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looking4luthien7
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Name: Scott
Birthday: 8/3/1986
Interests: philosophy, figuring out post-foundational theology, good music, thought-provoking books, deconstructionism(bless/curse you, derrida!), interacting with postmodernism, ultimate frisbee, playin the guitar and mandolin, tea (green, white, southern sweet), pondering and asking relevant (and not-so relevant) questions about who we are and who we're suppose to be...
Expertise: I dabble in philosophy, theology, useless lord of the rings trivia, history, guitar, mandolin, postmodern thought...but i'm no expert at anything
Occupation: Student
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  looking4luthien7
MSN: looking4luthien7
Yahoo:  looking4luthien7
Member Since:
9/27/2004
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| I'm not sure where to start this, but after reading a heck of a lot of kierkegaard for class and having various conversations with my friend eric chesney, I wonder if soren shouldn't have written in our time instead.
I'm gonna quote various passages from his Concluding Unscientific Postscripts. now, keep in mind, in this book he was writing to the state church of the nation of denmark, which consisted of a bunch of cultural christians who objectively and coolly analyzed faith, but never took it to heart...
"Two ways, in general, are open for an existing individual: Either he can do his utmost to forget that he is an existing individual, by which he becomes a comic figure, since existence has the remarkable trait of compelling an existing individual to exist whether he wills it or not. Or he can concentrate his entire energy upon the fact that he is an existing individual. It is from this side, in the first instance, that objection must be made to modern philosophy; not that it has a mistaken presupposition, but that it has a comical presupposition, occasioned by its having forgotten, in a sort of world-historical absent-mindedness, what it means to be a human being.."
"...an objective acceptance of Christianity is paganism or thoughtlessness..."
"But the difference is, that philosophy teaches that the way is to become objective, while Christianity teaches that the way is to become subjective, i.e. to become a subject in truth. Christianity wishes to intensify passion to its highest pitch; but passion is subjectivity, and does not exist objectively."
"..And yet devoutness inheres in subjectivity, and no one ever becomes devout objectively.."
"If one who lives in the midst of Christianity goes up to the house of God, the house of the true God, with the true conception of God in his knowledge, and prays, but prays in a false spirit; and one who lives in an idolatrous community prays with the entire passion of the infinite, although his eyes rest upon the image of an idol: where is there most truth? The one prays in truth to God though he worships an idol; the other prays falsely to the true God, and hence worships in fact an idol."
(this is not to say that sincerity is all one needs for true worship [this has nothing to do with some sort of relativism], but that right knowledge and the passion of the infinite are required for real faith.)
"Here is such a definition of truth: 'An objective uncertainty held fast in an appropriation-process of the most passionate inwardness is the truth, the highest truth attainable for an existing individual'...
But the above definition of truth is an equivalent expression for faith. Without risk there is no faith...
If I am capable of grasping God objectively, I do not believe, but precisely because I cannot do this I must believe..."
I could talk about this for hours...so I won't. I'd love to hash this out with anybody who's interested though...feel free to comment to start the discussion.
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| I try to appreciate music and literature that speaks prophetically to common and misplaced mentalities. So, today, I'm going to showcase some of Derek Webb's lyrics...feel free to comment on how much you agree or disagree with what he's saying.
"my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it's to a King & a Kingdom...
there are two great lies that I've heard:
the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican
and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him..."
-A King and a Kingdom
"
don't teach me about politics and government
just tell me who to vote for...
don’t teach me about truth and beauty
just label my music...
don’t teach me how to live like a free man
just give me a new law...
don't teach me about moderation and liberty
I prefer a shot of grape juice..."
-A New Law
"are we defending life
when we just pick and choose
lives acceptable to lose
and which ones to defend
...
‘cause you cannot choose your friends
but you choose your enemies
and what if they were one
one and the same...
could you find a way
to love them both the same?"
-Love Is Not Against The Law
"peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication
it’s like telling someone murder is wrong
and then showing them by way of execution...
when justice is bought and sold just like weapons of war
the ones who always pay are the poorest of the poor..."
-My Enemies Are Men Like Me
...thats some heavy stuff. Most of you are probably asking, does this mean Scott isn't a republican anymore? ...yes. So he's a democrat? ...no. I don't want to be either. Both have good points, and both have deficits that run contrary to the message of Christ. I'd rather be in a completely different category, something that is focused on a unilateral value of life (everywhere and everyone in every economic situation, from the womb, to the axe-murderer, to the iraqi, the poorest of the poor on the south side and the richest of the rich in the northwestern suburbs). I'm glad we have a hunger for international justice as a nation, but I don't think we're expressing it in a way that Christ would want.
...I realize I have many more criticisms than complete responses, more questions than answers. But I have the feeling that these questions are necessary, that they must come first before an answer, a real answer can appear. Feel free to debate me (if I find time to respond), or maybe to help point me towards an answer that you've seen to some of these questions and lyrics.
may Christ's kingdom press forward even further, pressing beyond any and every party line to restore all justice and mercy...
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| my friend Jeff Gustafson put together a satire article on the various types of evangelicals in north america. It might offend many of you, but if you don't mind a poke here and there I think you'll find this pretty hilarious. I had to cut some of the illustrations cause copying them to the xanga script was troublesome, so I apologize that you won't get the full effect...hope you enjoy it anyways.
A Field Guide to North American Evangelicals
Contrary to media representation, North American
evangelicalism is by no means the result of a single monolithic mentality. As
the icy clutch of diversity continues to wring dry the neck of the once
predictably Bible-thumpin’, gay-bashin’, infomercial givin’ hegemony of the
church, it has been forced to accommodate a number of lifestyles and cultures,
none of which are particularly interesting. Still, spotting them in the wild
can be a dicey business. Here is each, according to their kind.
OLD-SCHOOL FUNDIES
(Fig 1.1) Old school fundies
look something like this.
Identification: As
the name implies, this is the class of evangelical that has changed the least
since America’s
founding. They are mostly relegated to the south, but with healthy
distributions in the Midwest and Rocky
Mountain regions, always
in secluded areas. They are distinguished from other groups mainly by their
primitiveness and their tendency to spit a lot while preaching. Forget
televangelist sheen; these guys are the genuine article, and as such are often
disheveled and unwashed. Kinda like Jesus, actually (Fig 1.1). They tend to
have large, bulbous eyes, particularly when they’re describing something from
Revelations. Don’t be surprised if they’ve got a couple snakes hanging on them.
Oh, and guns. Lots of ‘em.
Beliefs: Imagine
the most seriously out-to-lunch ramblings of Pat Robertson, or that guy who has
that half-hour show on the end times on UPN, and multiply it by ten. The ones
that can read disagree with the theology of the Left Behind series, but only because it isn’t whacky enough. James
Dobson’s claim that SpongeBob Squarepants supports the homosexual agenda is
insufficient – they cannot fathom a popular children’s character who doesn’t support homosexuals, although
their knowledge of cartoons is strictly limited to hearsay, as none of them own
TVs. In terms of the Bible, they tend towards the sections that have God doing
awesomely violent things while including the Jesus stuff more as a concession.
Evangelical Style: Turn
or burn. Old-school fundies tend to be direct, and prefer to tell you that
you’re going to Hell to your face rather than through the filter of TV or radio
(neither of which they know how to operate). They can be seen on college
campuses or metropolitan areas making a dramatic case for the Lord’s judgment,
frequently using a homemade pedestal. This strikes people as cute, and in a
hilarious misunderstanding of the intent they will often leave change.
Political Views:
Politics are too much of an “of this world” thing for the old-school fundie, so
there is not much light to be shed in this section. Even Christian “hot-button”
issues like abortion and gay marriage don’t sway them (aside from the
occasional clinic bomber), since their extreme zealotry leads them to believe that
even Bush is a fag. A unique quality of old-school fundies that could be
construed as “progressive” is the fact that they are about as likely to be
black as white (KKK not included).
Musical taste: You
can never go wrong with old hymns, but I would submit that more of them are
into death metal than is commonly thought.
How to Tame an Old-School Fundie: Tell them that your favorite part of Revelations is
when the flying scorpions come to eat away at the unbelievers. Make sure you
mention that the Pope is among them. Be prepared for them to recite the rest of
Revelations by memory. Make sure there are no snakes on them before you make
bodily contact.
MAINSTREAM FUNDIES
(Fig 1.2) The Lord has blessed these kids with a
remarkably well-developed “gay-dar.”
Identification: This class of evangelical is the kind which the
media portrays most accurately, which is fitting, since they are the most
media-savvy. They have much in common with their cousin the Old-School Fundie,
but they are far better dressed, have heard of the internet, and are perhaps
not quite so vitriolic in their preaching. They can be found anywhere, but
spotting them in the wild is greatly simplified if you happen to know where the
homosexual agenda will strike next (Fig. 1.2). The main point of
divergence between old-school and mainstream fundies is in appearance. They
tend to favor the televangelist look for the men, conservative dresses for the
women. They don’t carry around guns, but they have their Bible, and they will fire with extreme prejudice.
Beliefs:
The Bible is the infallible word of God. Every genus of evangelical will have
some kind of statement to this effect, but they all have to distort it with
their appeals to cultural context, hermeneutics, and the lexical-syntactical
method, whatever that is. They are the truest, bluest form of Biblical
literalists. They are comfortable with a Left
Behind level of nuttiness in interpreting the end times, and they are the
only known evangelical species to admit to enjoying the Book of Leviticus. They’re
way more into Jesus than their more primitive brethren, often pronouncing his
name in three syllables (“JE-SU-SUH!”) to fully express their piety. Christ is
the savior of the world, but he gives preferential treatment to Americans –
specifically, American Christians – so that they will not have to be challenged
with multiculturalism or slight lifestyle changes (“persecution”) in the
pursuit of ultimate comfor- er, holiness.
Evangelical Style:
Despite their uncanny ability to embarrass themselves, mainstream fundies
maintain an imaginary public dignity that disallows them from embracing the Turn-or-Burn
approach directly. They prefer catchy mantras like “the Condom Nation will
receive Condemnation,” and they have been known to make subtle hints that God
will bring natural disaster on schools that vote against teaching intelligent
design. They tend to at least generate a conversational tone before they start
preaching at you, and they appeal just as much to God’s love for you as to his
unquenchable wrath.
Since so much of their ministry revolves around
politics, getting you to vote for whoever they support on the tracts they send
you is seen as akin to saving your soul. Still, winning you over for Christ is
their ultimate goal, and they’ll be the first to tell you that it would break their heart to see you with the
mark of the Beast on your forehead when the Judgment comes.
Political Views: This
is the group that spawned the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition. They’re
sane enough to fit into the normal political spectrum, but only just. They
don’t “hate” gays, as Figure 1.2 unjustly implies, but they DO think that the
gays have a vampiric lust to feed on the lifeblood of our children’s moral
groundings. What’s more, most of them read and agree with Ann Coulter, and even
those that don’t still think she’s “on the right track.” Their contempt for
public schools is second only to those who attend public schools. Most
mainstream fundies homeschool their kids, all the while fighting for the
inalienable rights of prayer, Bible indoctrination, and the stoning of
adulterous teachers at our secularist-overrun public schools.
Back in their heyday (which may still be now,
for all anyone knows or cares), the Christian Coalition would send out flyers
to their perceived constituencies that detailed the positions that various
candidates held on key issues. Did they sanction the killing of children? Were
they capable of spinning any left-leaning rhetoric of their opponent as
anti-Christian? And most importantly, were they possessed by Satan? All these
and more were given carefully thought-out answers by God’s chosen people, that
whosoever should believe in them uncritically should not perish, but have
everlasting voting power (Robertson 3:16).
Musical Taste:
For this part, it’s easier to go by what they disapprove of. They hate anything on secular radio, including Radio
Disney, since we all know whose agenda Disney supports. They have been known to
flog their children for watching MTV (one of the few things that qualifies them
as decent parents), and even that stuff on the local Christian station is
getting a bit too edgy, what with the electric guitar and all.
How to Tame a Mainstream Fundie: Relate to them a story of how you used to be a
baby-killing liberal before you started watching the 700 Club. Let them know
that you have renounced the baby-killing, but still have liberal tendencies, so
that they can contribute somehow.
MEGACHURCH ATTENDEES
Identification: While
not every member of this group attends a church of over 2000, they get their
own group, since they best represent “middle-of-the-road” evangelicalism. The
group that has seen the most growth in recent years, megachurchers are the
first genus on the list to truly diverge from fundamentalist stereotypes. What
they may lack in zeal, however, they make up for with blandness. All ribbing
aside, megachurch goers are often perfectly humane people who at least try to
take Christ’s command to love your neighbor as yourself seriously, it’s
just…they’re really, really square. They
can be found nationwide in the same general area as the local shopping mall.
Individually, megachurchers look about the same
on Sunday as they would every other day. Dress is casual, and features are
plain. That tie with the cartoon characters on it may be appropriate for casual
day at work, but keep it out of church, mister.
Beliefs: They
believe in a more personal, lovey-dovey God than the two branches of fundie.
They’re of the thinking that Christianity is not a religion, but a personal
relationship with Christ, which is easily the wussiest part of their theology. Jesus
doesn’t want to judge you, he just wants to sit down, maybe have a cup of
coffee, and talk about what’s really
on your heart. I’m selling them a bit short – most of them have fairly
sophisticated theologies, but the amount of labels required to describe the
hermeneutics and Christological exegeses involved would bore even the most
label-happy postmodernist. They don’t think every part of the Bible is to be
taken literally, and what we can know about the Bible is easily transmitted
through sermon notes that have one or two blank words for layperson
participation (Ex: Love the _______, hate the ________)*
* gay; musical
Evangelical Style:
If mainstream fundies are the most media-savvy, then certainly megachurchers
are the most media-exploitive. They love apologetics books – The Case for Christ (Lee Strobel), Evidence that Demands a Verdict (Josh
McDowell), and anything to debunk The Da
Vinci Code (see a table at your local Barnes and Noble). They also
looooooooove C.S. Lewis, and any megachurcher owns or has access to Mere Christianity. If you ever have a
question about anything, they’d love to sit and chat. They have been known to
engage in debate, but no yelling, please. The most well-known megachurch
evangelical tactic is, of course, the movie-theater buyout. Any megachurch
worth its salt bought out at least 20 theaters-worth of The Passion of the Christ, The Chronicles of Narnia, and sometimes
even the Lord of the Rings movies.
One time a megachurch pastor accidentally bought out a theater showing one of
the Harry Potter movies, and he was forced thereafter to include
copious references to quidditch in each of his sermons.
Political Views:
They’re more likely than not to vote Republican, but it’s really not much of an
issue for them. They’re more interested in getting to know you.
Musical Taste:
Anything you can awkwardly clap to.
How to Tame a Megachurch Attendee: “Hey, I just finished reading The Da Vinci Code. It was interesting, but it left me with a lot of
questions. Want to go to Starbucks?”
YOUTH GROUPIES
Identification: Party
for Jesus! Since we’re talking middle school - college age kids here, you can
bet this species spans the most soaringly inspiring and the most frighteningly
inane aspects of evangelical Christianity. If you’ve gone to high school, you
were probably either in or at least invited to someone’s youth group. Maybe it
changed your life and maybe it didn’t, but one thing’s for sure – there was no
shortage of rice crispy squares and Tang! Youth groupies can be found on
Wednesday or Thursday nights at your local church (unless the church is in a
retirement home).
Beliefs:
The Bible is, like, way cool. That’s about as articulate as a doctrinal
statement from a middle-high school aged youth groupie will get. The
college-aged ones are naturally more bookish, since it becomes cool to be smart
again at that point. They all share common traits, however -
Musical Taste: There
are more things to mock in this category than should probably be legal. It’s
not that the feeling of divine awe that comes over these kids when they listen
to their music is inauthentic or laughable. It’s just that they have picked for
their aural representations of Christ the genres that have been empirically
verified to be the most easy-to-make-fun-of genres in music history. There’s
something for everyone – the bloated irony of pop-punk, the hernia-inviting
self-parody of emo, the cynical artlessness of rap-metal, the majestically
bland acoustic number sung by some sensitive guy with kinda long hair whose
every soul-baring lyric is commercially calculated. Most of them even listened to
Creed at some point, but won’t admit it. Despite the broad and frequently
terrifying range of music favored by the youth groupies, there are specific
indicators as to whether or not it’s really
a youth group meeting you’re at. Styles may vary slightly, but Switchfoot is
universally unimpeachable, and you can count on hearing that “We Were Meant To
Live for So Much More” song at least once per meeting. Also count on mainstays
like DC Talk, Audio Adrenaline, the Newsboys, and other groups that unjustly
try to convince kids that it’s hip to be Christian.
THE EMERGENT
CHURCH
(Fig 1.5) Yeah, man….yeah.
Identification: If the high school student/college student/young
person is the standard unit of measure for youth groupies, then the standard
unit of measure for the emergent church is the high school student/college
student/young person who takes yoga classes, or maybe smokes pot occasionally. Technically
there is no age limit for them, but all available data suggests that they
rarely live to be over 25. They are the closest thing Christianity has to a
hipster sect, which is probably the worst thing I can say about them. The
easiest way to find one is to consider where you would look for a megachurch
member, then think of someplace hipper. Location conversion factors are
available below:
Table 1.1: Where to Find an Emergent Churcher in Relation to a
Megachurcher
Coffee shop = hookah
bar
Worship practice =
local music venue
Pastor’s sermon =
slam poetry session
Bookstore =
pretentious independent bookstore
Bible accessory shop = headshop
Beliefs:
Emergents are all about “non-religious Christianity,” which makes zilch sense
to a non-Christian and little sense to a Christian. You will never hear these
people call themselves “Christians;” rather, they are “followers of Christ,”
which a surprisingly large number of people actually find interesting. They
believe the Bible is God’s love-letter to mankind, which by extension implies
that God has more problems than Van Gogh. They tend to not voice their opinions
on contentious issues like abortion, homosexuality, and evolution, and are
generally of the thinking that if they pay them no mind they will go away. Equally
mealy-mouthed are their beliefs in a physical heaven or hell, God’s
sovereignty, and just what is to be done about this postmodernism business. Actually,
they don’t have well-defined views on a lot of things. You see, this whole
belief thing isn’t, like, necessarily relevant to today’s cultural
sensitivities, you dig? You’ve gotta look outside of your little plastic prison every now and then,
man. You’re totally not looking at
the real issue. I mean, because God is like … duuuuuuude. (Fig. 1.5)
Evangelical Style:
See the latest Donald Miller book.
Political Views:
Unlike the other groups, it is not unheard of for emergents to employ critical
thinking when interacting with politics. Their lack of certainty about lots of
things naturally makes them tend toward the liberal side, but we all know their
real goal*.
*Lowering the presidential age
cut-off to 18
Musical Taste:
They thankfully don’t feel confined to specifically Christian brands of music.
Any “spiritual” music is cool; it’s slightly more exciting than the brand of
department-store-rock that dominates the radio these days, but still doesn’t
offend anyone
How to Tame an Emergent Churchie: Let them know what you thought of Blue Like Jazz. Tell them you’re looking
for spiritual essence, but that you think Christianity “has too many rules.” Oh
God, they love that.
...and thats it. how amazing is that?
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| so I pretty much feel like a failure for not posting in over a month...sorry guys. Here's the good news for those of you looking for it: after this post I'm going to throw up some interesting theology topics and articles, so stay tuned for further posts.
Well, for those of you interested, where do I start? I'm writing from my new dorm room in the brand spankin new dorm here at trinity. We have some pretty amazing perks (HD tv down the hall, wireless net...its pretty amazing), which basically means that I have way too many distractions. Somehow the homework is still getting done though, by the mercy of God.
Speaking of homework, let me fill you in on my classes...I pretty much love everything I'm doing right now. Sure, it's a lot of work (thats an understatement), but it's all very interesting. I'm being challenged, and thats the important part. Ok, so, get this. My God and Religious Diversity class has only 3 students in it...how cool is that??? The first day of class (you know, syllabus day) we went out to mickey d's! It's a very personal and dialogue oriented class, so you can start to see why this semester is so amazing...if you want to hear more, ask me, its feeling like i've talked too much about these classes already.
Sides that I'm both the dp3 of my floor (discipleship: promoter, partner, and presence) and a member of the chapel team, so I'm keeping very busy. To be honest, I couldn't have asked for a better floor this year. I was nervous that it would be a very cold place, but God has blessed us w/ a ton of freshmen and upperclassmen guys who are passionate about community. It's simply amazing, and I'm humbled to be serving guys this awesome.
My reflection of the last few weeks: more often than not, especially in leadership positions, it seems like there are these invisible expectations that everyone expects you to live up to since you're an example on campus. It's probably not a real expectation that I've felt, but I found myself trying to cater to and serve these expectations. I started to get real tired (spiritually, emotionally, physically), and i basically wore out my soul. It took a talk with my mentor to kind of crack open the hood of my head and see what was going on, and I needed that more than I could share on here...so now, I'm trying not to pay attention to those expectations. If I serve in chapel by reading scripture or singing, I don't care if anybody likes it or not...only if God does. If it's alright for them they'll ask me to do it again, if not thats fine...cause I'm only doing it to praise God. I don't want to care what other people think of it, only if God finds it pleasing...it's hard, but it's only been a week and I can almost feel my soul getting rebuilt through it. I'm starting to find the joy that I tried so hard to have in not seeking it...it's serving God and serving others, and taking the focus off my self image.
so yeah...not saying I'm all good with God or something, the last thing I want this to be is boasting. But if you find yourself growing thin, maybe consider who you're trying to please: God, or your self-image through the opinions of others? Joy and peace are on the other side, guys. and it's more than I could have ever asked for.
His peace be with you.
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| yet again, today won't involve a lot of theology persay. I've been thinking a lot about how my journey started eight months ago, and especially of the first 2 months where I thought my soul would explode at any moment. but before I tell you about that, we need to back up...
back in the fall of my senior year of high school a friend of mine picked up this book called A New Kind of Christian, and soon began sharing some of the ideas it contained. By this time I was a convinced 5-point (or 7-point, if you know piper) calvinist, reformed in almost every way possible. I wasn't ready for the ideas; they challenged nearly everything I had ever thought before. The writer was either pure genius or a heretic. My mind began to crumble, the structures of logic that were holding my faith together started to sway violently. By and by, I buried the thoughts of the writer. My friend moved to a different state to pursue these thoughts more at a church pastored by some guy named Rob Bell, and by March I could barely remember...but I wasn't honest with myself. I could feel it. I hadn't faced these thoughts head on, but instead I immersed myself in my calvinist books. I had decided that if there really was a new postmodern age and that the modern age was dying that I would remain modern to minister to those on the sinking ship...but this was just an excuse for my fear. By December of '05 I remembered the book again and decided to refresh my mind in case I encountered some of these concepts again.
I soon found myself in a dilemma. I was faced with the most dangerous decision I had ever faced in my life...to put everything that was not outside of my essentials (read: nicene creed) on the line of evaluation or to bury the questions inside of myself again. I knew that if I buried them I would never be honest with myself or God.
So...I took the plunge. I thought to myself that if I really loved Jesus and His message, I had to be willing to put everything else up to scrutiny.
At times it felt like I might become a heretic, or, heaven forbid, a liberal! It felt after I stripped so much of the old structures away that I would fall away from Christ...but I found myself falling into Him. He was still there, and encouraged me to press on, to dig deeper, to keep wondering if these evangelical cliche's were what really defined my faith. About this time I found my church at Life On The Vine, which breathed life into my lungs as I rearranged the furniture of my mind - even my soul.
And He was faithful. I wonder sometimes if I could live again in the fear that my church in wheaton would call me a heretic, or if I could come again to the same place I am today without falling off the trapeze I had walked...but I'm pretty sure that this was what God wanted me to do, and He would catch me if the worst happened.
so, that's the short version, with all of it's comma splices and bad grammar. It feels like I told you the skeleton of the story..but hey, who's gonna read the whole thing, anyways?
peace my friends, wherever this finds you on your journey.
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