A Rejection of Focus on the Family's "Letter from 2012"

I recently started a Facebook group to protest Focus on the Family's "Letter from 2012." The link can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=30055124462&ref=mf

This is what the group info says:

Focus on the Family Action recently put out a hypothetical letter that outlined what America would look like from the perspective of a Christian looking back on an Obama presidency from 2012. The letter starts off by saying, “Many Christians voted for Obama – Younger evangelicals actually provided him with the needed margin to defeat John McCain – but they didn’t think he would really follow through on the far-Left policies that had marked his career. They were wrong.” Here are just some of their scenarios Focus on the Family paints for us:

- The Supreme court leans liberal, 6 to 3.
- Terrorist attacks have occurred in 4 US cities.
- Christian doctors, nurses, counselors, and teachers have either been fired or quit.
- Iran perpetrated a nuclear attack on Israel, drastically reducing the size of is borders.
- Pornography is freely displayed.
- Inner city violent crime has dramatically increased due to gun control.
- Russia has occupied 4 additional countries.
- Gas tops $7 a gallon.
- Euthanasia becomes commonplace.
- Blackouts occur throughout the country.
- Homosexual marriage becomes law in all 50 states.
- Campus ministries, Christian adoption agencies and Christian schools nearly cease to exist.
- Home school families emigrate to Australia and New Zealand by the thousands.
- Bush officials are jailed and bankrupt.
- Taliban oppression overtakes Iraq and death of American sympathizers reaches millions.
- Homosexuals are given a bonus to enlist in the military.

As you can see, Focus on the Family has abandoned all reasonable appeals and resorted to shameless tactics of fear mongering. They have abandoned the belief that voters can make informed decisions and have instead appealed to fear as their fundamental motivator.

As Christians, we stand appalled and ashamed at such tasteless demagoguery. We believe that civil, educated, and compassionate dialogue should and can occur with the active engagement of our faith, but believe that Focus on the Family Action has, in this letter, stepped far outside of reasonable boundaries into pure sensationalism. We believe that such thoughtless expressions coming from an organization that purports to represent Evangelicals continues to mar our legitimacy and voice in the public arena, and damages our basic Christian witness.

Please let Focus on the Family know your thoughts by contacting them through email at citizenlink@family.org.

The original letter can be found here:

http://focusfamaction.edgeboss.net/download/focusfamaction/pdfs/10-22-08_2012letter.pdf

Please encourage your friends to contact Focus on the Family and to join this group.

A Penny For Your Thoughts: Everything Must Change

I have just finished the book “Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crisis, and a Revolution of Hope” by Brian McLaren. I wish to hear thoughts from those of you who have read the book, but mostly challenges and critiques. However, before I do that, I want to state as honestly as I can the assumptions and biases from which I speak.

I do not function from a position of a socially conservative Evangelical. I fully affirm the ancient creeds about the Trinity, the work of Christ, and hold Scripture to be the word of God. However, I am unapologetically affected by post-modernity and its critiques of old dominating meta-narratives and its recognition of modernist arrogance. In the same vein, I hold loosely the exclusivity and absolutism of the specific strain of Protestantism of which I am a part. I want to recognize the development of theology and thinking in light of a given historical context. As cultural creations, I do not believe that people can view truth objectively, even though Truth exists in the person of Jesus Christ. We look through a glass darkly and await the day we will see clearly, face to face. Given such assumptions, I desire to view my own tradition with humility, knowing that it was not shaped in a vacuum nor bestowed in a pure untainted form from on high. In the same breath, I seek to listen to the voices of those from other Christian traditions with the belief that God is not a tribal God. I am inclined to give a hearing to women and non-Western traditions, because God is not a white Protestant male. I desire to listen to the voices of the poor and oppressed, to see how the Gospel manifests itself among those who do not have money and power behind their words, because these are people God favors. I believe that left unchecked, our cultural waters have and will continue to inform our understanding of our faith more than our faith will change us. I believe in listening to those of different faiths or non-faiths, because God can use whomever he chooses to give a clearer perspective of his realities.

With that said, “Everything Must Change” is built upon the work of post-modernity’s understanding of dominating meta-narratives, a la Foucault. McLaren first establishes and names the narratives that our culture lives by, and then proceeds to discuss why such narratives are fundamentally dysfunctional, referring to people as disparate as Rene Padilla, Jim Wallis, Philip Jenkins, Wendell Berry, Cornel West and our own Dr. Bruce Benson. He then appeals to the scholarship of people like N.T. Wright and Dominic Crossan in the understanding of a Historical Jesus and how the historical Jesus spoke to the dominant (and equally corrupt) narratives of his day. McLaren draws a parallel between what Jesus said and did in the 1st century and what we he says to our global context today. He uses people like MLK, Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela to illustrate the true power of what happens when Christians undermine faulty narratives with the [reconstructed] Christian one. He doesn’t hesitate to critique the religious structures in their perpetuation of the fallen narratives, and challenges the church to reform itself according to Jesus’ narrative, one that truly subverts the massive powers and principalities at work in the world.

I appreciate McLaren’s willingness to listen to many different voices. Undoubtedly, his association with liberation theologians, left-leaning Evangelicals, economists critical of globalization, Christian pacifists/tree hugging poets and the simple mention of "post-modernity" will turn off a more conservative reader. However, as I’ve stated from the outset, such things do not count against him in my eyes.

I ask for a critique because I am predisposed to accepting what McLaren says. This book was referred to me by a man I respect, its contents contain authors, theologians and philosophers that I tend to agree with, and even the book’s specific contents aren’t so much an exposure to new ideas as it is a clarification, connection, or reframing of certain ideas I’m already open to. I appreciate a good deconstruction and am interested to hear if anyone has other thoughts.

A Thought Exercise: Race and Evangelical Politics

I'm curious. I really am. I wonder what the conservatives (and especially Christian ones) would say if Obama was the one who had left his first wife after she got into a car accident and became handicapped, cheated with other women while still married, and then married a rich young heiress. I bet they wouldn't be silent about it, that's for sure.

I'm also curious what the conservatives would say if it was Obama who had a pregnant teenage daughter. I wouldn't be surprised to hear Focus on the Family talking about how he has no family morals and no control over his children, and why he has any right being president of the United States if he can't manage his own household.

Now, at the end of the day, we will never know for sure what would happen if that were the case. This is why it's a hypothetical exercise. However, I don't think it would be a stretch to say that somewhere in there, Obama would find himself having to defend his entire race for his actions (which McCain certainly doesn't have to do even if people pointed out the outrageous inconsistency of values voters supporting him). Somewhere in there, I wouldn't be surprised if the stereotype of promiscuous black women was subtly hinted at, or the unfaithful black male was conjured to attack him.

Sadly, I have a hard time believing that the voice-boxes of Evangelical righteousness would say, "Oh, everyone sins. Let's stop attacking his family and history! God has forgiven them. Who are we to cast the first stone?" I could be wrong, but my mind has a hard time imagining that as a possibility.

Enough: Where America and McBama Are Wrong

“In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.”

That was a quote from Jimmy Carter in 1979, from what is known as his “Malaise Speech” during the energy crisis. Certainly, that cannot be true? President Bush’s speeches following 9/11 told people to do more shopping. The economy will be remedied, it seems, if people went out and bought more. In fact, there is no ceiling to growth, we must merely strive forward with American ingenuity and creativity, creating more jobs and products, and find more markets to sell to. Is the American market saturated? No problem, let’s export. Let’s take all our surplus, created with fertilizers, hormones and environmentally destructive practices, which is a result of our “more is better” mentality, and dump it at cut throat prices around the world, because, after all, who doesn’t want more for less? (Everyone has our values, right??)Who cares about the national interests of the other countries… once globalization is king, it will all be international interests (for anyone but us, of course). The poor will be uplifted if companies are given more breaks so the wealth “trickles down.” If we simply consume more, we will be a nation of happier people, satisfied and secure in life. I mean, look at us now! We are so content, with our McDonalds and 3 car garages. The world is a happier and more peaceful place because of us, even if we are dehumanized, commercialized, and transformed into a mere source of consumer revenue in the process. How the face of God shines upon this Christian nation, anointed to be the example of justice and prosperity for all the world to see.

This is the American dream, is it not? The right to pursue happiness becomes the right to pursue unlimited growth without an awareness of costs or effects. This is what we have grown up with. This is the air we breathe and the water we swim in. More is simply better, therefore, the consumption and accumulation of more must be the pinnacle of best. “More is better.” This is the fundamental, unquestioned and unquestionable assumption that drives every aspect of this country, especially its politics and economics, and even its religion, when it sleeps in the same bed.

The statistics are damning. Our wealth and lifestyles consume 24% of the world’s energy even though we are merely 5% of the population. I literally laughed out loud when a commercial during the nomination conventions reported the statistic of our energy consumption, yet had the shameless audacity to suggest that we need more. The way that conservatives systematically deny our role in Global Warming is unforgivably callous. In the name of growth, we will continue to destroy not only God’s creation (and lest you don’t believe in a God), the very systems that sustain and give us life. We live as if we are above the wrath of a world that has bared its teeth at us in the forms of increased hurricanes, disease and destruction. And truth be told, most of the white middle class Americans are, for the time being, above the wrath. But the poor and the weak are not (New Orleans, Indonesia, anyone?). It is no secret that the scales of an unbalanced ecosystem are unfairly weighted against those who have the fewest resources to protect themselves. (But it doesn’t matter, since it doesn’t affect us). We don’t even need to get into the astronomical amount of waste we produce or where that goes (which, coincidentally, just happens to be where minorities and those lower on the socio-economic ladder are located). No, there can be no questioning the doctrine of growth and prosperity. Whether or not we say we believe in unlimited growth is irrelevant (because anyone with any sense can tell you, in a closed system that is Earth, there is no such thing as unlimited growth). The truth is that we live like it, raping and destroying whatever needs to be raped and destroyed, with little regard for any long-term consequence. Even for those who recognize the warning signs of impending disaster, I’m confounded by their absurd willingness to do further damage via the savior of Scientific Progress instead of working to curb our consumption (see posted item on Geo-engineering). In the millions of years that this planet has supported life, the two great lies have been, “The day you eat from the tree you will not surely die,” and “We live in a world of unlimited growth where more is better.” (A tip of the hat to Derek Webb.)

And yet, We. Need. More.

Richard Foster, and I suppose others, locate 6 great streams of tradition within Christianity, each offering an important perspective: Contemplative, Holiness, Charismatic, Social Justice, Evangelical, and Incarnational. He argues that for holistic spiritual development, we must be aware and seek to develop in all of the 6 areas. As I’ve argued in the past, our theology heavily influences the way that those 6 streams merge in our lives, if at all. If one has a dualistic view, then Evangelism comes into conflict with Social Justice. If we don’t have a healthy understanding of the affirmations of the Incarnation, then the world is simply for us to abuse at will.

I do not believe that the pervasive, assumed and unquestioned ethics of unlimited growth and “more-is-better” is a Christian ethic. What I do see in Scripture is a model in which those with more bless those who have none. I see an ethic that demands a love toward our neighbor that is equal to the love we have towards ourselves. Both in Jesus’ words and in Paul’s example, I see an emphasis on not worrying about our material needs but having a contentment that comes with less or plenty. In Scripture, I see a heavy emphasis on the poor, the aliens and strangers, the widows and fatherless, those ostracized by the status quo, which are our neighbors around the world who support our decadence and wastefulness with their blood and sweat. In fact, in the early churches, I see an extreme subversion of empire and status, so much so that believers were seen as a threat worthy of capital punishment, not a co-option by the government’s political machinery. What seems much more in line with the Biblical witness is an ethic of “enough,” as seen in Proverbs 30:8-9:

“Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”

There is no universal line that states, this is “enough.” Such ambiguity has never rested comfortably with legalists. It is true that many do not have enough, in this country and around the world. However, having been saturated with “more is better,” what is truly enough is probably drastically less than what we assume we need. I cannot, and do not need to detail all the reasons why “enough” is biblically and more practically feasible than “more is better.” There are plenty of authors who vocalize the arguments of simplicity far more articulately than I (Richard Foster, Wendell Berry, Cecile Andrews, and Henri Nouwen being a few of them). But it cannot be understated that our current lifestyles are unarguably globally unsustainable and a flagrant disregard for our neighbor. For some, more will indeed be better, since they do not enough. But for the vast majority of us living in this country, the rest cannot have enough if we simply have more. To make it all the worse, America, with its flippancy towards consequences and blind pursuit of growth, is the model towards which so many struggling countries strive.

This election, unfortunately, has shown me that despite the rampant rhetoric on change, the foundation by which they make their appeals are still grounded in the concepts of unlimited growth and “more is better.” Though one party seems to care more about some issues (McCain didn’t mention the poor once in his speech, not to mention the fact that his running mate doesn’t “believe” in global warming), I will, at the end of the day be voting for the lesser of two evils.

In the book “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn, the author likens societies to “flying machines.” We sit in these flying machines and take off from a cliff. We are in the air, and are paddling with all our might trying to soar to new heights, yet still find ourselves falling. On the way down, we see the ruins of other flying machines, and think, “Surely, we are better than those flying machines, if we only paddle harder.” We think, “Yes, we will make it, because look at us, we are still in the air!” But the reality is that we too will end up like those other flying machines; all too abruptly, all too painfully, and without any further recourse once we’ve crashed.

If we continue in this direction, the question is not whether we are falling, but how fast we are falling and how much longer before we plow into the ground. It will not simply be a question of the War or outsourcing. The potential problems will make us wish we were simply living the good ol’ days of $5 gas and a housing crisis.

By the way, after Jimmy Carter made that speech in ’79, his ratings plummeted. When it is popularity that buys one’s path into office, how can a prophet speak with integrity?

[I’m not a political analyst. I didn’t major in international relations and I’m not an economist. I’m not a sociologist, I’m not a theologian or philosopher, or a scientist, or even a psychologist (yet). I’m 22 years old, what do I know, right? I don’t intend to talk as if I have mastered each of those fields, as if they could be “mastered”. However, by definition of being a living breathing human being who interacts with the world around me, I am all of those things, in the lowest common denominator of those terms. Undoubtedly, many of you who have been trained in the above are far more knowledgeable than I. Your arguments will be more sensitive to information I’m sorely unaware of, and your experience will direct you to have a more nuanced understanding of said issues. You will undoubtedly find my sentiments crass and unrefined, over-generalized and perhaps simultaneously too theoretical and anti-theoretical at the same time. However, I will not be dissuaded from wrestling with such things simply because I’m a layperson. By living in this world, we have a responsibility to be as faithful as possible with the knowledge that we have, no matter how limited it is. I write, unquestionably and unapologetically, as a Christian with a bias towards my understanding of Scripture and worldview. I welcome your thoughts and comments.]

Truly, I'm Not Trying to Be Insensitive...

... But the cosmic irony cannot be missed here.

A few weeks ago, I posted a video that Focus on the Family tried to be funny about asking for rain to disrupt the Democratic National Convention. (See below)

With all due respect to the seriousness of Hurricane Gustav and the lives it will affect, I think the torrential rain came a week too late. Sorry Republican National Convention. Sometimes plans backfire.

Focus: Maybe God didn't get the joke. I'm just saying.



(Don't taze me, bro.)

A White Line in the Sea Grass

I fixed my crab traps last night, and decided to watch the tide rise today. It sounds just about as interesting as watching the grass grow, eh?

If my prison is this house, with its beige walls, wireless bars that chain me to everywhere at once, and walk-in closets of man-made junk, then my salvation comes to me through my backyard bay with its deep unmistakable fragrance, in the vehicle of an aluminum boat and a 5 HP motor. However, if my imprisonment consists of this empire, with its oppressive meta-narratives that have us purchasing lies that keep us subservient and docile, then watching the tide rise is radical enough to be part of my salvation.

I’ve been reading a lot. (Not being employed allows for that.) Writers that insist on something more, something different then what is, or has been in place. Thoughtful and articulate Christians who look at Scriptures, peer through history, at church and our lives, and fearlessly accuse us not only of complacency, but also of idolatry and heresy. Thinkers who do not think for an ivory tower’s sake, but for the sake of our wholeness and a complete Gospel. Farmer-turned-poets who write manifestos in a mad attempt to reignite our imprisoned and emaciated imaginations. Ascetics who, in their unique experiments, have attempted to know the fullness and presence of God through the still and silent whispers of solitude. Broken healers who embrace, and in the process are simultaneously broken and healed by their communities.

A friend and I recently engaged in a discussion on “being,” the idea that our doing can only be authentic if it proceeds from our being. He talked about how there is far too much striving and faking, of chasing after and appeasing false gods, no less idolatrous than ones made of wood or stone. One writer claims that we have become turncoats towards God’s Kingdom. Whereas we should be living the lordship of Christ and the reality of His Kingdom, we have wholeheartedly embraced and whored ourselves to the Empire instead. If this is true, who are we to be? Another claims that our conclusions of the world going to hell in a hand-basket is full of old pagan philosophies and tenuous misreadings of proof-texts. If this is also true, what then are we to do? Old desert fathers gave it all up to hear a Voice in the silence, and ended up fighting against bad theology (See Anthony the Great and Athanasius vs Arius). People today give it up to fight a dehumanizing consumerist theology that allows for blind complicity in worldwide abuse and slavery, and end up hearing a Voice in the stillness of what’s left.

Now is the time to be. Silent, aware, and in awe. “Be still, and know that I am God.” As I sat in a creek and watched the tide rise, I realized that simply reading about all of creation moaning for redemption isn’t quite the same as partaking in it, since it is not only we who worship the Creator, but all of His good creation who sing as co-worshippers with us. It is as different as merely reading about babies, and finally participating in the joy and birth of your own child (not that I would know the latter...). The solitude gave volume to the silence, filled with sounds we have lost the ability to hear. For a moment, I believed that if people would stop fearing silence, stop inundating their senses with noise, stop their repression of questions and doubts, to live life as it comes, with a simplicity dictated by need and not excess, there would be a much smaller market for psychologists.

There is something intangible to being still. Perhaps stillness allows us to listen, to both the discord in our own hearts, and to God’s response and assurance that His love is greater than our fear. Perhaps the stillness allows us to see the fluidity and beauty in His created order, as well as how abusive and oppressive our dealings are to that peace. And if adage “time is money” is a creed of the empire Jesus came to overthrow, then reclining in a boat, watching the wind and listening to the tide rise for no particular reason on a Wednesday afternoon may just be the first step in seceding from and subverting the powers and principalities.

For once, I marveled at how everything fit together so well. It’s like getting pulled out of the Matrix and freed from its pervasive illusions, but instead of finding the real world to be full of gunmetal grey, tasteless slop and burlap rags, it was right here, all along, and beautiful, if only we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and One who will make things clear if we are willing.

I have so much to learn and live. (I believe. Help my unbelief.)

McJesus

Satan: "Welcome to McChurch, home of the Status Quo. How can I help you?"
Dehumanized Consumer: "Hi uh... I'll have a prosperity Gospel with some good feelings, hold the sin and justice. Also, I'll take a side of bad theology and a large cup of dualism please."
S: "Anything else?"
DC: "Yea.. umm.. mix me up some national and cultural arrogance. Put that on top of my globalization."
S: "Your total cost comes out to be Orthodoxy and True Life. Others will help you pay too. Come around to the pickup window."

The Prophets of God v. Barack Obama

Courtesy of Focus on the Family. 'Nuff said.



(Common now, if you're gonna try to be funny, at least do it well. You're good at making us look stupid, but who said you had to be bad at humor too?)

Orthodoxy: Coming to a Church Near You!

As much as I love critique and deconstructionism, and have an inherent distrust of the powers that be, I have to remember love and hope in a world that desperately needs it. It might be true that there are lots of legitimate things to criticize about western mainstream Evangelical Christianity. We’re so busy pointing fingers at other people, at post modernism, at evolution, at those baby killers, liberals and homosexuals that I’ve felt the need to point the fingers back at ourselves for all the things we do wrong according to our own standards. I get excited when I hear someone thoughtfully articulate, attempt to explain, and critique our own actions and beliefs in a theological and historical context without abjuring the possibility that we could actually be wrong, as opposed to simply propping up platitudes to legitimize what exists. I shake my head and agree with the “enemies” when their observations about us are keener than our own. I hear stories of our churches, our sanctuaries and lighthouses, and am hardly surprised when people don’t want anything to do with us. It’s a much needed in-house sweep and challenge when an entire guard of thoughtful, prayerful and contemplative brothers and sisters are standing up to say that all is not right within the family.

And perhaps it is true; certain things must be torn down before they can be replaced or rebuilt. How do we preach a gospel we ourselves fail to grasp? How can we be transformed holistically when dualism, individualism, and anti-intellectualism are the lenses through which we view the world?

But the difficulty, for me at least, is how one does the critiquing not only in a way that is humble, but is done in faith, filled with love and gives hope. For me, there is an arrogance that I pray will be removed with intentionality and age. There is an inexperience that presents my convictions as untested and hollow, and a naivety that forgets the inevitable suffering of prophets. However, beneath it all is a desire to see God’s kingdom lived out as it should, in my own life, in the life of His saints, and in all of creation.

Orthodoxy (correct belief), I think, is a prerequisite for orthopraxy (correct practice). I wonder if it is possible to have all the faith, hope, and love in the world and be useless, even doing damage, without orthodoxy. I don’t know. Perhaps it’s possible, as I believe much has done as a fervent church with stray beliefs (it always amazes me at how God redeems things). But what I do know is that orthodoxy that does not manifest itself in faith, hope and love is no orthodoxy at all. As I strive to see the world as God sees it and desire to see the Gospel alive in today’s world and context, orthodoxy needs to be inseparably wed with faith, hope and love, as inseparable as our “souls” are to our bodies, even as inseparable as Christ is with His church.

I Miss the Wheaton Bookstore

Figures.

I had to go to a non-Christian bookstore to pick up the book I wanted. NT Wright was nowhere to be found in my local Christian bookstore. Their paltry theology section had titles such as "Why I'm a Baptist" and looked anemic next to the Christian romance and apocalyptic-themed fiction. On the other hand, I know where to go if I ever want to plaster my walls with puppies, inspirational Kinkade calendars, preview Avalon CDs, or eat Testa-mints (for those who want to preach the Gospel but have bad breath).

I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

Thanks CBN, for your deep Christian insight.

Speaking on the recent scuffling between Dobson and Obama, CBN's (Christian Broadcasting Network) Senior Correspondent David Brody says, "There is frustration in conservative Evangelical circles that the traditional bedrock biblical issues of abortion and marriage are starting to play second fiddle to new issues like climate change, genocide, poverty, etc."

Wow. As if creation care, genocide, and poverty weren't bedrock biblical issues as well? Really?? Are we reading the same Bible? That's news to me.

The Prophetic Tradition

I was never one who had a lot of beef with Jeremiah Wright. In fact, when I first heard his comments, I was glad that someone had the chutzpah to speak such poignant words to the rest of us. I look at the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, and Jesus, and am grateful for those who refuse to let us sit comfortably in our self-satisfying, conscience-appeasing illusions. I remember driving through a city and listening with amusement to a Christian talk show as the white hosts, who apparently had very little understanding of the life and plight of minorities in this country, evoked the name of Christ in condemning Obama for being associated with Pastor Wright. Though these thoughts are a little after the fact, I believe they remain pertinent, as the Church will forever need voices who are bold enough to challenge the powers and principalities, both inside and outside the Body. In the end, I'm sad that Obama had to leave his church because of politics. He made a dignified effort to try and remain true. Unfortunately, it will continue to be used against him. But I'm glad to know that his pastor wasn't afraid of pushing for change or speaking the truth, and that for so many years, Obama listened to him preach.

(Found on Rich Wu's Blog, for full version, see here.)

"It may surprise many in white America, for whom Martin Luther King, Jr. is the only black preacher of whom they have ever heard, to learn that there are a lot of Jeremiah Wrights out there who week after week give expression to that classic definition of prophetic preaching that is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” What would one expect of a black preacher whose Christian name is Jeremiah?

While I could not possibly agree with everything that Jeremiah Wright says, I do know that when a preacher, especially a black urban preacher, fails to speak truth to power and refuses to speak of what is wrong in the ardent hope of making it right, that preacher is, in Milton’s words, a “blind mouth,” and a repudiation of God’s solemn call to him. Preachers, despite much evidence to the contrary, are not called to celebrate the status quo, even an American status quo, and when they do their job properly they call us all to a higher standard. Preachers are not perfect, nor are they the only people allowed to be credible critics of our time and place, but they are among the very few whose vocation it is to make us aspire to something other than the status quo. For too long we have made God an ally in the American way; the highest standards of preaching in America require that we should seek to be God’s ally, helping God and one another to create a world in which we seek to live as God would have us live. To criticize America is not a sin, but it is a sin to mistake America for God, and it is both sin and dereliction of duty to fail to note the difference."

Speaking about the the dangers of how our worship lies to God, Mark Labberton, a pastor in Berkeley and another modern day prophet, writes in his book, "The Dangerous Act of Worship":

"In another lie about God, we make the Lord of heaven and earth our tribal deity when we try to make him serve nationalistic ends. Whether we think of Constantine or the British Empire or American Manifest Destiny or more recent instances, religiously instigated nationalism diminishes God and subverts his mission. This is never how the Lord presents himself, but it is a frequent lie we tell others by our actions. We perpetuate this lie by making God out to be our nation's God, the One who has a preference toward us-- deservedly, some say! God can be represented as the servant of our wishes, a vending-machine-type fulfiller of the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4), which are sometimes little more than Christmas lists."

Preach!!

Hello, Memorial Day.

I find it a great irony to be sitting outside enjoying the sun around a place named “Patriot Lake” on Memorial Day writing this, given my disgust for blind nationalism and unaccountable patriotism on account of belonging to a different Kingdom. I question the premises and pride upon which patriotism and nationalism are based, which are often ones of superiority and exclusivity, ones that draw artificial lines between “us” and “them” and divide rather than unite.

Turning onto my street the other day, an oversized pickup truck drove in front of me with two boisterous American flags obnoxiously flapping themselves behind the cab. I about vomited in my car, as every negative association of American consumption, arrogance, and over-indulgence found itself carrying the official representation of what countless millions of people worldwide find oppressive.

I am irked by our tendencies to graft the Gospel into our pre-existing comfort zones and culture, affirming our complacency and status quos instead of overthrowing it. As I sat in my old church, I watched a video commemorating the fallen soldiers, hailed as those who died to “protect our freedoms,” wondering where the prophetic voice of the church was in saying, “No, most recently, they died to protect our oil. Our foreign interests. Our culturally insensitive and ethnocentric version of ‘freedom’.” The psychology behind war and the military is interesting. It takes a construct like honor and pride and convinces young men and women that such are things worth giving their lives for. It glorifies the flag and the country that it represents, so that any criticism of the country’s policies or actions becomes an indictment upon the sacrifice of the soldiers, lives taken by the very country they fought to defend, for reasons obscured by self-serving national interests and political games. Like dogs, we are so blind to it that any critiques will illicit a violently patriotic visceral response, as such conditioning is intended to do, since we are terrified of believing that the deaths of our friends and loved ones were inane. I listened to the pastor talk about the worries of life, listing not having a “Biblical candidate” this November as one of them, as if the Bible only ever talked about abortion, homosexuality and family values, and that the poor, justice, and being peacemakers weren’t topics Christians should trifle with in politics.

It’s ironic, because as I sit here criticizing such things, if I am to be fair and honest, I cannot deny that I would be unable to post this if it weren’t for the actual freedoms we do have. I know that in many ways, the church I critiqued is doing the work of God. I cannot say such things without offending those who really have served God and lost their lives in "legitimate" wars. I can’t say that America hasn’t done good in the world, or that there isn’t support for Just War theories. I wouldn’t be writing this on my Macbook if I didn’t participate in American consumerism, and I have to admit that the car I drive contributes to this country’s selfish quest for energy, magnifying the misery of those around the world affected by our greed, just as much as the pickup truck in front of me. I do not speak as one without blame, but as one who is trying to fight self-deception.

So, “happy” Memorial Day, for what it’s worth. Things just aren’t so Bible-thumping black and white.

I Can't Stop Thinking About Sex

Actually, I can't stop thinking about sexuality, who we are as men and women, what intimacy and love mean, identity and security, partly because I'm taking Psychology of Sexuality, but partly because these topics have always interested me. I mean, how can they not? Each of those affect us deeply. It would certainly be in our best interest to better understand the relationships between all those complex subjects, if only for our own sake.

No small thanks to my time in China working with a sexual education curriculum, I seem to have acquired a high degree of tolerance when speaking about issues of sexuality. So, I don't intend to mince words. You have been warned.

I try to avoid pornography. I don't need to go into details about how it seriously messes with men's minds and contemptuously degrades women. (For the former, take Dr. Struthers' Men and Addictions class, or read his book on that topic, almost in print). Though concerning the latter, I am a strict affirmer of aesthetic beauty. There are those of us who are slightly more sensitive to the color of a note or the sound of snowfall. We are winded by nature and can be stopped cold with a painting. I affirm physical beauty in creation as God given, and I echo His statement that "It is good." Asceticism? Hell no.

However, in my bittorrent client (don't worry, if you don't know what that is, it doesn't matter) which I frequently use, the most popular and highest rated files are often those of a soft-core pornographic nature. At best, someone can try to legitimize it by saying, "But I'm simply admiring beauty!" At worst, obviously, there is no excuse except lust. Now, I affirm the physical beauty in women. But lest an analogy goes awry, women are not simply a painting to be gawked at. Our physical selves are simply an aspect of who we are. (I have much more to say about the affirmation of physical beauty in relation to who we are as holistic people, but I'll save that for another day). Perhaps I've been primed to be more keen towards issues of gender, relationships and sexuality since taking the class, but here are a few of my recent thoughts and observations.

Scenario one. I recently watched the French movie "Amelie," which, by the way, was incredible. However, despite its beauty, its view towards sexuality rubbed me the wrong way. Aside from a rather blasé and irreverent view towards sex during most of the movie, a relationship between two strangers is symbolically and literally epitomized using sex as the culmination of intimacy. (If you haven't noticed, that's pretty much the norm in the media's understanding of sex).

Scenario two. I watched the movie "Once," also an unforgettable movie with an intense soundtrack. In this case, the lead character asks to sleep with the girl he just met because he was lonely, causing tension between them for the rest of the movie.

Scenario three. I watched "Juno," a witty and enjoyable movie as well. However, the sex was so out of place and immature, there was no beauty in it, just awkwardness.

Those scenarios all suffer from a common malady, namely a truncated view of sexual intimacy. First, our view towards sexuality suffers from the same disease that plagues the rest of our lives, namely, compartmentalization. We talk about sex as an isolated act. In an attempt to affirm its sanctity, we Christians have elevated it so high on this pedestal that it has become detached from the realities of every day life. It is recognized as pertinent to our nitty gritty existence only so far as to prevent it from happening before marriage. We fail to realize that our sexuality and desires for intimacy go beyond simply the reproductive act of sex, but is rooted in the very core of who we are as men and women, created to live in relationship.

Secondly, sex, I think, has become a sort of idol in Christian circles. "Christian locker room talk" would have me believe that the wedding night will be the most ecstatic and satisfying night of my life. This distorted ideation fails to recognize the complexity of intimacy. I don't believe that sex is the end-all-be-all of intimacy. It is (or rather, should be) a deep manifestation of it, yet the depth of our sexuality and relationships are not limited to sex. Though I am surrounded by gender stereotypes, I find it hard to believe that men are only sex-driven automatons guided by their unwavering desire for phallic satisfaction. In fact, I believe it is this truncated view of sexuality that has deprived us of the opportunity to express and experience intimacy in ways that don't require us to take off our pants.

Pornography, sex without commitment, mechanistic views of sex, all those things bother me because they lack the true intimacy between a man and a woman that makes for a healthy view of sex. In regards to pornography, it elevates, de-contexualizes, and adulterates one aspect of femininity, as if there is nothing more to a woman than her body. It is an ugly excuse for a cheap and broken version of something that is extremely costly but deeply beautiful. However, on the Christian side, idolization of sex, a lack of acknowledgment concerning sexuality, compartmentalization and over-simplification of sexuality might almost be just as harmful. Instead of providing a forum in which men and women can safely explore and discover their identities and relationships with one another as amazingly complex creations, our Christian culture seems content in expounding the dangers of premarital sex. Wouldn't relationships be richer and our lives fuller if the church spent more time encouraging a healthy holistic sexuality? Wouldn't our families be more whole if we went into marriage without fears caused by distorted views and unspoken expectations? Wouldn't it be beautiful to embrace and be at home in the bodies and minds the Lord has given us?

In the end, sex and sexuality cannot be spoken of outside of "the other," as no relational aspect of our lives can. I'll end my rambling with a little note I sent a recently engaged friend who grew up in a broken family:

"There's a hope that the relationships we get ourselves into will turn out better than the ones we grew up in. There's a hope that our marriages will make a family that brings joy, not frustration and pain.

"Here's to hoping eh? Here's to the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit that breaks the power of environment, our past, and ourselves. Here's to him who makes all things new."

Even The Fire is Fake

A friend and I were having a conversation in front of a fireplace in our school cafeteria. We were talking about the frustrations of being back at homogeneous Wheaton. We were talking about how Wheaton, as the epitome of white American Evangelical culture, values perfection so much that those who struggle, those who do not meet this disturbing subculture's standards of attractiveness, success, or spirituality often feel alienated, condemned, and silenced.

I watched the fire "burn" behind the screen. There was no smell of birch or oak to cling to our shirts. There were no crackles or sparks, and the "wood" has remained in the same artificial state since the fireplace was installed. There was nothing to stoke and nothing to build. The three neat little gas flames remained constant and perfect, reminding me that it was pleasing at first glance, but hardly as mesmerizing as a campfire or even one of the fires up at Honey Rock.

"Be ye perfect as I am perfect," commands the Lord. Yes, but it is the constant struggle that is the reality of life, not the perfection acquired post-eschaton. Thus the ash, the sparks, the smoke, all that is "imperfect" and "dangerous" is silently condemned and transformed into this fake fireplace, ridding it of its richness, idiosyncrasies, smells, and thus, beauty.

It is the struggle, with the presence of Christ, that is beautiful. It is the broken being redeemed and transformed into the new that is attractive, not the artificial facades we put on to impress those other "perfect" Christians who surround us (as if there was such a thing).

This institution is like the fireplace in our cafeteria. Temporarily pleasing to the eye, safe, and not without its warmth. But a real fire... the sometimes intense heat, the glowing embers of burning logs, the crackling of wood, the aroma of a true offering, now that's a beautiful fire.

Hiphop Concerts and Israeli Terrorism

I went to a Talib Kweli concert last night at the Chicago House of Blues with some friends. A hiphop concert is an interesting place to worship. I love the power of a bass that rumbles through my chest, and words that spit truth without hesitation. One of Talib's songs, "I Try," has Mary J. Blige singing the following:

"An upside down kingdom where life is just not fair
So many suffering cuz deep inside they're scared
Fear pumped into their veins to keep them from their destiny
Where would they be if you and I don't care?"

Recently, news headlines have been pointing to Israel's injustices towards the 1.5 million people living in Gaza. If ever there was a good way of creating more animosity and perpetuating the cycle of hate, Israel continues to do a wonderful job at it. It's response, once again, is disproportionate, ineffective, and being resisted even among members of their own government, not to mention receives harsh condemnation from the UN and Oxfam. How, in the name of all things holy, can Christians just proof text their way to supporting Israel?

In an attempt to save the Gospel, we have truncated it. In an attempt to focus on the root, we consistently ignore or conveniently forget the deep implications of living in the Kingdom, a Kingdom that is more than just "me and my relationship with God" and opposes the powerful and the proud but belongs to the poor and the oppressed. We have neutered the Gospel and sapped its ability to free prisoners when we support those who imprison. We have lost the prophetic voice of the Body when we blindly toe political lines and fail to see that Christ desires Life not just after death, but in the here and now. Our compartmentalization of the Gospel, our dualistic understanding of ourselves and our blindness towards everything that has shaped our priorities, values, spirituality has made us think that life will be all well if people would just pray an acceptance prayer. We miss the fact that it is so often the powers and authorities, the systems in which we blindly participate in and benefit from, that causes the suffering of His children.

It is far easier to tweek our theologies so that our "passions" conveniently eclipse the real difficulties of gray areas and places in our own lives.

Apathy is easy. But ignorance is not bliss. It is not impartial. Does it make our modernist selves uncomfortable to think that we might not have concrete answers to everything, so much so that we are not willing to entertain the questions?

I think back to the time I tried to post on the Facebook wall of a group called "Christians Standing with Israel," and had my post deleted despite the fact that it was civil and simply raised questions. Is this what Christians are made of? Foolish dogmatism and desire to run from the truth? Are we really that afraid of anything that challenges our narrow understanding of the world? (Here's the old post about it).

We are the Pharisees. We are the Sanhedrin. We are those who pound our Bibles and claim to hold the absolute truth, yet sit in the seats of judgment against the sinners and gentiles, not knowing that all the while, we spit in the face of Jesus.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God."

In necessariis, Unitas. (Evolution? Non-essential.)

Pope Benedict has issued a statement saying that the clash between Evolution and Creation is an "absurdity." I think he's going to get a lot of flack for that, from both Protestants and Catholics alike.

However, I would be one to agree with him.

Evolution, in and of itself, does not lead to the death of G-d, or of G-d's domain over creation. Evolution doesn't even challenge Creationism in its purest form. It does however, necessitate a demise of using Scripture as a science text book, challenging the modernist post-enlightenment framework of interpretation.

In its proper form, evolution should not carry philosophical baggage that it has acquired. Historically, in the Fundamentalist's fight to adhere to a supernatural Chr-stianity (to whom we owe much, as recognized by Mark Noll), and in an effort of the Naturalists to discount G-d through science, evolution has been viewed as a weapon by one side and a tool by the other, neither of which should be the case.

A belief that says it is not impossible for G-d to work through such means does nothing to undermine the authority of Scripture in terms of faith and practice (infallibility of Scripture versus Inerrancy). It says nothing about the work of redemption or of Chr-st's atoning sacrifice, nor of His historicity. It is not (or rather, should not be) an all-or-nothing "if we concede this point, then our whole faith is going to fall apart" sort of slippery slope argument.

Personally, I have reservations about the theory. Behe's Darwin's Black Box was quite convincing, though that spoke of nothing concerning the nature of Biblical creationism. Creationism, in the sense of, "In the beginning, G-d...." is critical to an orthodox Chr-stian faith. "In the beginning, G-d did it in six literal days, and certainly not through evolution" is not essential.

A Chr-stian has every right to believe in a literal interpretation of the Creation narrative. Most conservative Chr-stians believe it in the States and in the rest of the world. I will respect those who do. But in the post-modern context that is Western Chr-stianity, I would say it would behoove us to re-examine whether or not this battle so many people vehemently fight is a straw man. Perhaps if the effort spent in proving and perpetuating Young Earth Creationism were spent on living and preaching essential G-spel, we might not (at least in the West) be viewed as having smaller brains (which, again, Mark Noll argues in Scandal of the Ev-ngelical Mind, is not a far from being incorrect). This is not for the sake of avoiding persecution or compromising truth to appease those who challenge us... this is for the sake of tearing down unnecessary and imaginary stumbling blocks. J-sus himself is enough to be their stumbling stone. We don't need to impose our (in my opinion, incorrect) requirements on others.

Come and die, that you might live.

"Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." -John 12:24

So I am nearing the end of my walk through "Irresistible Revolution," though the real journey has just begun. I cannot, without counting the cost, follow in Shane Claiborne's footsteps. But I don't think he would call us all to follow his footsteps. He would call us to follow the Jesus he knows, who, without compromising, calls us to lay down our lives and pick up our crosses. If I concede that Shane's interpretations of certain parts of scripture are correct, then I too would be led to his conclusions. I think some of those conclusions warrant much further study, though we should be aware of our tendency to "prove" the status quo and explain away Truth. Every single issue he (scatterbrained-ly) brings up is worthy of our serious consideration as Christians. (If he spent more than a semester at Wheaton, I think he might have hung out with HNGR groupies :)

Whether or not one agrees with Shane's conclusions or manifestations of chasing after Jesus, I would whole-heartedly say that he is dead-on in his holy recklessness (in the eyes of the world) to live for Him. Read the book, if only for the reason of vicariously catching a glimpse of what it can mean to be alive (though there are plenty more).

The Lord will not all call us to live like Shane does (but don't let that be an excuse...). The Lord has called us to our own battles. The challenge is to recognize what the Lord calls us to, and to keep our grubby hands and crusty ideas from distorting it, and then to live it.

One thing I will echo John (and Shane) on... that we must die to live, and that this death just might look very different than what much of us are living right now....

I will not tiptoe my way towards death. Nor will I call the conventionally held measures of "life" and be content.

Love.

When I hear about the Spirit moving...

... I tear up.

I was sitting in the waiting area getting my overdue drivers license renewed, reading Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution. Have you ever had to set down a book so that you could compose yourself before continuing onto the next paragraph? It doesn't happen often for me, but I was only in the third chapter when I had to do it, lest I start bawling at the NJ Department of Motor Vehicles waiting room. (Wouldn't be good for the license picture, ya know?)

Whether I agree with all his propositions or not is secondary. One cannot deny the punch in the gut that his words and experiences have. I'm not done with it, so I can't recommend it quite yet. But I have a feeling that I'll probably recommend it pretty soon.

"Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions."

Thanks Jerry Falwell, for that quote.

I spend too much time on Facebook.

I was recently invited to join the group, "Christians Standing with Israel." I wanted to post on the wall, without actually joining the group, since I certainly didn't agree with "unconditionally support" of Israel. However, I gave in just to make a post that gently stated the following:

- Christians should not just blindly support Israel based on religious ties and proof-texting.
- I challenged them to consider whether the secular nation-state of Israel is the same as the one mentioned in Scripture.
- I asked whether we should support Israel even when it goes against Biblical values like justice.
- Though I supported Israel's right to exist, I asked whether Israel had the "right" to oppress many of its own citizens who are even Christians, bringing to light the fact that there are such things as Arab Christians in the Middle East.
- I stated that if people had come to whatever conclusion they have through thoughtfulness, then I respected that, but challenged them to investigate more, mentioning Dr. Burge's book "Whose Land? Whose War? What Christians are not Being Told About Israel and the Palestinians."

Mind you, this was done in a non-threatening and gentle way. Just out of curiosity (and my Facebook addiction), I visited the group again today to see if there were any responses, but the moderators of the group felt it necessary to remove my post.

Granted, Christian Zionism bothers me, especially when if it blindly encourages the humanitarian abuse and injustice towards countless others, Christians and Muslims alike. However, when dialogue is stiffled so that a certain view or ideology might be presented without blemish or challenge, it makes me wonder if people value finding truth or if they just want to hear their own views supported with what they like to hear.

Of course, I already know the answer to that question... and I myself am not free of it. But for God's sake, Christians, at least *try* to fight it...