Just went back to visit the Christianity Today poll that was up the other day.

Interesting. Not scientific, of course. Proves nothing. But it might suggest a few of my friends aren’t as alone as they feel.

July 11, 2008 : 0 comments :

In a July 4th weekend column for the Parade magazine that comes in your Sunday paper, John McCain offers the following definition of patriotism:

“It is putting the country first … before anything.”

Uh-oh. Senator McCain may not realize it, but he just excluded me. And most other Christians … right?

I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag??

I have to go with Kester Smith on this one. I don’t see how any Jesus follower could affirm this kind of patriotism. After Sept. 11, like a lot of people, I got kinda sucked into the patriotic, quasi-Christian, nationalistic, America-first fervor of the moment. But honestly I’m not a Nationalist. I don’t buy into American Exceptionalism and while I love and appreciate my country, I’m hesitant to pledge my allegiance to anyone not named Jesus.

A cause greater than ourselves

Again, from Sen. McCain’s piece on patriotism:

“[Those who’ve served in war] remember where they risked everything, absolutely everything, for the country that sent them there. It gives their lives special meaning. And it is the sacrifices of so many Americans, at home and abroad, in times of peace and times of war, that give meaning to all of us. We are blessed to be Americans, and blessed that so many of us have so often believed in a cause far greater than self-interest….” (emphasis mine, jcs)

Yes, I believe in a cause greater than self-interest … greater than American interest. But it’s a cause that does not draw special meaning from the “sacrificial death” of American soldiers or of America’s Enemies’ soldiers. To find meaning there is to hitch my dreams to the wrong wagon, to march under the wrong flag, to worship the wrong king.

As inspiring as saccarine

I’m not certain that Senator Obama’s definition of patriotism is noticeably better.

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July 10, 2008 : 4 comments :

My friend David Underwood posted these quotes yesterday:

“There is a great need to stress the importance of maintaining freedom of speech in the kingdom of God. Intolerance is dangerous to the future growth of the church. Most of us have an aversion to anything except what we ourselves believe and teach, and as a consequence, we are intolerant of the teaching of anything that antagonizes our doctrine. All progress of truth - all truth - has always depended on free speech and progressive teachers who were not afraid to teach their honest convictions, even though it cost life….It takes no courage to teach the things one’s audience already believes.”

“It takes no courage to teach the things one’s audience already believes”

“I am well aware of the fact that free speech has its dangers and that progressive and fearless teachers have given the world untold trouble. But are we ready to surrender free speech and to deny ourselves teachers who are not afraid? Even our deliverance from such a possibility must come through free speech and courageous teachers. If our great-great-grandchildren enjoy the truth we hold dear, it will be due to free speech and courageous teachers.”

These thoughts are brought to you by the first president of Harding University, J.N. Armstrong, who is described as one who “fought … for freedom of conscience, freedom to learn and to teach, and for Christian forbearances over differences of view.”

And I have to say, I like ‘em!

Men who did not fear to write

Harding has a history with controversy. Some good, some less good, I guess. But mostly, I think about those members of the Harding faculty who have been men of strong and often public opinion.

J.D. Bales was a prolific writer who published very strong, often unpopular, views using the most advanced technology available to him in order to disseminate those views as widely as possible. No stranger to controversy, nor to the immense power and enduring value of truly free speech. Bales’ views shifted over time, beginning as a pacifist then later slamming Martin Luther King as “pink pacifist” in his virulently polemical screed, The Martin Luther King Story: a study in apostasy, agitation, and anarchy.

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July 9, 2008 : 1 comment :

A few miscellaneous theological reflections from my recent surfing through the web-world. Thoughts about Shane Claiborne and the politics of being followers of Jesus in the world’s only contemporary empire. Musings on homosexuality from Walter Wink. And apparently megachurch isn’t just for christians anymore….

Shane Claiborne and the rich young ruler — “Claiborne’s is another powerful and increasngly fashionable voice calling the church to be a radical Jesus movement again (see also ’Being a disciple of Jesus is not enough’). But it still seems to me that this desire to revert to the pattern of Jesus-discipleship arises essentially as a reaction against the excesses, hypocrisy, idolatry or ineffectiveness of the modern American church; it is of only limited value…. The instruction to sell personal possessions and give to the needy, therefore, forms part of an eschatological vocation. The prophetic community that will proclaim the impending reign of God over his people, the coming transformation of Israel, will have to let go of the normal material securities of life and trust in the Father to provide.”

Jesus: Enemy of the State — “Jesus was a revolutionary. He brought a message that spoke to the political issues of the day, and offered an alternative. To some it seemed foolish, to many it seemed dangerous. But to a few it seemed like the only chance at a life of complete peace from all the tumult of high gas prices, outsourced slavery, broken families, a war with no end, abortion, and the crisis of immigration.”
– RELATED: see Steve Holt Jr.’s series of posts on Christian Politics (Part 1, 2, 3, and 4)

Walter Wink on Homosexuality — “[T]he Bible quite clearly takes a negative view of homosexuality, in those few instances where it is mentioned at all. And the repugnance felt toward homosexuality was not just that it was deemed unnatural but also that it was considered unJewish, representing yet one more incursion of pagan civilization into Jewish life. But this conclusion does not solve the hermeneutical problem of our attitude toward homosexuality today. For there are other sexual attitudes, practices and restrictions which are normative in Scripture but which we no longer accept as normative.”

Megachurch has the frills but doesn’t fit the mold — The motto under Mile Hi’s big, domed sanctuary, a $10 million, 1,500-seat hall that opened in April, is It’s different here. “We use some of the same approaches and tools as megachurches, but Mile Hi is profoundly unique,” said senior minister Roger Teel.Mile Hi Church teaches the science of mind and spirit. It seeks to blend science and religion — drawing from elements of all the world’s great faith traditions.

July 3, 2008 : 0 comments :

It’s Tuesday and everybody needs a bit of distraction. So, here’s one to pass a few minutes of the day.

Falling Sand Game

July 1, 2008 : 0 comments :

19 years is a long time to put up with anybody. It’s downright miraculous if the person you’re putting up with is me!
Angela and I celebrate our anniversary today. And as we were talking about it we realized that when our year-long dating life is included, Angela has now had me around longer than she […]

June 30, 2008 : 3 comments :

I went to church yesterday morning. Maybe you did too. The air was cool; the sermon was warm. The songs were comforting and upbeat. We sat in our air conditioned building and reminded ourselves of God’s love and his persistent promise of unending blessings. We felt blessed and optimistic.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world was not so comforted.

So this is my personal Monday Morning wake-up call…

Only the neediest get food in Ethiopia
As famine looms Doctors Without Borders aid workers weigh children individually to determine whether each child is sick enough to eat today.

June 30, 2008 : 2 comments :

My buddy Mark Elrod — and my alma mater, Harding University — were both mentioned in a NY Times article today about folks changing their Facebook name to include the middle name Hussein.

June 28, 2008 : 1 comment :

Why are acts of kindness supposed to be random? What if they were more intentional?

June 9, 2008 : 2 comments :

Are we worshiping an invented character? Well, N.T. Wright suspects that many of us are … “Plenty of people in the church and outside it have made up a ‘Jesus’ for themselves, and have found that this invented character makes few real demands on them.”

June 6, 2008 : 2 comments :

… this particular minister was uniquely gifted in the area of sharing plainly the grace of God’s forgiveness to us as sinners. He gets the point of God’s love across to people. But is there more? Is The Gospel really an abstract description of God’s love which compels us to study Romans more closely? Or is The Gospel something more like the living exemplar of revolutionary change demonstrated in the life and teachings of Jesus?

June 2, 2008 : 0 comments :

I had an experience today that tuned my heart to the unique grief suffered by those women who’ve lost a husband. Grief like this has been on my heart a lot lately … and other kinds of grief as well. Like the deep, incurable loss my grandparents experienced when their only child, my mother, died […]

March 31, 2008 : 2 comments :