More Than Stone

What happens when you put two taboo subjects together and discuss their relationship with each other? Find out by following the links to this month’s SynchroBlog. Money and Church is the topic. Do you
think they belong together? or is it a problem when they meet?
Follow the links, and watch the fur fly!

The Check That Controls at Igneous Quill
Pushing The Camel: Why there might be more rich people in Heaven than in your local Church at Fernando’s desk
Trusting God - A New Perspective at Eternal Echoes
Silver and Gold Have We - Oops! Subversive Influence
Lord, Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz at Hello Said Jenelle
Walking With the Camels at Calacirian
Zaque at Johnny Beloved
Greed and Bitterness: Why Nobody’s Got it Right About Money and The Church at Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Kirk Bartha at Theocity
Money and the Church: A Fulltime Story at The Pursuit
But I Gave at Church at The Assembling of the Church
Moving Out of Jesus Neighborhood at Be the Revolution
Money and the Church: why the big fuss? at Mike’s Musings
Coffee Hour Morality at One Hand Clapping
Bling Bling in the Holy of Holies at In Reba’s World
Magazinial Outreach at Decompressing Faith
Money’s too tight to mention at Out of the Cocoon
Bullshit at The Agent B Files
The Bourgeois Elephant in the Missional/Emergent Living Room at Headspace
When the Church Gives at Payneful Memories
Who, or What, Do You Worship at at Charis Shalom
Tithe Scmithe at Discombobula
The Church and Money at Khanya
Greed at Hollow Again

Although I am not able to participate in this month’s synchroblog, please take a look at other’s thoughts on “untouchables”…..

Mike Bursell muses about Christianity at the Movies
David Fisher on Touching the Pharisees - My Untouchable People Group
Adam Gonnerman with Quickened Pen
Jeremiah at Models of church leadership and decision-making as
they apply to outreach
John Smulo talks about Christian Untouchables
Sally Coleman shares on The Untouchables
Sam Norton talks about Untouchables
Steve Hayes on Dalits and Hindutva
Sonja Andrews visits the subject here
Phil Wyman throws out the Loose Lips - A “SinkroBlog”

Of course, I was very behind in putting together my post. So late in fact, that I just pulled out a post from a few months ago that I thought fit perfectly with the subject of “Persecution, and
Suffering for Righteousness:”

Matt 10:22
All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved

Mark 13:13
All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Luke 6:22
Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

Luke 21:17
All men will hate you because of me.

These 4 verses are thrown around in the US Christian culture a lot. It’s a “badge of courage”. The problem is that Jesus was not only talking to His disciples, many of whom were martyred, but also, across the ages to Christians in places like China, Sudan, and the Middle East. I do not think that Jesus was talking to us, here and now, to give us an excuse to be careless and unkind. If my basic understanding of the Scriptures is correct, those who were persecuting Jesus, and then the church, were the religious system and the empire of Rome. Persecution came as a result of challenging the Pharisees. Persecution came because Jesus challenged the empire that oppressed and abused those who were weak. I do not see evidence that persecution came because Jesus hated first.

“All men will hate you because of me.” How we love this statement. We love it because, if we can say it’s true, it somehow proves that we are genuine followers of Jesus. We love it because, if we can say it’s true, it puts us in good company. We love it because, if we can say it’s true, we will grow spiritually through the persecution. The problem is that most people that throw this statement around are taking it out of context and using it to be insufferably arrogant and cruel.

Think about the times you have heard one of the above Scriptures used. What was the context?

· People will hate you because they don’t like their sinfulness being exposed.
· People will hate you because they look pretty good until contrasted with true righteousness.
· People will hate you because you don’t laugh at their dirty jokes.
· People will hate you because you believe in 6-day creation.
· People will hate you because you picket at abortion clinics.
· People will hate you because you call homosexuality an abomination.

AMEN, Brother! REJOICE in the persecution!!! Now, perhaps the above examples are the far leaning “right” kinds of examples. However, I recall a conversation recently with a friend. This friend is not what I would call a fundamentalist. I was talking to him about Rob Bell, and how I love the fact that Rob focuses on the redemption of the world and Jesus’ love, the fact that Rob doesn’t use all the “churchy” language like “substitutionary atonement”. My friend replied, “It doesn’t matter how we talk, or if we change our approach to presenting the Gospel, because the world hates us.” It doesn’t matter. Really? It doesn’t matter…because all men will hate us. Then what are we doing? What’s the point? No wonder we all just sit around waiting to get to heaven. There’s no point doing anything in this world, because all men will hate us, anyway.

Isn’t this just a tired old excuse to be judgmental and hateful? Or an excuse to not have to examine the way we’ve been doing things in the Church? Or an excuse to stay locked within the church walls fraternizing with all the other Christians that the world hates? Could it be that when Jesus said the world will hate us, he meant that they will hate us because we are breaking the dominions, empires and structures of this world that oppress? That we are truly setting captives free, not just from their own sin, but also from the sins of others? That we are setting people free from religious institutions that keep people from the freedom that Jesus promised? Could that be what he meant?

Jesus challenged the power hierarchies. He challenged the hierarchies of kingdom, religious structures, wealth and social status. When Jesus said the world will hate you because of me, could it be that we would be hated because we;

· Love everyone, not just those we call our “brothers and sisters”.
· Invite the lame, poor, maimed and blind to our parties.
· Do not continue to amass wealth within an unjust system.
· Proclaim that in the Kingdom of God there are no slaves or masters, no men or women, no teachers or students.
· Challenge the systems that tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders.
· Have fellowship with outcasts, thus rejecting the views of those who demand separateness from an unclean world.

Could that be what Jesus meant?

Take some time to check out the other synchrobloggers

David Fisher - Be the Revolution
Fishing for Trouble - Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Mike Bursell - Mike’s Musings
Restoring Our View of Humanity - Eternal Echoes
Persecuting the Marginalized - JohnSmulo.com
The Ends Justify the Means - Calacirian
Billy Calderwood - Billy Calderwood
Seeking First Righteousness - Tim Abbott
Jamie Swann - More Than Stone
Persecution and Martyrdom - Handmaid Leah
“Don’t squash the counter-revolutionary/the plank in my own eye” - Jeremiah
The Martyrs of Epinga at Notes from the Underground
Terrorism in Christianity at The Rivera Blog
Persecution or Poor Elocution? “Hello,” said Jenelle

When I received the email that said our next syncroblog was going to be on altered states of consciousness, I must admit that I thought “What the heck will I write about?…arghhh!” As I mulled this over for a few days I came up with ….zip. Nada. Nothing. I was simply going to drop Phil an email and tell him I didn’t have anything to add to this oh so unique and controversial topic. But at the last minute, something did occur to me. You see, I work with expectant families and those that work with expectant families. I teach childbirth classes, am a doula and a teach others to be doulas. I teach relaxation techniques and talk about hypnotic states all the time. Hypnotic states, relaxation techniques, visualizations….ahhhhh….it’s coming to me now.

Over the course of my career, I have had to come to terms with phrases such as hypnotic states, and visualizations. There are methods of childbirth education known as “Hypnobirthing”, which uses hypnosis as a method of pain control during labor and birth. I have come across many a Christian that refuse to hear any of these terms when talking about their upcoming births. “Hypnotic state? Visualization? Ummm…no thanks, I don’t want to be infested with demons. I’ll take the Demerol.”

I am no expert on hypnosis. There are many schools of thoughts about what hypnosis is and what constitutes a hypnotic state. However, since I am somewhat familiar with EEG’s and brain waves, due to my daughter’s epilepsy, I will fall back on this definition.

We all have 4 major brain wave patterns:
The Beta (alert/working) State with 14-32 cycles per second (CPS)
The Alpha (relaxed/reflecting) State with 7-14 CPS
The Theta (drowsy) State with 4-7 CPS
The Delta (sleeping/dreaming/deep sleep) State with 3-5 CPS

One physiological definition of hypnosis might state that the theta state is required, others the alpha state required. A less technical definition might be that daydreaming type of state we all enter into when thinking, relaxing, or sometimes driving (called highway hypnosis).

What are the arguments against hypnosis for believers?

One argument against hypnosis is that it has been an integral part of pagan religious practices and world religions including Assyro-Babylonian exorcism, Egyptian soothsaying, Jewish Mysticism, Byzantine Catholicism, Chinese, Taoism, and Hinduism forms of Buddhism (Tibetan and Zen), and Yoga.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12
There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

Many of our spiritual practices are also used by other belief systems. Prayer, laying on of hands, healing, gathering for worship. In my opinion, that argument is weak at best, sheer crap at worst. I don’t feel that I need to say much more.

So, is hypnosis actually charming or enchanting, as outlined in Deuteronomy? Are we participating in the occult if we use hypnosis? If we take the words “enchanter” and “charmer” and randomly apply them to anything we are not comfortable with, then yes. I have searched and not been able to find a valid biblical argument against hypnosis for the believer. The arguments I have found are extraordinarily circuitous. Even those opposed to hypnosis state that the exact meanings of the underlying Hebrew words of enchanter and charmer are debatable.

However, this doesn’t explain how we took the GIANT leap that hypnosis is part of the occult. Find me any place in scripture that speaks about about hypnosis. Now, the scriptures do speak about divination and occultism but hypnosis isn’t divination - it [the assumption that hypnosis is divination or an occult practice] is a category mistake. Of course, we must be careful about anything we do that puts us in any type of situation that makes us vulnerable.

In my research, what I have seen is much solid evidence on the benefits of hypnosis.

Stress Managment (hypnosis, visualization, yoga, relaxation) in the treatment of high blood pressure.

Psychological interventions for needle-related procedural pain and distress in children and adolescents.

Adjunctive self-hypnotic relaxation for outpatient medical procedures: a prospective randomized trial with women undergoing large core breast biopsy.

Systematic review of hypnotherapy for treating symptoms in terminally ill adult cancer patients.

Hypnosis for pain relief in labour and childbirth: a systematic review

Women in labor, if in a deep state of relaxation, usually are in a semi-hypnotic state on their own. I use hypnotic suggestion and visualization with women giving birth all the time. “Your body knows how to do this. You are safe. God created you to give birth. You have grandmother after grandmother after grandmother that have gone before you.”

Am I dabbling in the occult? I think not. Am I speaking truth? I believe so. I also think I’m being quite biblical.

Phil 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.

In my opinion, that is much of what hypnosis is. Thinking of the things that are true, just, pure, and lovely.

So, what do you think? Is hypnosis an occult practice? Why or why not?

Check out the other syncrobloggers blogging on Alternate Consciousness from a Christian Perspective.

Shamanic Vision and Apocalyptic Scripture at Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Can prayer be an example of Alternate Conciousness? at Eternal Echoes
Better Than I Was [at times], Not Better Than You Are by Mike of Earthsea
emotionalism vs rationalism at Adam Gonnerman’s Igneous Quill
Consciousness of the absurd and the absurdity of consciousness at Steve’s Notes from the Underground
The Unconscious Christian by Matt Stone
Hypnochristians at Jamie’s More Than Stone
The extreme consciousness of the Spirit by Les Chatwin
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me at Mike’s Musings
What is reality? by David Fisher at Be the Revolution

Trying to Play Along by Cindy at Tracking The Edge.

This is probably an exegetical stretch, but bear with me. Exegetical stretch or not, I like it, and it may have some legitimacy.

Coming from a conservative, even perhaps a slightly fundamentalist background, I look back over my life and cringe at some the things that I have thought, said, and done in the Name of God. Here, I publicly confess a few of my sins:

1. There was a time that I truly believed you couldn’t follow Jesus and vote for a democrat.
2. There was a time that I truly believed that the people of the world were out to “corrupt both myself and my children”, and the best thing I could do was hide.
3. There was a time that I hung on every word James Dobson said.
4. There was a time that I thought that being a follower of Jesus meant having my quiet time, going to church, and protecting my children from the outside, all the while, not doing a stinking thing about the hurt, poverty and oppression that was around me.
5. There was a time that I thought that I was the “Disciple whom Jesus loved”.

For most of my life, every time we came across the phrase “disciple whom Jesus loved”, it was taken seriously. For example, this study note from the “NIV Study Bible”, on John 13:23;

The disciple whom Jesus loved-The expression does not, of course, mean that Jesus did not love the other disciples, but that there was a special bond with this man.

Is it really a factual statement, that John was the favorite disciple? And if John was the favorite, isn’t it a bit obnoxious to keep stating it? Think about it….I write a post on my blog…..

Was John the favorite, or was he just a bit puffed up? I guess we won’t know until we see Jesus face to face.

Some say that the book of John is the most theologically developed of the gospels.

I think that’s just funny, and friends and neighbors, the Bible has some funny things in it. I think sometimes in our piety, we fail to see the humor in and beauty of human failings, and the fact that God uses and loves us anyway.

Ok, so if you are still with me, fast-forward a few years to the books of 1, 2 & 3 John. These 3 books of John have always read like a loving grandfather to his grandchildren, humble, loving and gentle instruction. Not once is the phrase “the disciple whom Jesus loved” present in these writings. What we do see is much talk about loving one another, not boasting, and not deceiving ourselves.

1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves.

1 John 2:9 Anyone who claims to be in the light, but hates his brother is still in the darkness.

1 John 2:16 For everything in the world….the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world.

1 John 3:16-17 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

2 John 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love.

3 John 5-6 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love.

I see a little bit of myself in the younger John. “Allow me to enlighten you to the ways of God, because, by the way, I’m the favorite”. I pray that as I journey with God, I will see a bit of the older, wiser, mellower John in myself as well.

Other syncrobloggers speaking on love today…..

Christian Sexuality as Ritual Worship at Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Christians: choosing who to love at Mike’s Musings
Loving God, Loving others, loving self- responding to the Goddess- a feminist perspective at Eternal Echoes
Trinity by Mike Crockett
Prophet’s Passion at Adam Gonnerman’s Igneous Quill
A Love Supreme from Fernando’s Desk
What is this thing called love? at Steve’s Notes from the Underground
Love as it should pertain to us missionally? at Webb’s Stumbling into the Kingdom
Divine Eros by Handmaid Leah
Loving the Other by John Smulo
The Conjunction Between Sensuality and Spirituality by Matt Stone
The Blogger Whom Jesus Loved at Jamie’s More Than Stone
Love Them Patriots at Calacirian
I’m a better lover than I used to be… by Billy Calderwood
Young people in on love by Tim Abbot
The Art of Making
Love….and Soap at Cindy’s Tracking the Edge
Being Missional:
Love Comes Before Power by David Fisher at Be the Revolution

Phil Wyman has called for synchronized blogging on syncretism in the Church. Though I’ve not been asked to post on this topic, leaving the matter to those more educated than I, it has caught my attention nonetheless. And for those that don’t know me, I do have trouble keeping quiet

Individualism:
~ a social theory advocating the liberty, rights, or independent action of the individual
~ the principle or habit of or belief in independent thought or action.
~ the pursuit of individual rather than common or collective interests; egoism.
Philosophy.
a. the doctrine that only individual things are real.
b. the doctrine or belief that all actions are determined by, or at least take place for, the benefit of the individual, not of society as a whole.

Individualism is the cause of many of the ills we see in the American church. Our churches stress and teach individualistic notions as the primary message of the Gospel. In our atomized society, church and God have become a quick pit stop where we can fill our individual spiritual tanks. “Salvation” has become a completely independent experience and excercise. There is no sense of the communal sense of salvation; as we join with Christ, we are joined with the Body, in which Christ dwells.

An individualistic society stresses independence and individual achievement versus interdependence and group success. I was recently talking with a group of 30 or 40 Christians about world poverty and the churches role in eradicating poverty. Someone said, “Well, it’s not our responsibility to take care of that.”

An individualistic society stresses private property, ownership and upward mobility versus group property, ownership or economic commonality. Think about how often one of the first major tasks a local church takes is working towards setting up the building fund. We must own something. We have to have a place to call our own. Without regard for how this “need” might affect the Church worldwide or it’s mission in the world.

In every study done on American parents, compared with other nations, even industrialized nations, US parents overwhelmingly stress the goal of making their children independent, both socially and economically. I would add, as Christians, we also work towards spiritual independence. The church has become the classroom, where personal holiness can be individually mastered.

We do not see the Church as something that trancends geography, economics, education, time and space. The church is now a group of individuals gathered around a doctrine, a ritual, a person or an ethical code.

I stand alone before God, giving my 10%, reading my bible, confessing my sin, and receiving personal forgiveness. And then, I go to heaven.

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