The Fringe

            As someone who writes a fair amount (I try to post every other day), I sometimes run into a wall. What should I write about? I stare at my screen and draw a blank.

            If you ever have a topic you would like to read about, email me at spencerluria@gmail.com. Any suggestions, comments, or questions are welcome!

            Now for my actual post topic.

The Fringe

            As a military child, I’ve always been an outsider. I’ve always been that new kid that had no friends. Moving from place to place, sports team to sports team, church to church. No one my age ever walked up to me to be my friend. No one ever said, “Hey! What’s your name? I’m so glad you’re here.” I always took the first step. I always fought the cliques.

           And I hated it. It hurt to be ignored and not cared about.

           So you know what I did? I gathered others who were on the outside. I formed my own group of friends with the non-popular kids. I made friends with everyone else that had no friends. My group of friends would then grow larger than the other groups. Then they wanted in. And we let them in. Everyone was happy.

            That’s not how it was supposed to be, but that’s especially how it is in the church. People don’t want to get out of their comfort zone and befriend the new person. We don’t care about the fringe because they’ve never done anything for us. They are just inconvenient nobodies.

            But let’s look at Jesus and how He acted towards those on the outside.

            “Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,

            was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature.

            So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way.

            When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.”

            And he came down quickly and received him with joy. (Luke 19:2-6)

           After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.”

            And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. (Luke 5:27-28)

            Notice Jesus’ eyes. He “looked up” and noticed Zaccheus (Luke 19:5). He “saw” Levi (Luke 5:27). He was always keeping his eyes open for those on the outside. He was always on the lookout for the extremely unpopular (tax collectors, prostitutes, etc.). He cared, so he took notice.

             My friends, are we following Jesus’ example? Are we looking? Do we care?

I’m Not Sorry

             Now, as I reread what I just wrote, I realize I may come across as harsh. But I won’t change anything because that’s years upon years of frustration and sadness coming out. It’s real talk. There are so many lonely people in the church today. I’ve been one of them. It’s a shame.

             But maybe you haven’t noticed those outside of your circle because you’ve never had to experience what I have. You don't know what it's like. That’s understandable. But it’s also changeable.

             So keep your eyes open for the fringe, like me. Make friends from their ranks. Invite them in. Tell them you are so glad they are there. They'll feel like they matter. That will make their day.

             It would’ve made mine.

Look in the Mirror

            “I know, I know. I know what you’re saying is right, but to be honest, I just want to flush it down the toilet.”

            This came from a good friend of mine. We had been coworkers for a little bit before he moved to Kentucky.  I had just finished spending a half hour explaining the Gospel to him. He was a nominal Catholic; he knew the Gospel. He had heard the stories. I used this to my advantage to skip to the parts I knew he had trouble with.

            And this was his response. I couldn’t believe it. I was fuming.

            I had just spent a good chunk of MY time to talk to him. I spoke eloquently. I was rocking it. I answered all his questions. I had all the right things to say. I left no stone unturned. I demolished his objections. I was evangelizing. I was doing everything right.

            I, I, I. Me, me, me. And I wasn’t good enough. I couldn’t touch my friend’s heart.

            I learned a lesson that day. I can’t change a thing.

If You Run into a Wall

            Have you ever tried so hard to do something? To the point where it became your life at that moment? You devoted every thought and every resource and everything else you had at it. And then… nothing happened?

            That’s how it was during those times with my friend. I did this. I did that. I threw everything at him. But there was one problem.

            I’m just me.

            I learned a bitter lesson that culminated with that day. I can’t change anything in this world. My power (ha!) is extremely limited outside of my own mind. I can have goals and visions, plans and skills. But it doesn’t matter because, by myself, I can do very little.

Grab a Ladder

            Fortunately for sad little me, I’m not left to my own abilities (or lack-of). Let’s look at what you and I can do when we go outside of ourselves for help.

Philippians 4:13 states:

             “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

            All things? Really? God can’t be serious. Oh, but He is. Here’s another one for you. Matthew 19:26 states:

           “But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”

            The Bible makes it clear that we can’t do anything by ourselves. Why? Well, just look in the mirror! You and I can’t control very much. Barack Obama can’t control very much. Vladimir Putin can’t control very much.

            But God isn’t limited by any physical, mental, or spiritual container. He’s not constrained by a lack of knowledge or man-power. He’s not held back by stupidity or arrogance.

            So go ahead, call on Him. You can’t be stopped because if God is with you there is nothing on this earth that can stop you. Scratch that, there’s nothing in this universe that can stop you. Your Maker is also the maker of every atom. He’s in absolute control.

            Or you can rely on your own abilities. Your pick.

Looney Tunes

            Yesterday at my work I was able to share the Gospel with a coworker. It was simply an awesome experience that had me higher than the the Empire State Building (who needs drugs?). She was in the perfect position: questioning and receptive to anything. It’s also a dangerous time because she’s receptive to ANYTHING. I’m praying that our conversation is just one of many.

            But she said something gave me pause: the Bible contains some looney tunes.

            As a non-Christian, she gave some much needed perspective to a church kid (me). The Bible contains many details that, to this atheistic anti-religious culture, are hard to believe. For example, she mentioned the virgin birth. Whaaaaa? That’s not scientifically possible.

            I grew up in the church, so I’m used to the miracles in the Bible. I don’t bat an eye. But this was a real hurdle for her to jump over.

            Then it hit me: she didn’t have to accept the virgin birth, Jonah’s big fish, Judgement Day, Joshua’s still sun... any of it.

            All she had to do was accept the Resurrection.

HOLD UP!

            Now, before you burn me to the stake, hold up. I’m not saying that those events didn’t happen. I’m also not saying that, if she does accept the good news, she won’t eventually believe those events as a natural extension of believing the Bible is the Word of God.

            I’m saying that, as of now, all the other miracles in the Bible aren’t beneficial to me at the moment. Instead of scrambling to defend how every miracle could have happened, I simply have to jump to the Resurrection.

            It’s a bottom up approach. You start with the most foundational miracle, and if you can show that believing it is logical and rational, the rest will follow (think Dominoes).

            If my coworker accepts the Resurrection, what else must she believe?

1. God exists
2. God is extremely powerful* and omniscient
3. God intervenes in and cares about human events
4. Miracles are real and can happen and have happened

            Going back to the four miracles I mentioned earlier, are they that much of a stretch now? Now that you’ve accepted the four points above, accepting the four miracles (and all the others in the Bible) aren’t as hard.

            So when she mentioned all the crazy miracles in the Bible, I instantly knew that systematically explaining everything from the Creation to Eutychas’ resurrection would be unfruitful. I only need to convince her of the most important miracle (which, not so incidentally, is almost the easiest miracle to defend). The rest will follow if she accepts it.

Summary

            The Bible is hard to believe sometimes. I know this, and you can bet your grandma my friend knew it, too. But everything goes back to the Resurrection. If the Resurrection happened, several mind-blowing things follow.

1. Everything Jesus said is validated. He claimed to be God? Yessir, no doubt now. He claimed to be the Messiah? Definitely.
2. The Bible is validated as the Word of God. It was written over thousands of years, with Jesus approving the Old Testament and His disciples (with the power of Jesus Himself) approved the New Testament.
3. We are saved and can have hope that Jesus is coming back for us.
4. We will live for eternity in Heaven with God.

            My next post will expand on why the Resurrection is so important for apologetics and polemics (challenging other faiths). If the Resurrection happened, it’s game over for every other religion.

*I am going to stop using the term “omnipotent” because you get the smart alecks that ask, “Can God sin?” Or “can God create a square circle?” And so on and so forth. There are answers to those things, but the conversation just gets bogged down. I’m going to say “extremely powerful” instead or something like that.

Defeating Doubt and Changing America (At the Same Time!… ok, not really)

            A long time ago, I decided to take on the world. I wanted to storm the Internet and defend the Bible, especially against atheists. I went on their blogs and responded to their attacks on my faith. But I stopped dead in my tracks.

            They had some pretty good arguments. Oh, I thought I was just going to encounter a bunch of dim-witted haters that spewed vitriol everywhere. But I found many former Christians. I found many conscientious, careful writers who were searching for truth also.

            And did I say they had good arguments? They did. In fact, their arguments were so good that I took a look at the foundations of my faith.

The Mistake We Made

            Apologetics is my hobby. I enjoy any book that has a detailed defense of Christian theology and history. I know it’s essential, not only to defend my faith against outsiders, but to defend my faith against my doubts.

            That’s precisely what happened when I explored atheist blogs. In particular, I was overwhelmed by their arguments against the existence of God. But God was using this time to wake me up.

            If I, an apologetics kinda guy, was caught off-guard with atheist arguments, what must it be like for other Christians who have never been taught to defend their faith?

            They go to sunday school and learn the Gospel. The whole “Jesus came down and died for the sins of the world” story. Then they go to school and hear that Jesus’ very existence is doubted. They hear that Evolution is everything that is needed; God is unnecessary. They hear that the Bible is unreliable.

            They come home “a little shook-up”, and ask their parents and pastors about it. They don’t really have answers because no one taught them, either. The kid is left thinking that the non-Christians have the answer to life’s questions, and so leaves the church when he is able. College is often the final nail in his faith's coffin.

            The mistake the church has made has been to let apologetics (defending the faith) and polemics (challenging other faiths) slide. As the American church has fallen towards emotionalism (feeding the heart), it has neglected rationalism (building the mind). It also doesn’t help that the rationalist Christians are often the wacko fundamentalists (I can say "wacko fundamentalist" because I’m on the “fundamentalist” side of things usually).

The Short Term Answer

            How do we fix this lack of rationalism in the church? On the church’s end, it is simple:

1. Spend money to get apologetical and polemical resources
2. Have classes using those resources, and involve EVERYONE (teens especially)
3. Attend conferences and host speakers (Q&A sessions are absolutely amazing ways of getting conversations going)

            On the individual’s end, it’s the same, except with one more point: 4) Start conversations with friends, coworkers, and other students. What’s the use of knowing how to defend the faith and challenge other faiths if you never get the chance to do so?

The Long Term Answer

            While the above is a good start, it can’t compete against the school systems. We go to church once a week and school five days a week. We can’t compete against an atheistic school system for long.

            We have to aim for the university.

            Whereas the church used to be the institution that shaped current thought, now it is the university. And it doesn’t look good, because there are three times more atheist professors to everyone else in colleges in proportion to the population.

            To take back the universities we have to flood graduate schools and get doctorates in history, philosophy, etc. Then, when today’s professors die off, Christians are hired to replace them. The cycle repeats after tomorrow’s professors pass away, and so on and so forth.

            When we take back the universities, we’ll change modern thought because the highest academic circles decide how everyone else thinks. For good, or for worse.

Summary

            Looking over this post, I realize I’m all over the place. That’s alright because everything I cover is somewhat related, but let me tie everything together:

            We have to be able to defend our faith and challenge other faiths. The way to do that is to become rational by studying these topics. But that will only affect those already in the church. To reach those outside of the church, we have to gain back the institution that determines current thought: the university.

This Post Is Supposed to Be on Islam…

            Some time ago I said I would interrupt my “world-views” series to talk about the missions trip I went on. Well, now I’m done with the missions trip, so I guess I should go back to the world-views (Islam would be next)… But I don’t feel like talking about Islam at the moment…

            So instead I’ll write a little bit about evangelism (I went to a Dare2Share conference a few weeks ago so this is prominent in my mind).

            The whole purpose of Dare2Share is to ignite a fire in believers to spread the Gospel. Through skits, sermons, and music (Desperation Band played at our particular conference), this organization shows the need the world has for Jesus. It definitely impacted me.

            Okay, enough of the sunday school stuff. Romans 1:14-15 states:

            “I am under obligation both to the Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome” (ESV) (The King James has “bondage” instead of “obligation”).

            In summary, Paul has a serious desire to spread the Gospel.

            As Christians, we have the truth (Gospel) because the Truth (Jesus, not Paul Pierce) became flesh to save us. This is mind-blowing, earth-shaking, heart-piercing stuff. Do Christians have the same desire of Paul to evangelize?

            Speaking from my vantage point, I would say no. I generally sit on a couch and do nothing about the power God has given me. Why? For the most part*, I am lazy and fearful. I don’t want someone to give me a dirty look. I also don’t want to interrupt my comfortable life for this dude named Jesus.

            Contrast this to Paul. He looks at the Jews and Greeks and feels that he owes them the Gospel. As in, he looks at them and feels like he is obligated to them. He has to pay them the Gospel to be free. Romans 1:14 makes it clear that he has some serious motivation.

            Have you ever done something so bad that immense guilt was weighing on you? I have, and it it truly is a bondage. The only way I could get rid of the guilt was to apologize to the person.

            Paul feels the same way… about Jesus! Instead of an apology, however, he feels obligated to spread the Gospel. He is in bondage to spread the freedom of the Gospel to those in bondage to their sins (wait a second… read again).

            But how can he do this? In the next verse (16) he states, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (KJV).

            He can do this because he is unashamed. Jesus didn’t die so that Paul and I can turn around and be scared at someone cursing us out. Let’s spread the Word.

*The “other part” of why some Americans don’t evangelize could be because of the unconscious pollution of the hyper-calvinistic view “God will bring people into churches, we don’t have to outreach” that has trickled into the Church. I didn’t mention this because deeper theology would’ve killed the flow of the post.