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Best Blogs of the Week

By Jeremy Myers
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Best Blogs of the Week

Here are some of my favorite blog quotes from the week. Enjoy!

Bill, at NT/History Blog writes about the history of pastoral ministry:

Historically, the institutionalized practice of Protestant Pastoring is based on the traditionally pastoral duties of Catholic Priesthood. Which is fine. But neither Peter, Paul, Timothy, Titus, Priscilla, Aquilla, nor even Apollos engaged in the daily activities of Pastors/Priests as we know them today. Jesus’ brother James comes the closest, in Jerusalem, but where do we see him (or anyone else) preach once a week? Preside over the sacraments? Legally preside over all administrative business, while being supervised by an elder “board”? Etc…

Jamie, the Very Worst Missionary, sprinkles some great thoughts about discipleship in a post that has nothing to do with discipleship:

In the past week, as I’ve responded to email inquiries about our work here, I’ve probably used the word “discipleship” about 600 times. It’s one of those funny words that really loses all meaning outside of Christian circles. I hate words like that. I hate it when we “fellowship” instead ofย hang out and I hate it when we “break bread” together instead of just, ya know,ย eating. I hate it when we try to distinguish the lines between what is spiritual and what is not. As if it’s even possible to separate the parts of our day into moments which include God and moments which don’t. I mean, that’s just silly. Nevertheless, I believe in “discipleship”…Ok, I usually just call it “friendship”, but whatever.

Felicity Dale compares spiritual leadership with parenting. This is a great (and biblical) parallel:

A good parent will not do something for their kids that they could do for themselves. They assist their kids towards maturity in every area of life. Their goal is that their kids don’t remain dependent on them any longer than necessary, but that a healthy interdependence results. In a healthy family, the kids will leave home and start their own families.

Everything from Brad Brisco is good, including a great reminder about “What is missional?”

I would argue that those who believe missional is merely an add-on to current church activities, or perhaps even a passing craze prevalent only among church leaders, have simply not fully grasped the magnitude of the missional conversation. While it may sound like hyperbole; the move towards missional involves no less than a complete and thorough recalibration of the form and function of the church of Jesus.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Blogging, Discipleship

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A Letter to Christian Songwriters

By Jeremy Myers
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A Letter to Christian Songwriters

Dear Christian Songwriter,

I would like to ask you to stop writing songs.

It is clear that most of you have not experienced the pain and tragedy of life, and until you do, your songs are empty and void of meaning. Sure, you can put together a nice melody which causes people to hug and sway, but is this really what you want to accomplish through your music? If so, then ignore the rest of this letter.

But if you want your music to actually connect with people–including men–I have a few suggestions.

First, Jesus is not my boyfriend.

Jesus and I are friends, but as a man, I don’t really want to be in his arms, feel his breath on my cheek, or lay my head on his chest.

These songs make me shiver. And not in a good way.

I don’t want to hold his hand, sit on his lap, or kiss him. What’s next? A lap dance for Jesus?

Second, enough already with the blood.

I don’t want to sing about fountains of the precious blood of Jesus. Such an image belongs in a horror movie, not in a church song…unless you’re going for horror, then it might be appropriate.

I mean, if you want to write a Gothic, soul-shrieking song about his torture and death on the cross, fine. ย But don’t write a tune that sounds like you are dancing on the rainbows, and then pair it with lyrics about blood and gore. It just doesn’t work.

Third, more pain please.

I know, I know. Church songs are supposed to be uplifting and encouraging. But do you want to know what is really uplifting and encouraging?

People who deal with reality.

Most of the people in the pews are facing intense amounts of pain, loneliness, despair, hurt, fear, depression, heartache, loss, anger, frustration, bitterness, resentment, and _________ (fill in the blank for the next two pages).

When we write songs about being “happy, happy, happy all the time” it makes people just feel worse. They think, “Am I really supposed to be happy all the time? I’m not. What is wrong with me?” And then their pain, loneliness, despair, hurt, fear, depression, heartache, loss, anger, frustration, bitterness, resentment, etc., etc., only gets worse.

If you songwriters are not experiencing this kind of pain, then you should stop writing songs. Can there be happy, joyful songs? Yes, but only in the midst of the pain.

Some song suggestions.

To see what kind of songs I’m looking for, read the songs David wrote. You can find them in the middle of your Bible.

The first 100 or so are full of pain, loneliness, despair, hurt…etc. I think if he were writing songs today, they might go something like this:

I hate him God, I hate him!
Slash his tires,
May his house start on fire.
Let him get sick and die!

As I write those suggested lyrics, I am imaginingย a wailing grunge guitar, with some angry thrashing on the drums, and a guy screaming into the microphone.

Or maybe this:

Where are you God?
You said you will never leave.
But I don’t see you,
And so I don’t believe.

That melody would have the wistful feeling of being lost. A sense of discordant searching, but never settling or finding the right tempo and beat.

And I know these aren’t the best lyrics, but I’m not a songwriter. You are.

One more suggestion. You know what songs I would really like to hear? Songs from the perspective of orphans and widows who have been sold into sex slavery. Songs from prostitutes who are still selling themselves. Songs of drug addicts who have not been delivered. Do any of them still believe in God? If so, what do they sing? I think that would be the most beautiful and moving music ever.


God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship

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Money, Tithing, and Greed

By Jeremy Myers
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Money, Tithing, and Greed

One of the bloggers I read is Greg Boyd. I have also read several of his books. Here is a post he made back in 2007 which deserves a repost:

Itโ€™s hard to deny that capitalism is the best economic system around. It creates wealth far better than feudalism, communism, som or any other system one could name. But for all its advantages, capitalism has one major drawback that Kingdom people need to be concerned about: capitalism requires people to stay perpetually hungry for more. If Americans as a whole ever followed Paulโ€™s instruction to be content with basic food and clothing and not pursue wealth (1 Tim. 6:6-11), our economy would come to a grinding halt. The undeniable truth is that capitalism runs on greed.

So itโ€™s not surprising that people raised on capitalism tend to be greedy. We donโ€™t think of ourselves as greedy, for itโ€™s hard for fish to notice the water inside their own aquarium. But the evidence is all around us.

Americans enjoy a lifestyle that is about four times the global average. Yet we on average spend 97 to 98 percent of our wealth on ourselves โ€“ despite the fact that close to a billion people live on the threshold of starvation with 40,000 dying each day of issues related to poverty, malnutrition and preventable or treatable disease. This is greed. We are hoarding resources while neighbors lack adequate food, shelter and medicine.

This should greatly concern followers of Jesus, for Jesus had a lot to say about greed and the need to care for the poor. Jesus lists greed as a sin right next to adultery (Mk 7:22). He criticized the religious heroes of his day for being preoccupied with maintaining a nice religious exterior while their hearts were full of โ€œgreed and self-indulgence” (Mt. 3:25; Lk 11:39). These people meticulously followed religious rules, but because they loved money (Lk 16:14) they โ€œneglected the more important matters of the lawโ€ which include โ€œjusticeโ€ and โ€œmercyโ€ (Mt. 23:23). In other words, their religious appearance notwithstanding, these people hoarded resources and didnโ€™t share with the poor. For Jesus, this omission rendered the rest of their religious behavior irrelevant.

Along the same lines, when a man wanted Jesus to settle a legal dispute with his older brother over how much of the family inheritance he should receive, Jesus said, โ€œMan, who appointed me a judge or an arbitrator between youโ€ (Lk 12:13-14). He was basically asking the man, โ€œDo I look like your lawyerโ€? (Notice how Jesus refused to get pulled into politics!) He then warned the man, โ€œWatch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for life does not consist in an abundance of possessionsโ€ (vs. 15). โ€œHowever you work out your legal and political issues,โ€ Jesus was saying, โ€œnever let greed get lodged in your heart.โ€

Jesus then drove the point home further with a parable about a farmer who โ€œyielded an abundant harvestโ€ — so abundant that he didnโ€™t have adequate storage space for it. After thinking about the matter, he decided heโ€™d simply tear down his barns and build bigger ones to store his surplus food. He could then โ€œ[t]ake life easy; eat, drink and be merryโ€ (vss. 16-19). In other words, with his stored-up wealth he could retire and live โ€œthe good life.โ€

I suspect most of us Americans would have thought the same way. The man frankly seems to be guilty of nothing worse than being a good capitalist! You come upon some extra cash, so you enjoy life more and retire a little early. Itโ€™s called โ€œthe American dream.โ€ Whatโ€™s the big deal?

Yet, Jesus taught that God called the man a โ€œfool,โ€ for it turned out this man was going to die that very night. And then, most ominously, Jesus said, โ€œThis is how it will be with those who store up things for themselves but are not rich towards Godโ€ (12:20-21).

The problem was not that the man happened to get wealthy. While riches are considered dangerous and the pursuit of wealth is forbidden (I Tim. 6:9-10), neither the Old nor the New Testament takes issue with wealth as such. The problem with the wealthy farmer was that he was not also โ€œrich towards God.โ€ He didnโ€™t submit his (God-given!) wealth to God but instead considered only how he and his family could benefit from his fortunate harvest. In other words, he was greedy.

Jesus tells us that unless we give up all our possessions we cannot be a disciple of his (Lk 14:33). I donโ€™t interpret this to mean that we canโ€™t legally own anything, since most of the disciples he was speaking to continued to earn money and live in houses. But it does mean we canโ€™t consider anything we legally own, or any money we legally earn, to be our possession. They belong to God, and as such, we are called to seek his will as to how our wealth should be spent. Whatever he allows us to enjoy, we should enjoy (I Tim. 6:17). But whatever he leads us to share with the poor and invest in our churches, we must obediently let go of.

There is no fixed percentage given in the New Testament about what percentage of a personโ€™s wealth they are allowed to keep. But given that most of us Americans are the wealthiest people on the planet, and given that weโ€™re surrounded by people who are starving to death, we need to seriously question whether weโ€™re really listening to and obeying God if weโ€™re keeping 97% of our wealth for ourselves.

What do you think. Is he right, or can we just call him a “sot” and go back to purchasing everything we set eyes on?

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, Theology of Salvation

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Wilderness Stories

By Jeremy Myers
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Wilderness Stories

My post from yesterday was part of the March Synchroblog. Here are links to the others who participated. There are some good posts here, so go check them out.

  • Patrick (at Dual Ravens) was prolific with a four part series called โ€œMusingsโ€ and they can be found here:ย Part One,ย Part Two,ย Part Three andย Part Four
  • Katherine Gunn at A Voice in the Desert writesย What is Wilderness?
  • Wendy McCaig giving us a View from the Bridge bringsย A Voice Calling in the Wilderness
  • EmmaNadine who describes Life By List wonders aboutย Life in the Wilderness
  • Tammy Carter of Blessing the Beloved is taking a rest as sheย Puts down the axe
  • Kathy Escobar shares the carnival in my head and writes aboutย belonging
  • Steve Hayes of Methodius describesย Anatomy of exile
  • Marta Layton at Martaโ€™s Mathoms writesย On Sabbaths, Mountain-Topsโ€ฆ and Brothersโ€™ Keepers
  • Liz Dyer at Grace Rules discoversย Beauty In The Wilderness

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Blogging, Discipleship

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The Gaping Chasm of Suicide

By Jeremy Myers
36 Comments

The Gaping Chasm of Suicide

The following is something I wrote in July of 2008 while in the midst of a time of deep despair and discouragement. I had not read this again until last week, and it was surreal for me to remember what I thought and felt back then.

I never posted it because I was scared by what I wrote. Looking back now, I am also ashamed of how I reacted. What happened to me is nowhere near as bad as what happens to some people every single day, and they handle their trials way better than I did. But I am posting it now because I hope it can encourage others who might be facing something similar. I apologize for the length.

* * * * *

No Christian has really lived until they have stared into the glowing eyes of atheism, staggered along the gaping chasm of suicide, and camped near the smoking gates of hell. But thatโ€™s where Iโ€™ve been for about six months.

And Iโ€™m not on a sightseeing tour. Iโ€™m not taking pictures. Iโ€™m not buying trinkets to take home and put on my bookshelf and show off to my Christian friends. No, Iโ€™m here for life.

Even if I do find my way back out of this pit, and get back home with some souvenirs, I donโ€™t have many Christian friends left to show them to. When I began this descent into depression, despair, and doubt, those that didn’t shoot at me while I fell, simply abandoned me. No calls. No e-mails. No letters. Even when I cried out for help, the most frequent response (if I got any response at all) was, โ€œIโ€™ll be praying for you.โ€

At first, I was bitter. But then I realized I brought this all on myself. You see, I grew up in a Christian home. My father was a pastor of one of the largest churches in town. I attended a Christian school, then went to a Christian college. After college, I spent five years as a pastor before enrolling in a leading Christian seminary to get a four-year Masterโ€™s degree in Bible and Theology. While in seminary, I worked as an editor in a Christian non-profit publishing and conference organization. As I neared graduation, I put together my resume so that I could get back into pastoral ministry. The placement counselor of the seminary told me that he had never seen a resume like mine, and that I could basically write my own ticket to nearly any church on their list.

Thatโ€™s when my world began to fall apart. As I began to look at these churches that might want to hire me, I realized that I didn’t want to pastor a single one of them. They all had nice buildings, and lots of smiling, happy people with thick wallets. If I got a job with one of these churches, I and my family would have led comfortable, safe, and secure lives. I probably could have risen in the ranks of church hierarchy, written a few books, and been asked to speak at conferences.

But as I looked at these churches, I began to get quite alarmed. Despite all their talk about missions and evangelism, not a single one of the churches I was looking at were doing much to reach, love, and serve those in their own communities that needed Jesus most. Oh sure, they courted the businessmen, the lawyers, and the doctors, and mail checks to the missionaries in Nigeria, and send a team to build a medical clinic in Bolivia. They had groups that served down at the local soup kitchen, and a few radical souls who hand out tracts on the street corners downtown. But as I looked around these churches, there were no poor, no homeless, no prostitutes, no atheists, no drug addicts. There definitely weren’t any democrats. Apparently, such people could be prayed for, but were not allowed to actually attend church.

Thatโ€™s when I realized that I no longer wanted to be a pastor in the type of church that would want to hire someone like me.

So I began to change how I prayed. And that was the biggest mistake of my life.

I prayed that God would help me love people that most churches loved to hate. Democrats, pornographers, and abortion doctors. I prayed that God would help me reach people that most Christians saw as unreachable. Homosexuals, prostitutes, strippers, and atheists. I prayed that God would help me understand what people are going through when they turn to drugs, alcohol, suicide, and crime as a way to solve or forget their problems.

In hindsight, I wish these were prayers God had said โ€œNoโ€ to.

Jesus, out of his great love for us, came to earth to become like us and dwell among us. I guess God thought that if I wanted to reach people that many Christiansย weren’tย reaching, I needed to become like them and experience what they were experiencing. I suspected that some of this might happen, and so tried to enter their world. But Iย didn’tย understand how deep and how fast the floor would fall out from under me.

As I was praying, I began making attempts to enter the world of the people I wanted to love. Not knowing where to begin, I read books, blogs, and articles that challenged the way I had been taught. I saw that much of what I believed depended upon a very narrow and relatively recent tradition. Thatย doesn’tย make this tradition automatically wrong, but it did require me to honestly delve into alternative explanations.

Tragically, I made the mistake of letting some of my Christian friends know what I was studying, and what questions I was pursuing. I predicted that a few of the more fundamental types would call me a heretic for asking such questions, but I was not prepared for what happened. With the exception of two or three friends (who were having the same questions I was), all my friends banded together, tied me up, and through me off the train. I overheard one friend telling another that for the sake of the ministry, they needed to “throw me under the bus.” I kid you not.

A few, going well beyond calling me a heretic, labeled me an apostate, and consigned me to hell unless I repented and returned to their definition of orthodoxy. All of this was done under the guise of Christian love and concern. Apparently, for someone in my situation, the most loving thing to do was โ€œhand me over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.โ€

Please note that at that point, I had not yet changed any of my beliefs. I just had questions. I simply wanted to study alternative explanations and different views. I wanted to truly understand these views, and why people believed them. I was told when I got fired from my ministry job that it was okay to study different views if the only reason for studying such views was to disprove them. I consider such an approach to be intellectual suicide. I believe that the truth can stand up to any and all questions and that the only way truth can be known is if we genuinely consider the arguments and ideas that challenge our beliefs. If our beliefs survive such challenges, then we come out stronger for facing the questions. If our beliefs do not survive, and we change our beliefs, then we have actually come to free ourselves from error. When viewed this way, the only negative consequences to really questioning what you believe is the potential loss of friends and jobs, and with both, a sense of worth and personal identity.

So what happens when a Christian loses their job and friends all in one week? I canโ€™t speak for others, but for me, the initial shock evolved into fear, anger, depression, despair, bitterness, resentment, and hurt. Stress set in, and health problems arose in both myself and my wife. Though my wife and I dearly loved each other, we started arguing more. Bills piled up. Bad decisions got made.

Those few Christians still around advised me to just โ€œLet go and let Godโ€ and remember that โ€œThe joy of the Lord is your strength.โ€ When I asked what that meant in light of my circumstances, they said they would pray that โ€œGod will provide for my needsโ€ while they went out to dinner and a movie with friends, bought new cars, and embarked on vacations around the world.

At church, the songs seemed almost silly, the preaching was empty, and the handshakes were cold. I became scared to pray because every time I prayed for something, the exact opposite seemed to happen. God wasn’t just saying “No” to my prayers; when I prayed for a fish, He gave me a snake. At least, that is the way it seemed.

I was frantically looking for a job, but because I was now branded as a heretic, Iย couldn’tย get back into ministry. My friends made sure of that. I tried for secular jobs, but since my entire life and training was in ministry, no place wanted to hire someone with no experience. Since I had some office management experience, I applied for some of those positions, but was told I needed experience in the medical, legal, retail, or restaurant field to manage in these areas. They said that if I wanted to come back later, I could apply for a cash register position, or driving a forklift. Even then, I was told I probablyย wouldn’tย get these jobs because of all the other applicants who had actual experience in these entry-level positions.

I began to drink, just so I could โ€œtake the edge offโ€ and fall asleep at night. I had a pretty good life insurance policy (which Iย couldn’tย pay for any more), and seriously considered how I could kill myself while making it look like an accident so that I could provide for my wife and three children. I stopped attending church, reading my Bible, and praying. I felt that if this is what God does to a person who is trying to serve and follow Him, I wanted none of it. Iโ€™d rather be a non-Christian who looks out for himself and is able to feed his family, have a nice house, and go on fancy vacations.

It was just today that I realized that if God is really behind all of this, he is probably just answering my prayer. Itโ€™s like He said to me today, โ€œRemember that prayer you prayed before all this began to happen? That prayer about learning to love those that most Christians hate, reach those that many saw as unreachable, and understand what people are going through when they reject God and turn to drugs, alcohol, and crime? Iโ€™m just doing what you asked. You canโ€™t love those who are hated by Christians unless you understand what itโ€™s like to be hated. You canโ€™t reach the unreachable unless you are beyond reach. You canโ€™t understand what people go through unless you go through a small fraction of it yourself. Iโ€™m just answering your prayer.โ€

And thatโ€™s when it hit me. Though Iโ€™m staring into the glowing eyes of atheism, staggering along the gaping chasm of suicide, and camped near the smoking gates of hell, there are millions upon millions of people who have been here a lot longer than I. Iโ€™m a newcomer. (By the wayโ€ฆJesus is here too. I saw him last week when a strip club owner reached out with love to a bunch of hurting girls and responded with love to a horde of angry Christians. But thatโ€™s another story.)

I haveย realized that however painful it is to be here, I canโ€™t understand, love, or reach the people around me if I leave. At the same time, I canโ€™t survive here unless they help me learn how. Iโ€™m not sure yet what that will look like, but Iโ€™m excited to find out.

* * * * *

This post is part of the
March Synchroblog on Wilderness Experiences

You can also read more about this time in my life at
Oh Me of Little Faith

* * * * *

Here is the list of the other synchroblog participants.
There are some great stories here, so go read them all!

  • Patrick (at Dual Ravens) was prolific with a four part series called โ€œMusingsโ€ and they can be found here:ย Part One,ย Part Two,ย Part Three andย Part Four
  • Katherine Gunn at A Voice in the Desert writesย What is Wilderness?
  • Wendy McCaig giving us a View from the Bridge bringsย A Voice Calling in the Wilderness
  • EmmaNadine who describes Life By List wonders aboutย Life in the Wilderness
  • Tammy Carter of Blessing the Beloved is taking a rest as sheย Puts down the axe
  • Kathy Escobar shares the carnival in my head and writes aboutย belonging
  • Steve Hayes of Methodius describesย Anatomy of exile
  • Marta Layton at Martaโ€™s Mathoms writesย On Sabbaths, Mountain-Topsโ€ฆ and Brothersโ€™ Keepers
  • Liz Dyer at Grace Rules discoversย Beauty In The Wilderness

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship

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