Regurgitating Mummies

As much as I love this country, I think I may realized one of it's many faults tonight and it makes me sad. The discovery first began while reading someone's blog about their ADHD nephew and the ensuing prose about unfit parents. Then, earlier tonight I was playing poker with some pagans I recently met. Two of them took a smoke break, leaving me with one I shall refer to as Cobb. Not his real name of course, I didn't receive permission to publish the intimates of our brief discussion, so the least I can do is not put is name on anything I say.

Cobb had mentioned earlier in the game the reasoning behind him smoking weed. He said it slows his mind down to a speed that is productive. He said "my brain just moves to fast and I can't focus". He thought this a fault of his and something that needed to be fixed. I think the fault lies in the hands of our society as a whole.

So during the smoke break, while the two of us were alone, I, being intrigued earlier, probed a little further. He told me that he started smoking in high school mainly out of boredom. He hated school because it was too slow and the only way to stay focused was to smoke weed. He explained that after a smoke he had the focus to read what he needed to. He explained that his main distraction was all the questions he had. Always questions swarming around in his head, one always leading to another. One answer always leading to yet more questions. Yet he needed to push those interests aside to make room for school work. I asked why he didn't just ask the questions. He responded that he came from "small town Texas", and all those questions would have gotten him in trouble. Never found out the specifics of the questions so I can't say one way or the other.

So then I asked what is it that you think about. He said "mainly life, and people. I love to watch people and think about why they do what they do. Sitting and watching people is my favorite. I watch people and laugh all day long." My first thought was "wow that's what I think about". We then agreed that we made ourselves laugh much more than another people ever have. I realized our brains were very similar.

So changing once again I asked "so how do you do in college? Do you think you'd do better without smoking weed now that your not at your slow high school?" He said he didn't think so, but there was no way to be sure because he hadn't really tried it. By this time I made some conclusive assumptions. The guy was pretty intelligent. Besides for making good grades he showed a great capacity to think things through in a logical sense. He also showed a capacity to take one lesson or idea and use it to learn about other things.

Then I thought about all the really smart people I knew. Smart in as many ways as I could think of. Mainly some kind mental prowess that gave them an upper hand in some area of life. Most of them did drugs and complained of things moving too slow and being bored with education. Despite all the intelligentsia that came to mind I thought "maybe they all have wrong". I think this society is moving too fast.

Cobb complained of having no time to follow his own thoughts. Even on topics brought up at school, they were always giving the surface info and then moving on. There is no time for people with the capacity to think on a greater number of levels than the average person to really explore those depths. Everything about the majority of our culture is about quick flashing attractions that don't give you enough time to think things through. What are video games and most television program but quick bursts of color, sound, and movement laced with tiny bits of information someone is hoping will entertain in order to get a buck. The idea of more has impressed itself on our society with greater weight than the idea of better. Most companies succeed on service speed or things that allow us more time in the day to do more things. Consider this, I can't say hi to most people on campus because they're plugged into an i-pod. It's not good enough just to walk somewhere. It's more productive to listen to music and walk somewhere. Cell phones are the same way. Cell phones combined with i-pods. No lie the other day I received from me deceased grandfather an TV-Radio-CD-MP3 player with a compass, thermometer, and flashlight all in one.

I think our society is moving too fast for the slow, methodical, birth of ingenuity. Before we had all these entertaining distractions America led the way in innovation. Now we're viewed as the lazy rich slobs of the world, and so we are. Regurgitating Mummies hypnotised by flashing lights are clever commercial ditties are the target market for every interest: education, entertainment, art, business.

STARBUCKS!!! Somehow I know starbucks is involved here but its to light and I've been typing too long to put in the effort.

I do a trend though. How many of our greatest artists have led depressing suicidal lives? Why do so many of our greatest minds end up in the drink or narcotics? To slow things down, to rest. I didn't get to speak at all about the Lord in this but there is definitely a lot there. There's much of my thought left out in this, but then again I'm not heavily trained in retaining my thoughts for any long length of time. If I don't regurgitate them soon enough they start to fade. OH NO!!! THEY GOT ME!!! They got me. they got...

ps-i'm not meaning to identify myself as a genius

not sure bout this one

My holidays have been pretty good so far. I had a lovely day with my mom’s side of the family in Houston on Christmas Eve. Then I went to Austin to stay with my dad’s side of the family for Christmas Day. Both were good times. I got some money and loved being around my family.

I went to church service on Christmas Eve with my dad. I hadn’t been in so long I was a little overwhelmed. Of course all of the usual red flags exploded in my head when I saw all the advertising and programming and the…all the other stuff that bugs me about church. But mostly I was thankful to be sitting next to my dad and praising the Lord. That is such a rare occasion for me, and I loved it. Also, during the song “O, Come Let Us Adore Him” the Lord showed up and just smiled at us. I think all the heavens were looking to. There was a line in the song that commanded the heavens to praise him. The heavens noticed, and I was thankful.

Now I’m back, and just working. I work with the same guy everyday, Eric. He’s a cool guy. I enjoy his company and my job so no complaints there. Today we both fell asleep behind the climbing wall desk.

I also had an old friend contact me. I very much hope to see her, but don’t know if it will happen…

Alright, I’m a little frustrated right now because I feel like the Lord isn’t doing anything. But, what should I expect? I don’t know, but I have this evil, perverted work ethic that leaves me feeling worthless in the times when I’m not doing much. I keep reminding myself that the Lord loves me even when doing nothing. I guess I still have some wrong views about the Lord’s love. Unconditional does not match the description I seem to hold of the Lord’s love.

I wish that computers had a shouting function, so that when people read what I write they’ll know when I was shouting at my own computer as I typed, like in paragraph 5.

I’ll leave with this, I had a great Christmas and hope everyone else did too.

Anthropomorphic Kong

I just saw King Kong. Let me first say, “Wow”, what a movie going experience. It’s definitely a movie worth seeing in the theatre. The visual and sound effects are top-notch first-rate stunning. The movie was also a great deal more emotionally charged than the other two. While I’ve only seen the original, I can only imagine the one from the seventies being…shall I say…not as good. Anyone may correct me if I’m wrong.

What struck me though about the movie was how much humanity Kong had in him. First of all his relationship with the woman, Ann, was very much like what mogely, from the jungle book, had with Kate. The recognition of beauty was only the shallowest trait. Kong showed grace, sense of humor, compassion, favor, love, and a great deal of cognitive reasoning.

Then I think the Lord started unfolding some stuff for me right there on the silver screen. I started thinking of all the other lovable movie characters that we love so much: Old Yeller, Seabisquit, Lassie, Milo and Otis, all of the pixar animals, the Shrek animals, and all of the lovable horses that cowboys always have. I thought of this and how much we cry when any harm should come to these animals. We also seem to excuse any harm they should do to humans throughout the movie. WHY IS THAT!!

Well stick with me.

During creation God made humans and then there was everything else. There was a distinct difference between us and them. We were made in God’s image, and He gave us dominion over all of the earth. I’ve always wondered what it means to be “made” and then to be “made in God’s image”. We obviously have something animals don’t. Some would say that animals don’t have a soul, which inadvertently leads some to believe that animals aren’t saved by Jesus. I think animals do have souls and they still aren’t saved by Jesus. I don’t think animals go to hell though.

Animals I think have souls, maybe not to the same capacity as humans albeit but souls none the less. I do not recall animals ever being breathed on by the Lord, as Man was, in the beginning. I think we may have gotten something a little extra in that breathing on stuff, specifically we got the image of God. Therein lies the difference and why Jesus does not save animals. Jesus cleansed our spirits, breathed new life into our dead spirits. Animals were never breathed on in the first place.

I think animals have a soul because I’ve seen the affects of a soul in animals I’ve known. They show the capacity for fear, love, mercy, grace, confidence, shame, some cognition, worry, depression, excitement, a will of their own, and care. All of these come from our souls I think. By soul I mean mind, heart, and will.

So Kong had a soul, but what makes him more than an animal? Well he should a sense of humor for one thing, and while animals may enjoy something that is different than having a sense of humor. Kong also showed an immediate change in behavior towards humans, by suddenly caring for the girl uncharacteristic of wild animals. He also enjoyed a sunset and showed a sense of sentimentallity.

So what makes us yearn for the well being of these cinematic animals and excuse any amount of killing? When the directors and producers of Kong, and every other Hollywood animal character, apply that extra humanity to animals I believe we get some kind of glimpse of the way we were in the garden. You start to see a mix of the soul and that extra image of God stuff without the fall of man. These characters are seen in the light of absolute innocence, almost like a child but with out the selfish conceit that we all see in every child. That part of children which is selfish and conceited is the seed of the sin that is born in us, which is absolutely nonexistent in Kong. Kong shows absolute selflessness and abandon when he starts to protect Ann. That innocence is also why we excuse all of Kong’s killings. Even when Kong was killing innocent people in New York, we were all still rooting for Kong. After all, what human isn’t guilty?

Here’s what strikes me as ironic.

Why don’t we feel this ways towards the Lord? Well the Lord kills people every day, and he promised us that He works everything for the good of those who love God right. Well Kong worked everything for the good of her who loved him, who he loved first. All of Kong’s destruction and killing was aimed at one thing, saving Ann. So is God’s towards us, so why do we sometimes question Him and scoff at the “world we live in”.

Basically we sometimes feel like we’re being thrown aside by Kong because we’re not the one He loves, or maybe He doesn’t see that we love him. Really we are just being thrown around as the Lord works for us, much like Ann was when Kong battled…everyone.

Also by cheering for the animals on screen we are rooting, in a strange sense, against ourselves. It’s always the faults of humanity that we find our beloved animal characters fighting against.

I’m not sure what else to say, I hope there are comments.

inspiration

being really bored for the holidays, i'm desperate for inspiration. so far i have found one inspiring nugget of prose, it's bout hoiday brews. I've never really experimented with holiday brews but it is the holidays and i am bored. i will assure you though that i will not mix my previous boredom antidote, self inflicted haircuts, and my new inspiration. usually there is always some sort of accompanying action to one's boredom induced reliefs though, so...i will also try to exercise deep consideration of my actions as well as holiday brew tasting. although i must say, being inspired to the brew and participating in the fruits of the brew often brews inspiration itself. let us hope for the best.

hello there world

the american church

so the past week i've run into many, many allusions to the changing church, or the the revolution of the church. I don't get it. To me the "church" as many people see it around here is strictly an american phenomina. The american church reflects our society with such a scary resemblance we may want to question the spiritual mail man who often drops things in my mail box from the many chuches i've visited. I must admit that the "wooing" has recently stopped. My "ministry" young life, not too long ago, deministered me, and the "churches" no longer receive my business.

But the "church" often pursued me the same way american eagle did when i filled out their visitor card. Express, Fox and Hound, REI, and Chase bank of america often do the same thing too. The flyers I received were basiclly advertisements for the services, musical guests, clubs, and guest speakers that were scheduled to come. The flyers were brightly colored and often had news paper style headlines. What was even scarrier was how much the youth group sections looked like MTV and VH1 commercials. The actual youth groups looked much like MTV's TRL hour with Carson Daily. The kids sit around and cheer for a colorful personality who often introduced musical guests. TRL at least gets the kids to sing along which is more than can be said than some of the youth groups i've seen.
Young LIfe meetings often looked like a MTV episode themselves: quick changing programs targeted at entertaining and keeping attention long enough to slip in some subliminal messaging (the gospel). Strange thing is that the church stole the ministries marketing strategy so now only hip youth groups kids started going to young life. Young Life has always said "hey we're not the church". The irony is that by young life screaming we're not the church, they became what church is. Many churches now don'e look like churches and they're proud of it.

Now the big craze is that we need to look even less like the "church". Maybe this is the actual body shedding some of the vintage clothes that we've dressed it in and trying to get some healthy nakedness so it can take a good look at itself. Or maybe its just a clever marketing strategy following siute behind some of the newer companies in america. To market successfully no one must know that you're marketing right?

Further evidence, I think, is the reception of the american church by the rest of the world. Many missionaries abroad, supposedly, have a hard time because those foreign pagans just don't get excited about home groups. They think it's too american. I'd say we're in trouble if what others see the "church" so much of america attends as so american that they throw it in the same pile with all the other "american crap" they don't want infesting their own cultures. I don't know maybe i'm off. It should be noted that this was written late at night and with a stream of thought styling. hope however reads is provoked.