Theological Fragments

Spoiler: It’s me—I’m the Christmas Jonah. I don’t mean that I’m back luck to sailors, or that I got swallowed by a whale (big fish?) and spit up three days later. No, I’m referring to a different part of the story. But I’ll get there. First let me explain where I am right now. I should be in Spokane at the moment. In fact, the plane I was booked on should be landing right about now. Instead, I’m sitting in the Pheonix airport. But that’s not the start of the story. The start of the story is early this morning, about 5am when I realized that my ride to the airport wasn’t going to make it in time to get me there for my flight. So I got in my car to drive myself to the airport, figuring I’ll just pay the parking and figure it out later. But the battery’s dead. So I jump my car with my portable car jumper (thanks, Dad!) and finally get on the road. Red lights all the way. Seriously, ALL THE WAY. I finally get there, park my car, and run into the airport. Interesting side note: a

I am a priest in the temple of Possessions. I lead the worship of the god of Things. I preach the gospel of Eternal Consumption. Come, listen to the word of the lord: “There was a time, America, A long time ago, When each family had their own household gods— Personal idols they could worship And possess and be possessed by. Then came God, the One God, who abolished the gods, One God where once there were many. One God, with demands and rules And cruel expectations. One God who wouldn’t let anyone be. But truly truly, I say unto you, That a day is coming, and indeed has now come, When you can own your very own gods again! Not the old gods of stone, but shiny new gods, Gods of metal and plastic and LED lights, To worship and possess and be possessed by. Give your offering to the priest, and one of these new gods can be yours!”

[I've been remiss in my posting over the last two weeks because my schedule kind of got unraveled. I'm hoping to catch up this week, but I thought I would start posting some of my shorter, more concise thoughts as a way to get myself posting and and hopefully get some feed back.] When something bad happens, people often comfort each other by saying that the event in question was part of a "higher purpose." They explain evil things as necessary parts of God's plan to bring about the "greater good." This answer is not only unhelpful, but it is also unbiblical and it takes away from the glory of God. The fact that God uses evil to accomplish good is not an explanation of the presence of evil; rather, it is a miracle that itself defies explanation.

[Small change in schedule: I've realized that since Thursday is my day off, it makes more sense for my schedule to write my posts on Thursday and post them on Friday. So from now on my weekly posts will be on Fridays. In lieu of that, please accept this Kierkegaard quote.] Existing, if this is not to be understood as just any sort of existing, cannot be done without passion.... Eternity is infinitely quick like [a] winged steed, temporality is an old nag, and the existing person is the driver, that is, if existing is not to be what people usually call existing, because then the existing person is no driver but a drunken peasant who lies in the wagon and sleeps and lets the horses shift for themselves. Of course, he also drives, he is also a driver, and likewise there are perhaps many who--also exist.  ~Johannes Climacus, in Concluding Unscientific Postscript  

God and the human being resemble each other only inversely. You do not reach the possibility of comparison by the ladder of direct likeness: great, greater, greatest; it is possible only inversely. Neither does a human being come closer to God by lifting up his head higher and higher, but inversely by casting himself down ever more deeply into worship. ~Søren Kierkegaard, Christian Discourses  

So, during my time selling TVs at Best Buy, I've noticed a trend in the family groups that come in. It troubling to me, but this trend seems to be so prevalent and so commonplace that no one else seems to notice. Here's what happens: a parent will come in with their kid(s) and start looking around. At some point, the kid (as kids do) will get cranky and start yelling, screaming, running around, generally being a nuisance to everyone in the department. And in response, the parent…. does absolutely  nothing. They calmly push their screaming child around the store, seemingly oblivious to the fact that their child is drowning out the shoplifting alarms that someone set off on the other side of the store.  Now, I admit, I cannnot know why theseparticular parents never seem to want to discipline  their children. It could very be that they are of the (disturbingly common) opinion that being a parent shouldn't actually inconvenience them in any way.  However, I think it's m

This poem comes across as a little dark, especially since I'm only quoting the beginning (It's a beautiful poem in its entirety, but it's also super long), but I think it's an excellent meditation on what it means to live in the times we do, when human efforts to create paradise for ourselves turns into an "endless cycle of idea and action." How long does it take them now to release a new iPhone that will change the way you live your life? Anyway, here it is: O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying The endless cycle of idea and action, Endless invention, endless experiment, Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness; Knowledge of speech, but not of silence; Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word. All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance, All our ignorance brings us nearer to death, But nearness to death no nearer to GOD. Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is

Hey everybody! So, I've decided to start a new blog. I am doing so for three reasons: I think I like Blogger better than Tumblr. I was inspired by the excellent work being done my friend Mitch, who has a blog on theology and comic books (which I will shamelessly plug here ). This blog will have a slightly different focus than my previous attempt. I have two reasons for writing this blog. The first is that I need some kind of creative outlet this year, since I will be working on a few big projects instead of several small ones. I need a bit of variety in my life. The second reason is that I know there are people out there, mostly in the Spokane area but other places as well, who would like to be updated on how I'm doing, what I'm learning, etc. etc. I'm not sure if they're just curious or if they're worried about my penchant for heresy, but either way the good intentions are appreciated. However, I do a terrible job of keeping

So I’m over here in Northfield, Minnesota, doing research for my master’s thesis on Søren Kierkegaard, and I came across a section in one of his books that I’d forgotten about. As the title of the blog entry would indicate, it helps explain the love-hate relationship I have with conservative Christianity. See, I consider myself an Evangelical, but I cringe each time I say that because I know what kind of image it evokes for most people who aren’t evangelicals. They picture me standing on a street corner holding a sign and a bullhorn, or going to a museum that has exhibits of humans riding dinosaurs. They think of me as a young-earth creationist, a bible-thumper, [shudder] a James Dobson disciple or [bigger shudder] a Sarah Palin supporter. Well, maybe they don’t; maybe I’m just projecting. But the fact that I’m afraid of being seen that way shows you how I feel about stereotypical conservative Christianity. I’ve seen too much ignorance, insanity, and insensitivity to be comfortable w

The Movies: In 1999 a movie called  The Matrix  came out, and blew everybody’s minds (Well, everybody who hadn’t read Descartes). The response was huge—at the time some called it the greatest science fiction movie in the past 25 years. It was something of a surprise hit. Four years later, the sequels— The Matrix Reloaded  and  The Matrix Revolutions —hit the big screen, and audiences were… underwhelmed. Entertainment Weekly named  Reloaded  among the 25 worst sequels ever made. Reactions to  Revolutions  were even worse. After all the hype created by the first movie, the second and third fell completely flat. Why did this happen? Were the movies just that bad? Well, yes and no. In my humble opinion, they were not that great. But I have seen much worse movies get much better reactions ( Avatar , anyone? I mean, we do all recognize that was a terribly-written movie, right? Right?). So the question is, why such a negative reaction to these movies? The answer is: expectations. Every

[How does God speak to us?] Job sat on his trash heap, staring down at the piece of broken pottery in his hands. Around him sat four other men—Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and young Elihu—who had come to try and comfort Job in his suffering. They weren’t doing well. If he was honest, Job couldn’t really blame them. He wasn’t sure he would have known what to say had he been in their position. As he had been reminded by several well-meaning citizens, no one in Job’s city remembered anyone having a string of bad luck like what Job had had to endure. Not too long ago he had been a wealthy man with a large family to match. Then, all at once, it came crashing down. In a single day, Job had lost all of his wealth to marauders and natural disasters, and all of his children to a great wind that destroyed the house in which they had gathered. Job didn’t really remember that day; it was a blur, a punctuation mark between two different lives: his old life as a happy family man, and his new life

The Movie: In the following scene we see one of the most iconic cinematic depictions of the “leap of faith.” Indiana Jones, on a quest to find the Holy Grail in order to save his dying father, must make his way through three challenges to reach the cup. After passing the first two, he comes upon a seemingly-bottomless chasm. He sees no bridge, no rope, nothing to help him cross the pit. All he has is an inscription copied down in his father’s diary that says, “Only in the leap from the Lion’s Head will he prove his worth.” Realizing that his father doesn’t have much time left, the typically-skeptical Indy suddenly realizes what he is facing—“It’s a leap of faith.” Summoning all his courage, Indy puts out his foot into open space and steps forward… And lands on an invisible bridge! Well, not so much invisible as painted to look exactly like the rocks on the other side of the chasm. But still! Wow! Great moment!