Rated R Movies

I wrote the response below to an email by a new member of the on-line Wild at Heart yahoo group.


God exists in paradox. He is all the way East and all the way West all at once. There is no sin in Him yet He created a being that fell and authored sin. He is everywhere, all the time, and yet Adam and Eve are seemingly strolling alone in the Garden when tempted by Satan. There was a time when believing the earth wasn't the center of the universe meant the church had to torture you, now its ridiculous to believe otherwise.

We do need to cling to gospel truth in the face of any opposition but what I often see people cling to is their own interpretations of things. If we simply live in relationship with God and let Him reveal Himself we will find ourselves abiding in a state of dependency and wonder, where the supernatural is natural. If we insist on keeping God in a box that we can get our minds around we will limit our understanding of God and thereby limit our ability to transform into His image.

I know it pains many Christians to hear me say this but I'm more often offended by what I hear from the pulpit than what I hear in a rated R movie. We expect the movie to be tainted by Hollywood's infantile understanding of God, and it actually stands out when they get it right. We are not on guard in church, when the word from on high is pronounced upon us. In fact its not the least bit conducive to independent thought. We sit there as preachers slander God with wrong ideas about His wrath, and what it means to fear the Lord, or just their complete faith in sin avoidance strategies. Can there be anything more hypocritical than a passive, panti-waste behind a pulpit telling me to be a nice guy with one breath and with the next telling me how much God hates gays. It's no wonder gays think anyone who disapproves of their life-style is afraid he is one himself. But that's a topic for a different email.

I actually only disagree with maybe 1 in 10 services I attend and even as I sit there fuming about something I can't stand I know that someone in that audience is being mightily blessed because they are seeing something God has for them. My focus gets distracted and I'm not open to hearing God's blessing, because I've been distracted by the parts of it that offend me. If we are in tune with God, Christ filters our world and we can see anything and not be affected by it. The degree to which we get distracted by the thorns and don't see the rose is the degree to which we are looking through our own eyes and not God's.

In other words I do agree with the extra-biblical statement, "garbage in-garbage out," but I also believe in Christ's words, "it's not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out."

Present Future

This is a concept that took me ages to come to peace with. Now I'm a major proponent of the idea. Being present future focused doesn't mean the past doesn't exist. But frankly the past is of far less benefit to us than the present.

The best thing the past can do for us, whether our own personal history or that of entire cultures, is teach us lesson about the outcomes of certain actions or attitudes. That sounds pretty good, but the problem is that so many of those lessons are wrong. We often think we've learned from the past when we are actually drawing conclusions from our experience with the event at the time it happened. It's one thing to journal your life events and then examine them awhile later, put them in perspective, and draw a lesson from it. But what most of us do is leap to a conclusion about the outcome of our actions very quickly after implementing them. Which is essentially living in yesterday's present. We end up being guided by fear of repeating actions who's outcomes were painful even if those actions were ultimately beneficial.

The worst thing about holding onto the past is our tendency to compare today with the time when things were better. It's not a fair comparison, and it won't make you feel any better about today. If you were making different choices and life was better than yes you might glean something of value, but you could access the same information by prayer. Just ask God why you are unhappy and you'll get the right answer even if you never were happy.

As long as we remember that we can only predict 30% to 50% of the outcomes for our actions we are safe to look forward to the future with anticipation of something good happening.

The present is the only thing we can even hope to control. While control is a worthy goal its not good to really strive for. We never have full control and if we got it, we'd be miserable.

Most of us are pretty comfortable with the idea that we change our future by the decisions we make today. It's a bit harder to swallow the idea that we change our past with the decisions we make today. But I believe, with all my heart that it is true. If our today is an unconscious amalgam of yesterdays decisions we are doomed to repeat our actions even if we fear the results. If I'm right the decisions we make today can undo the results of yesterdays decisions on our soul and spirit, thereby wiping away most of the record of yesterdays decision.

Now if you've been eating unhealthy for a long time, eating healthy won't make you thin by the end of today, but if you're willing to make better choices each day you can eventually reverse most of the physical effects of your bad choices as well, yes. The same goes for injuries we've dealt to other people. Better choices today may eventually repair a relationship with someone. If it doesn't you will still be able to effect new friendships in the future. I know a lot of people who don't make new friends because past friendships didn't go well. Deciding who you are today, instead of unconsciously letting your past decide for you can change who you are.

Now one caveat: counseling will take you into the past, but you should be looking to reinterpret the past from an older, safer place. If its making you live from the past its not helping you.

Also: Deciding to take chances just because you are a new person isn't always wise. There's a difference between not living from your unprocessed past and deciding to forgo boundaries or contemplating your decisions.

Personal Space

I was ruminating this afternoon, on the topic of Personal Space. A friend and I were speaking the other day and he mentioned a verse in Psalms that directs believers to greet each other with holy kisses. He said, quite tongue in cheek, "I'm sorry but I'm not going to kiss anyone in my church but my wife and kids." I laughed because I had seen some of the people he went to church with.

At the same moment I realized that my pastor always ends his services by telling everyone, "there's an offering plate somewhere in the back if you feel like giving. Greet each other with holy kisses and hugs before you leave."

The connotation was so different I didn't recognize that it was the same verse being referenced. To be honest I didn't even know my pastor was quoting a scripture. That's got something to do with it. It's so natural when my pastor says it, but when you view it as an average evangelical American--like my friend and I were--it's a strange request.

Personal space, or proximics, is always a cultural thing. I'm told that the French regard the outside of your clothes as the boundary of your being, where Arabs and Asians view the outside of your body as public property and we Americans like a few feet of imaginary bubble around us.

If you haven't yet seen , "Whale Rider," its a great movie. There's a scene in it where two Maori men, a father and son, embrace and rub noses in greeting. The actors are Maori and I dare say American actors couldn't pull it off. It's too intimate without being romantic. Two big burly guys might hug and look fairly natural, but to take each others faces in their hands and pull there noses together?

Well it all got me thinking. I saw a news feature a few weeks ago about how swine flew was impacting churches. Several Portland area churches had stopped directing there members to shake hands. Some had gone to "air fives," and others to a ridiculous "fellowship elbow bump."

One must wonder if the God who restored sight to the blind and made the lame to walk, might also protect his followers from the flue if they were to embrace each other in accordance with a scriptural directive.

Just wondering. Either way, what does our proximics say about our Christian culture?

Way of the Warrior

This is going to be valuable research for my Thadi CAB project. I share it in advance that anyone who follows my non-fiction can experience the process for themselves.