53

This past weekend, I went to the Justice Conference in downtown Los Angeles. Matters of justice have always (imperfectly) been near to my heart, and a longing for a better world is something that I crave. The time that I spent in that theater hearing speaker after speaker proclaim God’s heart for the poor, enslaved, hurting, broken, and cast aside was both heart wrenching and inspiring. From MLK’s daughter, Bernice King, to theologian NT Wright, to people like Bryan Stevenson who serves with the Equal Justice Initiative, there certainly wasn’t a lacking of insight into matters of how we, as God’s people, can bring a voice to the voiceless.

One of the presenters was a man named Justin Dillion who was representing a group called Made In A Free World. He works with slavery around the world…yes…that kind of slavery. Slavery didn’t end around the world when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation…in fact, it didn’t even end slavery here in the States. It just went underground.

Dillon shared with us that he and his team have been putting in a lot of work into ending slavery worldwide. One of the tools they’ve created is a survey for you and I to discover how many slaves work for us. Now, before you click away, Dillon even admits “The world doesn’t need another bummer calculator” referring to their, well…their bummer calculator. His point is this, they are not trying to guilt us into donating to their cause. They are not attempting to exploit the starving child in Africa like those pathetic commercials you see late at night. Rather, they want to build awareness to help you and I to reconsider the choices we make when we buy things, and to build awareness so that we might start looking past those enslaved as people made in the image of God, just like us.

So, here’s where the rubber meets the road. Here’s a vid with a little more insight in what they do, and below will be a link for you to take the survey. Myself, and my kids (I couldn’t figure out how to factor in my wife)…we have 53 slaves working for us. As responsible as I attempt to be with my purchases, this is heart breaking. But as Justin Dillon said, this isn’t just to bum us out. Instead, it’s an attempt to educate us on the reality of the situation, hopefully give us a holy disgust (as God has), and it’s a call to action. What can you and I do to stop people thinking that they can own people? Well, this website is a good start, and then I urge you to be praying about it. Pray for the slaves and their masters, and that the freedom which Christ brings us be made a reality for 27 million people across the world.

http://slaveryfootprint.org/

Here’s a link that I didn’t put in the original post. This is another great organization trying to create awareness on slavery. http://www.enditmovement.com/learn.php

From Calvary to Stone Mountain

Today marks an historic day in the history of our country…it’s the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.  This morning, in honor of the day, I thought that I’d sit down and watch Dr. King’s speech again.  Every single time I watch it, I’m moved.  Every single time I hear him quote Amos, I feel like I’m there, even though he spoke those words well before I was even born.  In just 16 brief minutes, King spoke volumes, and as a result, his words are still treasured, and the cause he fought for is still being championed today.

A little background first.  

I grew up in St. Louis, MO.  It’s a funny city.  It’s a Northern Southern city and a Southern Northern city…both mindsets permeate the general consciousness.  Shadows of the Missouri Compromise, the Dred Scott Decision, and countless boycotts and protests of the civil rights movement all helped bring King to that podium on that warm August day in Washington D.C.  

Even today, the civil rights movement is still moving in St. Louis…sadly at times it moves backwards.  

I remember as a child, my grandmother often spoke of King and what life was like when she was a little girl in the city.  She spoke of drinking fountains for “Coloreds” and “Whites”, as well as separate entrances and booths in diners, separate schools, separate neighborhoods, and the constant tension that simmered between races.  It was a tension that I lived in living in one of the few racially mixed sections of the city.  

My high school was fairly equally mixed between black and white, but it was by far the romantic image painted by King in his speech of the young black boys and girls holding hands with white boys and girls (though it was always amusing to see peoples’ responses when there was an interracial couple…it’s amazing how quickly we revert to our honest self in those sorts of moments).  The constant biases and stereotypes that simmered in the hearts and minds of our parents’ generation were handed down to each of us.  That tension had to be resolved amongst us…young, naive, and shaped with the frustrations and biases of our elders…we were knowingly called to engage one another in love regardless of what we’ve been taught to the contrary.   Throughout the hallways we often saw the distrust of both races bear fruit, and though it never manifested itself into any sort of physical violence…the tension was still there and we weren’t sure what to do with it.  Thankfully, we had four years living together, walking together, playing ball together, studying together, and hating dress codes together.  As life was lived together, we began to see each other as more human and less of a stereotype.  

This is probably the most valuable lesson I learned in high school.  The fact that those around me are human just like me, and though the music they listen to, the clothes they preferred, the way they spoke, and other surface things may be different, the longer we spent with each other, tensions subsided as matured relationships and caring dialogue on race began to emerge.  What we learned was just what King dreamt that we would learn.  

Our destinies are tied up together.

As I watched King’s speech again today, one thing stuck out to me.  He understood that in order to live truly free…the sort of freedom that even supersedes the vision of our forefathers…then the “symphony of brotherhood” must be realized.  

Easier said than done.

Many who will celebrate King today won’t realize his faith.  King did what he did, said what he said, and lived how he lived because of Jesus.  He wasn’t a politician, a non-profit organizer, a strong believer in a system of government…King believed in Jesus.  He believed that Jesus died on a cross and rose from the grave on the third day and that that single truth changes everything.  It changed his relationship with the Almighty God, and it changed his relationship with his neighbor.  

Our culture today is one where Scripture is rarely understood, the church is rarely present, and, therefore, our collective hermeneutic is poor at best.  King got it, though.  He didn’t take his experience in the world and impose it on Scripture…rather his faith in Jesus and the Scriptures themselves shaped his view of the world.  That biblical worldview has now shaped our view of the world, because King saw a deep chasm between God’s created world and what man has done with it.  In Scripture we see pictures people from all walks of life loved by God, because each are made in His image, all known by Him, and loved by Him.  In the world…we see hatred, judgment, and violence.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”  Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:9-14)

In this great picture of Christ’s return, we see the unity that King was dreaming of.  This picture does not belong to the world and it’s governments, it does not belong to our militaries, nor our celebrities.  It’s a picture that belongs only to Christ.  I love the image that we get here of people praising God from all tribes and all nations.  That unity was not found in any earthly philosophy…it was born out of what verse 14 says “they have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.”  That is…they have all been forgiven through the work of the cross.  That dreadful night on Calvary proclaimed the sort of freedom that King said would be proclaimed from Stone Mountain.  It was the day of unity for all who have blood in their veins and breath in their lungs.  It was the day that no man or woman could say that they were greater than another because God so loved the whole world and didn’t single any of us out.  It was that day that moved a young preacher to proclaim that some have attempted to destroy and compromise that freedom which was freely given to us.  There were many who wanted to silence the work of King, and his understanding of a loving, unifying, and Almighty Creator God moved Him to stand up for those who were being treated as less than human.  

Those 16 minutes have resonated for 50 years now…but what many don’t see is that there was a greater resonance which sounded forth from the lungs of King on that day.  It didn’t come from him, though.  Rather, it was being spoken through Him.  The freedom he envisioned ringing forth from the Rockies to Lookout Mountain rang forth originally from the top of Calvary…the place where we can find unity, freedom, grace, and truth…the place where everyone of us should bow down.  

I still fight my own biases and temptations to judge and stereotype.  Those moments are always moments I attempt to ignore Christ.  King told us to “not be satisfied” with how things are.  The moments that I enjoy the symphony of brotherhood are when I am not satisfied with the way the world is and I am only satisfied with who Jesus is.  We live in a caste system, formal and informal, shaped by our sinful hearts where we look down upon those among us because of the color of others’ skin, the amount of money in their bank account, and the accent of their speech, or their life accomplishments.  

We’ve been persuaded to be satisfied with the lies of Satan that we are better and deserve more.  

In those moments of bias and judgment…I’m thankful for the reminder of my brother in Christ, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., because I’m reminded to not be satisfied until real freedom is realized for all who wash their robes in the blood of Christ when He returns.  That day, freedom will no longer need to ring…because it will have rung…it will simply be fact…and we will be free at last.

Pit Bulls, Swimsuits, and Machine Guns

Pit Bulls

Recently, not far from where I live, a woman was viciously attacked and killed by 4 pit bulls while out on a walk.  It was a horrific tragedy.  I can’t imagine what that must have been like to die in such a gruesome way.

This sort of story seems to surface in our country almost every year, and the question is always asked whether or not there should be some sort of ban on pit bulls or similar breeds.  Everyone seems to have an opinion that’s backed up by “science” (Please note…I use science with the utmost sarcasm).  Typically, our responses to and stances on such ethical arguments are based upon an impulse stemming from our emotions and experiences towards the object “on trial”.  That is to say, in this situation, we react based on how we feel about pit bulls, and dogs in general, not on what is the common good or even what is logical.

Those dogs have been put down as the owner awaits trial for murder.

But, despite stories like this people will still buy pit bulls, and they will continue to torment, injure, intimidate, and even in extreme and rare cases, kill innocent people.  Whether it’s due to poor training, issues with the bread, or the fact that no animal is truly domesticated, something will happen again…even if legislation is put into place.  So the conversation as to whether or not people should be able to own them will continue to fill the airwaves and backyards of our communities.

Swimsuits

A few weeks ago a video made its rounds through social media by a woman named Jessica Rey who spoke at Q Ideas regarding the need for a resurgence in modesty.  She made a call to be more modest out of respect for others’ hearts and out of respect for one’s own body.  It was well thought out, compelling, and refreshing amidst our overly sexualized culture.

Later, Q Ideas released a response to Rey’s speech by Rachel Held Evans.  She spoke about how we must contextualize what modesty means, and that it’s not a woman’s fault if a man lusts after her whether she’s in a bikini or a burka.  Her argument was also compelling, well thought out, and refreshing as it put the sin of lust into luster…not the object of it.

Despite initial appearances, these two posts were not in direct opposition to each other.  Instead, they seem to provide two puzzle pieces that needed to be brought together to get a better handle on the issue at hand.

As these two posts circled social media, the conversation arose as to whether or not a woman should be able to wear what she wants, or if she should be concerned about leading a man into temptation and letting her beauty come from outward adornment (1 Timothy 2:9)…or un-adornment in this case.  The conversations around modesty and whether or not a woman should be able to reveal certain parts of her body is an ancient conversation, and one that, as the warmer weather surrounds us, becomes ever salient.  So whether you choose “modesty” or being “unashamed” of your body, this conversation addresses some serious matters of the heart that are rarely given serious consideration in the public square.

Machine Guns 

Here enters one of the biggest hot button issues in our country right now…gun legislation.  This is an old conversation…it’s been going on for centuries, and has evolved over the years as the need for guns has shifted away from hunting for dinner towards recreation…all with self protection thrown in on both ends.  But with recent mass shootings in public spaces and the advancement in weapon technology…this conversation has needed to be more productive and conclusive as innocent people are dying at the hands of civilian owned assault rifles.

Sadly, we’ve been conditioned to make this a hot, hot, HOT button issue as our uber-editorialized media sources push our emotional buttons towards one side or another as they increasingly polarize our nation and inhibit productive conversation to occur.  As a result we’ve castrated open mindedness and thoughtful, loving, and caring dialogue on the issue.  I’ve found that this is rarely a conversation where anyone leaves changing their mind.  Despite that, we’re still left to figure out what is best for society with convincing arguments on both ends along with romantic notions of freedoms, idealized society, and historical precedent muddying the waters.

THE Conversation

As I entered and left these conversations over the past few weeks, I began to realize something…they are the exact same conversation…and they have nothing to do with legislation, political parties, capitalism, or our emotional responses to the issues.

It’s simple.

This whole conversation is just an echo of Cain’s question when he was confronted as to Abel’s whereabouts,  “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4:9b)

As humans we have certain things that are available for our use.  They can be used for good or bad.  My words can encourage, and they can kill.  The food I eat can make me healthier, or fatter.  The computer in which I write can be used for scholarly research to better the world, or it can fashion a racist heart.  What we do with the material of life impacts the people around us, whether we intend it to or not.   The material impacts the spiritual which impacts the eternal…these facets of our existence are inseparable and if we miss out on this point, then life simply becomes a compartmentalized mess where true relationship with Christ and the people around us are lost because we’re only giving certain people certain aspects of ourselves.

Now, this doesn’t change the truth that each of us is responsible for our own sins.  I feel that Evans points that out quite well.  It doesn’t matter how a woman is dressed…if a man lusts for her, he’s at fault.  We never have the ability to blame our sins upon people or context.  It’s always our fault.  But as we live in community, we must also see that our choices can positively or negatively impact others.

In a conversation about whether or not to eat meat sacrificed to idols, Paul says this, “Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.” (1 Corinthians 8:13).  Paul saw that if someone could sin as a result of something he was doing, then he just cut it out of his life.  Paul felt so strongly about our role in our brother’s temptation into sin that he said this in the verse prior in 1 Corinthians 8:12, “Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.”  The issue isn’t dinner…it’s what our choices do to those around us who are spiritually, physically, or mentally weak in some way.  Your choices can help or hurt those around you.  We live in a land of great freedom, and as those freedoms become challenged now and again, our viewpoints get stuck in the protection of our own rights and what the letter of the law dictates instead of how can we better serve our neighbor…that’s the sort of nation our Lord desires.

It all boils down to a single question, “Are we setting up people to fail?”  Are the choices we make helping others know Jesus, or are they helping them know the world?  Are we setting the table to feast upon Jesus, or setting the table to feast upon emptiness.  We all have an obligation to our neighbor to help them be closer to Jesus, and to have life, as He gives it, to its fullest.  Is there anything sinful about pit bulls, the human body, or machine guns…nope…and we shouldn’t turn this conversation into that conversation.  That’s actually not the question that needs to be asked.  There is nothing in the world that in and of itself is a sin.  My thoughts can be righteous or evil, my possessions can be used for godliness or destruction, and I graciously live in a land where I have freedom, but I can use my freedom for evil.

I can set people up to fail.

”For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” (2 Peter 1:5-7-emphasis mine)

What we have matters some…what we do with it matters more (see Romans 6:13). Should our government legislate these things?  That actually doesn’t matter to the Christian.  Without downplaying the importance of government in society, they do not have the power to change the heart.  Only Jesus can do that.  Big government, small government, no government…those are old, redundant, and, honestly, remedial conversations because none of them can produce the sort of change in the world that we all long for.  No government (or business for that matter) can produce a community and a culture where everyone is looking out for each other’s benefit (not even Jessica Rey’s suits can destroy lust).  Only Jesus can do that.  In regards to what we wear, what we say, and how we present ourselves before others, the issue is less about government legislation, but more about editing ourselves in a way that does not cause offense and gives God glory.  We seem to live in a culture where peacemaking and encouraging have become passé.

Now, because only Jesus can truly change, the question of whether or not to limit something or to eliminate something is always a question that is being posed to the church.  As people of God’s Kingdom, our answers derive not from the letter of the law, but from the Gospel, which actually has the power save and transform lives.  The keys to eternal life are found in the cross…in forgiveness…in grace.  Grace shown to others is the automatic posture of someone transformed by Jesus.  Doing whatever I please is void of grace and attempts to destroy God’s call to love our neighbor.

All of this makes me appreciate that the early Christians were simply called followers of The Way.  We make the issue difficult when we leave up to the politicians and philosophers and business people of the day.  The texts that they are working off of are just copies of copies, and only attempt to emulate the good book (some better than others).  If we live to glorify Jesus, and to bring others into a relationship with Him…then we’ve found our answer on how we should live amongst others…sacrificially.

Though the solutions to these issues aren’t found in legislation…they have been and will continue to be legislated sometimes to our delight, and other times to our dismay.  Since this is the case, it reminds me of the numerous times Jesus was posed such questions.  He often responded not to the question asked verbally, but the question asked in the heart of the person inquiring.  In this case the question being asked is “Can I do whatever I want and not be held responsible for the people around me?”  In this case, the answer is clear, and imperative to understand…your choices matter to everyone and our calling is to love them in all matters.  You can set others up to fail.