At Truepenny’s request, I’m going to write a bit about my teenagedom with Jesus. This isn’t quite as entertaining as yesterday’s post, I’m afraid, but it’s not really dull or depressing either. It’s a happy middle ground.
I just posted a Facebook note about this, but I wanted to go into a little more detail here.
For those who don’t know, I adopted the cause of the abolition of human trafficking a few years back. Basically, it’s the buying and selling of humans on the black market. Love146 is an organization dedicated to helping to stop this, so we organized a benefit concert for them last year and we’re approaching our second one (coming January 17).
Here are some quick facts from the Love146 website:
The concert’s website is here. (Notice the striking similarity to this site. You’ll never guess who designed it.) If you live in the KC area and you feel compelled to help with this cause, please help promote this concert. If you have a blog, blog about it; if you go to church, tell them about it; talk to people at work or in bars.
The goal isn’t just to have a successful concert, but to start a movement in the Kansas City area. Already, we have a strong student group forming. (It’s a national group based out of the KC area.) Last year, we had some people talk to local publications about refusing to advertise unlicensed massage parlors (a common front for slave prostitution). Just a few years back, they shut down one of these massage parlors in Overland Park that was filled with trafficked humans.The movement is starting. We need members.
If you’re not in the KC area, check out Love146, which focuses on abduction prevention and aftercare, and International Justice Mission, which works on a macro level with governments and law enforcement agencies to make trafficking harder for traffickers. There’s lots you can do.
The point is that people have to know about this. It can’t be kept America’s dirty little secret any more. Trafficked women are pimped out in the Adult Services section of Craigslist every day in hundreds of cities across the nation, and hundreds of these “massage parlors” are in operation and are advertised in our daily newspapers, all because people don’t know not to stand for it. Most of the clothes we buy, even some clothes that advertise “Made in the U.S.A.,” are made by trafficked children in sweat shops.
I do not want any of you to come away after reading this and feel guilty about not helping. I also don’t want anyone to feel guilty if they choose another cause over this one. This is my cause, but I realize that there are other ones as well. The point is to do what you do well to do good.
Feel free to contact me with any questions you have on this. I’m pretty passionate about it, and I have some additional resources on-hand if you want any.
Let me preface this by saying that I am by no means an expert in any of the subject I’m about to discuss. If I get something wrong, feel free to gently remind me.
I’ve been fascinated as of late with the Greek word Logos, which literally means “word,” or, with some interpretation, logic or reasoning. It’s where we get the -ology suffix in the English language (words like biology, idiology, and theology). Even though it means “word,” though, it doesn’t refer to the grammatical object—there’s another word for that. Logos had a deeper meaning.
Apparently, the Beatles were the first Christian rock band.
Very, very interesting for a lot of reasons—mainly because of the general disdain between the Beatles and the church, despite both claiming to be “Christ’s biggest fans.”
Today, I look at bands like Creed and Guster—both of whom use religious symbolism in their songs—and wonder how many closet Jesus bands there are out there. And I’m not trying to say that this is purely the fault of the Christian community at large. Many people outside of the Christian camp form their opinions of Christianity on the outbursts of a forceful, vocal minority. Disgusted or no, you have to be pretty calloused or blind to miss all the good that religion is actually doing in the world. (And yes, I believe that it has historically been one of the most destructive forces in the world. That’s another discussion altogether, but I think the tides are turning.)
And on the flip side, I wonder how many Christians would embrace modernity (or, more specifically, Postmodernity) if they understood how much it defined what they already believed (and how in line it is with the Bible). In the book Finding Common Ground, Tim Downs verbally attacks Postmodernism in one chapter, and then spends the rest of the chapter talking about how art is the new instrument of truth and how we need to appeal not only to people’s intellects, but also to their emotional imaginations—extremely Postmodern concepts.
An interesting fact: John Lennon was actually the original choice to play Jesus in Jesus Christ, Superstar, but turned down the role. Just saying.
For all of you fans of LOLcats, I present to you… The LOLcat Bible! That’s right! They’re actually translating the Bible in LOLspeak. Forget the 2,200+ languages without the Bible—we need LOLgod (a.k.a. Ceiling Cat).
Here are some choice passages.
U iz as pretti as Tirzah,
as pretti az Jerusalem,
liek an armi marchin around.
Doant look at me,
itz too much LOL.
Ur hair iz liek goatz
comin down teh mountn.
Ur teeth iz liek sheep
dat just hadded abaff.
Dey iz all twinz,
bcz u haz all ur teethz.
Ur butt
is liek a peach.
Dere is sixti queenz,
an eighti othr ladiez,
an lotz of virjinz
but u iz wun of a kiend,
ur motherz only dauter
ur motherz favrit.
Teh ladiez sez “She haz cheezburgr”;
teh queenz iz liek “U iz so cool.”
- Song of Solomon 6:4-9
CEILING CAT sez to Moses “Go sez to teh Israelis ‘Be excellent cuz I’z CEILING CAT and I’z excellent.
Be goods to youz ma and pa, don’t work on Sundayz, I IS CEILING CAT.
Don’t be makin fake gods, plzkthnx?
If u makes cheezburger offering to Ceiling Cat make it wifout onions. U gots to eats it that day or teh next but after that u gots to throw it away cuz teh bunz gets soggy And nobody wants soggy cheezburger. DO NOT WANT. If sumbody does eats it, I not responsible, kthnx. Nobody gonna liek u if u eats soggy cheezburger.
An den when you has BBQ makes lots and lots of cheezburgers. An no eats all teh Cheetos.
Leaves sum for teh homeless kittehs and space alienz. I IZ CEILING CAT.No be steelin’
No be lying.
No fooling u fwends.No swearing in teh name of Ceiling Cat. I IZ CEILING CAT.
No steelin u naybur’s X-Box.
An pay teh delivery guy.No makin fun o teh deaf peeple or trippin blind peeple, be ‘fraid o Ceiling Cat!
No makin fun o Judge Judy or Joe Brown cuz theyz good judges cuz they no take no crap.
No spreadin rumors even if Louie does has big harballs.
No be puttin kittehs in danger. I IZ CEELING CAT.No fiteing in teh back seat wif u brother an no ganging up on u sister.
No gettin back at peeples or makin drama. Free luvz to all! I IZ CEILING CAT.
Don’t screw dees things up:
No shackin wif teh dog.
No raisin coca AND teh pot in teh same garage.
No pleather.If u hookz up wit teh OPP u gots to pay up. No Tu-Pac episodes, tho.21 Makez offering of cheezburger an it be ok.
No eating teh icing off teh cake before teh party. Teh birfday kitteh gets teh icing first. After dat youz can has icing. I IZ CEILING CAT.
Cooks teh cheezburger all teh way throo. DO NOT WANT RAW.
No crazy voodoo stuffs, kthnx.No mullets or bad sideburns.
No emo cutting an no tattoos off teh parlor wall. I IZ CEILING CAT.
No hookin’ out ur own kids or teh bad mans come to teh nayburhood.
Still no workin on teh weekends. I IZ CEILING CAT.
No listens to teh Sylvia Browne cuz she will pwn u. I IZ CEILING CAT.
Be nice to old kittehs. I IZ CEILING CAT.
Be nice to alienz cuz they might has destruct-o beems.
Pretend they is u cousin cuz we all alienz sumwear. I IZ CEILING CAT. No exaggerating teh size o u harballs.
We all knoes u is lieing. I IZ Ceiling Cat, after all. Do all thees stuffs that I sai. I IZ CEILING CAT.”
- Leviticus 19
Teh storm kept waving. Iz microwave, then mexican wave. Jonah sez “Rsistnce iz fewtile. Biff me in teh sea, ocean can pwnzd kittah. Is mai fault. sry.”But Michael triez to row teh boat to shore. He is phail, and teh storm iz getting worsnwors. So tehy preyed to Ceiling Cat, “wait. no! plz don’t drowns uz, cuz cats dusn’t lieks to get wet. DO NOT WANT. plsthnxbai.”Tehn they toss Jonah into teh waterz, and teh sea iz calmed down liek on ritlin. srsly. Teh sailors iz so skeered they makes offrings of catnips and cheezeburgers and loots in bukkits for Ceiling Cat. Ceiling Cat maeked a LOLrus to eated Jonah, and Jonah iz in yr whale making yr sushis for three days and three nights.
- Jonah 1:11-17
I expect to hear this in a sermon someday from some of my pastor friends.
Anyone questioning Barack Obama’s faith needs to read a recent speech of his:
http://www.citizenlink.org/pdfs/06-24-08-obama-call-to-renewal.pdf
Long, but worth the read.
Suppose someone wanting to learn to dance said: “For hundreds of years now one generation after another has been learning dance steps, it’s high time I took advantage of this and began straight off with a set of quadrilles.” One would surely laugh at him; but in the world of spirit such an attitude is considered utterly plausible.
– Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, Preamble from the Heart
I discovered this truth at age 14, when I took the faith I was raised with and wrestled with it and made it my own. I soon found that I had to repeat this discovery with every truth I had learned in my life. I’d learned the difference between an objective truth and a subjective truth. You can say something is true without actually being able to articulate why that thing is true. You can know something is true without being willing to change your life because of it.
The term “subjective truth” has gotten such a bad rap in the church at large simply because people don’t understand what it means. I think any serious Postmodernist would agree that letting every person decide for themselves what is good and evil represents a rather shallow and egocentric understanding of truth.
What’s more, I think the church could really benefit from teaching people to discover the roots of truths rather than just saying that they’re true. I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with people that fall apart because they don’t know the foundations of what they uphold as true.
I’m not saying that die-hard Modernists don’t understand the things the hold to be true. I’m just saying that the church in general seems to have a bit of a problem with that, and it could be helped by a change in approach.
Leave it to Watson to make a calendar out of making fun of Calvinism:
For those who don’t know, I’m not a big fan of Idealism. When I say Idealism, I’m referring to the philosophical movement, not the tendency to lift up certain ideals. The philosophy of idealism is more or less based around the concept that all reality is dependent upon thought and consciousness. (Transcendentalists are a little more down-to-earth, but I don’t like them either.) Some go as far as to say that there’s only really one consciousness—your own. Everything you hear, see, and sense is just a figment of your imagination, an illusory world created by your thoughts for your consciousness to experience. Most Idealists will agree, though, that thought and consciousness (subjects, with subjective experiences) makes an object more “real” than non-sentient objects.
I really dig philosophy as of late, as you can tell from the number of posts on the subject—but I just don’t see the point in Idealism. It’s impractical philosophy, since it’s purely speculative and doesn’t serve to help one live, unless one needs help thinking of oneself as a virtual god. It’s that egocentricity that I really despise. I think it’s ludicrous to believe that reality is subject to us and not the other way around. To look at life and think anything but that laws of reality that we did not conceive are being forced upon our consciousnesses is irresponsible and unrestrained optimism.
(For those who are wondering, I don’t believe that reality simply exists without reason. I believe in a God who created reality in a way to challenge us and test our faith and intellect; I believe in a God that fashioned a reality by His own standards and gave us the freedom to accept or reject both it and Him.)
It took a little while, but religion actually caught up with Idealism in New Age mysticism and Scientology, both of which came about in the latter half of the 20th Century. Both grant ultimate importance to the human consciousness—one in the mind’s ability to change the physical world, and one in its ability to create it. I view both as ultimately selfish and out of touch with the sometimes-harsh reality that we’ve all experienced. I don’t say that to say, “Oh, look how much better my religion is than those”—I just disagree with the presumptions of both. If you disagree with me, step back, take an objective look at the facts, and make up your own mind. (It’s only fair, seeing as that’s what I quite unabashedly did.)
But, not so surprisingly, religion was a little behind science. Enter quantum mechanics, which slowly evolved throughout the 19th Century and came to fruition at the advent of the 20th Century. Now quantum mechanics in itself isn’t so bad—it’s simply the realization that the laws of physics as we know them don’t apply on a subatomic level, and the study of those differences. But those differences are crazy-weird. A subatomic particle can actually be in multiple places at once. In fact, the concept of superposition states that until we measure where a particle is, it simultaneously exists in every possible location within the atom, and condenses into a singular position upon measurement. (You can read up on one clever scientist’s critique of this notion here.) It’s the science of Idealism.
Not too long ago, a movie was made about this. It’s called What tнe #$*! Dө ωΣ (k) πow!? or What the bleep do we know!? Admittedly, the movie doesn’t discuss pure science so much as speculative science (or pseudo-science); but all of the assumptions are leaps from quantum mechanics. The Secret is another production (this one, a self-help DVD) that posits that what we think can have a tangible impact on the physical world. Let me be clear: it’s not that our thoughts lead to our actions and our actions lead to change—it’s our thoughts themselves having a very real impact on the world (specifically, on our individual success in life). So Idealism is trickling down into entertainment and self-help, and it’s working its way into more than a few nooks and crannies in our modern lives.
I really can’t say I know enough to tackle quantum mechanics (or, rather, its offspring). And I realize I probably got some of this wrong, since I’m not as smart as the topics I try to discuss. But it’s something I want to learn more about. Call it a personal mission. Call it my civic duty as a Christian Existentialist. But if you have anything to say on the matter, in agreement, disagreement, or dismissal, hit that comment button below or just talk to me. I’m looking for more insight into the matter, and every opinion can teach me something.
The Swindler and the Widow’s Mite
Take the story about the woman who placed the two pennies in the temple-treasury, but let us poeticize a little variation. The two pennies were for her a great sum, which she had not quickly accumulated. She had saved for a long time in order to get them saved up, and then she had hidden them wrapped in a little cloth in order to bring them when she herself went up to the temple. But a swindler had detected that she possessed this money, had tricked her out of it, and had exchanged the cloth for an identical piece which was utterly empty—something which the widow did not know. Thereupon she went up to the temple, placed, as she intended, the two pennies, that is, nothing, in the temple-treasury: I wonder if Christ would not still have said what he said of her, that “she gave more than all the rich?”
Works of Love, p. 294 (SV XII 304)
Honestly, I struggle with this one. When it comes right down to it, in God’s eyes, I believe this to be true; but the critic in me cares more about results—and in the business of helping people, results matter.
It all boils down to the question of what we value more: the practical, or the personal; or, in abstract terms, the tangible or the spiritual. And I have to say, I feel like I have a preference for the tangible. It’s kind of hard being torn between both.
In the end, I’m glad that effort counts for something; I’m glad that God is more concerned with the condition of our hearts than I am.
Thoughts?
I am both a dreamer and a cynic. I am a writer, musician, and web designer. I am a devoted husband. I am flawed, but functional. I really, really like coffee. If you want to know more than that, feel free to visit my About page. Also, feel free to drop me a line sometime. I love hearing from new people.
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