“Did you pray THE Prayer?”
image from dipity.com
Hello. My name is Jarin and I’m concerned about your soul. Is it going to be in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ? If not, let’s pray THE Prayer. This prayer is the only way you can know for sure if you’re saved. Let’s pray it, come on, let’s pray the prayer. Give your soul to the Lord.
The truth is, I am concerned for your soul. However, I won’t approach you that way. In fact, I won’t ask you to pray the prayer.
“WHAT? YOU WON’T PROMPT WITH THE PRAYER?” is probably what you’re screaming in your head.
The answer is, “no, I won’t.” I’ll show you scripture that lays out how salvation works. In fact, I plan on doing that here.
It’s been almost a couple years since this incident occurred, but I’d like to spell out the story for you.
Church + You = Necessary
image from stock.exchng
Being a student, for a long time at that, I can attest to the necessity of going to class, and participating at a college where attendance is mandatory, and graded. I’ve found myself wanting to skip class often, not because I didn’t want to go, ok ok; definitely because I didn’t want to go. I felt capable of doing my work and turning it in on my own. I work best in online classes where I do my work on my own without going to class. Skipping class didn’t help me, and here I am about to finally graduate college in December. 3 years longer than I wanted to be in college.
Now, you’re wondering, how the heck does that happen? I got lazy. I became apathetic. I developed an attitude of not caring at all, because I didn’t want to work, or go to class. In the long run, I’ve spent probably enough money to pay for a master’s degree, and begin working on a doctorate.
You see, without going to class, I didn’t learn the material. I didn’t meet the requirements to pass the class, and I didn’t gain enough knowledge to be effective in testing and assignments. This translates well into the church world.
In a day where modern church is being shifted into small group settings and less important, the question arises, “Is it necessary to go to church? I can pray to God at home.” People become increasingly disconnected from church.
This disconnect does a few things: it distances you from community, it distances you from fulfilling your calling/role in the church body, and it distances you from those who will keep you accountable.
Heavy. I know.
Funday School
Image from turbophoto.com
I have had some conversations with people in instrumental moments in my life. When my leadership was still developing along with my understanding of faith-based community, the issue of Sunday school came up. The question specifically asked: “is Sunday school necessary?”
At the time I immediately asserted that, “YES! Yes it is.” I had no basis for that answer, just the fact that I’ve always gone and been a part of Sunday school leadership. I stuck to my guns in the debates and discussions. I couldn’t understand church culture WITHOUT Sunday school, or that culture would vary so vastly. Unfortunately, my ability for communication and putting ideas together were poor.
(At this time, I admired greatly a guy named Joab. He was intelligent, creative, and wasn’t afraid of tough questions, or challenging authority. Joab has since been a person who I’ve admired. I learned a lot from him, and his finesse with words has rubbed off on me a little bit. So since the discussions I had regarding Sunday School, I’ve been trying to think like Joab in an effort to answer the question.)
The idea of simply sitting in a main worship service and listening to a preacher for an hour and going home, the main fellowship that special time of handshaking awkwardly for 10 minutes tops, seemed absurd. How do you get to know people? How do you invest in the lives of others?
I have begun to investigate if my stance was correct, and if I could effectively answer the question about Sunday school, either affirming it’s necessity or proving I was wrong in my stance and understanding.
Obviously, there’s not Scripture that says specifically that “Sunday School” must take place. “Thou shalt part-take in Sunday School. 1st Hezekiah 10:30” simply doesn’t exist. So, let’s get into what is actually in scripture.
Jarin, untold.
Well, I’m Jarin. After a few conversations with some important people in my life, I decided to start a blog about church and culture. I’ve been involved in church leadership for a great amount of time in my life. Before that, I didn’t have much going on in my life.
We’ll start at the beginning. I was born to a family with a humble life. Things went well for a great while. When I was relatively young however, my family split up. Dad and Mom divorced; throwing my life into a whirlwind. I was forced to choose whom I’d live with. This is the worst thing to put a child through, and it shaped my life in a crazy way. I’ve spent the rest of my life dealing with it. I ended up staying with Dad, and seeing him try the dating scene out. Eventually, he found my step-mom and things have been great since then. I couldn’t be happier for him, or his decision on marrying her.
A similar story occurred with my Mom, she dated a bit and finally picked the man who is now my stepfather. They’re very happy, and they are good for each other. Again, I’m happy with the outcome.
The worst part of the whole ordeal was in my poor social skills as a child, I developed anger issues. Most people who know me, will never see these. I hide the anger well. In fact, most people say I’m one of the nicest people they’ve ever met. However, underneath the containment, I can get angry at the drop of a hat, and hold anger for a good amount of time. The Lord is working on me, and I see it everyday.
State of Emergency
Image courtesy of Examiner.com
[It was requested that I post a second post today, so here we go!]
If you’re one for following the news, I’m awful at current events, you’ll most likely know that the city of Dallas, Texas has placed an alert for a state of emergency. This is due to a recent rise in the amount of victims suffering and dying from West Nile Virus. The city is urging citizens to remain indoors and has launched campaigns for hosing the city down with toxins to eradicate mosquitos. Speaking of which, I was bitten today, I hope I get it, so I can beat it and add it my Timeline on Facebook.
It’s gotten me to thinking, why the sudden urgency? Because life is currently at risk? Because someone has to do it? These questions have lead me to my next, “Where is the/my urgency for the Gospel of Jesus Christ?”
The powers of Hell and death are currently and constantly at war for our affections. They want to distract us from recognizing its work in those around us. Our sense of urgency is pinned into West Nile, or maybe a loved one’s sickness, or “insert your idea here.”
So many times in scripture we see the urgency for sharing the message of Jesus. So why do we procrastinate? What’re we waiting for church? I’m talking to you, the member of the church, the believer in Jesus Christ. I’m not talking to the building. I’m not talking only to church staff. I’m talking to you, the layman, I’m talking to myself, I’m talking to you all.
We don’t need to wait until death is creeping up, we need to go now.
a sign of the times
Ya know, I’ve been thinking critically lately, and one thing I don’t like is church signs in places where church signs shouldn’t be. For instance, I have some family that lives in East Texas. On the way back into Dallas from visiting them, there’s an “adult giftshop” on the side of the highway. About 200 feet, or a little more, away from it is a giant billboard with some inspirational church message on it. What is this doing? What is this church expecting to happen?
It’s my opinion that the sign shouldn’t be there, as it is most likely doing more harm than good, and here’s why I believe that. First, I feel it’s a deliberate attempt at showing that shop, “Hey, we know you’re here, but we wanna make sure you know we don’t approve.” Second, I think, paired with the first, it’s a gross misuse of funds and resources. And finally, I think it’s an attempt to guilt the patrons of that store to either not go, or to guilt them to Jesus.
Let’s tackle these issues real quick. The first, as if the shop didn’t already know evangelicals don’t approve of that, “let’s make a giant sign just to prove our point and hopefully they’ll get mad and shut the shop down.” This doesn’t work, and obviously only makes the owners mad, again, putting more and more distance between them and potentially coming to know Christ.
Dressin’ For Jesus
In a recent conversation with a family member, we spoke about going to church. Her objection was that she “didn’t have anything to wear to church.” It’s profound how often this issue is raised; moreover how much it deters people from experiencing the Gospel. Again, I recently went to my hometown, and was making the rounds visiting the people who have been important in my life, the topic came up again when speaking about church culture in that town. My heart breaks to see people hurt by this, or when people get turned off to church because they think they have to look a certain way to go to church.
Jesus wants to meet with these people regardless to their appearance. So often, it’s said, “You gotta give your best to God,” unfortunately, these people are only referring to the outward appearance. 1 Samuel 16 speaks at this in verse 7: But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
So, our best is our attitude. Our best is our heart to serve. Our best is our willingness to love and be loved.
Our example is found in Jesus,