is that Satan uses guilt from these failures to strip you of every radical dream you ever had or might have. In their place, he gives you a happy, safe, secure, American life of superficial pleasures, until you die in your lakeside rocking chair.

My favorite part of the post is this paragraph.

Similarly, how do we help young people find balance when many gage the health of their relationship with Christ on a single issue—their sexual purity? A friend working at a Christian college has noticed this trend in recent years. Incoming freshmen are the first generation to have grown up since grade school with internet access. Many have been exposed to massive quantities of pornography since their pre-pubescent years. By age eighteen some young men are already sexual addicts. But many others have been formed to measure their spirituality based solely on their sexual self-control. When a single issue carries so much weight the guilt of failure can overwhelm.

The problem is that churches and preachers consistently teach us that sexual sin is indeed the worst possible sin to be guilty of. Both in Canada and the United States religious groups preach an abstinence only approach to premarital sex, despite the fact that it is woefully inadequate in preparing young people for life in the real world. Christian groups rendering aid in Africa fight against supplying condoms to adults despite the AIDS crisis that grips that continent. While we battle to force a world view that has more to do with our western ideas than Christianity on people, lives are lost. And I don’t think I even need to touch on the homosexuality issue within the church.

This change won’t come from the top down, but come it must. Christians need to speak up to their clergy and remind them that there are far worse things happening in the world today than people having sex. I am not advocating a sexually immoral lifestyle, but when was the last time a priest told her congregation that their lack of response to the genocide in Darfur is immoral?

The cynic in me that has all but given up on the institutional church sincerely doubts that anything like this will happen. It is so hard to turn a big ship once it has gotten moving. In the church’s case, that ship is beginning to resemble the Titanic.

One era begins, could another be ending?

Yesterday Junior made his on track debut for Hendrick Motorsports testing a Chevy Impala at Atlanta Motor Speedway in preparation for 2008. I am excited for this new era to begin, the 2007 Nextel Cup season has been frustrating to say the least for those of us who pull for Dale Jr. Chronic engine failures and seeing a wheel fall off on Sunday in Atlanta have me thinking about what could have been and imagining what will be in ‘08 and beyond.

Listening to Sirius Speedway channel 128 over the last few days and reading blog posts like this have me thinking that more than just team and sponsor situations are changing for Junior. For the last six years or so he has enjoyed the status of being Nascar’s most popular driver. This status can be attributed, at least in part, to his late father. Dale Sr. was (and still is) an institution in the world of Nascar. When He lost his life on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 many (including yours truly) moved our driver affiliation from Sr. to Jr. Combine this with the fan base he already enjoyed and voila, Nascar’s most popular driver is crowned.

The problem is that whenever someone has the exposure of Junior, sooner or later the bubble will probably burst. People will tire of seeing his face and hearing his name constantly and begin to root against him. On top of that, when Jr. announced that he was leaving the team that bears his father’s name name at the end of the 2007 season, many fans had expectations of what he would do. The majority wanted to see him behind the wheel of a black #3 at Richard Childress Racing but Jr. chose to go his own way and be his own man. For many in the Earnhardt fraternity, his choice to drive for Rick Hendrick was somewhat akin to a Hatfield choosing to marry a McCoy.

As the Hendrick era begins I wouldn’t be surprised to see the most popular driver in Nascar era come to an end. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we need to start a telethon for Junior anytime soon. I am sure he will continue to enjoy the support of many (including yours truly). 2008, however, will be interesting for so many reasons.

Dachshunds and Beehives

I’m sitting at home, alone, with a dachshund curled up in my lap. It is funny sometimes how silence can be so deafening but at other times so soothing. Moments like this make me feel like I have a beehive in my head that is constantly buzzing, always irritating. Right now, though, with the dachshund curled up in my lap the beehive has been forced into silence.

I realize that I haven’t actually written much on the blog lately. Most of my posts are links to other posts of interest with a one or two sentence description by me. That isn’t by design, its more of a necessity. My concentration hasn’t been there the last few days, the last 6 months really. Putting the words together in a coherent order is very difficult for me right now. I am sure this will pass with time, but it is an interesting phenomena nonetheless.

This lack of concentration extends to more than just my writing, my ability to read is affected as well. Lately, all I have been able to read is hot rod magazines, not necessarily a bad thing as far as I am concerned, but I have been avoiding books – including the Bible. My faith isn’t wavering, if anything it may be getting stronger. But I wonder if some of the many hours I have spent pouring over the Bible had less to do with devotion and more to do with impressing God or someone else?

I haven’t been praying much lately either, at least not in the conventional way. This, however, is for a different reason. Back in September I had a short series of posts on prayer. I came away from that experience with the understanding that God knows what it is we are worrying about long before we pray. It isn’t wrong to turn to God in prayer about it, but it can be a great exercise to trust in that reality and know that your prayers are not needed.

Anyway, I just wanted to check in. The bees are calling and I’m off to go read a hot rod magazine.

Photo Friday – Silence

My entry for this week’s competition.

Friday morning coolness

What happens when you combine a Ferrari 360 Modena with a Nash Rambler station wagon? This:

Via

US imposes new sanctions on Iran

The US has stepped up its sanctions on Iran for “supporting terrorists” and pursuing nuclear activities.The new measures target the finances of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and three state-owned banks.Under Executive Order 13382, US authorities will be able to freeze the assets of, and prohibit any US citizen or organisation from doing business with the Revolutionary Guards.Analysts said it was not clear how big an effect the sanctions would have, since the Guards probably had very limited assets in the US. However, they said the move might discourage other countries from dealing with the Iranian institutions.Full story

I am happy to see the US Government pursue diplomatic measures as a means to end conflict. However, I am concerned that the success of these sanctions (or the lack thereof) will be used as a justification for war. Its hard to believe that the Bush administration would be as foolhardy as to start another, but their track record shows that anything is possible.

On a related note, Brian McLaren has a great post about the possibility of a war between the US and Iran.

Haggard gets his wrist slapped

A request from Ted Haggard for money to keep his family afloat was “inappropriate” and “unacceptable,” according to the pastors overseeing his restoration.In late August, the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals e-mailed friends asking for financial support while he pursues a master’s degree. Haggard said his family was planning to minister and live at the Phoenix Dream Center, a half-way house for the homeless, those coming out of prison, recovering alcoholics, drug addicts, and prostitutes.

If you look back on previous scandals, guys who get caught in these things, they tend to want to get back into the ministry very quickly,” said Jim Newheiser, president of the Institute for Biblical Counseling and Discipleship. “[Haggard] will need to learn to be a member of a church under the leadership of others.

Full story

Is it just me or does that last statement make evangelicals sound very Catholic?

I knew it!

Few would disagree that Willow Creek Community Church has been one of the most influential churches in America over the last thirty years. Willow, through its association, has promoted a vision of church that is big, programmatic, and comprehensive. This vision has been heavily influenced by the methods of secular business. James Twitchell, in his new book Shopping for God, reports that outside Bill Hybels’ office hangs a poster that says: “What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider value?” Directly or indirectly, this philosophy of ministry—church should be a big box with programs for people at every level of spiritual maturity to consume and engage—has impacted every evangelical church in the country.

Not long ago Willow released its findings from a multiple year qualitative study of its ministry. Basically, they wanted to know what programs and activities of the church were actually helping people mature spiritually and which were not. The results were published in a book, Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek. Hybels called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking,” and “mind blowing.”

Having put all of their eggs into the program-driven church basket you can understand their shock when the research revealed that “Increasing levels of participation in these sets of activities does NOT predict whether someone’s becoming more of a disciple of Christ. It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more.”

Full post

And

Tonight a bunch of Christians in our city housed some men and women who were homeless. They were fed a hot, nutritious meal. Some will be given clothes, all will have a safe place to stay while they get their lives back on track. In our dining room tonight we fed about eighty people. I talked tonight about how when we share our fears and anxieties with Jesus we will still have our problems, but we’re no longer alone in the world. Some folks left with groceries, I gave a diabetic lady some large packages of artificial sweetener and she began giving some of this precious stash out to others she knew were diabetic. Another lady asked for a take-out container so she could take her piece of pie home to a friend who wasn’t well. They have so little, and what they do have they give away. Before supper tonight I prayed with the volunteers, one of whom prayed that the churches in our city would finally ‘get it’ as to their God-given responsibilities to the poor, to the orphan and widow, the leper, the lost. What if Jesus isn’t looking for leaders? What if he’s looking for followers? Followers who are content to treasure and value the folks right in their own neighbourhood, folks who are not statistics on the way to something bigger and better, who are not program fodder? What if being the most influential church in America is actually not the way to live out the Kingdom of God? What if the way to destruction is broad, and there’s lots of folks on it, and the way to life is narrow, and only a few find it? ‘Cause if that’s the case, perhaps we may want to see what Willow Creek does next, and then do the exact opposite.

Great quote

Via

Curiously, the most serious religious people, or the most concerned
scholars, those who constantly read the Bible as a matter of
professional or pious duty, can often manage to evade a radically
involved dialogue with the book they are questioning.

Thomas Merton
Opening the Bible

Eureka!

Despite what I wrote in this post it appears that there is in fact a Liberal candidate running in my riding. Grant Karwacki, brother of party leader David Karwacki, is running in Saskatoon Nutana. Oh, and another candidate has joined the fray as well, Gwen Katzman of the Saskatchewan PC Party. Oh joy.