Here is the post emailed to me from our friend Anonymous.

I started a new semester this week at Clark College in Vancouver WA. I work full time, go to school, and still somehow manage to have a life. I like school, I really do or else I wouldn’t be doing it, but I really dislike Clark.
I’ve been to several schools now, and I think I’mstarting to understand what makes one school bad, and another good.
Here’s what I’ve found at Clark: The teachers are better than those at Portland CC. Sometimes I think I’ve learned more from one class at Clark than a full semester at PCC.
The campus is nice. It’s large enough to have all the things you need in a college, good labs, student center where you can get a latte etc. but not so large that you can’t get around. And hey, free parking!
The problem with Clark is with its administration. The bureaucracy alone is bad enough to make a government worker cringe. I could bore you for hours with tales of getting the run-around, insane paper work, and illogical, inflexible rules.
One example: last year school was canceled the first week due to snow. Because I needed the instructor to add me to the class, I turned in the normal “late registration” form with my instructor’s signature.
However, my paperwork was submitted two weeks past the first day of classes. I also had to fill out a form with a statement as to why I was registering two weeks late (”because you guys canceled the first week of classes!”).
These forms all had to be submitted to the Dean, along with a form for him to sign. Later, the forms then had to be picked up from the Dean’s office and re-submitted to the registration office. The lady that got the paperwork called and told me “You submitted it the wrong office, it’s supposed to go to “X” office.” So, I went back, picked up the paper work, took it to another counter, where the EXACT SAME LADY received the forms. The look in her eyes dared me to protest.
I finally received confirmation of enrollment the day before my final!
Believe me when I say I have never had a semester without some sort of bureaucratic problem.
At first I thought I was really unlucky. Or maybe I was just incompetent, always trying to do the wrong thing at the wrong time.
However, as I started to connect with other students I found that the majority of people I talked to secretly felt the same way I did. Even the instructors sometimes mention what a hard time they have navigating the myriad of rules and regulations that is Clark College.
Why does this matter to me? Sure it’s frustrating dealing with stuff like this, but it’s a part of life right? Of course. However, my point is that Clark’s administrative office, in effect, actively discourages people from pursuing a higher education. Rather than being a source of encouragement and going out of their way to help you achieve your goals and become a better person, the stringent rules and silly legalistic edicts make it harder to get through school. In fact, had I spent my Freshman year there, I think I would have been too discouraged to continue on with my education.

And for those that want to bash me about speaking out: you may say “you’re giving the school a bad name” or “you need to take these issues up with the administrators”. The fact is, the current administration either doesn’t

A) think that there is anything wrong with their policies or
B) have any motivation to change.

I could stand at a counter and rail on the administrator, or beg and plead for a 15 minute meeting with the Dean, but we all know how far that would get me.
Rather, change has to come from outside pressure, and how will that happen without our speaking out?
I challenge you to find a place in history where sitting back and accepting the status quo affected a positive change.
Thank God for the ability to have open Frank discussions. Without it we’d probably still be in the crusades.
Finally, perhaps the biggest question is this: Why is it OK to talk about a school like this, but never a church? If you were to read this again and substitute CBC every time I wrote Clark, would you accuse me of being bitter, or bringing shame to God? Do you believe me if I say I like the individuals at school, but not the system they work under? Is it not the same if I say the same about CBC, or am I again bitter? Personally, I find this separation illogical and the advocates of this position either naive, or promoting a hidden agenda. Anyway, that’s my two cents. I guess now I’ll sit back and wait for someone to accuse me of heresy for comparing the “house of God” to a secular college.

I recently had someone email me that they were writing a post for our site and wanted to know if we would put it up. I told him about the two rules that we loosely follow:

1. No personal names
2. No rumors

This was his reply.

Dang, I heard a rumor that Frank’s office was actually made of gold; that the reason they took out the alter area carpet was to cut it intosmall “miracle squares” to sell on TV (to help finance the next Forward Together), and that sometimes the kids in the youth group have sex.

He’s off to a good start. I’ll put up his post up tomorrow.

To those who were offended by my last post I would like to say…

Great. Good for you. You should be offended. It is, after all, completely revolting. It disgusts me.

Yes, my story was irreverent. Yes, the thought of Jesus “Tithing on the cross” is distasteful, and yes to do it all on Easter is sickening. The line has completely been crossed…

and…

that’s why we blog.

You see, we truly believe that this is what many churches and Christians have done. They have taken what Christ sacrificed at the cross and traded it in for “the American Dream”. Instead of preaching on forgiveness, they teach that God will curse you if you don’t tithe. Instead of teaching grace they tell you to “Tithe for protection”.

It’s disturbing really. I believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important part of my walk with God. After all, without it I wouldn’t have a walk with God. Once you get past the gospel you have a religion that puts man in control and that’s pretty scary.

So what does the gospel mean to me?

Everything.

I believe that I am a sinful being, completely unworthy of salvation. I deserve to spend eternity in hell. When Jesus died on the cross, he took my sins and paid for them. I didn’t have to earn His love, and I don’t have to work to keep it. He showed me that no matter what I’ve done He still loves me. How comforting is that? To know that the creator of the universe is on my side. To know that He sacrificed His son so we could spend eternity together. That’s extremely comforting.

I used to try to earn God’s love. I wasn’t any good at it, but I would try anyways. I would look around the church and see all these other people that seemed much better at it than me. Look at that person pray, wow, God must really love them. Look at that one worship, God probably loves them more than anyone. If only I could learn some self control, then I would be on track to heaven…but then I learned that there is no track to heaven, no ladder to climb, no buying your way in. I learned that God’s love for me gets me in. It’s all I need. He sacrificed so I don’t have to worry about it anymore. I just accept the fact that God is in control and try my best to live a life that honors Him.

So I’m glad you were offended,

now what are we going to do about it?

Recently I asked my son Aiden what Easter was all about. "Candy" was his reply.
I then realized that many people may not know the real Easter story. Lets pull out our City Business Church storybook and re-cap the story of Easter.

There once was a man named Jesus who came to save the world. He went around performing miracles: healing the sick, raising the dead, and turning water into wine. The elders of the local church became angry with Jesus because he called himself the Son of God but never tithed. The went to him and pleaded for his money.

"Don’t you know the scriptures?" they cried, "Malachi and the curse"? "If you truly were the Son of God you would be giving the temple a full 10%. Instead we find you at parties turning water into wine. No, the real King of the Jews would be a successful businessman. You are not the Christ; you are an imposter."

At this point they saw how he was hurting their image so they began to plot to kill him.

Later, they found him in prayer and said to him. "Jesus, we just went over the Member Tithing Report and saw that you haven’t given enough, because of this we must kill you."

They made Jesus carry a large cross in the shape of the letter "t" in order to symbolize Tithe. As he passed through the town the villagers mocked him yelling "Tithe or Die"; they spit on him and made fun of his cheap clothing.

When he reached the top of the hill they nailed him to the Tithe. As he sat upon the cross he cried out "Father forgive me, I haven’t given to the Faith Harvest Offering" and with that he breathed his last.

Three days later his disciples went to his tomb and saw that he had risen from the dead. Later he appeared to them and said "While you thought I had died, I really was in heaven tithing to the temple. And now know this: He that tithes shall gain all and he that doesn’t shall die. It is for this reason that my Father in heaven has sent me."

"I tithed so you might live"

From that day forward the tithe bucket was always full.

This is the reason for Easter. It is a time to remember the tithe. I pray that you all have been touched by this story and will now bring a tenth of all you own to CBC in celebration of the resurrection of the tithe.

May the curse of Malachi never be upon your household.

There was an interesting article in the Oregonian today. West Linn Baptist Church is changing its name to New Life Church. Also, the church is going to purchase a new churchsite in another neighborhood, so they can become a “multisite” church.

The article is here: New Name to Reflect its Faith

This seems to be a trend in churches. They are choosing generic sounding names and then placing these churches in neighborhoods all over Portland. The “neighborhood” church is making a come-back.

To me this sounds like the death knell for City Bible’s huge campus. People are losing interest in the huge “campus-church” and are choosing the smaller local church instead. I imagine the only way CBC can stay afloat is by selling or eliminating PBC and CCHS, which are financial drains. And then taking the cash and investing it into several smaller City Bible churches throughout the Portland Metro area. City Bible – Vancouver. City Bible – Pearl. City Bible – Lake Oswego. (Somehow I don’t think there will ever be a City Bible – Killingsworth)

I guess, I don’t think there is anything wrong with this. I just think it is another sign of how churches are changing to fit people’s needs.

I guess I just want to clarify the purpose of this blog.

This blog is not really directed at City Bible members. Because I do not believe this blog will change their mind. This blog is directed primarily at those young ex-members of CBC, who are tired of the way CBC has hijacked the definition of “Christianity” and turned into a message of wealth and personal gain.

I do not use humor and sarcasm to change people’s mind. I use humor and sarcasm to make myself laugh. Because I’m funny. And no one makes me laugh harder than me.

However, I do believe what I am writing. And I know there are a lot of ex-members who are excited to see and hear someone stand up to CBC.

I recently asked Reformed Pope why he continued to blog, and he responded with this short testimony:

I don’t care about CBC. I was up on 96th Street today, there was a kid couldn’t have been more than ten years old. He was asking his pastor if he had any read any other blogs as good as City Bible Watch. That’s who I care about. The little kid who needs blogs, because his parent or guardian won’t let him read the excessive church humor and strong sarcastic content you and I take for granted.

Here are three comments that I initially missed. I found them interesting. They were written in response to my “Love the sinner; Hate the sin” post.

POINT

Catalyst, I have a hard time believing that you love the members and leaders at CBC, especially with all the personal jokes, attacks and mockery dished at Frank and Doug and whomever else.

And do you hate the sin in your life as much as the sin you see in them? It is ok to point out bs you see going on around you. but isn’t this site generally part of the problem and not part of the soulution? So you’re going on 30,000 but does this “success” satisfy your soul? Just a few thoughts.

-Anonymous #93

COUNTERPOINT

Coming from a similar background as Catalyst and RP, I can fully understand why they think and behave like they do. City Bible could be likened to a cruise ship [i.e. the Titanic] or a freight train in that they are slow to change and slow in reaching their destination.

I prefer the freight train analogy because I feel CBC is on a collision course with our culture and turning around isn’t an option. It is extremely gratifying to know that when the crap hits the fan and the fraud that is City Business Church is exposed for who they really are, there will still be this blog as evidence that someone saw it coming and didn’t fall victim to it. So in response to your question, Anonymous #93, I pose a question to you. Hasn’t the problem for so many years now, been the fact that Christians have neglected to point out the BS that goes on around them?

COUNTER-COUNTER POINT

Sure CBC may be slow to change in reaching our culture, but in some way they are reaching part of our culture, it just that we don’t like that part of the culture. Isn’t the church diverse enough to reach different people in different ways? I know I am playing the devils advocate here, but come on man do you really think that CBC is a fraud? A false church with some truth or a true church with error, or bs. And regarding speaking out about the B.S., there is a right way to do that and if your doing the right thing the wrong way it is still wrong. Whatever is not of love is sin, and we are to speak the truth in love . That is what i guess i am trying to get at.

-Anonymous #93

Well, perhaps I’ll be able to devote more time to this blog now that Syracuse just lost. Honestly, I’ve filled out some pretty bad brackets in my time, but never have I had my “Championship” team lose in the first round. Syracuse is dead to me. We will never speak of them again.

So, Thursday, I was at a local bar watching the games, and I started talking to a young guy from the area, who was going to Graduate school. He was a nice guy, and he mentioned that he went to “Falls Church” which is a pretty big church in the area. Anyway, we got to talking about Church and Religion. It was interesting and he has some serious reservations about todays modern church as well. But he mentioned that he just read a great book that changed how he looked at Christianity. He said the book was “Blue Like Jazz.”

So, now I’ve definately gotta read this book. Its becoming the “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” for the 21st century. Though, I seriously hope its a little more enlightening then the “dating” book, which should have been subtitled, “I am ugly and incapable of attracting the opposite sex.”

Anyway, the guy invited me to a Bible Study at Falls Church sometime, so I may end up going back to church soon. And you know what that means… …another fascinating Breakdown: City Bible vs. Falls Church.

I’m getting excited already.

Priv8Pete says:

I got thinking about the church I grew up in. At some point in time that church had to be built from scratch. It was all brick on a stone foundation with ornate wood work and lots of stained glass windows. Think about what it would cost to build a church like that today. It would probably cost a year’s worth of tithe for every family in the congregation. Plus the church members would probably do most of the work themselves.

Now, where is that spirit of giving (both money and time) for a congregation with an existing church? If the same amount of tithing (both money and time) was given by every church today imagine the evangelistic outreach. I wonder if there was more willingness to sacrifice yourself in past generations that we have lost.

It’s that time again. Time for the greatest weekend in sports, the NCAA Basketball Tournament. This is my Christmas. Remember how when you were a child and on Christmas Eve you were so excited you could barely sleep. Well, that’ s me now, only Christmas Eve is always on Wednesday and always in the middle of March. And it also lasts four days… Four glorious days… (Well, they’ll only be glorious, if Arizon makes it to the final four and doesn’t choke in the first round.)

That said, I do not anticipate I will spend this week blogging much about Christ’s role in the modern church. However, I may blog about JJ Reddick’s role in carrying Duke to the Sweet Sixteen.

If any of you also enjoy this time of year and would like to fill out a bracket. Please join our group, it would be a pleasure to have you.

Posted below is the link to the bracket on ESPN.
(You may have to create an ID.)

http://games.espn.go.com/cgi/home/request.dll?FRONTPAGE

The name of our group is: Have you ever heard of Alfred?
And the password is: Wyalusing

Have Fun!