Chris Elrod

The Mythical Jesus

In today’s world there seems to be two kinds of Jesus Christs making the rounds.  One is the Mythical Jesus…and one is the Biblical Jesus.

The Mythical Jesus came not to be a Savior…but some kind of ancient Mother Teresa…with a little Al Sharpton thrown in for good measure.  He didn’t like the rich…or the Republicans…or war…or church…or corporate worship…or pretty people…or absolute Truth.  He only came to hang out with prostitutes, homeless people, sick people, rebels and liberal people…and shunned everyone else.  He staged protests against the Roman Empire, loved to pray in labyrinths and only read Scripture in the confines of a communal home environment with zero accountability.  He questioned all that His Father stood for and only asked questions without ever giving answers…in order not to offend anyone.  He was a pacifist that never got angry and practiced tolerance…except with those that disagreed with Him.  He used a lot of big words to describe what He did…words that nobody else understood…but made Him look cool.  He also spent a lot of time drinking beer and talking about all the stuff He was going to do different.

The Biblical Jesus…was none of the above!

PLEASE NOTE:  ChrisElrod.com has made the move to WordPress. For the RSS feed and subscriptions, please click here.  To see the new blog, please go here.

Jesus Wasn't A Social Worker

Jesus wasn't a social worker.  He also wasn't a political activist.  He was the Perfect Lamb that came into the world...and left the world...as our Savior.  Yes He healed people...fed people...and loved people...but that was not His purpose.  His purpose was sacrifice...in our place...because of our sin...so we wouldn't have to pay.  He lived...He died...He arose.  Our acceptance means that we never have to taste Death.

The God still gets angry...when we cheapen the message...and the purpose...of His Son...by saying that Christ was on this Earth living some kind of mystical "secret life"...as a politically-correct social justice lesson. 

You can dress it up with nice dust jacket graphics and promote it with a sold-out coast-to-coast tour...but crap still smells like crap at the end of the day.  The packaging may look inviting...but the stink coming from some of today's "communities of faith" is almost becoming unbearable!!!

PLEASE NOTE:  ChrisElrod.com has made the move to WordPress. For the RSS feed and subscriptions, please click here.  To see the new blog, please go here.

Love Doesn't Win

This is one of many blog posts this week (and the coming week) that is hard for me to write.  I am a missional guy.  I just got back from Colorado picking up an long-term ex-inmate for aftercare, I spent Thanksgiving with the homeless of Lakeland and every Monday night you can find me at a local pub hanging with the disconnected 20-somethings of our community. 

Compass Point is a missional church.  We help single mothers afford childcare, we embrace former skinheads and we pass out free water to thirsty people all over town.  We have always operated under that overused slogan..."Love Wins".

Here is my problem...I no longer believe that anymore.  Love doesn't win...truth does!!!

Christ said..."I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  Love wasn't mentioned.  God can love us a bunch...but that love won't get us into Heaven.  We can love God a bunch...but that love won't get us into Heaven.  We can love people a bunch...but that love won't get them into Heaven.  Only true repentance of our sinful nature and total acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Savior will get us into Heaven.  There is no other way.  It is not love that wins...it is solely the knowledge and total acceptance of truth that wins.

Love can't be truth..and therefore can't win...because it is based off of feeble human emotions and feelings.  There are days that I don't love people.  There are even days when I don't really love God all that much.  There are times when the love fades and a struggle emerges.  It is then that the knowledge of absolute truth takes root...and it's application in my life takes over.  True love beyond ourselves can only come through knowing the Truth.  It is only through knowing and applying Biblical truth that lets me love on people...and God...when I emotionally, spiritually, mentally or physically don't feel like.  That doesn't come from a cheap fickle thing like love...it comes from a life-encompassing thing like truth.

I guess my basic problem with "love wins" is that...it is not working.  It may work elsewhere, but it isn't working in America.  For all of the loving on people that the church is doing today...not many are coming to Christ.  The United States has become the second largest mission field in the world.  Third World countries are sending missionaries TO US these days.  That just sucks!  The church...shouting "love wins" to the rafters...has become more concerned with loving on the prostitute with conversation at the local watering hole...and less concerned with telling her about "living water".  We've become more concerned with building community with people that sharing the truths of the Bible.  Love...and community...has become the tail that wags the dog.  Community without God as the center...is a inferior imitation to true relationship.  Love without truth...is useless in the Kingdom of God!!!  Authentic love...and community...doesn't happen unless truth is first there.

I have also become completely disenchanted with the Emergent definition of love. Love is patient and kind...at times.  Love can also be a trip to the spiritual woodshed for a Biblical butt-whooping.  Love isn't just handing out food and blankets to the homeless.  It is also saying "I've given you fourteen cans of food and two blankets this week...and none of it going to do you any good when your heart finally stops ticking...let me tell you about something called Truth that I've found."  The love in "love wins" is always defined these days as some kind of hand-holding, hippie-looking, Democrat voting, everyone-smiling-like-a-Coke-commercial ritual.  There is definitely evidence of loving kindness in the Word...but there are also MANY examples of loving toughness in Scripture.  In contrast...truth is the one constant throughout the entire inspired writings found in God's Word.  I also find it funny that some Emergent leaders argue over the reality of absolute truth.  Without absolute truth...there is no absolute love.  A "chicken or the egg" conversation is pointless...read Genesis 1:1...the Truth came first.

Does this mean that Chris Elrod will stop being missional?  No.  Does this mean that Compass Point will stop being missional. No.  It just means that spreading the Truth will be a little more important in the coming days...than trying to make everyone like us through love.  The Bible says the world will hate us if we truly follow Him...what the heck...we might as play off of that.  We're going to continue to embrace skinheads, take in ex-inmates, give out warm clothes to the homeless and help single moms pay for childcare.  However, it will no longer be done without any verbal presentation of truth.  Faith without works is dead.  Works without truth...is pointless.  I've read the back of the Book...Truth wins!!!

PLEASE NOTE:  ChrisElrod.com has made the move to WordPress. For the RSS feed and subscriptions, please click here.  To see the new blog, please go here.

Copyright Issues

Last spring the an Associated Press writer used a quote from my blog in an national story. The first I knew about it was when I got a call from a radio station in Detroit for an interview due to the article making their local newspaper. I wasn't ticked about the quote being used without my knowledge...in fact I was honored. However, it got me thinking about copyright laws and how they pertain to blog posts. In the past I haven't really sweated people taking a good quote from this blog...posting it on theirs and then linking back to my original post. However, in the last few months I've seen folks reprinting complete posts of mine...or series of posts...without a link back to this blog...or even crediting me with the original thought. The watchdog groups have been especially bad about this. So I got to checking with one of my lawyers from back in my comedy days...a guy that specializes in intellectual property (not that any "property" that I write is all that intellectual). It seems that blog posts are considered intellectual property and are subject to basic copyright laws. On my new WordPress site I have a copyright info section in one of the tabbed pages and at the bottom of the sidebar. It basically says:

Blog posts on ChrisElrod.com may not be reprinted, reproduced or redistributed in their entirety without written permission from Chris Elrod or Compass Point Church. Minimal use of specific quotes, sentences, phrases, media or written thoughts on ChrisElrod.com may used elsewhere online or in mass media with a link back to this blog or by specifically mentioning ChrisElrod.com in the reproduction, reprint or redistribution.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's cool to repost a quote or thought from my blog onto another blog or media resource...but please don't recopy the entire thing. I will occasionally let Next Wave or Relevant Christian do that...but they always ask for permission. Also, if you quote something from me on your blog...or in an article...be sure to give some "link love" to ChrisElrod.com!!!

New RSS Feed Address

Next week I'm making the switch to WordPress (yeah..I drank the Kool-Aid).  The site is ready to go...my posts from here will be transfered...but I'll be shutting down this feed.  For those of you that get this blog through a reader subscription, the new RSS feed is:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/ChrisElrodDotCom

Please be sure to update your subscription.  Also, you can now get the posts from this blog sent directly to your email inbox by clicking this link.  If you'd like to check out the look of the blog site, you can click here.  I'll switch the domain forwarding over next week. 

Have a great Thanksgiving Day!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Flogging Molly

The guys from my Monday night "Pub Club" have really turned me on to the band Flogging Molly. I've been pretty sick this week...major cold and no voice...and I've been really jamming to the "Drunken Lullabies" album. I know we are on the eve of Thanksgiving...but I'm in a St. Patrick's Day/Irish kind of mood. Nothing like a good punk rock tin whistle to help you feel better. :-)

Wesley Update

Many folks have been emailing in asking about how Wesley is doing. In the first two weeks that he's been here we've been able to get him settled into the 21st Century (he's been locked up since 1987), get his Florida drivers' license (a HUGE undertaking), open a checking account and our folks have really embraced him well. He's also been a big help with mentoring some of our people and helping out on Sunday mornings. Because he got out so close to Thanksgiving...most places are not taking applications at the moment. We are still looking for him a permanent job and a permanent place to live. Any prayers in that direction would be greatly appreciated.

Before You Email Me

Like everyone else in the world I love getting email. In fact I love it so much that there have been times in the past where it has consumed large amounts of my day...thus keeping me from what God has called me to do. Many times I have been on my knees repenting to the Lord for wasting His time on my email. It is something that I have struggled with...and still struggle with. I am grateful for the amount of email I get each day because of this blog...many days over 100 emails...and do not want to necessarily discourage people from contacting me. However, before you send an email you need to know a few things:

1. My email is heavily filtered. I have some pretty extreme filters on my email. Also, someone else checks my public email account for me and forwards the stuff I need to see to another account. In essence, very little of the email I generate from this blog ever makes it to me.

2. I rarely have time to respond. This sounds pretty arrogant...but it is not meant to be. With the amount of email I get each day there is just no possible way I can respond to much of it. Compass Point folks get responded to within 24 hours...the rest seldom ever get a reply. It's not that I don't appreciate it...it's just that God called me to shepherd a specific flock...and they must be my main priority.

3. I don't want a conversation about my blog posts. I guess this is the most misunderstood thing about me...I really have no interest in dialogue about my thoughts on this blog. I would have thought that by shutting down the comments section of the blog people would have gotten the point. Yet every week there seems to be someone that disagrees with me that wants to have an endless private email debate. I really don't have that kind of time...patience...or tolerance. If you disagree with me...fine...go write about it on your own blog...because your emails get deleted.

4. I could care less about what you think about my friends or other church leaders. There are some pretty messed up folks in cyberland that think that I care that they don't like Gary Lamb or Perry Noble. Newsflash...I don't!!! Those emails get deleted. Also...I will not give out their emails, phone numbers or pass along a message.

5. Negative emails get deleted. There are folks that I highly regard and others that I am accountable to. If they have a problem with me...I'll listen all day long. I'm not prepared to see emails calling me a heretic or raking me over the coals from someone that thinks I'm accountable to them.

6. Threatening emails get turned over to the authorities. Back in the summer we had a little stalking incident around Compass Point. At first I didn't take the emails seriously...when the guy was caught with photos of my wife and a map to my house...things got pretty real. I don't take chances any longer. Threatening emails are turned over to Polk County Sheriff's Office and...in some cases...the FBI office in Tampa.

7. I will not pimp your stuff. I would have thought that this post and this post would have ended people wanting me to promote their "Jesus junk"...but it didn't. Those emails get deleted.

8. We don't take solicitations for prison aftercare candidates through email. Compass Point is very specific about who we accepts and who we decline for our inmate release aftercare ministry. The inmate must have some current contact with Compass Point...either through a family member or friend already attending. Please also understand that it takes us almost a year to process the requests and do the background checks. Please do not send me emails about your son or daughter that is getting out of prison next month.

9. I don't know everything about Compass Point. About 80% of the requests we get for info about Compass Point gets forwarded to other staff members. Another large percentage of my email gets answered by other people. Still other emails with FAQs get a form answer back. In essence, don't expect me to be the only one that answers your email.

10. Get mad...get deleted. Last week I got a pretty hateful email from someone that didn't think I answered her back fast enough. Her email address is now on the "spam list". Unfortunately, this is not the first time that has happened.

After saying all of that...I do try to answer back to folks that are friends of this blog. I don't always get it done in a timely manner or with a long email...but I do try hard to respond. I just can't respond to all of them.

No More Squeezin' The Charmin

Dick Wilson...the actor that played Mr. Whipple in the Charmin Toilet Tissue commercials...passed away today. His "please don't squeeze the Charmin" line was voted as one of the most memorable commercial quotes of all time. I have no clue why I'm blogging this...maybe Mr. Whipple is just a little mental link to my childhood. Ah...my mid-life crisis kicking in again.