The age of accountability

I have often wondered about this and finally wrote it down. Perhaps someone can answer this perplexion of a mystery for me.

If a mother/ father loses a young child to illness, disease, accident, etc… a pastor is quick to assure them that their child is saved because they hadn’t reached the age of accountability (this supposed time where one moment you’re not then the next you are culpable for your sins).

3 questions…

Where is the doctrine of the age of accountability in the Bible?

Also, how can a child go from being saved by Christ because of their ignorance one moment but then become unsaved because of their knowledge the next?

While in their ignorance what were they saved by? If by Christ, how did they lose this salvation or walk away from it when they became accountable?

Jason & Crystalina Evert

(This is a post in collection with 100 other posts from Fallibleblogma.com in conjunction with support a Catholic speaker month. For more blogs on some of your favorite Catholic writers and apologists follow this link )

In the summer of 2001 when I was confronted with the Gospel, as a sophomore in High School, I encountered what would become two very important subjects to me; living passionately for Christ and pursuing sexual purity. As my years in High School progressed my fervor for abstinence increased as I became aware of how sexual perversion had flooded the hearts and minds of my friends and classmates. People were throwing away the beauty of their purity for the price of popularity or acceptance. Even sadder, teens from my own church were forsaking their own vows of chastity.

As time grew near for graduation I prepared for another big event in my life; my first time preaching at my church’s youth group. The first topic that came to mind was sexual purity. As I spent weeks preparing for my first sermon I had notes, examples, scriptures, and quotes running through my brain. On the last day at our Vo-tech I knew I had one last opportunity to share the truth about abstinence. In the middle of the lunch room I took my Bible out of my book bag and proclaimed the truth. As I talked about God’s plan for our sexuality the crowd grew until everyone in the vo-tech was there. I spoke for fifteen minutes until the bell rang and continued talking until I reached the High School.

As I look back over those years I remember a handful of us Christians who boldly stood for abstinence and wore our purity rings proudly. Yet, as I think back six years ago my memory of Catholics doing the same was scarce to none. When discussion about divorce, contraceptives, or other doctrine would come up the Catholics were more then willing to talk, however, when asked to be counted upon about sexual purity they were no where to be seen. Even though this was just a tiny percentage of the whole my experience from high school left a lasting effect with me. Years later, as a youth pastor, I could find endless articles and books by Protestant writers; however, no Catholic apologists or authors offered any perspectives on abstinence. Thankfully, in the fall of 2008 this was all changed.

In the midst of testing the claims of the Catholic Church I found myself being drawn to the sacraments, the Fathers, and the Church that Jesus founded. One of the most helpful resources was Catholic Answers and their daily radio show. One of the first episodes I heard was a purity open forum/ question and answer with Jason and Crystalina Evert. The passion Jason spoke with about abstinence and the love Crystalina poured out for young women gave me hope that my new home valued purity as much as I did. I was enthralled as I introduced this Godly couple to my then fiancée. As I looked toward the future I knew the Evert’s would become my go to resource on abstinence and purity.

Jason Evert, born 1976, was raised in a Catholic home. In a 2003 interview with Revolutionoflove.com, Jason states that his spiritual formation took foot his junior/ senior years in high school as he underwent confirmation. His priest and youth leader were major influences in their devotion to the Blessed Lady, the Pope, and the Eucharist. Their own spiritual hunger influenced him to dig more deeply into his own faith. Interviewed by the same website, Crystalina explains that she too was raised Catholic but during her high school years she “decided to do her own thing” and became sexually promiscuous. A torrent that continued for three years until she was forced by her mother to attend a chastity conference and came face to face with the truth of purity.

After graduating from the Franciscan University of Steubenville he spent three months working as an intern for Catholic Answers in San Diego, CA, yet declined a job in order to pursue his Masters Degree in Theology and a minor in philosophy. Upon finishing his degree in 1999 he returned to California for a job as an apologist at Catholic Answers. He has since been working for Catholic Answers speaking to over 100,000 students annually at Colleges, Universities, Junior and High Schools with his wife of six years Crystalina. After meeting at a chastity conference in the Bahamas they began speaking together for a year as an engaged couple. They are regular guests on the radio show Catholic Answers Live and have also appeared on the BBC, FOX News, WGN, and EWTN. Six years ago they were awarded the 2003 Impact Award from the National Abstinence Clearinghouse, with whom they are board members, for their work with teens.

Besides Crystalina and his speaking engagements; Jason is an avid writer. In addition to writing articles for This Rock magazine he has written ten books in all ranging from topics on purity to general apologetics including If You Really Loved Me, Pure Love, Pure Faith, Theology of the Body for Teens, and Answering Jehovah Witnesses.

Today, while working on the speaking route, writing books, and working as full time apologists for Catholic Answers they operate Pureloveclub.com a website devoted to helping interested teens and parents locate information on chastity and other Catholic information.

Sources used:

• http://www.revolutionoflove.com/faith/militant/crystalina.html
• http://www.revolutionoflove.com/faith/militant/jason.html
• http://www.catholic.com/seminars/evert.asp
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Evert

The paradox of capitalism and being green in the MLB playoffs

If you have been following the 2009 MLB playoffs, and especially the league championship series, you may have noticed the pairings have put teams on opposite sides of the country against one another. In the National League the Los Angeles Dodgers played against the Philadelphia Phillies; while in the American League the Los Angeles Angels are still playing the New York Yankees.

The National League series was uneventful as the Dodgers lost to Philadelphia in a best 4 out of 7 series in game 5. Thankfully, the AL series has been better as the Angels have forced a game 6 in New York tomorrow, and if the Angels win Saturday’s game a decisive game 7 will be played. The AL series has left an interesting paradox for capitalism and green sustainability to fight out.

Because of the travel from New York to Los Angeles and back to New York, the hotel rooms in each city, tickets at each stadium, food and concessions, souvenirs, television and radio ads, parking, and the subsequent partying after the game; revenue is being made. Both cities of New York City and Los Angeles make money from tourism, the teams make money which pay for salaries and hourly workers (besides the multi-million dollar salaries of the players),  and Fox makes money from advertisers while ESPN radio does the same. Money is spent, money is made. The economy wins again.

However, the environment doesn’t. When you figure the emissions from plane flights to New York, Los Angeles, and back to New York, emissions from fans driving to the stadiums, trash produced from the fans at the stadiums, electricity being produced by coal plants to power the stadiums, it amounts to a green nightmare!

The debate becomes which means more to us; money being produced to bolster the economy or the accumulating damage being done to the ozone, flora, and fauna. Here are a few solutions I am suggesting…

• Perhaps the two sides can meet in the middle and the Angels and Yankees can use revenues to buy carbon credits from Al Gore (Unlikely, that’s less money to spend on Joe Mauer or Johnathan Papelbon when they hit the free agent market).
• Both teams can take revenues and buy and plant trees to absorb the carbon they are producing. (This plan will probably take off better in California then New York where people are pushing for mixed marriages with the flora at the state capitol. Being as New York is the concrete jungle I see them planting their trees in other team’s stadiums. Would anyone in Florida really notice the Pines growing out in left field; heck when only 200 people show up to a Marlin’s game I doubt it)
• MLB drop the current League’s as we know them and go to the stylings of the NBA and NHL and have Leagues based on location. If this existed today, with no wild card possibly, both LA teams would have faced one another while NY would have played Philadelphia. While this alleviates the carbon issue it still leaves us with trash.
• Because the best rating MLB can pull during the playoffs recently is a mid 6, the same as a regular season college football game, the games will be simulated using MLB 2K9 on the PS3 and broadcasted on air. People who buy tickets to the real games will be given a voucher for a month’s worth of free travel on the subway. (Some people would notice on Fox, however TBS viewers will notice nothing because of horrible play by play calling. The only thing that may throw TBS viewers off is if the game isn’t cut off short by the Steve Harvey Show)

What do you think the solution is?

Men are from Greece; Women are from Israel

Just the facts maam…

Many remember a decade or so ago when the book, Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus was released explaining the differences between the opposite sexes. However, I have a new theory about where men and women really come from. My hypothesis is this:

“Men are from Greece; Women are from Israel”

Even though I have only been married for one month I have learned a lot in this short month. When it comes to relating stories, facts, questions, etc… Jordan and I couldn’t be any more different. The Sunday after we came back home from our honeymoon we sat at dinner with her parents talking about what we did and saw. We both thoroughly enjoyed the Riverwalk and I simply told them the basic facts. However, after twenty seconds of relating what I saw Jordan broke in with her view. She delved into intimate facts about smells, the interaction of people, how food tasted, the sun and moon light, what she wore, and even the parking lot where we parked the Kia.

I had never really noticed this before but as I reflected about it later that evening I thought about the countless interactions with females where we saw or experienced the same thing, yet somehow her experience came off so much more thorough then mine. Funny enough, this is the same quandary that readers of the gospels have had for the last 1900 years. How could this gospel writer see this side of Jesus while this other gospel writer sees a different side of Jesus, yet both of these men experienced the same miracles, and heard the same teachings?

This dilemma is often dealt with when comparing the gospels of Matthew and Mark. Matthew’s gospel, which is the longest, is very detailed listing specifically Jesus Sermon on the Mount, healings, miracles, and other teachings. Yet, when you turn to Mark’s gospel you see the shortest gospel with very few miracles and mostly teachings. Why is this? It’s a matter of who each gospel was being specifically written to. Matthew wrote his gospel to a Jewish audience who wants detailed facts about what happened when Jesus was born, the beginning, middle, and end of his public ministry, and his commissioning of the twelve disciples. However, Mark wrote his gospel to a Hellenic (Greek) audience who didn’t care about the details, but cared more for a broad view of Jesus life. They would want to know more about what he taught then what he did. Jews wanted details; Greeks wanted a wide view.

Thus, after careful consideration it only makes sense that women some time ago migrated from Israel while men spread across the earth from Greece. So the next big theological/ archaeological question is 6,000 years ago were Israel and Greece located next to one another in Pangaea?

Food for thought

What I learned on my honeymoon.

While on my Honeymoon the sociologist in me took note of several things in San Antonio and the surrounding regions, at Jordan and my wedding ceremony, and the events leading up to the wedding. Perhaps these are things you have noticed or thought about before. For me, it took a city with more curves than a Billy-goat path carved through the mountains to realize these things. Here’s what I noticed…

• Keep a list. Trying to keep in order who gave what to you will become a menagerie if you don’t.
• You want to know the true way a man thinks take him golfing. What is said on the golf course stays on the golf course. I think I may have lost my innocence that Friday on the links.
• Make sure you have everything you need before you go. Including cell phones. One cell phone cost us an hour in travel time.
• Supposedly if it rains on your wedding day you’re supposed to be blessed. It has rained on us the entire drive from Poteau to San Antonio; are we doubly blessed then?
• How many churches have I passed on this Sunday morning that are closed or have barely any in attendance? Kind of reminds me of Poteau. Forty two churches with only a handful doing anything fruitful.
• Silence is golden. Their becomes a point when even the radio becomes annoying.
• Marriage truly is a sacrament. I have never felt or been so graceful towards Jordan in these last four years we have been together. She has threatened every sort of torture towards TomTom and all I can do is laugh and smile.
• Churches are getting lazy. We just passed a church proudly displaying their “30 minute worship service.” It’s a fairly good sized church though. Perhaps giving God as little as possible of your day so you can go home and watch the Cowboys or Texans is the norm in Texas. Heck, I think it has become the norm for most seeker friendly churches. Keep your thirty minute service. I’ll take an hour and half long mass every time.
• Research where you’re staying. If your hotel room is only $48 a night it probably means you’re somewhere right off the interstate and not in suburbia.
• Denominations are interesting. Behind our hotel is a seventh day Adventist church. Since they meet on Saturdays do they have Saturday school?
• If you’re looking for a nutritious breakfast at a hotel you better be bringing it yourself. My options for breakfast on Monday are sugar coated cereal, starch ridden bagels, sugar rich juices, and sweeten enriched pastries. Yeah, it’s free but my body is telling me too much sugar.
• You’re never too old to enjoy the zoo. Even if the animals don’t amuse you seeing the smile on her face will make it worth while.
• If you’re single waiting until marriage is the single best choice you and your partner can make. We waited and we are both glad. In fact we are blessed because of it.
• The interstate system in San Antonio stinks.
• Even Bobby Flay can be wrong. These puffy tacos he talked about as being the worlds best are good, but not as great as he and food network make them out to be. I mean their good, but not $4 for a single taco good.
• You know all those cool options on your new smart phone? Don’t press them. Especially that big orange icon that says “TV”. Those megas will really byte your wallet.
• Don’t be afraid to rely on technology. I don’t know how I could have ever made it to and around San Antonio without our TomTom.
• Even IMAX has its hand in the liberal lobbying cookie jar. Jordan and I just watched an hour long film on dolphins and whales. Kate Winslett has done her best job to guilt me into feeling like I’m the reason their dying. I am fully expecting Al Gore to speak to us after the film.
• Hooters has gone too far. Putting Hooters on the riverwalk is tacky. I don’t care if you have great wings; I don’t want to see your legs or breasts. Nor do the little children walking with their parents.
• Trash is not inevitable. We have walked the entire length of the riverwalk and I can find not one piece of litter of any graffiti. You only become something when you allow yourself to. San Antonio refuses to allow trash to ruin their beautiful riverwalk therefore it remains beautiful.
• It’s alright to do nothing while on vacation. It’s Wednesday and we’re just going to lie around all day and watch TV and nap. God did create rest.
• Eating breakfast is always a good decision. Something tells me that eating at Denny’s at nine in the morning is going to be my favorite memory of the whole honeymoon. Mmm, turkey bacon…
• It’s shocking what turns life can throw at you. A year ago little did I think that I would be on my honeymoon and preparing for a noon mass at a Catholic Church just off the riverwalk? I actually planned today for us to go to Mass after breakfast at Denny’s!
• Shot glasses make great souvenirs. Heck even people who don’t drink like them.
• Find a place of comfort. Every time we have come down town we have parked in the same pay for parking lot in the same spot. It’s nice to know the Kia is safe.
• Nostalgia is great! Watching transformers brings me back to when I was a kid watching the cartoon at my grandparent’s house. Although I don’t remember yellow Camaros or scandally clad girls working on bikes.
• Over marketing is distracting. The only car brand I see is Chevy. Although for some reason I would really like to have one of those tricked out green Chevy’s. I guess it does work.
• Bless others out of your abundance. We just gave the rest of our pizza to the parking lot attendant. She was surprisingly happy. Heck she even let us park for free. Wasn’t trying for that, but if she wants to bless me so be it!
• Plan accordingly. When you plan to go to Sea World make sure they are open. Nobody likes driving for thirty minutes only to find their open the day you leave for home.
• Don’t get too upset. Yeah, we don’t get to see Shamu, but not spending $100 on two tickets doesn’t ruin my day either. Oh well.
• Don’t take work with you. My Friday has been ruined because all I can think about is getting back to work and reading meters. Bleh…
• When driving out of San Antonio go early. You will miss traffic and road work. Those people heading South bound may be there for a while.
• In Texas people worship God and football. Over 100,000 people are preparing for a football game at the UT football field in Austin as I drive past it on I-35. You’d think something actually important was taking place. Just kidding.
• Don’t take the road less traveled. When the gps says take county road so and so don’t! You may find yourself on the set of Deliverance.
• Home is where the heart is. I never thought I would enjoy seeing the Poteau city limits so much in my life.

Best quote-

Coworker: “Phillip are you staying at a hotel or motel?”

Me: “A hotel. Motels are where you have one night stands.”

Masks, masquerades, and marmallade

When I was the student pastor at my former church I would hold an annual lock in called the,”Intense Lock-In”. It was always based around some sort of theme dealing with our daily walk with Christ. (In fact if you are a youth pastor and would like to use some or all of the ideas from those lock-ins go to my resourcing website, thebereanlife.com, and find them under free resources) Year one was based around growing in our relationships with people and God, year two was based on honoring God with our bodies, and year three was a hodge-podge of varying subjects.

We began the night of year three with each teen having a blank piece of card-stock. Their mission was to draw and cut out a mask. This mask was to represent a sin or something else in our life that they we’re hiding behind. If they felt led to they could share with everyone else what their “mask” was.  As I drew my own mask I took notice of the teens in the sanctuary as they drew their own. You would have thought I asked some of them to come on stage and reveal the darkest sins of their life. Some teens drew and shared their “mask”, others drew but didn’t share, and others didn’t draw at all. These are some of the results I found.

• The mask of popularity- insecurity
• The mask of promiscuity- afraid of being alone
• The mask of I don’t care what you think or say- to seem big or bad
• The mask of alcohol or drugs- acceptance, or escape reality
• The mask of pride- insecurity
• The mask of gossip- we don’t like ourselves

After we talked about our masks I led the teens in a group shredding as we each held up our mask and ripped it in half. It was a symbolic way for us all to proclaim that living these false lives stopped once and for all. However, something is funny about feeling boldness and later on fighting your flesh and what it wants. Unless you stand determined your flesh will conquer your spirit.

I don’t have enough fingers, toes, and vital body organs to count the number of times I told myself in high school I would stop looking at pornography, yet just to find myself days or hours later back at it again. In high school my mask definitely would have been pornography, however years later my mask had become something worse to me. It wasn’t hardcore porn, drugs, alcoholism, fornication, or anything of the like. I had become prideful.

Being humble in high school was no problem for me. To me, laying aside my pride in anything and everything I did meant no greater joy to me. To do things behind the scenes and watch God get all the glory for it was a thrilling passion for me. However, humbleness took a back door when someone delivered the worst news my heart and mind could ever hear, “Phillip, you have a gift for preaching.”

So the slippery slope began. I had learned from years in debate and forensics how to speak and deliver a message well with all the right postures, hand movements, eye contacts, and arrangement of words. After studying my youth and senior pastors, watching pastors of mega churches on the television, and visiting other churches I took mental notes on what was effective in reaching a crowd and what caused a church to tone you out. Yet, somebody had the nerve to tell my humble little self that I had taken all this knowledge and made a preacher out of myself. Oy vey!

During my freshman year in college I preached a handful of times for my youth pastor as he would be gone out of town for any number of reasons. Thus, as the preaching increased so did the complements and so did my ego. This became a back and forth fight between my mind and will for the next several years. As the youth/ student pastor at my prior church this struggle only increased as parents and students alike congratulated me on my latest sermon. In fact this pride vs. humility clash became so bad that I even pondered how much better my church would be if I was preaching every Sunday morning. Talk about arrogance. Talk about not knowing how to submit to your pastoral authority.

Thus, on that third Intense lock-in as I was drawing my mask I knew immediately what my mask was; pride! Pride with a capital P! Yet, if pride was my mask what I was using it to hide. What was I trying to use my gift to speak and communicate to hide people from seeing? Being the youth pastor I felt the need to set the precedent and opened up about my mask first. I didn’t need to prepare a mini-message or homily for this speech. The words came flowing out almost naturally.

I said, “Teens my mask is pride. You may see it; you may not. But, I am a very prideful person. I take great strides in what I do at this church and in my personal life. I love impressing people. I love looking great in the eyes of those around me. When people think of me I want them to think of greatness when it comes to delivering a sermon. Why? It’s because I don’t like who I really am. You girls think you have body issues; let me tell you about mine. As long as I have been in school I have always been the shortest person in my grade. I have always been picked on because of my size. I have always been the butt of every short joke. People assume that I’m anorexic, bulimic or that I don’t eat simply because I’m skinny. I have been turned down for a job at a pizzeria because the boss felt I was too short. When I play sports people don’t take me seriously because of my size. Thus, the only thing athletically I’ve been able to enjoy are single person sports. Because of my size I look younger then I am. Young enough to get carded when buying anything that is 18 and over; asked if I was even old enough to drive. I have been overlooked and undervalued because of who I am. However, being able to preach has been my way of taking all that disrespect over the years and saying hey look at me now. I guess I am worth something. Huh? “

That night I ripped that mask with all the fury within me as I made a vow of humility. One problem; within a month I would be preaching for five consecutive Sundays as I addressed the church on how to properly evangelize. It was like asking an alcoholic to go to a bar for five straight days with an unlimited tab and ask him to only buy water. The final day of the sermon series I was so wrapped up in putting an unbelievable finish to the series that I totally bypassed bringing up a parishioner of ours who was back from basic training in the Marines. He was preparing to leave to serve our country by putting his life on the line, and I couldn’t take the time to set aside three minutes of my sermon to thank him for his sacrificial service. Talk about his real humility. Talk about my ugly pride.

I think God saw that I needed some time to get my priorities in order and I preached maybe two more times that year. Some people assumed that the pastor didn’t want me preaching again, but now it seems that God wasn’t going to let my ego get out of control again. The only way I beat my pornography problem was by starving it to death. God defeated my stronghold to pride produced by preaching by starving it as well. However, those two times I did preach went amazingly awesome. God was totally the focus, totally the center, and received all the praise. It felt great to shake people’s hands, received old ladies hugs, and hear words of congratulations as I rejoiced with them not in me but in Christ.

Being a Catholic now gives me no chance for the mask of pride to re-enter my life. Everything I do I get to do behind the scenes. There is no paycheck, no spot on the church website or bulletin, no official business cards, no public stage, no microphone; just me looking around seeing where I can help next. It’s no longer about trying to impress anyone. The only acceptance I need to worry about I already have in the eyes of God.

What have you been doing lately?

Does anyone else remember that old song by Relient K, off their second album, before they became overnightly famous and took more off an alternative rock sound instead of their traditional punk outfit. Well that has nothing to do with this post, except the title of their song.

What have I been doing lately? Sharing my conversion story for one; lot of good response. Starting back up the youth department at ICC. Getting ready for a wedding. Hopefully publishing a new blog next week. No promises though! Stay tuned and read Damascus Road

Damascus Road is finally finished!

Thanks be to God. If you want an advanced copy of Damascus Road just send me an email @ info@phillb.net or phill@thebereanlife.com and I will send it to ya.

It’s almost done

That is my essay. Look for it tomorrow morning to be posted on my other site, TheBereanLife.com

Big post next week

Over the weekend I will be working on a blog that has been due for nearly 6 months. This blog should answer a lot fo questions people have had and get them past their preconceived notions. Im excited about it, are you?