Monday, March 31, 2008
Extreme Measures
"Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. But some of them said, 'By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.' Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: 'Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.'
'When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.'"
- Luke 11: 14 - 23
Peace and blessings,
Last month I watched an episode of "Wife Swap" that was extremely hilarious and entertaining. I've watched episodes before and for the most part they too have been hilariously entertaining. This one, however, was particularly interesting because both of the families were Christian. Keeping true to the show's tradition, these families differed greatly in terms of some of their views on managing a household and raising children. One family was very liberal with the husband being a seminary graduate and being an at-home dad while his wife worked. They didn't appear to really instill Christian values to their children, but instead encouraged them to be individual thinkers. The other family was more "traditional" in that the husband was the provider and their children had to follow strict behavioral rules.
I don't really need to recap the rest of the show or explain the outcome to illustrate my point, which is that in my opinion, these two households represented (in one form or another) two major types of Christian thought prevalent throughout America. One type is the traditional Christian thought and the other is the more liberal/contemporary Christian thought. Once these types of thought are "hijacked" by the media, they take on an over-exaggerated form of their own. As a result, these ways of thought are put forth as extreme opposites of one another. What this episode of "Wife Swap" and the above scripture has showed me is that we must be careful to not be so quick to a) become so polarized in our own views that we neglect some of the essentials of the gospel (Matthew 28:18-19) and b) be so "open" with everything that we dilute some of the essentials of the gospel.
The question is not how do we choose between the traditional and the liberal, but how do we use elements of both to maximize the effectiveness and relevance of the gospel to a constantly changing, yet remarkably stable world. For instance, we are constantly evolving with regards to medical, technological, and scientific developments, and with regards to our understanding of how and why humans think, feel, and acts in the ways we do. At the same time, however, sins and vices such as murder, lust, greed, envy, jealousy, betrayal, pride and so forth has been around since the beginning of time, and is just as prevalent today. We must seek God for discernment regarding which aspects of our Christian faith and thought that could potentially be rethought and which aspects cannot. Reflecting on my personal experiences, I have been blessed to have great pastors who have given me tools to discern some of these differences. The deity and tri-unity of The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is an accepted fact of the Christian faith and cannot be changed. How Christians should interact with others is something that has and continues to be revisited and changed when appropriate (e.g. slavery, anti-semitism, racial/gender discrimination, homophobia, economic exploitation). However, I would argue that anyone who practiced or practice hate with regards to any of these groups and claim to be doing so in the name of Christianity is not really following Christ in the first place.
What do you think? Do you think that certain areas of Christian thought or too polarized? God bless, take care and speekonit...
Labels: Christianity, family, unity
Monday, January 07, 2008
A Look Back: 2007, pt. 1
Peace and blessings,
Below are half of the selected postings from '07. Take care, God bless, and speekonit...
1)Beacon of Light
(A woman gives her life to Christ and ministers to exotic dancers)
2)A Dream Preserved (MLK's dream will forever live on in and through us)
3)JC, MLK, and SF: Who Would Have Thought?
4)More Than a Month: Good Looking Out Carter G.
5)A Lesson in Social Psychology: The Children of Israel
6)Fly Like an Eagle, Sort of (A juxtaposition of biblical conceptions of an eagle and the "eagle" dance)
-734498-739133.gif)
7)More Than a Month: Good Looking Out Dr. Phillip Emeagwali (The "father of the internet")
8)Has it Really Come to This? (A false teacher leading people astray)
9)Two Sides to a Coin: The Video Game Dilemma (Video games about Darfur and Columbine)
10)Holding it Down: Bishop George McKinney
11)Heaven for a Gangsta
12)The Universal Importance of Unity
Below are half of the selected postings from '07. Take care, God bless, and speekonit...
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
-734498-739136.gif)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
Labels: 2007, Children of Israel, eagle, JC, Jose De Jesus Miranda, Lecrae, Miseducation of the Negro, MLK, New Slavemasters, unity, video game, Voltron
Thursday, April 19, 2007
The Universal Importance of Unity
Peace and Blessings,
I'm going to start off this discussion like I do all of my "semi-important" thoughts, with a reflection on one of my favorite cartoons, lol. Even though the X-Men is my favorite contemporary (i.e. mid 1990s) cartoon, my all-time favorite cartoon is the
This is my favorite cartoon because of its concept and its implications. I can talk about favorite cartoons and especially Voltron for days, but I'll give you the abridged version. The premise behind Voltron is the following: One cannot survive on one's own, therefore life is based upon and requires
Voltron Lion Force consisted of 5 people, each of which were responsible for their own lion. As a team, they were responsible for promoting and maintaining peaceful relationships among those of other nations or planets, and defended the Universe ONLY WHEN THEY HAD TO. It seems like the Bush administration could learn a lesson from Voltron's "foreign policy." During those times when they had to defend the planet, it appeared as if the lions could not defeat the enemy own their own. Once the lions came together and formed Voltron, however, the team was unstoppable. Initially, I could not understand why on every episode the individual lions would get "mopped up." The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized that the individual lions' defeat is consistent with the cartoon's overall premise that one cannot survive on his or her own accord. It was only when the lions came together to form something greater than themselves that they were able to overcome all obstacles.
During his ministry, the Apostle Paul focused a great deal on the importance of unity. In Galatians 5:13-14 he states,
"For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self- indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
I don't think that the word "slaves" as it is used here refers to being literally subserviant to and being treated as inferior by another. Instead, I am more than confident that it was referring to the idea that we must love each other in a way that puts their needs on par with, and sometimes before our own. Further, Paul's emphasis in 1 Corinthians 12:14-26 on individuals from different backgrounds and walks of life all being part of the Body of Christ suggests that for Christians, we cannot discriminate amongst each other based on gifts, status, or anything else. Because the body of Christ consists of a variety of different people, then it follows that an individual within the body of Christ is connected to and dependent upon everyone else in the body as well.
Before I end, I just wanted to introduce
Some of the services they provide include providing food and housing, job and computer skills training, drug recovery, and other forms of ministry.
Not only does CityTeam Ministries represent unity with respects to its team members, their emphasis on transforming the lives of the marginalized suggests the realization that regardless of our background and position in life, we are all connected.
What do you think? What is your meaning of unity? What would it look like for this meaning of unity to be actualized in America? Throughout the world? Weigh in and speekonit...
Labels: cartoons, Christ, Corinthians, discriminate, foreign policy, Paul, relationships, team, unity, Voltron
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Everyone playing their part?
Peace and blessings,
First off, I must apologize for the long hiatus, but this past month has been hectic with graduations and moving and all. But as always, I'm back like I left something. The focus of today's entry is something that has been on my mind for a little over a month during a course I was taking. In one of the required readings, Michael Resnick (1996) argues that people tend to view things from a centralized mindset, namely that massive or large-scale events/phenomena are caused by a "central" source. Common examples of this type of thinking include the belief that the productivity of hundreds of worker ants and bees is the result of their respective queens. He further contends that this way of thinking is misguided, because these and other phenomena are not the result of a central source, but of the combined choices and actions of individual agents. To illustrate this idea, Resnick (1996) and colleagues developed a computer program called StarLogo, which allows people to experience various ways in which individual agents work to create unintended phenomena. For example, high school students were able to alter the rules of different StarLogo environments (e.g. cars in traffic, turtles moving in particular directions, and termites picking up wood chips) and see how a series of individual actions can create massive results. To the students' surprise, they found that without a "central" cause, cars eventually formed a traffic jam, the turtles still organized in clusters, and termites still stacked wood chips in a pile. Although these activities may not seem that important, it is the idea behind these activities that we must consider: Individual choices and actions are important, and collectively they are powerful.
Once this idea was made clear to me, I started to think about a movie I recently saw, V for Vendetta. In a nutshell, the movie was about a man who sought to achieve justice on behalf of all the people who lost their lives in the past and are currently being deceived, due to the lives and cover ups of a corrupt government. Sounds familiar? Examples of such lies and cover-ups addressed in the movie include immoral medical experiments resulting in the deaths of many people, and government-fueled ideologies that elicit fear and compliance. Again, sound familiar? I don't know about you, but the syphilis experiments in Tuskegee and the "war on terror" comes to mind for me. Although the movie included good action scenes and the main character was very fascinating, the most significant scenes in the movie came not from the main character, but from the actions of the "community." by 'community" I am referring to the everyday citizens who realized they were being deceived and collectively did something about it non-violently. After discovering "the truth" about their government, huge multitudes of people marched to a central location (for the specific reason of the march and location, go peep the movie) and the government powers nor law enforcement could stop the because it too many people on one accord for a righteous cause. The most memorable line in the movie for me was the statement: "the people should not be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of its people." While most of us would agree with the first part, we rarely focus on the second part. Governments should "govern" its citizens in a way that reflects not so much fear in terms of being scared of its citizens, but fear in the sense that the government respects its citizens enough to the point where it is afraid to deceive and disappoint them. There's all this propaganda and focus on how much love citizens don't have, have, or should have for their country (i.e. patriotism), but I pray that the hearts and minds of all governmental officials are oriented towards showing love, devotion, and allegiance to its citizens.
In sum, I wanted to draw-out a connection I made between the StarLogo program and "V for Vendetta." Although the former is a computer program and the latter a major motion picture, the common thread is that they both demonstrate the power of individual choices and actions. Further, they show how agents can create massive change by each playing their role in collective action. It doesn't happen often, but it puts a smile on my face when education and popular culture converge for a cause worth considering.
Source: Resnick, M. (1996). Beyond the centralized mindset. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 5(1), 1-22
First off, I must apologize for the long hiatus, but this past month has been hectic with graduations and moving and all. But as always, I'm back like I left something. The focus of today's entry is something that has been on my mind for a little over a month during a course I was taking. In one of the required readings, Michael Resnick (1996) argues that people tend to view things from a centralized mindset, namely that massive or large-scale events/phenomena are caused by a "central" source. Common examples of this type of thinking include the belief that the productivity of hundreds of worker ants and bees is the result of their respective queens. He further contends that this way of thinking is misguided, because these and other phenomena are not the result of a central source, but of the combined choices and actions of individual agents. To illustrate this idea, Resnick (1996) and colleagues developed a computer program called StarLogo, which allows people to experience various ways in which individual agents work to create unintended phenomena. For example, high school students were able to alter the rules of different StarLogo environments (e.g. cars in traffic, turtles moving in particular directions, and termites picking up wood chips) and see how a series of individual actions can create massive results. To the students' surprise, they found that without a "central" cause, cars eventually formed a traffic jam, the turtles still organized in clusters, and termites still stacked wood chips in a pile. Although these activities may not seem that important, it is the idea behind these activities that we must consider: Individual choices and actions are important, and collectively they are powerful.
Once this idea was made clear to me, I started to think about a movie I recently saw, V for Vendetta. In a nutshell, the movie was about a man who sought to achieve justice on behalf of all the people who lost their lives in the past and are currently being deceived, due to the lives and cover ups of a corrupt government. Sounds familiar? Examples of such lies and cover-ups addressed in the movie include immoral medical experiments resulting in the deaths of many people, and government-fueled ideologies that elicit fear and compliance. Again, sound familiar? I don't know about you, but the syphilis experiments in Tuskegee and the "war on terror" comes to mind for me. Although the movie included good action scenes and the main character was very fascinating, the most significant scenes in the movie came not from the main character, but from the actions of the "community." by 'community" I am referring to the everyday citizens who realized they were being deceived and collectively did something about it non-violently. After discovering "the truth" about their government, huge multitudes of people marched to a central location (for the specific reason of the march and location, go peep the movie) and the government powers nor law enforcement could stop the because it too many people on one accord for a righteous cause. The most memorable line in the movie for me was the statement: "the people should not be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of its people." While most of us would agree with the first part, we rarely focus on the second part. Governments should "govern" its citizens in a way that reflects not so much fear in terms of being scared of its citizens, but fear in the sense that the government respects its citizens enough to the point where it is afraid to deceive and disappoint them. There's all this propaganda and focus on how much love citizens don't have, have, or should have for their country (i.e. patriotism), but I pray that the hearts and minds of all governmental officials are oriented towards showing love, devotion, and allegiance to its citizens.
In sum, I wanted to draw-out a connection I made between the StarLogo program and "V for Vendetta." Although the former is a computer program and the latter a major motion picture, the common thread is that they both demonstrate the power of individual choices and actions. Further, they show how agents can create massive change by each playing their role in collective action. It doesn't happen often, but it puts a smile on my face when education and popular culture converge for a cause worth considering.
Source: Resnick, M. (1996). Beyond the centralized mindset. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 5(1), 1-22
Labels: action, choices, community, government, movie, people, revolutionary, truth, unity, V for Vendetta
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Weekly Bible verse(s)
Peace and Blessings,
I pray all is well with everyone. The verse I chose for this week is the following:
"There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
-Galatians 3:28 (NKJ AMP)
Although when Paul initially spoke these words he was primarily referring to the discrimination of Gentiles, this first demonstrates to me the power of Christ as not just a source of salvation, but a source of unification. It's not by chance that the impetus fueling the civil rights movement was justice for and unity among all peoples, and that Christianity provided the foundation and moral core of the movement. Whether the injustice is economic, gender-related, social, racial, or whatever, to be a Christian is to advocate for justice and unity. I pray everyone has a blessed week! Speekonit...
I pray all is well with everyone. The verse I chose for this week is the following:
"There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
-Galatians 3:28 (NKJ AMP)
Although when Paul initially spoke these words he was primarily referring to the discrimination of Gentiles, this first demonstrates to me the power of Christ as not just a source of salvation, but a source of unification. It's not by chance that the impetus fueling the civil rights movement was justice for and unity among all peoples, and that Christianity provided the foundation and moral core of the movement. Whether the injustice is economic, gender-related, social, racial, or whatever, to be a Christian is to advocate for justice and unity. I pray everyone has a blessed week! Speekonit...
Labels: Bible, Galatians, Jesus Christ, justice, Paul, scripture, unity
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
