You’re right – in Matthew 19, Jesus didn’t tell the guy to make jobs for the poor… He told him to JOIN the poor by selling all his possessions and giving it all away. Because in the Jesus’ economy, the poor are blessed, and the rich are “poor”… So I think what that means is that the poor have an understanding and perspective that we middle class folks will totally miss unless we join them and learn from them…

I think the Disaster relief stuff that organizations like World Vision do is great… When someone swims to shore after a tsunami, it’s okay to give them food and blankets. But giving food and blankets to people who should be able to help themselves is not second-best, it’s 3rd or 4th best…

I think all missionaries “mean well”… but I’ve said publicly that I think many in history have not “done-well.” I don’t mean that I think missionaries should quit their jobs, but to reconsider what they’re doing… Good motives don’t ensure godly outcomes…but I have trouble convincing Christian brothers and sisters in leadership of that… It’s almost worse when believers do harmful things with good intentions – because it’s very difficult to correct/contradict/question them.

So I think we ought to be thoughtful about the organizations we partner with – to support the ones that really do good, and treat people the way we would want to be treated.

What do you think about supporting organizations like World Vision?

What is your take in supporting missionaries?

That’s part of what xmas is about – Jesus shows us who God is, the real things of God: he didn’t have lots of money, never owned a home, earned a degree, wrote a book, led an company, held an office, traveled more than 200 miles from where he was born… and yet he was rich, and he changed the world (even from a secular perspective) more than any other one person.

So how can one seek this kind of God better, instead of getting sidetracked?

I think (first) we need to actually look and seek for ourselves. Christians are often saying (honestly) things like, “I love Paul or John” or some contemporary Christians writer, “but Jesus is so….abstract.” What we’re saying is “we don’t really know him.” This is something we need to fix and go after… you do it the same way you come to know these other people. Jesus is smarter than us, more interesting than us – and he doesn’t care about where you went to school or where you’ve been – so we tend to walk away from the conversation…

You don’t “get” Jesus through osmosis. Being in a “Christian” environment doesn’t make this happen. It has to be a personal quest.

But (2) just because this is something you need to do personally, doesn’t mean it’s something you do all by yourself. You need to find people seeking Him too – really seeking. Even within a healthy church, many people are really seeking other things (wellness, status, work, church growth, etc) and trying to get Jesus to help them. So find the subset of people seeking Him – and think of it as a study group. You help people see things – they help you see things. It’s also called “church” – but really it’s usually a subset of “church.” And we all fall asleep or get off track at some point…so that subset changes.

…the great ones are the ones who don’t fall asleep themselves- and also beat the real-Jesus drum to help other people wake up too. <–PS, that’s not me yet.

And hope you can find a good home church soon!