Last week’s Christian Carnival was held at Wittenberg Gate.
A few that caught my eye are:
- To Judge or Not to Judge over at Brain Cramps for God
- sensible? i don’t think so over at love without an agenda
Tags: Christianity, Christian Carnival
Monthly Archives: May 2006
Catching Up
Posted in Christian Carnival
Blogging the Bible
What happens when someone who is ignorant about the Bible starts to read it? David Plotz, deputy editor of Slate Magazine, is attempting to find out just that. David is a Jewish man who thought he knew the Scriptures well. But when he found the story of Dinah’s rape in Genesis 34, he became unsettled. This was a story he had never been taught as a child.
If this story was strutting cheerfully through the back half of Genesis, what else had I forgotten or never learned? I decided I would, for the first time as an adult, read the Bible. And I would blog about it as I went along.
I have to say, I’m inspired by this. I want to pick up my Bible and see what forgotten treasures are lurking in the pages. Did you know there’s a story in the Bible about a king who was killed and the killer couldn’t get the sword out of him because he was so fat? And then his servants didn’t discover his death for a while because they thought he was using the bathroom! Who would have thought stories like that exist in the Bible? It’s there–Judges chapter 3. Or what about Jezebel? She was thrown out of a window, trampled by a horse, and eaten by dogs. These are stories we’re never taught in Sunday School. David’s goal is a good one:
So, what can I possibly do? My goal is pretty simple. I want to find out what happens when an ignorant person actually reads the book on which his religion is based. I think I’m in the same position as many other lazy but faithful people (Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus). I love Judaism; I love (most of) the lessons it has taught me about how to live in the world; and yet I realized I am fundamentally ignorant about its foundation, its essential document. So, what will happen if I approach my Bible empty, unmediated by teachers or rabbis or parents? What will delight and horrify me? How will the Bible relate to the religion I practice, and the lessons I thought I learned in synagogue and Hebrew School?
I’ll spend the next few weeks (or months) finding out. I’ll begin with “in the beginning” and see how far I get. My wife, struck by my new biblical obsession, gave me a wonderful Torah translation and commentary for Hannukah, the Etz Hayim, which was prepared by conservative Jewish scholars. I’ll read that and dip into the King James and other translations on occasion. (But I’ll avoid most commentary, since the whole point is to read the Bible fresh.) I’m sure I’ll repeat obvious points made by thousands of biblical commentators before; I’ll misunderstand some passages and distort others—hey, that’ll be part of the fun. I hope you’ll tell me how I’ve screwed up by e-mailing me at plotzd@slate.com.
I’m excited to read his thoughts and discoveries. You can find the series here.
HT: Rhett Smith
Tags: Christianity, Blogging, Bible
Cussin’ Christians
A Christian by the name of Erik Rigney has written a fascinating essay on the ethics of cussing (HT: Internet Monk).
Listed under “Poor Reasons not to Cuss,” he writes:
B. You shouldn’t cuss because those words are just wrong –
I mean, look at their filthy meanings!
Well, okay, I will sort of give you that one: the literal, original meanings of cuss words are usually pretty raunchy or insulting. You have your defecation, your fornication, your eternal punishment, and a smorgasbord of otherwise sordid actions and bodily functions. Not exactly a Miss Manners primer of politeness and good thoughts, right? So isn’t this the proof, the proverbial smoking gun, the final straw that settles the issue? If their meanings are so filthy and crude, shouldn’t we avoid saying them under any circumstances?
Well, again, no – not necessarily. Let’s face it: meaning is what we’re talking about here, and what we mean when we say a word is far more important than what the word itself is. This concept is not really all that foreign – we use words this way all the time. Here, I’ll show you. Quiz: when I say, Will you pass me that pot?, do I mean a) Hand me the cooking implement, or b) Don’t bogart that doobie?
The answer, of course, is: It depends.
He goes on to say:
So my question is: Why don’t we allow words that are traditionally regarded as cuss words the same flexibility? After all, people certainly do not always mean the same thing when they cuss. Take, for example, the word “sh*t.” In its base, literal context, that word means defecation, as in, “I stepped in dog sh*t.” Due to the vulgarity of this meaning, I suppose the argument could be made that a person should not say that word. But what if I wake up in the middle of the night, stub my toe on the door jamb, and yell, “Oh, sh*t!” What do I mean then? I mean, “Ow, that hurts!” I am neither talking about, referring to, nor thinking about defecation. “Sh*t!” literally means the exact same thing as “Ow!” Curiously enough, however, “Ow!” won’t land me in the doghouse with most of my Christian brothers and sisters nearly as fast as “Sh*t!” will. What a bunch of sh*t that is!
I think he makes a good point. But I’m still not convinced. Of course, it would take a whole lot to convince anyone who had been taught something for more than 20 years to change their mind.
What do you think?
Tags: Christianity, Language, Cussing
Posted in Christianity, God, Media and Culture, Religion
Bad Day
I’m having a really bad day. And I feel guilty for it. For some reason, it’s always been ingrained into me that Christians can’t have bad days. I mean, I know that’s not true, so why do I still feel guilty for it?
So I’m depressed. It happens. It’s not the end of the world. It doesn’t mean I’m a bad Christian.
So why do I feel so bad for feeling bad?
Posted in Personal
Ben Stein
This was in my inbox this morning. I think it’s definitely worth reading.
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05.
Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don’t know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise’s wife.
Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. If this is what it means to be no longer young. It’s not so bad.
Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened.
I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees.
It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crèche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution, and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke, it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking. Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her “How could God let something like this Happen?”
(regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, “I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out.. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?”
In light of recent events…terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.
I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said OK. Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with “WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.”
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing? Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they WILL think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it…
no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
Tags: Christianity, God, Ben Stein
Posted in Randomness
Columbine Video Game
Someone has created a video game based on the events of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting.
Columbine video game upsets relatives
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 16:10 EDT
DENVER — An online game based on the Columbine High School massacre is drawing criticism from relatives of those who died in the 1999 attack, including a father who says it trivializes the actions of the two teen killers.
The game, Super Columbine Massacre RPG, was posted on a Web site last year, but is becoming more popular now. It draws on investigative material, including images of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who killed 12 classmates and a teacher before committing suicide.
The game also includes crime scene photos of the killers and images of students running and crying, though it does not have photos of any victims.
“We live in a culture of death, so it doesn’t surprise me that this stuff has become so commonplace,” said Brian Rohrbough, whose son, Daniel, was among those slain that day. “It disgusts me. You trivialize the actions of two murderers and the lives of the innocent.”
The site’s creator told the Rocky Mountain News he wanted to make something that would “promote a real dialogue on the subject of school shootings.”
Read the entire article here.
What do you think? I think it’s of very poor taste to do this, and I really don’t see how it could possibly “promote a real dialogue on the subject of school shootings.” Kids who would play this game would probably not see it as anything more than another violent video game.
Tags: Columbine, Video Games
Posted in Media and Culture, Randomness
Christian Carnival 122
This week’s Christian Carnival is up at Pursuing Holiness (Make sure you stick around to read Laura’s blog too!). All of the entries are worth taking a look at, but here are a few that stood out to me:
Kyrios-Theos: Read this one for a very blunt account of why the Church is in shambles.
Is God a poor designer? God didn’t fail; we did.
Following the Storyteller This is a great defense of Christian fiction.
Tags: Christian Carnival, Christianity, Blogging
Posted in Christian Carnival
Screaming Lettuce
Chicago has banned foie gras. While I myself would never eat the liver of a goose, I find it appalling that it could be banned somewhere in the United States. Read about it here (HT: Randy Thomas).
Posted in Randomness
More on The DaVinci Code
Honeymooning wrote this over on her blog about The DaVinci Code:
Here’s what I think:
- The book is a work of fiction. do not use this book for spiritual guidance, that’s not its purpose, it is made for entertainment.
- The controversy is not new – it’s as old as the nicene creed.
- The church will survive the exposure.
- This book gets people thinking and talking (and unfortunately, some people talking without thinking).
- If this book makes you think and even question your faith, that’s good. Unthinking and unquestioned faith is one of the sources of our current problems in the world (and yes, I mean Christians too).
- Use your brain. Try to avoid knee-jerk reactions.
Tags: The DaVinci Code
Posted in Books
Women in Ministry
Rhett Smith has recently posted his views on women in ministry, and I want to take the opportunity to say, “Hey Rhett! I agree with you!”
My journey, on this topic, has been similar to his. I grew up an Independent, Fundamental Baptist in the South. As such, it was ingrained in me that women have no place in leadership. Women weren’t even allowed to teach Sunday school if there were little boys over the age of 12 in the class (this practice was adopted because Jesus was 12 when he first taught in the temple).
But as I grew in my relationship with the Lord, I felt a longing to do more. The only problem was my church kept telling me there wasn’t anything I was fit to do except raise good Christian children. I had to ask myself, ” Why would God give me the desire to do more for Him if it was wrong in His sight for me to do it?”
Then I discovered Joyce Meyer. My pastor routinely spoke against her from the pulpit, but when I listened to her teach I could clearly see the hand of God on her. It was evident that she was called to do what she does. So I asked myself another question, “Would God call someone to do something He considered sinful?”
The answer to that question is a resounding no.
What bothers me about the issue is the constant debate. This is an issue that only serves to divide the body of Christ. It certainly isn’t a salvation issue, so why argue? As Rhett stated, there are brilliant and faithful Christians on both sides of the fence. It doesn’t make either side more or less of a Christian.
And FYI to any of you in the Denver area: Joyce Meyer will be speaking at the Pepsi Center August 24-26. Admission is FREE.
Tags: Christianity, Women in ministry, Joyce Meyer
