mbjones

A Wealthy Life?

I find the prosperity gospel to be most objectionable. The idea that God wants us to be self absorbed — focused on our own health, wealth and western ideals of prosperity — has done more to harm the kingdom of God than build it up. It also directly contradicts Biblical, particularly New Testament, notions of kingdom living.

I was reminded this once again while reading on the plane. I started reading Luke again but before jumping into the text, I asked for God to highlight simple things that I’d missed before. One of those dealt specifically with our false notions of prosperity and kingdom living. It comes specifically from Luke 5 and is the story of Jesus and the fishermen.

3 He got into5 one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then Jesus sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing! But at your word I will lower the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets started to tear. 7 So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they were about to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For Peter and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s business partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11 So when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Here is something amazing. Jesus is traveling with these fisherman and teaches some from their boat. What exactly — we don’t know. We could probably guess a little bit — it seems that often Jesus taught about what the kingdom of God is like, through parables and stories and simple truths, like in the sermons on the mount and plains. He often spoke of an alternative lifestyle — one lived in a subversive opposition to the dominant culture.

And here are these fishermen. They first recognized that in Jesus, there was someone worth listening to. Even though they had been out fishing all night with nothing to show for their hard work, they were willing to take Jesus at His word. When He said, ”Lower your nets” they did, and to their amazement caught more fish than they likely had ever seen at one given time. They even had to call another boat over to hold all of the excess. For these fishermen, this likely represented an enormous wealth such that they didn’t often come across.

For us in the states, more often than not it seems that this would have been the end of the story. God is supposed to bless us with wealth beyond measure. It’s an expectation to live and walk in. And sadly this satisfies us. So often we leave it at that (wealth accumulation as outward sign of blessing) and ignore the greater truth of what abundance and wealth truly is.

Thankfully though for Simon Peter and his business partners, this wasn’t a sufficient end to the story. They are amazed at the wealth but more amazed with Jesus. Jesus’ abundance immediately draws attention to their deficiency. But not the deficiency of their pocketbooks — the deficiency of their hearts.

And what they did next is truly amazing. As soon as they got to shore they left all of that new found wealth behind (as well as everything else that they had) to follow Jesus. The wealth truly didn’t matter a single bit when contrasted with Jesus (the source of all our life). Worldly wealth pales in comparison with the wealth of a heart filled with His kingdom.

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Random Links 2/1/10

• An interview with Bill Watterson. He created Calvin and Hobbes (my favorite comic strip — I’m trying to figure out how to take some of the books to Africa) and this is the first interview with him in 15 years.

• A good friend, whom I’ve gone to Africa with twice, writes about the Prodigal Son with a mind for spiritual justice, and not just worldly justice.

• A favorite band of mine, Midlake, has a new CD out today. Stream it for free here.

• Speaking of Midlake, here is a link to download their Denton Session. Need new music? Check it out. Free and legit.

• In more bizarro news, it seems that the Somali pirates fashion themselves as modern day Robin Hoods. For one — they funnel a lot of resources back into their incredibly poor communities and two — they are smuggling in aid to Haiti. I don’t recommend any one get into pirating though; I can’t condone armed robbery/hijacking/kidnapping as a modern valid job.

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Things That Make Me Sad: 'New Haiti,' Same Corporate Interests

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Random Links 1/29/10

Another day, and some more links.

• To start off this one, here is an article dealing with aid in disaster situations and when it is appropriate for us to go. While there are certainly exceptions to every rule, it does offer some good food for thought (including the fact that local people are well equipped to do a lot of the legwork and that it often acts as a healing agent for them to be involved).

• Speaking of Haiti articles, here is a CRAZY one! You may or may not recall Chuck Baldwin as the Constitution Party candidate for president. I definitely wasn’t impressed then, and I’m even less impressed now. In the article, he questions the veracity of the quake (even if he fails to believe it, my brother felt it on the other side of the island). And why? Among other things:

I am personally convinced that certain members of the Bush and Clinton families have been involved in the international smuggling of illicit drugs for decades.

• I was glad to see that there were conservatives upset over the big supreme court ruling a week and a half ago.

With the Citizens United ruling, the court revealed the depth of its contempt for judicial restraint, original intent, and deference to the legislature. The ruling is nothing short of a coup, a fundamental change in the structure of the America polity. It will work not only to the defeat of democracy, but to the destruction of what’s left of the small businessman. From this day forward, no one will hold office who does not have the approval of the corporations, no small business will exist save by their sufferance.

• Speaking of big business and corporations, a documentary recommended to me by Sam D. called The Corporation is now on Hulu. I’ve watched the first 3rd and its good so far and I hope to finish it soon.

And now for some “revival warnings”; Todd Bentley is back in the game. If you don’t remember that name, he was the instigator of the Lakeland fiasco a year and a half ago. It crashed and burned when it came to light that he was having an affair with an intern. After the revival ended, he divorced his wife and married the mistress. Oh and no actual healings or other signs could be found true. World Magazine attempted to verify but everything came back as “not true/not really healed/currently dead.” There are some discerning people within the charismatic world and we’d do well to at least consider their words:

• Dan from Cerulean Sanctum shares a warning that details some occultic practices.

• Lee Grady responds to the aftermath of the Lakeland fiasco.

• Grady also laments the loss of annointing in the American Church; speaking as an insider, his words are especially meaningful (if you were unaware, he has for many years been an editor of Charisma Magazine).

• Switching gears yet again, a minister from The Journey, Adam Schuster, just started a new nonprofit called Share the Sound that seeks to provide new or as-good-as-new sound equipment to ministries and missions across the world that don’t have access to it.

• Neil Cole with a theology of SAFE vs a theology of DEATH. You can probably guess which one I’m for.

Self-preservation = our mission
Avoidance of the world and risk = wisdom
Financial security = responsible faith
Education = maturity

Die daily to who we are
Empowerment of others (not self) is our life
Acceptance of risk is normative
Theology is not just knowledge, but practice
Hold tight to Christ with an open hand for everything else.

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YouTube - Sesame Street: Celebrity Lullabies

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Joshua Blankenship | Blog » On the Magical, Revolutionary New Apple iPad

via joshuablankenship.com

LOL!

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Avatar: Reviewed

I had the opportunity to see several movies over break. Unfortunately I haven’t yet taken the time to review them. That needs to change. And so I’ll start with the first one I saw (which happened to be the best).

We have a tradition in my family. On Christmas Day, we generally always have symphony beef and then go to a matinee. This is how we saw the three Lord of the Rings movies. This year we saw another epic fantasy (with a definite sci-fi flair): Avatar. By now everyone reading this has likely already seen the movie or heard enough about it to decide whether they want to or not; I don’t really expect this review to change any minds.

Visually it’s stunning, and worth seeing for this reason alone. Few movies immerse you enter their environment like Avatar was able to. Particularly the 3d version draws you in and makes you feel like you are right there. This is made all the more incredible by the world — Pandora — that the filmmakers developed. It’s unlike any we’ve seen or known. The plants are colorful and fluorescent and intriguing, and the wildlife exciting and fearsome. It’s done so well that you quickly forget all the computer animation involved.

As for as the story goes — it’s not going to win any awards for originality. I saw the plot played out in Dances With Wolves, Pocahontas, and others. It doesn’t really drift from this stereotype (in fact there is a funny summary of Pocahontas “corrected” to be for Avatar floating around the ‘net). As long as you don’t expect a groundbreaking script, though, you won’t be disappointed in this regard. Particularly if you liked the aforementioned movies, the Avatar script won’t be troublesome to you.

The message is what a lot of people have been talking about. I’ve heard many upset by the portrayal of a marine that turns on his fellow soldiers in order to help the Navi people (to the supposed point of renouncing humanity). Or the not so subtle critique of US military presence in Iraq. Or the denouncement of seemingly all powerful corporations exploiting anything (and anyone) for their own gain. Or the pantheism of the Navi people. Frankly I’m surprised that some of these are the issues they are made out to be. Who for instance is really for a standing military (or mercenary band) that needlessly shoots and kills civilians? Or the exploitation of natural resources leading to the genocide of a people? We should be ready and willing to renounce such extreme greed (and that is what the movie goes after — not the military itself or even corporations). I can understand a raised eyebrow or two at the pantheistic threads. But I think it’s probably too simple to label the spirituality of Avatar as pantheistic though. The world itself is a giant bio-network. Everything, while independent, has the means of “plugging in” (for the Navi, it’s a fiber optic cord patch in their hair). There is a deity worshipped and unlike traditional pantheism (which is by its nature deistic in the sense of a non-interventionist god/goddess) she does intervene in the end on behalf of the people. That doesn’t necessarily change the pagan ties, but it is a made up world, in a made up future, with an entirely different earth history and is something that lots of movies (including the Lord of the Rings) gets a pass for by the same people critiquing Avatar; that makes the “spiritual” critique ring kind of hollow to me. That’s all personal opinion though.

Anyways, I started by saying this was the best movie I saw this past holiday break and it definitely was. My wife and I, and my parents all thoroughly enjoyed it. I still remember when the star, Jake, flies in on a tamed dragon — the biggest on Pandora — and unites the Navi in order to try and save them. It’s epic in that it presents a world never seen and an adventure never experienced (if you discount the recycled plot elements). If you haven’t seen it, I definitely would say it’s worth it.

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Random Links 1/25/10

I find I collect links fast now that I’m out of a day job. So — if you are bored and looking for some reading material — check some of these out!

• Here’s an article where Greg Boyd tells some Mennonites to “Go to hell!”:

I taught that, while Mennonites have traditionally tended to be preoccupied with keeping hell out of their communities and have thus tended to be a bit reclusive, Jesus is calling them (and all of us) to boldly take the Gospel into the world and aggressively storm the gates of hell (that is, areas that are under the dominion of Satan rather than God). And so, it just seemed appropriate to conclude this section of my talk by telling them to “Go to Hell!” It seemed they appreciate it!

I like Greg Boyd a lot. As I began discovering the anabaptist roots God planted within me, his work was able to help me navigate new territory. One particular tension I had was the anabaptist/mennonite tendency toward separation and seclusion; I didn’t see it at all as appropriate for a people on mission and Greg Boyd succinctly says why.

• David Fitch offers an interesting MLK Jr Day reflection.

And two close out another link post, two aged-yet-still-delightful Shane Claiborne posts:

• Shane writes in Esquire magazine:

I have a friend in the UK who talks about “dirty theology” — that we have a God who is always using dirt to bring life and healing and redemption, a God who shows up in the most unlikely and scandalous ways. After all, the whole story begins with God reaching down from heaven, picking up some dirt, and breathing life into it. At one point, Jesus takes some mud, spits in it, and wipes it on a blind man’s eyes to heal him. (The priests and producers of anointing oil were not happy that day.)

In fact, the entire story of Jesus is about a God who did not just want to stay “out there” but who moves into the neighborhood, a neighborhood where folks said, “Nothing good could come.” It is this Jesus who was accused of being a glutton and drunkard and rabble-rouser for hanging out with all of society’s rejects, and who died on the imperial cross of Rome reserved for bandits and failed messiahs. This is why the triumph over the cross was a triumph over everything ugly we do to ourselves and to others. It is the final promise that love wins.

It is this Jesus who was born in a stank manger in the middle of a genocide. That is the God that we are just as likely to find in the streets as in the sanctuary, who can redeem revolutionaries and tax collectors, the oppressed and the oppressors… a God who is saving some of us from the ghettos of poverty, and some of us from the ghettos of wealth.

• A fun one: Jubilee on Wall Street:

The streets turned silver. Our “pedestrians,” “tourists,” “homeless,” and “business people” began pouring out their change. We decorated the place with sidewalk chalk and filled the air with bubbles. Joy was contagious. Someone bought bagels and started giving them out. People started sharing their winter clothes. One of the street sweepers winked at us as he flashed a dustpan full of money. Another guy hugged someone and said, “Now I can get my prescription filled.”

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Why aren't we talking about the new accusations of murder at Gitmo? - By Dahlia Lithwick - Slate Magazine

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Disappearing Glaciers?

Much has been said about the the errors regarding Himalayan glacier data in the latest UN climate change reports. It’s important to keep in mind that while unfortunate (things should have been double checked to make sure i’s were dotted and t’s crossed) they don’t significantly alter the point. Numbers are boring to look at though, so how about some photographic evidence of receding glaciers in the past century? Whether it’s man-caused or not (cyclical nature of the earth per chance?) can still be up for debate, but change has and is happening.

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