Posts Tagged ‘Theology’

What does it mean to be Christian?

Does it mean that one confesses “sin?”
Does it mean that one acts like a good person and treats others with love?
Does it mean that a person resembles a cultural idea of what others think is Christian?
Is a Christian someone who is committed to serving in the church?
Is someone Christian if they are trying to be a follower of Jesus?
Does it mean that a person will have a hopeful afterlife?
Does it mean that one is reconciled to Yahweh through some exterior means?

SPOILER ALERT: Readers are strongly encouraged to view the entirety of the television series LOST prior to reading posts in the LOST Series. Information about the characters and storyline of the show may be revealed.

The writers of LOST are masters of at least one thing: Storytelling. The art of storytelling has been tainted throughout the years particularly by the film industry. I have yet to read a book and then watch the film version and think that the film is better. I would be interested in reading and viewing any work where you might suggest a film format as superior to the original written text [I am anticipating that at least one person (those who come to mind shall remain nameless) is wanting to comment that "The Passion of the Christ" is better than the King James authorized version of the Bible; nonetheless feel free to comment]. Though LOST was not originally a written piece transferred to a television script, I think the example of film is consistent and the show captured even more than what a book could have contained.

I specifically enjoyed the metanarrative countered and accented by the subplots of individual characters’ stories. Multiple things occurred both at the same time and at quite different times (literally). I’ll address the “flash-sideways” scenes later. The essence of the storytelling allowed the audience to be invited into the lives of the characters but but subsequently maintained a sense of mystery. The viewer never knows everything about every character. We are left with many questions. In fact, the season finale reveals characters who apparently leave the island. The audience never knows what happens to them between their departure and their deaths. We are left wondering, “What happens in their stories? How do they write their stories from this point on?”

The question is one we need to ask ourselves and ask each other, “How do you write your story from this point on?”

As I was consuming the masterful television/literary hybrid finale of Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, I checked my phone for incoming text messages and updates from Twitter. One “tweet” read, “T-minus 30 minutes until #LOST is over forever.” I quickly responded, “False: it will live on.” The television series was much more than… well… a television series. Its powerful and essential themes were captured by the magical character development and acting genius of those like Naveen Andrews, Michael Emerson, and Terry O’Quinn.

Not only will the messages, themes, and characters of LOST remain in viewers’ hearts and minds but I anticipates a prequel. A sequel would be too much. I’ll explain this is a later post entitled, “LOST: How do you write your story?” However, the period pieces were so mysterious and broad that a contextual back-story could be masterful. The characters Jacob, his nameless brother, and Richard could all be developed further with others who existed in the ancient era. The character of the island (and its/his/her attributes could also be further mystified and/or deified.

More posts in the LOST series to be published daily.

I hope you enjoy the new minimalist design of subversiveREFORMATION.com. Please remember to check the tabs at the top of the page and utilize the links in the sidebars to connect online or check out some quality links to the right. Please comment suggesting any pages that you think should be recommended. Buttons will include links to sites about theology, church, family, parenting, history, philosophy, environmental sustainability, emergent. I’m also hoping to include organizations and ministries that seek to bring peace in our world. Sarcastic comments are welcome, too – but hopefully I’ll also get some quality recommendations.

“Anybody doing anything tonight?”

It’s a phrase we frequently use when we’re bored. Or maybe we’re just looking for something to do. Something to entertain us. Or we need some people to hang out with.

Why?

Why do we always have to be with someone? Why do we always have to be doing something? Well… I suppose by the nature of being human we are always doing something – eating, sleeping, sitting, playing. But we fail to recognize that “doing nothing” is actually doing something – for good or bad.

I walked into my home yesterday evening after a day of working with MVNU students doing some home repair work for a family in our community. There were well over 30 different people in and out of the home where we were working. Hammers were banging. Circular saws were screaming. Drills were… drilling. Though it was quite fulfilling to be actively engaged in serving a family who needed a little help, the silence I encountered upon arriving home was beautiful. I needed to sit and think. I needed to decompress. I needed to do nothing.

As I was installing some electrical wiring with a friend earlier that day we were talking about the home makeover project and the students who initiated it. In the midst of our discussion my friend stated, “It just makes sense. This is what the church should be doing.”  Simultaneously we looked at each other and said, “All the time.” I realized once I got home that the statement was a bit hyperbolic. I needed the silence. I needed solitude for meditation and prayer. I needed to rest in the presence of God – Alone. Quiet. Listening. Thinking.

We can default to either extreme – doing something all the time or doing nothing. Do you find yourself doing nothing? It could be that in the moments of doing nothing you really are doing nothing – nothing but sitting around hoping to be entertained or complaining about the church doing nothing. Or you could really be doing nothing as a healthy form of Sabbath and rest.

How do we go about doing something while still doing nothing? How do we avoid doing nothing in order to actually do something?

I was speaking with a group of junior high and high school students this weekend about issues of marginalization and oppression. I specifically turned the conversation from acting on global issues to recognizing injustice within our local proximity. For them, it meant moving from a focus on hunger in the world to the often unjust or unloving treatment of peers in the classroom, at the lunch table, on the athletic field, and within social circles based on economic status. I asked the questions, “If Jesus showed up right here, right now, in this place, who are the people to whom he would be giving his attention? How would he be spending his time? How would he be listening to the voices of those who are often forgotten or ignored?”

An ever-so energetic, enthusiastic, and hormonal adolescent boy instantly shot his words from his reclining chair, “You mean like… what would Jesus do? Like the bracelets.” As I reverted back through the 1990s and the “WWJD?” movement, the phrase made my insides cringe and quiver while my mouth slowly opened and reluctantly uttered, “Yeah?”

I had to concede to my now junior high nemesis.

Essentially, I was hoping that these young minds would actually consider who the person of Jesus was and how he may enact love in our current context minus the popular Christian subculture catchphrase that makes the reality of the question so easy to dismiss.

“What Would Jesus Deconstruct? by John D. Caputo, Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Humanities and professor of philosophy at Syracuse University, begins, “In 1896, Charles Sheldon, a pastor in Topeka, Kansas, wrote a book titled In His Steps. The subtitle of Sheldon’s book, What Would Jesus Do? fueled the later ‘WWJD’ industry – the bumper stickers, T-shirts, and bracelets that boldly pose a question to which the Religious Right is sure to know the answer. My hypothesis is if our friends on the Right really mean to ask that question instead of using it as a stick to beat their enemies, they are in for a shock.”

I would agree with Caputo and therefore may create my own line of products to sell in a Parable or Lifeway Christian Bookstore near you (because that’s what Jesus would do). The products would read, “WWJD? You don’t want to know.” No. Really. You probably, really don’t want to know.

For a number of years many people have liked Rob Bell because he is different. He is passionate, engaging, energetic, insightful, and creative with refreshing language and perspective.

For a number of years many people have not liked Rob Bell because he is too different. He has been accused of embracing humanism and pluralism and paganism and many other -isms.

Just when people have (for better or worse) been getting used to Bell , his speaking tours, podcasts, NOOMA videos, and books named with stars, sex, and velvet, he produces something else that is, well… different. If you haven’t watched the Resurrection video you can view it below.

You may be distracted by the visual elements included in the production. However, that which the effects represent is something that we too often don’t even see. As products of modernism, we insist on a logical reasoning and scientific proofing while we close our eyes to the supernatural things all around us. We insist that the only things that are real are the things that our sensory perceptive capacity enables us to see or taste or touch or smell or hear. Like the biblical character Thomas who had to see the holes that wounded Jesus on the cross, we ignore the possibility that things are happening all around us that exceed our quite limited human comprehension. Hence, resurrection:

Resurrection: Rob Bell from The Work of Rob Bell on Vimeo.

Press play then close your eyes for 4:00 minutes.

Press play again and listen and watch.

Resurrection: Rob Bell from The Work of Rob Bell on Vimeo.

Leonardo, Michaelangelo, and Donatello, make up the group with one other fellow…

Raphael. The creator of the image above which depicts Plato and Aristotle and their differing philosophy of theology or theology of philosophy. I find myself trapped between the two yet find freedom in the person of Jesus. Sometimes I need freedom from my intellect.

From what do you need freedom?

A dialogue from the 1995 film Braveheart:

Princess Isabelle: The king desires peace.
William Wallace: Longshanks desires peace?
Princess Isabelle: He declares it to me, I swear it. He proposes that you withdraw your attack. In return he grants you title, estates, and this chest of gold which I am to pay to you personally.
William Wallace: A lordship and titles. Gold. That I should become Judas?
Princess Isabelle: Peace is made in such ways.
William Wallace: Slaves are made in such ways. The last time Longshanks spoke of peace I was a boy. And many Scottish nobles, who would not be slaves, were lured by him under a flag of truce to a barn, where he had them hanged. I was very young, but I remember Longshank’s notion of peace.

In what ways is peace made?