Collideoscope

Teaser Ads for Super Bowl Commercials?

2012-01-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

It is perhaps a telling note on the centrality of the Super Bowl in America that we are now getting teaser ads for Super Bowl commercials. Of course these ads are ridiculously expensive ($3m-$3.5m for 30 seconds), so it only makes sense that companies want to get as much PR as possible for their money. Still, this is a new one, even for extravagantly combining the web with television.

VW, after releasing the most successful commercial at last year's Super Bowl, now offers a teaser to their next commercial, since both are Star Wars themed. It's tracking at roughly 1 million views a day!

Plus, it appears Ferris Bueller is making a comeback. Stay tuned, soon it will not just be countless web sites running variations on the "Best Commercials from the Super Bowl" the next day, but countless web sites offering running variation on the "Best Super Bowl Commercial Teaser Ads." Capitalism never rests. (And that's not always a good thing.)

Apologies to Momo's Musings for not posting this in our sports blog, but this seemed more culturally related.

The State of American Religion

2012-01-23T04:34:00.000-08:00

RealClearReligion offers their "State of American Religion" by winnowing through the polls & trends, coming to some reasonable conclusions:

"We might best describe the state of American religion today as "robust but confusing." Relative youths are having a harder time navigating it than past generations. Pew tells us that "Among Americans ages 18-29, one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion."

Check it out.

2011: The Year in Tweets

2012-01-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

What better way to remember 2011 than to view Tweets that mattered?

Rend Collective: Homemade Worship by Handmade People

2011-12-29T09:57:00.000-08:00

Rend Collective Experiment’s new album is an interesting andexciting look into the heart of the core group of the Collective. We find them pursuinga course that walks the line between the hymns of old and contemporary worshipmusic. While listening to the album this becomes evident almost immediately.Some songs are more conducive for quiet moments reflecting on the enormity andbeauty of the God we serve and draw us into His peace and love. Others areperfectly suited for the worship services at church and combine powerful,thought provoking lyrics with catchy melody, rhythm, and vocal harmonies that speakto Rend Collective’s professionalism and talent as a group of musicians as wellas lyricists.

One highlight from the album includes the powerful messageof the cross and is found in the song “Second Chance.” The lyrics are whatcaught my attention.

“Oh Your cross it changes everything

There my world begins again with You

Oh Your cross it's where my hoperestarts

A second chance is Heaven's heart”

It serves as a timely reminder of the purpose of Christ’scoming to Earth during the hustle and bustle surrounding the holiday season.Tim Hughes mentions in the promotional video for the new album, “His hands madeworlds and stars and also chose the pain of human scars.” The cross changeseverything and while we celebrate the birth of our Savior lets keep our focuswhere it belongs, on the freedom and mercy that drove the Son of God to visitEarth, begin His life in the lowest place possible, and eventually suffer the“pain of human scars” so you and I don’t have to.

(Here’s a link to the promotional video for the new album: click.)

Musically, the talent displayed by the five core members ofthe collective is impressive to say the least. Styles range from a folksy,almost bluegrass feel in some parts to guitar driven worship music is sure toprovide enough variety to keep even the most seasoned critic from finding toomuch similarity from song to song.

Despite the incredible musicianship, tight vocal harmonies,and moving lyrics found throughout this album, the most touching and excitingpart of the Rend Collective is their heart. Their goal is to make the kingdomof God greater on this Earth and to do so without elevating one single personover another. Their call to God is not one that is based on a life of ease andsimply paying lip service to a greater power. To borrow another quote from thevideo, “God is not safe or small…He’s got a wild imagination.” That sums upthis album. It’s not “safe.” It doesn’t necessarily stick to what sells and itpays homage to the imagination and boundless creativity of our God and theexpression of that creativity that the Rend Collective is able to capture intheir recordings. It’s a call to worship and deeper relationship with God…Willyou listen and respond?

-Reviewed by Michael Henson

Bethel Music: The Loft Sessions

2011-12-28T07:54:00.000-08:00

To imagine a group with such great talent and seeminglyendless creativity seems to be the essence of this new Bethel project. Bundlethis in with a laid back atmosphere of what I think of as a “loft” implied by“The Loft Project” and what do you get; an excellent blend of worship music.Music suited for a more intimate search of the One who created all things iswhat this project inspires me to do.

If a laid-back yet engaging worship album is what you arelooking for, here it is. The Loft sessionshas more of an organic feeling to it in general compared to the more electronicfeel that some of their other albums include. I love hearing the incorporation ofthe banjo and such bluegrass-like and even classical instruments into today’sworship music. I have noticed many such instruments being used by groups suchas Gungor and the Rend Collective. Hearing the sounds of undiluted instrumentsand organic sounds being mixed in with unadulterated worship music make my soulhappy.

Hearing undefiled worship, and even just looking on worshipmusic with the most pure mindset may also help with that. I suppose this ispart of what the Lord meant when He said, “…unlessyou turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom ofheaven” Matthew 18:3-4 (ESV). Without this childlike mentality, I believe it isimpossible to receive the full worship experience of the God and Creator of allthings.

The mostfavored track of mine on this album would be Fall Afresh. I found it particularly easy to enter into theatmosphere of worship with this song. The line “…Pour through the caverns of mysoul, pouring me to overflow…” particularly struck a chord in my soul. LettingHis Spirit move through every fiber of my life is my hearts desire. To hearthat echoed by other writers brings me great joy.

I amhappy to hear these sincere messages of hope being published in thistopsy-turvy world in which we live. Tohave the message of the Gospel being spread through music, give the church oftoday a breath of fresh air so to speak. Knowing that His truth is beingcarried to all nations through the art of music is amazing and with groups suchas Bethel leading the way, I look to a brighter future.

-Reviewedby Tyler Cummings

Switchfoot: Vice Verses Hits St. Louis

2011-12-13T00:34:00.000-08:00

Switchfoot hit the Pageant in St. Louis on December 6, 2011 for the latest stop on their “Vice Verses” tour. This is a band that feeds on the crowd and I’m not quite sure “St. Louie,” as frontman Jon Foreman refers to us locals, was energetic enough on this Tuesday night to create greatness (whereas their February 15, 2010 show did), but the band always comes through in an energetic, uplifting manner and they did it again here.

Somehow this group has navigated that difficult middle course of remaining unapologetically Christian without alienating non-believers. This could not be proven any truer than the St. Louis show—the concert was sponsored by the local alternative radio station (where “Dark Horses” is their Current No. 1 Song on the playlist), while the audience was shot-through with T-shirts advertising the local family-oriented Christian station (which doesn’t play their music).

The Concert

It will be interesting how this tour is received, because musically the new album is a clear departure from most of their past efforts, with songs featuring almost hyper literate lyrics (“Selling the News,” “the War Inside”) against the backdrop of solid, guitar driven rock and roll that continues to mature. This is obvious when listening to the new CD, but—interestingly enough—not during the concert, where the band blends in the new songs seamlessly.

This is a band confident of their talent and full potential. They’re never slaves to the CD versions of their songs, often adding fresh interpretations to the set list without revinventing the song. When not overtly critiquing American culture, their songs are almost invariably laced with hope, faith, and challenges. It’s no surprise they’ve found a sizable audience, inclusion on the late night talk show circuit (Kimmel, Leno, Conan), covers sung during concerts by the likes of Taylor Swift and the Jonas brothers, and songs regularly embedded into movie soundtracks.

Live concerts always include surprises. They’ll lull you into a fresh dose of Switchfoot before busting out “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys. Later, it is “Been Caught Stealing” by Jane’s Addiction with a guest soloist. (Sorry, I didn’t get his name.). These aren’t tributes, but fun interpretations that keep everyone alert. (During the Hello Hurricane tour, they covered Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love.”)

They’re always highly interactive, with Foreman regularly wading into the crowd, and bassist Tim Foreman and lead guitarist Drew Shirley often leaning into the screaming, reaching fans. At this show, as 16-year-old named Tyler got a chance to play “Hello Hurricane” with the band during the Encore set because he held up a sign saying, “All I want for Christmas is to play Hello Hurricane with you.” He got the star treatment he wanted.

It’s an uplifting, energizing night that often includes songs ending with the band pointing to heaven via hands or guitars, as if they want to keep everyone’s eyes where they belong.

Can There Be More?

After a bevy of GMA Dove Awards, the band scored their first Grammy with “Hello Hurricane” in 2010. Every new album consistently adds to a catalog of songs that most bands south of U2 would envy. This is a band that’s still arcing into full maturity. While you might quibble that the venues might get larger, if they don’t, that won’t indicate failure. This is a band marking out a middle course almost no one has taken before, one that reaches believers and non, without sacrificing quality or energy. The real question is why more people don’t recognize that.

-Reviewed by Kent d Curry

NOTE: Susan Loyd shot some amazing pix from earlier in the tour.

The Internet: 1996 vs. 2011

2011-12-05T13:54:00.000-08:00

Here are some fascinating comparisons between what the internet looked like in its infancy and what it looks like now. Check out the differences between MapQuest & Travelocity, as well as the most popular web sites then (where have you gone AOL?) and now.

Grammy Nomination: Royal Tailor

2011-12-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

If you haven't heard, IBC grads Royal Tailor Band received a Grammy nomination for "Black & White."

Switchfoot: Dark Horses Live

2011-11-30T14:55:00.000-08:00

The guys from San Diego offer the same type of show on Jay Leno they offer live -- high energy, positive, clear. Enjoy

Jesus Culture: Awakening

2011-11-26T11:37:00.000-08:00

In an effort to convey the love of God to the world, Jesus Culture is releasing a new live album entitled The Awakening. Recorded in Chicago by the California-based band as the group hosted Awakening 2011 conference in August. If you are a fan of Jesus Culture’s previous albums, this one is a must! I am especially partial to live albums so this one hits home for me quite a bit.

Their combined effort at catchy chord patterns, lively licks and driving passion in worship alone make for a great combination. Couple that with great lyrics and a longing to worship our Lord and Savior and you come us with a recipe for success. This is exactly what Jesus Culture is and has done for the past several years.

By impacting their local community and reaching beyond themselves for a greater purpose, they have grown into a great worship culture. I believe their true desire as well as the desire echoed by our generation can be defined in the song “We Are Hungry.” As I was listening to this, I realized that this is my desire as well.

“..I will not be silent,

I will not be quiet anymore,

I will not be silent…

I will raise my voice,

I will raise my voice to You to You...”

It is about time we started stepping out and sharing this good news, which we have been so blessed to have been given. That exactly, through exuberant worship, is what Jesus Culture is doing and all the while not being a bit ashamed.

Be looking forward to this new album released November 29, 2011.

Kudos to Jesus Culture for taking the stand.

Reviewed by Tyler Cummings

Leigh Nash: Hymns and Sacred Songs

2011-11-20T13:57:00.000-08:00

Leigh Nash’s new release, Hymns and Sacred Songs, is a collection of the singer’s favorite old hymns as well as newly released hymns by such writers as Graham Kendrick, Stuart Townend, Aaron Keyes, Katie Gustafson and Nash, herself. Seeking lyrics cherished for their depth of meaning as well as poetic beauty, the hymns are given a fresh, new look with the combination of Nash’s light and easy voice and updated instrumentation.

Nash, who has been performing since her high school days, became known through her collaboration with Matt Slocum in forming the band Sixpence None The Richer. Following her time with the band, she continued to sing on projects with artists such as Amy Grant, Jars of Clay, Matthew West and others. Her latest project is a celebration and homage to the hymns she grew up singing in church and which she cherished from a child.

It is refreshing to hear the rich lyrics of old hymns such as “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “Praise the Lord Who Reigns Above.” Writers such as Fanny Crosby, Charles Wesley and Dorothy Thrupp wrote Biblical truths and profound life experiences into their lyrics. As more and more artists rediscover these musical gems their message is once again being heard. Nash’s arrangements are simple, using keyboard, bass, drums and guitars, but they uniquely allow the lyric to take center stage. The overarching theme is that of hope restored, of finding deliverance and restoration in the work that Christ has done one the Cross. My personal favorite is Fanny Crosby’s “O Heart Bereaved and Lonely.”

O heart bereaved and lonely

Whose brightest dreams have fled.

Whose hopes like summer roses

Are withered, crushed and dead.

Though link by link be broken

And tears unseen may fall.

Look up amid they sorrow

To Him who knows it all…..

Take a stroll through beloved hymns, or, discover them for the first time. Their message is timeless, and you won’t be disappointed.

Reviewed by Ann Ahrens

Switchfoot . . . and Taylor Swift?

2011-10-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

So, because I have a taste for the perverse... Switchfoot’s Jon Foreman sang alongside Taylor Swift in Glendale, Arizona on Oct. 21, 2011. They shared a duet of Switchfoot’s breakout hit “Meant to Live” before an arena full of little girls, who - judging from all three angles of the same concert - knew the lyrics.

Swift proclaims Switchfoot "one of her favorite bands" and she has included their "Dare You to Move" in her acoustic shows (top video), so . . . maybe there's hope for the younger generation after all.

Science vs. Religion Again? No, just common sense...

2011-10-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

So we got another one of those weird "Teacher fired for teaching creationism and hating Evolution" cases...

Link? LINK!

While I hear of reprimands to such teachers and slapping on the wrists.... But termination of a teacher's position regarding such a matter seems to be the first that I come across (though I am sure it's happened elsewhere)....

But they had a whole trial for this man's removal as a teacher...

6,000 pages of transcripts and 350 exhibits later, the court agreed that the man was right to be fired....

Sounds a tad similar to the Scopes Monkey Trial at the beginning of the century where a man decided to teacher his beliefs in evolution and was removed from his teacher post, and later went to trial, which, is kind of a big deal in history books....

I have really no spin on this trial. I agree with the decision of the court... If you can gather 350 pieces of evidence demonstrating that a teacher was continuously refusing to teach the material that the curriculum asked him to teach then he should be fired.

Teachers like the rest of us are hired to do a job. And like most of us would get in trouble for spouting our religious beliefs in the workplace, I don't think the teachers themselves should be exempt just because they disagree with the curriculum. If the man didn't want to teach it, he could have resigned.

Words to Live By: The Bible

2011-10-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

"Many Christians expect the world to respect the book they neglect." -Quoted by E.C. McKenzie (via David Jeremiah Ministries)

Review: The City Harmonic's "I Have a Dream"

2011-10-06T07:56:00.000-07:00

To Be Released October 18, 2011

From our friends north of the border comes a band full of energy, inspiration and a contemporary take on traditional spiritual values. They portray the Christian messages intended clearly while adding in certain folk/contemporary flairs.

As their name implies, The City Harmonic offers close-knit harmonies with the message of hope and forgiveness thrown in. With the Canadian foursome’s creativity, they combine to create a rather interesting style of music. If you were to mix a Coldplay-style piano with some of Need to Breath’s acoustic and Hillsong’s synth and vocal style, The City Harmonic is what you would get.

I must admit the first band I thought of was Kings of Leon as soon as the first few chords of the first song Yours was played. The way in which they incorporated catchy melodies and upright piano sounds, along with great lyrics, into their music immediately caught my attention:

All hopes, all my dreams, all my hopes all my thoughts.

All the things I’ve loved,

All my sin, all my fear, all my sorrow for the things I’ve done.

You can have it all, it’s Yours, all of it! Yours! All of it! Yours!

Songs such as Be Still, O My Soul evoke a solitary figure sitting at the piano, singing introspectively to the Lord in a very devotional style.

I enjoyed the CD very much. Their sound, in my opinion, could be a bit more unique. It sounded a bit generic, but with today’s contemporary Christian music industry, everything is beginning to sound the same to me. New inspiration, vision and diversity is definitely needed for artists today and I believe that these young men have the makings of something spectacular. I wish them only the best in their years to come and I cannot wait to hear more and to see where God will lead them in the future.

-Reviewed by Tyler Cummings

Food for Though: Forgiveness Requires . . .

2011-09-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

“Forgiveness requires healing grief. Forgiveness hurts, as all grief must, and if it hurts to forgive, it hurts equally to be forgiven. We can feel magnanimous when we forgive – in which case it isn’t real forgiveness because it does not involve grief. True forgiveness involves fellow-feeling with the one forgiven. When we accept forgiveness we accept ourselves as sinners, which is not popular today, even in the church.” - Madeleine L’Engle

Vote! An Accredited UPCI College?

2011-09-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

If you've heard, Gateway College of Evangelism (in St. Louis) approached UGST (Urshan Graduate School of Theology) about the possibility of being acquired so UGST could start an undergraduate program--essentially giving the UPCI a Christian college (not strictly a Bible college but not strictly a liberal arts college).

UPCI General Superintendent David K. Bernard put together a task force to consider this opportunity. The task force is gathering feedback to do a presentation and proposal to the General Board at General Conference in mid-October.

Care to voice your opinion? Vote here to be heard.

Switchfoot: Dark Horses

2011-09-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

Switchfoot's new Vice Verses album releases on Tuesday. It's quite different--not in a bad way, just different--from their usual heavy guitar, sunny California sound. Here's the first release & i s a good sample for the entire album:

Quick Thinker? You probably believe in God. Situation Analyzer? You probably don't believe in God

2011-09-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

An interesting report published by some cognitive science researchers at Harvard reveals that people who are more intuitive in their thinking are more likely to believe in God. In contrast, more reflexive people are less likely to believe in God.Intuition in the study was defined as instinctive and "as the tendency to rely on first instincts and to reach decisions quickly and then stick by them. Reflection, on the other hand, is a slower process that involves questioning initial instincts and looking at a wider range of alternatives."

The head of the research is adamant that there is no bias in the study and I tend to agree because if someone was doing a polemic against people who believed in God, there are several other more degrading words than intuition.

Nonetheless, for me, the topic touches on an all too awkward issue.... that people's brain capacity and the way certain people think has a correlation with whether they believe or not... or in other words, heaven is that much easier to attain for those who are more intuitive whereas, if the study is accurate, reflexive thinks are less likely to believe by way of how their brain functions...

It's these scientific arguments that make me sympathetic to the predestination arguments. However, the fact that what we are dealing with here is correlation, or an association between intuition/reflection, belief/unbelief reminds me that we are not dealing with a fact of causation where if one is intuitive in their thinking, they will definitely believe in God
The article is here.

Words to Live By: Finding God

2011-09-20T08:09:00.000-07:00

“If it is I who determine where God is to be found, then I shall always find a God who corresponds to me in some way, who is obliging, who is connected with my own nature. But if God determines where he is to be found, then it will be in a place which is not immediately pleasing to my nature and which is not at all congenial to me. This place is the Cross of Christ. And whoever will find him must go to the foot of the Cross.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Today's Teens are Amoral, not Immoral

2011-09-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

David Brooks of the New York Times reports on a book that reveals how young people today are incapable of defining morality. While that's hardly news, it does make you wonder how hard we Pentecostals are working to make sure the next generation is learning how to define the great truths in their own words.

Say Brooks:

“Not many of them have previously given much or any thought to many of the kinds of questions about morality that we asked,” Smith and his co-authors write. When asked about wrong or evil, they could generally agree that rape and murder are wrong. But, aside from these extreme cases, moral thinking didn’t enter the picture, even when considering things like drunken driving, cheating in school or cheating on a partner. “I don’t really deal with right and wrong that often,” is how one interviewee put it.

Alzheimers = Death = Divorce

2011-09-16T07:55:00.000-07:00

Apparently Pat Robertson said that Alzheimer's is equivalent to death, so a Christian spouse could divorce their loved one with Alzheimer's. Really? That's a pretty interesting reading from the Gospels.

Like Jessie Jackson on politics and race, Pat Robertson has long, long ago stopped speaking for Christianity, but lazy members of the media just can't stop quoting them as if they're authorities. Still, it's the latest example of how society will paint us (or allow ourselves to be painted) if we don't work hard to counter stereotypes through love.

Facebook Church?

2011-09-07T14:15:00.000-07:00

The link of the day is an article in the ever illustrious New York Times....

Which continues with our theme of from last week about the difficulties/advantages of church oriented activities happening online and more specifically on Facebook (Last week we had an evangelist "Type in tongues" on her Facebook posts),,,

At the surface the article is about the popularity of a "Jesus page" on Facebook which is more popular than Justin Bieber's Facebook page (I don't understand why the New York Times would think that would be such a shocking fact)....

But the more interesting issue which the article seems to be really getting at is the validity of church communities that not only interact with members online, but also exist as a church community through online alone.

The most open to such a viable "online-only" community was a rabbi...

"There are some people who will always prefer thein-person, face-to-face experience, who love being in a room with other Jewsand smelling the freshly baked challah. And some people will prefer beingonline,” said Rabbi Baum, 31, who is one of the leaders of OurJewishCommunity.org.“There are those people who prefer to check out our tweets on their phone orlisten to our podcast. I don’t think the use of technology needs to be foreverybody. But we have found a community online. Many of them have never felt aconnection to Judaism before."

The Rabbi gets to a very important question.... It's not about real or virtual in terms of church. Rather, it's simply about what about those who would never go to real church in the first place? Do we draw the line of where Christianity is active/inactive and just choose to not reach out to those who will only go to church online?

Words to Live By: True Love

2011-09-07T07:18:00.000-07:00

"The native language of love is lavishness." -William Hendriksen

Which is true, you know. Don't tell me you love someone. Show me how generous you are to them with your time, money, and willingness to change for them and I'll know how much you love them.

Women preacher types in tongues

2011-09-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

So I initially came here to post one thing. And now I am no longer posting that one thing and instead posting on another thing. And by another thing, the source can be found here. Basically a big time Pentecostal Televangelist, Juanita Bynum has taken to typing tonges within her own Facebook status...

Normally, I probably wouldn't blink twice about such things, but I stumbled upon the story on a secular "pop news" website which usually could care less about religious matters. And sure enough, other secular websites seem to be picking up on the story......

I don't know what to think yet. Really, I'm dumbfounded. Not that I would ever judge the authenticity of someone's Pentecostal experience, but I'm more so confused about what this implicitly says about social media (Facebook) and it's accommodation of church matters..... I honestly had thought that in many respects Pentecostalism was completely unique in many ways that it could never be imitated online. And the case of "typing in tongues" puts up a challenge to that notion....

Snapshot: 100 Most Powerful Women in the World

2011-08-25T14:11:00.000-07:00

Forbes magazine offers their list of the World's Most Powerful Women. After the usual politicians, there are business leaders, philanthropists, and even Lady Gaga (who saw that coming?), but no religious leaders. Should religion = power, though?

Anyway, it's worth a scan.

Who Has More Fun: Atheists or Us?

2011-08-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

An interesting take (rated PG-13) at RealClearReligion on whether Atheists have more fun in life than believers - and if it's worth it.

Rick Warren Storms Europe!

2011-08-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

The Financial Times takes a look-see at the movement that is Rick Warren, and his current attempts to spread the Gospel in Europe.

It's always interesting to see a reporter who doesn't have a religious background try to find the right vocabulary to accurately describe a believer trying to make a difference. Almost always, they fall back on political language.

NAYC 2011: Videos Galore!

2011-08-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

Check out all the NAYC 2011 video clips on YouTube!

"WE ARE . . . "

"GIANTS!"

NAYC Quotes: Paul Pamer

2011-08-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

Barberton, OH's Paul Pamer offered these 2 gems at the mid-Friday General Session:

"If the only thing you do is go to church then someday you won't."

On cell phones (& technology in general): "It's time we stopped using them as toys and started using them as tools."

Youth Congress 2011

2011-08-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

Just returned from the spectacular North American Youth Congress 2011 in Columbus, OH. While attendance probably didn't break the 15,500 mark any night (and honestly, since when is 15,000 teenagers worshiping God a negative?) there was always an overabundance of the move of the Spirit.

All 3 night speakers were spot on, but so was Music Coordinator Kristin Keller. On both Wednesday and Friday nights, she ended the evenings on amazing worship highs. She was pitch perfect in music and Spirit, and - at the risk of being accused of overstatement (or carnality) - held the crowd in her hands as masterfully as Bono. Except God received all the glory.

Didn't see the usual Youth Congress article from the local paper of record, but they did cover the North American Bible Quiz Tournament. (Make sure you read the comments at the bottom.)

While I'm sure there were disappointments and frustrations, congratulations to all who contributed. It was spectacular (again).

Creativity Magnifico!

2011-08-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

So this artist put a gigantic statue into the middle of a Hamburg lake with amazing success. I love it!

Sadly, it'll only stay public through August 12, 2011.

Facebook Embarrassment

2011-08-05T12:41:00.000-07:00

You don't have to have kids to ROFL at this one! AllFacebook has an inspired "10 Ways to Embarrass Your Kids on Facebook" that you can easily adapt to siblings or others.

Don't miss it.

Writing Time with Some Greats

2011-08-01T20:34:00.000-07:00

Wow! The Festival of Faith & Writing at Calvin College will be featuring Pulitzer-Prize winner Marilynne Robinson, National Book Award winner Walter Wangerin, young turks like Tony Earley and Jonathan Safron Foer, Newberry Award winners, respected poets and so much more!

$175 registration is slated for early November, for April 19-21 Festival. Don't think you can't afford it until you've poked through their website, as it continues to get more robust.

It's not to be missed if you want to discover what's happening in the world of letters and the world of Christian letters, especially. There's a lot of brave writing around faith these days and this festival captures it all.

New CD:William Matthews--Hope's Anthem

2011-07-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

Hope’s Anthem is the debut release by singer/songwriter William Matthews. With a combination of styles such as R&B, soul, pop and a bit of bluegrass, Matthews original compositions take the listener through a range of worship styles from joyful and carefree to introspective and contemplative.

Beginning with his participation leading worship at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, MO, Matthews then moved on to Bethel Church in Redding, CA, where he currently lives, writes and continues to lead worship. Additionally, Matthews will be conducting a tour of California churches, featuring songs from his debut album.

The album opens with the unconventional sound of banjo and mandolin in the upbeat I’m Free. This is followed by a range of styles from slow to driving tempo tunes such as Deep Cries Out. Matthews brings a fresh version of Psalm 40 in the upbeat So Good To Me, as well as a remake of Psalm 23 in The Lord Is My Shepherd.

Echoing Bluetree’s God Of This City is the fourth song on the album, We Believe:

You hear us Lord when we lift our voice, here in one accord,

Father we ask, may your kingdom come and your will be done here across this land

Father we stand in your truth,

We believe that our nation will be saved, that our cities will be free,

Every promise that you give God,

We believe that your love will never end and your mercy cover sin.

Every promise that you give, God, we believe.

My pick from the album is This One Thing

My heart and flesh cry out, O living God,

You’re where I wanna be.

This song I sing, this prayer and offering, to you, beautiful King.

And all I want is just your heart. Yes, I am living just to see your glory

You’re where I wanna be, you’re where I wanna be

My heart it beats for this one thin

I’m so in love with you, I’m so in love with you,

My heart is singing this one thing…..

With solid, Biblically based lyrics, Hope’s Anthem is just that – a call to renewed confidence in the power and promise of God’s word and calling in us.

-Ann Ahrens

Campus Crusade for Christ starts working out, loses weight, changes name.

2011-07-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

To get an unbiased scoop of today's story, go here.

To get an idea to what caused me to write this, go here.

What you need to know: The leading Christian Evangelical network for college students, "Campus Crusade for Christ" has changed it's name to, "Cru."

The reason being that the word crusade has a pitiful historical resume as thousands have been unjustly murdered in the name of the Christian God during the crusades. For more on the history of this word click here.

The removal of the word Crusade is not what is drawing the fire of many Christians however. Rather, the word "Christ" is gone too....

And this seems to be a really really big deal.

Christians are angry. Outraged even.

There could even be pitchforks.

The people up in arms about this name change argue that Campus Crusade for Christ's name change to Cru is indicative of the hopelessness of today's age apparently. It seems that the secular monster of the land is at it again, trying to stricken the mention of Christ from any public representation. This is the same monster that is trying to take the Christ out of Christmas and he just won't stop until no one knows what Christianity is anymore! Or so that seems to be the consensus among the Christians against the name change to Cru....

And I couldn't disagree more. While I am certain that they Christians against Cru really have good intentions, and really believe that the name change is proof that we live in such a secular age even Christians are compromising their very name for the sake of acceptance within the secular culture...and they may certainly be right. I may even be a symptom of this secular age.

But I also went away to college for four years, where a big part of Cru's battle is fought. One of those four years I was a confessed agnostic/atheist hybrid. Another year I was almost Jewish. The last two years I became Christian again. And I can easily say that sadly the most offensive thing about Christianity on secular college campuses is hearing the name Christ preached openly. This isn't Christ's fault though.

I would watch "Christians" stand at the heart of campus and preach with a red-faced hatred that "fags are going to hell" and that everyone who was not Christian would have the same result. These sermons happened monthly from different people. I can't recall a mention of the Holy Ghost or the Cross once. If I were to tell you what Christianity was about based on the campus sermons I heard, I would tell you it was about a God who wanted you to say you were a terrible sinner, and if you did not say you were a sinner he was going to condemn you to an eternal furnace. These loud mouthed fundamentalists were representing Christianity to people who may have never actually read the Bible before. And I'm sure they were all proud to call themselves Christian (unlike Cru apparently).

During my agnostic/atheist days, the campus preachers would make me laugh to myself because their hate confirmed why I wasn't one of them. I liked Judaism because they were never preaching condemnation to the roving masses. They were quiet and unassuming. I liked that. But when I came back to Jesus, walking past the Christian campus preachers was never a pleasant experience. I would bow my head and walk swiftly by, ashamed for my brothers and how they were representing my Jesus. How could I witness to my college peers when Christianity to them meant a God who looks forward to throwing you in hell?

My point is simple.... in a secular environment, Christianity ain't the best brand to display. Like the crusades misrepresented Christianity, I really believe the Bible thumping, hell condemning Christians (who may be the same ones who were upset at Cru for changing their name) give us a bad rep. I'm not saying having conviction is a bad thing. And I am definitely not one of those postmodern, "tolerate all religions" kind of guy. Really, I'm not. Because if there is one thing that irks me more than fire breathing preachers in the middle of campus, it's "tolerant secular liberals" who only are intolerant to Christianity.

All I am simply saying is that when it comes to being a campus evangelical group, having a name called Campus Crusade for Christ or "Cru," I whole-heartily would tell people that for today, Cru will get the message across much better. We can stick up for our Christian title and in the process offend many people away from ever giving us a chance to tell them about the Good News, or we can not put our faith in the names of our organizations, and hope that secular people will see the Christianity in us and through our words instead of in name alone...

Paul did this on Mars Hill. He was subtle with his message. He started off preaching in the context of the Greek culture and then introduced Jesus. Hell wasn't the first word for Paul. And sadly many Christians have made hell the first thing that comes to a lost soul's mind when they hear "Christian."

And while it's sad that Christianity can't be all public like it used to, is today's situation not more similar to the context that Christianity was first born in, where persecution of Christianity abounded and thus Christians had to be creative on how to get their message to spread a midst a predominately secular society?

"Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." I Corinthians 9:19-23

New CD: Stuart Townend--The Journey

2011-07-25T05:29:00.000-07:00

Modern hymn writer Stuart Townend’s new release, The Journey, is a modern folk-style offering of new hymns, modern psalms and introspective tunes. Townend attends and regularly leads worship at Church of Christ the King (CCK) in Brighton, UK.

Departing from the usual electric guitar and drum based tracks of most modern worship bands, Townend pulls out what one might expect on a folk album – slide guitar, mandolin, drums, guitar, fiddle, flutes, whistles and banjo. It is a mixture of bluegrass, Celtic and mountain music, not in the usual mold of worship music. But Townend is convinced that this, too, pleases God. He states, “So I hope that this album might provoke some of us to broaden the musical and thematic horizons of what we do week to week in our local churches. But most of all, I hope it causes us to see the providential grace and love of God in our lives and to respond in worship and obedience to Christ.”

Tracks include the upbeat and dance-like Vagabonds, a new bluegrass take on the hymn It Is Well With My Soul, and a new take on the traditional chant, Kyrie Eleison.

Purposefully departing from the norm of the modern praise and worship style, The Journey by Stuart Townend is just that – a “journey” down a new a fresh path of worship and contemplation.

-Ann Ahrens

New CD: Jake Hamilton--Freedom Calling

2011-07-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

Jesus Culture worship artist Jake Hamilton releases his new album, Freedom Calling, this summer. Following on the heels of his debut album, Marked By Heaven, Hamilton continues in the same straight-forward rock style. Seeking to reach a “new generation of worshipers,” Hamilton’s lyrics are honest, thought-provoking and geared to the youth culture. “I long to give the Body of Christ a language for reformation and revival through melodies that will be carried on for generations,” states Hamilton.

Raw, rock style vocals, coupled with driving drums and guitars, set the stage for this message. Beginning with the driving War Drums, Hamilton sets the stage for a musical journey through themes of surrender, intimate worship and that of surrender to God’s purpose – a “leaning” away from one’s own purposes and into the calling and plan of God.

While the entire album is lyrically rich and musically diverse, my pick tune has to be “Looking For One.” Hamilton acknowledges,

Jesus came to save the world, then he let us give it a whirl

And we messed it up, but I’m not givin’ up.

Cause far as I know mercy still remains, judgment only comes if I don’t remain

Faithful. You’ll find me faithful

You’re looking for one who can feel your heart beat

Can feel when you lead, the time and the season,

You’re looking for one who’ll stand in the gap

Never look back, find your heart in their freedom,

You’re looking for one.

Sure to be a hit with those who like their music hard, loud and “in your face,” Jake Hamilton’s Freedom Calling brings the challenge we all need to hear.

-Ann Ahrens

New CD: Aaron Keyes--Dwell

2011-07-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

The sophomore release by Aaron Keys entitled Dwell is a collection of worship and devotional songs. Keyes is the worship pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Snellville, GA where, for the past eight years, he has not only lead in worship but, along with wife Megan, has opened his home to a discipleship program for young worship leaders.

Although the collection contains a variety of styles with unique instrumental tracks, Keyes has made certain that one element is constant among all the songs – that of the Word of God. In an interview with Melissa Riddle Chalos, Keyes states, “It doesn’t seem right that I can go to some of the biggest worship conferences in the world and see some of the biggest worship leaders in the world and no one’s saying anything about the Bible. It makes me nervous because if the Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, if we’re leading without it, we’re leading people into darkness.”

Born out of personal spiritual warfare, the songs on Dwell were written to place the listener in the presence of God, the only place spiritual wars are truly won. Keyes places high priority on putting listeners in a place of worship and surrender so that God can fight the battle and bring authentic victory.

Evoking images of Psalm 91, the title track, Dwell, reminds the listener that we cannot escape from God’s presence, nor can we be blocked from it for God is with us always.

I will dwell in the shelter of the most High God

I will rest in the beauty of your presence.

Your faithfulness is a shield and my great reward

I will not be afraid, I will trust in the Lord.

From the upbeat Lavish, to slow and meditative tracks such as In The Name of God, Aaron Keyes new release Dwell is a call to return to pure, Bible centered worship – a truly enriching experience.

-Ann Ahrens

Sneak Peek Music Video: Sanctus Real's Hammitt

2011-07-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

Multiple Grammy-nominated, Dove Award-winning Sanctus Real lead vocalist Matt Hammitt’s first solo album, Every Falling Tear, comes out September 13.

Here's the first video from the new album.

"All of Me" from Ryan Lynch on Vimeo.

News

2011-07-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

More thoughts from the news.

(1) Tired. I'm tired of hearing about people talk about Casey Anthony. I was never interested in the proceedings. I didn't follow the OJ saga either. If you know little or nothing of either, God bless you. I know less than most, probably, but more than I would like. I wish that my knowledge of Casey Anthony was zero. Our collective national interest, or, should I say morbid fascination, reminds me for some strange reason of the scripture "have pleasure in them that do." Taken out of context, of course, and not really directly relevant, but oddly interesting nonetheless. I'm not accusing anyone of taking pleasure in watching the brutally painful ordeal that Casey Anthony is undergoing, but why does it have to be so public? And why are people so fascinated by it? This article explores that question in thoughtful detail. I passed by the lunch room one day a few weeks ago, where the TV is always on, and I was completely disgusted that it was on. I watched it for maybe 90 seconds, but it was about 88 seconds too long. I am relieved that the trial is over.

(2) Surprised. The Supreme Court ruled against violent video games for youth. For a while I wasn't sure where I stood on this issue. Then I realized it's a no-brainer. If they can rate movies with an "R" for violence, why isn't there an analogous rating system for violent video games? There should be.

(3) Angry. Outraged. I was listening to NPR one morning last week and caught this segment. While well-reported and informative, there was an audio clip of gunshots, and a man crying out for help in another language. As the narrator described watching the video and seeing the person's life ebb away, I was unable to bear it. I've seen people get shot on film. But film and real life are very different hings. I don't know what the editors were thinking when they allowed that to run. We have a ratings system for film that precludes certain images from being seen by certain people. NPR will often preface reports such as this with a warning (and it did in this case). However, I usually disregard the warnings anyway as I simply turn the dial if I can't tolerate what's being aired. In this instance, I turned the dial, but it was too little too late. I am now stuck with the audio image in my brain.

(4) Intrigued. Witness the increasing number of high profile athletes using some form of elimination diets. David Zabriskie is riding the Tour de France on a nearly vegan diet. Novak Djokovic just became the first gluten-free person to win Wimbledon. I find this all very exciting. Living in a household that avidly promotes gluten-free living (in addition to other nutritional trials to numerous to count) any promotion of a greater awareness of the importance of diet is fabulous news.

(5) Bored. I absolutely hate it when I hear someone say that he or she is bored. It should be illegal to be bored. There is so much to do, so much to read, so much to experience. And yet . . . "I'm bored" is the hallmark cry of youth. But if there's one thing that bores me it's things like the upcoming Roger Clemens trial. The author of the aforelinked article thinks it's a good thing. I think it's a shame. Who cares?

Civilization Brightens

2011-07-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

I'm always on the lookout for trends that maybe tell us happier news about our society. This article in USA Today is one of those about where families are living today (hint: parents are moving in with grandparents).

Among other 2009 findings for children under 18:

— 69 percent lived with two parents.

— 4 percent lived with both a mother and father not married to each other.

— 59 percent who didn’t live with a parent lived with a grandparent.

— 7 percent lived with an unmarried parent who was cohabiting.

— 16 percent lived with a stepparent, stepsibling or half

Friday Round Up

2011-07-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

Friday Round Up. Or Week in Review. Or basically a handful of interesting bits I caught in the news in the last week or two.

(1) They found James Bulger. Finally. I caught the segment on NPR last week and thought to myself, "Huh. I guess if part of the Pakistanis excuse for not knowing the whereabouts of OBL rested on our inability to find certain criminal elements in our country, someone in the DOJ decided to 'clean house,' as it were." Well done, guys. I heard one segment in which an ignoramus of the highest magnitude called for leniency in the case because he had been so many years on the lam and was presumably now a model citizen. C'mon. The guy was wicked evil. I believe in forgiveness but Whitey's gotta do some time, preferably, the rest of his life.

(2) There's been a lot of sex in the news in recent weeks. Maybe this isn't anything new. But consider: that wicked French guy. Wienergate. And now Bristol Palin comes out with a tell-all in which she intimates she was date-raped. She doesn't quite come right out and say it that way, but if you read the plain account as she tells it, it's certainly the plainest reading of the text. And now, let me see if I can parse out the 'news-worthiness' of any of the foregoing. (A) Dominique Strauss-Kahn: if guilty, needs to do some jail time, definitely news (late-breaking questions of her credibility aside). (B) Anthony Wiener: behaving badly member of congress involved in scandal not even to the point of an extra-marital affair? not really news. In fact, I'm surprised he didn't hold to his guns and stay in office. Although I was glad to hear he was planning on getting some counseling. and (C) Bristol Palin: Who Cares? Why do people continue to pore over a feeding frenzy over nothing substantive. Please don't get me wrong. I am not demeaning her nor do I take lightly her claim, but why is this national news?

(3) Is the incidence of autism in kids today climbing slowly, skyrocketing, or maintaining at a steady pace? Is it just being diagnosed more frequently or is there something wrong with our environment where an enormous quantity of toxins are being introduced with devastating results? I'd like to draw your attention to a recent study from South Korea where it is estimated that 1 in 38 kids are affected with some form of autism. Startling? Unbelievable? While there may be some methodological issues or some exaggerative hype, I am concerned that autism will be the next pandemic. Okay, well pandemic isn't quite the right word because it isn't "infectious," but it does adequately express my alarm.

(4) A recent Harvard study shows that eating potatoes makes you gain weight while eating nuts and yogurt makes you lose weight. If only losing weight could actually be that simple. I first encountered the story in the aforelinked Post article. I actually think this is much better summary.

(5) Jose Antonio Vargas. Perhaps one of the most compelling news stories last week in a week full of news was that a renowned journalist came clean and admitted that for the last many years he has been working in the U.S. illegally. I'm not sure what side of the fence you all are on, but I have to say that I am on Jose's side. I think they should give him a free pass. Good work, guy. And way to bring a critical issue to the forefront of our national discussion. Having said that let me return to point #1. There are crimes and then there are Crimes. Bulger certainly belongs behind bars. But while I am a strong believer in the rule of law, I don't think Vargas deserves to be excoriated. He broke the law. Surely there should be some kind of punishment or restitution. But don't deport him. Let his story be the catalyst for passing some version of the Dream Act.

Week in Review

2011-06-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

A couple interesting tidbits in the news this week.

(1) I have lately been quasi-following the question of the nation's debt and looming debt ceiling deadline. I like how this video outlines the issues very plainly. There is, unfortunately, little or no commentary as to the ramifications. These are precarious times for the U.S. economy. I'm more than a little concerned. I wish I had suggestions. I don't.

(2) Which brings us to the question of spending. Does the government spend too much? Undoubtedly. But can other folks pick up the slack? Not likely. I don't think most conservatives fully appreciate how many needs are out there.

(3) I'm sad that I now work too far away (20+ miles) from my home to conveniently bike to work. I really enjoyed my 13.2 mile commute home from downtown Minneapolis before we went to Africa. I know I was happier when I was riding my bike home from work. This article highlights some additional facts and figures surrounding cycling commuters and their relative state of happiness.

(4) Jon Huntsman, or Mormon-in-Chief #2, will vie for the top spot for the Republican Party in 2012. I appreciated this tidbit. I hope you do, too. Huntsman's website has a veiled nonsensical allusion to a biblical passage to which Joshua Green amusingly comments, "political consultants, like reporters, are so ignorant of religion that the allusion probably would not even have occurred to them."

(5) "Life moves pretty fast." This is a bit older piece but it was new to me this week so I present it to you in that vein (there's been a lot of additional commentary, see also this one for a contrarian view. I grew up in the 80s and so this movie was close to my heart as a 16 year old high school student wishing I, too, could be Ferris Bueller. While the author of this article has put a great deal of thought into the film, I am unable to devote that much time to thinking about it. For me, 25 years ago, it was simply a joy. While I have never had much fascination in the way of fancy cars, I'm sure it was the premise of skipping school with my favorite "War Games" movie star and cute girl that held such great appeal for me back then. I don't really know what I'd get out of it now. Can't say's I'll be watching it again, unfortunately. Oh, and the Charlie Sheen bit, prescient.

Website gets hacked. Ugly People Celebrate. Then they Cry.

2011-06-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

I wish I had a long cultural commentary for today's link which can be found here: Link!

Basically, there's this dating website... for only "really really goodlooking people."

I'm serious too. This website would evaluate whether or not you were "beautiful" or "ugly" and then only allow the beautiful applicants membership in the website.

Now, I really don't have a problem with this....niche websites should not be criticized for who they do and do not allow on their website. Of course, good looking people have it harder because preference for looks alone is quite a taboo subject these days (although I would argue the law of preference for beautiful or tall people is still operative throughout our society today, but it's just not spoken).

But the reason the website is considered news is because someone hacked the website and uploaded a virus that accepted 30,000 ugly people as members of the site. The virus itself was one thing. But the website operators went and removed those "ugly" people from their website even though they technically had memberships.

30,000 ugly people thought they were beautiful and lived the beautiful life for an entire weekend after being accepted as members. Only to have their hearts torn out from within after being told they really were "ugly" the whole time and their acceptance was a mistake.

Luckily, all the ugly people were refunded their membership fees and were even set up with a phone number to a crisis hotline as a means to cope with the rejection.

While the intricacies of this story are many, and quite laughable (for instance, what kind of world are we living in where 30,000 people are actually applying for this website?)...my one concern is for those thousands of actually good looking people who were previously accepted into the website?

Think about it....these beautiful people paying their hard earned dollar to be members of such an exclusive website, just so they don't have to deal with looking at the profiles of "ugly people" when they are trying to find someone to date. And then one day they log into the website, and find 30,000 ugly people roaming around that dating website! Can you imagine the trauma of the beautiful person that weekend?

I just hope the site operators had some kind of recompense set up for those who were forced to look at the profile pictures of those mistakenly accepted ugly people.

(The above is sarcasm)

Our Twitter Feed

2011-06-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

...is acting up off our blogs, as we're not getting picked up. Joel opines on Kafka and Derrida, thoughts on the (Pentecostal) teens being all right in Word, while Momo has some good stuff on the NBA Finals.

So we're posting, but there's a feed disconnect. Running a test now.

The Germans vs. The Zionists vs. The Capitalists (with the Winner obtaining the rights to claim Kafka as their own)

2011-06-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

Franz Kafka, author of Metamorphosis, one of the weirdest, most compelling books I read in high school is up for grabs.

Sure, he's been dead for nearly 90 years, but Kafka still matters man.

Basically, before Kafka died, he told his friend, Max Brod to burn all his papers upon his death.

Brod, thankfully did not burn said papers. Instead, Brod took papers and moved to Palestine (which became Israel). Out of these papers, many letters and books by Kafka were published posthumously.

And today, those papers that Kafka requested to be burned but never were burned are still around.

And we are talking about Millions of dollars worth of papers, some of them have never been read....(one manuscript from the pile of papers went for 2 million back in the 60's).

The paper's currently reside in Israel in a vault under "ownership" by two sisters.

The Battle:

The Two sisters who inherited the papers from Max Brod want to sell the papers outright. (Claiming private ownership, desiring money, capitalism, blah blah blah).

But here's the debate....The Israeli Library is claiming the papers are rightfully theirs on behalf of all Jewish people, in consideration that Kafka was Jewish.

The German Library is claiming that the papers should be theirs arguing that Kafka wrote in German and that it can better protect the papers (in consideration that it's archives are carefully maintained and that it already possesses one of Kafka's manuscripts).

But this trial is far more fascinating than I just described it as...

if you have time, read Judith Butler's article on the topic which includes some brilliant analysis....it can be read here: LINK

Here is one of the more fascinating bits Butler picks up:

If Kafka is claimed as a primarily Jewish writer, he comes to belong primarily to the Jewish people, and his writing to the cultural assets of the Jewish people. This claim... becomes all the more (controversial) when we realise that the legal case rests on the presumption that it is the state of Israel that represents the Jewish people....

First, the claim overcomes the distinction between Jews who are Zionist and Jews who are not, for example Jews in the diaspora for whom the homeland is not a place of inevitable return or a final destination...

The implicit understanding is that all Jews and Jewish cultural assets – whatever that might mean – outside Israel eventually and properly belong to Israel, since Israel represents not only all Jews but all significant Jewish cultural production....

and now through claiming significant works by those who happen to be Jews as Jewish cultural capital that, as such, rightly belongs to the Israeli state.

In summary, when the National Library of Israel claims Kafka's paper on behalf of all the Jewish people, and because Kafka is Jewish, Israel is in a sense saying that as a State, Israel defines Jewishness, and also speaks on behalf of all Jews, even those who don't live in Israel. AKA even though Kafka Never stepped foot in Palestine (which would become Israel), and was entirely a European citizen, Israel is claiming that He was really one of their own.....even when he didn't know it.

As a Jew by ethnicity, I don't like this. I am not a Zionist.

The prayers of Jacques Derrida

2011-06-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

Chalk this post up on account of my undying love for philosophy, and thusly, I apologize.

That said, I have recently delved into the philosophy of the "hated" postmodern philosopher, Jacques Derrida (pictured above). Derrida, the "father" of deconstruction, was nothing like the stereotypical caricatures that I had grown accustomed to which said Derrida thought truth was "relative." In fact, before he died, many postmodern philosophers went to great length to derail Derrida's ideas.

What has interested me especially, was Derrida's religion that he was outspoken about before he died. Much of this unique religion is covered in the book The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida's which has sparked my fancy.

The religion of Derrida, is quite paradoxical. He considered himself an atheist, but yet he would pray at least nightly, sometime to the point of tears.

What is so interesting to me is not so much the atheism, nor the fine intricacies that Derrida went about to define his religion as a "Religion without religion" and who prayed to a "God without God."

But rather what has been so moving to me is the sincere humility Derrida went about his religion and prayers...

In short, Derrida realizes first and foremost, that he is human. and thus he is fallen and fallible. And the human tendency is to think that our world revolves around each one of ourselves.

But yet, we know the world doesn't revolve around us, and we are not the center of the universe.

Thus prayer in a way, is a way Derrida seeks to rid himself of self. He wants to love people, and thus in prayer he attempts to repent of himself so that he won't get in the way of love.

Derrida is the one who had me speechless when he asked "what do I love when I love my God?"

And in that one question I felt as if I had entered into a question that was absolutely divine....

When I pray, who am I praying to?

Of course, I am praying to Jesus who died for my sins.

But am I letting Jesus be Jesus in my life?

Or is the Jesus I pray to and confess my loyalty, an idol image where I have constructed Jesus to be the Jesus that appeases my own life and lifestyle?

Is my Jesus just the Jesus that I follow because He makes me secure and tells me that I get to go to heaven when I die?

That is why I love the way Derrida asked the question: He didn't ask : "who do I love when I love my God?" But rather, Derrida asked "What do I love when I love my God?"

Perhaps, in our most fallen nature, we aren't following a who when we follow God, but rather a what in the form of a carved image that satisfies us and our anxieties.

Thus, for Derrida, prayer is not just a lifting up of God, but it is also just as much a repositioning of one's self in relation to God as to not distort our view of God,

The Bible's Birthday!

2011-06-06T17:26:00.000-07:00

The KJV turns 400! In a series of short essays and poems, Harper's magazine offers some "re-imagining, revising, and refuting" of history's bestseller from some of today's significant literary figures, including the incomparable Marilynne Robinson (who states about these days, "The Bible is much thumped and little pondered).

Alas, Harper's only allows you to read their articles if you subscribe online, but it's worth buying at your next book superstore visit!

Are You Offended?

2011-06-05T06:16:00.000-07:00

Here's another article for your consideration. Personally, I am not offended by the tag line "Jesus, a Prophet of Islam." Although I can see how a great majority of Christian believers would feel threatened by the claim. I recently met a guy named "Isa." I said "Oh, your name means Jesus." He was a little startled by my assertion, as he was encountering someone who had at least a passing familiarity with his religion and wasn't threatened by the fact that he was a Muslim.

Just because one faith's holy book has a different interpretation of who Jesus was and what Jesus did doesn't mean we can malign them with impunity. I do not accept the validity of the "Jesus story" as presented in the Quran, because there are some pretty direct contradictions to the book I hold to contain absolute truth. But I'm not threatened or offended by a billboard wherein Muslims are expressing their belief.

Inasmuch as Jesus, in his humanity, had to submit himself to the will of God in dying on the cross . . . well, the meaning of the Arabic word transliterated as "Islam" is submission. So, in essence, there is some credence to their claim. On the other hand we cannot accept the Quran on par with the Bible.

I think the best responses to this article are summarized in the following two statements.

1) Regina writes, "I'm not offended. My God is way bigger than an advertisement on a bus."

2) "Joe Stalin," who is obviously an ignorant troll, writes, "islam is a vile and filthy death cult started by the child rapist muhammad."

We can work in peace, promoting dialogue, mutual understanding, and respect. Or we can preach an equally vile and repugnant intolerance and hatred for those who espouse beliefs that do not match our own.

The Radio is in denial. But they also may be onto something.

2011-06-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

First and foremost: Yes that is a picture of Herbert Hoover. Yes, that Herbert Hoover, As in 31st president of the United States, Herbert Hoover. The very president who guided us through (or into) the abyss of the dark depression onset by the Wall Street Crash of 1929. And apparently Herbert Hoover kind of did a lot for the radio industry before he was president in one way or another. And therefore, when you Google image search "radio" you are bound to come across this picture of the Hebert Hoover (of depression fame) listening to a radio... but note that he is not only listening to the radio, he is so posing for the cameraman at the same time. And if you ever wonder how to become president, we see no better proof than here: To be president you must not only be able to do something cool (like play football as in this photo of Gerald Ford), but also pose for the camera while doing something cool (like posing next to a dead elephant inferring that you shot it in this photo of Teddy Roosevelt). Also, being a male seems to help, but that is not relevant. Nor is much of this rant on presidential portraits...

The real point is this article about radio.

Here is what we learn: Radio DJs were ordered by a CBS radio head to start informing the audience more and more the name of a song and the artist of a song.

Apparently, the the past couple decades have been marked by less and less DJ talk (including the identifying of a certain song.) because for some reason radio executives thought people didn't like hearing other people talk. They thought we only wanted music.

They were so wrong.

Because, we really, could care less about the music.

We actually will listen to whatever our contextual peers listen to.

Thus we care more about the brand name behind the music (e.g. who sings the song) than the song itself. That is, we care more about what the music represents via the artist who sings the song because it identifies with the culture we want to align ourselves to.

Take me, for instance...I like finding music that you haven't ever heard of. Yes, I'm that guy. Thus, when I listen to music, my question is, who sings this song? And if you haven't heard of the artist who sings the song, I will like it. It's that simple.

(I kid, I kid).

Okay, this is all cultural critique that is not in the article about the reentry of song and artist titles within radio.

But, I stand by my assessment because the article doesn't do the best job at explaining the importance of this transition except some consumer speculation....

However, there is one thing that must be considered regarding the article and radio:

The article vaguely mentions that it was the music studio heads who made the recommendation to the CBS radio boss to put song title and artists over the air with the song itself.... this also translates: "Hey, we need money, and radio is failing and we don't want to acknowledge that radio is failing to the likes of smart phones & iPods because that may mean their jobs, so they have to find small details to change on radio to convince themselves that the problem with the decline of the music industry is not because of the internet but rather because DJs are forgetting to mention song titles on the airwaves.

Also, here is a picture of Richard Nixon bowling:

Bach's Sacred Artistry

2011-05-30T15:36:00.000-07:00

Depending on who you talk to, Bach, Beethoven, or Mozart is the greatest classical composer in history. Unlike the other two, Bach spent a significant amount of his life in obscurity, yet signed every piece "To the glory of God alone!"

In the New Yorker, Alex Ross writes an incisive review of Bach's output, evaluated through the recordings of two contemporary conductors. You don't have to love classical music to understand the imprint Bach put on the world--be they Christian or atheist. Ross puts that into perspective:

More than half of the sacred cantatas were written between 1723 and 1726, when Bach was in the early years of his long, and often unrewarding, appointment as the cantor of the Thomaskirche, in Leipzig. For extended stretches of the liturgical year, he produced one cantata a week, and for the most part he refused to take the easy path of reworking older pieces, whether his own or others’. Instead, in what seems a kind of creative rage, he experimented with every aspect of the cantata form, which traditionally served as a musical meditation on the Scriptural readings of the week. There are intimidating fugal choruses, sublimely extended operatic arias, frenzied instrumental interludes, weird chords galore, episodes of almost irreverent dancing merriment. To hear the entire corpus is to be buffeted by the restless energy of Bach’s imagination.

Bach's a perfect example of what any Christian trying to use their talents in the arts for God's glory should aspire to achieve.

Top 20 Literate US Cities

2011-05-27T12:45:00.001-07:00

Amazon released an interesting list of the Top 20 Literate Cities in America.

The Top 5 are University cities, but after that it gets interesting, with major metro areas stealing the spots - though not as major as you might think. It's a fresh way to evaluate our country, that's for sure!

Snapshot of our TImes: Apple Trumps Google

2011-05-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

Every year the most valuable brands in the world are re-evaluated and ranked. This year, Apple overtakes Google (no surprise there), but you might be surprised how high IBM still is (does anyone even talk about IBM anymore?).

And why has Coca-Cola dropped so much (it used to be the undisputed No. 1), while McDonald's keeps climbing. It's a great list to mull over because it's about how our world is interacting today.

Burning Churches in Egypt

2011-05-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

The New York Review of Books offers a fascinating article on why Muslims are burning Coptic churches in Egypt.

The comments below are equally interesting, with some claiming the article tried too hard to achieve balance in a situation where there is no balance--this is outright persecution.

When the Levee (Doesn't) Break

2011-05-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the UK's Daily Mail fantastic pictorial on the people in Mississippi who built their own levees around their houses? Good old American "Can do" if you ask me!

Some of these pix are amazing!

NBA Final Four Observations

2011-05-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

Momo adds his usual great insight into sports, this time it's the NBA Final Four.

Go visit our sister blog if you haven't yet!

Jews and Hindus Make More Money

2011-05-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

Who's doing well in this so-called economic downturn? The Jews and the Hindus, if you trust the numbers collected by the folks at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Who's faring the worst? The Pentecostals, who else? I just love being put in a box and aggregated. Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witnesses and Baptists are among those with the lowest average income, and Reformed Jews, Conservative Jews and Hindus rank among the highest.

And it all ties strongly to education.

Newspapers Still Exist!

2011-05-04T15:23:00.000-07:00

Poynter shares the U.S. newspapers with the highest circulation. Only 2 daily's exceed 1 million subscribers, and only 1 Sunday paper breaks the 1 million mark.

Just because they're down doesn't mean they're out.

Yet Another Response to the Assassination of Osama bin Laden

2011-05-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

Whew, I'm glad that's over. That, and sadness. There's also an "I'm glad he's dead" response in there somewhere, but my initial response was a bit more muted than the majority of those celebrating the death of the United States' enemy number one. I was mostly sad for the loss of life.

Please don't misunderstand me, or otherwise judge me as un-American. I grieved and I still grieve for those who died in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 (except for the nineteen terrorists). My heart is still rent by the trauma of the events of that fateful day that changed everything. And I did crave and I still crave revenge on the perpetrators and proponents of an ideology that teaches hatred. And I believe we're doing good with our continued efforts to thwart global terrorism in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, etc.

The photo above is from an excellent distraction from the grisly details of bin Laden's demise, one photojournalist's tour of the very same suburb where the U.S. forces found and dispatched our hated nemesis.

I'm not merely sad because Osama bin Laden didn't have a chance to convert to Christianity before he was assassinated. I'm sad that we killed him. I'm sad that he wasn't brought to trial and found guilty and executed according to our system of jurisprudence. I'm sad that 9/11 changed our view of the rules of warfare. I don't know that I can say I believe it's okay to assassinate your enemy. Go into his house and shoot up the place. Bomb them from unmanned drones in the sky by some guy on the ground with a joystick indiscriminately killing women and children. And yet we had to do something after 9/11. We had to quench our bloodlust, our thirst for revenge. And that makes me sad.

Jesus said, "Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Do good to them that hate you." And Paul also wrote, "it is written, vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."

Bin Laden Attack Tweeted

2011-05-02T07:46:00.001-07:00

Super secret mission to kill the world's most wanted man? Yep, it was Tweeted.

This to me, tells us as much about how the world is being remolded as anything. Turns out the Bin Laden neighbor didn't quite realize what he was tweeting in full, but that hardly matters. The world's best spy networks were unaware of the attack, but Twitter followers were getting regular updates.

What a strange little world we live in now.

Pentecostal Couple Married 77 Years!

2011-04-28T14:56:00.001-07:00

According to Ray and Lillie Agnew, both prominent in the UPCI's Harvestime Radio Ministry back in the day, it takes God and determination.

And they just survived the tornadoes in Missouri. (Check out the board stuck through their bedroom wall.)

Watch it all here.

Viral Hit: How Great Thou Art

2011-04-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

Looks like country star Carrie Underwood has a surprise viral video hit (over 1.5m views since last Friday) with . . . "How Great Thou Art"!

Not to nitpick, but she's obviously out of synch with the music as it starts, but nails it at the end in a big way.

Personally, it's great to see another classic hymn proclaiming Christ making a grand reappearance on the internet! Encore! Encore!

Advertising in 2011: Fanta Anyone?

2011-04-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

Got a low-selling brand you must promote without a serious budget? You could always go the fun, viral route!

Great Quote: Images Will Change the World

2011-04-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

“When a religion aggressively proselytizes and seeks to transform the world, its most important resource is its images. It is image that transforms the imagination, and it is imagination that engenders a lifestyle. And what globalization does better than anything else is transform the imagination. That is why the entertainment and advertising industries are the first wave of the emerging global consciousness.”

Brian Walsh & Sylvia Keesmaat, Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire

I don't see how this quote diminishes the calling of writing (or any of the other arts we often cover in sister blog Word), as writing is about using words to create powerful images (via metaphor and otherwise) in the mind.

This quote is more about a healthy use of the arts to reach others.

Good Friday: Is It Special?

2011-04-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

I'm curious how special we treat Palm Sunday and Good Friday in our Pentecostal churches. On this, our Holy Week, I wonder if your church makes a special effort to recognize it as "holy" with any special efforts besides presentations on Easter itself...

Maybe I'm wrong, but my observations indicate we do very little across our community to indicate its uniqueness to humanity. Any thoughts?

Nazi Germany used as trump card in argument for 823rd time this month. Sadly, it still works.

2011-04-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

Today's link takes us to an article about the ne ed for America to keep the Bible at it's heart if it wants to continue to thrive.

Now, I, as the person who is very much for the separation of church and state instinctively did not like the article as it chastised Libya's revolution for trying to seek freedom through "the barrel of a gun" but praised America's existence for being founded with a spiritual dimension and a Biblical ethic at it's core. The contradiction here being that America would not exist without the that same barrel of a gun that defended our cessation from England in the Revolutionary War.

But yet with the many historical inconsistencies and narrow arguments alluded to by the author, I couldn't just shrug this article off as just another piece of conservative propaganda (just as much as "liberal" propaganda will hit us over the head with the need to "go green"). In fact as I sat in front of my computer after reading the article, I realized I was feeling some remorse with a slight tinge of bitterness and a whole ton of frustration. The problem was that I couldn't figure out why this article in particular struck me so raw.

And then I realized what it was.... my frustration wasn't with the article as a whole (because it's just silly), but rather with one line.... and I quote

Forget the Bible and America will go the way of the first Protestant nation – Nazi Germany.

That's it.... That one line used by the author irked me to no end. Why? Because it had nothing to do with the article. Nazi Germany is not brought up before this sentence nor at any point after. If you read the whole article, there is nothing the author offers as to explain the logic of this sentence, nor is the logic apparent in the sentences preceding the sentence.

The dude just used Nazi Germany because he knows it will shock us. He knows that the Nazi's are one of the hardest things for us to swallow....He is using the tragedy of at least 6 million Jews to validate his argument even though the Bible has nothing to do with Nazi Germany. I theoretically have more of a claim to use the Nazi trump card because I had actual relatives who died in it, but I'm not that kind of an idiot. Simply because I know I can't relate to what happened to my relatives. It's a world beyond me. Everytime I find myself at a Holocaust Memorial either here in Michigan, in D.C. or in Jerusalem, I find myself speechless because nothing I can say or even think could calculate in a justifiable manner what happened in the Holocaust. Yet Vishal Mangalwadi whoever he is, feels the need to display the worst kind of irreverence to the tragedy of the Holocaust as to compare a Bibleless society as that of Nazi German because he knows that if we make the bad guy out to be Nazi Germany, the other side of the argument is going to look like a saint.

However, many Christians and ministers who even went to church and avidly read the Bible were Nazi's. Nor did Nazi Germany ban Bibles in any manner from being read within the country. But I have yet to read an atheist say "if we don't get rid of the Bible now, we will end up like Nazi Germany." Because to make such an allusion is asinine.

And it's not just the author of the article that has written such nonsense. I the Nazi/Holocaust allusion as a trump card all the time from Christians, Jews, Liberals, Atheists, Conservatives, etc.... and all the Holocaust and Nazi Germany is invoked for is simply as a tool to win an argument. But the problem becomes especially difficult when someone invokes Nazi Germany without giving any logical reason why.....

(Here is where I openly and hypocritically attempted a psychoanalytical logical argument ascribing that his treatment of non-Biblical nations is much closer to reflecting the ideology of Nazi Germany than a non-Biblical nation reflects Nazi Germany, but I will refrain because I realize anything that comes out from this point on is pure, 84 year old man crankiness)...

Food for Thought: Feeling vs. Obeying

2011-04-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

"...in the biblical narrative God never seems concerned with how anyone feels, only with whether they go or don't go, whether they say no or yes." -Judith Rock, from "Inherited but Never Inhabited" in Image, No. 68

Food for Thought: Relationship with God

2011-04-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

"It turns out that it's pretty easy to have a 'relationship' with God when he isn't personally showing up, asking you to do things." -Screenwriter Erich Hoeber, on his new comics project, The Mission.

On the goings and doings of a nation gone skeptical

2011-04-04T09:29:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to a meeting titled "Heretics Bible Study Group." It's a monthly Bible Study group in which the attendees critically discuss various aspects of the Bible. Most of the members are atheists. All are skeptics. I was the only believer (but supposedly there is one other believer who frequents the group).

My mother and father were horrified that I went and thought they were witnessing my demise into atheistic doom. I am sure my mother even prayed for me. She may have even used rosary beads even though she has never been Catholic.

A few of the people who knew I had attended always asked the first question something along the lines of "did it ever get scary?"

And my initial response is always to giggle.

Because the way I think most Christians think about atheists is that they somehow have a "secret code" to prove the non-existence of God. So when I am asked if the meeting every got "scary," they really mean "did they ever tell you the secret code to get you to stop believing in God?"

I can easily tell them "no, i was never scared." But I feel that would mislead. Because I never went thinking I would even be tested. My Christianity rests on faith. It's an entirely different plane than "empiricism" or "rationalism." Many people on this blog know that I am somewhat more of a "skeptic" but in no way does this entail a lack of belief in God. I think doubt is not opposed to faith, but works in conjunction with faith ("faith is the substance of the things unseen").

So my interest in the Bible study that i attended and will keep on attending is finding myself in a group of like-minded individuals in terms of discussing the Bible in a critically-engaging approach.

Notes about the group study:

-Most of the atheists there were former Christians (one was an ex-Pentecostal). Sometimes they would get lost in polemical rants against the "stupidity" of Christians. I would quickly chime in of the lack of logical in their "rants" which was politely accepted.

-One of the attendees was a humanist. I don't like them (the difference between a humanist and other atheists is that humanists don't believe man is "fallen" or "incomplete"). My glorious moment was calling out the humanist on an unfounded leap in her logic.

-I was able to share my beliefs which were taken with absolute openness. Never once did I feel that the group was against me (I think this "feeling" was helped by a few "critical" remarks I made of the atheists' stance regarding some things).

-Best Part: The topic of discussion that day was about the Trinity! Which was a delight for me to discuss (because, naturally the atheists hated the logic of the trinity, and had never heard of a Oneness Christian). The Jewish atheist in attendance said he couldn't figure out why Christians don't just say that Jesus was a manifestation of God in flesh! I struggled not to yelp in delight.

Anyways, excuse my rants without a purpose...

Church: The land of girth?

2011-03-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

It's been observed from the dawn of Pentecost that eating and Christians have had a very close-knit relationship.

If there is anything that Christians have collective passion for outside of Christianity itself, is eating.

And unsurprisingly, the L.A. Times recently released a report that suggests religious young adults are more likely to be overweight.

Obviously, a correlation shouldn't be regarded as a causation, and the speculations seem very suspect and unscientific, but the study is interesting nonetheless.

The "Jefferson Bible"

2011-03-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

We hear examples of people who pick and choose scriptures they like and scriptures they don't like. We then hear how that's bad and why you shouldn't do that with the Bible. In that vein and in that light, I present to you this link for your consideration, regarding conservation of the Jefferson Bible. How many thousands of dollars have gone into this project? And is it worth it? What say ye?

Divorce Less Likely Among Believers

2011-03-21T20:16:00.000-07:00

Scientific studies show that married believers who attend church regularly are less likely to get divorced than their non-believing counterparts. The Washington Post twists itself into knots admitting this.

Mixing Faith with Fashion

2011-03-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

How does your faith affect your fashion choices? Ladies Home Journal profiles 5 women (Conservative Christian, Hindu, Catholic Nun, Orthodox Jew, Muslim) and their fashion choices due to their faith.

March Madness!

2011-03-15T14:32:00.000-07:00

Our own staff blogger offers his suggestions for your bracket at Momo's Musings! Check it out before you finalize your thoughts.

The Perils of Facebook

2011-03-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

Hilarious! Turns out an Australian teen was so excited about her 16th birthday party that she Facebooked her friends to bring their friends. The invite went viral and 200,000 people signed up to attend.

Care to join?

Tsunami: Washing A Town Away Video

2011-03-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

Gawker highlights an astonishing video of a Japanese town literally being washed away in six minutes. It's almost impossible to comprehend how powerful nature is.

Eat to Starve Cancer

2011-03-09T07:41:00.000-08:00

SocialTimes offers some amazing TEDtalks (mostly) from the recently hosted 2011 conference. You can't afford to miss the "Can We Eat to Starve Cancer" in which William Li offers some startling insights into avoiding or retiring cancers by eating specific (delicious) foods.

Food for Thought

2011-03-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

“Discovery consists of seeing what everyone has seen, and thinking what no one has thought.” –Albert Szent-Gyorgi, 1937 Nobel Laureate

My Memoir Shares Him

2011-03-08T02:49:00.000-08:00

Rebecca offers some fresh thoughts on turning memoir (be it on the page, on Facebook or on Twitter) into witnessing opportunity at sister blog Word.

Megalomania

2011-03-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

The Supreme Court ruled recently that the church led by Fred Phelps is allowed to protest outside of funerals without worrying about being sued. This bothers me on many levels. I'm not troubled by the ruling itself . . . makes perfectly logical sense. What bothers me is that men like Phelps, on the very farthest fringe, can be used to define Christianity. It bothers me that there isn't an elder in Phelps's life who could shown him the error of his ways a number of years ago. It bothers me that this case, in the long run, will only serve to bring more publicity to his shameful behavior and broaden his megalomania.

What to do with Rob Bell...

2011-03-01T11:28:00.000-08:00

Rob Bell (author of Velvet Elvis and alleged Emergent Church pastor) is coming out with another book at the end of the month, titled Love Wins.

Rob Bell makes a short, promotional video discussing the book, which can be viewed here.

Rob Bell's promotional video seems to suggest a kind of universalism to that seems to suggest many will go to heaven that aren't necessarily "Christian."

And then after the video is released, and a blog criticizing video is released, Twitter goes crazy about Rob Bells alluded to "universalist theology." "Rob Bell" was in the top 10 of most popular topics all weekend.

And pastors from other megachurches who are almost as famous as Rob Bell, took to their Smartphones to type with their fingers, that Rob Bell is a heretic.

John Piper, leading reformed pastor who has an opinion about everyone, led the calvary stating "So Long Rob Bell." (Ouch!). And then, Joshua Harris of I've Kissed Dating Goodbye fame chimed in along the same lines....

And then gradually, pastors from everywhere came out of the word works to declare in so many words, via Twitter, that Rob Bell was a heretic! (And so many did so that CNN did an article about it.)

CNN mentioned how Rob Bell isn't ordained by an organization, but if he was....WHOA NELLY! They would kick him by now.

All of this, without one person actually having read Rob Bell's book.

And I don't know which side is Rambo, but I think this clip should be a motivating force in this battle which really amounts to nothing...

RAWWWRRR!!!!

And a giant Storm is stirring to overthrow the demon of our age: Rob "Don't call me emergent" Bell!

How is this war being waged again? TWITTER!

I Seriously hate what this world is coming too....

A world without any conviction other than tweeting that you think a certain pastor who has nothing to do with your church or organization is a heretic...

It's like Christians from all over should join together and create a "Heretic Police Department" that tweets exactly who is saying the wrong thing about Christianity.

Oh wait...they already had that...It was called the Catholic Church of the 16th century, and it stopped nothing.

What I am getting at...is we are entering into an age where we have religion without belief. Similar to Decaffeinated Coffee, fat free desserts. In otherwords a world where religion is void of it's substance.

In theory, it is only when the Catholic started understanding that they were making a circus of their religion that they started marching around condemning heretics.... In other words, when the 16th Century Catholics had failed in their own Church that they had to look elsewhere to point fingers at the problem.

You can bet that when a pastor preaches more about what is wrong with the world or other faith groups than what is right about their own, that they have entered a world where their Christianity is faithless and substanceless, since their "True Christianity" can only be defined by the "false Christianity" outside itself.

To the sad thing...

The Nazi's had a thing against the Jews. In order for the Nazi's to progress they had to, according to their rhetoric, exterminate the thing that was holding them back: The Jew.

Many Psychologists have come out with various opinions of what was actually going on with the logic of the Jew in relation to the Nazi's. One of them that fascinated me (whom i don't remember as the source), is that the Nazi in order to not see himself as evil, or as human and fallible...had to project it's sins, and shortcomings onto someone else: Enter the Otherness of the Jew. The Jew who would participate in the German society but refuse to assimilate. In other words, the Jew would be like a German, but never say at the end of the day they were German.

The Jew then was the reminder of the limitations of German Nationalism and the lack of sameness of those even within their same country..

The Nazi's then, instead of realizing it's own limitations....made the Jew the problem.

Thus, theoretically, when the Nazi's were trying to liquidate the Jew, they were trying to liquidate and redeem themselves from their own failures, sins, and shortcomings.

As long as the problem is "out there" then we can tell ourselves we are fine being "in here."

Enter, Nietzsche's term ressentiment.

Is it not a telling sign that the most united the Christian pastors across denominations have been on twitter, has been to speak up against the heresy of universalism and the face professing the heresy (Rob Bell)?

The worse part is..the vehicle used to go against heresy...

Armchair Christians is what we are becoming...one's who tweet about heresy all from the comfort of your own couch!

I think i would like to add the cliche her about the Beam in the eye of a neighbor and first plucking your own beam out.....

But i think you get the picture....

In Conclusion...

While I am in no way a universalist. And , I don't agree with most of Rob Bell's theology (though i am a fan from a far), I am all for Rob Bell actually confronting the issue of heaven and hell.

If we are honest...it is the issue of heaven and hell that should be the hardest for us to swallow. If the idea of eternal damnation makes sense to you, then my hat is tipped to you.

As for me, I don't really know. I believe in heaven and hell, and that people will end up in hell. I just don't like it. I told my one friend last week that if I could, I would opt for there to be no heaven/hell, nor judgment after death, just for the sake of not wanting other people to suffer in the lake of fire, while sinful, selfish me is in heaven happy as can be because i did things the right way....

What i am complementing Rob Bell for then, is not his rumored "universalist" beliefs, but rather that he is making us look at the after-life from a Christian position all over again. Which is a good thing.

My ultimate question, is why aren't more of us looking at the most controversial issue of our religion (heaven/hell), and trying to actually engage the issue instead of settling with "Jesus said hell exists for people, and Rob Bell denies it and therefore Rob Bell is heretic"?

Let's talk about the issue and not the person. Let's talk about heaven. Let's talk about hell. Let's talk about how it looks to the world. Let's talk about whether some of us are using heaven & hell as a bribe to convert people.

I do not agree with universalism and find the issue rather naive. But i'm happy we're at least talking about these issues again. Let's just not cop out and say Rob Bell is a heretic so we don't have to engage the issues further.

Newsflash: Obama actually does something that may actually matter.

2011-02-24T13:29:00.000-08:00

If you have not heard, Obama declared that he thought DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) was unconstitutional and asked that the Department of Justice stop defending it in court.

This is news.

Really big news.

In short, with a single press release, Obama has set in motion the necessary measures that will find the battle over the legality of gay marriage to be decided in the Supreme Court.

Expect Media meltdowns to occur on both sides in the coming weeks. Christian Republicans will be declared either fascist or intolerant bigots. Secular Democrats will be called Hedonists and immoral. Both sides will call the opposing side Nazi’s and both will have a grain of truth to their claim.

I will be dismayed nonetheless…

However, I am happy.

I am pro-separation of church & state..

I am opposed to the banning of gay marriage on religious grounds such as traditionally heard with an argument of “Marriage is defined in the Bible as between man and woman, and therefore how marriage is defined in the Bible should define how it’s lived out in our nation.”

But all of this is unimportant to my purpose for writing.

What I do find intriguing is that Obama is actually doing something. Something controversial. He is doing something that puts his beliefs that he declared so publicly before his presidency into action during his presidency. If Obama would have gone into 2012 without doing something controversial he would have been voted out for being the least influential president since Gerald Ford. In short, Obama has been a big disappointment on simply the grounds that he has been boring.

Most of our most popular presidents are presidents who did something that was controversial for right or for wrong. They stood up for something that was not accepted in the mainstream (e.g. Lincoln, FDR, Truman, Jefferson, and Reagan). No president since Calvin Coolidge has been praised for doing nothing. Obama wouldn’t have been an exception. History will determine whether today’s rebuke of DOMA was right or wrong, but Obama showed today that he at least wants to be a voice of history and not just a name to be memorized in a song listing presidents.

Because, if you do something incredible as a president that will change history…you get pictures of you painted on top of a bear with a machine gun like the picture above of Lincoln.

From the NBA to the NFL to the MLB...

2011-02-24T11:31:00.000-08:00

...Pentecostals blogging about sports is right here at sister blog Momo's Musings. You might be surprised how right they are!

Borders Bankruptcy: 6 Reasons Why

2011-02-24T07:26:00.000-08:00

Mark Evans offers 6 reasons why Borders declared bankruptcy and B&N didn't. If you enjoy nibbling at insights, this one's worth the read. (And don't miss the comments section either.)

Apologies to sister blog Word for posting here, but I felt like this was a general culture story more than a books/writing story.

Hillsong UNITED: New Album Review

2011-02-23T10:28:00.000-08:00

Aftermath--Hillsong United, $13.99

Editor's Note: Check this out on 90&9 for pictures and a review from Hillsong United's 2010 tour.

(Reviewer’s Caveat: To be honest, this isn’t my favorite genre. So take that into consideration as you read.)

Have you ever fought the urge to laugh while singing “At the Cross” on a Sunday morning? Don't look so shocked! You know the line I mean:

Would He devote that sacred head

For such a worm as I?

No denying the truth behind the sentiment, but it delivers such a funny image in such a straight-faced, melancholy way.

On a related note, this may be one of my biggest problems with Hillsong music. It takes everything so seriously. Everything is earnest to the tenth degree, and the new album Aftermath by Hillsong United is no exception.

This group evolved from the youth movement of the famous Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. Aftermath is their first new release in over two years. It focuses on the apparent contradiction that the unspeakable tragedy of the cross created an aftermath of hope.

The music itself is very well done. The arrangements make the most of the material. They often start simply and build with moving crescendos. The repetitive motifs with the guitars get a bit annoying, but the overall sound is high quality. A mix of soloists, both male and female, take turns singing the smooth, silky melodies.

The lyrics are more milkshake than filet mignon, sweet and bland. You probably won’t hear anything you haven’t heard before regarding grace, love, and stars in the sky. And the false rhymes sound a bit lazy. “Shoulders” and “daughters” is not the cleverest match. Aftermathskims along, never quite touching a deeper chord. Perhaps that’s a point in its favor. It’s easy to ignore the words and just exist in an atmosphere of worship. Tune out and tune in.

I’m not saying every song needs a punch line, but even Jesus spoke to everyday people in words they could understand, with mental pictures that tickled their imaginations: a rich man being compared to a camel, a clueless hypocrite with a beam in his eye, a blind man leading another blind man into the ditch. Aftermath lacks this humorous creativity.

Although this album may be uber-serious, it is sincere. But if you like grandiose metaphors comparing God’s love to natural disasters (e.g. hurricanes, avalanches, etc.), then this might be the album for you.

Reviewed by Shannon Dunlap

UPDATED: Aftermath debuted at No. 1 on multiple international retail charts. (But you've probably already heard their first single "Search My Heart" on Christian radio.)

Pentecostal Wrestler Forfeits State Championship?

2011-02-23T07:05:00.000-08:00

You did hear about the Pentecostal wrestler who gave up an excellent shot at a state championship because he wouldn't wrestle a girl on biblical grounds, yes?

Pirates Kill American Missionaries

2011-02-22T14:01:00.001-08:00

I know the eyes of the world are on the protests in the Middle East (and Madison, WI), but did you know Somali pirates had kidnapped 4 Americans?

Now it turns out that at least two of the four Americans killed by Somali pirates were missionaries.

A Little Privacy, Please?

2011-02-19T11:29:00.001-08:00

Just read this . . . I could not believe my eyes! While UPCers and the ACLU often don't see eye to eye, I have to say this is one of the most outrageous things I have heard in recent memory. A job applicant being required to divulge his personal information INCLUDING his Facebook password? C'mon. Really? If I hadn't seen it on the Internet, I wouldn't have believed it. (To be honest, part of me still doesn't believe it).

What Price Fame?

2011-02-17T13:46:00.001-08:00

Billy Ray Cyrus admits the fame and fortune that came with The Hannah Montana Show, thus foisting Miley Cyrus upon the rest of us, has destroyed his family. He wishes it had never happened.

And yet, that is the American dream in the early 21st Century, yes?

The Beginning of the End: Man vs. Machine

2011-02-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

I just heard about this, and it's probably because I rarely check the news or watch the news...Shame on me...

But apparently IBM has developed a computer named "Watson" to compete in Jeopardy (Pictured). This entire week finds Watson competing against two of Jeopardy's most prolific winners on TV.

Last night in the first match, things ended in a deadlock with Watson and one of the contestants ending the episode with $4,000 each, but this is a week-long competition with the same three players so the draw itself is rather insignificant. More interestingly, Watson had a few computer glitches along the way, such as restating the wrong answer the previous contestant had also answered wrongly.

I have no thoughts on this matter other than the fact that I am waiting for the day that this whole earth lights on fire because of some snarky robots who have outsmarted us, and by outsmarted us, they just realize that humans are terrible, violent people and need to be distinguished for the sake of peace....Yes thoughts like these go through my head when robots play jeopardy.

Recorded Test Run-

Poor Video of some of last nights episode (if it stays up):

Here we go again...The battle over Evangelical Christians

2011-02-10T10:49:00.000-08:00

:Last week, President Obama came out with his most outspoken declarations of his Christian Faith at a National Prayer Breakfast. And by, "most outspoken," i mean he hasn't come close to saying the stuff he did at the National Prayer Breakfast. Suddenly we have a president who is definitely not Muslim (nor did I ever believe so), and prays morning and night very personal prayers.

This is good. Really Good. I am happy.

What irks me, is we haven't gotten anything close to such statements anywhere before this. The timing of these statements is what is curious....

Are his public declarations a means of early positioning for a 2012 Evangelical Vote?

And then we have Tim Pawlenty (former Governor if Minn.) doing an interview at Christianity Today's Website, wherein he appears to be setting himself up for a run for the Republican nomination in 2012...and lo and behold he is setting up his Evangelical Christianity as more of a centrist position that advocates social reform (I agree), that seems to criticize the traditional Evangelical Right and it's "judgmental" tendencies.

My curiosity with the interview and Obama's statements is not the statements themselves. It's simply the timing of each and their curious nearness to the "jockeying for position" in the 2012 race...

This is why i hate American Politics now...It's not what what is said, it's rather about the appearance of what is said and when to display such appearances.

Christians will argue that the secularism of America has removed God from the Public Sphere and the Government.

Surely Obama's statements and Bush's own religious leanings demonstrate otherwise.

The reality we need to catch onto is that for the majority of our history, God has been removed from the Government. There is a sharp separation between God and State. The Invoking of God in Government has simply been a rhetorical device to appease the religious masses that compose our Union.

For further evidence, look to our nation's founding fathers (primarily the likes of Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin)....they used the name of God and his influence in the founding of our nation left and right, but yet in their private writings (and even in the first draft of the constitution), the mention of God is primarily muted. Many of the founding fathers were Deists and thus did not believe God was actively involved...

Kung Fu Panda- Anti-Christian? An attempt at film analysis

2011-02-08T15:04:00.000-08:00

Most of you probably have watched or at least have heard about the recent cartoon film Kung fu Panda. And there is a sequel coming in May.

On the surface, it seems like an innocent prototypical children's cartoon where the underdog hero (Po, the fat lazy Panda pictured above) overcomes obstacles and his own limitations to beat stereotypical Strong Bad Guy.

However, a closer look reveals the movie to be a war of ideology. That is, East vs. West. More specifically, war of religions: Buddhism (reality is false, just "believe" in yourself and you can overcome the illusion of reality) vs. Judeo-Christianity (Man is Fallen/broken in need of God).

The philosopher Zizek summarizes the message of the film as "“There is no special ingredient (to life). It’s only you. To make something special you just have to believe it’s special.”

While the lines that lend credence to this are numerous in the film, the basic idea of what I argue can be seen in one example....

In the following scene, which is the climax of the film we will see the tiger, Tai Lung (the enemy) opening up the Magic Scroll.

As a preface, the Magic Scroll was believed to contain the secrets of the universe and hidden wisdoms. Earlier, Po, who had inherited the scroll, opened it up to find that there was no words on the words but rather just his own reflection on the shiny scroll itself. Essentially, the "wordless" scroll was saying the secret ingredient to life is within you (As in the secret of reality was already within Po as he saw himself in the scroll). Po, accepts this wisdom and goes on to become the Dragon Warrior....

(One need to only watch the first 2:30 to see enough to understand my further analysis below)-

The scene speaks volumes to me....

And if one considers the Scroll equivalent to the Bible or any sacred text..the Secret Scroll in the scene is essentially declaring that there is no such thing as a sacred text. The only thing that is sacred is the individual themselves....if only they believe in themselves. Or to go one step further, it is saying that the only reason the Bible or other writings are sacred is because they are believed to be sacred.

We then see the Tiger get upset as the lack of message within the scroll (because he was believing the Word within the scroll would help him). Notice too that when the tiger opens up the scroll and sees his reflection, he says "it's nothing!" Is this not a jab at the Christian faith which says man is nothing without God and he needs the Word to sustain him? Thus when the tiger says "it's nothing," the movie is saying that when an individual relies on something outside himself for belief, his value is nothing. At such a rage in realization, the fight continues right after Po says "there is no secret ingredient."

Subjective Speculation: At the 1:35 mark in the video do we have an allegorical jab at Christianity wherein Panda's shooting the Tiger up into the heaven's to the point of disappearing in the sky (complete with angelic song to accompany the Tiger's ascension) and the Tiger's fall allude to the "false" resurrection of Christ wherein such an ascension never happened and Jesus was just a man (he comes falling back to earth)

The one last piece of note in the scene is when the Tiger calls Po "just a BIG....FAT...PANDA" and Po replies, "I'm not a big, fat, panda. I am the big, fat Panda." The emphasis on Po's line is that he substitutes an "a" with "the" and thus in a way elevates his own being to the point of divinity. Thus, Jesus is not a Messiah, but rather he is the Messiah. Or similarly, if I were to say "I am THE Joel Riley," the allusion would be that I am an egotistical maniac making himself something of myself beyond that of a normal human being.

I am not preaching that we can't watch such films, but I argue that there are always underlying ideological assumptions in films...and many times in those which we think are entirely innocent (such as children's film). I would similarly argue that the message of Kung Fu Panda, is the fallacy of our age wherein we are told to just "Believe in yourself and you can achieve whatever your heart desires."

Liberal Media vs. the Conservative South

2011-02-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

Last week we saw quite a stir with a supermarket in Arkansas censoring a magazine cover that exhibited Elton John holding hands with his partner.

One customer tweeted the censorship and the media latched onto it broadcasting too and fro on tv and on the internet.

This week, we get another similar case wherein it was reported a single restaurant of the fast food chain, Chic-Fil-A had been donating food to the Pennsylvania Family Group that is against gay marriage.

Naturally there has been a media outrage against the convservative restaurant owners and even calls for protests from their food....

As someone who is a big advocate for the separation of church & state, I am for the legal permissability of gay marriage.

That said, i find such instances of leftist "bullying" against anyone who is against gay rights repulsive.

If people want to support private institutions with the money they earn or the product they make, that is their perogative. But I worry for a nation that finds its media against such private investments of money when the investmens seem "politically incorrect" such as a millionare family donating money to anti-gay marriage groups.

I would venture to say that, the idea of being "politically correct" is in itself politically incorrect. Because these "politically correct" liberal hawks look to prey on conversatives in the name of gay rights (and thus argue for some kind of "equality" for gay people.

However, the problem is that when the liberals get mad at tradtionalist Southern institutions, they immediately contradict themselves in their call for equalitiy. That is, the liberals call for gay rights but are at the same time against the rights of conservatives to preach their own view.

The dilusion of these liberal bullies is they assume they are the tolerant, equality-loving people when their agenda is intolerant against those who disagree.

In short, the liberal bullies are saying "equality, tolerance, and freedom for all" for only those who agree with our defintion of what tolerance, equality, and freedom is. Such contradictions are the demon of our society, and we as Christians should never find ourselves in a society where the only beliefs that can be expressed are the ones that the liberals agree with.

If there is any positive to this story regarding chic-fil-a (who sadly had to come out with a bunch of releases saying they aren't anti-gay marriage nor anti-homosexual), it is that the backlash created against Chic-Fil-A by the media will no doubt result in a bigger backlash monetarily against the Liberal Media. Thus the Pennsylvania Family Group should be thankful for the liberal bullies since previous the controversy, all they were getting from Chic-Fil-A was food, will now find more private donations heading it's way from private investors. The liberal media in this instance, while making the most noise, will in the long run only be biting itself in the butt... (clap clap clap).

Unwed and . . .

2011-01-31T20:15:00.000-08:00

Every so often, you see a classic example of that beautiful pithy saying, "be the change you want to see in the world." Take this story, written by a former "executive and screenwriter in Hollywood" now serving his community, yea, even the world, as a high school English teacher. The article is a bit on the long side, but is well worth the time. If you don't have the time or inclination for another mouse click, just read this excerpt: "Within my lifetime, single parenthood has been transformed from shame to saintliness. In our society, perversely, we celebrate the unwed mother as a heroic figure, like a fireman or a police officer."

It's easy to be drawn in to the drama, to the things that we should rightfully lament. It's difficult to come up with solutions, to work toward being the change that can positively impact lives such as the ones described in this article. What can we do? What are you doing?

How can we make sense of Art?

2011-01-27T19:20:00.000-08:00

I was reading a paper this week about the Tower of Babel and the philosopher Jacques Derrida.The paper was quite interesting except for the two page commentary on the above picture which is a famous piece of art portraying the Tower of Babel from the 16th century by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. As I looked at the picture initially, I was left empty on seeing "it's brilliance." Sure it's pretty and it would be nice to have it hanging up in my room, but outside of that i couldn't discuss it whatsoever analytically....And the commentary about the piece of art didn't help out that much more....

I guess, as much as I like reading philosophy and not having a problem with spending 20 minutes trying to read a single page of Kant, I can't figure out art for the life of me, and i know as an Apostolic, I am not alone.

I want to understand art, but a love for the aesthetic things in life such as art has been for more or less absent in our movement. And i feel i am beyond repair....

Well, this article was a step towards understanding and the best part is, it was written for Christians who have no previous understanding in art criticism.....

Bill Graham's age won't stop him from saying things that will make you stop and ponder

2011-01-25T10:29:00.000-08:00

Billy Graham, all of 92 years old, did an interview at Christianity Today, and it was a very enjoyable read. Graham talks about old age and the struggle to put it into perspective Biblically, as well as advice for the children of aged parents who suddenly find their independent parents in need of help as they become older....

But perhaps the most interesting remark was when he was asked if he would change anything about his past....

I.... would have steered clear of politics. I'm grateful for the opportunities God gave me to minister to people in high places; people in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to. But looking back I know I sometimes crossed the line, and I wouldn't do that now.

Unfortunately Graham doesn't elaborate on this position. And as much as I would like to put words in his mouth of what he meant and why he came to that position, i will refrain (many of the news websites seem to be doing a good enough job as it is regarding this story.)

It is interesting nonetheless though that perhaps the only Christian preacher who has been more influential in regards to politics than James Dobson, now lives in regret of ever having anything to do with politics.

Classical Top 10

2011-01-22T04:55:00.001-08:00

Doesn't everyone love top 10 lists? Anthony Tommasini presents his list here. While I can't argue with most of his picks, I think I'd have to swap in Mahler for Debussy and Chopin for Bartok.

MLK: How the Wicked Use Time

2011-01-17T16:01:00.001-08:00

"(Time) can be used either destructively or constructively. I am coming to feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Where Does Your City Rank?

2011-01-10T16:59:00.000-08:00

Central Connecticut State ranks the Top 10 Literate Cities in the United States! USA Today can't help but offer commentary.

Where does your city rank? Is it a chain bookstore kind of city, or proud to support independents? With Top 10 Crime stats, & Top 10 Vacation spots, is a Top 10 list focused on literacy a very good thing to make people stop and reevaluate?

Give us your thoughts!