Things I Think…
1. I got up this morning intending to lead off this column with a snarky bit about the “He Gets Us” campaign.
I’m old enough to remember the “I found It” campaign in the 70’s and still smirk about the “I lost it” bumper sticker I had on my car as a response. However…I decided to actually look at the videos and articles on this new evangelical outreach…and while it’s not theologically precise or clear about the Gospel…it has some merit as a conversation starter…focused around the person of Jesus, instead of doctrine.
They had me when they offered a free “Jesus was a refugee” t-shirt…
2. All the marketing in world will not stem the tide of exits from the church as long as it refuses to live by the standards it promotes…and clears out the same people Jesus would have…
3. I’ll listen to the argument that Christians should support godly political candidates…as soon as they produce a godly candidate…
4. I don’t believe Covid is over, but you do you…
5. The Bible offers absolutely no hope that nations or governments can be reformed…it actually tells us the opposite…
6. People who don’t believe that our pets will be present in the new heavens and new earth are usually people I hope are not present in the new heavens and the new earth…or at least not in close proximity…
7. Hockey legend Bobby Hull died Monday…he was a Hall of Famer on the ice and (at times) a hall of shamer off it…we aren’t supposed to celebrate the gifts he gave us because of the latter…I don’t accept this way of thinking…it encapsulates us all in our worst moments without recognizing any good…it’s a nasty way to live…and die…
8. We should acknowledge the dark sides of those we admire…it prevents idolatry. Acknowledging only the dark side leads to nothing but shame and a false sense of holiness…
9. The time to give a full overview of someones life is not an hour after they died…
10. The days are starting to get a little longer and for some reason, that makes me a little more hopeful…
#1 Glad to hear your comments about “He gets us”…I guess I’m OK with it if it leads to connection, but the price tag seems kinda steep. I can’t help but thinking about a famous (back in the day) book called “The Gospel Blimp” by Joe Bayly about a church that decides to rent a “gospel Blimp” to reach their neighbors. This just seems like a much more expensive, modern-day version of that…
bob1,
It may be…but it’s not my money. 🙂
I don’t think these campaigns avail much, but it’s better PR than usual…
My church (and I) were part of the old “I found it!” campaign. After all the work (training, phone banking, leafletling, outdoor meetings), my church gained one soul (who went on to be a very solid Christian), but it just seemed like such a waste of time and money. So, i’ve been pretty skeptical about the “He gets us” campaign. I just think there are better ways to spend all that money and reach people.
David French’s “Good Faith” podcast had the He Gets Us founder on for an interview… seems like he’s got his heart in the right place…
Michael,
You and are in total agreement with your thoughts expressed in #6 about pets in the Resurrection. If the Bible speak of the White Horse, adders, lions fellowshipping with lambs in the Resurrection, who’s to say that God cannot breathe life into animals? I mean, if he can change the very nature of water, fish, wine, etc….
I think you and I can also agree that this is just more than an emotional attachement to our pets, and more than just a deep desire to see them again. I would say that, although Scripture doesn’t come out and say “there will be animals in heaven”, I believe Scripture points in that direction.
Dan,
I think it says something quite negative about a theologians ideas of love and personhood to feel as if you need to “debunk” such a hope.
Johnny Mac comes to mind immediately.
Do I think there are better ways to use one’s money for the Kingdom of God that “He Gets Us”? – Yes
Do I wish there was more clarity around the Gospel with “He Gets Us”? – Yes
Do I think the people of “He Gets Us” are being far more faithful to Jesus than many of today’s prominent, more theologically-precise Christians (big and small)? – Yes
My wife briefly tried to use some logic with a friend of ours who doens’t believe animals will be with un in the Resurrection, and this guy is also a Johnny Mac fan. Logic didn’t work. I guess in some way he things whatever JM thinks.
On the other hand, we are hopeful. God holds the power of life in his hands.
KevinH,
There’s worse things than trying to start a real conversation about the real Jesus…
Dan,
I suspect that those folks will inherit the dreary kingdom they want…
Very beautiful video you posted Michael. Well spoken, and of course I think Scripture points in this direction of redemption of creation. Thank you!
#9 is spot on.
I had to laugh at #3
I kinda like the “He gets us” spots. Pretty creative. Will get people to think—if people still do that these days (think)
Wisdom begins with a fear of God. Michael is, IMHO, as honest as any Christian, but I pray for teachers in our pulpits that make us understand that the God we say we worship is HOLY and grace does have limits
Apparently I live under a rock. I’ve never heard of the He Gets Us stuff.
Em, what would you say are the so-called limits of grace?
#2 – Amen, and ouch!
#3 – Not gonna hold my breath on that one.
Hope for beasts of the field
No hope for nations
🤔
#3 I’ve always felt that it would be wrong for me to want put a godly candidate into the most ungodly system there is. #6 Not only will there be cats in heaven, they won’t make me sneeze! 🙂
“Godly candidate” is an oxymoron like “military intelligence” imo. Lying is part of politics. Politicians say what people want to hear. It’s how they obtain votes to get elected.
CaptainK, limits of grace? IMHO, that is for God to decide. Think I’ve tested it a time or two. 🤔
#9…. I have requested of my family that, upon my passing, there will be no funeral. I am to be cremated and my “ashess” placed with my husband’s in Mt. Tahoma – a military cemetery.
I’ll roll with #8–mucho verdad there. Like me, most find a good way to obscure the dark and highlight the appearance of good. We’re complex and the shame of the garden still dogs us.
figleaffil
Too funny to save for Open Blog….
I looked upstairs and there were my daughter’s shoes at the top of the stairs.
I called up, “LLynne, you okay?”
She was on the phone with her sister and they decided that I thought the rapture had occurred and I’d been left behind
#5
That’s true and not true in reality. Decline in all national systems seems inevitable, but some changes are good. Some efforts are obvious worthy causes. Not just speaking of the US. It’s the highly religious states that are sprinting for destruction, thinking Israel and Palestine at this very moment.
Reuben, food for thought indeed, but I suspect God has His hand on Israel right now!
Don’t know though do i? 🤔
Dread,
There is hope for the good creation to be restored.
That is the witness of Scripture.
All nations descend into beast likeness and only the kingdom of God shall remain.
I look forward to sharing a good bourbon with you as I introduce you to my cats on the other side…
Em,
Funerals and memorials are for the living…I’ve told my peeps that I don’t really care what they do with me…they need to make their best choices for themselves at the time. I suspect that I’ll be carted around in an urn until those to whom I matter join me…
Michael wrote:
“I look forward to sharing a good bourbon with you as I introduce you to my cats on the other side…”
I sincerely hope that ‘Heaven’ can be different for different folks.
Streets of gold and jewel encrusted vistas just ain’t my thing.
Michael @ 10:53am… More food for thought thank you, also
Em,
Lots of Christians believe god has some hand on Israel, my home country by the way. But what if god of the Bible were faced with a nation like Israel waging some holy war that has nothing to do with Jesus whatsoever?
Oh wait…
If anyone is not paying attention to news outside the US pointless crap, you see that Israel is swinging harder right than any MAGA hat could dream, and this is readying Palestine for way more than the usual tossing of some missiles. Israel is ready to drive every Muslim into the sea. The Parliament has lost any restraint it might have had on keeping things at bay because essentially Donald Trump times 10 is taking sole control of the country. If you believe “god” has his holy hand on that… to each their own, but I say Religion has again poisoned everything, and if god is not about religion, he condemns every last iota of what is happening this very minute.
Just a quick addition to that, Zionists are in fact Anti-Christ. So are these filthy Nationalists we have in the grand old god ordained USA.
I believe God does have His hand on Israel. That being said, and I know I could be wrong, I don’t think that modern Israel, forced into being in 1948, is the same Israel referenced in scripture.
Captain
If not present Israel which “Israel” does the scriptures refer to?
Jesus is the true Israel of God.
Modern Israel is simply a secular nation under no covenant with God.
Michael beat me to it. It’s no longer about the land.
Kevin
Ok.
Disclaimer: Not arguing or promoting and ideology. Looking to understand
The identification of true Israel has been debated. Some suggest it’s the church others, as already stated, believe it’s Jesus
So my question is, if either is true, what is to become of the old Israel? And what about Jewish believers today?
Thanks guys
Michael,
With all due respect, Israel and Palestine are not secular nations, they are in fact religious nations. Without the religion, the only explanation for any conflict there would be racism alone, and that holds no water.
The Israel of God is the Ot church and the NT church together in Christ…”old” Israel was simply the first people that God called to Himself.
Jewish believers today are outside the New Covenant, just as any other faith group without Christ…but Paul says he has hope for them.
Reuben,
I use the term secular in opposition to a nation in covenant with God…of which there are none today outside the exiles in Christ.
Michael @ 9:41
AMEN! ! !
Michael,
So in all due respect again, the primary definition of “secular” is out the window?
1) activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis.
The ENTIRE opposite is true of these two nations. Not just speculative, but ABSOLUTELY FACT.
Reuben,
You well know that theology uses different definitions…and I was clear about the definition I was using in context.
Israel is a secular political entity with religious influences…just like every government in the history of nations.