Hell and Racism.
From Every Tribe and Tongue
“…take racism. The Christian church in many ages and in many places has stood on the wrong side of this issue, and it’s damnable—literally. What’s racism got to do with hell? you may ask. According to Jesus, it’s got everything to do with it.
In Matthew 8, Jesus smuggles a warning about hell into the context of racism and ethnocentrism. The entire context of Matthew 8—9 depicts Jesus reversing all of the cultural and social assumptions of the Jews of that day. One assumption is that the Jews, as the “people of God,” are much more fit for the kingdom than all those other nasty sinners—those Gentiles, those Greeks, those Romans. But in Matthew 8, Jesus is absolutely floored by the faith of a Roman Gentile military leader. And Jesus accepted him as he was, as a Gentile. From this encounter, Jesus says that the “sons of the kingdom” who think that God values one ethnicity over another are damned to hell: “The sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:12 NASB).
Why is it that only 5.5 percent of American evangelical churches could be considered multiethnic (where no single ethnicity makes up more than 80 percent of its congregants)? Why is that? Five and a half percent! And we’re supposed to be living in the melting pot, the place where hundreds of languages and colors often live within a few miles—or feet—of each other. Many people outside the church are far less racially divided. Consider the military, our places of work, or athletics. Yet there are three places where racial division still persists: bars, prisons, and the American evangelical church.
If we’re going to take Jesus’ words seriously, we have to make a more concerted effort to forge avenues of racial reconciliation and unity under the banner of the gospel of Christ.”
-This article excerpted from Erasing Hell, by Francis Chan & Preston Sprinkle
I did a photoshoot this weekend for Our Sky is Falling using my Holga camera. I love the way it came out and am really excited to do more shoots using it. I have previously only shot my holga for fun, and rarely took pictures of people, but this has worked out so much better than I could have thought. I have tons of creative ideas.
Also, it occurred to me that I need to buy a new Holga, because on the last 6 rolls I have shot the film did not wind tightly and I have concluded the must be a problem with the camera (At first I thought it was the type of film I was using). But after my shoot with Our Sky is Falling, and seeing the results, I find while there is no way to know how the film will react, it can create a very unique style. My favorite is where the film is torn and the numbers can be seen though the picture.
More pictures can be seen here.
Got the new facebook profile, “Timeline” early. I’m lovin’ it so much.
I start work at Half Price Books Monday at 9am!
So stoked.
A quick note on favorites
Another quick post (time travel)
I know I said “that’s all for tonight” but I lied. Also, I dont think facebook is posting when I post on here, so this will also be a test.
I just re-watched “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”. I love that movie. I have a strange obsession with time travel. I will leave talk of my obsession with Doctor Who out of this for now, as I’m sure it will come up plenty later (although I did just mention it anyways). The movie is anime, but you don’t have to be into anime to dig it I’m sure. It’s based on, but really more of a sequel to, a 1967 Japanese novel: “Toki o Kakeru Shōjo”
Another great time travel movie (arguably the best, I’d like to hear any suggestions of a better one) is the 2004 American film “Primer”. A great movie that I watched and then re-watched 2-3 more times in the couple days following (though I think 2 of those were with commentaries). I also spent a good deal of time reading about the film online, as it is just a bit more understandable and easy to follow than “Donnie Darko”. (here is a helpful infograph for AFTER you watch the movie). It is a must see for any time travel nerds, you will be coming up with many theories by the end.
That’s it for tonight… maybe. Probably.
Later days…
New Blog
Decided to start a new blog for thoughts, writings, photos, what I’m reading, listening to, whatever. Just a catch all. Somewhere to talk and have responses. Maybe this is all better left to facebook status posts. We’ll see.
Begin post 1:
I just finished reading Stephen King’s “On Writing”. I loved it. I know want to read a few of his books. They will go in my “to read” list, which is too long to ever be written down. Anyways, I highly suggest this book to anyone interested in writing, I’ve never been a King fan but this may have won me over.
I also started reading Harry Potter this week. I was pretty sure that would never happen. I was asked to read it out loud to a friend (people tell me I’m good at reading out loud), so I did and continued doing so with a group of friends. We left off on chapter six and I will admit, I am enjoying it.
I re-started reading Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. I had started it years ago, loved it, but for some reason never made it past a few issues. Finally I am fixing that problem.
That’s all for tonight. See ya
