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LIQUIDTHINKING IS: Stephen Zedler Mark Riddle Jimmy Doyle Andy Mullins Current Soundtrack RSS Feed WHAT WE'RE READING ARCHIVES CLASSIC POSTS Thoughts On Leadership... Frustration The Church™ Is Dead PrePositionalism Prepositionalism Primer Christian Condoms Miracles 
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Wednesday, March 19, 2003
Thank you for the lovely welcome, Father Riddle. Here's another one to stuff in your stocking: Found this inside the den of moneychangers known to many as "Mardel"... believe me, the only reason why I keep going in there is because I keep getting gift certificates that can't be redeemed for cash. There was a card that quoted Proverbs 13:7 - "A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life." This was sitting among the so-called "Christian" mints, candies, health bars, and even a fake credit card called the "Virtue card." Simple irony? I think not. Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Monday, March 17, 2003
Okay, so, I'm checking our little space to begin our insurrectionist plans, and what do I see at the top of the screen? An ad that was unusual... the like I'd never seen. "100+ creative sermons to deliver to youth! Complete with powerpoint presentations and handouts (which always do SUCH a good job of driving our rabble home)!" Ummm... maybe I'm being nit-picky... but doesn't the fact that you're ADVERTISING them to SELL to whoever will pay your PRICE by DEFAULT eventually make them something other than CREATIVE!?!?!?!? It may be a friendly world, but sometimes it's just so freaking stupid. Saturday, March 15, 2003
"What is an annoucement but a fleeting breath of air that is fading in to infinite blisslike yendonishness? You and I disperse into glading." -Riddle Thursday, March 13, 2003
ANOUNCEMENT: APRIL 2: TELL THE TRUTH DAY We at Liquidthinking.org (no, no website yet) hereby officially declare that in the year of our Lord 2003, April 2nd shall hereby be the first annual "Tell the Truth Day." On this day, we will announce to a skeptical youth across America and other participating nations that we will tell them the entire truth about ANYTHING they ask of us. The ENTIRE truth. This shall take place in homes, churches, and schools. This shall be en lieu of the NORMAL routine of telling kids half-truths or bald-faced lies to get them to either do what we want or leave us alone (or to keep from getting in trouble). We encourage you to encourage others, such as your teachers, youth pastors, senior pastors, etc., even your politicians, to deviate from the modus operandi for this short time period. We realize that there will be small participation this year, given the short notice of such an announcement, and we are fully aware of the drastic change in routine that we are asking for. Should this result in any inconvenience (i.e. the losing of one's job), we apologize. Okay, Back to Reality for A Minute... ".. i found that i could preach anything i wanted as long as i did not take any action .. it's the turning over of the tables that will get u killed every time .." Jim Shok "What are ideas that I might grasp them? What are my hands that I might clap them? Let us make a paper dove. Though non-existant in the pre-positional matrix, it is the essence of a vacuum, the actuary of yendonishness." B.B. Azholo "holding tightly the predispositions of our fathers pre-positionalisms we must similtaneously reject all positions and tontologically founded and unfounded predetermined forces to which the very vortex of life emerges. Only then can you grasp what it means to be pre-positional" B.E. Azholo (pre-positional emergent of Kegelmunst's) Wednesday, March 12, 2003
"Position? What can we say of position...a man had a house built on an unstable foundation. He tried to repair it...but he could not. To save his house he began to deconstruct it, and since its very foundation was the problem, he tore it down and uprooted it completely. There was nothing left but to build a new house. What can we say of the old house? Nothing. It does not exist except in memory. Only its memory can be spoken....and likewise the new house exists only in hope. 'Yes,' you say, 'but the man still has a position on all of this, a point of view.' But you miss the meaning. We are not the man, but the house." E. Takamatu "grasp what is in your hand? can you grasp it....how do you know you have grasped it? perhaps it, rather, has held you around it?" Avraham Kegelmunst Jason...in answer to your question "So, is pre-positionalism a-positionalism or agno-positionalism?" You miss the point. Your very question assumes a positionalist response that any true pre-positionalist cannot answer affirmatively. Pre-Positionalism Primer, Part 1 In the next few days I will be expressing some foundational pre-positionalist concepts. Here is one for today: Concept: any adherence to a position other than pre-positionalism is not pre-positionalism understanding: anyone who claims a position must believe that their own position is knoweable and actual. they are therefore NOT pre-positionalists, but very clearly, either modo-rationalists or pomo-pragmatists--both are positionalists. pre-positionalism, however, does not reject the idea of position in itself, but assumes an understanding that ones own proximity is fluid in nature and cannot be defined with terms that are, in Kegelmunst's terms, "nothing more than nets catching no water but fish." application: in any given discussion you may feel free to point out that one is not a pre-positionalist the moment they declare their own position. Example: positionalist: "I don't believe X to be true." pre-positionalist: "So...you're a positionalist on this issue." positionalist: "What?" pre-positionalist: "Have you read any Kegelmunst?" Tuesday, March 11, 2003
Monday, March 10, 2003
Worldwide there is a reason and i don't know what it is a bloody season well, i've heard that these things happen worldwide worldwide don't think i'll ever understand it don't think it matters if i do three billion people in the world and i only know a few worldwide tears on the driver's side his head is in his hands voice of an angel silenced by the whim of another man it's worldwide but we all loved that desert thunder we put some stickers on our bumper three billion nothings in the world why should anybody bother? worldwide what about headman shabalala? does anybody care about justice? three billion people in the world and his spirit weeps for all of us worldwide --Gene Eugene Check out the November 11, 2002 post from David Hopkins about teaching. Man, that's good stuff. As a teacher I have to revisit that post about once a month. Found this on David Hopkins' blog: The world's richest 360 people have the same amount of money as the poorest 2.4 billion people. Today I sat for about 45 minutes with a 12 year old kid from north Tulsa (the poor, black part of town) as he did his math homework. We didn't talk much. His name was Marcus. It was a good time. I'll see him again tomorrow. Wednesday, March 05, 2003
My friend Stephen and I think that post-modernism is dead. We've moved on and we've started a new philosophical world-view: pre-positionalism (make sure your pronounce that right--not prepositionalism, but PRE (pause) Positionalism). Be checking in the coming weeks for more info about what this philosophy is all about. As a matter of fact, if you'd like to be a foundational part of this movement, please write in your insights into pre-positionalism. My email is jimmy@liquidthinking.org. Actually, the best thing to do is start throwing the word "pre-positionalism" around in all the little conversations you have about culture. Great places would be message boards, blogs, etc. Here's an example conversation: Friend: "Hey, how do you think the emergent pomo worldview is affecting the church in general?" You: "Well, I really think we are seeing the emergence of PRE-positionalism as the natural organic offshoot from post-modernism. I think [here you throw in some big philosphical sounding name] Shekelgruber and Wang are really expressing this better than anyone. You have to remember that post-modernism is really a transitional phase. Postmodern thought is really pre-positionalism in adolescence." Friend: "Pre-what?" You: "Pre-positionalism." Friend: "Huh....okay." Or even better get on your favorite message board and just throw the term in wherever you want. A good way would be to just ask someone, "Have you read much about Pre-positionalism?" and then just drop it. Or maybe simply say, "The pre-positionalist position really interests me." and then drop it. When people ask about it, just mention a bunch of article names by people who don't exist. I'm betting that if enough of us did this, the church® would be on the bandwagon in a year. What a great idea! I can also come up with a book series...let's see...What Would Jesus Tell Jabez To Say To A PoMo (since that's the trend now) Then I could tour around churches teaching them how to reach PostModerns in 7 easy steps based on the book series. (Of course, they could just purchase the video/audio tapes online.) The great thing is they would never have to find out what Post Modernism really means because I would explain it to them in 4 easy to understand definitions. (I mean, afterall, who wants to read a bunch of philosophy and such.) What if our churches are nothing but products to be consumed? Scene 1, Churches R Us counter Teller: Could I help you? Customer: Yeah, I'd like a church. Teller: What size? Mega, Regular, or small group Customer: well...make it small group. Teller: What flavor? Traditional, Late 90's Contemporary, or PoMo? Customer: What's the difference between Late 90's Contemporary and PoMo--don't they both have good music? Teller: On Contemporary we hold the angst and add the color coordination...Pomo also has cool candles. Customer: Ah, yes, then make it a PoMo...color coordination has never set well with my stomach...but heavy on the angst. Teller: Ok then, one PoMo Small Group church (extra angst)...would you like anything else with that? We have a special on "cutting-edge" feelings with our PoMo churches today. Customer: Okay, I'll have one of those too. Scene 2, Churches R Us eating area Customer1(after angst drips from the church onto his shirt): Ahh crap, now I've got angst all over me! Customer2 (smiling at next table): Yep, that angst always makes a mess. I wonder sometimes if what we're talking about with Church® is psuedo-Christianity, pseudo-Discipleship. Think about this. Person A goes on a mission trip. He goes because of the church's push on involvement, and he thinks it will be a good experience for him. He goes and spends a week serving the poor and suddenly feels like someone who cares for the poor. He comes back and tells everyone what a great experience it was. He tells everyone they need to go next year. He goes back to work. He goes back to his family. He goes back to his normal job. And the missions experience becomes a memory and a yearly trip. Here's another scenario. Worship. Person B goes to a worship service. She sings. She cries. She prays. She's moved inside...she can feel God. She leaves. She goes home. She goes back to her normal life. Worship for her is a memory and a weekly program. Are Person A and Person B disciples? Does Person A really care about the poor, or does he just feel like he cares about the poor? Is Person A a worshipper, or just someone who feels like a worshipper? Does that make sense? It's like buying a four wheel drive off-road vehicle because I want to feel like an outdoorsy guy (which the commercial clearly makes it seem like I will be if I own one)--but am I outdoorsy, or just the same lame guy driving an expensive car? We have to get past the facades of all our empty programs and hype. Past the Christianity of events, and into the life. What does most of what we do have to do with the Kingdom?
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Jimmy Doyle is a dad, husband,
teacher, friend, and other things. Currently he's just trying to figure out what it means to follow Christ and be in community with others. He enjoys having conversations with fellow pilgrims on the journey.