On one of the Christian radio stations yesterday: "I remember when television programming started. Each station would come on the air with prayer and devotions. There was no nudity or partial-nudity. No profanity. No inappropriate sexual stuff. Not even an idea of homosexuality, no scenes of sodomy. And the bad guys wore black hats and the good guys wore white".
Followed by a lament that secular programming has led to the downfall of the power of the church in America.
Really, an exercise in completing missing the point. When a group of people has collectively decided to sit down and regularly receive "entertainment" in a passive manner, the content of that entertainment is only an afterthought. The human has already been sold; the door has been opened and culture has walked out - it doesn't much matter what walks in thereafter.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Opinion 75
It's the abstraction of big, national economic problems that make them almost impossible to solve. Like sleepily attempting to run in a dream and being confounded by its impossibility, trying to understand the modern technobabble that has run off with economics leads mostly to blinking eyes and a desire to be find a new subject. I suppose its not just economics, though. Wars for "freedom" involving no one we really know and costing the average American nothing (at least not immediately) also suffer from the same hazy fog of abstraction. General vague feelings evoked at words like "equality" or the "American dream" create a fuzzy feeling and then we look down to see who texted us and the thought sweetly slips away.
It's hard to believe anything anymore. I mean believe, not just "feel". I know a lot of people who feel a whole lot about ______ (if its my generation, its the "environment" and "GLBT rights"; if its those on the right, its the "free market" or "exceptionalism"), but these feelings are just vague self-reinforcing road signs, giving the impression and all the accompanying comfort that one is on the right path. But in day to day life it is not these things that drive a person. It is, rather, the desire to just get the hell out of the office by five, or to make it to the bar before happy hour ends, or to keep the social networks updated, or to get enough to buy a new phone because a new phone is just gonna make the whole thing easier, really - trust me (some of these desires, of course, are more noble than others).
What is this vague and gray, sticky and slow block, this thought-aborting malaise? Again I go back to dreams, where one can't seem to raise one's head, or open the door that really needs to be open. Actions are slowly and inexplicably whisked away. We lower our heads and bow to slumber.
What is it? Who the hell knows. It's something straight from the devil to be sure. I received a letter from Comcast the other day, assuring me that their wondrous machines could provide me and mine with "the entertainment services you deserve". Good Lord! Entertainment services I deserve? First and foremost, what the hell are we doing talking about "entertainment services?" It reminds me of the fact that so much of economy has shifted from manufacturing to the service and entertainment industries respectively. We don't make stuff no more (except for lattes, of course), we just buy stuff and get ourselves entertained. And yet this new reality is no longer shocking (was it ever? is the devil too subtle? does he fly under all our radars?). No, it is so prevalent we don't even notice it. We assume entertainment is something owed, something "deserved". And as much as I hoped that upon opening that envelope, the services revealed of which I assuredly deserved would include a monkey and an accordion...
What is this malaise? Presumably it is the exhaustion of a culture that has just laid on its ass for far too many years. A culture that does not work, a culture that is "entertained", a culture whose gods are celebrities of the most pagan sort. We cannot be but exhausted; we haven't done anything in generations There is no nourishment here, only the opportunity to eat more. No thirst is quenched here, but the cocktail parties are endless. No one believes a damn thing anymore, but we all (God spare my blog in this) have opinions tied to feelings. We like to say things that bring comforting sensations.
The first temptation for men of my sort, is ironic detachment. "The idiotic world is dying- let us drink and chuckle". Let us not condemn these men outright. At least they know something is wrong! And at least they drink whiskey (or they should). Beer drinkers are not allowed to scoff at the world in an ironic fashion.
Secondly, and related to the first option, is the turn to the book. For if one hates what has become of the world, one can learn how it happened, one can find the etiology of the nihilism and then stand triumphant! This, of course, is related to the first temptation, as the knowledge provided through study leads quite often to hopelessness, and then to the irony and then, the cupboard!
I suppose there is also a religious option of a more or less apocalyptic leaning. I mean apocalyptic in the worst sense, the "well this whole place is gonna be gone soon and I'm gonna be sitting pretty with m' Lord up in heaven, so really who cares?!" sense.
There are better sorts of the apocalyptic. Saints have achieved these and my stained hands dare not describe them.
No solution is here offered, my friends. If I had it I would have published it and, assuming on its popularity, I would even now be spending these Late and Waning Days in a big bed of cool cash in front of huge screen of some sort, forgetting and making some fun of it.
I leave you with this encouragement.
It's hard to believe anything anymore. I mean believe, not just "feel". I know a lot of people who feel a whole lot about ______ (if its my generation, its the "environment" and "GLBT rights"; if its those on the right, its the "free market" or "exceptionalism"), but these feelings are just vague self-reinforcing road signs, giving the impression and all the accompanying comfort that one is on the right path. But in day to day life it is not these things that drive a person. It is, rather, the desire to just get the hell out of the office by five, or to make it to the bar before happy hour ends, or to keep the social networks updated, or to get enough to buy a new phone because a new phone is just gonna make the whole thing easier, really - trust me (some of these desires, of course, are more noble than others).
What is this vague and gray, sticky and slow block, this thought-aborting malaise? Again I go back to dreams, where one can't seem to raise one's head, or open the door that really needs to be open. Actions are slowly and inexplicably whisked away. We lower our heads and bow to slumber.
What is it? Who the hell knows. It's something straight from the devil to be sure. I received a letter from Comcast the other day, assuring me that their wondrous machines could provide me and mine with "the entertainment services you deserve". Good Lord! Entertainment services I deserve? First and foremost, what the hell are we doing talking about "entertainment services?" It reminds me of the fact that so much of economy has shifted from manufacturing to the service and entertainment industries respectively. We don't make stuff no more (except for lattes, of course), we just buy stuff and get ourselves entertained. And yet this new reality is no longer shocking (was it ever? is the devil too subtle? does he fly under all our radars?). No, it is so prevalent we don't even notice it. We assume entertainment is something owed, something "deserved". And as much as I hoped that upon opening that envelope, the services revealed of which I assuredly deserved would include a monkey and an accordion...
What is this malaise? Presumably it is the exhaustion of a culture that has just laid on its ass for far too many years. A culture that does not work, a culture that is "entertained", a culture whose gods are celebrities of the most pagan sort. We cannot be but exhausted; we haven't done anything in generations There is no nourishment here, only the opportunity to eat more. No thirst is quenched here, but the cocktail parties are endless. No one believes a damn thing anymore, but we all (God spare my blog in this) have opinions tied to feelings. We like to say things that bring comforting sensations.
The first temptation for men of my sort, is ironic detachment. "The idiotic world is dying- let us drink and chuckle". Let us not condemn these men outright. At least they know something is wrong! And at least they drink whiskey (or they should). Beer drinkers are not allowed to scoff at the world in an ironic fashion.
Secondly, and related to the first option, is the turn to the book. For if one hates what has become of the world, one can learn how it happened, one can find the etiology of the nihilism and then stand triumphant! This, of course, is related to the first temptation, as the knowledge provided through study leads quite often to hopelessness, and then to the irony and then, the cupboard!
I suppose there is also a religious option of a more or less apocalyptic leaning. I mean apocalyptic in the worst sense, the "well this whole place is gonna be gone soon and I'm gonna be sitting pretty with m' Lord up in heaven, so really who cares?!" sense.
There are better sorts of the apocalyptic. Saints have achieved these and my stained hands dare not describe them.
No solution is here offered, my friends. If I had it I would have published it and, assuming on its popularity, I would even now be spending these Late and Waning Days in a big bed of cool cash in front of huge screen of some sort, forgetting and making some fun of it.
I leave you with this encouragement.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Opinion 74
This sentiment is of course cliche, but I've been reminded as of late just how much we religious people love a controversy. Let's be honest: Jesus gets boring after a while. But a good fight, a good fight with the theologically misinformed or just plain infidelic - now that's something worth getting excited about. My God, it makes going to church almost worth it.
OPINION 71
DEBT CEILING LIMIT FUNDING DEFAULT BIPARTISANSHIP DOWNGRADE OF CREDIT RATING
HELP!
DEBT CEILING
HELP!
DEBT CEILING
JOHNBO
EHNEROBAMAREID
DEBT CEILING
Monday, July 25, 2011
Opinion 68
Father said that its not so much about finding the strength within oneself to forgive the other - that's nearly impossible; rather, the trick is learning to see how it is that God and his community can and has forgiven the other. God has given us authority to forgive sins. We, in a way, do best to give that authority back to him, as Christ did, in submission: "Father, forgive them...".
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Opinion 65
Lotta talk going around these parts about conversion in and among different churches. I'm told the man who chooses his religion is acting like a Protestant. Good Lord folks, we're all Protestants now days. The Middle Ages have passed. If one is going to be religious in the West these days, by and large one is going to have to choose. And yes, we choose quite often for reasons incorrect and undignified. Does this really need to be a cause of surprise?
Here's the thing, Christianity itself is a choice. At one time or another, many of us decided to try to follow Christ, or at least to tag along with those who said they were following him. There are two roads, aren't there? and we're told that we must choose one or the other. The Gospel itself demands a Protestant choice, a protest against the nations: stick with the political-religious mainstream or give them the finger and follow a crazed Jew of quite unhopeful prospects.
Let me offer a piece of spiritual advice. As one who has seen the divine light, magnified through the shadows of divine unknowable darkness, as one who has... or rather, who knows a man, whom seven years ago ascended through nine heavens (that's right, nine, not a paltry seven) and saw sights -whether in the body or out of the body he doesn't know- as a man who regularly has had fantastic and freaky looking lightsaber-like lasers shooting out of his hands and who on this account has been forced to purchase gloves, as one, quite honestly, who levitates all the time, hovering even over those damn garage door sensors that won't let you run out of the garage after hitting the "shut" button, as one who is clairvoyant, who even now in his gift of clairvoyance realizes that few will believe him and that these shall perish, as one who is a member of the LAST TRUE APOSTOLIC ORTHODOX CHURCH ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH ,OUTSIDE OF RUSSIA, as one who has distuingished between the essence and the engergies on multiple occasions, even over his morning coffee (fair-trade, for God is just) with SOY milk because IT IS A FASTING SEASON, as a humble man, let me offer this advice: if one's conversion leads to the more serious undertaking of the commands of Jesus, and maybe - miracle upon miracles - actually doing one or two of them before death, then the conversion was worth it.
Here's the thing, Christianity itself is a choice. At one time or another, many of us decided to try to follow Christ, or at least to tag along with those who said they were following him. There are two roads, aren't there? and we're told that we must choose one or the other. The Gospel itself demands a Protestant choice, a protest against the nations: stick with the political-religious mainstream or give them the finger and follow a crazed Jew of quite unhopeful prospects.
Let me offer a piece of spiritual advice. As one who has seen the divine light, magnified through the shadows of divine unknowable darkness, as one who has... or rather, who knows a man, whom seven years ago ascended through nine heavens (that's right, nine, not a paltry seven) and saw sights -whether in the body or out of the body he doesn't know- as a man who regularly has had fantastic and freaky looking lightsaber-like lasers shooting out of his hands and who on this account has been forced to purchase gloves, as one, quite honestly, who levitates all the time, hovering even over those damn garage door sensors that won't let you run out of the garage after hitting the "shut" button, as one who is clairvoyant, who even now in his gift of clairvoyance realizes that few will believe him and that these shall perish, as one who is a member of the LAST TRUE APOSTOLIC ORTHODOX CHURCH ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH ,OUTSIDE OF RUSSIA, as one who has distuingished between the essence and the engergies on multiple occasions, even over his morning coffee (fair-trade, for God is just) with SOY milk because IT IS A FASTING SEASON, as a humble man, let me offer this advice: if one's conversion leads to the more serious undertaking of the commands of Jesus, and maybe - miracle upon miracles - actually doing one or two of them before death, then the conversion was worth it.
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