Conclusions

Since today is Wednesday and I have scheduled to blog about religion on Wednesdays, let me list a few conclusions I've reached that have to do with current Christian conversations.

1. Postmodernism, postmodernity, pomo, and whatever it is called by the kids these days are not bad words. OK, maybe pomo is a bad word, but only on an aesthetic level. [1/11/07 Clarifications: 1) I mean to say the word "pomo" sounds funny to my ears. It is aesthetically displeasing; 2) These words mean different things in different fields (theology, architecture, art, etc.); I am speaking only of the way they are used in theological conversations.]
   
2. There is something uncomfortable about a church that houses a coffee shop, bookstore, etc. which do the most business on Sunday morning. I half expect Jesus to return to earth tomorrow and start turning over tables. Somebody would have to refold all of the scattered fish t-shirts and mop up the half-caf lattes with a sprinkle of nutmeg.
3. The most useful model for the church is family. My family, by the way, is weird and wacky, but also loving and supportive. I love them! Models of the church as business or cells or whatever just don't do it for me. I think I am treading pretty close to a biblical imagination here, but I am not claiming that. Which leads me to my next conclusion...
4. Just because you offer a handful of verses to support your argument does not make it the right argument. Read the whole freaking book would you! Read the whole Bible in fact. Also, don't ever ask me what verse I have to offer to support what I am saying. I don't know what precise verse! I do hope though that I am engaging the Sciptures often and deeply enough to say that my arguments are shaped by a biblical imagination. But, more than that, I hope that I am engaging scripture in and with my family, the church, so that my ideas and arguments are being shaped by an imagination that echoes the words of God (scripture) and reflects the body of Christ (the church).
5. Finally, I conclude that I am wrong more times than I am right; God is graceful, and faithful. Boy, is God faithful!
6. OK, maybe one more conclusion...and that is "there is always more to be said."
   

Pat Robertson a Modern Day Nostradamus?

Why don't I ever hear from God like Pat does? Apparently Pat Robertson has been in conversation with God, and God has told him that America will be attacked toward the end of 2007. They must have had a bad connection at some point because Pat was not completely clear on what sort of attack.

“I’m not necessarily saying it’s going to be nuclear,” he said during his news-and-talk television show “The 700 Club” on the Christian Broadcasting Network. “The Lord didn’t say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that.”

I've asked Pat before to keep quiet. Maybe I should have God relay the message.

Of course I think Pat is full of it, but I am becoming more and more frustrated with the people who support these so-called religious leaders. If people would stop listening, maybe Pat would finally shut up.

I tend to dream of utopia.