LAC Staff Blogs
We never had much of a vegetable garden till the last year and frankly, Nancy doesnt really want me going to close to it. She plants, she waters and she tends. And I confess, I dont pay a lot of attention overall but every once in a while, something does catch my eye. That brings me to the carrot.
"Where does the Bible stand on getting a tattoo?..."
"...I was told that there is a verse in the Book of Leviticus that teaches it is wrong. But, what if the tattoo is a verse from the Bible? Mostly, what if the big problem is that my father disapproves even though I am over 30. I want to show him respect but wonder if I have freedom in spite of his viewpoint. My wife loves the idea."
Stop. Look. And listen.
Listen to these soul-searching words from Eugene Petersen in his book, Working the Angles.
It is with God with whom we have to do. People go for long stretches of time without being aware of that, thinking it is money, or sex, or work, or children, or parents, or a political cause, or an athletic competition, or learning with which they must deal. Any one or a combination of these subjects can absorb them and for a time give them the meaning and purpose that human beings seem to require. But then there is a slow stretch of boredom. Or a disaster. Or a sudden collapse of meaning. They want meaning. They want more.
No Pranking Allowed!
We explicitly tell our students at camp that they are absolutely under no circumstances allowed to engage in pranking behaviors. They are not allowed to raid each other’s cabins, put shaving cream all over someone’s face when they go to sleep, draw a mustache on someone’s face during the night… you know the drill. We explicitly say that kids will be sent home if they engage in these behaviors.
I had a Jewish friend tell me his religion is more intellectually and historically sound than Christianity. His main point was that Jewish oral tradition is the source that gives insight into interpreting the Scriptures accurately and that, since Jewish oral tradition contradicts Christian interpretations, then the Christian faith must be wrong. I had never heard anything like this so I’ve been somewhat shaken by it. Where is a Christian to start when faced with this kind of daunting search for truth?
All through my doctoral studies at Marquette and Cambridge, I was confronted with challenges to my thinking – and that included challenges to the very source of my understanding of God, i.e., the Bible. Sometimes, I would think, "Well, my faith must not be true..." (And then in the next breath) "But it is real!" Then, "But, what about...?" On and on it goes while we live by faith and not yet by sight.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” Matthew 7:7 
Since coming to Lake Avenue Church, people ask me questions that I myself have wondered about before. But, just as often, here in Southern CA I’ve found that some of the questions are about matters I had never really considered. Tattoos? Ancestor boxes? Cremation? Following Jesus without dishonoring parents when turning to Jesus from Buddhism??? These are just a few of the issues the people at LAC write me about. So, I look at God’s Word and seek to provide some guidance and direction. I have wondered whether others have questions about related matters – though they have never asked. Finally, my Executive Assistant convinced me to post parts of my responses via this blogging medium.
