I need to comopletely overhaul this blog. It will soon become primarily a resource for understanding and speaking to postmoderns. Pastors and leaders across the continent have made it clear that’s what they want and need.

My presentations at BC campmeeting–I’ll share more about that experience at a later date–that had such a tremendous response there last summer, those live recordings are now available on DVD.

Also, my presentations at the NAD Young Adult Summit/IGNITION on “Reaching Postmodern Youth” and “Crossing the Postmodern Divide” are just today available on DVD.

I’ll be in Tennesse this weekend, speaking at three churches in the Nashville area, so I probably won’t be blogging again until next week.

Posted on April 17th, 2008 by pastor ed
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How many prophecy charts have you seen in your life? And how many fine details are on each one? One would think that, when the first dominoe falls, some people could set a stopwatch until the Second Coming. In fact, some fairly prominent books featuring a six-thousand year clock have been put out. As I pointed out to one such purveyor, the whole thing only works if you know one of the end points. And if you know one, you know them both–at least according to that timetable.

Once, when presenting on the book of Revelation, a student asked me about a particular detail in one of the prophecies. When I expressed uncertainty, he told me, “You ought to be certain!” He actually felt my salvation depended upon my certainty about this particular detail!

As a fourth generation Adventist, with all my degrees from Adventist institutions, I’ve run into this a lot. People feverishly seeking certainty. And I’ve come to the conclusion that certainty is the enemy of — well, of faith. You see, if we KNOW every detail of the last days, we don’t need to have faith in God. If we KNOW every detail, we won’t be deceived. But salvations doesn’t primarily depend upon knowledge.

I know, I know, I’m getting dangerously close to the rampant strain of anti-intellectualism that runs through much of Adventism.  Knowledge matters, it just isn’t the most important thing. After all, the Pharisees had lots of knowledge, but only a few came to faith.

Faith requires that we trust God, that we act as if He is, and that He wants what is best for us. When the time comes to enter the fiery furnace, knowledge will not be enough. “Our God is well able to deliver us, but if not. . .” There it is. They didn’t KNOW they would be delivered, and incineration is an ugly way to go. But their faith, their trust, led them to step into the flames. And by the way, if they had KNOWN, ahead of time, that they would be delivered, it wouldn’t have taken much faith, would it? And that’s my point. We know in part, we prophecy in part. Nothing in this world will change that. No amount of certainty will eliminate our lack of knowledge, or substitute for faith. And the search for certainty often arises, it seems to me, out of a flight from the need for faith.

Posted on April 17th, 2008 by pastor ed
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George Barna did a survey about what average people thought about, when they heard the word “Christian.” The results weren’t happy ones for Christians. And, sadly, most Christians don’t have a clue.

Here’s an example I recently came across. One adult Christian who disagreed with another on a theological issue, and he (I’ll call him Harmon) wrote the following:

You may think it’s valid, but if you understood, you would not post what you did. It’s obvious that you lack understanding in this matter. Think about xxxxxxxx–blanked out because the issue doesn’t matter—xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. You have no idea what that means do you? And you have no idea why xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx because it’s in the law. You are clueless on these matter and that’s why you connot understand what this is about. As long as you keep shutting your mind to any ideas other than culture, you won’t see the beauty in this.

It’s not up to me to teach you what that means, you would do well to pray that God would give you understanding and then you’d have peace with this.

When confronted, “Harmon” simply said, “I love the truth.”

This same person cannot understand why people don’t want to know “the truth” any more. Maybe it’s because they’re tired of abuse and arrogance in the name of “the truth.”

What do you think?

Posted on January 3rd, 2008 by pastor ed
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I’m new to this idea of stream-of-consciousness blogging, so I hope you’ll cut me some slack. I know that this post will offend some, but I just can’t help it anymore.

When I read theSpectrum magazine blog, or several of my friends: here, or here, or here, I get the message that the greatest danger to the republic, the church, and common decency are the political activists of the religious right. Maybe.

For the last several years, I have subscribed to the electronic newsletters of several Christian magazines, from across the political spectrum. From most of these newsletters, I get something useful on a regular basis. Debates about popular culture, interviews with prominent authors, examinations of issues from predestination to stem cells. Only one newsletter, however, is “all politics all the time.” Except for the bi-weekly (approximately) ads for the magazine or one of the editor’s latest books, Sojourners newsletter is all politics, all the time.

Frankly, it’s getting a little wearing. Just today I received another bulletin from Sojourners. Because I live in Iowa– you know, the state with the ‘first-in-the-nation-caucuses’– I received a message urging me to sign a petition to take a particular position on the issue of immigration. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like being told how to think.

One of the reasons I have had trouble with some evangelists and pastors is that I don’t like being told how to think. Reason is not infallible, because human beings are not infallible, but God seems to endorse reasoning and interaction. The One Who actually knows the truth, and could rightfully dictate it, invites us to discussion

“Come. Sit down. Let’s argue this out.” This is God’s Message:
Isaiah 1:18, The Message

The situation distresses me. In Christianity Today magazine and newsletter I see varying perspectives on numerous issues. In Sojourners, and much of the church’s presence on the web, I see none at all. Certain positions are assumed to be scriptural–often on grounds that would make a fundamentalist exegete blush– and any opposing view is assumed to be ungodly, stupid, and dangerous.

This attitude frightens me whether it comes from the right or the left. I don’t want the right demanding that I worship on Sunday and abandon the Sabbath.  If I oppose Sunday legislation, I must also oppose ‘Saturday’ legislation. There are those on the right who would accuse me of being ‘ungodly’ or ‘anti-god’ or ‘anti-worship,’ because I oppose such laws. But the number of such is few and far between.

And of course, such thinking is crude and simplistic. To be opposed to legislating how one worships, or whether one worships, does not mean being opposed to worship. Quite the contrary. Coerced worship is worship of coercion, not God.

By contrast, should I suggest that gay marriage is not wise social policy, or that totally open borders are not a good idea, I can guarantee that those on the religious left– sadly including many in my own denomination–will denounce me as ‘hateful,’ and ‘unchristian.’

Do I see these tendencies on the religious right? In some cases, in a few individuals, on the fringe. On the religious left, I see nothing else.

And that brings me back to where I started. As someone who was instrumental in passing legislation in my state, I have more than passing experience in the political scene. I think politics is important for Christians. But I do not thing everything is politics, or politics is everything. I don’t want my relationship with God to be “all politics, all the time.”

The gospel confronts every culture, every philosophy, ever political question. When asked if God was on his side, Abe Lincoln replied that the more important question was whether we are on God’s side. And this during a war that had, as one of its goals, the abolition of slavery! Even in the pursuit of such a noble goal, Lincoln understood that we need to keep questioning whether we are on God’s side.

When I was lobbying for a change in Iowa’s education laws, to permit homeschooling, I met oppostion from both ends of the political spectrum.  Both sides villified me personally. Some on the left accused me of racism, of not wanting my children to go to school with children of other ethnic backgrounds. Some on the right called me Judas, because I was ’selling out’ homeschoolers by negotiating with the legislature at all.

From this, I derived a lesson about the end times. At the end, there will be two classes. One group will say, “I believe I know what God’s will is, and I’m going to do everything I can to follow it.” The other group will say, “I know what God’s will is for everyone, and I’m going to do everything to see to it that everyone does it.” It is the latter group, forcing everyone to do God’s will, that is instead doing the Devil’s work. I see it on both ends of the political spectrum. But today, I see far more of it on the political Left, than on the Right.

Posted on November 14th, 2007 by pastor ed
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I’ve had a hard time getting into this blog thing. After several months, and God tugging at my sleeve, I finally figured out why.

When this whole thing began, I looked around at other blogs to see what blogging was about, and decided to the same thing. But wait– blogging isn’t ONE thing, it’s a million things, maybe more.

And that’s what God was trying to tell me, too. Blogging isn’t one thing or another; the whole essence of blogging is that it’s MY thing, no matter who I am.  And so today, I’m going to start over, and make this blog MY thing, doing what I like to do, what I do best.

Now, I’m going to be away from my computer for most of the rest of this week, as I’ll be traveling to Loma Linda, California to talk about Intergenerational Worship and Cult-Proofing kids at the GoFish conference on children’s ministry.

I’ll also do a book-signing while I’m out there. If you live out there, and get a chance to come see me, please do!

Anyway, from now on this blog’s gonna get really different, because instead of trying to make it everyone’s blog, I’m gonna make it MY blog. As my wife would tell you, that may be offensive, it may be strange, it may be bizarre, it might be incomprehensible, but it’s unlikely to be boring. Life with me, she says, is often insane, but never boring.

And, as I’m writing this, it srikes me that this is what the Christian walk is supposed to be. We’re not supposed to look around at what every other Christian is doing, and try and ape their performance. Instead, we’re to build a relationship with the One who really knows how, and then BE what He made us to BE! We’re human beings, not human doings.

And that’s the problem with so many wannabe Christians. They’re Christian DOings instead of BEing a Christian. It’s hard for me, but I’m gonna try.

Another way a blog is like the Christian walk is that, if you look at it as a big project, you’ll get discouraged– the only way to succeed is to approach it one day at a time.  So, there we are, friends. This whole Christian thing is something we are ALL beginners in. Isn’t that exciting? Because it means that it is NEW every day.

Till next time.

Posted on November 6th, 2007 by pastor ed
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“Baruch had the worst job in the Bible,” I once told a Sabbath School class. “Jeremiah got these messages predicting doom and downfall for Jersusalem, and he had his scribe, Baruch, write them down, and then go and read them in the marketplace.”

“Well,” said one lady, “How bad could it be? I mean, he was the secretary of a prophet. He must have been pretty well respected,” she said. “He was in the Bible and all.”

It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. Of course, we know that now, more than 25 centuries after the fact! But they didn’t know that. All they knew was that he was talking defeat and doom in a time of national peril.
All this comes to mind as I’ve been reading a fascinating book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb called, “Fooled by Randomness.” A hedge fund manager and options trader, Taleb focuses on how all of us are fooled by randomness. This takes many surprising forms.

A major form is how we are fooled by the randomness of the past, because we view it after the fact. Now, that may seem like circular reasoning, and has nothing to do with religion or God, but in fact it is quite pertinent.

One of the common ways religous people are ‘fooled by randomness,’ or rather, by historical bias, is revealed by the anecdote above: we fail to understand the meaning of a given text because we don’t view the episode based only on what they knew, before the outcome became known. Rather, we view the episode based on our knowledge of the outcome. And the outcome almost always appears inevitable viewed from our vantage point.

So we can say, for example, that Abraham should never have taken Hagar to bed. It was wrong, it was a sin, and nothing good can come from a sin. But if we accept that, then we have to declare Tamar wrong for posing as a prostitute and inducing Judah to impregnate her. But Judah later declares her ‘more righteous’ and God ratifies her status by making her a direct ancestor of Christ!

Now, we can construct a line of reasoning that justifies Tamar and condemns Moses, based on their comparative behavior.  Problem is, we can constuct reasoning just as convincing that condemns Tamar and justifies Abraham.

The only way we have of choosing between the two is based on outcomes, some of which may take centuries to become clear. But Tamar and Abraham didn’t have the luxury of hindsigh. They had to act in their ‘here and now,’ without benefit of the next chapter.

This error has significant implications for reading the Bible nattative, but ought to tell us even more about something else we Adventists are famous for. But that will have to wiat.

Posted on October 15th, 2007 by pastor ed
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This wonderful review is available at Amazon.com

Grounds for Belief is a simple but never simplistic look at Christianity at its nonjudgmental best. Everyone at the café, the book’s namesake, is welcome to enter into the discussions as the author lays a firm foundation for believing, without ever making anyone feel condemned for not believing. This book speaks to all who question faith, as well as to those who want to reaffirm their faith, or who are just looking for an inspirational book to read.

Posted on July 20th, 2007 by pastor ed
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There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about politicians today, but the prevailing air of cynicism not only is unfair, it doesn’t serve us, the ordinary citizen, very well.

I once had the privilege of helping pass a piece of needed legislation. In the process, I learned a lot– including to respect most of the politicians I worked with, even those on the other side of the issue.

One reason everyone is fed up with politicians is that we feel ‘nothing ever changes.’ To some degree it’s the nature of the system. Having a piece of legislation pass two separate chambers and receive the governor’s (or president’s) signature is quite a hurdle. Add to that the simple reality that honest people have conflicting views about a topic, and that makes change very difficult.

Oh, lots of people want change, but generic ‘change’ is not one of the options for lawmakers. They have to change the law to some other law. And it’s amazing how the very same people who want change in general object to whatever specific change is suggested. It’s easy to be against something, but much harder to be willing to take responsibility for the substitute.

And that’s just one dimension. Because it isn’t just that person A’s ideas conflict with person B’s, not at all. The difficulty arises because some of person A’s desires conflict with other desires of person A. We’re all the same.

“the People” want universal healthcare, we’re told. Of course they do. And they want free transportation, and guaranteed vacations, and assured pensions, and– on and on.

But then “the People” want to keep more of the money they earn, want fewer regulations telling them how to live their lives, greater freedom in how they live. You may have noticed, this list conflicts with the previous one.

Everyone’s like that. We want to go to a concert and buy the latest technology. We want to save money for retirement or a vacation. Since our resources are limited, we have to choose– and the choice will be one that, in some respects, we don’t like.

Politicians face the same problem. People want services, but they want lower taxes and fewer restraints. Since it is impossible to simultaneously fulfill all those desires, any actual legislation will be a disappointment.

Now, why do I bring this up on a blog about “belief.” Well, God gets as bad a rap as the politicians. God is restrained in certain ways. Oh, I know that sounds strange, but it’s true.

God is restrained by His own nature, “Am I a man that I should lie?” God asked an ancient prophet. God is restrained by other realities, like making creatures unable to sin, who can still freely love Him. Or those who can freely love Him, but cannot freely disobey Him. Freedom is freedom. Either we’re free to love–and to disobey– or we’re not free at all.

So, a lot of what God gets blamed for, isn’t anything God can do anything about. Sound like your life?

Reminds me of “Bruce Almighty,” where Bruce Nolan asks God, “How do you get someone to love you without tampering with free will?” and Morgan Freeman answers for God, “Welcome to my world!”

We all want to live long and prosper, and yet we all want to eat, drink, and be merry without considering the consequences. Either we have to make better choices, perhaps even surrendering our will to God, or God himself cannot fix our problems.

Posted on June 20th, 2007 by pastor ed
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A big thank you to Capitol Youth

blog for listing Grounds for Belief as a “Hot Summer Read.”

“Great book for College and out of High School Youths - Hector”

Thank you, Hector!

Posted on June 14th, 2007 by pastor ed
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Even though I’ve been involved in politics several times in my life– I helped lobby a law into existence some years ago–I’m getting a little tired of the unending campaign. But every time I get really fed up, I remember a quote by Winston Churchill

Democracy is the worst form of government, except for every other form.

Democracy means lots of people make choices for ‘everyone,’ instead of one (like a King) or a few making choices for ‘everyone.’ When lots of people get involved, that requires politics to help make the choice.

Much maligned these days, politics is simply the way large groups of people come to make choices. So, despite the common talk, there’s nothing inherently ‘dirty’ about politics or politicians. Like anything else, it can be pursued honorably or dishonorably.

But there are at least three fundamental problems inherent in politics. Neither of these has any solution other than a mature electorate. This is just another way of saying,

“In a democracy, people generally get the government they deserve.”

I know that sounds harsh, but there it is. Life–and people–aren’t as malleable as we would like them to be. Even if we aspire to make things much better than they are, we have to start with where they are, and not where we wish them to be.

The problems, which I will deal with in successive posts, are these:

• People have conflicting desires
• Some people will be disappointed with the outcome
• People engage in wishful thinking

Posted on June 13th, 2007 by pastor ed
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