Okay, it's beginning to flow a little better. Rather than racking my brain for something profound each week, I'm getting back into the groove of just spewing forth whatever God's put on my heart. Brace yourselves for spew.
The scum of the Earth gather there, because they feel welcome there. Some of them are actually highly successful people who have come to wrestle with their demons, perfectly normal and healthy people who simply need some support to keep up with the good work. Good, bad, ugly, all are welcome, all are wanted. Some get extremely involved and are regulars; others simply show up and enjoy the good vibes.
Or there is our second location. It's a high class place, filled with the wealthy and elite. It's a club that seems easy enough to get into, but for some reason a lot of people have trouble sticking around there. The elite rulers of the day are strong advocates, using their membership to springboard themselves into greater positions of power, from which they further exploit the weak and the poor. Everyone is well groomed, everyone is clean, everyone looks perfect. Sadly, beneath the surface there is a great deal of sin and corruption dealing beneath the surface. It's not that the people here are wicked, that they enjoy their state, it's just that no one's ever taken the time to show them any better.
Scene one? A bar.
Scene two? A Church.
Sure, not all Churches are like that, I know, I attend a couple of pretty good ones. And no, bars aren't exactly wholesome places. Still, can't argue with the facts.
I really wish Church were more like a bar.
(jake)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Hitchiker's Guide to Eternity
Ugh. It seems like everytime I get on a roll with this thing and get a decent number of people reading again, I fall out of the loop and forget to post for a month or three. So, for the first of this semester's 3 posts...
To me, that title is brilliant. It's a little known fact that my favorite part of writing these blogs is writing the title. I also wash my hands before I read and sometimes pray for super powers. Seriously, you couldn't handle 20 minutes in my brain.
So while in the land down under I kept thinking about the Bible. I have been thinking about the Bible a whole lot lately, because as you all know I'm now a Bible Major. I spend a lot of time doing homework about the Bible. Why do I say this? Because I think that for a vast majority of my life I have viewed the Bible incorrectly.
Rob Bell is a favorite author of mine, and in his book Velvet Elvis, he implores us to drop the whole Bible-as-an-instruction-manual analogy. I have to say, I love this idea, and I want to second it. It's time we stopped looking at the holy word of the divine God as a rules list.
I got to thinking about this, and how much of the greater sins I've committed against people in my life have really been born of that misunderstanding of scripture. Because I thought that the Bible was a set of rules, I judged people and treated them like I was better than they were. Because I misread Jesus' teachings on grace, I treated people like they were beneath me. If you are a regular reader, or if you're bored enough to trail back a couple of posts, you'll notice my conflict with Cross Guy. I honestly used to think like Cross Guy, I'm ashamed to say, and I think that it's because I wanted to see the Bible as a rulebook.
Now let me clarify; I'm not saying we shouldn't follow the rules in the Bible. God does give some direct commands, and they should be obeyed. But if that's all you're making it, if you're taking this precious gift from God and making it something as simple and legalistic, then you've completely missed the point I'm afraid.
I struggled a lot to find bible verses that would sum this up, because this feels like the sort of thing that it is so important to have God's backing on. The one that seems logical is 2 Timothy 3:16, which says that all scripture is God-breathed and useful for training in righteousness. It seems to me that the term "God-breathed" probably means that it was something straight from the mouth of God, something that carried with it his very will and his heart. I mean think about it, the main time that we see God breathing something into existence, it isn't a rule book, it's a freaking human being! God doesn't breathe things that are unliving, the breath of God is universally recognized as something that brings life.
So where does all of this lead? My point is to make us rethink scripture and how we study it. Just memorizing the facts is fine at first, but read the stories, read the words of God, the way he treats his people, the way he cares for them no matter what; learn to mimic the ways of God. Scripture is more than a list of rules, it is a unique look straight into the heart of God, a wonderful examination of the very nature of God, of who he is and what he wants from his people; read it to learn who God is, and in turn, to learn who you are. I promise you, this is something that will completely change your life.
(jake)
-This post is dedicated to Cindy Hess.
To me, that title is brilliant. It's a little known fact that my favorite part of writing these blogs is writing the title. I also wash my hands before I read and sometimes pray for super powers. Seriously, you couldn't handle 20 minutes in my brain.
So while in the land down under I kept thinking about the Bible. I have been thinking about the Bible a whole lot lately, because as you all know I'm now a Bible Major. I spend a lot of time doing homework about the Bible. Why do I say this? Because I think that for a vast majority of my life I have viewed the Bible incorrectly.
Rob Bell is a favorite author of mine, and in his book Velvet Elvis, he implores us to drop the whole Bible-as-an-instruction-manual analogy. I have to say, I love this idea, and I want to second it. It's time we stopped looking at the holy word of the divine God as a rules list.
I got to thinking about this, and how much of the greater sins I've committed against people in my life have really been born of that misunderstanding of scripture. Because I thought that the Bible was a set of rules, I judged people and treated them like I was better than they were. Because I misread Jesus' teachings on grace, I treated people like they were beneath me. If you are a regular reader, or if you're bored enough to trail back a couple of posts, you'll notice my conflict with Cross Guy. I honestly used to think like Cross Guy, I'm ashamed to say, and I think that it's because I wanted to see the Bible as a rulebook.
Now let me clarify; I'm not saying we shouldn't follow the rules in the Bible. God does give some direct commands, and they should be obeyed. But if that's all you're making it, if you're taking this precious gift from God and making it something as simple and legalistic, then you've completely missed the point I'm afraid.
I struggled a lot to find bible verses that would sum this up, because this feels like the sort of thing that it is so important to have God's backing on. The one that seems logical is 2 Timothy 3:16, which says that all scripture is God-breathed and useful for training in righteousness. It seems to me that the term "God-breathed" probably means that it was something straight from the mouth of God, something that carried with it his very will and his heart. I mean think about it, the main time that we see God breathing something into existence, it isn't a rule book, it's a freaking human being! God doesn't breathe things that are unliving, the breath of God is universally recognized as something that brings life.
So where does all of this lead? My point is to make us rethink scripture and how we study it. Just memorizing the facts is fine at first, but read the stories, read the words of God, the way he treats his people, the way he cares for them no matter what; learn to mimic the ways of God. Scripture is more than a list of rules, it is a unique look straight into the heart of God, a wonderful examination of the very nature of God, of who he is and what he wants from his people; read it to learn who God is, and in turn, to learn who you are. I promise you, this is something that will completely change your life.
(jake)
-This post is dedicated to Cindy Hess.
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