I was hoping this blog would last until the end of my tenure at college. Unfortunately, I think The Pamphlet has been running out of steam, and should probably be put to rest. So, even though I haven't even been posting as much anyway, TP will be taking an indefinite break from the blogging world so JL can get his own life sorted out.

Thanks for all the times we were able to talk Jesus, politics, socio-economic phenomena, hip-hop and school.

Peasuktown

-thepamphlet

On Moralism

I just finished my exam on Mass Media, came home and watched Jesus Camp, and feel like it is high time for another post.

As a liberal democracy enthusiast (and you may say those terms are oxymoronic, but let's just keep it at in its strictest sense of "North American democracy"), I end up reading materials on the left, centre and right. Part of the beauty of democracy is having open forums to discuss views and see which ones make the most sense. The past couple of months, I've been reading a whole slew of material regarding the "Religious Right" and the zealotry the RRs have been displaying for the whole continent to see.

My problem with the Religious Right lies in priorities. What it seems like (and I may be totally off...if I am, feel free to correct me) is that the RRs have exerted most of their focus on keeping "moralism" in tact within America (and for Canadians, the Conservatives in Canada). For example, fundamentalists have been making a huge effort to place (and here I use a liberal term) "extremist" judges in the Supreme Court, and have been lobbying against homosexual marriage and abortion. Firstly, I must make this clear: I do not support same-sex marriage or abortion. However, I have to say that I frown on the way the evangelical church is moving to maintain moralism in society. Instead of getting to the source of the problem (people without salvation), the Evangelicals have amassed an army that just looks like soldiers bent on hate.

The root problem is that there are hurting people out there, who suffer because they don't know Christ. As Christians, our job is to go out in love and compassion (these are key), walk with them, and tell them the un-tampered Gospel message (this is also key) that will bring about healing. When our focus is not on the Great Commission and on the teachings of Christ, we have the tendency to fall into either legalism or liberalism (and both are equal in error). When a group of Christians go out to participate in "preserve traditional marriage" parade, decked out in matching t-shirts, it just looks like hatred and arrogance (I took part in a protest at Parliament once). Of course, one may argue that it's not out of hatred, that it's really in love -- but then I have to ask, how many of those participating in the parade have actually gone out and hung out with a homosexual? Cared for them, became their friend, and told them the Gospel message out of Christlike love? If not, then the parade is just pharisaical. The same goes for those who go out to the bars and stripclubs and pray outside...for what? What are they praying for? For moralism within the confines of their community? Maybe I'm being a little extreme here (no pun intended), but what of the strippers inside who need to hear the Gospel? Do we just pass them over as Jezebels and tell them to get their corrupted ways out of our town? What if they were being exploited? Or abused? This "holier-than-thou" approach is nothing new, Augusta Webster even makes note of legalists in her Victorian poem "A Castaway".

The Evangelicals are constantly insulted and ridiculed in the media and among others because of their misguided direction. We reach out, only out of pride; when we fail, we retreat to Colorado. Our enemy is the PETA and ACLU, so let's wage war against them. Nah, the PETA and ACLU need salvation just as much as you and I (c'mon, we wrestle not against flesh&blood). Again, I may be totally off because I'm Canadian, but these are my observations. Evangelicalism seems now to be a synonym for Republicanism. I admit, I used to be a Conservative (fiscally and socially), but I see the alienation of others when I subscribe to a certain political view. Of course, by 2008 I guess I would be a political scientist, but above all else, I'm still a Christian. I don't want to alienate my Liberal or New Democrat or Bloc Quebecois friends or people I meet.

I've digressed here and there, and have gone on several tangents because it's 2:30 in the morning and my mind is everywhere. No, I haven't gone liberal (small-case). No, I do not support same-sex marriage or abortion. Yes, I was hoping the House would reopen the debate. But I guess what I'm saying here is that it is not enough to impose moralism on a country that's not even religious anymore. To do so would be hypocritical...we would be asking people to adhere to views and obligations which have no meaning to them. Morals without God is totally useless, and cannot and must not be enforced. If we want to see society changed, if we want to see sin on the decline, we must go to the source of the problem; we're sinners, we need God. Go tell the Good News, and be Christlike while you are at it. Only then will we see change.

Read this quote from John MacArthur (taken from J.Lai), and ponder how this affects your Christian life:

"It's amazing how people can cry over fiction and not cry over reality. Have you noticed that? It's amazing how people can watch a movie or even hear a song and weep, but see a destitute person and be absolutely indifferent. Sometimes I think in a world like ours where we have so much fantasy we literally spend all of our emotions on fantasy and we have none left for reality. I mean we have all seen so many disasters portrayed on television that we've pretty well emptied our emotions. And real life just doesn't seem so bad, does it. And unless the drama is really played to the hilt, it doesn't elicit tears out of us because no human tragedy in reality is nearly as dramatic seemingly as a fantasy. "

Why is it that we cry over a notebook, and yet pass over the lost souls walking by us everyday?

You know you're a pastor's kid when...

...your name is "Jon", and your father refers to you as "Jn" in his emails. The expositor in him won't let him type the bloody O! Haha.

Cultural Relevancy and the Church

This entire school year, I have been struggling with how to reconcile culture and Christianity. How do I maintain relevancy in order to meet people where they are without compromising the the Gospel of Christ? And if I do become relevant, am I being ashamed of Christ?

I have come to several conclusions. Firstly, that we must be culturally relevant. I love what Mark Driscoll said pertaining culture and Church, that Christianity separated from culture is legalism, and Christianity overridden by liberal synchronization leads to compromise. At the CCCOWE conference, I attended a workshop titled "How to Minister to the Postmodern Generation." The speaker stated that back in the day when tapes were 8tracks, people could listen to sermons because they had (what he called) a "clothesline", or a baseline. When the pastor preached about God the "Father", they knew what that meant. Nowadays, people don't know what that means. People come from broken families, people probably have no idea what "Father" truly means. And so on. You may accuse me for being emerging right about now (I so am not), but I agree completely with Driscoll; we have to be culturally relevant, we must meet people where they are.

Secondly....My brother told me about a scene he saw on the Sopranos. Tony Soprano (the mafia don) comes home to see his sister(?) bringing in a pasty Chris Kaman-lookalike with a bad goatee and a freakin acoustic guitar.. And as figures, Tony asks "What is going on?" peppered with my favourite expletives. His sister defends the guy, stating that he's a "CCM artist! You know those CCM guys? They're so cool!" The next scene shows Chris Kaman teaching the sister how to play (badly) a praise and worship song: "No-no-no, a Gee-Chord! A GEEEEE-CHORD!!"

"A GEEEEE CHORD!"

Why am I bringing up the Sopranos? (Besides the fact that I love The Sopranos) Because in North America, people are dissing Christians for being dead Christians. Ridiculed not for our passion for Christ, but our supplement for Him. If you're dissed for being a dead Christian, you're not being persecuted, you're just being straight-dissed. As Anthony Bradley over at The Resurgence stated, we come home, drink watered down punch and play board games. We are trained to be dull. We're just waiting for the Rapture and twiddling our freakin thumbs. This is not how the saved are supposed to live! Christ brings joy and life abundant; as Bradley states, we have so much more cause to celebrate, because we're saved. Linc was telling me about some of the guys he knew, who were known for loving the Word, being passionate about serving and praying. When was the last time somebody came up to you and said "YO! Check out Ecclesiastes this book is SICK!" Yeah, been awhile eh? The Christian life is victorious, not depressing! They should know us from our joy and the life that we have.

And yet we distract ourselves with our Taylors and a weekly gathering to satisfy the fellowship-urge. This is what I'd like to candidly call spiritual masturbation. If the Body of Christ isn't reaching out, what is it doing?

Complacent journalism leads to homogenized material. Complacent Christianity leads to apostasy. C'mon, let's do this! I'm scared as hell to go out there and evangelize, but I'm more scared of the Father disciplining my candy arse for not doing His bidding. I'm begging y'all, can we work together? Bring the Toronto reformists together, let's get to work. I'm certain there's at least 30 of you college guys out there (Elijah had 7000!). Let's preach. Let's evangelize. Let's combat the tide of the emergent. Let's present truth. Let's raise leaders. Let's be relevant. Let's be alive.

I refuse to think that the Lord has given up on us.

Edit: Just to clear things up, I never meant that J. Harris was "unmasculine" in any way (his sermons are fantastic and I'm sure he's a man of God); I'm just not a big fan of his dating books, or the fact that a lot of young men treat them like their manual for life. Apologies all around.

The Art of Castration

Here are a couple of ways to castrate the males in your church/fellowship:

1. Teach Scriptures in a relative, post-modern, emergent fashion. AKA: "Ahh, don't worry, God will understand whatever the frick you do. There's no reason to acknowledge Him!"

2. Preach/teach the Purpose Driven Crap, er, Life.

3. Have your men read books exclusively written by Max Lucado and Joshua Harris.

4. Continue to think that Jesus is this blue-eyed, blond-haired pretty boy who likes to cuddle up with sheep.

5. When one of your men exercises Biblical authority or drive, tell everyone around him that he's "intimidating" or "unapproachable."

6. Shop at Mitchell's.

7. Regard the acoustic guitar as part of your identity in Christ.

This notion of Christianity being "feminine" has been driving me nuts for the past two years. It's not so much about what we teach, but rather what we don't. The silence regarding masculinity in the church is louder than we think. It's implicit, rather than explicit. Men aren't encouraged to exercise manhood; male leaders are lacking, or failing, so the kids watch the women. Masculinity intimidates the timid, so men are forced to downplay their inherent nature and adopt a more feminine feel to how they approach issues, or life. Even in my English lectures, the prof is referring to the age of Christendom in Europe as a "feminine" age. Listen y'all, Christ is masculine. He's a Man. He's not your pot-smoking, bead-wearing, classical-guitar-plucking, metrosexual hippie. He's the King who took upon the dirty garb of men; kicked the shizzle out of demons; overturned the tables of the "market-driven-church"; owned the scholars at the temple all the while being that blue-collared carpenter. He's the Lion of Judah who willingly gave His flesh up to be mutilated and ferociously tortured so that you and I don't have to endure that pain. Yeah, Christ preaches peace, but He also brings a sword. There wouldn't have been mercy if there wasn't judgment. Click here and here for some more seasoned veterans regarding this topic.

R-Dubs Gettin' Down With Syria

As you all know, I've never really been a big fan of Rick Warren. Slice of Laodicea has a couple of articles detailing R-Dubs' recent trip to Syria where he's reported to have expressed his admirations of Syria. Hmm, not sure how a Christian pastor can admire terrorism and nihilism. Also, our favourite megachurch pastor is pictured here wearing a tie. Yo Rick, I distinctly remember you preaching about your asceticism. First you said that money didn't affect you to the point where you refused to buy ties; now we catch you rocking one with the world? It's not the fact that he's wearing a tie that bugs me, but it's the fact that he was justifying his casual dress because he prefers to "save money". UGH! Give me a freakin break! Am I the only one who's sick of this episcopalian in disguise? Forget burning Harry Potters, who wants to commit some arson on the 25 million purposely driven paperbacks? Said it before, I'll say it again: it's high time for the Church to kick the man and his 40 purposes outta our pulpits. This is ecumenism on steroids!!