Author: Mark Forstrom (Page 9 of 13)

Recently, our church staff has being encouraged to improve our fitness. As an incentive in January, we were challenged to try to increase our fitness times over the previous month, with a contest thrown in — a prize going to the person with the most minutes logged!

Since I’ve fallen in love with fitness again over the past 15 months this was an extra excuse to do what comes naturally. Call me crazy, but there are few things I enjoy more than going to the rec center and running 13 miles or climbing 80 flights of stairs. Maybe it’s a “runner’s high” or something, but cardio fitness has definitely become my drug of choice.

And New Covenant’s fitness contest came at a perfect time — January wasn’t as busy as other months and physically I’ve rarely felt healthier. Each day I logged my fitness minutes and at the end of the month I discovered to my delight that I had logged a whopping total of 1,120 minutes! I had run the equivalent of almost 5 marathons during January! I figured out that it totaled 36 minutes a day average.

I was feeling pretty smug about my accomplishment as well as my chances for winning “the prize” until it suddenly occurred to me how comparatively little time I had spent with God over that same time period. My excitement about and commitment for fitness had far exceeded my excitement and commitment for the Lord. Compared to the 36 minutes a day I spent working out, I wondered how many actual minutes per day I had spent alone with God in prayer and Bible reading. Was it even 10? Not likely.

I was convicted. Isn’t this idolatry? Isn’t this a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments? Isn’t this the sin of the Church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:4 when they left their “first love?” Wouldn’t it be considered a cosmic insult to be bounding out of bed early in the morning to run 6 miles while leaving my Bible on my bedstand? Yes on all accounts.

Because of this realization, I’ve made some immediate changes.

Apologize to God for my neglect of Him last month.

Stop obsessing over physical fitness. It’s good and important, but not THAT important. Certainly the quality of my personal relationship with God is WAY more important than the shape or condition of my body.

Let the contest be for those who really do need incentive for working out. I obviously don’t.

Start logging my quiet time minutes — not to make my walk with God a legalistic chore, but rather to give me a point of comparison between my physical and spiritual fitness. That way I’ll have an objective measurement of how much of my life was devoted to each. Then I will be able to honestly evaluate how I’m doing at putting first things first.

One of our Sr. High girls, Rebekah, called me last night to ask what we should do about Fred Phelps coming to town today (Friday). It was the first I’d heard about it, and I was so glad she called. That phone call has catapulted me into action (and I’m not normally an activist!)

Most of you know that Fred Phelps is the pastor of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS. He is known for his protests and hateful signs aimed at gays in particular, but also anything related to America, patriotism, or the military. “God hates fags” is his famous slogan.

According to his website, his group is planning on protesting here in Cedar Rapids later today, Jan 15th at 6:45 pm! It will happen at Theatre Cedar Rapids to protest the opening performance of “The Laramie Project,” a play about local reactions to the 1998 Matthew Shephard murder. (Shephard was gay and his death was nationally considered to be a “hate crime.”)

According to this girl and another teen I talked to last night, students at school have been talking about the upcoming protest with disgust toward Phelps in particular (as they should), but also toward Christianity in general (which deeply saddens me).

Part of me is sad about it, but the bigger part of me is mad. Because he labels himself a “Christian” and throws out-of-context Bible verses around as weapons, Phelps’ antics work against all that we’re trying to do to reach our community, i.e. Prayer, Care, Share. He does not represent authentic Christianity — he draws attention to himself by condemning others, making a spectacle of himself before the hungry media, and garnering lots of attention in the process.

In contrast, we Christians are called to love people unconditionally, sacrificially, and with humility, offering grace, kindness, forgiveness, and blessing to all — even our enemies. Rather than approach people who are different than us with condemnation, we are to first introduce them to Jesus and then allow Him to change whatever may need changing. That’s the biblical pattern we see with Zaccheaus, Paul, Peter, Matthew, the woman at the well, etc.

WHAT TO DO? So back to this teen’s question — what should we do about the upcoming Fred Phelps protest circus? What I wish we’d all do is just ignore him entirely. Taking away the counter-protests and the subsequent media attention would be quickest way to take the wind out of his sails and end these ridiculous protests of his. But such blatant hate is so hard to ignore and it’s clear that it’s not going to happen in this case. The “counter protesters” [which likely includes agnostics, skeptics, freethinkers, gay supporters, concerned citizens, etc] are planning a peaceful “Wall of Angels” protest to show their disdain for Westboro’s hateful actions. My friend Andy The Atheist just Facebooked me saying he expects hundreds of such protesters to show up.

What about Christians specifically? What ought we do? Something or nothing? Let’s think this through.

NOTHING: This is the easy option. But what if only non-Christian “counter protesters” show up to demonstrate their opposition? What would we be communicating to them and to the watching world if true Christians remained completely silent about Fred Phelps? Might they think we agree with him and his tactics? Yes. I think that to do nothing communicates that we’re ok with Fred misrepresenting the Christianity that we hold so dear — it would say that his distortion doesn’t really bother us all that much.

SOMETHING: This option is not the easy one. What if a respectable number of Christians would come and stand side by side with our “fellow protesting” friends to show our shared disapproval of Westboro’s hate. What would that communicate? They’ll learn that true Christians are quick to take a stand against hate and who knows, perhaps we’ll even have opportunities for some great conversations with others who are there. I know some would fear that by doing so we’ll be perceived as sharing all the values of the other protesters. It’s a valid concern — communicating what Christianity really is is the issue here after all. So to make our intentions clear I’m suggesting that we Christians who have been mis-portrayed could all hold signs that simply say “GOD IS LOVE 1 John 4:8” to set the record straight.

CLOSING THOUGHT. The issue here is not about the right- or wrong-ness of homosexuality. People may have different opinions on that topic. The issue at stake tonight is the good name of Christianity and how Christians should treat people. By standing in opposition to Fred Phelps, we go on record that we oppose his posture of hate. That’s the issue here.

THE INVITATION. I’m inviting you to join me in joining the “Wall of Angels” tonight. The time is 6:45-7:30 pm on the sidewalk by the Theatre Cedar Rapids temporary building by Lindale Mall (the 1st Ave side across from Home Depot). Note: the mall won’t let us stand on the mall grounds so we’ll have to stay on the sidewalk along 1st Ave.

Let’s plan to meet as a group in the Home Depot parking lot at 6:30. I’ll have my bright orange striped van there as a landmark meeting spot so everyone can find our group. I’ll also have some “God is Love – 1 John 4:8” signs, but bring your own if you can. Invite your families, friends, people from other churches, etc. I’m hoping we’ll have a respectable turnout! We should be done at 7:30 and again my bright orange striped van can be a meeting spot for people getting rides.

Time is short, so please spread the word if this sounds good to you!

THE REPORT.

I was pleased that about 75 Christians showed up at the rally holding signs saying “God is Love – 1 John 4:8.” The total crowd was approximately 400 (my guess) so I’d say we had a respectable turnout. (Especially when you consider that my blog post’s “call to action” only went out 12 hours before the event. The other protesters started theirs 2 full days ahead of time.)

Fred Phelps and his crew didn’t show up to our disappointment, but it really didn’t matter because we weren’t there to attempt to address him personally, we were there to stand up against what he represents — hate towards others. It is also worth noting that there was not even one person holding up Phelpsy signs, indicating that such hateful actions haven’t pervaded our community.

There was an interesting feeling of unity and camaraderie as we mingled amongst the protesters. My friend, Andy the Atheist made it a point to come over and greet our group of Christ-followers, glad we were there. Fred Phelps, even in his absence, brought together atheists, agnostics, liberals, gay rights folks, and conservative, evangelical Christians. How often does that happen!

In hindsight, I think it speaks well that so many of us evangelicals were involved in this historic event. From now on we’ll be able to proudly say that churches including ours were right there on the front lines in opposition to the Fred Phelps ideology (we even had four of our pastors there!) I trust that this will open doors of communication with spiritual seekers. From now on, when Fred Phelps makes the national news our community will say, “Thank goodness, our local churches are not like that!”

We removed a barrier to the gospel last night and I’m glad to have been a part of it.

disclaimer: like every post on my blog, the views expressed here do not represent those of ncbc or my role as the youth pastor. They represent my views alone.

At the “sponsor hunt at the mall” just before New Year’s I wore an outlandish disguise which included a flashy silver-and-black gangster-looking sleeveless hoodie. One of the girls in the youth group liked it and asked to buy it afterward.

This past Sunday I thought it would be funny to wear this hoodie to church and then give it to the girl afterward. My family didn’t think it was so funny, but I persisted and wore it anyways as we sat in the front row. When it came time for the offering I suddenly remembered that I had agreed to fill in as an usher and so I began to stand up to do my duty. Realizing I had the silly hoodie on and that I was in the front row I found myself in an awkward situation. My family was justifiably mortified and tried to get me to take it off quickly, but I resisted, concluding that it would draw more attention to it if I proceeded to take it off than just to leave it on and pretend nothing was wrong.

My family’s adverse reaction bothered me at first — until I began to look inward. This week it has made me reflect on the things that I do and my motivation in doing them. At that moment in the pew maybe my motivation was sincerely to draw less attention to my wardrobe malfunction. Or maybe I was just being stubborn — not wanting to admit to an error in my judgment. Or maybe I wanted the extra attention that I inwardly knew would result from wearing such a getup while passing the plate. I suspect the latter is the closest to the truth.

This internal conversation with myself has also made me think about other things I do to draw attention to myself. I enjoy highlighting my extremeness, resilience, creativity, outlandishness, asceticism, etc. These are not necessarily bad things — in fact most are admirable qualities — but it’s my craving to be known as such that is the issue here.

I’ve concluded that the word for this particular sin of mine is Pride. It’s one of the hidden sins that no one can see but is one that scripture casts as being among the worst. Satan fell because of it. Israel was exiled because of it. Peter was humiliated by it before the cock crowed. “God opposes the proud.” “Pride goes before the fall.” etc.

The antidote to pride is humility. Which is why I needed to post this confession. And ask for prayer to get victory over the sin of pride in my life. And invite you to call me on it when you observe pride in me.

Today is the day we recognize Martin Luther’s attempt to reform the Catholic Church by nailing his famed “Ninety Five Thesis” to the door of the Wittenberg Church back in 1517. Luther pointed out some serious errors in the Church and tried to correct them; however, the Church resisted and so Protestantism inevitably began.

Recently, my atheist friend and I were talking and the subject came up about the oftentimes sordid history of the church — the hypocrisy, the attempts to control the masses, the lust for power, the outright scams (like the selling of indulgences and relic worship), and blatent evil (such as immorality and murder in Jesus’ name). As we talked, I was admittedly embarrassed by the behavior of the Church, which for much of its 2,000 year history has been notably wayward.

This conversation with my friend was very awkward and uncomfortable for me. Here I was trying to promote the validity of Christianity and yet, the very institution to which Jesus entrusted the proclamation of His name has been corrupt for almost all of its history. Making claims to my friend about Christianity’s veracity seemed almost laughable.

I thought, “How could God possibly have put up with all this abuse and corruption in His name?” If I were God, I’d have vaporized these evil people long ago! It doesn’t make sense that He would allow them to continue deceiving and destroying the masses — and even worse: doing it in His name! It seems to actually argue against the existence of God — I mean, wouldn’t He protect His good name rather than allow selfish men to profit by it over these centuries?

I became internally indignant as I thought about this. For most of the life of the Church, it has indeed been wayward. Why did God allow them to drift so far from Truth and not just kill them on the spot? I sure would have. It would have given me great pleasure!

Then I thought about me. For most of the life of me, I too have been wayward. Selfish, indulgent, indifferent, idolatrous, wrongly motivated, etc., — essentially corrupt. And aren’t I glad that God hasn’t just killed me on the spot! Would I so gladly receive the mercy, grace, patience, love and forgiveness that I have been given, but deny it for Christ’s own church?

My indignance about the church continued to soften when I thought, “At what point should God begin smiting those who rebel?” The instant they first stray? Or should He allow time for the wayward to repent? Personally I’m thankful for 2nd chances and 3rd chances, etc. Why wouldn’t I allow Him to treat His Church the same way He treats me?

It helped even more to reflect on the fact that God is a just God and ultimately all wrongs will eventually be righted. Scripture tells us in many places that believers and unbelievers alike will one day give account for all their actions. In the end, no one gets away with anything, though in the short-term it might feel like they do.

Romans 14:12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

1Peter 4:5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

2 Cor 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

and many more…

Finally, it helped me to recognize that a wayward church — or a wayward believer like me for that matter — is no indictment against the existence of a holy God. Rather the fact that God restrains His hand from smiting us all instantly testifies to the fact that His attributes are far superior to mine.

Rather than lose heart or lose faith over the sinfulness of man, rejoice at how much Jesus, the Bridegroom, loves His wayward, unfaithful Bride,the church. And that He loves wayward you and wayward me.

Sir Edmund Burke is noted to have said, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.”

For twenty years at least I’ve heard this quote and I’ve found it inspirational and highly motivating. In fact, I’m sure it greatly contributed to my zealous Christian activism at times in my past.

I fully believe that the statement is true. However I’m reflecting today on what it truly means and how it is applied. What got my attention was a paragraph in a newsletter sent out by our friends at Casas por Cristo. Here it is:

What is most disheartening to me is that due to the media reports of violence here in Juarez and the reports of the Swine flu in Mexico City (over a thousand miles away from here), the people of Juarez who have little hope to begin with, are being abandoned and left with no hope at all. That breaks my heart.
Let me close with these words from Sir Edmund Burke, “All that is necessary for Evil to triumph is for good people to DO NOTHING.”

Doing Something,
David Robinson,
Executive Director

When I read this use of the familiar quotation, it seemed to be strangely out of context.

After all, the meaning has always been pretty clear: “Beware, Christian: evil is going to triumph if we don’t quickly intervene to stomp it out”. This is our rally cry for purging the darkness from the world around us! These are the Christian’s marching orders! Rise up oh church of God! It’s time for a showdown with the forces of darkness! It’s up to us to purge the world of evil before it spreads like a festering cancer ending life as we know it! Evil is infiltrating every element of our society, government, media, schools, etc. Let’s get involved and DO SOMETHING to stomp it out while we still can!

So with that interpretation of the quote in my mind, you can see why I was taken aback by its use in this newsletter. There was no mention of boycotts and picketing. No writing letters to congressmen or attempting to protest gay marriage. In fact, the only action item mentioned in the entire letter was, “please come down and help us build houses for poor people.”

Then it clicked with me. What would happen if instead of focusing our efforts on purging darkness from an already dark world, instead we focused on shining the light of Christ! The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. What if we’ve had it backwards all along? What if by trying to do “something” we were really doing “nothing” other than making the dark world mad at being attacked? What if the “something” we’re supposed to do isn’t about hating and fretting and protesting, but is rather about loving, forgiving, modeling, and caring for lost people? Think how that would change the world!

It’s starting to sound rather Jesus-like don’t you think?
It’s starting to sound like the early Christians, surrounded by a pagan culture in the book of Acts, don’t you think?

We’re going to build three homes for Mexicans a month from now. And I think we’ll be doing that as a true application of Edmund Burke’s famous quote!

READ PART 1 FIRST to put this in context.

We return to the Miss USA contest for this last post. Because of the topless photos mentioned in Part 3, Carrie’s status as Miss California was called into question. The accusation was that she violated their modesty contract (I hadn’t realized they cared about such things).

Miss Prejean’s contract with Miss California USA prohibited nudity, stating on page five: “Appearing in public or permitting myself to be photographed in a state of partial or total nudity or in a lewd, compromising or sexually suggestive manner constitutes a violation of this provision.” She signed it, stating that she has not done so.

Now personally I don’t know how any Miss Anywhere contestant in the bikini competition could sign that statement about never appearing in a sexually suggestive manner, but that’s my bias coming out and that’s beside the point. The real issue is:  did Carrie violate the “partial or total nudity” part.

Into the picture steps Donald Trump (who basically owns the contest) to decide the matter. Here is his statement.

“We’ve reviewed the pictures very carefully [i’m sure he did] … we are in the 21st century and I talked about relevance and the pageants have been updated tremendously. And Carrie is a model, she’s a very successful model, we have determined – and we have the absolute right under the contract – we have determined that the pictures taken are fine,” Trump said at Tuesday’s press conference. “So, we’ve made a determination that everything we’ve seen to this date that she’s done, some were risque, but again, we’re in the 21st century, so we’ve made a determination that the pictures taken were acceptable they were fine in many cases. They were lovely pictures and in some cases they were modeling pictures, so I think that’s very important to understand.”

Some would say Carrie has been vindicated–she can retain her Miss California title. Finally a victory for conservative Christianity!

I say the opposite. Because of this incident, now Donald Trump has redefined “partial nudity” in the 21st Century to not include bare breasts. The contest has been “updated” in his words. I say the morality bar has been lowered another notch. So from now on, any contestant is free to pose topless and it’s not going to be considered “nudity” at all. Let’s all go change our dictionaries.

As far as Carrie goes, since she signed the contract it tells me either one of three things: 1. she was not honest about having those photos taken or 2. she agrees with The Donald and also doesn’t define bare breasts as “partial nudity” or 3. She thought she could squeeze through a loophole that since the photographs she allowed to be taken were unapproved they didn’t count.

Carrie is a fine person, has a wonderful Christian testimony, and has done a lot of good with her life. I like her as a person and have a lot of reason to root for her. She’s on our side.

But considering this isolated photo issue objectively, it seems clear to me that she should have been disqualified. Even better, she could have admitted having those photos taken 5 years ago was wrong and she could have humbly resigned. Imagine the impact of that!

We all majorly mess up, so I’m not pointing fingers that don’t point back at me. But when our sin is exposed, part of Christian maturity is to take responsibility for it, decry it, confess it, apologize for harm done, and to humbly submit to the authorities rather than look for loopholes. To me this is virtuosity. Too many times prominent Christians caught in sin have tried to cover it up, deny it, make excuses for it, or try to justify their behavior, but to the watching world, it simply reinforces the negative stereotype of Christians as hypocrites.

In this situation, Carrie got off the hook because Donald Trump liked her photos and changed the rules downward. But I agree with Shanna Moakler, the Co-Executive Director for the Miss California contest, who resigned over Mr. Trump’s decision, saying:

“I can not with a clear conscious move forward supporting and promoting the Miss Universe Organization when I no longer believe in it, or the contracts I signed committing myself as a youth,” Shanna’s statement continued. “I want to be a role model for young woman (sic) with high hopes of pageantry, but now feel it more important to be a role model for my children…”

So I ask, who showed the highest moral integrity in this isolated story about the photos? I think it’s Shanna, who quit her job over it. She acted with a clear conscious. Was she vindicated?

By the way, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I turned off comments because I’ve been getting spam comments and the sensual nature of these 4 posts would quickly attract spammers. Email me your thoughts, please!