OBAMALUJAH

I recently signed the Evangelical Manifesto because I agree with the frustration of the authors concerning the politicizing of the Christian faith. While I have core belief systems that affect the way I vote I also do not enjoy having to defend various Christian leaders comments when I am talking to people about my faith.

I signed the Evangelical Manifesto because I do not like people using my faith as a reason to vote for them. While I certainly do not want to create a dichotomy between private/sacred, I also respect that our Government was never supposed to make a state church. Only evil comes when that happens. I also have no problem with envoking God and talking about your faith. I have a problem though with this:



There he is. The media anointed savior. I have a huge problem with this add because it just shows how selectively outraged so many people are! If you remember back in December, Mike Huckabee made an add that had a bookshelf in the background. The bookshelf made a cross. If you don't remember the picture, here it is:
Mike faced all types of criticism for this add and most came from Christians, probably those who signed the Evangelical Manifesto. He had to come out and state that it was completely incidental.

The Christian outrage, or secular outrage for that matter, is silent on this flagrant use of the cross by Barack Obama. This just gets old to say but if this was a Republican there would be outrage, news stories, retractions, stump speeches. Heck, if this was Hillary Clinton there would be outrage! I have no problem with Barack Obama's faith and I am not questioning wither or not he is a Christian. I do have a problem with the selective outrage. Not even just that but the way the media seems to think it is ok for him to use the cross and there won't be a peep in the Ivory Tower but if someone mentions that God created the world, that person is tossed from the Ivory Tower? How did we get this messed up? This is an example of why I signed the Evangelical Manifesto and this is why I think you should to. It doesn't matter if it is a Republican or Democrat, anyone who uses the cross, faith, hope, etc. in the way this add does is doing exactly what Evangelicals are so afraid of. It just isn't vogue to condemn Obama for it and sadly, we dance to the tune of media outrage. Hence, no outrage. Well I am!

Who is the Greatest?

Whenever I read in the Gospel of Luke of the fights the disciples had over who would be the "greatest" in the kingdom I always think of Muhammad Ali running around saying he is the greatest. There is one particular story I am fond of and that was when Muhammad Ali refused to put a seatbelt on in a plane. A very witty flight attendant demanded that he put it on and his reply was: "Superman don't need no seatbelt." The attendant replied: "Well you ain't Superman cause he don't need no plane." She definitely got his attention with that I am sure!

You almost laugh at the two instances (Lk. 9 and 22) where the disciples are caught arguing about their greatness. What was Jesus thinking? What did they think afterward? I was reminded of this story just a few seconds ago after getting off the IM with a friend who is serving in Iraq. She made a very positive comment about me and used terms that I would never ascribe to myself, if anything I would lavish such pleasantries on her and all of are men and women who serve over in Iraq.

This blog is not going to debate the Iraq war. My point is simply this; To my friend who said those kind words, I appreciate the compliment but I am nothing in comparison to you! To all of our guys/gals who serve our country you are the great people! You selflessly put yourself in danger to protect my right to write, breathe, go to school, and live. You are constantly bashed by crazies who say your unintelligent and stupid but I would rather have you then those guys anyday!

Jesus said that no greater love has a man then when someone lays down there life for a friend. While it may sound cliche that is what defines in my book a great person! Not someone who is going for a masters degree. So a big thanks to all of our boys in the military and for those whose family support them! We love you guys and know that your doing the right thing! Will keep the country safe till you get back as you keep the country safe far from home! Thank you for being the greatest, just please put your seat belts on ;)

The Shack

I picked up "The Shack" by William P. Young yesterday and I just finished it tonight. So, yeah, I read the entire book in a day. I heard about this book from many of the different blogger sites and decided to see what all the hype was about. I thought I'd throw out my own two cents and finally get to recommending the book. So here you go. ~minor spoiler warning~

(1) I won't go into the main story but suffice it to say that the book focuses on a terrible loss encountered by a father. A couple of months later he gets a letter from "Papa" to come and visit him at the very site this great loss occurred. The rest of the story are the days that he is in this "shack".

(2) God is depicted as a large, black-woman. Yep. A lot of people seem to be having a fit over this fact but I think it is an interesting point of the book. When the main character meets "Papa" the point of the story is that we constantly think of God as either a white-male or some old phogey who floats around on a cloud. God is a Spirit and therefore He does not have a sex, which is a point the author makes in the book. You will have to read it yourself to see what you think but for the most part I had no problem with this. God did appear to a man in a burning bush. I don't see why we would have a problem with God appearing in the manner He does in this story.

(3) The relationship between the Trinity in this book is astounding. It really puts into place an amazing idea of how there really is unity in the diversity of the Trinity. They are completely God but completely there own person, unified as God. There interaction is beautiful!

(4) The story itself is an amazing one and it looks at some really difficult issues like pain, suffering, loss, and bitterness. All of these are issues I am dealing with and I know many of us face all the time. For those who constantly question God this will make you bend your knee and repent.

(5) The ending to this story is really good and then becomes REALLY bad. The last page is like a drive by shooting. This did not really turn me away from the story but geesh! You would think they would have thought of this!

(6) Deconstructionism. I have read some reviews on Amazon for the book and while I can see there points on how this book seems to push a deconstruction viewpoint I don't know if I totally agree. I cannot find anywhere in my reading a point where there was "heresy" and I think the point the author makes is that when law replaces the relationship you don't have a relationship anymore. God is love and His people should love Him in it. What is the biggest obstacle to that love? Ourselves! There was never a point where the author bashes the Bible or makes it less important. He instead reminds us that the Holy Spirit should be involved in our reading! Something this Pentecostal loved to hear!

Finally, I wanted to leave you with a quote from the book:

"Let us use the example of friendship and how removing the element of life from a noun can drastically alter a relationship. Mack, if you and I are friends, there is an expectancy that exists within our relationship. When we see each other or are apart, there is an expectancy of being together, of laughing and talking. That expectancy has no concrete definition; it is alive and dynamic and everything that emerges from our being together is a unique gift shared by no one else." (p.205)

The One Ring

“You are the Ring-bearer, Frodo...to bear a Ring of Power is to be alone”,

I was in church one Sunday morning and I was testing a new hypothesis I had concerning my True Love Waits ring (TLW).

I didn't have it on.

I had noticed that many of the ladies who would talk to me continued to glance down at my hand in the midst of our conversations and it started to bug me a little. The ring, for one, made me feel like I had a name tag on which said: "Hello, My Name is Matt, I'm a Virgin"and while that is not a bad thing in itself, it isn't exactly the first thing I want people thinking when they meet me.

The other thing I noticed with the ring on was that many girls wouldn't talk to me at all. Sometimes, OK a lot of times, this has worked in my favor but it did bring up quite a dilemma when girls that I did wish to speak to quickly turned away because they thought I was married. All the while I thought maybe I forgot to put the deodorant on?

That Sunday I walked into the Barn (the spiffy name for our Sunday church building) and rubbed the naked finger on my hand. The ring did not adorn it this time. I made my way to the seats and started conversations here and there, nothing really out of the ordinary, just good old Christian fellowship! Then I noticed in the midst of the conversations, the eyes began to wonder again. Inside I smirked because there wasn't anything for the eyes to see. Then the young lady who saw my eyes watching hers quipped: "Matt, that's a nice ring you have there, what is it?" I smiled and replied: "Oh, what ring?" I waved my lanky naked hands. "I don't have one on today." She apologized and the subject was changed rather quickly. I smiled. Got yeah!

This is an interesting dilemma for men who decided to stick to commitments made back in high school. Do I wear the ring or not? If I wear the ring, then many girls won't talk to me because no matter what hand it is on they will think I'm married. Or do I not wear the ring and chicken out on the promise I made so many years ago to my spouse and to myself? Do I go the way of Frodo? A ringbearer who is alone? If I don't wear the ring, then I am no longer a ring-bearer and every ring-bearer is supposed to have a flower girl, right?

Funny isn't it? This is such a stupid post but it's something that happened. I did decide what to do with the ring but the problem still continues. What a game this life truly is!

Shame On You, Al Gore, Shame On You

There are few times here that I may mention someone by name. I've learned that in many ways you cannot defeat an argument by insulting the person. Al Gore however is worthy of mention and it is worthy of saying how outrageous he is. I mention Al Gore by name because if someone said God did created this cyclone to wipe out 22,000 people because of judgment for a sin everyone would be outraged. Yet, here is Al Gore using a natural (NATURAL) disaster where 22,000 people, as of now, are DEAD! This is 2 days old and Al Gore can't keep from utilizing this to press his gospel. 41,000 people are missing and possibly dead and Al Gore is running around saying that they could have avoided this if they hadn't driven their cars or changed their light bulbs. No empathy. No anything. Shame on you Mr. Vice President, Shame on you!

“It’s also important to note that the emerging consensus among the climate scientists is although any individual storm can’t be linked singularly to global warming – we’ve always had hurricanes,” Gore said. “Nevertheless, the trend toward more Category 5 storms – the larger ones and trend toward stronger and more destructive storms appears to be linked to global warming and specifically to the impact of global warming on higher ocean temperatures in the top couple of hundred feet of the ocean, which drives convection energy and moisture into these storms and makes them more powerful.”

Why iSingle*~

I know from the start that by writing on this questionable subject that you, my amazing reader, might have some presuppositions pop into your head about why I'm writing this. I hope to defuse these before they even get implanted because there is nothing worse then having someone come up and comfort me about being single. I'm not a widow, I don't have a disease, I'm going to be ok! If you see me and you do that...I may shun you from my blog ;)

First, I'm not sitting here in my room, lonely, with e-harmony popped up in a corner just waiting to be matched with the love of my life. (If you are one of the few who this has worked for I hope you know I'm not knocking you, it's just not for me) Second, I'm not doing this out of some prideful, "please look at me" attention grab, trying to show myself as sensitive. I just have come to some realizations about things in the past couple of months and I know I'm not the only person to see this stuff. A lot of singles do and only talk to a couple people about it! Finally, everything I do is to exalt and magnify my God. Period. My singleness is something to rejoice in and I find many people who don't do that! As if their life isn't complete! While I understand, and admittedly face those same emotions, I actually really do enjoy being a bachelor and all the freedoms that entails. While it has it's setbacks, I'm not willing to give it up just yet. Which leads me to my actual thoughts about singleness.

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her"(Ephesians 5:25) I have not been able to get this verse out of my mind since I wrote my last blog. It has just overwhelmed me! First, we have to ask the question of how Christ "loved the church". What exactly does that mean? Think of everything Christ did for us?

(1) "but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." Philippians 2:7

(2) "who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father" Galatians 1:4

I could keep going on how Christ loved the church. It is a pretty profound and demanding idea. Christ did not just whisper sweet nothings in the ears, He died for His bride! I was thinking about this today that Christ had to wait almost 30 years before His official ministry began. He met tons of people throughout His life and He knew that He was the answer to their questions. He knew He was the one to save their soul. Yet, He waited for God's timing, He waited for God's sending! He didn't want to rush meeting His bride! Now obviously that might be a little of a stretch but the Bible says clearly that a husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. Jesus had to trust God's timing for OUR salvation. His bride which God gave to Him. How much more then should we be patient for God's right timing in our relationship. Especially with our future spouses.

The second issue of this passage in Ephesians is the issue of "love". My brother will be glad that I bring C.S. Lewis into this because he's been ranting and raving about Lewis' book "The Four Loves". The one which Lewis' associates relationships with is the Greek Word Eros. Now we easily think of this as erotic but that is not what Lewis means. I find Lewis' definition of Eros astounding because it is something which I would not expect.

It is indifferent he states. How can it be indifferent? If you think about it though this makes perfect sense. In fact, this is the beginning of the answer to why I am single. Eros is indifferent because it is not based on what I CAN GET from a person, it's indifferent to that fact, it is totally based on what I can give to them. With no desire for anything to be given back. That is romantic love at its fullest, biblical capacity. That is what Lewis meant.

I think for many guys, maybe even guys who are in relationships now, we have such a tendency to control. It is truly scary how I've seen this worked out in my own life, wither in a close examination of my own internal reactions or the sad outworking of a true life story. We so easily fit Lewis' warning concerning Eros "Love begins to be a demon the moment it becomes a god." When we act like a god in our relationship we think we can create, we think we can demand, we think we can move someone else to our will. We find ways of doing it. We find way of manipulating. We find ways of forcing a girl out of her comfort zone because we are out of ours. We make our own emotions, not hers, the god of our relationship and by doing so cripple any woman who is unfortunate enough to care about us.

I have this god rise up in so many ways it has disgusted me. When I read that Ephesians passage I began to think of what "love" is. I can only fall back on 1 Corinthians 13 and while everyone quotes this verse, there is one part which really stuck out. "It [love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (13) It may be sappy, it may sound redundant, it may sound even impossible, yet the command of the man is to be this to his wife. I don't know if I'm there yet. I still battle such selfish, animal, reactions when I don't get my way. I don't act on them, but I think them. I have witnessed (more then I ever wish to have) what happens when men act on them and it has scared me more then anything I can ever have imagined.

I am not in a relationship because I don't know if I can love a woman like Christ loves the church. Frankly, in many ways I love myself a little to much for comfort. This may just be because I haven't found the right girl. Maybe all of this will change when I do? I just know in my dealings; I'm not very patient, I can be not very kind, I do kind of boast, I am definitely tend to be proud, I do envy, I am self-seeking, I do keep records of wrong, and sadly I can get angry. I want to give myself to someone who doesn't have to deal with this. And while I will always have some of these issues, no one ever loves without mistakes, I want my future wife to have the best she can get. Until I know that I can give that, I focus on my pursuit of lady wisdom. Mrs. Bell deserves Superman.

"When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me."

Jesus the Bearded Lady

I remember when I was a kid my dad used to call me Macho Man. I remember this nickname fondly because included within this was the word "man". Here I am, 8 years old, and my dad is calling me a man already. I thought I was the coolest kid in the world; my dad thought I was a man! Now why won't he let me play Mortal Kombat?

When I was a kid I didn't really think a lot about what it meant to be a "man" but since I am now considered, at least by the worlds standards, a man I've been looking into it more and more. At work, manhood is defined by being able to drink, flirt, and "hook up" with no strings attached. In the some churches I've visited manliness is defined as Jesus meek-and-mild who would never offend anyone. You look at the pictures of Jesus in our churches it almost seems to be a mockery of the Scriptures which clearly show how "manly" Jesus was. Even the pictures of Jesus turning the tables looks like He's trying to protect His manicure from getting messed up. Somehow this doesn't seem to fit what we should picture.



When you think of manliness, what exactly crosses your mind? I asked myself this week that question and was utterly shocked that Jesus wasn't the first thing that came to my mind. In fact, to be honest, He wasn't even in my top five! Why is that? Part of it is that I think of Him as God and since God does not have any bodily form I don't associate manhood to Him. The paradox of Christ is that He is not only fully God but also fully man. He was a man. Think about that! The God of the universe stripped Himself of His omnipotence, His omnipresence, even His omniscience to be a man! Talk about a paradox!

Soren Kierkegaard stated that, "Paradox is really the pathos of intellectual life, and just as only great souls are exposed to passions, it is only the great thinker who is exposed to what I call paradox." Kierkegaard's point (if I dare even try to summarize it) simply was that we live a life of paradox or, men are filled with contradictory passions that do not mix at all, sort of like oil and water. The measure of a man then is what he does with those passions and how he handles the inner paradox.

C.S. Lewis had a lot to say on this subject and I have already written on how I agree with Lewis' assessment on chivalry (see Sine Qua Non for more). Lewis had some interesting thoughts in his excellent book The Abolition of Man concerning this longing for manhood: "We continue to clamor for those very qualities we are rendering impossible...In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings to be fruitful." (Abolition of Man, 26) Our modern day world is desperately searching for the function but continues to remove the organ. Manhood is defined by its extremities and in order to tame those we completely cut them out, leaving us with nothing but men without chests. Have you seen the modern church folks? Cotton Mather stated: "There are far more godly women in the world than there are godly men." Why is this!

I believe this is the case because we do not associate manliness with being like Christ! Instead, machismo (over exaggerated manliness usually associated with pride/power) seems to be what we think of manliness. Jesus however was never overbearing. He was able to laugh with the children then turn tables. He was gentle and fierce, soft but hard, He was not tame but good. Jesus was a paradox. Jesus was a man.

Pastor Chris of James River Assembly spoke on the passage in Ephesians which states a woman is to submit to a man. It isn't easy to examine this passage, especially with so many ready to drop the bigot card. However, he brought out a point which I never saw and something which I wish to close with. While a woman is supposed to submit to her husband, the Bible says the following: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her". (Ephesians 5:25) The husband is supposed to be like Jesus to His wife.

The husband is supposed to be like Jesus...

to his wife...

Let that sink in for a moment.

I don't even think of Jesus as "manly" let alone doing what this verse states! This all came together for me in such a powerful way and it's going to lead to some further thoughts later down the road on how I believe Jesus is the model for manhood. I think the paradox of manhood is culminated in the person of Jesus and that in order for a man to be a true "macho man" that we need to do as Paul said to the Ephesians church. Be Christ. How does that work or look like? Will see~