We Should All Agree with Matt

Spirituality Column #172
February 23, 2010
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

We Should All Agree with Matt
By Bob Walters

In the autumn of 2000 at Purdue University, fliers mysteriously appeared around campus with the question: “Do You Agree with Matt?”

A serious buzz enveloped the campus – Who was Matt? It was almost on par with the buzz created by that season’s Boilermaker football team which would earn its first Rose Bowl berth since 1967.

Matt was Matt Cahill, a non-football playing senior at Purdue who hailed from Hamilton Heights High School, class of 1997, where he had been an outstanding student and soccer player. Even now, just about this time every year, HHHS announces the winner of the Matt Cahill Soccer Scholarship.

Matt was also a serious Christian and something of a marketing genius. As the Purdue Exponent student newspaper reported in early 2001:

“Cahill, a senior in the Schools of Engineering, was the Matt of the ‘Do You Agree With Matt?’ campaign last October. Members of Campus Crusade for Christ wore lime green T-shirts that read ‘I Agree With Matt,’ and they covered campus with fliers asking the mysterious question, "Do You Agree With Matt?"

In the end, Cahill revealed the mystery by giving a speech about how Jesus Christ became the center of his life.”

In the “reveal,” Matt’s testimony ran in the campus newspaper. He wore a t-shirt that said, “I Am Matt.” And at mixed, mass, all-campus rally Matt presented his compelling and eloquent witness, that boiled down to this … he believed Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Matt trusted Him as his Lord and Savior. Amen. Most cheered; some jeered.

How big was the buzz? Indy channel 13 put the story on the late news.

Two months later, January 2001 was a bleak month at Purdue.

On Jan. 1, the Boilermakers lost 34-24 to Washington in the Rose Bowl. Putting that setback into perspective, on Friday, Jan. 26, Matt was riding with his friend Jacob Cushman, a Purdue sophomore and Christian musician, when both were killed in a car crash on Indiana SR 26 in Grant County.

The October campaign compelled bold members of the Purdue campus community – professors, students and at least one notable athlete – to sign on to the campaign via advertisements and interviews proclaiming, “I agree with Matt.”

One of those very public proclaimers was the senior quarterback of the Boiler football team, now 2010’s Super Bowl MVP, Drew Brees.

True story.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com), like most of us, has had quite enough of “those” Saints. Gotta love a bold witness, though.

No Short Shrift to Lenten Season

Spirituality Column #171
February 16, 2010
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

No Short Shrift to Lenten Season
By Bob Walters

Shrovetide? Fastnacht? Pancakes, anyone?

How about … Mardi Gras, Carnival, aka Shrove Tuesday?

This week begins the ancient Christian season of Lent, 40 days of fasting, self-examination, prayer, and penance observed by Roman Catholics and traditional Protestants beginning Ash Wednesday (Feb. 17) leading up to Easter. Orthodox Christians begin Lent two days earlier on “Clean Monday.”

“Shrove” means “give a full hearing” or “hear confessions.” The faithful cleanse their souls by confessing their sins Shrove Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday (“short shrift” means “not fully hearing”). “Fastnacht” means “night before fasting” and also is a German/Dutch yeast donut. Eating pancakes in Shrovetide used up fat and eggs which were verboten during Lent. “Easter eggs” likely originated to celebrate fasting’s end.

What some of the faithful often did (and still do) – human nature being what it is and with 40 days of abstinence looming – was party their brains out during Mardi Gras (“Fat Tuesday”) or Carnival (“end of meat”), misbehaving on a magnitude worthy of 40 days of penance.

Easter in 2010, for everyone, is Sunday, April 4. Western and Orthodox Easters usually are on separate dates. This has to do with the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, Hebrew, Julian and Gregorian calendars, Passover, ecclesiastical dates of the Vernal Equinox, and the Paschal Moon. Google “Easter Date” if you’re thirsty for more.

In the West, Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox March 21. This year April 4 follows a March 30 full moon.

Scheduling Easter would have been easier if someone had simply written down the date Christ was crucified. Scholars tend to land on April 3, 33 AD. No one is sure.

But that brings up a huge point: the New Testament never mentions observing dates, feasts, seasons or holidays, or even the Sabbath, as a condition of salvation.

Humanity’s great gift of eternal communion with God through the fully-divine, fully-human person of Jesus Christ is not a matter of temporal festivals. Redemption, salvation and eternal life are entirely matters of 24/7/365 faith in Christ, which we exhibit by obeying the two great commandments – loving God and loving others.

That could explain why dates for Christ’s birth and death aren’t known. Christ very plainly tells us salvation is about faith (Luke 7:50, Ephesians 2:8), not records.

I believe God hides – and can be found – in our hearts, not on our calendars.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com) isn’t knocking church traditions and urges Bible Christians to study more church history, even though reason suggests there are no dates in eternity.

Saved From, or Saved For ... What?

Spirituality Column #170
February 9, 2010
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Saved From, or Saved For … What?
By Bob Walters

In accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior, are we being saved from something, or for something?

Much Christian evangelism describes and sells the fearsome, high-stakes, eternal spiritual consequences of not being saved from one’s sins, from guilt, from death, from everlasting damnation, from Hell, from perpetual pain and from being forever vanquished from the presence of God. Be saved or burn!

Yikes. Sign me up.

But, wait a minute. How do I process that “saved from” message if I’m a reasonably intelligent, rational, functional, productive, loving, decent, free and generally informed good-citizen non-believer?

I probably recognize – but rationalize – my own sins, let guilt abate over time, don’t really “get” death because I haven’t been there, think of “damnation” more as a cussword than a curse, don’t see how Hell could be much worse than some parts of this world, have survived some pretty awful pain in life, and cannot conceive "forever."

Presence of God? “Show me.”

Terrifying fear, guilt, sin, death, pain equals what? Joy in the Lord Jesus Christ? Faith, hope and love? Excuse me? “No thanks. I have enough problems of my own.”

Christ’s great gift is so often misrepresented. I know a dear Christian brother who will occasionally say to an Orthodox icon of Jesus, “My friend, I feel sorry for you.”

“Saved from” evangelism should mean we are saved from our guilt, fear, and sorrows, not bludgeoned by Salvation. Christ died a horrible, real human death to erase our sins – yours, mine, everybody’s – and in his resurrection remade fallen humanity into a new spotless Creation before God; cleansed with and covered by Christ’s blood.

With faith in Christ we can approach physical life trusting God’s grace and love, and physical death with the certainty of salvation: everlasting, sinless, loving communion in Heaven with God Almighty.

The magnitude of that cleansing gift is as big as God.

I am a flawed, limited, human servant badly in need of His eternal, divine washing. Christ wants us to accept that gift, find strength in that gift, believe in that gift … but I can’t imagine that he wants us to feel miserable because of that gift.

When did you ever give someone a gift in order to hurt them?

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are saved for love and for communion, from everlasting to everlasting. Have faith. Repent. Rejoice and be glad.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com) understands pain is a powerful sales tool, but salvation is a gift, not a product.

God and Sportsmanship

Spirituality Column #169
February 2, 2010
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

God and Sportsmanship
By Bob Walters

Christianity embodies the ultimate in sportsmanship: loving one’s enemy.

Sportsmanship is also about fidelity to team, obeisance to rules, abhorrence of cheating, discipline of preparation, trying one’s best, reveling in competition, respecting rival competitors, overcoming obstacles, sharing success, perseverance. Lots of stuff.

In a perfect world, that would all describe the community of Christ.

So … central Indiana … how did you feel a year and a half ago when you heard Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was out for the season with a knee injury?

Or during last week’s AFC Championship game? How do you feel today about the (NFL) Saints? Charitable? At peace? Faithful? Fulfilled?

Send Brady a get-well card did you? Hoping New Orleans has a pleasant and sportsmanship-filled experience vs. our Colts at Super Bowl XLIV?

Sporting endeavor has many faces.

Remember Jake Porter and the “viral video” from late 2006? Jake, a mentally retarded (inherited Chromosomal Fragile-X) high school senior from southern Ohio, scored a late, uncontested touchdown when his team, Northwest, was trailing 42-0 to Waverly, which stood aside as Jake happily ran 40 yards into the end zone.

Loved the moment. Felt warm inside. It’s a righteous world where things like that happen. But, c’mon. Unless one is a class-A jerk, it’s easy to be a sportsman when one is easily winning. The true test of humanity, and of faith, is when times are challenging, not when we’re up 42-0.

Remember the “Cobra-kai’s” whacko sensei in The Karate Kid? Don’t you hate that guy? “Sweep the leg!” Would you ever possibly pray for that guy? How about the opposing coach in Remember the Titans who called Denzel Washington’s character a monkey? Kill the racist with kindness? Or just kill him.

Striving and struggle and decency. Humility and grace. That’s sportsmanship. Winning at all costs for earthly reward and renown … that’s soulless idolatry.

God loves to see his kids play, and “running the race” (Hebrews 12:1) is a vibrant Biblical picture of living our lives for God’s glory. Let’s keep a firm handle on the fleeting, temporary, and earthly glory of sports achievement.

Whether one has just lost a game or won the championship, lost a job or won the lottery, the challenge of eternal victory is equally great.

The best win – a forever kind of win – is when Christ wins our heart.

Be sure Christ has a sporting chance in your life.

Walters (believerbob@blogspot.com or email rlwcom@aol.com) offers a sincere “well done” to Irsay, Caldwell, Manning, Garcon & Co. for their class, grace and humility before, during and after the Colts’ AFC Championship victory over the Jets.