A new GLBT resort in our county
A couple of people have sent me an email concerning a new GLBT resort in the works for our area. (GLBT = Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgender). The information looks credible. You can see a web site promoting it here. NOTE that it contains some images that may offend, though none that are explicit. The email says that the chosen site is somewhere on the other side of the bridge from Ladd Landing, so that puts it near our youth minister John Pryor. 
Interestingly, the Employment link on the web site states that the owners have “a belief in God” and that worship services will be part of the program, and even hints that prospective employees should be like-minded on this.
The email calls this resort “a threat” and urges everyone to sign a petition (and pass it around at church too) and attend meetings of the Planning Commission and County Commission to try to get this stopped.
I realize that the Bible calls homosexual behavior sinful. But to tell you the truth, I’d be very disappointed in the people of Morrison Hill if we can’t do better than pass around petitions and march on government meetings to assert rights that we supposedly surrendered for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How can we love our enemies or our neighbors or the people sitting next to us at church (any of whom may be tempted by homosexuality) by telling them to stay the heck out of our county?
Even though I speak like this, dear friends, I am confident of better things in your case. I have confidence that the Christians I know can come up with ten better responses to this situation, responses that lift up Christ in all the fullness of his grace and truth.
So, how about it? Tell us your best ideas (or whatever you think) in the comments.
UPDATE: Here’s a story in the Roane County News about the resort.
UPDATE 2: I received an email from the developer of the planned resort last night (addressed to “Dear Pastor”) in which he says that “Rosebud is not going to be a gay, nudist, resort of any kind, but that any mature adult 18 and over, no matter what their race, religion, color, sex, or life style, will be welcome there.” I visited the web site again, and now it contains none of the pictures that I previously warned you about, nor any reference to clothing being optional, nor alternate lifestyles. Sounds like a quick marketing switch to me!
UPDATE 3: The Knoxville News Sentinel now has a story on this, along with a string of interesting comments .
Competing for space in the public square
Debating on whether the Ten Commandments should be posted is SO nineties. Today the issue is: Who ELSE gets to post their religious stuff in public spaces?
One example: The Supreme Court will soon hear a case brought by a religion called Summum that wants to post its Seven Aphorisms near a display of the Ten Commandments in a Utah park. Founded in the mid-seventies, Summum believes that Moses received the Seven Aphorisms at the same time that he received the Ten Commandments, but revealed them to only a few of his students because Israel wasn’t ready for them.
Another example: Just up the road in Crossville, TN, a tongue-in-cheek religion called The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has already installed a statue of its “god” on the courthouse lawn. This religion apparently exists to provide satire of religion and to challenge thinking on issues such as public religious displays.
Will such developments cause us evangelicals to switch course and argue for a religion-free public square?
Signs and stickers around town
I appreciate the sentiment expressed in this sign, but my cynical side wants to say:
“Hey, if you think my preaching stinks, and if you have a problem with my personal hygiene, and if you think I have the personality of a carp, it’s YOUR fault! Don’t hold ME responsible for personal and professional development!”
After seeing this sticker on a window at the grocery store, my OBX oval sticker seems so out-of-date. (You may have to be a local to appreciate this).
The Mormons: A two-part feature on Frontline
On Monday and Tuesday (February 11 and 12), Frontline on PBS will do a two-part study of Mormonism. This would have been a lot more relevant before Romney dropped out, but still…
Frontline’s reports are usually excellent.
The Plump Girl
We inherited this little booklet from someone in my wife’s family. Fashion Dos and Don’ts for the Plump Girl is a guide from 1943 which is filled with wonderful advice for those who are “short, pudgy” (p.8) and “square, chunky” (p. 10). Pages 46-47 cover “pudgy hands” and “fat feet”, and page 15 (below) deals with the
“fat round face”.
Yesterday’s acceptable terms become today’s insults.
See a couple of pages from the book here.
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Risk aversion
I saw this sign at a restaurant in the Turkey Creek area of West Knoxville (Tennessee). This is a totally commercial zone, with nary a neighborhood (and therefore, nary a neighborhood child) for miles.
I’m sure the sign comes from the head office, wherever that may be. Probably every restaurant in the chain carries this sign. I understand this. Sometimes you have to cover your assets.
But what happens when minimizing risk becomes your lifestyle? Hey, it takes guts to meet someone new, quit a job, try to ice skate, invite someone to church, enter a 5K, ask for help, or to put your art out there for the general public to see. Life means little without risk.
This graphic comes from an article called Death by Risk Aversion at Creating Passionate Users. It is meant to describe how products or services offered by businesses get watered down to mediocrity in the name of risk aversion. In my experience, it describes some of our more inane efforts at church to design a program that pleases everyone and avoid as much criticism as possible. (Unfortunately and ironically, Creating Passionate Users, once the best thing on the net, shut down last year after the author received death threats).
Taking risks is so important that we do each other a great service by extending grace for failure. Your kids need to know that failing at something is much better than not trying at all. Your church leaders need to know that risking comfort is much preferred over playing it safe. You need to know it too.
Lethal injection, abortion, and the seamless garment of life
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about lethal injection. The Court is trying to learn whether the often-used three-drug cocktail causes pain as it kills. I’m glad to see this issue debated at the highest level. Christians who find in Romans 13 a rationale for capital punishment should also see in the Sermon on the Mount an imperative for humane treatment of everybody. We show our humanity by how we treat our enemies.
We show our humanity by how we treat the powerless too. As we approach the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade (January 20, 2008), it’s disturbing how little mainstream concern exists regarding the brutal violence against the unborn. (Do a Google image search on abortion if you must, and you’ll see what I mean).
Evangelicals have made huge mistakes regarding abortion. We have worked the political angle more than the grasroots one, for example, and we have neglected other issues - poverty, racism, war, pollution, exploitation, and even capital punishment - that are properly part of the seamless garment of life. Thankfully this is changing, and to be faithful to Jesus, we must continue to force it to change.
But I don’t want us to forget about the violence that persists against the unborn. 35 years on, there is still no more powerless group.
My thoughts on The Golden Compass
I had never heard of The Golden Compass until four weeks ago when several people sent me email warnings about its atheistic message (Narnia for atheists!). Since then, this fantasy novel and movie have received lots of press. I decided to read the books (The Golden Compass is the first of a trilogy) and see the film. Here are some observations:
- Philip Pullman is a talented writer. He has created a compelling story and a fascinating fantasy universe (universes actually - the trilogy is built on the idea of multiple parallel universes).
- The movie and the first book are not very controversial. The series doesn’t get too theological until book two, and the movie tries its best to make the villains generic.
- Pullman really hates religion. (You might say that Jesus did too). The villainous church in the books is all about power, control, and persecution, which certainly are some of our more noteworthy sins. It would be hard to exaggerate Philip Pullman’s hostility toward the church and toward God. His heroes are on a quest to destroy both. But something is missing…
- There is no Jesus in Pullman’s church. The church he describes isn’t the one I know. His church has no good news, no grace, no Jesus or Mother Teresa or Shane Claiborne. No one is drilling wells for the thirsty, feeding the hungry, or setting up medical clinics in poor countries. Pullman’s church is a caricature.
- The movie is pretty average. Too many details are crammed into too tight a time frame and some key events from the book are rearranged. The lead actress is good and the CGI is great. Sam Elliott always makes me want to trim my mustache.
- Pullman gets quite preachy in the later books, which probably hurts his ability to persuade. He hates The Chronicles of Narnia, but he mimics C. S. Lewis in that both authors put forth a blatant world view in their books. Pullman dislikes The Lord of the Rings too, but both Gandalf and Saruman made it into The Golden Compass movie.
Film critic Jeffery Overstreet has a thorough and informative article on The Golden Compass at his Looking Closer blog.
Cyberbullying and e-vigilantes: The tragic Megan Meier case
By now you have probably heard or read something about the cyber-bullying mom who caused a young girl down the street to commit suicide. 13-year-old Megan Meier took her own life in October 2006 after being befriended and then rejected by a “cute guy” she met online. The guy turned out to be a fictitious account set up and monitored by an area woman who wanted to find out what Megan was saying about her daughter. Prosecutors say that no crime has been committed and no charges will be filed.
A clear case for vigilante cyber-justice, right? Not so fast…
First, consider the easily-forgotten truth that the reported facts can be miles off target. Whenever I have seen a news story written or taped about something I’m involved in, I am usually amazed at the inaccuracy.
Second, think about the dangers of mob justice, especially the internet variety where we can all throw rocks from safely behind our firewalls. Wired has an excellent article on this very topic, which includes some chilling stories of past cyber-mobs-gone-bad as well as a few recent efforts to shame this meddling mother.
Megan Meier’s tragic end makes my blood steam. Her death is one of a thousand illustrations you could find today of our vital social need for justice. And yet…
The things Jesus said about loving our enemies, treating others as we want to be treated, and refusing to cast stones - they don’t seem to make sense at first. But dig deeper and see that his ways are best.
unChristian - by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons
We’ll know in a year if unChristian really is as life-changing as I have made it out to be in my preaching. I’ve gotten hot about other books or concepts before, only to forget them. But the truth in unChristian is too important for that.
The research behind this book shows that 91% of those under 29 think that the best word to describe evangelical Christians is “antihomosexual”. 87% choose the word judgmental and 85% said we’re hypocritical. And Kinnaman and Lyons show that these aren’t people who don’t know us. This generation has a surprising familiarity with church. They have been to our Sunday Schools and VBSs and camps. And this is what they see?
unChristian lays out not only problems but paths toward solution. With God’s help, the truth here will help focus my preaching and our church into a rebirth.
unChristian gets a 9 out of 10 from me.
