Derek Webb and the Ethics of Cussing (A Follow Up)

In my previous blog entry about Derek Webb's foul mouthed music, many commenters (here and in other places where the story was posted) thought that I was upset at Mr. Webb for using bad language and was pushing him away for acting "unChristianlike" with no regard for his content.

This is not true.

First, I want to say that I'm not interested in discussing the morality of bad words. I've been told that cuss words are not bad and that Christians should use them more often. Also, I've been told that Paul used curse words in the Bible (which isn't true). I'll let you read Colossians 3:8 and that will be enough for me - it's really not an interesting discussion. Since people associate bad language with bad habits, I personally avoid it.

I'm disappointed with Derek Webb because of his approach. Rather than lovingly encouraging his fellow believers he distances himself from them and talks down to them - there are other ways to get a message across.

If you haven't heard it, I recommend Jon Foreman's song, "Instead of a Show," which criticizes anyone who would put on a show at church by acting spiritual and then spend the rest of the week ignoring the poor and unloved. It sounds a lot like Derek Webb's platform, but Foreman's tone is loving and humble. (He was able to accomplish this by mostly quoting scripture.) His tone is also encouraging - rather than attacking the church he is giving believers direction and does not act superior or haughty.

Webb's language, by contrast, is very rude. But what you need to understand is that Derek Webb's approach would be rude even without the cursing. I'm not protesting the use of a swear word - I don't have that much time on my hands - but I am protesting the hypocritical dogma of a man who accuses his brothers of not showing love through a most unloving method. It's like kicking someone in the shin and saying, "That's for not being nice!"

It is not effective to stand outside of the church and yell and those who are inside no matter what they are doing wrong. Just as Jesus loved us when we were unlovable, we must love our church when it is not perfect.

Take This Quick Science Quiz - I Dare You

This 12 question test from the Pew Research Center is fun because it compares your answers to those of others. The statistics are broken down by age and levels of education so you can compare your scientific-savy to that of a senior citizen or a high school dropout. (Or both.)

I only missed one (I won't say which one because I was sort of embarrassed) but I was horrified at the number of people who missed some very easy questions. To think that discussions of the energy crisis involve people who don't know if an atom is bigger than an electron...it made me sad.

"Don't disappoint me. By the way, I never failed math."

Anyway, I dare you to take the test. If you are brave enough tell me one you missed I will tell you which one I missed. Even though I don't want to. (I'm not asking you to post your score, just one that you missed.)

The Media Doesn't Care when the Taliban Murders Christians

The faith journey of a long-time underground Christian in Somalia ended in tragedy this week when Islamic militants controlling a security checkpoint killed him after finding Bibles in his possession.

It's sad. I hear rhetoric every week about hateful Christians who are prejudiced against Muslims. I don't hear about this man, Omar Khalafe, who was shot for possessing Bibles. In fact, I searched CNN.com for Omar Khalafe and nothing came up. I guess it's not important.

Here's more of the story:

...Khalafe was carrying 25 Somali Bibles he hoped to deliver to an underground fellowship in Somalia. By 10:30 a.m. he had arrived at the checkpoint controlled by al Shabaab, a rebel group linked with al Qaeda that has taken over large parts of the war-torn country...

...The Islamic extremists saw that the elderly Khalafe resembled a face in one of the photos, the source said. They asked Khalafe if he was the owner of the Bibles; he kept quiet. They shot him to death...

...The body was taken to Merca, according to the source, and there the al Shabaab militants placed the 25 Somali Bibles on top of Khalafe's body as a warning to others.

Obviously, this is not the way every Muslim acts; this article only deals with the extremists.

The violence of the Taliban is not getting press and the worldwide apathy for Christians is so strong that no one cares when an old believer is murdered. Imagine if a group of Christians took over a country and shot anyone who didn't go to church - how long do you think that would go one before the media noticed?

"Jesus" Loves Grammar Nazis.

You get an "E" for "effort." Jesus does save.

However, putting it in quotation marks like that is confusing. Imagine the strange looks you would get if you told someone that Jesus saves while making quotes in the air with your fingers. As the link below points out, they might respond by saying, "'Jesus' saves...if that's his real name..." or, "You said Jesus saves but I know you meant someone else. Wink, wink..."

See, punctuation matters. It's the difference between telling people about Jesus and telling people about "Jesus."

(I found this on the "blog" of "uneccessary" quotation marks.)

4 Things My Music Minister Does Well

At my small church we are blessed with a crew of strong ministers with good ideas and strong ministries. I previously mentioned my pastor as someone from whom other ministers can learn, but my music minister is quite worthy of emulation, as well.

Here are four reason why:

1 - He's smart. Really smart.

One day, I casually mentioned Irenaeus' view on original sin and my music minister chimed in and compared it to other parts of Irenaeus' theology. Not many people can do that. We've discussed late medieval mystics like John of the Cross and more modern writers like Watchman Nee. (Note: I'm not saying that he does or does not endorse all of these writings - I'm just saying that he's familiar with them.) He leads modern worship with an acoustic guitar, but he's not a frustrated rock star trying to use the church as his concert hall.

Man, that was the weirdest version ever of "His banner over me is love." We were all glad when John was done going through his "Greek" phase.

2 - He listens and tries new things

If no one at church responds to certain songs than he considers getting rid of them - there's no reason to lead songs no one wants to hear. He's not a pushover or a crowd pleaser, mind you, he's just wise about interpreting feedback. There are a lot of songs out there and there's no reason not to pick songs that send the right message that are also enjoyable for the audience.

3 - He reads my blog

That's all that matters. Just kidding. But he makes an effort to keep up with what's going on. Which probably involves reading my blog.

"Now, we've never met before, have we?" (John regularly incorporated magic tricks into the service until the pastor preached on Simon the Magician. Things got awkward.)

4 - Content. Content. Content.

My music minister is not interested in winning awards or recording worship CDs that will be the "cutting edge" of Christian music - he is interested in pastoring a flock through music. Theology is learned through songs as well as sermons and, thus, music ministry is not a responsibility to be taken lightly. A wise music minister does not ask his church to sing a song with weak theology just because it sounds good or happens to go along with the other songs well. And if the music minister at my church can't find a tune that adequately teaches a certain point, he simply writes a new song of his own - which is awesome.

Book Review: "North, or Be Eaten!" by Andrew Peterson

Andrew Peterson's North! Or Be Eaten is the kind of book I always wanted to read as a kid but could never find. This sequel to his previous book in the Wingfeather Saga, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, is full of adventure and daring in a magnificent fantasy world.

But there's more. Amidst sword fights and evil villains the family members strive to get along with each other - something everyone can understand. The story is huge but, at the same time, it is a very small story about a family. The immediate threat to our characters at any given time may be monsters or evil henchmen, but the real story here is the way the characters struggle within their own family. Peterson is very wise to craft his story in such a way.

While reading this book I was impressed at the immensity of Peterson's imagination. I knew he was a gifted story teller from his song lyrics, but I wasn't prepared for the amount of originality in his story. At every turn of the tale, the reader is introduced to new and interesting ideas; strange creatures and interesting cities all have their own history and reputation within the story that the characters interact with. As the story progresses, Peterson craftily shows us more of his magical world.

I don't know anything about Peterson's literary training or his education, but his book is very mythopoetically sound; which means, his book successfully creates a world with its own myths and history without depending on our own world for these things. This is a difficult challenge for most fantasy writers and few can pull it off as well as Peterson has done in this book for children. (J.R.R. Tolkien famously criticized C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia for certain lapses in mythopoetic integrity.) There is even an appendix in the back to help us learn more about this world - which is fun.

I was initially surprised at the length of the book - 330 pages seems like a lot for a book marketed to children. However, the book is broken up into many short chapters so that a younger reader can pace themselves while an older one can read a few chapters in a sitting. (I've noticed, in the wake of Harry Potter, that books for young people have gotten much larger - so I'm probably just out of touch. Wait, I'm a historian. Of course I'm out touch.)

In conclusion, North! Or be Eaten! should be on your child's bookshelf. If I were young I would want nothing more than to read this books again and again to relive the adventure and to escape into a world of fantasy and excitement. Pedagogically speaking, it is not too difficult to read but will send a child to the dictionary now and then to learn new words- which is excellent.

You can purchase this book at amazon.com here (surprisingly affordable, I might add) and you can visit Andrew Peterson's website at www.Andrew-Peterson.com.

(Also, if you're interested in this type of literature, you may want to read my blog entry about Phantom Island:Wind - a young adult novel that will appeal to many of the same readers, perhaps just a bit older.)