When I Am, I'm Not

The moments when I am most successfully creative, the most God-like, I'm the most humbled. Because it's then that I realise I'm not really anything like God...

I Hate the Hate

As a Christian I'm exposed to so many classically poor interpretations of my faith during the course of a day. I can't stand it!

I keep thinking we're past the pithy, inflammatory statements posted on church signs, or wherever else Christians think they're clever (e-mail signatures), but no. No, I'm regularly shown that people's unaltered human nature is simply focussed through their "faith".

With grace I can understand what they're saying. I can see the truth behind the blatant but (probably) unintended offense. Of course, not everyone is wired that way. (Most people, I dare say.) And the unthinking, smarmy, smug, trite, snappy, little statement reinforces everything negative that ever existed within faith. Oh, how I hate the "I'm right, and you're going to Hell" mentality! And it's bandied about so readily! If people had a taste of what Hell was like (whatever it's like) that mindset would die in a snap -- I have to admit that I sometimes wish that for people. Imagine if instead of telling people that they're headed there, Christians would actively and unitedly work to prevent it.

Faith requires a life change. Otherwise it's not faith, it's something else. (Actually, there are innumerable examples of what it isn't.) But the life change doesn't come first -- it can't and never will. People who expect that in whatever form are simply heading for a reality smack upside the head. The process is what grace is, and what it does. It's the supernatural power that leaves us speechless -- like trying to describe the colour blue to a blind person. So please quit trying to encapsulate it in a catchy little slogan. You're bound to fail, and I'm bound to my anger!

A Comment Rehashed

I put the following comment on someone else's blog, and re-reading it I found me strongly agreeing with myself. So I'm turning it into a post on my own blog. It's kinda weird and kinda cool to quote oneself -- I should remember that in conversation 'cause wouldn't that be fun?

"We're in a really wierd era. Catastrophe causes mediated titillation, but everyone's forgotten how to feel. And because of that, when it hits close to home, grief turns toxic.

That's the same thought that struck me after seeing Children of Men when someone commented it would make a good video game. This is the world we've made for ourselves, a culture of emotional opportunism. Now we're left wondering how to fix it..."

Best Quote I'll Hear All Day

"It ceases to be a devil when it ceases to be a god."

Could be applied to so many things...

Word of the Era

I'm not going to do something dumb like commit to a word of the day. So until next time, here's the Word of the Era:

dysphemism:
The opposite of euphemism; a crass word or phrase is used instead of a polite or neutral one. I'm not sure how many times I'm going to use this in a sentence, but now I can.