Something that's been bothering me...

While i've been out of commission in terms of blogging i've been reading alot. Its about all that i've had the energy for this past many months...

After two editorials in the NYtimes one by Roger Cohen and one by David Brooks crystallized what had been bothering about the whole debate and the general dialogue on health care and government. David Brooks says it best "Members of both movements believe in what you might call mass innocence. Both movements are built on the assumption that the people are pure and virtuous and that evil is introduced into society by corrupt elites and rotten authority structures. “Man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains,” is how Rousseau put it."

Ding!

Atonement, that's whats been bothering me. There are several different understandings of atonement and what Jesus accomplished on the cross, but one thing that is the same throughout is that all agree that humans are essentially evil/sin-filled walking sacks who are born that way and destined to die that way. Yes i know i've drastically simplified the theology, but this is a blog post, not a paper or academic abstract.

Here's what's been bothering me is that given the human propensity towards evil, it is obvious that we need safeguards in place to protect the weak and the defenseless. In addition without a sense of the common good or community, humanity has a dreadful proclivity towards selfishness and Darwinian self reliance. While if you're not a christian, or claim to be a bible thumper, you can be as selfish as you want to be.

But its been the movement of Tea Party idealogy into conservative Christianity that has really got me bothered. Where is the biblical basis of small govt and taking care of yourself and only yourself? Where is the biblical basis of not sharing the burden of living with those in your community.

And finally for the last time, politics and theology are not separate spheres. They inform one another, you faith/theology/worldview inform your politics and if you claim to be a bible believing christian, then you have no business attending the Tea Party or similar movements that preach self-reliance and individual liberty. Sorry, there's no scriptural basis for those ideologies.

*whew*

Thankfulness...

*whoooo/pat/pat/blow* *cough/cough* Now that i've gotten the dust off this blog...

This has been quite a year for the fogster! Between the ADHD diagnosis and the car accident involving three members of my immediate family, plus having a relative move into my small studio, i haven't had time for much else!

But here we are just before the holiday season, perched and waiting for the tsunami that is thanksmas to hit and carry us off into the food and spending binges of the season, and i find myself wanting to step out and just be thankful.

Alot has happened this year, but we all survived and with the help of church, friends, family....my community i got through it. With the wisdom and love from not just jesus, but the holy spirit and the father, i not only got through it, but i'm on the other side and ready to start again, with a fresh, but changed slate.

Thanks,

Ok... so much for the comeback..

Well shortly after posting that i'm planning to start blogging again, things went bad... Between friends going crazy and a bad car accident involving three members of my immediate family, its been hard to blog. But i do have some things i've been kicking around. Once i know for sure everyone is going to be ok, in about a week, i hope to post some thing's i've been working on. So apologies for the drop out, but hopefully i can pick back up again by July! Hopefully!

The fogster is attempting a comeback..

Alot has been going on in the fogster world these past few weeks, ok months. I found out that i have ADHD and have started meds and added another part-time job to my schedule. But things are finally calming down and i hope to get back to semi-regular posting!

The fogster...

Lenten devotional

The Fogster has been swamped this month but does plan to post something soon. In the meantime, a friend shared this with me, so let me share this with you!

http://isaacblog.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/isaac-2009-lenten-devotional/

May it bless you during this Lenten season!

Fogster

Why are christians so squirrely about...

mental illness?

I have tried to understand this, but just dont get it. I guess for me, i view mental illness as something along the line of diabetes. Sometimes you're born with it and sometimes life and life choices curse you with it. Either way, its an illness and there's treatment. We dont look down or fear people with diabetes, we simply make sure we got sugar free snacks. Why cant we do the same for the mentally ill? Make sure they take their meds, keep them out of situations that upset them and practice grace for the days they freak out.

Sure there's the issue of possession and healing, and all that spiritual stuff. And can it happen...sure? But lets be honest, those cases, esp in the West are rare. Of course this could get into dicey theological conversations about theodicy and suffering, i'll save that for another time. But i guess i figure that the brain is flesh too and that means it's also susceptible to illness too. So why should we be surprised when peoples brains malfunction?

What are your thoughts?

Kids and Church...

The Fogster ran across this article about children and their impact on marriage the other day. Then there's the octuplet mess... don't even get me started on that! But all this talk of babies and family got me thinking about kids and church and the high dropout rate once they leave the nest.

Having knocked around a few churches and now watching friends kids going through sunday school programs, i find myself unsatisfied.

It seems that we are very good at teaching kids that Jesus loves them (this they know!) Most kids know the bible stories (edited for parental approval) But no sense of the saints that went before. If these kids go to non-denom churches, then they dont even know who Martin Luther was! So they get into college and start reading, and asking questions, and uh oh... Those silly sunday school songs just aren't enough to sustain a more mature faith.

I think we should start petitioning the suppliers of sunday school materials for more in depth content. I think we should start sending sunday school teachers to seminary... or at least a somewhat watered down version. Most cant even tell you the difference between Calvin and Luther and why dispensationalism is a 20th century heresy that needs to stop!After all why should the catholics and anglicans have all the cool church history sunday school classes!

The reality is that we cant have community if we dont have history.Your church and theology were not formed in a vacuum. Jesus saves but your community breathes! What got us here? Is a rosary a bad thing? Are all christians who lived before luther/calvin/wesley condemned to hell?Instead of preaching to our kids abstinence and purity and other worthless time wasters, why not teach them the history of the church and have them plow through Augustine? Lets talk about Hosea and Tamar and just what was Ruth doing in Boaz's threshing floor? Churches should take the lead and teach about how we got the bible and what does it mean that there were different canons until a few key councils hundreds of years later?! Also what should we do with the pseudopigraphia? (try saying that ten times with your tongue twisted!).

Finally, we can "teach the bible" all we want, but if its not lived in the circle of family and community, then sunday school is a waste. But it appears to me that adults and kids are currently living in spiritual/historical amnesia and have forgotten the martyrs who died to get us here. And that is a great shame...