Giving athiest’s wedgies and looking down women’s tops

I quit my cushy desk job this week. I am staying with the same basic company, or at least my paychecks will be coming from the same place. I won’t, however, enjoy the benefits of a guaranteed salary or 9 to 5 Monday to Friday. Instead I am going back to working in a commission sales environment. Am I crazy? Maybe.

I did commission sales a few years back. Considering the environment I was in and the experience I had, I think I did pretty damn good. Good enough that I got promoted to a manager position within 8 months of being with the company. Frankly, the promotion came a bit too soon. If I had the chance to live through the whole experience over again I would do so many things differently. But then, I am a different person now in many ways. I don’t regret it, not one bit. It is part of the big journey that is life in this mortal coil. I learned a lot from it and I wouldn’t be the person I feel that I am today without it.

Why the change you ask? All jobs have their good points and bad points. I got to a place with the job I had where to me anyway, the bad points were outweighing the good. And frankly, I just needed a change. It isn’t an easy decision to give up a guaranteed salary and banker’s hours, not when you have a wife and two kids to take care of. If I was a single guy I would have arrived at my decision to resign much more quickly. But, there was more than me to think about.

I am really looking forward to the new challenge before me. Commission sales is interesting because you are really dependent on God to bring you the people that need to buy the stuff you sell. We are all dependent on God I suppose, but it just feels like you are way more dependent on God in that environment.

Its funny when you think about it. We are all dependent on God whether we know it or not, whether we believe it or not. Its kind of ironic for your life to be controlled by someone you don’t even believe exists. God must be a nice guy to put up with all the people who curse Him and refuse to believe in Him. If I was God I would spend my days giving athiests wedgies and looking down women’s tops. It is probably a good thing that I am not God.

When I was debating with myself over making this change in my professional life I was feeling very neurotic about the whole thing (me neurotic, shocking I know). I was scared that maybe this wasn’t the move that God wanted me to make and as a result I would be punished with failure if I did the wrong thing. The thing is, I probably make 100 choices a day that God doesn’t agree with and I am never really smited because of them. I think God realizes that we are going to get things drastically wrong from time to time and a little bit wrong regularly. In the end, if we choose to walk with God it will all work out.

So sometime in the next few weeks I will be hawking wares to the customers who come in the store. I am actually really excited to get going, it is fun meeting people all day. Wish me luck and if you need some stuff, feel free to come see me.

The Pope and the Rabbi

Great article in Time.

Contention was the very soul of A Rabbi Talks. Neusner based his book on the common scholarly understanding that the New Testament’s Gospel of Matthew was written as an invitation to Jesus’ fellow Jews, trying to convince them, by dint of purportedly predictive passages in the Jewish Bible and Jesus’ striking interpretations of Jewish Scripture, that he was Israel’s longed-for Messiah. His claim in the Sermon on the Mount that he came “not … to abolish the Torah and the [writings of the] prophets … but to fulfill them” is one of the great hinge sentences connecting Western monotheisms.

But Neusner insists it doesn’t parse. A Rabbi Talks argues, for instance, that Jesus’ line that “he who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” defies the commandment to “honor thy father and mother” and that his liberties with Saturday rules on grounds that “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” flout the one that explicitly orders all humans to observe the day. Most important, Neusner read Jesus’ repeated rhetorical formula “You have heard that it was said [in the Torah] … But I say to you … ” as his claim to be not merely the religio-military Messiah some Jews hoped for at the time but also above the Torah and hence God.

Neusner asserted that any thoughtful Jew must conclude that Jesus was actually “abandoning the Torah” and reject him. He also suggested that insofar as Matthew’s arguments are based in Jewish law, Christianity may be flawed by its own standards.

In fact, a close reading of the Pope’s chapter suggests more a marriage of convenience. Benedict is preoccupied with what he sees as the Gospel’s overriding message of Jesus’ divinity, even in passages that liberal Christians read primarily as straightforward injunctions to help the poor and powerless. Having a rabbi help make that case is novel and convenient. Regarding one verse, Benedict writes that “Neusner shows us that we are dealing not with some kind of moralism, but with a highly theological text, or, to put it more precisely, a Christological one.” He acknowledges the rabbi’s point that Jesus is offering the Jews a transformation rather than a continuation of the Torah but maintains that the trade-off is worth it, provided Jesus is not merely “a liberal reform rabbi” but “the Son.” That Neusner and other Jews regard that very Sonship as a deal breaker does not bother him much. “It would be good for the Christian world to look respectfully at this obedience of Israel,” he writes, “and thus to appreciate better the great commandments” as universalized by Jesus.

Very interesting discourse between these two learned men. At the end of the day though, that is the deal breaker, isn’t it? Was Jesus God, or a human teacher? Many faiths count Jesus as being an example of a great prophet, but to do so and deny His divinity seems almost disingenuous to me.

Far be it from me to play the game of apologetics. Josh McDowell is much more suited to that than I am. However, to describe Jesus as a great prophet but not God flies in the face of the majority of what He said. Most of the time, either overtly or by implication, Jesus claimed to be divine. The majority of His words would have to be ignored or seriously redefined for that to not be the case.

Having said all that, I believe that this dialogue is a great thing. Even if it doesn’t win any converts. Much of the wrong that is done in the world today is done in the name of religion. Over the centuries, Christians have used scripture as an excuse for anti-Semitism. All of this needs to stop. The only way to defeat prejudice is through education.

I may believe that Jesus is God, but that doesn’t mean I can’t listen to other people’s ideas about Him.

Jesus vs. W

Reality bites

A survey by the Pew Research Center, the first of its kind, finds American Muslims to be “largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world.” Muslims in the United States often sound more satisfied with their circumstances than the general American public: While only 32 percent of Americans in general are satisfied with the state of the nation, 38 percent of Muslims in America are. While 64 percent of the general population thinks it can get ahead with hard work, 71 percent of Muslims think so. Muslims are even stronger believers in the separation of church and state than other Americans generally are: 49 percent of Muslims think mosques should stay out of politics, while 46 percent of the general population thinks so.

The stereotypes were in evidence again, however, when the Pew study was published this week. Headlines focused on one inflammatory detail in the survey: Among Muslims between the ages of 18 and 29, 26 percent thought suicide bombings could be justified. The percentage falls to 13 when Muslims of all ages are surveyed. The numbers are disquieting, but the survey doesn’t report Americans’ opinion of suicide bombings, only that the United States has the lowest proportion of Muslims who think the tactic justifiable, compared with Muslims surveyed in nine other western countries. In any case, how is a survey showing even marginal public support for conventional American bombing campaigns in Iraq less disquieting?

Muslims in America are a story of integration and satisfaction. Too bad the story has trouble integrating the mainstream press.

Full Story

You mean Muslims are people just like the rest of us? (end sarcasm here)

Good on the Pew Research Center for doing what they can dispel the myths about Muslims. How disappointing to see the media grab onto a minority idea (suicide bombing) and try to pass it off as the norm. The reality is that Muslims are like Osama bin Laden at the same rate that Christians are like Fred Phelps. Very rarely.

When people strike out against minorities, news agencies rightly decry these activities. I wonder though, do they ever stop and consider the role their reporting may have played in these attacks? In the search for a great headline, how much damage is done to the reputations of people?

The media has a huge role in forming our perceptions. For proof of this, one only needs to look at political campaigns. These campaigns have become more about defaming an opponent than clearly stating what it is a candidate stands for. The really sad part is that when you look around at our cultural landscape it doesn’t appear this phenomenon will improve itself anytime soon. As a society it seems that our thirst for this kind of journalism (if you can even call it that) won’t be easily satiated.

There is a famous saying that cautions us against judging a book by its cover. I suppose we could coin a new one against judging a story by its headline. Unfortunately, it would probably get buried somewhere in the classified section.

Save the cheerleader, save the world

Last week the TV show Heroes has its season finale. Apparently, the show was only scheduled for one season, however, it was such a run-away and surprise hit that the producers decided to bring it back for a second season in the fall. I, for one, am glad they made this decision. In my opinion it is one of the most original, and interesting TV shows ever created.

One of the catchphrases of the show’s first season was “save the cheerleader, save the world.” The premise being that this particular cheerleader’s unique ability made it possible for her to avert a catastrophe (I don’t want to give too much away in case you haven’t seen it and plan to catch up when the inevitable DVD release happens).

Like anything that is really good, Heroes can be enjoyed on a multitude of levels. Sometimes when you are tired, which often happens on a Monday evening, you just sit back and enjoy the story. On those rare Monday nights when you aren’t too tired to think, the show can be more than just entertainment. It might even have something to say to you.

We are all gifted in unique ways to overcome the catastrophes that we face in our lives. Unfortunately, these abilities become obscured with the grime of life. Since I have had my stepdaughters, I have been regularly amazed with the unbridled enthusiasm they have for each new day. It saddens me to see that as they grow older this enthusiasm is diminished by the ugliness of the human condition. It seems that they once were windows, windows that you could easily look through to see the beauty on the other side. The beauty is still there, but the grime of life has obscured it just a little.

Then I think of myself and all the grime I have accumulated in my 33 years of journeying in this mortal coil. I consider the way I act, the way I live, the way I respond to the challenges I face everyday. I know that so many of them could be handled better, I have the tools I need. Sometimes it seems, I just choose not to use them. Or, at the very least they don’t perform as they should because of accumulated grime. Like a ratchet that has never been cleaned and oiled, until one day the gears inside won’t turn anymore.

Maybe that is what it means to be born again. By entering into relationship with God you shake off all that dust and dirt, once again becoming that window through which one can gaze so easily to see the beauty on the other side. The problem is that sometimes this new relationship isn’t enough to shake off the grime and unfortunately, the baggage that comes along with the tag “Christian” can cause you to grime up with a whole different kind of dirt. It all seems so hopeless.

Fortunately, the freedom to be born again isn’t a one time occurrence. It is something that we can enjoy anytime we ask for it. We can choose to shake off the grime in our lives, overcome the shit that threatens to drown us, and be a new creation, just by choosing it. Of course, it isn’t quite that simple. Sometimes, just making that choice can be so hard, but it can be made. And who knows, I just might even save the world.

Christian/Christ follower

Hilarious video.

St. Michael

Beliefnet has an interesting interview with Michael Stipe from the band REM. I thought the following excerpt was very interesting.

I don’t really speak publicly about my particular faith, but I came from a Christian background–my parents are Christians, Methodists–and my people come from Mississippi on my mother’s side. The stories that I heard about my great-grandfather and the way he responded to various situations in his life–a man that I never met but I knew through stories–speaks to me volumes about faith and about spirituality and about what’s good and what’s right. And it’s really, really simple. If it’s the teachings of Jesus that you’re following, it’s really easy to cut to the chase and get down to what did this man’s life really represent. And how much of that is acknowledged in the Bible? I think a lot. How much of that can get muddied by people’s interpretation of the Bible and perhaps not recognizing that a lot of it is allegory.

Faith in general–and I am speaking about Christian faith in particular because it’s what I’m most familiar with–is an individual thing. But I think it’s easy to get lost in it and to maybe allow other people to tell you what is and is not right. I think a true Christian, and I’ll use my parents as the shining example in my life, recognizes what the teachings of Jesus represent and what that means to them, and then, in the not-simple day-to-day living and breathing those teachings, what paths do you take, what choices do you make, what do you support, what do you not support?

If there’s a schism in this country, it might be not between the people who have faith and the people who don’t have faith, but people who have faith that is, in my opinion, pure to the teachings of Jesus and people who have taken that and turned it into something for other reasons, be that power, be that intolerance or ignorance. And that’s where a schism might have occurred in this country presently.

Full interview

I am regularly fascinated how some of the most profound statements on faith are made by those who are not part of any religious establishment. Instead it seems that those who are closest to God are those who have chosen to know Jesus on their own terms. I wonder why that is?

My gut tells me the reason for this is that these people, these prophets, have no investment in a religiosity that can actually impede their path to God. Think about it, the Pharisees had so much invested in their own religiosity that they could not recognize Jesus for who He was. It’s kind of funny in a way how wrapping ourselves up in the trappings of things that appear Godly on their surface actually serve to go against the mission of God.

Another thing that caught my eye is that Mr. Stipe seems reticent to discuss his religion. On one hand it is understandable from a person in the public eye as he is. I can imagine that sometimes it is nice to keep some things to oneself. However, I wonder if his silence is at all motivated by how ugly Christianity has been to people of his sexual orientation? I am assuming from the things he said that he is a Christian. The majority of Christianities that are out there are hardly welcoming to homosexuals.

Whatever the case Michael Stipe is right. Christianity is not about how loud we sing in church on Sunday, or even if we go to church. Christianity is about how we choose to live on a daily basis. This doesn’t mean that we live without sinning. Quite the contrary actually, sometimes you can tell the most about a person’s character by how they respond to their mistakes. What it means is that we seek to live in a way that glorifies God while being kind to our neighbor.

Freehouse this Sunday

The theme is Mustard Seed vs. McWorld. Sounds interesting. You should check it out.

Waiting for a miracle

The founder of a Lethbridge-based Christian television channel has resigned because of an extra-marital affair with a woman, according to the station.

Pastor Dick Dewert started the religious channel in 1995 and co-hosted the television show LifeLine with his wife Joan Dewert.

In a news release Tuesday, officials with the Miracle Channel wrote that they don’t condone his behaviour and have accepted his resignation. The channel has also accepted the resignation of his wife so she can “stand with her husband,” says the release.

“We apologize to you as partners and friends for the disappointment this news brings and position ourselves in a spirit of humility to ask for your forgiveness for any hurt or shame that you or the Body of Christ may experience,” reads the release.

The couple has also been offered marriage counselling through a church.

Dick Dewart, an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage admits to an adulterous affair. Ted Haggard, in a much publicized fall from grace, is outed as a homosexual and sometime crystal meth user. He too is a very outspoken and well known opponent of same-sex marriage. The Catholic Church, despite its terrible history of sexual abuse that has only come to light in the last decade or two, chooses to weigh in as an opponent of same-sex marriage as well.

I’m not sure exactly what the lesson is here, but I am convinced there is one. Could it be that God won’t allow us to say one thing in public while living a different way in private? I don’t know about you, but that scares the crap out of me. I am hardly a constant beacon of Christ’s light bathing over those in my midst. I am a sinner very much in need of God’s grace.

Maybe that is what the lesson is. Maybe what the church needs to hear, and really believe, that we too are sinners. Sure we bow our heads piously in church on Sunday morning as our preachers holler out “Thaaaank you Jeeeeezuuus,” but isn’t there a little part of us that thinks “good” Christian, church going folk are just a bit better than those “sinners” out there? Is it possible that in the church’s attempt to “uphold the truth of God’s Word” we have missed the point completely? Maybe the same-sex marriage issue and others like it could be handled a lot differently, no matter which side of the fence you are on.

As the world looks on the Dick Dewert’s and Ted Haggard’s, all it sees are hypocrites. Can you blame them? People in glass houses really shouldn’t throw stones.

The face of a fanatic

A first-year Liberty University student was arrested in what police said was a plot to detonate explosive devices Tuesday, the day of the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s funeral.

ABC News reported the youth told authorities he had made the bombs — which were found in his car — to stop protesters from disrupting Falwell’s funeral.

Full Story

As this post attests, I am no fan of the late Jerry Falwell or his theology. The post you are currently reading, however, is not meant as an attack against him or Liberty University. I am sure that the actions of this young man are in no way indicative of what one could expect from the majority of students who attend that school.

That being said, is it wrong that I am a little bit glad that the alleged perpetrator in this case is a white, male, Christian? Christian fundamentalists have happily pointed an accusing finger at Muslims, all Muslims, despite the fact that the actions of Muslim fanatics is in no way indicative of what one could expect from the vast majority of Muslims around the world.

Unfortunately, because of the actions of a few over the last several years, whenever the term “religious fanatic” is bandied about, a Muslim person is often the first that people think of. If yesterday’s arrest can teach us anything is that fanaticism knows no racial or religious bounds. There can be fanatics in any large group of people because people are flawed and sometimes do bad things under the guise of a good thing, like faith in God. It is a fascinating phenomena in our society that those Christians who blow up abortion clinics or shoot doctors who perform abortions are not referred to as terrorists, but that is exactly what they are.

Thank God that the family of this young man acted when they did. Thank God that no one was hurt. Now can we finally sit at the table together as people of faith and dialogue with the understanding that we all have kooks in our midst we have to deal with?