Some friends and I were recently talking about broadcasting ideas onto the Internet; the limited editing, the quickness at which we fall in love with an idea, and how we publish something with such ease that remains in one "space" forever.
The conversation turned to how we communicate things we're learning about God and how the "publish" or "share" or "tweet" button gives the idea a type of permanence and championing. It's there. Forever-ish. And people recognize you as thoughtful and sort of sharp. They "like" it, comment on it, or retweet it. Instantly, you feel good about it all and never have to revisit that thought.
I realize how easy this is: you feel convicted by an eternal truth, you write it down, and share it publicly and then make the dangerous but easy step of convincing yourself that by tweeting or sharing it online, you've mastered it.
Think it. Tweet/Blog/Status Update it. Boom. Mastered. Never have to think about that one again. Strangely dangerous.
Also, I've got to mention to irony that I'm sharing this in a blog post right? No matter the incongruity, I find myself struggling deeply with this idea: Just because we share a truth does not mean that it has changed our life, that it has sunk in at all.
Right now, I am sharing with you about how we too quickly share truths that they never sink deep enough to change us. Now that I've shared it, can I just continue on blogging and tweeting everything I think?
I don't think I need to have "mastered" everything I share, but I do need to be sure that it's done something in my life. Because you can't take people to a place you've never been. Right?
Monday, May 30, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
[Insert Apocalyptic Pun Blog Title Here]
With all of the verses that were thrown out on the Internet over the past couple of weeks, the ones that stick in my head are ones like this: "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."
That's from 2 Timothy 4. It is, in my opinion, Paul's best advice to his protege, Timothy.
Why? Because there's something very off about the human heart, that is, about my heart: we hear what we want to hear.
But I've lived just long enough to realize that what I desperately want to be true is certainly not true. Well, not all of the time at least. With physical realities and science, this is easy. When something is able to be proven over and over, no matter how you "feel" about gravity we know that it's true. Your dreams of flight will stay in your slumber.
Our metaphysical realities are much more difficult to harness. And if we begin with the basis that humans are generally good people and that you and I have hearts that are "in the right place," then we quickly build up a solid trust of our own heads.
Religious, secular, or spiritual people have this issue. And it's ultimately what ended up blowing this whole Harold Camping/Family Radio Apocalypse thing way out of proportion. Camping was able to communicate this and garner enough publicity to reach those who genuinely and desperately wanted this to be true. And in America, all you have to do is strike a heart-string and you've won people's lives.
The Los Angeles Times reported on some Family Radio Followers' reactions to the Non-Rapture and told the story of Keith Bauer, a 38 year-old truck driver who took the week off of work to travel the US before the Rapture with his family. He pulled his kids out of school and took off for 10 days.
We look for ways out of what God says because normally what he says is really difficult to understand and ever more difficult to practice.
I don't blame Keith because he's a lot like me. He wanted his circumstances to change and wanted God's help with that, instead of recognizing that the common denominator to his circumstances was the one thing he is unwilling to give up: himself.
That's from 2 Timothy 4. It is, in my opinion, Paul's best advice to his protege, Timothy.
Why? Because there's something very off about the human heart, that is, about my heart: we hear what we want to hear.
But I've lived just long enough to realize that what I desperately want to be true is certainly not true. Well, not all of the time at least. With physical realities and science, this is easy. When something is able to be proven over and over, no matter how you "feel" about gravity we know that it's true. Your dreams of flight will stay in your slumber.
Our metaphysical realities are much more difficult to harness. And if we begin with the basis that humans are generally good people and that you and I have hearts that are "in the right place," then we quickly build up a solid trust of our own heads.
Religious, secular, or spiritual people have this issue. And it's ultimately what ended up blowing this whole Harold Camping/Family Radio Apocalypse thing way out of proportion. Camping was able to communicate this and garner enough publicity to reach those who genuinely and desperately wanted this to be true. And in America, all you have to do is strike a heart-string and you've won people's lives.
The Los Angeles Times reported on some Family Radio Followers' reactions to the Non-Rapture and told the story of Keith Bauer, a 38 year-old truck driver who took the week off of work to travel the US before the Rapture with his family. He pulled his kids out of school and took off for 10 days.
"If it was his last week on Earth, he wanted to see parts of it he'd always heard about but missed, such as the Grand Canyon. With maxed-out credit cards and a growing mountain of bills, he said, the rapture would have been a relief."Keith didn't need God, Keith needed a rapture, a way out of his life - he wanted to hit the restart button because he was losing lives fast. As Christians, we've gotten very good at getting out from under the Bible and truth by listening to our Pastor when he says, "What God really means here is..." or "This isn't what it looks like..." when most often it really is.
We look for ways out of what God says because normally what he says is really difficult to understand and ever more difficult to practice.
I don't blame Keith because he's a lot like me. He wanted his circumstances to change and wanted God's help with that, instead of recognizing that the common denominator to his circumstances was the one thing he is unwilling to give up: himself.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
What's Wrong With Everything
Sometimes, you hear something or say something so often that the meaning is stripped.
Earlier this week, Senator Rand Paul was commenting on the rising fuel prices and the Senate's dispute over taxing big oil companies when he said, "We're going to raise the cost of the oil companies by raising their taxes, which means you'll pay more at the pump. It is economic illiteracy and it is what's wrong up here in Washington."
"What's wrong here in Washington" is a favorite rhetorical phrase uttered by most of our politicians on both sides of the isle. Along with "the American people want..." and "Our Founding Fathers didn't mean…”, claiming that something is wrong with Washington is just something you start saying when you work in national politics.
The irony of Paul's comment (and many others) is that he's a Senator working in Washington and the son of a long-time senator. He is a part of the broken system. He is a cog in the messed up wheel. And by the way, I only single out Senator Paul because he was the most recent guy to say it.
When you look at our language in the church, not much is different. Many pastors (myself included) have uttered the phrase, "we live in a broken world," or "the problem with the world is..." And with one breath and half of a sentence what the politicians in Washington and we have just done is distance ourselves from the very problem we have created.
Paul is a piece of the broken Washington machine and we are a part of the broken world. To say that “the world” is destroying all we know that is good, excellent, and beautiful is to excuse our hearts from their own brokenness and sit atop our own prideful spirit.
Just because you prayed a prayer for Jesus to “come into your heart” (another empty rhetorical phrase) does not mean you are done with brokenness. Repentance is not a one-time show; it is a process, perhaps even a lifestyle of turning our hearts back to God. When you surrender to God, you don’t end your brokenness instantly, you begin the process of being made into the image of Jesus. And that’ll take your whole life.
Until then, you and I are not the solution to what is broken, we are what is broken. And Jesus is the solution. We place our hope in the fact that he’ll go on making all things new - us included.
Earlier this week, Senator Rand Paul was commenting on the rising fuel prices and the Senate's dispute over taxing big oil companies when he said, "We're going to raise the cost of the oil companies by raising their taxes, which means you'll pay more at the pump. It is economic illiteracy and it is what's wrong up here in Washington."
"What's wrong here in Washington" is a favorite rhetorical phrase uttered by most of our politicians on both sides of the isle. Along with "the American people want..." and "Our Founding Fathers didn't mean…”, claiming that something is wrong with Washington is just something you start saying when you work in national politics.
The irony of Paul's comment (and many others) is that he's a Senator working in Washington and the son of a long-time senator. He is a part of the broken system. He is a cog in the messed up wheel. And by the way, I only single out Senator Paul because he was the most recent guy to say it.
When you look at our language in the church, not much is different. Many pastors (myself included) have uttered the phrase, "we live in a broken world," or "the problem with the world is..." And with one breath and half of a sentence what the politicians in Washington and we have just done is distance ourselves from the very problem we have created.
Paul is a piece of the broken Washington machine and we are a part of the broken world. To say that “the world” is destroying all we know that is good, excellent, and beautiful is to excuse our hearts from their own brokenness and sit atop our own prideful spirit.
Just because you prayed a prayer for Jesus to “come into your heart” (another empty rhetorical phrase) does not mean you are done with brokenness. Repentance is not a one-time show; it is a process, perhaps even a lifestyle of turning our hearts back to God. When you surrender to God, you don’t end your brokenness instantly, you begin the process of being made into the image of Jesus. And that’ll take your whole life.
Until then, you and I are not the solution to what is broken, we are what is broken. And Jesus is the solution. We place our hope in the fact that he’ll go on making all things new - us included.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
N.T. Wright Settles It...Again.
A number of months ago I wrote about my problems with Stephen Hawking's atheism and found that many people had the same issues. His latest philosophies and writings have been met with much debate and not a whole lot of praise.
Most recently, my hero and international man of legitimacy, the scholar N.T. Wright posted a great piece in the Washington Post's "On Faith" section. He, along with many, are disappointed in Hawking and others's weak Biblical intellect and simple Christian worldview:
Most recently, my hero and international man of legitimacy, the scholar N.T. Wright posted a great piece in the Washington Post's "On Faith" section. He, along with many, are disappointed in Hawking and others's weak Biblical intellect and simple Christian worldview:
"It’s depressing to see Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant minds in his field, trying to speak as an expert on things he sadly seems to know rather less about than many averagely intelligent Christians...You can read the whole thing here. N.T. Wright is the Anglican Bishop of Durham, England and is the author of several scholarly works, most notably his take on the resurrection entitled, The Resurrection of the Son of God, which is freaking huge. His best, most accessible work is called, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense and I think most of you should look into reading it. Maybe. Ok. Do it.
...Hawking is working with a very low-grade and sub-biblical view of ‘going to heaven’...Of course, the old set-up of the ‘science and religion’ debate was itself deeply influenced by this same worldview, and needs realigning. In fact, the ancient Christians would have been shocked to see their worldview labelled as a ‘religion.’ It was a philosophy, a politics, a culture, a vocation... the category of ‘religion’ is part of the problem, not part of the solution."
Friday, May 6, 2011
The Right Match
A fish is a sweet animal because it can breath underwater. Fresh green grass is beautiful and on a sunny day it doesn't get much better than taking a nap in it under a tree. Put that awesome fish with that fine grass and you'll get a dead fish in the grass. Also, an embarrassing clean-up process.
We know this rule: the combination of two things need complimentary characteristics that makes them work well together. Opposites attract. She's outgoing and he's shy. That fish has gills and fins that work perfectly when underwater and not that well on the grass (believe me, I tried it once when I was little and my dad got really mad at me and I spent that night in my room, grounded because he just paid for that fish and that's his money that he works so da -- just don't do it).
When my brother and I were little, my dad would make Mac 'n' Cheese. My brother loves Mac and loves cheese, but would never touch Mac 'n' Cheese. Why? He didn't think they went together well (I know, and he's in therapy so we're happy).
Nature tells us that often times we are most free when we are set up under certain restrictions of a complimentary match - when we have found a mate or a habitat we can best exist with. But what we end up doing with our lives is parceling ourselves out to everything we find awesome. We put a little bit of ourselves with a girl, a little bit of ourselves to our family, and most of ourselves to school or a job. We even split our time living in one place and buying another house that we can relax in.
Instead of finding our whole self in one place, we take pieces of ourselves and dish it out to a ton of different things we think are good. And they are good, but is it the right match?
Christians are really good at messing with this. How often do you hear someone list out their priorities as "God first, family second, and ministry/work third"? I hear it all the time. We have our "God time" in the morning so we can have "work time" during the day and then "family time" at night (except when a good game is on, then you have "me time").
Did Jesus do this? Did he have neatly blocked time frames to "be with God" and then "do ministry" and then "hang with his homies." Not at all. In fact, there are multiple times where Jesus is trying to get to a secluded place to rest and people bother him. He doesn't say, "excuse me, but you're interrupting my quiet time." No, he serves them.
And why?
Because you live one life and you are one person. God is not a device that you turn on and off and neither is your family. Every decision you make is a spiritual decision and every word you say is a spiritual word.
God is our perfect match, but only when our whole life is given to Him and defined by Him. Giving one day a week to God is not what the Scriptures have told us, giving our very lives to God is exactly what the Scriptures have told us. Placing all of who you are under the freeing restriction of God changes not necessarily what you do, but how you go about doing everything.
Us with God. That is how life is supposed to work. The difficult thing is realizing that the "us" part is more complex than you might think and the "with" part is more dangerous than we would like.
We know this rule: the combination of two things need complimentary characteristics that makes them work well together. Opposites attract. She's outgoing and he's shy. That fish has gills and fins that work perfectly when underwater and not that well on the grass (believe me, I tried it once when I was little and my dad got really mad at me and I spent that night in my room, grounded because he just paid for that fish and that's his money that he works so da -- just don't do it).
When my brother and I were little, my dad would make Mac 'n' Cheese. My brother loves Mac and loves cheese, but would never touch Mac 'n' Cheese. Why? He didn't think they went together well (I know, and he's in therapy so we're happy).
Nature tells us that often times we are most free when we are set up under certain restrictions of a complimentary match - when we have found a mate or a habitat we can best exist with. But what we end up doing with our lives is parceling ourselves out to everything we find awesome. We put a little bit of ourselves with a girl, a little bit of ourselves to our family, and most of ourselves to school or a job. We even split our time living in one place and buying another house that we can relax in.
Instead of finding our whole self in one place, we take pieces of ourselves and dish it out to a ton of different things we think are good. And they are good, but is it the right match?
Christians are really good at messing with this. How often do you hear someone list out their priorities as "God first, family second, and ministry/work third"? I hear it all the time. We have our "God time" in the morning so we can have "work time" during the day and then "family time" at night (except when a good game is on, then you have "me time").
Did Jesus do this? Did he have neatly blocked time frames to "be with God" and then "do ministry" and then "hang with his homies." Not at all. In fact, there are multiple times where Jesus is trying to get to a secluded place to rest and people bother him. He doesn't say, "excuse me, but you're interrupting my quiet time." No, he serves them.
And why?
Because you live one life and you are one person. God is not a device that you turn on and off and neither is your family. Every decision you make is a spiritual decision and every word you say is a spiritual word.
God is our perfect match, but only when our whole life is given to Him and defined by Him. Giving one day a week to God is not what the Scriptures have told us, giving our very lives to God is exactly what the Scriptures have told us. Placing all of who you are under the freeing restriction of God changes not necessarily what you do, but how you go about doing everything.
Us with God. That is how life is supposed to work. The difficult thing is realizing that the "us" part is more complex than you might think and the "with" part is more dangerous than we would like.
Monday, May 2, 2011
A Safer World?
Something that has changed in our globalized world is that we're able to hear "America" react to major events instantly. We're able to hear how everyone is handling everything all of the time.
In an event like yesterday's, my Christian brothers and sisters become increasingly confused: do I agree with people who are happy or do I agree with people who are calm about it all? Do I "love my enemy" right now or do I rejoice in the death of a wicked man?
With the spread of communication much authority has been lost, so we hear everything and decide quickly. That's why you get high school students saying they agree with a certain position because "it just makes sense." What they mean by that is, "the person who said that made me feel better." The loudest voice wins.
On the flip side, the beauty of the interconnected age is that it gives a critical thinker tons of resources. If you can tune out the noise to enjoy the music of healthy discourse, you'll have a sound opinion and a better view of the world. And in our critical thinking, we realize that everything is not so simple.
Jon Furman works down the hall from me and saves me from a lot of mistakes. I suggest, amidst the noise, you listen to Jon's summation of the noise and his call to us to remember that it pains God to pronounce judgement on his creation.
Certainly, as our President said, the world is safer without a guy like Bin Laden around. But let's remember that we also are extremely dangerous individuals. Evil does not just exist in a suburb of Pakistan, it's trying to make its way out of our own hearts. This much is clear: we need Jesus just as much as the next guy.
In an event like yesterday's, my Christian brothers and sisters become increasingly confused: do I agree with people who are happy or do I agree with people who are calm about it all? Do I "love my enemy" right now or do I rejoice in the death of a wicked man?
With the spread of communication much authority has been lost, so we hear everything and decide quickly. That's why you get high school students saying they agree with a certain position because "it just makes sense." What they mean by that is, "the person who said that made me feel better." The loudest voice wins.
On the flip side, the beauty of the interconnected age is that it gives a critical thinker tons of resources. If you can tune out the noise to enjoy the music of healthy discourse, you'll have a sound opinion and a better view of the world. And in our critical thinking, we realize that everything is not so simple.
Jon Furman works down the hall from me and saves me from a lot of mistakes. I suggest, amidst the noise, you listen to Jon's summation of the noise and his call to us to remember that it pains God to pronounce judgement on his creation.
“Say to them; 'As I live,’ says the Lord God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?”- Ezekiel 33:11Even at the death of an evil man, we can make some evil remarks about it all. True followers of Jesus do not react wickedly to evil. Just because a dangerous man falls doesn't mean we get out from under God's call on our lives. We don't get out of jail free, remember.
Certainly, as our President said, the world is safer without a guy like Bin Laden around. But let's remember that we also are extremely dangerous individuals. Evil does not just exist in a suburb of Pakistan, it's trying to make its way out of our own hearts. This much is clear: we need Jesus just as much as the next guy.
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