tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7353122440987375042024-03-13T13:21:10.629-07:00Consumer of Christtaking communion without paying the pricejoshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735312244098737504.post-67881344907482162102012-08-26T21:01:00.002-07:002012-08-30T13:55:26.305-07:00What if we were made to do nothing?<span class="huge"></span><span class="huge">A while ago, I was geeking out on some NOVA videos, and ran into this:</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/shabbat-elevator.html"><span class="huge">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/shabbat-elevator.html</span></a><br />
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<span class="huge">For those of you too busy to watch a little under 3 minutes of video, it's basically a story about how some rabbi some time around the advent of the modern era defined electricity as "lighting a fire" and therefore "work" on the sabbath, and so many observant Jews don't operate electric things from Friday night sundown (sundown is the start of the Jewish day) until Saturday night sundown in order to keep a the Sabbath. But what do you do if you live on the 15th floor? Hence, sabbath elevators that are programmed to stop on every floor.</span><br />
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<span class="huge">Why is the sabbath such a big deal to Jewish people? At times, it really seems like more work to keep it than it would be to just push an elevator button. What's the big deal? Why all the fuss? Why is it in the top 10 along with "no adultery" and "no murder?"</span><br />
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<span class="huge">"Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good."--</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard">Søren<span class="huge"> Kierkegaard</span></a><br />
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<span class="huge"> If you look at the Ten Commandments in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+5&version=NIV">Deuteronomy 5</a> (the reasoning is slightly different from <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2020&version=NIV">Exodus 20</a>) there's an interesting comment on this:</span><br />
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<span class="huge"> </span><b style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text Deut-5-15" id="en-NIV-5069">Remember that you were slave<span id="goog_1327766332"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1327766333"></span>s in Egypt and that the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.</span></b></blockquote>
I've never been a slave, but I have struggled not to be a work-a-holic, and I think they have some striking similarities. When you <i>need</i> to work to feel significant or for your life to have value, then the way you spend your time (which adds up to be the way you spend your life) isn't really up to you, is it? It's up to the job. Or the boss, or the company, or the church, or the people in your employ. All the while your soul is dying the death of a thousand tiny paper cuts completely unaware. Then you look up and realize you hate your life, and you deserve it.<br />
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But God would spare us that pain. He commands us to go a different way. We were never created for slavery, but for His pleasure, and because He is good, our own. We were made for <i>shalom</i>--for peace, joy, and life in abundance. But we don't want it. We want to do things our own way. We want to earn our worth and our happiness, and it fails every time.<br />
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It's not like there isn't work to be done, or that all work is bad. In fact, if you <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%202:15-20&version=NIV">read the story,</a> Adam was a very busy farmer/biologist before he met Eve, and presumably for the time he spent with her before the fall. Work is a gloriously good thing. But like any good thing, without God, it becomes a curse.<br />
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So, we're in the process of moving across the country to plant a church (great activity for a guy who struggles with being a work-a-holic right?). Through a strange sequence of events, we found ourselves with a "month of limbo" in which we couldn't stay in our old place or move into the new place. The plan was for me to go out and stay with friends and look for a job while Kara hung back and took care of Bolt and spent some time with her folks. Then the day before I would have left to drive across the country, Kara got a great job with benefits! So she went out to start working, and I stayed behind with the baby. At first I had to mourn the loss of an adventure and the challenge of job hunting all by my self in the big city. I'm sure finding the job all on my own and all the things I could have accomplished would have made me feel invincible--a very dangerous place to be, especially when attempting to live for Jesus. But God arranged things so I was forced to hang back and bond with my son, read books, mooch off my parents, and do a lot of nothing.<br />
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It took some time getting used to. I have been working 50+ hours/week for most of the last 7 years. I actually prefer to be about that busy or I don't feel like I'm getting anything done. Meanwhile my poor wife is out in the big city all alone, without her baby. But this was the growth we both needed. Kara's been stretched, and we've missed each other and appreciated each other in ways we weren't previously aware of. I've been challenged to see the quality of life I would settle for vs. the kind of life my loving Father offers. Spending a lot of time playing with Bolt, I've had to meditate on how needy he is and how much I want to care for his needs, and how much I like him. I've had to see how much he needs me (and his mom) and how much I need God. I've seen how oblivious he is to my plans to one day not change his diapers and how liberating that will be for him, even though he obviously can't conceive of such a thing. I so love it when he giggles. He's even cute when he cries. I'm watching him change and grow up before my eyes and realizing how short and important the time is that we have together. I'm realizing that I'm <i>called</i> to be a good father, that the desire to protect, instruct, & equip my son with the skills and values he'll need in adulthood is not merely an evolutionary impulse built into us for the survival of the species, but something God desires for me to experience so that I and Bolt can get ready to spend eternity with Him. I've drank a lot of beer and wine around a fire pit with my dad, and we've shared stories of football, and ministry, and mischief. I've had time to experience the blessing that this life is and what it can be, and I'm inspired to give to my son what I've received from my dad and my Heavenly Dad. And some other really great stuff I haven't processed yet.<br />
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I'm sure that sleeping on a bunch of dudes' couches would have been fun, particularly because I like all the hospitable people I was going to stay with, but I'm positive that it wouldn't have been all <i>that.</i> Some things you just can't get through working. In fact I think all of the really important stuff we gain in this life is a gift that literally, according to definition, can not be earned. Things like faith, hope, love. These are the things Jesus intends to give us and that we can't fully appreciate without taking a break from our toilsome labor.<br />
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And that's why rest isn't optional. <br />
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joshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735312244098737504.post-54528822778608939222012-08-09T11:24:00.000-07:002012-08-09T11:24:00.348-07:00Some thoughts on EditingLet me begin by saying that editing--in print at least--is a largely lost art to most Americans, and that this is a great tragedy that results in a lot of crap on the internet (and perhaps this blog is not exempted from this criticism).<br />
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How is it that we have missed the power of editing?<br />
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It seems to me that in an age of social media, editing ought to be more intuitive than at any other time in history, since we all engage in it whenever we manage our facebook profiles. We delete the bad photos, post the best ones, update about things that are interesting, or make us seem interesting, and generally try to make ourselves look awesome. We are making resumes of our coolness. Editing is an integral part of this process, although it occurs to me that maybe the editing process is only the accidental by-product of an insatiable pursuit of connection and acceptance from our cloud of peers--not something that occurs with any sort of thoughtful intention. <br />
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(I recently cleaned up and made some changes to my own profile, since I'm moving to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia">new city</a> and will be applying for jobs and hopefully making new facebook friends, and real friends. I want the picture I present to be accurate, and slightly flattering. Who wouldn't?)<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yH-p7mtmSh8/UCB-rUiT4kI/AAAAAAAAAE4/4H8v6g9SaGU/s1600/just+particle+board+Norma+Bolt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yH-p7mtmSh8/UCB-rUiT4kI/AAAAAAAAAE4/4H8v6g9SaGU/s320/just+particle+board+Norma+Bolt.jpg" width="240" /></a>So this week my dad and I hauled something like 11,000 paintings from my grandmother's basement in Pittsburg, KS to my dad's basement in Overland Park, KS. Whatever you say about <a href="http://www.morningsun.net/obituaries/x596782732/Norma-Jean-Miller-Bolt">Norma,</a> and whatever you think about the quality of her work, you must admit one thing.<br />
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She was prolific.<br />
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Most of her paintings were not done on canvas, although hundreds were on canvas. Most of the canvas ones have been given to various United Methodist Churches in Southeast Kansas. Or youth home facilities, or banks, or public buildings. I'd bet it's pretty difficult to walk into a city building in Pittsburg, KS without running into one of her paintings. A good chunk of the paintings are on 1/4" particle board. And thousands are on poster-board. <br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qUh0dcEhRx8/UCB-uVwZipI/AAAAAAAAAFA/K62B8azrsic/s1600/lots+of+Norma+Bolt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qUh0dcEhRx8/UCB-uVwZipI/AAAAAAAAAFA/K62B8azrsic/s400/lots+of+Norma+Bolt.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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A few of her paintings look like this. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UrSridei2tQ/UCB-pOHRwzI/AAAAAAAAAEw/qhmIF5YUG1A/s1600/Norma+Bolt+gladiolas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UrSridei2tQ/UCB-pOHRwzI/AAAAAAAAAEw/qhmIF5YUG1A/s400/Norma+Bolt+gladiolas.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How much would you pay for this?</td></tr>
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Some of her paintings look like this.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-orFHIQx3Sow/UCB2I9guKkI/AAAAAAAAADM/mFpDiUAVFx8/s1600/2012-08-06+17.29.34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-orFHIQx3Sow/UCB2I9guKkI/AAAAAAAAADM/mFpDiUAVFx8/s400/2012-08-06+17.29.34.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This one's on foam presentation board. It's in the "Norma Bombing" pile.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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I love my grandma. She was a painter. She was a grandma. She was a prayer warrior. She never really reconciled with her sister. She held grudges. She gave generously. She was a lousy cook. She spent the years after her husband died busying herself cooking for the AA groups at her church, painting, and teaching writing classes for other widows in her church. One of her old-lady friends published 3 books as a result.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v1aDEafwVKU/UCB-jmV44lI/AAAAAAAAAEg/atHUBZJYru4/s1600/Norma+Bolt+funeral+cover+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v1aDEafwVKU/UCB-jmV44lI/AAAAAAAAAEg/atHUBZJYru4/s400/Norma+Bolt+funeral+cover+pic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We always edit when we conceive of a person in our minds, even with ourselves. It's impossible not to do. It's difficult to not let a first impression determine the entire course of a relationship.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5vkNXnHa_cI/UCB-eUBP1yI/AAAAAAAAAEY/gd7Xdt7o4Co/s1600/Norma+Bolt+Basement+girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5vkNXnHa_cI/UCB-eUBP1yI/AAAAAAAAAEY/gd7Xdt7o4Co/s400/Norma+Bolt+Basement+girl.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kf_BVuM8zCw/UCB-ltUD2OI/AAAAAAAAAEo/bbasJyK4w1M/s1600/Norma+Bolt+funeral+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kf_BVuM8zCw/UCB-ltUD2OI/AAAAAAAAAEo/bbasJyK4w1M/s400/Norma+Bolt+funeral+pic.jpg" width="300" /> </a></div>
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At some point while packing all these pieces up, my dad quoted an artist friend:</div>
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"You have to make 1,000 crappy paintings before you make a good one. The trick is getting them out." </div>
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I think there's some truth in that statement for almost anything in life. Writing. Song writing. Conversations with a person you care deeply about. Preaching. Praying for the sick. Wine making. Window washing. Programming. Kissing. Well, some people are just naturally gifted at some things. But one thing that separates really "good" artists from the mediocre is how well they edit. </div>
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Back to kissing and conversations and prayer: some things you can't edit. You just have to take risks and muddle through if it doesn't go the way you want it to go. There's no way to pray for the sick and get a 100% success rate. (Although I dare say God has a different definition of "success" than we do.) A first kiss will always be awkward and a little scary--it's part of the fun right? Without honesty there are no hurt feelings, and no true communication.</div>
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The nice thing about editing is it allows us to cover up our mistakes. The dangerous thing is that we get addicted to the feeling of control it gives us. </div>
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But sooner or later, somebody's going to go through and look at every painting you've ever painted and have an opinion. </div>
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<span class="text Rev-20-11">Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.</span> <span class="text Rev-20-12" id="en-NIV-31051"><sup class="versenum"> </sup>And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.</span> <span class="text Rev-20-13" id="en-NIV-31052">The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. </span><span class="text Rev-20-14" id="en-NIV-31053">Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. </span><span class="text Rev-20-15" id="en-NIV-31054">Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.</span><span class="text Rev-21-1">Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.</span> <span class="text Rev-21-2" id="en-NIV-31056">I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.</span> <span class="text Rev-21-3" id="en-NIV-31057">And
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling
place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. </span><span class="text Rev-21-4" id="en-NIV-31058">‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” </span> </div>
<span class="text Rev-21-5" id="en-NIV-31059">He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”</span><span class="text Rev-21-6" id="en-NIV-31060"> He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. </span><span class="text Rev-21-7" id="en-NIV-31061">Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. </span><span class="text Rev-21-8" id="en-NIV-31062">But
the <u><b>cowardly,</b></u> the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually
immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars —they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”--Revelation 20:11-21:8 NIV, emphasis mine.</span></blockquote>
No use <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025:14-30&version=NIV1984">playing it safe</a> or trying to hide our true selves from God. Good news is he likes us, and is merciful, because of Jesus.<br />
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Maybe you can measure the depth and importance of a relationship by how much you edit (or are able to edit) yourself in that relationship.<br />
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Facebook profile = highly edited = shallow "friendship," they only see what you want them to see<br />
Work/school colleagues = edited, for sake of "professionalism" = some degree of being known<br />
Nuclear Family = less edited = pretty important relationships<br />
Spouse of 30 years = not able to hide much = known by this person better than anyone else<br />
God = He sees right through you = He knows ALL your crap, loves you deeply in spite of it<br />
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(Of course, just because a relationship is important, doesn't mean that it's healthy. That takes intention on both sides.)<br />
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Part of me wonders what my grandma would think of me putting her art up in public places. What sort of impression does it give people of my grandma? Would she be proud or upset?<br />
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I guess I'll find out later.joshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735312244098737504.post-22100650426338606092011-05-28T16:30:00.000-07:002011-05-29T12:48:57.577-07:00On the Ignorance and Poverty of my WealthBy the grace of God I am very blessed to live in a wonderful 2 bedroom apartment with my pregnant wife in Springfield, MO. We're celebrating our 6 year anniversary this year with a "stay-cation." We're not going anywhere or doing anything, really. I took today off of work and we sat around watching season 6 of Lost on hulu using our free trial of hulu plus, which we absolutely have to cancel at the end of this week, and enjoyed each other's company. I went garage-saling this morning. It was nice. I'm a very blessed man.<br /><br />But I just took the trash out. And while this week I might find it a little easier to count my many blessings, especially in light of the devastation of Joplin, MO that is getting national attention, at the garbage bin I was suddenly struck with the ruinous ignorance and poverty I'm subject to by being a normal, American citizen.<br /><br />In the garbage bin I opened, I see that someone has emptied out their refrigerator, presumably because many leases are up this weekend. I always hate to see food go to waste, but something about it struck me as particularly tragic. There was a loaf of sliced wheat bread, only a few pieces missing, not moldy. A box of unopened, slightly thawed (can you tell I dug through this a little bit?) frozen taquitos. A reusable-disposable container of some kind of leftover casserole, a few half-full bottles of hard liquour, a jug of milk, now about half spoiled, I'd guess it's been there for about 2 hours, it was still cool to the touch. The most notable, and potentially salvageable thing--the item that made me dig around and look at all this--a 24-pack of Rock-star Energy Cola, one or two cans missing, still cool to the touch. I thought seriously about grabbing it, but I don't know that I like Rock-star Energy Cola because I've never tried it, and I know enough about nutrition and I'm an old man enough to know that I know that I don't want to like it. So I just let it sit there.<br /><br />100 miles away, just an hour's drive down I-44, hundreds of people are suddenly homeless without food and shelter, and here is a refrigerator's worth of edible food, just spoiling in the trash can. And I'm not really scrambling to try to save it because it's been in the trash can.<br /><br />We have our fair share of homeless people that wander our neighborhood here too. With our proximity to the 2 large Christian charities, Victory Mission and the Kitchen, we get a lot of homeless traffic, and even the occasional knock on the door asking for money.<br /><br />Something within me is tempted to launch into a tirade about how wasteful this faceless, nameless enemy (& neighbor) is, but it's the plain truth that I am just as bad. I don't want to eat the perfectly good food or even try to salvage it for some other cause because it's "dirty." In many places around the world people would kill for these scraps, and there are even many without shelter and struggling to get their basic needs met less than an hour away.<br /><br />I do not mean to complain about my station in life, on this week of all weeks, at this time when we recognize the sacrifices others have made so that we can enjoy the wealthy standard of living we all take for granted--indeed--that we even apparently discard <span style="font-style: italic;">before</span> use for the sake of convenience. But I do think that it is appropriate to note simply the truth that in many ways our wealth, the opulent abundance that is "common" to millions, this ease and convenience of living <span style="font-style: italic;">disables us.</span> We know very little about how to make it without the many conveniences we take for granted. And the smallest inconvenience of walking--or even driving 2 blocks to make a food donation to a local charity, or to get our hands a little dirty in order to save something wasted--this inconvenience is apparently too daunting or too expensive or too risky. We are, by and large, hopelessly dependent upon convenience and comfort.<br /><br />Except for the survivors of Joplin, MO.<br /><br />A particularly inspiring case is that of my friend Arin Gilbert's <a href="http://helpmyhomelessdad.wordpress.com/">dad.</a> He is a truck-driver from Joplin who (miraculously?) survived the tornado in the shelter of his sofa. His response to the case of the tragedy is particularly inspiring, and gives me hope for humanity and our nation.<span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span class=" down" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" alt="Link" class="gl_link" border="0" /></span></span><br />If a tornado suddenly swept away my home and all my possessions, I would have no idea how to survive. I would have no idea how to hunt or gather food, or to build a shelter. In a very real way, my wealth makes me vulnerable, and weak, and stupid. I've never been forced to come up with a solution to these problems and so I am more or less helpless to solve them at 28 years old. If I were in the place of many people in Joplin, I would be utterly dependent on the mercy of others. I could not help myself. And praise God for that, because it means I have been very blessed with riches that would be unimaginable to most of the millions of people who have ever lived.<br /><br />It is important to count our blessings and to share them, particularly at this time and place in southwestern Missouri. And I also believe that it is healthy to recon how fragile our apparently secure existence is on this earth, and to recon our very survival a blessing to be cherished. Take a note from Quincy Gilbert, who <span style="font-style: italic;">lives.</span><br /><span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);" class=" down" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link"></span></span>joshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735312244098737504.post-68326449080953546802011-04-24T16:27:00.000-07:002011-04-24T18:16:32.472-07:00Disabling Comments, Enabling my VoiceI'm taking a note from <a href="http://marksayers.wordpress.com/">Mark Sayers</a> and Ty Melgren and disabling the comments on my blog.<br /><br />Who is Ty you may ask?<br /><br />Ty is this fantastic guy whom I admire very much who is a faithful member of our church and who serves Jesus and almost anyone he meets with gusto and intensity. He does so quietly and will almost never toot his own horn. Actually, I don't think I've ever heard him brag or say a single self-aggrandizing thing. He must be one of the best people that I know, and a few months ago he did a radical thing. He quit Facebook. He just closed his account. I went to tag him in a photo and found I couldn't do it. And I couldn't leave a comment on his wall to ask him why I couldn't tag him. I just had to ask him in person.<br /><br />Let that sink in a moment.<br /><br />I did ask him about it in person, and his answer challenged me, and I have checked in with Facebook much less often since we talked. He told me that he was finding himself constantly concerned with his status and the status of other people "in" his life. That he was only relating to people online that he used to relate to in person, and that too much of his life was constantly obsessed with these shallow and fleeting sound-bytes of self-edited reality. He found himself worried and stressed out by whether or not people would comment on his status--particularly the fact that others seemed to be interested and leave 20 comments on the most banal of posts and would seem to completely ignore the ones that he had intended to spark deeper, meaningful discussion. Frustrated with this, and following the example of a few peers (looking at you Mr. Eaton) and rumors of those brave souls who live their lives without being "connected" to the 500 million accounts of Facebook. He just opted out of the narcissism and constant striving for the praise of other people that occurs through updates and "likes."<br /><br />Ty's example has caused me to question my own motivation for blogging. I have wondered whether or not the kind of things I talk about here and the things I want to see happen <span style="font-style: italic;">can</span> happen through this media form or not. I feel that I want to have my cake and eat it too. I want the benefits of "engaging" with the bells and whistles of my culture without the cost of getting soiled by its unseemly side-effects. As a person who tends to see even the most clear-cut issues in shades of grey, I have, perhaps out of fear, opted for a middle ground.<br /><br />I don't care what you think about this post.<br /><br />I don't say this out of spite, malice, or some sense of superiority. In fact, I am sure that if you and I were to sit down and talk about the things that you think really matter, you would teach me a great deal about myself, God, the nature of reality, and my own weakness and ineptitude, for the simple fact that you are fearfully and wonderfully made by a loving Creator who has hidden aspects of Himself inside of you, and that no matter how broken and twisted He has placed there on purpose and will redeem if you will but ask, even if you are someone that many people consider to be a loser or a jerk. For God's love for you and for His glory revealed by your existence, you are worth knowing and listening to.<br /><br />But I say this for myself. Your praise is ultimately just that. Your praise. Your opinion. What you "like" or "unlike" or find worthy of comment, while I value you inasmuch as I know you and know how to, I just can't make myself vulnerable to your whims and judgments. You aren't a just judge. You don't have the information, the goodness, or the wisdom to be. There's a lot you don't know about me, and as much if not more that I don't know about you, and for us to really hash out our disagreements, to <span style="font-style: italic;">really </span>value each other and have a relationship worth having, we'll just have to do that by other means. And I find myself, like Ty, and like I suppose... every other person, tempted to bend my will to get you to "like" me--to approve and to praise my ego. This is wrong. And this way must be abandoned if we are to proceed in a way that is good to each other.<br /><br />This is a very long way to say that I have come to think that when it comes to a blog--in which prose is posited thoughtfully and carefully for consumption and meaningful consideration for the simple fact that it takes more than a second of your time--if something is worth blogging about, it is worth blogging about with comments disabled.<br /><br />What I am saying, I am saying whether or not you like it, whether or not you think it is interesting or worth commenting on, because it is worth saying and broadcasting on the internet, because it is good and true and ought to be known. Take it or leave it. If you like it or don't like it, that doesn't change what I have written, and you can certainly e-mail me or talk to me in person, but I am using this space to say things that I believe ought to be said, and if I enable the comments, I might think too much about you and your subjective little preferences. This isn't to say that those who enable comments are posting their posts in order to attract many positive comments and "likes." But I find myself too weak to engage in this meaningfully and well. At the same time, I'm proud enough to think I have something to say, even if only to the dozen or so friends who might read this thing. We can talk about it over a pint or a cup of Joe anytime you like. We could write e-mails or talk over the phone about it, or better yet write real letters! But I just can't do the comments. They gum up my creative works with insecurity and sin. So I'm opting out.<br /><br />And by the way, Happy Easter. The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed.joshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735312244098737504.post-59167077181488534142010-09-12T07:07:00.000-07:002010-09-20T14:26:08.150-07:00Invitations vs. SalesEvery now and then I get up the guts and think it's wise to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhG-tkQ_Q2w&feature=player_embedded#%21">invite somebody to church.</a><br /><br />Why should such a thing take courage and wisdom? Let me give you my perspective.<br /><br />We live in a culture where we are constantly inundated with <a href="http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=56750">advertising.</a> Many people, understandably, mistake an invitation to a Christian worship gathering as a form of advertising for a spiritual product. In fact, Western Evangelicals have done a lot to cause this misunderstanding by directly engaging in forms of communication in the name of Jesus that are indistinguishable from the predominant folk-religion of our culture, which is completely oriented around the purchase and consumption of experiences. The result of living in a culture so full of advertising with many people leads to a default position of skepticism and cynicism concerning the advertised "promise." We have cliché adages to communicate the wisdom in a position of skepticism and cynicism towards the plastic promises of so many advertisers--modern proverbs if you will-- "I'll believe it when I see it." "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."<br /><br />For example, Geico "could save me 15% or more on car insurance with a 15 minute phone call," but in reality they expect you to have detailed records about every car accident you've had in the last 5 years, including the time of day and date, and ticket number for the accident, as well as the insurance claim number and the insurance company of the other drivers involved in the accident. No one is prepared with this level of detailed information when they call, the call takes longer than 20 minutes, and they can't really offer a rate reduction of 15%, if they can offer a reduction at all. Now, let me tell you what Jesus can do for you in the afterlife.<br /><br />That's one challenge. I think that it's a challenge that can be overcome if the person being invited is convinced that the person inviting them is doing the inviting out of a sincere care for the invited, which simply takes time and sincere love. It <span style="font-style: italic;">can't</span> be overcome if the person doing the inviting thinks that they are advertising a spiritual product or is attempting to sell the other person their brand of religion or spirituality.<br /><br />Here's the bigger challenge.<br /><br />Everyone has faith. Everyone. There isn't a human being that doesn't have deeply held beliefs that guide the direction of their lives and daily actions. It is impossible to be a person and not have deeply held basic assumptions that drive the course of our actions, upon which we trust and hold to be self-evident and unquestionable to the point of risking our lives on them. The fact that a lot of people aren't aware of what they trust to be the absolute truth doesn't change the plainly observable fact that they have a certain subjective perspective on reality in which they operate that they do not regularly question and which guides the direction of their lives. This is true for the Christian, the Buddhist, the Jain, the Jew, the Atheist, and the apathetic. A person who believes that all religions are just different paths to the same mountain top, or a person whose disposition towards questions of ultimate reality, meaning, and purpose in life is apathetic or disinterested has no less faith than the Mormon or the Muslim, the only difference is that their faith isn't as well thought out or articulated as someone who fervently ascribes to a more trial-tested tradition. The person who says, "There is no god but Allah" as well as the person who says "it doesn't matter what a person's religion is," or "no one can know whether there is a God or not"--they all live and act as if those beliefs are absolutely true. They put their trust in those basic assumptions about reality and act as if their reality is really real. And although that person can give reasons for why they believe or don't believe whatever they believe, no one agrees on how to evaluate these beliefs. Without a way to test the truth of these perspectives, out of necessity we let them drive our thoughts, actions, attitudes--the very content of our time on earth and our understanding of the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> certain</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">end</span> of that time. (In that way, some of us have a test.)<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/TJfQJD0w8CI/AAAAAAAAACw/wEe7YhLgtyU/s1600/Soren_Kierkegaard.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 360px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/TJfQJD0w8CI/AAAAAAAAACw/wEe7YhLgtyU/s400/Soren_Kierkegaard.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519108722429849634" border="0" /></a>The subjective nature of these beliefs and how these beliefs are formed is a deeply personal and emotional thing. To varying degrees there may be layers of reason and intellect that defend these beliefs, but if anyone tells you that they have faith in God or don't have faith in God for <span style="font-style: italic;">purely</span> intellectual reasons and that they are completely emotionally detached from the issue, they either 1. don't understand what is being discussed or 2. aren't being honest with themselves. (I guess a third possibility is that they're not human.) It is only natural for a person to be defensive when those beliefs are challenged. This defensiveness is not rational, as can be seen in the rhetoric on many a YouTube video about evolution--on both sides. If we're really asking these questions about ultimate reality, then we all have a dog in the fight.<br /><br />Now, in operating out of my faith, in acting as though the things I say <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles%27_Creed">I think are true</a> on Sunday morning are actually true all the rest of the time, it is only natural to invite someone who doesn't gather for Christian worship to investigate the claims of the Gospel and into the experience of God found in giving worth to this God. How could I believe <a href="http://backstage.vineyardresources.com/jamie/CoreValuesAndBeliefs.pdf">in these things</a>, experience these things, and not want to share what I've found to be a very good thing? How cold must my heart be to not invite someone I care about? How low must that care be to not give an invitation to that experience of God?<br /><br />But what of the other person's faith? Won't they be offended at the suggestion that their faith might need adjusting, that they might be wrong? Is it inherently disrespectful to call another person's faith into question even if the questioning happens only obliquely and implicitly through an invitation to share in the "fruits" of one's own faith?<br /><br />I submit that the issue of where to place our faith--what we trust, what we consider real, what we bank on being true, what orients and directs the course of our lives, what we risk spending our time, effort, even our very lives on--that this issue is important enough to risk offending a friend, and to the degree that a person believes they have found real Truth, they must share that Truth. It would be wrong to hold Truth about that kind of thing to one's self. At the same time, it takes wisdom to know how to let people in on your truth in a way that they will be able to accept, since nobody likes to find out that they're wrong. (At least, whenever my faith needs adjusting it always hurts a little bit.)<br /><br />But are we brave enough to face the conflict that might ensue with humility and love if the other person doesn't agree with us?joshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735312244098737504.post-19968938877472526372010-08-29T16:29:00.000-07:002010-08-29T16:31:39.664-07:00Stop Reading ThisSeriously, turn your computer off right now. Turn off your cell phone and your computer, and go outside. It's a beautiful time of year.<br /><br />Or listen to <a href="http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=129384107&m=129398822">this.</a> (Thanks NPR.)joshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735312244098737504.post-21348504394590430122010-08-16T16:13:00.000-07:002010-08-16T21:45:13.049-07:00Blasphemy or good advertising?This is a screen shot from my computer while looking up a verse reference that I used to be able to find easily before I grew so dependent on Bible search engines.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/TGnHYGborcI/AAAAAAAAABs/01VRFY-jJxg/s1600/blasphemy1.bmp"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 245px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/TGnHYGborcI/AAAAAAAAABs/01VRFY-jJxg/s400/blasphemy1.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506151236294454722" border="0" /></a>What a wonderful modern world we live in, no? The Bible is available for anyone with internet access to search in at least 50 languages, for free! Can't remember that verse reference but have a vague memory of a word or phrase contained in it? Just type it in! You can even refine the search if you have an idea of whether it's in the new or old testament. Pretty sweet, really. And, as you might expect you get this service for FREE, with the exception of having to view a few family-friendly, Christian-friendly banner ads for "Christian" products (that is, if products could accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.) Voice of the Martyrs will send you a FREE copy of their founder's personal testimony there on the left. But what's this banner across the top? It seems to be a reference to the Gospel of John chapter 1, identifying Jesus as the Word, the divine Logos that was with God in the beginning, whose light shines in the darkness, though the darkness has not understood or overcome it. Then it goes through its other two states:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/TGnJSb75Q0I/AAAAAAAAAB0/6bawqz2rdMc/s1600/blasphemy2.bmp"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 91px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/TGnJSb75Q0I/AAAAAAAAAB0/6bawqz2rdMc/s400/blasphemy2.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506153338010944322" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Just to be clear, the banner reads "In the beginning was the Word. Now there are maps, charts, notes & more. The bestselling Bible in the #1 translation. Click to learn more. (Picture of NIV Study Bible.)"<br /><br />Now, I'm all for the study of the Bible and the resources like maps, charts, notes, "& more." That stuff is great, it makes the message of the Bible more accessible, and it would be wonderful if we could sell more stuff like that and pay more scholars and professionals to produce more resources that would make studying the Bible easier for everyone. Great. I believe in the business of Bible study. Pay the professionals. Make the materials. Sell them. Wonderful. Translate the Bible into English in a way that does justice to the original Greek/Hebrew/Aramaic but phrases things in a way that most people don't have to struggle to understand. Yes. Great. That takes professionals. I'll pay for it.<br /><br />But am I over-reacting? Or did that ad just say, "In the beginning was Jesus, but NOW there's maps, charts, and this awesome translation of the Bible with all these resources and notes attached to it!" (Implication: you don't need Jesus, you need our Bible product.)<br /><br />I understand that this isn't the only way to interpret this ad, and hopefully the people who thought it up weren't thinking that it could be interpreted this way, but... seriously? How is this not blasphemy? Anyone who gets the reference "In the beginning was the Word" ought to be offended. Everyone else won't get the "cute joke" that they seem to be trying to make with the reference.joshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735312244098737504.post-46395652924374003062010-08-02T09:08:00.000-07:002010-08-02T10:07:13.286-07:00Why do I blog?There have been times in my life when I have become obsessed with the blogosphere. They are often short-lived and I am glad for it.<br /><br />What do you read blogs for? Entertainment? Research? (Arguably the latter could be properly identified as a sub-category of the former...) Dialectical theological debate? Keeping up with old friends and acquaintances?<br /><br />Often with me it tends to be a mixture of motivations and goals, but if I'm really honest it almost always starts with boredom. "I need some entertainment," I think. "Let's check the blogs."<br /><br />Next I do something completely narcissistic. I check in with my own blog. Often I re-read the things I have written and think about how much I agree with them. "Yeah, that's good stuff," I think. I look for comments, little signals that I'm popular and important. But pretty soon I get bored with my own thoughts. So I go look for others.<br /><br />At this point I find something I agree or disagree with. And I leave comments. My very important and highly valued praise or my superb, dismantling criticism pepper the melting pot of ideas like the saffron of the textual idea world.<br /><br />Now sometimes, when somebody says something I really disagree with, I leave a critical comment, and come back several times that day to see what they said in response. This is where the obsession comes in. Pretty soon, they come back with a retort, and I shoot back, and we're having a "friendly" competition over who is smarter in the very public arena of cyberspace. We can be talking about the loftiest, holiest ideas, but as my obsessed behavior reveals it is about more than the ideas. It is about my ego.<br /><br />It seems like such a waste that such an incredible blessing like the internet be resigned to the mire of my sinful nature. There must be a way to interact with people over the internet that isn't all about proving my worth to myself or others through what I write.<br /><br />Some things I don't do often enough that seem to help:<br /><br />1. Pray before posting. Pray to Jesus. Ask Him to fill my fingers with His words rather than my own self-centered ones. Then only type words that I wouldn't be ashamed of if He read them. (Because He is reading them!)<br /><br />2. Recognize my humanity. Recognize that a lot of the time I'm dumb, selfish, and only see things the way I want to see them rather than the way they actually are.<br /><br />3. Recognize the humanity of others. Other people have the same limitations that I have, and other people are people. There's a post-er behind every post and that person is made in the image of God, and Jesus died on the cross for that person.<br /><br />Any other suggestions?joshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735312244098737504.post-64466590142390873572010-04-03T19:23:00.000-07:002010-04-27T07:21:10.311-07:00The Broadcasting of SelfWe had a Good Friday service about a month or two ago at church, a night to remember the crucifixion of Jesus. The Gospel accounts of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2026:17-27:66&version=NIV">those events</a> were read interspersed with somber songs of worship to our crucified Lord. It was a time to remember and contemplate the price God paid for a sinful person like me to know love and joy and life everlasting.<br /><br />I found myself experiencing a lot of emotions: a feeling like guilt--but not exactly guilt in that it didn't seem hopeless but rather hopeful, as if I were recognizing a very deep personal weakness but also the way out of it. Christians often refer to this feeling as the conviction of the Holy Spirit ( conviction needn't be an emotional affair, even though it often is.) I also felt sadness over the suffering of the world that was unjustly thrust upon Jesus. Joy in the midst of sadness over my own suffering and the suffering of people close to me, the joy that comes from knowing a compassionate Savior who is willing and able to make all things right in their right time.<br /><br />Anyway, it was emotional.<br /><br />I think it was emotional because God was at work. I could be wrong, but that's my interpretation of the events. I had a strong sense of the Spirit's presence.* God was at work on my heart showing me my sin, His grace, my desperate need for a Savior, the sufficiency of His providence and all that stuff. Here's the disturbing part: while this is happening, I'm trying to think of how to put this deeply spiritual experience into words--particularly a sentence or so of words...that would fit in my facebook status.<br /><a href="http://marksayers.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/a-conversation-with-myself-about-twitter-and-humility/">What is wrong with me?</a><br /><br />Here I am, supposedly drawing near to the cross-- <span style="font-style: italic;">the</span> event that is the culmination of Jesus' life and ministry, <span style="font-style: italic;">the</span> event that changed human history and the cosmic order--I'm drawing close to God and God is revealing Himself to me, it is a holy, numinous, and transcendental moment and I'm thinking "How can I sum this up so that I can tell everyone on facebook about it?"<br /><br />Now, I've come to accept certain personality traits about myself that I consider morally neutral. While I do not believe the term "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraversion_and_introversion">extrovert</a>" is exhaustive in describing my identity, it is certainly functionally descriptive of a tendency towards meeting strangers and enjoying large groups. That tendency whether innate or learned has quite a bit of inertia to it and probably isn't going to change without some drastic psychological arm-twisting--which would probably feel like torture to me. I want almost everything I do to be shared with others. Especially when it comes to the core message about Jesus--this is really good news to me, I think it's awesome and I think knowing about it, thinking about it, and experiencing God through that core message--what Christians have called "the Gospel"--that is something I want to talk about with everyone. Of course, not everyone shares my enthusiasm, especially living in Springfield where a lot of people have a lot of enthusiasm about this "Gospel" thing, to the point that if you don't really know what people are talking about when they say "Gospel" or if you do know and you just don't think that it's true, or that it can be "proven" true, or maybe even you think it's probably true but you'd rather ignore it because of it's painful implications for personal life, if you fit into any of those categories in Springfield then you may begin to feel marginalized or pressured to accept something you can't wrap your mind or gut around--which violates a sense of identity and choice. It feels disrespectful when people try to shove their religion down our throats. And we Christians aren't always willing to take "no" for an answer even when it will probably be the answer for a long time, unless something significant takes place to cause a change to that answer. This puts someone like me in an awkward position. I've sincerely experienced something life-changing and good in the person of Jesus, but I don't want my friends who aren't sharing that experience to feel that our friendship is only a means for me to preach to them, because it's not. Those friendships may very well be an opportunity to openly discuss that (I think) Great News, but if all of my friends who were republicans were only friends with me because they wanted me to become an out-spoken republican, that would put a damper on the relationship. (Not that republican=Christian, it most certainly does not.)<br /><br />Anyway, I digress. My point is I'm an extrovert and Evangelical, so maybe that explains it. But what I think what I'm trying to get at here is that maybe there are some experiences--even experiences that come about from the very public work of Jesus on the cross, that aren't meant to be shared or broadcast-ed through social networking media. Is the reason I want to sum up this deep spiritual experience on Good Friday so that I can share the <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%2053:4-5&version=NIV">Good News,</a> or is it that I want people to think of me as a deeply spiritual person? What do I think that adding something like that to the textual noise of a few people's News Feeds will actually accomplish? Is it really sharing the Gospel or am I just broadcasting my opinion for my own sense of worth as a "good" Christian?<br /><br />Could it be that some things are just too holy for our facebook statuses?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/S9byg6CcJVI/AAAAAAAAABc/AhGNfpwLRqo/s1600/ZZ++Dali%27s+Christ+of+St+John+of+the+Cross+1951.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 223px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/S9byg6CcJVI/AAAAAAAAABc/AhGNfpwLRqo/s400/ZZ++Dali%27s+Christ+of+St+John+of+the+Cross+1951.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464821845009900882" border="0" /></a><br />*(The language and therefore the theology of the God who created the space-time universe gets a little fuzzy when we talk about the manifest "presence" or "glory" of God. The only thing that I can figure out is that it's not that God "isn't" somewhere, because he is omnipresent, but that a lot of the time I walk around with the ridiculous idea that He isn't near, and when I experience His Presence, it's not as though God were somewhere far away and is suddenly coming over for a chat, it's just I am actually waking up to Reality, the real reality where God exists, the reality where He is present, instead of my distracted stupor that I spend way too much time in. Of course to talk about things in this way seems to imply that I am achieving enlightenment or something stupid like that by my own insight, so I prefer to talk in terms of experiencing God because I believe God is really the one at work making me aware of His Presence and power, which are always near and always true.)joshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735312244098737504.post-71947407893433558972010-03-20T20:56:00.000-07:002012-08-30T13:59:44.966-07:00The Ethics of Consumer ChoiceAlthough <a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2273/1845300596_503ee1c4ce.jpg">someone</a> will condemn me for getting a cup of coffee from an evil corporation, (and I would argue that this company while large has done a lot of good and raised the standard for many other employers with respect to benefits for their employees, as well as otherwise ethical practices, and done much to disabuse us of commodity fetishism) you can rest assured that while I buy their coffee from time to time, I will pick on them a little bit before I get done with this post. Of course I am referring to that green siren <a href="http://www.starbucks.com/">Starbucks</a> (or as <a href="http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu/home/">Dave Ramsey</a> likes to call it "Fivebucks") that bids us towards the hip land of eco-friendly chilled coffee in a 24 oz. cup.<br />
<br />
While I'm not so much into the sugary drinks, I do enjoy an item that is not posted on the menu board in the store--the little known or long neglected Short Latte. It's fabulous. No frills, no syrup, no non-fat non-milk creamer. Just some steamed whole milk and an espresso shot in a surprisingly petite 8 oz. cup. It's delicious. And I love it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/S619Zn4ZECI/AAAAAAAAABE/b-rtomXJC_8/s1600/starbucks_back.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453152602971246626" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/S619Zn4ZECI/AAAAAAAAABE/b-rtomXJC_8/s320/starbucks_back.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 196px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a>The question I ask myself is, why do I love it?<br />
<br />
I remember a certain day that Kara and I were both not working, and we had a gift card from my Mom, because she worked for Starbucks for two years, so we went to Starbucks. We got drinks and went to the park. Reading the stuff on the cup it gave all kinds of impressive statistics about how by purchasing Starbucks coffee we had helped something like 30 millions of tons of fair-trade coffee be produced. I wish I could find the exact text that appeared on the cup because reading it I felt like I was the best person in the world. <a href="http://www.adpulp.com/archives/2009/05/01/starbucks-beware.jpg">I had made the right choice.</a> I had bought the cup of coffee that would change everything, eliminate poverty, disease, and global warming and bring about world peace and the Kingdom of God.<br />
<br />
Really Starbucks? Buying your coffee makes me a better person? Or does it just make me think of myself as a better person, which actually makes me more of a jerk who's likely to judge the character of people who shop at your competition? How am I actually changing the world by drinking this partially recycled cup of organic fat and caffeine?<br />
<br />
I'm not.<br />
<br />
I just feel better about not changing the world because Starbucks is really, really good at making me think that buying their stuff is the same as doing something to change the world. That is to say nothing of the smaller, more "independent" hangouts that brand themselves the same way with the additional perceived claim to morality based on their size and their struggle against "the Man." Does the fact that I prefer those little places really say something about the superiority of my personal taste or the quality of my soul in comparison to another, or is it just that I am more susceptible to that type of marketing?<br />
<br />
What a fool I am. I so much want to believe that I am a good person and that the products I buy confirm that I am a good person. I want to believe it so bad that I'll believe the people making the products when they tell me their products are a testament to my good character. In reality the cup of coffee at Starbucks/the Mudhouse/the Coffee Ethic/Gailey's has nothing to do with my character, or at least no more than a 44 oz. soda from a gas station.<br />
<br />
But shouldn't we learn where our stuff comes from and try to only buy good stuff from good companies that are good to people and the rest of God's good creation? Well, certainly, yes. I believe that is a great goal. But should it really surprise us that our own concept of "good" is very broken? We've been discipled for decades by literally millions of TV, radio, internet, billboard and other types of ads since we were children. If these are the sources we look to to form our morality, should it surprise us that morality is defined as purchasing the right products of a certain "Ethos" that are of sufficient quality at a reasonable price? (Oh, and we won't mention anything about the chemical addictions that come with these products. That's for free.) We like to think that constant exposure to media input has no effect on us, but I'm learning that I am much more affected by it than I would like to admit. I become more and more sure the deeper I dig into this stuff that getting a right understanding of "good" (at least in the sense of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave">Plato's Forms</a>) is something I may not even be capable of.<br />
<br />
In fact the only hope I have of ever being good, or coming to understand what "good" really means, is if Jesus Christ is <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2013:12-13:38&version=NIV">who He says He is</a> and has accomplished what He says He has accomplished. But that is another blog post altogether.joshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735312244098737504.post-2697835323831912112010-02-27T15:26:00.001-08:002010-03-08T12:26:55.339-08:00I'm Bored with BeerI never thought I'd say it. To some of you, close friends and family of mine, this may sound like blasphemy, which may indicate an unhealthy relationship with the stuff, but hear me out! I'm not saying that I think the stuff is evil or that we can't enjoy one together, or that we all should stop debating the virtues of hops vs. malt, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot">Reinheitsgebot</a> vs. American Craft Brewing, or any of that glorious home-brewers snobbery that I actually love, I'm just saying that lately I've had a change of heart. I think for the positive.<br /><br />The same thing actually happened for me with music sometime in my freshman year of college. Bored with music?! To <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bRjbWV7T-s">my extended family</a> I'm about to be disowned. But I think it's probably been years since I purchased a CD. I still love to sing, and I still love to play a few instruments when I find the time, especially in a worship context, but as far as loving music... meh. I'm kind of bored.<br /><br />Perhaps the following Scripture can bring some clarity to what I'm trying to express:<br /><br /><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" > <sup class="versenum" id="en-TNIV-17338">1</sup> I said to myself, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. <sup class="versenum" id="en-TNIV-17339">2</sup> "Laughter," I said, "is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?" <sup class="versenum" id="en-TNIV-17340">3</sup> I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives. </span><p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> <sup class="versenum" id="en-TNIV-17341">4</sup> I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><sup class="versenum" id="en-TNIV-17342">5</sup> I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. <sup class="versenum" id="en-TNIV-17343">6</sup> I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. <sup class="versenum" id="en-TNIV-17344">7</sup> I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. <sup class="versenum" id="en-TNIV-17345">8</sup> I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem<sup class="footnote" value="" href="%22#fen-TNIV-17345a%22" title=""See"> [<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%202&version=TNIV#fen-TNIV-17345a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup> as well—the delights of a man's heart. <sup class="versenum" id="en-TNIV-17346">9</sup> I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. </span></p><p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> <sup class="versenum" id="en-TNIV-17347">10</sup> I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;<br /> I refused my heart no pleasure.<br /> My heart took delight in all my labor,<br /> and this was the reward for all my toil. </span></p><p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> <sup class="versenum" id="en-TNIV-17348">11</sup> Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/S4mzTxxYVRI/AAAAAAAAAA8/WB9PTCICE1o/s1600-h/Picture.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/S4mzTxxYVRI/AAAAAAAAAA8/WB9PTCICE1o/s320/Picture.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443078777013294354" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> and what I had toiled to achieve,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;<br /> nothing was gained under the sun. </span></p><br /><br />Or maybe the following:<br /><br /><p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> <sup class="versenum" id="en-TNIV-17411">10</sup> Those who love money never have enough;<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> those who love wealth are never satisfied with their income.<br /> This too is meaningless. </span></p><p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> <sup class="versenum" id="en-TNIV-17412">11</sup> As goods increase,<br /> so do those who consume them.<br /> And what benefit are they to the owners<br /> except to feast their eyes on them? </span></p>(That's from Ecclesiastes 2 and 5, respectively).<br /><br />During my freshman year of college, I began to feel I was losing touch with the music scene. Maybe that's because they didn't have "free" cable in the dorms yet and I didn't bring a TV with me to school, but I started to get the sense that I wasn't on the cutting edge like I had been in high school. My new friends in college were talking about all these bands that I'd never heard of before, and while I felt like I could potentially like these new bands and become fans of them I didn't want to do the work. I had just spent Junior High and High School developing my very distinctive style and unique "favorites" and the prospect of having to start over on that--to have to learn the lyrics to new songs, research the band members' childhoods and do the musical criticism of picking apart the melodies and rhythms that were particularly interesting so that I could articulate <span style="font-style: italic;">why</span> this was my favorite band and adequately defend my taste to my new peers just seemed... exhausting. Maybe it was the stress of being the only person from <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/place?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=lawrence,+ks&fb=1&gl=us&ftid=0x87bf5f6f94d6d839:0x151713d50478ab2e&ei=t6yJS6buEoS4NrOT4KYB&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CAoQ8gEwAA">my town</a> in a <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/place?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=springfield,+mo&fb=1&gl=us&ftid=0x87cf62f745c8983f:0x6bfd6cb31e690da0&ei=8qyJS51EkY425qropQE&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CA4Q8gEwAA">new city</a> doing something I'd never done before (going to college) or maybe it was the common melancholy and existential angst that many of us Americans went through in the winter and fall of 2001, but I just didn't have the time to do what I suddenly realized to be the <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">work</span> of finding new music that I love.<br /><br />I suddenly realized that if I were to continue on my current track of musical appreciation, it would only lead to disappointment. I could never find enough music to satisfy my ear. I'll always want to hear a new song that I like. <a href="http://www.pandora.com/#/about">Pandora</a> has actually made this frighteningly easy and inexpensive. (I say frightening because the ease of consumption only further commodifies the highest offerings of the musicians that make the music, see the post on the <a href="http://christconsumer.blogspot.com/2010/02/commodity-fetish.html">commodity fetish.</a>)<br /><br />Speaking of the commodity fetish, I think one of the reasons for my recently ended love affair with beer (hopefully we can still be friends) is that I have an appreciation for the process. My Dad home-brewed when I was a youngster, so I knew that if I ever drank beer I would only want to drink good beer, beer that was crafted to fit a <a href="http://pics.blameitonthevoices.com/s.php?f=032009&p=Periodic_table_of_beer_styles2.jpg">style</a>, beer that probably doesn't come in a can. And there are so many interesting flavors, types, and styles to enjoy! Craft brewing and the <a href="http://images.cryhavok.org/d/1891-1/Nerd+Venn+Diagram.png">geekiness</a> that goes along with it appeals to something within me that has evolved into the desire to really know and understand the things that I use, enjoy, and take for granted. There is a lot to learn about beer, like music, and that appeals to me.<br /><br />But the reason beer and I have decided to see other people can be blamed, for me, on one company: <a href="http://www.lagunitas.com/">Lagunitas. </a>I haven't tried any of their beer. I guess I might some time in the future, but when a whole bunch of new beers under this label showed up at the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/place?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=patton+alley+pub&fb=1&gl=us&hq=patton+alley+pub&hnear=Springfield,+MO&cid=16316944645428023582">pub</a> I frequent, it hit me--the search for new and awesome beer--like the search for new and awesome music is like chasing after the wind. I realized that I had actually given a lot of time and effort to this pursuit, and recognized that while that pursuit may not be bad in and of itself, that there are higher pursuits to engage in that may or may not be more satisfying, but are certainly more <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20corinthians%2010:23-11:1&version=NIV">beneficial.</a><br /><br />I guess what I'm saying is that I suddenly feel relief from the "need" to experience the "new and improved," at least with respect to beer. The inflammation of desire as a key component to the way consumerism functions will be the topic of a future post, but I am thankful, at least in this aspect of my life, to be free of some of that desire.joshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735312244098737504.post-72031190943218360702010-02-13T10:12:00.001-08:002010-02-23T07:24:48.872-08:00The Commodity FetishSound kinky? Really kind of disturbing when you understand the concept, how it works, and how we're all implicated by it. Fetish here is used not in the perverted sense, but in the following manner:<br /><br /><h2 class="me"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%27http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fetish%27%3E">fet⋅ish</a> <span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:85%;" ><span class="pronset"><span class="show_ipapr" style="display: inline;"><span class="prondelim">/</span><span class="pron">ˈfɛtɪʃ</span><span class="pron">,</span> <span class="pron">ˈfitɪʃ</span><span class="prondelim">/</span></span></span></span></h2>--noun<br /><table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dnindex" width="35">1.</td> <td>an object regarded with awe as being the embodiment or habitation of a potent spirit or as having magical potency.</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dnindex" width="35">2.</td> <td>any object, idea, etc., eliciting unquestioning reverence, respect, or devotion: <span class="ital-inline">to make a fetish of high grades. </span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Combine that with<br /><br /><h2 class="me"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%27http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/commodity%27%3E">com⋅mod⋅i⋅ty</a> <span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:100%;" ><span class="pronset"><span class="show_ipapr" style="display: inline;"><span class="prondelim">/</span><span class="pron">kə'mɒdɪti</span><span class="prondelim">/</span></span></span></span></h2><span class="pg">–noun, </span><span class="pg">plural </span><span class="secondary-bf">-ties.<br /></span><table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dnindex" width="35">1.</td> <td>an article of trade or commerce, esp. a product as distinguished from a service.</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dnindex" width="35">2.</td> <td>something of use, advantage, or value.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />...and you get the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_fetishism">phrase</a> coined by <a href="http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm">Karl Marx. </a><br /><br />(Quickly, before I lose whatever radically conservative audience I might have, you should know I voted for Ron Paul in the primary.) Karl Marx pointed out something that is true, and whether or not you agree with his solutions to economic problems, he was right about the way capitalist societies function in regards to stuff, at least in recognizing the phenomenon of the commodity fetish.<br /><br />If you have ever eaten a hot-dog, you have experienced the commodity fetish at work.<br /><br />To get a little bit of perspective, consider this family heirloom:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/S3byPjuHneI/AAAAAAAAAA0/3WigWwQ7hvY/s1600-h/DSC01723.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JaNDFKCRszc/S3byPjuHneI/AAAAAAAAAA0/3WigWwQ7hvY/s320/DSC01723.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437799949197090274" border="0" /></a>This is a small, framed portion of a quilt, made ca. 1850 AD/CE. It is the result of a team effort of a mother and daughter team, distant matriarchs of my wife's family. The two ladies harvested the flax and spun it into linen, sheared the sheep, spun and dyed that wool, then worked together to weave this beautiful quilt! There's a story about hiding some items (perhaps this quilt) from raiding Confederate soldiers, but in order to consume that entertaining story, you'll have to get together with us in person and listen to my lovely wife tell the tale, it really is hers to tell.<br /><br />What does this have to do with commodities and fetishes? Well, by way of this example, 150 years ago, if you were in need or want for a quilt, no problem! Just go harvest some flax, spin it into linen, along with the wool you sheared off of your own sheep, dye it with... i have no idea, and then spend a month or two of your spare time weaving it into a blanket. This is the way that most "products" of human invention have been produced for thousands of years--in the home.<br /><br />Not so in an industrialized capitalist society, especially one operating on a global economy. If we want a blanket or quilt, we go to Target and pick one out. It's probably made in China. We might choose it based on its level of comfort, its insulating qualities, the way it works or doesn't work with the decorating scheme in our living room, or it's price. And we take the thing home and enjoy it, put it to use, until it gets stained or torn, or we decide it just doesn't go with anything, and then we give it to a charity or the landfill and it becomes the charity or landfill's problem.<br /><br />Today we purchase and use items with little or no regard to the questions concerning their origin, the safety of the workers who produced the item, perhaps with little or no questions about the <a href="http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota/toyota-consumer-safety-advisory-102572.aspx">safety or the quality of the item itself</a>. When it's there in the store we rarely ask ourselves a question deeper than, "Do I want this?" or "Am I willing to spend x amount on this?" We're primarily concerned with the item's apparent value in and of itself, with little or no thought given to the labor or work that goes into producing such an item. And how can we? We all use a lot of stuff! We don't have time to research the origins of everything in the supermarket, and why should we? What does it matter?<br /><br />It matters because <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/business/worldbusiness/05sweatshop.html">someone is paying the price</a> for me to have all the things that I want at relatively little or no cost to myself. Likewise, <a href="http://www.monsanto.com/">someone</a> is benefiting from taking advantage of human beings and the boon that comes from ignorant bliss.<br /><br />Take the hot-dog for instance. That hot-dog probably has the unwanted meat from about 500 cows or more, all mixed in to that one little homogenized link, and most of that meat has probably been treated with ammonia. If that weren't gross enough, I can look on the package and see the number of fat grams and chemicals that are contained in it. But the real kicker is that those cows were probably slaughtered by a person with no other options for employment, being payed a measly wage, working in dangerous conditions all so that I could enjoy that meat-like delicacy as part of my 4th-of-July or camping experience. But if I think about all of that, I might not want to eat the hot dog. And Oscar Meyer and "<a href="http://www.bar-s.com/">Bar-S</a>" want to keep it that way. Often, I like to go with <a href="http://www.hebrewnational.com/index.jsp">Hebrew National</a>, but is it really that much better? How do I really know?<br /><br />The truth is if I want to eat hot-dogs, I have to participate in all the evil--potential or real--of eating that hot dog. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians+8&version=NIV">How much is the hot dog worth to me?</a> What about my <a href="http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00007&segmentID=4">$20 cell phone</a>? I've had it for 6 months and it only now occurs to me to check to see where it was made. When I take it apart and remove the battery it says it was "Made in Mexico." I wonder who made it. I wonder how old that person was, what their name is. Do they have a family? Were they paid well? How many phones or parts of phones like mine do they make in a day?<br /><br />Movies like <a href="http://www.foodincmovie.com/">Food Inc</a>. and websites like <a href="http://www.storyofstuff.com/">the Story of Stuff*</a> attempt to disabuse us of commodity fetishism, but the truth of the matter is that we've all been conditioned for years to not think about the resources or labor that go into the products we buy, and to <a href="http://www.amish.net/">stop consuming all together</a> and live a <a href="http://www.dancingrabbit.org/">completely different lifestyle</a> is probably not desirable or possible for most of us. At the same time, I believe in a just God who will one day judge the living and the dead. I am responsible for how I spend my dollars, or how I don't spend my dollars. In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2025:31-46&version=NIV">the parable of the sheep and the goats</a>, it's not the evil that was actively done, but the good that wasn't done by supposedly good people just passively living their lives that condemns the "goats." As much as I'd like to not think that God might want me to actually <span style="font-style: italic;">go without</span> certain items I find "essential" to my daily life, to not entertain such a possibility, in view of Scripture, seems a little foolish.<br /><br />Is the comfort of my myriad of consumer choices worth the injustice it may cause? Can I really get away with a plea of ignorance before a God that knows everything? How do I live in my own culture without abandoning God or without becoming a reactionary?<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2025:31-46&version=NIV"><br /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">*I find this 20 minute video to be a bit over-simplified, but does an OK job of raising some questions about the big picture of consumerism's effect on everything.</span>joshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735312244098737504.post-7403172239664606802010-02-01T10:41:00.000-08:002010-02-09T07:04:21.481-08:00What good can another blog do?Well to be honest, probably not much. I have my doubts about the efficacy of the internet as a tool for connecting people (he said on his blog).<br /><br />The other day while getting my tires replaced I read an <a href="http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100201/youve-been-yelped_pagen_2.html">article about Yelp.com in Inc.</a> magazine (it was on the coffee table) about a bookstore owner and a prospective customer getting into a physical altercation based on the customer's comments left on the Yelp.com rating site. Not being a small business owner, but working for a small business and having read <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/gaileys-breakfast-cafe-springfield">reviews</a> both positive and negative about the place where I work, I understand how things get emotional quickly. And in case you didn't catch the title of my blog, I'm planning on discussing things even more emotional than work and money--religion, culture, and basic beliefs about the nature of life, the universe, and everything!<br /><br />But despite plenty of bad examples of people using the pseudo-anonymity of the internet to bring out the worst in people, I have to believe that these tools have the potential, at least, to be used for<a href="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jan/14/141610/haiti-texting-donations-breaking-records/"> good.</a><br /><br />For me, this stems from the belief that every person, <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121089157">no matter how mean or depraved, </a><a href="http://harvardhumanist.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100:harvard-humanist-leads-haiti-relief-effort&catid=6:lastest-news&Itemid=38">no matter if they agree with my deeply held beliefs or not, </a>is made in the image of a good and loving God. God's fingerprints are in the fabric of our DNA, and whether or not we choose to recognize God as the origin of the good in people, God is glorified in His creation, perhaps most stunningly and impressively in his crowning achievement--<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%201:26-31&version=NIV">people.</a> This is of course, if we have <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2012:37-48&version=TNIV">eyes</a> to see.<br /><br />Are we mean? Sure. Are we selfish? Yes. But as a Christian, I have to choose to love people the way I want to be loved, and I know that I want people to see the good in me and ignore the bad. Or if they point out the bad, because they know I can do better, to do it in a way that doesn't ignore the good.<br /><br />When I'm talking about stuff on this site I want to make the public commitment, one which despite my best efforts I probably won't keep all the time, to always talk about people as people--nothing more and nothing less, and to not treat them like mere ideas or concepts to be picked apart, used, and consumed.<br /><br />This is hard, because for 27 years, I've been <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disciple">discipled</a> by a culture of consumerism. I grew up in the world of TV, Internet, Video Games, Cell Phones, <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm">magazines</a> and <a href="http://www.cbs.com/daytime/the_price_is_right//">shows</a> completely devoted to the discussion of what to buy, <a href="http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/whatnottowear/whatnottowear.html">what not to wear</a>, and how to have a good time. Everything about this culture tells me "it's all about me." I can have it my way. We even have sites like Yelp.com in which everyone can enjoy the elevated status of a food or fashion critic for the small price of their opinion, and blogs where for the effort of setting up an email address I can express myself to as many people as I can convince that I am interesting enough to consume. I have great parents that taught me a lot about what really matters in life, and I've been fortunate enough to benefit from the influence of Jesus' rebel gang on earth--the Church--but we all live in this sea of commercial enterprise and interact with each other through things like blogs, skype, facebook and cell phones--media which change the way we actually communicate and therefore relate to one another--often without us even recognizing it. Consumerism <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> our culture, and to claim to be unaffected by its basic assumptions and worldview is at best uniformed, and at worst naive or proud.<br /><br />The name of this blog is an attempt at honesty. I am, at heart, a consumer. Most of what I do is use stuff. I contribute little. I'm really selfish, I often entertain delusions of grandeur, I'm proud and I act out of that pride. I have opinions about everything and I think my opinions are really important. Important enough to argue or blog about. But since I was 14, when I prayed a simple <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinner%27s_prayer">prayer of repentance</a> in a youth volunteer's Cadillac, I find another force mysteriously at work in my life. Through no merit or power of my own, I find the desire to be thankful for the things I am blessed with, and to share those blessings with others. Sometimes I even find the power to act on those desires. In fact sometimes I even find myself hating the desire for frivolous pleasure, those desires being replaced with a sincere love and willingness to suffer for other people.<br /><br />In the symbol of communion, which Jesus left for his disciples, whatever the specific <a href="http://anglicanhistory.org/dekoven/controversy1874.html">controversial theological meaning</a> of the ordinance, Christians claim to consume the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Early Christian church meetings, by all accounts Biblical and extra-biblical, were centered around this practice. It has often been used as a boundary marker for those who are either in or out of communion with Christ and his church. In this practice, the basic story of Jesus' life--his perfect sacrificial death, his resurrection, and the new community he founded is told. As part of this community, I have experienced first hand that Jesus is not dead, and that he is really the only thing that satisfies my deepest desires. The more I taste of his goodness, the more I want. This desire--unlike so many others--does not cause me to become what I hate, but somehow changes me for the better. In fact it is not the desire but the Person of God himself somehow mysteriously at work in my soul and my body making me into someone I could never become through the force of <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122781981">my limited rational or emotional mind.</a> In fact I find that it is not even me living, but this Jesus person living within me. In this way I strive to be a consumer of Christ.joshua.goekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861055803516872806noreply@blogger.com1