Right now we are in the midst of a series called "Patterns for Living With God." It centres around several Old Testament characters worth knowing. The first story was Gideon -- sorry, no blog post for that. This week is Ruth, and there are some great story lines.
Ruth is a fine example of love and commitment and makes a great movie. In our culture we value individualism, but Ruth demonstrates a desire to benefit and honour the family, at her own expense. We tend to promote self actualization, but she models self-sacrifice. While North America celebres diversity and freedom, Ruth lives under a commitment to follow Naomi's God and live accordingly -- limiting her own choices and self determination.
Ruth's love and commitment is noted in the community and she is regarded as a worthy woman. Not only so, but she attracts the attention of an older man, and has a child with the full knowledge that the baby really belongs to the line of Naomi. Quite a story of being a bridge builder, or redeemer, of a bitter life into one of joy. A story of hope in the midst of despair. And we honour her for it.
In order to fully understand why she does what she does, we must understand some aspects of the culture and their relationship with God. About 1,000 years earlier, Abraham was given a promise. The man had no child, no land, no purpose, and no legacy. God not only gives him all these things (Genesis 12-17) but also includes a promise that having land, an heir, and a legacy are signs of God's faithfulness.
Now Naomi has none of these things and believes God has let her down big time -- even kicked her out of the covenant. Life could not get worse, and she's frustrated. In to this dark time steps Ruth. Through her commitment Naomi has an heir, the land and family name are preserved, and the legacy becomes far bigger than anyone imagined. After all, King David is born of this line!
So much more could be said about the story, but my question for us is this: Will we love the people of the world so much that we self-sacrifce and build bridges so they can be redeemed? Will we consider the spiritual needs of those around us to be significant enough that their well-being overrides my own?
Read Romans 1:14-16 and Ephesians 1:1-14. It speaks of our inheritance in Christ and the need to include others.
Tuesday, 24 February 2015
What I Don't Understand About Fifty Shades of Grey
This is an abridged post shared from Craig Gross. Link to full post is at the bottom.
When Fifty Shades
of Grey came out, I heard about it but never opened the book. I never even
skimmed it. I have friends who have and have filled me in. I thought it was a
fantasy book about a guy with some crazy desires for some violent sex. I was
blown away to learn it sold 100 million copies, and when the movie grossed $260
million worldwide this weekend, I became even more fascinated.
So I went to see the
movie. I went with my wife, to the noon showing at the mall by our house. It
was packed. I can’t believe how many people were seeing this movie on a
Wednesday afternoon.
So what’d I think?
I didn’t hate the movie.
I did hate Christian Grey.
I didn’t hate the movie.
I did hate Christian Grey.
I didn’t walk out or
picket, but I watched the whole movie because I wanted to better understand why
this has resonated with so many. Why is Christian Grey someone that women are
cheering on and fantasizing about?
As I write this, the
movie finished two hours ago, and I’m still upset over what I just saw. Not
some young woman being tied up, but Christian Grey himself. Let me explain.
- Marriage only works when both sides give and both sides
take, and sex is the same way. Men and women have needs and desires, and
marriage and the marriage bed is a place to have those fulfilled. If you are
with someone and they don’t take into consideration your needs and only demand
things from you, then get the heck out of that relationship if you’re dating.
If you’re married, then head to a counselor.
- Most people who abuse others were abused as children. The
best available research suggest that 75% or more of those who commit acts of
sexual or physical abuse against others were themselves abused as children.
Christian Grey was abused as a child, a horrendous act that he never got over
or dealt with or talked with anyone about. This has led him to some serious
walls that have gone up in his life. And the only way he knows how to deal with
it is to abuse someone else. He has done this to over 15 women and will
continue. I heard this story was about sex, but this story at its core is about
a broken man and his inability to love and be loved. How do people reading this
book or watching this movie not see this? This is not a love story. This is
not even an erotic story. This is a story of broken people continuing a
cycle of dysfunction in their lives rather than dealing with their issues.
- The Bible says I have the right to do anything, but not
everything is beneficial. I am not against being playful or doing things to
spice up things in your bedroom, but the question I always have is why? Why do
you think you need that? If both people agree to try different things in the
bedroom, I am all for that. Christian Grey, on the other hand, is dealing with
his pain by inflicting pain onto someone else who is visibility uncomfortable
with it. He has trouble at work one day, so he sends Anastasia to the “play
room” to take out his frustrations on her. If your partner is asking you to do
something or try something new in the bedroom, my advice to you would be to ask
why. The reason behind the ask is the deeper issue than the act itself. In a
lot of cases it might just be a fun thing – or it might be a case like
Christian Grey where he wants to avoid dealing with his own pain.
Many people won’t understand this, but because I’ve seen the
inner workings of the adult industry, this movie didn’t turn me on – it made
me mad. The sex shown in the movie is violent and not love-making, and I
don’t understand how 100 million people can read this book and think there is
anything sexy about Mr. Christian Grey. If he was broke, ugly, and had a hard
drive of porn instead of a “playroom” in his house, every women reading this
would be freaked out enough to stay away from him forever. The books and movie
have painted a sick disturbed man as a sex symbol that many, many women have
gone crazy over.
If you haven’t seen the movie or read the books, don’t.
Instead of wasting that time examining this unhealthy dynamic, spend those
hours talking with your spouse about sex. Talk about what you desire, what you
think is missing. What your history with sex was. How you missed or messed up
or abused sex prior to marriage. Talk about your expectations for sex and
whether they’re being met or not. Don’t know how to start those conversations?
We have a course called bestsexlifenow.com;
watch the first video for free, and I assure you it will lead to so many
productive conversations. Maybe even fifty of them.
God Bless,
Monday, 14 April 2014
Responding to the Ousting of Mozilla’s CEO
By Jim Daly.
This is the kind of news story that will make you shake your head at where we are as a culture.
The co-founder of Firefox maker Mozilla, Brendan Eich, is a “thoughtful, nerdy, humble guy” (according to a homosexual San Francisco-based journalist) – the type of man you would want to run a technology company. He created the JavaScript programming language and uses his smarts and influence to advance the principles of individual freedom and an open Internet.
However, to his peril, Eich also supports traditional marriage. In 2008, he donated $1,000 to California’s Proposition 8, which defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
His relatively small donation was enough to mobilize staffers in his own company to publicly condemn Eich being named as the CEO of Mozilla Corporation. They took to social media to voice their displeasure. Others joined them, such as online dating site OkCupid.
The pressure led Brendan Eich to resign yesterday.
Eich’s departure led actor and gay-rights activist George Takei to post on his immensely popular Facebook page that Mozilla staffers “can now work in a hate-free zone.”
That’s quite the powerful accusation – that merely holding the view that marriage should be defined as a union between a man and a woman can create an environment of “hate.”
Indeed, that word – hate – gets thrown around a lot when it comes to those of us who hold to a view of natural marriage.
Nevermind that Eich never discussed his support of one-man, one-woman marriage while in his professional role. On the contrary, Eich has said he’s always “kept my personal beliefs out of it [Mozilla].”
Mr. Eich even sponsors a project that helps minorities, including those who are LGBTQ, get training and support.
Maybe that’s why Mozilla Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker is quoted as saying she “never saw any kind of behavior or attitude from him that was not in line with Mozilla’s values of inclusiveness.”
And yet, Eich is accused of hatred and gets ousted from the company he helped start simply because he supports natural marriage.
It’s enough to make a reasonable person’s head spin.
Even influential author and blogger Andrew Sullivan, who is openly gay, is recoiling at how Eich has been treated. In a blog post, Sullivan writes, “The whole episode disgusts me – as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society.”
Sullivan also quotes a reader who disagrees with Eich over gay marriage, but who gets the bigger issues at hand: “There’s no freedom of speech if you can’t be employed while holding your opinion.”
Yet this is where we are.
Sullivan and others coming to Eich's defense are right. It's wrong and ridiculous. It's reverse discrimination. It's social bullying, pure and simple. I'm reminded of the title of that off-beat comedy from another era:
"It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."
Indeed it is.
Let me ask this:
Is it not reasonable for those who support same-sex marriage to extend to us the same level of tolerance they expect from us?
I certainly think it is.
https://community.focusonthefamily.com
Drink - The Enright Files
We live in a culture that's awash in drink - enjoying, romanticizing and marketing the pleasures of alcohol. But countless millions of people have lost their families, their health and their dignity to alcohol. Michael Enright talks to two authors who have written about the bottle and the damage done: Ann Dowsett Johnston, author ofDrink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol, and Olivia Laing, author of The Trip to Echo Spring: Why Writers Drink.
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2014/04/07/the-enright-files---drink/
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2014/04/07/the-enright-files---drink/
Monday, 31 March 2014
Ask, Seek, Knock
Jesus’ Relationships Matthew 7:1-20
Sermon notes for Sunday, March 30, 2014
1 Relationships…
To our
brother or sister, in whose eye we may discern a splinter, and whom we have a
responsibility to help, not judge.
Matthew
7:1-5
2 Relationships…
To a group
of offensive people who are offended by Jesus.
Matthew 7:6
3 Relationships…
To our
heavenly Father who gives good things to those who ask him.
Matthew
7:7-11
4 Relationships…
To everyone
in general—the Golden Rule should guide our attitude and behaviour.
Matthew
7:12
5 Relationships…
To those on
the journey with us in following Jesus.
Matthew
7:13-14
6 Relationships…
To false
prophets whom we are to recognize and of whom we are to be aware.
Matthew
7:15-20
7 Relationships…
To Jesus
our Lord whose teaching we are committed to heed and obey.
Matthew
7:21-27
Memory Verse: Week Six
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will
find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and
the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.. Matthew 7:7-8
Living
in 3D
- Discover His Will
- Declare Your Faith
- Desire His Activity
This
Week:
- Read and reflect.
- Think about your strained relationships with others. Where do you need to behave differently?
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Seek First the Kingdom
Jesus Ambition Matthew 6:19-34
Message by Rev. Dr.
Myles Krueger
The Treasurers of Heaven
Are our Treasures important in Eternal Life?
Seek First
the Kingdom
a) Matthew
6:1-18 Jesus speaks of our "Public Life":
Giving,
Praying, Fasting
a) Matthew
6:19-24 Jesus speaks of our "Private Life"
Jesus teaches us about “alternatives” from which to choose:
a) two treasures
b) two bodily conditions
c) two masters
d) two pre-occupations
a) two treasures
b) two bodily conditions
c) two masters
d) two pre-occupations
What
is Our Value System?
Our
attitude toward buying, giving and use of our investments.
Response of Believers:
a) Tax
Return evaluations?
b) "Do
we give substantially?
c) "Prosperity
Preachers": a by-gone era?
Jesus does not rebuke having high incomes and wealth:
Summation:
a) Jesus'
warning: see Matthew 19:24 "eye of the needle”
b) Paul's
Teaching: 1 Timothy 6:10
c) "Saving
for a rainy day", "Life Insurance" are not forbidden!
The Sermon on the 'Mount' has a focus
a) Jesus
is concerned with our "Heart's Motivation" and then watches us
b) Heaven:
will Jesus be concerned with what we accomplish materially?
c) How
does Jesus look upon you with His heart?
Memory Verse: Week Five
Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and
all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33
This
Week:
- Read and reflect.
- Think about your heart motivation when it comes to trusting God with your resources.
- How do you view treasures?
Jesus' Self-portrait
From Henri Nouwen
Jesus says,
“Blessed are the poor, the gentle, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst
for uprightness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those
who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness” (Matthew 5:3-10). These words
offer us a self-portrait of Jesus. Jesus is the Blessed One. And the face of the
Blessed One shows poverty, gentleness, grief, hunger, and thirst for
uprightness, mercy, purity of heart, a desire to make peace, and the signs of
persecution. The whole message of the Gospel is this: Become like Jesus. We
have his self-portrait. When we keep that in front of our eyes, we will soon
learn what it means to follow Jesus and become like him.
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