Here are two great articles from the #Pyromaniacs blog:

1. http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2011/08/patience-of-job.html

This article discusses the attitude of Job (a man in the Bible) after several huge calamities happened to him in a single day - all of his children died, and he lost all of his property and fortune.   Job's response was to continue trusting in God, relying on the facts he knew to be true about God despite his feelings pulling him toward despair.   Job trusted that God was SOVEREIGN, JUST, and GOOD, in spite of his painful circumstances.   And as the article points out, we know the end of the story, and now Job's example is a great example for us...

2. A good three-part article about ' #nomadism ', the trend for some Christian preachers to "go it alone" and avoid being accountable to any particular local church.

http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2011/08/sound-familiar.html
http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2011/08/dangers-symptoms-of-nomadism.html
http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2011/08/dont-catch-it.html

Here is an interesting article called "The War Against Girls", a good book review of "Unnatural Selection" by Mara Hvistendahl.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303657404576361691165631366.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read#printMode

Here's an excerpt:

"Despite the author's intentions, "Unnatural Selection" might be one of the most
consequential books ever written in the campaign against abortion. It is aimed,
like a heat-seeking missile, against the entire intellectual framework of
"choice." For if "choice" is the moral imperative guiding abortion, then there
is no way to take a stand against "gendercide." Aborting a baby because she is a
girl is no different from aborting a baby because she has Down syndrome or
because the mother's "mental health" requires it. Choice is choice."

Here is another interesting article called "The Search for the Historical Adam".

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/article_print.html?id=92509

It summarizes the state of the continuing controversy about whether God created the human race directly in the persons of Adam and Eve, or whether God "used evolution" over millions of years to bring us to where we are today.  The same compromises and arguments are occurring, with the theistic evolutionists / progressive creationists / old-earthers saying "it really doesn't matter" and the rest of us Bible-believers saying "it really does matter."

The article is unfortunately biased toward the theistic evolution point of view, but it does spotlight the incredible pressures in the intellectual spheres in the creation/evolution discussion these days.

Great quote from Tim Keller -

"[Paul] most definitely wanted to teach us that Adam and Eve were real historical figures. When you refuse to take a biblical author literally when he clearly wants you to do so, you have moved away from the traditional understanding of the biblical authority.  If Adam doesn't exist, Paul's whole argument - that both sin and grace work 'covenantally' - falls apart. You can't say that 'Paul was a man of his time' but we can accept his basic teaching about Adam. If you don't believe what he believes about Adam, you are denying the core of Paul's teaching."

And finally, a closing quote from the most awesome book of all, the Bible... Ephesians 1:3-12.   I see so many of my nonChristian friends inwardly hungry for significance (especially men) or for love (especially women), all day long... vainly seeking in this or that activity or place.  If only they could know and experience our great God!  ...the God who loves us fiercely, beyond measure, and will never stop loving us, and Who has called us to true, eternal, significance through being adopted by Him:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory."

 "I urge the government to come up with a peaceful and responsible solution," said Mr. Jin, who was speaking from his apartment, its doorway blocked by the police. "I am fully prepared to go to jail for my church. I belong to the Lord, and if this is what God intended, so be it."

-- quote from a Christian being detained last week in one of the world's most populated and most beautiful countries http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/world/asia/18beijing.html

Right, Mr. Jin...  we follow Jesus Christ, no matter what the consequences are.    We remember that He too went through rejection and suffering, and even death.   And we remember what happened afterward....  Resurrection, and eternal life and joy...  forever...  coming soon to us too...

"It all comes down to this: Either you fix this problem now where we, you can guarantee people who’ve already organized their lives around these programs get what they have coming to them, or you pick the president’s path, which is do nothing, punt, duck, kick the can down the road, and then we have a debt crisis and then its pain for everybody." 

"Then, you do start cutting seniors... So, the question here is not if we reform Medicare. The question is when and how we reform Medicare and by reforming Medicare now, you save Medicare."

"So the question is, do we save these programs now by engaging in budget reform that preempts a debt crisis that gets this situation under control and gets this economy growing or do we worry about politics, do we worry about the next election and then by doing so, kick the can down the road, only to wake one day and see a real problem where you have to do indiscriminate cuts to everybody including senior citizens? We don’t want to have European austerity in this country, which is a debt-crisis-fueled cut to current seniors, tax increases on the current economy to slow us down."

"We’re on a debt crisis path. We are on a path where the government goes from 20 percent of GDP, to 40 percent then 60 percent of GDP. We’re on a path where our debt goes from about 68 percent of GDP to 800 percent of GDP over the three-generation window..."

"I asked CBO to run the model going out and they told me that their computer simulation crashes in 2037 because CBO can’t conceive of any way in which the economy can continue past the year 2037 because of debt burdens..."

"So, we have to go out and give the country a choice... We know the path the president’s put the country on. It’s a path that I fundamentally believe transforms this country into something it was never designed to be - into a cradle-to-grave social welfare state and economic stagnation."

"We are offering a country that is true to this country’s founding principles that is prosperous, that is pro-growth, that lives within its means, that is an opportunity society with a sound, resilable safety net."
-- Paul Ryan, U.S. House of Representatives, Wisconsin 1st District, speech yesterday at the American Enterprise Institute

From a flyer distributed last month in Cairo by the protesters immediately after former president Mubarak resigned (thanks Brian for the link) --

"Today this country is your country. Do not litter. Don't drive through traffic lights. Don't bribe. Don't forge paperwork. Don't drive the wrong way. Don't drive quickly to be cool while putting lives at risk. Don't enter through the exit door at the metro. Don't harass women. Don't say, 'It's not my problem.' Consider God in your work. We have no excuse anymore."

Well!  Here are a few thoughts...

1. These all sound like reasonable prohibitions.   Basically, 'do the right thing; follow the law; don't disrupt societal order'.  Kind of a modern version of the Ten Commandments, although not nearly as comprehensive as the Biblical Ten Commandments.

2. The fact that they would put out this flyer indicates that all these things were happening!   Imagine that...  a society full of people carelessly breaking all the rules of society... driving the wrong way on one-way streets, bribing, forging paperwork, harassing women, etc.  The phrase "we have no excuse anymore" indicates that many people must have excused/blamed their behavior on the government, instead of taking responsibility for their own actions.

3. The basic motive seems to be: Pride.  Nationalistic pride.   "We're better than that."   "Let's have other people see how law-abiding we are, and start to praise us."  "Let's put Egypt on the map as a place of exemplary integrity."  Etc.

4. Will this appeal to people's nationalistic pride be successful in making these changes to the behavior of hundreds of thousands of individual Egyptians?   When someone is tempted to bribe the policeman so he doesn't receive a ticket, will he decide to 'take the hit' for his country and refuse to offer a bribe?   When someone really wants to get uptown on the metro but has no money with him, and sees all his friends sneaking through the 'exit' door, will he decide to forgo the trip and bear all his friends' insults simply for the sake of making Egypt's reputation better?

5. It remains to be seen whether this appeal will work in improving Egypt's personal integrity.  Appeals to pride sometimes work, in my opinion, but when they do, they create a worse problem.  In C.S.Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters", the senior tempter recommends to his junior tempter that he try to get the man to "conquer" his little foibles (lying, selfishness, etc) by telling himself "I'm better than that."  In so doing, the man becomes hooked on the much more insidious sin of pride.

6. But what about that phrase in the flyer, "Consider God in your work"?   Surely this is a direct appeal to conscience and for doing what is right for higher reasons than simply individualistic or nationalistic pride, yes?   Yes, indeed it seems to be.  I'm not sure how that phrase fits with the rest of the paragraph!  Maybe several people were composing the flyer, and after they had finished most of it, someone suggested that they throw in an appeal to spirituality too.   The two motivations seem rather incongruous!  ...like trying to mix oil and water.  

7. According to the Bible, God is after much more than simply behavioral modifications.  Consider these words from Jesus:
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
"You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.
"You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
"So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
(Matthew 23:23-28)

8. Consider how much more powerful a motivation it is once one believes the evidence that there is indeed a Creator God who is watching everything we do, and before Whom some day we will be judged and receive our reward or punishment.    If this God is real (and I think He is) and we are intimate with Him, then of course we won't litter or cheat or bribe or harass women.... because such behavior would bring dishonor to Him.  As Peter wrote:
"Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.  Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,  or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.  Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.
 Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.  For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.
 For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God."
1 Peter 2:12-20

9. Yet there is a motivation stronger still.  If God were merely the Judge, then the motivation to do what's right would only work as long as we were on good terms with Him.  But as soon as we broke His law, we would begin to fear Him, knowing that He will bring punishment against us on Judgment Day.  Any further motivation to do right would be crushed underneath hopelessness, especially as we humans find ourselves breaking God's law over and over again, all day long.
But the God of the Bible is not only Judge.   He is also the Savior!   At terrible cost to Himself, He paid the price of my disobedience and "bought" me back for Himself (1 Peter 1:15-19).  Therefore I am not only motivated by a God who sees my every thought and action and will judge literally everything at the End, but by the love of my Savior, who gave up His own life for me so that I could have the privilege of walking with him in "newness of life" (Romans 6:4); "life to the full" (John 10:10); forever (1 Thessalonians 4:17)!!!!

Two and a Half Topics Tonight...  Economics, Forgiveness, and the Connection between them...

1.  Here is a nifty graph showing the income and expenses of the current United States federal budget, at a glance.  It comes from this link, of a financial consulting group's analysis of the USA as if it were a corporation: http://www.businessinsider.com/mary-meeker-usa-inc-february-24-2011-2

That huge entitlement load, and huge $1.3 trillion deficit (the difference between spending and income) does not even take into account the fact that tens of millions of Baby Boomers are about to retire and start tapping into Medicare.

Consider how difficult it is to withdraw "entitlements" once they're given.  Look at Greece's protests about its 'austerity measures', and Wisconsin's public sector union protesting governor Walker's budget cuts and collective bargaining limits.  It takes a VERY bold politician to cut entitlements for the sake of being fiscally responsible, knowing that millions of people will be outraged at the loss of their handout money.

Pennsylvania governor Corbett recently announced $850 million in budget cuts, trying to balance the PA state budget.  Rather than being hailed as a bold politician trying to put PA back on a financially sound footing, he is being widely castigated.  Penn State president Spanier said "Abraham Lincoln is weeping today", trying to lay the blame for Abe's tears upon the cuts, rather than upon the previous tragic escalation of yearly deficits and ballooning debt which inevitably always causes weeping when the debts come due.

2. Here's a quote from Mary Poplin about unforgiveness and how it is harmful to your own health:  Holding a grudge against someone is "like drinking poison and hoping that the other person dies."   How unfortunately true!

And how fortunately true the opposite!  God gives us the grace to freely forgive those who hurt us (who believe in Jesus), knowing how much we have been forgiven.   It seems like I have encountered a lot of nonChristian friends lately who have been talking about how angry and full of hate they are toward someone who has hurt them.   Not only do they see no need to forgive and "love their enemies", but they DON'T WANT to forgive them.

For us, though, who have been forgiven completely by God through Jesus Christ for all the sin and evil and corruption in our lives, how can we not forgive those who insult us and hurt us?   We have caused God SO much pain; we have messed up our and others' lives SO much, yet He forgave us fully and completely - forever.   He himself paid the penalty for our sins.   In light of this, how fitting and natural it is for us to forgive those people who hurt us.

3. What's the connection between the struggling economy (national debt, unemployment, gas prices, layoffs, job pressures) and the love and forgiveness that we followers of Jesus Christ are free to dispense in all directions because of the love with which He has loved us?

Simply this - in times of darkness the light shines more brightly.

Everyone is starting to 'feel the pressure' more and more these days, because of the bad deficit-growing entitlement-expanding financial decisions made by certain political leaders.  The pressure 'trickles down' into all jobs, into family interactions, into classrooms, into sidewalk interactions, etc.   In times when the veneers of civility and niceness are stripped away and people scrabble to survive, those of us into whom God has poured His lavish, rich, indescribably awesome love and approval through Jesus Christ can be beacons of joy and love and hope to others who are still stumbling around outside in the darkness.

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
-- Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:14-16

COURAGE and LOVE:

Here is a short video excerpt (only 90 seconds) of Pakistani Christian politician Shahbaz Bhatti explaining why he planned to continue representing the oppressed minorities in his country despite receiving death threats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBTBqUJomRE

Two days ago Bhatti was murdered.   Now he is experiencing the JOY of being with Jesus Christ forever, in eternal happiness and approval and glory!

Luke 21:10-19
Then He continued by saying to them, "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
"But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name's sake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.
"But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name.
"Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives."

Will God send people to Hell?

I came across this interesting blog post tonight, about "why we need God's wrath" - http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/02/26/to-hell-with-hell/

Besides the reasons Kevin DeYoung mentions, one other huge reason which is discussed in Glenn Miller's article here ( http://christianthinktank.com/whyjust.html ) is simply that God is love, and He keeps His promises.

When you love someone (with Biblical "agape" love), by definition it means you care about that person and seek their best interest.   If something threatens to harm that beloved person, you are immediately automatically opposed to whatever that thing is.  That thing becomes your enemy.

Thus, true love automatically includes a willingness to fight against anything that would hurt the beloved.

Here is a lengthy excellent quote from Glenn Miller's article, quoting many Scriptures and then one comment of his at the bottom.

[begin quote from Glenn Miller's article] -

One: God's justice (relative to punishing evil with the stated consequences) is generally related to God's anger, wrath, or "hatred" in the Bible. Although God is often caricatured as being belligerent, quick-to-anger (instead of slow to anger), easily upset about the most trivial matters, and petty in His demands to avoid His wrath, perhaps it would be helpful to survey briefly the explicit statements of what He actually "hates". Consider a few passages:

• How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?' 31 "You shall not behave thus toward the Lord your God, for every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. (Deut 12)

• The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates.(Ps 11.5)

• There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, 19 A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers .(Prov 6.16ff)

• Says the Lord. "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, And the fat of fed cattle. And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats. 12 "When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? 13 "Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies-I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. 14 "I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me. I am weary of bearing them. 15 "So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you, Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. 16 "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless; Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow (Is 1)

• "For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. (Is 61.8)

• I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 "Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. 23 "Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. 24 "But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5.21)

• These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates. 17 'Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,' declares the Lord." (Zech 8.16)

• Take heed then, to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth. 16 "For I hate divorce," says the Lord, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with wrong," says the Lord of hosts. "So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously." (Mal 2.15)

• Then say to the household of the king of Judah, 'Hear the word of the Lord,O house of David, thus says the Lord: 12 "Administer justice every morning; And deliver the person who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor That My wrath may not go forth like fire And burn with none to extinguish it, Because of the evil of their deeds. (Jer 21.11)

• Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying, 9 "Thus has the Lord of hosts said, 'Dispense true justice, and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; 10 and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.' 11 "But they refused to pay attention, and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. 12 "And they made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. 13 "And it came about that just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen," says the Lord of hosts; 14 "but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them, so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate." (Zech 7.8ff)

Can you see the pattern here?!

God hates treachery, violence, cruelty, callused hypocrisy-things that knowingly (not accidentally) destroy people, community, safety, trust, joy, innocence, and beauty. This is not minor ritual 'infractions' nor petty stuff! The human race simply cannot exist without large amounts of decency, loyalty, and social justice.

Ever authentic human being should scream in outrage at crimes against the elderly, at vandalism of the poor, at oppression of the disadvantaged, at domestic violence, at greed and power-oriented oppression and marginalization, at child abuse (and at the child sacrifice of the false religions Israel adopted from her neighbors!), at institutional hypocrisy that remains arrogantly insensitive to the real needs of real people...Moral outrage by moral agents (us) at moral atrocities is a mark of moral authenticity-why would we expect the Author of moral agents to be 'less moral' than we?

...

If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. (Matt 12.7)

God is passionate about people, especially the innocent and "little" ones. His cry to us to show mercy instead of religious routine should (1) reveal His passionate heart; and (2) reveal the coldness of our own...This is no ad hoc religious rule we are discussing here-it is the very passion of God for people.

...

 Outrage and lament are the proper, sensitive, and morally appropriate responses to injury and oppression.

I suspect that "forgiveness" of moral injury, if not preceded by moral outrage or confrontation over the unjust injury, is nothing more than selfish apathy, insensitivity to the rights and worth of the victim(s), or fear of confronting the oppressor/treachery...

[end quote from Glenn Miller's article]

Very well said.

Consider this fascinating quote from Jesus Christ, in John chapter 12 -

²⁷"Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. ²⁸"Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came out of heaven: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again."  ²⁹So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, "An angel has spoken to Him."  ³⁰Jesus answered and said, "This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes.  ³¹"Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.  ³²"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."  ³³But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.

Jesus here shares honestly that at this point in his life, his soul was very troubled... He knew that He was about to die, and not only die, but take upon Himself the sin of 'the world' and pay the penalty on behalf of His people.  The normal thing to do would be to cry out to God for deliverance, ("Father, save me from this hour!"), but in His case, Jesus knew that He had come to the earth precisely for this very task...  He knew it was God's will for Him to die.   Would Jesus resist His Father's will, saying 'it's too painful'?  Or would He submit?

He submitted himself to His Father's will...  He put God's glory ahead of His own desires... He trusted that His Father's plan was best even though it seemed like the most painful and least appealing plan at the moment...  As Hebrews 12 says, Jesus did this because of "the joy set before Him"...  He looked ahead and saw the awesome reward on the other side of the death that His Father was calling Him to.   He obeyed...

"Father, glorify Your name."

Here are two interesting articles I came across tonight.

1. The first is a spicy commentary about a prediction Donald Miller wrote for CNN about religious trends in 2011.   http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2011/01/open-letter-to-donald-miller.html
I read Donald's book "Blue Like Jazz" a couple years ago, and I think Frank Turk's comments are right-on.  Frank makes great points about the true gospel (of repentance and forgiveness, truth and love) that Jesus Christ preached.  Jesus was an "extremist"... a "radical"... in the best possible way...

2. The second one is about how Francis Chan recently left his 4000-member California church because he felt it was becoming too focused on him rather than on Jesus Christ.  http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/22/%e2%80%9cchristian-famous%e2%80%9d-pastor-quits-his-church-moves-to-asia/
Here's a quote from the article:
In his world of big conference crowds, multiple services each week, and instant access to social media, the notion of pastoral care had begun to change. His fame was straining his work as a pastor. “When there is a large constituency, there’s a lot of voices,” he said. “It makes you arrogant or it makes you want to shoot yourself. When thousands of people tell you what they think, how can I be quick to listen, like the Bible says? I don’t want to be a jerk and tune everyone out. At the same time you, can’t love every single person and answer them.”

Francis is so right about that.  And I highly admire him for his action.  The whole idea of the salaried pastoral "job" is not quite Biblical, it seems to me (though pastoral/elder roles are Biblical and voluntary financial gifts to assist them in their work are Biblical)... as are the large buildings and other trappings of modern institutionalized "church".  (For more thoughts, see my posts on Steve Atkerson's book 'House Church', e.g. http://tim223.xanga.com/725607096/house-church-reading-notes-ch10-20/ ).

Fame sometimes comes, as God's gifts attract attention.  But the modern church paradigms tend to put more pressure on pastors/elders than God intended for them to bear.  They are asked by Western culture to be CEOs of veritable religious corporations, spending their energies on building projects and christian community center programs, instead of God's charge that they take care of His people.  They are asked to be the man at the top of a pyramid of authority and honor, instead of God's paradigm:  "Do not be called leaders, for One is your Leader, that is, Christ."  Matthew 23:10

Joshua Harris commented in the above article on Francis Chan's decision: "...Not every pastor of a big church should leave.”  Whether or not Joshua is right, I suggest that every pastor of a church should seek to multiply himself; to work himself out of a job; to disciple and raise up other men to lead and teach and preach... and disciple others.

Taking a paid job as "pastor" or "clergy" in a Western institutionalized church is not necessarily evil, and I have been blessed by the friendship and preaching and mentorship of many such men over the years.  But it is a dangerous position, filled with perils and pressures that are unnecessary and not required by the Biblical plan for God's Church.

All of that to say, I admire Francis Chan for his action, and I pray that God will use him with even greater effectiveness in the future as he serves smaller groups of people.  May his desire be granted: that people interacting with him would come away thinking not about him, but about Jesus Christ.