Prioritized Ethics?

Thanks to Shane for this. Xenos is a church (made up of house churches) in Columbus. What do you guys think?

>>"Visitors to Xenos Bible studies are often amazed to see a group of people standing around outside the meeting smoking cigarettes. They may also hear occasional off-color language. Our guests from other churches notice a difference between their churches and Xenos in a number of these areas, and are confused. They wonder why Xenos members seem so committed and zealous in many areas, but loose in other areas.

We are not proud of this distinctive in Xenos, but we do realize it grows out of our teaching on prioritized Ethics . According to this approach to ethics, some areas of moral behavior are more important than others. Therefore, we should focus on the important areas rather than the unimportant. This is the opposite of the Pharisaic error Jesus called "straining out the gnat and swallowing the camel."

When we study what Scripture advances as important in the field of ethics, we find that Christ said loving God and others sacrificially is paramount. This means sins of omission (like failing to develop good relationships or failing to have ministry to others) would be a serious failing. But smoking cigarettes or saying a cuss word would be minor infractions. We think the traditional church pays way too much attention to minor infractions, while ignoring big sins like selfishness or materialism. We further find we can't just say we will hold the line in all areas. The result of a purist approach (or an UN-prioritized approach) is that people begin to comply in outwardly visible areas, but ignore the often more important areas involving omission. How sad it would be to see our people saying, "I don't cuss or smoke," and yet they fail to witness or disciple!

http://www.xenos.org/essays/ethic_a.htm (prioritized ethics)

http://www.xenos.org/aboutxenos/strange.htm#giving

Jaden Standing

Jaden Standing, originally uploaded by groovingdan.

Sick

I woke up sick today. Seasons must be changing...sniffle...

My friend just got a job writing for a paper in Colorado. Because of this job he had to forfeit his protest of the election that he was planning. I think his rant is pretty funny.

"Kids should register to vote b/c they have a candidate who they actually
want to vote for, not b/c P Diddy and MTV say it's cool. Same goes for
everyone else. I do not think that good citizenship requires someone to
vote, if none of the candidates meet their approval. I think a good citizen
can NOT VOTE as well. Basically, low voter turnout is the fault of hte
candidates, not the kids, not the media (our typical scapegoats). The
CANDIDATE is the one seeking votes. If very few people vote (no matter what
the demographic), then the candidate is not doing a good job of soliciting
their vote."

"Man, it would have been great. Me and my friends with picket signs saying
'none of the above' and 'good citizens don't vote for corrupt politicians',
'which rich white guy will you vote for?', 'vote for your oppressor', "My
vote is not for sale" and the like. It also has to do with class warfare.
Did you know that most of our politicians, and the ones who critize them in
the media, are all mostly from an upper-class background? I realized this
wehn reading about Doonsbury writer Gary Trudeau. He blasts Bush in his
cartoon for being a silver-spoon, blue-blooded money monger. Truth is, Gary
Trudeau graduated WITH George W. (and many others) from Yale. I hate this.
How can a person be trusted to make decisions for the best interest of our
country if he or she doesn't even know the price of milk, or has never even
had to TRY to get a job? how can our country and media be run by such a
select few rich kids who had the opportunity for advancement because of
their parent's money? Kerry is just as bad if not worse."

Joel and Susan

Here are some pics of Joel and Susan's wedding.



Here's me making a hilarious joke...


and the beautiful couple....

the struggle of discussion

So the last couple days have been thought provoking and tiring. As I've been discussing (agreeing, disagreing,and considering new thoughts) on the eriv.net message boards, I've realized that I can't help but say what I think on some issues. I guess I often feel like I need to somehow bridge some understanding between two worlds of thought. Those two worlds for the sake of brevity being Moderns and Postmoderns. And I feel that I am such a mixture of both worlds. But here are many problems with me wanting to do this (even though I still think it worthy to take part in). There is the problem of a lack of understanding of history. Many modern evangelicals don't have much of a grasp on recent(I'm talking 200years) of philosophy, which IS very important in this discussion. And many postmoderns seem to have a "lower" view of the scriptures, and not much understanding of the humility that many modern leaders have (not saying that they themselves aren't humble people). So at the outset the core values on each side are not well understood (or accepted) by the other side. (note, I am making huge generalizations, I know. And I'm sorry.) Then there is the issue of authority and differing views of that, which could definitly be a roadblock to discussion bythe very nature of the views. I could go on and on...but, like I said. I'm tired.

So how do you question both sides in a loving way? I don't know. I don't always do that very well. I guess it just takes a whole lot of humility on all sides. I'm reading a book right now that posits a certian hermenutic. To some people it would be pretty controversial, but the best thing about the book is that he treats the opposing views with much respect and undrestanding of where they are coming from. He even titled his last chapter "What If I Am Wrong?"

So what do you guys think? Is there hope that people from totally different philisophical worldviews and different interpretations of the Bible can go as far as working with each other in their church communities? Is this even a good thing to want?

Battle Rhetoric

If you've been reading the comments section of my page, you'll see that Dan Hanna and I have been discussing (as a tangent) the misuse of battle rhetoric. So an aquaintence of mine Adam O., posted a very humorus Christian advertisment that speaks to this topic.

a day in the life

well it's been a good day. I woke up at seven to the sound of Jaden crying (suzanne works wednesday mornings) and when I picked him up he smiled. I feed him and played games with him for the next hour and then caught another hour of sleep. then off to the coffee shop to see mom. She left work and took the kid. I stayed and read and posted on the eriv forum. then I met up with Joey. We hung out at Darb's for a while. It really is a quality little place. Kyle and Melissa had suggested it and they were right, Solid burgers and beer, good price. Then I came home and took a walk with Suz and Jaden. It was great to get some family time in. It was a beautiful evening. We actually went grocery shopping, so Jaden rode in the stroller on the way there and the groceries rode in the stroller on the way back! Then while we were walking Joey and his parents saw us while they were driving and they stopped, we met them, Jaden threw up (it was a really bad one too) and we continued on our way home. It's good to be outside, I don't get out enough.

Pick and Choose

So what do we do with the tough issues of Christianity? The issues of Women Pastors, Homosexuality, avoiding a brother who is in continual sin? Chuck said it well on the Eriv message boads "If it can be clearly shown that the Bible takes a particular stand on an issue, am I willing to yield to its authority on the matter?"

Are we willing to obey God, even if we come to a conclusion that we disagree with? Do we justify and interpret Biblical passages to mean things that they don't mean? It seems like an easy thing to do.

"Dearly Beloved..."

So I performed my first wedding for Joel and Susan yesterday. It went well. It was just beautiful outside. I never knew how good Riverview's "back yard" could look. Ceremony went pretty smoothly. Joel and Susan were radiating. And to top it off the reception was catered by Damon's. Nice.

The Land of Arnold

Our friends Dan and Andi Hanna are abroad teaching in Austria. We miss them a lot. We lived with them for about a year while we were in Columbus. It was cool to go beyond just being in a small group together, or just hanging out twice a month. Instead living with each other is such a greater commitement. You can call each other "Brother" and "Sister" and it has more weight. Of course I couldn't live with just anyone and not everyone has the personality that would be easy to live with. But it could be really good to actually live that way with other people for a while. I think I learned more in two years of traveling with ministry teams at Cedarville than at any other time in my life. You have to learn to become a servant. You have to learn to get past those whom you have less in common with. It's interesting that with all the talk of community now a days, that we don't have more people making actually moves and sacrifices to be around their brother's and sisters. I wouldn't be suprised if we see more of that happening in the future though.

Here's a pic of us with Dan and Andi, and no, I don't wear that shirt every day.

Jadensobig

Jadensobig, originally uploaded by groovingdan.

Grammy asked for it!

The World Is Our Museum

This past week our small group got together to talk one last time about "Blue Like Jazz." There is on sentence where the Author Donald Miller says something like "I wish I was someone who could like anything and anyone..."

This struck me because it seems that the older I get, the easier it is to just feel comfortable with things and certain people and to disregard everything else. In college there weren't many people that I didn't like, in fact until my senior year, I can't think of a single person. But it seems that as life goes on, there are more people who I find myself allergic to. Just when you think you are a pretty fair person, selfishness seems to creep in and I justify not liking certain people. And this is wrong of me. It's just weird how it gets harder.

Well, as I think more about this, enjoy this photo by Travis

Please Comment

hey all you secret readers out there, feel free to drop a comment and let me know who you are. I just got this site statistics thing and it's really interesting to see where page hits are coming from. There is someone from California who seems to check out the site sometimes and that's interesting because I don't think I know anyone who lives there. And someone from Poland, maybe a 2004 Euro High School LTer? And the most interesting is someone from Mason, Ohio where we used to work at a church during college. I'm really intrested to see who that is. So if you feel like it just drop a line, and ease my curiosity. thanks!

All Over Each Other!

travisshanna, originally uploaded by groovingdan.

I had to post this pic of Travis and Shanna gettin' their groove on.

Church

Dancing, originally uploaded by groovingdan.

So this this what we did at church tonight. Noel's series is "We Are" meaning the church and this week was We Are The Bride. So... we had a dance party afterward, with cake, punch and a DJ. Pretty sweet way to celebrate the future coming of Christ.

Wilco Etc...

wilco, originally uploaded by groovingdan.

this is awesome. thanks Kyle.

26

Today is my birthday. I'm getting old. Suz and I are going to the Traveler's Club tonight to celebrate.