"The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry."
~ Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell To Arms



"Our lives disconnect and reconnect, we move on, and later we may touch one another, again bounce away. This is the felt shape of a human life, neither simply linear nor wholly disjunctive nor endlessly bifurcating, but rather this bouncey sequence of bumping into's and tumblings apart."
~ Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet



Monday, January 31, 2011

A Poem For Cade..."IF" - Rudyard Kipling...

Love invites us into a journey to accept our acceptance from God and then to accept and to love others on our journeys together...



If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;


If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";


If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;


If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!



"IF" as done by Dennis Hopper on the Johnny Cash Show...


Saturday, January 29, 2011

Bearing Witness To Hope :: ALTER VIDEO MAGAZINE

Bearing Witness To Hope :: ALTER VIDEO MAGAZINE

First Baptist Bar & Grill - Tim Wilson...Funny But True...

Some Grace...SaraKay Smullens: The Complexities of Letting Go

Grace in these words:

"Life events always evoke past hopes, dreams, commitments, and deep losses. Such flashes tell us both that we are human, and that there is no better teacher than life itself.

And this is the mantra all who divorce, either by one's own choice or the choice of the other, or mutually, are wise to hold on to: We are human. Life will bring us gratitude as well as regret. Feelings can be unexpected and complicated. And if we work very hard to accept this, we can and will move forward to something fulfilling. Not perfect, for nothing ever can be perfect over the long haul. But fulfilling, none the less."


Read the whole article here: SaraKay Smullens: The Complexities of Letting Go

Robert Marus: Richard Land Dishonors the Baptist Tradition by Not Standing Up for Religious Minorities

"Islamophobes"...read more:

Robert Marus: Richard Land Dishonors the Baptist Tradition by Not Standing Up for Religious Minorities

Matt Idom: Worshiping God, Not the Bible

"The bible reveals that grace, but can never dispense it. And as one reads the very real, very human struggles of biblical characters that, in all honesty, have the same failures and hang ups as the rest of us, we actually begin to see ourselves. Honestly."

Read more here: Matt Idom: Worshiping God, Not the Bible

Friday, January 28, 2011

"The Rite" - Review from First Things

Just came from watching this movie and thought that it was very good. Will be writing more about it soon.

The Rite…Right or Wrong About Exorcisms? | First Things
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My Place Today...

Looking out from Pizza Luce on a snowy night in Duluth, MN.
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Christianity Today Book Awards 2011

2011 Christianity Today Book Awards | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction
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The Benefits of Monogamy: Tyler Blanski Delivers the Weekly Inspiration - ABC News

My friend Tyler Blanski, author of Mud and Poetry: Love, Sex, and The Sacred had this article published today: The Benefits of Monogamy: Tyler Blanski Delivers the Weekly Inspiration - ABC News Check it out!

Also take a look at his webpage: http://www.mudandpoetry.com/

"The Rite" - RELEVANT Magazine - The Devil of Hollywood

"The Rite is an all-too-rare film that makes that clear, because it has the advantage of being based on the real-life work of a Northern California exorcist named Father Gary Thomas. Thomas and journalist Matt Baglio, who wrote a book about Thomas (also called The Rite), were hired as expert consultants on the film and ensured that it largely stayed grounded in reality rather than sensationalism. The result is a surprisingly faith-filled (yet often dark along the way) film that shows its priests as heroes you can root for, rather than just sacrificial victims of evil.

It is in this fact—the fact that the film unabashedly offers the view that evil exists and Satan is present in the world to this day—that The Rite proves itself as a film of value and worthy of Christian viewing and support. Go and you’ll experience some creepily enjoyable chills and several jaw-dropping moments, but more importantly, you’ll gain true insights into the priests and the process involved in their very front-line battle against the enemy. And if you take it as seriously as the filmmakers clearly have, that kind of strong and well-made reminder can be a good thing for believers indeed."

Read more here: RELEVANT Magazine - The Devil of Hollywood



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is God ever Surprised? 2 | Jesus Creed

Interesting read: Is God ever Surprised? 2 Jesus Creed

Christianist Target Murdered - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Christianist Target Murdered - The Daily Dish By Andrew Sullivan

'The Rite' – Dark but Not Dangerous | Christianpost.com

'The Rite' – Dark but Not Dangerous Christianpost.com

Brian McLaren: Christians in Denial Over Evolution of Faith | Christianpost.com

Brian McLaren: Christians in Denial Over Evolution of Faith Christianpost.com

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Who Is Like Jesus?

NYTimes: Tussling Over Jesus
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Who Does God Hang With?

via HuffPost
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"Never Again" - Holocaust Remembered...

via HuffPost
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My Place Today...

"Skirts & Jeans" at The Landing in Two Harbors, MN.
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Religious Pornography: Jesus Died For This...Really? The Religious Right & Calvary Love...

Uganda Gay Kill: “U.S. Evangelicals Must Take Responsibility” - COLORLINES
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10 Radical Sayings of Jesus- Beliefnet.com

10 Radical Sayings of Jesus- Beliefnet.com

Agreeing With Anne Lamott...

I agree with Anne Lamott | Jesus Creed
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Creation and Worldview...

Creation and Worldview 2 (RJS) | Jesus Creed
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The Door...

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10 TNIV).

There is a door...it is opened...the other side is shrouded in ambiguity...in the unknown...the mystic finds her peace in the clouds of unknowing. The timid crave certainty and absolute answers while the mystic craves the whispers of the Divine that lead inward to the deserts of our souls and nourishes the mystic to move and live amongst the world.



“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is - infinite” ~ William Blake

So...the door...the open door...the hardest part yet remains - the most difficult for all on the journey to being fully alive. And that is to walk through the open door, to swallow our pride, our fears, and follow the whispers. As soon as the threshold of the door is crossed there will be the warm hand of your Savior to grasp onto. He is always waiting, always bidding, always inviting to the new, to life he uniquely created each of us for.

Walk through the door...refreshing waters await you...Life awaits you…

"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to” (Luke 13:24 TNIV).

RELEVANT Magazine - What Does It Mean to REALLY Follow Jesus?

RELEVANT Magazine - What Does It Mean to REALLY Follow Jesus?

Atonement

What exactly does it mean and what is the significance of Jesus dying on the cross? What relevance does it have for our lives and what if any are the cosmic consequences to that action? Also, what is the importance of his life and resurrection if the cross is the central point of why he came to earth in the first place? If we are as Christians going to accept that, “…Jesus’ death and resurrection (which non – Christians usually deny) are nothing less than the centerpieces of world history. Here lies the key to all God’s dealings with humanity. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God freed us from the tyranny of evil and reconciled us to himself. Our relationship with God and our eternal destiny depended on what Jesus did when he died and rose again. On this all Christians have always agreed (Boyd, Eddy, 2009, p. 125). It will be the intent of this paper to examine the differing views on how the above questions are answered by the Penal Substitution, Christus Victor and Moral Government views and explain as well what my position is and why in the atonement debate.

The reason for the atonement debate is that even though there is agreement about the general purposes and affect of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, “What exactly this reconciliation and how exactly this reconciliation was achieved is a matter of dispute…”(2009, p.125). One of the views that attempts to answer these questions is the Penal Substitution position, it has its roots “In the sixteenth century, John Calvin and Martin Luther advocated a view of atonement….They believed that Jesus bore the punishment humanity deserved. Only in this way, they argued, could humanity be reconciled to an all - holy God….that Jesus actually bore the sin of humanity and actually took the punishment humanity deserved” (2009, p. 126). In this view Jesus is the fulcrum from which all punishment and restitution and wrath are assuaged, as, “God the Son freely agreed with the Father to align himself with fallen humanity and to suffer God’s wrath against sin by dying on the cross. This view of the atonement is called the penal substitution view, for Christ accepted the punishment for sin in our place” (2009, p.127). According to this view it is Jesus who actually became sin and as a result the Father poured all his wrath out on his Son so as a consequence, all of us who believe in the name of Jesus will not have to experience what it was that Jesus did on the cross as he did that in our stead for all of our sins. And in, “Another way the New Testament expresses the substitutionary significance of Christ’s death is by saying that Christ was the propitiation for our sin….Christ’s death appeased God’s wrath toward sin because Christ received the punishment God’s holiness demanded” (2009, p.129). The most advantageous aspect to this view is that, “…it is the only view that makes clear how an all-holy God could reconcile sinners with himself (2009, p. 130). However, the most troubling aspect of this view is that it, “…requires us to believe that the Father literally rejected and judged the Son while he hung on the cross….a real separation occurred between the Father and Son. This opinion runs counter to the biblical and traditional understanding that the three Persons of the Trinity are inseparable” (2009, p.142).

Another way to answer the questions surrounding the atonement is the Moral Government View that believes, “The point of Jesus’ death was for God to ‘show righteousness.’ Because of his love, God demonstrated his wrath against sin to deter all humankind from sinning. The atonement, in other words, was the means by which God preserved his moral government of the world” (2009, p. 138). This position emphasizes the importance of how a person ought to live when considering the consequences of sin and contrasts with penal substitution because even, “Though many believers mistakenly think holiness before God is merely a legal stance made possible because Christ took the punishment for sin, the Bible emphasizes that God’s goal for his people is that they live actually live holy lives….God established his moral government by showing the severe consequences of disobedience, thus motivating people to walk according to God’s law. One of the unfortunate consequences of the penal substitution view of the atonement is that it often has the opposite effect” (2009, p. 139). Perhaps, the strongest aspect of this position is that it, “…does not require people to believe the incoherent notion that Jesus literally bore the guilt of other people. Nor does it ask people to believe that God sees them as righteous even when their lives are sinful” (2009, p.141).

The third way in which to view the atonement is the Christus Victor position which holds that, “The primary significance of Christ’s death and resurrection is that they defeated God’s archenemy, Satan” (2009, p.132) As, “Jesus thus acknowledges that Satan is the highest power of this present fallen world, at least in terms of his present influence. That is why Jesus does not dispute Satan’s claim that he has been given ‘authority’ over ‘all the kingdoms of this world’ (Luke 4:5-6) (2009, p.133). What does this mean, it is simply this, “The central significance of the Messiah is that he is victorious over everything and everyone who opposes God and all the evil forces that have enslaved humanity throughout the ages” (2009, p.133). And, “The main way Jesus defeated Satan and his kingdom, however, was by his death and resurrection” (2009, p.133). The clearest scripture on this is, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col 2:15 TNIV). Jesus in this view, “…did all that was necessary to release us from the bondage to Satan, sin, and condemnation” (2009, p.135).

The most compelling aspect to the Christus Victor view of the atonement is that it, “…brings a thematic unity to Jesus’ life, teachings, and ministry, while the other views do not. The unifying theme of Jesus’ ministry was his warfare against the kingdom of darkness. His teaching, exorcisms, and healing ministry were all warfare activities. His death and resurrection simply culminated this activity” (2009, p.135). And perhaps the culminating thought on this view as opposed to the other two views presented is that, “While Jesus’ death paid the price for human sin (substitutionary view) and/or demonstrated the severity of God’s judgment against sin (moral government view), these views isolate Jesus’ death and resurrection from the rest of his activity. They are combined with the Christus Victor understanding (2009, p. 135).

In the introduction I posed the question as to what if any affect the atonement had on the cosmic realm and it is only the Chritsus Victor view which in any way attempts to answer this question. It does so because, “The atonement is a cosmic issue before it is a soteriological issue because evil is a cosmic issue before it is a human issue. The primary battle that ravages creation is not the battle between God and rebellious humans but the battle between God and cosmic principalities and powers….Christ entered our world as a man, conquered Satan, and then empowered the church to apply his victory to every area of life. As a result, not only is humanity freed from the power of the devil, but the entire creation is also restored” (2009, p.136).

As I have been writing this paper and contemplating the differing views on the atonement I feel most comfortable with the Chritsus Victor position and I am somewhat sympathetic to the Moral Government position, and the most distant from Penal Substitution position. This is likely due to the fact that I hold a warfare worldview and the Christus Victor position is most closely if not completely aligned with that view.

An Afterthought:

Here is a thought that occurred to me while thinking about the atonement: Jesus on the cross is God. Then in some way, mysterious as it may be, God “knew” sin as Paul wrote, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God “ (2Co 5:21). So, for sake of argument, Jesus in the hypostatic union became “sin for us” if we are to have a literal reading/understanding of this text then some change had to have happened within the Trinity. God then is more mutable than immutable at least in an existential sense and quite possibly in an ontological sense if this “sin for us” in all its potentiality had to go somewhere and be absorbed in some definitive way as to be eliminated in principle on the cross.

Taking Karl Barth’s concept of “nothingness” and thinking about it with Greg Boyd’s concept of a middle way between the annihilationist and classical view of hell that he outlines in the final chapter of Satan and the Problem of Evil: Constructing a Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy where he also uses Barth’s “nothingness” in his argument and thinking about these ideas in the context of the cross and atonement what I am proposing is this: evil – which is “nothingness” or “darkness” as it is ultimately devoid of any life (zoa) or “light” when completely separated from God or to borrow from Tillich, “the ground of all being” evil then devoid of “being” in a very real ontological sense is no longer a participant in “the ground of all being.” Then when Jesus is “sin for us” on the cross all sin/evil/missing the mark/nothingness/darkness is absorbed into the “ground of all being” and extinguished into itself in a similar way that matter collapses into itself in a black hole. There “sin for us” is enveloped into itself and its being is “nothingness,” it state is separation in complete self absorption and all this is occurring for the briefest of moments in time (Jesus as God in time) on the cross when Jesus died. And in that brief window of time, Satan glimpsed his utter and complete defeat into oblivion and nothingness but now cannot comprehend it while in complete self absorption – hence his futile attempts to still conquer grace [But where sin increased, grace increased all the more… (Rom 5:20 b)] In principle then evil/sin on the cross was dealt a death blow (Col 2:15) and is now merely in a state of anticipatory collapse into “nothingness” at the culmination of time at the return of Christ.

Bibliography


Bible, TNIV.

Boyd, Gregory, A and Eddy, Paul, R. (2009) Across the Spectrum. Baker Academic.

Geography and Ontology….

It is somehow time to be in Two Harbors, MN and yet it is time not be here.

This juxtaposition of reality has and continues to be occurring - as a result I have an inexorable pull to go to go on a journey.

When in Two Harbors it is as if I am in some sort of inextricable bubble of time and space so that simultaneously Two Harbors is my residence but not my home. And so, the vertigo and bewilderment cascade about me and the recurring notion intensifies that the answers to the questions that forever swirl within me are to be known and experienced while in a different place, a new geographic space.

Geography seems to be more important than epistemology. The epistemological quandaries are to be resolved by geography.

Not sure exactly what exactly that means. But I will know when it happens -of that I am convinced.

Indeed, something has to shift, be traversed, and be scaled so that then, the cool fresh breezes will blow over my defeated soul. Geography will create ontology. And then, then, there will be release.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Crisis Of Faith...

"A crisis of faith -- when you seriously question whether what you believe/how you see/what you're committed to is actually true -- is a good thing.

It's not pleasant. It hurts. The ground goes wobbly. You may be reaching for sleeping pills or alcohol or a lover to get you from 2 to 4:30 a.m. each night."

~ Kent Annan

As I read these opening sentences in Kent Annan’s article, “A crisis of faith -- when you seriously question whether what you believe/how you see/what you're committed to is actually true -- is a good thing. It's not pleasant. It hurts. The ground goes wobbly. You may be reaching for sleeping pills or alcohol or a lover to get you from 2 to 4:30 a.m. each night.”

I was reminded of something Anne Lamott had commented on in one of her books – Anne had written about Bono’s two favorite songs, “Help Me Make It Through The Night” and “Amazing Grace.” Apparently, Bono had quipped that these two songs or the sentiments in the lyrics can get a person through just about anything and I would have to agree.

When I read, “You may be reaching for sleeping pills or alcohol or a lover to get you from 2 to 4:30 a.m. each night” I was reminded of Bono’s two favorite songs.

Another sentence of Kent’s, “Whatever causes a crisis of faith, there is often emotional, intellectual, spiritual turbulence along the way” is another way of describing what I have called vertigo of the soul. The rendering of balance and sense inconsequential, the dizziness of even standing becomes a burden. Often you find yourself on the floor, paralyzed and wrought with bewilderment and doubt – the confusing in-betweens of knowing and not knowing simultaneously.

I think that Jesus felt (at least I like to imagine) that he felt like this in Gethsemane and I believe he did which is why Brennan Manning has written about each of us at some point in our faith journey having to experience our own personal Gethsemane. And as we do, and while we reach for whatever it is that gets us through the ordeal - we know that in the midst of it God is is with us.

Read Kent Annan’s full article here: Embrace Your Crisis Of Faith

Friday, January 21, 2011

Keeping The Faith :: ALTER VIDEO MAGAZINE

Great, honest, frank discusson by Yale Divinity professor Jeremy Hultin...

Keeping The Faith :: ALTER VIDEO MAGAZINE

Divine Milieu...U2 - For The First Time....



I have a lover, a lover like no other
She got soul, soul, soul, sweet soul
And she teach me how to sing.

Shows me colours when there's none to see
Gives me hope when I can't believe
That for the first time I feel love.

I have a brother, when I'm a brother in need
I spend my whole time running
He spends his running after me.

I feel myself goin' down
I just call and he comes around.
But for the first time I feel love.

My father is a rich man, he wears a rich man's cloak.
He gave me the keys to his kingdom (coming)
Gave me a cup of gold.

He said "I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see."
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key
And I threw away the key.

For the first time, for the first time
For the first time, I feel love.

On Loneliness | Jesus Creed

On Loneliness | Jesus Creed

Alvin McEwen: Religious Right Doesn't Want LGBT Children to Have Parental Support

Alvin McEwen: Religious Right Doesn't Want LGBT Children to Have Parental Support

Rev. James Martin, S.J.: 6 Paths to God: The Path of Independence

Rev. James Martin, S.J.: 6 Paths to God: The Path of Independence

Rev. James Martin, S.J.: How To Find God: The Path of Belief

Rev. James Martin, S.J.: How To Find God: The Path of Belief

Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Screwtape Letters Onstage: One Hell of a Good Show | Two Handed Warriors

The Screwtape Letters Onstage: One Hell of a Good Show | Two Handed Warriors

What Do You Want From Me? Hmmm...

Group hug « The Dude Abides

Group hug « The Dude Abides

More on sexuality, and C. S. Lew - Brian McLaren

More on sexuality, and C. S. Lew - Brian McLaren

Rev. James Martin, S.J.: Do Mass Animal Deaths Signal the Apocalypse? (VIDEO)

Rev. James Martin, S.J.: Do Mass Animal Deaths Signal the Apocalypse? (VIDEO)

Jeffrey Small: Faith is Trusting God, Not Belief in Doctrine

Jeffrey Small: Faith is Trusting God, Not Belief in Doctrine

Exploring Christian LGBT Issues With Jay Bakker

Exploring Christian LGBT Issues With Jay Bakker

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Shifting Moral Culture...

The knowledge of good and evil seems to be the aim of all ethical reflection. The first task of Christian ethics is to invalidate this knowledge.

Jesus calls men, not to a new religion, but to life.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In his book Moral Freedom, Alan Wolfe writes about a shift that he believes is occurring in the cultural landscape of America, most notably in the sphere of morality. What are the reasons for this shift in the moral culture and is its influence being manifested in the rest of the world? Answering those two questions and commenting on the how this shift challenges the Christian worldview will be the intent of this paper.

Alan Wolfe puts forth the idea that, “…the three main formative institutions –family, school, and church – are as important as they ever were if people are to learn what it means to be a moral person” (Wolfe, 2001, p. 186). However, “…Americans look with suspicion on all of them” (2001, p.186) which is one of the reasons that Wolfe gives for the moral shift, because as he writes, “Our respondents seem to be rejecting old fashioned ideas of character formation without having well-articulated new ones to put in their place (2001, p.186). In his estimation, Wolfe see’s a jettison of the “old ideas” and as a consequence a vacuum being created which is the abyss of moral freedom. The apparent lifting of the strictures of an established moral system and the corresponding existential choices afforded the autonomous individual are part of the moral situation that America finds itself in. As individual believe or feel that it is now up to them to decide good and evil and often for practical personal reasons, or put another way – what works best for them is the best thing.

All that to say, “Americans have become comfortable with the idea of moral freedom because its optimistic theory of human nature makes more sense to them than the one it replaced. Earlier worldviews in America, from the Puritans’ to the Victorians’, argued that a strong God, like a strong state, was required by the failings of weak people. Many of our respondents do not view themselves as weak (2001, p. 197). Consequently, Wolfe argues that the moral freedom now known in America is, “…so radical an idea, so disturbing in its implications, that it has never had much currency among any but a few of the West’s great moral theorists. Even those who made passionate arguments in defense of freedom in general did not extend their arguments to moral freedom (2001, p.200).

Does America’s moral freedom or moral code migrate to the rest of the world? And if it does, what is the significance if any? Julia Galeota wrote, “…it would be nearly impossible to create one bland culture in a world of over six billion people. And nor should we want to. Contrary to Rothkopf’s (and George W. Bush’s) belief that, ‘Good and evil, better and worse coexist in this world,’ there are no such absolutes in this world. The United States should not be able to relentlessly force other nations to accept its definition of what is ‘good’ and ‘just’ or even ‘modern’ (Galeota, 2004, p. 276). Beyond the issues of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ and who decides and enforces these moral codes, “…the issue of cultural imperialism remains. Larger and more intrusive networks of communication, trade, and economic exchange bring values. In this world of value collision comes choices and change. Unfortunately, millions will find themselves drawn toward a lifestyle of materialism that carries with it a host of value choices” (Harf, 2009, p.283). The suggested cultural imperialism of America or more generally the West may have some part to play in the migration of moral freedom as technology continues to develop that makes communication quicker and easier.

As easily as currency can be exchanged through the global financial system and as integrated as the global economic and political systems are so too are the spectrum of ideas and thought. It would not be possible to contain a thought or an idea such as moral freedom which is defined as an idea that means, “…that individuals should determine for themselves what it means to lead a good and virtuous life” (Wolfe, 2001, p. 195). Moral freedom opens the possibility to Americans and anyone to, “…find answers to the perennial questions asked by theologians and moral philosophers, not by confronting to strictures handed down by God or nature, but by considering who they are, what others require, and what consequences follow from acting one way rather than another” (2001, p. 195). As the utility and practicality of moral freedom becomes more ubiquitous in America it is hard to imagine that it would not find receptive adherents in other parts of the global system.

When thinking about what challenges the idea of moral freedom brings to the Christian worldview one could think dismally and agree with some that there would be a need to get back to some sort of right moral code to make good people. However, the Christian goal is not to make “good” people, but rather to create people like Jesus and this isn’t accomplished by rules or a moral code but by faith and transformation. So, the idea of moral freedom and whatever that may mean or look like for various individuals may indeed not be a challenge but an opportunity for discipleship as out of moral freedom can come crisis and decision which can lead to a faith which is authentic and rooted in love rather than fear based behavior modification.

To understand how this concept of moral freedom can be an opportunity it is first necessary, “…to understand and internalize the biblical teaching that our fundamental sin is not our evil – as though the solution for sin was to become good – but our getting life from what we believe is our knowledge of good and evil. Our fundamental sin is that we place ourselves in the position of God and divide the world between what we judge to be good and what we judge to be evil. And this judgment is the primary thing that keeps us from doing the central thing God created and saved us to do, namely, love like he loves (Boyd, 2004, p.17). This central Christian theme about love and not judgment is paramount to a Christian worldview and is not determinate upon a moral code; in fact it is antithetical to it. Boyd wrote, “Because we do not usually understand and internalize the nature of our fundamental sin, we usually think our job as Christians is to embrace a moral system, live by it, and thus to be good people in contrast to all those who are evil….God’s goal for us is much more profound and much more beautiful than merely being good: it is to do the will of God by being loving, just as God is loving” (2004, p.17). By letting go of the idea that a moral code is what is needed for Christianity so that its adherents can become “good” then there can be a corresponding collapsing of our judgments of others and even the judgment of the concept of moral freedom itself can occur.

Jesus becomes the compulsion to loving action in the world so then moral freedom is not a challenge but really a necessity for discipleship. For if all an individual is doing is following a moral code, perhaps out of fear or some other sort of compulsion and this moral code is altering behavior but not essential being, then what good is the moral code to that person? It is not real and in many ways would in fact perpetuate a deception as to who that person really is.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer indeed was correct when he wrote, “The knowledge of good and evil seems to be the aim of all ethical reflection. The first task of Christian ethics is to invalidate this knowledge” (quoted in Boyd, 2004, p. 13). Moral freedom in a sense can be seen as a part of the invalidation of the knowledge that Bonhoeffer was thinking about and the liberating opportunity that comes from the possibilities of being free in Christ and not bound or caught in a religion or religious or secular system that attempts to curb or tweak behavior but fails at transforming an individual into a truly free human being and not a human doing. Jesus, “… calls men, not to a new religion, but to life.”


Bibliography

Galeota, Julia (2004) Cultural Imperialism: An American Tradition. In J. E. Harf, & M. O. Lombardi, (Eds.), Taking sides: clashing views on controversial issues (5th ed.), (p. 276). Dubuque: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin.


Boyd, Gregory A. (2004) Repenting of Religion: Turning from Judgment to the Love of God . Baker Books.


Harf, J.E. & Lombardi, M.O. (Eds.), (2009). Taking sides: clashing views on controversial issues (5rded.), Dubuque: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin.
Wolfe, Alan. (2001)

Moral Freedom: The Search for Virtue in a World of Choice
.W.N. Norton & Company.

Religious Pornography: Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven!

Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven!

Religious Pornography: Christianism Watch - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

See: http://acograce.blogspot.com/2011/01/religious-pornography.html

And then read this:

Christianism Watch - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Religious Pornography...

Religious Pornography: the creative activity (writing or pictures or films, etc.) which has no artistic, theological, hermeneutical or philosophical value other than to stimulate religious desire and lust - usually depicting religious behavior, actions, words, ceremonies for the intent to cause religious excitement and exuberance as well as judgment of the “other”.


What does religion mean? In what sense am I using the word?


Here is a one of the best descriptions of what I mean given by Gregory A. Boyd, “…religious people feed the hunger of their heart by striving to impress whatever picture of God or gods they embrace with the rightness of their beliefs and behaviors – in contrast to the wrongness of others’ beliefs and behaviors” (Boyd, The Myth of A Christian Religion: Losing Your Religion for the Beauty of a Revolution p. 59).

Boyd also writes, “…religious idolatry is particularly resistant to the Kingdom of God. It’s no coincidence that the main opposition Jesus faced in establishing the Kingdom came from the guardians of the religious status quo – the Pharisees, religious scribes, and the like. So it should not surprise us that the main opposition to advancing the Kingdom in our day comes from contemporary guardians of the religious status quo” (Boyd, p. 50).

Who did Jesus hang out with? How did those he spent time with delineate between his life giving presence and the life taking presence of “the guardians of the religious status quo”?

Well, “One of the most shocking aspects of Jesus’ ministry is that he befriended tax collectors, prostitutes, and other ‘sinners.’ He even went to parties with them! They seemed to want to hang out with Jesus. This tells us something important about the Kingdom of God….Prostitutes were viewed as undermining the moral fabric of society, while tax collectors were seen as traitors because they worked for the oppressive Roman government, which most Jews despised. No wonder Jesus’ association with these groups ruined his reputation among religious leaders…” (Boyd, p.62).

Sadly, there is much religious pornography extant and propagated by the modern Church. Religious pornography is analogous to the golden calf the Israelites built while Moses was on the mountain:

"When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him." Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD." So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry" (Exodus 32:1-6 TNIV).

All religious pornography is an attempt to get life from something other than God - and all varieties of idolatry exist to make “us” feel better than “them.” Something Jesus never did! As a consequence of this, “…on the whole today’s prostitutes and tax collectors steer as far away from Christians as they did the Pharisees in the first century. Nothing could be a greater indictment of the modern Church than this” (Boyd, p.64).

Unfortunately, purveyors of religious pornography resist the liberating revolution that Jesus inaugurated as addiction to religion is far more fulfilling in its immediate gratification of the self and therefore there is the constant need to continually have that need met rather than turning to the true lasting source of Life. For to do that would require a complete relinquishing of the addiction to religious pornography and the intense fervor of being right and being the maintainers of the arbitrary religious status quo that stands in stark contrast to the example of Jesus.

For Jesus, “…was known for the scandalous way he loved. The religious people viewed him as an anarchist eroding the moral fabric of society because of his refusal to recognize their all-important distinction between their ‘holiness’ and all they judged to be ‘unholy.’ Tragically, Christians today often see themselves as the primary defenders and promoters of this very distinction. Rather than viewing themselves as ‘the worst of sinners,’ as Jesus and Paul command, many view themselves as the morally superior guardians of society who will protect it from those they judge to be the ‘worst of sinner.’ So, instead of being known as outrageous lovers, Christians are largely viewed as self righteous judgers. No wonder the prostitutes and tax collectors of our day are repelled by us” (Boyd, pp.64-65).

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Jesus calls not to a new religion but to life” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison, p. 482) and this life is the way to the freedom of the abundant life, as Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

Starting with this post as an explanation and defining of both religious pornography and religion, I will be periodically posting examples of what I have hopefully defined here as both. The examples will be under the title “Religious Pornography” – and it is my hope that, “…we cease getting Life from the rightness of our beliefs and behaviors and return to getting it from the one true source of Life” (Boyd, p. 65).

Cathleen Falsani gets it right - Brian McLaren

Cathleen Falsani gets it right - Brian McLaren

Exhaustive Definitive Foreknowledge...


The foreknowledge debate is essentially about how God exercises his sovereignty, not at all about whether or not he is sovereign. The issue surrounds exhaustive definitive foreknowledge (EDF), what it is and how God as the sovereign Lord of all, chose to create the world and the reality in which we as humans exist in, and he as God relates to us in. This discussion is framed within the constructs of three principle positions: the Arminian view – God foreknows future free actions, the Calvinist view – God foreknows by sovereignly ordaining the future, and the Open view – God foreknows all that shall be and all that may be (Boyd, Eddy, 2009, p. 47). All three of these positions will be examined within this paper and the one that I find most compelling and why will be explained along with how the position influences a disciple’s life in a positive passionate way.

This debate starts with the premise that, “Most Christians throughout history have believed that God knows everything that is to come. This is often referred to as the ‘classical’ view of divine foreknowledge, and it is still what the majority of evangelicals believe” (2009, p.48). From this premise however, “…a number of variations within the classical view” (2009, p. 48) emerge and the first “variation” that will be looked at is the Arminian view. The view held by Arminians is, “…that, while God predetermines certain aspects of the future, he leaves other aspects for free agents to determine….Arminians believe God still possesses that ability to foreknow with certainty how these free agents will choose. God thus foreknows all that will come to pass without predetermining all that will come to pass” (2009, p.50). An important aspect to the Arminian position is that, “Arminians deny that foreknowledge implies meticulous divine control...” and “While God certainly foreknows all that he foreordains, there’s no reason to conclude that God foreordains all that he foreknows…”(2009, p.53). In relation to EDF Arminians would believe that, “…God knows all that shall occur in the same way he knows as that is now occurring and all that has occurred. He simply sees it, but doesn’t necessarily bring it about. Much of what is brought about is the result of decisions made by free agents. Yet God knows it – past, present, and future – in exhaustive, definite detail” (2009, p. 52).

Another view of God’s foreknowledge and the degree to which God has EDF and what that means is the Calvinists view. The, “Calvinists agree with the Arminians in affirming that God possesses exhaustively, definite and eternal foreknowledge of all that shall come to pass….Calvinists hold that God’s foreknowledge is based on how God wills the future to unfold” (2009, p. 55). For Calvinists everything that occurs is within the scope of God’s will, nothing in reality is outside the control and will of God and this is the main way in which they differ from Armininians and Open Theists as Calvinists believe, “…that every detail of history is just such a state of affairs, for nothing takes place outside the will of God….God leaves nothing to chance…” (2009, p. 57).

With Open Theists and their view on EDF, the largest departure in position from Arminians and Calvinists occurs over what it is that God knows in the future. For, “…both Arminians and Calvinists agree that an omniscient God must know the future exclusively in terms of what will certainly come to pass….Open Theists depart from this view of foreknowledge and hold instead that the future is not just about what will come to pass but also about what may or may not come to pass” and “…while Arminians and Calvinists both hold that the future is exhaustively known by God in an eternal and definite manner, Open Theists hold that the future, since it is partly unsettled or ‘open,’ is known to God as such” (2009, p. 62). Open Theists posit their believe as the result of biblical and philosophical reasons, for, “Open Theists hold that the future is partly settled and partly unsettled primarily because they find this view reflected in Scripture…They affirm that God is the sovereign Lord of history who can predestine, and therefore, as much of the future as he chooses. Open Theists part with the classical tradition, however, in their denial that these settled passages tell the whole story. For there are also many other passages that depict the future as unsettled, and Open Theists believe that these passages must be taken just as seriously as the settled passages” (2009, p. 63).

For me the most compelling of the three views on EDF is the Open Theists position primarily because it affords the possibility of an infinitely wiser, intelligent God that does not need coercion or control to bring about good or a purpose to every evil. He can do this as his, “… wisdom is magnificent” (Isa 28:29b TNIV). The God who is infinitively intelligent can know every possibility and manage all of them as though they will or will not or may or may not occur and have a contingency for every possibility so that he can bring a purpose to every possibility that is chosen so that every negative may become a positive. Therefore, God not needing to have a specific divine purpose for everything that occurs prior to it occurring is in my estimation a more praise worthy, loving God. He willing risked and created reality in such a way as to relinquish some control and give his creation, both angelic and human libertarian free will that actually affects reality so that the possibility of love exists. Without a reality that involves risk and libertarian free will it is hard to imagine the real existence of love as love must be chosen to be genuine and not merely controlled or coerced.

As I have contemplated EDF the most compelling aspects of it are that it postulates a significantly more compelling intellectual argument for grappling with the problem of evil. The Calvinist, “Failing to distinguish between the sovereign use God makes of evil decisions on the basis of his foreknowledge, on the one hand, and foreknown occurrence of evil as part of God’s sovereign purpose, on the other, lands Calvinism in the deepest ditch of the notorious problem of evil” (2009, p53). And it is in the getting out of this “deepest ditch” that the Open Theist position is the most advantageous as it not only provides a philosophical and scriptural way out of the ditch, but more importantly it gives value to our prayers and how they can actually change reality by affecting God. This I believe for me is what allowed my heart to follow my mind and open up new vistas of how I think and worship such a great God because, “The open view thus infuses the Christian life with a sense of passion, significance, and urgency” and “…is the most plausible view because it squares with our everyday life….we all live as though the open view were true” (2009, p. 65). In my experience especially over the past couple of years I have found this to be increasingly true.

The EDF discussion is intriguing and there are obviously many facets to it and also a degree of mystery that I do not think anyone would deny as we are attempting to wrap our finite minds around the infinite - grasping to get an “eff of the ineffable.” Nevertheless, to the degree that we desire to know the mind of God, the more praiseworthy and glorious I believe he becomes and all the more my passion to worship him becomes enflamed within me.

Bibliography
Bible, TNIV.

Boyd, Gregory, A and Eddy, Paul, R. (2009) Across the Spectrum. Baker Academic.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

How I Feel Again...

"Inside I felt like I was carryin' the broken spirits,

Of all the other ones who lost,

When the promise is broken you go on living,

But it steals something from down in your soul,

Like when the truth is spoken and it don't make no difference,
Something in your heart goes cold.."
~ Bruce Springsteen

My Place Today...

A Long Island Ice Tea, thinking and writing at Dunnigans Pub...

A Cup of Grace: My Anniversay...A Post Script...

A Cup of Grace: My Anniversay...A Post Script...: "Thinking back to what I posted last week on this blog about my anniversary and all my feelings and all the emotions that were swirling withi..."

My Anniversay...A Post Script...

Thinking back to what I posted last week on this blog about my anniversary and all my feelings and all the emotions that were swirling within me and about some of the responses that I received about those posts.

To begin with my, anniversary posts were the most popular that I have ever written, there were even more readers of them than any of the Bar Church AP posts. That tells me that people are most interested in how we as humans deal with hurt and loss than anything else. What we can call our collective, shared human experience.

Striking to me are those who presume to know.


Know what another human being is going through…none of us can possibly know what it is like to experience another’s life. Not only did God not know what it was to be human until Jesus came and God lived as a human being as the writer of Hebrews expressed, “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered...” (Hebrews 5:8 TNIV).

The most comforting thing is simply to be with one that is hurting or suffering, it is not the words or the advice that is given that matters – those two things are actually quickly forgotten. What comforts are not words but presence…both human and divine. To be with another is to participate, to be in solitary with an aching friend. To be present and listen...

Look to the book of Job…where his friends, “… sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was” (Job 2:13).

Expressing hurt is to be human; being transparent and authentic is the reality of what we are, how we were created by God. The evil one wants to divide and conquer, to bind us up in our own selves and it is only through brutal transparency that we are free to be in the words of Irenaeus, “…man (woman) fully alive…” - as one of my favorite authors Anne Lamott has written, “God is more into honesty than anything else…” her argument being that God then has someplace to start with us - in our honesty.

As examples of that - look to the man who had the heart of God, David - if there had been anti-depressants in his time we would not have the Psalms.


David wrote,

“My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, ‘Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm’” (Psalm 55:4-8).

And…

“I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal. You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you. Lord, the LORD Almighty, may those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me; God of Israel, may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me. For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face. I am a foreigner to my own family, a stranger to my own mother's children….” (Psalm 69:2-8).

In the New Testament Paul glaringly writes of his present condition and struggles in his letter to the Romans,


“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death” (Rom 7:15-24)?

And then in a letter to Timothy, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst” (1Ti 1:15).

If Paul and David make such statements - how much more can we also speak of our struggles, difficulties, pain, anguish and moments of despair?



I say speak our hearts in all the brutal and raw honesty we can muster regardless of what anyone may say - as Paul wrote,

“Am I now trying to win human approval, or God's approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).

My prayer is to agree with Paul,

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).



Faith Gets Star Treatment At Sundance

Faith Gets Star Treatment At Sundance

Silent & Alone with God...

Grace - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Monday, January 17, 2011

Bon Jovi - Abraham, Martin & John...

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction ... The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

Martin Luther King Jr. Strength To Love, 1963.

MLK..."Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Robert F. Kennedy..."The Mindless Menace of Violence"

Here is the speech given by Robert F. Kennedy the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. Robert F. Kennedy spoke at the City Club of Cleveland, April 5, 1968




Martin Luther King, Jr. - "I Have A Dream Speech"...

RELEVANT Magazine - The Spiritual Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

RELEVANT Magazine - The Spiritual Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King’s Famous Letter | Jesus Creed

Martin Luther King’s Famous Letter Jesus Creed

MLK...

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.


10 Martin Luther King, Jr., Quotations

10 Martin Luther King, Jr., Quotations

Remembering MLK...

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation.

The foundation of such a method is love."

Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, Sweden, December 11, 1964.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

My Week...

When your day is long and the night, the night is yours alone,

When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on

Don't let yourself go, 'cause everybody cries n everybody hurts sometimes

Sometimes everything is wrong.

Now it's time to sing along

When your day is night alone, (hold on, hold on)If you feel like letting go, (hold on)

If you think you've had too much of this life, well hang on...

If you're on your own in this life, the days and nights are long,

When you think you've had too much of this life to hang on...

Divine Milieu...The Dixie Chicks - Easy Silence...

When the calls and conversations

Accidents and accusations

Messages and misperceptions

Paralyze my mind

Busses, cars, and airplanes leaving

Burnin' fuel and gasoline and

And everyone is running and I come to find a refuge in the easy silence that you make for me

It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me

And the peaceful quiet you create for me

And the way you keep the world at bay for me

The way you keep the world at bay...

Son Of Jim And Tammy Faye Finds His Own 'Grace' : NPR

Son Of Jim And Tammy Faye Finds His Own 'Grace' : NPR

Postmodern Wells: Creating A Third Place : Mark Batterson

Postmodern Wells: Creating A Third Place : Mark Batterson

Divine Milieu....The Travelling Wilburys - Handle With Care...

"Reputations changeable

Situations tolerable

Baby, you're adorable

Handle me with care

I'm so tired of being lonely

I still have some love to give

Won't you show me that you really care..."

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Gays and God=?UTF-8?B?4oCZcyBCZWViZSBC?=ird Massacre » Blog » Greg Boyd (Christus Victor Ministries)

Grace...


“In a world where the first are first and the only way to be the most intelligent or best – looking or the most successful, it is hard to get reconditioned to the conditioning of grace. A flower doesn’t bloom in one hour of sunlight, and a believer’s soul needs constant exposure to the rays of grace day after day, year after year, before it moves from an intellectual assent to a truth that our lives bask in and live by.”

~ Steve Stockman, from Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2

Smoking, Drinking, Swearing and The Kingdom of God....

“Evangelicals believe they are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9), but then add a man-made waiver that you have to work as hard as you can to meet middle-class behavioral patterns to hang onto it. It seems to be contrary to the Gospel, where among the many teachings of Jesus regarding servanthood, the last become first. It is an upside-down kingdom contradicting what the natural order of the first and the best winning. The Church therefore should be radically opposed to such a success syndrome. It seems this affected Bono.

Another strange quirk about the Church is it has specific qualities that indicate whether you are an ‘acrobat.’Usually, they have to do with swearing, smoking, and drinking.

For some reason, there are biblical teachings that do not – but perhaps should – hold so much importance. Among them: materialistic greed, bigoted prejudice, the oppression of women, or the neglect of social justice. Somehow you can ignore many of the rallying calls of Christ and the prophets, and because you are teetotal and less flowery with your language and attend church twice a week, you are declared spiritually strong….Jesus told a parable about the kingdom of God where the sheep enter the kingdom, and the goats are left outside (Matt. 25:31-46).

Jesus didn’t say the goats smoked, drank, or swore too much. He said they didn’t get involved in changing the circumstances of the marginalized by feeding them when they were hungry, and visiting them in prison. These were the issues of His kingdom.”

~ Steve Stockman, from Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2

Bono on Religion…




“I have this hunger in me…everywhere I look, I see the evidence of a Creator. But I don’t see it as religion, which has cut my people in two. I don’t see Jesus Christ as being any part of a religion. Religion to me is almost like when God leaves – and people devise rules to fill the space.”

~ Bono


~ Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2 by Steve Stockman

Making The Devil Smile...

“In the early eighties, Os Guinness, one of the most intellectual Christian writers of our time, wrote a book titled The Gravedigger File. Based on C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, a book that would sneak it’s way the U2 story, it was written from the viewpoint of a senior devil outlining the strategy for subverting the Church from within.

One of the most powerful schemes for doing this would be to make Christianity ‘privately engaging but socially irrelevant.’ Christians can have all the energy and resources that the Church can muster, which can be enormous, but if they spend all their time looking at themselves rather than looking out, the devil will be pleased.

It’s why Christian singer Rich Mullins signed all his autographs ‘Be God’s.’ He was aware that people could ‘be good’ and still make the devil smile with their ineffectualness.”

~ Steve Stockman, from Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2

Culture, Art and Being a Christian....

Some excerpts from Relevant Magazine's article, Can Offensive Art Be Christian? by Jars of Clay's Dan Haseltine.


"If ever there was an arrogance perpetuated in the Church, our art is to blame. Our art describes the world where we live. We don’t spend enough time with prostitutes and outlaws, drunks and addicts. We don’t write about lust and fear and greed and obesity and broken things. We relegate our art to the way we wish the world should be and not how the world actually is.

We are only offended because we forget the kinds of depravity we could reach if not for God’s grace.

Perhaps we should rethink the boundaries we have established for artistic expressions of Gospel truth. We need to recognize the majority of artists do not create simply to offend. Whether we like it or not, Jesus has made room for Insane Clown Posse. If an artist illuminates truth, it is God’s truth whether the conduit artist is a born-again Christian or not. Jesus has made room for art containing sexuality to reflect God’s glory. He has made room for artistic expressions containing abrasive language to reflect God’s glory.


The Gospel I know was not written wholly for children and I cannot, for a second, think it is not God’s truth because some expressions of it are not appropriate for my 7-year-old. Are we willing to step beyond fear and engage culture where it exists, recognizing art is born out of stories happening around us?

They are stories that will end in redemption because God said they would. They may show up in our view at the very beginning of the redemptive process, and they may be messy and unrefined, but they are honest. The only thing that should offend us is art that lies."

Read the whole article here: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/current-events/op-ed-blog/24084-can-offensive-art-be-christian

RELEVANT Magazine - Can Offensive Art Be Christian?

RELEVANT Magazine - Can Offensive Art Be Christian?

This is a great article with much needed insights into what Jeus would be involved in and how he loves and if we are to take the biblical teachings seriously, that we to are to be like Jesus, to mimic, imitate, be Jesus to the world around us...well then an article like this is much needed!

Tentmaking 6 (Jeff Cook) | Jesus Creed

Tentmaking 6 (Jeff Cook) Jesus Creed

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

My Anniversary...19 Years...

“Your hand, my wonder, is now icy cold.
The purest light of the celestial dome
has burned me through. And now we are
as two still plains lying in darkness,
as two black banks of a frozen stream
in the chasm of the world…”
~ Czeslaw Milosz, from Statue of A Couple

My Anniversary...

"Oh, no I never got over those blues eyes,
I see them every where,
I miss those arms that held me,
When all the love was there..."

"I wonder if she's sorry,

For leavin' what we'd begun,

There's someone for me somewhere,

And I still miss someone..."

“…you may in the privacy of the heart take out the album of your own life and search it for the people and places you have loved and learned from yourself, and for those moments in the past – many of them half forgotten – through which you glimpsed, however dimly and fleetingly, the sacredness of your own journey.”
~ Frederick Buechner

?

What I want to know is if it is possible, likely or whatever to find someone that after knowing all my darkness and all my light, and all my secrets would still say – I know, I know…it’s ok and I still love you.

Why...

Why?

Why can never adequately be answered and is usually not a very helpful question to ask. Hmmm…I don’t know…

Catherine...


Late tonight I received this e-mail from Catherine in Madrid, Spain:

Dearest friend,

I have been so saddened by your recent blog posts concerning your upcoming anniversary. I feel the weight of your loss and the shattering of your heart.

I too cried with you and for you as I read the words you have written so many many miles from where I am. Madrid has been dreary and your words only compound my anguish and listlessness.

I so wish I could be next to you during these moments of hurt and remembrance. To hold your hand and wipe the tears from your cheeks – you do know how much I love you. I hope you do…

I saw on your Facebook that you now finally have your passport. When, not if you travel to Europe this spring I will meet you in Paris. We will watch the sun set over Paris while drinking in a café. You can read Hemingway to me; it will be wonderful, beautiful!

Maybe, we will drink all night and then wait for the same sun to rise in the morning. Can you make it till spring - through the long dark cold Minnesota winter? Spring will warm your heart my friend. It will. I promise.

I must tell you that when I read your 2010 reflections I was curious as to who told you that you are such a good kisser? I thought we had no secrets. Remember?
Take your time with your heart, let life happen, enjoy the journey and know I really love you.

You are a dear friend.

Please be ok. I am going to bed now – it is late here in Spain. I hope your start to sleep well, I will hold you while you sleep someday and protect you from all your fears. You will be ok till spring – I know you will.


Think of me when the darkness comes…I love you…

Please don’t stay stuck Chris, unsettled, you don’t have to – you are free. Know this, if you know anything…my love has freed you. You are more than all your hurt and you will know love again…

Love you,

Catherine


My Anniversary… Reflections…I Need Some Grace - My Cup Is Empty Again... Part V...



It is now the eve of my anniversary.

Tomorrow is the day nineteen years ago that Patti and I were married on a cold January day.

So…tonight I am drinking and letting the memories flood my mind…



“I am honest to a fault,
It’s just who I am,
I’m better as a memory than as your friend…”
~ Kenny Chesney

Monday, January 10, 2011

Just Because...Trinity..."She's Got The Look" - Redux....

The Arena...



"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
~ Theodore Roosevelt
"Citizenship in a Republic,"Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Ems, Fire Fighter, Dispatcher, Law Enforcement Tribute...Grace and Comfort to All Those That Serve...


"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our troubles,
so that we can comfort those in any trouble
with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."
~ II Corinthians 1:3-4

I have been thinking about EMS in Lake County a lot lately and about the past year that we have all been through together. We have had some good times together this past year. For example when a call has gone out and everything has gone well and worked the way it was suppose to and no one lost their life or was hurt too badly. Then we all went home to our families – safely and yes, this is what we pray happens all the time but unfortunately it doesn’t always.

Or the good times when we are together as EMS family members (fire/rescue/ambulance/law enforcement) sharing a meal and a drink (or several drinks) and realize that we are all in this together and are for each other.

As you all know this has also been a year of transition and struggles and loss and frustration – all the things common to life but perhaps a bit more intense when we are confronted with suffering and death in an acute way because of our choice to volunteer or to do as a profession. There have been many distractions in the past year from what our vision and mission should be – bringing the best care and service to the residents and visitors (our customers) of Lake County.

Some of the struggles and frustrations are necessary so that we can continue to fulfill our mission. Because some of the issues are at the core of what we do and that we will be able to continue to do in an effective and positive way. We must expend energy and time to make certain that the EMS system works well - not only for us but for all that will come behind us and do what we do now.

I know that it easy to be brought down by things going on around us and that it can cause us to react negatively to each other and those that we serve.

But when I think of those times that we really shine, when the pagers go off and we have a call (the big one) and all the rigs (fire/rescue/ambulance/law enforcement) are going down the road code 3 risking our lives doing one of the most dangerous things we do (driving) because someone has made a call that someone’s life is in danger and we go because that is what we do.

When we arrive and all do what we have been trained to do and we save a life because we love what we do and are dedicated to it and are good at it – that is what we should dwell on when things may appear to be difficult or wonder why we are doing what we do.

Or the times when a child or elderly person needs an ambulance ride or just needs help getting up off the floor at their house and we go and help them because that is what we do
.

We do a lot of weird things – run out in the middle of the night, during snow storms, leave our families at birthdays, at Christmas or Thanksgiving meals when the pager goes off.

Go to training meetings and extra training on weekends, go into burning buildings, and stand on highways with little protection other than a reflective vest, jump through ice, go out on Lake Superior or go into the woods behind ATV’s and snowmobiles, dangle on the edge of cliffs, make traffic stops in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere, walk into the middle of a domestic disturbance call.

Why?

Because we are the only ones in our town that can do those things... not only do those things but do them because we want to - so that someone else can go home to their families and be there safe with them for another Christmas, Thanksgiving or birthday.

We are really good at what we do and I enjoy working with all of you and would trust any of you with watching my back and I look forward to the challenges that the future will no doubt bring, both good and bad.

Just remember that we are all in this together and we are here for each other – think back to Mary Schlangen’s
[i] funeral over three years and the benefit for Mark that same year (for all of you that were a part of that – if you were not there ask someone who was to tell you about it) and all the love and support that we as a Fire/ EMS family demonstrated.

That is what we do for one of our own and would also do for the stranger that calls in the middle of the night for help. Thanks to all of you and your families for what you do and the sacrifices that you make.

Note:
This is a reworking of something I wrote three years ago and thought that I would revisit it now. Although, it may seem rather specific to those serving in lake County, I believe that all that do similiar service anywhere will understand and resonate with what I wrote.
I work as an EMT for the Lake County Ambulance Service and am the retired Captain of the Lake County Sheriff’s Rescue Squad.


[i] Mary Schlangen was killed when the car she was a passenger in was struck by a drunk driver on August 10th. 2007. Her husband Mark who is the Two Harbors Fire Department Chief and Lake County Sheriff’s Rescue Squad member was air lifted to North Memorial Hospital in the Twin Cities and their two children were taken by ambulance to a local hospital. Mark and the children survived the accident