According to CNN…

Ty Adams, a web-based evangelist and author, is producing “The Real Housewives of the Bible,” a two-part DVD series that tracks six women dealing with the ups and downs of marriage as they strive to be good wives.

Adams said that “outrageous reality shows” like Bravo’s “The Real Housewives” series and VH1’s “Basketball Wives” inspired her to create a more wholesome version of the franchise.

“I was frustrated with what I was seeing,” she said. “A lot of society is looking towards programming to educate them on relationships and these shows haven’t effectively done that.”

Interesting, huh?

It seems to me Christians tend to have a thing for taking cultural phenomenons and releasing their own “Christian” version of it. I don’t know if there’s a thing inherently wrong with it, but I know people tend to be pretty opinionated about it.

So what do you think?

Is it a lack of creativity or just smart evangelism?

Don’t read into this post. I’m not writing this as a pastor trying to convince you how you should feel. In fact, honestly, I don’t know how you should feel. I don’t know how I feel.

I read verses like Proverbs 24:17 which says,

Do not gloat when your enemy falls;
when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice

And I think to myself: “Pete, I know you’re glad justice has been served, but you shouldn’t be so inwardly excited about the fact that this man finally got what he deserves.”

Then I read verses like Proverbs 21:15 which says,

When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous
but terror to evildoers.

And I think: “Pete, you’re spot on. You should be happy. You should be elated this man no longer walks the face of this earth.”

I think the hardest thing for me is this…  I wonder if I would have been as excited if the news had reported that Bin Laden had repented and accepted Christ as I was when I heard he had been killed?

Would we have jumped up and down over that?

I want you to know I’m proud of our troops, our former President, our current President and the host of people who have defended our country, our freedoms, and the American way. I can’t tell you how glad I am that a symbol of such long standing terrorism and the death of thousands no longer has power.

I’m just still torn about how I feel.

Anyone else struggling with this weird dichotomy?

The word “christian,” when applied to anything other than a human being, is just a marketing term.

I don’t know if I totally agree, but just think how often we do that.

Christian music.

Christian books.

Christian label.

Christian publishers.

Christian bookstore.

Christian greeting cards.

Christian dating service.

Christian radio.

Christian camps.

Christian clothing lines.

What do you think? Is it just a marketing term? Is it overused?

This weekend’s huge wedding between Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezinsky has brought quite the spotlight on interfaith relationships. It’s reported that Clinton a Methodist, and Mezvinsky, who is Jewish, began their new lives together with the blessing of clergy from both faiths.

Now I don’t want to make this post about this particular couple because quite frankly we don’t have a clue what they believe or don’t believe. All we know is the religious traditions they chose to incorporate into their ceremony.

I’m wondering how important you think it is for a couple to be on the same page spiritually before they tie the knot.

Can a Christian marry an atheist?
Can a Jew marry a Christian?
Can a Calvinist marry an Arminian?

Go ahead, the can has been opened.

I wish the author, Michael Spencer, was still living (he died this past April right before the book was released) because I think I would have enjoyed sitting down with him over dinner and discussing his ideas on Jesus, community, and the Church. It’s been a while since I’ve found someone I so passionately disagree with at times and yet somehow still understand where he’s coming from. I might be wrong, but I think we would have been good friends.

Anyway, I thought I would pull a little section of something he wrote for us to chat about today.  Try this on…

We have a culture-war spirituality that produces Christians who might never share their faith but are ready at a moment’s notice to debate politics, abortion and civil union for gay couples. It is a spirituality that calls down fire on its enemies and shapes its followers into intolerant soldiers waging a morality crusade. Its kingdom is the eventual triumph of moral conservatism, and its spirituality is conflict and argument.

Can we honestly say that Jesus was a culture warrior? Can we say that the spirituality of Jesus is geared to turning you into a noisy talk-radio pundit? Is our anger at the decline of culture really a dependable guide toward the experience of God?

Your thoughts?

Now I’m not saying I don’t pray or I don’t enjoy prayer. I’m not saying I don’t understand it or I need help understanding why we pray. I’m just saying I stink at prayer and my prayer life is not where I want it to be.

The painful thing is what my weak prayer life says about me. Here’s the ugly truth. My lack of prayer proves…

I underestimate the power of prayer and overestimate my own ability.

I’m not really as hungry for the intimacy with God I so regularly publicly declare as a desire of my heart.

While I would like to know God’s will for my life I’m clearly more committed to my will, my plans and my agenda.

I’ve bought into the illusion that there are more important things to do than spending time with the creator of the universe.

I’ve reduced prayer to a list of things I think I want or need and I currently don’t need to “use” God for anything.

So how’s your prayer life? What does your prayer life or lack of prayer life say about you?

I love this quote from “When The Heart Waits” by Sue Monk Kidd,

“If all souls developed in cookie-cutter fashion, we would have spirituality by duplication rather than by waiting and transformation.”

In so many different ways we often communicate…

Everyone should be happy. (But at times even Jesus was sad.)

Everyone should be balanced. (But doesn’t God speak to us in our seasons of imbalance.)

Everyone should be serving. (But didn’t Jesus commend the woman who just sat at his feet.)

Everyone should relate to God in the same way. (But isn’t Scripture full of examples of different people relating to God in different ways.)

These expectations have done immense damage to the body of Christ.

We need to help people begin to understand that God can and will meet them in the midst of whatever season they may find themselves.

We need to help people begin to understand that God can and will work differently in your life than He has worked in my life.

I don’t have all the answers, I just know souls don’t develop in cookie-cutter fashion and churches were never intended to become factories which cranked out people who would be at the same place at the same time.

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10″Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee (religious Leader) and the other a tax collector (scum of the earth). 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.

This is a classic look at religion which is all about comparing and condemning.

Everyone creates a list just like this religious leader did. It’s a list of the sins you think are most appalling to God. And do you know what sins you think are most appalling to God? The ones you don’t struggle with, right?

This is what religious institutions have done for centuries. A bunch of power hungry religious leaders get in a room and figure out which group of sins they are least likely to struggle with and then they declare that “list” as the posterboard sins their denomination is going to boycott, picket and vote against.

Anne Lamott says, …

“You can tell you have made God in your image when it turns out He hates all the same people you do.”

Ever struggle with this “list”?

The original sin of Adam and Eve, the prototype of all sin, is presented as a failure to be receptive and grateful.

Just think about it for a second. God creates Adam and Eve and places them in the garden where they are surrounded by unmistakable beauty and all the goodness of life. They are experiencing the fullness of life, the way it was intended to be and are promised it will continue…under one condition. Just don’t eat the fruit of a certain tree.

However, we all know they would eventually fail to receive life as a gift and instead try to seize it as if it were owed to them.

When I think of my own life and the sin that often creeps in, it usually begins with my failure to see life as a gift.

My lust.
My pride.
My anger.
My lack of forgiveness.

It’s all the overflow of a heart which begins to believe that something is “owed” to me.

I’m wondering how different today would be for each one of us if we seek to go through this day today viewing our life, our circumstances, our relationships and yes, even our hardships and challenges as gifts. As opportunities to be the men or women God has created us to be.

Today I seek to be receptive and grateful.

-church attendance
-clean language
-dressing the part
-paying for indulgences
-memorizing Scripture
-serving in the church

There is obviously nothing inherently wrong with any of these things in and of themselves. A matter of fact some of them may be foundational for spiritual formation, but not the way in which we should measure it. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of believing one can somehow measure their spiritual maturity by checking off how many of the “do’s” have been performed and how many of the “don’ts” have been avoided. However, real spiritual formation isn’t evaluated by how well we perform a list of tasks on a check-off list. Jesus said…

John 13:35 35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Matthew 22: 36″Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

In other words Jesus said, spiritual maturity is measured in the context of relationships.  Are you interested in how you’re doing at having Christ formed in your life?  Then take at look at how you’re loving God and loving people.