Right now my wife is currently reading a book called "The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church" by Gregory Boyd. We first heard about it on the Charlie Rose Show. For all of you who aren't nerds and don't watch PBS, Charlie Rose is a interviewer much like Larry King. He has all sorts of important political and cultural figures. On one particular show he had as his guests Rick Warren from Saddleback Church and Gregory Boyd.

From the small bit that I've read as well as the information that my wife has shared with me it seems like a very interesting book. The gist is Boyd contends that the Christian Chruch should not be seeking political power in our government. According to Boyd, seeking to establish political power for the church is contrary to bibilcal principles, namely those which speak of christians not being of this world. What the Christian church should be doing is concentrating on a "power under" approach in terms of supporting the community and loving its members. Our job as Christians should not be focused on ascerting our dominance over the community. Rather we should glorify God by being the rock the community is based on, not the police and fences that keep it in order.

No, this man is not a left-winger. He is a pastor who is willing to lose major parts of his congregation to get a message out that needs to be heard. I hope this post provokes you to at least read part of the book in Borders or Barnes and Noble. It is worth while to check out.

By the way....I am really tired right now and if parts of this blog do not make much sense I am incredibly sorry. Until next time.....

Return of the Persuasion

After a long break I am finally returning to blog-writting. Although it has been a while and I'm not sure if anyone is consitantly checking for new content (it has been a year and a half since last post) I would just like to say that I'm ready to begin writing again.

Postings may not be as overtly political/apolitical, depending on you point of view. In the last few months I've taken a personal challenge to try and keep my thinking positive. Its a way to combat what I'd call a critical spirit. All this is not to say that I will be taking off my "filter" to the politics of right-wing conservatism.

If you do still check this blog send me a quick note telling me that my writing is not in vain.

Kashmir Earthquake

As you probably know, on October 8th, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit in the Kashmir portion of Pakistan. The devastation of this disaster is enormous. Over 40,000 people have been confirmed dead (could reach as high as 75,000), 60,000 injured, and over 2.5 million people are now homeless during the winter months. Comparatively, although not to down play its severity, Hurricane Katrina killed 1,163 people and displaced almost a million. No matter what our nationality, race, faith, political affiliation, or sex, it is our responsibility to help our fellow human in times of enormous despair. I urge all who read this to contribute to the relief efforts in this devastated region of the world. As importantly, if not more so, I request that you keep these people who have suffered beyond anything many of us know, in your daily prayers. They need to feel the love of God more than ever.

If you are interested in donating to a relief organization that is Christian-based, I would suggest World Vision. For a list of other wonderful organizations to contribute financially I suggest this link.

The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus

Unfortunately the "party of Jesus" is also the party of conservative economic theory. Included in this theory are the ideas that poor people should not get help (esp. monetarily) because they will become lazy and that it is OK for Christians to be extravagently rich because all of the money they spend will end up helping the poor get jobs. The fact is that these people do not follow the example the true Jesus of Nazareth. He lived a simple, humble life always denying the enticement of money and always keeping the poor in the forefront of not only his mind, but also his actions.

Amazingly, Al Franken (a noted liberal who often bashes the conservative christian right), understands the Jesus of scripture better than many of the christian conservatives. This satirical comic strip illustrates a glaring tangent that many christians have followed. MAKE SURE TO LEAVE COMMENTS AFTER VIEWING
Link: The Gospel of Supple Side Jesus

Will the real Jesus please stand up?

While reading Donald Miller's amazing book Searching for God Knows What, I came across an exerpt that was too good to leave off this blog. In America (many parts of Europe as well) we have a definite picture of who Jesus is/was. But is that perception accurate? Without further adieux, Donald Miller......

"Sometimes I think it is easier for you and me to believe Jesus is God now that He is in heaven than it might have been back when He was walking around on earth. If you would have seen Jesus do miracles, and if you were one of those who were healed by Him or if you were one of the disciples, then it would have been easier, but for most people, especially the Jews, Jesus would have been a stumbling block.

At the same time, however, we are at a disadvantage because the Jesus that exists in our minds is hardly the real Jesus. The Jesus on CNN, the Jesus in our books and in our movies, the Jesus that is a collection of evangelical personalities, is often a Jesus of the suburbs, a Jesus who wants you to be a better yuppie, a Jesus who is extremely political and supports a specific party, a Jesus who has declared a kind of culture war in the name of our children, a Jesus who worked through the founding fathers to begin America, a Jesus who dresses very well, speaks perfect English, has three points that fulfill any number of promises and wants you and me to be, above all, comfortable. Is this the real Jesus?

Is Jesus sitting in the lifeboat with us, stroking our backs and telling us we are the ones who are right and one day these other infidels are going to pay, that we are the ones who are going to survive and the other are going to be thrown over because we are Calvinists, Ammenians, Baptists, Methodists, Catolics; because we are Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, or liberals; because we attend a big church a small church, an ethnically diverse church, a house church, or is Jesus acting in our earts to rech out to the person who isn't like us--the oppressed, the poor, the unchurched--and to humble ourselves, give of our money, build our communities in love, give our times, our creativity, get on our knees before our enemies in humility, treating them as Scripture says, as peopl ewho are more important that we are? The latter is the Jesus of Scripture; the former, which is infinitely more popular in evangelical culture, is a myth sharing a genre with unicorns."

How else has our culture affected our perception of God? Obviously living in this country has shaped our view, but how are we to get back to following the real Jesus? Post comments please!!

P.S. Buy SEARCHING FOR GOD KNOWS WHAT and read it. I guarantee that you will love it.

Abortion and Capital Punishment: are they so different?

One of the reasons I have become so frustrated with our current two-party political system is that neither party seems to have consistency in their policies. The most glaring in my opinion is that of a consitent ethic of life. Republicans, in general, are "pro-life" in their stance on abortion yet are also proponents of the death penalty. Democrats, on the other hand, support a pro-choice stance yet many in their party are against capital punishment. Are these two issues so different such that a party can claim their platform is consistent?....

The greatest opposition I face when discussing the similarities between abortion and capital punishment come from Christians who find it preposterous to compare an innocent child of the womb to a serial-murdering fiend. I do certianly agree that the death-row inmate is guilty of heinous sins and should be punished. This person should never be able to rejoin society and life should be made extremely difficult in prison (hard labor, solitary confinement, etc.). My dispute originates with the phrase: what would Jesus do? The gospels do not show a portrait of an individual who would kill those people who were killers themselves. On the contrary. Jesus came to Earth to forgive us who deserve nothing but eternal death because of our own sin. He could, and justly might I add, put to death every person that he came in contact with yet, he did the opposite. Another example from Christ's life that contradicts support of capital punishment is his reaction to the murder of his friend, John the Baptist. After learning about the beheading, Jesus did not seek blood-soaked reveange on Herod, if anything he ended up sacraficing his life to atone for the sin that Herod committed. Lastly, Jesus reminds us in the account of the adulterous woman, that Old Testament law is no longer required. After the people bring the woman to Jesus, they ask if she should be stoned according to Mosaic Law. His famous answer of course is "let he who is without sin cast the first stone," essentially telling us that we are not qualified to dicate decisions regarding life or death.

These are the most obvious and influencial biblical principles that I have found that support an anti-death penatly point of view. In such a short space I don't expect to have a thorough exploration of the issue but merely a small sample. I am extremely interested to hear what you think and what you have to say on the topic. PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS

Here are some other non-biblical facts surrounding capital punishment:

• With numerous appeals and subsequent legal fees, the cost of keeping a person alive in prison for the rest of his life is substantially lower than sentencing them to death.
• Defendents with appointed counsel (lower socio-economic people) are 28 percent more likely to be convicted thatn those who can hire their own attorneys and are 44 percent more likely to recieve death if convicted.
• Since 1976 the number of executions per year have gone from 0 to 60. The murder rate has remained constant at 10 per 100,000 suggesting that capital punishment is not a deterrent.
• Sine 1973 100 inmates have been freed from death row because of late evidence prooving their innocence.
• There is a disproportional number of African-American murderers on death row compared to white murderers.
  

"Blessed are the Poor in Spirit.....

For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven," said Jesus in his famous opening line from the Sermon on the Mount. Unfortunately I'm rich. At the same time my wife's salary combined with my own earnings hardly amount to anything that would be deemd wealthy here in America. Like so many other Americans I am guilty of wanting desperately to increase our income in order to upgrade our current lifestyle. I can't imagine life without high-speed internet, cable TV, DVD players, cross-country vacations etc. With all that we don't have, we are still in the upper-upper-upper-echelon of income in the world.

Living in San Luis Obispo, CA I am certainly gaurded from the poverty in this world (except for the occasional homeless at farmers market or at the Ralph's shopping center). The fact is that while I'm stressing over what type of meat (tri-tip or filet mignon) to bring to the W.A.S.P. BBQ I'm about to go to, millions of Americans and Billions of people around the world are worrying about how they will survive the next few days. Half of the world's population lives on less that two dollars a day....TWO DOLLARS! The question should not be what succulent cut of meat or flashy car (don't get me started on Christians with BMW's) I need to buy, but where can I save money in order to give it those who need it.

I encourage you not to first look to your own needs but to the needs of others, especially those who cannot eat. With the number of American's who consider themselves followers of Christ actually followed his lead and gave a generous portion of their income to feeding hungry humans, we could make a drastic dent (if not totally eradicate) world hunger and sickness. Now go and follow Christ!

Aftermath Prayer

As a quick post, I would like to start by praying for everyone affected by Hurricane Katrina. I pray that the Holy Spirit is felt by all and that God continually works through this tragedy. Through the most horrific times, God's grace can sometimes be seen even more clearly. Unfortunately many people's hearts are understandably hardened through all of their suffering and loss. I pray for those people, that God's love is warmly felt.

I cannot begin to imagine what these people are going through. I've heard stories of parents who have watched their children die without being able to help them (one father watched all three of his drown). Countless others have lost all of their possessions without anywhere to eventually go home to. We are called to help these peple with our prayers and our finances. Try to make a donation to the Red Cross however small or large. Every bit helps.