a tiger and his six-year-old - Part II

This series is inspired by a Calvin and Hobbes comic that touches on an important concept. If I remember correctly from my bathroom reading, the first picture is of Calvin having recently caught a butterfly in a glass jar. The second frame Hobbes somberly comments "If people could put rainbows in zoo's, they'd do it". The third frame is of Calvin looking contemplative, holding an empty glass jar high in the air and the butterfly fluttering away to freedom.

Last entry talked about the negative effects of replicating cheaper versions of beautiful creations such as art, food, and music.

This entry will deal with something far more serious.

orangutans

... not really. It will deal with faith and maybe love... and possibly we will touch into the primate realm, but don't get your hopes up.

I want to clarify something before I go any further in this post though. My argument is not that having wide spread access to beauty is a bad thing. It is an observation of the negative impact that this widespread availability can have when....

A: we lose our appreciation of the beauty because we have become numb to it.

B: we begin settling for cheap or false imitations of authentic beauty.

C: we can no longer differentiate between the authentic and the artificial.

If inspiration was found from somebody hearing Beethoven's 5th and it pushed them into a creative frenzy which led to yet another masterpiece being produced... that would not be a bad thing. It would be a bad thing if because you heard Beethoven's 5th your entire life, you never learned to appreciate what a beautiful piece of art it is. Make sense?

application:

So, most of you probably already see the connection to faith that exists with this concept.

Let's use the Gospel as an example.

Is it a bad thing that the Gospel is very widespread and available for many people to receive?

No, not a bad thing at all.

Is it a bad thing when a snot nosed kid goes through Sunday school, confirmation, all the bible camps, church retreats and mission trips, and eventually finds their way to a college campus and realizes that for the past eighteen years of their life they were simply being sent down a giant feel-good conveyor belt with a wwjd fish sticker slapped on it?

Yes, it is a bad thing.

and hey... guess what. this happens. a lot.

When I was in India last year one of the missionaries there made an interesting comment about the United States. He said something like "You are so clean you are making yourselves sick". This was referencing our lack of natural immunity because of our sterilized environments and how when we get out of those settings our bodies will often suffer more harm than they normally should because we never had an opportunity to allow our natural defenses to be built up.

Cleanliness is a good thing though? right?

I guess so, but when you realize that eventually you will find your way into a dirty environment you better be prepared to handle your surroundings appropriately.

Sometimes when we have exposure to something foreign or "bad" there is a change that takes place in us that allows us to survive. Physically you can see this happen when you get a flu shot... what makes the shot beneficial is that a small amount of the flu virus is placed in your body and it triggers your immune system and allows your body to become aware of a real potential threat and from this awakening of the flu as a threat, your body is now able to identify it and fight against it.

Another way to avoid getting the flu is to stay submerged in a bathtub filled with bleach and to use a filtered snorkel to help you maintain your breathing.

I think that many student ministries (parents included) use the bathtub of bleach approach to "discipleship" ( read-protecting) . They make sure their youth are constantly surrounded by the "right" friends, in the "right" school, listening to the "right" music... etc, and in most cases "right" can be roughly translated into "safe". Instead of holding hands with someone older and wiser and walking through a full spectrum of life, they only experience a very small and controlled glimpse of one specific picture of life. The result is that when they inevitably are forced to deal with opposition or danger, they are not prepared to stand on their own two legs and many times turn against the thing that has retarded their development... in this example, it is the church.

Jesus didn't do things like that. He made sure the disciples experienced the good, the bad, the rich, the poor, the joyful times, the times of mourning etc. As he walked his disciples through life, he was able to teach them and prepare them for a time when they would be on their own. Jesus did not use the bathtub of bleach technique... he gave his disciples a shot in the arm and said "this is real life, it doesn't feel good all the time and it is not going to. Remember that you are walking out my example, my love, my grace, and sharing my message to the lost and hurting with your words and actions. Now go out there and get your hands dirty because you know where to find me when you are bloodied and bruised and need to be bandaged up, and remember that through it all I will continue growing in my love for you" - (I think that is in "the message" version of Luke)

His life was set an example of true beauty, and demonstrated practically what the gospel looks like.

The majority of christians have settled for a cheaper more widespread version of the life we were called to live.

Bleach that.

translation:

A: we lose our appreciation of the beauty because we have become numb to it: The truth of salvation in Christ is absolutely beautiful. Our lives demonstrating freedom through Christ are just as beautiful and are a powerful testimony to who our God is. When we only see an environment that "celebrates" this or, at minimum claims it, we very quickly grow numb to the beautiful truth we are living in. This is even more the case if you have grown up within the system. This is an example of our faith changing from a belief to a sub-culture. We must be in "the world" in order to walk out our calling in obedience. It also reminds us of why the gospel really is good news.

B: we begin settling for cheap or false imitations of authentic beauty. When we simply begin protecting ourselves from the world instead of being a light in the midst of darkness, we are settling for a cheap imitation of our call. The Jesus of Suburbia talks about this concept. It argues that we have settled for a cheap and watered down imitation of Christ and in doing so we have settled for a cheap and watered down version of Christianity. I would agree.

C: we can no longer differentiate between the authentic and the artificial. The comfortably fear driven and gluttonous country club housewife who prays to Jabez for more Oil of Osteen and won't buy a cup of coffee from a "secular" store or give a dime toward a ministry that allows people with tattoos or minorities to do the work of the Lord, and is starting an anti-brothas to mothas team, can call herself a christian. The Apostle Paul is called a christian. Maybe that was a bad example? Basically, the cost of following Christ has lowered significantly since Jesus was walking the earth and demonstrating to us just what it meant to be his disciple, but we are still all put in the same category of "christian".

Ok... that is enough for now. we will approach "love" in part three perhaps?

Meanwhile, as usual, anyone who wants to give feedback is always invited...

... any bleach-babies out there?

a tiger and his six-year-old - Part I

There is a Calvin and Hobbes comic that touches on an important concept. If I remember correctly from my bathroom reading, the first picture is of Calvin having recently caught a butterfly in a glass jar. The second frame Hobbes somberly comments "If people could put rainbows in zoo's, they'd do it". The third frame is of Calvin with a delightful smile, holding an empty glass jar high in the air and the butterfly fluttering away to freedom.

I have learned a few things from my times with this unlikely pair, but this is one of the most profound illustrations that has left an impression on me.

I think it is true that when we find a good thing we are often times tempted to duplicate it or contain it in hopes of preserving the beauty we experience with it. We certainly do this with physical things... we recreate cheaper versions of beautiful art in hopes of spreading it to a wider audience, we record and distribute beautiful pieces of music at ease, we go to a restaurant chain that serves the same spectrum of food whether you are in Nairobi, Panama City, or Minneapolis.

We duplicate and distribute beauty freely...

...but...

...in doing so, have we lost our true appreciation of what is beautiful?

There was a time where you could not hang the Mona Lisa on your wall.

There was a time where Beethoven's 5th could only be experienced in a packed music hall.

There was a time when Curry could not be found in Minnesota.

It is hard for me to believe that I have the same appreciation for these expressions of art and beauty that I would if they were not readily available to me. It is extremely easy for us to lose our respect and cheapen our experience because of our abundance.

It is not so much that we have put a rainbow in a zoo. Rather, we have decided to make artificial rainbows and have them available every minute of every day to whoever can afford them. We didn't put the butterfly in a jar... we just made a cheaper version of the butterfly and flooded our streets with an overabundance of them.

love.

If we did this with music, art, and food.. do you really think that we would limit ourselves to simply replicate and cheapen the physically beautiful pieces of life...

Have we decided not to do this with the heart of true beauty, but limited it only to the work of our hands?

I would argue that we have not limited it at all.

The physical manifestations of this idea are very apparent, but the emotional and spiritual impacts are just as real, and we will talk about those in my next blog.

bacon and karma

bacon:

noun

Etymology: Germanic origin

meaning: The smoked or cured side of a pig.

karma:

noun

Etymology: Sanskrit

meaning: The force generated by a person's actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person's next existence.


I feel like I understand bacon pretty well. It is not a very complicated concept to grasp... and it is delicious. Because I understand bacon, I have no problem talking about bacon with other people or explaining what it is like to someone who still needs to be enlightened. Even if I did not like bacon, I feel like I am familiar enough with it that if someone else were to bring it up in conversation and told me how much they liked bacon I would be able to relate to them and understand why they feel the way they do about bacon. I have a pretty healthy understanding of bacon.

I am not an expert in this area, but karma seems to be a little more complicated than bacon. Also I would argue that, on a whole, karma has a greater influence in peoples theology than bacon does. I also think that people with religious beliefs that do not subscribe to the idea of karma are very quick to dismiss it without taking the time to understand why it is that other people embrace the idea. Things like this often times produce barriers rather than bridges... and I like to think that as a follower of Christ, I should be in the business of bridge building.

A friend of mine, Mark Herringshaw, seems to also care about this.

He recently wrote a book entitled

The Karma of Jesus

In this book, Mark looks at two normally separated areas in life: karma and grace.

The book is based off of a chance conversation that he had with a young man with a lot of questions. Karma and Christ are the focus of this conversation and as Mark recalls this event he draws some interesting conclusions of how the concept of karma interacts with the concept of grace. I read through this book last month and was interested to hear how grace and karma would fit together.

I feel as though I am able to better understand different ways of thinking after reading through his book and learning more about the history and application of karma. It definitely feels more like bacon than it did before.

Now, I have never done this before... but I am going to try something new...

Mark has offered to donate 2 copies of his book to readers of momentum, and I am going to make you work for them. so this is the deal...

The Deal

In the comment section beneath this blog, leave your most interesting, amusing, outrageous story dealing with Karma.

In one week I will pick two winners to receive a free copy of Mark's book based on the comment/stories that are left.

So... get going! leave some feedback! Win a free book!


Building bridges, eating bacon, understanding karma.

just that simple, just that easy.

Peace.

community mold, bonfires, and pianos.

I haven't posted in a bit... Life just got busy and beautiful.

I have been thinking about many things, one of which is how individualistic our society is. I am currently living in a house with three other guys, it is a pretty great setup. We are all quite different, but we all get along well and have been living in this house for almost 2 years now... really?.... wow.

Living this way is a little more complicated, but it is also extremely valuable. I will happily have someone use my detergent if it means I can afford to live in a place that has a washer and dryer. I would much rather deal with doing other peoples dishes if it means that I get to enjoy bonfires in the backyard. I sometimes have to clear out mold specimens from the fridge, but I have a piano in my living room. Yes, there is compromise that goes into an arrangement like this, but it is also an awesome environment to be in.

We live this way for a few reasons... one is that we are all a bit short of cash... kind of poor (obviously not poor in a global perspective, but still). We are all educated and have jobs, but still we have found that it would be tough to get by on our own, and 4 "kind of poor people" can pool their resources together and live in a much nicer place than they could otherwise afford. We get to live in a house, we have a kitchen, a basement, an upstairs, our own rooms, a living room, dining room... and that is awesome.

Also, we have each other. Our "night out" is the current standard of life. whether we are enjoying a bonfire, having a pint at the blue door, watching a movie in the basement, playing music in the living room... we live with our friends in a community.

Also, we are 4 single guys, so this is just a "bachelor pad" and is seen as a socially acceptable living arrangement. People have done this before us and will continue to live this way.

I've been living this way to some extent for the past 6-7 years locally and internationally, and now the thought of being outside a community like this is rather unattractive and foreign.

Granted, 4 single guys living together is looked at differently than other gender and relational dynamics... but is it really all that different of a concept? To live in a community and share life with others in a better environment does not sound like a bad deal at all.. married, single, whatever. I understand that having our own space is important... but do you really need a three level house for just the two of you? Doesn't that feel empty? Wouldn't there be something special about having those empty rooms and quiet hallways filled with a bit more life, and to be able to share with one another and to learn how to live in harmony with each other?

When we learn the value of sharing resources and working through compromise, it has been my experience that we see something beautiful come as a result.

Well, those are just a few thoughts on the topic, this entry wasn't too in depth.. but as usual, I hope it has given you something to ponder. Peace.