Happy Leap Day-- Have a Free McSkillet Burrito!

Happy Leap Day! February 29 only comes once every 4 years which is most likely why it turns out to be just another day, almost like March 1.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, you could go to Mickey D's and get a free McSkillet Burrito for breakfast. That's what I did! But now I've discovered that said burrito isn't really free because now I'll need some Pepto Bismol to squelch the subsequent indigestion I'm now suffering. That's going to cost more than the nuclear breakfast I've just consumed! Then I'll have to factor in the coronary quadruple bypass surgery that I'll inevitably need...

On second thought, skip the burrito. Happy Leap Day!

Time for some Metal!!!!!

This band is called Dragonforce, and the song is arguably the hardest song to play on Guitar Hero 3. I think you'll see why! Enjoy the song Through the Fire and Flames. I really love the dueling guitars starting at around 3:20. Excellent and insane guitar work!

Bringing Sexy Back...Yeah?

The other day I overheard a conversation between a man and a woman about the man's son. The woman asked the man if he had a picture of his son. He pulled one out of his wallet. When she saw the picture she said, "Wow, sexy! How old is he?"

"Twelve."

Twelve-year-olds are sexy? Perhaps to other twelve-year-olds, but to a grown woman???

Twelve-year-olds are not sexy. They're twelve.

Pushing the Humiliation Threshold

Click here, then scroll down a little bit and click on the video link entitled Pushing the Humiliation Threshold. There you will see hidden camera footage of what people do when they see a group of teens publicly humiliating and insulting another teen. What do we do with Mean Girls?

Most of the male passers-by just kept walking. Usually men don't get involved in these things unless the taunting becomes physical. Some of the men just yelled at the girls from a distance. Some women, however, jumped right in and confronted the bullies. What's really telling is how the women actually carried out the confrontation. They became bullies themselves, using the same insults and tauntings as the teens.

This, to me, is part and parcel of the perpetuation of the cult of the child-- children today are worshiped like gods and are either revered or hated. We also see an accompanying regression of adults into adolescence.

Not one of the adults in the video actually told the offenders that their behavior was just plain wrong. Why are adults so afraid to say that to children? Is resorting to ad hominem attacks the best adults can do? Again, the cult of the child mentality is at play here.

Those girls needed to be told that what they were doing to that lone girl was wrong and they know it! It has nothing to do with personalities or any other subjective standard. It has to do with objective mores of conduct. It's wrong to taunt other people like that. Period.

Oh...My...God!!!

Don't you just love these shows on HGTV, TLC, Discovery, and ABC that have people getting secret remodeling jobs done on their homes? Know what I'm talking about? Like Trading Spaces and Extreme Makeover? I don't necessarily watch them for the wonderful change of aesthetics in these homes. I like to watch because, inevitably, there will be a confession of faith in God at the end of each show. Almost like an altar call.

If you have ears to hear...


I wish I had a video to go with this one.

Flesh and Spirit

My friend Kevin Beck had an interesting post yesterday about the fact that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God and how this is hard to reconcile with the "resurrection of all flesh". Traditionally, we Christians have understood the word "flesh" as biological existence, and that supposedly at the end of time our "flesh" will be reconstituted for immortal life while maintaining a modicum of biological existence. In other words, we will still have flesh and blood, as we understand those terms, but will somehow possess an extraordinary ability to live forever and ever.

What's needed on this issue is a look at what Jesus meant by the terms "flesh" and "spirit", especially in his late-night conversation with Nicodemus as recorded by St. John in John 3:1-8.

Jesus said, "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to spirit". He didn't mean material, biological parents give birth to material, biological children. He also didn't mean immaterial, invisible parents give birth to immaterial, invisible children. He was pointing out that there are two kinds of people: those who believe they have God's favor because of who they are and those who believe they have God's favor because of who God is.

The term "flesh" refers to humanity in rebellion against God, making gods out of themselves and being their own saviors on their own terms. It has nothing to do with being biological. The term "spirit" refers to humanity in submission to the kingship and the will of God on God's terms. It has nothing to do with being immaterial and disembodied.

So when Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be reborn of God, it's no wonder that Nicodemus was confused thinking he had to climb back into his mother's womb. Coming from his Jewish mother's womb was why he considered himself a person born of God in the first place! But Jesus would have none of that. One must be reborn of God, that is, by water and the Spirit. There has to be another Exodus event signified by baptism into Christ. There one is born again of water and the Spirit.

Those who are in Christ are thus "spiritual". It doesn't mean that they are floating around as disembodied entities. It means that, through Christ, they have put off the "flesh" (i.e.-- the sinful nature) and have put on Christ.

NIU and Westboro

I was going to blog about the horrible massacre that took place at Northern Illinois University on Valentine's Day, but I wanted to get my thoughts into some semblance of order so that my post would be coherent. I was shocked and saddened by the events at NIU, as I'm sure all of us were. Coupled with the murders in nearby Tinley Park, I now ask the nagging question, "What's going on here?" I don't have much of an answer to that question. Obviously there are those who believe that their problems, real and/or perceived, are solved by the use of firearms.

Why do we give these events the title "tragedy"? A tragedy is a specific genre of literature in which a hero is taken down by a character defect or a moral flaw. It seems we've made the word "tragedy" a fixture in popular usage and have chosen to define it as any terrible event in which there was loss of life. A Metra train hitting a car is called a "tragedy". In reality, it's not a tragedy. It's a horrible accident. Calling the NIU shootings a "tragedy" transforms the shooter into a fallen hero, whether we realize it or not. He was not a hero. He was a profoundly sick and deranged man who had a morbid and depraved indifference to life. This was not a tragedy. It was a massacre. It was murder.

Semantics aside, now we're debating how to stop these killing sprees. Some are pushing for stricter gun control laws. Others are pushing for stiffer penalties for gun offenders. I think both are good ideas, but in the long run they will turn out to be mere band-aids on a problem that is more than skin deep. What we really need is a reversal of the culture of violence and death that is so pervasive in our country and around the world. It's a big job, and it's harder to legislate, which is why so few people engage in it.

Then, throw this so called Westboro Baptist Church into the mix. Seriously, what's up with these people? The hatred that spews from their mouths in the name of God is sick and twisted. Calling it such doesn't stop it. I think we're all in agreement that these people are out on the lunatic fringe. But since I'm a theologian I'd rather discuss what I see is problematic with their theology. In a nutshell, what's troubling about WBC is that they don't proclaim the whole counsel of God. Zeroing in on just one aspect of God's counsel leads to all kinds of heresy and wacko groupings of people who see their calling in life as being purveyors of religious fascism. Westboro Baptist is not a church. It is a group consisting of legalistic idealogues who have been mind-numbed by an incomplete reading of Scripture.

The Church should be at the forefront of bringing healing and comfort at this time of loss with the news that Christ carried all of our pain and sorrow on the cross and is familiar with affliction. He is not indifferent to sadness and confusion, but has absorbed it all into his being and gave it as an offering that is pleasing to God for all time. With that message of life we are equipped to bring comfort and hope with the same comfort that we have received from God. Our voices must be louder than those who would foist hatred and violence into the already tempestuous teapot.

Reassessment of the Self

This post consists of some brain-drizzles, because I could be completely wrong about this. But I was thinking the other day about loving and forgiving ourselves. Many are ready to tell us that our basic problem in life is that we don't love ourselves enough and that we are so guilt-ridden that we need to learn to forgive ourselves. It sounds right, but I'm starting to wonder if it's really true. Do we really need to love ourselves more and forgive ourselves more?

Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself." It sure sounds like there needs to be some self-love involved here. But how much? Jesus doesn't say. He tells us to love others at least as much as we love ourselves. But why would Jesus give us this command if we truly didn't love ourselves very much? If I didn't love myself, then the command wouldn't make much sense. If I were truly a self-loather, wouldn't Jesus be saying that I should reflect that loathing onto others?

I see no command to love the self. The command is to love the neighbor with the same love we give ourselves. Could it be that we love ourselves way too much? Aren't our attempts to love and forgive ourselves signs that we are already doing this and that we are withholding it from others? Aren't they ways of trying to get from others what we are already giving to ourselves?

It seems to me that the Biblical diagnosis of our dilemmas stem from an overt love of the self. The command to love others as we have been loved draws us out of our love of the self so that we love others in the same manner: way too much. That's how much God loves us. God loves us in Christ way too much. Maybe we need to stop trying to love ourselves because we already do. It's time to start loving others with the love that we've been shown by God, or at least with the love we afford ourselves.

Jesus as Israel

I'm always amazed at how Jesus acts as Israel for Israel. The wilderness temptations are a replay of Israel's wilderness wanderings after their flight from Egypt. Of course, the Israelites passed through the Red Sea into the Sinai desert. So it's really no surprise that Jesus would be sent into the wilderness by the Spirit after his baptism in the Jordan River. History is being repeated, but in a way that is redefined, redeemed and fulfilled. The parallels that could be drawn are endless, but let's just say, for the sake of brevity, that Christ gave Israel a brand new history. The same goes for us. Part of being a new creation through Baptism is going through a redefinition of who we are. Our personal and collective histories of sin and death are redeemed, transformed, and dare I say, replaced by Christ's history of perfection and holiness. This is solidified in us as we hear the spoken Word of God and sustained by the sacramental Word of God in Holy Communion. Never doubt God's provision for the Lenten journey!

Has anyone ever asked you this question: If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? I never like this question because my answer isn't what my inquistors were looking for. It's also an arrogant question, because the person asking it is setting himself up as my judge and jury (and I do that to myself very well on my own, thank you very much!). My answer is something like this-- oh, there's evidence, but it's not my evidence. I didn't create the evidence, and it wasn't my idea anyway. The evidence I can give is only what I have received through Word and Sacrament--God's grace and the merits of Christ.

See for yourself, judgey wudgey, and do as you will!