Pirahnas

I've noticed a disturbing tendency among Christians (myself included) to have a pirahnic effect on our sinning brothers and sisters. The trend goes like this:

1. Christian is told they are doing wrong (assuming this is done in a helpful, constructive manner)
2. Fellow Christians come alongside the "sinner" and remind him of wrongdoing
3. Christians talk among themselves about the "sinner" and the sin (gossip)
4. Process continues until "sinner" feels condemned and leaves the church, extremely hurt and definitely not in the mood to repent

The first step is not wrong; and the second step (reminding your Christian brother or sister) could also be positive if done in the right mindset, and not intended to shame. However, the gossip and constant reminder of the wrong-doing is not only harmful to the "sinner" but is detrimental to the group dynamic.

I'm posting this because I caught myself doing this very thing, and I wanted to throw it out there as a reminder: we have enough problems outside the church, let's not make church (or our church small groups) a burdensome place to be.

Spiritual Gifts and the Church

I’ll preface this post by outlining some conclusions I have come to: supernatural spiritual gifts are real, they are relevant, and they are powerful; any believer today can duplicate Christ’s miracles.
[Note: It is written that every believer should work out their faith for themselves, so don’t take my conclusive statements to be judgmental proclamations or factual points. If you disagree with my theological standpoint, feel free to email me and let me know where we disagree. Any constructive criticism related to my theology would be seen as an act of love for a brother in Christ you believe to be mistaken; and not as a personal attack on me or my beliefs.]

A church I attended regularly recently witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit through supernatural miracles. Before this experience the pastor was regularly preaching about the validity of spiritual gifts and the power we all have as believers. Now that this church has seen the miracles first-hand, the pastor is continuing to preach about the supernatural and our access to them. The reason I wrote this post is to ask this: is there a number of sermons (or another benchmark) by which we should draw a line for teaching about the same aspect of God? I’m concerned that a continued, non-stop focus on the same aspect will not edify the body; and as a result the believers will become stagnant and die!

Lastly, I want to state a disclaimer: I do not believe that the spiritual gifts should not be mentioned or imparted on a weekly basis. I am concerned with the focus of the sermons staying on the same topic; I am not implying or suggesting that we do not draw attention to the power of God on a weekly basis.

My Faith Has Been Rocked

Have you ever had an experience that completely changed the way you look at the world? And I don't mean in the cliche, oh-my-gosh-what-a-trip experience, but an event that makes you realize that your idea of reality is wrong? Well, I had one of those experiences on Saturday night.

Before I moved to Chicago I regularly attended church at Christian Life Assembly (Lancaster Blvd and 30th St East). This last weekend, CLA held a "Firestorm" meeting that was billed as a "healing service". I don't know about the readers of this blog, but I was more than skeptical - I was downright cynical that anything would happen. I didn't attend this meeting to be healed or delivered or anything positive, but to cast a skeptical eye upon these guests. The service was nothing extraordinary, and I didn't really find any holes in their theology or their explanations of miracles and the possibility of miracles happening today. I believe that God can still work through people if he wishes, but I hadn't seen it and I know some really "religious" (for lack of a better term) people, fellow believers that I look up to for wisdom had never had this happen to them.

At the end of the sermon, the main speaker and his team of about ten students stood up and gave an open invitation for anyone to come to the front to get prayed over. So, me and Kathy walked up to the front. I can't explain why I felt the urge to get prayer, but I definitely felt like I should go up there. I reasoned, "What's the worst that can happen?" One of the students came up to Kathy and explained she would like to get healed. Kathy explained to her how her neck's been in constant pain for years, her back's misaligned, her hip has been really bothering her, she had tendonitis in her knee and her right achilles tendon has been very painful as of late. So the woman prayed for her and asked Kathy, "Do you feel anything?"

Kathy moved her neck from side-to-side, bent her knees, moved her ankle in a circle and replied, "No, I don't feel anything. That's the weird thing. I was in pain two seconds ago!" I looked at Kathy with an are-you-nuts look...I thought she was pulling my leg here. She looked up at me and couldn't contain her excitement. "Alex! Oh my gosh, I have no pain! This is great!" Ever the unbeliever, I was happy but not quite yet to throw my towel in the ring. I asked her throughout the night, "Do you have any pain now?" "No! This is so awesome!"

Not to repeat myself, but I always believed God could work miracles and heal people as He wished. But it was never going to happen to me, or through me. I was wrong. It happened to my wife; and I'm a believer.

Come to Christian Life Assembly one Sunday and see what all the fuss is about.

Life in California

Man, is it great to be back in sunny California! I have a good job out here (I'm not sure yet how good of a job it is, we'll see as time goes by), my business is doing good and I'm hopping back in the political game. Me and Kathy have a *great* apartment in Lancaster, we absolutely love it. Kathy did an awesome job decorating the place (of course), pictures will be up soon.

Our marriage is different now. In Illinois, I relied on Kathy for support; out here the roles have reversed because of our friends situation. It's not bad, it's just different - arguably healthier. Married life is great and I love it; but man is it hard work! I can't imagine what Kathy goes through living with me! :P

Me and Kath are looking for a church out here, we really want to find a small, stable church where we can feel close to a lot of people (and not just a number) and be fed on a regular basis. I have a great community with a lot of the people at Christian Life Assembly, but I'm not sure that's where God wants us to worship right now. We're looking at a few places right now, we'll be attending Quartz Hill Community this weekend, if you're interested I'll let you know what I think of it after we go.

I am so, so happy to be back and be able to hang out with all my friends! I missed so many people, I need to work to get those friendships back to being solid again. Distance and time do a lot to erode friendships, it'll take some work to get them all back. Marriage also plays a big role in friendships, I just don't have as much free time anymore!

So that's my brief update, more blogs on my deep (?) thoughts soon.