Religiosity... kind of like a double rainbow - What does it mean?

Well, despite my love for the double rainbow song (and original video), there is a serious topic intended in this post.  Let's see if I can carry it out.

Religion is quickly becoming, to most people I converse with, a buzz word with no positive connotation associated with it.  More and more, the mention of the word "religion" either bites back at the person trying to use it in a positive light, which leaves them feeling downcast by the traces of shame it leaves.  It is either the quickest renounced association by Christians who are attempting a novel approach (quickly following that Christianity is not a "religion its a relationship"), and finally those who suffer from angst toward God.  There is one last remnant which still touts the term with a personal pride that thinks it remains untouched by any pain the word can bring, nevertheless, they are the most afflicted by the term of all.

But my goal here is to clear the air.  Religion, like many words in the English language has an original intended meaning, yet through cultural context, over/under/or misuse or just good old fashioned ignorance, loses that real meaning and is redefined with an inferior and much less wholesome definition.

The History of the Word
Get out your earl grey tea.. its time to get classy! Just kidding, here's what I dug up from some popular word etymology sources regarding the word religion. (This tends to get boring so I'll keep it brief)
Popularly, religion means a worship of a higher being.  This is not how the word started, however.  The origins that hold the most credibility indicate that this word means "to bind together" or put another way "to bind fast".  I find it important that the origins of this term do not necessitate worship of God or a theological structure in anyway, although general connotations in mostly every case make this connection.

Popular Use, and Where We've Wandered Away
"It's not a religion, its a relationship"

I apologize to every Christian in advance who has a t-shirt or bumper sticker that says this, this statement is about to be grotesquely mangled, and personally, I hope its never used again.  Why? Because I hate Christian bumper stickers? Wrong. I hate all bumper stickers, I also hate this phrase, but neither of those are the reasons why either. It's because this statement is grossly untrue.  You see, if you go to church (or some sort of meeting place), personally assign a set of beliefs (especially if they dictate some kind of moral code) meet with people who believe the same and do this routinely, well let me be the first person to tell you; you are following a religion.
It's true that Christianity, especially for me, goes above and beyond what I believe other people experience as "religion".  It's also true that the word religion does not do justice to the totality of life that is permeated by my conviction of the existence from God and my service to Him.  However, all things considered, I do follow a religion.  If you follow Christ, so do you.


You know its true!  We've all faced the frustration of the many existing and sometimes incompatible denominations that fit under the umbrella of Christianity.  But each of those denominations, along with each of its followers, assigns itself to a set of core beliefs that unites, or "binds together" its followers across the entire churchscape of denominations.  This is what is known as orthodoxy, which are the main tenets of Christianity that cannot be compromised if you still want to retain the name the title of Christian.
Some example of these core beliefs are as follows:
The atoning death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.
The Virgin Birth.
The doctrines of the Trinity.
The sole belief in one God.
The final judgment of all people.
The return of Christ.

Part of the move away from the use of the word religion, I suspect, is the negative connotation that religion is hard, oppressive, boring, outmoded or irrelevant.  In an attempt to restore the word religion, I'd like to think that Christianity, if practiced rightly, is an exciting, joyful, fulfilling and vibrant experience.  As far as whether its irrelevant or not I would ask you to consider this; since when are the topics of your eternal destiny, your purpose on earth, the meaning of life, and the existence of an afterlife EVER irrelevant? I would conversely argue that they are always relevant and realistically, very pressing matters.  You're passionate and energetic pursuit of their answers may cause you ridicule from some of your peers, but to find the truth has potential to yield an eternal reward.

Religion and religiosity simply address the parts of your life that discuss personal practice (inward belief and outward exercise) of your beliefs toward God.  We all have them.  It could be argued that atheists and agnostics have religious convictions.  It's certain that they have beliefs toward his non-existence, which in effect constitutes some kind of belief system, and by its very nature directly affects morality and purpose.

There's more to this story but I'll stop here, I'm pretty tired of writing, but I'd like to conclude my thoughts on religion by discussing characteristics of religion, the influence of religion, and respond to the argument made popular by Christopher Hitchens which is "Whether Christianity is a plague to the world and religion a detrimental establishment rather than a helpful and benevolent one."

See ya soon, thanks for reading!

Psalms of Thanksgiving

This is an excerpt from a paper I'm writing right now on the different genre's of the Psalms.  Two genres are mentioned here, the Lament and the Thanksgiving Psalms. Just found myself way encouraged while reflecting on this, Psalm 18 is the operative Psalm here which I'll post at the end for good measure. Love ya =)

Thanksgiving Psalms

            Psalm 18 is an excellent example of the Thanksgiving genre.  Interestingly enough, it begins by saying “I love you, Oh Lord, my strength.”  The Psalm continues in grateful ascents, expressing demonstrations of God’s faithfulness over and over in concrete ideas.  A notable characteristic of the Thanksgiving genre is their bond to a previous lament of some kind, and the conclusion of that lament for which the Psalmist gives thanks.  Verse 6 of this Psalm says “In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple.” This serves the spiritual purpose of creating assurance in God’s impending salvation and his forthcoming answer to prayer.  It also assures us that God is concerned with our outstanding conflicts and desires to bring resolution to them.  Lament Psalms are written out of impatience within God’s timetable.

Excellent article explaining "The Flaw of the Excluded Middle"

Check this out for more info on the concept I brought up on prayer night about 3 weeks ago regarding the philosophical notion known as the flaw of the excluded middle. Very good article articulating the origins and details of this concept.. worth a brief read. Hope you enjoy!

Click Here to Check Out The Article

Sunday -- Labor Day Weekend 2010

Church lets out and I start my car up and get ready to drive my brother on and go into a soul coma of xbox 360 gaming and movies, sprinkled with a few episodes of Scrubs. Not the divine intention of rest. Before I leave, however, I had to run up to my living room to get something. I notice this kid standing on my porch. The nerve..
This kid.. standing on my porch! Why is he standing on my porch? I go up the porch to be greeted by a host of kids on the other side of the railing. With a mix of DJ Meisch thrown in there. All of them staring at a black raven. There are no brown ravens.
Well, they're all crowding around this raven and wondering, why is this majestic beast sitting here calmly, not moving, while people are VERY excited, talking and bustling around it. Why doesn't it freak out and fly away. It just sat there. Calmly. Had its eye on everyone!! Which was funny, but very calm. Reserved even.
So I go in, come out. with my nerf gun. Toy with the idea of shooting the raven. The temptation is so strong. The result would be amazing. It would be the closest I would ever come to hunting for sure.
I shoot the kid instead.
He says ow! I shoot another kid.
The raven watches.
True story.

This one's for you... cat fans

When I should be working and buying books for school... this happens instead

Jesus and Joy

At the times of greatest inner conflict, deep in the moments of bitter frustration, when heartache and other companions like shame, guilt and pessimism are ruling the day, finding a thought that somehow resembles joy can feel like utter impossibility.  I know the feeling.  I know how it feels to have an emotional state that is consistent with joy feel like it's oceans away.  Why?

I have a sincere motivation to write some things in the near future about the topic of sin head on.  This is mainly inspired by a first complete watching of the movie Schindler's List and my personal and intellectual response to the brutality portrayed in that film.  Of course, the brutality portrayed is not far from the truth or in some circumstances maybe not close enough to the truth.  Regardless, it brings about in everyone's mind, (I mean a serious look at the holocaust) the fact that we must face the reality of sin.  In looking closely at man's inhumanity to man and a total disregard and dispassionate concern for life the reality of sin stares you back dead in the face.  Hungry for you.  In some ways, revealing you're own heart.

Getting back to joy...
I feel like Jesus took great pains to let us know in the Bible that one of the things that would result from following Him would be joy. (John 15:11, John 10:10)  First, think about the things that rob your joy.  Most of them combat what God would have for you.  Maybe 90% of the things that interfere with joy, with happiness everlasting, are because of sin - the fallen imperfect state of something.  That's one way to look at it.  The other way is to look at Jesus and very simply... receive joy.  Sound to simple to be relevant?  I'd like to challenge that notion, but before I do.  I'd just like to think of Jesus right now and know that I know Him.  Ahhh... Joy.  I'm not kidding real joy right now, in this room.  Where sin and affliction and self-love over God-love was prevailing; the joy of Jesus has just overrun.

I dig this one part in Braveheart a whole lot. It's at the end when Hamish (the big guy) is treating his father who is dying from a strenuous battle lost at Stirling. His Dad looks at him and through the tough facade that he has throughout the whole movie, he breaks down and says "I'm dying."  As Hamish begins to refuse this reality his father looks at him dead in the eye and gives it to him straight saying: "I've lived long enough to live proud... free. I'm a happy man."

Here's the point of all of this.  When we see our sins and what has been visited upon them by our faith in Christ, and we look at the reality of Jesus in us and conquering our sins, our fears, our everything that assaults our opportunity of joy, then we connect with the joy that Jesus provides.  If inside we give life to our pain, if we routinely sow to the flesh and if we think about what we're really worth we'll come away battered and bruised.  If we see Jesus conquering everything and if we allow ourselves to be conquered by Him, our joy becomes more and more full.  If you're life were ending now, would you look the present company in the eye and say with full sincerity, "I'm a happy man."?

First Post!

Hey everyone!
This is my first blog post... getting your feet wet with anything is difficult.  hahaha so many times when I say "lets dive in" at Genesis its because of awkward transitional parts that I just want to skip.  Like if my life was a dvd at that point, i'd just skip that part and move on to what i wanted to get to.  Now that i'm rolling this blog thing isn't that hard.  I hope to set up a series of consistent things here... some deep and serious talks, hopefully with a dialogue outcome. Hopefully some cool links to some sites.. which will hopefully happen once my internet is set up at 9 mountain ave... some avenues for getting personal prayer requests out, and some cool media that hits me really hard.  I also have this cool program (which I will not mention here because its that cool, you must ask me about it personally) that cuts clips from dvd's.  It's fantastic, so with that tool hopefully I can cut some clips from movies that I love and give you my thoughts on them, cuz honestly, most of the time when i'm watching stuff i have all this stuff exploding in my brain and i don't tell anyone in time and its gone for eternity.  Not really talking about eternal coming down from on high, but i'm in pursuit of good conversation.  Ok, time to go, I have day 5/6 work day ahead of me.  Love you all and hopefully see you at Genesis!
-d