Category Archives: apathy

Sweat Shops, Frugality, and my Conscience

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It is a constant battle within myself between conscience and frugality. Well first off, let me say that I am a firm believer that it is much cheaper than one often things to eat healthy and to live a healthy life (not that I live the most healthy life!) My family of four are able to eat primarily organic and local food, we eat very little canned food, frozen food, and processed food, and we eat gluten free (try paying $6 for a loaf of bread). Oh, and my son has to eat lactose free now! And yet, we’re able to do all of this on a budget that would look midgetized next to many. I can go into detail about how we do this if you’d like me to, but in reality it all comes down to my amazing and sacrificial wife. The point is that it really is possible to do make many healthy choices and still be relatively cheap at the same time.*

Nevertheless there are times when its just plain ol’ spendy to shop with my conscience first and my frugal nature second. I didn’t buy any new clothes last year. Period. We didn’t buy anything new last year (except for food, medicine, underwear, and a pair of shoes). It was a cool experiment, it was valuable. But I’m tired of buying used stuff. I want to buy some new crap! But I want to buy it cheap. The problem is that many of the cheap places to purchase things are places that hurt my conscience (or should hurt my conscience). Want to ruin your life? Try going to this website and doing some research about which companies are in active human rights violations in order to get you something cheap: http://www.greenamericatoday.org/

It’s easy to dismiss, and I often do, but do you really want to put on your sweater that you bought for $15.99 at Walmart (just as an example) knowing that some eight year old child worked in a factory 18 hours straight in conditions that are dehumanizing and illegal? Can you wear that sweater without your conscience crying out? The sad thing is that often I’ll choose to not do the research so that I won’t have that annoying conscience whispering in my ear! So there I lie, at war within myself to pursue truth and justice, or to live cheaply in ignorance and bliss.

I truly believe that being a follower of Christ dictates that I am in a constant pursuit of truth, beauty, and justice…following Jesus often requires much!

*     Though, I must say that it amazes me that often people say they can’t afford to eat healthy, because it seems to me that it should be one of the most important thing that you spend your money on. What you put into your body affects your health, your personality, politics, your community, your emotions, etc. If you’re going to spend money on anything, good quality healthy food would be a good place to start.

Christian and Torture

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If you’re a Christ follower then you’ve got to be seriously worried about the valid statement made by CNN in a recent report:

The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.More than half of people who attend services at least once a week — 54 percent — said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified. Only 42 percent of people who “seldom or never” go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Something has gone wrong. We’ve somehow missed something crucial to the gospel message. Brian McClaren sites these statisitics:

Consider this question: Is it ever justifiable to intentionally target innocent civilians in order to achieve other political or military ends? 86, 81, and 80% of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Iranian citizens say never. But only 46% of Americans say never! In contrast to the 6% of Americans who say civilian attacks are completely justified, only 2% of Iranians or Lebanese would agree, and only 4% of Saudis.

I sure am glad we’re a Christian nation! I feel like we should write one of those coffee table books that says “you know you’re not a Christian nation if…” and we could have the first page say “…54% of your citizens want to kill innocent people to acheive their ends.” The second page could say: “…a majority of the Christians in your Christian nation are cool with torture.”

This grieves me terribly. May Gods mercy lead us to repentance, renewal, and an uprising to practice the pressence of God in our world.

The Difference Between Good and Best

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I won’t attempt to give a template for figuring out this blog titles dilemma, but I do have some reflections concerning that idea. I get so tired of how people have politicized some of the discussi0n between good and best. It’s not just relegated to politics though…well…let me just attempt to explain.

Conservatives say that global warming is a myth. Many conservatives (and I thought it pretty funny…but for reasons different than them) planned to “stick it to the liberals” by leaving all their lights on and racking up the electricity bills on earth days while many more liberal folks were shutting off their lights by 8:30 or so. I find this incredibly odd. I wish I was more up to date on some of the politics concerning endangered species, oil drilling, protecting old growth forests, etc. because my guess is that I’d have more to say concerning some of that, but as it is I’d come off most ignorant of the facts. Anyway, concerning conserving electricity, why has this become a political issue? Conservatives (and undoubtedly Christians) should be all for conserving energy, it’s just smart. It’s best. It’s not mandatory, it’s not obligatory, it’s best. It’s best not to waste. Duh. I know it’s blasphemy in our American culture, but it’s best not to be wasteful. Being wasteful is foolish. Do you have the freedom to be wasteful? Of course! But you’re choosing to settle for less than best. And it shouldn’t even matter if global warming is a hoax or not should it? Screw global warming! If there were no such thing as global warming, if Al had never made his smug video, shouldn’t we still be concerned with how we treat our environment? Isn’t our environment a gift from God? When I give my children a toy and I notice that they are not taking care of it, that they are destroying it, in my mind I have two options. Take away the toy before they ruin it or be very cautious about what toy I give them next (knowing that it will probably get destroyed). So lets depoliticize all of this and just start taking care of what God has given us. Let’s not disrespect the creator by destroying his creation. Anyway, I think or hope that this point was made without laboring too much. I don’t want to bore you because I really think that this next idea is where its at…

Many people worry when pastors or churches talk about green living, sustainability, simplicity, etc. And for good reason. They worry that pastors and churches are teaching something that is not gospel (that is, not the life saving, hope giving message that you’re loved by Jesus), that they are adding something into the simple message of Jesus that does not belong. This is a very valid point to make because I think that often Christians do get caught up in some of this stuff and forget that Jesus didn’t die so that we could recycle. But here is my strong belief, I think that there is and should be a place for churches, Christians, and ministers to talk about sustainable living, simplicity, and frugality within the context of following Jesus. As Christians we have the gift challenging each other and the world around us to always pursue what is best. To pursue that which embodies beauty. To pursue that which embraces truth, wholeness, and perfection. Jesus talked about some of this and tended to use the word Kingdom. The kingdom of God t is Christs transforming presence among us in real and tangible ways. His presence frees us to always choose what is best for our lives even when it isn’t easy or fun. But the most important distinction that must be made is that we are freed to make these choices not required. The danger comes when Christians, churches, or pastors teach that you must take care of the environment to be a Christ follower, or you must live sustainably, or you must cloth diaper, or you must…fill in the blank to really be the type of person that Jesus likes. This is called heresy. What if we viewed it like this: God has given us the gift of being able to make new choices, of being able to make better choices. And the blessing associate with that gift is not a better place in heaven, a better standing in his church, or more jewels on your ruby encrusted crown in heaven. The blessing is more similar to the “blessing” Jesus speaks of in Matthew 5 where he says

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they shall possess the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice,
for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

The word “blessed” that Jesus uses isn’t someting that is bestowed on his audience, rather it is a state of blessedness. Catch the difference? The reward is found in the blessed state itself. It’s blessed to mourn because when you mourn you’re able to really experience comfort. It’s blessed to be a person who desires justice or rightness because if you’re someone who pursues it, you will find it.

Ok, wait, I’m cutting myself off right now ’cause I’ve already typed on way too long and I could go so much longer.

peace.

Rejecting Church

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I know quite a few people who love Jesus but hate the church. It’s a fairly common theme ’round here to be a Christian but to not “go” to any church. And I think that those people often have a valid point.

The way that we do church today is not what God intended.

The church is screwed up and has completely missed the point.

The church is filled with hypocrites and people who simply want to project a certain image but in reality make no effort to live and act like Jesus.

Why do we have to meet on Sundays? Why do we have to sing? Why do we have to sit and listen to one orator telling us what God says? Why does any of it have to be some big official corporate gathering?

Wouldn’t Jesus be more pleased if we stopped cloistering ourselves on Sunday mornings telling him how awesome he is and instead use that time and effort to show people with our actions how awesome he is?

I don’t need the church to practice my faith. My faith is between God and I.

While these are not direct quotes, they are summary statements from different conversations I’ve had with friends about the church. I don’t want to spend time trying to refute all of those statements, and in reality I think that some of those might be right on and accurate. We could spend some time in the Scripture reading about how the church was God’s idea not mans, about what some of the basic ideas God desired to be true of the church, and what the early church looked like (both good and bad), but I don’t think that would really answer the question that’s being asked and I’m not sure it’s my friends lack of Bible study that I’m questioning. Rather, I am growing quite dissatisfied with the alternative to the church that most of these people present. By rejecting the church “as it is”, my expectation would be to find an example of the church “as it should be”. Instead it seems like I find many people who have become somewhat stagnant in their faith or at the very least apathetic in their efforts to practice it. They don’t like what they see in church but they don’t seem to have found a healthy (spiritually enriching) replacement for it. Maybe they’ve found some outlets to serve people, but it has become quite unconnected with the message of Jesus.

I’m going to just stop right here because I don’t want to get too critical. That’s not my point.

My point is this: if you’re dissatisfied with the church as it is why don’t we work together to search the Scriptures, to look to Jesus, to listen to his Spirit and re imagine church as it should be. Why don’t we begin re imagining an alternative to the two extremes that we are tempted to polarize to of rejecting the church or trying to change the church. I would suggest that church planting is the answer. In church planting we are able to dream new dreams and receive new visions for a different kind of church without having to reject church as we currently experience it and without wasting away within a church system that may not be created for you. The challenge is that it must start with personal transformation before anything else. God is not fully honored when we dream new dreams out of anger and frustration, but what if that anger and frustration was transformed by the Spirit of God into purpose, intentionality, creativity, and adventure.

What if we partner with the church of today to create a new church expression for tomorrow. Maybe that church expression could borrow from some of those critical quotes previously mentioned. But instead of being critiques of the church as it is, it could be transformed into a vision for the church that could be. Here’s my positive spin of the above statements:

I see value things in the Bible that the previous generation did not. What would it look like to be a part of a church that carried some of those values?

The church is screwed up and has completely missed the point…thank you Jesus for grace! I would like to start a new church that invites people into a messy community of imperfection.

The church is filled with hypocrites and people who simply want to project a certain image but in reality make no effort to live and act like Jesus…you’re damn right we’re hypocrites and I’m proud to be honest about my hypocrisy as I invite others to find forgiveness for their screwups.

What would church look like if we did things differently? Can Bible study happen without a preacher? Then how? Can mobilization to change the world happen without a central gathering? Then how? What does church look like with new purposeful practices replacing some of the old?

How do we reinterpret the idea of worship to include more of life?

“I don’t need the church to practice my faith. My faith is between God and I.” I’m sorry, I’ve got no positive spin on this one. I consider this a straight up fallacy that destroys people…but that’s just my opinion.