By Bob Hiller – By now I’m sure you’ve heard the news that Joshua Harris, the evangelical who […]
Category Archive: Bob Hiller
By Bob Hiller – Greetings, Dear Jagged Readers! It has been far too long since I’ve last blogged. […]
By Bob Hiller –
The devil wants to be your preacher. He wants to get into the pulpit on Sunday morning and entertain you, make you feel good, convict you of all sorts of wrong doing, and inspire you to do better. He wants to make you laugh, cry, and sing. He wants to captivate your hearts and leave you feeling like you can conquer the world. Sure, he wants you to be miserable on the way to hell, but if he can get you to enjoy the ride before the car crashes, that suits him just fine. So long as you don’t trust in Jesus, the devil is happy to be your preacher.
By Bob Hiller –
Have you ever been to funeral where people got up and spoke negatively about the deceased? Almost never. When friends and family gather to mourn the loss of those they love, they always speak well of the person. As you leave most funerals, you’d almost think that there is no such thing as sin in the world. The wages of sin is death, we’re told, so it is a true mystery to everyone present why this pillar of morality, joy, and laughter is about to be laid six feet under!
By Bob Hiller –
“We don’t do the wave at baseball games.” So said the guy sitting behind me at the Angels game last weekend to his son.
“Why not?”
“Because that’s what you do when you’re bored. But there’s no reason to be bored. There is a baseball game going on. We’re here to watch the game.”
By Bob Hiller –
This past weekend, SoCal Harvest church hosted their annual Harvest Crusade in Southern California. For those of you who don’t know, the Harvest Crusade is a massive Evangelical outreach event led by Pastor Greg Laurie. His church rents out a baseball stadium for three days, gets big-name Christian rock bands to play concerts, and packs the house with thousands upon thousands of people. Pastor Laurie preaches the Gospel and, as is the standard at such events, has an altar call at the end. In college, some buddies of mine and I attended it to observe and critique as all self-righteous pre-seminary students are wont to do. We were amazed to hear Laurie preach the Law and the Gospel. Folks were pointed to Jesus! Yes, I know, altar calls are a big problem. Yet, for all the issues I have with these “crusade” type events, I have to say, we heard Jesus preached. And for that, I think we can thank God.
By Bob Hiller –
Remember that song by Garth Brooks where he sang, “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers?” Yeah, unfortunately, so do I. It’s this sappy romantic song about how Garth and his wife went back to his hometown and ran across his boyhood crush, the one he had prayed and prayed for God to let him marry. After seeing her he looks at his wife and is just so thankful that God ignored his prayers for the crush so he could marry his wife. God didn’t answer Garth’s prayer. He had a better plan in mind.
By Bob Hiller –
She is very attractive for you, isn’t she? And you can’t seem to leave her alone. You love being the center of her attention. When she compliments you, you feel like you can conquer the world. You’ve even become an expert on wooing those compliments out of her. You know what she likes to hear. Sure, there are times when she’s not happy with you, and it drives you crazy. You grow self-defensive, yet you obsess over winning back her love. But you know exactly what you need to do to make her love you again; you just need to tell her what she wants to hear. There’s just one problem with all of this: She’s not your wife, pastor. She belongs to Jesus.
By Bob Hiller –
It will be good to finally be in church this Sunday. It has been the same thing all week long. I just need to hear something different, something out of the ordinary, something new. See, all week long, it has been the same old thing, and I’m simply tired of it. Let me explain.
By Bob Hiller –
As if I needed another reason to love Mike Trout, MLB’s commissioner has inadvertently offered me one. For those of you who don’t follow America’s pastime, Trout is arguably the best player in baseball. For what its worth, if you engage in arguing against that point, you’ll lose. If you’re a pitcher, he is a constant threat. Seven years in, he’s a career .300 hitter, batting .310 this year with 25 home runs and 50 RBIs (those are good numbers for the halfway point in a season, in case you’re wondering). I’m sure his weird analytical stats are money too. His arm is insane, and he is one of the top outfielders in the game. I think I can make a fairly good case that Trout’s swing is an aesthetic argument for the existence of God. He’s great with the fans, and somehow, for all he has going for him, he seems to stay out of the spotlight. At least, that weird spotlight we like to shine on our idols while looking for their warts.
By Bob Hiller –
Sammy Sosa hasn’t been to Chicago in 11 years. This man, who was right at the center of one of the most provocative sports stories in my generation, who brought baseball joy—which Cubs’ fans had so longed for—back to the Windy City, hasn’t been there for over a decade. Instead, according to a recent Sports Illustrated “where-are-they-now” story, Slammin’ Sammy has become somewhat of a globetrotter. The magazine caught up with Sosa in Dubai, living it up in luxurious restaurants, drinking expensive booze, basking in the glory of his wealth. SI quotes Sosa, “‘Look what I am today,’ Sosa says, motioning toward the opulence around him, ‘This is my life, and I don’t take garbage from nobody. I do what I want.’” Sosa, it seems, has it all. Except Chicago. He’s not been to Chicago in 11 years.
By Bob Hiller –
A few weeks back, I was scrolling through Twitter in order to feel good about the world (because why else is anyone on Twitter?) when, lo and behold, I found a tweet I disagreed with! OK, have you picked your jaw up off the keyboard? Good. So, here’s what got me going. A rather popular and provocative author, Rachel Held Evans—who I suppose would be considered a part of the “evangelical left”—sent out this tweet: “We don’t have to cede the Bible to the fundamentalists.” At first, this statement got me all riled up. The arrogance of such a comment was, I thought, rather breathtaking, as though the Bible was a piece of property which we are all trying to control. But then it got me thinking: Who does get the final say over what the Bible says? Fundamentalists? Liberals? The church? My denomination? Who controls the Bible?
By Bob Hiller –
Remember that scene from the Luther movie that came 15 years ago where Martin Luther takes the boy who hanged himself and buries him in the church graveyard? Everyone was standing around in shock, and the gravedigger was telling him he couldn’t do it. After all, it was thought that suicide was a mortal sin. With no chance for repentance or penance, this soul was not going to be given the opportunity for purgatory, let alone rise on the last day in the protective shadow of the church. It was believed that suicide meant damnation. Yet, Luther showed compassion in the shadow of the church. He gave that boy a Christian burial. The meaning of his actions was clear: Christ’s mercy is stronger than suicide.
By Bob Hiller –
Someone is caught in the act of a grievous error. Everyone saw it. There is no denying it. They can’t justify it. So, what should be said about it? J. R. Smith might not be the best guy to learn from in this scenario. As I’m sure you’ve seen by now, LeBron’s Cleveland Cavaliers (the team J. R. Smith is on…for now) was about to pull off a huge surprise in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. No one really expects them to win the series; few expect them to take even a game. But at the end of Game 1, they were primed to steal one from Golden State and change the entire conversation. Down by one point with five seconds left, George Hill was at the free-throw line for the Cavs. He hits the first to tie the game at 107. It looked like overtime when he missed the second shot, but for J. R. Smith! He snags the rebound, and all he has to do is put the ball back in the hoop. Game over. Cavs win! Smith is the hero!
By Bob Hiller –
We’ve all been there: You’re having a conversation about the faith with a person who is struggling to believe, or doesn’t at all. In the course of the conversation, they bring up an argument you don’t have an answer for. In fact, the point is way over your head, and you worry that pursuing the question will challenge your faith in uncomfortable ways. Maybe they are questioning how you know Jesus rose from the dead, or why you believe the New Testament is full of trustworthy documents. They’ve watched the latest Food Network special on the historical Jesus or checked out the latest Bart Ehrman thriller reconstructing the first four centuries of the church, and now they have questions. They aren’t afraid to put you on the spot: “How do you know? Why should I believe?” And all you can say is, “I just have faith that it is true. You just need to believe it! Take it on faith!”
By Bob Hiller –
In the unfortunately titled but always intriguing Revisionist History podcast, Malcolm Gladwell offers a theory about why country music can do sad songs and rock and roll can’t. He says it is because country music is specific. In the episode, “The King of Tears, he compares “Wild Horses” by the Rolling Stones and “Boulder to Birmingham” by Emmylou Harris. Both songs were written while the artists were coping with sorrow. The rumor goes that Mick Jagger wrote “Wild Horses” while his then girlfriend, Marianne Faithful, was seemingly dying from an overdose (she lived). He sat by her bedside and sang “Wild Horses couldn’t tear me away.” The comment is general. It can be applied to any number of circumstances. It’s sad, sure, but it doesn’t really churn your guts. (Jagger says it was actually written by Keith Richards, himself, and Gram Parsons).
By Bob Hiller –
My good buddy, Rev. Eric Eichinger, has written a wonderful book on Olympic runner and missionary Eric Liddell. I’m honored to have him contribute this piece on the Jagged Word. Check out his book here!~Bob
By Bob Hiller –
One of my great regrets from last year’s “Here We Still Stand Conference” (There are only 165 tickets left! I’d better get some kickback for that plug…) was not hearing Steven Paulson’s interview on the Thinking Fellows. But I understand he is quoted to have said something like, “America was designed to destroy Baptism.” I have thought a lot about that quote. It is wonderfully accurate. This country is built on free choice, self-assertion, and personal responsibility. Our philosophical contribution to the world is pragmatism. All of this is opposed by a God who chooses to save with a promise hidden in a handful of water.
By Bob Hiller –
How would you respond if I told you that you are a sheep? My guess is that your initial response would not be positive. In fact, when we call someone a sheep in our day, we usually mean they are weak—a follower. They blindly follow a leader with no thought or bravery. They are meek and foolish.
By Bob Hiller –
There seems to be an inordinate amount of literature on pastoral leadership these days. Some of it is good and helpful. I have personally benefited in wonderful ways from a leadership program I was involved with some time back. But other leadership material is not as useful. I worry that some may even be harmful. I’ve recently found myself thinking: Are pastors actually called to be leaders?