Hey Ladies...Test Time

On pg 23 in Michelle's book (last post) she suggests a simple self test and makes some comments on the options. Here it is:

How About You?

How have you been affected by the lie that your body must fit a certain standard in order to be accepted? Check all the following statements that apply to you:

• I am critical of my body
• When I look int he mirror, I first notice the parts of my body that I think are inadequate.
• When I see images of "beautiful women" in the media, I compare myself to them.
• As I get dressed and ready in the morning, I consider what other will think of my appearance.
• I weigh myself frequently and am emotionally affected by the results.
• The thought of being seen without makeup or hair done is scary to me.
• When others compliment my appearance, I have a hard time believing it's true.
• When I eat in front of other people, I wonder what they are thinking about me.
• I tend to wear clothes that are baggy to hide my figure or tight clothes to show off my body in hopes of receiving attention.
• If money were not object, I would have plastic surgery in a heartbeat.
• I have often thought that becoming more beautiful would be the solution to some of life's challenges - my desires for romantic relationships, career success, popularity among friends or self-esteem.
• In the past month I have spent a significant amount of money on beauty supplies.
• I'm really bugged if the car is pulled too far forward in the garage.

Just kidding about that last one! I threw that one in there just to see if you were really taking this seriously. Come on out this weekend to Gathering. If you just can't wait to get a hold of Michelle's book, come by the church and I can get you a pretty good deal on your copy of it. We'll be selling them for $10 this weekend.

Body Image - Not for Women Only!

Just want to put in a word for our upcoming series in Gathering entitled Skin Deep. Our guest presenter this upcoming Sunday is Michelle Graham. She's the author of above title on body image. Michelle comes to us from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship - the ministry Mark Ashton and I worked for before coming here to CCC.

Check out Michelle's bio and come on out to Gathering this weekend. Michelle will bring copies of her book. Here's a quick look at the table of contents.

Oh, one last thing. NO, body image isn't just for women! Men, you are tied into this topic integrally. Michelle gets to talk to you week one, but guys, you're mine week two. Jerry Bussleman and I are going to look at the topic from the perspective of men. And NO, that week is not just for men, ladies!


Contents
1. The Lie We Buy: Beauty and Culture
2. Was Eve a 36C? Beauty and the Fall
3. When Beauty Becomes a Beast: Beauty and Consequences
4. Who's the Fairest of Them All? Beauty and Ethnicity
5. Who Are We Trying to Please? Beauty and Sin
6. Can I Still Keep My Favorite Lipstick? Beauty and Balance
7. Is There More Than Meets the Eye? Beauty and Character
8. Where Can I Get a Supernatural Makeover? Beauty and Freedom
Appendix: A Note About Eating Disorders

Levels of Heaven?

Yesterday in Gathering, one of our guests raised the question about levels in heaven. Will people who have been more faithful as followers of Jesus on earth reside in "higher" levels of heaven? Are there degrees of rewards in heaven?

Here's a little insight I'll throw out there for you today. Let me know if you have any thoughts about it.

The idea of levels of heaven was not a distinctively first century, Christian idea. Paul hints at levels of heaven when he writes this to the Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 12:2-5 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know- God knows. And I know that this man- whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows- was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.

Paul clearly means that "third heaven" is heaven itself. The "first heaven" in antiquity commonly meant the skies or the earth's atmosphere. The "middle heaven" if you will would be where the moon, stars, planets, etc traveled about. This doesn't really imply levels in heaven itself. It just means that heaven would somehow have to reside above the earth, above the skies, above outer space.

Later in church history, early fathers such as Justin Martyr, developed an entire cosmological system in response to Gnostic thinking about the universe, Satan, demons, angels and heaven. The diagram above represents some of the thinking on the part of early church apologists. Note the various levels and how they are grouped in a hierarchy starting with Hell building all the way to heaven. This is perhaps where we get ideas of levels.

Scripture itself never talks about levels IN heaven. The focus is on a place created by God in which God and his people will dwell eternally. There may be varying degrees of reward for the kinds of things people have done to serve God in their life-times. The bible speaks of crowns. Paul mentions our works being judged and found to be of varying qualities of significance (some will burn up, other will be refined like gold, silver, etc). No really "good seats" in heaven for really good Christians like Mark Ashton and the rest of us get so-so seating! In fact if it is a graded experience in any sense we might actually be surprised to find out what "the first shall be last and the last shall be first" is really all about.

Let me know what you think! In my next post, I'll give you a little more on Early Church Father cosmology....

What Will Heaven Be Like?

I'm so excited I could just about explode! The more I think about heaven, the more my spiritual vision burns with hope, joy and anticipation! Do you feel that way?

You've probably heard the familiar slam on the adage: "Don't be so heavenly-minded you're no earthly good." Absolutely nothing could be further from the truth! Most people I know scurrying around trying to be busy and important, could use a heavenly two-by-four to the forehead. We all need to slow them down and infuse our striving madness with a good dose of heavenly reality. I don't know how anyone could make sense of earth WITHOUT the possibility of heaven on the horizon of our impossible schedules.

Come on out to Gathering this week as we launch head-long into a fascinating look at heaven. Here's a flavor for some of the questions we're going to start with this week:

1 - What's on the timeline between here-and-now...and then-and-there. What's gonna happen between the world as we know it now and the New Heavens and New Earth? Take a look at Rev 21 if you can before you come to Gathering.

2 - Rev 21 is a look at the eternal state, but what about now? What is the present experience of believers in heaven. Is the place we call heaven happening here and now? Who is in heaven right now as I'm reading this blog post? What is the intermediate state of a redeemed person who dies before the second coming of Jesus?

3 - Last and most important: What will my body be like in heaven? What will I do? Will I be bored? Will heaven be an ethereal or solid? What's the food going to be like? What was Jesus' resurrection body like and does that give us any clue about what we'll eat in heaven (better look up a little scripture on that one - see John 21 and Luke 24

Stay tuned to the blog as I get more stuff out about our topics. Come out this Sunday and bring your best questions! I'm the chump we all get to stump and I'm psyched about the topic!

Give Us Your Feedback

Just a quick note to let you know that if you participated in the Jesus Class during the past couple of months, we'd like your input on how we can improve the way we lead the class. We have gotten great feedback from people who were in class last weekend. If you happened to be in the Jesus Class and would like to give us your thoughts, hit on the link below, download the form and bring it to class filled out.

There are also some next step opportunities you can indicate interest in for after the class is over. Even if you missed a few weeks of class, we'd really like to hear from you. Here's the link:

Jesus Class Evaluation Form

Thanks so much!

Making Use of What you Know

Last week in Jesus Class we were served yet another Mark Sandwich... Yum! (see the Jan 28th blog-post on Sandwiches) In chapter 6, Jesus is first rejected at Nazareth. He then sends out the 12 Disciples on a mission. Mark next inserts the flashback of John the Baptist being executed for confronting Herod's illicit marriage to his brother's wife. Finally, Mark records the return of the 12 after their mission. Message? The mission of the kingdom is costly - it might bring even painful rejection!

It's a riveting chapter, but how do you apply its message to your own life? What difference would it make to the church today if we lived in fearless abandon to the mission of Jesus? What do things like "Shake off the dust" mean in a world where we have a hard time just being heard in the first place?

Here's what the class came up with for personal application points. Actually this is only a fraction of what people submitted. Usually the class teacher is the one putting the bold personal application questions up on the board, but this week we flipped the script and had the students brainstorm.

Here are the best out of a list of over 40 reflection questions. I think they did pretty good!


#28) Who in my life do I need to hold accountable for their actions? Am I willing to take the risks that confronting them might involve? Why not?

#38) Jesus couldn't perform the miracles he really wanted to in Nazareth because people lacked faith. How is your level of faith affecting Jesus’ ability to work in your life?

#33) Has the fear of acceptance ever held you back? How do you overcome it?

#45) Jesus sent the disciples out in pairs. How can I bring others into my ministry so I'm not alone in my efforts? What are the advantages of always having someone else in partnership with me?

#14) What would you do if you had the power Herod did? a) Use it for selfish gain, caving-in to evil influences? b) Stand up for what is right even if you had to retract something you previously said? c) Avoid the situation and just let things play out? Why?

#12) Is there a Herodias in my life? How can I be prepared to stand up to someone of such power and negative influence?

#11) What would I do if Jesus asked me to go out in mission like the 12 - with little resources or specific directions? Would I obey? What would I stand to learn through such an experience?

#9) What capabilities of mine are actually hindered by lack of faith in those around me? How can I handle myself in a situation where the people surrounding me don't operate from a base of trust?


Sometime this week, grab your bible, give Mark 6 a look and let the Jesus Class point you toward some penetrating reflection questions as you study.

Way to go Jesus Class!

Lucifer Questions

We have been having a very stimulating time taking on The Prince of Darkness Grim (as Luther calls him). Satan has been generating all kinds of interest in crowds and crowds of people. Each week our attendance at Gathering has hovered around 120 people as we've talked about Satan, demons, temptation and spiritual warfare.

Each week we wind up with more questions than we have time to answer from the stage, so I thought it would be a good idea to log those questions and bring them here to the Spiritual Discovery Blog. What follows is the whole list of our texted-in questions. In the posts that follow, I'll go to work on some of the ones we didn't have time for at Gathering.

If you haven't been out to Gathering yet, today's your last shot for the Lucifer series till we restart with a major change of pace topic: Questions For Heaven. If you want to catch the presentations we've done hope over to the Gathering Media Page and give them a listen!

Here's some of our Questions:

I have heard that there is a different demon for each sin. For example a demon of lies. What are your thoughts? Are there verses that support that?

Do demons try to intimidate Christians more than non-Christians?

One of my friends is having a psychic party with a palm reader. I want to be there to care for her, but I don’t want to mess with the spirit world. What should I do?

Can someone who orients with Satan (Satanists) cause demons to attack or possess another?

I don’t believe that Satan or demons are omniscient. When Christians are struggling we are called to confess our faults to one another so that we can be healed. Does our out loud confession give Satan fodder to use against us?

Can someone be led by the Lord to recognize demonic activity?

The Catholic Church still performs exorcisms today. Why doesn’t the Christian church?

Several years ago I went from a period of fire in my bones to suicide, depression, anorexia, etc. Everything I knew was against God’s will for me. Do you think God still tests people like he did Job or was it just lies I believed?

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. In the original context does this refer to the sacrament of baptism or just a cleansing of the soul?