joshmorton.com

I know it’s been over a week since I’ve written something, and generally you come expecting an article worthy of your time to visit and read. But to be honest, I’m just plain swamped right now. I have a ton of things I would like to write about, but can’t quite write about yet because they’re not solid enough in my head. There are a lot of feelings and emotions I would like to tell you about, but I don’t know how to write about them or describe them, so I can’t. Plus, school has just hit me so hard there’s no room left for any deep thinking of any kind. Whatever isn’t being used by school is very much spoken for already.

So, I will leave you with the phrase that is sure to revolutionize the way college life is.

I guess you could say school has Pope-Slapped me this semester.

Don’t understand what it means? That’s okay, neither do I. What I can tell you is it’s a replacement for the word “punk’d” which is a funny word we use to describe when someone gets… punk’d. (See, I told you it’s just not there upstairs…)

So, the next time you cut someone in line, steal their candy bar while they’re not looking, or make a ‘your mom’ joke, just remember one key phrase, that, when said very loudly and with the proper amount of authority, is really funny: “Ooohh…. you just got Pope-Slapped!”

Today was my day to eat supper with Jeremy Holtrop. I don’t think I’ve said much about him on the site so far, but he is an incredible guy, and I feel so blessed to call him my friend, and have a chance to eat with him once a week just to share our feelings. Sometimes we just get together and laugh, and sometimes we have very deep conversation. Today we had one of our best conversations, just about being Christians and what it means.

Our conversation eventually focused around what it really means to be a Christian, and how we feel like it’s not at all what most people live it or believe it to be. We both talked about how much we hate the fake, shallow lives that Christians lead. To most people, it’s not about what we actually feel or think, it’s about saying the right things, doing the good things, and never saying or doing the bad things. That’s crap.
I believe absolutely in very few things. I believe that God is the one true sovereign God. I believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived, died on a cross, was dead and buried, and then rose on the third day. I believe that now the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf, and is our direct connection to God, made possible by the blood of Christ. Other than that, you can pretty much disprove anything else I believe, and it may make me feel like an idiot, but it won’t change the fact I believe in God.
Go to Dr. Drury’s website, and read his article, and especially Dr. Schenck’s article (which is linked right below Drury’s) to see who started me thinking these things.

To fuel the fire, earlier today in Church Music class we had a discussion on whether or not to use non-Christian musicians in a worship team. I think everyone pretty much agreed that a non-Christian could never be a worship leader, but there was a rift between the class on whether or not to use non-Christians. I understand the argument against it, I do. But I just have a real problem with the way we run our churches today.
Nothing about Jesus was acceptable to the church. He didn’t hang out with all the religious leaders talking theology and worship, he hung out with the sinners, making them feel like they were loved and accepted, regardless of the condition of their lives. In Luke 19 Jesus meets up with Zaccheus, and ends up going to his house for dinner. The verse that gets me is verse seven. It says that people grumbled because Jesus was going to be a guest in the house of a sinner. WHAT IS THE CHURCH FOR??? Why are we bickering over whether or not to let a musician play guitar in our band? The fact that there is an opportunity is one more chance to witness to one more person. There are countless stories of worship team members coming to Christ through being involved in a church!
One argument people use is the one that everyone on the worship team–regardles of their role–is a leader. Well, unless they left it out, none of the gospel writers ever mentioned Jesus asking if the boy was a Christian before taking his small lunch and feeding thousands with it. Maybe you don’t think so, but I’m pretty sure all the other little boys looked up to that kid after that. Jesus didn’t ask if he was a Christian, he simply used the opportunity to change that boy’s life forever. It wasn’t normal! It wasn’t “right”! Jesus didn’t do things that made religious leaders happy. He did things that changed the world.
In Mark 9, the disciples stopped a man who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name, but wasn’t traveling with Jesus. But Jesus told them not to stop him, and said these words about it: “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is for us. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.” (Mark 9:39b-41, NASB) Now, without doing an in-depth study, I will say that the context was a bit different then than it is now, but I believe that this verse is not taken out of context when applied now.

In a world that’s full of pharisees, I just don’t feel like being equated with “Christians” anymore. I don’t want to be stuck in the IWU bubble my whole life. I want my life to resemble Christ’s, and Christ’s life was anything but religious by the standards of his day. Don’t romanticize Jesus’ life and ministry. ‘Religious’ people hated him. He wasn’t preaching in front of huge congregations and broadcast to 176 countries around the world. He didn’t say the things that made him accepted by the church, or made him look good. He said the things that were true.
I read an article somewhere on the web (I forget where, and I’m too tired to look it up in my web history) where someone was saying he had a surefire way to bring in 9 out of 10 families who visited their Sunday School into their church. You know what it was? They had them over on Friday to play cards.
They would invite visiting couples over on Fridays to play cards with some of their other friends from church. The night involves playing cards, eating dessert, laughing, and just having a good time. What it doesn’t involve was ever saying anything about Jesus to them. They just befriended those church visitors, made them feel welcome, and got to know them for who they are. You know what? At the end of a year, of the ten couples this particular family had over, nine of them joined the church. Without ever preaching a word, or saying a word, they witnessed to those people by having a genuine, Christ-driven(love!) relationship with them. On the other side, of the other 50 families that visited that church, only 3 of them ended up becoming regular attenders. One of my all-time favorite quotes is by St. Francis. It simply says, “Preach the gospel. If necessary, use words.”

I’m tired of being associated with “Christians” who are voting on whether or not to have gay pastors. I’m tired of being associated with Christians who insist on shoving Jesus down everyone’s throat instead of building relationships, the effective way of reaching out. I’m tired of being associated with “Christians” who go to church on Sunday, and then live like the rest of the world the rest of the time.

I’m tired of being associated with Christians who don’t think we should ever have non-Christians in our worship teams, even if that is the only way that person will ever get into a church.

I quit being a Christian. I’ll never quit following Christ, and living a life that he has called me to. But I quit being a Christian. I want to be able to proclaim to people when I’m having a hard time. I want to be honsest with people and let them know it’s been a month since I’ve done my devotions. That ’s what real Christianity is. It’s not the peaches and cream we ascribe it to be. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about doing the best we can, despite our imperfections. Sometimes I don’t feel like being a Christian anymore. It doesn’t mean I’m not, just beacuse I have that feeling. Sometimes I have to question my entire belief system, including the existence of God himself. That doesn’t mean I’m not a Christian. I have doubts. I have questions. Sometimes I just don’t feel like doing it. That doesn’t make me any less of a Christian. No, the fact that I am open and honest about those things to me means that if anything, my relationship with God is just that much truer. No human relationship that’s worth anything is all about being perfect. My friends and I share all our emotions–the times when we feel great, and the times when we feel crappy. Telling God I’m doubting something about my faith doesn’t mean he doesn’t love me anymore, praise Him!

So be honest. Be open about your struggles. If not with others, at least with God. He already knows you feel that way, anyways!

So, it is with virulent disdain I say goodbye to Christianity. I’m not about pretending anymore. Out with Christianity. In with a true, honest, relationship with Jesus Christ–and the people he loved so much, he died for them.

If you’ve been following the “Minutemen Project” at all over the last week or so, then you have probably read some of the same articles I’ve read, and to be honest, they’ve just got me plain upset. I was unaware of this phrase until just recently, but apparently now we feel that there are Migrants Rights, and there are even migrants rights activists groups, all there to protect the “rights” of illegal migrants.

What I’m not sure about is where to go with this blog. One part of me wants to just rip up and down on people for saying that now we owe illegal aliens rights just the same as anyone else in our country. That’s one of the most retarded things I’ve ever heard. They don’t belong to our country! How on earth are we all of the sudden expected to give them rights, which basically
amounts to letting them come live freely in our country. I don’t know about you, but I don’t pay 25% of my income in taxes so that millions of illegal immigrants can roam about on our soil, using our infrastructure that we pay for. I have to pay the same
as everyone else, and I expect anyone who enjoys the benefits and priviledges of those tax dollars to pay their share, as well. I get really, really heated when I start debating this stuff, and personally I almost want to tell the Minutemen to use our right, the one which our country was founded on, to shoot the guys if that’s what it takes. Maybe if something acutually happens to immigrants that’s more strict than a discounted bus ticket back home, they might actually think twice about breaking our laws.

On the other hand, it doesn’t seem hardly fair to trash on illegal immigrants (as much as they deserve it) and their rights, when we are right now spending hundreds of billions of dollars to protect the rights of a country 10,000 miles away, even if the only true purpose of that war is to protect our oil supply. I just don’t get what about that makes sense. If we took the $400 billion dollars this war has cost, and spread it around in our country’s quickly-failing education system, think of how far $400Bn dollars could go. We could give 4,000 school systems each a hundred million dollars, and maybe then we could keep the important
education programs, like music and art and the things which not only are most important, but are also most likely to engender a generation of children who are peaceful and caring enough to actual make the changes we want our guns and tanks to make in Iraq. And think about it, let’s say each of those 4,000 school systems puts that money into long-term investments and lives off the interest. a couple of million a year would easily fund most creative arts programs, and not only would those all be funded, but
it would be a great economic stimulation, as well. If all of the sudden we pumped 400 billion into our economy, maybe the dollar wouldn’t be losing quite as much money, and maybe trade would be even stronger, and who knows. (I’m not an economist, and I’m sure someone who is will point out a major theoretical flaw in my little platform I just made, but hey, it sounds good to me).

I just think our founding fathers were ridiculous people. I mean who really expects a democracy of uninformed, unintelligent people to make good votes and elect qualified people into office? Based on the people who run our government right now,
I sure don’t.

As I was walking to work today, following the masses of people who go to chapel without ever giving a second thought to the job that my colleagues and I do to make chapel happen, there was a guy sitting at the doors ‘begging’ for money. It was another student, and he wasn’t poor.. but he had dressed that way and was begging for money to build a church in India. Now, I didn’t stop and talk with the guy to figure out exactly what he was doing, or if he could be trusted, I just kept walking because I had to be at work.
What got to me was the reaction of the girls in front of me. There were three of them, and my apologies for the stereotype, but they are those girls–you know, the kind who wear only the most stylish name brands, and who always have a cellphone attached to them, and who hang around with about five athletes, and date one, but only for the benefits. Anyways, as they were asked to donate to the church in India, they very briskly walked past (as did I) and went through the doors. Once inside, they began considering how much money they had, and how it was going to be better spent. What struck me the most was the last girl, who had only four dollars, but it was saved for a much more important purpose–going tanning.

But before I could drown myself in the acclaim of being so much more holy, and being willing to give my money to projects like that, one thing jumped out at me: I didn’t give anything, either. The moment quickly turned from being ‘their’ problem to being my problem. I was all of the sudden extremely convicted. God asked me to make an account for my money, and what I came up with wasn’t extremely reassuring.
I spent $35 today on music. I got four really great prices, and these CDs will be great next semester if the whole alternative worship service actually starts like I want it to (I got chillout music - volumes 5-8 of Cafe del Mar). I am doing heavy-duty research on a pack for hiking, which will be a combination of Christmas and birthday money, and will likely cost me anywhere from $79 - $199, depending on what I get. As soon as school is over this year, four of my friends and I are spending about $180/person to take a week-long trek into the rocky mountains. I spent $20 on food this weekend, and if I look at my debit card statement, average about 50 bones a month in fast food tabs. I spend a lot of money. And I honestly can’t even account for where most of it goes. So I’m having a pretty hard time right now justifying a lot of things. I’ve been meaning to sponsor a compassion international child for a while now, and just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I don’t have any lessons for tonight. Just questions for myself.

Have I spent my money well recently?
What of my spending went towards making an eternal difference?
What have I done to make an eternal difference?

I take my leave of the evening, a contrite and convicted man.