Archive for February, 2008:
Why Do I Care?
In a conversation on De-Conversion, Pat (comment #15) said
“I would like to see a post on your blog as to why someone would follow God.”
This is a very good question and one that needs to be asked by Christians and non-Christians alike, but often goes unaddressed in Christian circles. I will endeavor to provide a generic answer to the question here. However, before we can start to answer why someone would follow God, there are a lot of underlying assumptions about God and our knowledge of Him that we must first address. By doing so not only will we all be on the same page regarding certain terms and concepts, but we will be able to follow the logic used (hopefully) in answering this question from start to finish. Read more »
The Gospel and “Religious Experiences”
During chapel recently on my campus, I witnessed something truly religious.
Our speaker sculpted a head of Jesus while telling of his betrayal (with a little bit of theatrics and exaggerations). Then he explained how Jesus was beaten and crucified. He thrust a crown of thorns on the clay Jesus’ head and sprinkled it fake blood. It was meant to evoke a highly emotional response, and it did. As he brought up a pianist to play some music in the background as he made the altar call. One young female briskly strode to the front of the auditorium and began uncontrollably weeping. The speaker continued to call people forth to have an experience. Then this young woman started screaming, at the top of her lungs. I could not make out exactly what she was saying. She continued for a few minutes saying the same two or three words over and over again. The speaker was pleased, and affirmed her experience as true.
“My HomoErotic Relationship with Jesus”
Your lips, O my spouse, Drip as the honeycomb; Honey and milk are under your tongue; And the fragrance of your garments Is like the fragrance of Lebanon. - Song of Songs 4:11
Popular Christianity places an emphasis on believers having a Personal Relationship with Jesus. As a Christian, I proudly proclaimed that I did not follow a religion, but that I had a relationship - a personal one-on-one with the Messiah. Looking back, I have no idea how to Biblically justify the idea of a personal relationship. I am pretty certain it is nothing more than modern Christian pop culture. And on a more practical level, I don’t think Jesus wants a relationship with any of us anyway. As a Christian, I talked to Jesus for years, but never heard a word back from him. That is in no way a relationship, despite all the effort I put into it. Read more »
D***ed if I do, and D***ed if I don’t
The media has a tendency to portray Christians in one of two ways: 1) The belligerent, hellfire and brimstone, abortion clinic bombing types, and 2) The embezzling, caught in adultery, child molesting priest types. We can dismiss this portrayal as merely the media’s constant desire to focus on only the most sensational stories, or we can admit that they are providing a service. The reason these instances make the news and are disseminated into public opinion as typical of Christians all over is because ultimately, people want to see Christians (and by extension, Christianity) fail. The two ways a Christian can fail in society’s eyes is by claiming to be holier-than-thou, or by being not holier-than-thou. Let’s analyze that claim a little further. Read more »
The State of Worship, Part 2: Purpose and Motivation
The first part of this post was (honestly) mostly a rant, but it outlined some of the problem from my perspective. I make no claims that it is THE perspective to view this debate from, only that it could be a common one. Having been a guitarist for six years, which is longer than I’ve been a Christian (and thus listening to Christian music), I bring a “less-churched,” if not an “un-churched,” perspective to the table.
Worship is ANYTHING that we do that fulfills God’s purpose for us and thus glorifies Him. This can be anything from working in your garden and rearing children with your spouse (Genesis 1:28) to writing and playing sweet guitar riffs (Psalm 33:3). If we do these things with God-given motivation and purpose, then we are worshipping Him indeed!
A fair number of Christians, particularly those in the American Evangelical Christian “sub-culture,” seem to have abandoned or compromised the very motivations and purposes that define worship, with respect to music. Read more »
Sometimes I wish that Chuck Norris were my dad…
…that anytime a boy wanted to take me out, he would have to come face to face with fear itself. I was reading my Chuck Norris Facts this week and I learned that Chuck Norris doesn’t need to breathe because air hides in his lungs for protection. When I think about “guarding my heart,” a mountainous task that intimidates and frightens me, I wish I could summon the big guys, call for backup, and just all around break out some Chuck Norris on the guys that come showing up red on the radar of my heart.
Fortunately, even though I cannot call on Chuck Norris as my personal “heart-guard,” I have learned over time that I am not left alone to fend for myself in these tender matters. That is great comfort to me as I grow in love.
Yet still I ponder: what does it mean to “guard your heart”? Anytime I even THINK about dating or even think about just talking to a guy, people constantly remind me to “guard my heart.” But what exactly does that mean?
Oh Lordy, Lordy
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=tOf6rMGytH4]
This is gonna be the last YouTube video in the series on the general biblical storyline. I realize that I am leaving out the material at the end of the story referring to the Consummation, but that is because I havent read enough on the topic at this point to feel qualified to speak on it. Eventually I do hope to post on that, especially since there are some pretty nutty views on it, but not yet. In the mean time, enjoy this video that is a follow up and clarifier to last week’s. I do present some new information that is gonna be on the less popular side, so that may end up being the focus for our discussion. As always, let me know if there are any suggestions, questions, and/or discrepancies.
