Pondering :: 23 :: Education vs. Technology

I ran across this article:

Prep star’s pick to play in Europe causes waves

While I don’t really have any thoughts on whether he should be able to enter the NBA draft after high school.

I was blown away by this line:

“The biggest knock against Tyler’s decision, of course, is that he’s walking away from his education and that’s bad for his development as a person.

“But this ain’t 1950,” his father said. “I mean, everything is online.”

What exactly does he mean by saying, “everything is online”?

It seems from the context of the article that his father thinks his son doesn’t need to finish his education, because if he needs to learn something it is online.

“Everything is online.”

Really?

Is this a line of thinking that is becoming more popular?

Why go through the process of getting an education and training your mind (like a basketball player does his body), when everything is online?

Do people really think that education is irrelevant because they have the internet?

I find so many things wrong with that line.

Everything is online…

I don’t think so.

Pondering :: 22 :: Naming

enjoy this tune while pondering :: Slow Jam by Four Tet

Names…

titles…

what we call certain things and persons…

I found this fascinating today.

Why?

Because a song I was listening to referred to God as Dad.

That made me realize that we rarely refer to God as Dad.

God the Father,

but not God the Dad.

Why?

I know Father is more official sounding,

more reverent, and so on, but…

is not Dad a term full of love.

Does not Dad convey a stronger sense of relationship between the father and child?

The last time I heard someone in a conversation refer to God as Dad I thought it sounded weird.

But why?

Is it because I never hear God referred to as Dad or…

because I think something is wrong with the term?

Truthfully, not sure.

Dad.

Daddy.

Father.

Which one is correct?

Is it as complicated in other languages or just English?

Pondering :: 21 :: The Margins

This might be my favorite picture from The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus.

It certainly leaves one pondering where ones location on that page is.

Pondering :: 20 :: Dis/belief

From “The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell:

“And yet, in all those years of preparation, the prayer that had resonated most strongly in his soul was the cry, “Lord, I believe. Help me in my disbelief.”

He found the life of Jesus profoundly moving; the miracles, on the other hand, seemed a barrier to faith, and he tended to explain them to himself in rational terms. It was as though there were only seven loaves and seven fishes. Maybe the miracle was that people shared what they had with strangers, he thought in the darkness.

He was aware of his agnosticism, and patient with it. Rather than deny the existence of something he couldn’t perceive himself, he acknowledged the authenticity of his uncertainty and carried on, praying in the face of his doubt.”

Lord, I believe.

Help me in my disbelief.

I’ve been pondering how often disbelief is accompanied by belief.

But can Christianity and I be honest about that?

Can we say that we have doubts?

Can we stand in the strange and uncomfortable space of un/certainty?

Yet still believe.

Or do we dress up our doubts in fierce hostility towards that which we’ve been told is unorthodox?

Would admitting our dis/belief free us up to live a more humble and loving life?

Maybe Christianity and I need to pray…

Lord, we have doubts.

Help us in our beliefs.

Pondering :: 19 :: Bruised Fruit

… the fruit of the Spirit is

love,

joy,

peace,

patience,

kindness,

goodness,

faithfulness,

gentleness,

and

self-control.

I’ve been pondering how often Christianity and I hand out bruised fruit to the world?

How does the fruit become bruised in the first place?

Is it from bad habits?

Bad theology?

Bad pratices?

Good theology?

Good habits?

Good practices?

What makes the difference between cultivating healthy fruit and bruised fruit?

Right beliefs?

Right practices?

Wrong beliefs?

Wrong practices?

What grows healthy fruit?

What bruises our fruit?

Do we even notice when our bruised fruit starts rotting?

Should Christianity and I care that our fruit is bruised?

When we notice  another handing out bruised fruit what should we do?

Anything?

Something?

Everything?

What gives us the standard for our fruit anyways?

The Bible?

History?

Sermons?

Stories?

Philosophy?

The Law?

Government?

Television?

Which is more important: the healthy cultivation of fruit or having the right beliefs?

Fruit?

Beliefs?

Both?

Some of both?

Neither?

Either?

Lately Fruit has seemed a whole lot more complicated than it used to be.

Pondering :: 18 :: Courage and Cowardice

I can’t remember the last time I heard someone speak directly about courage or cowardice.

Probably the last time was 9/11 but people only talked about courage as something we have and cowardice as something they had.

But I can’t recall the last time someone said we struggle with cowardice and should strive to work on our courage.

I don’t think our submersion into the electronic world helps.

It’s easy to think we are showing courage through an email, blog comment, or text message.

But sometimes it seems more like cowardice.

We are at a safe distance/volume/proximity/reach from whomever we are communicating with, little risk of them hitting/smacking/kicking us, and sometimes we have anonymity on our side.

We don’t have to talk to them if we want… most electronic devices/programs have an off or quit button.

And we can put it off till we feel like facing it… if ever.

Is this healthy/beneficial/loving?

Why shouldn’t we learn to resolve things sooner than later?

Why shouldn’t we let someone know who we are when we disagree with them?

Doesn’t it take courage to talk to someone face to face?

Doesn’t it take courage to stay calm while disagreeing?

How much cowardice does it take to apologize over a cup of coffee?

How much cowardice does it take to respectively debate with someone over a meal?

Is it courage to face the words on a computer screen?

Is it courage to face the face of someone you hurt?

Why don’t people talk about courage or cowardice anymore?

Do the technologies we love help us to show courage or cowardice?

If they en(courage) cowardice in us, how do we find the courage to turn off and away from that which hinders us?

Spend one week really paying attention to what people are saying and I bet you won’t hear a single person use the word courage or cowardice.  I’ve been listening for those two words for awhile and haven’t heard them used yet.

Don’t know if it means anything… just has me pondering courage and cowardice.

Pondering :: 17 :: A (Christ)mas Carol

Last night I saw “A Christmas Carol: The Musical” performed at the Spokane Civic Theatre.

It was grand.

The guy who played Marley’s ghost did a particularly fantastic job.

But a theme/line/phrase from the musical got me thinking…

“God blesses everyone.”

Everyone??

Really??

I thought only God blessed America… at least that’s what the bumper stickers say.

Maybe I should get a “God blesses everyone” bumper sticker.

Doesn’t scripture say that God causes God’s sun to rise on the evil and good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous?

But don’t we as Americans or Westerners or as Christians or whomever, spend a whole lot of time propping up/creating/sustaining/reincarnating/buying into the idea that God only blesses certain people and not others (especially not them)?

Is that right?

How’d we get to thinking we’re so special that only we get blessed?

And are our blessings even from God?

Or are the things we think of as blessings actually more about the anti-(Christ)mas spirit and ultimately not blessings in the end?

Dickens’ story of Scrooge is also interesting, because not only does it speak of God blessing everyone, it also sprouts the idea that with blessing comes the challenge for us to bless others.

Scrooge had money (a type of blessing).

He then encountered three spirits (the musical last night called them spirits instead of ghosts, which I thought was interesting) challenging him to go and bless others.

Do we need to encounter the spirits of (Christ)mas past, present, and future to remind us to be a blessing just as we have been blessed?

Would we repent like Scrooge?

Or end up chained by our b(less)ings like Marley’s spirit?

Pondering :: 16 :: The Anti-Christmas

Last week someone used the phrase “The Anti-Christmas.”

I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

The

Anti

Christ

mas.

What is Christmas these days?

Do we really celebrate Christmas or is our Christmas really an anti-Christmas?

Do the ways we celebrate Christmas actually destroy or damage what Christmas means?

Do we think about Christmas in ways that damage our ability to live into all that (Christ)mas means?

Isn’t our commercial Christmas season supposed to be the season of Advent, which ends with Christmas day (not season) and starts off the journey towards Epiphany?

As Christians do we often participate more in the anti-Christmas, while Muslims and Jehovah Witnesses actually participate in (Christ)mas by not participating in Christmas?

Do we spend most of our time, energy, money, year, etc… participating in a culture that seeks to reinvent and re-sell the anti-christmas spirit with the next holiday, special event, birthday, sports tournament, etc…

or are we participating in

an

anti-

anti-

Christ

mas

?

Pondering :: 15 :: Best Book of 2008

The best book I read this year was “Surprised by Hope” by N.T. Wright

What’s the best book of 2008 in your opinion?

Pondering :: 14 :: Christmas Stories

Finals are wrapping up at school and my mind as drifted to stupider topics, so…

If you were to write a Christmas story using current events what would it be called?

Here’s some of my ideas:

“How the Greed Stoled Christmas”

“A Barack Obama Christmas”

“Britney’s Christmas Carol Comeback”

“Rudolph the Victim of Governor Palin’s Holiday Hunting Trip Reindeer”

Any other ideas??