Here's one I wrote a number of years ago. It was published - and then pulled - from an online magazine. Apparently it ruffled a few too many feathers... I'm rather proud of that.
Disney offers fringe benefits to same-sex partners of their employees, the same benefits they offer to the spouses of married employees. Also, many of their recent films propagate “New Age” and worldly ideas. Scholastic Books sells the Harry Potter series and promotes these books – and others that deal with magic and witchcraft – in the public school system. For a while, Yahoo was allowing adult films to be advertised on their web page, accessible to anyone. Many big chain and local bookstores and video stores sell adult magazines and videos. This list could go on and on. The evils of this world are all around us.
And how do we as Christians respond to this imminent threat? We boycott. That’s right, we boycott the products and stores. We stand on street corners holding picket signs. Then we send emails to all our friends telling them not to support these companies as well.
I remember the first time I heard about the “boycott bandwagon” rolling through town. In 1988, Universal Pictures released Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. While it received a lot of critical acclaim, most Christians “went to the mattresses” over the blasphemous nature of the film. Some even tried to purchase the negatives so that they could destroy them before the film’s release. Pastors everywhere were telling their congregations to boycott Universal. And many in those congregations did boycott Universal, for a while at least.
But in the grand scheme of things, what good has it done? Did we think that with our picket signs and chain emails that we could actually topple these multi-million dollar companies and rid the world of their corrupting influence? I cannot recall a single instance in which one of these companies decided to pull a product off the shelves as a result of protesting Christians. See, I think we’ve been going about this all wrong. Instead of threatening not to buy products or services, we need to completely remove ourselves from all this wickedness. We need to take drastic measures. I have a plan…
We, the Body of Christ, need to band together and have our own state (kind of like what Brigham Young and the Mormons did in Utah). We could become a completely autonomous entity and expel all evildoers from our borders. We would have to be totally self-sufficient, producing our own products to meet all our needs and desires. After all, we couldn’t import anything for fear of supporting some liberal or licentious corporation.
I can see it now. Every home elegantly decorated with Thomas Kinkade prints with strategically placed Bible verses. Every television broadcasting reruns of Leave It to Beaver and 7th Heaven. You could catch a double feature at the movie theater of Left Behind and the Jesus film. Children can be seen in living rooms watching Veggie Tales and playing with their “Little Jesus” action figures. Every car has a Jesus fish and bumper stickers that say, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” Oh what a wonderful world it would be.
Of course there are tons of practical issues to deal with here. But not to worry, I’ve worked out most of those details. We could raise the money by holding car washes and bake sales. Or, if we choose to be a bit more aggressive, we could pursue those user-owner laws (the ones that say if you use a piece of property for x number of years, you can go to court and claim it as your own). Just a few more years of protesting on the sidewalks outside one of these notorious stores, and the place is ours. So, finances wouldn’t really be an issue. And besides, God has a big bank account; He’ll certainly provide.
Taking into consideration the differences in opinion and doctrine amongst various denominations, we could give each one their own county. That way, we would not only be separated from the debauchery of the world, but also from each other.
We would also have to build huge walls around our state and only allow in those who have confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior. Soldiers armed with their swords of the Spirit would guard every possible means of entrance. Along with this wall would be a big bubble to keep out radio and television waves from the outside.
Think of it. Doesn’t this sound great? We would no longer have to worry about our money supporting companies and organizations that don’t line up with Biblical standards. We would no longer have the corruption of the world influencing our Christian lives (think of how great it would be for the children!). All ties and connections with the world would be severed. Certainly this is what Jesus would do, isn’t it?
Friday, May 08, 2009
Spiritual Obesity
Just a little something I wrote awhile back...
“Faith without works… makes overweight Christians.”
Several years ago, I remember reading an article about a lawsuit filed against McDonald’s. This was not your typical hot-coffee-spilled-in-the-lap lawsuit. This one alleged that those Big Macs and delicious golden brown fries made people fat. These people were actually blaming McDonald’s for their obesity. My first reaction was something like, “Well duh, of course eating at McDonald’s everyday is going to make you fat.” The ridiculousness of it all was rather humorous actually.
Then a few months later, a follow-up article appeared. The judge had apparently thrown out the case, restoring some of my faith in our legal system. It was good to know that at least one person involved had a few ounces of common sense.
This whole shenanigan being something that sticks with you for a while, I began to reflect on it in search of some deeper meaning or truth. (Yes, you’d be right in saying I had too much free time.) But something occurred to me. Perhaps I too could take advantage of the overly litigious society in which we live to make a statement. Except I wouldn’t bring a lawsuit against another fast food giant, but against the Church. Yes, I would file legal action against the Church for creating an obese Body of Christ. Now hear me out on this one. I am alleging that the Church today is spiritually overweight, and someone ought to be held accountable.
Ok, for those not catching on yet, I am being facetious. I’m not actually saying we should file a class-action suit against our pastors and elder boards. This condition that I am describing is no more their sole responsibility than the physical fitness of McDonald’s patrons is the responsibility of the chain’s management. But I do believe that we have a problem. Many who fill the pews on Sunday morning are facing a condition of spiritual obesity, which if left untreated, may cause harm to their spiritual well being.
James wrote, “Faith without works is dead.” Without sounding too heretical, I’d like to suggest a minor modification to that passage. I would suggest that faith without works leads to lethargy and apathy, which leads to obesity, which leads to death. Here’s what I mean:
Every one of us red-blooded, born again Christians fills our lives and schedules with spiritual intake. We have church on Sunday, mid-week Bible study, family devotions, personal devotions, and a plethora of Christian living books to read. If this amount of spiritual intake were transformed into actual meat and potatoes, we could end hunger in Africa.
We take in an inordinate amount of spiritual “calories,” but many of us do little to “burn them off,” so to speak. We have faith, but not the actions to accompany it. Sure we do our part by being nice to our neighbors and co-workers. We volunteer for the church rummage sale, or even spend a week as a camp counselor. But for the most part, these spiritual calories just sit, turn to fat, and turn us into overweight, lethargic Christians.
So what do we do? How do we get back in shape? Unfortunately, as with physical fitness, there are no quick and easy solutions. No pills or diet shakes. Dr. Phil and Dr. Atkins are left out of this one. Just like physical weight loss, spiritual weight loss requires a balanced diet and exercise, which unfortunately requires a lot of hard work and discipline.
The first thing we need to do is watch what we eat, or what we take in spiritually. Now, am I suggesting that we cut back on going to church or on personal devotions? Not exactly, but perhaps we do over-indulge ourselves with spiritual food. I think our spiritual metabolism works very similarly to our physical metabolism. Our intake needs to equal our output. If we’re taking in more than we are working out, then there is a problem. We become overweight. So we should either decrease our intake, or increase our output. But I’ll get to that in a second.
In addition to monitoring our amount of spiritual intake, we also need to be mindful of the quality of it. There is a lot of spiritual “junk food” out there vying for our attention and our appetites. This junk food is all the books is all the books and sermons and devotions that make us feel really good, but lack real substance. Our diet needs to have depth and weight to it; real meat and potatoes, not ice cream and Twinkies. What we hear and read should “spur us on toward love and good deeds.”
Along with a good, balanced diet, we need to exercise our faith. We need to regularly put our faith into action, real action that makes a difference. Just like with a physical workout, a spiritual workout should hurt a little. It should tire us out. It needs to involve real activity. We need to get up off our backsides and serve the needy, feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless. We need to turn our knowledge of God’s love for us into an active display of that love to the dying world around us.
There is certainly no lack of needs to be met. Whether a world away in the jungles of Africa or right next door, our world is full of people in need. In need of food, in need of shelter, in need of love. It’s our job to get out there and help in any and every way we can.
But it’s not just a matter of meeting needs or helping the less fortunate. This is a matter of our own spiritual health. We need to be out there helping and serving just as much as those people need to be helped and served. It’s good for them, and it’s good for us.
Think about it, then do something about it.
“Faith without works… makes overweight Christians.”
Several years ago, I remember reading an article about a lawsuit filed against McDonald’s. This was not your typical hot-coffee-spilled-in-the-lap lawsuit. This one alleged that those Big Macs and delicious golden brown fries made people fat. These people were actually blaming McDonald’s for their obesity. My first reaction was something like, “Well duh, of course eating at McDonald’s everyday is going to make you fat.” The ridiculousness of it all was rather humorous actually.
Then a few months later, a follow-up article appeared. The judge had apparently thrown out the case, restoring some of my faith in our legal system. It was good to know that at least one person involved had a few ounces of common sense.
This whole shenanigan being something that sticks with you for a while, I began to reflect on it in search of some deeper meaning or truth. (Yes, you’d be right in saying I had too much free time.) But something occurred to me. Perhaps I too could take advantage of the overly litigious society in which we live to make a statement. Except I wouldn’t bring a lawsuit against another fast food giant, but against the Church. Yes, I would file legal action against the Church for creating an obese Body of Christ. Now hear me out on this one. I am alleging that the Church today is spiritually overweight, and someone ought to be held accountable.
Ok, for those not catching on yet, I am being facetious. I’m not actually saying we should file a class-action suit against our pastors and elder boards. This condition that I am describing is no more their sole responsibility than the physical fitness of McDonald’s patrons is the responsibility of the chain’s management. But I do believe that we have a problem. Many who fill the pews on Sunday morning are facing a condition of spiritual obesity, which if left untreated, may cause harm to their spiritual well being.
James wrote, “Faith without works is dead.” Without sounding too heretical, I’d like to suggest a minor modification to that passage. I would suggest that faith without works leads to lethargy and apathy, which leads to obesity, which leads to death. Here’s what I mean:
Every one of us red-blooded, born again Christians fills our lives and schedules with spiritual intake. We have church on Sunday, mid-week Bible study, family devotions, personal devotions, and a plethora of Christian living books to read. If this amount of spiritual intake were transformed into actual meat and potatoes, we could end hunger in Africa.
We take in an inordinate amount of spiritual “calories,” but many of us do little to “burn them off,” so to speak. We have faith, but not the actions to accompany it. Sure we do our part by being nice to our neighbors and co-workers. We volunteer for the church rummage sale, or even spend a week as a camp counselor. But for the most part, these spiritual calories just sit, turn to fat, and turn us into overweight, lethargic Christians.
So what do we do? How do we get back in shape? Unfortunately, as with physical fitness, there are no quick and easy solutions. No pills or diet shakes. Dr. Phil and Dr. Atkins are left out of this one. Just like physical weight loss, spiritual weight loss requires a balanced diet and exercise, which unfortunately requires a lot of hard work and discipline.
The first thing we need to do is watch what we eat, or what we take in spiritually. Now, am I suggesting that we cut back on going to church or on personal devotions? Not exactly, but perhaps we do over-indulge ourselves with spiritual food. I think our spiritual metabolism works very similarly to our physical metabolism. Our intake needs to equal our output. If we’re taking in more than we are working out, then there is a problem. We become overweight. So we should either decrease our intake, or increase our output. But I’ll get to that in a second.
In addition to monitoring our amount of spiritual intake, we also need to be mindful of the quality of it. There is a lot of spiritual “junk food” out there vying for our attention and our appetites. This junk food is all the books is all the books and sermons and devotions that make us feel really good, but lack real substance. Our diet needs to have depth and weight to it; real meat and potatoes, not ice cream and Twinkies. What we hear and read should “spur us on toward love and good deeds.”
Along with a good, balanced diet, we need to exercise our faith. We need to regularly put our faith into action, real action that makes a difference. Just like with a physical workout, a spiritual workout should hurt a little. It should tire us out. It needs to involve real activity. We need to get up off our backsides and serve the needy, feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless. We need to turn our knowledge of God’s love for us into an active display of that love to the dying world around us.
There is certainly no lack of needs to be met. Whether a world away in the jungles of Africa or right next door, our world is full of people in need. In need of food, in need of shelter, in need of love. It’s our job to get out there and help in any and every way we can.
But it’s not just a matter of meeting needs or helping the less fortunate. This is a matter of our own spiritual health. We need to be out there helping and serving just as much as those people need to be helped and served. It’s good for them, and it’s good for us.
Think about it, then do something about it.
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