Hello blog world. So to catch things up I'm reading this book called The Irresistible Revolution - highly recommended. And while I'm reading this I would love to get feedback and opinions from YOU. It's really cool to see how the human mind works and how people think differently. So here we go. . .

So we start off talking about the difficulty in understanding that Jesus was a person. we've so far commercialized it and making him a fashion statement that it's hard to even believe he really existed. Shane puts it this way "It becomes hard to know who Jesus really is, much less to imagine that Jesus ever laughed, cried, or had poop that smelled" I think that last line is definately worth mentioning. Jesus pooped. Maybe that should be the verse right after John 11:35 "Jesus wept. Then Jesus pooped"

But here we are realizing that jesus really lived, that he still lives, but what do we do about it? Here's a few lines from Shane that got me thinkin: "But then you start to think there must be more to Christianity, more than just lyaing your life and sins at the foot of the cross. I came to realize that preachers were telling me to lay my life at the foot of the cross and weren't giving me anything to pick up. . . Where were the do's?. . . I had become a 'believer,' but had no idea what it means to be a follower. People had taught me what Christians believe, but no one had told me how Christians live."

Now that's hard to swallow. How many times have kids come to me for advice on what to do now, and the answer I give them goes something like this "Um. . . well you know man, keep readin your bible and prayin. . ." I'm not saying there's anything wrong with these things, but it's all for our benefit. And if we live our lives, especially when we've accepted Christ as the head of our lives, completely for our benefit then how much like Jesus are we really being? And isn't that what the word Christian means? To be like Christ. But still we drown ourselves in the Bible until we realize that because there's no outward expression of what we're learning and that all of the things we're reading are just sitting inside our heads and we don't see a whole lot of purpose. We need an out. Somewhere to take the things we learn and apply it. And I think that so many times we give up on it because we're so thirsty for God, but still so suffocated by Christianity.

Because living our lives like we know the Bible tells us to is scary. Mark Twain said "It's not the parts of the Bible I don't understand that scare me, but the parts I do understand." It's when we read and understand the Bible that we really can acknowledge that we know how live our lives. And it's when people became too afraid of having to deal with the fact that Jesus might have actually meant what he said and taught that Christianity became watered down. Our friend Shane says it like this "I began to wonder if anybody sitll believed Jesus meant those things he said. I thought if we just stopped and asked, What if he really meant it? it could turn the world upside-down. It was a shame Christians had become so normal." People like John Wesley who believed that if they did'nt get kicked out of town after he spoke he wondered if he had truly preached the gospel. Where's that gone? It's supposed to be convicting and challenging . . . otherwise it wouldn't be worth it!

So here's Shane getting involved with a charismatic nondenominational congregation and became a jesus freak and lived happily ever after. not really. he's caught up in the excitement of standing on street corners and handing out pamphlets but suddenly realizes he's not getting much fulfillment out of all of it. he says in a side note that "we later referred to this feel-good, emotionally charged christianity as "spiritual masturbation." It feels good but never really gives birth to anything." - provocative? yes. appropriate? whoa, i dunno!

Shane ends up going to a college up north (he's a good ol` boy from the dirty south, so this is a big step) and gets involved with some radical guys with radical ideas. One of them is reading some publishings from Mother Teresa (who from this point on will be referred to as Momma T) and gets this crazy idea to go be with the homeless downtown. so for weeks they go down and talk to the homeless of Philly. But the more and more they go down and sleep on the streets the more and more the bible begins to come alive to them. and they experienced miracles.

Women struggling to get a meal from a late night food van - only to give it away to another homeless woman who wasn't able to fight for the meal herself. She believed it was worth the struggle.

Kids panhandling money and immediately splitting the everything they had with their friends.

Kids aspiring to own grocery stores just so they have the means to do what so many already have the opportunity to do - and never take it. . . to give out food to the hungry people that need it.

Men laying their pack of cigarettes int he offering plate because it was literally all they had that was of any value

Momma T said "in the poor we meet Jesus in his most distressing disguises"

We can meet god. And most of the time it's in the places we least expect it

i heard a quote today that went something like this . . . "If the whole history of the church could be summed up in one sentence it would be this 'yeah. . . sorry 'bout that.'"

hm.

really? has the church hurt and offended and manipulated so many people that an apology is the best way to explain it?

i really wrestled with this quote, tried to wrap my mind around it and understand what it really means. . . what context it was taken out of, what state was the person's heart in that let these words escape from their thoughts and out of their mouth.

i know a lot of people have been really hurt by the church. and as much as i know that, i also hate those words. it's never the church that hurts people, it's hurt people within the church that hurt people. heck, the word church only means a gathering of people to begin with.

i'm reading this book you might have heard of called Velvit Elvis by a genious man named Rob Bell. in reading through this book i start to think 'man, this Rob guy really has things figured out.'  but then it hit me, mid-sentence, that what makes Rob Bell seem so intelligent and wise is that he's humble enough to admit that he doesn't have it all figured out and that he's learning this walk just like you, me, and the next guy.

in this book he speaks about opinions and translations and how when you sit through a church service and agree with the pastor, you're agreeing with his/her opinion because really, that's all that any preaching or interpereting of the bible can be - an opinion.

now don't misunderstand me and think that i don't believe in the inspired word of god and that god doesn't speak to people and gives a word for the now. i absolutely 100% believe that. . . so here's what i'm saying - even when the apostles were writing these books and letters they even admit that they could have misunderstood this; in a sense misinterpereted it... that's so cool to think that the apostles were just regular guys who were getting these inspired words from the holy spirit but still they're humble enough to admit they don't have it all figured out

sorry, i'm rambling.

so anywho, why should the church apologize? why should this congregation say they're sorry for offending, for, in all reality, challenging.

of course people are going to feel hurt by decisions that are made by the authorities in the church, but when it comes right down to it it's not really about the authorities anyway. it's about being able to stand on your own two feet and say this is what i believe is right, the best way to live this fragile life we've been given, the way Christ lived it.

there's some food for thought that was itching my brain earlier tonight.
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