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OLDER ARTICLES

Moral Relativism in Rihanna Case

19
Feb
posted by Andrew Dragos               filed under Culture, Morality

I promise you that for the most part, this is not about celebrity gossip.

This Chris Brown character allegedly assaulted his girlfriend Rihanna, another big music star.  It is sad news anytime a person hurts another person.  It is sadder when a man hurts a woman (is that politically incorrect to say? what did Peter mean in 1 Peter 3:7?)  It is saddest when people start saying things to downplay the seriousness of a situation.

Neil Portnow, the president of the “Grammys” came out to comment on the whole deal.  Why him?  Well, Brown & Rihanna missed their Grammy performance because the event happened that day.  Portnow commented that the most unfortunate part of this all is that they missed their performance.  He went on to say that musicians are people like everyone else, with their problems etc.  He’s “not a judgmental kind of an individual.” (watch it here)

If this is not the perfect example of our society slipping into moral relativism, then I don’t know what is.  I mean, we used to be able to argue for moral absolutes by using seemingly extreme examples of brutality and injustice, and asking whether this is in fact evil, and whether or not these principles should carry over to any place, culture, time in the world.  But now things are changing.  Portnow, in a very snobbish and nonchalant manner commented that this was a personal problem.  He cared more about his award show than the alleged injustice to this woman.

I really don’t think our legal system will one day loosen its laws on such acts of violence.  But there does seem to be an increasingly popular shift in making morals “personal,” and suggesting that to get involved is not anyone’s business.  Who will stand up for injustice then?  Like, if someone walks into your award show and wrecklessly sabotages the evening?

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Worship In Ignorance?

16
Feb
posted by Andrew Dragos               filed under Theology

What does it mean to ‘worship God in ignorance?’  Is this even possible?  Someone please explain this to me, because I’m either missing something huge here or my concern over the popularization of this phrase is merited…

There is a movement in some Christian conversations that discuss Muslims and their view of God.  It is becoming increasingly popular for former Muslims who came to Christ to refer to their previous religious experience as having “worshiped God in ignorance. “  For example, in an otherwise excellent introductory book, Understanding the Koran, Mateen Elass states “…I believe on the basis of two biblical passages that Muslims fall into the category of those worshiping the true God in ignorance rather than those pursuing a false god.” (p. 91).  In Christianity Today, an evangelical publication, Rick Love writes in, “I believe that Muslims worship the true God.  But I also believe that their view of God falls short of his perfections and beauty as described in the Bible.” (February 2009)  Rick Love, by the way, is the former international director of Frontiers, a ministry that reaches out to Muslims.  These are not bloggers like you and me.  They are prominent leaders of Christian church.

Granted, both Elass and Love do not believe Muslims are saved.  They have made this clear.  I don’t want you to get me wrong here: these Christian leaders have contributed a lot to the church and have helped empower many to understand and reach out to Muslims.  Their influence is majorly positive.  My only quibble is with this phrase I’m hearing more and more of.

I am left to wonder how carefully they thought through the meaning, interpretation, and implication of their statements.  Doesn’t worship imply proper standing with the deity you are worshiping?  Doesn’t referring to God, or the “true God” imply that you’re worshiping the tri-une God of Christianity?  So how can you worship him (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) in ignorance?  What does that even mean?  It does not mean that your Islamic notion of God is very similar to Christianity (though this is true).  Worship of God in the Bible is always used to describe experiences that are on-target.  You must know the person/thing you are worshiping.  You can’t offer veneration to a person/thing you do not know!  Therefore, I think qualifying their statement with “in ignorance” offers them no help.

People advocating this phrase may refer to Paul’s interaction at the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17).  He used a line similar to this.  But I hardly think he was advocating that they were actually worshiping his God in ignorance.  It seems to me to be part of his rhetoric to help him connect with the audience.

We have a way of saying what Muslims are doing, and it goes something like this: “Muslims worship a god who is monotheistic but considerably different from the tri-une God of Christianity.”  Please stop confusing people with the fluff of “Muslims worship the true God in ignorance!”  It hardly makes sense, and it just may lead to the blurring of lines found in today’s religious pluralism.

What do you think?

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Prosperity Gospel Reaches Indigenous Tribes

12
Feb
posted by Andrew Dragos               filed under Theology

The other day I was watching a show called Mark and Olly on the Travel Channel.  These two guys will go through just about anything to learn about groups of people living in remote places.  A small camera crew follows this former military man & journalist and captures all of their feats as they interact with people who’ve had little or no contact with western civilization.  All in the name of anthropology (and of course some camera time), these brave lads even chewed each others spit as they learned to make a form of beer native to the Machigenga.

Mark and Olly’s polite persistence and British charm gets them access to people and cultures most Americans could never near.  They learn the ways.  They suffer at the cruel tricks of tribal chiefs (all in good humor).  They sleep outside before gaining acceptance in villages.  It makes me wonder about the approach these particular missionaries took…

While in West Papua, one of the villages Mark and Olly visited had a shack church- mind you the church was the best looking building in that forest.  Upon being asked why converting to Christianity, the native pastor cheerfully answered that God wanted them to live peacefully, according to the Bible.  They used to “worship things,” now they no longer fear these things or the spirits associated with them.  Now they are free to follow the rules in the Bible, and God takes care of their crops and gives them food.

Nothing about Jesus, sin, salvation, heaven (hell).  It seemed like a “check-list” Gospel was received by this tribe.  And when the check-list is complete, well, you know.  Prosperity.  This sounds all too familiar these days in our neck of the woods.  But who would have thought some missionaries would take this message to the unreached people groups?

I’m not saying those people don’t necessarily know Jesus.  I may have misinterpreted the data, or Travel Channel may have skewed the story.  Truthfully, this is one time I hope that I’m wrong!

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Obedience Is Better Than Convenience

9
Feb
posted by Andrew Dragos               filed under Church Life

If you’ve been in church circles at all, you may be familiar with the words, “to obey is better than sacrifice.”  They’re taken from a passage in 1 Samuel 15 where one of God’s prophets has to chastise king Saul for being well intentioned in doing something for God, but completely disregarding the instruction he received against that specific action!  The lesson learned in this passage seems to be obvious: to obey God’s purposes for our lives is the most important thing you can set your heart on.  When God tells you something, do it—even if you have something else in mind that you may consider of great value for him.  The key to not making the same mistake as Saul is trusting that God knows what he wants better than you do! (Sounds like common sense doesn’t it?)

In that passage we’re warned that doing things for God doesn’t make up for what we’re doing wrong.  Going to church on weekends, singing in choir, being active in your community…even reading your Bible and praying doesn’t count for anything when there are areas of our lives we’re not handing over to God.

Well, there’s something else that we’re especially prone to because of the culture we live in.  We hear about it all the time, and yet somehow we manage to repeat the same mistake time after time!  Our mortal sin: falling prey to the busyness of our lives.  By now you’ve probably heard enough about how tech-savvy we are and how technology has the potential to ruin the beautiful things in life.  I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded about us being a fast-food, fast-paced, “microwave” society—others have ranted on about this for quite some time now.  But one thing we all need to be reminded of is that from an eternal perspective, obedience is better than convenience.  Our culture advises us to obey our cravings, ambitions, drives, (Sprite even tells us to obey our thirst!) but obeying God is the only way you can’t go wrong.  Ephesians 1:11 assures us that he has a special will and purpose for our lives.  Now the ball is in our court; are we going to let God have his way in us by clearing up the mess we call our “schedules?”  The irony of convenience is that when we can do something quicker and easier, we tend to stock-pile our lives with even more tasks.  And all along the purpose of technology is supposed to be the freeing up of our time.

It’s time we realize that obedience to God is more valuable than convenience.  It’s time we turn our cell phones off during the moments we consider sacred.  It’s time our social networks take a backseat to our communion with God.  It’s time we get out into nature and be reminded of our creator’s greatness.  It’s time we decide that what’s important takes priority over what seems to be urgent.  “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:17 (TNIV)  Don’t let yourself be driven by convenience for one moment longer!

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Mini-vans & Icy Inclines

7
Feb
posted by Andrew Dragos               filed under Updates

This past weekend I spent some time on a winter retreat with the youth group enjoying the remoteness of northern Michigan.  The “mountain cabins” were conveniently located a-top large hills that required venturing up steep roads.  The cabins that lined the street looked really cute, kinda like in those Thomas Kinkade paintings evangelicals are so enamored about.

But when you need “running starts” to make it up a hill, you know the vehicle you’re driving is not made for those conditions.  Still, giving a ride to a van full of high schoolers was fulfilling enough, and worth experiencing the phobia I have of rolling backwards down icy inclines toward my doom (Not to mention the kinds.  I knew I put those waivers in the registration packets for a reason).

Well, starting here is like my weekend.  Maybe something good will come of this, like a van full of cheering teenagers  as we finally reach the top of the hill and pull into the driveway of our log-cabin.  Then again, I may suddenly begin rolling backwards and begin wishing I would have saved me some embarrassment.  Or maybe it’ll just take a few tries.  Whatever happens, I welcome you- friends, strangers, brothers & sisters.

Shalom.

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