Memoirs of a Ragamuffin: Part 2

The kingdom of God belongs to people who are not trying to look good and not plotting to make a political move for the sake of self. It belongs to those who do not care what others think, do, or say. It belongs to those who know how dirty, helpless, and lost they really are. The apostle Paul realized this when he said, "All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come" (Philippians 3:13). Of all people, he understood his failings. He was there for the stoning of Stephen. He dragged men, women, and children from their homes to be executed. He carried the burden of his past along with him. Yet, it is Paul who understands completely the meaning of grace. His life is a testimony of that fact, his letters spelling it out for the world. Whatever past achievements might bring us honor, whatever past disgraces might make us blush, all have been crucified with Christ and exist no more except in the deep recesses of eternity, where good is enhanced into glory and evil miraculously established as part of the greater good.

Jesus called people to humble themselves "as little children," to put on His yoke, to take upon themselves His burden. And, Jesus said, the scorned "little ones" would be given a place at the table of God! This is the Gospel for ragamuffins. This was a lesson that was difficult for the religious of Jesus' day to swallow. Likewise, it's a lesson with which we continue to struggle today. The salvation Jesus brought cannot be earned. He shattered the myth that our works demand payment in return. We cannot barter with God. Our very existence depends not on us, but on God's good pleasure. Our doing becomes the very undoing of the ragamuffin gospel. Jesus calls us to be holy, pure, and perfect (as your Father in heaven is perfect). But with all of our piety, our self-denial, our plans and purposes to do good, we so easily focus on the checklist, and not on the God of grace. We gradually fall into the trap of slipping from sinners saved by grace to sinners working our way God. And when this happens, we construct a dangerous and false image

of who we really are. 

When Jesus said to Zacchaeus, "I would like to have dinner with you," He was in fact saying, "Come and have a relationship with me, be my friend, enjoy fellowship with me. I want to know you." This broke every social law that the Jews had. When Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors, he was challenging the very structure of Jewish society. When Jesus sat down with the unclean, he was in effect taking away their shame, their guilt, and treating them as equals. He showed them that they mattered and bestowed upon them a sense of dignity. Christians who are status seekers become very selective about their dinner guests. Like the Pharisees in Jesus' day, they wonder what people will say as they assemble their invitation lists. Jesus, on the other hand, concerned Himself with how He could encourage and bless hurting people. He was an example in His day and remains one for us today. The ragamuffin gospel is a message to the unwashed. The ragamuffins of our world surround us just as they gathered around Jesus, and the ragamuffin Christian is one who searches out the broken person and brings him a message of hope.

How long will it be before we realize we cannot dazzle God with our accomplishments? When will we realize that we cannot buy God's approval? We are filthy rags. We will always be that way. Authentic faith means that we look deep inside and understand this fact. If we are serious about changing our lives and the lives of others, we must first realize we cannot do it by ourselves. A deep understanding of sin and being a sinner is the first step in healing. And yet, the most religious of us are the ones dangerously close to damnation. Caiaphas, the high priest, was well versed in the structure and institutions of the Jewish laws. Caiaphas was dedicated to the institution, the nation, but failed to see the ragamuffins before him. Caiaphas represents all of those who have become puffed up and arrogant to the detriment of the outcast and unwanted. He represents those who condemn good people who break bad religious laws.

Excerpt from The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, copyright 2000 by Brennan Manning. Summarized by Christian Book Summaries with permission of the publisher.

Memoirs of a Ragamuffin: Part 1

Today's culture prides itself on security, wealth, circumstance, social status, and personal achievement. Tragically, the Church has bought into these spurious values. Too many believers are caught in the web of competing with one another and pursuing these man-made goals, partitioned from those who need to hear the Gospel. Our religious rules and regulations strangle life out of the message God wishes to send. Only when we embrace God's grace can we bask in the joy of a gospel that cherishes and nurtures the neediest of His flock~the ragamuffins. 

Many Christians today give lip service to the gospel of grace, but still live their lives as if personal discipline and self-denial will mold them into the person God desires. This is a lie straight from the pit of hell. Although discipline is a vital part of the Christian experience, a misguided focus places the emphasis on us and what we are or are not doing and makes the gospel of grace irrelevant.

 
Our huffing and puffing to impress God, our scrambling for brownie points, our thrashing about trying to fix ourselves while hiding our pettiness and wallowing in guilt are nauseating to God and are a flat denial of the gospel of grace. When we really, truly start to understand what grace means what Jesus did on the cross our lives will be transformed. Jesus came for sinners, outcasts, tax collectors, tramps, those with failed dreams and failed lives, the ragamuffins of our world.

Grace is loving the unlovely, not loving the lovely. Grace is forgiving the unforgivable, not forgiving those who are trying their best, but occasionally slip. When we grasp this concept, this kind of grace, then the Christian experience becomes triumphant. The Christian church has somehow bought into the notion that the pious, the pure in heart, the proper, and those not stained by life's improprieties are the only ones to be allowed into the kingdom of God. 

Something is radically wrong when the church rejects a person who has been accepted by Jesus. Without flinching, too many Christians deny the divorcee communion, refuse to baptize the child of a prostitute, and mercilessly judge the homosexual. Jesus came to the ungodly, not the godly. He knew that the sick people needed a physician, not the healthy ones. His greatest wrath was saved up for the superspiritual, the pious and religious - those who should have known grace and should have lived it, but condemned and judged instead. All we need do is look at the Bible for the triumphant. There they are, the spoiled, the soiled, the ones who so wanted to be faithful, but could not. Defeated by trials, weary, and wearing the bloody garments of a failed life, they somehow clung to the faith. This is the gospel of grace.

Excerpt from The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, copyright 2000 by Brennan Manning. Summarized by Christian Book Summaries with permission of the publisher.

STRAWBERRY-M&M-OREO SHAKE AND 12.5

Taylor is going to be here in 13 minutes for the promised run for a cold one.

Here in Utah with a 12 year old boy, even though he’s in prep for his “Year of Manhood” ceremony, this cold one will be a Chills shake at the local hangout. Another thing about rural Utah, “local” can be in the next town set up in the early Mormon era a day’s wagon train ride between towns. Today, the 10 miles is 15 minutes.

We’re ready for another heart and soul chat. Taylor knows his dad and I are writing a book, but doesn’t know yet that he will figure into it. But, now that we’re staying the summer, it’s even harder to get calm, un-busy face time than webcam time when we were in California.

Ok, we’re back. All Chilled out. Well, we didn’t get off to such a hot start. Didn’t exactly fit granddad’s imagined generational melding. It’s only a 15 minute drive; just right for the warm-up chat with the questions I’d planned.

Next week is camp. Gotta get my heart stuff in without seeming too obvious, too preachy. Woops, he found my new Blackberry. I didn’t even know it had games. Silence. Then a shriek. Taylor finished his first game as number 1,866,432. I kid you not. By the time we hit Chills he gloatingly crowed, “I’m up over 200,000 people in two games!” I said something funny about thanking my gene pool and added, “So glad you and two million Millennial nerds are living through your thumbs, but not willing to talk to a human like you old Popi on our man-date.”

Want a summary of what was in our Strawberry-M&M-Oreo shake chat? Here it is in our Q&A dialog:
So, Taylor, next week you’ll hear important stuff about how to live for Christ. The kind of camp you’re going to sponsored by Bible and Baptist churches will teach you about following the rules set out in the Bible, about letting God direct your thoughts, maybe about witnessing for your faith, even missionary service. I’m excited for you. I’m picturing all my Christian camps. Wish I were a fly on the wall of your cabin.

So, how do you think it will improve your Christian life?” Taylor scarcely paused. Said something like, “It will help me learn more about God. And I’ll meet new friends.” He’s 12.5.

“You know, if it were sponsored by another group of serious Christian churches, you would get more emphasis on the importance of realizing who you are, developing a purpose in life, treating others well, and, especially, about being happy. Think about it. If someone offered you a week of camp on a beautiful lake in the mountains and let you chose which type of camp you could go to, which would it be; serious about obeying and serving God or about being happy and treating others well?

This time he paused, rather long, in fact. Time enough for another Strawberry-M&M-Oreo spoonful. I couldn’t tell for sure if the ”right” answer or one from his serious perceptive side would emerge, (but it was time enough for me to smile with the fading recollection of my own thoughts at 12-ish and of how truly insightful that age is becoming as the clays of physical, emotional, and intellectual being firm up). Then he said, “The Bible one and learning more about telling people about God. ” “Want me to surprise you and tell you which I’d chose now that I am old and can look back?” (Taylor loves it when I pull the ‘older and wiser’ act because we’re usually in for ribbing fest .)

I don’t recall verbatim what I continued with (another ‘old’ thing), but I remember feeling deeply as I spoke, enjoying the living metaphor of camp and life. “I would go to neither one and would pay for another kind of camp out of my allowance if I knew someone would teach me about what I had to learn through my life. I learned way too much by taking the wrong path or deciding something was God’s plan for me when it wasn’t. I would want someone to assure me I am part of God’s Story written just for me. And, I wish someone would let me in on how God himself was longing for me to truly enjoy Him and how He wanted me to experience real joy in life by being close with Him. Yes, and if I could design my camp based on what I’ve learned over these years of walking with Christ, I would want guys in my cabin to talk about how the Father puts arms around us and nourishes us and listens closely to what we laugh about, what makes us weep, and about our dreams.

“So, Taylor, designing my own camp experience, I would want to learn early in life how God cares about my heart more than anything. Remember, the enemy of our soul is on a campaign, a war, actually, to steal our heart and keep it from God. His favorite trick is to let us do Christian things without a heart completely given to God.“

What’s Taylor doing during this maybe-too-deep soliloquy? Starting to drift off signaled by eyeing the remainder of the Strawberry-M&M-Oreo Dixie Cup. So I said in a tone suggesting I was winding up. “Hey, all of these other things offered by the other camps are actually important. Just remember, God is not pleased just because you do all these good Christian things. We please Him by who we are deep inside. Then I came up with a cutie, and it was just right to turn it back over to him. “So it’s not Christian rules that please God, but how Christ rules.” They may look the same to others. That’s a good thing. But it looks far different to God. He enjoys the behavior that comes from the heart that belongs to Him.

It wasn’t long before we saddle up and headed home with 15 minutes to turn the sermon into dialog. But, my moment of generational fathering had come and gone. Now it was 2 million players of a thumb game through my Blackberry. I took comfort for some reason that before we hit home, Taylor was already 1,244,551 out of 2m. ”That’s my boy!” And he’s only 12.5. Surely there is now a cyber-genius emerging from my gene pool…who walks with God.

ATTENTION LEGACY DADERS AND VISITORS. TELL ME ABOUT THE LENGTH OF A POST THAT'S 1000 WORDS, BUT TELLS A STORY. GETTING READY TO LAUNCH A NEW COMPANION BLOG, GENDADS.

COMMENT HERE OR DIRECTLY AT gary@gendads.com.

Generation Me

Interesting summary of the book ‘Generation Me’ by Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D. Twenge suggests a different interpretation of some of the commonly held conceptions of the generation variously referred to as Generation Y, iGeneration, the Millenials, and in this case, Generation Me.

This book and summary gives some great insights into today’s young adults and also our own children. It contrasts the way today’s youth process and perceive themselves and society as well as hinting to parents why our childrens generation will be vastly different from ours.

Twenge begins her introduction to Generation Me with the concept that “we are a much more informal and accepting society than we once were” (pg. 18). As a result of changing social mores, the rules that once governed polite society are no longer as strict, or universally accepted as they were for past generations. “Compared to Boomers . . . GenMe is twice as likely to agree with the statement There is no single right way to live” (pg. 19).

 
In place of the commonly held standards of past generations, Twenge argues that what is most important to this generation are the choices of the individual, leading to a generation of individuals whose attitudes are summed up by the statement, “As long as I believe in myself, I really do not care what others think.” Twenge gives examples from modern pop culture that support this theory, both as influences and reflections of the generation they represent. Movies like the Majestic, Pleasantville, and Bend It Like Beckham, dramatize what Twenge calls “two interlocking changes: the fall of social rules and the rise of the individual” (pg. 22) She also uses changes in dance styles, from the rigidity of the Arthur Miller method to the free-form dances of today, to illustrate this shift.

 
The belief that there is no longer one right way to do things plays out in a variety of ways among members of GenMe. This generation has not embraced the rules of etiquette that are built around “respect for other people’s comfort” (pg. 26). Cheating in school has increased (pg. 27). Students are less likely to recognize the authority of teachers, presuming instead that their perspectives and opinions are on an equal footing with the experts (pg. 29). Former taboos regarding dating and marriage have evaporated (pg. 31). GenMe individuals are more willing

to share their experiences (positive and negative) in explicit detail with anyone who will listen (pg. 37). Language that was considered profane has become commonplace (pg. 40).   

 
Of particular interest is what Twenge has to say about the Church. “GenMe is also less willing to follow the rules of organized religion” (pg. 34). She notes declining church attendance since the 1950’s, and particularly low attendance percentages for 18 to 29 year olds. Twenge references Jeffery Arnett from Emerging Adulthood, describing “the belief systems of young people as ‘highly individualized’, which he calls ‘make-your own’ religions.’ He found that only 23% of young people are ‘conservative believers’; the remaining 77% were agnostic/atheist, deist, or liberal believers (who believe in a religion but question some aspects of it)” (pg. 34). The churches that have experienced growth are those that “promote a very personalized form of religion” (pg. 35).

 
These churches’ emphasis on Christ as a personal savior who has a plan for your life play into the individualized culture of GenMe. As an example, Twenge quotes Rich Warren from The Purpose-Driven Life, “Accept yourself. Don’t chase after other people’s approval . . . God accepts us unconditionally, and in His view we are all precious and priceless” (pg. 35).

 
Twenge argues that one of the primary contributors to this culture of the individual is the institutionalized emphasis on self-esteem that began in the 1970s. The self-esteem curriculum that took hold in schools and churches drove home to GenMe children that they are unique and special individuals, independent of anything they do or have. Twenge contends that this emphasis went overboard with GenMe, creating the belief that “feeling good about yourself is more important than good performance” (pg 56-57). A negative outcome of the

overemphasis on self-esteem has been an increase in narcissism (pg 69), in which individuals are “overly focused on themselves and lack empathy for others” pg. 68).

 
An extension of the emphasis on self-esteem, has been the message that “You can be anything you want to be” (pg 72). Twenge notes “We expect our kids to have individual preferences and would never dream, as earlier generations did, of making every single decision for our children and asking them to be seen and not heard. Not coincidentally, this also teaches children that their wants are the most important” (pg. 75). (For an excellent discussion of this topic, see Kidfluence by Anne Sutherland and Beth Thompson.) Twenge references a number

of statistics and publications that indicate that GenMe students have very high expectations for the academic, professional and economic heights to which they aspire, and then illustrates that many of these confident expectations will be frustrated by simple realities.

 
The stress that GenMe young adults encounter in college admissions and in career pursuits are similar. Throughout their childhood years, GenMe has been told repeatedly that they are special, unique people, whose opinions are important, and who can achieve anything as long as they follow their dreams. The reality they encounter, however, is that only a few of them will get into the best colleges, and even fewer into the best graduate, law and medical schools (pg. 118). This dynamic continues into the job market where GenMe expects high-paying, high-prestige jobs in which their input is highly valued, and their rapid advancement is assured, and the reality is rarely consistent with the expectation (pg. 119).

 
Twenge lays out suggestions for how to better reach, communicate with and serve GenMe.

 
For Employers: Try to understand you GenMe employees, allow them to learn by doing, take advantage of their comfort with diversity and remember that they do not take criticism well. (pg. 216-221)

 
For Society: Abandon our obsession with self-esteem, and be honest with children about their success and failures. (pg. 223-227) Give better advice, including the idea that not everyone should go to college. (pg. 227-228) Support working parents. (pg. 229-235)

 
Summary of Generation Me

By Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D.

© 2006 Free Press (Simon & Schuster)

Executive Summary prepared by Steve Eubanks

- Lance

Christ's Call to Follow in His Footsteps - K.P. Yohannan

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A Facebook discussion -

Manifesto - Sin and Redemption

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 Today at 6:25pm

Today’s discussion, boys and girls, is on the meaning of sin and forgiveness. Ok, kind of a heavy topic which in part you can blame on screwing up the coffee yesterday morning and creating some kind of freakish super fuel express…should not have pushed the BREW STRONG button. Then again, considering the diversity of religious thought among most of you, including a couple who are priests if memory serves in one faith or another, I figure I’ll give the Liberals and Progressives a break, not write on the morality of playing the race card, and jump right to Sin itself instead. Grandma always said never talk politics or religion in polite company. What the heck… 

Ok, in the interests of full disclosure, yes, Irish Catholic. I did a year in St. Augustine Minimum –er- Middle Elementary, bachelors from Marquette (Jesuits), and probably have the oddest mix of very conservative and very liberal beliefs on religion. It is tough to offend me short of Pedophile priest jokes, which I don’t’ anymore funny than Jewish or Islamic jokes. My general philosophy is you don’t tell me how to worship or what to believe, and I won’t start stacking wood at your feet for an “Old-Fashioned” BBQ. Variations of belief though fascinate me and discussion and debate… well, you get the picture. 

So, the question is how you define sin and forgiveness. This is a key point for a lot of Christians, in that those who believe in original sin tend to believe we all carry it with us through being born. Catholics belief in forgiveness has, invariable, led to troubled priests being put back into position inappropriate considering their betrayal of trust. So, is a Sin forgiven but willfully committed again a new sin or a repudiation of forgiveness for the old? If we take a more Pelagian rather than Augustinian, asserting that Free Will and Right Action are our ways to Grace – which I understand to be more the Protestant tradition – are we able to reach a state of grace on our own, removing God and Christ from the equation, and then what sins did Christ die for, if we are capable of getting there ourselves without him? Does the generally held Christian belief that Christ died for our sins then abrogate the need for redemption or right action, since we have already been redeemed through acceptance of Christ? Or, is our supposed Free Will affirmed or refuted by Christ’s action. How does predestination fit in then? 

What is Sin then? Is it simply a violation of God’s commandments or the more moral and ethical values of Aquinas? And if so, are we defining then sin not as crimes against God but a disagreement on the moral or ethical character of a given thought or action? If it’s a difference of opinion on what is and is not a sin, what is or is not immoral, then is it a sin for seeking to impose my morality, to in effect assume God’s position of judgment over another? And if predestination is rule, then if I know I am predestined for Heaven, what’s to stop me from raising all kinds of hell secure in the knowledge that I am going to Heaven? 

Ok, rules for discussion are simple good manners, no name calling, no finger pointing, threats of violence, crusade, jihad, etc. And no, you cannot accuse me of being predestined for hell – you know who you are and that’s all I’m going to say - I am a firm believer in the need to question and wrestle with one’s faith, and that if you can’t face your beliefs, your faith openly, honestly, if you don’t question, then you don’t really know what you believe. Kind of like Democrats who believe everything that Obama and Pelosi say and are unwilling to accept practical considerations – ie, if you only have two bucks you can’t give $1.3 trillion to someone… ok, you knew I was going to say something political, just deal with it! 

So, if you are easily offended… or looking to tell Pedophile priest jokes, just move on along and you won’t get hurt… much… Otherwise, have at it! 

--------------

And I responded...

"before you can effectively discuss this we have to create a level playing field. Questions such as: 1) do you believe in God 2) do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God 3) Do you believe that each and everyone of us have a predisposition of what right and wrong is (if you will have it - we will call it a "moral predisposition".) So ifyou believe in God and believe in his Son (as Savior) then you have to believe that he created the heavens and the earth and all that is in between. 

Whether you believe in predestination or in free will, both sects believe in God as Holy, therefore, you don't have a lotto ticket to live "free willy" and do as you please because God is a Holy God. Therefore, you have to ask yourself what am I supposed to do in this World. What are my gifts and what are my talents and how am I to make a difference in this World.

In the book of James, he talks about Faith without works and he goes onto to say that that Faith is dead. So does this mean you can lose your Salvation? No, I did not say that. If you believe in God's Son, as Savior, then you are promised God's Spirit. Your body then becomes a living temple of God and what you do it with it in obedience to God is your call in life. As Sons and Daughters of God, you are promised gifts and talents and you are to use them to honor God in obedience to his Word. 

So God's commandments are: Put no other God's before Him (no idols), do not use his name in vain, keep His holy day sabbath, honor your father and mother, do not kill (which is also a law of the land in most societies), do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness (no perjury), do not covet your neighbors wife, and do not covert your neighbors property. Are these things morally wrong? Of course they are. Why do we not see these on public property? Or on Government property? Hmmm, have you looked at our politicians (on both sides of the aisles) for their unethical and ungodly behavior?

What ever your belief is, whether you say you are Christian, Muslim, or whatever, you cannot simply say that there is no right and wrong, even the worst among us know when they are doing wrong. 

We can discuss more anytime you like over coffee or something...

Let me know,

Dante

and...

Your Manifesto title was Sin & Redemption. And correct me if I am wrong, but your question really boils down to how do we define sin and forgiveness...Correct?

For instance, all religions (religion is what we will define as man made, for now) try (in their best attempts) to find truth - Correct? 

So let's take Islam, for instance, they say (the Koran) that Jesus is a prophet of God. Probably the most holy prophet of God and they believe in his virgin birth. The only difference is that they say that God would not allow his closest messenger to be crucified, so they believe that someone else took the crucifixion and that Jesus was somehow reunited in the Heavens with God. Therefore they denounce his death and resurrection. This begs a question, though, if you say in your religions holiest manuscript that Jesus was the greatest prophet (messenger) of God, but you deny the messengers own testimony (truth) what are you really saying? Jesus said that He is the way, the truth and the light and that no man (woman) comes to the Father (God) but through Him. Something has to give. Either He was/is who He says He was/is or he is a liar?

Buddhism believes in Karma and reincarnation. Levels of truth, if you will have it. Catholics believe in God, and yet we had the great reformation to move closer to the truth (the word of God) then to allow men to suggest what truth is.

Agnostics believe that there could be a higher power (we call God), but do not necessarily believe in God. Athiests believe in no God and reject anything that condemns their rights and or belief structure. 

Take a look at the founding fathers of this country. Why did they want separation of Church & State. Not for the reason that society would have you believe today, rather, they wanted to worship God in their way and not to have a "State Sponsored" religion tell you how to worship their god and or their belief structure. 

So back to your question - Sin & Redemption - that is the quesiton - correct?..."  Stay tuned....Jesus is the truth!

Dante

Your thoughts?  Your responses - please respond.....

How truthful do you want to be...

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1 Peter 5:6-11 (New International Version)

⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

 ⁸Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

 ¹⁰And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. ¹¹To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.