Controversy!

I was thinking today about what to write and I realized that I have a desire to be controversial.  Is there anything wrong with Christians being controversial?  Not if you're trying to imitate Christ! I read a book not long ago titled, The Imitation of Christ.  It's not on a recent best seller list because it was written in 1418 by a Dutch monk by the name of Thomas a Kempis.  It is considered one of the most widely read devotions to Christianity.  It is a product of the German-Dutch school of mystical thought.  Now before anyone gets too spooked, mysticism was and is the earliest form of pure Christianity.  It came before Catholicism, before the Reformation and all the different "religions" and before all the various ideologies and man made doctrines.   I realize the word mystical somehow brings up thoughts of magic, but that is not the intended meaning of mysticism as it relates to 1st and 2nd century ascetics.  These folks were so devoted to God and Jesus that they spent their whole lives in the desert "communing" with God.  

So, back to the original question.  Is it "wrong" to be controversial in Christianity.  It is if you are being controversial over matters that are not based in spiritual truth.  For example, attempting to make Jesus gender neutral.  However, Jesus was a "lightning rod" during his ministry.  He was provocative, controversial, and progressive.  He made many enemies by claiming to "forgive sins" and grew to be hated by the scholars and scribes of the Hebrew Bible so much that they carried out his murder and crucifixion.  Yet, we are called to "be like Christ."  What does that look like?  Well, if history is a good guide, we are supposed to be just as controversial as Jesus was.  We should be proclaiming truth no matter the consequences.  Even to the point of being hated and ridiculed by the biblical scholars of today.   Yet, we must be very careful here or we can become self-righteous and bent on pointing fingers for the sake of taking the focus off of us.  If we are to be controversial, we had better have our "own house" in order.  We had better be trying to live just as Christ lived, all the while knowing that we will never reach that level of perfection.  That means that we must rise on bended knee, walk with humility all day long, and retire on bended knee.  

However, it is a charge that has been left for us by Jesus.  He makes it clear through the "Great Commission" that we go out into the world and make disciples, just as he did.  When we accept things passively from those who have been trained in religious and biblical matters, then we are being lazy and placing too much authority in man and not enough authority in God.  We only need to remember who Jesus was "fighting" against during his ministry to reach this conclusion. John the Baptist called the Pharisees and scribes "broods of vipers."  Jesus called them "hypocrites."  So, we too, must at the very least take the direction that has been given us by pastors, preachers, priests, and the like and verify it through our own study of scripture.  I say all of this not to create an adversarial mind set toward your pastors or church leaders.  No!  Not at all. I say this because we are all human, pastor or not, and all humans sin, every single one of us.  No man is perfect, so we must go to the Author and Perfecter of Life in order to obtain truth when things are unclear.  Pastors and church leaders are our guides.  They point to "the way" and it is up to us to walk in "the way."  Even some of the greatest climbers need guides because the guides know the terrain.  However, that doesn't mean that the climber not train and do his own homework.  Just the same, we need spiritual church leaders to guide and direct us because they are familiar with the terrain.  Yet, we need to do our homework too!  

In closing, I will cite one personal example.  I am in the process of reading Joel Osteen's, "A Better You" and I am doing so not because I am a fan of his style and teaching.  I am doing so because I need to know what is so captivating in his message that millions of people flock to buy his books and to hear his message in his mega-church in Houston.  The title alone is something to think about.  I know that when someone plays upon my ego by using words like "you" and "me", it makes me feel good.  Yet, the resounding message over and over in the Bible is about taking care of "His sheep" and He will give you rest.  Biblically speaking, we are to decrease so that He may increase. I am charged with "making disciples" and being "the least of thee."  Jesus washed the feet of His disciples and they did not understand the act.  They were too busy jockeying for position to be at "His Right Hand."  They thought in "I" and "me" terms and Jesus thought in "you" and "we" terms.  The prosperity movement within evangelical circles has rightly been challenged by some of the leading Christian thinkers of today like Rick Warren and John Piper.  It is one area where "truth" has not been the guiding force behind the message.  True prosperity is a spiritual prosperity in which the peace of God flows in and through you during times of plenty and want.  True prosperity is when I have reached such a humble state that my own rights, wants, and needs are an afterthought.  

Uncertainty

I began this entry with the intention of writing about the uncertain life that we all live and should accept.  The only thing that we need be certain of is that God is as real today as he was at creation, when He spoke to Abraham, and when He led Moses and the Israelites through the desert as a "pillar of smoke" by night and "cloud" by day.  If we truly believe God and have that fact burnt into our hearts with no wavering or waffling, then we should live each day in gracious uncertainty.  The material world will always be uncertain to us because it is ever changing. However, God is our Rock, He is immovable, He is unshakable, and He is undeniably Lord over our lives, every single detail of our lives.  And, that is why we should not fret at the uncertainties that bombard us each day.  Because God, being omniscient,  sees and understands both our world and His.  And, therefore, what perplexes us, makes perfect sense to God. 

And just like Moses and the Israelites, God will lead and guide us in our every day of uncertainty. The Israelites had no more idea what was going to happen to them than I know what will happen to me on December 18, 2009. Yet, they allowed themselves to be led by the "cloud" by day and the "pillar of smoke" by night. And just like God led them thousands of years ago, He also leads us today.  He doesn't just point in a particular direction and say, "Go there!"  He doesn't straggle behind us, letting us mope around in the dark, lost.  No!  He is out in front of us every single day!  And just because we are not in on the details of what will happen next, does not mean that we are lost.  I've always heard that God led the Israelites into the desert so that they would wander aimlessly.  Well, it was God's plan to have them wander. It was directed wandering.  It was a planned, coordinated, and purposeful period of aimless wandering.  What seemed mysterious, disjointed, and uncertain, was crystal clear to God, for He knew the design of His own plan and the results that His plan would produce.

I began writing this with the idea of moving into another topic.  So much for that idea.  At any rate, I would like to briefly incorporate something else I have been thinking about.  I, as most know by now, am in recovery from chemical dependency.  There have been some things that have happened over the last several days that have put doubt and uncertainty into my mind about the soundness of talking openly about my personal issues.  Although I have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of "mind and body" and have no problems, personally, telling others of my struggle and how God has pulled me back from the gates of death, I sometimes feel that I should be more discrete.  Discrete, only because I still have goals going forward in this life. As for medicine, my history is public knowledge.  However, my openness could pose a problem if I wanted to get involved in other areas like politics or the medical business industry.   I was listening to NPR today, 'Talk of the Nation', and the show was discussing "social networks" as hiring tools.  Much advice was given and universally, the consensus was that you should not put things on their that could undermine your chances of getting hired for a job.  They also stated that a lot of Human Resource departments use social network sites like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and the like to do their own background checks.  

Therefore, I became self conscious about my degree of openness out here on what I like to call the "Wild Wild Web."  Yet, God keeps harping into my ear, it's okay!  As long as you proclaim My name and seek My will, you will be okay.  And this goes back to my earlier discussion.   I should not let the perceived thoughts and perceived actions of men control me.  In fact, the position (hired, working position) I hold right now was the result of me being completely honest about all my dirty laundry.  It was the first time I had approached a potential job in that way, AND it worked!  Previously, I had danced around the issue.  I never lied, but my plan had always been to get the job offer first, then drop the bomb on them afterwards.  Well, that was the advice I received from the vast majority of acquaintances (well intentioned), including other recovering physicians, and it left me feeling awful and........ it universally failed.   

So, what is the moral of the story?  Well, what I think the moral is and what my experience shows is that honesty is ALWAYS, ALWAYS the best policy.  I had an attorney who once told me that it is not the act that really gets you into trouble, it's the cover-up after the act has been committed.  How true?  Dodging, half-truths, and outright denials of the truth create more harm than the original act.  Any suspicion or evidence of a cover up always brings about the wrath and anger of men and women of this world.  Yet, without fail, the people in history who when first approached about some misdeed, told the truth, ALWAYS fared better than the ones who deflected, hid, or denied the truth.  

In closing, I sometimes feel like the Psalmist.  And my guess is that we all do during certain times in our lives. In Psalm 31:1, it states, "In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness."  Psalm 31:11, 13 states, "Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends-those who see me on the street flee from me.  For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side."  However, I'm not so sure if these thoughts and feelings are true in nature.  In other words, I think the devil plays a big role getting us to think that people are "out to get us" or that our past misdeeds are being used against us at every turn.  To believe that, is to say that the love of God is not in too many peoples lives today. Yet, practically speaking, just as it is in life, there will always be a mix.  Sure, there will be some people who will use our past "against" us.  But I am just as equally certain that there are God fearing and forgiving people in this world who are just waiting for the opportunity to shower us with their grace and mercy. 

Yet, what man uses to destroy, defame, and slander, God uses to mold, strengthen, and purify into the most precious gem on earth!  Yes, man may use my history of addiction and all its attendant consequences in an attempt to destroy, defame, and slander, but God uses and has used my addiction and all its attendant consequences to make me into a "precious gem" and a surgical instrument for His kingdom!  And, He has and always will do the same for those who seek Him.  And, He will also do the same for you! Remember, both Moses and David were murderers.  The Bible is replete with examples of God using "broken" people to achieve the supernatural will of God. Thanks be to God!