Facing the Giants

Today my wife, son and I went to see Facing the Giants, the new movie made for only $100,000 by Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. They only used one camera for the filming. A "B" film? Not at all! That one camera not only caught some good angles, but some good acting, lots of action and heart-felt emotion. This is like The Purpose-Driven Life meets Remember the Titans. It's a film that will make you laugh and cry and feel good and inspire you to trust God. Therein lies the problem. The Motion Picture Association rated this "PG" instead of "G" because it might offend some people because it has a strongly Christian message. Interestingly, the controversy over rating the film "PG" caused Sony Pictures to notice it, and distribute it in 435 theaters this weekend. If audiences in those theaters react the way they did in Savannah today, the Hollywood media giants may be falling, too. The crowd (half-full theater at the early 1:15 p.m. showing) in our theater laughed, cried and applauded at the end. Amen! David, got another pebble?

Question about divorce

I received the following question by email from someone from another church who has granted permission for me to post the question and my reply:

"I have consulted my pastor and other pastors concerning our Baptist teachings about divorce and remain confused. I am divorced. I made an oath at my wedding of "til death do us part" and finished with "so help me God." Even though adultery entered my spouse's life, do I remain bound by my oath? Did you do a blog on this topic? Or, better yet ... will you do one and let me know."

Dear Friend,
I understand that you are already divorced, apparently because of your spouse's adultery, and your question is, "do I remain bound by my oath?"
It appears there are two parts to your question. First, the question of whether your divorce was permissable, and second, the question of whether you are free to remarry. So let's take the two issues separately:
1. The question of permissable divorce. According to Jesus' statement in Matthew 5:32, adultery is a permissable reason for divorce. Thus if your spouse committed adultery, you did have biblical grounds for divorce. The other biblical ground for divorce is found in 1 Corinthians 7:15, when one spouse is an unbeliever and leaves.
(I would caution readers, however, that just because your spouse commits adultery or leaves you for a time does not mean that you should rush into a divorce. If at all possible, you should seek a counselor and seek restoration in your marriage. I have known couples who suffered adultery and other problems in their relationship who were able to experience repentance, forgiveness and restoration.
The second caution I would give to readers is that if you are suffering physical abuse or severe verbal abuse, you may need to separate for your own safety. Remember, this separation is with a goal for restoration if possible, not divorce.)

2. The question of remarriage after divorce. You mentioned "our Baptist teachings about divorce." While I am glad to be a Baptist, we must make certain that our teachings come from the Bible, not Baptist tradition or any other tradition that contradicts scripture.
Jesus recognized the fact that the woman at the well had five husbands, although she was cohabitating with the man she was with at the time she met Jesus, and that man was not her husband (John 4:17-18). By this statement, Jesus recognized each of these five marriages as true marriages.
A common "Baptist teaching" about Matthew 5:32 is that it bans remarriage after divorce, because it says that anyone who divorces his wife causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.
However, the New Testament Greek verb used in the original text used the passive voice, which means the subject receives the action, rather than causing the action. In other words, divorce is a stigma that the husband puts on his wife by divorcing her. It is something the first husband does to the woman and the man she remarries. The stigma is being divorced and being married to a divorced person. Notice in the verse that the stigma occurs whether or not there is ever a remarriage, because it says "anyone who divorces his wife... causes her to become an adulteress." Notice he causes the adultery before any remarriage. It could be translated, that he adulterizes her. This is referring to the stigma of divorce.
I recognize that this is a controversial passage, and there are differences of opinion about it, but I do not think the scripture teaches that remarriage after divorce is automatically a sin.

Day 4 of 40

Today is Day 4 of 40. I'm talking about the "40 Days of Purpose" campaign. About 500 members are actively participating by reading a chapter a day in Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life.
I'm hearing great reports already of lives blessed. Last Sunday we had a great kick-off, with lots of new visitors, 4 baptisms, and 8 more people joining the church, including 3 more who trusted Christ. Pray that this campaign will bring unity of purpose to our church and focus on God's will for our individual lives.

"Four Gods" survey results

In my last post, I discussed the article in USA Today (September 12, 2006) about the Baylor University and Gallup Poll on religious views and politics. It developed four images of God that affect political views.
The four views of God varied a good bit from region to region of the nation.
Authoritarian God received the support of 43.5% in the South (31.4% overall).
Benevolent God received the support of 28.8% in the Midwest (23% overall).
Critical God received the support of 21.2% in the East (16% overall).
Distant God received the support of 30.3% in the West (24.4% overall).
Atheism was the choice of 7.9% in the West, 7.5% in the East, 3.7% in the Midwest, and 2.6% in the South (5.2% overall).

Your view of God?

Some anonymous donor put Tuesday's USA Today on my doorstep today. I guess they wanted me to read the front page article by Cathy Lynn Grossman, "View of God can reveal your values and politics" (USA Today, September 12, 2006).
The article discussed a major religious survey done by Baylor University and Gallup Poll that says the best way to predict people's views on morality and politics is by their view of God, not old terms like conservative/liberal, evangelical/mainline, or even Catholic, Protestant and Jew.
They gave four definitions of God, all of which claimed the support of anywhere from 16% to 31% of the American public. Before I reveal any more of the results, I'd like to take my own poll. So readers, give me your opinions in the drop-down box below. Which best defines your view of God? Comments are also welcome in the comment section (subject to approval by the moderator--that's me.)

Which is the best definition of God?

Authoritarian -- angry at sin, involved directly in mankind's affairsBenevolent -- has absolute standards but is forgivingCritical -- has his eye on the world, but does not interveneDistant -- cosmic force that launched the world and left it spinning

Free polls from Pollhost.com

Freedom Walk on 9/11

Tonight our church hosted a Freedom Walk in Rincon to remember 9/11. Almost 100 people participated, walking the mile south from our church along Highway 21 to Effingham Cleaners. Many were from our church, but many others came from all over the community. We carried American flags and signs saying "Remember 9/11" and "Support Our Troops." Quite a few passing motorists waved and honked to show their support. We had a surprise welcome from the Rincon Fire Department, who had parked two trucks with lights flashing at the end of our walk. We had buses available to take people back to the parking lot, but most of the people enjoyed it so much that they turned around and walked the mile back to the church. Notice in the pictures above a Vietnam veteran who came in his wheelchair. He made the trip both ways and said he wished we had gone all the way to Savannah.

NOTE: Read the article in the Savannah Morning News and see great pictures by clicking here.

Praying for the president

I gave the invocation before President Bush spoke today at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler near Savannah. He was appearing to support Max Burns, who is running for Congress in our district, the 12th congressional district of Georgia. After he spoke, the president came by to shake hands with people, and he shook hands with my wife Mary, and me. I told him that I pray for him daily, and he looked me square in the eye, leaned forward, and said, "Thanks, it's working," and then he continued shaking hands with others on down the line.
Above are pictures of me praying and the president speaking, with Max Burns in the background.

Spiritual nakedness

One of my favorite fairy tales is "The Emperor's New Clothes." The emperor's tailor deceived him, and told him that only the most wise and intelligent people could see his new robe that seemed invisible. In reality, there was no robe at all, but the emperor did not want to appear ignorant, so the emperor paraded around naked telling everybody he was wearing his new robe. Nobody wanted to tell him he was naked, until a little boy who didn't know any better than to tell the truth, laughed and said he was naked. Many Christians are many churches are like that. They are parading around thinking they have the presence of God in their lives, when in fact they are spiritually naked, in desperate need of God's glory to fill their lives and churches.
The Israelites tended to think that if they had the ark of the covenant with them, they had God with them. Yet on two occasions, their misuse of the ark caused God's glory to depart from them. In 1 Samuel 4, we read the story of how the ark of the covenant was captured in battle with Israel's arch-enemies, the Philistines. Eli was the priest, and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, assisted him in the tabernacle with worship, but they were wicked men who manipulated people's offerings (1 Samuel 2:12-17) and actually slept with women in the Lord's tabernacle (1 Samuel 2:22). Eli scolded them about it, but didn't do anything to stop them. So when the Philistines came to attack Israel, Hophni and Phinehas brought the ark of the covenant into the battle, and the Israelites they had God in a box and they would automatically win the battle. Their attitude reminds me of Americans who kill their unborn, have sex with whomever, and drop a dollar in the church offering plate at Easter, but when terrorists attack they rush to church, wave American flags and sing "God bless America" and think that God is somehow obligated to rush to their rescue. Well, God cannot be put in a box, and God certainly was not about to appear in His glory in the presence of these wicked men, Hohni and Phinehas. So when they brought the ark into the Israelite camp, the soldiers roared with excitement, but the glory of God was not there. The Philistines defeated them, killed Hophni and Phinehas, and captured the ark. Eli's daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, gave birth to a child as she heard the news of the battle. She named her child "Ichabod," which means "the glory has departed." Today God has written Ichabod over many a church and ministry. Many churches across America have closed their doors. Others just need somebody to preach their funeral, because they are dead. In a different experience with the ark of the covenant, King David saw the glory of God depart. We read in 1 Chronicles 13 of how David was bringing the ark to his new capital in Jerusalem, carried in an ox cart. Several men were guiding the cart, including a man named Uzzah. When the oxen stumbled, Uzzah reached out to hold the ark and keep it from falling, and the Lord struck Uzzah dead on the spot. At first glance this offense does not seem to make sense. Why did God do this? But in 1 Chronicles 15:13 we read that the Lord burst out in anger because they did not use priests to handle the ark and did not use the "proper procedure" (HCSB). In other words, they were careless with something that was holy. Similarly, many churches across America have sold their souls to please people. They have relaxed moral standards to try to attract more people, and in the process have become careless with what is holy.