Out of the Box

Scientist Says We are not Responsible for our Actions

Flip Wilson's much repeated excuse, "The devil made me do it" is not far from accurate. Not that the devil can make you do anythng, but the force that influences  you to obey God or be "bad" may run deeper than we evangelicals realize. A recent book, "INCONITO: THE SECRET LIVES OF THE BRAIN" by David Eagleman, reveals how something lying deep within our being motivates our behavior. Eagleman is head of Baylor's Laboratory for Perception and Action and has studied how the brain functions. He writes that we most often are controlled by the brain as it plots the course for our life without our awareness or input.  

Eagleman says that the part of the brain we control  is the long term planner for our lives, but the day to day operations are controlled by parts of the brain over which we have little access or control. In Christian terminology that would sound like, "After we have made a committment to be a faithful follower of Christ we often slip up daily and do things that seem to be incongruent with that desire."  Or as Paul said it,  

Romans 7:19-20 (NKJV)
¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.
²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

Eagleman says we are not blank slates when we are born. For example it seems babies expect to see faces and respond positively to smiles and pleasant voices. They are not taught this, or make up their mind to behave this way, it is just that way. The author explains this intuitive behavior by declaring we are products of our evolutionary pasts. He says we are not so much responsible for who we are as we are a result of who our ancestors were and their behavior patterns have been hard wired into the circuitry of our brain.

Before you discount what he writes as a result of being a misguded derelict who just needs to get saved, let me point out some things we may learn from what he says. I don't think he knows how close his findings are to historic Christian teachings. It is just that he is using the vocabulary of a scientist and not a preacher. We do suffer from the effects of a past that is not of our own making. It is not evolution, but original sin. We inherit a bias toward doing wrong and not right because it has been passsed down to us by our ancestors, Adam and Eve. Paul wrote two thousand years ago,    

Romans 5:12 (NKJV) 

¹² Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned--

 We are also influenced by our immediate heritage. We know that children who are raised in Christian homes are much more likely to grow up with strong faith and to live lives that are a benefit to society. That is not evolution, but the result of being obedient to God and being blessed. According to Eagleman, the battle between the conscious mind and our behavior is most often won by behavior we have trouble bringing under control. I say AMEN to that. Only I would say it is a battle between my flesh and my spirit; between that within me that has been redeemed and that which is waiting for the rapture to be reborn immortal and incorruptible.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 (NKJV)
⁵¹ Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--
⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
⁵³ For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Eagleman writes, "We are not the ones driving the boat of our behavior, at least not nearly as much as we believe. Who we are runs well below the surface of our conscious access, and the details reach back in time before our birth." That is true, but it is no excuse for sin. It is a daily dying to self that God calls us to so that we might rise above what come naturally and do what may only occur "supernaturally!" 

1 Corinthians 15:56-57 (NKJV)
⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

 

Enough

Yesterday Iran boasted to the world that they were proceeding rapidly to produce their own uranium despite sanctions from the west. They claim they have already exceeded our abilities to produce nuclear material on their own. Perhaps it is because they are not nearly as interested in safety as civilized countries that intend to use their nuclear programs for peaceful purposes. Iran claims they are producing uranium for power plants and medicine, while their public rhtoric demands another reason. They have stated publicly that they want to destroy Israel and the United States. Recent attacks by Israel to take out weapons before they were launched revealed that these weapons were not localized missiles.  I have been told they were ICBM's capable of crossing the Atlantic.

Does all this mean that the end is near. Certainly not. Jesus said before the end there would be wars and rumors of war. It does mean that the pieces are all falling in place for God to wrap things up. Never before has this student of prophecy seen the pages of the Bible become so real and current. I cannot find one more piece to put into palce before the Father says to the Son, "Go get your children." The Bible says that Christ will return with a shout. (I Thes. 4:16) Much speculation has attempted to discover what thay shout might be. I have my opinion.  I think it may be "ENOUGH. IT IS FINISHED" Enough death, enough disease, divorce, orphans, violence, and idolatry.  So keep your eyes on the horizon and your ears alert to hear the cry!     

Celebrating Success

Many of you responded to last week's blog "Epic Fail." Like the pastor who held the conference by the same name a lot of people resonate with failing as being a learning experience that draws us closer to God. That being said, I never want to celebrate failure.  Failure is often just inability to rightly define success.

What is success? May I offer my working definition? "Success is discovering and doing God's unique purpose for my life and helping others do the same." I want to point a few distinctions of my view and other commonly held definitions of success.

    First, succes is not a situation in our life that we hope to attain. It is not about money or fame. It is not always dangling somewhere out in front of us. It can be a constant reality. Success is in the seeking as well as in the doing.

    Second, success is not based upon being gifted, your personality or situation. In the course of discovering God's unique purpose for your life you may go through many different situations, both good and bad. That's ok, because success is not a place but a process.  So succcess is not how many homes you sell, awards you win, or the balance in your bank account. It's not even the number of people who attend your church. It is about learning and doing what God has uniquely prepared you to be.

    Third, a truly successful person brings other with them. They help others find their unique role in the world. They encourage, involve and pray for others to be successful. They celebrate the fact that God has created us not only to work with Him, but to work with each other. 

These truths are are born out of my own experience. For several years other pastors often refer to my ministry and the church I serve as successful. I agree, but not for the reasons they cite. If it were based upon pure numbers, where did we begin to be successful? Was it at 100. Maybe a church becomes successful at 500. Do you see the error of this way of thinking. Dallas Bay became successful when about two dozen people answered the prompting of God's Spirit to begin a mission at a local grade school. Whatever came of that church would not dictate whether those people were successful or not. They were successful because they dared follow God's voice regardless where He led them.

I encourage you to consider adopting my definition of success for your own life. Is there only one successful salesman in your company. Certainly not! Is there just one successful parent in your neighborhood? I would guess there are several.  Are you less a success than your friend just because he has a larger car, or home or bank account? No, no, no... neither was Paul any more successful when he finished than when he began. Because he understood life to be a journey where we are to look to Him for strength, Paul knew he he could never use the world's definition of succes as his own.

Philippians 4:11-13 (NKJV)
¹¹ Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:
¹² I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
¹³ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

 

 

 

Epic Fail

A recent article in Leadership magazine told of a pastor who held a conference called "Epic Fail." Having left deflated and discouraged after attending more than one conference where pastors told of their many success stories, this fellow decided to find out how many others felt the same way. He started a website called "Epic Fail" and soon had more than ten thousand viewers. He rented a second story meeting room and more than one hundred people attended his first conference. They shared their sad stories of programs gone bad and frustration toward those who chose not to follow their vision. Oddly, they all felt better and are looking forward to next years conference.

Sadly, the churches and church leaders who only tell of their victories are often hiding their failures from public view. What they may not know is that we are more prone to pull for those who are transparant in their struggles. Looking back over my life I can remember harboring ill will toward pastors and churches that never seemed to have a down Sunday or miss their budget needs. When one pastor called me and related that he was not able to raise enough to build a proposed worship center, I closed my office door and and did a victory dance around my desk. (I later repented in sack cloth and ashes.)

Here are some facts I have learned in my many failures:

    I have learned more about myself in defeat than I ever have when I won,

    Being honest about your failures endears you to your peers,

    Frequent failures make victories more fun,

    Failure is just one more option I have elimintated on my way to what works,

    I would rather try and fail than never try, and finally

    I often find failure means I simply did not define sucess correctly.  

So the next time something doesn't turn out the way you planned, I suggest you ask God what He was trying to teach you in the process. Then write a book, start a webpage and hold a conference. You might be surprised how many people show up.

In His Shadow,

Pastor Ken 

 

A Long Ride Behind a Hearse

I returned home last week with just enough time to prepare for a funeral being held at Dallas Bay for one of our sweet senior saints. This lady had fought a brave battle against cancer and had finally been called home to rest. After a meeting that resembled a celebration more than a funeral we loaded up the cars to head off to the graveside service several miles from the church. Ir was during that long slow ride behind the hearse that I was able to observe how my fellow man responds to death.

For as long as I have been doing funerals I have known vehicles passing in the opposite direction to pull off the road and pay their respects. Unfortunately for some people it is at their passing that they finally receive the respect they are due. What I have started to notice is the disdain of many who choose to ignore this social norm. I noticed as cars swerved into the turning lane and sped away as they were stopped by the car in front paying their respect. Some of those who were unencumbered by a stopped car sped by the funeral procession without looking our way. Still more noticeably winced and placed their foreheads against the steering wheel if they were moments short of being able to pull out in front of the procession.

I guess thaey are expressing emotions we all have toward that day we will be taken in a slow ride in a hearse. Some people are angry because on occassion an event happens in our life that causes us to pause and consider our own mortality. We would rather curse those who do give it some thought as we speed off to some earthly appointment. Such people forget that we all have an appointment we must keep. "It is appointed unto man once to die and face the judgment."

Those who look the other way and speed off are hoping that by staying busy and looking the other way they will not have to consider that all of our lives are but a vapor. They appear for a short while and then they vanish away.

Still those who try and get in front of the procession but fail are forced to watch as the hearse drives slowly by. We all will have to face our own mortality in one way or another. It may be the death of a parent, a friend, or a national tragedy like 9/11, but we will all have to come to grips with the grim reaper.

How do we deal with death in a healthy way? The same way Jesus instructed His disciples to do so. "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me." (John 14:1) You prepare for death by aaccepting its inevitable arrival. The disciples were forced by Jesus to pull to the side of the road and consider His passing. He would not let them turn away or get in front of Him. Thomas said, "Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?" (John 14:5) They had not gone that way before, but Christ assured Thomas when the time came he would know the way. "I am the way, the truth, and the life." (John 14:6) To prepare for that day we first learn to follow Jesus in this life. We can't act like we will be the first to be exempt from the pain of death. That's not what Jesus meant when He told us not to allow our hearts to be troubled. His advice was "You believe in God, believe also in Me." That's the only way we can face that day ahead for all of us with confidence. How about you my friend, do you believe in God?

Thirty Years Today

Thirty years ago Marilyn and I tied the knot. December 19, 1981 at New Salem Baptist Church Marilyn Elaine Elsea became Marilyn Elaine Duggan. It's hard to believe it has been thirty years ago. Wow, life has sure been a roller coaster since that cold December Saturday afternoon.

My wife married a young man with big dreams and stars in his eyes. I had just graduated (two days prior) from college with a degree in pre-law. I was going to practice law for a few years and put back some money for my biggest ambition, political office. My goal was no less than someday become governor of the state of Tennessee.

Marilyn still had one semester left before she would graduate with a a bachelor's degree in nursing. Years passed and she became a successful research nurse working for the UT medical school, and I kept drifting from one career to another, none of them as an attorney. I tried retail management for a while. I tried computer operations and later programming. No matter how I tried I was never satisfied I had found my calling.

In the meantime the Lord had blessed us with our first child. Only 18 months into his young life he was diagnosed with cancer. Marilyn left a lucrative career to be a full-time Mom to our sick child. That has always been her way. There is not a more giving and self sacrificing woman on this earth. That was never more evident to me than one night we were driving with our firstborn in the backseat. We had just been offered the position as pastor of Dallas Bay Baptist Mission. They required me to be full-time. The 7 families that constituted the congregation could only pay me about 2/3 what I was making as a programmer. Marilyn had never regained all she had lost when she quit to take care of our sick child. So in effect, we would be living on about half our normal income if I were to take the position at the church. I will never forget My wife's answer to the question I posed to her in the car, "Can we trust God in this?" She looked at our son in the backseat and said, "He hasn't let us down yet."

So if my ministry has blessed you or your family in any way over the last 22 years, you really have my wife to thank. She is the strong woman behind this weak man. She has home schooled two boys and nursed them through bouts of every sort of illness. Still her faith has remained strong. Never once has she ever complained about marrying an aspiring attorney and ending up with a Baptist preacher. Thanks honey, for all your sacrifice. Heaven only will tell all you have done that others do not know. Happy thirtieth anniversary! I love you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be Careful How You Treat Your Pastor :)

The play "It Just Isn't Christmas without a Tree!" is behind us. Christmas is more than two weeks off and it is a slow news day. So I have Tamara, church choir member, to thank for this tidbit of information to brighten your day. It seems, Dave Chandler, a pastor who was not getting along well with his congregation, had the last laugh. He resigned after having another argument over the use of the Christian Life Center. But not before he inflicted the church with someone to help them remember how he was treated. It seems there was an obscure clause in his employment contract that allowed him to single-handedly hire the worship leader. So just before he left town Dave hired Bill MacNerny. Bill specializes in "alien folk music" and "tunes for chickens and other intelligent beings."

On a recent Sunday morning, Bill encouraged members to make Martian noises as they sang Amazing Grace. The new worship leader leads music while playing the ukelele and making barnyard sounds. His Sunday attire is a small cowboy hat and overalls. Bill told a reporter on a recent phone interview that he enjoyed leading worship at church because he had a captive audience and did not rely on tips. This is much different from his previous gig as a street performer.

Why doesn't the church just fire Bill. In the same obscure contract that allowed the pastor to hire Bill, it states they must pay the worship leader a lump sum of $150,000 if they release him before two years. It seems no one is willing to buy him out of his contract. So until they do, pastor Dave is taking some time off in Alabama and Bill is encouraging his new church family to buy chickens. I wonder if this is what Paul referred to as "spiritual warfare?"

Tis the Season

I have loved Charles Dickens's Christmas Carol since I first heard it read in elementary school. I have watched the various cinematic adaptations from Albert Finney in 1970, George C. Scott in 1984 (my personal favorite) to Michael Caine in A Muppet Christmas Carol in '92.

On Christmas Eve Ebeneezer Scrooge's deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, warns him of three spirits that will come to visit for his benefit. If he does not heed their warning, Scrooge will spend eternity in a worse place than the miserable state Marley now finds himself. The spirits will attempt to open the eyes of the old miser to missed opportunities and poor decisions that have led to his current pathetic solitude. While Scrooge cannot alter the past, he may change the future, if he amends his ways. Ebeneezer learns that his actions have negatively affected many other lives besides his own.

The story should cause us to reflect on our own lives. How many regrettable poor decisions and missed opportunities are in the shadows of our past? Do we really know how many people we have passed without saying a kind word or offering a helping hand? How many times have we made excuses rather than listening and obeying what we know God has asked us to do? What blessings have we forfeited? How many sleepless nights have we endured because of guilt that could have been avoided by making a better choice? I believe many of us would answer; too many!

We may not be able to change the past, but we can alter the future. Only you are in control of how you treat others. You alone are responsible for making right decisions. Let's make a commitment during this season to reach out to someone and bless them. After his redemptive experience Christmas morning, Scrooge had the boy in the street to buy the big goose hanging in the window of the butcher down the street and deliver it to the Cratchits. Who could you unexpectedly bless this Christmas? All of us who have been redeemed are called by our Redeemer to offer a cup of cold water in His name. When we do we shall receive a reward. (Matthew 10:42) Tis the season to learn the truth of God's Word: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35) Have a blessed Christmas season!

It's OK to Ask Hard Questions

I have a young man speaking for me tomorrow night instead of
my weekly Bible study. I hesitate to give it up, but I feel compelled to give
this fellow a shot. He feels as if God is calling him to ministry and needs an
opportunity to expand his audience outside of just youth Bible study groups in
his home. I still remember the opportunity afforded me by my pastor.
Thankfully, my path as a Bible teacher and pastor has gone reasonably well
given that rocky start. It was not pleasant for me and I’m sure it was
downright painful to my audience. Still they encouraged me to continue and I’m
glad they did. They knew I was struggling to make my faith my own. Something
many of them had never done. Let me explain.

After the split of my parents at age nine, I began to
question everything I had been taught. I began to ask the same kind of
questions many kids do later in life when they go off to college. They are no
longer always surrounded by their parent’s culture of faith. They are
introduced to new ways of believing, or in some cases of not believing. When
suddenly confronted with the need to defend their belief before people who do
not share their faith, they often respond in one of two ways. They go on an
offensive assault to deliver a rousing judgmental sermon toward the hell bound unbelievers.
This is usually more smoke than substance but defended as righteous indignation:
a good Biblical excuse for losing your cool. The other response may be to
freeze in a defensive crouch and fail to respond at all. They realize that the
faith they have been carrying is not their faith at all. It was the faith of
their parents and pastors and Sunday school teachers. These kids either get
quickly swept up in the culture of the university or leave and go back home
where their fragile faith will no longer be under an assault.

So as a kid of nine, without constant church or parental
influence, I started to question the validity of what I had been taught in
church. I found much of it to be shallow and emotional. I was sorely
disappointed because I really wanted to believe in God. When I began to choose
my friends, who were all outside of my faith, I could not defend what I had
been taught. So I left my faith in my preteens. I became what has recently been
termed as a “leaver.” Leavers often ask their parents to explain why they believe
and are met with shock and dismay, “Why can’t you just have faith, like we do.
Where did we fail?”

Here’s a fact that comes from a former “leaver.” Most of these kids want to believe. Many of them return to church after wandering in the wilderness for a while. So many come to a happening church, with a popular youth group, and look for answers. When they arrive they find a bunch of kids who have not addressed the hard questions of faith, but instead have opted to numb themselves with activities to take their mind off their questions. Instead of addressing teens’ questions, most church youth groups focus on fun and food. The goal seems to be to create emotional attachment using loud music, silly skits, slapstick games -- and pizza. Those
are all good and fun, but they are only ways of attracting a crowd. The force of sheer emotional experience will not equip teens to address the ideas they will encounter when they leave home and face the world on their own. Hard questions have to be addressed.

Here is what I found. While I tried the youth group thing, I never really was satisfied with playing pool and roasting hot dogs. I began to seek real answers to hard questions. I looked for
people who were willing to try to give me a response instead of just turning me away. I had to go through a lot of “go ask the pastor” before I found some who would attempt an answer for themselves. Here in lies the solution to the problem of leavers. The reason why so many leave and never return is because they find too few of us who are “prepared to give an answer to everyone who
asks” (1 Pet. 3:15). They have to know it is ok to ask hard questions. Paul instructs us to “Test everything, hold on to the good” (1 Thess. 5:21). I am not nearly as discouraged by the number of teens who are leaving the faith, as I am the number of us adults who cannot challenge when they return. And they will return, I found life without faith in God to be a “dry and barren land.”
So pray for the young man who is teaching for me tomorrow. He is making his faith his own. He will stumble. We all do. I don’t expect he will wow the crowd, but I am blessed to help him on his journey of faith.

Speaking Up for Free Will

If Calvinism is right, why can't Calvinists move on? Calvinism is known as the doctrine of the elect, or reformed theology, or predestination or a number of other theological terms. It is the idea that certain people have been selected by God to eternal life while others have not. There are other aspects to this soteriological (study of salvation) philosophy such as the depravity of man (the inability of man to save him self) and perseverance of the saints (eternal security of the believer), but the one that is most often spoken about is this idea of predestination. God choosing a few to be saved as examples of His grace.

On the way home yesterday one such preacher was teaching on this subject from his pulpit in California. (Reason enough to be leary of the whole thing if you ask me.) The sure give away that he was a Calvinist was that he constantly referred to God choosing the less lovable of this world for salvation. He consistently insisted people who were honorable or lovely were not what God was seeking. Of course the speaker and his audience were named as a part of the unlovely crowd of which he spoke. I have yet to hear one Calvinist preacher talk of those who were in his audience who were not chosen. It would at least be refreshing to hear one say, "I know it doesn't seem fair that some of us here today are chosen for heaven and others of you are chosen for damnation, but let's all stand and sing, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound..."

Speaking to the idea of God not being fair, the speaker declared that God was not fair, but that He was just. That some were allowed to be saved, while no one was worthy of salvation, showed how gracious God is. Once again, I think the correctness of that statement has a lot to do with which side of the equation in which you fall; the chosen or un-chosen. I'm sorry, but I don't think people who are sentenced to hell with no options for redemption are going to think of God as gracious. His simple analogy was a grammar school soccer game. Because he was of the unlovely and unloved crowd, he was not chosen when sides were picked to play soccer at recess. He assured his listeners he knew something of the pain of not being chosen. I'm sure it wasn't pleasant, but I bet it didn't hurt like hell!

Then he went on to compare the chosen people of the Old Testament with the chosen people of the New Testament. He said the Jews did nothing to merit God's decision to choose them either. I agree whole-heartedly. But to use them as an example of Calvinism is to neglect another major teaching of the five points central to their belief. They teach that no one chosen will ever become un-chosen. No one saved will ever lose that salvation. I believe that too, but I would never use the nation of Israel to back it up. Even Paul, the great Calvinist hero, declared that all Jews were not saved. He would give his life for his brethren if they would only accept salvation through Christ.

Romans 9:1-5 (NKJV)
¹ I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
² that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.
³ For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,
⁴ who are Israelites,..."

Joshua declared that not all Israel would follow God. He and his family had made the willful decision to do so as he challenged his people to do the same.

Joshua 24:15 (NKJV)
¹⁵ And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

The whole idea of choice seems alien to Calvinists, but it seemed entirely appropriate to Joshua and his family.

Why is it necessary that Calvinist feel it necessary to continually promote their doctrinal bias? While it is an important teaching in their theology, it can't be the only one. I don't hear those who teach that man has the ability to accept or deny God's free gift of grace neglect all other great truths of Scripture.

I will probably receive unkind remarks because of my views. Those who hold to the tenets of Calvinism are often very vocal. Pastor Johnny Hunt of Atanta has had to endure their scorn for years. Even to the point where there was a blog site devoted to demeaning and hurting his character and ministry. I don't want to fight about this myself. I just wanted someone to speak up for free will. Or maybe I will just let God speak for Himself:

2 Peter 3:9 (NKJV)
⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

John 3:14-17 (NKJV)
¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.