Author Archive: Revraney

Recently an article written by Tracy Moore was brought to my attention.  The article is titled “Godless Parents are Doing a Better Job” ( one shouldn’t be surprised at the conclusions in the article considering it comes from a site named Jezebel.com).  The article starts off poorly and goes downhill form there.  The bias of the author is made clear in the very first sentence; “Hate to break it to you, Bible thumpers”.  The writer’s credibility is dismissed when she starts off her article using a derogatory term to insult Christians.  She defines Christians as people who use their Bibles to thump other people.  I know for certain that I have never once in my life thumped someone with my Bible.

The author then states the overall premise and conclusion of the article that children raised by parents who do not profess a belief in God do just as well and possibly even better than those raised by parents who are believers.  The criterion for such an assessment? “Overall, not believing in God seems to make people and their offspring more tolerant. Less racist. Less sexist. Enviro-friendly.” Wow! First, lets take a look at that claim and the inherent problems.  Such measurements are incredibly subjective.  So what is the definition of ‘more tolerant’ or less sexist’? The writer does not provide us with any information to help us understand those conclusions.  She simply makes the assertion and then points to an op-ed written by sociologist Phil Zuckerman. Phil Zuckerman is an agnostic who wrote the book, “Society Without God.”  To make matters worse, the op-ed by Mr. Zuckerman grossly misinterprets the material of Vern Bengtson, whose study he references quite extensively.  For more information on this read about Vern Bengtson’s study regarding Families and Faith.

So how does the author, Tracy Moore, determine that children raised by parents who are not believers are more tolerant? Far too often tolerance is measured either by standing up for nothing or by “do you agree with me?”  If I stand for nothing I can be viewed as someone who is tolerant when in reality I am simply someone who wants to remain disengaged.  On the other hand, to many in the progressive movement of today one is often considered intolerant if they believe differently than the progressives do, especially regarding the litmus test of social issues such as abortion, homosexuality, etc.

What exactly does the author mean by less sexist? Does she mean if someone has a different view of the differences between men and women than she does they are sexist? Are children of Christian parents less ‘enviro-friendly’ because they may doubt the claims of global warming advocates.  A primary tenant of Christian teaching is good stewardship, including the world in which we live.

After reading the assertion that children of parents who are not believers are more tolerant, it is incredibly ironic to read the author’s tirade against the religious people of the small town she grew up in. “I would like to take this time to say directly to the small town I grew up in and its endless youth groups and Bible studies and Baptist churches and even grosser fundamentalist Church of Christ churches, and all the prayers before games, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the fear-mongering attitudes and pervy youth group leaders and gross, self-righteous, hypocritical, sexist, homophobic, racist, shallow, anti-intellectual, anti-questioning, anti-books, anti-music, anti-art, utter crass consumerism in place of actual Christian-ness: FACE. Big, stupid FACE in your FACE.” Does that sound like the voice of tolerance? She later writes, “(I almost exclusively grew up with Baptists and Church of Christ nutjobs)”.  Tolerant? She refers to God as the “Big Kahuna”.  I suppose another conclusion would be that these children are more respectful.

Tracy Moore makes it a point to highlight Phil Zuckerman’s assertion that Vern Bengtson says that non-religious families possess ethical values and morals. Zuckerman even writes in his op-ed, “Many nonreligious parents were more coherent and passionate about their ethical principles than some of the ‘religious’ parents in our study,” Bengston told me. He told you? Just like that? Two important things missing are 1) Many of the families Bengtson talks about are families that at a particular time are not associated with a specific church or religious organization.  He makes it clear that in many of these cases the people still consider themselves believers. 2) Bengtson points out that many of these families come back to their religious associations.  Bengtson’s study is actually about the transmission of faith rather than families without faith.

In addition it is always interesting to hear unbelievers refer to morals.  How do we determine what is right or wrong without a standard? You know someone is six feet tall because measure them against a standard composed of feet and inches.Where did the standard come from? Standards are absolute. God is absolute.  Only something absolute can produce something absolute. Subjective cannot produce objective.

As you read this article it becomes clear the author has an axe to grind against Christianity and she found a sociologist who held similar views to support her vitriolic hatred of Christianity and our God.  God loves Tracy Moore and died for her salvation.  He can save her.  The conclusions and assertions in this article are not supported by fact or data.  What this article is however, is one more example of the growing hatred of Christianity (and Christ) in our society today that will ultimately result in the persecution of the saints.  The good news is that God will be with us, even unto the end. Are you ready?

A few years after I was first married I pulled one of the biggest bonehead mistakes in history with my car. We had recently purchased a Toyota Tercel.  This was the first new car we had bought and we were pretty excited.  I was still very young and growing up I had almost no experience working on cars.  I had done a few things on our old car, a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere.  As such I knew little about car maintenance or repair, but I had a character trait (most women would call it a flaw) – I was a man, so therefore I seldom, if ever asked for advice.

It was time for the first oil change so I set to work on the task.  I crawled under the car to begin my oil change.  The Tercel was a front wheel drive vehicle – at this time a fairly new thing.  When I looked up at the engine I was thrown for a loop as there was more than one plug.  Which one was the right one? Well I took a guess and removed one of the plugs and drained the fluid inside.  I did notice this fluid was red, but hey, this was a Japanese car, maybe it uses a different kind of oil.  I got all of the fluid drained and put the plug back in.  I crawled back out and got under the hood.  I found the oil cap and removed it and put in the first quart of oil.  After the first quart I looked on the stick and found that the oil level was already completely full.  Wow, these Japanese cars do not require much oil; this is great.  Yes, it is utterly amazing that I did not consider all of the clues up to this point of my error, not the least of which the amount of fluid drained from the car exceeded the 1 quart of oil I added.

Now most of you are way ahead of me and if you have even the slightest knowledge of cars, realize I had drained the transaxle fluid rather than the motor oil.  So here is my new Toyota Tercel with no fluid in its front wheel drive transaxle but plenty of oil.

The next day I loaded up the car with myself, Marie and our toddler child and headed off to a church softball game. The car sounded a little bit different at the start, but nothing that turning up the radio a little bit couldn’t solve.  We got onto the highway and got up to full speed when the car started making this extremely loud, high-pitched, whining sound.  That sound didn’t last too long as it was replaced by an exploding sound and the car jerking almost to a complete stop in the high speed lane.  Fortunately we were able to get off the road safely and even got someone to tow us for free to the garage. The transaxle had blown up, a huge whole in the casing.

You see, cars do not run well and sometimes not very far when they are lacking something as important as fluid in the transaxle.

I often find myself amazed when people who see themselves as Christians seem honestly confused and surprised things are not going well in their lives when upon examination it is easily evident they have neglected their soul and its need for Christ.  Like my car, the soul does not run well and even sometimes explodes and comes to a jerking halt when it is lacking that which is critical.

We wonder why we make bad decisions or “luck” doesn’t seem to be on our side.  We do not understand why ‘God lets these bad things happen to us’.  We feel betrayed when relationships with our spouse, our children, our friends or others seem strained, even damaged.  Why would God allow such a thing?

Why is this such a surprise? When we neglect our soul and allow it to be drained of that which is critical and then try to replace that with the wrong thing it is expected that things will run smoothly.  We have removed ourselves from the influence of God upon our lives.  We are a ship floating on the waters with no rudder, no sail and no oars.  We are pushed along in every direction.  Sometimes God may indeed “allow” or even cause certain things to happen in our lives. This can really irritate us as we think “how can a loving God does such?”  Is it not love that would allow or bring into our lives something that would awaken us to Him that we might avoid something far worse and eternal?

We cannot neglect our relationship with God without there being negative consequences. You need the Word of God in your life.  You need prayer in your life.  You need Christian fellowship in your life.  You need to be proclaiming the witness of God in your life.  These things build and strengthen your relationship with God and you definitely need that in your life. Don’t let your life be drained of what is really critical and then try and fill it up with something different.

I’ve been hearing a phrase quite often lately and frankly it confuses me.  The phrase usually occurs when someone is experiencing something difficult and either they or another person will ask that “good thoughts or good vibes” be sent their way.  I’m not quite sure how one can do this.  How exactly do “good thoughts” get from one person to another and how do they help?

It is amazing how easily the world will so easily believe in some sort of ‘telekinesis’ while rejecting or at least diminishing an all powerful God. When I hear terms like this I am reminded of Acts 17:22-23 “Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. ^23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.”  Our society is indeed still religious, but at the same time is so hardened in their heart they cannot accept the one true God.  So they, by choice, remain ignorant of the truth.  Their gut tells them there are spiritual things out there so maybe somehow we can impact someone by sending our ‘good thoughts and good vibes’ to them. However their pride and self , will not allow them to acknowledge the true God of creation and redemption.

Maybe when this phrase is used some may mean we should give encouraging words to the one suffering.  There is certainly benefit in encouraging someone. When the scripture tells us to encourage others we are to do so by sharing the hope and promises of God with them.  While it can be comforting to know someone cares, how much more so to know that He who is all powerful cares? Oh how encouraging to know the truth of “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).  That truth can only be known by knowing God; not substituting some warm and fuzzy ‘good thoughts’ in His place.

The phrase of sending someone ‘good thoughts’ is often mentioned in combination with prayer; again as if to be sure and include all the different possibilities (you never know which one may work). They are not the same and only one of them really works – prayer.  Real prayer is not merely thinking of someone.  Real prayer reaches out to a living God in a personal way. Real prayer is an act of humility and confidence all at once.  It recognizes God for who He is and understands who we are in relation to Him.  Real prayer looks for His mercy and His help.  It seeks both His strength and His comfort. Think about someone all you want with good thoughts, but if their help comes from the Lord.

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ^2 He agreed to pay them a denariusfor the day and sent them into his vineyard.

^3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ^4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ^5 So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ^6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

^7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

^8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

^9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ^10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ^11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ^12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

^13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ^14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ^15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

^16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Matthew 20:1-16

This certainly would not go over today.  All manner of groups and people would raise a fuss, not just those who worked in the vineyard!

Jesus objective was not to give a lesson on free market capitalism (“Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?”).  There is something else to be learned from this story.

Those first approached by the owner of the vineyard were offered a specific wage for the work.  They thought it was a fair wage and agreed to work for that amount.  As the day went on the owner hired more people who worked varying hours.  At the end of the day when the workers were being paid those who had worked the least got their pay first and received the amount the owner had offered those he had approached first and had worked the entire day. Seeing this they figured he was going to pay them more since they had worked longer. That seems fair and logical. After all, isn’t God fair?  Then when they received their pay they were given the same as those who had worked less hours. That doesn’t seem fair; hmm, isn’t God fair?

Our thoughts about ourselves and about God are often completely backwards.  For instance, we seem to think God exists for us.  In our minds we are the center of our universe.  But this is not true and is our corrupt nature at work.  God does not exist for us.  We exist for God.  We are not the center of the universe, God is.  It is this thinking that has caused so much pain and suffering.  We were not created to be the center of our universe or to have everything be about us.  This self-centered, self-serving view causes us to live our lives in pursuit of things to make us happy.  The result is just the opposite because this is not how we were originally built.  We can not fulfill our grand design by being the center of our own universe.  The way we find fulfillment and subsequently happiness is by surrendering to God as the center of all things, including our own personal existence.  We have our position in the world backwards.

God has promised us from His grace that if we come with Him, whether to work in the vineyard or to sit at His feet, He will reward us.  This grace, this reward, is not something we earn from a God who owes, but rather is a gift from the God who loves us.

It seems as if there is almost no limit to what I can have.  Many in our population can remember when it was a big deal to have one TV and one car. Now there are more TV’s in our home than people and we don’t have a clue how many channels we have.

Your phone sat on an end table or hung on the wall, not your belt and it wasn’t smart.  Going out to eat was an event or an occasion.  Now the opposite is true.  The question, where do you want to eat, seldom includes home as a choice.

We can purchase whatever we want, anytime we want; even in our pajamas.  We don’t even have to have enough money to buy it, or even any money for that matter.  If we don’t like something or simply get tired of it, we don’t think twice about throwing it away and replacing it with a new one.

I went on a mission trip to the rain forest in Peru years ago.  To get to the mission station in the rain forest required a ten hour bus ride up and over the mountains from the coast and down again into the rain forest.  Needless to say the further we travelled the more we were immersed into simplicity and poverty.  Some hours into the ride we stopped at a “Peruvian highlands Rest Area”.  It would be best described as a small general store along the side of the road; something you would might see in the early 20^th century in rural America.

Our mission team, all from America descended upon that little store like flies on a piece of chicken left sitting on a picnic table in July. Sitting on the bus as we got ready to head out again I was so struck by the contrast between those of us on the mission team and the nationals at the store.  I wondered what they must think of us.  We purchased whatever we wanted and consumed it as if we had not eaten in days.

We have choices in every area and we expect nothing different from our church.  We consume our religion just like we do everything else.

So now it becomes time to go shopping.  What does the church have to offer my children?  Is there an active children’s ministry?  Are the teens active and doing lots of interesting things?  How big is the children’s department or the teen group?   We have become so cliché that we even have our own terminology.  Notice how the children are part of a department but teens are a group, when in essence they are the exact same thing – some measured number of people in a certain age range.  Is the department or group too big, too small?  What are the qualifications of the leader or staff?  These days we have staff rather than disciples.

And the response from Pastors and church leaders desperate for attendance and membership is to try and satisfy those desires.  Marketing is bigger than ever in the church.

.And what exactly are we marketing?  What is the product of the church?  The answer that seems most righteous and holy to us is “Jesus is the product.” Really?  How can the one who is supposed to be our Lord be a product that we offer to others?  How did we come to be in control of Jesus that we might offer Him as a product?

If Jesus is not our product then what is?  What are we marketing?  We market our church.  Some years ago while driving I noticed a church van.  The van had the name of the church and then of course their slogan underneath.  The slogan said, “The church where you will be loved.”  Finally, I had found the church where I would be loved.  See, as the slogan insinuates, at the other churches I was not loved.  But at this church I would be loved.  As far as they were concerned this is what they had to offer to get you to try them out.

Other churches may offer an exciting teen group.  Some may offer lively, exciting music.  A lot of churches are telling us that we can experience God if we come there – whatever that means.

We bring our boards together and we discuss strategies.  One of the first things we do is write our mission and vision statements.  These are done so we can focus on what our strengths are.   I have been to meeting after meeting where it is stated that the church can’t be a supermarket so we have to be a specialty shop.  What this means is that we have to identify what it is we are good at and start focusing on those things so we can effectively reach people.  From that we can develop our marketing strategy.  Does that sound like a business strategy to anyone other than me?  And that is exactly what we get, a business strategy.  That is why the church all too often looks like a business.

But the church was never meant to be a business.  Jesus tells His disciples that He would build His church, not us.  The body of Christ is not something man can build.  It is different than any organization in the world.

Job 5:17 says, ^ “Blessed is the one whom God corrects;
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

God’s discipline is meant for our correction.  The same love that rings true in the song “Just as I am”, that God accepts us just as we are, also will not allow us to remain as we are. It is by love that God disciplines us as He seeks to bring us to perfection in Him.

Remember this also –
For he wounds, but he also binds up;
he injures, but his hands also heal  Job 5:18

Surely you have heard that popular phrase before.  Consider it in relation to this interesting story regarding Peter’s call to follow Christ.

In Luke chapter 5 we read the story of Jesus, while standing by the Lake Gennesarat (aka the Sea of Galilee), preaching from Peter’s boat (Simon at the time).  After finishing His message He told Peter to take the boat on out to deeper waters to do a little fishing.  Peter, a professional fisherman responded by saying, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”  The result was a tremendous catch of fish – so many as a matter of fact that it filled both boats to the point where they were about to sink.

After witnessing this miracle Peter was ready to follow Jesus.  The Bible tells us that he exclaimed, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” When Jesus heard his repentant response He called him to follow Him and become a fisherman of a different kind – “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”  Once on the shore, Peter left everything and followed Christ.

There’s more to this story though.  This wasn’t Peter’s first encounter with Jesus.  It wasn’t even his first encounter with Jesus performing a miracle; not even the first miracle that directly involved and affected Peter.  In the previous chapter we read about Jesus going to the home of Simon.  Simon’s mother-in-law, who apparently lived with them, was very ill with a fever (no mother-in-law jokes at this time).  They asked Jesus to help her and He rebuked the fever and it left her.  Immediately she got up and began serving them.

This miracle did not cause Peter to repent in front of Jesus, resulting in his calling.  Maybe it took more than one incident, miracle.  Maybe it took a different kind of incident.  We do not know exactly how these two miracles worked together in impacting Peter or if they did at all.  What we see though is that different things or combinations of things affect different people in various ways.  God knows this and will work in lives what is needed to draw us to Him.