The Difference Is

Everything I learned about America I learned in boot camp

2011-01-09T15:29:00.000-08:00

Yes, boot camp. What other way to learn that your country is always virtuous, always has God on its side and is blessed with doing God’s will from bygone to at hand. My drill instructor informed all of us right from the start that God was on our side and not on the opposition’s side. As General Patten once told his troops the goal of being an American solder was not to die for your country but make the other, Son of a Bitch die for his. Those were the rules of Marine Corps Boot Camp.

Those rules stem from a belief that God’s will was manifested in the conquest and founding of our country and is still manifested in our actions around the globe. Throughout our history, most Americans have assumed our nation’s causes and wars were righteous and just, and that “God is on our side.” In our minds, and our sanctuaries the cross and the American flag stand side by side. Our allegiance to God tends to go hand in hand with our allegiance to country. Consequently, many Christians who take their faith seriously see themselves as the religious guardians of a Christian homeland. America, they believe, is a holy city “set on a hill,” and the church’s job is to keep it shinning.

Upon my graduation from boot camp I was sent to South East Asia to defend my homeland and stop the spread of communist aggression thought out Asia. I was a prime candidate for the job. I believed communism was wrong and put people under hardship and oppression with the ultimate brutality being it killed people who got in its way. I met my enemy and to my amazement he was just like me. He was simply following orders that stemmed from the same set of rules I learned in boot camp. He was trying to make me die for my country’s values. He believed he and his country were right and we were wrong.

This story rings true of every war that has ever been fought. The best example in history is our own Civil War. Both Generals and both Armies believed they were in the will of God obeying Jesus Christ. They prayed the same prayers and died believing they were right, that belief got, 620,000 Americans killed.

Here’s a myth, I would like to address, America is a Christian nation, and this myth the church has become its guardian. Unfortunately this misinterpretation continues to be damaging, both to the church and to the advancement of God’s kingdom. This nationalistic myth blinds us to in a way that our most basic and most cherished cultural assumptions are diametrically opposed to the kingdom way of life taught by Jesus and his disciples. Instead of living out the radically countercultural mandate of the kingdom of God, this myth has inclined us to Christianize many pagan aspects of our culture. Instead of providing our culture with a radical alternative way of life, we largely present it with a religious version of what it already is.

A more far-reaching problem with this misinterpretation is it links the kingdom of God with certain political stances within American politics; it has greatly compromised the beauty of the kingdom of God to non-Christians. This myth harms the church’s primary mission. For many in America and around the world, the American flag has smothered the glory of the cross, with the ugliness of our American version of Caesar. The good news of Jesus has become the American news, capitalistic news, Republican news and whether justified are not, many people want nothing to do with it.

When Jesus was before Pilate He was asked if He was the king of the Jews He replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But my kingdom is from another place.” John 18:36. Jesus’ kingdom operates differently from the kingdoms of this world. The kingdoms of this world acquire power and exercise power over others, the kingdom of God, incarnated and modeled in the person of Jesus Christ, advances only by exercising power under others. It expands by manifesting the power of self-sacrifice and the cross of Christ.

In a nutshell, the governments of this world seek to establish, protect, and advance their ideas and agendas at the expense of its citizenry. In the fallen nature of all those governments is the will to “win.” By contrast, the kingdom Jesus established and modeled with his life, death, and resurrection doesn’t seek to “win” by any of the criteria the world would use. Rather it seeks to be faithful. To demonstrate the reign of God by manifesting the sacrificial character of Jesus Christ, and in the process, it reveals the transformative power that transforms people from the inside out by coming under them and living in them. This is the hope of our world, it is everything the church should be about. We must understand the radical differences and uniqueness of this kingdom in contrast to the kingdoms of this world.

What the distinction between the two kingdoms implies is that citizens of the kingdom of God need to take care to distinguish between their core faith and values on the one hand and the particular way they politically express their faith and values on the other. While the ways of the kingdom of God are always simple, straightforward, and uncompromising, the ways of the kingdom of this world are always complex, ambiguous, and inevitably full of compromise. Hence, kingdom people who share the same core faith and values can and often do disagree about how their faith and values should inform their involvement in the kingdom of the world.

To insist that we keep the kingdom of God radically distinct from all versions of the kingdom of this world does not mean that our faith and moral convictions shouldn’t inform our participation in the political process. Of course they should, but that is true of all citizens in a free country. Weather we’re aware of it or not, all of us, weather religious or not, vote our faith and values.

The purpose of this writing is to reveal the kingdom of God and show its stark contrast to the kingdom of the world and to remind us of the radical countercultural life of the kingdom of God.

The kingdoms of this world try to influence how their subjects think and feel, their power resides in their ability to control behavior. The Bible refers to this type of power as the “sword”. The power of the sword is the ability to coerce behavior by threats and when necessary to use the sword to produce conformity. The sword will never bring about an internal change. The sword can be the punishment for murder but it can never change a person’s desire to murder. It may be the only reason a person refrains from killing because he or she doesn’t want to be imprisoned or executed. The Kingdom of the world doesn’t really care, so long as the person conforms to the law. Laws, enforced by the sword, control behavior but cannot change hearts. Romans 13, gives us insight into how the sword works and why. The power of the sword is not altogether bad. Were we not a fallen world, the sword would not be necessary. The sword is part of our common curse, yet God uses it to keep law and order in the world. For this reason, followers of Jesus are to be obedient, as far as possible, to what government is in power over them. The apostle Paul explained this clearly in Romans 13.

God did not create or ordain the powers that be, but he did order them, to put them in order, sovereignty to tell them where they belong, what is their place. There was never a time when there was not a government. God never intended government to exist apart from Him, but due to man’s fall from grace there has been hierarchy and authority since human society existed. Its exercise has involved domination and disrespect for human dignity by violence ever since sin has existed. Nor is it by ordering this realm that God specifically, morally approves of what a government does. The sergeant does not produce the soldier he drills; the librarian does not create the book she or he catalogs or shelves. Likewise God does not take the responsibility for the existence of the rebellious “powers that be” or for their shape or identity; they already are. The scriptures show that God orders them, brings them into line, providentially and permissively lines them up for divine purpose. Yes, some governments are better than others.

But no earthly kingdom, however good, is exempt from the scriptural teaching that it is part of “Babylon,” a worldwide kingdom ruled by Satan. Jesus refers to Satan three times as the “ruler of this world”, (Jn 12:13- 14:30 – 16:11). The term “ruler” was a political term used to denote the highest ruling order in a given region.

The History of our world has been one of violent conflicts. In all of recorded history, only a few decades have seen no major wars. Historians estimate that in the twentieth century alone over 200 million people died as a result of war and political conflict. The history of the world is a massive river of blood, and this waste of life testifies to the violent tendencies of the fallen human heart but also to the destructive power of the ruler of the kingdom of this world (Satan).

We fallen humans have a passionate conviction that controls and leads us into conflict with others who have equally passionate convictions. We believe in our nation over and against their nation, our religion over and against their religion, our culture over and against their culture, our political ideology over and against their political ideology. Because the kingdom of the world influences us, we express these passions by attempting to exercise “power over” others as their nation, culture, religion, or political ideology conflict with or threatens our own. Violence is the inescapable result.

It’s hard not to get pulled into the fallen passions that fuel the violence of the kingdom of the world. Indeed, the demonic, tribalistic passions that set “us” against “them” seem completely natural to us in our fallen condition. If you hit me, my natural (fallen) instinct is to hit you back, not turn the other cheek! An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, this is what makes the bloody kingdom of the world go around; we have to many eyeless and toothless people already.

There is another myth at work in the kingdom of the world the “myth of redemptive violence”. The true cause of violence, of course is not “the enemy” but something much more fundamental, something both our enemy and we suffer from. The true cause lies in the fact that our fallen hearts are idolatrous and subject to the fallen powers that influence us.

So long as people locate their worth, significance, and security in their own power, possessions, traditions, reputations, religious behavior, tribe, and nation rather than in a relationship with their Creator, the bloody tit-for tat game of violence is inescapable. Of course, peaceful solutions must be sought and can be found to some degree with regard to each particular conflict. But as long as humans define their personal and tribal self-interest over and against other people’s competing personal and tribal interest, violence will break out again.

The myth of redemptive violence is strong in our western world and has been invoked in the present war against terrorism. The people who align themselves with the kingdom of God must see through the deception of this nationalistic mantra, for those who live by the sword will die by the sword (Matt 26:52). The deceptive sirocco of violence is fed by the illusion of ultimate “righteous” victory. Any peace achieved by violence is a peace forever threatened by violence, thus insuring that the bloody process will be perpetuated.

Followers of Jesus must realize and must help others realize that the hope of the world lies not in any particular version of the kingdom of the world gaining the upper hand in the endless tit-for-tat game. The hope of the world lies in a kingdom that is not of this world, a kingdom that doesn’t participate in tit for tat, a kingdom that operates with a completely different understanding of power.

You get a glimpse of this kingdom by reading a discussion Jesus had with his disciples as they were discussing who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Their discussion was a prime example of the principle of power over mindset that characterized the kingdom of the world at that present time. Jesus responded:

The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them who are called benefactors. But not so with you, rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. (Lk 22:25-27)

Jesus identified the disciples’ argument as a typical-of-the-world conflict, and thoroughly pagan. This is the way worldly rulers and the world in general naturally thinks. This is common sense for those who rule by the world’s standards. Naturally the older is greater than the younger, the leader worthy of higher esteem than the follower, the one who sits at the table greater than the one who serves the table. Yes, Jesus not only rejects this “common sense” logic he reverses it! Jesus, the Son of God, the one who is greatest by any standard, came to earth not to be served but to serve others, and this distinctive feature would mark the kingdom he came to establish. It would not be a “power over” kingdom, but a “power under” kingdom. It is a kingdom where greatness is defined by serving and sacrificing for others.

This is why Jesus responded to Pilate’s question by saying his kingdom was “not from this world.” If his kingdom were of this world, he told Pilate, his followers would fight the way the kingdom of this world always fights (Jn 18:36). They would use “Power over” tactics and yield the sword to advance their personal, religious, and, political interest. They would defend Jesus in the name of God, of righteousness, and the glory of Israel. But this new kingdom would not be that kind of kingdom.

One of Jesus disciples, Peter tried to fight like a kingdom of the world participant, cutting off the ear of one of the soldiers who came to arrest Jesus. Jesus rebuked Peter and demonstrated the nature of this new kingdom by healing the soldiers ear (Lk 22;50-51). By doing this he showed that His kingdom would advance not by destroying the enemy who seeks to destroy you, buy by loving, serving, and hopefully transforming the enemy who seeks to destroy you. Can you imagine what that soldier who had his ear cut off and then put back on fully restored must have been thinking as they marched Jesus away.

Jesus refused to accept conventional wisdom….His model of kingship and His vision of the kingdom of God, was not to “make the world safe for democracy” by the exercise of sheer force, was not to effect a “balance of power” through the threat of nuclear holocaust, was not to “rid the world of evil” through a never-ending crusade of “war against terror”. He would not rule by a sword, but a towel.

LEE CAMP

The Passion Of The Poor

2010-05-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

The Passion Of The Poor

What is it about passion that causes us to admire it in those that seem to carry it with fervency? There are many types of passion - the passion of desire; the passion of creativity and one’s purpose. I’ve been made aware of a new type of passion that has no creative reason and no connection to success or material gain. It is the passion of the poor.

The Bible speaks much about the poor and gives us instructions on how to help the poor and oppressed of our society.   Every culture has its own brand of poverty and those that are unable to break its cycle. Those of us that know success are usually unaware of the cycle of poverty. We are unaware that poverty is imposed on those who are born into it. For everyone who is able to break out of this cycle there are at least one hundred more who are not able to escape its oppressive clutches. I’ve heard friends talk about how the poor are lazy and if they would only work harder they would be able to improve their lives and get out from under the grasp of poverty. After many years of working with the poor and disadvantaged I’ve come to understand that the poverty cycle often cannot be broken, even with harder work. In fact, the harder some of these people work the farther they descend into poverty. The answer to poverty is not a simple one, nor is the consequences of poverty easily explained or understood.

The type of poverty I’m speaking of is inherited. Inherited poverty is the by-product of nations who have been made poor by economic and political decisions that stem from empire strategies’, greed and selfish posturing.   Over the years this type of selfish government produces a form of poverty that breeds squander and ghetto conditions. It becomes a culture that you are born into with little hope of getting out of.

We here in the west have a sanitized view of the poor. They are the people we need to feed, house and clothe. As long as we make an effort to care for the poor we feel good about ourselves. I’ve heard people say they “need to help the poor” but have no idea beyond the soup kitchen or giving clothes to the local shelter on how to actually help the poor. These are stopgap reactions to poverty and will only keep the poor fed and clothed. It will never solve the problem of poverty.

Is it possible to stop poverty? Are the poor that bad off in the first place? After some time with people I would consider poor I have asked myself these questions. These people are not starving to death nor are they running around naked because they have no clothes. No, they are the economic orphans of the developing world. They are the direct product of years of oppressive rulers and economic systems that have failed to bring equality to these citizens of the world. They have become the victims of our success. They make our high-end shoes and handbags. They harvest the food we eat and manufacture most of the products we purchase at discount prices. We all love a “deal” and want to save a buck. Have we considered the cost of all of this? The bottom line is the old principle that has unfortunately been given new approval and is the new business plan of many companies. They make their money off the toil of the poor and impoverished.   I’m not talking about slavery that dates back to ancient times, but business trends currently operating in emerging countries. Countries that are becoming economically stable. The cost of this stability has a price tag on it and it hangs on the necks of the penniless.

These are the people who work and live under the weight of economic burden. I’ve seen the faces of these people, spent time with them personally. They carry this tonnage well. They still smile and live life with dignity and honor. I saw something recently that has opened my eyes to what I call “the passion of the poor”. These people are passionate about life despite the resistance it imposes. They have a resilience that keeps them coming back day after day to the same task, no matter how difficult that task might be. Their faces are road maps of despair and travel guides for hardships.

I met an aged man at our clinic (he was my age, but seemed ten years older than me). He had very few teeth, his skin was weather beaten and scared. His wrinkles were canyons of suffering that have overflowed with tears from years of sorrow. Yet he wanted to tell me how happy he was to meet me. I had never met this man before he had somehow heard about our clinic work in Hue and wanted to come and meet us. He was not visibly sick nor did he wish to be examined by a doctor or dentist. His opinion of himself was that he was OK. He only wanted to meet us. He was extending a hand of friendship and not one of want. He was dressed in what we would assess as rags. He was all smiles, a toothless smile, from ear to ear. This man had no burdens, no liabilities. All he sought was friendship. His needs were elementary, with no request other than to be seen and heard. All he could say was thank you. Few words were spoken but you heard him speak volumes of gratitude and appreciation.

This man had a quality of life that that was beyond what we would term the good life . The poor have a code they live up too. They live with a dependence on each other. They have developed a need for guidance. Their understanding of dependence has spilled over into the simple faith they possess. They have a strong sense of hope and belief in an after life. The people I’ve meet have no difficulty listening to conversation about God. I detected no bitterness or anger amongst our dialogs together.

I’ve watched the poor worship. It is with an abandonment that is rare in our successful, lucrative culture. They do not have a hope in the present, many have known no other way of life. They are not looking for nirvana in this life. Do they desire to stay in poverty? I do not think so. Are they all thinking of ways to abandon the garments of their poverty? I do not think so. The needs of the poor are simple -food, water and friendship. A place to work or a piece of land to cultivate, this is a full life for the poor. Do I worry about the poor? No. I worry about us that will some day answer the question of how we regarded the poor.    Did we respect them? Did we make room for them to develop as a people group. In the Bible when Jesus spoke of the poor He said, “we would always have them”. That is why I think we will never solve the heritage of the poor. I do think we can understand them and learn something of value from them. We must also make room for them to improve.

Being poor of is not a character deficiency, but a condition. We can treat the poor with dignity and courtesy. They do not want our hand-me-downs nor do they want those things that did not work for us in the first place. We can give them a fair chance to improve and begin the process of climbing out of the deficit of poverty. We can learn a lot about real freedom from the impoverished. The freedom to be free from what the Scriptures call “thirsting again”, that constant desire for something else, something new. We can learn to live with a passion for what we have instead of what we want to have.

The Olympics

2010-03-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

The Olympics

We all are breathing normal again after our fling with hosting the 2010 Olympics. It was a rush none of us expected. I for one was a skeptic and in some ways still am, but I must admit that the Olympics did get hold of me and I was as emotional about the athletes winning as a proud new mom with her first child. What happened? I was caught up in the spirit of the games from the very beginning, as were most of the people I know, even those who were also skeptical of cost and motive of the Olympic process.

When the pairs couple from Canada skated for the Gold Medal I could hardly look at the screen. I was so afraid they were going to fall and be knocked back to fourth or fifth place. I almost was in a panic over it. They were such a lovely couple and modeled all the characteristics of what it is to be an Olympian. They did win Gold and my heart was at ease when it finally happened for them. The pairs skating was just one of the many moments that won me over to treasure these 2010 Olympic games.

Why would any country want to host the Olympic games post 911? The world has changed and we are not as safe as we were pre-911. The security issues are mammoth and beyond imaginable expense. The infrastructure that is required to host the games is epic in task. We in Vancouver are still not sure what the security cost are for the games, nor are we being informed of the total overall cost of hosting the world in 2010. The figure being tossed around today is near the 2 -Billion dollar mark. No one is sure at this point. The rumor is that the security is near the 1- billion-dollar mark.

Was it all worth that kind of expense? I guess we can debate that issue forever. It was one exceptional party, especially if you were one of the 200,000 plus that partied on Robson street during the games. I never went downtown to witness the emotional frenzy of the participants, but I heard it was absolutely amazing. People were spontaneously breaking out into groups singing Oh Canada. Every one had a flag, a Maple leaf or something Canadian that waved, fluttered and moved to and fro. For me, it was like watching Canadians acting like Americans on July 4^th, only worse. Canada has always had national pride, but we hide it deep in our British roots of conservatism that was rationed out to us by the Queen mom. Canadians only post the Queen’s picture in the post office, not like the Americans who post pictures of the top ten criminals in their country. Canadians are very reserved normally, but something broke loose and patriotism broke out on the streets of Vancouver for seventeen days. I think it was strong enough to have a lasting effect upon Canada.

It all culminated in the U.S. – Canada hockey game that closed the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. That hockey game will be one we will hear about for rest of our lives and then some. In reality it was our NHL players playing against their NHL players, but what the hey, national pride was at stake. Needless to say we won, but it was an overtime thriller. The country went loony and is still a bit tipsy over that game. Did I mention that our women’s hockey team beat the U.S women’s hockey team as well? It was an American wash out in the hockey department. Silver (which is a very prestigious medal to win) meant nothing in comparison to Gold when it came to this hockey match. This hockey game was the quintessential sport of one-up-man-ship between the U.S. and Canada. An invisible power struggle of rivals, neighbors and politics were at stake. The winner took all, and that we did. We took it all by a shot on Goal by Sidney Crosby in the overtime period at 7:40 into the period. It is now history. Part of that history is that that goal won us our fourteenth Gold medal and set the Olympic record for the most Gold medals for any country to win in winter Olympic history.

Was it worth all the expense and Gestapo like tactics that Vanoc imposed on the citizenry of Vancouver? I think it was. What the long-term results will be is a guess at this point in time. What happened inside British Columbia and the rest of Canada was priceless. It has a value that cannot be measured in physical terms or accountant’s spreadsheets or political reports. Canadians stood together in openness and sounded from the heart that we are Canadian. That sound revealed that we really do love our home and native land. It showed that ours sons are true to their patriot love and gave us the chance to show our glowing hearts and state that we are the True North (and hockey is our game) strong and free. From far and wide Canadians stood strong to guard our land. Everything declared we are Canadian. We’ve become a flag waving nation (although most Canadians do not know of proper flag etiquette). Waving it is the easy part, learning to respect it is the harder part.

I will end this blog with this quote from, Henri Bourassa: “There is Ontario patriotism, Quebec patriotism, or Western patriotism; each based on the hope that it may swallow up the others, but there is no Canadian patriotism, and we can have no Canadian nation when we have no Canadian patriotism”.

Canadians in 2010 have answered Mr. Bourassa quote by together saying “We are Canadian”.

Bob's thoughts on unaccustomed exotic foods.

2010-01-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

Over the Years I've been known to eat just about anything, unfortunately my reputation as a epicurean has shown signs of the beginnings of deterioration. As I mature and mellow with new found maturity or as my dad once said to me, "leave the cheese to mature" my taste for the exotic is diminishing. I find myself liking simple soups and crackers with a light spread of butter. While in the past I was know to eat beef tongue and brains with scrambled eggs and considered this a customary meal. I once had deer penis soup in a small village in Southern Vietnam and did not regard it as unorthodox. (The picture is of boiled Chickens feet)

I found this little question and answer article in a food magazine and though it might bring a giggle or a intestinal pain to prospective readers. It is also a good reflection of my past eating mannerism's. Sorry but the article did not come with any recites.

From our very own Los Angeles treasure, food writer Jonathan Gold’s current column in response to a reader’s question: “Is there a food equivalent to a snuff film? “

Dear Mr. Gold:

Is there a food equivalent to a snuff film? I mean this quite literally. Is there some kind of food that is underground, illegal to the max, and which is only rumored to exist, even among the foodiest of foodies? I suppose eating human flesh would be the most extreme, but I am hoping for an answer that is more creative. I've heard of endangered species being prepared at secret restaurants; cheeses and raw smoked meats being smuggled in from Europe; tales of snakes being beaten within an inch of their lives so that they'll produce adrenaline, their heads hacked off and their blood consumed for a crazy rush. Finally, is there any place I can go to get "snuff" food in L.A.?

Dear Ms. W:

Zhou dynasty gourmands enjoyed rat, which they called "household deer.'' I have heard of a bean, grown in Indonesia, that is so delicious its fanciers are willing to endure the inevitable three days of excruciating liver pain that follows the feast. My friend Ruth was telling me the other day about the strips of jellied water-buffalo skin she enjoyed in Laos, available with or without fur. None of those is available here, although as it turns out I did once try a version of that water-buffalo skin in a long-deceased Little Saigon café. There is a place in the Wilshire District that looks a little like the back office of a disorganized accountant — really, no tables or cooking smells — where you sit for a while on worn vinyl chairs and are eventually, or possibly, or rumored to be able to be, brought the bosintang you have come there for. Takeout only. Allegedly. And I have heard that lately, it is strictly BYOD. Either way, I have never managed, or even been tempted, to try the goods. Goat stew is an acceptable equivalent.

In Little Tokyo, you once could get braised bear paw, at an absolutely bowel-clenching price, until the Chinese restaurant that served it was shut down. Hamhung in Koreatown once featured a dinner of barbecued tiger, lion, elephant and antelope, all legal oddly enough, until the '92 riots and the Japanese recession stanched the flow of rich Tokyoites to that part of town. (Hamhung still does have very good buckwheat noodles with seafood, which you should keep in mind when the weather gets warmer.) Meat smuggling from Europe has been substantially more difficult lately — thank you, underwear bomber! — but if you ask around at better cheese stores, you should be able to find the raw-milk cheeses you desire. As for endangered species — practically all sea fish seems endangered at the moment, at least in the long run. In season, Urasawa will sell you fugu, the kind that can kill you if it's indifferently prepared, and charge you as much for it as you paid for your first car. But even in Los Angeles, as far as I know, you will find neither primates, nor human flesh, nor coelacanth. And we're all better off for it, I think.

Managing The Terror Factor

2010-01-13T19:36:00.000-08:00

This came from a friend of mine and I think it is original to, Wild Bill Hoover

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been

re-categorized from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588 when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the

Bastards" They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have

been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror

alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France

are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent

fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing

the country's military capability. It's not only the French who are on a

heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from

"Shout loudly and excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more

levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance"

to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher

levels: "Invade a Neighbor" and "Lose".

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only

threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy.

These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish

navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

And in the southern hemisphere...

Australia has raised its security level from "No wurra" to "She'll be

right, mate". Three more escalation levels remain: "Crikey!', "I think

we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend" and "The barbie is

canceled". So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final

escalation level.

Christian Silliness

2010-01-11T09:06:00.000-08:00

Christian Silliness.

After thirty-eight years of service to the Christian community I’m still amazed at how gullible church people are to religious snake oil and those who peddle it. Just recently I had a friend speak me as if he had a direct channel to God’s voice. God apparently would give him advice about mundane matters of reasonable choice, so that his choice of what soap and paint colors to choose were actually God’s choices. That being the case I needed to be quite and keep my opinions to myself until I could appreciate the deeper spiritual things of this life.

Really now, if this is really what was going on wouldn’t these people be picking all the correct lottery numbers. This type of Christian experience is obnoxious. I’ve been silent and endeavoring to be a good little Christian while this type of misrepresentation of the Christian life is verbalized by the flamboyant, orchidaceous personalities proclaiming Christian virtues. I’m chagrined at the foolishness of this misrepresentation of God’s relational nature to His creation. Often it is nothing more than poor taste and mediocrity.

The next “big thing” that God is going to do has been around for all of my Christian life and apparently it is still the carrot that leads the spiritual horse that pulls the ark of super Christendom. How many times have we heard Christians predicting the future and being consistently wrong, but acting like they weren’t wrong? Hey, when you’re wrong in my neighborhood you’re wrong. Being wrong is not the problem, denying it is and that principle is the foundation of all spiritual life. What a relief it is to know you are not all knowing and can freely admit to being wrong. That carnal twist in our nature that says, “I’m not wrong”, is still present.

At one of my garden shows one of my high-strung Christian friends commented to me about what a wonderful job God had done with my garden. He knew I was a pastor and within my garden I have scripture quotations placed among the venues of meditation. My response to my visitors comment was at the base of what this writing is all about, my comment to him way, “You should have seen this place when God had it”. When I had bought the property seven years ago it was all overgrown. It was a patch of mangled weeds and berry vines. It took a lot of work and creativity to produce a garden of beauty and tranquility. Most of my regular friends understand that, but the occasional Christian stills thinks God sent His angels to till the ground. Sounds a lot like the Genesis story doesn’t it.

I’m disappointed that Christians still do weird stuff that isn’t in the bible and say God lead them to do it or it was the “leading of the spirit”. I’ve heard of church services that are louder than riots at mental institutions. I’ve heard radio and television evangelist proclaiming spirituality equaling a clown’s college graduation (that only works if you are a clown). The Christian life is often explained as spiritual warfare between angels, Christians, demons, and various conspiracies. The drama of blaming everything from illness to bad credit to all your bad choices on the devil is getting old. Sad to hear of people seeking deliverance from demons when their problem is their own rebellion, stupidity, meanness, and determination to get their own way. God must get frustrated being the bagman for everything ever done by some guy who didn’t want to answer questions about right or wrong. Here is some of the language we’ve used over the years to describe our Christian life, “Victorious Life”, “Purpose Driven Life”, “Spirit Filled Life”. Just to named a few of the current headliners.

If all these terms don’t seen to fit your life patterns, you might be what we call NORMAL. You are an ordinary Christian living an ordinary life. You don't hear voices, see visions, or believe you are under constant attack by demonic forces. You may have some experiences that you call supernatural or miraculous, but they are the exception, not the rule. When you pray for people, things usually don't change; you change. You have no authoritative insight into what is going to happen in the future. You suspect that if you were filled with the Spirit, you would love God and people more, and do the right thing more often. You'd be more like Jesus. You wouldn't be running around in circles pointing out angels on the roof. The fruit of the Spirit would make you a person others would want to be around, not someone who would frighten animals and small children.

My point is not to trash anyone who believes in any of these things. Not at all. My point is that "normal" Christian experience is increasingly seen as "bad" or "abnormal," while weirdness is increasingly seen as "normal" and proof that a person is really "spiritual." This shift has enormous implications for Christianity in its essence, its witness, and its experience in the lives of believers.

The principle that I would like to put forward is this: The supernatural character of Christian truth and experience does not remove the basic, normal, human experience of Christians. If "normal" humanity is eclipsed, Christianity ceases to be Biblical, truthful or helpful.

In my experience, Christians who go very far down this road of a "hyper-spiritual" experience rapidly become less useful in the service of Christ. Some become quite useless, even a hindrance and a detriment. In some ways, I think we are being presented with a spiritual dichotomy similar to the Roman Catholic division between those in "holy orders" and your regular Christian in the pew. Protestantism refuted this view, and strongly reasserted the Biblical doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. But now Pentecostal/Charismatic spirituality has brought evangelicalism to a similar situation--a division between the spiritual elite with their "supernaturalism" and the ordinary Christian who doesn't hear voices and see visions.

"Normal" Christians are living without these "signs." They are living by faith in what the Bible says, and not looking to their experience to be a daily demonstration of God still being around and in the miracle business. In comparison to those who live with daily miracles and prophecies, these normal Christians may have experiences that seem dull or even absent. It is no wonder that many "normal" Christians struggle with feelings of resentment, envy, or anger toward those Christians who claim constant miracles and manifestations of God's power. I refuse to play this game, and am disturbed by what I see as the misrepresentation of the Gospel, and an insensitivity to the effects of weirdness on those in and out of the church.

What are we to do with this dilemma of false spiritually? I'll start by saying that the Bible's emphasis on walking by faith rather than by a constant diet of supernatural experiences needs to be understood clearly. I am constantly reminded that the weirdness has registered with many people as Biblical Christianity. We have to say that the Bible is a supernatural book, and God works in our world as He chooses, but faith is nurtured on the Word of God, and on what God has already done in Jesus. The weirdness looks at the events in the Bible as the first inning, and we are now playing out the game. In actuality, the Bible records the entire game and Christ wins! We are living out that victory now. The point is not the next big thing, but what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Always, being centered on the Gospel and on Christ himself is what we must strive to offer in response to the chaos spinning in some church circles.

Further, I think we have to reclaim the fact that God wants us to use our minds to think and make reasonable choices. The Christian life is not a throwing out of the mind, but this is a primary tenet of hyper-spiritualism. I don't just mean anti-intellectualism. I mean a rejection of a reasonable, human use of the mind. This glorifies God. Our prayer for guidance and truth from God should be fervent, but we should fervently say that God's Word of Truth usually comes to our minds through the normal methods. Nothing distresses me more about this entire business than the message to young people that their minds should be ignored and some esoteric, Gnostic method of "hearing from God" should lead us in making life's important decisions.

How should we respond to my hyper-spiritualistic brothers? I think we should be generous in forgiving and tolerating much of this behavior. Many of my hyper-spiritual friends are sincerely hungry for God. They are following what they believe is a path that will remove there doubts and bring the power of the Spirit into their lives. All of us ought to desire genuine Holy Spirit power, and a true experience of God. I don't criticize my friends for wanting to have a life full of God!

I have to stop, however, when we reach the point of asking what is the source of true experience, what is the nature of that experience, and what are the results of a genuine experience? Discernment is what we most owe to our brothers and sisters. Not condemnation or rejection, but discernment and simple truth. We need to know our Bibles, and be able to point out the truth of the Gospel. Our lives need to be shaped by Christ, and display evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification and renewing our minds and characters. Even those who have given themselves over fully to every kind of weird spiritual manifestations are usually well aware of their own need of what is real. Many solid Reformed Christians spent a sojourn in this camp, and starved to death while everyone pretended there was a feast.

Bishop Ryle put it plainly: "Feelings in religion are worse than worthless, unless they are accompanied by practice." Many of our sincerely deluded brothers and sisters know this, and are afraid of what this must mean. It will do them good to see in us genuine experience and a true, substantial working out of what Christ has done for and in us.

Someone who has seen the effects of spirituality silliness’.

Pastor Bob Peragallo

Looking for inspiration

2010-01-03T20:53:00.000-08:00

Looking for inspiration:

It has been more than two weeks and I’ve not posted anything new to my blog. I view my blog as a vehicle to express my mind, intellect and memories. Memories have been called the back staircase of our history. I place mine here so they can be climbed and I can be found. Here I can place my thoughts, impressions, suspicions and gut feelings. Often, it feels like appearing in public with my pants down.

Of late I’ve been weak on inspiration, the keys do not speak to me as I type, the wastebasket is full of misdirected thoughts and inconclusive sentences. Paragraphs do not immigrate with my thoughts. The other day I was in a Chinese restaurant and found myself reading the fortune cookies looking for originality.

The blood has not flooded from heart to pen or keys. I’ve hit the writer’s wall and the race across this year of essays has become the year of practiced penmanship. My mind is drooling and my thoughts are dribble instead of being sharp and direct. One of my facebooks friends asked, “Did you write that before or after you dipped into the EggNog?” Who can save me from this shallow pool of rusted emotional and cerebral despair?

Alas, I found a ray of hope. Something to push my rusted intellectual and egg headed mind into kinetic movement. I’m moving from the corner of the room where I’ve sat with my dunce hat on to the center of the room. The center that is what I’ve missed; I lost my center, my core. Everything revolves around my core it is the pivot hinge of my thought process. The middle-point of how I express myself. I was lost but now I’m found (if only I could spell). Words are beginning to form in my mind. I think I’m on to something; I’m having confabulations as I write this. Freedom of idiomatic expression is happening as I scribble this paragraph. I can feel the rationality and mental health of reason and common sense returning.

It all started because I started to write, opened a vein, confessed my weakness, pushed through the wall of despair, “brake on through to the other side” (written in the tune of the Doors - Jim Morrison). To think I resorted to fortune cookies for originality. How foolish I was when all I needed to do was center myself and record my meditations. Ignorance is no excuse; it’s the real thing. Thankfully my words will cover my nakedness and I pray they will be as soft as oil and bring calmness to the disturbed soil of our lives. I have found intimacy and self-possession of my thought process. Words are breeding in my mind once again, I feel reassured.

Still looking for more inspiration, but not in Chinese fortune cookies.

How To React To Global Warming.

2009-12-16T18:35:00.000-08:00

This is a good article by Greg Boyd on how to respond to the global warming controversy that is being discussed in Copenhagen presently. Greg Boyd is a noted theologian and author of numerous books. I respect his opinions and research on the subject and his article is a balance to my previous postings. Bob

The Scandal Over Global Warming

December 12th, 2009

Well, you’ve probably heard about the brewing scandal: somebody hacked into the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (which I’m told is one of the principle driving forces behind the politics of global warming) and published a ton of their personal e-mails on line. While there’s debate about how significant these e-mails are, they at least reveal that the science (and politics) supporting the claim that humans are to blame for global warming (called “the anthropogenic theory”) isn’t as purely objective as some would have us believe. Among other things, we find in these e-mails several scientists discussing how to minimize, if not completely cover up, data that counters the anthropogenic theory.

I’ve remained largely silent on this issue (one has to choose battles carefully), but I may as well tip my hand now. While I don’t at all agree with those who claim there’s anything like a “conspiracy” among anthropogenic advocates, and while I don’t for a moment question the sincerity of anthropogenic advocates, I’ve personally been convinced for the last two years that the science behind the anthropogenic theory is one-sided, at best. I devoted a month to reading books, articles and websites on both sides of this topic while preparing for a chapter on earth stewardship for The Myth of a Christian Religion. Having heard for several years that “the scientific debate is over,” I was rather shocked to discover how strong the case against the anthropogenic theory is. (For some references, see my note [*] at the end of this blog). So far as I can see, the debate is far from over! Rather, it seems to me that those scientists who refused to get on board the anthropogenic train have simply been silenced – and the newly released e-mails seem to support this suspicion.

Yet, as I argued in The Myth of a Christian Religion, from a Kingdom perspective none of this should matter in the least. Our commitment to live as good stewards of creation and as good caretakers of the animal kingdom shouldn’t be affected in the least by the state of the ever-changing and usually ambiguous scientific or political debate. Rather, our motivation for living as good stewards and caretakers should be rooted in the simple fact that God commands us to take care of his earth and his animals. It’s our magna carta. In fact, the way we live shouldn’t even be influenced by pragmatic considerations such as how much measurable difference we actually make by (say) conserving energy or refusing to eat meat from Industrial Farms. We are to seek first the Kingdom simply because we are people submitted to the King. We should need no other motivation or argument.

So I encourage you live in a way that reflects God’s tender love for the earth and all animals. But I also encourage you to do it for the right reason — and its got nothing to do with what these recently released e-mails may or may not tell us about the anthropogenic theory.

Greg

* For those who are interested, the best critiques of the anthropogenic theory I read several years ago were B. Lomborg, Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming; P. Michaels, ed. Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming; and S. Singer and D. Avery, Unstoppable Global Warming – Every 1,500 Years. Several of the more interesting websites on the topic I found are here, here and here.

The Jesus stuff

2009-12-05T12:18:00.000-08:00

Have you ever bee misrepresented by someone? I have and it hurts. This happens all the time when I hear someone refer to my saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. He and what we represents, said and did are most often completely misunderstood. He gets teased and ridiculed by media, and I must say the Christian world is guilty of helping this by our un-Christ like actions. The most powerful name given above and under the sun is the name of Jesus. I'm saddened and irritated by the connotations inferred when His name is spoken.

I have been going through 1 John as I read through the book one thing seemed to emerge right out of the pages and dance before my very eyes…Jesus is Grace. When John speaks of Loving one Another – he is not talking about a love that can be separated from the Love of Christ. When John speaks of holiness he is not talking about a holiness that exists apart from the Holiness of Christ. When John says “Do not Sin” he is not talking about behavior modification, he is talking about the idolatry that leads us away from Christ. Christ is our Grace. There is no Grace apart from Him. John culminates this idea in 1 John 3:23 – “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”

The First Command? “Believe in Jesus!” There is no other way to please God. Believe in the name of Christ! This is our righteousness. This is our Grace! And this gives us Grace upon Grace to obey the Second Command…to Love one another as He has commanded us.

Isn’t it strange that the Apostle should feel the need to command us to Believe? I think most of us assume that we believe. We think that that should be the easy part. But it isn’t. In fact, there could not be anything more difficult for us. ”Believing in Jesus” really is the command that is impossible without Grace. We need Jesus, so that we might believe in Jesus. Everything else in the Christian life dances forever around this central truth. Whenever we move away from believing in Jesus, we move toward idolatry. And when we move away from Jesus, we move away from love, away from forgiving, away from grace. This is why John ends his letter with this abrupt warning…”Little Children, keep yourselves free from idols.”

So, do I believe in Jesus? Do you? Does believing in Jesus define our Christian life? Or does our affiliation to a particular political party define it? Does Jesus define our righteousness or does our moral behavior define it. Is Jesus our Messiah? Our Hope? Do we believe that Jesus is Sovereign? That He is King? That Jesus is our power? That He is our future? That He is our forgiveness? That He is our Grace? Or do we simply treat Jesus as the “Audience of One?” The God who is watching us. Making a list. Checking it twice. NO! Jesus is NOT our Audience! We do not perform for Him. This is not the Gospel.

Thanksgiving memories from a little boy

2009-11-25T20:34:00.000-08:00

My memories of thanksgiving as a very young boy were of my family gathering at Grandma Lena’s house with everyone bringing something - like Aunt Teresa’s mashed potato surprise that taught me that surprise isn't always a good thing. Or Grandma Lola’s salad wreath filled with fruit cocktail, that kept moving a good ten minutes after you set it down, much like Grandma Lola herself.

Our stuffing had sage and raisins in it, our mashed potatoes were so light and buttery they were known to turn heathens into saints on the spot. And our green beans were so greased up that our lips had a permanent sheen of lard gloss for three days. The Ravioli sauce had been cooking for forty-eight hours and Grandma Lena’s home made Ravioli’s consisted of calves brains, turkey breast and left over roast all ground together with spinach and cheese.

At each end of the table was a large wicker bottle of Claude’s home made wine. If every thirteen-year-old boy could get drunk on Claude’s homebrew, drinking would cease to be a problem in our land. The basic rule was “who eats the fastest eats the most”. Most of these meals were a full five-course extravaganza with no time allowed for bloating until you were on your way home. I remember riding home in the back seat of the car with my brother and sister next to me trying to not “flatulate” in the car (I usually failed). No one said anything cause we were all guilty at one time or another.

So this thanksgiving keep the tradition going whatever it may be and remember, If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get.

A thankful Bob

Quotes from "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" CS Lewis

2009-11-23T18:09:00.000-08:00

Quoted from – “The Lion, The witch, and the Wardrobe” CS Lewis

“Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” – The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Once upon a time…far, far away, there existed a kingdom without a King, where everyone was safe. In this Land of Safe, no one ever grew sick or ill. And no one ever died. The people were never hungry, never desperate, never thirsty, never sad. In this Land of Safe, always beautiful, never ugly; always full, never empty, the lonely people lived – Safe from the pain of war; Safe from the pain of anger; Safe from the pain of loss…Safe from the pain of love.

For in its essence, the idolatry of safety is nothing more than the desire to be free from the suffering of love. And so this land – safe, secure, happy, and comfortable – was a land without the dangers of compassion. The people all understood that hiding was the only way to be truly safe and so safety stayed in fashion. They were kind but never close. They were nice but never near. During the day they encased themselves in cubicles. At night they locked their doors and hid inside their fear. When they traveled, they sealed themselves inside moving metal boxes. They talked to one another, but only through machines. They worked safe jobs. Washed in safe bathrooms. Kept their money in safe banks. They Hid inside safe houses, that were built inside safe walls, surrounded by safe fences, and locked inside safe gates. Marriage? Far too dangerous; Babies? Much too perilous; Families? Way too hazardous…inside the Land of Safe.

So in this way the people lived – comfortable, happy, lonely, sad, unloving and afraid – until they eventually faded away into the nothing. Yes, this is how they lived, In the Land of Safe, Once upon a time, In this kingdom without a King.

One day this Land of Safe was interrupted by a Voice of Love who claimed to be a King. A Prophet King who was not safe, who sang throughout the town, dancing in the streets at night, who said he’d bring the heavens down. He told stories around the tables of dangerous rowdy friends. He claimed safety was an illusion and security was just a dream. He washed himself in rivers cold and drank deep from every stream, and walking everywhere he went, he cheered the hearts of children, romanced the hearts of women, and roused the hearts of men. He laughed at lightning, chased the thunder, and lept upon the waves – this Prophet King, this voice of Love, even called into the graves. Safety was a foolish hope, he said, that created loveless slaves. And so this King claimed this kingdom and declared it as is own, and said it was no longer safe to call His kingdom home. Yet, call it home He did, and even more; He called the Land, “Safe-No-More”, and said this land was created for…

Love and Love alone.

In that day this Prophet King declared war on every gate that kept love from getting in and gave his life as ransom then to free all hearts from safety’s grip of hatred, greed, and fear. He made the mute to sing with Him at the tables of dangerous friends; to cheer the hearts of children and rouse the hearts of men; to romance all women to unlock their hearts to believe in things above and to proclaim throughout the Land that nothing is safe from Love.

And so in the Land of Safe-No-More, the children would ask,” Is our King safe?” Then they heard their parents sing. “Of course He is not Safe my child. But He’s good. He is our King.”

What Makes A Disciple

2009-11-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

What makes a disciple?

“Now – here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God – that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love” Life After God, Douglas Coupland,

Did you ever wonder why Jesus didn’t call anyone from the religious establishment or extant established religious movements to be one of his disciples? I think I’m starting to see it more clearly, both in the gospels and in my own experience.

It’s a shame that so many Bibles insert section headings and subheadings all over the place where they aren’t needed or helpful. Take for example Mark 3 - a very important passage, and the insertion of so many divisions breaks up what is clearly a unit with implications as a unit.

Mk. 3:1---22 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”

You can find many good expositions of this passage, but I want to quickly note all the things that are going on around Jesus as he chooses the apostles.

1. He breaks the traditions of the Pharisees in the context of the Synagogue. 

2. The Pharisees and supporters of Herod begin the plot to kill Jesus. 

3. Jesus heals and cast out demons outside of the approved authorities of Judaism. 

4. He appointed and authorized a group of unqualified, ragtag disciples to lead and continue his movement. The symbolism representing a symbolic “New Israel” wouldn’t have been missed. 

5. His family concludes that he is “out of his mind,” most likely based on everything Jesus has been doing outside of the expected and approved confines of official Judaism. 

6. The scribes from Jerusalem, representing the official assessment of Jesus, announce that Jesus’ power and authority are demonic.

The complications don’t end there, as Jesus pronounces blasphemy on this assessment and publicly identifies his movement as his family, both actions that further complicate an already tense and escalating situation between Jesus and the religious status quo.

Aside from his presence in the synagogue and observances at the temple, Jesus seems to do almost everything he can to telegraph to the official religious leaders of his time that they not only weren’t in the game, they were on the wrong team entirely. God was doing an end run around the theological teams of the time, and Jesus was in charge of the operation.

We don’t know a lot about Jesus’ apostles, but all the information we have gives a simple picture. These men were made up of followers of John the Baptist, fishermen, tax collectors and various disciples Jesus picked up along the way. Likely, few were literate.

None of them were part of the Pharisee movement. If the words of John and Jesus are indicative of how these men felt going in, it’s safe to say they weren’t fans of the establishment.

None of them were officially sanctioned rabbis or students of rabbis. I take their suspicion of Saul/Paul as a new apostle to include his identification with the establishment Judaism these men had never applauded or endorsed.

First century Galilee was a hotbed of Zealot resistance to Rome and “mongrel” religious movements. It was the worst possible place to find people to staff a movement that would have wanted any kind of mainstream respect or endorsement.

Now, I think it’s important that, no matter what we think about the “New Perspective” view of Judaism, that we understand something: many of these mainstream Jewish religious leaders were devout. We know that some in the Pharisee movement were interested in Jesus and some became believers. John’s Gospel tells us that a number of the priests “believed” in Jesus. Certainly there is evidence in early Christianity for the presence of those who were part of the religious establishment.

Jesus condemns the religious establishment for a collection of sins in places like (Mtt. 23) but Jesus also addresses some in the religious establishment with recognition that they are seeking to obey and honor God. Jesus certainly doesn’t divorce himself from Judaism or declare it to be the enemy. He does draw unmistakable lines regarding the Kingdom of God and his own person and mission.

In his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus says “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” Think about that for a moment. Think about what Jesus is saying.

It’s plain to me that Jesus chose the apostles because they were teachable. As stubborn, ignorant, parochial, tribal, petty, selfish and slow to learn as they were, they were still more teachable than the religious establishment. They might not be the valedictorians at Pharisee U, but they could be molded, remade and made useful in the Jesus movement. They could learn about grace, the cross, the resurrection and the Kingdom of God present and at work in Jesus.

The religious leaders concluded that Jesus was demonic. Later, they would demand a “sign” in order to “believe.” When they do “believe,” John says Jesus does not entrust himself to them.

But a broken Peter says “Forgive me….for I am a sinful man.” To Peter, Jesus can say, “When you recover….strengthen your brothers.” To Peter, Jesus can say “Do you love me?…Feed my sheep.”

In other words, despite the tragic-comic characteristics of the disciples, they are still teachable. Thomas will make his speech, but he will kneel before the resurrected Jesus. They would all desert Jesus and head back to Galilee, but when they met the resurrected Lord, they could become bold and fearless world-changers.

These are men who would be slow to accept that the Kingdom of God was offered to the Gentiles, but it is Peter in Acts 10 who says he has learned that God is no respecter of persons.  I bring all of this to mind to say that to the extent that we become like the Pharisees and members of the religious establishment of Jesus day, we probably are not the kind of persons Jesus is going to be able to entrust with the Kingdom.

As I said, the Pharisees and others were often devoid, Biblically knowledgeable persons of strong convictions. They were sometimes prepared to put Jesus into one of their theological categories. They weren’t teachable on the level Jesus wanted his disciples to be teachable.

Following Jesus is not primarily about doctrinal indoctrination. Seminary and conferences, as valuable as they are, are not the paradigms for discipleship that Jesus had in mind.

Jesus’ classroom was the world. His books and lectures were the stories, parables, proclamations and applications that the disciples heard over and over again in various contexts. The center of the curriculum was the experience of Jesus himself, God with us in the world.

Remember that Jesus sent out the apostles to minister the words and works of the Kingdom in Israel before he sent them on their worldwide mission. He wasn’t wasting his time in the villages of Israel. He was training and preparing his apostles. He was working on the project of making them teachable men.

Jesus chose whom he did so that he could begin, not with seminary educations and minds stuffed full of books, but with men who believed, at best, a kind of unsophisticated folk theology, had a biased cultural background, but who had an openness to Jesus. From that beginning, Jesus would blow up their paradigms and revolutionize their world. He was not preparing them to be the theological faculty of Jesus University or the salesmen at Jesus Incorporated. They were apostles, with a clear mission statement in - Mark 3:14-15:

14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they

might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons.

We are not in the unique historical roles of the apostles, but we are to be the kind of persons whom, having been with Jesus, our lives are more like him and less like the religious establishment of his day and ours.

Which brings me to the little confession at the beginning of this sermon. The disciples all came to see they needed God. Not that they HAD HIM, or UNDERSTOOD HIM, but that they needed this wild, unconfined, out-of-the-box God in ways they hadn’t even known they needed him before they met Jesus.

The establishment assessed Jesus on their terms. The disciples came to Jesus all kinds of ways, but in the end, they became the Apostles because they were able to live as men who NEEDED GOD, and the God they needed met them in Jesus.

Christian Pessimism

2009-11-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

This post could get me in some trouble, but I like this kind of trouble.

Christian pessimism is the prevailing mood of the day in world affairs. And, hey- who can blame somebody for being a pessimist right now? Peggy Noonan (writes for the WSJ) reported that a major world diplomat looked at her after she asked his views on the prospects of peace in the middle east and said one word: "Unsolvable." Though the pessimists have seemed less consistent in their approach to American culture, they have been consistent on the middle east situation. It's bad, getting worse, and they like it that way. Two hours of listening to Christian talk radio confirmed that in my mind earlier this week.

This particular program was allowing Christians to call in and give their opinions on the overall middle east situation. Consistently, each caller’s opinion could generally be summarized as follows:

Modern Israel is the chosen people of God, and God gave them all the middle east from Egypt to Iraq to Syria. They have a right to this land no matter who else is there or how long they've been there. We must approve everything the government of Israel does, or we are going against God. (That was frequently referred to as being "Biblically aligned" with Israel, which means we get blessed in the deal, no matter what else might be going on.) The consensus solution is something drastic, like wipe out the Palestinians. (One woman referred to this as a "Holy War" that we must win. Holy Osama Bin Ladin, Batman! It's a Christian Jihad!) This is all part of the arrival of the anti-Christ, a European do-gooder who will wow the world with his ability to solve the unsolvable crisis. Anything the Palestinians do- from suicide/homicide attacks to pleas for American intervention- is terrorism. Anything Israel does is God's will. Best of all, if this keeps up, we will all soon be raptured and the Jews will turn to Christ, so let's keep our hands off and pray for the worst.

No one mentioned that there are thousands of Christian Arabs and Christian Palestinians. No one mentioned that Israel is an unbelieving nation where evangelism is illegal (yeah- just like some of those Muslim countries.) No one mentioned that Israel has developed an attitude towards the Palestinians as a race that justifies and excuses the worst kinds of discrimination. No one mentioned that there is good reason to believe scripture does not teach anything as stupid as a blanket approval of the actions of the government of Israel. No one mentioned peace, reconciliation and justice must apply to all sides. No one mentioned the fact that many Israelis and Palestinians live together in peace, and loathe what the younger generation of Palestinians are doing. No one mentioned the complex root causes of Palestinian violence in the despair of the refugee camps. No one mentioned that America will soon face its own plague of suicide bombers if we cannot find a reasonable, justice-pursuing alternative to nuking the whole Arab world, one country at a time. And no one mentioned evangelizing the Palestinians, or Muslims in general.

Christian pessimism and Muslim extremism are a marriage made in hell. I think evangelical leaders would do well to say loudly and clearly, that there is no undercurrent of grinning apocalypticism in our dealings with the middle east. If anything in our faith should be animating us right now, it is that Jesus, a Palestinian Jew, would be putting himself in harm's way to bring together those who are choosing vengeance over reconciliation. The knee jerk Zionism of conservatives and the knee jerk backing of liberals needs to give way to a policy that recognizes the evil of terrorism and the evil of human pride, prejudice and stubbornness. And as Christians, our concern should be the evangelizing of all the peoples of the earth, including those who hate one another.

It took a generations to produce suicide bombers who hate people as a virtue. It may take as long to produce Christians who believe the Gospel enough to love their friends and their enemies and their friend's enemies. What we can't have is a Christianity that embraces the worst case as the best case, and excuses violence as the necessary fulfillment of prophecy. Scripture says that we must not lose heart and grow weary in doing good. I would urge every Christian to reject a view of the world that says giving up on peace and advocating war is what Jesus would do.

The Great Pumpkin Speaks

2009-10-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

The Great Pumpkin Proposes A Toast

(The following toast was taped at the 4,231st Halloween Dance and Potluck, held this year in the basement of the Salem, Masachusetts City Hall. The guest toastmaster was The Great Pumpkin, well-known advocate of Halloween among children. Those in attendance included a variety of witches, ghosts, fairies, gremlins, mummies, headless horsemen, bats, vampires, werewolves, monsters, members of the Adam's family, the Munsters and, of course, thousands of things that go bump in the night.

"Ladies and gentlemen, ghouls and goblins, monsters and monstrosities both real and imaginary: It's truly an honor for me to be with you this evening on what is always a wonderful time of rekindling old friendships and wishing one another well before our big night. Many of us never see our fellow members of the realm of imagination except at this gathering, and it's really wonderful to see all of you again. I especially want to thank this year's President of the Halloween Society, Harry Potter, for all the work he's done this year. What a year, Harry! (Applause.)"

"It would be remiss of me to say much this evening without paying grateful respects to my creator, Charles Shulz, who gave me the opportunity to live as long as people read his work, which I will believe will be many years to come. Sparky- you did good." (applause)

"I know that each of you takes your part in Halloween very seriously, and I want you to, but I hope you won't forget to take a moment and smile at yourselves. You know, we bring a lot of joy into the world, and I want all of you to take a moment and feel good about that. Just turn to the ghoul or monster next to you and say "you're a special person who makes people happy." (Noise) I want you to remember that, and I want you to see one another as important in this world, because it's easy to forget just what we are all about."

"The world of the imagination has always been essential to human beings, but they've never known just what to do with it. Sometimes they want to live there entirely, and others times they avoid it completely. They reward those who create it in books and music, and yet they fear these artists of the imagination as well, even doing them great harm. Throughout history, the imagination has been denounced as well as celebrated. Each one of us knows about those times when we were welcome to bring happiness, and also about those times when we were blamed for all kinds of evil that we did not create, in fact, could not create because of what we are."

"This ambiguity is part of human nature, and we ourselves embody part of the struggle. Is the world a place that truly IS as it appears, or is there more to the universe than what eyes see and ears hear on any particular day? Do good and evil really exist, or are they simply words that mean nothing? Do human being really understand themselves, or are there mysteries within them that defy explanation?"

"On our best days, we all realize that we are simply the imaginary embodiment of that struggle to know and comprehend, and our part is to play the unseen, the unknown, that which is not understood. We allow the human imagination to play with the reality that escapes science and math and college courses and glib experts. We are the night, the darkness and the fear. We do not exist, but human imagination needs us desperately to try and take ahold of the incomprehensible."

"Particularly painful for many of us are the escalating attacks of religious people on the realm of the imagination. We have suffered from those who see the imagination as a gateway of evil, rather than a canvas on which human nature itself paints the picture. We have been blamed for violence and even death, things we would not even know were it not for human beings investing us with those actions in their own minds. It is as if some religious people actually believe that we exist- that we are real and were somehow a threat to them."

"When I see someone explaining the evil influence of a pumpkin, it's both a cause for laughter and for sadness. How can anyone, particularly one who says they believe in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, believe that mummies and werewolves and ghosts and witches hold any spiritual or actual power? One of the best imaginative writers, C.S. Lewis, who created all of the Narnia characters, was convinced that God gave human beings the realm of the imagination to be a sort of classroom to teach them, in a childish form, the spiritual nature of the universe and reality itself. In allowing them to create the imaginative realm, they were learning to reflect on reality and see its true character, and to see their own character as well. It was a way to see that human beings are the imaginative creations of God himself, and they reflect both his nature and their own fallen, rebellious nature."

"I believe it was Frank Paretti who recently said that from his childhood fascination with monsters and ghouls he learned to live with his own physical deformity and the isolation and rejection it brought. He learned to love himself, and to find compassion towards other hurting people, by watching Frankenstein and Creature of the Black Lagoon. How many children have come to see spiritual reality through Narnia? To know Jesus through Aslan? What lessons of good and evil are being taught right now by Harry Potter? Whether they be fairy tales or silly horror movies, the imaginative realm is a reflection of human beings' ability to create their own worlds, with realities that reflect the depth of nature and the realities of good, evil, hope and redemption."

"For all the abuse we have suffered at the hands of those who believe Halloween is somehow the real world ( and that includes those humans who think themselves to be vampires and spend hours looking for ghosts), we must never forget those who celebrate our world purely and simply, without making it into an idol of fear or devotion. On our night, millions of children will enter into the world of the imagination and be enriched by doing so. They will safely sojourn in a world slightly different from their own and return better for it. Teenagers who take time off from being so serious to play and be children again. And certainly adults who continue to love the world of the imagination and return there often. To these person we owe our continued joy."

"So I propose a toast: to every little boy who goes to sleep dreaming of Hogwarts. To every mother who reads Narnia to her children. To every teenager devouring Lord of the Rings. To every grandmother who reads her granddaughter a ghost story. To every parent who shares their favorite scary movie with their child. To every young writer who writes the stories in which we live. To those who know to life, to jump and to delight at Sleepy Hollow. To all who give us this one night of frightful fun and remain little boys and girls, A TOAST!!"

Living a Courages Life

2009-10-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

Courage is an expression of the heart

To be courageous is literally to be strong of heart. It is an expression of the heart. Both fear and courage are heart conditions.

To follow Jesus Christ is to choose to live in His adventure. How could any of us ever imagine a life of faith that does not require risk? Faith and risk are inseparable. It is no surprise to us then that a life of faith is a life of courage.

Faith as a noun may be a belief, while having faith is all about action. You cannot walk by faith and live in fear. You cannot walk with God and not face your fears.

How faith works

We are seldom afraid when our opposition is smaller than us. When we keep our challenges manageable, we not only manage our fear, but squelch our faith. One way to deal with our fears is to surround ourselves with security and predictability.

We may look courageous when in fact all we’ve done is minimize our risk. Whenever God calls us to something, it inspires not only faith, but also fear. God always summons us to something bigger than ourselves.

When he calls us to battle, the opposition will always be greater than the strength we have.

A cursory look at the Bible could easily lead us to conclude that the Scriptures are full of heroic men and women who laughed in the face of danger and were strangers to fear. After all, just the names of those ancient men and women evoke inspiration and awe.

Yet the reality is much different. The history of God’s people is not a record of God searching for courageous men and women who could handle the task, but God transforming the hearts of cowards and calling them to live courageous lives.

Adam and Eve lid, Abraham lied; Moses ran; David deceived; Esther was uncertain; Elijah contemplated suicide; John the Baptist doubted; Peter denied; Judas betrayed. These were some of the leading characters.

Acts 4:29 …”Lord, consider their threats and give your servants courage to speak your name with boldness”.

Why does one pray for courage? For one reason only: He’s afraid.

Notice the kind of help they ask for - not that God would remove their enemies, not even that God would change the circumstances, but that God would give them courage to do what they knew they had to do.

The Hebrew word “ruach”, which is normally translated “spirit,” “wind’, or “breath” can also be translated “courage”. When God breathed His Spirit into us, He not only give us power but , more importantly, His courage.

When we read Paul’s admonition to: “be filled with the Spirit”, we often translate it to mean “be filled with God’s power.” It would be far more accurate to understand it as ‘be filled with God’s courage”. What is the point of having God’s power if you lack to courage to use it.

What God offers

What God offers when He invites us to be filled with the Spirit is not simply some elusive or magical power, but the character to live courageously and face our fears. Without courage we cannot live the life we choose - instead we choose to relinquish life. We conform to the path of least resistance and abdicate our freedom. So in the end a life without courage is a life without virtue.

Moses was dead. It was only after Moses death that God spoke to Joshua. Joshua was Moses aid, yet his first assignment was not only to take over where Moses left off, but to accomplish what Moses didn’t. After forty years in the wilderness, Moses failed to get God’s people into the land that he had promised them. Now God was telling Joshua that he would do what Moses couldn’t

Two promises were given to Joshua,

#1 “I will give you every place where you set your foot”.

#2 “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life”.

A promise of conquest, yes, but not a promise of tranquility.

What God did not do:
It would have been great if God had commanded Joshua to set up camp along the Jordon and enjoy a season of fishing and sun bathing. Everyone would have been thrilled if god had said, “there are giants in the land. I need a little more time to get Canaan ready for you. Just wait and be patient, enjoy your stay, and when everything is prepared I’ll send for you.”

You can imagine what Joshua could have then said, “No Lord, I insist. Let me help You. You shouldn’t go at this alone.” Then God would have said, “No, Joshua, this one’s too dangerous for you. I’ll have to go it alone, but I’ll be back. I would never think of putting you through this.”

God expected more from Joshua and His people. God would give them the land, but they would have to take it.

God would go with them but he would not go for them.

This was essentially the only conversation God held with Joshua to prepare him to lead. This was Joshua’s Achilles’ heel. It was where Joshua needed reinforcement. He was afraid to lead, but he would have to face his fears if he was to step into the future. God exhorted Joshua to be strong and courageous, he was to live a courageous life.

God was calling Joshua to more than just a single act of courage; he was to live a courageous life.

The Strength of Courage

There is a difference between momentary courage and moral courage. Momentary courage energizes you to rush into a burning building and save a child trapped in a fire. Moral courage empowers you to live a life worthy of being emulated. Both kinds of courage are important. The first can be had without the second. The second is far more profound, and affects every decision and everything in a person’s life.

The Hebrew word for “be strong” means to fasten yourself to something. It is a picture of someone grabbing hold of that which is right and true and refusing to let go. This is the pit bull part of character. It is the tenacious part of courage.

It is called, Doing what we know is right.

The key to the future is not revelation, but obedience. When we submit our lives to what God has made known, the future becomes clearer to us. When we neglect to do what we know, we begin to live as if we were walking in a fog. If we are not careful, we will find ourselves condemning God for being silent, when in fact we have condemned ourselves for refusing to listen.

You may not know how God is going to solve your financial crisis, but you can know that the solution is never to steal. You may not know when God is going to bring that special person into your life, but the solution is not to compromise. You may fear the consequence of telling the truth, but God’s solution is not to lie.

One of the greatest mistakes we make in our spiritual journey is circumventing the process of accomplishing our God-given dreams by trying to achieve those dreams in a manner that violates God’s character.

Shalom

What's wrong with Capitalism

2009-10-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

Capitalism’s Problem

Capitalism, Webster’s Third International Dictionary tells us, is “an economic system based on corporate ownership of capital goods, with investment determined by private decision, and with prices, production, and the distribution of goods and services determined mainly in a free Markey. “ And I would add, it is “a system founded on honesty, decency, and trust.”

What’s at the root of the problems of American capitalism. First, something changed socially, I quote teacher Joseph Campbell: “ In medieval times, as you approached a city, your eyes was taken by the Cathedral. Today, it’s the towers of commerce (or once towers of commerce). It’s business, business, business”. We have become what Campbell called a “bottom-line society.” Society came to measure the wrong bottom line: form over substance, prestige over virtues, money over achievement, charisma over character, the ephemeral over the enduring, even mammon over God.

Our bottom line society has some accounting to reconcile in the exchanges mentioned above. I quote chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks: “When everything that matters can be bought and sold, when commitments can be broken because they are no longer to our advantage, slogans become our litany, when our worth is measured by how much we earn and spend, then the market is destroying the very virtues on which in the long run it depends.”

What has gone wrong? I quote William Pfaff’s description of a “pathological mutation in capitalism”. The classic system owners’ capitalism had been based on a dedication to serving the interest of the corporation’s owners in maximizing the return on their capital investments. But a new system developed – managers capitalism – in which, Pfaff wrote, “the corporation came to be run to profit it’s managers, in complicity if not conspiracy with accountants and the managers of other corporations.”

The age of managers capitalism has had dire consequences for our sense of fairness in western society. As one comedian has said, “somebody gonna get hurt here”. This hurt is seen in the rise in the gap between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots. Some facts: In the mid – 1970, the wealthiest one percent of Americans owned about 18 percent of the nation’s financial wealth. By the close of the twentieth century, the share owned by the top one percent has grown to 40 -(forty) percent, the highest share in the nations history. A society that tolerates such differences in income and wealth is a society that faces long-term financial problems.

I do not claim to be a financial guru, but I do read and love research. I plan on continuing this blog on Capitalism, as I believe our children will be faced with solving the global unfairness in the distribution of wealth. With out solving or understanding these problems we will continue to face riots and disturbances leading to more wars in the coming future we leave to our children.

WHY I AM A CHRISTIAN

2009-09-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

Why I Am a Christian

1. It is reasonable that God might exist.

2. Further, it is reasonable (based on the evidence) that this God who might exist might be personal and therefore have communicated with human beings.

3. The world's religions are a reasonable place to look for evidence of such communication.

4. Among those representing the world religions, Jesus of Nazareth seems to hold the consensus as the person most likely to provide convincing evidence of the God who might exist. (Since Jesus is- in some way- incorporated into all major world religions. If all the world's religious leaders were locked in a basement until they could elect only one person to represent the best of their beliefs, I believe Jesus would be the person selected.)

5. The resurrection of Jesus is a reasonable explanation for the existence of Christianity as a distinct belief system from Judaism.

6. An examination of the various alternatives and existing evidence convinces me that the Resurrection is, in fact, true.

7. If the Rez is true, then Jesus' statements about himself, God, Truth, Sin, etc. (The Christian worldview) are true by deduction.

8. Based on this conclusion, I relate to the God who I now believe exists through Jesus.

9. My experience matches what Jesus describes, providing personal verification of the truth of Christianity.

10. Based on Pascal's wager, I await eventual verification of this conclusion after death, but haven't lost anything if I am wrong.

First, for my skeptical friends, I know this outline can be faulted a hundred different ways, so its not that I haven't thought of your objection before. This is simply the way I put it all together for me.

Secondly, the resurrection of Jesus is crucial to my faith. As far as I know, Christianity is the only religion that has an explicitly confessed point of falsification. That is, it tells you, up front, how to disprove it. Read I Corinthians 15:14 and 17: "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith....And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is foolish." Now this is significant because it is turning the entire worldview onto its head and standing it on one assertion. If this is disproven, then the whole structure collapses. Try to get someone in the New Age or atheism to give you a similar statement of falsification.

Third, there are only a finite number of possibilities for what happened to Jesus.

1) He never existed. (Disproven by the testimony of his first century enemies, who accepted his existence.)

2) He purposely faked his resurrection (which means he was an evil genius. Hardly plausible given what we know of his life.)

3) The resurrection is a mistake or hallucination. (The transformation and experience of the disciples cannot be explained by a mistake and mass hallucinations do not happen on this level.)

4) The disciples faked it. (No motive and not capable of doing it. Read the Gospels!)

5) He never actually died, but just passed out and recovered. (No possible way this could have happened.) 6) Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples. Given everything that must be explained, 1-5 fail, leaving 6 as the only possibility that explains all aspects of the sudden birth of early Christianity out of Judaism.

Fourth, while my personal experience proves nothing, it is important if my personal experience matches the experience described in the Bible. This is often overlooked. For example, the Bible says we are persons made in God's image, but fallen into sin. This has great explanatory power for what we see in actual human beings, and beats the pants off any other view of human nature. Also, the transformative aspect of Christianity may be easily discounted because of hypocrisy and outright evil on the part of Christians, but the evidence of a conversion such as St.Paul, St. Francis, C.S. Lewis, Charles Colson. It is exactly what Jesus described and effected during his life.

Fifth, I believe strongly that the inclusion of Jesus in the belief systems of non-Christian religions (such as Buddhism and the New Age) gives real credence to my assertion that Jesus is the most likely place to look for the truth about God and the resurrection is the key to our view of Jesus. If the Resurrection is true, then all of Jesus' teaching and assertions can be used as authoritative, because he is the Son of God as he claimed to be.

Finally, Pascal's wager is critical to this argument. The great French Mathematician and Christian wrote that if we "wager" that there is no God, and we are right, we win nothing. If we "wager" that God exists, and we are wrong, we lose nothing. If, however, we wager that God exists and we are correct, the payoff is inestimable. If we wager there is no God, and we wrong, we lose everything and more than everything. Therefore, even if the argument is not flawless, it leads to a position that allows anyone to sleep more soundly.

So there is the argument. I invite any response and certainly hope you share my conclusions will use the outline freely. 

EVERYONE'S GOT AN OPINION!

2009-09-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

George Burns once said he thought it too bad that the people who know how to run the government are so busy driving cabs and cutting hair. His point is well taken, as the deluge of public opinion on government, politics and world events have made separating fact from feelings a near impossibility. Everyone has an opinion and everyone is letting it be known.

Where once news commentary was relegated to a three-minute segment at the end of a broadcast, it now has become the main attraction; hours and hours of opinion dotted occasionally with something called “news.”

It is certain that opinion has been around forever. A person’s opinion of an issue, in large measure, shapes how that persons thinks and reacts to issues, problems and life in general. Now, I‘m sure knowing what you believe is healthy, and in many ways separates humans from other animals, but something has changed in the way opinion is shared. Where once it was with discretion and usually offered by invitation only, opinions today are imposed with no holds barred or permission asked. They gush from television, radio and print like a fire hydrant jetting water. Even now the weather channel promotes certain views on global warming. That was at one time my “safe channel” for watching un-opinioned programming. I’ve since changed channels to the continuous fireplace burning on our local community station. Opinion is taking over the world as everyone in the media business have opinions to promote.

Our problem today is what Robert Frost so adequately said: “Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t and the other half who have something to say and keep on saying it”. What we hear today on the news and opinion stations is not “news” or “conversation”, but monologues that say nothing or the same thing over and over.

The use of experts on the news channel is a little over stroked. Who are these guys and what makes them experts? I once heard a good definition of an expert, “A little squirt under pressure” or “Anybody with a brief case fifty miles away from home”. It has been said that “sound is more manageable than silence”.

So, while I’m at it here are five (or so) of my choice opinions:

1) I think we wash cloths to much

2) I think atheism is far better for Christianity than TBN

3) I think the insurance industry is one of the biggest scams in history

4) I think Elvis is really dead

5) I believe passing kidney stones is worse than giving childbirth

6) I believe I should keep my opinions to myself.

You can also view this at my Mac blog here . Bookmark the new address!

Bob's got a brand new BLOG

2009-09-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

TAKE NOTICE, TAKE NOTICE!!!!

Bob's new blog is located here:

http://web.me.com/pergallobob/Site_4/Blog/Blog.html

This also has a photo gallery of my garden. Remark your bookmark to switch to my new blog.

Thanks....Bob

PS: click below to go right to the new blog and album.

sight.http://web.me.com/pergallobob/Site_4/Blog/Blog.html

Belief In Cows

2009-09-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

I’m going to copy a section from a book tiled “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller, but before I do that I need to explain why. Last week I taught a session on doubt at our church here in Vancouver. Now I know that most Sunday morning sermons are on faith and things that build our faith and this is a good thing. But in reality, we all are faced with the negative, guilt-ridden part of our personal belief system that still deals with the doubts lurking in the back stages of our lives. I know that most churches have buried their corporate unbelief in the back parking lot and live in “denial” about the subject. While we might pretend that doubt is none existent in our churches and personal lives the bible is full of people who doubted and still received God’s blessing and the fulfillment of His promises. We’ve all read about the man who answered Jesus with, “Yes I believe, but help my unbelief”. How about Jesus dying words to His Father on the cross when in His humanity He asks his Father, “Why have you forsaken me”? Often our doubts are expressed in questions towards God, such as Jesus had. In our human form we will always have these doubts. Thank God that He bestows His GRACE upon us because of His work on the cross and not our strains of weak efforts to believe all things perfectly.

I’ve changed the text from first person to the group in order to protect the guilty.

Donald Miller writes (from Blue Like Jazz): I think our desire to believe in a God other than Jesus had mostly to do with our boredom. We want something new. We want something fresh to think about, to believe, to twiddle around in our minds. I understand the plight of the children of Israel, to be honest. Moses goes off to talk with God, he doesn’t come back for a while, and so the people demand a god they can see and touch, a god they can worship with the absolute certainty it exist. So they build a golden cow (odd choice, but to each his own). Moses comes back from talking with God and finds the children of Israel worshiping a false god, so he goes postal. Imagine us as the children of Israel when Moses comes down from off of the mountain.

“What are you doing”, Moses ask.

“Worshipping a golden cow.”

“Why? Why would you reject the one true God?”

“Because I don’t get to see Him or talk to Him. I am not even certain that He exist.”

“Are you on crack? Weren’t you around when God parted the Red Sea? Weren’t you there when God fed us from the ground, made water from a rock, led us with a cloud?” Moses screams.

“Calm down, Moses. Listen, man, you always go up to God and come back with a sunburn, and you have God hover around your tent in a cloud, and you have God turn your staff into a snake, and we get nothing. Nothing! It’s not like we have this personal communication going with God, you know Moses. We are just sheep out here in the desert, and, honestly, we were better off as slaves to the Egyptians. That is where your God brought us. We need a god too. We need a god to worship. We need a god to touch and feel and interact with in a very personal way. So we made a cow. You can also wear it as a necklace.”

Moses response to us, “before I put all of you to death and send you home to the one true God, I want you to understand something. I want you to understand that God has never been nor ever will be invented. He is not a product of any sort of imagination. He does not obey trends. And God led us out of Egypt because you people cried out to Him. He was answering your prayers because He is a God of compassion. He could have left you to Satan. Don’t complain about the way God answers your prayers. You are still living on an earth that is run by the devil. God has promised us a new land and we will get there. Your problem is not that God is not fulfilling, your problem is that you are spoiled.”

Moses made it clear that God was not here to worship us, or to mold Himself into something that will help us fulfill our level of comfort. We want spirituality to be closer and more real. I think I understand why people wear crystals and perform chants and gaze at the stars. People are lonely. Not in a lover or friend way, but in a universal sense, lonely inside the understanding that we are tiny little people on a tiny little earth suspended in an endless void that echoes past stars and stars of stars. We might want a god who has a call in radio show, but God is not like that he wants us to seek him and obey Him. Maybe we can realize that we desire false gods because Jesus will not jump through our hoops and our faith is not about image and ego nor is it practicing spirituality. God desires us to be faithful to our faith in Him as our God.

Why write?

2009-09-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

In some parts of the world a writer is considered a failed conversationalist. I might fit into that grouping at times. Is all writing original? We hope so, at least we try to be. A good writer is not a single person trying to express himself. He is a whole lot of people trying to be that one person who is the writer. This takes a measure of courage, the courage that feels like taking your clothes off in public. That is what good writing feels like for the writer. In our generation we have writers and typists. I'm honestly trying to write. In doing so, I quote others to better express my own self. Ernest Hemingway said that "the best gift a writer can have is a shockproof built-in bullshit detector." Every great writer has to have one of these.

Wish me luck.

The passion of Yoga

2009-08-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

In 2004 I was diagnosed with Seminoma Cancer. A massive tumor had spread to my left kidney, lungs and had managed to wrap itself around my aeorta. This is the same cancer that Lance Armstrong had. Needless to say I was reading all of his books he had written about his cancer journey. By the grace of God and the wisdom of my oncologist, I, like Lance Armstrong, survived. In the process of my treatment I had twenty-five chemo sessions - five days of treatment in a five-week protocol with two weeks in between each five days of chemo. I finished my chemo and then underwent surgery to remove the source of the cancer. To this day I have a residue tumor on my left kidney that is benign, with no signs of any active cancerous cells in my body. I am what the word “cured” describes, but my physical body was a wasteland of toxic residue.

I share that story to say that I was a prime candidate for detoxification. I was a walking chemo laboratory. My wife Linda had been doing Yoga for several years and had been doing Bikram’s Yoga for a year. She encouraged me to start Bikram’s Yoga and stated that we could do it together. I agreed and went to my first Bikram’s Yoga class twenty months ago. My first class was amazing; I was totally exhausted. I was completely physically depleted and could hardly speak a word at the conclusion of that first class. Dan was my instructor and his parting words to me were, “Bob, that’s all you have to learn. Nothing new from here on out”. Those words still ring in my mind some twenty months later as I learn something new at every class I take. Each class is a “lesson” about myself and the power of the human will to continue and complete the class. It is a lesson on the beauty of Yoga and what it accomplishes in the human form and structure, both physically and mentally.

From my first class with Dan I knew this form of body conditioning was for me and that this would be my new “Gym Time”. Yoga has changed me. My body and mind have new disciplines. I’ve purged much of the chemo chemicals from my body and rebuilt my core and muscle structure. I take each class with a passion to complete each pose with enthusiasm and tranquility. My septic and contaminated body has responded well to the rigors and solitude that Yoga requires and with the benefits of the prolonged heat of “Hot Yoga” I have felt the release of toxins that held me a prisoner detained in my own septic toxic anatomy.

I have new friends and an appreciation for my instructors who have guided and encouraged me to stay the course and perfect the art of Yoga. My health is at the center of why I do Bikram’s Yoga. The rewards of a strong physical core, new flexibility and a focused mind have encouraged me to maintain and preserve the benefits of Yoga. I am a rehabilitated cancer survivor and a more active person due to the rewards of Yoga. Thanks to all the staff at Coquitlam’s Bikram’s Yoga studio. They are always encouraging, while modeling the values of fitness, health and professionalism that make them such great instructors.

Nameste, Bob Peragallo

2009-08-14T21:33:00.000-07:00

The Dregs of Summer

It has been said that every April, God rewrites the Book of Genesis. Summer to me is when the grass is Green. It has also been said that too much of a good thing is wonderful. Those who would wish for the eternal summer are the same ones who want it always to be a high tide and every night a full moon. The seasons just do not work in that order.

Summer will retract into the bowels of nature leaving behind a string of cool days and damp nights that speak to us of roots that need to go deep and prepare for future growth. The eagerness and energy of spring and summer are soon to fizzle out and be replaced by the comfort and coziness of fall. The fall, is a time where growth goes deep into the soil of life to prepare for a new harvest in the cycle of the seasons.

Here in British Columbia we are nearing the close of the summer that was promised by the coming of spring. We are now being taken into my favorite time of year, the fall. After a couple of months of hot dry days and hot nights I’m ready for change. Yes, I know that rain gets old and wet cool dark days drive average people indoors, but some of us are not average and love the crispness of fall days with the feeling of light dew and the need for the warm presence of fleece or wool.

The days of relaxation and rest come to an end and productivity begins to rise out of the cloudless, sun-drenched dog days of summer. Life begins to stir with the production of productivity and the newness that only comes from times of restoring and revitalizing the cells of our human makeup. Ah, summer the time of resting and enlivening the soul. Summer’s purpose was to show off the wonder and splendor of the creative process, the jewel that is hidden in the under-side of the soil of this planet and our lives. Summer is the time when the seed if brought to completeness and the full glory of its life cycle is completed. Each plant has its own glory. While each seed looks somewhat alike, some larger, some smaller, each produces its genetic code of beauty and wonder. The flowers turn to seed and die and return to the soil from whence they came and the cycle of creativity starts all over again.

That’s why I love the fall. Life is starting up everywhere one glimpses. The inconspicuous, secret work of life is beginning to happen all around us. It is a veiled process that goes unnoticed by most humans. God in His wisdom has created this process; the life that comes out of death is a regenerated life. This process is the divine right of His creation. We stand in submissiveness to His sacred, holy power for it is God who said, “This is a good thing” not Martha Stewart. The cycle of life will continue driven by the creative process of life and death spinning off of each other and the eternal promise of the assurance of life dominating in the end.

What about man.

2009-07-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

David asked, “What is man that you are mindful of him,…” Psa 8:4

Throughout the ages this question has burned in the heart of man. How we answer it determines our view for living and the purpose for our existence. To answer it wrongly leads to the absence of creation and ultimately the denial of the creator.

A RABBI WAS explaining to his pupils how strongly God condemns the worship of idols. One of them asked, "If God so abhors idolatry, why does He not destroy the idols that men worship?" The Rabbi replied, "Because some of them, the sun and the moon for example, are an essential part of the fabric of God's economy." After a moment's pause, the student said, "Then why does He not at least destroy those that are not essential?" To which the Rabbi answered, "Because it would then appear He was condoning the worship of the idols He did not destroy."  

The literature of antiquity is full of little exchanges like this; neat, satisfying in a way, wise too, and not without genuine force. Such answers were common when men believed that the universe was created by God with man particularly in mind. It was assumed that God had created the heavens and that therefore He could "tamper" with it if necessary for man's benefit: for, after all, man was of greater importance than the sun and the moon. It seemed self-evident to man, after the Incarnation, that the Earth was paramount among the heavenly bodies and that man was paramount on the earth. The heavens and the earth were created for man's sake.  

But during the past hundred years the universe has been studied without reference to God as its Creator and without any thought that man might be its raison d'etre. It seems that as its immensity has become increasingly apparent so has man's insignificance in terms of size, until he has dwindled in importance virtually to the vanishing point.

Man’s significance has thus come to be defined either in terms of size and man is very small relative to the vastness of the universe or in terms of duration of a man's life. By these standards man judges his own worth to be virtually nil.  

But this very judgment is self-contradictory, for if man is of no consequence, then neither is his judgment of what is of consequence. His very opinion about the Cosmos can carry little weight in a Cosmos which scarcely recognizes his existence and would be no different if he ceased to exist altogether. These presumptuous statements about the insignificance of man can logically be ignored for, by their own admission, if man is of no consequence so, then, are his opinions of no significance even if his knowledge of the "facts" is tremendous.  

This philosophy of science, which is a philosophy of materialism, is proving to be quite inadequate because it is quite unable to deal effectively with purposes, and man must have purpose to live by. This is particularly true of young people whose power of dedication is strong and who feel the futility of modern life. History has shown and points out how well dictators have learned this truth and how easily they can rally people who, having no other commitments and feeling the emptiness of life, are eager to dedicate themselves to some cause.

If we cannot understand how readily people may surrender their liberty, it is because we have forgotten how stimulating dedication can be. I’m sorry to report that much of the blame for this impoverishment is the philosophy that inevitably creates a sense of purposelessness by reducing man's importance in the universe almost to zero. To many thinking people it is becoming apparent once again that there is much truth in the view of man as "the measure of all things," and that the universe has meaning only when man is made the key. The size of man’s body and the length of his earthly life cannot be used as guides to his importance. Man as a creation of God is still the measure of the true significance of all else in the universe. But such a "purpose" must be with specific reference to man, or it has no power to affect his behavior.

Since it is now held almost without exception by modern philosopher-scientists that man has quite by accident been thrown up in some blind and purposeless cosmic process, the unhappy consequences of such a view are at last being recognized and an effort is being made to engender some kind of substitute purpose.

Science is now speaking of a process that through eons of time and without direction finally produced a creature, man, who by reason of his possession of self-consciousness and his ability to make delayed decisions is freed from the previous all-pervasive determinism of the natural order and can therefore undertake that which no creature before him had been able to undertake, namely, the directing of his own future. The belief that man is the product of causes which had no pre-vision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms.

The kind of goal such men declare is entirely unlike the goal which moved Augustine to write his City of God or Aquinas his Summa Theologica or Dante his Divine Comedy. Theirs was essentially a goal for man in God, as Bunyan's was a goal for man in Christ, and as such both had the power to inspire.

Far better would it have been to hold to the spiritual view of man as an act of faith and allow that humanly derived knowledge might illuminate or elaborate the details of that faith, but never supply its foundations. Why should we fear to admit that our understanding stems in part from what we believe?

Science itself progresses by the formulation of hypotheses which are nothing less than acts of faith. The essential difference is that science demands that a hypothesis must be subject to experimental validation by the experimenter. The kind of faith with which a Christian undergirds his philosophy is similarly experimentally verifiable, but not in the laboratory sense, for the rules are not the same. But this does not mean it is any less real or valid. The basic assumption which he makes is that God exists as a personal but purely spiritual Being, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. The existence of God can be demonstrated by any individual who is willing to accept the conditions which God Himself has imposed upon such an experiment: but he can only make this demonstration with absolute certainty for himself. In other words, there is a kind of knowledge here that each man must gain personally and cannot acquire vicariously. Hence demonstration is not of the same kind that exists in a laboratory situation. But it is real knowledge, and such knowledge is the key that gives meaning to history, both the history of the individual and of the universe.  

Let us then once more boldly declare our faith that man is indeed the measure of all things, not man by himself but man in God. And let us see what evidence there might be for such a tremendous claim that in the final analysis the very universe itself was made for man.

2009-07-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

Someone said that it takes two to tell a truth, one to speak it and one to hear it spoken. There are truths  that we only grasp after we have given them verbal expression for the benefit of someone else. We may think we understand a truth, but when we try to share it with another person we often discover that we only half understand it ourselves. Then the attempt to communicate it clarifies our thoughts and the would-be teacher becomes his own pupil and learns from himself by the effort of telling.

"If we assume that all matter were to disappear  from the world . . . there would no longer be any  space or time."  

Albert Einstein   (1879—1955)

"Here you must put time out of your mind and  know that in that world there is neither time nor a  measure of time, but everything is an eternal moment".  

Martin Luther  (1483—1546)

"Creation was with time, not in time."

 Augustine of Hippo (354—420)

"Time shall be no more."

(Revelation10:6)  John the Apostle   (0—100? A.D.)

"Time began with the world — or after it."  

Philo Judaeus   (B.C. 20—40 A.D.)

Since Einstein was himself a Jew and undoubtedly acquainted with the literature of his forebears, it is not perhaps so surprising that such a thought as the coincidence of the creation of matter and the creation of time should have been in his mind when he formulated his special theory of relativity and made time part and parcel of the physical world.

Linear time vs. endless eternity  - Einstein wrestled with the problem of time, with the nature of time as opposed to eternity, of time as an abstract reality. The problem arises from the fact that one cannot have a span of time. It won't stay still long enough for us to measure it. Eternity is not time stretched to infinity on either side. There is a very significant difference between eternity and some immense stretch of time, for the simple reason that no matter how long this span of time is, we can always shorten it by chopping some off. Whereas eternity remains as endless as ever no matter how much we "cut off it." At least we imagine we could do this, though in actual fact we don't know how one can reduce the length of something, which has no extended existence. Only NOW exists, and it exists as a point, not a dimension. It has only location. The past is gone, and the future is not yet. We are therefore left with nothing to shorten; only with something which has no length. Ten days never exist at one time, nor even ten seconds, nor even ten millionths of a second! How then could we ever speak of reducing them? Time becomes a position in eternity, nothing more.  Thus while we do seem to reduce time by having spent some of it, we cannot ever seem to shorten eternity no matter how much we have spent of it. In the very nature of the case, eternity remains unaffected by what has already passed. The categories of time and eternity are clearly not the same. What is appropriately spoken of as shortening in the one case becomes meaningless in the other. If we have a very large number and we subtract something from it, what remains is less than it was. If we have an infinite number and subtract something from it, we still have infinity remaining. When something is forever, as much remains no matter how much has already been subtracted. Thus while we may speak of time which is passed, there is no such thing as eternity which has passed. Otherwise we would have to ask the absurd question, Is God older today than He was yesterday?  One of the earliest symbols for eternity was a circle. We walk around the circle through so many degrees of arc but we do not actually shorten the distance we yet have to journey to complete the circle. As much remains of it to walk around as ever. The circumference persists intact and unchanged. We can go on and on endlessly, like the marching column of caterpillars whose head has been induced to link up with the tail and so they journey on, each following the leader in front, until at last they starve themselves to exhaustion.  Eternity does not flow past us, for if it did some would already have been used up. The concept of an exhaustible resource can never be applied to the word eternity. Only if eternity was like a circle would it then escape this inevitable limitation: but circular movement imposes a no less undesirable limitation, namely, repetition. Some ancient philosophers viewed heaven as cyclical, but even then they saw it as ultimately having an end, as though the circling movement gradually slowed down and finally stopped.  It is not surprising that cultures which emphasize material things and reify (make a thing of) time, tend to view history as linear, as a long line of successive events with a firm beginning and a well defined ending. Cultures which attach more importance to the spiritual aspects of life have tended towards a view of history which has no beginnings or endings in the linear sense. Things just go on forever. Such is the Hindu view, so are all reincarnational views.

The Old Testament saint was promised "long life" (Exodus 20:12); the New Testament saint is promised "life more abundant" (John 10:10). To think of length as the essence of eternal life is to suppose that the reality of it is to be measured by how long it lasts. How long must a thing last to have real existence? Surely the reality of existence in eternity is not measured by "how long"?

Angels do not have material bodies, although it seems they can sometimes assume them when fulfilling divinely appointed tasks such as the rescue of Lot and his wife from Sodom — "taking them by the hand" to hurry them out of the city (Genesis 19:16). But if they do not have material bodies as normal to their existence, they do not normally occupy space either and therefore do not live in time as we do.  Moreover, they existed before the creation of the universe, since they were already present at its inception and rejoiced to see it (Job 38:4-7). Did they therefore exist before time and thus outside of it?

They were, however, created beings and therefore not "inhabitants of eternity" as God is. What then was the nature of the framework of their existence if there was no time until the creation of the physical universe which came "later"? Can we speak of a before and an after in eternity while as yet there was no physical world in existence to constitute time in which to set events 'before' and 'after'? Is there a sense in which eternity does witness sequences of events that supply the ground for the terms before and after even though there is no actual passage of time involved? Is this the sense in which the Son of God said, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58) , re-asserting the NOW of his eternity by the words "I am," in spite of his use of the word "before"? Is there some kind of proto-time or pseudo-time in which the angels lived while awaiting the creation of the universe? Or are we to restate Augustine's insight by saying that time began with the creation, and read this to mean "with the creation of the spirit world" — this, then, being the first stage in the creation of the physical world?  To state this as simply as possible: Did time strictly begin with an act of creation per se — that is, the creation of the spirit world, this being only one kind of time? Was a second kind of time then initiated with the creation of the physical world? When this physical world comes to an end, will this second kind of time also terminate? But as to the first kind of time, appropriate to a created order that is spiritual, will it continue as long as created beings continue to give it meaning? It may indeed be beyond our comprehension — but it still bears thinking about. . . .   If we limit the existence of time to the creation of the physical world we find ourselves called upon to explain how the creation of the angels, the bringing of something into being that was not there before, could occur when there was no time to accommodate this before. We therefore seem to be forced to conclude that the beginning of time was marked by creative activity per se, not merely with the creation of the material world as Augustine saw it. This makes the angels an essential part of the created universe in a way that we do not customarily think of them, but it does seem to be in accordance with Colossians 1:16. Here the creation of principalities and powers is linked with the creation of the material universe that constitutes the heavens and the earth, as though in a sense they all belong together. The creation of the spirit world and the creation of the physical world are thus lumped together without distinction.

In short, as the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews said long ago, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebrews 11:3). Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, said, "We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). And in Hebrews 10:34, the writer assures us that we have "in heaven a better and an enduring substance." In the English of the King James Version "substance" means reality, the kind of reality of which the chief quality is its permanence and unchangeable character. It is the material aspect of the present world that is wrapped up in its temporality. What is physical is temporal: that is why space (which physical things must occupy) and time are so intimately bound together and so impermanent. Time itself is fleeting. . . .   We know from Scripture that this present physical order is to come to an end. Thus in Isaiah 65:17 the Lord said, "Behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind." In prospect is a new universe and this new universe will be permanent. Isaiah 66:22 reveals: "The new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, says the Lord; so shall your seed and your name remain." Hebrews 1:10-12 seems to provide in more precise language the details of what is to happen to this present universe. "You, Lord, in the beginning have laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the works of Your hands: they shall perish; but You remain; and they shall wax old as does a garment and as a vesture shall You fold them up, and they shall be changed."  That changed order is the subject matter of Revelation 21:1, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away." The prospect is not a mere destruction of what now exists with nothing taking its place, but the creation of a new heavens and a new earth with at least one fundamental difference in it. It will never grow old. This qualifying statement is very important because it implies some kind of timelessness. The passage of time inevitably means growing old in our experience. It may be that in this new order some other kind of "time" remains which is compatible with the fact of creation. As we shall have new bodies and live in a new universe, so we may experience some entirely new order of "time," but it will not be something which is irreversibly expended as it is in this world in which we grow old and die. There will be no entropy, no "running down" of energy and no "running out" of time, no tiredness and no death.

Conclusion 

Eternity, then, is not a mere extension of time. Nor is it to be confused with it. Time and eternity are clearly in different categories of experience. They involve two different universes which are currently co-existent. That the child of God should have a sense of "eternity" is only in keeping with the fact that in his new life he is "not of this world." In our present life, time and eternity are somehow interdependent, though it is difficult to see what form this interdependence takes. But it is reasonably clear that we can no longer merely add stretches of time together in order to build a concept of eternity. Experience on the other side of the grave will not be "an experience of inexhaustible time" but rather an experience of timeless-ness. 

The beauty of INCARNATION

2009-07-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

Why I believe in the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ

What does the incarnation mean for all of us? The incarnation means that God has personally crossed the unimaginable gap between himself and every human being, becoming one of us, and making it possible for every person to know God by way of the path of being human. In Jesus, God comes to us as one of us, speaks to us in human language, relates to us and draws us into relationship with himself without requiring us to be anything other than what we are: creatures of flesh and blood, human beings to whom God is a mystery and the curtain beyond our limitations is impenetrable in our experience. In Jesus, God comes to us, in life, through death, beyond the curtain and in simple words and signs.

The incarnation is the complete refutation of every human system and institution that claims to control, possess and distribute God. Whatever any church or religious leader may claim in regard to their particular access to God or control over my experience of God, the incarnation is the last word: God loves the world. God has come into the world in the form of those of us who bear God’s fingerprints and live in God’s world. God has come to all of us in Jesus. The incarnation is not owned, controlled or distributed by a church. It belongs to every human being. In Jesus, God comes to every one of us with no one else and nothing else in between. The incarnation is not being sold or downloaded. It is a gracious gift to every person everywhere, religious or not.

Jesus comes to every person and for every person in the incarnation. This is a truth that is not mediated by the church. It is proclaimed and offered, but not ever controlled.

A Jewish Folk Tale

2009-03-31T18:44:00.000-07:00

This Jewish folk tale demonstrates the confusion associated with the simple statement "I Love You," while illustrating how difficult it can be to get the word "Love" right:

Once upon a time, an angler pulls a large pike out of the water. "Look at the size of this fish! I"ll take it to the Baron. He loves pike."

Hearing these words, the poor fish says to himself, "There's hope for me yet."

When the fisherman presents himself at the gate of the manor house, the guard inquires: "What do you have?"

"A pike for the Baron."

"Great," replies the guard. " The Baron loves pike."

Once the fish hears the words, and while he can hardly breath as he is brought into the palace, he still finds hope: the Baron loves pike.

As he is brought into the kitchen, all the cooks get excited as they look at the fish, nodding to one another how much the Baron loves pike. The fish is then placed on the table, and the Baron himself enters and examines the fish. "Cut off the tail, cut off the head and slit it this way."

With his last breath, the fish cries out in great despair, "Why did you lie? You don't love pike, you love yourself!"

The poor fish is as confused as we are about the different meaning of the same verb. Love is the most complex word in the english language. The most misused and abused word ever stated and by now the most unloved word we use. More has been written about love than any other word. The dumbest words ever written about love: "Love means never having to say you,re sorry" (Love Story by Erich Segal)

"Love" is a hard word to get right. The true character of love is self-giving, the emptying and expending of oneself for the well being of others. True love lays down the draw bridge of the self so that others can cross over into this kind of love. You don't find love by looking for it you find love by laying it down and letting it go.

It has been said that "Agape" love (the Greek word for God's love) doesn't expect anything in return. I disagree. There is no such thing as one-way love. Also there is no such thing as self-less love. All love is relational. The notion that we can give love without receiving love violates the Biblical understanding, where, "Love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 Jn 4:7-8). For us to experience love , we must receive the love offered to us. "God love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 Jn 4:9-10). It all starts with God and not us.

We can't reciprocate God-love; we can only respond to God-love. To love as God loves, the love of forgiveness, grace, hope and sacrificial giving, is not possible without God's power.

One last thought, one of the most incredible verses in the Bible can be easily overlooked: "Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her" (Gen. 29:20). Upon reading it again you find that it does not say, "and those seven years were as seven life times." It says those seven years of unrequited love were as seven days. For Jacob, the love itself and not the quest of the object of his love was the satisfaction.

"To love at all is to be vulnerable.

Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken.

If you want to make sure of keeping it intact,

you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal".

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

PS I think this might become a series of articles.

The Synergy of Two

2009-03-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

"YOU" A New Intimacy.

Christianity is a religion of the "I", but it quickly becomes the relationship of the you. In fact, Christianity is best described as a first-person faith that puts the second person first. Especially the last person. In the Shema (Deu. 6:4-9) "...Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength. The first part is addressed to the individual (heart) and the second part is in the plural and is addressed to the Hebrew people as a whole (Deu. 11:13-21). This is the beginning of Jesus answer to the question as to which of the commandments was the greatest. In Jesus own words "Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself". You must first Love as a singular person and then love in a plural sense, your community or neighbor. In fact God told Adam in Genesis that it was not good for him to be alone, so he created Eve for him. It has been said for many years that when "God put Adam to sleep and took Eve out of his side and when Adam woke up he found out he was married." That has been happening ever since to us men, one day we wake up and figure out we are married.

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis in an interview with USA today stated, "You can have everything under the tree that you ever wanted. and if you're sitting there alone, you are the saddest, loneliest human being on the planet, and there is absolutely nothing that money can buy that will fill your soul."

None of us can go at it alone in today's world. The price for trying that is being left alone. It has been said that "New York was once a city where one could weep on the sidewalk in perfect privacy."

It's interesting how individualization works here in the West. When every individual is born, you get some kind of document that proves you were born on such-and-such a date in such-and-such a place. This is called a birth certificate and is used to get a passport, drivers license and other such important documents that prove we are who we say we are. In the East, when parents give birth to a child, that child's name is added onto the family of record. While in the West, every child enters life legally defined as a separate entity. In the East, every child enters life legally defined by the network of relationships into which one is born. In some African cultures, a child does not achieve "moral" standing until he or she is "presented" to the community. Until an infant is introduced into relationships with others, he or she has no "moral arrival," only a "biological arrival". The African people have introduced us to probably the most important global spiritual truth, the Ubuntu principle of "I am because we are."

One of the greatest spiritual heresies of our day is the notion that we are separate from one another - that I can function in this world without you, that I can cry "in perfect privacy." The well known "Lords Prayer" begins with "Our Father." The disciples never approached Jesus for a personal prayer, but a prayer that would teach "us" to pray. They asked for the good of their brothers and sisters. It has been said that in the Lord's Prayer the "I" is silent.

The Talmudic reading of the "rib" from which Eve was made is the word "face". Adam had two faces. The "I"(singular) becomes truly itself only in communion, in the "YOU" (community). In the community, we see something that reminds us of intimacy, and connection. In human life as well as divine life, two is really one, and one is really two. Love needs two. When love is only one, there is something missing and homesickness happens. God's original intent for Adam and Eve was that, "they become one" but it takes two to do that. We are in need of each other and were not created to go it alone. We need each other.

I need to stop writing and go hug my wife, I'll talk to you later.

Bob

Making time

2009-03-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

I just finished "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck. It's a wonderfully written novel that takes the reader into the lives of his characters with creative prose that weld you and the character together for eternity. I was drawn to this book by my wife (Linda). I had preached a sermon from Genesis and took the statement that all of the early Bible characters moved "East" of Eden once they were cast out of the beautiful garden God had created for them. My wife remembered John Steinbeck's book and checked it out of the library and consumed his writing with the veracity of a race horse. As you read his book you will probably say to yourself that you'll never write anything other than Email's again in your life. He is a very penetrating, perceptive writer and story teller. The book reads itself.

Finding the time to read is a challenge these days with all the demands on us as ordinary people, when finding any time takes the work of a hired detective. Why is this so? Possibly because we are all consumed with trying to live in a consumer society. I was thinking the other day how the word 'growth' has been so misrepresented as a word in our society. To most of us it might mean bigger. Some one asked me the other day if my church was growing? I said that depends on how I count my Schizophrenics. Why do we always associate growth with bigger or numbers? In the world of weight control and diet bigger is not a positive thing. When was the last time you heard of a house under construction that was under a thousand square feet? Why we are so mortgage broke, is bigger was better, better for the bankers, not us.

Just how thick does a steak have to be to be a steak? Bigger has gotten us into trouble in all areas of our lives. Small one room schools educated a lot of very intelligent people and a few of them actually became presidents. The books were smaller but the teachers were great at multitasking. What was life like when the X-Box was not with us? Well, believe it or not children actually read for pleasure and adventure, with the by product being a wonderful thing called imagination. Their was a time when each child had his own imagination and not one borrowed from some other place or thing.

You see, we are smart people when we are allowed to be smart. Unfortunately what happens is we are restricted or played the fool by the world of advertising and media groups. They have us all figured out. What we buy, why we buy it, where we live and what kind of work we do and why. How much money we make and how much is left over after we pay the bills. This information then targets us and limits us in our social and economic groups. The "new" industry vision that build cars, homes and electronics' are geared to keep us on the edge of our economic scale. We sit on the peak of our standard of living with no room to move or think. Everything cost the amount of money we have, goods are targeted at us economically priced. It is all affordable, at least that is what this new industry would like to have us all believe.

Affordable. What a word this is. It actually means to be "reasonably priced". Reasonable being the optimum word here. Some things are fine just the way they are, no improvement is necessary. Make more of what works and make it cheaper and gives us the consumer a break. One of past myths was bottled water, somehow we all believed it was better. It was the same old water in a new problematic packaging device.

Better would be, that it lasts longer, costs less and actually works. Not to forget the best part that it is needed and intended to make life simpler. Are we any better as people, I hope so. I'm not placing any bets on it, but I do think so. I just hope that we all learn how to out think the people that are our out thinking for us these days. Wanting less is a good thing. What it can produce is "more" time. More time means you can do what you want to do, not what you have to do to keep everything running and updated. I'm updated to death these days. I just updated my house insurance, what a trip that was. Yes, it all goes by square foot, so much per square foot. Bigger demands bigger money.

All that said to say that we need time to read more. So shut off the TV put all the furniture that speaks away, find a nice soft chair or couch, find your favorite blanket, turn on the gas fireplace, open the book and start to read. See how far you get and who knows you might enjoy it, it might improve your life. Make time for yourself. You can make time, so stop looking for it and start making some of it.

Do you know what people group reads the most? Prisoners in jail. Yes, they have the time to read. We reward our criminals with the most precious gift life gives - "time". That's why they call it "doing time".

Dirt under my finger nails

2009-03-05T19:04:00.001-08:00

I just looked at the date on my last blog; I must have fallen asleep in between then and now. I might have been busy or lazy, come to think of it, maybe I simply spaced it out. I did actually write something, but then rejected it due to the fact that it was a bad rant and not worth your time. One thing I find when I do not keep notes is my mind tends to stare. You know that feeling that you get when you see someone and you must have that second look, when you take that second look it can last up to ten seconds. That ten seconds is when your mind is in neutral, the gears are not moving forward or backwards, you've shifted into the staring zone. I feel I've been staring a lot lately and not really engaging my feelings or emotions. I think it has been very healthy for me. I needed the rest and opportunity of nothingness of the brain (NOTB).

Today I came out of the stare. I was as happy as a pig in crap. I was in twelve yards of top soil and three yards of the best Maple Ridge cow crap available. My drive-way was plugged with top quality earth and the best waste a Jersey Cow can produce. The aroma was similar to the empty box of chocolates that Forrest Gump was always talking about. Cigars might be a closer match in smell and texture, but chocolate does work for a word picture as well. When I'm in my winter-stare zone with the frost and numbness that comes after the holidays and prior to spring, the planet is like a safe that has a combination, but the combination is locked inside the safe and no one knows the combination. We are held captive until the safe naturally lets its door open to us.

I felt today that the door opened and I got a peek inside and yes, the earth will live and warm up again. I have the scent of the planet on me and it smells authentic. Our great, great Grandfather to the hundredth power started by working with dirt and talking with God. We are genetically wired to the dust and soil that we live upon. In the West we try to live above the soil by building platforms above the dirtiness of dirt for cleaner living. I guess it works but wonder if it is as necessary as we think. Now the East is not as aggressive with the platform strategy as we Westerners are. Have you tried using an Asian toilet lately? When my thoughts are not staring at the maze of nothingness I tend to think about strange things and ask even stranger questions. What this blog is about is that my mind got kick started today and it was brought along by digging in the soil of our planet. I got to spend today redecorating my small piece of terra firma.

I bathed in the soil of creation and cleansed my mind with the soil of life. It got under my finger nails, skin and maybe into my blood. It was a good day. Tomorrow will be even better as the soil will be warmer. But to some, it is very inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is mostly Ocean. But not so with me.

Will we be holding hands at the finish line?

2009-02-05T17:45:00.000-08:00

The deeper I go in this life and the more years I use up, the more important finishing becomes. As a believer and follower of my Christian faith I've always been encouraged to "press towards the mark" to what lies ahead and to end up at the place my faith summons me to. If there is no end to pursue, why undergo the journey anyway? A journey without a destination is a vagrancy, not a voyage. But completing life on schedule and well done is important. The journey is important and as your friendly biker's club would say, "Life is a journey, enjoy the ride". But then again American Airlines once had a slogan, "We understand, it's not about the journey, it's about the destination."

It's good to have a destination but it's the journey that matters. "To journey without being changed is to be a nomad. To change without journeying is to be a chameleon. To journey and be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim (John Wayne, just kidding, it was Mark Nepo) . My favorite: "Life is not about journeys or destinations; it's about how you look while you're traveling."

The journey is very important no matter how hypocritical we might be about it. Yes, the flowers do need smelling but we keep coming up with reasons to keep our noses in other places. I personally am the genetically driven guy who is constantly asking, "Are we there yet?" I think my faith is a theology of journeying. If you don't meet God along the way, you'll never meet God at the destination. That is the dynamic tension of the journey vs destination question.

Life is a handicap event. We can't get to our destination without the help of others. Reality is found not when the rubber meets the road, but when I meet you. More than we need five ways or seven steps to this, we need relationships, guides and guards who help us along the road of life. We also need the dynamic power that is released by relationships, a power that draws us beyond ourselves to the beyond itself. Will we be holding hands when we cross the finish line of life or will you go it alone. "Anyone who doesn't need company is either greater than a man, and is a God, or lesser than a man, and is a beast (Aristotle, as quoted by Saint Thomas Aquinas). How about Robert Fulghum's Rules for Kindergarten's that said, "When you go out into the world, watch out, hold hands, and stick together." Just in case you might think this is just one of my ideas, God told Adam in the story of Genesis that, "It was not good for man to be alone".

Our fate is not the result of our faith alone, for no one stands alone. All notions of self-sufficiency need abandoning. Your future to be a future needs others who we chose as friends or marriage determines the outcome of our future. Outside of relationships, there is no "you' or "I". In fact, it is not "I think, therefore I am (Descartes). It is "I'm with, therefore I am." Or more precisely, "We are, therefore I am."

There are spaces between each of us. Each of us fills those spaces with someone, something and those filled- in spaces determine our destiny. There is this romantic notion that one person can meet the needs of another person. Each of us lives on many levels, and we need multileveled relationships with many different kinds of people to be healthy and whole. With the decline of extended families in Western cultures, this becomes all the more pressing. We are all aware of the mystery and divinity of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Even in the blessed Trinity, the Father needs both the Son and Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit both Son and Father, the Son both Father and Holy Spirit - even each Divine person needs at least two others to be fully itself. How much more do we needs the "others" to be complete on our journey.

Each of us has a journey. No one can walk it for you, you have to do it yourself. But there will be those who will walk it "with you." For is the word for laziness and colonialism. It is always easier to do things "for" people rather than "with" them. When we do things for someone, we automatically position ourselves (purposefully or inadvertently) as the 'givers" - which immediately implies that we have attained a certain level of wherewithal or some modicum of success. It allows us the indulgence of being identified with a benevolent "upper echelon." It also classifies recipients of our giving as "receivers" or, more disparagingly, "takers." In the process we demean "the least of these" when we refuse to walk 'with" them and only want to do it for them.

The destination of this essay, is a clearer picture of how and why God chose to incarnate Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. His plan all along was to be "with us" on our journey and the prize at the destination. How revolutionary to know that God our creator created us so He could be with us. I meet far too many a person who is looking for a God to "do" it for them (the just do it god). God's promise from start to finish in the bible or in life was, "I will be with you until the end" Many a man has desired to become God, but only one God has ever desired to become Man.

Worn Out And Used Up!

2009-01-31T12:38:00.000-08:00

"The world is a beautiful place to be born into if you don't mind some people dying all the time or maybe only starving some of the time which isn't half bad if it isn't you. " This is a quote from Laurence Ferlinghetti, poet and playwright from his book "Pictures of the Gone World". It first appeared in the Chicago Review in 1955. This was a new kind of poetry that brought us into the changing era of the post wars years of the forties. The world was changing and so was the way we see it, literally. The development of photography, movies and television would soon change our view of the world. It would take on a new reality, it would become a visual reality with all of it's brutality, cruelty, mixed with it, we see it's elegant, alluring creative side. Like all things in life, it has two sides.

Our happiness depends on which side we find ourselves on on any given day. The Chinese have a proverb for how we westerners live our lives, "People in the West are always getting ready to live." How true that is. My middle daughter once told she did not take many pictures on one of her travel trips because she was trying to live the moment, not record it. Life here on this earth can seem like living in a second class hotel when we are always striving to live and get beyond ourselves. I remember saying once that I wanted to live with the so-called losers of life because they seemed so relaxed, but at least I could keep up with them. As I enter into the later years of my life I have no reason to wear any kind of mask nor pretend to be anyone other than who I really am.

Unfortunately we tend to live life backwards and not always forwards, but life goes on and so do we. The tragedy of life is not in the things we suffer, but in the things we miss, life can be a long preparation for something that never happens. In the words of Monty Python, "suddenly nothing happened", can sum up a life of disappointment for those who are dissatisfied with their circumstances. These are never satisfied with what they have and refuse to live in the midst of life no matter how stark or profound it may be. Life is what we breath, consume and what we contribute back to it. It is not how many years you live, but how much you put into those years that will define the quality of your life.

This last week I lost a personal friend who was old enough to die and qualified by life experience to graduate to the next stage of her life. That stage is called eternity or eternal life, a life that has a new life source, not one that is bound by human limitations or earthly desires. The Holy Scriptures speak of a life that is at one with God (our creator) in all His holiness and beauty. A life that is not held back by inner desires of insecurity, shame and the want for something more. A life that is complete in itself, a life that is self perpetuating and needs nothings except to be connected to the source of all life, God Himself. One of God's greatest character traits is His humility. The very fact that God became one with us through the birth of Christ. That this God would humble Himself and submit to the negatives of humanity so that He could feel what we feel and suffer what we suffer, even death itself. The story of God's birth, death and resurrection is a picture of humility expressed by the ultimate power, God Himself. It was once said that many men have aspired to be gods, but only one God has ever became man.

One of our greatest hopes but yet a constant mystery is death, what would life be like without the hope of death? A hope that brings us beyond ourselves, a hope that points us to something better than what we have. May we all realize the frailty of life, the weakness of our own bodies and the strength of desire for something more, something that completes, fulfills and lets us live as we've never lived before. Life is to be spent not saved, when we come to life's conclusion we should be well spent, used up, and every ounce of life in us should have been exhausted and consumed. We should leave this life on empty waiting for the complete rebuild of all our working parts. Let us not get in the way of those who are coming behind us in life's pursuit of everything wonderful, rare and exciting. May we understand that this life is a gift from God and something to be cherished, used and expressed. May we all reflect the glory of our Creator and become the expressed image of who He is.

Obama to the rescue

2009-01-27T19:15:00.000-08:00

Does anyone else think that time and history are happening so fast that if we go to sleep we might miss some big evet? Wow. What a week! Canada got a new president, so did America. Talk about a one world leader, President Obama is covering all the bases and looking very Presidential. The feeling among my American friends and family is one of hope and excitement. I don't think this feeling of renewal has been seen since the John Kennedy years. That was the last time little children were in the White House and a child looked at the President as daddy! Makes an immigrant want to go and apply for a Green card.

The other thing I've noticed is that the media is in love with Obama. Who would of thought that the media could love anyone, especially a President? I hope it is a four year honeymoon. My Republican friends are still in shock and contemplating a move to Canada. Socialism is a scary thought for Republicans, but none the less socialism can work well with big business, especially when big business is broke and needs a bail out. Now health care does seem to work in every country that is socialistic in regards to their health care systems (even Cuba). When was the last time any of my American friends smoked a good Cuban grown Cohiba Cigar? Not since President Kennedy signed that embargo back in 62 while he was puffing on a good hand rolled Cuban cigar. I just recently got resupplied with twenty-four "Cohibas" from my friends here in Vancouver. It's nice to know good street people who look after you and are socialistic at heart.

Life is changing, folks and we had better figure out how to get on board and get with the program. This new administration has the young at heart on board. Never have we seen so many young adults wanting to get involved in political and social change. Now, that is amazing to behold. I'm not sure I'm a republican or a democrat yet, but what ever I am I like what I hear and see.

In politics a week is a very long time. As Ronald Reagan once said, "Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." One last political statement, "Deep down he is shallow." One of my favorite political statements.

Hot Chocolate and Storytelling

2009-01-15T20:00:00.000-08:00

When Brad Pitt tells Eric Bana in the 2004 film Troy that "there are no pacts between lions and men," he is not reciting a clever line from the pen of a Hollywood screenwriter. He is speaking Achilles' words in English as Homer wrote them in Greek more than 2,000 years ago in the IIiad. The tale of the Trojan War has captivated generations of audiences while emerging from its origins as an oral epic to written versions and ,finally, to several film productions. The power of this story to transcend time, language and culture is clearly evident. The power of a story written or told has a lasting impact and forges our beliefs and history forward while remembering our past. Hear any good stories lately?

Storytelling is one of the few human traits that are truly universal across culture and through all of history. Anthropologists find evidence of folk-tales everywhere in ancient cultures, written in Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, Chinese, Egyptian and Sumerian (it can even be found in "Rap Music"). People in societies of all types weave narratives, from oral storytelling in primitive tribes to the millions of writers churning out books, television shows and movies. Storytelling is a human universal, and common theme in tales throughout history and all over the world. We have a natural affinity towards storytelling and these are clues that reveal our history and the roots of our emotions and empathy. A stories narrative has power to influence beliefs and how we analyze these stories reveals how we learn to accept new ideas. The spoken word is more powerful than the written as it can take on personality and character. While the pen is still mightier than the sword, the written word or recorded word leaves much to the interpretation of the reader. Ask any biblical scholar.

As our ancestors were learning to live in groups or tribes they developed the ability to accept complex social relationships through story speaking. Living in community requires keeping tabs on who the group members are and what they are doing. Thought this development storytelling became the method of keeping and spreading this information. To this day most people spend most of their day conversing through personal storytelling and gossip. Storytelling encourages social cohesion and serves as a valuable method of passing knowledge to future generations. The imaginary world of stories may serve as a proving ground for vital social skills. Spoken stories tend to draw a person out, unlike written stories that can tend to isolate us from the group and weaken our ability to socialize amongst real people. When I have a good book I tend to hibernate in the recluenjss of my private world and fantasies.

Can you imagine the impact that computer games and software are going to have on society in the next one hundred years? The isolation work ethic they bring to society, for good or bad. What type of impact will this have on how the next generation fits into the scheme of life lived socially, out amongst the group.

A couple of years ago a good friend of mine (Mike Meeking) who has since went home to be with the Lord. Invited me to attend the children's festival. Amongst all the skits, plays and street performers was a story teller. He was in a jesters costume and had captivated a group of about twenty-five children between the ages of five and ten. They were absolutely held spellbound by this story teller. They were hanging on to every word and and the story he was telling them. He had entered their world and held them captive or was it the other way around? I'm afraid that storytelling is now on the endangered talents list. What a loss it will be. This blog is somewhat of a oxymoron as I'm writing about the lost art of storytelling. Maybe we should meet for Hot Chocolate and I can tell you a story or two. Just let me know when. One last thing, when was the last time you had a really good deep dark hot chocolate. The thick rich kind that needs a drill motor to keep it stirred? I'm off to fix me one right now. Come tell me a story and I'll fix the chocolate. PS - My editor (Linda) is in California visiting her mom and sisters so cut me some slack on any mistakes.

Hey, pull your pants up!

2009-01-06T16:07:00.000-08:00

The other day while I was in my bank, I saw this teenage kid in the line up with his pants sagging so low I was sure his pants would be around his ankles by the time he finished his banking. Can someone please explain to me why this is still around? Why have we not told these kids to pull their freaking pants up? I've seen all of the fruit of the looms that I care to. Why does this stuff anger me so? Good question. I need a good answer.

Where did all this come from and why is it still around? I'm certain it has something to do with some rapper fashion going back to the early 90's. Will this style ever leave? It's 2009 and I still see butts at my bank and shopping mall. In analyzing this butt sagging fashion statement, my conclusion is that it is the modern youth culture's statement of rebellion. Whereas in my generation youth marched in protest against war and government, now they simply pull their pants down in some kind of protest against the establishment.

I'm sure we can find some psychologist who will say that we need to help these kids deal with their rebellion and allow them to express their rebellion in a healthy way. Baloney! Pull your freaking pants up because I do not want to see your ugly bum at the shopping mall next Christmas.

Our youth of today are the most privileged generation in history. They have more opportunity, more leisure time, easier standards, less work, and more stuff than anyone - ever. All we ask as adults who are giving you this easy life style is, PULL YOUR PANTS UP!

Let's Talk Weather

2009-01-03T07:40:00.000-08:00

Let's talk weather.

What is going on? What happened to "Global Warming"? I think we know. The masterminds in marketing missed the boat and the phenomenon of "climate change". Here are the facts. We've not seen the driveway for three weeks, finding a place to park in Vancouver tops any New York parking reality show. The toilet is frozen, the sink is backed up and the cat hates us.

With all this white stuff piling up in Vancouver one would think the same was happening to our soon to be famous ski resorts in Whistler BC. The future home of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Not so. The nasty white stuff has skirted around the Whistler Village similar to a destroyer making it's way through a mined harbor.

Vancouver has proven its inability to cope with any snow build up. Our side streets are like Olympic bobsled runs with no room for spectators. Even the type of snow that dropped on us is worthy of mention. It has the substance of bread dough gone bad. A shovel full weighs close to fifty pounds. That is more exercise than any true Vancouverite wants to engage in. So it sits, piles up and is starting to give our beautiful city that Alberta cold storage look.

Something you might not know: Snow is commonly formed when water vapor undergoes deposition, which is when water vapor changes directly to ice without first becoming a liquid, high in the atmosphere at a temperature of less than 32' F and then falls to the ground.

Snowflakes are made of ice crystals. Each snowflake is six-sided and made of as many as 200 ice crystals. Snowflakes form in clouds where the temperature is below freezing. The ice crystals form around tiny bits of dirt that has been carried up into the atmosphere by the wind. As the snow crystals grow, they become heavier and fall towards the ground.

Even with that information this winter has lost its romantic feel and is slowly turning even the best of us into winter boycotters and complainers. I've noticed a lot more yellow spots in the snow than usual. Could we be getting bitter about it? My snow shovel is two inches shorter than it was last year. We here in BC buy the plastic ones. I know that sounds stupid to you real snow dwellers. We are learning to adapt, and for us that means staying home watching the movie channel .We know that this type of "climate change" is only temporary with warmer weather on the way. Yep, warmer weather means rain. Something we look forward to seeing again.

Happy New Year (I think)

2009-01-01T09:12:00.000-08:00

What's up with the Happy New Year stuff?...I can handle a Merry Christmas as it represents the incarnation of God into man, (something by the way, that no other supposed god has ever desired to do.) I did some research and found what I think might be the origin of the New Year.

In 46 BC the Roman emperor Julius Caesar first celebrated January 1 as the new year's day. Janue was the Roman god of doors and gates, and had two faces, one looking forward and one looking back. Caesar felt that the month named after this god (January) would be the appropriate "door" to the year. Caesar celebrated the first January 1 New year ordering the violent routing of revolutionary Jewish forces in the Galilee. Eyewitnesses say blood flowed in the streets. In later years, Roman pagans observed the New Year by engaging in drunken orgies - a ritual they believed constituted a personal re-enacting of the chaotic world that existed before the cosmos was ordered by the gods.

Now, that is the origin of the New Year celebration, but a lot more went on as this holiday was taken over by English Kings, Popes and the confusion of calendars and powers. It went from being held on Jan 1, to March 25. One being Caesar's version and the other the early Christian version called Announcement Day celebrating the announcement by the Angel Gabriel that Mary would be impregnated by God. Eventually Pope Gregory XIII brought us back to the Julian calendar and the new year was again January 1. Pope Gregory, also brought us that trendy little year, what we now call Leap Year. The Julian calendar had an 18 hour miscalculation to it, and we thought Y2K was weird, this little mix up was going to throw the universe into total chaos, but Pope Gregory made an adjustment in our calendar and we are now safe and the cosmos is running as ordered.

For any of you that woke up this morning with a head ache ,now you know the reason why. One last note on the January 1 thing. The early Christians celebrated January 1 as the day Jesus was circumcised. Not that that day was the actual day, but it was chosen to celebrate the event. Can you begin to see why history, tradition and politics can really screw things up?

I have to accept this New Year thing due to the fact I need order and do need to know what year number to write on the one check a month I write to my church. Currently, we do not have a cash machine in the lobby. Writing checks are as common as showing your high school diploma when you apply for a job. Nice to have but rarely used.

2008 is not going down as a good year for most. For me I'm just happy to be alive, enjoying what ever comes my way. As Jack Nicholson once said about his life, "another day another $5000,000". Oh, to be so charmed. I do hope some things do change in 2009, like never hearing the word "Green". If another corporation announces it is going Green, I'm lighting a set of tires on fire in my drive way. How about "bailout"? The term was once reserved for crooks and really bad people, now it is the reward for being a incompetent, overpaid, out of touch Executive. We have a new form of economic terrorism, weapons of mass financial destruction. Held by the terrorist organization known as, Justice for the overly wealthy and lazy. One good thing that 2008 did for us was it brought an end to the "election" mania that began as far back as 2007. I now suffer from election Bolemia. When ever I hear anything concerning an election I purge immediately. I do believe that if God intended us to have elections He would have given us candidates (old joke I know, but it fits).

It does appear that that my post are a tad on the negative side of things, what do you think? Negative, is defined as something that is in denial, disagreement or refusal. I think I'm safely in the that zone on these matters. As an observer one must see "what is" and learn from "what was". Adlie Stevenson said: The definition of free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular".

Tarnished Tinsel

2008-12-27T18:55:00.000-08:00

Celebrity status might arguably be called America's favorite religion. The amount of energy, money, time and trouble invested in the adoration of celebrities surpasses almost any public display of religion in America. Secularist and humanists may vince at the shenanigans of religious fanatics, but the sort of hoopla that accompanies the cult of celebrity makes even Pentecostals look like Stoics. Americans scream at their celebrities, imitate them, stalk them, read about them, adorn themselves with their image, canonize their every saying and generally make entertainers and athletes every bit the equals of the gods of Olympus.

Oddly, Americans also like their celebrities to crash, burn and self-destruct and otherwise go through as much hell as possible. How many of our pop diva's are depressed and disillusioned. What we've seen this year is a large number of our diva's spiral into mental illness and hospitalization. As I have listened and read, it appears to me that somewhere in the buzz is the interesting truth that most diva's are certified workaholic's, control freaks with extraordinary talent. But they have discovered that the Emerald City is, alas, an illusion.

Yes, folks, Oz is just a lot of curtains, lighting crews and special effects. It's a city of press releases and "Making of..." specials. After the multi-million dollar contracts and the obligatory film roles, it's all a sham. That's right folks. Tinseltown is, uh tinsel and hopefully the word is out of the box.

One of my more intelligent friends once uttered the truism that "Sanity is whoever has the keys," or to state the converse, "Crazy is what the people with the keys say it is." Increasingly, the keepers of the cultural illusion of celebrity have attempted to say that the ridiculous images of celebrity superiority sent across the world are reality and you are crazy.

Is it possible that it's actually a relatively healthy urge that keeps us watching the endless versions of "Behind the Music" that rehearse the decline of celebrities to the level of savages before finding salvation in rehab. Are we secretly telling ourselves "hey, I'm actually doing better than those famous guys! I've sorof got it together in comparison to those who are in hoc to the IRS or are addicting themselves into heroin rehab. As painful as it is to admit, I think the public fascination with the self-demolition of celebrities may serve a good purpose: we see the truth that money, power, fame movies and headlines don't rescue you from being a miserable idiot.

These celebrities are discovering that life is not money, fame and talent. Many have gone public with the "rehab" treatment and present to us the public how they have been to hell and back. And guess what? They have now figured out how life really is.

There are a lot of people like that, and most of them aren't celebrities. They are the guy who fixes your car, the lady who serves you at the local store, the elderly woman next door, the young man installing your kitchen cabinets. Unknown to you, they have made it through all kinds of hell that will never be on television. They will never write a song about it. They simply discovered life is a gift, an incredibly resilient gift. It bounces back, and often gets a lot better.

The music biz, the celebrity cult, the illusion of diva-hood and all the rest of it is a lie telling all of us we need applause, attention and money to be really happy. Fact is, a good hot tea with pie does it for me. And hundreds of things that cost a lot less than that. Happiness is what ever you decide it is. And it can be very simple indeed.

Those of us who know something of true happiness need to remind the screaming tattoo-covered cultist that misery loves company, and happiness does just find alone. All the props we've placed in our attempt at artificial living are useless and the media the great deceiver of our souls is empty when it comes to real life and its meaning. Celebrities beware; life is more than the exploitation of your talent. While us the public need to be screaming that the "Emperor has no cloths".

Salt Water and Paris Hilton

2008-12-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

When I started writing this blog I decided to title it, "And the Difference Is" this was a spin off from the music, movie and social awards specials that have been afflicted upon us in the media domain we live in. As we wait breathlessly to find out who "The Winner Is...". This blog is a parity of that phrase. On a side bar to the title, I also chose that name because I'm different. I'm a sixty-two year old male, happily married to my one and only wife, three wonderful daughters, who have made me very proud, not only with their selection of outstanding son-in-laws, but two Grandchildren as well ( Samuel and Sophia). I'm not sure if that qualifies me as "different". My other options for "different" are being a survivor of the sixties and its music and cultural craziness, plus I'm a survivor of the Vietnam War and all the after birth of those two generational experiences. My profile: I do not have a ponytail, nor do I wear an earring and have absolutely no tattoos. I have my follies and unfortunately they are the most interesting part of me (a good cigar is worth the dangers involved, just ask Winston Churchill). All of us are as God made us and often times a good deal less. But, none the less, we all like to be different.

Difference can be the rejection of a social down stream of character twisting and value degrading that pushes the likes of Paris Hilton and other social divas into role models for our society and its young people. They have become the new voices of reason and preach the gospel of success and uselessness at the expense of morality, good judgement and most importantly, our consumer dollars. The characterless lives of people who only have arrived because of the media's need for poster size empty headed, glamorized shells that will influence the spending habits and promote the endless greed for the latest needs of the young and restless of our visual, technical generation. The bottom line has always been the bottom line, the money. Why do we BUY into it? The myth of raising our standard of living has produced in us a lower standard of life. Our society has become like salt water, good to swim in, but hard to swallow. We've exchanged the brotherhood of life for the neighborhood and most of us do not know our neighbors. How society has evolved has caused us to lose the charm of intimacy, the ability to be interested in the trifles of another's life. The drowning of human rights has drowned out the need for human obligations.

I feel like a pharmacist who is writing prescription but does not ultimately know if they have worked until someone comes back for the refill. Diagnosis and medication are the easy part of any cure, taking the medicine as directed is the difficult part. "And The Difference Is...", hopefully, you and me.

More mashed potatoes for my people....

2008-12-15T16:09:00.000-08:00

As the name of this blog indicates, I have different thoughts than normal about events and customs that take place in our culture. This Christmas season I have a gold mine of events that stir the human aspects of this critical nature. I've evolved into a person who is seriously wronged at the social injustices in our western self-absorbed society of do gooders. What wounds me most deeply is the thin layer of charitable veneer that covers our self-righteous acts of benevolence - the bleeding hearts that take up the cause of the down trodden seasonally. It's in vogue to do acts of compassion in the middle of December. While the rest of the year the gnarly surface of exposed particle board is the closest we get to charity. Who is this mid- month benevolence for in the end anyway? So we can share at our church and ladies group that we did this act of kindness and show our one-day polished veneer to our friends and co-workers?

Acts of compassion, charitable giving (both financial and labor) should be a life style rather than an event. We sell tickets to an event, but life-style is hard disciplined work and usually costs you more than you expected. The cost is your time, talent and your treasure. Our social network is event based rather than character working itself out through us. We need a cause, an event however short or spectacular it might be. The event is bigger than the real need, and we go home unchanged except for our ego that has just been given a steroid injection and for a few days we retain the swelling of self righteousness.

This coming Saturday I'm cooking at the mission for three hundred people, plus I get to give the Christmas message (ten minutes worth) That is the maximum attention span of a drug addict or prostitute. I hope the dinner lasts longer than the message. This time of year all the one-day helpers show up and get interviewed by the media. Strange how that works. All the guilt is removed with a one day act of volunteering down at the homeless place.

Am I sarcastic? No, not me. Even the management gets all dressed up with the goofy Christmas ties and clean shirts and ridiculous smiles that indicate we are grateful that you showed up today to help. This sort of stuff boils my blood and brings out the worst in me. I will wear my mint flavored shoes on Saturday, as I will in all probability insert them into my mouth. This hyper good deed aspect of Christmas should be criminal. Why is it that one day out of the year we get benevolent and all teary eyed over the plight of the poor and homeless in our cities? This is the time of year when the media likes to talk about the poor and in doing so everyone else gets involved and a few might do something to help for that ONE day. My conclusion is that most of these people like talking about the poor and homeless, but never actually spend time talking to the poor and homeless.

It is also the time of year that all the charities tell everyone how broke they are. When in reality they are not (I know this for a fact). But this is when the monkey is greased and the organ grinder cranks the handle of charitable greed. I think at Christmas I would make a good Buddhist.

Hopefully we are the difference

2008-12-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

I've titled my blog , "The Difference Is". For what reason? Simply put, I'm different. Not in a mean or hurtful way, but hopefully in a progressive, creative, reframing way. So much of what we do, see and model ourselves after tends to come from the 'herd mentality'. Most of us have little time to rethink much of what we accept as normal behavior or a proper response to what life throws our way. We get stuck in the miry clay of the status quo and creative thoughts get lost in the battle to keep from sinking in the routine of just living to stay alive.

Four years ago, I was afflicted with a cancer that was determined to take my life. Thankfully, with God's help and the wisdom and research of our fine Cancer Agency here in Vancouver, I survived. What I survived into is what this blog will attempt to express. I am a work in progress, which is an understatement. At times, I feel like a blind man in a dark room looking for a black hat that isn't there. But at the same time, my knowledge has piled up into a stack of facts translated into a small mound of wisdom. Many a time I have wanted to stop talking and find out what I really believed. I'm reminded of an inscription found on the Berlin Wall during its collapse. It said, "Never since the time of Copernicus have so many been so wrong so often with so little humility."

May the walls of the status quo and ignorance come down and never shall the King's men rebuild them.

Dif.fer-ence (noun)

A point or way which people or things are not the same: the difference between men and women
The state or condition of being dissimilar or unlike: their difference from one another

As Winston Churchill said, "Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge."