“The reason I don’t buy “trickle-down social ethics” (besides that fact
that it clearly hasn’t worked in the past) is because “trickle-down
social ethics” was conceived within the consumerist church model. In
this model the church produces a product that it markets to the people.
This product has good intentions, it is after all “the gospel”.
However, it is often neutered or watered down in order that it may be
consumed by more people at a faster rate. People then show up at the
appointed time and consume the product for their own personal benefit
and continue on with their own enriched lives. The idea is that the
product is so good that it will cause the people to share the product
with other individuals, who buy into the system and then share it with
others and it goes on. This product is so good that it will change
society. (The real “product” is that good, but no one lets it out of
its cage).” (read more…)
Monthly Archives: January 2008
Why Don’t People Read or Write Blogs on Weekends?
I’ve always found this a curious phenomenon. You would think that since people usually have much more free time on the weekends, that they would be more likely to check blogs, comment, write, etc. But, surprisingly to me, that’s not the case. Many big blogs take breaks on the weekends, which makes sense since they are usually full time bloggers and they need a weekend too, but what about the rest of us?
It would seem that the reality is that a lot of people read and write blog posts while at work. Interesting. I’m not going to attempt to make a commentary on this now since it’s Saturday and no one is going to read it, but I did think it was food for thought. As is this picture:
Santa Crucified
Figured this should wait till after Christmas, Santa Crucified. [via]
Vampire Energy
Vampire Energy. Watch Out!
Guest Room for Jesus
I’ve probably mentioned this before, and if you haven’t heard it from me, hopefully you’ve had someone in your life who was crazy enough to say it.
In most cities (every one that I’ve actually seen the statistics compared), there are more abandoned housing units then there are homeless. That is to say specifically, there is enough housing for everyone. Of course, the red tape of our society usually prevents this solution from becoming a reality.
Also, in most cities, even if we are extremely conservative with our statistics, there appears to be many Bible-believing church-attending “Christians.” And of those Christians, even with conservative estimates, I would guess there are many more empty “guest bedrooms” in those homes then there are homeless out on the streets.
Even with this reality, we have plenty of excuses as to why my correlation (The “Christians” [who are supposed to practice hospitality, see Romans 12] with Empty Guest Bedrooms : Homeless Ratio) simply is not appropriate or feasible.
“Many homeless have mental conditions, that would make it unsafe for my family.”
“Most homeless have drug and alcohol problems which would put my families lives in danger.”
“And God calls us to protect our family and be wise” [sidenote: Can someone please show me where in the Bible it say that to “protect” our family is a top priority?]
LAME EXCUSES!
We have within our means the ability to radically live out the Christian calling of caring for the needy and practicing hospitality, and we are content to pass off some lame excuse.
Here’s why it’s lame. Keeping your family (and the people on the street) safe is a wonderful thing, really it is. Mental conditions should be treated, drug and alcohol problems should be controlled, nobody should be hurting or threatening anybody; but what does that have to do with opening your home to someone else?
Let me just cut to the chase. You are to be validated in your concerns. But, now it’s time to problem solve and find a solution for bringing together your desire for the well-being of all, and your calling to radically follow Christ.
If people (including many Christians) can spend thousands of dollars solving the problems of remodeling their outdated bathroom, or upgrading to a state of the art kitchen,
then I think we can also put our minds and money to creating homes that can accommodate those who need a place to stay.
Maybe you put an outside door on the guest room and a regular locked door into the house. Or you remodel the office or the space above the garage to have not only a bedroom but a bathroom and a small kitchenette. Use your imagination, you could go more elaborate or more practical, but look to solve problems rather then make excuses. 
Maybe for some it means downsizing their home till it accommodates the basic needs for their immediate family and they then use the freed up additional wealth and resources to contribute to a community that is meeting the needs of the homeless.
Stop making lame excuses that justify your apathy to following Christ call. Instead have some fun and remodel your house (and in doing so open yourself to following Christ in ways you’ve never considered before)!
What If What We Eat Really Is Important?
It’s an every changing world in my house. Each month the kiddo grows, and I’m learning new things about being a parent. This month we embark into solid foods. That means I’m purchasing food and nutrition that is going straight to her digestive system, sans the mom. Like any parent, I want what’s best for my kid, and so comes the time to embark into more conscious grocery shopping. In the past I’ve gone with a couple different methods, we’ve joined CSA’s and gleaned from community gardens, but otherwise by and large we shopped at Aldi. My goal is and has been to find a healthy balance between affordability and nutritional value. But, now I’m trying to do what’s best for the kiddo too. So, Does it really matter what we eat?
When it comes to food it seems that there are those that are overly paranoid and those that don’t care at all. I’d like to find a place some where in between those two extremes. I’ll be honest though, I’m not exactly sure where to start. The only thing I’ve found so far that gives specifics on what foods to stat on is an article from Dr. Greene of 10 food items to buy organic. I’ll start there. Here’s the list:
- Milk
- Potatoes
- Peanut Butter
- Baby Food
- Catsup
- Cotton
- Apples
- Beef
- Soy
- Corn
Basically, I plan on buying these items at the Coop that we joined. Cotton is a tough one because as the article explains, cotton seed is in a lot of different food items, so I’ll learn about it as I go. I don’t want to simply switch and buy all of my groceries at the Coop, because I don’t see that as an affordable option for me or an available option for the community at large. I want to live on a food budget that can be an example to others of an option that keeps in mind important issues of nutrition, fair trade and sustainability, but is also affordable to the general population.
The journey begins. Any advice?
Reading Through the Bible This Year?
Here’s a Checklist for Reading through the Bible (no plan, just a list of all the chapters).
Greg Boyd on American Sexual Morals and Muslim Extremists
“I would even go so far as to suggest that our moral decadence is partly
responsible for the wrath we’ve incurred from Muslim extremists.
Without in any way condoning their violence, one of the main reasons
they see America as “the great Satan” is because of how we’re
influencing the rest of the world with our debauchery. It’s undeniable
that wherever American influence is evidenced, sexual morals loosen.
They disdain our “freedom” because to them it’s inseparably wrapped up
with freedom to have sex outside of marriage. When they hear George
Bush announce that we’re going to expand “freedom” around the globe,
what many hear is Satan announcing he’s going to spread debauchery
around the globe.” –Greg Boyd
Writing to a Better 2008
I have one encompassing New Year’s Resolution I think is worth sharing, as it will affect this blog. No, I’m not leaving the blog, I hope to write a post a day as I have for about a year now. What I do plan on doing is writing more from my heart and mind, rather than writing for the sole purpose of ‘blog worthy’ material. Don’t get me wrong, I do intend for what I write to be interesting to you, but I want to steer away from my focus on the popularity of my blog. Let me explain, cause I think a few of you can relate.
For about a year now there are a few links I’d click on daily when I sat down to write a blog post. First, I’d peak at statcounter.com or Google analytics to see what people where looking at or where they were coming from. I’d double check technorati to see if my ‘Authority’ was up or if anyone new had linked to me. If I was still procrastinating on writing I’d check out my feedburner stats. Then, I’d browse through my Google Reader for the tenth time in a day and see if there was any late breaking news story I could scoop or at least blog about first. Honestly, the whole process was both a major act of procrastination and a pathetic attempt for unnecessary attention.
I do like the dialog though, and I think it is an extremely good thing. I like when other bloggers link to things I write or post, it reminds me that I am part of a community sharing wisdom and information with one another. I enjoy the comments on the things that I write, it challenges me to think differently, to continue on my journey. Writing and dialog are a powerful thing (I know I’ve said this before). It reminds me of one of my favorite writing teachers.
My freshman year at Wheaton College I took Creative Writing with Dr. Davis. He was a great teacher and I always enjoyed his class, though I think he considered me a pretty poor writer. The way he had us write papers was great, and I think any teacher around should follow his lead. Each time we wrote a paper there was a process to it. First we would hand it in. Dr. Davis would read the paper, highlight grammar mistakes, and then he would write about a paragraph of his thoughts about the paper, our writing style, etc. Our job then was to correct the mistakes and then respond in a full paragraph to the things that he had written, which we then handed in and finally received a grade on. It was fabulous because our papers where more then just about a grade, they where a dialog, they made us think, they guided us to improvement, and they reminded us that writing was about more then just a grade.
I want this blog to be about more then just it’s Technorati Authority, Google Pagerank or Subscriber numbers, I want it to be a creative outlet for me and a dialog with you. This is how this is going to play out for me. With my recent move to a new house, my parents have graciously brought me the boxes I left in their basement. These boxes where full of old notebooks and papers from high school and college (not that long ago for me). In addition, my long reading list was poorly attended to last year, I seem to have caught a case of “Internet Induced ADD” and I need to break myself of it. So, I’m clearing out my Google Reader and cutting back on my online reading. I’ll still skim things and check out your blog posts (especially if they contain any links to me 😉 but overall I’m trying to cut back. What I’ll be writing about what necessarily be new, I’ll still be writing about money, social issues, fatherhood, etc. I’ll also be trying to share more stories, maybe posting old notes, papers, etc I’ve written, or wisdom from notebooks of classes I’ve taken. My hope would be that I can share with you some new nuggets of wisdom, rather then regurgitating thoughts I came across in my procrastinating blog reading.
Confessions of 2007
It’s interesting that many of us start our year’s off with resolutions. In many ways I think it is a good idea, it being a very productive way to set our minds on the year ahead and what we hope to accomplish. At the same time, we all know the reputation of New Year’s Resolutions, they start great in January and they crash and burn by February.
I wonder if maybe it would be better to start off our year, by soberly looking back on the previous year and acknowledging the mistakes we’ve made, admitting them and then preparing to move on. There is something powerful in confession; acknowledging our shortcomings is a much more freeing experience then we ever give it credit for. For some reason, it is so difficult to admit when we are wrong, yet, when we do I think we connect with one another on a much deeper level. We take a step down from our high horse, we take of the mask that has been hiding are true character, we begin to see one another for who and what we really are.
I do have some big goals for this coming year, I’m anticipating some new and exciting opportunities, and I’m prepared to accomplish great things, but I first need to step back and acknowledge, that I had the same ambition last January. Last year I ambitiously set out to be a better person then I was the year before. In some ways I think I can say I accomplished that task, but in many others I fell short.
I wanted to be better and improve, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, creatively, financially, and relationally. There are victories that I’ve had this year in each of those categories, but if I’m honest, there are a lot of things I didn’t do. There are a lot of areas where I fully knew what it was I wanted to do, and I didn’t do it, in fact, sometimes I did the very opposite. I wanted to love my wife more this past year, but many times I seemed to communicate the exact opposite. We tried to follow a budget, but during the past few months we threw the budget to the wind. I intended to read more, and I had the time, but I squandered it. I fully intended to build and invest in my relationships, but I fell far short of being the friend I know I could be.
I’m not a perfect person, and don’t worry, I didn’t think I was. If I’m going to set out to accomplish some ambitious goals this year, I need to do it with a full awareness of myself. I rely on my own strength too much, I fail more often then not, I lack the integrity I pretend that I have and I love myself far more then I love others. My goal for this year:
“He [Jesus] must become greater; I must become less.”