Simplicity – Part 6: Technology

This week I downgraded my cell phone from a very nice HTC Mogul PPC to a normal cell phone.  I know many of you are thinking that I am so stupid, but here is the back story.

I have gone through 4 of these phones because the original phone broke and they just keep sending me refurbs.  Each of the refurbs have their own problems.  But most of all is that I have enough technological skill to be dangerous, but not enough to be efficient.  I have found most technology to be more fun than time saving and therefore I am downgrading my technology.  

Technology is certainly not an evil.  Much of technology has saved lives.  Technology has connected people otherwise separated by geography.  It has enhanced our knowledge of the world.  Yet, technology has been a divider as well.  Obviously it has been used to kill, pervert, and devise all kinds of evil.  But, really that is a symptom.  By nature technology serves to extend a person’s abilities beyond what is ontologically prescribed.  Namely, it allows to go beyond our abilities.  Again, this is not evil unto itself, but by necessity, as technology increases so also the application of it extends beyond our personhood.  Therefore, technology thins the connection between product and producer and thereby minimizes the humanness of the product.

For example:  I am able to speak in person with a friend who lives locally and who is able to accommodate me into their schedule.  However, when I want to connect with a friend overseas, the only way to do it is to use technology (i.e. email, internet, phone, etc.)  However, when that technology is used the friend is getting less of me because I am having to rely on technology to extend my personhood beyond its ontological prime.

So what’s the point – I must find the balance between connecting with people through technology and connecting with them in a way that continues to be meaningful and accurately represent who I am.  The more I rely on technology the less I am able to be who I am.  

Myspace and Facebook are perfect example of this.  We are able to connect with thousands yet what we are offering them is merely a spontaneous and usually moody snapshot of what we are feeling at the moment and by no means increases the level of relationship with those with whom we communicate.

So I have chosen to go with a free phone that communicates in fewer ways but might free more of my time to communicate more meaningfully.

Sola Scriptura – Interesting Article

Here is an interesting article by a Catholic scholar that should be discussed as he brings up great points.

http://www.cuf.org/FileDownloads/sola.pdf

Simplicity – Part 5 – Raising a Child

First, I would begin by saying that there is nothing simple about raising a child.  I remember from day 1 I literally was throwing up from fear that I was going to somehow kill our child and the sleep deprivation just made it psychotic.

Last week, the MOPS group at our church asked me to speak on the topic of “Raising our Children into Spiritual Champions.”  I immediately objected based on my credentials of having only 16 months as a father.  My boss is a way better speaker anyway, but I think they wanted the novice perspective.

After watching many parents succeed and fail I was only able to give them an “outsider’s perspective” but it really came down to one thing.

Do you remember that movie, Braveheart?  Of course you do, because it was awesome.  I love that scene where Wallace tells the cavalry to retreat and “Let them see you do it”.  That is really my philosophy of raising my child. 

I attempt to know God and enjoy Him in every thing I do and “Let my son see me do it.”

Simplicity 4 – The Church

As a pastor, I find the Church can be quite tangential to the cause of Christ. However, I also believe firmly that the Church is God’s plan for Kingdom work in the world. So, I try to make Church better in whatever way that I can. I believe that one of the biggest ways in which we distract from the cause of Christ is in the complexity of the church system. We aren’t exactly sure what we are supposed to be doing so we do everything in an attempt to cover all bases. We offer multiple services so that we may offer something to people who’s schedule may not fit the church. We offer all types of programs so that people can find a niche. We offer various types of worship so that people can feel God in the way they want. We fill up the church schedule with programs and events in order to justify the budgets that we set.

At our church I am attempting to do the opposite. To strip everything down to the very core of what we are to do – to simplify and do what we do with truth, goodness, and beauty – with excellence.

The church, I believe, cannot be effective in this world, excepting the Lord’s intervention, unless it understands dramatically what it is here to do – to be the Kingdom on Earth. And to that end we must replicate who Jesus was and is and who he desires us to be.

Please let us get away from the squabbles over personal preferences and simplify to the Jesus community we are meant to be at the Table of Communion.

P.S. I am hoping to have the Sacrament of Communion every week, not once a month because it won’t let us do as many worship songs.

Simplicity 3

In order to give my new life of simplicity a boost I have created a new schedule for my day.  Obviously, I had to replace the hours that I would normally be dying in front of the tele but i have found this to be no hardship at all.

6am Wakeup

6:10 am Coffee and Paper

6:40am Daily To Do List

6:50am Straighten House

7:10am Get Ready

7:50am Leave House

8am Exercise

8:30am – 5pm Work

5:30pm Cook / Eat / Play with Gavin

7pm Evening Walk

7:30 Exercise

8pm Read / Study / Devotions

10pm Bed

I’ve already noticed the need for this to be a highly flexible schedule.  I want to leave lots of room open for people, for emergencies, and for romance.  However, I have thusly found this to be a workable routine with staying power.  Of course it has only lasted a week, but for those of you who know me – that is REALLY GOOD1

A couple of facts:

 - Speed is addicting.  When we go fast we release 2 chemicals in our brain – epinephrine and norepinephrine – the same 2 chemicals we release during sexual intercourse.  It is no wonder that when we are traveling 70 MPH and have to slow down to 30 MPH that is seems so slow and “wasteful”.

- In 1899 a Belgian engineer made the first car designed solely to break speed records.  Its name was  La Jamias Contente – Never Happy

I have learned today that in order to simplify I must first slow down.

Simplicity 2

This week, I have have attempted to simplify two areas of my life.  The first is sleep.  I believe that sleep is one of the most essential and neglected areas of our lives.  Sleep replenishes us and restores us for vigor in the next day.  Sadly, I have struggled with having a “good night’s sleep” since I had epilepsy as a child.  My family and most especially my wife and mother have encouraged me for years to have a sleep study that would help define why I can’t rest fully.  So this week I went down to Los Angeles and joined in the sleep study to see if I have Sleep Apnea.  They have created a method of monitoring your sleep at home for convenience (a relative term).  This takes place in three days where you take home various equipment each night in order to monitor your sleep.  The first night consists of shoving tubes up your nose, taping them to your face and trying to enjoy a full night’s sleep… Oh boy!  The second night made my kid cry at the sight of me with a Darth Vader mask strapped to my face while I tried to exhale through air shooting up my nose, also while I tried to sleep.  Of course Gavin got over his fear and decided it was funny to suffocate his dad by squeezing the tube… Thanks for the support son.

Anyhoo… the tests continue as I attempt to right this core wrong in my life and I seek out a decent night of rest.

The other area that I have been working on is the area of time.  The biggest thief of time is the television in our house.  So, I decided that I am going to cancel the cable.

Has anyone out there ever tried to cancel their cable?

It is a nightmare.  Our cable company is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week…

except…

for…

CANCELLATIONS.

Then you have to call between the hours of…

and your adress has to be updated…

and your extra fees must…

WOW!  Finally, our cable should be cancelled tomorrow and our new, quieter, simpler life will begin.

Simplicity

I am going to be spending the next few blogs devoted to the development of simplicity in our lives. Marilee and I find ourselves with very complex lives, driven by complex finances and schedules, in an attempt to forward complex goals. There is a new movement growing in our society toward the goal of simplifying our lives in an attempt to slow down, and focus our resources toward more Kingdom good. I will be sharing our ideas and attempts toward this end and I would love to hear your ideas. We need as much help as we can get.

Job

I am sincerely posting this as a question-

 

How is it that God can allow Satan to allow such evil to befall what Scripture says is an”innocent man” – Job.  I don’t believe that God is a sadist, but I believe that this book of Job holds key answers to the question of suffering.

Let me know.

Rob Bell

I am still under the belief that the Emergent Movement is another fad in the evolution of movements that are critiquing how we do church.  As a movement it is taken to extremes by those whjo attempt to give it dogma and those who would lend it credence by calling it Heresy.  

What irritates me is when Christians label other Christians so that they might easily adhere to or dismiss their teachings.  We are way to quick to call something Heresy.  The reason I believe that we should be cautious in this regard is because if we call something “of the Devil” when it is indeed of the Lord we are committing the “Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” – the unforgivable.

One person that I believe has become the recipient of this scorn is Rob Bell.  I have no problem in critiquing his teachings.  I have no problem with keeping him accountable to holding to the Orthodox faith.  What I habe a problem with is announcing his as a Heretic (essentially Anathema) when he indeed holds to the historic Orthodox Christian faith as he has announced himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIKkvmSNUCY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8U9jto2D00&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJLqyWAtpvE&feature=related

Rob has no doubt expressed a questioning of the way that we Evangelicals do church as the Emergent church has, but he is in no offering that it is to be disbanded as many have.  How many of us in ministry are really satisfied with the consumer-driven feel-goodery that defines most churches today?  Rob teaches from the Word and has made it clear that he has no intention of shying away from the whole of the Gospel (as proven by his year-long teaching through Leviticus in the opening year of Mars Hill).

What I see of the critiques of Rob Bell on the internet are more flippant remarks about what he “really believes” rather than a well-reasoned discussion.

   “Bell supports Buddhist and New Age Anti-Christs and is coming dangerously close to jumping on board with the      Word-Faith heretics as well.”

   “What i found by reading some of his book “Velvet Elvis”, is that this guy is wacko!”

   “The only comfort I have in the heretic Rob Bell, is knowing he is a rising leader in the emerging church of the end times. Therefore the rise of false teachers like Bell signifies the return of our Savior, Lord, and King is moments away. “

   “Robby is a prime example of modern heretics/ Gospel hating ear ticklers”

These are just a few of the first examples I get from searching for Rob Bell on the Internet.  They come from people who are way too quick to discount people who they have heard are heretics.  Rarely, have I found that these people have regularly listened to Rob sermons or read his works word-for word.  Rather they enter into listening to him, already assuming that he is a heretic and therefore everything they read follows that label.  

I am tired of Christians eating each other alive.  We have a world that is dying out there and won’t hear a word we are saying because we are devouring our own.

Please stop dismissing people as Heretics so flippantly.  You might just be becoming one yourself in the process.

 

Abortions for Christmas Gifts?

This Christmas, all industries are working to appeal to families who are struggling in this financial crisis.  Even not-for-profits have upped their marketing strategies in an effort to spread the Christmas cheer for those they serve.  Well now, Planned Parenthood of America has decided that abortions and other related services make perfect stocking stuffers.

I promise that this is not tabloid!  This is real.  The gift certificates are being offered in increments of $25.  I’m sure how much of an abortion you can get with that but it also applies to screenings and other medical services related to pregnancy.

Spokepersons for the PPA have declared that they are merely trying to help people prioritize good health when they might be struggling to make ends meet.

Does anyone else out there see this as a tacky Christmas option.  Not only does it provide all sorts of awkwardness around the Christmas tree, “Gee thanks, I’ll make sure I use it before it , where minors would have needed guardian’s consent (just like you would need to get a tan), now we have cheapened the issue even further.I have watched my wife suffer through a pregnancy and the emotional trauma that accompanies this time.  But neither of us would ever conceive of ending an unborn life so that she wouldn’t havexpires…”, but it trivializes the issue even further, as if a human life should be placed in the same category as a teeth whitening.  After the rejection of prop 4e to go through that inconvenience even if she didn’t want the child.

I am tired of this issue sounding like it is being fought between two equal and valid sided.  The Pro-Life is arguing from a standpoint of defending human life.  The Pro-choice side is arguing from a standpoint of defending human choice.  Life has always taken priority over personal choices even in the case of choosing for our own life.  We do not allow people to harm themselves.  Suicide is frowned upon.  We especially do not allow people to harm others who are unable to defend themselves or speak for their own rights.

Am I off here?  Comments?