Month: August 2015

Passionate Spirituality: A faith that keeps walking

Jon Bauman Leave a comment

I grew up in a Christian home, went to church every Sunday, attended Sunday school, youth group, and I accepted Christ at a very early age.  For years, it was Enough for me to simply be involved in the church, pray at meals, and wear “W.W.J.D” bracelets.

But over time, it wasn’t enough; it didn’t sustain me.

I started to realize that the faith that I had, though it was genuine, was based more on my upbringing and memorizing bible verses than it was based on my personal wrestling with the questions I had already been told the answers to.

In 11th grade, I started reading the bible for the first time on my own, and I started to pray more throughout my days.  I began to notice a thirst for knowing more about God that wasn’t there before, and I knew that I wanted to continually seek Him.

The story of life includes various seasons that bring both high hills of productivity, determination, and passionate interest, as well as low valleys of depression, doubt, and failure.

Oftentimes, we get so hung up on our imperfections that it stalls our progression of faith.  We think that God will puppet our lives according to how much we pray, how we “feel” about God at the moment, or how much we sin.  In thinking this way, we forget that God has called the imperfect to do his perfect Will since the days of Noah.   In thinking this way, we deny the full power of God’s Grace over our lives, and we assume that a God willing to die for the world won’t love us as much if we mess up just once.

Noah was a man God called to build the Ark, and once the flood waters subsided, Noah settled in with his family, grew a vineyard, and got drunk….Noah wasn’t perfect.  (Genesis 9:20-21 – NRSV)

Abraham was a man named Abram who did not seek God (as best we know) before God called him to be the start of the Nation of Israel.  Abraham did not Trust that God would give him a son through his own wife, so he slept with a servant….Abraham wasn’t perfect. (Genesis 16:1-2 – NRSV)

David was called to be the King of Israel, was described, by God, to be a man after God’s own heart. David committed adultery, and then sent the woman’s husband to the front lines of a battle…David Wasn’t perfect. (2 Samuel 11:2-15 – NRSV)

The Apostle Paul, before he was a believer, would hunt down followers of Jesus and persecute them.  After he became a believer and was called to be an Apostle, he still did something(s) that he did not wish to do…Paul wasn’t perfect. (1 Cor. 15:9, Romans 7:15-20  – NRSV)

So please, can we, myself included, move past the “I’m not good enough” mentality?  God sees us as Men and Women of God – we just have to follow Him.

Passionate Spirituality isn’t about doing all the right things all the time…its about having the desire to move forward, even when your life seems to be telling you to give up.   It is not about having faith that never doubts; but having a faith that seeks to grow from having those doubts.  Passionate Spirituality is a drive to know God more, love God more, love others more…all while going through our hills and valleys of bliss and despair.

So when we go to Church on Sundays, rejoice in knowing that God loves you, and you have the opportunity to join other believers to Worship and Know God more.

When you see your bible at home, do not see it as a scary book that is only for the “good” people, see it as God’s story of redemption.

When you pray at meals, in the morning, at night…Know that God loves you, and calls you to more than yourself – YOU are a part of His plan for the World.

Passionate Spirituality is a lifestyle centered around knowing God more.

If you want to grow more in your faith, but you do not know where to start – email lambtheology@gmail.com and I will see if I can help.  Or comment below!

——————————————————————-

Discussion Questions:

Why do we go to Church?

What do you do in order to grow closer to God?

What book, chapter, or verse in the bible has been the most meaningful in your life? Why?

Advertisement

On Josh Duggar – Again: Sacred Cow Celebrities, Grace, and Justice

Jon Bauman 6 Comments

It was not that long ago that I posted my response to Josh Duggar’s molestation of his little Sisters, and how people, especially Christians, responded to it.  To sum it up in one single quote, read the following:

“Saying “what he did was terrible, but he is a changed man” is not enough.  As Christians, we understand that the power and forgiveness of Jesus is powerful, but we also know that sin is crippling, addictive, and harmful to us, and those around us.”  (See that post Here)

Following that train of thought, it is with a heavy and perplexed heart that I write this blog post today. Yesterday, I read an article on Relevant Magazine‘s website about how Josh Duggar’s email address had been leaked by hackers who exposed all of the email addresses who signed up on the popular cheating-on-your-spouse website – Ashley Madison.   Josh was not delayed in his Apology for his actions, and to be fair, I will post that apology below:

“I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly, over the last several years, been viewing pornography on the Internet. This became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife. I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him … I humbly ask for your forgiveness. Please pray for my precious wife Anna and our family during this time.” – Josh Duggar, as quoted on revelantmagazine.com.

In finding out what he had done, I was pretty frustrated at the sin, and if I am honest, I was pretty frustrated with Josh.  I saw the Revelant article in my facebook feed, so I decided to look through the comments that other people had left, and within the comments, many people said things similar to the following:

“He did something wrong, he apologized, lets move on…”

“Jesus forgives him, why can’t you guys…”

“Grace should be given to all…”

And people, I get the forgiveness and Grace of God – I really do.  If Josh really has repented to God, than by the marvelous Grace of Jesus, He is already forgiven.  BUT, and I say that with a heavy heart, he did do wrong, he did violate God’s design for Marriage, and he did it all while staying on a high horse.   So while I will stand with you when you say God’s Grace can cover him, I will depart from you when you do not have the courage to stand against pornography, adultery, and when you have a tendency to brush off the sin, in order to defend the example.

I will stand with you when you affirm the Grace and Love of Jesus…

I will stand with you when people speak hate against any person, including Josh Duggar…

I will depart from you when you make an idol out of Christian Celebrities (Sacred Cows), and when you are blinded to their wrongdoing…

I will depart from you when that same marvelous Grace you speak and preach about is limited to a certain demographic…

———————————————————————————————————————-

Side Bar

That last point brings me to the following quote from a young woman named Megan who commented on the Relevant article on Facebook:

“I find it interesting that white evangelical Christians can muster up sympathy for Josh Duggar but not Michael Brown or Eric Garner. This thread is amazing. Rape culture and racism continally leave me in awe. Who we choose to extend grace to says so much about the culture.” – Megan

Do you HEAR her?  Do you hear her honest questions about how the loud voices of the evangelical Christian community can sympathize with Josh Duggar after hearing that he has apologized, when this same crowd, by and large, sided with the cops RIGHT AWAY in the cases of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and others. 

Why do we jump so quickly to defend Josh Duggar, and the cops, while saying about Michael Brown and others.. “Well, they shouldn’t have run…”.  We show Grace to Josh without a second thought, and we show condemnation to Mike Brown, Eric Garner – and we assume that everyone raving about racism in america is out of their minds…

——————————————————————————————————————–

Sacred Cows, Grace, and Justice

My Brothers and Sisters, we are called to follow Jesus each day, to preach Truth, to love others, and to reject false teachings and ways of living.

May I propose to you something controversial? 

When we, as Christians, elevate the status of a Christian celebrity in our minds, we have to be VERY careful.  We have to be careful because in some of these instances, we elevate the celebrity so much that we become blind to the wrong and hurtful things that they may say or do.  We essentially make idols out of them; making them our “Sacred Cows“.  If someone says one word against them – we are quick on the defense.

We do need to show Grace, but can we be consistent, and show Grace to all?

Finally, can we join together in the name of Justice in a fight against Christian Celebrity Idolatry, and adultery?

And as a Facebook user, Megan, observed, can we as a Church use our efforts of defense to defend those suffering racism and prejudice, corrupt police systems, etc.?

Church, I love you.   Lets take some time in thought and prayer, and let us ask God how we can make the world a better place.  Let us ponder how we can strengthen the bonds of our own marriages, and the marriages of those around us.  Let us ponder strategies to combat lust, pornography, adultery, racism, and rape culture.

This is a Call to Action.  Will you Join me in being a voice?

-Jon

Please tell me your thoughts and opinions!

Links:

Revelant Article

Relevant Facebook Page

Lamb Theology – On Josh Duggar (First Post)

Lamb Theology – Post on Racism

Lamb Theology – Post on Living the Love of Jesus

 

A devotional on insecurity hindering potential

Jon Bauman Leave a comment

On their album, “Continued Silence”, Imagine Dragons produced a song called “Demons”, and the lyrics of the chorus are shown below:

 “When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide
Don’t get too close
It’s dark inside
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide” – Imagine Dragons – “Demons”

In the song, the band conveys an honest aspect of humanity: Imperfection.  The “Demons” mentioned in the song are insecurities and past mistakes that make a person vulnerable.   We try to hide the dark parts of ourselves from others, and in some instances this self-censorship becomes a hindrance to our progression as friends, spouses, and even as Christians.  We think we are not “good enough”, so we hold ourselves back.  We think people won’t like us, so we remain silent.

In another song by Jon Foreman called “Equally Skilled”, Foreman laments over his own and humanity’s imperfections, but he ties it up with some ending lines that tell of God’s perfection:

“Both of His hands are equally skilled
At showing me mercy, equally skilled
At loving the loveless, equally skilled
Administering justice, both of His hands, both of His hands” – Jon Foreman – “Equally Skilled”

These two songs communicate humanity’s imperfections, but Foreman’s lyrics give us a hope that at least God has got it right.  Which brings me to the following point:

Humans can be good, or bad.  We can have insecurities and imperfections, BUT in being made in the image of God…we have GREAT potential.  Our “Demons” can hold us back, while God, accepting who we are – including our imperfections, calls us to move forward and to be His Hands on earth.

The early church wasn’t perfect.  The early church was composed of a bunch of new people who needed a lot of direction and correction to keep moving forward together, and to advance the faith.

In Acts 4:22-37, a passage which I wrote about HERE, the early church is spoken of as sharing their possessions so that there was “no needy person among them”.

They weren’t perfect.  They likely worked hard for their money, and were hesitant to share.  But they got past their “demons” of pride and selfishness, and became self-less in order to be God’s caring hands to those around them.

What can YOU do to help your fellow person?