Noah Knew

Have you seen these people?  Honestly, I live in a cave with little media influence, and I get most of my news from the front page of yahoo.  And I'm a google user.  Whatever.  But I started hearing people on campus laughing about May 21st.  So I looked it up.  Oh.  My.  Word.

"We Can Know."  Know what?  The date of Jesus' return.  How?  Because Noah knew.  Jesus even said that it will be like the time of Noah.

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." (Mat. 24:37).

Of course, Jesus couldn't have been talking about the moral depravity of the time, or anything like that.  Oh wait.  He probably did:

"For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. "  (Mat 24:38-39).

I guess what they mean is that we're like Noah if we're Christians, so we can know.  Or something.  Of course, these verses are preceded by Matthew 24:36

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."


How did they get to May 21st?  There is a looooong-winded numerological reason as to why.  Honestly, I couldn't type it all up.  Basically, since Harold Camping says that since the church is at the end of the Biblical age, it can now be discerned, because of a great verse in Ecclesiastes 8:5

"Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure."  

Note that God is telling them to obey their earthly king in this section.  Even better, though, Ecclesiastes 8:7 says:


"Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?"


And the numerological lengths he goes to...numbers of shekels and whatnot...it's ridiculous!  What's more, Harold Camping, the man behind it already predicted that the world would end in 1994.  He's already 0 for 1.    Check out more about his illustrious career--here.

“Don't feel entitled to anything you didn't sweat and struggle for.” --Marian Wright Edelman

So I have a problem at work.  Well, not necessarily a problem, but a frustration.  There is one employee who hinted yesterday that he would really like some jam or preserves to be provided for his toast in the morning, as we already have butter.  True, the company does provide basic condiments from time to time like butter, ketchup, mayo, and mustard, but beyond that, it's pretty much up to everyone else.  Well, he asked yesterday, and this morning, there was no jam, jelly, or preserves available for his toast.  Therefore, he griped about it under his breath while I was heating up my hot-pocket.

This is also the same person who gripes about running out of coffee and sugar, when he drinks at least a pot of coffee every day, while everyone else has one or two cups.  What he can't seem to understand is that the only thing the company is required to supply is good drinking water--which we do.  There is a water cooler with no fewer than four FULL bottles sitting next to it at all times.  All requirements have therefore been met.  If the company runs out of coffee, it is unfortunate, and will soon be rectified, but it is nothing to have a hissy fit over.  If we run out of sugar (as we do every week because someone is stealing 2.5 pounds of sugar at a time), it is again unfortunate, but nothing to raise a ruckus for days over.  And if the company does not provide you jam, then oh well.  That is not the company's obligation.

My frustration, I think, is his sense of entitlement.  Actually, I think it's the overall sense of entitlement around here.  Everyone here, who works for a construction materials testing lab, feels entitled to 8-5 hours.  The construction world doesn't work 8-5 so neither do we.  Each feels entitled to the cush jobs that require almost nothing of you, and then complain about how much they get paid when they get them.  Of course, on the flip side, every contractor feels entitled to have his job placed at top priority on the books, because we have "a contract with them."  They know very well that we have a contract with all of our clients, and that we have a "24 hour notice" stipulation in every contract.  If we are not notified 24 hours in advance, we are not obligated to supply them with a tech.  So technically, if they have a nine a.m. pour, and they call at four p.m. the day before, we are not contractually obligated to make that job.  But they're entitled to one an hour from now.

Then again, I come from an entitled generation.  I blame the parents, not video games.  Well, I also partly blame the internet for instant gratification, which leads to entitlement, but mostly I blame parents.  Your kid is not entitled to everything.  They are entitled to live free of abuse with plenty of food, and if you can't provide that for them, then they are entitled to get it from a caring foster parent.  Of course, I believe that you are not entitled to take them back, but must earn them back, but I'm not in charge.  Otherwise, your kids are not entitled to anything.  They are not entitled to go to the best school.  They are not entitled to go to college.  It's unfortunate but true.  By "entitling" kids to things they have no right claiming, we are robbing them of their natural talents and capabilities.  God did not create us with no purpose.  We all have one, but we also all have to work to fulfill them.

God also did not promise us comfort, so we are not entitled to a comfortable life.  Those who promise that you will have wealth if you just follow God are lying.  What God does promise, is to never leave you (Matthew 28:20).  He is always watching you (Psalm 33:18). And he does promise that HIS joy, not the world's joy, will come to you (Psalm 30:4-5).  THAT, beloved, is what God promises those who seek him.

"Is not the festive season when families and friends exchange gifts in memory of The Gift...to send forth the good tidings of great joy into all the earth?' --Lottie Moon

I was talking one day with a Christian friend about Lottie Moon, and she didn't know who Lottie was.  I was scandalized.  It took me a moment to remember that Lottie was a Baptist, so if you're not Baptist you probably don't know who she is.  Of course, there are many Baptists who were never GA's or in the WMU so they never learned WHO Lottie was, they just heard her name at Christmas time when the church was begging money for the foreign missionaries.

The whole concept of not knowing who that amazing personage was is a bit traumatizing to me.  I hold her on high as a beacon.  I know we should strive to be like Jesus, but sometimes we need a flesh-and-blood model to watch.  For me, it's Lottie Moon.

She was a single missionary to China in a time when no single lady did anything.  She was born in Viriginia in 1840, and was a rascally young lady.  She was a prankster who hated authority and loved fun.  At eighteen, her mother's prayers were finally answered and she surrendered to God.  She went to college and became a teacher, before finally at age 33 accepting the call to go to China.

She stuck out sorely when she first arrived in China, despite the fact that she was only 4' 3" tall.  She still wore her American clothes.  The Chinese people, afraid of her differences, called her the "Foreign Devil."

Lottie was perplexed on how to make friends with the Chinese people.  She took two major actions to help bridge that gap.  The first, was to dress like them.  Paul said that he became all things to all people so that he might reach some.  Lottie did no different.  By donning the clothes of those around her, she was able to show them that she was willing to meet them were they were.

Her second major action, was that she won the hearts of the Chinese children.  How does one do that?  You feed them yummy things.  She started to make tea cookies for all the children in the villages she worked with.  After making pals with the children, they would invite her home to meet their mothers.  Through these relationships, she won people to Christ, and people stopped calling her the "Foreign Devil."   They started calling her the "Cookie Lady," instead.  And I don't know about you, but I can deal with being called the "Cookie Lady."  In fact, I have been called the "Brownie Lady" before.

She served the people of China for nearly forty years--through hardships, wars, and famine.  In fact, at one point she was giving away all of her food to her Chinese friends, knowing that she could do with less.  Unfortunately, her heart was larger than her needs.  In 1912 her missionary friends found out that she had nearly starved herself to death (she weighed only 50 pounds).  They put her on a ship against her will to take her back to the states to see proper doctors.  She died, though, on the ship while they were docked in Kobe Japan, still close to her to beloved China, on Christmas Eve.

What an awesome testimony.  In 1912, 72 wasn't particularly young.  She had lived a long, full life, and she had lived all but eighteen years of it for God.  Nearly forty were spent sharing with those who had never heard the Good News of Jesus.  And then, she died on the day before we celebrate the Lord's birth, after starving herself to death for others.  I think we could all do worse than Lottie.

Every year, the WMU (Women's Missionary Union) has a special offering time in the month of December to take up money for the International Missions Board.  In 1887, Lottie wrote to a foreign missions journal, asking for a time of giving to be set aside for foreign missions.  The ladies of the Baptist world took this as a rallying cry and formed the Women's Missionary Union (an auxilliary to the Southern Baptist Church), with the purpose to educate women and children about missions.  They also set aside the Christmas season to collect money for missionaries--just as Lottie asked.  The very first Christmas Offering was collected in 1888, and the grand total rang up to $3,315 (which would be worth about $77,000 today).  This was enough money to send three new missionaries to China.  Ever since then, the WMU has hosted a Christmas Offering.  In 1919, Annie Armstrong, the founder of the WMU, suggested that the Christmas Offering be named in Lottie's honor.  In 1926, the name change was official, and ever since then, the WMU has sponsored the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

I think about her alot this time of year.  I grew up in GA's, the WMU's program for young girls, and Lottie and Annie were our heroes.  They changed the world in a time when women didn't change anything.  They reminded us that our contributions, large and small, mattered--to God if to no one else.  Lottie was a miscreant and a trouble maker that no one ever thought would amount to anything.  But she did.

We're going caroling as a church next Wednesday, and returning for hot-cocoa and cookies.  I think I'll make some of Lottie Moon's tea cookies, though I think I'm just going to modify the measurements of her original recipe instead of making the "redone" recipe that the WMU provides.

Sources: 
IMB's Letter Archive (archives some of Lottie's letters)
Measuring Worth (value of money conversion)
Article on Lottie Moon (Wikipedia--the internet's most reliable resource.)
WMU's Lottie Moon Focus (Facts about Lottie, the Christmas Offering, and Cookie Recipe)

"You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." --CS Lewis

I'm venting some frustration again.  This time I've aimed a little lower--those who write children's curriculum for churches.  We all love the kids of our church, even those who don't like them.  Everyone wants to see them succeed (whether or not they have any desire to be a part of the process), and everyone wants to see them saved (see previous note).  I may be only speaking to the Baptist crowd at this point, so bear with me.  We know that there's a window from 4 to 14 that typically decides whether or not they are going to choose to follow God's plan for their life, and let him save them from their sins. In churches, those who actually bother to work with the children act in one of two ways: 1) they preach at them like they would adults, allowing the message to go completely over their heads, or 2) they dumb it down so that it's simple to understand, and sounds deceptively easy to boot.

I believe the first choice is the reason for the second choice.  Someone who has at least had one conversation with a kid thought, "Hm.  Kids are kinda concrete thinkers.  They don't get words like 'salvation' and 'repentance.'  They probably don't get this gospel message I'm trying to give.  I should use different, easier to understand words."  Their spirit and hearts were in the right place, but the result is less than pleasing.  They've managed to turn a seven-course meal into the little crackers with the cheese pit and the red stick to spread it around with.  Yummy, satisfying, healthier than most things, but not actual sustenance.  I'm not saying that "getting saved" is particular hard.  But being a Christian is hard, so it's therefore a tough decision with a simple process.  Yes, it is as easy as saying a prayer, but that's only the first step.

Think of when you were first learning to drive, and join me in this scene.  You buckle up, which is easy, because you've been doing that since you got out of your booster seat when you were five.  Sticking the keys in the ignition is cake, because you had seen your parents do it before, and they may have let you do it from time to time.  Finding the switch to turn on the lights is a little difficult, but Dad is there to guide you.  You adjust the mirrors just like he tells you to, revealing so many things you couldn't even see earlier.  Now, you are ready for the one glorious moment you've waited for since you were seven, and your sister started driving your mom's mini-van--you get to crank the car.  You hold your breath in eager anticipation of the rumbling beneath you, that is in your control entirely.  Dad's in the seat beside you, but you, yes you, with your braces, awkward knees and elbows, and volcanic zits are in control of the car.  The engine turns over, and you reach a level of ecstasy that is as frightening as it is invigorating.

Now, imagine Dad saying, "Okay, that's good.  We're done here."  You protest, "But Dad, we haven't gone anywhere yet?"  Dad replies, "That's okay.  You've cranked the car, and that's all there is to it.  Now you are free to enjoy your learner's permit."

You can know the driver's manual front cover to back, pass the written exam with flying colors, get in the car, crank it up, and still have no idea what to do, or what all is entailed in driving.  That scenario sounds dumb, because it is.  Cranking the car is simply the first step to driving.  Praying to "ask Jesus into your heart" is simply the first step to Christianity (after, of course, learning more about "the manual").  We get so focused on helping them make the first step, that we dumb it down, and reduce "becoming a Christian" to "saying a prayer" which is like reducing driving a car to cranking it.

Is it possible for a kid to figure out his way on his own?  Yes, just like it is possible for a kid to figure out how to drive on his own.  But think of all the wrecks, mishaps, and tickets a kid who is teaching himself to drive is likely to incur.  A fifteen-year-old boy is not very patient, and is ready to leap from "Caleb Smith" to "Mario Andretti" in fifteen minutes.  In the same way, many kids may try to jump to saint-hood, or, not even be aware that more is required of them than "cranking the car."

If you are teaching your kid to drive, you are going to make sure he understands all the responsibilities that are entailed.  He has to be aware of how much speeding tickets cost, what his insurance is going to cost, how much it will go up if he wrecks his car, how much he will have to pay for a new car, how valuable his life is, how valuable the lives of those around him are, and how he is responsible for all of those things.  A car is not just freedom, but responsibility.  It is not for him to misuse, but to use wisely.  Driving himself to school is a great idea, but driving himself to parties where he will simply get in trouble is not a great idea, and not why he has the car.

However, when it comes to salvation, the same child will be taught that Jesus wants to take his sins away because he loves him no matter what, and all he has to do is his ABC's--Admit that he has sinned; Believe that Jesus Christ died for him; and Confess his sins to God, and confess Jesus as his savior.  That's it.  And he will probably accept this message to make his parents happy and to clear his conscience of his guilt.  In fact, all he thinks that "confessing Jesus as his savior" means is "saying Jesus is his savior."  No commitment, no responsibilities, just reward.

Why on earth are we doing this to our kids?  I remember when the ABC's stood for "Admit, Believe, and Commit," which honestly I prefer, because it actually does imply some responsibility on the Christian's part,  but it still watered down the most important message in the world to three words.  When I ask kiddos at church how to become a Christian, despite our best intentions, they still yell "Admit, Believe, Confess!"  That's it.  Three words that don't even form a sentence.  Three words that in a vacuum can mean anything--admit that your sister has cooties, believe that her cooties are deadly, and confess your belief of her cooties to everyone you come into contact with.  I can only assume that their parents latched onto the ABC's years ago, and that they're hearing it at home, because none of us in the kids' department teach them that message.

We treat the salvation of our children as either a matter of course, or a nursery rhyme.  We've all been taught "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep," but that's hardly a confession of faith.  So why do we expect the ABC's to be much better?  This is no trifling matter, but the single greatest, most miraculous change to happen in any one person's life.  C.S. Lewis had this to say about Christianity:

"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."

There is no middle ground.  We either do what it takes to make sure the kids in our lives understand "salvation," or we don't.  Refusing to simplify the message and refusing to portray it for what it is because we want to make it as easy as we can for the kids are simply unacceptable.

Step up people!  Step up parents!  Step up nursery workers, Sunday School teachers, Awana leaders, GA and RA leaders, children's choir directors, and sweet little old ladies on the back row!  The single most important job any of us have is to make disciples, not make converts.  It's to teach and facilitate and be useful vessels for God.  Make sure they know.  Make sure they understand, because if they don't get this, then nothing matters.

Exhortation over, and practical advice to come.

“Nothing's forever. This could stay the same, or it could change again. It depends.” --Greg Anderson

Things that I have forgotten over the summer:

• One must always show one's ID when purchasing things on campus with one's debit card
• The fountain inside the student center is incredibly noisy
• Some people believe that skipping chapel is a one-way ticket to hell
• Drinking two glasses of coke at lunch before a 12:30 class is a terrible idea

Other than that, a thus-far uneventful day at the seminary.  

On the brightest note, though, I saw Jo Lynne today.  She's commuting in from Hattiesburg two days a week right now, and hopefully will be living here next semester.  We ate lunch together and chatted for a while.

Old Testament may actually not kill me, and I can download my books from Kindle or other apps.  My only books, per se, are one text book, and the Bible.  Fancy that!  Right now I need to read Genesis.  I think I'm going to enjoy Old Testament.  I've always liked reading from it (except for 1&2 Chronicles, and books like that...because...well...several hundred pages of family litany, while historically important, are just not my favorite).  My theory as to why I enjoy the Old Testament so much lately, is that we as Baptists have focused too heavily on the New Testament.  I'm not bashing the gospel, or saying that it is not the single most life-changing part of the Bible, because without those passages concerning salvation, the rest is meaningless.  What I am saying is that the Pauline letters are focused on 70% of the time, the gospels 20% of the time, the rest of the New Testament 7% of the time, and the Old Testament about 3% of the time.  Now, while these figures are just a general feeling with no data to back them up, I know that from my experience learning and teaching, and from listening to the experiences of my friends, the resounding feeling is that past fourth grade, we do not focus on the Old Testament at all.

When teaching children, it's easier to teach them simple narratives, rather than airy theories.  For instance, 

"And then, God told Noah that because everyone was sinning and choosing their way over God's way, he was going to flood the WHOLE earth.  He gave Noah special instructions on how to build a big boat, that he called an ark, to carry Noah, his family, and two of every kind of animal in it, so that they would be saved from the flood."

See?  Easy peasy lemon-squeezy.  Teaching them that the church is one body, and each has it's part, and how each part is very important is a little more difficult to translate to a kid-level.  We therefore focus in childhood on those easy narratives which are found mostly in the Old Testament.  

Then, when we grow up, we grow out of those little kid stories, and move on to "more theological things" in the New Testament, and we forget to focus on the vast amounts of wisdom and teachings available in the Old Testament.  

I'm ready for Judges and Jonah.