Say what you mean: What do I believe?

We live in a world of growing contradiction and inconsistency. As much as we would like to think that we are growing in rationality and progressing in reason, if we honestly look at everything that's happening today, it's pretty hard to say that we have. Then again, if we're honest with ourselves, perhaps it's just that there isn't really all that much to progress, there isn't some new epiphany of reasoning or rationality that seems reasonable or rational. That may seem a little dubious to some of us, but one thing I think is rather undeniable is we live in an era of growing "political correctness". I suppose the phrase "political correctness" as the general desire to not offend people. While that in and of itself is a noble goal, carried to an extreme, we essentially are forced to communicate by saying almost nothing, because almost anything can be construed as offensive. Now that I really think about it, the idea of "political correctness" seems rather irrational and unreasonable as well.

In this growing trend of "political correctness" we've often come to mouthing meaningless and often pithy platitudes with a certain amount of sincere insincerity. First, I want to make clear that I'm not here to bash propriety or politeness. I think those are important. We ought to be polite and nice to one another. The point I am trying to make is that we've become so accustomed to mouthing these words that we no longer understand nor really care to understand, their meanings. We say things we don't mean. Frankly, I would argue, we don't really know the meaning of the things we say anymore. That's a problem. A rather big one I would say.

Misunderstandings: We don't get grace

I think we live in a world of concepts. We (especially me) are good at conceptually understanding things and unfortunately, we often fail to realize that it never goes beyond a concept. While with something like math or engineering, that's a very valuable tool to have, unfortunately, when it comes to how we live our lives, our values, our priorities, our morals, our worldview, well, we have applied it here as well, and therefore, while we often purport to hold to certain ideals the way we live our lives is very different. I know I do this. I'm not going to sit here and call everyone hypocrites, that's not my goal, but I think we ought to clearly examine and understand ourselves better. To better know what exactly it is that we are affirming in our professions of belief, in our faith.

Timeliness and Tardiness: A Measure of Priorities

We've all heard it before. It's an Asian thing. It's a Hawaiian thing, It's a Southern thing. If we're really honest with ourselves, being late has become so prevalent that quite frankly, it's a human thing. I recall reading an article about how we've become accustomed to being late to everything that, as a society, we pretty much accept it as the standard norm. Look, I get as much as the next person that different people place different values on time, and therefore not everyone views time equally despite everyone having an equal amount of time. However, I would argue that it's generally untrue that people are late to everything in their lives. Regardless of how much relative value people place on time, I would posit that pretty much everyone values time. And while I may unfortunately, perhaps offend some in this regards, I feel it is something worth saying. You may disagree with me, but ultimately speaking, we are late to things because we don't care.

Those in Need

There are a lot of these people. You could almost argue that everyone is in need of something. Lately, I've found myself getting into listening to various podcasts and such. It's an interesting scene, that of the internet celebrity. Specifically, I listened to a podcast by a comedian named Chris Hardwick that goes by the title of Nerdist. The last episode that I listened to was one in which Chris and his guests (Jonah Ray, Matt Myra, and Chloe Dykstra) were reflecting on what had happened over the past year. Now, I think a lot of what I say is a general reflection and reaction to this specific episode, but I think that it would also be a good reflection in general, well perhaps a reflection of people in the modern media who are oft influential in modern media (or just very visible in general to the public).

No Regrets

I watched a skit once with this title, it was full of music, singing and dancing college seniors. It was a well-prepared presentation, powerful and touching story, and I think, overall a good message. I won't spoil it for you in the event you want to watch it. The whole production is called G-Live, the specific skit if you haven't surmised already is called "No Regrets". Which got me thinking about a question that perhaps a lot of us ask, which is, "What would I do over?" A lot of times I have wished that I could do entire parts of life over again, or maybe go back in time with my current knowledge, which sounds ideal, and really cool, but having watched enough science fiction to know about creating a space-time paradox or alternate unstable timeline, and all that random pseudo-science (or maybe real science, I don't know the difference) type jargon.

Historically Relevant

I am a pretty big NBA fan. I mean, I can list off stats, such as the fact that only three teams hold 15 of the last 21 NBA championship titles (Chicago Bulls 6, Los Angeles Lakers 5, San Antonio Spurs 4), but while that is an interesting bit of trivia, what does that really mean to me? In other words, how does that impact what I do day-in and day-out? In short, so what? Maybe it would mean more to me if I were directly involved in the NBA, such as working in a franchise front office or somehow working for a team, because then I might see how I might emulate the success of these three teams. However, as the casual fan, other than as pieces of interesting (or random depending on your perspective) trivia, it doesn't really affect what I do or how I live.

What about when it comes to something bigger? I recently finished the book The Case for Christ by journalist Lee Strobel, and realized that behind all of the apologetics, the facts, the history, this question needs to be addressed: so what? Having the privilege of serving as a youth leader this past year I realized both the import and the challenge in addressing this question, particularly with young people of today (it makes me sound kind of old, but I suppose I mean this term in a general sense, and perhaps to some degree include myself in it). So behind all of this historical evidence for Jesus what impact does it have for me in my life? Should it have one? I believe the answer is yes.

A Lack of Discernment

I don't know about you, but I have spent a lot of time agonizing over the idea of what God's will is. What is God's will in my life? There are numerous verses in the Bible that give us an indication of what God desires for us in essence, wills, for us, but again the question comes out, what does that look like specifically? Is it God's will that I take this job or that one? That I go to this church or that one? That I marry this person or that one? I can't count the number of times in life where I have been idle, sitting around "trying to figure out God's will". Don't get me wrong, it's important to know and to do God's will, as Jesus says in Mark 3:35 doing God's will is how we demonstrate that we are of his family. Yet I suppose that begs the question as to what God's will exactly is. How can I do something that I don't know?