I got a couple of new emails recently, and I want to post them for your enjoyment.

Couv Operator writes:

Did you see King of the Hill this week?  It was a great take-down of mega-churches.  Peggy was trying to sell Hank on switching to a new church.  She was talking about the coffee bar, dry cleaning, cafe, music store, book store, and on and on.  Hank had the comeback of the year.  "If I wanted to go to a church like that, I'd just walk around the mall and think about Jesus."  I had to hit pause, I was laughing so hard.

To quote Homer Simpson, "It's funny because it's true." Also, you know the Pastors at City Bible just read this and were like, "Dry Cleaning! Genius! Why didn't we think of that."

Lastly, an old college friend, who is also a recently ordained Methodist Minister, found my blog and wrote me the following email:

Mr. Morton-

First of all, I have to say that I am impressed with your online ministry.  You have quite the ragamuffin bunch of disgruntled Christians following your writings.  In all seriousness…your critique of the church is very prophetic, and in the midst of the sarcasm and biting wit, there is also quite a bit of compassion.

(I just looked back at what I wrote.  It makes me feel like I need to give somebody a group hug.  Sorry for the sappy tone- but I am impressed with the ideas you express on the blog.  I'll be a reader in the future.

"Ragamuffin bunch of disgruntled Christians" is an excellent description of this blog. I may try to post that phrase permanently.

I meant to get to this subject last week but have been swamped at work. Nevertheless, since this blog has a lot of intelligent, theologically trained readers, I am curiuous what they think of this new Book of Judas.

Key quote:

The text's existence has been known since it was denounced as heresy by the bishop of Lyon in A.D. 180, but its contents had remained an almost total mystery. Unlike the four gospels of the New Testament, it describes conversations between Jesus and Judas Iscariot during the week before Passover in which Jesus tells Judas "secrets no other person has ever seen."

The other apostles pray to a lesser God, Jesus says, and he reveals to Judas the "mysteries of the kingdom" of the true God. He asks Judas to help him return to the kingdom, but to do so, Judas must help him abandon his mortal flesh: "You will sacrifice the man that clothes me," Jesus tells Judas, and acknowledges that Judas "will be cursed by the other generations."

There is also this opinion from Larry Hurtado in Slate Magazine:

The Gospel of Judas has genuine historical value—as one of several bits of evidence showing the diversity of early Christianity, like the writings of such figures as Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons in about 180 A.D. The text's depiction of Judas as the disciple to whom Jesus gave unique mystical revelations is not itself really unique. It somewhat resembles the portrayal of Thomas in the Gospel of Thomas. Nor is there evidence that the Gospel of Judas ever enjoyed much popularity as an alternative to the canon of the New Testament or was considered for inclusion in that canon. This text reflects a profoundly elitist viewpoint, claiming a specially conveyed revelation of religious truths withheld from ordinary Christians and their leaders.

I find the process of cannonizing the Bible fascinating. And to me The Gospel of Judas is just more proof that Christ exists, and yet at the same time, maybe we should not take the Bible literally.  

Howard and I have decided to meet face to face to finish our conversation. Now, I tried to take this site back to it's CBC bashing roots. I wanted to include you all in the discussion, but hardly anybody wanted to talk. Fine. I'm taking my blog and going home.

For those of you wanting to entertain yourself with a "Religion" related link click here: http://www.cafepress.com/larknews. It's Larknews.com's latest T-Shirt designs. They're funny and they're real.

Enjoy.

(I'll let you know what Howard has to say)

 JohnPaul (is JP your preference?),

Thank you so much for your email. I just got back from Nashville this afternoon and am now in the joys of "catch up".

First of all, I want you to know how I appreciate the wording of your email to me.  I can see that you have thoughtfully and clearly shared your heart and perspective on those 7 points.  I didn't take any "offense" to your comments - and hopefully that's a good start to our communication!!! J

Would you like to get together and talk about this?  I'm not even sure if you are in Portland anymore, but would be open to getting together if you would like.

RE: you posting your letter - that is fine with me.  Thank you for asking me beforehand!!!

May I give just some "general" comments to your points that, perhaps, can be cultivated with future email? 

A "Preamble"…It is certainly a challenge to quantify "belief", "fact" and "Truth" (with a capital "T", denoting that there may be "truths" separate and distinct from "Truth").  "Belief" seems to be an outflow from "opinion" which many times may be formulated through experience.  Unfortunately, experience is not necessarily equated with fact.  And, belief does not necessarily generate action.  Conviction generates action.

Then, there is the outworking of Truth, which may or may not be connected at all with our process of "belief".

For example, my sister died of cancer at the age of 39.  The Bible seems to embrace "healing" as a doctrinal outworking of Christ's work on the cross.  However, my "experience" with my sister was that of "non-healing".  To confound and confuse me further, I have also experienced "healing". But it was my "non-healing" experience that entrenched me in a spiritual/mental/emotional dilemma.  How do I therefore integrate "belief", "fact" and "Truth"?

How do I find the simplicity on the other side of complexity?  How do I embrace "Truth"?

I have said all this because all your points began with - "I believe…"  So, it becomes somewhat of a challenge to dissect, discern and provide dissertation on "belief" versus "fact" versus "Truth".  It would be easy for me to comment my "belief" (which is also the outflow of my "opinion").  But, I'm not sure what could be accomplished, as it could be an exercise in futility trying to convince differing opinions to "convert"…

My apologies for this preamble…  I shall try to communicate on each point in subsequent "journals"  J

• 1. "I believe that City Bible Church is more focused on City Bible Church then on anything else. In other words I think CBC is self centered. The Forward Together campaign is a prime example, in it you have 4 steps of which none are focused on reaching the lost. Sure, a nicer looking building,a new building on the West Side, and advertising the CBC name could attract the lost but to me it sounds more like expanding the Kingdom of City Bible then the Kingdom of God."

 Without arguing about the comment regarding "focus and self-centeredness", may I provide some comment to your statement regarding "Forward Together" - "…4 steps of which none are focused on reaching the lost…"  As you know a "text" without a "context" is a "pretext".  Our Objective is the Great Commission.  Forward Together is not our Objective - it is our Strategy.  A Strategy is game plan that enables an objective to be obtained.  

Is there only one Strategy that a church could apply?  Ahhh…Therein lies the conflict of the ages since the Early Church began.  Of course, there is not just one Strategy for the church.  There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Strategies that can be implemented - encapsulating an extremely broad range of philosophies from "Assisi" to "Dominion Mandate".   

 It would be somewhat obtuse to think that CBC has the "right" or "only" Strategy.  We don't.  But we do "believe" we have the right Strategy for CBC - which we "believe" will enable us to accomplish the Objective of the Great Commission.  Is it a "perfect" Strategy?  NO…Hopefully our journey will enable it to be "perfected"…

 As to the "lost" question, perhaps it would be more appropriate to determine whether CBC is "reaching the lost" by assessing the outcomes of its Strategy.  And, if this was done, perhaps it would be discovered that there have been many hundreds of lives positively impacted with the love of Christ that enabled them to make that "Great Commission" decision.

 Can CBC do better?  Absolutely!!!  Can I do better?  Without a doubt!!!  It's a little bit like Schindler's List, at the end, where he agonizes over not having done more.

 Some may not feel comfortable with CBC's Strategy and may feel more comfortable with another Strategy.  That is wonderful!!!  But whether it be by fire or water…"Eternity Play shock" or "Neighborhood love", let's keep our eyes on the Objective.  One of the working relationships I have cultivated is with a very prominent Hollywood influence that has had a Christ encounter.  His words to me were, "I want to spend the rest of my life making it extremely difficult for anybody to go to hell".  Sometimes our wording doesn't convey our intentions.  However, let's agree we definitely need to stay focused on the Objective.

 You are certainly entitled not to participate in "Forward Together" - and, maybe for all the "right" reasons.  But, keep in mind, Forward Together is not an Objective - it is a Strategy.

 Herein ends my brief "epistle" to point #1.  Feel free to post it, if you want.

 Thanks, JP, for allowing me to hear your heart and for allowing me to start sharing mine.  Hopefully, this will be positive, productive and a step in being real!

Hopefully…more to come!

Blessings,

Howard Rachinski

Dear Howard,

Thank you for your quick response. I appreciate you taking the time to acknowledge my letter.

The only reason I listed your name in my letter was because you are fortunate enough to have a "large" photo on the CBC website. I don't believe we've ever spoken and I certainly don't have any issues with you at all. Truth be told I don't really have issues with any of the pastors at CBC and I think that is part of my problem. I don't necessarily "like" all the pastors, but that's mostly a personality thing.

It would be real nice if I could come up with a couple of instances where I felt "hurt" or "wronged" by someone. That way I could go to them, address the specific issues, and hopefully move on. Unfortunately my concerns are much broader than that.

I'm not dying to get in long debates with you or any other pastor really, and I'm sure you would like to avoid that as well, but lately I have felt like I need to try and have some communication with some of the pastors.

That being said, I'll list a few of my "issues" for you to hear and then you can decide what to do with them.

1. I believe that City Bible Church is more focused on City Bible Church then on anything else. In other words I think CBC is self centered. The Forward Together campaign is a prime example, in it you have 4 steps of which none are focused on reaching the lost. Sure, a nicer looking building, a new building on the West Side, and advertising the CBC name could attract the lost but to me it sounds more like expanding the Kingdom of City Bible then the Kingdom of God.

2. I believe City Bible Church is overly concerned with their image. This starts with the Pastoral Staff and creeps down to the congregation. Again, Forward Together is a prime example.

3. I believe that City Bible Church miss-represents the Bible with it's teaching on tithe. I've spent a fair amount of time researching Tithe and the Bible and I just can't see how 10% still applies today. I've heard Marc explain the Covenant of Blessings but it all seems like such a stretch.

4. I believe City Bible Church indirectly teaches a "give to get" message. Although you may not specifically say that one is directly related to the other (except in one ridiculous message Frank preached on Malachi 3) the theme is constantly pushed.

5. I believe City Bible Church fails to push the truth behind the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After 10 years of extensive church attendance, youth group/camps/conferences, and even 3-1/2 years of Temple Christian High School, I could not have told anyone about the Gospel. The first time I truly heard it was after I left CBC. Again, like the above point, it is mentioned but the message always seemed muddled.

6. I believe City Bible Church attempts to control their members and keep them from thinking for themselves. Any time I ever saw anyone question anything they were always told something about "God placing that leader in that place and by questioning the leader you are questioning God". You can see why this would concern me.

7. I believe City Bible Church has a double standard when it comes to extra-marital sex. If you get someone pregnant you get in front of the church to repent; if you don't get them pregnant all is hidden…

So there you have it, 7 points of concern from Johnpaul Morton. I don't know if you can do anything about it, I don't know if you care to do anything about it, but at least you know how I feel.

If there is any other pastor who you think should hear this please forward it to them. Again, I'm not looking to pick a fight here…

I do welcome any thoughts, comments, or even criticism you may have for me. If you know of anyone that has personally been hurt or offended by my actions please ask them to contact me so we can try to rectify things.

And now for my final question: Do you mind if I post this letter on my blog?

Dear Frank, Mark, Jack, Ken, Robert, Howard, Doug, Rich, Isaac, Asim, Scott, and wives,

Many people have asked me if I have told you how I feel in regards to my experience at CBC. For some reason they feel this will add legitimacy to "the blog" (thank you all, by the way, for making City Business Church "the blog"). I always respond to these comments the same way… "OF COURES I'VE TOLD THEM HOW I FEEL, I've told the whole world how I feel." Unfortunately, most people seem to think that the reason you are supposed to "talk to the person who offended you" is so that they can hide it from everyone else; I however, feel the reason to bring it up is so that the offender has a chance to work things out with the offended. That being said, here is your chance.

I have carefully documented all of my feelings here on this weblog. Please feel free to peruse through the many posts I have written and, if it makes you feel better, add "Dear _________ (insert your name)" to the beginning. I would specifically like to draw your attention to the "Why we blog"" section. In it you will find key insights to help answer the questions "WHAT HAPPENED" and "WHY".

Most recently I posted a comment titled "Well & Grace"; in it I address many of the concerns I have with your church and specifically list an instance where "Biblical Mandate" was not followed. This would be a great place to start.

You may use the comments section below or, if you choose, you can send an emailed response to mortonjp14@hotmail.com. I would also like to state that I would be more than happy to meet with anyone to discuss things face to face.

Please do not ignore my request. Despite the constant sarcasm you may find on this site, there is much truth in my words. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF ONE MAN'S OPINION.

I look forward to your response.

Couv Operator sends over a couple of links from fellow Oregonlive blogger Steve Duin.

Steve links to a NY Times article discussing Joel Osteen. Evidently, Joel has taken to autographing Bibles and is a big believer in making lots of money. Surprise. Surprise.

The best part of the article is the end, where Joel defends his position on prosperity by arguing,

"I don't believe I ever preached a message on money," he said.

Of course Joel doesn't need to preach about money. He has his wife do it for him:

Before the collection was taken, Victoria Osteen urged generosity as a way of drawing God's favor. "He not only wants to enrich you but do things for you you know nothing about," she said. "Let him breathe the breath of life into your finances and he'll give it back to you bigger than you could ever give it to him," she said. To which the congregation, said, "Amen," and the buckets went around.

I really believe that if Jesus went to Joel's church, He'd snap and start turning over coffee carts and book tables.

Steve later links to an article in Harper's Magazine which challenges all Christians to live better lives. (I prefer to focus on Joel).  

Jack just emailed me this story about a youth pastor who attacked a teen during an intense game of dodge ball. From what interaction I have had with youth pastors, I find they are often highly competitive. 

Or perhaps this was just the youth pastor's way of preparing his youth group for the Dodgeball Championship in Vegas.

If you can dodge a wrench (or a kick to the goin) you can dodge a ball.