This is a re-post of my resignation from Global Scope Ministries when several of the pages that I serve on were sold to BeliefNet.com, a multi-faith site. I have nothing against people sharing their opinions, and in fact I encourage it, but to serve with an organization that espouses goals that are very different from my own is not really possible for me. I had a choice to make. I agonized over it for about a day, and then I sat down for over two and a half hours to write out the resignation below. I have agreed to remain as the page leader of Men of Faith for the transition over to BeliefNet (about a month), and after that, I will step down. As such, the link at the top of the page will disappear today. So here is how and why I resigned from a ministry I really thought was going places...
I have done a lot of thinking about this over the
last day or so, and I will share my conclusions and reasoning with you in the
hopes that you will understand that I am a Christian, and that nothing I do
because of my faith in Jesus Christ is random or by accident. I may have a more “Global Scope” view of what
BeliefNet is about than some, not that it is necessary, because I have actually
researched many or most of the belief systems that are listed on their page. I’ll start by looking at the mission statement
found on their website.
Our mission is to help people like you find, and walk, a spiritual path that will bring comfort, hope, clarity, strength, and happiness.
Whether you're exploring your own faith or other spiritual traditions, we provide you inspiring devotional tools, access to the best spiritual teachers and clergy in the world, thought-provoking commentary, and a supportive community.
Beliefnet is the largest spiritual web site. We are not affiliated with any spiritual organization or movement. Our only agenda is to help you meet your spiritual needs.
--BeliefNet Mission Statement
These words have a noble ring to them. It is a selfless goal to want to help others
feel good about themselves. It is NOT
how most people operate, and it is to be respected as a goal. But is that goal really in line with the
teachings of Jesus? Maybe, maybe
not. Consider what it means to be a
follower of Jesus:
Luke 9:20-27 “And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “ The Christ of God.” But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, saying, “ The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day. And He [Jesus] was saying to them all, “ If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (NASB)
--Jesus Christ
There seems to me to be a contradiction between these two
statements. Our mission is not merely
“to meet your spiritual needs” with whatever it is you choose to believe. Interestingly, I tried out their
“Belief-O-Matic” survey just to see what it was about. Of course it told me I was a 100% match with
what it called “traditional conservative protestant Christian.” (Yay!
I knew the right answers!) I
didn’t need to be told that, by the way, and I thought it was amusing. I actually know world religions well enough
that I could make the thing say I was a Muslim or a Buddhist or whatever. I have read the Bible, the Apocrypha, the
wisdom of Buddha, the sayings of Confucius, parts of the Koran, parts of the
Barvhad Gita, the I-Ching, the Kaballah, and researched at least a dozen other
religions just to see what they believed.
While I can say I found some wisdom in most, I only ever
found truth in the Bible, the Word of God.
All the religions of the world contain shards of the truth, but only
Jesus embodies that truth. And if you
really desire it and seek it, He says that “You will know the truth, and the truth
will make you free.” (John 8:32)
So what is that truth as it is in Jesus? It comes from understanding our own primary
mission goal, given by God. The people
asked Jesus, “Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may
work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of
God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” (John 6:28-29). Interesting, isn’t it? To do the work of God, we must believe in
Jesus, the savior of the world. We
cannot rely on the wisdom of Buddha or the sayings of Confucius or mere human
words and works, or simply shards of the truth.
Couple this with Jesus’s great commission to the church: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with
you always, even to the end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:19-20) So we are to
believe in Jesus, and them make disciples of the nations in His name, and not
give into fear or compromise because Jesus Himself will be with us.
What that means is that we need to evangelize and disciple
people, not “expose them to Christianity” as a mere option among options. This is not a goal or agenda. This is nothing other than our main reason
for being. Reading through the life of
Jesus Christ, I do not get the impression that he came to give simply comfort,
hope, clarity, strength, and happiness.
He came to give Himself, the embodiment of God and all that is holy as a
sacrifice for everyone that has ever and will ever live. Does that give comfort? Yes.
Hope? Yes. Clarity?
Yes. Strength? Absolutely.
Happiness? You bet it does. But that is the ONLY thing that does. It isn’t a mere option, it is THE way, THE
truth, and THE life. When Jesus said
those words in John 14:6a, he followed it up with “no one comes to the Father
but by me.” (John 14:6b). That
contradicts the “many ways to God” philosophy of the age and of BeliefNet.
In partnering with a site that does not share the vision of
evangelization and discipleship of the Lord and His bride, the “ecclesia,” a
situation is created that is described in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18: “Do not be bound together with unbelievers;
for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has
light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a
believer in common with an unbeliever?
Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple
of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be MY people. “Therefore, come out from their midst and be
separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome
you. “And I will be a father to you, And
you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.” The context that Paul gives is any type of
partnership with unbelievers. That same
concept is shared in Revelation 18:4-5 – “Come out of her, my people, so that
you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins
have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” The context here is the harlot of Babylon,
seen by many commentators and by myself as the great world religion that is even
now forming in the world, getting ready to step in when called for by her
master. She will be repaid in full for
her deeds, and God calls us out of that so we will not participate in her
punishments.
I’ve gone on at length here, but it’s important you know how
I arrived at my conclusions. I cannot
“stay the course” with the pages at this point.
To do so would be to participate in something that is diametrically
opposed to the goals of Jesus Christ as I understand them. I have a real gift for finding middle ground,
but there is none here to find. I cannot
“expose the people on BeliefNet to Christianity” in the hopes of “ministering”
to their needs. That word “minister” originates
from the Latin word “ministrare” and means “to serve, attend, wait upon.” A Christian should always seek to meet the
needs of whoever they meet, whether they be physical, mental, or spiritual in
nature. The most often need I seem to
encounter on the pages now always has spiritual roots. How can I offer spiritual truth and healing
in a place that has as its primary goal making people feel better? Sometimes as we grow as people, we
suffer. That suffering is key in
teaching us how to be better people (1 Peter).
As I looked through the pages at BeliefNet, I very much got the sense
that they were about numbing pain, not using it for growth. If find that an unfortunate contradiction and
cart-before-horse thinking. (Pain should
cause growth, and THAT should make us feel better, not simple homilies meant to
numb pain – this hinders growth and does not heal the problem.)
I feel I have no choice now but to resign from all my Global
Scope Ministries positions and disassociate The Christian Disciple from the
organization. That will be effective
immediately. As you can see, I have not
come to this decision lightly or without prayer and meditation on the subject.
I have made some very good friends here, and I want you all
to know that I love you all, regardless of where you come down on this
issue. I have met a few of you in person,
and I value that and your fellowship above all.
Mark and Christi Brown, I really do love you both. Greg Hemsley, stay in touch please! Karen, I hope to see you the next time I
visit home! Shawn Boreta and Donna
Wright, you are both in my prayers, and please stay in touch. Kimmie, Brad, Lawrence, Sue, and everyone
else I have admined with, please stay in touch.
You still are on facebook, after all. J
God bless you all.
---"You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
-John 8:32 (NASB)
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