If You Love Me

Now I don't know if you any of you are aware but I have been obsessed with Mystery Science Theater 3000 since the first time I saw it on Comedy Central late one night. I didn't get half of the jokes but I loved it! Now I know I'm extremely late on the train for this one, but as a teen I could never really afford the DVD box sets. Well now I'm a grown up - and I can!!!!!

So I'm making it a goal to buy one DVD collection a month until I have them all. There are 12 collections (Volume 9 is OOP and I think Volume 8 is but you can find it on ebay or on Amazon for like $50). Plus the new 20th anniversary box set (but my lovely wife has already promised to buy it for me for our anniversary).

Now you think to yourselves - "Why is he writing a blog about this?" The answer is simple - my birthday is next week. DUH

So I have compiled a lovely list of DVD's through Amazon.com of all the collections. Look at how easy it is! It's just like a wedding registry!


CLICK HERE

Now I know it sounds greedy, but I compiled the list for my own tracking purposes. If you feel led to buy me one of the collections for my birthday, anniversary, because it's Tuesday, or whatever! I won't stop you ;)

My name is Craig Vinson and I approve of this message.

The Myth of a Christia...oh nevermind

Blah you know what. I just spent an hour writing a whole new blog post about the book I've been reading but I just decided to delete it. I don't think a blog is the greatest place for me to talk about this issue. I can't really figure out how to make my point through writing (not that gifted) without sounding like some extremist. This is definitely a topic I can only discuss in person where I can interact in real time. I'll post the last few paragraphs because it vaguely gets across the whole thing I was going for.

"So again let me just clarify! This whole exercise/book report I'm doing is just looking at the differences between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God. My point is NOT to say government and America are evil. My point is - I'm seeing in The Church today A LOT of people thinking we can change a fallen government under the control of Satan and turn that government into a Christian one that excerises its Christian power over a blatantly NON-CHRISTIAN nation. That's my point - that a lot of Christians have become obessesed with this myth.

As a Christian and as an American OBVIOUSLY I'm going to act in the political realm as my Christian beliefs lead me. But I'm not going to make it my #1 goal in life because I know even if a Christian gets in power and even if Christian values turn into law - that CANNOT change people's hearts. You cannot force someone through laws to change their hearts. Only the love of Christ shown through me to a lost and dying nation can change their hearts. So let's not foam at the mouths and scream MAKE AMERICA A CHRISTIAN NATION. Let's let our actions do the talking and let the government do its thing."

So there you go...whatevs' it was a good idea but I wasn't happy with the final product. I tell you what. I've got another book about the emergent church that could be pretty interesting [sly grin]. Who knows maybe we'll talk about that. It was just nice to have something to write about for once :(

The Myth of a Christian Nation - Introduction

Well kids here we go - let's dive in! We've got a lot of stuff going on right now so I think we'll only have time for the Introduction today but it can still be fun!

Again, this book was written by Gregory A. Boyd who as a pastor during the 2004 election was being pressured by many people (both in and out of his congregation) to "shepherd his flock into voting for the right candidate." But it was much more than that, he was being asked to hand out flyers blatantly attacking one candidate over another, sign petitions, make pledges, etc. Thankfully his church board supported his decision to refuse these items. This all concerned him so much that he preached a series of sermons called "The Cross and the Sword" which became the basis for this book. And his whole point was to "expose the danger of associating the Christian faith too closely with any political view, whether conservative or liberal."

And after preaching these messages he had so many people thank him for the freedom they felt because they didn't hold the same political beliefs as everyone in their church. And on the other hand about a thousand of his members left the church! Their problem was that because God is against _____ than Christians should vote for ______ "and any American pastor...should use his 'God-given authority and responsiblity' to make this known."

And I think this is where I'm starting to draw the important conclusion that while all of those things may be true as Christians (yes we should vote for someone who upholds what you believe, that's what it means to vote!) but is it the church's job to declare these personal convictions from the pulpit.

And his thesis of the book (I think) blatantly points out a big problem in the church today. "I believe a significant segment of American evangelicalism is guilty of nationalistic and political idolatry." He continues, "To a frightful degree, I think, evangelicals fuse the kingdom of God with a preferred version of the kingdom of the world...Rather than focusing our understanding of God's kingdom on the person of Jesus - who, incidently never allowed himself to get pulled into the political disputes of his day."

And I agree with him on that point. He goes on to say that none of these things (Christian/political ideals) are wrong but he hopes to "challenge the assumption that finding the right political path has anything to do with advancing the kingdom of God." And he points it all to this problem that Christians are so gung-ho in demanding that we recoginze that America always has been and always should be a Christian nation and it is their job to ensure that it stays that way no matter what. "Instead of living out the radically countercultural mandate of the kingdom of God, this myth has inclined us to Christianize many pagan aspects of our culture."

And finally his main disctinction that he wants to make is that all kingdoms of the world seek to exercise power over people, while the kingdom of God is only advanced by serving under people. But he has three caveats:

1. This thesis applies to ALL politicals. Left and right alike.
2. Keeping these two kingdoms disctinct does not mean our faith shouldn't inform our participation in politics.
3. The purpose of this book is to get a better understanding of Jesus' kingdom and how it is completely different from this world's. "This book does not attempt to resolve all ambiguities between these two kingdoms."

So there we have it! An introduction! For those of you brave enough to read all of that - what do you think?

I'm glad to see his whole point isn't that Christians shouldn't be involved in politics or anything BUT it shouldn't be the focus of our lives. And unfortunately the Christians who ARE obsessed with this are the ones who seem to get all the TV time and so that's the only thing our world sees. So maybe it's more of a battle cry for us non-famous Christians to show the world that we could care less how Obama or McCain or WHOEVER stand, it's us who stand on truth and who cares about YOU and let us show you the love of Jesus Christ.

I dunno - what about you?

The Series That Could Get Me In Trouble

Well my blogs on Xanga could really talk about anything because the only people who read it were my friends at school and at home. But NOW I'm a big kid and my blog is on places like Facebook and well not everyone there knows me as well as my friends and family. But I'm going to risk it in this blog I tell you what! I'm going to talk about things...scary things...things that could get me in trouble.

OK well maybe not but it sounded good didn't it?

Well it's election time once again as my good friend Diddy reminds me daily, when he's not pimping out BK

Thanks Diddy

Anyway, growing up kind of sucks. I never used to worry about such things as politics. And I'd still like to keep it that way, but stuff changes and as it turns out this politics stuff effects even me! I don't like that Raymond! And well once you add in everything I learned in church - well the whole thing becomes a mess!

Thank the good Lord (literally) that my home church and my NEW home church have never preached from the pulpit about who I should or shouldn't vote for. I mean sometimes back home pastor would say we need to watch out for this law or that, or candidates who stand for this or that, but NEVER have I heard "AS A CHRISTIAN YOU SHOULD VOTE FOR..."

But unfortunately this kind of stuff DOES happen A LOT. And even more unfortunately it usually comes from the Christians that you see and hear in the media most (a.k.a those with the biggest mouths - not all, but let's be honest most). And it has affected how the world sees us! I've been reading this AMAZING book by the Barna Research group called unChristian. They surveyed non-Christians my age and younger to see how they really view Christianity. And they list the top 5 things - one of those being: Christians are too involved in politics.

While I was in school we had to take a class called Worldview Development, where we had to take everything we learned in our Bible classes and just apply them to everyday situations. And I vividly remember one of those being - Should the Church be involved in politics? Now the thing that caught me off guard was the subject of the question. It wasn't asking should CHRISTIANS be involved in politics RATHER should THE CHURCH!

And I remember reading an article about this pastor who preached a series of messages warning the church to not get obsessed with the political realm. After preaching this series about half of his church (Several thousand) left! But the other half were so relieved that they weren't the only ones who felt that way. They were free to admit that just because they were Christians didn't automatically mean they were conservative, right-wing citizens. Because after all Christianity is not a political party!

Anywho...I write this incredibly looong intro to say - I finally bought the book that pastor wrote. And I'm finding it super interesting! Keep in mind I said interesting. I haven't read the whole thing yet (only a few chapters) and well I want to take you on this journey as well!! I'm going to start writing posts with stuff from the book and my own thoughts because I WANT TO HEAR YOURS.

So what do you think my people? YAY or NEIGH? (pun) Good idea or bad idea?