Christian politics.

I got an email from a friend of mine today that was forwarded from a person in his church that was truly concerned about the upcoming election, and encouraging people to join together in prayer regarding it. I think this is great, and important to remember in the midst of an election that God is still at work in all of this. What was a concern for me was the tone of the email. It was far more biased than I would hope that Christians would be in approaching such an election.

To me, the idea that being Christian automatically assigns you to a particular political party is insulting to me as a Christian. Neither party fully encapsulates all that we as Christians are called to preserve. Both parties represent some of the core elements of what Christians are to hold firm to, yet both also represent a lot of what we are not, and can be an immense distraction. To pigeonhole Christians in this sense insults not only our diverse concerns, but also our intellect, as though we aren't supposed to vote using our own discernment, but merely based on who we are "supposed" to vote for.

Here was my response to my friend's email, regarding this issue:

I truly agree that prayer for the nation in the midst of this election is vital (as it is vital at all times), particularly with the divisive tone that has arisen in the most recent weeks of the election.

I am a bit concerned with this statement from your friend's email:

"This is the scariest election we as Christians have ever faced and
from the looks of the polls, the Christians aren't voting Christian values."

I fear that this feeds a bit into that divisive nature and fear that is at work in the nation right now, and seems to insinuate that if we are truly approaching this election as Christians, there is only one way in which we can vote. I strongly disagree with that statement, and I think it is damaging to us as Christians when we let politics hijack our faith in such a way.

Both of these candidates profess a faith in Christ, and there are redeeming things about each of them. I don't feel as though either of them are working to pull us away from "Christian values." In fact, I personally see one of them clearly aligning himself with Christ's mandate to help the poor and heal the sick, the Biblical mandate of accountability within community, and to be responsible stewards of our resources and our planet. I think that you could reasonably contend that both candidates are addressing these issues on varying levels, but I have seen one candidate (in my opinion) more directly using this as the foundation of his platform for the presidency.

If we are to love God with all of our minds, in addition to our hearts, souls, and strength, I think it behooves us as Christians to be informed about such a crucial decision for our country - getting our information and making decisions not from fear, but from our own discerning minds.

Again, I really do appreciate the email that you passed on, and hope that this response does not appear to be chastising or reactionary in any way. I am not about to tell people who to vote for, but I do think that there is an appropriate way for us to approach the voting booth. As Christians, that means for us to look at all of the claims and overall beliefs of a particular candidate, not simply one or two issues, and to see how God will be able to work through that person as president.

Clearly God will be at work for good regardless of which candidate we elect, but we should do all we can to help that process rather than working against it. We should approach such a decision not in fear, but in faith - faith that God is working in and through these candidates, and even that God will be at work at times even despite these candidates.

Thanks again for your email. It's always good to hear from you.

As I said, I'll be praying, too.

In the end, as you probably know, I feel like there is a candidate that is focused on the issues that Jesus tells us we should be focused on. I do not, however, think that people who would vote for the other candidate are unChristian. This election is not an election of Christianity vs. secularism, and we all lose when we frame it as such.

Christians should use their faith to inform their vote.
That is far different than using faith as an excuse for their vote.

W.W.R.H.V.F.?

Regardless of where you stand as we get to November 4th, this is funny either way. Plus, it's nice to see Ron Howard again, and that Andy Griffith is almost back to his Matlock weight.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d

I was young and foolish then, I feel old and foolish now...

My birthday is in two weeks. I will be 29. Now I'm not having one of those crises where people start lamenting the loss of their youth. I'm happy to be 29, and all things being even, I've had a grand 29, and look forward to at least 29 more, and then 29 more. I think I'm good after that.

The reason why I do bring that up is two-fold:

1. Everyone loves presents or cards on their birthday. Read that statement as you will. I think actually it would be cool to get a postcard from as many people as are willing to send a local postcard. Read that statement as you will also.

2. As I am getting older, time seems to be going much faster.

The years go by much quicker than then had before. I used to think that this is because we busy ourselves with such things, that we live for deadlines and vacations so much that we forget to live each day in the moment. There definitely is some truth to that, far more in my own life than I wish was the case. The more I thought about it though, there is some legitimacy to the sense that time is moving faster as we get older. If we look at things relatively (and really, that's all we can do), each year we are alive represents an ever shrinking percentage of your life up to that point.

Let me explain:
When I was 5, that year represented 1/5th of my total existence on earth, and even less when you think of the fact that the first two years aren't really retained much as complete memories. When I was 5, one year seemed like an eternity.
Now that I am approaching 29, this past year has just been merely 1/29th of my life to this point. That's not much at all. Less than 4% of my total conscious existence.

365 days is ever more becoming the proverbial "drop in the bucket."

While one can look at this shrinking awareness of individual years and days, the largest advantage that I have seen out of this is that while I lose emphasis on each passing year, I gain more and more perspective. I can see things far better now than I could 5 years ago, and I hope five years from now, I'll be able to look back with even greater clarity.

Now, so as to not start sounding like Confucius, I'm still a fool, who does stupid things. I just tend to do them with decreasing regularity. I am trying to see how I have been foolish in the past and learn to allow that to help me not make the same mistakes in the future.

Aging is a weird thing. There is a bit of it that is scary. It's weird that I'm passed the point where I can legitimately claim to not be an adult yet (even though the last time I was in PA, a local political candidate asked me when I answered the door at my mom's house if I was "in high school or college"). Sometimes when I listen to pop radio now, I hear some of the songs and think, "Who would like this? This is barely music." Immediately after I thinking something like that, I feel as though I should sip a glass of Metamucil and get home to catch The Lawrence Welk Show post haste.

All in all, though, I like it. I can look back at the things that I used to do, and think, "Wow, I'm not as big of an idiot as I used to be." I can see mistakes that I used to make that I don't make anymore. Also, I can see mistakes that I still make, and have hope for my ability to grow out them.

When it's all laid out, I can look back and see God working on me, even when I didn't realize it, and even when I didn't want it.

That alone is humbling, and makes it all worth it.

Even more so, it makes me excited for what's next.

Warning: Hot Topic!

This comes out of an ongoing email correspondence that I have been having with several friends of mine from seminary. The question was raised as to how one should approach the issue of civil unions for homosexuals. Here was my response:

I think that one can separate the issue of the sin behind homosexuality and the civil rights of homosexuals.

I don't think that any of us would truly question that heterosexual relationships outside of wedlock is a sin, yet we are fine with unmarried "life partners" having civil rights, such as visitation rights, tax breaks, etc. In this case, I think that there is a comfortable separation between what is a civil right (that should not be dependent on one's moral action) and a moral tenet of faith.

Or perhaps to be further implicating, while we don't often like to say this plainly, if we are to hold firmly to the first commandment, to put no other gods before God, than Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, etc are committing the most grievous of sins, yet we would rightly be seen as ridiculous to claim that they cannot be allowed the civil right to have unions.

A bit of commentary on the above statement. I think that to hold firm to faith in Christ is to proclaim that way to be the one true way. I accept that there are elements of truth in nearly all religions, and that there are many overlapping ideals between Christianity and other religions. Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, and people of other faiths are by no means bad people for having other beliefs. The above statement should not be read as an indictment against such people. But again, if we are to hold true to the tenets of any faith, we are to accept that that faith holds primacy over any other faiths, and that at their core, the other faiths eventually fail in the face of the one you hold to be true.

To do anything less would be to dip into universalism, where everyone is right - or essentially where no one is right. But that's another issue. Back to the email...

Again, there is a clear distinction between our love for people trying to help them recognize and turn from sin, and simply legislating those standards onto to people, imposing them on people without any real effort to help them understand the sin.

Jesus' own most common interactions with sinners is not to proclaim their sin, but instead to get to know them, to love them and help them see and understand their sin, so that they will turn from it, not out of judgement, but in love. In fact, the most consistent group that he does call out on their sins are the Pharisees, Religious zealots who are trying to blindly impose their religious laws on people without caring about the people themselves.

In this case, we can and should separate the person from the sin, and think about the rights and interests of the person, in order that we may have a voice that can be heard not as judging, but as loving.

If Christians are to both uphold the sanctity of marriage and to be a loving and welcoming community, we need to raise our standards for how we hold marriage in general, for heterosexual relationships more than anything. We do not support each other enough in the midst of struggling marriages, and we are far to lightly open to the bailout option of divorce. If we really are holding marriage up as a sacred union before God, we should treat it as such.

As it stands right now, we are treating it in most cases as simply a civil and legal union. There is nothing religious or moral about that. To try and impose a standard for religious or moral implications for others on an institution, when we do not adhere to such a standard within the Christian community makes us become hypocrites.

"I'm an animal, and I'm bigger than you!!"

Hee hee.

I Want to Believe.

For this semester of youth group, I set on a theme of "I Want to Believe."

It was this image that gave me the notion. It is from a fairly popular poster that was rather prominently featured on The X-Files. I feel like it gets at a larger human compulsion that we all have, that we want to believe in... something. Anything. But we all want to believe.

So I have used each week to run with that theme, using the flow "I want to believe..." and then some phrase that I think is pretty common to most people, and then look at how true that statement is.

The first week was "I want to believe that I am important."

Each of us, if we are being honest, I think want believe that we all have intrinsic value, that our opinions matter, that we have something to contribute, something to make us valid and have a reason for being. I think in most of our thoughts, we figure as the prime actor, either as how we perceive a certain thing or how we can influence a certain thing. Most of our core beliefs, even the truly altruistic ones are usually prefaced by "I think..." or something comparable. We therefore want to believe that our reasoning and logic are valid, that we can contribute to the larger dialogue about issues and events, or at least that the things that we value (whether its family, religion, art, or Halo 3) really do matter because they matter to us.

If we are all at the core of it all, actually important, if our values and opinions actually do matter, than what is it that gave us this importance? Why are my views more important than the views of a dog or a tree? What gives me the right to feel that I have dominion over certain things, like ants, or even where a rock is placed?

Nothing?

Yet I'm not sure how many rational people who would argue that the feelings of a rock or an ant are completely congruent with those of a human being. Therefore, if we are important, it would beg to offer that something must have made us that way.

I'm not sure that mere "survival of the fittest" logic will get us to the point that we have evolved into a greater importance. My cats clearly think that they are more important than I am, and yet I have no problem changing their plans to suit my own. There are few if any other species on the planet that are so willing to manipulate their environment solely to fit their wants (not merely their needs). We are completely willing to alter our environments solely for our pleasure, without much if any consideration as to how that will affect the impact that it will have on the larger stability of that environment. But I digress...

If we are important, what is it that made us so? Have we created this importance in on our own? Or have we been given a sense of this importance for a reason?

Is the value that we sense in ourselves intrinsic, as I said above, or is it merely manifested by our own instinctual interest in self preservation?

Moreover, if something made us important, that something would have to be more than us, to be bigger than us in some way. There seems to be something in each of us that tells us that we are important, from the day we are born. It seems to be more than a simple compulsion to survive - I would argue that most of us have a compulsion to actually DO something. Even if that something is simply beating Halo 3. We want to accomplish things, not simply things that help us survive, but things that validate our sense of self value.

So, again, what gave us that importance?

If we are not simply beings that exist, but instead are beings that were created, what created us?

God?

If we want to believe that we are important, then something had to have made us important, and that something had to have been bigger than us, big enough to create in us a sense of that importance, something that moves beyond simply survival, and moves us to create and accomplish things that reflect that importance that we sense in ourselves.

If that something that created this sense of importance, that created us to be important, is not God, than what is it?

Sleep is for suckers.

I have realized recently that whenever Adrien is away, I don't go to sleep. Case in point, it's 2:22 in the AM, and going to sleep is not high on my list of priorities.

I'm not really sure why, as sleep is essential for health and feeling good. I do know this. However, I seem to have a window each evening when I am sleepy, and if I miss that window, I'm up. Without a sleepy Adrien going to bed, I sometimes don't notice that window until it's too late.

Late night Tyler doesn't really care about what tomorrow Tyler has to do. He would rather rearrange his iTunes library, or learn more about Maya Rudolph on Wikipedia. Tomorrow Tyler can deal with his own troubles. Late night Tyler isn't too worried. Tomorrow Tyler always gets things done anyway.

Instead I'm going to watch news channels and think of how physically odd looking that some of these talking heads are. How can they say the same thing in so many different ways? This stuff is addicting...

I need some sleep.

What are our brains for if not to think?

I don't mean to have every day be quite so focused on faith, it has just come up a lot lately.

Here is a response I just posted to a youth ministry article that was sent to me on Intelligent Design vs. Evolution. The author's take really bothered me, and I felt compelled to respond.
Here is a bit of what he said:

So, can someone be a Christian and believe in evolution? Sure. You can be a Christian and believe in all sorts of things that are false! But the real question is, Can Christianity be true and Darwinian evolution be true? I don't think they can.

I admit that my understanding of the nuances of the science may need a bit of tweaking, but nonetheless, here is my initial reaction:

This argument posits a very narrow definition of what "evolution" is. If one is so closed off to the notion that God does not work through what we perceive as "chance" that you are leaving God out of a large portion of our daily lives. I would think that most Christian accept that God plan encompasses all of our lives, even working in and through the things that seem to be merely "chance" to us. If we can accept this on the scale of a single life, I do not see why this same understanding can't be compatible with the life and development of creation.

Yes, people are wrong to say that it is all just chance. But are we not being as short sighted and closed minded if we cannot see that what some would see as "chance" is merely God's hand at work in creating, making the right things happen to create things the way that he is still actively creating?

When we present Christianity as a side against and opposed to formalized education, we do ourselves a disservice and provide fuel to those on the secular side who would claim that Christianity doesn't allow us to use our brains. Micro-evolution is a fact that can be proven in species like flat worms. Evolution as a basic biological concept, in this case, is a scientific truth. To refute "evolution" full stop requires us to flatly deny what is a proven fact. That is why we require a more nuanced understanding of this issue, which I'm not sure you are making allowances for here.

Macro-evolution is on such a scale that it is unprovable, and is therefore a theory. This is the case where one can take an educated view and still retain our faith. The more specific a scientist is (micro-biologists, micro-physicists, etc), the more likely they are to see a clear design in what is going on. Again, this is not inconsistent with the notion of evolution as a whole, but with the notion that it has to be a random event.

People like Richard Dawkins refuse to look entertain the notion that there is a certain order that can be seen in this, and instead use their science as a faith to shield them from having an open mind toward a creator, in much the same way that a denial of dinosaurs and the like shields someChristians from any true understanding of science.

God gave us brains and he wants us to use them. Jesus even tells us this as part of the greatest commandment: "Love the Lord Your God with all of your heart, and with all your soul, and with all of your mind..." True science is not a threat, but a blessing. Logic leads to a creator, not away from it.

Evolution and Christianity CAN coexist. We simply have to be willing to take the time to understand them both.

Again, I understand the elementary understanding that I have on this, but I still think that the two are compatible, and even support on another to a certain degree. Francis Collins has some interesting support on this (though I don't really think that humans evolved from monkeys, which he seems to leave space for).

At any rate, there it is.

McFly, the dog from the future: Squirrel Hater.

McFly, my dog, has a war going on with the squirrels that live in our trees in the back yard. Every time I let him out, he has started slowly sneaking out the door, like he's on some sort of covert ops, in an attempt to sneak up on them.

Soon, he sees them, runs at them, they run up our tree that is a good 50 feet tall, and throw nuts at him. He runs so fast at the tree that he can't quite stop, and invariably does a somersault as he tries to halt at the bottom of the tree.

My assumption is that his goal is to bite them, but I'm not sure if he's planned anything beyond that. I think the squirrels' plan is to make fun of him and mock him with there surprising ability to climb 30 feet up a tree in about 1.6 seconds.

We'll see how this develops...

God is here.

So here I am, stuck in the Atlanta airport, annoyed that I was bumped from my 1pm to PA and now have to take the 10pm flight , but happy that they gave me two free tickets to anywhere (read - LA to see Kyle again) and a free dinner.

In the intervening hours, I have been here lugging a few bags from place to place, working on getting stuff ready for a small wedding that I'm doing tomorrow, and thinking about this conference that I just finished. Again, it was super awesome.

My friends and I who were at the conference began to reflect on a rather existential question in the midst of our drives between the auditorium and the hotel: is there a place where God isn't present?

Let me state that again: Is there ever a time or place where God isn't present?

I think that a kneejerk "yes" or "no" may be easy to justify, but I'm not sure that it's that easy to process. Many worship services in mainline churches start off with what is called an "Invocation" where we are calling on the Holy Spirit (the spirit of God) to be present in this place of worship. I've never been comfortable with that, as it implies that prior to the invocation, God's spirit was not present. It also implies that we have the power to call God into a place.

While I recognize a human ability to call upon the power of God, calling on and commanding God seems to be a bit off.

But back to the question: is there ever a time where God is not present?

Here's what I'm thinking (though I'm still wrestling with this a lot) - God is always present, but sometimes when it feels like God is absent, that can be just as bad as if he was.

Let me break that up a bit. God tells us over and over throughout the Bible that he's got a plan for us, and he's never going to leave us or forsake us. I think that is true. God loves us.

However, the Bible also is filled with stories of people who are constantly running and hiding from God (some might say that that is essentially the main role of people in the bulk of the Bible). It seems that it is in the midst of that running away, or that turning away, getting distracted and pulled away by other things that we shut ourselves off from being able to feel God's presence in our lives, to feel God loving us. It is then that we feel alone, and then when we are the most vulnerable.

God loves us so much that he lets us turn away.

That's essentially the story of the Prodigal Son. The father loves the son enough to let him leave. He never stops loving him, though.

Hmm.

I think God is here. Here in the Atlanta airport, waiting with me for this plane.

I think God is there with you also. Sitting at your computer, doing plainly normal, boring things. And God is loving you while you do it.

That's what I think.

Okay, time to lug my bags over and wait in line with God.

What Love Looks Like

I've said it many a time before, but after another long hiatus, I think that I hath returned to regular blogging. Welcome back.

I'm in Atlanta at the Catalyst Leadership Conference. It is a massive conference (like 13,000 people) for leaders in the church, which I oddly, had never even heard of before this year. It is really great, and I'm hearing a lot of stuff that I hadn't expected - great stuff.

Jon Foreman, the lead singer of Switchfoot sang a song for the conference with just an acoustic guitar and a cello player. He introduced the song by saying that he has the hardest time writing songs about God and girls. This was one of the former, and he said that he cheated by "stealing" words from the Bible.

The song ended up being from one of my favorite passages, one that is always relevant to what ever is going on in life at the time - do not worry. God has it figured out.

Here were the lyrics:

Heavenly Father
You always amaze me
Let Your kingdom come in my world
And in my life

Give me the food I need
To live through today
Forgive me as I forgive
The people that wrong me

Lead me far from temptation
Deliver me from the evil one

I look out the window
The birds are composing
Not a note is out of tune
Or out of place

I walk to the meadow
And stare at the flowers
Better dressed than any girl
On her wedding day

So why should I worry?
Why do I freak out?
God knows what I need
You know what I need!

Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong

The kingdom of the heavens
Is now advancing
Invade my heart
Invade this broken town

The kingdom of the heavens
Is buried treasure
Would you sell yourself
To buy the one you've found

Two things you told me
That you are strong
And you love me
Yes, you love me

Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong
Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong

Our God in Heaven
Hallowed be Thy name
Above all names
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
On earth as it is in Heaven
Give us, today, our daily bread
Forgive us weary sinners
Keep us far from our vices
And deliver us from these prisons

I was really surprised at how simple and helpful the song was, taking a familiar passage and mixing it with the passage that is the Lord's Prayer, but reworking them, so that I could hear it in a new way. It has made me think of how much we are loved by God, but how little we allow ourselves to see it.

That doesn't stop it from being there.

Instead, though, we are often distracted by the hurt and the pain all around us - the pain of the world and of ourselves.
In its ugliest manifestation, it can look like what is in this trailer, which we also saw at the conference today:

http://callandresponse.com/

This movie addresses a serious issue in the world that Adrien and I have gotten more and more concerned with in the recent months (Adrien really educating me on it).

This movie, and the people that are in it are a visible sign of God's love. We can't ignore the suffering that we see in this movie because we are created to care. God loves these children, and the anger that we feel at the thought of that suffering is God using us to bring about change. There is nothing that we gain from helping these children, yet we are compelled to care. Why is that?

The most logical answer is "Because it's the right thing to do."
But why do we feel like that is right? What gives us that certainty? Is there not some larger compulsion that we have as humans to care for the defenseless, to not sit idly by when people are suffering? Is it ridiculous to think that God is working through you in that way, that the anger that an issue like human trafficking makes each of us feel is a reflection of God's love, a love that hates human suffering?

God's love won't let us be okay with that...

Okay, rather than comment too much more on this right now, as I have said a lot for a "relaunch" of me bloggin', I'll reiterate what Dr. Cornell West says in the trailer:

Never forget that JUSTICE is what LOVE looks like in public!

think.