I’ve experienced some really great churches and some really bad ones over the years. Here’s a tip from someone who’s been to a bunch:
You have to be a member of the community you serve .
If you minister to a bunch of movie goers, you need to watch movies. I’ve been to more than one church doing an 8 week “at the movies” sermon series where the pastor hadn’t seen a movie in years.
If you minister to 20 somethings, you need to have a blog and you need to be the one writing on it. You need to know what twitter is and use it. You need to SMS your friends and use facebook. You need to create videos in your crappy office of goofy stuff and put it up on the internet. It’s what the people you are ministering to are doing.
The best thing to do is to minister to the people who are in the communities and social circles you are already in.
-Captain
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Someone asked me the other day why I thought Rob Bell might not actually believe in God. And honestly, I don’t like talking about the subject, because Bell is a person, and not having him here to explain his beliefs IS gossip. It’s not fair to him in the least. Unfortunately, getting a few Moments with “teh Bell” to grill him about the deep dark corners of his heart is a bit difficult to accomplish these days. And I don’t know if it would be appropriate to do so even if I did have the opportunity. The truth is I don’t know if he does or not. Maybe I’m projecting. If I am, I’ve been doing it since he wrote his first book.
It’s weird the difference in his tone between his books and the talks that he gives on tour versus his weekly sermons.
It’s been a while since I finished Velvet Elvis for the second time. And to be honest, I’ve been avoiding reading anything except my Bible since last Thanksgiving, so perhaps I’m not being quite as fair as I should. But this is what struck me about Bell’s testimony in the book: he talks about being in the closet, hiding from the huge congregation that’s out there waiting for him to preach, and he’s not sure he even believes this stuff anymore.
The thing is, he never goes back to the closet and tells us what made him open the door and do his thing on the stage. We don’t know if he ever decided that “Yea, I DO believe!”
Now, understand that this was long before I had my own crisis of faith. It’s been several years since Bell wrote his book. So my reaction at the time was “huh. That’s kind of strange.” I did wonder what his beliefs were now, but then I dismissed it because the book contained so many other interesting points.
His second book was more about relationships. I liked it very much and didn’t hear any alarm bells when I read it. His sermons, while sometimes were a little odd, never really made me pause like Velvet Elvis did. So it wasn’t really until I heard him speak last Thanksgiving (The Gods Aren’t Angry tour: exploring how humans invented religion to make themselves feel better.) that I began to wonder about his beliefs again.
And like I said, these are just thoughts I’ve been having since reading Bell and going to see him talk. I am most likely WAY off base here. I really hope I am, anyway. If I am wrong, I would really, REALLY like to hear Bell talk about how he got past his doubts and fears.
So that’s where I am.
{ Jadie }
Cause if there are, I’m pretty sure the Captain would like to hear from you. Perhaps get a word of advice about how to deal with his neurotic wife? Yea, that would be me. I may not know much of anything right now, but I know one thing. If it’s painful for you to read this tripe, it’s twice as hard to live with it. I’m trying so hard to be happy and avoid thinking about anything spiritual at all, every little thing is setting me off. My temper is short and I avoid everyone.
Could someone hypnotize me into believing with absolute certainty again? Is there a pill for that, maybe? A magic wand?
Even as a kid, when I was rebelling against God, it never occurred to me to doubt his existence. I just knew he was there.
I want to be a kid again.
UGH. THERE I GO AGAIN.
Seriously, any fellas out there who can help my husband deal with his wife and her “issues”, I know he’d appreciate it.
{ Jadie }
1} So, what if Sodom and Gomorrah was actually destroyed by an asteroid, and it had nothing at all to do with God? Or, maybe God just used the asteroid to destroy those towns. OR maybe people who were shocked and mourning so many deaths came up with the story to explain the disaster?
2} I’ve become obsessed with finding miracles lately. Or anything that proves God’s existence and/ or his involvement in our lives. So when I read articles like this, my heart just breaks.
Her mother, Leilani Neumann, told The Associated Press that she never expected her daughter, whom she called Kara, to die. The family believes in the Bible, and it says healing comes from God, but they are not crazy, religious people, she said.
The girl’s father, Dale Neumann, a former police officer, said he has friends who are doctors. He started CPR “as soon as the breath of life left” his daughter’s body, he said.
Other family members called 911 to seek emergency help, Leilani Neumann said.
So Jesus’ biggest frustration was with his disciples lack of faith, right? And he used to point out people who had great faith all the time. He was always talking about having even a little bit of faith and we’d be able to move mountains.
These parents had so much faith they stopped giving their daughter her medicine. They prayed. They trusted God to heal her.
Why can we not heal in Jesus’ name? Why did these gifts get taken from us? Or were they ever there to begin with?
more thoughts to keep me up at night…
{ Jadie }
Hi guys, I just realized something weird is going on with our comments. I didn’t even realize anyone was reading my … uh… what should I call all this stuff? Rants? Posts? Random pleas for sanity interspersed by a shaken fist at the sky?
Anyway, if you’ve made a comment, I did approve it, but they all seem to have disappeared- even from my view. Hopefully I’ll be able to get them back. I’m not sure why they aren’t showing up. Hopefully I can fix the issue soon.
And thanks for reading my depressing rants. Or maybe I should apologize. And link to some puppies?
UPDATE:
ARGH.
Folks, it looks like the comments are gone. That figures, because I just know that ya’ll had very awesome things to say and I could really use some awesome right now. We’re doing some testing to figure out what the problem is- I suspect it may have been that recent Word Press update. Will let you know when we know for sure.
UPDATE part 2:
yea, they’re gone. It appears that the comments made before the move to latest version of Word Press got eated up. Sorry about that, guys. The good news is that all new comments should post right away.
{Jadie}
In every church I’ve been in, I was always told that God is unchangeable, completely consistent, etc.
So what is up with Deut 7?
Ok, in vs 1-6, we see God telling the Israelites to kill every single man, woman, child, baby, and animal. Set aside that the fact that this sounds extremely harsh- I mean, it’s not like the donkeys are going to lead the Israelites astray, is it? Ignore that for a moment, and turn to the new testament. Isn’t Jesus saying, a couple of hundred pages later, that we need to love our enemies? That our neighbors are the Samaritans- the sworn enemies of the Jews?
When did God stop hating anyone that wasn’t Jewish? Why? Why would he suddenly change his mind and decide he was going to love Greek and Jew alike- even when the Greeks are worshiping statues of fake gods and goddesses? Wasn’t that abhorrent to him in the OT? Not that I’m complaining, mind you, being a gentile myself. I just want to understand this contradiction.
Ok, moving on to 11-16. Here we come to understand why the Jews in Jesus’ day completely believe that the rich people must be righteous because they were well blessed, and those who were sick- lepers, cripples, the blind, were all sinners because they were afflicted with disease and illness. (it’s also interesting to note that when Jesus heals several of these people, he also makes sure to tell them that their sins are forgiven.)
But the reason why the Jews believe this is the case, is because God is here telling them that if they are good and keep His commands, he will bless them completely. (and, oh yea, one of those commands happens to be to kill this entire village full of people, and don’t have any pity on them.)
Of course, this also contradicts the entire story of Job.
And then, in case we were wondering if God was going to let any of those other nations run away and never bother the Israelites again, Deut 7 finishes out with an assurance from God that he’ll find and punish even the runaways. How nice.
Ok, does ANY of this sound like the God from the new testament??
-Jadie
I haven’t been writing anything around here for the past couple of months, and the reason is because the last post I did caused the Cap to look at me funny and wonder if I’m thinking about jumping off a bridge. (answer: I’m not. I’m way too chicken to want to die.) So for the past few weeks I’ve been holding it all inside and ignoring, as best I could, any stray thoughts or fears I had.
Without boring you with the details, I’ll just let you know how that’s turned out for us: Not Well.
The Cap had no idea what I was thinking, or why I would get suddenly quiet at the most random times. And I wasn’t telling him because, lets be honest here, people don’t like being around miserable people. They’re kind of a downer, ya know? And I didn’t want to drag down the Cap with me.
So I just sat there, silent, brooding, and the Cap was perplexed about what to do for me.
That all came to a head the other night when he finally held me down and threatened to shove a Boston-cream pie in my face if I didn’t fess up to what was going on. (just kidding about the pie) I realize that while it may not be fun for him, it’s better that he knows what’s going on in my head than be left in the dark.
And sometimes I really need an outlet to vent.
So I’ve promised him I’d talk to him when I felt able to. And I’ve decided to write here again.
So that’s that.
- Jadie
*Then there is no reason to celebrate Christmas.
I’ve never had trouble getting “in the Christmas spirit” before. This year, I find myself actively avoiding the thought of it.
… despite the 8 foot Christmas tree sitting two fee away from my desk.
*Then there is no true justice. The rapists who are never caught, the men and women who tortured children, and are never found out, the nazi criminals who escaped trial or were even helped by various governments around the world, anyone who has ever committed an act of cruelty and was completely unrepentant for it-
none of these will ever see a consequence for what they have done.
*If there is no God, then it doesn’t matter whether I live or die. It doesn’t matter if I’m loved. It doesn’t matter if I’m remembered. I am just one more anonymous being in this world. And not a particularly special one at that.
I don’t matter.
and there is no purpose to my life.
saw a cute observation that someone had stenciled on their wall today. It doesn’t really change anything. But it’s true.
Sorrow looks behind.
Worry looks around.
Faith looks up.
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