Morphsuit Christians

I don't know how you feel about these guys, but I HATE the green morphsuit guys at Canuck games. If you don't know who I am talking about, it's these guys:

I would love to see them do that stuff WITHOUT the green suit covering their face. They hide behind this costume, and then taunt, harass and annoy the heck out of opponents (and other fans). Now, I get that they are proud of their team, and cheering and jeering is all part of sports, I get that...but doing this type of thing EVERY time gets old very fast, and just becomes silly. Anyway, that's not really the point of this blog, just thought I would add my own personal opinion (feel free to LOVE the green guys, that is your right). What I really wanted to talk about though, is spiritually living under a green morphsuit. What I mean is, as Christians we hide behind our bibles, hide behind our computer screens, our blogs, our friends. We hide behind the safety of the penalty glass, and the anonymity (is that a word?) of the green suits. We stand up for our beliefs, so long as people don't really know who we are, or we are able to run into a group of likeminded individuals.

This goes even beyond just staying anonymous...we hide who we truly are. In one group of friends we are one way, in another we are a different person. We act like a devout Christian or fundamentalist nutjob, or religious pharisee or whatever on Sunday, and then on Monday we are the exact opposite. We put on a fake smile, hide behind laughter, join in when others are bullying or judging (even if we don't agree with the judgement). I urge us as Christians. I urge us as HUMANS...take off the morphsuits. Step out from behind the glass, reveal your true self. Why do we insist on being who we aren't? Why do we only stand up for our beliefs when no one knows who we are, or when we can easily run away? Why do we taunt and tease in large groups because we know we are "safe" there. Jesus wants us to be REAL. He wants us to be authentic. He wants us to LOVE. Take off the mask, get out of the suit, uncover your face. If you are too scared to let people know who you truly are, then maybe you need to re-evaluate who you are.

I know I am taking a lot of leaps going from fans at a hockey game to people hiding behind fake selves, but I think its something we have to do. We have to challenge ourselves. We have to remind ourselves that Jesus doesn't want fake Christians. Jesus wants REAL men and women who are willing to put themselves out there, for all to see. He wants people who aren't afraid to be known. Who will stand and dance by the penalty box without their faces covered (figuratively of course). Are you willing to step out? Are you willing to show your face? Are you willing to be who you are, and stand up for your beliefs at all times, even when it makes you unpopular. Even if it makes you the lone Blackhawks fan in an arena of Canuck faithful?

Love the Team, Hate the Fans

Have you ever heard an atheist (or some other person of another faith) say something like, "I don't mind God, I just can't stand his followers!". Well, I used to somewhat understand that sentiment, but now, living in Canuck central (and being a non-Canuck fan), I completely understand what they mean. I used to be indifferent to the Canucks. Growing up in Ontario, and being a Leaf fan (and still am...I know, pass judgement and ridicule), my hatred was more for the Sens and Habs. The Canucks, Flames and Oilers were teams that I didn't hate, didn't love, but wanted to see do decently well. Then I moved here to BC. EVERYONE is a crazy Canuck fan. Every game is meticulously scrutenized. Every hit by the Canucks is a clean hit, every hit against is the dirtiest hit in NHL history. Every loss is seen as the end of the world, and every win is viewed as the Stanley Cup winning game. Yes, I am emebellishing a little here, but I think you get my point. Also, I do want to clairify that, you can substitute any team for the Canucks. I know Leaf fans have a bad reputation so feel free to substitute "Leafs" for Canucks if it makes you more comfortable (or whichever team you want). Anyway, it gets frustrating. When all you hear on the sports radio is people calling in saying that this team is guaranteed to win the cup, and probably sweep their way there, you get really frustrated with it. I've gone from indifferent to the Canucks to wanting them to lose every game they play. I want them to fail, miserably bad. So that takes me back to the phrase, "I don't mind God, but I hate his followers". Christians sometimes (ok...quite often) act like bad fans of a sports team. When someone oposses our beliefs in some way, like wanting to take the Lords Prayer out of schools, teach evolution, promote gay marriage or whatever, we feel that it is a brutally dirty play. It's as if Daniel Sedin got blindsided when the puck was on the other side of the rink. We want blood. We call for suspensions. We call for the law to step in and stop these "anti-Christians" from taking away everything we stand for. We feel that our rights are being stomped on. But as soon as we try to oppose something. When we fight for abortion to be illegal, or for all Presidents and Prime Ministers to be Christians, or for prayer to be brought back into school. When we fight for "don't-ask-don't-tell", Creation to be solely taught as the origin of the world, and we try to ostracize the other faiths, we see it as a clean hit. We see it as "just playing the puck, a solid hockey hit". And it frustrates the hell out of everyone else. I realize that saying "hell" is proabably getting a bunch of you angry at me, but I feel that the words need to be strong. People who used to not really care about Christianity, either way, suddenly oppose it strongly, because of the "fans". It makes you wonder how badly we are screwing this up. Do we want to be known as the "worst fans in history"? Ranked up there ahead of the Red Sox, and Yankee faithful? We have to do something. It's not all about us. We have to keep our focus on God, on Christ, and on His message. We have to focus on LOVE, focus on compassion. I'm not blameless in this either. I mess up often and make Christianity look idiotic from time to time too. But we have to stop this. We have to make sure that, us "fans", us followers of Christ make sure to show true sportsmanship. We too often act like the Bieber fanatics who vandalized that girls Wikipedia page because she beat out Bieber in the Grammy's. Bieber didn't condone their actions at all, and it made HIM look bad and caused the haters to grow stronger. Or we act like the Habs fans who rioted after Maurice Richard was suspended for the rest of the season, casting a bad light on an otherwise classic and historical organization. The worse we the fans act, the worse it looks for God, and Christianity. Do we not understand that people reject God because of the way we act? Why does that not bother us more than it does? Why does it not cause us to change how we live? Why are we ok with the idea that people want to believe in God, but can't because of the way we treat them? Something has to change.

Is LOVE WINS a winner?

Well, I just finished the book Love Wins by Rob Bell. To be honest, I expected more. Not more in terms of insightful content, but more in terms of controversial, 'heretical' content...because really, it seems EVERYONE was saying that this book was an abomination and a message from Satan. Ok, perhaps they didnt say anything that strongly, but it seems that there were a lot of people who thought Rob Bell has abandoned the faith and is leading people into the depths of hell. So, I expected the content of the book to be something along the lines of "there is no such thing as hell, and everyone regardless of the choices they make will make it to heaven when they die". Alas, that was not what the book was about at all. So...here is my review of the book "Love Wins" The first chapter is Rob Bell asking a lot of questions, and to be honest, it was probably my favourite chapter of the book. I like questions. I like questions and discussion a lot, and this chapter asked a lot of the questions that I have asked (at least in my head) many times over the last little while. He doesn't answer the questions in the chapter (and it could be argued that he doesn't really answer them later on in the book either), but he starts the book off right, getting your brain working and thinking about what you believe. Now, if you take what Rob Bell says about heaven and hell (which many people have), it could be argued that Bell is a universalist. And I guess, in a sense he is, but its a mild version. Bell still believes in hell, however he views hell as more of a place for God to teach lessons, and "refine" us. In the end, once everyone has learned their lessons, and recognize God as the true savior, then they will enter into heaven. So, yes...everyone, according to Bell, will eventually arrive in heaven, but it still requires a choice and it is still only through Jesus. What I loved most about the book (other than the first chapter), was how Bell focuses on HERE and NOW. I have blogged before about how we need to focus more on the now and not as much on the 'later', and Bell takes that same approach in the book. He argues that Jesus' messages about heaven and hell are actually more about heaven and hell on earth, and not as much about the life after death. Bell says that we need to do our best to create an earthly shalom, and work towards the Kingdom of heaven, here on earth. Whether you agree with Bell or not, doesn't take away from the fact that the book has a lot of really good things to say. One of the best things Bell says is (paraphrased), "having a different view on heaven or hell doesn't mean you aren;t a Christian". In other words, just because he believe one way, doesn't mean that he is not a Christian, and also just because some disagree with his opinions don't make them any less of a Christian either. I can honestly say, Bell is DEFINITELY a Christian. He says over and over again that it is only through Jesus that we are saved, and that the life we live here and now, and the choices we make while we are alive really do matter. It seems that, people find what he says heretical because 1) they haven't ACTUALLY read the book...they probably skimmed the book, or took things out of context, or just read other peoples reviews, or 2) because it is so different than what they believe that they can't accept that they may be wrong. Christians don't like to think that they might be wrong or misled...so its easier to just call someone a heretic than actually thinking about what they are saying. I don't know if I agree with everything Bell said (I say I don't know because I need to really think about what was read, and probably re-read the book to make sure I didn't miss anything), and I can't honestly say that all of his Greek translations are correct (I will give him the benefit of the doubt), but regardless, this book truly makes us think about what we believe and that is GREAT. Kudos to Bell for not being afraid to stir the pot. For not shying away from the questions that many people are too scared to ask. I highly recommend for everyone, before you pass judgement on the book, before you judge Bell and call him a universalist or a heretic or whatever, READ THE BOOK. It's ok to not agree with it. I don't think Bell expects everyone to agree with him. He just wants people to think, ask questions and come up with their own conclusions. The bottom line is, no one really knows what heaven and hell are truly like. No one can say with 100% certainty that "heaven will be like this, and hell will be like that". Bell doesn't push his beliefs on the reader, he just says what he believes, and why he believes it. He doesn't make you feel like a loser for not agreeing with him, which is more than can be said for many of the critics of Bell. I enjoyed the book, it got me thinking, and got me asking questions. To me, that is all I can ask of a theological book. My final score of Love Wins is 9/10. What did you think of the book (if you've read it)? or do you plan on reading it if you haven't? oh...and to answer the question of the title..YES, Love Wins is a winner!

Hitting the Wall

The other day, I was watching the movie Run Fatboy Run and this scene really inspired me to write a blog. The movie is about a man named Dennis, who decides to run the London Marathon to prove his love for his ex-fiance. Early on, he gets badly injured, but instead of giving up, he keeps on going. Battling his inner demons reminding him that he has never finished anything in his life, and real people who bet against him finishing the race, who taunt him and insult him along the way, he keeps putting one foot in front of the other, until at least, he hits the dreaded Wall. In life, we all hit walls. Whether they are physical barriers preventing us from getting that job we want, going on vacation, getting married or whatever...or spiritual barriers that tell us we aren't good enough, pr don't have enough faith. It's inevitable. Life is filled with walls and obstacles. Sometimes, we have people around us who, instead of helping us get past these obstacles, and encouraging us, they instead remind us of our failures. They remind us that we aren't good enough, haven't finished anything, have amounted to jack-squat. It's easy to just stop moving forward, and give up. Hit the wall, and instead of breaking through it, just turn around. How to we overcomes these barriers? How do we break down the walls, jump over the obstacles? Well, as Christians we need to pray and have faith that, whatever God puts in our way is put there for a reason. It's also important to surround ourselves with people that will encourage us. People who have done the marathon before, and know the tricks. Breaking down the walls aren't easy. It can hurt, especially because often we are already in pain and worn out when we reach these walls. It's also important to remember that, once we break down the wall, we don't know what is on the other side. Usually, there are still more miles to run, more obstacles to overcome. Perhaps, we break down the wall, only to find out that we aren't on the path that we wanted in the first place. Or, we thought that once the wall was broken down, we would get what we wanted, only to find out that the wall was the actual destination all along (God works in mysterious ways sometimes). But, what I take from this scene, is...persevere! Never give up. As Justin Bieber reminds us, Never Say Never! (That's right...I Bieber'd this blog). Keep going. When we reach the walls, the obstacles, we need to find a way past them. Don't let our past failures hold us back. Focus on the goal, focus on the race. Stay motivated. It's not easy, and it's not usually fun, but it's worth it. What walls and obstacles are you facing? How are you going to get through, over, under, around it? Bloggers note: While I love the movie Run Fatboy Run, and genuinly think that it is a funny, inspiring movie, I do know that many people are easlily offended with language, sexual content and the like, so I just want to warn you that, if you are planning on watching this movie, be aware that this IS a typical hollywood movie and not the G-rated family friendly Disney, or Christian movie.

The Two Thieves

When we think of Easter there are a few things that pop into our head. First of all, we think of the Last Supper, which leads to Judas and his betrayel. We also think about the 2 other thieves that were executed to the left and right of Jesus. It is THESE 2 people, that I want to talk about today. Usually, when we think of the thieves, we think of one who is 'good' and one who is 'bad. The bad thief, we usually depict snarling, and hurling insults. Probably, like Mel Gibson in the Passion of the Christ, we take pleasure in thinking that maybe crows came and plucked out his eyeballs. But, what is his true crime? I'm not talking about the crime that led him to the cross, but his crime while on the cross. He simply asks Jesus to take him down from the cross. The NIV says it this way in Luke 23:39, "...Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!". Was he mocking Jesus? Perhaps. In fact, the NIV does say he insulted Jesus...but at the same time, it seems as if he understood that Jesus was truly the Christ! He KNEW that Jesus was the Son of God, and his insult to Jesus was that he didn't accept his fate. He didn't accept responsibility for whatever it was he did, and he thought Jesus, if he truly was the saviour, should save him from his execution. Interestingly, both Matthew and Mark, don't record this conversation between Jesus and the thieves. In fact, both of those books simply say that "those crucified with Jesus also heaped insults at him". So perhaps, the 'good' thief, in our minds anyway, wasn't as holy and righteous as we envision. For some reason, we always see this thief as a good looking man. We tend to forget that this guy DESERVED to be where he was. He probably killed someone, or stole something, or did something like Treason...he wasn't falsly accused like Jesus was. It's weird that, because Jesus sees favor in his eyes, we forget that this guy was a horrible sinner. I think we also forget that this guy never says the sinners prayer. He never officially asks Jesus to come into his life, as we Christians tend to think is the only true way to reach heaven. His conversation with Jesus, as written by Luke is short, and as follows, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom". That's all that is recorded in terms of this man talking with Jesus. He rebukes the other thief, and he accepts his fate, but the only words spoken directly to Jesus is "remember me". Now, as I mentioned before, Matthew and Mark record that "those crucified also heaped insults at him". So, either there were more than just the 2 crucified with Jesus, or both of these thieves, insulted Jesus while on the cross. If the latter is true, why is the second one redeemed? Why, if this thief who never told Jesus to 'enter my heart and forgive my sins', with Jesus in paradise? I think it's because he accepted his fate, KNEW he did wrong, and just humbly chose to die alongside the Son of God. He didn't desperately try to reason with Jesus, making a case for why he should be saved...he just asked Jesus to remember him. He didn't justify his actions leading to the cross, he accepted that he was getting what he deserved. THAT is why Jesus saved him. I think, we often act more like the first, 'bad' thief when troubled times come our way. When we go through hard times, when we feel God is being mean and life is throwing us curveballs, we beg God to save us. We, essentially say, "If you are truly GOD, you would take me out of this predicament". Sounds much like the first thief doesn't it? God doesn't need us, or want us, to cry out for him to save us every time the water gets a bit rough. He wants us to TRUST him, and praise him regardless of our situation. We need to act more like the second thief. We need to understand that, yes while God COULD save us, and is very capable of saving us, he doesn't HAVE to save us. The thief accepted his fate, and because of that, because of his humble 'remember me' request...he is partying with Jesus today. Maybe, we have salvation all wrong. Maybe salvation isn't demanding Jesus to come into our life, but instead it's telling Jesus that 'we deserve what is happening to us". Maybe it's humbly accepting our fate, while understanding that God is capable of saving us. Perhaps its just being willing to die alongside Christ. The sinners prayer, as we understand it (which isn't biblical by the way), seems to me to be more like the first thiefs response to trials and tribulations. "Jesus...if you are God, SAVE ME!". True salvation, is not a 'save me from hell, or from this trial' mindset...true salvation is a humble 'God, I know you CAN save me, but you don't have to...just please, go through this with me!'.