I love Christmas music. Carols, Hymns...it's all good. I love the fun Rudolph and Frosty, and the more solemn Silent Night. But the one Christmas song that I never fully understood, as a kid anyway, was O Come O Come Emmanuel. What's all this talk about "ransom" and "captive"? This song doesn't mention shepherds, wise men, Mary, Joseph, the inn, sheep...how is this a Christmas song? And then, recently, it hit me. O Come O Come Emmanuel is THE Christmas song...while other Christmas carols focus on the angels, the shepherds, the inn, the sheep, the wise men...the shoes...this one focuses on the attitude of the people. It focuses on the REASON for Christmas.
Before Jesus was born, before God came to Earth as a baby, the people of Israel were crying out for God to save them. To ransom them. To free them. While they weren't in slavery in Egypt anymore, or in Exile in Babylon...they were enslaved by the Romans..in their own city. The Romans had taken over...Caesar was king, was god. The Israelites wanted God to come, and shoe the Romans who was boss..."Come and Save us! Ransom us! Free us!". And so God did. He sent Jesus to save them. Rescue them. Redeem them. Ransom them. Unfortunately...he sent him as a baby. Jesus didn't part through the clouds, with sword ablaze, white horse galloping towards the Roman soldiers...he came as a lowly, infant child, born in a stable to an unmarried virgin. Not like he was expected to arrive.
But that's the point of Christmas isn't it? The point of Christmas was that God would lower himself...not only just to human form, but to the weakest, most vulnerable of human form...a baby. Christmas is about God hearing the cries of his people...of the poor, the outcasts, the sinners, the weak...and answering their prayers. But while the people wanted the coming of the Savior to be the end...they wanted it to happen fast..."God, Come down, rescue us, kill our enemies and then go back up to heaven so we can worship and praise you forever (or until we end up in exile again, in which case we will forget you for a while)". But that wasn't God's plan. It was to be a slow process. Instead of going all Chuck Norris on the Romans...he took more of a Ghandi approach. Instead of being born into a royal family (or skipping the birthing process altogether and just arriving as a fierce warrier), he came as a baby to a poor carpenter's family.
Christmas isn't really about the nativity at all. It's not about the shepherds, it's not about Mary and Joseph, it's not about the Angels. It's about God, hearing the cries of his people. Christmas is about God arriving, listening, caring. Christmas is God finally saying "enough is enough", and taking matters into his own hands. That is what Christmas truly is all about. It's about God's people crying, "Come Emmanuel. Rescue Us. Save Us. Ransom Us"...and God coming. Merry Christmas everyone...let's praise God that he heard our cries, felt our tears, and came to our rescue.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
God, Apathy, and the Windows 7 Phone
One of my new favourite commercials is for the new Windows 7 phone (I'd never buy the phone, but the commercial is GREAT). This is the full, minute long extended edition of that commercial...
Ok...now that you are laughing and entertained, I'm gonna put a spiritual twist to this commercial. I find that, while we can laugh at these people in the commercial who miss out on life because they are so focused on their phone, many Christians do the exact same thing with the Bible. I know right...bold. But think about it. So many Christians go around, with verses in their head, stories, themes, ideas, whatever...all fine and good...but they never live them out. They never use those verses, stories, parables, ideas, lessons. While it's not like we are walking around with a Bible in our face, running into people and forgetting about our wives and family, we do seem to have a lot of "ideas" in our head, and not a lot of "action" in our life.
For example...we read the story of the Good Samaritan, or the passage about "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat", and we feel good about ourselves. We take something from the passage, we try to see Jesus in the homeless, in the forgotten, downtrodden, outcasts, poor. But instead of helping them, we walk by, give a smile and move on. Or, we read about love and acceptance, and see how Jesus hung out with sinners, hookers, drunkards, theives...and yet we stay in our small little cliques. We judge those who are different, we ignore those who disagree with us. We fail to comfort those who are mourning. We read the stories, we get the point in our head...but we don't do anything about it.
Like the commerical...we are missing out on life. Phones are supposed to connect people, and yet the people in the commercial are more disconnected then ever. The Bible is supposed to inspire us to action, and yet we don't act. By just reading the Bible, and doing nothing with our knowledge, nothing with the words, themes, ideas, parables, lessons, we are misuing Scripture. It becomes just a book. And I'm sure, God is looking down from heaven...seeing all of his so called "followers", who claim to love him, serve him, and follow him, and yet they do nothing. They are in their own little world (I should say, We are in our own little world, cause I'm including myself in this too), missing out on opportunities to love, opportunities to serve, and opportunities to show people the love of God...and he is yelling down at us, "REALLY?"
Look up from the pages of the bible. Look outside the windows of the church. Instead of walking around with your head focused on Heaven to see if Jesus is descending, look at the ground to see who you can BE Jesus For?
Anyway...that's just my opinion. What's yours?
Ok...now that you are laughing and entertained, I'm gonna put a spiritual twist to this commercial. I find that, while we can laugh at these people in the commercial who miss out on life because they are so focused on their phone, many Christians do the exact same thing with the Bible. I know right...bold. But think about it. So many Christians go around, with verses in their head, stories, themes, ideas, whatever...all fine and good...but they never live them out. They never use those verses, stories, parables, ideas, lessons. While it's not like we are walking around with a Bible in our face, running into people and forgetting about our wives and family, we do seem to have a lot of "ideas" in our head, and not a lot of "action" in our life.
For example...we read the story of the Good Samaritan, or the passage about "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat", and we feel good about ourselves. We take something from the passage, we try to see Jesus in the homeless, in the forgotten, downtrodden, outcasts, poor. But instead of helping them, we walk by, give a smile and move on. Or, we read about love and acceptance, and see how Jesus hung out with sinners, hookers, drunkards, theives...and yet we stay in our small little cliques. We judge those who are different, we ignore those who disagree with us. We fail to comfort those who are mourning. We read the stories, we get the point in our head...but we don't do anything about it.
Like the commerical...we are missing out on life. Phones are supposed to connect people, and yet the people in the commercial are more disconnected then ever. The Bible is supposed to inspire us to action, and yet we don't act. By just reading the Bible, and doing nothing with our knowledge, nothing with the words, themes, ideas, parables, lessons, we are misuing Scripture. It becomes just a book. And I'm sure, God is looking down from heaven...seeing all of his so called "followers", who claim to love him, serve him, and follow him, and yet they do nothing. They are in their own little world (I should say, We are in our own little world, cause I'm including myself in this too), missing out on opportunities to love, opportunities to serve, and opportunities to show people the love of God...and he is yelling down at us, "REALLY?"
Look up from the pages of the bible. Look outside the windows of the church. Instead of walking around with your head focused on Heaven to see if Jesus is descending, look at the ground to see who you can BE Jesus For?
Anyway...that's just my opinion. What's yours?
Friday, November 12, 2010
Fmylife
A While ago, I bought a book called "Fmylife". Yes...the "F" stands for exactly what you think. The book is a collection of very short anecdotes about crapy things that happened to people. I'm not going to lie, it's a freakin hilarious book. To be honest, while I was reading through it at HMV, I was literally convulsing at moments, trying to contain my laughter and to not cause people to stare at me (because having a 23 year old shaking and crying tears of joy wasn't distracting at all). Now, I'm also not going to lie and say that the book is full of appropriate material that everyone can read, and is fun for the whole family. There is a lot of content that is...sketchy, to say the least. However, I am going to share some of my favourite clean stories, and perhaps edit a few of the sketchier ones. I hope it makes you laugh a little bit...and then I will finish this blog off with some spiritual relevance, I promise. So...here we go:
1) "Today, I was at work at the grocery store, and a woman pulled a cart toward me filled with chips, breads, lunch meats, and sodas. I said 'looks like your going to have a fun party', she replied 'my mother just died. This is for after the funeral'"-fmylife
2) "Today I was walking through a bookstore with my girlfriend when we passed a stand selling Girl Scout cookies. I saw a box of my favourite kind, so I pointed at them and shouted 'Yeah!'. My girlfriend looked shocked. Behind the box of cookies was a nine-year-old scout bending over with her bottom pointed at me"-fmylife
3) "Today at a rehersal, a friend poked me and said, 'my mother is in the orchestra. Guess who she is' I jokingly answered, 'the fat singer?'...it was"-fmylife
4) "Today I was at an interview for a music school. When I got my guitar out of it's case, I realized that my friends thought it would be funny to replace my real guitar with one from Guitar Hero"-fmylife
5) "Today I went to the gym to get into shape. I pulled a muscle while taking off my sweater in the locker room"-fmylife
6) "Today my anatomy teacher was putting together a skeleton model for class. A leg bone was missing, so I jokingly said 'what's the matter, lose a leg?'. Unfortunately there is nothing funy about asking that question to a guy who's had a leg amputated"-fmylife
7) "Today my crush talked to me for the first time. He told me to stop staring"-fmylife
8) "Today I fell asleep in drivers ed, and woke up in the middle of a dream, laughing. Everyone was staring at me. I found out that my teacher had just told a story about his niece who didn't wear a seatbelt and is now brain-dead"-fmylife
9) "Today, while at work, a kid of about 5 was having trouble zipping his jacket". When I reached to help him, he started screaming 'No, bad touch! bad touch' and kicked me in the knee. Everyone looked"-fmylife
10) "Today in the middle of a date, I went to rest my chin on my hand, missed, and stuck the straw from my drink straight up my nose. My nose bled all over the table. He hasn't called me since"-fmylife
11) "Today I got a Save the Date card for the wedding of a couple my husband knows. I emailed the bride back saying 'I got your S.T.D.', and hit send before I realized how that sounded"-fmylife
12) "Today my parents met my boyfriends parents for the first time...bailing us out of jail"-fmylife
13) "Today, my professor, who was born without arms, asked somebody 'Need a hand?'...there are over 300 students in the class, and I was the only one laughing"-fmylife
14) "Today I got 31% on a chinese test at school. I moved here to New Jersey from Beijing 2 months ago"-fmylife
15) "Today, in front of 20 guests, I yelled at my husband for not coming to blow out his birthday candles. It turned out that he was in the other room, quitely changing his disabled friends adult diaper"-fmylife
16) "Today for the first time every, I met someone with the same name as me. I'm 20...he's 97"-fmylife
17) "Today my boss asked me, 'Can I give you some constructive criticism?', I said sure. He said 'your work is [crap], you have no talent and i can't figure out why I hired you"-fmylife
18) "Today I found a bone in my sandwich. It was a veggie burger"-fmylife
19) "Today I walked into the kitchen and accidently broke my mothers vase. I said 'Acciden't happen', to which she replied, 'Yeah. Like your birth'"-fmylife
20) "Today I told my dad that I was going to get some beauty sleep. He said, 'see you in a decade'"-fmylife
21) "Today, at a strategy meeting, my manager displayed a flow chart of his employess. I wasn't included. Turns out I had been fired, and they forgot to tell me"-fmylife
22) "Today, while shaving, I cut myself. With the blade protector"-fmylife
23) "Today I made fun of my friend when she tripped over a curb. I said loudly, 'haha, you can't even walk'. Then I noticed the man in the wheelchair a few feet ahead of us"-fmylife
24) "Today I asked my boss for a raise. He responded by saying, 'Who the hell are you?'"-fmylife
and finally...
25) "Today I met a really attractive guy, who introduced himself as Wyan. He was really cool and sweet, and we got along pretty well. Later someone told me that his name is Ryan and that he has a speech impediment. Througout the conversation I had been referring to him as Wyan"-fmylife.
So, you are likely wondering...what is the point? Why list 25 embarrassing stories? Well, to be perfectly honest, we have all been in similar type situations. Ok...maybe not those exact type situations, but we have all done embarrasing things, humiliated ourselves and put our foot in our mouths. We have all had days that made us feel like our lives our pointless. Worthless. We have all thought that nobody could possibly have a worse life than we do. Well...it's not true. No matter how bad our lives get, or how humiliating a day we have...someone, somewhere has it worse. Life can throw curveballs. Life can be unpredictable, and devastating...but life goes on. The embarrasing situation you had the other day, will be forgotten by everyone eventually. Will you let it go? Will you move on from it? When you focus on your mistakes, on your embarrasments, you can't truly enjoy life. When you are focused so much on not humiliating yourself, you can't truly live. Life is full of embarrasing, humiliating situations. Stop dwelling on them. Life will get better. Life will go on. Enjoy life. Have fun. Your life isn't over because of one mistake, or one humiliating moment. Laugh it off and move on.
1) "Today, I was at work at the grocery store, and a woman pulled a cart toward me filled with chips, breads, lunch meats, and sodas. I said 'looks like your going to have a fun party', she replied 'my mother just died. This is for after the funeral'"-fmylife
2) "Today I was walking through a bookstore with my girlfriend when we passed a stand selling Girl Scout cookies. I saw a box of my favourite kind, so I pointed at them and shouted 'Yeah!'. My girlfriend looked shocked. Behind the box of cookies was a nine-year-old scout bending over with her bottom pointed at me"-fmylife
3) "Today at a rehersal, a friend poked me and said, 'my mother is in the orchestra. Guess who she is' I jokingly answered, 'the fat singer?'...it was"-fmylife
4) "Today I was at an interview for a music school. When I got my guitar out of it's case, I realized that my friends thought it would be funny to replace my real guitar with one from Guitar Hero"-fmylife
5) "Today I went to the gym to get into shape. I pulled a muscle while taking off my sweater in the locker room"-fmylife
6) "Today my anatomy teacher was putting together a skeleton model for class. A leg bone was missing, so I jokingly said 'what's the matter, lose a leg?'. Unfortunately there is nothing funy about asking that question to a guy who's had a leg amputated"-fmylife
7) "Today my crush talked to me for the first time. He told me to stop staring"-fmylife
8) "Today I fell asleep in drivers ed, and woke up in the middle of a dream, laughing. Everyone was staring at me. I found out that my teacher had just told a story about his niece who didn't wear a seatbelt and is now brain-dead"-fmylife
9) "Today, while at work, a kid of about 5 was having trouble zipping his jacket". When I reached to help him, he started screaming 'No, bad touch! bad touch' and kicked me in the knee. Everyone looked"-fmylife
10) "Today in the middle of a date, I went to rest my chin on my hand, missed, and stuck the straw from my drink straight up my nose. My nose bled all over the table. He hasn't called me since"-fmylife
11) "Today I got a Save the Date card for the wedding of a couple my husband knows. I emailed the bride back saying 'I got your S.T.D.', and hit send before I realized how that sounded"-fmylife
12) "Today my parents met my boyfriends parents for the first time...bailing us out of jail"-fmylife
13) "Today, my professor, who was born without arms, asked somebody 'Need a hand?'...there are over 300 students in the class, and I was the only one laughing"-fmylife
14) "Today I got 31% on a chinese test at school. I moved here to New Jersey from Beijing 2 months ago"-fmylife
15) "Today, in front of 20 guests, I yelled at my husband for not coming to blow out his birthday candles. It turned out that he was in the other room, quitely changing his disabled friends adult diaper"-fmylife
16) "Today for the first time every, I met someone with the same name as me. I'm 20...he's 97"-fmylife
17) "Today my boss asked me, 'Can I give you some constructive criticism?', I said sure. He said 'your work is [crap], you have no talent and i can't figure out why I hired you"-fmylife
18) "Today I found a bone in my sandwich. It was a veggie burger"-fmylife
19) "Today I walked into the kitchen and accidently broke my mothers vase. I said 'Acciden't happen', to which she replied, 'Yeah. Like your birth'"-fmylife
20) "Today I told my dad that I was going to get some beauty sleep. He said, 'see you in a decade'"-fmylife
21) "Today, at a strategy meeting, my manager displayed a flow chart of his employess. I wasn't included. Turns out I had been fired, and they forgot to tell me"-fmylife
22) "Today, while shaving, I cut myself. With the blade protector"-fmylife
23) "Today I made fun of my friend when she tripped over a curb. I said loudly, 'haha, you can't even walk'. Then I noticed the man in the wheelchair a few feet ahead of us"-fmylife
24) "Today I asked my boss for a raise. He responded by saying, 'Who the hell are you?'"-fmylife
and finally...
25) "Today I met a really attractive guy, who introduced himself as Wyan. He was really cool and sweet, and we got along pretty well. Later someone told me that his name is Ryan and that he has a speech impediment. Througout the conversation I had been referring to him as Wyan"-fmylife.
So, you are likely wondering...what is the point? Why list 25 embarrassing stories? Well, to be perfectly honest, we have all been in similar type situations. Ok...maybe not those exact type situations, but we have all done embarrasing things, humiliated ourselves and put our foot in our mouths. We have all had days that made us feel like our lives our pointless. Worthless. We have all thought that nobody could possibly have a worse life than we do. Well...it's not true. No matter how bad our lives get, or how humiliating a day we have...someone, somewhere has it worse. Life can throw curveballs. Life can be unpredictable, and devastating...but life goes on. The embarrasing situation you had the other day, will be forgotten by everyone eventually. Will you let it go? Will you move on from it? When you focus on your mistakes, on your embarrasments, you can't truly enjoy life. When you are focused so much on not humiliating yourself, you can't truly live. Life is full of embarrasing, humiliating situations. Stop dwelling on them. Life will get better. Life will go on. Enjoy life. Have fun. Your life isn't over because of one mistake, or one humiliating moment. Laugh it off and move on.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Lest We Forget...until tomorrow.
Today is Remembrance Day (Or Veteran's Day, if I happen to have any American readers). It's a day set aside to remember the men and women who served, and currently serve in the Armed Forces, protecting us, and earning our Freedom. More specifically, we attempt to remember those whose lives have been lost while fighting for our rights and freedoms. The thousands, upon thousands of young men and women who have fallen in the line of duty. Many people attend Remembrance Day Ceremonies, wear poppies, visit veterans, fly flags at half mast. There are numerous ways to show our love and appreciation for those who fought, and are fighting overseas.
Remembrance. It's important to remember. Lest We Forget! For many people, today is the only day they really think about the soldiers, the wars, and the lives lost. To some, Saving Private Ryan is just an entertaining movie, and never really think about the real lives, the real people who died, in horrible, gruesome ways. As Christians, we are called to remember. Unfortunately, like many who only think of veterans during Remembrance Day, many Christians only think of Jesus death and sacrifice during Easter, or communion (even though many people only see it as a meal, and don't take much meaning out of it). Why is it that we only remember one day out of the year? Why do we only praise God one day a week? Why is Christmas the only time we think about Jesus being born? Now, I'm not saying that we should eliminate these special holidays and just treat every day like a holiday...but I am saying that we should be constantly remembering. Every day should be an act of worship. Every meal we eat, we should be thinking about the Last Supper, and Jesus sacrifice. Every time we see a veteran, we should remember the cost of our freedom. Whenever we look at our flag, we should think of all those young men and women who fought for us. Who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we may live in freedom.
Too often, we think about the veterans during Remebrance Day, think about Christ's birth at Christmas, his resurrection at Easter...and then once the day passes we don't think about it again for a year. Lest We Forget doesn't mean that we only remember once a year...it means that we should NEVER forget. Even for a day. Remember the sacrifice. Remember the love. And with remembering, look ahead. Look to your future, your present...and think about how you will honour God with your life? How will you honour the veterans with your actions? It's more than just wearing a poppy for a day or two, or putting a Jesus fish on your car. Live out your gratitude. Live out your appreciation, your love. If those thousands of soldiers didn't fight for our freedom and pay the price for it...our live would be drastically different. If Jesus decided that we weren't worth it. If he fought back, and refused to go to the cross...think of how meaningless our lives would be? Let's Remember. Shall we never forget!
Remembrance. It's important to remember. Lest We Forget! For many people, today is the only day they really think about the soldiers, the wars, and the lives lost. To some, Saving Private Ryan is just an entertaining movie, and never really think about the real lives, the real people who died, in horrible, gruesome ways. As Christians, we are called to remember. Unfortunately, like many who only think of veterans during Remembrance Day, many Christians only think of Jesus death and sacrifice during Easter, or communion (even though many people only see it as a meal, and don't take much meaning out of it). Why is it that we only remember one day out of the year? Why do we only praise God one day a week? Why is Christmas the only time we think about Jesus being born? Now, I'm not saying that we should eliminate these special holidays and just treat every day like a holiday...but I am saying that we should be constantly remembering. Every day should be an act of worship. Every meal we eat, we should be thinking about the Last Supper, and Jesus sacrifice. Every time we see a veteran, we should remember the cost of our freedom. Whenever we look at our flag, we should think of all those young men and women who fought for us. Who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we may live in freedom.
Too often, we think about the veterans during Remebrance Day, think about Christ's birth at Christmas, his resurrection at Easter...and then once the day passes we don't think about it again for a year. Lest We Forget doesn't mean that we only remember once a year...it means that we should NEVER forget. Even for a day. Remember the sacrifice. Remember the love. And with remembering, look ahead. Look to your future, your present...and think about how you will honour God with your life? How will you honour the veterans with your actions? It's more than just wearing a poppy for a day or two, or putting a Jesus fish on your car. Live out your gratitude. Live out your appreciation, your love. If those thousands of soldiers didn't fight for our freedom and pay the price for it...our live would be drastically different. If Jesus decided that we weren't worth it. If he fought back, and refused to go to the cross...think of how meaningless our lives would be? Let's Remember. Shall we never forget!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Let the Idiots be Silenced
There seems to be a growing epidemic amongst Christians...we seem to have become stupid. Ok, perhaps not stupid, but we seem to have lost our ability to properly discuss our faith and beliefs. Now, I could generalize this and say it is predominatly a certain denomination, or gender, or particular country of origin...but I will not do that, as it seems to target everyone.
Now, in the Bible we are told to always have an answer ready...but it seems that many Christians interpret that as "give an answer for everything...whether you know the answer or not". We read that we are to have an answer ready, and see it as we can't say "I don't know"...as if not knowing the answer is a sin. Let me tell you people...it's OK to not know the answer. It's ok to say "pass", or "That's a good question, I'll have to look it up for you", or simply "I don't Know". What is happening instead, is that Christians are making themselves, and therefore other Christians, look stupid, unintelligent and crazy.
Here are a few very unintelligent Christian responses that I found on Christian chat rooms and forums. Buckle up...it's a sad scary ride.
"Evolution can't have happened because we aren't born monkeys"
"It's funny how non-creationsits will blame a God they don't believe in, but they won't let evolution take the blame for amputees not being able to heal"
"For those who think the bible has 'fiction' it it...what parts"
"Would you rather have a not smart Christian running the country, or a smart Atheist. I'd rather have a not smart Christian."
"Light can't be '11 million light years away'...if it were, I wouldn't be able to see it. I'm 20, not 11 million years old"
"Man is made in the image of God the Father. That s the primary reason why man has a penis" (????...wow)
"By not hating gays you are disobeying God and deserve to go to hell"
"The first 5 books aren't [jewish], Moses was a Christian"
"Does planting trees help bring people to Christ? It's like going to a starving country to feed the hungry. It doesn't do them any good to live another day, if they are doomed to Hell anyway"
Ok..I'm going to stop now because it is just getting sad and ridiculous. I know that most Christians aren't at that level of stupidity and intolerance...but as I drive down the road and see church signs like "Experts built the Titanic and amateurs built the Ark", I can't help but wonder how non-Christians interpret that. So here is the challenge, and the point of this blog. Do your research...THINK before your speak. Don't just give a comment for no reason, or give an answer you haven't fully thought about. Want to know why people are atheists, or have a negative view on Christians? It's because Christians tend to be more vocal about their beliefs (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), and they say things that are offensive, stupid, and even unbiblical. If Christians actually acted intelligent, and researched, thought about and prepared their answers...then maybe we'd get more respect. It's too bad that while there are many, MANY smart, intelligent Christians out there who do a lot to further the kingdom of God, there a many stupid Christians who open their mouths and ruin all the good that other Christians are doing. As the chidlish phrase states, "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all"...this applies to stupid, unintelligent, poorly thought out responses and questions too.
Now, in the Bible we are told to always have an answer ready...but it seems that many Christians interpret that as "give an answer for everything...whether you know the answer or not". We read that we are to have an answer ready, and see it as we can't say "I don't know"...as if not knowing the answer is a sin. Let me tell you people...it's OK to not know the answer. It's ok to say "pass", or "That's a good question, I'll have to look it up for you", or simply "I don't Know". What is happening instead, is that Christians are making themselves, and therefore other Christians, look stupid, unintelligent and crazy.
Here are a few very unintelligent Christian responses that I found on Christian chat rooms and forums. Buckle up...it's a sad scary ride.
"Evolution can't have happened because we aren't born monkeys"
"It's funny how non-creationsits will blame a God they don't believe in, but they won't let evolution take the blame for amputees not being able to heal"
"For those who think the bible has 'fiction' it it...what parts"
"Would you rather have a not smart Christian running the country, or a smart Atheist. I'd rather have a not smart Christian."
"Light can't be '11 million light years away'...if it were, I wouldn't be able to see it. I'm 20, not 11 million years old"
"Man is made in the image of God the Father. That s the primary reason why man has a penis" (????...wow)
"By not hating gays you are disobeying God and deserve to go to hell"
"The first 5 books aren't [jewish], Moses was a Christian"
"Does planting trees help bring people to Christ? It's like going to a starving country to feed the hungry. It doesn't do them any good to live another day, if they are doomed to Hell anyway"
Ok..I'm going to stop now because it is just getting sad and ridiculous. I know that most Christians aren't at that level of stupidity and intolerance...but as I drive down the road and see church signs like "Experts built the Titanic and amateurs built the Ark", I can't help but wonder how non-Christians interpret that. So here is the challenge, and the point of this blog. Do your research...THINK before your speak. Don't just give a comment for no reason, or give an answer you haven't fully thought about. Want to know why people are atheists, or have a negative view on Christians? It's because Christians tend to be more vocal about their beliefs (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), and they say things that are offensive, stupid, and even unbiblical. If Christians actually acted intelligent, and researched, thought about and prepared their answers...then maybe we'd get more respect. It's too bad that while there are many, MANY smart, intelligent Christians out there who do a lot to further the kingdom of God, there a many stupid Christians who open their mouths and ruin all the good that other Christians are doing. As the chidlish phrase states, "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all"...this applies to stupid, unintelligent, poorly thought out responses and questions too.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Hallow"evil"?
Well, it is that day of the year again. The day that children, and many adults, dress up as everything from Justin Bieber to fairy godmothers. Police officers to Mount. St. Helens. Princesses, knights, wizards, witches, chicki magnets, the doplar effect. It's all been done. It's the night that kids are actually encouraged to run in the streets and take candy from strangers. For many kids, this is the best night of the year. Late Night, cool costume and lots of candy. What could be better?
While the holiday is celebrated by many, there are many people (especially Christians), who find Halloween sinful and evil. They may give out candy (or possibly scripture passges and tracts), but they likely will just sit at home, with the lights turned out, praying for the lost souls who are selling their souls to the devil walking around dressed up as demons and taking candy. Why is it that there is such an issue with this particular holiday? You don't see people boycotting Christmas, Birthdays, Easter, New Years, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day or Labour Day (Jehvah Witnesses excluded of course...of course even they just go about it in silence). I figured that I would do a quick history lesson here...what is the origins of Halloween? Why is it the holiday that it has become? Why October 31? And more importantly, why do many Christians find it evil and scary? Let's find out shall we...
According to Wikipedia (it's always truthful and accurate right?), Halloween is sort of a spin off from the Celtic holiday of Samhain (meaning "summer's end"), which is a celebration of the end of the "lighter half of the year" and the beginning of the "darker half". It was believed that on this day, the Otherworld was opened up and spirits (both good and bad), could pass through. The wearing of costumes is believed to come from people dressing up as bad spirits in order to avoid harm.
Jack-O-Lanterns were initially created to commemorate the souls in purgatory, as well as warding off evil spirits. Trick or Treating originated from the practice of souling, when poor people would go door to door asking for food in return for prayers.
This is a very quick, overview of the history of Halloween...please, feel free to comment and fix any errors, or add any vital information that I am lacking. Anyway, now to the questions. How should Christians respond? Personally, I see no harm in participating in Halloween. I think it can be a harmless holiday, filled with fun and games. Yes, there are some creepy costumes, and lots of mischief...but overall, it's a fairly harmless holiday. In fact, for many people it is the only day of the year (other than Christmas, with carolling), that they get to meet their neighbours in a non threatening way. Friendships can be built, relationships formed. Now, I don't think we should go around casting spells on people, or performing exorcisms (leave that to the priests), but in reality...the holiday, while rooted in the spiritual, has evolved into just a night of fun and candy. Things change over time. Word meanings change, things that once meant one thing, mean something different now. For example, the word gay once meant happy...today it is a word describing a homosexual. Bitch once was a harmless word meaning "female dog"...now it means...well, you get the idea. Halloween has evolved too. It is no longer just a day to ward of spirits...in fact, most people don't even know the origins anymore. The day has brought together many different celebrations and days (All Saints Day, All-Hallows Eve, Samhain), and created a new holiday.
So should we embrace it? Perhaps. I'm not here to tell people how they should respond to something. The Bible does say that if something causes someone else to stumble, then it should be avoided around that person. If you are intimidated by Halloween, or it makes you uncomfortable, by all means don't celebrate the holiday. But do it in silence. If you love Halloween, don't force others to love it with you. People have choice. Just like religion, yes we are called to make disciples, but a disciple CHOOSES to follow, it is not forced to follow. Make up your own mind about Halloween, love it or hate it, just don't judge others for their view.
While the holiday is celebrated by many, there are many people (especially Christians), who find Halloween sinful and evil. They may give out candy (or possibly scripture passges and tracts), but they likely will just sit at home, with the lights turned out, praying for the lost souls who are selling their souls to the devil walking around dressed up as demons and taking candy. Why is it that there is such an issue with this particular holiday? You don't see people boycotting Christmas, Birthdays, Easter, New Years, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day or Labour Day (Jehvah Witnesses excluded of course...of course even they just go about it in silence). I figured that I would do a quick history lesson here...what is the origins of Halloween? Why is it the holiday that it has become? Why October 31? And more importantly, why do many Christians find it evil and scary? Let's find out shall we...
According to Wikipedia (it's always truthful and accurate right?), Halloween is sort of a spin off from the Celtic holiday of Samhain (meaning "summer's end"), which is a celebration of the end of the "lighter half of the year" and the beginning of the "darker half". It was believed that on this day, the Otherworld was opened up and spirits (both good and bad), could pass through. The wearing of costumes is believed to come from people dressing up as bad spirits in order to avoid harm.
Jack-O-Lanterns were initially created to commemorate the souls in purgatory, as well as warding off evil spirits. Trick or Treating originated from the practice of souling, when poor people would go door to door asking for food in return for prayers.
This is a very quick, overview of the history of Halloween...please, feel free to comment and fix any errors, or add any vital information that I am lacking. Anyway, now to the questions. How should Christians respond? Personally, I see no harm in participating in Halloween. I think it can be a harmless holiday, filled with fun and games. Yes, there are some creepy costumes, and lots of mischief...but overall, it's a fairly harmless holiday. In fact, for many people it is the only day of the year (other than Christmas, with carolling), that they get to meet their neighbours in a non threatening way. Friendships can be built, relationships formed. Now, I don't think we should go around casting spells on people, or performing exorcisms (leave that to the priests), but in reality...the holiday, while rooted in the spiritual, has evolved into just a night of fun and candy. Things change over time. Word meanings change, things that once meant one thing, mean something different now. For example, the word gay once meant happy...today it is a word describing a homosexual. Bitch once was a harmless word meaning "female dog"...now it means...well, you get the idea. Halloween has evolved too. It is no longer just a day to ward of spirits...in fact, most people don't even know the origins anymore. The day has brought together many different celebrations and days (All Saints Day, All-Hallows Eve, Samhain), and created a new holiday.
So should we embrace it? Perhaps. I'm not here to tell people how they should respond to something. The Bible does say that if something causes someone else to stumble, then it should be avoided around that person. If you are intimidated by Halloween, or it makes you uncomfortable, by all means don't celebrate the holiday. But do it in silence. If you love Halloween, don't force others to love it with you. People have choice. Just like religion, yes we are called to make disciples, but a disciple CHOOSES to follow, it is not forced to follow. Make up your own mind about Halloween, love it or hate it, just don't judge others for their view.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Forgiving Mel
So, I was planning on finally doing my "Fmylife" blog...but then I was surfing around on the Rotten Tomatoes website (a move critic website), and saw an article about Mel Gibson being turned down for the Hangover 2 sequel. Apparantly, the creator/writer or whoever of the movie wanted Mel to have a cameo in the movie, but the rest of the cast and crew turned down the idea, due to his anti-semetic remarks a while ago. Now, I definately condone these people for standing up for their beliefs...but seriously, can we give the guy a break?
Keep in mind, that the first Hangover starred Mike Tyson, who isn't regarded as a great role model. My point is...I think as a human race we tend to dwell on the past way too much. If someone does something to offend us, we will forver see them as the "person who did this", instead of just a person. Mel Gibson says an anti-semetic remark (keep in mind he was drunk at the time...and his comments were likely taken out of context), and immediately he is thrown under the bus, cast aside and banished. It seems that no matter what he does, he will always be remembered as the person who hates jews. He could probably even make a movie about Judaism, and it would still be seen as a mockery. Tiger Woods will forver be remembered not for his golf, but for his "encounters", Rick Rypien for his altercation with the Minnesote Wild fan (although, i do find that one hilarious!)...there are many people who have been marred by past sins. But is it not time for forgiveness? Can we not move past the past, and instead focus on the future? Jesus forgave those who beat him and hung him on a cross (some of whom did in fact happen to be jewish...so Mel, you were partly right). The ancient Christians were able to, over time, forgive Paul (formerly Saul) even after he killed and persecuted countless Christians. Why is it that we have such a hard time letting past sins go? Why do we hold these things over people? Why can't we let them forever break free? God forgives them...why can't we forgive?
I'm not saying we have to forget...forgetting is hard, especially after someone does something to really hurt us. But give them another chance. Move on....if the guilty party is seeking forgiveness, then give it to them. Love them. Accept them. Forgive them.
Please note, I am not saying that the cast and crew of Hangover 2 are bad people, nor am I saying that the movie should have Mel Gibson in it. This will not stop me from wanting to see the movie (I don't expect it to be as good as the first one...but I do think it will be pretty funny), I am merely making a point. Forgiveness is one of the foundational pillars of the Christian faith (and most other religions actually)...why does it seem that we have lost that over the years? Why do churches split over differences or arguments that can easily be solved with a little love, forgiveness and compromise? Why do friendships dissolve, marriages break up, siblings hate one another? Forgiveness is not easy, I definately understand that...I have people I need to forgive, and have many people who I need to be forgiven from...but it is something we have to do...or at least give a good attempt to do, not some half-hearted "meh" attempt. It's time to forgive the Mel Gibson's of our life...forgive, and move on. Don't hold someone in a certain box...free them, let them out, and let them become more than just one event, one altercation, one sin. We all mess up...we all need forgiveness...it's time to give it!
Keep in mind, that the first Hangover starred Mike Tyson, who isn't regarded as a great role model. My point is...I think as a human race we tend to dwell on the past way too much. If someone does something to offend us, we will forver see them as the "person who did this", instead of just a person. Mel Gibson says an anti-semetic remark (keep in mind he was drunk at the time...and his comments were likely taken out of context), and immediately he is thrown under the bus, cast aside and banished. It seems that no matter what he does, he will always be remembered as the person who hates jews. He could probably even make a movie about Judaism, and it would still be seen as a mockery. Tiger Woods will forver be remembered not for his golf, but for his "encounters", Rick Rypien for his altercation with the Minnesote Wild fan (although, i do find that one hilarious!)...there are many people who have been marred by past sins. But is it not time for forgiveness? Can we not move past the past, and instead focus on the future? Jesus forgave those who beat him and hung him on a cross (some of whom did in fact happen to be jewish...so Mel, you were partly right). The ancient Christians were able to, over time, forgive Paul (formerly Saul) even after he killed and persecuted countless Christians. Why is it that we have such a hard time letting past sins go? Why do we hold these things over people? Why can't we let them forever break free? God forgives them...why can't we forgive?
I'm not saying we have to forget...forgetting is hard, especially after someone does something to really hurt us. But give them another chance. Move on....if the guilty party is seeking forgiveness, then give it to them. Love them. Accept them. Forgive them.
Please note, I am not saying that the cast and crew of Hangover 2 are bad people, nor am I saying that the movie should have Mel Gibson in it. This will not stop me from wanting to see the movie (I don't expect it to be as good as the first one...but I do think it will be pretty funny), I am merely making a point. Forgiveness is one of the foundational pillars of the Christian faith (and most other religions actually)...why does it seem that we have lost that over the years? Why do churches split over differences or arguments that can easily be solved with a little love, forgiveness and compromise? Why do friendships dissolve, marriages break up, siblings hate one another? Forgiveness is not easy, I definately understand that...I have people I need to forgive, and have many people who I need to be forgiven from...but it is something we have to do...or at least give a good attempt to do, not some half-hearted "meh" attempt. It's time to forgive the Mel Gibson's of our life...forgive, and move on. Don't hold someone in a certain box...free them, let them out, and let them become more than just one event, one altercation, one sin. We all mess up...we all need forgiveness...it's time to give it!
Friday, October 15, 2010
The Truth about The Bible
I've been meaning to blog about this for a while now, and am finally doing it. I've had the question in my head recently, "Is the Bible True, or does it only contain Truth?". This question all goes back to my first year at Bethany, when I said something along the lines of, "The Bible is true", and someone said "Is it?". It led to a discussion, in which my only response was, "umm...yes?" followed my a wimper. This of course was before the days that I enjoyed debates and discussions, and actually cowered away from them (my how things have changed). So I raise the question, once again "Is the Bible True?".
This will likely sound horrible and very unChristian, but I would have to argue that the Bible is NOT 100% true, and only CONTAINS Truth. It's a big difference, and may seem to shatter faith, although when you really look at the contents of the Bible, you can't say that everything in the Bible is infallable, True, and Holy. First of all, we have to look at the types of books we have in the Bible. We have letters, we have poetry, we have stories, songs, legends, and proverbs. Now, I am not going to argue that the stories in the Bible are false, and didn't happen. I believe that they did happen, and are true. However, we have to take into consideration that, back in biblical days, it was not uncommon, nor was it frowned upon, to exaggerate stories. Also, it must be remembered that theses stories were passed down verbally for many years before written down. We all know what happens with verbal stories. We've played the game Telephone as kids...we know that usually what is left at the end is not what started. I'm not going to say that the stories are so embellished that only very small fragments are true, but I am saying that we have to keep in mind that things have been embellished slightly, or at least very likely have been. For example, the story of Gideon. We know that story as a man who led 300 men against THOUSANDS of me. Now, he likely had more than 300 men, and perhaps the enemy didn't have as many men as the story says...but the bottom line is...he was vastly outnumbered, and defeated the enemy with God's help in a miraculous way. Does it really matter if he was outnumbered 3 to 1 or 10 to 1? Not really.
These exagerations don't mean that we can't trust the Bible...nor does it mean that the Israelites were liars...it's what was done back then. Numbers were symbolic, for example the number 40. Was it exactly 40 years that the Israelites wandered wht desert? Exactly 40 days and nights that it rained? Who knows....but it was a long time. The number 40 , like the numbers 7, 3 and 12, were very symbolic and meant a lot to the Israelite people. That is why certain numbers appear numerous times throughout Scripture...it's not a coincidence.
Now I want to get into likely the part of the Bible that is most often misread, misunderstood and misinterpreted among Christians. The Psalms. Do you ever notice how we take Psalm 23 and make it out to be whole hearted, 100% infallible truth? We analyze it, tear it apart and meditate over it. I'm not denying its power and beauty. I love it, and think it is a wonderful psalm...but we must remember that it is written by a person, in poetry form. We don't study World War II based solely on the poem "In Flanders Fields", even though that is a wonderful poem. It doesn't contain the whole truth...it's one persons opinion, feeling and description. Now, does Psalm 23 contain truth that is consistent with the rest of Scripture? Of course it does. But the Psalm was written by one person, at a particular time of his life, during certain circumstances. He also wrote Psalms about destroyign cities, killing enemies and having no hope. We don't take Ecclesiastes "Everything is Meaningless" super seriously, nor do we take many of the Proverbs as purely accurate...and yet we read the Psalms as if it is the word of the Lord himself. The Psalsm are beautiful, evoke wonderful emotion, and can be very worshipful...but we can't make them more than what they are. They are poems, hymns and songs.
Finally I want to talk about The Letters, or The Epistles. We can't forget that these books are written by one person to a certain group of people, or in some cases to one particular person. Do they contain truth, and great wisdom? Yes, but we can't attempt to claim every insight and every word as a word written to us. For example, there is a verse in one of the letters about women not being alolowed to lead or speak in church. At first this seems sexist, but when you realize that this was written to one particular church, where the women were gossips, liars, loud, obnoxious and spreading falsehoods, it makes more sense. It's not saying that no women ever should lead or speak in church..it's saying These women in This church.
This blog very likely will be misunderstood as me trying to undermine the Bible. I will probably get nasty comments about how we just need to take all of Scripture as the Holy Words of God. I don't want to make the Bible seem unimportant, false, or incomplete. On the contraty, I want to make sure that we fully understand what we can actually get from the Bible. It's because people take Scripture out of context, and put Truth where there shouldn't be, that we have genocides, sexism, racism, slavery, wars, bigotry, hate, and why Christians are judgemental, and seen as "better than thou". Please, leave a comment, let me know what you think, and feel free to disagree. What do you think, "Is the Bible True, or does it just contains Truth?"
This will likely sound horrible and very unChristian, but I would have to argue that the Bible is NOT 100% true, and only CONTAINS Truth. It's a big difference, and may seem to shatter faith, although when you really look at the contents of the Bible, you can't say that everything in the Bible is infallable, True, and Holy. First of all, we have to look at the types of books we have in the Bible. We have letters, we have poetry, we have stories, songs, legends, and proverbs. Now, I am not going to argue that the stories in the Bible are false, and didn't happen. I believe that they did happen, and are true. However, we have to take into consideration that, back in biblical days, it was not uncommon, nor was it frowned upon, to exaggerate stories. Also, it must be remembered that theses stories were passed down verbally for many years before written down. We all know what happens with verbal stories. We've played the game Telephone as kids...we know that usually what is left at the end is not what started. I'm not going to say that the stories are so embellished that only very small fragments are true, but I am saying that we have to keep in mind that things have been embellished slightly, or at least very likely have been. For example, the story of Gideon. We know that story as a man who led 300 men against THOUSANDS of me. Now, he likely had more than 300 men, and perhaps the enemy didn't have as many men as the story says...but the bottom line is...he was vastly outnumbered, and defeated the enemy with God's help in a miraculous way. Does it really matter if he was outnumbered 3 to 1 or 10 to 1? Not really.
These exagerations don't mean that we can't trust the Bible...nor does it mean that the Israelites were liars...it's what was done back then. Numbers were symbolic, for example the number 40. Was it exactly 40 years that the Israelites wandered wht desert? Exactly 40 days and nights that it rained? Who knows....but it was a long time. The number 40 , like the numbers 7, 3 and 12, were very symbolic and meant a lot to the Israelite people. That is why certain numbers appear numerous times throughout Scripture...it's not a coincidence.
Now I want to get into likely the part of the Bible that is most often misread, misunderstood and misinterpreted among Christians. The Psalms. Do you ever notice how we take Psalm 23 and make it out to be whole hearted, 100% infallible truth? We analyze it, tear it apart and meditate over it. I'm not denying its power and beauty. I love it, and think it is a wonderful psalm...but we must remember that it is written by a person, in poetry form. We don't study World War II based solely on the poem "In Flanders Fields", even though that is a wonderful poem. It doesn't contain the whole truth...it's one persons opinion, feeling and description. Now, does Psalm 23 contain truth that is consistent with the rest of Scripture? Of course it does. But the Psalm was written by one person, at a particular time of his life, during certain circumstances. He also wrote Psalms about destroyign cities, killing enemies and having no hope. We don't take Ecclesiastes "Everything is Meaningless" super seriously, nor do we take many of the Proverbs as purely accurate...and yet we read the Psalms as if it is the word of the Lord himself. The Psalsm are beautiful, evoke wonderful emotion, and can be very worshipful...but we can't make them more than what they are. They are poems, hymns and songs.
Finally I want to talk about The Letters, or The Epistles. We can't forget that these books are written by one person to a certain group of people, or in some cases to one particular person. Do they contain truth, and great wisdom? Yes, but we can't attempt to claim every insight and every word as a word written to us. For example, there is a verse in one of the letters about women not being alolowed to lead or speak in church. At first this seems sexist, but when you realize that this was written to one particular church, where the women were gossips, liars, loud, obnoxious and spreading falsehoods, it makes more sense. It's not saying that no women ever should lead or speak in church..it's saying These women in This church.
This blog very likely will be misunderstood as me trying to undermine the Bible. I will probably get nasty comments about how we just need to take all of Scripture as the Holy Words of God. I don't want to make the Bible seem unimportant, false, or incomplete. On the contraty, I want to make sure that we fully understand what we can actually get from the Bible. It's because people take Scripture out of context, and put Truth where there shouldn't be, that we have genocides, sexism, racism, slavery, wars, bigotry, hate, and why Christians are judgemental, and seen as "better than thou". Please, leave a comment, let me know what you think, and feel free to disagree. What do you think, "Is the Bible True, or does it just contains Truth?"
Friday, October 8, 2010
Glee, God and Grilled Cheesus.
Wow, it has been a while since I last posted. To be honest, I have wanted to blog for a while now, just didn't know what to blog about. I've had a bunch of ideas bouncing around in my brain for a while; a discussion about the Bible and whether the Bible is Truth or just contains Truth, a sort of funny blog from the popular website and book Fmylife (which I still do plan on doing one day...just give it some time), and a look at the Psalms, and whether Christians sometimes take them too seriously. But then I watched Glee. Yes, that's right. I watch Glee. Usually I watch it just for the music, get a few laughs, and then download the songs the next day to put on my ipod. But Tuesday's episode was different. It stirred emotions. It asked questions, and it begged to be discussed. I realize that my blog demographic doesn't include very many Glee lovers (that I know of), so I will try to discuss the episode in a way that will allow those that have not seen the show to appreciate and get involved in the discussion as well. To start with, here is an episode summary:
Finn, the main character of the show, makes a grilled cheese sandwich, and ends up creating the face of Jesus in the burn marks on the bread. He immediately turns religious, and wants to dedicate the week of Glee to singing spiritual songs. Of course, the school (or more specifically Sue Sylvester the arch-nemesis to the Glee club) takes a firm stance against seperationg of Church and State. Then Kurt's dad (Kurt is a fellow Glee member) has a heart attack, and the Glee club tries to comfort Kurt with prayers and spiritual songs. Kurt then professes that he is an atheist...much to the shock and awe of the Glee club.
That is a very quick synopsis of the episode. Yes, there is much more that happened, but I will save those for the discussion part. So let's start with my opinions and discussions.
Grilled Cheesus!
As silly as turning religious after seeing the face of Christ in a grilled cheese sounds, it happens. People turn religious over the silliest, and seemingly stupidest things. A dream, a near-death experience, a relationship...whatever. There is a tendency to try to "find the face of Christ" in everything. We want God to speak to us in every imaginable way, and even when he isn't, we still imagine that he is. It's a major problem. Yes, there are worse problems in life than trying to find God in the ordinary, and I don't want to say that he is not found in the ordinary and everyday life...but it's dangerous to go around and put God's face, or God's voice to things that don't have God's face or voice in them. When we do that, we tend to idolize those things, or that event. We pray to the Grilled Cheese, read The Purpose Driven Life like it is Bible (or even worse, like it is better than the Bible), and learn all we need to know about faith from Facing The Giants (yes...I went there). I am not saying that God can't be found in strange places...he was the "whisper in the wind", but when we go and look for him in those places, and CREATE him in those places, that is when we get ourselves into trouble.
Seperation of Church and State
This can lead to a heated debate here I'm sure. I personally am all for, to some extent, the seperation of church and state. I find it offensive that Christians beg, plead and cry when we aren't alowed to pray/worship publically, but then get angry when they see someone of another religion worship in public. We don't like seperation of church and state for us, but we want it for everyone else. It has to be either no one, or everyone. Christians can be the most arrogant, and selfish people ever. When we don't have it, we demand it, and when others have it we beg for it to be stripped from them. I remember at Bethany, we had a survery in class (I believe it was Issues and Ethics class) in which we were asked if the Lords Prayer should be reinstated into public schools...and a majority, if not unanimously, of the class said no, because once you open the door to the Lords prayer, then you have to open the door to every other religion. It's true..we can't expect to be the only religion given rights. Seperation of Church and State is a good thing, or at least it can be...in my opinion anyway (feel free to disagree and voice your comments).
"I have a hard time believing in a loving God when his followers don't look to highly on gays, or science, or women".
As hurtful and perhaps humorous this comment is, spoken by the gay atheist Kurt, it has a harsh truth to it. I have blogged about this before, but the church treats gays like crap. And there are many churches and Christians who feel that Science is opposed to the Bible, and that all Scientists are out to disprove the existence of God. And as sad as it is, there are churches who don't look highly on women, and are racist as well. It's horrible. As DC Talk says at the start of the song "What if I stumble", 'the biggest cause of atheism in the world today, is Christians'. We claim to serve a loving God, we claim to be a loving and accepting group, and yet we are the most secluded, and often hardest to penetrate (insert innapropriate Office joke here). We are loving and accepting to those who have the same beliefs, same opinions as us...but once we meet someone who believes something different, we close up, segregate and hate. And then, after we push people away (often they are the most needing people as well), we are suprised to find out that they don't believe in God. They calim it's because there is no proof, but deep down it's because of us. We caused them to stop believing in God. So much for being disciples.
...ok I realize that this is getting kind of long so I will do one more, a follow up to the previous discussion point.
Bridge Over Troubled Waters
The episode ends with Kurt going to church, after an invite from Glee member Mercedes (yes, she is black). Despite Kurt being gay, and an atheist, the church is inviting and accepts him. And when the choir, led by Mercedes, sings "Bridge over Troubled Waters", an elderly woman next to Kurt, grabs hold of his hand, which is very significant to the episode as that is the main memory of Kurt and his comatose Father. The show never shows whether Kurt changes his theological beliefs...but the church definately warmed his heart. THAT is how church should be. Could you imagine what would have happened if, as he was expecting, the church closed its doors to him. Pushed him aside. Ignored him, and looked at him condescendigly? His faith in there being no God would have been all but proven. Church should be a place of comfort, healing and faith building. It should be where the spirit of God is most felt. It's too bad that we have turned it into a place of judgement and hate (I'm looking at you Florida pastor who wanted ot publically burn Korans!".
For those of you who watched the episode, there are many more things that can be discussed...please feel free to comment on those things and discuss them. Let me know what you think, do you disagree, agree? Let the discussion, comments and opinions flow!
Finn, the main character of the show, makes a grilled cheese sandwich, and ends up creating the face of Jesus in the burn marks on the bread. He immediately turns religious, and wants to dedicate the week of Glee to singing spiritual songs. Of course, the school (or more specifically Sue Sylvester the arch-nemesis to the Glee club) takes a firm stance against seperationg of Church and State. Then Kurt's dad (Kurt is a fellow Glee member) has a heart attack, and the Glee club tries to comfort Kurt with prayers and spiritual songs. Kurt then professes that he is an atheist...much to the shock and awe of the Glee club.
That is a very quick synopsis of the episode. Yes, there is much more that happened, but I will save those for the discussion part. So let's start with my opinions and discussions.
Grilled Cheesus!
As silly as turning religious after seeing the face of Christ in a grilled cheese sounds, it happens. People turn religious over the silliest, and seemingly stupidest things. A dream, a near-death experience, a relationship...whatever. There is a tendency to try to "find the face of Christ" in everything. We want God to speak to us in every imaginable way, and even when he isn't, we still imagine that he is. It's a major problem. Yes, there are worse problems in life than trying to find God in the ordinary, and I don't want to say that he is not found in the ordinary and everyday life...but it's dangerous to go around and put God's face, or God's voice to things that don't have God's face or voice in them. When we do that, we tend to idolize those things, or that event. We pray to the Grilled Cheese, read The Purpose Driven Life like it is Bible (or even worse, like it is better than the Bible), and learn all we need to know about faith from Facing The Giants (yes...I went there). I am not saying that God can't be found in strange places...he was the "whisper in the wind", but when we go and look for him in those places, and CREATE him in those places, that is when we get ourselves into trouble.
Seperation of Church and State
This can lead to a heated debate here I'm sure. I personally am all for, to some extent, the seperation of church and state. I find it offensive that Christians beg, plead and cry when we aren't alowed to pray/worship publically, but then get angry when they see someone of another religion worship in public. We don't like seperation of church and state for us, but we want it for everyone else. It has to be either no one, or everyone. Christians can be the most arrogant, and selfish people ever. When we don't have it, we demand it, and when others have it we beg for it to be stripped from them. I remember at Bethany, we had a survery in class (I believe it was Issues and Ethics class) in which we were asked if the Lords Prayer should be reinstated into public schools...and a majority, if not unanimously, of the class said no, because once you open the door to the Lords prayer, then you have to open the door to every other religion. It's true..we can't expect to be the only religion given rights. Seperation of Church and State is a good thing, or at least it can be...in my opinion anyway (feel free to disagree and voice your comments).
"I have a hard time believing in a loving God when his followers don't look to highly on gays, or science, or women".
As hurtful and perhaps humorous this comment is, spoken by the gay atheist Kurt, it has a harsh truth to it. I have blogged about this before, but the church treats gays like crap. And there are many churches and Christians who feel that Science is opposed to the Bible, and that all Scientists are out to disprove the existence of God. And as sad as it is, there are churches who don't look highly on women, and are racist as well. It's horrible. As DC Talk says at the start of the song "What if I stumble", 'the biggest cause of atheism in the world today, is Christians'. We claim to serve a loving God, we claim to be a loving and accepting group, and yet we are the most secluded, and often hardest to penetrate (insert innapropriate Office joke here). We are loving and accepting to those who have the same beliefs, same opinions as us...but once we meet someone who believes something different, we close up, segregate and hate. And then, after we push people away (often they are the most needing people as well), we are suprised to find out that they don't believe in God. They calim it's because there is no proof, but deep down it's because of us. We caused them to stop believing in God. So much for being disciples.
...ok I realize that this is getting kind of long so I will do one more, a follow up to the previous discussion point.
Bridge Over Troubled Waters
The episode ends with Kurt going to church, after an invite from Glee member Mercedes (yes, she is black). Despite Kurt being gay, and an atheist, the church is inviting and accepts him. And when the choir, led by Mercedes, sings "Bridge over Troubled Waters", an elderly woman next to Kurt, grabs hold of his hand, which is very significant to the episode as that is the main memory of Kurt and his comatose Father. The show never shows whether Kurt changes his theological beliefs...but the church definately warmed his heart. THAT is how church should be. Could you imagine what would have happened if, as he was expecting, the church closed its doors to him. Pushed him aside. Ignored him, and looked at him condescendigly? His faith in there being no God would have been all but proven. Church should be a place of comfort, healing and faith building. It should be where the spirit of God is most felt. It's too bad that we have turned it into a place of judgement and hate (I'm looking at you Florida pastor who wanted ot publically burn Korans!".
For those of you who watched the episode, there are many more things that can be discussed...please feel free to comment on those things and discuss them. Let me know what you think, do you disagree, agree? Let the discussion, comments and opinions flow!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
3 Guys, a King, and a Fiery Place!
One of the most beloved stories in the Old Testament, at least in my mind, is the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abdnego. It is found in the book of Daniel (right after Ezekiel and before Hosea, if that helps) chapter 3. Now, before we get into that story, let's go through the brief history lesson.
Daniel begins with a siege and exile of Judah. This is the first of 2 exiles the Israelites will face. The Babylonians, led by king Nebuchadnezzar, takes over the nation, but takes back with them some of the smartest, handsomest, strongest and best of the Israeli men. Four of the young men taken to Babylon are Daniel (whose name was changed to Belteshazzar), Hananiah (whose name was changed to Shadrach), Mishael (name changed to Meshach), and Azariah (changed to Abednego).
(Back to the story now!) Not too long after being taken to Babylon, the king Nebuchadnezzar decides to have a gold statue built in his honour. He is a pretty humble guy, so he decides to have it built 90 feet tall, 9 feet wide...and summon everyone to come to the dedication of this idol. Now, Daniel is never mentioned in this story so it is unclear as to where he is during this time. Perhaps he was away on an assingment, or perhaps he actually was there and decided to go along with the crowd. We don't really know. What we do know, is that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Rack, Shack and Benny...as told by Veggie tales) are there, and they don't appreciate what they see. As the story goes, the king tells everyone that at the blow of the trumpet, they are to bow down and worship the idol-those that don't will be cast into a fiery furnace. The trumpet sounds, and everyone but the 3 friends bow down and worship the gigantic image of the king. The King doesn't like this...so he summons them to him. Now, as much as he doesn't appreciate their refusal to bow, he does seem to be a generous king and he offers them another chance. He suggests that maybe they didn't hear the trumpet (of course, seeing thousands of people falling to their faces should have been a clue). He gets everyone set up, and again blows the trumpet, forcing everyone to their faces in adoration and worship. Again, the friends refuse. This time, the King is furious and gets the furnace heated up seven times hotter, and brings Rack, Shack and Benny back to him. Now this is where the story gets really interesting in my opinion. These 3 guys have been looked upon as incredible examples of faith. We tell their story, and talk about how they knew that God would deliver them from the furnace. But we seem to miss the part that, they accept the fact that God may not save them. Verses 17 and 18 recount what they say:
Daniel begins with a siege and exile of Judah. This is the first of 2 exiles the Israelites will face. The Babylonians, led by king Nebuchadnezzar, takes over the nation, but takes back with them some of the smartest, handsomest, strongest and best of the Israeli men. Four of the young men taken to Babylon are Daniel (whose name was changed to Belteshazzar), Hananiah (whose name was changed to Shadrach), Mishael (name changed to Meshach), and Azariah (changed to Abednego).
(Back to the story now!) Not too long after being taken to Babylon, the king Nebuchadnezzar decides to have a gold statue built in his honour. He is a pretty humble guy, so he decides to have it built 90 feet tall, 9 feet wide...and summon everyone to come to the dedication of this idol. Now, Daniel is never mentioned in this story so it is unclear as to where he is during this time. Perhaps he was away on an assingment, or perhaps he actually was there and decided to go along with the crowd. We don't really know. What we do know, is that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Rack, Shack and Benny...as told by Veggie tales) are there, and they don't appreciate what they see. As the story goes, the king tells everyone that at the blow of the trumpet, they are to bow down and worship the idol-those that don't will be cast into a fiery furnace. The trumpet sounds, and everyone but the 3 friends bow down and worship the gigantic image of the king. The King doesn't like this...so he summons them to him. Now, as much as he doesn't appreciate their refusal to bow, he does seem to be a generous king and he offers them another chance. He suggests that maybe they didn't hear the trumpet (of course, seeing thousands of people falling to their faces should have been a clue). He gets everyone set up, and again blows the trumpet, forcing everyone to their faces in adoration and worship. Again, the friends refuse. This time, the King is furious and gets the furnace heated up seven times hotter, and brings Rack, Shack and Benny back to him. Now this is where the story gets really interesting in my opinion. These 3 guys have been looked upon as incredible examples of faith. We tell their story, and talk about how they knew that God would deliver them from the furnace. But we seem to miss the part that, they accept the fact that God may not save them. Verses 17 and 18 recount what they say:
"...If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand. BUT EVEN IF HE DOES NOT, WE WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT WE WILL NOT SERVE YOUR GODS OR WORSHIP THE IMAGE OF GOLD YOU HAVE SET UP"
There are a few key words here..."God is able" and "even if he doesn't". This, in my opinion, is the key to what true faith is. We often have this idea that faith is believing without a shadow of doubt that God will rescue us. We believe that God will give us what we want, because we have faith and are asking it. But I don't believe that that is true faith. That is arrogant faith. These 3 men show what true faith is. It is believe that God is able. Believing that God has the power, and has complete control. But then it is also the knowledge that, while God is able, he may not answer the way we want. These guys were willing to enter the fiery furnace. They were willing to DIE!. They didn't know if God would even save them...they knew he COULD, but they accepted that "even if he doesn't".
We can learn a lot from these 3. They aren't mentioned in the Faith Hall Of Fame in Hebrews 11 (wait, let me check again....nope. Not there), but in my mind they are the perfect example of what true faith is. We need to set aside our arrogance. We need to stop telling God how he should respond. We need to lay aside our 100% certainty that God will answer "in this certain way", and instead remember that, while God is more than able to save us...he may not. True faith is accepting that God may not. These 3 guys were willing to die with that knowledge. Now, we know that God did in fact save them, which is an amazing miracle. But the point, in my mind anyway isn't that God saved them. It's that they were willing to stand up, even if God didn't save them.
So next time someone tells you that something is going to happen because they have faith ("I'll get the job because I have faith", "We'll be safe because I have faith...whatever it may be", remember that God is much bigger than this right here right now. He is more than able to provide, protect, and prosper...but he may not! THAT, my friends, is what true faith is. That is what we can learn from this incredible story of 3 friends, willing to stand up when everyone else bowed down.
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