Why in the world would a successful musician adored by so many fans kill himself? And why would teenagers kill themselves over Cobain's death? Remember, this is just what the enemy desires for mankind. He especially delights in the death of young ones.
This story is an example of privitization. Privitization is the socially required and legally enforced separation of our private lives and our public personas; in effect, privitization mandates that isssues of ultimate meaning be relegated to our private spheres. In the name of non-offensiveness, religion is privatized and relegated to the home, while in the name of freedom all kinds of indecencies and abondonments are made public. The deceptive philosophy of privitization leaves us with no point of reference for life's coherence. When we have no point of reference for life's coherence, we lose our sense of meaning. When we lose our sense of meaning, we kill ourselves.
Privitization causes us to neglect our responsibility to take the gospel into every sphere of society. As a result, the gospel of grunge was the dominant message of the 90's. Because of this, Cobain never got to hear about or experience the God of life. His despair was endless and his god was nameless. He lived in a music culture that was unreached by the good news of Jesus Christ.
God made us in his image and likeness. When the Spirit of God comes into our hearts, our spirit cries out to God as our Father. Only by knowing God as our Father can we truly discover who we are and find meaning in life. I wonder how different Cobain's life and lyrics would have been if he would have known God as His Father and Jesus as the way, the truth and the life?
Unfortunately, he did not. As a result, Kurt Donald Cobain lived a life marked by depression, anger, fear and despair. His songs offered no hope to a lost and hurting world. He never knew the God of peace who could have guarded his heart and renewed his mind in Christ Jesus.
Our sense of meaning and the fulfillment of our mission to take the gospel into all the world is a matter of life and death. My prayer is that we will take the good news of Jesus into every sphere of culture. I believe that as we do this, people like Cobain, will find true meaning in life and use their talents to glorify God and testify of his goodness.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Monday, March 20, 2006
Deceptive Thinking Leads Us Down the Road of Destruction (Part 4)
I spent my teen years growing up in the 80's. The 80's, like every decade, were very peculiar. I can't believe how we used to dress and how we used to style our hair. I had a "flyback" hair style with a "mullet" tail in the back. I laugh when I think about it. However, what is more funny is the fact that the hairdo use to be in style. Another defining mark of the 80's was its music. It is truly the decade of "one hit wonders". Remember "867-5309"? How about "In a Big Country"? And we will never forget "Come on, Eileen". The music of the 80's was fun and feel good.
Another sound began to arise at the end of the 80's. It was called "grunge". If the 80's were marked by music that made you feel good, the 90's were marked by a sound of anger and despair. One of the defining songs of the 90's was a song called "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam. The song was about a kid who commited a violent act in his classroom. The song tells us that the kid was not only picked on by his peers, but also abandoned by his parents.
One of the most popular bands of the 90's was a group called Nirvana. Kurt Donald Cobain was the leader of Nirvana, the multi-platinum grunge band that redefined the sound of the nineties. Cobain's parent's divorced when he was seven and by his own account Cobain said he never felt loved or secure again. He became increasingly difficult, anti-social and withdrawn after his parent's divorce. Cobain also said that his parent's traumatic split fueled a lot of the anguish in Nirvana's music.
On April 7th in 1994, at the peak of his success, Kurt Donald Cobain committed suicide. When police broke down the door they found Cobain dead on the floor, a shotgun still pointed at his chin and on a nearby counter a suicide note written in red ink addressed to his wife and the couples then 19 month old daughter Frances Bean.
The suicide note ended with the words "I love you, I love you." Two days after Kurt Cobain's body was found about 5,000 people gathered in Seattle for a candlelight vigil. the distraught crowd filled the air with profane chants, burnt their flannel shirts and fought with police. They also listened to a tape made by Cobain's wife in which she read from his suicide note. Several distressed teenagers in the U.S. and Australia killed themselves. The mainstream media was lambasted for it's lack of respect and understanding of youth culture (Mick Ronson).
Stay tuned for Part 5. In the mean time, give me your thoughts on why Cobain killed himself and why so many teenagers imitated his suicide.
Another sound began to arise at the end of the 80's. It was called "grunge". If the 80's were marked by music that made you feel good, the 90's were marked by a sound of anger and despair. One of the defining songs of the 90's was a song called "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam. The song was about a kid who commited a violent act in his classroom. The song tells us that the kid was not only picked on by his peers, but also abandoned by his parents.
One of the most popular bands of the 90's was a group called Nirvana. Kurt Donald Cobain was the leader of Nirvana, the multi-platinum grunge band that redefined the sound of the nineties. Cobain's parent's divorced when he was seven and by his own account Cobain said he never felt loved or secure again. He became increasingly difficult, anti-social and withdrawn after his parent's divorce. Cobain also said that his parent's traumatic split fueled a lot of the anguish in Nirvana's music.
On April 7th in 1994, at the peak of his success, Kurt Donald Cobain committed suicide. When police broke down the door they found Cobain dead on the floor, a shotgun still pointed at his chin and on a nearby counter a suicide note written in red ink addressed to his wife and the couples then 19 month old daughter Frances Bean.
The suicide note ended with the words "I love you, I love you." Two days after Kurt Cobain's body was found about 5,000 people gathered in Seattle for a candlelight vigil. the distraught crowd filled the air with profane chants, burnt their flannel shirts and fought with police. They also listened to a tape made by Cobain's wife in which she read from his suicide note. Several distressed teenagers in the U.S. and Australia killed themselves. The mainstream media was lambasted for it's lack of respect and understanding of youth culture (Mick Ronson).
Stay tuned for Part 5. In the mean time, give me your thoughts on why Cobain killed himself and why so many teenagers imitated his suicide.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Deceptive Thinking Leads Us Down the Road of Destruction (Part 3)
In the fourteenth chapter of John, Jesus made the boldest statement ever recorded in human history. He said in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." As the Messiah, Jesus was saying the way to know God would only be discovered by being in relationship with him. One of the points that makes Christianity different from every other religion is the fact that God came to earth in the form of a human named Jesus. Not only did he reveal himself to humanity, but he gave his life to change humanity forever. God came to us and revealed himself as the source of truth for every person.
One of the great challenges we face in the world today is finding truth in the midst of many different religious beliefs, philosophies and worldviews. Who is right and who is wrong? It seems the only sin today is to say that someone's system of belief is incorrect. Are all religions, philosophies and worldviews basically the same? Are all religions, philosophies and worldviews harmless? The answer is no. To believe that they are all basically the same is not only deceptive, but it is also destructive. This type of thinking is called pluralization.
Pluralization is the existence and availability of a number of world-views, each vying for the allegiance of individuals, with no single world-view dominant. When we try to set up a pluralistic society, we have no point of reference for rationality. To be rational you must begin with truth. Truth is the staring part for all rational thinking. When we have no point of reference for rationality, we lose our sense of reason. Without reason, we will believe any teaching or do any activity to feel better about ourselves. Without a reference for rationality and without a sense of reason, we end up killing our neighbor. Remember, all deceptive thinking eventually leads to the destruction of people. This is just what the devil wants for humanity. The following are two examples of the effects of pluralization in our world today.
On September 11, 2001, people of a different religious belief and worldview brought destruction to America. Forever known as 9/11, this was truly one of the most shocking moments in American history. Here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we watched buildings explode and burn from the crashing of American planes. The enemy had attacked, but this time it was not from across the seas. They were trained in the United States to fly the planes they would eventually use to kill a multitude of people in our country. What was even more perplexing was the fact that the enemy was now our neighbor.
Last year in France, people of a different religious belief and worldview caused one of the most violent uprisings in the recent history of the continent. Once again, these were home-grown terrorists who were causing all of the destruction. It is another picture of neighbors killing neighbors. According to a November 19, 2005 aritcle in World Magazine, the adversity between the young angry Muslim youth and the French government might turn France into an Islamic-type state, or two states. One would be ruled by French law, with extraterritorial entities ruled by Islamic laws. What will it be like for neighbors living next to each other governed by a whole different system of laws, religious beliefs and worldviews.? History has proven that it always leads to the killing of one another.
What we believe is a matter of life and death! Jesus, the way, the truth and the life, taught that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. The second commandment, which flows out of the first, is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40). How different would the world be if we followed Jesus' way, the truth that he taught and lived life according to his example? He demonstrated his worldview to his neighbor by being crucified on a cross instead of crashing planes into a building. Jesus' cross brings redemption and reconciliation.
Stay tuned for part 4.
One of the great challenges we face in the world today is finding truth in the midst of many different religious beliefs, philosophies and worldviews. Who is right and who is wrong? It seems the only sin today is to say that someone's system of belief is incorrect. Are all religions, philosophies and worldviews basically the same? Are all religions, philosophies and worldviews harmless? The answer is no. To believe that they are all basically the same is not only deceptive, but it is also destructive. This type of thinking is called pluralization.
Pluralization is the existence and availability of a number of world-views, each vying for the allegiance of individuals, with no single world-view dominant. When we try to set up a pluralistic society, we have no point of reference for rationality. To be rational you must begin with truth. Truth is the staring part for all rational thinking. When we have no point of reference for rationality, we lose our sense of reason. Without reason, we will believe any teaching or do any activity to feel better about ourselves. Without a reference for rationality and without a sense of reason, we end up killing our neighbor. Remember, all deceptive thinking eventually leads to the destruction of people. This is just what the devil wants for humanity. The following are two examples of the effects of pluralization in our world today.
On September 11, 2001, people of a different religious belief and worldview brought destruction to America. Forever known as 9/11, this was truly one of the most shocking moments in American history. Here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we watched buildings explode and burn from the crashing of American planes. The enemy had attacked, but this time it was not from across the seas. They were trained in the United States to fly the planes they would eventually use to kill a multitude of people in our country. What was even more perplexing was the fact that the enemy was now our neighbor.
Last year in France, people of a different religious belief and worldview caused one of the most violent uprisings in the recent history of the continent. Once again, these were home-grown terrorists who were causing all of the destruction. It is another picture of neighbors killing neighbors. According to a November 19, 2005 aritcle in World Magazine, the adversity between the young angry Muslim youth and the French government might turn France into an Islamic-type state, or two states. One would be ruled by French law, with extraterritorial entities ruled by Islamic laws. What will it be like for neighbors living next to each other governed by a whole different system of laws, religious beliefs and worldviews.? History has proven that it always leads to the killing of one another.
What we believe is a matter of life and death! Jesus, the way, the truth and the life, taught that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. The second commandment, which flows out of the first, is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40). How different would the world be if we followed Jesus' way, the truth that he taught and lived life according to his example? He demonstrated his worldview to his neighbor by being crucified on a cross instead of crashing planes into a building. Jesus' cross brings redemption and reconciliation.
Stay tuned for part 4.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Deceptive Thinking Leads Us Down the Road of Destruction (Part 2)
One of the main ways we are deceived is through the worldviews, mindsets and philosophies of our age. Paul exhorts the church at Colosse in Colossians 2:8 saying, "See to it that no one takes you captive through the hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." I want to examine three main systems of thought that are deceiving us today: secularism, pluralization and privitization. Remember all deceptive philosophies lead to a broken relationship with God and systems of belief that cause us to destroy one another. This is just what the devil desires...our destruction.
Secularism is the process by which religious ideas, institutions, and interpretations have lost thier social significance. As we become less and less Christian in our thinking, we ultimately turn to worship of self. This is what led to the downfall of the Roman Empire. They began to worship the human body and as a result, engaged in sexually immorality and perversion. This quest for self-worship led to the secularist belief that "man is the measure of all things." When we believe man is the measure of all things, we will do anything to fulfill our own desires. When we think like a secularist, we have no point of reference for decency. When we lose our point of reference for decency, we will engage in any activity with no sense of shame.
Some of the indecent acts we engage in include exchanging natural relations for unnatural ones (homosexuality and lesbianism) and murder. If fully participated in both these practices could lead to the extermination of the human race. Again, this is just what the enemy would want. (Please read Romans 1:18-32)
Secularism, with its philosophy that man is the measure of all things, will deceive a person into doing anything for their self-fulfillment. When Eve ate the forbidden fruit, Genesis 3:6 says, "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it." Her own hunger, pleasure and wisdom was more valuable to her than pleasing God by obeying his command. Her disobedience led to her eventual death. God truly knows what is best for us.
With no sense of shame we kill the ones we love to satisfy our own selfish desires. A recent example of a secularist mindset being acted out was the murder of Laci Peterson by her husband Scott. How could a man do this to his wife? Where does this type of behavior come from? After all, they were married and expecting a baby. I'm sure they thought they loved one another. However, Scott's lust and pride, his desire for self-gratification with another woman led to him killing the one he loved. Secularist thinking, played out to its logical conclusion, will always lead to the hurting or killing of others for our own personal gain.
Stay tuned for part 3.
Secularism is the process by which religious ideas, institutions, and interpretations have lost thier social significance. As we become less and less Christian in our thinking, we ultimately turn to worship of self. This is what led to the downfall of the Roman Empire. They began to worship the human body and as a result, engaged in sexually immorality and perversion. This quest for self-worship led to the secularist belief that "man is the measure of all things." When we believe man is the measure of all things, we will do anything to fulfill our own desires. When we think like a secularist, we have no point of reference for decency. When we lose our point of reference for decency, we will engage in any activity with no sense of shame.
Some of the indecent acts we engage in include exchanging natural relations for unnatural ones (homosexuality and lesbianism) and murder. If fully participated in both these practices could lead to the extermination of the human race. Again, this is just what the enemy would want. (Please read Romans 1:18-32)
Secularism, with its philosophy that man is the measure of all things, will deceive a person into doing anything for their self-fulfillment. When Eve ate the forbidden fruit, Genesis 3:6 says, "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it." Her own hunger, pleasure and wisdom was more valuable to her than pleasing God by obeying his command. Her disobedience led to her eventual death. God truly knows what is best for us.
With no sense of shame we kill the ones we love to satisfy our own selfish desires. A recent example of a secularist mindset being acted out was the murder of Laci Peterson by her husband Scott. How could a man do this to his wife? Where does this type of behavior come from? After all, they were married and expecting a baby. I'm sure they thought they loved one another. However, Scott's lust and pride, his desire for self-gratification with another woman led to him killing the one he loved. Secularist thinking, played out to its logical conclusion, will always lead to the hurting or killing of others for our own personal gain.
Stay tuned for part 3.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Deceptive Thinking Leads Us Down the Road of Destruction (Part 1)
Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. (14) But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth saying, "(18) Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. (19) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness:, (20) and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile." 1 Corinthians 3:18-20
As human beings, we must face the fact that we are susceptible to deception. It seems that we are most vulnerable to deception when we think that we know all the answers. In other words, when our hearts are full of pride, we are in an ideal state to be deceived. In a prophecy against the King of Tyre, the Lord says in Ezekiel 28:2, "In the pride of your heart you say, "I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas." But you are a man and not a god , though you think you are as wise as a god." As you read further in the chapter, God allows destruction to come upon them in the form of foreign enemies to wake them up to the reality of their deceptive thinking.
Not only are we susceptible to deception, but we have an enemy who tries to deceive us. In one of the most famous stories in history, the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis, we are told how the serpent deceived Eve. Genesis 3:13 says, "Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What have you done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." The devil's ultimate goal is to deceive us and lead us into disobedience of God's laws and commands. Not only do we offend God when we disobey, but we ultimately hurt ourselves.
Our pain and destruction is just what the enemy wants. God created us in His image and likeness, and in doing so, he literally gave us what the devil always wanted. The devil always wanted to be like God. That is one of the main reasons the devil wants to destroy us. We have what he wants, the image and likeness of God.
In his pride, the devil thought he could become God and rebelled against Him. Later in chapter 27 of Ezekiel, which many theologians believe is prophetic insight about the devil, we get a greater understanding of what he looked like and what he was thinking before God threw him out of heaven. Ezekiel 28:17 specifically says, "Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings."
The devil tempts us today in the same way. Through deceptive thinking, humans begin to deify themselves and as a result always end up devaluing God. In Genesis 3:4 the serpent tells Eve, "You will not surely die," "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." The greatest deception for humanity is to try and become like God in our own wisdom and strength.
Solomon, one of the wisest men to ever live, understood how even he needed divine help to overcome deception. He wrote in Proverbs 29:7-8, "Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die: (8) Keep falsehood and lies far from me." One of the two things Solomon asked God for was to keep him from deception.
Stay tuned for part 2.
Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth saying, "(18) Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. (19) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness:, (20) and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile." 1 Corinthians 3:18-20
As human beings, we must face the fact that we are susceptible to deception. It seems that we are most vulnerable to deception when we think that we know all the answers. In other words, when our hearts are full of pride, we are in an ideal state to be deceived. In a prophecy against the King of Tyre, the Lord says in Ezekiel 28:2, "In the pride of your heart you say, "I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas." But you are a man and not a god , though you think you are as wise as a god." As you read further in the chapter, God allows destruction to come upon them in the form of foreign enemies to wake them up to the reality of their deceptive thinking.
Not only are we susceptible to deception, but we have an enemy who tries to deceive us. In one of the most famous stories in history, the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis, we are told how the serpent deceived Eve. Genesis 3:13 says, "Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What have you done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." The devil's ultimate goal is to deceive us and lead us into disobedience of God's laws and commands. Not only do we offend God when we disobey, but we ultimately hurt ourselves.
Our pain and destruction is just what the enemy wants. God created us in His image and likeness, and in doing so, he literally gave us what the devil always wanted. The devil always wanted to be like God. That is one of the main reasons the devil wants to destroy us. We have what he wants, the image and likeness of God.
In his pride, the devil thought he could become God and rebelled against Him. Later in chapter 27 of Ezekiel, which many theologians believe is prophetic insight about the devil, we get a greater understanding of what he looked like and what he was thinking before God threw him out of heaven. Ezekiel 28:17 specifically says, "Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings."
The devil tempts us today in the same way. Through deceptive thinking, humans begin to deify themselves and as a result always end up devaluing God. In Genesis 3:4 the serpent tells Eve, "You will not surely die," "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." The greatest deception for humanity is to try and become like God in our own wisdom and strength.
Solomon, one of the wisest men to ever live, understood how even he needed divine help to overcome deception. He wrote in Proverbs 29:7-8, "Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die: (8) Keep falsehood and lies far from me." One of the two things Solomon asked God for was to keep him from deception.
Stay tuned for part 2.
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