The land remembers . . .

as we passed in and out of oklahoma on our trip, a scene from raising arizona came to mind about the OK state:

"does it come in pretty colors?"
"well, no, unless brown is pretty."

here's a thought about the atrocities committed by one race/group/tribe/party of people against another (explorer vs indigenous as one of many examples): my belief is that the land these sins were committed on remembers . . . and cries out in the form of hardship, or haunting, on those that live there.

so back to oklahoma. i'm sure many remember the history lessons about the trail of tears, moving the indigenous nations "out west"; one of those places was oklahoma. the native peoples were moved to a land that no white man wanted. then, the east coast got too small for the ambitious immigrant conquerors from europe so they took back the land and gave it away to white men for free.

oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains. perhaps the wind is trying to blow the people off of the land. perhaps the tornadoes are a result of the sins of the conquering people. the smiles here are quick to cover a perceived underlying hostility. racial/sexual/social/economic tension is observable. degrading remarks are the casual jokes.

the land remembers.

What does the church look like? (part 3?)

here are some thoughts that i posed to a friend. feel free to comment on them. if there's enough interest, maybe this can be attempted.

a website for the Church (not A church or denomination or conversation. . .the Church).

on the website would be:
1. thoughts / sermons / teachings - could be in the form or podcasts, blogs, book references/reviews (or just book suggestions), questions, etc. for use in local gatherings which, for example, could be in the form of taco tuesdays, forums, instant messaging, etc. everyone would be encouraged to post at least one a year. once the topic has been discussed by some group, they could post thoughts and questions that were brought up in thier discussion (simillar to what lotharbot was talking about a few posts ago)

2. calendars - for community events which the Church in the area could participate or help out in, and times and places of local gatherings.

3. research and links into various charities - since we're not about making money or building a building, this would be one of the main sources of what to put your time and your tithe towards. this would also provide a place for local charity contact and information.

4. "mission trips" orginization - with sign up and costs, links to information about the trip, people to contact, etc.


the website would be broken into pieces so that no one person would have to maintain it, but could be somewhat of a heirarchy to maintain commanality for clarity's sake and the cost of the website would be distributed as well (possibly paid for with ads?). in this manner, no one would need to quit their day jobs (and links for getting jobs would also be a part of the site?). for those that do not have internet, a mailing list would be established and everybody would be asked to print and mail the flyer to some number of people so that the cost is distributed.

how does that sound?

The Plucker - A Book You MUST Get!!!

i will (hopefully) be getting this book for Christmas.

i highly reccommend everyone check this thing out.
it's freakin awesome!

The Plucker

to help you make it to the end of the week

i have put together a collection of bust your gut things to look at.

let's start with some star wars

next, how about the kid's book we all wished we had growing up?

and let's end it with an oldie that i was just intrduced to with a guy that is so freakin happy it's contagious


ok, you can now return with a smile on your face to whatever you were doing before you got here.

What "church" looks like: part two.

I was asked by a friend what I think the church (and here I make the distinction of congreational gathering with the lowercase 'c') should look like.
Been mulling the question and here are the some of the results:

1. locationless - not 'one church in many locations' because the Church is already that. and, to further the point, the Church should not be in the real-estate business.
to me, church looks like taco tuesday.

2. the pastor is not the ceo (and neither was Jesus) - there is no reason any one person should need to carry the weight of so many people. As well, there is nothing that should raise one part of the body above the others. The Church is Christ's vision, not the "pastor's vision" (maybe more on this later).

3. non-denominational / trans-denominational - there are a vast amount of things people have disagreed on in the past to make them "take their toys and go play somewhere else". the Church should be about getting past the insignifcant differences. there are some good things that the "mainstream" congregations do that evangelicals miss out on, and vice versa. this also means there are no more dividing lines and the Church can move en masse to help the world.

4. "church service" / "worship service" does not mean meeting once a week to pat ourselves on the back or get all emotional over a common belief. the word "service" denotes actually doing something. therefore, these two phrases should be redefined to mean "helping people in need".

5. Paul's letters should be read through the understanding of Christ's teachings, not the other way around.


well that's the start. there will be more later.
but let me leave you with one more little tidbit to chew on.

i believe that the largest detriment to the Church was when Rome made Christianity the State religion. that is the point when we began to lose our identity.

a brain break

Let's start with Homer's ode to beer

and to follow up, here's what i like.
1. Black Toad Dark Ale - tried for the first time this weekend. Has all of the goodness of Guiness and none of the badness.
2. Druid's Porter - wow . . .if i could just find this again.
3. Bodingtons - a chewy amber
4. RedHook ESB - like a good coffee
5. Guiness and Guiness Stout

anyone else?

Sound of crickets . . .

so, it seems that the mt. dew and the name that church posts weren't thought provoking enough. you people sure do make this blog thing difficult.

maybe this one will get you going. (this is what happnes on a slow day at work)

what if the devil changed his mind? what if the devil is the original prodigal son that just hasn't come back?

dicuss.

What does church look like to you?

A friend of mine asked me this the other day; so i'll put it up here for everybody to give their input before i give mine (and so i can collect my thoughts). . . In fact, let's make a series out of it.

I'll get everybody started with semantics;
First, it wouldn't be called church, a church building, a local church, church service, going to church, going to worship or many of the things we use now. If the church is the people, then what we call "church" today would really be "a meeting of a congregation at a temple". and service denotes doing something other than singing or sitting on your duff (to me anyway).

what would you call it? would you call it anything? does it have to have a name? (please keep the answers to a couple of lines.)

I don't need to walk around in circles

walk around in circles, walk around in circles. . . but i find my self doing that sometimes.

times when there's so much to do and so little time (and when i get really tired) i'll head towards one project, and on the way there remember another project, and on the way to that one remember another one . . .then i realize i haven't done anything.

feeling that hopeless feeling again.

i hope i don't bring anybody else down with this one, but it's starting to set in that no matter what i do, i will not be able to fix anything. i want to help the poor, but i will never be able to give enough money. same goes for all of the other things that need money to fix them. that's where it starts . ..(try to keep up with the leaping thoughts)then the thought moves to why try to gain a greater sense of truth by discussing things with people? it won't fix anything. then the thought moves to why vote? it won't fix anything. why get off my damn couch? if i sit here, at least i won't be able to make it worse. or is that the attitude that actually makes it worse?

ignorance (aka. simplicity) truly is bliss. maybe it's time to sell the computers and find a nice amish community to join.

i wonder if Luther, King, or Mother Teresa ever felt like this.

what to do now? do we discuss with the "president" of the congregation we were once a part of to see if what we said before we left has made a difference? what if it did make a differnce? would we be able to present ourselves in such a way that others would come to simillar conclusions? do we keep on keepin on and look for a place where we "fit in"? do we attack? do we even have the right answers? is there such a thing as the "right" answer?

hmm . . . maybe i shouldn't blog just before bed.

What's the big deal with . . .

eternal life?

Is this the end all be all of Christianity? Is this why most Christians are focussed on "getting back to zero" as Erwin McManus put it instead of helping people where they are?

Here's my beef with eternal life; you're no longer able to help. Did you let that sink in? You're gone. Not a part of this earth.

Give a crack at it and let me know what you think. Please, keep the length to a minimum.

there are just some days . . .

been involved over at zalm's in a dicussion that was really long and fairly good.

i am currently facing a bit of hopelessness for the whole thing (american government, the church, etc.) can people really not see how screwed up everything is? (i think my wife mentioned a fish saying "what water?")

at one point today i actually pondered looking up other countries to see which ones might be nice to move to.

but then i remembered the message of the movie "Robots" and Samwise Gamgee's speech towards the end of "Two Towers"

"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something. . . .That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for."

i wish i could fix it. all of it. i would even settle for being one of those that starts a revolution. i wish i could speak in the words of the preamble to the declaration of independece and have it apply to the whole world. i wish it would actually do some good to bust into every church board room in america as a prophet of old, jumping up on the table and yell with the voice of rage against the machine, "WAKE UP!"

i don't know what all of the answers are, but i do see where we've made mistakes. wouldn't it be great if we actually did learn from those?

so this goes out to all of you who feel that beating your head against the wall really is foolishness.

hang in there.

What the pete "is"

(Keepin it light-hearted on a friday)

Head over here and find out what you are:
http://www.okcupid.com/politics

You are a:

Social Liberal(65% permissive) and an...

Economic Liberal(8% permissive)

You are best described as a: Socialist




that's right; i'm down there hangin out with ghandi, yo.

Where's the Mountain Dew?

see the geeks!

Last week, our heroes arrived at the main Inn at the center of the city of Nuth. A dwarf, a halfling, an elf, and a half-orc, with reasons for the paths they have chosen as varied as their races, have now found themselves in a common destiny.

As the last one enters the Inn, the heroes find themselves strangely alone when, with a great flash, Balcos "The Great" appears on stage.

"Welcome my friends. I'm glad that you have finally arrived"

After a brief introduction and a promise of great rewards, the heroes drink from the cup offered by Balcos in symbolic agreement to join with him. They soon find they are unexpectedly drowsy and give in to the sleep that presses in around them.

Tonight, our heroes will awaken safely in their beds to find they are each wearing a new ring with a large engraved "B". Will they fullfill their commitments and follow Balcos? Will they discover the nature of thier "host"?

Tune in next time for the continuation of "Nuth Inn on my Mind"

To restate the primary statement,

If Christ's death was only sacrificial atonement then everyone is saved.

If it didn't require anything on the part of the people to be atoned for their sins in the Iraelite traditions(and if i have that wrong, please correct me. i can only base this on what i've read, and that's not always acurate), and Christ was the sacrificial lamb, then everyone is already saved.

an update

the response to the responses is still stewing. standby to standby

for anyone that stops by that would like to post a comment on an earlier blog, please do. there aren't many postings here, so i can keep up with what i'm talking about and what one of you may have to say about it.

for those that posted on the early version of the page, sorry that i dumped everything. blogger must have been acting up that day because i was unable to dump a spammer comment so figured i would just start over.

reformation sunday

Today is Reformation Sunday. We just watched the movie "Luther" . . .not too bad.

Today I found out it was Reformation Sunday. Let me write that a different way . . .

Today I found out it was reformation sunday.

Why do I emphasize that word?

I've been a "good Church-going Christian" my entire life (please see the humor in that) and I cannot remember once hearing about this important day. A day all protestants at least should remember and celebrate (I think all those that would call themselves "Christians" would find this day worthy; it even caused the Catholic church to fix itself). I akin this day to July 4th for Americans.

Why was I never told about this day? Was it because I was being told a more imporatant truth; that of the evil of celebrating halloween? Was it because reformation day isn't in the bible? Did they just think everyone knew this? Did they just not know or think it was important enought to talk aobut?

Perhaps they didn't know about reformation sunday? Perhaps they were too busy trying to repeat history, laying burdens of rules and fear in order to keep their status quo to not tell those of us that would be influenced by luther in case we threw off the burdens they were now laying on us?

Did you know it was reformation sunday?

before we go too much further . . .

I should probably clarify "epiphany" . . . What really happened is that I have this really smart friend Dan who talks in really big words about theology and when he explains it, it both makes sense and makes my brain kind of freeze up when the truth contradicts what I've been told for a really long time as "truth". So after processing the discussion that I had with my friend Dan since august(and many other conversations before that), something finally clicked.

(and bear with me. . . damn it, I'm an engineer, not a . . person that . . talks . . . . . . . . .good)

How am I going to address the gospels? Good question. And I've got a really long answer processing, but I promise it won't take 3 months to write it out.

Let me start with what I think are some clarifications. The bible is errant. How do I know this? Because it's written down. That will take a really long time to explain, too, but if I can talk my friend Dan into it, I'll post the article he wrote based on his thesis.

And the bible is cultural. How do i know this? It was written down at different periods of time and then put together at another period of time. Think of words like "surfing" and "correspondence". Now think of those words before computers where even an idea in a science fiction writer's mind.

And the bible is not the "word of God" as reported by John. That was Christ. How do I know this? Because last time I looked, the bible was still a book and hadn't "become flesh".

So, to address the bible will be very difficult since I will be using a culturaly relative book that is left open to the interpretation of modern-day bias.

but i'll try.

And another thing . . .

Ever had one of those days where an epiphany shows up, hangs out for a while, and then starts running around knocking everything over?

Try this on for size:

If the sacrifice of Christ was atonement, and in place of the rites of the Israelite priests because, honestly, we just weren't ever going to get it right, then that means that the death of Christ atoned everyone.

Let me repeat that: everyone. (that means even the people that never say the magic words) that means that the evangelical / traditional christian interpretation of "becoming saved" is a misconception.

Christiandom wants what all people really want; power. Now, modern day christians don't really know that they want this power (let's hope) they might not even see this as a "power thing". But that's what it is. "Did you say these certain words?" "Who lead you to Christ?" "Did you come forward during the invitation?" . . .

Do you see the language of control . . .the need to be the one that "saved" someone?

The point is, everyone is already saved, saying the right words doesn't do it. Saying the right words only lets you into the club. It's the code words; the magic words. It's time for a new definition.

The closest I've come to what I believe the point of Christianity is (today anyway) is not "saving people" . . . it is "awakening people".

You see, there are a lot of people in this world that believe and understand the interconnectedness of all things and the injustice and wrong that are being done everyday. More often than not, these people are not "Chritianized". These people do something about the wrongs in any way they are capable. And the doing something about it is bringing the kingdom of God to this earth.

What does this mean to you "Christians"? It means that though you are in the club, you may not be "working for the kingdom". In fact, by simplifying the faith (it's hard to not throw those words around, isn't it?) you are actually doing a disservice to those that are doing the work but do not see the whole picture; they are not awake to it. And, you are misleading those that don't see any of the picture other than the religious culture you are advertising. You are not saving anyone; they are already saved. People are not "seeking" your weekly get together, they are seeking the bigger picture and you are not showing them any of it.

Maybe i'll expand more tomorrow, if anyone is listening.

Does "Christianity" = Christ?

Does it really? Think about what the "Christians" have made a name for themselves with:
1. The crusades . . .what a great idea! in the same way that voldemort was great.
2. Indulgences . . .the first record of Christian capitalism?
3. Evangelicalism . . . "we preach so that we don't have to do"

again, you are limited to one reasonably sized reply.

future topics could include:
Paul, the first Evangelical?
C.O.G. for those who can no longer be labeled "evangelical"

What's the point of Christianity?

for those that wish to take a stab at it, you are limited to one, resonably sized, line. any comment more than this will be tossed.