The Necessity of Contextualization or Rethink your Facebook Verses

A good friend of mine is doing several blog entries concerning the story line of scripture. (You can read his blog here...it is way better than mine.) Anyway, I began to think about the necessity of understanding the grand scheme of scripture, and that brought me to another line of thinking.

Try and follow me here...if we are inerrantists(the bible is the sovereign word of God), and we affirm that Scripture is a grand story line concerning God's plan, then we can come to the conclusion that Scripture is revealed in a way that makes the ORDER of the Books and stories a necessity. The same way you cannot take a novel and remove parts of the story, you cannot take out pieces of the meta-narrative($10 word that means story of everything) and still have it make sense.

Scripture is placed in a certain order for a reason, and it was placed this way by God's design. Still tracking? Good...let's move on.

Now this drew me to the conclusion that it could possibly go deeper than this. If we assume the stories are placed in a certain order, then we can affirm that the verses themselves are placed in a specific order to tell the story.

Now why does this matter? I think that the loss of context among Christians is a problem. This is nothing new under the sun, but I want to add my two cents.

It came to me today sitting in class that there are a few very specific verses that seem to be prime targets for decontextualization.(taking them out of context) For example, In Jeremiah Chapter 29 the Lord says to the people of Israel "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call to me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you" (Jer. 29:11-12 NIV)    Does this verse sound familiar? It litters peoples refrigerators, facebook profiles, and anywhere else people write down favorite scripture. Heck, I like it a lot in that format. But let us take a step back and see what it is really saying.

This is a line from a letter that Jeremiah is writing to the people in exile. These people were taken from Israel into Babylon. There are false prophets everywhere saying that the Lord will deliver the people soon. Jeremiah writes this letter out of instruction from the Lord, telling the people what to do.  

These people are IN PUNISHMENT and DISCIPLINE when Jeremiah writes this to them. This is not a happy verse. The Lord is saying this to these people in a negative context. He is saying that this (the exile) is the plan I have for you. I am putting you through trials in order that you may learn to trust me better. There is NO OTHER way to go except my way and I am demonstrating this to you now. When you learn this, then you will come and pray to me and you will find me where I have always been, leading you down the straight and narrow path. 

The Lord shows us here that there is only his way, the way the Scripture demonstrates it to us, the way of the Gospel. When we look at the context of these snippet verses, we see that they are not always what people think they are. Examine Scripture closer, you will be amazed at what you can find. 

Wow....that was a long one. I hope you liked it, and I hope it made sense. Mine don't always do that...

-B

Responding to The Word.

Yet again, it has been a while since I have written. So I am going to stop procrastinating and I am going to hit the ground running with this first entry in a month. This one is for you Luke...

I was sitting in church on sunday and I heard a sermon that took a very well known passage/parable and turned it in such a way that I had never heard before. The passage was the parable of The Good Samaritan. If you have never read it or haven't read it in a while go ahead and flip to it right now and give it a look...I'll wait...Luke 10:25-37 if you need the rference

-

-

-

-

Done? Good...So J.D. (Dr.Greear if you only know him by his pastoral name.) was discussing Injustice, and how many non-christians believe the church is responsible for tons of injustice over the centuries. (go here to listen to the whole sermon, it's worth it. I am only giving you a small slice.) He spoke about the parable of the Good Samaritan and how it relates to breaking down the injustice and hatred in our lives. 

Yes. It is true that the church has committed atrocities in the past...but would it be a stretch to say that these injustices were not caused by "Christians" or even just "Christ Centered Christians"(CCC for short), but by people who had lost the focus of the Gospel? I do not think so. This is what the parable of the Good Samaritan is addressing.

A lot of preachers and teachers have looked at this parable as "what we need to be/what we should be". They say that we need to be the good Samaritan being willing to help anyone we see in need. This is true, and I am in no way saying it is not a model that we should follow. But I think there is a better interpretation that was pointed out by J.D.

I think that we are better to look at ourselves as the man beaten on the side of the road. Why do I say that? Because it accurately describes our situation before the Lord. We are beaten and wounded by sin, left for death and destruction, with no hope of being healed under our own power. Then along comes Christ, our savior, who picks us up and brings us to safety and salvation in him. See how that fits? We were dead in our sin, and Christ lifted us out of it. Wow that sounds strangely like the Gospel to me...

Two "christians" (if I can be bold, but I do use a lower case "c") walked by this man and did nothing. English philosopher Edmund Burke once said "The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing." When we stop seeing ourselves as the Good Samaritan, and starting seeing ourselves as the dying man, I think we can begin to understand the true amount of grace in our lives. 

In summary, when we focus on grace, pride is smashed. When pride is smashed, atrocity and injustice go with.

Hope it made you think.

-B out

 

happiness, joy, or content? ...None of the above.

So how do you find joy in a situation you are completely discontent with? This is a question i honestly ask myself every day. I wonder out loud why God has put me in this place. I have no idea where to begin in finding joy here. 

I write this from the cave. This is the second cave i have owned. A cave is a bedroom with very little light. It is dark, like a cave. My cave. I Like it. Ask Spencer about my first cave. I like solitude during the week, and balls to the wall excitement on the weekends. Why do people think I am depressed? 

So what I am a little quirky when it comes to my living style. I find myself wishing for a fantasy world of ease of life. Where problems can be solved with a few kind words, and in less than an hour. I dream of a place where people to people interactions are easy. Where everyone gets along, and no one is looked down upon. Where is this place i drift off to so often?

I used to make alot of fun of teenage angst. But the older i have gotten the more i have realized it doesn't go away. It just manifests itself in different aspects of your life. You just start calling it different things. Stress, anxiety, etc etc. 

Reguardless of what we do we are still fallen. There is not one good thing in us. Chew on that. 

Broken vessels in a fallen world. We can never earn or work our way out of our pits and evil ways. 

True depression does not come from being weary of pain, it comes from being weary of pleasure.

When we realize the one thing in this world we thought would bring us happiness lets us down, that is when depression happens.

I am not depressed, i just think to much. 

I hate to sound like a whiney 14 year old, but sometimes that is just what falls out of my brain. Deal with it. And rather then cutting it down, answer some questions for me. 

-B out

so so long.

So my last post was on may 23rd, and here we are almost at the end of August and I haven't written one until now. So to my 4 loyal readers...i will update you all on my life.

-I am back at school. 

-I am taking 18 credits this semester. 

-I like my classes.

-I'm still tall.

I will try and write a more in depth entry about my thoughts and feelings as of late. But that will be later tonight. I write more in depth when i am sleepy. Ill see ya.

Summertime is finally here..

I apologize for the lack of posts the last few weeks, finals kicked me right in the nuts and I am still nursing them back to health. Once summer kicks off there will be more updates. I promise.

-B out

The Truth

What is more important in this world than the truth? Tell me this is not more factual than when you are on the receiving side of a lie...

The truth matters in the universe. This is why I do not understand people who say that there is no truth. Well obviously that statement is contradictory because they imply that that statement is true. Right? If everything is meaningless, then what I have said is meaningless, then in essence I have said nothing at all. Right?

It is amazing how much the truth matters in our everyday lives. 

Always search for the truth in whatever you do. It is the most powerful weapon on earth.

-B out

I dont have a clever title tonight

Life goes on. With all of my friends graduatiing, and me having to find a new job for the summer, that is what I have learned over the past week. Life goes on. 

And honestly...that is the best part about it. 

No matter which way you look at it, we are never stuck in the same place for too long right? We can always look forward to the future. 

Life goes on.

We are always on the move, and we need to appreciate that for what it is, if you understand the fact that something is going to end, you can treasure it more. Take it slow. Raise your hand if 3 years ago you thought you were going to be in college forever. But your not, and it is over. And guess what? Thats ok. 

There is something big, and beautiful, and amazing, and mind blowing, just around the next turn. LIVE YOUR LIFE...and love every second of it. Because you cant take it with you when you go. 

Do a random act of kindness, make a stranger smile, ENGAGE PEOPLE! Life is to short for us to be trapped in our little world forever. 

Life goes on.

-B

Reality Check...literally...is it there?

So I haven’t updated my blog in quite a long time. My bad. I am writing this while I sit in class. I have pondered why I came to Southeastern in the first place. I left Christopher Newport University because I am looking for something. I am still searching for it. I am looking for answers to this crazy thing called life. I guess I came here to try and find some answers to why I believe what I believe. But I am beginning to think I came to the wrong place. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great school, the professors know their stuff. But I think I am looking for something besides what they offer in classes. I know I have faith, I know I am a Christian, but why is this the correct way? I mean I know it is correct, but my head doesn’t co-inside with my heart. I look at people around me here and I do not see any parts of myself in them. Some of them hang on every word of their professors, but I am so skeptical. I do not doubt God, I guess I doubt myself.

            That feels like the harder thing to doubt. Or at least, it makes me feel worse. I doubt myself in a lot of areas in my life, and it makes things hard sometimes. I don’t know if it is the same as self confidence, but it is probably close. I doubt a lot of my abilitys, but is this bad? I mean according to Descartes, this makes me know I am alive. Because of my doubt I know I exist. What an amazing statement. Cogito Ergo Sum. I think therefore, I am. Because I am writing this blog you all who read this know I exist.

            I like philosophical things like that. Reality is a crazy thing, I love trying to understand it. But if I close my eyes, will it all go away?

This Sucks...

I mean I know it has been 2 months or so since it happened...but can I just say how much it sucks that Heath Ledger died. I am sitting here watching The Patriot and he is a freakin awesome actor. 

He really didn't have to many movies under his belt considering how long he had been acting, but it still feels like an awesome person died really early.

I know I am going to be at The Dark Knight on the first day to support him. He was an awesome guy.

The Monotony of Routine OR WHy restaurants are Werid Places

I am sitting in a coffee shop in downtown Williamsburg at 1230 in the afternoon while my gal is in class. I love not having classes on fridays. I am on my macbook and listening to music watching all the students and tourists come and go. It is actually kind of amazing how so many people can come and go without ever stopping to interact with one another. It bottles my mind (yes bottles...like things are so crazy your thoughts are trapped in a bottle) how obsessed people can become with the routine of everyday life. People want everything on the fly and they don't care what the cost. I was cut in line when I got here by a lady and her daughter, they thought they needed their lunch at such a speed that I was not even in their minds. But at the same time it is not something one should get worked up over. 

I think that is true about alot of things about life. People honk the horns of their cars at me when I am moving to slow in the fast lane. Don't worry, your latte at Starbucks will be there when you get there. There is no need to almost run me off the road to get to it faster. But there is no need for me to get pissed and almost cause an accident. Life is way to fragile and beautiful to worry about stuff like that.

I wonder if those people even know that they are alive, or if they are so consumed with their schedules that they forget to live. A man much smarter than me once said that "the Journey is what matters, not the destination." The end will come, don't you worry, but the journey is what really builds character and makes a person a living, breathing human being.

If we constantly run through life we forget to experience it. And that can be the greatest tragedy of our time. 

And seriously...Restaurants? I have never understood them. We pay people to fix our food. we OVERPAY people to fix food for us. I am pretty sure i can make the exact thing at home without having to pay anyone...i simply have to buy the ingredients. What makes a sandwich from Panera so much better than the one I can fix at my house for so much less? Again, Mind Bottleing.

"Slow down everyone, you're moving to fast. Frames cant catch you when you're moving like that"-Jack Johnson

life is a sucker punch sometimes

I mean seriosuly...do you ever feel like life lands a right hook to your jaw? I mean I feel like sometimes i need to wear a mouth guard when I am having conversations. As far as I am concerned life is winning the fight, and there is nothing you can do about it. 

"Depression does not come from being weary of pain, it comes from being weary of pleasure"-G.K. Chesterton

Semi pro athletes or Giving amateurs a chance.

So I was watching the masters opening this morning, and they had arnold palmer hit the opening shot. Which got me thinking...alot of sports do this "special player" opening. In baseball they have famous people throw the first pitch etc, etc. 

I think it would be hilarious if they let the NFL do this. Get a famous person to do the opening kickoff but they have to play the play. Like if it comes down to it they would have to make the tackle. I would love to see some actor that loves the Titans suit up and play.

oh oh oh oh OR The Right Stuff.

New Kids on The Block are doing a reunion tour and album...dreams do come true.

No experience Necessary to Live OR Check your Life at the Door.

When I was growing up I would hear a lot of people tell me about their mistakes, in order to try and prevent me from making them. I found that no matter how hard they tried, i would always make the mistake in the end.  But I do not think this is necessarily a bad thing. 

Mistakes are one of the best learning and growing tools in the world. If we always did everything perfectly life would be pretty boring in my opinion. 

But I want to try and take this a step further. What happened to the idea of college and university that I had growing up? I wanted to go to college to learn who i was, not to be told who I am.  I know it is a cliche to say, but it does seem like we pay $80,000 for a handshake and a piece of paper saying we are proficient in some field. Some field that is practical. But what I want is a degree that says I am proficient in an ideological field. I want to be asked the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?", except on a level that is useful to a 21 year old. Why can't I get a degree in something I am interested in and still have it lead to a good job?

I think that we should be able to live for ourselves. I want to think for myself. I no longer want people to tell me how to think and feel in different situations. I don't want to read self-help books. It seems we check our individuality at the door when we sign up for life. We conform to a dimension that society wants us to. What happened to free thinkers? I want to make mistakes and get hurt, and then grow because of it. 

I want to have my own experiences, and try to understand yours as well. Shake hands and meet different people who don't see eye to eye with me, and try to understand the context of their lives instead of being self absorbed in my own.

Yes I know this post was scattered in thought, and probably a little hard to follow. But get what you can out of it.  Ill see ya.

-B

Left or Right OR Just Understand.

It is always so late/early when I think of these things. But oh well, it seems to be when my mind is most clear and ready to try and jot things down onto paper....errr...online journal.

Earlier today I began to think about choice. I went out to the refrigerator in my garage looking for a soda. Not just any soda mind you, but a cherry coke. I was jonesing for one. When i got there I found we actually dint have any Cherry Coke, so i started to settle for a regular coke. But I stopped and thought about it for a second. Then put it back deciding I really didnt need to drink a soda in the first place. 

But why is that odd? Well it got me thinking about choices we make. Every day we make hundreds of choices big choices like where to go to school, who to date, etc. etc. And we also make smaller ones like banana slurpee or coke slurpee. (Pick banana every time or we will have a problem). But what is choice? Two options are placed in front of us, and we choose the one we see as the best fit for the particular situation. 

But is that all or does it go deeper than that? What if all of our choices are already made, and we are simply living them out? God knew if I was going to have a soda today, before i ever woke up this morning. How is that my choice then? But what if this is different? What if humans ultimately don't have choice? I think we do have something to help us with this through. We have reason and understanding.

I think that our choices are already made. We cannot ultimately change the courses of our lives, but we don't know how they are going to turn out. The choices we make today will effect the outcome of tomorrow. But I think there is a more pressing issue with choice, and that is the need to truly understand out choices. In the end the future is not up to us, there is a plan set in motion. We just have to try and understand that plan. If I am sitting at a table eating and I decide I may want some salt on my food, God already knows if I use the salt shaker. It is not my job to try and make that choice. It IS my job however to understand why I am committing this action, not to just blindly step into it. I think that if we as humans can begin to understand choices as opposed to just blindly making them, then we would really be in for a jump in human reason.

the best medicine or till you pee your pants.

sometimes you just gotta laugh.

living forward or living backwards

I had a thought. I got to thinking to day about memory, and how strange the past feels in the present. What makes memory such a tangible thing? Think about a vivid memory. Can you still taste it, smell it, or feel the emotions you had attached to it? I can. 

I wonder why we are engrained with memories. Why they stick with us for as long as they do. I look at events and situations in my life and wonder how i got here from there. When things happened and you thought that it was the best thing that ever happened, but yet they always end. I am not complaining, it is necessary for things to come to an end. It is the natural created order of things. Everything that happens, happens in the direction of an end. We can try to alter our paths in life, but regardless we will end up in the same place and wonder where the time went. 

So why not instead of dreaming of going to the past, you try to make the future better? Why not focus on the here and now. There is no such thing as an ordinary moment, there is always something going on. Find it, seek it out, drink it up. Make today the best day of your life. Because no one should regret anything. Find the little nuggets of joy in your life and exploit them. I am eating a pint of ice cream right now(no homo) because it is what I want most in the world. In 3 days I will get to kiss my girlfriend for the first time in 3 weeks. And I am going to take that moment and run with it. So live it up, because we are never guaranteed tomorrow. 

-B

"This is the dance for all the lovers, takin a chance for one another. Finally its our time now. These are times we'll remember, breakin the city sigh together. Finally it's our time now."

-Plain White Tees

Starting point or The Sub-Culture

    Modern Christianity has a problem. A very big problem that I cannot solve all by myself. We have written and argued ourselves into a corner.  We have established ourselves a sub-culture that is impenetrable by the common person who is interested in the Christian Worldview. Separate music, books, language, and identity all make the lifestyle of Christianity very confusing to anyone who is not part of the "in" crowd. 

Why? Why are we so different? Why do we think this is a good idea? We have separated ourselves from the very people we are supposed to love and minister to. I think it is because pf our rejection of anything that has the remote taste of the world on it. Now I am not saying that Christians should be one with the world. (Rom. 12:1-2) But i do think that we need to interact with the world on a more personal basis. 

For example, The Da Vinci code was a best selling novel for countless weeks all over the country and the world. It is estimated that over 45 million people have read it. Now I am just spit balling here...but don't you think that if we are ministering to people we should identify with people on that level? Common people are going to have question about the novel, and if we have not read it how are we supposed to answer those questions? 

I think that we as Christians are hurting ourselves in the long run by separating ourselves so much from the world. We need to interact with pop-culture in order to better reach the people who are lost in it. 

What I Believe or The Other Side of The Coin.

     A lot of people are going to be upset with this adventure that I am starting. I think that this blog is a long time coming, it is more personal than anything. I am not going to be one of those guys that is going to weep about his feelings online, but some things may get emotional. 

When I say emotional, people automatically think I mean sad. But no, i want it to make you angry. I want people to read this and think "that guys a dick...". It is going to be very sarcastic, it may be upsetting, but it is what i think and feel.

If you have a problem with me I would love to hear about it. Think of this as an open forum. I want people to lay their views out on the table so we can talk about and discuss them in a respectable manner. I have my opinions, and the beauty of the Internet is that I can share them without any immediate consequences. 

So lets go...