Its an Issue of Power

Christians that do or support this kind of protest have the inability to tell the difference between a redemptive Kingdom of Heaven and a nonexistent Christian Nation. This nation was never intended to be one that was "Christian." Any Christian language that surrounds or exists within the foundational documents of this nation is almost entirely made benign by the fact that there would have been no way of talking about concepts like an unconditional regard for humanity without using words like "all men are created equal." They simply had no way of talking about the fundamental human condition with words like "create."

The reason I say that this language is "almost entirely benign" is because I am sure that a good amount of those involved in the foundation and development of this country have been and are Christians.

The question is now one of determining their intentions for this nation. Did they desire a "Christian nation?" Were separations between church and state set in place solely to prevent Christians from persecuting each other? Leaving the option open to persecute everyone else? I doubt they had the foresight to envision a country in which Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, etc. would desire to live together under one government. This fact makes our efforts to determine their intentions that much more difficult. Would they have written something in that preferred Christianity had they foreseen this coming? I doubt it. If that had been the case they wouldn't have put rules in place to keep church and state separate.

But now we have another problem. This is a nation that has been and is made up of a majority of Christians. This is only a problem if you live in a land that tries to have a representational government. Which we do. So that clear cut line between church and state is going to be blurred a little bit. Back when the majority was larger activities like prayer in public schools and the Ten Commandments in court houses, were simply overlooked because no one would have complained and if someone did their complaint would have fallen on deaf ears. But that is not the case now. The percentage of nominal Christians are declining and so we are discovering that we need to be sensitive to other peoples views and understandings of reality, even if we don't agree. There are finally people to hold America to account for what the original intentions were. And I couldn't be more thrilled.

Christendom has been in power for a long time now and it has cause the faith a whole mess of problems. One of which is the inability to make the distinction I mentioned earlier. As the majority declines Christians will be forced to become a people unto themselves. One ruled by Christ which this country could never be. We will be unable to be rulers who lord it over others. Now we simply have to learn to govern ourselves as people in that are the body of Christ. Our mission will no longer be merely to remain the majority. A mission that allows for the mentality that walking around giving ultimatums is an effective form of evangelism. But now our mission will be to participate in God's efforts to redeem creation and in redeeming creation to help redeem each other.

This realization of what the church was always meant to be will alleviate silly episodes like the one above. Issues like school sponsored prayer and postings of the Ten Commandments will fall by the wayside and finally we (the church) can get on with the business of creating conflicts where they matter most. Where redemption is at stake. Issues like abortion where the constitution and those who wrote it have failed on multiple counts. One being that they focused on the inalienable rights of men and another being that those rights are so individualized that we are unable to deal with the fact that when these rights are finally starting to be awarded to women that they are awarded without the consideration of how the whole of humanity is interconnected which each other. This was not a mistake made solely then but at the inception of the nation when only white men were considered the only ones with rights at the expense of those slaves that were also "created" equal. Maybe this unwillingness to see the interconnected nature of all over our fates is the paramount sin written in to America's founding documents. But this is beyond the point that I am trying to make.

I will end by saying that I will always pray for the day when followers of Christ will start being what they were intended to be and will let go of the blatant idolatry of a "Christian Nation" that is more concerned with controlling how you vote than it is with bring about the God's understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven.

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DO NOT VOTE FOR THESE PEOPLE!

Yeah, who isn't...

Jerry Falwell was not one of my favorite people on the planet. In fact, most of my papers during my first year in seminary were written in an effort to tear down what he had built. But for all the criticism that he got, this one is the most ironic. Take this clip for example.



The family guy clip was laying out the criticism that Falwell's message was entirely about hate and now the church has produced someone that is more about hate than Falwell himself. I don't think that Falwell was entirely about hate but I certainly believe that Phelps is. In that sense I guess I wish the writers at Family Guy had waited to play that card when it was more approperate.

When I did hear of Falwell's death I mourned his death in a way I felt was appropriate for mourning someone whom I didn't agree with and whose legacy is going to be the bane of my existence for the next five decades.

But when Phelps passes I am not sure if I will be able to muster the grace I had for Falwell.

Ten Commandments

http://gorillamask.net/colbert10c.shtml

This kind of shit that just drives me crazy. He has no idea what the commandments are and wants them put up in court houses. I hope this was staged. He knows just about as much about the ten commandments as Bill Maher (who I am a fan of, just FYI).



Don't swear?!? I think he is talking about "don't take the Lord's name in vain" which isn't swearing and it isn't what most christian think it is either. When I say "God" or "Jesus Christ" in anger as in "God damn that computer for crashing again," it has nothing to do with taking the lord's name in vain. Its about taking oaths by God's name. Jesus was talking about this when he said let your "yes" be "yes" and your "no" a "no."

I don't really want to get into explain my point of view on what this verse means, but as long as people are willing to stay in the dark about what they feel are important issues then we will continue to see these kinds of discussions that are totally fruitless and based on nothing other than ignorance mixed a bit of passion.

More about brothers...

I just posted something about me and my brother, even though it showed up under Feb 7, I just posted it today. I was recalling one time when I was very young and my brother 3 and half years younger, then very young. We were at the T-intersection of 32nd and Bonnie Doone, where later that year I would watch my brother, in his hast, run in front of a car which stopped soon enough to not hit him and scare me to death. I don't recall much of what happened to bring about my screaming at my friend John, but I remember yelling and desperately trying to hold back tears. I failed and ended up crying and yelling at John that he had "brain washed my brother." What I think happened now that I look back at it is that John had just temporarily replaced me as my brothers "role model" and I became jealous. Jealousy may have been what drove me to scream at one of my best friends that he had brain washed my brother, but it was well intentioned jealousy and John usurping that role that I had played genuinely hurt. John was a fairly confident kid and Jonathan (my brother), who had tagged along that day, was mimicking him more so than me, and I not knowing how to handle the situation reacted adversely to all who were present and both my brother and I ended up walking home. At least that is what I assume happened because I don't remember but my brother was too young to walk home alone at that point. Maybe my brother will read this memoir of more than a decade later and remember or he may have been to young, either way I hope that he knows that he is important to me and has always been so. A fact that is evident by my reaction back then and my posting about it now. Jonathan has always been the hinge on which my emotions move and that is no less true now then it has been in the past. Jonathan if you ever read this, please know that you have been and are loved.

Sometimes its the random things that make you laugh.

I don't know why but just the very concept of this song cracks me up. Just wanted to share with everyone. This is from the British show The Office. The first video is from the show and the second is off the DVD with a special version of the song. Enjoy the absurdity.

Whenever I see something like this I get so frustrated I hit what can only be described as a mental stall. This normally results in me holding my head and repeating myself a lot. This can last for several minutes. I am starting to wonder if this is a psychological seizure brought on by an exposure to too much STUPIDITY.