WARNING: What I have written here may offend you. If it does, I hope you’ll stop and think through the logic of it, and give pause to consider whether it might be truth. I’ll trust and honor the decision you make once you’ve thought it through.

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This Makes Sense: When you come to the light hanging over the roadway, if it is green, then go on. But if it is red, then stop.

And, this Makes Sense: Thirty years ago when I was a student at the University of Missouri and a fruity little company named Apple had just released their first MacIntosh I had a class where they taught us to write code. I don’t remember much from that class, but I do remember that they taught “If-Then” statements so that as the computer “thought” when it came to a fork in the road “if” a certain thing were true, then the computer did a certain thing, and “if” a certain thing were false then the computer did something else.

These “If-Then” statements about computers and stoplights make perfectly logical sense to us. We abide by them and don’t argue with them. They are socially acceptable. But now, I’m going to introduce you to an “If-But” statement that most people object to.

Similar, but Socially Unacceptable:  In a book written nearly 3000 years ago by a man believed to have been raised in aristocracy and ultimately executed because his socially unacceptable call to higher living offended people, a leader wrote to people saying that they had forgotten God. They were still acting religious but their religious offerings and behaviors were “detestable” because they weren’t offered from pure hearts. Their religion had become a “transactional business relationship” instead of a “love affair of devotion.” (How does that work in your marriage?) And they were far from God.

Isaiah challenged Israel’s behavior and then wrote this interesting, logical “If-But” statement: “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land (sounds good doesn’t it); but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword (ouch, that’s bad).” (Isaiah 1:19-20)

I’m pretty sure I could gather a random group of people and get them to buy in on the “If-Then” logic of stop lights and computer programming, but when presented with the “If-But” logic of living under God, they’d rebel with much protestation saying things like “How can an educated and sophisticated man like you believe such a fairy tale” or “There is no such thing as absolute truth” or other such goofy, uninformed and intellectually weak arguments. Humans object to being ruled by anyone or anything—even themselves—and the notion of bowing before God the Creator offends their self-righteousness, and their self-grandeur.

The simple truth is you and I can’t be righteous in and of ourselves. Our righteousness can only be bought through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. And grand? Well, yes we are—grand creations living out the grandeur Heaven values when we are living God’s way, doing God’s work, empowered by God’s Holy Spirit. Alternatively, we’re a heap of dung.

Not a very socially acceptable message, was it? Are you offended yet? Don’t be. Come instead and join me in bowing before a loving creator who wants more for us than we do for ourselves. Luke, one of the men who traveled with Jesus recorded this quote from Jesus “What Father, if his son asks for a fish will give him a snake? Of if he asks for an egg will he give him a scorpion? How much more will your Father in Heaven give……to those who ask Him.” (Luke 11:11-13)

God is good. He has good in mind for you. He’s got simple rules, and most of them are logical. This one certainly is.

All the blessing that Heaven can afford (stop and think about how much Heaven can afford) is waiting for you. If………

(Sorry guys, this article isn’t about what you thought it was about. But hey, the title worked—you’re here. So read on!)

An article in this morning’s New York Times laments “The Great American Cleavage,” the fact that—as indicated by recent elections—there is increasing political, religious and philosophical polarization in America these days and fewer of us in the center. My casual observations would support that notion.

My Republican friends are more overt in their strident Republicanism and anti-Democrat taunts while my Democrat friends……..oh wait, I don’t have any Democrat friends…….well, there is Kurt Wolfram, but I think he’s faking it just to keep everyone on edge….and then there is Jessica Spragg, but if we didn’t have her to rib who could I joke with…….well, at least the Democrats I see on TV, hear on the radio and read in the paper seem to be shrill-voiced, angry, even nasty in their demeanor. But then. my Republican friends are similar with perhaps only a touch more patriarchal gentility in their tone. One emailed me just this week after he’d seen us out on a carriage ride (see how genteel we Republicans can be—-carriage riding. How quaint!) during which he’d asked “Are these Republican horses?” and told me he knew they were Republican horses because they hadn’t left any crap on the streets. (Kinda funny. Worth a slight rim-shot on a snare drum and a minor harumph.)

That’s what its come down to, those with different philosophies have become caricatures instead of people.  The unthinking and vociferous manner in which we attack each other personally—because we don’t want to do the heavy intellectual lifting of thinking through what we believe, understanding what they believe, comparing, contrasting and then vigorously debating the philosophy with which we disagree—has created a national divide unlikely to be repaired. It’s simply easier to Jerry Springerize the conversation than it is to think and talk and challenge. Yet, Isaiah says the people of God are to be the restorers of the breach. So we who call ourselves His ought to at least be thinking about how to shift the tone so we can become thermostats that control the temperature of dialogue rather than thermometers that respond to it.

I believe the reason we’re divided is that we don’t know who we are. WE don’t have a culture anymore. Every individual has become a culture unto himself. We’ve heightened individualism, dummed-down morality, and reduced the teaching of who we are and where we came from. It’s no wonder we are confused as a people.

Let’s be honest, it’s gotten to where the Jaywalking segment on the Tonight Show has gone way beyond being funny that people don’t know basic things about America’s history, geography and politics and has instead become a sad indictment of our country. I propose a few ideas that might turn the tide.

#1. Let’s teach history & geography in school. Students should learn how civilization spread from it’s Middle-Eastern and North African cradle across the European continent to become what America is today. Students should learn about the oppression of autocratic government that led pilgrims to risk everything for the simple opportunity to be free. The should learn that freedom is an implicit gift from God and with it comes immense responsibility. They should be taught, challenged, and expected to step-up and embrace their responsibility to God, to humanity, and to the country. They should learn the unpopular lesson that WE is more important than ME, and be tested, drilled, challenged, and coerced to prioritize the good of the group over the good of the individual.

#2. We’ve got to require intellectual heavy-lifting. Our population has been over-run with intellectual midgets, not because they don’t have capacity, but because learning and thinking is hard-work. I’m no intellectual heavyweight. I’m kind of a middle-weight. I’ve met some heavy-weight thinkers and wow! They were impressive in their ability to bring together world history, cultural philosophy, economic reality and cultural plurality into cohesive thoughts about where we are and where we needed to go. We need to turn off the damned TV (curse highly intentional), pick up a book, learn, think, and converse. We need to challenge each other and learn the skill of argument. Puny intellects who refuse to attempt meager progress in their ability to think will necessarily be relegated to a position of inconsequence.

#3. English. That’s where we came from. Not everyone who settled America or has immigrated here came from English speaking countries but they all came in pursuit of freedom and opportunity that America provides. That opportunity rests on a foundation of rebellion, yearning, and risk taking that our forefathers embraced in order to create what is America. English is our language. In order for a team to win they have to establish a common lexicon of words that have meaning so that when the someone says “x” all the things that “x” means come to mind. It happens that in America we express “x’ in utterance that is labeled English. Embracing English is part of the package of embracing America.

Lest you think I am being inappropriately English-centric, you should know I am learning Spanish because I’m involved in missions projects in a Spanish speaking country and when I go there I know that I’ll be more effective if I learn to speak their language. The fact that people argue against this is beyond absurd, it is idiotic. In America English is the language, moreover it is the language of commerce in the world. Speak it.

#4. Pull your pants up, learn to say “yes, Sir; yes, Ma’am; please; and thank you.”

Those are a few of my starting thoughts. What are yours?

Is there anything you believe, that is worth putting your life and reputation in jeopardy for?

At what point will you object to moral corruption being forced upon your children?

Will you object if babies are killed in hospitals AFTER they are born, like they are now in the weeks prior to their birth?

Will you object to cultural indoctrination of overt homosexual ideology?

Will you object when clear teaching from the scriptures you hold sacred is classified as hate speech?

Will you risk being labeled as politically incorrect?

At what point will you risk to speak?

Will you defend what you believe with your life? Your sacred honor? Your reputation?

At what point will you stand and speak up?

I’ve been thinking much about young ministers lately. About their dreams, the abilities, their disabilities, the skills they have and lack. I can do this—I believe fairly—because I once was one.

One of the things that occurs to me is that (here come the rotten tomatoes) most ministers I know spin their wheels and don’t accomplish much. They generally have good intent, but feeble execution. Nothing in their training or their apprenticeship teaches them “how” to work effectively, and how to “accomplish” with all their doing. So they spend energy and create heat and friction, but, at the end of the day, the answer to the critical question of “Has the ball been moved forward for God” is often “No.”

I believe one of the reasons for this is ineffective use of their time. Again, nothing in ministerial training or apprenticeship teaches them how to maximize the output results from their efforts. In fact, the theological life cultivates a “have another cup of coffee and ponder and reflect some more, oops, wait, I’ve got lunch scheduled down at the coffee shop” kind of mentality. The effort is physically exhausting. Expending energy and not accomplishing much usually is. And it is mentally and emotionally draining as well. Therein lies a susceptibility to moral failure (sexual impropriety) that affects not only ministers, but rising professionals and executives of every stripe.

In the absence of a full, and meaningful schedule that is effectively accomplishing much, there can be too much idle time and too much discouragement. It’s in that idle time and feeling of ineffectiveness (impotence?) that the seeds of immorality germinate and sprout.

We all know the story of David—the chosen one of God; “a man after God’s own heart” the scripture says—and his dalliance with the likely alluring Bathsheba. What may be overlooked in the story where David was and what he wasn’t doing when this whole affair began. History records that David was strolling on the rooftop of his palace and his gaze innocently enough fell onto the naked bathing beauty during “the Springtime, when all the Kings had gone off to war.”

Wait! David was a King. Why wasn’t he at war?

We don’t know the answer. But the implication is that David was in a place if idleness and un-achievement during this most notable incident of moral failure. We can speculate that not being where he was supposed to be (with the other kings at war) was demoralizing to him, emotionally discouraging, and that he wasn’t experiencing fulfillment. That left him emotionally vulnerable.

Work is highly over-rated. Nobody much talks about achievement. But its the achievement and accomplishment that are satisfying and progressive for everyone who is depending on you, and achievement is the purpose of the work. The “forty vs. sixty” hour work week is irrelevant when compared to the larger issue of achievement. But I think most of us sacrifice our achievement by whoring around with the “validation” that comes from saying we worked long hours. Those long hours create an emptiness that haunts us when we consider our lack of achievement. We fill that emptiness with things that aren’t necessarily good for us, and are sometimes immoral.

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A Note to Ministers: I know you ministry types are reading this and likely feel like I’ve been “reading your mail.” If “achievement” matters and you want tools and teaching to help you “engage your transmission” so that all the energy your spending results in forward progress, respond to the blog using the link below. I’ll share some ideas privately. And, if enough respond, we’ll even gather a group of you and learn together. I care about you. You are good men and women tasked with important work. May God bless your efforts with the great satisfaction of progress.

I wouldn’t presume to be able to clearly and fully articulate with exact precision what it means to “be a Christian.” But a recent event in our own community has given me pause to reflect……

The former president of the local PTA has been arrested for stealing money from the organization. About $38,000 is missing. The press reports she’s admitted her guilt.

This is a woman we know. Practically everyone does. She’s lived large in attempt to be known—as many insecure people do—attempting to find acceptance. Besides heavy involvement in school she’s also served on the local city council. She and her children have been in our home. Her oldest daughter is the same age as mine. That’s where this story is going.

Another lady who I consider a friend, and who is an overt Christian, is said to have instructed her child to have nothing to do with the children of the alleged thief because “you are known by the company you keep.” Meanwhile, a third friend of mine (who does not profess Christ) has stepped up in great concern over how this woman’s children may be ostracized because of their mother’s crime. You know, teenaged girls can be cruel.

Who is right, my friend the Christian who vows disassociation, or my friend who doesn’t believe, but is overt in being gracious to the children? No question: I’m with the pagan. My Christian sister has missed the point. If ever these children (and the alleged thief herself) needed to see the love of God in action its now. The woman deserves and will likely get whatever punishment comes from her crime, but to ostracize her children because of their mother’s crimes would unfairly and unrighteously compound the damage. If these kids are to survive the upheaval in their family life they need a vivid demonstration of acceptance and graciousness. They need a refuge from the Hell that has enveloped their lives, not an indictment from those of us with theological expertise on Hell. Which brings me to the question: what does it mean to be Christian?

I believe those of us who call ourselves Christian have gradually slid into grave error by defining “Christian” by the language a person chooses, the beverages they drink, the movies they watch, the tattoos they have, what they do or have done with their sexual organs, etc. We’ve missed the whole point. We who have received grace live and behave as if we’d never needed it in the first place. That’s a real problem. It’s living like a Pharisee, who coincidentally were the most frequent targets of Jesus’ wrath.

Language that lifts is important—even scriptural—but sometimes certain words that those who are thought to be righteous wouldn’t use are in fact quite appropriate.

A friend of mine from long ago has politically maneuvered himself into being the leader of the largest denomination in our state. In a sermon carried by press across the state he recently trotted out the archaic Baptist sugar-stick about avoiding alcohol. In his sermon he essentially said “The Bible doesn’t say it’s a sin, but you still shouldn’t drink it.” Huh? He squandered a great opportunity to speak grace into our state and chose instead to beat people up over something that Jesus himself doesn’t condemn. He chose his topic—in my opinion—to ingratiate himself with a bunch of other guys in dark suits who also have their heads up…….er, in the sand.

Parenthetically, I remember a discussion with a Sunday School friend of mine about how Jesus related to people. The question I posed had to do with whether Jesus would sit down at the South Avenue Bar in Springfield and talk with the guys while they (and he?) had a beer. My friend finally balanced the emotional shock in her brain buy saying “Jesus wouldn’t go into the bar, but he’d stand out front on the sidewalk and talk with the people before they went in.” (OK, go ahead and guffaw!!! I know. I’m embarrassed to be associated with such weak thinkers.) By contrast, I find it delightful that some Jesus’ followers are taking the risk of hosting “Theology on Tap” nights at local establishments where the claims of Christ are presented to people who—gasp—are drinking beer.

I’ve been doing a lot of studying in the Old Testament lately, particularly surrounding King David who the Bible says was a man after God’s own heart. But let me tell you, David was a horny fellow, too. The sex and innuendo gets steamy, and that is outside of the Bathsheba episode. In fact, sex in the Old Testament is far from puritanical. It’s embraced as a normal part of healthy living, and is abusable just like drink, or language, or everything else. Our challenge is to embrace all of these passions and interests in a way that honors God, rather than making fools of ourselves and a mockery of him in the process.

The point I am feebly trying to make is that you aren’t a Christian because you have a plastic fish emblem on the back of your car, or because you do or don’t drink beer, or because you always maintain your composure and never utter a word that is verboten among Christians, or don’t have a tattoo on your butt or breast or……, didn’t tongue kiss before you got married. You aren’t even a Christian because you are nice to people and act like Jesus. One can only “be a Christian” by bowing their knee before the higher throne of Jesus, accepting his death as payment for their sin, asking His forgiveness, embracing His resurrection power to live beyond sin, and pledging their lives to follow Him. And then…..we go out and love people, seek to do good, to make a difference in the world, always telling the story of the one who loved us enough to die for us when we were unlovely and unworthy, and who loves them just the same. Then we invite them to follow Him alongside us.

Jesus was a friend of sinners. Those who follow him should be, too.

Shannon, you and your kids are welcome at my house anytime. In fact, I’d like to tell you about a friend of mine……..