Are differing views worth holding?

A dummy prisoner stuck in the LaHaina prison for visitors to view, forever and ever and ever and ever.

Christian Smith wrote a powerful and balanced book last year called, The Bible Made Impossible, in which he demonstrated that we have never arrived at one view in many things fairly important in the Christian life, and that using the Bible as a unified life manual is very difficult because frankly it is a progressive revelation that causes us to turn away from its earlier parts and leave them behind.

In other words the bible is a revelation narrative, and what role Jesus plays in the main and most important part, and although we still have differing views in some of the details, we are unified that he is the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

I have been studying a view over the last several years that believes the Churches embrace of the doctrine of "eternal conscience torment",has led to violence, war, genocide, holocaust, hatred, abuse, and so many types of evil done in the name of God that it must be seriously reexamined as a fundamental of the faith. Is this a view worth defending or questioning, or is it just too woven into the fabric of Christianity to change?

Let your speech be gracious

Take the high road when possible.

Rush Limbaugh is in the news. I listened to him faithfully in the late 90s during the Clinton Era. Very funny and politically savvy. But I really think our speech must be salted with grace if we claim it is the gift of God.

I do not want to pay for lots of things people want the government to pay for, like cancer surgery for life long smokers who have not quit, or stomach stapling for the super obese. But, I also remember how Rush bragged about how easy it is to lose weight when he is a poster boy for rotundaty. Ouch! that sounded ungracious of me.

The vitriol in our divided society can suck Christians into places that compromise our desire to be salt and light.

I also agree with ORielly that the legitimate church/state issue got turned against conservative by turning it into a woman's rights issue.

I am also pretty sure that if either Israel or Iran make a first strike, there will be lots of new crosses in the military cemetery's of the world, and this is the thing Jesus tried to show us a better way about, in speech, in action. God help us.

17th Annual Choir Festival

I have been to nine of these, although Laura reminds me we went to Disneyland one year.
Each choir sings two numbers, bells perform, All Choirs gather to sing and close the service. It is quite inspiring to be in a large choir like that, and I enjoyed it, but am always glad to get past it, for the next two months are Arizona's true shirtsleeve and outdoor time. Bring on the springtime Lord.

Deserts must be studied slowly

The cactus, home to many critters who eventually kill it. A Jumping Cholla light by the afternoon sun. The early moon shining against a mountain peak. Click to enlarge, and enjoy.

After over 2 decades out west you can get very used to the rather boring look of a desert. When you have a camera, the beauty must be searched for in shadows and shapes and tiny blossoms in the desert. Here are a few of the closeups I enjoyed.

A Day in the Superstition Mountains

What fun. I hiked the Hohokam Indian hieroglyphic trail hike this afternoon. 2 hours up and a bit less down the mountian. I took 200 pictures and enjoyed being alone at the destination along with some bees and chipmunks. There is usually running water as it is a runoff valley for several ranges, but it was dry and mossy.

I did this 20 years ago with a youth group, and I have a picture somewhere that I can dig up that shows my young sons resting. I think the 20 years made this one a bit more exhausting.

Remembering Doug T

/When I zoomed this picture I saw a couple who had swum out to that little rock island and were climbing around and I wished for a moment to be young again and bold enough to try something like that.

I keep in touch with my denomination from time to time, and read an article by one of my seminary roommates, Doug, who was diagnosed with ALS last year. Of all the diseases we face this slow loss of function is one of the cruelest.

I had just watched a video this week by a former preacher named Ed Dobson who is chronicling his own life with ALS, especially the emotional toll on a man who loved public speaking and has lost a life where the phone rang constantly.

Doug and I came from different backgrounds, he was a Bible college nerdy type of guy who studied all the time. One day the discussion of finding a mate came up and I shared my philosophy of dating to see who fits and to learn about potential mates. Doug assured me that he was praying in his future wife and that dating was a waste of time. In fact, he said, God has already told him who he would marry. He wrote her name and sealed it in an envelope and told me to see if it came true in future years. I never did.

He has, life me, spent his life as a pastor teacher, did in fact have a wife and kids, and now, he shared his intention to trust God through the tunnel he is entering with this wasting disease. I found his email and sent my prayers and blessings, and today, my day away from the office, I am going out to enjoy our spring like weather and treat today like the gift it truly is. Thanks Paul, for the TEDS video that reminded me again to be grateful for each day.

Widening my circle of friends

A group shot at the recent Mexico shelter construction.

Most believers are theological snobs. We hang out with an approved list of thinkers, writers, teachers and have a list we look at with lesser enthusiasm.

When I went on my personal search to rediscover who God is and what the gospel is, I found myself reading outside my box, and being blessed.

Eventually I decided to spend time at conferences other than those blessed by my group. Part of that was because as an independent pastor, I really no longer had a group, but part of it was to see how other groups functioned.

I did notice that people in a particular denomination or movement had their own set of proper talk, heroes, boxes ect., just the fact that they were different was refreshing to me, and helpful in my own journey.

In my series on the Grace of God, I read Church Swindoll, a Dallas Dispensational, and Phillip Yancy, a bit of a counter culture hip generation writer, and I was just given Joseph Prince, a mega church young dude out on the charismatic edge,...and I felt that tinge of snobbishness. I am going to give it a good reread from a year or two ago. It's a process, this growth in grace.