Orthodoxy for Kids

Its come to my attention over the past several years that we are forsaking complexity for accessibility in our Children’s Ministries. People seem to think that kids cannot understand Christians truths, so instead of “Jesus is my savior,” we teach them “Jesus is my friend.” I think this is wrong. I think that doing this is an insult to our children’s intellect and the power of the Spirit to bring understanding. Because of this trend, over the next year, I want to work on children’s stories that explain complex orthodox truths to children in story format in a way that makes sense to them. I believe that kids can understand the Trinity. I believe that kids can know what Heaven and Hell are. And that conviction is leading me to really transform this blog into a children’s storyboard of sorts. So throughout 2014, I will be working on and posting stories for kids that explain orthodox Christian teachings. I look forward to working on this project, and hope that you and many children benefit from this! 

How to Rebuke

I’m finding it increasingly common in my own life to keep my mouth shut in situations that breed controversy. But there is a little dilemma going on in my heart as these things unfold. When do I speak up? When is it wrong to speak up? How to do I confront people? What methods should I use to confront people? 

As I scroll through Facebook, I see numerous posts by well-meaning believers who say things that I whole-heartedly disagree with. Sometimes, I write a page long response in the comment section to only delete it before posting it, just so I can get my frustration out. Apart of me doesn’t say anything for righteous reasons: I don’t want to cause divisions. Another part of me doesn’t speak up for unrighteous reasons: I want people to like me. So how do we handle confrontation? 

First, we need to understand that confronting a brother/sister is not judging them. We are told in scripture to confront other believers. We have God’s approval to rebuke heresy. The issue here is that we’ve turned heresy into anything that doesn’t line up with what I believe. That’s a very self-righteous view of your own thought-process. We need to humble ourselves and realize that believers are going to disagree on big and small things. We have the obligation to confront heresy, not disagreements (no matter how big the size). 

Second, it’s really easy for us to just post a confronting comment on Facebook in reply to something to disagree with. I think Matthew 18 gives us a great way to handle these things. While Matthew didn’t have Facebook comments in mind when he wrote this, it still applies. Don’t go commenting in open rebuke on everything that someone says in which you disagree with them. Before making your thoughts public, make it a rule in your life to send them a private message, text, or phone call first to find out more about what they said. It may be that you just read their post wrong. If, however, your initial conclusions were correct, offer loving rebuke for the post. Tell the person you love them and then drop it. I would only suggest posting a comment if the individual goes back later and posts something of similar ideology.

Third, ground your words in love. No one likes the theology police. Your job isn’t to correct everyone because you think you know more. Thats pride and thats sinful. Make sure that when you approach someone to confront them to always cover the things you say in love. Make sure that person knows you love them. Show genuine concern for their words. Admit that you are also flawed. Be humble throughout the conversation. 

Fourth, don’t write the person off because of one unorthodox post. Once someone says one thing we disagree with, we have a tendency to never listen to them again and find faults in everything they say. Don’t be like that. Even when we have disagreements, there will most of the time be really profound and encouraging messages that come from the individual you disagree with. Give that person credit where credit is due. 

Finally, don’t publicly rebuke for your own gain. I’ve written responses to people before and thought “ohhh yeah. This is so good. So many people are going to like my comment.” That’s wrong. That is definitely an improper motivation for rebuke. When you feel the need to engage in a conversation like that with someone, make sure you are entering the discussion with a proper motivation to speak truth for God’s glory, not your own. 

What about you? What other advice can you give on confronting others with whom you disagree?

Heaven Is For Real

There has been a lot of controversy over the new movie ‘Heaven is for Real.’ I understand the concern. I really do. Those of us within the evangelical circle who hold scripture to the highest standard want that to be upheld and honored. Fighting for the authority of scripture is a worthy pursuit, but pitting experience against scripture is not. And that’s what this has come down to. 

Many loud evangelicals like David Platt and John MacArthur, who never seem to get tired of hearing their own thoughts, have been pretty vocal lately over this movie about Heaven. Again, I understand the concern. We should not hold a 4 year old’s experience on the same level as scripture, but is that what we’re doing here? I don’t really see that as the case.

This little boy claims to have gone to heaven and sat on Jesus’ lap, and saw the Holy Spirit, and his dead sister, etc. Should we believe that this boy’s soul actually went to heaven and then came back into his body? No. Can we believe that this boy had a dream or vision about heaven? Absolutely. Should we take what he said literally? I don’t think so. I’ve been in more arguments about the Holy Spirit being blue than I ever thought I would be. “The Bible doesn’t say the Holy Spirit is blue, so that settles it. The Spirit isn’t blue.” 

Can we really say that? I mean, the Bible calls God ‘Father’ and we know that He isn’t literally a male father in the way we understand it. Paul says that he experienced a vision of heaven and he really didn’t know what was happening. Isaiah and John bob describe the same animal creatures in entirely different ways. Should we literally expect the streets of Heaven to be paved with gold?

My point is that there is a lot of ambiguity here that many evangelicals are just unwilling to admit exists to protect the Bible. And to get bogged down in whether or not the Holy Spirit is blue, I think, misses the whole point. We aren’t trying to open up the canon and tuck “Heaven is for Real” in right after Revelation. I think the point is that Heaven is for real.

And I’m tired of seeing scripture being pitted against experience. What is scripture but many people’s experiences with God over thousands (or millions) of years? Its not the Bible. It’s an experience, so don’t believe it. This is the argument, and that baffles me. If each one of us didn’t have the experience of Jesus changing our lives, the words on the page wouldn’t mean much. Sometimes when people get back from Israel they talk about how alive the Bible is to them. We have experiences that validate what we see in the Bible, and I don’t think that’s really any different here. One boy’s experience drastically enhanced this family’s belief in Heaven and they just wanted to share that story with the world. 

A couple of concluding remarks:

1) Experiences are good things. They can really validate with our minds what we already knew with our hearts. I think we should remain open to experience.

2) Scripture is authoritative. We need the Bible. We need to trust the Bible. 

3) Just because the Bible is silent, doesn’t mean it can’t be so. My response to “Well! The Bible doesn’t say that!!!” is “And…” The Bible doesn’t talk about cantaloupe and I still believe that cantaloupe is a legitimate fruit that God made. The Bible doesn’t say the Holy Spirit is blue, but it could it! Not for me to say. 

4) Heaven is for Real is not Scripture. At the end of the day, I think we should appreciate this family’s story and encourage one another to talk more openly about heaven without absent-mindedly embracing every vision this boy had. Dream and visions are often very imaginative and should be most often taken figuratively.