Earthquakes and Such

Earthquakes are not caused by 200-year-old pacts made with the devil. For those who actually believe that such pacts cause natural catastrophes, I would kindly request that you keep your superstitions to yourself.

This is what causes earthquakes.

Please direct any funds or donations you might be giving to The 700 Club (this link mentions NOTHING about the earthquake in Haiti) or the Christian Broadcasting Network (this link, btw, has a pretty lame press release about comments made yesterday) over to Earthquake relief for Haiti.

Here's one place you can donate. (Scroll down on the page and click the "Donate Now" button.)

And don't forget to pray for the people of Haiti in their time of deep distress and turmoil, and for the relief workers for the difficult tasks that lie before them.

Also, join with me in waiting for Pat Robertson's apology. Again.

Potato Cross

A Cross in a Potato? Big deal. Yesterday my family and I had pulled pork on hamburger buns for dinner, and the wrinkles on the crown of my son's hamburger bun spelled the word "Hi". It was very distinguishable, and... such a cordial little bun taking the time to greet my son like that!

We aren't going to sell it on eBay because my son ate the sandwich.

The funniest part of the cross in the potato being sold on eBay is that someone will actually buy it! Tool.

And we wonder why Christianity is in trouble here in the Western Hemisphere. TBN doesn't help much either. (Had to get a cheap shot in there somewhere).

Jesus, or anything having to do with Jesus, is one of America's favorite consumer items and theatrical props. We jus' loves our celebrities, don't we?

Weird on Christmas

I don't know why so many people use the occasion of the celebration of the birth of Jesus to advance their own petty political agendas. Perhaps people enjoy being petty.

People like me, who want to enjoy the beauty and sacredness of the celebration, and who want to give mindful attention to the Word Become Flesh, get tired of listening to complains about how KMart doesn't do this, and City Hall doesn't do that... blabbity, blab, blab, blab.

Instead of waiting for the culture to accomodate your beliefs, enter into your own spiritual tradition deeply and thoughtfully. And then put it into practice. What goes on around you in political and consumer culture will begin to fade in significance when compared to the grace of God that was manifested in Bethlehem. Don't expect retailers and politicians to conform. Let them be what they are. Salvation isn't found in them anyway.

Hate the sin, love the sinner

I can't see how this can be done in this day and age. It hasn't really been done well by anyone I know. We usually associate a person with what they do, good or bad. Such associations cubby hole the human race into "good" people and "bad" people. And we build more prisons.

The sentiment of "hate the sin, love the sinner" has become so cliched that it has been rendered useless. And having accomplished that, we banter the cliche around just enough to justify our continued hatred and mistreatment of the sinner.

How about we try "forget the sin, forgive the sinner" for a change? You may disagree with the sentiment, but you have to admit that it isn't boring.

2012??

I wonder what would happen to Biblical interpretation if theologians were to view eschatology (the study of end times) in a covenantal sense rather than a spatial-temporal-materialistic sense. It appears to me that current millennial theologies leave much fear and much doubt in their wake (especially fear). I haven't seen the movie "2012", and I don't plan on seeing it, but it looks pretty intense.

What if all of our understandings of what is meant by "the end" (which usually includes the total destruction of the space-time continuum) were wrong? What if the passing away of heaven and earth (Matthew 5:18; Luke 21:33) really meant the passing away of a covenantal era embodied by the Jewish commonwealth of the 1st century in general and the Jerusalem temple in particular?

It might result in apocalyptic cinematograpy becoming passe. Movies that make money playing on people's fears of, and/or fascinations with, Mayan calendars (or Family Radio) may become relics before their time. And many more people could have peace of mind and heart.