I’m relatively new to Twitter, but I did just passed a milestone. This morning I sent out my 1,000th Tweet:
http://twitter.com/#!/mhmcintyre/status/65411548939681796
In the grand scheme of things, this is not a huge accomplishment. But I do believe that social media are going to be around for a while and the Church needs to employ them to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ.
Happy Tweeting! SDG
The announcement of the death of Osama Bin Laden reminded me of a post originally published in February of this year. I have taken the text from that post and added additional comments below.
February 2, 2011:
As we toured the Colosseum in Rome, the guide described the events that were staged in that structure over a four hundred year period. There were gladiatorial battles, men hunting animals, animals hunting men, executions and other grisly displays. Each spectacle ended only when one side in the battle was killed or rendered unable to continue fighting.
Our guide made a special point about the fact that they would put sand on the wood floors to allow the competitors and victims to have traction in the midst of the blood that would inevitably flow.
In the 21st Century, we can easily feel superior to these Romans who sat and applauded such waste of human and animal life. We wonder how civilized people could enjoy such entertainment.
Upon further reflection, however, I have to come to grips with the fact that there are many movies and television shows that are just as graphic and grisly as the entertainment in the Colosseum. The fact that real blood is not being shed does not make the acts displayed any less despicable.
What does it say about a society when death and violence are seen as entertaining? What does it say about us as individuals when we can watch graphic violence (even if it is only special effects) and derive pleasure from it?
I’m asking these questions of myself and sharing them with you as food for thought as we consider what is healthy and appropriate for entertainment. Before we condemn the ancient Romans, we should be honest about how much we are like them.
May 2, 2011 Update:
Yesterday it was announced that Osama Bin Laden was killed. Should Christians rejoice in this? I don’t think we should.
Perhaps there should be a sense of relief that a man who pursued evil has been prevented from inflicting further harm. Romans 13:1-7 tells us that governments have been put in place by God to restrain evil. Osama will no longer be a threat and this is a relief.
Yet, I cannot find any evidence in Scripture that there should be rejoicing in this. Ezekiel 33:11 tells us that God does not rejoice when a wicked man dies, neither should we.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:4 that those who mourn will be blessed. Today we should mourn that this death was necessary. We should mourn the evil that that made this death necessary. We should mourn that others will follow in Osama’s footsteps.We should mourn that the tendency toward evil is present in our own hearts.
Yet in our mourning, we should remember that God is in control and is moving events toward his ends in his time. One day all will be set right. Then we will rejoice.
Man was given an objective at the time of creation. Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden “to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15 NIV).
Creativity and accomplishment are part of our DNA, we are designed to build, create and do. Our creativity comes from being in the image of God, we imitate the creator by creating.
Like every good gift, our drive to create and accomplish has been warped by sin. Left unchecked, that creative power can turn to evil ends. Therefore some in Christendom have condemned ambition as sin. Ambition can lead to sin but is not inherently sinful.
The problem is not that we want to accomplish or achieve, the problem is what we want to accomplish and why. The goal and the motivation for the accomplishment make all the difference.
It should be kept in mind that the “to work it and take care of it” command was given before the fall of man. Therefore the drive for doing and accomplishment was in humans before sin entered into the world. From this I conclude that doing and accomplishment are inherently good.
What is the difference before and after the fall? The difference lies in the motivation and the goal. Prior to the fall, the motivation would be as an act of worship and a deepening of the face-to-face relationship with God.
After the fall, the motivation had the potential to be quite different. We see an example of this in Genesis 11:1-9, where the story of the Tower of Babel is recorded. This passage records the motivation for building the tower as self-glorification rather than worship of God. They said to one another, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4).
It is impossible to over emphasize the two great commands as recorded in Matthew 22:37-40. First, we are to love God and then love our neighbor. The commands are all about relationship. We are to be in harmony with God and our fellow man. Jesus thought that the whole Judeo / Christian ethic depends upon these two commands.
The problem with ambition is when it is used in violation of the two great commands. If my ambition is to make a name for myself, then I am not fulfilling the first. I cannot be loving God as he deserves if I am practicing self-worship. If I am abusing my coworker, or neighbor to accomplish my goal, I am in violation of the second. Ambition that does not care for the well being of others will lead to abuse and mistreatment.
But, ambition that is in obedience to the two great commands is a very good thing. At right is a still from the movie Amazing Grace, depicting William Wilberforce in Parliament. He had the ambition of seeing slavery abolished. This abolition was pursued as an act of love and obedience to God and as a means of loving his neighbor as himself. The task was made more difficult by the culture of the day which did not see the imago dei, the image of God, in those of African descent. Yet Wilberforce thought it his duty, and therefore it became his ambition, to abolish this abhorrent practice.
The point of this post is that we should not hold back ambition and the desire for achievement. We should focus it on the right things and have the right motivation.
The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:31, that everything we do should be for the glory of God. Dream big things, do big things, but do them for God’s glory and not your own.
I would enjoy your comments. Please feel free to add your thoughts in the comment form below.
I have had a few discussions lately with people that have struggled with the tension between law and grace. This is not a new question, and the Bible does have some things to say to us as we work out how to navigate through this tension.
There are many issues on which the Bible is silent or has little to say. It is on these issues that this tension seems to be felt. Questions such as, “can I go to bars as long as I don’t get drunk?”, “is it OK to gamble?”, “what about dancing?”, “can a church group have a poker night?”, come to mind.
In response, I came up with six questions to help determine the right course when thinking about a particular activity.
This list is not exhaustive, but I do hope it is helpful. If you can answer “yes” to each of the questions above, then it is safe to say that activity is one to pursue.
Do you have any other principles that should be considered? Please comment below.
