Life at a Lively Pace

As a kid, I loved “connect the dots” puzzles. There was something very satisfying in drawing one line segment after another until a picture emerged. There was one rule: you had to connect the dots sequentially. Otherwise, the picture you ended up with would, in all likelihood, not be the right picture.

It seems that James Cameron, Simcha Jacobovici and their cohorts have spent the last two years connecting the dots to a puzzle that revolves around the 27-year-old discovery of a tomb. They didn’t stop to make sure that their line segments were drawn according to the right sequences. Frankly, it appears that the dots they connected don’t even belong to the puzzle in question. The picture they have ended up with is not the right one.

More »« Less

I’ve been working on a facelift for a friend’s blog. Having run into some unruly code, I spent the better portion of a week in a computer cave, oblivious to the happenings in the world around me. I came up for air briefly last week, just in time to hear about Kent Hovind and the tax fraud allegations as well as the Ted Haggard scandal. It was enough to make me want to live in the computer cave permanently.

The blogosphere is chock full of blame and explanations as to who went wrong and why. Tim Challies has a good perspective on the matter:

“If we look to Ted Haggard as a representative of all that is wrong in Evangelicalism, I think we miss the most important lesson. The lesson we need to learn is that we are every bit as sinful and fallible and willful and depraved as Haggard; perhaps more so. It is only the grace of God that, like a spider being held over the flame by a nearly-invisible web, prevents me from giving in to all the sin that is in me and being dragged down by it. Oh, that He would continue to extend this grace! And oh, that I would take heed lest I, too, fall, for what is in Haggard is in me.”

There is a tendency for us Christians to vociferously agree with the statement that humanity is totally depraved. However, when we get to church, we behave and expect to see others behave in a manner that all but screams, “Look at me! Am I not all nice and clean? I don’t think nasty thoughts or do bad things ’cause I’m redeemed and the redeemed are above that sort of thing.” Honestly, how comfortable would you be describing your deepest darkest secrets, thoughts and desires to the average person in your church? I know I wouldn’t be because the average church-going Christian, at least the ones I’ve been around, would :

More »« Less

Yep, they won.  The Eagles wiped up the field with the Cowboys today, 38 - 24. Poetic justice - the Eagles proved to T.O. that not only could they survive without him but they could beat his team as well.

I like football but not enough to be considered a fan. Regardless, I will be watching the game tomorrow, somewhere, to see if the Eagles can whoop some Cowboy’s, err…umm, kiester. Particularly, T. O.’s. posterior. What he put the Eagles and their fans through is beyond words. This is what happens when someone lets talent dictate whether or not a player is held to behavioral standards. Let the beatings begin!

On a related note, this can only be described as “ironic”. In the tradition of allowing celebrities to write children’s books, someone let T.O. write one as well. The title? “Little T Learns to Share” . The phrase “do as I say, not as I do” comes to mind …

There is a heinous threat lurking in the neighborhood. One that could cripple, maim - yes, even kill. Everyone is vulnerable, no one is immune.

You thought you were safe. You’ve locked your doors. Your house has been armed with the latest in alarm systems. The shrubs have been trimmed low so as not to provide a hiding place for the menace. The 20-foot ladder has been locked in the garage. Valuables have been hidden. You have not only one Mrs. Kravitz, but five of them, on the Neighborhood Watch.

But it’s not enough. Danger is waiting at the doorstep - everyone’s doorstep. And it’s in plain sight.

The city council in Bristol, England is up at arms. They’ve distributed flyers to the most vulnerable, everyone living in apartments - particularly the elderly, warning the citizenry of the menace. Residents have been advised of the one precaution they can take that would remove the threat, but few are willing to cooperate. As such, enforcement of the precaution has been mandated, against the will of most citizens. They now have a deadline - if they won’t take care of it themselves by September 18, city council will do it for them. The residents are furious.

What is this great peril? What or who is stalking the neighborhood, raising the terror level to such a height that the city council is willing to force residents to comply with their demands?

Doormats.

Talk about a city that has nothing better to do than policing doorsteps. Don’t they have any crime to worry about? Or moving violations? Or park lawns to protect from dogs? Or, **gulp**, jaywalkers?

So whose problem is this, anyway?

The congregants mentally “tune out” as soon as the rote patterns commence in the church service. Having been wined and dined all week by music, TV, theater and other diversions, folks have difficulty engaging in that which is not even mildly entertaining. They go to church and do what they’re supposed to do because it’s the “right thing to do”. I have been guilty of this myself on many occassions.

What is a church to do? Does it plod on, insisting on the same old thing [strains of Fiddler on the Roof’s “Tradition” in my mind] ? Or should church leadership resort to presenting sequential image, stereophonic, multimedia events [”Song of the Cebu”, anyone ?] - thus caving in to the ADD-like expectations that we have been conditioned into believing is normal?

More »« Less

According to this news article, Osama bin Laden’s favorite song lyrics could be:

“I don’t really need to look
Very much further/farther,
I don’t wanna have to go
Where you don’t follow.
I will hold it back again,
This passion inside.
Can’t run from myself,
There’s nowhere to hide.

Don’t make me close one more door,
I don’t wanna hurt anymore.
Stay in my arms if you dare,
Or must I imagine you there.
Don’t walk away from me.
I have nothing, nothing, nothing
If I don’t have you, you.”

That could make for some really interesting reality TV - “Being bin Laden’s (4th) Wife”.

Another piece of the problem

Rote memorization has its place. It is particularly useful in introducing new or abstract concepts when the intended student has no background information to which they can link the new data (i.e. - having young children memorize the symbols that make up their language’s alphabet). However, this method of teaching has its limits - it very rarely is able to affix the new information in the person’s long-term memory and it doesn’t explain the “why’s”.

Piggy-backing on the last thought, it is possible occassionally to drill the data into long-term memory, but when asked about the information, the person “parrots” back the information. The words get written/stated in the proper order, but there is little to no comprehension. Is this really what we want in our churches? A bunch of parrots repeating what they have been taught to say?

More »« Less

Rote memorization was a standard part of my elementary years, especially in math and music. The most boring part of math was the mutliplication tables. On Fridays, we were given a very fast-paced quiz where the questions were shot out at you: 3×4, 3×9, 3×1, 3×7, etc. You had seconds to write your answer before the next question came. Afterwards, the quizzes were collected to be graded over the weekend. Following the quiz was next week’s memorization assignment: this week you did the 3’s, next week you had to memorize the 4’s (up to 12).

You knew what you were expected to do on Fridays and you also knew that you would be spending the next week memorizing numbers only to perform the act again on the next Friday. Not much excitment there - it was predictable.

Music, specifically piano lessons, also fell into this category. I had the privilege (if you want to call it that) of having several teachers that expected me to not only learn the piece - note for note - but to also have it memorized. I was not permitted to move onto the next song in the book (and I always had a minimum of 4 books) until I could play from memory. It didn’t take long to figure out that if I memorized quickly, I could go on to more interesting songs which were always at the back of the book.

Rote Liturgy
I have been lurking outside of an open window at the bar and overheard a conversation a few days ago regarding the “rote-ness” of liturgy. One tavernista remarked that the participant could very well develop an immunity to the meaning of what is being said, to which the bouncer/head bartender replied:

More »« Less

Though journalists are supposed to be the professionals that keep the world informed, they will sometimes ask a question that makes your head shake. The only thing more confounding than that is the reply of the supposed authority who is being interviewed.

This Q&A also came from the interview mentioned in the last post. While it kind-of-sort-of fit (thematically) into the interview, it would not have fit into my last missive. So, here it is:

You recently donated a whole lot of money for a hockey rink at Liberty University. If these are the end times, why make an investment like that?
[Laughs.] My strategy is that Canada and Northern America produces the bulk of hockey players. We use the ice rink to get the hockey players to come to Liberty University where many of them are exposed to accept Christ. Many of them come because they are Christians. They are challenged to go into the ministry, and we’ve already had some of the guys in the earlier classes that graduated, and they’re going home to Canada to start churches.

Proselytism with a hockey puck?
“Evangelism with a hockey puck” would be better.

Huh?!? At first glance, the initial question is a little silly. If someone believes that the end is at hand and that their worldly possessions cannot be taken to the next world, the money might as well be spent on something in the “here and now”. You’d think a reporter could come up with a more penetrating or pertinent question. The response, though, practically justifies the goofiness of the question. More »« Less