Here’s an interesting article from the Christianity Today site:

“Attack Dogs of Christdondom”

This is presented as a problem for Christianity…which it most certainly is….but think about this:

Isn’t this almost an “American” thing? Our present 21st Century culture, with it’s prioritization of free speech over civility and intense individualism has sort of created this kind of attitude of hostility in any exchange of ideas.

For example…look at the 24 hour news networks. There are only a few minutes of any real reporting of actual events, the rest of the HOURS are filled with split screens of two people who hold opposing views about who’s to blame for everything who viciously attack each other publicly.

We have sort of become Vick Nation….one giant, ongoing dogfight (except with no apologies or promises of reform).

I’m somewhat convinced its not even just a 21st century American Christian thing as it is an American culture thing that the evangelical church has adopted and perversely sanctified under the banner of “taking a stand”.

Either way…we as the evangelical church have got to repent for being prompted by antichrist methods.

The Kingdom of God is revealed in so many different ways.  It’s revealed in a kind touch.  It’s revealed in spaghetti noodles, soccer balls and summer camps.  We were never called to promote a church.  We were called to preach what Jesus preached, that the Kingdom of God is close at hand.  Then we were called to stretch out our hands and let the Kingdom of God press through us toward others.

The Kingdom of God is basically God’s rule over the hearts of men.  Anywhere there is a person who has submitted his or her life to God through Jesus Christ; the Kingdom of God is there.  Anywhere kindness is shown in the name of (for the sake of, in the style of, in harmony with) Christ; that is the Kingdom of God at work on this earth.

“Let Your Kingdom come, let Your will be done on earth, like it’s done in heaven.”

As best as I can tell, God started something in our community last Sunday.  Philippians 2:1-11 seemed to resonate in our hearts.  I have no capacity to articulate what I was experiencing that morning…in both services, but especially in the first, where I was so caught off guard by what was happening.  It seems so cliched to say “God showed up”…but I’m failing to find any other words to paint with.  In my mind, we stumbled into a room where God had been waiting all along.  In there, we touched His heart and it changed us.  Well….it changed me anyway….I’m hoping it’s us.

It’s with this experience that I’m inviting all my friends and family to join me in an experiment in “intentional humility”.  It will be a fast…a solidarity fast.  What’s that?  I’ll give more information as we go.  Just start praying about joining me…its less than a month away. 

 June 11th-13th, 2007…I will weep with the weeping.

Hey all.  Sorry for the delay in posts.  I’ve decided that Justin’s Apology is going to be a project I’ll work on as I have time, but not something I’ll clog up this website with.  I’m afraid its put off my fellow bloggers from posting…and I hate to see that happen.

I want to leave off Justin’s Apology with just one more chapter….the most compelling chapter of all to me.  It was the piece of Justin’s apology that I read in a library 15 years ago, which changed my view of church forever.  It is Justin’s description of a typical gathering of the church…its the oldest snapshot we have of how the early church carried out it’s meetings….and I LOVE it.  I relish this chapter…chapter 67….it woke me up, gave me hope and is literally the basis for Eastgate, the church I’m now a part of.  Read what he says the meeting of the church was like, 1900 some years ago…and revel in the simplicity and kindness of that original “wonderwhat”.

I give you chapter 67 of Justin’s first apology:

Chapter LXVII.-Weekly Worship of the Christians.  

It’s our habit to regularly remind each other of the things we believe.  Those who have the means to do it take care of the needs of those who are poor among us.  We stick with each other through thick and thin, and we thank God for supplying for all our needs.  He made everything and gives us everything we need in His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit.

On the day called Sunday, whether we live in the city or live in the country, we all meet together in one place, and we read the stories of the apostles or the writings of the prophets for a set amount of time.  Then, when the person reading has stopped, the leader of our group will teach us how we can live these writings out in real life.

After that, we pray.  We stand together praying, and when we’re done we bring out the bread and wine we mentioned before (chapter 66) and the leader prays over them, thanking God for these things to the best of his ability and we all agree with him by saying “amen”.  We make sure everyone gets some of the bread and wine and we all eat and drink the things we are so thankful for.  We also make sure those who can’t join us are sent a portion, we send a designated waiter  on a house call to serve the absentees. 

Those who have the means and are willing to do so give to a common fund whatever they see fit to give. That sum is given to the leadership who then takes care of orphans and widows, those who are sick and unable to work, those who have been put in prison and their families, and any stranger who comes our way.  In a word, he is the protector of all who are in need.

We meet together on Sunday because that was the first day of creation, the day God separated light from darkness and made the world we live on.  Jesus Christ our Hero rose from the dead on Sunday as well.  He was crucified on the day before Saturn’s day (Saturday), and on the day after Saturn’s day, the day of the sun, He rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples and the apostles.

He is the One who taught them the things that we have been taught to believe, and we have now offered them to you, for your consideration.

Back to Justin.

The real history that Justin provides…the little details that provide evidence that he was an ancient Roman citizen makes this all the more compelling to me.  I love that I’m connected with this man from so long ago.  I feel his passion and frustration as though it were my own.  It helps me get my sense of perspective, remembering that Christianity isn’t the brainchild of modern evangelicals, but an epic story that spans many generations…and I’m PART of it. 

So cool.

Chapter XXV.-False Gods Abandoned by Christians.

Secondly, we used to worship Bacchus, Apollo, Proserpine, Venus or Aesculapius (the stories of whom are filled to the brim with perversity), as well as all sorts of gods that we now have utter contempt for, because of what we’ve learned from Jesus Christ.  Even though we are threatened with death, we will not return to the worship of these inferior and perverted beings.

In all honesty, we feel real pity for those who follow these religions.  Dark forces invented these gods, and we reject them. 

Chapter XXVI.-Magicians Not Trusted by Christians.

Thirdly, after Christ went back up to heaven there were those who, inspired by demonic forces, came forward to assert themselves as gods.  You did nothing to stop or harass them, in fact, some you even honored in public ways.  There was Simon the Samaritan from Gitto.  During Claudius Caesar’s reign, he (by the power of demons) did all sorts of amazing acts of magic right in the capital city of Rome.  Did you persecute him?  No, you built a statue in his honor on the river Tiber(right between the two bridges) with the inscription “Simoni Deo Sancto” (“To Simon the Holy God”)!  Almost every Samaritan and people from all sorts of local provinces call him the “first god” and worship him.  This you allow.

There was the woman Helena, the prostitute, who was living with him during his rise to fame.  They call her “the first idea”, and say she was the living incarnation of his teachings.

What of Meander the Samaritan from Capparetaea, who was a follower of Simon.  He followed in the same pattern of using magical arts to trick people into submitting to his doctrines while he was in Antioch.  Remember him?  He told people they would never die if they followed him.  There are only a handful of those who believed that line who are still alive.  This you allow.

There was the man of Pontus, Marcion, who is alive today and teaching gullible people to believe in some other god who is supposedly greater than the Creator.  He is so empowered by evil spiritual forces that he has a huge following of people who buy into his teachings of some different, hidden god who is greater than the Creator of all things.

You will find many of these people calling themselves Christians, but as we said before, just like many who don’t follow the disciplines of philosophy will call themselves philosophers, likewise many call themselves Christians who are not.  I have a treatise I’ve written previously, exposing all these false doctrines.  I can make it available to you if you’d like to read it.   Whether these false followers of Christ do the things you’ve accused us of, such as arson, sexual orgies or cannibalism, I don’t know.  What we do know is that they aren’t being arrested or put to death because of their opinions, but we are. 

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