Category Archives: God, Church & Stuff

Barack Obama vs. James Dobson

During the Tuesday, June 24, 2008 broadcast of Focus on the Family, James Dobson talks about a speech presidential candidate Barack Obama gave about religion in June 2006 (CNN story). I’ve never been a fan of Dobson (being blacklisted doesn’t help), but the tone of this attack amazed me.

I wrote up seven pages of text analyzing what Barack Obama said and what James Dobson said. It was good stuff. Fiery and mad and pretending to be non-biased but so completely biased.

I was going to break it up into five or six posts and unleash it slowly, savoring the thrill of bashing Dobson. But then I was reminded of all that stuff in the Bible about not being so quick to criticize. I hate those passages. I always want to insist that it’s not being critical, it’s about justice and explaining what’s right and wrong (clearly I’m right, they’re wrong). But those are just excuses. So I’ll hold off on my blow-by-blow (at least for now).

I will say that I think Barack Obama’s speech was impressive. I think James Dobson found a way to criticize everything possible, even if that meant misunderstanding Obama’s intention. It’s that kind of reaction (the kind that finds something wrong with anything) that makes me hate politics. And that’s exactly what I was starting to do, so I’ll stop.

Instead you can read Barack Obama’s Call for Renewal speech and you can listen to James Dobson’s broadcast (the first third is about Tim Russert, then they get to Obama) and decide for yourself.

Day of Prayer and Fasting for the Global Food Crisis

Today Compassion International is holding a Day of Prayer and Fasting to combat the global food crisis. If you want to help, aside from prayer and fasting, you can donate to their Global Food Crisis Fund.

It’s hard for me to get my head around the fact that people around the world go hungry. I’m sitting here with four boxes of cereal on the kitchen table. There are two more different varieties in the cupboard, and when the Wheaties run out, there’s another box of those as well. When I get hungry, I eat. When I’m really hungry, I go out. When I crave chocolate, I can usually find it.

I am rich. And while it’s easy for my heart to go out to those who are hungry, it’s a lot harder for my actions to change in order to support them. I go back and forth from guilt and eagerness to change, to despair (how does giving up a Pepsi and eating PB&J make any difference?).

But today I suppose I can pray. I suppose I can eat less, maybe simpler. While it won’t change much, perhaps it will begin to change my attitude and that might begin to change my actions. Otherwise it feels like putting a bandaid on a severed limb.

Rapture Notification System

I saw this mentioned earlier this week but didn’t pay any attention to it until I saw the url: http://www.youvebeenleftbehind.com.

For $40 per year you can join a rapture notification system that will notify your heathen friends and family that Jesus has returned and taken you back to heaven with him and those punk sinners have a second chance:

We have set up a system to send documents by the email, to the addresses you provide, 6 days after the “Rapture” of the Church. This occurs when 3 of our 5 team members scattered around the U.S fail to log in over a 3 day period. Another 3 days are given to fail safe any false triggering of the system.

Wow. I know Christians are wacky, but come on. All that’s missing is the Timothy LaHaye endorsement, maybe a free copy of Left Behind when you sign up.

My favorite part is that the whole thing is triggered when their team members fail to log in. I can just see the rapture false alarms that will cause untold panic (and laughter). Or perhaps “This is a test of the emergency rapture system…”

(link via wide_awake)

Death in Many Forms: Cyclones and Cancer

Last week Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar (aka Burma) and officially killed at least 22,980 people with another 42,000 missing, 1 million homeless and unofficial estimates expect the death toll to top 100,000. Those kind of numbers, like the 2004 Southeast Asia Tsunami, are staggering. In contrast, 2005’s Hurricane Katrina was a stronger storm than Nargis yet only killed 1,836 people (still a staggering number). I can’t imagine the reality of that kind of widespread death.

Today a wife and her three children from my church are burying their 42-year-old husband and father after a 3-year battle with cancer. This death, though expected and small in number, is equally as staggering.

Death sucks.

My only comfort is that death is not the last word.

And I mean that in the sense that I believe in a life after death, and in the sense that our response to death—how we live our lives in the aftermath, whether it’s the death of a lone man or multiplied thousands—says so much more about us than death ever could.

Truthiness of E-mail Forwards; Or, Pray to My God or I’ll Heckle You

Today I received another one of the questionable forwards. The story in a nutshell is that a court ruling had prohibited prayer at a graduation ceremony. When one of the speakers approached the podium, the entire graduating class simultaneously sneezed. Then the speaker simply said, “God bless you, each and every one,” and the crowd erupted with applause. A heart-warming ‘screw you’ to those anti-Christian courts.

The first clue that it’s not entirely true might be the mass simultaneous sneeze. The fact that it’s talking about prayer in school should at least make you wary about potential bias. The fact that it has to conclude with “This is a true story; it happened at the University of Maryland,” should also be a hint that’s something not right—how often does the newspaper have to assure you something is a true story? I also couldn’t help but wonder why the University of Maryland had a principal.

I looked this story up on Snopes.com, the go to site for questionable e-mail forwards, and found that the story is in fact true. With some notable exceptions.

Continue reading Truthiness of E-mail Forwards; Or, Pray to My God or I’ll Heckle You

There’s More to Church Than Teachin’ & Singin’

Last week on Church Marketing Sucks we interviewed Mark Van Steenwyk of Jesus Manifesto. He talked a lot about New Monasticism and justice, but the money quote for me is when he talked about how churches have turned Christianity into a Sunday morning activity of teaching and singing, and not the way of life it’s meant to be:

Here’s the thing. Christianity started as a movement. It was a way of life. An orthopraxy. Sure, there were beliefs and creeds and teaching and songs, but all of that happened in the context of communities that were following in the way of Jesus. The Gospel was not simply something to be proclaimed, but lived out. Then things began to change. Slowly, the Church got in bed with the Empire. And those parts of the Way of Jesus that conflicted with the Way of Caesar got sidelined. And then, over time, Europe became a place where it was assumed that everyone was a Christian and the Church became a chaplain to society. Then the Reformation and Enlightenment hit and the Church began to understand itself primarily as an educational institution.

Today, “church” is a place one goes to listen to a half hour message and sing. And if you’re really spiritual, you also go to church on Wednesday to get more information. Ours is a disembodied faith that is about teaching and singing. It isn’t a way of life. We treat things like care for the poor, living simply, practicing hospitality, etc. as optional. They are primarily understood as supplemental programs. Not things that are woven into the fabric of our lives. (emphasis mine)

Worship American Idol

American Idol had it’s big ‘give back’ special last night (or so I’m told—I don’t watch it) and it ended with a group sing of “Shout to the Lord,” a well known worship song written by Darlene Zschech. What? Christian worship music on American Idol? You can watch it here or buy the single from iTunes (Full disclosure: I get a cut of purchases made from that link, which adds an extra level of oddity to this post).

Some people think this is kind of cool. And I can see that. Our soulless American culture embracing a little bit of Christianity. Maybe something will rub off. It’s a good conversation starter.

But it also makes me a little queasy.
Continue reading Worship American Idol

Undercover at Teens Encountering Christ (TEC)

The City Pages recently went undercover to expose the secret of Teens Encountering Christ, also known as TEC. If you’ve never heard of it before, that probably doesn’t sound like big news. But it is. TEC is a Catholic retreat weekend for teens. A lot of denominations have a variation of it, including my own church which calls it Teens Encounter Christ. But it’s all basically the same thing—a weekend where teens are supposed to, uh, encounter Christ. Think of it as Acquire the Fire minus the whole show biz feel and plus a lot of candles.

The reason it’s big news to expose TEC is because it’s supposed to be a secret. Attendees are sworn to secrecy and told they can’t tell others what happens at TEC (“The first rule of TEC is—you do not talk about TEC. The second rule of Tec is—you do not talk about TEC.”) Apparently it would ruin the experience. But on the upside it makes it all sound incredibly cultish. Just hope they don’t serve Kool-Aid.

It’s interesting to read about a complete outsider (and non-Christian) experiencing the whole thing, but they  don’t expose anything shocking. I just get a kick out of the fact that they did expose it. Whenever our youth group does it the TEC alums get all weepy and implore the newbies that they just have to go. “Why?” “Can’t tell you, but you just have to go.”

It’s the most cliqueish, cultish, creepiest thing. I’m sure great things happen at TEC and I know and trust some of those TEC alums when they say it’s an incredible experience. But the entire way it’s communicated is what drives me nuts. I’m all over how churches market themselves, and this is not one of the better approaches.

Mugged Man: “You Might As Well take My Coat”

A teenager steals a man’s wallet by knife-point in the subway. The man offers the thief his jacket as well. Next thing you know the victim is taking the mugger out to eat and eventually gets his wallet back. Then he gives the teen $20 and asks for the knife in exchange.

That’s the story of Julio Diaz as told on NPR (link via kottke).

It’d be an incredibly cheesy sermon illustration if it weren’t true. Luke 6:27-38—them’s some hard words.

Teaching Kids About God

Last week at church we sat around with some other parents and talked about spiritual formation in our children. Basically how we’re teaching them about God. I felt kind of dumb because I didn’t think we were doing much. But then the next day in the bath tub Lexi wanted to pray for her friends and we had quite the extended prayer session that turned into a round of “Praise Ye the Lord (Alleluia).”

First Lexi kept asking me to pray for people. We prayed for all kinds of people. And we started repeating people (they got a double blessing I guess). Then I asked Lexi if she wanted to pray. She put her head down and folded her hands (which she must be learning in Sunday School) and prayed:

“Pray adopted baby amen.”

“Pray momma amen.”

“Dear God amen.”

Then we were singing “Praise Ye the Lord (Alleluia)” and I tried to tell Lexi what ‘alleluia’ means. First I said it was worship (I think it literally means ‘highest praise’ or ‘let us worship God’), but then I realized that probably means nothing to her. So I told her worship is kind of like giving God a hug. I’m no theologian, but the definition kind of works for me.

Then Lexi wanted to pray that God would give the adopted baby a hug. We’re starting to mix metaphors now, but I think that’s a good definition of prayer, too.