Christianity 101

Beauty and the Beholder

I read this article in World‘s print version. I’m quite impressed by it:

Acquired taste
Beauty is more than in the eye of the beholder

Christians have to battle the mindset that insists “there are no absolutes.” But Christians often do not realize what the absolutes are that they need to defend. The classic thinkers spoke of three kinds of absolutes: the true, the good, and the beautiful.

Often, Christians reject the claims that truth and morality are relative while agreeing with the postmodernists that beauty is relative. But to think that beauty is nothing more than a subjective preference — unconnected to standards that originate in God Himself — is to buy into a foundational principle of today’s anti-Christian worldview.

The Bible tells us to set our minds on “whatever” is “excellent” and “of good report” (Philippians 4:8). Beauty does involve personal taste, but our tastes need discipline. Growing in taste means learning to take pleasure in what is objectively good.

Christianity 101: God defines that which is good. And that is absolutely so.

However, I was disappointed in what struck me as an apples-and-orangesutans comparison in the third paragraph from the end.

There is nothing wrong with an occasional indulgence in junk food, though if all you eat is sugar and French fries, you will be malnourished. Similarly, there is nothing wrong with an occasional indulgence in junk culture. But just as you need the nutrition found in a home-cooked meal, you need the cultural nutrition that comes from enjoying the best.

I submit to you that “there is nothing wrong with an occasional indulgence in junk culture” flies in the face God’s thoughts in Philippians 4:8 (which Mr. Veith even references in his third paragraph above!).

Christianity 101: “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9) and “approve things that are excellent” (Philippians 1:10).

Despite that, I think you should read the entire article. (It has an interesting challenge regarding music.) Update, October 27, 2012: I see it’s now available only to subscribers; too bad.

Acquainted With Me

This morning I read about God being acquainted with all my ways. So I made this wallpaper for my computer:

Acquainted with all my ways

Then I read this:

State centers tap into personal data

Intelligence centers run by U.S. states have access to personal information about millions of Americans, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

[…]

A survey conducted last year shows the centers have subscriptions to private information-broker services that maintain records about Americans’ locations, financial holdings, associates, relatives, firearms licenses and other information, the newspaper said, citing officials familiar with the material.

Pennsylvania buys credit reports while analysts in Rhode Island have access to car-rental databases. Authorities in Maryland use a data broker called Entersect, which claims it maintains some 12 billion records about 98 percent of Americans, the Post reported.

I assume I’m among the 98 percent.

What do “they” have on record about me?

Not nearly as much as God knows about me!

Should I care?

I know some people who don’t care.

Or don’t seem to care.

And I thought they did.

Including me?

PS: If I’m in the 2 percent suggested above, why?!

This Is Progress?

😯

The Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday:

Because pretty soon, we’re all going to have video cameras in our cellphones.

Also known as cellular video cameras. Meaning anyone will be able to broadcast from anywhere. Live.

[…]

At first, a phone that can shoot video might seem like just another gadget with just another feature. But the leap here is that coupling a video phone with the Web makes showing, sharing and storing video just about effortless.

[…]

Meaning it’ll be harder to get away with bad behavior. Start weaving too much on the 405, and the fellow behind you might send live video of you to the police. As well he should.

And that probably means, with the increased risk of being caught on tape, that the cautious among us will tend to shy away from unwise choices. I know my turnstile-jumping days are over.

I. Do. Not. Like. It.

Call me a phobic of some sort. Call me old-fashioned. Call me a security-and-privacy nut. Call me paranoid.

And call me a prophet.

This. Is. Not. Good.

On the other hand, this kind of technology emphasizes this Lesson-for-Living: Live the right way.

Imagine somebody using one of these phones to broadcast this riveting video-documentary: Mark Roth at WalMart.

What would viewers learn about the genuineness and depth and live-ability of my Christian faith? 😯

So, my friends, live your life and wear your face as though somebody were watching.

Soon they may well be.

(Actually, your fellow humans have been watching you for a long time. This technology just expands the audience as well as saves your life for future reference and review.)

Then there’s the matter that He has been watching you (and over you) from before your birth.

Now go do the right thing.

Gorbachev a Christian?

Admits, huh?

I wonder if that word choice is supposed to be significant. As in, The Telegraph has suspected it for quite a while and now, finally, Mikhail owns up to the error of his ways. (Or something like that.)

Whatever the case, here are some excerpts from their story:

Mikhail Gorbachev admits he is a Christian

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Communist leader of the Soviet Union, has acknowledged his Christian faith for the first time, paying a surprise visit to pray at the tomb of St Francis of Assisi.

Accompanied by his daughter Irina, Mr Gorbachev spent half an hour on his knees in silent prayer at the tomb.

[…]

Mr Gorbachev’s surprise visit confirmed decades of rumours that, although he was forced to publicly pronounce himself an atheist, he was in fact a Christian, and casts a meeting with Pope John Paul II in 1989 in a new light.

Mr Gorbachev, 77, was baptised into the Russian Orthodox Church and his parents were Christians.

In addition, the parents of his wife Raisa were deeply religious and were killed during the Second World War for having religious icons in their home.

Oh, is that what he thinks makes him a Christian?!

Here’s a bit more from the story:

Ronald Reagan, the former United States president, allegedly told his close aides on a number of occasions that he felt his opponent during the Cold War was a “closet believer”.

Mr Reagan held deep religious convictions himself. However, until now Mr Gorbachev has allowed himself to express only pantheistic views, saying in one interview “nature is my god”.

Well, that sounds very suspect to me.

Mr. Gorbachev, what makes you a Christian?

Tipping at Restaurants

I learned something yesterday while reading a blog rant. I learned that many (most?) waitresses and waiters are paid around $3 an hour by the restaurant for which they work.

Three dollars an hour!

Well, I didn’t want to believe it just because I read it on someone’s blog. So this morning I researched the matter a bit.

And at the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ site I found this little gem:

Tipped employees are those who customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. The employer may consider tips as part of wages, but the employer must pay at least $2.13 an hour in direct wages.

I had no idea!

Would you take a job with that kind of direct wages?

Especially if you had to rely on tippers like you to make up the difference?

So don’t be stingy!

Especially if you’re a Christian!

When you go into that eating joint that employs servers (aka waitresses and waiters), you are buying the food and hiring the serve staff.

Make sure that server earns a just wage while he’s working for you.

After writing all of the above, I came across the following:

Christian Odyssey: Confessions of a waitress

Unfortunately, the “after-church” Sunday lunch customers are some of the rudest and most demanding people I wait on.

[…]

But here’s a tip for you—free of charge: If you go out to eat, remember to leave your server a 20 percent tip. If they made you laugh, smile, or gave exceptional service (even if things didn’t go exactly as planned otherwise), leave them a little extra. Remember the things that are out of their control, and remember that they are still doing their best to serve you in spite of those things.

Jesus’ example of servanthood couldn’t be truer than in a restaurant. Yes, wait-staff are there to serve you. But by treating your wait-staff with dignity and empathy, you’re showing them the respect they deserve. They have feelings, and they are simply trying to earn a living—sometimes two.

Your generosity and politeness is a service to them. Somehow I think if Jesus were a customer at a restaurant, he’d be gracious, polite and generous.

“And, The labourer is worthy of his reward” (1 Timothy 5:18).

“Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven” (Colossians 4:1).

Too Cheap

I saw her face so often yesterday.

Dupre

As they say, she started to “haunt” me.

  • She could be my daughter. (I have two children older than she, and three younger.)
  • Why would she sell herself so cheaply?
  • What does she know about Jesus and His Gospel?
  • Who will help her?

So the governor of New York paid $1000 an hour for her “services.” I wouldn’t pay $10. It is just not worth the price.

Even so, she is worth that price. In fact, she sold herself far too cheaply. Even a rate a thousand times what Mr. Spitzer paid would be too little for this young woman. Or any woman.

“Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body” (1 Corinthians 6:13).

“As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion” (Proverbs 11:22).

“Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids” (Proverbs 6:25).

“Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).

“For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life” (Proverbs 6:26).

“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:13).

“Go, and sin no more” (John 8:11).

May the Lord redeem and renew Kristen or Kirsten or Ashley or whatever Miss Dupre’s name is.

Christian Teen Girls?

Here’s the news:

More than one in four U.S. teen girls is infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease, and the rate is highest among blacks, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

An estimated 3.2 million U.S. girls ages 14 and 19 — about 26 percent of that age group — have a sexually transmitted infection such as the human papillomavirus or HPV, chlamydia, genital herpes or trichomoniasis, the CDC said.

Forty-eight percent of black teen-age girls were infected, compared to 20 percent of whites and 20 percent of Mexican American girls. The report did not give data on the broader U.S. Hispanic population.

[…]

About half reported ever having had sex . . . .

And here’s more news (although almost four years old by now!):

About one-third of American teenagers claim they’re “born again” believers, according to data gathered over the past few years by Barna Research Group, the gold standard in data about the U.S. Protestant church, and 88% of teens say they are Christians. About 60% believe that “the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings.” And 56% feel that their religious faith is very important in their life.

Here’s the question about the teen girls in the first article: What percentage of these profess to be Christians?

(And, as a Mennonite, a sub-question: How many of them are Mennonites?)

As one who doesn’t live that way, maybe I should stop identifying myself as a Christian, eh? 🙄 (After all, so many people are giving Christian a bad reputation, a bad connotation, a bad name, etc.)

Oh, for the Christianity 101 comment, read this: God says the human body is for Him to inhabit and not to be used immorally.

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Above all, love God!