Is different REALLY good?

The other day I was hungry while running errands around town and I decided to stop and pick up some fast food to appease my rumbling tummy. Around my area were the usuals: McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, White Castle, etc. Each of these various establishments have their respective "big" item - The Whopper, The Big Mac, The Baconator (mmmm. . . bacon), the Nacho Bell-Grande. But this day, I saw something that amazed and simultaneously horrified me beyond my ability to describe it. Well, there is only one word to describe it. . .

Buffaque. 

Say this slightly slower and you'll get the horrified part. . .

This concoction is supposedly a cross between a barbeque sandwich and a "buffalo" hot sauce.  I wouldn't really know if it's good or not as I couldn't get past the name. All I could think about is the idiot who was pitching the idea in the marketing office. 

"Hey, guys. I've got this new sandwich that is a combination BBQ and buffalo hot sauce thing. . . what do you wanna call it?"

"Uh. . . buffaque?

"Cool."

And then they go to the art department and so on down the line. No one ever stopping to consider that their sandwich was really selling fast food sodomy.

This name will (hopefully) quickly disappear into the annals of obscurity, but if Arby's was smart, they'd publicly deny all knowledge of the sandwich and fire the guy who conceptualized  the idea. . .

A Call to Love and Wisdom

After my last entry, my "very close friend" gave it a read through and responded to me. As per his request to remain anonymous, I have placed his email in its entirety here as my next entry - omitting any personal references to himself, name or other personally sensitive information.

Thanks Anonymous!

Anonymous references a few articles in his email to me. These articles can be found at the following links below:

Derek Webb's Article: www.patrolmag.com/times/992/how-shall-we-then-vote

Mark Driscoll's Blog: www.theresurgence.com/md_blog

* * * * *

Caleb,

I love reading your blog.

Fromthe timing, it sounded like you wrote today's entry based on our email thread. I hear your call to reason, and I'll raise that call (poker terms now) to Love. Not the kind of mushy, sentimental "love" that decides to simply not talk about stuff, living in a crowded room of "white elephants". No, the kind of love that Jesus presented, where he challenged people in real discourse to THINK and FEEL as Yahweh does. In effect, I would offer that we, you and I and those who agree with your thesis in your entry, are calling for Wisdom.

Wisdom is often described as "knowledge gained through experience". The bible talks about Wisdom first as Fear of the Lord. Then we say that this kind of fear described here is not a kind of groveling fear. And I agree that biblical Fear of the Lord is not SIMPLY groveling fear. It is groveling fear, and then something else: trust in God's promise to not actually destroy us as we deserve. Maintain that groveling fear of Yahweh (as the great scientist Egon Spangler offers a wonderful word picture: "Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.") and add to that a tacit knowledge of God's kindness and affection for you, and you're getting towards biblical Wisdom.

We want people to start all discussions about basically anything with a right Fear of God. This produces epistemic humility, and yet confidence in our Creator's affection, faithfulness and loyalty to, Himself first, and to us through secondary causes.

Fear of God, Wisdom, shocks us into a higher allegiance. As both the articles I cited in my email to Selina point, we are NOT citizens of the USofA, we are Sojourners in the USofA, and therefore participate in their community life. But out identity is in Christ, it is hidden with God in Him until He should be revealed, and we are truly FIRST, citizens of Heaven (and the new Earth, not some spiritual cloud world. . .)

This means we owe our THOUGHTS and our FEELINGS first to our King. He is to shape them, and we are to obey him first. This means, as Derek Webb's article states (which I encourage you to read): ". . . it would likely be sinful if we were all reaching the same conclusions on how to best love our neighbors, so there's plenty of room for a difference of opinion there."

I highly respect the biblical moral values you see Obama advocating. I also highly respect the biblical moral values that McCain advocated. For those who voted with a biblically shaped clear conscience for either candidate, I applaud them for their integrity and faith and correct delight in  those biblical virtues and ideas which each candidate possessed or espoused (and each did, with some overlap between them, but mostly each covered different areas).

To your main irritation, I concur. Those who votes based simply on party lines, because of "christian" pressures (either offensive voting or defensive voting), those are the people I would challenge: be very careful you are not committing idolatry in your hope in a candidate. For those who voted McCain, your idolatry may look lilke inordinate despair. "All our hopes for the Mission of God to renew the USA are gone," this is a wicked and unbelieving position. Repent. Jesus is King and he appoints wicked and just rulers all over the world, throughout time, for His purposes.

For those who voted Obama, your idolatry may look like inordinate and misplaced hope. "All our hopes for the Mission of God to renew the USA are going to happen," this is too a wicked  and unbelieving position. Repent. Jesus is King and he appoints wicked and just rulers all over the world, throughout time, for His purposes. As Mark Driscoll's blog pot preaches (which I also encourage you to read): "for those [who] have gotten sidetracked for the cause of a false king and a false kingdom by making too much of the election and too little of Jesus, today is a good day to practice repentance. . ."

A Call To Reason

I am distressed with the current state of Christians in America. Not all Christians, but specifically the kind of Christians who view anyone and anything that differs from their religious/political preference/POV. 

I really didn't want to start off my entry with a perceived attack, but the reality is, when attempting a discussion with most individuals as described above, they take an immediate defensive position and rarely give any real thought to the conversation, rather they just dig in and defend their position until the "firing" stops. So, that said, I apologize if you've already taken offense, I am desperately trying to engage in a discussion, not a bashing.

I am calling out for reason. I am pleading as Paul the Apostle pleaded for us to reason together. My worries began weeks before the election and have since turned into despair for my brothers and sister in Christ. Many of you feel the same as I, and many of you do not. It is under the banner of working together in unity as the body of Christ that I make my appeal to all of you reading this.

I voted for Barack Obama. Not because he was a lesser of two evils or anything like that. I voted for him because I truly believe he was the candidate best suited to lead our country. John McMain had many good attributes as well, but when I consulted my conscience I voted along those lines. We can bicker about whether we think Obama is a Marxist, a Socialist, a Muslim, or worse. We can label him a baby killer, pro-homosexual rights, tree hugger, etc. We can pick our two or three moral issues to stand on and make them our hills to die on. Unfortunately, this is where almost all Christians lose it. They view the issue of pro-choice as "pro-abortion" - literally meaning anyone voting for a "pro-choice" candidate is saying "I am in full support of abortion." Similarly, they view this same vote as saying "I am validating and endorsing the 'homosexual agenda' and am supporting homosexual marriages." I find it unfortunate that my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ have become so attached to the republican party that they are failing to see the bigger picture. 

The Republican party is just as screwed up as the Democratic party. 

That just needed to be said. 

A very close friend and I had a discussion about faith and politics a few years ago. In the discussion I assumed many things about him and his views based on how he lived out his faith. Here was a man who was attending seminary, seeking God on a daily basis, in love with Christ, and yet was a Democrat.

I was shocked. I literally could not believe it. Everything I was ever taught to believe about the Democratic party was that they were evil, they wanted to destroy traditional morality and usher in a new world of drunken sex parties with abortions as morning after solutions. The Dems wanted to destroy my faith and make every whim of our flawed humanity not just permissible, but highly encouraged. They wanted to make it ok for homosexual heathens to have equal rights based specifically on the basis of their sexual preference. These heathens would then go on to adopt children and pass on the legacy of evil to the next generation.

Does this sound crazy? That's because it is. It is as far from the real truth as it can get.

During World War II,  the German government used massive amounts of disinformation to smear all pho opposed them and their agenda. This is known as a propaganda campaign. This kind of disinformation id designed to build a nearly unbreakable sense of loyalty to the home team and build in a massive distrust and fearful hatred of the opposing side. The German's campaign worked. This is how the republicans and democrats treat each other. They each make massively oversimplified statements about the other's position meant to rile people up. Individuals like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter are the GOP generals while the other side has their political spinsters. All of these individuals are responsible for manipulating information to better suit their own political agendas and personal platform. 

On a personal side note - at the risk of biasing myself -  If I hear one more person tell me about what Rush Limbaugh says I think I'll kill myself. There. Got that off my chest. . . Don't worry - I hate listening to democrat rhetoric too.

Republicans tend to over simplify the Democratic point of view and hammer the pro-choice and gay rights issues while Dems over emphasize GOPpers archaic "Puritan" values and biggotry. Both parties have some legitimate complaints with the other, but neither side is willing to play nice with the other long enough to work anything out.

This is where I am calling for reason - let us work out these differences. Let us discuss our reasons in a respectful manner. GOPpers are not all greedy, racist biggots (though, sadly, many are. . .) and Dems are not all aborting gay babies (though sadly, there could be an argument for this. . .) My hope is that Christians on any side of the political  arena will set aside the polarizing aspects of their politics and follow John McCain's example of reaching across the aisle and work with those you do not 100% agree with - without condemnation. You might be surprised at what you might agree with them about.