The Kingdom of God
No words...just a few images of something God has been dreaming in us for a long time.

posted by Jimmy at 9:50 PM | |

 
Two Nations Under God...


Two nations...the mostly rural middle-America and the large urban areas on the west and east coasts...with greatly different views on just about everything.

posted by Jimmy at 9:41 PM | |

 
My Wonderful Little Girls



posted by Jimmy at 10:10 PM | |

 
Blogging Sabbatical:

I'm taking a blogging sabbatical.
I've got a lot going on right now.
I want to spend more to writing my book a a couple other things.
I'll see you when I see you!

posted by riddle at 8:27 AM | |

 
Congrats to Rudy!

(Rudy is the second from the right...sporting the gotee)


Well, it's happening! If you are watching the Dodgers play on Tuesday night , you might see our friend Rudy Carassco, throwing out the first pitch. He'll be representing the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

Way to go Rudy! Now maybe the Dodgers will start winning again!

Link here.

UPDATE: HE DID IT!!!


more pics can be found
here

posted by riddle at 2:45 PM | |

 

Evil ?

My understanding of evil is that it is a corruption of good. A corruption of something God created for good. God is the creator, satan is the corruptor the liar the one who twists and distorts a good thing into, well...evil.

Around my house we encourage creativity and my four kids are some of the most creative ive ever met. One thing they love to do is dress up and pretend. My middle son from a very young age has come to the breakfast table dressed and in full character being everything from captain hook to spiderman to even his own character creations. At a moments notice our living room can become a stage full of over acted parts and laughter.

In keeping with this tradition a very exciting holiday for them is October 31st. Call it whatever you feel comfortable with but around my house it means full on costumes and free candy. My kids love it. I call it a good thing. Today my middle son came home very upset. It seems a child told him he was worshipping satan if he dressed up in a costume on October 31st. I know, I know kids can be freaking mean. But I have no doubt where this child recieved this information. From a well meaning church no doubt. One that celebrates an alternative fall celebration out of necessity to circumvent "Halloween's" Evil.".

It is not my son who is twisting a good thing into something evil, but this child, his parents and church. They are twisting something I call good, corrupting it to my son.

In an attempt to protect from evil we are actually doing evil by twisting things God has meant for good. We are not teaching students, adults even our children to walk by the Spirit of God. We arent teaching them to live freely but pay close attention to the aspects that might trip them up. We shut them down, and honestly all we accomplish is to create compulsions they live out in secret. We dont teach people to walk in the light, and live abundantly, we teach them not to live. We teach them to shut out the good in fear of evil, all the while creating evil by not enjoying what God has for them.

You foolish Galatians who has tricked you? after being set free by the Spirit are you now being perfected through the law?

You show me a church where the life led by the Spirit is celebrated I will be there every sunday. Yes I understand this kind of life must be lived in community, "in the light" and there is context to every situation. That's my point.

But Andy, :( what about abstaining even the appearance of evil? Good point, dont even appear to corrupt my kids celebration of something good.




posted by Andy at 11:34 PM | |

 
More Brueggeman:
from Geoff's perspective....

Therefore, back to Brueggemann, when he says that the script of technological-therapeutic-militarist-consumerism promises safety and happiness, he is not saying that this is merely a worldview that best articulates how to promote safety and happiness, but also that is molds and shapes us into thinking that safety and happiness (individual safety and consumer happiness) are the greatest values, rather than, say, justice and peace. So we could say that this presidential election is a war b/w worldviews (how best sustain American military and corporate dominance), but based in the same script (which says the freedom of Capital is paramount). And when we conceive Christianity as a worldview, a set of propositions which needs defending and enforcing, we end up distancing ourselves from the transforming power of the Gospel. But when we see it as a script needing creative interpretation (even as it interprets us) the acts of the Gospel become a transforming power b/w polls Life and Death.

posted by riddle at 1:35 PM | |

 
Walter Brueggemann's 19 Thesis:
(thanks to Geoff)
or, what he's thinking right now about things.(Walter is an old testament theologian of the post-liberal/yale school mentality if that means anything to you.)

1) Everyone lives by a script.
2) We get scripted through normal nurture and socialization.
3) The dominant script of our society is that of technological-therapeutic-mulitarist-consumerism.
4) This script promises safety and happiness.
5) This script has failed.
6) The health of our society depends on moving beyond this script, but doesn't want to.
7) [The task of Christian] Ministry must de-script this dominant script.
8) This task is accomplished thru alternative scripting, or the funding of a counter imagination.
9) This alternative script is funded by the scripture and tradition of the Church.
10) This alternative script is about the Triune God.
11) This alternative script is not monolithic, total, complete, but it is rather a rag-tag, disjunctive collection hinting at a hidden God.
12) This rag-tag script can't be smoothed out or domesticated (not even by systematic theologies/ians).
13) This script invites adherent of text to quarrel with each other.
14) The entree into this alternative script is Baptism.
15) The nurture/socialization of this counter script is the work of ministry.
16) Most of us are ambiguous about this alternative script. That is, we really want both scripts and vacillate between them.
17) The space of ambivalence toward scripts is the arena of the Spirit.
18) Ministry is the manager of this ambivalence.
19) The work of ministry is necessary because no one else but the church (and synagogue) is willing/able to enter this open of ambivalence.

posted by riddle at 1:32 PM | |

 
The Onion is reporting:
The Ramones Reunion Almost Complete
posted by riddle at 1:14 PM | |

 
O'Reilly interviews Bono



O'REILLY: So are you a non-partisan guy?

BONO: I'm a non-partisan guy.

O’REILLY: You don't root?

BONO: I don't root anymore. Yes, I’ve stopped rooting. I'm rooting for people that don't have a vote and for people whose faces we don't see.

later

O'REILLY: Now, Africa is your cause. That is what you are front and center on, correct? Africa?

BONO: Yes. I wouldn't call it a cause, though.

O'REILLY: Well, whatever you want to say.

BONO: It's an emergency. 69,000 Africans dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease.


later

O'REILLY:
Let's talk about AIDS, because this is a very controversial topic within the United States itself. Now, we've got the epidemic under control here, primarily by education and frightening people into safe sex and all of that. In Africa, the education is almost nil. And that there's a tradition of men, as you know, not having sex protected, because of some kind of macho thing involved in it.
Now, Americans are going to say, I don't want my tax dollars going over to a civilization or a society that no matter what you tell them, they're going to continue to do disruptive practices. How do you answer that?

BONO:
Look, if you see a car crash, somebody's lying there in the middle of the road bleeding and it turns out they're a drunk driver, you're still going to call an ambulance. We can't make these judgments about entire civilizations. We try to re-educate people, we try to deal with the problem.
And by the way, not dealing with the problem with something like AIDS, which metastasized, which grows on a geometric level, is really foolhardy. Because it will be more expensive to deal with it later.Well, whatever you want to say.




posted by riddle at 10:37 AM | |

 
Worth the Read:

A response to D.A. Carson's concerns about the emerging church.

I had honestly never heard of D.A. Carson, but evidently his opinion carries some weight in some circles.

I have not heard the tapes of the lectures. I have only seen soundbites on other pages. But it was worth the read for me because it explained something I've been thinking for a while.

posted by riddle at 10:25 AM | |

 
My friend Rudy might get to do something very cool!

Link

posted by riddle at 10:20 AM | |

 
Christian Music and the Beauty of the Church Part 3

Less on music more on the church.
I don't want to brand all music done in the christian music industry as bad. I do not believe it is.
It also changes things when there is relationship.
If you listen to a Mylon LeFever CD and think it's bad music.
If you know Mylon (which I don't) it helps you be more gracious toward his music.
You might not say it sucks. You might just say, it's not your favorite.

There are some gifted folks in "christian music". Very gifted. Let's be careful.

A few way's I've seen the beauty of the church recently.
My son asking if his twenty-something friend Rusty is coming over last tuesday, because they play video games together.
Talking about theology, eccesiology and life with my friend Dave and the waitress Karilee last night until midnight at the BOB downtown.
My wife mentoring her 17 yr old pregnant friend.
Every week the church comes to my house and we eat together, show up in each others lives, listen to each other, pray for each other, get mad at each other, tolerate each other and learn from God through each other.
My friend Roy, won't stop asking me to go fishing, even though I can never go.
Friend painting a single mom's house.
Baptising Laura in the lake.
J..... giving more of her life to God.
J... telling us he's a flaming homosexual who's mad at the church and the church accepted him as part of the group without reservation.
In my theological conversation with my pastor John and my friend Tim.
In the small group leaders at BVC who give their lives so generously to students.
In Shelley who greets jr higher and their parents each wednesday night with a compassionate, loving smile.
In my wife who supports me and loves me and dreams in different ways than I do.
In JR as we eat breakfast every thursday morning.
In my friends around the world who are caring for others.
In the way Ben, Mike and Pam love on my kids and everyone elses kids almost every week.
In my friends who put up with my "what if statements"
In doing life together God shows up.
In Keith who desires to share the love of Christ with others.
In Dick, who is willing to brave a online world he does not fully grasp yet, and is willing to engage in dialogue about.
In my friends who disagree with me, who argue with me and who listen.
In Andy, who i think of every time I see John Stewart.
more to come


posted by riddle at 6:44 AM | |

 
A Story That Could Be True Anywhere

When I first moved to Tulsa, I obviously didn't know my way around it very well. I had a friend... well, an acquaintance, really... who had been here a while longer, and who offered to drive me around some so I could get my bearings. Tulsa is a pretty easy place to figure out, geographically speaking, once you get the system down.

There are some landmarks that he wanted to familiarize me with. We drove around mid-town for a while. At some point, he decided to "get the whole 'downtown' thing over with" so that I wouldn't get too lost if I ever had to head that direction.

Well, long story short, we got a little lost.

There's a dirty little secret about Tulsa. We are an unfortunately segregated city. Sure, it's not enforced by the law or anything, but it's enforced by the culture. Black people live on the north side, white people live on the south side. My initial impressions of Tulsa were pretty blown away. It seemed like such a "nice" place. Small town without being small, you know? But here's this ugly aspect of it... that the races are so divided, and we don't talk about it at all. The south side of Tulsa gets all the nice stuff: nicer parks, nicer pools, nicer roads. Not because it's all white people that live down there, but because black people are also disproportionately poor.

I couldn't get it off my mind for a while. My sense of "righteous indignancy" had been aroused. Why wasn't something being done? The government? The churches? The news media? Somebody should be talking about this. It's not fair! It's not right! Not in the buckle of the bible-belt.

My friend thought I was a little too caught up in it. That's just the way it was. Besides, there are a lot of nice things about Tulsa. They tend to balance out the bad stuff, he tried to reassure me.

Still, it ate at me. I told other people about how I felt, especially if they were considering moving here. For some reason, I always felt compelled to tell people "the other side of things". Maybe I'm just a trouble maker... something rotten in my jeans. I just felt it was the fair thing to do. You know, a "full disclosure" policy. "Sure, it's got it's healthy aspects, but you need to know the rest of the story." Usually, the people who were moving in to Tulsa appreciated the heads up.

Sometimes people got upset with me, though. Some had always lived in Tulsa, and they thought it was a nice place to live. They didn't like that I seemed to be attacking it. But I WASN'T attacking it. It's not like I thought that EVERYONE in Tulsa was a bad person. I just thought Tulsa would be a better place to live if we'd talk about this issue... if SOMEONE would at least acknowledge that it was there. But few seemed to want to talk about it. It was either old news, or it was inflamatory. Either way, no one was interested in fixing the problem.

So there is my little transparent story. I still live in Tulsa, but my wife and I are thinking that, someday, we might move back to Arkansas. Maybe. But that's a little ways down the road. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
posted by Stephen at 10:55 PM | |

 
Stanley Hauerwas Quote:

What we call "church" is too often a gathering of strangers who see the church as yet another "helping institution" to gratify further their individual desires. One of the reasons some church members are so mean-spirited with their pastor, particularly when the pastor urges them to look at God, is that they feel deceived by such pastoral invitations to look beyond themselves. They have come to church for "strokes," to have their personal needs met. What we call church is often a conspiracy of cordiality. Pastors learn to pacify rather than preach to their Ananiases and Sapphiras. We say we do it out of "love." Usually, we do it as a means of keeping everyone as distant from everyone else as possible. You don?t get into my life and I will not get into yours.
from Jordon
posted by riddle at 1:49 PM | |

 
Christian Music and the Beauty of the Church: Part 2


Music is beautiful. God lives in beautiful art. He speaks in it. He speaks through it and he transforms people in it. Perhaps we should be people who are seeking truley beautiful things more than christian things. the word christian has lost it's meaning. Maybe we need to find ways of helping people be followers of jesus and then using their gifts to create beautiful music.



The idea of church may be much the same as the word christian.
church (read IC) is not real. It is not christian. Oddly, it might be said that a church cannot be christian, only a people. How do you see it?
When the church is beautiful? Relationships.
Programs are seldom truly beautiful. they are boring. They are redundant. they are not christian.
Relationships are never boring nor redundant and they can be christian.

The places I've seen God move are in the people in my community. It's over a meal, a game, or manual labor at someones house. I've been seeing this a lot recently.
Life really is beautiful in relationship.


posted by riddle at 1:34 PM | |

 
Christian Music & the Beauty of the Church Part 1



I love music. I once worked for a major christian record label, I'm not a big fan of christian music. I don't think that there is such a thing.

I've had the opporunity to visit with some of the people who make Christian music happen and frankly I was impressed. They are great people with great motives and great stories to tell. The folks I met genuinely care about artists who work with them and are willing to spend significant amounts of money to take care of them. It's not as dog eat dog as I once thought.

But I don't believe in Christian music.

I spent 5 solid weeks with a group of teens who were amazingly gifted and... well words don't do these kids justice... they are just fun to be with. They have an honest transparency to them as they follow Jesus.

But I don't believe in christian music.

I've had conversations with a guy at BVC who is the Program Director for a local "christian radio station". Though I don't know him well, he seems generous, passionate, intelligent and curious about life and his work as an employee of a christian radio personality.

But I don't believe in Christian music.

Music can not be christian.

The term Christian has always refered to a people who were like Christ. Until recently this has been the case. We like having christian music because it's another way to stop thinking for us as christians. If someone else declares for something to be "christian" that must mean that it's safe. If it's sold a a "Christian Bookstore" then it must be ok to give to my kids. If it's played on the local "christian radio station" then it's safe. In fact, they tell me it's safe for my family there.

I toured with the J5 kiddos for just a short time, but I learned a lot. I learned that, though they might play for 10,000 people several times a day in the name of ministry (those are our words not theirs by the way), nothing (and mean nothing) compares to the relationships those 5 kids have with all the other teens on the tour backstage. How do you exchange anything for real relationships? Fame. Celebrity. Safety's a myth and "christian music" isn't real.
Oh and you can read as much CCM as you desire. You can google band names, and read about them in dozens of websites, you can collect posters, and even read the liner notes on the cd, but recognize that you don't know the first thing about them. You know their names, and how many kids they have and if they are the "real thing" or not. But know this... you don't know them. You don't love them. You love an image. You love an idea. you love the feeling of being caught up in the wave of hype. We all do at times... (just ask jimmy about U2 or Stephen about Gillian Welch or me about Wiggles) But it's not real. It's hype and image that we use to make ourselves feel good. But nothing is better than relationship.


Before you brand me as a music hater, I'll remind you that I love music. I love good music. So listen to any music that you want to call good. But don't call it christian, because it's not.

posted by riddle at 1:30 PM | |

 
thinking about Radical Congruency today.

They'll know we are christians, on how we carpet bomb each other.

Wow.

link to the post that started it.

If you want to see the church close to it's worst... look here.
This is not all that uncommon. sadly.

UPDATE:
This is good to see!

posted by riddle at 8:29 AM | |

 
I'm Concerned About Mark...
I just found out that he regulary Googles himself.

posted by Jimmy at 10:05 PM | |

 
Congratulations to Zed!
Stephen just earned his brown belt in the spiritual martial art of Haki Wiki Wuku...the Way of the Prayer Warrior. Watching the test was cool. Zedler prayed that five bricks would be broken, and the Power Team showed up and broke them. It was amazing. Zedler's knees are calloused from hours of praying upon gravel to prepare himself physically for any need. Haki Wiki Wukus refer to this callousing as cauliflower knee.

When asked about his goals in Haki Wiki Wuku, Zelder said that his goal is to transcend belt levels (including the reknown and prestigious "prayer warrior")to become a Prayer Ninja.



posted by Jimmy at 10:00 PM | |

 
An Emerging Creature!
I didn't know if you guys had a chance to see this amazing series of photos of something emerging from Loch Ness. It's some of the clearest evidence for the "monster in the loch" that I've ever seen. I'm surprised it's not all over the net and the news by now. Here's what scientist Calvin Lutherhaus said about the photos:

"What surprised everyone was how closely the emerging creature revealed by the images resembles traditional views of the creature held by many of us...a few of us were hoping it would be something entirely new or an evolved species."

Here are the photos: Emerging Photos from Loch Ness


posted by Jimmy at 8:17 PM | |

 
Announcing Baby Doyle
Amy and I are expecting our third child next April 26th. We had our first ultrasound for the baby today. Pretty stinnking cool. I know that ultrasound pictures never look as cool as watching it in action...but I thought I'd post this pic. If you had seen the ultrasound you could see clearly the baby's head and "face", arm buds, and of course the belly. We took our two girls with us, and we all thought it looked like the baby was waving at us. Pretty exciting.


posted by Jimmy at 7:30 PM | |

 


The Gospel: Part 3

Growing up, I occassionally heard about Jesus. The Southern Baptist Church my father grew up in, talked about him all the time. The pastor, who seemingly replaced his real first name with "pastor", always talked about getting to know Jesus. The reverend Bill Mason, who was always referred to with his full name, of the conservative United Methodist church I attended in high school talked alot about Jesus to. I had many sunday school teachers, who I'm thankful for, though I can't remember their names, who taught me about Jesus as well.
By the time I got to my late 20's the cumulative picture of Jesus I had was a bit warped.
Here's a bit of what I remember.

If you were to sit down and have lunch with Jesus, or invite him over to watch a football game one characteristic would likely stand out above the rest. That Jesus was a nice guy. Nothing radical, nothing crazy. Just a nice guy. Not rude. Jesus would politely ask for his buddy to pass the Nacho cheese Doritos and without being asked to he would likely get an extra RC Cola from the fridge so his thirsty friend wouldn't miss much of the game. Now that I think about it Jesus, was a lot like a male Martha Stewart, without the felonies.
Sure I knew a lot of facts about Jesus, but it seemed to me that Jesus' plan of changing the world, would simply be overwhelming us all with his niceness. Jesus was betrayed, fundementally because he was nice. Maybe too nice. Jesus was crucified, because he was nice.
Jesus rose from the dead because he was nice. Moreover, He is exalted about all others because of his niceness.
Now don't get me wrong, there was some theological thought going on here. I knew that Jesus was nice, because God was nice too. AND... for me to be a Christian, I was called to be nice as well. Just like Jesus.

As I look back, there are reasons why I thought this (and that would be an interesting post for another day.) However. I have come to some conclusions about Jesus now in my life. These reflections may simply be more reductionistic theological strawjesusmen, but they are what I hold today.

Jesus was not a nice guy and he doesn't want us to be nice either.
In fact the Gospel has nothing to do with niceness. The gospel is graphically real. It breaks violently into the world and sets broken things right. It has little to do with being nice.
the world needs less nice Christians. The kingdom of God will not be spread through politically correct niceities. To church needs less nice people and more activist and risk takers.

Of course I could be wrong, in which case go back to letting Jesus be your golf-buddy, or caddy.

Jesus came to save us from being nice. will you let him?

Jesus has saved us from being nice.


posted by riddle at 1:32 PM | |

 


Confessions of leaders and pastors who are reimagining Church.

1. We'll confess that we are often cynical, whether it be from a past hurt or a Radical Empiricism.

2. We'll confess that we are often optimistic and hopeful. That it's our great love for God and Jesus as proclaimed in the scripture that propells us toward living the way we do, and believing about what we believe. Often this leads to Idealism.

3. We'll confess that in our desire for faithfulness and enthusiasm for new ways of living out the Kingdom of God, we are often guilty of the very same narrowmindedness that we say we have left.

4. We'll confess that we need humility in these matters. We need to hold great convictions and simultaneously live with, what my friend calls "a posture of I don't know".

5. We'll confess that we will likely do good, badly. That we will live rightly, wrongly.

6. We'll confess that we are optimistic about the mutual admiration of the various faces of the Church. This leads us to diving headlong into discussions on the Bible, the church and philosphy often with frustrating outcomes. Ironically, it is these outcomes that actually reinforce our cynical thinking about the Church, leading us toward narrowmindedness. (see #3)

7. We'll confess that we have nothing to prove, but we often live like we do.

8. We'll confess that it's hard to confess some of these things because we fear others will take them in a manner they are not meant and use them against us. (see #7)


what do you think?


posted by riddle at 2:55 AM | |

 
Lark News Headlines

Family Boycot Extends to everything
Three years ago, the Molina family sat at their kitchen table and decided to take a moral stand: They would no longer patronize any company which had connection to abortions, homosexual rights, pornography or any other objectionable cause.
This month, the Molinas' decision finally reached its zenith, as their boycott now covers every product on the U.S. market.
"Our lives have narrowed down to a few choice pleasures," says mother Carly, peeling homegrown carrots and trying to put a positive spin on their experience. The children play with splintery wooden toys hewn from a nearby tree by their father, Joe Molina. On the mantle are framed photos of former Christmases, when the children received plush Elmo toys, tricycles and other toddler fare. Those days are no more.
The Molinas used to live like other American families, enjoying television shows, taking yearly flying vacations and participating in local sports.
Now they cannot go to Disneyland or watch ABC News, because ABC supports domestic partnerships. They no longer eat at McDonald's, Burger King or Taco Bell, because those companies have made contributions to candidates which support abortion. Carl's Jr. is out of the question because of their racy television commercials. Even LegoLand is tainted: its corporate headquarters in Denmark supports liberal political causes.


Youth Groups recruit superstar kids

One girl on the front row sinks to her knees and bobs gently up and down, eyes clenched, hands raised. Harbane nods. "That's the move, right there," he says, jotting notes in a small notepad. After service he approaches the 16-year-old girl, asks her a few questions about her lifestyle and then extends a personal invitation to her from another local church which is aggressively seeking new members for its youth group. That church, which Harbane refuses to name, hired him to recruit "superstar" youth group members. After she is gone, he raves about the evening's find. "She's as good a combo as you're going to get," he says. "Does short-term missions trips, volunteers in the junior high mid-week service, a sold-out worshiper. Looks good, talks clean. She's a ten." Over the next few weeks, Harbane will follow up with a welcome packet from the other church, offer to bring her to youth service in a limousine, and talk up the church's college scholarships.

Update:
No one at Liquidthinking wrote this.... they are satirical stories in an www.theonion.com style.

the website is www.larknews.com


posted by riddle at 7:19 AM | |

 
Welcome to the BVC people!
It appears that there are a lot of Michiganders visiting the site these days. While we've always had a good number of folks from Michigan, I'm hearing that there are a lot of Bella Vista Church folks visiting the site recently. So welcome. If you are a BVC community member I trust that you will enjoy the conversation that is ongoing here at the liquidthinking site.
If, for some reason, you have some questions about things that are written here, I'd encourage you to email me so we can talk.
There is something else on my mind. It is not for all the BVC people, perhaps no one. So please disregard this if it does not apply to you. I have a concern that there are some people who would visit this site in search of ammunition or leverage to use against me or another person for some reason. There are many posts that are raw creative writing. Mostly written to pastors and those associated with church leadership around the world. If you are here to look to build some kind of case against me or BVC or any of the writers, I'm sure you'll find plenty of information, (be it completely out of context). I would encourage you to talk to me, or any other writer on the page personally if you have concerns with them. I know some of you will not. Some of you have told me as much. This is your purogative. It is between you and God what you actions are.

To everyone else. Thanks for visiting and I hope that this site makes you think and that God would use it to draw you to him.

posted by riddle at 6:57 AM | |

 
Good News ...
Pam and I are going to have our third child in February! We are very excited. So are the boys.

posted by riddle at 6:56 AM | |

 
"if someone is being taught the word, they should share with the teacher all the good things they have. Don't be misled; God won't have people turning their noses up at him. what you sow is what you'll reap. Yes: if you sow in the field of your flesh you will harvest decay from your flesh, but if you sow in the field of the spirit you will harvest eternal life from the spirit. don't lose your enthusiasm for behaving properly. you'll bring in the harvest at the proper time, if you don't become weary. So then, while we have the chance, let's do good to everyone, and particularly to the household of faith." - paul in his letter to the galations

We talked about this section of text on Tuesday night. I was reflecting on it again this morning.

posted by riddle at 6:50 AM | |

 
The Three Postmodernisms..
Brian McLaren's article

"The first postmodernism is the one that modern people talk about a lot. It’s a big scary monster of nihilism and relativism and self-destruction that seeks to undo all that is good in modern Western civilization. This definition of postmodernism (it denies truth, denies reality, denies morality) is useful, I think, to scare people so they’ll stay loyal to their modern institutions, which, they are told, are the last bulwark against the chaos at the gate. This postmodernism is absurd: it says, “There is no truth,” which means that if the statement is true, it is also false. This first postmodernism probably doesn’t exist outside the imaginations of frightened modern people and those who seek to intimidate them – plus among some college freshmen who get carried away after drinking too much."

read the rest here

posted by riddle at 8:33 AM | |

 
The Jesus Creed
Brian McLaren posted this on his website.


We have confidence in Jesus
Who healed the sick, the blind, and the paralyzed.
And even raised the dead.
He cast out evil powers and Confronted corrupt leaders.
He cleansed the temple.
He favored the poor.
He turned water into wine, Walked on water, calmed storms.
He died for the sins of the world,
Rose from the dead, and ascended to the Father,
Sent the Holy Spirit.
We have confidence in Jesus Who taught in word and example,
Sign and wonder.
He preached parables of the kingdom of God On hillsides,
from boats, in the temple, in homes, At banquets and parties,
along the road, on beaches, in towns, By day and by night.
He taught the way of love for God and neighbor,
For stranger and enemy, for outcast and alien.
We have confidence in Jesus, Who called disciples, led them,
Gave them new names and new purpose
And sent them out to preach good news.
He washed their feet as a servant.
He walked with them, ate with them, Called them friends,
Rebuked them, encouraged them, Promised to leave and then return, And promised to be with them always. He taught them to pray.
He rose early to pray, stole away to desolate places,
Fasted and faced agonizing temptations,
Wept in a garden, And prayed, ?Not my will but your will be done.?
He rejoiced, he sang, he feasted, he wept.
We have confidence in Jesus, So we follow him, learn his ways,
Seek to obey his teaching and live by his example.
We walk with him, walk in him, abide in him, As a branch in a vine.
We have not seen him, but we love him.
His words are to us words of life eternal,
And to know him is to know the true and living God.
We do not see him now, but we have confidence in Jesus.
Amen.

posted by riddle at 6:51 AM | |

 
"I'm drowning here and you're describing the water."
Jack Nicholson, As Good As It Gets.

Hilarious. Jack has been a total ass to Greg Kinnear's character throughout the movie then suddenly he asks for a little compassion. Great opportunity for an attack but instead amazingly, Kinnear's character is compassionate and offers him good advice.

Compassion.
Not Trust.
Compassion.

I have compassion for the members of churches, but I dont trust the churches themselves.
I don't think they are worthy of trust.


posted by Andy at 1:34 PM | |

 
A youth pastor/ teacher that has a Weblog...
I'm beginning to wonder if writing on this weblog is becoming overly dangerous for me.
For me (and I believe the folks at LT) posting here has a healing quality to it... I believe that it's healthy to work through issues with in community and I have been doing this for two plus years. The danger lies in:
1. People might think that I'm talking specifically about them and have their feelings hurt.
2. People might think that I'm talking about them and use these words against me.
3. People might actually engage in real community with their youth pastor / teacher and his thinking to work through theological ideology.
4. People might come into a certain time frame and make assumptions about the thinking of the teacher/ pastor.

Also.
I think it would be helpful to apologize.
If you have unecesarily thought that I was attacking you personally, then I'm sorry, there has not been any intent to attack any one person.
If you have felt misled by my personal feelings at any given moment while I was writing, then I'm sorry. Everything written on this blog (I can only speak for me) is nothing close to absolute truth, but opinion and perspective on life, life with God, life in ministry and lives lived in faithfullness. Sometimes opinions can hurt others feelings, and in as much as God is not convicting you through these various posts, then I am sorry for unsubstantiated guilt or piling on spiritually.

The folks on this blog are not perfect. We say things from emotion. Some of these posts can be reactionary, when in life the writer most cautioned when speaking to specific situations.
We say things on behalf of others. Much of what I write is actually a response or reaction to something that happened to someone else that I've related to.

So. I trust that if you are reading this you will understand these things.
and that if you don't understand you will ask. in person. not in anonymity, as that violate the spirit of the open and honest questions by real people who are bareing themselves to each other.
thanks

posted by riddle at 7:48 AM | |

 
Did you know... ?



Did you know that the Bible is magic? All you have to do is read it and people will be saved.
Did you know that there is a difference between teaching the bible and biblical teaching?
Did you know that if I sin, it's your fault because you weren't praying hard enough for me?
Did you know that there is only one way to do church? God's way (er.. my way)
Did you know that you can tell when God leaves a church? It has to do with "manifestations".
Did you know that fullfilling biblical community means that a youth pastors wife must serve in the student ministry?
Did you know that "doing life together" means that a youth pastor and his family have no boundaries and are available to the congregations every whim?
Did you know that "telling the truth in love" is code for " instead of working through Matt 18, I'm going to tell everyone but the person I have a problem with my issues?
Did you know that in order to study the bible you must worship God first?
Did you know that worship = singing songs that makes me feel something so I know God is working?
Did you know that passive aggressive behavior in the church is ok, as long as you worship together first, and say it in a nice way?
Did you know that "being heard" means "doing what I want"?
Did you know that "we want leadership" is code for "do it the way we used to"?
Did you know that the best way to fire someone is to tell them "God told me to"?
Did you know that's the best way to get away with anything?
Did you know that intolerance is a spiritual gift?
Did you know that God is a loving God who is as intolerant as I am?
Did you know that Rated R movies are evil?
Did you know that we are called to seperate ourselves from the world and culture as much as possible?
Did you know that spirituality and emotionalism are the same thing?
Did you know that i must quote a verse every time I speak in a church meeting, even if it's just to plan on who's going to buy the coffee or I'm not spiritual?
Did you know that my view of the Bible is infallable?
Did you know that philosphy is evil and so is post modernism?
did you know that church as we know it has not been influenced by culture or philosphy, including my view of the bible, spiritual gifts, Jesus, and my view of truth?
Did you know that it's completely ok to stop thinking once you become a christian?
Did you know that the church has a lot to learn from business?
did you know that faith makes sense?
did you know that certainty is absolute and those that don't have it are less faithful?
did you know that..... i think i'll stop now.

posted by riddle at 8:42 PM | |

 
A beautiful thing.
Today I realized that while I'm going to be speaking at this convention in Dallas, TX. on Oct. 9 it's also OU TEXAS weekend there!
This is way cool!
I think I'm going to have to try to get a ticket!

anyone want to meet me there????

UPDATE:
wow. i just started looking at ticket prices... uh... anyone want to contribute helping pay for my $350 ticket, I haven't bought it yet.... hmmm....
I'm thinking of making it a missions trip to save the souls of Texas fans.
you can support me by:
1. praying for me while i'm on my trip.
2. contributing $5
3. contributing $10
4. contributing $25
5. contributing $100

You there... reading this... God may be asking you to give to me! i'm trusting the Lord for 4 $100 donations by the end of the day tomorrow. (that way I'll have some money for food too.)



posted by riddle at 3:31 PM | |