• have a daily “quiet time”
• have certain dress standards
• speak in tongues
• don’t go to movies
• have been baptized
• don’t drink alcohol
• don’t listen to rock music
• never miss a church service

… then you’re doing it wrong.

P.S. I used to think some of these things.

Update: Some people have also had trouble with these:

• don’t eat meat that has been sacrificed to an idol
• don’t eat with Gentiles
• am circumcised
• was baptized by Paul
• was baptized by Peter
• was baptized by Apollos

• From Charlie Boyd I learned not to let anyone tell me I need to do anything special or extra to merit God’s favor or attention. Working overtime to “keep all the rules” is not only unnecessary, but dangerous. (See the entire book of Galatians.)

• From Brian Onken I learned that God doesn’t need my help to accomplish His purposes. I’m welcome to come along for the ride (and even help out), but God will get done what He wants to get done, with or without me. (Calvin wasn’t all wrong.)

• From Tim Keller I learned that it’s okay to believe that Science just might have the answers, and to speculate that Genesis 1 just might be more poetry than narrative.

• From Jon Hand I learned that all truth is God’s truth. If something exhibits love, beauty or truth, God can be found therein, regardless if it is labeled Sacred or Secular. And I learned it’s okay to ask the big questions, the REALLY big ones, questions that might earn me funny looks in most churches.

I also learned from Jon and others that I didn’t have to be a Conservative to be a Christian. It’s okay to disagree with the evangelical world’s consensus on social issues like poverty, war, and homosexuality.

Deconstructing and rebuilding one’s faith is a normal, even necessary part of spirituality. Never stop asking yourself why you believe what you believe, and don’t be afraid to change it if necessary.

So. I think I’ve become more Emergent than anything else these days, with a dash of the Reformation thrown in for good measure. In the next few months, Jennifer and I hope to find a community here in Ann Arbor in which to continue our spiritual conversation.

Sometime during the evening, the conversation turned to movies.

In my experiences with modern Christianity, there are two main schools of thought on movies and media. The first is that almost every secular media item has at least some sprinkling of “objectionable elements”, which, when counted, contribute to the measurement of whether a Good Christian ought not to see or consume it. (This brings up other issues with which I will deal later). “Whoever is not with me is against me,” (Luke 11:23) is sometimes quoted, but I’m not sure if the context bears applying it here. Especially since Luke 9:49-50, where Jesus is telling his followers not to stop unofficial helpers from doing His work, saying “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you,” seems like a better fit to me.

The second is one by which I have more recently been stirred, and plays off the idea that all truth is God’s truth. Media communicates. Movies tell stories of life, death, redemption, love, loss, rebuilding. The characters aren’t perfect. Most of the characters in God’s story weren’t perfect, either. But He used their lives to illustrate parts of His character and plan. You can find aspects and illustrations of the Gospel in just about anything.

I almost posed the question to Jon tonight, but decided to write about it instead: how does one communicate that second, more inclusive idea to someone who is committed to the first, exclusive one (as I was brought up to believe)?

Feel free to discuss in the comments.

And contrary to my currently-cynical expectations of modern adolescents, a few kids are apparently listening and thinking about it.

Because of that, its near-blasphemous indictments against Christianity and Christ Himself will almost certainly confuse potential believers and give uninformed skeptics yet another reason to shun faith.

“Don’t buy this. Don’t read this because this is rotten food,” said Bertone, the highest ranking Catholic churchman to speak out against the blockbuster. “A lot of novels do good but this book is rotten food … it does harm, not good,” Bertone said in the 30-minute interview in the offices of the Vatican’s doctrinal department. Full Article

The team has been really supportive … for as paranoid as I’ve been (that I’m not doing it right), it’s gone really well. And although Pastor Kevin attended the second service, and I led for the third, he stayed a few minutes into the service and listened. I saw him standing at the back of the sanctuary.

Pastor Hans was at church, too. A little subdued, and still graphically dented from being hit in the forehead with a 90mph line drive on Monday night, but there. I told him he should be home in bed. At least the imprint of the stitches on the ball is almost gone.

Pastor Bolerjack outlined our building plan in his sermon. He drew parallels between the ten negative spies in Numbers 13-14 and the people who find all kinds of reasons why we will never be able to build on the proposed property. One naysayer had pointed out that because the land has such a high water table, we’ll never be able to build enough of a sewer system to support 6 gallons of drainage for each person in the building every day. Pastor Bolerjack pointed out that was like a person going to the bathroom 3 times every time they come to church, and that he wasn’t sure how that was possible. “Holy crap,” said Craig, behind me. I didn’t get all the humor of that until several minutes later. That’s ok, though … he didn’t mean it anyway.

Anyway, here are some of the most interesting articles that I’ve read about it. If you don’t know much about this movie yet, read Witness to the Passion first.

• Witness to the Passion
• Jim Caviezel Speaks to Broadcasters about Playing Jesus
• Dr. James Dobson: The Greatest Story Ever Told

And, you can watch the trailer.