My dad and I were discussing (via email) the state of the job market and corporate America in general.  We were comparing viewpoints, both from a generational perspective, and also from the perspective that he’s always worked for (relatively) small companies while I’ve always worked for a big one.

I was bemoaning the general state of things, and specifically how the employee/company dynamic has changed.  From my email:

Anyone with any intellectual honesty will admit that there is no loyalty shown by any company to its employees these days, so it’s silly to expect the employees to be loyal to the company.

I also noted that most executives in larger companies are usually glad when employees leave, because that simply means “less overhead (which is all we are to them).”

Dad reminded me of Colossians 3:23-24, a passage that Paul wrote concerning slaves, but that is just as applicable to employees of today:

And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

I thanked him for the reminder, and also noted wryly that, given how unworthy “men” have shown themselves to be to be “worked unto”, this is not only a formula for good Christian conduct, but it is also pragmatic.

In Matthew 6:26, Jesus asks the rhetorical question to His listeners, “Are you not of more value than [the birds of the air]?”  The question comes in the context of not worrying and demonstrates God’s love for us.  However, sometimes I lose the impact of that question.

We just finished a 6-month study of the book of Hosea on Wednesday nights at my church.  Most of the book is about how horrible Israel has become.  While the Hosea-Gomer relationship is a good picture of that between God and Israel, when you get into all that Israel had done, even the gross infidelity that Gomer practiced begins to pale in comparison.

But the last chapter is a call to repentance and a telling of all that God will do in Israel’s restoration.  Of particular interest to me are verses 5-7:

⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel;
He shall grow like the lily,
And lengthen his roots like Lebanon.
⁶ His branches shall spread;
His beauty shall be like an olive tree,
And his fragrance like Lebanon.
⁷ Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;
They shall be revived like grain,
And grow like a vine.
Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

In those three verses alone, God draws upon several of His creations to use as illustrations.  It is as though He is saying, “There’s not one single thing that I have made that can adequately describe all that I am going to do through you.”

This is what God thinks of us.

Slice of Laodicea, a discernablog that’s been masquerading as a Christian site for years finally admits that it’s not.

I despise the “r” word.  It is the most mis-used word in the English vernacular.  Having said that, there’s no denying it.

Sonia Sotomayor is a racist.

Look at her statement from 2002:

Justice [Sandra Day] O’Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am . . . not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, . . . there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.

The term “racism” has been devolved by many people to the level of any type of disagreement with any person of a different race than you. What it actually is, according to Merriam-Webster is:

a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

That is exactly (uncannily, even) what Sotomayor is expressing.

We all knew that Obama was going to nominate a judicial activist, and Sotomayor’s 2005 assertion that the “court of appeals is where policy is made” (emphasis mine) confirms that in bold, flashing neon. But even the most hardened, cynical, hyper-right-wing extremist never dreamed that there’d be public lynchings at One First Street N.E.

Got an invite for a mandatory meeting.  The meeting is actually offered at 3 different times, so I get to choose.  However, there’s a limit of 50 phone lines for each time, so you gotta get there early.

There are 369 invitees to this meeting.

In a recent Christianity Today interview, pastor Rob Bell was describing the gospel that he teaches and lives by.  The interviewer asked him how he would present this gospel on Twitter.  Frankly, I thought his response rested somewhere between “lame” and “non sequitur“, but that’s not what I want to talk about.

Greg Gilbert took Bell to task on Friday on the 9Marks blog (again, not what I want to talk about — just setting the table).  On Monday, Gilbert asked his readers how they would present the gospel on Twitter.  He set the limit to 140 characters (the actual Twitter limit).  It’s an interesting exercise, but it had disturbing results. The vast majority (over 90%) of responses fell into one of three categories:

1. Direct quotes of Scripture verses
2. Paraphrases of Scripture verses (mostly to get down to the character limit)
3. Stuff that was dripping in “Christianese”

#1 and #2 come from awesome source material.  And one could argue that, given the inspiration of Scripture, the verses are (in essence) straight from God, so who could say it better?  But those responses still come off as lazy and cookie-cutter.

#3 is what bothered me most, though.  If we’re going to tweet the gospel, why would we use a language that’s foreign to the target audience?  It’s as effective as standing on the street corner in Istanbul and trying to convey a message in fluent Portuguese.

While it is definitely a huge component of the gospel, the word “sin” appeared an embarrassingly large number of times.  I commented on the blog:

Not in any way to downplay sin, or to try to say that we made “mistakes” or some such nonsense/cop-out, but in looking over many of these, I am reminded of Steve Taylor’s comments regarding his song “Jesus Is for Losers”. He said that we (in modern evangelicalism) have become so anesthetized to the word “sin”, that we don’t even really think about what it is, most of the time.

This would have to go double for the unbeliever, who most likely would tune you out at the first mention of the “s” word. Given the context of what we’re trying to do (come up with valid tweets), I can’t help but wonder if we need to dial back on the language that is (overly-)familiar to **us**.

About 45 minutes later (though possibly before my moderated comment got approved), another person submitted her own tweet.  While I can’t be absolutely certain of the original content (why I say that, in a second), I’m fairly certain that her tweet had been:

We suck. God doesn’t. Jesus became like us but perfect, died instead of us but lives. If we get that and trust Him we are forever free.

However, the moderator edited her comment thusly (emphasis mine):

We [sin]. God doesn’t. Jesus became like us but perfect, died instead of us but lives. If we get that and trust Him we are forever free.

Now, I have no beef with paraphrasing a word that you don’t want to appear on your blog because you find it crude or vulgar.  I even do it to myself at times (e.g. long-time readers may recall a reference I made to a “urination match”).  But I find it interesting (in a depressing way) that less than an hour after I talked about the possible overuse of the word “sin” in this context, that the moderator specifically chose to use that very word, thereby re-enforcing my point.

And we wonder why our churches are dying.

Neat story here about a pro-life pastor who chose to go to jail rather than compromise with a plea bargain, and the ministering that he did behind bars.

Luke records Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance to the disciples (emphases mine):

Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.

Immediately after Jesus greeted them with shalom — peace — they exhibited the exact opposite.  Jesus went on to ask them why they doubted.  Being God, He knew the answer already; the question was really for their benefit.

Likewise, it is for our benefit when He has to ask us the same question.  Because sometimes we’re just as stupid as those guys were.  But our God is a patient God.  He doesn’t say, “Do I stutter?”, though He’d certainly be justified if He did.

Let us be thankful for His patience.  But let us also see what we can do about not trying it in the first place.