Idle Worship Is Idol Worship

Ever sing along at church with your lips mouthing words your heart and mind don't follow? I find myself doing that and realize mid-sentence that I'm not thinking about the words; and sometimes don't even feel the joy expressed in them. Part of that is due to the bundle of joy I call my daughter, but part of it is a lack of desire on my part. So, why do I mouth the words? Largely it is because I feel I am supposed to do it, which makes my "sacrifice of praise" no better than the literal sacrifices the Israelites brought before God without a love for Him. It makes me think of this passage: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!" Revelation 3:15 In some way, all of sin is a type of idolatry - loving God less than something else. In my particular case, it is mouthing along to praise songs because I want to say I did it well, or to help our little church sound decent in volume, or something else. And in doing so, I have done what God asks for reasons He asked me not to. My idle worship is idol worship. What would be better is for me to listen to the songs and reflect on them, or to pray as others sing. Our God deserves no less.

"Fight Club" and Your Bible

So, I know my church is weird. That is, we are weird compared to those around us. For example, my friend has a ministry where he interacts with culture (books, movies, TV shows, etc.) and compares them with what Scripture says. He is going to be doing this with the movie "Fight Club." And in an attempt to reach out to those around me I invited a guy who I happen to know likes movies a lot. I was upfront with him because I didn't want to tell him it was just a movie and shock him with the Bible portion afterward. He looked at me with the strangest look. It was like I asked if he wanted to join a cult. It was that look that I usually fear so much that I don't share the gospel. He later said he thought it was a "good joke." Another guy in the room had me repeat myself because he couldn't understand how we could put "Fight Club" and the Bible in the same sentence. I later thought, you know the Bible has some pretty gruesome stuff in it. Just this week my pastor mentioned that some portions "were not for public reading." In fact, "Fight Club" seems pretty tame compared to the Bible. In truth, God's history of redemption makes "Fight Club" seem comparatively like a children's story. Think of 1 Kings 18 where Elijah taunts the prophets of Baal as they cut themselves in a frenzy or John the Baptist who has his head cut off and displayed at a banquet or Judges 19 where a woman is raped, left for dead, and eventually cut into 12 pieces and mailed to the tribes of Israel or when the entire world (save 8 people) are drowned to death or the book of Revelation (need I go into specifics) or the death of Jesus, which is the most gruesome by far. So, with all this (and more) in the pages of Holy Scripture, why would people think that "Fight Club" need be kept separate from the Bible? What has caused our culture to think in this way?

Of Freedom and Maturity

It is my finding that the Christian life can be quite ironic. As we mature, we recognize our freedoms in Christ and happily exercise them. However, as we mature even more we recognize our freedoms, yet forfeit them when we do not have to.

Survey on Emotions

To be honest, I'm not sure where I stand on the issue of emotions in the Christian life. Don't get me wrong, I believe that they exist and that they're important. I am just having difficulty figuring out how I should think about them. Some of my friends say that they are demanded by God and so emotions are commands. I can see their point. Other friends of mine say that commands to "Rejoice in the Lord always" are volitional choices we make which are followed by emotions. They point out that we cannot conjure good emotions when we feel bad. And since God expects it of us, it cannot be unattainable. I am reading "When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy" by John Piper to help get more insight. What are your thoughts on this subject? Where would you go in the bible to point out what you believe? How would you answer my friends who don't think emotions are what God is commanding?