Tolerate, Acceptance, Embrace

Neal Pollard

One of the feature stories in today's USA Today is a glowing feature about a homosexual couple getting married in Maryland, one of the states to legalize homosexual marriage in the last election.  The article is also about changing attitudes in our nation.  Chuck Raash, the author, states in the course of writing that 53% of Americans surveyed say they think that same-sex married couples should enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples.  Perhaps the statistic I found more interesting was that 36% of people surveyed have changed their mind about this issue during their lifetime.  While those numbers are not further analyzed, the tone of the article would suggest that most, if not all, have changed from opposing to accepting it.  One of the grooms summed up the "three stages" homosexuals often face when they reveal their preference to the people in their lives--"tolerance, acceptance, embrace" (USA Today, 1/9/13, A-1).  I do not doubt any of the statistics in the article, nor do I disagree with the fact of such gradual change in thinking in people's minds toward matters like homosexuality.

Yet, I would disagree with this man and those who support his lifestyle that such change is positive.  Sin is very often met with such a gradual, changing attitude.  The 18th Century English poet, Alexander Pope, is actually the originator of the thought from the afore-quoted groom.  In "Essay on Man," Pope said, "Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, as to be hated needs but to be seen. Yet too oft, familiar with her face, we first endure, then pity, then embrace."  The idea, especially in context of the whole, is that people's attitude toward sin soften through the attrition of exposure.  That is, the more we are exposed to sin, the more comfortable and desensitized to it we become.  When a sin is increasingly portrayed as positive and right and people stop speaking against it, that society inevitably moves from disapproval to embrace.

Isaiah speaks of people getting things spiritually backward, calling evil "good" and good "evil" (5:20).  Consciences get seared (1 Tim. 4:2). They become callous, having "given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness" (Eph. 4:19).  Someone may deny God's existence or that the Bible is His inspired Word, but those who claim faith in both cannot consistently do so but tolerate, accept, or embrace what He says therein is sin!

Getting Over The O.R.

Neal Pollard

Several years ago, actor Fisher Stevens produced the movie thriller Awake about a young man who needs a heart transplant amidst all kinds of mayhem.  Stevens was interviewed about how he prepared for his role as a doctor in the motion picture.  He spoke of going into the operating theatre of a certain hospital to watch surgeons do their work.  At first, he said he closed his eyes and felt faint when trying to watch.  Yet, as he made himself watch the inevitable gore and details of these surgeries, he said he got to the point where he could not stop watching.

Whatever embellishment Stevens was doing, he pinpoints normal human nature.  A person, through curiosity, repeated exposure, and familiarity, can come to embrace and long for what once repelled and repulsed him.  A person who has watched television twenty, thirty, or more years may be watching today what would have so completely revolted him in those long ago years.  Those who expose themselves to pornography can find the same net effect in his or her heart, desiring what at one point would have disgusted them.  Even living in a society whose views have moved steadily away from God's will can find themselves, philosophically and spiritually, embracing what once would have repulsed them. Whenever we allow ourselves to continue to see, hear, or think of things that might at first spiritually offend or outrage us, we will likely grow to the point that we embrace it.

Let us keep our hearts and consciences sharp, pure, and clean.  May we see sin for what it is and stay uncomfortable and bothered by it.  Otherwise, we will eventually come to love what God hates. 

Buying A House Without Looking Inside

Recently this house came on the market.  It is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom home located in the San Francisco area only minutes from the coast.  This seems like your average house for sale, but it is far more crazy then that.  What makes this house different is the fact that the owner will not post any picture or show anyone the inside of the home.  Naturally, the home is sold “as is.”  Anyone who wants to purchase it will have to buy it without any knowledge of its interior and deal with the unknown horrors it contains within.  But this isn’t all, “To sweeten the deal even more, the home appears to be bank-owned and tenant-occupied!  Addressing this, the listing adds: ‘The buyer assumes all risks associated with the existing tenancies after close of escrow.’  So to our understanding, this means that once you buy the home of mysterious interiors, you also have the responsibility of kicking out the tenants” (RealEstate.Aol.com).

(See Listing Add Here)

It doesn’t take a real estate expert to know this house is, what one might call, “a really, really bad deal.”  Wouldn’t it be nice if all decisions in life were this clear?  Unfortunately, it can be hard to figure out what choices are right in this life.  The good news is we have Scripture for this!

When it comes to decision guides, few Scriptures are better than Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

“Should I worship with this congregation?”  We need to see if what they teach is true, honorable, and right.  “Should I hang out with this person?”  We need to see if he/she is a person of good repute and a person who will promote what is honorable, right, pure, and lovely.  “Should I go to this movie?”  We need to see if the movie is pure and honorable.  Most spiritually important decision in our lives can be answered by this incredible passage.

Ignoring this verse is why we continue to fall victim to our bad spiritual choices.  The sooner we learn to use this Scripture as a guide to our decisions, the sooner we will begin making spiritually right choices.

Life is tough, but there is no reason to make it more difficult with poor decisions.  Buying a house without looking inside would be one such decision.  Living a spiritual life away from things that are “true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, and worthy of praise” would be a far worse decision.  May the Lord give us the strength, wisdom, and guidance to make the right decisions!

Toast, Trees, Clouds, and Shrouds: Strange Religious Images

 

When I was a child, I use to lie on the grass and stare up at the clouds.  My imagination would run wild and I saw clouds in the shapes of dogs, swords, dragons, turtles, and other fascinating images.  People have been seeing images all around us for thousands of years.  Until recently, I had no idea how often people saw strange religious images in everyday objects.  There is the Shroud of Turin, the “Christ Oyster,” the Mother Teresa cinnamon bun, the “Jesus Frying Pan”, the “Pope in the Flames,” the “Jesus Toast,” the “Christ Oyster,” Jesus on the rear end of a dog, and a host of others (See Images At Bottom of THIS ARTICLE).

The most recent of these religious images is the silhouette of the Virgin Mary found on a tree in West New York, N.J.  So many people gathered to see this image, the police had to set up barricades to keep the people waiting in line from interfering with traffic.  One of those who gathered, Barbara Questel, said, “As soon as I got here, I felt this rush when I saw it, this rush from my body.  It's such an amazing feeling” (NBC News).  Many worshiped, prayed, cried, and kissed Mary on the tree, convinced this image was a miracle from the Lord.

Throughout time, people have often asked and looked for miraculous signs (Judges 6-7; Matthew 16:1-4; Exodus 4; etc).  Clearly people are doing the same today.  But are these images miraculous signs from God?  Is this how God communicates with us today?  Let’s look at a few points:

1. The Bible.  Despite what many teach and believe, God’s written word is the only way God still communicates with us today.  According to Scripture, everything we need to know and obey as Christians is found in the Bible (2 Peter 1:3; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).  This means God no longer communicates through prophets, speaking in tongues, and miracles (1 Corinthians 13:8; Zechariah 13:2; Hebrews 1:1-2).  This includes communication through random religious images.

2. Contradictions.  If we put any credibility behind images like these, we have to deal with the overwhelming number of contradictions.  Christian images haven’t been the only ones found.  Images have been found of the Hindu monkey deity and other divine Hindu spirits (Wikipedia).  Muslims have found numerous images of their most cherished word “Allah” (Wikipedia).  Evolutionists have found an image of Charles Darwin (theonion.com).  To make things more confusing, images of George Washington and other well-known people have also been found (DigitalSpy.com).  If these images mean anything, which ones are we to follow?  All of these different people and religions are contradictory to each other and many to Scripture itself.  Also, what do these images mean?  All of these images are completely subjective and open to anyone’s interpretation and speculation.  The only logical solution is that these images mean nothing and are just interesting.  These images should be viewed as random and haphazard, not as some miraculous revelation from God.

3. Legitimacy.  No one actually knows what Jesus and Mary looked like.  What people find on the Shroud of Turin, trees, and pieces of toast are simply what they imagine these Jesus, Mary, and others might look like.  In addition, God has filled our world with breathtaking proofs and evidences like the intricacies of eyes, ears, the human brain, the sun, stars, and extraordinary animals (Humming Birds, Bats, Giraffes, etc).  So why He use burnt toast, a dirty frying pan, bird droppings, or the rear end of a dog to prove or show Himself?  Isaiah 55:8-9 seems to capture the contrast between peoples’ thinking and God’s thinking quite well, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD.  ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 
so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”

To be blunt, it’s utterly ridiculous to put any weight behind such images.  Jeremiah 10:23 states, “I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.”  God communicates with us through the Bible and directs our steps through Scripture alone because we are not capable of doing it with out His direction (Jude 3; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Galatians 1:8-9).  When we see these random images in the clouds, on trees, or anywhere else, let’s chalk them up to people’s funny imaginations.  But when it comes to the eternal matters of religion and doctrine, let’s look to God’s only source of communication, the Bible (Revelation 20:11-15; John 14:48).

WE ACTUALLY SPOKE TO EACH OTHER!

Neal Pollard

Everyone who attended last night's devotional at Bear Valley seems to share the sentiment that it was tremendously uplifting.  The theme was timely, the songs, scriptures, and prayer reinforced it, and the men who led, to the man, did so with apparent passion and skill.  Each moment was "savory" and satisfying.  Everyone surely felt closer and closer to the throne of God with each successive moment.  Yet, there was one moment I want to isolate which I particularly appreciate.  Bob Turner led us in "I Want To Be A Soul-Winner" and encouraged us to do something "interactive."  He asked us to stand and face the section across from us (we cordoned off the "north side" so that we all were seated in the center and south section of pews).  Then, he told us to look at each other and sing to one another, especially since this song was a profession of intent written to be spoken to one another.

No doubt for expediency and orderliness, churches more than a century ago adopted pews for a seating arrangement.  Perhaps it facilitates an optimal arrangement for seeing the preacher as he delivers the sermon.  Yet, it has created a few circumstances in our singing that could be deemed unfortunate.  It has isolated us in our singing.  We are typically tunnel-visioned, almost as if with blinders on our faces.  Perhaps we are staring at the back of the heads in front of us and maybe looking at the song leader, but we are not in a position to see one another.  Also, we have buried our faces in the "pages."  I say that because whether a congregation uses a songbook or projects songs on a screen, we have become conditioned to fixing our gaze on that rather than each other.  That means burying our heads in a book or riveting our focus on the paperless hymnal.  Hasn't it made us uncomfortable, in many cases, with actually looking into the faces of our brothers and sisters while teaching, admonishing, and encouraging through song? 

I am grateful that Bob had this idea.  It is hard to describe the joy and encouragement felt when looking into sincere, smiling faces of fellow Christians in the midst of worshipping our God and also speaking to one another in song. I encourage God's people to consider incorporating opportunities like this into the worship, to facilitate the command of "speaking to one another" (Eph. 5:19) and "teaching and admonishing one another" (Col. 3:16) "with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs."  The effect may pleasantly surprise you!