adam.riggins

Christianity Today interviewed Barack Obama recently, and the interview revealed his true colors about where he stands spiritually. I really respect this guy. From the interview:

“I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful.”

I get the feeling that he has a string faith that is real, but he is not using it as a tool for political advancement. I respect that a lot. Using your faith as a political tool is something that cheapens the power of the Cross.

Read the interview.

Here is a fun little game for you.

1. Go to Google.
2. In the search box, type “find chuck norris”
3. Click “I’m feeling lucky”

Voila! I guess it makes sense.

ps - if you really just want the result, click this thumbnail:

I don’t mean Christianity.

What I am referring to in the title is the empty religious things we do for no reason whatsoever besides the fact that a long time ago, someone sat down and decided we should do them. And also maybe to hide ourselves. Some examples:

1. In church today, we had to “stand for the reading of God’s Word”. I am all for giving respect where respect is due, but does that mean that when I am at home reading Scripture, that I should stand all the time? Why on Sunday in church and not any other time?

2. It has been said in my church that if you are in a leadership position at the church, then you need to make sure you dress up on Sunday. For that matter, a lot of people think they have to dress up on Sunday just to go to church. Why is that? When God sees me, he sees a naked, sinful man. That is how he sees all of us since that is our nature. “Dressing up” for God seems so superficial since he sees through our feeble attempts to look nice. Would wearing pajamas or flip-flops be offensive to Him? It’s closer to how I really look.

3. I sometimes feel like people I see on Sundays in church are there to check the “God thing” off of the list. Everyone smiles, no one has any problems. Life is perfect with the 2.5 kids,white picket fence, and the safe neighborhood. The reality is that many families or individuals have a great deal of problems they struggle with constantly, but we, and I do include myself here at times, do our best to hide our sin and struggles.

I think Casting Crowns said it best:

Is there anyone that fails
Is there anyone that falls
Am I the only one in church today feelin’ so small

Cause when I take a look around
Everybody seems so strong
I know they’ll soon discover
That I don’t belong

So I tuck it all away, like everything’s okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I’ll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the part again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them

Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation’s open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade

Is there anyone who’s been there
Are there any hands to raise
Am I the only one who’s traded
In the altar for a stage

The performance is convincing
And we know every line by heart
Only when no one is watching
Can we really fall apart

Religion is what causes an unbelieving world to be just that.  They see us as acting “religious” and perfect, only to blatantly go against it later on.   I guess what I am getting at here is that a lot of us try to hide behind religion and religious things a lot so we don’t have to confront the very sin that we are living in. What would happen if we invited Jesus in to break through the superficiality of our lives? Would it set us free? I think so.

Relationship, not religion.  That’s what I say.

You have probably seen this on other blogs, but every Friday (that I remember to do it), I will post a list of 5 “somethings”. Not nessessarily a top-5 list, but there will be 5 of whatever I post. So here we go…

Friday 5: The 5 cd’s I would want with me if stranded on an island (with a cd player and batteries)

1. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

The Decemberists are a band like few others I have heard. One song will be 4 minutes, and the next will be 16 minutes. That actually happens a few times on this cd, but it never gets old. The longer songs seem broken up into a couple of songs, just tied together under the same name. Style-wise, they have a folk-rock sound, often using a mandolin right next to the acoustic guitars. They sometimes sound Irish, although they are from the US.

2. Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace

I have been a foon (get it, as in “foo” and “fan”? I just made it up, and you can use it too) since the first cd back in 1995 or so. I was in 9th grade when I heard it, and that was all it took. Now, 12 years later, ESPG came out, and I have not been able to get enough of it. It rocks as hard as any FF cd ever has, but not at the expense of good music.

3. Alice in Chains - Unplugged

This is an old one, but good grief, it is good. It is amazing how a band can have 2 singers that have such similar voices. They do most of their hits during this concert, and their musicianship really shines though in the acoustic arrangements of some of the songs. My favorite song is Nutshell hands down. Wow.

4. Andrew Osenga - Letters to the Editor vol. 1

At only 6 songs, this EP show what happens when a true singer/songwriter sits down to record some songs with a list of rules for the project (as in, none of the songs can incorporate the use of a guitar pick). It keeps it interesting. Each song is just Andy and his guitar, and one of the best Andy O songs I have ever heard came from it (Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates). This is inspirational as a musician.

5. Third Day - Third Day

Of any CD I own, this one is my favorite. I have been a Third Day fan since 1993, and I have managed to see them in concert 33 times over the years. This cd was their breakthrough cd into the CCM market, and to this day, I think it is their best one.

So there it is. Hopefully, if I ever get stranded on an island, I will have these supplies. I mean hey, something has to distract me from a smoke monster or the “Others”, right?

I have been looking forward to seeing the new Rambo movie for some time now. So, you can imagine the pleasure I took in readin the excellent review that Cinematical gave it. It was a thorough review, and even had humor thrown in:

The last half hour of Rambo is just people exploding. Rambo shoots you with a gun, you explode. Rambo hits you with an arrow, you explode. Rambo gives you a wedgie, you explode. And those who don’t explode probably wish that they had — it’s certainly better than having your larynx slowly ripped out by a 61-year-old man in a bandana!

For the full review, click here.

Mark Lee has posted an interesting piece on his blog about our country’s place in Iraq.  His band recently played some shows over there for the troops, so this info is first-hand.  I won’t list them here, but here is one of them with the description:

We do not currently import any oil from Iraq: Those opposed to the war like to cry “Blood for Oil”. but that’s not happening. Most of Iraq’s oil output comes from a large oil field in the hotly contested Kurdish region in the North, and most of this oil is exported to Turkey. As of now, not a drop is exported to the U.S. We get our oil from places like Canada, East Africa, South America, etc.

I had no idea about that one, or really any of the others.  Regardless on your stance on the war, it is worth checking out.

Read

Hopefully this will be a weekly feature of this website. Every Thursday, I will talk about one thing that bothers me. Mostly it will be petty stuff that in the grand scheme of things really does not matter. That being said, certain little things do bother me. So that being said, here we go…

People who talk on their cell phones while driving, and it actually makes them drive worse

I can talk and drive at the same time. I prioritize driving over talking, so the conversation might suffer a bit, but by golly, I will be a good driver and not slow the world down.

Tonight, I was driving home from band practice and got behind a minivan going 5 under the speed limit. There was only one lane going in each direction, so passing was out of the question. I was trying to get home quickly (and safely, of course), and this lady was just chuggin’ along. Finally, I was able to pass her, and upon looking in my rear view mirror, I noticed that she was just chatting away on the cell phone, hand motions and all.

This really bothers me, because to that person, they are so focused on their ever-so-important conversation, and their driving is suffering because of that. Please, for goodness sake, if you cannot drive the same on the phone as you do off the phone, GET OFF THE PHONE WHILE DRIVING.

Whew. I’m ok now. Thanks for reading.

That’s right, I did what many fear. I went to the dentist for the first time in about 2.5 years. Yeah, I know that is way too long to go without, but it has been a stressful 2 years, what can I say. Anyways, my run at having perfect teeth has come to a close after 28 years. That’s right, I have 2 cavities that will be filled next month. I have never had a filling, so to be honest, I am a little nervous about the whole thing. The doc said that they weren’t bad cavities, and that I would not need to be numbed, but still. I really don’t like the idea of someone drilling in my mouth if it is numb, much less completely aware. So, that was my day.

Now I am off to brush my teeth!

Let me start off by saying that these people are not Christian. Anyone who acts on hatred like this group is clearly against the love that Jesus taught.

As you probably know, the actor Heath Ledger passed away yesterday unexpectedly. He was a great actor, a daddy, and apparently a really good guy. Well, because he played a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, the Westboro Baptist “Church” in Kansas is going to be picketing at his funeral. This is the group that thinks that if you are gay, you are going to Hell. This picture is a flyer that is going around promoting this (click to enlarge).

Does this make anyone else’s blood boil? How can you claim to be a church of the Christian faith, while at the same time judging someone so harshly to the point of condemning them to hell? Jesus said to love everyone- those who love you and those you don’t. How do they feel about people who have been divorced? Alcoholics? Anyone else who has ever sinned?

To any non-Christians out there, please see this as some wackos claiming to be something they are clearly not.

And Heath, we’ll miss you.

For those of you that use Facebook, Adium, Twitter, iChat, or a host of other programs that have a “Status”, this one’s for you. I use several of those, and keeping all of the stutus fields consistant is a bit of a chore. My Facebook status is the only one I ever think of changing, and that only happens once a month or so. Well, enter MoodBlast.

This little program will update all of them at once with whatever you type into it. Sounds pretty easy to me.

O, it’s Mac only…

MoodBlast