As you may have seen, I received an e-mail last week that bothered me a bit about gun control. I shared my response here on my blog.
I’ve received a couple good responses to the blog post via Facebook and on another blog.
Category: reflections
Responding to e-mails
Every couple weeks or so I get e-mails from folks that often go against many things I believe.
I’m not sure why they send them to me. Perhaps they think I agree with them, or perhaps they’re hoping to sway me to their side.
And while I hate seeing those messages in my inbox, for some reason, I always feel like I have to respond, I need to respond — at least once. I know it won’t sway their opinion but for some reason I can’t bring myself to simply deleting them and ignoring them.
This morning I received another one of those e-mails.
The e-mail was entitled “Why I carry a gun.” With a list of reasons for owning one mixed in with the following images attached:
Here’s my response to the e-mail. For regular readers of my blog, it may not be anything new. But what do you think? Do you respond to e-mail propaganda (from either side)? Do you simply hit delete?
I hope my responses never come across as accusatory or judgmental (I’m sure they may to those who view things differently). But what do you think?
It’s obvious we see this differently. But since you sent your thoughts, here are mine.
“I’m a pacifist because I’m a violent son of a bitch.†– Stanley Hauerwas
As a follower of Christ, I must embrace non-violence because I am, by nature, violent.
I am sinful so I must embrace virtue.
To be more specific…
I lust after women who are not my wife, so I must embrace monogamy.
I covet your cell phone and your neighborhood and your jeans, so I must embrace simplicity.
I lie to get a laugh or make my life easier, so I must embrace honesty.
I think I’m smarter than you, so I must embrace humility.
I need to be in control, so I must embrace submission.
I’m a loner, so I must embrace community.
I want to ruin your name, so I must embrace forgiveness.
I want to be served, so I must embrace service.
And I want to harm when I’m harmed, so I must embrace non-violence.
And here’s a semi-related story told by Dr. Tony Campolo:
During World War II, a group of Bulgarian Jews are rounded up at a train station to be taken off to Auschwitz. Yet,despite Bulgaria’s alliance with Germany in World War II, the leader of the Orthodox church in Bulgaria comes walking up to a train station in the middle of the night. The leader of the church is followed by 300 members of his church.
He walks to the fenced in area where the Jews are being kept and the guards tell him, “Father you’re not allowed in there.†He laughs and brushes their machine guns aside as he walks into the gated area. The Jews gathered around him, waiting to see what the Christian leader in Bulgaria would say in their moment of despair.
As they cried and begged for help the leader of the Bulgarian church quoted a simple verse from Ruth.
Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. (Ruth 1:16)
The Jews cheered. The Christians outside the fenced in area cheered. The noise became so loud that it woke up everyone in the community and they came to the train station and heard the news. Quickly the hundreds grew to thousands.
The Nazi soldiers suddenly realized there was no way they could overcome everyone there. There was no way they’d be able to get away with carting off the Jews to the concentration camps. The train left a short time later with none of the Jews on board and never returned again. And after that point, no Jews from Bulgaria were taken to a concentration camp of any sort.
“Because the Church of Jesus Christ boldly stood up and said we’re not going to kill the enemy, we’re going to identify with the suffering and suffer with them. This is Jesus’ way.â€
And finally,
With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” – Matthew 26:51-54
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
– Psalm 20:7
On the verge of something big
Boy if there’s ever a week that things really seem to be aligning this might be it. Maybe it’s just my limited perspective.
I’m not sure where this post is going so bear with me.
More and more across our country – and around the world – groups are coming together to declare their independence. There’s a restlessness afoot. People are growing weary of institutions of all shapes and sizes.
And the Internet seems to be bringing many of these forces together in ways not seen before.
Just like the invention of the printing press – when suddenly every person could own a copy of Scripture, or the latest pamphlet or newspaper – now everyone can own those things, as well as create and distribute their own versions.
You’ve likely heard much said about how Obama should credit much of his success to his campaign’s use of new media and the Internet. And putting great tools like my.barackobama.com to use gave every Joe Democrat with a computer a voice and a platform to share it on.
People had grown tired of the institution/administration that was in place and they saw Obama as their savior (we’ll leave that up for later debate).
And now, on the other side of the aisle, tea parties or tea baggers (depending on which side you’re on) mounted protests around the country to declare they’re no longer interested in paying taxes that bailout Fortune 500 Countries or social welfare programs. They organized via the Internet and social networks with no clear leadership. They even refused the “professional politicians” opportunities to speak at the protest rallies.
When Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele asked to speak at the Chicago tea party, his request was politely refused by the organizers: “With regards to stage time, we respectfully must inform Chairman Steele that RNC officials are welcome to participate in the rally itself, but we prefer to limit stage time to those who are not elected officials, both in Government as well as political parties. This is an opportunity for Americans to speak, and elected officials to listen, not the other way around.” – WSJ
Alongside the tea parties, Gov. McDreamy jumped in and told folks he supports a bill that would lead Texas to succeed from the Union. Could be an interesting idea – as long as we don’t simply replace Washington D.C. with Austin, Texas.
(And BTW – I’m with Mike Morrell, in asking “Where were these folks during the last eight years when the government continued to rack up ginormous debt for a war in Iraq and took away our personal freedoms and securities in the name of ‘National Security?'” Why aren’t they also calling foul when we’re about to send another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan? But I digress…. be sure and read Mike’s great post on this topic as well.)
Today, I saw news about two new local Farmer’s Markets in the Dallas area. One is opening in Mockingbird Station, the other has already started in Oak Cliff.
And in that spirit, I also watched a trailer for Food Inc. That seems to discuss the institutionalizing of our food supply. (see also Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma)
Of course if you’ve followed this blog or my podcast for long you know I’m a fan of organic churches and the empowerment of the priesthood of believers.
I was told this week that a group of youth from our tribe discussed the future of the church during their weekly gathering and after dividing up into separate groups they each came back with very similar ideas…
- small groups meeting in homes
- no church buildings
- very relational
- reaching out to the community
- “contemporary” music without the big band or production
- elational music with one or two guitars
Sounds pretty anti-institutional to me. Love it! I hope they start seeing that as they move into “leadership positions.”
And this theme just continues to grow in more and more areas. It’s exciting and scary at the same time. I can’t wait to see where it all ends up. Something big is coming down the pipe. Are you ready?
What about you? Do you see other stories that line up with this realm of thinking? Do you think its a good course? Dangerous course? What side do you want to be standing on?
Lessons from Britain’s Got Talent
Eugene Cho shares the story of Susan Boyle this week on his blog.
Susan’s a 47 year old charity worker, who’s never been kissed or on a date. She’s currently unemployed and her previous singing experience has been limited to the church choir and karaoke.
She was starved of oxygen at birth and has learning difficulties as a result. At school she was slow and had frizzy hair. She was bullied, mostly verbally. She told one newspaper that her classmates’ jibes left behind the kind of scars that don’t heal.
Yet she recently blew folks away with her performance on Britain’s Got Talent.
Eugene writes:
Notice the sneers, looks, judgments, and assumptions that nearly everyone makes – including the respective judges. The change of “perception†(judgment? -> wonder) in the faces of the judges – especially Simon Cowell – are a sight to see. And to be fair to them, I get it…
Why?
It’s pretty simple – she isn’t pretty. She doesn’t look the part. She doesn’t look like an entertainer. She doesn’t look charismatic. And so it begs the questions:
- Why do we trust our perception and judgment so much?
- Why are we so married to looks?
- Why are we enamored and at times, fooled by “dress for success†or “look the part?†[Think of the film, Catch me if You Can…]
- What is the balance?
How quickly do I cast out judgment based on a person’s dress, or look, or obnoxious laugh? How often do I throw a label on someone without looking at the whole package and hearing their story? I want to put people in a box and label them and define them by my standards – ignoring the person they are – ignoring that they are the Imago Dei.
Watch the video for yourself and then read the rest of Eugene’s post. Then share your thoughts below.
What lessons can you learn from Susan? What does her story tell you about God? Life? Yourself?
update: Vimeo took the original video down, here’s the full video from YouTube
But God told Samuel, “Looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed with his looks and stature. I’ve already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.†– 1 Samuel 16:7
Tuesday Briefs
The late Tuesday edition…
Seems I’m getting later and later with this each week. Before long we may have to call it the Wednesday briefs. But then if I keep it up we might make it full circle and get back to the Monday briefs eventually :-). I guess we can only hope.
I was trying to find the motivation to do this yesterday, as well as today but I guess writing about my week doesn’t seem near as interesting to me as it might to someone else. I’d much rather tell someone else’s story than my own.
highlight(s) of the week:
On Monday morning I took the day off of work and attending an adoption ceremony for my friends Todd and Monja’s new daughter. It was a small ceremony with candle’s lit in honor of those who made the day possible. Reminded me how valuable and important each and every person – and child – really are.
I was glad they invited us to attend and glad that I was able to take some time off of work to be there. It’s been a lot of fun getting to know Todd and Monja over the last year or so at encounter and even more so over the last six months or so as they’ve been a part of our Saturday night group. Their new daughter will be well taken care of and spoiled by the entire family I’m sure!
quote(s) i’m digging:
“People of faith claim to know the Artist but lack any compunction for protecting the artwork.”
“The closer we are walking with the Creator, the more beauty we will see in life.” – Michael Abbate’ in Gardening Eden
books i’m reading:
I’ve put The New Conspirators on hold for a bit while I try out some new books. Tom Sine’s book is great, its just taking me a long time to read for some reason. So I’m currently (as you might have guessed) reading Gardening Eden by Michael Abbate’. So far its great! Really enjoying what he’s saying and how he’s saying it. So far some great reasons for being good stewards of creation that I think any right-wing-republican-conservative-evangelical person should be able to agree with (or at least find very little to argue about) — it just makes sense.
job update:
Well, I was turned down for the job I applied for. It was a bit of a bummer but when they told me they really wanted someone with great copy editing skills and they told me one of the applicants had worked as a copy editor for 20 years at the local paper – I figured they made the best decision. I’ll be the first to admit that copy editing is not my forte’ or something I strive to excell in.
However, the good news is that they’re still really interested in bringing me on to their team and my current boss is still happy to see me advance in my career so they’re trying a few things to see if they can bring me on in a similar position as the one I applied for. It might be a few months down the road still, so I’m not expecting anything soon but if it happens – wonderful – if not, no biggie.
things you should be listening to:
Our last two podcasts (with Adele Sakler) have added some fuel for the fire of some (or so they think) but that’s OK. Don’t let them (or us) tell you what to think. Listen to the show and think for yourself. As Flobots say, “There’s a war going on for your mind – if you’re thinking – you’re winning.” Listen to Adele’s story, chew on it, think about how you typically respond, how you would want someone to respond to you and then how you think Jesus would respond. And then share your thougths with us and others.
things I’m looking forward to:
I don’t think I’ve read an entire book this whole year yet. Geeze! I’m looking forward to checking at least one off my list. Don’t know how much longer it will be – but I’ll be glad when it comes.
Blogging about me
I have to admit – that from where I’m sitting – blogging about me can often be rather boring.