broken eikon

So I was reading the Presbyterian book of confessions today. I came across the confession of 1967, and I have to say… I was blown away. In 1967, the Presbos adopted this confession of faith as a response to “racial discrimination, nationalistic arrogance, and family and class conflict”.  It was very responsive to biblical scholarship and  asks the church to read scripture with literary and historical context in mind. There are many really really cool parts, but this really stuck out to me is line 9.45, containing the following words…, “this search (for reconciliation and peace) requires that the nations pursue fresh and responsible relations across every line of conflict, even at risk to national security, to reduce areas of strife and to broaden international understanding… Although nations may serve God’s purposes in history, the church which identifies the sovereignty of any one nation or any one way of life with the cause of God denies the lordship of Christ and betrays his calling”.

“Even at risk to national security”?

Can anyone find me another statement of faith that states that nations should pursue reconciliation even at their own risk? That sounds too much like Christ for me…

And that last part about identifying any one nation or way of life with God’s will means denying the Lordship of Christ. Dang.

love it…

Check out Brian Mclaren’s open letter to President Obama. He encapsulates both my frustration with Obama and my hope that he can make better choices. It is time for a third option to be tried in America.

This article by Micheal Moore is really good. Don’t get me wrong, I am not what you would consider a fan of his. Even when I want to like him, I struggle to find him compelling. But when someone, anyone, gets Jesus right, I am committed to being the trumpeter. So check it out.

There are simply no words for how this makes me feel. But if there were, it would be something like angry-immeasurably sad-frustrated-disgusted-haunted-lamenting.

Today at school, I heard a pastor say, “I don’t care about the education, I just need the piece of paper”, in regards to degrees, etc… He was echoed by a person hoping to go into ministry, who eagerly agreed. The situation came up because they found themselves disagreeing with something a professor said. They proceeded to grow in solidarity that they simply “survive” seminary by ignoring everything they don’t believe already. Therefore, although they have the “piece of paper”, they couldn’t have been bothered to stretch themselves, considering their singular experience in life as superior to the diversity that comes from lifelong students and worshipers of God from other sides of the fences. Still, I just don’t understand why some churches grow to be so narrow minded and shallow…

Regarding atheists: Descartes was called an atheist. It is because he pushed a little too hard on the church’s role in society. It wasn’t a question of belief in God, it was a question on belief in the church as God, hehe. Ooooh, you know who else bore the atheist nomiker? Christians. Yep. The pre-Constantinian Roman Empire called them “no-gods” because they rejected belief in the pantheon that was worshiped in Rome. So we see that atheists can sometimes be better Christians than the ones slinging the name… I am an A. I am an A-T. I am an A-T-H-E-I-S-T. And I have C-H-R-I-S-T in my H-E-A-R-T….

The following people have my mental hugs today…. Mike Story, Jason Crow, Jeff Swan

This will pick up steam in a few seasons, but for now, just some quotes for reflection:

“New opinions often appear first as jokes and fancies, then as blasphemies and treason, then as questions open to discussion, and finally as established truths.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason” – John Harington

“The unsuccessful strugglers against tyranny have been the chief martyrs of treason laws in all countries” – Thomas Jefferson

“All men should have a drop of treason in their veins, if nations are not to go soft like so many sleepy pears.” – Rebecca West

“America’s state religion, [is] patriotism, a phenomenon which has convinced many of the citizenry that “treason” is morally worse than murder or rape.” – William Blum

“Treason is like diamonds; there is nothing to be made by the small trader” – Douglas Jerrold

“Treason is an excuse made by the winners to hang the losers” – unknown

“Please to remember the fifth of November gunpowder treason and plot
I see of no reason why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, ’twas his intent
To blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below
Poor old England to overthrow…” – Unknown folk lyric regarding Guy Fawkes

“I’m engaged in high-treason with all means available to me. Can I count you in?” – Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg in “Valkyrie”

Check out this article in the NY Times. I know where I stand on health care reform. I am getting pretty tired of special interests and lie-machines getting in the way of reform. I have been thinking about this for a while. We have set up a system where simply because someone is wealthier than someone else, they will get to live longer, despite their life choices (I think of many famous people who get pushed to the front of the line for kidney transplants after a life of abusing their bodies). I used to be on the other side of the fence. You know what changed my opinion? Becoming poor. Working multiple jobs and trying to go to school with a disabled wife and 2 kids. And pay health insurance? Heh. You know how I have health insurance? The Presbos. First Presbyterian of Granbury pays for my medical insurance. I digress. The right to life and how long you live should not be determined by how wealthy you are.

Another note: many fiscal conservatives (I am not referring to pro-life, yay God social conservatives) say they like the idea of competition in business because it drives them to make better products at cheaper prices in order to compete. They are lying. That is really what the public option is about. Breaking the oligopoly that exists now in health care and producing a public (read: not socialist) option for people to go to. So there. I took a stand on an issue. I am not pro-Obama, or anti-Obama. I simply think that this is the most Christlike thing to do, given the options presented.

Argue. Discuss.

So this one time I was hanging out with a girl for a week. The soundtrack to the week was Bob Marley. I really dug this girl, but she ignored me/talked about the guy she liked all week. So for a long time I didn’t give Marley a chance because she introduced me to him and it made me think about that week.

However, there is a rummage sale this week at the Presbyterian church, and someone was selling a “Legend” cassette (Marley’s greatest hits) and since I only have a cassette player in my car, I bought it. I must admit, now that I am going through my Bob Marley phase (as Joseph calls it), I really resonate with a lot of his stuff. The below example is… well an example. The language is foreign, certainly not the Queen’s english, but the heart is really on target. His songs seems to mix criticism of colonial Christianity with African American liberation motives with a srong hebraic understanding of God, but also some messianic themes. Here is a song called Redemption Song. Enjoy.

Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.

But my hand was made strong
By the and of the almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.

Wont you help to sing
These songs of freedom? -
cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
cause none of them can stop the time.

How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? ooh!
Some say “its just a part of it:
We’ve got to fulfill de book.

Wont you help to sing
These songs of freedom? -
cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.

I have been following an interesting discussion about gay mariage over at http://philshepherd.com . While that discussion has turned more into what God thinks about homosexuality, I want to offer a “third option” for national debate on homosexual marriage. How about the government stay out of it?

Government should have no say in marriage whatsoever. Marriage is not something that should be endorsed, enforced, denied, arranged, discouraged, or in any other way dealt with by our government.

Based on social welfare, it is a good idea for the government to sanction and give some sort of benefits to any covenant union made by two adult people, whether it be platonic, romantic, business or otherwise, as the stability of such accords are good for society. But that is a separate issue from marriage.

Keep the government away from marriage and let the churches or other social establishments, or whatever accepted authorities in individual’s lives decide for themselves who can or should be married.

I just got a mass email from an old friend. In this email, he urged me to urge legislation of a certain bill, fight against another bill, all for the sake of protecting unborn babies from dying through abortion. I will just go ahead and say it upfront. I am not pro-choice. I can support abortion (begrudgingly) in extreme cases, but by and large, it is a brutal, ugly thing that indeed kills a being with the potential to live a full human life. Why is it then that I feel so angry right now about most pro-life people I know? It is because they are not really pro-life. They are anti-abortion. There is a difference.

Why were these same “pro-life” people all for the war in Afganistan, the war in Iraq? Why do they look with fondness at how we kicked the Axis’ ass in WW2? Why are most of them against gun control? Why are most of them in favor of capital punishment? Being pro-life is a joke in America. It is a thinly disguised attempt to make ourselves feel better at the expense of those who make different choices than us. If you are really pro-life, support a consistent ethic of human life. If you are against abortion, be against war. Be against guns. Be against violence. Be against the death penalty. At least be consistent.

If you are interested, one of the biggest turning points for me in my worldview/theology/growth was the point that I realized that if I believed what I said about God and people, then abortion was actually serving a good purpose (by allowing babies safe passage to Heaven before they had the chance to experience a hard life or sin). Also, the death penalty was bad because it didn’t allow the people who really needed to repent (so they could go to Heaven) more time to do so. So under my old assumptions, fighting abortions and administering the death penalty was fighting against God’s ultimate desires.

Now, I believe God indeed values all life (as attested to in the scriptures). God calls us all to live in harmony with each other. If you want me to get on board your politcal train without a consistent ethic of human life, I won’t even meet you at the station. Show me a polititian with real values, or legislation that doesn’t just make you feel better while ignoring the root issues.