Wrong Worship

What is it they say? You laugh to keep from crying, I think it is…?

LOL! – EP

Alone – Traffic Jam benefit concert

The GLOBAL TRAFFIC JAM on 11-11-11 is meeting its projected goal: 300 bands in 30 countries on November 11th, to raise awareness in the fight against child trafficking and slavery. Many more bands and solo artists are welcome to participate. Please let your musicians friends know of this amazing opportunity for exposure, while helping rescue children around the world.

A good friend Kylie B., TV producer and film wizard, did the concert visuals for Nate Feuerstein‘s Alone. My awesome friend and painter, Taryn Trousdale stars!

Alone – Concert Visuals from Kylie B. on Vimeo.

Nate Feuerstein concert details:

Date & Time: Fri Nov 11 11 05:15 PM
Location: Grand Rapids, MI US 2500 Division Ave S, Grand Rapids, MI 49507
Venue: TRAFFIC JAM: Benefit Concert

It was a lot of fun helping out with film-stuff again! -EP

Pope Ben on Agnosticism

In addition to the two phenomena of religion and anti-religion, a further basic orientation is found in the growing world of agnosticism: people to whom the gift of faith has not been given, but who are nevertheless on the lookout for truth, searching for God. Such people do not simply assert: “There is no God”. They suffer from his absence and yet are inwardly making their way towards him, inasmuch as they seek truth and goodness. They are “pilgrims of truth, pilgrims of peace”. They ask questions of both sides. They take away from militant atheists the false certainty by which these claim to know that there is no God and they invite them to leave polemics aside and to become seekers who do not give up hope in the existence of truth and in the possibility and necessity of living by it. But they also challenge the followers of religions not to consider God as their own property, as if he belonged to them, in such a way that they feel vindicated in using force against others. These people are seeking the truth, they are seeking the true God, whose image is frequently concealed in the religions because of the ways in which they are often practised. Their inability to find God is partly the responsibility of believers with a limited or even falsified image of God. So all their struggling and questioning is in part an appeal to believers to purify their faith, so that God, the true God, becomes accessible. Therefore I have consciously invited delegates of this third group to our meeting in Assisi, which does not simply bring together representatives of religious institutions. Rather it is a case of being together on a journey towards truth, a case of taking a decisive stand for human dignity and a case of common engagement for peace against every form of destructive force. Finally I would like to assure you that the Catholic Church will not let up in her fight against violence, in her commitment for peace in the world. We are animated by the common desire to be “pilgrims of truth, pilgrims of peace”.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/popes-address-in-assisi-full-text/#ixzz1cGvTwMU8

hear, hear!

the rapture – the ultimate blasphemy

JC still loves Harold Camping though, God bless him.

cross-posted from Jottings by Michael Cardin

Many people might think Camping (!) a fool and wonder why I would waste my time writing about this. He is a fool and the millions he spent on his promotion campaign could have been much better spent. He would have made a much better testament to his Lord if he had followed the Gospel dictum to sell all he had (no small fortune) to give it to the poor and embrace a life of poverty and prayer and works of mercy. Instead he traduced the gospels utterly and brought Christianity into complete disrepute. The most depressing thing is that he has played into simple media binaries, in this case Christians vs unbelievers/secularists/atheists/humanists with Camping (!) himself as a key exemplar of what Christianity is all about. And of course Camping (!) is an exemplar of a type of Christianity or I would say a perversion of Christianity that has taken root in the US and, with the US global hegemon, is spreading throughout the world, like a noxious toxic bloom. In my opinion it’s a heresy of the worst order, a vile pernicious heresy that perverts and inverts the central Christian message. Thanks to Camping (!)  unfortunately a large proportion of of the world’s population believe that this pernicious theology is normative, traditional Christianity. It’s not, it’s a 19th century aberration that took root in the United States in the mid-19th century in a time of major transformation and upheaval.

It’s all based on a single word in the Christian scriptures. It’s found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and in the Greek in which it was written, the word is harpagesometha, ‘we shall be taken away’ or ‘we shall be caught up’, derived from the Greek verb harpazo. In the Latin translation the word is rapiemur, from the verb rapio. In the passage, Paul is talking about the very end, the final things of the world, the Second Coming and he says that when it occurs, first the dead will be raised up from their graves and then the living will be caught up from the earth to meet Jesus as he returns at the end of the age, which Paul and the audience for this letter considered imminent. The issue that is being addressed here is not an elaborate end times scenario, that we see in the modern Rapture cult but rather the concerns by some in the Thessalonian community that those who have died will  not participate in the final moment of the Lord’s return, or even, possibly by some, that those who are living who are alive at the Second Coming are in some way better or more fortunate than those who have died.This passage is written to disabuse  these Thessalonian Christians of such concern, or conceit. And the thing is, its context is the last things, the last day, the end of the world as we know it, the transformation and reconciliation of heaven and earth, that has always been key to the Christian proclamation. And throughout Christian history that’s how it’s always been understood and still is for the vast majority of the Christian world.

Read the rest here. -EP

on osama

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away men’s initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

-William J. H. Boetcker

For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. – Ezekiel 18:32

Sometimes I forget this — my God is merciful. -EP

UPDATE, 5/13/2011:

Stephen Prothero, author of American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon, says in a CNN blog entry

“Poll on bin Laden’s death reveals a disposable Jesus“

Only 53% of those surveyed say the United States should follow the golden rule and not use any methods on our enemies that we would not want used on our soldiers. Oddly, support for the golden rule in this case was actually lower (47%) among white evangelicals.

In other words, when Jesus said, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12), he didn’t really mean “everything.” He thought there should be an exception in the case of waterboarding your enemies.

One thing that struck me hard while researching my 2003 “American Jesus” book was how malleable Jesus is in the American imagination. Instead of lording over American life, telling us what to do, he seems to be taking orders from us, carrying our water.

Something about our culture has to change… -EP

a christian’s guide to not being a jerk on the internet

This is fantastic! (I should be using it for reference…) LOL. – EP

Cross-posted from Rachel Held Evans

1. Avoid the passive-aggressive Facebook status. (Example: “Christie Christianson prays that the Holy Spirit will convict certain people regarding certain over-the-top Vacation Bible School themes.”)

2. Remember that breaking fellowship via Twitter is just as bad as breaking up via text.

3. How many Bible verses are included in the comment? If it’s more than five, it’s not a comment, it’s a bibliography.

4. Try writing an actual letter before writing an “open letter” to a famous theologian or pastor. You never know when they might respond.

5. Don’t tell someone they’re going to hell in an email and then conclude it with “grace and peace.”

6. Try to read blog posts, books, and articles in their entirety before writing a comment or review.

7. If you suspect you might have a sin nature like everyone else on the planet, consider waiting a few minutes before you broadcast your first reaction across the Internet.

8. Have opinions. Be nice about them. (Check out How to Write a Controversial Blog Post with No Regrets.)

9. If using an image of Jesus or the cross as a profile picture, avoid calling people idiots…since, you know, Jesus said not to do that (Matthew 5:22).

10. Before posting, go through Saint Paul’s Blogging Checklist (via Gary David Stratton):

Is this post?
(1) Patient
(2) Kind
(3) Free from envy
(4) Devoid of boasting
(5) Stripped of arrogance

Or is this post?
(6) Rude
(7) Self-seeking
(8) Angry
(9) Unforgiving
(10) Believing/assuming the worst about others

Hmmmm…Good thing “snarky” is not on that list!  

Your turn! What would you add?

funny yet sad

Another gem from reddit. -EP

the reality of sex trafficking

by Tiffanie Shanks

cross-posted from The Next Great Generation

For many, American slavery is an issue of the past, long taken care of by the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War. Some recognize, however, that slavery has remained an issue in areas outside of the U.S., specifically developing nations. But wait. Most of that was resolved by the Apartheid in South Africa, right? Wrong. Regardless of what many people believe, the truth remains that more people are enslaved today than in 1860, and more specifically, more people than ever are enslaved today in sex trafficking.

Depending on the source, 27 – 30 million slaves exist in the world today, nearly half of which (roughly 12 million) are sex trafficked victims. Unfortunately, compared to its counterparts of sweatshop labor and child soldiering, sex trafficking is the least-acknowledged form of modern-day slavery. You may think that the 12 million victims are made up of children captured and abused, physically, mentally, emotionally and sexually, then boxed and shipped like packaged goods, where their abuse continues until they are killed, freed or rescued. Or maybe you think of the women and men on most street corners in all major cities who are held against their will and are accountable to another person who then reaps illegal profits from sexually commercializing the slave’s body. Both are true. Modern-day slavery and sex-trafficking comes in many forms.

Like many other aspects of society, today’s slavery operates as a function of supply and demand. As evidenced by the most recent Super Bowl, when excessive numbers of fans descend on a city for an event, the demand for commercialized sex increases. Many traffickers are eager to meet the demand with a constant supply of exploited men, women and children.

Luckily, people around the world have taken notice of the significant need to address the issue of slavery. Here are some profiles of organizations and individuals that fight for the cause of freedom in a variety of ways.

The A21 Campaign

Southern and Eastern Europe contains approximately 25% of all sex trafficked victims. Additionally, Greece has been identified as the center of sex trafficking in Europe. From the enormous need for advocates to fight the issue of slavery in Europe, the A21 campaign was born in 2008. A21 exists to abolish injustice in the 21^st century, specifically sex trafficking. This organization provides relief for victims through care shelters, accountability for perpetrators through a legal team, after-care for victims through restoration programs and structural prevention through other initiatives. Here are some ways to become an advocate of this cause.

The Polaris Project

Since 2002, this organization has provided what they have coined a “comprehensive approach to combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery.” Their efforts are focused on the fight within the United States, primarily through political activism, education and awareness. Just as the name implies, they believe everyone can embody the significance of the North Star and help guide an enslaved world to freedom!

Not For Sale

In this book by David Batstone, the issue of modern-day slavery is illuminated through an understanding of how slavery “flourishes in the shadows.” The book has evolved into acampaign to “re-abolish slavery.” See how you can get involved and spread the word!

Not My Life

A documentary, directed by Robert Bilheimer, explores the issue of slavery through the lens of victims and survivors. Although slavery is an issue that crosses all boundaries in regards to geography, age, and gender, this film focuses on the subjection of children. Bilheimer challenges anyone who calls themselves human to answer the question, “What kind of society cannibalizes its own children? Can we do these sorts of things on such a large scale and still call ourselves human in any meaningful sense of the term?” Watch the video and invite your friends.

The Abolitionist Hymnal

The Abolitionist movement focused on abolishing slavery in the 19^th century. In the spirit of that movement, which grew (in part) out of the Church as a way to awaken communities of faith to the issue of slavery and the effort to abolish it, Carl Gladstone has undertaken a project referred to as the Abolitionist Hymnal. In essence, this project was birthed out of a desire to shine light on the issue of slavery today, such as the sex trade and trafficking. Gladstone stated, “There are more people enslaved today than there were in 1860. If there were ever a time for the Church to awaken to the issue of slavery, that time is now.”

In many ways we’re all enslaved to something simply out of ignorance. Regarding those enslaved and exploited by the sex trade industry, ignorance is no longer acceptable; not if we “still call ourselves human.”

children of God

You want [your parents] to say, ‘You have your own path. I don’t own you. You are a really awesome loan to me from God. I took care of that loan as best I could, and now, I leave you to your path.’

-Jillian Lauren, author of Some Girls: My Life in a Harem