When I go to this store, I usually shop the bargain section because that’s where they put the books that were written more than 10 years ago by guys who weren’t pastors of cool, hip, mega churches. Sadly for me, the selection consisted primarily of Tim LeHaye books, cheesy Christian self-help junk, and Christian romance novels that all seemed to be Amish themed. Saddened, I decided to check out the biography section to see if there was anything I could read over the summer.

Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve ever been more infuriated by a biography section in my entire life. The thing was only 3 shelves, each about four feet wide, but that wasn’t what got me. What really bothered me were the contents of the section. I was expecting to find biographies of Spurgeon, Augustine, Edwards, Mueller, etc. To be sure, there were some legitimate biographies in the section, but the thing that disturbed me so much was seeing these two books on the same shelf:

I was shocked. I mean, I realize that “technically” these books could both be in a biography section, but I was really just saddened and even a bit ashamed that a Christian store would place a book about Sarah Palin on the same shelf as a book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Bonhoffer was a pastor who dared to use his influence to challenge the Nazis. He was also the author of  a great book on Christian community called Life Together. He was by no means a perfect man, and some of his ideas and choices are certainly open to debate, but he died as a Christian martyr.

And then there’s Sarah Palin. Now, I have no problem with Christians taking political stands, but to have a book about Palin in the same section with the biographies of great men and women from Christian history is just ridiculous. Seriously, what contribution has she made at all to Christian dialog, the church,  or ministry in any way whatsoever?

The answer is simple: nothing. I really can’t express how offended I was by this. I’m sure Mrs. Palin is nice and all, but her biography has no business being mentioned in the same breath with those of Bonhoeffer, Moody, and other tremendous servants of the Lord. This is  simply a ridiculous attempt by the store to capitalize on the fact that many Christians are political conservatives.

It’s sad to me that a Christian retailer would help to feed this idea that being an American Christian is about being patriotic and a good person “don’t ya know.” The great men and women of Christian history have given their lives for the spread of the gospel, not political ideology. As of today, I will no longer purchase from this major Christian retailer. I’m getting all my books online now. It’s cheaper anyway.

I’m a sucker for Christmas music.  I really am.  My wife and I start pumping Christmas tunes at our place as soon as November hits.  We are unabashedly “those people.”   There are certainly some songs we prefer above others, and for a variety of reasons, but mostly we just “love this Christmassy time of year,” to quote Burl Ives.  And while Wham’s “Last Christmas” is among my personal holiday favorites, I have a tendency to gravitate more towards the religious classics during the Christmas season.

So, it was with a cheery heart that last week I pulled up an online radio station entitled “Religious Christmas Classics,” fully expecting to hear some of my old favorites.  Much to my dismay, however, my ears and spirit were immediately assailed with a Pa-Rum-Pum-Pum-Pumming that took me completely by surprise!  ‘Could it be?  Did I click on the wrong station by mistake?’ After a quick double-check my fear was realized—the Religious Christmas Classics station had put “The Little Drummer Boy” at the top of its rotation!

Now, to be forthright, I’ve never been a big fan of “The Little Drummer Boy.”  In fact, I’ve never even been a small fan.  But something about having it pop up on a Religious Christmas Classics radio station this year really chapped my buttocks, and here’s why:

For a song to be considered a “Religious Christmas Classic,” in my mind, certain implied characteristics must be evidenced.  Chief among these characteristics is a portrayal of the nativity story as documented in the New Testament.  As my friend MJ pointed out in his watery, sentimental appeal, “The Little Drummer Boy” badly misses the mark on this key ingredient by interjecting a presumably fictional character into the nativity story.  Ever wonder why “The Little Drummer Boy” isn’t found in Christian hymnals?  Ever wonder why it’s not sung at Christmas Eve services?  The proof is in the (figgy) pudding—because the song doesn’t belong there.

As an aside, I asked several local Christian pastors about whether or not their churches would be celebrating Christ’s birth by singing “The Little Drummer Boy” at any of their Christmas services this year, and the answer was a resounding and unanimous no.

To be clear, I’m not trying to diminish any metaphorical application “The Little Drummer Boy” might present.  What I am claiming is that these types of loose applications are slippery slopes (to use my own metaphor), and aren’t proper qualifiers for determining whether or not a song should be considered a “Religious Christmas Classic.”  If they were, then we’d certainly have sufficient grounds to put some other well-known Christmas songs on this list.

Take “Frosty the Snowman,” for example.  He was birthed around Christmas, gathered disciples, broke societal norms/rules, then left unexpectedly after promising to return again someday.  Perhaps this is an allegorical reference to Christ and His second coming?  Maybe we should consider “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” for the religious playlist?  After all, the song clearly demonstrates that even the outcasts and downtrodden can be used for great purposes, that the weak can lead the strong, and that judgment based on outward appearances is foolish.  Aren’t these all biblical messages?  Isn’t there some similarity to be found when comparing Rudolph as an unexpected Christmas savior and a baby born in a manger as humanity’s unexpected Savior?

To go a step further, perhaps instead of reading the Bible’s account of Christ’s birth we should reference Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, given that it contains some allegorical parallels to the Gospel.  Or, if we really wanted to get creative, couldn’t we just plug C.S. Lewis’ famous lion, Aslan, into the manger scene along with the other animals?  Perhaps he was among those that “kept time” for the drummer?

The point is, that like many Christmas songs, “The Little Drummer Boy” has a message and it has its place.  Clearly, that place is alongside songs by Wham or other fairy tales about Frosty or Rudolph, not on a “Religious Christmas Classics” radio station.

I have recently found myself in a heated friendly with one of my fellow man bloggers regarding the classification of the “The Little Drummer Boy” as a “religious” Christmas carol. This has turned into a pretty unexpectedly heated debate. For those of you who are not familiar with this tune…feel free to check out the following link.

The song tells the story of a young boy who visits the baby Jesus shortly after our Savior’s birth. He laments the fact that he is unable to bring any sort of gift to this child King, but is compelled to give whatever he can. He proceeds to give the one gift that he can afford; an expression of worship, using his gift of tapping a rhythm out on stretched hide.

My good friend argues that this song’s inclusion on the “religious” Christmas songs list is a heretical travesty. He claims that it has no right to be included due to its apocryphal implications and lack of biblical support for the inclusion of a young drummer boy playing his drums for our Savior. He has gone so far as to claim that its inclusion is on the same level of including “Frosty the Snowman” on the same list.

While I will grant his argument that there is indeed no canonical evidence for this young percussionist ever actually being manger-side; belittling its Biblically based message is going a bit too far.

During a season of blatant commercialism and consumerism, this little boy’s reminder to give whatever we can to our Savior should be listened to. Christ desires worship from us, he demands our submission to him, and he is pleased when we can use our talents to glorify Him. This is why we include this song on the Religious Christmas songs list; not because it is an accurate retelling of  an event surrounding Christ’s birth, but rather, because it is a clear reminder of what our response should be during these days leading up to the 24^th of December.

We should be awed by His incarnation and death to the point where we can do nothing else but give whatever we can. This young boy’s gift was to worship the Savior of the world with his talent…lets rejoice in this as we listen to this song on our “religious Christmas” music channel.

- MJ

We who comprise the LayZmen usually have harmony within our ranks. There are certainly some areas of life where we share differences of opinion such as politics, eschatology, boxers, briefs, etc. Despite these, we manage to find a way to get along and generally enjoy each others company.

Unfortunately for us, as with many families, the holiday season tends to bring out some of the underlying issues that have been repressed throughout the year. Like your crazy uncle who always brings up the same issue from the past or tells the same old story, one of the LayZmen airs the same controversial idea every holiday season. Most of us tend to share his opinion, but this year a new addition to the LayZmen crew is ready to challenge him.

THE ISSUE

Should the beloved holiday classic “The Little Drummer Boy” be included in a “Christian” or “Religious” Christmas music playlist?

Over the next few posts, we will hash this thing out. Feel free to join the debate with your comments and opinions.

I’m teaching through Ecclesiastes in my 9th grade Bible class. I had the privilege of going through the book verse by verse last year during our chapel times and I’m being reminded again of how timely God’s Word can be.

As we’ve gone through chapters 1 and 2 we’ve seen that Solomon attempted to find joy, purpose, and meaning in various worldly pursuits. Knowledge, money, property, fame, sex, and entertainment were all enjoyed for a time (2:10), but in the end they failed to satisfy (2:11) Solomon’s greatest longings.

We find out in chapter 3 why this is the case.

I have seen the burden that God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. -Ecclesiastes 3:10-11.

These verses explain so much about the turmoil within our lives. That God has made everything beautiful in its time simply means that everything that surrounds us in life is temporary. There is a time for the enjoyment of these things, but they will never truly satisfy our deepest longings. This is due to the fact that God has set within us the desire for that which is more than temporary.

The burden here is the desperate longing within the human heart for something that transcends the temporal and yet it is on the temporal we find “under the sun.” Our culture’s obsession with celebrity is simply connected to the desire to be known and remembered. We avoid all thought and talk of death because we have such an aversion to it as well we should.

God created us originally to live forever in perfect relationship with Him. When our sin separated us from him we began to seek meaning and purpose through the worship of things under the sun (Romans 1). Those things will never satisfy and true joy and right use of temporal things can only be experienced when we have been restored into relationship with the One who created us and all that surrounds us (2:24-25).

Jesus said that His yoke was easy and his burden light. He may not have specifically been referencing these verses, but the connection can definitely be made. Through Christ we are reconnected to God the Father and can worship Him. This allows us to enjoy the good things in life without worshiping them.

So I’m reading the news this morning and I come across the fact that Jackass 3D is the most popular movie in America right now. What this says about American culture as a whole is not really the focus of this post. Rather, I’d like to take a look at the demographic that made this film possible: Male Young Adults. According to exit polling, the audience was 60% male, and 67% under age 25.

Having been one of these for most of my life, I have a heart for these guys. Part of me feels bad for them and the other part of me wants to slap them. The reality for these guys is that the world hasn’t given them anything worth accomplishing or living for. Some will pursue success in academics or the workplace, but many won’t. They see through the lie that success will bring happiness. Unfortunately, these guys still have energy and drive that must work itself out in some manner.

Work

The problem for these dudes is that God made men to do work. In Genesis 2:15 we read that God put man in the garden to work and care for it. Keep in mind that this is all pre-Fall. God has uniquely given men strength, energy, and desire to see things get accomplished. This can be nurtured in men for great effect. Failure to call men to these noble tasks leads to what I will call the jackassification of men.

Patterns of Destruction

The basic premise of Jackass is that 20-30 something dudes with nothing better to do hurt themselves physically or do really disgusting things for the amusement of themselves and others. When dudes aren’t making a life for themselves or doing something constructive, this is usually what their time devolves into. This is especially true for teenagers and college students.

Men who see no higher purpose in their masculinity will invariably become like this in their everyday lives and live as destroyers rather than careful workers. This is in part because it is much easier to destroy than it is to build. When men are not called to the noble task of building they turn towards the thinking of the world that leads them to live lives of destruction. These lives are not islands unto themselves and will invariably bring devastation into the lives of the women and children these men should be cultivating.

Give Them Something to Do

I want to be a man who cares for my own boys as well as the young men who are around me. I want to warn them about the foolishness of jackassification.  In Proverbs 5:21-23, it says that “a man’s ways are in full view before the Lord, and He examines all his paths. The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. He will die for a lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.”

A man who takes his cues about masculinity from culture will leave a path of devastation where there could have been service, ministry, and family. I’d rather men work carefully to build a life instead of destroying themselves, everything, and everyone around them. God calls men to these noble tasks and so should we.

May we as men be ever “turning [our] ear(s) to wisdom and applying [our] heart(s) to understanding…[so that we] will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God…Thus [we] will walk in the ways of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.” – Proverbs 2:2,5,20

Being a teenage young man sucked. You go through all of these physical changes, have raging hormonal desires, and hopefully by God’s grace no one to share them with. That, however, doesn’t really seem like God’s grace at the time. I assumed as I got older things like lust wouldn’t be an issue, especially after I got married.

Marriage certainly helps channel those desires in a healthy direction, unfortunately we still have a sinful heart that constantly seeks to pursue sinful things with our natural, God-given sexuality. Just like with all sin, our only hope in this is Jesus. He loves us and sends His Holy Spirit to convict us when our minds and eyes begin to wander. It’s too bad that we can get in a habit of quenching the Holy Spirit and avoiding his conviction.

I’m not very old (30), but I’ve seen in myself this propensity to ignore conviction. I would submit to you that this is the ultimate in arrogance. To ignore the convicting work of the Spirit is to deny our need for the gospel. We must always be about humbly repenting of sin and remembering the great sacrifice Christ made on our behalf. Failure to remember the gospel will always lead to arrogance which in many cases leads eventually to sexual sin.

Corinth

The church at Corinth had several issues with sinful behavior. They were divisive, worldly, and having some wacko church services. A specific worldly issue they were known for was their immorality that Paul addresses in chapter 5 of the letter. Interestingly enough, before he gets to that specific issue, he calls them out on their arrogance.

Some of you have become arrogant as if I were not coming to you. But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have.  - 1 Cor. 4:18-19

Not only were some of the Corinthians in sin, they arrogantly believed there would be no one to call them to account. They clearly had ignored the conviction of the Holy Spirit and had forgotten the importance of the gospel. This is perhaps why Paul spent so much time orienting their thinking around the message of the cross in chapters 1 & 2.

Arrogance arises when we don’t think we need the gospel anymore. This is the danger of assuming that its sole purpose is to get us in the door. In reality, we must be consistently put in our place by God’s grace to us who are completely undeserving. As men, when we grow arrogant or assume God owes us something or is demanding too much of us, one of the main areas where we will be tempted to fall is in the realm of our sexuality.

We must always set before us the example of Jesus as described in Philippians 2. He was humble and obedient. We must remember the example of Jesus who took responsibility for our sin and was willing to be humbled for a time. When we face the burdens and responsibilities of life  and ministry, may we accept them humbly and endure hardship just as Christ did. May we not become arrogant, assuming that we can fall into sin and continue to lead our families and minister the gospel without consequence or recourse.

Protect us Lord from our own arrogance and propensity to ignore Your conviction. May we live by the power of the gospel and accept the humble nature of a life of repentance.

I’m not really sure what’s with the fascination that people have with celebrities. I guess it’s part of our fallen nature that we are never satisfied with who God made us to be and so we become obsessed with the lives of people we wish we could be like. I just don’t get it though.

Apparently the other night was the MTV Video Music Awards. I know it’s really cool to see what Lady Gaga is wearing or find out who Brittany Spears made out with, but the only thing I really care about is if a drunk Kanye West interrupts anyone else’s speech again. See, I know that happened last year. I haven’t watched the VMA’s since high school and I still know about them. That fact alone kind of irks me. Celebrities have become the makers and marketers of pop culture. I realize it has kind of always been this way, but it’s now working its way into religion/spirituality.

Exhibit A: Richard Gere

A few years ago I was showing a video about world religions. When the interviewer came to Buddhism, she interviewed Richard Gere. Really? This is the best you could do? The guy stars in Pretty Woman and now he’s an expert on Buddhism? Sad. To be fair to her, she managed to get an interview with the Dalai Lama who is apparently some sort of expert on Buddhism. My main point is to ask what, other than his celebrity status, gives him any more credibility than your average dude from any predominantly Buddhist nation on the planet? The answer is clearly nothing.

I have a confession to make. There is one celebrity I can’t live without and he fits nicely into this category of celebrity “religious expert”. That’s right folks, it’s a LayZmen favorite: TOM FREAKING CRUISE!

What’s not to love about him? He’s obnoxious. He’s in your face. And he is all about Lord Xenu. So back up off of him. I’d actually prefer more celebrities like him. He’s a total joke because of how seriously he takes himself. The difference with TC is that he’s so crazy no one else listens to him. That is unfortunately not the case with other celebrities like our above mentioned Richard Gere. He gets a platform simply because of his status.

Celebrity Culture and Christianity

It would be great if I could sit here and take shots at the stupidity of the world on this, but that would be dishonest and would completely ignore the fact that this crap happens in certain Christian circles as well.

The major offenders here are TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network). Despite looking like this, these folks have managed to attract the attentions and wallets of a significant number of Christians over the years. Since they are “celebrities” themselves, when a famous or even somewhat famous person professes Christ, they are paraded out on the golden couches.

I give you Neon Deion and MC Hammer. Hammer had his 15 mins in the early 90′s and, while Deion was around a bit longer since he was an athlete, both flamed out pop culturally at least. Cue TBN to the rescue. These guys get interviewed and even have opportunities to preach the Word simply because they were famous. This has also been the case with other celebrities as well.

Apollos and Paul

The  human obsession with celebrities, even within the Church, has come to the forefront of my thinking as I’ve been teaching through 1 Corinthians. In chapters 1 and 3, Paul references that the church there had some major issues with division. Specifically, they seemed to be forming groups based around different preachers of the gospels. Some claimed to be followers of Paul, others Apollos.

Paul rebuked them and made the point that to treat teachers of the gospels as celebrities was “acting as mere men.” Basically, the Corinthians were just like the world around them that turned certain philosophers into people that you identified yourself with. This was NOT to be the case with God’s people. As Paul goes on to say,

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants through whom you came to believe–as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

It is fine for Christians to follow qualified, biblical leadership. It’s not ok to put those people in the place of Jesus. God calls people into ministry and uses them for His purposes, but they are simply tools in the hand of the one who truly accomplishes the work. According to the Bible, Jesus is the only person worthy of our devotion. If the world (and for that matter, Christians) devoted as much to following Him as we do to creating and then following celebrities this would be a much different place.

Let us examine the words of Paul and check ourselves. Is there a person or institution that we’re putting in the place of Jesus? May we follow Him with our whole heart and trust Him to bring about spiritual growth in our lives.

“For the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” – 1 Corinthians 1:18

One of the great privileges I have in life is that I get to teach the Bible to teenagers. I have recently begun a study of the book of 1 Corinthians during the chapel times at the school where I teach.  As we covered the second half of chapter one I was able to devote some time to the above verse.

Because I’m pretty sure I have ADD/ADHD as well as other issues, I really do most of my thinking about what or how I’m going to preach/teach something at odd times. This is of course after I have devoted blocks of time to actually studying a passage. For instance, with this passage I meditated and scribbled thoughts in a notebook one night while having a beer and messing around of Facebook. I also got up early the next morning and pulled stuff together over a carrot muffin and a cup of coffee.

This passage really struck me because the message of the cross has always been so meaningful to me. How could anyone consider it foolishness? But then I began to think through a bit more.

The Message of the Cross

What exactly is the message of the cross? For centuries theologians have split hairs over the specifics of what all Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. The Bible is quite clear however about the basic message of the cross. Essentially, God added to Himself humanity, came into our experience, and allowed us to kill Him. The goal of which was ultimately our salvation. I think some people find this concept foolish because it sounds kind of weird, but I don’t think that’s the main reason. The real reason the message of the cross is considered foolish is because of its primary implication: Salvation is made possible solely on the work of God ALONE.

This runs completely contrary to the wisdom of the world which Paul references in this chapter. You see, no one wants to believe they are as jacked up as the Bible says they are. This is why we live in a world of self help books and is also why religion is so appealing to people. Many people who become spiritual or religious do it because they get something out of it and most religions are works based so you get to attain certain levels of spirituality based on performance.

This message is the wisdom of the world, not the gospel. God, through the cross, has made foolish the wisdom of the world. I bring nothing to the table in terms of the righteousness I need because it is obtained solely on the basis of faith in the FINISHED work of Christ.

Foolishness to Greeks, A stumbling block to Jews

The main groups in the city of Corinth that would have heard this message were Greeks and Jews. As the first humanists, the message that people are inherently sinful and incapable of fixing themselves would have been complete foolishness to Greeks. Surely people just need more education and perhaps some counseling. For Jews who had come to see the Old Testament Law as something that could bring righteousness, the Grace message of the cross was incomprehensible. Surely people had to perform rituals and keep commandments to be righteous.

Sin: The Big Problem

The problem with self help and religion is that they don’t really deal with the problem of sin. They seem to, because they can lead to a change in outward behavior. Unfortunately, our problem is on the inside and so our flesh usually adjusts itself and sin is shown in other ways, usually pride. It is not enough to simply stop sinning or rearrange your sin and do some good things. Those cannot make up for what has happened before because sin defiles us. Throughout the Old Testament this imagery is used when speaking about sin. It separates us from God because it makes us unclean and unholy.

Jesus: The Solution

It is because of [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.”

Our way of dealing with sin doesn’t address the full problem. The scriptures tell us that our own righteousness is as filthy menstrual rags. This is an intentionally disgusting image used to show us that even the good things we do are defiled (according to the O.T. Law, a woman was unclean during her period) by sin. We need a righteousness that comes not from ourselves, but God. Christ lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died. By putting our trust in Him, God sees us the way He sees His Son. Therefore, Jesus is our righteousness. His blood also makes us clean and undefiled because He is our holiness. Another major problem of sin is that we are born into slavery to it (Rom. 6:20). In Christ, we are set free from that slavery because Jesus is our redemption.

I’m glad I don’t have anything to boast about. Jesus is everything. May we take the message of the cross to a world that finds it foolish, but is in desperate need of it.

It makes perfect sense, work with me.

At the beginning of the previous school year a good friend of mine and fellow LayZman gave me one of the greatest gifts that can be exchanged between heterosexual males: Chuch Norris DVDs. Apparently Wal-Mart, in their benevolence, had a triple pack of roundhouse kicking goodness that my friend felt would be an apt birthday present for me. Now you know why we’re friends.

Now that my oldest son is 5, he’s becoming aware of the fact that there are DVD’s that Mom and Dad watch that he isn’t allowed to see. After seeing the sweet cover art on the DVD case, he instantly wanted to know if this was a film he could watch. My instant reaction was no, but then I started to think about it a bit more.

First off, the films are PG and are produced by Chuck and his brother to be family friendly. As I thought about it, the hilarious “violence” was really the only thing I could think of to keep him from watching the movies. And then I had a thought, some stuff in scripture is pretty violent.

Interestingly enough, my son and I had a conversation a few days before about the 2nd coming of Christ and I spoke about what the scriptures say about it. It’s pretty violent…for the bad guys.

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.

Here I am with a little boy who wants to watch Chuck Norris kick the crap out of the bad guys and I had just told him a few days earlier that Jesus was going to kick the crap out of the bad guys. So I decided to let them watch the movies with me.

It was great because it was a chance for me to talk to the boys about the fact that there are bad guys and good guys in the world. It’s the job of the good guys to care for those who are in need and protect them from the bad guys. We talked about being a strong man of God and taking care of Mom and each other.

I’m not really one of those Wild at Heart obsessed, outdoor sports, hunting, fishing kind of dads (not that there’s anything wrong with that). But, I do want my boys to love God and serve Him with the fact that they are boys who will grow into men. That means protecting those who need protection and loving justice. I don’t want them thinking of violence as the answer to everything, but I don’t want them insulated completely from it either.

Maybe this makes me a bad father, but my boys and I are closer and, thanks to Chuch Norris, we got to have some really interesting conversations about God, Jesus, justice, mercy, and being a man.

]]> http://thelayzmen.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/jesus-chuck-norris-and-brining-up-boys/feed/ 0 Coach chuck norris