Ben Arment has the infamous “Wednesday Morning Run-down”.

Stuff Christians Like has “Serious Wednesdays“.

In light of our latest Ellen posts, I’m thinking BeDeviant needs “Controversial Wednesdays”.

I’m just warning you: This could be a potential barn-burner. A friend suggested this question to me the other day and I loved it. I pose to you what he posed to me:

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My alma mater, the University of Northern Iowa, recently won the Missouri Valley Conference championship. It’s the second year in a row they’ve done it, but this season was sweeter. They beat a team in the Wichita State Shockers that had given them two tough games earlier in the season, each team claiming a victory.

As I watched the final minutes of the championship game on Sunday, something hit me. How we read Scripture is a lot like basketball commentators–they’re all watching the same game, but the way it’s interpreted varies from person to person. Sometimes greatly.

Allow me to explain further. . . .
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Everyone wants to be acknowledged for something.

This need for affirmation can be a good thing. For instance, when my five-month-old son learned how to jump up and down in his jump-a-roo, he needed to be affirmed. He needed to know that his mommy and his daddy saw what he was doing and were as excited as he was. “This is a good thing, Finny! Keep jumping!”

The need to be affirmed can also take a more sinister spin. The Oscars prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt. “Affirm me!” seems to be the cry of the night–if not the cry of the soul.

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Here’s a recap of the top three posts from BeDeviant.com this past week. This week is “Ellen-centric” for a reason. We generated a ton of discussion, dialogue, disagreements and definitions. If you’ve not read the posts, check them out and add your opinion …. If you dare.

1. Why You’ll See Ellen DeGeneres in Heaven – Start here.
2. Ellen Part Two – Then go here.
3. Ellen, Existentialism and Ambassadors – Finish here.

So there they are, your top 3 posts of the week! Recap, refresh, re-read, re-tweet!

In light of the recent “controversy” here on BeDeviant, I’ve been re-evaluating the purpose behind this site. If the “Ellen situation” has taught me anything, it’s that there’s a profound need to ask the theological questions that no one else is asking. I’ll take my lumps from time-to-time (case-in-point: Ellen Pt. 1 & Ellen Pt. 2), but I feel BeDeviant’s God-given purpose is to plunge headlong into the taboo issues in the Church today.

For as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to the most difficult, confusing and troublesome passages of Scripture that exist. I can’t explain it, I just know the desire to dig beneath the surface is there. I like the tension of “both/and” because God is so rarely “either/or.” So that’s what I write about. That’s the purpose behind this site.

Clarifying a purpose means that you’ll have to let some things go. So that’s what we’re going to do. In order to go higher you need to get lighter.

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Awhile back we conducted a blog sponsor experiment. The experiment was to give away free ad spots on BeDeviant.com for the month of March, giving exposure to different business, individuals and organizations here on the blog.

Suffice to say, it worked.

We had a great response. Unfortunately we couldn’t take everyone, but there wasn’t a bad one in the bunch! Thanks again to all who took part in our experiment.

Without further ado, here are your winners!

1. TylerStanton.com – A movement of people who don’t take themselves too seriously and are able to laugh at each other. And more importantly, themselves.
2. BlaineHogan.com – Ideas + Hope + Creative Process.
3. CityGates.org – City Gates combines powerful web tools, ease of use, and great design. And it’s built just for churches.
4. SaveTheCups.com – A social movement to save paper coffee cups.
5. ImpelMinistry.com – Our purpose is to equip, inform, educate and encourage young leaders by covering new and exciting ideas, cutting-edge causes, movements, events, resources, news, church marketing, innovation, and leadership strategy and insights.

It would give me great pleasure if you’d visit each one of these sites and take a look at what they’re up to. They’ve been hand-picked for a reason and I think you’ll really enjoy what they’re about.

Congrats!

Thanks again to The World’s Strongest Librarian for the idea!

I felt compelled to share the reason why BeDeviant.com exists.

Here’s the thing: Most of us have no idea what we believe. We think we do. We may even believe that we do. We will passionately defend what we believe we believe. Sometimes to the death. But truly, most of us do not have access to what we really believe.

Why? We believe what we’ve been conditioned to believe.

What we believe is so influenced by our families, our cultures, our race and ethnicity, our socioeconomic status, that we have no access to our actual beliefs and values. There are too many hurdles to jump, so the hard work of “jumping” never gets done. Staring down a long-held cherished belief and declaring, “False!” is too painful. We’d rather live in ignorance for, as they say, “ignorance is bliss.”

It is only after we learn how we have come to believe what we believe that the true work of forming an honest belief system can begin. Phew.

This is why I write. I write to challenge people to look at not just what they believe, but why they believe it. As Socrates famously stated, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” I write to challenge people to look at things differently.

However, this is much more the philosophic fodder. My ultimate model in “being deviant” is none other than Jesus. When we see Jesus, we see a man who challenged nearly every cultural and familial tradition of his day,

• Interpretation of cherished religious texts.
• Honored religious teachings; some hundreds–if not thousands–of years old.
• The picture of who God is and what he requires of those who follow him.
• The cultural view of women, the poor and the foreigner.
• Racial and ethnic “safety zones.”
• Popular political statements and parties.

And those are just the ones we know about.

Jesus was a man who jarred the soul–violently at times–in order to free people from the bondage of mindless, man-made religious tradition. Jesus freed people to believe in the One True God, not just believe in their beliefs. Jesus gave people access to the Truth and, as he famously stated, “the truth shall set you free.”

As a Christian, we are “little Christs.” We do what we see Jesus doing, both in life and in death.

I see Jesus challenging the this-is-the-way-we’ve-always-done-it-status-quo, so that’s what I do.
I see Jesus challenging our notions of who God is, so that’s what I do.
I see Jesus challenging the religious arrogance of those who believe they have it all figured out, so that’s what I do.

I wouldn’t have necessarily chosen to be this expression of Christ’s Body, but providence is particular. I write because I feel it’s God-in-me, calling me to do so.

My mentor once told me that when you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one who gets hit is the one who yelps the loudest. Writing for BeDeviant.com is kind of like that. We need to be smacked in the head once in awhile to be jarred loose from the death-grip that the suffocating religious spirit has on our souls.

This–for better or worse–is why I write. Come what may.

I’ve closed the comments on this post because what I wrote is not up for debate. It’s my story of the Spirit of God intersecting a human life and the beauty and chaos that results.

It’s been an interesting 24 hours, to say the least.

This may sound unbelievable to some, but I believe the post from yesterday, “Why You’ll See Ellen DeGeneres in Heaven” was Spirit-led. A further explanation of how it came into being is later in the post.

Having said that, I feel some clarification is in order. I’m a huge fan of clarity. So, for the people who won’t read any further than this first paragraph, allow me to make crystal clear what I believe:

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Conservative talk show host Michael Savage calls her, “Ellen DeGenerate.” I call Ellen DeGeneres “heaven-bound.”

Why?

When describing the actions of those who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus says,

For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.

Simply put, Jesus says the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who move with compassion. With mercy.

Jesus’ half-brother spoke clearly to what it means to be a “religious” person. James said, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” Seems pretty vague doesn’t it? Perhaps that’s on purpose.
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