____________________
Of course TV isn't reality. Thank God!
But two things I've seen lately have struck a chord.
The first was the Christmas episode of 7th Heaven, where a character - a college student even - demonstrates an almost chilling lack of knowledge about the roots of Christmas. To the point that when the 6 year old twins ask her if she knows the difference between Santa Claus and the Christ Child, she is befuddled. If it hadn't been so plausible it would have been sad. Wait ... it was sad!
Everyone gets the commercialism, but there's a whole chunk of civilization out there that doesn't get the roots.
It seems that Maureen Maher on CBS's 48 Hours Special last night "The Mystery of Christmas" either falls into that category of ignorance, or came at the subject from a decidedly skewed point of view. Or maybe, she was just narrating what was written for her without any critical analysis. In either case, the contents of that program were absolutely inexcusable coming from the news division of a major [US] network.
One would think that this kind of reporting would approach the subject matter from the majority scholar view and then counterbalance with fringe elements like John Dominic Crossan. Instead, as usual in TV "journalism" they go for the colorful & photogenic and then perhaps sprinkle in some actual facts. Crossan is "cute" and has a wonderful accent. Never mind that his "scholarship" has been repeatedly discredited and that he ALWAYS comes out of left field.
Sorry CBS ... but you've given me one more reason to not trust the media.
I know there are elements of the nativity story that aren't easy to digest. There are indeed parts that don't hold up to the scrutiny of the [current] historical knowledge of the subject. But guess what ... the Gospels have been "harmonised" more times than you can count (most "scholarly" objections do not honestly look at explanations which don't fit their prejudices), and the more we discover about history, the more it tends to confirm, rather than refute, scripture.
Why not report that?
I can deal with balance. I can't deal with analysis - especially journalistic analysis - that deliberately hides parts of a story which don't fit the spin.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Ramble, Ramble, Ramble. Spew??
Well now ...
Some days you'd just like to spew.
This is one of them for me ... and it's not that there's a dearth of things to spew about in this Bahamaland.
But I've resolved to be as positive as possible here, so let's see how this comes out.
1) Can someone please reset the traffic light at the corner of Shirley St. and Fowler St/Kemp Road? It'd help an awful lot with the "rush" hour [a misnomer if ever there was one!] traffic into town.
2) Please Lord, make the Unions of this country less selfish. And please help us/them to provide for those who have suffered the wrath of Wilma, for next year, it may be us.
3) When, oh when !?! will our politicians (Potcake and Poodle), commentators, reporters, etc. ... indeed the proverbial "person on the street" in the Bahamas realise that the population of this country can fit into 3 (three ... count 'em, three!!) large football stadia?? To continue to pretend that we should have the structure & institutions of a nation of millions is sheer lunacy. Heavens ... in its heyday, IBM had more employees that this country has citizens!
Better stop while I'm ahead.
Some days you'd just like to spew.
This is one of them for me ... and it's not that there's a dearth of things to spew about in this Bahamaland.
But I've resolved to be as positive as possible here, so let's see how this comes out.
1) Can someone please reset the traffic light at the corner of Shirley St. and Fowler St/Kemp Road? It'd help an awful lot with the "rush" hour [a misnomer if ever there was one!] traffic into town.
2) Please Lord, make the Unions of this country less selfish. And please help us/them to provide for those who have suffered the wrath of Wilma, for next year, it may be us.
3) When, oh when !?! will our politicians (Potcake and Poodle), commentators, reporters, etc. ... indeed the proverbial "person on the street" in the Bahamas realise that the population of this country can fit into 3 (three ... count 'em, three!!) large football stadia?? To continue to pretend that we should have the structure & institutions of a nation of millions is sheer lunacy. Heavens ... in its heyday, IBM had more employees that this country has citizens!
Better stop while I'm ahead.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Sunday School Picnic 2005
It was a gorgeous day ... Friday Oct. 14th 2005.
We took off on the Majestic Lady from the Paradise Island ferry dock for Robinson Crusoe Beach on Rose Island. The view back at the fantasy of Atlantis was spectacular ... the rose tinted stucco against the robin-egg blue of a wispily-clouded sky.
Fantastic October weather.
When we got there, the views were well worth the trip.
The kids had a blast in the
sawdust ... it was a mad grabfor candy & cash...
When you're homeless,
any port'll do!
Why conform??
On the way back, some of the adults were NOT on their best behaviour:
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Into the Blue the movie.
"After the Sunset" - the last big Hollywood production filmed in the Bahamas - was so culturally off-kilter that I was totally prepared for another whacked-out Hollywood vision of the Bahamas - part Margaritaville, part Jamaica, mon.It seems that they can never just let us be ourselves.
There's a history to this stuff ... in my memory it'd include the
confusion of the Be
atle's "Help", and even "Thunderball" wasn'tparticularly true to who we are. Let's not get in to "My Father the Hero" and other such romanticised cut-and-paste photographic and cultural mish-mashes.
The Mandalay Pictures production "Into the Blue" with Paul Walker, Scott Caan, Jessica Alba and Ashley Scott is such an exception to the "let's recreate reality in our image" Hollywood mentality.
Besides the fact that the story was thoroughly enjoyable, if not totally predictable, it was fun to be watching a movie set in the Bahamas that pretty well just puts us out there as we are. Even if at times it really looks like something filmed for the Ministry of Tourism (the photography is fantastic ... but pretty real).
Most amazing of all, for me ... they didn't make the Bahamian characters sound like Jamaicans - with one prominent exception, but I think the [Jamaican] actor just couldn't help it! The dialect is as authentic as it gets ... one leaves wondering what non-Bahamian audiences will think of words like "Mudda-sick" and "boongy"!
Bottom line ... go see this movie!
Friday, September 09, 2005
One more year under the belt.
Aha ...
Without specifying a date ... I just completed another birthday. Maybe that's why I haven't posted anything lately. Maybe I'm now officially old enough to forget.
No such luck. It's just that other priorities have reared their ugly head. Nothing interesting enough to write about.
I should write a couple words to close out the "The Last Word ..." discussion, which maybe I'll do later this weekend.
And if there's enough peace at the house tomorrow (Saturday) as [re]construction continues, I think I'll introduce you to our eclectus parrots, Reba MacLectus and Milo (short for "Milagro") whose first birthday's coming up on the 21st.
Without specifying a date ... I just completed another birthday. Maybe that's why I haven't posted anything lately. Maybe I'm now officially old enough to forget.
No such luck. It's just that other priorities have reared their ugly head. Nothing interesting enough to write about.
I should write a couple words to close out the "The Last Word ..." discussion, which maybe I'll do later this weekend.
And if there's enough peace at the house tomorrow (Saturday) as [re]construction continues, I think I'll introduce you to our eclectus parrots, Reba MacLectus and Milo (short for "Milagro") whose first birthday's coming up on the 21st.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Us vs. Them
.
"Whenever we locate evil 'over there' with 'them,' we render ourselves innocent and proud. They are of the devil; we are of God. No one is more likely to commit injustice than those who think themselves incapable of doing so, those who are certain that God is on their side and vice versa."
p. 142, "The Last Word and the Word After That", Brian D. McLaren
"Whenever we locate evil 'over there' with 'them,' we render ourselves innocent and proud. They are of the devil; we are of God. No one is more likely to commit injustice than those who think themselves incapable of doing so, those who are certain that God is on their side and vice versa."
p. 142, "The Last Word and the Word After That", Brian D. McLaren
Monday, August 22, 2005
Velvet Elvis
Read this book.
It's by Rob Bell.
ISBN #031026345X
You've never before read anything like it.
It'll stretch your brain.
If you take it seriously, it'll change your world.
And your future.
BTW, it's not about Elvis.
More later.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
MORE ON THE "LAST WORD"
Been away for a week at a Bible Conference in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Back to that in a day or two when we get back to Nassau.
In the meantime, I’m a bit farther into McLaren’s interestingly expressed ruminations on hell.
I can’t say I disagree with everything that gurgles up from the sometimes contrived dialogues – some of it’s about as “scriptural” as you can get.
On the other hand, what I find distressing are the arguments from emotion, feeling and conviction as well as from strictly human views of human justice – without clear acknowledgement that perhaps God’s point of view is quite different.
Not that I don’t understand “where it’s coming from”, but it’s a set of presuppositions that’s almost as easily assailed as the extreme fundamental positions he constantly whacks at with his verbal bat.
In his “deconstruction” of hell, he seems to posit that the concept of such a “place” (or thing, or whatever you want to call it) is of human origin … since one can find echoes of our modern concept and bits and pieces of various aspects of it in different cultures and different ages. In other words, somehow we (modern Christians, essentially) have managed to synthesise hell.
Personally, I don’t think this recognizes another possibility … which is clearly evidenced in Romans 1 a la Blaise Pascal’s suggestion of a “universal God shaped vacuum” - that there might actually be a "universal concept" of hell.
Don Richardson (of “Peace Child” fame) wrote another interesting book on aspects of this possibility “Eternity in their Hearts”, examining apparently auto-genetic versions of a “God becoming man” myth occurring in primitive cultures around the world (e.g. the Quetzalcoatl of the central Mexican cultures).
So … nothing against the idea of “deconstructing” hell, but what if it’s something from deep inside the human psyche?
Bottom line here … I'm not comfortable with arguments from whatever we feel or think and then making the facts fit. There’s a particularly egregious example of this on pg. 77 of the book, where there’s a rather cavalier reinterpretation of Jesus’ use of the words “eternal life” – it so easily becomes “life of the ages” in the mouth of one of the book’s chief apologists. Maybe he’s right, but I’d like a bit of a better explanation than just an “I think that Jesus means …”
Frustrating, all of this. Because I agree with so many of McLaren’s propositions … especially that we often read into scripture words and concepts that simply aren’t there! (Back to pg. 77 where we are reminded that Jesus says many chose the “broad way that leads to destruction”. How many sermons on hell have those of us in “fundamentalist” circles heard preached from that passage?!?)
I’m not quite finished … final judgement is suspended for now.
PS – I’m also looking at a reader preview edition of George Barna’s “Revolution” from Tyndale. Easy reading. Heavy stuff. Due October. Don’t miss it.
In the meantime, I’m a bit farther into McLaren’s interestingly expressed ruminations on hell.
I can’t say I disagree with everything that gurgles up from the sometimes contrived dialogues – some of it’s about as “scriptural” as you can get.
On the other hand, what I find distressing are the arguments from emotion, feeling and conviction as well as from strictly human views of human justice – without clear acknowledgement that perhaps God’s point of view is quite different.
Not that I don’t understand “where it’s coming from”, but it’s a set of presuppositions that’s almost as easily assailed as the extreme fundamental positions he constantly whacks at with his verbal bat.
In his “deconstruction” of hell, he seems to posit that the concept of such a “place” (or thing, or whatever you want to call it) is of human origin … since one can find echoes of our modern concept and bits and pieces of various aspects of it in different cultures and different ages. In other words, somehow we (modern Christians, essentially) have managed to synthesise hell.
Personally, I don’t think this recognizes another possibility … which is clearly evidenced in Romans 1 a la Blaise Pascal’s suggestion of a “universal God shaped vacuum” - that there might actually be a "universal concept" of hell.
Don Richardson (of “Peace Child” fame) wrote another interesting book on aspects of this possibility “Eternity in their Hearts”, examining apparently auto-genetic versions of a “God becoming man” myth occurring in primitive cultures around the world (e.g. the Quetzalcoatl of the central Mexican cultures).
So … nothing against the idea of “deconstructing” hell, but what if it’s something from deep inside the human psyche?
Bottom line here … I'm not comfortable with arguments from whatever we feel or think and then making the facts fit. There’s a particularly egregious example of this on pg. 77 of the book, where there’s a rather cavalier reinterpretation of Jesus’ use of the words “eternal life” – it so easily becomes “life of the ages” in the mouth of one of the book’s chief apologists. Maybe he’s right, but I’d like a bit of a better explanation than just an “I think that Jesus means …”
Frustrating, all of this. Because I agree with so many of McLaren’s propositions … especially that we often read into scripture words and concepts that simply aren’t there! (Back to pg. 77 where we are reminded that Jesus says many chose the “broad way that leads to destruction”. How many sermons on hell have those of us in “fundamentalist” circles heard preached from that passage?!?)
I’m not quite finished … final judgement is suspended for now.
PS – I’m also looking at a reader preview edition of George Barna’s “Revolution” from Tyndale. Easy reading. Heavy stuff. Due October. Don’t miss it.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
The Last Word and the Word after that.
Wiley's Jossey-Bass imprint has some fantastically intriguing titles in their list of Religion titles.I'm looking forward to getting my mind around
The Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters for example.
Interesting story ... I seldom wear slogan-oriented t-shirts, but I have a promotional one the folks at Jossey-Bass kindly handed out at a recent booksellers convention. I was wearing it - un-self-consciously - in the Mall at Millenia in Orlando at the Cingular Store. A British tourist and his family who were browsing exited the store with a breezy "May the Force be with you, Brother." It took me a couple minutes to figure out why. If my wife hadn't been with me, I might be scratching my head yet!In the meantime, I'm deep into this third in the "New Kind of Christian" trilogy by Brian McLaren. I'm not always convinced by the theology / doctrine he seems to be espousing - though you can't always tell what his personal position is.
I supposed that's part of the genius of McLaren's writing.
That and the fact that anyone who can make a discussion of the theology of hell interesting deserves a read.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Dinner with a Perfect Stranger
It only takes a long 1/2 hour to read.
I'm sure there are plenty of cinics who won't even consider the possibility that the subject - an unexpected dinner with a business-suited Jesus - could be absorbing.
But they'd be wrong.
And they'd miss out on what is an incredibly well written, succinctly expressed, example of popular Christian apologetics. The kind a regular guy (or gal) can grasp.
You may not agree with what "Jesus" has to say, but you won't be able to claim you don't understand it. And you might be surprised to find satisfying answers to quite a few questions you may have been asked, or asked yourself, about life and faith.
All in all, a surprising find.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Caffeinated Progress (?)
__________________________
I don't really know what it means. I suppose it could inspire a rant. Or the most profound of observations about globalisation - or the exploitation of labour in poorer countries. Oh the possibilities!
But as of yesterday, the Bahamas is the newest country (and the smallest) to host Starbucks.
It's located at the new Marina Village at Atlantis (click the What's New? link at www.atlantis.com).
Charming place, really. Both the Village and the new store.
I may not be the world's biggest Starbucks fan (the coffee I mean), but I have to admit that their commitment to training and service - like Atlantis itself - should be a net plus for the country.
I'll post some photos eventually for those who are curious.
I don't really know what it means. I suppose it could inspire a rant. Or the most profound of observations about globalisation - or the exploitation of labour in poorer countries. Oh the possibilities!
But as of yesterday, the Bahamas is the newest country (and the smallest) to host Starbucks.
It's located at the new Marina Village at Atlantis (click the What's New? link at www.atlantis.com).
Charming place, really. Both the Village and the new store.
I may not be the world's biggest Starbucks fan (the coffee I mean), but I have to admit that their commitment to training and service - like Atlantis itself - should be a net plus for the country.
I'll post some photos eventually for those who are curious.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Humility vs. Wisdom
_____________________________
The two ought not be mutually exclusive.
If you're smart, you'll be humble.
Selwyn Hughes (www.everydaywithjesus.com) quotes Eccl. 7:19-24 in his devotional today. It's powerful stuff.
Personally I'm not about to pretend to be wise, but I do want to be humble enough to recognise that my life is really a lot more like what Paul describes in Romans 7, than some gloriously victorious conquest over the overbearing human tendency to NOT do what's right.
Hughes quotes a friend of his and Chuck Swindoll respectively:
"When people criticise me, I am thankful they don't know how bad I really am, or they would have much worse to say."
And ...
"Give God thanks that people are just hitting the visible, not the whole truth".
Think about it. Be honest. Be wise.
The two ought not be mutually exclusive.
If you're smart, you'll be humble.
Selwyn Hughes (www.everydaywithjesus.com) quotes Eccl. 7:19-24 in his devotional today. It's powerful stuff.
Personally I'm not about to pretend to be wise, but I do want to be humble enough to recognise that my life is really a lot more like what Paul describes in Romans 7, than some gloriously victorious conquest over the overbearing human tendency to NOT do what's right.
Hughes quotes a friend of his and Chuck Swindoll respectively:
"When people criticise me, I am thankful they don't know how bad I really am, or they would have much worse to say."
And ...
"Give God thanks that people are just hitting the visible, not the whole truth".
Think about it. Be honest. Be wise.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Construction / Destruction
_________________________________________________
Is construction the same just about everywhere? Beyond frustrating?
The comedian Gallagher (the guy who got laughs smashing watermelons all over his audience) used to have a routine about it. He wondered out loud where all the contractors go when 1/2 the job is done.
In our case I almost - some days - wish they would disappear.
Didn't Robert Burns say something about the fact that the plans of mice of and men "gang oft aglay"? We had it all planned and laid out ... they'd re-do the balcony, then the railing (I was blown through it 15' to the ground getting ready for Hurricane Frances last Sept.), then we'd replace all the windows, do the platform at the top of the stairwell, etc., etc.
Something happened to all the thens ...
This got pushed back. That got delayed. We traveled. A wrecked shipment of glass. One thing and another and I came home one day at lunchtime and there were 5 trucks out front!!! Everyone at once. All on top of each other.
So now it's all happening simultaneously. Slowly. Two or three "hurricane-proof" windows a day (www.ultimatedoor-window.com). A section or two of railing a week. Masons. Pneumatic drills. Noise. Dust. Drapes and sheets on whatever we can protect. NO PEACE.
The hilarious thing is the parrots. Reba MacLectus (the redhead, in case someone was wondering) has learned to imitate an electric drill biting its way into concrete. Ear-splitting! I hope she forgets it soon and returns to "hello" in 3 dozen different inflections and the occasional "pretty, pretty, pretty". Her "younger brother" Milo [short for Milagro ... that's another story] sometimes makes an attempt, but mostly just squawks.
So ... Pray for Peace. In the world. But especially around here!
Is construction the same just about everywhere? Beyond frustrating?
The comedian Gallagher (the guy who got laughs smashing watermelons all over his audience) used to have a routine about it. He wondered out loud where all the contractors go when 1/2 the job is done.
In our case I almost - some days - wish they would disappear.Didn't Robert Burns say something about the fact that the plans of mice of and men "gang oft aglay"? We had it all planned and laid out ... they'd re-do the balcony, then the railing (I was blown through it 15' to the ground getting ready for Hurricane Frances last Sept.), then we'd replace all the windows, do the platform at the top of the stairwell, etc., etc.
Something happened to all the thens ...
This got pushed back. That got delayed. We traveled. A wrecked shipment of glass. One thing and another and I came home one day at lunchtime and there were 5 trucks out front!!! Everyone at once. All on top of each other.
So now it's all happening simultaneously. Slowly. Two or three "hurricane-proof" windows a day (www.ultimatedoor-window.com). A section or two of railing a week. Masons. Pneumatic drills. Noise. Dust. Drapes and sheets on whatever we can protect. NO PEACE.
The hilarious thing is the parrots. Reba MacLectus (the redhead, in case someone was wondering) has learned to imitate an electric drill biting its way into concrete. Ear-splitting! I hope she forgets it soon and returns to "hello" in 3 dozen different inflections and the occasional "pretty, pretty, pretty". Her "younger brother" Milo [short for Milagro ... that's another story] sometimes makes an attempt, but mostly just squawks.
So ... Pray for Peace. In the world. But especially around here!
Monday, August 01, 2005
Kick start!
_____________
Today is Emancipation Day in the Bahamas ... a rather low-key celebration [it's too blinkin' hot] of the first day of legal emancipation which happened on the first Monday in August in 1834.
It's also the first day of Crawfish Season ("spiny lobster"). And a lazy day at the house getting used to the Powerbook. After so many years of PCs, it ain't easy!
The picture is the sunrise view from our balcony ... which is currently in reconstruction along with all the windows in the house. Ugh. Driving us nuts. Dust everywhere. We were thankful for a day of relative peace and a refreshing swim at high tide.
Been talking with Neil (son no. 1 and a computer engineer) on and off for a while about the desire to include a blog in the updated version of www.logosbahamas.com.
[Wait! No. Don't go there unless you've already seen it. One of the secure hosts we used is dead and the site is ooooogly, like one of my childhood friends would have said. Wait for Neil's new, neat version! Soon.]
What'll I write about? Dunno specifics. Plans, though, are to talk lots about books, which are a passion. Fiction. Thoughful books in general. And if there's a twist - something unusual - all the better.
Hold on, then ...
Today is Emancipation Day in the Bahamas ... a rather low-key celebration [it's too blinkin' hot] of the first day of legal emancipation which happened on the first Monday in August in 1834.
It's also the first day of Crawfish Season ("spiny lobster"). And a lazy day at the house getting used to the Powerbook. After so many years of PCs, it ain't easy!
The picture is the sunrise view from our balcony ... which is currently in reconstruction along with all the windows in the house. Ugh. Driving us nuts. Dust everywhere. We were thankful for a day of relative peace and a refreshing swim at high tide.
Been talking with Neil (son no. 1 and a computer engineer) on and off for a while about the desire to include a blog in the updated version of www.logosbahamas.com.
[Wait! No. Don't go there unless you've already seen it. One of the secure hosts we used is dead and the site is ooooogly, like one of my childhood friends would have said. Wait for Neil's new, neat version! Soon.]
What'll I write about? Dunno specifics. Plans, though, are to talk lots about books, which are a passion. Fiction. Thoughful books in general. And if there's a twist - something unusual - all the better.
Hold on, then ...
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