Rants

Suck Flags over Georgia

Yesterday, the power was out at work due to construction so we decided to take a little day trip to Atlanta. After a great lunch at the Varsity we headed to Six Flags over Georgia to ride some rides. I was so excited about riding a slew of awesome rollercoasters but, in the end, I was met with HUGE disappointment.

Six Flags over Georgia is, hands down, the worst amusement park I have ever been to. That includes Sandy Lake. Sure, Superman: Ultimate Flight was great. And yeah, Acrophobia made me smile. In fact, the rides were good. The real problem was the employees. They were surly and they were uncooperative. In fact, one employee was fraternizing with a friend while some lady blew chunks all over the ride platform. The employee just kept waving people through completely oblivious to the mess. Serenity Now!

To top it all off, the park also smelled like raw sewage. I know that yesterday was very hot and humid so that might account for some of the smell but not all of it. No joke: Raw Sewage.

All of the Time/Warner execs who frequent this blog need to go down to Six Flags over Georgia and rattle a few cages. As we exited the park, my sweet wife stated that we will never go back . Never is a broad brush to paint with so I’ll just simply say that we will try to never darken the gates of that park ever again. Bottom line: Six Flags over Georgia was a big disappointment.

Popular Culture, Theology

Is Praising Lance Armstrong the Unforgivable Sin?

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Apparently for some, it is.

In the circles I travel in, a curious reaction has been occurring over the last few weeks. Unless you live in a cave you are well aware that the Tour de France, a grueling three-week bicycle race across France, has just concluded. The winner was, again, Lance Armstrong. This was the seventh consecutive win for this Texan, an accomplishment that no other man has achieved. Not only has Armstrong achieved this great victory but he also triumphed over testicular cancer (a fact he gleefully shamed Vince Vaughn with in the movie “Dodgeball”). Whenever the subject of Lance Armstrong comes up that is when this curious reaction rears its ugly head.

Here are two examples of this curious reaction to Lance Armstrong that my fellow Christians have been displaying these last few weeks:

Me: “Hey, is Lance Armstrong still in first?”
Christian #1: “It really doesn’t matter. He doesn’t believe in God.”

Me: “Wow, seven wins!”
Christian #2: “Too bad he hasn’t given God the credit for his wins or for curing him of cancer.”

I have even seen someone react with anger at the mention of Armstrong’s win.

I feel like singing the Debbie Downer theme song to these people. Yes, apparently Lance Armstrong is not a card carrying disciple of Jesus Christ but the real problem lies at the heart of our reaction to his life and to the lives of every single person living on this blue sphere we call Earth. When someone is not part of our little circle how do we treat him or her? Are they met with derision or open arms? Are their accomplishments written off because they do not recognize God? Have we effectively told them that they do not matter?

Because Lance Armstrong is not a Christian, guess what, I do not expect him to go around thanking God for everything! I am more concerned with Christians acting like Christians. When we react with anger, disappointment, and disgust at someone who is not a part of our faith we effectivly tell that person that we never want them to be a part of our faith. We, in essense, write them off as a failure and not worthy of the hope we so strongly “profess.” Get with the program people. It’s not about you.

Lance, great job! Congratulations on your win!

General

New Car

sciontc

Well, we got a new car last week. It is a Scion tC and it is quite a bit smaller than my truck was (That was the idea). The color is called Black Sand Pearl and in the sun it looks midnight blueish. It gets about 30 mpg on the highway so instead of paying $50 dollars a tank, I’ll pay $25. The Scion comes with a standard sunroof/moonroof, CD player, AC, power windows and locks, keyless entry and the tires and rims are stock. I had my eyes set on a Mini Cooper S but this had everything I wanted on the Mini plus the added room for $6,000 less. I’ll break it in properly as I drive to Dallas on the 3rd. A twelve hour road trip is exactly what the doctor ordered.

No, really. I am going to Dallas to officiate a wedding for a dentist.

For more pictures, click on the photos or the link above the iPod.

openhatch

General

New Look

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I’ve been tinkering with a new WordPress theme created by Justin. It is called Radical Congruency 2005 and can be downloaded here. I really love the look and it is extremely functional. Good on ya Justin!

Let me know what you think about the new look.

Peace,
Felker

Popular Culture, Rants

Craptacular Evangelism Strategy

I’m talking about Church Signs.


One of the things that makes me want to vomit is glib church signs that make the blue hairs all warm inside but confuse those outside our little circles. The 2 churches near my house are regular offenders. That is why I have enjoyed reading the terrible collection of bad church signs found at Crummy Church Signs. The best part is the color commentary and snide retorts written underneath these real church sign sayings submitted by users. Here are a handfull of my new favorites: (Sign in bold; User comments italics)

“God loves you whether you like it or not.”
So is this a threat? Do you DARE me to not like it?!?!

“Faith in yourself has won many a race….never quit trying.”
Yes, folks, the cornerstone of the universal church, as established by God Himself, since time eternal: “Faith in Yourself”.

“The dyslexic atheist believes there is no Dog.”
And the dyslexic church sign reviewer says this sign is a big “elip of parc.”

“Try Jesus….If you don’t like Him, the devil will always take you back”
(Just a note here: I am not at all making this sign up. I saw this on a real sign in front of a real church). There is nowhere to begin on this one.

And finally, my personal favorite:

“Road Rage: How would Jesus Drive?”
On a donkey.

Via

Books

Don’t Steal This Book (Idea)

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Two book ideas that have been floating around in my mind for the last few weeks:

First, Campus Ministry: The Other Ministry to Students would be about my misadventures in campus ministry. I considered calling it “So, When Are You Going to Do Youth Ministry?” in honor of the question that I’m most asked by my friends, mentors, parents, etc. There is a huge hole when it comes to campus ministry information. There is a good deal of Catholic books but on the Protestant side not so much. That is book idea number one.

Number two is a book in the tradition of ministry idea books like Youth Specialties’ Videos That Teach and Group’s Blockbuster Movie Illustrations.

I want to name this new book Firm on the Rock: Messages that Move You.

Using music illistrations from The Police, U2, R.E.M., Clapton, Dylan and many others I hope to give ministers and teachers a new perspective on these old favorites. The tagline could be something like “Redeeming With Soul”.

What songs would you like to see in this forthcoming book? Help me out with ideas.

Books, Popular Culture

Engage

Well, it is Christmas at Hogwarts and Harry is spending his vacation with the Weasleys. Or at least that is where I left them last night.

Unless you have been in a coma or under a rock, you now know that the sixth book in the Harry Potter series was released over the weekend. I am a little over halfway into Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and I am enjoying every page.

The controversy that surrounds this little boy is at times laughable. That was why I was a little unnerved when I saw an email entitled Worried About Buying the New Harry Potter Book? in my inbox. I was thankful that the article wasn’t some fundamentalist whack-job on how Harry Potter drinks blood and dances in the nude before the full moon. The article was an intelligent call for Christians to engage with this cultural phenomenom not to thow stones at it. The article, Harry Potter and His Critics, was written by Jerram Barrs and can be found at The Discerning Reader.

If you have time check it out. If not, here is a highlight:

I see the books as valuable because they consistently include the three fundamental themes that can be found as a subtext in almost all good literature: the beauty of creation, the appalling reality of evil, and the universal human longing for redemption — for a better world. These themes touch the way the world truly is, the way God has made it. J.K. Rowling does not profess to be a Christian, as far as I am aware, but she has insight into the themes that are at the very heart of what Christians understand to be true about the nature of the universe in which we live.

Self-sacrifice in these books is the primary means by which evil is defeated. Now that of course is the very heart of what Christianity says about the nature of the world. We come from God’s hand as those who have been made glorious. Life is beautiful as God has given it to us, yet it is appallingly twisted and broken by the reality of evil in our lives, and God Himself has made the ultimate selfsacrifice in the person of Jesus Christ to bring about the destruction of evil in the supreme act of love. He gave Himself to death to save the lives of others — to bring protection, renewal, transformation, strengthening, and redemption to us. Recognizing that this theme of self-sacrifice is running all through the series, it is extraordinary to me that there has been such a violent and negative response by Christians. One has to hope that it is the minority response rather than the response of large numbers of believers. I think this negative response is a tragedy for all sorts of reasons.

It is a tragedy in that there are many people who have failed to read the books with an open mind. The Word of God challenges us to be prepared to celebrate anything that is good and true, wherever it is found. Sadly, I think there are many people who are unable to see the good qualities that there are, either in the Harry Potter books, or in much else in popular Culture. Many of those who have criticized the books to me personally have not even read them.

Additionally, when these sorts of criticisms are made about books without a proper basis it causes an appalled and dismissive reaction to Christians in general and the Christian faith itself. That is a tragedy. Often Christians are indeed guilty of responding in fear to our Culture — criticizing, condemning, and cutting themselves off from it as much as possible. Anything that is popular becomes suspicious. And this is a very serious problem in the life of the Church. It is not that we should accept everything our Culture presents. But Christians should be prepared to celebrate what is good and cultivate Biblical discernment in the midst of our Culture. This is what any Christian should do in regard to the Harry Potter books or anything else. You will have to decide for yourself if the Harry Potter books are good for you or your children, but please do so in a way that is thoughtful and discerning according to the Biblical picture of truth, beauty, and goodness, not in a way that is suspicious of anything popular in our culture, or that is untruthful and unkind.

Some 450 years ago John Calvin encouraged people to read books by the ancient writers from Greece and Rome. He wrote instructions for the teachers in the school system he designed in Geneva, Switzerland, asking that they have the students read the great classics of Greece and Rome that were pagan and non-Christian. And he asked that they not criticize them, but rather encourage the students to celebrate what is good in them, and to learn from the truth that they could find in them. Calvin said on another occasion that it is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit to deny that pagan writers like Plato wrote many things that are true and helpful. We must be prepared to act similarly in our day when it comes to the Harry Potter series or any other product of our culture.

The Goal Is Soul