Do you know what this is? It is a car emblem I saw this morning which made me chuckle. It is an opposite alternative to the Jesus Fish--or the ICHTHUS which is it's proper name.
The FSM stands for--Flying Spaghetti Monster. The flying spaghetti monster is satire, it is actually the made up deity of the church of the flying spaghetti monster. This deity and symbol promotes the religious movement known as "pastafarianism."

The movement was created to make fun of Christianity and the belief in God. The idea is that the existence of God is as much of a possibility as the existence of a flying spaghetti monster. At the church of the flying spaghetti monster you will hear worship songs that include classics like--"On Top of Spaghetti" and watch clips from old "spaghetti westerns." (I don't know if this is really true, I am making assumptions. I have never worshiped pasta, I have only cooked it and eaten it. I do like pasta though)

Two things.

First, that emblem looks nothing like spaghetti. It looks like a six legged frog of some kind. The eyes are suppose to be meat balls--I guess like those mini-meatballs found in a can of spaghetti-o's. I do love the creativity of the person who came up with the new found religion, who obviously loves pasta as much as me. But the sad thing is while creating a parody filled with so much satire and while trying to elevate their own intelligence above someone who believes. They have failed to look at the facts through history that have more credibility that there is a God than not.

Here is my second point. While the car emblem is somewhat cute (although most people don't know what it is), it represents something that has no credibility. I know your argument. You will say there is no credibility that there is no God who had a son named Jesus.

But there is credibility in the symbol Christians place on their car in the shape of a fish. There is a history to the ICHTHUS that can not be ignored or denied.

The symbol got it's start during the time of Nero when Christians were being persecuted. Christians would draw it in the dirt, sand or on the entrance of a cave to let other believers in Jesus know it was alright to talk about their faith in safety. The word ichthus means fish and the letters in the Greek language stand for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior."

The truth is, there is a reality to the icthus symbol that stems from another truth--there was a man named Jesus, who was crucified and who was buried in a tomb. After three days, that tomb was empty and nobody could explain how it happened. It is recorded by ancient historians, some of whom were not Christian sympathizers. Something happened out of the ordinary that made men and women risk their lives to follow this man named Jesus.

For me there is only one logical answer. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and our Savior. And if this is true, there is a God.

Some who want to show how smart they are while trying to prove how ignorant Christians are use a spaghetti monster to get their point across. Me--I chose to use the history of a man by the name of Jesus who influenced the world at his time and still influences the world today. Which has more credibility?

I'm hungry. I think I will eat some spaghetti for dinner today.

Revive Us Again?

How long are we going to ignore the plague that is effecting the western church? What plague? Most Christians don't even see it because they are so intent on holding on to the past. Every time I turn around there is another article stressing the exodus of 18-30 year olds who are walking away from the church and God. And what is our answer? We need to sing "Revive Us Agian." We need revival in the church and the young people will like this song because it is upbeat. That is an actual statement I heard about recently.

The thing is people are seeing there is a problem in the western church but they are not willing to address the issues necessary to change the future. Instead we think if we go back to the good old days when the church and Christianity in the western world was healthy, that will bring about revival. I listened to a friend of mine speak online recently and he made a great point. "The church thinks it needs to get out of the seventies and become a church that is relevant today. However the reality is that the church needs to move from what it was three years ago because the culture shifts every three years." (not an exact quote) His point is that if we are operating the same way we were three years ago we are in danger of not being culturally relevant.

 I've been told we need to pray more for revival. While I strongly believe in the power of prayer and believe it is the backbone of the church, prayer with no action from the prayer is useless. Here is what I mean. If I commit to praying for revival in the church and I am unwilling to be relevant to the culture then I can not expect God to move in a powerful way. Could he? Absolutely! He doesn't because we are not really serious about revival. What we want is our desires to be fulfilled in hopes that revival will occur. I believe God is not into answering selfish prayers. I mean Jesus in the Lord's prayer does say we should pray for God's will to be done on earth--not our will.

Our problem with prayer, with no action on our part, is that we are not really praying for revival, we are praying for church to become what we personally like and grow at the same time. So really the focus is for the church to move back rather than move forward. It is a selfish prayer and shows an unwillingness to line up with God's will.

We forget that there is a spiritual battle going on for lost people. The culture shifts because the enemy is constantly trying to make the church irrelevant to the culture. So the church needs to constantly be shifting to stay relevant to the culture. The message never changes but staying relevant means there will be constant change.

The question really becomes are you more intent on holding on to the past or are you more intent on reaching people who are far from God? The people far from God is getting greater and greater. First, because the population on earth has spiked dramatically in our generation. Second, because the church has selfishly decided the past is more important than people who may spend eternity in hell.

Everybody is Curious . . . When a Church Talks About Sex

So we are in this series based on the book by Craig Groeschel, "Weird: Because Normal Isn't Working" and this week we are talking about "S.E.X." I have to say it has caused quite the stir.

I was at Starbucks yesterday morning and one of the baristas asked me about the sign. She wanted to know what we are going to talk about. So I explained which caused me to get into a longer discussion with someone else about the topic. It was good, because it made me think through what I am going to say on Sunday.

Then we get a call from a woman today who is fishing around to see what we are talking about. I explained the weird series and where the idea came from. But when you put the word "weird" and the word "sex" in the same context it does raise some questions. I have a feeling she was thinking we were going to be talking specifically about homosexuality. Trying to clarify what we were talking about she asked me if "normal" was a good thing or was "weird?" I told her the goal was to be weird.

I guess our sign is causing some people to question what we are going to talk about. The sign says:

"Weird Series Topic
Weird Sexuality
2.5.12 9:30 & 11"

I don't want to make assumptions but I think it is funny the sign less than a mile away on the Unitarian Church says:

"We Will Marry You"

Is there a values war going on? I mean if there is shouldn't they at least see what we are going to say on Sunday?

Please be in prayer for Sunday. I am going to talk open and honestly about SEX with no political agendas, no soap boxes and grace. But the truth is we have to stop conforming to the normal pattern of the world when it comes to sexuality and listen to the wisdom of God. We need to be "Weird" (different than what is normal and acceptable) when it comes to sexuality.