faith

faith

How N.T. Wright changed my faith

Greg Mamula is an ordained minister and the Associate Executive Minister of American Baptist Churches of Nebraska.

“Despite what many people think, within the Christian family and outside it, the point of Christianity isn’t ‘to go to heaven when you die.'”

–Simply Christian, N.T. Wright

I did not grow up going to church on a regular basis, but went often enough to catch the same glimpses of faith many people see with only a cursory glance at Christianity. Like many people I was taught that Jesus was my personal helper in time of need and the gate keeper into heaven. So when I prayed for something like my dad not to leave for months on end for work or to not have to move over and over again and God didn’t deliver I questioned his power and existence.

I believed that the Christian faith was ultimately about going to some ethereal heaven someday. I believed I had to intellectually assent to the reality that Jesus died only for my individual sins, and simply admit that I was a worthless sinner and ask for forgiveness. I struggled with the purpose of Christianity even as I felt a call into vocational ministry. What is the point of belief in God if he seems to be a failed helper? Is the only purpose of Christ to get us into heaven so I don’t burn in hell? That seemed like a very unfulfilling and vindictive God.

Culture, faith

The War on Easter

As billions of Christians worldwide prepare for Easter this Holy Week, it seems that some television personalities think that our culture is waging a war on Easter. Bill O’Reilly declared on his show that the War on Easter is being waged via the Easter bunny:

But the war on Judeo-Christian tradition continues on in some public school districts… in some schools you are not allowed to say the word “Easter.” On Long Island, the East Meadow school district, holding a Spring egg hunt — not Easter eggs, Spring eggs. Same thing in Prospect Heights, Illinois. Manhattan Beach, California. Flat Rock Elementary School in South Carolina, and a school district in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. No Easter. They are having Spring egg events. Moderated by a Spring bunny, at least in San Diego. I know it’s stupid. You know it’s stupid.

There is a difference between saying “you are not allowed to say the word “Easter” and billing an event without the word Easter. Perhaps it is overly sensitive to have a “Spring Egg Hunt”, but I’m sure you are allowed to say the word “Easter” as a point of reference. I seriously doubt if two teachers were talking about their spring break plans that they would have to say “The holiday that celebrates Jesus’ resurrection” instead of “Easter”.

When it comes down to it, there’s nothing inherently Judeo-Christian about the Easter Bunny or Easter Eggs. Last time I checked the Bible, the Easter Bunny wasn’t there. There is nothing religious about a giant bunny magically giving children baskets of candy. Saying that there is a war on Easter is an affront to the nature of real wars in which people die.

The very word “Easter” is not very Christian. The modern English word “Easter” can be traced to an older English word Ēastre or Ēostre or Eoaster, which refers to Eostur-monath, a month that the Germanic peoples named after the goddess Ēostre. The word Easter has connections to pagan rituals of celebrating the spring time. So, to not use the word “Easter” shouldn’t offend Christians.

I don’t believe in the war on Easter. Secular and public institutions are not the keepers of Christianity. We Christians are keepers of Christianity. If Bill O’Reilly thinks the epitome of Easter is a public school Easter egg hunt, then he seriously misses the core message of Jesus. Perhaps O’Reilly misunderstands Christianity because he also thinks Jesus was killed over taxes.

Let us put down our Easter eggs as weapons and not allow the celebration of Christ’s resurrection be used as television entertainment.

Culture, faith, God, politics

God is not a political football

In football, you want to move the ball forward towards the end zone. You want to exploit the weaknesses of your opponent. If they carry the ball too high on their pads it is an easy target to strip the ball for a fumble. If the quarterback drops the ball it is an opportunity for the other team to gain control.

At the Democratic Convention this year, the Democrats had a fumble of their own. It was brought to the attention of delegates that the mention of “God” was omitted from the party’s platform. In a hasty attempt to correct this, the Democrats wanted to move the “God ball” forward quickly and without anyone taking note of their “mistake”. Republicans were quick to jump on this and decried the action as an attack on religion that was uncovered.

God suddenly became a political football that could be controlled, voted on, thrown, approved, and used as a political tool.

This past week I heard two people discussing these series of events. I overheard one bemoan the Democrats and their godless agenda to over throw religion in American. “Isn’t that awful! I’ll never vote for a Democrat ever again.” Another replied, “That’s why we have to get rid of this godless party of atheists! Mitt Romney is my man!”

faith, family, religion

Parents Not Guiding Children Through Faith

Poll after poll shows that Generation Y is not living the faith patterns of previous generations. Many parents of Generation Y choose not to “force” religion upon their children because of their negative experiences with church or because postmodernity has enabled them to see all truths as equal. It seems that parents are not bringing their children to church on a regular basis, not sharing the family story of religion, and are not making religion a part of their family of creation’s life.

NPR interviewed Asra Nomani, professor of journalism at Georgetown University; Kara Powell, author of Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids; and Regina Brett, author of God Never Blinks. You can listen to the interview here.

One of the churches that we’ve been working closely with asked 20 kids it they knew how their parents decided to become Christians. And zero of the 20 kids knew how their parents became Christians, knew about that process. And so to me that’s just a wake-up call for all of us, regardless of what religious tradition or creative tradition we are following right now, to simply talk with our kids, ask questions and listen.

Religion and spirituality in America is becoming so individualistic that we are not sharing our faith experiences with our children. Based on Nomani’s book, this is a culture which is quickly losing their family faith connections. Nomani even reflected personally on her research:

I went back-to-school shopping with my three kids. We tumbled into the minivan for the drive home and I wanted to put on a song that was meaningful to me. So I put on a worship song, a song that talked about how God has changed our lives. And before our research I would have just put the song on and not talked about it at all. But because of our research I put the song on and then I said to my kids, guys, would you like to know why I chose this song and why it’s meaningful to me? And they said, yeah, sure, Mom. So I told them. So I think part of what, regardless of our faith tradition, our opportunity for us as parents is to share, both from our past as well as our present, our spiritual highs and lows.

Somewhere in American family life, parents have come to believe that teaching faith is an injustice because the child has not had a chance to make a decision. Parents teach all types of things to their children in which their child has no choice. Ethics, morality, table manners, family vacations, educational priories, when they can date, what friends they can hang out with, what they can eat, what they can watch, and what music or video is deemed appropriate. The family table is full of guiding principles.

Why is religion not on that family table too?

Church Leadership, faith

A Theology For Planning

A plan for the future is always a challenge, especially when it deals with money. The former CEO, Alan Schwartz of defunct investment bank Bear Stearns was apparently delusional in March 2008 when he stated that things were going fine with the faltering investment bank:

“Bear Stearns’s balance sheet, liquidity and capital remain strong… Our liquidity position has not changed at all, our balance sheet has not changed at all…

Less than two days after Schwartz spoke these words, Bear Stearns filed for bankruptcy.

How can someone be so off, delusional, and even dense? No wonder nobody wants to trust governmental or business leaders these days. With stuff like this going on, who wants to? When things are going well or when things are going bad there has to be a plan for the future.

Many of us like to think we have a plan, but do we really have a sound plan for our futures? Continue Reading…

faith

Rivers of Faith

Continuing my theme of music on Fridays, I couldn’t get a song out of my head when I was thinking about this blog post. “Rivers of Babylon” is a song written and recorded by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of The Melodians in 1972, and popularized mainly by Boney M.’s cover version in 1978. Boney M.’s version is the most popular because of its Caribbean sound. Check out the totally 70’s music video complete with 1970’s camera work. The Boney M. version is even sung in churches.

The group, Barefoot Truth has a great version of it as well:

The lyrics are important. The lyrics are:

faith

Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes

For some reason recently, while typing my Friday posts, I have a song in my head. Two weeks ago, I blogged about Bruce Springsteen. Today, I thinking about Jimmy Buffett and a great song he wrote in 1977 that still gets radio play and is a popular song at his concerts: “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.”

Over the years, I have learned a lot from Buffett’s music concerning life, success, disappointment, happiness, and hard times. During the moments where I am too serious or too uptight, I often return to Buffett’s music when I need a change of perspective. “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” is the perfect song during those moments of change or difficulty in life. When changes pop up in our lives it is often at unexpected times.

The chorus from “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” is particularly helpful: Continue Reading…

faith

Doubts, Faith, & Belief

The Barna Group, an evangelical research organization has yielded some surprising findings about America’s Christian and spiritual beliefs:

Half of all adults firmly believe that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches. That proportion includes the four-fifths of born again adults (79%) who concur.

Just one-quarter of adults (27%) are convinced that Satan is a real force. Even a minority of born again adults (40%) adopt that perspective.

Similarly, only one-quarter of adults (28%) believe that it is impossible for someone to earn their way into Heaven through good behavior. Not quite half of all born again Christians (47%) strongly reject the notion of earning salvation through their deeds.

A minority of American adults (40%) are persuaded that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life while He was on earth. Slightly less than two-thirds of the born again segment (62%) strongly believes that He was sinless.

Seven out of ten adults (70%) say that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe who still rules it today. That includes the 93% of born again adults who hold that conviction.

If the majority of Americans claim to be Christian, then this study brings to light about the faith of most Christians in America. In our Gospel text for this Sunday, we will examine the faith in the disciples who saw Jesus.

We find our disciples, who are living in fear of the Jews coming to finish off Jesus’ followers, living in a house on a Sunday. The doors are locked and as they are living in a cowardly state Jesus appears in the house.

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