Why I took off the google ads

In this day and age I have seen some shameless schemes for profit. These schemes were not suprising from the world but also from the church. I think the use of religion for profit is deplorable for our day and age as much as it was for the apostle Paul in his day. There have been numerous things sold in the name of religion. In the reformation days it was relics-the goatskin of John the baptist, St. Thomas' finger. Nowadays it's books, videos, holy water, a piece of the cross. Now I have nothing wrong with paying for the cost of ministry and I believe a worker is worthy of their hire but where do we draw the line? I mean there are pastors with private jets and rolls royces and multimillion dollar estates while people are starving not only in Africa but in our own country. It saddens me that this is happening in the church and we defend it through a bunch of convoluted theology and scripture prooftexting.

When I started this blog I wanted to just get my thoughts out to as many people as possible and I have always toyed with the idea of making money from it. With that in mind I put google ads on there. I didn't make one red cent and the stuff that was coming up in the ads was sometimes questionable and often misrepresented my views on particular subjects. So I took them off in an effort to truly become authentic as I engage the blogosphere.

In that same vein I will soon have a paypal link for donations to my seminary education. This is more in line with the way things should work in the church. "Freely you have received, freely give." I think we should make it our aim not to align ourselves with corporate greed which I believe is one of the biggest most pervasive evils in our society. Tall Skinny Kiwi has written an excellent post on the topic of generosity vs hoarding called Wikinomics and Mission

On being self critical

"Who am I? This or the other?
Am I both at the same time? In public, a hypocrite and by
myself a contemptible whining weakling? Who I really am,
you know me, I am thine O God!"-Dietrich Boenhoffer Who am I?

It is interesting to me how excruciatingly difficult it is to be self critical. In a way being too self critical erodes self confidence. It puts you in a place where you question everything. You become like a lot of people I know. You know the type. Frogs hopping from one lillypad to the next and never settling down on anything. Being too self critical gets you to become a spectator in a world that is doubtfully real at best. On the other hand without self criticism we commit the same sin as our spiritual parents and desire to become like "gods". How many times have you heard someone justify their position and how right they are with god? Whether it is going to Indonesia as a missionary or prophesying that a whole city was wiped out in a hurricane because of homosexuality it can all be defended from criticism with the line "Because God told me."

I believe God speaks but I also believe that sometimes and often most of the time we have spiritual earwax and the white noise of this world, our flesh, and satan get in the way of what he is saying. Sometimes it is so powerful that all we hear is a low murmur instead of that still small voice. We end up hearing ourselves and get caught up in some really elusive particulars when all we really can say is we "see through a glass darkly" Most of the time this attitude is pervasive among the religious but with that being said it is also a widespread disease among humanity because most of humanity is religious. from Bill Maher and his misinformed although very much needed critique of popular religion to the religious right and their unbalanced perspective of Christian faith and politics. It seems to me that what we all need including this blogger is a healthy dose of humility and self criticism. Maybe if we engaged in that more we would chafe so much when others criticize us but understand that now we know in part but in the God's realized kingdom we will know fully even as we are fully known.

Reasons not to go to seminary

You will go into debt

You may lose your faith or at least dampen your faith

You will spend hours and hours researching, thinking, and writing

You may acquire tons of knowledge that you will never use

You will not necessarily be prepared for ministry

You will meet sinful, arrogant, and hypocritical seminary students

You may become arrogant

You won't necessarily know where God wants you to serve

You will not escape from the real world

You can become insulated from those who don't know Christ

Reasons to go to seminary

You can learn alot about God

You can meet very interesting people

You can get BJ's indian curry every wednesday or thursday

You can get an MA, MDiv, or PhD

You may need to go in order to be ordained

You can learn to articulate yourself eloquently

You can learn to back up your theological claims with well done research

You can hear world renowned professors and speakers

You can save yourself from repeating age old heresy

You can connect with the world's brightest minds and the current and future pastors of the church

The image of God and being made in the image of God

Is there a difference between our being made in the image of God and Christ being the image of God? This question challenges us on many levels:

The ontological/functional level. Is the image of God a part of our being still or as Christians do we live in the image of God: Christ

The gender level. Is the image of God to be equated with being male and female? If so then how is Christ male and female?

The relational level. If we all possess at the least a faint trace of being made in the image of God then what does this mean for those who are outside of Christ?

Obama is President. What now?

I have been in a daze from school, work, and baby so I haven't done any wild partying in honor of Obama's victory. I am very proud and I am glad that there is a black man who is President of the United States. It is also cool that this was not just a victory for black folks but for the rest of the world. America is now seen again as the place where there is equal opportunity no matter who you are. That is one of the most exciting things about the Presidency and something to celebrate. One thing that I have been pondering since the election is what do we do now? Obama is not the Messiah and we do not pray for his kingdom to come. So in light of that I think there are some things we need to be about as Christians in the political/social sphere:

1. We need to heal rifts and be peacemakers between political parties, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. This is not about one party, one ethnicity, or one sexual orientation. We as Christians need to align ourselves with Christ more than anything and Christ wants shalom for all people. Blessed are the peacemakers!

2. We need to vote, march, and be active in creating a holistic vision of life based on the kingdom of God. It is not up to the president but it is on us. We must as Gandhi said "Be the change that we want to see in the world"

3. We need to discuss and brainstorm and figure out what we as the church believe about major political and social issues without buying into the politics of certain groups. This means we need to hear both sides of the issue as well as seek to develop a consistent hermeneutic for our day and age.

Is there anything else that we should add to this list? Let me know. I am open to suggestions.