Drugs. Alcohol. Fornication. Divorce.

The list goes on and on.

There’s tons of topics out there that people in church have tried to avoid forever.

Hopefully the day is coming soon, if it hasn’t already, where people in the church realize that they are actually real people and that real life stuff will happen to them.

Because let me tell you, life does not automatically become perfect once you start a personal relationship with Jesus, or however you want to put that.

Church should be that place where you can be honest about what’s going on in your life and where judging others for their life circumstances just doesn’t happen.

So, how do you feel your church is in discussing those topics that just aren’t easy to discuss?

As you probably already know, Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, which comes out on March 29th, has received some interesting feedback already. I will write a post on Love Wins once I read it, but as you can see from the release date, it isn’t even out yet. Here’s a post from someone who was able to get an advanced copy of the book.

This is what we have seen so far from Rob Bell and his publisher about his new book:

THE VIDEO

LOVE WINS. from Rob Bell on Vimeo.

THE BOOK DESCRIPTION

Fans flock to his Facebook page, his NOOMA videos have been viewed by millions, and his Sunday sermons are attended by 10,000 parishioners—with a downloadable podcast reaching 50,000 more. An electrifying, unconventional pastor whom Time magazine calls “a singular rock star in the church world,” Rob Bell is the most vibrant, central religious leader of the millennial generation. Now, in Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, Bell addresses one of the most controversial issues of faith—the afterlife—arguing that a loving God would never sentence human souls to eternal suffering. With searing insight, Bell puts hell on trial, and his message is decidedly optimistic—eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts right now. And ultimately, Love Wins.

After reading that description, I definitely want to read the book as soon as I can. I will also say that I choose to believe what the Bible says about heaven and hell.

But, after reading the different comments, blog posts and other stuff out there, I realize that there are tons of different thoughts on the subject of the afterlife.

This all has me wondering…

What do you think happens after this life? Also, do you believe hell is a real place? Why or why not?

I write on church quite a bit, but usually it’s on the positive side of church.

There are realities you have to face at sometime, though. If you don’t face these, you will never be able to fix things that can actually be avoided.

A problem that needs to be looked at is the declining percentage of men that regularly attend church.

So, why don’t men attend church?

Maybe it’s that a lot of things that happen in a Sunday church service have been the same since I started to attend church.

I’m sure if all ushers were women that wore hooters girls uniforms and headsets were handed out that had play-by-play for the big game church attendance might increase, but maybe not.

If we get to the heart of it, I think that church just includes a lot of stuff that men (or maybe women as well) just don’t enjoy or things that are just plain weird if you don’t get what’s going on.

Here are some of those things:

1. Wake Up & Drive
Every man wants to sleep in, especially on the weekends. This gives maximum awareness for avoiding honey-do lists and football viewing.

2. Meet & Greet
This is probably the scariest part to someone who is new. First, it’s the door greeter. There’s that awkward, “do you want a bulletin even though I just gave your wife a bulletin?” thing. Then, there’s that part at the beginning of the service where the pastor asks you to find 49 people who you’ve never met before and ask them over for dinner. I’m probably not the only man who likes to just share personal stuff with his circle of friends, but when a person you just met ten minutes ago is already asking you about your relationship with God and how much time you spent last month weeping with Jehovah Jireh and reading hebrew last month, you might be a little reluctant with being comfortable and honest. I get it. That seems a little “girly” to most men, even though it shouldn’t. Men that aren’t used to church don’t usually like going straight to the heart. They like pork rinds, beer and football. Probably don’t want to open up with, ” Do you like speaking in tongues?”

3. Praise & Worship
Men like cheering and dancing for their favorite team, except for Team Jesus. The idea of doing this for something they can’t touch is scary. We also need entertainment. When you don’t come to church with the expectation of giving something to God and instead ask “What can I get from God?”, if people aren’t keeping you entertained, it’s time to go. That’s where the folded arms come in. Maybe even a sit down and a nap. This says I’m tired, but I’m still a Christian since I came.

4. The Sermon
Give me some sports examples. Don’t give me cake recipes and show me the recipe that finds God, please. Also, men ask for sermons to be no more than 30 minutes long. After that men think that the speaker likes to hear themselves talk, they start to get restless, very hungry and need a tv. Bring a snickers bar and a fat tire to church and you might be able to extend it to 45 minutes.

5. Tithe & Offering
What man wants to give away his hard-earned money without first understanding where everything comes from. I don’t know too many. So, the idea of people looking at them ’til they empty their wallets and the pastor talking about money until you feel forced to give something may not sound like a good way to spend their Sunday.

6. The Altar Call
Going down front or even raising a hand to say “I am guilty” is a bit embarrassing. I can think of 849 other things I would rather do on a Sunday morning. That will be another post.

7. Baptismals
The thought of telling everyone in the room about your past and then having someone else dunking you under water is a little scary, whether you know what’s going on or not. Then you have to the trouble of changing clothes after having soaked jeans is a big hassle.

8. Communion
This is probably the best thing to someone not used to attending church. It’s sort of an intermission where you get to eat a cracker and drink some wine. The whole idea of eating Jesus’ body and drinking His blood doesn’t sound too appealing, but it depends on how hungry you are.

9. The Event Signup
This requires commitment on another level. This actually makes you travel back to the church on a different date. A retreat, movie night, midweek small group, or whatever else it might be cuts into your regular plans. Doesn’t sound fun to me either.

10. The Bathroom
You just don’t speak at the urinal anywhere. That is everywhere else, but church. Somehow at church the guy next to you wants to make eye contact and talk about something. Anything. How big your Bible is. How nice it smells. The weather. Where to eat after service. Yeah, it’s a little weird. But, we’re supposed to be social, right?

So, is there any part of church that makes you uncomfortable?

Money is one of those subjects that make me uncomfortable, especially when it’s talked about in church. I guess I’ve seen too many television evangelists saying that if you give money you will own a jet someday. But, the Bible talks about tithing and giving, so I believe it’s definitely important.

What do you think about tithing? How important is it or do you believe it is important at all? What have you seen happen as a result of giving?

I’ve heard them all.
I’ve made excuses for myself along the way on why I didn’t feel like attending church.

It might be that i don’t see me fitting in just right.
Or the teaching isn’t my style.
Or the music isn’t my style.
Or the people aren’t friendly.
Or it’s too far away.
Or I’m too busy.
Or I’m too tired.
Or I just don’t feel like going.

Writing that stuff out makes it seem even worse.

So…

If you got to church, why do you attend?
If you don’t attend church, why not?

2010 was a big year all around, folks. Some big things happened here on jackalopekid.com. I’m two years into this blogging thing and this is my 332nd post. Beautiful. I just want to say thanks to you folks that come back day after day to read and comment on the junk I have to say. (more…)

Brian Wurzell :: Grace Ocean :: AVAILABLE TODAY! from CS Worship Arts on Vimeo.

My friend, Brian Wurzell (Yes, I want his last name. And his hair.), just came out with an awesome new album today entitled, Grace Ocean. I had the chance to listen to the album earlier today and I have to say it’s really well done and he is the real deal. My favorite song so far on Grace Ocean has to be “Great Redeemer”. You can listen to other songs off of the album HERE.

Anyways, you can go buy Grace Ocean on iTunes, that is if you don’t win it here first. I’m giving away THREE copies of his brand new album. Two over on twitter and one right here on jackalopekid.com.

To win, all you have to do is just Retweet the following tweet on twitter or post it on your facebook wall:

RT @brianwurzell My NEW album, Grace Ocean, is NOW AVAILABLE on iTunes. Go get it today! http://bit.ly/graceocean #graceocean

Then…

Leave a comment below telling me about a time you gave grace to someone else or experienced it yourself.

That’s all you have to do to win, folks.
The contest ends January 5th at 11:59pm mountain time.
Good luck!

You can’t look at the past. The preachers that I listened to growing up drilled this into my head. Can’t look at the past. Got it. It was bad to look at the past because the future is where it’s at. Well, I can sort of understand that because they don’t want you to dwell on it. I get that. But, the past holds a ton that we can learn from. If we don’t look at the past, then we are destined to fail time and time again.

Why is this?

We can’t learn from our mistakes unless we dissect what we did to cause the problem in the first place. Once we know what caused it, and we decide that we don’t ever want to see that result again, then we know what not to do again.

Albert Einstein even said,
that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

I can’t count how many times I’ve done that.

Heading into 2011 and as you plan for the future, don’t forget about the things that were executed perfectly in 2010 and the things that didn’t work so well in the past.

Hope you took good notes.