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I’ve been reading some interesting things on Openness Theology recently. (In the words of Wikipedia, Open Theism “makes the case for a personal God who is able to be influenced through prayer, decisions, and actions of people. Although unknowing of the future, God has predictive (anticipatory) foreknowledge of the future through his intimate knowledge of each individual.”) Though I’ve always thought (without ever giving it much thought) God knew everything, whether it be in the past or the future, it’s an interesting concept to think about.
Does God really know what will happen tomorrow? Can’t I change my mind? Can I change his mind? Does it make more sense in regards to prayer that Openness Theology could be true?
I can understand how this would be a very controversial view in certain circles — if you’re Calvinist, you obviously believe very strongly that God knows the future because hey, he predestined you. But in Wesleyan circles, this view might hold some more water for some individuals.
Does God know the future? If so…can His mind be changed about that future so that things turn out differently?
Here’s a link to an awesome video — it’s a discussion/debate between Shane Claiborne, Greg Boyd and Chuck Colson. It covers a variety of issues, but lots of good stuff re. the below post – war, justice, peace, kingdom life, politics and so on. Claiborne and Boyd seem to agree on numerous items…Colson not so much.
You can go here to watch (or download the audio).
Also, here’s Boyd take on the discussion afterwards.
I’ve been reading and thinking and praying lots about war. And peace. And justice. And the Kingdom of God. This quote is beefy.
“If you are a follower of Jesus, a middle eastern man living in an occupied country who was crucified by the global military superpower of his day, and the leader of the global military superpower of your day, in celebrating victory and occupation of a middle eastern country, quotes hymns in the military victory speech about Jesus, if you are a Christian, this should make you nervous.
The Bible is a story of people living on the underside of military super powers.
The Bible comes to us from a small minority of peoples, who are conquered peoples.
So when you read this story, and you read this book, as a citizen of the most powerful empire this world has ever seen, you may miss some of it’s central ideas.
Because when it says some trust in chariots but we trust in God and you have 42.8 percent of the worlds weapons, You’re the one with the chariots.
My interest is in how we understand the story of the scriptures, and in some way separate the cross and the flag, just long enough to make sure that we haven’t bought into somethings that are the very type of things that Jesus came to set us free from.”
- Rob Bell
This week at youth we held the first ever ‘Shakedance Film Festival’ and it was pretty hilarious. The teens were asked to collaborate with their friends and create movies to enter in the competition. The only rules: the films couldn’t exceed 90 seconds, and they had to (in some way or another) be a promotion for the Shakedown.
We watched all the movies Thursday night and, after some intense judging, had the award ceremony. We awarded some typical prizes — best picture, best actor (it went to a toaster, oddly enough), best cinematography and so on — as well as some not-so-typical prizes (best use of a cookie sheet, for instance).
I was impressed with many of the entries, and I’ll admit that I was pretty surprised that the film with the best camera work, editing and plotting was entered by some junior high girls. Go figure! Anywho, enjoy an entry.
If you find an extra 20 minutes in your day you should watch The Story of Stuff. It’s a pretty cool way of explaining where our stuff comes from…and the numerous pitfalls along the way. It somehow covers global devastation, corporate greed, mass marketing and how our ‘need’ for new stuff isn’t really helping anyone. Go ahead and watch. It’s good, uh, stuff.
Am I the only one who found it bizarre to hear the American Idol contestants singing ‘Shout to the Lord’ last week? I’m not even talking about how they eliminated the word ‘Jesus’ the first time around; I just simply mean in general — it seemed a little bit, well, wrong. Why? I’m glad you asked.
1) Because I don’t think all the contestants are followers of Christ. If I was a Christian on a reality show and was told to sing “Celebration Song to the Pagan Witch” I wouldn’t be too impressed. Why should they be asked to do the same?
2. Because it continues to validate ‘cultural Christianity’. It’s already normal for someone like Mariah Carey to get up and sing about getting liquored up at the club while wearing–what is that? Saran Wrap? — and then thank Jesus for her success. Stuff like this continues to promote people being able to name-drop Jesus without having to live for Jesus.
3. Because it was not-so-subtle bait for more viewers. Shout to the Lord on American Idol was not a well-kept secret; it was advertised and promoted before the episode aired. I’m guessing that show’s producers know full well that there are millions of Christians in their country who wouldn’t normally watch AI…but with Shout to the Lord being sung? Billy and Sally Christian are all of a sudden tuning in.
4. Because it was performance. It was entertainment. The contestants are doing this to gain votes, to become more popular, to look good. Everything they do is to accomplish this goal. I find it ironic that in order to become “Idols” they had to sing a song praising One who wants no other gods before Him.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m sure there’s some good to be found in having a praise song be sung in front of 25+ millions of viewers on TV. Or is there?
I’m currently at the church late on a Friday night working on my sermon. I’m also watching the Jays game online. And the Pens/Sens game. And playing Canyon Defense. And Tim just came over and brought me coffee. Who says men can’t multi-task?
Some people say it’s inappropriate in ministry to talk about ‘numbers’ — I’m not one of those people. Numbers are important. Numbers can often tell you how well you’re doing. Or, not doing.
Our youth numbers in the fall were telling us that we were not doing as good a job as we could have been. They dropped substantially, so we prayed. We planned. And in January we launched a brand new weekly youth experience that was new in almost every way. It worked. Last night’s attendance at youth was triple what a typical night in November would have been. Crazy!
On a similar note, our attendance at church this past Sunday was up from last April. A lot. Like, by exactly 100 people. God is doing something crazy awesome at Olivet. You should all move away from your homes and come check it out.
Random update:
- I’m pleased with my decision to no longer be a Leafs fan. Good riddance, T.O, and may you never make the playoffs again.
- Baseball is back! The Jays destroyed the Red Sox today and I was filled with joy.
- We started a new after-school program at youth this week called The AfterMath (it’s after school, you can do your math. You come up with a better name) and it was awesome! My teens are incredible AND hilarious and thus incredibly hilarious.
- Liz and I have discovered Arrested Development through midnight re-runs on CBC. We promptly bought Season 1 on DVD for dirt cheap at Wal Mart and have regular nightly viewings. I often miss jokes because I’m laughing so hard at previous jokes. How did I miss this show?
- Our 9 ft snow banks have finally begun to melt. Happy April, where are you, global warming?
- I’ve recently discovered the blog/writings/sermons of theologian/pastor/genius Greg Boyd. Awesome stuff. He’s got some very interesting thoughts on things that require numerous blog postings of their own, but I’m enjoying going back through his blog archives for now.
- It’s now Sunday morning; I wake up in 6.5 hours for church. Good night.
I sporadically check my blog stats when I sign into WordPress. It’s not usually very exciting — I average anywhere from 50-75 hits a day (not including myself), depending on what random google searches people happen to be using. For instance, back in December I wrote a brief post about the “Scrooge Yourself” online game, and for about a week I got 175+ hits a day from people googling for it. I checked my stats today and discovered I had 525 in the last two days! WHAT? Some quick research showed me that I was WordPress’s “Hawt Post” of the day for my Lost Time Loop Theory link, and I had hundreds of people click on the ol’ blog and follow the link. So yeah, I was droppin’ it like I was hawt. Go SilverPlatter.
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