Can God's Kingdom come in a Poll Booth?

Alright election season is here and I find myself caught up in the whole hoopla just like everyone else.

I have found myself moved by speeches. I have gone to rallies, and completely confused about what I should do come November.

The question in my mind is simple. Can I vote? And if so who can I vote for.

This is a question that each of us should face.

For some of us the answer is simple. If you are not a citizen, or under 18 you can’t vote and that make it a pretty easy choice.

For those of us who are legally able to vote we must now answer if it is RIGHT for us to vote.

There are two sides to this issue which I am sympathetic to.

There has been a debate on Jesus manifesto going on about this.

One poster wrote Ten Reasons they Won’t Vote

Another responded with Ten Reasons they Will Vote

I have generally been a voter. I voted in the Primary this year Uncommitted as a democrat. Mostly because I felt I should vote and in Michigan I didn’t particularly support any of the candidates actually on the ballot.

In elections past I often have voted with a write in unless I really supported a candidate. (For example my friend’s mother is the secretary of state here and I do feel she is doing a good job, last year I had a friend running for state senate and I supported him as well, there are other examples too.)

I do not personally vote to win, but to speak.

I believe a vote is a gift from God that should be used in some way.

I don’t think that I could vote for any of the Major candidates this year with a clear conscience, so I plan on writing in at this point in time. I am curious as to what the rest of you feel about voting.

Why should or shouldn’t we vote?

Can God's Kingdom come in a Poll Booth?

Galation series: in 8 parts!

Alright it's DONE!
For those of you who missed it the Galatians Series is up in it's entirety.

This book really changed my life. Over the last two months I've been going over this book with the MissionChrist community, as well as the youth at St. Luke. Please give it a listen. i know it's about 5 hours worth of stuff, but I really think you might enjoy it!

peace!!

Your view of heaven is wrong - Time interviews Tom Wright

Time's interview With Tom Wright (or N.T. Wright as he is published)

Ok read the interview above... Then come back.

Did you read it?? Good. Now we can talk.

I will pretend like you all are Christians for this entry, but please... for those of you who aren't just see this as me talking mostly to myself. I want to hear everyones perspective.

For those of you with a background in Philosophy I'd be particularly interested in your perspective on how Plato has been influential on traditional church teaching on the after life. It's something I'm just getting my feet wet with and would love to learn more.

My good friend Johannes brought this interview to my attention last week and I thought it could be a good item for Dialog.

I am not saying what I believe is what Tom belives, and I am not saying it is NOT what Tom believes.

To tell you the truth I don't have a very good theology on Heaven... By that I mean I don't really like to make Dogmatic statements about it.

I do however think Tom makes some valid points

the life after life after death
Tom says, "Jesus' resurrection marks the beginning of a restoration that he will complete upon his return. Part of this will be the resurrection of all the dead, who will "awake," be embodied and participate in the renewal."

So there is a part of this life that is NOW. Heaven is at least in part active now. We are in the kingdom of heaven now. When we accept Christ we are "born again" into a new kingdom.

Question for you: Do we play a role in this restoration? Do we play a role in bringing it into completion?

Hellenism and The Tanakh

Tom Says, "The New Testament is deeply, deeply Jewish, and the Jews had for some time been intuiting a final, physical resurrection. They believed that the world of space and time and matter is messed up, but remains basically good, and God will eventually sort it out and put it right again. Belief in that goodness is absolutely essential to Christianity, both theologically and morally. But Greek-speaking Christians influenced by Plato saw our cosmos as shabby and misshapen and full of lies, and the idea was not to make it right, but to escape it and leave behind our material bodies. The church at its best has always come back toward the Hebrew view, but there have been times when the Greek view was very influential."

I have often talked about our "flesh" being the sinful part of us, and how our spirits are good. Sometimes I think I might be wrong in talking in these terms. Is this an instance in which I am making Greek philosophy the basis for my theology?

Questions for you: Why do we have bodies? What is God's plan for them? What is the fate of this physical world?


These are some concerns I had in reading it, plus more. I'd like to hear your comments and concerns to... let me know what you think!!

The Theology of Penis Jokes

OK, Here it is guys.
My Brother, Gordon Kangas, is a stand up comedian.
He is also a Christian!!
I know it's amazing, but somehow he navigates loving God and being hilarious at the same time.
I know it seems like an irreconcilable paradox, on par with the hypostatic union, but it's true.

The video above is a recording of a show he did last year at a local coffee shop which sparked a ton of controversy. There were some Christians in the audience who were offended that he said the word Penis in his routine. Watch the video and please tell me why that was a problem.

I really don't know, and am curious!

I believe that God created the Penis. It's a good thing. We should talk about it! In fact I think we need to talk about it a lot more. The Church suffers greatly from a lack of dialog about Penises.

I believe the Christian community should be a place where people can be open about their lives and struggles, Sexual addictions, sexual abuse, Sex and it's beauty. I believe it should be a place where people can take of their masks and get real about the heart wrenching pain and insurmountable obstacles we as Sexual beings necessarily encounter in our lives.

The Church should proclaim the beauty of Sexual Union in marriage. The blessings of intimacy. The miracle of creating a child.

How can we do that when we don't even allow it in mirthful dialog.

By reinforcing these ancient taboos we become even more obsolete to a world that is more sexual every day.

Instead of blinding ourselves to this reality by censoring even the most harmless of Jokes lets engage this issue as light in a dark world.

The LORD made your Penis (if you have one) so PRAISE HIM with it!

Gordon... thanks for doing just that!

The Galatians Series

Alright I've been working on a series that goes through all of Galatians for a while now.

What I have here is a lot of listening for you. I'm not sure you all can handle it.

Each week I spent around 45 min going though a passage until we finished the whole book.

I already posted week one a while back but I'm going to post week 1 -5 with it now. Weeks 6-8 will be up in a week or so.

Week 1: Galatians 1:1-5 - Glory to and from heaven
Download



Week 2: Galatians 1:5-10 - Gospel and Curse
Download


Week 3: Galatians 1:11-2:21 - Authority and Revelation
Download


Week 4: Galatians Chapter 3 - Joined in the Promise
Download



Week 5: Galatians 4:1-4:20 - Slaves and Heirs
Download