I know that I have had a great one with family visiting and many people from Crossroads joining us. It has been a welcome rest from constant running. I pray yours has been great too.
We are still continuing Outliers and will have a new post on Monday, the one that should have been on Thursday. Then we will have the next chapter on Thursday, getting us back on schedule.
This next week also expect a post on The Shack and The Blind Side.
Thanks and see you Monday.

If you have passed by a newsstand recently, you probably saw this headline article in the latest Atlantic Monthly. What?! Christianity to blame? What does that even mean? I needed to read this article. The fact is that the title is a bit misleading. The real culprit is not Christianity as a whole, but rather one group claiming to be “Christian”—prosperity gospel preachers. In my opinion, not the best idea of what Christianity actually is.

So what is the real issue? Prosperity gospel preachers encouraged people who could not afford housing to get their own home and to “Go big”. In some cases, the preachers stated it was sin to have financial failure, so the teaching was that you expect God to work. In other words we should all go beyond our current means and expect God to take care of the rest. Dangerous!

Think I am being too unfair? Here is a case-in-point. The author quotes a woman in one of these congregations;

“If you have financial pressure on you, and you don’t know where the next payment is coming from, don’t pay any attention to that!” “Don’t get discouraged! Jesus is the answer.”

Jesus is the answer, but not like this. In the example above Jesus will magically appear with money for you to pay your next bill. I agree Jesus can provide in miraculous ways. He has done it before. But the quote above seems to go beyond asking God to intervene. It sounds more like Satan’s use of Scripture in the temptation of Jesus. Satan tempts Jesus to be reckless, to be bold and step out. “God won’t let you fail! He will protect you.” Satan wanted Jesus to step off the pinnacle of the temple and have God save Him. Jesus saw through that and so should you. This is testing God. The woman in the article said “…don’t pay any attention to that!” We certainly should pay attention to that. God cares for us usually by providing for our needs through normal methods—thoughtfulness and planning. These methods are no less miraculous since He gives us everything that we have. Jesus is the answer. He really is! With Him I don’t need a bigger house to feel blessed by God or to be worth anything. He loves us and that is enough. He is enough.

To the author’s credit, it is acknowledged that not all Christians would agree with these preachers. Rick Warren, of The Purpose Driven Life fame, is quoted saying the idea that faithful Christians will prosper financially is baloney and “You don’t measure your self-worth by your net worth.” Wonderful and true, as far as it goes.

The article was well written and raised some good issues, though I cannot agree with the conclusions. The author was fair and seemed to let the people involved do the talking, hanging themselves with their own words. As a follower of Jesus and someone who loves Him, the statements of the prosperity preachers bothered me most.

The author did throw in her two cents worth near the end. “Much of popular religion these days is characterized by a vast gap between aspirations and reality. Few of Sarah Palin’s religious compatriots were shocked by her messy family life, because they’ve grown used to paradoxes; some of the most socially conservative evangelical churches also have extremely high rates of teenage pregnancies, out-of-wedlock births, and divorce.” The assumption: Christians don’t live what they preach. Unfortunately this is true, but the story does not end there. While the quote is true, it makes two mistakes. First, it assumes we should be without sin. It assumes Christians are better than others. We are not. We need Jesus too. The gospel reminds us that even on our best days, we still fall short of righteousness. Second, it assumes that everyone claiming Christianity actually is a Christian. Also false since claiming Christ and being in love with Christ are radically different.

So what do we do with the prosperity gospel preachers? I was appalled at the end of the article. The main pastor who was the focus of the piece is asked about how you will know if God is telling you to buy a home. He says,

“Ten Christians will say that God told them to buy a house. In nine of the cases, it will go bad. The 10^th one is the real Christian.” The author asks about the other nine. “For them, there’s always another house.”

So for the real Christian, everything worked fine? Horrifying! If something does not go right for you, you just don’t have enough faith? If you suffer, God is not pleased? There is nothing more anti-gospel than that concept. Think about how many people in Scripture suffer. Ironic that we are guaranteed suffering if we are a believer and in one place it is even stated that suffering was granted to us for Jesus’ sake. (Philippians 1:29) How is that for prosperity?

I just wanted to point you over to Time Magazine to read a very interesting article on parenting. I am still working on my second part of Gospel parenting. I have so much I am trying to learn about this and I want to do it well, so be looking for that. But for now, check out this article about over-protective parents and those who are challenging them. It was helpful and thoughtful.

Pray for me as I seek all that God says about parenting and try to distill how the gospel can impact that important work.

See you soon.

This week’s post is written by my dad, Tom Feather. Thanks dad.

At first reading, I did not believe this chapter should be included in this book. Then I went back to the Introduction of the book and reread the definition of “Outliers” and the second definition states “A statistical observation that is markedly different in value from others of the sample”. Using that definition I now understand why it was included. Up until this chapter we have been reading about people who have become hugely successful according to the prevalent world view and with this chapter we definitely are making a left turn or a right turn and are now reading about people who by all standards are marginally functioning in society. My first problem with this chapter is with the tone the author uses to describe the behavior of the feuding families. I feel that he is trying to use words that almost make you believe their behavior is acceptable or even honorable. That is why I have subtitled this post the “Culture of Honor” which is a term that Malcolm Gladwell uses to explain their behavior. I would use terms like clannish, selfish, brutish, bullying, thugs, and godless. These would be the milder terms that I could come up with. Their code of conduct is anything but honorable. The second problem that I have with this chapter is that the author connects this back to generations who immigrated to America from the central highlands of Scotland and the northern counties of Ireland. These types of people exist in all parts of the world and have been existence since the fall of Adam and Eve and the first violent act of murder by Cain of his own brother Abel. Oh, I am sure that this behavior is learned and passed down through the generations and that society must study this behavior so we can understand it to correct it, but I do not feel that the study at the University of Michigan that the author talks about is doing the problem any justice. At least what I know of the study given to us in the book.

The author uses the study to demonstrate some men still have these codes of honor but that it is most prevalent in the southern states of our country. I guess I most object to the generalities that he is making and I do not buy into his conclusions. The facts that we are given just do not add up to the conclusions for me. A wife beater is a wife beater, a murderer is a murderer, and a selfish bully is a selfish bully. Are they outliers? Yes they are by the definition we are given, and we need to break the cycle of violence in order to make any progress with this problem in society.

We have a particular fascination with the end of the world. Is it wishful thinking? Is it simply the desire to address our fears on the screen rather than in real life like people who like horror films? Is it a longing for possible solutions? Who knows! What we do know is that films that present the end are prevalent. There is part of us that just cannot turn away just like when we see a bad car accident.

The latest in this series is 2012, a special effects Thanksgiving feast. I found the effects a bit far fetched, but maybe that is just me. Some Spoilers ahead! If you do not want to know anything about the movie, come back after you have watched it.

The movie presents humanity, only better. It takes what we know about human nature, and relegates it to only a few selfish people. The rest of humanity, if given the right speech, will do the honorable thing. The storyline hinges on a speech given by Adrian Helmsley explaining that humanity needs to restart on a good note; they need to do the right thing. Sure, there are naysayers in the movie. We always need a “bad guy,” even in a movie primarily about man verses nature. We always need someone to look down on, but they are not the focus. Adrian and Jackson are. Adrian is one of the good guys. He seems to care for other people. He stands up for the little guy. He believes. Interestingly enough, he believes what the other main character has written, Jackson Curtis. (Yes, the initials JC are probably on purpose.) Jackson wrote a book about how humanity will care for others in the times of their greatest struggle. Adrian believes in this concept and gives the speech that turns humanity toward good. My question is, “why will they do it?”

Nature apparently didn’t get the memo that humanity is good now and should be saved, so difficulty continues to pile up. Saving at least one of the arcs (references to the flood abound in this movie) is left up to one man, Jackson Curtis. This is expected with those initials. He has to save humanity and there is even a death and resurrection presented to make the analogy complete.

Now back to my “why” question. Movies like this present an uplifting story that we can believe in. We like to think that in important times we will do something different than the normal, that somehow in those crucial moments we will set aside our personal interests and truly love others. Does God state the human nature this way?

Romans 3:10-18 (ESV)

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands;
no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
 “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery,and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Not exactly the storyline for an encouraging movie, but it may be exactly what we need to see the truth. We are foolish if we think that by experiencing pressure we will suddenly turn from what controls us. We need Jesus Christ, the real One, to solve that for us. Jesus is the only hope for humanity. We can hope we will chose better, but that will end in hell. Our only hope is Jesus’ perfect death on the cross. He died to take our sins and to make us truly love one another.

There is one other thing that constantly amazes me. Community, true human friendships and even love, figure prominent in any movie we produce. It is interesting that even if the whole world (or at least a major part of it) is going to end, we want to see community happen. We might squash that community whenever it doesn’t fit into our desires, but we really do want two main things: we want to see community and we want to have hope. Why are we so driven toward these two aspects? What is it that makes us long for them? I think they are ingrained in us. God gives us a desire for hope and community. We need these to survive. Do you live like these are crucial to you or are you jut waiting for the end of the world to get better at pursuing these things?

In the end, I would pass on the movie if you have not already seen it. You can always see it on DVD and endlessly on television in 2012.

Prayer is hard. It is hard because we need to be transparent (which I don’t like to do very much) and it is hard because we are not always sure anything is happening. On our best days, we know that God hears us. He loves us so much. But other days we struggle to believe that, even though it is true. Today I want to focus on one small part of my struggle with transparency.

With Thanksgiving coming up, I know that many people will be traveling “home” to be with relatives, some who are Christians and some who are not. One of the things that people often raise as prayer requests at this time of year is about their visit with “unbelieving family.” What should we pray for at a time like this? Most often we (I) don’t want to offer too many specifics. We need to get past that. I found this material recently that pushes me to think about how my need can be included in my prayer requests. Check this out.

Example of two types of Thanksgiving prayer requests:

1. Pray for family who are not believers.

2. Pray for family who are not believers and would you also pray for me because I revert to my teenage identity. Pray that I wouldn’t just graze and mindlessly stick stuff in my mouth throughout the weekend. Pray that I would make a point of starting each day by reading the word of God and praying. Pray that I would get off the couch after watching one football game and find something more constructive to do, to love someone. Pray that I would find an opportunity to help my mom.

In prayer request #2 we are praying for the heat and the places where I profess a need to know Him. It locates situational within the moral.

Number 2 is uncomfortable for me, but necessary if I really care about living for Jesus, the one who loves me so much.

This is a sample of a class offered By CCEF. Get the whole handout and even get the audio from this particular class session. It is helping me to get into the real needs I have even in my prayer requests.

This week’s post is by my friend Kirk. Enjoy!

Right place, right time, wrong background.  According to Mr. Gladwell this is what made Joe Flom a rich lawyer.  He was in New York, the center of the financial world, in the early 1950’s around the time corporations began to war with one another.  Being of Jewish decent he was not hired by one of the established New York law firms who represented big corporations at the time.  These large law firms were still under the impression that the law was a profession for gentile gentlemen, not a business with few rules. (A transition that is now complete.) As such it was deemed beneath the large law firms to be seen as pit bulls in a dogfight. Flom, an outsider, had nothing to lose, saw his opening and seized the opportunity eventually becoming a wealthy man heading a multinational legal firm.

Joe’s advantages – being Jewish, an outsider in a world controlled by others; being born at the right time and learning the value of work due to his family’s poverty and the great depression. It’s as though Joe came along at just the right time for all of history to work together to bring him great worldly success.  Amazing that it would happen for Joe, a lawyer.

But wait, maybe it did. Maybe there is something or some one in control of all that history.  I am reminded of another who came along at just the right time, was Jewish in a world controlled by others, and who grew up in a hard working family.  He also had great success but his success greatly surpassed anything Joe might accomplish. His success was dying on a cross, rising from the dead and conquering death by which he saved a people for eternity.  A creator, a sovereign who has controlled all since the beginning is absolutely necessary for all the prophesies about the coming savior to have been fulfilled in Christ.

Do we think He left the building when Christ’s work on the cross was done?  Do we believe He is still in control?  If so, all of history was orchestrated so Joe would find his worldly success.  But more importantly, all of history has been orchestrated so we would be exactly where we are today.  Have you thought of why? It’s a question I think we should all ponder for it is not by chance we are right where we are. Rather we who believe we have been saved by that cross have a job to do for the King.  Are we about it?

Again, thanks to Sarah for this guest post. Enjoy!

In my sociology courses in college and then again in my graduate courses in education, one topic that always produced heated debates was that of nature versus nurture.  Which is more important?  The DNA you were born with or the environment in which you grew up?

This topic comes up again in the second of Malcolm Gladwell’s chapters on geniuses.  He calls it by a different name, but we come back to the same argument.

Gladwell admits that some people are born with raw intelligence.  He gives us the example of Chris Langan.  According to all the tests, Langan should have succeeded.  Sadly, it seems that while he had the intelligence, he lacked the basic social skills and understandings to succeed in college and in life.  This is contrasted with another young scholar.  He was perhaps equally intelligent, but he possessed vital skills that caused him to rise to excellence while Langan faded into relativity obscurity.

As Gladwell investigates this- he stumbles on the idea of practical intelligence.  (I think most of us have been calling it common sense for some time.)  He found out that some parents are equipping their children for life (like Oppenheimer’s)  and some parents are not (like Langan’s).  Many parents have taught their children life skills of problem solving, interpersonal communication, resiliency and a host of others that combine together to make well-rounded and socially mature adults.

So what?  Gladwall presents this information in a new and interesting way, but this is an argument I have been having for fifteen years, and I am pretty sure I’m not the first to have it even then.  Nature versus nurture: why does this matter to believers?  Why do we keep fighting this fight?  Should we even keep fighting this fight or just leave it to the scholars and academics to bat round and round?
I think we should.  And let me tell you why. . .

Mike posted earlier this week on the battles in parenting, and the dark days many parents have.  As believers, here we have an unbelieving expert of sorts who is agreeing with us.  He is saying parenting IS important!  Gladwell is agreeing that we have a hand in insuring our children’s future success.  The way you parent your children matters.  The choices you make in giving them practical intelligence will make a difference in their life.  But wait. . .

It is going to look different for us.  That is because we as believers need to raise our children with practical spiritual intelligence.  We are raising them not necessarily so that they will be able to go to college, get a job, and make it in the world.  We are raising them in such a way that  they will understand the truth of Scripture, to know the importance of self-control, to exercise restraint in their life, and Lord-willing to hear the gospel and be given a heart that understands.  That is the most practical intelligence that can be passed on to our children.  Regardless of their future academics or careers, we can help them plan for their eternal future.

OK, so parenting is just HARD! There is no other way to say it.

The last few days at the Feather household have been difficult. We are blessed with two wonderful, sinful kids. We love them more than we could ever have imagined, but they can both be difficult. Our oldest is 3 and a half and has so much energy that it seems like he cannot keep himself still no matter how hard he tries. Over the last three days we have had a marathon of correction and I think both Pam and I are getting tired. It just seems like nothing is getting through his little head! Why can’t the Bible tell us the sure-fire way to cure this problem? Well, what do you think? Does the Bible just leave Pam and I to fend for ourselves in this or does God have something to say?

“…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8 is probably very familiar for most of you who read this blog, but have you ever thought of it in light of the parenting issue I raised above? See, my struggle above is that I am so tired of continuing to serve my son as he is being disobedient. I am tired and I think he should have gotten the message by now. Why can’t he just get it? Those closest to me would probably tell you it is because he comes from my genes, but let me suggest a more important question to ask. Why do I struggle so much to love him through it? That is where my heart needs to be.

Romans tells me that while I was in the midst of hating God, parading around in my sin, Jesus was dying for me. He took my sins while I still hated Him. I think I often clean up these Bible verses when I read them. I hear “sinners” and I think I was just making mistakes. Scripture presents me as a sinner (before my conversion) who only wanted to do my own thing. I did not want God according to Romans 1. In fact, I replaced God with anything I could find that I thought would make me happy. Not exactly the description of a son who is listening intently to his father to do exactly what he says!

Ephesians 5:1-2 says,

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Imitate God? Imitate God! Really? Yes.

I am supposed to love my children right where they are. I am to be patient with them like God has been and continues to be with me. I am to sacrifice my desires for a peaceful home and time to relax. Instead I am to  truly love my son in the midst of his struggle. The real question is how. That is where we will turn in a couple days. I have enough work to do repenting of my sinful attitude. See you then.