Unruly Wisdom

Born to be Wild

2011-04-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

"Being concerned about people “rebelling” against you is a sign of pride and authoritarianism" - Eric Pazdziora

I wasn't really a rebellious child. My younger brother was considered to be the more "rebellious" one, but as an adult, I now see, we really weren't. Sure, I wore a wallet chain. My musical interest were often considered "rebellious" ranging from Coolio, to Rage Against the Machine, passing through The OC Supertones [and yes, the value of the latter was questioned as its message wasn't always something Biblical]. I even recall, not being allowed to wear biker shorts under regular shorts because they were the "symbol of a rebel" - thank you Andre Agassi.

In the end though, life wasn't so bad, I was given the freedom to make my own choices, and learn from my own mistakes. I have infinite respect for my parents for giving that to me.

Unfortunately, I have come to find out, I am not in the norm. In fact my poor wife is still dealing with remnants of an authoritarian childhood, even though we have moved 5582 miles (that's 8983 km for the more enlightened) away. I have several friends headed down the same road with their quiver of children. This Christian sub-culture is largely part of the homeschool movement. In the past twenty years I have gone through several stages in my attitude toward such an approach to parenting, now that I am nearly thirty, I think I finally have pin pointed what bothered me so much about the group, and this is in no small part due to watching my wife's journey out of what we call The Movement.

My perceptions of The Movement

1. Puzzlement (sometime in junior high) - when I first heard of homeschooling I could not understand why any parent would do this to their child, or why any kid would just go along with it because "how would they every witness to anyone?"

2. Frustration (college) - my university had many homeschoolers, and although some were fine, others were really...well weird. It wasn't their fault they had never regularly interacted with peers, but it was hard to be their friend because they didn't know how to be friends.

3. Anger (early years of marriage) - seeing what had been done to my wife for so many years was just not right. She was (and is) a fantastic person that is haunted to levels beyond her control.

4. Pity (the past year) - seeing so many friends fall into this way of life, I realize they don't fully understand what they are getting into. I had the experience of seeing a family up-close-and-personal after years of being in The Movement, my friends have no idea what road they are headed down, and are slowly brainwashing themselves. They feel it is their duty to have dozens of kids. It is their responsibility to keep their kids away from the evils of the world. They are trained, and train their kids, to defend their way of life no matter what the challenge is.

5. All of the above, plus a little more (today) - this has been building in my mind for quite a while, but after reading Eric Pazdziora's post on Quivering Daughters, I just had to bring it all together. The problem is Authoritarianism. It is often referred to as Patriarchal. However, reading the post, and thinking through my friend's individual situations, I think the problem starts in a church. A church that is so authoritarian it requires, forbids, and orders it's members. It labels people as rebellious, and is trigger happy with the heresy label. This results in individual families modeling their home live in the same way. They may even leave that church, but the damage has been done. Now that family is nearly destined to church hop because no other church is quite as perfect as theirs used to be, until they join/start a home church and whole-heartedly believe they are the only ones that know. This is where pity comes in, because they are trapped. Anger is not far behind, because reality is, they are doing this to themselves, and their children don't know any better. Which makes them awkward and frustrating to be around, and in the end, if they had really honestly studied God's message to us, I just have to ask: why?

If he weighed the same as a duck...then he is a heretic!

2011-04-02T02:30:00.000-07:00

Before I really get started, you must understand my frustration with the Christian sub-culture that has forgotten its purpose, and gotten bogged down with fighting itself, instead of proclaiming the love of Christ to the lost world around us. I see hate exuding from Christians and it stirs up a mixture of anger and sadness in me...I just do not believe this is how Jesus would carry himself right now. Also, as of right now I have not read Rob Bell’s Love Wins, I have merely read a barrage or reviews of it. The vast majority of which attack it mercilessly, and saddened me. However, I was delighted to read a friend’s blog to find what I can only assume is a fair and balanced review, which is the basis for my understanding of Rob Bell’s beliefs. I should point out, this is not a review of Rob Bell, or his book, but more of a question as to whether or not it is fair to label him as a heretic.

Now to the quickest way to get myself stoned:
Many claim that Rob Bell is a heretic, that is a very serious claim, that (I think) I fundamentally disagree with. Yes, his most recent book is obviously controversial, but is it actually heretical? Is it denying foundational doctrine? Or is it simply viewing some basic doctrine in a different way?

You and I don't agree on all points of doctrine. My wife and I don't even agree on all points of doctrine. I wouldn't call you guys heretics, and actually, I openly welcome healthy discussion of theological matters. This is important for a healthy community as well, but we need to accept that we're not all going to agree. To label someone as a heretic is - by definition - putting them outside that community and not having any more discussion with them until they change their ways.

As I understand it, Rob Bell has gone and studied the Greek and Hebrew meanings of words and come to the conclusion that Hell is temporal - not that it doesn't exist. His belief is still that Christ is the only way. The difference between Rob Bell's beliefs and traditional ones is that he believes that in time everyone will come to recognize Christ as their Messiah.

Although on thechristianwatershed.com they point out in great detail how Rob Bell came to his interpretation of the original language, AND how he is mistaken. Coming from an just about zero level of Greek, and possibly below zero level of Hebrew, it seems to me, the differences are subtle, and these could be easy mistakes to make...and were possibly not even malicious.

Regardless, of the what or why...again considering I am basing this on a review and not the book itself...Rob Bell appears to believe that if you don't come to know Christ personally in this physical life, you will go to Hell, and suffer. His belief, however, is that that is not the end of the road, where most believe it is.
For me personally, whether or not Rob Bell is right, has no bearing on how I live my life, or go about ministry. I desire to spread the love of God, and tell people about how my Jesus is the way!

This is why I have a problem with the attacks on Rob Bell. I do not think he is a heretic, I think he is a bit unorthodox in a few points of doctrine, but he appears to still believe firmly is salvation by grace.

Break me?

2010-10-01T00:35:00.000-07:00

I have never identified with all those worship songs that repeat over and over "break me, oh God!" It just never made sense. So many people that speak in "Christianese" use this language in their super-spiritual prayers, and I have never been able to understand it.

Today I read this post by Eric Pazdziora, and i could not possibly write it any better myself.

Being broken is a bad thing, why would God want that for us?

Pink Floyd was wrong - we do need education!

2010-06-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

TakePart: Participant Media - Waiting For 'Superman' - Infographic from Jr.canest on Vimeo.

As a former High-school teacher, I totally agree that one of the keys to solving the current crisis long-term is education. As a grad student I know that our grad-schools are full of foreigners that get funding from our government because there are not enough qualified/interested Americans. We need to save our schools. Our Public Schools.

I know the situation is bad. I know many have chosen to look after their own kids first. I cannot blame them I understand. However, and I do not think that the solution is putting our kids in private schools, or worse home-schooling. I know it is not the rule all the time, but much of the time, families that take their kids out of public schools are particularly involved in their children's lives, they care about the education they are getting. Therefore, leaving a larger population of less-followed kids in schools. Mob mentality takes over easy, majority rules, if most of the class is not interested in learning, or has no drive to do so, then the teacher's job is that much more difficult. If teacher's are focusing primarily on just keeping the class under control, than actual quality-teaching is not happening.

Often times, we think that sending our kids to private schools will give them a better education, or be a better environment. Though in some cases this can be true, I know from direct personal experience it is not necessarily so. In fact, it is much easier to become a private school teacher than a public school teacher, because the bar is lowered. Giving the obvious result of higher odds a teacher in a private school is of a lower quality, possibly even unable to get a job in public school.

Regarding homeschooling. I won't get into a philosophical debate of the reasoning, as that is a whole different can of worms, but it is the reason in my family we do not and will not home-school. However, we could, and not do our girls a disservice. I have a Masters in Mechanical Engineering, an undergraduate degree in Engineering, and a Minor in Mathematics, and my wife has an undergraduate degree in English, and a Minor in Psychology. We feel that combined we are qualified to teach a variety of courses which would cover our girls' educational needs. This is coincidence. Most families do not find themselves in this situation. In fact, there are very few families in which a parent is actually qualified to teach Calculus, Physics, Creative Writing, or senior year English Literature. My poor wife was done this educational injustice, and - outside of her collegiate field of study - there are some gaps of knowledge that should not be.

Lastly, in our house, we believe we have a purpose on this earth. This purpose, to put it briefly, is to witness to the world around us with our love. Public schools are part of that world around us. We do our best to impart a Bible-based education at home, and let the girl's teachers do the rest. We do keep up with what Natalie is learning in school, and up to this point, her teachers have been spectacular...then again, she is only 5. We plan to be completely involved in our girls' educations, as it is something very important to us. But this education has to fall into our perceived purpose. I believe that if we Christians filled public schools with our kids, and were involved in that education, we would see significant changes in our country.

To close this off, I thought this song was appropriate!

Religiosity

2010-03-15T23:12:00.000-07:00

"You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true." - Matthew 5:34

I always knew the concept of sounding religious was sickening. I felt it was against Jesus' teachings. I assumed it's what the pharisees must have sounded like to regular jews, but I hadn't seen it written as explicitly as I did this morning. In Eugene Peterson's The Message it really stands out. I know for most people it has just become a way of speaking, they don't mean to fake piety, it is just a habit - a bad habit. I know that for me whenever people say things like "God bless you", "God willing", or use that soft spoken high pitch tone of voice that only devout Christians have mastered...I tune them out - it just sounds fake! The way I see it, the world should not recognize us by the way we speak, but by the way we live. We need true sincerety, not a show based on established rules of how to sound holy, because otherwise no matter what the message "it becomes less true!"

A small philosophy rant by Juan

2009-07-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

So, on my other blog I went ahead and wrote a small rant on Rand's Objectivist heroes in her various novels.

http://lopezj4141.blogspot.com/2009/07/objectivism-and-victimhood.html

Anyway, I have been thoroughly enjoying this literature. :-) I'm now carefully saving up the books left by Rand in my collection, so I can parse out the enjoyment just as long as I can...

--
Juan

“If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” -George Orwell.
-

Part 1: Power vs. Authority

2009-05-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

I have been having some good discussions with a few of my friends lately on power and authority in a Christian and secular context. Walter Wink is a good source on this topic from a Biblical perspective. Recently, I was introducing my kids to real cartoons: The Looney Tunes! Although I do so cautiously (because of the gun violence), they seem to think it is funny. Later, I started thinking about the Bugs Bunny episode we watched from a sociological perspective.

Who has the power in this episode?

Who has the authority in this episode?

Definitions
1. Power – Exertion of physical force to enforce an idea/cause through subjugation; might makes right.
2. Authority – Exertion of force to promote an idea/cause through persuasion and sacrifice.

Which of these does Elmer Fudd embody? Power fits with him because he is supposed to be the superior species…and he has a gun. The animators do a good job at casting him as a buffoon with power. He is easily misled and manipulated. Bugs Bunny, on the other hand, mostly uses authority to get his way. He conjoles and persuades, even with bad reasoning. He also will masquerade as someone else.

I don’t think either is a flattering picture of power and authority but in conclusion, Bugs Bunny has the superior intellect, manipulative ideas and experience while Elmer Fudd simply has…a gun. This shows you how dangerous power and authority can be in the wrong hands.

So how does this apply today?

There are Christians who are hellbent on accessing power. In the process, many of them have lost their witness. These are the same ones that appear more ‘Republican’ than Christian. These are also the same ones who also appear more ‘Democrat’ than Christian. It exists on both sides although we tend to focus on the Republicans because they were more savvy in connecting with Christians. The sad part is that there are very few well known Christians that command both power and authority. The only two I can think of are Billy Graham and Mother Teresa. Both have demonstrated the ability to shift our culture through their actions (power) and challenge systems and structures (authority). But first, they challenged the systems and structures whether it is spiritual, physical or both. I am not saying this is all they did.

Jesus had power AND authority!

Power
Jesus demonstrated his power by revealing his true nature and his connection to God. He performed signs and did miracles. Signs in the Bible were demonstrated through his command over the natural world. Miracles demonstrated his command over human mortality and illness. His power was meant to remind people that he was not of this world. Even though his power was undeniable, there were some who went to great lengths to silence him. At some point, the Pharisee stop questioning his power and started trying to trick him into abusing his power. The power that Jesus displayed was so jarring that many followed him as a result. But his power was not in a vacuum. He did not wield it for the sake of wielding it. He taught people which points to his authority. Power in modern society is designed to originate from a single source.

Authority
Jesus demonstrated his authority through his knowledge of God, his Triune status, the material world and the spiritual world. He talked about God as if he had intimate knowledge of Him. He taught people things that were reserved for scholars yet he did not receive this type of training. He discerned situations that showed he was in tune with people’s issues and the movements of his day. He also clearly saw how the spiritual world affected people and clearly wanted to set things right. He allowed himself to be tested to strengthen his witness and reveal his motives. This is one of the reasons why demons were so afraid of him. It is clear they respected his authority because they saw the power he had and his motives. Jesus willingly sacrificed himself for people who did not deserve it. Demons hate humankind and they knew that humankind hates itself…yet Jesus loved humankind with a passion that frightened them. Authority is based on validation from someone or something outside yourself. For example, if apply for a job, they want references to validate that you are someone worth hiring. They want the authority of others to confirm what you are saying in your resume.

Jesus putting power and authority together is a deadly combination. It gives us a sneek peak of what his Kingdom is actually like. It, in no way, looks like how the world uses power and authority. I would submit that if you have authority, you can eventually gain power. But the opposite is not true.

Here are a few examples:

Power
Adolf Hitler
The Pope
Jerry Falwell
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Emperor Constantine
Simon the Sorcerer
Pontus Pilate
Michael Jordan

Authority
Winston Churchill
Mother Teresa
Billy Graham
Barack Obama
Athanasius
Apostle Peter (Acts 8)
Jesus
Jackie Robinson

Here’s the catch: you don’t even have to be a good speaker to be respected as an authority. Your experience and sacrifice says it all because you have been tested. You can gain power by illegitimate means but not authority. Power hungry people are too focused on its outward manifestations. People with the right kind of authority don’t care if they appear to have power or not. Jesus did not align himself with political or religious leaders.

With authority, people will bend over backwards to hear what you have to say. Mother Teresa has a very quiet small voice but she can tell single Christians to stop sleeping together. Authority is not about people doing exactly what you want. It is about the integrity of your position. Single Christians know that she is right whether they want to admit it or not and will not argue with her. Yet she proposes no power moves to get them to stop sleeping together. People with a proper understanding of authority rely on God to prick the conscience and to judge. It is their connection to God that makes them valuable and their authority real. Now imagine Pat Robertson saying the same thing.

Now, the list above does not mean that anyone in the power list has not exercised authority. It just means that their position fits mostly with my definition.

Check out the Busgs Bunny/Elmer Fudd 'Rabbit of Seville' clip.

So here is a question.

Which expression (power or authority) would make an Atheist or a Christian feel safer about expressing their views? Where do you see this?

Part 2: Power and Authority in a Modern Religious Context

Religious Rebellion

2009-05-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

George Orwell:

"Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it."

I have noticed a trend which I find highly disturbing in the Christian youth these days. I understand that there is a common experience in youth generally referred to as rebellion. Rebellion obiously takes many forms through the life of a young person, but in this case, it is finding the religious beliefs of the parental generation to be insufficient, and a need to make those beliefs "theirs", or acclimatize the beliefs to their generational worldview.

While I don't think this rebellion is anything that is unusual, the current trends in Christian youth rebellion have been highly disturbing. After experimenting with the concept of "emerging church" over the past years, the emerging youth have decided that the "softness" of their parents and those currently "in charge" is something that must be rejected.

Again, this is not new, the U.S. Church has seen a few generational rounds of revival and movement towards more fundamental views of Christianity.

However, I believe I am seeing an even GREATER difference than merely a push towards more fundamental interpretations of religious life. I believe that we are seeing a sweep towards unthinking fundamentalism that paints itself as a holy "all-or-nothing" war on everything deemed to fall outside of the newfound worldview, and gives it that frightening "because GOD says so" attempt at authority.

One of the most dangerous results of this newfound thinking is the espousement of radicalism that is frightening in tone and perspective.

Examples I have heard or had thrown at me during discussions:

-The first ammendment is a logical and religious fallacy. With only one truth, how can we respect other perspectives we know to be untrue? We don't owe our allegiance to the government and constitution, we owe it to God, and God trumps the 1st amendment.

-We must quit thinking about God as a merely the luvvy-dubby grace-filled lover of all that the liberal wing of Christianity has foisted upon us. God's Justice should not be forgotten, and should be ENFORCED.

-We were a majority Christian nation - and we should keep it as such. Man's law should submit to God's law, and our leaders answer to Him. Not subjecting the government to God's law is a cop-out by weak Christians who are not fully devoted to God.

-There is only ONE correct interpretation of Scripture - God's. All these denominations have it wrong by espousing different interpretations.

Do appropriate divinity, prophet, and holy book substitutions in many of these perspectives, and these words are indistinguishable from the crazies that decided the Great Satan needed to have some buildings blown up on 9-11. How did we let our children get to this point of radical thinking? Am I the only one that thinks this double-plus Reformed-Calvinism shift in the youth is a surprising extrema in the pendulum shifts of religious rebellion? Am I the only one concerned?

I'd like to hear thoughts and comments. :-)

Welcome from Ron!

2009-05-14T06:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome, my name is Ron. But friends and family also know me as Butter, T-Bird, Tee, Getwizdom and lately, Prophetik Soul. These nicknames represent my past, present and future. You are not allowed to call me by the first three nicknames…unless you grew up with me. But it is important for you to know that I am a multi-dimensional agitator and each nickname reflects that. I am more complex than my impoverished upbringing, I am deeper than my skin color and I am serious about my Christian faith. Yet all of these things have shaped me in some way. I cannot deny my race consciousness, my love of the city and my anger at injustice. I am African American in a country that reminds me everyday of my outsider status yet I have the good fortune to have quality education under my belt.

I am a questioner but not a mystic. I ask questions to seek answers and I don’t assume that they will show up overnight. I am a discerner and look for insight. I believe God is in the details which means we must seek him.

Lastly, I am a firestarter. If God had not gotten to me, I would have been setting fires to relieve my anger. Instead, I have directed my energies toward asking the hard questions. As my professors figured out, for me, there is always a question behind my question.

Yet I work hard to understand others positions courtesy of my wife and kids. I am a thinker but I am compassionate but don’t mistake this for weakness. Whether it means something to you or not, I come from the school of hard knocks. I won’t hesitate to call you out.

My interests lie in communications, urban studies, media studies, anthropology, systems thinking, philosophy, visual culture, economic development and social change. I am presently considering a run for my Phd…just so you can call me doctor. How ‘bout that!

In doing so, know that I mean well. What you see on here from me is what you would encounter in person: a person who loves God, talks alot and wants to represent him to the oppressed and to protect them…from the corrupt and powerful. Jesus, my man, 50 grand, carried himself this way. I owe him my life.

Hello from Juan!

2009-04-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

Hello, and welcome one and all. :-) I may be ambitious in believing that there may be more than just us posters reading this, but I hope that eventually we can draw some interesting debaters out to our little corner of the cacophonous bloggosphere.

We're three guys with three sets of opinions (at least, probably more...), and have found discussion with each other to be interesting, invigorating, and at times challenging - but always illuminating. I look forward to comments and discussions on future meanderings we may take in this cooperative.

As Dan said, we're definitely wide-ranging and spread out. I have had the pleasure of knowing Dan for nearly a decade. Ron, I've known quite a bit less, and through this electronic medium only, but I have appreciated his comments and discussion nonetheless, and look forward to getting to know him better and letting him get to be annoyed by me.

I echo the sentiment that I am not a Republican, Democrat, Baptist, Methodist, GenericLabelX, GenericLabelY...I am simply a man trying to understand a bit more of the world around him, and learn to love and follow his God as best he can. I will often fall short of the mark, but I enjoy the continuous challenge that is life. If we had nothing new to strive for tomorrow, what point would there be in getting up to face it? I fiercely love both my "home" countries, U.S. and Mexico, and love them enough to see the promise and flaws in each. I am unapologetically proud to be as blessed as I am with my history and background, and feel no need to be ashamed of who I am, what I am, or from whence I come, flaws and all. :-)

If you want to get to know ME a little better than these philosophical musings, that will be more personally (and exhaustively verbosely) taken care of on my own blog rather than here.

I'm excited about the possibilities, and mulling topics over in my head as I write this.

Introducing Unruly Wisdom

2009-04-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

“Continue to stir up trouble. I don't always agree with u but American Christians need it and it is in your blood.” – Ron Tinsley

In the past 27 years I have often found myself in the middle of contentious situations and discussions. Often times, the reasons were not worthwhile (i.e. going on strike because the Penguins are cold), and sometimes I was mildly more usefully active (like going face to face with the school president for unjustly expelling my brother). Fact is, my family has been cursed with the inability to keep our thoughts to ourselves, and I therefore get myself into trouble on a regular basis. Most recently, I have gotten fed up with the intersection of Christians and Politics, and how it has been so counter-productive to the actual showing of love to a hurting world. I am not a Repubblican, or a Democrat, I am an American that wants to see our country get back on its feet. I do not believe in political correctness because it seems to belittle us as mankind, but I do believe in respecting and loving my fellow man. I am not a Conservative Bible beating Christian, or a Liberal peace and love activist, I am a follower of Jesus Christ in the most biblical way I know how to be. I do not think of myself as a great conversationalist or debater, and don’t believe that my way is the only way, but I like to challenge others points of view to both understand them and help them see outside their own box.

Today, I am announcing the beginning of a blog…this blog: Unruly Wisdom. This is not meant to be a political, religious, philosophical, sociological, or scientific forum; even though, all those topics will most likely be covered. I am honored that two great friends of mine are joining me to make this a more interesting place. I have spent hours on end discussing everything with these guys, and it is an understatement to say that we do NOT agree on everything, but I still love them and look forward to hearing more from them.

Juan is a Mexican friend from college that often goes by Nacho (which in no way is a racial slur), and might actually be nerdier than I am. We spent far too much time in the Biomechanics lab exorcising demons from it, and arguing over music, alcohol, and what is wrong with Americans.

Ron is a black guy from Philly that was so unfortunate to have me join his Bible study and then ended up co-leading a youth group with me. I’m pretty sure he still thinks of me as a crazy white guy, but I always know that no conversation with him will end in under 3 hours.

On behalf of all three of us, welcome, we’d love to hear your point of view…on whatever!