Friday, December 11, 2015

Terrorism, Gun Control, and A Christian Response

In the wake of recent terrorist attacks I find I’m thinking more and more about the gun control issue.  For whatever it’s worth, my two cents to follow.

I’m wondering why politicians always seem to make a big deal out of gun control after a mass shooting.  I know as some of you read that you’re thinking “if a politician is for more gun control isn’t that the exact time they should bring it up?”  Yes, I suppose so but here’s what I’m getting at.  I agree that we have a gun violence issue in our country, but I also believe mass shootings are not our biggest concern when it comes to gun violence.  They make up a minute fraction of overall gun deaths; less than a tenth of one percent to be exact.  By comparison its estimated gang related gun deaths make up around 80%.  Eighty percent!  Maybe our focus should be more about what we can do to get guns off our city streets.  Maybe it would be helpful to see politicians speaking up about this issue a bit more and proposing stricter legislation around hand guns.  I came across another interesting statistic the other day.  When you look at mass shooting deaths per one million, America ranks 9th behind many countries with stricter gun control laws than ours.  I’m not saying we shouldn’t find ways to try and reduce mass shootings, I guess I’m just saying there doesn’t seem to be a direct correlation between gun control and gun deaths.  There are many other variables to consider.


More importantly, I’m thinking a lot lately about what the Christian stance should be.  To profess to being a Christian is to profess to being a follower of Jesus Christ.  So would Jesus be in favor of more gun control?  Would he want to ban all fire arms and do away with the second amendment all together?  Personally I have a hard time saying yes to those questions but here’s what I do know; Jesus is always about life.  He came that we might have life and life to the full (John 10:10).  Jesus sees value and dignity in all people.  Poor people, rich people, Republicans, Democrats, old people, unborn people; everyone! We can also safely say he was against violence in general in his command to turn the other cheek and when he told Peter to put away his sword.  For me personally, when I think of these things it’s one of the reasons why I have no real desire to own a gun.  Don’t miss me on this.  I’m still in favor of the second amendment, and if I ever find myself staring down the barrel of someone else’s gun I’m hopeful there will be a third party somewhere nearby ready to exercise his right to bear arms on my behalf.  But should I not be so lucky, I’m okay with my time being up whenever that might be.  And I’ll trust that the example I’ve shown as a follower of Christ will live on in those who have been a part of my life.  I trust they will say of me, “that Pete Axelson was the real deal; he really loved God and loved others.”  That’s enough for me.    

Friday, November 13, 2015

Four Observations on the Starbucks Red Cup Fiasco

For the record as I write this I’m sitting in my local Panera and not the Starbucks down the street, although my reason for that has nothing to do with Starbucks choice of cups.  It’s because THE PRICE OF COFFEE AND COFFEE RELATED PRODUCTS AT STARBUCKS IS ABSURD!  That and for my tastes nothing at Starbucks can beat Panera’s cinnamon crunch bagel.  Since it seems to be everywhere I look these days I thought I would share my thoughts on the recent Starbucks news.

1.     The guy who started this is publicity driven and probably cares more about his image than legitimate Christian concerns.  I should note I’m not using his name on purpose because I don’t want to draw any more attention to him.

2.     No right thinking Christian agrees with him.  There are plenty of things Christians should get upset about.  This isn’t one of them.  Remember, just because a video goes viral doesn’t mean everyone who watches that video agrees with what’s being said. I’m sure many watch his videos with more of a “what’s this idiot rambling on about now” attitude.

3.     More liberal leaning Christians need to realize this isn’t a conservative Christian thing.  Perhaps just as disappointing to me as the video was the numerous liberal Christian voices decrying this as a problem with the evangelical right wing Christian movement.  It’s almost like they were happy to point this out as a right wing Christian issue.  It was simply more ammo in their efforts to rail against what they see as what’s wrong with more conservative leaning Christians.  I feel like some need to be reminded that we’re all on the same team; saved by grace and living for Jesus.


4.     The culture war is real and worth fighting for.  What Starbucks decides to put on their cups for the Christmas season need not be a part of the culture war, but there are plenty of other issues worth taking a stand for.  On social media, many rightly pointed out our call as Christians to care for the widow, the orphan, the sick, the poor, etc.  The problem comes when they add “instead of getting caught up in culture wars.”  It shouldn’t be an “either or” kind of thing, it should be about both.  Yes we seek to be the hands and feet of Jesus caring for the least of these, and yes we also seek to take a stand for Christian values in our communities and the nation.  Jesus came to this earth full of grace and truth (John 1:14) and we too can be full of grace as we care for others and stand for truth as we seek to make a difference in our world.

Friday, November 6, 2015

Deciphering God's Will

I’ve been thinking a lot about God’s will lately; His will in my life and His will for things in general.  I suppose His will for things in general is a bit easier to grasp.  How about anything that helps to bring about His kingdom here on earth?  I say that both in terms of people coming to relationship with God through Jesus Christ as well as the social aspects of bringing about His kingdom and making our world a better more loving place for God’s glory.

But what about our personal lives?  I think both of my grandmothers prayed for me to find the right wife from the time they knew I was conceived.  I guess they did well because after 23 years I still love my wife more than ever and can’t imagine my life without her.  But was she the only one for me?  On a similar note my son is a senior in high school and looking at colleges.  Should I be praying that he finds the one specific college that is God’s will for him?  Or on a more superfluous note, my mom always used to pray for a good parking spot when we would go to the mall or similar places.  If she got that spot was it God’s will, and if she didn’t get that spot did God want us to get some exercise?

I’ve always like Romans 12:1-2 when it comes to figuring out all this will of God stuff.  Therefore I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good pleasing and perfect will.  Here’s what I think this passage is telling us.  I think it’s telling us that God’s will isn’t so much about the specifics of life as it is about wholeheartedly living your life for Him.  To offer our bodies as living sacrifices is to give every aspect of our lives over to God.  So often we like to pick and choose the areas we want to give to God and the areas we want to hang on to for ourselves.  God is also in the business of transforming lives, but we usually have a part to play in that transformation (Sorry if that last sentence offends some of my Calvinist leaning friends out there). When our hearts are stubborn we can quench the Holy Spirit’s work in us so we need to be open to and desire God’s transforming work.  When we are our minds are renewed.  That is we start thinking about things differently.  We start thinking about things more like Jesus thought about things.  The desires of God’s heart become the desires of our own hearts.

The more this transformation takes place the more we find ourselves in line with God’s will for our lives.  So let’s get back to some of those specific situations.  Do you have a girlfriend or boyfriend you think might be the one?  How about you start by making sure both of you are allowing God to do His transforming work in your lives and that you’re giving your entire relationship over to Him.  If you’re doing this than I say you are in God’s will.  You’ll still want to get a feel for whether or not your boyfriend or girlfriend is a good complement to your personality and if you naturally get along and think of him or her as a best friend.  These are things that may help a marriage to thrive but they are not necessarily about God’s will.  Or to use the college example; no I don’t think there is just one college out there for you; or one grad school, or one career for that matter.  Students, if you’re planning to use college as a time to party, womanize (or manize) and conveniently forget about the convictions of your faith than it doesn’t matter what school you choose, you will not be in God’s will.  On the other hand if you take Romans 12:1-2 seriously and seek to worship God with all aspects of your life than you can pick any college and still be in God’s will.


I think when we start to see God’s will in this light it becomes very freeing. Suddenly there’s not so much pressure surrounding all those big decisions; like finding the right parking spot.   

Friday, October 30, 2015

Poor, Prisoner, Blind, and Oppressed Lives Matter

I was reading Luke chapter four the other day and I came across Jesus words when he quoted Isaiah while referring to himself. 

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.   

Without going to deep, the general message is that in addition to Jesus coming for all who call upon His name, He was also about bringing justice to those who were oppressed.  So to use the now well-known slogan, the lives of those people He was speaking about mattered.  I think when we look at black history and the current condition for many in the black community we can also agree with the slogan “black lives matter”, because blacks have been and continue in some ways to be oppressed.  In that sense I really do believe that Jesus would agree with the sentiment coming from the Black Lives Matter movement.

But………………. There’s always a “but” isn’t there.  In the gospel of John Jesus is referred to as coming full of truth and grace.  I can’t help but wonder where truth has been in all of this.  Jesus was about healing the whole person.  That means spiritually too.  He would forgive sins and He would tell people to go and sin no more.  I’m wondering how many of us need to face up to the truth of our sins on this issue.  On one side how many need to face up to the fact that they would rather ignore unfair treatment of another race because it doesn’t really affect them?  Or that while the majority of police officers are doing an awesome job, there are indeed some bad apples, who at the very least are too violent and too quick to pull their gun and at the worst are racially motivated to act in such a way.  On the other side it seems like we are still waiting for a civil rights leader to honestly address the one thing that contributes most to young black men getting in trouble with the law in the first place; the absence of fathers in their lives.  That’s a moral issue for many but it’s especially so in the black community.  It’s also what leads to a far more serious problem which is young black men killing other young black men at an alarming rate.  I think these are all things that make Jesus weep; because again, black lives do matter.


I guess I’m just doing a lot of wondering for this blog entry.  Wondering when folks on both sides will start facing up to some difficult truths.  I think that’s when the real healing will begin.  

Friday, October 2, 2015

Should A Christian Vote for Donald Trump?

I was visiting one of our church shut-ins the other day. He’s one of my favorite people.  A special and Godly 95 year old man who scoots around just fine without the help of a cane or walker and is still quite bright.  We talk about a lot of things but at one point when our conversation started to come to a lull I figured I would venture into some new territory.  So I asked him if he’s been following politics this year and if he had caught any of the debates.  The next words out of his mouth were “boy that guy sure is a blowhard!”  This was the harshest thing I’ve ever heard him say about anyone.  The funny thing is Donald Trump’s name had not been mentioned yet and it didn’t need to be for me to know exactly who he was talking about.  I’m quite sure as you read this you knew exactly who he was talking about as well.

Now this is my blog and not the church pulpit so I’m willing to talk at least a little politics when it seems appropriate and now seems to be an appropriate time.  As a pastor I would never tell anyone who I think they should vote for, but for at least this year I think I’ve become comfortable with the idea of telling you who not to vote for.  Needless to say, this if just a personal opinion, but here it goes.  If you are a Christian (someone who chooses to follow Jesus and His teachings) please don’t vote for Donald Trump.  Perhaps that’s putting the cart before the horse because many of you may not have the opportunity to.  If you are a registered Democrat you can’t vote in the Republican primary and my strong feeling is he won’t win the nomination and no one will have a chance to vote for him as our next president anyway.  So to re-word my premise; if  you take your Christian faith seriously, and you have the chance to vote for the Donald, please don’t.

I base this request on one qualification I do my best to look for in any candidate running for any office.  That is, is he or she Christ-like?  Obviously none of us are perfect and measure up to Jesus in that sense but I think we can look at candidates and tell which ones are trying to be Christ-like, and for that matter which ones even have a clue about what it might mean to be Christ-like.  On that front Trump has no clue.  We often think of Jesus as modeling servant-leadership.  Trump on the other hand is considered by most as an ego-maniacal narcissistic manipulative leader.  Jesus truly cared about the least of these and the poor and the oppressed.  Based on his blanket generalizations of immigrants and his childish name calling it would seem that Trump cares very little about the least of these.  I say that believing there are other candidates who may have a tough on immigration stance but the still care about immigrants.  I just don’t think Trump is one of them.  Jesus taught dignity for all people.  All we have to do is look at how Trump has treated women and the things he has said about them both in personal relationships and from afar to know he fails the “treat others with dignity test" miserably. 


I could go on but I think you get the idea.  I don’t necessarily expect any of you who may be planning to vote for Trump to follow my advice, but I sure feel better having got it off my chest.