Comments on: iMonk 101: The Original…The One…The Only….Wretched Urgency

By: John

John — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:45:33 +0000

I have been lurking on imonk for a month and have found it a source of renewal and a spiritual oasis. Thank you, Michael, and may God bless you and keep you and continue to grant you wisdom. You have expressed in clearly what I have felt for a long time but had trouble articulating. Just this evening we went to a service where the main theme seemed to be “the chief end of man is to evangelize” — a little different from what the Westminster catechism says, but that was the thrust. And the passage was from Ezekiel — the valley of dry bones. Not sure how he got from that passage to evangelism, but it seemed a pretty big leap. But then there are church programs that need people to serve, etc. Sigh..

By: Caine

Caine — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:27:03 +0000

My absolute favorite iMonk writing. I even have a copy saved on my Treo to read and remind myself occasionally. It has prompted many musing and thoughts of my own (some of which I’ve written on my own site). If blogging has a hall of fame, this one someday deserves nomination.

By: Pastor M

Pastor M — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:13:49 +0000

Wow, that describes my Baptist Church upbringing in a county seat in central Kentucky. No kidding, here’s what came to mind as I read this. My parents and I were going to an ice cream social on Wednesday night (and you know what that meant in the 50s and 60s) at the Methodist parsonage which was just up the block from the SBC. Walking down on the other side of the street, we saw the SBC pastor and two of his sons heading to the SBC for Prayer Meeting. With a scowl on his face, he said something like, “Don’t eat too much ice cream,” to my father, who happened to be DOC not SBC as my mother and I were. He didn’t even speak to my mother, a member of the church he served. I felt very guilty and embarrassed, as no doubt he intended. In fact, I even started talking to the people in the yard next to the parsonage as if we were really going there rather than to the ice cream social–they were the parents of one of our neighbors. (Such guilt works wonders.)

The next week the SBC pastor wrote in the church newsleter that he and “the faithful” attended prayer meeting (where, of course, God really was in that town that night) rather than doing some so worldly as eating ice cream. By the way, the prayer meeting that usually lasted 45 minutes went on for 90 or more that night. But, hey, when you’re being faithful, that just happens–right? And any guilt reveals God’s judgment on sinners such as us. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.

By: Carol

Carol — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:37:51 +0000

PS…”are you sure you’re certain?” Hilarious. Thank goodness for a laugh in there.

By: Carol

Carol — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:46:01 +0000

Wow, Michael, those mentions of not being out from under these beliefs are where I’m at. My life is at least half over, and I’m wondering if I’ll ever reach that peaceful place. Everything you said is exactly the way my early years were. I have 4 siblings and every one of us fell away. My dad was a preacher until I was in sixth grade.

I frequently wonder, why did I absorb all the misery and guilt-inducing stuff, as opposed to the “joy” of the Christian? I’m a believer through and through, and I’m not a walking copy of the grim reaper, but it would be nice to feel ok about my life.

These days any American old enough to have heard the word “christian” knows the whole spiel about “accepting Christ as your Savior” and so on. They’ve either accepted it as truth or rejected it as an unnecessary man-made joy-kill that makes no sense.

How does one go about “witnessing” to such people that are in our lives? Are you going to get into confrontations about Jesus? Many unbelievers are very arrogant toward Christians, which, frankly, just makes me want to blow them off. They know that we’re mentally insufficient, and have written us off. It seems like there’s nothing else to do but try to live the life, and be a friend to an unbeliever. And, I guess, strengthen oneself against that anger.

By: Jeremy P

Jeremy P — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:41:03 +0000

I was at a church that got me to do the door-to-door thing back in high-school -

“No, we aren’t Mormons.”
…
“No, we aren’t Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
…
“We’re just, uh, Christians. And the question that we knocked on your door and interrupted your day in order to ask you is … well … if you died right now, what do you think would happen to you?”
…
“Well, besides rotting in your grave?”
…
“What we mean to say is, do you know if you’d go to heaven or to hell? … Yeah … if you just keeled over and died of a heart attack right now?”

The most awkward presentations of the gospel I’ve ever seen or participated in. Pretty darn awkward at the time. Absolutely hilarious to remember thinking back on it now.

By: ken

ken — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:16:05 +0000

thanks for the reminder Michael. After reading that I think I will take a walk out in woods or do some fishing with Luther and leave the governing of the world to the Governor himself.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:44:45 +0000

imonk,
I consider you a brother not just in Christ, but in the struggle. Brilliant writing. Keep working it out, it helps.
Mike

By: Oloryn

Oloryn — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:32:32 +0000

It strikes me that this part of Evangelical culture has ignored Jesus' instructions on what to do when faced with a lack of workers. When the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few (Math 9:37,38), Jesus' logical answer was: Pray. Beg the Lord of the Harvest to send out more workers into His harvest. Note the double emphasis on who's in charge ("Lord of the Harvest" and "His harvest"). The harvest is His, the responsibility is His, and the authority for recruiting new workers is His. Instead, we've tried to take new worker recruitment into our own hands and manipulate and guilt every Christian into working in what we now regard as our harvest. It amounts to not trusting that God is capable of recruiting enough workers Himself. Don't get me wrong. There will be people "called into harvest HR", so to speak, who are supposed to be used to recruit new workers. But we've made that a universal calling for all pastor/preachers, and made all Christians their targets. The urgency that has been poured into manipulating ordinary Christians should have been poured into prayer for more workers that are God-sent, and we should have trusted God to answer those prayers instead of descending into fleshly manipulation.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:41:11 +0000

Michael…

I remember reading this for the first time when you first wrote.

It touched me then. I needed it then.

It touched me again, today. I needed it again, today.

Thanks.

Eric