It's been a long while

Yes folks, we just about dropped off the face of the planet. We've had some moderate setbacks. Ok, some rather serious setbacks. No financing is available for the space we need. We don't have the cash on hand for the space, or for that matter, most of the equipment we need. Some of the folks volunteering to help out have other commitments they need to attend to. In short, we were nearing the point where we could really start running a church, and then it all fell apart.

It's time to change the plan. It's time to make some lemonade.

I was looking at ways to make this work, to put a congregation together on even more of a shoestring budget than before, and I've decided to start tiny. Not just start-small, but truly tiny. To do so, I'll take a lesson from Kingdom Life Church, which is over 2,300 members strong today. Like their pastor, I'll start out by renting a ballroom in a local hotel to preach in. I'll YouTube the sermon by borrowing some video cameras. I'll podcast the audio. I'll blog the sermon itself. I'll be making due with what I have and what I can afford.

I look at it this way - God wants me to be successful so long as I follow His plan. That doesn't mean he's just going to let me get to the finish line in one easy stride... no, there are going to be challenges; challenges He has put in my path to test my faith and my mettle. I vow to meet those challenges, because I know in my heart that to meet them and overcome them will be pleasing to God, because I'll be following His plan for me.

So look out world, here we come!

The Real Cost - 20,000+ LIVES each year.

Recent Article
2002 Article

Some highlights from the IOM source:

The number of uninsured individuals under age 65 is large, growing, and has persisted even during periods of strong economic growth.

Uninsured children and adults do not receive the care they need. Consequently, they suffer from poorer health and development, and are more likely to die prematurely than those with coverage; 18,000 unnecessary deaths are attributable to lack of health coverage every year.

Even one uninsured person in a family can put the financial stability and health of the whole family at risk.

A community’s high rate of uninsurance can adversely affect the overall health status of the community, the financial stability of its health care institutions and providers, and the access of its residents to certain services, such as emergency departments and trauma centers.

The estimated value of healthy years of life gained by providing health insurance coverage to all is almost certainly greater than the costs that would be incurred by providing those without coverage the same level of services enjoyed by those who have insurance.

Followups to the study put the numbers at 22,000 in 2006.

When we look at what charity we should undertake as Christians we should look at helping our neighbors and healing the sick by supporting health care reform. It's not a perfect reform - perfect reform is like anything perfect; it's not attainable on our side of eternity. That said, it's a good step in the right direction - the direction of healing, of saving lives, of protecting.

For those that advocate strongly against abortion, I ask you - how many of the unborn die because of the mothers who lack healthcare?

For those that advocate strongly for the poor, I ask you - how many will be driven into poverty, further burdening the system, because of a car accident, disease, or other medical problem that costs tens of thousands of dollars to overcome?

Make no mistake, health care reform is a bitter, divisive topic. I realize that most of you are conservatives, and that the current conservative view is in opposition to reform. That said, there are times when it becomes important to hold fast to the good, rather than the politic. Just as Jesus stood up to the law teachers and the Pharisees against the stoning of the adulteress (John 8:1-11), we too must do what is right, which is to save lives, even if we must render more unto Caesar. This is one place where Christians on all sides of the party line, the Conservative and the Liberal, Republican and Democrat, can come together with one voice, and do what Christ would do - advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves.

Please, contact your Senators and Representatives, as well as your State and Local politicians. Tell them that you, as a Christian, support health care reform regardless of party affiliation.

Here's a few online petitions:

• Secular Online Petition in Support of Reform
  
• Christian Online Petition in Support of Reform

"Prosperity" Gospel

I was asked recently about the so-called prosperity-based movement in religion today, and what, if any, impact it's had on Holy Allegory.

Short answer: Quite a bit.

Long Answer: There's ample evidence in the Bible to believe strongly the God wants His people to prosper, both directly and indirectly. There's also ample evidence that God does not want us to fall to the corruption of overabundance. The allegorical truth of so many short passages, parables, and comments is often difficult to ascertain, and can seem quite contradictory. I may launch a long series of posts on that someday, but not today. Today I will try and keep it more practical.

Power Corrupts. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.

The same is true of wealth. Having all that we need is not the same as being filthy rich. That's why the colloquial "filthy rich" exists - when you grow so wealthy you lose all care and perspective, you lose touch with Christ. You lose touch with His message. You lose touch with His path for you. How many of the incredibly wealthy have fallen publicly? How many have been found corrupt? Now it's true that there are some who don't make a big public fall, some who find their roots again even, but by and large, having too much makes you forget about the truly important things - love of God, prayer, and even charity.

On the other side, the poor are blessed, because they have so few distractions from that spirituality. However, they contend with other difficulties - food, clothing, utilities, and the basic needs of human life in the 21st century. It's easy for them to see the filthy rich, and fall into envy. It's easy for that envy to lead to crime. Crime of necessity, perhaps, but crime nonetheless. And for those who commit crime out of greed, the loss of faith is as pronounced as it is in the most wealthy of us.

Then there is the middle class - the people who can afford to keep the lights on, but are, these days, struggling to keep the house, or pay for their children's education, or pay for retirement or healthcare costs, or any of the other worries that beset a class of people when they move from needing income to survive and needing income to provide.

So, is it ok to pray for prosperity?

Yes. It's OK to want a better life, to ask God to deliver you from difficulty, to ask Him to help your spouse and children, or ease your burdens. If you need a new car because you're family has grown, it's OK to pray for one. If you need a bigger house for the same reason, it's OK to pray for it. It goes into the realm of envy and covetousness when you stop praying for prosperity and start praying for overabundance. If you pray for a new car because you want to upgrade something that suits you perfectly well (say, you want to trade your Subaru for a Lexus), that's greed. That's covetousness, and covetousness is a sin.

It's perfectly fine to ask for God's help in making you successful so that you can afford to do wonderful things with your family, like praying for hep with the college fund so that little Susie can grow up to be whatever she wants. It's over the top to pray for a vacation to Tahiti.

It does not mean you can focus on yourself only... praying for your own prosperity is acceptable for the right reasons, but forgetting to pray for others at the cost of praying for oneself is also covetousness. We must always remember to pray for others, for there are always others more in need that ourselves. Look at it this way - God gave His Son to His people, why can't we give prayers for others? For that matter, isn't praying for another a form of charity? It also doesn't mean that you can forget to be thankful. But that, that's another post I've already made.

So, yes, I will be preaching something of a Prosperity-Lite message. I really do believe that God wants His people to prosper, to not worry about things like putting our kids through college, paying the mortgage, having shelter in the first place, etc. I also believe that reasonable prosperity can increase one's charity, and that's one of the core tenets of Christianity.

I think the important thing is to know where to draw the line in prayer, and I think just about everyone knows where that line is in their hearts.

I'll blog more on the subject of prosperity preachers another time... some truly are good, honest people, while others... well, they wear their sheep's clothing well, but we can still hear them howling at the moon. Until then, may God bless you, and deliver you in this life and the next. Pray for yourself, for others, and be thankful.

A brief statement of our beleifs

Christianity isn't about division, it's about unity, but a ministry has to put it's belief structure out there. So, here goes, as brief as I can make it, lest it sound like a legal document...

• We believe that judgment and condemnation are a sin.
• We believe that God has a plan for each of us, and that these plans are part of His larger plan for the collective people of the world. We believe that prayer, faith, and knowledge are the pillars of understanding His plan.
• We believe that by following the path God has for us we will find peace, prosperity, and fulfillment.
• We believe that to follow His path, we must pray and be thankful.
• We believe in the Ecumenical Nicene Creed and have faith that God has given us the Holy Bible so that we may understand His plan for us.
• We believe that faith in the Bible does not mean that every word, law, and parable must be taken literally, but that understanding the allegory behind the literary is an important part in understanding God's plans for us, both individually and collectively.
• We believe in science. The mystery of God is manifest in the complexity of the universe. Understanding that complexity is as important as understanding the allegorical truths of the Holy Bible.
• We believe that translations, interpretations, and modification of the Bible by man cannot hide the universal truth that God loves us.
• We believe that Satan exists to test our mettle, as he tested Job, but that Satan is in no way the oppositional equal of God, who is above all things.
• We believe that the end times are coming, but are not near. We believe that the Book of Revelation, like Song of Songs, is almost entirely allegorical. While there is amazing truth in Revelation, we believe that it is not a literal prediction of things to come, but rather of vision interpreted by John by what he knew of the world in the time of his life.
• We believe that the council of Nicaea debated in earnest what constitutes the canon, and that it is the canon to which we should turn first. We further believe that non-canon, apocrypha, and the writings of other religions may contain wisdom and have value, but that such works must be viewed carefully for accuracy and relevance to the core values of Christianity.
• We believe that separating Church and State is appropriate and just, not only for the purpose of "rendering unto Ceasar" but because the state's job is to provide for the protection and safety of the people's physical and psychological well-being, while the Church's job is to provide for the protection of people's moral and spiritual well-being. The two may sometimes coexist and sometimes contradict, and therefore should be separate.

And that's it, in a nutshell.