the biblical concept of jubilee is amazing. of course, if it was done within our present economic system it would throw it into chaos. a little chaos though is a good thing so i thought i would throw jubileeUSA everyone’s way. it’s an organization that was developed by two CHRISTian evangelists who saw the biblical lifestyle of jubilee as an excellent way of dealing with extreme poverty within the world. the jubilee act was spawned from this and is presently seeking co-sponsors within the house and the senate. the act basically would forgive debt owed to the united states from some of the poorest nations. i called my representatives today asking them to co-sponsor the act and i would encourage you to do the same. jubileeUSA has a page to walk you through what to do here.
danger zone
since the library has reminded me that “the year of living biblically” by a.j. jacobs is due on the 22nd and they won’t let me renew it (it’s on a waiting list) i have had to swap it from the “yet to read” pile to the “currently reading” pile. this means i’ve had to stop reading “house of leaves” by mark danielewski so i can finish “the year of living biblically” (btw, brad you’re right “house of leaves” is interesting – hard to follow sometimes but interesting).
anyhow “the year of living biblically” is about a.j. jacobs’ attempt to live out literally all the rules he can find within scripture. since jacobs is a professed agnostic this makes for an interesting story. i was glad to read early on that one of the spiritual advisors he approached dealt with grace and therefore the fact that the CHRISTian faith is not about following a set of rules. still that’s not what this book is about and therefore jacobs’ is trying to live out the rules that he has found within the old and new testaments.
while i am really just starting the book i have already been struck by the following statement.
to follow the bible literally – at face value, at its word, according to its plain meaning – isn’t just a daunting proposition. it’s a dangerous one.
it just caught my attention. it should be true. i wonder how often it is.
is it irony or hypocrisy?
peta has been nailed for putting to death more than 97% of the companion animals (dogs, cats, etc.) that are brought to their shelters. i was a little surprised when i read this article and was hit by the fact that in 2006 3,061 companion animals were brought to peta shelters and 2,981 of those animals were euthanized . in fact, peta was only able to find actual adoptive homes for 12 of those animals.
at first i thought this might just be the nature of an animal shelter but apparently humane society shelters only euthanize about 35% of the animals that are brought to them. that’s a big difference.
pam and i are strong believers in rescuing animals. our household has two dogs and two cats in it and 3 of these animals were rescues. i think rescuing an animal is the way to go. that’s why i’m a little confused by the actions of peta found within this report.
come on peta. your shelters should be the best instead of the worst. your shelters are a chance for you to make a real difference in an area that most of the general population can actually see. i might be more prone to agree with you on other issues if i actually saw you doing an extraordinary job with the animals i already know and love. if you can’t do it better than the humane society then do all the animals a favor and stay out of the business of running shelters.
of course, the same thing is true for the church. people will be more willing to listen to what we have to say about the “big” things if they see us doing an extraordinary job on the the “little” things. consider what the pliny the younger, the roman governor of pontus/bithynia from 111-113 ad, said concerning the early CHRISTians? in correspondence to emporer trajan he indicated that the CHRISTians not only took care of their own poor but did a better job of taking care of the roman poor than the romans did. no wonder so many started following the early fathers & mothers of the CHRISTian church.
if only, we could follow in those shoes.
if only.
certainty?
over the past three days i have had two similar conversations with different people concerning the progress of their faith. both of these individuals where raise in very religious households and early on they were very certain about life and everything involved within it. they both then said almost word for word that as they grew up they became a great deal more uncertain about things and started pulling out of their perspective churches because their uncertainty didn’t fit that well within the “rock solid” knowledge of their church.
this is strange for me for because my faith has gone through the opposite journey. i became serious with my faith in my senior year of high school. as a teen i was certain that all the answers were easily found if you just found someone who could lead you in the right bible study. looking back at myself and being honest i need to say that i was probably obnoxious in my certainty. the longer i have lived in faith the more i have realized how little i know. i’ve realized that i’m no longer certain of the little things. there are now just a few things that i am absolutely convinced of, though interestingly enough my certainty on those things is greater than ever. i am more convinced than ever before that GOD loves us, that the purpose of life is to live within and with HIM, and that HE was and is willing to do everything HE can do to make sure that anyone who wants to is able to live within and with HIM. i am as sure of those things as i am that the sun will rise tomorrow or that the packers are the nfl team that everyone should pull for.
BUT
i’m not as sure concerning many of the smaller things within life. things that i used to be extremely dogmatic about are just not that important to me anymore. most of that change has happened because of a growth within my faith rather than in spite of it. as i, and for that matter pam also, have grown in our love for JESUS, and been pushed to live out our faith in a world that we now believe is filled with mystery, we have recognized more things that we just don’t know the answers for. that mystery actually encourages our faith rather than discouraging it. we believe the mysteries we see and experience and the uncertainties that often come with those mysteries are from JESUS. those uncertainties require us to respond in faith and that’s what HE likes.
i am certain that i hope to be a part of birthing a church that is certain of GOD’s love & community but okay with being uncertain on other things. of course, how GOD will do that through us is still a large mystery.
revolution
one of the books i just finished reading is george barna’s book “revolution.” it’s pretty interesting. i’m not sure i agree with all of his main points but i do what what he has to say very interesting. if nothing else i completely agree with him that the modern church has been way to focused on itself. we have focused our money on building bigger and nicer buildings and arenas, concentrating our efforts on getting more people into our programs and activities, spending more time and money just trying to get as many people as possible into a one hour service while calling that church, and we haven’t really been about living out the kingdom of heaven. in “jim and casper go to church” casper, and avowed aethist, asks jim “is this what JESUS told you guys to do?” i think it’s a great question to ask and one that i believe we should consider. i wonder how different many of our decisions would be if we seriously asked that questions before anything we did.
curling record
for those of you who are trying to follow my curling progress i thought i would let you know that last night my team won it’s second bonspiel. our record now is 2-1. last night’s bonspiel was a tight one. we were tied going into the last end (the curling term for a round). i’m not sure what the other teams’ records are so i can’t tell you if we have a dynasty going on here or not. i tend to think we probably do.
SIDE NOTE – while walking my dogs i am presently listening to richard baxter’s book “the reformed pastor.” even though it was written in the 1600s it is still amazing. obviously i have to listen to the book through a 21st century filter (looking at things have changed dramatically since the 17th century) but it is still so on target. it’s was free on christian audio last month.
she doesn't get it … do we?
first & most important pam is back from the operation smile project she was on in honduras.
secondly, i ran across this today and it made me laugh. it’s an article about ashlee simpson postpoing her new album for fear of going up against american idol singer blake lewis. the part that makes me laugh is a quote from one of ms. simpson’s friends.
ashlee hates american idol, and she thinks the show makes stars out of nobodies, taking credibility away from real musicians
she thinks the show makes starts out of nobodies? apparently she doesn’t remember getting her start because of big sis’ and a reality t.v. show or maybe she’s forgotten about an internet petition to ban her from singing that made the circuit (or maybe she’s forgotten her dad pimping her and her sister out).
it’s sad when you see someone say or do something that is the exact opposite of reality. it’s even sadder when it is a body that is supposed to represent CHRIST. i know we all make mistakes. that’s just a part of the game. the problem to me is not so much when we followers of CHRIST make mistakes but rather when we are not humble enough to admit them or even the possibility of them. i’m not even really talking about sin issues here. rather it’s the egotism that i sometimes see within churches. i believe that JESUS is the way, the truth, and the life but i don’t believe that i understand or know HIM completely. while standing firm in my convictions i want to do so with a sense of humility and not arrogance because the day may come when i find out exactly how far away from GOD’s truth i am. i don’t think humility concerning our beliefs is in opposition to standing firm on our convictions. i believe JESUS (WHO i believe really did know TRUTH perfectly) stood on HIS convictions in humility. HE was able to converse and relate to people who completely disagreed with HIM while treating them with extreme respect. HE used the TRUTH as a means to bring people to the FATHER instead of as a means to pound people into the ground. the only people HE kind of even “pounded” on were the religious ones – who thought they already had the truth all sown up.
i hope we followers of CHRIST will “get it” more often than not.
darn jw
i’m a block of ice presently because i just spent an our on my door step talking with a jehovah’s witness. he wouldn’t come inside and apparently he hadn’t spoken before with someone who has a historical sense of theology of the trinity. being okay with mystery is a pretty decent answer to someone who believes that you have to be able to rationale explain one doctrine but can’t others. i’ll write more later (maybe) after i warm up.
if only
as always brought to you by jon birch at the ongoing adventures of asbo JESUS
living the bible
pagitt posted a link to an interview of a. j. jacobs and his one year book writing experiment to live all the rules found within the bible (“the year of living biblically“). the interview was great and the book looks interesting. i particularly liked jacobs answer to the question of which was the greater learning tool, the bible or the encyclopedia.
that’s a tough question. the bible project was a lot more difficult than the encyclopedia project. the bible affected every single part of my life, it affected the way i walked, the way i dressed, the way i hugged my wife, the way i ate. the year was the most extreme makeover of my life. in terms of which is the better learning tool, the encyclopedia does contain a lot of biblical passages in the different books, so it might contain most of the bible in it.
wouldn’t it be nice if our faith (based on GOD’s revelation through JESUS found in the bible) would affect every single part of our lives?