Delve Into Jesus Reflections

A Great Father

Dr. Kieran Beville — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:38:06 -0700

Visit any good bookshop and you will find a section displaying the biographies and autobiographies of men whom the world regards as great. There are shelves hosting an array of life stories where Presidents and Prime Ministers peer majestically from the dust covers of hefty tomes. They are the familiar faces of famous men who have proved themselves in positions of leadership. There you will see the accounts of the achievements of emperors and kings, great generals and military men who have established notoriety.

Then there are the books with front cover photographs of media personalities, celebrities with charming and charismatic smiles. These include picture books of film stars and pop idols. In the bargain bin you may find the biography of some athlete who thrilled spectators in a previous generation. There you may find big discount stickers partially covering the faces of former sporting giants.

This is the world’s view of greatness but what is the heavenly perspective? When God looks at men he sees either men who have come to faith in Christ, or men who have not. God sees men who love Him, men who have been faithful to their wives, men who have been good examples to their children. Let us consider a man who has been made famous in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke; his name is Jairus.

Is there any reason why he should be regarded as a great father? In answer to that it can be said that Jairus did the greatest thing a father can ever do. “And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged Him to come to his house” (Luke 8:41).

Here was a man with a certain position and reputation in the community. He was a ruler in the synagogue, a leader among his people. He did not come to Christ conscious of his reputation. Rather he approached with an awareness of his great need. It is instructive for us to observe how he came in humility and assumed the posture and attitude of a beggar by falling at the feet of Jesus. He implored Christ to come to his house.

Jairus came to Christ with a troubled heart.

The compassionate character of Christ welcomes those who are conscious of their great need and come in humility. Listen to his gracious invitation "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew11:28). What was it that compelled this man to come to Christ? There was a difficulty in his home that upset him. His little girl was dying. It was a problem that he could not solve and he realised that there was one who could make a difference. He had the filial affection of a father that caused him to cast himself upon the compassion of Christ, not for himself but for his only daughter, 12 years old. How he must have loved her, his precious princess! He needed the touch of Jesus on the one he loved. The greatest thing any father can do is to come to Jesus as Jairus did on behalf of his beloved child.

As a father, his love was exemplary. He came into the presence of the one whose pity and power worked in harmony to produce the promise, "Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well." It is an astonishing pledge considering that Jairus had just been informed (in Christ’s hearing) of his daughter’s death. His appeal to Jesus is based on the hope that the heart of Christ is compassionate. It is like David’s plea to God “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion” (Psalm 51:1). Desperation gave birth to a faith that dared to believe that “nothing is impossible with God" (Luke1:37).

He came to communicate with Jesus about his child’s condition. Was she not privileged to have such a father? Surely the most privileged children in the world are those who have such a father to intercede on their behalf. Those children whose names are frequently found on the lips of their fathers in prayer, in the presence of Christ, before the throne of grace are privileged indeed. The most underprivileged children are the ones whose parents do not pray for them. This story gives hope to fathers especially those who are conscious of their own inadequacies in the face of great difficulty. There is one to whom we may come on behalf of our children. He is the one who says, "Fear not: believe only...” What a challenge that was to Jairus’ faith and it is no less a challenge to ours!

Jairus faced a tremendous test of a father's faith. News arrived that his daughter was dead. Jesus spoke words of encouragement "Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole." Who would Jairus believe? Would he accept the report of her death? Would he trust in the promise of Jesus? There are times in a father’s life when all the hopes he cherished for his loved one seem to be displaced by doubt and even despair. Oh the heartache of a father when all seems lost! But Jairus had just witnessed the healing of the woman who had an issue of blood for 12 years. Perhaps this incident had strengthened his faith. When we walk with the Master there are incidents that we encounter along the way that bolster our faith.

The daughter of this great father was restored to health. What ecstatic joy that must have instilled in the dear man’s heart. He was astonished. May every father be like Jairus and recognise the terrible condition of their children and how they need the touch of the Saviour! Mark’s account informs us that he specifically requested that Jesus would touch her "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live" (Luke 5:23).

May every father believe that Christ is approachable and able! May every father come in humility as Jairus did, helpless but hopeful! May Christ visit our homes and put out unbelief. May each father know the great astonishment of this great father, Jairus, in seeing the one they love being touched by the hand of Jesus and given new life!

Kieran Beville is pastor of Lee Valley Bible Church (Baptist), Ballincollig, Co. Cork, Ireland.

The Way Forward for Fathers

Dr. Kieran Beville — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:23:22 -0700

Christian fathers have privileged responsibilities and the greatest of these is to model the fatherhood of God. But what is He like?

A father is not merely a man who has begotten a child. Unfortunately in many situations it is nothing more than the title of a male parent, a name on a birth certificate. Fathers have obligations to guide and influence the spiritual, intellectual and emotional development of their children. In fact they have the right and authority to do this.

The father-image we project onto the first person of the Trinity is often influenced by our childhood experience of paternity. Unfaithful (adulterous) fathers have abandoned children. Indifferent fathers have ignored their offspring. Callous fathers have compared their children unfavourably with others. Uncaring fathers have made their children feel unwanted. Brutish and alcoholic fathers have beaten and abused their little ones. Domineering fathers have controlled their progeny. Doting fathers have pampered and spoiled children who needed not to be indulged but disciplined. But the pain and problems caused by these evils must not eclipse the biblical portrait of our Father in heaven.

It is crucial, therefore, that as Christian fathers we portray the biblical characteristics of the heavenly archetype. When we consider the paternal aspects of Godhood we realise what a tremendous responsibility it is to model the exemplary fatherhood of God. Fathers may feel discouraged in the face of such a daunting challenge. We are frail, feeble and flawed whereas He is fantastic!

Our heavenly Father is not aloof or unapproachable. Rather He is alert to our needs and accessible. “...since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place... let us draw near to God” (Hebrews 10:19-22). He is not preoccupied and He will not be perplexed by our concerns. He is interested in us and cares enough to listen. We should, therefore, have that childlike “cheek” that is fearless in the confidence of love.

He is a faithful Father who will never reject us. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you,” (Hebrews 13:5). We have that constant companionship that inspires confidence in His presence. Even when we are disloyal He remains constant because it is His nature. “If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself”’ (2 Timothy 2:13). In Revelation 19:11 we see how fidelity in name and nature are inextricably linked. “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.” This same point is emphasised in Exodus 34:5-6: “Then the Lord came down...and proclaimed His name...The Lord ... the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”

What a beautiful image of God this presents to us! Anger is not a knee-jerk reaction with God. He does not have an anger hair-trigger. His wrath is only aroused after His vast patience has been exhausted and even then His response has the best interest of His children at heart.

Our heavenly Father is fair. A sense of grievance has been engendered in many children not because their fathers punished them, but because discipline was administered unfairly. He disciplines in love. Hebrews 12:5-11 outlines God’s purpose in discipline. It is not to satiate His anger but to strengthen His adopted sons: “...the Lord disciplines those He loves... for our good, that we may share in His holiness.”

Love is always the context in which He chastises those whom He cherishes. He is not a disciplinarian and neither is He reluctant to reprimand where appropriate. In the words of the hymn “Praise My Soul the King of Heaven,” we can truly sing that He is “slow to chide and swift to bless.” In fact He does not chide. He corrects. He does not nag. He negotiates, “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD” (Isaiah 1:18). Thus punishment is part of our heavenly Father’s provision for our perfection.

If we really want to know what our heavenly father is like, we have to look to Jesus because “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being” (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

The attributes of God that are spoken of in abstract terms in Scripture are animated in the person and work of Christ. As Christians we bear that noble name! The family likeness should be evident in our character and conduct and fathers should strive to ensure that the family honour is maintained.

He provides for all our needs. As Barnabas and Paul proclaimed to the crowds in Acts 14:17, “He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” Such generosity! He spared nothing. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). His provision is gracious beyond comparison.

His presence guarantees our protection. “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. Surely He will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence” (Psalm 91:1-3). He is our defender and deliverer.

Our heavenly Father freely gives advice: “You guide me with your counsel” (Psalm 73:24). And He comforts us: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3).

This brief sketch points the way forward for fathers. We should be to others, especially our children, what He is to us as a Father.

Kieran Beville is pastor of Lee Valley Bible Church (Baptist), Ballincollig, Co. Cork, Ireland.

Is Casual Sex Losing its Zing?

Rusty Wright — Mon, 31 May 2010 07:05:54 -0700

Hot news from CNN : Some university students are giving up casual sexual activity because they feel it's not fulfilling.

I am not making this up.

Take, for instance, Vanderbilt University student Frannie Boyle. She told CNN that, in the past, she sometimes drank to excess before parties and hooked up with a stranger or acquaintance before the night was over.

"I saw it [hooking up] as a way to be recognized and get satisfaction," Boyle admits. But satisfaction eluded her. "I felt so empty then," she laments.

So she decided to kiss casual physical involvement goodbye.

(Intergenerational translator: "Hooking up," an ambiguous term, refers to no-commitment sexual activity ranging from making out to intercourse.)

Kissing Casual Sex Goodbye

Criticism came. Some male friends shunned Boyle. "They probably weren't my friends anyway," she observes.

"I'm respecting myself," she affirms. "And I won't waste my time with some guy who doesn't care about me."

Boyle is in the minority, but she's not alone. Of course, many students abstain from non-marital sex because of spiritual convictions. But nowadays, even nonreligious campus groups are promoting sexual self control and commitment.

For example, CNN notes that the Love and Fidelity Network features speakers and discussions to encourage students to rethink uncommitted sex. The secular nonprofit promotes "sexual integrity" and marriage.

Some observers, citing online dating's campus popularity, say many students long for a return to traditional dating.

Even entertainer Lady Gaga said she's chosen sexual abstinence "because I don't have the time to get to know anybody."

What's going on here?

Sexual Revolution Backfired?

The long-term emotional links between the heart and the sex glands can be stronger than one might recognize when passion rages. Of course, in an HIV world, health and safety also are concerns.

A longing to be close to someone or a yearning to express love can generate intense desires for physical intimacy. Yet often sex brings an emptiness rather than the wholeness people seek through it. When I appeared on her television program discussing this topic, one producer told me, "Frankly, I think the sexual revolution has backfired in our faces. It's degrading to be treated like a piece of meat."

The previous night her lover had justified his decision to sleep around by telling her, "There's plenty of me for everyone." What I suspect he meant was, "There's plenty of everyone for me." She felt betrayed, devalued, and alone.

Cosmic Killjoy?

I was on her program to discuss the positive influence that faith and spiritual convictions can have on sex. Mixing faith and sex may seem surprising. Of course, some see the biblical God as a cosmic killjoy. But as popular speaker Josh McDowell points out, "A God who created sex can't be all bad!"

The biblical writers portray God designing sex for pleasure, unity and procreation. "Let her breasts satisfy you at all times," recommends a proverb about marital sex. "Be exhilarated always with her love." Hardly prudish.

Faith can provide love, self-esteem, wisdom for choosing the best, and inner strength to follow those choices. Plus forgiveness and hope of restoration when we blow it, as we all do. Practical stuff that affects life between the sheets and life in general.

Sex is not the key to love; love is the key to sex. Many nonreligious people are making similar sounds these days. Might those ancient texts have some genuine wisdom after all?

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively. www.RustyWright.com

Marital Strife and Your Health

Rusty Wright — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 08:22:54 -0700

"Is Marriage Good for Your Health?'" asked the New York Times headline.

It depends, says current research. If you're married, being happily married seems to matter most. So learn to fight fair.

For years, scientists have known that married people tend to be healthier and live longer than the unmarried. But recent research indicates that the quality of the marriage may be what counts. People in troubled relationships can end up having more health problems than the never married.

Stress and Your Immune System

Stress and unresolved conflict can weaken the immune system. Hmmm. Maybe that's why when I'm less kind than I should be and my wife and I snap at-or ignore-each other, I sometimes sense a cold coming on. (Excuse me while I sneeze.)

Or when I interrupt her by trying to finish her sentences-especially when my assumptions of what she would say are incorrect-her icy (she says "wounded") silence makes my neck hot and my stomach tight.

The Times article surveyed contemporary research on relationships and health. Pneumonia, surgery, cancer and heart attacks are rarer among marrieds than unmarrieds. But according to the Times , "One recent study suggests that a stressful marriage can be as bad for the heart as a regular smoking habit."

The article quotes marriage historian Stephanie Coontz: "It is the relationship, not the institution, that is key."

Newlywed Games

A novel experiment by Ronald Glaser and Jan Kiecolt-Glaser at Ohio State University College of Medicine arranged for ninety newlywed couples to have their blood drawn during discussions of potentially volatile issues like housework, sex and in-laws. Sure enough, relationship hostility saw immune-system declines. A subsequent study saw marital hostility correlate with slower healing of skin wounds.

The message: Spousal hostility can negatively affect your marriage and your body. "Try harder to make [the relationship] better," advises University of Chicago sociologist Linda J. Waite. "If you learn … how to manage disagreement early," she says in the Times , "then you can avoid the decline in marital happiness that follows from the drip, drip of negative interactions."

Our own ten-year marriage has been terrific. But like any couple, we have to work through our differences. One evening recently, Meg and I went to bed with a dispute unresolved. The next morning, we had some business in a downtown office building. During a break, I found myself privately consulting a very Good Book to remind myself how to be a better husband.

Wise Words

Some of its simply Divine advice …

"Dont let the sun go down while you are still angry."

" Be quick to listen and slow to speak or to get angry. If you are angry, you cannot do any of the good things that God wants done."

" Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

Words, of course, affect the emotional tone of discussions. University of Utah psychologist Timothy W. Smith found that among couples married an average of 36 years, arguments that lacked any warmth-or that emphasized controlling language-were associated with increased heart risk. "Difficulties in marriage seem to be nearly universal," notes Smith. But, as my wife observes, nastiness need not be.

So … conflict is inevitable, but fight fair. It's better for your relationship and your health. And it makes making up much more fun.

Put God in the Game or STFU

Ryan — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:58:29 -0700

What do a football rumor, an f-bomb and a huge drive to humiliate a hero have to do with shining your light for Jesus Christ?

In the case of American football’s Heisman Trophy winner and mega-watt Christian, Tim Tebow, they illuminate how following your Lord while chasing your career goal is bound to score points and persecution.

To others, these things may highlight a few win some/lose some strategies for proclaiming one’s faith and the commitment necessary to follow Jesus’ command to win some as disciples.

Tebow hopes to parlay his college football triumphs into stardom in the National Football League (NFL). At a recent pre-draft NFL Scouting Combine, Tebow wowed evaluators with his physical prowess on-field. But allegedly, the adrenaline erupted when the whistle blew for the dreaded off-field Wonderlic exam that assesses basic skills in English and Math in a multiple choice, 12 minute format.

The media gleefully aired a rumor that Tebow suggested the group of players say a prayer before taking the test. Reportedly, another player responded with an explicative laden phrase which is more politely paraphrased by the acronym “STFU” – an expression that can always be counted on to draw chuckles from the crowd despite its boorish overuse and inappropriateness for any portion of the scouting regimen.

Given the flamboyant behavior of so many athletes, some debate whether the “F” in NFL actually stands for F*** or Felony. Regardless of the evidence to support either conclusion, I propose that the “F” in NFL could also stand for Faith and I suspect that that the “F” in the ever-blathered “STFU” is most certainly evil code for Faith when unleashed against Christians. Tebow is told to “Shut the Faith Up” more often than he earns first downs.

Shouts of throw the Christian to the lions (and not those Lions hailing form Detroit) are echoed from sports writers, fans and fellow players who have little patience for Tebow’s overt display of faith. Yet, prayer and faith have always been a part of football at all levels, as evidenced by the tradition of pre-game team prayers. And, one of the most touching moments in this full contact sport occurs when players from opposing teams gather together for prayer whenever any player is injured during a game.

As a proponent of prayer myself, and one who knows what it feels like to have a few IQ points knocked out in battle, I hope Tebow really didn’t suggest the pre-exam prayer. Unless, it was just a tension-breaking joke, and in that case I’d say humor and the ability to lampoon oneself hold the cultural potential to score big witnessing points.

As long as there are tests, there will always be prayers, but for the college educated, praying before the Wonderlic seems a bit like asking for divine guidance before undertaking a task like tying your shoes. So expectedly, the dumb jock angle for ridiculing Tebow was irresistible to his detractors.

Further embarrassment hit when Tebow’s test score was made public – just 22 correct out of a possible 50. His below average performance for a quarterback prompted speculation on whether he was even capable of reading the Bible verses that he is famous for writing in his game day eye black.

To a large and hungry audience, Tebow’s on-field interviews and photographs have spotlighted verses such as John 16:33, Philippians 4:13, Hebrews 12:1-2 and Ephesians 2:8-10 written beneath his eyes. His passion for the Word is literally written on his face.

When Tebow sported Proverbs 3:5-6 in his eye black, sports writers questioned if he’d go all Old Testament blood and gore on his opponents. Thus, we have evidence that people do look up and contemplate the holy scriptures Tebow throws into the game. Touchdown for Tebow!

Tebow’s critics are howling over his shameful Wonderlic-ing, which they say is proof that only idiots believe in God. Touchdown for his opponents who conclude that more time spent on studying, rather than praying, would have produced better test scores. God does expect us to do our part.

Number 1 quarterbacks aren't adored for how they handle a Number 2 pencil. However, Christians are evaluated on how they live up to their faith. Very unlike the typical pursuits of most college students, Tebow has spent his free time doing missionary and philanthropic work. To prove he is the real deal in all aspects of his life, Tebow is put to many public tests.

This 23 year-old is under a media microscope that is deeply searching to reveal even the most minute flaw. Since he graduated from the University of Florida with a 3.66 GPA, was on the honor roll and received various academic accolades, his failure to perform well on a basic test, for which study guides abound, is due cause for scrutiny and scorn. Tebow’s Wonderlic score plays into the naysayer hand that asserts he has only made it due to a vast, multi-source caudle.

Regarding his athletic ability, Tebow – without fail – credits God for being the source of all his accomplishments. And, who better to caudle you and cause your success? With that attitude, I suppose Tebow is comfortable with whom God made him to be, shortcomings and all. But, I bet he takes personal responsibility for his own mistakes, such as underperforming on a test. Since Tebow consistently gives all the glory to God, in this drive, Tebow angles for another score.

Non-Christian scoffers are not the only ones who disapprove of Tebow’s public display of his beliefs. Even some fellow Christians have complained that his on-his-face religion is too in-your-face. These Christians cite Matthew 6:5-6 as their rationale for why they find Tebow’s public style to be distasteful religious grandstanding and would prefer he thump his Bible and pray only in private.

By throwing the Holy Scriptures into the game, Tebow is putting the Truth in front of millions. Inevitably, there will be those who see this as obnoxious Christian imperialism but, the light is not for timidly hiding under the fear basket. The amount of increase Tebow’s bold efforts will gain is for God to determine however, you can’t score big points if you don’t put your all into the game.

“Sanctimonious zealot” is but one of the insults Tebow scrambles past when hurled by Christians and non-Christians alike. Some on both sides believe that STFU is the best advice he could ever receive, if he wants to succeed in the NFL. Others feel that Tebow’s test scores were God’s way of telling him to shut up. To a Christian, it is all about the One, but for others, the one-note nature of the speech of some Christians (perhaps Tebow) is too grating for them to tolerate.

Most people desiring Tebow-talk are seeking his thoughts on football, not religion and often don’t appreciate the diversion. Due to Tebow’s perceived pushing of religion, his opponents are pushing back with predictions that this will doom him to be a bust of Biblical proportions in the NFL. Many think Tebow should not interject, or, as they define it – impose – his faith on people with whom he does not have a pre-existing, personal relationship.

Perhaps the critics may eke out a field goal here. God’s desire for relationship with man is the Gospel. God does not force relationship, but reaches people where they are, to guide them to where they need to be. Not everyone is ready to fondly receive public prayer and continuous praise for God. However, a balanced and playful approach may soften some people into becoming good sports who are comfortable with the display of another’s faith.

In the context of a group of alpha males competing to be top dog at a scouting event, anyone who suggests leading the huddle in prayer should expect a biting response. However, if Tebow ran with the pack and spoke in the NFL vernacular by saying something like lets get drunk and laid after this test, a hearty cheer of agreement would have risen from the crowd. But, the suggestion of a prayer is bound to spawn some snarky snickering. A Christian must scholarly calculate what he is up against to make the right play.

Tebow racks up points for being a leader; one who is brave enough to do the right because it is - right. However, every leader becomes a better leader as they grow in awareness of how to draw others to their leadership through relationship rather than rule. Respect in leadership must be earned and Tebow had earned nothing with this group.

Debaters love to speculate over whom would be better to have on your team: Tebow, who may ruffle others with the perception of toxic Christian arrogance, or the guy who allegedly, with divisive scorn, told Tebow to STFU. Those in the debate can see how both personality types can negatively impact the functioning of a team. However, many do prefer the STFU dude over a clean and encouraging Christian – that is the world.

In this world, Tebow’s sex life, or the lack there of, is a media and fan obsession. Efficiency is someone who can become a sex symbol despite never having had sex, while other players must struggle to accomplish the same with infinite sexploits. Tebow’s status as an unwitting sex symbol has women eager to pose for a photo with him just for the gossip publicity, while for so many female fans, there are no moral limits to any aspect of their eagerness.

Furthermore, Tebow must persevere through taunts that if he is not taking gonzo sexual advantage of his popularity he must therefore be gay. Conversely, some critics are taking bets on when he will fall from his moral high horse in order to board the ho-train, Tiger Woods’ style.

Undoubtedly, Tebow has thoroughly considered that by making his faith so blatantly public, his actions in all areas of life, are preaching a message. Longsuffering and persecution for righteousness will score in the Kingdom of Heaven, while the world is watching for the opportunity to win a supposed fatal hypocrite blow when a Christian makes a public mistake. One is more likely to turn big plays into points when one knows the playing field and the opponent.

When the predictable percentage of players in that testing room eventually enter a 12-step program, or sports fans in any living room find they must recognize a higher power, they may recall Tebow can introduce them to the Higher Power who protected him from the brokenness that plagues so many big-leaguers and their followers.

Despite malicious mocking and threats to his career aspirations, Tebow has refused to shut his faith up. He, like all Christians should, has counted the cost and invested his all in the game of discipleship. The next time someone tells you to STFU, hopefully it’s because you, like Tebow, are scoring points by putting God in the game.

After announcing the final score, the ultimate cheer for Tebow, and for like-minded Christians, will be, “Well done good and faithful servant, come share your Master’s happiness!”

Cry Not My Sister

Rebekah Sears — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 05:24:00 -0700

Christine¹ remembers it as if it were yesterday. One morning in 1994 a group of men barged into her home and, finding her alone, they brutally beat and raped her, leaving her naked, broken and alone on the cold floor. These men stole her innocence and her childhood and robbed her of any joy.

Sadly, stories like Christine’s were so common during Rwanda’s Genocide and continue to impact women, young and old, all over the world. April 2010 will mark the 16th Anniversary of the Genocide when bands of militias and civilians, under the leadership of an extremist government, murdered an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in just 100 days.

Much attention has been given to family members who were left behind to mourn. But many Rwandans, especially women, continue to suffer from the aftermath of one of the cruellest acts of war - rape. An estimated 500,000 women and girls were raped during the Genocide. And as if the act itself was not enough of a nightmare, the consequences, be they physical, emotional, or cultural, penetrate deeply into the lives of these women.

Cultural stigmas associated with rape are prominent in Rwandan society. A woman who engages in any sexual activity outside of marriage, even when it is forced upon her, is considered to be “spoiled,” unfit for marriage and treated like an outcast in her own community. Because women like Christine, who speak openly about what happened to them, risk being isolated, the alternative is often to suffer in silence. How can these women ever find healing and hope in a country still struggling to find hope for the future?

The district of Bugesera, just south of Kigali, was one of the regions hit hardest by the Genocide. Being a Tutsi stronghold, militias were bussed in from across the country to slaughter and rape people throughout the area.

But out of the ashes and devastation that wreaked havoc on this region came a small movement of hope, especially for the women. From the grassroots, and by the vision of one local young woman, a small support group was formed that was designed to build a community among the survivors of rape. This movement is called Wirira.

Wirira translates from Kinyarwanda to “Cry Not.” and is designed to be a place where survivors of rape can form a community of support. It consists of women of all ages, including Genocide widows and older women, as well as women who were only girls in 1994.

Because Christine is one of the younger women of the group, her story is one of stolen innocence and lost childhood. Others, like Diane, recall their attackers using jagged pieces of wood to rape them, causing permanent damage and constant physical discomfort. Mary remembers hiding under bodies after being raped and then watching as her children were killed when militias stormed the church where her family was hiding.

In a culture that shuns such women, Wirira has become a community, a family for women like Christine, Diane and Mary. This sense of community and family is evident as the women care for one another, maintaining a safe venue where they can share their stories and bear each other’s burdens in an attempt to continue the long healing process. They are like sisters to each other when the rest of their families turn away.

But the healing goes beyond the sharing of stories, the bearing of burdens and the sense of sisterhood. The members of Wirira find themselves encouraging each other in a community of faith by embracing the healing power of God, through the suffering of Jesus Christ.

This faith by no means comes easily amidst the anguish and despair brought on by the Genocide. In fact, such acts of violence and cruelty have caused hundreds of thousands in Rwanda and around the world to question the very existence of a loving God. There is no answer to these questions that will bring complete understanding for us or for these women. But what we do know is that God Himself came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ and suffered and died in order to redeem creation from all sin and sorrow.

It is because of this understanding that these women are able to sing, dance and pray together in a faith community, and begin to heal. Of course the pain and memories are never far from the surface as doubts and sorrows persist. The women constantly rely on each other and God for the strength to face each day. But together as a community and as sisters, they persevere.

These women have found the strength and faith that goes beyond understanding, but how many other thousands in Rwanda and around the world continue to suffer in silence? And the attacks on women continue. Even as we speak brutal sexual attacks against women and girls continue to devastate communities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Darfur. The first priority is to bring an end to this violence; but it is necessary to continue the work even long after the violence is stopped.

My own hope is that this idea of community building among survivors will spread and others will find the strength, faith and will to continue living meaningful lives. The pain persists and will probably follow these women all of their lives. But by the powerful bonds of sisterhood, forged by sharing in each other’s sufferings; through a deep faith in God and by building a community centred in love, faith and hope, women in these circumstances will be able to welcome others to join them saying “Cry Not” my sister.

¹ No names used in this piece are the actual names of the individuals.

Rebekah Sears is a former intern with African Enterprise International, working in the Rwanda office with grassroots reconciliation and community development initiatives from 2006 to 2007. Rebekah completed her B.A in history from the University of New Brunswick in 2006, and her M.A. in International Affairs, focusing on post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation, from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, after returning from Rwanda. She currently resides in Ottawa where she works for a faith-based public justice organization.

Tiger's Faith-Road Home

Rusty Wright — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:54:26 -0800

Tiger gets religion?

Tiger Woods publically apologized to his family, friends, and fans for behavior he labeled "irresponsible," "selfish," and "foolish." He confessed to unfaithfulness, affairs, and cheating, calling them "wrong." He expressed remorse and took responsibility. "It's up to me to start living a life of integrity," affirmed the Associated Press' Athlete of the Decade.

Debates about his scripted, no-questions-allowed announcement method aside, I must admire his admission of blame and commitment to change. I wish him success and hope he and his family get the space and support they need to heal.

Matters of belief and faith figured prominently in Tiger's statement. His request of friends and fans who once believed in him: "I ask you to find room in your heart to one day believe in me again." Central to his recovery, he explained, would be Buddhism, learned at his mother's knee, from which he admitted drifting:

"Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously, I lost track of what I was taught."

Straying Son

Not the first son who's strayed from his parents' counsel.

"In therapy," he continued, "I've learned the importance of looking at my spiritual life and keeping in balance with my professional life. I need to regain my balance and be centered so I can save the things that are most important to me - my marriage and my children."

Television political analyst Brit Hume ignited a firestorm in January by recommending Christian faith rather than Buddhism for Tiger. Hume himself had embraced faith in Christ in the wake of his son's suicide.

Years ago, on an island in the middle of a river in Seoul, Korea, I heard a wise and influential spiritual leader from India explain that actually there are several intriguing similarities between certain types of Buddhism and Christian beliefs.

Intriguing Similarities

To paraphrase his lesson, many Buddhists believe in Four Noble Truths. The first is that suffering is universal. Followers of Jesus also believe that suffering is everywhere and needs a solution.

The second noble truth is that suffering is caused by evil desire or craving, as Tiger mentioned. Jesus and his disciples also spoke of selfishness and "sin," meaning self-centeredness or "missing the mark."

The third noble truth is that we eliminate suffering by eliminating craving. Similarly, a biblical perspective maintains that solving the selfishness problem could alleviate much suffering.

Buddhism's fourth noble truth is that we eliminate craving by following the Eightfold Path: right understanding, right aspiration, right behavior, etc. Here is where a Christian might suggest an alternative to self-improvement based on human efforts alone.

Power to Change

For many years, I tried to improve myself by seeking to think and do the right thing. I was frustrated because I lacked the power to completely control my attitudes, thoughts, and actions.

Then some friends in university told me the biblical God could forgive me as a free gift, based on Jesus' death and resurrection, and provide the inner strength I needed. One early believer wrote of his life's challenges, "I labor, struggling with all his [Jesus'] energy, which so powerfully works in me."

Of course, just as no Buddhist is perfect, so no Christian is perfect. Sadly, nowadays some Christian politicians rival fallen televangelists in the sexual hypocrisy sweepstakes. Someone who discovers a source of strength still has to choose daily to tap into it.

I pray that Tiger can mend his marriage and his life. He may find that he needs an inner power that transcends human capabilities, something supernatural.

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

Sex Sells but Saints Sizzle!

Ryan — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:04:07 -0800

Super Bowl XLIV! Perhaps the title itself should have tipped us off to the right to life issues it could spawn.

Prior to the New Orleans Saints crushing the Indianapolis Colts, pro-choice groups picked a fight with the CBS network and the entire Jockocracy over their support of the Christian ministry, Focus on the Family, airing a pro-life ad during the Super Bowl.

In the final analysis, I say the win in this battle of ideas goes to the Saints at Focus on the Family. Although the pro-choice movement portrayed the commercial as a blatantly hateful mix of politics and religion, the only hard-hitting seen in the 29-second spot was the supposed tackle of Pam Tebow by her Heisman Trophy winning son, quarterback Tim Tebow of the University of Florida Gators.

The pre-game posturing by women’s groups such as Women’s Media Center and the National Organization for Women may have created more awareness buzz and sympathetic hype for an advertisement that otherwise could have been forgotten as just a good time for a bathroom break for many viewers.

The pro-choice movement threw yellow penalty flags at CBS for deciding to air what they consider a controversial and politically charged advertisement that represented an ugly departure from the network’s policies. As a private corporation, CBS is free to decide what commercials it accepts but, these groups promised CBS would suffer consequences in the court of public opinion.

Pro-choice groups vilify Focus on the Family as being a "a militant Christian group" whose spewing of “anti-equality, anti-choice and homophobic speech” must be stopped. Even some Evangelical organizations treat Focus on the Family as embarrassing, ill-mannered cousins they wish would fade back into the woods from whence they came.

However, the Tebow commercial was benign. In actuality, the worst sin in the ad, at least according to the reasoning of pro-choice activists, was probably the tag line that reads “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life.”

Sure, many American men would prefer to live wholly on the field of athletic contest. But, if ads and issues must be brought up in any pre or post game discussions – well, that’s what all the beer & babes commercials are for. Mess with this time honored tradition and you’re asking for trouble.

Long ago, feminist activists warned us to, “stay out of my uterus”. And even though the pro-life agenda has always included an aspect of the preemptively helpful advice to keep all unwanted matter way clear of one’s uterus, trouble started when that pesky Focus on the Family, mired deep into uterine politics, had the audacity to interject their anti-abortion views into the sacrosanct – and watched by over 106 million viewers - Super Bowl.

However, the trouble didn’t stick to Focus on the Family. After gaining much media ado about nothing, it’s clear that Focus on the Family masterfully sidestepped real controversy by using strategies readily recognized in sporting advertisements. A super-star athlete, his mother and a bit of humor made the ad perky and amusing in the mainstream. Additionally, the word abortion was surprisingly and brilliantly absent from the commercial.

What remains to be seen is whether Super Bowl-sized crowds will flock to the website of Focus on the Family – as invited to do so in the ad - to see the meat of the Tebow story and then run with the pro-life bone.

Football fans love Tim Tebow. Christians love the Tebow family story. Many who admire the athlete naturally desire to know more about what drives his success on the field. On game days, a glimpse of Tebow’s passion is visible when he sports a Bible verse, such as John 3:16, in his eyeblack.

Although Focus on the Family takes much heat from fellow Christians and from their many ideological opponents, with the playfully gentle telling of the Tebow story, this ministry has proven to be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove. Intra-faith criticism about the expense of the commercial seems misplaced since the ad was intended to support the abundant life Jesus spoke about in John 10:10.

Probably the pro-choice groups were always on the official prayer list of Focus on the Family – but, now there’s fresh reason to remember those folks in prayerful praise. Thanks to all of the negatively-intended hype, the Tebow story has rushed far ahead of the yardage the roughly 3 million dollar Super Bowl spot could buy.

No greater love and lovelier choice is highlighted in Pam Tebow’s heroic decision not to abort baby Tim, despite doctors’ recommendations, during an extremely high risk pregnancy. Their touching story is well worth the couple of minutes it takes to view it at Focus on the Family.

Noticeably absent from the criticisms levied by women’s groups were comments about other Super Bowl advertising portraying the female gender. Apparently, hotties vying to be too hot for television and a bikini blonde frolicking in a hot tub with an animal are not deemed to be as degrading to the plight of womankind as a mother who chose not to have an abortion.

Jehmu Greene, president of the Women’s Media Center said, “An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year an event designed to bring Americans together,” Unfortunately, thinking like this – if anyone listened – could bring the female voice of commentary on sports back to square one, since the sporting world is very much about choosing sides to engage in fierce, but fair, competition. Trying to unfairly silence or handicap your opponent is unbecoming to the virtues of sports-woman-ship.

This round of debate has exposed the pro-choice agenda as being less about choice and more about making the preferred choice – abortion. In trying to quash the Tebow story, the pro-choice lobby has added their loud “SHUT UP” to all the anti-woman sentiment that has ever enslaved women.

Choice is only a choice if there are at least two options. Why should the pro-choice movement fear the competition of ideas on the battlefield of the culture war? Focus on the Family has the right to promote the choice made by the Tebow family and a mother has the right to share her pride in a child she chose to bring into life. If this causes other women to make similar choices, the pro-choice movement should be glad woman have real choices, and are free to make them.

In Deuteronomy 30:19, God said, “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”

To all woman who can, or will, or who have already made a choice for life, I join the Tebows and Focus on the Family in thanking you – let us all savor this victory!

2010 Amen!

Ryan — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:16:39 -0800

After the all the shine of 2009, we can shout an amen to 2010!

Regardless of the number of trips one has taken around the sun, or how fast your spaceship seems to zip the trip, it is customary to reminisce over the passing of one year while commencing on a new lap.

2009 was an odious year for many. In the waning days of December, a comedian quipped, “I hope the Baby New Year isn’t scheduled for a late term abortion.” To which, I responded, “Well, if Old Man ’09 has escaped euthanasia to cure his major depression with psychotic features, perhaps the Baby New Year will be safe too.”

My attempts to review the events of 2009 are clouded by an ever so realistic illusion that all major news outlets have been reporting from my four-year-old’s bedroom throughout the entire year. Oh, that kid has quite an imagination, with tales of:

- all those pirate attacks!
- naughty behavior being rewarded with endless cake!
- warnings that going to school can make you deadly ill!
- and then - we bombed the moon!

Certainly, 2009 wasn’t all bad; personal and collective victories were celebrated. Your views of the past year may be related to whether you’re sitting in Rio de Janeiro or Chicago. Ah but, Chicago also celebrated a triumph of its own early in 2009.

In the US, a political star was spotted. People on both sides of the ideological divide saw this star signaled the coming of an awaited one. Regardless of how tongue-in-check or hope-and-change each faction’s super descriptions of this super figure were, the rhetoric of both groups underscored humanity’s innate, longing need for a Savior.

Later in the year, the world’s leaders, knowing little about the veritable carbon-free flight of eagle’s wings, jetted off to Copenhagen to decide how best to save the planet. Kudos for them having some realization that the world needs to be saved. But, despite their alleged good intentions, and as undisputedly evidenced by the carbon-heavy and God-devoid footprint of their summit, they remain more a part of the problem, than they are part of the solution – the sole and absolute solution.

As the blue moon of December 31 resulted in my son calling for another round of bombing it, I felt some despair over the times in which he is growing. However, God does encourage us to dwell on the sunny side and fear nothing.

Just as there’s no need to panic over the hoards of reporters hiding under my son’s bed, there is also no need to fret about the happenings of the past year or worry about the prospects coming in the next year. God is Mission Control and we are all rocketing toward His destination.

Each day, be it of 2009 or 2010, is the day God has intentionally made; we can be glad for all. Whether in sunshine or under the darkness of trouble, every day works to our good. All events, both personal and shared, shape us and move the world closer to the fulfillment of God’s plan.

Each day will bring us closer to the return of our Lord!

Therefore we can all heartily echo a global:

2010;amen!

Who Took Christ Out of Christmas?

Farnaz Farrokhi — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:08:50 -0800

Christmas is a Christian tradition that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Why is political correctness challenging this tradition and trying to "protect" people of other faiths from being offended?

It causes me, an immigrant to this beautiful country, concern that Canada has become so politically correct that we are seemingly unwilling to acknowledge Christmas. I am not the only immigrant to notice this development. Others do too. "...This whole let's be politically correct' thing it's getting out of hand," says Shahed Khalili who immigrated to Canada from an Islamic Republic.

When he was ten years old, living in Iran, one of his father's friends invited their family for a Christmas celebration. Mr. Khalili considers himself an atheist -- a man of science -- yet he has fond memories of the Masihies (Iranian Christians) who invited his family over for Christmas. He remembers enjoying the aroma of fresh pine from the Christmas tree that filled the living room and the shiny ornaments and lights that surrounded it. And he said, "of course the presents weren't bad either."

Indeed Christmas is celebrated in Iran - the same country where Islamic extremists have carried out their agenda to ensure the supremacy of Islam and of Sharia law.

Mr. Khalili's first Christmas in Canada was entirely different. The music, crowds, and materialism in the malls troubled him. He says he didn't feel the "Christmas Spirit" many Canadians speak of.

Mr. Khalili has been in Canada ten years now. Since then, he has seen a shift in behaviour due to political correctness: "Businesses can decorate their stores however they want, but...Christians, who celebrate Christmas, can't say Merry Christmas, or [display] Jesus in a manger because it may be politically incorrect."

Hafeez Merani, who is a second year student at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto and an active member within the Ismali community says, "We know Canada is primarily an Anglo-Christian society, so we don't get offended at all if someone says to us Merry Christmas. We actually expect it."

Mr. Merani is correct. Canada is a nation with strong Judeo-Christian roots. According to Stats Canada, seven out of every ten Canadians are from Roman Catholic or Protestant backgrounds. These two groups combined represent approximately 72 percent of the population.

The 2001 Census on Religions in Canada recorded an increase in those reporting they were "Christian," without specifying whether they were Catholic, Protestant or Christian Orthodox. The numbers in this group more than doubled (+121 percent) during this decade to 780,400, representing 2.6 percent of the population in 2001. As a result, this group had one of the largest percentage increases among all major religious groups.

Surprisingly, the number of people who identified themselves as Hindu, Sikh, or Buddhist was low. Each group only accounted for one percent of the population. Muslims accounted for two percent.

Canada is increasingly a multicultural society, but many visitors and immigrants to Canada find it disappointing that Canada is losing the essence of who she is -- the very thing that captivated their hearts -- her Christian values.

Susan Thomas who works at a college in Toronto says many international students come to Canada specifically to experience Canadian culture.

"Most of them grew up learning about Christmas through movies. They came to North America [expecting] to experience...Christmas: Jesus in a manager, family and friends gathered around the Christmas tree, ice skating, and singing Christmas carols.... These students...don't understand why Canada's become so politically correct' [concerning] Christmas."

Sahar Khalili, a Vancouver Islamic Sufism school student, is disappointed. She believes Canadians should be celebrating Christmas during the Christmas season. "Christmas is a publicly recognized national holiday, in Canada. Season's Greetings', Happy Holidays', or X-mass' are not. [It is a great shame] that in Canada where Christmas has [always] been celebrated...this holiday's name is being changed."

Ms. Khalili is also concerned that some Christians are capitulating to political correctness during this time of year: "Christmas is a Christian holiday. They are supposed to say Merry Christmas. If they don't, then they aren't honouring their beliefs. I want to hear Merry Christmas so I can say Merry Christmas back." She realizes that some people may be offended with the greeting. "If they are offended and don't want to celebrate Christmas, they should go to work on Christmas day or do what I do - go skiing!"

Ms. Shabnam Abedi, a Muslim who grew up in Iran, also agrees. "The holiday is Christmas. If people have other faiths or beliefs, they shouldn't get upset or offended. Christmas is for Christians who want to celebrate something that's very important to them."

I have personally lived in Canada 20 years, but this year's Christmas experience was most memorable.

On December 12th I was at Saint Alban's Anglican Church, Ottawa the church of Sir John Alexander MacDonald, Canada's first Prime Minister. The parish gathered for dinner. Following dinner we met in the sanctuary and sang Christmas carols.

The Rector, Father George Sinclair called out to the congregation, "What do you want to sing next?" People joyfully responded with their selected songs. Hymnal pages turned and we sang. Children sang off key and as the candy was passed around, lost the "key" entirely.

After the caroling we enjoyed an assortment of homemade desserts along with traditional hot apple cider served by associate pastor Rev. David Scott Robinson. The love of Jesus was everywhere as people embraced one another and said, "Peace of Christ and Merry Christmas to you."

How tragic for our country to forfeit Christ and the rich traditions of Christmas for political correctness that pleases very few.

Ms. Farnaz Farrokhi was born in Iran the day Iran was declared an Islamic Republic. When she was seven years old, her family fled the country. The Farrokhi's are proud Canadians, thankful for a chance to live in a peaceful country. Ms. Farrokhi's experiences have opened her eyes to injustices against women and children. She has therefore become a humanitarian and staunch advocate for ending Human Trafficking. Ms. Farrokhi became a devoted Christ-follower in 2005 and currently resides and works in Ottawa.

The Night Before Christmas

Dr. Kieran Beville — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:52:28 -0800

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book" (Hebrews 10:5-7).

A Journey Completed

Imagine the angel Gabriel making a report on all the events that had been committed to his care. He appeared to Zacharias in a vision; the father of John the Baptist. John would be the forerunner of Christ, heralding the Saviour.

Then there was the great announcement to Mary that her child was to be the Saviour; that she was the chosen vessel of God to be the mother of Jesus. Imagine Gabriel reporting on Mary's obedient and worshipful response.

The journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem was completed. Christ must be born in Bethlehem, in order to fulfill the prophecy of Micah. Joseph had received a crucial communication from heaven in a dream so that the infant Jesus would be protected. The promise of the Saviour was long expected. Mary had a normal gestation period of nine months but in a sense there was a spiritual gestation period of more than 2000 years. This thought is expressed in the Philip Doddridge hymn:

Hark, the glad sound! The Saviour comes,
The Saviour promised long;
Let every heart prepare a throne,
And every voice a song.
He comes the broken heart to bind,
The bleeding soul to cure,
And with the treasures of His grace
To enrich the humble poor.

The great congregation around the throne of God in heaven was waiting for the moment called "the fullness of time" to strike on the eternal clock. The angels were waiting to worship and praise and glorify the baby Jesus who was about to be born. Just imagine that night in heaven when the Father said farewell to the Son. These words of conversation are recorded in Hebrews:

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book'" (Hebrews 10:5-7).

These words tell us something of Christ's purpose in coming into the world. The "fullness of time" had come. The Son said to the Father, "a body you have prepared for me." The Father was not pleased with burnt offerings and sin offerings because they were a temporary measure to address sin. They were to be accompanied by genuine repentance but they had become a substitute for heart religion whereby people began to focus on the externals of the ritual and neglect the symbolic and temporary nature of these sacrifices.

Foreshadowing

These offerings foreshadowed the ultimate and final offering that would atone for sin, that is, Jesus. The principle, that without the shedding of blood there could be no remission of sins, would remain, but the slaughter of animals would be superseded by the slaying of Jesus. He would become the once for all time sacrifice to atone for the sins of those who would believe and repent. In this divine dialogue Jesus said, "I have come to do your will, O God" His obedience was perfect and complete, even unto death on a cross. This satisfied the requirements of the law. Jesus said, "it is written of me in the scroll of the book". The Scriptures spoke of Him. They foretold where and why He would come.

The writer to the Hebrews, in this same chapter, reveals that the true purpose of the incarnation was to complete the will of God, And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all' (Hebrews 10:10). We can become right with God today on the basis of what Christ accomplished by coming into the world on that first Christmas so that He could complete the divine plan at Calvary. Enormous preparation had been made, no detail was overlooked and no expense was spared, "For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

The fullness of time

But turning our attention to earth; this world was largely unaware of the event of Christ's birth. Mary and Joseph had arrived in Bethlehem, the "fullness of time" had come and she was about to give birth to Jesus. Then there is a dramatic scene where angels appear to shepherds as they were tending their flocks of sheep at night. The veil that separated heaven and earth was drawn back and these few men saw the angels. The wise men who had been studying the sky saw a star that led them to Christ. They were searching for the messiah. They brought gifts to express their devotion. They were the first of many Gentiles (non-Jews) to come to Christ to express their loyalty and love. There are many more yet to come and worship the Christ of Bethlehem.

That was the first Christmas Eve in heaven and the first Christmas Day on earth. But what about Christmas in our hearts; have we made any preparation to receive this honoured guest in our lives? Does Christ live in us? The historical incarnation is a reality that has really nothing to do with us unless we have received Christ in our hearts to reside and reign as lord of our lives. Christmas can be a continuing reality if Christ is incarnate in us. Christ was embodied in human form at a particular time and place in history, for a specific purpose; so that we might become the living embodiment of Christ as Christians in the community of the church fulfilling his purposes on earth. The question, therefore, is this: is Christ incarnate in you? It is possible to be busy preparing for Christmas and to miss Christ.

What's missing?

We have seen the secularization and commercialization of this festival in our world today, where the word "Christmas" is often abbreviated to Xmas. It is a form of shorthand. But Christ is the X factor. He is the essential but missing element in the equation. Christmas makes no sense without Him. It might seem trite, hackneyed and clichéd but surely there is a great truth contained in the slogan, "He is the reason for the season."

What do you suppose the innkeeper who turned Mary and Joseph away might have done if he had known whom he was dealing with? Christmas is still a very busy time for innkeepers. The hotels and pubs and restaurants are full at Christmas time and we still live in a world that has no room for Christ. But we are all called to make room for Him in our hearts.

Have we acknowledged Christ as King in our hearts as the magi did in theirs? Will you worship as they did? The angels who appeared to the shepherds worshipped and adored Jesus, not out of habit or even in obedience to a command of God. Their worship was a spontaneous outpouring of their inner devotion. Do we "worship" out of mere habit? Is it anything more than a traditional recreational activity that we have become accustomed to? Does Christmas have any real spiritual meaning for us or is it just a hedonistic festival? Jesus is the Saviour but He wants to be your Saviour.

Foreknown, foretold, fulfilled

People talk of the Christmas story but there isn't a Christmas story; there is a Gospel story and Christmas is a chapter in that story. In order to make sense of it we must see Christmas as something foreknown, foretold and fulfilled in Christ's coming, crucifixion, resurrection and return. Christmas must be put in context. Where do we fit in this ongoing story of God's redemptive purposes? With all the preparation we make at Christmas time to receive guests into our homes have we made any preparation to receive Christ into our lives and homes?

Spelling it out

C is for cards and carols, but it is, more important, for the Christ child.

H is for holiday and holly, but more important, it is for heaven.

R is for rushing and relatives, but more important, it is for redeemer.

I is for icing (on Christmas cakes), but more important, it is for Immanuel (which means "God with us").

S is for shopping, but more important, it is for the star that the magi followed, the stable where Christ was born which speaks of his humility, the story of Christmas which is a chapter in the overall scheme of God.

T is for turkey and tinsel, but more important, it is for tidings of great joy as announced to the shepherds.

M is for mince-pies, but more important, it is for the magi who, in their exemplary behaviour, searched and found and adored the Saviour.

A is for almonds and alcohol, but more important, it is for the advent and the amazing news announced by the angels.

S is for stockings being filled with surprises, but more important, it is for the Saviour.

Dr. Kieran Beville is an experienced Christian newspaper columnist and author of several books. He has taught theology on leadership training programmes in Eastern Europe and Biblical Studies to postgraduate seminary students in India. He is a fellow of the Society of Oxford Scholars.

Coping with Loneliness at Christmas

Rusty Wright — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:53:41 -0800

'Tis the season to be ... gloomy?

Feeling low this Christmas season? You're not alone. Amid cheery songs, festive parties, gifts and good wishes, many lonely people are crying or dying on the inside. Maybe you're one of them. I was.

During a horrible year, my wife of twenty years divorced me, my employer of 25 years fired me, and I had a cancer scare. As I drove home one night, lovely Christmas music came on the radio. Melancholy aching evidenced the deep pain of abandonment and loss that I was still processing. No fun.

Blue Christmas

Romantic estrangement, family strife, and bereavement can make your holidays dismal. One of Elvis Presley's most popular songs was "Blue Christmas." A lonely crooner mourns heartbreaking lost love. Performers from The Beach Boys to Celine Dion, Loretta Lynn, and Jon Bon Jovi have recorded it.

Does even thinking about that song make you depressed? The spoofed "Porky Pig" version could get you laughing. Google will take you there. But please ... wait until finishing this short article to search, OK?!

Several factors can produce Christmas blues¹. Hectic activity can bring physical and emotional stress. Overspending can produce financial pressure. Year-end reflection and focus on loss can magnify sorrow.

McGill University psychologist Dr. Michael Spevack notes, "Over eating and over drinking combined with a decreased amount of sleep is also a formula for extreme emotional swings." Depression can lead to thoughts of suicide, especially among the socially isolated, he says².

The "Empty Chair"

Is your family apart this season by necessity or choice? Maybe an "empty chair" reminds you of your pain. Does Christmas "Ho, Ho, Ho" contrast with your deep anguish?

One widow recalled how she felt during the Christmas after her husband's death: "Llittle mattered to me. I didn't want to hear carols. I didn't want to be cheered up. I didn't want to look at perky Christmas cards. I wanted the same thing I'd wanted every day for eight months: the strength to force myself out of bed in the morning, to brush my teeth and to eat."³

One possible influence, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), is a form of depression the medical community doesn't completely understand. The Mayo Clinic says genetics, age and body chemistry could be the culprits. Mayo recommends seeing your doctor if you feel down for days and have motivation problems. Symptoms can include changing sleep patterns and appetite, feeling hopeless, contemplating suicide, or seeking comfort in alcohol⁴.

Coping

How can you cope with Christmas loneliness? Some suggestions:

Spend time with people , especially positive ones who lift your spirits. Perhaps you'll be grateful for their cheer.

Exercise regularly . Blood pumping can help clear your mind.

Eat right . Chocaholics beware. Overindulgence can mean temporary highs followed by disappointing flab.

Lights on! Enjoy sunlight, outdoors if possible. Brighten up your home and workplace. Light therapy sometimes helps SAD.

Budget your gift spending and stick with your budget. Prevent January bill shock.

Talk about your feelings . Keeping them bottled up can mean anxiety, ulcers, sour disposition, and/or explosion. Need a trusted, listening friend? Try a local church.

Give to others. Volunteer . Medical professor Stephen Post, PhD, is convinced that giving is essential for optimum physical and mental health in our fragmented society. He says some California physicians give volunteerism "prescriptions" to their Medicare patients⁵.

Seek counsel. I used to be embarrassed to obtain professional counsel. Now I recommend it. We all can use good advice navigating life's storms.

Develop spiritual roots. I'm glad that before my dark days began, I had a friendship with God.

Tired of friends who betray, manipulate, disrespect, or desert you? God won't. He cares for you, values you, will listen to you and comfort you. You can trust Him. He always wants your best.

One early believer put it this way: "Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?"⁶ His point: God loved us enough to send Jesus, his only Son, to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our wrong, our sins. What a demonstration of love! I can trust a God like that. Then Jesus rose from the dead so He could live inside us and become our friend.

Your Choice

Would you like to meet Jesus, the best friend you could ever have? Wouldn't Christmas season be a great time to place your faith in Him? You can tell Him something like this:

Jesus, I need you. Thanks for dying and rising again for me. Please forgive me, enter my life, and give me eternal life. Help me to become good friends with you and learn to follow your lead.

Did you just trust Jesus to forgive you and enter your life? If so, ask the person or group that gave you this article how you can get to know Him better. Even if you're skeptical or undecided, ask them your questions. I have a hunch they'd love to talk with you.

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively. www.probe.org/Rusty . This article first appeared in Answer magazine 15:6, November/December 2008. Copyright 2008 by Rusty Wright. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

¹ "Christmas Holiday Depression," 18 December 2005; www.medicalnewstoday.com.

² Ibid.

³ Mary Cartledgehayes, "Blue Christmas - Grieving Through The Holidays," Christian Century, December 27, 2003; www.findarticles.com.

⁴"Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)", Mayo Clinic Staff, September 24, 2007; www.mayoclinic.com.

⁵ Stephen Post, PhD., and Jill Neimark, Why Good Things Happen to Good People (New York: Broadway Books, 2007).

⁶ Romans 8:32 NLT.

Ahmadinejad's Holocaust Library Card?

Rusty Wright — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:32:13 -0700

JERUSALEM - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the Holocaust is a "lie" based on a "mythical claim."

Recently in Jerusalem I visited a place I'd like him to see.

Yad Vashem, the mother of all Holocaust museums, overflows with evidence. Its library of over 115,000 titles in 54 languages aims "to collect all material published about the Holocaust, making it available to the reading public."

I'd like to get Mr. Ahmadinejad a Yad Vashem library card.

Ephraim Kaye, of Yad Vashem's International School for Holocaust Studies, says Allies amassed over 100,000 pages of documentation confirming the Holocaust. The Nuremberg war crime trials incorporated 5,000 of them. Dr. Susanna Kokkonen, Director of Christian Friends of Yad Vashem, maintains that anyone can research the evidence provided they don't intend to harm it.

And the evidence is massive.

Moving Evidence

Yad Vashem (Hebrew for "Name") displays moving testimony, diaries, documents, photos and artifacts to preserve the facts about this inhuman darkness. I found the artifact collection particularly intriguing. Each item carries its own story fraught with historical and emotional significance.

Sidonie Ascherova's yellow star from the Sered Concentration Camp is included. Twice widowed, she hid with villagers in Slovakia but was apprehended, imprisoned, and forced to wear the yellow Star of David.

Aryeh Mühlrad's metal ID bracelet shows his number 85458 from the Plaszow Concentration Camp in Poland. The film, Schindler's List , featured Plaszow. Aryeh, his father and cousin endured forced labor and torture at Plaszow. His father died there.

Aryeh's guards at Mauthausen, another camp, enjoyed the "Death Game," forcing prisoners to carry large rocks until they died. At Gusen, standard daily rations were some soup and one small bread slice. He described the Allied liberation:

"Suddenly it was as though a ray of light had pierced our lost souls..We could already hear, albeit far away, the echoes of frequent allied bombardments..May arrived, bringing with it fragments of hope and light after years of darkness and despair..On May 5th, 1945, the first American soldiers appeared at the camp gates. For the first time after years of terror, we looked in wonder at these people who were neither criminals nor murderers. The sight of human beings who had no intention of killing or hurting us was strange and puzzling to us.."

Tattooed Forearm

In 1942, Nazis deported Meyer Hack, a Polish Jew, and his extended family to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the notorious death camp. Meyer's mother and sister were killed when they arrived. An SS member beat his brother to death.

While sorting deportees' clothing, Meyer occasionally salvaged valuables hidden in the lining. In 1945, he escaped into the forests during a death march and later settled in the US.

For six decades Meyer didn't discuss his Holocaust experiences. In June 2009, he visited Yad Vashem to donate the personal effects and valuables as a memorial to their murdered original owners. www.YadVashem.org has a photo of Meyer with his left sleeve rolled up. His tattooed number reads 73088.

Presenting the Case

Aware from youth about Holocaust horrors, I once felt some people seemed overly concerned that its memory might fade and the danger resurrect. But my attitude was naïve. Today too many - perhaps uninformed or blinded by prejudice - deny or demean it.

Holocaust denial is illegal in nations like Germany, Austria and Israel. While I can appreciate these nations' heartfelt zeal to prevent a recurrence, I generally would prefer to let the marketplace of ideas demonstrate the absurdity of claims countered by so much evidence.

An ancient Jewish prophet admonished, "Present your case.Set forth your arguments."

Any academic case for the Holocaust can draw on the wealth of data at Yad Vashem.

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

When Ted Kennedy Met Jerry Falwell

Rusty Wright — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:10:21 -0700

Senator Edward Kennedy's death generated cascading tributes to his personal warmth, love of family, compassion, and bridge-building skills. Kennedy often found common cause with his political and philosophical adversaries.

The lion of liberalism's meeting with religious right champion Reverend Jerry Falwell provided a choice example of the irony and humor such encounters could bring. Conservative commentator Cal Thomas served as vice president of Falwell's "Moral Majority." Thomas relates this entertaining story about Kennedy and Falwell:

The Moral Majority often mentioned Senator Kennedy in its fund appeals; the senator and his liberal friends often mentioned Falwell in their own letters. Each side alerted their constituents to reasons for concern about the other.

Oops!

Once, by mistake, Falwell's group sent Kennedy a "Moral Majority membership card." When the Washington Post asked Thomas if his organization would request the card back, Thomas replied, "No, we don't believe any man is beyond redemption. In fact, we'd like to invite the senator to visit Lynchburg Virginia and visit Jerry Falwell's school." The Post ran the quote.

A couple of weeks later, a Kennedy aid phoned to say, "The senator has decided to accept your invitation." "What invitation?" replied a puzzled Thomas. "The one for the senator to visit Lynchburg," came the response.

Kennedy made the trip, dined with Falwell and gave a warmly-received speech on tolerance and diversity at Liberty Baptist College (now Liberty University). Kennedy and Falwell met "on several subsequent occasions," and the episode began Thomas's own "treasured friendship" with Kennedy. Thomas notes, "More of eternal value was accomplished that night and in the subsequent relationship than years of political bashing and one-upmanship had produced."

Grace in Competition

Lanny Davis, former special counsel to President Bill Clinton, tells another Kennedy story. In 1976, Kennedy helped Davis campaign for Congress. On election night, shortly after television announced Davis' narrow loss, Kennedy phoned to commiserate. He advised Davis to go to his Republican opponent's headquarters to personally congratulate the victor and shake his hand.

Davis did so, and reflects on the evening: "That was one of the many lessons Mr. Kennedy taught me - graciousness in defeat - over the more than the 41 years I was privileged to know him."

Some of my colleagues swear by Ted Kennedy. Others swear at him. In any case, his ability to reach across the aisle to promote the common good - often with disarming humor - earned him many friends and admirers from unlikely quarters.

Grace and Seasoning

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch praised Kennedy the bridge builder at his wake. Former Vice President Dan Quayle cooperated with Kennedy on legislation during his own Senate career. Then Quayle ran for Vice President with George H.W. Bush in 1988. Kennedy sent Quayle a letter saying Quayle had his warm wishes - though not his vote - and offered to speak either kindly or unkindly of Quayle during the campaign, whichever Quayle thought would help him the most.

Kennedy, a Catholic, often seemed to emulate this simple yet profound biblical advice on how to deal sensitively with those who differ from you:

"Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

Those who, in his death, seem stuck on what they disliked about Ted Kennedy might do well to also consider his qualities they can admire and replicate.

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

Life Without Limbs Inspires

Rusty Wright — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:39:09 -0700

Discouraged about your finances, employment, business, or rocky relationships? Meet a guy who will inspire you to face your challenges and dream big.

When you've got no arms and no legs, life could seem futile. Nick Vujicic was born that way, yet he's overcome tremendous obstacles to develop a positive mindset that's contagious.

Maybe you've seen him on television or the web. He spoke in our town recently. This twenty-something Aussie travels the globe with his upbeat message of finding hope amid despair, coping with rejection, and maximizing your potential. His body is mostly torso, just one small foot on his left hip. Yet, he swims, surfs and plays golf . Attitude works wonders for this corporate and school motivational speaker .

Overcoming Rejection

It's not been easy. At his birth, his dad left the hospital room in shock to vomit. After four months his mother finally felt she could hold him. His parents determined to help him succeed. His father started teaching him to swim at 18 months. At six, he learned to type with his toe. His mother's makeshift plastic pencil holder enabled him to write.

Teasing and bullying followed him at school. Ever been teased for your appearance, athletic shortcomings, or intellectual blunders? Imagine being a limbless grade-schooler. Can you spell a-n-g-u-i-s-h?

Depressed at age eight, he considered suicide. "I felt cold and bitter," he told the UK's Daily Mail . "I hated God for doing this to me and was terrified of what would happen when my parents weren't there to look after me." He tried to drown himself in the bathtub. "I felt there was no purpose; when you lack purpose and strength it is hard to hold on."

Smiles and Tears

"Do you put on a smile when you're crying inside?" he asked our local audience. "I know how that feels."

Friends, family and faith made the difference for him. "I don't need arms and legs," he told the crowd. "I need peace. I need joy. I need purpose."

He says he has found this in the God he once hated: "God understands the language of your tears. ...If you put your happiness in temporary things, your happiness will be temporary."

His sense of humor helps defuse possible tension among those who might not resonate with his faith: "If you don't agree with me, don't handcuff me!"

"What's worse than having no arms and no legs is the fear of being alone," explains Nick. "I asked God for arms and legs. He didn't give me arms and legs. He gave me hope and healed my heart."

Strength for Adversity

Nick finds guidance for adversity in a statement from Paul, a first-Century follower of Jesus: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Now he helps kids and adults deal with rejection, love themselves, forgive their tormentors, and aim high.

His example touches lives. After speaking in Orange County, CA, he met Daniel Martinez, a boy with no arms or legs. "Someone I can wrestle with!" Nick quipped playfully. Daniel's mom confided, "Now I know that Daniel's going to be OK."

A realist, he notes that people see him and say, "Nick, I'll never complain again!" "Yes, you will!" he admonishes. Forgiveness is central to his message. He feels divine love and forgiveness help him to love and forgive others. "He God has all that you need," affirms Nick. To begin a faith journey like his, this remarkable man says, "All you need to do is say 'Yes' to Him." www.lifewithoutlimbs.org

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

Coming of the Majority Future, Ready or Not!

Tom Sine — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:36:12 -0700

First published in the March Seed Sampler -- used with permission from the author

With the election of President Barack Obama, we all learned that there is a racial shift going on in America. But most of us are unaware of the extent of the shift. By 2020, white young people will no longer be the dominant group in the under-18 population. By around 2040, white Americans will simply be another group. They will no longer be the dominant group, and American society will become as richly multicultural as places like Los Angeles, London, and Auckland already are. In fact, the entire world is rapidly moving into a new majority future in which those from European backgrounds will no longer rule the roost.

Western nations are showing resistance to the growing immigration rates of non-Europeans moving into their countries. But when I spoke to European Christian leaders in Spain two years ago, I asked, "How can European nations sustain their economic growth before the recession without immigrant labor?" Europeans simply didn't have enough kids to run their factories and manage their stores.

Churches have an opportunity to lead us into this new majority future. Immigrant churches are usually the fastest growing churches in most Western countries. But Christians from European backgrounds need to start intentionally receiving the gifts other cultures have to share now and realize that this demographic shift is an opportunity for them and their children to help usher in a future that looks much more like the multicultural future of God.

There are churches already discovering how to become like the kingdom in a few Western countries. For example, Kingston Reformed Church in the UK is comprised of Koreans, Russians, Nigerians, Chinese, and English. Pastor Leslie Charlton believes that diversity is essential to being the church: "You cannot call yourself a church if you are all the same . A church like the kingdom of God is forever everybody."

Our faith reminds us that God intended, through Abraham and Sarah, to bless all people from every race and culture. The coming of God's kingdom in Isaiah 2:1-4 is depicted as people from all nations coming home to the mountain of God where justice finally comes to the poor and peace comes to the nations. In Isaiah 25:6-9, we see all people sitting down at a great feast together. In Isaiah 60, people from all cultures come home with gifts to share with a great new transnational family.

In the American church, however, the problem with providing leadership in a new multicultural future is that 11:00 am on Sunday is the most segregated hour in the week.

A growing number of multi-cultural churches, however, are discovering how to become a new kingdom family across race, class, and culture. A good example is Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, pastored by Efrem Smith.

Before white people, like me, can join others in leading the church into this new majority future, we need to come to terms with what it has meant to be white in America. Those from European backgrounds could probably all benefit from participating in one of the growing number of White Studies Programs appearing in universities all over the country. I was surprised to find that these are actual academic programs that focus on the implications of the dominance associated with being white. Usually, we are not aware that we benefit from white privilege and white power. We tend to view our lives and culture as "the norm." To get ready for a new future and the in-breaking of God's new order, we need to rigorously examine our dominant role in American culture and explore how it shapes our relationships with "minorities" and blocks our ability to be fully part of this new future.

It seems like I have informally participated in a White Study Program of my own almost my entire life, probably because I am an incredibly slow learner. I've learned lesson after lesson, and continue to learn to this day. I grew up in a multi-cultural community in San Francisco and had a number of Asian, African American, and Hispanic friends. In high school, I certainly felt I was much more racially aware than older adults I knew, and that was part of my problem. I simply didn't realize how much I had to learn.

My schooling began in earnest when I took a job as a public welfare social worker in San Jose, California, in 1961. I worked with Hispanic families in East San Jose who taught me so much about the quality of family and community life. I quickly learned how deeply my life was steeped in middle-class white values that gave priority to maintaining my possessions rather than investing the same level of energy in nurturing relationships.

In 1963, I took a job at my alma mater, Cascade College in Portland, Oregon. I was given the opportunity to transform a conventional Christian deputation program into an urban service program. The college campus bordered the Albina neighborhood, in which is still the largest African American community in Portland. One of the first stops to herald our new urban missions project was the Albina Art Center. The director of the center was willing to meet with me to discuss a possible partnership. He waited patiently as I gushed all my ideas about how to change the community. Then he took a very deep breath and said in a measured voice, "We don't need any white missionaries here, but if you want to send us your money, we would be happy to receive it." With that, he ushered me out, and I stood outside stunned. But finally, the penny dropped. These people were not living in hope that some young white guy would come in and transform their neighborhood and save their souls.

That was one of my most memorable lessons, but it certainly wasn't the last. It seemed that I was stuck in my White Studies Program during the entire period of the Civil Rights Movement. As Dr. King and his many supporters underwent huge sacrifices to bring racial justice to our country, I served on several interracial task forces to work on more modest levels of change. It was painful how many times I was nailed by my colleagues for my lack of awareness of my own position of white privilege and power in our discussions.

In 1968, I moved to Hawaii to work at Maui Community College, and my education took a whole new twist. For the first time in my life, I lived in a community in which we whites were not the dominant group, of which many locals frequently reminded us by calling us "haolies." Young white hippies, or those mistaken for them, were often subjected to not only discrimination, but also violence.

My experience of being "minority" on the receiving end of discrimination was much more benign, but it still got my attention. Whenever my change was thrown down on the counter at a local shop, I walked out asking myself whether the rudeness was intended to send me a message or if it was just crappy service. Many of my friends from other cultures tell me they ask that question routinely in their daily lives.

I never experienced being denied a job, a place to live, or a seat at a lunch counter because of my race, but I still got a small taste of what it is like to be discriminated against because of the color of my skin.

I received yet another challenging lesson when I read Bob Ekblad's book Reading the Bible With the Damned just a few years ago in the process of writing The New Conspirators . By then, I had repeatedly learned that I benefited from being white and male in America. But it had never occurred to me that I was reading Scripture though the filter the privileged segment of American culture. Bob Ekblad serves as a chaplain in the Skagit County Jail here in Washington State. He studies the Bible with prisoners primarily from Hispanic and Latino backgrounds. Like most people with whom we share the planet, these men read the bible with the eyes of the powerless, not the powerful and the privileged.

Over several years, Bob learned to read the Bible from the viewpoint of the powerless, and it radically changed what he found in God's Word. I have just started struggling to read Scripture from the viewpoint of the powerless, and it is really slow going. But I am beginning to see the Good News from a very different perspective.

As an older white guy, I am still in school and still learning. I really want to welcome God's new multicultural kingdom now and yet to come. Thankfully, Eliacín Rosario-Cruz, a member of our community and our MSA team, is willing to take the time to constantly sensitize me to how my use of language comes from a culture of dominance.

At this point, I suspect I will never graduate from my White Study Program in this life, but hopefully my studies so far will help me get ready to really participate in the coming majority future in this world and God's great homecoming in the next. People from all backgrounds and races need to go back to school to fully participate in the future to which God is giving birth, particularly those who are used to being the dominant group in American culture.

I recently heard of a church just south of Los Angeles that merged a white congregation with a predominantly Hispanic congregation that had been worshipping in the same building. The first time the two congregations met was at a Wednesday night church potluck. Abraham Thomas, who is actually from Bangalore, India, witnessed this first gathering of these two congregations. He told me that members from the white church took over the potluck because they thought they knew the "right way" to organize the gathering, completely oblivious that they had done it. They also missed that the Hispanic members simply accepted their "subordinated" status, went along, and never felt included.

Abraham decided that that was the last time the two congregations would come together for a potluck at the church. The young pastor planned the next gathering at a local beach where neither group had a sense of ownership.

On that first evening together at the beach, the relationship between the two populations began to radically change. While the whites started to get their little containers of macaroni salad and carrot sticks out of the cooler, Maria, a young single parent from El Salvador, beckoned everyone to come her way. She started dishing up hot chicken sandwiches she had been cooking all day, and a long line started forming before her. And the center of gravity in this new community shifted.

The Pacific West Coast Conference of the Covenant Church actually requires all their church planters, regardless of whether they are planting a mono-cultural or multicultural congregation, to be schooled in race relations. They are sent on a pilgrimage called a Journey to Mosaic, a three-day bus trip that begins in Oakland, California, and ends in Los Angeles. Typically they start by hearing stories from an African-American congregation that worships in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Oakland. Their next stop is in the Central Valley farm region where they spend time hearing the stories of immigrant Hispanic farm workers. Then they head south to Los Angeles. First, they spend time with those who lived through the Japanese internment camps during World War II. Then they visit with leaders in an ethnic church and conclude their Journey to Mosaic hanging with the homeless in East Los Angeles.

The Covenant Church also sponsors another pilgrimage called the Sankofa Bus Tour. Riders travel 3,500 miles to some of the historic sites of the Civil Rights Movement. Their stops include the Sixteenth Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. King's Memorial in Atlanta, Georgia, the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, and the old slave market site in Mobile, Alabama.

White leaders that take these bus trips begin not only to learn about the lives and viewpoints of those that are going to increasingly comprise the American future, but also to re-evaluate their own dominant role in church and culture. They begin to see life, culture, and even Scripture from the viewpoint of the powerless instead of the powerful.

Any white Christian leader could undoubtedly benefit from taking one of these bus rides as a way to help them lead us into a new majority future. Are you ready to go back to school and help the church lead society into our new majority future?

Here are some practical steps that people of faith from largely mono-cultural churches can take to help lead both church and society into a new multicultural future:

Create partnerships with ethnic, immigrant, and multicultural congregations to address the growing needs of those being devastated by the deepening recession.

Create collaborative, non-programmatic relationships with churches with different racial, cultural, and class demographics through which you can get to know one another as members of God's new kingdom family and receive gifts from one another's cultures.

For those raising kids in the dominant culture, find ways for your kids to have more contact with people from different cultures. Encourage kids to learn another language starting in elementary school so they will be ready to live and serve God in a new majority future.

For white young people just starting out, re-examine the unquestioned and the deeply held view that the best place to live and raise your kids is the most the nicest suburban community you can afford. These communities tend to be largely mono-cultural and won't help you learn to live in this new multicultural future.

Discover the gifts you can receive from those who are different and create ways for your church to celebrate the rich contributions from God's new multicultural family.

The world is hungry for the creation of a new community that transcends race, class, and culture. If those of us who are currently a part of the dominant culture don't become serious students, not only learning from those who are a part of other cultures, but also coming to terms with our own attitudes, we could miss all the gifts God intends for us. We could also miss out on the rich gift of Salvadoran chicken sandwiches and be stuck with our macaroni salad from now on, and that could really be depressing. I think I hear the school bell ringing.

Tom Sine is author of The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time (IVP Books, 2008). Together with wife Christine, he is cofounder of Mustard Seed Associates, and lives in the intergenerational Mustard Seed House in Seattle. His website is: www.msainfo.org

Notes

1. Tom Sine, The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time, (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVPress, 2008) p. 45.

2. Read this short introduction to White Studies from Dr. Gregory Jay at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, http://www.uwm.edu/gjay/Whiteness/introwhite.htm

3. Sine, The New Conspirators, 48.

You Dont Say!

Rusty Wright — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:46:57 -0700

If you're like me, you could use a good chuckle right now.

After all, times are messy. The economy's tanked, your 401(k) might be a 101(k), jobs are vanishing, Iran's "democracy" rules, North Korea's launching missiles, and Mark Sanford thinks he found his soul mate or not.

To top it off, tragically, Ed McMahon, Farrah and Jacko all died within days of each other.

Maybe this real-life humor will help cheer you up.

Real-Life Humor

With unemployment at a 26-year high, people need jobs. Perhaps you need one. There are good things to say in your job interview, and then there are statements like these, collected by CareerBuilder.com from hiring managers who heard them from jobseekers:

"If I get an offer, how long do I have before I have to take the drug test?"

"When you do background checks on candidates, do things like public drunkenness arrests come up?"

"I'm not wanted in this state."

"I've never heard such a stupid question."

"Can we wrap this up fairly quickly? I have someplace I have to go."

I'm all for transparency, but balancing honesty with tact can be tricky. Those job applicants need some coaching.

So might embattled South Carolina governor Sanford. I hope he and his wife can reconcile after his Argentine affair. But communicating via separate Associated Press interviews is not the wisest reconciliation tactic. Nor is it cool to tell the AP you found your soul mate in Argentina but you're trying to fall back in love with your wife. Save those pearls for your counselor.

Of course, the right word can work wonders. An ancient Jewish proverb indicates, "Like apples of gold in settings of silver, is a word spoken in right circumstances."

If you're a job applicant, how about this in your interview: "I'm not Superman/Wonder Woman, but I'd do my best to apply my skills to help advance this company's mission."

And for errant lovers: "I'm sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me." Then act like it.

Wrong Words

I know how to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Once a close friend was upset over her high phone bill. I examined it and realized the charges, though unexpected, were legitimate. So I started to explain: Reason A, Reason B, Reason C. Boom! Big explosion.

Brilliant problem-solver that I was, I thought, "Maybe I didn't explain Reason A clearly enough." So I began to clarify Reason A. BOOM!

Finally I tried something a counselor had taught me: "You feel angry and cheated and betrayed and swindled and hurt by this bill, don't you?" The storm calmed. I've since learned I wasn't the only man who'd not yet taken Emotions 101.

Of course, if your well balanced honesty, tact and emotional intelligence don't work and you lose the job or the partner or the prize you want, you can cheer yourself up with more jobseeker blunderquotes, like these:

"I've never quit a job before, I've always been fired."

"How big do the bonuses really get once you make associate? I hear it's some serious cash."

"So, how much do they pay you for doing these interviews?"

"May I have a cup of coffee? I think I may still be a little drunk from last night."

"You should probably know I mud wrestle on the weekends."

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

Coping with Job Loss

Rusty Wright — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:02:33 -0700

How do you help a friend cope with losing their job?

I got an email recently from another laid-off colleague. He received notice Tuesday, effective Friday. His wife is also jobless. He put the word out, looking for leads. One more recession downsizing casualty.

I've made three major employment shifts, none envisioned when I landed the jobs, all due to circumstances beyond my control. Disconcerting times.

Unemployment is the highest in twenty-five years. But you don't need to be a statistician to know it's rampant. Just observe some recent offers. Buy certain automakers' cars and, if you lose your job, they'll make your monthly payments. Pfizer will provide many drugs free for a year to laid-off Americans. Free Lipitor. Free Viagra. (Terms and conditions apply.)

Some of the unemployed find creative ways to ease their pain and vent their anger. A laid-off computer programmer organized the Unemployment Olympics in New York City. Participants needed proof of joblessness to compete in "Pin the Blame on the Boss," "You're Fired" footrace, piñata bashing, and telephone throwing. One contestant admitted to CNN, "I'm really waiting for the piñata. It's my ex-boss. His face will be all over it."

Stages of Grief

Processing job loss can take time. It's natural to feel devalued, unappreciated, bewildered, lonely, angry, perhaps frightened. My termination notice came on the 25th anniversary of my employment, two weeks before my marriage of twenty years ended . Plus my doctor said I might have cancer. Life seemed a tornado of confusion.

The popular television comedy Frasier's " Good Grief " episode depicts Frasier Crane coping with loss of his job as a Seattle radio psychiatrist. He experienced the five classic stages of grief: Denial (for him, obsession with grandiose projects); Anger (clobbering a piñata and cell phone); Bargaining ("pleasing" God by being a better celebrity and throwing a party for his fans - three came); Depression (overeating, sobbing, hopelessness); and, finally, Acceptance. Perhaps your unemployed friends will experience many of these stages.

I'm grateful that close friends stuck with me and encouraged me through my deep waters. When my colleague's recent email came, I commiserated, passed along networking and short-term work ideas, and conveyed some encouraging principles that helped me through my transitions. They included grieving the loss, hanging close with friends, and looking for a bright spot.

CNN star Larry King once was fired from the Miami Herald . "It was very difficult for me when they dropped me," he recalls. King says one can view firing as "a terrible tragedy" or a chance to seek new opportunities.

Deep Roots

Remembering noteworthy accomplishments, anticipating turning the page to a new chapter of life, and sinking spiritual roots deep also helped me. I'm glad I had personal faith as a resource for coping with life's craziness. During my darker days, a friend reminded me of a biblical affirmation : "God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose."

"Remember," my friend said, "that hasn't been repealed yet." At the time, life did not feel "good." In fact, it felt lousy, and it was hard to envision myself beyond the turmoil. But he was right. Now, thirteen years later, I'm happily married, employed doing what I enjoy, and in good health.

Recession may mean hard times for some of your friends, coworkers, or family maybe for you. There are people who care and resources - counseling, books, articles, support groups, faith communities - to help. Use them. And hang in there.

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

Basic Instinct, Showgirls & God?

Rusty Wright — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:28:44 -0700

Self-described "Hollywood Animal" Joe Eszterhas, the blockbuster screenwriter famous for steamy eroticism and dark thrillers, says God found him and life's never been better.

Say what?

Basic Instinct and God? Showgirls and Jesus?

Seems the master storyteller is telling a new story.

"My life has turned inside-out," he wrote in the Washington Post's On Faith .

Films from Eszterhas' screenplays have grossed over one billion box office dollars. Time Magazine once called him "America's king of sex and violence." Jack Valenti, the late head of the Motion Picture Association, once labeled him "desperately ill and in need of medical attention."

Once Hollywood's highest-paid screenwriter, Eszterhas has said he's "been a bad boy all my life. I was the king-daddy of sex and violence, the wild hair, the rogue elephant, the drinking, drugging, wild man, the cocaine cowboy."

Deadly Addictions

Eszterhas' Hungarian childhood included almost five years in refugee camps. Acutely poor, he ate pine-needle soup and suffered from rickets. Smoking and alcohol use begun in youth haunted his adulthood. He had surgery for throat cancer; medical experts warned that continued substance use would kill him. With a family he cherished, Joe was desperate to live. But he couldn't relinquish his addictions.

Finally, feeling hopeless, sobbing alone on a curb, "I cried and begged God to help me," Eszterhas writes. "I hadn't prayed since I was a boy. I had made fun of God and those who loved God in my writings. And now, through my sobs, I heard myself asking God to help me and from the moment I asked, He did."

"I didn't at first understand why He did. I didn't deserve His help, I thought. I was unworthy. I ignore Him for forty years and then suddenly I ask Him to help me and He does? It took me some time to understand that God helped me because He loves me. Because even though we don't deserve God's love, God loves us - all of us."

Eszterhas replaced his excesses with prayer and long walks. He's written a book, Crossbearer , "as a thank-you to God. Not just for saving my life, but for saving me."

The front of the book quotes this New Testament statement : "Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Also through Him, we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Faith, peace, access, hope; sounds as if it could be Eszterhas' new personal theme.

Will It Last?

Road to Damascus? Perhaps. Skeptics watch. Some feel he's just swung from one emotional excess to another. But it has been seven years. His wife, Naomi, says the transformation has been gradual but real. It appears to be lasting. They're living in Ohio, raising their sons and continuing to give thanks:

"I am witness to and the beneficiary of God's love for all of us," Joe writes. "I am witness, too, to the fact that His love is so strong that it was even able to open my rusty old closed heart."

"I will thank Him forever because He gave me new life and a heart which is truly able to love for the first time in my life. His love is mine."

A hopeful postscript: Eszterhas says his throat surgeon has pronounced him "cured." The man who removed about eighty percent of Joe's larynx says the tissue has regenerated such that evidence of the cancer is gone. The surgeon called it "a miracle."

Amazing medical development. Amazing life changes. Amazing grace.

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

Forgiving Bernie Madoff?

Rusty Wright — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:03:33 -0700

Could you forgive Bernie Madoff?

I mean, if you were one of his victims?

Could you forgive a swindler who cheated you out of your life savings, your kid's education fund, or maybe your charity's assets? Whose "special deal" was really the con from hell?

Elie Wiesel understandably says "No." The famed Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate lost most of his foundation's 15.2 million plus millions in personal investments. "We gave him everything," noted Wiesel, "we thought he was God, we trusted everything in his hands."

NYU law professor Stephen Gillers finds Madoff's personal betrayal especially outrageous: "Madoff was willing to ruin people he knew well and charities on which thousands relied. He was willing to reduce retirees to penury and deny children tuition savings. He knew all that would happen when the music stopped."

"He shattered what holds society together more than do laws, or rules or contracts," continues Gillers. "He shattered trust and for that he should never be forgiven."

After pleading guilty to operating a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, he'll likely finish his days in prison. "I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for what I have done," Madoff explained in court. "I am so deeply sorry and ashamed."

"Scripted...rehearsed" opined some observers.

Carrying Grudges

Could I forgive Madoff, were I his victim? Of course, he should be imprisoned and the law satisfied. But could I forgive him personally and not go to my grave hating him? If Madoff's treachery had forced me to alter my life plans, possibly facing poverty, the daily reminders would be tough to bear. But bitterness can corrode internally-as an old adage goes, like swallowing poison to kill your enemy.

One victim in her 60s now says she's "looking forward to retiring at 95."

Even Madoff attorney Ira Lee Sorkin has been venomously targeted. Said one angry message, "As one Jew to another, I deeply regret that the Sorkin family did not perish in the Nazi death camps."

That Madoff traded on his Jewish connections is well known. What might his Jewish forbears say about forgiveness? Millennia ago, the Jewish prophet Isaiah wrote, "Let the wicked change their ways and...turn to the Lord...for he will forgive generously."

But "forgiving generously" can be difficult for mere mortals. Isaiah continued : "'Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways'...says the Lord."

Strength to Forgive

Corrie ten Boom realized her own forgiveness deficiencies the hard way. She and her Dutch family hid Jews from Nazis during World War II. For this she endured Ravensbruck, a concentration camp.

In 1947, she told a German audience that God forgives. "When we confess our sins," she explained, "God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever." After her presentation, she recognized a man approaching her, a guard from Ravensbruck, before whom she had had to walk naked. Excruciating memories flooded back.

The man told of his past cruelty and subsequent faith in God. Extending his hand, he asked, "Will you forgive me?"

Corrie stood there, anger welling inside, unable to forgive. Then she remembered Jesus, who prayed of his executioners, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing."

She silently asked God to help her forgive her captor. Her anger softened; she warmly forgave him and told him. She later reflected, "When God tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself."

Forgiving a scoundrel like Bernie Madoff can be tough, requiring special strength. Maybe that's why British poet Alexander Pope famously wrote, "To err is human, to forgive divine."

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

Tony Blair's God Thing

Rusty Wright and Meg Korpi — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:57:50 -0800

Tony Blair has this thing about God and faith.

He thinks they're important.

Sometimes, this lands him in hot water.

Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, recently, Britain's former Prime Minister related an amusing anecdote: During a crisis, he wanted to close an address to his nation with "God bless the British people." "This caused complete consternation," recalled Blair. "Emergency meetings were convened. The system was aghast."

As Blair tried to defend his choice of words, "a senior civil servant said, with utter disdain: 'Really, Prime Minister, this is not America you know.'"

Blair's Washington audience roared. Now free to speak his mind, the former PM-whose press secretary once famously told reporters, "We don't do God"-has been talking a lot about God and faith.

Doing God

Addressing the DC gathering, Blair affirmed faith as a significant force for good in the world. Decrying both religious extremists and aggressive secularists, he commended the billions whom faith inspires to caring, sacrifice, and good works. Said he, "Faith is notacting according to ritual butaccording to God's will."

Blair described his "first spiritual awakening" when he was ten. His 40-year-old father had a life-threatening stroke and his mother, seeking to preserve some stability in the crisis, sent young Tony to school.

When his teacher knelt to pray with him, Tony felt obliged to explain that his father, a "militant atheist," didn't believe in God. "That doesn't matter," replied the teacher. "God believes in him. He loves him without demanding or needing love in return." Leo Blair survived and now is 85.

"That is what inspires," commented Blair in Washington, "the unconditional nature of God's love. In surrendering to God, we become instruments of that love."

Advice to Leaders

Blair cautioned the Breakfast's international audience of leaders: "The 21st Century will be poorer in spirit, meaner in ambition, less disciplined in conscience, if it is not under the guardianship of faith in God."

Reflecting on his own experience, Blair acknowledged the courage that faith can provide when leadership's challenges become overwhelming. He wished President Obama faith-strengthened leadership: "Mr. President, you are fortunate, as is your nation, that you have already shown in your life, courage in abundance. But should it ever be tested, I hope your faith can sustain you. And your family."

A Call to Faith

As we listened to Blair, we were intrigued to hear this seasoned statesman, who currently works to facilitate Middle East peace, call for restoring faith "to its rightful place, as the guide to our world and its future." Careful to advocate "the correct distinction between religious and political authority," Blair seemed to call individuals, not governments, to faith. He explained the need: "there are limits beyond which only God can work."

According to Blair, faith engenders humility. "We can forgive, but only God forgives completely in the full knowledge of our sin. And only through God comes grace; and it is God's grace that is unique."

Blair's sentiments reminded us of the biblical Paul, who wrote , "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast."

Blair cited British slave-trader-turned-pastor and hymn writer John Newton, who wrote in Amazing Grace , "Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved."

"It is through faith, by the Grace of God," claimed Blair, "that we have the courage to live as we should and die as we must."

Sobering thoughts, capped by his clever DC closing line:

"And by the way, God bless you all."

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively. His work is distributed through Rusty Wright Communications.

Meg Korpi is a Senior Research Scientist who studies character development and ethical decision-making through the Character Research Institute in Northern California. She holds a PhD in Educational Psychology from Stanford University

What's Your Million Dollar Bong Hit?

Ryan — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:12:26 -0800

1 Corinthians 6:20

...you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

The news of 2008 hailed US Olympic swimmer, Michael Phelps, as one of the world's greatest athletes but, the big story in 2009 exposed a photo of Phelps as he inhaled marijuana from a water pipe. After this toke seen around the world, Phelps' heroic image and at least one of his lucrative endorsements has gone up in smoke.

Phelps is by no means a typical slacker of weed infamy. He has won a total of 14 career Olympic gold medals in swimming and dazzled the world by scoring 8 of those medals during the latest Olympic Games in Beijing. His list of world records and sporting accolades is unequaled in the sphere of athletics.

The party celebrating Phelps' triumphs lasted months, but the crash after the photo surfaced has cost Phelps dearly. He has received a three month suspension from swimming competition while also losing his financial funding from the sport's national governing body. There is no way to calculate the hurt caused to thousands of adoring fans and what long term effects this will have on his reputation. Kellogg, a leading US cereal and snack maker, has dropped Phelps from their advertising campaign. Although there has been no disclosure of the exact value of the contract he held with Kellogg, it can be estimated that the removal of Phelps' face from their cereal boxes represents the loss of millions of dollars to the swimmer.

The actual price paid by Phelps extends beyond the million dollar bong hit depicted in the infamous photo. Yet, we also know that a far greater price was paid by Jesus to make grace available to Phelps. Certainly, the resolution of Phelps' personal matter is best left between him and God.

So, more importantly, what's your million dollar bong hit?

If you're not a celebrity, who'd care what you do with your own life? Perhaps you don't swim like a fish or live in a media fish bowl. Safe bet - your mug has never appeared on a cereal box. Safer bet - your life is celebrated all the same.

God loves us - even when no one knows us. God sees all our ways; He watches us so closely that all of the hairs on our head have been numbered. We belong to God; He paid a price for us.

Your million dollar hit may be sucked from a bong just like Michael Phelps. But, many Christians would say nope, I don't do dope. Surely, pricey hits can come in many flavors, but all carry the same price tag - the blood of Jesus Christ.

Chances are we all have a personal equivalent to Phelps' million dollar bong hit. Because our face doesn't often make the tabloids we may not have to confront our problem openly. Plus, getting all hung up on the whacked out thing the next guy is doing, like smoking marijuana anywhere near a camera/cell phone, is likely to take the edge off our own million dollar transgression. For example, we may think of gluttony as a huge gorging at every meal; perhaps it's really only a couple forkfuls beyond the recommended portion size, when you have a hungry neighbor. Drunkenness can be the next chug of hooch past moderation; or for some, it's the very first sip. What may be the price of a reckless body piercing or a restless tattoo?

Gluttony has pushed shocking aside and taken up residency in the mainstream, so we now have more energy reserved in our cells to rile against the more colorful offenses often enjoyed by young adults, such as tattoos or wild hair. The Bible does not specifically mention marijuana but, somehow we just know it's wrong. Most likely the Bible also does not articulate a specific prohibition against any of the hot new fads slated to captivate our self-love culture in coming years. What should we do when the Word of God is seemingly silent on what ever new fad may threaten to make something like multiple body piercings become the new gluttony?

Paul wrote in Romans 12:1 "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship." Bodies living holy lives are an act of worshiping God. But, sin is a shot blocker of worship.

Some Christians would point to Leviticus 19 to say piercings and tattoos are sin. While others would say these verses are part of the legalistic code whose pink slip was nailed to the cross. Many would contend that a Christian themed tattoo is an effective way of sharing the Gospel message within their culture. To counter that popular credo, there are people who would agree that although piercings and tattoos may be lawful, they doubt God would feel honored by the re-creating of a body He originally created in His image.

In Romans 6:13-14, Paul states "Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."

Where grace lives, there is a higher calling to glorifying God with more than mere mechanical obedience to commands. John 4:24 states, "God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." Therefore, we can discover spiritual truth - the very intentions of God in every matter.

In Romans 12, Paul encourages Christians to worship God with holy bodies. In verse 2 of that chapter he writes, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will."

So, if we can take a step back from the rhythm of the world and renew our mind by searching the wisdom of the scriptures and spending time in prayer, we will know God's holy will. God can grant us the wisdom to know what is holy and acceptable for our bodies and help us avoid our snare akin to the million dollar bong hit. More vital than taking a person's opinion on what is right, would be to have a relationship with God in which He advises you. The effort you spend seeking God's will on issues of body culture is a strong indicator of your desire to worship Him and the extent to which He is Lord of your life. Turn off the soundtrack of the world and sing your own song of praise to God; one which is unique between the two of you.

Being a slave to righteousness is far more fashionable than being enslaved to the craze of culture. The One who has numbered the hairs on your head - even if you have dyed them the colors of the rainbow - doesn't want to miss out on your worship. He'd be happy if you'd put down the fork, the hair glitter, or the bong, and lift your hands up to Him. Let Christ live in your body - he has already given His life in love for you! No one can imagine the style, the grandeur, the blessings that God has prepared for you. Worship God with your body mind and spirit - He is worthy of praise!

1 Thessalonians 5:23

"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Atheist Recommends God

Rusty Wright and Meg Korpi — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:26:04 -0800

The headline in The Times of London grabs your attention:

"As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God"

The tagline is even more pointed: "Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa's biggest problem - the crushing passivity of the people's mindset."

What kind of atheist is this? Matthew Parris, Times writer, award-winning author, and former Member of Parliament, is not your typical atheist.

Atheists and Agnostics Unite!

Recent projects promoting atheism or agnosticism include bestselling books: Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion , Sam Harris' The End of Faith , and Christopher Hitchens' God Is Not Great . Bill Maher's film Religulous calls "anti-religionists" to unite against religion's dangers and "enshrinerationality."

In Illinois and Washington state capitols, the Freedom From Religion Foundation countered government-sanctioned Christmas nativity displays with signs declaring religion false, heart-hardening and mind-enslaving.

It is unusual for an atheist to write favorably about faith. What led Parris to his surprising conclusion?

Reluctant Observation

Parris grew up in Africa, and returned recently to cover a nongovernmental development organization for The Times . The NGO, Pump Aid, helps provide clean water to rural communities. The organization is secular, but several of its "most impressive" African representatives are devoted followers of Jesus. Their character evoked memories for Parris:

"Travelling in Malawi refreshed a beliefI've been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I've been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God."

"Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good."

Interestingly, Parris' carefully considered conclusion, based on empirical observations across Africa, resonates with biblical statements: Jesus told a first-century leader, "You must be born againof the Spirit." Paul, an early skeptic-turned-believer, affirmed "Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"

How it Liberates

Parris emphasizes Christianity's impact on the individual, beyond the good works it spawns. Living in Africa, he observed " the Christians were always different." Their faith seemed to have "liberated and relaxed them." They exhibited a liveliness, curiosity, engagement and directness that seemed absent in traditional African life. The Christian Pump Aid workers he met stood out for their honesty, diligence and optimism.

Parris bemoans tribalism for fostering an attitude of fear and "exaggerated respect for a swaggering leader." He credits Christianity's emphasis on a direct, personal relationship with God for encouraging an individuality that can help "cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates."

Whoa! Christianity engenders individuality and frees the mind? Is this the same Christianity that some criticize for breeding a herd mentality among undiscerning followers-something like "a crushing groupthink"?

Actually, it isn't. Parris specifies Christianity based on a personal relationship with God. He observes that such Christianity "smashesthrough" the traditional collective mindset. No surprise. Jesus overturned Temple tables and blasted religious leaders for supplanting God's ways with their own. Criticisms of Christianity/religion as mind-enslaving and heart-hardening likely respond to devotees-and there are many-tainted by misguided thinking or misplaced devotion, not led by the biblical God.

Though atheists and Christians might debate the mechanism, atheist Parris finds the fact undeniable: when God is personal, Christianity changes African hearts, lives and communities for the better.

(Access Parris' article through www.timesonline.co.uk .)

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively. His work is distributed through Rusty Wright Communications.

Meg Korpi is senior research scientist with the Character Research Institute. She holds a PhD from Stanford University, and has lived on four continents-including Africa.

Needed: Ethical Bailout

Rusty Wright — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:07:51 -0800

"We don't just need a financial bailout; we need an ethical bailout."

So writes New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman about the current financial mess.

He's right.

Interwoven among news of economic turmoil and government rescues in the banking, investment, insurance and automobile industries are some wild tales of greed, deception, and bad choices. Consider recent headlines.

Financial manager Bernard Madoff confessed that his investment empire was built on elaborate global swindles. Well-heeled philanthropists, Hollywood moguls, universities, and more fell victim to his self-admitted Ponzi scheme, a 50 billion fraud. Several charitable foundations, unable to recover from Madoff-related losses, announced they would close down.

Sounds like Madoff (pronounced MAY-doff) made off with a bundle.

Ponzi Pyramid

Details should emerge in court. A classic Ponzi scheme, of course, underhandedly rewards early investors with subsequent investors' cash, rather than with actual investment growth or income. Investors perceive good "returns," word spreads, and new investors join in.

The swindler keeps using new investors' money to reward earlier investors, while using the earlier investors' funds for his/her own ends. When new investment slows down - say, during an economic meltdown - the money manager can't pay off and the pyramid collapses.

The scam is built on lies, deceit and false promises. Greed can fuel it from both ends. Ethical bailout needed.

Scandal brings some ironies. Disgraced former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer acknowledged that his family real estate business lost money in the Madoff scam. As state attorney general, Spitzer built his reputation fighting investment fraud. As governor, he resigned after it became known he had consorted with a prostitute. Ethical bailout needed.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich became embroiled in a corruption scandal when federal authorities overheard him allegedly using or trying to use his position for personal gain. Allegations include attempting to sell President-elect Barack Obama's vacated US Senate seat. Ethical bailout needed.

Wall Street traders have amassed huge bonuses by running up clients' accounts, often with borrowed money, and generating large profits for their own trading firms. When markets fueled by debt go bust, traders often can keep their bonuses. Some investment banks like Merrill Lynch planned to pay bonuses though taxpayer funds were propping up the company.

Of course, ethical lapses are not uniquely American. Recently Siemens , the German multinational engineering conglomerate, paid 1.6 billion in fines for bribery, a modern record.

Liberty and Morality

Companies look to government for financial bailouts. Where do we look for an ethical bailout? Is there a reliable basis for ethical decisions? If so, how do you get people to follow it?

Nineteenth-Century French aristocrat and political observer Alexis de Tocqueville in his classic work, Democracy in America , wrote , " liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith."

For liberty in government and free markets to work, it helps if the players behave ethically. Faith traditions offer ethical guidelines. Moses, the Jewish lawgiver and liberator, wrote , " "You must not murder commit adultery steal or testify falsely against your neighbor." Jesus counseled , "Do to others as you would like them to do to you." He offered inner strength to follow His example.

Of course, not everyone claiming to follow God faithfully actually does (witness Enron and televangelist scandals). But Moses' and Jesus' teachings provide a good starting place for ethical living.

Laws aim to encourage ethical behavior, but laws do not govern every ethical decision. An ethical society begins with individual ethical convictions and choices by corporate leaders, political leaders, workers, families, people like you and me.

Where should we look for an ethical bailout, something to rescue us from ethical deficiencies? How about up?

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

Choosing Abortion

Rusty Wright — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:18:18 -0800

When I met her at a media convention, she seemed so vibrant and alive, full of zest and eager to interact, an attractive woman with a bright smile and sparkling eyes. I would not have guessed the emotional anguish and physical torment that lay in her past. Gut wrenching stuff.

As Luana Stoltenberg told me her story, I learned she's been haunted by some choices she made earlier in life. Like many women, she had found herself with an unwanted pregnancy and confronting difficult decisions.

It's a dilemma millions of women around the globe face each year. If you're in this situation, how will you support a baby? Will the father be responsible and help? What will your parents say? How might a child affect your career? Your social life? Your marriage plans? Ending the pregnancy might eliminate these complexities, or make them more manageable.

Three Choices

Luana faced that decision three times, the first at age seventeen. Each time she made the same choice, to terminate her pregnancy. She says she remembers the experiences vividly.

"I lay on the cold table with no anesthetic for the pain," she recalls, "staring at the ceiling, wishing I were someplace else. It seemed to last forever, and the pain was unbearable. No amount of anesthetic could dull the pain in my heart and mind."

"The types of abortions I had were the vacuum aspirator method. I could hear-by the increased labor of the suction machine-when a part or limb of my baby was being extracted. Each time I tried to look at the jar with my baby's remains they would push me back down. To this day I still hear that haunting suction sound."

"When it was finished I was sent to a waiting room with the other girls. I was given a cup of juice and told I could leave in 20 minutes if I felt alright. I told them I felt fine, when in fact I had never felt worse. I just wanted out of there. On the drive home I was in extreme pain and bleeding profusely. I called them for help, but was told it wasn't their problem, to call my doctor."

"My life was a mess"

Luana says that later, the reality that she would never see or hold those three children weighed heavily. Anger and depression set in. Alcohol abuse and drugs led to three suicide attempts. "My life was a mess," she admits, "and it was because of the choices I had made."

After some years, she made a different choice that turned her life around: She discovered a forgiving God and placed her faith in Him. She married and sought to start a family, but learned the abortions had rendered her infertile. "The suction from the vacuum aspirator destroyed my tubes and ovaries." She says the suction damage led her to have a hysterectomy.

Her belief system and its certainty of forgiveness have helped her through her nightmare. She points to a statement by an early follower of Jesus that encapsulates her life: "Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"

Today Luana has dedicated herself to helping people understand the implications of decisions like those she faced. She has a passion for offering hope to those for whom life seems hopeless.

Abortion, of course, is extremely controversial. Amid the heated political, legal, medical, social, and philosophical debates, real human experience can lend valuable perspective. How do you react to her story?

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

Got Money Woes? Consider Zimbabwe

Rusty Wright — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:12:19 -0700

The economy got you down? Worried about making your mortgage payment, getting a car loan, affording gas, or paying college tuition?

News is filled with Wall Street turmoil, bank failures, home foreclosures, and a clogged financial system. Bailout, rescue, layoffs, cutbacks, bad debt, tight credit, more gloom. Help!

Are you driving less, clipping more coupons, eating out less? Some employers arrange four-day workweeks to save employee commuting costs. Our grocer holds Five-Dollar Fridays offering family meal specials.

Maybe you feel like the wag who quipped, "My friends told me to 'Cheer up. Things could be worse!' So I cheered up, and sure enough, things got worse."

Sometimes in troubling times, a bit of perspective helps.

Some Perspective

Suppose you lived in Zimbabwe, a southern African nation gripped by an astounding 40 million percent inflation. The New York Times reports that citizens needing Zimbabwean dollars stand in bank lines in hopes of withdrawing the maximum currency amount allowable, equivalent to about a US dollar or two. It took one woman a day in a bank line to withdraw cash to buy a bar of soap, four days for a bag of cornmeal.

The government recently reissued new currency, trimming ten zeros off the amounts. (Calculators work better that way.) Without the fix, one US dollar would now buy about 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars.

Zimbabwe, of course, has been scarred by political mayhem. Power-sharing between founding president Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai aimed to bring sanity to a nation wracked by election violence. Subsequent deadlock over which side would control the Finance Ministry did not help the economy.

Teachers, nurses, and janitors by the thousands stay off the job because their salaries no longer cover their bus fares to work. Decaying paupers' bodies stack up in a mortuary; government neglects their burial. Most Zimbabweans face hardship most westerners will never know.

Feel better? I didn't think so. You still face your own challenges.

Resources for Troubling Times

Global economic indicators spread gloom. In the US, the Dow declined by one third in a year. Your stock portfolio, retirement accounts, college savings - perhaps your life savings - may be dwindling before your eyes, almost as if a thief were stealing from them.

It takes wisdom, strength, and patience to deal with such turmoil. Where do you get those resources?

Life's troubles can confront us with our own inadequacies and prompt us to look beyond ourselves. Family and friends may be supportive, but the financial mess affects nearly everyone. Is there a need for aid beyond the material and the human?

Maybe looking up could help. Jesus of Nazareth, an astute and practical thinker, offered valuable perspective on cultivating wisdom, strength, and patience. He encouraged people to assess and re-evaluate what they treasured:

"Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be."

Of course, we shouldn't neglect physical realities. Food, clothing and shelter are necessities requiring our attention. But a relationship with God can provide wisdom, strength and peace for navigating life's storms.

Will western economies descend into Zimbabwean collapse? Probably not. Will they rebound? Perhaps. Should individuals re-evaluate what really matters in life? Hmmm.

So, where's your treasure these days?

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

How to Surprise your Mayor

Rusty Wright — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:29:49 -0700

Leadership can be lonely. When you're the mayor, people who talk to you very often want something from you.

That's why Portland, Oregon, Mayor Tom Potter was so surprised when one citizen - a prominent international figure - asked what he and his network of local leaders and activists could do for the mayor and the city.

"In all my years of public service," says Potter, "I rarely have people ask what they can do for me - and for our city. My answer, of course, was immediate - please help us solve the problem of homelessness."

The outcome two years later has been substantial. Over 25,000 volunteers have mobilized to tackle not only the area's homelessness but also medical needs, hunger, poverty, school cleanup and more. Their "Season of Service" includes a dizzying array of projects to connect needy people with those who can help.

Luis Palau, the international Christian speaker who approached Potter, and his team have helped organize local churches to volunteer for the public good. Partnering with government and business leaders, the church coalition is producing impressive results.

Season of Service

At Portland CityFest, a festival in downtown Waterfront Park, the homeless could connect with critical services. Portland's "Home Again Mentoring Program" links homeless individuals and families with church support. Church members and others aim to mentor the formerly homeless to help them keep their housing and assimilate into the community.

Lacking medical insurance? Church volunteers at "Compassion Connection" clinics offer food plus medical, dental, and chiropractic care. Guest Marsha Barton indicated the clinic's benefit for her: "I got to see a physician, which is great because I was really worried about a knee problem that I have. I also got to see a chiropractor who worked on some of the problems that I have from walking with a cane."

Need your public school cleaned up? Nearly a thousand volunteers descended on Roosevelt High to give the historic school a facelift. In one day, the project saved the school district an estimated 200,000. Principal Deborah Peterson wept. "When good people of goodwill come together and honor one another and believe in hope, miracles happen," she explained. "That's what's happening today."

Got a hungry kid who needs lunch? Too many students aren't sure if they'll get lunch once school's out for the summer. At over 400 sites throughout Oregon, children ages one through eighteen can find free summer meals and fun. Season of Service recruits volunteers for this federally-funded program.

Faith Works

With a combined two-day attendance of 185,000, Palau's CityFest was a catalyst in making Season of Service happen. The August event featured free concerts, action sports demonstrations, a Family Fun Zone, and Palau explaining how faith in God could make a difference in people's lives.

"Jesus said 'whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me,'" notes Palau. "Our mission is to share the Good News of God's love, and acts of service open so many hearts to hear that message of hope."

Corporate partners like Nike, Intel, the Portland Trailblazers, and Wells Fargo Bank participated to help Potter, Palau, the city, and the volunteers.

CityFest Director Chris McFarland explained his aim: "The church is saying to the community that we want to care for you outside the walls of our building. We love you, we care for you, and we want to serve you."

Not a bad model for other cities to emulate. Season of Service 2009 is in the works.

Volunteer Michele Kelso concluded, "Everybody's needs get met because everybody gives a little bit."

Want to surprise your mayor? Offer to serve.

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

Optimism Takes a Beating in Tough Times

Rusty Wright — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:11:01 -0700

When the Optimist Club gets pessimistic, you know times are tough.

The Associated Press reports that an Optimist Club meeting in Gilbert, Arizona, started off positive enough members discussed service projects and enthused over each other's accomplishments. But then the conversation turned to the war in Iraq, expensive gasoline, food prices, the housing market, and economic uncertainty. Words like "terrified," "disgusted," "scary," and "this mess" entered the conversation.

"There's just entirely too much wrong right now," summarized one member.

The American psyche has taken a thrashing in recent months. Rising fuel costs affect commuter housing and employment decisions. UPS computers help plot delivery routes to minimize gas-wasting left turns. Constant media attention to economic crisis reflects and some say exacerbates pervasive pessimism.

Pervasive Pessimism

Maybe you feel like the country song laments: "If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all." A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found 82 percent of Americans believed the nation's economy was in bad shape. Seventy percent deemed fuel costs a hardship for their families.

How's your Hummer's mileage these days? General Motors announced plans to close four truck and SUV plants and to focus on fuel-efficient vehicles. Airline ticket prices climb. Some carriers add checked baggage fees to existing snack fees, prompting critics to quip that in-flight pay toilets may appear next.

A glance at 2008 Gallup polling headlines indicates the extent of US pessimism: "Economy Surpasses Iraq as Most Important Problem." "Americans Worried About Their Standard of Living." "Jobs Outlook Worst in Four Years." "Consumer Confidence Down." "Pessimism Clouds Housing Market." "Economic Pessimism Hits Gallup High."

Whew! Chocolate, anyone? How about some hope?

Losing hope of a positive future can have serious consequences. UCLA psychologist James C. Coleman noted several examples. " Shipwreck victims who lose hope may die after a few days, even though physiologically they could have survived many days longer." Loss of hope can contribute to suicide. "Values, meaning, and hope appear to act as catalysts" for mobilizing energy and finding satisfaction. Without them, Coleman reported, life can seem futile.¹

Up, Up, and Away

One enterprising fellow has found a way to rise above gas and travel woes. Kent Couch recently attached helium balloons to his lawn chair and flew over 200 miles from Oregon into Idaho. Couch used a BB gun to shoot balloons to descend. He says he enjoys "the peace, the serenity" from his high flying excursions. This was his third. His wife, Susan, called him crazy.

Not everyone can escape as Couch did. An American Psychological Association survey found that economic and job concerns are contributing to heightened stress in the USA. The APA says a third of Americans experience extreme stress and nearly half feel their stress has increased in recent years. Many handle stress by overeating, increased drinking or smoking. The APA's list of healthy stress management behaviors includes listening to music, reading, exercising, spending time with family and friends, and praying.

Family, friends and prayer can make a difference. During a particularly dark time in my life, my mentor reminded me of a statement that an early follower of Jesus made in a letter to some friends: "God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God."² That hasn't been repealed yet, my friend emphasized. He was right. Faith, family, and friends helped me to land on my feet.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about your future? Popular speaker Robert Schuller has often said, "Tough times never last, but tough people do." Faith can help develop the endurance we all need to cope with today's challenging times.

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

¹ James C. Coleman, Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life, Fourth Edition (Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1972), pp. 108-109.

² Romans 8:28 NLT.

Giving Can Be Good for You: Science Says So

Rusty Wright — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:14:31 -0700

"All You Need is Love"

Do you want happiness and fulfillment in life? Then practice giving, advises an influential medical professor.

"It really is good to be good," claims Stephen Post, PhD., professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. "Science says it is so."¹

Post and coauthor Jill Neimark present evidence in their book, Why Good Things Happen to Good People. The institute Post heads has funded "over fifty studies related to giving at forty-four major universities."² He's convinced that giving is essential for optimum physical and mental health in a fragmented society.

Post says research has produced remarkable findings: "Giving protects overall health twice as much as aspirin protects against heart disease." If pharmaceutical companies could charge for giving, we might see ads for "Give Back" instead of "Prozac," he speculates. One program, "Rx:Volunteer," has some California HMO physicians giving volunteerism "prescriptions" to their Medicare patients.³

Post and Neimark say around five hundred scientific studies demonstrate that unselfish love can enhance health. For instance, Paul Wink, a Wellesley College psychologist, studied data that followed about two hundred people every decade since the 1920s. Giving during high school correlated with good mental and physical health across life spans.⁴

Other research says that giving correlates with lower teen depression and suicide risk and with lower depression among the elderly. Studies at Stanford and elsewhere found links between frequent volunteering and delaying death. Post says giving even trumps receiving when it comes to reducing mortality.⁵

Give more; enjoy life and live longer? Maybe, as Jesus famously said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35 NASB). Both Jewish and Christian biblical texts admonish us to "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18; Mt. 22:39 NIV). I don't know about you, but I find it fascinating to explore these ways that contemporary science and social science often highlight the value of ancient biblical principles.

Post presents research to support the value of ten ways of expressing giving love. Here we will examine four of them: compassion, humor, loyalty, and listening. "Love cures," wrote the esteemed psychiatrist Karl Menninger. It cures "both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it."⁶

Compassion's Benefits

Illustrations abound of giving's personal benefits.

Millard Fuller, a millionaire, gave away much of his wealth at age thirty. He and his wife, Linda, sold their business and affiliated with Koinonia Farm, a Georgia Christian community. They built houses in Zaire and then founded Habitat for Humanity in 1976 to help needy people build affordable homes. Fuller's goal was "to eliminate poverty housing from the face of the earth. Get rid of shacks!"⁷

Today, Habitat volunteers have constructed over two hundred twenty-five thousand houses, helping over a million people in over three thousand communities worldwide.⁸ Countless volunteers attest to the personal satisfaction their involvement brings. And they're in over ninety countries. In Amman, Jordan, for example, I had lunch with the Habitat director there who involves compassionate volunteers in the Middle East.

As I reflect on his work, I'm reminded of another Middle Eastern leader who showed great compassion. One of His followers wrote, "When he Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36 NIV).

Stephen Post says "we're hardwired to open our hearts and to careand in fact, compassion is important for the survival of the species."⁹ He cites preliminary psychological research in which "compassion significantly reduced depression and stress."¹⁰

In that light, consider the intriguing tale of a former Playboy model who has devoted her life to helping poor kids in Haiti. Susan Scott Krabacher's childhood helped her connect with the hurting children she now serves. Sexual abuse, her mother's psychiatric breakdown, multiple foster homes, and her brother's suicide took their emotional toll. In her late teens, she became a Playboy centerfold and moved into the Playboy mansion.

Ten years of playing mixed with depression. Eventually she reconnected with the Christian faith of her youth. Observing Haiti's poverty prompted her to learn more of the biblical take on life. The foundation she and her husband started runs three orphanages for twenty-three hundred children. "I work long hours," Krabacher notes, "put up with unbelievable sacrifice, bury too many children, and get no compensation but love, which is the greatest freedom you can know and the most important thing in the world."¹¹

Humor Good Medicine

There are intriguing parallels between some modern social scientific findings and time-tested biblical life-lessons. One of these involves humor. An ancient proverb says, "A joyful heart is good medicine" (Prov. 17:22 NASB).

Humor heals. Think about how you felt the last time you roared with laughter. Maybe a funny movie, a family situation, or an uproarious joke session had you even crying and gasping for air. Your abdominal muscles and heartbeat went wild. One Stanford psychiatrist "found that a hundred laughs is the aerobic equivalent of ten minutes of rowing."¹²

Stephen Post sees humor as a way to help others, "a very effective way of connecting, of lightening another's life as well as our own." Interviews with Holocaust survivors conducted by a Tel Aviv University researcher found that many cited humor "as a way of surviving trauma." Post notes that Ronald Reagan was a master of using humor to put other people and perhaps himself at ease. When President Reagan was shot and at risk of dying, he quipped to the emergency room doctors, "I hope you're all Republicans."¹³

Of course, bitter humor can hurt rather than heal. But positive humor can help people relate and communicate openness. Post cites psychologist Robert Provine who monitored and analyzed over twelve hundred "bouts" of laughter in public places. Provine says shared, contagious laughter can be "an important signal you send to someone that says, 'This is play. I'm not going to attack or hurt you.'"¹⁴

Humor is also important for a successful marriage, according to University of Washington psychologist John Gottman. He found that coping with issues "through dialogue, laughter, and affection" was a good predictor of whether marriages would last.¹⁵

On a Detroit TV talk show, the host and I were discussing my book, Secrets of Successful Humor. He asked about humor and marriage. I told him, "The secret of our marriage is that we take time two evenings each week to go out to a lovely restaurant. A nice dinner, some candlelight, soft music, a slow walk home. She goes Tuesdays; I go Fridays."

It hit a nerve. The host roared, long and loud. Contagious laughter spread throughout the studio audience. We all enjoyed some communal fun that helped open us up to each other.

Loyalty Bonds

A famous biblical proverb notes, "A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need" (Prov. 17:17 NLT). Post believes that "Loyalty is love that lasts. . . . The commitment inherent in loyalty defuses our deepest existential anxiety." He continues: "Broken covenants are hard to restore and never quite attain their state of original trust. It's not easy to find loyalty in our society."¹⁶

Marriage and friendship, of course, can be significant expressions of loyalty. University of Chicago demographer Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher co-authored the book The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially. Analyzing data from over six thousand families, Waite discovered strong correlations between marriage and longevity. Gallagher says their research demonstrated that, compared to similar singles, married folks "are physically healthier, live longer...experience less anxiety, depression, hostility, and loneliness, and are more likely to tell you that they're happy with life in general. They have more sex than single people of the same age." Of course there's a caveat, Post notes. High-conflict marriages bring stress and can lower immune function.¹⁷

Friendships count, too. University of North Carolina sociologist Rebecca Adams' frequent childhood moves had her attending thirteen schools by the time she entered college. She feels she learned how to make new friends but wasn't as good at maintaining them. These experiences helped motivate her to study friendship. She's discovered strong links between quality of relationships and mental well-being. Adams notes, "It's been shown over and over again that friendship is more important to psychological well-being than family relations are...Friendships are voluntary. So we'll choose friendships that support our psychological well-being."¹⁸

Men can learn a lot from women about friendship. Male and female friendship styles often differ, Adams says: "Men define their friendships in terms of shared activities, and women define them in terms of conversation. For men, a friend is their fishing, golfing, or bowling buddy. For women, a friend is someone they can confide in." Of course there are exceptions, but Post notes that emotional intimacy is what nourishes friendships most.¹⁹

Giving love through compassion, humor, and loyalty all contribute to our well-being. But, is anybody listening?

"I'm Listening"

The television comedy Frasier was one of the most popular TV series in U.S. history. It's been called "a thinking person's comedy." Reruns are ubiquitous, about six episodes daily in our area. Frasier Crane, the protagonist, is a caring, sensitive, cultured but insecure and sometimes pompous Seattle radio psychiatrist who always greets his callers with, "I'm listening." Yet sometimes he becomes so wrapped up in himself that he tunes others out. He's not alone. In one amusing scene, Frasier's ex wife, Lilith (also a psychiatrist), tries to converse with Frasier's brother, Niles (yet another psychiatrist), about an especially weighty matter. Niles, focused on a video game, doesn't pay her sufficient attention, prompting Lilith to exclaim, "Is there a chair here I could talk to?"

I confess that in our home, my wife Meg sometimes has to use Lilith's line to get my attention. (Mind you, I don't confess that it's as often as she might claim!) But listening is a powerful form of affirmation and an important tool in understanding and communication. Solomon,a wise Jewish king, wrote, "What a shame, what folly, to give advice before listening to the facts!" (Proverbs 18:13 NLT)

Stephen Post writes, "When we truly absorb another's story, we are saying, 'You count. Your life and feelings and thoughts matter to me. And I want to know who you really are.'" He claims that listening can help both the listener and the one listened to. New studies indicate: "Listening activates the part of our brains hardwired for empathy...When we listen to others in pain, their stress response quiets down and their body has a better chance to heal."²⁰

Post says that without a good listener, we can feel terribly alone, "like the psalmist in the Bible who cries out, 'No man cared for my soul.'" He continues, "This has led some scholars to call the God of the Psalms a God of listening. Our need for a listener is an inherent aspect of all prayer."²¹

So, giving love is good for you. Science says so. Compassion, humor, loyalty, and listening are important ways you can express giving love. Is it as intriguing to you as it is to me that contemporary science and social science are often in harmony with age-old biblical counsel? Makes me think I should read the Bible more often.

Notes
1. Stephen Post, PhD, and Jill Neimark, Why Good Things Happen to Good People (New York: Broadway Books, 2007), 15.
2. Ibid., 1.
3. Ibid., 7.
4. Ibid, 7-8, 48-51.
5. Ibid., 8-10, 68-69.
6. Ibid., 2.
7. Ibid., 25, 275.
8. www.habitat.org
9. Post and Neimark, Why Good Things Happen, 179-180.
10. Ibid., 184.
11. Ibid., 177-8; see also Susan Krabacher (as told to Kristi Watts), "Diary of a Playboy Centerfold," The 700 Club, www.cbn.com/700club/features/amazing/Susan_Krabacher061506.aspx; accessed January 24, 2008.
12. Post and Neimark, Why Good Things Happen, 132.
13. Ibid., 133-135.
14. Ibid., 139-140.
15. Ibid., 141-142.
16. Ibid., 199-200.
17. Ibid., 203-205.
18. Ibid., 216-217.
19. Ibid., 221.
20. Ibid., 231-232.
21. Ibid., 234.

Rusty Wright, associate speaker and writer with Probe Ministries, is an international lecturer, award-winning author, and journalist who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively. He can be reached at RustyWright@aol.com

Home Foreclosure's Emotional Toll

Rusty Wright — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:00:40 -0700

Has someone you know lost their home to foreclosure? Have you? The psychological effects can be devastating.

The mortgage crisis and related stress have seen an increase in symptoms ranging from anxiety and depression to the extreme of suicide.

USA Today relates the heart wrenching story of Oregon residents Raymond and Deanna Donaca. The couple had lived in their home for over twenty years, but a foreclosure notice apparently sapped their hope. They closed up the house, left the door from the garage into the house open, turned on their automobile engine, and let fumes fill the home, killing them and their four golden retrievers.

Don Donaca said his brother Raymond "got so deep in debt he couldn't figure out what else to do."

Financial pain is widespread. The American Psychological Association's 2007 study of Stress in America found that nearly three quarters of Americans said work and money issues were very or somewhat significant sources of stress. Half of Americans pointed to housing costs as significant stressors.

Financial Woes' Impact

Of course money woes can affect marriage, family, neighborhood, and workplace. Snapping more at your spouse or kids these days? Wish your neighbor or boss would take a permanent vacation? Less patient than normal with those rude road hogs?

Many of us value having a quiet, peaceful, secure place to call home, a familiar and safe shelter to shut out the world's worries, relax, enjoy our families or hobbies, watch American Idol, and prepare for tomorrow's challenges.

Fear of losing your home threatens all that. One South Carolina realtor told USA Today his own mortgage struggles "shatter your pride and become very humiliating. ... The situation keeps you up at night. ... It angers you. It frustrates you. ... It affects us deeply."

Some medicate their financial pain with alcohol or addictions, which can compound interpersonal problems. Gambling, overeating, or majoring on comfort food may provide temporary solace, but with consequences. The American Psychological Association has posted a webpage on "Managing Your Stress in Tough Economic Times." The APA advises "pause but don't panic," figure how to cut expenses and develop a sound financial plan, perhaps with professional guidance. View difficult times as chances to grow and change.

An Additional Coping Resource

May I suggest an additional coping resource? Harvard-trained psychiatrist James T. Fisher in his autobiography, A Few Buttons Missing, told of his desire to compile a handbook for sound mental health, something "practical" and "easy to understand." He studied long and hard seeking "some new and exciting recipe for living a sane and satisfying life." But then, he admitted, "Quite by accident I discovered that such a work had already been completed!"

The work he encountered was the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus' discourse about interpersonal relationships, tough times, faith, and more. "Here," wrote Fisher, "... rests the blueprint for successful human life with optimum mental health and contentment."

Among the life lessons there: "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

Of course, no one should minimize the pain people feel from hard times or ignore practical corrective behaviors. Sometimes the anguish results from one's own poor, unwise, or uninformed choices. Other times the source is others' decisions. Regardless, challenging times can help us see our need for resources beyond ourselves. Adding faith to the mix can make good sense.

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively

Advocacy Apologetics: Finding Common Ground

Rusty Wright — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:25:09 -0700

As you examine your life, can you think of any lessons you wish you had learned earlier than you did?

I'm really glad I learned this lesson very early in my career as a Christian communicator. It's made a world of difference.

God has graciously sent me presenting Christ and biblical truth on six continents before university students and professors, on mainstream TV and radio talk shows, with executives, diplomats and professional athletes.

He's put me speaking in university classrooms and auditoriums, in embassies, boardrooms, and locker rooms. He's had me writing for mainstream newspapers, magazines, and on the Internet about controversial subjects like sex, abortion, the afterlife, and reasons for faith.

As you might imagine, I've encountered many skeptics and objections to faith. I've learned much from my critics, the "unpaid guardians of my soul."

But if I hadn't learned this crucial lesson at the outset, would all those outreach doors have opened?

The Lesson

I learned it on an island in a river in Seoul, Korea. Over a million believers were gathered for Explo 74. One speaker that day was a prominent church leader from India who discussed how to best communicate the message of Jesus to the types of Buddhists in India. Here's my paraphrase of his advice.

We could use two methods, he said. One was to begin by stressing the differences between Buddhism and Christianity. But that often gets people mad and turns them off.

A second way involved agreeing with the Buddhist where we could. We could say something like this: "I know that you as a Buddhist believe in Four Noble Truths." (This is foundational to many strains of Buddhism.) "First you believe suffering is universal. As a follower of Jesus, I also believe suffering is everywhere. It needs a solution."

"Second, you believe that suffering is caused by evil desire or craving. I believe something very similar; I call this evil desire sin.'"

"Third, you believe that the way to eliminate suffering is to eliminate craving. I feel selfishness needs to be eliminated, too. And fourth, you feel we eliminate craving by following the Eightfold Path: right understanding, right aspiration, right behavior, etc."

"Here's where I would suggest an alternative. For many years I, too, tried to eliminate my selfishness by seeking to think and do the right thing. But you know what happened? I became very frustrated because I lacked the power to do it. I realized that if I relied on God, He could give me the inner power I needed."

Do you see the contrast between those two methods of approaching someone who differs with you? The first emphasizes differences and has the emotional effect of holding up your hands as if to say "Stop!" or "Go away!" The second begins by agreeing where you can. Your emotional hands are extended as if to welcome your listeners. If you were the listener, which approach would you prefer?

Start by Agreeing where You Can

In communicating with skeptics, start by agreeing where you can. You'll get many more to listen.

I call this approach "Advocacy Apologetics." You're approaching the person as an advocate rather than an adversary. You believe in some of the same things they do. Expressing agreement can penetrate emotional barriers and communicate that you are for that person rather than against them. It can make them more willing to consider areas of disagreement.

Don't compromise biblical truth; but agree at the start where you can.

Paul used this approach. He wrote (1 Corinthians. 9:19-23 NLT, emphasis mine):

I have become a servant of everyone so that I can bring them to Christ. When I am with the Jews, I become one of them so that I can bring them to Christ. When I am with the Gentiles who do not have the Jewish law, I fit in with them as much as I can.

Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone so that I might bring them to Christ. I do all this to spread the Good News.

Here's an experiment: The next time you encounter someone who differs with you, take a deep breath. Pray. Ask God to help you identify three areas of agreement. Can't find three? How about one? Discuss that first. Become an advocate for them. Maybe you'll oil some stuck emotional and intellectual gears and nudge someone in His direction.

A Doctor's Journey with Cancer

Rusty Wright — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:08:33 -0700

When you suddenly learn you might have only 18 months to live, it's a good time to sort out what really matters in life.

Last December, Yang Chen, MD, dismissed an aching pain under his shoulder as muscle strain. Five weeks later, as the pain persisted, a chest x-ray brought shocking results: possible lung cancer that might have spread.

A highly acclaimed specialist and medical professor at the University of Colorado Denver, Yang knew the average survival rate for his condition could be under 18 months. He didn't smoke and had no family history of cancer. He was stunned. His life changed in an instant.

"I wondered how I would break the news to my unsuspecting wife and three young children," he recalls. "Who would take care of my family if I died?"

Swirling Vortex of Uncertainty

When I heard his story, I felt a jab of recognition. In 1996, my doctor said I might have cancer. That word sent me into a swirling vortex of uncertainty. But I was fortunate; within a month, I learned my condition was benign.

Yang did not get such good news. He now knows he has an inoperable tumor. He's undergoing chemotherapy. It's uncertain whether radiation will help. Yet through it all, he seems remarkably calm and positive. At a time when one might understandably focus on oneself, he's even assisting other cancer patients and their families to cope with their own challenges. What's his secret?

I learned about Yang's personal inner resources when we first met in the 1980s. He worked at the Mayo Clinic and brought me to Rochester, Minnesota, to present a seminar for Mayo and IBM professionals on a less ponderous theme, "Love, Sex and the Single Lifestyle." With the audience, we laughed and explored relationship mysteries. He felt it was essential that people consider the spiritual aspect of relationships, as well as the psychological and physical.

Later he founded a global network to train medical professionals how to interact with patients on spiritual matters. Many seriously ill patients want their doctors to discuss spiritual needs and the profession is taking note.

Reality Blog

Now a patient himself, Yang exhibits strength drawn from the faith that has enriched his life. He has established a website www.aDoctorsJourneyWithCancer.net to chronicle his journey and "offer hope and encouragement to others." The site presents a compelling real-life drama as it happens.

As a follower of Jesus, Yang notes biblical references to God's "light shining in our hearts" and people of faith being "like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure." He sees himself as a "broken clay jar" through which God's light can shine to point others who suffer to comfort and faith.

As he draws on divine strength, he reflects on Paul, a first-century believer who wrote, "We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not
driven to despair."

A dedicated scientist, Yang is convinced that what he believes about God is true and includes information about evidences for faith. He's also got plenty to help the hurting and the curious navigate through their pain, cope with emotional turmoil, and find answers to life's perplexing questions about death, dying, the afterlife, handling anxiety, and more.

With perhaps less than 18 months to live, Yang Chen knows what's most important in his life. He invites websurfers to "walk with me for part, or all, of my journey." If I'm ever in his position, I hope I can blend suffering with service while displaying the serenity and trust I observe in him. Visit his website and you'll see what I mean.

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer with Probe.org who has spoken on six continents. He
holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

Amazing Grace in John Newton

Rusty Wright — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:00:49 -0800

Are you familiar with the classic song, Amazing Grace? Do you know its songwriter's inspiring story? Maybe like I did, you think you know the real story but you don't.

John Newton was an eighteenth century British slave trader who had a dramatic faith experience during a storm at sea. He gave his life to God, left the slave trade, and became a pastor. "Amazing Grace! (how sweet the sound)," Newton wrote, "That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see." ¹ He played a significant role in the movement to abolish the slave trade.

Newton's song and story have inspired millions. Amazing Grace is loved the world over. It's been played at countless funerals, civil rights events, and churches. Judy Collins' recording even hit pop music charts.

Jonathan Aitken's biography, John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace², provides revealing insights into his life. Newton only became a slave-ship captain after he came to faith. And he left the slave trade not from spiritual convictions but for health reasons. Puzzling? Consider "the rest of the story."

Lost and Found

John Newton was the prototypical "bad boy." Flogged and demoted by the Navy for desertion, he became depressed, considered suicide, and thought of murdering his captain. Traded to work on a slave ship, Newton recalled, "I was exceedingly wretched. I not only sinned with a high hand myself, but made it my study to tempt and seduce others upon every occasion."³

One day on another ship, Newton was casually reading an edition of Thomas à Kempis' famous book, On the Imitation of Christ. He wondered, "What if these things were true?" Dismayed, he "shut the book quickly." Newton called himself a terrible "blasphemer" who had rejected God completely.⁴ But then, as Forrest Gump might say, God showed up.

That night, a violent storm flooded the ship with water. Fearing for his life, Newton surprised himself by uttering, "The Lord have mercy on us!" Spending long hours at the ship's helm, he reflected on his life and rejection of God. At first, he thought his shortcomings too great to be forgiven. Then, he said, "I began to think of Jesus whom I had so often derided of His life and of His death for sins not His own, but for those who in their distress should put their trust in Him." ⁵

In coming days, the New Testament story of the prodigal son⁶ particularly impressed him. He became convinced of the truth of Jesus' message and his own need for it. "I was no longer an atheist," he writes. "I was sincerely touched with a sense of undeserved mercy in being brought safe through so many dangers. I was a new man." ⁷

From Slave-Ship Captain to Pastor

After his dramatic experience at sea, Newton prayed and spoke outwardly of his commitment. But his faith and behavior would take many twists on the road toward maturity.

Newton set sail again on a slave ship, seeing no conflict between slaving and his new beliefs. Later he led three voyages as a slave-ship captain. He studied the Bible. He held Sunday Christian meetings for his crew on board ship.

Church services on a slave ship? Newton, like many of his contemporaries, was still a work-in-progress. Slavery was generally accepted in his world as a pillar of British economy; few yet spoke against it. Aitken observes that in 1751, Newton's spiritual conscience "was at least twenty years away from waking up to the realization that the Christian gospel and human slavery were irreconcilable." ⁸

Two days before his fourth slave-trading voyage as ship's captain, a mysterious illness temporarily paralyzed Newton. His doctors advised against sailing. Out of the slave trade, Newton became a prominent public official in Liverpool. He attended Christian meetings and grew in his faith. Eventually, he become an ordained minister and would significantly impact a young Member of Parliament who would help rescue an oppressed people and a nation's character.

Faith in Action

When William Wilberforce was a rising political star, conversations with a Cambridge professor helped lead him to God. He considered leaving Parliament and entering the ministry. In 1785, he sought the advice of his childhood pastor, Newton, who advised him not to leave politics. Newton's advice proved pivotal. He became Wilberforce's mentor.

Perhaps you've seen the film Amazing Grace that portrays Wilberforce's arduous twenty-year parliamentary struggle to outlaw the slave trade. Wilberforce sometimes considered giving up. Newton encouraged him to persist.

Newton became active in the abolition movement. In 1788, he published a widely circulated pamphlet, Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade. "I hope it will always be a subject of humiliating reflection to me," he wrote, "that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders." ⁹ He testified before important parliamentary committees. Newton described chains, overcrowded quarters, separated families, sexual exploitation, flogging, beating, butchering. The Christian slave-ship captain who once was blind to his own moral hypocrisy now could see. Aitken says, "Newton's testimony was of vital importance in converting public opinion to the abolitionist cause." ¹⁰

In early 1807, Britain finally outlawed the slave trade. On December 21, grace led John Newton home to his Maker.

Lessons from a Life of Amazing Grace

John Newton encountered "many dangers, toils, and snares" on his life's voyage. Consider some lessons from his story.

Moral maturation can take time. Newton the morally corrupt slave trader embraced faith, then continued slave trading. Only years later did his moral and spiritual conscience catch up on this issue with Jesus' high principles. We should hold hypocrites accountable, but realize that blinders don't always come off quickly. One bumper sticker I like reads, "Please be patient; God is not finished with me yet."

Humility helps. Newton learned to recognize his shortcomings. Near the end of his life, he told a visitor, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior." ¹¹

Have you ever considered writing your own epitaph? What will it say? Here's what Newton wrote for his epitaph. It's inscribed on his tomb: "John Newton. Once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ preserved, restored, pardoned and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy. . . ." ¹²

Would you like to have God as your friend, as John Newton and William Wilberforce did? Jesus said, "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."¹³ Perhaps you'll want to say something like this to Him:

Jesus, thanks for dying and rising again for me. I ask you to forgive me, enter my life and give me eternal life. Help me to become your close friend.

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer with Probe.org who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively. www.probe.org/Rusty

This article first appeared in Answer magazine 15:1, January/February 2008. Copyright 2008 by Rusty Wright. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

¹From Olney Hymns, 1779; in John Newton, Out of the Depths, Revised and Updated for Todays Readers by Dennis R. Hillman (Grand Rapids: Kregel 2003), 9.
² Jonathan Aitken, John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007).
³ Newton, op. cit., 44-45.
⁴Ibid., 69, 65, 68.
⁵Ibid., 71, 75.
⁶Luke 15.
⁷Newton, op. cit., 82-83.
⁸Aitken, op. cit., 112.
⁹Ibid., 319.
¹⁰Ibid.
¹¹Ibid., 347.
¹²Ibid., 350, 356.
¹³John 3:16 NLT.

Castro's Staying Power

Rusty Wright — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:11:47 -0800

"I threw a rock at Castro!" my young friend beamed in our junior high classroom. He had recently migrated to Miami, part of a mass exodus fleeing the Cuban revolution.

Over the intervening years, many others have thrown rocks real and figurative at El Comandante. An Energizer Bunny of world rulers, he just kept on going. Only Britain's queen and Thailand's king had served longer as heads of state when Castro recently announced that, due to declining health, he would not continue his presidency.

Survivor

The aging socialist warrior has staying power. The Guinness Book of Records says his 4 hour and 29 minute UN speech in 1960 remains a UN record for length. His longest recorded speech in Cuba lasted 7 hours 10 minutes.

Castro counts 634 attempts on his life, ranging from poison pills to a toxic cigar.¹ Ten US presidents have served during his command. He survived the US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis the following year.

I remember as a child sitting on our living room floor watching JFK demand the Soviets remove their missiles. We were only 235 miles away, well within range. The world approached the brink, Khrushchev blinked, Fidel and humanity survived.

Several years later my parents' airline flight was hijacked to Cuba. Their surreal night in the Havana airport included individual government interviews, genuine risk of not being allowed to return to the US, and relief at finally taking off for home.

The controversial dictator inspires affection from compatriots who appreciate Cuba's high literacy and universal health care. Relatives of his political prisoners hold him in considerably less regard. And Cuba's economic woes are legend.

He's Not Gone Yet

In stepping down, Castro emphasized he isn't planning to disappear: "This is not my farewell. My only wish is to fight as a soldier in the battle of ideas. I shall continue to write under the heading of 'Reflections by comrade Fidel.' It will be just another weapon you can count on."²

What "reflections" are in Castro's future at a frail 81? Even globally influential leaders must face life's finish line. Often spiritual matters creep into one's thoughts during autumn years. Castro has reflected on them in surprising ways in the past.

In 1985 he said, "I never saw a contradiction between the ideas that sustain me and the ideas of that symbol, of that extraordinary figure (Jesus Christ)." ³

Certainly Jesus displayed compassion for the poor and oppressed, significant Marxist concerns. But it's hard to envision the one who said "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free"⁴ jailing folks for disagreeing with him.

Years ago, Fidel wrote about a fallen comrade: "Physical life is ephemeral, it passes inexorably... This truth should be taught to every human being - that the immortal values of the spirit are above physical life. What sense does life have without these values? What then is it to live? Those who understand this and generously sacrifice their physical life for the sake of good and justice - how can they die? God is the supreme idea of goodness and justice."⁵

Jesus, whom Castro admired, commented on this theme: "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again. They are given eternal life for believing in me and will never perish."⁶

Fidel Castro's physical life will, of course, eventually end. His ideas and influence could survive for generations. But as he approaches that personal threshold we all must cross, might thoughts of his own spiritual future intrigue him again?

Notes:
¹ Reuters, "Weird and wonderful: the facts about Fidel Castro," The Independent, 19 February 2008; Link, accessed February 19, 2008.

² Reuters, "Text of Fidel Castro's Announcement," New York Times, February 19, 2008; at Link, accessed February 19, 2008.

³ Reuters, "FACTBOX Quotes from Cuba's Fidel Castro," February 19, 2008; at Link, accessed February 19, 2008.

⁴ John 8:32 NIV.

⁵ Andrew Buncombe, "When Castro believed in God: letters from prison reveal atheist leader's spiritual side," The Independent, 26 February 2007; Link accessed February 20, 2008.

⁶ John 11:25-26 NLT.

Your Money, Your Life or Your Wine

Rusty Wright — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:32:08 -0800

Could offering a cup of human kindness save your life sometime? It helped protect guests from a menacing gunman at a recent Washington, DC, dinner gathering.

Comedian Jack Benny had a famous skit in which an armed robber pointed a gun at Benny, whose comedy often poked fun at his own miserly show business persona. In the routine, Benny told the robber to put the gun down. The robber persisted. "Your money or your life!" demanded the crook, irritated by the delay. "I'm thinking it over," deadpanned Benny.¹

Quick thinking helped save the DC dinner guests.

"Give me your money!"

The Washington Post reports² that some friends had enjoyed steak and shrimp at a DC home and were sitting on the back patio sipping wine around midnight. A hooded gunman slipped in through an open gate and held a pistol to a fourteen-year-old girls head. "Give me your money, or I'll start shooting", demanded the intruder.

The guests including the girls parents froze. Then one adult Cristina "Cha Cha" Rowan had an idea.

"We were just finishing dinner," Rowan said to the uninvited guest. "Why don't you have a glass of wine with us?"

The robber sipped their French wine and said, "Damn, thats good wine."

Michael Rabdau, the girls father, offered the man the glass. Rowan offered the bottle. The man with hood down, by this point sipped more wine and sampled some Camembert cheese. Then he stowed the gun in his pocket and admitted, "I think I may have come to the wrong house. I'm sorry. Can I get a hug?"

Rowan hugged the man. Then Rabdau, his wife and the other two guests each hugged him. The man asked for a group hug; the five adults complied. He left with the wine glass. There were no injuries, no theft. The stunned guests entered the house and stared at each other silently. Police came. Investigators discovered the empty and unbroken wine glass on the ground in a nearby alley.

"I was definitely expecting there would be some kind of casualty," Rabdau recalled, according to the Post. "He was very aggressive at first; then it turned into a love fest. I don't know what it was."

"There was this degree of disbelief and terror at the same time," Rabdau observed. "Then it miraculously just changed. His whole emotional tone turned like, we're one big happy family now. I thought: Was it the wine? Was it the cheese?" The entire encounter lasted about ten minutes. DC police chalked it up as strange but true.

Gentle Answers

An old Jewish proverb says, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." ³ I
suspect her friends are extremely grateful that "Cha Cha" Rowan had the presence of mind to offer a gentle reply to the intruders demands.

Sometimes the psychological approach can deter disaster. Kindness and hospitality often can defuse tension and help open hearts and minds. Was the robber lonely? Feeling sad or rejected? Weary of his lifestyle? Hungry for acceptance and friendship? Rowan and her friends struck an emotional chord that resonated, apparently deeply.

Brute force and overwhelming arguments are common cultural responses to danger or opposition and, of course, they're sometimes necessary. Most of us are glad Hitler was defeated and that legislators outlawed slavery. But could gentle answers improve any disputes or families, marriages, workplaces, political relationships that you've seen?

Rusty Wright is an award-winning author, journalist, and lecturer with Probe.org who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

Notes

1. George Grow, "Funnyman Jack Benny Won Hearts Mainly by Making Fun of Himself," Voice of America News, 21 May 2005; at www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2005-05/2005-05-21-voa1.cfm (accessed July 19, 2007).

2. Allison Klein, A Gate-Crasher's Change of Heart, Washington Post, July 13, 2007; B01; at http://tinyurl.com/2q9mjc (accessed July 17, 2007).

3. Proverbs 15:1 NIV.

©2007 Probe Ministries

Winning Hearts And Minds

Michael Lane — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 19:53:55 -0700

Sometime in the 1960's, our culture started to break with the moral foundation upon which the nation was built. Things have been moving in that direction ever since, but the pace of change has been so deceptively slow that it's hard to say for certain when in the last 40 years the line of decency was crossed. But as we look back on how low the culture has descended, it's clear the line has been crossed. In the 1950's, networks would not show a married couple sleeping in the same bed or skirts above the knee. Today, after 9pm, we can find nudity and profanity on basic cable. Society at large is not offended by this at all, but rather seems to embrace the new found freedom that has resulted from the break with what they see as the tired ethics of their long-ago, less enlightened religious past.

Christians have not been idle while this has been going on. Falwell's moral majority launched the fight in the political arena in the early eighties and enjoyed some success, and Canadian organizations such as Tristan Emmanuel's ECP are doing what they can to bring about change in the Canadian parliament. Despite these efforts, Christians are losing the battle. The evidence is all around us - things on television and in movies are getting worse, not better.

The reason we're losing amounts to simple arithmetic. We live in a democracy, and those who want a return to moral decency are far outnumbered by those who want nothing to do with Christian ethics, which they perceive as primitive and regressive. In any battle, numbers mean everything and so we seem destined to lose in the long run.

But yet, what sometimes seems destined to be an obvious victory by a vastly superior army actually results in a protracted conflict as the weaker of the two armies resists all attempts to destroy it. This happens not on the battlefield, where armies oppose each other in open combat. It happens in the streets, and it happens in the home. It happens when the weaker army calls upon those people standing on the sidelines and enlists them to their fight. The weaker army grows in strength and numbers as they convince people of the righteousness of their cause. This kind of army can never be defeated, for every member who is killed in combat enlists two more fighters before they die. Eventually, the strong army must withdraw and accept their defeat. In combat, this is often referred to as "winning hearts and minds", and military commanders understand very well how important this phenomenon can be in turning the tide of war. That is how the early Christians overcame the greatest empire of it's time and toppled Rome itself. It was not by military might. It was with conviction, perseverance and righteousness.

That is what we have to do - take the fight to the streets and win the hearts and minds.

When you see something filthy on television, you can write to your government, but you will affect little change when there are ten other people in your own neighborhood who want even more violence and profanity to be permitted. But what if you introduced those ten people to Christ and permitted the Holy Spirit to guide what they watch on TV? Your single letter would turn into eleven. Likewise, you could petition the head of the network for higher standards, but what if his next-door neighbor invited him to Church next Sunday instead? If we each brought a single person to Christ, it would not take long to tip the scales.

I've written often about the futility of expecting non-Christians to accept the Christian standards of morality. When we stand back and call out to an indifferent society to change it's ways, all that happens is that Christianity is ridiculed, maligned and ignored. On that front, the war has already been lost. Our only hope is to win back the culture one person at a time.

The next time you see something obscene on television and decide it's time to enter the fray, stop first and look around your workplace or neighborhood and see if there is anyone on the sidelines whom you can enlist to the cause. Introduce him or her to Jesus Christ, and let them wade into the trenches by your side.

Light of the World

tom — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:34:21 -0700

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else" - C.S Lewis

It would be a mistake to think that Christianity does nothing more than tell us what happens when we die. It does even more than simply tell us how to live. The Word of God is the lens through which every thing else comes into focus. We need to learn to adopt Christianity as both a philosophy and a world view. Just as we are called to become like Christ in our personal lives, we are called to shape the world into the Kingdom of God, but we cannot hope to do that unless we understand it.

While most Christian thinkers defend Christianity by presenting either some sort of evidence or by offering some logical proof, the late Cornelius Van Til proposed a subtler type of approach. He used to encourage people to investigate Christianity by first getting them to assume it was all false, and then challenging them to explain the universe without it. Why are we here? Where did we come from? What are good and evil? In doing so, Van Til helped people to see for themselves that without a foundation in Christ, nothing makes sense. Christianity doesn't just have the answers to salvation, it has the answers to everything.

For example, Christianity helps us to see why Communism was such a wicked and dismal failure. In the days following the resurrection, Christ's disciples practiced a kind of communism and it was successful because every member placed the will of God first. However, modern-day communism denies God and so there is nothing to keep the power and authority in check. The Bible teaches us that without God, man is inherently sinful and communism has been the ultimate and unfortunate demonstration of that fact. Democracy, though far from perfect, works because it understands that power has the tendency to corrupt and so there are check and balances in place to protect us.

The Bible does not provide solutions for every problem we face in the world. It cannot specifically tell us what to do about gun violence, broken marriages, sexual immortality or rampant famine. What it can do is provide principles and a framework by which we can arrive at the correct solution. Things will get better in our lives and community when we start to see every problem from a Biblical perspective and then apply these principles consistently in our lives, our families, our work, our home and our governments.

If you want to know more about the "Christian worldview", one of the finest books I've found is How Now Shall We Live? It's a long, challenging read, but well worth the effort.

Family

Michael Lane — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:14:51 -0700

The front page article in this morning's "Metro" newspaper calls the state of child care in Canada a "chaotic mess". The statistics are staggering. Dr. Fraser Mustard estimates that "the cost of behavioral and mental health problems triggered by problems in early childhood to be 30 billion". It's a national disgrace, but one that is not entirely a surprise given the reports I hear from friends in the teaching profession. They claim that you can tell with a high degree of accuracy which children were raised in the home and which were raised in day-care. Their attitude, behavior and performance in school are dead giveaways.

This is a problem that is only going to get worse. Is there any reason to think that without intervention, the children of this generation will be better adjusted than their parents? If we don't get a handle on this problem, what will the "behavioral" problems look like in 40 years?

People sometimes ask me why God does not do more to reverse this slide into moral depravity. The fact is, God has given us the tools we need, but we've chosen not to use them. God gave us several institutions which were intended to serve as the framework for a healthy, well-adjusted society. Among these are church, family and government. The first two have all but disappeared from the daily lives of North Americans, and we watch in helpless terror as the third one gets more corrupt and bloated every day. Of these, it's family which has deteriorated the most in the last 50 years. Under the assault of divorce, sexual immorality, lack of responsibility and a desire to have every new luxury they can't afford, parents have all but taken away the very thing that children need the most - two loving parents.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I spent half an hour in Johnny Rockets, a small restaurant which is done up in a 50's style and exudes all the happiness and innocence of that age. We debated whether or not the 50's were really as free and happy as it is always portrayed, and we concluded that it probably was, for the most part, a far better time then the one in which we live. So, what was it about that time - which made it so special - that is now missing from our society? The answer is family.

50 years ago, the husband worked and the wife stayed home and raised the family. I am well aware how shockingly chauvinistic this sounds, but isn't this picture of family the way God intended it to be? I am not saying that women should not or cannot work. What I am saying is that when a couple makes a decision to have children, then one of them must make the sacrifice to stay home and raise those children, not shuffle them off to a day-care. Someone has to show those children the love and support they so desperately need in the tender first years. If both parents love their careers and their lifestyle, then something will have to give. Someone will have to make a sacrifice, and too often it's the children.

You can argue all you want, but the evidence is all around us. We will not stop this moral decay until we start defending the institution of the family. Sending children to day-care so that both parents can work and maintain their wealthy lifestyle is outrageous. However, the fact that in many low-income families, both parents have to work just to put food on the table is even more appalling. We need to make it possible and permissible for one parent to stay home with their children. If they cannot afford to, then we need to step up and make a change in funding policy which makes it affordable to do so. If parents don't want to, we need to help them see what it's doing to their children and to this country.

Pride

Michael Lane — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 22:47:12 -0800

There are many sins that cause trouble for Christians today, but one of the least understood is pride. We know what lust and greed look like, but sometimes pride can be subtle. Can you think of anyone in your congregation that has a real problem with greed, lust or anger? Perhaps not. These sins are found in private, behind closed doors. Can you think of anyone who has a problem with pride? I suspect you can, but even if you can't think of anyone, I'll wager that there is someone you're having trouble getting along with, or simply don't like and that pride is at the center of that situation and neither one of you realizes it.

It's easier to begin by understanding what humility is, for humility is the opposite of pride. Humility is not modesty or self-deprecation. There is no honor or value in trying to pretend that you have not done well when someone compliments you on an achievement. It does no good to pretend that something you have created is terrible when it is obviously very good. This is not humility - it's pride masquerading as modesty. People do this because they want you to think they are humble. They are proudly drawing your attention to their modesty!

Humility means that in all situations, you take pleasure in goodness, and give all glory and honor to God. If you are a musician and someone writes a beautiful song to glorify God, you should be equally pleased if you are the composer, or if the composer is someone you do not really like. If you lead a person to Christ, you should be very pleased, but should be just as pleased if they had come to Christ on their own. This is real humility, and when you see the opposite of this - the lack of any ability to take pleasure from a good thing unless you can derive some recognition - you find the real meaning of pride.

Pride lies behind all sorts of conflict in our families, our work and our churches. Think of the parishioner who exclaims "That sermon was terrible" when really it was a fine sermon, but it was delivered by the new Associate Pastor that got the job over their brother-in-law. This kind of thing is going on all the time. We need to see good things for what they really are, and stop looking at who they come from. All good things ultimately come from God and belong to Him. When we try to suppress and diminish them for our pride's sake, God is the one we are hurting the most.

The Highest Stakes

Michael Lane — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 22:43:24 -0800

This week, something happened that we had all been anticipating and discussing ever since the sextuplets were born in BC a few weeks ago. The surviving babies were taken from their parents and were given blood transfusions against their parent's will. Let me begin by saying I think the parents are theologically wrong. Their beliefs about blood transfusions (among many other things) are based on bad exegesis and from reading passages that are taken out of context and misunderstood. I don't want to get into a debate about the parents, but rather, I want to take a look at some of the reaction that ensued and show how this kind of viewpoint undermines the very core of faith itself.

Predictably, radio call-in shows and websites starting asking people what they thought. It's no surprise that the vast majority of respondents agreed with the government's decision. Frankly, I was surprised that anyone supported the parents, but there were a handful. It was the nonsense logic behind some of the government's supporters that really surprised me. One woman wrote, "If someone is going to die then their religious beliefs don't matter. " When, then, does it matter? If faith only matters when nothing is at stake, what good is it? How can a faith such as this ever save anyone?

Recall when John the Baptist, imprisoned and sentenced to die, asked his followers to go and ask Jesus if He was really the Messiah. Why now? John had seen much of what Jesus had done. He had heard the voice of God proclaim that Jesus was His son. Why does John doubt now? Because he is going to die - because now his faith really matters. No one wants to die for a lie. We get scared. We have to know that it was really worth something.

Remember the apocryphal story of the girl at Columbine who was asked if she believed in God and was shot when she replied that she did? I have not been able to verify that this ever happened, but put yourself in that position. Could you say the words to save your life as you imperil your soul? Many of would like the think we would stay true to the Lord and not falter, as John and Peter did.

What if instead of shooting you, the killer will shoot your child. Will you renounce God to save your child? Let that choice sink in for a moment. Can any of us, having not lived through it, imagine the suffering that comes from standing by while our children die, knowing that with a single word we could save them? What kind of faith does it take to say the words; to sentence your children to death because of what you believe?

Pray that your faith will never be tested this way, but if it does, then you will really know once and for all what you are made of. Do you believe only when it's safe, or will you pay the ultimate price for your faith? The tricky part is that our faith always matters because our eternal life hangs in the balance. What stakes could be higher than that?