I heard a great sermon at church yesterday. It had to do with the time Jesus healed the guy who had been blind from birth. Part of the jest was how the Pharisees, (the religious leaders) tried to put Jesus in a box. The passage, John Chapter 9 can be quite humorous depending on how you look at it. Here is this guy Jesus heals and the religious leaders just keep trying to put Jesus down, and find the man Jesus healed in some kind of lie. Their beliefs of what and who God is, how he works, is torn all to pieces.At The Virtual Pew, we often have people trying to tell us what they think is the appropriate way to share about Jesus. They put him in a box and with little exception of what their expectations include. It is really pretty sad. I still get judgmental hate mail for various things I have posted despite the fact that lives have been changed and the methods have worked. I get criticized for respecting the genius of Rob Zombie. I recently did an article that was a repost of a song, sung by Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. (notice the above links can also be found with much more comment at MySpace) How dare I share a song from someone like Ozzy? How dare I turn people on to the evil Ozzy, no matter how much the song talked about God and recognizing the sacrifice and love provided by Jesus? Ozzy would never do anything like that! Or could he?
My Bible tells a story of how God used a donkey to speak. It tells a story where Jesus made it clear that if he wasn’t going to be praised, the rocks would stand up and start praising him. It talks about dry bones that come to life and some kind of strange flying wheel in the sky and I could go on, and on, and on. I don’t see a limited God; I see and know an unlimited God.
Now why do I say these things? Simple, if some Christians get upset that I admire, respect and appreciate Rob Zombie, Ozzy Osbourne, various movies, or any other media that shares spiritual truth, they are going to hate the video I am posting today. After all, what good thing could come out of South Park and the mouth of Cartman?Jesus made it clear, if one states that Jesus is the Son of God, who loves us enough to die for us, and provide a life that brings meaning and purpose, if we recognize we can’t do it on our own, and need his love, forgiveness, and leadership, and as a result, people come to know Jesus, how can we be against him? That said, I have been called a tool of the devil, a unbeliever and more. At this point, I like to go back to my old ascertation, let’s compare fruit! Don’t tell me what you have done, show me what you have done, and we can look at the lives changed from ministries like The Virtual Pew.
For several thousand years, God was in this box called the Ark of the Covenant. Then Jesus was born, was crucified, and the curtain that protected the ark was ripped a part and the box was busted wide open, thus allowing God to be among the people. I know a little allegorical but an allegory and concept presented in the Bible. Yet, even though all people can now go to God, it is amazing at how many of us are trying to stick him back in that box. I say, let God operate, let him use the donkey, the bones, the stones, or the movies if it means he can provide hope and salvation to people not being reached by the “traditional” church or their methods. I say that when we get to wanting the big picture of sharing Jesus with people, at all cost, and are willing to become all things to all people in order that some may get to know Jesus, we won’t be as concerned about the methods we use as we are the people we are trying to reach.
Now don’t get me wrong, not all things work for all people, but I challenge you, think out of the box, don’t put God back in the box, and then, maybe just maybe, we can all be more effective at finding ways to get others to understand and accept the message of love and salvation provided by Christ. Until then, see if you can get anything out of this one segment from South Park. There will be other South Park messages coming, and I assure you about this one, and the others, there are some things this show gets right on the money.
Click on the video below to see the video. If the video don’t appear, just click on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_9l5HuZrDE
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Now I get asked this quite often, Can we repost your blogs or articles? The short answer to that is, what an honor that you would ask, and by all means, spread the word.
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