Thursday, June 29, 2006
I'm still alive
I promise to post an actual "blog" soon (or relatively soon....), I just wanted everyone to know that we are still alive. We are very much in limbo. We are still living temporarily (read: surrounded by boxes) in the BCM house, and we will be there until the end of July when we PRAYERFULLY will have a place to move to. SOOOOOO, PRAY FOR USSSS!!!!!! We can't find anything to rent and buying is just as bad. It's a little frustrating. Well, it's alot frustrating. The "job" is going great, John loves it and we're having a good time with it, it just sort of seems that everything outside of that has gone wrong since we got here. We feel a little under attack and we're trying very hard not to be defeated. Anyway, Sadie is trying to climb me, she doesn't like me on the computer without her. I'll blog soon, and I'm trying hard to keep up with all of yours!
Friday, June 02, 2006
DaVincied to Death
So, last night, after my 7th (yep, I was counting) time up with Sadie I couldn't go to sleep. Things you ponder a little during the day come back to haunt you at night, have you ever noticed that? What came to my mind? The Davinci Mess. Is anyone else out there sick of this? I've been sick of it since about day 1, but last Sunday we went to church and the pastor slipped a few things in about Davinci Code in order to plug his sermon next week (REALLY, I mean, does it deserve a Sunday morning????)about, you guessed it, "breaking the Davinci Code". The further south we got on our long drive, the more I noticed things about this book on church marquees.
But, here is the thing, the pastor didn't just make comments about the book, he made comments about Dan Brown. He said "God has turned his back on Dan Brown", and "Dan Brown's god is sex", among other things, but these stuck with me. Is that really fair? Dan Brown is NOT A CHRISTIAN. He is a WRITER who read some interesting conspiracy theories and old facts (all the stuff in this book have been done before), thought it would make an interesting STORY and wrote a FICTION NOVEL. Isn't that what writers do? Why is it that the "religious right" seems to think that non-Christians should act like Christians? So, here's my two cents....
I think the problem is that conservative Chrisitianity is scared to death of this book. They are scared because the majority of every-day Christians are completely ignorant of why we believe what we believe. We grow up in church but learn nothing, everything is taken on faith, which in a way is good, and in a way is ignorance. So when a silly fiction novel says that "men decided that Jesus was divine" and that "men decided what books to include in the Bible to support their claim" Christians are confused. The council of Nicea was confusing to me even after learning about it in theology class and chewing on it for a few days, but most people have never heard of it or thought to look in to it, and when they do it's confusing. Now, Dan Brown who is NOT A CHRISTIAN read about it and came to his own conclusions. Of course a non-christian would read about the Council of Nicea and decide that men decided Jesus was divine, it makes sense.
And the Mary Magdalene issue. The book does say (I have read it, and thought it was great, am I the devil now?) that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and they had a child. What the book does NOT say is that Jesus had an extra-marital affair with Mary Magdalene and fathered a love-child like the media is portraying. Here's my question. Disclaimer: I do know the book is fiction, I am just posing a question... What if they did get married? Would Jesus be any less divine if her were a Husband and Father? Couldn't he still be sinless? If anything, wouldn't it maybe just make him more approachable to people with children? Just asking.
I think the lesson in all this is that we could take a few pointers from the Mormons and J-ho's. They KNOW their stuff. They've KNOWN their stuff since childhood because they make it a point to teach their people their stuff. I don't think anyone could write a book using conspiracy theory about the Mormon doctrine and confuse an entire denomination of people, they know their stuff too well. Maybe we should institute the 2-year missions program like the Mormons? I have a feeling if that happened there would be a mass exodus to the Methodist church down the street.
So, all the frustration has made me consider converting to the cult of Dan Brownism. That is what Dan Brown is trying to do, isn't it? Start a cult? Come ON!!!!! It's just a book! And a good one, too.
Okay, thoughts? Do you want to take me out and stone me now?
But, here is the thing, the pastor didn't just make comments about the book, he made comments about Dan Brown. He said "God has turned his back on Dan Brown", and "Dan Brown's god is sex", among other things, but these stuck with me. Is that really fair? Dan Brown is NOT A CHRISTIAN. He is a WRITER who read some interesting conspiracy theories and old facts (all the stuff in this book have been done before), thought it would make an interesting STORY and wrote a FICTION NOVEL. Isn't that what writers do? Why is it that the "religious right" seems to think that non-Christians should act like Christians? So, here's my two cents....
I think the problem is that conservative Chrisitianity is scared to death of this book. They are scared because the majority of every-day Christians are completely ignorant of why we believe what we believe. We grow up in church but learn nothing, everything is taken on faith, which in a way is good, and in a way is ignorance. So when a silly fiction novel says that "men decided that Jesus was divine" and that "men decided what books to include in the Bible to support their claim" Christians are confused. The council of Nicea was confusing to me even after learning about it in theology class and chewing on it for a few days, but most people have never heard of it or thought to look in to it, and when they do it's confusing. Now, Dan Brown who is NOT A CHRISTIAN read about it and came to his own conclusions. Of course a non-christian would read about the Council of Nicea and decide that men decided Jesus was divine, it makes sense.
And the Mary Magdalene issue. The book does say (I have read it, and thought it was great, am I the devil now?) that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and they had a child. What the book does NOT say is that Jesus had an extra-marital affair with Mary Magdalene and fathered a love-child like the media is portraying. Here's my question. Disclaimer: I do know the book is fiction, I am just posing a question... What if they did get married? Would Jesus be any less divine if her were a Husband and Father? Couldn't he still be sinless? If anything, wouldn't it maybe just make him more approachable to people with children? Just asking.
I think the lesson in all this is that we could take a few pointers from the Mormons and J-ho's. They KNOW their stuff. They've KNOWN their stuff since childhood because they make it a point to teach their people their stuff. I don't think anyone could write a book using conspiracy theory about the Mormon doctrine and confuse an entire denomination of people, they know their stuff too well. Maybe we should institute the 2-year missions program like the Mormons? I have a feeling if that happened there would be a mass exodus to the Methodist church down the street.
So, all the frustration has made me consider converting to the cult of Dan Brownism. That is what Dan Brown is trying to do, isn't it? Start a cult? Come ON!!!!! It's just a book! And a good one, too.
Okay, thoughts? Do you want to take me out and stone me now?
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