I always hated books. I used to be allergic to reading. It was a more time-consuming way to get information or get entertainment than watching TV or using the internet. I used to cringe at the thought of cracking open a novel. This was largely true until I moved to Madison. As a loser that doesn't drive and takes the bus to and from work (well, really to and from almost anywhere), I get a lot of time that I can't just sit and watch TV or use the internet. As such, I've probably read more in the past eight months than I have the rest of my life.
Last week I read Rob Bell's Love Wins. For those of you that were living in a cave most of last year and aren't familiar with the concept of the book, I'm going to do the book a disservice and distill it down to one sentence (read the entire book before judging solely on this): Bell suggests, crazy as it may be, that God is a loving God and does not eternally damn every person who doesn't meet the five actions the church has defined saves you. It's a bit more complex than this, but Bell essentially denies the existence of Hell as we know it. Before I talk about Hell, let me give some background.
The Bible is a book about God redeeming people. It never mentions man redeeming himself (mainly because we aren't qualified). The death of Jesus atoned for each and every sin I will commit before I have the chance to commit it. Nothing I do can make them "more atoned for"; it has been done. God loves each of us as his children and endured the death of Himself/His son to save each of us. He has also revealed to us that a time is coming when He brings his dwelling (Heaven) to us (if this strikes you as odd, Heaven will be here, on Earth. Read your Bible.) We have some time to prepare and that is what living like Christ is about.
This is where Hell comes in. When the good Christians die and go to Heaven, everyone else is sifted out and thrown into an eternal pit of molten sulfur, experiencing torture for the rest of eternity. This seems like just punishment for a small time of disobedience on Earth. Of course not. What's enraging about this is the fact that, if Bell's book is to be believed (more on that later), this is largely unfounded in scripture. Humans have created Hell. This shouldn't be too surprising, we are human, but to be this evil is disgusting and disturbing, and I'm ashamed to say that I have been a part of it.
So what about all those passages that talk about fire and brimstone? I can't offer any insight on the aspect of eternity in relation to the Hell of the Bible (let Bell do that, read his book), but I will offer an explanation that I'm currently pondering: God's bringing Heaven here to us and He gave us the manual on how Heaven can exist even with humans in it (because, as we're all aware, we'd otherwise mess it up. Remember the Garden of Eden?) God sees each command in His word as a benefit for us to get closer to the people we need to be in Heaven. So what are the fires of Hell all about? Let's consider it a "refining by fire" (hey, that's the name of the blog!) so we become purified to exist in Heaven. So what's the point of being a Christian in our current existence? Well, I'm not sure if you remember what the refining process is, but it would be an incredibly painful process for humans to go through and, in the process, the impurities are removed. If someone didn't live like Christ, they would come out of this painful process and not much of themselves would be left. This is why God commands us to live apart from society, be more like Christ, and we can bring all of that to Heaven with us.
I'm not sure I articulated that in the most clear manner, and in the way I wanted to, but, rest assured it makes a bit of sense in my mind. You need to make your own conclusions about it. This is where I come back to whether I believe Bell's book, and the answer is a definitive, decisive "maybe". I'm currently reading through the scriptures and seeing them with a whole new perspective. If this new perspective lines up, there's no reason to not believe it as a possibility. It only affects the fate of every person who ever lived, so I shant take it lightly and neither should you.
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
07 February 2012
04 December 2011
Complaint #015: Christian Music
Well this post has been a long time coming. First off, I want to reiterate that the purpose of this blog is to improve something through the act of constructive criticism (well, that's what it's supposed to be most of the time...) I want it to be constructive (for the posts about which I actually care) because I want these area to improve; to be better than they already are. Christian music is an area that deserves a lot of criticism. I'm willing to make an enormous generalization here: Christians don't want to hear that; they think we have to support anything and everything that has a Jesus fish slapped on it. I refuse to do that. I think every Sunday School teacher had that one lesson on not lying that ended with explaining that even "little white lies" aren't to be tolerated. To show that I learned something that week (many moons ago) I am taking a stand today and starting off this post by saying that the vast, vast, vast majority of Christian music is terrible.
Let's start off in the home arena: the church building. I'll start off this topic by explaining that I realize that a church that would play the kind of music I would want it to play would not survive. You couldn't get enough people in the same area that would attend a church that plays Five Iron Frenzy and Demon Hunter. This is despite the fact that the lyrics of those two bands are about 4000× better than your average "Jesus, Jesus/Life is lollipops and unicorns/I love Jesus/Hallelujah" song (this song would, of course, have that chorus repeated about 87 times as its conclusion (and upon the fifth time I'd start jamming the corner of the bulletin in my eye so I can keep my mind off the pain of singing it again)). All I ask for is some variety. I actually genuinely enjoy when my church plays a good, old hymn such as "It Is Well with My Soul" (soooooooo good) or "Holy, Holy, Holy", and also when they play some of the classics from my youth, like "Awesome God", "He Is Exalted", or "Shine Jesus Shine". Instead, I'm stuck with Hillsong's "new" song "Generic CCM Song Title That Probably Contains the Word 'Hope' or 'Righteous'" (now I put quotes around new because we all know it sounds just like their classic "Generic CCM Song 2" (and who could forget "Generic CCM Song 3"?))
The music played in churches today is much like candy corn: it's nice to experience two or three, but as soon as you get any more the emesis starts rising in your throat (I used the medical term so it would be less offensive, you're welcome). Speaking of throats, is anyone else as bad at singing as I am? You, too, probably hate not only the fact that your voice is on display(?) in public, but also that you can't hit the notes you'd really like to (and also it's really annoying when the singer adds a little melisma (I do believe that is the term) to a note for the final chorus and then you're thrown off and then your voice tries to correct itself by matching and it never quite sounds right). This is assuming (incorrectly) that you can hear yourself which, at least in my case, is a necessary part of being on key at any point in the song.
As far as the real world music industry goes, Christian music still sucks (maybe even more than at church). Now, I truly believe musical taste/quality is something against which I cannot complain. It is almost entirely subjective, so I'll try to stick to the objective. The big problem is the fact that there is no "real world music industry" for Christian music. Most Christian music is holed into a secluded corner of the music industry as a whole. The few bands that do break out are usually scolded for selling out or, most offensively, being too secular (I'm sorry, I didn't realize we weren't supposed to be reaching the secular community. When Jesus said "Go into all the world" he was just kidding.) Because of this, the secular community assumes that all Christian music is Chris Tomlin and Hillsong (which makes me sick to my stomach).
To try to combat this, I'm going to include a few links of great songs that I find worshipful (what's sad is that I think I feel more worshipful listening to these songs than I do when I am forced to sing those that are played in a church building). Now, I realize none of you are going to listen to these, but at least I tried...
Let's start off in the home arena: the church building. I'll start off this topic by explaining that I realize that a church that would play the kind of music I would want it to play would not survive. You couldn't get enough people in the same area that would attend a church that plays Five Iron Frenzy and Demon Hunter. This is despite the fact that the lyrics of those two bands are about 4000× better than your average "Jesus, Jesus/Life is lollipops and unicorns/I love Jesus/Hallelujah" song (this song would, of course, have that chorus repeated about 87 times as its conclusion (and upon the fifth time I'd start jamming the corner of the bulletin in my eye so I can keep my mind off the pain of singing it again)). All I ask for is some variety. I actually genuinely enjoy when my church plays a good, old hymn such as "It Is Well with My Soul" (soooooooo good) or "Holy, Holy, Holy", and also when they play some of the classics from my youth, like "Awesome God", "He Is Exalted", or "Shine Jesus Shine". Instead, I'm stuck with Hillsong's "new" song "Generic CCM Song Title That Probably Contains the Word 'Hope' or 'Righteous'" (now I put quotes around new because we all know it sounds just like their classic "Generic CCM Song 2" (and who could forget "Generic CCM Song 3"?))
The music played in churches today is much like candy corn: it's nice to experience two or three, but as soon as you get any more the emesis starts rising in your throat (I used the medical term so it would be less offensive, you're welcome). Speaking of throats, is anyone else as bad at singing as I am? You, too, probably hate not only the fact that your voice is on display(?) in public, but also that you can't hit the notes you'd really like to (and also it's really annoying when the singer adds a little melisma (I do believe that is the term) to a note for the final chorus and then you're thrown off and then your voice tries to correct itself by matching and it never quite sounds right). This is assuming (incorrectly) that you can hear yourself which, at least in my case, is a necessary part of being on key at any point in the song.
As far as the real world music industry goes, Christian music still sucks (maybe even more than at church). Now, I truly believe musical taste/quality is something against which I cannot complain. It is almost entirely subjective, so I'll try to stick to the objective. The big problem is the fact that there is no "real world music industry" for Christian music. Most Christian music is holed into a secluded corner of the music industry as a whole. The few bands that do break out are usually scolded for selling out or, most offensively, being too secular (I'm sorry, I didn't realize we weren't supposed to be reaching the secular community. When Jesus said "Go into all the world" he was just kidding.) Because of this, the secular community assumes that all Christian music is Chris Tomlin and Hillsong (which makes me sick to my stomach).
To try to combat this, I'm going to include a few links of great songs that I find worshipful (what's sad is that I think I feel more worshipful listening to these songs than I do when I am forced to sing those that are played in a church building). Now, I realize none of you are going to listen to these, but at least I tried...
- Five Iron Frenzy's "Every New Day"
- Demon Hunter's "Fading Away" (Don't worry pansies, it's the acoustic version, although his voice sounds a lot better when it's in its natural habitat (example))
- Disciple's "After the World" (Again, acoustic version)
- dc Talk's "In the Light"
- Burlap to Cashmere's "Anybody Out There"
- P.O.D.'s "Alive"
- Brave Saint Saturn's "Under Bridges"
- Family Force 5's "Love Addict"
- Showbread's "A Man with a Hammer" (OK, we could never do the verses in a church, but the chorus is the entire essence of the gospel. Also, this one's legitimately free kiddos)
18 September 2011
Complaint #004: Pharisees
Let me first point out that the Pharisees are not simply a group of people from biblical times, but, rather, Pharisaic thought continues to plague people even into the present, and it may lurking in places that we wouldn't have expected it.
If there's one thing you learn about Pharisees in church, it's that Jesus wasn't really a fan. Now Jesus is a pretty smart dude, so he probably had a good reason for this. So, let's investigate: Matthew 23:2-3a - Jesus says, "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you…" Apparently, the Pharisees were incredibly religiously intelligent people. And you say "But Will, you just told me that Jesus was less than supportive of the Pharisees. He's praising them!" which is why I made sure to add the ellipsis at the end of that quote. If you've been to any significant amount of church services, you probably know why. Well, let's dig a little deeper: Matthew 23:3b - "…But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach." Ahh, there it is: they're hypocrites. If you read around, you get a sense of the Pharisees' lifestyle: they are religious in public and make themselves known because of it and they ridicule anyone who doesn't live this way. So what we should take away from this is that we should not act like a Pharisee (even if you do heed their spoken advice on how to live).
But you didn't come here to let me give you a (less than fulfilling) Bible lesson. No, you're here because you saw my post on Facebook or Twitter or something, know how awesome my posts have been in the past, and decided to waste time reading this rather than doing something more constructive. Ok, the second part probably isn't entirely accurate, but I digress. You came here to hear me complain, and so I will. Smart Christian people should know pretty much everything I stated in my previous paragraph. Therefore, no smart Christian people should act like Pharisees, right? Now, I'm not qualified to judge the intelligence of the Christian community, so I'm going to assume there are enough intelligent people in the societal Christian church to make my point valid. (I should probably take this moment to address the fact that I make a good number of remarks about "the societal Christian church". Yes, I am making wide generalizations, but as we all know, wide generalizations are almost always accurate to the group as a whole and only have problems when applied to individuals or small groups within the larger group. I'll play the percentages and make a wide generalization. Also, please note that a majority of the real Christians I know are not part of the societal Christian church, but rather only a part of the true Christian church. Unfortunately, the societal church is what society sees as the Christian church.)
OK, back on topic: Christians shouldn't act like Pharisees. This will be shocking: I am complaining because they do. I think the very fact that I can refer to the "societal Christian church" and you know what I am talking about speaks to the fact that it is too loud in acting religious and not being religious. This, however, is not my main contention. If people want to hurt themselves, I'll warn against it, but I get angry when people try to negatively affect others. This is where I'm going to get the angry comments, from both sides. And I say, bring it on! But please do read the entire post before yelling at me.
There is a hierarchy of sins in the church (not in the Bible, just in the church). For some reason, committing homosexual acts is right near the top, maybe just under rape and murder. Abortion is tied with murder. Pride and using the LORD's name in vain are pretty low. Some acts, that aren't sins intrinsically like using certain four-letter words or sleeping in the same house (maybe even the same bed) as someone who isn't your spouse, somehow make the list. The first point regarding this needs to be that all sins are equal in the eyes of God. All sins separate us from God. Look at it this way: it's kind of like points in a football game. In the eyes of humans you either lost the game by three points (for pride) or 45 points (for rape). In the eyes of God, you lost the game. Luckily, He provides us with a infinite-point opportunity to win the game, if we just accept it.
One thing Christians should know is that all people sin. It is in our nature. For some reason, we, as humans, act like humans and we sin. I do believe that the following are sinful acts: murder, rape, pride, using God's name in vain, abortion, homosexual acts, using those four-letter words in a hurtful way (admittedly, this is often the case), sleeping with that person who isn't your spouse if it causes either of you to struggle sexually (admittedly, this is often the case). The interesting point, however, is that the above point system apparently applies to heaven or the church building. If you're losing by more than ten points, there's no way you make it to heaven and we don't like you stepping into our church building. It's for nice, quietly sinful people. You know, on the level of pride. This is all well and good in the human point system. Heck, it's downright logical. But the viewpoint that counts is God's. He just sees everyone as sinful and accepts those who love Him despite themselves.
This comes as a shock to some Christians. There are gays and murderers and rapists in heaven. This comes as a shock because apparently these people don't read their Bibles. Paul, who wrote like half of the New Testament, murdered Christians because they were Christians. He is in heaven (or I'm hedging my bets that he is). David, who had sex with another man's wife and then killed said man to cover his own steps, is in heaven. Rahab, a prostitute, is in heaven. Another prostitute, the woman of the passage Luke 7:36-50, is told by Jesus that she is saved. And with whom is He sitting? A Pharisee. A Pharisee who He says may be forgiven, but is filled with little love.
It is because of this, I believe, we are told not to judge. Not only do we have no authority, but we'd get it wrong. The murderers and prostitutes would go to hell and the people with little love would go to heaven, and they'd all be arguing who is more righteous and what everyone else was doing incorrectly. That being said, I'll leave the job up to God.
If there's one thing you learn about Pharisees in church, it's that Jesus wasn't really a fan. Now Jesus is a pretty smart dude, so he probably had a good reason for this. So, let's investigate: Matthew 23:2-3a - Jesus says, "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you…" Apparently, the Pharisees were incredibly religiously intelligent people. And you say "But Will, you just told me that Jesus was less than supportive of the Pharisees. He's praising them!" which is why I made sure to add the ellipsis at the end of that quote. If you've been to any significant amount of church services, you probably know why. Well, let's dig a little deeper: Matthew 23:3b - "…But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach." Ahh, there it is: they're hypocrites. If you read around, you get a sense of the Pharisees' lifestyle: they are religious in public and make themselves known because of it and they ridicule anyone who doesn't live this way. So what we should take away from this is that we should not act like a Pharisee (even if you do heed their spoken advice on how to live).
But you didn't come here to let me give you a (less than fulfilling) Bible lesson. No, you're here because you saw my post on Facebook or Twitter or something, know how awesome my posts have been in the past, and decided to waste time reading this rather than doing something more constructive. Ok, the second part probably isn't entirely accurate, but I digress. You came here to hear me complain, and so I will. Smart Christian people should know pretty much everything I stated in my previous paragraph. Therefore, no smart Christian people should act like Pharisees, right? Now, I'm not qualified to judge the intelligence of the Christian community, so I'm going to assume there are enough intelligent people in the societal Christian church to make my point valid. (I should probably take this moment to address the fact that I make a good number of remarks about "the societal Christian church". Yes, I am making wide generalizations, but as we all know, wide generalizations are almost always accurate to the group as a whole and only have problems when applied to individuals or small groups within the larger group. I'll play the percentages and make a wide generalization. Also, please note that a majority of the real Christians I know are not part of the societal Christian church, but rather only a part of the true Christian church. Unfortunately, the societal church is what society sees as the Christian church.)
OK, back on topic: Christians shouldn't act like Pharisees. This will be shocking: I am complaining because they do. I think the very fact that I can refer to the "societal Christian church" and you know what I am talking about speaks to the fact that it is too loud in acting religious and not being religious. This, however, is not my main contention. If people want to hurt themselves, I'll warn against it, but I get angry when people try to negatively affect others. This is where I'm going to get the angry comments, from both sides. And I say, bring it on! But please do read the entire post before yelling at me.
There is a hierarchy of sins in the church (not in the Bible, just in the church). For some reason, committing homosexual acts is right near the top, maybe just under rape and murder. Abortion is tied with murder. Pride and using the LORD's name in vain are pretty low. Some acts, that aren't sins intrinsically like using certain four-letter words or sleeping in the same house (maybe even the same bed) as someone who isn't your spouse, somehow make the list. The first point regarding this needs to be that all sins are equal in the eyes of God. All sins separate us from God. Look at it this way: it's kind of like points in a football game. In the eyes of humans you either lost the game by three points (for pride) or 45 points (for rape). In the eyes of God, you lost the game. Luckily, He provides us with a infinite-point opportunity to win the game, if we just accept it.
One thing Christians should know is that all people sin. It is in our nature. For some reason, we, as humans, act like humans and we sin. I do believe that the following are sinful acts: murder, rape, pride, using God's name in vain, abortion, homosexual acts, using those four-letter words in a hurtful way (admittedly, this is often the case), sleeping with that person who isn't your spouse if it causes either of you to struggle sexually (admittedly, this is often the case). The interesting point, however, is that the above point system apparently applies to heaven or the church building. If you're losing by more than ten points, there's no way you make it to heaven and we don't like you stepping into our church building. It's for nice, quietly sinful people. You know, on the level of pride. This is all well and good in the human point system. Heck, it's downright logical. But the viewpoint that counts is God's. He just sees everyone as sinful and accepts those who love Him despite themselves.
This comes as a shock to some Christians. There are gays and murderers and rapists in heaven. This comes as a shock because apparently these people don't read their Bibles. Paul, who wrote like half of the New Testament, murdered Christians because they were Christians. He is in heaven (or I'm hedging my bets that he is). David, who had sex with another man's wife and then killed said man to cover his own steps, is in heaven. Rahab, a prostitute, is in heaven. Another prostitute, the woman of the passage Luke 7:36-50, is told by Jesus that she is saved. And with whom is He sitting? A Pharisee. A Pharisee who He says may be forgiven, but is filled with little love.
It is because of this, I believe, we are told not to judge. Not only do we have no authority, but we'd get it wrong. The murderers and prostitutes would go to hell and the people with little love would go to heaven, and they'd all be arguing who is more righteous and what everyone else was doing incorrectly. That being said, I'll leave the job up to God.
28 August 2011
Complaint #001: Prayer
I'm starting this blog off with a bang. I've recently realized that I'm not a fan of the term "prayer" and how, in general, the Christian community handles it.
A little background: At its core, Christianity is a lifestyle centered on creating a relationship with the one, true God. It's not merely a set of rules and regulations to obey for the reward of getting to heaven. Life is meant to be the journey of creating and building a relationship with God.
It is because of this that I have come to dislike the term "prayer". Denoting an action as "prayer" automatically makes it a separate entity from other, more relationship-oriented words: "conversing", "speaking", "discussing".
However, we're all smart people; we know what synonyms are, so why is prayer any different than the other words? So maybe the actual word "prayer" isn't to blame, but rather, how we use it. Herein lies the issue: the general public uses the verb "pray" and most often associates it with the preposition "to". We pray to God. We pray to Jesus. This is problem. We need to fix our mindset and turn it from "to" to "with". "to" denotes a single direction; "with" creates mutual interaction. How much better do you feel, how much more do you feel appreciated, when you're "talked with" rather than "talked to"? The term "relationship" is predicated on the fact that there are two parties and they are both involved.
On top of this, we need to make our prayer like our conversations with others. Do you pray in the same manner that you talk to the people you love? How much more loving should your conversation with God be when it's compared with your conversations with other humans? If I had a spouse to whom I spent all of my communication (or any significant portion) setting out my list of problems and asking her to fix them, I don't think she'd feel too loved. Don't get me wrong, praying for things we want to see happen through the work of God is an important part of prayer (heck, this blog is centered on making worthwhile complaints), but our focus should be on the love and appreciation of Him and refining our relationship with him (unfortunately, I don't think I'm qualified to write a blog on love, at least one that will be of any use to anyone).
So, pray/talk/speak/converse with God. Focus on the relationship, not on your problem list (and by shifting your focus, notice how many of your problems go away/don't matter). Listen for His responses (this takes good discernment). Grow.
A little background: At its core, Christianity is a lifestyle centered on creating a relationship with the one, true God. It's not merely a set of rules and regulations to obey for the reward of getting to heaven. Life is meant to be the journey of creating and building a relationship with God.
It is because of this that I have come to dislike the term "prayer". Denoting an action as "prayer" automatically makes it a separate entity from other, more relationship-oriented words: "conversing", "speaking", "discussing".
However, we're all smart people; we know what synonyms are, so why is prayer any different than the other words? So maybe the actual word "prayer" isn't to blame, but rather, how we use it. Herein lies the issue: the general public uses the verb "pray" and most often associates it with the preposition "to". We pray to God. We pray to Jesus. This is problem. We need to fix our mindset and turn it from "to" to "with". "to" denotes a single direction; "with" creates mutual interaction. How much better do you feel, how much more do you feel appreciated, when you're "talked with" rather than "talked to"? The term "relationship" is predicated on the fact that there are two parties and they are both involved.
On top of this, we need to make our prayer like our conversations with others. Do you pray in the same manner that you talk to the people you love? How much more loving should your conversation with God be when it's compared with your conversations with other humans? If I had a spouse to whom I spent all of my communication (or any significant portion) setting out my list of problems and asking her to fix them, I don't think she'd feel too loved. Don't get me wrong, praying for things we want to see happen through the work of God is an important part of prayer (heck, this blog is centered on making worthwhile complaints), but our focus should be on the love and appreciation of Him and refining our relationship with him (unfortunately, I don't think I'm qualified to write a blog on love, at least one that will be of any use to anyone).
So, pray/talk/speak/converse with God. Focus on the relationship, not on your problem list (and by shifting your focus, notice how many of your problems go away/don't matter). Listen for His responses (this takes good discernment). Grow.
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