Pointless

I am sitting here in my little kiosk watching darts on TSN in jump.ca's window and first I became amazed, in awe actually, of at this one guy then I realised how pointless his life must be if he has sacrificed and worked so hard to become as good as he is at darts.

And yes my life does seem pointless as I sit here in my kiosk but it only until Christmas.
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I just got hit on...

By a dude!!

And he was blatant about it, "I'll come back later and hit on you some more, if you don't mind".
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In writing

This is the public record of my prediction that Josh VanLoon will have had enough of being above his parents and will want to move back to the basement no later that January 5 2011.
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Yet Another Theological Idea from my Twisted Mind

Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

I read this passage the other day and realised that in context Paul was talking about what we call the Old Testament, because that was all they had. So often I think we read this New Testament passage and then use it to support some New Testament concept, and that is not entirely wrong, but it is clearly taking the passage out of context.

A better reading to the modern Christian mind, just to remind us that the Old Testament is what Paul was referring to would be:

[The whole Old Testament] is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

This means that all of:

• Genesis is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Exodus is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Leviticus is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Numbers is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Deuteronomy is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Joshua is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Judges is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Ruth is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• 1 Samuel is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• 2 Samuel is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• 1 Kings is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• 2 Kings is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• 1 Chronicles is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• 2 Chronicles is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Ezra is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Nehemiah is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Esther is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Job is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Psalms is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Proverbs is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Ecclesiastes is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Song of Songs is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Isaiah is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Jeremiah is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Lamentations is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Ezekiel is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Daniel is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Hosea is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Joel is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Amos is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Obadiah is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Jonah is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, including 2:10.
• Micah is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Nahum is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Habakkuk is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Zephaniah is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Haggai is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Zechariah is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
• Malachi is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

What does the Gospel mean to you?

I hope I am not just a jumble of thoughts but a coherent messenger of the heart of God.

What does the gospel mean to you? I am not asking for the "correct" answer, if anything I am ultimately arguing that the "correct"answer is the wrong answer. What does the gospel mean to you, [insert your name here]? The next question is what can I do to help make the gospel a reality in your life?

I have been coming to some revelations of late and one of them is that I have my own understanding of the gospel. I have worked out my faith (Phil 2:12) and I have known what God requires of me for many many years but I believe I have been both overtly and covertly counseled against doing those things that the gospel requires of me. But the real question I am asking now is how many others are in the same boat and how many I have discouraged from persuing what God is calling them to.

What would it look like if we counseled people to do what they think God is calling them to instead of cautioning them away? What would it look like if we chose to stand on guard and bless someone when they chose to something "stupid" for God, caring more about their faith than the temporal concerns we caution them about?

How many great things could men and women have accomplished because they were motivated by the Gospel, as they understand it, but did not because someone counseled them away from the Gospel, as they understand it?

A Revelation

As I was sitting listening to yet another pointless message this morning I realised that I no longer attend church on a weekly basis because I want to, or because I long for fellowship. I attend because it is the least unrighteous thing I can think of to do on a Sunday morning.

Before I go further I should clarify that I am not calling the message itself pointless, I am calling preaching in general pointless.

It's crowded in a worship today
As she slips in
Trying to fade into the faces
The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them
There is a way? There is a way?

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat
And quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances tell him that his chances
Are better out on the road

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them
There is a way?

But Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them
There is a way?

If we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them
There is a way? As Jesus is the way

This song kept resonating through my mind as I listened to yet another messsage about how we need to just humble ourselves, let go and let God reign in our lives. But there was no "rubber", it was a nice airy message intended to encourage the saints a little without really convicting anyone of their own unrighteous. No clear stand was taken, just a pleasant message intended to encourage us to abandon unrighteous thinking patterns without actually identifing what those are, or what tangible actions we ought to be taking to reinforce a change in our thinking patterns which in turn will result in a permanent change in our behaviours.

You sit there don't care twiddling your thumbs
You don't mind to waste your time contemplate the air
There's no life it ain't right the passive state you're in
Apathetic yeh pathetic can't you see it's sin

You're being judged
And righteously
The sentence is passed
It's apathy
You're being judged
And righteously
The sentence is passed
It's apathy in the first degree

You might be lost might be found doesn't make a difference
Sleepwalking you're just jive-talking obviously indifferent
What'd you care if the world gonna burn
With millions going to hell
You might be with them or maybe you won't
But it' sure hard to tell

You're being judged
And righteously
The sentence is passed
It's apathy
You're being judged
And righteously
The sentence is passed
It's apathy in the first degree

It's easy to realize
Much a' the world has closed its eyes
Sometimes I cry
For Christians to care at all
It's sure Jesus cares
Wasn't passive that's sure
In the comfort seeking church
He calls us to share the hurt

You're being judged
And righteously
The sentence is passed
It's apathy
You're being judged
And righteously
The sentence is passed
It's apathy in the first degree

Apathy in the first degree

Wake up, wake up

We are called to be radically and significantly different from the culture around us and really we are not. In truth most of us operate on the same values that a person finds in the business world, or the social work office, or on our television sets, we might be a step or two more holy but in reality it is the difference between toilet water that has been polluted with urine and toilet water that has been polluted with feces.

Truth be known I can hardly stand the stench of my own hypocracy and I am beginning to gag on the combined stench of a congregation.

Where have we been and where are we goin'
And who really cares?
A trip to the moon, a tryst in the desert
We fall down the stairs

Somebody wins, and somebody loses
It's up to you
Someone's fool and someone is a fighter
You get what you choose

Moses to Paul, Samson to Delilah
It's all the same
You sell out or you put out
And it ain't no game
Scars on our hearts and mud on our faces
On network tv
A passion for success, a love affair with money
It's time to get on our knees

All the talk in the world
It don't mean nothin'
Even when intentions are good
God send His Son to make us be honest
Not just to make us feel good
Nothin' is worse than a self-centered liar
And sometimes that's me and you
But for everyone involved we gotta change
That the world can know He is the Truth

I long for action that reinforces the thoughts that set me apart, but I am so trapped in cultural unrighteousness that I can not see the way out and frankly I can not see anyone else that can lead me out either; only the blind leading the blind.

I hold on to my faith not because I value God, well meaning but misguided individuals long ago stripped me of any love or value for God. I hold on to it because I gives me some sense of meaning or purpose, the hope, no the promise that as a group we can change the world by changing individual lives. But I feel like I have been sold a bill of goods because I do not believe the gospel has really changed my life all that much and nor has it lived up to it's promise for others. Returning to the toilet water analogy, all that has happened is that the fecal matter has been removed, but the fecal residue and urine remain in the toilet water that is our lives.

I want the spring of living water promised in scripture or I want out of the faith and the freedom to pursue my passions before I am condemned to hell because the way I see it no toilet water is going to be allowed through heaven's gates.

The desire to live differently exists, but I lack the road map and I have been stripped of the trust necessary for someone to guide me to where I want to go; even if such a person exists.

WARNING: Your Brain Will Hurt!!!

We protect, sacrifice and are even willing to endure torture for those things that are precious to us, our children for one and our possessions for another. Now holding your possessions as precious is not entirely wrong. My sister in-law would probably protect, sacrifice and endure torture on behalf of her piano. She is not materialistic but she does make her living teaching piano so her piano is precious to her and therefore arguably it is a necessity for her and worth suffering for.

But do we feel the same way about the gospel? The gospel is an idea but is it precious enough to us to need to be protected, sacrificed or tortured for? If the Gospel were a person what would you be willing to do to for it? The Gospel is a person, Jesus of Nazareth, but Jesus is no more the Gospel than Barak Obama is currently the president of the United States of America. Barak Obama is the President and there are people that are sworn to protect, sacrifice and endure torture on his behalf, but it is not the man, but rather the office that they were sworn to; the idea that Barak Obama is the President of The United States of America. Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, but what really matters is the idea of the Messiah; the Gospel which is God's plan to reconcile men to himself. To clarify, just like the President of the United States of America is an office, so too is the Messiah and just like Barak Obama's extraordinary value comes from his being the President so does the extraordinary value of Jesus of Nazareth come from his being the Messiah.

We are not called to be loyal subject of Jesus, we are called to be loyal subjects of the Messiah (the one who brings the Gospel) and that loyalty is what is supposed to cause us to be loyal subjects of Jesus. So the question I am putting before you is not how much do you love Jesus, but how much do you value, how much do you love and how loyal are you to the idea of the Gospel, God's plan to reconcile men to himself?

Is your loyalty to the man Jesus, or to the Messiah? If somehow it was discovered that Jesus was not the Messiah but rather it is someone else would you still be loyal to the Gospel, the idea that men can be reconciled to God? In many if not most of the cases of persecution this is the crux of the matter. Muslims kill Christians because they believe that Muhammad teaches the correct way to be reconciled to God and that is often the basis for a Muslim to convert to Christianity; they have concluded that it is Jesus and not Muhammad that teaches the correct way for a person to be reconciled to God. The Catholic Church persecuted the reformers because the Catholic Church believed that they taught the correct way to be reconciled to God, no one was arguing about Jesus being the teacher, but rather about how to interpret the teacher.

I will admit this is heady stuff because the only way to answer the question is to force the idea that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah away from the idea that there is a way for a person to be reconciled to God. Then a person can step back for a moment and ask where their loyalty lies and if a cult of personality has been built up around Jesus which has undermined the Gospel.