How Not to Communicate the Gospel

I never want to see anyone in wellington presenting the gospel like this. It made me go No! No! No! This is just Naff and crap!

How to know the price of a ticket is too much at your local soccer game!

The Consequences of Blind faith in Modernity

What happens when you put all your faith in your GPS Navigation system and fail to use a little bit of human intuition and common sense. Deep water it seems! This is what a U.K. Lady discovered when she managed to put her 300,000 Mercedes into the river scence in Leicestershire. You can read the whole story at the register

Hat Tip: Ried S Monaghan

I found this at the emergentkiwi blog. Really challenges me on a whole lot of areas as a christian. In christian community, we are there to serve and care for one another, and care for those who are lost, hungry, needy. As a great socialist writer wrote years past "no man is an island" and the disney work Highschool Musical reminds us with its great philisophical insights "we're all in this together" Reflect on this picture, think about it, are you really plugged in. Are you just in a community becuase it fulfills your needs, or are you really serving? Plug into God, ask him about where he wants to take you next, seek his will, you will find that you are challenged to go places that you never thought you were willing to go. God doesn't want some of us, he wants all of our being (Rom 12:1-3) seek him out and he will invade your life and change it.

Resurgence Remodified

If you don't know Resurgence you shoud check it out. It is a theological website run by Mars Hill Church Seattle. It runs many articles on many controversal theological issues remaining quite conservative theologically in its arguments. I went to check in out today anyway and it has had a full makeover, making it alot easier to use. Anyway, you should check it out, especially if you have an interest in theology and issues facing theology today.

Anberlin have been one of my favourite bands over the last three years. There first two albums were stunners, well crafted rock albums with hardhitting rifts and melodies. The latest album, Cities, for me sadly has failed to impress me. It isn’t the full album that I expected from this band. The album starts off very strong, but the middle of the album wanes to the point that it has very little carrying you through the momentum of the album, unlike the impressive all on action of Never Take Freindship Personal which unfolds an impressive range of musical stories of pain, relationships and addiction. The reliance on synthesised sounds and psychedelics failed to impress me at all.

So, as you can see I’m kind of critical of the latest release of one of my favourite bands.

(Debut) starts of the album, it is a typical instrumental start to an album, which pulls you into the second track of the album, Godspeed, which is highly reminiscent of the the track Never Take Freindship Personal, containing the classic hardhitting rifts and fast paced drums of the second album. The Album then continues into Adelaide, which contains the classical melody brilliance found in Anberlin, and is reminiscent of the song Foreign Language. The Album goes into its downhill patch. The song A Wisper and a Clamour misses the mark, it could be a brilliant song, but doesn’t have much to carry its energy through, it is one of my favourite songs though on the albulm. The Fourth Song The Unwinding Cable Car, this track is an acoustic number, again maybe waning in its direction. Most of the rest of the album doesn’t really deserve mention, it clamours onto the most powerful track of the album, the finale, (*fin), this track is very much a masterpiece, carrying you through a symphony of sounds and feelings and carries you with the message of the track, in many ways, the work you see put into this song you wish was reflected in the rest of the Album. It doesn’t rely on Christians voice to tell the story of the musical piece.

Most of the album is only carried by the vocals of Stephen Christian, it seems that the rest of the band has gone into hibernation on this album and they have left Christian to carry this album to completion. His vocals make the album work, but it’s a very inadequate show from a band that I expected better from. You can’t just make an album from your vocalist!

The Album has some of the most powerful lyrics I’ve heard from the band though. Some of the songs have brought me to tears and made me think a lot about my faith recently. The Song Alexithymia lyrics carry so much meaning to those who have been broken. The song (Fin*) has amazingly challenging lyrics, asking the question of Christians, are we the patron saint of lost causes? Does the way we treat those who are lost, depressed, hungry for God really reflect the love of Christ, or are we really selfrighteous hyprocrites who seek after our own interests. The Most challenging line of this song was “we’re not questioning God, just the ones he chose to carry on his will”. This again makes me ask myself ask how am I showing the love of God to those who are lost and hurting. Am I just leaving them be, while I go on my journey.

Something I’ve come to realise is that Jesus expressly challenges us on this issue. He says in the bible


Mathew 25:31-46
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

An Issue that we try to sideline, because of our own selfish desires, we forget that Gods cry for us it to care for the lost and the needy, and that we show our love for God by the way we act towards those who are lost. So God is all for the lost the needy the spiritually hungry.

I think the lyrics of the songs by this band are thoughtful and challenging. The words "I am the patron saint of lost cuases" is a mission cry of my heart at the moment.

300 Pokemon

What do you get when u cross 300 Spartans with Japanese cartoon children characters. 300 Pokemon! Watch this it with crack you up.

Soldiers of Misfortune

This was movie done for the BYM Easter Camp this year. It is quite an enjoyable 5 minute film. Hope you enjoy.

What if George Lucas restored Singin' In The Rain?

Watched this last night at a movie marathon, I thought it was pretty funny at three oclock in the morning, hope you enjoy it

Linkin Park What ive done original clip 2007

Sorry, the last post of this didn't work, hopefully it does this time

This is the latest video clip for the Band Linkin Park, the single is What I've Done. I really recommend this video, very different for linken park aswell. I think its the most powerful song lyrically that I've heard from them and the video clip flows off the power of the song.

Clustermaps

Just to let you know that I've cluttered my side menu further with a "Clustermap", this tells you where in the world people are accessing my blog from.

crashcourse in wireless internet

As you know I had to reformat my hard drive, this meant that I lost all my internet settings and all my programmes. I came up to university today with my laptop to see if I could sort out my wireless connection. It took about half an hour of trial and error, but I've finnally got it working again. Pretty proud with myself as I'm not that good at that kind of stuff. Its finnally all back up working again. Oh well, better get back to writing my seminar.

Laptops, busyness, and stress

I had one of the worst evening last night. I spent two hours trying to get my laptop to work again after I restarted it. When I turned it on again it had decided that it wanted to crash on me. It took me about an hour to decide that the best thing to do was to reformat my hard drive and start the computer back from crash. This provided me much stress as I had only one copy of my seminar on the Tupamaros and urban guerilla on the computer, usually I have a series of back ups. Anyway I recovered the file and the laptops working again, but this has meant that I didn't get a whole lot of work done that I should have last night. Now hopefully this doesn't happen again!

More 21st Photos

Sorry that these Pictures have taken so long to put up on my blog, It is a mixture of procrastination and technical difficulties which have meant that it has taken me a longer time than I desired to put these photos up. Anyways, I hope you enjoy them, I have to go back to my books to learn how to be a successful urban guerrilla.

The Baker Family, enjoying the comapany of one another and showing thier different characteristics

Mmm Cake!!!!

The Three Baker Boys posing for the camera

A very embarassing Picture of me

More Recommendations

Check out Mike Brantleys Latest Blog. Wrestle with the question "what is the gospel", and "who is Jesus". Remember your first love and become smitten with him and his saving power once again. Wrestle with how you are going to fulfill Gods call on all christians lifes, that is found in mathew 28:19-20 Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.

I recommend reading the gospels in thier fullness, if you like short readers digest books go for mark, if you a theologian at heart go with the dense, spiritually fulfilling book of John, ask for a heart for the lost as you read the gospels.

Christine Caine - "Stop acting like a christian and Just be one!"

I ordered a couple of sermons from parachute which there has been aparently unpresidented demand. I would like to recommend the sermon by christine caine. It is a brilliant sumary of living missionally in the world we live in.

I would like to state a few points that I've been thinking about lately
1- Read the gospels - look into these great books, look at how Jesus related to people, compare it to the criticism he gives about the religious people in those books.
2- talk to your nextdoor nieghbours - form relationships with them and find out what stuffs going on in thier life. You will be amazed at what you find out about them, what needs they have and how you can help them. It might just be caring for your next doors nieghbours kid while they go to a meeting, it might be helping someone through a viscious breakup, just be there for those around us.
3- Being is better than doing, look into the bible, being a christian is about having a relationship with jesus and letting that permeate our every action. It is about taking on the mind of christ (look at Romans 12 - sorry my references are bad or look at phillipians 2 in the context of that epistle, you will be amazed what you will discover about how to be a christian in the context of the world we live in.)
4- Read the bible, pray, listen to the heart of Jesus - let him challenge you. He will, I know. Be willing to be angry at injustice and do something about it, be willing to preach truth to the blind, be willing to listen to peoples problems, be discomforted with the words of Jesus and challenged enough to do something with them in your own life.

I know this is all hard stuff, I went through a number of years of my life knowing the truth of the gospel but not living it out in my actions. I have been at many times a performer, looking holy, acting holy, but my life not living up to what it really should look like. For me to change to the point where I am I had to go through the most painful period of questioning in my entire life, arguing, fighting with God, trying to find out what the hell he wanted from me. I was humbled severely by God, my faith has grown, developed and changed because of this. I go through periods of discomfort in my faith and thank God for this. I want to be sold out for his will for my life. I want to show the lost the way back home to thier father, I want to show people that Jesus is the only way to salvation.

Life, Coffee and Stress

Life has taken on a change for the crazyness, I've just started my honours year in politics up at victoria and I now understand why people have no social life and look like a wreck by the end of the honours year. Its becuase there is just so much work to be done in so little time. I am starting to get used to this experience, even though for the last week, i've been wondering if i'm taking the right step. My prayer is that I will keep focused on the big picture, keep hooked into my relationship with my lord and saviour and that nothing really blows up in my face to badly in the next year. I will keep trying to write my thoughts on life, religion, faith, politics, mission etc. This year is the most exciting and scary year of my life, and seems to look like it is going to be one of the greatest tests of my faith ever. Bring it on!

The Pursuit of Happyness Review

The Pursuit of Happyness
Me and My Brother went to see The Pursuit of Happyness last Sunday evening. It was a very moving and powerful movie for me and my brother. My Brother said that he spent most of the movie with tears in his eyes. I thought it was an awesome movie myself and was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. The Movie is based around Christopher (Will Smith), a poor black man trying to make a living by selling Bone Density Scanners, which produce a picture a little bit better than a X-ray, but are twice as expensive. He is a bright man, who used to get the best grades in his class, but because of poverty and ill-fortune he is forced to attempt to sell these scanners, which most doctors see as an expensive luxury item. One day he sees that there is an internship at Dean Witter Investments. He gets the chance and through the rest of the movie we see him go through the trials of getting to his dreams. The whole movie is a pursuit of happiness!

This movie is a great exploration of healthy masculinity and the father and son relationship. The man will do everything he can do for his son so that he can have a better life than he did. At the beginning of the movie he expresses his goal in life “I was 26 years old when I first met my father, I made a promise to myself that if I had children I would never leave them or not care for them.” He wants to set wrong all that was done by his father, men all have ghosts of the failures or successes of their fathers, and spend most of their life trying to be more successful than their fathers in how they live their life. Throughout the movie Christopher aims to fulfil his promise to his son that he will never leave him and he will always care for him. The displays of affection and care shown for his child and his desire to teach him how to survive in a fast paced vicious world are amazing. The affection showed by his son for Christopher was amazing and just got me every time. The son listens to his father, and follows his every word, trusts that the decisions made by the father are in his best interest, while his father spends sleepless nights trying to improve their place in life. It got this twenty-one year old crying many times throughout the movie. It shows what a man should do for his family, fight, lay down everything and fight for his and his family’s survival. For many of course this can be an uphill battle, some can’t cope, and turn to drugs or suicide. It’s a hard up road battle for many who are down and out. Christopher is lucky, but he virtually goes through hell for his Son so that that he and his can pursue a life of happiness.

Another thing that got me were the scenes of poverty, the down and outs that live in our streets and the streets of America. Throughout the movie we see Christopher and his son survive on virtually a few dollars. They spend nights in homeless shelters as they are faced with no income from the internship, they join the lines of people waiting for a space in the homeless shelter, some nights they miss the opportunity and have to stay out on the streets, attempting to survive. The First night of their plight they spend in a subway toilet where Christopher cares for his son and gets through the night, never wanting to go back to that experience again. The hopelessness faced by many is harrowing. Again, I stress that Christopher is lucky. He’s determined, smart, proud and willing to give his all for the cease. Those characteristics help him in his pursuit of happiness, but I wonder how many like him there are who aren’t as lucky as he is, who don’t achieve through all the crap that is thrown at them. Many fall into hopelessness and just can’t get out.

This has to be the feel good movie of the year, I spent a lot of my time crying or on the edge of my seat, this man survives through all the crap so that his family can have a better future, what an amazing testament to mans will to go through all that and survive. It’s an example of this mans resolve in a cut-throat world.

MyLibraryThing

I finally figured out how to put up a widget for MyLibrarything. This is a cool website which allows you to catalog your books online and display them proudly for the rest of the world to see. Its really quite fun.