Thursday, August 07, 2003
old school journal 8.7.03
Today for lunch i put a frozen pizza in the oven. i kinda forgot about it, and i burnt it to a crisp. so then i threw it out and made another one. it was slightly overdone, but edible. i felt bad that 50% of the pizza i had cooked had to be thrown out. so i made a third pizza, so that i would have only wasted a third of the pizzas. the third pizza came out perfect. (they were cheese pizzas).
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
old school journal 8.5.03
occasionally my days have themes. today's theme was "culture". early this morning i was thinking about the New Testament references to women. we often dismiss almost everything on this topic by saying "oh that was just for the culture back then." but paul often draws on timeless principles when talking about these rules. and as for other biblical areas that we simply dismiss as cultural, and try to draw some random timeless truth from it, maybe the truth that we're supposed to get from it is tied closer than we think to the literal interpretation.
today at church, with some youth and pastor jeremiah, we talked a little about culture. the american church and american culture. christians often get to comfortable in church. we dont affect the culture, but the culture affects us. we are taught that as missionaries or whatever, we should adapt to the culture. but do we compromise too much sometimes, watering down the gospel for the sake of culture?
i just finished watching a pbs show about hula and hawiian culture. one of the first things they said was that when the missionaries came, they outlawed hula. the people were so passionate about their culture. the focus was on hawiians who live in california, and yet keep the culture alive. a couple of times they showed them praying in a circle holding hands. they prayed to the father, they even ended in the name of Jesus Christ. so it seems like they were Christians. they got up at 6am to practice hula. one time a cop came and told them to quiet down, because the people in the area were trying to sleep in. they were passionate and talked about how hula was a part of every area of their lives. little children learn hula from their families. groups of families come together and are a real community formed around hula.
in many places, the culture revolves around the worship of deities. songs, dances, and art, throughout most of history were totally religious. there was no such thing as secular music. culture is often so cool. and for people raised in a deep rooted culture, it is unthinkable to try to make them behave differently. the problem in my mind arises when the person's deep rooted culture is deeply rooted in worship of false gods.
the only culture practiced in the Bible is Jewish culture. and jewish culture is rooted in the Law. i read Deuteronomy 6 this morning. it talks about how constantly the people of God are supposed to talk about and think about His Word. they are supposed to put reminding symbols in places that they will see often. later they are told to put tassles on their clothes to remind them of God's laws. the times when jews strayed from their culture it was for the worst. they fell into idolatry. in the new testament many of the jews, most of the early christians, resisted hellenization. Jews are a "peculiar people" they are easy to spot. even the ones that arent totally religious. when the nazis were rounding up Jews, everybody knew who was jewish. not just by the stars they were forced to wear, but by how they ate and dressed and observance of the sabbath.
where is the line for us? how are we different from everyone around us? the difference between Christians and the rest of the world is often in what we DON'T do. maybe we should get noticed for what we DO. maybe we need some culture and community.
today at church, with some youth and pastor jeremiah, we talked a little about culture. the american church and american culture. christians often get to comfortable in church. we dont affect the culture, but the culture affects us. we are taught that as missionaries or whatever, we should adapt to the culture. but do we compromise too much sometimes, watering down the gospel for the sake of culture?
i just finished watching a pbs show about hula and hawiian culture. one of the first things they said was that when the missionaries came, they outlawed hula. the people were so passionate about their culture. the focus was on hawiians who live in california, and yet keep the culture alive. a couple of times they showed them praying in a circle holding hands. they prayed to the father, they even ended in the name of Jesus Christ. so it seems like they were Christians. they got up at 6am to practice hula. one time a cop came and told them to quiet down, because the people in the area were trying to sleep in. they were passionate and talked about how hula was a part of every area of their lives. little children learn hula from their families. groups of families come together and are a real community formed around hula.
in many places, the culture revolves around the worship of deities. songs, dances, and art, throughout most of history were totally religious. there was no such thing as secular music. culture is often so cool. and for people raised in a deep rooted culture, it is unthinkable to try to make them behave differently. the problem in my mind arises when the person's deep rooted culture is deeply rooted in worship of false gods.
the only culture practiced in the Bible is Jewish culture. and jewish culture is rooted in the Law. i read Deuteronomy 6 this morning. it talks about how constantly the people of God are supposed to talk about and think about His Word. they are supposed to put reminding symbols in places that they will see often. later they are told to put tassles on their clothes to remind them of God's laws. the times when jews strayed from their culture it was for the worst. they fell into idolatry. in the new testament many of the jews, most of the early christians, resisted hellenization. Jews are a "peculiar people" they are easy to spot. even the ones that arent totally religious. when the nazis were rounding up Jews, everybody knew who was jewish. not just by the stars they were forced to wear, but by how they ate and dressed and observance of the sabbath.
where is the line for us? how are we different from everyone around us? the difference between Christians and the rest of the world is often in what we DON'T do. maybe we should get noticed for what we DO. maybe we need some culture and community.
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