the reality of the situation.

A COPY OF THE LETTER I SENT (A FEW WEEKS AGO) TO THE PRESIDENT OF BIOLA UNIVERSITY.

To Dr Barry Corey,

My name is ( ). I graduated from Biola in 2005, with a BA in Psychology. Shortly thereafter, I moved to Northern California to work at a group home for teen alcoholics and drug addicts. After working up North and then traveling around the East Coast for 6 months, I came back to Los Angeles, and am now going into my second year at ULCA, getting my Masters in Social Welfare. I attend Grace Brethren Church in Long Beach.

In Kinnaman and Lyons’, UnChristian, the authors discuss a survey that was released in 2007. Tragically, it found that “most of the lifestyle activities of born-again Christians were statistically equivalent to those of non-born-agains… Born-again believers are just as likely to bet or gamble, to visit a pornographic website, to take something that did not belong to them, to consult a medium or psychic, to physically fight or abuse someone, to have consumed enough alcohol to be considered legally drunk, to have used an illegal, non-prescription drug, to have said something to someone that was not true, to have gotten back at someone for something he or she did, and to have said mean things behind another person’s back.” On top of all of these things, I regretfully have to admit that from my experience, Christians are sincerely laughed at in many regions of the country, for their inability to function in a secular, outside world, as well.

Although I do not feel comfortable using names without permission, I can also say that I have heard a fair amount of people say (some, that you have met and know personally) that part of the reason that they have given up on the Church, as zealously dreamed of at Biola, is because they have seen very few people actually follow through and commit to a concept of Christian people, interacting with the outside world, in a fashion similar to that of the church in Acts 2. Of those who still consider themselves active Christians after spending a few post-Biola years in the outside world, many of those individuals seem to have become complacent, beginning to live very safe, stagnant “Christian” lives, which do very little besides mimic secular, western culture.

As grateful as I am and as blessed as I feel about my time at Biola, the one thing I truly wish I would’ve been more prepared for was and is life after and outside of Biola University. Truly, by the grace and provision of God, he was and is kind enough to be my sustenance and provision with the things I need to make it in 21^st century, rapidly globalizing world, in which I often feel orphaned and abandoned by the spiritual procrastination and apathy of others. I say none of this out of spite, cynicism, or unhelpful criticism, but out of concern and hope for the future of the Church, Christ’s beloved.

In Initiative A, of Strategic Theme #2, it states that Biola has a strong purpose to “take inventory and contemplate some of the major challenges of our society and world,” as well as discovering how “we may be positioned to serve the world more intentionally.” Dear brother, whether I have nothing, something, or everything to do with it, I beg you to consider focusing more of your training/education with students on how to live as active Christians, once he or she moves into the outside world. I cannot say what this looks like at this moment exactly, but since such an issue has continued to weigh so heavily upon my heart, I had to say something about it. If you have any interest in talking with me more about these issues and what may or may not be done to help, feel free to contact me.

With the best of intentions and the greatest of Hope,

( )

i have yet to here back. and my faith continues to dwindle in times such as these.

maybe we can't judge or define art...

... but maybe as Christians, we should still strive to find Truth and Beauty wherever it seems to have been Divinely placed.

aesthetic.

skill.

self-expression.

progression/creation.

(transcendence of time and place).

.maybe art goes beyond paint and canvas.

let us strive for some type of Absolute in an otherwise, relativistic world and saltless, 21st-century church.

oh, and... 'artwork that is only about wanting to be famous will never make you famous.  any fame is a bi-product of making something that means something.  you don't go to a restaurant and order a meal because you want to have a shit.' -Banksy 

The quite fitting "Stockholm Syndrome"

Upon discussing the title of Derek Webb's new album, "Stockholm Sydrome," it seems as if the general conclusion is that the title is in reference to one held captive, falling in love with the cause of his/her captor, if not the captor in its entirety.

The older I get, the more tragically clear it becomes to me, how strikingly similar the American church is to Western Culture.

I just saw an online video of California's governor holding a giant knife, while suggesting that a good answer to closing the deficit budget would be to buy over-priced cars with Schwarzenegger's very own "celebrity signature" on it.

I also just read an article by Ed Kennedy that said "healthcare spending already accounts for 17 percent of our entire domestic product.  In other advanced nations, where the figure is around 10 percent, everyone has insurance and health outcomes that are equal or better than ours."  Individuals uninsured in this country has reached 47 million, this year.

It breaks my heart to see those who consider themselves genuine, "born-again" Christians spend so much time worrying about being "culturally relevant," It is as if we have something to prove to an already insane culture of American living (as seen above, although I condone no particular political stance, in this reflection), which by the way, we will never do as well as they do- it is not why or how we were made.

I cannot tell anyone to change their way of thinking, besides myself.  I will not tell people what to think, because that is besides the actual point.  The point being here, is that we MUST re-evaluate who we are and what our calling is, in light of such a dark and dismal time and place.  We must move closer to becoming more like CHRIST, not the American church.  If we do not, apathy and spiritual procrastination will most likely lead us to become captive to the very enemy we once fought, not only losing our purpose, but even adopting and embracing the values of something much more dangerous- a world without Truth or Light.

When people ask me whether or not I think they are going to Heaven, I tell them that I truly thank God I will never, ever have to make that decision or even really try to understand what that even begins to look like (when being honest).  However, I do believe that I am getting to the age and the place in my faith where I truly begin to see how actions may begin to define what we sincerely believe in our hearts and where our treasures lie.  It is here that I ask myself, as well Christ's bride, the church, the question of what or who do we believe in.

our wealth should not go unnoticed, any longer.

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.  So if you have not been trust-worthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?"

-Luke 16:10 & 11

I am not suggesting we all become Socialists (or any of us), but it is time for us to re-evaluate where we put our money, and how responsible we are with what we have.  I believe in Capitalism, as far as acquiring provision and opportunity go.  However, what we do once we have obtained these fruits of free enterprise is what should be deeply examined.  For if we believe that God himself, as opposed to money, is Truth, than finances should be the least of our desires, and we should be most diligent in placing them in the hands of things everlasting.

Jon Tyson was the first person (about a year ago) to bring such an apparent and obvious, yet overlooked verse, to light, for me.  It is overwhelming and often, quite embarrassing how we make new gods out of selected Scripture, while avoiding the truth of God's character, in others.

.

On another just as significant note, Lou Huesmann was the first pastor I had ever heard speak in complete, specific honesty about his spiritual doubts, last week.  I am forever grateful, and I look forward to the future of the church, in light of such things...

Fear and Grace.

"If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,

if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless... 

... if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a garment...

... if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, knowing that I had influence in court,

then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let it be broken off at the joint.

For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.

If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold 'You are my security,' 

if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained,

if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,

so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage, 

then these also would be sins to be judged,

for I would have been unfaithful to God on high."

- Job 31: 16-28

Continually lost and confused... Oh God, teach me to fear your Truth, while walking in your everlasting Grace... for this I am eternally grateful.

to my dearest of friends. by grace, i strive towards this as an ideal.

... to talk and tell jokes; to indulge in courteous exchanges; to read pleasant books together; to be playful together; to be earnest together; to differ at times without ill-humor, as on might with oneself, and even through these infrequent dissensions to find zest in our more frequent agreements; sometimes teaching, sometimes being taught; longing for someone absent with impatience and welcoming the homecomer with joy.  These and similar tokens of friendship, which spring spontaneously from the hearts of those who love and are loved in return- in countenance, tongue, eyes, and a thousand ingratiating gestures- were all so much fuel to melt our souls together, and out of the many made us one.

-Augustine, Confessions

Oh, how far off the beaten path I've come. There is much work to be done.

The next real literary ‘rebels’ in this country might well emerge as some weird bunch of anti-rebels, born oglers who dare somehow to back away from ironic watching, who have the childish gall actually to endorse and instantiate single-entendre principles. Who treat of plain old untrendy human troubles and emotions in U.S. life with reverence and conviction. Who eschew self-consciousness and hip fatigue. These anti-rebels would be outdated, of course, before they even started. Dead on the page. Too sincere. Clearly repressed. Backward, quaint, naive, anachronistic. Maybe that’ll be the point. Maybe that’s why they’ll be the next real rebels. Real rebels, as far as I can see, risk disapproval. The old postmodern insurgents risked the gasp and squeal:shock disgust, outrage, censorship, accusations of socialism, anarchism, nihilism. Today’s risks are different. The new rebels might be artists willing to risk the yawn, rolled eyes, the cool smile, the nudged ribs, the parody of gifted ironists, the ‘Oh how banal.’ To risk accusations of sentimentality, melodrama. Of overcredulity. Of softness. Of willingness to be suckered by a world of lurkers and starers who fear gaze and ridicule above imprisonment without law.”

– David Foster Wallace, “E Unibus Pluram” (1993)

Not smart enough to pick this up on my own.  Taken from a Cold War Kids post.