An Open Letter to Dr. Terry Jones

September 8, 2010 By nick 4 Comments

Dear Pastor Dr. Terry Jones,

I write this letter with little hope that #1 you would read it and #2 that it would make a difference, but I feel something should be said, whether the advice is heeded or not, that sir, is your choice.

As a fellow Christian pastor, I urge you to stop your blatant disregard of the Christian faith. Your continuation of your planned burning of the Koran, not only makes you a disgraceful American it disgraces the core teachings of the faith you claim to follow and represent.

I do not make my case based on personal feelings. I base it through Scripture which is strong enough to stand alone:

I make my case through…

Jesus

  1. Where in Scripture did Jesus ever destroy (in any way) the holy books or the temples of worship for any other faith or religion?
  2. Matthew 5:9-12 Jesus said the “Peacemakers” will be called the Sons of God – You do not make peace by inciting violence with your actions of burning the Koran. It goes on to say,  “Rejoice and be glad” when persecuted for righteousness sake, not go seek revenge or go make a “statement” when you feel others have done you wrong.
  3. Matthew 5:38-42, Jesus tells us to “turn the other cheek” and to go out of our way to accommodate those who seek to harm us. I’m curious, how does your burning of the Koran fit with in these instructions?
  4. Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus tells us to love our enemies. He asks, what reward is there in only loving your brother? Even the Pagans do that. How is inciting our enemies loving them? How do you open the door for the Good News of Jesus Christ, by angering them? I don’t know, maybe the word “enemy” from Jesus’ day meant something else…I’m sure it did.
  5. Luke 17:11-17, Jesus performs a good deed, a miracle. One of ten men came back to thank him, it was a Samaritan. I am sure you are aware that the Samaritans worshiped differently than the Jews, this Samaritan could have looked at Jesus with great disdain, but he didn’t, maybe it was because Jesus didn’t incite him to violence and hatred, he loved him, healed him, did good to him. I wonder, how are your actions on September 11, 2010 in burning the Koran, follow in Jesus’ example? Where did Jesus burn the Samaritan’s holy book? Where did he “take a stand?” Um, maybe I missed something, either way, Jesus’ method led the man to faith.

Paul

  1. Look at 2 Corinthians 11:23-33, now go study the rest of Scripture. For every “act” of violence, hatred, or wrong done against Paul, where did he one time respond with a “protest” or “standing up against his foes” or any other demonstration of what was “right” in his eyes? Where? He preached the Gospel. His life was for Christ not his own.
  2. Check out Acts 14:19-22, Paul was stoned and left for dead outside of the city. I bet Paul got back up and made a protest against them for burning his Bible and attacking his fellow believers, don’t you? No, he went back into the city, preached the Gospel and encouraged the believers, declaring that one must suffer many hardships as a believer. It sounds to me that Paul did not need to “act” out in order to “stand-up” for his beliefs. He just lived them out, whether it cost him his life or whether he got to keep his life.
  3. Furthermore, check out Acts 17:16-34, Paul goes to Athens and is encountered with a people who followed many gods and different religions. I bet we see here where he goes and destroys their temples and their idols and their holy books. Oh, man, once again, a peacemakers approach. He actually “preaches” against them and uses them to contrast the Truth and the Gospel.
  4. We are instructed in Colossians 4:5-6, to be careful with how we deal with non-believers, to be full of grace and to be seasoned with salt, so that we may have an answer for everyone. I wonder how your approach on September 11, 2010, falls within these instructions?
  5. In Acts 16:16-40, Paul and Silas are in prison. They have the opportunity to escape, but they know that in doing so it would cost the guards their life, so they stay and because of that the guards come to faith. Unlike you, they were unwilling for their faith to cause another person their life. You sir, make a mockery of the Christian faith when General Petraeus warns that our American soldiers will have the risk on their life increased by your actions and you ignore it! You may be willing to die for your faith, but you are not a peacemaker when you are causing & increasing problems for others on your behalf. If one attack happens because of your actions and any soldier loses their life, their blood will be on your hands, so I guess you might be very proud of them sacrificing their life for your right to be foolish.
  6. In Romans 12:14-21, Paul urges us to BLESS those who persecute us and to not pay back evil for evil. How does your plan fit within that instruction?

The honest truth sir, there is no Biblical foundation for which you can say your actions are in the name of Christianity. What you are doing is in the name of Dr. Terry Jones and the Dove World Outreach Center. Maybe its your way of getting a little fame and a little bit of news coverage, but you in no way are promoting the Savior Jesus or his teachings. You can twist Scripture all you want to make your point, people have done so for centuries, but you will be hard pressed to present grace and love through your actions. Our instructions are to go into all the world to make disciples (Matthew 28:19) as Christians we are called to represent Christ. You are not doing that and you are not paving the road for the Gospel to be preached, in fact, you are perverting the gospel, with a gospel of hate. Here’s a novel idea, arrange a massive prayer meeting not a Koran burning service, but then again, that may mean you think God is big enough to change the hearts of those you disagree with.

Sincerely,

Nick Carnes

Popularity: 5% [?]

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Ignorance in Action

March 22, 2010 By nick 1 Comment

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

constitutionI’m not one to shy away from a debate on politics. I never let politics trump my faith and the Gospel, and I never use my platform as a pastor to share my view on politics or to try and push legislation towards my view. I will however, when given the opportunity or when a discussion is taking place, share my view on given subjects.

As we all know, the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Senate Health Care Reform Bill last night. As I was surfing around on Twitter, I engaged in a few late night discussions on the topic, and then a few more this morning. I follow a lot of Christians on Twitter, and remarkably, I saw several diverse responses to the passage of the bill. Some point to Jesus and his teaching to care for the poor and the sick, while some others argue away the increase in taxes on the top wage earners in America to pay for it all, and then there are those who argue, that this is a bad rout to take as a Country for a list of reasons. I’ll reserve my thoughts for a potential future post…I’m not sure that I want to go there right now :)

Here’s what has provoked this post, because this issue in itself is, in my opinion, becoming a bigger and bigger problem among American Christians. I’ve seen A LOT of people either in a straightforward way or in a suggestive manner say that we as Christians need to just accept this new law, because Romans 13 tells us to (paraphrased) “Submit to authority because all authority is from God…to rebel against authority is to rebel against God.” This suggestion and view of Scripture makes me shrill as if someone were taking their fingernails and running them down a chalkboard, here’s a couple of reasons why:

1. It reveals an ignorance about the foundations of our country: The United States of America is a Democracy in the form of a Representative Republic. Our authority is a document known as the Constitution. It is Government for the people, by the people. Our Senators, our Congresspeople, our Supreme Court Judges, and our President are NOT our authority. We are their authority. They are not to dictate rules and regulations to the people, rather they are to represent and enforce the will of the people and defend the authority of the land, the Constitution. We do not serve them, they serve us. Our American tradition is to give them honor and respect, but that should not be mistaken with authority. Our country is not a dictatorship.

2. It reveals an ignorance about the beginning of our country: To suggest that it is a sin or somehow against Romans 13 to speak out against a law that has been passed or to just “accept” what “is”, is to imply that the entire founding of our country was founded in sin. Our forefathers should have never picked up a rifle (they should have been content with oppression), the Pilgrims should have never boarded the first ship to flee persecution (they should have just accepted it), and we should all be speaking in a British tongue today (Because America would not be America). Who knows, maybe that is how you feel?

Romans 13 was instructed in a totally different political system than America. Maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised that people are interpreting it based on an American lifestyle and political system? America seems to be the filter in which we interpret the Bible many times. Romans 13 is definitely applicable in many situations, but not in this situation or in any debate concerning the laws of this land, it is up to our debate and our wills to form those laws. If the Democrats truly went against what the people said they wanted, and what polls said they wanted, it would not be the people ignoring Romans 13, it would be the politicians. There has been a huge movement in recent years for some people within Christianity to silence other Christians from sharing their political views. They complain “Christians are too political” – Yet, they will turn and loudly share their opposing viewpoint as they shame others into silence. We as Christian Americans have just as much voice as any other citizen, in fact it is our responsibility as citizens to be political, whether that voice is Independent, Liberal, or Conservative, we must share that voice with the character of Christ. That does not mean to sit back, accept what “is” and be silent. It means to stand up for what you believe in, while representing Christ well.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Unprepared

February 10, 2010 By nick Leave a Comment

Have you ever felt unprepared for something?

I remember it wasn’t too long after I said ‘I Do‘ that I realized marriage was much more complicated and required much more responsibility than dating. The closer Nicki got to giving birth to our first child, I remember thinking that I was definitely not prepared to be a father, then Tristan came, even less prepared for two, oh yeah, then we had Hailey…three kids!? I’m still unprepared.

Have you ever just stopped and thought, “How much preparation would it require for me to feel prepared?” Maybe you feel unprepared because someone told you they didn’t think you were ready or qualified for a certain responsibility. What would it take for those people to see you as ‘prepared?’ Many times we don’t have a gauge at which those people would be pleased, but we allow them to point us in their direction for our lives.

I’ve never felt more unprepared for something than I do in my new role as a pastor and church planter. I am constantly facing new challenges and struggles that I’ve never experienced in other roles. You can tell me that you think I am unprepared for this role, and I’d agree, in fact you’d only be preaching to the choir. Although there are times I feel unprepared and I know that there are areas in my life where I am definitely unprepared, I had to make a choice whether I would listen to my feelings or past voices in my life or would I be obedient to God by listening to his voice. If I based having children on a timetable of feeling ‘prepared’ Nicki and I probably wouldn’t have the three amazing children God’s blessed us with.

We started a new series this past Sunday called ‘Ready, Set, Go!!!‘ – In the series we are exploring the journey that Christ calls his Church to and how he wants us to be obedient to that call.

We started off by looking at Jeremiah and the mission God sent him on as a Prophet to Jerusalem. There were several reasons why Jeremiah felt unprepared to fulfill this mission God had called him to. If Jeremiah were in our present time, I am sure there would be a “Prophet Assessor” or a “Senior Prophet” that would give Jeremiah a failing grade in this mission God called him to, but God declared him as prepared.

My encouragement to New Passion on Sunday is that when it comes to obeying the instructions of Christ #1 We are Prepared Because We are Called (Matthew 28:16-20) and #2 We are Prepared Because We are Gifted (1 Corinthians 12) – It was the same for Jeremiah. God Called him (Jeremiah 1:4-5) and God Gifted him for the mission (Jeremiah 1:7-10).For some of us, our obedience in pursuing Christ may not be anything huge (I.E. Planting a Church, Foreign Missions, Etc.), it may just be simple obedience in things like sharing the Gospel with a friend, loving those who are in distress, providing for those who are in desperate need.

Join the Conversation…Is there something that you are standing still on because you feel unprepared? Have you allowed other people’s opinions to hold you back from pursuing what Christ has called you to?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: , , , , ,

Legalism at its Best

October 22, 2009 By nick 2 Comments

judges-gavelI try to take my Bible with me to lunch to get some bonus study time in for Sunday’s message since I am bi-vocational and only have so many hours in a day. I swear that book brings out all kinds of people, including the weirdos.

Most of my encounters have happened at McDonald’s in downtown Augusta. I’ve had run-ins with weird pastors, a homeless man that sat down in my booth, didn’t say a word and fell asleep. I didn’t say a thing. I knew that McD’s would kick him out into the Summer heat, if he was all by himself, so why not let him get some rest in the A/C? Today, was a new encounter.

A guy stopped by and asked me if I knew of a church that worshiped on Saturday like the Seventh Day Adventist, but that was not Seventh Day Adventist. I questioned why he was looking for a Saturday worshiping non-Seventh Day Adventist Church and he explained that they have other Doctrinal issues that he did not agree with, which I agree with him on. However, as soon as I explained that I do not know of any type churches that he was seeking out, he asked if he could sit down and show me something, to which I agreed. Let me just say, this man knew scripture.

He takes me all over the Bible showing me the old Covenant and the new Covenant. 99% of the stuff he was saying was right on and true. I do believe this guy was well intentioned , but totally misguided. Of course he was putting his case together as to why Christians should keep Saturday as the Sabbath. I gave him time to make his case, and then I asked him a few questions:

1. What about Jesus? In the eyes of the Pharisees Jesus worked on the Sabbath and even defended those who labored on the Sabbath. (Matthew 12)
2. What about the first church? They worshiped God and met DAILY. I do believe daily is everyday including Saturday. Now of course, his angle was that we should rest and worship on the Sabbath, but this verse through him off and he started talking about how 300 years after Christ’s resurrection Christians still recognized the Sabbath as Saturday until the evil Catholics came along and brutally murdered Christians for worshiping on Saturday and forced them to worship on Sunday, for which this awful tradition began. He then quoted John 15:20 and declared that the Catholics fulfilled Jesus’ prophecy because Saturday worshipers were persecuted by the Catholics for their recognition of Saturday as the Sabbath.

3. What about the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law? Once again, he attempted to answer this one, but was angling to twist Scripture to back up his view. This time  it was my turn to share. I explained that the letter of the law declares that one must recognize the Sabbath on Saturday (a specific day) whereas the spirit of the law declares that we still honor that which we were commanded in Exodus 20:8 but that God’s desire is that we simply do it. We make sure we have A Sabbath, but to be dogmatic about the day is legalism, for which he declared Jesus was the ultimate Legalist. Hmm! Okay!

I could see him boiling at this point. He then went for Pharisee approach. He asked me what day did I think the Pagans who worshiped the sun god had for their Sabbath? For which I played dumb to his question and responded, “I don’t know, which day?” With a big smile he responded “Sunday!” As if he had cornered me. I responded, “Well, I guess that could be true!” For which he replied, “Oh no, its true, I’ve studied it!” – I responded that God was not worried about the day, just that we have a Sabbath.

Here’s Legalism at its best worst…When the man could not control me or move me towards his thinking or his religion, he got angry and he attacked me. He called me a pagan sun worshiper and got up to pack his Bible back into his book bag. When I refuted his claim he asked me to read 1 John 2:3-4, and tried to use Scripture to guilt me into believing his way, when I still did not bow at the alter of his religion, he declared once again that I worshiped the sun and took off. And then I sent a tweet :-)

Join the Conversation…When was a time someone tried to use Scripture to point you in the wrong direction?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed Under: Personal Tagged With: , ,

Where Have All the Christians Gone?

October 1, 2009 By nick 7 Comments

christian-cross

I just read an article on Fox by Ben Feiler that was talking about the decline of Christianity in America. The article does not spend all of its time pointing out the downfall of Christianity in America, but also points out some of the solutions to the problem based on their study. Here are a few of the issues or wake-up calls that arose from the study:

First, catering to older believers is a recipe for failure; younger Americans are tuning out.

Second, Americans are interested in God, but they don’t think existing institutions are helping them draw closer to God.

Finally, Americans’ interest in religion has not always been stable. It dipped following the Revolution and again following Civil War. In both cases it rebounded because religious institutions adapted and found new ways of relating to everyday Americans.

Go read the entire article HERE and then come back and Join the Conversation.

What do you see as the biggest decline in the church? Where is the biggest disconnect between the church & everyday Americans?

What’s the solution?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: , ,

Christ-Awareness

August 20, 2009 By nick 1 Comment

natureI was reading the daily devotional for August 20th today from Oswald Chambers. It’s called “Christ-Awareness.” You can read the entire devotional below, but I particularly liked this section:

When I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ, there is something wrong. It is the sick person who really knows what health is. A child of God is not aware of the will of God because he is the will of God. When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, “Lord, what is your will?” A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer.

Full devotion:

Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him at once, asking Him to re-establish your rest. Never allow anything to remain in your life that is causing the unrest. Think of every detail of your life that is causing the disintegration as something to fight against, not as something you should allow to remain. Ask the Lord to put awareness of Himself in you, and your self-awareness will disappear. Then He will be your all in all. Beware of allowing your self-awareness to continue, because slowly but surely it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic. Don’t allow yourself to say, “Well, they have just misunderstood me, and this is something over which they should be apologizing to me; I’m sure I must have this cleared up with them already.” Learn to leave others alone regarding this. Simply ask the Lord to give you Christ-awareness, and He will steady you until your completeness in Him is absolute.

A complete life is the life of a child. When I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ, there is something wrong. It is the sick person who really knows what health is. A child of God is not aware of the will of God because he is the will of God. When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, “Lord, what is your will?” A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer.

If we try to overcome our self-awareness through any of our own commonsense methods, we will only serve to strengthen our self-awareness tremendously. Jesus says, “Come to Me . . . and I will give you rest,” that is, Christ-awareness will take the place of self-awareness. Wherever Jesus comes He establishes rest- the rest of the completion of activity in our lives that is never aware of itself.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed Under: Bible Studies Tagged With: , , ,

Horizontal Religion

May 8, 2009 By nick 1 Comment

double-arrow-head

I went to a “campmeeting” tonight. I went because my parents were in town and they love the week long revival that a local church puts on every year. I spent several years of my life at this church, made many friends, met my wife there, got saved there, felt the call into full time ministry there; so it has played a large role in my life.

This week they are celebrating their 34th consecutive homecoming and camp meeting. The preacher that preached has done so for 34 straight years. He’s 79 years old and though he has slowed down in his older age, he is still passionately doing what God called him to do, preach.

However, I left a little disappointed tonight. Although this pastor loves Jesus, gives him 100% of his life, and  preaches like there is no tomorow; he often resorts to horizontal religion. Early in the message he ripped Rick Warren because Rick has purposely led his church to be “seeker sensitive” in their worship services, in order to reach the lost. The assumption was made, that the seeker sensitive approach is only to build a large church (basically to put butts in the seats) versus a true motive to preach the Gospel to see those outside the faith get saved. Do I agree with everything Rick Warren says or does? No! Do I agree with everything this pastor who is ripping on him says or does? No! In fact, I want to be very careful not to participate in horizontal religion myself through this post. I do however know many people at Saddleback and with first hand knowledge of their church and how they operate and their hearts for the lost, I can say, this pastor simply does not know what he is talking about.

I believe Horizontal Religion is when we put more focus on earthly things that we do on heavenly things. In this case, the pastor was attacking flesh and blood versus going after the evil in the world that is our true enemy. In another instance, I wanted to say a loud Amen when the pastor said that Al Gore was a ‘one-eyed idiot.’ Now, outside of the pulpit I totally agree! However, from the pulpit, the focus was turned away from Jesus and placed on a man that clearly needs Jesus. I am the first to admit, when I am debating politics on my personal time, I am passionate and to some I may be considered polarizing. However, I would never use my opportunity to preach the Gospel, to grow fellow believers, or to share the truths from God’s word to attack someone I disagree with politically. Its like saying Liberals are all ‘one-eyed idiots and are not Christians.’ Funny a Conservative would defend a liberal :-)
But, this one statement helps make my case. The Gospel is not “Al Gore is a one-eyed idiot,” that is clearly an opinion. So, what if the biggest Al Gore fan was sitting in the audience, he was lost and needed Jesus? Did we marginalize him and turn him off with the opinionated statement? Or did we draw him closer to Jesus? Being seeker sensitive has nothing to do with changing the Gospel message, but because I am sensitive to the fact that their are lost people in my crowd, I am going to choose not to attack someone I politically disagree with. (My next post will be “Why Al Gore is a One Eyed Idiot!”) I believe issues like these build walls between believers and those outside the faith versus tearing walls down.

By writing this I am sure there will be some who totally shun me. Some may call me a liberal. I really don’t care. I am not ripping on this pastor. In fact, when I am 79 years old, I pray that I am as passionate about Jesus as this pastor is. I pray that the doctors give me an additional outlook of 10-15 years to keep sharing Jesus with everyone that I can. This man has been a spiritual mentor to the pastor who leads the church that hosts this camp meeting. Both pastors have been in the ministry and serving Jesus for over 40 years. I cannot criticize or complain about that, Wow! That is awesome! We need more influences like that in our culture. Like I said in the beginning, it was through this ministry hosting this revival that a lot of my spiritual journey began and a lot of my personal life has been wrapped up in. So, this pastor I am talking about has had an integral part of helping shape a church and a ministry that has molded part of me.

I am however tired of the Horizontal Religion. Christians, we already have a big enough battle on our hands with our enemy, Satan. Ephesians is as clear as can be, “Our enemy is NOT flesh and blood!” What part of that don’t we understand? Apparently, we are not devoured enough by the enemy, because we cannibalize those on our own side. We ravish each other and shred ourselves apart. This pastor should have just taken a knife and cut his own right arm off. There is no difference, 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that we are all the body of Christ. When we attack another Christian, we are attacking our own body. Ephesians 4 says, “There is ONE body and ONE faith.” Whether we all agree or disagree on certain opinions, we are all of the same body and faith. Trust me, I am not ripping on this pastor, he is just a fresh case for my argument. There are hundreds of Christians doing the same thing! We will never be effective for Christ in the way he has called us to be effective when we have a civil war going on within our own faith. One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Philippians 1, where a report gets back to Paul (who is in prison) that some Christians are preaching the Gospel with selfish motives. They were using the Gospel to gain personally from it versus to see people saved. Paul says, “How can I complain? I must rejoice because Jesus is being preached!” Why do we feel like we are above Paul? One of the greatest preachers of all times? I think the issue is, we have control issues. We want everyone to do things our way. Trust me, if I had my way, they would have been playing some Passion and Hillsong music instead of the Gospel group and the choir, but is my way any more effective? No! Paul could not control “How” these preachers delivered the Gospel, but he understood that the Gospel is truth and once it is spoken and delivered, there is no stopping it. So, what if I do something in my church that you do not like because I feel we can reach more lost people? What good does it do you to sit around and criticize me and complain? If I am preaching the Gospel, the Bible says, His Word will not return void. Believe me! I am speaking to myself as much as anyone else. I am as guilty as anyone. I struggle with this too. I have my opinions and sometimes I believe they are better than your opinion. Therefore I believe we need to extend Grace to one another as well, but at the same time we need to wake up! (See THIS story to read about my own struggle with this very topic!)

Jude tells us to defend the Gospel. To protect the faith from false teachers who have wormed their way into the faith. I am all about protecting our faith and if we hear someone preaching in error and leading people astray, we better speak up. However, Horizontal Religion, tearing people down in our own faith will never benefit Christ. I love this pastor who I’ve used as an example. I will not speak an ill word against him. I know God uses him, it is evident, so I praise God! Let’s agree together to quit tearing each other apart and hold each other up, lets decrease so Jesus can increase in our lives and in our influence!

Join the Conversation…What’s Your Thoughts?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed Under: Ministry, Thoughts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

I Support Miss California Carrie Prejean

April 22, 2009 By nick 15 Comments

miss-california…And so should every American, whether you are gay, straight, white, black, asian, or indian, etc…

Miss. California, Carrie Prejean, was asked for her view regarding gay marriage, and if Vermont’s legalizing it should be followed by all other states in the US. What good is asking a question if you don’t want to know a person’s answer? And what good is it to seek a person’s opinion, if you really don’t want an opinion besides your own? Apparently, the judges at the Miss. USA pageant were looking for ‘Yes people’ and conformists, not people who are true to their values, principles, and beliefs.

Everyone who lives under the banner of the Red, White, and Blue has not only the freedom of speech, but the freedom of opinion. Just as a gay American who wants to speak out and express their opinion about being granted the ability to marry should not be demonized and attacked for their views, Carrie should be granted the same rights and freedoms. Our culture touts the banner of tolerance and then has the nerve to point the finger at the Christian church and call them hypocrites when one of its leaders or members fall in the public eye, due to their mere humanity. Yet, those carrying the banner of tolerance are the biggest hypocrites when it comes to being tolerant for issues that aren’t their own. If we are going to point a finger at all of the hypocrites its not a one way street. Trust me we are all hypocirtes in one form or fashion, but some want to make their hypocrisy less than others.

Equal, Really?

Gay rights activists are yelling for “Equal Rights” as if a hospital won’t treat them because they are gay or as if they cannot buy a car because they are gay. That’s totally wrong. Every American is given the same rights despite their sexual orientation. However, Miss. California was not given equal rights, an equal platform, or an equal opportunity. Carrie Prejean, had an equal opportunity to win up until controversial blogger and judge Perez Hilton asked the now famous question about Gay Marriage. Though Perez does not have to reveal his score for that question, he clearly stated that “The way miss California answered her question lost her the crown, without a doubt!” Perez also called Carrie a dumb Bi*** and the C-word. We’ll get to Mr. Perez a little more shortly…Shanna Moakler, the director of the Miss. California pageant, and rumored friend of Carrie Prejean, not only snubbed her “friend” after the show, but vented her frustration on Twitter, her Myspace page, and through public statements. She tweeted,”  This is why we have judges at Miss USA, so we find the girl to rep us ALL,” – I’ll get back to that statement as well, Shanna also said, “I don’t know how you can call a gay man or woman your friend and not want them 2 have the same joys as yourself. In my family we believe in equal rights for all, I am sad and hurt, I agree with Perez 100 [percent]. It’s one thing to have an opinion I am very opinionated n have dealt with backlash from it, it’s another to alienate people who cared about u.”

So it’s okay for gay American’s to yell their opinions for “equal rights” and we’ve all seen their protests in favor of gay marriage as well as in opposition of proposition 8. They can spew their venom against the protestant church, the Catholic church, and the Mormon church, they can call us hatemongers and bigots, and resort to personal attacks, but one young lady cannot answer a question honestly and politely without being attacked and demonized. I think people in Hollywood and in the media need to look up the definition of equal.

Perez Hilton

I just have to ask…Why is the Miss. USA pageant allowing someone like Perez Hilton to serve as a judge? Have you read his blog? He is highly controversial, he is offensive, he is derogatory, and very crude towards people he does not like. Hey Shanna, does Perez represent us ALL? No, he does not. Does he even represent the best of America? No, he does not. I could care less whether he is gay, Latino, or whatever other title he wants to give himself. He is a horrible selection as a judge.

Since when are pageant judges supposed to leave the panel from the show and call the contestants, “dumb bi***” the c-word and then go attack their family? It’s a disgrace and the Miss. USA pageant should be more embarrassed for having put him in the spotlight than for one of their contestants to answer a question honestly and boldly.

You Cannot Represent Us ALL

Dear Shanna, I hate to break it to you but you cannot represent us all, and neither can one single Miss. USA Pageant winner. A single President cannot represent us all. What you have done however is alienate the entire Christian community, you alienated everyone who opposes gay marriage, as well as the gay Americans who oppose it. I mean, really? Do you think ONE person can represent ALL Americans? Do you want ONE person to represent ALL Americans? If so, you are looking for a flaky, spineless, person with no principles and no values. You are looking for someone who will say anything to please anyone, but will contradict themselves to please another crowd. It truly sounds like you are looking for a politician, not an individual. I’d love to know how one person can represent us ALL? How is Miss. North Carolina going to represent us all? Does she support gay marriage? Then she does not represent those of us who oppose it. Does she support allowing illegal immigrants the same rights as American citizens? If she does, she does not represent those of us who oppose it. Does she represent people who participate in illegal dog fighting? How about those who support Prostitution? I’d love to know how you expect to find someone to represent us ALL?

The Problem Is…

Most of the people who represent Hollywood, secularists, the media and the likes are pushing for conformity rather than individuality. People who support the actions that have been levied against Carrie Prejean are not looking for someone who acts based on their own beliefs. Because the people attacking have no backbone, they have no principles, and they have very little values, they want their friends and representatives to cave to their viewpoints as well. The call themselves progressive, non-conformists, rebels if you will, yet they all say the same things, they all believe the same way, and they all form their opinion not on conviction, but rather on the opinions of others around them. If this is not true, why all of the attacks on Carrie? If this is not true, why would Shanna Moakler not stand by her friend, politely say she disagrees and has a different opinion and view and agree to disagree? Rather, she attacked her “friend” through the media and through social networking, she did not stand beside her, and she is allowing her to be a target. That is not a friend, but its the very thing we are seeing in our culture. We are being taught to act in that very manner and to accept that very behavior. Sadly, many of you buy into that until it comes to bite you, because you one day decide to stand up for something. It goes beyond the issue of gay marriage, it seeps into other areas that affect our daily lives and our country. The only opinion you should have is the one they tell you to have. If you vary from that, you are an extremist, a bigot and a racist. In the video at the end of the post, you can hear Perez say that he expected Carrie to be “Prepared” for the question, and then he goes on to give the answer he wanted her to give. Bravo, to Matt Lauer for pressuring Perez on his answer!

The Christian Community

…is the target in this situation. Miss California, Carrie Prejean is just the current symbol that they are using. It’s no different than the political strategies derived from Solinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” where it is taught to “Pick your target, freeze it, personalize it, and then polarize it” in an attempt to destroy it. If you truly believe that this is solely an attack on Carrie, you are sadly mistaken. This is an attack on everyone who believes in the traditional definition and the Biblical definition and blueprint of marriage. It will be a horrible mistake if we decide to sit silently on the sideline and allow her to be targeted, frozen, and polarized in this issue. Moreover, we have an entire generation of young people who are watching and seeing how we as the Christian community respond, or how we do not respond. I’m NOT talking about anything that would come out of the Westboro Baptist Church (I totally disagree with them). We do not have to be militant, hateful, and obnoxious, just because they are. We do represent Christ and the love that He has for all people. Love however does not mean a blank check of support for anything & everything because someone attaches the word “rights” to it. It will however, in my opinion, be a huge mistake to make Carrie stand alone if we agree with her. I believe everyone attacking her is being so polarizing because they know she will not reverse course, but they want to scare anyone else from making the same stance. They want people to be intimidated and to be afraid to be treated in the same manner. Carrie Prejean is solid and she knows what she believes. She is a great picture of what I hope every student I ever worked with becomes. She understands what she believes and why she believes it, and so far, she is not allowing the attacks or the pressure to stop her. It is however a sad day when the likes of Britney Spears and Lyndsey Lohan are the poster children for our young people to model their lives after and young ladies like Carrie are demonized.

Check Carrie Prejean out on the Today Show from Tuesday, April 22, she boldly stands by her answer, Bravo!

Update: For those googling and trying to find Carrie Prejean’s church, you can go to their website HERE. From what I’ve heard she attends The Rock Church in San Diego. I am sure they are extremely proud of Carrie.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

A Thunderous Roar

March 16, 2009 By nick 3 Comments

dscf0868

This past weekend the CSRA Youth Ministry Network hosted the 2009 DNOW for our local area. Typically each student ministry that participates in the local DNOW schedules a fun activity on Saturday morning/afternoon for their students to have a little fun as a group. This year we wanted our students to definitely have fun, but we wanted to use this weekend where we had 700+ students’ attention to engage them in opportunities to live beyond themselves and to invest in the lives of other people. After all, the theme was “Your Kingdom Come” and it seemed very appropriate to initiate service projects for the students to participate in.

I am a firm believer that a huge part of our spiritual discipleship has to do with our engaging in ministry and actually doing the things that we’ve been told in scripture to do. Studys have proven that the stuff we learn has been retained in our memory based on 1 part data and 6 parts emotion, essentially we remember what we experience. Therefore when we talk about discipleship, I don’t think we can remove elements that provide experience in what we are learning.

Saturday night was dynamic! The praise coming from this group of students sounded at times like a thunderous roar. In all of the local youth events, I cannot remember students so in tune with who God was at that moment in their life. I truly believe that Matt Papa is anointed and we had the privilege of having his band lead us in worship, but I mostly believe Saturday night had a lot to do with the response from earlier in the day where students were engaged in what God is all about, living sacrificially and loving other people.

I believe this picture with my buddy Steve White best sums up what the day was all about…

dsc00317

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed Under: Ministry, Thoughts Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

One in Fifty US Children Homeless

March 10, 2009 By nick 3 Comments

homeless-child

I saw this story today…

One of every 50 American children experiences homelessness, according to a new report that says most states have inadequate plans to address the worsening and often-overlooked problem.

The report being released Tuesday by the National Center on Family Homelessness gives Connecticut the best ranking. Texas is at the bottom.

“These kids are the innocent victims, yet it seems somehow or other they get left out,” said the center’s president, Dr. Ellen Bassuk. “Why are they America’s outcasts?” [Read Entire Story Here]

[Read more...]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Filed Under: Ministry Tagged With: , , , , , ,
« Older Posts