Church | Greg Nilsen

Because Bunnies Are Cuddlier Than Jesus…

Apr 122006

Easter Crap

Every year around Easter, I begin to get annoyed by rabbits. I'll be walking through my neighborhood, and inevitably I'll come across a house where the residents must have decided to take a trip to Michaels and buy everything that was pastel or had a bunny on it.

Now, years ago I would have had no problem with this because I enjoyed the "holiday" of Easter and all the candy and games that came with it. However, as I have grown into my faith and beliefs, and I've become so aware of what Easter is really all about, all the Easter Bunny stuff becomes borderline heretical.

The ones that really get me are the people who push all of this other stuff, and still call themselves Christians. These are the people who are at all the Friday fish frys throughout Lent, but don't bother to show up at church on Sunday. The same people who decorate their house with rabbits, skip out on Good Friday (arguably a much more significant day for Christians as it was the day that the sins were removed by the blood spilled by Jesus), and then come to celebrate the risen savior on Easter. The hypocracy to my as a believer is frustrating, and I can completely understand why a non-believer will point at such people as reasons they don't want to be a Christian.

As Christians, let us remember and focus on the truly important parts of this holiday weekend. This is the annual celebration of the sacrifice that was made by Jesus to wash away the sins of all those who truly believe in him.

The Gospel Of Judas

church, interesting No Responses »

Apr 072006

Ah, the irony of the media. Last night I was watching Extreme Home Makeover: After the Storm on ABC where they fully restored a church (of course sending the most effeminate guy in the cast to lead the charge), and an hour later on Primetime they had a story promoting the Gospel of Judas.

For those not familiar, the Gosepl of Judas is a text that was referenced long ago in an 180 AD letter by Irenaeus of Lyon, but had not been found in print until 1983 in a Coptic language. It makes the accusation that Jesus asked Judas to betray him and that Jesus treated Judas as the greatest of his disciples.

Recently it has been getting a lot of press thanks to a feature by National Geographic. They even have a PDF copy of the translation thus far. However, little useful information has been coming from it's study.

Researchers have authenticated the document so that we know it does date back to around the fourth century AD, and we can then verify from the writings of Irenaeus that it was written prior to 180 AD. However, the content of the writings are highly questionable (Irenaeus denounced them in his writings as being from a Coptic cult background and therefore unreliable) and can probably most closely be related to the Gospel of Thomas, which attempted to describe the years between Jesus' birth and his last days as documented in the cannonized gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There's nothing in either text to confirm their statements, and that is why they were left out of the biblical cannon.

In essence, it would be as if I wrote a news article about how Dick Cheney was a robot created by the Christian Right to manipulate George W. Bush and push their adgenda, and then the article was discovered in 2000 years. That article would most likely be quickly dismissed, but since the Gospel of Judas focuses on the key figure of Christianity, Jesus Christ, you will have non-Christian scientists trying to debunk the religion based on a single finding.

Basically, it's bunk.

C'mon Down To 'South Park'…

church, TV No Responses »

Mar 242006

Unless you've been living under a rock, then you've probably heard about all the commotion surrounding the crudely-animated South Park premier. In the Chef's South Park Swan Song premier, long-running character 'Chef' was turned into a pedophile and killed off after the voice of Chef, Isaac Hayes, quit the show a week before the premier over "negative portrayal of (his) religion".

Now, let's just take a quick look at this hippocracy. Clearly, Hays was not offended enough to take a stance as South Park has repeatedly mocked Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Nor was he all that offended when the show completely shredded the foundings of the Mormon faith. However, when they attacked his "religion" of Scientology (dealing with alien spirits and other mumbo jumbo, but basically allowing people to pay for a clear conscience), he got in a tizzy! Awww…poor baby!

So in retaliation, Trey Parker and Matt Stone probably went a bit too far. There have been some complaints rising up about their glorification of pedophilia. Heck, there's even been some question if the Scientololgy hullabaloo is the reason Hayes left the show. However, due to the severity of the retalliation from Parker and Stone, it's hard to see how that could have not been the reason.

So, while I'm not much of a fan of the show (geez, it's been years since I last watched an episode), the latest buzz does bring up a lot of different issues which are rearing their heads both politically and spiritually. It's often easy to write off as 'just a joke', but we do have to watch how we deal with these sensitive subjects. We can't promote disgraceful activities, even in a cartoon, just because someone's involved in a cult because it can lead to other consequences. As Christians, we are taught to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-15), so this kind of retalliation is not acceptable. Maybe it would have been best for Chef to have just never appeared in South Park again…but Parker and Stone have proven themselves to be boys who refuse to mature into responsible men.

I'm sure there will be another chapter to this saga though…

Kirk Franklin: Hero

church, music No Responses »

Mar 232006

I came across this interview with Kirk Franklin on Kirk Franklin - Hero CNN where he briefly discusses his past struggles with pornography addiction, Katrina, and the tour for his lastest album Hero. By far, I think the most powerful things is his admission of an addiction to pornography. This is an issue which many men struggle with, and it's good to see someone like Kirk Franklin be able to come forth and admit it and talk about getting through it (on his album, his song "Let It Go" is specifically about this). It's a good reminder that we are all sinners, but we can only call ourselves faithful to God when we try to remove that sin from our daily lives.

A Step Of Faith

church No Responses »

Mar 212006

Cross I wanted to share the good news that I was elected to the board of directors at my church (SPAG) last week, and last night we had our first board meeting. In all honesty, it makes me a bit nervous. Not in a bad way, but in a "am I really ready for this" kind of way. I had the same feelings two years ago when I was asked to take over as worship leader at the church.

At that time, I had only been at the church for a year, only been playing with the worship team for about six months, and had never really lead worship except as a fill-in about once a month as needed. When I told that the worship leader was going to be leaving the church and moving away, and that they wanted me to take over, I was shocked. I was flattered, but I almost turned it down before I went to prayer. I still didn't think that I was ready, but I knew that if God had called me into this ministry, then it's what I would do.

In the time since, even in the craziness of planning a wedding, I have grown so much as a musician, leader, and person in general. I kind of learned my place, and saw what blessings occurred when I trusted in the Lord, and what struggles I had when I tried to make things perfect in my way. I've also had my ego tempered, as more and more I get people telling me how much they enjoyed worship, but I now realize that the praise isn't meant for me. At first I had been pseudo-humble, but now I can truly say I find it an honor to be able just to lead worship for the Lord and His people.

That said, you'd think I'd be better prepared to take on a larger role in the church. It's one thing for me to lead worship, because I've long had a passion for music. However, to become part of the church leadership for almost all church buisness is a huge responsibility that I wasn't sure I was ready to take on. I knew that my congregation and pastor were ready for me to tackle this new challenge, but I was a little more hesitant myself. Even now, I guess I still am, but I do know that I've been called into the situation. Even though it may not be easy, it's what I'm supposed to be doing.

As Pastor Paul told me when I was asked to take over as worship leader, "I'd be kind of worried if you weren't a little nervous". I guess it's the same kind of thing this time around. Whether I think I'm prepared or not, it's God that knows what I'm capable of. For that I am thankful, and I will do my best to trust in His judgement.

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