It's Not About Believing

You know the Romans 10 thing about believe in your heart that God Raised Jesus from the Dead...yeah I disagree with that... Let me explain.

I'm reading a book called "Out of the Question...Into the Mystery" By Leonard Sweet. In there he says the following about belief (2 Selections):

The word believe is an ancient compounding of the verb be and the noun life. To "believe" is to "be live"--to live your being to trust your "being" to "life." The root meaning of believe as "credo" did not originally mean nodding in intellectual assent; it meant "to give my heart to" or "to hold dear" or "to love."
...
The real question of a true believer is "Who are you going to 'belove'? Who are you going to give your whole self to?"...Until we can rehabilitate the original and true meaning of belief, it would be better to use some other expression. That is why I refuse to call disciples of Jesus "believers." It sets the bar so low that even Lucifer would qualify. If one understands "belief" as intellectual assent, even the devil is a "believer." If the demons "believe and tremble" [as the Bible says], they're actually doing better than some of us. At least they are trembling.

I really don't have much to add to Mr. Sweet. Getting back to my original statement, of course I believe Romans 10:9-10...but not as it comes across in our culture. The word belief is like pop with too much ice that has been sitting out for two hours since the party ended. It's too weak.

Sweet argues in his book that earmark of Christians is faith...not belief. Do you believe slavery existed? Sure. Does that make you committed to diversity and racial reconciliation? Not necessarily.

Do you believe in Jesus? Sure. That makes you a believer, but not a be-lover. Am I a lover of Jesus? Are you?

Dr. Thunder

You ever been at a party where you are ready to wash down the chips and salsa with, say, a nice cold Dr. Pepper. You spot the deep red can across the room, but as you move in you see it is actually "Dr. Thunder." Wal-Mart's rip off of the original.

Nothing is as good as the original...unless you are in the Christian Music World. There is a disturbing trend to rip off styles and conform them to a "Christian" message. What is a christian message? Hope...read Lamentations. Purity? Read the Old Testament...any of it. Morality...once again, the OT.

But the most unbelievable rip off I heard was tonight...they actually covered "Heaven" by Los Lonely Boys. The LLB are Tex-Mex Rockers, whose guitarist has one of the must luscious throaty Fender tones out on mainstream right now. It is a captivating prayer of a man who stepped back from his world and cried out to God with some deep questions.

Why cover it? Why use a guitarist who isn't as good, sung by a vocalist who doesn't have the same spontaneous passion, and put this sub-par rendition out when the other song is currently being played across the nation. If you are gonna play the song, play the dang original!

I would hate to see what art would become if Christians were the guiding force. Case and Point: the painter of light...

(Writers note: it pisses me off because I am an artist. And I know other passionate and talented artists who are Christians)

Cell Phones

You know...I love cell phones...I mean I really love cell phones. My wife can get ahold of me anytime she wants, if plans change on the fly I can still find my friends, and my phone functions as my business line.

But I have to say some people answer their phones too much. I'm sharing "Yeah dude, I just really feel like God is..." and their pocket becomes a digital orchestra. "Oh just a sec, let me see who this is." I think there needs to be a time to not answer the *@#$ thing.

Baby Tear

Green Skies

Anxiety is such an odd thing. It's like preparing for a tornado. Growing up on the West Coast, I never experienced tornados. I remember the first time I saw tornado conditions here in Indiana...the sky was a bizarre greenish hue, and everything was wayyyyy too quiet.

Your heart starts racing a bit, you head for basement if you have one, turn on the radio...and wait...and wait... Sometimes nothing happens, or sometimes, like happened a couple years ago, it rips through a giant factory and levels brick walls like legos.

I see green skies...all the time (ok not all the time, but I'm an exaggerator). It's like I'm waiting for the tornado to strike. It rarely does, and even when it does it's never as bad as I imagined. But I'm still waiting...

Know what I mean?

Here begins my journey into the world of the online journal phenomenon known as blogging. Writing somehow allows me to get all my thoughts out...look at them...decide where I disagree with myself...make myself sound smarter...and then let everyone read them.

Funny how writing feels so anonymous. I feel like this blog is an open invitation to scream out everything I've been holding inside. Sure it's available to 13 kazillion people, but no one reads it anyway.

Well...hopefully at least a few people read it...

News and Events: just finishing up a redesign of www.redeemtheday.org for my buddy Kary. Check it out.

Brian