Trolling the Bargin Bins at Bookstores

I am one of those people, like many others, that takes a long time to read a book. Mainly because I start one and then forget to pick it up for weeks. So, my readings block won't change that fast.

I also like to troll the clearance section of Christian bookstores. I never really buy anything from the stores, or even visit much. But the clearance sections are interesting mix of good and bad books.

If a book is a hit in the Evangelipopcology market place, they won't go into the bargain bin. Which is fine by me - I don't need to know how to kiss my date goodbye or twist God's arm to bless me with money. Whenever a book does make a splash, you can usually expect a large number of copycats. The better ones of these make a good splash themselves, but some of them bomb. These end up in the bargain bins. That is the bad - so bad that I get a good laugh out of reading their cover summaries. So, I guess it does end up being 30 seconds of entertainment.

The good is that when a book comes out that is too dense or quirky for the general public, it will also usually end up in the bargain bun. Those are the kind of books that I love to read. I just picked up a book that I am going to start reading recently on Jesus. Crazy, huh - a Christian bookstore book on Jesus? They can sometimes be rarer than you think. I can't remember who this one is by, but it takes all of the Gospels and combines them, and then the author added notes and side stories about the cultural atmosphere of the time. I'm sure some things will be off or wrong, but I look forward to getting this comprehensive picture. The Bible was written for people that lived in the time that it was written about, for people with a great understanding of the culture. The authors left a lot of explanation of the times out of there, basically because they had no need to explain it to their intended audience. I love reading anything that can restore that lost picture in my mind.

Following God Even When It Is Tough

This was part of a sermon I preached recently, but the podcast guy is really behind in getting the mp3 up. I was talking about following God even when He asks us to do something hard, or we don't see an obvious positive outcome, or things just look bad. I used a clip from Joan of Arcadia to illustrate the point. Joan of Arcadia was a television show where "god" appears to a teenage girl named Joan and asks her to do some tough things. Christians sometimes had a hard time with the show because "god" appeared as some weird people some times, and spoke in new-agey terms frequently. But if you got past the Yoda-isms of "god" in the series, they actually had some solid theology. Not always, but better than most shows in Hollywood do.

Anyway, here is the background to the clip I played:

"Joan is asked (by "god") to take a reclusive bully (Ramsey) to the school dance instead of her boyfriend (Adam). While both her mother and the assistant principal object, Joan follows through with God's task. At the dance, it is revealed the bully has a bottle of alcohol with him but Joan convinces him not to open it. Despite this the assistant principal later reaches into his jacket and, finding the alcohol, expels him. He runs away and Joan joins him. The bully goes to a secluded area and begins playing with a gun. Joan’s father, a police officer, is able to find the two and talk the bully away from the gun in a very dangerous and tense situation."

The next day, Joan sees "god" (as a lady handing out cupcakes) in the halls in school and decides to confront her about ruining Joan's life:



Our problem is, we don't get the nice TV wrap-up at the end. If we do the hard stuff that God asks us to, we may never know this side of heaven the impact that those choices had. We might only get to deal with the problems that come with the choice on our end. We may never know that our simple act of befriending the violent bully might have stopped the school shoot out. We might not ever know how taking a different exit on the way to work might stop an accident from happening. We might never know how sticking with church, even when it gets hard, or superficial, or confusing, might make the difference in someone else's life. Or even our own.

So We Visited One of Those Prosperity Mega Churches This Weekend

I've never heard the words 'blessing' and 'hallelujah' used so much in one sermon. To be fair, someone who used to go to this church said that it was just like an Antioch church (were we used to go to church when we lived in Wac0), and Antioch is pretty big, so we were hopeful that it wasn't a typical mega-church. That person was wrong about this church being like an Antioch church. Way off.

I'm no expert on prosperity Gospel stuff. I've always known that I generally disagree with it. And the the whole mega-church mentality.

As we enter into this massive building, we are pretty shocked by the amount of money that went into decorating the main hall. Neon signs, fancy stuff everywhere, tiled Baptismal pit (complete with free robes, towels, hair dryer, and heated water - we were told), and the stereo-typical coffee shop were all there. I took a quick glance at the prices in the coffee shop and decided to save some money and go to Starbucks later.

Anyway, to be honest - they did preach the Gospel, repentance of sins, and the need to die to self. But that seemed to be the sub-points in the main point of God blessing you with finances and happiness if you are faithful. It was the message given right before the offering that made us squirm.

Is there a new type of prosperity Gospel coming out now-a-days? There was a lot of true scripture being presented in there, but it was all sandwiched in with all kinds of "God is going to give you a lot of money and happiness" stuff in there. Like, A LOT of it. Should I really worry about the fact that they were all quoting scriptures correctly, but just over quoting ones about blessing, and kind of missing the whole point of what blessing means in the Bible?

I think many people would say not to judge and not to worry as long as the Gospel was presented. And to be honest, all churches are imperfect. Just having something wrong with your theology does not mean that the spirit of God will not be present and move in your midst. if that was true, He would never visit any churches.

But I gotta say - Katie and I couldn't find the exit door fast enough. Which is durn hard when you've got to fight past a thousand people making a B-line for the coffee shop.

I make light of the coffee shop a lot - but am I the only one that gets uncomfortable about the whole "den of thieves" thing? And when the pastor and his wife are wearing outfits that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe.... weird.

I gotta also ask about this whole "baptized in the Holy Spirit as evidenced by the speaking in tongues as seen in Acts 2:2-4." Acts 2:2-4 describes tongues of fire coming to rest on the believers - visible tongues of fire. Shouldn't it be "baptized in the Holy Spirit as evidenced by a visible tongue of fire and the speaking in tongues as seen in Acts 2:2-4"? Of course, I guess that means that most people wouldn't be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And that corrected statement doesn't roll off the tongue as easily....

Christian Artists: Giving Constructive Criticism

Recently, I have been in many online and in-person discussions about Christians and art, or more specifically - why there is so much bad Christian art out there. I would argue that, ultimately, there is just bad art out there period, and getting saved doesn't automatically sanctify lack of talent or taste. My reasoning for the fact that bad Christian art continues after salvation is that we have so many Christian liars out there. People that say they like something (painting, song, band, poetry, whatever) when they really don't think it's that great. Liar is a strong word, but I can't think of anything else to call it - so please try not to be offended by my use of it. More on that in a minute. First of all, a few things to set-up.

There are basically two types of Christian artists. First of all, there are those that make art for themselves. They don't intend to sell their art, get it displayed in galleries or played on the radio, etc. This is the kind of art that anyone participates in, and, in fact - I encourage everyone to do so. Being creative is something we can all do. If no on ever sees it - no need to be shy. The other type of artist is the one that tries to sell their art, even make a living off of it, or get it published, played, or displayed in public spaces. These are the ones I will refer to here from this point on as Christian Artists.

Once you cross that line from personal artist to Christian Artist, a whole new world has to open up for you. You no longer can just do what feels right to you. You have to be mindful of your audience. The opinion of others is crucial at this stage, because they are the ones that will ultimately support you. The opinions of other artists are helpful, but you still have to know the opinion of the audience. You have to connect with them.

This brings up the fact that there are three aspects of art that artists have to be concerned with. First, there is ability (skill, talent, etc). That is a given aspect, even if the artist doesn't have it. After that is the communication of the idea. Just having a lot of skill doesn't mean that you can communicate what is in your mind. And there are plenty of people out there that have found ways to communicate ideas in their head really well without any talent. The final aspect is the connection with audience. Having talent and the ability to communicate your ideas means nothing to the Christian Artist (or any professional artist) if you don't have the ability to connect with your audience. And, yes, there are those artists that don't have talent, do a bad job at communicating ideas, and yet still create stuff that connects with people.

This is also where many artists tend to take a "meh" attitude towards people that went to fancy, highly rated art/music schools around the world. These schools teach people the skills and the means to communicate ideas, but then students graduate from the school and go work for some catalog publisher. They have to do this because (possibly) they lack the ability to connect with an audience. Most artists would rather connect with an audience than perfect a skill.

Thus the rub of being a Christian artist. You need to know what others think of your work. Yes, you can pray and ask God and do what He wants regardless of what others think, but then there is that pesky deal of how God speaks to us through others.

This is why I encourage people to be honest when a Christian Artist asks for an opinion of their art, and you don't like it. I have been in many situations where people lied and said that they liked something and they really didn't (they admitted this to me later). They felt they were being "kind-hearted," but I argue that a lie is a lie and can cause damage.

You see, Christian Artists do believe that God speaks through others, and you never know if that "kind-hearted" word is the last word they get before they decide to do something radical, like quite jobs, or sell it all, and "go for it." I've know many people that actual do this (without praying - let's face it, we all do this from time to time), and since all of the feedback they got was "kind hearted," they missed God's will and crashed big time.

So, what to do when a Christian Artist asks for your opinion of something that you just don't like? Take a deep breath, and say four things:

1. Let them know your credentials up front. If you have never studied art, music, poetry, etc, let them know it. They need that context to know how to file your opinion.
2. Find something positive to say about the work/song/story/etc. For the Christian, this is usually the easiest part. Most Christian Artists mean well. It's not like they are out trying to subvert the word to serve the Anti-Christ. So, you can say something like "I can see that you had a good idea to show a spiritual truth here" or something like that.
   
3. Give them an idea about what you didn't like about the art. You probably want to be as general as you can here, but not open yourself up to further questions (let's face it, you wouldn't be going this route if you didn't want to lay out a list of all the problems with the art or didn't care about hurting feelings). Let them know that you don't go for the genre; or, if that is a lie - let them know that you just don't connect with it.
4. Encourage them to seek out more opinions. It may just be that you don't get the genre that they are working in. You could be the one that is wrong. Or you could be that last straw that lets them know whether to ditch the day job and go full time or not. Let them know that you should not be the last opinion they get.

In fact, I would argue that these four steps could be for giving feedback on art that you do like - just replace step three with giving them specifics on what you did like.

So, the way to give constructive feedback on, say, a painting that you don't like would be like this: "Well, please realize that I don't have any training in art. I like that you are communicating how prayer affects the world through this painting. For some reason, I just don't connect with the way that you are communicating, but I don't know exactly why. I think you should definitely seek the opinion of others on this and not just go by my word alone."

And, yes, I know artists are sensitive. They might still take this hard. Communicate with love and they will not feel rejected by you. Remember that above all - you still love the person, even if you don't go for the art.

More Money Equals Less Religion?

I thought this was a funny, but sad article:

A GLOBAL survey recently conducted by the Pew Research Center shows that the wealthier you are, the less likely you are to be religious.

Hmmmm.... food for thought.

Anyway, I am prepping two lengthy posts in my mind. I have some thoughts on the end times that I will put up soon (since that seems to be the current topic at church). I also want to post something on Christian artists.

Also, some day, I may get around to posting stuff on my views on the whole Calvinism vs. Arminism debate. If I ever get brave enough to go there :)

In India, Poverty Inspires People to Action

“In Redmond, you don’t see 7-year-olds begging on the street,” said Sean Blagsvedt (former Microsoft engineer).

This statement refers to the difference between the streets of India and the streets around Microsoft's headquarters in the US. A growing trend in India is that wealthy workers are seeing the poverty around them and are being moved to do something with technology to help these people.

Mr. Blagsvedt idea was to build a social networking site for poor street workers looking for employment. It seems that the rich complain about not having enough people to hire, and the poor complain about not having enough jobs. the problem was that there was no connection between the two. Mr. Blagsvedt answer? Technology!

The biggest problem was the fact that the poor don't have access to computers, and the rich don't want to trust just anyone they find online. So, the design of Babajob.com was to pay the people with computer access to set up profiles for good workers that they have found. Fairly ingenious. You can see the whole article here.

If you have ever read the Bible, especially the New Testament, you might have been struck by the idea that we are supposed to do something about poverty. I've always wondered why so few of us do that. Heck - I've wondered why I have a hard time doing anything. I think some of it has to do with the attitudes of the most visible poor: the corner beggars. I've gone and talked to a few of them, even offered to help them apply for jobs. They aren't interested in doing that. Now, I know that those people represent less than 5% of the actual poor out there. But they are the 5% that most of us ever get to deal with, so I am assuming that they are (unfortunately) influencing our national attitudes toward the poor. Why would we want to help those that just want a free hand out?

There has got to be a way to get something like this started here in the US. Some kind of site that links us needs with those willing to give. I am thinking mostly time here, and not money. I would love to go do something about poverty, if I could just find where to go on my free Saturday afternoons.

The Whole Gospel From All Angles

A recent post at the Thinklings, as well as a session that my wife taught at a retreat this weekend (Holistic Health), got me thinking about the Gospel. The whole Gospel. Most spiritual people, even if they don't follow Jesus specifically, tend to be able to tell you what they think the Gospel is.

The simple answer for most Christians is that the Gospel is the "Good News" of the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Some have been arguing that the Gospel is really something else - specifically, it is offering social justice to the oppressed. A few are slowly beginning to realize that it is both and even more.

A few months ago, my wife and I attended a "community health evangelist" training at our old church back in Waco. The session started off by looking at Jesus' mission statement. When Jesus began his public ministry, you see him in the temple reading a specific passage from Isaiah (chapter 61, verse 1, but I have included more here):

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners (or the blind),

to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

Many people look at these verses from the spiritual angle. When He speaks of restoring sight for the blind, we think that God will give (in)sight to the spiritually blind. The interesting thing is, Jesus then went around physically healing the blind.

The intent of The Gospel was to minister to the whole person - physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. And we see this is so in the verse from Isaiah above (with a smattering of social justice thrown in for good measure). Take a look at this part of the scriptures from a non-spiritual angle:

• "to preach good news to the poor": what is better news for the poor than to know that their oppression is gone? That they can be free from debt maybe? There's your social justice.
  
• "He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted": healing our emotional wounds and issues.
• "to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners": freedom from addictions (physical health), from oppressive relationships (social health), from destructive emotional conditions?
• "to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion... and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair": emotional comfort in tragic situations.
• "They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations": rebuild devastated communities, or even social relationships.
• "And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God": even when looking at this scripture from a non-spiritual angle, there is still an obvious reference to addressing spiritual issues.

The interesting thing is that Jesus took this passage of scripture from both a spiritual and non-spiritual angle at the same time, and lived his life fulfilling both angles daily.

Song of Solomon

Want to hear something crazy? I am preaching a sermon this Sunday. I've done some preaching in my life, but the last time I did was in 2002 in India. I still do some public speaking at conferences and other places for work, so I won't be totally rusty, I just still wonder if I have a good lesson in me now.

The reason I wonder is that my church is going through the Song of Solomon right now. So I am working on something out of that. The deal with SoS is - I've never really had a problem with it. Many people do - they don't understand why it is in the Bible. And that's okay - most people have a book or two in the Bible that they have problems with. Martin Luther himself had problems with several books - James, Revelations, etc. So it's okay.

But for me, I've always been okay with SoS being in there - even if you think it is strictly a love poem. You see, I have (for a long time) believed that God is concerned with every part of our lives. If you take SoS out of the Bible - there is a huge part of married life (the romantic part) that is missing from the Bible. I mean -- what else do you have in there? Sampson and Delila? Hosea? Even David's stories aren't that romantic.

Blog Ecclesiastes, Chapter 6

7 All man's efforts are for his blog,
      yet his blog roll is never satisfied.

8 What advantage has a Word Press site
      over a Blogger account?
      What does a poor lurker gain
      by knowing how to conduct himself before other commenters?

9 Better what the eye sees
      than the roving of the aggregator.
      This too is meaningless,
      a chasing after the RSS feed.

10 Whatever exists has already been blogged,
      and what man is has been archived;
      no man can contend
      with one who writes longer comments than he.

11 The more the Google Ads,
      the less the blogosphere respect,
      and how does that profit anyone?

One of Life's Mysteries Solved

This hit me last night - an answer to one of life's biggest questions. (If this has been covered somewhere else, and I am just stealing someone else's idea here that I just can't remember.. I apologize). The big question:

"Which came first - the chicken or the egg?"

The answer is quite simple, but depends on if you are a creationist or an evolutionist. If you believe in creationism, then God created all animals first, so the chicken was created by God first, and then laid the first egg.

If you are an evolutionist, then you believe the egg came first. Basically, as an evolutionist, you would believe that animals evolve and change over time - either as small changes in DNA slowly cause the creature to change, or major mutations cause quick changes every now and then (punctuated equilibrium). So, at some point you had a creature that was part chicken, but was still technically a majority of something else (lizard, some other bird, whatever). Then, this creature has a mutated egg that slightly or quickly pushes the amount of chicken in it's genes into the majority column, and survival of the fittest dictates that the new chicken creature survives extinction, while the pre-chicken beast is killed off by mother nature. So, the egg came first.

Life's biggest question, answered. Where's my Nobel Prize?

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