I'm assuming that you have heard about what is going on at Penn State; where a child sex abuse scandal has rocked the University. A major reason why this has blown up is that Penn State's legendary coach, Joe Paterno, has been caught up in the middle of it. Paterno, who has been coaching in some fashion at Penn State since 1951 and head Coach since 1966, was told about an assistant coach sexually abusing a child, and instead of reporting it to police, he washed his hands of it by telling his superior about the incident. In a story that is very hazy, this fact is very clear: Joe Paterno did not want anything to do with this monstrocity of a problem, and he was able to clear his conscience by sending it up the flagpole. This was a fatal flaw in his handling of the issue; finally coming back to not just bite but destroy him. He has now been fired and his 5-Star reputation has been tarnished, if not ruined, in front of millions of admirers.
What it boils down to is that Joe Paterno fulfilled every legal obligation in this case; however he failed at all other moral obligations. And in a child sex abuse case, no one makes it out alive. He will be judged based upon his moral obligation failure and will not have anything to lean back on. His reputation means nothing now, all of the young men he helped are suddenly outweighed by the few boys he chose not to help. And thats the issue. He chose to not help. He chose to wash his hands of it.
In Matthew 27:11-26, Jesus is being questioned by the Roman governer of Israel, Pontius Pilate. Pilate presides over the case, to the point of disbelief as Jesus does not defend himself against the jealous accusations brought by the Jews in charge. Finally, after Pilate is frustrated by the stubborness of the Jews, he goes in front of the mob and asks this key question:
"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?"
After again realizing he will not be able to reason with the Jews, he commits the fatal flaw that many people have made and will make: He washes his hands of Jesus and proclaims himself as innocent.
Unfortunately for Pilate and all of the others who have washed their hands of Jesus, Jesus does not allow you to do that. You have to make a decision with what you will do with Jesus who is called the Christ. CS Lewis once put the Jesus decision as broken into 3 thought processes: To the person, Jesus is either a Liar, a Lunatic, or Lord. He can't be put off of your mind that easy; he makes you make a decision.
Joe Paterno's fault was not making a decision beyond what he could do to wash his hands of things. Ultimately, he didn't do enough. What to do with Jesus who is called Christ is a decision we have to make. If we wash our hands of it; then we have made our decision.
No man is infallible, as we certainly learned with Joe Paterno. We are all witnesses to what we have seen, and we are held accountable to that which we have witnessed, and what decisions we made. When you see Jesus for who he really is, you either believe it or you don't. You can't wash your hands of this.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
First off, a little programming note: I have resurrected my blog, in case you hadn't noticed (which you obviously have, since you are currently reading this). I have done this for a couple of reasons, of which I will start to explain next week, so stay tuned! I am pretty excited about what I am envisioning for this blog, and I really hope I can keep up with it in the way I intend to keep up with it.
A second programming note: I intended to post this last night (tuesday, see title) but the internet decided to delete half of what I had written. Apologies.
Right now though, I am going for a "soft" resurrection. Like I said, I will explain the new structure next week, but I thought I would start with a few new posts before we get there. This current post is also time sensitive, so I needed to get it out before it became irrelevant. So here goes:
"Trending Topic Tuesday"
If you are in any way in tune with sports or ESPN, you will have been bombarded with College Football news about the progressive realignment of major universities in major conferences. Texas A&M has been perhaps the most notable in this process, and as a former student, it has obviously peaked my interest. To catch you up to speed here is a primer:
- The Big 12 (conference under which Texas A&M is affiliated with) operates under a premise of unequal revenue sharing among the teams within the conference. What this means is that if you bring in the the most meat from your hunt, you get to eat the most meat at the tribe barbeque. If you don't bring in the meat, you get to still eat some, but not enough. The hunter assumes that the non-hunters are ok with this setup because they still get to eat off of the big kill, and the hunters are obviously ok with it because they get to eat until they are full. But the flaw is that at some point the small hunters of the tribe will want more and believe that they deserve more (natural to the human nature to want more).
- The Big 12 conference is in agreements with 2 tv networks to carry their games (fox and ESPN), and these contracts would be breached if these TV networks deemed that due to realignment, the return on investment has decreased. This would almost certainly be the case if the Big 12 were to lose A&M. Say all you want about the failures by A&M to field a winner in Football for the past 16 years in the Big 12; but if you know anything about Aggie fans, the next year is always going to be the "big" one for the Ags, so no matter how awful things seem, televised games will still be watched. A&M has one of the most loyal fan bases, which equals TV tune-ins, which equals dollars, which equals value to ESPN and Fox. Without A&M, their contract with the Big 12 is breached. Long story short, if A&M leaves, the Big 12 is screwed.
- With the Big 12 being screwed, the naturally progression would be for schools that have the opportunity to recoup lost TV revenues to do so by joining the highest paying, enticing, conference; with the hopes that the conference wants them. That being said, not all of the Big 12's members will be recruited; meaning that the bottom rung of schools "left out" will be taking the inherent screwed nature of the Big 12 onto their shoulders. Not a burden you want to bear. If you are anyway theologically inclined, this would be the opposite of what Martin Luther called the "Great Exchange" (1 Cor 5:21).
And the grand word of the day is: Relegation. If you have noticed, it seems that while America obsesses over a plethora of sports, the rest of the world seems to be engrossed in a sport called Soccer. Within this soccer mania, there is a league that hosts the biggest and best teams that the soccer world has to offer, not to mention the money: The English premiere league.
Central to this league is this idea of Relegation. What it entails is constant accountability. The process is simple, win or go home. In the EPL, there are multiple tiers of teams; with the 1st tier being the big show (think BCS Conferences, MLB teams, etc.), and the tiers below representing the "minor leagues". Tier 1 is where the ultimate champion is crowned. But here is where the fun part happens. The teams competing in Tier 1 are not guaranteed to compete there next year. Relegation takes the bottom 3 teams from each Tier, and bumps them down to the tier below as punishment and a way of leveling the playing field. Also, to make room for those 3 teams, they bump up the 3 best teams of the tier below to the tier above. Thus every team involved in the EPL has a chance to win the championship, although it might take a little bit longer for the smaller teams than the established major powers.
So here is where I think the NCAA conference realignment shuffle can gain from relegation. Take the Big 12. They would be the de facto top tier in the southwest region. We can fill in the other tiers with othe conferences in the southwest region who might not have immediate qualification into BCS bowls for their champions. For instance, in 2010, TCU went undefeated in the Mountain West Conference, which happens to be a non-automatic qualifier for BCS bowls. Because of this, they were not picked to be in consideration for the BCS national championship game; although they did get an invite to a BCS bowl as an "at-large bid". So if we take a couple of other regional smaller conferences, we can set up a few tiers under the Big 12. Lets take the MWC, WAC, and Sun-Belt conferences. All 3 would align under the Big 12 as a new entity, and then they would go attract TV contracts that would broadcast games from all 4 tiers, not just the Big 12 (although the Big 12 would get the most broadcasts and therefore revenue). The money would be split up equally within each tier, but unequally between the tiers (as it should be, the top tier gets the most money). This gives the top tier teams something to fight for, if their record isn't enough of motivation. For the team that consistently finishes last in the Big 12 (lazy tribesman who benefits from the hunter), they now have to fight for their food or else they have less to eat next year. What this creates is hunger all around. And more importantly, this creates compelling TV. Why would ESPN want to air a Tier 3 battle of best teams within the WAC? Because they are fighting for Tier 2 status, recruiting, broadcasts, reputation, and most importantly, money! Likewise with the desire to broadcast the battle between worst team #4 and worst team #3 in the Big 12; the loser does the walk of shame, do not pass go, give back the $200 we gave you, and lose those recruits that only want to play in the Big 12. talk about compelling TV!
Now I agree that this is a radical way to bolster new TV contracts, but if you can get a major carrier to buy into this system and see the consistently intriguing games, I think it would be worth more. And now, the carrier has openings in 40-50 TV markets and fan bases, instead of the 10-12 they had with just airing Big 12 games.
Just from a fan basis, I would love to see this happen. Good college football doesn't have to involve 2 good teams, but rather 2 equally matched, hungry teams. With the tribe's food shrinking; I think we might be looking at pretty hungry teams.
What do you think? Any suggestions? This would qualify as a rough draft, and many kinks would need to be worked out; but could this work?
-peace.
Brett
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Tragedy: a play in which the protagonist, usually a man of importance and outstanding personal qualities, falls to disaster through the combination of a personal failing and circumstances with which he cannot deal (dictionary.com)
Before you get too involved with this post, let me warn you that it will probably lead to a depressed mood. So go ahead and get your John Mayer playing ("Comfortable" if you really want to be in the mood), and your ice cream in hand. Just kidding, sorta.
To preface this, I want to let you know that I am a sucker for emotional sports stories. Maybe it is my old age, or my love for the game, but I'll tear up at just the hint of an inspirational season, or a dramatic saga; heck I even teared up when I watched a special on the demolition of the old New York Yankee's stadium. And I hate the Yankees. To be honest, most of the emotions come from reminiscing on experiences I had years ago, mostly with my Dad, doing sports stuff. There is just something about a Father playing catch with his son. (See "Field of Dreams")
I hope you have been able to catch most or all of the ESPN 30 for 30 specials they have been airing every so often this past year, they have been some of the most dramatic, heart wrenching, enlightening stories I have seen. And the best thing about them, is that they are all true. Tonight, they aired "The Best that never Was", which documented the rise and fall of Marcus DuPree, who was one of the most highly recruited High School football players ever. Long story short, he was a Man-Child at football. They showed some of his High School footage, and it looked like a grown man was playing against 5 year-olds. Naturally, he was heavily recruited, ultimately deciding to play with the University of Oklahoma, who are perennial championship contenders. He had a stellar freshman year, and going into his Sophomore year, he was the frontrunner to win the Heisman Trophy, which had never been given to a Sophomore. However, it never came to be. Between injuries, conflicts with coaching, and unreasonable expectations, he crumbled. After a game where he suffered a concussion, he got on a plane and flew home, never to return to Oklahoma. None of his family knew where he was, the FBI was involved in trying to find him, he literally ran away and hid. He finally came back to the surface, but when he did, his college playing career was done. Because of his immense talent, he still recieved offers from professional teams: At 20, he signed a 5 year, $5 million contract, only to play about half of a season because of then-career ending knee injury. 6 years later, he amazingly came back to play in the NFL for 15 games, then was cut and never played again.
This is where the definition of Tragedy comes in to play. I believe Tragedy is the most complex, but natural, state of being for humanity. Marcus DuPree possessed the highest skill level anyone had ever seen. Now he drives delivery trucks.
And we are no different.
Tragedy is at the core of every human being. Achilles was the greatest warrior to ever live, and he dies from an arrow in his heel. Mozart was one of the greatest composers ever, but died when he was 35. Hamlet had the kingdom in his hand, but he couldn't grow up. Willy Loman had the American Dream, but couldn't get over his incompetence. The 2010 Dallas Cowboys were supposed to go to the Super Bowl. Billy Gilman hit puberty. (Just kidding, thats not a tragedy).
Tragedy shows up very clearly in the Bible as well. Pick any Old Testament character, and you will find a task that he/she fails to complete. And I think from the Bible, we are able to see firsthand the clearest form of tragedy. Tragedy in its most basic form is where you have a human, designed to do a specific task, granted all the skills needed to complete the task, and end up unable to complete the task. That is tragedy. A God-ordained purpose in life that you can't fulfill. A God-ordained purpose in life that you choose not to fulfill.
And we have no choice in this sad reality. There are only 2 chapters out of 1189 in the Bible where humanity was without tragedy. Not a very good percentage. And those 2 chapters were the first 2 in the Bible. So we really have no chance. Gen 1:31 says "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good". I believe that what he sees as good, is that man has only one God, and that is the Creator of the universe God. By chapter 3 of Genesis, humanity is broken because we take the tragic bait that we make a better god than our creator does. This is the critical breaking point for humanity, where it all goes tragic: When we sell ourselves to ourselves, and we buy it. This is tragedy: That we have the keys to perfection on Earth, and we throw them away because we are more attractive to our broken hearts. We are like Marcus DuPree, all of the talent, knowledge, skill, ability, but we are head over heels in love with the pig slop that we can get by trading in our identity in God. We trade everything to have nothing that looks like something right now. That is tragedy.
This is why Jesus Christ has to be the Tragic Hero. He has to take on the greatest tragedy in the entire universe, so that our tragedy would be outweighed by his fulfillment. Jesus, because of the Father's unending love for us, willingly gives up his Godness in order to become the ultimate tragedy. To give up deity in exchange for human likeness (Phil 2:7 "...but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness") is the ultimate tragedy. And to even further this tragedy by dying in place of a criminal, taking our sins upon himself and seperating himself from his Father, He took all of humanity's tragedy upon himself, and released us from it's burden by conquering the grave. Tragedy's hold on us, while immediately clasped upon us at birth, is wrought free by the strong arm of Christ's death, in order to bring us alongside the author and perfecter of our faith.
Comedy: a dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse circumstance, resulting in a successful or happy conclusion.
Jesus Christ surpasses the Tragic Hero to become the Comedic Hero! By sending his son, God has taken everything, to buy nothing, so that nothing would be worth everything. By sending his son, God has seated us at his table, so that we can enjoy him and be satisfied in him. Therefore, we have found the definition of the meaning of life: To enjoy and be satisfied in God. Tragedy is being aware of this, and choosing fulfillment in all things other than God. Tragedy is determining that there is something else more god-worthy than God. Tragedy is offering a created thing to replace the Creator.
Praise be to God, for sending his Son, that we might have tragedy in all other things outside of knowing Him. Praise be to God, for sending his Son, that we might lose sight of all other things outside of knowing Him. Praise be to God, for sending his Son.
Before you get too involved with this post, let me warn you that it will probably lead to a depressed mood. So go ahead and get your John Mayer playing ("Comfortable" if you really want to be in the mood), and your ice cream in hand. Just kidding, sorta.
To preface this, I want to let you know that I am a sucker for emotional sports stories. Maybe it is my old age, or my love for the game, but I'll tear up at just the hint of an inspirational season, or a dramatic saga; heck I even teared up when I watched a special on the demolition of the old New York Yankee's stadium. And I hate the Yankees. To be honest, most of the emotions come from reminiscing on experiences I had years ago, mostly with my Dad, doing sports stuff. There is just something about a Father playing catch with his son. (See "Field of Dreams")
I hope you have been able to catch most or all of the ESPN 30 for 30 specials they have been airing every so often this past year, they have been some of the most dramatic, heart wrenching, enlightening stories I have seen. And the best thing about them, is that they are all true. Tonight, they aired "The Best that never Was", which documented the rise and fall of Marcus DuPree, who was one of the most highly recruited High School football players ever. Long story short, he was a Man-Child at football. They showed some of his High School footage, and it looked like a grown man was playing against 5 year-olds. Naturally, he was heavily recruited, ultimately deciding to play with the University of Oklahoma, who are perennial championship contenders. He had a stellar freshman year, and going into his Sophomore year, he was the frontrunner to win the Heisman Trophy, which had never been given to a Sophomore. However, it never came to be. Between injuries, conflicts with coaching, and unreasonable expectations, he crumbled. After a game where he suffered a concussion, he got on a plane and flew home, never to return to Oklahoma. None of his family knew where he was, the FBI was involved in trying to find him, he literally ran away and hid. He finally came back to the surface, but when he did, his college playing career was done. Because of his immense talent, he still recieved offers from professional teams: At 20, he signed a 5 year, $5 million contract, only to play about half of a season because of then-career ending knee injury. 6 years later, he amazingly came back to play in the NFL for 15 games, then was cut and never played again.
This is where the definition of Tragedy comes in to play. I believe Tragedy is the most complex, but natural, state of being for humanity. Marcus DuPree possessed the highest skill level anyone had ever seen. Now he drives delivery trucks.
And we are no different.
Tragedy is at the core of every human being. Achilles was the greatest warrior to ever live, and he dies from an arrow in his heel. Mozart was one of the greatest composers ever, but died when he was 35. Hamlet had the kingdom in his hand, but he couldn't grow up. Willy Loman had the American Dream, but couldn't get over his incompetence. The 2010 Dallas Cowboys were supposed to go to the Super Bowl. Billy Gilman hit puberty. (Just kidding, thats not a tragedy).
Tragedy shows up very clearly in the Bible as well. Pick any Old Testament character, and you will find a task that he/she fails to complete. And I think from the Bible, we are able to see firsthand the clearest form of tragedy. Tragedy in its most basic form is where you have a human, designed to do a specific task, granted all the skills needed to complete the task, and end up unable to complete the task. That is tragedy. A God-ordained purpose in life that you can't fulfill. A God-ordained purpose in life that you choose not to fulfill.
And we have no choice in this sad reality. There are only 2 chapters out of 1189 in the Bible where humanity was without tragedy. Not a very good percentage. And those 2 chapters were the first 2 in the Bible. So we really have no chance. Gen 1:31 says "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good". I believe that what he sees as good, is that man has only one God, and that is the Creator of the universe God. By chapter 3 of Genesis, humanity is broken because we take the tragic bait that we make a better god than our creator does. This is the critical breaking point for humanity, where it all goes tragic: When we sell ourselves to ourselves, and we buy it. This is tragedy: That we have the keys to perfection on Earth, and we throw them away because we are more attractive to our broken hearts. We are like Marcus DuPree, all of the talent, knowledge, skill, ability, but we are head over heels in love with the pig slop that we can get by trading in our identity in God. We trade everything to have nothing that looks like something right now. That is tragedy.
This is why Jesus Christ has to be the Tragic Hero. He has to take on the greatest tragedy in the entire universe, so that our tragedy would be outweighed by his fulfillment. Jesus, because of the Father's unending love for us, willingly gives up his Godness in order to become the ultimate tragedy. To give up deity in exchange for human likeness (Phil 2:7 "...but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness") is the ultimate tragedy. And to even further this tragedy by dying in place of a criminal, taking our sins upon himself and seperating himself from his Father, He took all of humanity's tragedy upon himself, and released us from it's burden by conquering the grave. Tragedy's hold on us, while immediately clasped upon us at birth, is wrought free by the strong arm of Christ's death, in order to bring us alongside the author and perfecter of our faith.
Comedy: a dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse circumstance, resulting in a successful or happy conclusion.
Jesus Christ surpasses the Tragic Hero to become the Comedic Hero! By sending his son, God has taken everything, to buy nothing, so that nothing would be worth everything. By sending his son, God has seated us at his table, so that we can enjoy him and be satisfied in him. Therefore, we have found the definition of the meaning of life: To enjoy and be satisfied in God. Tragedy is being aware of this, and choosing fulfillment in all things other than God. Tragedy is determining that there is something else more god-worthy than God. Tragedy is offering a created thing to replace the Creator.
Praise be to God, for sending his Son, that we might have tragedy in all other things outside of knowing Him. Praise be to God, for sending his Son, that we might lose sight of all other things outside of knowing Him. Praise be to God, for sending his Son.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
And Here. We. Go.
Wow, 2 blogs in 3 days, I must have some free time on my hands.
Anyways, I want to talk about possibly the greatest movie of the 2000's: The Dark Knight. When you combine Batman, my boyhood hero, with an unstable Heath Ledger, and the greatness of Christopher Nolan (see: Inception), you are going to have a great movie. But this one was awesome (And who can leave out Hans Zimmer, the greatest movie music guy... I don't know what you call those people). But I watched the movie again today, and still loved it, and I was able to catch a few things that delve a little deeper into the movie, or rather the commentary the movie was trying to make about humanity. Spoiler alert: If you haven't seen The Dark Knight, shame on you. Turn your computer off and go watch it right now.
There were 3 quotes/scenes in the movie that were very thought provoking, honest, and deep; I have these quotes listed, as well as my commentary, about what I think is going on/what lessons we can learn from a secular script.
1. "They are only as good as the world allows them to be"
I believe the Joker said this one, apologies if I'm wrong, towards Batman during his interrogation at the police station. What he was explaining to Batman, is that people will be as evil, corrupted, and unjust as they can be, within legal bounds. The only thing pushing mankind towards some sort of morality is law, or rather the fear of justice aka punishment. You could reword this quote to say 'They are only as bad as they can get away with'.
I believe this is a very profound statement, and it really leads me to question my motives in doing things. Paul writes in Romans 14:23 "And everything that does not come from Faith is sin." What Paul is trying to say is that you don't do things just because there is no sin involved, but rather when you do things by faith, there is no sin involved. I can fast for 7 days, but if it doesn't come from a faith in Jesus, and a desire to glorify Him by loosing the things of this world, then it is sin. It is just me, showing self reliance, trying to win God's favor. When you are using God in order to gain something for yourself, then you are committing idolatry. You are putting yourself as the ultimate determinate of satisfaction. And you will be hungry. It also goes the other way: For instance, me drinking a beer, seen as a sin by some of the Christian faith, is not necessarily a sin if my motives are to glorify Christ through my faith in Him. Maybe I want to delight in God's creation of Hops, and the presence of community glorifying God while watching baseball. When we live our whole lives through a lens of being satisfied with God, it produces faith based actions. Unfortunately, some Christians believe there are certain things that you can satisfy God while doing, and certain things you cannot satisfy God while doing. (See Praise Songs vs Hymns, Beer vs Anti-Alcohol, etc.) When you start deciding what God is glorified in, and what he is not glorified in, you are telling God that "I know whats best for you". A side effect is that all the things that you do will inherently glorify God, but the things you don't approve of, will suddenly not glorify God. To sum it up, when Sinners hijack Salvation, bad things happen. (See Catholic Church selling Indulgences during Middle Ages)
2. "Nobody panics as long as everything goes according to the plan, even if the plan is horrifying"
This was also the Joker, talking about his goal of "seeing the world burn, for the sake of it burning" (Alfred's quote).
It really is frightening some times to think about the many things we bring upon ourselves because it is all a part of the plan.
I'm actually going to skip this one, for now, because I have something brewing in my head for my next blog. So this was just something to think about in passing. To wet your appetite, here is a quote I was thinking about going off of for the next post:
"Everything happens for a reason/It's no reason not to ask myself/ If I am living it Right?" -John Mayer, "Georgia"
So sorry...
3. "The only morality in a cruel world is chance, unbiased chance"
Harvey Dent said this, to Commish Gordon and his family, while holding a gun to his son. What I believe Christopher Nolan is trying to tell people is that in a cruel world, which is our world, there is no universal morality. If I could take the liberty to think in his brain, he says that for some, morality would lead to a certain choice, while for others, morality would lead to the opposite of that choice. Americans were against the Nazi concentration camps and morality lead us to fight and liberate; Nazi Germans were for the Final Solution Hitler proposed (Or at least they were deceived by Hitler), and morality led them to defend their country and leader. So which morality is right? Hard question. Nolan obviously went with the fact that there is no morality in a broken world.
However, as Christians, we have come to believe that God has given us a moral law that is designed in our human nature (See C.S. Lewis, "Mere Christianity" opening chapters). Therefore, if there is a designed law in all humans, there must be something that is outside human nature that gives us this moral law, or else we would have the problem in the above paragraph. As Christians, we believe that this law came through Jesus Christ, to be fulfilled by him, and to reconcile us back to the "judge" at the end of our lives. Thankfully, this second option for morality gives life greater meaning. I don't really like to run around with a coin, flipping it every time I make a tough decision. Thanks to the Holy Spirit who guides those who have submitted to Christ's authority, who has put the law on our hearts and given us the opportunity to follow it by Grace.
And I'll end it with that. Hope I have been an encouragement.
Brett
Anyways, I want to talk about possibly the greatest movie of the 2000's: The Dark Knight. When you combine Batman, my boyhood hero, with an unstable Heath Ledger, and the greatness of Christopher Nolan (see: Inception), you are going to have a great movie. But this one was awesome (And who can leave out Hans Zimmer, the greatest movie music guy... I don't know what you call those people). But I watched the movie again today, and still loved it, and I was able to catch a few things that delve a little deeper into the movie, or rather the commentary the movie was trying to make about humanity. Spoiler alert: If you haven't seen The Dark Knight, shame on you. Turn your computer off and go watch it right now.
There were 3 quotes/scenes in the movie that were very thought provoking, honest, and deep; I have these quotes listed, as well as my commentary, about what I think is going on/what lessons we can learn from a secular script.
1. "They are only as good as the world allows them to be"
I believe the Joker said this one, apologies if I'm wrong, towards Batman during his interrogation at the police station. What he was explaining to Batman, is that people will be as evil, corrupted, and unjust as they can be, within legal bounds. The only thing pushing mankind towards some sort of morality is law, or rather the fear of justice aka punishment. You could reword this quote to say 'They are only as bad as they can get away with'.
I believe this is a very profound statement, and it really leads me to question my motives in doing things. Paul writes in Romans 14:23 "And everything that does not come from Faith is sin." What Paul is trying to say is that you don't do things just because there is no sin involved, but rather when you do things by faith, there is no sin involved. I can fast for 7 days, but if it doesn't come from a faith in Jesus, and a desire to glorify Him by loosing the things of this world, then it is sin. It is just me, showing self reliance, trying to win God's favor. When you are using God in order to gain something for yourself, then you are committing idolatry. You are putting yourself as the ultimate determinate of satisfaction. And you will be hungry. It also goes the other way: For instance, me drinking a beer, seen as a sin by some of the Christian faith, is not necessarily a sin if my motives are to glorify Christ through my faith in Him. Maybe I want to delight in God's creation of Hops, and the presence of community glorifying God while watching baseball. When we live our whole lives through a lens of being satisfied with God, it produces faith based actions. Unfortunately, some Christians believe there are certain things that you can satisfy God while doing, and certain things you cannot satisfy God while doing. (See Praise Songs vs Hymns, Beer vs Anti-Alcohol, etc.) When you start deciding what God is glorified in, and what he is not glorified in, you are telling God that "I know whats best for you". A side effect is that all the things that you do will inherently glorify God, but the things you don't approve of, will suddenly not glorify God. To sum it up, when Sinners hijack Salvation, bad things happen. (See Catholic Church selling Indulgences during Middle Ages)
2. "Nobody panics as long as everything goes according to the plan, even if the plan is horrifying"
This was also the Joker, talking about his goal of "seeing the world burn, for the sake of it burning" (Alfred's quote).
It really is frightening some times to think about the many things we bring upon ourselves because it is all a part of the plan.
I'm actually going to skip this one, for now, because I have something brewing in my head for my next blog. So this was just something to think about in passing. To wet your appetite, here is a quote I was thinking about going off of for the next post:
"Everything happens for a reason/It's no reason not to ask myself/ If I am living it Right?" -John Mayer, "Georgia"
So sorry...
3. "The only morality in a cruel world is chance, unbiased chance"
Harvey Dent said this, to Commish Gordon and his family, while holding a gun to his son. What I believe Christopher Nolan is trying to tell people is that in a cruel world, which is our world, there is no universal morality. If I could take the liberty to think in his brain, he says that for some, morality would lead to a certain choice, while for others, morality would lead to the opposite of that choice. Americans were against the Nazi concentration camps and morality lead us to fight and liberate; Nazi Germans were for the Final Solution Hitler proposed (Or at least they were deceived by Hitler), and morality led them to defend their country and leader. So which morality is right? Hard question. Nolan obviously went with the fact that there is no morality in a broken world.
However, as Christians, we have come to believe that God has given us a moral law that is designed in our human nature (See C.S. Lewis, "Mere Christianity" opening chapters). Therefore, if there is a designed law in all humans, there must be something that is outside human nature that gives us this moral law, or else we would have the problem in the above paragraph. As Christians, we believe that this law came through Jesus Christ, to be fulfilled by him, and to reconcile us back to the "judge" at the end of our lives. Thankfully, this second option for morality gives life greater meaning. I don't really like to run around with a coin, flipping it every time I make a tough decision. Thanks to the Holy Spirit who guides those who have submitted to Christ's authority, who has put the law on our hearts and given us the opportunity to follow it by Grace.
And I'll end it with that. Hope I have been an encouragement.
Brett
Sunday, August 29, 2010
All Great Men wear Bed Sheets
I have always thought Gandhi was a pretty weird guy. I mean, smart guy. Either one. But I mean, if you can be labeled one of the most influential people of all time, while wearing a bed sheet, you must have something going for you.
If you don't know too much about Gandhi, his biggest achievements came as a leader of the Indian revolution, using "civil disobedience" to bring Indian government to a more progressive stance for the lower class and throw off outdated British government. His radical thinking has led to many huge shifts toward social justice, including the push for civil rights in America in the 1960's. In fact, Martin Luther King, Jr lists Gandhi as one of his biggest and most important influences.
However, you most likely know Gandhi from his 2 most famous quotes:
"Be the change you wish to see in the world", and "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
In fact, I believe the first quote has been marketed on the shoe brand "Toms". You know you have made it big when your quotes are on shoes.
Unfortunately for Gandhi, I believe he is wrong. Yep, I said it. Gasp. Ok, let me explain, then you be the judge.
As for the first quote ("Be the change..."), I have nothing wrong with the encouragement it gives others to make someone's life better, in fact, that is great. Let me repeat: This quote is such an inspiration, but it is misleading. Let me get right into it. Wherever you look, you see a broken world, you don't even have to look far or have a particular worldview to determine this. Christians and Non-Christians both agree that this world is broken, we just have different solutions to "fix" it. The Non-Christian believes that something other than Jesus Christ can fix humanity. The Christian says nothing else but Jesus Christ can fix humanity. I am being a little broad, as the atheist would most likely say that humanity doesn't need to be fixed, or it can't be fixed by anything, but that is the general point. The reason Christianity makes more sense here, is that if humanity is inherently broken, since the beginning of humanity, then there is nothing in humanity that is capable of fixing it. If the problem is inherently in the world, then the solution must come from somewhere outside the world. That is why it is crucial to Christians that Jesus Christ is God incarnate man. He can't be just a moral person and teacher, he has to be the God-man. Therefore, going back to Mr. Gandhi's quote, there is no infinite change that can be produced by man in humanity. I would say, rather, to LIVE the change you wish to see in the world; you will never be the change. On a side note that might get me into trouble, I would like to point this out to the Christian agenda in America. America will never be a Christian nation, or else it is no longer America. While we need to try to push for as many God-inspired laws as we can (Since we believe that God's law is for the betterment of humanity and Christ came to fulfill the Law with Grace and Truth), we will never be able to save America. Christianity is not to be pushed as a state religion; it is a Theocracy, and we all have an inheritance in it, but we will never be able to "litigate the Hell" out of America.
As far as the 2nd quote goes ("I like your Christ..."), I don't want to go into too much depth, because I actually do appreciate this one as well. I think it is a great warning to Christians, but I think it is a bad rally cry for the Non-Christian. To get to the point, you cannot like Christ and hate his followers. The bible doesn't let you do that, Christ himself won't let you do that. When you choose Christ, you get his followers too as your brothers and sisters. The Christian life was not meant to be lived apart from the community of believers, even Christ himself had his own followers, who were, like all Christians, idiots. When you choose Christ and reject his followers, you are doing something that Christ did not even do. Most of the time, this quote is used to put into words the hate for the "Typical Christian Hypocrite", clogging up the church in America and around the world. I think there are two important truths that come from this:
1. Yes, we are hypocrites. Big time! Therefore, how much does it show about God's love for his people? For a group who mess up every day, and to still choose to work in us, sacrifice for us, and love unconditionally, how great is our God? He sees the depths of our hearts, and he loves us the same!
2. What do you expect? Sanctification is not necessarily a sprint, for most it is a marathon, a very long, tiring, but successful marathon. Paul tells us in Phil. 2 that our attitude should be like Christ's, but since we are not him, its not until we are made perfect will his image be on us. Will you really base your unbelief in the incompetency of others? That's not smart. At least deny Christ or something, not use your own race as an example of ignorance.
Thats it for now, I will leave Mr. Gandhi alone.
Brett
P.S. I don't think I'm smarter than Gandhi.
P.P.S. God's wisdom is smarter than Gandhi.
If you don't know too much about Gandhi, his biggest achievements came as a leader of the Indian revolution, using "civil disobedience" to bring Indian government to a more progressive stance for the lower class and throw off outdated British government. His radical thinking has led to many huge shifts toward social justice, including the push for civil rights in America in the 1960's. In fact, Martin Luther King, Jr lists Gandhi as one of his biggest and most important influences.
However, you most likely know Gandhi from his 2 most famous quotes:
"Be the change you wish to see in the world", and "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
In fact, I believe the first quote has been marketed on the shoe brand "Toms". You know you have made it big when your quotes are on shoes.
Unfortunately for Gandhi, I believe he is wrong. Yep, I said it. Gasp. Ok, let me explain, then you be the judge.
As for the first quote ("Be the change..."), I have nothing wrong with the encouragement it gives others to make someone's life better, in fact, that is great. Let me repeat: This quote is such an inspiration, but it is misleading. Let me get right into it. Wherever you look, you see a broken world, you don't even have to look far or have a particular worldview to determine this. Christians and Non-Christians both agree that this world is broken, we just have different solutions to "fix" it. The Non-Christian believes that something other than Jesus Christ can fix humanity. The Christian says nothing else but Jesus Christ can fix humanity. I am being a little broad, as the atheist would most likely say that humanity doesn't need to be fixed, or it can't be fixed by anything, but that is the general point. The reason Christianity makes more sense here, is that if humanity is inherently broken, since the beginning of humanity, then there is nothing in humanity that is capable of fixing it. If the problem is inherently in the world, then the solution must come from somewhere outside the world. That is why it is crucial to Christians that Jesus Christ is God incarnate man. He can't be just a moral person and teacher, he has to be the God-man. Therefore, going back to Mr. Gandhi's quote, there is no infinite change that can be produced by man in humanity. I would say, rather, to LIVE the change you wish to see in the world; you will never be the change. On a side note that might get me into trouble, I would like to point this out to the Christian agenda in America. America will never be a Christian nation, or else it is no longer America. While we need to try to push for as many God-inspired laws as we can (Since we believe that God's law is for the betterment of humanity and Christ came to fulfill the Law with Grace and Truth), we will never be able to save America. Christianity is not to be pushed as a state religion; it is a Theocracy, and we all have an inheritance in it, but we will never be able to "litigate the Hell" out of America.
As far as the 2nd quote goes ("I like your Christ..."), I don't want to go into too much depth, because I actually do appreciate this one as well. I think it is a great warning to Christians, but I think it is a bad rally cry for the Non-Christian. To get to the point, you cannot like Christ and hate his followers. The bible doesn't let you do that, Christ himself won't let you do that. When you choose Christ, you get his followers too as your brothers and sisters. The Christian life was not meant to be lived apart from the community of believers, even Christ himself had his own followers, who were, like all Christians, idiots. When you choose Christ and reject his followers, you are doing something that Christ did not even do. Most of the time, this quote is used to put into words the hate for the "Typical Christian Hypocrite", clogging up the church in America and around the world. I think there are two important truths that come from this:
1. Yes, we are hypocrites. Big time! Therefore, how much does it show about God's love for his people? For a group who mess up every day, and to still choose to work in us, sacrifice for us, and love unconditionally, how great is our God? He sees the depths of our hearts, and he loves us the same!
2. What do you expect? Sanctification is not necessarily a sprint, for most it is a marathon, a very long, tiring, but successful marathon. Paul tells us in Phil. 2 that our attitude should be like Christ's, but since we are not him, its not until we are made perfect will his image be on us. Will you really base your unbelief in the incompetency of others? That's not smart. At least deny Christ or something, not use your own race as an example of ignorance.
Thats it for now, I will leave Mr. Gandhi alone.
Brett
P.S. I don't think I'm smarter than Gandhi.
P.P.S. God's wisdom is smarter than Gandhi.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Taste and See
"Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horrer" declares the Lord. "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water" - Jeremiah 2:12-13
Lately, I have been convicted about why I desire the Lord. In 2nd grade, I desired him so I wouldn't go to Hell. After that, I desired him so I could see all my friends in Heaven. I think that growing up in the modern day church, I was told that if I desire God, nothing bad would ever happen to me. However, my "desiring God" was really going to church, and not doing bad stuff.
My "desiring God" is really "desiring Brett, and using God as an ends to Bretts means, so that Brett won't get struck by lighting". But I came to this conclusion: Thats selfish. No, thats idolatry. No, thats treason to an almighty God. Thats death.
Heaven shouldn't be our utmost desire. God should be our utmost desire, and Heaven happens to be the place that is full of God.
So what does this mean?
I have to reevalute what "desiring God" looks like. Unfortunately, you can't desire something, until you know what that something is. I can tell you to desire a 12 oz. filet mignon from Bob's Steak and Chop house, but there is one problem for you. Until you have walked into the dimly lit, wooden paneled dining room, and sat down next to famous people, and ordered the steak, and cut into the center, while the juice pours out, and the pink in the middle is just right, and the... etc... you can't desire it. You can't desire something until you have tasted, and seen, and taken in, all that is to be desired. And after all that, you have to determine for yourself, that this is something that you find worthy of desiring.
Until I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8), I can't desire him, because I don't know him.
John Piper, with Matthew Henry, said it like this: "This is the great business of life: to 'Put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks.' I know of no other way to triumph over sin long term, than to gain a distaste for it, because of a superior satsifaction for God. " (Desiring God, Preface)
Thats what "Desiring God" is all about, gaining a distaste for everything but God, because of the superior taste that is God.
Going back to the Jeremiah passage at the beginning, the great tragedy in my life, and all of humanity, is that we have this ability to be satisfied by God, but rather we take our own little satisfactions, and replace Him with them. Its like going to the river, and filling up a broken jar with water, and trying to be satsified with that ever decreasing water, when the river is right there. It's like taking a sack lunch into a buffet. And people try to gain their whole life's satisfaction out of that sack lunch, but until they throw it away and decide to taste and see the buffet, they are lost, broken, and angry.
The things of this world will betray you. Hold on loosely to the things that easily fade. I can try to find all of my satisfaction in my dog, but at some point she is going to die. And she was never meant to carry that weight of my desires. When you search for satisfaction in everything but God, you are an idolator, because you see everything in a manner of "how can it help me". Even spiritual things can become this way. When I go to church, or do anything else spiritual, and expect God to bless me, I am using God to further myself. You don't use God. You don't play games with God.
So what is heaven for you? Is it a place filled with steakhouses and mansions, all of your family and friends, golf courses and no work? Or is it the throne of God, who is your one desire, the only Being that can satisfy you completely. If God is not the desire of your heaven, then you won't be happy when you get there.
Lately, I have been convicted about why I desire the Lord. In 2nd grade, I desired him so I wouldn't go to Hell. After that, I desired him so I could see all my friends in Heaven. I think that growing up in the modern day church, I was told that if I desire God, nothing bad would ever happen to me. However, my "desiring God" was really going to church, and not doing bad stuff.
My "desiring God" is really "desiring Brett, and using God as an ends to Bretts means, so that Brett won't get struck by lighting". But I came to this conclusion: Thats selfish. No, thats idolatry. No, thats treason to an almighty God. Thats death.
Heaven shouldn't be our utmost desire. God should be our utmost desire, and Heaven happens to be the place that is full of God.
So what does this mean?
I have to reevalute what "desiring God" looks like. Unfortunately, you can't desire something, until you know what that something is. I can tell you to desire a 12 oz. filet mignon from Bob's Steak and Chop house, but there is one problem for you. Until you have walked into the dimly lit, wooden paneled dining room, and sat down next to famous people, and ordered the steak, and cut into the center, while the juice pours out, and the pink in the middle is just right, and the... etc... you can't desire it. You can't desire something until you have tasted, and seen, and taken in, all that is to be desired. And after all that, you have to determine for yourself, that this is something that you find worthy of desiring.
Until I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8), I can't desire him, because I don't know him.
John Piper, with Matthew Henry, said it like this: "This is the great business of life: to 'Put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks.' I know of no other way to triumph over sin long term, than to gain a distaste for it, because of a superior satsifaction for God. " (Desiring God, Preface)
Thats what "Desiring God" is all about, gaining a distaste for everything but God, because of the superior taste that is God.
Going back to the Jeremiah passage at the beginning, the great tragedy in my life, and all of humanity, is that we have this ability to be satisfied by God, but rather we take our own little satisfactions, and replace Him with them. Its like going to the river, and filling up a broken jar with water, and trying to be satsified with that ever decreasing water, when the river is right there. It's like taking a sack lunch into a buffet. And people try to gain their whole life's satisfaction out of that sack lunch, but until they throw it away and decide to taste and see the buffet, they are lost, broken, and angry.
The things of this world will betray you. Hold on loosely to the things that easily fade. I can try to find all of my satisfaction in my dog, but at some point she is going to die. And she was never meant to carry that weight of my desires. When you search for satisfaction in everything but God, you are an idolator, because you see everything in a manner of "how can it help me". Even spiritual things can become this way. When I go to church, or do anything else spiritual, and expect God to bless me, I am using God to further myself. You don't use God. You don't play games with God.
So what is heaven for you? Is it a place filled with steakhouses and mansions, all of your family and friends, golf courses and no work? Or is it the throne of God, who is your one desire, the only Being that can satisfy you completely. If God is not the desire of your heaven, then you won't be happy when you get there.
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