One good thing about the book is that it reminds us that, when peering into the future, we need to be cautious about authoritative pronouncements.  He places a different interpretation on data that others look at.  I see his analysis more as a “glass half full” effort as opposed to a “glass half empty” view.  For example, in countering the criticism of some that Christians are largely uneducated he says this:

“Nationwide, 27% of all adults have graduated from college… Evangelicals are somewhat below the national average. The religious unaffiliated are just slightly above average in levels of college education.”

 Ok, that doesn’t sound too bad, does it?  Here is the data quoted:  The college graduation rate, nationwide, is 27%.  Among evangelicals it is 20% and among the religiously unaffiliated it is 29%.  Now if we took that data using the “glass half empty” model we might say this:

“On a per-capita basis, the religiously unaffiliated graduate from college at a rate 45% higher than Evangelicals.”

 Both summaries are right, they are just two different ways of stating the same data.  Wright’s book is full of this sort of “happy option” way of looking at things.  This is not altogether wrong and it serves a point, there is no cause for gloominess and defeat even as we struggle with the realities around us.  In this I applaud him.

 But here is my complaint in an otherwise good book.  And it is right in the title.  What does he call the views of those who differ with him?  Lies.  In other words, those who have expressed concern are liars.  This is exactly the attitude that gives Christians a bad reputation (even though he says we don’t have one).  We are too quick to call people who disagree with us liars.  They are not simply wrong, they are lying. 

 This is particularly bothersome as, almost to a man, the concerns being expressed about our future are made by honest Christians sincerely dedicated to the church and to reform, our own denominational president among them.  These are not gloom-and-doom types seeking the demise of Christianity; they are our best and brightest calling us to renewal.

 I’ve looked at some of this data myself and I can see the struggles we face.  I am thankful for those who are sounding the alarm.  But more importantly, I reject out of hand the calling of those brave men and women liars.  A lie is stating what you know to be false as the truth and they are not even slightly guilty of this.  This is particularly egregious as most of these brothers and sisters, some of whom he quotes by name, made these predictions as part of a call to transformation, seeking nothing but the good of the faith.

 How are we often so quick to throw about terms such as “lies” in these matters?  It is an infection of the spirit of the age.  Political liberals and conservatives, not content to think the other side is wrong, accuses them of evil intent.  Those who advocate or deny global warming insist the other side is knowingly lying.  And we pick these terms and feelings up and throw them at each other in such situations as this or others like tongues, healings, end times etc.

 But grace calls us to be distinctly different.  We are called to have sincere and cordial discussions with brothers in Christ who differ.  We are even called to turn the other cheek when mean-spirited unbelievers mock us.  Our grace in such discussions gives us a unique opportunity.  By acting in a gracious way it gives people pause to wonder why we have not returned tit for tat.  And this gives us the opportunity to express the love of Christ.

So why did God let it happen?  Great theologians throughout the ages have written heartfelt answers to that question.  Not being a great theologian, this is not going to be one of those answers.  These are just personal thoughts on a difficult subject.

Let’s start with the obvious.  Suffering sucks.  Nobody wants to suffer, nobody in their right mind seeks it out.  God does not desire that we suffer.  Yet suffering exists.  Frankly, the world as we know it could not exist without suffering.  If God simply removed all suffering, or even all suffering only from those who call themselves Christians, we would, in the end, not be human.  We would simply be robot-like characters in a “forever happy” story with no free will.

Yet the appeal of a “gospel” of avoidance of suffering is a constant allure.  And some build theologies around that allure.  They whip out selected Scripture passages to build our faith and to trust God for miracles.  The message is simple.  If we could only stretch our faith a bit more this suffering stuff wouldn’t have to happen.

Now I am a believer in asking God to cure illness, end suffering, and restore wholeness and I freely admit that, at times He does.  But I truly believe that a single-minded focus on deliverance from suffering blinds us to a reality that may, in fact, be better.  In deliverance from suffering we can sense God’s goodness.  But in the midst of suffering we can sense with clarity something even better, God’s nearness.  (Psalm 73:28)  If we follow Christ because of the promise of a pain-free life are we truly followers at all?  Is it not better to feel His nearness even as we suffer?

There is a remarkable little verse, or part of a verse, in the 23^rd Psalm that expresses clearly what I feel God wants us to experience.  Let me put it this way…imagine your life as something of a “Lord of the Rings” quest.  You, like Frodo, are on a perilous journey through great dangers.  Jesus is your companion, guide and protector on this quest.  He is with you always.  Suddenly, in the most dangerous part of the journey the enemy appears…orcs, trolls and black riders galore.  You are surrounded, there seems to be no escape.  You cry “Lord, get me out of here!”

And Jesus, after looking around at the enemy, turns to you with a grin and says….”Let’s eat lunch!”  This is pretty much what Psalm 23:5a says.  “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”  Your heart races.  Isn’t it natural to respond “This is the valley of the shadow of death.  Let’s get out of here first and then eat when we get to the green pastures.”?

But God wants to be with us here and now, right in the midst of suffering, not just in some future time of ease.  In the comfort of His nearness in our pain we can experience Christ in a way that no happy time can give us.  Suffering isn’t better than ease, but nearness to Christ makes the difference between them as nothing by comparison. 

Why would I want a Christ who merely obeys my orders and makes my life happy on my terms when I can have a Christ who beckons me to sit at ease with Him no matter my circumstances?  Why would I want a Christ who is my deliverance genie when I can have a Christ whose face I can touch and feel the tears of His grief in my sorrows?  Why would I want a Christ who only transports me to green pastures when I can have a Christ who is with me on every step of my life journey

There is a Pharisee alive and well in me.  I don’t want him there, I’ve tried to kick him out, tried to shut him up but, darn it, he just won’t go away.  As is often the case in the stories about Jesus, in the passage above He turns an accepted religious concept of His day on its head.  Frankly, if asked, most people of the day would have agreed with the Pharisee that was “more righteous” than the tax collector. 

This is an uncomfortable passage where, were it transposed to the present day, I fear that those of us in the Church would be more like the Pharisee than the tax collector.  Yes, we will admit we are saved by grace, but salvation here is not the issue.  The question is whether they were living righteously on a day-by-day basis.  In this the Pharisee clearly thinks he is and the tax collector does not.  Yet it is the latter that experiences grace.  Yes, we say, we are sinners but at least we are more righteous than some of the scoundrels out there.  I’d love it if there were such a thing as “more righteous” but I can’t find Scriptural evidence that righteousness is graded on a curve. 

When Jerry Bridges says we must “preach the Gospel to ourselves everyday” he is not urging us to do this as some sort of rah-rah pep talk to make us witness more, he means we, already saved by grace, still should be aware of our need for grace for our sins each day.  The Pharisee in me is still in there and will pop out at any time.  And I am more like the Pharisee in the text above, or like the elder brother in the prodigal son story, than I’d like to admit.

But it gets worse.  What if I was more like the younger brother?  That would keep me safe, wouldn’t it?  Perhaps.  But the desire to think you are better than another is inherent in our sin-filled nature.  And you know the joke of the matter?  One of the easiest ways to think that thought is to recognize real sin in others.  Think for a minute of the end of the story above.  What if the tax collector, hearing the praise from Jesus, takes it to heart?  How far a leap is it to say “I am sure glad I am not a self-righteous hypocrite like that Pharisee.”?   And as soon as that thought would go through his mind, he would be just such a hypocrite.

Those of us who preach grace live this tension daily.  As soon as the warnings about legalism leave our lips we stand at the edge of falling into the exact same sin.  So great is our sinfulness that it is all but inevitable we will do some comparative judging of each other.  The good news is not that we get gradually better, gradually less in need of grace day-by-day.  It is that God’s grace is always available, and always “grace that is greater than all my sin.”

Yes, there is a Pharisee in me and no matter how many times I try, he won’t go away.  My determination to kill him off can’t do the job.  But, thank God, His grace is greater.

 I have long admired John Piper and it is a great privilege that I was once able to meet him, in an elevator of all places, and have a memorable talk with him.  So much do I admire him that I have his name flagged on my computer to alert me to anything he has said or published.  I, therefore, was alerted on Saturday to his new book, “Jesus: The only way to God.  Must you hear the Gospel to be saved?”

 The book’s title did not surprise me.  I could expect Piper to write, with eloquence, a ringing endorsement of Jesus as the only way and truth.  And so it seems he has.  Yet the second line in the promotion of the book sent a shiver down my spine.  It reads:  “If there was ever a time when the evangelical world at large was too confrontational in its evangelism, those days are gone.”  My eyes went wide and my mind ground to a halt.

 Now, I haven’t read this book (I have ordered it) so I don’t know exactly what he means by that.  Other things said in the promotion imply that he means that we cannot bend one iota to the prevailing idea in our world that there are many paths to God; we must stand on Christ alone and make no compromise in this stance.  If that is indeed what he means, I am in 100% agreement.

 However, the phrase “confrontational evangelism” has historically had a different meaning.  It refers to an evangelism methodology that, in essence, says we are to force a confrontation with an unbeliever, usually one with whom we have no relationship, where they have virtually no alternative but to hear us out in a formulaic presentation of the Gospel.  Examples of confrontational evangelism include knocking on strangers doors, stopping people on their way out of a store or subway car, and street preaching in front of a target like a bar or nightclub.  Piper’s line therefore can easily be read as an endorsement of this methodology.  If that is his intent, which I pray is not, I fear I must disagree.

 Proponents of confrontational evangelism say two things about it.  One, we should not worry about offending people, since the Gospel is an offense and, two, it works, people get saved.  So we should, they say, just go ahead and make them listen. 

 Let’s deal with the second one first.  Yes, at times people do get saved.  As I have always said, the curious thing about evangelism is that everything works but nothing is sure to work.  I have heard tales of people coming to the Lord through the most preposterous set of circumstances and the most bizarre methods of evangelism.  It pleases God greatly to bring people to Himself by various ways.  But there is no “surefire” method.  Nothing you do is sure to bring results, a fact that teachers of various methodologies often overlook.  God seems to want us to know that He brings people to Himself and that our efforts, while blessed, are not the key.

 But what about offending people?  Should we, as they say, not worry about that?  Should we just stick our nose in people’s faces and say what we want and not care if they get upset?  First and foremost there is this, and I am going to highlight it because I feel this very strongly:  Are we 100% sure that it is the Gospel that is offending them and not us?  I have personally seen confrontational evangelists be as offensive as anyone I have ever met and then give themselves a free pass on the offense they cause using “the Gospel is an offense” as an excuse.  If I choose confrontational evangelism the burden is on me to be sure my manner and approach not become the offending issue.  Let the Gospel offend on its own, don’t feel called to make sure people get offended.

 But there is a second concern I have.  In the last five years I’ve been blessed to move freely among blue-collar unbelievers; to speak to them and listen to them.  And there is an overwhelming consistency in some of the stories I hear.  Almost all, since this is the Bible belt after all, have been in touched by Christian witness.  Praise God.  But…the vast majority came away convinced of one thing, that Christians are obnoxious haters.  And, as you dig deeper, you find that all too often this opinion comes from an effort at confrontational evangelism gone bad.

 So I ask myself this – Yes, confrontational evangelism sometimes works.  But I am willing to leave the vast majority of contacts angry and further from God to get the one or two?  And, if not, is there a better way?  I believe there is.  Be watching this space for more on a concept I am calling organic evangelism.

In other religions this is not so.  When we lived in Sri Lanka we saw the dominant religion, Buddhism, up close.  There was no concept at all that ordinary Buddhists were to be engaged in continual study and growth.  That was for the monks.  If you were a “lay” Buddhist, you had a short list of things to do and not do and that was it.  Islam is similar.  There is a list of things you need to do and another you can’t do.  You could teach a course on being a good Muslim in an afternoon.

We, however, have a more difficult path.  And while there is plenty of Scripture to study we are often left to ponder the application of the concepts of Christian growth and discipleship.  With that in mind, here are some questions that have been rolling around in my brain of late on our faith.  If you’ve got some good answers, let me know.

1. Have I grown spiritually in the last five or ten years and, more importantly, how do I measure that growth?
2. If we are called Christians, or “little Christs” and desire to be “Christlike” why is the life of Christ so seldom a topic in sermons and Bible studies?
3. Is church as we practice it today what Jesus had in mind when He came to build His church?
4. Why is it that most Christians become less effective at reaching people for Christ the longer they have been saved and how can I avoid that?
5. If God places a high value on detailed Biblical scholarship why is it that so many of those He saves are illiterate?
6. Paul frequently pairs actions and attitudes (“speaking the truth in love”, “godliness with contentment” etc.).  How concerned am I that my attitudes are what they should be even as I am doing “the right things”?
7. Since the 21^st century church places a very high value on the family why is it that neither Jesus nor Paul had much to say about the family?

These are just a few.  And I frankly admit that, as I ponder these things, I usually come up with more questions than answers.  However, there is a silver lining to the need to be engaged in discipleship and growth on a regular basis.  I truly believe that God really doesn’t care all that much about the quality of our scholarship.  He’s not sitting up there in heaven grading our theological prowess.  His desire is to be in our thoughts because through this He blesses us and through this we can have the joy of realizing that we are always in His.

I have decided that I am a conscientious objector in the culture wars.  As with conscientious objectors down through the years, this may subject me to a certain amount of scorn and perhaps even the accusation that I am not truly evangelical.  For this reason I felt the need to give reasons why I have taken this stance.

1. There is no evidence in Scripture that either Jesus or Paul, who lived in cultures far more hostile to the Gospel then ours, practiced, encouraged or endorsed cultural warfare.  I cannot come up with a reasonable explanation why this tactic is needed now.
2. The theory behind cultural warfare is that political action is needed to produce or restore righteousness in our land.  Not only do I see no biblical support for this, it seems to be opposite the assertions of Jesus that righteousness flows from the inside out.
3. It teaches us to fear, dislike, and oppose those who differ with us.  As these emotions are expressed, sometimes to the point of ridicule, they produce actions exactly opposite what I believe we are called to demonstrate.  The mandate we have is to love others and to sacrifice for them, not to beat them.
4. It leads us to a lack of wisdom in choosing our battles and tactics in the real issue, the spiritual warfare we are really engaged in and the battle for lost souls.

There is one other issue that concerns me as well.  In the fractured media of today almost everyone gets news and information from a source they already agree with.  We, therefore, assume that these sources accurately reflect the real situation on the ground.  This is simply not true.

I’ve commented before how many people on “the other side” rarely actually know a Christian.  Well, we rarely know “the other side” too.  When we get to know abortion advocates, homosexuals, and political leftists on a one-on-one basis we can come to see them with a great deal more compassion and sympathy.  We can end up no longer repelled by their evilness but rather brokenhearted by their lostness.  And frankly, given the choice, that is where I’d rather be.

Here in North Carolina it is deer.  From sundown to sunup they are out there.  It seems odd to me how closely we coexist with the deer.  I’ve seen them in my suburban backyard, within a block of downtown Apex, and in the parking lot at Harris Teeter.  There is, however, one place I have never seen a deer and that is at a “Deer Crossing” sign.  Now I will admit that I don’t hang around those signs looking for deer.  It is possible that I’ve just been unlucky; that there are times when deer line up to cross there.  Perhaps some of you who have lived here longer can tell me the schedule.

But in the meantime I will draw this conclusion – that a “Deer Crossing” sign is no assurance that I am going to see a deer.  So if I am going to go deer hunting that may not be the best place to do it.  Come to think of it, I’ve never seen deer hunters standing around those signs either so perhaps this tells me I am right, that I probably won’t find any deer there.

So where can I be assured I will find the deer?  I have no clue so I will turn to the next question.  Where can an unbeliever find someone who can model life in Christ for them and who will tell them about Jesus?  Well, the standard answer is – at a church.  Perhaps people who want to see, and speak with, Christians will go to a church.  Frankly, the signs on our church buildings are our equivalent of the “Deer Crossing” signs.

This causes me to be examining myself on two levels.  For one, if people do come to our church, will they see Jesus in me?  In the end, it is Jesus they are looking for, not me.  Am I showing Him to these visitors?  Do most churches present themselves in such a way that visitors can see Jesus?

But in a larger sense, in today’s culture, we are no more likely to find unbelievers coming to the churches looking for Jesus than we are to find people standing around the “Deer Crossing” signs looking for deer.  We need to go to them.  And we need to bridge a culture gap when we do that is, in some ways, as deep a gap as going to Bolivia.

Most drivers, when they do encounter a deer, are unhappy about the experience.  Their cars are damaged and their lives traumatized and disrupted.  And all too often encounters we have in our evangelism efforts often produce the same results, damage and offense.  Our witness attempts resemble collisions more than meaningful encounters.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.

My wife, a city girl, would be horrified to collide with a deer.  But she loves to see them and to gently encounter them.  For her, it is still a treat.  Can we make our outreach efforts more like that?  I think we can.  Be looking later for some ideas on this.

But it seems they also have a problem with their gravel driveway.  The house is a convenient place for motorists to turn around and I suppose many do, tearing up the driveway.  Someone, probably the man of the house, has taken steps to prevent this.  He has placed a chain across the driveway.  Hanging from the chain is a sign saying “Keep Out.”

So there you have it, two signs, giving opposite messages.  If you were a person seeking to stop at the house, which one would you believe?  If you are like most people, negative messages have more power then positive ones.  You would probably prefer to not take the chance.

So what is the point here?  Just this – we Christians are very adept at doing the same things as those homeowners.  We invite, indeed eagerly invite, unbelievers to join us, to become part of the family of God.  And we are often puzzled why they do not accept.  We chalk it up to their “being blinded by Satan” or “being unwilling to yield their lives to the lordship of Christ.”  And we may be right to some degree.

But we also need to consider something else.  Having just given the “welcome” invitation, is there a “keep out” sign hanging somewhere on me?  Am I in some way communicating that my welcome may not be all that welcoming?  There could be many ways to do that.  Here are a few that comes to mind:

1. Joylessness.  Is my attitude such that I communicate that, in my Christian life, there is not all that much to be joyous about?  I am not talking about a perpetual “happy face.”  People easily see that for the falsehood it is.  Perhaps a better word would be contentment.  Do I show a peace that can’t be understood by simply looking at the circumstances of my life?
2. Hypocrisy.  Is there something in me that sends a message opposite to the one that I preach?  The world is particularly on guard for this. 
3. Judgementalism.  Yes, I know we are called to make judgments and we don’t ignore sin.  But we need to earn our right to speak to these issues.  Nobody will accept my input on their sins until they trust me as someone who loves and respects them and has their best interest at heart.
4. Majoring on minors.  Too often we come across as people more concerned about whether a person behaves the way we want, for example on the consumption of alcohol, than about their true well-being.

It is frankly a mystery to me how the folks I spoke about earlier have made peace with having both “Welcome” and “Keep Out” signs on their property.  But as a believer it causes me to want to take a step outside my life and take a look to see what signs I am hanging out.

As the Fourth of July approaches, we will hear America the Beautiful sung in countless churches around the country.  And we will find the curious co-mingling of Christianity and patriotism preached and taught.  Now before I go on, let me say I yield to nobody in my love for my country.  Indeed, as one who has lived overseas for many years I can say without hesitation that there are few more patriotic people than American expatriates.  When you live in a foreign culture, however much you like it, sometimes even the sudden and unexpected sight of an American flag can bring tears to your eyes.

I am, however, a bit unsettled by the faith/patriotism mix.  At times it almost comes across as saying that America is a country that Jesus is particularly fond of.  My core concern is this – in the faith/patriotism mix, which is the master and which the servant?  When I hear people say that our Christian duty includes the need to support certain political agendas my warning signals go off. 

We are surely told in Scripture to pray for our leaders and to lead quiet and peaceable lives.  Christians, above any others, are to be good citizens.  But when you look at the life of Jesus, and for that matter the apostles, you can see that they are largely indifferent to politics.  They accept that they live in a political world, and one with many faults, but seem almost unconcerned about “issues” other than the advance of the Gospel.  Where they comment at all it is largely in response to questions brought to them and the theme is clear, we are to be good citizens as we advance the cause of Christ.  There is no evidence whatsoever that they considered a political agenda as fundamental to their cause.

This is no longer true in our America.  More and more we see “good Christian” being defined as supportive of certain political ideas and even political parties.  More distressing, we see political action being promoted as a way to advance those views, including the implication that as Christians we ought to get on board.

Christians can and should have views on national defense, the wars going on, the environment, health care, the economy, etc.  Good citizenship requires us to be informed and active.  But I am leery of any agenda that claims to be the “Christian position” on such issues.  These are thorny issues full of grey areas and uncertainty.  I have no idea what the “Christian point of view” is on the gulf coast oil spill for example.  I am particularly concerned that, in the political wars, as Christians join one camp they close themselves to Gospel witness to the other.

As we approach the 4^th of July, my plea is that we correctly read the words of America the Beautiful once more.  The words “God shed His grace on thee” are not a boast for what He has done but a plea, indeed a humble plea, that in this land blessed with so much beauty, its people will never forget their ever-present need for the grace of God.  Katherine Lee Bates, the author, sees the material and physical blessings of our country as a cause of gratitude to God and a challenge to its citizens to seek in humility the grace to walk worthy of the blessings we  have been given.  And so should we.  For we know in our hearts that, at the end of the day, there are really only two Kingdoms.

One involves Constance McMillen.  Do you remember her?  She is the teenager, and declared lesbian, that was the center of turmoil when her high school prom was cancelled rather than let her attend.  I wrote about her in “Prom night in Mississippi” some weeks ago.  What has been happening in her life?

Well, you might recall that at the time I last wrote she was getting set to attend an “unofficial” prom planned by some parents.  As it turns out however, there was still some conniving afoot.  It seems that what she was invited to was a fake prom set up for losers and outcasts while the cool kids were off somewhere else partying.  Not much grace there, huh?

In any event, in the days since, Constance has become sort of a gay heroine.  In fact, this past week, she was invited to the White House along with other “gay activists” to meet with President Obama.  She is also going to be an honored guest at New York’s gay pride parade.  And a number of gay musicians have come together to do a benefit concert to raise funds for her to go to college. 

There is no telling where her emotions were at before the uproar (Although as a teen it is fair to say that they were tentative and could be influenced.) but it is certain that the reactions of the Christian-led community protest has certainly helped cement her allegiance firmly in the gay camp.  In that sense she becomes a walking advertisement of how not to approach homosexuals.  But how do we react to her now that she has been driven into the activist role and has bitter memories of Christians?

The second example is Jennifer Knapp, the long time Christian musician who, through much of the 90s, spoke to the hearts of many believers, me included, through her music.  In 2003 she abruptly walked away from her career and has been away for seven years.  She is back this year with new music and an announcement, that she is also gay and has been for years, including some of the time she was performing Christian music.

I think it is easy to predict that she will be dropped by most Christians like a hot potato and shunned.  I don’t expect to hear any of her new songs on Christian radio.  She seems to anticipate this with a line from one of her new songs where she says “God forbid they give me grace.”  But how do people who have been blessed by her music react in grace?  It is a difficult question.

The question as to how we react to these women is rhetorical, of course.  I have no expectations to run into either Constance or Jennifer any time soon.  But there may be people in your life right now where you aren’t sure how to react to them.  In fact, I am sure there are.  There are no easy answers so don’t get your pens out to take notes but here are some suggestions.

1. If you are already in a friend/family relationship with them, keep it going.  Paul’s admonishment about shunning sinners refers specifically to church discipline, not friendships.  And there is no chance of you being a grace-giver if you turn away.
2. Speak the truth in love.  Frankly, my advice is to emphasize the love.  They can, and should, hear the truth in one sentence but they will need repeated assurances that you still love them. 
3. Listen to them.  Sometimes we are in such a rush to say something we can overlook this.  Make no mistake about it, a good listener shows more grace than a good talker.

There are no easy answers.  For me, grace makes me pour over the Gospels on a regular basis.  The WWJD phrase may be a bit worn out but it still works.  But to do it you need to have a mind, and spirit, saturated in Jesus. 

God bless.