One of the biggest criticisms of the Christian church as a whole is that people who claim to follow Jesus are very judgmental. Now I have been told that there is no such thing as a perfect church, but we serve a perfect Master.
I started off preaching on campus at Oklahoma State because there was a guy there named "Preacher Bob" who would draw a crowd by calling people names. He would call sorority girls "whores", fraternity guys were "whoremongers", and if a woman didn't wear a long enough skirt she was a "whore" too. I was so indignant that I started preaching. I had never done anything like that before. So I just opened up the Bible, read a bit of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7) and then I would talk about it.
One of the main points behind the Sermon on the Mount is that God looks at your heart. It's not about looking good on the outside. Sometimes we are so worried about our appearances. If you think the outside is more important than your heart, just go back and read Matthew chapters 5 to 7.
I know what it was like to be made fun of in grade school and high school and it felt horrible. I also know what it felt like to be the person who is judging someone else, and it too felt horrible. I wanted to tear someone down because of the fact that I just didn't want to be there. I know of other times when I was tempted to judge others, and I was doing it because there was something else in my life that I didn't like, so I was basically taking out my frustration out on someone else. Imagine I come home from work and I've had a bad day, and then I see my neighbor going out of his house and he's about to go for a run. So I go inside and talk to my wife and I say that our neighbor is a "health nut" and he runs too much.
I am sure a counselor could explain this better, but I know that I have done this at home. I am upset about something at work or I went to the store and people were rude to me and kept cutting me off; and I end up taking out my frustrations out on my wife and/or kids. What I have found is that when I am doing better spiritually, and I am rested and feeling good I am more likely to not take stuff personally. I will shake it off, and not carry that frustration with me.
Many times we judge other people because we are not feeling good about ourselves. We aren't supposed to hate ourselves. In fact, we should love ourselves. The key is that we are supposed to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. Matthew 22:37-40 says, "37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
If you think about it, all the talents and abilities that you have were given to you by God (1 Corinthians 12) and therefore you not only have value, but you also have a place within the body of Christ that is important. God doesn't look at you as some mindless minion. You have an important role, and you need to figure out what that is. Maybe you need to pray about it. You could ask your pastor for some guidance.
What I do know is that if you find yourself judging other people, that is a symptom of something bigger inside of you, and you need to be real with how you feel. I am making a commitment today to not judge other people, and if you are reading this, I would hope that you do the same. As Christians we are no better than anyone else. We were fortunate that someone invited us to church. After we became Christians we were fortunate that we had older Christians in our life that we could learn from and imitate things from their lives.
For more information about me you can go to my webpage - preacherjames.com; and my e-mail is preacherjames34@gmail.com. If you have any questions or maybe a prayer request, send me an e-mail and I will try to get back to you within 48 hours.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
right and wrong without judging
What I am trying to do here is explain the thoughts behind my latest attempt to write a book. I have tried in the past to write, but have been discouraged because I would find out that someone had already written a book with a similar idea in mind. I just need to push my fears aside and just go for it.
The book will be called "Why is this stuff wrong?", and I am going to do my best to explain why the wisdom of the Bible is right, and why some of the things that we as humans do are wrong. But I want to do it in a way that is non-judgmental. In other words, I think the reason the Bible tells us certain behaviors are wrong is because it may feel good in the short term, but in the long term it hurts many other people and has effects on our society that we did not even realize.
For example, many people tend to snack more than they should, and this leads to being overweight. I don't want to judge anyone for how much they weigh. Not everyone can be "average". Obviously, some people will be above average and some will be below average. However, there were a few facts that I found out that really blew my mind. In doing research for my book I found out that Americans spend over 134 billion dollars a year on health care costs related to being overweight. I also learned that Americans use an additional 1 billion gallons of gasoline because of how much extra weight we have. It makes sense because your car has to work a little harder to get us from point A to point B. How does this relate to the Bible? Well Jesus told us that we should deny ourselves, and take up our cross if we want to follow Him. (Luke 9:23). The fact that many people in America claim to follow Christ, but then turn around and overeat; well what that tells me is that in reality we don't deny ourselves, at least in terms of food.
The reason the bible calls some things "sin" is because they have self-destructive qualities. In other words, I want everyone who comes in the door of the church that I serve to be healthy, happy, and safe. I want you to have a great life. I don't want you to feel like I am judging or condemning anyone. However, there are somethings that we do in our society that are just plain unhealthy, and will not make us happy. If you think buying stuff will make you happy, just wait a few months. Initially when I have bought "gadgets" (as my wife would call them) I always felt great, that is until the newer gadget came along and all of a sudden, my gadget became obsolete. It feels like we are rats on a wheel, running as fast as we can, but not getting anywhere.
Our culture does not teach ideas like being content. If you were truly content with everything you had, you wouldn't consume as much stuff (food, material things, etc.) and therefore the economy would suffer for it. That's why car companies and other businesses had to figure out how to make stuff that will last, but it won't last forever. Cars are designed to last 7-10 years. Why? Well, they want you to buy a new car every 7-10 years. If they put the best materials into everything that is in your car, it could last 20-30 years; and then you wouldn't need a new one for a long time.
Quite frankly, I think we are being lied to. Every time someone promises that their new product will make us happy, well it's a big fat lie. Happiness doesn't come from a box, or from a gadget, or a car. Happiness really is about being content with what you have, and being thankful for what you have.
I am going to put my book on authonomy.com, so you can read it if you want to for free. If you register on their site, you can look at books and give them 1-6 stars depending on how much you like them. If you ever have questions or wish to contact me my e-mail address is preacherjames34@gmail.com. I hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend, and please pray for those who are in Afghanistan. I was deployed in Iraq for a year, and I can tell you from experience that it's the holidays that is when I missed my family the most.
The book will be called "Why is this stuff wrong?", and I am going to do my best to explain why the wisdom of the Bible is right, and why some of the things that we as humans do are wrong. But I want to do it in a way that is non-judgmental. In other words, I think the reason the Bible tells us certain behaviors are wrong is because it may feel good in the short term, but in the long term it hurts many other people and has effects on our society that we did not even realize.
For example, many people tend to snack more than they should, and this leads to being overweight. I don't want to judge anyone for how much they weigh. Not everyone can be "average". Obviously, some people will be above average and some will be below average. However, there were a few facts that I found out that really blew my mind. In doing research for my book I found out that Americans spend over 134 billion dollars a year on health care costs related to being overweight. I also learned that Americans use an additional 1 billion gallons of gasoline because of how much extra weight we have. It makes sense because your car has to work a little harder to get us from point A to point B. How does this relate to the Bible? Well Jesus told us that we should deny ourselves, and take up our cross if we want to follow Him. (Luke 9:23). The fact that many people in America claim to follow Christ, but then turn around and overeat; well what that tells me is that in reality we don't deny ourselves, at least in terms of food.
The reason the bible calls some things "sin" is because they have self-destructive qualities. In other words, I want everyone who comes in the door of the church that I serve to be healthy, happy, and safe. I want you to have a great life. I don't want you to feel like I am judging or condemning anyone. However, there are somethings that we do in our society that are just plain unhealthy, and will not make us happy. If you think buying stuff will make you happy, just wait a few months. Initially when I have bought "gadgets" (as my wife would call them) I always felt great, that is until the newer gadget came along and all of a sudden, my gadget became obsolete. It feels like we are rats on a wheel, running as fast as we can, but not getting anywhere.
Our culture does not teach ideas like being content. If you were truly content with everything you had, you wouldn't consume as much stuff (food, material things, etc.) and therefore the economy would suffer for it. That's why car companies and other businesses had to figure out how to make stuff that will last, but it won't last forever. Cars are designed to last 7-10 years. Why? Well, they want you to buy a new car every 7-10 years. If they put the best materials into everything that is in your car, it could last 20-30 years; and then you wouldn't need a new one for a long time.
Quite frankly, I think we are being lied to. Every time someone promises that their new product will make us happy, well it's a big fat lie. Happiness doesn't come from a box, or from a gadget, or a car. Happiness really is about being content with what you have, and being thankful for what you have.
I am going to put my book on authonomy.com, so you can read it if you want to for free. If you register on their site, you can look at books and give them 1-6 stars depending on how much you like them. If you ever have questions or wish to contact me my e-mail address is preacherjames34@gmail.com. I hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend, and please pray for those who are in Afghanistan. I was deployed in Iraq for a year, and I can tell you from experience that it's the holidays that is when I missed my family the most.
Monday, July 2, 2012
First blog
I guess the first thing I should do for those who don't know where the nickname "preacher James" came from, I should briefly share about that. I worked full time and went to school part time for a few years. I wanted to graduate from Oklahoma State, so I put in my two weeks notice at my job and decided to go to school full time.
As a full-time student (this was around the spring of 2003) I was spending more time on campus, and I noticed a guy who was on the library lawn, and he was preaching, but it was different than anything I had ever heard in church. This guy (who has the nickname "Preacher Bob") said that all sorority girls were "whores", and all frat guys were "whoremongers", and any woman who wore a short dress was going to hell. He said all kinds of weird things, so one day I was so indignant that I went behind the library, opened up the bible to the Sermon on the Mount, and started expounding on it.
A few weeks later I noticed someone was taking my picture while I was preaching. I didn't mind because they weren't heckling me or threatening me. About 20 minutes later a young lady came out to talk with me. She said that she was with the Daily O'Collegian (school news paper), and she wanted to do an interview with me. I was hesitant, fearing that she would misquote me.
The good news is that the reporter quoted me word for word. The bad news was they decided to put it on the front page of the paper! I was a bit nervous as to what would happen because over 20,000 students, teachers, staff and other people read this on a daily basis. Come to find out, based on the article, that she interviewed other people who had heard my preaching and who liked what I had to say. Later on, I did some editorials for the school newspaper. I graduated in May of 2004, and since then I have gone to seminary and am now a licensed minister for the United Church of Christ.
As to what happened to "Bob", well the ironic thing is that his real name isn't Bob. I won't share what it is here because I want to protect his identity, but after digging a little deeper here's the rest of the story. In 1996 there was a street preacher named Bob who said many of the same things, but he stopped going to OSU. When this new person showed up, many people at OSU thought he was the same guy; so they started calling him "Preacher Bob". I won't share his real name, but he is known at the University of Arkansas as "Moses", and there are a few videos of him on youtube. Thankfully, he hasn't been seen at Oklahoma State in quite a while. I have been blessed to pastor a small church NW of Enid, so I have other things to worry about.
My e-mail is preacherjames34@gmail.com if you have any questions, suggestions, comments, etc. It's not my primary e-mail, so I don't check it every day, but if you write, I will do my best to write back. Please keep the people on the east coast who have lost power in your prayers, as well as those in the west near Colorado and Utah who have lost their homes due to these awful fires.
As a full-time student (this was around the spring of 2003) I was spending more time on campus, and I noticed a guy who was on the library lawn, and he was preaching, but it was different than anything I had ever heard in church. This guy (who has the nickname "Preacher Bob") said that all sorority girls were "whores", and all frat guys were "whoremongers", and any woman who wore a short dress was going to hell. He said all kinds of weird things, so one day I was so indignant that I went behind the library, opened up the bible to the Sermon on the Mount, and started expounding on it.
A few weeks later I noticed someone was taking my picture while I was preaching. I didn't mind because they weren't heckling me or threatening me. About 20 minutes later a young lady came out to talk with me. She said that she was with the Daily O'Collegian (school news paper), and she wanted to do an interview with me. I was hesitant, fearing that she would misquote me.
The good news is that the reporter quoted me word for word. The bad news was they decided to put it on the front page of the paper! I was a bit nervous as to what would happen because over 20,000 students, teachers, staff and other people read this on a daily basis. Come to find out, based on the article, that she interviewed other people who had heard my preaching and who liked what I had to say. Later on, I did some editorials for the school newspaper. I graduated in May of 2004, and since then I have gone to seminary and am now a licensed minister for the United Church of Christ.
As to what happened to "Bob", well the ironic thing is that his real name isn't Bob. I won't share what it is here because I want to protect his identity, but after digging a little deeper here's the rest of the story. In 1996 there was a street preacher named Bob who said many of the same things, but he stopped going to OSU. When this new person showed up, many people at OSU thought he was the same guy; so they started calling him "Preacher Bob". I won't share his real name, but he is known at the University of Arkansas as "Moses", and there are a few videos of him on youtube. Thankfully, he hasn't been seen at Oklahoma State in quite a while. I have been blessed to pastor a small church NW of Enid, so I have other things to worry about.
My e-mail is preacherjames34@gmail.com if you have any questions, suggestions, comments, etc. It's not my primary e-mail, so I don't check it every day, but if you write, I will do my best to write back. Please keep the people on the east coast who have lost power in your prayers, as well as those in the west near Colorado and Utah who have lost their homes due to these awful fires.
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