The other day I was randomly looking at foxnews.com and CNN.com (though no one can be 100% “fair & balanced,” this seems a good way to try to stay as balanced as possible!), and came across some thoughts on sexuality and marriage from former sex symbol (which means finding an appropriate image to put on a blog was very difficult) Raquel Welch.

Because all people are made in the image of God and still retain that image-albeit tarnished, like the statue of liberty-non-believers can display real truth. Such, I think, is the case here as Welch examines the negative effects of the sexual revolution and birth control for both men and women, and the overall institution of marriage. Despite the attacks on marriage from many today, Welch truly upholds this institution. Now she may not admit it is necessarily God-ordained, but she does go pretty far in the right direction, describing it as the central aspect of a healthy society. Perhaps some of these same thoughts might be more spelled out in her destined-to-be-a-classic book Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage.

Last night Ellen the Degenerate responded to American Idol’s duet “Have you ever really loved a women?” by saying “Yes, I have.” So I guess that made this little tid-bit a bit more refreshing. Anyhow, here’s an excerpt.

It remains this way. These days, nobody seems able to “keep it in their pants” or honor a commitment! Raising the question: Is marriage still a viable option? I’m ashamed to admit that I myself have been married four times, and yet I still feel that it is the cornerstone of civilization, an essential institution that stabilizes society, provides a sanctuary for children and saves us from anarchy.

In stark contrast, a lack of sexual inhibitions, or as some call it, “sexual freedom,” has taken the caution and discernment out of choosing a sexual partner, which used to be the equivalent of choosing a life partner. Without a commitment, the trust and loyalty between couples of childbearing age is missing, and obviously leads to incidents of infidelity. No one seems immune.

Sometimes there are prayers for increase in scripture like Jabez’s. But don’t forget others which may be harder, but far more rewarding.

For some reason, this past Sunday, I began to think about John the Baptist’s desire that “he must increase, but I must decrease.” Perhaps I thought that because my “assistant pastor” (I preached two weeks in a row) had left for a brief vacation/NASCAR race and I was the main L.I.C. : Lad In Charge.

The music team prayed this wonderfully Christ-centered truth. I mean does it get more Christ-centered than that? Then I prayed this before I preached. And I believe it ‘worked.’

I felt excited to deliver a message which promoted a God-centered gospel as opposed to a “diet”/me-centered gospel that orients the gospel around my personal comfort and plans as opposed to compassion for others. A diet gospel will always leave us angry, but a God-centered gospel will replace that anger with compassion. That was my main point.

When preaching and expounding narratives like Jonah, especially when I re-tell the stories in an anachronistic vernacular, like “Jonah channeled his inner McGuiver or Bear Gryllis and constructed a make-shift stand,” it can be hard to transition from exposition-illustration-application. Instead my illustrations came by way of analogy rather than stories of what the truth would look like if believed and applied.

As a result, it felt choppy, and I even forgot one of my sub-points which I used alliteration to help others memorize: non-Christians are still Created in His image and Clueless (needing the Spirit to change our nature and give us a “clue.”) so God still shows them Compassion.

Yet I was the one who felt clueless! So at the end, I definitely felt like I “decreased.” And so that bummed me out a bit.

However someone came up to me afterward and said, “You were preaching right to me” and then I heard of a teenager who basically repeated some of the illustrations and the truth they were illustrating. They had gotten the message. It seemed God had answered my prayer, both parts of it! I had not “performed” my craft as well as I had liked (so I had decreased), but at least to some, Jesus had increased.

Remember that when you pray this prayer, you “decreasing” might mean you don’t look so good (in front of friends, co-workers, families, neighbors), but in the end, Jesus just may look a whole lot better to others as a result of this prayer. Don’t forget the goal in preaching, teaching, child-rearing, working, playing: that He and His Kingdom might increase while we and our might decrease.

Now that Tim Tebow has graduated from the University of Florida, and has caught on with his new team the Denver Broncos, I can root for him without any strings attached. I’m not a Tebow worshiper, as I know, like any of us, he has warts. We all do, and that’s what makes idolatry so heinous: we forsake the Holy One and instead worship created, wart-filled human beings.

But I am a Tebow fan, and one of the things I like about him is the response he elicits from teammates, coaches, fans, commentators, and opposing players. I’ve posted on this before, but the Tebow response always interests (not amazes) me. It mirrors the response Christians should expect as we live out our faith. Some people will hate us, some people will respect us.

We will be hated for everything we believe, but we are also to be salt and light, and our love/actions will make some folks big fans of us.

Mike Florio of “Pro-football.com” is not a friend of the gospel. Nevertheless, Tebow, over time, has earned his respect while at the same time has caused others like Ray Lewis to speak against him-though often without sufficient reason.

What Mr. Ray Lewis fails to realize is that former Buccaneer Coach Jon Gruden spent time with all of the top 4 quarterbacks coming out of college. And Gruden likes EVERYONE until they actually play for him; and then neither like each other once that happens!

A few years ago, a quarterback out of LSU named JaMarcus Russell entered the NFL as the number 1 overall draft pick of the Oakland Raiders. He held out for more money his rookie year, and ended up missing at least half the season. It only went downhill from there as he was just released, and now stands to be considered the biggest draft bust of all time. I wonder if that does anything to one’s psyche?

I mean if I were considered the biggest bust of an assistant pastor of all time, or you were considered the biggest bust of an accountant, businessmen, doctor, contractor, mom, what would that label do to you? That could be tough.

It’s tough to be thought of as a “bust,” yet the apostle Paul reminds us of good news for all “busts.” In Phil 3, all of the accolades and praise of man he achieved and received, are now counted as “rubbish.” Some have translated this more as “crap” then trash. Regardless, the important part is that the commendation of Christ via his credited righteousness makes being a bust small potatoes.

And this is written from a Jamarcus Russell type rabbi working his way up toward the Jewish hall of fame. After following Christ, he would also have been labeled a “bust” by all of his peers, family, countrymen. I think that’s worth considering.

But who knows what God is doing when we fail and are labeled a bust. While Jesus was “failing” and being considered a bust, even by scumbag criminals, God the Father was really doing something quite amazing. Check out what was happening behind the scenes: “He disarmed the rulers and authorities, putting them to open shame by triumphing over them in him (Christ)” Col 2:15.

The gospel is indeed good news for busts, no matter how big.

Instead of a standard missions conference, which hadn’t received the desired attendance over the last few years, Redeemer went with a missions week instead. This week was marked by a season of prayer/prayer meeting for personal/communal revival, an ice-cream evangelism workshop, a local but soon-to-be ongoing mission project, faith promise giving, and various donations to local and foreign missions. Our hope was that every member would somehow participate and be touched by Jesus’ commission to make disciples of all nations. By spreading out mission opportunities over the week, many more participated this year.

Anyhow, I figured a brief article borrowed from Justin Taylor’s blog was quite apropos as a missions/evangelism follow-up. In our culture, one simple but often forgotten phrase seems to open up the door to the gospel, perhaps more than any other: “How can I pray for you?” It seems a more loving way to move towards sharing the gospel than other evangelism methods which start out telling folks they are adulterers, murderers, and thieves. Check out the article here.

Caution: I’m not a pre-destination nazi, and it is not my mission in life to try to convince people of this doctrine. I’m not angry with you if you don’t believe it. However, when I come across it in my reading, I may mention it from time to time. And I’ve been reading Jeremiah lately for my personal devotion time and came across this the other day: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

A few thoughts filled my mind that morning.

1.) Jeremiah did not choose to be a prophet; he was chosen before he drew his first breath. Even before that, really. The deduction that I’ve heard a number of folks make regarding pre-destination is that if there is no choice, then there can be no love. Love implies a choice, and God would never “force” Himself on you. If God chooses people, then love doesn’t really come into play. Love has to be chosen for it to be love.

But did Jeremiah not love God? I would tend to think “yes.” I mean after all, God was just about his only friend; you know the age-old expression that “friends don’t put friends in cisterns and leave them for dead (Jer 38).” Only an Ethiopian eunuch cared enough to gather some folks to rescue him. Always good to make friends with eunuchs.

My point is, that God’s predetermined call (of which Jeremiah had no choice) didn’t negate Jeremiah’s love for Him. Moreover, I think it actually moved Jeremiah to love Him. It sustained him when no one else loved him.

2.) Foreknowledge-We can’t escape the word “predestination” in the bible. The word is connected to “foreknowledge” in Romans 8 and seems to be the basis for his choosing us in I Peter 1:2. This has often led folks to believe that foreknowledge means, “God saw what choice I would make, and then he chose me.” The problem with that concept is that is not what foreknowledge seems to mean. Especially here.

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.”

This foreknowledge doesn’t imply a choice in the future to be made, but of God’s placing His love personally and specifically upon you. Some sort of relationship is established even before Jeremiah realizes who God is and what He’s done for him. Now of course Jeremiah has to confess for himself, but if God “knew” him first, clearly there is no doubt that he will.

This is an offensive topic, and one in which there is much disagreement. Most Christians don’t believe in predestination, but I simply wanted to share some thoughts in a passage I was recently reading. Regardless of where you end up with this doctrine, I just thought I’d throw my question into the whole “love implies a choice” and “foreknowledge” deal.

It can’t be easy to be an evangelical Christian on Larry King. He loves to ask the question, “So do you think Jews, or Hindus, or Muslims go to heaven?”

I really don’t get why the answer is so offensive, but maybe it’s just me. I mean I’m not offended if a Muslim thinks I’m going to Hell or will miss out on the whole personal virgins deal, or if a Hindu thinks I’ll be reincarnated as a gnat, or a Buddhist thinks I’ll miss out on Nirvana.

But if someone believes Jesus himself makes an exclusive salvific claim about himself, then the person bearing such news automatically becomes the enemy of all enemies. The reality is that Larry simply wants you to believe His worldview is the correct view, and if you don’t, you won’t be tolerated. But I guess Jesus himself always said they’ll hate you because they hate me and Paul reminded us that Christians are the “smell of death” (II Cor 2:15) to those who don’t believe. So maybe it is me?

Anyhow, sometimes the fear of man, specifically the fear of Larry can be quite scary (I’m not being sarcastic-he is a powerful man in some ways). It can make some of us say things we don’t believe because we want to be approved.

You may want to watch this sad video, from June 2005, where Joel Osteen really caves regarding Jesus’ exclusive claim that He is the only way to heaven. Nevertheless, Osteen recants his statement after the flak he got from those in his camp and his re-watching the video clip.

Check out the video here, and president of a Baptist seminary Al Mohler’s response to his retraction. But if you’re going to check it out the video, make sure you check out his retraction and Mohler’s response as well. Edifying.

This video is five years old, but I think its still a great picture of repentance and humility we all must embrace. Under Larry’s lights, in the heat of a moment, I can see how a reforming people-pleaser like Oesteen could under the right (or wrong I guess is a better word) circumstances soften a hard truth. We all could. I’m glad old Joel recanted, because like it or not, he’s got the “ear” of a ton of folks. I don’t like Joel’s (in my opinion) shallow positive feel good theology, but I like his repentance. We can learn something here from both Joel and Al: realize you’re not above softening the truth or above the need for seeking real repentance.

I don’t follow golf very closely. L.P.G.A golf I follow even less closely, if that were possible. But last week, the female golf world, and its followers out there (I’m sure there are plenty of followers who just don’t run in my circles), received a shocking blow last week: Lorena Ochoa is retiring at the age of 28.

Now what makes it such a surprising departure is that she was currently ranked #1 in the world. And she is departing for a reason which has become so secondary in the world today: starting a family.

It’s not like Ochoa is taking a pay cut, marrying the CEO of AeroMexico. But I think any woman who would sacrifice the glory of a successful career for the sake of starting a family deserves at least a little pub on a small time blog-though I consider my followers “big time.”

Now I’m not saying that women can’t work and have families, but I can imagine being on the road with the L.P.G.A might make it a little difficult for a mom and child. Regardless, it is nice to see a woman who doesn’t HAVE to have a career in order to feel significant. Certainly a good reminder for both sexes in a career=identity world which we all live.

Last Friday night I was flipping through the channels. I love flipping. I can’t stay on one channel, especially during commercials. But this time it really paid off, as I came across a fascinating but quite sad interview on Larry King.

Jennifer Knapp, who I used to listen to while in college, (I even played her music while in a temporary makeshift band), just came out as a lesbian. She came out as a lesbian but professing Christian, though I really didn’t hear her actually use the name Jesus once. But maybe I just missed it.

The quality of her lyrics always astounded me as I had grown tired of lyrically bankrupt Christian music. And now she came out of the closet. The lyrics are still good, and I’ll still listen, but probably with some sadness now.

Things began to heat up as another evangelical pastor, who had blogged about her during the week, came on the scene to dialog and defend his views. I was thankful they got a mega-church pastor who had a head on his shoulders (I would have loved to see Tim Keller or John Piper though) and seemed truly motivated by love.

Then Ted Haggard, former mega-church pastor, who had to resign his pastorate because of his homosexual involvement, joined the party. Unfortunately he did nothing but muddy the waters of truth and just try to break down everything to “A Relationship with God. That’s what matters.” He glossed over Romans and completely missed the point. That made it even sadder and got me a bit riled up.

Anyhow, here are a few of my “takes” from the interview.

1. Lost in Translation: Jennifer Knapp recognized that the hang-up over homosexuality really hinges on what the bible really means when it refers to homosexuality. She argued there were even evangelical scholars who questioned whether we were truly translating this correctly. Supposedly this homosexuality really meant sodomy. I’ve not run across an evangelical scholar- who places himself below, not above the text-to land in this camp.

2. “This was not a choice.” This was more of Larry King’s take on homosexuality, though Knapp seemed to be OK with it. So in other words, if a feeling exists, then that’s who we really are. We should act on it. But such is the same reasoning for Sodomy, and for those who simply want to leave their spouses. If its a feeling, not a choice, you need to go for it. Probably a dangerous way to live.

There are a number of Christian resources out there who can help folks with same sex attraction, as well as a other sexual brokenness. One I highly recommend is Harvest USA.

3. Don’t elevate homosexuality. According to Paul in I Corinthians 6, neither the homosexual, nor slanderers, nor greedy, nor adulterers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God….and such were some of you. Now I’m totally aware the difficulty of leaving a homosexual lifestyle behind, but let’s remember that we probably place more of a stigma on this particular sin and ignore other sins which the bible presents as equally as heinous.

4. Talking past. For the most part, the pastor and Jennifer Knapp seemed to be talking past each other. Jennifer claimed she wasn’t justifying her sin; the pastor continued to affirm she was. So if what she was doing WEREN’T a sin, then nothing really needed to be said.

I think the hardest part for a homosexual, or for most Americans for that matter, is that they’ve never seen someone who believes them to be wrong, yet still wants to be their close friend.

That’s just not many folks’ paradigm. Most haven’t seen someone who could disagree with their lifestyle, but still love them as a person, want to get to know them, and affirm their worth.
But if we’re never allowed to disagree and become friends with people who we don’t agree with, or we refuse to become friends with people we disagree with, the battle will just stalemate. And the scene from Larry King will just be a microcosm of Christian-Gay relations unless something changes. At least we have control over the latter.

Some of my pre-West VA blog followers respected this man Myron Rolle for choosing to go to Oxford instead of entering the NFL draft last year. I’m not sure I would have taken that route, but he’ll get to see exactly how much it helped/hurt him this weekend as the NFL draft starts tonight.

This former FSU Rhodes Scholar athlete, made smaller news this week by praising the NFL commissioner for punishing Ben Rothlesberger, calling the move “awesome.” Sheriff Goodell suspended “Big Ben” for 6 games this season for his involvement with an under-age lass in a Georgia nightclub. Since the law provides so many loopholes for wealthy athletes, and sometimes gets undercut by yahoo cops, who actually resign after investigations (that’s what happened with Rothlesberger’s latest case), it doesn’t always provide justice. At least one cannot escape a lesser justice from the NFL.

Maybe the Pope could get some pointers from Goodell in cleaning up the priesthood, as the NFL seem to be quite aggressive in filling in where the law falls short. Maybe the papacy should be his next stop?