AMATEUR BELIEVER

Patty Kirk was raised a Catholic, believing one must earn her way into heaven. In her teens, she turned away from her faith and became an atheist, traveling the world in search of meaning and happiness. Eventually, she returned to the U. S. to teach. She married a farmer. Not just any farmer, but a Bible-believing, praying Christian. Two children later, she was a Christian too.

In Confessions of an Amateur Believer, Patty Kirk writes, “What a joy it is to exchange fighting for rest!” She has reached the stage where she realizes she can not save herself and abandons the struggle. She has stopped fighting against Jesus.

This book describes her journey from the easy belief of a child to a restless non-believer and finally into a settled faith. Or, as she explains it, “This book explores how, having begun to believe as a child and lost sight of God for half a lifetime, I came not only to recognize him again, but, by struggling with scripture and my own habits of unbelief to acknowledge and celebrate his active participation in my life.”

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ARTIFICIAL REALITY SHOWS

ARTIFICIAL REALITY SHOWS

By Janice Price

It was a shock to accidentally catch the last half of a television program called Wife Swap. Evidently two women from opposite lifestyles trade families for two weeks. The first week the visiting wife lives by the house rules. The second week, she institutes her own rules. Controversy results and controversy translates into network ratings.

What caught and held my attention was a black woman called Big Mama telling a family of atheists the new house rules would be based on her family’s view of Christianity. The father and his children rose to their feet, threw Bibles she must have just passed out to them onto the floor, and left the room.

Meanwhile, Big Mama’s home was being stripped of all Bibles and religious symbolism by the other wife who sported a shaved head, a nose piercing and a multitude of tattoos. She let it be known she had not enjoyed having to attend their church service. One daughter was reduced to tears. The husband commented about their faith was not in things, but in Jesus.

I believe in God and his word, but not in shoving him into the faces of people who do not believe in him, which is what I felt was happening, even though Big Mama undoubtedly had the best of intentions. Her idea was to “save” them. There was a breakfast confrontation, where Big Mama tried to make the young son pray. His father stopped her and said she had no right to make a house rule the family must pray to a God they don’t believe in. And he is correct. Program rules or not, trying to force your religion onto another person is not biblical. There is no verse in my Bible that states, You will force feed the Word of God to anyone who is not ready or refuses to receive the Good News of Christ.

On the other hand, it seemed just as belligerent to force a religious family to pack up their Bibles for a week.

I am not trying to make either of these women sound like a bad person. I don’t know them or their families. I am not trying to condemn either one. I don’t even know the rules of the Wife Swap show. I merely want to point out how heavy-handed people can act to convert others to their own belief system – Christianity included. Jesus was often outspoken, yet even he did not wield a sledgehammer as a tool for converting those who opposed or disbelieved in what he taught.

Supposedly, something good did come out of these two weeks for each family, but I’m still at a loss why programs such as this are called “reality TV.” Is this type of wife swap a reality in your neighborhood? It isn’t in mine. Yes, we can learn positive lessons from one another, but trying to force one lifestyle, religion or lack of religion on others is not an effective means of evangelism for any belief system.

Artificial reality shows are becoming common fodder for mesmerized minds. Don’t let yourself be blinded to the wrong lessons and values they honor. I was dumbfounded that each woman’s main goal appeared to be to drive a bulldozer through the other family’s core beliefs. That is not the same as attacking the other’s housecleaning methods – or lack of same.

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1

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A GOLD CASKET

Flamboyant to the end, entertainer James Brown died on Monday, Christmas day. On Thursday, he was transported in a 24-karat gold casket to the Apollo Theater in New York by a horse-drawn hearse for public viewing. The following day family and friends held a private funeral service at the Carpentersville Baptist Church in North Augusta, South Carolina. Celebrities and fans filled the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia for a public viewing and service on Saturday. These occasions were marked with tears, but also with joy and music, more a celebration of his life than a time of mourning.

Gerald Ford, the thirty-eighth President of the United States, died last Tuesday, the day after Christmas. His body was transported from California to Washington D.C. in a flag-draped coffin. As I write this, his body lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda. President George W. Bush and his wife Laura, along with other dignitaries, have paid their respects. A military honor guard watches over his coffin. On Tuesday, his body will be flown to Grand Rapids, Michigan for a private funeral service on Wednesday. Mourners face the cameras with a stiff upper lip. There is no cheering or dancing for a former President, only somber and dignified ceremony.

Planning a funeral is often done at the moment of necessity. Customs and preferences differ, but basically people gather to show respect for the deceased and to support the bereaved. Sometimes there is a visitation at the funeral home and a large funeral service. Some families opt for quiet graveside services. Today there is the option of cremation – not the choice of many, but in certain situations a financial necessity. There is a wide range of casket types and colors. Although it does seem to befit the lifestyle of James Brown, a 24-karat gold casket is not one of the most popular selling models.

A former President often helps to plan his own funeral – in advance, of course – just as Gerald Ford did. Protocol dictated a certain amount of pomp and ceremony, but where possible he avoided some of the trappings of grandeur, such as the hearse that transported his casket to the Capitol instead of a caisson followed by a riderless horse with boots reversed in the stirrups and an empty saddle.

Planning and perhaps pre-paying for one’s own funeral is becoming more popular. In many ways this undoubtedly helps lighten the load on the family at an emotional time, but there can be snags in keeping the deceased’s wishes. Even in times of grief, families do not always agree on what to do or who is responsible for what, even when everything is in writing.

I could not afford a gold casket, but even if I could, I have no desire to be buried in one. That’s not my style. Neither is a somber public ceremony. I never gave it much thought before, but I think I would like a simple graveside funeral, attended by family and friends who might miss me enough to shed a tear or two, and yet love me enough to celebrate my life after the funeral with some good food and lots of laughter. A simple headstone will suffice. After all, I will not be there to enjoy the view. A dead woman does not live in her grave. It is only a place where her body returns to the dust from which God created it.

What is most memorable about a funeral is the outpouring of love and support displayed to the surviving family members. When they know with undivided assurance the loved one died in Christ, they have peace to accept the loss. For those in Christ, death is only the end of physical life. Christ conquered the grave when he died and was resurrected.

As a flesh and blood human being, I can not inherit the kingdom of God (I Corinthians 15:50), but I have hope in Christ of a resurrection to eternal life. That hope is much more valuable than a gold casket or a public funeral ceremony.

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THE WAGGING TAIL

The phone rang on Christmas day and a friend asked, “We’re leaving to deliver some dinner plates. Is it all right to drop off one for you? We’ll be by in about thirty minutes.”

I decided to close my three dogs in the bedroom where they were sleeping on their blankets, so I could answer the door in peace. Just as I decided this, I received another telephone call. But, by holding the cordless phone in my left hand and moving slowly to protect my painful left arm, I was able to move the damp laundry hanging on the doors elsewhere. It was slow and tedious.

This house was built in the 1920s and the bedroom door into the kitchen doesn’t stay closed. I retrieved a ten-pound weight to block the door from inside the bedroom. Then I quietly backed out the door into the living room and closed it behind me.

Feeling pretty pleased with the success of my plan, I turned around and discovered Merci and her wagging tail were on the wrong side of the door. I forgot Merci likes to nap on a throw in the living room and I neglected to count heads. I just assumed Merci was among the sleeping dogs.

I have had the same experience with sin in my life. I abhor something I know God calls sin – it could be any sin, such as anger. I slowly and painstakingly work at overcoming it and moving it out of my life. I think I have finally made a little progress, turn around, and there it is staring me in the face, tail wagging, tongue hanging out and eager to see what mischief it can get into. Does this sound familiar in your life too?

This is the time of year when folks make a list of New Year’s resolutions. One will decide to lose weight, another to exercise regularly, one to quit procrastinating, another to give more and be less selfish, one to stop lying or stealing or drinking or being unfaithful – . Everyone has something that needs to be addressed whether or not it is on a formal list of resolutions.

Anyone who has ever made a list of New Year’s resolutions knows how hard they are to keep. You are convicted of the need to change yourself or your circumstances, but the reality is that just because you have decided to painstakingly make a list of changes, launching and sustaining the changes takes work, commitment and perseverance. In might also take some sacrifice. .

There is nothing magical about the year changing from 2006 to 2007. As you step from one year into the next one, don’t be surprised when you turn around and find your propensity for sin is on the same side of the year you are, with tail wagging, tongue hanging out, and eager to see what mischief it can get into.

But don’t despair. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Heb 4:15

Sin can appear so cute and enticing at times, an innocent act or word that sneaks up and catches you with your guard down. Always wear your armor and stay close to Christ, in the Word.

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Heb 9:28

Have a blessed 2007.

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RIGHTEOUS GOSSIP

Many years ago I attended the same church as an engaging young wife and mother. She was friendly, hospitable and outgoing, but I quickly learned when rumors were moving through the congregation, she was frequently the one supplying the AA batteries to keep them going.

One day she telephoned to see what news she could pick up to pass around, and I told her, “Gossip (not her real name, of course), you are going to hear this sooner or later, so you might as well hear it from me so you have the facts straight.”

Less than ten minutes later, another woman from church called. “Oh, Jan, I’m so sorry. You must be devastated. Are you okay?”

I was baffled. “I’m sorry. What are you talking about?”

“Gossip called. She told me all about what happened and asked me to pray for you. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Aha! I told Gossip something true and too tempting to keep to herself, knowing she would repeat what I told her, but I was stunned at how quickly she was spreading it around – and as a prayer request, no less.

“What did Gossip tell you? I asked innocently.

I was speechless at the story given to her. It was somewhat like the parlor game where one person whispers something to the next person, who then whispers it to the next person, and the last person in the group repeats it out loud to everyone, only it does not sound much like the original statement. Gossip just skipped the person to person jumble and scrambled it herself. I wish I could state she learned something from getting caught red-handed, but unfortunately Gossip continued spreading rumors, even after she eventually wandered away from the church. How many others heard this same “prayer request” and took it to heart?

I have noticed over the years that gossip frequently is presented in the same guise, as if calling it a prayer request makes it all right to break a confidence or to reveal details of another’s life without permission. There is no such virtue as “righteous gossip” in the Bible. Instead, gossip – allowing your tongue to take control of your mind and permitting it to run unbridled with someone else’s confidence – is revealed as sin.

James 1:26 is enlightening. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. (NKJV)

Gossip is not “victimless” and learning to control the tongue is not an overnight victory. It is a lifetime battle. I have lost many a skirmish, as I know you have. (Remember, lying is also a sin.) It is imperative you and I struggle onward against it.

Paul writes to the Corinthian church, For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there might be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. (2 Corinthians 12:20 NIV)

For those who make New Year’s resolutions, perhaps this will be the year you add gossip to your list of established habits you desire to break.

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