Friday, April 28, 2006

Yes, you read my title correctly. Pamela Anderson has written an op-ed column in the Wall Street journal.

Surprisingly, the article is well-written. It is thoughtful, insightful, and articulate. Apparantly she is the honorary chair of PETA and has taken an interest in animal rights. The best paragraph?

I've vowed never to be involved with a production that uses live apes because I don't want to be a part of this cruelty, and I bet you don't either. Let's drop the curtain on ape "actors" by sticking to animatronic animals or willing human performers for our ads. It's not like there's a shortage of struggling starlets willing to embarrass themselves if it means getting on TV.

Tags: Wall Street Journal, PETA, Pamela Anderson

Posted by Amanda at 4/28/2006 01:39:00 PM 0 Comments

Thursday, April 27, 2006

This video absolutely infuriates me.

Shirley Phelps Roper heads up a group of protestors from her church--a Baptist church in Iowa. These people picket military funerals holding up such signs as "God hates you" and "Thank God for dead soldiers."

This is a sick and twisted view of Christianity.

I have to applaud Hannity and Colmes for a job well done in their interview.

Excerpts (full transcript can be found here):

SEAN HANNITY: Ah you feel good about this? Do you feel good about going to the funerals of men that put that put their lives on the line for their country to give you the right to do this and to put pain… SHIRLEY PHELPS-ROPER – Of course. SEAN HANNITY- to inject pain into their families lives. This is something that you feel good about? SHIRLEY PHELPS-ROPER – I feel good about warning this nation that the wrath of God is pouring out on their heads.

SEAN HANNITY– I’ve got a question for you. You thank God for 911? You thank God for AIDS? You thank God for dead soldiers that give you the right to be a fool? SHIRLEY PHELPS-ROPER – I thank God for every God for every one of his single righteous judgments that he executes upon a rebellious nation…

SEAN HANNITY– What are your sins? SHIRLEY PHELPS-ROPER – Yeah, you tried this the other day. Why don’t we talk about this issue at hand, Mr. Hannity. SEAN HANNITY– What are your sins? SHIRLEY PHELPS-ROPER – Why is it that you don’t warn your neighbor? Why is it that you don’t use that bully pulpit that you have to warn your neighbor that his sin is taking him to hell and to encourage your fellow man. Knowing the terror of the Lord, you should persuade men to obey and behave. SEAN HANNITY– Alright…Halleluiah

When I hear what this woman has to say, not only do I feel a vast anger, but I also feel heartbroken. She has never met my God. My Savior. The One who loves her and wants to be part of her life. He wants to be her Savior. But her views are so distorted that she can't see love and grace. All she sees is hate, judgment, and condemnation.

This isn't who God is!

Unfortunately, people see folks like Ms. Roper and automatically assume that everyone who carries the name "Christian" is the same. And, of course, they want no part of that. Goodness, I don't even want a part of what Ms. Roper is offering the world! She is offering hopelessness; Jesus gives hope. She is offering hate; Jesus gives love. She is offering condemnation; Jesus gives grace.

Tags: Christianity, Baptist Protestor, Shirley Roper Phelps, Hannity

Posted by Amanda at 4/27/2006 01:12:00 PM 7 Comments

New Tenant

Check out my new tenant this week, Reflections Unlimited. I won't link to it here, so you'll have to click on it in the sidebar.

Rex Pe is "a student of philosophy whose writing attempts and creative work are drawn from his insatiable quest for enlightenment and curiosity about man and the universe." He describes his blog this way:

This blog presents stories and meditations about culture and society, philosophy and the humanities, religion and spirituality, language teaching, man and the universe, experiences on the road and life in general.

Check it out!

Posted by Amanda at 4/27/2006 12:50:00 PM 0 Comments

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Christian Carnival 119 is up and running on Brain Cramps for God. There are some fabulous posts this week, and I encourage you to check it out!

Tags: Christian Carnival

Posted by Amanda at 4/26/2006 09:26:00 AM 0 Comments

Monday, April 24, 2006

Rhett Smith has a great post on the idea that the church is being feminized. While it is obvious that he was offended by the idea, his thoughts are well written, valid, and right on the point. I urge you to check it out.

Tags: Christianity, Church, Feminism

Posted by Amanda at 4/24/2006 12:17:00 PM 0 Comments

Sunday, April 23, 2006

The Martian Anthropologist posted about an article in Wikipedia called "Religiosity and intelligence."  One of the first things you'll read is a quote from a study done in 1986:

All but four of the forty-three polls listed support the conclusion that native intelligence varies inversely with degree of religious faith; i.e., that, other factors being equal, the more intelligent a person is, the less religious he is.

I don't even know where to begin commenting on this. For those of you are regular readers (and surprisingly enough, there are a few of you), you know that I am most definitely a Christian. And it completely blows my mind that Wikipedia says this is the Christian response to the charge that Christians are less intelligent:

It has been argued by some Christians that the Bible does not necessarily dispute these findings, as the beginning of the first letter to Corinthians reads:

"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." (1 Corinthians 1 v 26-27, New International Version)

While it's true that the Bible does, in fact, say that, Wikipedia has taken it completely out of context--and in doing show has shown the bias held by editors of Wikipedia.

Now, it's seems to be acceptable in society to use "religious" and "Christian" interchangebly. But I want to assert that they are not synonymous. I am a Christian. I am not religious. Religion is nothing more than following a strict set of rules (which is where we get the phrase "doing something religiously."). People who don't understand Christianity (which, I also assert would include some who label themselves "Christian") don't see the difference, but it's a big one.

Christianity acknowledges that we are all flawed. Everyone, from the corrupt politician to Mother Theresa to the Pope. CS Lewis wrote a poem in which he faces this truth about himself:

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin;
I talk of love--a scholar's parrot may talk Greek--
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Christianity is about acknowledging this truth. And then about allowing God to give you a heart transplant so that you can do as He has commanded: "Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence--and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself" (Luke 10:27, The Message).

Religion? Religion is about judgement and condemnation. Religion asks the question, "How many right things have you done today?" Religion leaves no room for love or grace. True Christianity is not religion.

So then, I have to ask, how accurate can these studies be? If the basic premise of the study, that religion=Christianity, is wrong, then how can we take them at face value?

Tags: Christianity, Religiosity and Intelligence, Religion

Posted by Amanda at 4/23/2006 12:25:00 PM 0 Comments

Saturday, April 22, 2006

I just watched the one movie that I should probably never watch again. Steel Magnolias is one of my favorite movies, but I hadn't seen it in years. Not only does the movie just break my heart, but it makes me so homesick. I miss the South. I miss the closeness of my family. I miss my mama.

Most folks out here don't realize I'm Southern. My accent virtually disappears when I am around people who don't have one. When I do talk to my family, I'm teased mercilessly by my friends here because the accent comes back in full force. I know that they don't mean anything by it, and that it's a treat to hear a "real" Southern accent.

It's as if I'm torn between two worlds. I'm almost two different people. The Southern Amanda seems to be completely different from the Coloradan Amanda. The one constant between the two is my relationship with Christ. Without that, I'd probably be wearing a straight jacket by now, and my view would consist of padded walls.

Do any of you ever feel this way?

Tags: Life, the South, Steel Magnolias

Posted by Amanda at 4/22/2006 04:49:00 PM 0 Comments

Friday, April 21, 2006

I was raised in the Bible belt. Good old Southern fundamentalism was rampant. I grew up believing that Christians are dull, boring, cookie-cutter people who are always looking for what you're doing wrong. In fact, for several years I became a dull, boring, cookie-cutter person of faith.

I was dead wrong. I actually lived a miserable existance for awhile because of my very wrong preconceived notions about Christianity. The sad thing was, no one ever told me my perception was wrong. My perception was reinforced from the pulpit three times a week.

I can still remember when I realized there was a LOT more to life than what I had. I began going to Chi Alpha Campus Ministry my senior year in college and encountered people who lived for Christ--and they were full of life! It was so strange to me. People who loved to proclaim Christ's love and grace--not His wrath and condemnation.

When I began to realize there was more to a life in Christ than I realized, I started reading Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller. This book revolutionized the way I thought about Christianity. Don drank beer and smoked a pipe (gasp!). And he loved God. I had always been taught that they were mutually exclusive and anyone who did those things were worldly heathens on an express route to hell. But Don Miller loved Christ, and that love was evident. As he shared his journey, I found myself longing for the relationship that he had with Christ.

Bottom line: Christians aren't all the same. Christians can have blue hair, piercings, and wear punk clothing. Christians aren't plastic cookie-cutter people. We have fun. We laugh. We love. It isn't about judgment or condemnation. Not even close.

Tags: Christianity, God, Jesus, Love, Grace

Posted by Amanda at 4/21/2006 02:38:00 PM 0 Comments

Thursday, April 20, 2006

I forgot to mention this weeks tenant, Christian Answers. Run by a man named Pablo, this blog addresses serious questions posed by readers who want answers. The most recent post is a fascinating read about the Gospel of Judas. Check it out, comment, and tell him Mandi sent you!

Posted by Amanda at 4/20/2006 10:12:00 AM 0 Comments

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

If you haven't at least heard about the scandal surrounding the Lacrosse team at Duke University, then you probably live under a rock. Basically, a stripper who danced at a party attended by members of the team has accused 3 of the boys of violently beating and raping her in the bathroom of a frathouse. You can read about it here, here, here, here, and here. That last one is my favorite.

This whole case just frustrates me to no end. The prosecution simply doesn't have a case. He tested the DNA of every single white male on the team and didn't produce a match. There are time-stamped photos of the alleged victim with bruises and cuts before the alleged attack took place. The eye-witness second stripper can't even tell us if a rape happened or not.

This is really nothing more than a race war. What else could cause the DA to aggressively seek charges against the white boys accused of raping a black woman?

Times like these make me ashamed of my hometown.

Tags: Duke Lacrosse, Duke University, Lacrosse

Posted by Amanda at 4/19/2006 10:22:00 AM 0 Comments

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

This story, about religion in prison, is excellent.

Best quote?

"I used to read the Bible like any book, but they taught us to read one verse maybe a hundred times until you get the meaning," says Rodney Collier. "Now I know how to go to God."

Tags: Christianity, Prison

Posted by Amanda at 4/18/2006 04:52:00 PM 0 Comments

Salvation in Prison

This story, about religion in prison, is excellent.

Best quote?

"I used to read the Bible like any book, but they taught us to read one verse maybe a hundred times until you get the meaning," says Rodney Collier. "Now I know how to go to God."

Tags: Christianity, Prison

Posted by Amanda at 4/18/2006 04:52:00 PM 0 Comments

Sunday, April 16, 2006

I was going to post this last week, and I forgot. Second Page Media has a FABULOUS blog entry titled, "This life has been censored for content." It opens with this:

At the not-so-ripe old age of 22, I've come to realize that a great deal of censorship issues don't mean much to me, being an adult and all. While for most people the fact something isn't directly bothering them is good enough to stop worrying about it, I'd like to think about the impact policies done now could effect future generations from the one growing up directly behind me to many more that have yet to be born.

I am fairly happy about the time that I grew up in. I came before the Barney revolution, before there were tailor-made blocks of family friendly programming on cartoon networks that were designed for me, back when if I felt like learning, I could watch PBS. I saw Looney Toons cartoons that were apparently too racist for children of today to see. I never put two and two together that the guy with the funny looking eyes was supposed to be making fun of everyone from Japan and I missed the boat on the deep-speaking, dark colored… he looked like an oversized mole, I'm not sure… but whatever he was, he was supposed to be a stereotype for Africans. Could have fooled me. Perhaps I was just a dumb kid.

Speaking of which, I grew up back when the word "dumb" was okay. Now it's… what?: educationally challenged? I'm sure there's some lengthy multi-syllable word that that sums up what used to be called 'dumb', but I try to keep from learning such new buzzwords at the risk of my head exploding.

Heck, I even played some Mortal Kombat when I was younger. Anyone remember that game? Every time you hit someone the screen was filled with blood. It was an entertaining game that, for some reason or another, didn't turn me into a mass killer.

Posted by Amanda at 4/16/2006 12:12:00 PM 0 Comments

Notable Quotes for Passion Week

Check these out, from Independent Christian Voice:

A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.

I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.

As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene. …No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.

Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander the Great, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, he shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of school, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.

No one else holds or has held the place in the heart of the world which Jesus holds. Other gods have been as devoutly worshipped; no other man has been so devoutly loved.

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Posted by Amanda at 4/16/2006 12:04:00 PM 0 Comments

Chat with God: Repenting made easy

I found this today, and I don't know if I should laugh or be offended.

Basically, someone has set up a bot who chats with you as if it's God. Unfortunately, bots really can't hold great conversations. My conversation with "God."

Me:
So you're God.
God:
Interesting deduction. Yup. That's me alright.
Me:
You wrote the Bible.
God:
Thanks for telling me: said I wrote the Bible.
Me:
Can you quote the Bible?
God:
Only at formal occasions.
Me:
What's a formal occasion?
God:
That's a good question.
Me:
Can you answer it?
God:
" That's a good question. "? Can I answer it?
Me:
Who is Jesus?
God:
Jesus is my son.
Me:
Why did he die?
God:
To achieve his goal.
Me:
What was Jesus' goal?
God:
Is that a rhetorical question?
Me:
No
God:
Oh so must really want an answer.

The bot is so bad, it really is kind of funny.

Tags: iGod

Posted by Amanda at 4/16/2006 11:53:00 AM 0 Comments

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Every night, thousands of children in Uganda walk miles into town to sleep for fear of being abducted out of their homes.

Let's do something about it! Invisible Children is organizing a Global Night Commute on Saturday, April 29th.  I urge you to seriously consider getting involved. "We're taking this lying down."

Tags: Christianity, Invisible Children, Uganda, Global Night Commute

Posted by Amanda at 4/12/2006 09:11:00 AM 0 Comments

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

There's a song by Todd Agnew called "My Jesus" that tells of a Jesus people are rarely introduced to.

Todd Agnew has the gift of telling it like it is. For example,

Who is this that You follow
This picture of the American dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side
Or fall down and worship at His holy feet

Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part
Sometimes I doubt we’d recognize Him

But he takes it a step further when he says,

Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despises the proud
I think He’d prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud

I want to be like my Jesus

I don't know about you, but this makes me feel about an inch tall. Because I know how true this is.

Most of us have a picture of Jesus in our heads that is completely contrary to how he is portrayed in the Bible.

First of all, Jesus wasn't white. He was from the Middle East, people. Secondly, he didn't give people a license to sin. He loved people and extended grace and mercy, but he was firm in what he taught. Jesus wasn't legalistic. He wasn't dogmatic. He simply stood for the Truth. I can't remember the last time I saw a Christian (myself included) who simply stood for the Truth.

A life in Christ isn't about the rules. It isn't black and white. It's never a matter of, "You sinned, so Jesus can't possibly love you." Yes, you sinned. So did I! So *do* I on a daily basis! God doesn't love me any less because of my sin. My sin breaks his heart, that's for sure. But only because he wants the very best for me, and I keep screwing that up with bad choices.

I want to be like my Jesus.

Posted by Amanda at 4/11/2006 08:30:00 PM 0 Comments

Monday, April 10, 2006

Am I the only Christian who thinks this is ridiculous? The American Family Association has accused Wal-Mart of "pushing an agenda" by promoting and selling the recent Academy Award winner for Best Picture in stores.

That's right. Apparantly, by selling the Best Picture for 2006 in its stores, Walmart is pushing a gay agenda.

This is ludicrous! No, I don't agree with the homosexual lifestyle, and I have no plans to see the movie. But I'm not going to stop shopping at a store that is doing what stores do--selling what sells. Brokeback Mountain is no different than several other movies sold by Walmart--but no one has complained about those. Let's see...there's Rent, which features 2 gay couples and 4 people who suffer from AIDS. Then there's the full seasons of Sex and the City. What about those? Why hasn't Walmart been pushed to take those off the shelves?

You know, I like my freedom. I like the rights that I have to agree or disagree with you. These are actually God given rights, because God created us all with free will. Groups like these have missed the point. You can't censor everything. You can disagree with it, choose to not see it, but you can't force people not to sell it or buy it.

Tags: Christianity, Walmart, Brokeback Mountain

Posted by Amanda at 4/10/2006 09:42:00 PM 0 Comments

Monastery: Reality TV?

Something about this just doesn't sit well with me. TLC has taken 5 men and 5 women and plopped them into a monastery and abbey, respectively, for 6 weeks. And filmed it.

The premise of The Monastery, an American version of a similar British show produced last year for the BBC, is to cloister five men of varied backgrounds and faiths at the Benedictine Monastery of Christ in the Desert here in the mountains northwest of Santa Fe and five women at the Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey on a farm near Dubuque, Iowa. Each participant has a dramatic back story, from a soldier who lost his leg in the Iraq war to a woman who had her first child at age 14 and yet put herself through school for an MBA degree.

"This isn't a reality show," series producer Sarah Woodford says.

"The point has not been to create traps for hapless people to fall into. We're interested in exploring how people like us can live a good and purposeful life and what the 1,500-year-old monastic tradition can teach modern people."

Not only did they invade a sacred way of life, but it almost seems as if they are intentionally trying to mock the faith of the monks and nuns.

Maybe I'm overreacting. Thoughts? Comments?

Tags: Christianity, Monastery, TLC, Reality TV

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Posted by Amanda at 4/10/2006 09:33:00 PM 0 Comments

Friday, April 07, 2006

I am amazed at what folks will believe these days. It seems that National Geographic has just unveiled The Gospel of Judas (for CNN's version, click here). This Gnostic gospel was discovered several decades ago, but has never really been shown to the world. In this "gospel," Judas is depicted as a hero--a man who betrayed Jesus only because Jesus asked him to.

Read Michael Spencer's critique. Among his better points:

• Two or three centuries is a long time to wait to write something important about a person. It’s like saying the real truth about Lincoln will be written in the year 2060.
• Any major announcement in New Testament studies that is announced by a reporter at CNN, complete with breathless tones and the word “breakthrough,” is quite likely to be about as significant to real New Testament studies as the invention of a cell phone for pets.
• Scholars who trumpet old documents found in garbage dumps as the reason to overturn all Christian faith are the kind of people who hear their baby say, “President Bush is the Anti-Christ” and make you keep listening till you hear it too.

I mean, seriously. Who believes this kind of stuff?

Tags: Christianity, Gospel of Judas, Bible

Posted by Amanda at 4/07/2006 09:40:00 AM 0 Comments

Thursday, April 06, 2006

This week's Christian Carnival is hosted over at intheouter.net this week. Check it out!

Tags: Christian Carnival

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Posted by Amanda at 4/06/2006 10:12:00 AM 0 Comments

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

I want to take the opportunity to respond to a comment I received on my recent post on piercing your tongue. The following comment was left anonymously:

I agree with ontheedgeofmyseat what you have said does not somehow sound right. It sounds to me somewhat patronising as does so much comfortable middle class Christianity.

Jesus was not a comfortable middle class Christian, he was a man without possessions trying to show us that it is what is in the heart that counts not how we appear outwardly.

Jesus was prepared to allow a prostitute to wash his feet with her hair inspite of the ojections of the other outraged guests because he could see her action came from the heart.

Sin is a term that turns so many people from understanding the message of Jesus when he himself would have hated so many of the definitions of sin created by man to allow themselves to feel superior over other men.

None of us has a pure heart. We may try but when we examine our motives we all are bound by the need to feel superior, greed, self interest, the list is infinite.

What Jesus was asking us to do was to work on keeping our hearts pure.

Next time you want to pontificate on sin examine your own motives first.

As Jesus said, `let him who is without sin cast the first stone.'

My intent was not to sound patronizing. I want to apologize for not being clear.

I do not think piercings are inherently sinful.

The purpose of my post was to speak to those who decide that piercing is sinful. I've run across many people during the course of my walk who will automatically condemn you to hell for having blue hair, piercings, mohawks, or any other physical appearance that is different from the status quo.

As ontheedgeofmyseat said, piercing can become sinful if done for the wrong reasons. The teenager who pierces her naval because she thinks it makes her sexy...that is sinful. The teenager who pierces her tongue specifically because of the sexual pleasure she can give to her boyfriend...that is sinful. But that's the motivation. It's the heart that is wrong, not the piercing.

Personally, I want to get my nosed pierced--i'm just too chicken (I'm a baby when it comes to pain). Does that mean I love God any less? Absolutely not! My post was intended to give a different perspective to Christians--that what they percieve isn't always the case.

That's why I highlighted Spencer's quote, "Jesus would offer to them friendship, acceptance and approval of God in the Gospel. He would announce that they are invited home, they are invited to the table of fellowship and they are adopted into God's family." Perhaps I should have continued with his next sentence, "The tongue piercing makes no difference at all." My intent was to point out that this is the way Christians should act because, more often than not, Christians are too exclusive and push away the foreign.

The question I ask isn't, "Is the piercing wrong" but, "Is the reason you're piercing wrong?"

Tags: Christianity, piercing

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Posted by Amanda at 4/05/2006 11:02:00 PM 3 Comments

Schools banning patriotic clothes

Schools in both San Diego and Colorado have now banned clothes that are patriotic, including camoflauge and anything with a flag on it. (HT: Hugh Hewitt)

I am not okay with this.

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Posted by Amanda at 4/05/2006 02:43:00 PM 0 Comments

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

I encourage you to contact the American Bible Society in support of xxxchurch.com and the Bibles they are trying to have printed.

Mailing Address:
American Bible Society
1865 Broadway
New York, NY 10023

Phone:
Telephone: 212-408-1200

If you're a donor to ABS:

Phone:  866-895-4448
Email:    ABSdonor@americanbible.org

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Posted by Amanda at 4/04/2006 11:10:00 PM 0 Comments

Tongue Piercing?

iMonk has an article on tongue piercing from the Christian perspective this week. The best quote:

What I can imagine is Jesus asking the tongue and body piercer to talk about the meaning of the ritual, and the meaning it gives to his or her life. As a result of that conversation, I can imagine other conversations that go to the heart of the things that we do. I do not imagine an autopsy of the nature of various sins, but I can imagine a discussion of the ontology of Sin itself, and our quest as a race, and as individuals, to find meaning in the tribal, the material, the daring, the existential, the extreme and the provocative.

Responding to a confession of a hunger for the authentic, Jesus would have much to say. And in his approach to the person who pierces his/her tongue, we could learn much.

Jesus would offer to them the friendship, acceptance and approval of God in the Gospel. He would announce that they are invited home, they are invited to the table of fellowship and they are adopted into God’s family. The tongue piercing makes no difference at all. The bad decisions, the lack of good information about hygiene, the juvenile motivations…none of it matters at all in the banquet at the center of the universe. God COMMANDS us to find the tongue-pierced, with all their real and faux feelings of exclusion, individuality and authenticity, and to give them the very best seats in the house.

That's it right there! The debates about whether piercings are godly or not are silly. Michael Spencer has gotten to the heart of the issue, and I encourage you to read the rest of the article.

Tags: Christianity, piercing

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Posted by Amanda at 4/04/2006 11:01:00 PM 0 Comments