The ZENN car

Best Canadian-made car that is illegal to drive in the very country it was made in...

ZENN car

Hell #4

Here is Gordon's fourth and final video on Hell. In this one, he talks about why it is detrimental to focus on hell as Christians, and gives some alternative ways to approach it. My one comment: Right On!

Hell #3

Here is the third installment of Gordon Atkinson's videos on the topic of Hell. In this video he gives his own interpretation and thoughts on the meaning of Hell in the NT witness. I think this is really good stuff - it is very much along the lines of what I have been thinking about and studying in the past 2 years or so. I especially like his thoughts on who is going to hell, and why Jesus used it in the first place. In my own studying and thinking I have come to the same conclusion as Gordon - that Jesus uses hell only to refer to people in the context of the "religious establish". Jesus is taking imagery that the religious leaders of that day were using to refer to outsiders, and turning the interpretation on its head to use it in reference to them! This would have really outraged them. So, what are we doing the same thing today? Why are we using the language of Hell to speak about outsiders, when Jesus used it in the context of insiders? Not only does this at odds with the words of Jesus, we are also ignoring the vary danger that Jesus was trying to make us aware of.

Hell Video #2

Here is Gordon Atkinson's (aka The Real Live Preacher) second video on the topic of hell. In this video he goes through the entire NT witness and talks about every passage relating to hell in the NT (in less than 11 minutes no less!):



Also, here is a very good and very handy pdf reference for each time hell (or its equivalent) is mentioned in the NT:

Hell Reference PDF

Easter Discussion

One of my goals at my family's Easter gathering this past week was to strike up an in depth political and ideological debate. I am proud to report that I accomplished that goal. My Dad, Kyle (brother-in-law) had a long and good discussion on Sunday afternoon. I discovered that my dad thinks more along my own ideological line than I ever knew. While he usually never came right out and declared this or that, he certainly hinted at things that lined up with my own thoughts/beliefs. It's funny that you grow up with one set of thoughts about your parents' thinking, and then discover down the road that somehow you either perceived their thinking differently than was the reality, or maybe you transmuted your outside influences onto your parents beliefs and made them theirs.

Anyway, I gleaned more than one good piece of wisdom from my Dad, but I particularly was impressed by this one. I had asked him how he deals with the reality that two people approaching the same Scriptures in complete sincerity, honesty, prayer, and intently listening to God can derive two different interpretations and meanings from it. And the real kicker is that they both firmly believe that God's Spirit led them to their thinking. How can it be that the Spirit can lead two people to two different thoughts on the same Scripture?

My Dad's understanding of this is that God is trying to tell us that seeking after one absolute truth/interpretation is often a mistake. There is no way that one person can get it all right. Instead, we need to listen to the variety of readings and not be so concerned with zeroing in on one absolute meaning.

Hell #1

Real Live Preacher is doing a 3-part video series on the doctrine of Hell. They are short videos - only 6 minutes each - so very easy to watch and digest. He takes a very good approach to this topic. Here is the first video installment:

Hell #1

Thoughts on Political Debates

I thought that the Real Live Preacher's post on political debates showed some real insight into the value of these debates. You can read his post here:

Why Political Debates Aren't Very Helpful

Discouragement

I heard possibly the single most discouraging comment about Christianity I have ever heard in my Anthropology class yesterday. We are on the topic of religion this week, and the prof was talking about how some people have no problem with combining various religions into one - to suit their tastes. To illustrate, he was giving a story from Korea where, formerly a Buddhist nation, individuals are converting to many different religions. He went on to say that most of the rich and wealthy in Korea are "becoming Christians". "Do you know why they are becoming Christians?", he asked. "Because Christianity is a religion that accepts and welcomes capitalists who oppress and take advantage of others economically in order to get rich. Buddhism does not."

I was simply stunned when I heard this - so stunned that I didn't speak up. And I was deeply saddened. This is what people actually believe about Christianity. The saddest is part is that the prof was right - people do believe this and are doing it. They are using Christianity to support their wealthy lifestyle.

What has happened? How have the ideals of Jesus and the Kingdom of God (those of taking care of the poor, the widow, the weak, the downtrodden) been twisted to serve the economically wealthy? How did this become the picture of Christianity?! The very Gospel of Jesus was good news for the poor and oppressed, and bad news for the rich and oppressors.

What saddens me most is that this statement by my prof, while wrong in terms of the Gospel, is true in terms of what is generally meant to be a "Christian". Do we need to leave that word behind and find something new? Because I can assure you that Jesus has no part in this brand of "Christianity".