An advantage to posting late today, I can forgo the standard Valentine's Day stuff. Instead, I want to talk about something that strikes me frequently, but really hit last night during the Grammy Awards. While watching, it struck me that, even though I'm a little older and never have really be a mainstream/pop music guy, I had very little idea who most of the people performing, presenting, and nominated were. The same thing happens when I watch the Oscars and Emmys as well, and I would be completely lost if I tried watching the MTV awards nowadays. I'm not even sure MTV does awards anymore, it's not like they do music anymore....
However, it occurs to me that this isn't simply a matter of me being out of touch with the mainstream entertainment world. It seems to me that there isn't really a mainstream entertainment world anymore. Very few and far between are those universally recognized bands, movies, or TV shows. There was a time when there were some TV shows and movies that everybody had seen, and some songs that everyone knew the lyrics to. Now, with 157 channels and DVRs to fill our TV addiction and everything under the sun (and a lot of stuff from the shadows) available on the internet on demand, plus advertisers and producers preferring pinpoint target marketing over the melting pot, and a big helping of the constant push of modern western society to individuality, it all comes to a very splintered culture. I know we have blips on the scene, such as Justin Bieber, American Idol, and Glee, but is the fandom and recognition of those as universal as say Michael Jackson, The Cosby Show, or Titanic?
I have been and still consider myself part of several different subcultures that suffer from this kind of splintering. Metal, punk, hacking, and the Church all suffer in various ways from too many within the groups looking at their individuality instead of trying to melt together. Punk is particularly vicious when it comes to dividing over ideals, with it's long and strong history of fighting to stay out of the mainstream and avoid any contact with evil corporate record labels, some in the scene laying out lots of hate, verbal, in print and sometimes physical on anyone daring to gain commercial success playing punk. Metal isn't quite as bad, but there are some examples of the masses calling out bands for sudden, money-inspired career choices ****COUGHCOUGHCOUGHMETALLICACOUGHCOUGH****** (Excuse me, something in my throat). Hackers engage in a lot of debates of white hat (searching out computer exploits simply for the sake of knowledge and fixing them) verses black hat (happy to exploit found holes for monetary gain, cyber vandalism or scene fame). And of course, we don't have dozens of different denominations within the Church, didn't go through the Reformation, and didn't have a Great Awakening here in America because everyone in the Body agreed on all points of theology.
There's nothing wrong with some grouping together by ideals, tastes, or histories. The annual Cornerstone Christian metal festival is a big gathering of people brought together by their taste in music and their faith. The Hackers Of Planet Earth (H.O.P.E) conferences are gathering of people interested in technology, what it does, what it is doing to us, and what we can do to it. But when those metalheads go home, they go to their more diversified local churches, and those hackers head back to their mainstream jobs and schools. Both groups mix and mingle with others who may or may not share all of their views and likes. Hopefully, both the mixers and mixees pick up positives from each other. The metalhead may get inspiration for a song from a line in the pastor's sermon, and one of the hacker's coworkers just may start practicing safer websurfing habits after a conversation about where the hacker went last weekend.
That's the whole point of a melting pot. Different groups putting all of their good ideas together, often to create brand new ideas. I know we started off talking about divisions in our entertainment culture, but those are just an example of the divisions in our culture, divisions that cut much deeper than TV shows and music. Some of these divisions come from the aforementioned target marketing, with a lot of money and research going into exactly what words and images attract people with different tastes. Some of them come from certain groups looking to keep the culture at least divided and distracted, if not conquered.
We can't have a melting pot without a variety of ingredients. But we also can't have a melting pot without those ingredients being willing to come together sometimes. No, simply trying a new radio station or a different news station or listening to a different preacher isn't going to create a great social conglomeration, but it is a step in the right direction.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Is it Bread and Juice or Flesh and Blood?
We had a very interesting happening at church this weekend. During communion, the pastor said that he had received a word, that someone in the pews hadn't taken the elements. When the pastor asked that they come forward, not to be embarrassed or forced, but to be reminded that communion is about accepting the sacrifice Jesus made for us while we were still sinners, one person did come forward. Then the pastor moved to asking if anyone took the elements out of habit or to not stick out, and that call got several more people to come forward. It was a powerful moment, one that doesn't translate well into the written word, and it set my mind a working.
We get in habits, not just in the outside world, but in church and our spiritual lives as well. Those habits can be good habits, like prayer, devotional readings, communion, fellowship meetings, fill in your own blanks here. But sometimes they become just that, habits. We do them reflexively, automatically, without the focus and intentionality they need and deserve. Communion is an easy one for this to happen to, because it's usually done about once a month, depending on the church, and it's done in a group, so groupthink and peer pressure come into play. If we put just a couple of moments of thought into the act of communion, the fact that it is one of the very few traditions Jesus established Himself, the symbolism He attached to the bread and the wine, it quickly becomes difficult to glibly just take the little piece of bread out of the plate and the little cup of grape juice and down them for appearances.
But we still do it. Whether it's blindly eating and drinking crackers and grape juice, not thinking about the cross we put around our neck everyday, even doing "good works" out of responsibility, not love, we fall into the trap of habit, or worse, religion. Jesus, Paul, and Peter all spoke against religion. They used the empty rituals and actions of the Pharisees and Sadducees as specific examples of what happens when faith and love of God become empty action and schedule. When we read the Old Testament, we hear about the rituals being performed with hearts open to God, and they were accepted by God as proper worship. But by the New Testament, we have the focus off God and on to the actions. Forgetting the verses put in those phylacteries that were made wide to show off how holy the wearer was. (Matt. 23:5, the verses were Exodus 13:1-10, 11-16, and Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21, if you're interested)
One of the things I picked up from the positive mental attitude teachings of W. Clement Stone and Napoleon Hill was that it takes being intentional to make ourselves better. This applies to our walk with Jesus as well. The way to avoid the problems of empty religion is to be intentional in keeping our walk a relationship, one where communications flow both ways, one where we are looking to build up and expand the relationship at all times. One where we admit when (not if) we fall, take the hand back up, brush ourselves off, ask forgiveness, and keep walking. When we can maintain that intentional walk, it's never just bread and juice, it really is that body broken and blood poured out for us.
We get in habits, not just in the outside world, but in church and our spiritual lives as well. Those habits can be good habits, like prayer, devotional readings, communion, fellowship meetings, fill in your own blanks here. But sometimes they become just that, habits. We do them reflexively, automatically, without the focus and intentionality they need and deserve. Communion is an easy one for this to happen to, because it's usually done about once a month, depending on the church, and it's done in a group, so groupthink and peer pressure come into play. If we put just a couple of moments of thought into the act of communion, the fact that it is one of the very few traditions Jesus established Himself, the symbolism He attached to the bread and the wine, it quickly becomes difficult to glibly just take the little piece of bread out of the plate and the little cup of grape juice and down them for appearances.
But we still do it. Whether it's blindly eating and drinking crackers and grape juice, not thinking about the cross we put around our neck everyday, even doing "good works" out of responsibility, not love, we fall into the trap of habit, or worse, religion. Jesus, Paul, and Peter all spoke against religion. They used the empty rituals and actions of the Pharisees and Sadducees as specific examples of what happens when faith and love of God become empty action and schedule. When we read the Old Testament, we hear about the rituals being performed with hearts open to God, and they were accepted by God as proper worship. But by the New Testament, we have the focus off God and on to the actions. Forgetting the verses put in those phylacteries that were made wide to show off how holy the wearer was. (Matt. 23:5, the verses were Exodus 13:1-10, 11-16, and Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21, if you're interested)
One of the things I picked up from the positive mental attitude teachings of W. Clement Stone and Napoleon Hill was that it takes being intentional to make ourselves better. This applies to our walk with Jesus as well. The way to avoid the problems of empty religion is to be intentional in keeping our walk a relationship, one where communications flow both ways, one where we are looking to build up and expand the relationship at all times. One where we admit when (not if) we fall, take the hand back up, brush ourselves off, ask forgiveness, and keep walking. When we can maintain that intentional walk, it's never just bread and juice, it really is that body broken and blood poured out for us.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
A sad trend
An article in the local paper this weekend reminded me of an issue I've noticed seems to becoming more and more common. Here is the article about another infant allegedly killed by a significant other. Not by a parent, but by the parent's boyfriend (in this case, I've seen a couple where it was a girlfriend who was the perpetrator) It's a very sad byproduct of the growing trend of single parenthood, easy come, easy go relationships, and a general tearing down of the ideal of family. The simple fact of the matter is that children, especially infants, can be very frustrating. They can't communicate very specifically, every day is a new experience that can be both good and bad, and they have difficulty understanding what's going on around them. The end result can be extended periods of fussing and crying and screaming when a baby want something or is hurting or uncomfortable or in any of a dozen other states.
Now, for a biological parent, or a non-biological significant other who is seriously committed to their partner and the baby, the frustration can be overcome. Not always easily, and sometimes even natural parents and committed significant others can slip up, but when there is that real, intentional bond between adult and child, the likelihood of losing one's temper to that degree drops significantly. But when there is no commitment beyond one person having a roof over their head, when there isn't any real intention of maintaining a parental relationship with the child, when the child is just an inconvenience that comes with this month's source of whatever is being looked for in a relationship, there isn't always that trigger to hold back.
Obviously, it is very possible for a person who isn't a biological parent to step up to the role, that is not the point of this rant. The point is the difference between those who successfully rise to the challenge and people like this guy and the others who keep popping up in similar stories. That difference is primarily a respect, a belief in committed relationships, usually with an outward symbol of that commitment like a wedding ring. But, as we keep being reminded, the value of marriage keeps going down. More and more people are shacking up for various amounts of time, both short term and long term, the divorce rate among those who do get married remains a 50/50 shot at staying together, even in the Church, babies becoming accessories instead of responsibilities, all of these things are leading to more and more of these cases. We could throw in abortion on demand as a factor as well, but that will get things on a completely different track, so we'll leave that one off for now.
These cases used to be very rare, but as the foundational attitudes that I just mentioned get changed and undermined, they've gotten more common. As these foundations keep eroding, it's going to get worse. Both Christians and conservatives talk about how American society keeps going downhill, but we still haven't bottomed out yet. I talked awhile back about how our current levels of depravity don't touch those reached by ancient empires like Rome. We have to get people to take off their blinders and see the ripple effects of these things. It's bad enough that this infant and the others (this blog from 2008 comes up with 5, it's not hard to find more and more recent ones), think about the wave effect if these foundational trends continue.
Now, for a biological parent, or a non-biological significant other who is seriously committed to their partner and the baby, the frustration can be overcome. Not always easily, and sometimes even natural parents and committed significant others can slip up, but when there is that real, intentional bond between adult and child, the likelihood of losing one's temper to that degree drops significantly. But when there is no commitment beyond one person having a roof over their head, when there isn't any real intention of maintaining a parental relationship with the child, when the child is just an inconvenience that comes with this month's source of whatever is being looked for in a relationship, there isn't always that trigger to hold back.
Obviously, it is very possible for a person who isn't a biological parent to step up to the role, that is not the point of this rant. The point is the difference between those who successfully rise to the challenge and people like this guy and the others who keep popping up in similar stories. That difference is primarily a respect, a belief in committed relationships, usually with an outward symbol of that commitment like a wedding ring. But, as we keep being reminded, the value of marriage keeps going down. More and more people are shacking up for various amounts of time, both short term and long term, the divorce rate among those who do get married remains a 50/50 shot at staying together, even in the Church, babies becoming accessories instead of responsibilities, all of these things are leading to more and more of these cases. We could throw in abortion on demand as a factor as well, but that will get things on a completely different track, so we'll leave that one off for now.
These cases used to be very rare, but as the foundational attitudes that I just mentioned get changed and undermined, they've gotten more common. As these foundations keep eroding, it's going to get worse. Both Christians and conservatives talk about how American society keeps going downhill, but we still haven't bottomed out yet. I talked awhile back about how our current levels of depravity don't touch those reached by ancient empires like Rome. We have to get people to take off their blinders and see the ripple effects of these things. It's bad enough that this infant and the others (this blog from 2008 comes up with 5, it's not hard to find more and more recent ones), think about the wave effect if these foundational trends continue.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Ya Win Some, Ya Lose Some...
Ok, I'm kind of glad that I didn't get anything written yesterday, because as I perused the email and news today, I came across this story. 108-3 GirlsBasketball Game Raises Questions. People are complaining about such a wide margin of victory being unsportsmanlike and ugly. That the winning team should have done something besides continue to score. That something must be done so that when these two teams meet again (which they will as part of their schedule) such a blowout doesn't happen again. I agree with that last one, something should be done. The team who lost should be taking that score to each and every practice between now and that rematch and busting their butts to make sure they are not obliterated like that again. There is at least one line coming out of the article that the school that lost is a school for underprivileged kids, and this blow to their self-esteem could be very damaging. The coach and the school and the team should be using this teachable moment to create an opportunity to teach how to raise self-esteem by getting up when you're knocked down, learn from the past, and better one's self in the future. Part of sportsmanship is learning how to lose, is it not, even learning how to lose big?
Somewhere along the road scattered with participant ribbons and unused score sheets, we have gotten the idea that kids shouldn't be subjected to being better or worse than each other. What is missed in that mindset are the great lessons that should be learned by coming in last or ending the game with a 0 on the scoreboard. Lessons like how to improve one's own game. Lessons like maybe your talents don't match the game or position you're in. Lessons like looking for what you did right and need to continue doing, and what you did wrong and need to fix. Lessons that extend far off any ball field and far past any grade. Instead, the lesson trying to be taught mostly by the writers and commentators on this particular story, since both schools say they have moved on from the subject already, is that it is better to just cut things off before the score gets that high, or for the team in front to pull back and not try so hard in the interest of not embarrassing their opponent. The only thing anyone learns from that lesson is to depend on others around them to account for their own slack, which anyone living in the real world knows is not how anything works.
Do we need to drop kids directly into situations and expect adult reactions from them? Of course not. But we also can't shelter them from losses, coming in last, or getting blown out the entirety of their childhood and magically know how to handle it as adults either.
Somewhere along the road scattered with participant ribbons and unused score sheets, we have gotten the idea that kids shouldn't be subjected to being better or worse than each other. What is missed in that mindset are the great lessons that should be learned by coming in last or ending the game with a 0 on the scoreboard. Lessons like how to improve one's own game. Lessons like maybe your talents don't match the game or position you're in. Lessons like looking for what you did right and need to continue doing, and what you did wrong and need to fix. Lessons that extend far off any ball field and far past any grade. Instead, the lesson trying to be taught mostly by the writers and commentators on this particular story, since both schools say they have moved on from the subject already, is that it is better to just cut things off before the score gets that high, or for the team in front to pull back and not try so hard in the interest of not embarrassing their opponent. The only thing anyone learns from that lesson is to depend on others around them to account for their own slack, which anyone living in the real world knows is not how anything works.
Do we need to drop kids directly into situations and expect adult reactions from them? Of course not. But we also can't shelter them from losses, coming in last, or getting blown out the entirety of their childhood and magically know how to handle it as adults either.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Short blip, more tomorrow
It's times like these I wish I was a late night talk show host. Those guys can spit out something totally random, look into the camera with a dumbfounded look, and move on. Unfortunately, while random may work really well on the internet, the dumbfounded look just does not translate well. So, I will get this blip up tonite, and promise to get some more up tomorrow to make up for it, ok? Glad to hear you agree.
Monday, January 17, 2011
My (more timely) reaction to the Tuscon Shooting
Ten days ago, a lone man shot and killed six people and wounded thirteen others, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Nine days and about twenty-three hours later, people were declaring that the attack was directly motivated by the horrific, hateful rhetoric coming from the conservative side of politics. Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and the Tea Party were declared responsible for the attack, as though they themselves had pulled the trigger those multiple times. As actual research, journalism, and investigation happened, it quickly came to light that the accused shooter (I love how even though he was dragged from the scene, legalism still demands he be referred to as accused) had a long history of bizarre behavior, rants against capitalism and public schools, video of him burning an American flag, and a reading list populated with Hitler and Marx. Sounds like a serious right-winger, doesn't it? But, the old saying goes, a lie gets around the world before the truth can get it's shoes on. The right is still on the defensive from the accusations, while pulling out more and more examples of the left's more frequent and more blatant calls for violence and death against their political opponents. Another old saying comes to mind, the best offense being a good defense.
The whole thing has really showed how low people will sink. Calls for gun control, hate speech laws, and more protection for lawmakers have all hit the legislative floors in these ten days since the horrific massacre. Death threats against Sarah Palin shot up. One of the injured was taken for a mental evaluation after shouting "You're dead" at a Tea Party leader. Granted, I think that one was an outburst of stress and grief, and hope that it will lead the gentleman to get some help, but it still is an example of people's reaction to this tragedy.
I personally am disgusted by anyone who used the shooting to further political goals, especially so quickly. The bodies weren't even cold before accusations started flying. It wasn't much longer before those bills in Congress started flying. Look up and see if any of your representatives were those taking advantage of the opportunity, giggling like ghouls at a fat man's funeral at the possibility of getting pet projects passed. Hopefully it upsets you enough to take action. These types of opportunistic politicians are a major problem in our government right now.
Can we use this tragedy to study what drives people to such acts? Absolutely. Might that study and discussion lead to some adjustment of laws and attitudes? Possibly. Does time need to be given to mourn and heal first? Common sense says yes.
Prayers go out to all the victims and their families.
The whole thing has really showed how low people will sink. Calls for gun control, hate speech laws, and more protection for lawmakers have all hit the legislative floors in these ten days since the horrific massacre. Death threats against Sarah Palin shot up. One of the injured was taken for a mental evaluation after shouting "You're dead" at a Tea Party leader. Granted, I think that one was an outburst of stress and grief, and hope that it will lead the gentleman to get some help, but it still is an example of people's reaction to this tragedy.
I personally am disgusted by anyone who used the shooting to further political goals, especially so quickly. The bodies weren't even cold before accusations started flying. It wasn't much longer before those bills in Congress started flying. Look up and see if any of your representatives were those taking advantage of the opportunity, giggling like ghouls at a fat man's funeral at the possibility of getting pet projects passed. Hopefully it upsets you enough to take action. These types of opportunistic politicians are a major problem in our government right now.
Can we use this tragedy to study what drives people to such acts? Absolutely. Might that study and discussion lead to some adjustment of laws and attitudes? Possibly. Does time need to be given to mourn and heal first? Common sense says yes.
Prayers go out to all the victims and their families.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Windows or Linux faith?
Alright, I've been a bad blogger. It's been a few weeks with no update. I've got several good excuses, but I'll save them for a later date. I will share one of the bad excuses though, since it is providing some inspiration. This post is being typed on my latest project, a Debian Linux box. If you don't know, Linux is that other operating system, as opposed to the ever present Windows. It comes in numerous flavors, or distributions, most of which are available for free. In addition to the great price, it will run (acceptibly well) on hardware that runs screaming if you approach it with a Windows XP installation disk. This salvage box has a 300mhz Celeran cpu and 300 some odd meg of ram.
So why does it have a small user base? Because we have gotten used to the point and click automation of Windows. Remember the last time you had to update your Flash player for your favorite Facebook game? It took three or four clicks, correct? I've been trying to get Flash on this thing for several days nows, trying various packeges and finding there seems to be a bit of a hiccup in the process. It is frustrating, but entertaining and educational at the same time.
I find some parallels between this and faith. Much faith in today's society is similar to that auto-pilot, not reallly knowing what's going under the hood, point and click Windows experience. Bible literacy is down in the Church, and poll after poll says that Americans identify themselves as Christian, yet those same polls show attitudes and beliefs on things like morality, origins, absolute truths are not in line with the name. We think it is enough to show up at church on Sunday, know a few verses, and we'll get into Heaven. But much the way that many modern web warriors have never seen the inside of their computer tower or laptop, much of the current Body has a limited knowledge of how the faith they profess works, because they haven't bothered to pop the hood.
This silly Linux thing doesn't do very much unless I tell it exactly what to do. In order to tell it what to do, I have to know all the right commands, file paths, and programs. Christianity doesn't work (provide the peace that passes understanding, lead us on the path God intends for us, get us to Heaven) unless we really understand the right directions (that we are to follow) and attitudes (humility, serventhood). For Linux, there are stacks and stacks of documentation, included with the system, written up, and in groups of fellow users. For Christianity, there is our main user manual, the Bible, lots of other documentation of varying accuracy and usabiltiy, and fellowship with other believers to help us with our questions, our hard times and our good times. Neither one is easy, for both there is no auto-pilot, but it's a much better trip when you have a better idea exactly what is going on.
So why does it have a small user base? Because we have gotten used to the point and click automation of Windows. Remember the last time you had to update your Flash player for your favorite Facebook game? It took three or four clicks, correct? I've been trying to get Flash on this thing for several days nows, trying various packeges and finding there seems to be a bit of a hiccup in the process. It is frustrating, but entertaining and educational at the same time.
I find some parallels between this and faith. Much faith in today's society is similar to that auto-pilot, not reallly knowing what's going under the hood, point and click Windows experience. Bible literacy is down in the Church, and poll after poll says that Americans identify themselves as Christian, yet those same polls show attitudes and beliefs on things like morality, origins, absolute truths are not in line with the name. We think it is enough to show up at church on Sunday, know a few verses, and we'll get into Heaven. But much the way that many modern web warriors have never seen the inside of their computer tower or laptop, much of the current Body has a limited knowledge of how the faith they profess works, because they haven't bothered to pop the hood.
This silly Linux thing doesn't do very much unless I tell it exactly what to do. In order to tell it what to do, I have to know all the right commands, file paths, and programs. Christianity doesn't work (provide the peace that passes understanding, lead us on the path God intends for us, get us to Heaven) unless we really understand the right directions (that we are to follow) and attitudes (humility, serventhood). For Linux, there are stacks and stacks of documentation, included with the system, written up, and in groups of fellow users. For Christianity, there is our main user manual, the Bible, lots of other documentation of varying accuracy and usabiltiy, and fellowship with other believers to help us with our questions, our hard times and our good times. Neither one is easy, for both there is no auto-pilot, but it's a much better trip when you have a better idea exactly what is going on.
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