Lil' Wayne is a Christian?

Just when you thought that you had the good guys and bad guys separated into their neat little categories, up jumps this statement by Lil Wayne to the crowd attending a recent concert in New Jersey:

Lil Wayne had three things to explain. No. 1, a religious confession: “I believe in God and his son, Jesus. Do you?” He interpreted the roar as an affirmative response. No. 2, a professional confession: He said he was nothing without the fans, adding, “Make some noise for what you created!” Noise was made. No. 3: Same as No. 2. More noise.

This is quite interesting. I'm not sure I could find many people who would list Weezy F. Baby (Lil' Wayne for the uninitiated) as one who will be in the number when the "saints go marchin' in". However, is it possible that he could be a Christian? Several question come to mind as I ponder this:

• What does he mean when he says he believes in God and his son Jesus? Does he believe that Jesus was God in the flesh, was crucified, died, buried and was raised to life? Does he place all of his hope and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ as being the sufficient substitute for his own deserved punishment (namely eternal separation from God) and that his trust/hope/faith in the work of Christ is the thing that makes him acceptable to a pure, loving, and just God?


• How can one really know if another person is a "believer"? 18th century theologian Jonathan Edwards, in his book Religious Affections, cautioned against making determinations about what a person believes based solely on external actions that seem to be "Christianly" (a new word that I just made up). It is true that you will know a tree by the fruit that it bears (cocoa trees don't produce mangos), but it is also true that God is the only one who truly knows our hearts and thus is supremely qualified to be the final judge. I'm not saying that Weezy is a believer, but I'm also not saying that he isn't...


• Are we even comfortable with the idea that Lil Wayne could be a brother in Christ? How gnarly would it be if we could know with certainty that dude is a Christian? Would you welcome him into your church all tattooed, sporting a wife beater and smelling like weed? For those who would welcome him, would you gravitate to him because of his celebrity and his uncanny ability to spit over anybody else's beat and make that song better than the original? Or would it be because he is someone who just like you realized that he needs redemption has found it at the feet of Jesus.

Lil' Wayne a believer???? hmmmmmmm......

Women, Preaching and Pastoring

A discussion on this topic had begun in the comments section of the post about my boy planting a church in the A-T-L and I wanted to have this converstation in a broader context. The background:

jimmy said: "Since we are talking about Church planting, tell me what you think about women pastors and even women teaching the Church setting?"

rick said: The pastor of the church is also the leader in the home (1 Timothy 3:1-5). The scripture say how can a man led the church if he can't even led his home. Therefore, the issue is not about a woman's right to preach but a man's responsiblity to led.

My take:
I think there are two separate issues. a) Do women have the biblical authority to preach? b) Do women have biblical authority to pastor?

I think each of these begs a whole other set of questions. Here are a few:

1) The only offices of the church mentioned in the New Testament are elder and deacon.
Is this list prescriptive or descriptive?

For the sake of clarity, everyone needs to be on the same page as to what the terms that are used in this particular discussion mean. Pastoring is mentioned in the N.T. as a spiritual gifting. The term "pastor" now seems to be used in a colloquial sense as being analogous to the biblical office of elder. There are some who make the further distinction of saying that the office of "Senior Pastor" is equivalent to an elder.

2) So are we saying that women cannot be elders?

3) Or are we saying that woman cannot have the spiritual gift of pastoring?

4) Or are we saying that women do not have biblical authority to teach? (Notice I didn't say preach, because I don't find much distinction between preaching and teaching. If you give any sort of exhortation in your teaching, then you are preaching, regardless of the level of emotion involved the presentation.

5) Are spiritual gifts gender specific?

6) If woman can have the spiritual gift of teaching/preaching, how is this then “regulated”?

7) If a woman is not desiring to be an elder, but only to preach and is not allowed is this sexism?

Let the games begin...

Sacrilege or just good old fashion capitalism?

Is there a line where marketing or a TV show crosses into the realm of sacrilege? I was flipping between several TV shows and landed on an old Good Times episode where Fishbone the Wino was mistakenly thought to be dead and attended his own funeral dressed as a woman. When it was discovered that Fishbone was not dead, Willona, JJ and other cast members began clapping, jumping, and singing about Fishbone in a manner obviously parodying stereotypical black church exuberance (notice I didn't call it worship...that's a completely separate topic) in celebration of Fishbone not being dead. Was this sacrilege?

The second thing I came across to today was this post about the Christian imagery and themes used to promote LeBron James. Is Nike simply consistently using a transcendental motif to market and uplift "King James" to the rare, crossover, iconic status of M.J. and Tiger Woods? Or is it taking it over the line and prostituting Christian imagery and text for profit? Is Nike wrong for trying to do so? Or is this reflective of the ends that the producers capitalism will go in order to feed itself. Can Christians be upset at this infringement of their religion by capitalism when capitalism seems to be welcomed by Christians when people purchase their books, buy their sermons, attend their conferences, and watch their movies? There have been times in the history of Christianity where it has co-oped something pagan and made it Christian (Christmas and Halloween are two examples of such actions). Since Christianity has shown a willingness to lift from that which is pagan, sanitize it, and make it their own, how much of a problem should Christians have when the reverse happens?

My boy is planting a church in the A-T-L