Posts tagged freedom
Synonyms or not: Punishment / Discipline
0Punishment and Discipline.
Are they the same?
God disciplines His children. Discipline may feel like punishment, but is done out of love and is for the child’s benefit. It may inconvenience the parent, may cost the parent, may hurt the parent’s ego… basically, it’s not necessarily easy, but benefits in the long run.
Punishment is “an eye for an eye” — tangible one to one correlation. Basically, it’s “you do A, then B happens.” Essentially cause and effect… you sin, you pay for your sins.
Discipline involves love. Consider the base word from where “discipline” comes: “disciple”.
Punishment doesn’t have room for love because justice has to be met.
Discipline might hurt the one who disciplines, but will help the one being disciplined.
Punishment makes the punisher feel good/vindicated/justified, but breaks the punished.
God disciplines “the sheep” but will punish “the goats”.
Discipline is the right of a child as part of a family. Punishment is not.
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
Do we need a Christian No-Spin Zone?
0Yeah, I was kind of mad at B. O’R. when I wrote this. I actually appreciate some of what he has to say now.
Tonight we’ll consider the “No Spin Zone” — perhaps one of the most famous elements of modern television news programming. All sorts of people make guest appearances on a particular television commentator’s show only to be interrupted, degraded, and told why (s)he is wrong. (Wrong = disagreeing with the host, failing to toe the unspoken but assumed party line, etc.) Free from “spin” (which by context we have to assume must mean nonpartisan fairness) issues such as foreign involvements, presidential approval, and culture become blacker than black and whiter than white.
“A Scandalous Freedom” available on Google Books!
0Mystery of Mercy
1A couple days ago I came across a posting on a discussion board I visit periodically in which the author expressed frustration with a couple particular elements of popular Christianity. Much of his post centered around apparent frustration with dispensational teachings (especially the “rapture”) and semi-Pelagianism (loss of salvation due to poor performance) — namely that one could do something wrong, lose salvation, miss the “rapture”, and thus be “left behind.” He said he was “terrified” that some mistake would cause him to be left behind and be tormented by “the Antichrist.” Quoting: “what if I commit a sin, and don’t have time to confess and ask God forgiveness and repent and get…left behind?!” “what if I’m in some sin that I don’t even recognize and I get……left behind?” “what if I’m watching something on TV that’s somehow a “sin” and Jesus returns and I get……left behind?” “what if I commit the unpardonable sin and get….left behind?”
There was a time when I, too, believed in the dispensational model and was influenced by numerous semi-Pelagians. I shared these same questions and had these same frustrations… as did (and do) many, many others. Yes, each side has the Bible to back their views up… but careful study is needed to see that some interpretations do not hold up.
But the author of the post I refer to grew deeply depressed over this. All his life he had been fed a system of works… be good, no, be perfect… or “God will be displeased and do something to you.” Apparently he never found the truth, found freedom from this system, found a way of escape. Before two weeks passed he had killed four people in Colorado and he himself was dead also.
Where were the people who could have shown him truth when he was searching? Surely not all were locked into the mindset that many of us know all too well… that all music with a beat is demonic, that there is an umbrella of [human] authority shielding underlings from great harm, that it is rebellious to seek truth on one’s own… or most of all, that our performance could increase or decrease our standing with God. Where were the people who knew the truth?
And for all of us who asked these same questions, who at one time or another felt this same frustration, who once were part of this same belief system…
why has our story turned out any different?
Let me tell you this: it sure isn’t our goodness that has resulted in a different story for you and me.
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I am the woman at the well, I am the harlot
I am the scattered seed that fell along the path
I am the son that ran away
And I am the bitter son that stayed
My God, my God why hast Thou accepted me
When all my love was vinegar to a thirsty King?
My God, my God why hast Thou accepted me
It’s a mystery of mercy and the song, the song I sing
I am the angry man who came to stone the lover
I am the woman there ashamed before the crowd
I am the leper that gave thanks
But I am the nine that never came
My God, my God why hast Thou accepted me
When all my love was vinegar to a thirsty King?
My God, my God why hast Thou accepted me
It’s a mystery of mercy and the song, the song I sing
You made the seed that made the tree
That made the cross that saved me
You gave me hope when there was none
You gave me your only Son
My God, Lord you are
My God, my God, Lord you are
–Caedmon’s Call
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Note: I am not making the allegation that IBLP or Bill Gothard is responsible for the recent tragedy in Colorado. However, the belief and lifestyle structure set forth by IBLP, as well as the prevalent teachings associated with dispensationalism, semi-Pelagianism and Pentecostal belief, all certainly seem to have been catalysts. Not directly responsible, as no one is responsible for the actions of another, but still part of the bigger picture.
Pain and Failure
0http://www.joelwnelson.com/articles/A%20Scandalous%20Freedom.pdf
Concluding the series on Christian Freedom, based on principles from Steve Brown’s book A Scandalous Freedom.
Boldness in Christ
1http://www.joelwnelson.com/articles/A%20Scandalous%20Freedom.pdf
Continuing the series on Christian Freedom, based on principles from Steve Brown’s book A Scandalous Freedom.
When was the last time when you chose to do something that went against the grain and would potentially elicit a negative response, but chose to be bold and do it anyway? For some people this comes easily. For others, it’s painfully difficult. Now I am not referring to doing things that are wrong, but rather things which are right yet unconventional, maybe even offensive. It takes boldness to challenge a wrong establishment, especially when the majority considers that establishment to be right. It takes boldness to stand up to corrupted religious teaching and nail 95 theses on a door. The chapter in A Scandalous Freedom that I am writing about in this reflection today is called “The Boldness We Fear… and the Courage That Sets Us Free.” In this chapter, author/teacher Steve Brown writes, “This chapter addresses the question, ‘Why are we so bound and so imprisoned that we feel afraid to speak up, stand up, and be Christ’s witness in the church and in the world?’”
The chapter continues with a primer in Christian boldness. Topics include saying no (without giving an explanation, despite that “the Christian subculture expects you to explain yourself“), divulging an opinion even in the face of rejection, disagreement, and confrontation in the event a leader says a vision or ministry came from God. Two that I specifically want to expound further on are divulging an opinion and confronting a leader.
Most groups have established “norms” defining how participants should think, look, act, and believe. If someone even entertains thoughts of being different from this norm, he will at minimum be regarded as inferior and may even be excluded from further participation. This should not be! When is it healthy for a group to be comprised of yes-men in one accord? I firmly believe that it is through discussion of diverse opinions* that people can be most encouraged and built up in their faith! (*Not necessarily in terms of “anti-Christian” thought, which is a topic for a separate discussion, but those positions which are within the realm of Biblical orthodoxy.)
Another problem that often stifles boldness is the “deification” of Christian leaders (discussed in a previous post). If when a leader says that some vision or ministry came from God he is never questioned, his ministry can quickly grow into a cult which will then be damaging to both the leader and those who place themselves in submission to him. Steve Brown writes, “The problem with Christian leadership in the church, in media and in denominations, is that these leaders are in danger of having disciples instead of colleagues (or in more religious terms, brothers and sisters in Christ). As a result, some leaders have no one around to tell them when they’re doing something stupid. I once told a Christian leader that, if he acted in a certain way, people would think he was a fruitcake. I expected him to get angry, but later he told me that he didn’t think I really meant it, that I was ‘speaking in hyperbole.’“
Since when is deceit a Christian virtue? Right. So why is it considered more acceptable to deceive by remaining silent when the truth requires boldness? The next segment of the chapter deals with honesty. The following quote is long but well worth the read.
“The church is supposed to be the place where honesty is given. The church is supposed to be the testing place for the people of God where a filter of supernatural love cleanses and purifies — but doesn’t eliminate — godly expressions of honesty, criticism, and even harshness. In the church we are supposed to understand the idiocy of worshiping at human, fallible, and silly altars. If we don’t understand this when we’re with the people of God, then how are we going to be an asset to our culture — the place to which Jesus called us? We are, after all, here for ‘them.’ Jesus said, ‘You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored. It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
Something has happened to the Christianity we profess, something that smells like smoke and comes from the pit of hell. We have equated the word Christian with the word proper, commitment with compromise, love with sweetness, servanthood with insipidity, and sensitivity with banality.”
“It is possible, I suppose, that we are simply proper, compromising, sweet, insipid, and banal people, adjusting the Christian faith to conform to our emotional needs. It could be that we have taken the eternal verities of the Bible and made them conform to American cultural standards that make us feel comfortable.“
“But I don’t think so.“
“I believe that many of us have bought into a neurotic and weak Christianity because we thought it was true Christianity. We have accepted someone else’s neurosis as health and have traded in God’s freedom for our instinct to pretend and to protect.”
Brown then goes down a who’s who roll call of great men of the faith from the second century to the near-modern times. Pothnius, Irenaeus, Origen, Chrysostom, Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, Martin Luther, John Knox, and many more: these men stood strong for their faith even when all around them fell. Some gave up their lives. Others rocked the boat such that the ripples and waves are still going strong to this day. Where are men such as these today? Where are the ones who will find their identity in the City of God, who will defend the faith against popular heresies, who will nail 95 theses on a door at Wittenburg, even who would rather be a human candle than deny the faith?
“What happened? I suggest that we Christians become cowards when we forget about three important things.”
We forget about “The Truth That Sets Us Free.” We have the Truth in God’s Word. We don’t have to be ashamed of it, because it will never cease to be the Truth. We can hide the truth, however, and even present some variant that does cease to be the truth, when we water it down to make it more palatable. When we have the Truth — and we are confident in the Truth — we have boldness. “There is something about truth and being bound by it that will make you bold.“
“The Unsaved”
We may have been sent out as sheep in the midst of fierce wolves, but we have nothing to fear in these wolves because all authority has been given to the One who sent us out. Our focus can’t be on ourselves, but rather on the lost… “so they might understand.”
A second point under the topic of the unsaved is that “Worship is Also about Us.” What? Isn’t worship 100% about God? “Worship is about God and how he wants to be served and adored. Yet worship is also about us.” Brown gives as an example that “you can’t force a postmodern rocker to understand and appreciate Handel or Bach, understand a liturgy written two hundred years ago, or think in thought-forms that make no sense to him or her.”
Brown concludes this section with the following:
“Do you want to know something that will make you both free and bold in proclaiming the truth? Desire to be understood, and then take steps to make sure that those who don’t know Christ can grasp the reality of what you believe. Perhaps some will come to the truth — and when that happens, you’ll discover reservoirs of boldness you never existed. And your new freedom will encourage you to take best advantage of them.”
“The Threat”
There isn’t really any threat, but many people feel as though there is. And in the face of this, they attack, submit, or run away.
Some attack. Brown mentions political activists in this area, who out of fear of losing a “culture war” attack anything that seems to be opposed to a distinctly Christian society and do all that they can to win the war and defeat the unsaved (and demonize liberals in the process? –my thought here).
Others submit. The world has so many attractive things that it’s easier to give up and walk the road that most travel.
Still others run away. They join “Villages“, live apart from the rest of the world, “see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil“; they “go to Christian movies, associate with Christian friends, eat Christian cookies at Christian restaurants, and wear Christian underwear.”
And still others do not fear the world. The battle has been won. Can the world take away the great inheritance that adopted sons and daughters of God have? What’s the worst they can do? Let you have that inheritance a little earlier? Think about that for a bit. Brown tells the story of a man who was fired and went out with a tirade about his (former) company. After all, what was the worst they could do? Fire him?
One time a young man became angry at something that Steve Brown had said. The young man said, “Dr. Brown, I think you are arrogant, rude, and prideful.”
Brown writes that he responded, “You’re right, but I’m better than I was.”
“What are they going to do? Manipulate me with guilt? Fat chance.”
If other Christians who live in fear are offended by another Christian’s boldness, what is the worst they can do? “Take away their love? I get more critical letters than you could possibly imagine.“ . . . “I am loved by those who will never take away their love. I don’t care if you don’t love me.” Nothing… nothing… nothing can separate us from the love of Christ! So what if nobody on earth loves us. So what if they spit at us, curse us, don’t elect any of our people into office, don’t let us pray in public places, and don’t let us hang the Ten Commandments in public places. We’ve still won the battle. So “now we have to do it Jesus’ way. Real boldness is just another name for nothing left to lose. And Christians who have nothing left to lose are the world’s worst nightmare.”
Song of the day: Nobody Loves Me by Derek Webb
Well I can always tell a liar and I always know a thief
Well I know I’m like my family because brother I’m the chief
Well I’m a dangerous crusader ‘cause I need to tell the truth
So I’m turnin’ over tables in my own living room
But I might nail indictments up on every door in town
‘Cause its not right or safe to let your conscience down
So I don’t care if
Nobody loves me
Nobody loves me
Nobody loves me…but You
‘Cause the truth is never sexy
So it’s not an easy sell
Well you can dress her like the culture
And she’ll shock ‘em just as well
And she don’t need an apology
For bein’ who she is
And she don’t need your help makin’ enemies
So I don’t care if
Nobody loves me
Nobody loves me
Nobody loves me…but You
So I’ll do whatever it takes
To fit us into this wedding gown
I’ll use words that rattle your nerves
words like ‘sin’ and ‘faith alone’ now…
Nobody loves me
Nobody loves me
Nobody loves me…but You