Tuesday, June 30, 2009

For the philosophy buffs out there

I think there is a big problem with the push for multiculturalism. The problem is this. There is always going to be someone somewhere who would react to your hugs, good deeds and gift of Coca Cola; by laughing, shooting you, and laughing some more. In other words, utopian multiculturalism will inevitably fail in the real world.

Now here's the kicker. As a Christian it is my job to love everyone I am around (not the gooey kind of love necessarily, but complete love). It doesn't matter if they are my friend or my enemy. What accompanies this, of course, is that I am responsible to share the truth with them if I am able. If I say to anyone out there that we are all God's children and everyone gets to the same place by different roads, then I would be turning my back on what is true. This conflicts with the idea of moral equivalency. The point is this. Why would people want to know Jesus unless there is something different and better about knowing him? In a society that promotes multiculturalism and moral equivalency between different belief systems, the only way for that to happen is for followers of Christ to live differently than everyone else.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

10 out of 10

People die. That is a statistic you can bank on. Today two celebrities died and the national media let us all know about it as soon as possible.

50 year-old men have heart attacks. In fact, two middle-aged men who go to my church had heart attacks last year (both of them survived, thankfully). And 62-year-old women get cancer. These are plain and simple facts of life.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not trying to minimize the lives of anyone, but it is interesting how we react when those who are never supposed to die, do. After all, these were not just people to our culture; they were practically divinity living among us.

So now the focus pans across their careers and lives; over the contributions they left behind. It begs the question also for you and me. What kinds of things will people remember about me when I die? Will I have a hair-do that influences a generation? Will I revolutionize the music world? Will I change my skin color?

Sometimes we stop and think about these questions. But more often than not, we soon forget about it and resume our fixation upon the silver screen immortals in front of us.

Monday, June 1, 2009

"When you want a hot meal without a big deal..."

Well, things are still busy here in my camp. I finished up my pre-nursing classes for the year, and now I'm looking at a program out west. If everything happens right, I may be back in school sooner than I thought. In the meantime I'm working, recording, doing youth group stuff, looking at jobs, and trying to tie up loose ends that have been hanging for the better part of the school year. When I stop and think, all I can think is "Shoot, have I got stuff to do."

However, no one really wants to read about how busy I am, so I will leave you with this. The other day I noticed that Hot Pockets are kind of undignified in the world of food. They are made strictly for the microwave (you can bake them if you really want to, but who does that?). No glamor, no thoughtful preparation; just a few laps around the humming box until cheese oozes out the end. I got to thinking about this poor existence, and what came to my mind are people whose lives seem to fall under the same category. Some folks are dealt a duller hand than others in whatever way, and they can get a Hot Pocket complex if they aren't careful.

But the bottom line is, God has made all human beings with the same worth. All have been made with wonder and dignity; in the very image of God. Circumstances do not equal worth, although that is a lie that we can come to believe at times. May that not be the case, or at least no longer.