Saturday, May 31, 2014

Acts 1:1: Second Book, Second Look

Acts 1:1 is such an amazing text..and here's a bad and old (2004!) sermon by me
which includes participation by some worldchangers:Ivana Bell, Chris Chacon, Jennifer Thomas, Bradley Shawn Rabon et al.
(Thanks to Keltic Ken for digging up...maybe literally.. these old sound files)..

God has a sense of humor! As much as I cringed listening to this (at first just to see what the content of the file was), the basic message spoke to me:
              Running with the way God is speaking in this current season; not the previous one.

There is always continuity with the previous season or wineskin (or Testament).
But there is always also a sense that the new fulfills, or replaces the old?

Which is it?

Acts 1:1 "In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach

Friday, May 30, 2014

goat-backing

apocalyptic, violent, polarized, catharsis, elevation, bliss, and being sprayed with battery acid:"prophets pulling back the veil" and "like going to church"

photo
 Two articles on the band Swans..


From Mike Powell:

Swans are a band that conjure primal forms of power: thunder and lightning, fire and brimstone, master over slave, predator over prey. Their earliest albums came out in the wake of New York's no wave scene, a loose, radical contest to see who could make rock'n'roll sound as ugly as possible while still retaining the rhythms and forms that made it rock'n'roll. Swans, not central to the scene, countered with the possibility of wiping out rock altogether. The result was something that sounds sort of like monks chanting in front of a jet engine. Frontman Michael Gira once compared being in the band to "trudging up a sand hill wearing a hair shirt, being sprayed with battery acid, with a midget taunting you"-- a description that could just as easily describe listening to them....

//Stylistically, the album draws a jagged line through a universe of serious, apocalyptic music, from country blues to free jazz to drone and the brutal, hypnotic guitar rock Glenn Branca and Sonic Youth made while Gira was still moaning into the void...



...Vision has always been a metaphor for both political counterculture and religious mysticism. Prophets, pulling back the veil, "seeing through" things in an interest of revealing what they believe to be the raw, burning truth-- this is what Swans have always been about, and what The Seer seems more explicitly occupied with than anything they've ever done before...

..In the world of Swans, the pain of catharsis is always in service of elevating to some higher plane of being. Granted, most people probably prefer to find this in exercise and not public sex, but when sifting through Swans' apparent bleakness, it's important to recognize that their goals are and always have been to remind us of the ways extreme states of being, however intense, a unique kind of blessing. One of their live albums was called Feel Good Now, which is as succinct a self-summary as any artist could offer: Later, Swans bluntly suggest, you'll be dead...

..r 30 years Swans have challenged the boundaries between beauty and ugliness, music and noise, catharsis and abuse. To borrow a verb from their own violent, polarized world, The Seer is the album that transcends them.  link


--From Brandon Strousy:

Pitchfork: To Be Kind strikes me as an unusually positive record for you—it ends with the line, "There are millions and millions of stars in your eyes." How did this happen?

Michael Gira: If you're looking for a religious conversion, it's not here. [facetiously] Yes, I decided to give up alcohol and convert to Jesus. No, I discovered this sort of joy in the music when Swans reformed in 2010. Once we started touring, I realized the thing that was really worth pursuing was the bliss in it. I don’t feel complete or alive unless I’m making something.

Pitchfork: The live show is so intense, do you have to do any sort of training to physically prepare for a tour at this point?
MG: Oh, I’m just constantly fucked—I’ll just drop at some point. I’m not a physical fitness kind of person. I mean, I can dig ditches or shovel snow just great, but doing some kind of fitness regimen is really tedious to me, so the set itself becomes a regimen. It’s like a workout. It’s exhausting, certainly. We just work ourselves as deeply into the music as we can, and when it really works, it’s like going to church

 

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

"...the rest is theft"


The Secret Machines - "First Wave Intact" Lyrics/Meanings

"communal, intimate space, designed for eye contact, like a Quaker meeting house"

A gorgeous new  article on the new 9/11 Museum by Cliff Kuang in WIRED Magazine is online here.
Several quotes that I marked in the print edition are pasted below; implications for architecture, postmodernity, curation (pastor's job) physics, etc.

But this one? Talk about implications for ecclesiology:"The entire space is designed for eye contact, like a Quaker meetinghouse: On the perimeter, you meet the gazes of the other visitors. The experience is communal—but also intimate."


  • “Conventional narrative wouldn’t cut it,” says Alice Green­wald, director of the museum-----------------------

    "Usually, as designers, you try to create meaning. Here there was almost too much of it,” Barton
    -------------------

    “The room tuned us in to what trauma means,” Hennes says. “Time had stood still.”
    To the designers, the very rawness and variety of expression suggested an answer to a central challenge: how best to present events when, as William Faulkner once wrote, “the past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Instead of providing its own interpretive explanations, the designers realized, the museum could focus on direct testaments from the ­people who had experienced it. The hope was to avoid a ­single story line and instead allow visitors to reconstruct narratives on their own, using the artifacts on display. “Witnesses are the way into the museum,” Green­wald says.
    ----------------

    But the same intimacy that makes all these voices so powerful can also make them overwhelming
    ----------
    Visitors can see and hear materials from an ever-­expanding archive in an inner chamber designed to encourage eye contact among visitors.
    -----------------

    The most difficult alcove to design was the one dedicated to the ­50 to 200 men and women—the exact number is not known—who, overwhelmed with heat and smoke, jumped or fell from the buildings. “Those ­people were on a ledge and feeling like they had no option but to step into a sky that would not support them,” says Joe Daniels, president of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. “It is so unbelievable. Maybe you don’t show it.” And yet, after much intense debate, the board overseeing the museum, including Daniels, voted unani­mously to dedi­cate an exhibit to those victims.
    ------------

    The exhibit that finally emerged after dozens of prototypes is so artful that it seems almost totally undesigned.
    _------------

    On the walls surrounding you are quotes from ­people who witnessed victims jumping or falling:
    They were ending their life without a choice, and to turn away from them would have been wrong.
    This woman stood there for what seemed like minutes, then she held down her skirt and then stepped off the ledge. I thought, how human, how modest, to hold down her skirt before she jumped.


    This woman stood there for what seemed like minutes, then she held down her skirt and then stepped off the ledge. I thought, how human, how modest, to hold down her skirt before she jumped.

    --
    here, 3 feet above your head, are projected a series of five still photographs of ­different people falling from the towers. They fade from one to the next, in a slow progression that gathers no rhythm. --

    ----

    At times it looks like a spray of data points charted against two axes: time versus frequency.
    ---
    He doesn’t believe museums should be venues for education but rather places of encounter--------------

Resources on "The Matrix"

Websites:
 Matrix Explained 

Matrix Decoded: Symbolism

  The Matrix as Christian Allegory


The Messiah and The Matrix by Debra McCaw

Matrix as Messiah Movie

Forget sci-fi and guns - The Matrix is really about religion 

Christian symbolism in The Matrix part 1 of 3:


Books:

 DVD: The Roots of The Matrix (philosophical and religious)



 

 License Plates in the Matrix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christian Symbolism in The Matrix, part 1 of 3:





More:

Neo Christus Victor and the "literal Deus ex machina"


 "I believed that it was all about me... that all I had to do was point my finger and anoint whoever I chose"

Search ResultsSearch Results


" I love seeing you non-believers. It's really a relief.."):

 

ceremonial cleansing in The Matrix

 15 Mind-Altering Facts About ‘The Matrix’ To Make You Say Whoa On Its 15th Anniversary


Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Two bombshells re: the pope's Holy Land visit/ "Buckle up, people. This is already fun."

Ray Trembley, who is in Jerusalem this month, posted that the pope had asked for no security on his visit  to the Holy Land. Of course, Israel insisted.

Two items re: the papal visit--

1)Buckle Up, People: The Pope’s Brilliant Move by Elizabeth Dias, Time Magazine

2)Another press conference on a plane Abusing a minor is like celebrating a black mass”


Here's Dias,  in TIME.  I would just change "stunt" to prophetic act...or maybe they're the same thing(:
Pope Francis is proving himself to be one of the most powerful leaders in the world.
On Sunday, he arrived in Bethlehem and made an unexpected stopthat surprised everyone: en route to mass in Manger Square, he halted the popemobile and caused a chaotic flurry of press, security, and onlookers as he walked over to the wall that separates Israel from the West Bank. Beneath the graffiti scrawled “Bethlehem,” he reached out, placed his hand on the wall, and prayed.

Only a Holy Father like Francis could pull off this kind of stunt. One small gesture, and the Israeli military in the watchtower above and the Palestinian people below were all at his mercy. He rendered all sides powerless by drawing them into his service, the most counterintuitive service of prayer.

To top it all off, during his sermon at mass, Francis made a historic invitation: “In this place where the Prince of Peace was born, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, and President Shimon Peres, to raise together with me an intense prayer to God for the gift of peace. And I offer my house in the Vatican to host you in this encounter of prayer.”

Within an hour, both leaders had accepted his invitation. What were they going to say, no?

The brilliance in this move goes something like this:
“Hey Peres, I’m in Bethlehem, preaching not in Jerusalem but in Palestinian territory, which happens to be where Jesus who founded my church was born, and don’t forget, I’m about to come to Israel to lay a wreath on the founder of Zionism’s grave. Hey Abbas, I’m visiting Palestine first, before I’m visiting Israel, and I just prayed at the wall, so all eyes are on you right now. I’m going to take this opportunity to invite you both, via my sermon, to come pray with me in the Vatican. And because I just made this historic invitation public, you pretty much are going to have to show up. Also, because Peres’ term expires in two months, this needs to happen ASAP. See you soon!!”
Wink, smile, drop the mic.

This is a pope who understands the power of his position, and knows how to wield it with disarming humility. Buckle up, people. We’re only fourteen months in to his papacy. This is already fun.
Buckle Up, People: The Pope’s Brilliant Move by Elizabeth Dias, Time Magazine

CS Lewis, Christus Victor and the 'deeper magic'

Greg Boyd video: --

Friday, May 23, 2014

Steven Tyler "sings" along to two girls on the streets of Lithuania who are playing violin and accordion. You know you want to see it.

Steven Tyler "sings" along to two girls on the streets of Lithuania who are playing violin and accordion. You know you want to see it. \
Not to mention that the impromptu song was in front of the presidential palace; and that the president heard the commotion, and invited him inside:

new (to me) music:The Velvet Teen/ a "man with body and soul, moments of ecstasy, and who sang with burning sparks."

It's too early to say if this band, The Velvet Teen, is going to be a life-changer for me.
All I can say is I'm intrigued.

Thank God for Rasputin.
Not the bizarre Russian mystic/televangelist, but the record-store chain named in his honor.
Racks and racks of CDs for 50 cents means one can find classic gems amidst the skubala..
and risk something indie, gulty pleasure or new..... based only on the CD cover, a  holy hunch,  a sign of God-hauntedness and/or a quick googling or in-store listen.

So I grabbed what turned out to be The Velvet Teen's first CD.
Any of the following factors would've been enough to sell me (at even twice the price!):


  • -Amazon reviews suggesting fans of Radiohead, Athlete, Jeff Buckley, The Postal Service and Yes (harmonies) might like them; a synthesis of indie, emo, prog and....Ok, I've read enough to buy!
  • -A C.S. Lewis reference in the song title (not always enough to guarantee quality, lol) and other cues to spirituality
  • -Each song was linked to a painting on the back cover, and the concept of this concept album felt a bit like The Violet Burning's "The Story of Our Lives" opus (Like The Violets, the band is largely the project of frontman Judah Nagler)  I find out later all three members on this album are graphic artists by day.
  • the Henry Miller quote  (from Tropic of Cancer) featured inside: "I am one who was lost in the crowd, whom the fizzing lights made dizzy, a zero who saw everything about him reduced to mockery. Passed me men and women ignited with sulphur, porters in calcium livery opening the jaws of hell, fame walking on crutches, dwindled by the skyscrapers, chewed to a frazzle by the spiked mouth of the machines. I walked between the tall buildings toward the cool of the river and I saw lights shoot up between the ribs of the skeletons like rockets. If I was truly a great human being, as she said, then what was the meaning of this slavering idiocy about me? I was a man with body and soul.  I had a heart that was not protected by a steel vault.  I had moments of ecstasy and I sang with burning sparks."

They have three  albums (and one in the can) each quite different from the other;
kudos and abrazos for the risk and leap:

There are no neatly representative songs from each album/era...but this may get you started, one from each:

the albums:
-------------------------------------------------------

The Velvet Teen - New Album 2014



  • www.thevelvetteen.com/

    New album coming 2014. 11 brand new songs, digital + vinyl. Release date and details announced soon. No Star by The Velvet Teen. Cum Laude! by The ...
    You visited this page on 5/23/14.

  • The Velvet Teen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



  • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Velvet_Teen

    Wikipedia
    The Velvet Teen is an indie rock trio from Sonoma County, CA. Contents. 1 History; 2 Discography. 2.1 LPs; 2.2 Singles & EPs; 2.3 Imports & re-releases.
    History - ‎Discography - ‎References - ‎External links

  • EPs:

    "The 5 Top-Worst Christian Videos in the Universe"


    just do it

    did Paul (shamelessly) plug Jesus into the Shema?

    chart-from this page

    See Andrew Perriman:



    also:


    The Shema and 1 Cor 8:6



    Paul's Expanded Shema in 1 Corinthians 8:6



    a (mid-)rash midrash

    Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible! - Amazon.com


    Promo Blurb:

     A hilarious re-imagining of the heroes of the Old Testament for a modern world-and the neurotic, demanding reader.
    In the beginning...there was humor.
    Sure, it's the foundation for much of Western morality and the cornerstone of world literature. But let's face it: the Bible always needed punching up. Plus, it raised quite a few questions that a modern world refuses to ignore any longer: wouldn't it be boring to live inside a whale? How did Joseph explain Mary's pregnancy to the guys at work? Who exactly was the megalomaniacal foreman who oversaw the construction of the Tower of Babel? And honestly, what was Cain's problem?
    In Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bible!, Jonathan Goldstein re-imagines and recasts the greatest heroes of the Bible with depth, wit, and snappy dialogue. This is the Bible populated by angry loners, hypochondriacs, and reluctant prophets who fear for their sanity, for readers of Sarah Vowell and the books of David Sedaris. Basically, a Bible that readers can finally, genuinely relate to.

    Wednesday, May 21, 2014

    Preacher/Pastor to Pope Francis

    start by watching this video interview..




      Raniero Cantalamessa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


    1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raniero_Cantalamessa
      Wikipedia
      In 1980, Cantalamessa was appointed the Preacher to the Papal Household by Pope John Paul II. He has remained in this position under the pontificate of Pope ...
    2.  
      Apostolic Preacher - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    3. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolic_Preacher
      Wikipedia
      The Apostolic Preacher, also known as the Preacher to the Papal Household, is a part of the Roman Curia. This individual gives meditation to the Pope and ...

    "Meeting God in the Sound: The Seductive Dimension of U2’s Future Hymns"

    Beth  tips  us off to what sounds like a great chapter by Deane Galbaraith in the new book,
    The Counter-Narratives of Radical Theology and Popular Music: Songs of Fear and Trembling.  
    How can you go wrong with a chapter called Meeting God in the Sound: The Seductive Dimension of U2’s Future Hymns?

    Beth notes that Galbraith "employs Jean Baudrillard's distinction between the production of meaning and the seductive capacity of text' and uses such as a grid for the U2 discussion.
    Preview:

    How have U2 achieved popular and economic success in a music industry which, on the face of it, is not terribly receptive towards pop-stars who like to write hymns and - as on their U2 360 tour - build cathedrals? This paper examines the role played by U2’s emphasis on the formal, mystical, and experiential aspects of their music, and how that emphasis coincides with a religious trend which since at least the 1960s can be located throughout the arts, popular music, and—in a perhaps surprising association—charismatic and evangelical Christianity. To do so, the paper concentrates on the manner in which the sonic fabric of U2's 2009 album No Line On The Horizon is subtly interwoven with Christian hymns, in ways that are suggestive, evocative, and usually highly ambiguous. When—as often in U2 songs—the song’s seductive form takes priority over the production of content, and evocation takes precedence over precise meaning, U2 manage to open up a space for what, to many listeners affected by a prevalent neo-Romanticism, will count as a spiritual experience.
    More Info: in The Counter-Narratives of Radical Theology and Rock’n’Roll: Songs of Fear and Trembling. Ed. Mike Grimshaw. Radical Theologies. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.  link

    "Go therefore and make disciples; getting, keeping and controlling them in the name of.."

    "...what undergirds a {centered-set ecclesiology} and makes it work is the emphasis on 

    acceptance, relationship, process, nurture, equipping, teamwork, and real life 

    as opposed to

    getting, keeping and controlling. " Alexander Venter, Doing Church, p. 55
    .

    Monday, May 19, 2014

    "Thinking in a Foreign Language Could Sway Your Moral Judgments"

    Link:

    Thinking in a Foreign Language Could Sway Your Moral Judgments

    "The devotional intimacy of Coldplay’s Ghost Stories" by John J Thompson

    Image from this page
    John J Thompson has long been one of my favorite music reviewers:


    "..Although in the same basic pool, they  {Coldplay] have never been as interesting as Peter Gabriel, as spiritually rousing as U2 or as erudite as Sting. Gently introspective and instinctively melodic, they have become one of the staples of the feeling millennial’s musical diet. With Ghost Stories, however, the band takes a dive toward the deep end of the soul with songs exploring humanity’s universal longing for connection....The band seems anchored to flesh, even as all eyes look heavenward for answers."

    -full article:



    "The devotional intimacy of Coldplay’s Ghost Stories" by John J Thompson

    I definitely took this as a worship song:

    Thursday, May 15, 2014

    house church,house concert,house restaurant

    Signs of the times:
    •  house churches
    •  house concerts 
    •  home schools

    ...and what many say is one of the best restaurants in San Francisco.
    Nicknamed "the chicken garage"..

    Related: restaurants in a home are commom in Cuba, and are called "paradores"

    Tuesday, May 13, 2014

    Jerry Walls: "CS Lewis and the Pious Calvinist Confusions of John Piper"/What's Wrong with Calvinism?

    "CS Lewis and the Pious Calvinist Confusions of John Piper":
     -----------------------------------
    What's Wrong with Calvinism/Understanding Calvinism part 1:
    What's Wrong with Calvinism/Understanding Calvinism part2:
    What's Wrong with Calvinism/Why it Matters, part 3:
    What's Wrong with CalvinismBiblical issues/Romans 9.  Part 4:
    What's Wrong with Calvinism, part 5:
    What's Wrong with Calvinism, part 6:
    -------------------------------------------------
    What's Wrong with Calvinism (different presentation):

    -- "The Great Debate: Predestination vs. Free Will:
    ----------
    "What Is Arminianism?" Interview :
     
     --
    Bonus: Dr. Jerry Walls sings "Whipping Post":
     

    Monday, May 12, 2014

    Jewel Theory: the new String Theory?



    Scientists Discover a Jewel at the Heart of Quantum Physics:

    "Physicists reported this week the discovery of a jewel-like geometric object that dramatically simplifies calculations of particle interactions and challenges the notion that space and time are fundamental components of reality..." link

    Sunday, May 11, 2014

    "There's only one kind of people I can't stand.."

    The tollboth days  (see this) became telephone line days.

    I had been a Christian for just a matter of weeks the first time I put on this hardhat.

    It was summer job as cable splicer's assistant (slave/grunt)  for Southern New England Telephone  in London, Connecticut.

    I had just met Jesus at Fresno Pacific University  during my freshman year.
    I was still a year away from meeting his wife..(:   (see this)

    So of course I wanted to tell people about Jesus.

    I put on this hat, my toolbelt...and various parts of my summer armor.
    I met one of my my partners for the day; a bug, buff, beaming ex-Marine wearing a T-shirt reading:

    "Kill them all; let God sort it out."


    He shook my hand firmly; and looked me in the eyes squarely as he said.


    "Good to meet you.  I'm sure we'll get along fine. 
     There's only one kind of people I can't stand, and that's born-again Christians."

    In retrospect, I'm amazed he didn't add, "...and I'm sure you're not one of them, are ya?"


    I, uh, didn't brag that my new-birth certificate.
    I didn't tell him about Jesus.
    I didn't volunteer that I was indeed one of them; and that he should be, too.

    I smiled.

    We got in the truck.

    I noticed a small card with a photo on the visor.
    I asked my supervisor who it was.

    "Oh, that was...my last assistant.  It's his funeral card.
    He...uh, died on the job."






    --

    Freshman year pics, '82-83 Fresno Pacific
    Summer '83 pics, Connecticut






    Friday, May 09, 2014

    "I'm a whole lot better and a whole lot worse than you think I am"

    The Choir's "What You Think I Am"
    I'm nobody's angel
    I'm not that good
    I'm no red devil
    In the wicked wood
    I'm a dedicated minister
    And a downright sinister man
    I'm a whole lot better And a whole lot worse
    Than what you think I am


    I'm nobody's angel
    That ain't me
    And what kinda devil
    Do you think I be?
    I'm a good Samaritan
    And a very, very bad man
    I'm a whole lot better
    And a whole lot worse Than you think I am

    "It was my Christian duty to point out anything I thought someone was doing wrong.."


    Great post by Jenny Rae Armstrong:

    Love Should Never Include Disclaimers: Why Christians Need to Stop Trying to “Fix” People :
    There was a time when I thought it was my Christian duty to point out anything I thought someone was doing wrong.

    I called out teachers for being too hard on other kids.

    If the pastor said something I disagreed with in a sermon, I informed him of it afterward.

    I made sure people on the worship team knew they kept going flat when they hit that G.

    I tried to talk my friends, Christian and otherwise, out of committing sins.

    Oh, I wasn’t mean about it. I was truly concerned, and wanted to help. And when you’re a perfectionistic eldest child in your late teens and early twenties, I guess that’s what help looks like. Because doesn’t everyone want to know how to be more perfect? And isn’t it my responsibility to make sure they know how?

    I don’t think I’m the only Christian who has struggled with this. We have a behavior management problem. Don’t get me wrong: self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, and we are called to make wise, God-honoring choices. But when we try to manage others’ behavior? That leads to all sorts of heartache and trouble.

    Here’s why.

    First of all, none of us really know what another person is going through. We’re all in process, and none of us are perfect yet. I remember hearing Brennan Manning speak years ago. He pointed out that that runaway teen turning tricks on the street, who falls asleep with the name of Jesus on his lips, may in fact have made a lot more spiritual progress than a milktoast Christian who came from a happy home.

    It’s like Paul Hiebert’s evangelism paradigm, bounded sets vs. centered sets. Maybe one person seems closer to Christ than another, but what is their trajectory? Are they moving toward Christ or away from him? Are they stagnant and complacent?
    bounded-centered-diagram1
    We should be helping people move toward Christ, not shoving them into the position we think they should inhabit.

    Second, it’s not our job to change, convict, or transform people. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job.

    I think parents can be  CONTINUED HERE

    Love Should Never Include Disclaimers: Why Christians Need to Stop Trying to “Fix” People

    Love Should Never Include Disclaimers Jenny Rae Armstrong
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    There was a time when I thought it was my Christian duty to point out anything I thought someone was doing wrong.
    I called out teachers for being too hard on other kids.
    If the pastor said something I disagreed with in a sermon, I informed him of it afterward.
    I made sure people on the worship team knew they kept going flat when they hit that G.
    I tried to talk my friends, Christian and otherwise, out of committing sins.
    Oh, I wasn’t mean about it. I was truly concerned, and wanted to help. And when you’re a perfectionistic eldest child in your late teens and early twenties, I guess that’s what help looks like. Because doesn’t everyone want to know how to be more perfect? And isn’t it my responsibility to make sure they know how?
    Related: Christianity Means Not Knowing All the Answers
    I don’t think I’m the only Christian who has struggled with this. We have a behavior management problem. Don’t get me wrong: self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, and we are called to make wise, God-honoring choices. But when we try to manage others’ behavior? That leads to all sorts of heartache and trouble.
    Here’s why.
    First of all, none of us really know what another person is going through. We’re all in process, and none of us are perfect yet. I remember hearing Brennan Manning speak years ago. He pointed out that that runaway teen turning tricks on the street, who falls asleep with the name of Jesus on his lips, may in fact have made a lot more spiritual progress than a milktoast Christian who came from a happy home.
    It’s like Paul Hiebert’s evangelism paradigm, bounded sets vs. centered sets. Maybe one person seems closer to Christ than another, but what is their trajectory? Are they moving toward Christ or away from him? Are they stagnant and complacent?
    bounded-centered-diagram1
    We should be helping people move toward Christ, not shoving them into the position we think they should inhabit.
    Second, it’s not our job to change, convict, or transform people. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job.
    I think parents can b
    - See more at: http://www.redletterchristians.org/love-never-include-disclaimers-christians-need-stop-trying-fix-people/#sthash.VhzmBPco.dpuf

    losing faith and finding porn online? Ask Samson and the Pirate Monks



    link  
    ...yes, it's a safe click (:
                                  Article by Joel Miller

    Colbert on talking about God, faith and hell to his kids

    Thursday, May 08, 2014

    Reconfiguring the Church: 5 Fatal Mistakes (Wolfgang Simson)

     From Wolfgang Simson, from this document (last sentence there is killer):
    1) Jesus came to free mankind from re ligion (as in self-made systems of worship that replaces life before God with human protocol); Christianity has made the very same mistake as Judaism and has become exactly that
    -a religion. Just like Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, etc.
    2) Christianity has removed Jesus Christ from Kingship, literally beheaded
    itself and then told him to his face, ‘we do not want you to rule us. You may save, heal and comfort us, but no way will you rule us.’
    The directives of Christ, his law, is disregarded and rebelled against day and night under
    disguises like grace, freedom and talk of the Holy Spirit. The entire setup is institutionalized rebellion.
    3) Once Jesus as head and leader was gone, a headless Christianity needed a new king, a Saul, a new head, "like everyone else". This is why it has become completely obsessed with human leadership (hello, Senior Pastor, who called you into your unbiblical being?) and its all too well known roles in PBC, planning, budgeting, controlling. Look at the 45,000 denominations,200,000 ministry mum-
    and-pop-shops and one RomanCatholic Organization that makes defiance to Christ’s every command its very organizational principle .None of this has anything to do with the Kingdom
    .
    4) Christianity has failed to demonstrat e and model the City on the Hill, the olony of God, where his will is done on earth as it is in heaven, the very
    thing Christ taught us to do. Christianity has particularly
    failed to model economic brotherhood, Acts 2 and 4 style sharing, Kingdom economics, the common
    wealth of the Kingdom, which requires an ego and greed-- free zone. This can only start where people pray: “Your Kingdom come, my kingdom go.” That is why we need to ponder: Jesus preached the Kingdom, what came was the church.
    5) No model, no message. Anyone can see through words, words, and more words,
    hollow hypocrisy, igot religion, religious fan clubs and consumer driven shows, particularly the children and close observers of "the ministers." They see first hand the emptiness and dou
    ble standards of their ownparents who preach things on pulpits and platforms that they do not live at home. Therefore, the Body of Christ has fled the litmus test of the home, given up the place of organic authenticity, and is now obsessed with plastic, orchestrated, choreographed meetings. What such Christianity misses in local, tangible and transparent authenticity, they make up in social service worlds away. To compensate for the disaster at home, they build wells, school, hospitals with a vengeance and an insatiable helpers complex, stoppering their ears and eyes to see that Jesus, the King, never ask - From Wolfgang Simson, from this document (last sentence there is killer)