Today I saw an advertisement that encouraged Americans to eat 3-4 servings of milk and dairy a day to stay healthy. "Hm...sounds good," you might say. "I do need the protein and calcium," you might add. "I have been wanting to eat better," you assert. The problem is that such advertising is a perfect example of Americans being duped by media into obesity. Let me illustrate:
1 cup of Milk: 23% of you daily saturated fat needs 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese: 69% of your daily saturated fat needs 1/2 cup American cheese: 48% of your daily saturated fat needs.
This means that if you eat three servings of dairy each day, you will have consumed 140% of your daily saturated fat needs. This is not including any other food!
We are killing our bodies because we fail to take responsibility for our bodies and knowing what we eat.
President Bush made some interesting remarks regarding the terrorist attack on the US embassy in Yemen...
especially in light of the fact that the Iraq war has resulted in 87,000-95,000* civilian casualties since the Bush administration began to occupy the nation.
"You are a sinner. The world is broken." Inordinate amounts of time are spent preaching this message or evangelizing with this tired concept. Certainly these statements are true and once reverberated against the cadence of culture's battle drum. As the modern project plodded along Darwinian dreamers hoped for the day that all would be better than the days prior. morning these dreamers awoke to the nightmare of reality. Only the sandman fulfilled his obligation, unlike people and the world who were supposed to be getting better-“evolving”. By the 70's the sandman was tired of working too. The dream could no longer linger in the brash daylight of reality. In this dawn of reality, a hopeless generation was raised by. 'The world is not good-you do not have it all together!' was the message proclaimed from evangelist platforms in an attempt to awaken the culture from their modernist wonderland. The coffee is on and the culture has awakened. The church hasn’t heard them rustling and has missed their departure. Suicide is up, divorce is up, hate crimes are up, gang activity is up, and the culture is fully aware. In response to the brokenness of the world, witchcraft, Buddhism, Hinduism, and spirituality are correspondingly on the rise as people try to find something that will fix them. The church no longer needs to convince the world that all is lost. Everyone knows it. Churches are still using the same old platform, while culture begs for an answer to its heartache. 'Who will save us? Is there hope? Where are the answers?' the world cries out. People are no longer asking, 'When will the world fix itself?' They want to know if there is anything to fix themselves. Christians need to stop talking and listen to the question culture is actually asking. We have the answer.
A reference was made to accountability partners in class a few days ago. Context for the subject is not relevant, it is the concept that rocked my mental faculties. Why do we have accountability partners? Conceptually I understand why. Biblical basis for individuals to speak truth into our lives and help us avoid sin is not contrived through hermeneutical gymnastics. I want to know why the office of accountability partner even exists.
Our culture is certainly individualistic and anti-community. Until this moment I had failed to see that extent. We have reached a point where we lack fundamental relationships where we can share our lives with people allowing mutual investment. Now, we must assign an individual a title, carve out weekly or monthly sessions, and arrange times to satisfy each others need to have ‘heart to heart’ discussions! It reminds me of getting rid of our children, and inviting someone’s dog to come over and urinate on our floor once a month so we can feel like we caretakers of our home. True community-I bemoan our impersonation of you.
Today I saw a Christian T Shirt that said “Virginity Rocks” in hot pink letters.The early nineties color clashed with the solid black background and set my eye darting for a safer place to gaze.As with most Christian merchandise, I scoffed and engaged in my regular internal dialog.It usually goes something like this:
-In an overly chipper, televangelist voice I mockingly ask myself:“well…what would Jesus do?...
-With an eye roll and disbelief in my voice I respond: “umm…certainly he would never wear that”.
I frequently repeat this process in the Christian sub-culture currently I find myself, but unlike every time I engage in this internal Q&A, it didn’t end there.As the concept of the message began to set my neurons firing I realized the blatant lie of the statement “virginity rocks” and the danger that promoting such an idea brings.
In Genesis, the book of beginnings, we see the perfect roles of men and women as established by God.Togetherness was an imprinted part of their design and is equally found in us.God made men and women to be together, to love each other and to enjoy each other.“It is not good for man to be alone.”Virginity was only existed until Eve arrived and God knew what would happen as soon as He made her.The truth is that virginity is terrible.The problem is that the world doesn’t know the proper place of sex.
We were made to be lovers, but as redeemed humans we reserve ourselves to love only our spouses.We commit to love them knowing that sex with them will be more fulfilling if we haven’t prostituted ourselves out for pleasures sake before hand.This is the message that needs to be shared.IT is the message of a redeemed, free, Jesus following life.The idea that virginity is cool will never make it into dorm rooms or high school parking lots.Not only will that idea never penetrate culture, it would prevent any God honoring families from being raised.Sex has a special place in our lives as ordained by God, we simply must not loose ourselves to desires of the flesh.
Virginity doesn’t rock-sex is just worth the wait.
Resolve: To never belittle myself or my family for the sake of humor.
Recently I have seen that many pastors and public speakers do not hold to this axiom while engaging an audience.Perhaps public speaking makes them nervous, perhaps they do not trust the example they are setting for their listeners, or perhaps they simply want to entertain people and feel self-directed humor is the best way to do so.Regardless of their motivation, I never want to employ such an action in the public arena.
We are called to be witnesses for Jesus and in doing so show people what it looks like to live a redeemed life.Part of this is setting an example that others would want to emulate.This is not an issue of outward self-righteousness, but living out our faith in our daily lives.Why would anyone ever want to follow Jesus if his followers lived self-degraded lives who mock their families?Tearing myself down or ridiculing my family will never inspire anyone to live like I live-which is the last thing I want.Jesus has transformed me and I want to demonstrate that everyone.I want to show them what a true follower of Jesus looks like and I cannot do that if I do not humbly respect myself and outwardly support my family.
Recently I found myself in uncommon circumstances-on a car ride with an 8 year old girl.She smiled a lot and talked even more while her long brown hair danced back and forth as if afraid to rest for too long on her shoulders.I hardly know her, but in less than thirty minutes I had grown to love her.In spite of my affection, her oration offered a terrible insight into our culture and struck me with sadness.Don’t let me get ahead of myself though.
School shopping was the latest adventure of my young friend and the main topic of discussion.She told me about Hannah Montana shirts she bought-five of them.Next were her Hannah Montana jeans-three pair.Apparel could be accessorized with Hannah Montana pencils, folders and shoes.My opinion of Miley Cyrus aside, I was astounded at her desire to identify herself with the name ‘Hannah Montana.’Like an American flag pin (worn or not), it was clear where her allegiance lay-an army of one, bearing the emblem of a pop star who would never know her personally.
Initial steps on this path will eventually come to a dead-end unless a new Way can be blazed that embraces life.I had forgotten the power and subtlety with which our culture leads us along winding trails to nowhere while we seek to end our inner lostness.What is most sad to me, is that my young friend is only one of millions beginning this trek.
