In June of 2006, Barack Obama gave the keynote address at the Call to Renewal. In this address, he clearly describes his view of the role of religion in the public square. This view is certainly not original to him; it is shared by many liberal academics. Here it is:

Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.

 

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Calling... it's a concept that I've not been able to define very clearly. Even after choosing to live cross culturally for 24 years, I feel sort of vague about what the word means.

I think this is because "calling" can come in such a beautiful array of shapes and shades. I know people who can confidently say, "I was called to (some specific spot or people group) when I was 10 years old." Others say, "I received the call during my first year in college," or "...at Urbana," or whatever.

But that's not really how it was for me.

I was raised by parents who were in full-time ministry. For 8 of my growing up years we lived in Europe, splitting time, 4 years and 4 years, between Sweden and England. It was great. I loved each place.

After teaching the Bible studies for the past month I've been asked to preach in church here for the first time.  I'll be teaching at the service for the youth (16-25) tonight.  "What did you do your first ever sermon on", you may ask.  For the curious, here are my notes:

[Edit: I've edited these from my original notes to closer to what I ended up saying]The Holiness of God

Tonight I want to talk to you about the holiness of God.  I think a lot of times in church we talk about what God says to us and what it means for our lives; which is good!  It is good that we talk about what it means to live a Christian life.  It is good that we talk about HOW to be single or married and Christian.  It is good to talk about HOW we should handle our money.  It is good that we talk about HOW Christians should handle anger, suffering, or sex.

But a lot of times we are only asking certain questions: HOW, WHAT, WHERE, and WHEN instead of asking the two most important questions.

We talk about those good things and we ask those good questions but we forget to ask WHO.  WHO is God?  And because we don’t look at the question of WHO, we don’t understand WHY.  If we don’t understand WHO God is, all of the things that make Him God, then we won’t truly understand WHY we should love God, worship God, and obey God.

For example, I know what my wife likes me to do.  I know she likes it when I wash the dishes.  I know she likes it when I cook for her.  I know she likes it when we make decisions together.  And all of that is good, but I do those things based on what I know of WHO she is.  WHY I do those things, WHY I love her, is because of WHO she is.

It is similar with God.  We have to see WHO God is - - and the beginning of understanding WHO God is, is understanding His holiness.

What is holiness?

On one hand, God’s holiness is His supremacy and authority. Genesis 1-2 and John 1 tell us that God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them.  He is the one who created all things, because He created everything, He is greater than the things He created. 

On the other hand, God’s holiness is His moral perfection.  God is absolutely perfect in every way.  There is no sin or evil in God.  1 John 1:5 tells us that “God is light.  In Him there is no darkness at all.”  Everything He does is perfect and good.

These two characteristics tell us that God is unique every way, because He was not created, He is CREATOR.  He is wholly separate from us and everything else He made because it all came FROM Him.  He is wholly separate and unique from us and everything else He made because sin has corrupted us and He alone is perfect.

I want to look at two passages that talk about God’s holiness.  The first is Isaiah 6:1-8.

Read Isaiah 6:1-8.

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seatedon a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered theirfaces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 Andthey were calling to one another:

 "Holy, holy, holy is theLORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of hisglory."

 4 At the soundof their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filledwith smoke.  5 "Woe tome!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and Ilive among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORDAlmighty."

6 Then one ofthe seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken withtongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, thishas touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

 8 Then I heardthe voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go forus?"

 And I said, "Here am I. Sendme!"

Lately, I have had a very complaining attitude about things going on in my life, at my church, etc. But today, I was reminded that I need to gain some perspective. Here is the story:

It actually begins a couple days ago. A man named Joseph called me on the phone saying that he needed some gas money. To give you some background, one of the things I do at my church is work with people who are in need, and help to meet those needs or connect them with those who can. So picking up the phone and beginning the conversation is where the often difficult task of discernment of the true need begins.

Joseph jumps into a story that in short involves long lost friendship, recent re-connection, and the discovery that his long lost friend, Christine, now has Crone’s Disease, which has not only wreaked havoc on her body, but also contributed to her husband leaving, and most of her friends abandoning her as dead.

I recently came across a remarkable ancient Hebrew prayer which begins with an astoundingly crass complaint: "Yahweh, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me."

Apparently, the writer blamed God for his lack of popularity. But who could be so arrogant as to slander a blameless and holy God for his own laughably insignificant troubles? The audacity! Who, exactly, did this ninny think he was dealing with? If he possessed a passable understanding of the Biblical God, he would never dare to utter such faithless words.

The accusation is so childish, so crude, that I was tempted to slam the text in disgust. Except that the text is the Bible and the whiner is Jeremiah... the prophet... who is in heaven with God. And as these things tend to go, the Bible slams those who are enticed to slam it.

I think some of you might be interested in the following conversation on morality and politics. You'll learn how a liberal's gut reactions differ from a (social) conservative's gut reactions, and why (social) conservatives are happier than liberals.

http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/13700

BONUS!

A conversation on the role of religion in our society between Brian McLaren and Richard Land:

http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/13613

A question.

In a large portion of the Christianity, particularly the younger generation, the orthodox tenets of the faith are being 're-imagined', 're-painted', and ultimately 're-written'.  I believe much of this is being done in the name of cultural relevance instead of in the name of Jesus, with Biblical truth bowing to popular culture; not for the sake of evangelism but for the sake of acceptance.

The Bible, our highest authority and truth, finds itself secondary to, among other things, cultural trends, popular opinion, therapeutic needs, and entertainment.

In an article, David Wells quoted radical deconstructionist Stanley Fish as saying, "since there is no such thing as truth, all that we have left is power, politics, and persuasion."

In a time when American culture as a whole seems hopelessly adrift and when some in the Church are cutting loose their anchors and sawing down their masts to drift ever more efficiently, is this true?

In the absence of Biblical truth, is the Church left with only power, politics, and persuasion?

If so, what do we even have to offer the world but more of the same?

I often tell my children an apocryphal story about Nicholas of Myra's courageous stand against blasphemy at the Council of Nicea in 325.

Here's how it goes:

"A long time ago--just a few hundred years after Jesus rose from the dead--all the Christian pastors went to a city called Nicea to talk about some important things. There were a lot of great men there; many of them had been beaten up for telling people about Jesus and some had almost died. Still, none of them ever gave up believing in Jesus because they loved him so much... and the people loved them too.

"One of the great men at Nicea was Athanasius. You know about Athanasius because we named your baby brother after him. Another great man at Nicea was Nicholas of Myra. Today, everybody calls him Santa Claus. Nicholas was good--he was kind to the people, he gave money to the poor, and he told them the truth about God. But there was also a very bad man at Nicea named Arius who told a lot of lies. You've heard of Arius because we named the iguana that used to live in our courtyard after him. (Remember how we would yell, "Get out of here, Arius, you ugly lizard!" as it crawled along our fence?)

Pop-theology is awash with conspiracy theories. We're breathlessly informed that the church (that omnipotent, crafty monolith) suppresses evidence that Jesus developed his philosophy in an Indian ashram, or that he survived his crucifixion, or that he fathered a child with Mary Magdalene, or that religious bullies hijacked his original message of peace and equality in order to illicitly place his imprimatur upon their own strange metaphysical theories.

On his blog, Five Sacred Crossings, Craig Hazen aptly calls conspiracy theories "the fruit of the soul's dark regions" and notes that such nincompoopery tends to emerge from the fertile ground of blind contempt. Once it has thoroughly poisoned a soul, this emotional vice creates dark regions from which bombastic conjectures grow like diseased fruit. That's why, to use his example, those who obsessively villanize George Bush find it easy to believe almost any outlandish rumor about his nefarious scheming. After all, if you're going to beat a dog, does it really matter what kind of stick you use?