I was a stubborn college student.

Click to enlarge: John Calvin had some good ideas even though he wore a goofy hat. Bummer about that unfortunate business with Servetus, though. Every year at Calvin some student discovered this skeleton in Calvin’s close and trotted it out, as indignant (and rightly so) as if it happened yesterday. Dying 500 years ago of course wasn’t any less painful than it is today, and killing someone over an idea wasn’t some forgivable cultural norm that everyone had to accommodate. I seem to recall a guy about 2,000 ago that made friends with dregs and sinners and went to his own death for telling the emperor he had no clothes. Servetus was burned at the stake >

I remember being challenged by a professor regarding my attitude towards those less fortunate than me. (Me being a middle-class white Protestant kid at a middle-class white Protestant college).

This was in Psych 101 at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I don’t remember the prof’s name. I was a senior at the time, close to graduation, finishing my core and ready to shake the dust from small-minded Calvinism off my feet and enter the real world.

This professor asked if we were responsible for those that were less fortunate than ourselves.

I was eager to contribute. I said yes, of course, for those that suffer through no fault of their own, but not those that harm themselves (alcohol, tobacco, drugs) or ignore their bodies (obesity, depression), or hurt others and wind up in jail.

He didn’t counter me, but solicited alternative views from the class, of which there were few or none. Maybe because I’d been so forceful, maybe because they agreed, maybe because I was so obviously and grossly misguided they didn’t want to embarrass me in front of others.

He was a good professor. Older, nearing retirement, a little tired. He’d probably seen more kids like me than he wanted to remember.

I wasn’t a very good example of a good Baptist, at last not the type most Baptist want to be.

c0

Yes, this is related to my opinion on national healthcare. There’s a reason why we make some provision for the poor and needy, and why there are prison ministries, and very good work like Mel Trotter in Grand Rapids.

c0

The single most indelible thing I learned at Calvin about Calvinism was the goal of transforming culture through Christ; not separating ourselves out of it, but rather working within it and changing it from the inside out.

That's a very good message that Baptists can learn from.

[2013-10-12]

c0

Something Luke Timothy Johnson taught me about The Lord’s Prayer

Read it first if you don’t know it by heart:

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever.

A-men.

What Luke Timothy Johnson taught me: The kingdom comes to us, we don’t go to it.

c0

Something I discovered myself: Prayer is meant to be said corporately.

Consider the red:

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever.

A-men.

Even if Jesus was providing an example and not a mold, his language indicates that prayer should, at least on some occasions, be shared.

And when we share prayer, what do we do? We repeat the same words, sometimes multiple times each day.

In my Baptist boyhood home (and my home today), a common formula for grace was “Dear Jesus, bless this food to our bodies,” in other homes it’s “Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive.”

Christianity can be intensely private, and that's a good thing, but among like-minded believers, it’s also something shared. IMHO it doesn't matter so much what you say or how, but the intent.

c0

This may seem trivial to you, but among Baptists, I think the insight might be like discovering a new photo of a departed family member, or a $20 bill in the laundry, or a sitcom episode you never saw from an old TV series you really liked.

c0

Luke Timothy Johnson is a historian of early Christianity and Robert W Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Candler School of Theology. Learn more >

If you allow for some value to documentary analysis, The Lord’s Prayer is considered part of Q and probably something Jesus really said. See the article at Wikipedia >

Read some early Christian prayers ; look for the 3rd person plurals.

[2013-10-11]

c0

It is what it is.

What an odd state of affairs: You were born inside these lines, which are drawn by mountains and rivers and wars and treaties. And you can’t move outside them without permission.

Me: But I’m just like the guy on the other side of the line. Same height, eye color, race, religion, income, 2.5 kids and a white picket fence.

It: Ah, but you were born on this side of the line. He was born on the other side. Now don’t you understand?

[2013-10-10]

c0

"It depends on what the meaning of the words 'is' is."
--Bill Clinton (while under oath and on the stand)

"A zebra does not change its spots."
--Al Gore

"When the President does it, that means it’s not illegal."
--Richard Nixon

"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country."
--Marion Barry (Washington, DC mayor)

"You cannot be president of the United States if you don’t have faith. Remember Lincoln, going to his knees in times of trial and the Civil War and all that stuff. You can’t be. And we are blessed. So don’t feel sorry for - don’t cry for me, Argentina. Message: I care."
--President George W Bush

”I’m the decider.”
--President George W Bush

 

[2013-10-10]

c0

Bird brains.

Ever notice how birds on a wire, given a choice, will gather closest to the poles that support the wire? I saw this pattern repeated along the Interstate on the way into work today. It’s seems especially evident in fall; perhaps they gather in preparation for the trip south.

I suspect the pattern has something to do with the stability of the wire at the poles and not a fear of heights.

That would be something. A crow with vertigo. Verticrow?

c0

Did you know wild crows can not only recognize individual human faces, but remember them for years? (Story > ; click “Listen to the Story”)

c0

Genetic sequencing tells us that the Tyrannosaurus Rex's closest living relative is the chicken. (Source >)

[2013-10-10]

c0

And Jesus Disappeared (a childhood sidebar)

Last  year, I talked about the Emmaus Road passage in Luke.[1]

What I didn't tell you is a little sidebar: I vividly remember reading that story upstairs in my bedroom in Erie, PA, when I was ten or so, and being astonished at this: Jesus disappeared! Right in front of people. It was like something out of movie or TV show. Stuff like that didn’t happen to people in the bible. Sure, they came back from the dead, everyone knew that, but they didn’t disappear.

I immediately ran downstairs and shared this with Mom and Dad, who were getting ready for bed.

"Did you know it says in the bible that Jesus actually disappeared?!" I asked in the incredulous way only a breathless ten-year-old can.

They did, and didn't seem surprised.

I mulled that over on the way back to bed.

Well, *I* thought it was pretty surprising. Those two guys on the road did, too.

Discovering something new in something old is a rare treat.

[2013-10-11]

c0

Click to enlarge: John Wayne ad for Camel cigarettes

John Wayne was probably the most iconic actor that died during my childhood. Hustler magazine reprinted this ad as a public service message on the back of their magazine after he died, and they got a lot of criticism for it.

Wayne died from lung cancer. I had this ad taped to my door in college. It was retro and rebellious at the same time.

If it was good enough to kill the Duke, it was good enough to kill me.

I quit smoking years ago, but I did smoke Camels at one time.

 

 

c0

[1]
This is the passage. My original post is here >)

13 The same day two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were discussing with each other everything that happened. 15 As they talked things over and wondered what they meant, Jesus joined them and walked together with them. 16 But their eyes were held back from recognizing him. 17 “What are you talking about, arguing to and fro, as you walk along?” he asked them. They stopped in their tracks, faces gloomy. 18 One of them, called Cleopas, answered, “Are you just a visitor to Jerusalem? You must be the only person not to know what’s happened there lately.” 19 “What’s happened?” Jesus asked them. “It’s all about Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied, “He was a prophet who spoke and acted for God before all the people. 20  Our high priests and leaders betrayed him and had him condemned to death, and they crucified him. 21But we were hoping he was the one who was going to rescue Israel. But it’s now three days since all this happened.” 22 “On top of that, some of the women in our group surprised us. 23 They went at dawn to the tomb and didn’t find his body there. The came back saying they’d also seen angels, who’d appeared to them and told them he’s alive. 24 Some of those with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women said, but they didn’t see him. 25 “How dull you are, and how slow to trust in all that the prophets said!” he told them. 26 “Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer, and only then to enter into his glory?” 27 And starting with Moses and all the prophets, he carefully explained to them everything in scripture about himself. 28 As they approached the village they were going to, he acted as if he was going further. 29 But they urged him, “Please stay with us, because it’s evening and the day is almost over.” He went in to stay with them. 30 When he sat down to eat with them, he took the bread and blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. Then he vanished. (Luke 24:13-31) Source >

 

c0