Confession

Yes, I have a confession. I have not written anything for this blog for over a month because . . . I forgot my password! I would blame age, but I am not willing to admit yet that I am getting older. Though the other day when I went to the golf course they were offering a senior card which would save 40% every time I played. I took it. Unfortunately, senior is quite a bit older in golf than it is in racquetball. I remember a few (well, OK, many) years ago when I saw that they were having a seniors tournament for those over 35. Ah well . . . .

So what am I thinking right now? Well, the election is coming up. That's it. Vote!

Pastor Ken

A long time

Boy, has it been a long time since I wrote for this blog. It has also been a busy time. I want to just admit up front that I carry a lot of doubts around. Not the least of these doubts is the doubt I have from time to time that I am really serving God as He would have me to. This doubt comes primarily from the fact that my congregation is so small and, at least from all practical perspectives, on a collision course with death. Over five years ago we began to have regular prayer meetings asking God to enlarge His kingdom through West Valley Christian Center. Now, I knew what that should have looked like. We would begin to grow as a church, preferably by reaching non-believers, and it would be a steady increase in attendance, offerings and ministry opportunities. Instead I was asked to help an Assyrian Pastor start a church. Then, just over two years ago I was asked to help an Iranian-Armenian pastor start at church. Between those we were approached by a group wanting to start a Spanish speaking church. Then, just over a year ago, I was asked to help a small group to deal with a pretty ugly church split and perhaps help them to begin a new church. All told, those groups now number around 500 people, many of whom are new believers.

This morning one of the churches approached me to say that they were going to be moving to another location. This is a good thing since most of their people come from that other location. But that meant that a part of what seemed to be an answer to our prayers was leaving. That was OK. But wouldn't you know it, within an hour I got a call from another group that wants to plant a new church wondering if we would be willing to partner with them in the process. And yet another group waits in the wings as well.

What does this have to do with my doubt? I have found that my doubts about my effectiveness for the Kingdom is closely associated with the realization that I will never pastor one of those high profile megachurches. And let's face it - that is the definition of success in the American Evangelical Church. But God is showing me that He defines success in completely different terms. I am not saying that pastoring a megachurch is not success. It may well be. But it is the faithfulness that leads to whatever we are doing that constitutes the success. I do not know what God has for my future. I only know that I must be faithful. I trust that what we are doing is a result of faithfulness. But more importantly, I know I must always come back to God and ask Him to examine my heart and show me if I am doing something to be "successful" in His eyes or in the eyes of my peers. The first is the only one that counts.

Pastor Ken

What Am I Missing Here?

Today's news from both the US and UK contains an article quoting Stephen Hawking as saying that there is no need for a god to have made the universe because the laws of physics, specifically gravity, would create the big bang anyway. What I don't understand is where the laws of physics and gravity came from. My reading of people like Dr. John Polkinghorne is that it is the laws themselves, and particularly gravity, which shows the necessity of an intelligent designer for the universe, as there is no need to any of the various laws to be what they are. It seems to me that science is great at telling us what happened after the start, but not what caused the start itself. I realize that some say that positing a God just pushes the question of why there is anything rather than nothing to the question of why there is a God rather than why there is a universe, but the difference is that the universe is obviously a contingent existence, which does demand the "how" and "why" question, while God need not necessarily be contingent. So I guess I don't understand Hawking's point. Put most crudely, "where did gravity come from? And since gravity is the attractive force between masses, where did the masses that gravity acted upon come from? What am I missing here?"

Pastor Ken

Feelings

In one of my most recent blogs I talked about the intimations of mortality that I had as a result of my recent surgery to remove my gall bladder. You go to sleep no knowing if you will wake up. Now, just two weeks later, after having my staples removed (yes they are just what they sound like!), I am feeling so well that I have the exact opposite feeling - I feel, as the Word says, "as though I could run through a troop!" I am healthy, strong, and even able to golf again, and all after two weeks. I have recovered in a bout half to a third of the time they doctors expected. But this feeling of almost invincibility is every bit as wrong as the feelings of mortality earlier. In fact, it is even less realistic. I will leave this world some day. My strength will eventually wane and I may find myself completely at the mercy of others. I know - "that's life." That is just the point. This life contains many illusions - most of them in our own minds. The only antidote is to find out from someone without this tendency to kid ourselves what reality is like. Fortunately, there is someone just like that. Jesus. He had no illusions. I must come closer to Him. I must let Him inform my mind, and hopefully, eventually, my feelings. Because that is the only reality.

Pastor Ken

Help Me Here

I have been thinking a lot about the "culture wars." The most obvious incidence right now is the debate over Proposition 8 in California. What are we who believe that God has lovingly revealed the best possible way to live life to do? This is an especially important question for parents and grandparents. For those who are not parents, I can say from personal experience as well as from observation that becoming a parent radically - and I mean radically - changes you and what you consider important in life. Becoming a grandparent just ups the ante all the more. And when you do become a parent, and then a grandparent, the culture wars take on a very personal note. My belief that God has given humanity free will, and the least I can do is allow my fellow human to exercise that as they see fit, so long as they are not hurting another, comes up against the very real desire to see my children and grandchildren raised in a society that encourages all the right things and discourages all the wrong things. I would not want my daughter to get an abortion unless her life was in danger. I would feel much more confident that it would not happen, and that she would share my value, if society also said that she ought not to. You get my point. And yet, as a believer, I know that just sounding judgmental is a very poor way to get a hearing for the good news of God's love in Jesus Christ. None of us likes being told we are a sinner. And, truth be told, that is not so much my job anyway. I have found that the Holy Spirit does a more than adequate job of convicting of sin without my help. But what about our prophetic responsibility? I am currently reading a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who is one who can truly be called a modern day prophet. But make no mistake, almost everyone in Nazi Germany thought he was completely wrong, as well as some even in the "Confessing Church." And yet, he was right, even though he did not live to see himself vindicated. Do I stand for a prophetic proclamation in the culture wars? Or do I advise withdrawing and just living a loving, godly life? It is easy to say, "make sure you are called to be a prophet," but, I frankly don't trust someone who is convinced they have that call. it is usually only obvious in retrospect. All of this is a bit rambling, but what I am saying is, let's talk about it! What do you think? Withdrawal into the Christian ghetto? In-your-face opposition that maddens everyone and runs the risk of persecution? What is God calling us to do? Let me know what you think.

Pastor Ken

A Reminder of Mortality

As I sit at my computer it is a day less than a week since I had my gall bladder removed. Now, first, let me say that this is a relatively simple and straight-forward procedure. In fact, they were able to remove my laparoscopically, so I experienced minimal pain and am healing at a remarkable rate - even faster than the best case scenario as outlined by the doctors and medical documentation suggested. But all of that was in the future when I entered the surgical suite last Tuesday. I knew that I had been under a general anesthetic before and had tolerated it well, so there was little reason to expect anything untoward to happen. But it was a more immediate than normal reminder that we are not nearly so much in control of our own lives as we like to think. So, morbid as it might have seemed, I told my wife that I would not have traded anything for the more than 36 years we have had together, and that I wanted her to tell our kids, if anything should happen, that I loved each and everyone of them. I wanted her to tell them that I went into surgery fully confident that I was in God's hands and that, regardless of what happened, I knew that I was in not just good hands, but God's hands. That doesn't mean that I thought that the surgeon couldn't make a mistake, even one that could result in a premature entrance to God's presence, but that, regardless of what the surgeon did, I was certain of my eternal destination. And that is a good feeling!

Pastor Ken

The Walker Decision

It has been almost a week now since Judge Walker handed down his decision overturning Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California. I have read the entire decision and find many aspects of it troubling - enough to fill several pages. Much of his reasoning is fallacious. Some it reflects either a lack of knowledge regarding, or a willful ignoring of history. And some of it suggest the likely next steps that the secularists will be taking to further marginalize religious people as a prelude to what I believe will be a future persecution of all religions in general and Christianity in particular. The last sentence sounds alarmist, and I have been counseled by some not to make it, but I believe that it is coming and the church must get ready for it now. Let me review a few of the above things I said.

In finding of fact #42, Judge Walker said:
Same-sex love and intimacy are well-documented in human history. The concept of an identity based on object desire; that is, whether an individual desires a relationship with someone of the opposite sex (heterosexual), same sex (homosexual) or either sex (bisexual), developed in the late nineteenth century.

Of course this is not true. If it were then we should expect not to see persons identified as homosexuals in texts prior to the late nineteenth century. But, of course, the identification of persons as homosexual is as old as human writing. How could religious texts, almost all of which date to centuries if not millennia prior the late nineteenth century, have expressly condemned such behavior otherwise? Indeed, homosexual individuals have typically had pejorative epithets directed towards them in most cultures - something which I do not approve, but which shows that such individuals were perceived of as being identified with their sexual behavior.

Finding #46 states: Individuals do not generally choose their sexual orientation. No credible evidence supports a finding that an individual may, through conscious decision, therapeutic intervention or any other method, change his or her sexual orientation.

If this were true, then we would expect to find relatively stable percentages of individuals being gay across cultures and historical periods. But this is not true. Ancient Sparta had an extremely high incidence of bisexual behavior due to their approval of it and the organization of their society. There have been segments of other societies where homosexuality has been more prevalent due to its acceptance or promotion. This shows that such behavior is at least partially caused by the attitudes of society rather than just inborn characteristics.

Finding # 77 states: Religious beliefs that gay and lesbian relationships are sinful or inferior to heterosexual relationships harm gays and lesbians.

This is the opening salvo. Already there are countries where pastors who preached from texts in the Bible that say that God is opposed to homosexual relations have been accused, convicted, and sentenced for "hate speech." This is a "finding of fact" by the judge. It provides the legal rational for labeling all sorts of religious beliefs "hateful" because someone claims to have been harmed by such beliefs.

There are many other such "findings of fact" that I could mention, and I am available to discuss or can send to anyone some of those others. But let me close with one of the "findings of law:" individuals’ moral views are an insufficient basis upon which to enact a legislative classification.

Do you understand what the judge is saying here? Any law which is based on moral views has an "insufficient basis" and can therefore be ruled unconstitutional. That would certainly apply to laws which prohibit public nudity or public intercourse. It might even apply to such moral views as those that would suggest that murder is immoral. Indeed, those who claim that you "can't legislate morality," are usually saying that you can't legislate any morality that they disagree with, but that we should continue to legislate morality which they do agree with!

Lastly, the judge said: The evidence shows conclusively that moral and religious views form the only basis for a belief that same-sex couples are different from opposite-sex couples.

This one statement means that secularism has now been privileged as the only acceptable basis for laws. Morals and religion are no longer allowed to be the basis for laws - and if a judge determines that you voted because of your religious beliefs, your vote does not count!

Friends, I point all of these out because I believe that they represent a grave error and threat to the freedoms of our country. When the majority decision in a duly constituted election can be overturned because it was based on religious or moral values, then we are only a short time away from the decision by those who have seized power based solely on the basis that they are not moral or religious to begin persecuting the moral and religious. Is this alarmist? Only if you don't find it alarming.

My next blog will probably address what I believe the church should be doing in all of this. I am in earnest prayer about our response. Is it time for the church to retreat behind its ghetto walls? We have certainly been guilty of hypocrisy in a magnitude that has undermined our moral credibility. Just one example: the divorce rate amongst born-again Christians is higher than amongst agnostics and atheists. We claim to value God's law and moral relationships, yet we are the worst offenders at violating parts of God's law. Does it mean that God's law should be ignored? Of course not. But it does undermine our attempts to ask society to uphold them if we do not. I am sure that will make many mad as well, so by this time I should have just about everyone mad at me!

Let me close by saying that I really do love gays. I know that seems impossible when so many in our society think that to love someone you must approve of all that they do. But as every parent knows, love is not based on the actions of another individual. Gays are no more guilty of sin than anyone else, for, as the Apostle Paul himself said, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

Pastor Ken