Prophecy Days 10-12: George is getting upset!

It’s time to be honest. When I first started this venture, I thought as time progressed I would start to find things to love about the Church. I thought my time spent in this seminar would climb toward a dramatic epiphany whereby I would have new found, relevant wisdom to share with every church going person I came across. I’m not building toward that epiphany. If anything I’m building more reason to be frustrated with the church. I don’t hate it, and that’s a good thing. I think I even like it at times, but I am frustrated with it.

The frustration wouldn’t even be so bad if only I knew what it was I was frustrated about. Is it what we’ve done with Jesus’ message; distorting it to serve our own selfish fantasies of what Christian life should look like? Is it that we come in to church day in and day out unchanged and unaffected by a life changing and life affecting message (at least that’s the appearance we give)? I think it’s both. But what’s really frustrating is asking these questions about me. Do I distort Jesus’ message for my own gain? Yes. Do I walk out of church unchanged and unaffected? Yes. I carry the same problems as the church; it’s just not publically evident. Well, now it is. (In a way.)

Anyway, here are some of the events that have led to this train of thought.

Day 10: How to Erase Your Past Mistakes Forever. AKA: Baptism means immersion not sprinkling. Repeat: not sprinkling; oh!, and it’s not for babies either. Oh!, and it’s immersion not sprinkling.

This day also had a video about Protestant reformer John Huss. It was in the same vein as A Man for All Seasons about Sir Thomas More and his stand against King Henry VIII’s divorce. The film was of the same technical quality, being made in the ‘60s. It contained bad costumes, poor acting, and obviously fake facial hair. The message of the film was standing up for truth is worth giving one’s life, which I believe to be true and so did the rest of the audience. However, in my mind, a discrepancy shows its ugly head at this point. Here we are watching a film about someone whose life, to some, was cut short. It was cut short directly because of his obedience to God’s Word. Then, we have the next session.

Day 11: How to Live Longer and Healthier. AKA: No bacon or beer. (Sorry Bob and Doug McKenzie.) The premise being that God gave us laws by which, if we follow, we’ll live longer and healthier. How can we, one day, praise someone who obeyed God’s laws and lived short and rather stingily in a jail cell and the next day say by obeying God’s laws we’ll live long and healthy? Again, the difference between interpretations of ‘commandments’ comes into play. I see following God’s laws as following His example in Christ, and following Him brought about suffering and premature death to His disciples and to Himself. The seminar sees following God’s laws as directly following kosher laws given in Leviticus.

It was here also that I got the first hint that I was going to hell. I was given a pamphlet about God’s health laws and consequences for breaking them. I quote:

6. But I like pork. Will God destroy me if I eat it?

“For, behold, the Lord will come with fire . . . and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many. They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves . . . eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 66:15-17

Answer: This may be shocking, but it is true and must be told. The Bible positively states that all who eat “swine’s flesh,” “the mouse,” and other unclean things that are an “abomination” will be destroyed with fire at the coming of the Lord. When God says to leave something alone and not eat it, we should by all means obey Him. After all, the mere eating of a piece of forbidden fruit by Adam and Eve, a sinless couple, brought sin and death to this world in the first place. Can anyone say it doesn’t matter, when God so clearly shows it does? God says men will be destroyed because they “chose that in which I delighted not.” Isaiah 66:4.

I have two things to say about my going to hell here. One, here’s the Isaiah passage in full and in the modern language:

15 See, the Lord is coming with fire,
and his swift chariots roar like a whirlwind.
He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger
and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke.
16 The Lord will punish the world by fire
and by his sword. He will judge the earth,
and many will be killed by him.

17 “Those who ‘consecrate’ and ‘purify’ themselves in a sacred garden with its idol in the center—feasting on pork and rats and other detestable meats—will come to a terrible end,” says the Lord.

-Isaiah 66: 15-17 (NLT)

First of all, verse 17 is broken up from verse 15 and 16 in some literary fashion. So, if one is going to take verse 17 with verses 15 and 16, one would have to start from verse 12 where it says, “This is what the Lord says.” If God says something, it’s good to hear all of it rather than just the later half. Also, it seems as though this feasting on pork and rats was a cleansing ritual done for this particular idol. I’m not an Ancient Near Eastern historian, but that’s how it reads to me. So, its those that are substituting this cleansing practice for the given practice by God and those who are substituting this idol for the actual God that are in for a world of hurt. So it would seem.

Second, here’s a passage from Acts that was not mentioned at all during the session.

1 While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent the delegates to Jerusalem, and they stopped along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers. They told them—much to everyone’s joy—that the Gentiles, too, were being converted.
4 When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported everything God had done through them. 5 But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.”
6 So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue. 7 At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. 8 God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. 10 So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? 11 We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”
12 Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
13 When they had finished, James stood and said, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. 15 And this conversion of Gentiles is exactly what the prophets predicted. As it is written:
16 ‘Afterward I will return and restore the fallen house of David. I will rebuild its ruins and restore it, 17 so that the rest of humanity might seek the Lord, including the Gentiles— all those I have called to be mine. The Lord has spoken— 18 he who made these things known so long ago.’
19 “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. 21 For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.”

-Acts 15:1-21 (NLT)

I’ll let that passage speak for itself.

Day 12: Heavenly Judgment Here on Earth (Or something like that. I don’t recall the exact phrasing. Something about judgment and heaven and earth and Jesus and Saturday and Pork). This session got us back into some major prophecy as the last sessions were sufficiently lacking. The prophecy is found in Daniel 8:13-27. The story of the interpretation of this prophecy in the history of the Seventh Day Adventist church is interesting and can be found here. A summary: the founder of the SDA church, William Miller, was reading the Bible and came across this prophecy. With much study, he concluded that it pertained to the second coming of Christ and was scheduled to take place in the year of 1844. This was based off of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem made in 457 BC that was also in the previous Daniel prophecy discussed in the seminar. Needless to say, 1844 came and passed and Jesus neither came nor passed. William, and his rather large gathering of followers at this point (if you preach the end is near, some people listen), were forced to reinterpret this prophecy; for obviously their first attempt was false. It was then concluded that this prophecy refers to an event that takes place in Heaven rather than on earth. The session referred to it as the cleansing of the sanctuary in Heaven. This event, thus, kicked off in 1844.

23:59:56 December 31, 1843.
Location: Heaven.

God: 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . Happy sanctuary cleansing!
Angels: Hurray!
God: I call basement!
Angels: Ahh! You always get the basement.
God: But I called it.
Angels: (Mockingly) But I called it.
God: Hey! You know where the last angel that gave me lip ended up. Don’t think I won’t do it again!
Angels: Supreme beings; always so pushy.

I can’t reveal my sources for this bit of dialogue, but I’m pretty sure that’s how it went down. But what was missing from this presentation was what this meant for us earth dwelling beings. Also, what was missing was the fact that this was not the original interpretation of the prophecy by the SDA church, and in fact that the SDA guessed at a date for the second coming because of this prophecy and got it wrong. That little bit of information I had to look up on my own.

That’s the odd thing though. Continuously, throughout this seminar it has been repeated that the purpose of these sessions is for people to learn how to discover the Bible on their own. I think that’s a great thing. But what happens when a member of the church comes across the passage in Acts 15 referring to food laws?

It may seem I am putting down the SDA church a lot more this post than in previous, but I don’t mean to. Remember, I’m frustrated with the whole Church right now. I’m frustrated with the whole because this happens in every church. At some point, if you study the Bible and are a part of the church, you’re going to be told how to interpret certain passages. You will develop a bias for certain passages that explain your beliefs and you will develop a counter interpretation for passages that others bring forth that negate those beliefs. To me this all comes back to our distortion of Jesus’ message to fit our own version of our Christianity. I am guilty of it too.

So, the Church and I have a common problem. You and the church have a common problem (that’s right, I said you). What commonality do all have with the church; we’re all broken pieces that make up the Kingdom of God. How can I love a broken Church? I’m broken too. Why do the homeless tend to look after other homeless? They share a commonality of brokenness. Why do alcoholic sympathize with other alcoholics? They share a commonality of brokenness.

When I find it hard to love the Church, guess what I’m assuming about myself? I’m not broken. Well, I am broken, and until I’m able to accept that every day, I won’t be able to love the Church every day.

3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

-Matthew 7: 3-5 (NLT)

Now, this is not to say that all of the Church’s problems will go away for me. Or that my frustration will cease. Rather, I still think the Church needs to acknowledge the log in its eye before it can go taking specks out of the world’s eye. This all comes down to allowing the life changing, life altering message of Christ change and alter lives; both in the Church and out.

So, Friday’s session attempts to answer the question: Why so many churches and how do you tell the true ones from the false. It should be really interesting. If you’re at all interested, contact me.

Prophecy Days 6-9: It just keeps on getting better

I've attended four Bible prophecy sessions in the last week and I've come out of each one of them asking the same question: How does one love a legalistic church? I'm not sure I've come to an answer yet, but I can certainly illustrate the difficulty. Thus, some highlights from this week's sessions.

Ms. Albright: All right, children. Now I don't want you to get frightened, but it's my responsibility to teach you this. Today's topic will be "hell."
Kids: Oh!
Bart: All right! I've sat through "mercy" and I've sat through "forgiveness." Finally, we get to the good stuff.
Ms. Albright: Oh, hell is a terrible place! Maggots are your sheet, worms your blanket. There's a lake of fire burning with sulfur. You'll be tormented day and night forever and ever. As a matter of fact, if you actually saw hell, you'd be so frightened you would die.
Bart: Oh, Ms. Albright?
Ms. Albright: Yes, Bart?
Bart: Wouldn't you eventually get used to it, like in a hot tube?
Ms. Albright: No. Yes, Bart?
Bart: Are there pirates in hell?
Ms. Albright: Yes. Thousands of them.
Bart: Ooh, baby!
Martin: So what you're saying is, there's a downside to the afterlife. How does one steer clear of this abode of the damned?
Ms. Albright: By obeying the Ten Commandments. Ten simple rules that are easy to live by.

-"Homer vs. The 8th Commandment," The Simpsons (Season 2)

That bit of dialogue was taken from an episode of The Simpsons that I had on DVD, but in actuality it could have occurred between two people at the church where the seminar is taking place. It's funny that the same church would probably go on and condemn The Simpsons for their take on morality, when it is so very similar to their own. The four sessions I attended this week each had a question at the beginning that they were seeking to answer.

Fri., Nov. 9: Why Do Innocent People Suffer?
Who is bringing all the evil, trouble and suffering upon mankind? The amazing truth in this presentation will forever make it clear.

Mon., Nov. 12: The Key to Peace and Security
In a world of locked doors, fear, and uncertainty, there can be peace. Find out the key tonight.

Fri., Nov. 16: God's Answer to Evolution

Sat., Nov. 17: The World’s Greatest Cover-up.

(I'm pretty sure these are all copyrighted. So, don't tell anyone, okay?)

Friday, November 9th
I chose to take the evening to observe the audience. To try and develop a feel for what percentage of the audience actually wanted to be there and who might be there because they felt obligated. I chose this night to take on this task since I'm rather familiar with the question on evil and the different theories behind why it exists. So, I knew I didn't have to be in 'argue mode' since I'm sure I've had the argument before. What I found was that I was the only one truly bored, or at least from the look of everyone I was. No one was staring up at the ceiling pretending in their mind that one of the fans broke loose and took a bunch of people's heads off. (That's something I used to do in church a lot. I'm not proud of it . . . or maybe I am?) Everyone was attentively flipping through his or her novelty green, enormous, NIV, pew Bible and taking notes as if there was a test coming up at the end of the term. (Which is odd since there's a quiz every night and we'd already taken that. How could we have two quizzes in one night?) I couldn't grasp why I was the only one with attention deficit disorder. My only conclusion could be either this stuff was really engaging (which it wasn't), or that there was some sort of obligation to God that being here and paying attention would fulfill. Basically I couldn’t conclude anything. By the way, their answer to evil: Satan.

Monday, November 12th
Ten Commandment night. Charlton Heston was neither present nor mentioned, but he would have been proud. The Ten Commandments were on prominent display and apparently the key to peace and security. It was this night that I think I found out one of the major differences between me and the folks in the audience. When Jesus says in John 14:15: “If you love me, obey my commandments,” there seems to be a difference in interpretation in the word ‘commandments.’ The take being taught in the seminar is ‘commandments’ is meant to be thought as the Ten Commandments. How I interpret it is ‘commandments’ refers to Jesus’ command to love God will all one’s being and love one’s neighbor as oneself. Thus, the idea of legalism; following the Ten Commandments verbatim or just simply loving people, which is what the Commandments were intended to promote.

(I should mention that the picture to the right is a frequent background picture used in the seminar for the verse John 14:15. It makes me laugh every time and it's used like 4 or 5 times a night. I'm suprised they still let me in the door.)

This is not to say love does not exist in the seminar. Quite the contrary.

This session was number seven for me. It is at this point in any of my endeavors that I get bored with what I’m doing, give up, and move on to something else. The sessions were beginning to feel routine; I was bored. So, to cure monotony and boredom, I sat on the other side of the room. I find the best way to break routine is to actually break the routine. Fancy that. I’m now sitting in a pew on the other side of the room with one other lady. The other lady had a companion that came a little later than I and wanted to sit next to her. So, I, being the long-legged freak that I am, got up to let her in and the obvious comment that comes from meeting me for the first time is let forth, “Mercy, you’re tall.” (This is not a direct quote from this particular incident, nor is a direct quote from any incident, but rather enhanced for comedic effect. Or hopeful comedic effect. Or just effect.)
I said, “Thanks, yes I am.”
She asked, “How tall are you?”
I said, “Between 6’4” and 6’5”.”
And she said, “Awe, that’s beautiful.”
Beautiful! That’s probably the best response to that conversation I’ve ever had, and I’ve had it a lot. Then she asked if I was in school and how often I’d been coming to the sessions and I told her no and that I’d been coming to the majority of them. Somehow the question of why I was coming came up but not in that direct sense and I answered, “I suppose I enjoy seeking out truth.”
To which she responded, “Awe, that’s beautiful.”
That’s two! I was really starting to enjoy this lady’s company. Then she asked what I did. I told her I was a data analyst. She asked what I studied in school and I said math. She said that her daughter was really good at math and she wished that she was as well. Doesn’t everyone? She asked if being a data analyst was what I wanted to do with my life. I said, “No. Actually I want to be a missionary.”
She responded, “Oh, that’s beautiful!”
Man, she was beautiful! I was very convinced that her reaction was not to the word ‘missionary’ being beautiful, but rather the idea that someone would devote their life to loving others in the name of God was beautiful; that the love of God was beautiful.

Friday, November 16th
God’s answer to evolution. It was also Dan’s birthday and he decided to join me for this session. So, are you ready? God’s answer to evolution? Aged fossil records? The flood? Monkeys are really people and we shouldn’t be doing tests on them ‘cause it’s just pissing them off and in turn they’ll enslave us and blow up our civilization to start their own? (What’s with the Charlton Heston references?) No. It’s Saturday. That’s right; Saturday. God rested on the seventh day of creation; we celebrate a Sabbath (granted it’s the wrong one); therefore, God created the earth as is in the Bible. That’s the argument. At this point, all the evolutionists stood up, applauded, said thank you, and left the room. If that’s the argument, then evolutionists have nothing to fear. It went even as far to say that if you go to church on Sunday, not the intended Sabbath in the Bible, that you were not acknowledging God as creator. Dan summed up the argument as follows: “Going to church on Sunday equals monkey lover.” The rest of the evening was spent discussing why we as Christians have a Sabbath. Needless to say, the night was disheartening. There was so much excitement for Jesus in past sessions. Remember the hooting and the hollering? There was just as much excitement about going to church on the right day as there was for Jesus being the savior of mankind. There was so much focus on determining what day to come to church. Why not focus on how to love your neighbor? This bout of legalism was frustrating. It was not beautiful in my eyes.

Saturday, November 17th
Tonight was going to unveil the world’s greatest cover-up. Well, in actuality it was unveiled the night before. You guessed it, why Christians celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday instead of Saturday. Legalism-alpolooza continued. The arguments here appear to be very sound as to why the Sabbath should be Saturday instead of Sunday. That’s not my problem. The problem lies in my interpretation of Matthew 5: 17-20:

(This picture was rather prominant that particular evening and also made me laugh. Again how I keep getting in is beyond me.)

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

It seems to me that Jesus is telling His audience that in order for you to fulfill the law, and keeping the Sabbath is included in that law, you’d have to keep all of it. But we cannot. Jesus says that He’s come to fulfill the law, and He did. Thus, through Christ the law has been fulfilled. So why does it matter what day the Sabbath is celebrated on? That law has been fulfilled. Christ then commands his followers to love God and love others; these are the greatest commandments. Not the selected ten that came down the mountain with Moses, who then proceeded to break them both physically and spiritually, but those of loving God and loving all other people.

Something I can respect about this group of people is that they know what they believe and why they believe it. They also have a desire to obey Jesus’ every command to the ‘t.’ I only hope that the beauty of God’s love can become so evident to them, that their desire to follow Him will look less like algorithmic motions and more doing what God says no matter how unnatural.

There are still more sessions to come and I will be in attendance at as many as I can. Feel free to join me if you so desire.

Enter Sandman, I have two pair of shoes.

Crossing Lines.

Happiness.
Sitting bare foot in the grass?
Homelessness.
Sitting bare foot on the sidewalk?
It’s a fine line.

Charity.
Buying someone a pair of shoes?
Sacrifice.
Giving someone your pair of shoes?
It’s a fine line.

What I've been thinking about since 12:50a this morning:

A while back, like 2 or 3 months ago, I was walking along 15th Ave on Capitol Hill here in Seattle and a man was sitting outside Wallgreens with a sign in his lap. The sign said he was looking for a pair of shoes or at least money for a pair of shoes. His had been retired from service. I didn't have any cash on me nor was there a store that sold shoes in the area, so I passed him by. I didn't feel guilty, I felt sad that I couldn't help.

Then last night I'm lying in bed and I had just finished reading a book where the author was discussing how 20% of the people hold 80% of the weath; I'd heard this before. But as I'm trying to fall asleep, the thought hits me: I have more than one pair of shoes; I have more than one jacket. What if I'm walking down the street and someone needs shoes, or needs a jacket. Would I be able to give them mine knowing full well I have another waiting for me at home. I was disappointed that I could not answer yes.

I went out walking today along the same street as I did 3 months ago. I was wearing my favorite jacket and my favorite pair of shoes. I got nervous. "I'm going to have to give one of them up aren't I," I thought. I didn't have to. But I thought about it. I thought, I could just buy whatever someone needs, but for some reason that didn't seem good enough. It wasn't a sacrifice.

I'm reminded of the story of the lady who gave her only two pennies outside the temple.

Luke 21: 1-4

While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”

So, I've been wrestling. Hoping that when an opportunity comes where I might give someone my shoes or jacket, that I'd be able to take it. Not because it would make a cool story, or because people would look at me as a charitable person, but because it's the right thing to do. I'd like to be able to cross that line between charity and sacrifice.

The content that usually has shown up on this thing will probably go up this weekend sometime. I've decided to take in a few more sessions before making another post. Stay tuned.

Prophecy Days 4-5: I use the words 'aforementioned' and 'illustrious' in the same paragraph; how friggin' cool is that?

Day 4 or 5 has yet to be as poop filled as the previous three, but nonetheless I am pooped. Here are some more thoughts and highlights.

Day 4 asked the question “How Near is the End?” Dan came with me this night and we asked the same question about the evening: How near is the end? I asked the question: If there is an end of time and time is moving forward, as we generally agree it does, then isn’t the end, thus by definition of being the end, always getting closer? Why do we then insist on always stating matter-of-factly, like we have information no one has yet to hear about that the end is getting closer?

The intention of the session was to give the audience 15 signs that we are living in the end time. I was surprised I was able to write down 12 of them. At the speed we were being hit with images of starving children, Nostradamus, and covers of Time magazine from 1977, I'm suprised I kept my shorts clean. At about sign number nine, I stopped writing down counter arguments as to why that particular sign may not be a sign of the end times; they started coming out all the same. Those events have always happend; for example, famines. Famines are going to occur before our time is up and I believe this to be true. Why you ask? Since famines have happened from the time of Joseph up until the very present. But you say famines are more intense now that we live in the end times? Well, the famine that Jacob and his family had to move to Egypt to endure lasted 7 years and disrupted most of the known world. Sure famines affect higher numbers of people now, but there are higher numbers of people to be affected.

I would like to point out, however, that the specific issue of hunger seemed to get the speaker up on a soap box of sorts. I was glad for this. Four nights into it and I get my first insight into another fellow Christian’s desire for social change. I only hope there are more where that came from. A question I asked myself at the end of the night: Is this seminar this church’s best effort for Jesus, or is there more they are doing? I hope to be able to answer that question at some point; I hope it’s the answer of ‘much more.’

Day 5 I was with Jeremy and the mathematically inclined in the audience were supposed to thrive this night. Now, that’s not to say the evening was without skepticism for me; for really, that’s what math is. The climax of the presentation was centered on a prophecy found in Daniel 9:24-27. It’s believed that this prophecy foretold the very day Christ would begin ministry, the very day Christ would be crucified, and the very day the church would be open to all people. I did some research and this interpretation is valid in that it is upheld by the theological community. However, I found other possible interpretations, one that doesn’t even mention Christ at all. So, with almost everything in the Bible, it’s not so straight forward. It’s interesting to think that such a prophecy exists, but, for me, whether or not it does exist, does not move my faith in any one direction.

I’d also like to note that the awesome power of 0 was on display that night as well. The prophecy aforementioned gave a certain period of time in which events were going to take place. If one accepts the interpretation that was presented, 483 years is that time period. According to the prophecy, at the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the party starts and . . . stuff happens. The date given for this is 457 BC. The period culminates at the beginning of Christ’s ministry on earth, 27 AD. Now, this is only possible if one does not use a year 0. You go from 1 BC to 1 AD. I of course checked into this and it is widely accepted that there is no year 0. Of course, if we did use a year 0, then we would just label the beginning of Christ’s ministry as 26 AD. Nonetheless, if you’d like to learn more about our illustrious hero, Mr. 0, check out the book Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea.

Back to the seminar. I think God has a strange marketing campaign for getting the word out about His plan. I think I was duped to put it bluntly. This night was advertised as about math, that wasn’t the case. This night was the closest I’d been to completely agreeing with the people and I think it’s the closest I will be. Day 5 was focused on the prophecies about the Messiah. I’m not sure why I feel inclined to be less argumentative about these, but I find myself wrapped up in them like they’re some 50 cent novel you pick up at a thrift store just for the intention of reading a book all the way through in a day. You don’t want to be distracted by anything; especially pesky thoughts that might lead down a road of skepticism. Perhaps it is because these prophecies have largely already been fulfilled that I find my skepticism going to the wayside. I had a feeling I needed to be in attendance at this session and I was right on the money. I was almost ready to hoot and holler and the mere mention of the name Jesus with the rest of the crowd.

There seems to be a lot of potential energy built up in this church; be they older, or out of touch with culture. One can only imagine the plans God has for them. One can only imagine the smile on Jesus’ face when He hears their hooting and their hollering. One can only imagine what sort of web the Holy Spirit is weaving inside the hearts of those people to keep that community together.

I’ll be going back Friday if anyone would like to join me. More thoughts to come.

Prophecy Days 1 - 3: Will I ever stop spelling it as "Profecy"?

Days 1, 2, 3 completed, days 4 – 34 (something like that) left to do. Here are some thoughts and highlights from Bible Prophecy 2007.

Day 1 I was able to bring two friends along with me; a roommate, Dan, and a mutual friend, Jeremy. We all pilled into my car and drove the 1.5 minutes to the church and found that the church parking lot was full. We found when we got inside that there was about 75-90 people in attendance in a room with the capacity for 200 or so folks. So, either it was a small parking lot, or some people were going one to every two cars. We parked across the street next to the library and proceeded to cross the street. Jeremy felt something stuck to the bottom of his shoe and put his hand down to investigate. It was dog poop and his hand was now its second victim. The grass became a makeshift paper towel, but it didn’t really do the job. We get to the door and they were hand shakers; to the extreme. You can’t come within 6 feet without a trigger going off in their heads to stick their arms out in your general direction. Luckily for me, I got the hand shakes in before Jeremy, but Dan was not so lucky. Needless to say, this was not the desired beginning.

Day 2 and 3 I attended by myself and walked to the church; the journey now became 20 minutes. I managed to avoid any similar messes and hoped to God they had all washed their hands since Day 1. By Day 3, I was pretty close to being on a first name basis with the greeters, which was nice. My name is difficult to catch in crowded areas.
“Claybon? Clinton?”
“Clay-ton!”
I went with Clay.

The atmosphere of the seminar, i.e. the visuals one encounters in the sanctuary, were directly out of the Sunday school classes of 1985 – 1989. I remember those classes vividly. Jesus was still white, tigers make frequent appearances, the disciples and ZZ Top might be the same people, and the Bibles, like the cars of the previous decade, are huge. However, the Bible is still the same now as it was then, so that’s good.

The sessions are split into three parts. There’s a rapid fire, let’s read through some Bible passages pertaining to the importance of prophecy as fast as we can part, a musical interlude part, and a “This is the prophecy topic tonight” part. Part one progresses like a 20 minute cram session before a final exam, part two progresses like a glacier made of molasses, and part three progresses like your normal 30 minute sermon. Needless to say, my preference would be to maintain a constant velocity through the whole night rather than accelerate in order to then decelerate only to then accelerate again but not as quick a pace as before; it’s just more fuel efficient.

As far as content is concerned, it’s nothing new or outrageous in a heretical way, but the pace is so quick one has little time to digest what’s being fed. Also, obvious questions that could be raised about the truthfulness of statements are going unnoticed. This is to be expected since the assumption going in is that these things are truth and they are being presented, not that these things are being presented and you are to make a judgment on whether or not they are true. I would prefer the later for discussion sake, but this seminar is not a discussion. One thing that can be said about the majority of the attendees, they really love Jesus. At least, they really love the idea of Jesus. They really hoot and holler whenever He does something or is going to do something or did something in the past. This is where, I think, I need to focus if I’m going to learn to love these people. Find out what qualities about Jesus they love so much and what they’d be willing to do for Him in order to see what I have in common with them.

I’ll be going back tonight for round 4, and tomorrow night is the topic that included Bible mathematics, so that should be exciting. I’m bringing my calculator. I feel at least one person in the room ought to have one. Anyway, stay tuned for more updates, and again, if anyone would like to join me on any of the scheduled nights, let me know.

Prophecy, an Intro (Or how I'll be spending most of my evenings for the next month and a half.)

My mailbox doesn’t have a door. Some kids with cherry bombs must have taken care of that before I moved in. As long as I know, it has always been open to the public. Anyone can put whatever they’d like in there and likewise take out whatever they please. Granted, it is still a federal crime to tamper with my mail, so don’t get any ideas.

Recently, via the U.S. post, a church in my neighborhood sent a flyer addressed to “resident” at my address advertizing a series of lectures about Bible prophecy that will be going on in the next couple of weeks. I have to say that my reaction when I first removed the parchment sporting a picture of Aslan, a four-headed cheetah, some dinosaur, a bear eating baby-back ribs, and a kid with a bad bowl cut (you think I’m kidding?) out of the mailbox was to ignore it, throw it out. But, it hung around until the evening.

Then my roommate and I got to discussing it. I proceeded to read out loud to him in a mocking, movie promoter-esc voice the descriptions of the different seminars. We had a good laugh. Then, I discovered the session that set me off. Using Bible mathematics to show (or prove, I cannot remember the exact wording) that Jesus existed, or exists if you will. Oh man, your mailing campaign flyer got sent to the wrong house buddy. Bible mathematics, what is Bible mathematics? I spent three years and upwards of $50,000 of my parents hard earned cash to learn all I could about mathematics, as well as two years and upwards of $10,000, again of my parents money, to study the Bible, and I’d never come across a subject that combined the two.

I was officially ready to hike up to the church, bring my calculator, and bust out my skepticism every day they planned on convening. And that’s how I went to bed that Monday evening. However, Tuesday I had what we’ll call a revelation, but it’s not really a revelation in the real sense, but really something that should have been in my mind immediately upon reading the flyer rather than after a troubling night’s sleep. These people are a part of the body of Christ, the church, whether I like it or not. Crap! That means I have to love them.

“If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” 1 John 4: 20-21

So, now I felt guilty. I was guilty. These people sending out flyers, talking about prophecy in a light and a manner which I most likely disagree with are my brothers and sisters. But, how am I supposed to love them?

That’s the question I wish to answer by attending as many of these prophecy lectures as I possibly can. I’ll still be the skeptic that I am, I’ll still have my calculator handy come math night, and I’ll still be willing to disagree as well as agree if need be, but primarily I’ll be looking for ways in which I can love my brothers and sisters. Even though our differing in approaches of engaging the culture makes us more like distant third cousins.

I intend on keeping records of my triumphs and struggles here as this takes place. So, stay tuned. If anyone would like to join me in any of the sessions, they take place in the evenings throughout the coming weeks with a big kick-off this weekend. Just let me know via any communication line you feel appropriate to our relationship and I’ll give you the details.