Kethuvim

So how did the early followers of Christ respond to his words following his resurrection and ascension to heaven?  One thing is for certain, any reading of the NT will show that the early Church took very seriously the idea that they were Christ's body on earth.  Imbued with his Spirit, they sought to live out the words he taught and the way he lived, full of love, peace, and compassion.  In today's Church, I find very few Christians who truly understand how literal the writers of the NT were when they referred to the Church as the body of Christ.  It seems to me (and I've been in the Church my entire life) that the Church sees this idea as nothing more than a fuzzy notion.  However, the implications of the Church being Jesus' body on earth are huge.  If we are his body (representatives, hands and feet, etc.), then it is imperative that we seek to live out his teachings and his way of life in order to finish his work of rescuing the world.  This isn't just a nice, clean, and fuzzy idea, but a concrete reality that we must take as seriously as the first Christ followers.  So what did they have to say along the lines of pacifism?

In my mind, Jesus' words singlehandedly prove that his followers should be pacifists.  Regardless of any argument for war made by using the OT, it seems to me that the words of the person by who's name we are called should take precedence.  If we are going to be called Christ-ians, then his words should be of utmost importance to us.  So let's look at just a few examples of what Jesus has to say.

If anyone ever wonders what makes this country great, watch this video.  It may be one of the funniest, and most bizarre, videos I have ever seen.

Inevitably when someone is defending a pro-war stance biblically, they immediately go to the Old Testament stories of Israel attacking everyone in sight.  They do this for two reasons: 1)It's easy, because the OT is full of wars and, 2)You can't even begin to make a convincing argument for war and violence based on the NT, so they avoid it.  

1968 called and it wants its society back.

Per Michael's request, I'm going to write a series of posts on why I'm a pacifist.  I have no idea how many posts this series will entail.  I understand how polarizing this issue is, but I feel the need to say what I think, and given the fact that the internet is the last great bastion of free speech, I will exercise my right.  If you're offended by what I say, I refuse to apologize.  No one in church apologizes to me when they spew out their pro-war rhetoric, so I will not apologize for my opposing stance.  If you don't like what I have to say, then just stop reading.  So without further ado, here's a completely non-academic view of why Jesus is calling his people out of a violent mindset.

So how can you love your enemy and blow them up at the same time?  Hmmmm.  It seems that you would have to do some pretty fancy biblical exegesis to get around that one...or you could just ignore it like a vast majority of American Christians.

Congratulations Obama on winning the nomination.  

I promised some pictures of my boys, so here you are.  First, Ezra:

I was watching a video clip of Bill O'Reilly today (I'm not sure why, because he's an idiot) and he was talking about the YouTube video of those girls beating up that other girl, and then he was talking about the recent pictures of the polygamist poster-boy Warren Jeffs kissing young girls. He was having a debate with someone over whether or not we should watch or look at these things, or whether we should just ignore them.  As he's wont to do, he disagreed with the person, and then totally flip-flopped his view once the other guy handed his butt to him in the argument (this, however, is not the point of this post).  

I know that we see a lot of change in our lifetime.  I know that we've been inundated with information and new technology to the point where we're numb to it, but seriously, we landed a rover on FREAKING MARS!  The thing I find incredible is that pretty much no one is talking about it.  There's a story here and there about it, but it isn't even front page news.  

The Bible can be tricky.  The thing about it is that there's almost always something more going on below the surface.  Here's an example.  In the book of Genesis (Hebrew meaning, "in the beginning") we read the story of our world's origins and the origins of the first cognizant humans. The text calls these people Adam (from the Hebrew "adama" meaning "earth" or "dirt") and Eve (which in Hebrew means, "living").  These two are born into a land of perfection, a land of sunshine and farts, as I'm fond of saying.  God lays everything at their feet and says, "It's good, take it."  The only prohibition he gives them is to refrain from eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  He kind of hints that if they eat from that tree, things will go downhill pretty quick.  Of course they decide to eat it, because hey, don't we always like to do the one thing we aren't supposed to do? 

Alcohol had to be involved with this in some way.

I haven't written about my kids in awhile, so I thought I would give an update.  So here's an update on each kid individually.

It's over.  It's been over for a long time.  I know that your last name is Clinton so you feel you're entitled to a victory, but...yeah...it's been over for about two months now.  I'm sorry to break this news to you, but the only way you're getting into the White House is if you're invited for dinner.  

This video is a forklift training video from Germany.  

I had a weird thing happen to me this morning.  I was taking my youngest to the doctor and there was a traffic back-up on the main highway.  I decided to take some side streets through the town where I grew up and I ended up driving by my old elementary school (which is now a mall...as old elementary schools tend to be).  I drove around the back of it on some roads where I hadn't traveled in years.  As I drove, I had this flood of nostalgic emotion.  I actually almost cried.  I was telling my wife about it while we drove and she said she gets the same way when she goes to her old elementary school.  We then had a discussion about why that happens.  We basically landed on the fact that it makes us think of simpler times when we had no responsibility or care about anything.  All of this got me thinking about nostalgia and how dangerous it can be.

Hey everyone.  April 25 is world malaria day (sounds nice doesn't it?).  I don't usually spend time stumping for causes on my blog, but this is a good one, and one that is close to my heart after spending time in Haiti.  I don't know how aware you are of the malaria problem in this world, but let me give you some statistics.  

No seriously, I can't think of another country where someone would do this.  Is it possible that a video about a horse could make all of the founding fathers simultaneously turn over in their graves?  Yes, yes it is.  

America spends $250 million a day on the war in Iraq, and people in Haiti are starving to death because they can't afford food.  If you haven't seen the news reports, let me fill you in.  

At 10:24 AM on April 7, 2008 in the year of our Lord, Abram Michael Polley was ripped from my wife's womb with extreme prejudice.  He was none-too-happy about this fact.  Delivered by Caesarean Section, he came out with a giant, round head.  In the words of one of the nurses who took his vital signs, "That's one of the bigger heads I've seen in awhile."  Thanks for making me confident that my kid is a freak.  Actually, he's absolutely adorable, but don't take my word for it, here are some pictures.In case you're wondering, in the first picture, that is, in fact, my wife's open thorax.  Look at the cranium on that freak!  The second picture is the first time he opened his eyes.  

I am one of you.  A pastor?  Yes.  A skeptic also?  Yes.  I have my doubts just like you do.  I look at religious people (including myself from time to time) and cringe because of the hypocrisy, the violence masked as love and peace, and the intolerance masked as zeal just like you do.  You're not alone.  The Church is full of skeptics.  "What about the people who seem so certain?" you ask. Sometimes they are the biggest skeptics of them all, but they aren't comfortable in their own skin, so they create a new (and false) skin to protect themselves.  

I'm not sure I've ever seen a stranger story that this one right here.  I'm speechless.

My whole life, I assumed that the gospel, or good news (Greek: evangelion) was that Jesus died for my sins, and was raised after three days.  I remember having a hard time grasping how that was good news and what exactly that good news meant for my life.  Here's the thing: Jesus dying on the cross and raising again isn't the gospel.  Every time I hear someone preach that the good news of Jesus is that he died for my sins, I want to scream, "NO IT ISN'T!"  In Mark 1, Jesus himself states very clearly the definition of the good news.  

I'm having one right now.

I'm tired of hearing about how this nation is color-blind.  We're not.  White people aren't color-blind, and neither are black people.  None of us are color-blind.  The latest controversy with Obama and his ex-pastor proves it.  If this post sounds like I'm being racist, you can rest assured that I'm not.  I'm glad that our country moved out of the dark ages and started giving people equal rights (unless you're gay or Arab, of course).  But the civil rights movement didn't cure everything.  Let's take a look at this.

But are we really worth dying for?  We've all been told (whether overtly or sub-consciously) that aren't worthy of anything.  Some of us have endured this message of worthlessness from parents, ex-boyfriends/girlfriends, abusive spouses, and bad teachers.  Some of us have heard this message preached to us from the pulpit for years in church.  You hear so much about your sin and you walk out feeling so crappy that you aren't sure if Jesus really died for you and you can't really see why he would want to anyway.  So all of this (that we've all endured in some way) leads us to seriously doubt whether we are worth dying for anyway.

This week, you'll hear a lot about Jesus, the cross, the resurrection, etc.  Given the fact that Easter is this Sunday, it will be hard to ignore.  One of the main things you will hear is this phrase, "Jesus died for your sins."  If I'm honest, this phrase has lost pretty much all meaning to me.  I know that sounds odd coming from a pastor, but I've been in church my entire life, and I've heard this phrase thousands of times.  Sometimes repetition leads to over-familiarity.  This doesn't mean that Jesus has lost meaning for me, or that the cross has lost meaning for me, but this phrase means basically nothing to me anymore.  I don't think I'm alone in this either.

I'm reading a stunning book called "To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility" by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.  It honestly might be one of the top five pieces of non-fiction that I've had the pleasure to read.  In it, he speaks of how God created us as beings who, in his creative image, continue the work of creation through healing the brokenness and injustice that we, as humans, inevitably cause.  I'm intrigued by this thought, because I've long rejected the still preached thought of most Christians that since Jesus is returning anyway, we basically just wait around until he returns, while the world degenerates further and further into a chaotic hellhole.  Most Christians see their only duty as proselytizing people so that more people will be on the heavenly train when God destroys this earth anyway.  

This video is pretty funny, and creative.  It's also a scathing indictment on war in the form of ethnic foods.  Good stuff.  

I just watched a news report video about a lawmaker in Oklahoma going on a rant about gay people.  In her rant (during which she didn't know she was being taped), she said that gays were more dangerous to this country than terrorists.  Let that one sink in for a minute.  I'm having a hard time understanding this line of thought.  I don't know, I guess I was just unaware that the 9/11 hijackers were, in fact, a gang of Arab homosexuals, and not terrorists.  

We've covered the fact that God gets angry, and almost exclusively over injustice.  But what about Jesus?  What pushed his unhappy button?  

This morning I started reading through the book of Isaiah.  And by "started," I mean, "haven't even scratched the surface."  I like reading the books of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible because they were so focused on making this world a better place through justice.  One theme, though, stands out in most of the prophets' writings...God is ticked.  

John McCain told a reporter on his campaign bus today, "I hate the gooks.  I will hate them as long as I live."  My first reaction to reading that was, "Did he just say that?"  I am absolutely staggered by that kind of bigotry.  

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Every family has one, and he's ours."  Right now, you're probably thinking about the "one" in your family.  We always say this, meaning that every family has a black sheep, someone who is a mess and has so many problems.  

My kid has been saying "dada" forever.  I love hearing it, I'm not going to lie.  But last night my wife said, "Ezra, say 'daddy'."  "Daaaddy" was his reply, with a big gap-tooth Spongebob smile on his face.

Did you know that the problem with America is that too many men pee sitting down?  I didn't either until I watched this wonderful sermon.

Giants 17 - Patriots 14

I was reading the story of the most fertile man in all of the Bible, Jacob. Jacob is the man who's name would later be changed to Israel, who would then found a nation of the same name. You may have heard of them. So anyway I'm reading the story, and it actually made me laugh out loud.

If you don't know the story, let me give you a quick rundown. Jacob sees a girl named Rachel. Rachel is the youngest daughter of a guy named Laban. Laban has another daughter named Leah. Any questions so far? Good. Jacob likes what he sees in Rachel, so he makes a deal with Laban. If I work for you seven years, you will, in enchange, give me Rachel to be my wife. Laban thinks this sounds like a good plan. He works seven years, and this is what he says at the end of his tenure: "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her."

HA! That's beyond hilarious. If I would have said something like to my would-be father in law seven years ago, he would have done one of two things, 1)Cave my head in with a crowbar (he's capable of this by the way) or 2)Cave my head in with a crowbar, remove my genitals with something sharp, and then eaten my soul. At least Jacob didn't hide his intentions.

So the story says that Laban tricks Jacob into sleeping with Leah (the older one), Jacob then marries her. He isn't in love with Leah, but he apparently has no problem sleeping with her. After a long and drawn out process, Jacob marries Rachel as well, who turns out to be barren. Jacob then start impregnating anyone who walks within arm's reach (or the reach of something else). He has twelve boys and a girl with (get this) FOUR DIFFERENT WOMEN! The boys would form the tribes of Israel, thus founding the nation of Israel.

So if any little Israeli child looks at their mother and says, "Who's my daddy?" The mother can trace it all the way back to Jacob, who apparently knocked up half of the Middle East at the time, and thus became the babydaddy to an entire nation of people.

Here's the thing I love about this story...it's messy. The Bible is full of the stories of people who were bigger trainwrecks than Brittany Spears, and yet God does great things through them anyway. The moral of the story is that you're never far from God. You're never too big of a mess to be loved by him. You're never too far gone. All it takes is the realization that tere's something out there bigger than you, and that bigger something happens to love you as you are. The reality is that you can't be a bigger mess than Jacob...or David...or Moses for that matter. You're loved whether you believe it or not.

Some people say (rightly) that America has gone off the deep end when it comes to food consumption and fat ingestion, but even America hasn't come up with this yet.

Cheeseburger in a can.

I'm assuming, given the language on the sight, that it is German. Wow, first they gave us the bratwurst, and now this. What culinary genuises. I'm not sure if I'm amused or revolted. Maybe both.

I recently re-read the story of the fall in Genesis. If you nothing of the Bible, the fall is the term used for when humanity sinned for the first time and everything went down the proverbial crapper. At it's very core, the story of Adam and Eve is the story of all of humanity. I'll give you an example, but first, let me give you a quick run-down of events, mixed in with actual quotes from the Scriptures.

God creates people affectionately known as "Adam" (earth or dirt), and "Eve" (living). He calls them "good," but he places a tree in the middle that he tells them not to eat from (this is the equivalent to telling a 2 year old to not stick his hand into the cookie jar). One day, Eve is strolling her naked self through the garden and she comes across a serpent (the personification of all that is evil), who has some tricksy words for her concerning this tree. He convinces her that eating of the fruit of this "forbidden" tree will deliver all sorts of wonderful things her way. Lo and behold, she makes the wrong choice (don't we always make the wrong choice?), takes a bite, and all hell breaks loose. Here's where the story takes, at least in my mind, a funny twist (and by funny, I mean tragic). Here's the actual dialogue from the story:

God: Where are you?

Adam: I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.

God: Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?

Adam: The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.

God (to Eve): What is this you have done?

Eve: The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

Seriously, it's almost like you expected the serpent to next say, "Dude, don't blame me, you created me, so it's probably your fault." We really don't like taking responsibility for anything do we? How many times have you been caught doing something, and your synapses start firing, "Who can I pin this on?" No one likes taking responsibility for anything negative that we cause; if the story teaches us anything, it's that this is part of the human condition. How many times have you heard of a marriage breaking up because of infidelity, and the person who slept around claims that the other spouse drove them to do it? It happens all the time. The reality is that the man (or woman) couldn't control themselves, and they bought the lie that the grass was greener on the other side. Take responsibility for the lives you've destroyed through your actions.

Here's the interesting thing about the story in Genesis, the whole team (read: all of creation) pays the price for it.

Sometimes our junk has consequences for those around us, doesn't it? Sometimes our mess spills over onto someone else. The best thing that we can do in these situations when we fail (and we tend to do that from time to time), is to man up and take responsibility for the people we've hurt.

This is my biggest problem with our current President (and, to be fair, most of our Presidents). He screwed up big time with the Iraq situation (I'm sorry if you don't agree with that, but deal with it, the evidence is all over the place), and he's taken absolutely no responsibility for it. Bill Clinton was the same way. He had an affair in the Oval Office, lied about it under oath, then later admitted to it. Here's the thing, he never once took any responsibility for it, and he hasn't to this day. I don't think these are bad men, but they refuse to take responsibility for their actions. Both instances hurt a lot of people, all I want is to hear, "I screwed up and I'm sorry."

My guess is that this won't happen though, because, hey, "The dog ate my homework."

Have you ever been cruising through life, thinking all the while, "I'm an okay person," when all of a sudden, something happens that causes you to stop and say, "Ok, maybe not"? I had one of those experiences yesterday. Don't get me wrong, I don't walk around thinking my crap doesn't stink, I'm well aware of numerous flaws in my life and my ministry, but I certainly didn't think I was too bad.

I got a call last week from a mom (whom I've never met), wanting me to meet with her daughter (whom I've never met), because she's at her wits end and she just needed someone to talk to. I agreed to meet with the daughter, although I did tell the mom not to expect too much from the meeting. I set up the meeting for yesterday. My experience with this sort of thing is this:

- Mom needs help, has tried a couple of avenues. Calls a youth minister because she wants her kid fixed, and youth ministers generally counsel for free.
- Mom has grand illusions that one half hour with said youth minister will miraculously cure kid of various teenage demons.
- Mom drags kid in against their will, kid sits there while the youth minister dies inside because he really has no idea what to do.
- Kid leaves and mom shakes her head because kid is apparently beyond help.

This has happened on a number of occasions. I don't mind counseling, however, I generally like to counsel students who I have a relationship with through church. When they know you, they tend to open up a bit more. Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to the meeting yesterday.

Anyway, the girl comes in and it turns out that we met once at the middle school where I attend lunch periodically just to spend time hanging out with the students.

Strike one.

She sits down, and I proceed to tell her that she probably has some preconceived ideas of what I'm going to say because I'm a youth minister, which she affirms with a nod of her head. I then tell her that I'm probably not what she expects, and I have no intention of preaching at her about anything, it isn't my style. She seems to relax a bit when I say this.

I asked her why she was there and she said that she kind fo wanted to talk to someone.

Strike two.

After I ask her a few more questions, she starts opening up about how her dad has been in and out of her life (more out than in it turns out), and she feels like part of her problem (I would say 90%) is that she really wants him to be a part of her life.

Strike three, I'm officially an awful person.

I won't give any more details about the meeting, but I felt pretty terrible when she left. It was like receiving a back hand across the face from God. It was like I could hear him saying, "Dude, you have a way to go in the love and compassion areas, snap out of it moron...oh yeah, and I still love you, but you suck at humility." As the girl talked to me and opened up, I didn't see a juvenile delinquent (like I expected), I saw a girl who needs a daddy. I saw a girl who really feels unloved by her dad. I saw a girl that really needed to get some stuff off her chest. I saw a girl who is truly seeking for wholeness, whether that's how she would state it or not. I left her my email address and told her to email me if she ever needs to just rant and rave and cuss or whatever. My sincere hope is that she takes me up on that offer. I want her to find the love that she seeks. I want her relationship with her dad to be healed. If God chooses me to be a part of that process, great, but at this point, he could probably find someone better.

Sorry God. Sorry to the girl also, in the event that you stumble upon this blog.

I'm reading "Stumbling Toward Faith." It's written by a woman who, as a child, was repeatedly raped by her "Christian" father while he recited the Lord's Prayer and sang hymns. How's that for messed up? Oh yeah, and to top it all off, he said that it was happening as a punishment for her sins. Wow, there are no words to describe someone who is that evil.

The thing I'm finding very intresting in this book is her retelling of church experiences. She's tried a little bit of everything, and nothing seems to really fit. Christians have said some horribly ridiculous things to her by trying to give her "answers" as to why these things happened in her life. The problem is that there are no answers at all. There isn't an answer that will suffice. This book, besides being an intriguing read, is giving me some great insight in dealing with problems. I have students come to me periodically with their stuff. Sometimes it's your garden variety, "I'm in high school and my life sucks" type of stuff, but I've had much more serious situations brought to me. I've long been an advocate of shying away from easy answers to life's problems. The book is giving me great insight as to what people in severe situations are thinking. I recommend it.

This is hilarious.

He may not get an "A" in the intelligence department, but you have to admire his ingenuity and drive.

Let me just say right off the bat that I have no problem with people wearing crosses. If people want to wear it as jewelry, far be it from me to stop them. For a great many people, the cross is a symbol of an inward change that has taken place in their lives . For many, it is a symbol of liberation from an addiction. For some, it's just a really expensive gift from a boyfriend/husband who's trying to buy their affection (actually, I think I do have a problem with this one, but whatever). I don't personally wear one and probably never will, but I have my own reasons. Just know that I'm not throwing stones at people who decide that they want to wear one or get one tattooed on any number of appendages/quadrants of the body.

Let me tell you what I think of when I see a cross. I think of a guy who said the wrong things to the wrong government. I think of a guy who fought against the religious establishment, and they fought back violently. I think of a guy who was tired of seeing the people he loved being oppressed, so he did something about it, he died for it. I think of a guy that started a movement that even the most corrupt and evil governments or individuals are powerless to stop (in the words of Ben Harper, "You can kill the revolutionary, but the revolution you can never bury"). I think of a guy who knew I was destined to die for all of the times I miss the mark and he said, "Not today, let me." I think of a guy who actively pursues me and invites me to return when I'm in one of my obstinate and dry seasons. I see the death that I have to die if I really want to live. What do you see?