Brant's Blog of Awesomeness

Here's the "Books of the Bible" Book We Were Yapping About

I really, really like this. 

We talked about it yesterday in our "Brant's Book Nook":  It's the Bible, but with the books in a different order, and without the "additives" -- like chapter and verse divisions.  (Click here to find it.)

Now, there's nothing WRONG with chapter and verse divisions, but there's nothing specially right about them, either.  They can break up thoughts, make ideas disjunct, and confuse context.  They help us locate things, but they certainly weren't a part of the original versions, either -- not even close.

The Books of the Bible publisher (the International Bible Society) re-orders the books to give us a sense of the chronology of the books of the Bible, which I find helpful.  The common ordering of the N.T. is actually based, largely, on biggest-to-smallest.  That's why Corinthians comes before Thessalonians, even though Thessalonians was likely written first. 

Also, this re-ordering gives us a good idea of the literary styles of the books.  The book of James isn't a letter to a church, but many people think it is, simply because it's included with others, traditionally.  It shouldn't be read that way.  It's a wisdom book, written along the lines of Proverbs. 

I think all this is great to keep in mind, because we tend to view the Bible as a puzzle:  We take a verse here, a verse there, another one here, and cobble together an entire theology that may be quite apart from the over-arching message that God is sharing with us in scripture.  The Bible is a gift, a blessing from God, and, as such, we should do our best to understand literary styles, context, and purpose from Genesis to Revelation.  (Hint:  It's all about Jesus.)

Controversial Book Review: "Pagan Christianity"

Okay, HERE'S a book that's getting attention.  It's called Pagan Christianity, and the authors are Frank Viola, a guy from Gainesville, and George Barna, the famous Christian pollster-guy.

I'm actually kind of amazed this is getting published.   I'm GLAD it's being published -- I love ideas that are challenging, and make us think and re-think about what it means to follow Jesus -- but it's bound to start some arguments.

The authors say a lot of our church traditions -- ones we hold dear and think "this is what makes the church the church" --actually aren't what makes the church the church.  They show, historically, where a lot of our traditions come from, and say they weren't part of the very early movement of Jesus -- they're actually from pagan traditions.

We're talking everything from steeples to pews to seminaries to choirs to weekly sermons to dressing up for church...about which that people might reasonably wonder:  What's so wrong with that?

Viola and Barna don't say it's wrong, per se, to borrow something from pre-Christian traditions.  Not at all.  They do say, though, that we've managed to turn following Jesus isn't a spectator-sport, where we train people to be passive observers, people who consume products and worship services, rather than actively BEING the church.  And to justify practices saying, "This is the way it has to be," just isn't true, when those practices aren't part of the first century church.

Personally, I think they have some great points.  (I shouldn't need to include the caveat, "I don't agree with EVERYTHING here, but here you go:  I don't agree with everything here.  I rarely do, when reading a book.)    But if you're someone who's a new believer, or someone who doesn't want to be challenged on this kind of stuff, seriously -- I do not recommend this book.  Skip it.  Seriously.

If you have been a Jesus-follower for awhile though, and are open to being stretched, challenged, and made to go, "Hmmmm..." you may want to check it out. 

You may even be someone who's wondered, "Hmmm...why do things have to be this way?" -- and you may really enjoy it.

There've been thoughtful people who've reviewed this book with completely different opinions, and that's cool.  Unfortunately, though, there've been critics who actually haven't read the book, they've just reacted to the hot-button issues.

Both authors take the Bible very seriously, and following Jesus very seriously.  If you read it, let me know what you think.

Too Skeptical for Skepticism

Turns out, you are pretty amazing, as far as, you know, meaningless collections of dust particles go.

As I mentioned on-air, you are "more wave than particle", given that you're always exchanging particles with the rest of the universe.  And you don't mess around:  You're all new every seven years.  There's nothing left of you that was you a decade ago. 

Materially speaking, it's "Extreme Makeover:  You Edition", except without the annoying sleeveless guy. 

-------------

My brother and I used to argue over who got to read the Cap'n Crunch box during breakfast.  We talked our mom into buying it because it was -- and REMAINS TO THIS DAY -- fortified with eight minerals!  I thought it was funny that they called whatever these were "minerals", because it almost sounded like we were eating rocks! -- until I realized, I think at age 32, that we were eating rocks.

You see, you eat rock-specks because we are made out of the ground.  You keep losing ground, and the Cap'n helps you gain it back. 

-------------

It's funny:  I just learned "Adam" means, essentially, "Guy made out of the ground", or "Dust Guy", or "Ground-Boy".  But there's no naming ceremony for Ground-Boy in Genesis.  The first mention of his name is all casual-like, as he's naming other stuff.  It's in Genesis 2, which goes a little somethin' like this:

So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.  But for Ground-Boy, no helper was found.

You, too, are Ground-Boy.  Unless you're a girl.  The name "Eve" is classier.  But you still need Cap'n Crunch.

-------------

So let's face it.  It's already remarkable enough that you retain consciousness, you retain a constant identity, you are "yourself", in spite of the fact that, materially, you are completely different, and always changing. 

But now things get crazy:  They just discovered that your skin cell can be "reprogrammed" to become a pluripotent stem cell.   They used to think only embryonic stem cells were capable of this.  "Pluripotent" means they can use the cell to create any other type of cell in the body.

(Think of it this way:  You used to be a single cell.  You'd think that by dividing and multiplying, you'd just have a bunch of copies of you.  But something amazing happens:  Switches get pulled that convert cells into other types of cells that you'll need, from white blood cells to brain cells.  That first cell was "pluripotent".)

So now, your ADULT skin cell can be reprogrammed, and they can grow other kinds of "you" cells from it. 

That skin cell, made of stuff that wasn't you seven years ago, has a "memory" of how to create you from the beginning.

(For further marveling:  Richard John Neuhaus, in First Things, notes how DNA information now seems to travel "backward", as well as forward.  Far out.)

-------------

Like everybody else, I'd sure like to not be a freak.  I'd love to be hip, and enlightened, like one of those Freethinkers.  (Remember: "Freethinking" means ruling out the supernatural without evidence, while being "Closed-Minded" means allowing that it's possible.) 

That would mean explaining all this with the wave of a mechanistic hand.  Just matter in motion, laws of physics, chance mutations, survival of the fittest, etc."  I could do that, but...

Zzzzzz.

Meanwhile, you are dust in the wind, more wave than particle, constantly inconstant, and yet...somehow...you.  Almost like you had a soul.  Almost like things really did matter, like beauty isn't mere construct; almost like goodness is truly Good, "evil" seems evil because it's actually Evil, and almost like love isn't just brain chemistry.  It's almost like something keeps us together. 

It's almost like the world remains enchanted.  And wouldn't that be fascinating?

-------------

I'm sorry.  This walking wave of dust, this Ground-Boy, is so skeptical, he's skeptical of skepticism. 

This one admits there's a God.

Church Shootings and the Myth of Safety

"If we're not safe in a mall, or in a church -- when are we safe?  What's happening to us?"

Well, you're never safe.  And the answer to the second question?  Not much.

It's not that stories like what happened at New Life Church or the YWAM training center aren't tragic and sickening -- they are.  But what they're *not* is evidence that something has changed, and now we're not safe.

We never were.

"We", of course, being human beings.  We can buy insurance, we can wear our seat belts, we can bike with a helmet, we can buy that car with the 5-star safety rating, we can look both ways before crossing the street.  We can -- and should, in many cases -- do that stuff.  But we're not safe.

We can be more safe, or less safe, but we can't be safe.  Much of our scientific establishment is focused on a single project:  defeating aging, and ultimately defeating death.  But -- forgive me -- it won't work.  We can delay the inevitable, but the inevitable remains the inevitable.  It's a matter of when.

When we see evil at work, when we see lives cut short, we cry, and we pray for the families involved.  But we should not be shocked.  This has been human experience since the very beginning.  Murder dates back as far as it can go -- think Cain and Abel.  Some historians say there are fewer than 100 years in our recorded history that have not been marked by war. 

We cannot guarantee our safety, nor our children's.  We can balance their diet, guide their steps, hold their hands, buckle them in, and take their temperature.  But we cannot guarantee safety or health.  We've never been able to.  Not in the halcyon 1950's, not in the pioneer 1800's, not here, not there, not ever. 

Evil, disease, and death are many things, many tragic things, but what they are not, truly, is shocking. 

And Jesus spoke to an unsafe people, an ancient people unsure of its status, without modern medicine, without a voice in government, without a guaranteed food supply, and He told them (God, in the flesh, told them) "I tell you not to worry about everyday life...Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need."

We are not safe, but God never promises safety.  He promises -- to those who want to follow His way of living -- that we'll have everything we need.  And that, amazingly, means everything we need to cope with an unsafe world.

Yes, evil is here, and we should not be surprised. 

But God promises, and He delivers, and we should not be surprised.

Are Christmas Trees Pagan?

Were "Christmas" trees originally pagan symbols?

Yes.  And I don't much care.

I hope that's okay.  You see, as much as some religious folks will object to using symbols, like trees, they say are pagan-ized, I have a soft spot in my heart for them. 

Trees are beautiful, valuable, and created "good".  Yes, they were used by pre-Christian religions as symbols for fertility, in ceremonies to false gods, and in Roman customs.  Yep.  All that, and more.  No doubt about it.

So, some conclude, that does it.  Putting a tree in your home is a pagan tradition, and you are sellling out your Christianity by doing it.  And, I suppose, if they think it's sacrilege, they shouldn't do it.  Paul writes about legalism, and tells us not to deliberately show off our freedom to the weaker brother.  (But -- interesting, isn't it -- that legalist really is the one with the "weaker faith", Paul says.  Not the person who enjoys the freedom.)

Anyway, trees were created beautiful, then cut down, misused, reputation soiled.  It's my thinking that God made trees.  They're still good.  They're still beautiful.  And it's my thinking that God redeems -- He "buys back", and is in the restoration business.  He takes a something that's really HIS, and He takes it back, in spite of its reputation.  He called them "good", and He meant it.

Like I say, I have a soft spot for those trees.    I sure hope they're redeemable. 

I have a lot in common with them.

Merry Christmas.

On Halloween

It has pagan roots.  It was used -- invented, even -- for the celebration of a non-Christian religious ritual.

It dates back thousands of years, but now, it's widely accepted by our culture.  Celebrated, even.  Wal-Mart sells related items -- even Starbucks does! -- and some modern churches now hold events that center around it!

Oh -- and I'm not talking about Halloween, yet.  It's tea.

Tea, as a drink, was invented hundreds of years before Christ, and was used as part of Buddhist rituals.  Should you feel wrong for drinking it?

I say no.  But that's me.  My wife makes green tea with this mint stuff in it.  Yum City.

------------

Yes, some things have "pagan roots".  Not just tea:  the theater, the months in our calendar, martial arts, playing cards, Christmas trees -- lots of stuff, really.  Shoot, every single day in our week?  Named after gods.  So you can see, taking the "pagans used it, so I can't" approach can be pretty inconvenient.

Worse, though, I think it ignores something, and that something is wonderful:  God is in the redeeming business. 

"Redeeming" means buying something back.  Something's been taken, something's been misused, something's been spoiled?  If you buy it back, restore it -- you're in the redeeming business, too. 

Thank God.  He doesn't take that which pre-dates Christ, and then throws it away, because it's irretrievably broken.  I've had some pre-Christ days, myself.

------------

Yes, there is a real Enemy, called "the Satan" in scripture.  And he comes not only to destroy, but to steal.  To steal our freedom, to ruin that which is good, to keep us from experiencing life to the full.  In fact, Jesus said it:  "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

So, back to Halloween:  The Enemy's interest does not lie primarily in luring us into creepy Satanic rituals.  That's too obvious.  The Enemy doesn't even chiefly desire us to worship him.  He wants us to worship ourselves.  Don't believe me?  Read the Garden of Eden story again.

By the way: Halloween isn't the "high point" on the satanist's calendar.  Did you know that?  Guess what IS.  (I'll put the answer at the bottom...think about it...)

------------

Is Halloween irredeemable?  I don't think so.  Now, the foolish stuff -- and the rebellious attitudes against God -- that's always devastating.  But candy, trick-or-treating, carving a pumpkin...seems like fair game for a believer who thinks candy, kids, costumes, and pumpkins can be "bought back", just as his own life has been bought back.

You may disagree, and that's okay.  I would ask that you allow freedom for a brother, or sister, on this.  I also ask for your forbearance for those who do things like, say, drink tea or run marathons.  (The first marathons were run as a thank-you to the god Pan for battle victory.)  Or, for that matter, for those who enjoy their Saturdays (named after Saturn, or the Greek god "Cronus", who did some pretty nasty stuff.  Bleh.)

There are many things which have pagan origins.  Most people, before Christ, weren't Christians.  Kind of stands to reason.  For me, I'm hoping not to make a dichotomy:  The stuff I engage in, like tea, is okay, but the stuff you might engage in -- evil.  I'm hoping I don't do that. 

I hope I don't do that, because...much as this other stuff might be worthy of discussion and kind argument, Jesus had some very conclusive things to say to rule-keepers who practiced finding fault with others.  And that seems pretty clear-cut.

-----------------------

(The answer:  The "high point" of the year for the satanist is not Halloween...it's his birthday.  Or her birthday.  Whatever the individual satanist's birthday is.  Shouldn't surprise us.  The enemy wants me to celebrate...me.  My judgments, my actions, my pride, my feelings...me.  And he doesn't need me to wait for Halloween for that.)

Can a Radio Station Be Your Church?

Guy called this morning with a great question: "Can a radio station be my 'church'?"

Actually, two questions:  "And what do you think 'church' means?"

First answer, humbly submitted:  No way.  A radio station is not the church.  That's because of the answer to the second question:  The "church" is God's people, called out for His purposes.

Oh, a radio station is a wonderful reminder of what that purpose is, that's for sure.  We're to be about expanding the Kingdom of God, where He's given control of our lives and His heart for people is reflected in our lives.  A radio station like WAY-FM is WONDERFUL for that.

...but it's not a church.  God put on flesh and blood, and lived and walked among us.  The church is flesh and blood.  It is God's people.

Strictly speaking, you can't "go" to church, then.  It's better:  You can be the church.  There's no precedent in scripture for church as something one "attends".  This isn't to say one needn't gather with other believers to worship together, to pray for each other, and to build each other up -- that's essential.  But understand:  If you are a follower of Jesus, you are the church, you don't attend it. 

The church is people, a movement of Jesus-followers.  It is here in South Florida, it is seven days a week;  it is lived out in schools and workplaces and beaches and I-95 and kitchens.  It is not something you can "get" from a radio station, nor by merely watching someone else put on a Christian presentation.  You are called out for God's purposes.  Not just for achieving knowledge of them, either.  For doing them.

Some terrific news:  The Kingdom is something even kids can understand.  And Jesus said all the commands of the prophets are summed up with two:  Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor.  We are to do this together, to serve others, build each other up, put Jesus's words in action -- together.  You cannot be the church alone, and you cannot be the church merely by listening to a radio station, watching "Christian TV", or attending an event. 

Church is much more, and much better, than that.

Here's to Nothing

Nothing is counter-cultural. 

We figured this out not long after moving to trendy Palm Beach County, where we took up residence in a condo development that forms a ring around a pond.  Thing was, everyone could pretty much see everyone else.  Everyone's sliding-glass back doors face everyone else's.  We started getting comments from neighbors. 

One evening, standing by the pond, a tipsy Finnish guy (he and his wife were drinking while moving out, tired of the inhospitable hood) told me -- I swear I'm not making this up:  "When I look at your family, I think about God."

I'd never talked to him before. 

"I watch you outside, and your wife, and your boy, and when you walk with your girl, and I see how your wife makes people feel -- very welcome," he said.  "It makes me think about God.  I know that's strange."

Once, a single man, a Jewish guy named Steve, stopped by with his dog as Carolyn and I sat on our little back patio.  Carolyn had talked with him some.  Me, not so much.  I have a long history of being shy...and selfish.  I'm getting better.

"You guys ought to be in a museum!"

Uh...what?

"Seriously.  You got the mom, the dad, the kids, hanging out.  When it gets dark, I can see you inside, eating dinner around the table and stuff.  You ought to be in a museum somewhere!  I love it!"

In our society's terms, what we do is a lot of "nothing".  For one, we don't send our kids to school.  (Forgive us, culture, for we have sinned.)  Carolyn's a brilliant teacher, and home-schooling fits nicely into the rhythm of our home.  I've heard the objections.  One of the more awkward, I think, is this:  "What about being 'salt and light'?  What about sending your kids into the dark places to redeem them?  What about the schools?"

Yes.  What about them?  And -- while we're at it -- what about our neighborhoods?  What about not just getting mail there, but actually living where you live?  Kids leave schools and change classes.  People change churches and never see each other again.  But where you live?  Now, there's a bit more there there.

A famous study of Chicago neighborhoods in the 50s and 60s concluded there is one thing, more than any other, that made for the "glue" of a neighborhood:  Women.  At home.  This isn't a blanket condemnation of women, or men, who work.  It's simply a fact that time begets community.

Turns out, when you have time to do what, culturally-speaking, is "nothing" (like walking the baby around, chatting with neighbors, letting the kids play together) neighbors get to know each other.  It doesn't happen when everyone's at breakneck speed and, when home, exhausted.

Nothing is quite something -- a very attractive something.  People long for it;  even admire it.  (One lawyer friend told me over coffee, "I hear what you're saying, about not working like crazy to buy stuff, and I want to live like that.  But -- forgive me -- you're the only one I know who actually does that.")

In this culture, "nothing" sticks out like crazy, like a...light...on a hill, or...something.  It wasn't just those two guys.  Our neighborhood knew we were odd.  The dad's home a lot, walking around with his daughter, catching lizards?  The mom is home a lot, too, talking outdoors with us about the ducks?  They waste time together.  They waste time with us.  Something's odd, here...

So:  Nothing made a man think about God.  In the U.S., right now, maybe that's not hard to explain.  We did nothing, and nothing is shockingly out of place.  Nothing means not everything, not running around infernally, not getting our kids this-lesson-and-that, not trying to sustain a lifestyle we "want" -- but not deep down. 

Maybe Jesus's offer of "rest" is not an "after your dead, rest in peace"-type rest.  Maybe it's a lifestyle, now, that invites other people out of the maelstrom.  Out of a lifetime of purposeless acquisitiveness, out from in front of an imaginary audience, out of slavery to works-oriented righteousness.

Here's to nothing.  I don't want to sound cocky about it, but I can do nothing pretty well.

iPhones and Other Awesome Stuff I'm Not Going to Buy

Here are some awesome things I really like!  We could buy them, but we're not going to!  But they're still awesome!

Check out the Infiniti G35!  I love the styling on this car.  Simple lines, perfect proportion.  My neighbor has one of these. 

I'd look super-cool in a G35, throwing my accordion in the trunk and cruising down A1A.  This is one hot, hot car that I'm not going to buy, or lease!

Then there's the Apple iPhone! 

How cool is this? 

You can view HTML, take 2 mega-pixel pics, and have plenty of memory left over to use it as an iPod for music and movies on the go!

And you KNOW it's going to have awesome video games at some point. 

I'm not going to buy one of these (I have a phone already!) but this thing is sleek and incredibly cool!

Here's a house I think would be perfect for us.  We're shopping for one, and this is at the top end of our qualifying range.  But man, this would be sweet!

It has a big yard for the kids, an awesome tropical pool, big fireplace for those chilly South Florida nights, and it's in a rural setting, but still just a few minutes from our beach. 

Perfect!  It would make me feel good as a dad, too!  I'd love to provide a little garden area here for my daughter.  But we'd stress about the finances, I think, so we're not going to buy it.  But it's still an awesome house!

This guitar is just tight.  It's the new Taylor T5 electric.  I really like their electrics, even though it's a fairly new venture for them.  Gorgeous, too!

All these things are totally awesome, and I'm not going to buy them, but they really are awesome!

Teenage Affluenza

Sponsor a teenager. Her iPod has only 1 gig.  (HT:  Shaun Groves)