I have a thing now about writing about the good movies that i see.
Here's my latest collection of thoughts.
Uhm, spoiler alert.
Just got back from seeing Avatar in 3d.
James Cameron did an excellent job. It was the most immersive film i've seen since in a long time. When they say that he was after Star Wars, that's got to be what they're referring to. Immersion. Its most definitely not the 3d. It's the movie's ridiculously powerful ability to take your mind, your body, and your emotions and transport them into a compelling universe where James Cameron's imagination is king.
The faces. That's what I think made the film. The faces on the aliens. You know that they aren't supposed to be human. But at the same time you know that Cameron wanted us to mistake them for ourselves.
There is something unmistakably powerful about "waking up".
The Matrix did it. Avatar does it in completely the same way.
We do the same thing with video games- this movie ties in to what i was thinking about here.
There are no references to video games in the movie at all except when the researchers are talking about how much time they'd logged on their Avatars. But what makes Avatar so much cooler than the Matrix is that when they "plug in" to their avatars, they're still in reality. They're just in a different part of it. They become something that they could never in human form be, become part of a society that would never allow them in.
Honestly, whether James Cameron intended it or not, Avatar is self-referencing. Sure, its a great movie and delivers nicely for entertainment. But that's exactly it.
We've gotten to a point where we put on 3d glasses and plug ourselves into made up worlds where we have legs and can jump around in trees and interface our neurological system with giant awesome lizard bird things.
And unlike the lame ending of the movie, we can't just transfer our bodies into that falseness.
Time after time, we have to face the reality that we need oxygen to breathe. That all around our movie theater, while we're vegetating there staring at a 75 foot wide glowing screen, people are returning to their lives in the giant parking lot outside, sitting in traffic, inhaling cigarette smoke.
I have a lot of respect for Amish people. Someone 150 years ago realized that innovations in technology were making us schizophrenic, and decided to keep life as simple as possible. As a result of ourselves, a really scary amount of people in our world are simply unable to keep Reality straight. They don't like what's going on in their lives, so they turn to all the wonderfully convincing escape routes that we've spent the last 100 years spending all our money creating. And all the while that they're learning the language of some tribe of humanoids, their actual body, their actual mind, their actual spirit is sitting in a metaphorical bed link device, atrophying into nothingness.
On the way back from the movie, Chris Pike mentioned something about a guy feeling called by God to go to africa. He had no way of getting there, but went to an airport on faith thinking that maybe someone would give him a ticket or something would come up. He went to the bathroom, and when he came back out, he was in Africa.
I always come out of really good movies really pumped up.
If our population will buy into James Cameron's imagination, think about what they'll do when they figure out reality- that Jesus Christ fixed the world and everything else is a bonus.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
On Shepherds
I love reading through the old testament and finding a passage that clearly and vividly points to Jesus. Some of the prophesies about Jesus are pretty vague. But there are certainly plenty of very obvious, clear ones.
Read Ezekiel 34:1-16.
"The word of the Lord came to me: 'Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have no strengthened the weak or healed th sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered all over the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.
Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.
For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a food pasture, and the mountain heights of Istael will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.'""
For the entire time I read this passage, I couldn't stop smiling and thinking about Jesus.
In John 10:11 Jesus told the Pharisees,
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."
This is really interesting because Pharisees spent their entire lives memorizing scripture- including Ezekiel, the third of the major prophets. They would have been able to instantly recall that, about 500 years ago, God had spoken to his people and said that he was throwing out the shepherds. And not only that, but He, Himself, would take over the roll. Assuming that the Pharisees recognized themselves as the "shepherds" in the prophesy, the priests, the ones in charge of leading God's chosen people, his sheep, then by Jesus calling himself "the good shepherd", he was stating himself to be God incarnate.
Mind blowing.
And it's so true. God knew that the laws and priests were crummy shepherds, so he came down to fix it himself. Jesus is our shepherd, he tends to us, and searches after the lost, bringing them home strikingly like the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15.
Reading through the Old Testament is one of the coolest ways to affirm Christianity as truth. It would be humanly impossible to write a book with so many different "authors" over such a long time period and have it result in the perfect handbook to Life.
Read Ezekiel 34:1-16.
"The word of the Lord came to me: 'Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have no strengthened the weak or healed th sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered all over the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.
Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.
For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a food pasture, and the mountain heights of Istael will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.'""
For the entire time I read this passage, I couldn't stop smiling and thinking about Jesus.
In John 10:11 Jesus told the Pharisees,
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."
This is really interesting because Pharisees spent their entire lives memorizing scripture- including Ezekiel, the third of the major prophets. They would have been able to instantly recall that, about 500 years ago, God had spoken to his people and said that he was throwing out the shepherds. And not only that, but He, Himself, would take over the roll. Assuming that the Pharisees recognized themselves as the "shepherds" in the prophesy, the priests, the ones in charge of leading God's chosen people, his sheep, then by Jesus calling himself "the good shepherd", he was stating himself to be God incarnate.
Mind blowing.
And it's so true. God knew that the laws and priests were crummy shepherds, so he came down to fix it himself. Jesus is our shepherd, he tends to us, and searches after the lost, bringing them home strikingly like the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15.
Reading through the Old Testament is one of the coolest ways to affirm Christianity as truth. It would be humanly impossible to write a book with so many different "authors" over such a long time period and have it result in the perfect handbook to Life.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
On a Way Out
Look at your hands.
Move your fingers.
These are your fingers.
Out of the entire infinite expanse of the universe, only YOU, whatever "you" actually is, can control your fingers.
I've always been intensely interested in video games. I'm not all that great at playing them, but the philosophical connotations are neat. I know people that easily spend 3 hours every day playing xbox. When they're done, they get up, put the controller down, and walk away, usually to get food.
Video games are really cool because you can turn them off. And when you turn off a video game, life returns to normal- back to reality.
Descartes wrote a book trying to convince himself that he was alive and that God was real. I don't need to go through that much work. My assurance is this: Ever since I was little, I've never been able to shake the notion that throughout our lives we've been holding a video game controller, and that one day we'll have to put it down. And when that happens, we'll return to reality.
That's what I like about eastern religions- they get that. They understand that we don't live here just to reproduce, but that there is so much more beyond our pale blue dot of a planet. The early Christians understood this too- Judaism loosely shares some concepts with, say, taoism and buddhism. But somewhere along the road, maybe blame the 900-year reign of the Catholic Church that created the western world, we lost touch with that fundamental reverence that There Has To Be a Way Out.
Our bodies are fundamentally foreign. The idea that the jumble of biology in our heads somehow gives us Existence seems impossible. I've heard the body referred to as an "earthsuit" before- a protective layer that allows us to live on Earth, much like how a spacesuit is a protective layer that lets astronauts move around in space. Spacesuits are the very essence of "limiting". They restrict body movement by being big and clunky. In the same way, our bodies limit our ability to think, to move, and to live.
Move your fingers.
These are your fingers.
Out of the entire infinite expanse of the universe, only YOU, whatever "you" actually is, can control your fingers.
I've always been intensely interested in video games. I'm not all that great at playing them, but the philosophical connotations are neat. I know people that easily spend 3 hours every day playing xbox. When they're done, they get up, put the controller down, and walk away, usually to get food.
Video games are really cool because you can turn them off. And when you turn off a video game, life returns to normal- back to reality.
Descartes wrote a book trying to convince himself that he was alive and that God was real. I don't need to go through that much work. My assurance is this: Ever since I was little, I've never been able to shake the notion that throughout our lives we've been holding a video game controller, and that one day we'll have to put it down. And when that happens, we'll return to reality.
That's what I like about eastern religions- they get that. They understand that we don't live here just to reproduce, but that there is so much more beyond our pale blue dot of a planet. The early Christians understood this too- Judaism loosely shares some concepts with, say, taoism and buddhism. But somewhere along the road, maybe blame the 900-year reign of the Catholic Church that created the western world, we lost touch with that fundamental reverence that There Has To Be a Way Out.
Our bodies are fundamentally foreign. The idea that the jumble of biology in our heads somehow gives us Existence seems impossible. I've heard the body referred to as an "earthsuit" before- a protective layer that allows us to live on Earth, much like how a spacesuit is a protective layer that lets astronauts move around in space. Spacesuits are the very essence of "limiting". They restrict body movement by being big and clunky. In the same way, our bodies limit our ability to think, to move, and to live.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
On Honor
Here's a decently well known story. Moses is in the middle of leading Israel to the Promise land, and everyone, as usual, is complaining:
"Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, 'If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!'
Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, 'Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock and drink.'
So Moses took the staff from the Lord's presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, 'Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?' Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 'Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.'"
Numbers 20:2-12
Whoosh. That's hard luck right there.
God just told Moses that he won't be the one that brings the nation of Israel into the promised land. After almost 40 years of wandering around, putting up with all the complaining of his people, having to beg God to show them compassion, fighting through the disunity and overcoming his fears of leadership, he blew it. No milk and honey for Moses.
So what exactly did Moses do?
The scripture doesn't tell us. All it does is not tell us what he doesn't do.
"Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff"- Moses hits a rock and water comes out. He was completely obedient to God.
But here's the deal.
We know that Moses has a problem with public speaking- that's why Aaron signed on in the first place. Moses hits the rock and God follows through with his promise of water, but Moses fails to recognize God's power in front of the Israelites. In fact, he almost uses the event to glorify himself.
He didn't say, "the Lord will pour water out of this rock for you". On the contrary, he said, "must we bring you water out of this rock?" The 'we' is very much referring to himself and Aaron, not God.
The Israelites weren't particularly grounded people. When they were hungry, they complained about food, and when they were thirsty, they complained about water. When Moses was on mount Sinai, they complained about him taking too long. These are a people that were never good at having their eyes on God- that was Moses' job. So when Moses makes the problem worse by lifting himself up with his water-from-the-rock magic trick, the people look to him as a great leader, rather than a great follower of God.
Moral?
Everything we do is for God's glory, and if we don't recognize His power and His works, we're being like Moses. Moses died before he could get into the place he toiled for decades to get to.
Now here's something else.
When you read, "Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.", what mental image do you have?
Whatever it is, its probably wrong.
In Numbers 26, we learn that the number of fighting men (over age of 20) in Israel about this time was 601,730. Double that for their wives, and double it at least again for their young children. I'd say that a decent approximation of how many people were at the rock: 2.4 million.
That's a lot of people. You can't imagine that many people. Luckily for us, a very recent event also had roughly 2.4 million people at it: President Obama's inauguration.
Here's some perspective.
Look at this picture:
http://cache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/44_01_21/4403_17681689.jpg
That's about 2.4 million people. they look like ants.
Here's a different view:
http://cache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/44_01_21/4402_17676747.jpg
And my favorite is the Gigapan image, taken from the press box next to the capitol building:
http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=17217
Zoom in all the way in the top-right. The end of the crowd is at the Washington Monument.
That is a ridiculous amount of people.
With those images fresh in your mind, try to re-imagine enough water gushing out of a rock for all those people and their livestock to drink. This is not a garden hose. This is a river.
Also, now that you know what 2.4 million people looks like, go back and read Exodus. Everything in that book means a lot more when you realize the insane logistical challenges facing Moses and Aaron to keep track of, communicate to, and feed that many people.
"Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, 'If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!'
Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, 'Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock and drink.'
So Moses took the staff from the Lord's presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, 'Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?' Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 'Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.'"
Numbers 20:2-12
Whoosh. That's hard luck right there.
God just told Moses that he won't be the one that brings the nation of Israel into the promised land. After almost 40 years of wandering around, putting up with all the complaining of his people, having to beg God to show them compassion, fighting through the disunity and overcoming his fears of leadership, he blew it. No milk and honey for Moses.
So what exactly did Moses do?
The scripture doesn't tell us. All it does is not tell us what he doesn't do.
"Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff"- Moses hits a rock and water comes out. He was completely obedient to God.
But here's the deal.
We know that Moses has a problem with public speaking- that's why Aaron signed on in the first place. Moses hits the rock and God follows through with his promise of water, but Moses fails to recognize God's power in front of the Israelites. In fact, he almost uses the event to glorify himself.
He didn't say, "the Lord will pour water out of this rock for you". On the contrary, he said, "must we bring you water out of this rock?" The 'we' is very much referring to himself and Aaron, not God.
The Israelites weren't particularly grounded people. When they were hungry, they complained about food, and when they were thirsty, they complained about water. When Moses was on mount Sinai, they complained about him taking too long. These are a people that were never good at having their eyes on God- that was Moses' job. So when Moses makes the problem worse by lifting himself up with his water-from-the-rock magic trick, the people look to him as a great leader, rather than a great follower of God.
Moral?
Everything we do is for God's glory, and if we don't recognize His power and His works, we're being like Moses. Moses died before he could get into the place he toiled for decades to get to.
Now here's something else.
When you read, "Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.", what mental image do you have?
Whatever it is, its probably wrong.
In Numbers 26, we learn that the number of fighting men (over age of 20) in Israel about this time was 601,730. Double that for their wives, and double it at least again for their young children. I'd say that a decent approximation of how many people were at the rock: 2.4 million.
That's a lot of people. You can't imagine that many people. Luckily for us, a very recent event also had roughly 2.4 million people at it: President Obama's inauguration.
Here's some perspective.
Look at this picture:
http://cache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/44_01_21/4403_17681689.jpg
That's about 2.4 million people. they look like ants.
Here's a different view:
http://cache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/44_01_21/4402_17676747.jpg
And my favorite is the Gigapan image, taken from the press box next to the capitol building:
http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=17217
Zoom in all the way in the top-right. The end of the crowd is at the Washington Monument.
That is a ridiculous amount of people.
With those images fresh in your mind, try to re-imagine enough water gushing out of a rock for all those people and their livestock to drink. This is not a garden hose. This is a river.
Also, now that you know what 2.4 million people looks like, go back and read Exodus. Everything in that book means a lot more when you realize the insane logistical challenges facing Moses and Aaron to keep track of, communicate to, and feed that many people.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
On Davidisms
Whenever I don't know what to read in the Bible, I turn to one of the books of history- Samuel, Kings, Chronicles. Every single story in those pages is absolutely vivid and full of things to learn.
In 1 Samuel 21, David is running away from Saul, the king at the time, because he wants to kill him. He arrives in a town and goes to the priest, Ahimelech, to ask for supplies.
"David asked Ahimelech, "Don't you have a spear or a sword here? I haven't brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king's business was urgent."
The priest replied, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one."
David said, "There is none like it; give it to me.""
-1 Samuel 21:8-9
How awesome is that?
David needs to find a sword. He ends up with the sword of the guy that he killed years ago that led to his rise to fame in the first place. When people see David out on the battle field with Goliath's sword they will be full of instant respect. Here's a guy fighting with a sword probably twice as big as it needs to be that he took from a giant when he was just a shepherd.
You never know when you're gonna find yourself like David- when our past victories will come back to help us in our times of need. Take every chance you can to fight a battle because if you win, that's one more sword stored away that you might be able to use later on in life.
In 1 Samuel 21, David is running away from Saul, the king at the time, because he wants to kill him. He arrives in a town and goes to the priest, Ahimelech, to ask for supplies.
"David asked Ahimelech, "Don't you have a spear or a sword here? I haven't brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king's business was urgent."
The priest replied, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one."
David said, "There is none like it; give it to me.""
-1 Samuel 21:8-9
How awesome is that?
David needs to find a sword. He ends up with the sword of the guy that he killed years ago that led to his rise to fame in the first place. When people see David out on the battle field with Goliath's sword they will be full of instant respect. Here's a guy fighting with a sword probably twice as big as it needs to be that he took from a giant when he was just a shepherd.
You never know when you're gonna find yourself like David- when our past victories will come back to help us in our times of need. Take every chance you can to fight a battle because if you win, that's one more sword stored away that you might be able to use later on in life.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
On Prophesy
I read through a little bit of Micah a few days ago.
One of my new favorite verses:
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from days of eternity."-Micah 5:2, NIV
"Origins from of old, from days of eternity"
That's pretty poetic. Jesus Christ, our new testament savior, is from of old. He's eternal. He was alive billions and billions of year ago. He was around when Moses and Aaron were in charge. He watched Jewish history unfold as humanity proved to itself that the Laws couldn't possibly be enough to save us from our sins. And he waited patiently until the Father said, "go", and then joined us on this lonely blue speck where humanity is just a phrase to cover up all the shortcomings of our lives.
One of my new favorite verses:
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from days of eternity."-Micah 5:2, NIV
"Origins from of old, from days of eternity"
That's pretty poetic. Jesus Christ, our new testament savior, is from of old. He's eternal. He was alive billions and billions of year ago. He was around when Moses and Aaron were in charge. He watched Jewish history unfold as humanity proved to itself that the Laws couldn't possibly be enough to save us from our sins. And he waited patiently until the Father said, "go", and then joined us on this lonely blue speck where humanity is just a phrase to cover up all the shortcomings of our lives.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
On Christians
I think it was Ghandi that once said, "I love your Christ but can't stand your Christians" or something like that. Here in the West, we have this weird, stupid, wrong disconnect between faith and "religion" and the "real world".
We have 1/3 or so of our America full of people who say that they are Christians.
News Flash: Adding the enclitic "-ian" to a word turns it into an adjective. A Christian is someone who has taken Christ- literally, Jesus Christ, and made Him the adjective for their life. We are modified by Christ. That should be more significant than just a "thing" that we do every now and then with other "christians".
When you take the word out of its literal context, you get it to mean a "Follower of Christ".
That definition also doesn't quite see itself given justice in westernland. To be a follower of Christ LITERALLY means that you LITERALLY follow Christ.
That means you read the New Testament, find out what Jesus did, and follow it.
If i were to ever start a church, the emphasis would be on the basics; the most important things, and nothing else. Literally making our lives line up as close as humanly possibly with Jesus and proclaiming him as savior of the world. And not much else.
I've never liked "salvation messages". Don't get me wrong, but when you stand up in front of a group of people and try to convince them to change every single thing about how they look at their world and where they fit into it within an hour-long segment of time is just BEGGING to need the grace of the holy spirit to have any impact. I know that it's biblical that its only by the spirit that anyone can understand, but seriously... it would take a lot more than a single sermon to convince me to change everything about my life.
And i think maybe that's one of the causes of shallow Christianity. That maybe people don't understand everything that it means to call yourself a "follower of Christ", or maybe that their parents didn't tell them that and that's how they grew up... just going through the motions because no one ever said, "hey, there's an eternity more to this stuff than you can talk about in one sermon".
I dunno.
Follow Jesus, tell others. seems simple enough, right?
We have 1/3 or so of our America full of people who say that they are Christians.
News Flash: Adding the enclitic "-ian" to a word turns it into an adjective. A Christian is someone who has taken Christ- literally, Jesus Christ, and made Him the adjective for their life. We are modified by Christ. That should be more significant than just a "thing" that we do every now and then with other "christians".
When you take the word out of its literal context, you get it to mean a "Follower of Christ".
That definition also doesn't quite see itself given justice in westernland. To be a follower of Christ LITERALLY means that you LITERALLY follow Christ.
That means you read the New Testament, find out what Jesus did, and follow it.
If i were to ever start a church, the emphasis would be on the basics; the most important things, and nothing else. Literally making our lives line up as close as humanly possibly with Jesus and proclaiming him as savior of the world. And not much else.
I've never liked "salvation messages". Don't get me wrong, but when you stand up in front of a group of people and try to convince them to change every single thing about how they look at their world and where they fit into it within an hour-long segment of time is just BEGGING to need the grace of the holy spirit to have any impact. I know that it's biblical that its only by the spirit that anyone can understand, but seriously... it would take a lot more than a single sermon to convince me to change everything about my life.
And i think maybe that's one of the causes of shallow Christianity. That maybe people don't understand everything that it means to call yourself a "follower of Christ", or maybe that their parents didn't tell them that and that's how they grew up... just going through the motions because no one ever said, "hey, there's an eternity more to this stuff than you can talk about in one sermon".
I dunno.
Follow Jesus, tell others. seems simple enough, right?
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