Matt Smallbone

I realized a very sad thing today.

I realized that during my Universtity years… my Christianity was defined by the things that I wouldn’t do.

I wouldn’t drink, swear or have sex.

One of the saddest things about evangelical Christianity in 2010 is that the average Joe only knows us by what we don’t do. Unfortunately… “they will know that we are Christians by our love” is more of a song these days than any kind of honest assessment by the vast majority of us who attend church on Sunday.

Let’s change this. The church NEEDS to be a force rather than a fortress.

Love

Matt

I stood before a judge this morning…

I had been clocked going a mere three miles an hour faster than what I could have got away with (whilst dropping a mate at the airport). It was an understandable, even charitable mistake. Three miles an hour is the speed at which humans walk. It was no big deal.

However, I stood in front of that well-mannered and educated man and I said,

“Guilty, your honour”.

Despite the fact that I was driving with no evil intentions in mind, I was as guilty as both the lady who didn’t strap her kids into their car seats and the guy who disrupted a funeral procession.

My profession of guilt was humbling and energizing all at the same time. It was freeing to admit my transgression to another human. The Catholics are right about that.

At my moment of confession, a lot of things about eternity snapped into sharp focus.

I believe that I will be in that same position again one day after I die.  However,  next time I’ll be betting the farm that Jesus died to save me from myself and my sin.

On that day I want to hear “Well done good and faithful servant”.

I don’t really feel that good or faithful most of the time.  (The Calvinists are right about that total depravity stuff). BUT…  I will be covered by grace… and I believe that that will be enough. I have no other hope of success. Grace will be my first and last chance on that day.

I was reminded about the reality of the coming judgment today. My $75 fine is the best spiritual investment I’ve made in a long time. This was a life lesson worth having.

Drive carefully,

matt

With every earthquake, flooding, famine, war and rumour of war that occurs, the cuddly evangelical ‘left behind’ community of which I am a member braces for Armageddon.

Most of us believe that the world is going to get worse and worse… and then one day we will all be swept up to heaven (the rapture). Some believe that this will happen before the ‘Great Tribulation’ (I am hoping this is the case), some think during (this is a bet either way), and some think after (I suspect that it will be this guy). Whatever the case, many Christians expect  the world to end at some point soon.

As scary as all of this sounds, the rapture doesn’t keep me awake at night. I rest easily because my life on earth ending via rapture or death is pretty much the same equation.

The reality is that an Australian man is expected to live for only 81.4 years. (As a patriotic aside, USA men average only 78.4…. which proves once and for all that you Americans should adopt ‘no worries mate’ as your national mantra). This means that the best case scenario for me is that I have a bit over 50 years left in this sweet body of mine. Of course… I could die in a car crash tomorrow.

Hmmm…

Whether or not I am raptured mid or post-trib is therefore a moot point. I just need to prepare for meeting my maker.

We are all going to die one day. People drink alcohol, use social networking, or knit sweaters to put death out of their mind. But the certainty of death remains.

Am I scared?

Only in the way I was before I got on Aerosmith’s Rock’n'Roller Coaster. I was unsettled by the journey, but I knew things were going to end up OK. Fear and faith often collide.

So all in all I’m ready for it. I like who I am, and I love who I am becoming… and it is because I am getting closer to Jesus every day. I have found peace within the storm.

I’m with R.E.M. on this one… “It’s the end of the world as we know it… and I feel fine”.

Writing location: Kelowna, BC CANADA

I really enjoyed my vacation last week. The debate on the Jennifer Knapp announcement had tired me out, and I was ready to hit Disney World hard with the family.

Mission successful. We partied like it was ’99.

Anywho…

Last night I watched the Jennifer Knapp interview on Larry King Live and it was AWKWARD. It was very uncomfortable watching two Christians debate homosexuality on late night TV. Larry King seemed to be stuck on ‘choice’ and all things considered, it didn’t really feel like it was a fair fight. I felt like mainstream Christianity lost BIG.

As I have mentioned previously, I have very much wanted to stay away from blogging about homosexuality. However, I feel like there is some pretty bad information flying around out there about what the church believes about homosexuality. So… here I am… blogging about same sex attraction and Christianity. The only goal I have in this blog is to explain what I see as the church’s position on this stuff.

Nothing more… nothing less.

Let me start by saying to my gay friends (who I know are reading this) that I love you very much. I am well aware of my own short comings and I do not believe that I am a better person than you. You are a person of value and I am so pleased that you are in my life.

Cool.

Let’s begin…

Firstly, homosexual activity is difficult to justify within the confines of the Christian faith (and basically every other monotheistic belief system). It really takes some theological gymnastics to do so.

If you are not a Christian some of what the church says about this stuff will probably seem very judgmental and abrasive. To understand what we are saying there are some things that you need to know about ‘us’…

1. As a Christian… it is really hard to talk to your parents about things like same sex attraction and pornography. We grow up fearing sin and we therefore sometimes lack the confrontational skills to deal effectively with those who disagree with our Bible inspired world view. We are kind of stunted when it comes to discussing this stuff.

2. Christians by definition are very comfortable with the concept of absolute truth. Moral relativism doesn’t fit comfortably within our world view.

3. Most Christians (that I hang with) are drawn to the compassion and grace that Jesus introduced to the new world order that he established in about 30AD. I hate it that when you think of Christianity… you think of morons holding signs outside of military funerals. That’s not how most of us roll.

So… what exactly does/ should a Christian believe about this hot issue.

This morning I came across an article by Wez Hitzke entitled Homosexuality. Wez is one of the most talented musicians I know. However, he has chosen to volunteer his time in a drug rehab center in my home town of Toowoomba. Dude makes no coin and has to borrow computers to blog. His talent could have him playing drums at Madison Square Garden… instead he is doing his best to change the course of some young men’s lives.

He is also a talented apologist… and I believe he is close to the heart beat of God.

By and large, I think that his article articulates well the Christian view on homosexuality…

Check it out: Click here!

Let me know what you think.

Matt

Tags: Christianity, homosexuality, Jennifer Knapp

Dear Christian blogging community,

Jennifer Knapp recently announced that she is gay. You can read an article about it in USA Today. Jennifer is one of CCM’s greatest songwriters of the last 15 years and has won a Grammy and a Dove Award (which is a Christian Grammy… yep… there is such a thing)!

Some things that she said in the interview  include:

Everyone around me made it absolutely clear that this is not an option for me, to invest in this other person, and for me to choose to do so would be a denial of my faith.

The Bible has literally saved my life. I find myself between a rock and a hard place — between the conservative evangelical who uses what most people refer to as the ‘clobber verses’ to refer to this loving relationship as an abomination, while they’re eating shellfish and wearing clothes of five different fabrics, and various other Scriptures we could argue about.

I’m not capable of getting into the theological argument as to whether or not we should or shouldn’t allow homosexuals within our church. There’s a spirit that overrides that for me, and (that is) what I’ve been gravitating to in Christ and why I became a Christian in the first place.

I hit the blog-o-sphere for a while today to get a vibe on what people are feeling about this… and I must say that there is a lot of judgement being cast by some neo-pharisees.

Now… in instances like this I am very glad that I am not God… as this is a complex scenario way above my pay rate. Actually, awareness that I am not some kind of deity is a great starting point at times like this.

Please join me by saying the following three times out loud: “I AM NOT GOD”.

Good. Now let’s move on.

The book of John gives some insight as to how Jesus would manage this situation.

He would have said to all of us as we were about to make our first blog comment,

“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.

We would all close our Mac books and Jesus would say to her, ”Girl, where are they? It looks like no one is here to condemn you?”

And she would say “Not one, Lord.”

And Jesus would say, “I do not condemn you either. Now go and sin no more.”

I understand that a lot of you now are yelling at the screen saying, “THAT’S RIGHT… JESUS SAID TO GO AND SIN NO MORE. JENNIFER KNAPP ISN’T TRYING TO STOP SINNING”.

I get it. But let me say to you… “STOP TRYING TO BE GOD”. Sin management is God’s department.

We all have logs in our eyes. Our righteousness is like rags. The Bible tells me so.

“Love the sinner, hate the sin” is about as theologically correct as  ”God helps those who help themselves”.

Rather, I prefer…

“Love the sinner… and hate your own sin” – Mike Rayson, 2010

Now… go out there and make us all proud to be Christians in how you respond.

Love,

smalls