The Sin of Acha... Israel

The story of the sin of Achan has been one that has always disturbed my sensibilities on many levels. Really, I still have more questions than I do answers.

• Here, you have a nation that shows such faith in God as to send only a few thousand men to conquer Ai, yet He didn't bother to warn them at all about the licking they were about to receive at the hands of their enemies & the loss of 36 lives.


• Further, it says in verse 1 that "the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things" -- because of the actions of ONE man the whole is judged unfaithful.
  
• In verse 10, we're left with the notion that God doesn't want Joshua to pray any longer about an event that had to be extremely disturbing to the Israelites. When coupled with another passage, I get the distinct impression that God gets tired of our blubbering after a while. There comes a point where supplication is rendered void & action is required. Sure, that makes sense, but given all the other eccentricities of this passage it is still unsettling on some level.


• Once Israel narrows it down to Achan, he confesses that it was indeed him. Hey, at least he didn't pull a Rafael Palmeiro or a Roger Clemens. Or pull a Pete Rose & try to benefit off his "confession," if you can call it that after YEARS of categorical denials only to finally tell the truth by releasing a book to make money off of it (... what a sleazy guy!). Achan is a man & at the least owns up to his sin. And for this, he is stoned.


• And not only do they stone Achan, but his family with him. And we have no idea whether or not they were even complicit in Achan's deed. Or even knew about it!

I was listening to some Randy Harris from the Tulsa Workshop today, and he took on this passage. He expressed experiencing many of the same troubles that I listed above. Usually, when I think this passage or preach it, I talk about sin. And I talk about how serious God is about sin, holiness, etc. But that's not what Randy addressed.

Randy said that our main problem with this passage that we've never expressed is how sickeningly community-oriented the Israelites were... at least, to us. We embrace such an exorbitant individualism and it is such an epidemic in our culture that the implications of living in community appear almost perverse to us. The therapists among us might even call it "unhealthy." There is spectrum of dependence vs. independence, and we must seek to strike the "healthy balance" of interdependence. At least, that's what I was taught in Christian Home at HU.

God holds the entire nation responsible for the actions of one man. ONE. We don't take responsibility for the deficiencies around us, do we? MLB Commissioner Bud Selig refused to apologize last week for his culpability. A culture of rampant illegal drug usage spirals out of control on his watch, but it was the fault of the individuals who made those decisions. No one has even begun to lay blame at the feet of simple fans like me, even though I continue to purchase apparel, subscribe to MLB.tv each season, and play fantasy baseball. I continue to support a dirty sport, and have not done my part to hold the leaders & participants of the sport accountable for their misdeeds. No, rather, fans like me are either too apathetic to care or too cynical to think anything can be done, so we settle for a synthetic product.

How about more life applicable examples? Abilene Christian University recently apologized to African-Americans for how that institution & its supporting churches treated them in generations past. Why did they do that? Scarcely anyone that is a part of that institution today played a role in that. But at least on this issue, ACU gets it, because they are promoting a sense of community that even shares the responsibility of the misdeeds of their predecessors.

Randy Harris asked if we take responsibility for what's been happening in Sudan? Or all the turmoil of the Middle East, or previously, Eastern Europe? Because we all constitute "the nations."

This contemporary Evangelical business about our "personal relationship with God" that is buoyed by hymns with lyrics like "My God and I walk through the meadow's hue" & "He walks with me & He talks with me"... it's a little off-center. We would do well to re-examine the sense of community promoted within Scripture & the implications that holds for ourselves and what we teach.

Power 12

I could sound all snooty & say that I am rating the top twelve college football teams of the 2007 season after the dust has settled from all the wild weekends we had this season. Truth is, I simply took a break from blogging & didn't care to update all of you on my opinions of college football teams.

So without further ado, the 2007 Pre-Bowl Power 12...

1.)
2.) Ohio State
3.) LSU
4.) Oklahoma
5.) Southern Cal
6.) Georgia
7.) West Virginia
8.) Missouri
9.) Kansas
10.) Virginia Tech
11.) Florida
12.) Illinois

Did A-Rod Lie to Katie Couric?

Ever seen the movie, The Negotiator? It stars Samuel L. Jackson as a City Police Hostage Negotiator who is framed & takes hostages for himself. Thriller!

Anyway, in that movie, Samuel L. Jackson's character interviews a man who he thinks aided in framing him, and, in the process of interrogating him, accuses him of lying:

Turn Your Volume WAY Up


If you couldn't make out what he said, in essence, Samuel L. Jackson's character calls the guy out on a lie. The way he does this is by watching his eye movements when he answers questions. The way you can tell is this: if the subject of a question shifts his eyes to his left, he is accessing the portion of his brain reserved for memory. Thus, he is telling the truth. If the subject shifts his eyes to his right, he is accessing the portion of his brain for creativity. Thus, he is making up what he says.

This website confirms the information from that movie scene. It further breaks down the eye movements into 6 directions, but the basic right/left distinction remains. Also, this phenomenon is BACKWARDS (e.g. eyes to the subject's right for memory & eyes to the subject's left for lying) for people who are left-handed.

And now to our feature presentation: Alex Rodriguez. On Thursday, mere moments after the release of George Mitchell's Report on Performance Enhancing Drug Use in Major League Baseball, Katie Couric interviewed A-Rod for a piece that will air tonight on the CBS Weekly News Magazine, 60 Minutes. Take a look at the clip that is linked for you below and, in particular, pay attention to the movement of A-Rod's eyes when he answers Katie's question regarding whether he had ever been tempted to take any performance enhancing substances.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3619664n

So what do you think? Was A-Rod, who bats & throws right-handed, accessing the section of his brain where creativity takes place before he answered that question? Was A-Rod lying?

Another plausible theory goes like this... A-Rod is very concerned with his reputation. He wants people to like him, almost too much. Almost to a fault. He's giving an interview that will go a long way toward forming people's opinions of him, especially of people who don't watch ESPN, listen to sports talk radio, or follow sports closely. You could almost see him asking himself in that moment, "What answer should I give?" Or, "What's the best way I could answer this so that people don't hate me?" Thus, if A-Rod was really thinking such thoughts, he wasn't so much concerned with concealing past steroid use or desires as much as he was giving an answer that made people like him or look up to him.

I know it's a stretch, but this admittedly-biased baseball fan is gonna chalk this one up as circumstantial evidence of lying about PED use. Almost everyone that slime-ball Jose Canseco has named has been outed as a user or corroborated as an alleged user by other accounts. His accusations look more & more credible as time passes and more evidence surfaces. And he continues to be adamant that A-Rod is, or was, a user. And in the court of public opinion, sometimes accusations & circumstantial evidence is enough. We're not trying the man for murder. We're merely judging his athleticism, Hall of Fame credentials, and place within history. And in the absence of a perfect system to catch those who seek to gain an unfair advantage, we fans are forced to form our own opinions. I've formed mine. What is your's?

Why College Football is King

Written by a sports writer named Travis Reier:

The Best Thing About College Football?

Is that it's not pro football. At least, it wasn't as of midnight, when Missouri and West Virginia returned to their pumpkin statuses. But there is good news on the horizon for the ever-growing faction of college football fans who seemingly want to NFL-ize the Saturday game. With club seats, luxury suites and multi-million-dollar head coaches with Power Ball buyouts becoming a permanent part of the landscape, major college football is taking on an uncanny resemblance to the no-personality horsecrap we see on Sundays.

So I must be opposed to a playoff, right? Not necessarily. An eight-team format would allow the regular season to retain a shred of integrity while also identifying the nation‘s top team. Anything more than that, though, would be another ill-advised step “forward” for the game. A 16 (or more)-team format would admit three-loss teams to the party, watering down the importance of September games in the process.

See, I like that Georgia fans tonight are mourning a home loss to South Carolina from nearly three months ago all over again. Same for USC (Stanford loss). And while they may not realize it right now, the fear of losing even one game and the haunting consequences of a week two defeat is why we travel to Nashville to watch a game involving Vanderbilt instead of the Titans.

TR

Don't Call it a Comeback...

Felt the urge to share my latest "mix tape," or burned CD. There is an art to this. You don't just throw the songs together. Theme, mood, & timing are all factors.

I call this one That Fresh Feeling.

Format: Song Title by Artist on Album

1.) Fresh Feeling by Eels on Souljacker
2.) Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis on (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
3.) A Little More (electric guitar version) by Jennifer Knapp on Listen Louder
4.) How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin on Arriving
5.) Adoration by Newsboys on Adoration
6.) Love Heals Your Heart by Third Day on Wherever You Are
7.) What's Left of the Flag by Flogging Molly on Drunken Lullabies
8.) Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident) by John Michael Montgomery on his self-titled album
9.) Into the Day by Bebo Norman on Between the Dreaming and the Coming True
10.) Hymn to the Fallen (From "Saving Private Ryan") by John Williams on The Music of John Williams
11.) Lovestoned (CLEAN version) by Justin Timberlake on FutureSex/LoveSounds
12.) Wake Up by Arcade Fire on Funeral
13.) It Ain't Over 'Til Its Over by Lenny Kravitz on Mama Said
14.) Hallelujah by Newsboys on Adoration
15.) Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash on With His Hot and Blue Guitar
16.) Unwell by Matchbox 20 on More Than You Think You Are
17.) Lonely Man by Audio Adrenaline on Lift

Love This

I love me some Holiday Inn Commercials. My new fave:

A Wedding Sermon

A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to perform the wedding ceremony for my dear friend from high school, Ann. I found this sermon on-line & had to use it. I also preached a modified version the following Sunday morning. Both were a success. Feel free to borrow...

Well. Here you are, Eric and Ann, all dressed in your wedding finery. You are a very attractive couple on this most significant day of your lives, a couple I like very much -- each of you separately, and as a couple. Behind my affection for you is my respect: you’ve done a lot of work to prepare yourselves for this wedding day. And here we are. Your friends & family. Your wedding party. Yourselves – all dressed up in a nice suit & in a beautiful wedding dress. It took a little longer than normal to get dressed up for this special moment…

But when you take off your wedding clothes, what are you going to put on?

What are you guys thinking about? Get your minds out of the gutter!

For the last several months, your thoughts have been consumed with preparing for this day. But, you know, a marriage is more than just the wedding day. And Paul, in Colossians 3, has some suggestions for a marriage wardrobe. And he introduces them by saying “clothe yourselves” with these virtues. These aren't just simple actions that you do once & then toss away. Clothe yourselves with these qualities, Paul says.

So how does one dress for success in a marriage? What are you going to wear to keep your marriage warm in the face of a cold, harsh world?

First, put on Compassion. Literally, compassion means "a heart of pity." Compassion is an inner attitude you each have toward the other — a fullness of tender caring for and about the other’s vulnerabilities and strengths which will overflow into how you treat each other, in public & in private.

On top of compassion, put on Kindness. Now there’s an article of clothing that gets to be in short supply in a marriage sometimes! When you are clothed with kindness you will be seeking the other’s good as you deal with each others’ weaknesses and sore spots.

Then there’s another item of clothing that does a marriage good: Humility. If ever there is an arena where pride and the need to be right and the struggle for power occur, it’s in a marriage. Lack of humility leads to every kind of struggle. Humility recognizes the other’s equal status, recognizing that each has needs, plans, hopes, & values which are just as important as your own.

Gentleness is another worthy garment for a marriage. Gentleness is the garment of the self-controlled person. Badgering, Nagging, Berating, Harassing, Heckling, Hounding, Complaining, and even a lot of teasing –- these are not gentleness. When gentleness is absent, your partner has to put on the helmet of wariness & the breastplate of fearfulness just to survive. And how can you be intimate with someone in armor? When you put on gentleness, the other can take off the self-defensive armor. And when that happens, trust can thrive & intimacy can reside. Every marriage could use several garments of gentleness...

Now, here’s an absolutely necessary article of clothing for a marriage: Patience. Each of you has lived long enough to realize that you can’t expect perfection from each other. Each of you will discover, if you haven’t already, that the other has the capacity to drive you crazy! It doesn’t matter what the issue is: marriage takes patience.


Another essential garment for a marriage is a spirit of Forbearance and Forgiveness. There’s a lot that needs to be endured in a marriage, a lot that requires forbearance. It is a spirit of forgiveness that makes difficult things endurable, maybe even erases them. Nowhere more than in marriage will you have to say, "I’m sorry." Don’t say it to get out of a tight spot. Say it because you know that in no other relationship is the other so vulnerable, so easily hurt. And when the other has asked forgiveness, grant it.

If compassion is marriage’s inner, garment, and if kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance and forgiveness are its active-wear shirts and pants and skirts and socks, then love is the overcoat. "On top of all these things," Paul says, "put on love." Love keeps a marriage warm.

Love is not merely an emotion. Love as an emotion can wear thin and threadbare when feelings ebb. Love, as the overcoat that keeps a marriage warm, is made up of two things, both of which must be there for marriage to endure: commitment and caring. It’s the solid ground on which your marriage rests. "No matter what, I will be there for you. No matter what others may think - they may forget you, lose confidence in you, or turn their backs upon you - but I will not.” That’s the commitment you make with your vows. But what good is commitment without caring? Caring says, "You’re more than just another obligation in my life. You are precious to me. I value you above all others."


These clothes Paul invites us to put on are not made of natural fibers. They are woven of spiritual stuff. Try as you might in your own power to create them, you need God to create them. For instance, human nature says, "I’ll do my fair share but no more." Or, "She deserved it." Or, "It’s his turn to give in." Compassion, humility, kindness, gentleness, forgiveness, love -- these don’t come naturally. They are gifts God gives us when we turn to Him.

It is a cold world out there. A world so biter & harsh that wants to steal the warmth of your love away. But do as Paul says:

"Therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."