The Bizarro Vacation!!

THE "BIZARRO" VACATION! (Part 1)

I just came back from a week of vacation. My idea of a vacation is not as glamorous as most. I picked up my two boys and drove them 5 hours to their grandparents, spent 4 days there, then drove another 4 hours to Austin’s (my oldest, age 11) regularly scheduled doctor’s appointment in Calgary. (He has Crohn’s Disease). The doctor unexpectedly admitted Austin, and so the rest of my vacation was spent for the most part with my ex-wife and her husband: the three of us in a little room talking with I don’t know how many doctors, nurses, social workers, and dieticians. All these medical professionals seemed to have a hard time figuring it all out: “OK, we get it that this is Mom, but who are these two guys?” I spent more time with my ex in those 3 days than I did in the past 7 years times 50. While I don’t recommend this kind of arrangement for your next vacation, I would have to say that it all ended with two good things coming from it. I will speak of the first in this article and the second in the next (can’t blow all my ideas in one article, I’ve got to spread them out!)

THE FIRST GOOD THING

In a divorce, the sides are drawn very distinctly and mine is no exception. Like two boxers between rounds, each corner has managers and trainers who instruct their fighter and cut-men who patch up the inevitable cuts and bruises. My managers have yelled the same thing to me for the past 7 years over and over again like a mantra: “Do not let her take advantage of you.” They keep telling me this over and over because they feel that my ex is a forceful person who enjoys a good scrap and I am more like Switzerland . (I hear my High School English teacher saying: “Don’t mix your metaphors”) OK, they feel that my ex is Mohammad Ali (maybe Laila Ali is more appropriate) and I am, well, some boxer from Switzerland . Fighting has no appeal to me unless I am extremely frustrated (more on that later).

I can see the point of my corner’s advice. They are concerned for me. Give an inch and she’ll take a mile. Strength is the best deterrent, etc, etc. Well, we all probably know what Jesus said about this topic…

Mat 5:38 -41 You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

I scratch my head when the advice of Christian people is the opposite of what the Bible says. Jesus would tell me, “ Cam , let her take advantage of you.” Jesus would say that I don’t have to worry about putting up a front of strength as a deterrent. Jesus says that if she decides to make things more difficult for me that I am to let her; that I am not to fight back, but to give her more than she asks.

Why does the advice of Christians go entirely against what Jesus says? Is it because Jesus was wrong? Is it because Jesus’ way seems nice and is good for the dream world, but things are different here in the real world? If some of Jesus’ sayings are so easily dismissed, how does a person decide which ones are worthy of putting into practice and which ones can be excused? Isn’t this similar to the days of the judges where “everyone did what was right in his own eyes”

Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

I believe that one of the reasons the majority of Christians are so lukewarm is because this is exactly what they are doing. We treat the Scriptures like a Chinese buffet: we take the Ginger Beef, but skip the Kung Pow Chicken. If you don’t believe me, look at this...

SHOCKING SURVEY!!

Survey: Two-Thirds of Evangelicals Doubt Jesus' Words Regarding Salvation Thru Him Alone, By Fred Jackson August 23, 2005 (Agape Press) - There's a new poll out which points to a growing rejection among Evangelicals that Jesus is the only way of salvation...

For years, most evangelical Christians have been taught and accepted the words of Jesus in John 14:6, where He states...

John 14:6 I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man cometh unto the Father but my Me.

    But now a new Newsweek/Belief net poll is showing a shocking number of people who call themselves evangelical and born-again have come to reject those words. The question in the poll read: "Can a good person who isn't of your religious faith go to heaven or attain salvation, or not?"

    According to the poll results of more than 1,000 adults 18 years of age and older, 68 percent of evangelical Christians believe "good" people of other faiths can also go to heaven. Nationally, 79 percent of those surveyed said the same thing, with an "astounding" 91 percent agreement among Catholics, notes Belief net. Belief net spokesman Steven Waldman calls the results "pretty amazing."

"Evangelicals are among the most churchgoing and religiously attentive people in the United States ," Waldman writes, "and one of the ideas they're most likely to hear from the minister at church on a given Sunday is that the path to salvation is through Jesus."

    In light of that, how -- he asks -- could so many Americans toss aside such a central element of theology? Waldman believes the best explanation is found in the Newsweek cover story that grew out of the survey. The conclusion it draws is that Americans have become so focused on a very personal style of worship -- that is, forging a direct relationship with God -- that spiritual experience has begun to supplant dogma, or teaching based on the authority of the Bible.

See The Article Here!

How can 68% of professing evangelical, born again Christians overlook John 14:6? This is unbelievable! How can you be a Christian and deny Jesus’ words in this verse? If you do, what you are saying is “Even though Jesus makes exclusive claims about being the only way to God, He is lying, but I will call myself a born again Christian anyway”. This is totally illogical. But truth and common sense mean very little in these crazy days. What matters is how we feel. The reason the article gives for being able to do this is that Christians are “Focused on a very personal style of worship” In other words, it doesn’t matter what the Bible says, it is the warm fuzzies that they get. I think the Bible refers to these warm fuzzies as “itching ears”.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

The time is no longer coming, the time is now. The teachers are here. Truth no longer matters and the majority has wondered off into myths.

So when Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, give up our tunics and go the extra mile, we must not choose to ignore what He says! We cannot pick and choose what words we will pay attention to. You may be thinking (my family certainly will be upset if they stumble onto this), Cam , what if your ex reads this? I don’t know.

All I do know is that this world is not my home. Jesus wants me to live a different way from the world and I must obey. I think this attitude is the whole point of this Scripture. Everything about the Christian life is to be the opposite of the world. The Christian life is just like the Seinfeld’s “Bizarro Jerry” episode, where the Christian life is the opposite of the world. It is not merely different in a few ways or somewhat different; it is completely, totally, 180 degrees different from the world. We act differently, we think differently, we talk differently, and we live differently.

IS THERE AN ECHO IN HERE, OR IS IT JUST ME?

When I see worldly people, I see people who invest in this world, build up their empires on earth, and live their lives doing what they want to do. I see people who love others for their own benefit, drill their children so that they will grow up and make them look good as parents, and go into debt to buy the best stuff to feed their egos.

When I see most Christians, I see people who invest in this world, build up their empires on earth, and live their lives doing what they want to do. I see people who love others for their own benefit, drill their children so that they will grow up and make them look good as parents, and go into debt to buy the best stuff to feed their egos.

Are we any different? Jesus calls us to radical, contradictory “Bizarro” Christian living where we turn the other cheek, give up our tunics, and go the extra mile. We do not live for ourselves, but we live for Christ and others. We seek this life because this is not our home. We are wanderers through this desert land, putting down no roots...

Heb 13:14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

Why do we love this horrible place of sin, when the greatest Paradise is to come? There are two reasons why...

We love this world and it’s pleasures. We love money and the things on this earth. We do not just try to get by, but we want all the stuff. We cannot leave: we must, like Lot ’s wife, look back and long for this world.
To live in such a radically different way cannot be done in human strength. We need the complete work of the Holy Spirit to change us completely from the inside out and this requires total surrender to Him, every part of 0urselves no longer ours but His. And many Christians have not surrendered themselves totally.

We have come to think that we can have it both ways, when Jesus made it so clear that we must lose our lives here to gain the next life...

Luke 9:23 And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Luke 9:24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Luke 9:25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

Are we deceived? Jesus makes it very clear that we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him. Somehow we have slipped into thinking we can have it both ways. I am coming to believe that this “Bizarro” world is not just an optional place for those select few “super-Christians”. This opposite way of living is a requirement, something that is expected of all of us. To be a Christian, we must live opposite of the World. The reason why the world doesn’t hate us is that we are so much like them. If we are different, they will hate us.

OH CAM , DON'T BE SUCH A GROUCH!

In today’s Church, where so many are deceived in picking and choosing their scriptures, so many are hearers of the Word but not doers, we have to get serious, we have to wake up. We are falling asleep and we need some "grouches" to go around and shake us so we wake up. So many professing Christians have been bit by the Tsetse Fly and if they fall asleep, it's all over. We need more people who care enough to shake us, who may even offend us.

I am shaking myself, too. God has allowed me to have a difficult job to stretch me and test me and I do not always pass the test. I have so much to do as an office manager and I will just start to get rolling on a task when the phone will ring and I will have to spend a half hour troubleshooting a slow internet connection or helping someone who is setting up a home network. My work style is similar to my writing style, it takes a while to get going but once I do, I am like a freight train. So for me to be constantly interrupted is extremely frustrating, In my frustration, I tend to belly-ache around the office, complaining about this and that, I can’t believe myself sometimes. I am no where near the grace that would allow me to turn the cheek or give up my cloak.

Lord, help me be the person that you desire.

Kill my pride! I hurt my testimony so often.

Pray for me please if you are reading this, that the Holy Spirit would change my heart!

Stay tuned for Part 2!

In Christ, C. Bauer