Sunday, December 22, 2013

Flesh: Introduction

I am nothing more than skin and bones, flesh on muscle on whitened bone.

I am from earth and to earth I will one day return.

My body, our bodies, are brittle, and subject to breaking.

"The flesh is weak," spoke the wandering teacher. If only he had known how very true those words are and continue to become. Little things, like the cutting of skin, the purging of the food from one's body, loathing oneself (a spiritual reality in a fleshy manifestation), the bodies we posses and find ourselves in are weak indeed. What significance does the flesh have? In light of the earthiness by which we are bound and developed what purpose does flesh have? To what end?

Christianity has often felt the lack of flesh in its theology. Flesh is important to the biblical narrative, in fact, I would argue, more important than the soul. Or, rather, souls are so tightly woven to flesh that separation is nigh impossible. The series here, hopefully, will be able to show how flesh refers not only to my body and its parts but to a different reality beyond that which we can see and touch and smell and feel and ultimately quantify. As well, I hope to show the the bible as a whole is a fleshy book, concerned primarily with things of the earth rather than mysticism or some sort of spiritualism.

The general outline will look like this:

1) Preliminary Thoughts on Flesh
Attempt to explain what I am referring to when I refer to flesh as well as teasing out what I see as the differences between "body" and "flesh".
2) Word about Flesh
What scripture has to say about flesh.
3) Word as Flesh
Scripture as flesh in Jesus.
4) Flesh Redeemed
Flesh saved from its abuse




Thursday, December 12, 2013

(Very) Brief Thoughts on Privilege and the Oppressed

1. Privilege does exist but what constitutes an inappropriate use of privilege or speaking from a point of privilege is often ambiguous and poorly defined. 

2. Privilege is not the end all be all. In fact, too often it is used in such a manner so as to shut down any further dialogue. Acknowledge that one is speaking from a privileged perspective and move on. 

3. God is not preferential to the poor/oppressed. Yes, his/her's heart is for the poor but the precedent is clearly one of grace to all, privileged and oppressor, broken and oppressed alike. 

4. Privilege is too often spoken from those who are, shocker, privileged. 

Ergo, privilege is ambiguously/poorly defined by the privileged and hoisted onto the unprivileged/oppressed in a manner which may or may not be appropriate. 

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Disbelief is Fidelity

It is not so much that I disbelieve all that is put under the banner of Christianity, my particular opiate of choice, but rather that I do not believe it enough. I have friends who believe more consistently than I and in some sense the easiest answer to why I don't believe as they do is: they are wrong. Or, more bluntly, their version of God is wrong. But that isn't right either. I refuse to believe consistently in some regards if only because I like to think I'm caring for others. My love for the Other demands I disbelieve that which my religion demands I believe.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Quotes

“They all think any minute I'm going to commit suicide. What a joke. The truth of course is the exact opposite: suicide is the only thing that keeps me alive. Whenever everything else fails, all I have to do is consider suicide and in two seconds I'm as cheerful as a nitwit. But if I could not kill myself -- ah then, I would. I can do without nembutal or murder mysteries but not without suicide. ” The Moviegoer, Walker Percy 

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Part One of a Series on Death of God Theology: Eucharist as God's Perpetual Death

"You are sacrificing Christ all over again," or so the objection to real-presence in the Eucharist goes.

  The objection states that we continue to re-sacrifice Christ on the cross. Guess what? It's true, we do. In fact, we do so in many ways. But the taking of the Eucharist is an important, institutional, global and very visceral way in which we declare God is dead. God is no longer out there. God's death, if it means anything, means that God is no longer Other. God is not the Object but the Subject. As Heidegger states:
“If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life - and only then will I be free to become myself. ” 
By the eating of God, if you will, we face God's death and free ourselves. We take his death into ourselves in a very real sense. By re-sacrificing Christ we continually destroy the Other. We continually embrace the world we have all around us (yes, that is a reference to The Orphans) and live in a Spirit inhabited world. Thus, the common evangelical complaint gets turned on its head and can be embraced.

This is part one of an ongoing series as I read more about death of God theology/radical theology.
 

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Glory, Abused

The glory of God is the new Law. No longer are we enslaved to the Law of death. At the present we are enslaved to the Law of glory. Whatever one does is to be done to and for God's glory and instead it turns into a vicious cycle of guilt and demand. The death of Jesus speaks to us now, forming us, with the realization that on the cross God has already been glorified. In partaking of the cross (through Eucharist and Baptism and faith) we find ourselves partaking in the once and final act of glorifying God, the last need to do so has been placated and filled full. We are free to live in grace and folly.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Quote

“In the Christian context, we do not mean by a "mystery" merely that which is baffling and mysterious, an enigma or insoluble problem. A mystery is, on the contrary, something that is revealed for our understanding, but which we never understand exhaustively because it leads into the depth or the darkness of God. The eyes are closed—but they are also opened.”

Kallistos Ware 


Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Oddity

Christianity is not lived on Good Friday and Easter but rather is more often lived on Holy Saturday, the in between. In fact to state the following is not an extreme: life generally is lived on Saturday. The oddity of the death of Jesus is the sorrow and the abandonment that comes because there is now nothing. Nothing to do but weep with God. No one to follow but the emotions that come with the death of a loved one. There is absolutely nothing because Jesus is in the tomb.
   But there is something rather curious about this death, this nothingness, because of it we now see a God who wants us to live on and follow him despite the absence. In the nothingness of death there is a call.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Ode to the Dead

Here's to the dead. Not those who've gone before
only. But to those who stand at the door of their
own end. Here's to the endless line that stands
forever at death's door. Some knock, and some,

the tragic few, kick the door in, rushing through.
This is a toast to those who have crossed the
divide and torn the curtain in two. This is for
those who await the crashing. And this is for
those who were shoved through too soon.
Be at peace.

Monday, September 30, 2013

The Filling Full

Incarnation affirms humanity and redeems the material world and our bodies. And deems them sacred.
The cross sets the pendulum back in place between man and his God. No longer do we idolize man nor can we idolize God.
Resurrection defeats death by affirming life. And by affirmation negates any claim that has us floating off into the stratosphere.
Ascension drags the material world into the presence of the God who is spirit. This fills all the previous events full, affirming the immanence of God because the material is now before and embraced by him.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

On Fundamentalism

There are fundamentalists [connotation] and then there are fundamentalists [denotation]. The fear of being labeled a fundamentalist [connotation] only perpetuates the illusion that some people are not bigoted or fundamentalist. When, in fact, all are fundamentalists because all have specific fundamentals to which they think we should return. Thus, to label someone a fundamentalist [connotation] is to accept that you implicitly have fundamentals to which you would like to return but cannot because that fundamentalist [connotation] is stopping you. It's all a vicious cycle. Thus, the only difference between the connotation and the denotation is that of method and approach.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead (God)

For those unfamiliar with the ideas brought up herein, read the following links (I understand these are not comprehensive but they are good introductions to one of the main proponents of the idea of "living the death of God"):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._J._Altizer

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/god-dead-controversy

http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=523&C=527


This post will be my attempt to deal with the options for radical theology/death of God theology as well as some of the main problems (as I see them).

First option:
Death of God theology is nonsense. The basic assertion, as I understand it, is that God is dead (though what that means is itself not super clear). It seems to be simply saying that God [as transcendent] is dead. This death comes because of the incarnation and finds it's embodiment upon the cross. This has led to me to ask: what about the Trinity? Because, as much as a Hegelian reading of the Trinity is beneficial, it really does not explain the complex nature of the Trinity. Nothing does, really, but there is two thousand years of Christian thought on the matter and death of God theology (seems) to disregard this fact. If God is dead via the cross then how is the Trinity to be understood? As a dialectic triad? What about God the Father still existing as transcendent? Is God the Son's death the death of the Father? What about the Ascension? Jesus rises and returns to heaven, thus, returning to transcendence (leaving the Spirit, yes). Thus, this idea of the death of God becomes entirely nonsensical. It's just nitpicking without really taking into account the entirety of Christian tradition.

Second option:
Unclear restatement of Christian tradition. This is a quite simple critique but also vital. Any attempt to deal with Christianity in the current age needs to learn how to contextualize, to speak to this time and age. Currently, this death of God movement is simply speaking to academia. It uses the terms given to them by Hegel, Lacan, and Zizek; terms which, for the most part, are extremely unclear. Though, admittedly, they could find a home withing Christian tradition.

Third option:
It's all accurate and a current developments that needs to be embraced by the Church. But again, clarity and simplicity. Both lacking.

Fourth option:
It's all crazy.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Cross as Destruction of Structures

The cross is a violent act, a violent moment in time. On the cross we see a man brutally displayed in all his humanity and without dignity.

Yet, the cross is a self-defeating act, too. For, on the cross, we find a man, destroyed, beaten, by the powers of his age. But the violence done to Jesus is violence done to the structure(s) of the time, the powers, the State. By employing violence on a peace-making Rabbi, the son of God, they employ violence on themselves. Thus, the cross is self-destruction - of the powers and the violence upon which the State is (too often) predicated.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Anecdotes

1.
The death of God is an absurd notion if taken literally for God is spirit. --Yet some say in Christ dying God died too. But this fails to appreciate the nature of the Trinity. Perhaps God is dead but this statement needs to be explained/clarified/expounded on

2.
The endless raging and antics of those who would see the death of an idea only perpetuate that idea. 

3.
To oppose an idea is to afford it legitimacy -- when they picket and shout that God Hates Fags they already assume that Fags exist and therefore that they have some significance to culture. Maybe ignorance would be a better reaction. 

4. 
The Church is its own political institution thus any affiliation to the American system is, in very clear ways, while not wrong explicitly, flawed.

5.
--I am not political is a political statement--

6.
The self is alone and continually faces outwards to avoid seeing itself revealed to other selves. Because to be revealed to other selves would cause the self to become accountable to itself and other selves.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

On Exchange

Previously I began to address the radical nature of law vs. gospel within the scriptural context. But, did not set out any nuance (mainly because I am not fond of nuance-ing everything). This post is an attempt at that.

If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?

Not only did death come via the Law but perfection could not be attained through it. The Law was created to pass away. 

For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.

The priesthood is no longer with Aaron and his heirs but is now with Melchizedek and his heir. And with this heir there comes a change in the Law. But saying the Law has changed seems okay. It's kosher within Christian circles to say the nature of the Law changed but isn't set aside. Yet, the bible leaves us no room for the comfortable. 

The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless...

The Law was created to pass because it is weak and useless. The goal was perfection and the Law was useless in achieving this goal. Ergo, it has to pass. 

...and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

This hope is one of an indestructible life. Again, the tension of death vs. life. Death in and by the Law and life in and by Christ. 

Through whom we live and move and have our being. 

Thursday, August 22, 2013

On Law and Gospel

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was...

The Law had a temporary glory, one which passed away into a newer, more full one. The language we use to discuss this is that of law vs. gospel. While accurate it isn't quite as blunt as the language of the bible. 

...For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 

What are these letters? ...The ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone... 

The letters that kill(ed) are/have passing/passed away, and are now gone/going. 

...The same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.

In Jesus there is freedom, a radical freedom, from these letters, this Law. It's not about a bunch of laws and some euangelion but about death and life. The Law brought death, but no longer because it is taken away. In its stead there is the Spirit which brings life to all. 


Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Love - Antithesis

Love is kind - "I wanna kill people so I'm gonna join special ops," guy at school.

Love does not dishonor others - "God hates fags," Westboro Baptist Church.

Love keeps no record of wrongs - "We will never forgive, we will never forget," Anonymous.

Love is patient - "Come quickly Lord Jesus."






Thursday, August 15, 2013

God Suffers


God the Father suffered loss.

God the Son suffered physical and emotional pain.

God the Spirit actively suffers.

There is plenty within scripture to suggest that God suffers. When we see the lowest of the low, the least in every way within society, there is Jesus, suffering along with them. When the Church suffers in some way God suffers. In the garden of Gethsemane we see a suffering God.

Only a God who suffers with us actively is a God who can truly save us.


Monday, August 12, 2013

On the Abuse of Truth

I feel bad for truth. It's been so abused of late. And more, I feel anger at Churches. There's this mentality that biblical faithfulness should trump all. "I want to be faithful to the bible," and the statement which underlies that one is this, "so I'll trumpet the biblical text from the rooftops exactly how it's stated therein." No, no, no. Can I say it any more clearly?

We, as Christians, tend to treat the lifestyles or actions we call sin as if they are some abstract idea/entity/thing/whatever that has taken hold of some group of people. This is where the problem lies. We, too often, tend to address the sins of people (when we also fail to have a clear, and effective definition of sin) without realizing they're still (shocker) human. They have feelings, emotions, reactions, thoughts, desires. They feel pain. The reason why people become so outraged at Christian ideals and call us bigots is because we forget their humanness in the desire to be faithful to a book.

Last I checked Christ calls us to be gracious in our speech. He wants us to speak with truth and grace. When we fail to speak truth with grace, in some ways, we fail to speak truth at all. It becomes a clanging noise. Just empty words which we shout in the name of biblical faithfulness and, therefore, words without meaning.


Thursday, August 8, 2013

Questions for the Radical Theologians

1. How does Radical Theology stay within Christianity if it is, in many ways, a denunciation of the traditions we have held? Or, rather, Christianity has held.

2. What is meant by God is dead?

3. If God is dead and we must embrace that then what are we preaching?

4. What meaning do our beliefs have in a world where God is dead?

5. Is this about God transcendent versus God immanent?

Forgive me for any misunderstanding of this concept since I think this concept is rather important to the ideas behind RT.

Monday, August 5, 2013

More Thoughts on Doubt

In light of a previous post on the subject it seems appropriate to attempt to clarify or expound further upon the issue raised therein. Where is the line that Rilke seems to be drawing between a doubt that is a worker in your life and the implied giving in to doubt that becomes skepticism?

Doubt is the natural outpouring of the soul when confronted with the pain of reality, not even the pain necessarily but simply reality itself. It's simply wonder at what you do not know, or cannot know. More clearly, doubt is the experience of the soul. 

The line between doubt and skepticism is one of questions. With one the questions find their origin in a wonder that has been disciplined; in the other the questions are asked incessantly without ever disciplining and tailoring them to your needs, to becoming useful. Discipline and questioning, this, it seems, is the line.




Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Quotes

“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.” -Rilke

One Way Out

The burden of unknowing and doubt lays heavy on any human heart which has attempted to live in the world. A burden which for the most part is furthered by the Church rather than embraced.

Mind you, this burden is not a problem to be solved, but embraced. Too often the Church has used St. Thomas as a means of saying: do not doubt! But this is as far from truth as one can get.

Doubt and unknowing: there can only be one way out (if, in fact, we can ever truly escape) and that is to go through them. Just as with the wrath of God, so with doubt.

Run towards the doubts and uncertainties, sprint even. For at the center there lies the cross, the greatest example of uncertainty. Doubt is part of existence, faith. Faith without doubt is boring, and a creation entirely planned is equally dull.

But:
“And your doubt can become a good quality if you train it. It must become knowing, it must become criticism. Ask it, whenever it wants to spoil something for you, why something is ugly, demand proofs from it, test it, and you will find it perhaps bewildered and embarrased, perhaps also protesting. But don't give in, insist on arguments, and act in this way, attentive and persistent, every single time, and the day will come when, instead of being a destroyer, it will become one of your best workers--perhaps the most intelligent of all the ones that are building your life.” Rilke 

Sunday, July 28, 2013

On Christianity as Absurdity

"Modern man must descend the spiral of his own absurdity to the lowest point; only then can he look beyond it. It is obviously impossible to get around it, jump over it, or simply avoid it." Vaclev Havel

Much of what I believe has become absurd, or seemingly so. I've come up against the limits of reason where one can do nothing other than embrace the absurdity. Is that not faith itself? To embrace the utter strangeness of the gospel, its inherently radical nature.

And maybe that's why Christians are so obsessed with having a rational explanation because we have to defend ourselves against the attack of atheists. But is this not the absurdity of the gospel? That we don't defend the validity of our beliefs because they cannot, in fact, be defended. This is not to say they're invalid but rather that the so aptly called 'Christ-event' is absurd and as such cannot be explained.

But once more we encounter an absurdity. By realizing the absurd nature of reason and going onward in faith we embrace absurdity once more. Absurdity is given up for lack of power and replaced by an absurdity of power in weakness: the cross.



Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Anecdote(s)

1.
For a church culture that wishes biblical faithfulness over cultural norms our view of women is based upon culture and its stereotypes. 

2. 
Christianity is said to be based in the bible but is, in fact, most fully embodied by our lives.

3. 
Law and gospel, two tensions intertwined. 


Sunday, July 21, 2013

To Be Determined

1.
My lovely dances in the moonlight
always moving, an image of fluidity
and grace. She always dances to a
specific rhythm and beat. Nothing 
can stop her and her indomitable
spirit. Her dance is a fight, a cry, a
raging against the sadness and the
deadness of the world today. My
lovely dances in the moonlight.

2. 
Oh, oh, look in the mirror young
one. Oh,
tell me what you see. See a light
shining in your eyes as you try to
smile. Those glittering moments
when you can see past the evil,
past the dark,
are fleeting. There and gone and 
back again like a ghost that never
can or ever will quit.  

3.
Not sure what this all means or even
stands for. Not really sure I want to.
But I can't say I never will know. To
search and wonder and pray and breathe
and sleep, that is the fullness of life. To
feel the curve of your lovers body on yours
and the smell of their sweat is the fullness
of being.

4.

I sit, silently.

5.

God, the silence that speaks, through whom
and in whom and by whom we live, move,
and have our being. 

Thursday, July 18, 2013

On Heresy


  Heresy is a good thing. I know the church proper should be opposed to heresy but I honestly cannot find good reason to stand against it as it is. By this I mean, simply, that heresy, is over rated. It is a word thrown around in the church today, especially by Protestants who want to sound like they have some grasp and/or appreciation for church tradition, and is so often used (and abused, frankly) that it is essentially meaningless. So, how is a word that is, for all intents and purposes, meaningless, a good thing?
  Heresy is simply any doctrine/dogma/idea contrary to orthodox Christianity. Leaving aside the issue of what orthodox Christianity is, it would seem rather wrong of me to suggest that heresy is a good thing in light of this basic definition. But I will suggest such a proposition. And my basis for this claim is simply that seeking Truth (whatever that may entail or be) requires one to step on toes. Truth is to be sought and in doing so one may find that they are enjoining themselves with a heretical notion. And the notion that this is a bad thing, to enjoin oneself with heresy, must be done away with. Inherent in the search for Truth is the risk of heresy. Heresy serves two purposes in the church: 1) to cause reevaluation of dearly held beliefs so as to test whether those things are True and 2) to spur the Church proper into action (I am grateful to Dr. Michael Bauman for this clarifying point). As such heresy is a good thing. It serves a long run purpose. However, does this mean one should arbitrarily become a heretic? No. But one must accept that inherent to Truth seeking is the risk of heresy and that holding a heretical notion (if, indeed it is heretical) can be a good thing for your beliefs and the vitality of the Church. 

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Untitled n. 4

Walk into the sunlight
watching the car

pulling into the driveway
across from you. Observe

and watch and learn
as the woman clambers

out. Breasts singing as
they go up and down

with each breath. Observe
and cross the line. In

the soul everything goes
a-flutter. Something is

happening, occurring
and stirring.

Vere Tu Es Deus Absconditus



  I am a Christian. I pray like crazy. And I grew up being told to listen in prayer. I've tried listening but nada. Exactly what is entailed in listening to/for God? The still, small voice? How does God speak? Through his word? Sure, but that's its own dilemma right there. So, I prayed and tried to listen and God was silent. What now? Silence, just silence.

 -"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"-

   I use apologetics to give reasons, primarily to myself now, for my faith. Yet, God escapes me. "Jonas, you need to have heart knowledge, too!" Well, how? Like stated above the silence is frightening and overwhelming. Apologetics is all well and good till it isn't.

 -"Pointless, because it seems to me like an attempt to put a grown-up man back into adolescence, i.e. to make him more dependent on things on which he is, in fact, no longer dependent, and thrusting him into problems that are, in fact, no longer problems to him."-

   I accept unknowing, the lack of certainty. Or, rather, I try to. I think hard and think well, attempting to use my mind to get somewhere with the unknowing and lack of certainty. But it's very obvious what I am doing. I'm finding certainty in the use of my mind to be uncertain. Oxymoron much?

 -"The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me."-

 

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Untitled n. 3

See the sky, see the pavement
wet and moist. Pleasantries exchanged
between the rain and the dirt. So
my imagining goes. Smell the birds
and smell the sounds they make.
Fresh, aren't they? Biting in a good way.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Anecdotes

1.
God is fully revealed in Jesus Christ, implications of this?

2.
Jesus demands something more from us than religious observance.

3.
God self-limits himself.

4.
A relationship not a religion is too weak; rather, a life instead of a religion.




Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Jesus Is Not For America

That's right.

Nor is America for Jesus. In fact, much of America is antithetical to Jesus. Or, more frankly, Jesus stands opposed to much of America (at least as it is).

Jesus stands and says love your enemies; America goes to war regularly and has since Vietnam (basically, we've been in a war for thirty plus years straight).

Jesus says turn the other cheek; America seeks its own interests and spits at anyone who gets in the way.

Jesus says he is the Light; America, via the mouth of George Bush, claims to be the light and hope of nations.

Don't get me wrong, America has some wonderful parts and facets. But as that shocking and odd band we all love states, "We've baptized the Empire into the Church and hailed it sanctification." The American Church has become pathetic. We've gone to bed with the State. Am I saying don't be patriotic? No, but consider your nationalism and hold it in check.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Quotes

"Generally speaking, women aren't very promiscuous. Males, by contrast, are extraordinarily slutty. And if that's the case, then why are women rather than men called sluts?

A psychological study in this regard. A group of researchers had attractive assistants approach men and women of the opposite sex on a college campus. After a few minutes of chit chat the assistant would sexually proposition the student. The question was, what percent of women would agree to have sex with an attractive man after a few minutes of conversation? And what percent of men would agree to have sex with an attractive woman after a few minutes of conversation?

Seventy-five percent of the males agreed to have sex. The women?

Zero percent.

Generally speaking, women are choosy and discriminating when it comes to sex. Men not so much. 

In short, from an empirical standpoint men are the whores.

And if that's the case, why are women always cast as whores, even in the bible, as the sexually insatiable ones?

It is a product of Freudian projection. Throughout history, religiously conservative males have had to confront one of the greatest sources of their moral failure: the male libido. The male libido--the fact that men are sluts--is a sore spot of any male community wanting to pursue purity and holiness. And what has happened, by and large, is that rather than admit that males struggle mightily in the sexual realm, males have externalized the blame and projected their libido onto women. Rather than blaming themselves for sexual sin males have, throughout history, blamed women for being temptresses. The Whore was created to be the scapegoat to preserve male self-righteousness. Rather than turning inward, in personal and collective repentance, men could blame women, blame the whores, for their sexual and moral failures. It's not our fault, the men say, it's the whore's fault.

Examples of this sort of projection are too numerous to list. Christian campuses and youth group talks are full of this sort of stuff.

But let me bring this back to whores and brides in Revelation. Given the problematic nature of this metaphor, how are we to approach these images in the bible? 

I'll tell you what I do. For me, I don't read the Whore as a woman. I read it as the Freudian projection it is. The Whore is the male libido projected onto women.

More simply, when I see the Whore in Revelation I don't see a woman.

I see a man."

Richard Beck 

Friday, July 5, 2013

John Donne Poem

Part of a poem about Jesus.

By miracles exceeding power of man, 
He faith in some, envy in some begat,  
For, what weak spirits admire, ambitious hate :  
In both affections many to Him ran.  
But O ! the worst are most, they will and can,  
Alas ! and do, unto th' Immaculate,  
Whose creature Fate is, now prescribe a fate,  
Measuring self-life's infinity to span,  
Nay to an inch.   Lo ! where condemned He  
Bears His own cross, with pain, yet by and by  
When it bears him, He must bear more and die.  
Now Thou art lifted up, draw me to Thee,  
And at Thy death giving such liberal dole,  
Moist with one drop of Thy blood my dry soul. 

Thursday, July 4, 2013

God Bless America and Other Grumpy Anecdotes

#1

The Fourth of July, more than anything else, is simply a holiday for the religion of America. Americanism is its own religion and the Fourth of July is its Christmas.

#2

Just having faith is a wonderful sentiment but, honestly, means nothing.

#3

All this is my self-aware attempt to seem intelligent.

#4

The Church is not to go to bed with the State and have the love child we see embodied in America today.

#5

As far as I'm concerned the reaction people have to gay marriage is reflective of their true heart; they can say they love gays but when they take bible passages to dehumanize them, their words mean nothing.

#6

Jesus as the center, not religion.

#7

"I discovered later, and I’m still discovering right up to this moment, that it is only by
living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. One must completely abandon any
attempt to make something of oneself, whether it be a saint, or a converted sinner, or a
churchman (a so-called priestly type!) a righteous man or an unrighteous one, a sick man or a
healthy one. By this-worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes
and failures, experiences and perplexities." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

#8

Belief in a God is, in some sense, a crutch.


Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Quotes

"“That which we cannot speak of is the one thing about whom and to whom we must never stop speaking.” 
― Peter Rollins

Untitled n. 2

Flick the lighter and watch as the sparks give rise to flame. The flame moves fluidly, from blue to yellow, left to right, back and forth, always in motion. Feel the warmth on the hand. Feel it as it moves from warmth to pain. Then let go and the flame dies a sudden death. Put thumb to the metal roller and feel the skin sear and seemingly melt, only to be left with a tingling feeling, one of pain and humor. Flick the lighter again again again.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Why I Need Fiction

I love non-fiction. I love theology, philosophy, all of it makes me deeply happy. Especially if it's grumpy or snarky. But I need a hiatus from the world of so-called reality from time to time. Actually, a lot of the time. Many of my peers seem to be obsessed with the abstract world of ideas. Ideas are wonderful but fiction, in many ways, grounds those ideas.
   Non-fiction is not bad. I'm not saying that. What I am saying, however, is that too much in one realm - theology and/or philosophy specifically - (especially for a Christian) can be harmful. And, no, it's not because they just need to get back to the bible. After a while we are able to deal with these ideas in a sequential manner and logically explain dogmas and doctrine but where is the joy? How do we ground ourselves and give feet to our ideas? More importantly, how do I, as a Christian, learn?
   The last question, it seems to me, is the one which needs answering. When I grew up I was told what was right, what was wrong and how to properly live, yes. But I learned from experience, from stories. Whether those stories were bible stories or just stories from Aesops or some other text, I learned little tidbits of wisdom and how to live. There is a reason the bible is a story and not a systematic theology. Everywhere stories form our identities. Which stories form us? Why do they form us? Are we, in a sense, the children of an ongoing tapestry of stories, an interweaving of ideas and identities?
   As such, it seems that, while important, non-fiction theological works seem to be more geared to our growth in knowledge but rarely, it seems, as full people living in a world of delights and pain. Am I saying fiction is better? In some ways, yes. Simply by virtue of the fact that it actually has characters living in some reality, living out some ethical system, and actually just being. Because, truly, in some mystical mumbo jumbo way, the characters of fiction do, in fact, exist. They exist for us as people who we admire, someone to hold on to, someone who actually instills in us some sort of emotion. Last time I checked no theological text ever brought me to tears, anyone for that matter. If it did let me know and we'll pray for you. But, no. Fiction does something for us, it stays with us. I can't remember certain doctrinal trivialities but I can remember, clearly, scenes from novels that stuck out to me and were transformative in my thought process.
   None of this, though, is hard and fast. If you love theology: wonderful. But consider reading fiction to ground your ideas and to interact with ideas in a very real sense. Logic is wonderful but it rarely impacts the way a story can. The bible is theological but it is a story, it is very much about reality and deals in the real, material, and sometimes immaterial, world. As Peter Leithart puts it in his book Against Christianity, (paraphrased), "Theology is a Victorian enterprise...have you ever read a theological work that mentions menstruation, disembowelment, castration?"  The point is this: theological works are all well and good but often separated from the story of the bible, a story grounded in the real world with real world problems.

   Thoughts? Complaints?

Reading

Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson
The Thanatos Syndrome by Walker Percy

Both glorious.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Gay and Beautiful and a Little Thing Called Love

I really do love the Supreme Court sometimes. Sometimes they make decisions which make sense; also, they're really good at instigating conversation. And with the overturning of parts of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) it's started a revitalization of the marriage debate. It has also managed to bring out the Christians in full force. "Oh no! America is going to hell! Go back to God!" are the cries of our wonderful Christians. But guess what? It's doing nothing. Nothing whatsoever. 
  
      I understand. But seriously? Running to Leviticus 19? If you're a Christian and you use Leviticus as your go to reason for why gays shouldn't be allowed to marry your hermeneutic is rather pathetic. Picking a verse, at random, from the Old Testament Law will not do. Be consistent. If you take this verse, which is not only moral but explicitly civil in nature (who else is going to enforce the death penalty for gays?), you need to take more. Oh, but you say: "There are different types of Laws in the Old Testament." Of course there are. But not in the sense you mean (moral, civil, and those relating to the sacrificial system). There is no clear indication that the Bible, in the OT or NT, ever delineates such a distinction. So unless you're a theonomist, which most Christians are not, don't run to the OT Law. But what about Romans 1? and 1 Corinthians 6? Both of these have a context and neither of these tell us what the government can or cannot do. 
   
     But the  fundamental problem is how we as Christians respond. As Rachel Held Evans so aptly states, "But it reminded me of one important, reality-based fact: Most people begin to recognize their sexual orientation when they are just kids, when they are young and vulnerable like this little girl. So when we, in the Church, discuss homosexuality as though it were an issue faced by “other people” who are “out there,” when we resort to stereotypes and language about hell and judgment and damnation, we may be doing serious damage to the most precious and vulnerable among us. Even our casual conversations with one another can be picked up by little ears and internalized in destructive ways." And her point stands validly. Go to almost any gay person and ask them when they realized they were gay you will get an answer that varies from young child to teen years. Either way one takes it words have consequences. Am I saying that if you have a conviction that being gay or gay action is wrong that's fine and wonderful. Consider, though, how you go about sharing this belief. Will you damn gays and call them abominations simply to be faithful to the Biblical witness? Or will you love them and say it a manner that admits you're just as much a worthless sinner as they? Because, frankly, all it sounds like from my side of the pew is a bunch of pissed off white Christians who think America is going to hell. They seem to be more concerned with America than with people and loving them. That pesky ol' second greatest commandment, right? 
    
     So, seriously. Get off your high horse. Get into the streets. Pray. Love. Interact. The Incarnation of Jesus demands that we as Christians live as part of this world, that the bodies we have are clean, that the Creation is healing and groaning to be fully restored, and that we must live separately. And stop focusing on that last point without the others. Because when you do, when you "hope all things" in people they have opportunity and you can grow and learn. 

People, Please...

Stating that America was founded on Christ is absurd. If America is founded on Christ then why are we not glorifying, nationally, a man who died a salvific death that was also political death? Maybe because, shocker here, we were never a Christian nation. Sure, we stole from Christian morality but that does not make us a Christian nation. At best it only makes us a moral one. And even that is an exaggeration. Do I love America? Sure, but don't tell me that you fight to get us back to the good ol' days of us as a Christian nation. Never existed. It truly is like finding Neverland.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Quotes

The first quote from a series of random posts with quotes I will have.

"The Church has no alternative to war. The Church is the alternative to war." - Stanley Hauerwas

Untitled n. 1

This is the tale of a child, lost and wandering. This is the story we tell ourselves, that everything's gonna be okay baby. But it's not. Everything is imploding inwards. Call me a cynic but you know deep down I'm right. Just keep telling yourself the stories that everything is gonna be okay, that no one is gonna knock  on your door in the middle of the night. I will. I am the monster under your bed. And I am the evil in your head. Messing with you yet? Good. It's supposed to.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Church Without Bars

The title makes no sense, I know. But that's okay. The dilemma for me is really quite simple: I know what I want in a church (or think I do) and I have yet to find it. Basically, it comes down to a desire for tradition, but a willingness to accept unknowing. And, as it currently stands, my ability to journey in and out of various other denominations and churches is inherently limited. Mainly because I can't drive yet (it's rather humorous in a sadistic way) and because my parents won't let me (or, would rather not go with me on my journey to every weird church in town).
  Spiritually I need rigor, I see that in myself. Yet, I am too critical for my own good. Whichever one prefers. I also desire progress. I'm not picky how one gets close to God, just that one does. I don't want rigid I want livelihood. And since, like Chesterton, I find progress to only be tenable once one has a dogma I need a church that has dogma and isn't wishy washy. But any church that says there is a) a right method to worship God and it must only be done that way and that b) one must have all the correct beliefs on trivialities, is a church which I find to be intolerable. Are there some things which are the right belief and some things which are not? Absolutely. Are there things which one, as a Christian, must believe? Sure. But, to be quite frank, the fundamental beliefs for all Christians can be summed up in the Nicene Creed and the words of Jesus (paraphrased), "Love God; Love people." Simple as that.
   So what do I need in a church? Openness to the fact that theology is a journey. That all of us are on that journey in pursuit of truth. Is there one way to achieve this truth? Other than by looking to Jesus and looking to the bible, no. All of this to say, simply, that I don't really know what I want in a church just that it needs to have certain traits.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

#yolo: Or, Why Carpe Diem is Better

Reason 1: YOLO makes everyone think you're obsessed with Twitter or some other social networking sight. Basically, people see you using #yolo in anything and everything and are shouting in their heads, "Get off your dang screen, Jeezus."

Reason 2: Carpe Diem sounds far more sophisticated. No, really. Instead of #yolo-ing how about you start carpe diem-ing? Carpe Diem also makes you sound like you cared in school which we all know is a load of BS, but it's better than nothing. And if you're a homeschooler...well, you might want to stick with #yolo since you took Latin and are most likely worried about the proper use of Carpe Diem.

Reason 3: #yolo can be used as an excuse to justify anything and you still sound stupid. "I murdered my wife...YOLO." Or, "I raped her...YOLO." Really guys? That's going to totally get you off the hook with the judge. Now, reverting back to Reason 2, if you say: "I murdered my wife...so I could carpe diem." There you'll sound smart and sophisticated while possibly getting past the judge with your grasp of Latin.

Reason 4: Girls don't like #yolo. They want to be with you forever and if you go around saying, "YOLO, YOLO," well, frankly, all the girls are going, "He's so hot but he's so depressed."

Reason 5: I said so.

Hi

I suppose this is where I should introduce myself, but that's rather droll. But, then again, I'd rather not try to be too hipster and ask you to figure out who I am and what I am about. So, for the sake of clarity I will clearly state that the purpose of this blog is to ramble, to search, and to take a journey. Said journey is rather winding. Also, this blog will probably bore you since it will contain anything I feel like posting, but I will clearly label certain posts so as to make it easier for you to stalk and/or follow me on my unstated journey.
  Wandering is a beautiful things because it leads you places that will grow you. Plus, there's the possibility of getting lost. So with that. I bid you welcome.