Monday, May 30, 2005
Bad for Good
I was recently reading the CS Lewis classic The Magician's Nephew (The first book in the Chronicles of Narnia, and it was there that I was struck with a new message. In 1977 (I think) Meat Loaf brought out the album that made him famous, Bat Out of Hell. The follow up album to that was supposed to be released in 1981. Somewhere along the way some complications developed and the album ended up being released by his songwriting partner Jim Steinman instead. The album didn't go very far, but I never forgot the title, Bad for Good. This brings forth a question is it possible for Christian to be bad for good. To do the wrong thing for the right reason. Digory, the main character fron The Magician's Nephew gets the answer. Through a series of misadventures, Digory ends up releasing an evil queen (Satan?) from a spell and unleashes her on the newly formed land of Narnia. To make things right Aslan the mighty lion (Jesus?)sends Digory on a quest to get a special apple from a special tree to be planted to protect the land of Narnia (tree of life).
While at the tree, Digory is confronted by the evil queen and tempted to eat the apple, which will give him long life and the ability to rule the land of Narnia as King. He quickly rejects this temptation. He has seen Aslan and the greed motive doesn't work. Then the queen hits him below the belt. She tries to get Digory to steal an apple and take it home to heal his dying mother. All of the sudden the choice is much harder. She plays the Bad for Good card. I'm not going to say how the story ends, but please read the book. I can only say that he makes the right decision. You can't be bad for good no matter what. Proverbs 14:12 tells us that there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death. This is the end of being bad for good. Don't measure the rightness of you actions by your results. A seemingly good outcome may turn out to be anything but. Measure your actions against the Word of God. After all we were created in the image of God and we are being molded into the likeness of the sinless Christ. Are you trying to be bad for good? Check yourself against the Word!
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I was recently reading the CS Lewis classic The Magician's Nephew (The first book in the Chronicles of Narnia, and it was there that I was struck with a new message. In 1977 (I think) Meat Loaf brought out the album that made him famous, Bat Out of Hell. The follow up album to that was supposed to be released in 1981. Somewhere along the way some complications developed and the album ended up being released by his songwriting partner Jim Steinman instead. The album didn't go very far, but I never forgot the title, Bad for Good. This brings forth a question is it possible for Christian to be bad for good. To do the wrong thing for the right reason. Digory, the main character fron The Magician's Nephew gets the answer. Through a series of misadventures, Digory ends up releasing an evil queen (Satan?) from a spell and unleashes her on the newly formed land of Narnia. To make things right Aslan the mighty lion (Jesus?)sends Digory on a quest to get a special apple from a special tree to be planted to protect the land of Narnia (tree of life).
While at the tree, Digory is confronted by the evil queen and tempted to eat the apple, which will give him long life and the ability to rule the land of Narnia as King. He quickly rejects this temptation. He has seen Aslan and the greed motive doesn't work. Then the queen hits him below the belt. She tries to get Digory to steal an apple and take it home to heal his dying mother. All of the sudden the choice is much harder. She plays the Bad for Good card. I'm not going to say how the story ends, but please read the book. I can only say that he makes the right decision. You can't be bad for good no matter what. Proverbs 14:12 tells us that there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death. This is the end of being bad for good. Don't measure the rightness of you actions by your results. A seemingly good outcome may turn out to be anything but. Measure your actions against the Word of God. After all we were created in the image of God and we are being molded into the likeness of the sinless Christ. Are you trying to be bad for good? Check yourself against the Word!
Monday, May 23, 2005
The rules of the game.
As many of you know, I am a reality TV junkie, and if you didn't know it before, you do now. I even did an online comic about it. Yesterday I got to watch the finale of one I have watched with interest but sporadically on PBS called Colonial House. It could have been a great show, but it just didn't work. Why didn't it work? Because it wasn't real. The object of the "game" was for people to live as they did in 1628. The problem was the people couldn't leave 2005 (or 4 or whenever it was, you can never tell with PBS).
What do I mean? You had people refusing to attend worship. In 1628, like it or not, worship was mandatory. Of course when you were fleeing for your life from religious persecution, starving and dying crying out to God is kind of important. It's kind of easy to be an atheist when you are being followed around with cameras and knowing that while it may be uncomfortable, no one is going to let you die or for that matter even become seriously ill. The "colonists" white liberal guilt, had them losing money making stupid trades with the local "native Americans." It seemed as if they thought losing money would somehow make up for shafting the Native Americans so many years ago. The people they were trying to replicate would have starved and froze to death to keep their good names in check. Speaking of the native Americans, the people in this show were so politically activist that they spent more time fueling the colonists white liberal guilt that their role in the game was totally skewed. It was as if they expected that colonists would hop back on their boats and sail back to England where they belong. By the time they got here, they didn't have enough supplies to return, they had only one choice, learn to live here.
There are two problems I can see with this. The first is you can't retell this story and leave God out of it. The people who sent the colonists may heve been profiteers, but the people came here seeking freedom to worship God. And surely God had something to do with the country coming into being. The second thing is this, you can't change the past. Do I wish people had done things differently? Absolutely, but people it was 400 years and the past is gone. Our big struggle with the past is the only way we can view it is through today's goggles and in the process we miss the point. We do the same thing with the Word of God. We either strip of its context, or we try to make it mean what we want it to mean today. Neither is the right way. The Word of God is truth we need to read what it says, try to understand the context and live out the eternal truths held within its pages.
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As many of you know, I am a reality TV junkie, and if you didn't know it before, you do now. I even did an online comic about it. Yesterday I got to watch the finale of one I have watched with interest but sporadically on PBS called Colonial House. It could have been a great show, but it just didn't work. Why didn't it work? Because it wasn't real. The object of the "game" was for people to live as they did in 1628. The problem was the people couldn't leave 2005 (or 4 or whenever it was, you can never tell with PBS).
What do I mean? You had people refusing to attend worship. In 1628, like it or not, worship was mandatory. Of course when you were fleeing for your life from religious persecution, starving and dying crying out to God is kind of important. It's kind of easy to be an atheist when you are being followed around with cameras and knowing that while it may be uncomfortable, no one is going to let you die or for that matter even become seriously ill. The "colonists" white liberal guilt, had them losing money making stupid trades with the local "native Americans." It seemed as if they thought losing money would somehow make up for shafting the Native Americans so many years ago. The people they were trying to replicate would have starved and froze to death to keep their good names in check. Speaking of the native Americans, the people in this show were so politically activist that they spent more time fueling the colonists white liberal guilt that their role in the game was totally skewed. It was as if they expected that colonists would hop back on their boats and sail back to England where they belong. By the time they got here, they didn't have enough supplies to return, they had only one choice, learn to live here.
There are two problems I can see with this. The first is you can't retell this story and leave God out of it. The people who sent the colonists may heve been profiteers, but the people came here seeking freedom to worship God. And surely God had something to do with the country coming into being. The second thing is this, you can't change the past. Do I wish people had done things differently? Absolutely, but people it was 400 years and the past is gone. Our big struggle with the past is the only way we can view it is through today's goggles and in the process we miss the point. We do the same thing with the Word of God. We either strip of its context, or we try to make it mean what we want it to mean today. Neither is the right way. The Word of God is truth we need to read what it says, try to understand the context and live out the eternal truths held within its pages.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Don't forget the volunteers/bivocational
I wrote the following post in response to a meeting for a planning committee for a regional youth event I agreed to be on. Our first two meetings were held on Saturdays. I knew and announced in advance that the second meeting fell on a previous engagement before I signed up. At that meeting the membership of the committee decided to hold the rest of their meetings in the middle of the week in the middle of the day. They asked for response to the minutes, this is what I wrote:
Hate to flog a dead horse, but if these meetings were held when we could bivocational people can attend, I for one would be there.
I have seen a lot of ideas for good workshops, I think it's just a matter of compiling them into a schedule The problem with this goes to the line above.
Sorry, but I am sensitive about this. The vast majority of the youth ministry folks we are gearing this toward are in the same boat I am in and I have struggled with this for years. Having a local youth ministry network almost never did me a bit of good as they held one meeting in the five years I specifically did youth ministry, that I could attend. When I tried to organize my own group for the "rest of us" I was informed that I was duplicating the efforts of the network. We bivocational folks are already blowing most of our very limited vacation time for ministry functions. A Saturday meeting now and again would really be beneficial especially due to the fact that it is a three hour drive to where you are.
God bless,
Dave
How can we expect to meet the lost where they are if we can't even alter our schedules for the found. Just a thought.
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I wrote the following post in response to a meeting for a planning committee for a regional youth event I agreed to be on. Our first two meetings were held on Saturdays. I knew and announced in advance that the second meeting fell on a previous engagement before I signed up. At that meeting the membership of the committee decided to hold the rest of their meetings in the middle of the week in the middle of the day. They asked for response to the minutes, this is what I wrote:
Hate to flog a dead horse, but if these meetings were held when we could bivocational people can attend, I for one would be there.
I have seen a lot of ideas for good workshops, I think it's just a matter of compiling them into a schedule The problem with this goes to the line above.
Sorry, but I am sensitive about this. The vast majority of the youth ministry folks we are gearing this toward are in the same boat I am in and I have struggled with this for years. Having a local youth ministry network almost never did me a bit of good as they held one meeting in the five years I specifically did youth ministry, that I could attend. When I tried to organize my own group for the "rest of us" I was informed that I was duplicating the efforts of the network. We bivocational folks are already blowing most of our very limited vacation time for ministry functions. A Saturday meeting now and again would really be beneficial especially due to the fact that it is a three hour drive to where you are.
God bless,
Dave
How can we expect to meet the lost where they are if we can't even alter our schedules for the found. Just a thought.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
I am trying to get back to blogging more regularly. It probably won't be a daily thing as for the most part my cartoon sites The Weird World of Weiss and Rock the Culture are my daily venting tool. But occasionally I need to vent on things in a more verbal format and this is one of those times.
This past Monday was the first anniversary of the worst day of my life, the day I had my heart attack. I had so many questions, but the big one was really "Why now, God?" Over the year He has been faithful in showing me that. My priorities are in the process of being adjusted, I have drawn closer to Him and I am taking better care of my body, eating better and losing weight. I think I am the world's fourth largest consumer of lettuce, lol. I think about every morsel of food I put in my mouth and it's working. I eat to live rather than living to eat and it is working.
That's part of the reason why I am a little surprised by my visceral reaction to the latest lunacy I hear coming out of, of all people, the Children's Television Network. Have you heard about this? Under pressure from parents Groups, CTW has decidedto change the Cookie Monster's diet. Cookie now says Cookies are a sometimes food. Hello. We have people who used to teach kids how to eat, they were called parents. Let the puppet eat what he wants. He is cookie monster after all. If the biggest problem I had in my life was the diet of a blue furry puppet, I would consider myself even more blessed than I already do. It's time to get real, people. These kinds of stupid piddly issues are a symptom of a larger disease. We protest and yell and scream trying to change all this external stuff because we have written off the One who changes hearts. Church we need to be about the business of being the light of the world.
C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me.
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This past Monday was the first anniversary of the worst day of my life, the day I had my heart attack. I had so many questions, but the big one was really "Why now, God?" Over the year He has been faithful in showing me that. My priorities are in the process of being adjusted, I have drawn closer to Him and I am taking better care of my body, eating better and losing weight. I think I am the world's fourth largest consumer of lettuce, lol. I think about every morsel of food I put in my mouth and it's working. I eat to live rather than living to eat and it is working.
That's part of the reason why I am a little surprised by my visceral reaction to the latest lunacy I hear coming out of, of all people, the Children's Television Network. Have you heard about this? Under pressure from parents Groups, CTW has decidedto change the Cookie Monster's diet. Cookie now says Cookies are a sometimes food. Hello. We have people who used to teach kids how to eat, they were called parents. Let the puppet eat what he wants. He is cookie monster after all. If the biggest problem I had in my life was the diet of a blue furry puppet, I would consider myself even more blessed than I already do. It's time to get real, people. These kinds of stupid piddly issues are a symptom of a larger disease. We protest and yell and scream trying to change all this external stuff because we have written off the One who changes hearts. Church we need to be about the business of being the light of the world.
C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Why I gave up on politics!
A new online friend was explaining to me why he thinks that Jesus was more liberal than conservative. Here is my response.
I think it goes a bit beyond political ideology. I think Jesus was Jesus and if we try to define Him by ideology we risk placing Him into our mold. He was both radically conservative and liberal because He was ultimately righteous. He dealt with what was. He despised sin but loved sinners. He loved the law but despised legalism. He gave us a mirror to ourselves in that He showed us what we ultimately could be were we to take up our crosses and follow Him and He showed us that in our self righteousness, we have a long way to go!
This is really what drove me away from politics, including church politics. For example, After having lived through two miscarriages, I am radically prolife, that pushed me more than anything else to the republican party. But there's a problem with that logic. It's not really a problem that can be legislated, it's a problem of the heart. While I deeply wish there would never be another abortion, I also know that a law against abortion would never stop it. No the answer is the Gospel going forth and changing hearts. It's churches putting money into youth ministry and being unafraid to handle the topics of sexuality. It's the people of God laying aside their stupid ignorant protest signs and supporting those who find themselves pregnant and alone and realizing that we need to put our money where our mouths are. The political solution will never work. (Please note here also that while I am pro-life, I am one of the harshest critics of the pro-life movement, because I think by and large they have forgotten how to love. An Abortion is Homicide tshirt will not do any good at all!)
I am struggling to be anti death penalty, though every time I think I have it down, somebody murders a child and I am right back on the fence. I struggle with the war, but I don't know what else you do when someone turns planes into cruise missiles. I think the bottom line is we should have learned a lesson long ago from the children of Israel. They had the perfect king, but it wasn't good enough for them, they wanted a human king just like everyone else and we all see how well that went for them. Even the smartest man in the world got turned around and messed up big time. I'm not convinced any man can do the job of leading 250,000,000 people. You are guaranteed to make mistakes and tick off at least half the people. That's why I have given up on politics and have resigned myself to the fact that my mission inlife is to turn people's hearts to the only one who can clean up the mess we find ourselves in.
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(2) comments
A new online friend was explaining to me why he thinks that Jesus was more liberal than conservative. Here is my response.
I think it goes a bit beyond political ideology. I think Jesus was Jesus and if we try to define Him by ideology we risk placing Him into our mold. He was both radically conservative and liberal because He was ultimately righteous. He dealt with what was. He despised sin but loved sinners. He loved the law but despised legalism. He gave us a mirror to ourselves in that He showed us what we ultimately could be were we to take up our crosses and follow Him and He showed us that in our self righteousness, we have a long way to go!
This is really what drove me away from politics, including church politics. For example, After having lived through two miscarriages, I am radically prolife, that pushed me more than anything else to the republican party. But there's a problem with that logic. It's not really a problem that can be legislated, it's a problem of the heart. While I deeply wish there would never be another abortion, I also know that a law against abortion would never stop it. No the answer is the Gospel going forth and changing hearts. It's churches putting money into youth ministry and being unafraid to handle the topics of sexuality. It's the people of God laying aside their stupid ignorant protest signs and supporting those who find themselves pregnant and alone and realizing that we need to put our money where our mouths are. The political solution will never work. (Please note here also that while I am pro-life, I am one of the harshest critics of the pro-life movement, because I think by and large they have forgotten how to love. An Abortion is Homicide tshirt will not do any good at all!)
I am struggling to be anti death penalty, though every time I think I have it down, somebody murders a child and I am right back on the fence. I struggle with the war, but I don't know what else you do when someone turns planes into cruise missiles. I think the bottom line is we should have learned a lesson long ago from the children of Israel. They had the perfect king, but it wasn't good enough for them, they wanted a human king just like everyone else and we all see how well that went for them. Even the smartest man in the world got turned around and messed up big time. I'm not convinced any man can do the job of leading 250,000,000 people. You are guaranteed to make mistakes and tick off at least half the people. That's why I have given up on politics and have resigned myself to the fact that my mission inlife is to turn people's hearts to the only one who can clean up the mess we find ourselves in.
