Heaven? Yes! Hell? No!

09696
August 14, 2009

Heaven? Sure. Hell? Not so much.

by Greg Garrison
Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Just when it seemed to have cooled off, the topic of hell is back on the front burner — at least for pastors learning to preach about a topic most Americans would rather not talk about.

Only 59 percent of Americans believe in hell, compared with 74 percent who believe in heaven, according to the recent surveys from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

“I think it’s such a difficult and important biblical topic,” said Kurt Selles, director of the Global Center at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School. “There's a big change that’s taken place as far as evangelicals not wanting to be as exclusive.”

At the recent annual Beeson Pastors School, Selles led two workshops to discuss “Whatever happened to hell?” He asked how many of the pastors had ever preached a sermon on hell. Nobody had, he said.

“I think it’s something people want to avoid,” he said. “I understand why. It’s a difficult topic.”

The Rev. Fred Johns, pastor of Brookview Wesleyan Church in Irondale, AL, said after a workshop discussion of hell that pastors do shy away from the topic of everlasting damnation.

“It’s out of fear we’ll not appear relevant,” he said. “It’s pressure from the culture to not speak anything negative. I think we’ve begun to deny hell. There’s an assumption that everybody’s going to make it to heaven somehow.”

The soft sell on hell reflects an increasingly market-conscious approach, Selles said.

“When you’re trying to market Jesus, sometimes there’s a tendency to mute traditional Christian symbols,” he said. “Difficult doctrines are left by the wayside. Hell is a morally repugnant doctrine. People wonder why God would send people to eternal punishment.”

Speakers said the seriousness of Jesus dying for man’s sins relates to the gravity of salvation vs. damnation, according to Johns. “If you don’t mention God’s judgment, you are missing a big part of the Christian gospel,” Selles said. “Without wrath, there’s no grace.”

Pope John Paul II stirred up a debate in 1999 by describing hell as “the state of those who freely and definitely separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy.”

Although the pope was reflecting official Roman Catholic teaching, some U.S. evangelicals expressed misgivings about the implication that hell is an abstract separation from God rather than a literal lake of fire as described in the Book of Revelation.

The pope’s comments on hell stirred up the ancient debate about whether hell is a real place of burning fire or a state of mind reflecting a dark, cold emptiness and distance from God.

Evangelical Christians have traditionally offered a sterner view of salvation and damnation. A Southern Baptist Home Mission Board study in 1993 estimated that 70 percent of all Americans are going to hell, based on projected numbers of those who have not had a born-again experience.

Human ideas about hell were still in ferment as the Bible was being written. The theological concept of hell has a rich cultural heritage, according to historian Alan Bernstein, author of The Formation of Hell.

The ancient Hebrews focused on the afterlife following their Babylonian captivity, when they experienced the torment of ungodly enemies who seemed to have an unjustifiably good life on Earth. During the Babylonian exile, Jews were exposed to Zoroastrianism, which asserts there is an eternal struggle between good and evil, with good triumphing in the end.

The Hebrew concept of “Sheol” — the realm of the dead — may also have been influenced by the Greek mythology of Tartarus, a place of everlasting punishment for the Titans, a race of gods defeated by Zeus, Bernstein writes.

From about 300 B.C. to 300 A.D., those influences combined with Hebrew speculation about an eventual comeuppance to the worldly wicked.

In translating the Bible from Hebrew to Greek, the Greeks used the terms Tartarus, Hades and Gehenna. In Greek thought, Hades is not a place of punishment. It’s where the dead are separated from the living.

The term Gehenna referred to a ravine outside Jerusalem that was used as a garbage dump. It had once been a place of child sacrifice and became a symbol of pain and suffering, Selles said. As a garbage dump, it was probably often a place of fire as trash was burned, emphasizing the symbolism of the flames of eternal damnation, he said.

Jesus never soft-pedaled the concept of hell, Selles said. “It’s not metaphorical in Jesus’ mind. It’s a real place,” he said.

In 410 A.D., St. Augustine defined four states of afterlife: those so good they go to heaven; those so bad they go to hell; those who deserve some relief in their eternal torment; and those who deserve to be lifted out of torment after repenting for their sins. That set the stage for the doctrine of purgatory in 1237 A.D.

The Bible contains a litany of colorful images of hell as both fire and darkness, as in the Gospel of Matthew, which refers to “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” and “the outer darkness” where “men will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Either way, Selles said, pretending that hell doesn’t exist, or trying to preach around it, short-circuits the Bible.

“This is a doctrine, a teaching, that’s being neglected in churches,” Selles said. “It needs to be preached. It’s part of the Gospel.”

Greg Garrison writes for The Birmingham News.

Here We Go Again

09700
August 17, 2009

Is Doomsday upon us (again) in 2012?

by Lindsay Perna
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s that time of the century again. Time to sell your real estate, rid yourself of cherished possessions and purge the evil tendencies of your wicked soul.

The world is scheduled to end in late 2012 — at least according to New Age scholars who look to a 2,000-year-old Mayan calendar for guidance — and it’s time to start preparing.

The Mayans, who were scattered across southern Mexico and Central America from around 2000 B.C. until the Spanish conquest of the 17th century, are noted for astronomical insight and for their “Long Count” calendar, which comes to an end, or perhaps resets, on Dec. 21, 2012.

Cue the destruction of the world.

Hollywood is already playing along. “2012,” a big-screen blockbuster from the director of 2002’s “The Day After Tomorrow,” is scheduled to hit screens in November. Publishers are also cashing in, and the far reaches of the Internet are abuzz with speculation on the end of the world.

Our troubled times are proving to be fertile soil for doomsayers sowing the seeds of Armageddon. Experts say that’s usually how it works.

“Apocalypticism rises and falls with economic and political conditions on the ground,” said Stephen Prothero, chairman of the religion department at Boston University. “Give a culture some leisure time and excess income and they’ll forget about the end of the world pretty fast. But mass an army at the border, and prophesies of the end of times will spike just as quickly.”

While the Mayans aren’t normally known as major players on the religious scene, beliefs in the end of the world, or the world to come, are common themes across most major faith traditions.

“Our fears about the end of the world are fairly universal,” Prothero said. “What changes is the form those fears take.”

This time around, they’re taking the form of Roland Emmerich’s “2012,” in which the arms of the Christ the Redeemer statue above Rio de Janeiro break off. St. Peter’s Basilica is reduced to a pile of rubble, and Exodus-style natural disasters plague the planet.

It’s not a religious film per se, but its religious imagery and end-of-days tribulations will resonate with audiences — particularly young people — who take their spiritual cues from pop culture, experts say.

“Hollywood movies tend to succeed if they don’t underestimate (the sophistication of) their audience,” said Lynn Clark, associate professor of new media at the University of Denver. “There is an urgency for (spiritual discovery) that is part of the undercurrent of young people’s lives these days.”

Youth may not be avidly reading their Bibles and attending church in large numbers, but Clark said they do look to the entertainment industry to initiate religious discussions.

Indeed, religious notions of the apocalypse and pop culture’s obsession with what rock band R.E.M. called “The End of the World as We Know It” have often gone hand-in-hand. When Armageddon appears imminent, churches will exploit those fears to get people into the pews.

It worked for William Miller in the midst of an economic downturn in 1837, when he predicted the Second Coming of Jesus in 1843. When that date passed, he changed the date to 1844. Though his failed prophecies eventually became known as the “Great Disappointment,” his followers nonetheless kept the faith. Today, they’re known as Seventh-day Adventists, one of the world’s fastest-growing churches.

People like knowing how it all ends — hoping, of course, it will end well — or that someone else has already figured it out.

“It’s an idea as old as the species that we are part of a pattern, therefore, somebody may be able to trace it ahead of us,” said Volney P. Gay, a professor of psychiatry and chairman of the religious studies department at Vanderbilt University. “There is a certain kind of comfort or relief in that we don’t have to worry anymore.”

Which brings us back to the Mayan calendar, and its focus on 2012.

Publishing giant HarperOne recently released a 356-page book by self-proclaimed Mayan shaman Carlos Barrios, The Book of Destiny: Unlocking the Secrets of the Ancient Mayans and the Prophecy of 2012, that says many interpreters of the Mayan calendar have gotten it all wrong.

The world won’t end when the calendar does in 2012, he says. A new cycle will begin anew, and the doomsday scenarios are already upon us. Armageddon, it seems, may already be in progress.

“A large part of humanity will disappear. This will not happen in 2012, but in the years leading up to this date as one cycle ends and another begins,” Barrios writes. “This period is when are in the most danger.”

In other words, it’s time to clean up our act so that the next cycle — what Barrios describes as a 5,200-year era of peace and self-awareness — can get started.

“If we take the chance to change, we have the opportunity for harmony,” Barrios said in an interview from Colombia. “We are going to pass to the next level with more possibilities to develop ourselves. It’s not today to 2012. It’s today to the future.”

Twitter during service?

The Gospel according to Twitter

by Amy Green
Ecumenical News International/Religion News Service

ORLANDO, FL — Do you tweet during church? Isn’t it rude?

David Loveless doesn’t think so. Loveless is lead pastor of Discovery Church, a nondenominational congregation that draws some 4,000 on Sundays to three locations in Orlando.

The congregation has always thrived on the cutting edge, becoming among the first to embrace contemporary music and remove its steeple from its building.

Now the congregation is tweeting — using 21st-century technology to discuss the Gospel in 140-character cell-phone text updates sent via Twitter.

The technology emerged naturally here, as something parishioners brought with them to Sundays from the rest of their week. Loveless recognized it as a new way to communicate, and he began posing questions during his sermons and asking parishioners to “tweet” back by texting their responses. Those responses were then woven into his sermons, creating an instantaneous dialogue between pulpit and pew.

“In John I, when Jesus was referred to as ‘the Word that became flesh,’ God knew exactly what was the most relevant form of communication for the first century,” Loveless said. “It made people feel like, ‘My gosh, he talks my language.’ That would be people’s responses these days, in going, ‘My gosh, my pastor tweets.’”

It is the newest technology arriving in contemporary church services. In fact, it’s so new, and growing so fast, that there’s no data to say just how many churches have embraced it.

No longer is the cell phone such a pariah — only ringing cell phones are. Instead, church leaders are inviting worshippers to tweet and text their way through services as a way to share their prayers and reflections with neighbors in the pews, or their family, friends and “followers” on Twitter.

“It’s a hot-bed issue right now, and people are on two sides of the fence about it,” said Matt Carlisle, a Nashville, TN-based technology and new media consultant for faith-based groups and nonprofits.

“As Christians, we are to witness, we are to make disciples for Jesus Christ. And if we can embrace new technology to do that, I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t embrace Twitter, why we shouldn’t embrace Facebook.”

Many church leaders embraced new media such as Twitter and Facebook long ago as a way to create an online gathering place and promote upcoming events. Now some are taking it further, encouraging tweeting and texting during services as a way to create dialogue and strengthen a sense of community.

Michael Campbell, the 30-year-old pastor of the 230-member Montrose Seventh-day Adventist Church in Montrose, CO, poses questions during his sermons and asks worshippers to text their responses, which are displayed on a screen. Like Loveless, Campbell then discusses the responses.

In other congregations, Twitter has emerged quietly and organically, with parishioners tweeting their reflections during services in the same way they tweet their thoughts or activities throughout the week. The dialogue also allows real-time discussion and gives those who couldn’t make it a chance to monitor services from afar.

“I’m a younger pastor,” Campbell said. “You’re just building that sense of community, and people are interested in that because now they are part of the sermon.”

But isn’t it distracting? Doesn’t it detract from the contemplative and meditative nature of spirituality? Carlisle points out that parishioners long have been taking notes during services, and that never has been distracting to others.

“I don’t think the etiquette has been established yet,” he said. “Literally, within a year’s time, this thing has been happening at a handful of congregations.”

At Mars Hill Church in Seattle, leaders never decided to add Twitter to services. It just happened, said Ian Sanderson, a church spokesperson.

The nondenominational congregation draws some 8,000 worshippers at nine locations, including a new one in Albuquerque, NM. Seattle is a tech-savvy place, and the average member at Mars Hill is in his or her 20s. Tweeting and texting encourages dialogue across the congregation’s multiple locations, and it helps church staff keep up with what parishioners are thinking and feeling, Sanderson said.

“I would say probably 80 or 90 percent of the church staff is on Twitter,” he said. “If the old rules aren’t helping anyone in their walk and their relationship with Jesus, if you can pull out your iPhone and Twitter something about the sermon and that helps your whole group of friends, we’re not going to frown on that at all.”

SAT exam leaked in S. Korea

SEOUL, South Korea -- A U.S. educational organization is investigating allegations that a student in South Korea leaked a copy of a standardized SAT college admissions exam to fellow students in the United States, an official said Friday.

A South Korean who was believed to be applying for admission to a U.S. university appears to have smuggled SAT test papers out of an exam in Seoul in January, and then e-mailed copies to a South Korean student in the U.S. who was to take the same exam a few hours later, South Korean broadcaster MBC reported.

The test papers also were circulated to South Korean students in a U.S. high school, MBC said, saying it had obtained scanned copies.

A South Korean Educational Testing Service official said an investigation was under way, but did not give any further details and spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the continuing probe.

The College Board - which owns the SAT - has also launched an investigation, MBC said.

The SAT test papers also were believed to be circulating among private English-language institutes in Seoul, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, citing ETS officials.

The vast majority of universities and colleges in the U.S. use standardized tests in the admissions process.

Which state is most sinful?

May 11, 2009

NEWS FEATURE

How do you spell lust? M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

By Nicole Neroulias

(UNDATED) Las Vegas may be known as “Sin City,” but when it comes to transgressions per capita, parts of the Bible Belt may burn much hotter, suggests a new study by Kansas State University geographers.

The project, conducted by four graduate students in the university’s department of geography, maps out “hot spots” for Christianity’s seven deadly sins—lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride.

The hot-spot data is based on federal statistics such as sexually transmitted disease rates for lust, theft rates for envy and violent crime rates for wrath.

Researcher Ryan Bergstrom emphasizes the project was intended as a secular mapping exercise, but faith leaders have been gradually discovering it through word of mouth. Many express surprise and disbelief at findings that show America’s deep South as suffering from more overall sinfulness than southern Nevada.

The Rev. Joel Hunter, pastor of Northland Church in Longwood, Fla., speculated the results could mean that regional stereotypes about morality have been greatly exaggerated.

“Perhaps Las Vegas is known for its tourist industry but the residents are in reality more sedate and conservative,” he said. “And perhaps Florida is known for its retirees but our residents are more `out there’ with our appetites.”

The Rev. Craig Gross of XXXChurch, a national anti-pornography mission, said the project’s findings were consistent with his own experiences, both as a Las Vegas resident and a pastor frequently asked to speak at evangelical churches in the southeastern United States.

“Every city is Sin City nowadays, with the availability of everything online and the world we live in,” he said. “It’s on display more here in Las Vegas, but the temptations are everywhere. It doesn’t surprise me that in the Bible Belt, where you’re keeping it more from other people, that it’s going on more than people think.”

But most experts, including the researchers themselves, advise people not to take the study seriously as a reliable measure of saintliness to wickedness, given the difficulty of findings ways to accurately quantify each of the sins.

Sloth, the sin of not realizing one’s potential and perhaps therefore the hardest of the seven to quantify, was mapped as the total expenditures on arts, entertainment and recreational activities compared to employment per capita. That’s a particularly dubious method, said Mark Biddle, a professor at Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., and author of “Missing the Mark: Sin and Its Consequences in Biblical Theology.”

“You certainly wouldn’t measure (sloth) by trips to the theater; it has more to do with, let’s say, someone who had a musical talent or a bright kid who just didn’t work in school,” he said. “I would have measured it more by high school dropout rates or college completion rates, but even that would have been incomplete.”

The concept of the deadly sins is less prevalent in Jewish tradition, but the definitions—and critiques of the study’s weaknesses—are basically the same, said Solomon Schimmel, professor of Jewish education and psychology at Hebrew College in Massachusetts and author of “The Seven Deadly Sins: Jewish, Christian, and Classical Reflections on Human Nature.”

He agrees with Biddle that the study’s “wrath” manifestation—incidents of violent crime—comes closest to the source, but falls short by overlooking all the uncontrollable anger that doesn’t culminate in bloodshed, such as road rage.

“Someone can lose his temper without hitting anyone,” Schimmel said, adding that measuring lust as a reflection of sexually transmitted disease cases also overlooks a large segment of sinners.

“This could also reflect a lack of sexual education, or someone who is a devout Catholic and still has sexual impulses but doesn’t believe in using a condom,” he said, adding that the calculation also ignores all the sinners who keep their lustful impulses to themselves or turn to the Internet and other disease-free outlets.

Ultimately, no map could accurately pinpoint America’s modern-day equivalents of Sodom and Gomorrah, Biddle said, unless researchers someday develop mind-reading capabilities.

He concluded, “Jesus says that it doesn’t matter if you act on it or not for it to be a sin.”

Retreat center shooting in California

TEMECULA--Criminal charges that could bring a ‘life’ prison term were filed Tuesday against a volunteer handyman over last week’s shootings at a Korean Christian retreat center.

John Chong, 69, is accused of murder and three counts of attempted murder.

DA spokesman John Hall says Chong armed himself with the intent of settling a dispute.

“He believed that he was doing all the work at the retreat and others weren’t pitching in that much. The victims were specifically targeted. It wasn’t just a random shooting.”

Chong was beaten and finally disarmed. He is recovering and will be arraigned when he is physically able to appear in court.

Story Date: May 7, 2009

Promising not to steal sheep

09345
April 28, 2009

Philippine and Korean churches agree on proselytizing covenant

by Maurice Malanes
Ecumenical News International

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Philippine traditional Protestant, evangelical and Pentecostal churches have agreed with their South Korean counterparts to cooperate “in establishing God’s kingdom” in Asia rather than competing to the point of “stealing sheep from one another.”

South Korean and Philippine church leaders celebrated Easter Sunday on April 12 in this northern Philippine mountain city by vowing to become partners in working “for the greater harvest in the Gospel and for the glory of our God.”

They agreed, among other things, “to never exploit and steal sheep from one another” and to cooperate in “transforming our communities and beyond for Christ.”

The Rev. Simplicio Dang-awan Jr. of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, the main speaker at the service, noted that South Korea’s Christian population has steadily grown and Korean churches have been sending missionaries overseas, including to the Philippines.

Many Koreans have come to the Philippines as Christian missionaries, mainly Protestant, especially Presbyterian and some Baptists, and have established their own churches, which cater not only for Koreans but to Filipino converts as well.

In the process there was “stealing of sheep” from Philippine churches, acknowledged the Rev. Song Eyung Kyu, president of the Korean Missionary Association in the Philippines.

“So please forgive us for our sins,” he said in a prayer, before about 20 South Korean and more than 20 Filipino church leaders signed a “Covenant of Unity.”

In response, the Rev. Alfonso Alonzo of a group called Prayer Network Gathering, said, “Please forgive us if we sometimes considered your wealthier churches as good sources of funds … for seeing your faces as wons [the Korean currency] like the way we earlier saw American missionaries as dollars.”

As of 2007, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade recorded their expatriate population in the Philippines at 86,800 individuals, up by 87 percent since 2005. But the Philippines immigration bureau reported that as of 2007 some 240,000 Koreans live in the country, though only a few of them are documented.

Dang-awan hailed what he called an “historic event” and the start of a genuine partnership. He noted, “After forgiving one another, Filipino and Korean church leaders will be supporting instead of exploiting one another.”

More than 5,000 parishioners from Philippine and Korean Protestant, evangelical and Pentecostal churches attended the joint Easter service.

Christians and the Economy

Finding Rest in Financial Chaos

Susan Fikse, Issue Number 22, November 2008

Most of us have had it with bad news about the economy. Turn on the TV and the hits keep coming: $7 trillion lost in shareholder value, 19 percent decrease in home values, household debt exceeds $14.5 trillion, unemployment hits 6.1 percent. Who’s eager for more?

It might be nice to take a vacation from the economy. Yet, it’s impossible to avoid – the market economy pervades our lives. In his book Charting the Course, Bruce Howard asks, “Did you have cereal for breakfast made with grain grown in North Dakota or Argentina? Coffee from Columbia? Sugar from Honduras? Orange juice from Florida? Did you put on clothes made from cotton grown in Texas but sewn in Thailand?” His point: the market economy is so intertwined in our daily lives; we couldn’t escape if we wanted to. Even Mikhail Gorbachev says, “The market is not an invention of capitalism. It has existed for centuries. It is an invention of civilization.”

If the economic marketplace is a fixture in our lives, how can we as Christians respond when it’s not working as we would like? When asked this question, even though he is a professor of business and economics at Wheaton College who holds both a PhD in economics and a Masters of administration in accountancy, Bruce Howard simply responds: “Well, Psalm 62 is pretty good.” As the financial markets offer us more ups and downs than Six Flags, and taxpayers foot the $700 billion tab for Wall Street wooziness, even to those with financial expertise Psalm 62 sounds pretty good:

“My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. …”

“Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath. Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.”

Reading the Scriptures is one thing. Applying them to our hearts and lives is another. How can we live out the truth that God is our fortress and not be shaken when we watch our retirement savings vaporize? When we lose a lucrative, previously stable job? When we experience the financial security we’ve worked so hard to create crumble like a stale cookie between our fingers? Economists, pastors, and other financially-savvy experts equip us with four-C’s for coping with the current financial crisis: caution, contentment, community, and compassion.

Caution

Lance Wescher, an economist at Covenant College, is not alone in describing the current economic situation as the biggest financial issue that the U.S. has dealt with since the Great Depression. However, he says, “Our ability to respond is much better than during the Great Depression. The effect of this situation will not be of the same magnitude.” The key to staying calm, he says, is to distinguish between the real economy and the financial economy. Howard agrees: “What if all the financial instruments vanished? We have 300 million people who are highly educated, schools, factories, roads, bridges … we have all the physical assets. They are still there. Everything is still here.” The problem arises, explains Wescher, when problems spillover from the financial economy into the real economy. Wescher feels the only rationale for any kind of government bailout plan is to minimize that spillover.

But even Washington’s bailout plan is not a sufficient soothing balm. Wescher admits, “People are struggling with fear because economics is so hard to understand. It’s a challenge to see dangers ahead, but still trust God.” Managing the tension between the effects of choice and the sovereignty of God is a constant challenge to him as an economist and a Christian. “Being Reformed,” he says, “I live with this tension in my everyday life. The Bible clearly tells me not to worry about tomorrow, but I still need to be prepared for tomorrow.”

One of the ways we can be better prepared for tomorrow is to understand more of what God says about finances and economics, which is what motivated David Cowan to write his book, Economic Parables: the Monetary Teachings of Jesus Christ. “Recent generations take an improving economy for granted,” says Cowan. “Our parents and grandparents were in more of a habit of being wise and conservative about their personal financial situation.” Because we haven’t experienced hard times like those who lived through the Great Depression, he explains, we don’t know how to handle a major economic downturn. “What you’re supposed to do in the good times is prepare for the bad times,” says Cowan. “We have gotten out of the habit because of easy access to credit.”

Howard Dayton, founder of Crown Financial Ministries, urges caution in the place of consumption. “Even government officials have encouraged Americans to spend to help the economy.” Instead of embracing the buy now, pay later mindset that prevails in our culture, Dayton recommends what he calls “once and for all decisions,” such as committing to never go into debt to buy a car, or to never go into credit card debt. In this economy, Dayton says, “We have to go back to basics – I tell people, ‘Don’t spend a penny you don’t have to.’”

Cowan agrees with the necessity of going back to basics and hopes the current economic downturn will provoke that response. “The economy is a mirror that reflects who we are,” says Cowan. “If we don’t like the reflection, we don’t destroy the mirror. If we don’t like what we see with consumerism and dependence on debt, we can’t just point our fingers at the bankers – who have certainly made mistakes – we have to look at ourselves.”

Contentment

When it comes to our desire for material things, it’s not hard for most of us to examine our own hearts and see the effects of the fall. As Cowan writes, “Yes, there is corporate greed, but greed is not exclusive to the world of business and finance. There is also greed in governments, charities, interest groups, churches, schools, and universities. There is greed anywhere there are people. It may be greed for career, for money, for power, for position or for glory. It is all about us and what we want.”

In contrast Paul writes in Philippians 4, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.” The key word in this verse is “learned,” explains Dayton. “We are not born with an instinct of contentment – it is learned,” he says. “Our real joy, our real satisfaction comes from intimacy with Christ. If we are forced to have a more modest lifestyle, it’s not the end of the world.”

In fact, maybe it’s ultimately a good thing, says Cowan. “God presents painful opportunities, and for a lot of people this will be painful,” he says. “This is a bleak message, but there is a bleaker one: you can’t take it with you.” Dayton concurs: “It is not unhealthy spiritually to be shaken a bit. The Lord is saying, ‘Let’s be serious about your relationship with me and the great stuff I’ve given you in the Word.’” The parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl in Matthew 13 remind us of the importance of placing our worth in the right place, says Cowan.

“If we seek His kingdom first, then we will find our reward in the here and now by living in the joy of faith; and we can also grasp that there is a place prepared for us in the kingdom to come. Storing treasure on earth will gain us neither,” he writes.

When everything in our culture is screaming, “Spend, spend, spend,” how do Christians cultivate contentment? Dayton adamantly promotes giving. “When we give, it helps us shift our focus off the temporal to the eternal. I give all my gifts to the person of Christ,” he says. “Where I give, that is where my heart is drawn.”

Brian Fikkert, professor of economics at Covenant College and executive director of the Chalmers Center, says that another way to cultivate contentment is to reorient our thinking. “Even in our economic crisis, anybody in the world would switch places with us,” he says. “We don’t really know what hardship is. People in most of the world get up every morning and wonder how they are going to survive the day.” Even though Fikkert admits to struggling with worry himself, he says that from a global perspective Americans are spoiled rotten. “As we get banged around a bit, maybe it will give us pause to think about the rest of the world and the fears that most people live with everyday.”

Community

In addition to enlightening us about the plight of others around the world, the turbulent economy can illuminate our need for community. “Sometimes,” Cowan says, “we need a crisis to remind us how we should behave.”

In the broadest sense of community, Howard suggests that markets are more likely to be guided by moral principles when people consider the good of the whole. “When individuals make their personal economic choices on the most narrow basis of self-interest, they engage in a sort of economic calculation weighing the personal benefits against their personal costs,” he explains. Howard humorously recounts that when his teenage son bought a drum set, he did not consider the costs of his decision on the rest of the household. What he calls for instead, along with a host of other “navigating principles,” is a strong sense of community in economic decision making. “Strong communities consist of strong individuals who share a common commitment to consider the good of the whole, along with their own personal welfare, when making choices,” he says.

This does not mean, however, that we can aspire to some ideal Christian economy, warns Cowan. “It is wrong to suggest that if we match progressive economic ideals with the gospel then we can have a divine economy,” he writes. “If we want to try to rule the economy with the gospel, then – to borrow from Martin Luther – we better fill the economy with real Christians first.” By using our economic tools in light of the gospel, however, we can move toward the Acts 4 picture of Christians sharing everything with members in need. Cowan explains, “We can see that our wealth is a double-edged sword, capable of separating us from God and capable of helping us, our family, our community, the poor, and the world in general.”

In an economic downturn, the opportunities for developing community through sharing our wealth are as close as the person sitting next to us in the pew. “The response to those who have lost their job is to be generous,” says Dayton. “There are even more difficult situations like the single mom whose husband just left her with all the debt. That’s where God’s people within the local church and friends need to rally around them.” He recounts his mom telling him about growing up in the Great Depression. “The community among neighbors was amazing during that time. They developed closer relationships because of what they were going through.”

But the task before the Church is broader than simply caring for those who have lost jobs or are struggling to make ends meet. Dayton says, “During hard times we have to remember Hebrews 13:5, ‘He will never leave us or forsake us.’ It’s an opportunity to trust Him in really hard times.” During this time, Christians can encourage one another to trust God and depend upon Him to take care of our needs. “We can express that God is the owner and He loves us. He loves us like crazy,” Dayton reiterates, “and He knows everything that’s going to happen to us.” In a practical sense, a commitment to living in community is a willingness to be transparent about our finances. “Cultivate close friends where there can be mutual accountability,” Dayton recommends.

Compassion

But the greatest opportunities for Christians may be outside the Church, in showing grace and compassion to the watching world. “Jesus said that it’s hard for the rich man to enter the kingdom … because he doesn’t see his need,” explains Dayton. “In times like this, more people see their need. It’s a great opportunity for reaching out and caring for those around us.”

According to Cowan our first step is to make ourselves available. He uses the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 to demonstrate Jesus’s warning against building a cocoon of faith and wealth, leaving those on the outside to fend for themselves. “We are to assess whether we feel so secure in our faith, so secure in our personal wealth, that we have made ourselves quietly independent of the world and its troubles. In many cases, concern for those outside the gates is seen as a job for the government or the police,” he says. “The Christian response needs to be one of discipleship, offering our faith, prayers, and help to those without faith and in need of prayer and help.”

“To see this only in terms of dollars and cents is to miss the unique mission of the church,” continues Cowan. “We may have skills that can be put to good use for the church or in pro bono work. We may hold a position in our work where we can make a difference in people’s lives by encouraging the decision makers to do things for the common good. We might have daily interaction with people in the stores or on the street where we might be able to do something to make their lot more sustainable.” In all these ways we can be a witness to the world, agrees Fikkert. “We can be a testimony that it’s not really about the things of the world. We can be witnesses to who God really is – that He is in control.”

In a Breakpoint commentary earlier this year, Chuck Colson said, “Christians should view these tragic events as a chance to demonstrate compassion, helping neighbors who have lost everything. We ought to be witness to the world that when times get tough, Christians can be counted on to be merciful.” He continued, “The sad fact of human nature is that many of us never seek God until a crisis is upon us. Right now, there are millions of Americans staring down the barrel of financial ruin. When they ask where God is in all of this, I hope they will see Him in the loving acts of the body of Christ.”

Susan Fikse is a member of Intown Community Church (PCA) in Atlanta. Freelance writing is a welcome respite from her real job of corralling three young children and managing an animated household with her husband, Jonathan.

How to Prosper in a Declining Economy
By Crown Financial Ministries

1. Learn to be content (I Tim. 6:6-9).
2. Prioritize your debt. Make sure you don’t compromise your home or your transportation.
3. Negotiate with creditors as needed. Be proactive. Seek a meeting with them to make payment arrangements rather than waiting until you miss payments, and they come looking for you.
4. Pay your bills faithfully. Making your payments on or before the due date is a positive testimony to your creditors and a good example to your family/neighbors.
5. Pay extra whenever you can to accelerate payoff dates.
6. Downsize if it puts you in a better cash position.
7. Cancel cable/satellite. Instead, read a book, play a table game, or share coffee with friends.
8. Have a garage sale to generate extra cash to pay down debt or to increase savings.
9. Explore bartering to save on outgoing expenses.
10. Work your way through the Crown Money Map (available at www. crown.org).
11. Learn to garden. Use fresh vegetables and fruit when in season; try a new recipe.
12. Capitalize on your most valuable assets, your family.

How Can We Get Rid of Our Pastor?

Deportation order lifted for Korean pastor

He could still lose job at Whitehall church -- and his visa.

By Kevin Amerman |Of The Morning Call

March 25, 2009

Rev. Chang Soo Han talks in a pew of his church, Korean Church of the Lehigh Valley, in Whitehall Township last month. (CATHERINE MEREDITH, Allentown Morning Call / February 18, 2009)

Immigration authorities have rescinded a deportation order for the pastor of a divided local Korean church, saying the person who petitioned to have the minister's temporary visa revoked had no authority to make the request.

The decision, announced Tuesday, marks an end to the Rev. Chang Soo Han's federal complaint against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and an immigration official.

Han, the head of the Korean Church of the Lehigh Valley in Whitehall Township since 2003, filed the complaint along with the church in federal court in February.

He and church leaders say in court documents that a disgruntled former church elder, Jon Chung Kim, sent a letter to immigration officials in June 2008, saying the church wished to revoke the visa it had obtained for Han so he could serve as the pastor.

The current elected decision-makers of the church, who make up the church's ''session,'' say Kim lost an election in 2007 but disputed the results.

Federal authorities did not name the person who petitioned immigration officials to revoke Han's visa, but Patricia Hartman, spokeswoman for the U.S attorney's office in Philadelphia, confirmed Tuesday that the petitioner wasn't in a capacity to make the request.

Lawrence H. Rudnick, the attorney for Han and the church, said government officials ''have graciously agreed'' to reopen Han's immigration status and he will continue his attempt to gain a permanent green card.

But Han, 45, of South Whitehall Township, may lose his temporary visa anyway. And if he does, his wife and 12-year-old daughter, who has been in the United States since age 2, would have to leave also -- unless Han gets his green card.

The Korean Church of the Lehigh Valley, on Schadt Avenue, has been in such upheaval over the past two years that Lehigh Presbytery, which oversees about 35 Presbyterian churches throughout the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas, formed an advisory committee in September to investigate problems at the church and propose solutions.

That group, the Administrative Commission for the Korean Church of the Lehigh Valley, decided in February to try to persuade Han to go on paid administrative leave for up to six months while he finds a new job. He refused, so the commission is recommending that Lehigh Presbytery fire him. The commission also wants to overthrow the current session members.

Han and the church petitioned Lehigh County Judge William E. Ford to block the commission's action, but he ruled Friday he has no authority to do so.

So while he's relieved about Tuesday's announcement, Han said he remains on edge about the possibility of losing his job, which would result in the termination of his visa.

The head of the administrative commission, Paul Lucia, could not be reached Tuesday, so it's unclear if the federal decision will affect the commission's recommendation to fire Han.

Han also continues to battle eight church elders in Lehigh County Court, claiming a faction of rebellious members disrupted church ceremonies in March 2008 by yelling epithets such as ''liar,'' ''two-faced evil one'' and ''Satan, leave the church.''

In the suit, Han claims he was punished for actions he took after learning in September 2007 that a married female church member allegedly had an affair with a church employee who has since left.

Elders accused Han of running the church as a dictator, making errors as a pastor and of lying to and ridiculing members, according to court documents.

The church also serves as a social and educational hub for Lehigh Valley Koreans. Some drive as far as 50 miles so their children can take part in Korean culture classes and Sunday school there, members say.

Crime in the Church

By TERRY COLLINS, Associated Press Writer Terry Collins, Associated Press Writer – 6 mins ago

TRACY, Calif. – A Sunday school teacher was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, whose body was found in a suitcase in an irrigation pond.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, was arrested at 11:55 p.m. Friday, about five hours after she drove herself to the local police station at the request of officers, said police Sgt. Tony Sheneman.

"She gave enough information to us during the course of the interview that probable cause was there to arrest her," said Sheneman. No other arrests were made.

Police did not say how Sandra died or give a possible motive. Sheneman wouldn't go into specifics but told The Associated Press that interviews with Huckaby in The Tracy Press had revealed inconsistencies that prompted further inquiries from investigators.

Huckaby's family had been questioned at length during the investigation, and their home and vehicles had been searched, Sheneman said.

Huckaby was being held without bail at the San Joaquin County Jail, with arraignment set for Tuesday, according to the county sheriff's Web site.

Sandra disappeared on March 27 and hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials turned out to search for her. Pictures of the girl with dark brown eyes and light brown hair were posted all over Tracy, a city of 78,000 people about 60 miles east of San Francisco. Police said they received 1,500 tips.

On April 6, farmworkers draining an irrigation pond found the suitcase.

Sheneman confirmed early Saturday that the suitcase belonged to Huckaby.

The slain girl's aunt, Angie Chavez, said in a phone interview with The Associated Press early Saturday that she was happy to learn of the arrest.

"I want to know why she did it, if she did it," Chavez said. She added that she had no indication that Huckaby could be a suspect.

At an early morning news conference, Tracy Police Chief Janet Thiessen said investigators had worked on the case tirelessly.

"We have information that Sandra, by the time she was reported missing to us, that she probably had already been murdered," said Thiessen.

"It has helped us to bring Sandra home, again not in the way that we would've hoped, but that was out of our hands shortly after she went missing."

Huckaby had previously told The Tracy Press that Sandra visited her home on the day of her disappearance to play with her 5-year-old daughter. But Huckaby said she'd turned Sandra away because her daughter needed to pick up her toys and Sandra went to another friend's home. Huckaby also said she had left her suitcase in the driveway that day, and that it was missing.

The Tracy Press reported that Huckaby was released Thursday from Sutter Tracy Community Hospital, where she spent several days in intensive care for what she described as "internal bleeding."

Huckaby is a granddaughter of Pastor Clifford Lawless, whose Clover Road Baptist Church was the subject of a police search. Huckaby taught Sunday school at the church and lived with Lawless in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park that also was Sandra's home.

Lawless did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment Saturday.

Huckaby was scheduled to appear in court on April 17 to check in with a county mental health program as part of a three-year probation sentence for a petty theft she pleaded no contest to. In an interview with the newspaper on Friday, Huckaby said someone else by the same name was facing charges for the attempted November theft from Target.