Is the incarnation enough?

One of the things that our philosophy professor has taken great delight in criticizing is the belief in the afterlife. Of course this has significant implications for what sort of meaning we attach to the nature of life itself. So searching for meaning becomes a quest for significance, purpose, and quality. It seems most of us have some sort of expectation as to what life should be like. And if our lives don't seem to match those expectations we get bothered by it. Of course, one of the most significant contributions to understanding the meaning of life has come from religion. Religion of most stripes offer explanations about life as it is related to what happens after life ceases. Christianity says heaven and hell await the soul which continues to 'live' past the biological death of our bodies. Heaven if you make the right choices in this life and hell if you make the wrong ones.

Eternity has become the central feature in the Christian explanation of the meaning of life. Eternity might even be the only foundational aspect of most Christian theological tradition. Here's a little test see if you can come up with a solid explanation of the basic concepts of Christian ideas without talking about heaven or hell. Tough right? And when something seems to take such a dominant role in the formation of thought I get suspicious. But to be sure I don't reject the idea of eternity or its implications – I just don't think any idea deserves a free ride – especially when it seems so central.

Secular thinkers will often point to how eternity thinking has caused Christians to disengage from the present world because their focus is fixed on the life hereafter. And they are right. We refer to this world as embodying all that is wrong. And so this world becomes a training ground for what is to come. It's a throw away world where our actions are essentially inconsequential because of the hope of an eternity where we will be transformed into perfection. And it should not surprise us that materialism (mega-church), and poor environmental stewardship, even anti-immigrant sentiments can all be clearly reflected in many current Christian expressions (one's I have been reminded of recently). Because if this world really doesn't matter that much then who cares if we get things wrong 'down here' as long as our insurance policy is thick enough to get us the perfect retirement in the sky.

That's where it seems to me that the story of Christmas can really shine. God becomes one of us. God makes a statement – we are worth hanging out with. And by living with us he gets to show us how to live this life to its fullest potential – right now!

If God was focused on the afterlife/eternity/heaven as his main focus, don't you think there could have been a better way to motivate humanity than by identifying with us. He could select several humans in each generation to visit heaven and then make a documentary for the rest of us. He could give us samples of heaven – little bits of blinding lights and golden bling. He could make so that one of the confirmations of our assurance of heaven after this life was to get some sort of documentation of the fact.

But Christmas suggests that eternity is not God's focus. We are his focus. Right here – right now.

 

women in the mosques

For years we (Mennonite Brethren at least) have been discussing and debating the role of women in ministry.
In our sociology class we have been discussing the social stratification that occurs through the constructs of religion. One of the huge areas (especially for our prof) has been the gender stratifications that religious institutions tend to create. This is a prevasive issue accross many of the religious vains that exist. It was especially interesting to watch this video in class to get some of the same issues we've been talking about in the MB from the perspective of a Canadian Muslim community.
Zarqa Nawaz, the writer/director of this film, is one of the consulting writers for Little Mosque on the Prairie.
So here are parts of the documentary:

Here's the links to the other portions of this film:
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=cRAtRQsiuqI
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=mlx_QrmC9IE
so there you go.....

one semester of spanish spanish love song

Persecution Ulcers

The persecuted church is often represented as a type of ideal. When we speak of the persecuted church we admire their commitment (often in the face of death) to hold to convictions. We envy its ability to reproduce and attract adherents – something that seems to elude even our most sophisticated church growth gurus. And that (its proliferation) in the face of incredible obstacles and restrictions. We have been taught to revere the persecuted church as a good model for the commitment that it takes to really live out the convictions we have about our faith. Our Anabaptist history in fact has made heroes of martyrs like Conrad Grebel and Hans Denk (I always got a kick out of the Freudian echoes in that name).

I will confess that I have always held a small amount of doubt about how strongly I should revere the persecuted. Honouring their commitment to the faith is one thing but elevating them to the status of exemplary gives me pause. That pause comes at the point of wondering about the actual convictions that persecuted and martyred people are holding to. I wonder if we assume that those convictions are accurate and theologically sound. The logic seems to follow that by nature of being persecuted the 'faith' that these people hold to must be more pure because we assume that something worth dying for must be accurate. And we also assume that when persecution comes, superficial and extraneous doctrines and issues quickly fall away to the more central and pertinent issues of theology. I have heard no less from many preachers and teachers.

Consider for a moment the effects that stress (and persecution would certainly qualify) has on the human body. The body functions most effectively under the just the right amount of stress. Too much stress or too little stress leads to pathology (dysfunction). It is true that certain aspects of the body are more active when the body is highly stressed but these same aspects can lead to major problems especially over an extended period of time. In fact one of the common effects of heightened stress is the tendency for the person or animal to give up (this helps to explain stress related depression). So then the question must be asked, "Does the stress of persecution make the individuals more likely to give up in the face of ongoing stress or are things like imprisonment and martyrdom actually an act of resolute determination?" Not only that, what can we say about the convictions themselves? We know that a brain that is under perpetual stress increasingly loses its capacity to reason and make accurate judgements of the stimuli present. This is how, for instance, it is possible for paramedics and police officers to remain on the job while repeatedly facing large amounts of stress. They actually become numb to it. So then we ask, "Can the convictions (the theological tenets) of people under stress be accurate?" Now to be sure, this is hardly an issue of controversy – nobody is jumping up and down protesting theological perspectives of persecuted people very much these days.

One of the reasons the early church (Acts) is revered is because it seems to put faith into its simplest forms and to be sure the pressure and stress that it faced was the forging fire of most of our expanded theological system. In fact it is not uncommon to have Jesus death on the cross characterized as an act of martyrdom which is not entirely accurate. Jesus death in fact was more like a premeditated suicide if understood properly – one that was required for the redemption of sin – not an act of superior moral conviction in the face of extreme opposition.

Now I have to admit that even asking questions about the persecuted church makes me uncomfortable largely I think due to how strongly they have been idealized in my mind. Once again I am likely off my rocker so feel free to pick away…

Like_youknow

I can't get enough of this guy - you know!

Taylor Mali on what teachers make

This is why I am trying to become a teacher? I think!
WARNING: watch out for the bird and a gratuitous G-D at the end.

I found it

I am posting this for Naomi and Michelle - 14 years ago this was a constant request of theirs. They asked me to perform the "Mistadobalina" dance. It was magic to behold - hehe!

The track is - Mistadobalina by Del tha Funky Homosapien - it made top forty around about the summer of 1992-93

things that make you go...

Retreats

In many recent conversations I have heard youth pastors wondering aloud about the merits of youth retreats. Many have expressed serious questions about whether these retreats are the right approach in helping students grow in their faith. Now retreats can come in two basic types – the spiritual growth type or the social bonding type based on the objectives of the leaders. To be fair both spiritual growth and social bonding happen at both types of events but each one has some basic expectations. You hardly expect to take kids to YC in Edmonton and not come away with some report of kids changing their lives (the church board chairman would like that report on his desk tomorrow Paul). It the 'spiritual growth' type of retreats that most of the questions have centered on in my discussions. Here's the questions I have heard - -

Do we do more harm than good by isolating these kids for a weekend completely void of the natural stimulus around them in their normal life? Does a decision made at one of these retreats actually seem less likely to 'stick' with the kids?

When you look at the problem from the point of view of classical conditioning – we need to raise some important questions. We know that kids some to these retreats full of crappy coping mechanisms to deal with the dysfunction in their lives. Their coping strategies are played out in what we would call defeated Christian discipleship (in the case of pre-followers we might even call them their sinful ways). Kid's behaviour is typically challenged at these retreats. Stop sleeping around, stop smoking, stop being a dick to your friends, stop and follow Jesus. Do the stuff he wants you to do – be nice to your friends, treat others with respect, help poor people etc… Kids normal behaviour doesn't measure up to these convicting pleas from the front/preacher/pastor so they naturally feel guilty – often confess their sin and promise to live a more devoted life. A week or two after the retreat it is not uncommon to find these kids right back in the old groove – doing the same old things – and often worse. Defeated lots of kids wander away. Psychologists can identify this easily as a result of classic conditioning. Kid's normal world conditions them to respond in a certain way. The retreat is an opportunity to eliminate the regular stimulus and give a person the opportunity to cease the bad behaviour. What is tough is that according to classical conditioning we know that merely one exposure to the original stimulus can trigger a recurrence of the original behaviour. Add on top of that the new found guilt that the kid has just acquired on the retreat and we can compound the effect of the negative action with the added stigma of broken promises etc etc.

Of course classical conditioning is not the only thing at work at these retreats but sometimes I wonder if we don't recognize it and respect it enough to develop more effective strategies of discipleship training that can actually help kids deal with the stimulus they find themselves in every day normally…