Mike and Ike

With my graduation finally approaching, I have been missing my mom lately. She died about 2 1/2 years ago from cancer. At Christmas that year she was fine and we were arguing over how I celebrate Christmas; that January, after going to the doctor for a cold that wouldn't go away, she was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma and given a few months to live. She lasted around 8. When my family goes through major milestones (my little sister's high school graduation, another sister's near marriage, etc) or even just holidays her absence is especially difficult.

The other night we were at the store grabbing a few things for dinner and we saw they were selling Mike and Ike candies by the check-out. There was a running gag in my Mom's house about this candy. It was one of her favorites because my Dad's nickname was Ike, and her second husband's name was Mike so the candy seemed to fit her life. Jaime and I saw these on sale and couldn't resist buying a box in memory of her--a tongue in cheek tribute that she would have appreciated.

I'd wanted to visit her grave stone lately and seeing that stupid candy inspired a spontaneous trip. So while the cashier was ringing up the groceries Moira and I ran back to pick out some roses. What the heck, dinner can wait--lets go for a drive. Dinner turned into tortilla chips and Mike and Ikes eaten in the car.

Once there we started weeding some dandelions and cleaning the stone. Evie thought she would help by stomping on a few ants crawling on the headstone. We told Evie about her Grandma that she'll never remember. We pointed to each of the letters in my mom's name and Evie named them. "Now Grandma knows how smart you are." We put down the roses and ate our candy. Then we just stood there not really knowing what to do.

One of the biggest regrets I have in my life is how I treated those last eight months she was alive. I said some things that shouldn't have been said, and even though I tried to visit as often as I could, it doesn't seem like enough. As I was standing there, all I could think was to say I'm sorry and hope that the dead can forgive.

I was glad we went that night. Moira said going there made her feel closer to her grandma. Even though she was barely five when my mom died it was really hard for her. But I'm glad she has the memories she does. I only wish they'd had time to make more.

Sorry for the depressing post, but I just had to get it out there.

All Apologies

The past few days a Christian student group (Chai Alpha, I think) has been out on the oval handing out fliers and free Bibles to people passing by. Meanwhile they have someone nearby giving a dramatic reading of the Gospels. Part of me finds this rather inoffensive, it's certainly less offensive than most of the "Christian" activities on the oval.

But another part of me finds this really offensive. It's the part of me who has to deal with my friends who are offended by this stuff. One of my Jewish friends again vented to me because of an exchange she had with the people handing out the Bibles. She is so tired of the Christians on the oval trying to force feed Christ into her life. She's said there are parts of Jesus' teachings that intrigue her, but those people make her really not interested in learning anything because they're not willing to learn anything about her faith.

She's a little high strung and is becoming more in tune with the teachings of Judaism and how they differ from the traditional Christian point of view. Combine that with several bad run ins with arrogant insensitive Christians and I understand why she's so pissed off. I initially just chalked her current frustration up to all of this and thought that in a normal scenario this handing out of Bibles wouldn't have bothered her a great deal.

But then she brought it up to another one of my Jewish friends, who is not all that observant, and she felt the same way. This made me back up and re-think this whole thing. This other person is pretty laid back and easy going, so if it's offensive enough for her to say something, then there must be something wrong.

Thinking about it some more and dialoguing with my friends I decided this is why it's offensive: There is a feeling of superiority to these actions. The fact that the people on the oval don't know the students they're trying to talk to shows a lack of love and true concern for people. This combined with their pushiness makes them highly offensive. Put it this way, what makes the Jehovah Witnesses' and the Mormon evangelizers so offensive? Isn't it because they're strangers who invade your space claiming to know just what you need? If the Mormons were to be passing out the Book of Mormon on campus wouldn't those same Christians be offended? I think they would.

So anyway, all I could do through all of this was acknowledge my friends' anger and frustration and apologize for the ignorance of many Christians. I hope that this will at least help them to not hate all Christians.

This Swinger Rocks!

For those of you who aren't familiar with Paul Anka, the man's a crooner. He's kinda' got that Frank Sinatra feel to him, that typical Jazz male vocalist that I usually don't get into. So when Jaime handed me this album in the library I was sure I was going to hate it.

Why you ask? Because it's cover songs. You would be justified in pointing out that most Jazz is interpretating someone else's songs, esentially covers. But on this album Paul Anka covers rock tunes. Let me clarify: on this album, Paul Anka covers Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Sound Garden, and my personal favorite Smells like Teen Spirit by Nirvana.

Normally, this kinda' move sounds horrible. The guy can't sing, the band is cheesy, it just doesn't work. But this is somehow different. I admit that when I first heard the words:

Load up on guns and bring your friends
It's fun to lose and to pretend
She's over bored and self assured
Oh no, I know a dirty word

crooned on top of a swingin' big band, I couldn't help but laugh, but once you sit back and just take it in it's really amazing...and the man pulls it off! Anyway, I'm tipping my hat off to Mr. Anka for one of the most intriguing and different cover album ever. This should go up there with Johny Cash's American IV: The Man Comes Around.

I was Evangelized!!!

Yes, my dear readers, I was evangelized for your sake. In a desperate attempt for material to write about (that's right--it's all for you) I sat down by one of the open air preachers this week. I know most of you would not require such sacrifices, I know you'd be crying out, "STOP! Write about your cute kids instead! For the love of all that is holy! This isn't necessary!" And I must admit it wasn't all for the sake of my meager readership. Part of the reason I decided to sit down was because one of my Jewish friends had walked by earlier on her way to our Hebrew class and was accosted by one of our classmates. Aparently, the preacher was his pastor. (You ever get one of those bad vibes about somebody the first time you see them and you don't know exactly why, except you decide to stay far away from them...that was this guy...and now I know why I got the bad vibes.)

Anyway, since the preacher guy had totally offended my friend she barraged me with a ton of questions about Christianity and what Jesus taught, so I thought I should go listen to the guy. And as street preachers go, he was offensive, but he ain't no Brother Jed. Brother Jed has his daughters walk around with signs reading "Faggots burn in Hell," (get it--faggots...burn...) "Jesus is your Judge," and other friendly, loving things to say. This guy just stood there and shouted at people all day. . . amateur.

One thing he did bring with him was his own team of crowd minglers. They would walk the crowd and ask people what they thought of the guy, what he was saying, etc. Eventually, they would get to the point of asking if you knew Jesus as your "Personal Lord and Savior." If you said you were a Christian, as I did twice, they would ask if you could pin point a date, an exact moment when you became a Christian. Seeing where the conversation was headed I said, "yes,"and pointed to my adult baptism when I was 19. (I really wasn't in the mood to point out to the people that praying to receive Christ as your personal savior is not really a biblical idea. The magic get out of hell prayer isn't what salvation is about, that salvation is a life lived for God, serving Him with what you do for others, not your belief and words.)

For the guy that is in my class (let's call him J), the conversation was a little less strange than the first fellow, since I had a little bit of familiarity with the man, but it ended with the following conversation, which I had to share:

J: So, Ben, what's your major?
Me: Jewish Studies
J: With a confused look on his face, starts to open mouth to ask, "Why is a Christian majoring in Jewish Studies"
B Seeking to avoid said question: What's yours, J?
J: Hebrew.
B: Why are you majoring in Hebrew?
J: I feel like I know the New Testament pretty well and I wanted to study the Old Testament. I'll be going to get my M. Div when I graduate, so I thought I should take something that will keep my interest and be useful.
B: You know, J, If you don't know the Old Testament, I guarantee you don't really know the New Testament at all.
J: Confused look on his face
B: Well, it was good talking to you! I gotta go catch my bus! See ya in class tomorrow.

To J's credit, he still had the guts to invite me to his Church's student group that meets on campus. I did the polite, "I'll think about it (i.e. no thanks)" answer. And got out of there with my life intact.

It could have been worse, really. But I've already been told I'm going to hell and have AIDS--what else can they do to me? Really if you're have a terminal illness and you're going to hell, there's only one thing worse--becoming a psychotically judgmental street preacher.

I really hope my current writer's block will end soon, because I really don't want to become that.

Promises

Jaime and I watched this documentary the other night. It is an amazing look at the complex issues surrounding the Palestinian/Israeli conflict from the perspective of 7 children. These kids are both Israeli and Palestinian and all live in or around Jerusalem including the camps just outside Jerusalem in the West Bank. If you haven't seen this movie you must, you really must.

As a Christian majoring in Jewish Studies, one of the first questions I get asked by conservative Christians is what I think about the conflict in the Middle East. They mention the book of Daniel and Revelation and the "prophetic" declarations of the coming Jewish state. I grew up in churches that saw the Rapture and the second coming of Christ in every news event that comes out of the Middle East. For example, the Anti-Christ moved from Kadafi to Gorbachev to Saddam Hussein and this was taught from the pulpit.

There's so much misunderstanding out there due to ignorance about the role of apocalyptic literature. The point of apocalyptic literature is not to prophesy in the sense of telling the future. The point is to show the present history of the writers in a way that emphasizes the spiritual behind the physical reality, a battle between good and evil, light and darkness. It's a reassurance that good will win even when it looks like the evil will be the victor. Lord of the Rings is a fantastic example of modern apocalyptic literature. It's an intense battle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness and Tolkien had deeper meanings behind the symbols.

A biblical example occurs during the time period of the exile when the temple has been destroyed by the Babylonians and it looks as if God has abandoned them forever and there's no hope of rebuilding or going back. The book of Daniel places this earthly conflict into a cosmic reality that shows that God is in control and promises the Jews will return to Jerusalem. The Jews have never viewed the book of Daniel as prophetically predicting the future.

Jaime recently had a conversation with her mom about the documentary. Jaime was talking about how sad it was that the most religious people, people who worshiped God (whatever God that might be) were the ones least likely to seek peace, that out of the Jews in the documentary it was only the secular ones that considered reaching out to the other side. She said until someone decides to be the one to lose, to be the one to make a concession, to give up something for peace, the fighting and killing will never end. At this point Jaime's mom (who is genuinely saddened by the violence and lack of peace in Israel) said, "No, there will never be peace. Only when the Antichrist comes will there be a false peace for a time. And if America doesn't support Israel, we're done for."

This kind of thing is taught as gospel by many churches across America. Rapture, pre-tribulation, post-tribulation, etc. etc. are put into doctrinal statements like these views are cut and dry, like they matter in a person's Christian walk, like these views will impact our world. And, unfortunately they do impact our world but not for the better.

It's no secret that the American Dispensationalist Religious Right does have political influence. The conflict in Israel is one of the areas they use this influence. These people don't want peace. They want to hurry the Second Coming which in their minds means Israel will have control over not only the traditional land of Israel but all of the Middle East. In their minds the promise of possessing the land from the Nile to the Tigris must happen at all cost. Obviously no concessions on Israel's part will be supported by this group.

Christians like these support the ultra-religious Jews in their aggressive maneuvers to occupy land. Who cares if the Palestinians are oppressed or unable to make a living because prophecy must be fulfilled. And besides, any Palestinian could be a terrorist. They blame them and yet they create them. Each provocative action taken by Israel or Israeli settlers only creates more hard feelings. Each person killed creates another martyr in the cause. Each grieving family member left behind becomes the next potential terrorist because of their pain and need for revenge. And vice versa. Each suicide bomber that blows up a bus full of women and children creates an Israeli willing to do anything to suppress the Palestinians and their cause. Each bomber makes the check points more necessary. And each check point humiliates and hardens the heart of another Arab.

It's so ironic. So many Christians are being taught these false views of prophecy. They're taught that Daniel and Revelation speak directly to current events in the Middle East and so they essentially support unnecessary war. Somehow Jesus' teachings on peace, love and justice are suspended when the supposed "End Times" must be fulfilled. The irony is that the true meaning of these texts are about trusting God when others are doing violence to you. They don't teach to pick up the sword or that the end justifies the means.

Even if, and I don't believe this, even if these texts were prophetic and these crazy things were going to happen, believers are never called to act in a certain way to make them happen. It would be out of their control. Even if these texts were prophetic, Christians would still be accountable to follow what Jesus says, feeding the poor, helping the oppressed, the imprisoned, the widows and the orphans--NOT creating widows and orphans by supporting war and dissension. But somehow these people see it as their role to hurry things up, make the prophesy come to pass no matter what.

Whenever I think about all of this I'm reminded of this verse--"Woe to you who wish for the Day of the Lord! Why do you want this Day of the Lord? It shall be darkness not light."

Amos 5:18

New Observant Theology Post!

Just so that you know, I've got the second of three posts on my critique of Original Sin and what I believe to be a more accurate understanding of what the Bible teaches. I'm going to start an Observant Theology notice on the side bar, letting people know when I update since I post less consistently there!

Spring Smack Down on the Oval

I forgot about one more sign of Spring at OSU. Elections for the Union of Student Government (i.e. glorified student council). The USG makes for fierce headlines in the school paper as mud is slung between opposing candidates...for student council president. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the USG accomplishes some big and important...stuff. I'm just not sure how and I fail to see that winning is so important as to justify yelling and accusing people of doing stupid things. It's college! Who doesn't do stupid things!?!

There is one good thing about all this campaigning. It's not the colorful and cute ways that the candidates use their names in chalk drawings on the sidewalks. It's not the trees being wasted on the thousands of fliers being passed out to every person who breathes and steps foot on the oval. It's not that it's windy and kinda chilly and almost raining and the campaigners are out on the oval in their color coordinated t-shirts freezing their butts off (though that is a close second). It's that today they had to share space on the oval with Brother Jed.

I don't know who was more annoying: Brother Jed yelling at me and everyone else (including the cold campaigners) that we're on the fast train to Hell, or the campaigners yelling back at him that he was ruining their campaigning. Both were actually equally amusing, and if it had been warmer I might've stuck around to see who won. My money was on the students, especially since I saw one of them on their cell phone (a tool of the devil, according to Brother Jed) to call the campus cops...I should've stayed for that one.

It's Mandy"s Birthday

Yes, Yes, today is the Birthday of the youngest of us kids, Mandy. She was always the one reading or chatting with her friends even while the rest of us were fighting each other in Mario Kart or some such nonsense. One of the few people to have always been totally supportive of me and Jaime in our marriage and descisions. She's been a great sister to have around, even when she's not!

Other eulogies...uh, remembrances....I mean stories of our still living little sister you can go to Jaime's blog or Brad's blog. I'm really not good at this stuff so Mandy...


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

and I can't believe you're 20!! Mazel Tov!