When the ‘right’ get it wrong

While the title may hint at a political column, this post is really much more than that.

Its about a level of arrogance that breeds extreme ignorance.

Its about having blinders on so big that even road ahead looks black as night.

Its about self-righteousness that has run so far amok that even the Klu Klux Klan begins to look like a bunch of moderates.

Ethnocentrism.

Dr. H. Bruce Stokes

That word has had a huge impact on my life, having discovered it some time in the Fall of 1990 while sitting in a Cultural Anthropology class at California Baptist University. Dr. H. Bruce Stokes dropped that term on us a few week before Halloween that year and spoke for nearly 30 minutes on how it had led anthropologists and archaeologists alike on a number of wild goose chases.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines is being “characterized by or based on the attitude that one’s own group is superior.” Dr. Stokes explained further people will fight to the death defending something they have convinced themselves is real, or that they were taught falsely – even when the facts are clear to the contrary.

Its really sad when intelligent, experienced, well-educated adults allow themselves to be sucked in on such gullible tales only top repeat them as thought they were fact. Its disheartening when people lose the ability to think and research for themselves, but instead rely on some talking head from one news station to do it for them.

And people, this doesn’t just happen in politics. It happens in religion too.

People have been mislead by preachers spouting a “name it and claim it” Gospel, so much so that they blame God when they don’t get they want or get things their way. Rather than seek the will of God in matters, they pray for their preferred outcome to occur, and question God’s ability or presence when it doesn’t come about.

Let’s get this straight people – we serve God, not the other way around. God’s plan is God’s plan and we need to get on board with it or get out of the way. Why? Because He’s seen all the possible outcomes and knows the best way to get the job done. He is infinite, not finite. His is omnipresent, not just hanging out. He is omniscient, not just good at guessing what card you picked from the deck.

Remember that Jesus told us that all of the law – not some of it, part of it or just the stuff we read – can be boiled down into just two commandments. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40, NIV)

Judging people for the purpose of condemning them? Sorry, not in our job description.

Shunning people because they don’t think or act like we do? Not in there either.

Forcing people to live according to God’s word? Nope, not part of our duties.

Then just before He left, Jesus gave us what is termed as the Great Commandment: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'” (Matthew 28: 18-20, NIV)

Now it seems to me that with Jesus proclaiming that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” He could have given us any number of tasks, jobs or game plans to carry out. And as His followers, as Christians, we would have the authority and the power to carry them out. I mean really think about this, He could have said…

“Go out and end world hunger!” or

“Go make everyone a Christian!” or

“Hate everyone who doesn’t follow my laws!”

But he didn’t say ANY of those things or anything like any of those things.

Jesus told us to go out and make disciples all nations; to make them students and hopefully followers of his teachings. Remember the two commandments, so whatever we do we must do in love. So everyone on the planet, from the tall to the small, must make a choice to follow Jesus. We can’t make it for them, no matter how bad a choice we think they are making.

That includes people who choose to be gay.

That includes people who choose to commit abortion.

That includes murderers, rapists and even the lowliest liar.

No sin is blacker than any other. So whatever you’re doing that is outside of God’s will – and that you make excuses for – is just as bad as the worst sin ever committed. And while that may sound condemning, it can also be a source of great hope. Because no matter what sin you’ve committed, Christ still sits waiting for you to come to Him and choose the life that He wants to give us. Life that is abundant and full and riuch in every way imaginable.

Christ never said it would be easy. But you can bet that it will be well worth the effort.

So I challenge you thin think for yourself. Don’t let some writer or news monkey be your only source. And certainly don’t let this writer be your only source. Read, research and best of all pray for yourself. If you truly let God lead you, He will never lead you wrong.

Bigger isn’t always better

You’d think at some point we’d learn.

But I’m sure it’s not without reason that God refers to us as sheep and goats.

As you look at a project like the Great Cross Alliance (GCA), you just have to wonder if these people have ever even cracked open the book of Genesis.

Great Cross Alliance (Concept Image)

So what is the GCA? Well, they want to build “… the largest, longest-lasting Christian monument in the world.” It’s main funding is from people and families buying mausoleum vaults, or above-ground graves, in a price range between $4,000 and $30,000.

Mike Nowland, who along with his wife Laurie, are the chief architects of this concept, explained it this way in an informational video from their web site: “The goal was to build a landmark that would serve to once again unite the body of Christ,” they explained in the video, which compares the proposed monument to the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “The Christian world hasn’t built great monuments for a while, and it’s time to build another one.” (quote paraphrased from The Huffington Post, 08/17/13)

So Christianity is about building it bigger? Evidently if we don’t have the biggest monument on the block, we just aren’t doing our job.

And as I think of it now, Christ really missed some great sight-seeing opportunities while He was with us here on Earth … beeing too wrapped in giving people their sight so they could see.

The Great Pyramid at Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Temple of Zeus would have made great photo ops, right? But I guess for a guy who is all-knowing and everywhere all the time, He was probably kind of ‘been there, done that.’

And had He not been so busy helping the needy, the lame and the sick – not to mention all those people who’s souls were lost – He could have whipped on over to see the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, which still had pieces hanging around until the early 1400s.

Yeah, the ancient built one of these already too.

But something about this GCA project just sounds so familiar…

“Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” ~ Genesis 11:4, NIV

This is just looking more and more like a bad idea.

I was always taught that being a follower of Christ, being a disciple of who He is and what He stands for, is all boiled down to loving people right after loving God. And doing both with everything we’ve got, including our land and real estate.

I looked through most of the site and could not find a single Biblical Scripture to back the GCA’s project. Maybe because Christ and Godly men of the Bible spent a lot of time tearing down stuff like this.

OK, let me try and clear my head and look at this objectively. So what feature might it have to change my mind on this?

Well, according to The Huffington Post, the entire text of the Bible will be engraved inside, in four different languages. Wow, that seems kind of cool, right? Wonder which four they picked? I mean, considering the Linguistic Society of America has estimates that range from their being as “few” as several hundred to as many as 6,909, four just doesn’t seem real adequate.

I’ll give them an ‘A’ for effort on this, because any time the Word of God gets out there its a good thing. But its a big ‘F’ on execution. The approximately $1 billion used to build this gigantic structure – which will no doubt end up being the setting for some future Scooby Doo cartoon or the third installment of the “National Treasure” franchise – would be much better used feeding the hungry, clothing the poor and providing shelter to those with none.

It’s going to have huge crosses inside and places where people can pray. Gee, maybe going to where the people are that need those prayers, showing them the love of Christ, might be a better use of that cash.

It’ll be a cross that can be seen from space! Hmmm … that verse from Genesis just whipped into my head again.

I mean, why does God need to see a collection of dead people from His throne in Heaven when He can already see into our hearts?

And aside from God, who the heck else is going to see it from up there? Are they building this to impress Richard Branson and his fleet of Virgin Galactic space shuttles to nowhere?

The last thing that just sticks in my craw about this whole project is that it is a ‘for profit’ venture. Why? Nowland told the Northern Nevada Business Weekly, “people don’t take nonprofits seriously.”

It has nothing to do with the non-profits, Mike. It has to do with the people in charge of them. They are the problem.

And the same goes for the GCA.

James makes it pretty clear in the opening chapter of his book of the Bible why this whole thing just doesn’t add up for me.

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” ~ James 1:27, NIV

While I love the idea of jobs coming to the Nevada desert, this is one that just doesn’t work for me.

No, the world doesn’t need another monument, Christian or otherwise. What the world really needs is what Jackie DeShannon sang of back in 1965 – Love, sweet love.

That is one thing that there is just too little of.