 |
| That’s a Yak |
It’s great to see more interaction on the blog. More of you are stepping up to let me know what you think about these topics. That’s the whole point! Keep up the great work!
| Entry | Pageviews | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Jul 5, 2012, 2 comments |
52
|
||||||||||||
|
Jul 26, 2012, 1 comment |
43
|
||||||||||||
|
Jul 10, 2012 |
35
|
||||||||||||
|
Jul 25, 2012 |
32
|
||||||||||||
|
Jul 12, 2012 32
|
|
 |
| Me. “Chicken with a side of guilt, please!” |
Apparently, Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-fil-a (CFA), issued a statement to a Baptist magazine in defense of the definition of marriage remaining as a union between a man and a woman. This caused the socially conscious Muppets to pull their toys from the CFA children’s meal on the basis of gay rights. This has spiraled directly into the political arena (election year much?).
This is a “Holy Things” blog, so I’m focusing on the spiritual aspects of this controversy. Who has the right to express their deep seated beliefs? And, how should those deep-seated beliefs be displayed in the corporate world?
The first thing that struck me as idiotic is this: Dan Cathy said this to a Baptist magazine! It’s not like he shoved these comments down the throat of corporate America. This was not for Time magazine or People magazine. This is not the voice of America, this is the voice of the Baptists! In fact, given this backdrop, it’s amazing that Dan Cathy was so diplomatic with his response. All he said was, in essence, I support the traditional family. Note, while it implies that he is against gay marriage, he doesn’t say anything in the negative.
The next players are the Muppets. I love the Muppets–present tense. I think they are hilarious & usually right on target. They have every right to be socially conscious & make business decisions based on their beliefs. This right should be enjoyed by both the Muppets & CFA. The only way this would be wrong is if the Muppets broke contract in order to back out, though I’m sure they covered themselves.
A side note to this whole business relationship, didn’t these companies research each other before forming this partnership? The Muppets have always been progressive. CFA has always been Baptist. Hello? Idiocy much?
Politicians have also dug their claws into this opportunity. However, they have every right to stand up for the interests of the people. Do the people want to take a moral stand & ban a restaurant from their fair city? Would they rather have all the new jobs that come with a new restaurant? I suppose the politicians have a moral obligation to listen to the people who elected him & determine the right course of action from there.
 |
| Brokeback Kermit?–I couldn’t resist |
To be honest, I have never felt like I’ve been preached at in any CFA restaurant or TV ad. I don’t leave the restaurant with a belly half-full of chicken, topped off by spiritual guilt. I guess cows know better than to beat people up with the Bible.
If CFA decided to be more open with their Baptist beliefs, would their chicken taste more foul than fowl? Perhaps, but I see nothing close to fundamentalism or condemnation in any of the comments so far. It seems to me that what we are seeing from corporate CFA is as close to a “Christian fast food joint” as we’re going to find.
Give to government what they require, give to God what He requires (Mark 12.17 CMJ Version). As long as CFA does that, they should be fine. Hopefully their business practices are sound, because you know everyone’s looking for them to crap their pants (taxes, hiring practices).
May God be graceful to everyone involved in this saga.
Seems everyone has an opinion. Do you think there is a right or wrong party here? Did Chick-fil-a single out a group for discrimination? Are the Muppets blowing this out of proportion? Can we at least agree that the politicians probably have ulterior motives here?
Tell me what you think!
 |
| We tend to think of these apostles as opposites, but… |
A thesis statement anything from a simple sentence to a paragraph which states your topic & the essence of your argument. For example, I am writing the blog post to share with you what I feel was Peter’s original intent for his two recorded epistles.
This kind of statement is critical for any good piece of writing. This has nothing to do with sacred scripture, it has everything to do with grammar & the structure of argument/rhetoric. If you don’t know what you’re actually trying to say, how can you say it without contradicting yourself?
Given these facts, it is also important to note that these thesis statements are common in scripture. I am almost certain that, given simple study, one can find the thesis statement of any book in scripture fairly easily. This is especially true since this statement is seldom cryptic and almost always sounds like I am writing to…
St. Peter tells us his message is twofold: to stimulate wholesome thinking & to refresh your memory. So the ultimate goal or result of all his arguments is to occupy our thoughts with wholesome things and to serve as a reminder.
Consider how Peter has directed his messages. He navigated us through wondrous thoughts of our position in Christ & what that means for proper behavior. A famous football coach once said, They are who we thought they were. Guess what, you are who you think you are. Think you are trash? You will behave that way. Think you are a child of God? You will behave that way.
Peter also reminds us over and over again that our standing is only on the grace of God. This serves to limit our pride to Christ, which is where it remains secure. If you have pride in anything but God’s omnipresence, omnipotence or omniscience then it is misplaced. In fact, Peter endorses Paul’s writings about grace later in the chapter! Should we be marked by grace? Absolutely. It should be simultaneously our lifeline & our joy. It is our great hope which should never be taken for granted or replaced by legalism.
A few notes on 1 Peter (Chapter 5)
The cure for everything (1-7)
Are you an older person? Be humble.
Are you a younger person? Be humble.
Are you a leader? Be humble.
Are you a lay person? Be humble.
You get the picture? Know that there is no way to humiliate a humble person. Know that the humble person doesn’t fall too far. Know that the humble person cannot be embarrassed. Know that when you are humble you are more like Jesus.
The Devil did it (8-10)
Going through a few trials? Remember that we have an adversary–Satan. I remember Ron Ward saying, “If Satan is not bothering you, you’re not worth being bothered.” Satan does not oppose people who are going his way, only those who are behaving contrary to his will. So if he’s bugging you, that’s probably a good sign.
And remember, he’s looking for someone to devour. Thankfully, the Christian has been removed from his menu by virtue of Christ’s work on the cross.
A few notes on 1 Peter (Chapter 4)
It’s called capital punishment & only the worst offenders deserve it. Only the nastiest of the nasty should fry. Oh, & this punishment should only be reserved for the convicted-beyond-the-shadow-of-any-doubt criminal. If there’s any doubt, we should not proceed.
Given the evidence, we should definitely execute the Old Man. We should crucify him with Christ & move on with our new lives. If we could only be successful in doing this, we would provide an incredible shock to the world (4). We would be Christians who were Christ-like, & that would be different than anything else they have to offer.
Peter declares nonchalantly that we are in the end times. He then prescribes our behavior. Namely:
Sounds like some good advice to me.
Don’t be surprised. You’re going to get push-back from anyone who is not on the same wave-length as you. Here’s the deal, you have to figure out if your wave-length is God’s wave-length. Don’t be surprised if you are wrong–just be humble enough to make it right. Don’t be surprised if you’re right–be gracious enough to proceed by doing all things to God’s glory.
I’ve been on both sides of the fence, I’ve seen the effects of right & wrong decisions. Bad stuff will happen, watch your reactions.
In the previous chapter, Peter states gives warning against using God’s word to justify anarchy. Unfortunately for the anarchist, God’s word promotes orderly conduct & social responsibility. Peter extends that responsibility from the public sphere to the home. There is a certain way to run your house. Not just anything goes. We must follow Christ in our home life.
A lot of people interpret this passage to mean that women shouldn’t dress nice or wear pearls or earrings. This is a very narrow reading that is probably very prejudiced. The idea in this passage is that your main focus should not be on the external, your main focus on the internal (spiritual) state of your life. Again, he’s not saying it’s evil to look nice, he is saying it’s carnal to only care about how you look, to the detriment of your soul.
I love the inherent tension in scripture. This same verse is used to accuse Christianity of putting women down (weaker vessel) & it’s used to prove that Christianity lifts women up (fellow heirs). I tend to lean towards the latter, especially given the historical context of the day. Men are to treat women as something precious, which is what a weaker vessel is. Men are to be gentle & not harsh with their wives–which was a counterculture move. Also, to name women as fellow heirs, there is no way to rationalize that as anything but uplifting to women, placing them on the same plane as recipients of God’s grace.
Finally, as Peter tends to do, he reminds us of God’s grace through Jesus. Don’t forget who places us in the position to succeed. He has given all for us, we should give all for Him.
 |
| My Picture! |
Ya, ya.. I know it’s important to read my Bible. But a closet Bible study is pretty easy to fake when you’ve grown up in Church. It’s not like I’m going to read something new in the Bible! So I am about to propose something BIG, something that will let MY READERS know when I’m not reading something daily.
I have tried blogging with the 1 Thing I Learned Today tag. And that’s cool & all, but I have not kept it up. I need to do something that does not require formatting an entire blog entry around it. There’s just too much work to do when sitting in front of a blank screen with random thoughts floating from earlobe to earlobe.
IF you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed a new trend. From approx 12.30 PM to 1 PM, I have been posting links that have the root bible.us in it. These are notes that I have been taking from my daily readings during lunch.
I got to thinking, why don’t I create a hashtag & make this a formal twitter tag? I will be tweeting out my notes using the hashtag #DailyBibleNotes. I read from the YouVersion Bible on my phone. This lets me write notes right in the app and make them public on Twitter & Facebook.
Since this will be a public activity, it will create accountability for myself. However, I also invite my readers to join the conversation! Anyone can tweet with this hashtag. I challenge YOU to read one chapter every day and tweet YOUR observations about the text.
With the rough notes already online, it helps organize my thoughts for blogging. I can take my notes and expound on them in a coherent way. Yay!
 |
| Desire this? More than the Bible? No way! |
A few quick notes on the first epistle written by Peter. (The second chapter)
Have you ever had a hankering for something? I mean a real desire for some treat that will not be satiated until you get your bootie in the car & make it to that particular restaurant to purchase & consume that special dish. For instance, I have that fetish with cinnamon rolls. Sometimes I just have to have one!
That is the feeling that Peter says we should have toward God’s word. It should be like an addiction. We should crave it. Why should we crave it? We should because we have tasted it & know it to be good. We should gobble it up like candy or sourdough bread or cinnamon rolls, because it is good stuff.
Peter uses the picture of a stone to describe Christ & to imply our own position. Take note of how people reacted to Jesus. If Jesus was rejected, why would we be accepted? If Jesus offended, why should we appease people? If people stumbled at Jesus’ message, should we be surprised that they trip over ours? The answer is no.
God’s grace appears to us as great. It appears as a terror to the unbeliever in an equal magnitude.
Peter now declares that we are God’s special treasure. But how is this special treasure treated? He is treated as follows:
Aliens make a return in verse 11! It’s a reminder that we need to behave in this world. However, this means more than just playing nice–it’s a call to be more like Christ.
A few quick notes on the first epistle written by Peter.
 |
| Attribution to: Repoort |
In the very first verse of the book I stumbled into a poetic truth. The epistle is written “To those who reside as aliens,” Truly, we as Christians are resident aliens. This is a vivid term for who we are: resident aliens. We are here because we’ve been placed here, not because we belong. We are here on a working visa, not for our comfort. We are as aimless as we are attached & we should not be marked by either term.
On my way to South Carolina for a wedding, I listened to this great sermon from my buddy Jonathan Roberts. He’s on twitter as @skylarkk & you should listen to this message too. It’s pretty good!
(By the way, this is my 200th post!! Woot!!)
We Talk of Holy Things 