Those Suspicious Medical Missionaries

An excellent manifesto upholding medical missions, especially in these dark days of the now world wide Ebola outbreak.

“It’s great that these people are doing God’s work, but do they have to talk about Him so much?” So muses Brian Palmer at Slate about the work of medical missionaries like Dr. Kent Brantly, who contracted Ebola in Liberia. I’m almost embarrassed to write about this piece, because it is such an easy target. But the Brantly case has put new focus on the work of medical missionaries, who are generating surprisingly negative comments from certain observers. These critiques have fallen into several categories: those who say that the missionaries are stupid for putting themselves in harm’s way, those who say that the missionaries should get no special treatment when they contract a disease that has affected so many others in Africa, and those like Palmer who insist that medical missionaries are wrong to speak about their faith to patients. Here’s three observations about this debate:

1) Palmer and other critics have a deluded sense of “neutral” medicine. Doctors who deal with suffering and dying patients will inevitably send messages, explicit or implicit, to their patients and patients’ families, about the meaning of dying and death. Doctors who think that death is a purely natural event, and that there is no afterlife, or who are agnostic on such questions, will tend to communicate that sentiment to clients. This partly explains why so many Christian doctors do volunteer for the mission field – they believe that there is transcendent meaning in both life and death, and that every person has an eternal destiny. They are uniquely positioned to help people who are struggling with such questions. All doctors can and should be sensitive to issues of politeness and propriety, and the religious convictions (or lack thereof) of patients. But no doctor – no person – is “neutral” on topics like suffering, death, and the afterlife.

2) Making volunteer medical service contingent upon silence about one’s faith would be devastating to impoverished regions internationally. As Palmer himself notes, disproportionate numbers of doctors and nurses serving in under-serviced areas of the world (like Liberia) are people of faith. Devout Protestant and Catholic Christians are among the most common volunteers. They serve to honor God, and they do not believe that they can honor God fully if they do not speak about Jesus Christ to clients, when appropriate. Palmer seems unable to identify with the vast majority of people in the world who do not believe that death is the end of life, nor does he fathom that serious believers cannot be silent about their faith in their vocations.

Domestically and abroad, people of faith are far more likely to give time and money to charitable causes than are secular people. (Just this week another survey appeared demonstrating that the most charitable states are those with the highest rates of churchgoing.) You can accuse these believing folks of having ulterior motives, but where are the legions of atheist volunteers to take their place? Palmer’s innuendos about how the missionaries might be doing more medical harm than good are vicious and slanderous.

3) Christians must not object to other medical volunteers who speak of their own faith (or lack thereof) to clients. Of course, there are secular medical agencies such as Doctors without Borders (though presumably many of their individual volunteers are people of faith as well), Muslim medical missionaries, and those of other faiths. While Christians will not agree with the implicit or explicit messages these doctors may share with clients, the principles of religious liberty and charity would affirm that all medical “missionaries” are free to serve and speak (or not) in the name of their faith, and that their healing work does great worldly and humanitarian good. If we expect others to honor Christians’ right to freely witness about Christ, then workers of other traditions, or no faith at all, should have that freedom as well. Of course, this point may be moot: I don’t recall hearing of many Christians echoing the kinds of complaints made by secularists like Brian Palmer…

See also Ross Douthat’s take on the piece, in which he concludes that he thinks Palmer’s real complaint is “not that the missionaries are necessarily doing something wrong (he won’t actually come out and say that), but that they’re doing something right in a way that makes his team, Team Secularism, look somewhat less impressive by comparison. Which isn’t really a reaction that Christians should be offended by. It’s one that should be welcomed, worn as a badge of honor, and joyfully provoked.” Agreed.

Source: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2014/10/those-suspicious-medical-missionaries/

Why I Stopped Watching Porn

by Ran Gavrieli ℅ TED

"For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them." ~ (Colossians 3:3-7)

First off, this video is not outrightly theological. But the truth is that most everything in life is theological, we just fail to realize it - or we'd rather not bother as a result of the corruption from the curse. With that, gone are the days of headlines bemoaning the porn addiction problem especially in the church. It's assumed that "the person we're having dinner with has just recently consumed pornography." (quote from the video)

Porn is a REAL problem. Here's why. Have you ever thought of it as visual prostitution? We certainly wouldn't patron a prostitute physically or dare condone prostitution due to its underlying causes and influences, but pornography is the same as engaging a prostitute and the grotesque sex industry. Only, it's done in the mind. I once had such intense hunger for pornography, starting when I was just 9 years old. It went on for three years until I became a Christian, and a busy one at that, thanks be to God. Many across the globe - especially those with smart devices - are overcome and responsive to the same craving.

Once more, this video is not a spiritual stimulation but definitely a call to think in detail, about the choices people are making to become entangled with easily accessible sex - or prostitution. For me, this is a call to confront (much the same way as I) those who may be engaged with this "evil desire." May we regard porn for what it is and restrict it to its rightful place: Morally [& Spiritually] Illegal.

We Must Learn to Taste

Thanks to a Facebook friend, I came across this valuable article from DesiringGod's Barry Cooper. He explains how - with the help of a patient and seasoned Believer - he learned to tangibly taste the Word of God rather than merely read it. When we come to the point in our walk with Christ where we savor every letter of His and become totally dependent, obedience is a matter of love and proper fear for God. The magnificent benefit is the pure enjoyment of God rather than obligatory and self-willed obedience. This post is also what I intend my ministry to be about: Not merely a reader and a robotic doer, but a person who is known intimately by the Son of God, Jesus Christ; God Himself; and the Holy Spirit.

"God doesn’t play fair"

Much to my parents’ concern, I hadn’t been to church for a long time. And yet here I was, in my first term at university, sliding into a pew at St Ebbe’s Church in Oxford.

This, I can promise you, was not the result of any pious yearning on my part. Rather, it was because the congregation counted among its number a particularly lovely second-year student of modern languages.
Where earnest parental pleading had failed, she had proved to be rather more convincing.
Stop Reading the Bible

Incidentally, or so it seemed, it was at St Ebbe’s that I met Tony. Knowing that he was the student worker at the church, I politely agreed to meet him for a coffee one afternoon in his study.

It was underwhelming. We looked at a few paragraphs of the Bible together. Then he asked me to explain to him what I’d just read, because apparently even a person in his position can lack basic comprehension skills. Then he asked me how he could be praying for me. Finally, he wondered if I’d like to do it all over again next week. Presumably he was very lonely indeed, so I said yes, and the routine continued throughout the winter, and into the spring.

That six-month stretch turned out to be the pivotal moment of my life. During those meetings, Tony taught me to stop reading the Bible. Or rather, he taught me to stop merely reading the Bible. He encouraged me to act on what I was reading. Trust it. Obey it. Put it into practice. Live it out, so that I would discover, in my own experience, that God’s word was good. Even when (perhaps especially when) it cut across my deepest and most cherished desires and convictions.

This, I discovered, is what it meant to “taste and see that the Lᴏʀᴅ is good.”
Taste and See

How unsettling that the Bible puts it like that. If the psalmist had said, “See that the Lᴏʀᴅ is good,” we might comfort ourselves with the delusion that God could be observed at a safe distance. But we must taste in order to see.

Tasting can’t be done remotely, at arm’s length, or by proxy. Tasting is impossible without coming close to the food in question and opening ourselves. It requires that we pick something up, put it into our mouths, onto our tongues, and swallow it so that it goes deep into the darkness, and then changes us so that — whether we like it or not — we are no longer quite the people we once were.
For years, the Bible had been telling me to “taste and see that the Lᴏʀᴅ is good.” For years, I had been gawking at a plate of food and hoping that the act of staring would fill me up. I somehow expected to know God without “tasting” — without allowing his word to invade me, nourish me, and change me.

Not Just Knowing About, But Knowing

The Bible is not a distance learning program. It’s not primarily for knowing aboutGod, but for knowing him. One of life’s saddest ironies is that many who know the Bible do not know its Author. This is a grand and tragic exercise in missing the point — along the lines of a drowning person catching a flotation device, and then using it to make a hat.

A.W. Tozer was right:
The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into him, that they may delight in his Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God himself in the core and center of their hearts.

Meet the Author

By the time Easter arrived, I knew when I sat down in Tony’s overstuffed armchair that I wasn’t doing it for his benefit.

I had been introduced to, and now knew, Jesus Christ. The one through whom and for whom all things had been created. The one who knew me and had set his loving kindness upon me, before he attended to the small matter of speaking the universe into existence. The one whose humility and tenderness had directed the nails into his own limbs, the spear into his own side. That God had put his pierced arms around me.

Sadly, the relationship with the modern languages undergrad didn’t work out. But in its place, another love, infinitely satisfying and entirely unexpected, was beginning to bloom. At twenty years of age, I was finally learning to taste."

Source: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/we-must-learn-to-taste

How to Speak So People Want to Listen

Say It Well

by Julian Treasure

For theology to be intimate, it should be an outpouring of an ever-increasingly closer relationship with the God whom we walk with, and know each and every day. In Psalm 145:6, David proclaims in his song, "They shall SPEAK of the might of Your awesome deeds, and I will DECLARE Your greatness." Ever feel like nobody is listening when you SPEAK and DECLARE God's greatness? Who doesn't? On TED's (Technology, Entertainment, Design) June 28th "Talk of the Week," sound expert Julian Treasure presents a practical and refreshing reminder in communication that hits home to the everyday communicator. Treasure provides especially helpful guidance, demonstrating the how-to's of powerful speaking - from useful vocal exercises to tips on how to speak with empathy. This talk might help your world of sound more beautiful. May the Lord bless and expand your DECLARing and SPEAKing abilities for His glory. Enjoy:

Beer and Christianity

I won't say much (by way of introduction) about this well thought out argument written by Barry Cameron of Crossroads Christian Church. He forces us as Christians to think more critically about consuming alcohol; and he helps us consider the more important question, "Should we consume alcohol?" It seems the question has always been, "Can we drink alcohol?" Well, sure we can but should we? When we do so, how does it impact our witness? Does enjoying a beer impact our witness? Well, here we go:

CAN A CHRISTIAN DRINK ALCOHOL?

By Barry Cameron

September 19, 2012

On Monday night, news broke that Olympic gold medalist snowboarder, Shaun White, had been charged with vandalism and public intoxication. On my Facebook wall, I posted the following comment: “This just in . . . and the gold medal for character enhancement, once again, goes to alcohol.”

For years, well-meaning, sincere Christians have debated the subject of drinking. Let me be clear by saying there isn’t a single verse in the Bible that says a Christian cannot have a drink; although the Bible clearly warns about the destructive and addictive nature of alcohol (Proverbs 20:1; 21:17; 23:29-35; Ephesians 5:18) and is very clear that drunkenness is always wrong (Romans 13:13; Galatians 5:19-21; 1 Peter 4:3; Habakkuk 2:15; 1 Corinthians 5:11).

The Bible is also clear that mature Christians should avoid causing others to stumble by drinking (Romans 14:21), and that leaders ought to avoid drinking alcohol (Proverbs 31:4-7) and cannot be given to drunkenness (1 Timothy 3:3, 8 Titus 1:7.)

I have yet to hear from anyone who drinks how alcohol enhances anything or blesses anyone. Max Lucado said, “One thing for sure, I have never heard anyone say, ‘A beer makes me feel more Christlike . . . Fact of the matter is this: People don’t associate beer with Christian behavior.”1 I’ve yet to see how it improves someone’s testimony or makes anyone a more effective witness for Christ. Quite the contrary, like Shaun White mentioned above, or Richard Roberts, Oral Roberts’ son, who was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, driving under the influence, the result doesn’t enhance your testimony. Rather, it takes away from what testimony you had.

Recently, a friend of mine, former mega-church Pastor, John Caldwell, wrote an article in Christian Standard magazine called To Drink or Not to Drink? Here’s the link to his article. John’s article explained why he has personally abstained from drinking alcohol and dealt with the bigger issue of the contemporary church becoming more and more like the world.

Not surprisingly, a number of people responded to John’s article and some called him to task for taking such a strong stand against drinking. In response to the responses, my good friend, Ken Idleman, former President of Ozark Christian College and now Pastor of Crossroads Christian Church in Evansville, IN, wrote these words, which are among the very best I’ve ever read on this issue. I asked Ken for his permission to share them here.

“Okay, I am conscience bound to weigh in on this one…. For a minute, forget about making a definitive case for or against ‘drinking’ from the Bible. Here’s the truth from logic and real life. No one starts out to be an alcoholic. Everyone begins with a defensive attitude saying, ‘I’m just a social drinker and there is nothing wrong with it!’ no one says, ‘It is my ambition that someday I want to lose my job, my health, my self-respect, my marriage and my family. Someday I want to be dependent on alcohol to get through my day.’ yet, this is the destination at which several millions of people have arrived. Why do you suppose that is? It is because alcohol is promoted and elevated as a normal/sophisticated activity in life…. It is also expensive, addictive and enslaving. People get hooked by America’s number one legal drug. And just like all illegal drugs, alcohol finds it way into the body, the bloodstream and the brain of the user/abuser.

I had two uncles whose lives were wrecked by alcohol. The exception you say? Hardly. It is not what they wanted when they dreamed of their futures when they were in their 20s. Praise God, they were wonderfully delivered in their 60s when the grace of God became real to them. And can you imagine it?…. They got their lives back by becoming total abstainers by the power of the Holy Spirit!

One of my most memorable conversations in the state penitentiary in Jefferson City, MO, was with a young man facing a 28-year prison sentence for the brutal sexual assault of his own 8-year old daughter. I will never forget the image. The tears literally ran off his chin and splashed on his shoes as he gushed, ‘I guess I did it. I don’t know. I was drunk at the time.’

Listen, some of those who are defensive in response to Dr. Caldwell’s thoughtful and courageous article will want to revise their text if, in a few years, they discover that they were able to handle their drinking just fine, but their son or daughter could not. Answer honestly. Could you live with the knowledge that your dangerous exercise of Christian liberty factored into your children’s ruin? Or, if your loved one is killed some day in a head on collision by a driver under the influence who crossed the center line, will you still be defensive of drinking?

A good friend during my growing up years was the only child of social drinking parents. When his folks were away, he would go to the rathskeller [German for tavern] in the basement where he developed a taste for alcohol. I won’t bore you with the details. He is 65 today. A broken life, broken health, broken marriages, a broken relationship with his only son, a broken relationship with his only grandchild, a broken career and a broken spirit that…. Tragically…. He tries daily to medicate with the alcohol that led him to this tragic destination.

Hey, thanks for indulging my rant. Like my friend John Caldwell, I confess to setting the bar high for Christian leadership [especially] when it comes to aesthetic holiness. Call me a ‘right-wing fundamentalist.’ Call me a ‘throw back to the days of the tent evangelists.’ Call me a ‘simpleton.’ Call me a ‘minimalist.’ but, if you do, go ahead and also call me a ‘watchman on the wall’ where the welfare of my family [children, in-laws, grandchildren] and my church family is concerned.”2

Personally, I’ve yet to have my first beer and have no desire to start now or to drink alcohol of any kind. At the same time, I don’t judge those who believe they have freedom in Christ to drink. But when asked, I always tell people I don’t believe it’s the best choice.

The bottom line is this: the question really isn’t CAN A CHRISTIAN DRINK? Rather, it is:SHOULD A CHRISTIAN DRINK?

© 2012. Barry L. Cameron

1 David Faust, Voices From The Hill, (Cincinnati, OH: Cincinnati Bible College & Seminary, 2003) 252.

2 John Caldwell, “To Drink or Not to Drink,” Christian Standard 11 August 2012, 18 September 2012.

Source: http://www.crossroadschristian.org/blogs/blog/12806077-can-a-christian-drink-alcohol#.U3Vx7j-xy1r.facebook

How To Get Ahead at Work

"The hand of the diligent will rule, but the slack hand will be put to shame." - Proverbs 12:24

"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." - Colossians 3:17

Sky Nanny

"Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve." - Colossians 3:23-24

I like this article because it can be applied right now to your workforce routine. Despite the plethora of literature we may have explaining how to get ahead at work or how to answer tricky interview questions to land your dream job. But what about the things you shouldn’t do? There might not be a shelf full on the etiquette of shaking hands, or what you should never say in a job interview, or how to stop whining and rise up the corporate ladder, but several LinkedIn Influencers weighed in this week on exactly those things — what not to do if you want to get ahead.

Here’s what some of them had to say.

James Caan, chief executive officer at Hamilton Bradshaw Group

We all know that “setting yourself apart from the crowd is vital when you are looking for that new job,” wrote Caan in his post What Not to Say in a Job Interview. But do we know what we should never say?

There are “very common… phrases which you should try to avoid” wrote Caan. Among them:

“’I don’t know.’ The best way of dealing with the tough questions is to do your homework. The importance of research cannot be understated — you should know about the company, and be prepared for anything you will be asked about your own CV,” explained Caan. “Of course if there is a question which you are not expected to know the answer to, or if you are genuinely stuck, don't make things up or try to bluff your way through. Move back into your comfort zone, relate the question back to something you do know and take on board any new information you are given.”

“’I dislike my current company.’ You never want to turn the tone of the interview negative, even if you may be having a bad experience at your current job,” Caan wrote. “All this does is make you seem like somebody who is difficult to manage.”

Bernard Marr, chief executive officer at Advanced Performance Institute

What’s the first thing you do when you meet someone new through work? That’s right — shake hands. The handshake is critical in business.  “Getting it wrong can create awkward moments and distract from making a good first impression,” wrote Marr in his post Six Ways NOT to Shake Hands.

Among the worst-offending handshake mistakes, Marr cited:

Sports is likely the only place where
a sweaty handshake is acceptable.

“The sweaty slip. Some people have a natural tendency to get sweaty hands and many get them when they are nervous, that’s just normal,” he wrote. “It can make shaking hands tricky in stressful situations such as job interviews. However, I think there is no excuse for a wet handshake.”

“The limp fish. Not gripping the other person’s hand firmly enough and then shaking from your wrist is a big mistake,” Marr wrote. The message it sends, he wrote: “‘I am not confident’ or ‘I am a push-over’.”

“The avoider. “Someone that doesn’t make eye contact when they shake your hand or someone that pulls away too quickly… signals to me that they are either under-confident, very shy, or they don’t really want to meet me or shake my hand,” cautioned Marr.

Scott Case, co-founder and chief executive officer at Main Street Genome

In many careers, the 10-year mark can be a moment when a common theme emerges:  “You’re in your early to mid-30’s. You have a good job, a nice life at home, but something is missing. Nothing is wrong, but nothing is awesome,” wrote Case in his post Stop Whining.

“You are ‘good enough’ at work… but you are not progressing,” wrote Case. “Why aren’t you moving forward? Why aren’t you doing what you want to do?”

There are four excuses Case hears regularly. Among the whining to leave behind:

“’I’m too busy.’ Guess what, we’re all busy,” Case wrote. “In the end, you will regret all of the opportunities you passed on. If a chance is presented, then change your schedule and make the time. It’s that simple.”

“’I’m lazy.’ I’ve never had anyone give me this excuse, but for some people it’s an underlying issue,” explained Case. “It’s time to stop being so lazy. Nothing is going to fall into your lap. Create opportunity for yourself.”

“’It’s not the right time.’ There will never be a right time. There is never a good time to get married, quit your job, buy a house, or start a company. Everyone is given the same amount of time in a day, but the manner in which you choose to spend this time is entirely up to you,” wrote Case. “Now is as good a time as any.”

Source: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140306-the-dont-do-this-list

Christians & Alcohol

by John MacArthur

"Do Not Get Drunk With Wine..."

(Eph 5:18)