Archives For doubt

American Churches and “Craft Time” Christianity

May 13, 2013 — 14 Comments

Daily-Foam-Crafts-2012-CEB-adRemember craft time in Sunday School?

Or church camp.  You know how it goes.  The teacher or counselor guides the kids, color this, glue that.  Add some glitter.  And at the end of the hour, a bunch of kids have completed the project.  They all have uniform little bookmarks or light-catchers, or some other trinket that tied neatly into the Bible lesson of the day.

Crafts from church or camp are tangible things that kids show off, which prove to the parents that they are getting their money’s worth.  What kid comes home from camp empty-handed?

One of the ironies of my occupation as an art teacher is how much I cannot stand “craft time” at church, camp, or Vacation Bible School.  I’ve always avoided leading these activities as much as possible (though I’ve still found myself roped in from time to time.)  But it’s not just that I’d rather not lead craft time.  I think all the craft times your kids will enjoy this summer are actually a very appropriate metaphor for the broken Christianity they will be expected to embrace when they are adults.

It’s time for American churches to let go of “craft time” Christianity.

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In church, doubt, faith
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God Does Not Have Low Self-Esteem

April 29, 2013 — 6 Comments

People say a lot of things about God.

Sometimes, people say good things about God.  But an awful lot of what is said about Him is misinformation, slanderous, flaming, blaming, offensive, ranting, blasphemous, infantile or just whiny.  Really, God’s reputation is attacked every day as He gets way more blame than He deserves, and probably far too little credit.

And when slanderous things are said about God, there will never be any shortage of people to defend God, to argue, to picket, to protest in righteous indignation, to tell us what God thinks and how God feels.

If any of us got to be personally attacked liked that day after day, we’d feel pretty lousy. But I think God’s silence in the face of perpetual attack and blame is one of His most instructive attributes.

These are four things God’s silence has to teach us when it comes to defending ourselves, our reputation and our faith.

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In doubt, faith
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Frauds and Faith Healers: Why Does God Need My Faith Anyway?

January 16, 2013 — 24 Comments

If you’ve been a follower of this blog for some time, you know that there is one thing my wife and I want to add to our resumes.

Team Matt and Cheri want to be parents.

At least, we want to be parents as much as anyone can want a little person to turn their lives upside-down.  We want it enough that we’ve 216723been pursuing parenthood for over eighteen months.  But it hasn’t been as easy as following the recipe we learned in junior high.

Through our ordeal, we’ve shared war stories with lots of other wannabe parents.  I’ve read countless blogs, and even a couple of books, and have heard plenty of well-meaning wishes from friends.

But one thing has troubled me.  I’ve found it in blogs everywhere, even in some books.  It’s been a subtle, even inadvertant theme of some well-wishing acquaintances.

The idea is that if I just have faith that God can do something, then He will make it happen.  If I simply believe that God can make us parents, then it will be so.  Some people believe God will make them rich.  Others believe God will make them parents, with just the right amount of faith.

That leaves me wondering.  If God can overcome the forces of hell, can’t He overcome my lack of faith?

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In doubt, faith, family, Parents
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Why God Doesn’t Come To America Anymore

November 5, 2012 — 22 Comments

Kwot Nyor is a quietly amazing man.li-sudan-flag-rtr2olus-620

Yesterday, he spoke to our church. He has been a good friend to my dad for several years.

Kwot is from South Sudan. He spent ten years fighting in the liberation army, defending Christians from genocide. He would go without food and water for days at a time. After a decade of fighting, he worked as a pastor and evangelist. Now, he is living in the midwest United States, but is preparing to return home with the dream of building new Christian schools and churches in the very primitive South Sudan.

This is a place where people worship trees and sacrifice animals to appease spirits. They speak curses and incantations against one another. People cannot read or write. Whole communities share single water wells.

He told us stories of specific people who came for healing, and they were healed. Or, Kwot prayed, and Jesus appeared to them, the way He appeared to Paul. He has dreams that come true. He even dreamed on Saturday night that his car would break down, and on Sunday morning, on his way to church, it did.

Kwot’s stories are outlandish, to the point of unbelievability to an American like me.

It makes me wonder when I hear all the things that happen in places like Africa if God has decided to check out of America.

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In America, doubt, faith
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God, You’re Embarrassing Me!

August 17, 2012 — 28 Comments

Remember when you were a kid?article-1307390615535-0C70465000000578-770945_636x1016-187x300

And your parents embarrassed you in public?

Maybe your dad wore his knee socks and birkenstocks to the mall, or your mom picked you up from school in her hair curlers, and from there on out, you insisted on being dropped off a half mile from your destination, just to keep them out of the sight of your peers. You were convinced they were holding you back. You were so humiliated to have them as parents.

“Mom, you’re embarrassing me! I swear, as soon as you are old enough, I’m putting you in a home.”

We whined and complained, and a few of us got our revenge as teenagers, as we generally took up the hobby of acting like clowns in public. The rest of you just unknowingly embarrassed your parents. Trust me, you embarrassed them at least a couple of times.

You know what the modern church’s problem is?

We go to church and sing songs and hear messages and worship God. But we just do that in church.

Outside of church, we are horrifyingly, mortifyingly embarrassed by God.

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In doubt, faith
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Turns Out the Cross is Made Up

July 5, 2010 — 33 Comments

It seems maybe Jesus didn’t die on a cross.

Yep.  Apparently, we kind of flubbed that fact.  At least that’s what Gunnar Samuelsson is saying.  He thinks there’s no evidence of crosses or nails being used for executions in Roman times, and we just assume that when the Bible says “crucifixion” it means “on a cross.”

That’s one I didn’t expect.  I would’ve thought that a notorious method of executing criminals and enemies of the state would be well known and rather indisputable.  People have debated since the Monday after whether Jesus actually came out of the grave.  But I’ve never heard of anyone arguing that he didn’t died on a cross.  Thing is, this guy is a Christian.  He says that Jesus was in fact executed by the Romans…just not on a cross.  He just thinks we should stop “reading between the lines” in the Bible and read what it really says. 

While my first reaction to the guy was, “Cram it, Captain know-it-all,” I thought of three slightly better reactions to this news.

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In doubt, religion
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