Join us this coming Sunday for our annual Harvest Party at FUEL Youth. Bring your friends; bring your costumes; bring your sweet tooth. It’s going to be an awesome time with outrageous games, an insane costume contest and candy galore. Don’t miss it!
“Hurt feelings never motivate righteous action.” – Darrell Beebe
During yesterday’s service, this one sentence burned itself into my mind while Darrell and Sherri Beebe were sharing their story of suffering and forgiveness from their experiences in the island nation of Palau. Darrell was describing a moment when he had the opportunity to exact vengeance on the men who had hurt him and his family. His anger was just, and his actions toward the men, in an A Time To Kill fashion, would seem excusable (if not heroic) by nearly any modern sensibilities. Furthermore, his inward mental justification was reminiscent of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s rationale in attempting to assassinate Hitler. “I may not have been able to protect my family,” he stated, “but I can keep them from ever hurting anyone else again.”
Somehow, no doubt through the interference of the Holy Spirit with his understandable human emotions, he was able to have the fortitude of will to withstand the temptation to sin. The men were later convicted of their crimes and sent to prison, but it was Mr. Beebe’s faith in God’s sovereignty in the midst of incredible suffering that allowed justice to take its course and reserved vengeance for him to whom it truly belongs.
I want to pull out two points from this situation, but before I do I will begin with an assumption about sin that will form the starting point for our discussion. Despite the indisputably wrong actions of the men in question, Darrell would have been wrong in taking justice into his own hands and killing them. In this case, his actions would have betrayed a sinful lack of faith in God’s control over the situation. This being said, I would like to explore two aspects of temptation: twisted justice and rationalization.
I stated above that Mr. Beebe’s anger was just, and it absolutely was. He had every right to be infuriated with the men, and from a worldly perspective to kill them. As Christians, however, we are called to a higher level of ethical behavior. The temptation to sin blurs this line. It begins, as most effective lies do, with a truth. These men were bad men: true. These men had caused unspeakable pain to his family: true. These men deserved to be murdered in the street: true. But then comes the step that seems to follow logically, but actually places the victim in the position of God. I can, no I should, no I must mete out justice upon these wretches. In so doing, our wounded human nature twists our sense of justice. It turns the acknowledgement of sin into a license to sin against sinners. In this way Satan exploits the situation, and if he succeeds there remain no bloodless hands.
While the first aspect of temptation looks backward at wrongs inflicted and distorts truth to justify sin, the second looks forward at the consequences of that sin and distorts truth to rationalize it. Darrell’s statement that “I can keep them from ever hurting anyone else again” was true. Again we’re met with a truth at the root of our temptation to sin. The lie comes in next. “I should be the one to prevent their future sin.” While I’m not saying that we are without obligation to prevent people being hurt when possible, we also have to yield to the appropriate authorities in such situations: namely God and human agencies. In this case the men had been arrested already and were on trial. Having faith that God would have his way and that the men would ultimately see justice apart from his own actions allowed Mr. Beebe to focus on conducting himself in a manner worthy of the gospel rather than on the hurt that had been caused by these men.
Both of the above errors manipulate emotion to distort truth and incite sin. Hence Darrell’s statement that “hurt feelings never motivate righteous action.”
Matt Honstain
Hey all,
Last night was our interest meeting for Belize 2011. Despite my 72pt font typo (the info packet said “2010″), the meeting was great, and we had a chance to field some excellent questions from some of the parents in attendance. We’ve now got an idea of who’s interested in coming and are going to be forming the team pretty quickly from this point. If you want to go (or even might want to go) and missed the meeting and didn’t talk to me ahead of time, please let me know as soon as possible. This is going to be an AMAZING trip, but space is limited, and it will probably fill up pretty quickly.
Matt
That tears it! Whoever decided to install the first bathroom stall door that swung in needs to be drug out into the street and shot! Am I alone here? Who on earth could possibly think it would be a good idea to force people to squeeze around the door, just millimeters away from what horrors one can only imagine on that toilet seat!?
Granted, our toilets here at RCC are generally quite clean, but that cannot be said for a great many restrooms elsewhere! Especially for an older woman like myself, maneuvering around a porcelain rimmed death trap can be quite hazardous, and let’s not even mention what I have to do with my walker!
Frankly, I’m fearful for my safety, but this isn’t just about me. Your husbands and wives, your cousins and grandparents, your parents and children, your brother and sisters and friends and girlfriends and uncles and distant relatives whom you don’t know but who certainly deserve better are facing this terror, many of them every single day. Something has to be done! Stand with me! We will not take this sitting down (so to speak)! Raise a rallying cry and form a resistance! Do it for yourself; do it for your neighbor; do it for the children! File petitions with building inspectors; picket any building with inward-opening stall doors; lay down your life for the cause if necessary, but never back down; never give up; never allow the inward-opening-bathroom-stall-door heathens to win! Who is with me!?!
Granny Trudy
Last night we wrapped up our “History Makers” series at FUEL, and through it we learned about two incredible Christians and asked ourselves two extremely important questions.
The first question was one repeatedly asked by my youth pastor, Bill Archer. “If you were arrested tonight, and put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” It’s now been a number of years since I could be considered “youth,” but the question remains ever in the back of my mind, and I don’t think it’ll be fading away any time soon. Does my life reflect the love of Christ in the world to the extent that anyone would notice? If it were illegal to be a Christian, would I end up in jail, or would I even be suspected? I would challenge you to ask yourself these types of questions. One of the questions on our student leadership application at FUEL is “How would your non-Christian friends define your relationship with God?” Do they even know you have a relationship with God? I’m not trying to lay down a guilt trip here, but if we are going to grow as Christians, we have to think about (and answer) these sorts of questions.
The second question is, in some ways, similar to the first, but it looks forward to a commitment rather than back to how you’ve lived up to this point. “What are you willing to give up for the cause of the gospel?” This question doesn’t cause you to examine your past behavior. It allows you to place yourself in a hypothetical moment of decision, what some of us Christians like to picture as a “deny Christ or die” moment. While I think this is an excellent tool to evaluate our own motives and allegiance, I’d like to challenge the way we’ve come to think of this (or at least the way I sometimes do). It seems to me, it’s a little too easy to picture a black or white, up or down, yes or no situation where the right thing to do is perfectly clear-cut. Certainly, these happen sometimes, but they’re far less frequent than the gray decisions, and we usually don’t take into account the competing influences that would be assailing our minds. You have to admit, it sounds a little hypocritical to say you would die for Jesus if you don’t want people to see you reading your Bible at school, because that could prompt some uncomfortable conversations. We talked at youth about the fact that every choice is a rejection, and sometimes the right choice rejects something that’s good in favor of something that’s better.
It’s good to ask ourselves these questions, and frankly I think it’s good never to be satisfied with our answers.
The two Christian lives we looked at were Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Saint Damien of Molokai. Both of these men gave up everything for the cause of the gospel. Family, friends, health, freedom and life were sacrificed by each, in different ways, in order to be faithful to Christ.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, leader in Germany’s Confessing Church under Nazi oppression, took a public stand against Hitler’s assault on the Christian faith. He also secretly helped Jews escape Germany to Switzerland and, after escaping himself to the United States and then to England, went back into Germany to oppose Hitler, even participating in a failed plot to assassinate the Nazi leader. He was captured, imprisoned in numerous concentration camps and finally hanged on April 9th, 1945, two weeks before the camp was liberated by Allied forces.
Father Damien de Veuster, a Belgian Catholic, was sent to Hawaii and ordained a priest in Honolulu in 1864. Several years later, he voluntarily went into Kalawao, a settlement of individuals suffering from Hansen’s Disease (leprosy), who had been forcibly removed from their homes and quarantined on the island of Molokai in order to prevent the spread of the disease. He served the people there faithfully and wholeheartedly, ignoring medical advice and living in close proximity to the extremely contagious infection. As a result, he contracted leprosy in 1884 and slowly succumbed to the disease, dying five years later among the people he had come to serve. Father Damien was officially recognized as a saint by Pope Benedict XVI last year, 120 years after his death.
Both these men could answer the above questions as well as humanly possible. We could not do better than to model our lives after theirs in devotion to Christ.
Matt Honstain
Hey All,
FUEL is heading down south to Belize in July of 2011! We’re going to be ministering to the local population, which endures extreme poverty despite a thriving luxury tourist industry. This meeting is for anyone (and the parents of anyone) interested in going with us. It is informational only; no commitment is required at this point. We plan on sharing our heart for this region as well as up-to-date details on the trip itself.
If you’re considering this trip at all, or even just want some information, make sure to attend this meeting. You don’t have to sign up that night, but space will be limited. Don’t miss out! Let us know you’re coming on facebook.
Last night began our current speaking series: “History Makers.” We just wrapped up a three-weeker on who God is and how to know him. Now, we’re moving on to examine the lives of three amazing Christians who proved through their lives that they had amazing relationships with their Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.
ASSASSIN. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was our focus last night: the German pastor who stood up to Hitler publicly, suffered for it, helped Jews escape Germany to Switzerland, suffered more, participated in a plot to assassinate Hitler, and was finally executed, two short weeks before Flossenburg, his final concentration camp, was liberated by Allied forces. Studying in New York and pastoring in London, all the while knowing the danger posed by Hitler, Bonhoeffer still chose to risk everything by returning to Germany to help set up and lead a secret seminary for Germany’s Confessing Church, which opposed the Nazi attempts to bastardize the gospel for the sake of its own propagandistic machine. A prolific, young pastor, scholar and author, Bonhoeffer saw his brilliant life and career cut short by a hangman’s noose at the age of thirty-nine.
TO THE ENDS. Father Damien of Molokai, officially canonized by Pope Benedict XVI one year ago today, spent the final sixteen years of his life working with and serving inhabitants of Hawaii’s quarantined Hanson’s Disease (leprosy) settlement on the island of Molokai. Disregarding medical advice, he treated those under his care, those who had been marginalized and ostracized by everyone else, with compassion and lived with them as a peer. “His transformation of Kalawao [the settlement] surprised many people. He gave dignity and respect to a community previously left for dead. With the help of the stronger patients, he built houses, an orphanage, and a church. He enlarged the hospital, laid water pipes, and improved the boat landing and the road leading to the wharf.” (Anna Weaver*) Finally, in 1884, Saint Damien succumbed to the disease and continued to serve the community, dying five years later and being buried under the tree where he first slept at the settlement.
TENACIOUS. Gladys Aylward, not having the financial wherewithal to make it from England to China by ship, traveled by train, boat, bus and mule to the city of Yangchen, where she, with an elderly companion, Mrs. Jeannie Lawson, set up an inn to preach to passing caravans. Shortly after Mrs. Lawson’s death, Gladys was approached by the Chinese government to be a female foot-inspector, in order to enforce the recent legal ban on the practice of footbinding. Following this, she calmed a riot in a men’s prison, with which the guards had been afraid to interfere, and came to be known as “ai-weh-deh,” or “virtuous one.” She also ministered bravely in China as it was under assault by the Japanese in the spring of 1938, often disregarding her own safety in favor of her commitment to her ministry.**
Get here to hear about these three amazing Christians and the devotion that led them to live out their relationship with God every day, and with the entirety of their beings.
*Written for the Hawaii Catholic Herald on May 18, 2007, cited at www.fatherdamien.com
**http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/73.html
