Okay, What's Wrong With Me?

As I was driving home from our office today, I was flipping through radio stations and I foolishly paused on our local Christian radio station. I say foolishly, because, inevitably it makes me angry. I don't know if you've ever heard a dramatized-for-radio conversation between a Bible-Believing Born-Again Christian and an Unbeliever. If you haven't you're really missing something special. It seems that often when I stop on the Christian Radio Station, I'm hearing these. To put it mildly, they upset me. To state it plainly, they make me want to embark on a mission to end Christian Radio altogether (I'm sure ours is the only local radio station that is bad).

The conversation usually goes like this:
Unbeliever: "I am having such a hard time in life."
Christian: "Oh really? I'm so sorry."
Unbeliever: (This is the one I heard today) "My finances are a mess, and I'm so stressed out."
Christian: "I know what you mean. I have cancer."
Unbeliever: "Really, I didn't know. You seem so happy and at peace. I feel guilty for being so superficial and worrying about my money, when you're dealing with life and death issues."
Christian: "Don't minimize you're problems. They're real to you. And my problems used to be real to me." (that was my added sarcasm)
Unbeliever: "How do you deal with having cancer now?"
Christian: "I know that God is all-powerful, and he gives me peace. I know that whatever happens, He is in control. I'm not scared, anxious, worried, upset, discouraged, disillusioned or ever have a negative thought because I believe in Jesus" (oops my sarcasm slipped in again)
Unbeliever: "Wow, you have something I want. Maybe after this movie you can talk to me and tell me all about this Jesus you speak about."
Christian: "I knew there was a reason God brought our paths together."

Okay, it was even worse than that, crammed with more trite phrases and fake sincerity about over simplistic solutions to difficult problems in life. I find it interesting in Christian dramatizations how quickly unbelievers are ready to turn to Jesus when they hear a few pat answers and some Christian lingo thrown their way (I've noticed this same trend in Christian skits). I don't find this to be my experience. People who aren't Christians are more . . . I guess real is the right word, and not so easily persuaded by overly-simplistic solutions to their problems.

Maybe it's me. Maybe, I don't use enough trite phrases. Maybe I don't listen to enough Christian radio. Maybe I think too highly of authenticity, honesty, and reality . . . I don't know.

It was the first time I laughed out loud for a while, by myself in my car. Then I became angry as I thought about the possibility that anyone would be inspired by that dramatization. And if someone was, what kind of people must be listening to this radio station, wait a minute, I was listening to this radio station . . . I changed it and vowed to never listen to it again.

I know I will. I'm drawn to it for the same reason I'm drawn to Christian Television - I am drawn to the ridiculous.

A Sad "Reality"

I read this sad but interesting article about the suicide of Megan Meier. It is messed up on so many levels. It poses some questions about who is responsible, who is too young, how safe is it, how dependent a person can become on an online community.

My Venture into the World of Painting

My family has decided to fast from television and entertainment for the past two weeks, along with many from our church family who are doing the same (you can read some of the comments from those who are participating here). Among many other things that have happened during this time, it has given me more time to do things like this. This is a painting, I've wanted to complete for the past couple of years since we saw a traveling Dada Exhibit at The National Gallery of Art. I was inspired when I saw it a couple of years ago and bought all of the supplies to make this painting, but never did anything about it. Moral of the story: You can make all sorts of strange things when you turn off the Television.

Easy Reading

You'll be happy to know that I figured out the reading level of this blog . . .



I'm going to start interjecting some big words, to raise my reading level. In fact, I'm going to become sesquipedalian.

You can test your blog's readability here.

whiny idealism

I heard this quote at church this Sunday . . .

"This generation can be a whiny bunch of idealists getting together in small groups to complain about megachurches and the religious right rather than doing something." - Mark Driscoll

I agree with his assessment. But I have to sheepishly admit that I just finished reading a book called Jim and Casper Go to Church (which is a book written to criticizing some of the more well-known megachurches - probably meant for use in small group discussions).