The Bible

People making claims about scripture being black and white need to read the words in red. They make everything else grey with love.

Haiti

We don’t watch TV much anymore. When the box is on, it’s either fixed to the local PBS station or playing a DVD. When I went to bed last Tuesday night, I read a blurb about an earthquake in Haiti. The story didn’t say much. The headline didn’t hook me.

On Wednesday, my dad, brother Bob, and I went to see Avatar. My dad mentioned that they still were unable to contact anyone in Haiti, even those at the American embassy. I was shocked. I didn’t know it was that bad.

It’s hard not to be depressed when things like this happen. A lot of people ignore these things, close their emotions off from what is happening "so far away." I find it hard to do that. I dwell on my inability to help. If I had a job, if I didn’t have kids to care for right now, I believe I’d be on an airplane or at the very least, donating money.

My dad kept saying, "Oh, you wouldn't want to volunteer for that. It's not like they'd be putting you up in a hotel or anything." My dad and I differ a bit on these types of ideas.

“Evangelical” televangelist, Pat Robertson reared his ugly comments shortly after the tragedy. He claimed that Haiti had made a deal with the devil, and God was punishing them for it. That made me very angry. The Bible is full of scriptures that tell us that God doesn’t do those sorts of things. Jesus dispells the idea specifically. It angers me that someone portrays Christianity this way, with fear instead of love. Many spoke out against his comments.

Tony Campolo wrote:

"I don’t believe God called this disaster down on Haiti, but I do believe God’s grace and love, flowing through those of us who are surrendered to God’s will, can bring healing and redemption to our Haitian brothers and sisters."

One Christian blogger pointed out that none of us cared much for Haiti in past decades while its people lived lives of incredible poverty. Our politicians, our country has done little or nothing to help these people or their country. His plea was this:

“Please, please give generously to help Haiti get back on its feet. But in a week or so when the story has gone from our screens, let’s not forget them, and let’s try to get the systemic issues sorted out. They need debt forgiven. They need minimum wage agreements. They need symmetric fair trade agreements. They need to be given a fair chance, especially by the US.”
- Kester Brewin from his blog: // __ issues. in code. __ //

The problem, of course, is that there are tons of places all over the globe that need help. Individually, we can't help them all. I believe we could help most of them if we acted collectively, in an organized way, but I also realize that there are many that just don't care.

Unlike Mr. Robertson, I don't think God is currently reveling in revenge or anger. I believe He's in mourning. The Bible is pretty clear: He suffers with us and for us.

Random Thoughts

I've been sick lately. Sorry for not posting. Here's a few random things on my mind lately:

• Paper Heart with Michael Cera wasn't a bad movie, but it really wasn't overly funny, heart warming or thought provoking either.
• We bought a few products from the grocery store lately with advertisements for Beyonce's new tour: I AM… Sasha something or other. The thing is, the "I AM" part really stuck out and the rest was kind of lost. So it reads, "Beyonce's I AM," which on first glace seems rather blasphemous or at least Old Testament centered.
• I once worked with a guy that didn't believe that dinosaurs were ever real. At the time I was very atheistic and antagonistic, and he was a Christian. His theory was that scientists needed an excuse to fleece government grants, so they found elephant bones and re-arranged them to resemble giant lizards. He stated that, since they weren't mentioned in the Bible, they never really existed. As a Christian now, I find that to be a strange position. The Bible isn't primarily about the creation of everything from A to Z under the sun. It's about God interacting with humans. Dinosaurs don't really fit into that story. Including stories about dinosaurs in the Bible would be pointless. Then again, there are a handful of scriptures that refer to giant beasts. So…
• Some thoughts on salad: 15 years ago, if you'd told me I'd be eating a salad today, I'd have thought you were crazy. 5 years ago, if you'd told me the salad would be merely a mid-day snack, again, you'd be crazy. 1 year ago, if you'd told me I'd include green onions as my favorite ingredient, I'd say you were insane. Me and salad, we've come a long way.
• I still have an opening for a brother-in-law. Let me know if you're interested.
• I'm not real happy with our local malls (we have two). The economy is bad. Unemployment at an all time high. Malls? Not so popular anymore. Some would say dying off. But, they still feel the need to charge an arm and a leg for kids to get photos with Santa. I understand that you want and need to charge something, but $13 for a 5x7? That's outrageous, and they don't allow you to take your own photos. We're skipping the mall altogether. Lapeer's Chamber of Commerce hosts a Santa cabin that charges $5 for a 4x6 and all the digital photos you can snap yourself. For that price you get Santa and Mrs. Claus too! Malls can go the way of the dinosaur.
• The Flint Institute of Arts is showing Pontypool, a zombie movie starting tonight and running through Saturday. It's cheap. They tend to show films that don't get wide releases or marketing budgets.
• Mayor McCheese is awesome.

Feeling like I should be more random, but that's all I have today. I have to go finish up a bunch of design projects for Christmas. Happy Thursday people.