Archive for the ‘Parables’ Category

Church Indoctrination: Benefits for You and Yours.

Posted by Author on January 28th, 2011

CAUTION: If you’re easily offended by criticism of the church, do not read any further.

A few days ago, a friend of mine reminded me of how long it had been since I posted anything to this blog. When I logged into my blog today  I  had over a thousand comments to other posts, which had not been moderated (approved or disapproved).   Reading through more than a  handful of the comments along with my friend’s reminder a few days ago, I finally felt the need to break my cyberspace silence.  I haven’t been  intentionally ignoring you – my captive audience; rather, I’ve been victim of the demands of every day life, commonly known as the rat race.

Still, in celebration of re-connecting with you after a lengthy absence, I’d like to challenge your thinking and your theology for a few minutes and get some things off my chest.

Occasionally, while I’m enjoying a few solemn moments busy doing nothing: channel surfing (and not blogging), walking the dog (and not blogging), texting some out of state friends…and not blogging, I’ll catch a minute or two of a preacher or televangelist doing their thing on national television.  Now, I don’t know if it’s just my luck and the way I subliminally filter these episodes – or what – but without fail every time I tune in, the preacher/televangelist/teacher is always talking about how going to church, serving God, and giving to their ministry is going to benefit me.

Will there ever be a time when a message is preached and the benefits-to-the-believer-acknowledgements be left out?

Follow me here: I promise this will make sense.

You can probably remember the last time you were forced to sit through one of those ridiculously long telephone conversations with an insurance agent.  Or, if you’re super-lucky, you can probably remember the last time the Life Insurance guy was at your house going over policies and premiums with you.  What a salesman he was, right? I mean, it has to take someone special to actually sell you something that you (personally) won’t get any use  out of or benefit from.  To top it off, you get to pay for it in monthly installments for the next 10-30 years!  As you sat through the long discussions, debating coverages, comparing premiums with other competitors and pouring cup after cup of coffee to be able to remain awake through it all, you finally decide on a policy.  And what helped you reach your decision were probably 2 answers to 2 questions:

What’s it going to cost me?

A N D

What’s the pay off when I die?

I know this, because I’m hard-wired the same way you are when it comes to things that involve the way our world systems work.  We naturally want to know what it’s going to cost, and what the pay-off is for us…or in this case our spouse and our loved ones.  Thus, the selling point of any insurance policy is always going to come down to the cost of the policy versus what you can afford to pay, and the pay-off, which is going to benefit your spouse and loved ones.

The problem is, we have been conditioned by this way of thinking and we have selfishly allowed it to dictate how we filter everything else in our lives.  Churches and preachers all over the world recognize this, and as a result, when you walk through the doors of some of the bigger or more contemporary churches of today you’re instantly greeted with open arms of everything that appeals to your senses and to your liking.

It’s not good enough to walk into a church anymore.  You have to walk into a church that looks like Disneyland!

Bright stages.

Big lighting.

HD Sound systems.

Multiple large screens with projectors.

Coffee… Even Cafe’-styled coffee bars with breakfast snacks!  I mean, God-forbid, you actually have to enter a praise & worship service without your Grande Caramel Macchiato!  I know how boring it can be to have to sing …TO GOD!

But, that’s just to warm you up.  We haven’t even touched the policy yet.  That’s saved for sermon time.

You see, it’s during sermon time when you hear things like:

“…let me show you 5 reasons why God wants you to be prosperous.”

“…God can heal you, if you’ll just use your faith.”

“…the Lord doesn’t want you to carry those burdens all by yourself.”

“…It’s not God’s will that you remain single, (or divorced…or in a bad marriage)…”

“…If you give God the first fruit of your increase, God will heal your family…”

While I think it’s great and wonderful that these statements and teachings are made from behind the pulpit, and while I know that they are said and taught to provoke a feel-good-association to the Church, the result have been anything but Godly by and large.

The Church and the gathering together of believers is for the education of the believer.  To be educated on what, or who?

On Christ.  On His teachings.

We should be going to Church to:

- be confronted

- be challenged

- be uplifted with the Truth

- be instructed for living a Godly life

Almost everything from behind the pulpit is sold to us as a BENEFIT of serving God.  We are such a self-serving society of people; it is engrained in us to want for ourselves.  Whether it be teaching on, how can I bring my wife back, how can I do better financially, how can I get a promotion at work, or, how can I live a prosperous life… everyone wants their needs met. And they expect that the Church will provide them with the answers.

Most pastors and preachers don’t want to confront you about you, because they’re afraid of losing people in their congregation.  They don’t want to tell you that YOUR abuse was the reason your wife left you; it’s easier to say, “…brother…God has someone else for you.”  They don’t want to tell you that you need to arrive to work on time; it’s easier to say, “…sister, the Lord understands…He has another job for you.”  They don’t want to tell you that you were a hypocrite at home with your children and that is why they don’t go to church today; it’s easier to say, “…every young man has to come to the Lord on their own… you did your part – you brought them to the house of God.”  They don’t want to tell you that your sexual addiction is “the reason,” because they’re convicted about their own sexual addiction.

We would rather learn how to earn more and pay off that house quicker, than learn how to build a home with our spouse and our family through Godly living.  We would rather be taught how to receive a 100-fold return on our giving, than simply how to give without expecting to receive anything at all.  We would rather learn how to justify a divorce by bending and flexing scripture and assign blame to the wayward spouse, rather than to show people in churches how to break family curses that destroyed marriages in that person’s family lineage.

The fact of the matter is this: there are more people walking out of the church with a serve me-attitude of I-deserve more than an attitude of I’m here to serve. And most of us can recite more scripture that reflect our desire to succeed in areas of health and financial prosperity than the scriptures that deal with servanthood, giving, doing for others, and otherwise living a Godly-lifestyle.

Living the life of a believer is about following.

Living the life of a believer is about exchanging identities; you give up yours, and Jesus gives you His.

Living the life of a believer is about sacrifice; it’s not about gain.

The Church’s mission is to teach you to follow His example.  Instead, much of the Church has become an institution of selling and exploiting the benefits of serving God.  It would be like window shopping outside of your favorite stores, and saying to your spouse, “…I’m going to be able to buy that with that money from our life insurance policy…when YOU die, Honey!”  If you’re a normal person – and not a con artist with criminal intent – you live your marriage with your spouse day after day, month after month, year after year giving little thought or reflection to their last day on earth.  Hopefully, you’re not thinking about how you’re going to spend the Life Insurance money someday…after he or she dies.  You look forward to the here and now, right?  You have ups and downs, right?  Good times and bad times?

So, why do we constantly have to be fed self-serving topics… or what I call the benefits of being believers?  Why does the Church spend so much time pumping you up, begging you to get into your Bibles, cheerleading during worship services, hoping that you’ll just clap a hand, or shout a praise?  Don’t you believe?

It is time we allow ourselves to be de-programmed from a self-serving, how-this-benefits-me doctrine, and allow ourselves to re-progammed to a what-am-I-doing-for-God-and-for-others mindset.

Believe me friends, the BENEFITS of serving God are great, beyond your wildest imaginations, and you can partake of them in full, after you die here on earth.  For now, try and forget about you.

Live your life today…for God.

Posted in Confrontational, Family, Parables, Personal Experience, Revelation | No Comments »

take my breath away.

Posted by Author on September 16th, 2010

THE SEA tossed the boat wildly atop waves ten to fifteen feet high, as the violent winds funneled through the east-west aligned hills of Galilee. The experienced fishermen were all too familiar with the ferocious storms, and as the thunder crashed above their voices they struggled, trapped in the basin of the deadly storm. The men slid from one side of the boat to the other, unable to balance themselves long enough to pail water out of the boat.

“The water is coming in too fast!” Peter screamed in fearful panic. “We’ve got to get that water out…keep those buckets going!”

The panic in Peter’s voice – barely audible – was enough to keep the other fisherman moving as quickly as possible.

“How do you expect us to move any faster? We can’t stand up long enough to do anything!” James yelled back.

The waves took turns, crashing into both sides of the boat, rocking it back and forth. The wind howled as the brief, unpredictable lightning flashes gave short glimpses of the dark, raging sea. The other accompanying boats could be seen in the distance.

“Where is he?” James screamed in anger.

“Where is who?” Peter cried, gripping the side of the boat as he pulled himself to his feet.

“The Master!” James yelled.

Waiting on the lightning to allow for a chance to see, the waves smashed into the boat again, throwing Peter backward. Peter tried to grab a hold of anything to keep from falling, but his sandals found nothing to grip beneath his feet but water.

“Peter!” James screamed, as he rushed to help him.

Peter’s head hit the floor of the stern hard, and he screamed in pain. Rubbing the back of his head bewildered, he planted his left hand and felt… His warm arm.

Surprised, Peter yelled out, “Master!” Peter sat up on his knees and shook His arm and pushed on his hip. “Master…wake up!”

His eyes opened, and he immediately felt the water on the right side of his face. His clothing was soaked and his long, stringy hair was drenched in water.

“How can you sleep at a time like this?” Peter asked, with a bit of disgust in his voice.
“Don’t you care that we are about to die?”

Jesus pushed a handful of wet strands of hair behind his ears and rolled from his side onto his back. He sat up and felt the cold water run down his back, as the wind sprayed the cool water on his face. He tilted his head downward and wiped his face with the backside of his right hand, as his body shifted to one side. The boat continued to rock more violently.

His hands, submerged in water, pushed up on the wooden floor, and he stood up. Feeling the water hug his ankles and feet, he braced himself briefly, with one hand on the side of the boat to find his balance.   He looked out into the darkness as the wind beat against his body. He raised his right hand and spread his five fingers.

“P E A C E !” He yelled out in a sustaining voice.

The rain stopped.

The wind ceased.

The waves continued, tossing the boat.

“B E S T I L L !” He commanded in a stern, authoritative voice. He dropped his hand slowly to his side, and felt the light breeze blowing his wet hair, behind him.

A few moments later, the motion of the waves began to quiet, leaving the boat gently rocking under the moonlight, as Peter, James and the others sat in the boat, looking up at Him. Jesus stood in the center of the boat, made brief eye contact with all of them individually…and sighed.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Ask yourself this question: What kind of man sleeps through a storm?

HE SLEPT peacefully while the others struggled. Not because he didn’t care, but because he was in charge. He was in command. And he had peace. Inner peace. The kind of peace that knows the outcome, and therefore doesn’t need to “lose sleep.” There was nothing that could arise, that he could not handle. There was not anything that could come up, that he could not shut down.

“But he was Jesus, the Son of God…” you might say. Yes, but remember, it was his idea to get in the boat and go the other side of the lake to begin with.

Don’t miss the symbolism.

Jesus doesn’t tell you to go anywhere that he doesn’t go with, as a travel companion. Jesus sails with you in the boat. He’s with you during smooth sailing, and you can best believe He’s there when the storm comes in.

God doesn’t promise you a life of smooth sailing. He does promise you He’ll always be there, and He’ll never leave you or forsake you. Jesus knew when they set out for the “other side” that there would be a storm later that evening. Did he worry? Did he fear the storm’s coming? No. Infact, he was so peaceful, he went to sleep.

What do you do when the storms of life come blowing in?

When an unexpected ailment hits your body, resulting in an expected doctor bill that makes its way to your mailbox? What do you do when she says “it’s over” or he says “we’re finished?” How do you respond when the time off becomes the lay off? When the outgo exceeds the income. When there’s more less than excess? When the dark sky replaces the blue sky?

Be encouraged. Know that everything you encounter has to be approved by God’s permissible will. And if He has permitted it, He’ll see you through it. Storms are part of nature…nature’s way of telling us that there is something more powerful out there, and beyond our control. But they are not out of His control…and He’s in you and with you.  The power to arrest the storms of life are in you.

Posted in Parables, Relationships | 1 Comment »

It’s NOT about you.

Posted by Author on April 12th, 2010

Almost every personal website has an “About Me” button somewhere on the menu. Almost every company website has an “About Us” button. Don’t roll your eyes – I’m not going to write about the opposition to the i-Centered society we live in…

Okay… I am. That’s exactly what I am going to write about. Roll your eyes. (Go ahead…you know you want to.)

We live in a society (at least in America) that conditions us from the day we are born to focus and focus on one thing only: what do you think I want, and what plans are you making to make sure I get it? Without the ability to intellectualize and verbally affirm this way of thinking – at least not at 1 minute past the time of birth – the desire to be heard, to assert our purpose, and to prioritize for you what is most important to us becomes the underlying, ever-driving, secret mission, and unspoken manifesto of all of us. (Except you. You’re different.)

We cannot help it. At least not initially.

We are born with needs. We are born in a state of complete and utter dependence upon others. Depending on how our individual needs are met or are not met, will result in the framework and the blueprint, from out of which our emotional and physical needs will be requested throughout the days, weeks, months and years ahead.

Over time, the denial of our needs – or the inabilities and incapacities of others to meet them – will form and force our self-image, self-confidence, self-worth, and self-esteem to develop. Unfortunately, the development of “self” at some point falls into our hands to chisel through, and our instinctive self-dependence takes over to some degree.

Generally speaking, I don’t make it a practice to shove my spiritual beliefs on others, and I don’t find others who do to be irresistibly becoming. However, I am bold and unashamed to say that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. It is out of this relationship that I wish to communicate my point.

Standing on my belief and understanding of Christian principles, I believe that dependence upon “self” was never meant to be the plan for mankind. I would go as far as to say that I’m not convinced that self-image, self-confidence, self-worth, and self-esteem were ever in God’s plan for mankind either. If the Bible is true, which I truly believe, then one has to conclude by its declaration therein: man was not created to be independent, but de-pendent upon God.

This being the foundational philosophy behind my writing here, to continually pursue a world, where we as individuals are the central focus and the central goal is completely selfish. To journey through this window of time, referred to as “our life” without others being the central focus is unfulfilling, unrewarding and empty.

As I pondered my thoughts on this subject and began organizing my ideas, I thought back to my experience in Marine Boot Camp. Interestingly enough, one of the immediate and primary challenges of a drill instructor is to remove the words “I” and “me” from the vocabulary of his Marine recruits. If you have had the opportunity of visiting Marine Boot Camp at MCRD in San Diego, or Paris Island, SC, you may have noticed that Marine recruits are constantly referring to themselves as “this recruit,” rather than I or me. The philosophy is that by removing the terminology which promotes individuality, a philosophy focusing on others and on the “team” slowly moves to the forefront of the Marine’s thinking. This could possibly explain why the U.S. Marines have the highest number of Medal of Honor awards given to their servicemen, comparatively speaking. The selfless and sacrificial acts of heroic deeds embody the principle: laying one’s life down for his friend.

Imagine a world where the focus on the welfare of others was placed above the importance of our-selves. Imagine a world where self-promotion was viewed as taboo, and the interests in the lives of others were promoted as priority numero Uno.

Consider for a moment a world without the commercialization of vanity and the It’s all about Me aroma of self-indulgence and self-gratification. Shouldn’t life be about giving? About fulfilling? About serving?

Left to the dependence upon others, we inevitably rest our fate in the brokeness and dysfunctions of those struggling to maintain themselves. Reliant upon self-dependence, we are faced with the painful realization that we still need another.

Imagine. Consider.

So, when I see the “About Me” menu option, I almost instinctively respond inside of my head, “Who…What now?”

But again, that’s about Me.

Posted in Insight, Parables, Slider | 2 Comments »

Restraint

Posted by Author on April 8th, 2010

“I know, I know, I know…”

These have been the words I’ve repeated to my friends and family over the past several months. As you can see, it’s been quite a while since my last blog posting. Since many of you have been so patient in waiting for my return from the hiatus, this entire posting is going to be dedicated to my explanation of my absence on my own blog. (what kind of a guy ignores his very own blog, like it’s an old t-shirt in the bottom of his dresser drawer anyways?) There’s a short answer and a long answer to that question. I’ll give you the more lengthy answer, and hopefully it will provide some LIFE insights for you along the way…

Obviously, to most of my readers and my relatively small band of faithful followers (at least those following my blog…I’m certainly not starting a cult up here in the mountains…) you already know this about me: I am an outspoken person, who almost never has a one-word answer to a question or statement. Believe it or not, over the last several months I fell into a dark, deep, quiet place of inner reflection and analysis…as I have at different times throughout my life.

However, this time was a bit different. My reflective mood was not provoked or brought on by the onset of a depressive mood or challenging life-issue. This time, it was brought on by a close, long time mentor of mine, who 5 months ago challenged my thinking with a few – yes, just a few – sentences and questions. One of his first statements to me was: Phillip, you have to learn restraint.

Now, before I get any further, I need to clarify his statement for you. He wasn’t referring to an addictive habit, or a character flaw revealing weakness. Quite simply, he was referring to my, being so outspoken. Initially, I have to say… I was mildly offended.

Learn restraint? Are you kidding me! The first half of my life was being told I was to listen and not speak. With that came the unspoken demands, crippling my ability to express myself, and forcing me to suppress my instinctive need to cross communicate. Now that I put myself through years of therapy, psycho-analysis, and after subjecting and baring my soul to counselors you’re going to ask me not to do what everyone of them asked me to do by asking me to RESTRAIN my communication once again?

Believe-you-me, after sharing his first thought with me, I was already entertaining the option to give him the – another call’s coming through right now and I HAVE to grab this one – (let me call you back after the 10G iPhone hits the Apple Stores in Guam) However, my integrity wouldn’t allow me to spew out the lie I was gargling, and I…

REMAINED ON THE PHONE.

By this time I’m thinking: what’s next on the MUST LEARN LIST FOR PHILLIP? Walking a long path on rice paper without leaving a trace? (Right…too many episodes of David Carradine on Kung Fu, and that ridiculous bald kid named Grasshopper – - imagery flashing through my brain.)

I’m going to stop right here.

I’m not even going to get into the next statement that was spoken to me that afternoon.

The restraint my friend and mentor was speaking of has to do with a life of discipline. Discipline of the mind, of the emotions, of the will, and of the Spirit. We live in a society where very little restraint is on display. It’s wear what you want, say what you want, feel what you want, express yourself, and forget about everything and everyone else, LOOK OUT FOR #1… LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD. Right?

The problem with that way of thinking can be summarized with a single word and a single idea: self.

RESTRAINT is disciplining yourself to slow down your reaction and response time.

- Sit in silence when you want to scream.

- Fold your hands when you want to raise them in defiance.

- Walk away from a fight instead of throwing a punch.

- Allow yourself to absorb, rather than ingest yourself into a situation.

- Resist the need to be heard, instead of raising your voice in defense.

I can go on, but you get the point.

So, my hiatus has been a return to the basics of my core beliefs. I have purposely kept my mouth shut during a time when I wanted to sound-off on a variety of real life issues and every day situations, which we’re all faced with. And quite honestly, resisting the urge to login to my blog wasn’t that difficult after the first few times. I kept reminding myself that restraint was my goal. Try it. Restrain your SELF. In a very short period of time you will undoubtedly – eventually – be confronted with the same truth that every human being is forced to admit at some point: Life is not about me.

“…when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.” 1 Peter 2:23

Posted in Parables, Personal Experience, Relationships, Slider | 3 Comments »