Hey Danville, Go Get Your Free Coffee!

This is very off subject, but I had to make sure our friends (even our hypercon friends) in Danville know that they can go get a free cup of Starbucks joe today (Nov 4).  Here’s the story:

SEATTLE – Seattle-based Starbucks is making fast changes — after being accused of breaking the law with an offer to voters.

 

Prior to Monday afternoon, Starbucks was promoting an ad that said anyone who says enters a Starbucks on Election Day and says that they voted would get a free cup of tall coffee.

Election officials for the state of Washington told KIRO 7 that rewarding voters with free coffee is illegal. 

“No good deed goes unpunished,” said Nick Handy, director of elections. 

Handy said there is a federal statute that prohibits any reward for voting. 

Starbucks’ good deed can be perceived as paying someone to vote, and that’s illegal, Handy said. 

“The way it is written, it expressly prohibits giving any kind of gift,” Handy said. 

Handy said the intent of the statue is aimed at special interest groups trying to influence who and how people vote. 

To fix the situation, Starbucks had agreed to give a tall cup of coffee to anyone who asks on Election Day. 

A statement from Tara Darrow of Starbucks says, “We’ve been excited by the number of positive responses received about our free coffee offer. To ensure we are in compliance with election law, we are extending our offer to all customers who request a tall brewed coffee. We’re pleased to honor our commitment to communities on this important Election Day. We hope there is a record turnout on Tuesday and look forward to celebrating with our customers over a great cup of coffee.”

Story found here.

So, go vote, and then go get a free tall coffee at the Danville Starbucks!  Good stuff.  This is written under the assumption that Danville Starbucks is participating.  If someone goes by there, drop a note here to let others know.

Meanwhile, here’s a picture of a cool Starbucks located in California.

Acts 26

Tonight’s local hypercon TV show featured a message the host presented at a recent cofC-sponsored tent meeting in a nearby town.  In the beginning of his talk, the host asked his audience to go home and look up Acts 26:17-20.  Then he said,

“…you will hear the Apostle Paul say that you better get ready to do some work.  Everybody says that Paul said that it’s faith only, that’s not in the Bible.  No preacher in this town can show you the Scripture where it says “faith only”.  And I can show you where the Apostle Paul said that Jesus Christ told him to preach to the Gentiles that they better turn from darkness to light, and they better do works meet for repentance, in other works to show that you have repented… that is in the book and Jesus said it to Paul…“

The interesting thing about this statement (especially with the “faith only” comments) is that the host says that works are required for salvation, and then he claims that Paul was somehow saying such a thing in this passage.  

t’aint so, McGee.

This passage isn’t dealing with how to be saved – as the host even said, “work meets repentance” means that after you’ve become a believer, you will do works that prove you are a believer.  Let’s look at it again.  

The Greek word translated by the KJV as “meet” is the Greek word ἄξιος (“axios”) which also translates like this: “befitting, congruous, corresponding to a thing” (look here for more info on this Greek word).  In other words, it isn’t saying that you have to work for your salvation, but that when you’ve turned from darkness to light, there should be work that proves your repentance.

Let’s look at that passage in a more understandable (more modern) translation:

“…that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.”  Acts 26:20b NKJV

That’s still a bit hard to understand.  Let’s look at another even more modern translation:

“that they should repent and turn to God and perform deeds worthy of their repentance.” Acts 26:20b RSV

This is a point that our hypercon host and others who agree with his teaching seem to miss.  The work that the writer of Acts talks about here (as well as in James) is a work that happens because we’ve become followers of Christ – it’s not a work that we do to become a Christian.

This is one of the stunning misconceptions that our hypercon friends try to propagate – that we must work our way to heaven.  That we have the ability to work our way to heaven.  

Well, we don’t.  

I submit that our readers consider these verses with regard to the idea that we have much of anything to contribute to our salvation by way of works:

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:” Romans 3:10  

“I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.” Isaiah 57:12  

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isaiah 64:6  

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” Romans 3:27-28  

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” Romans 3:31

What Does the Bible Say?

“People were bringing Pharisees to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the Pharisees come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not work their way into the kingdom of God like a Pharisee will never enter it.” And he took the Pharisees in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.” - Mark 10:13-16 

Oh – wait.  No, that’s not it.  Here’s what it actually says…

“People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.” - Mark 10:13-16 

Hosting this blog, dealing with the mindset of modern day Pharisees who are attempting to work their way into heaven, I have to remind myself often of the truth of the Gospel.  Thank God for His grace and mercy.  And let us all be like children in Christ.

For An Example of the Lord’s Church in Action…

Came across this story earlier and thought I’d share it for a real example of the Lord’s church in action.  It doesn’t matter the name of the church on the sign, they are becoming all things to all people so that they can share the Gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Cor 9).  Kudos, church!

‘Skate Church’ brings in new worshippers

By Melissa Maynarich, NEWS 9

ADA, Okla. — There’s a new kind of church down in Ada, and it’s attracting kids with a bad reputation.

The makeshift skate park in the parking lot of an Ada church has become the hippest Tuesday night hangout in town. It has given skateboarders a place to land kick flips and worship the Lord.

“Skate Church” was the idea of a Christian man who saw a need to reach out to a group of teens he felt were overlooked and misunderstood.

“Found some hard core kids, kids that definitely had some issues, and definitely some work that needed to be done” Skate Church founder Dennis Cavins said.

Cavins went out, got the kids and brought them to the church with promises of a free meal and access to skateboarding ramps. The biggest perk was that no adults wanted to kick them off their property.

“I was just wanting to get free skateboards. I was just coming here, getting free food, wanting to hang out, hang out with friends. But man, the feeling that God is in this place, it’s clear when you get into that building,” skater Ethan Hickerson said.

At Skate Church, riders worship with a rock band, and hear a message.

“There’s something better than drugs, alcohol, sex, any of that stuff. There’s something better than that,” Trinity Baptist Youth Minister Scott Sullivan said.

This idea is making a difference for these teens.

“I would not be at a church. I hated church before this place, and now, this is just awesome man. I’d probably be drunk or something,” Hickerson said.

Skate Church proves that it’s not always just about working with people in the church, sometimes it’s about going to the people.

“God had called us to the mission. It was one of those things where it just felt absolutely that nothing was going to turn me away from that thing,” Cavins said.

Skate Church is every Tuesday night at Trinity Baptist Church in Ada.

Regarding Tactics…

Watched a bit of the Robertson show tonight.  He spent quite a bit of time justifying his tactics of getting at his enemies (the preachers from other denominations) by ambushing with cameras, etc.  He justified this behavior by talking about the tactics employed by the children of Israel when they were spying out the land.   

This made me go “hmmm…”

Why?  Well, when we’ve discussed using musical instruments in worship on this blog, the hyperconservatives have come back repeatedly saying that there is no New Testament authority authorizing the use of musical instruments in worship, and that is why the “true church” would never use musical instruments.

My question – where is the New Testament authority for hyperconservative church of Christ people to use these tactics of ambushes, secret recording, etc?  Can anyone tell me a passage of New Testament scripture that has the apostles engaging in this sort of behavior?   

It seems that this is a pretty big double standard.  Further, it demonstrates how the hyperconservatives will violate their own principals if it helps them to justify themselves in their own minds.

Am I misreading this situation?  Anyone else care to comment?

100,000! Celebration!

Wow.  In less than a year, with no advertising beyond tags and wordpress keywords, we’ve crossed the 100K mark.  For any blog to do this is pretty cool, and for one as small as ours, even moreso!  

Here’s a toast to the past 100,000 visitations we have experienced, and to however many more this ol’ blog might have in her.  It might be 10, it might be 10,000, it might 100,000!  A toast!

Actually, that’s two.  But what the heck – we hit 100,000!

Another Interesting Website…

I just came upon another interesting website which examines the teachings of the hyperconservative churches of Christ.  Some good info there.  

Even if you disagree with their conclusions, you have to admit that it is a very logical, easily navigable website.  

Thoughts?

100K Just Around the Corner

Hard to believe, but if you’ll look over at the counter to the right, you’ll see that this blog is approaching the 100,000 mark.  That’s pretty amazing, considering the subject matter and the amount of effort that has gone into advertising the place (read: zero).  

I hope that as we get close to that landmark number of hits, that folks will remind themselves of the purpose of this blog – to discuss a certain teaching within a certain branch of the Christian faith – the hyperconservatives in the churches of Christ.  We’re not a place for bashing or personal digs (although it has happened here in the past) – we’re a place for discussion, and hopefully for enlightenment.

But mostly, this place should be a place where we celebrate God as He has revealed Himself in the writings of the Old and New Testaments – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  That could happen a LOT more here.  Remember, we all claim to be followers of the same God, and so even if we have BIG disagreements, we should let that commonality bring us unity, and should affect the way we communicate to each other.

A More Active Blog

I’ve been so busy with life-changes recently that this blog has been suffering for a lack of updates, new information, or new conversation.  However, Randy has been updating his blog pretty regularly as of late, and has been having some good conversations over there.  So, I would recommend Randy’s blog if you are looking for a currently more active blog dealing with this subject matter.  I am obviously still here, but just with reduced output.

Scambaiting

Okay, it doesn’t really have anything to do with our subject matter here, but I found this link that made me chuckle, as someone is participating in “scambaiting” and claiming to be a former leader in the “1st Church of Christ the Heavenly Prince of All That is Sacred and Holy in Ramapo, New Jersey.”

I love scambaiters.  They live on the edge.  I did it once when I was bored, and it was rather fun.