culture

We have all been socially conditioned. Our parents did it when they told us to eat our vegetables and clean our rooms. Our friends did it to us when they egged us on to do one more shot at the bar. Then, in conditioned fashion, we would egg them on for the same thing and walk away thinking it was cool. We may not have all been socially conditioned the same way and for the same things but we have all been socially conditioned.

There is one area, I believe, we have been socially conditioned in a way that we often don't admit and can hinder our progress as a people. That area is in the sciences. For most of us we took grade school science and maybe a little college level. There are the exceptions that moved beyond into careers, but they too have been socially conditioned by the time they get there.

We are all biased when we look at the world around us. No one has clear glasses. Some are rose colored, some are brown, and still others are green. These biases we have affect what we look at and how we think about it. Before we look at something new in an honestly subjective or objective way we need to accept our biases and sometimes drop them.

Our teachers, through life, have biases, too. This affects what they teach and how they teach it. Sometimes they teach something that is not the truth because they believe it so strongly. Still, others teach the truth and people won't even listen to them because of a bias.

Before we can honestly dive into something of controversy, like evolution, creation, Genesis, or God, lets look at some of the biases we have.

Living the pop culture life will leave you empty and may just shorten your life. While this is the case, most of us westerners are living it on a daily basis. Pop culture permeates through our lives from TV, to schools, to the work place, to our coffee. This morning, while I was getting a Starbucks coffee, I noticed a Sheryl Crow CD. This was not a CD of Sheryl Crow songs but songs she likes to listen to.

In the past people would follow prophets, doctors, philosophers, and other people they saw as wise and looking out for their well being. These days the case has changed drastically. These days we follow celebrities, the teachings of people who tell us what we want, our friends, and others we deem exciting.

Liberal or Conservative? We are a society that seems to categorize everything. Personally, I try not to categorize myself. That is too much effort and then I end up getting stuck trying to live that categorization rather than just live.

Reading Bobs post on "Evaluation of ideas based on Evaluation of life....." left me wondering this this whole Liberal or Conservative debate where I fell and why?

When did I get the label of a conservative? After all, I didn't just wake up one day and decide to be a conservative. I don't ever remember making a decision to categorize myself. So, why do I get labeled that way?

Summertime is the season of relaxing by the pool, hitting the beach, getting some sun, and barbecuing. Until this summer barbecuing and I didn't get along all that well. I could barbecue, but it was just OK and consistent and great were not to be found. For the most part my bbqing consisted of defrost and throw on grill until cooked. Often, I cooked on high and didn't quite get why I would use anything else.

This summer I decided to learn the art of bbqing and here are several things I have learned. These are what worked... there were many a failure, too.

Last Night, churchrelevance.com post a blog entry about Asian Americans being the next big trend setters. While, this may be what is happening in society, the same style trends should not be those of the church.

According to the post, "Respondents identify (1) technology/gadgetry, (2) anime/manga, and (3) video-gaming as the top three primary areas of popular culture where they are driving overall trends in the U.S. marketplace." In this case the they is Asian Americans.

There are unsafe changes happening in the church. During the last century there of flux to our western culture and the church. Technology and the womens lib movement spurred many of these changes. Now, I won't argue that there has been a lot of good in these changes, yet a number of the changes to hit the church square between the legs leaving it almost motionless, ill equipped to respond and feeling the pain.

This morning I was listening to the Crossfeed News Podcast and it covered the removing of male pronouns from the church. There are many arguments for changing things to feminine names or removing pronouns all together. Some will say their fathers abused them so masculinity is something they stay away from. A few even say that masculinity is bad. Others will say that God is neither man or woman so calling God a woman or using no pronouns at all is fine. Have you ever tried to speak without pronouns? Try it. It's fun. Though, you won't sound quite right.

This past weekend I had an experience in country. This was no ordinary experience. It was the kind of experience that reminded me why I love country music.

The weekend of country started on Saturday afternoon. A great way to get into the music is to get into the mood. To get in a good place to listen and appreciate. To prepare for the nights music we started with a real Memphis dinner at Memphis Smoke. Of course, I was decked out in my hat, boots, and big shiny belt buckle.

This past week Stuart McAllister from RZIM spoke about "Responding to a Postmodern World: Barriers & Bridges" in their Just Thinking Podcast. This was a great 5 part series on this subject. And, the accent is great, too.

You can grab it at their feed here.

Grab all 5 parts in a zip file here.

Or, grab if from RZIMs audio archive here.

The 5 part series is only about an hour to listen to and worth it for any church person to listen to... from leader to layman.

Attending many different churches used to be a sort of hobby for me. At one point a friend of mine called me a "church whore", because "I got around". In the search for a church home checking out every church and type of church service became my mission. Attending all of the different types of church bodies and different styles of worship left a lot to think about. There was one thread that flowed though each of them and that was the church was run like a business or like an organic community. After many years of thought, reading, and discussions about this I believe there is a better way.