Odd Ideas

I’ve re-posted some of my old posts here… May add a few more.

The links to some of the other blogs mentioned in my posts will be “repaired” as time permits.

If nothing else, it will provide some “history” for some hopelessly bored individual who might happen to be reading this blog.

Feel free to comment if you want.

Hopefully this time the spammer/hackers will stay away.

This blog had been neglected for a while. I was just too busy, and really had nothing to say beyond what I had already said.

When I finally got around to thinking of something to post a few weeks ago, I logged on only to find that the database was all messed up.

All of the comments were gone. Not that I had many, but the few I did have were good (I thought so anyway).

Can’t even remember what I was going to post a few weeks ago now…

Anyway – I decided to just re-install Wordpress, and upgrade while I was at it. I was using an old version anyway (maybe that’s why it messed up – who knows!).

I may get around to re-posting some of my old posts. I think they will help to explain some of the new ones once I get around to that!

Rainer

Originally posted February 09th, 2009

Ok, I just have to “vent” a bit here.

I am sick and tired of hearing about the “Fireproof” movie already.

I haven’t seen the movie, nor do I want to. Just the fact that it has Kirk Cameron playing in it is enough to scare me away. His version of Christianity scares me.

From what I have heard, it is a movie about a firefighter (Cameron) and his wife. Their marriage is struggling, he is into internet porn, etc…. Then his father gives him a book and he starts to work on saving his marriage. According to the oft-repeated ads I hear on the radio here, “God gives him a new love for his wife”. That’s good. Where did the old one go?

Being the cynical person I am, I wonder what the movie makers would have done if the main character would have gone through all of this stuff – praying, following God, doing everything he was supposed to, but she rejected him anyway? In real life, that’s often what happens. Then what?

I hear on the radio ads about how many people were “impacted” by the movie, how the movie “blessed” somebody. The movies were shown in churches around here, and my guess is that most of the viewers were Christians. Yet they keep talking about it as if it was some great tool for evangelism.

Then again, the divorce rates for Christians are as high (or higher) than any other demographic, so maybe it’s not a bad thing. Hope it helped somebody!

I’m just sick of the ads!

Anybody reading this see the movie? What did you think?

Originally posted February 06th, 2009

There’s a lot of talk in churches about how we’re “supposed to be like Jesus”, how that is our goal as followers of Jesus. I wonder how many people actually think about what that really means? John Smulo posted about this a couple of years ago, and re-posted it again today.

It’s a great, thought provoking post so I’m copying it here (but make sure you go to his site to look around as well).

Be Like Jesus (from John Smulo)

1. Get baptized by the craziest guy in town.

2. Say and do things that are guaranteed to make religious people want to kill you. Repeat again, and again, and again, and again, and again and don’t stop unless forced.

3. Do amazing things for people and ask them to not tell anyone.

4. Hang out with the most despised, marginalized, looked down upon, and shunned people you can find.

5. When possible, forgive and restore people, even if they betrayed you.

6. Live in a way that provokes gossip.

7. Win the most grace competition.

8. Keep the party going.

9. Serve people (note: nose plugs may be required).

10. If you’re sad cry.

11. Empower people to do the extraordinary.

12. Act like a rock star in a hotel temple.

13. Radically simplify theology.
14.Break human-made religious laws. Repeat consistently.
15.Prioritize the most important over the important.

16. Let women with questionable backgrounds pay your bills.

John, thanks for the great post…

Originally posted February 04th, 2009

David over at “nakedpastor” has a great post about what Jesus said would happen on “the last day”.

I have also often thought about how Jesus said he would separate the sheep from the goats, and how many of the people who thought they were doing the “right things” – doing them in “His name” – will be turned away. Yet, people who “get in” are sometimes surprised that they are included!

In Matthew 7, Jesus gives a stern warning:

15” Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t say they DIDN’T do those miracles or prophesy, which leads me to believe that they actually did do miracles. So… the mere presence of miraculous deeds and prophesies doesn’t mean that somebody is “known” to Jesus. Very sobering.

OK, I’ll admit I’m a bit of a cynic, but this passage always makes me think of the evangelists I see on TV, the guys running “Miracle Crusades”, and the like…

Where will Jesus put them? Whatever he decides, I’ll live with it…

What really IS the will of His Father in heaven? Jesus talks about that in Matthew 25…

In Matthew 25: 31-46 Jesus talks about separating the sheep from the goats. There are many who are included in the “sheep”, who pass the test but are quite surprised that they do. Why the surprise? Because they were doing “to the least of these” because it was the right thing to do. They didn’t know they were going to “get in”. They didn’t pass the test because they “believed”, or went to church. They didn’t even seem to be trying to pass the test!

These passages really make me question so much of what I was taught growing up in the church, about what Jesus really expects of us, and what it means (if anything) to be a Christian.

Yes, Jesus said that He was the only way to God. These passages simply clarify what he means by that. Our way to God is not determined by following religious rules and traditions (Christian or otherwise). It’s not determined by what we believe to be true (or false). It’s not determined by the prayers we say or don’t say. Yes, these may be important parts of our life, but they alone do not determine our destiny. We live our life. At the end, Jesus looks at our life and makes the decision. Yes, He truly is the way – and we can’t manipulate it or bypass it.

What does this mean for me? What does this mean for you?

I really don’t want Jesus to call me a goat or a wolf… That wouldn’t be fun.

Originally posted October 11th, 2008

I read this quote from Bono this morning…

“It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger, That’s mad, that is mad.”

“Bankruptcy is a serious business and we all know people who have lost their jobs, but this is moral bankruptcy.”

What more can I say – Bono, keep on telling it like it is!

Originally posted April 29th, 2008

We’re getting ready to move (we fly back to Canada on Sunday). Most of our belongings are in a big steel box, hopefully on a ship somewhere that left Odessa on Friday. But, for now, life goes on here in Ukraine.

Life, in Ukraine, is a bit different than what I’m used to in Canada. Some days are more different than others. Friday was one of those days…

A friend asked me on Thursday evening if I could help him and his mother out by providing transportation to a village about 160 km away (over 2 hours of driving because of the roads), south east of here. His stepfather had died, and they were having a funeral on Friday. Seems that his mother was still legally married to the guy, even though she hadn’t lived with him in 7 or 8 years (and has been living with another guy for the past few years).

Anyway, my friend said he needed to get things arranged once we were there, and didn’t know anybody with a vehicle there, etc., so I agreed to help out.

We left here at around 6:00 am Friday morning.

Well – once we got there, it got a lot more interesting. First, we went to the morgue (at around 8:30). Seems that they didn’t have the proper papers filled out for the dead guy yet. They said they didn’t know when they would get the autopsy done… the relatives paid them a little money, and the morgue people said they would get the papers done and we could pick up the body at 11:00. Don’t think they actually did any autopsy. This guy was a heavy drinker, and had all kinds of health problems as a result. It was no surprise to anybody that he died.

So – we went off to various stores, picked up bread, food, flowers, etc… Then we went to several Orthodox churches to find a priest that had time to come to the funeral (not an easy thing to do – since it’s Easter weekend here, it was Friday, and Easter is the biggest religious holiday they have…). Anyway, finally some priest said he could come at 2:00 pm.

So – went to the dead guys house, where a collection of village people were already consuming large amounts of home brewed Vodka. Nasty stuff… Dropped off the flowers, bread, and everything else.

Then, along with a few other guys (dressed in whatever they could find laying around) we were off to the morgue. A couple guys went to the building next door and came out with a coffin. They brought it into the morgue… A few minutes later, we flipped down the seats in my van and loaded the now-occupied coffin in the van. I’ve had more hassle and paperwork picking up a video camera from the repair shop! Guess a dead body isn’t worth as much as a video camera… Then we were headed back to the house, me and 5 other guys (one of whom was dead in a coffin). Very strange.

Stopped at a store on the way to buy some more bread – seems that the bread we bought earlier was the wrong kind for an Orthodox ceremony.

At the house, we unloaded the van, they lifted the lid off of the coffin and put the guy on display in the yard. At around 2:30, an old Moskvitch (really bad Russian car) came sputtering up, with the priest in the passengers seat, and a couple of women in the back seat who came out carrying his books and bags of stuff.

He went in the yard, recited some prayers, a few Babushka’s tried to sing something (not sure if they couldn’t sing, or if they were just too drunk), and then the priest got back in the car (along with the two women). The driver got in and tried to start the car. Wouldn’t start. So, a few guys just push started the car, and off it went, backfiring down the street (I use the term street loosely).

Then, they loaded the coffin back in my van – this time with no lid.

Then we started the funeral procession. Fortunately, the cemetery was only about 1 km away. The procession consisted of one guy carrying a cross with a plaque nailed to it with the guys name on the plaque (I never did hear what his name was). Followed by a few people carrying wreaths. Followed by 4 guys carrying the coffin lid with a loaf of bread balanced on it. Followed by me and the dead guy in the van. Followed by the rest of the people. They stopped for about 30 seconds at every road intersection. I thought I was going to fry the clutch in my van, trying to go that slowly (and not run over the guys with the coffin lid). Sorry, but I don’t understand the significance of some of this stuff, since I’m not exactly Orthodox.

Anyway, eventually we arrived at the cemetery. I couldn’t drive right in – the lanes are too narrow. So the people all walked in, and a few guys came out with a rickety (quite rotten) wood frame that they slid the coffin onto… No handles of any kind on the coffin itself.

Then they carried the coffin to the grave site, placed the lid on it, nailed it on, and lowered it in the hole. Then, various people took turns throwing the dirt in the hole.

And then the Vodka drinking began in earnest.

Most of the people in this village have no work, and live off a meager “pension” from the government (if they ever get that). To live, they eat borscht and drink home brewed vodka. Seems that the responsibilities are divided evenly. The women make vodka and cook. The men sit beside the road and drink while complaining about what the government isn’t doing for them.

I am not sure how they actually live – and it is very sad to see. A very dramatic example of the failure of the Communist system and it’s creation of a population of people reliant on a “system” that no longer exists…