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The Death of Conversation

Posted by Doctor Bart on Sunday, June 22, 2008 10:40:20 AM
I love to talk to people.  In fact conversation is the best part of my job.  The actual practice of medicine, the diagnosis and treatment of diseases gets more boring as time goes on.  How many sore throats does one need to see before the thrill is gone?

Although sore throats get boring, the person with the sore throat changes all the time.  They have jobs, families, experiences and perspectives uniquely their own.

As much as I enjoy conversation, I am realizing that it is dying.  No one talks anymore.

I was thinking about this yesterday as I was driving out of my neighborhood on my way to the office.  As I drove down the street I looked at my neighbor’s homes and thought about the people who lived in them.  There was Dick’s house, Patty and April’s house, Mike and Jenna’s house, Ron and Jeannie’s,  Artie’s, Dan and Linda’s,  Bev’s, and others.  I know so many of their names, but I don’t ever really talk to them.  On the rare occasions when we do talk it is never about anything of substance.

It has become culturally unacceptable to discuss anything of depth.  Politics and religion are taboo.

In such a world, how are we to proclaim the gospel?  How can we share the good news if we never talk to anyone about anything?  This i snot a question to be viewed lightly.  We are commanded by the Savior to preach the gospel to the world, and the world includes the people in our neighborhoods.

It is hard, but if we are to fulfill the Great Commission, we need to talk.


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Twelve and counting

Posted by Doctor Bart on Friday, June 13, 2008 10:43:34 AM
Last Saturday we had 12 graduating seniors sitting in our living room for a few hour.  They ate a sandwich, drank some soda pop, and joined me in a conversation about evolution.  The group had started with 6 of them two weeks earlier and had doubled in size in just two weeks.

I talked for nearly an hour, beginning with basic DNA and amino acid structure, building up to the concept of a DNA code and finishing by debunking the “birds came form lizards” theory put forth by evolutionary biologists.  They stayed for the whole thing and stayed engaged.

Eric, who among the group is teased for his less than stellar academic record, summed things up pretty well at the end.  Said Eric, “If I believed in evolution and heard all that you just said, I would feel like a total retard right now!”

When I was finished, they stayed and talked more.  We discussed salvation theology, evangelism and how to interact with an unbelieving world.  The kids, all but one graduating from a Christian high school this week, were hungry for truth.  Not just hungry for truth, but for truth intelligently and confidently proclaimed.  Truth that is not afraid of questions or challenges.  Truth that can stand on its own two feet.

One of the boys told my son, “I am like a sponge right now, soaking it all in.!

Another wrote in my son’s yearbook, “If it wasn’t for you and your dad, I would be spiritually dead right now.” 

How wonderful it is to be able to teach these young adults, and how sad it is that no one has done it before.


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Talkin' Truth Part 2

Posted by Doctor Bart on Sunday, May 25, 2008 11:37:11 AM
It was an interesting evening Friday night, six of the ten who had committed to come actually showed up, which for high school seniors is a pretty good turnout.  It was awkward for me and I was a little uncomfortable.  I have long said that I am not a gifted small group or discussion leader.  I am much more comfortable behind a pulpit than I am in front of a small group.  My son said he noticed the nerves, but did not think anyone else did.

The words definitely did not flow as I would have liked, and places where I thought discussion would develop did not materialize as planned.  Nevertheless the response was positive.  I was able to make the main point I wanted to make, namely that the secular world divides thought into two realms.  The first realm is universal knowledge/scientific fact, the second is personal opinion/religious beliefs.  By relegating issues of faith to the realm of mere opinion the Christian perspective is easily dismissed by secularists.

As Christians we need to show that the existence of God and spiritual truth are not matters of mere opinion but actually are universal truth binding to all men.  Whenever we are told something is “just our opinion” we are put on notice that what we need to argue is the basis for truth itself.  We need to remind people that the evidence for the existence of God is overwhelming, and that he has clearly revealed himself.

I then challenged the kids to be on guard for the “division of realms” in their own lives.  It is far too easy to view God’s truth as relative, and to discard that with which we don’t agree.  We need to accept God’s truth as readily and as firmly as we do the truth that 2+2=4, E=mc2, and the law of gravity.

They all said they want to come back next week, so I am encouraged.  It will be a busy weekend, as I am leading the “Truth Group” on Saturday and preaching in Fullerton Sunday night.  I am energized by the knowledge that I am doing God’s work in a tangible way.


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Talkin' Truth

Posted by Doctor Bart on Friday, May 23, 2008 10:48:06 AM
10 graduating high school seniors have agreed to come to my home tonight to begin a conversation about truth.  The students, all who have attended a Christian high school, have expressed a desire to be able to effectively understand and defend a Christian Worldview.

As they head off to the liberal land of secular colleges they are aware that their Christian faith will unwelcome and disrespected.  It is my hope to show them that there is nothing of which they need to be ashamed.  As Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.”

This is one of the most significant ministry endeavors I have ever attempted.  To me preaching in a Sunday service is dwarfed by the opportunity to prepare young people to defend their faith.  So many young men and women see their faith fade and even disappear after they graduate high school and leave the safety of their youth groups.  This evening will truly be a front line battle for their minds.


Tags: religion  
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The Problem with Pastors Part 2

Posted by Doctor Bart on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 9:29:33 PM
Last November I preached a sermon at a Calvary Chapel in Huntington Beach.  Using the story of Jethro, Moses' father-in-law as the foundation, I talked about the danger of being overworked and stretched to thin.  Moses was spending all day, every day, passing judgment on every issue brought before him both large and small.  He was brutally overworked.  Jethro told him, in so many words, to knock it off and let other people help.

One of the major points of the message was that there is a natural tendency for the servants of God to get over committed and to get bogged down.  It happened to Moses and it happens to a huge number of pastors today.  

I have talked to pastors who find themselves having no idea on Friday what they are going to preach on Sunday because they were too busy.  I have heard of many pastors whose marriages were on the brink of collapse because they spent too much time at church.  There is no question in my mind that a great number of pastors just can’t say “no” nearly enough.

We live in a church culture that encourages this type of behavior.  When I was being interviewed for a pastoral job last year the search committee asked me if I saw myself doing much hospital visitation.  My answer was a very short “No.”  I did not feel it was the senior pastor’s duty to be the person calling on all of the sick people in the church.   I felt it would be my job to make sure that someone did visitation, but it was not my job to actually do it.  The answer went over like a lead balloon.

It is because of this tendency to over commit that pastors end of seeming flaky and non-responsive.  They are so busy engaging in mundane tasks that they neglect what is important.    

Tags: religion  
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The absence of Reason

Posted by Doctor Bart on Sunday, May 11, 2008 11:27:34 PM
I just read a comment on a post at Politico.com.  The article was on the weakness of the Republican brand and how it would be difficult for John McCain to overcome that.  The poster's comment- "There are two things that would make be abandon John McCain, pandering to the base and selecting Mitt Romney as his VP choice."

It is fascinating to me that anyone could even make such a statement.  How can someone react in such a fashion and claim to have any rational basis for doing so?  I am not a big McCain fan, but the alternative in Barack Obama is so far to the left that as someone who leans conservative there is no choice but to support him.  "The if I don't get it exactly my way I'm going home" mentality is evidence of a mindset that is more emotional than rational.

A similar analogy would be a vegetarian saying, "If you give me vegetables sautéed in animal shortening I am going to leave and eat a porterhouse steak!"   Such a statement would suggest that an individual's anger, his or her emotions, are the driving force rather than his or her values.

I see this everyday.  What people feel is becoming more important than what people think.  Their beliefs and values are so lacking a rational foundation that they change like the weather.  I see this in my practice.  People feel badly.  They want to get better.  They want antibiotics.  I give a detailed scientific explanation as to why that would be bad medicine.  The response I usually get, "I don't care, I want to get better."  To them their feelings are equal to my medical training.  My opinion is no better than theirs.  They want something, and that is all the justification they need.

Unfortunately, when people want conflicting things, there is no way to get what they desire.  You can't eat fatty foods and be thin.  You can't have a good marriage and live like a selfish pig.  You can't have a stable Iraq and abandon it to Al Qaeda.  You can't placate terrorists and be left alone.  This is not the reality of the world in which we live.

Rational people understand this.  Unfortunately, it seems that rational people are becoming an endangered species.

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