The Cross, Flat Earth, and Other Foolishness

Disclaimer: I am not a supporter nor do I promote this view. I am merely offering it to you as a thought experiment.

So how many of you have heard the news? Apparently, the government, NASA, even the airlines, have been lying to us about the shape of the planet we live on. According to some,the earth is really not spherical but flat. That’s right, flat.

If you are like me, you probably thought that this argument was over and done with – oh, few hundred or more years ago, but surprise! The debate rages on and the people who promote this idea have been compiling a rather interesting array of proof. So what does this have to do with any of the other topics that I usually write about? Well, I am glad you asked.

I want you to stop for a moment and think about what your reaction was to hearing such news.
Really, dig in and feel it because in all probability it was so quick you did not even register it on a cognitive level. If you did entertain a conscious thought, it was most likely something along the lines of, “What kind of idiot would believe something like that?” I know that was my first thought when I read the headlines, the first twenty times.

However, this morning I stopped and thought about my reaction. Why did I dismiss these people? And why did I do it on such a level that I would not even pause to examine their arguments? That’s not me. I tend to be the type of person who will at least weigh the evidence before I toss a new idea out to the curb. And even then, if I can’t find a solid reason for wholesale dismissal, I will let it sit for a while without passing judgement, waiting to see if I stumble across some new bit of evidence that will confirm or dismantle the idea.

The longer I thought about my reaction, the more it bothered me. Not only had I dismissed the idea as ludicrous, I had determined that the ones defending it were fools and all without a second thought. I realized that everything they were espousing ran so counter to what I have been educated to believe that I didn’t even think it deserved my attention. Their idea upsets my paradigm, the reality that I am content to inhabit, and have never felt a reason to question. Why bother with an idea that so obviously has no foundation in truth, fact, or verifiable scientific data?

And then I realized that I was dealing with two sets of conditions that have been ingrained within my psyche:

1. The earth is spherical.
2. Anyone who dares to question that is a fool.

As a Christian, this is the type of reaction that I am used to receiving, not dishing out. But let’s get real honest, shall we? The ideas and truths of our faith are just as strange as a flat earth to someone on the outside. Every major component of our faith obviously has no foundation in truth, fact, or verifiable scientific data, and anyone who dares to question that is a fool.

And yet, we go around squawking about those who dare to question the validity of the message we are sharing. We get all offended and upset because they just will not concede that we are right. More than a few of us get downright ugly to those who point out how crazy we sound, and we have gotten pretty adept at playing the martyr because our delicate little feelings got bruised when someone was bold enough to tell us that we are being foolish for believing such things.

But, boys and girls, we have got to cut it out. We need to recognize the import of what we are asking others to believe, to accept as truth. We need to think about what it must sound like to their ears and how offensive it must be to their minds as we try to tell them something runs completely counter to everything they have known. To require that anyone would simply accept what we have to say without questioning or challenging our words is an insult to their intelligence, and we need to be fully aware of that fact. We sound just as crazy to them as a flat earth sounds to us, and believe or not, this was an intentional design on the part of God. He wanted it this way, and we need to quit acting as if his design is flawed.

If we think that arguing and logic are the means to demonstrating God’s love to the world then we have missed the point and we are operating in arrogance. It is our pride that tells us the reasons for accepting Jesus as Lord are found in our intellect, because they aren’t. Are there things we can prove about our faith? Absolutely. Should we find delight in the ways the Bible has been demonstrated as trustworthy and accurate in matters of faith and even science? Yes! But what bearing does the Bible have on the lives of those who do not acknowledge as the ultimate authority over their lives? None!

This not a command to turn off your brain. God never required that, only abusive leaders claiming to be Christians demand such an act from their followers, but truths of the Bible only real after our hearts have been transformed and our minds renewed by entering into a relationship with our Creator. Would it be an act of faith otherwise? I don’t think so.

God protected is truth by implementing a brilliant strategy wherein only those who truly desired to know him can embrace the foolishness of our faith to see the truth. He created a system through which only devoted could withstand the challenges to our faith before those who offer more rational options to total dependence on him. And he did so that we might not get caught up in our own vanity over our wisdom and intelligence, because ultimately, it’s not about you or your comfort, your prestige, or even your reputation. And if those are the only things that keep you clinging to this faith, your faith is going to be dismantled, because wounded pride does not communicate or demonstrate love.

Today, I let myself be an outsider, not to my faith but to the ideas of bizarre little community of people who have decided that everything I know is wrong, and in doing I was able to get a glimpse of what it must be like for those who hear the message of our faith. The view was sobering, but good as I was reminded of the words Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Our faith was never meant to be easy to rationalize or defend, it was meant to be lived for only then does it is the wisdom of God’s plan revealed.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Shunning Social Media - Why it might not be as holy as you thought

One of the biggest temptations I have to fight is the urge to slink away into my dusty old books and hide among their comforting pages. My life would be simpler if I resign myself to digging through ancient texts, unraveling the Greek and Hebrew of obscure Biblical passages, and drowning in historical documents that you have never heard of – even as I write that the idea pulls at me with an almost irresistible force. No more Facebook squabbles, no more Twitter drama, and no more messages from people I do not know asking me about what the Bible says about their sex lives – but above all, no more finding out just how idiotic my friends can be and my love for them could stay unblemished and unchallenged.

And while it is a grand thought, it is a thought that I cannot surrender to.

Believe it or not, I do have a life off-line, and part of that life is talking to people who are or who will soon be entering into the ministry, and I have found that these friends can be divided into two groups:

1. Those who shun social media.
2. Those who use social media.

And the second group can further be divided into two sub-groups:

1. Those who use social media as a mirror.
2. Those who use social media as a tool.

My friends who shun social media all give me the same reasons: they want to be more focused on the people who are physically present in their lives, they don’t like the drama of it, there is so much garbage out there, it is a waste of their time, it is a distraction from the things that matter, and there is no need to add to the noise. I will admit that these all sound like valid, even holy, reason to stay out of the fray. After all, life is hard enough without inviting a few hundred bickering people into your life, but are they really good reasons not to be involved in what has become an almost universal experience for our culture?

I don’t think so. As social media becomes the most prevalent medium through which ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and even experiences are shared, I believe that if we are to be in touch with our community we need to be going to where the people are and that is social media. For me, social media is the bushes and hedgerows of our day. It can feel as if it is a big impenetrable mass of conflicting and thorny opinions run amuck, but that is where I believe we are called to be. That voice crying in the wilderness, if you will, because let’s be honest, it can get pretty wild.

Another thing about all those reasons, is that if we look closely at them they are focus on one thing – personal comfort. The only possible exception being the first one. However, even that one, to my mind, is suspect, because one of the major problems often discussed among those in ministry is “how do we reach more people.” The answer is pretty obvious, you go to where the people are, and the majority of folk aren’t hanging out in the pastor’s office.  The great, and often ignored, thing about social media is that when someone shows up and you have that chance for a face-to-face encounter, then you have the power to step away. It is a matter of personal discipline, not computer or phone’s fault if you fail to do so.

However, simply being on social media is not enough. Too many good Christians fail to utilize it in an effective way, and I am not just talking about getting your message out, I am talking about using it as a tool to learn about the world we inhabit. Unfortunately, most people fail to do this. Instead, most people use social media as mirror to affirm that the world is filled with people who are just like them or people who hate people just like them.

The thing is social media is what you make and if you want to be self-affirming, personally validating experience, it can be. It is all up to you. For instance, Facebook operates on algorithms that dictate what appears in your newsfeed. If you are only reading conservative Christian news, then eventually that will be all you see. If you only follow pages that share ideas that affirm your own, then you will never be confronted by those who hold idea counter to yours, and consequently will continue to be isolated from events and ideas that are impacting your church and community.

This is why I follow a number of pages whose agenda and bias I disagree with and sometimes even find offensive. My newsfeed run the gamut from reactionary Christian sites that almost make ashamed to be affiliated with the title Christian to ultra-leftist sites that bash my faith with glee. Facebook is so confused by me that in one day suggested posts ranged from where to buy a burqa to pole dancing classes to an article on Atonement Theology, and that is the way I like it. But even more importantly, this is what I have designed it to be through intentional engagement with a world beyond my ideas and beliefs.

For me, social media is a tool, not just a mirror. I use it to know what is going on in the lives of people I love. I am able to be a part, even if it is just virtual presence, in the lives, births, illness, deaths, loves found and lost of those who would never pick up the phone to call.  I get to connect with friends who live down the road, but are too busy to tell me that their kid is excelling at karate, and I get to engage in meaningful conversations with friends from around the globe who share my faith or challenge it. Consequently, I have the opportunity to grow as a person and believer as I share my faith, explore ideas, and hopefully help others do the same.

Not everyone will use social media to the extent that I do, and I am not advocating that you do. I was intentional in building a network that would allow me to reach past my little corner of the world and move into global arena for a reason, but not everyone is called to this level of participation in our electronic world. I can respect that, but limited engagement is not no engagement. And we have been called to be engaged, to be a part of our culture so that we can impact it in meaningful ways, so that we can be wise and aware of the world around us. We can’t do that if we block out the single greatest means of communication available to us today, and that is why I believe everyone who is involved in ministry – at any level – should be part utilizing this as strategic resource.

Now, I know that in many ways this post is preaching to the choir and you, my reader, are probably already using social media as tool I described. So share this with someone who could be benefit from considering what I have shared, and when you do ask them this one question – can you imagine what Paul would have done if Facebook was available to him?