Scott Douglas's Blog, page 3

Monday Mourning: The Dirty "S" Word

Pastors love to talk about the good things. It’s those pesky little annoyances of bad things that are always troublesome at the pulpit. I’m speaking here of suicide. There’s a reason it’s rarely talked about in church—it makes people uncomfortable. But when it comes to church, there’s nothing wrong with being a little uncomfortable.
 
In 2013, Newsweek ran a cover story declaring suicide to be an epidemic. The fact is people are depressed, and churches need to talk about it. I guarantee you if a sermon on suicide in any church is preached, there will be several in attendance who have either contemplated it, attempted it, or know someone close who has. It’s a big issue.
 
One of the problems people have with talking about it is the Bible is a little mum on the topic. There were a handful of Biblical suicides. Notably, Samson, King Saul, Ahithophel, Zimri, Abimelech, and Judas. But it only records them. It gives no record of it being a sin. Murder is a sin. And many who speak on the issue condemn because it’s murder of oneself.
 
But Romans 8:38-39 tells us that death cannot separate us from the love of God. Nothing, it says, can separate us from God’s love. So while suicide is wrong, there is evidence that those who engage in it are still saved.
 
My point here is not to give you permission for doing it. My point is it’s okay to talk about it. It’s okay because it’s a message people need to here. A lot of people would not even be in the depressed state they are in if the church was a little more open to talking about things like mental illness.
 
Being depressed doesn’t mean God doesn’t love you; it doesn’t mean there is no God; it doesn’t mean there is no hope.
 
And being a Christian does not mean your mental state is going to be pretty. It means you are going to be saved.
 
If you are depressed or experiencing suicidal thoughts, there is help. There are people who understand. There are people just like you.
 
You can call the free National Suicide Hotline anytime: 1 (800) 273-8255
 
You can also text the Crisis Text Line here: TEXT “GO” TO 741-741
 
The Crisis Text Line also has a resource page of several support groups from people who are dealing with everything from cutting to domestic violence. You can read more here.

#FridayFunnies

Devoted Wednesdays: Double Standards

"If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers— would you now return to me?” declares the Lord. -- Jeremiah 3:1 (NIV)

​Double standards don’t make sense. They just never add up. Especially when they are applied to spirituality. ​Basically it’s saying if you leave your wife and sleep with several others, and your old wife had slept with several others, you would never go back to her because she is dirty. Not because you are dirty, rather she is! And then God says, you have also lived with prostitutes, would you return to me? God accepts the clean and unclean.
 
A lot of us have this problem of unclean. We feel too dirty, too guilty, or perhaps too proud to ever want to return to God. Sometimes it’s because of guilt sometimes it’s because we didn’t know we needed to (pride sets up large walls that are hard to see over). There really does come a point, however, where even pride doesn’t stop us and we ask with sincerity ‘is there a God and will he take me.’
 
Depending, however, on how deep that pride is will be answer that question. For some it will be very small and they will know grace, but for others, pride will have created such a wall that they cannot move—not even to accept grace. Sometimes people are so far gone that they don’t even need temptation and satan to make that decision—sometimes pride makes it for them.
 
The point here, however, is we are all unclean. We have all sinned and fallen short of the grace of God. All of us.
 
And though we all have sinned—though we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s grace—we sometimes still feel the urge to make people feel unclean. The urge to say my sin is less than yours.
 
I’m shocked by how many people who have sex outside of marriage say they believe a homosexual having sex outside of marriage is a sinner, but they are somehow okay…nobody’s perfect.
 
There is no sin great in God’s eyes. No person more dirty. No person more clean.

Monday Mourning: Read This…If You Can Read

Reading matters. Can you really argue that?
 
But how much does it matter? Here’s a statistic for you: According to a UNESCO report, a child who is born to a mother who can read is 50% more likely to survive past the age of 5.  Why is this? You can argue the rationale for hours, but the fact is: education helps. I’ve seen a lot of churches do sports ministries. That’s nice; a great way to get the community involved in the church. And it’s certainly not a bad outreach. It’s rare, however, that I see churches do book drives or anything that promotes learning.
 
Here’s a newsflash: we don’t need more athletes. We need more doctors, librarians, teachers—educators. While a sports camp will certainly give a child positive support, imagine the message you send when you tell people you want to help create a smarter future.
 
If you’d like to get involved with an organization that supports learning, I’ve created a list of some of the many great organizations (both Christian and non-Christian) on this page:
http://www.organicjesus.com/charities

Devoted Wednesdays: Break Free the Chains So You Can Be Chained

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me -- ​: John 5:39 (NIV)

​We are saved by grace. Not by law. That is central to the theology of Christianity. ​The concept of that was baffling to many Jews. For hundreds of years, Jews had waited for their Messiah. And then he comes and he says that law they’ve been following since basically forever is not going to save them. Shocking to say the least.
 
It’s only through losing the law that we can see God.
 
Jesus clearly says we must be born again—that this law of the past is not the law of the new. But even after he rose from the dead, even believers were a little confused by it—even they struggled with it. They wanted to believe while clinging to the old ways of things like circumcision.
 
It took a fiery little man named Paul—a man who was once such a hardcore Jew, he was willing to persecute Christians—to ultimately listen to the spirit and recognize that we couldn’t have a salvation by grace while still applying the laws of the past.
 
How awesome—how totally awesome it must have been to be standing next to Paul when he realized all of this—and how much pride he must have lost to admit all this.  His background, though, is what made him so much on fire for spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.  When I think about Paul—about a man with so much authority that he could say the law isn’t important now, I have to stop and say whoa.
 
So why are people so into law even today? Into telling other people why they are not doing what the Bible says? Because grace is so difficult to understand—it’s beyond us. For us to say that the only thing that can possibly save us is the love of God—that we can't earn it, that we can’t buy it, that we can’t find it—that is difficult to get. And so while saying we believe in grace, we subconsciously, perhaps, try and find little things that save us on top of it.
 
But all that is a lie. We are saved by grace alone. The law means nothing.

Break Free the Chains So You Can Be Chained

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me -- ​: John 5:39 (NIV)

​We are saved by grace. Not by law. That is central to the theology of Christianity. ​The concept of that was baffling to many Jews. For hundreds of years, Jews had waited for their Messiah. And then he comes and he says that law they’ve been following since basically forever is not going to save them. Shocking to say the least.
 
It’s only through losing the law that we can see God.
 
Jesus clearly says we must be born again—that this law of the past is not the law of the new. But even after he rose from the dead, even believers were a little confused by it—even they struggled with it. They wanted to believe while clinging to the old ways of things like circumcision.
 
It took a fiery little man named Paul—a man who was once such a hardcore Jew, he was willing to persecute Christians—to ultimately listen to the spirit and recognize that we couldn’t have a salvation by grace while still applying the laws of the past.
 
How awesome—how totally awesome it must have been to be standing next to Paul when he realized all of this—and how much pride he must have lost to admit all this.  His background, though, is what made him so much on fire for spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.  When I think about Paul—about a man with so much authority that he could say the law isn’t important now, I have to stop and say whoa.
 
So why are people so into law even today? Into telling other people why they are not doing what the Bible says? Because grace is so difficult to understand—it’s beyond us. For us to say that the only thing that can possibly save us is the love of God—that we can't earn it, that we can’t buy it, that we can’t find it—that is difficult to get. And so while saying we believe in grace, we subconsciously, perhaps, try and find little things that save us on top of it.
 
But all that is a lie. We are saved by grace alone. The law means nothing.

The Bob Duntko Show

I did my first radio interview for #OrganicJesus. It was the Bob Dutko Show on WMUZ in Detroit (103.5). Take a listen below.Web link if the above does not play: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx2nPjIP-PHcM2w5THg0bi16SEU/view

Monday Mourning: Adopting In Your Backyard

​You open a website and see the hungry and adorable eyes of child who only wants one thing: to be loved. How can you not want to wrap your arms around them? The problem is it’s expensive. Most international adoptions are $25,000 and upwards in addition to travel cost. There are thousands of couples who would love to adopt, but can’t afford the staggering cost.
 
An often overlooked area, however, is in our own backdoor. Over 400,000 children are in foster care; of that over 100,000 are waiting to be adopted. Many of these children are never adopted—they age out of the system—which means they go through life never having anyone to call mom or dad.
 
But what about those cost? Good question…but what cost? As opposed to international adoptions, most county adoptions (and by county, I don’t mean you found a mom who wants to give up her baby…I mean kids in the foster care system) don’t cost anything but your time. Any cost associated with the adoption (home study, background checks, etc) are picked up by the county; and there’s more—depending on where you live, you are often given an allowance to help pay for food and clothing—and medical expenses is also covered. All you have to do is prove you can care for a child.
 
Interested in domestic adoption through the county? Every state—and every county—has different guidelines; California residents can start here: www.cakidsconnection.org
 
NOTE: I am not associated, nor do I endorse, any of these charities; before donating to any charity, it is always advisable to research them and make sure the money is being used responsibly. One of the largest charity watchdog groups has a database here: http://www.charitynavigator.org

#FridayFunnies

Devoted Wednesdays: Do Everything In Love

Do everything in love --  1 Corinthians 16:14 (NIV)

Think hard about this:
 
Have you ever heard someone see a Jew or a Muslim or a Hindu or INSERT ANY RELIGION HERE do something that makes them look like a jerk, and then heard a person say, “It figures that they are a Jew or Muslim or Hindu.”
 
You probably don’t have to think that hard because I can almost bet you money the answer is no…unless that person is a Christian. If a Christian is a jerk, you're almost certain to hear at least one person say, “It figures that they’re a Christian.” Christians are held to a higher standard. Why? Why is the pedestal that Christianity sits regarded so much higher than others? Why is a Christian expected to do good, but not any other religion? Christianity preaches the forgiveness of sin—the idea that we are deeply flawed people…shouldn’t this put us in lesser regard?
 
That definitely makes sense. Except for this: love.
 
Christians are indeed forgiven—saved by the grace of the cross; but in that cross is a message of love—a message that Christians are called to follow.

The problem with love is, in many ways, love can only come when we let the Spirit work through us to do extraordinary things.
 
Love is a natural emotion—love your child, your spouse, your parents—those are natural things. But the extraordinary love that the Bible teaches—that it commands—is loving when everything inside us wants to hate—loving when there is absolutely no reason to do so. That kind of love can only happen through God—when we surrender ourselves and say not my will, but God’s will.
 
The Bible says to do all things in love. But let’s be realistic…how many things do we really do in love? Is it love that makes us yell? Love that makes us hate? Love that makes us plot revenge or wish ill thoughts on someone? If we’re really being realistic here, we probably don’t even do most things in love.
 
If Christians took a deep breathe before acting or speaking and said: “Do all things in love,” then what might this world look like? You don't need to stand on street corners and scream the gospel at anyone who passes by...you just need to love.