I do not think I deserve to be called a Christian. Most of my believing friends would probably disagree with that statement, but I think it is possible that some of my friends who do not believe in Jesus for eternal life would probably agree with me. To some of my unbelieving friends, I probably do not fit their idea of how a follower of Jesus should live, talk, and act.

And guess whose opinion is more important?

In this matter (as in many others), the opinion of those who do not believe in Jesus for eternal life trumps the opinion of those who do. So, I guess I cannot call myself a Christian.

And as I was thinking about this recently, I realized that this is exactly the point!

The first group of people who were called “Christians” did not claim the title for themselves. Instead, it was a title given to a group of people who not only believed in Jesus, and talked a lot about Him, but also lived like Him in generosity, service, forgiveness, and love. They were “called Christians” (Acts 11:26). I believe that the title “Christian” is like the British honorary title “Sir.” Neither are titles that can be taken; both can only be bestowed.

There are great masses of people today who like Jesus and think He and His teachings are great, but who want nothing to do with those who claim to be His followers, by those who claim to be “Christians.”

However, I firmly believe that if a group of people who believed in Jesus for eternal life, and committed themselves to living and loving like He commanded, a watching world would soon take notice, and declare, “Now here…Here is a group of people that could be called Christians, for here is a group who seems to take Jesus seriously and want to live like Him.”

To me, that would be the greatest honor I could receive in this life. I don’t want to take the name “Christian.” But if I could be called a Christian, now that would be something! If a person who is not a follower of Jesus could look at my life over years of observation and friendship, and say “You are what I imagined followers of Jesus to be like. You are a true Christian” I would consider my life a success.

So who is calling you a Christian? Is it just you and your other “Christian” friends? Do people who are not “Christians” look at your life and say that you just don’t look like the Jesus they read about in Scripture? If so, my guess is that you are claiming a title you have not yet earned.

Don’t call yourself a Christian until someone who is not a Christian calls you one first.

I attended a Mormon church last Sunday. I haven’t really had time to write about it much because I worked 15-16 hour days on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I took Thursday and Friday off, and then I go back to work on Saturday. In many ways, my wife feels like a single mother, so please pray for us. 

Anyway, after attending the Mormon church with my co-worker, below are a few of my initial observations as gleaned through my own personal conversations:

1. I am amazed that Mormonism is so popular since in many ways, their style of “worship” service is nearly identical to that of fundamental Baptists. They only use the King James Version, they pray using words like “thee,” “thy,” and “thou,” all the men come dressed is slacks and ties, and the entire morning lasted three hours, with a heavy emphasis on extended times of teaching. Since fundamental Baptists are seeing a rapid decline in attendance, but Mormons are on the rise, what is it about Mormonism that people find attractive?
2. Theologically, Mormonism does not seem to be as “wacked out” as some Christian critics portray them to be. In fact, when it comes to the doctrine of salvation, I could easily argue that Mormons are just as orthodox as many “evangelical protestants,” specifically in regard to the role of good works in salvation (in other words, they base it partly on their own works). Also, there are many similarities between a Mormon’s view of Joseph Smith and other groups within “Christendom” (e.g. Catholics and some Charismatics) who believe in some sort of apostolic succession or ongoing prophetic additions to Scripture.
3. They believe they are the one true church, and all others are in apostasy to one degree or another. They believe that Joseph Smith restored correct practice and doctrine as it was originally taught by Jesus Christ and Paul. Again, this idea is not unique to Mormons, as there are many groups and teachers who think they have a corner on the truth, and everybody else is in error.  
4. There are, of course, serious problems with Mormon theology and practice. For example, they don’t really believe in the Trinity the way most evangelical Christians do, and they don’t seem to believe that Jesus was eternally God. It is probably for these reasons that they are labeled a “cult.” Also, some of the primary practices of Mormons seem to be based on obscure passages of Scripture. For example, a common Mormon practice is baptism for dead ancestors, which is based on a particular interpretation of 1 Cor 15:29.
5. Most Mormons are convinced that their beliefs are correct because they had a supernatural experience which proved to them that what they believe is true. I have men many people within various brands of Christianity who argue along similar lines. It is next to impossible to convince such a person through logical reasoning and arguments that what they believe might not be true. As I have conversed with my Mormon co-workers about their faith, every time I bring up a question they don’t seem to be able to answer, they revert to talking about their experience (vision, dream, inner feeling, etc.) which proved to them the truth of what they believe, and then they tell me that if I really want to know the truth, I should pray for wisdom and ask God to give me a similar experience to reveal the truth to me.

There are numerous other things I could discuss, but these are the five that stand out to me right now. One thing I am becoming more and more convinced of is that before you go blast someones life, theology, or practice, you should not go read a book about them, but instead endeavor to become friends with someone of that group. Once you do, it will become impossible to blast them. Things are not as cut-and-dry, black-and-white as some speakers and authors would make you believe.

I wrote on Saturday about an evangelistic festival I took part in and some of my complaints about such efforts. My post was rather negative and critical, so I want to balance it with some constructive suggestions on how evangelism can be done differently and (in my opinion) more effectively.

The bottom line principle is that developing a genuine relationship with someone is simpler, cheaper, and more effective than putting on a big production. It takes hundreds of Christians hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to put on one “evangelistic” festival like the one I participated in, and yet, ironically, seemed to primarily attract Christians. But I believe that if those same Christians put the same amount of time, energy, and money into developing a few close relationships with a few non-Christians in their neighborhood or workplace, the results might be much different.

Here are some suggestions of what you can do this week:

1. Slow down at the doctor’s office this week and really visit with the administrative assistant about what is going on in her life. (But be aware of the people waiting in line behind you!)
2. Give your mailman a cold bottle of water and tell him to knock on your door every day to get another one from you (we have been doing this for close to a year now, and have developed a very good relationship with our mailman. We actually invited him over for dinner a while back!) Of course, this only works if you have a mailman who does his route on foot.
3. When you see your neighbor weeding her flower garden, go give her a hand.
4. Bake a plate of cookies and take them over to the elderly lady across the street. If she asks you to say for milk and cookies, do it!
5. Help your other neighbor put together his storage shed.
6. Get gas from the same gas station every week, and get to know the attendants by name.
7. Use the same check out person at the supermarket every time you go…even if their line is longer.  
8. If you pray over your meal when you eat out, tip your server at least 20%.
9. Hold a free block party where you invite everyone on your block over for a BBQ just so they can all get to know each other. Don’t do a devotional. Don’t invite them all to church. Don’t invite them back next week for a BBQ and Bible study. Just build relationships. This may cost you a couple hundred dollars, but it will be money well spent.
10. See the Doable Evangelism OA blog for more ideas.

I do believe that God can use “festival” evangelism like what I witnessed this past weekend. But in my experience, most non-Christians see such attempts as a half-baked, bait and switch, slightly entertaining, wasteful sales pitches. Christians exhaust themselves putting on such events, and few real relationships are formed. Such events are like fireworks: a lot of noisy flashes, but nothing of substance is left when the show is over.

So if you want to be involved in something of substance, build into the lives of the people whom God has already placed around you. If you begin to look, it is amazing who you will find. I realized just yesterday that six months ago, I didn’t know a single non-Christian by name. Then in the middle of January, something happend in my life which made me reassess all my goals and priorities. Now, six months later, most of my friends are non-Christians. I don’t say this to my credit, but only to show that relationships can be easily developed, if you look for the opportunities. And such relationships are generally cheaper, statistically more effective, and certainly more fun than the typical “evangelistic” event put on by most churches.

Who can you begin to develop a relationship with today?

I’m working this weekend at a Christian festival/concert called Celebrate Freedom. It’s put on by the Luis Palau association, and includes a couple dozen Christian bands, BMX shows, and lots of fun stuff for families. I was invited to set up a booth in the Family Fun Zone to introduce people to Chinese Juggling Sticks (remember my friend Lance?). I needed some help manning my booth, so invited my friend John to join me. He is slightly better at the sticks than I am. He is also a Buddhist. (I don’t think the two are connected.)

I didn’t tell him much about the festival for two reasons. First, I didn’t know much about it in the first place, and second, I wanted to see how he reacted.

At the end of the night, I asked him what his overall impressions were, and he said, “It’s just a big show…a production. I thought Jesus was about serving and helping other people, not about lights and loud speakers, and trying to act like Britney Spears. I’ve spent many years investigating all religions, and tonight has convinced me further that Christianity has nothing I want.”

Isn’t that the saddest statement you’ve ever heard? And it comes from one Buddhist observing a Christian “evangelistic” festival.

As soon as he showed up, the first thing he said was, “I didn’t realize this was only for Christians. Am I welcome here?” Ironically, this was an “evangelistic” event, but every single person I talked to was already attending a church somewhere, while John, the Buddhist, immediately felt unwelcome. I think it had something to do with all the Christian music blaring everywhere, the Christian symbols on every square inch, and everybody wearing Christian t-shirts.

The booth we had been assigned to was right near the Family Fun Zone Stage, and I wasn’t paying much attention to what was happening on the stage, but John sure was! After about half an hour, he came up to me and said, “So…uh…do most churches do Britney Spears impersonations and sing her songs…except change the words to be about Jesus?” Since I don’t listen to Britney Spears, I didn’t recognize the tune, but I glanced up at the stage and immediately saw what he was referring to. The girls were strutting around the stage in Britney Spears fashion singing a pop song about her love for Jesus. When the song was over, John turned to me and said, “Well, I can never listen to that song again. She just ruined it for me.” (I didn’t realize Buddhists listen to Britney Spears, but I guess some do.)

It was boiling hot out (nearly 100 degrees) and we both went through all our water in about an hour, so John went to find more. We were told there was going to be a hospitality booth for volunteers to get free water and food. The booth did not exist on Friday night, so he had to go buy water. He came back with a 12 oz bottle a few minutes later and wryly stated, “I now know how they can give tickets away for free. This bottle of water was $4.” (I had also noticed on my way in that there were numerous signs all over the place stating that outside coolers were not allowed to be brought in to the festival for “security reasons.” When I learned that they were charging $4 for water, I began to suspect that the “security reasons” were financial security.)

Anyway, about this time, the evangelist lady got up to give her talk to the kids, and so our booth had to shut down so there would be no distractions. Ironically, fifty feet away, another stage (for high school kids) was just getting jumping with a Christian rap group (more on that in a bit). Since our booth was shut down, we got to listen to the evangelistic talk. She began by having all the children repeat after her that they were sinners and God hates sin. She had them all raise hands if they had ever sinned. John got upset. “These are kids!” he said. “They don’t need to be told that God hates them!” (Notice that this is not quite what she said…but I didn’t try to correct him. The inference was definitely there). She went on to talk about the gap of sin that separates us from God and how the cross of Jesus can bridge that gap if we just believe that Jesus died on the cross.

Then there was a prayer time in which the kids were asked to repeat after her a prayer to ask Jesus into their heart. Then those who had repeated the prayer (i.e., all the kids) were invited to go to a counseling booth to fill out a response card and have someone talk to them more about Jesus. John rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything. I can only imagine what he was thinking, but the whole talk reminded me of brain washing: Get all the kids excited, then get them scared, then tell them to repeat things after you to make it all better.

Now back to the rap group. When they got up on the stage, John thought it was funny that our booth was asked to shut down to avoid distractions, but their rap almost made the evangelist on our stage impossible to hear. But he was more intrigued at the idea of “Christian rap.” When they first started he said, “Is that rap?” I told him it was Christian rap. He looked at me with a bewildered look, and said, “What does gang banging and gun running have to do with the gospel?” I laughed so hard. I explained to him that they are probably not rapping about gang banging and gun running, but about Jesus. He shook his head.

There were many more such incidents during the night, and I hope John comes on Saturday too. It is so refreshing for me to see the Christian production through new eyes. 

Have you ever tried so hard to do something for people who are not Christians, only to find out that only Christian come, and those few non-Christians who do come don’t stick around long? Maybe you should step back and take a look at what you are doing and how it might look to someone who has not grown up in the church. It truly is a bewildering spectacle.  

I worked an eighteen-hour day yesterday on four hours of sleep, and then got only four hours of sleep last night also. I’m exhausted. I’m actually quite dizzy today. As soon as I finish this post, I’m going to go mow my lawn. Consequently, this may be my last blog post!  Ha ha.

During that looong day, I was able to have several good conversations with two of the Mormons I work with. I really enjoyed getting to know them and discuss their beliefs with them. There are a lot of similarities with evangelical Christianity, and many strange differences as well. For example, they have a unique solution to the “What about those who have never heard?”dilemma. They practice “baptism for the dead” by which you can be baptized for a dead ancestor in order to give him or her the opportunity to spend eternity with God. The choice is still up to them, but since you were baptized for them, they can now make a choice they couldn’t have otherwise made.

They clearly are trying to “convert” me. I think I might visit one of their “temples” this weekend. I visited a Muslim Mosque last year, so I guess I’ll try a Mormon Temple too.

But all of this only reinforces my opinion that you should not condemn or judge a particular people group unless you are friends with someone from that people group (which then makes it nearly impossible to judge and condemn them). We need to try to get to know other people–with no strings attached (e.g. “I’ll befriend you so you become a Christian”)–so that we can love them. Too many of us “Christians” spend all our time pointing the finger at people we know nothing about. We think we know them because of something we read, or because of what some Christian teacher said. Then, based on this distorted knowledge, we feel justified in condemning and criticizing these people and their beliefs.

I’m not saying that criticisms cannot or should not be directed at other people. It should. But such criticisms must only take place within a genuine, on-going relationship with someone of that group, in which we invite and accept their criticism of us. If we cannot accept criticism from others in a peaceful manner, we must not give criticism either. Only in this way can we speak the truth in love.

So who have you been condemning and criticizing recently? Maybe you should take them out for dinner, and with absolutely no agenda to “fix their life” or “correct their beliefs” just strive to get to know them as a person. Such a practice will change your life. I guarantee it.

Do you know any pregnant teenagers? Chances are good that you do. Apparently, teenage pregnancy is on the rise this year, and some sociologists believe it may have something to do with the movies “Knocked Up” and “Juno” which portrayed two young women who became pregnant and decided not to abort. I don’t know if sociologists are right on this or not.

However, in a recent article in TIME magazine called “Postcard: Gloucester” (June 30, 2008, p. 8), it was reported that Gloucester (MA) High School is seeing four times the number of teenage pregnancies as last year. Initially, “some adults dismissed the statistic as a blip. …[But] School officials started looking into the matter…after an unusual number of girls began filing into the school clinic to find out if they were pregnant” with many of the girls repeatedly returning for multiple tests, and acting disappointed when they found out they were not pregnant.

It was soon discovered that many of the female students had made a pact with each other to get pregnant and raise their babies together.

Why would they do such a thing?

One student, a girl named Ireland who got pregnant as a freshman, said “They’re so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally.”

Are you loving other people unconditionally? It may be one of the greatest needs in our society today.

I know many of you have been praying for me, so I just wanted to update everybody and let you know that I got a job. It’s not glamorous, but it pays the bills (some of them at least!). I am learning to clean carpets. I work 12-14 hour days, five days a week (which will probably hinder my blogging ability). The job pays $10 an hour, but it is all I could get right now.

The company I am working for is called ZeroRez, and it is state-of-the-art, zero residue, green carpet cleaning. It doesn’t use soaps and chemicals, and it removes 95% of the moisture (others cleaners only remove about 70%) so it dries faster. And to top it off, there is no other carpet cleaning company in the world that cleans as well OR as green. If you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and want to get your carpets cleaned, go with ZeroRez. Of course, wait until I become a tech, so I will be able to come out and do it for you.

The most exciting thing about the job is who I am working with. Most of them are Mormons. As I rode around in the truck today, I was able to talk for two hours or more with a great young guy named Seth. We talked about the beliefs and popular misconceptions regarding Mormonism, and I look forward to talking with him more.