The State of the Church Today

Recently, it was Veteran's Day and I noticed a reticence on the part of some businesses to commemorate it. But at church, a wonderful singer, Sisaundra Lewis, sang the Star-spangled banner so beautifully that I had chill bumps.

There is nothing wrong with thanking veterans, whether or not we would have personally sent them to war or not.  There is nothing wrong with thanking those who are willing to do what I was not.  We don't have to all agree on everything to say thank you.  We don't all have to agree on anything to appreciate one another.

There may be a problem when politics and religion are too close.  But the real problem is that the church isn't enough like the church.  The real problem is that the world and the church are too close.  This is not the world's fault.  Somebody moved.  When you're not close to God, you know who it was that moved.

We who didn't join the military are kept safe by it; so obviously, one doesn't have to participate to benefit, so why should there be any hesitation to thank someone for doing what they think is right- even if I don't think it's right; or even when I do?

Likewise, we here all benefit from politics and taxes.  They don't spend the money the way I would, but I drive on the roads that are provided and use the water that is brought to my house and watch the entertainment and buy the products I choose to buy.  We participate in the world.  We are in the world and we don't think, like Baptists before us, that we should be away from the cities and away from the government and away from the things we don't like.  Somewhere along the way, we got to thinking that if we like it we should have it.

If I remember correctly, Clinton and Gore were both Baptists and no one was more unhappy about them winning than the Baptists.  It used to be that Baptists felt they should not be in the middle of everything. Most of them felt they should not hang out at court, if there was a king, or vote if that was an option.  Whatever government was in power was seen as something to submit to, but not participate in.  Give to Caesar what is his, but don't try to become one.

God is not in the war business.  And God is not in the politics business.  God has used war and politics in this world though, but I don't like the all or nothing thinking that whatever the military does is right or whatever the military does is wrong.  This thinking has recently come to light with the police.  We have a problem with authority in general, and this means we have a problem with God.

I am not saying that all police are right, or all parents are right or that all bosses are right.  What I am saying is that these authority figures are not automatically wrong.  And we should basically follow authority.  It's basic.  It's not absolute.  I know there are times when revolutions happened and good came out of them.  I know there are times when I quit a job rather than submit to a boss- but in general, I just don't want to do what somebody in authority tells me to do.  And this is wrong.  It probably is better to look for another job than to complain about your boss.  It's probably better to do anything or nothing than it is to complain.

In school, I would do whatever the teacher wanted in order to get a grade.  I even changed majors once because my teacher correctly pinpointed what it would take to get me to make that decision.  I felt I had no choice.  But I did have a choice.  I could have received the grade she threatened.  I could have taken it and rested in the knowledge that I earned it and then decided to work harder, or to change later when and if I wanted to change majors.  But I did something important, not for her and not for me; but for a letter on a piece of paper.  There is something about submission that I just don't like, but I was okay with it when I could earn an A.

Today, Dr. J. Vernon McGee addressed the issue of authority in the church from his pulpit at TTB.org.

If all the church officers of this country would simply read the pastoral epistles; 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus, and see what God's requirements are for being an officer in the church, and just follow these simple requirements that are given there, over one half of the officers of this country would resign before next Sunday.  

The church'd be better off, and I think a revival would break out in many places.  

....Why don't we follow what the Word of God has to say?

...Little wonder the church is in the problem that it's in today.  No wonder it's filled with a bunch of babies sucking their thumb; crying loud and long unless they're given some attention and a rattle to play with and a yo-yo... and a yo-yo's appropriate for them; they're up and down on a string all the time.   

I think that I had little problem doing the things my parents wanted me to do that were understood but not spoken.  I took it for granted that I would live there with them and eat the food provided and wear the clothes provided.  I didn't fight them every step of the way, but I grumbled now and then.  I don't think my grumbling at that point in my life was very prevalent or even close to average.  I took it for granted that I would clean up whatever mess I made in the living room or kitchen- and that my room was allowed to be a big mess if I wanted it to be.  I don't think we ever discussed this.  There were things that they expected me to do, and that I did.  But if anybody ever tells me to do something, I think of 35 reasons why I don't want to do it, and 50 reasons why it should not be done.

The church is made up of me's.  (I can't stand that apostrophe at the end of me, but how else could I write it?  Mes?)