Cookie Cutter Faith

"Cal Naughton, Jr.: I like to think of Jesus as a mischievous badger.

---

Ricky Bobby: Dear Lord baby Jesus, or as our brothers in the south call you, "Jezus," we thank you so much for this bountiful harvest of Dominos, KFC, and the always delicious Taco Bell. I just want to take time to say thank you for my family. My two beautiful, beautiful, handsome stricking sons, Walker, and Texas Ranger, or TR as we call him. And of course my red hot smokin' wife Carley, who is a stone cold fox.
Cal Naughton, Jr.: mmm...
Ricky Bobby: Dear tiny infant Jesus...
Carley Bobby: Hey, um... you know sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don't always have to call him baby. It's a bit odd and off puttin' to pray to a baby.
Ricky Bobby: Well look, I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I'm sayin grace. When you say grace, you can say it to grown up Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus, or whoever you want."

These days you can buy whatever you want in America. Not only can you organize your entire music collection onto a plastic rectangle, but you can order your musical plastic rectangle in different colors, and buy accessories to the point that it almost fits your individual personality. Or your personality reflects what kind of Ipod you have (I can't remember which is more likely anymore). The consumerism in America is not a problem in and of itself, were people more resilient to advertising, and trends than there wouldn't be any problem at all, but the sad fact is that by marketing things just right, we can take advantage of our brothers and sisters and make money from it. The most disturbing facet of the new American rush of consumerism is hat which has appeared in the Church.
I want my Jesus to be seven feet tall, with cool tattoos, and a sweet gibson guitar strung across his back. Of course, he'll have to smoke a pipe and make his own imperial stout as well. We could sit around, and I could listen to him play blues guitar solo's while we smoke our pipes, and drink the beer he makes. While we were hanging out (which he would refer to as "kickin it") I would ask: "Hey Jesus, what's the meaning of life?"
And he'd be like "Dude, it's like I told you bro, it's all about jiving with my peaceful harmonies. I can't just be all like, here it is...the meaning of life....just listen to this guitar solo I wrote, and feel the groove for yourself."
That's not quite what the bible puts forth as truth though. In a weird way, God is a person in the same way that you and I are people. He is himself, and that is the end of the story. If you and I were to sit down and chat and I crammed a pipe in your mouth, slammed a beer in front of you, and thrust guitar into your hands expecting you to play it for me it would be a pretty short conversation I think. You might choke on the pipe tobacco and cough into the stem...which would make a huge ashen mess all over the floor, raise your eyebrow curiously at the beer, and maybe accidentally kick it over while you try to avoid the guitar I would be shoving in your hands. All in all it would be a really ridiculous experience for both of us. Of course I wouldn't do that to somebody sitting in front of me, but sadly I do do that to God. I expect him to be what I want him to be. The worse thing is when God picks up the guitar I hand him and gives me what I want. It's sad because, at first he offers himself, and when I refuse him he gives me what I want. Less.

Here's to letting God be God instead of trying to make him one of our golf buddies!

Thoughts on Conversation

Have you ever had a conversation or confrontation with somebody and walked away feeling like you didn't really talk? Like you or the other person wasn't really listening to what you had to say, but spending their time thinking about how to refute your position? Well, it's probably true: when you think about it, you make hundreds of judgments during the time span of your average work day, whether they're about yourself, a co-worker, your spouse, or children. There are literally thousands of unfounded conclusions rampaging through your brain at any given point of time? Kind of mind breaking isn't it? Don't worry, it gets worse. How many of those judgments concern yourself? Everybody has bland spots, prejudices, biased opinions, and preconceived notions, and most people go through their lives without overcoming these blind spots. In fact most of the time we enter into conversations with people, we could actually be casting our personality, or our ideal of a good person over the actuality of the person we're talking too. Sure, no harm done if it's just a passing conversation, but what if it's your spouse?
A few months into our marriage I realized that my wife was a completely different person than I am, which is good. But that make communication tricky. Because other people are just like I am, which means that there are whole worlds of thought that I am not privy to. There is no window in their forehead that shows me what they're thinking, or what they're about to say. So every time I hear myself say something like "I just can't believe somebody would do that." I have to realize that I'm not really allowing that person to be a person at all, but expecting them to be what fits my ideal of a good, caring human being. That being said, that means that a lot of my conversations with people aren't really conversations, just a one way street that I'm trying to get people on to. Conversation implies that somehow there is an exchange of ideas happening, which means that I should be receiving ideas and information, rather than imparting. Imparting information is called teaching, or lecturing....not conversation. I think we miss out as people by filtering other through our biases and preconceived notions. Our world is a very colorful and beautiful place, and there is no way to see that if we don't put down our self-colored lens and see things and people the way that they have been created to be. It's okay to disagree (dare I say it's even good and healthy?), the only people that say that there can't be unity with disagreement, that everybody has to be "like-minded", are people who are either insecure in their leadership, or have a faulty understanding of unity. Unity is a mutual submission based on love, put in simple terms, my willingness to drop my agenda and perspective to see, really see, what another person has to say. Anything short of that will result in me living in a world full of my own reflection. How sad is that?

Why The Fall Sucked II

Okay, so Eve messed up pretty bad, but where in paradise was Adam when all this was happening? I know a lot of people say that he must have been else where while Eve was talking to Satan (via the snake...which is weird) so let's talk about that for a second. So, say you're hangin out in the world's most beautiful garden ever....in the history of mankind. By that I mean, imagine the most beautiful place you ever seen and multiply it by infinity. Whenever I want to think of Eden I picture the rolling hills of northern California with no roads cutting through them, no sign of industry marring the landscape, and produce growing readily available from the nutrient rich black soil. Okay, you get the picture, now add God's custom made partner, Eve. Adam's only companion, and she's apparently smokin hot. Have you ever seen those old cartoons from the 40's and 50's where the beautiful woman walks by a cartoon wolf and the wolf's eyes pop out of his head, his jaw drops to the floor, and his tongue rolls out of his mouth like a red carpet. Yeah, that word in Hebrew kind of means that. I say kind of because there was no inappropriate carnality in Adam's reaction. Here was the perfect partner, drawn from his side while he was unconscious. Just take a minute to think of your significant other, and then imagine them without any faults or sin. Yeah, that would be a beautiful thing, marriage is overwhelming enough even with the shortcomings of the post-fruit lifetime...just imagine it before then. Anyway, before I get off track here, Adam is in paradise, with his perfect partner... Do you think he would ever be far from his wife? The flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bones. Their marriage relationship was perfect up until that day. Adam wasn't far from his wife at all, in fact (despite the teaching) the Bible actually mentions in Genesis 3 that Adam was right there with his wife (Gen 3:6 ESV).
So, let's pause at the creepy talking snake scene for a second, and go back to what God actually said to Adam about this tree that Satan is referring to. Before he created Eve, God took Adam aside and said the following "You must surely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you must not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." Gen 2: 16b-17(ESV). You may be thinking "I know the deal....don't eat the fruit, why are we wasting time here?" God said you shouldn't eat the fruit, he didn't say anything about touching the tree. What's the difference? Glad you asked, eating involves plucking, biting, chewing, swallowing, and digesting....touching involves well....touching, that's it. When Satan tried to get Eve to eat the fruit, her response was that she wasn't to touch the tree. She didn't say anything about not eating. Now, did God tell her something that was wrong....probably not (He doesn't usually make mistakes). So, if you were Adam, and you had this awesome wife in this awesome garden and you knew that there was something nearby that if she plucked accidentally would kill her...what would you say? I know what I would say "Honey, I love ya, maybe you should just leave this tree alone....don't even touch it, because God said it would kill us" Sounds like a problem in communication to me, and I don't think the almighty Lord of all creation was the one that dropped the ball. In Romans 5 the Apostle Paul says that sin has been passed down through the disobedience of Adam, not Eve. Interesting, because Eve gave the fruit to her husband, not the other way around.
So what's the deal here? Here's how I see it, I think there could have been a communication problem between Adam and Eve regarding the tree, and when she was deceived Adam was there. Problem number one....there's no other account of a talking animal in the book of Genesis, so if the serpent was the only one why didn't Adam interrupt the conversation? I don't know to be honest, but you can be sure that he didn't discourage Eve from eating the fruit...because she ate it, and then fed it to him. There was no mention of Adam saying "Hey sweety...remember that tree I told you not to touch, yeah this is it. See ya later serpent dude." So Adam, watching his wife get duped, sees that she doesn't die automatically when she eats the fruit. I wonder what went through his mind when he took his bite.
Fortunately for him, we don't get to see that, we just know that Adam ate the fruit in full disregard/rebellion to what God had directly told him. That just sucks. Because Eve didn't really put up all that much of a defense, the curse regarding her involves mostly women, and relationship. Because Adam directly ignored God's command, knowing that it was completely wrong to do what he did the whole land (Earth) was cursed. So now we have broken relationships, and toil.

Why The Fall Sucked

Okay, so I have to first of all state clearly for the sake of my audience, I am not a Bible scholar. I've spent little or no time in what most people would call "formal" study the Judea-Christian Bible (I call it Judea-Christian because, well....Christians weren't around in Old Testament times...weird). Anyway, the whole first few chapters of Genesis have always made me curious. God; the omnipotent, all knowing creator of the entire universe in which we live, makes one man and puts him in the middle of a garden called Eden. Unlike the rest of the creatures in the Garden, Adam has the power of rational thought and creativity which I assume is a part of that whole being created in God's image thing. What I mean by that is that God's image clearly has nothing to do with being a biped that walks upright and can manipulate the natural things around him into tools, I think God's image is more of a philosophical thing. Anyway, I digress. So, in this garden God plants two rather interesting trees: one for the knowledge of Good and evil, and one for eternal life. Which is pretty weird if you ask me, but in any case as the story goes....maybe God should have had Adam employ his God given skill to build a fence or something because Adam and his wife ate the knowledge fruit, and we've been screwed ever since.
So what's the big deal? It's a piece of fruit for crying out loud. I don't think that the fruit is really the central point of the story at all. We spend so much time trying to figure out why the fruit is special compared to the rest of the Garden that we miss what's happening on that cataclysmic afternoon. So Eve is talking to Satan (problem number 1...when the snake talks, walk away), and in the course of this conversation she decides that she somehow knows better than God, or worse, that God was lying to her. Cut it anyway you want to, when you read the story it's pretty simple.
Satan: Hey, God is lame, you should eat this fruit.... it's awesome.
Eve: No way man, God said I would die if I even touch this tree.
Satan: You're kidding, die if you touch it? I'm touching it right now, not dead yet.
Eve: I see your point, well that fruit does look tasty, and it's true....you aren't dead. I guess God was giving us the shaft or something...outta my way ya creepy talking snake. I'm getting me some fruit.
That's the New Matthew Translation of course. So really when you think about it, the new testament says that sin is everything that doesn't come from an attitude of faith (Rom 14:23). Eve's faith in God faltered when she considered the fact that he might be withholding from her. We've been in the same situation ever since. Oh God help us to trust you better.

In Europe

Hi friends,
I'm touring through Europe right now, so my posting will be slightly behind on this blog. I'm sorry for "slacking off", but if you were in Hamburg, would you be sitting in front of a computer...I don't think so. Peace out, and look for travel stories later. There will be tales of circling airplanes and how one unfortunate London airport came to be known as "Catlick"

Matticus

Quote To Ponder II

"If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties."
- Sir Francis Bacon

Humility is an interesting thing. Most of us don't really want to start anything at the beginning, we want to pick up a guitar and play like Jimi Hendrix or B.B King. Sadly the way a lot of people (myself included) approach faith is not very different. I'm no John Calvin, and it's doubtful that I'll ever be a Dietrich Bonhoffer, or Martin Luther. Although all three of those men are definite heroes of mine, and their lives have given me inspiration to keep scraping by with what I have.
Maybe if we started with being okay about having flaws and blemishes we would see God's work in our lives more readily. Perfection is brought through Christ, and people who are willing to punch their weight in life.

The Truth In Everything

I used to go to the coast every Sunday with my best buddy Andy...I'm not sure he knew it at the time, but while we were crawling over rocks, taking pictures and drinking coffee, I was really getting to know Jesus better. For whatever reason, I seemed to understand certain bits of truth more than I do know. That truth being that God is very present in the ordinary settings, circumstances, and events of our lives. Sometimes I think I was getting more truth out of watching the huge waves of the Pacific surge and crash against the rocks of Pt. Cabrillo than sitting in a pew a few months later (don't get me wrong...I really dig church, but just stick with me for a bit here).
Ultimately I think that it was a good thing for me to start attending church; I think it's good for Christians to contribute to the church, what would happen if we all just did what we wanted to ever Sunday and never met with each other? We'd never meet, never have fellowship, never edify the body in a corporate way. Some people might say that would be a good thing, as if letting things be "organic" would somehow work out for the better of all of us. Knowing myself, I think I have a good insight into general human nature and I know what I would do were it not for the organized gathering of God's people...I would eventually be deceived by myself. My Christianity would first separate itself from the normal expression of faith, because I would be left to my own devices with no external checks. But Matticus, what about the Holy Spirit? Good question, I think that in order to both humble us, and teach us that he is bigger than we can fathom, God primarily uses other people to teach us about himself. How does that work out with the bible then? Simple...the bible was written by other people. Reading Paul's epistles is just as good as speaking with him face to face in a sense. Not as personal, but with the bible you can keep asking Paul to repeat himself by rereading his letters. If you were to attempt such a thing face to face, I'm almost positive that he would either write it down for you, or tell you to shut up. So, that being said if you cut yourself off from the fellowship of the Body of Christ, you're essentially telling the Head of all things to take a hike. After awhile, God just might go hiking, and leave you in the rut.
All that to say, I think that Christians who have become disciplined in the aspect of sharing in the community of faith need, also, to learn how to see God outside of that community. We need to shoot out the other side in a sense. We as Christians need to realign our views on what is sacred and what isn't. We've become myopic in that sense, reserving God's presence to certain circumstances and times, moods and sounds. We're all cool with hearing him in the hymns and songs we sing on Sunday morning (even though most modern worship songs are more self centered than they should be), but we're all (in one way or another) opposed to hearing him speak through a pop or folk singer that doesn't really look very holy. Perhaps, because they remind us that we're really no better than they are. We are all sinners of course, just because we ask for help doesn't make us special or better than those who don't. Or heaven forbid we all collectively just shut up for a second, and actually listen. Here's a suggestion, if worship "just isn't doing it for you" do something different! Look at things critically for a second, ask yourself, "What the hell am I really saying right now?", or "Am I really living like this?". Just to cover all my bases here, if you don't mean what you say pray that God would help you mean what you ought to be saying to him (because he is always, and ever worthy of praise). And for the love of God, if you aren't living it....change that. Start giving to the poor, I can guarantee that 10 times out of 10 that you pass up a homeless person you're supposed to give to him. Unless you don't have anything to give at the moment...meaning that you owe money somewhere...because if you owe it you don't own it, or you're naked...if you're naked, please run home and put on some clothes before you get arrested. I'm sure you'd make quite the scene at the local lockup.
"Got arrested for walkin around nekkid eh?"
"Yup, sure did. You see; I'm a Christian, and because the Bible tells me to give what I have to those who don't I walk around naked, so I wont have anything to give...because I'm not very generous."
God is ever present, at church, home, in a bar, renting movies, at plays and concerts, theatres, heavy metal mosh pits, in the gutter lying next to homeless meth addict we've all shunned. You can find that guy everywhere, which also means that we can help other people see him in everything by affirming the truth that lies behind the veil of our narrow observations.

"Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you." Jesus of Nazareth