Accountability

Those who know me personally may recall that half of my family are Jehovah Witnesses.

I recently spent time with one of these relatives (an uncle) who is going through a divorce. I found it interesting to know that he was only willing to pursue this divorce after trying to reconcile and also at the approval of the elders at his local Kingdom Hall.

I found it very interesting and appealing for people to take items that most Christians would see as personal issues to the leadership of his place of worship. I wonder if this extreme (to most) type of accountability is what is missing from mainline Christian churches and what is most appealing to those who become Jehovah's Witnesses later in life (not born into a JW family).

How would the Christian church in America be different if they all followed the guidance of their appointed leaders instead of the "demands" and "necessities" of pursuing the American Dream?

Morality

For the time being, my posting will deal mostly with my thoughts on Christianity.

A friend of mine told me a couple of months ago that Christianity cannot be about morality. As somebody who advocates the pursuit of holiness in the individual lives of Christians in community I wonder what this means.

I agree that Christianity cannot be completely about morality. I agree that the grace of God needs to be emphasized above morality but I still see a place for morality in the life of Christians. It seems that some emphasize grace so much that they remove morality completely.

The life of the Christian ought to be radically and visibly different from the life of the non-Christian.

Secular or Sacred Calling

A while back on a blog (http://blorge.blogspot.com), Blorge mentioned that one of the random thoughts that enter his head concerns his love for the French language and culture. He wonders if he likes it on its own merit or because of the au pairs he had as a kid or possibly because of a family friend who is French.

I have this dilemna also, but my desire has to do with the Middle East (that is Arabic speaking countries and Turkey). I wonder why I have this desire to go to these places and why I would be willing to go to places that would almost certainly guarantee my death (if I were to be authentically in-your-face about my Christianity).

I wonder if it has anything to do with my first cross-cultural experience being Turkish or if God has given me this desire for the Middle East because He wants to use me for something great in the predominantly Muslim world. They are (the last I heard) the largest unreached people group and they have the fewest number of missionaries (what is up with that?).

I don't want to be some sort of offensive missionary to Muslims. I want to authentically and respectfully live my life for Christ in the midst of diversity.

I wonder if my desire for the Middle East was effected by my lack of patriotism or if my lack of patriotism has fueled my desire to go to the Middle East. Would I be going to the Middle East to pursue God's calling on my life or to flee my current setting?

If I am drawn to a particular aspect of the culture such as building relationships over accomplishing tasks (which seems more Biblical) maybe my call is to help transform the Western Church and not flee from it.