What Do You Win when You Win and Argument?

I going to take a quick break from the worship series for just a moment to post about something that’s been bothering me lately… Have no fear, I will return to the worship posts soon.


I read a blog a couple of days ago that really frustrated me… I realize that’s pretty common place these days. Everyone has an opinion, and these days everyone feels the need to make theirs heard. But I just can’t shake this particular guy… This one blogger is becoming somewhat “famous” in the blog world - at least in the so called “Evangelical” blog world. Many folks follow his blogs daily and he has even been a guest blogger on various news and pseudo-news blogs/sites and articles. And I understand his take on most things, albeit, I just don’t agree with him on most of his stances….

Now, this guy is a professing follower of Christ. And from the blogs and articles I’ve read from him, I can affirm his faith journey. He uses his understanding of Scripture and the world to help shape what he believes, just as I do… And just as you do…

And that’s why I need to be careful as I write this…..

But his last blog I read (not to date by the way - this particular one just happened to pop up on my Facebook feed) didn't sit well with me. The way he addressed the topic at hand - suicide on this specific post - was what bothered me. He approached this topic the same way he does most: he takes the opposing view point and clobbers it to death with that which he calls “Truth”.

Now, he uses various scriptures, thoughts, and even traditions to back up his “truth” and battles hard to win every argument he approaches… And it doesn’t bother me that he can defend his belief system. Good for him. I think more people need to learn to defend what and why they belief what they do.

So it doesn’t bother me that he can intellectually think through an argument and defend it.

It bothers me that he defends his belief system with opinions that come across as absolute truth. And in my opinion, there’s only one absolute in this world… And there is only one truth…

We as humans have been seeking it out since the beginning of time.

I’m reminded of an encounter in the Bible where Jesus is standing before the Roman Governor Pilate and he and Jesus have this interesting conversation. In the exchange, Pilate is asking Jesus whether he is the “King of the Jews” as he has been labeled. In that time, this would no doubt be considered heresy, because to the Jews there was only one King, GOD, and thus Jesus could be condemned to death for such a heresy. But as Pilate and Jesus talk, this question of truth comes up. Jesus said, “Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.” (John 18:37). And Pilate responds with a question many of us are still asking today, “What is Truth?” (John 18:38).

I find this interesting, because here is Jesus - the very essence of truth; Truth personified. The very reason we have and can find truth… He is staring Pilate in the face and Pilate still asks, “what is truth?”

You see, Jesus said he came to testify to the truth. When you look at the life of Jesus, there’s not one instance where He forced truth on anybody. He never went up to people and said, “This is my way… Believe it or else!” He never pounded his opinions and beliefs into people by winning the argument. Jesus simply presented himself as he was and people responded.

Now one could argue there were times Jesus used force. Sure, but those times He did were towards the religious leaders; those who should know better anyway. He was forceful with those who had spent their lives studying God’s law - the Law, by the way, which point to Jesus. They missed the truth too…

So, where does this leave us? What does this mean for us now? Let’s go back to my blogger pal for a minute… He claims to know truth and to reveal that truth (or proclaim that truth in a loving manner - as he puts it).

And here’s what bothers me… When did “we” - and by “We” I mean those of use professing to follow Christ - come to the conclusion that we had to tell everyone our truth lest they be wrong? Who decided that we had to tell everyone our truth and make sure they believe it as we do?

What really bothers me is the “This is the truth as I see it and you should believe this too or else” Mentality.

I believe we as followers of Christ should proclaim the truth… But here’s how I think we should approach it. I think that instead of yelling at everyone about the truth that we claim to have, I Believe we are to point everyone toward the truth… Let me put it this way, If Jesus is the Truth - And we believe that because he said, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the Life.” (John 14:6) - Then why not point people to Christ and let them discover that Truth for themselves?

It may sound weak, or even watered down. But I believe that when people discover something for themselves, it is way more powerful than just winning them over with an argument.

Growing up, my dad would ask us, “What do you win when you win an argument?” Let’s not argue the Truth… Let’s lead people to the Truth and let them discover it for themselves… I bet it will last longer.

Until next time.

Let's Talk About Worship (pt. 1)

This is probably going to be a several part post… I’m not sure what you call that… not sure what the plural for blog post is… Maybe “posts” or “posti”….  In any case, there’s more than just one post in all this.

So, Let’s talk about Worship…

What is this thing we call worship? This thing we “do” called worship? This thing that people seem to keep passing articles around my Facebook feed about?

Worship…

It seems like a simple word. It seems like it should be a simple answer. And really, it kinda is.

There is something innate inside everyone of us to respond to things we sense or feel are greater than we are. We naturally respond to the things that excite us, that we feel are worthy of our attention, or our affection, or our admiration. We continually pour out our feelings and joys and express our emotions toward ideas, or philosophies, or theories. And I would argue, that if we didn’t do this we wouldn’t be human… So, this natural response is something that makes us human…  Because we’re human, we are wired to respond…

Much like a dog naturally barks, and a cat naturally meows, and a camel naturally chews cud and spits, and an elephant…. does whatever an elephant does… So too, we as humans naturally respond to the things that we find worthy of our response. And this response is what we call worship… 

A guy named Louie Giglio has taught about worship pretty extensively for the past couple of decades. Louie is the founder of an organization, known as the Passion Movement, and more recently started a church in Atlanta, GA called Passion City Church. Louie defines worship as: 

“Worship is my response to God 

for who He is and what He has done; 

expressed in and by the things I say 

and the way I live.”

If we use this definition as our basis for discussion, then the first thing we see is that worship is, in fact, a response. We’ll discuss a little more about that in a bit, but I want to jump ahead to point 2 and then we’ll come back to 1.  If the first thing we see about worship is that it is a response, it begs the question: Response to what? Well, that leads us to point #2… it’s a response to God. So, the first 2 things we learn about worship is that it is 1) a response and 2) it is about GOD. Giglio says it is “my response to God for who He is and what He has done…” So ultimately, Worship is my response to God. And that response is all about Him… It is my response to all that He has done, and will do. It is my response to how I see Him, what I learn about Him, and all I know of Him. It’s a response about Him, GOD.

You may be reading all this and asking, “Well that all sounds good, but does the Bible back this up?” Well, I’m glad you asked… 

I want you to take a minute to read Acts 17:16-34…

Did you see what happened? Paul went into Athens and saw all this great response of worship… Apparently, the Athenians were great worshippers. It’s said that in Athens there was this great hall known as the Parthenon. Originally build to honor the Greek god Athena, over time it came to be known for all gods to whom people worshipped. The people of Athens were great responders. In fact, they had gods for just about everything you can think of: A god of weather, a god of the sky, a god of the water, a god of fertility, a god of wealth, a god of health, etc… They worshipped just about anything and everything. In fact, they had so many gods, they even had a god for the unknown… Just in case you didn’t have a god to worship, you could worship this god.

So, Paul seeing all this, tells the Athenians how good they are at worship… He tells them they respond well. They understood they had to respond to the gods they viewed as bigger than themselves. The only problem is, they are responding to the WRONG gods… The one, and only One they should be responding to and worshipping is Almighty God, Yahweh - the One who created it all…everything we see and have.

So we learn from this passage, again, that worship is a response and it is about God.

Now let’s go back and talk about point 1, real quick… We naturally respond to the things that we sense are worthy of our attention and our affection. We are wired to respond… Much like the Athenians responded to so many gods, we too respond to many things… But take note, just as the Athenians worshipped the wrong gods, we too can worship the wrong gods when we give our attention and our affections to things that are not the One True GOD, Yahweh. Because true worship is a Response to GOD, if my response is to anything else, it can still be worship, it’s just not the right god. We call this worshipping a false God. The response is true, but the god is not (but that is a discussion for next time).

So, the first things we learn when we start talking about worship is that worship is 1) a response and 2) it is about GOD.

Well…  if worship is a response, what’s yours?

Stay Tuned... 

J.

Stay Tuned for More…

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged…. well… anything. I’m not sure why. Just busy I guess…. and to be honest, there’s so much I’d like to say, but it’s hard to figure out just what will be a good topic to discuss and what not. You know I like to write things that really make me think… things that (I hope) will make others think. So, with that, I think I’ve found something to discuss a point of view and hopefully it will make you think too…

As of late, I’ve seen a lot of talk about worship over social media. Whether on Facebook or Twitter or blogs or online articles. Everyone I’ve seen tries to explain why worship in churches is changing or declining, or Why people should use one style of worship verses another, or why people don’t sing anymore or Why you should or shouldn’t do music that is “too churchy” versus only good, deep theological songs, or should you allow children in worship or not?…. and the list goes on and on and on…

While, I enjoy reading the various opinions and views of those who write these posts, I try not to engage with them too much. You’d think as one in the worship leading line of work, I would enjoy or even welcome the exchange of thought. But usually I just try to remain quiet on it all. I find that too many opinions seem to bog us down as people… Then it all becomes camps… If you believe this, then you’ll be in this camp. But if you believe this, then you have to be in this camp… And well… It just all gets old real quick for me.

Well, I guess you can say, I feel like I’ve remained silent long enough. So, I thought I would throw my voice out there with the masses. And maybe you won’t agree or you see things a different way, and I suppose you’re entitled to that. I mean, if we can’t have a little healthy discourse, then we’ll never grow as people. I will do my best to share with you my view and limited understanding of this grand subject… And while I can’t promise I will have all the answers wrapped up in pretty bows, I will share with you the best I can what I’ve learned, what I see, and what I understand from God’s Word about this thing we call worship…

So,  Stay tuned for more…

J.