Big Questions 2025

  “Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”

Voltaire

Much of human existence seems to be the pursuit of answers.  Pursuit of the right answers.  We have to find the right spouse, the right house, the right job, the right city, the right denomination, the right church, the right hobby, and so on, and so on, and so on.  Ad nauseum.

We’ve made education the regurgitation of right answers.  In our faith, we have to associate ourselves with the right theology.  We have to be associated with the right political party, and for much of the people I find myself surrounded by, that side is even named the “right.”

We’re convinced there are right answers to most of life, and we just have to find them.  This comes from a desire for certainty, a desire for stability.  We need answers because they set our lives right.  They make us  feel secure because everything is known.      

Think about how we approach our advisors - our doctors, our lawyers, our counselors.  We go to them for answers.  We want a diagnosis.  The correct legal remedy. The solution.  And we get very uncomfortable when the answer is “we don’t know.”

We’re really uncomfortable with the unknown.  With the uncertain.  We blow past the “we don’t know” to finally get to an answer.  We get second and third and fourth opinions.  Or in situations where there is truly no right answer, we seek to make one.  We look for signs and find them in the smallest coincidences.  We make a right answer.  We reduce things to black and white, we simplify so we can understand.  

I don’t know, but of late, I’m getting more comfortable with questions.  I’m getting more comfortable with “I don’t know.”  

To me, the truth is, questions are just more interesting.

Because questions lead to all sorts of interesting experiences.

We know this as kids.  Children live in a state of constant “why?”  It’s intellectual curiosity that continues to propel them into discovery, into experience, and into the unknown.

Perhaps today, of all days, on this monumental change in our society, questions are more important than ever.  There are titanic questions hanging in the ephemera, spoken and unspoken, that are filling our collective unconsciousness.  

Questions that matter.  

That are shaping the direction of our future.  Questions that will be imperative to discuss and evaluate. 

I say evaluate and discuss because it’s important to note we may not get to one right answer.  There may be no one specific answer that is right and everything else is wrong.  We may be able to identify a lot of wrong answers, but there may be a lot of ambiguity we still have to live with.

These questions are being raised through online social media.  Through news broadcasts and media.  Through dining room discussion.

They are popping up whether we recognize them or not.  And some are even trending as questions on our search histories.

Questions like -

• What is an oligarchy?
• What is fascism?
• What is a Christian?
• What is masculinity?
• Why does it matter?
• How do we proceed?

Heady.  Deep.  Though provoking.  Unanswerable?  Charged.  Divisive.  

All descriptions above could apply to these questions.  And all are reasons why the questions must be discussed.

So for the next several posts, that’s what I intend to do.  To raise the question, to explore why it’s being asked, and to address my thoughts on the question.  I ran a series in 2020 called Big Questions.  That focused on questions of faith.  Questions like, do my resolutions benefit only me, does my church look primarily just like me, who is my gospel excluding, and am i willing to yield?

Today starts Big Questions 2025.  And I hope you will be along for the ride.  We have to be able to discuss these things, to disagree on points, and come to resolutions.  To recognize the question behind the question and to help each other along in faith and love.

If we don’t, if we can’t, what are we even doing here?

“Test all things; hold fast to what is good.”

1 Thessalonians 5:21

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2025

 

Today we set aside to recognize the contributions of a man to the cause of equality.  A recognition of the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his contributions to non-violent protest, equality, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

An ordained Baptist minister, you can see the inspiration he drew from the commands to love the Lord your God above all, to love your neighbor as yourself, and to love your enemies.  His call for non-violence from Jesus' instruction to turn the other cheek.

He serves as a reminder to us that we are all derived from one creator; that there is "neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."  We could add to that list that there is neither black nor white.  

And he reminds us that our founding documents declare that "all men are created equal" and it is our job to hold our country to that truth.  

Perhaps today, more than ever, on this day where we have a transfer of power back to a very controversial and regime, we need reminders of what we fight for.  And how we should fight.

"All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper." If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions. Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say, we aren't going to let dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on."

------------------------------

"There can be no gain saying of the fact that our nation has brought the world to an awe inspiring threshold of the future. We've built machines that think and instruments that peer into the unfathomable ranges of interstellar space. We have built gargantuan bridges to span the seas and gigantic buildings to kiss the skies. And through our spaceships we have penetrated oceanic depths and through our airplanes we have dwarfed distance and placed time in chains. This really is a dazzling picture of America's scientific and technological progress. But in spite of this something basic is missing. In spite of all of our scientific and technological progress we suffer from a kind of poverty of the spirit that stands in glaring contrast to all of our material abundance. This is the dilemma facing our nation and this is the dilemma to which we as clergymen and laymen must address ourselves. Henry David Thoreau said once something that still applies. In a very interesting dictum he talked about improved means to an unimproved end. This is a tragedy that somewhere along the way as a nation we have allowed the mean by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live. And consequently we suffer from a spiritual and moral lag that must be redeemed if we are going to survive and maintain a moral stance.

[...]

And the words of Jesus are still applicable. What does it profit a generation, what does it profit a nation to own the whole world of means televisions, electric lights and automobiles and lose in the end the soul. The words of Jesus are still true in another sense. Man can not live by the bread of colored televisions alone but by every word, the word of justice, the word of love, the word of truth, every word that procedeth out of the mouth of God. And the problem is that all too many people in power are trying to get America to live on the wrong thing. And this is why we are moving in the wrong direction. This war is playing havoc with our domestic destinies for all of these reasons. We are fighting two wars today.

[...]

And so I say we need your support and we expect it as we move on into this area and I want to thank you for the support that so many of you have continually given. As we were marching today, some 5,000 strong, I thought about Selma because I could look around and see so many who have marched with us in Selma, and from Selma to Montgomery. And we are still marching and we are still moving. And I give you my commitment today that I plan to continue. Someone said to me not long ago, it was a member of the press, 'Dr. King, since you face so many criticisms and since you are going to hurt the budget of your organization, don't you feel that you should kind of change and fall in line with the Administration's policy. Aren't you hurting the civil rights movement and people who once respected you may lose respect for you because you're involved in this controversial issue in taking the stand against the war.' And I had to look with a deep understanding of why he raised the question and with no bitterness in my heart and say to that man, "I'm sorry sir, but you don't know me. I'm not a consensus leader.  I don't determine what is right and wrong by looking at the budget of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference or by taking....  Nor do I determine what is right and wrong by taking a Gallup poll of the majority opinion."  Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher of consensus but a molder of consensus.  On some positions cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right."

Martin Luther King, Jr., A Proper Sense of Priorities, February 6, 1968

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

What good does it do us, what does it profit us today to remember the man, to post quotes from his life, if we are not actively working towards change?  Are we honoring his legacy if we pretend his struggle existed only in the past?

Since 1994, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day has been recognized as a day for service.  The only federal holiday to be a day on, not a day off, reflecting our responsibility to each other.  This Martin Luther King, Jr. day, may we be active supporters in the cause of justice, of mercy.  May we be taking positions because our conscience tells us that it is right.  May we truly be in service to all.

Run to the Father

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble at its swelling."

Psalm 46:1-3

Part of being able to keep on keeping on when it seems like the struggle will never end is being able to identify places of refuge.  To identify places where you can find respite.  A temporary rest to sustain you.  To keep you from being overwhelmed.  

A place to find refuge.

Refuge carries the idea of resting in the center of a heavily fortified base.  Of hiding in the center of a large fortress.  Deep in the caves at Helm's Deep, with the walls intact, the gates down, the drawbridges up, and guards at every station.  

Of being in the center of the storm in a building you know can withstand it, for it has withstood much worse.

Of the story of the lighthouse keeper at La Jument.

La Jument is a famous lighthouse built on a rock off the coast of Brittany in France.  This lighthouse was built in 1911, 300 meters from the shore, in an area that is heavily trafficked and subject to heavy storms.  

The lighthouse became well known due to a series of photographs taken by Jean Guichard. During one infamous storm on December 21, 1989, Guichard had hired a helicopter to take pictures of the severity of the storm. The low pressure front blowing in from Ireland, was bringing gale force winds and causing waves up to 20 to 30 meters to crash on the lighthouse.  Despite the severity of the storm and danger in doing so, Guichard was determined to fly over the sea for his pictures.  He made it to La Jument and hovered around to take photographs of the lighthouse.

Inside, lighthouse keeper Theodore Malgorn heard the helicopter and went downstairs to see what was going on.   This lead to an incredible series of shots where Guichard was able to capture the initial calmness of Malgorn, looking out of the lighthouse despite the raging sea around him.

It captures the faith in the sturdiness of the lighthouse, knowing that it will hold against the waves.  That there is security and refuge in the lighthouse.  

But this still image above, does not capture the whole story.  Malgorn saw the waves, saw the helicopter, but also knew he could not stand out there throughout the storm.  The rest of the photographs show him quickly running back inside.  Malgorn knew that the security was inside the structure of the lighthouse, not out on the edge.  "If I had been a little further away from the door, I would not have made it back into the tower. And I would be dead today. You cannot play with the sea."

The same is true with us in our struggles.  We have repeated promises that we have refuge in God.  The He will provide us rest.  That He will sustain us.  

But, we have to run back into the Father.  We can't stay out on the edge.

We can't be half in and half out, looking at the storm raging around us while still trying to keep a foot in our refuge.  We find our full security, our full sustenance, our full refuge when we are fully in Him.

And refuge brings so many benefits.  It brings rest.  It brings sustenance.  It brings life.

It's home - where we can fully be ourselves and be known.

And with that, I worry that we have far too many churches that are portraying an improper picture of God's refuge.  

Think about it - would you describe your church as a refuge?

Can you be fully yourself at your church?  Or is there an image you have to fit?  A type you have to be?

Do you feel fully known at your church?

Those are the hard questions that we as believers have to answer.  To become support for everyone seeking refuge.  To show that He is the one, true source of refuge.

For that is the miracle.  Even if none of our buildings could be called it.  Even if none of our groupings are showing it.  He is the perfect refuge.

That is worth celebrating and that is worth running to.

In the middle of the waves, He is faithful and secure.

Run to back in to Him.

"I've carried a burden for too long on my own

I wasn't created to bear it alone

I hear Your invitation to let it all go

I see it now, I'm laying it down

And I know that I need You

My heart has been in Your sights

Long before my first breath

Running into your arms

Is running from life to death

And I feel this rush deep in my chest

Your mercy is calling out

Just as I am You pull me out

And I know that I need You now

Run to the Father, I fall into grace

I'm done with the hiding, no reason to wait

My heart needs a surgeon, my soul needs a friend

So I'll run to the Father again and again and again and again"

I Am Strong

"a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong."

2 Corinthians 12:7b-10

Our church is starting a series on how to persevere when healing or answers are not coming.  How to move forward in the faith when you are continuing to suffer.  Continuing to face hardship or adversity.  Continuing to feel like a certain prayer has not been heard.

Our pastor is looking to answer the question, when your pain and suffering seem to be constant, and God's healing may not come in your desired timeframe, what can you do?

It's an important series, because there are so many people suffering.  So many people that are hurting and have been hurting for a while.  Fighting through cancer treatments or facing an untreatable disease.  Parents praying for their kid's safety and protection, but unable to help them through addiction, or other difficult life choices.  A community reeling from the sudden loss of a beloved member.

There are times when we do see miraculous healing.  There are times when it all can make sense.

But there are also those struggles where we never know the answer.  We never see healing.  We never understand.

Our study focused on Paul's thorn in the flesh, the weakness he struggled with and prayed to have removed repeatedly, to no avail.  Paul, seen by many as the paragon of Christian living, struggled through this thorn for his lifetime.  

But Paul came to understand the affect if not the purpose.  Paul recognized that his weaknesses allowed God's strength to shine through.  The cracks in his life allowed God's grace and mercy to pour out.

It's the miracle of a family being able to forgive the killer of one of their members.  It's the patient having joy through a cancer battle, to the end.  It's someone continuing to show up, continuing to believe, continuing to pray, though they may never see healing this side of eternity.

Those are modern miracles.  God shining through in an impossible situation.  Superhuman strength of character, superhuman belief, superhuman joy.

We were given four reminders or affirmations to get through when there seems to be no answer, seems to be no healing.

First, we are reminded that God will heal us entirely, in time.  It may not be until eternity, but it will be healed.  After all, earthly healing is temporary, like the earth itself.  We will still all need eternal and complete healing.  

Second, we are reminded that our pain will be used for a purpose.  That in all things, God works things out for the good.  We may not know the purpose, we may not see it play out, but it will be used for a purpose.  That can be unsatisfactory in the moment.  And we're allowed to struggle with it.  But we can still look for it to be used well.

Third, we are reminded that God longs to sustain us through our suffering.  Paul sums this up from Jesus's words - "My grace is sufficient for thee."  God will see us through whatever comes.  He wants to be beside us, to walk with us, and will never leave us alone.    He knows what suffering is and will be alongside us through it all.

Finally, we experience power when we trust God with our pain.  God's Strength and Our Pain is greater than Our Own Strength and No Pain.  His power is made perfect in our weakness.  We don't like this one, because no one likes pain, not really.  We try to avoid it and minimize or eliminate it.  We should be turning it over.

We should be reminded of these as we struggle with situations and hurts beyond our understanding.  I think we can also look at Paul's thorn as a reminder of our struggle with sin as a new creation.

There is a reminder in Paul's passage, an indication of what purpose our struggles.

In the lead in to verse 7, Paul explains why he has the thorn in this flesh.  "So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations" that he has seen.  

Paul is given his thorn to keep him humble.  

Given the volume of the New Testament Paul is attributed as writing and the influence Paul has in spreading the gospel, it becomes easy for us to put him on a high pedestal and could have been easy for Paul to elevate himself there.

Prior to his conversion, Paul was a Pharisee, the cream of the Jewish religious elite.  The ones who set the standard for living in Jewish religious circles.  The ultra-observant.  They observed every jot and tittle of the law.  But sadly, keeping the letter of the law, just not the spirit.  It made them haughty and pious in their observance.  

They lacked humility.

Paul could have easily returned to form.  Especially as his experiences as a leader in the way grew, to include surpassing great revelations.

His thorn, though, kept him from becoming a "Pharisee" again.  It kept him relatable to the ones that he was conversing with and walking alongside.  It allowed him to understand and empathize with the struggles of those around him.

Do we still today have our struggles so we can relate to those around us?  Do we have our struggles with particular sins so that we can support others who are facing the same ones? 

Could the purpose of our thorns be to keep us humble?  And to keep us looking for ways to help others avoid our hurts?

This idea of a thorn can cover so much and has been interpreted in many different ways.  The reminder to us, is that God wants to use us, thorns included, for His purpose.

Let's be open to that.

No Pain, No Gain

A mantra of the fitness world - no pain, no gain.

A simple statement to reflect the truth that in order for muscles to grow, in order for us to see physical progress, there will be pain involved.  Muscles grow by working them to the point of damage and then letting them repair themselves.  I.e. they grow when we work them to the point of soreness and let them repair themselves.

The same can be true in our spiritual lives.  Our faith grows through testing.  Through trials.  Through exercise.

When we are in the easy times, when things are going well, it's kind of easy to coast.  To become comfortable.  Complacent.

To stagnate.

It can be why it seems our faith grows, our faith is strongest in the valleys.  In the hardest times.  When we struggle.  When serving seems like a challenge.

Paul writes about this in his letter to the Roman church.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."

Romans 5:1-5

Paul puts into order how our faith grows.  From struggling to perseverance.  From the depth of the problem to the ability to work through it.  Our valleys, our troughs are the starting point for our ability to persevere.  

When we can persevere, that reveals and strengthens our character.  Who we are when no one is watching.  What you have left after the storm is what you truly had in the first place.  It's what exists beyond the mask, the facade that we all put up.

It's a reflection of the process of refinement.  When metal is refined, it is melted so the impurities can rise to the top and be removed.  Our sufferings, our struggles refine us.  They bring our impurities to the top, so God can reveal them, and remove them.

It's when this process is complete that we find our hope.  Where we can rest in God's love poured out on us.  In the glory of God.

So, the question arises - where are you in that process?  Have you reached hope?  Are you still somewhere in progress?  

Or are you avoiding the struggles?

Are you complacent in your faith and situation?

This doesn't have to be about external struggles that we find ourselves in.

Are you stretching yourself in your faith?  Are you exercising your faith?  Are you wrestling with it?  

Are you reading the scripture, truly digging into it for understanding and struggling with it's difficulties?  Or are you merely consuming it for a checklist?

Are you interacting with people that are different than you?  That think differently than you?  That believe differently than you?  People that are a challenge to love?  To forgive?  To serve?  Or are you surrounded only with people who go to your church who are exactly like you?

Is your faith comfortable?  Or are you being pushed on toward growth?

This life was never meant to be comfortable.  It was meant to be worth it.

No pain, no gain.

Losing My Religion

“No one talks about it.”

This isn’t something new, but we’ve had a couple of high profile church leaders come out and reveal that they have lost their faith.  First, Joshua Harris revealed through Instagram that he no longer is a Christian.  Now Hillsong Songwriter Marty Sampson followed suit on Instagram in a now removed post to say that he is losing his religion. 

One particular refrain in Sampson’s post is a litany of things he views as going undiscussed in the Christian faith.  The number of preachers that fall.  That there are not many miracles happening.  Why the Bible is full of contradictions.  How God is love but can send four billion people to a place because they do not believe.  The hard questions.  

“No one talks about it.”

In the response to Sampson’s confession, many have latched on to this idea that “no one talks about it.”  They are determined to show the falsity in his statement.  They point to the treatises in church history that wrestle with these subjects, they point to the online discussion that is occurring on these topics.  They point to their experience in their church where they are supposedly having these in depth discussions.  

It should be noted that the wealth of material in history and only are wonderful resources.  They are great launching points.  

But these do not negate the truth in Sampson’s confession.  They do not negate the fact that these discussions (with special emphasis on the word discussions) generally are not happening.  That we as Christians are generally afraid to have difficult questions raised about our faith.  That generally in churches, we do not have much room for doubters.

We can write about it.  We can hear a sermon on it.  We can recommend a book on it.  But we really do not want to talk about it.

We will point to old resources, to say read them and all your questions will be answered.  Or we will give pat, rehearsed answers that we were told as if it settles the issue.  How many have you heard?  “Just give it over to the Lord.”  “You just need more faith.”  “Let go and let God.”  “God’s ways are not our own and we’ll never understand them.”  

These are true statements, but you must see how they can also be things that are not helpful to the questioner.

Our response stems from fear.  We’re worried we won’t know the answer.  We’re afraid of having to say those dreaded three words, “I don’t know.”  We’re afraid of disagreement.

Then there is the other side.  The environments that make us scared to ask questions.  To expose our doubts and our struggles. For fear of being labeled a heretic.  For fear of being ostracized from the group.  For fear of not fitting in, because you don’t see what the rest of the group is seeing.

If you haven’t been a part of a church like this, I pray that you never will be.  I pray you continue to find good, rich, honest, raw, difficult conversations.  That you are able to continue to expose your greatest struggles and doubts in an environment that encourages it and pushes everyone to growth.  

But please realize, that you are in a privileged minority in the church going experience. 

More churches come across as closed off to questions.  To new thought, to change, to old questions, to deep questions, to struggles (or should I say to specific struggles).  Even if from the top.

Our pastor revealed a statistic in his most recent sermon that disturbed me.  The average career for a new pastor is 1.5 years.  

That’s it.  

Sadly, there is a lot of additional information regarding the average career of a pastor that should concern any church member.  Half of the ministers starting out will not last five years.  Only one out of very ten ministers will actually retire in ministry of some form. 

Why?

From their own words, they felt there were unrealistic expectations on them and their families, they have been hurt and burnt by the church, they are depressed, they are lonely.  At the root, pastors are frustrated by the lack of commitment from the laity, concerned about finances, grappling with effective outreach, struggling in implementing change, overwhelmed in counseling, lacking community, combating a lack of spiritual maturity, fighting for engagement in the laity, at odds with church politics, and finding difficulties in relationships.

In Brandon’s words, too many sheep in the fold trying to hurt the flock, not enough sheep willing to be shepherded.

In that light, it’s amazing how prescient R.E.M. really was.

“That’s me in the corner,

That’s me in the spotlight

Losing my religion

Trying to keep up with you

And I don’t know if I can do it

Oh no I’ve said too much

I haven’t said enough.”

We’re going to see more of these type of announcements coming.  And not just because “they never really believed,” or “it was Hillsong, what do you expect,” or some other variation.  But rather because we often don’t have room for anyone with deep questions.  Anyone who is struggling in their faith.  

We often are the worst at eating our wounded, our struggling.

Our doubters.

And I don’t think it’s appropriate.  After all look at how Jesus treated his “doubter.”  With grace and compassion.  He helped him through it.  Put his hands in His hands to show him how much he cared.

Perhaps we could do the same.

Perhaps we could all admit that we struggle at times with our faith, and sometimes in very deep ways.

I’ll admit, I’m not sure that I can believe that the account in Genesis 1 is literally true or meant to be taken as such.  I struggle with the passages that indicate both predestination and free will are supported in the text and that the answer to Calvinism versus Arminianism might be both.  Reading Kings and Chronicles is a struggle in understanding how some of the kings could have been seen as the ones favorable in God’s eyes.  

I struggle with how Jacob would be chosen over Esau, when Jacob was a liar and a thief.  How Esau would still not be favored with his own redemption arc.  Over the role of women in the Church today.  Whether Hebrews written by a woman and that is why its author is omitted.  

To read the text, to study the text, is to struggle with the text.

That’s a small piece.  That’s just in textual analysis.  I cannot imagine those who struggle with their faith because of the situations that life has brought their way.  Those who have watched their children suffer and die.  Those who can truly feel how capricious this world can be.

We ALL have something about our faith, about our belief that we struggle with.  It’s just time to be far more open about it and to start discussing it.  To let others know, it’s ok to ask.

Jamie and I share a quote that we firmly strive for.  It’s from John Wesley to describe how Christians should live among each other, especially when it comes to beliefs.  “In the essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity.”

We need to admit that there are far less essentials than we would like to believe.  That there is a lot more room in which we need to allow liberty and display charity.

It’s time to see the best in people.  To view them from the most charitable position.  Especially our fellow believers who are struggling.  Who are slipping. 

Because if we don’t help them.  If we don’t open up, and truly, deeply discuss their questions.  To let them know it’s ok when the answer is “I don’t know.”  To let them know we struggle as well.  That faith is hard.  That there are times when it can be a challenge.  

Perhaps, most importantly, that you will be there alongside them wherever their doubts, their struggles, their faith lead them.

If we can’t do that - then who else will?

“I believe that appreciation is a holy thing - that when we look for what’s best in a person we happen to be with at the moment, we’re doing what God does all the time.  So in loving and appreciating our neighbor, we’re participating in something sacred.”

Fred Rogers

The Question of Missions

Much has been written regarding the death of John Allen Chau.  The twenty-six year old was an adventurer and missionary, who traveled the world to spread the gospel, but felt a particular draw to the Sentinelese people on the North Sentinel Island off the coast of India.  The Sentinelese represent one of the major "unreached people groups" for evangelical Christianity.  They are a small population (15 to 200 people) of indigenous people of the Adamanese and are considered one of the world's last "uncontacted people."  In fact, they are openly hostile to outsiders and have refused contact with the outside world.  They have assaulted and killed people who have approached or landed on the island.  The tribe and island is protected by the Indian government, in particular protecting their way of life and privacy as there is a great fear the tribe could be wiped out by diseases they have no immunities to, like measles or influenza.  Accordingly, the Indian government enforces strict control on access to the island.

John Allen Chau had a zeal to spread Christianity to the island.  He had taken a scouting trip to the Andaman islands several years ago and had told friends of his desire to return.  This November, he returned and convinced local fishermen to help him in his quest.  On November 14, Chau paid local fishermen to take him to the island, starting after nightfall to avoid detection.  On November 15, he attempted his first visit.  The fishing boat took him around 500-700 meters from the shore and he continued in a canoe onto the shore.  Once he reached the shore, the islanders attacked him with arrows as he had greeted them with Christian quotes and attempted to offer gifts.  On further visits, the islanders greeted him with a mixture of amusement, bewilderment, and hostility.  On November 17, Chau instructed the fishermen to leave without him.  It is presumed on this attempt, the islanders fatally shot him with arrows.  The fishermen later saw the islanders dragging Chau's body and the next day they saw his body on the shore.  The fishermen have been arrested for their assistance in getting Chau close to the restricted island.  Attempts are being made to recover his body, but it is uncertain that they will have any success.  Human rights group Survival International is urging that no further attempts to recover his body be made, as to not further expose the Sentinelese to any foreign pathogens.

Reaction to Chau's death has been mixed.  Christian groups have praised him as a martyr for the spread of the gospel. Other groups, like the previously mentioned Survival International, have focused on the potential harm to the Sentinelese people, however unintentional, and have denounced his actions.

I must confess, I am extremely conflicted about John Allen Chau's actions.  While his zeal to spread the gospel is laudable, it can also be true that his actions were fooldhardy at best.  At what point do his actions go from noble to problematic?  From beneficial to endangering potentially for him and the entire tribe?  Would he have been better served working with a indigenous tribes' rights group like Survival International, to ensure that the tribe is well protected and including materials in any care packages that are sent to the island?  Or was there another way to achieve his goal that could better protect and serve the Sentinelese people?

There in lies the question in missions.  We know that there are benefits to missionary work that are relayed to the people the missionaries serve.  Beyond potential eternal benefits, studies have found positive societal impacts in the areas where they have worked.  "In cross-national statistical analysis Protestant missions are significantly and robustly associated with higher levels of printing, education, economic development, organizational civil society, protection of private property, and rule of law with lower levels of corruption."  Further, missionaries have made significant contributions to linguistics and the description and documentation of many languages.  "Without missionary documentation, the reclamation [of several languages] would have been completely impossible."  p. 223, 224.  Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove. 2000. Linguistic Genocide in Education - Or Worldwide Diversity and Human Rights? Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

We know the ills of historical missionaries.  Forced conversions and assimilation driving out all aspects of the old culture.  Introducing diseases to the new populations, such as smallpox, measles, and the common cold. The ties with slavery in mission work.  And that is excluding the more openly problematic missions like the Crusades. Even modern mission work, particular American mission work, still carries the associations of the "white savior" complex.

Jamie and I have often talked about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in relation to mission work.  Maslow's Hierarchy is represented by a pyramid of needs with physiological needs at the base, safety needs just above, love/belonging needs just above that, esteem needs just above that, and self-actualization needs at the top.  Some have added transcendence above self-actualization.  Originally, the idea was that each lower level must be completely satisfied and fulfilled before the next level can be addressed.  You cannot adequately address safety needs like personal security, emotional security, financial security, or health and well-being, until the most basic physiological needs like food, water, sleep, and shelter are addressed.  Likewise, you cannot get to addressing a transcendent need like spiritual needs, until the physical needs are addressed.  Modern interpretations of the Hierarchy recognize the overlapping nature of the different levels, but the core idea remains the same.  Can you attempt to address someone's spiritual need when they are starving?  Or naked? Or imprisoned?

I feel this is why Jesus placed such importance on feeding the hungry and thirsty, sheltering the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, visiting the imprisoned.  Such importance on meeting the physical needs around us.  On loving our neighbors.

Then the King will say to those on His right, "Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me."  

Then the righteous will answer Him, "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?"

And the King will reply, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me."

Matthew 25: 34-40

We need to meet these needs in order to be able to get to a spiritual need.  These are prerequisites.  It's meeting people where they are, developing an understanding for their needs, and then appropriately assisting them and working with them.  It's getting involved where it's messy.  And it's so important, Jesus also included a warning for not doing so.

Then the King will answer, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me."

Matthew 25: 44

I do not know the answers for the Chau situation, but I still have so many questions.  Was he seeking to evangelize in a way that was truly concerned for the best for the Sentinelese people, or was he going about it the only way he knew how to?  Were there other needs he was needing to learn and address first?  Do we need to change how we view missions?  Is there a better way?

How do we change in response?