Even a fool though wise... Revisited

"Even a fool is thought wise if he remains silent."
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/nonsequitur

Anticipation...

So yeah... today I am having a very difficult time concentrating...

This is very unfortunate because I have a test today online, and a massive amount of Hebrew to conquer...

Yet here I am distracted by the lives of people in Shanghai, China and Anchorage Alaska.

Why I love apple computers...

I love apple computers. There are lots of reasons for this, but I think that it the greatest reason is that they work. They are the best designed computers in the world. A recent book called iCon quotes Steve jobs as saying, “Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But, of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works. To design something really well, you have to ‘get it.’ You have to really [passionately grasp] what it’s all about.” Steve continued, “It takes passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something… Most people don’t take the time to do that (iCon page: 280 – 281).”
I think that this is a really profound statement. So often as Christians and Americans we want to simplify everything, but we want to do it without the work of truly understanding the complexity of it first. We simplify a worship service, but in the process lose something essential to the Mystery and Glory of God. We simplify the gospel into a series of four propositional truths, and somehow even though all the words are true, the heart of the Gospel is lost. Instead of a mystery, it becomes a sales pitch. It expresses an answer instead of a question, or an arrival, instead of a journey. I understand why we do this. People no longer have patience for complicated, hard to comprehend thoughts. Whether dealing with electronic gadgets, keynote presentations, or business propositions, good content without simple elegant delivery is not heard in our culture. Yet, I worry that we are more worried about presentation to the world, than in personally owning the truths for ourselves. Am I passionately committed to really reading the Bible and learning to hear his voice, even if it breaks out of my simple categories, and renders my slogans useless? Do I even know what the slogans mean any more..?
(pictures from www.apple.com)

Even a fool is thought wise...

So recently a famous christian leader with his own tv show said some things on a live broadcast, that got him in trouble. I think that I understand why he was frustrated... I think I can understand that maybe he didnt mean exactly what it sounds like... I know that I say to much far too often... so I am not a good one to throw stones, for who knows what stupid things I would say if given a internationally viewed daily T.V. show with which to voice my foolish thoughts. An ancient proverb states that, "Even a fool is thought wise if he remains silent." I think that I need to practice this more... i might fool more people...
Check out this quote: "You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don’t think any oil shipments will stop... We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.”
Later when confronted, this is how the same leader responded. “Is it right to call for assassination? No, and I apologize for that statement. I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him.”
Of note: The Venezuelan government kicked out all New Tribes missionaries because they decided they must be CIA opperatives trying to assassignate their president. I wonder how they came up with that idea...
Questions I am thinking about:
#1 How can we speak against injustice, without hurting the global cause of Christ.
#2 How do the things we do and say as american Christians effect how people worldwide see Jesus?
#3 More still forming...

The Lost art of Porch Sitting (Community lost)

We have nearly lost the whole concept of community. Community meant sharing. It meant living on the same street; being there for a cup of flour, or a family tragedy. It meant sitting on the porch and watching the sun go down with your neighbors, while the kids played together in the yard. Families were not isolated, they were part of a communal village that shared life.
In the church we have lost the idea of community as well. The early church was not perfect, but it was a community of faith. They shared life. They shared tears and joy. They invested deeply and sacrificially in each others lives. In the early church chronicles there are stories of people, "selling possessions and goods," or "those who owned lands or houses sold them... and the money from the sales... was distributed to anyone who had need(Acts 4:32-35)." It is almost like they felt like individual success was less important that they success of the entire community. My good blessings could not be enjoyed until everyone had at least the minimal blessings that they needed to survive.

Beauty Lost

Beauty must be an expression of God's grace. It has to be... where else can something so good and pure come from. In the bible we are told to "think about whatever is beautiful," but what does that mean when people use beauty to sell products, manipulate people, or set social caste? Maybe these would all be abuses of beauty. Maybe we live in a society that has abused beauty to the point that it is nearly lost to us. We have "created" so much "beauty" that we can no longer recognize what is truly beautiful. A new ipod is "beautiful"... but my wife Emily, the most loving and compassionate person I know, is beautiful too... how can the same world really retain any meaning when applied to both? My sisters are so beautiful... and so are the models in magazines... yet, how can the sexy airbrushed "beauty" of Elle or Teen also describe Johanna's unwavering modesty and sacrifice for her friends or Bethany's quiet passion for her family & friends and her innocent purity? The range of meaning is so great that all meaning is lost. There seems to be great beauty confusion today... people look at porn to find beauty... yet its very nature abuses beauty in so many ways... Children are beautiful, any yet confused people who can no longer differentiate between "beauty" and true beauty hurt children in a tragic attempt to possess the child's beauty and innocence. Maybe we need a new word or category to describe what we are talking about as people who see the Image of God hidden and apparent in all of creation.

The Chronicles of the Early Church & My friend M.

http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/

Thanks to my friend M, I now own a black nano. The same M is why I own an Xbox and 8 games and multiple controllers. M, I think is maybe the most generous person I have ever met. I mean that. I think that he takes the the Chronicles of the Early Church (acts) very seriously. It seems like whenever he has some blessing that I have not yet been able to purchase, that it is his responsibility to help me to also have it.
The Early Church Chronicles state that, "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had (4:32)... There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and... it was distributed to anyone as they had need (4:34)"
I think that I have a long way to go to get there... my friend Kurt, he does a great job with this too. He works with high school students, and I know that he sacrificially gives of what he has, to demonstrate that it is not really his. M. gave me my Xbox, because we were playing it at his house, and he mentioned how cool it would be for me to have it for when I had students over... one minute later he had it packed up and was pushing a xbox laden box into my hands. I protested... it is humbling to be given a truly great gift... but it meant so much to me. He have me his Xbox... He bought me a Nano... I think sometimes people are lucky to get a b-day card from me...

"Before God and a billion hungry neighbors..."

"We must attack the materialism of our culture and the maldistribution of the nation’s wealth and services. We recognize that as a nation we play a crucial role in the imbalance and injustice of international trade and development. Before God and a billion hungry neighbors, we must rethink our values regarding our present standard of living and promote more just acquisition and distribution of the world’s resources." [From: Social Action - A Christian Mandate by John Bower http://www.directionjournal.org/article/?257]

Seriously convicting. Further evidence of the shattered world that we live in... In this country we drop thousands on I-pods and silicon parts, while billions in the world have nothing. What good is a thousand songs in your pocket, if you cant afford jeans?