Author Archives: Dave

CNN has been carrying a story for the last couple of days about a Christian in Afghanistan who was imprisoned and faces death for professing his religious preference. He was holding a Bible in hand at the time he was arrested, and now faces the “opportunity” to renounce his faith. The last story I read on this (of course you can’t find it on CNN.com currently…it does, after all, have to do with Christianity), was that the press was not being permitted to see this gentleman.

People across the world go through this every day. The attend underground churches where they smuggle in a few pages torn from a Bible under risk of death. They’re willing to die for what they believe.

It makes me wonder what we’re willing to do for our freedoms. We have the option of attending a church of our choice on the day of our choice, or no church at all if that is our choice, without risk of the secret police knocking on our doors at night. We are so comfortable in our freedom that we aren’t really willing to stand up for anything anymore.

I find this so obvious in our society today because Christians will barely speak against the discrimination we face in America. It is, after all, okay to be of any religious preference in America except Christianity. We are accused of being the intolerant bigots, and we’ve allowed this perversion of our constitutional freedoms to permeate the highest levels of our government with our silence. I wonder when we will realize that we can’t afford to be silent any longer? Most likely after its too late. It also saddens me that many Christians get on television and say stupid, Falwell-like things about minority groups on television, and gain a reputation for Christians as bigots. We’re supposed to love, but we don’t. Enough of that, though…I already went there in a previous post.

What amuses me is that, as members of various other faiths push to have Christianity eliminated from polite conversation and from any presence at all in our society, they are actually harming themselves, because the of legal precedent that they are assisting in creating to eliminate our freedoms of religious expression. How easily our freedom to worship as we choose and belong to the faith that we choose might be taken away.

Sound impossible? Well, so did the ability of the government to spy on American citizens until a few months ago.

We just keep giving it away.

You know, there are times when I find this strange peace, kind of an eccentric happiness in the middle of my chaos.

Sort of like how it’s almost 1:00, and I have to be up in a few hours, but for some reason, I’m not stressed out about this.

Or how I am completely and totally overwhelmed with papers and projects and mid-terms…almost more than one human being is capable of accomplishing. If you throw a couple of jobs and planning a wedding on top of that, it’s a miracle I keep my sanity.

But I just sort of realized tonight, that, as much as I’m prone to complain, that I really enjoy being a student. I think that, perhaps, part of the reason I’m happier is because I’ve had an opportunity to write this weekend, so I don’t have all this creativity pent up inside me looking for an outlet that I don’t have time to give. Maybe it also has to do with the fact that I kind of am beginng to see the things in my life as a universal creative outlet, which is a perspective that tends to get ripped away from me when I’m in the midst of my cacophonous schedule.

Or, maybe I’m just rambling incoherently, and just really need some sleep.

Yeah, maybe that’s it.

Okay. Good night!

I was intending to continue the discussion from my previous post tonight, but something happened that has left me hurting inside, and I have to talk about it, instead.

I ran into an acquaintance in a coffee shop tonight. He used to occasionally attend a church where I formerly on staff. He was raised as a Muslim, but since moving to this country has been exploring other avenues of faith. He is, in evangelical terminology, a seeker. He is searching for God.

He began a discussion with me about if I believe the Bible, if I believe its message about Jesus. I told him that I do. He told me that one of the reasons he didn’t buy into Christianity is because Christians don’t understand what Jesus taught.

I’ll paraphrase his words:

“I am not a smart man or a scholar, but when I read the Bible, I see that Jesus teaches us to love. Jesus loved everyone. Christians hate.”

He talked about how Christians hate him and ostracize him because of his nationality. He told horror stories of the treatment he had received since 9-11. He related his discouragement at how Christians hate others, and hate each other. How we get on television and say stupid, bigoted things. Obviously, he claimed, Christians don’t understand Jesus’ teachings, because Jesus told people to love, and those who claim to follow His teachings today hate.

He doesn’t believe the Good News, in large part, because of this. His view from the outside looking in: Christ-Followers argue and fight with each other, and hate others based on the color of their skin, nationality, or religious preference, just like everyone else does.

And you know what? I can’t help but think that he is right.

What have we done?

This concept from Ecclesiastes keeps resurfacing in my life of late. It’s all vanity. Kind of a “life sucks” concept. Well, actually, life doesn’t suck right now, it’s amazing, because I’m planning a wedding with someone I’ve barely known a month. Oh well. When you know, you know. So life is awesome, with one small exception. It’s called grad school.

Specifically, Seminary. I’m in my fourth semester of Seminary currently. I’ll graduate with my master’s next December. And I am so disillusioned I cannot even relate it accurately.

I came to Seminary with this really incredible concept of what it would be. I love to learn, and I couldn’t think of a better topic to study that God. I had this idealistic view of how amazing the next three years or so would be.

So now, if I were to list the top three things in my life that have drawn me the farthest away from God, I would place Seminary at the top of the list. Because Scripture is very rarely a topic of conversation in Seminary. Administrative professional training is, and even that is taught from a pretty twisted perspective. A huge majority of your time is spent wrestling with useless things like theology.

Yes, I said it. Theology is useless. We can’t wrap our brains around God. We should stop trying. The Bible is simple. We can understand that. The rest of these academic debates are frivolous and completely stupid, and, quite honestly, I think they tick God off.

When asked about what the greatest commandement was, Jesus said to Love God with all your heart soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. That’s as complicated as it gets. Maybe we should get back to that?

Or would that not seem “academic” enough?

Why is there so much stuff??

Something that’s been really impressed on my mind and my heart in the past few weeks is that there’s always so much more stuff, so much more…everything.

There’s always newer cars, newer computers, newer iPods, newer toys. I’m a guy. I have a weakness for cool new toys. We slave and we suffer to earn a bigger paycheck, and there’s always something more to buy, something more to go into debt for. I’m slaving away to finish this master’s degree, and I’ve already had people telling me not to stop, that I need to get another degree after that. But see, after that would be another degree, and another, and another.

After the next new toy, there would just be another to buy, and another, and another…

After we learn so much that we think we’re intelligent, there’s just more to learn…

When we think we know what’s happening in the world, there’s more information to know…

Tonight, I really just want to throw my hands in the air and scream, enough already!! I don’t want anymore! I’m exhausted just from trying to keep up! The author of Ecclesiastes had a point: it’s all just vanity. The original Greek word carried the connotation of a vapor, or passing breath. It’s just that temporary. It’s gone before you know it, and all that effort and time and money we’ve spent on it means exactly nothing.

What important things in life do we let go by because we were trying to acquire, or buy, or learn the next thing? How many relationships, with people, with God? How many wonderful times sacrificed because we stayed late at the office, or pulled an all-nighter for an exam?

I see all this stuff out there, and I see us buried alive. Suffocating. We can’t claw our way to the surface, because we keep pulling more stuff in on top of ourselves. And we still don’t get it.

Eventually, we won’t be able to breathe anymore at all.

Then what?