Christmas... A Myth?

Today I found out that the Township of West Milford (where Shiloh is located) placed a new sign at their municipal building along with a Christmas tree, menorah, and a nativity scene.

Here's the sign:

PHOTO/ANN GENADER

I'm all for inclusion of other faith's symbols on the steps of our town halls across the country.  I'm glad that there is a menorah lit up right next to the tree and nativity.  If people wanted to put up a Muslim symbol for a holiday I'm okay with that (believe it or not).  As long as it is done respectfully.

Why am I so willing to be inclusive of other religions in this sort of display?  Quite frankly I am confident in Jesus and in the life that I live.  When the Holy Spirit is active in a person's life, every other life that they touch upon will be impacted regardless of religion, heritage, or any other factor.  Jesus transcends those boundaries by reaching out and welcoming everyone into his fold when they seek his Salvation.

Inclusion of other beliefs in a holiday is cool.  What is not cool is insulting people.  And that is all that this sign is about.  It does not promote a belief, it promotes a lack of belief which is in fact the opposite and does so disrespectfully.

If Christians wanted to post a sign at the town hall at Easter (and I'm by no means saying we should) saying, "Jesus died on a cross for you. You are going to Hell if you don't ask Jesus to forgive your sins."  There would be quite an uproar.  Furthermore, since atheism isn't a religion are other non-religious groups allowed to post signs?  Can Neo-Nazi's post a sign saying derogatory statements about Hannukah?  Could PETA post a sign about not eating turkey on Thanksgiving?

No.  The slippery slope argument quickly approaches absurdity and actually pulls one away from their initial topic (that is why politicians love it so much).  And that isn't where I'm going with this at all.

I want to do the opposite.  I want to draw us back to WHY these religious symbols were placed there in the first place.  It was done by the community to show respect to long standing traditions and beliefs.  Again, it was done by the community to show RESPECT to long standing traditions and beliefs.

The way I see it atheists don't really have a place putting anything in a town's holiday display.  But if they really want something there, I guess I'll give it to them.  Maybe since they don't believe in a higher power, but believe in power of humanity (secular humanism) they could put up a mannequin standing in a triumphant pose or something.  Maybe they could just have a space set a aside and leave it empty to symbolize their lack of belief.  Agnostics could put up a poster of someone shrugging.

Regardless, the sheer disrespect for Christian beliefs is deplorable.  But, I hope that Christians in the area respond kindly rather than responding in kind.  After all we know it's not a myth, that Jesus taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves, and that Jesus even taught us to love our enemies.

So I encourage local Christians to please speak up against this sign, but do it the right way.  Do it intelligently and without malice.

In your anger, do not sin.  Eph 4:26

A Lesson on Consequences

I've been debating for the past few days what to post.  There has been so much going on in the world and quite frankly it is a bit overwhelming.  So what I would like to talk about today is a little more in size and scope to issues and the way that I can process them and deal with them.  

Today lets talk about the way that circumstances sometimes require action that we are reticent to follow through with - consequences that we are reluctant to deal with.

At Shiloh this weekend, my friend Pete and I managed to put a hole through the floor by accidentally dropping a piece of scaffolding from about 10 feet in the air.  It wasn't a large hole and wasn't really dangerous, but it did need to be repaired.  After a little bit of planning we decided to repair it by mounting some plywood underneath the affected area and filling in the remaining gap from the top.

We started out by putting some construction adhesive (somewhere in between caulk and superglue) on the board and then holding it tight against the exposed area.  We then screwed the board down from the top.  It was a fairly simple repair.  What I didn't realize when I started the day, when I dropped the piece of scaffolding, or even when I began the repair, was that I might get some of this nasty brown goop on my bare forearm.

I almost immediately went and started washing it off.  One problem.  It doesn't wash off.  I simply ended up spreading the glue around my arm.  I asked around to see if there was anything that any of the more experienced contractors knew would take the stuff off.

Nada.

One man did have a suggestion.

"Shave it off," he said with a smirk.

I sighed and whimpered as I stood in the shower desperately scrubbing my arm in one last effort to get it clean.  But, it was to no avail.

I soaped up my arm razor in hand...

...and I put down the razor to try to scrub it clean again.

Yeah, it still didn't work.  It was time to face the music.

So now I sit here writing this with one hairy arm and one arm smoother than a baby's bottom.

You might be thinking to yourself, "Self, what does this have to do with anything at all? Yeah it's funny that Tim had to shave his arm.  And I enjoy a bit of laughter at his expense, but I'm not sure where he's going with this."

Well let me say it this way.  I shouldn't have had my sleeves rolled up.  I should have been protecting my arm hair.  I made a mistake and even though I shuddered at the thought of shaving my right arm, I did what needed to be done.  There were consequences for my actions and lack of forethought.

I was sorry for the fact that I put my arm in that thick goopy mess.  Did my sorriness make it go away?  Nope.

I worked really hard to clean up.  I tried to wash myself clean.  Did the soap make my matted arm hair silky and beautiful once again?  Nope.

I probably could have ignored the problem for a while.  But would that make the problem (or the pain of my matted hair getting caught on things) any better?  Nope.

There was one solution.  There was a very specific consequence.  And it kinda sucks because my arm looks weird...  and not just a little weird.  We're talking people-looking-at-you-and-wondering-what-is-wrong-with-you-that-you-had-to-shave-your-arm weird.

You see though, the thing is this.  We have the same issues emotionally in life.  In stead of getting our arms all messy we get ourselves into all sorts of other, far more complicated messes!  God says, "Do this - and do it this way."  And we say, "Heck, yes, I want to do that!  But I want to do it my way!"

One fine example is sex and marriage.  God says, "Get married, then have sex, then have children."  We often decide to do it our own way.  We have sex.  Then have children.  Then we decide that "Oh yeah, maybe I should get married now."  And when we do things the wrong way there are consequences.  People who have sex before marriage or cohabitate are more likely to get a divorce especially if they have a child before marriage.  I don't know why this is exactly, but there seems to be a strong correlation to what God has commanded.  (This website and especially this infographic help explain it in more detail.)

So what I'm really driving at here is that just because you are sorry, or work hard to fix a problem, or ignore a problem, it doesn't mean that there aren't consequences.  Think ahead.  Live life purposefully.  Keep your pants on.  Don't move in with someone of the opposite sex until you are married.  Pull your sleeves down if you want to keep construction adhesive off of your arm hair!

I'll end here by inquiring about some interesting consequences that you have experienced in life.  I had to shave my arm.  A friend once had his bed taken away as punishment (he had to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor).  One of my brothers, when he was very young, was once hosed down naked in the back yard because he fell into the muck at a pond near our house and my mom didn't want him to track the muck into the house.

What unusual consequences have you had to endure and how did they come about in the first place?

New Gym Update:

Even though there are no retreats at Shiloh between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year it doesn't mean that work stops at Shiloh.  We have been keeping more than busy!

I'm just amazed at how the new gymnasium is coming along at Shiloh.  Though we've had small-ish crews lately on Saturday mornings we have been really getting a lot done.  This past week saw half of the metal sheeting for the walls in the gym being put up, one of two electrical panels being completely wired and live (the lighting breaker box; the box for the outlets should be done this week.), and the audio wiring for the stage being completed.  Sheetrocking the lower level will begin this week.  And to top that all off we should have the heating system completely up and running before Christmas.  That's right 500,000 BTU's of pure unadulterated wood burning fury!

If anyone is interested in seeing how things are going at Shiloh or would like to come and help out this week I'll be there Thursday through Saturday (please just send me a message or text to let me know if you are coming).  All visitors and volunteers are welcome!