Wonderful, Great, OPPRESSIVE China

From Voice of the Martyrs comes this story:

Pastor Zhang “Bike” Mingxuan, known for traveling across China on a bicycle to evangelize, was arrested by Chinese police just two days before the Olympics began. Pastor Bike was the inspiration for the recent partnership between The Voice of the Martyrs and China Aid Association to create the Olympic Prayer Band.

This story came across on an e-mail alert and is not posted on the website. Here are some more stories of the "benevolent" regime of China showing "openness and tolerance" toward citizens who follow Christ.

While Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Bob Costas and the other NBC lackies fawn over how wonderful China is, remember that the Communist government of China is jailing people for being Christians.

Unintended Consequences

We just finished reading Leszek Kołakowski's book Modernity on Endless Trial for my Twentieth Century European History class. For the last several years I have considered the debate between modernity and post-modernity, which are both slippery terms to define.

One thing from the book that captured my attention was the author's thoughts on the Reformation. Kołakowski was a Marxist who converted to Catholicism, which accounts for his dim view of Protestants, especially the Reformers, and particularly John Calvin.

He effectively says that the Reformation brought about the downfall of Christianity. Calvin sought a return to apostolic Christianity. In the process he marginalized Aquinas, as a theologian, and many of the church fathers. The result was not a return to more authentic Christianity, but that the Church in the process was stripped of is moorings to past. It was now adrift, tossed about on the waves of secular reason. What followed were the deists and proponents for natural religion.

What this says is that we, as Christians, need to be careful about how we handle our differences with fellow Christ followers who have a different take.

The Cross as a Christmas Symbol

Several years ago, I was driving around admiring Christmas lights in our town. One house had a cross on the roof. I thought, What a strange thing.

Later, I got to thinking about it. The cross is really a symbol of Christmas. If it was not for the cross, the manger would be meaningless.

Secular commercialism has made Christmas the biggest day of the Christian calendar. We get a couple weeks off of school. We spent way too much money on gifts. Christmas has become the center of the Christian year.

The truth is that Passion Week/Easter is (or should be) the center the Christian year. The cross, not the manger, is the main symbol of Christianity. If Jesus does not die and raise again, we are doing a bunch of meaningless stuff. The virgin birth means nothing without the empty tomb.

We need to celebrate Christmas with one eye on the cross.

Salvation

Ever since the Philippian jailer asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" people have wondered what salvation is and how it works.

Salvation has always been a somewhat mysterious thing for me. My dad has a picture of the church where he was saved. He can point to a day and time when it happened. I am not so sure about my own story. I told the Ministerial Board (when I was going through ordination) that I was saved in Vacation Bible School. That is not incorrect, as it is one of the many times I repeated the "Sinner's Prayer," after have the fear of Hell put in me.

I have a basic understanding of what most mainstream theological traditions believe about salvation, but it is oversimplified. The thing is that oversimplification are often quite accurate.

As I said, I repeated the "Sinner's Prayer," periodically through my childhood and teenage years. I want to take a look at it all through various lenses of interpretation.

First, my Calvinist friends would say that I was only saved once, because once you have been saved that is it. You are done. So, I could have been saved the first time I said the prayer. All the others were meaningless because I was already saved. The thing is, though, it may not have been sincere the first time. It does not really count until it is sincere. Even though, I was sincere every time I prayed it. Why else would I bother?

Second, my Catholic friends (and even a large segment of Protestants) would say that I was not saved until I was baptized, which occurred in the Spring of my freshman year in high school. I, again, cannot remember the date. (I imagine that I have a certificate, or something, lying around the house.) All the prayers and everything really did not mean anything until I was put in the water. And, I was immersed for those who discount sprinkling and pouring.

Third, my fellow Arminian-Wesleyans would insist that if I was saved, I must have back-slidden, again repeatedly. We can be saved, then back-slide, then get saved, then back-slide, then get saved... You get the picture. I always hoped that if I died, I died while I was saved, not back-slidden. We push the boulder up the hill, only to have it roll down.

To be sure, I am not questioning whether or not I am saved. My point is this: what do we really know about salvation anyway? Do we really know anything about the mechanics of it? Does everyone have to be saved the same way? I mean, if a boat sinks, some people are rescued by helicopter. Some are rescued by swimming to shore (assuming land is nearby). Some are saved by other ships. Some are saved by life rafts. Some are never saved. Does any theological tradition have a monopoly on the understanding of salvation, to the exclusion of everyone else?

Wasteful Christians

One thing has always bugged be about some attitudes within the Christian community. One of those attitudes is wastefulness. My mom works at a Christian daycare. She is constantly bringing food home from the daycare that they were just going to throw away. It ranges from cereal bars to sweet-and-sour chicken (not sure why they get that for a daycare) to baked beans to bread. If she would not take it, it would wind up in the dumpster.

The sad thing is that there is a homeless shelter not too far from the daycare (5 miles or so) that is always in need of food. I guess we have forgotten about the biblical command to feed the hungry.

Marketing Jesus

I was thumbing through the catalog of a local Christian bookstore yesterday. I should not say "book," as there were few books. It was mostly cheesy junk. There were doormats, candle holders, wall hanging, jewelry, clothing, and so on.

My wife was looking over my shoulder and commented, "Does everything have to have a Bible verse on it?"

Everything had a cross, picture of Jesus or Bible verse (or some combination thereof). It is now possible to everything to furnish your home that is totally Christian. Pens, t-shirts, ties, etc. It was all there.

Is this something necessary? Or, is this a marketing scheme to line the pockets of those who produce this stuff?

Is Jesus something to be marketed like a car or insurance? Or, is he someone whom we should be sharing with others?

Sometimes, I think that we put this stuff out so people can see it, and we think I am wearing a Christian t-shirt, so I've done my part sharing Jesus.

Overweight Christians

My fellow blogger, recently blogged this. He talks about the focus of food in church fellowships. Here is an article in the same vein.

I admit that I struggle with food sometimes. It just tastes soooooo good. I find myself trying make the buffet restaurant lose money when I eat there. So, now, I try to avoid such places.

We, as Christians, avoid the awful "vices" of the world (smoking, drinking, etc.), but eating, no way. We eat every time we get together. Donuts for Sunday school. High fat stuff at potlucks. Pancake suppers. Men's breakfast at McDonald's. The list could go on.