Dancing on the Rim of the World

I'm not of this world, but I am in it.
I am not of the flesh but of the spirit.
I do not live with the rules of this world, but the rules of my God.
I am dancing on the rim of the world
waiting for my turn to leave but making my time here as useful as possible.
I will make this life count;
I will make this dance as good as it possibly can be and as helpful to others as possible.
I will dance in harmony with the music God has created as I dance on the rim of the world.
I shall leave tales of God's glory; I shall leave examples of His presence.
I shall show them God, and you now are hearing me.
You, world, shall hear me preach the good news of Jesus Christ.
You, now whether you like it or not, shall hear me world.
I am dancing on the rim of the world and I will bring others with me for you now are hearing my dance and shall be affected by it.
There is no stopping me; there is no holding me back;
I shall continue my dance, continue it louder and louder than before.

Written in Mrs. Haynie's Oregon Literature class Spring of 2001 by Matthew Wright. The phrase 'Dancing on the Rim of this World' is in reference to the book by the same title edited by Andrea Lerner.

Sermon on Vision

This is an audio file of me preaching on the importance of vision in our society.

Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

Our men's group at Connection Ministries just went through a series on the book Wild At Heart by John Eldredge. This book focuses on the desires that every man has from when he was a child, and how the church has encouraged men to ignore their heart. This has caused Christian men to be bored and subdued, and to reject their calling and position in the church. It has also pushed many men away from the church as they never feel like they 'fit'

John Eldredge identifies three core desires at the heart of every man; A Battle to Fight, An Adventure to Live, and A Beauty to Rescue. He describes how men were created in the image of a warrior God and that the church has subdued them by telling them that they are supposed to simply be "nice guys". The church and the world needs men of God who are alive, and the only way they are going to be alive is if they reject this 'nice guy' image and find their battle, adventure, and eventually the beauty to stand beside them.

Everyone of us who was a part of going through this book could completely relate to what John Eldredge wrote. It was a time in which we were awakened to what we have been missing in our Christian walk. We are still on the process of finding our hearts, but without this time of discussion and reading, we may have never even realized that we needed this process, let alone started on it. If you are a Christian man who has realized that you are bored with your Christian walk I would recommend this book. Even more I would recommend getting together with a small group and going through it together.

Below are the links to the Wild at Heart book, field manual, and small group series in case you are interested.

   

Why Do Christians Proselytize?

This is one of the most common objections to Christians that I hear. People do not understand why Christians cannot understand that everyone has their own beliefs, and why we cannot simply “live and let live”. They see Christians as prideful and arrogant, because they believe their beliefs are better than others. So let’s make an attempt to take a rational look at why Christians proselytize.

What is proselytizing?

            According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, to proselytize means “to recruit or convert especially to a new faith, institution, or cause”. In other words, to proselytize is simply attempting to convince someone outside of your group to join you. Do Christians proselytize? Christians do attempt to convince others to join Christianity, but Christians are by no means the only ones who proselytize. Actually the majority of religions are built off of proselytizing, but not only that, politicians and their supporters proselytize in order to spread their ideas and increase their votes. Charity groups proselytize in order to increase their funding. Even schools proselytize to get more students. Even with all these different groups proselytizing, it is rare to hear complaints about any of them except Christians (maybe politicians but that is usually by the people proselytizing the opposite side). So what makes Christian proselytizing so different?

Why are Christians so pushy?

            First a short proclaimer before I answer this question: Though I completely understand it is not always the case, I will be answering this question with the assumption that the Christians we are talking about are following the Bible’s motivation. So what motivates Christians to be pushy in proselytizing? The answer is simple: love. Non-Christians accuse Christians of not understanding their beliefs yet the opposite is clearly also true. If a non-Christian truly understood the belief of a Christian, they would then appreciate the fact that the Christian was proselytizing.

            Think about it this way. If you knew how to cure cancer then you would attempt to tell as many people with cancer as possible about your cure, right? Now imagine there was one person that not only didn’t believe in your cure, but didn’t even believe they had cancer. They had all the tests done and they showed all the signs but simply didn’t believe it. What would you do? You would do everything you could to convince that person that they did have cancer and that they needed your cure. You wouldn’t consider it intolerant of their belief that they are healthy, you would consider it an attempt to save their life.  

            Now from the side of the Christian; a Christian believes that all are infected with a disease called sin (Rom 3:23) which leads to death (Rom 6:23) and that the only way to be cured is through accepting Jesus as Lord (Rom 10:9-10). If we truly believe this and did not tell you, than we would be like the person with a cure to cancer who hides it away and allows all the cancer patients to die. Whether you agree or not is your choice, but even if you disagree with what a Christian believes, you must agree that it would be insensitive, even criminal, for me to believe that you are headed towards death and not do anything about it.

Okay, but why are Christians always so judgmental, assuming I’m a bad person?

            The Bible shows us all to be bad people without Christ’s sacrifice. Whether it’s you or me, no one person is better than another. That is the amazing thing about the Gospel, is that for once there is no discrimination. People who have claimed to follow it have created discrimination, but that just further proves the point that humanity as a whole is flawed. Christians are not saying that you specifically are a bad person, but that everyone of us has sinned and done something wrong, and therefore needs a Saviour. Again, as stated above, you are free to disagree with this point, but it doesn’t change how Christians believe.

Can't Christians understand that everyone has their own beliefs and that the Christian belief is no better than others?

Of course a Christian understands that others have their own beliefs but just as everyone else, a Christian believes that their own beliefs are correct, and just like everyone else they believe that their own beliefs are important, and a part of their beliefs is the importance of sharing them with others (Matt 28:19-20; Mark 16:16; Acts 1:8).

So what’s the point of this article?

            Non-Christians often accuse Christians of being intolerant of others beliefs, and say that they should not proselytize. The point of this article is simply to show that to tell a Christian not to proselytize is being intolerant, possibly even ignorant, of their beliefs. To be clear, I do not, by any means, stand behind every action made in the name of Christianity. I also do not defend many of the methods used by Christians to proselytize. I also believe strongly that Christians need to be more open to hearing what others believe and more understanding when people do not want to hear from them. But as mentioned above, it would be insensitive and even criminal for us Christians to completely abandon our attempt to help save you from the death that we believe you are headed to. You are free to disagree, but as you ask us to be tolerant of your belief, please be tolerant of ours.