1.) Below freezing weather.
2.) Working in below freezing weather.
3.) Feeling like my life is going by and I'm missing the boat.
4.) The mean-spirited, impatient, narcissistic, self-important, entitled, clueless suburbanites who populate so much of the Chicagoland area.
5.) People who claim that science and reason have disproven the Bible and/or Christianity.
6.) The continual abuse of the word "fundamentalist" in order to caricature and disenfranchise anyone who takes orthodox Christianity and it's teachings seriously, or who holds a moral or political view that secularist liberals find threatening.
7.) The shallowness and self-important posturing that so frequently passes for serious intellectual engagement or political radicalism these days.
8.) Knee-jerk reactions to anything.
9.) People who accuse other people of being intolerant while being intolerant themselves.
10.) The media.
11.) Trendiness.
12.) The culture industry and the way its marketing schemes influence so much of how we live our lives.
13.) My own disorganization and laziness.
6 comments:
Hey Gordy,
Are you having a bad day? Did the dam of your self-control just break, releasing pent-up frustration at the world?
I agree with your list. Primarily #1 and #2.
Isn't it strange that those who rail against Christianity (in particular and almost exclusively it seems) as being intolerant are themselves not tolerating an opinion that differs from their own? I don't get it. Nobody wants to discuss or debate; no one wants to listen. Maybe they are afraid of being swayed even a bit and being uncomfortable. Who knows?
steve
Steve,
So good to hear from you! I'm not having a bad day in particular. It's more like an ongoing sense of general frustration with life. The actual trigger for this particular blog was reading a reply on someone else's blog that casually and arrogantly dismissed Christians as lacking in critical thinking and dismissed the Bible as having been disproved by reason and science. From there the list just grew.
I think you're right that people are afraid they might hear something that forces them to confront the way they are living and the assumptions they operate on. If we're honest about our own experience of our own inner selves, most of us know it's probably true of us as well. Scripture certainly attests that its true of us.
G. K. Chesterton once observed that "Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting as found difficult and left untried."
Peace,
Gordy
Gordon,
Your list made me smile, because I whole-heartedly agree (well, not with the ones that were self-defeating :) The more I talk with you the more I realize that you are such a bright, sincere, special guy and I just wanted to encourage you in your obvious giftings.
Yes, it does seem as if life passes us by and we just let it, or we just watch it, or we just choose not to participate in it...but remember the ministry you have at LOV in so many ways is crucial and important. You have influenced many lives (many that you don't know of). So while you may feel that you are not "participating" in the ways that you want, God has still used you in the great work of his kingdom.
Also, know that anytime you need a swift kick in the ______ just let me know :)
For real...you are in my prayers.
Lins
Lins,
Thanks so much for the encouragement. I needed it.
Also, it's good to know that people are still reading this blog.
Peace,
Gordon
I had an encounter today that instantly went to the top of my "What I'm Sick Of" list: A fellow asked me, "So, what kind of Christian are you?"
questing parson,
Thanks for dropping in and leaving a comment. It's good to see people who have visited the blog before dropping by again.
That is an interesting (and exasperating) question to be asked. Isn't it funny how we much we all seem to need to instantly be able to categorize people?
Post a Comment