March 2009 Archives
Robo-Pong Woes
March 31, 2009 1:22 PM | permalink | comments: 1
Okay, I'm ready to talk about it.
I skipped church Sunday to play in the Newgy Robo-Pong St. Joseph Valley Table Tennis Tournament in South Bend, Ind., and I feel like I got swallowed by a whale for my transgression.
My goal was to knock off one or two players who were higher rated, and thereby improve my rating with the US Table Tennis Association. This was my seventh sanctioned tournament, and my third time at St. Joseph Valley. I got my first rating--995--here in 2007, and won my table in both categories I entered (they put you in a group of four persons, and you play a round-robin, with the winner advancing to the next round). Last year I jumped nearly 200 points, playing probably my best ever in a tournament. My rating jumped from 1107 to 1298.
Then came the Highland tournament last fall. I had been suffering a lot of vertigo, wasn't practiced up, and stunk up the athletic center. I lost about 50 points.
So this past weekend, I wanted to gain back some of those points. I wanted to at least break past the 1300 mark. I entered three categories, which occurred in this order: under 1625 (at 9 am), under 1500 (noon), and under 1750 (2 pm).
I started out playing a 1500+ player, an Indian fellow named Ruup. He tore me apart the first game, but in the next two games (we play the best of 5) I had a game point in both games. But couldn't pull it off. Lost 3-0. I missed a lot of shots I normally make.
Then I played a 1434 player, almost 200 points above me. And I WON, 3-1. So that'll help. Next I played a lesser rated player, around 1170 I believe, and beat him 3-1. So I was pleased. I would gain quite a few points.
In the under 1500, my table included just two other guys, both higher rated. I played badly, and lost to both of them 3-0. I should have at least made it competitive.
Then came the under 1750 category, where I expected to be blown away. All three guys were rated at least 200 points better than me. One guy had beaten me easily in a previous tournament, and he did that again. The other two--I could have beat them. I've beaten much better. But they played well, and I didn't.
Those last five losses won't cost me any points, since they were all to high-ranked players. I beat the only lower-ranked player I played in the tournament, and knocked off one high-ranked guy, so I could jump past 300 when ratings are posted in a couple weeks. But I had prime opportunities to do even better, and I blew it.
So, though my rating will improve, I still went away disappointed. I've been trying to change some things in my game, and it has left me a bit confused. For now. And it showed. But I know what to work on, and I've got plenty of time before the next tournament (probably in September).
Visit from Kingdom Hall
March 28, 2009 4:35 PM | permalink | comments: 1
Two young men rang my doorball this Saturday morning, scaring Molly into the bedroom. Both were clean cut. The one doing the speaking wore a nice sweater. The other, who didn't say anything but seemed a bit older, wore a jacket and tie, with a fedora, with the contemporary look that young people manage.
Sweaterguy said they were ministers in the community, and were inviting people to a special service to commemorate the most important event of the year, Easter. He handed me a full-color flyer. I turned it over and immediately saw the words "Kingdom Hall," which is what I expected. I took the flyer graciously and thanked them, and they went on. I don't know if my apparent interest prompted them to put a checkmark beside my address for a follow-up visit.
Fedoraguy was, I'm sure, the "trainer," the experienced one of the twosome, while Sweaterguy was the trainee. That's what my Evangelism Explosion paradigm told me, anyway.
The service is on Maundy Thursday, April 9, at a UAW union hall in Roanoke, 10 miles away. So they're beating the bushes far and wide. Good for them. Admire the ambition and zeal. I was spending my Saturday morning reading a Sunny Randall mystery.
The flyer notes that there will also be a "special Bible talk" entitled, "Is there a true religion from God's standpoint?" Wanna guess the answer?
I'm actually quite interested in going, except that we'll probably have music practice. But I'd like to see their approach. Their outreach tactics. It would be instructional, and blog-worthy.
The Water Bottle
March 27, 2009 8:08 AM | permalink | comments: 0
In 1981, I watched the first round of the NCAA tournament in the hospital. Which reminds me of my evil nemesis, now vanquished. The Water Bottle.
I've always been mechanically inept. For the most part. There are things I can do, including some basic computer hardware stuff, and I'm great at putting up shelving. But for most other things--not so much.
The premier demonstration of my ineptitude was that infernal water bottle I tried to install on my ten-speed back in high school. It was a white plastic water bottle, with a few pieces of hardware to attach it to the bike. Installation didn't require an engineering degree. The instructions were clear, or as clear as they can be when written by someone in Japan with minimal English skills. It should have been a simple task. My brother Stu could have done it in three minutes, blindfolded. Upside down. While being kicked by wild horses.
And yet....
And yet....
I couldn't figure it out. I struggled mightily with that belligerant water bottle, trying to figure out how to attach it to the bicycle bar. I'm sure that, in my frustration, I kicked some things around and perhaps flung the bottle once or twice at the garage wall. My tribulation worked absolute no patience, such was the insidious evil of that bottle.
Finally, I gave up in frustration. The thing simply didn't work. What other conclusion could I draw? I could not, with even my best effort, conquer the water bottle. It was most assuredly demon-possessed.
For some reason, I kept the bottle around. And there it was, six years later, now a college graduate, when I woke up with back spasms. The pain was intense. I couldn't make it to the phone to call work, nor to answer it when my coworkers called to see where I was. So I lay there on the floor (I did make it to the floor) for three or four hours before my fellow workers came to check on me and the landlord let them in.
During that time, nature saw fit to call. I could see the toilet, just 10 feet away, but I couldn't get there. What to do? Well...hold it. But that only works for so long, because nature is relentless, and God designed the human body without an internal evaporation system. So I had to think of something, and as it turned out, I thought of several options, none of them dignified.
Then I noticed the water bottle. Right there beside the bed. Probably never used. Certainly never used for its intended purpose, attached to a bike. Waiting, for such a time as this. My ill fortunes now created an urgent purpose for that despised container which had so vexed my teenage soul years earlier. Why did I even keep this object of past torment? I don't know. But now, it provided an answer to a pressing--and let me assure you, it was pressing--need.
My only concern was--would it overflow? It didn't.
An ambulance came and took me to the hospital, where I remained for six days. People went back and forth to my apartment, retrieving my bathrobe and clothes and other stuff. Then I finally came home.
And there, sitting on the bedroom floor, was the white water bottle, cap firmly in place. And that was not Mountain Dew inside, fermenting for the past week.
I emptied it into the toilet, and decided I probably didn't want to ever ever EVER use that water bottle. So I threw it in the trash.
And so ended the sad, purposeless, unfulfilled, but ultimately critically useful life of The Water Bottle from Hell.
In Support of Hunters
March 27, 2009 3:13 AM | permalink | comments: 0
I'm concerned about America's hunters. As the National Rifle Association has argued over the years, hunters need assault rifles for their dogged pursuit of Bambi & Friends. But now, we're told, Mexico's drug cartels are attending our gun show, buying up all the AK-47s, and taking them back to Mexico. In accordance with supply and demand, the cost of assault rifles is undoubtedly skyrocketing. And America's innocent hunters are being left in the lurch. I'm not sure exactly where the lurch is, but I'm told it's none too pleasant.
This jeopardizes an American coming-of-age tradition. When little Johnny becomes old enough to buy his first hunting license and strike out into the woods in pursuit of deer, ducks, or the occasional squirrel, he first must acquire a gun. For that, Dad takes him to a gun shop, or perhaps a gun show. And as we all know, every hunter's rifle of choice is the AK-47, which liberals want to deprive us of. But now, with the cost so high because of the high demand, Johnny can't able to afford an AK-47 on his meager newspaper route savings. And he goes away disappointed, crying.
It's a sad story no doubt being played out across the country. Please, Mr. Obama, stop the drug cartels, so that AK-47s can remain in the hands of Americans.
In Defense of Laughter
March 26, 2009 12:02 PM | permalink | comments: 0
President Obama was criticized for going on Jay Leno, and Steve Kroft got on his case during a "60 Minutes" interview last Sunday when he smiled too much while talking about the economy. [Note to Steve: Lighten up. Though as a journalist, I know you were simply taking a spur-of-the-moment opportunity to obtain insight in the name of news--and you succeeded.]
Anyway, comedian Jane Condon wrote a piece on CNNPolitics called "Grab a Laugh, Mr. President." She writes, "Everybody needs to use comedy in hard times." It's a good article, and I couldn't agree more. People watch Jon Stewart because it mixes insight with humor. I don't think humor somehow undignifies the Presidency.
When the Kids Get Along
March 26, 2009 11:44 AM | permalink | comments: 0
Came home to find Jordi and Molly sleeping on Pam's comforter. Molly doesn't always tolerate her brother being in close proximity, so it was worth a photo.
In Support of ... AIG?
March 25, 2009 6:52 PM | permalink | comments: 0
It's hard to feel sorry for AIG. And I don't--not for the company. But all companies are staffed by human beings, or reasonable facsimiles thereof. Real people work at AIG, some of them not unlike you and me. People who Barney Frank and friends couldn't care less about, as they score cheap populist points.
Here's a resignation letter from an AIG exec. You gotta admit--he's got a point.
Pam and the Kids Taking a Nap
March 25, 2009 6:46 PM | permalink | comments: 0
Ally, Noodles, Ping Pong
March 25, 2009 3:39 PM | permalink | comments: 0
Curt holding Ally, as Mandy and Jonathan watch.
Rick's kids, Anna and Cameron, are on spring break, so he took the week off and brought them--along with Baby Ally--to Fort Wayne for a few days with Mom and Dad. Dorene remained in South Bend, working.
Stu and Joyce and their clan came over Monday night for a meal at Mom and Dad's. Homemade noodles and Mom's legendary rolls were the headliners.
But the real star was Ally. Everyone took turns holding her. For the record, Ally is the first of my nieces and nephews that I have held as a baby.
Last night Rick and I trekked to the table tennis club. He plays at the South Bend club (which cranks out nationally-ranked players), and we're both playing in a big tournament in South Bend this weekend.
Rick has come to my club three or four times now, and enjoys it. Last night he won the majority of his matches, including the one against his big brother (we play the best of five games, and our match went down the wire to the fifth game). It is against the natural order of things for Rick, eight years my junior, to best me. I remain deeply resentful.
Change Some Things, Don't Change Others
March 24, 2009 1:09 PM | permalink | comments: 1
Craig Groeschel posted "Working with God's Seasons." One point says:
If you had a singles ministry that worked for 9 years, but is no longer effective, celebrate the 9 years of success. Close it down and do something different. Don't keep something on life support once its season has passed.
That applies to so many things whose time may have passed.
Most churches I know don't hold a traditional Sunday night service--and maybe none at all (including mine). I grew up with that format, but since changing churches in 1989, haven't attended a Sunday night service since. At my previous church, we did small groups, which were more effective. At Anchor we've never done anything on Sunday night. I wouldn't call that "effective"...yet I don't begrudge having the night free.
From my denominational perch, I see churches all the time that need to choose a different future, before one is forced on them. In most cases, they should merge with a nearby church, or just close. We were talking yesterday about churches in two different states that would be better off--the people would, and the cause of Christ in those communities--if they went this route.
There are many other things that need to turn out the lights. Christian organizations. Church traditions that mean nothing to current generations. Staid service orders. Women's mission groups (okay, now I'm in trouble). Various church committees.
On the other hand...in today's society, we tend to treat as changeable some things that shouldn't change.
- If your marriage loses its spark, move on. Its "season" has ended, so admit it. Start a new season with somebody else. Wedding vows now sometimes replace "I will love and cherish you, til death do us part" with "I will love and cherish you as long as we are together."
- If you're unhappy with something at church, take your toys and go elsewhere. Loyalty is outmoded. Go where your needs will be met, not where you can be used by God to meet other people's needs.
- If a biblical teaching just doesn't seem to work in today's culture, or otherwise seems unnecessary to you, discard it. Watch whatever you want on TV and at the theatre. Engage in whatever sexual behavior society considers okay. Pile up debt as you pursue materialistic mirages. Don't get too attached to biblical absolutes.
- Tithing? Treat this quaint practice as optional. You've got too many financial needs to part with 10% of your income.
- Smoking, drinking, pot--these are harmless. Everybody's using them. We need to relate to our culture, so feel free to indulge.
- If you experience any doubts or turbulence in your faith, hang it up. Maybe somewhere down the road you'll want to rediscover God, but for now, if God just doesn't seem to be pulling his weight, say good riddance. No sense clinging to something that doesn't work for you. Because after all, it's not about Jesus, it's about you.
NCAA: Yearning for Buzzer-Beaters
March 23, 2009 4:52 PM | permalink | comments: 0
Maybe it's just me, but I'm a bit bored with the NCAA tournament. "Bored" is one of the last words you'd associate with March Madness. But while there have been some good games, we haven't had the big upsets and buzzer-beaters that normally epitomize the NCAA tournament.
After two rounds, I think that means 48 games have been played. You'd expect a little more excitement than there's been.
Maybe this weekend will be better. I'd sure like to see a buzzer-beater.
On a good note: my Arizona Wildcats are still in the hunt.
Book: Finally Finished "The Audacity of Hope"
March 22, 2009 4:05 PM | permalink | comments: 0
Today I finished--finally--Barack Obama's book, "The Audacity of Hope." I mentioned earlier that I was reading it, and found it very good. Having arrived now at the end, I can say it was a resoundingly good read. It puts into perspective, and shines illuminating light on, so many aspects of our President and decisions he has made.
He is also quite self-deprecating, not impressed with himself. That comes through especially in his final chapter, "Family." I loved what I read about his role as a husband and father and how he tries to balance those roles with a very public career. He present himself not as a person who has it all together, but as a highly flawed guy still trying to figure it out. It's not the type of stuff a campaign advisor would want him to publish.
The chapter deals with various policy issues affecting the family, and you catch glimpses of things--including some excellent ideas--he feels strongly about (though these issues haven't arisen yet). But mostly, he talks about Michelle, his daughters, and his journey as a husband and parent.
He tells of his courtship with Michelle, and how she repeatedly refused his requests for a date. They met at a law firm where he came as an intern and Michelle, having already worked there three years, was assigned as his advisor.
When he launched his first Congressional run (and lost), "Michelle put up no pretense of being happy with the decision. My failure to clean up the kitchen suddenly became less endearing."
The burdens of parenthood increasingly fell on Michelle. "No matter how liberated I liked to see myself as--no matter how much I told myself that Michelle and I were equal partners, and that her dreams and ambitions were as important as my own--the fact was that when children showed up, it was Michelle and not I who was expected to make the necessary adjustments. Sure, I helped, but it was always on my terms, on my schedule. Meanwhile, she was the one who had to put her career on hold."
He is very honest, and self-critical, about how his ambitions affected Michelle. He writes at one point that Michelle told him, "You only think about yourself. I never thought I'd have to raise a family alone." Phew! Harsh stuff.
"I determined that my father's irresponsibility toward his children, my stepfather's remoteness, and my grandfather's failures would all become object lessons for me, and that my own children would have a father they could count on. In the most basic sense, I've succeeded....And yet, of all the areas of my life, it is in my capacities as a husband and father that I entertain the most doubt."
"I have chosen a life with a ridiculous schedule, a life that requires me to be gone from Michelle and the girls for long stretches of time and that exposes Michelle to all sorts of stress....[My rationalizations] seem feeble and painfully abstract when I'm missing one of the girls' school potlucks because of a vote....My recent success in politics does little to assuage the guilt....And so I do my best to answer the accusation that floats around in my mind--that I am selfish, that I do what I do to feed my own ego or fill a void in my heart."
Amidst these self-critical statements, he tells some wonderful stories from his family life, especially regarding the girls, that show he's really trying to figure it out--how to be a really good husband and father. You see two girls who are bright, fun-loving, and well-adjusted, and he freely gives Michelle credit for that. But he's more part of the equation than he gives himself credit for.
The chapter contains some very vulnerable stuff. How many politicians write about their short-comings? Throughout the campaign, we saw this picture of a wonderful family--and that seems to be the case. It's the type of picture a political image consultant would try to paint. But in this book, Barack Obama pulls back the curtain and says, "Here's what none of you see. It's not always pretty."
Obama on Jay Leno
March 20, 2009 1:37 PM | permalink | comments: 2
I stayed up to watch President Obama on Jay Leno last night. As a communications guy trained as a journalist, it raised a lot of issues.
The mainstream press have always been the gatekeepers between the President and the public. Beyond an "Address to the Nation," if you want to talk to the American people, you go through the press. You do a press conference. You appear on Meet the Press. You grant an exclusive interview to Charles Gibson, Brian Williams, or Katie Couric (or one of their minions).
But the press is combative, full of "gotcha" intentions, hoping to catch you in an inconsistency. What if you just want to talk to the American people in a non-combative situation? What if you don't have time to prep for every possible clever question so that you don't get twisted up and end up re-explaining yourself for the next week?
Imagine if Obama appeared on a FoxNews program. They would try to put him on the spot, force him to defend whatever he's doing, trap him. They would try to get him to at least imply something negative about various Democrats--Pelosi, Dodd, Frank, Reid, and others. Obama would most definitely be on his guard, and rightfully so.
On the other hand, if Obama appeared on Keith Olberman or Rachel Maddow, they would throw softball questions which he could hit out of the park. They would set him up to say negative things about Republicans.
Or, if Obama appeared with a real journalist, like the network anchors (well, maybe not Katie), David Gregory, Chris Wallace, or any number of others (including print people), they would have been going for a story. The goal wouldn't have been enlightenment, but a "gotcha."
The Rick Warren forum last summer was an eye-opener. Warren posed questions to Obama and McCain, separately, and they answered in a comfortable atmosphere. Warren wasn't going for a headline, wasn't trying to trap the candidates, didn't want the candidates to get into an argument. He just wanted them to tell what they believed. And I found it tremendously enlightening.
It was the same way with Jay Leno. Jay's not a journalist. He wasn't trying to create breaking news. He just threw soft, but interesting, questions at Obama (I'm sure Robert Gibbs was involved in at least suggesting questions), and Obama answered them in what was a comfortable, non-tense atmosphere. None of Jay's questions invited Obama to criticize Republicans.
I found the appearance very informative, very "human." It was presidential and laid-back and even fun at the same time.
This, by the way, is Larry King's schtick, too. He just lets people tell their story, give their views. He's not a journalist, doesn't pretend to be, and so isn't going for a gotcha.
The mainstream media are mad, because they're getting cut out of the process. But I don't care. I'm tired of the gotcha mania.
Still More from "Jesus for President"
March 19, 2009 2:45 AM | permalink | comments: 0
Two previous posts talked about Shane Claiborne's book "Jesus for President." Those posts focused on what Claiborne says about nonviolence. But that was only one theme of the book. Here are some other worthwhile quotes:
Christianity is at its best when it is peculiar, marginalized, suffering--and it is at its worst when it is popular, credible, triumphal, and powerful.
Constantine flung open the doors of the church to the rich and powerful, but it was at a great cost. Repentance, rebirth, and conversion were exchanged for cheap grace, and the integrity of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus faded. People joined the church in droves, but Christian disciples were hard to come by.
The basis for living out the ethics of Jesus in this world is not that it works, but that this is the way God is. We are not promised that everything is going to turn out perfect.
I've learned from conservatives and liberals that you can be politically correct and still be mean.
We must be cautious not to abuse the idea of "bearing our cross." ... The cross is the execution tool of the state that killed Jesus and countless insurgents. And it is the place where Jesus faced and overcame violence with love. How ironic when someone gets a tattoo of Jesus on the cross but has no problem with religiously condoning violence....There are plenty of biblical motifs to counsel, soothe, and care for people in their troubles, but the cross is not one of them.
Paul warns that it is a desecration of the unity of the body when the well-fed come to the communion table with the hungry.
The best way to defeat the kingdom of God is to empower the church to rule the world with the sword.
Perhaps there is no more dangerous place for a Christian to be than in safety and comfort, detached from the suffering of others.
High-Tech Prayer: When You Just Don't Have Time
March 18, 2009 1:18 PM | permalink | comments: 3
In our hectic society, it's difficult finding time to pray. I'm sure even Jesus would have had trouble getting away to pray, what with all the media appearances he would have had, Larry King interviews, blogging, Facebook status updates, etc. All the things that make contemporary American life meaningful.
But prayer, though an antiquated little gesture of religiosity, still has its place, particularlly for old-school types who may have grown up in the church and, therefore, feel guiilty if they don't pray much. Fortunately, there is high-tech help.
InformationAgePrayer.com will pray for you. Out loud, even. You subscribe for a low monthly fee, and each day, a computer will voice your prayer. So you can be sleeping, or reading TMZ, or playing Guitar Hero, with the comforting knowledge that your prayers are still getting verbalized, albeit by a computer-generated voice.
The lowest-priced prayer--a mere $1.99 a month--is a daily prayer for your children. It goes like this:
May God shine His face toward you and show you favor.
May God be favorably disposed toward you and grant you peace.
May God bless you and watch over you.
Amen
I'm sure harried parents forget to pray for their children sometimes. But now, you can rest assured that the above prayer is going straight to God every single day, so that you can focus on other things, like soap operas. You could even buy a subscription for a new mother as a baby shower gift.
For a mere $4.95 a month, you can pray for health, and in this case, the prayer is quite a bit longer, which no doubt increases God's responsiveness to it. And for a limited time, you can get a bulk-prayer discount--five get-well prayers each day for only $9.95 a month. Sign up for a year--that's five prayers a day, for 365 days (computers don't take a day off)--and you get the last month free!
There is even a prayer for luck, as you stop by Handy Dandy and buy lottery tickets.
"Master of Heavens and Lord of Earth, who grants favor to his creations, may You favor my choices. May You guide me down the correct paths in life, and may You grant divine aid in all my doings. May I merit blessings and success, so that I may continue to walk down Your path and serve you to the best of my abilities. Grant me fortune, and remove all the obstacles from this path and from that of my family's. And if I should falter, may Your hand be there to catch me, and may You help me regain my footing. May this be your will."
Right now, there is a special sale for the "World Peace" prayer: just $3.95 a month, which is a savings of $3.05 a month. Can you really put a price on world peace?
I might suggest that they add a prayer like this: "Lord, please make Obama fail. Frustrate his efforts, spoil his wicked designs, keep him from receiving credit for accomplishing anything worthwhile for our country." I'm sure that would be very popular among Rush Limbaugh listeners, and they could, perhaps, use premium pricing.
The website notes that if your children don't pray anymore, no problem--just create an account for them, and God will be receiving prayers from them every day, whether they know it or not.
Prayers are divided according to religion--Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Unaffiliated, and "Other Religions." So we're talking about a very customized type of God notification. (In case you're wondering, the Muslim prayer for world peace says nothing about slaying infidels.)
The website explains, "Information Age Prayer was founded in 2009 with the aim of helping those who are unable to pray as frequently as they would like. By using the latest technology in text-to-speech synthesizers we are able to provide the service at very affordable rates. Also, 10% of subscription fees are donated to charity." They view this as a prayer supplement, not as a total replacement for traditional prayer. It is intended to "extend and strengthen" your connection with God. I am humbled by their godly approach and sensitivity.
A disclaimer says they don't guarantee that the prayers will work, so don't think about getting your money back if you don't win the lottery. "The final results are up to God," they say. But, "It is our opinion that the omniscient God hears the prayers when they are voiced, as He hears everything on this Earth. The omniscient God knows exactly who has subscribed and who each prayer is from when their name is displayed on screen and their prayer voiced."
I personally would prefer some kind of Seal of Approval from God, perhaps a brief tribute in Morgan Freeman's voice, to assure me that God is on board with this venture. But hey, we need to maintain some element of mystery in our digitized existence.
In the future, they hope to offer the option of saying customized prayers. So, for instance, I could write out a prayer for each of our missionaries--just once--and then have that prayer uttered via voice synthesizer to the Almighty every single day, so that I can spend more time listening to Mike & Mike on ESPN.
You may think I'm making this up. But I wouldn't joke around about prayer.
Joe Klein on Ron Silver
March 17, 2009 1:12 PM | permalink | comments: 0
Joe Klein, on Swampland, writes about his long friendship with actor Ron Silver, who died over the weekend of cancer. It's a moving piece. He especially recalls their many arguments over politics, and how they could disagree yet remain the closest of friends. A neat piece.
More from "Jesus for President"
March 17, 2009 8:30 AM | permalink | comments: 1
Yesterday I talked about "Jesus for President" and focused on what Shane Claiborne wrote about pacifism. Here are some more quotes along that line.
When we talk about peacemaking and the "third way of Jesus," people inevitably ask bizarre situational questions like, "If someone broke into your house and was raping your grandmother, what would you do?" We can't exhaustively troubleshoot every situation with a nonviolent "strategy," but what we can do is internalize the character and spirit of Jesus. We can meditate daily on the fruit of the Spirit and pray that they take root in us. Then we can trust that when we encounter a bad situation, we will act like Jesus.
The bloodstained pages of history are filled with people doing terrible wrong out of a deep sense of right.
Without a doubt, protecting the innocent is one of the strongest arguments for redemptive violence....[But] Jesus didn't say, "Greater love has no one that this, to kill to protect the innocent."
Jesus knew that his followers would face threats to their lives. But nowhere did Jesus teach that his followers should turn into wolves when they run into other scary wolves. He himself was killed like a sheep by wolves. By freely accepting crucifixion, he demonstrated what a sheep among wolves looks like. Refusing to become like the wolves to defeat the wolves, Jesus revealed that God, being love, chooses a different path--to suffer evil to overcome it.
Jesus was detestable to the state in his day, and he is detestable to our state today. His teachings are impossible for the state to ever follow. What state would ever say, "Do not resist the evil person," or "Turn the other cheek"?....Considering that history has recently called the US to execute disastrous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, resulting in the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians, we can know that this is not the voice of the shepherd who calls his sheep to love their enemies.
President Bush's speech promoted the popular goal of ridding the world of evil. This goal is not new. The ostensibly good intention to rid the world of evil, ironically, is associated with some of the most evil and tragic events in history. Even Osama bin Laden's stated goal, more or less, was to rid the world of evil. Three thousand people were killed in the tragedies of 9/11 in the hope of destroying evil....Jesus understood the destruction of evil to be not in human hands but in God's hands.
Instead of trusting the command to love our enemies, we insist that having the right people take office to direct the right bombs to fall in the right places is a more effective way to deal with evil. We can't be peaceful now, we say. So give us time to rid the world of evil; eventually, it will work. After thousands of years, we haven't learned that violence begets only violence.
Peace begins not with nations, but with the people of God.
I'm just trying to make you think, just as Claiborne has made me think. I'm not a pacifist, as least not now. I'm just exploring with an open mind. Trying to understand the truth about Jesus is never a bad thing, even when it contradicts everything American Christianity tells you.
Book: Jesus for President
March 16, 2009 8:45 PM | permalink | comments: 0
Two years ago I read Shane Claiborne's "The Irresistible Revolution," and it shook me up. Conservative evangelical Christianity labels as "liberal," as a "social agenda," concerns for the poor, the environment, and nonviolence. I carry plenty of that kind of baggage. But Claiborne presented a totally different world, and it convicted me like few other books I've ever read.
Claiborne's voice is that of a prophet. A loving and patient (not angry) prophet.
His views on pacifism particularly made me think. In our world, pacifism is not realistic, not popular, not how things work. But Claiborne painted a picture of Jesus that is not compatible with violence; a picture that, I realized, lined up with everything I knew about Jesus from Scripture.
I didn't change my views and become a pacifist. But the feeling deep in my gut told me, "There's something here, something central to who Jesus is. Don't discount it."
Continue reading Book: Jesus for President.
Great Logo Concepts
March 13, 2009 12:58 PM | permalink | comments: 0
Pork Wins
March 12, 2009 3:47 PM | permalink | comments: 0
I'm disappointed that President Obama didn't veto the stimulus bill and send it back to Congress to eliminate all the pork. I feel like he gave in. I'm in sympathy with John McCain, who argues for vetoing this bill. "If he wants to argue this is last year's business, we should send it to Crawford [Texas] to get signed." And yet:
- While it sounds like a lame excuse, and while the bill IS being signed on his watch, there is some truth to the argument that it is last year's business. Still, the lameness is very strong.
- Obama has expressed his displeasure with the pork, both privately and publicly. So, trying to put a positive construction on things, I'm gonna assume that he received assurances from Congressional leaders that, next time, things will be different.
- It's not easy fighting a Congress with entrenched ways of doing things. Can you imagine going to battle against over 8000 individual earmarks? Is that not only a battle worth fighting, but a battle that could be won? (Maybe yes.)
- Congress is, indeed, a separate branch of government, not subservient to the Administrative branch. On the other hand, it is the president who signs bills into law, so it's a team effort. He doesn't have to sign something he doesn't like.
- Nancy Pelosi has plenty of her own pork in the bill. There is an element of needing to appease in order to gain her approval for future things the President wants to do. It's distasteful, but that's how politics is played.
- Obama's taking the right approach in trying to overhaul the whole earmark process. Rather than fight the same battle with each bill, just change the underlying rules of the game. Very smart way to go.
There's talk now of doing a second stimulus package. Why? I have no clue. Let the circus begin. But it they begin working on a new animal, it'll be interesting to see what happens with pork. If there's a second stimulus, Obama MUST win this time. I'm not confident he will, no matter how hard he tries. Congress is a tough, selfish, greedy opponent.
Thumbs Up and Down
March 12, 2009 3:41 PM | permalink | comments: 0
A poll from the Democracy Corp shows that 26% of Americans have a favorable view of Rush Limbaugh, 53% a negative view. I, of course, am part of the latter.
On the ideological flip side: 15% say they have a positive view of Keith Olberman, 20% have a negative view, and an impressive 65% say they never heard of the guy. That is very heartening.
Book: The Fine Line
March 12, 2009 10:39 AM | permalink | comments: 0
"The Fine Line: Re-envisioning the Gap Between Christ and Culture," by Kary Oberbrunner, is about how the Christian relates to our culture. There are separatists, who avoid the culture in order to remain pure. And there are conformists, who indulge in the culture. Most evangelicals I know would fall in the conformist camp. We like our TV shows, pop music, movies of whatever rating. We justify it by saying we need to relate to our secular culture. It's a matter of relevance.Oberbrunner says neither the separatists nor the conformists are relevant.
- Separatists create their own insulated Christian subculture, and the world can't relate to it (and doesn't feel welcome there); they are out of touch.
- Christian conformists are not much different from secular people. They try so hard to fit in with the world, that the world doesn't see anything particularly spiritual about them.
Continue reading Book: The Fine Line.
Books: Roseanna, The Locked Room
March 11, 2009 8:45 PM | permalink | comments: 0
Martin Beck is the central figure of this detective series by Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall. He's a Swedish detective, and bears plenty of resemblance to Kurt Wallander, the detective in Henning Mankell's books. Both are team players, the lead investigators of police teams, not the individualistic, lone-wolf, man-against-the-system types common among American detective fiction. Both Beck and Wallander are pretty much anti-heroes. The Martin Beck books, I should mention, were written first (in the 1960s and 1970s).
I read "Roseanna" and "The Locked Room" back to back a couple weeks ago, having previously read two other Martin Beck books: "The Laughing Policeman" and "The Man Who Went Up in Smoke." Of the four, I would say "The Locked Room" is probably the best, with some very interesting twists and resolutions that surprised me. Plus, Beck was almost an incidental figure through parts of the book, as two plots converged. "Roseanna" may have been the weakest. But all were good reads.
Frodo in Peril
March 10, 2009 7:31 PM | permalink | comments: 0
This is good, another gem from GraphJam.com. I hadn't thought about how often Frodo was on the verge. But we've got:
- Almost gets caught by Nazgul beside that dock.
- Stabbed on Weathertop by the Nazgul.
- The wild ride with Arwyn to Rivendell.
- Caught by lake monster outside Moria.
- Stabbed by the cave troll.
- Falls into the Dead Marshes.
- Almost caught outside Minas Morgul (saved by magic cloak).
- Faces down a Nazgul at Osgiliath.
- Bitten by Shelob.
- Attacked by Gollum outside Mount Doom.
- The cliffhanger inside Mount Doom, after losing finger.
- In danger from lava flows.
What am I missing?
Future of Christian Eschatology
March 10, 2009 1:28 PM | permalink | comments: 0
My pastor, on his blog, referred his dedicated readers to a blog by Scott McKnight, who has begun a series on "The Future of Christian Eschatology" (the End Times). It's a five-part series which is going to run throughout this week.
I'm not usually one to read such stuff. Back in high school in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., I got all wrapped up in End Times hype (those were the days of Hal Lindsey's "Late Great Planet Earth,"), and when I realized it was messing me up, I pretty much abandoned interest in the subject.
I've always prided myself on doing my own thinking, reaching my own conclusions, and I trace a lot of it back to that time in high school, when I decided, "This is what my church leaders are preaching, but I'm not so sure." I didn't abandon a pre-trib view (then), but I did swear off End Times literature. I don't think I've read an End Times book since then.
Besides, I envision the world being a whole lot more messed up than it is now before Christ crashes back into the picture (like some post-apocalyptic Mad Max or zombie movie). So I'm figuring (as if I know) that The Return won't even happen in my lifetime. Saves a lot of fretting.
Anyway, I really enjoyed McKnight's first installment, and will be going back to read the rest. He takes a post-trib viewpoint, contrary to Jenkins and Lahaye. Actually, it might be interesting if they wrote a new series based on a post-trib view, with Christians going through the tribulation. Think of the millions of additional dollars they could make? Though, as McKnight says, people don't want to hear that view. They want to hear the "safe" scenario.
Book: "This Beautiful Mess"
March 9, 2009 7:58 AM | permalink | comments: 0
To me, the most interesting chapter of "This Beautiful Mess," by Rick McKinley, was chapter 11, "We Must Go Through Hardships." He talks about strategic suffering, suffering as a choice in order to accomplish something for Christ.
He says Christians in the West don't understand what it means to suffer for Christ. And when somebody does actually suffer--get kidnapped in another country, for instance--they come home with a book deal. "The American church doesn't produce martyrs; we produce celebrities." Very interesting thought.
But in other parts of the world, suffering for Christ is a way of life, and they identify with what Paul endured in Acts.
He tells a great story about being with other Christians and talking about Cuba. Someone in the group heard that the Cuban church was led mostly by women, and they desperately needed medical supplies. But how could they get supplies into a mostly closed country?
"Celestin, our friend from Rwanda, spoke up. 'What wold happen if you took medical supplies to Cuba to your sisters there?'
"'You would get arrested,' I said. Someone else began to explain to Celestin the embargo and other legal roadblocks. But Celestin interrupted....
"'Wouldn't that preach?....Wouldn't that preach to the world if you got arrested while taking medical supplies into Cuba for your sisters?'
"At that moment I felt like I had taken a baseball bat in the ribs. I'd been hit with the dangerous side of the kingdom....Clearly my creativity for the gospel ended at the point of suffering."
We have it so doggone safe in America. We have our freedoms, our Constitutional protections. If persecuted for our faith, we can sue for damages. None of us suffer for Christ, not really. We endure some slights, maybe, but it's not worthy to be called suffering.
Paul suffered, and he did it strategically. He intentionally went to places where he might very likely get beaten or stoned--and often he was. For Paul, and for many Christians around the world, it's not safe to be a Christian. It's a dangerous calling.
Here are a few more thoughts from McKinley's chapter:
- "In Celestin's life I see so much beauty and a willingness to suffer in the mess for the sake of his King. I, on the other hand, am the guy who doesn't want to go to India because I could get an upset stomach."
- "I have felt superior to those who suffer. It's an ugly truth. I have subconsciously assumed that their suffering is due to their inferiority---that they have pulled a sort of second-class seating assignment in God's big, blue kingdom bus."
- "We are brothers and sisters, not Western CEOs and Third World employees."
Pam and Molly Going At It
March 7, 2009 9:35 AM | permalink | comments: 0
Book: This Beautiful Mess
March 7, 2009 1:07 AM | permalink | comments: 0
"This Beautiful Mess" was written by Rick McKinley, pastor of Imago Dei church in Portland, Ore. That's one of those creative, postmodern-ish churches that traditional evangelicals aren't sure what to do with. They're doing innovative things, more interested in relationships and empathy than in institution-building. And they have some great things to tell us about what Christianity is really all about. We need to listen and learn. I try to do both.McKinley's book talks about "the Kingdom." Not Saudi Arabia, but the Kingdom of God. Parts are good, parts not so good. But I enjoyed it. Most chapters end with some free verse by poets I've never heard of, and some are excellent.
Here is a good quote:
"Pastors and lay leaders love to talk about advancing the kingdom, about building the kingdom. It's as if Jesus said, "My kingdom is a pile of lumber on the truck in heaven, and I need you boys and girls to get a hammer and help me nail this thing together."...When Jesus talked about the kingdom, he never talked about us building it or advancing it....The kingdom IS. That's it. Jesus does not need you or me to nail it together."
He says we're not building something, but merely living in something that already exists. We embrace the kingdom. God is sovereign in this kingdom, and he's got everything under control. Our inadequacies won't cause it to crumble.
"I don't see my life now as one in which I advance the kingdom of God. It is advancing all by itself....The kingdom is a dimension I acknowledge, I live in, I participate in....It is a lot less like building the business of Christianity and a lot more like slipping into the matrix of Jesus."
These were some very interesting thoughts for me.
AWKWARD!
March 6, 2009 3:56 PM | permalink | comments: 0
A Perspective on Solving the Money Crisis
March 4, 2009 5:11 PM | permalink | comments: 0
I found a quote by Will Rogers which gives me hope:
"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
We Say One Thing, People Hear Something Else
March 3, 2009 1:18 PM | permalink | comments: 0
Larry Osborne says it's frustrating when "my audience and I are using the same words but different dictionaries." He gives two examples.
Tolerance. He says it used to mean letting people be wrong. Now it means recognizing that everybody is right. So when he preaches about being tolerant of people who hold different views on issues like gay rights, his audience hears, "We need to realize that their views are valid."
Faith. It used to mean the belief that God would come through, somehow. Now, people think of faith as just an attitude of optimism. So instead of using "faith," Osborne is using the word "trust," which makes sense to me.
Just some interesting observations about our changing world.
Rush Limbaugh, the God of Conservatism
March 1, 2009 8:43 PM | permalink | comments: 0
Rush Limbaugh keynoted the final session of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). With 8500 attendees, it was CPAC's larger attendance ever. For want of alternatives, Rush is the de facto leader of American conservatism.I read through CPAC's three-day agenda. Lots of opportunity for griping about Democrats and the state of America in general. Practically nothing about religion. Evangelicals comprise an important part of the Republican base, but they were absent from CPAC. A little case of getting taken for granted, I suspect.
Young evangelicals, and prodigal older ones like myself (did I just call myself "older"?), have different priorities than CPAC. I can name a lot of conservative evangelical friends and acquaintances who, like me, switched from their Republican roots and voted for the vision presented by Obama (this time).
Sure, some feel so strongly about abortion and gay marriage that they will vote Republican solely because of those issues, and I'm okay with that. But younger evangelicals also care deeply about issues of poverty, justice, AIDs, and peace--issues that CPAC, and Rush Limbaugh, ignore. So if CPAC's agenda is any indication, they are in denial about the true state of American conservatism, and are headed toward additional drubbings in national elections. They want more of the same, and that's not where the young evangelical base is heading.
But back to Rush, the voice of conservatism. Is he really someone conservatives should adore and bestow undying allegiance every weekday afternoon? The CPAC crowd hung on his every word and cheered his rants. But consider the type of man he is. Character should matter to Christians.
- Rush has been divorced three times, certainly a wonderful example of conservative values. He and his third wife lived in separate houses throughout their ten-year marriage (he requested the divorce).
- He blamed Elizabeth Edwards for her husband's affair, basically saying she should have used her mouth to talk less and to give him oral sex, which he says is what her husband wanted. He snickered while saying this, thinking himself clever, evidently. (Watch it on YouTube, though it's embedded in a Keith Olberman segment).
- While American soldiers were dying to bring democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan, and while Iraqis risked death to exercise their newfound right to vote--what was Rush doing? He was encouraging his Republican listeners to vote for Hilary Clinton as a prank on the Democrats, a way to keep the primary race going. He made a mockery of what, in America, is practically a sacred right--the freedom to vote your conscience. What a horrible example to people in other countries, to say that your vote is something to just throw away for fun. Is that what our soldiers die to protect? But Rush went even further. "The dream end of this...is that this keeps up to the Convention, and that we have a re-creation of Chicago 1968 with burning cars, protests, fire, and literal riots and all of that, that is the objective here." I find this despicable.
- After years of condemning illegal drug use (he has said, "If people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."), he was found to be illegally buying prescription painkillers. Can you spell HYPOCRITE?
- He's a college dropout.
- Rush obtained a military 4F exemption during the Vietnam era because of two conditions: a high school football knee injury (his coach remembers no injuries), and an "inoperable pilonidal cyst," which is basically a pus-filled abscess between the buttocks muscles (an ironic disability, since Rush's career is spent sitting down before a microphone).
- In his radio show, he shows little interest in truth. For instance, he once mocked Obama's Senate record, saying, "You look at his record in the Senate, you won't find a Senate bill with his name on it." But a simple search turns up 152 bills and resolutions that he spnosored and another 427 that he cosponsored during his first year in the Senate, and that he sponsored 130 bills and resolutions during his second year. Rush's fans don't do fact-checking.
- He comes from a family of lawyers (grandfather, father, and brother). Draw your own conclusions.
- Every day he sows division. That's his schtick--us vs. them, Republicans vs. Democrats, good vs. bad. In America, we don't need more division. Republicans don't have a corner on truth, and they certainly don't have a corner on morality.
- He makes $45 million a year, but has said of the official poverty line, "$14,400 for a family of four? That's not so bad." Rush's view of people in poverty is lightyears from Christ's view.
- Rush once told a black caller to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back."
- He mocked Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease on air and claimed Fox sometimes doesn't take his medicine to exaggerate the effects of the disease. "He is moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act."
- He described the abuse at Abu Ghraib as equivalent to "hazing, a fraternity prank."
- He was the first person to publicly announce, on air, the name of the underage teenage Congressional page who had received sexually explicit emails from Republican Congressman Mark Foley, and suggested that the boy led Foley on.
- He's a Methodist, which may or may not mean his religious views are liberal.
Rush is driven by his sense of pure ideology. In his CPAC address, he said he hopes Barack Obama's policies fail. These policies may or may not work. But they are designed to end the recession and prevent a full-scale depression, restore health to the global financial markets, save and create jobs, stop major industries from going under, end two wars, bring healthcare to 45 million people currently going without, and end the unbiblical preference for the concerns of the rich rather than of the poor.
On a personal note, the President would like my 401K to stop tanking (after 30 years of investing in my pension fund, all of the gain has been eliminated). So yeah, I'd like to see Obama's policies succeed.
But not Rush. It would be a crushing blow to his ideology. And ideology is all-important. It trumps national interests. In Rush's world, it's better for a depression to occur than for liberal views to prevail.
What kind of American roots for his President to fail? Especially in the face of the current global crisis? But that's who Rush Limbaugh is. That's who millions of conservatives adore. And that's why I, and millions of other evangelicals, are fleeing from the grips of the conservative establishment, seeking alternatives more compatible with our faith.
There, I feel better.
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