Ben Meredith, Author at BenandJacq in the Browser

June 4, 2010July 19, 2010

Ted Haggard and my Sinful Heart.

I’ll be honest, my first reaction when I see that Ted Haggard is starting a new church is bitter judgement. This isn’t a statement of whether or not he should be doing it, and I honestly don’t know. It is a statement of the fact that I am so quick to excuse my own moral flaws and so quick to try and nail guys like Haggard to the wall for theirs. So as Christians, I would challenge us as we approach this issue to do it with our arms and hearts open and aware of our own weakness. Pointing fingers and throwing mud will just further the stereotype that we have earned of shooting our wounded just before we toss them under the bus.

As I talk about the issues, and discuss the biblical ramifications of him starting this new church, I need to take care to watch my own heart, that I am not stumbling myself.

June 8, 2010July 19, 2010

The Adventure of the Swimmie Diapers. (scatological humor involved)

I have a long, awkward, complicated relationship with swimmie diapers. When I was in college, I was a security guard at a Holiday Inn in Florida for one summer. One of my primary jobs was to ensure that children of diapered age were properly adorned. I’d carry around a pink/purple stack of swimmies and approach parents and ask if they needed any diapers. The primary problem with this assignment is that a 20-year-old single guy with no younger siblings has quite literally no idea how old kids are when they stop wearing diapers. I probably offended three sets of parents per week, all summer.

Yesterday I developed a brand new reason to detest swimmies. We are at my wife’s parents’ house, and the pool out in the yard is, to put it mildly, a hit with the grandkids. LB has developed a pretty good tan, despite the fact that we have slathered him with SPF 3500 baby sunscreen.

Given that we are between attempt #1 and attempt #2 of potty training, LB is rocking the swimmie diaper. And, though I don’t think he tried, he could not have timed his first poop in the diaper any better, if his goal was to get a funny blog post about it.

After a morning of MPD, I came back to the house and changed into my swimsuit. I had planned on playing with the whole family, but it ended up being just me and LB splashing around the pool, and having a blast. He had a routine of climbing up the ladder into the pool, being carried screaming and splashing around it, then running across the yard to the porch, then running to the kiddie pool, and then starting the routine over. I was in the “big pool.” On one of his trips, I noted a new and distinct odor. Having just dipped him into the water, I immediately scrambled to carry him out of the pool.

By the time I got him to the edge of the porch, he was screaming at the thought of no longer playing in the pool. I, on the other hand, was doing some mental gymnastics to figure out how I was going to get his diaper off, clean the trail of sludge now running down his leg, get a new diaper, and properly sanitize the situation, all without touching him. The dog was curiously sniffing LB’s backside, and (I’d like to think) laughing at me.

After a futile attempt at yelling for help, I decided to take the diaper off to more properly assess the situation. It was far worse than I could have imagined, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I gagged a little bit. I wadded the squishy mess into a ball and looked around for a suitable place to stash it. None was apparent, so I put it on the ground beside the porch, and prayed (out loud) that the dog wouldn’t eat it.

Bad decision #1 so far was carrying LB to the porch to do all of this. Now I had poop on the front porch, poop on both of my hands, poop on absolutely every article of clothing on LB’s body, and nothing to wipe any of it down with, whatsoever. And did I mention I was by myself? As I surveyed my next round of decisions, I had the sinking suspicion that there was no such thing as a good one.

I’m not sure, but I don’t think James Dobson has written a chapter on preventing the dog from eating a soggy poop-filled diaper while you hose your squealing, naked child off in the in-laws front yard. If he has, I’ve yet to read it, and it’s too late now.

Let’s put it this way: I am SO looking forward to the day the scrawny, clueless college kid asks me if my six-year-old needs a diaper in the hotel pool.

June 10, 2010August 4, 2011

An Open Letter To Steve Jobs About Porn on the iOS.

Mr Jobs, I love your products. I’m typing this post on the most dependable, well-made computer I’ve ever owned, a 2007 MacBook Pro. And the iPhone 3G in my pocket is easily the greatest phone I’ve ever owned.

I really appreciate the well-publicized stance you have taken against pornography. As a dad and a Christian, I cannot more emphatically state how great it is to see a man in your position reject the billions of dollars you could be making off of porn, in favor of standing up for children. Thank you so much.

Here’s why I am writing, though. Porn is still very, VERY accessible on your iDevices. There are entire networks of websites out there striving to put out iPhone optimized pornography. It’s a specific genre of porn, Mr Jobs. I am sure you are aware of this, and I assume you are not a fan.

I appreciate that your devices “just work” and I know it must take hours of planning to make a device that is accessible to developers without becoming irreparably cluttered with junk apps that tarnish the image of a device that “just works” for so many people.

I dont know if you are aware of services like Covenanteyes.com or x3watch, but those services are excellent for those of us who like the ability to hold each other accountable to not looking at porn on our mobile devices. Currently, the iPhone versions of those two apps are “Safari replacement” browsers that are clunky, frustrating to use, and easy to circumvent.

The Android versions of those two apps are great, because the developers are given root access to the device. They are allowed to make an app that isn’t a browser replacement, but runs in the background monitoring what sites are accessed by the device.

I know how against your sensibilities giving root access to the iOS to developers is. But can we make an exception for an app like CovenantEyes? I know making an official app that monitors users’ activity would have the privacy advocates screaming. But I want my privacy invaded by friends of mine holding me accountable for what I look at on my phone. And it would give parents a way to ensure their kids are being protected, without disabling the internet on the device!

I appreciate your time, and your heart to keep the iPhone porn free. Now let’s really make it happen.

(if you aren’t Steve Jobs, now would be the time to retweet, forward, “like” and in any other way promote this post. Thanks.)

June 15, 2010July 19, 2010

If You have Nothing to Hide, Hide Nothing: a look at the financial transparency of Christian organizations.

Does transparency matter? Not according to the likes of Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, and TD Jakes.

I spent some time recently on a the website of a ministry called MinstryWatch.com (the online database component of Wall Watchers) to see, among other things, how Campus Crusade for Christ (the ministry my wife and I work for) is doing when it comes to honesty, openness, and transparency regarding financial issues. I was thrilled, though not surprised, to see that we rank among the elite in terms of “putting our money where our mouth is.” That’s one big reason why I work for this organization, and will for as long as the Lord continues to provide.

Where I was shocked was as I perused other ministries, and specifically those ministries associated with what’s been called the “prosperity gospel.” Teachers who say that God intends for us to be materially wealthy are not being honest about their material wealth, when asked.

TD Jakes, for example, according the the site, was noncompliant when asked about his ministry’s use of funds. That means that if you have ever given money to TD Jakes and his ministry, you have no idea how that money was spent. Legally they may not be required to tell you how they are spending your money, but you can bet I’m not giving a dollar until I know how they will use that dollar. And you shouldn’t either.

Plus, when Joyce Meyer, who clearly correlates financial prosperity and God’s blessing, is asked about how much she is compensated for her ministry efforts, why wouldn’t she jump at the chance to be totally honest and share how God is blessing her? But according to the site, she’s released info about her ministry, but nowhere in it does she mention how much money her family makes off of the donations of others. That is shady, at best. It’s like she’s ashamed of the income she makes. Again, that’s not an accusation, so much as a point of fact. She has not been transparent. Christians should be transparent. Especially ones with massive budgets.

That brings me to Creflo Dollar. His ministry is literally worldwide, with offices in South Africa, the UK, Nigeria, America, and Australia. He and his wife Taffi co-pastor a megachurch that has spawned multiple corporations and ministries. Then, when being asked to be transparent and tell folks who give how that money is being used, (and even being asked to do so by the federal government) they still refuse to give any information out regarding their financials. While I don’t think it is the government’s place to investigate churches and their financial records, I do feel like the folks who give money to his ministry have every right to know how that money is being used.

Dr. Dollar, in the response to the government posted on his website, justifies their financial secrecy with the verse from Matthew 6:1-4 that references individuals giving in secrecy, NOT corporations stewarding in secrecy. Again, I think the federal government is overstepping its bounds (and please don’t get me started on that as a topic in general), but I think Dr. Dollar’s justifications for corporate and organizational secrecy are absurdly unbiblical. Nobody is asking him to disclose what particular individuals gave, just that he disclose a dollar amount of total giving, and how those funds were used. To use the very verse he quotes, he’s on the “openly” side of the equation. The members and others gave in secret. It’s time for God to bless openly. So openly that anyone who wants to see it can see it. His own (half-biblical) theology says that God will openly bless his church financially if they are faithful.

God doesn’t do back-alley accounting. He honors integrity and honesty. If you have nothing to hide, hide nothing.

The list doesn’t end with those. Go see for yourself which ministries refuse to give account of how they use funds.

What do you think? Should churches and other ministries strive for openness and transparency? Why or why not? Comment below.

June 17, 2010July 19, 2010

Dear American Christianity: Part One.

If you’d* all give money to your church, pastors and others on staff there wouldn’t need to be bi-vocational to feed their family.

9% of North Americans who classify themselves as “born again” tithed in 2004. We spend more as a culture on weight-loss programs or pet food than we give to the church. (source)

If the other 91% of you would give just 10%–imagine the amount of money that would be. You could hire some more full time workers, send more missionaries fully-funded into the field, and fully support the needy in your community. If American Christians would just give 10%, we could end world hunger next year.

By the way, 10% is probably a bare minimum by biblical standards for a Christian to give, since the tithe in the Old Testament was replaced by simple encouragements like “give generously” or “give hilariously” in the New Testament. It is kind of expected that Christians would give, since they have been given so much, by Jesus. We don’t give to earn God’s favor, but as a result of receiving it.

So give. Your pastor deserves to be compensated for his work. If he takes the “pastoral” name off of his counseling duties, they are worth $90 an hour in the marketplace. And he’s willing to do it for free. Don’t let him. Pay your pastors well.

I heard a pastor recently say “If you don’t think this is the best church around here, by all means go to the other one. But if you do, act like it, and invite a friend.” I’d say that also carries over to the financial support of your church. You aren’t acting like it is your church when you aren’t generously financially supporting it.

*after encouragement from my wife, who is nicer than me, I’d like to add that if you give, then the above “you” is not referring to you, and I don’t mean to offend you. The only people that should be offended by this post are the ones not giving. I meant to offend them. For their own good.