Haiti and Building Bigger Barns

Here is a chart comparing the population of the US and Haiti:

As you can see the population of the US is 31 times larger than that of Haiti.

Below is a chart of the GDP's of both the US and Haiti [Gross Domestic Product]:

As you can see the USA GDP is around 2,043 times larger than that of Haiti.

The difference in those numbers mean that a person who lives in the US is somewhere around 65 times richer than somebody in Haiti. That's a huge difference. With these numbers the average person in the US makes $46,710 per year and the average peron in Haiti makes $716.00 per year. [That means the average bi-weekly pay check for an average American is 2.5 times larger than the entire year's wage for an average Haitian!]

The problem with Haiti is not that they just went through a massive earthquake. The earthquake that went through was a 7.0 on the richter scale, nearly the same as the 6.9 that hit the Bay Area of California in 1989. The '89 quake caused 63 deaths, injured 3,757 people, and left somewhere between 3,000 and 12,000 homeless. Compare those numbers to the 230,000 deaths that occured in Haiti. Even though the populations are [somewhat] compareable, somewhere around 229,967 more people died in Haiti. Let me say it again, the problem with Haiti is NOT that they went through an earthquake.

In Luke chapter 12, Jesus tells a parable of a rich man who had barns which hold the crops he grows [as a sort of retirement fund]. Jesus says that this year he has a bumper crop. His crop is so big that the barns he has are too big to contain it all. So this man decides to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. He only cared about his own financial security and because of this Jesus calls him a fool. It is not because he is rich, its because he only thinks about himself and his future security - wanting to have his bottom line look good - that Jesus condemns this person. Its not because he's rich, its because he keeps trying to get richer.

The thing is that its responsible to save. Its responsible to protect your future. But if the rich never look to help the poor, how will they ever pull themselves of poverty? If the rich only are concerned with their own safety and security, the poor will only get poorer. Not only do the poor suffer when the rich do not look to help them, the rich also suffer. Jesus in the sermon on the mount goes out of his way to pit riches and money against God [Matt 6.19-24]. So the rich person, when focusing on his own riches, is really making their God their money. It is for this reason that Jesus calls our friend in Luke 12 a fool.

I guess Haiti's problem is not that they went through an earthquake, or that they're poor. I think that their problem is that they have a rich neighbor who keeps building bigger barns.

Great Quote:

[Editors note: Here is a quote taken from Shane Claiborne's book, "Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals" It is a compelling look at being a Christian. Definitely recommend you pick this book up. Be warned, this book will mess with your mind.]

The documentary film Blindspot presents the provocative, heart-wrenching memoir of Hitler's secretary, Traudl Junge. In it, she remembers the assassination attempt [on July 20, 1944]. She recalls how the bomb exploded in such a way and at a precise moment that Hitler narrowly escaped. She says that after surviving the attack, Hitler was more convinced than ever before that God was protecting him and his mission [with a triumphant smile Hitler showed Mussolini the site of the bombing]. It fueled his reign of terror and confidence in his mission. Violence galvinized his violence. Ms. Junge says that after the bomb attempt, "Any hope for peace were lost." Hitler rolled forward with record fervor to "rid the wrold of evil." Another attempt to pick up the sword went haywire, not only fueling further bloodshet but costing out brother [Dietrich] Bonhoeffer his own life as he was executed by the Nazis. Once again the cross lost, and the Devil laughed. [Jesus for President. pp202-203]

World's Biggest Oxymoron:

The world's biggest oxymoron is a pro-life war supporter.

This person is one who believes that life is very precious and all life is worthy of a chance to come into this world, yet they also support using war [the world's #1 killer] to bring peace.

They are really just people who believe that all life is precious except the life that threatens theirs.

This to me is the definition of oxymoron.

There is a better way to bring about peace, one that supports and promotes life. A way that is loving. A way that is much more practical and pragmatic than war. It is the way of Jesus! It is a way that refuses to de-value any life [even the life that is wanting to take yours] yet also refuses to passively ignore injustice in the world.

It begins by valuing ALL life. It begins but realizing that there are underlining reasons why people would be willing to hate us [often its because of our actions] enough to want to kill us. It begins by not valuing your life more than that of your neighbor. It is a way that begins with the powerful humbling themselves to the lowest place possible [which is the Christmas story isn't it?!?!?] It begins with love.

It is the way of Jesus.

So let's be people who are Pro-life in every way we can imagine. Pro-life when it comes to abortion; supporting both the life of the unborn & and the mother who has no other place to go. Pro-life for those who are starving. Pro-life to those who throw away extra food. Pro-life for those who look to terrorize. Pro-life for those who wish to stand up for justice. Pro-life for those who are innocent. Pro-life for those who are guilty. Let's take a Pro-life stand towards everybody everywhere!

Let's let our Pro-life stand be so strong that peace would rule and reign on earth as it does in heaven. AMEN.

How Christmas threw the world upside down

I recently have been thinking how we're all about success, winning, & being #1. We like to talk about being the best, championships, & top dogs. Its everywhere and in everything. We all are looking to live a perfect life, have a perfect family, looking to overcome the problems in our life.

I think this ironic, because as I read about Jesus, he was about failure. Failed Messiahs were crucified. Honorable people aren't born to parents out of wedlock. A king rides a majestic horse into a city; not a donkey. What kind of person hangs out with the traitors, losers, and prostitutes? Great men are born in regal palaces located in important cities, not tiny shacks in out-of-the-way little villages. Jesus' life is about failure, not success.

The Christmas story is a backwards story. The promised one has been born, yet the first people to greet him are shepherds who have tending to their sheep as they gave brith and probably have dirty and bloody hands. Even the Magi who came to find Jesus went to the wrong place, surely this important King would be born in a place of opulence and wealth; not to a common laborer under questionable circumstances. Its almost comical to think about Jesus' birth.

The trajectory of this story is one of a downward slope. Its one that rejects the mindset of success. The story of Jesus' birth is the first in many steps looking to challenge the very way we understand the world to be oriented. In the ways we understand the world to work, Jesus was a failure. If you have the mindset of success, Jesus' birth should be offensive to you.

If you actually think about it, you would look at Jesus and say, this is not the way it should happen. You should expect God to be the strongest and most powerful person in the room...not a helpless, illegitimate baby born to a couple of peasants.

How can we change the way we understand the world? How can we follow our lord and savior and become a pack of losers? Merry Christmas!

Who is my neighbor?

We've been talking about neighbors with the students at the church for the past few weeks. Its, for me, been an interesting conversation to think about as I've been preparing for our time together.

We started this month by looking at the passage commonly known as the story about the Good Samaritan [Luke 10]. The point we made that night, is this is not a story condemning the priest and the Levite; in this story Jesus is answering the question asked by an expert in the Law: "Who is my neighbor?" So the story is looking to get this expert to see that the Samaritan is his neighbor. Now what we don't see in our American world, is who the Samaritans were to the 1st century Jews.

To a Jew at this time, the Samaritans were not well liked people. There is record in many ancient histories that, they committed acts of terrorism in the temple of Jerusalem [i.e. scattering pig bones in the temple]. We see in the book of Nehemiah that they did everything they possibly could to destroy the Jews [so they're arch-enemies]. We read in the Gospels, the way that they dispute the Jewish claims about religion [so this has an element of a holy war] We also read in the Gospels the ways that the Jews would go out of their way to avoid all contact with the Samaritans [so they ditest each other so much they won't even have contact with each other]. So if we were to create a 21st century counterpart to the 1st century Samaritan it would be the essense of the enemies of our country [a Taliban/Nazi/Communist].

The question he is asked is really somebody wanting to clarify who they should feel obligated to love. Jesus responds with the most ridiculous possible possibility: the Samaritan. If you read the story, you'll see at the end, that this expert in the Law cannot even say "Samaritan." His response is "the one who showed love." He hates the Samaritans so much that he refuses to even say the word, "Samaritan." When asked who we're responsible to love, Jesus says: "even the one who hates you and wants to see you dead, that's who you're supposed to love."

Let's look at this at two levels:

• personal: who do you need to see as your neighbor personally? Who is your enemy? Who do you hate? Who do you find it hard to love?
• global: who is does our country see as our neighbors? Who is our enemy? Who do we hate? Who do we find it hard to love?

So the question today is: Who is your neighbor?

Jesus as Master:

For years and years Christians have begun talking about salvation in terms of friendship/relationship [as in 'having a personal relationship with Jesus']. We sing songs about being friends with God. We like this, because there is something inside us that wants to have a relationship with God; we're created in the image of the One who is community/relationship [Father, Son, Holy Spirit]. So while this has connected with something deep inside us, it is not the entire picture.

The problem with merely defining salvation as a personal relationship with God is that it does not leave space to talk about how we live. Personal relationships are all about connecting; they're friendships. If I have a personal relationship with God, it does not mean that I need to live my life any differently than if I did not have a personal relationship. God is not looking JUST to connect with us, he wants to change the very way we see/relate to/understand the world.

If we read the New Testament, we see that God is interested in Lordship. God is interested in how we live; actions, thoughts, & desires.

It is easy for Christians who see salvation as "Personal Relationship" to talk against lust, murder, & hate as sin; the Bible specifically says so. But this view of salvation has a hard time dealing with passages that deal with money - of course friends don't really tell each other how to spend their money [that's just not polite]. Yet, we see that in the New Testament, this seems to be a major point of conversation for the earliest Christians. God, through Jesus, is not just looking to restore a personal relationship with us; he is looking to become our Lord/Master/King.

What does it mean to have Christ as our master? Well it means he controls the way we live our life. He governs the way we think, plan, pray, dream, spend, & see. He wants to shape and form the way that see our neighbor, the way we respond to stress, and how we believe the world is being made better.

[I'd like to talk in the next few posts about ways Jesus is looking to become our Master/Lord/King]

Thoughts on using the generic term "God"

To read the long version (read: better/richer/deeper/far more compelling) click here Otherwise, enjoy!

In my endless pursuit of pondering about how to be effective in communicating the message, I've realized that when I speak about God [using the generic term God], many people's eyes sort of glaze over. Not like an actual glazed doughnut, but more like the person who is on the 117th time watching a Scrubs episode. It's made me realize that having a conversation about God [using the generic name God] is rather boring. [Hear me out on this.]

Perhaps its just me, or 21st century culture, but God [using the generic name God] doesn't have much street cred. I mean I work with students, and while I'm teaching to students I see a glaze come over their eyes when I begin to talk about God [using the generic name God]. Yet I can't fault them, cause I (let's be honest) you do too. I mean God [using the generic term God] isn't really that interesting.

Honestly, I think that makes perfect sense. First of all, when we talk about God [using the generic name God], which God are we really talking about; we do live in a society with many views about God. God [using the term God], is a very open ended and very generic way to talk about the divine. When I talk about God, any old religion could assume that I'm referring to their god-figure. (This is where we often confuse the whole conversation between Islam and Christianity.)

I guess I've realized that I live in a world where everybody has a take on God. Its not like we live in a world of polytheists (people with multiple Gods) and we're revealing to the world there is one God. We're living in a world of people who either believe in 1 God or are ok with "not knowing and not caring." To talk about God just ends up in sounding like "blah, blah, blah, blah." God is too mainstream, too undefined, too generic to actually be interesting to listen to.

This, I think, is not as big a problem for us as Christians as it may appear, because just speaking about God is not really how it worked in the Bible. God [using the generic term God] actually has revealed himself to us in the person of Jesus. As Christians when we refer to God [using the generic term God], should spend most of our time talking about Jesus. [I mean after all we're called Christians not Godians.]

If the term God is generic, able to be used by anybody referring to multiple different things, perhaps speaking about Jesus would be better. While the name Jesus has actually become a mainstream, generic name at least it is referring to someone and something specific. The only thing is that Jesus has a story. Jesus actually said something. Jesus challenges us to think differently, he creates tension. Jesus causes us to rethink, revalue, & re-prioritize our lives.

We can talk about God [using the generic term God], and not really commit to something. We can talk about God [using the generic term God], and not challenge ourselves to see the world differently. We can use the name God [using the generic term God], and not offend anybody around us. God[using the generic term God] is safe.

So I guess, perhaps we need to stop talking about God [using the generic term God], and begin talking about Jesus. Maybe that's the first step in helping people remove the glaze from their eyes.

What do you think?

Why we don't get the cross

I think we all struggle with understanding the cross; what its implications are, what God is doing through it, and how it saves us. The reason this is so is because it is a completely foreign way of winning. This is precisely because a cross is about losing. Thus God through Jesus is using losing to win.

You see the cross was a reminder to losers that they had lost. The Romans - and the Persians before them - used the cross on subjugated peoples who rebelled. After crushing a rebellion, the Romans would hang the leaders of the rebellion on crosses as a reminder to everybody else who really was in charge. (see Sparticus) It's a reminder from the strong that even at your strongest you're not as strong as us.

In the world I live in (It's the only one I can speak for) winning means I win. I beat the other guy. I come in first in the race. I accomplish a goal. I achieve. Winning means I conquor, I prove my strength, I show off my power, it means I vanquish my enemy. In the world I live in, the cross does not make sense. I live in America, we don't lose. We're the best. The strongest. The most powerful. The most influencial. We're the movers and the shakers. We dominate.

I don't get the cross, because for God to win, he had to vanquish somebody or something. Who gets beat here? Well, who's on the cross? But that doesn't make sense, Jesus is the hero. The Hero is supposed to win. The hero isn't supposed to be on the cross. The hero is supposed to rise up, to turn the hammer on the one driving the nails into his hands. The hero isn't supposed to die like that. He's supposed to make a mad dash to the hills, not to be nailed to the tree.

In the end, Jesus' victory is in the fact that he lost. In the end God chooses a path to victory that goes through defeat. This makes absolutely no sense!

Love pt 2

Jesus once told a story in which the hero was a vile Samaritan (Luke 10). This would be the equivalent of me telling a story with a Taliban Nazi being the hero. His hero is possibly the worse choice possible – the Samaritans were hated. Why would he do this?

If you ever watch an old war movie, you’ll notice that the soldiers never refer to their enemies by their proper names. In World War II, the enemies were “Krauts” and “Japs”. In The Korean War, the enemies were “Commies”. In Vietnam, the enemies were “Gooks”. Why would they do this?

Across town, on the other side of the tracks, (name your place)tucky. We have ways to talk about places where people who are different than us live. Usually these places are given derogatory titles. Why do we do this?

When we have people who are different than us and those who are considered our enemies in our lives, we look for ways to dehumanize them. We call them names other than their name. We say they’re from a place that fails to meet up to our standards. We do everything we can to make them less than human.

When Jesus tells the story of a Samaritan being a hero, he forces his readers to value this Samaritan man as a human being.

Who are you dehumanizing? Who do you need to see as a human being?

Love pt 1

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducee's, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

When Jesus says "All the Law and the Prophets" he is talking about the portion of Scripture what we call the Old Testament. So, we see Jesus believes that the focal point of the Scriptures is love. The reason why we see him challenging all of the religious systems of his day is because they were not centered around love.

He challenged a Sabbath system that cared more about rules than healing. He challenged those who tithe huge amounts by saying the woman who gave 2 pennies was the one who gave the most. When he cleared the temple he was challenging it, because those selling were not selling out of a love for Yahweh or the Torah, but to make huge sums of money. His whole ministry was calling out systems built on greed and fear, not built around love.

If these systems were not built on love what were they built on? Well the two basic roots are fear and greed; sometimes both. These systems usually are built on involve control, power. Because fear and greed are so powerful, these systems often use violence in order to protect and control themselves.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John are choked full of Jesus calling his followers to live lives of love; it is the core of his project with the 12. He spends 3-years deconstructing the way that they think; because no other systems are built on love. In the end - for his final act of love – he challenged a system of greed and fear by calling their greed out for everybody to see. Lovingly, he refused to respond to their violence with violence, instead he responded to their beating by praying to God for them.

The question is why are we acting the way we do. Are our systems being built on love? Or do they find their source in greed or fear?

Part 2 to follow tomorrow.

Revelation (summary)

Below is a concept paper I am thinking of doing for a class:

The most complex book in the Bible is the book of Revelation. It has been said that there are as many interpretations of it as there are interpreters. This is true, as a trip to any Christian bookstore will have dozens of different books with dozens of different interpretations. What are we to believe about the message of Revelation?

The book begins with seven letters to seven different churches, and then moves to speak about a vision of a throne room. Our author, John is given from this throne room the amazing privilege of being taken on a long series of visions. The first vision, the vision that the rest of the book flows out of, is a vision of a lamb that is standing on a throne in heaven. Whatever we are to believe about the meaning of this book, we must first begin with this vision of the Lamb standing on the throne of heaven.

To find an answer this question, we must first ask what it would it have meant for the first readers of the book when they first read it. Reality to the first readers is that the Roman Empire ruled the world at this time. It was this government who persecuting the early Christians. They had rulers, who claimed to be gods and demanded that all their citizens worship them. Since they were the most powerful persons in the world, they were able to demand that people worship them or they would have them killed.

Revelation says something completely different. In this book Caesar isn’t the one sitting on the throne of heaven; the Lamb who was slain is sitting on the throne. What does this say to how reality is really oriented? What does this say to the way we should live our lives? Should we be more worried about what Caesar or this Lamb wants? Well who is standing on the throne of heaven?

What do we allow ourselves to be more influenced by the political power players of our day or the Lamb on the throne? Do we believe that the world is going to hell in a hand basket simply because the wrong politician is in office or that the world will be made right because a Republican is president? Whose voice should be stronger influence for our lives, the voices on the news of the voice of the one who sits on the throne when he says “Behold, I am making all things new!” (read Rev 21.5).

Revelation is not necessarily making predictions about the future; it is talking about the way we live our lives. It is calling its readers to remember who is really on the throne in heaven. When we allow ourselves to pay too much attention to the beasts and the dragons and the chaos that seems to be filling the world, we forget that this Lamb is on the throne, and he says, “I’m making all things new!”

In our lives, as we see economic hard times, pandemics like the swine flu, corruption all around us, culture in a hurry to jettison any type of moral compass remember that we serve a God who is sitting on the throne and none of this is about to drive him off the throne (Actually, if you read Revelation, you’ll notice that God never moves, he remains stationary in his seat, he is in control without moving!). So don’t allow yourself to get mired down in hopelessness, remember it is the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ the Messiah, who is standing on the throne in heaven, and he is in control!

What do you think?

Why I am a non-violent.

I was looking at my blog tags, and realized that the topic I've written about most is non-violence. I am a big believer in nonviolence, but please don't think it is totally in reaction to any wars that are in progress today. It is in reaction to something that happened a long long time ago.

I believe that as a Christian, the only responsible position to take, is to reject war. I do not think war can be in any way defined as a Christian reaction to any problem in the world. Where do I get this? My answer: Jesus. I believe that Jesus rejected violence. Thus I cannot support violence in any shape or form.

How did God respond to evil? Jesus' death on a cross, that's God's response. Jesus is God's response to injustice. Jesus is God's plan to stop evil from happening. Jesus is the pattern that Christians are to follow. Regardless of the issues my position has with Old Testament issues, Jesus leaves no room for any other position. He point-blank reject violence. His way is not the way of the sword, instead it is the way of humbling himself all the way to death if it meant going that far.

War is about power; one army over powers the other. War is about control; one nation looking to use its military strength to control another. War is about coercion; as political power players us the threat of it to get others to bend to their direction. War is about death; as thousands die as a result of the decisions a few.

Jesus was about humbling yourself. His life showed that God's kingdom is not about becoming powerful; its about laying your life down. His life was a living example of love. Jesus showed that God is not in the business of empire building, instead he's in the business of tearing down evil with the weakness. He showed that weak is the new strong. This mindset is counter-intuitive to the mindset of war, and it if for that reason I must reject war.