Quote of the Day

Walking humbly with our God sometimes means walking contrary to culture... sometimes even church culture. 

-Bryan, some blog commenter

This is heartbreaking

A while ago I wrote about finding a book called Hell? Yes! by Robert Jeffress. I said that I would post any interesting quotes I found. I honestly don't want to, but some people asked me why I hadn't yet, so here they are. Normally I can laugh at naive heresy like this, but this time it just made me sad. Here is a man with a giant following in Wichita Falls, Texas, who is funny, articulate, and obviously loves God, but he is so misguided that he feels the need to say offensive and hurtful things. He really believes that he is doing God's work, but it's writing like this that pushes more people away from Christianity than it draws in.

Now Jeffress isn't wrong on everything. In fact, most of the time, he's just a little misguided. His beliefs are shared by most people I know, and I believed some of them at one point or another. What struck me about Jeffress wasn't how wrong he was, but how arrogant and pharisaical he was.






Intro: Wimp-Free Christianity
"To be blunt, I'm sick and tired of wimpy Christians, and they're all around us. For example:

• A Christian leader is interviewed on a popular talk show and asked whether a moral Muslim is going to hell. He responds, "That's not for me to decide. We must let a good and loving God make that determination." 
• A Christian mother is invited to offer prayer at her PTA meeting and closes her prayer with "In Your name" instead of "In Jesus's (sic) name" so as to not offend non-Christians in the audience."

Chapter One: Every Other Religion is Wrong

"The greatest evil in today's culture is not theft, rape, or murder. It is intolerance."

"The Scriptures teach that God will reveal Himself to those who sincerely want to know Him. As we saw in Romans 1, every person has received a knowledge of the true God through nature. Just by looking into the sky, any person can surmise that there is a powerful Creator-God. As my former seminary professor Dr. Charles Ryrie used to say, 'While such knowledge is not enough to save a person, it is enough, if rejected, to condemn a person.'"

"(We preacher types like to build toward climax whenever possible.)"

Chapter Two: God Is Ultimately Responsible for Suffering

There isn't really anything quotable in this chapter, but I wanted to show the title anyway.

Chapter Three: God Sends Good People to Hell

(About Jesus' parable about poor man Lazarus) "Many believe that since Jesus used a real name, Lazarus, this is probably a true story rather than a parable."

"Every human creature has been declared guilty, has been sentenced to eternal death, and is simply awaiting final execution in the lake of fire. Those whom God pardons are the recipients of his mercy, and those who experience hell are the recipients of his justice. But neither group is treated unjustly." 

"God has revealed to this little girl the truth of His existence through nature. On a moonlit African night, she can look up into the sky and know there must be a Creator. While a belief in God alone is not enough to save that ten-year-old girl, it is a starting place for her to receive a deeper understanding of God. The examples of Cornelius and the Ethiopian eunuch strongly suggest that those who respond to such a basic knowledge of God will be given further insight into the gospel of Christ."  --So any child who dies a non-Christian didn't want to be saved enough.

"When He comes again He will, without any hint of remorse or regret, pronounce the final sentence on all who have rejected Him."

Chapter Four: Homosexuality Is a Perversion

One of Jeffress's friends brought his gay daughter in for counseling:

The next afternoon Susan, an attractive and articulate high-school senior, came into my office. I remembered years earlier when she had made her profession of faith in Christ and I had baptized her. 

          'You don't really want to be here, do you?' I asked.

          She shook her head.

          I assured her of the confidentiality of our conversation and began by assessing her spiritual condition. Perhaps Susan really was not a Christian and that explained her homosexual behavior (emphasis mine). 'If you were standing before God and He were to ask you, 'Why should I let you into heaven?' what would you say?'

          Without a moment's hesitation, she answered, 'Because I've trusted in Christ as my Savior.' Strike one. 

          Let me ask you a personal but very important question. Were you ever molested as a child?'

          'No, never,' she answered. Strike two.

          Since Susan had been reared in a strong Christian home and had been actively involved in an evangelical church that emphasized biblical doctrine, certainly she must feel some conflict about her actions. 'How do you think God feels about your homosexual activity?'

          After a momentary hesistation, she said, 'I understand now that God created me with these desires, desires that I have had since I was a little girl. For years I have been miserable trying to deny those feelings and have seriously contemplated suicide. But now that I have accepted who I am, I am happier than I have ever been in my life!' Strike three.

Chapter Six: Husbands Are to Be the Leaders of Their Families

"Anything in nature with two heads is a freak, and anything with head is dead!"

"Nothing in the Bible prohibits a woman from leading a corporation, commanding a battalion of soldiers, or serving as president of the US. The only two arenas in which a woman is to submit to male leadership are in the home and in the church."

Chapter Seven: America is a Christian Nation
"There were no Muslims on the Mayflower!"

"In Vidal v. Girard's Executors the justices said the argument of parity was fallacious. One does not have to treat all religions equally in the classroom. Why not? Because other religions (like deism) are "infidelities." America is "a Christian country," the Court affirmed!"
(He loves exclamation points...)

Quote of the Day II

(On hunting) Why is it that when we destroy something humans have made we call it vandalism, but when we destroy something God has made we call it a sport?
-Tony Campolo

Quote of the Day

"But it is in the moments that follow our prayers that we are able to follow our true affections."
-David Crowder, in Praise Habit

"Vacation"

This post is coming to you from Pie-Slingers, my favorite pizza place in Chickamauga, GA. According to their sign, they were voted Walker County's best pizza place, but the only competition I've seen is a take-out pizza/video rental combo (and half of their inventory is VHS). But still, Pie-Slingers is very good. I am in Georgia to visit my family, which is great. I'm driving 1,000 miles in less than a week, which is not great.

I haven't talked about camp very much, and it isn't because I have nothing to say. I have so much to say and so little free time, I never think about writing it all down. The first two weeks were crazy. I bought seven times as much pepperoni as we needed, I was hit in the face several times (even by a shoe once), and I've heard so many hilarious things from kids.

I'll tell you one of my favorite hilarious things. It happened last year, but Matt, the 6 year old camper involved, is still coming and he's still hilarious. Last year, Matt had a joke to tell me, but he couldn't tell me where we were; we had to walk all the way to the fire-pit, on the other side of the playground/field. When the group of staff and kids got there, we were all waiting silently, and Matt says, "Talking about water, I meeeeeed water!" and he cracked up. I should have just laughed, but I wanted to know what he said. Turned out, he didn't mean to say need or any other logical word. A while later, he had another joke, which was the exact same as the first one, but with Joe instead of water. He repeated this at least four times that day, and I still have no idea what it means.

I'm disappointed, because that doesn't seem funny at all written out, but I promise, it was. That's why I don't write about everything that happens, or even tell people about them. The things that go down at COCUSA are so unique to camp that they can't be explained to anyone outside of camp.

I missed work today, and I'll miss tomorrow and Wednesday. It's killing me. I love being here, but during the summer I only want to be working. It's exhausting, and it lasts from 7 to 5 or 5:30 every day, but I can't imagine doing anything else.

If Norah Jones ever told me to come away with her, I wouldn't think twice

The first week of camp is done, and I can't explain how much I love what I do. Sure, I'm making pennies an hour and working at least fifty hours a week, but I feel like I'm getting to do my job, not having to do it. This week involved getting hit in the face more than I ever have, meeting a lot of parents (which is kind of terrifying), dancing to Steven Curtis Chapman every day, and constantly hearing the funniest things from little kids.

The kids don't think that me and Becca are dating, which is unusual and nice, but they do think I'm in love with Faith and/or Blake, neither of who still work at Morton. I took a survey of several kids, and the average guess of my age is 33. Some of them completely understand that that would make me older than their parents, but they still refuse to believe I'm only twenty. In the words of Matt, the cutest six year old in the world, "You can't be twenty! Look at your beard!"

I was about to say something about how tired I am, but then I read my Jone's soda cap. It says, "Your silence at this time is important," so I'll keep my mouth shut. I have nothing to be negative about. I'm so blessed I can't handle it.

January Wedding just came on in Eli's, which has one of my favorite opening lines.
               She keeps it simple, and I am thankful for her kind of lovin, because it's simple.
The Avett Brothers are geniuses.

Speaking of opening lines, the beginning of To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is genius. The first paragraph has a sentence that is eleven lines long followed by one that has five words.

I just finished The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, bringing my summer book list up to 18, not counting the three I'm currently reading. Only Malcolm Gladwell can write a whole chapter on Sesame Street and Blues Clues and have me captivated.

COCUSA is my life now

Camp of Champions USA has officially started!  Morton's first day went off without a (major) hitch. I already love being a director. I had forgotten how much I love these kids, but in the first hour I remembered. I don't think any of them realize how much of a blessing they are. One of my goals for the summer is to make sure that all the kids and staff I work with realize how much I appreciate them. This means being conscious about pointing out good things and not focusing on the negative. One of the aspects of being a director is being the disciplinarian for the camp, which means that if a camper gets to out of control for a counselor to handle, they send them to me. It would be really easy to be harsh and angry all summer, but I really don't want that to be the case.

One of the best parts of the first day is seeing how much these kids have grown. There are a few that I've worked with for four or five years in a row. It's crazy remembering how a camper was when they were 6 my first summer when they're eleven now.

I am already so exhausted, and it's only the first day. The heat index was over 100, and I was dying even when we were inside. But it's a good exhaustion. I'm still probably going to go to bed at like nine o'clock though.

My Jone's soda cap says that financial security is just around the corner. I don't plan on buying any lottery tickets or getting a second job anytime soon, so we'll see how that goes.

If it seems like it's been a while since I've posted everything, it's because I've been spending all day at COCUSA training. At least noon-9 every day since Tuesday. But it was worth it. I actually feel prepared for camp, and there are so many great new staff members I got to meet and make a fool out of myself in front of.

I know I had lots of other things I wanted to say when I got around to blogging, but right now I can't think of them. Story of my life.