Bethel v Huntington

Bethel vs. Huntington

The Steve-o Show

My brother Steve is working for P&O Cruise Lines out of Australia right now. He's playing a little bass, soaking up the sun, and enjoying not having to fold his laundry. I finally convinced him to start a blog so we can keep up on all of his activites down under. So you can check him out over at his blog. And yes, I designed the header.

Peace Out Myspace!!!

I'm sick of myspace.

1. It doesn't load...ever
2. It's pretty darn pointless compared to facebook
3. If I had a nickel for every friend request, message, or comment from someone that turned out to be some form of inappropriate material, I could pay for college.

My friends, I urge you to agree, there's no reason to stay on myspace so please dump it. I'm leaving it up until I get home tonight so download all the songs if you want them. Only reason it's still up is because I can't get it to load at the church. Go figure.

Communion

At Granger and a few other places I've been, we take communion by intinction (dipping the bread into the wine/juice). I'm not sure if that's the correct word, I'm not sure of the reason why we do it, and I'm not sure if there even is one. But what I do know, is that there's an odd little side effect about that method that has changed the way I think about communion. It seems that everytime I take communion, it's impossible for me to not get juice all over my hands. And as I walk away, I can't help but think about the symbolism of that. Jesus blood is on my hands. I realize that sounds a little sick and morbid, but past that, I hope you can see the significance. My sin is the reason christ had to die. His blood is on my hands; it's my fault. But at the same time, there's incredible joy in that. Knowing that the sacrifice has been made, and there is hope and love for me now. No matter what's been going on in my life. No matter how good or bad things may be going in my life, I get to be reminded everytime I take communion that it's finished. No guilt, no worrying, no fear needed. Christ has made the way to re-unite us. At first, the initial response was to clean my hands...but not anymore. I rub that juice in as hard as I can. And if my hands are a little sticky for the rest of the night, then that's just fine. I had a walking reminder of the sacrifice that was made just for me.

Alpha Dog Review

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooookay then

Worship

My younger brother, Brian, recently wrote an article that I found very thought provoking. I've always effectionally deemed Brian 'the prodigy' to people who don't know him. But I think that is just a way of saying that his brain functions at a higher level than mine does or ever will. His article said somethings that automatically jumped out to me as some logical and theological errors, but then I reminded myself that he hasn't been sitting in a christian institution for the past six years rigorously studying these things. Rather, he comes to it from a 'quesearching' perspective, as Corey Mann so beautifully put it. Quesearch being a combination of questions and research. Before I go any further, I'll just let you read Brian's essay, and then my comments will follow at another time once I have sat with it for a bit. I thought I would throw it out for further consideration. You can also find it one facebook here if you're a part of that online community.

"since i have more time to myself than i have been accustomed to, i've contemplating some things. if you are one of my friends and read this, let me know what you think...

i was contemplating the idea of idol worship. nearly all of the major religions condemn idol worship to the pagan lifestyle. i've been wondering about the nature of this condemnation.

reasons why i suppose idol worship was condemned:

1- a god should be immaterial
the worship of a stone or a tree is the worship of some material object. the existence of that object is fleeting. also, the state of the object is conditional upon its surroundings; a tree in a warm climate appears differently than a tree in a cold climate. god is something as most of the major scriptures agree that is a creator, eternal, and beyond the realm of this world. since he is beyond the realm of this world, a god cannot be perceived as being conditioned by material causes. in this way, a material idol makes a poor and deceiving representation of a god.

2- god cannot be crafted
similar to the first, but with the added element of human design. a statue is something crafted by humans. according to the laws of nature, the statue creation bears no necessisity, its existence is based almost entirely on the arbitrary nature of human choices. the reason why a crafted symbol of god is dangerous is that again, if god is beyond this world, then a god cannot be crafted by things of this world. humans cannot be allowed to craft their god as they deem appropriate.

here i think is the general point. imagine a group of individuals in a circle worshipping a large stone. the point of the condemnation is that your faith should exist in the realm of the intelligle (i.e. the realm of thought and ideas) and not in the material (i.e. the stone). the test of the faith is this: with the stone, the individuals worship, but if the stone is removed and the faith crumbles, then it is not a valid faith.

this is a huge point in education. it is the point where you stop seeing with your eyes, and start seeing with your mind. the foundation of your faith should be in principles, not in objects. the foundations are stones of thought as opposed to stones of earth. a faith that is constituted purely of thought and principle, is that faith which is most pure.

the real question then after the condemnation of idol worship is this: how do individuals arrive at these principles? the accepted answer is through scripture. the hebrew bible, the new testament, and the qur'an are accepted as presentations of the principles of faith.

but do the scriptures become a new breed of idols? taken to be just a text, they fail in both of the categories presented earlier in that the are material, and they are crafted. the texts are presented through the use of word, and word is constantly in flux. the meanings of words change over time; the meanings of words are conditional upon the context in which they are presented. also, these texts are heavily crafted. they are constantly being translated, with translators inserting new interpretations into the text, thus altering them from their original form.

the key point i believe is this. the scriptures are presentations. they are not treatises, merely a gateway to the principles of faith. the real principles are between the lines.

remember the test of the stone. if you remove the stone, and the faith crumbles, then it was a poorly founded faith. if i remove the bible, and christianity fails, then it was a poorly founded faith.

is that true? maybe.

however, i don't think it is true in an absolute sense. the scriptures are presentations, gateways. a presentation is a first step, an introduction if you will. a gateway is something you must move through and past. it is the first step, and the step from which all other steps follow, but it is just the first step. ultimately, we must move past introductions and walk through doors. in another analogy, the lines of the text are the presentation. the principles are between those lines. ultimately you should be able to see between the lines so well, that you stop seeing the lines altogether.

when you stop seeing the lines, that is when you faith is based purely on principles. once you arrive at the principles or perhaps just the one principle, then everything about your faith you should be able to derive from that principle. you would no longer need ten commandments, because if you just knew the principle, you would know based on that principle that the things in the commandments are true. the difference is this, you can accept that commandments as true because the scripture says so, or accept them because based upon the founding principle(s) of your faith, the principles of the commandments are logical derivations of the founding principle(s).

when you reach that point. i could take away the bible from you and it would matter not. its not because you've memorized it, but because you understand principle. you aren't supposed to be a student of the presentation, but a believer in the principle(s) the presentation presents.

christ did not want you to worship him. he wanted you to worship the principle(s) he stood for. his life serves as a presentation, but ultimately, i think what christ would have wanted is this. that through his life, people could understand the principle and so that once the principle is understood, all the symbols of his life would disappear, all the crosses would leave, all the bibles gone, but the principle would still endure.

the term islam in english roughly means a submission. i take it to mean that the role of individuals is to find god, and then submit themselves to that which they find. sometimes the largest significance of a word is not what the word is but what it is not. notice words they did not use, such as agreement, association, acceptance, belief. the word is submission. to me this word has two implications. you must first, find the principle that is god, and then second, submit yourself to it. some of those other words only capture one of the implications. it is not enough to agree with the principle, or to associate yourself with those principles. you must also submit to that lifestyle.

the knowledge of principle must be accompanied by the conscious practice of principle. a lot of us seem to know what kind of person we want to be, but we sometimes fail to realize what that will actually require in practice. the first step in faith must be to understand the principle(s) of the scriptures, and then, once these principle(s) are found, sumbit yourself to them. submission means a concious decision to condition your actions in accordance with the principle.

anyway, these are just my thoughts on the matter of faith. if you have comments or suggestions, please let me know. i've decided that i'll write notes and hope that people respond to them, because often the best place to find ideas in in discussion with others. if this happens, then maybe i can get some sort of real benefit from this otherwise object of vanity that is facebook. "

-Brian H. Myers

I can see the future

So today, at the MacWorld Convention, Steve Jobs introduced the 'iPhone' (pictured above). It is, quite possibly, the coolest thing I've ever heard of after say...free salvation, eternal life, and GCC. It's got everything: 4-8 GB storage so it functions as an iPod, with widescreen capability, full internet browser, Photo's, Widgets, Texting, Google Maps and directions, a 2.0 megapixel camera, e-mail, and a whole host of other features that are too numerous to mention. Cingular will start offering it in June at the low low price of $499 for the 4 GB model and $599 for the 8 GB model. Sounds pricey, but that's what you'd pay for an iPod and cheap smart phone so it makes sense. I'm getting one.
But it made me wonder, what does the future hold for apple? I did a little dreaming, and I think this is Apple's new product for 2008. What do you think?

And a great cry went up in all of.......Ohio

Shock, dis-belief, sadness, anger, pity, embarassment

These are all emotions I felt during the Ohio State/Florida game tonight. That was just more bad news on top of a really bad week. But I'm still smiling....on the inside

I'm sorry?

So I was talking to Kelli Myers today about why she hates the buckeyes. In her reasoning for rooting for florida in the 'game' tonight, she said this...

"You want to know why I'm cheering for Florida? It's in memory of the Crocodile Hunter."

First of all...KELLI!!!! It's the Florida Gators, not the Crocodiles.
Second.......What?
Third..........I'm sorry

Interesting Quote

Hawkeye Pierce's character said this on the T.V. show M*AS*H* which kind of caught me off guard tonight in my haze of sickness/insomnia.

Hawkeye: "War isn't hell. War is war and hell is hell, and between the two of them I choose hell."
Father M: "How do you figure?"
Hawkeye: "There are no innocent bystanders in hell."

Good with the Bad

Despite the bad news from this morning, I also had some great things happen today. Jason Miller, Michael Cox and I headed up to Calvin College in Grand Rapids to hear N. T. Wright give a lecture. He spoke about his recent book "Simply Christian" which I'm currently reading. Besides the fact that he has the most soothing grandpa voice in whole wide world that kind makes me sleepy, he was a very good public speaker. Double threat I guess. Anyway, we went out to get out books signed. Michael brought his copy of "The New Testament and the People of God" which is his the first part of his "Magnum Opus" or exhaustive lifes work. I choose to bring my copy of "The Meal Jesus Gave Us," which is barely 100 pages long and is just a short conversation about communion. When I handed him my copy, he almost looked shocked, then he chuckled at me, and signed it. Good to know I didn't parade around like an intellectual at least.
Anyway, after that we had lunch at BD's Mongolian Barbecue up in Grand Rapids. We tried to stop into Mars Hill to see some of Jason's buddy's, but there was nobody home. We came home, and Michael and I headed off to go see "Children of Men" which was a pretty good movie, kinda weird, but good. We went out for dinner with Jason afterwards at Politos for some food and great conversation.
When we got back, Michael decided he wanted to use the restroom. I don't know how he did it, but somehow the door the bathroom wouldn't open back up. So we had to pass him tools under the door so he could disassemble the hinges and we could all collectively help him pop the door off. What an interesting day.

Again?

So I've had my car mysteriously broken into....again. This time, my camera, all my lenses and flashes, my iPod, and my computer charger were all taken out of my car sometime while I was in a movie last night at Movies 14. As I realized that I had no camera or charger in my car after the movie, I thought "maybe i didn't bring them home from work." But as I got to work this morning and saw no camera, I started making some phone calls. Sarah Koutz, who went to dinner with myself, michael, and Jason after church verified that she saw me put that stuff in my bag and head out and put it in the car. There was no sign that someone had broken into my car, and obviously Sarah didn't walk off with it since I saw her leave my car empty handed. So again, I have a mystery on my hands. I'm sure none of you have any idea where my camera might be, but if this is an elaborate practical joke or something, it's not funny. However at this point, I'm hoping that it is some my things will be returned. I don't know, what a bad way to start the day.

Good times

My buddy, the good reverend Jason Miller, got an opportunity to lead/teach new community tonight. He did a great job leading us musically, but also sharing from the word, and sharing from his heart. Jason has held a pretty special place in my heart for the last 5 and half years. Jason and I met a few weeks into my first semester of college. I remember hearing about Jason from a friend of mine back home. My friend and I were talking about weird tendencies we have while we play music and my friend brought up the fact that he knew this guy named Jason who sucked his cheeks in when he played piano. So fast forward to school, I was standing in line in family christian bookstore (then bethel's bookstore) purchasing my text books. I was standing on a skateboard while standing in line, which I'm not sure why, and Jason walks in. The first words out of my mouth were, from across the store mind you..."Hey, you're Jason Miller, chapel band piano player right? You suck you cheeks in when you play." At the time I thought nothing of the oddness of that statement. But he came over and talked to me anyway, and after he witnessed me embarass myself on drumset during my first ever jazz band rehearsal, he still showed up at my door a few days later to ask me to play drums for a college service he was putting together at his church called HUNGER, I'm sure only out of desperation. Well there would be a ton of memories the ensued from that fateful conversation. But through mission trips, church camps, college, conferences, church services, and all the other fun things we experienced together, our friendship has only gotten stronger and weirder. He even helped bring me into the flock/legion that is Granger Community Church. He helped me walk through my musical puberty, and I helped him walk through his leadership puberty...by giving him hands on training with drummers who don't like to cooperate. For awhile I kinda felt like I've been sorta following Jason around, and it bothered me. But I guess I realized, even if that's the case, he's lead me to some pretty cool places. I can't wait to see where I get to follow him next.

Ghost

Well if anybody has been trying to get ahold of me lately, you'll probably notice I haven't been answering my phone. That's because it's broken. And due to wonderful customer service experts at verizon wireless, I will be without phone until at least friday, probably saturday. Let's just say it was the worst customer service experience I've ever had; Waltz might want to send them a letter, or maybe qoute me in his next book, "Avoiding 'Boo' Experiences." Not only is their assistance sub-standard, but their policies don't even make sense. I wanted to tear into the customer service guy, but I know that it's not his fault and there's nothing he could do about it even if it was. Anyway, e-mail me til saturday.

3DYC Photo's

If you weren't there, you won't get 92% of these. Just a warning

3DYC

Christmas Traditions

We all have those little dumb things we look forward to around the holidays that nobody knows about, and you don't really notice until they're gone. Two of my favorites are...

1. Those little Braches candies with the green mint christmas trees with the white and red nougat stuff around the outside. I'm addicted to those little babies. My folks always thought it was my older brother that liked them, and since he was in Australia for christmas this year, there were none in the house. Bummer

2. I love how I always get a christmas pez dispenser. I also love how I never take the dispenser out of the package, I just eat the pez out of the packages and throw the dispenser away. Good times

The Silence is Lifted

Well ladies and gentleman, I have returned from winter break, for what I'm hoping is the last time in my life. Barring years of unemployment, I should never be able to say I'm going on break again. I have one spring break left in my college career, however, it lands during the churches campaign weeks and I will be here sharing the common vision of the church. So while my friends are frittering their days away in Sanibel Island or wherever, I will be furthering God's kingdom...or at least that's how I'm gonna spin it. Anyway, I took a short break from posting while I was home/@3DYC/in Indianapolis, but I'm back strong now. There's pictures of most of those events in various albums over at my picasa page. Hope you all had a great christmas/new years/hanukah/boxing day (that last ones for you, Steve!)