Are you a Churchian?

Rick Warren writes in his book The Purpose Driven Church, “a church without a purpose and mission eventually becomes a museum piece of yesterday’s traditions.”

He’s right. The world is filled with far too many Churchians and far too few Christians. Churchians GO to church, evaluate health based on the NUMBER of programs, fixate on NON-ESSENTIALS, view the BUILDING-rather than the people-as the church, enjoy MEETINGS but show no interest in active response in the world, and celebrate dates, ATTENDANCE and offering totals over changed lives.

Christians on the other hand participate in the church community, evaluate health based on spiritual transformation, fixate on their biblical mission, see buildings as tools for ministry only, enjoy outreach and active response in the world and Christian community, and celebrate numbers only when they reflect changed lives and Kingdom building endeavours.

Are you a Churchian or a Christian?

New Website

I have decided to create a new website that will have permanent articles, sermons and lessons available for public use. Everything is in viewable PDF format. Go to www.draaronrock.com. I will be uploading more material regularly.

New Home for the South Windsor Campus of Southwood Community Church

Our church will be moving our South Windsor Campus and church offices to 2001 Spring Garden Rd in the New Year. We're purchasing a former school, cleaning it up, and using it as a tool for ministry to our community. Exciting times!!!

WET PEOPLE ARE NOT HUMAN

It won’t surprise anyone who knows me that I am staunchly pro-life. I have however attempted, on many occasions, to enter into the minds of pro-choice advocates to understand why they refuse to recognize the unborn as human beings. Today I came across the following sections of our Criminal Code which attempts to define when a child “becomes” a human. Here is what it says:

“When child becomes human being
223. (1) A child becomes a human being within the meaning of this Act when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother, whether or not
(a) it has breathed;
(b) it has an independent circulation; or
(c) the navel string is severed.”

This is interesting logic: Exposure to air makes you human. Wet people are not human.

A few years ago our cat had kittens. As the babies came out one by one, logical processes caused me to recognize that I was witnessing the birth of a litter of kittens, each of which was just as much a kitten the day before it was exposed to air, as it was afterwards. Exposure to air did not magically make these creatures kittens—they were just as feline in the birth canal as they were when they dropped into the birthing box. I doubt any objective person would debate this unless they felt uncomfortable with the implications of my observations for abortion.
Curiously, the Code also states:

“Killing child
(2) A person commits homicide when he causes injury to a child before or during its birth as a result of which the child dies after becoming a human being.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 206.”

If I read this right, it means that I, as a human can be charged with homicide for injuring a non-human (who is in amniotic fluid) (according to #223) only if he is later exposed to air. Can you help me with this logic? How does being in the air suddenly make me human???? Does exposure to air trigger the sudden appearance of human DNA or something? I just don’t get it.

Further the Code states,

“Killing unborn child in act of birth
238. (1) Every one who causes the death, in the act of birth, of any child that has not become a human being, in such a manner that, if the child were a human being, he would be guilty of murder, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for life. (Criminal Code ( R.S., 1985, c. C-46 )).”

Here’s how it all breaks down:
•Kill a child inside the mother and its okay (because they are still surrounded by amniotic fluid).

•Injure the same child inside the mother so that she dies outside the mother and that’s bad; 25-years-in-jail-bad (because exposure to air makes you human?).

•So that means the space you occupy (atmospheric or amniotic) is what defines you (or it) as human or non-human.

All this talk of being wet or dry (unborn or born) got me thinking. Based upon this reasoning I could conclude that I cease to be human every time I strap a SCUBA tank on my back, submerse myself in water and rely upon a little hose to supply me with oxygen. But when I re-immerge, and dry myself off, I become human again!

I try. I really, really try to understand pro-choice thinking, but I JUST DON’T GET IT!!!!

Abortion Protester Murdered

On September the 11th James Pouillon, a long time abortion protester was shot dead by Harlan Drake while protesting abortion outside of a Michigan high school in an apparent hate crime. Drake says he was "offended" by Pouillon's messages. Yet where is the condemnation of this murderous act from the American President (who took 48 hours to issue a one-sentence response), the media or liberal left? On the other hand, when an abortion provider is killed, everyone gasps with shock and horror! I am so angered by the double-standard of this event and am reassured that this is not a political issue at all but an issue of good vs. evil. Isaiah the prophet warned, beware when men call good evil and evil good (Is. 5:20). That is precisely the issue here. By their silence, the liberal left is showing their lack of compassion for Mr. Pouillon and their love for murderous abortion providers.

You've Gotta Love the Honesty!

My Latest Book

From the Introduction:

"At church we sometimes cry out in worship, Lord, we are thirsty for more of you. But do we really mean it? I hope so, because thirst for God is at the heart of the Christian faith. Jesus declared in John 7:37b-38, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the Scriptures has said, streams of living water will flow from within him (NIV). Suck it up. Drink deep of me, and I will satisfy the deepest longings of your heart. That was Jesus’ mission. Not to instil facts alone, but to bring abundant life. A life rich in Spirit, drenched in living Word, purposeful, meaningful and grand. Have you experienced this kind of life? If not, you’re ripping yourself off. It might be that you are unaware it exists, are afraid to embrace it or cannot reconcile such statements with your cerebral-only form of Christianity. But God offers it, so it must be good.

I am on a voyage of God-discovery. As I move along my God-drawn horizontal timeline called life, I find my neck increasingly strained. Strained, as I grow disinterested with what is around me and fascinated by what is above. I am thirsty for more of God—to know him and love him as my heavenly Daddy. Not in an anti-intellectual way. Not in a New Age fluffed up and puffed up way, but in the way God has designed me to know him. In other terms, I want to draw close to the heart of the one who crafted me. I want a taste of Eden in the here and now in anticipation of what is to come. I want to know the power of Christ dwelling within me, to know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:2-3). Perhaps that is why I wrote this guide, more for me than for you. I am a God-hog after all! But then my pastoral heart kicks into gear and I just cannot help but tell others what God is teaching me. Let me share what I have been learning. If, as a result, God hydrates you, the time I spent writing and the time you spend reading will be well spent."

Let me know if you woudl like a copy!

Paul Harvey on Fatherhood

Radio commentator Paul Harvey shared the following reflections about fathers:

“A father is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth without an anesthetic.

A father is a thing that growls when it feels good--and laughs very loud when it's scared half to death.

A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child's eyes. He's never quite the hero his daughter thinks, never quite the man his son believes him to be--and this worries him, sometimes. So he works too hard to try and smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who will follow him.

A father is a thing that gets very angry when the first school grades aren't as good as he thinks they should be. He scolds his son though he knows it's the teacher's fault.

Fathers are what give daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody's."

Is Marriage for Buffoons?

There has been a shift in the western view of marriage. It used to be that young people looked forward to the prospect of finding “the one”, getting married, and having children. Nowadays I meet very few young people who are eager to get married. Just the other day, a young man I know said to me, “Me, get married? You kidding! Not this guy!” Seems as though a goodly number of young people today are either afraid of or have no interest in marriage. But why?

I suppose I don’t ultimately know. But I suspect that the media has some hand in this. After all, how many cool married people are on TV these days? Take a look at some of the more popular drama and comedy shows over the past number of years. Do shows like CSI New York, CSI Miami, Numbers, Law and Order, Seinfeld, Everybody Loved Raymond or King of Queens have any positive portrayals of marriage? No. Then there's John and Kate plus Eight who are now going through a nasty media-sponsored separation.

Most of these shows feature good-looking, successful, career-oriented cool professionals free wheeling it through life with no marital ties on the horizon. In shows where couples are married, the man or both are portrayed as buffoons (ladies would you want to be married to Ray???)! The implication for the viewer is that the single life offers freedom, fun and popularity, while married people are backward and weird.

Let’s not deceive ourselves, shows like these do more than entertain; they shape worldviews often without the viewer’s consent. Could it be that this is one of the reasons why marriage seems to be on the decline?

I’d like to hear from others on this blog post. Why do you think so many Westerners—both within and without the church—are delaying or neglecting marriage?

Do we love our dogs more than our children?

Which is more disgusting: a pit-bull being egged on to fight another pit-bull, or a 4 year old girl being molested by her father? According to North American jurisprudence, the dog deserves more sympathy than the child. Here are two scenarios:

>Michael Vick the disgraced NFLer was convicted of involvement in an illegal, multi-state dog-fighting ring. For his crime, he was:
• fined $1 million dollars,
• given a 23 month federal prison sentence,
• and a 3 year prison sentence in Virginia.

>An unnamed Ontario man logged onto a secretive website, and molested his four year old daughter live on the Internet for the pleasure of his sick viewers. He was sentenced to:
• 20 months in addition to the 14 months he had served during his trial period.

These convictions took place in two different countries, but on the same continent. As North Americans, it seems to me that we have lost sight of the idea that certain crimes are a greater expression of one’s depravity than others and that the punishment should fit the crime. So how might we reverse this troubling slide in justice?

First, we need to each do our part in educating our children and others we influence as to God’s views of justice. We need to confront the growing untruth that passivity to crime is the Christian calling, and regain our belief that punishment is part of biblical justice.

Second, we need to rid ourselves of the unbiblical viewpoint that all sin is equal. All sin is damnable, but Scripture clearly portrays certain sins of greater weight than others. Our justice systems must take this into account when sentencing offenders.

Third, we need to become voices for the voiceless. While animals surely need protection from abuse, so do the children, the disabled, and the weak among us. If we can rally thousands of people to strike over a cut in benefits, can we not do the same when a little girl is dealt injustice?

Fourth, we need to earnestly pray for the return of Christ. Evil will prevail until he comes and frees us from this world of sin and transgression.

The Power of Truth to Shape or Deform

I had a visit today from a man claiming to be “God’s divine messenger” and the “man with the measuring rod” (Rev 11:1) to call the church back to a sacrificial life. His application of what it meant to follow Jesus was very narrow—the total surrender of all of one’s goods with no provision for your children, no offerings to the church, and no savings. I told him that I was committed to a sacrificial lifestyle but that it included providing for my children (I referenced 1 Tim.5:8), giving to my church (I referenced 1 Cor.16:2) and saving (I referenced Prov. 13:11) rather than indebting myself to everyone. Sadly, he refused to take into consideration the broad teachings of Scripture because he only accepted the Gospels as authentic. Somewhere in his background he had been taught that the Old Testament and all the apostolic writings were false and filled with error. “Paul was the greatest heretic the church has ever seen,” he told me. He went on to tell me that salvation was by works rather than the grace of God, and the second coming of Christ was a lie. He was angered when I informed him that according to his words, if he had no use for the grace of God in salvation, that he was not a true Christian, but a false teacher. He ended the conversation and walked off.

This strange episode reminded me of the power of truth and lies to either shape or deform a person’s destiny. Discussions about biblical inerrancy are far from “mere academic questions”. The conclusions that one arrives at regarding the nature of Scripture affect our whole lives, including our understanding of how we manage our money, the means of salvation, and our eschatological hope. It was a good reminder to me of the need to rightly divide the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15). These are truly words from God we need to pay attention to.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF UFC FIGHTING

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Cor 6:19-20

My goal in life is not to offend people. I feel uncomfortable when I step way out on a limb like the one I’m reluctantly venturing out on now. Nevertheless, I think it will be worth it if I cause a few people to think twice about gratuitous injurious violence. The matter I wish to blog on is none other than the inappropriateness of UFC fighting.

For those of my readers who may not be aware, UFC fighting stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship and is a very violent “sport” the pits one man against another in a bloody, knock ‘em down, hurt ‘em bad, fist/leg/head fight. Their website advertises as follows, “Broken tooth, lip ripped open, blood everywhere…welcome to the fight game” (http://www.ufc.com). One might think of UFC fighting falling somewhere between boxing and gladiator sports. No one gets killed (hopefully), but the goal is to beat up your opponent really, really bad. As with both the boxing and ancient gladiatorial events, UFC is very popular with the public, including members of the Christian community (the sleazy “Octagon Girls” also draw a crowd by the way).

Why watch UFC fighting?

Arguments for UFC fighting are usually three-fold: (1) UFC is a sport and therefore morally neutral. (2) UFC is entertaining, and entertainment is morally neutral. (3) UFC is violent, but so is football and hockey. What more can be said? The rationale is simple: if I like watching it, if my friends like watching it, if it allows me to relax and have some fun, and if other accepted sports are violent, then UFC fighting is acceptable!

Admittedly, UFC fighting is entertaining, especially for men. Which of us doesn’t like the war scenes in movies, or a good fist fight in the parking lot behind the school? There is a sense of euphoria that arises when two talented fighters duke it out to the point of collapse. Second, UFC fighting meets Webster’s definition of a sport namely, “the playing of games or participation in competitive pastimes involving physical exertion or skill.” In UFC one must consent to participate, it is competitive, it gives you a great physical workout, and it requires skill. Third, football and boxing and ice hockey are most often violent sports too.

But...these arguments are lame.

I do not think these arguments are sufficient to build a case to endorse UFC fighting. Even if these arguments could not be adequately debated based on common sense and the precedent set in other sports, there are larger Scriptural exhortations that must be denied to justify UFC. Let me suggest a few common sense/logical arguments first:

Argument #1: Just because something is a sport, does not make it morally neutral. Most Christians and non-Christians alike consider animal fighting inhumane. To strap a razor to a rooster’s feet and let it slice apart another rooster is a bit disgusting. We’re okay seeing the same rooster breaded and fried at KFC, but there is something sinister about a cock-fight! It’s not that we believe that a rooster’s life is sacred, but find it a bit abhorrent that a non-consenting rooster would be subject to suffering (even if he’s the winner). And aren’t the organizers a wee bit sadistic? Who could find pleasure in a bloodied rooster fight we ask? Yet, cock-fighting is considered by many a “sport”.

Moving away from foul, suppose we could find a couple of men that would be willing to kill each other for money? Would we justify gratuitous violence of that kind; would we call it a sport? Of course killing is illegal, but so is street fighting. But if we justify street fighting in a ring, why not justify killing in a ring? The point is, that we need a better reason to justify UFC than “its a sport”. (As an aside: I wonder how long it will be before killing in a ring does become considered a sport?)

Argument #2: Just because it is entertaining does not make it moral. This is by far the weakest of the three argument favouring UFC fighting. It should go without saying that something entertaining is not automatically right. Men who attend dog fights, people who enjoy spouse swapping, and the Columbine killers find/found a degree of pleasure and entertainment in their activities. The degree to which something titillates us has nothing to do with its moral permissibility.

Argument #3: Just because there is some violence in other sports does not validate all out violence in another sport. Most other sports (I’ll address boxing in a moment) have an objective in mind other than the injury of one’s opponent. As a side effect however, athletes sometimes get injured. Yet if a player is found to have wilfully injured his opponent, he is sidelined, fined, or removed. That’s the way it should be. In football, you may knock a player down to get a touchdown, but when was the last time you saw the crowds cheering, or a player jumping for joy when a fellow football player was removed with a broken neck? Non-injurious violence may be a part of the game but no sport condones/promotes/rises and falls on violence like UFC.

In situations where injuries are wilfully applied to an opponent, my same criticisms apply. It is unacceptable to support forms of boxing that lead to bodily injury, or to wildly cheer on two out-of-control hockey players who are punching each other in the mouth. We Canadians in particular love our hockey fights, but does that mean God thinks they are any better than UFC fights?

How about a few Scriptural arguments:

Scriptural Truth #1: UFC fighting violates every “Fruit of the Spirit”
As you read through the list of the qualities that are to mark Spirit-filled people in Galatians 5, it is evident that UFC fighting not only lacks, but is antithetical to every one. Where in the cage match do we see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness or self-control directed toward another human being for their good? (Sorry guys, "patiently" waiting to punch someone’s lights out isn’t what St. Paul had in mind!) Instead UFC advertises its fight with words contrary to the Fruit of the Spirit. Their website uses words like Rage, Pride, Rampage, and Mean. What redemptive value can we place upon a sport that would be impossible for the Holy Spirit to endorse?

Scriptural Truth #2: UFC fighting is a direct violation of “Temple Care” theology.
In Scripture, God reminds us that the human body is a Temple (1 Cor 6:19-20). We are to care for it and honour it as a place where God desires to dwell. It further speaks out against abusing your body with food (gluttony), alcohol (drunkenness) or sexual sins (immorality). The church teaches “Temple Care”; that we are to care for our bodies by not abusing them—with sins that directly affect our physicality, or ability to be self-controlled. In modern times we apply this principle to things like drug abuse. Should we not also apply this to a sport with the explicit goal of damaging your opponent’s body? Or are we so naive to think that God cares more about eating a few too many donuts, or drinking a few too many beers, than allowing your teeth to be bashed out and jaw to be broken in a sporting event?


Scriptural Truth #3: UFC fighting is “injurious gratuitous” violence.
The Bible is violent. It contains accounts of war, death sentences, rapes and abuses. Some of these it condemns, yet other acts of violence are condoned for redemptive purposes, as in cases of talionic justice (eye-for-eye theology). Ultimately the Bible also finds redemption in otherwise despicable acts like the crucifixion of Christ. Yet what redemptive value is there in brutalizing another person, even if it is consensual? Will God’s glory be advanced, will people be redeemed, or will justice be served in a blooded cage during a UFC fight? I hardly think so. Yet fascinatingly, the less interest our generation has in redemptive violence, the more it has in entertainment violence.

I have no allusions that my blog entry will sway the masses. People love violence and always will. But if I can cause a few to reconsider their support of this non-redemptive “sport”, then perhaps my entry will have some redemptive value.